John

The articles site took too much effort for such little output. The people who liked it happened to get the short end of the stick on this, but they should just roll with the freaking punches already.

[quote name='Mr. Maul][size=1][color=DimGray]How could I forget Squirt?[/color'][/size][/quote] [i]Squirt[/i]. Word. I grew up in the South, calling everything Coke. It doesn't make any sense, sure, but it's a hell of a lot easier, and it doesn't complicate things as much as you might think. Then my family moved around and eventually landed here in Kansas, where everyone calls it pop, and sometimes soda. Pop is just a horribly stupid name, so, knowing my omni-Coke ways would cause too much hassle, I just started calling it soda, which is pretty bearable.

[quote name='Shinmaru']I think it's absurd to be strict about very short samples, but I'm not as sure about sampling, say, the chorus of a song, which is obviously the most recognizable part of a song to anyone who's heard it.[/quote] Even if they take the chorus, who cares? I don't yet see how this can affect the artist in any negative way.

People getting mad over unauthorized sampling of their music is preposterous, and unless the music is directly ridiculing the sample, as happens sometimes, then there's no way in hell that it could possibly hurt their career. It's far more likely, in fact, that the people who like the sample will seek it out and give that artist [i]more[/i] success. You should try to clear it, certainly, but only as an act of courtesy.

[quote name='Bláse][size=1][color=slategray]On the whole "Worst Soda I've Ever Had" scale... Mountain Dew is really the only thing that sticks in my mind. I simply do not see why everyone loves it so much, it's disgusting and looks like mutated piss.[/color'][/size][/quote] You're going to Soda Hell for that. Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper are my favorites. Dr. Pepper is really just a happy medium in sodas: it's not so sweet as citrus sodas, but it's sweeter and smoother than Coke/Pepsi. And Mountain Dew... well, what can I say? Mountain Dew is just [url="http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30300"][color=Gray]x-treem[/color][/url]. And, Mr. Maul was right on track with Jones sodas; they're some great stuff. [spoiler]Too bad he dropped the ball by mentioning Andy Capp's Hot Fries.[/spoiler] EDIT: Signature fixed. Sorry, it apparently stretched with the song titles. :P

If I do win this, I at least don't want to eventually stay far enough ahead that the number of points required to get ahead of my score is more than the number of weeks that are actually [i]left[/i] (thus making all those weeks totally useless for determining a winner, despite still retaining the same level of fun anyway), so I'm going to sit this one out. =)

[quote name='PaganAngel][font=Gill Sans MT Condensed][color=#993366][size=2]Used to watch that show religiously. Stopped when I realized Drew Carey wasn't cool anymore.[/size][/color'][/font][/quote] Oh, you are [i]so[/i] getting a few more decades in purgatory for that one. [quote name='Inu-Hime']I used to watch that show on ABC Family. It can be quite hilarious. My favourite games were "Props," "Strange Newscasters," and "Two-Line Vocabulary."[/quote] Two-Line Vocabulary was hysterical, and easily my favorite game. Ryan was marvelous in it.

Let me be the first to say that perhaps being obsessively [i]against[/i] something or someone isn't really as great a counter as you'd think to someone who's obsessively [i]for[/i] it. And other cultures are just plain interesting. Japanese culture just so happens to have the necessary qualities to be the most interesting to a demographic of people that are likely to take their interests very extremely, compared to others. Think they're defiling your culture by misinterpreting it? Well, that's not really their fault. They know only whatever they can find, and most of them (most of the worst cases, at least) are generally teenagers, so they're not going to use their noggins to max capacity all the time. But the important thing is that [b]they're obsessing because they love the culture[/b]. Is that something you should really be posting a long-winded blog hissy fit about?

Adam actually made a site that was partially for the purpose of educating myO users in how to fix up their pages. Check that out [url="http://founderweb.com/html_tutorial/index.shtml"][color=Gray]here[/color][/url], but be warned that once armed with this knowledge, you also gain the sacred responsibility of keeping your site not hideous: if a background image be tiled, be it an image for which tiling is intended. And when ye color yon webpage, keepst in mind that ye visitors will not be wearing lead suits to protect themselves from it (thence, hot pink goes not with forest green).

