Recently the Chinese government lifted it's ban on foreign based video game consoles, allowing the vast untapped marketplace of China to be available to video game makers around the world. Like all things in China, this move did not come without restrictions. These restrictions weren't formalized when the bad was lifted, but these new rules governing video games are slowly being rolled out, and, if a report by Rocket News 24 is to be believed, these restrictions may come at a high price for basic interactions in video games.
If the report is accurate, which it may not be due to a lack of direct sourcing, the Chinese government has banned video games that are to be sold in it's country from depicting the following things:
Characters wearing bikinis or shorts
Exposure of sensitive parts of the body (The Rocket News 24 report doesn't state what constitutes "sensitive parts of the body")
And finally, bodily touching between men and women While these rules may need some clarification, particularly when it comes to sports games where shorts are prevalent, one of these rules may need to be done away with altogether. This is due to one of these rules banning one of the most common greeting within Western Culture.
The handshake. If, as the report states, “Bodily touching between men and women in games is completely prohibited,”, then the handshake between men and women is expressly banned, even though in most instances a handshake is just a handshake. While working around this rule might be funny to see, it's an unreasonable standard for foreign video game manufactures to have to live up to, and may end up being a hindrance in the production of quality video games for the Chinese market. Also, this doesn't speak well for the Chinese method of governance. If the Chinese government wrote a rule so vague that it bans something that is common and not salacious, what other common and normal things do their rules ban?
There are ideas that people have that are not quite fully formed. They are the germs of good ideas, they just need to sit for a while untill they become perfect. This is the reason I'm not currently engaged in the writing of a piece of longform narrative fiction. Bad Love Poetry is coming along, but it's not the kind of narrative work that I've done in the past. A similar thing can be said about a series of pictures recently posted on China's social networking leader, Weibo.
A guy photoshopping himself into childhood pictures of girlfriend isn't an entirely bad idea. It is an idea that need a little bit of tweeking. What is that tweek? If you are going to photoshop yourself into childhood pictures of your girlfriend, use childhood pictures of yourself when you are doing it. Doing that would have made those pictures sentimental, significant, and not the source of internet ridicule. Of course if this guy had done that his photoshop work wouldn't be getting the amount of attention it's getting, but in some ways that's good.
Remember that story about Kim Jong-un's Uncle being executed by being fed to dogs? Yeah, that was fake. More details of the fake story can be found here, but I remember saying that the story was unbelievable due to the sourcing of it. Well, there was another story that came out today with Chinese sourcing that I am also disputing.
This morning stories started circulating about China lifting the ban on foreign made video game consoles. Reuters has a bare bones report on this story, while BBC News has a more extensive write up. Both stories refer to statement being put out by the China's State Council, which is the governmental organization that oversees the actions of the other governmental organizations in the Chinese government. The problem is that in looking over the website of China's State Council, I can find no reference to video games or video game consoles. Perhaps this is a language barrier issue, but searches on the website for "console" bring up more stories having to consultations with foreign dignitaries and dealing with natural disasters than anything having to do with business.
Therefore, much like the story of Kim Jong-un's Uncle being fed to dogs, I'll wait untill more information comes out about this story before I believe it. For all I know, this could be another satire that the worldwide press is eagerly running with much to the delight of some internet prankster.
Okay, I'm moving to China. This bridge that is proposed to be build it so AWESOME! We simply don't have things like this in America, and we certainly don't have things like this is the cultural wasteland that I am currently mired in. I want to see more things like this and I want to live in a place where things like this are being actively built. I can't think of a single reason why living in China would be a bad idea.
That doesn't qualify as a bad idea for that is AWESOME!
Again, this is awesome and not a reason to not move there.
Okay, I'm stay here. I might not have awesome architectural marvels where I live, but I do have a legitimate excuse to wear a t-shirt that reads SL,UT, and, really, isn't that what every guy wants?
The more I learn about the currentrealestatesituation in China, the more concerned I get about my pursuit of Project Buy A House. I am thinking more about whether or not pursuing this goal is a good idea, and if, when I finish my pursuit, I will attain something good in the end. Will I eventually buy a house that is a great place for me to live, or will I buy a house that I will regret buying for many decades to come? As of now I don't have an answer to that question, but I do know one thing:
I WANT THIS! This looks so awesome!!! Where can I buy it? Gimmie gimmie gimmie gimmie gimmie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I mentioned yesterday, over the past year I've been working on Project Buy A House. This has involved me reducing my monthly expenses, spending less money on entertainment, and other things that have made this process something that had better pay off in something really good. Really good.