No, I'm not going to finish this through PM, because it still adheres to the topic of BEA's views. I'm not singling you out either. I told everyone who was being hateful to cool it, and most of them did. You openly said that you wouldn't, so you threw yourself into this. [QUOTE=ChibiHorsewoman][color=#9933ff][font=lucida calligraphy]What BS? I'm sticking to my guns? I typed exactly what I believe. [b]Jerry Springer comment aside.[/b] If BEA has a problem with my speculation based on history, [b]then maybe he should be coming to his own defense instead of you doing so for him?[/b] And if you have a problem with me then address it to me don't hide behind some other agenda. Sorry if you find that uncivil and immature, many people do veiw me as such. But as I've said before I make no appologies for my views just like BEA makes no appologies for his. [b]Don't try to twist my words around.[/b] When have I lost my head? I didn't attack him personally [b]as you are doing to me in this thread.[/b] I think we're all going back to the Jerry SPringer comment. It's like Natalie's Maines' comment back in 2003 let it go. Yes I said it, and [b]hey at least Starfire laughed and I don't think BEA took it personally.[/b][/font][/color][/QUOTE] Mmkay, first let's cut the chaff out of this post, addressing it in chronological order: 1. [b]Diverting attention from your wrongs[/b] - Nice way to push that comment out of the conversation subtly without actually apologizing for it, even after it's been generally accepted that it was wrong. 2. [b]Finding blame in others to make small of your own[/b] - Shouldn't the same principle apply on the other side of the coin, then? Shouldn't you let the minorities speak for themselves against BEA instead of you doing so for them? The argument doesn't work. 3. [b]Self-victimization[/b] - I did no such thing, and if I had, you're certainly not one to be talking. 4. [b]More self-victimization[/b] - I retorted to everything you said, and kept it all in context. Besides skewing his views beyond recognition, you called him an idiot and told him to "get the **** out of America". Your definition of an "attack" seems just a little sketchy to me, frankly. 5. [b]Playing down your wrongs (again, so you don't have to apologize)[/b] - If someone related me and my hypothetical future family to a bunch of hate-mongers on smut TV, I'd sure as [i]hell[/i] take it personally. Now then, the revised post: [QUOTE][color=#9933ff][font=lucida calligraphy]What BS? I'm sticking to my guns? I typed exactly what I believe. [b][...][/b] And if you have a problem with me then address it to me don't hide behind some other agenda. Sorry if you find that uncivil and immature, many people do veiw me as such. But as I've said before I make no appologies for my views just like BEA makes no appologies for his. [b][...][/b] When have I lost my head? I didn't attack him personally [b][...].[/b] I think we're all going back to the Jerry SPringer comment. It's like Natalie's Maines' comment back in 2003 let it go. Yes I said it, and [b][...][/b][/font][/color][/QUOTE] I don't have a problem with you saying exactly what you believe about a person; I have a problem with you expressing those beliefs with a harshness that that person didn't warrant with anything they said. And I [i]don't[/i] have a personal problem with you, nor do I know where that idea came from. And you know as well as I that you're not being mature or self-controlled in the least. You ignored most everything he said, blew whatever he [i]didn't[/i] say out of proportion to criminalize him, and insulted him outright.

[quote name='White][color=#555555][font=Tahoma]Actually I thought that at first aswell but all he did was [spoiler]grab the snake right behind the head and throw it, not karate chop[/spoiler].[/font'][/color][/quote] Aww. Well, the "Hi-yah" still carries it. And really, the [spoiler]life raft really probably would work (better than the luggage in the doorways at least lol) to a degree because the snakes probably wouldn't be smart enough to try to burst through it. They'd just see an obstruction, and go off another direction.[/spoiler]

Starfire, you misunderstood my post lol. It's really due to grammatical error on my part, but read it again: [quote name='John']You're the oldest person in this thread (to my knowledge), and yet you still refuse to handle yourself with the same civility as BEA as well as most everyone else who's posed arguments to him.[/quote] I didn't mean CHW and everyone else refused to be as civil as BEA, I meant that CHW refused to be as civil as BEA and everyone else. Make sense now? XP

[QUOTE=ChibiHorsewoman][color=#9933ff][font=lucida calligraphy] Well since I doubt that blue eyed angel makes any appologies for his veiws I make no appologies for my comments. Not even the one about Jerry Springer because the way I see it his beliefs may just snowball from simple Nationalism to full blown racism. Trust me I was being nice. I understand that his rights are as protected as mine because obviously from his posts we live in the same country.. Hells for all I know I work with him. I conducted myself as civily as I could. As I've said before I make no appologies for my actions (just for how they may have been veiwed) because those are my beliefs, right down to the parts on religion.[/font][/color][/QUOTE] Cut the bull****. You're the oldest person in this thread (to my knowledge), and yet you still refuse to handle yourself with the same civility as BEA as well as most everyone else who's posed arguments to him. And if you're not going to rescind your tantrum, then at least give a better reason than "He won't apologize so neither will I! D:" and defending yourself by saying that even though he's not necessarily a racist now, he will be later. You don't have near the authority to make such a statement, and even if you did it's still not an excuse to flame him [i]now[/i]. Everyone else has displayed that it's entirely possible to hold this debate without losing your head and casting unfounded hate and hyperbole in BEA's direction.

[quote name='Shinmaru][spoiler]They took the trouble to introduce that Asian guy on the plane as a kickboxer, and yet [i]not once[/i] is there a scene where he is kickboxing a snake! Sure he hits them with various objects on occasion, and he even throws one at one point, but, man, he [i]really[/i'] needed to be punching and kicking the complete **** out of snakes as they leapt toward him from all directions. SUCH a wasted opportunity.[/spoiler][/quote] Not true, [spoiler]he did punch a snake once as it was about to strike the girl with the dog. And he made a hilarious "hi-yah" sound when he did it too.[/spoiler] XD

Like White indicated, this is definitely a movie to be seen in groups. I saw it by myself (and a very disappointingly small amount of other people were in the theater), and I really wasn't nearly as entertained as I would be if I saw it with some friends. However, the downright horrendousness of the movie still kept me entertained pretty easily. The movie's incredibly referencable due to all the notable events happening in a nice, simple (and incredibly untalented) series, one after the other. Some of the highlights for me include [spoiler]the male flight attendant [b]exploding a snake in the microwave[/b], Keenan Thompson's character hitting snakes with the flat-panel TV, Sam Jackson's character (can you tell I'm bad with names?) tasing snakes in the face, and everyone on the plane randomly shouting "Snakes!" or "There's snakes!" in any moment of tension.[/spoiler]

Analogy: one person invents a certain mechanism for use in an invention. Another inventor may see that, and use the same mechanism in an entirely different invention with an entirely different purpose (of course, since it's assumed that money is being made off both these inventions, the second would probably be paying royalties to the first). Alternatively, one software company will often make a game, and another will use an engine from that game and make another one that's very innovative and fun. So really, it's not in the brush itself, it's in how you use it. If the premade brush is the focal point of the whole piece, then yes, that's a bit of a cop-out. But if it's used to accentuate or to add to the entire image (or theme of the image), then I don't see the problem with using it. To perhaps better illustrate my point, it would be much more acceptable if someone gets an idea for an image, and finds a brush that would help it, than if someone saw a brush and thought of a good graphic they could make with it.

In the interests of civil debate, and since BlueEyedAngel is vastly outnumbered here, I'd like to take to his defense for a second and clarify a few things that some of you have blown out of proportion or ignored: 1. He doesn't hate any other race, and that's a point he's made multiple times. 2. He's made no mention of Nazism or Hitler anywhere, so don't jump to label him a Neo-Nazi either. 3. His posts have been among the most civil in this thread, and most of you are randomly ripping him apart without acknowledging that he evidently means absolutely no offense in his beliefs. Knowing that his way of thinking doesn't stem from malice, neither should your replies. So simply put, stop being childish or shut up and leave the thread. Now, I've got plenty of my own rebuttals I'd like to make with him, but I'll leave that to everybody else, because at this rate, everyone else should be bringing up the necessary points without any more posts.

BlueEyedAngel, the entire fault in your belief system stems from you hanging onto the archaic method of judging by race. Race really has very little, if anything, to do with a person's character. It's probably perceived like that, though, because lower-class/income people are more inclined to crime, and minorities have a higher percentage of low-income residents than whites. And if you want to take pride in something, let it be nationality, not race. Race isn't a good measure of anything. [QUOTE]4. Let's face the truth, our country was established by whites. For those of you who disagree, would you care to explain who it was established by? 5. The immigrants coming into our country today are not of the same stock as the people who founded this country and who have been the majority of the population for the last 230 years. Immigration is contributing to the balkanization of America.[/QUOTE] Yes, the brains behind the founding of America were all white, but one of the biggest points they made for America to even [i]exist[/i] is for a safe haven for anyone who wants to pursue a better life. I'm not insinuating anything about the immigration situation today, but that America was meant to be and bound to be a land where races mix and intermingle. Everyone else has gotten that fact, I'd say you should too.

Alannie, the difference here would be that this is a portable console, which offers much more long-term usefulness because it can be employed as a time-killing tool pretty much anywhere as much as a normal, play-at-home console. On a long trip, for example, it's almost necessary to have some kind of distraction, so it's very unlikely that one would just stop using a DS because they got tired of it. I say you should save up for a Wii instead, though. :D

[QUOTE=Kitsune~girl]Post your favorite rock bands here! :D (Self-explanitory) Say anything you want about them but [b]NO FLAMING THE BANDS. You can say you hate a band but dont go any further than that.[/b] My fave rock bands are: Disturbed, Linkin Park, Tool, Nickelback, Pantera (R.I.P. Dimebag), Damage Plan, Atreyu, Buckcherry, Black Stone Cherry, Black Label Society, Rebel Meets Rebel ,Korn, and other rock bands like those. [b]I HATE THE BAND NIRVANA!!!!! They suck! Sorry to all you Nirvana fans, but they do![/b][/QUOTE] I was going to put a joke here, but I don't really think anything I could say would do justice.

[size=1][b]#5[/b][/size] [indent][size=1][i]305904012005 is a record of sorts? What is the significance?[/i][/size][/indent] [quote name='The What's Going On? section']Most users ever online was 3059, 04-01-2005[/quote] :D

[quote name='cancer][size=1][color=DarkRed]John, I think that fine-tuning screaming technique makes perfect sense. It's just a distorted vocal performance, but the fact that it's distorted does not mean that it should not be tamed to be better controlled. Would you not agree? I want to get the best possible scream out and be able to control it. I don't want to scream and hurt my vocal chords. Therefore, the technique is needed. [/color'] [/size][/quote] I still think it takes away some of the emotional authenticity. I think if you're screaming, it should be for a reason, in which case you shouldn't be worrying about the sound as much as the message. You can focus more on the aural aspect if you want, which is fine and good, but I simply find it lacking something. And of course, trying to protect your vocal chords is completely understandable.

Doesn't a fine-tuned technique really defeat the intentions of screaming? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd think that screaming as a vocal technique was created as a departure from singing, to give a more visceral and unrehearsed sound. If you scream, you'd better mean it, and if you mean it, then anyone who doesn't approve of your particular screaming is just overconscious about it.

[quote name='YoukaiAlchemist']o.O and I also keep the idea that it may still be a paranormal thing, due to the number of reports. though it could just be people that simply look like the characters. I'm sure it's happened before.[/quote] Just... put the idea out of your head, lol. Those characters don't have any existence outside of the series of chemical reactions in your friend's brain that make up her consciousness. Not only do they not exist in the material world, but they [i]barely[/i] exist in the immaterial world.

Mine's probably stealth, and not for the games it contains, but really for the novelty of the genre among all the others. The garden-variety "shooter steath" that we usually think of when we think of stealth games is a great marriage of action shooters and strategy, given that stealth games are all about knowing, controlling, eliminating and/or evading every variable in the field. It's an awfully undersaturated genre too, compared to others, which really baffles me. I can't think of any reason why any large amount of people would be put off by stealth games, but such is life.