Of the things that I am concerned with as I pursue Project Buy A House, one that is the most concern to me is location. Ideally I'd like to buy a house near where I work, but since I work in a largely industrial area this may not be an ideal place to live given the amount of crime that is typically in locations like this. I'd like to own a home in a nice residential neighborhood, but given that I will be buying this house by myself I may not be able to afford a house in a nice neighborhood.
Given that my work is adjacent to the freeway, I'd like to own a house near the freeway. I'd like to own a house in a place where I can easily get on the freeway without having to deal with a lot of the traffic concerns that plague locations of this kind. I'd like a place that is near the freeway. Near the freeway.
On
Tuesday, a story started circulating about Microsoft being investigated for
bribery. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft stands accused of paying off officials to facilitate software contracts in China, Italy, and Romania.
In
reporting this story, the question arises of why the government is aggressively
going after Microsoft in this case when a similar case involving Sheldon Addleson, or others suspected of financial or corporate crime, is not being aggressively pursued. The answer may lie at who is at the center of
the bribery case on Microsoft's end.
Darin
Ruf, pictured above, is the current Microsoft International Software Business
Representative. According to documents
leaked late Monday by Anonmyous, Mr. Ruf is responsible for the bribery
allegations Microsoft finds itself in.
Mr. Ruf is also an athlete. Darin
Ruf is a baseball player who spent time in the Phillies organization before
accepting his current position with Microsoft.
It is
Darin's background as an athlete that explains why the government is
aggressively going after Microsoft in relation to these bribery
allegations. Much like the case of Roger Clemens and Lance Armstrong, the
United States Department Of Justice is aggressively going after malfeasance
committed by athletes, as opposed to malfeasance committed by corporations and
financial organizations. It just so
happens that, in this case, both the corporate world and the athletic world
overlap.
When
reached for comment, Department Of Justice spokesman Bryan Anthony Sierra
refused comment on the particulars of this story. However, in the past couple of days, a
military-style drone aircraft with the Department Of Justice logo on it has
been seen hovering over my office.
A week before Thanksgiving last year I cheated on my beloved Malibu with one named Ognarud. This was purely my fault. I was reckless, I was distracted, I was naive, I am still pawing around for a sufficient excuse. Ever since my indiscretion with Ognarud I could not get my experience with her to leave my mind. It seemed that the further away I got from it, the more it filled my mind. Eventually my desire for Ognarud filled my entire being. This is when I knew my relationship with Malibu was over.
This is when the difficulty truly began. The relationship I was having with Malibu was the first serious one I had ever had. I barely had the skills to enter into this relationship, much less leave. I continued to stay in my relationship with Malibu after I knew it was over, for a far longer period of time than I really should have. I reached out to others for some help with my extraction, no one reached back to help me. That is until last week. Someone who had helped me in the past offered to help me again. This help came from my old friend Wells.
Wells did this not by telling me how to get out of my relationship with Malibu, but by telling me where I could find Ognarud. Wells told me of a friend of his, Hertz, who knew exactly where Ognarud was and how to get in contact with her. I blazed a trail up to see Hertz, but when I got there, she was gone. The one that I desired had just slipped out of my grasp. Ognarud was with another.
I was crushed to say the least. I recognize that Ognarud has the right to be happy and be with who she wants, I just wish that person was me. Recognizing my moment of grief, Hertz offered to introduce me to another. This was not Ognarud, this was better. Hertz introduced me to Mercury. I took Mercury for a spin and was drawn in. Mercury's size and effortless power seduced me as her more intimate places, soft as they were warm, comforted me and took my cares away. The further along I got with Mercury the further away Ognarud was from my mind. I desired Mercury and I decided that I must have her.
It was at this moment that I began to receive resistance from Wells. I don't know if it was where Mercury was from, how she came to be there, or her luxurious black interior, but Wells refused to help enable me to be one with Mercury. Thankfully, at that moment, someone stepped in to help. It was quick, effortless, and before I knew it, it was done. All I heard from this person was "CU in August to start the process of paying your debt."
Now Mercury and I are one and it delights me to no end to be able to say that. Now for the process of giving her a cute pet name to refer to her when we are alone. Because of my limited knowledge of Greek gods, nothing instantly sprang to mind. Then inspiration hit as Mercury and I were driving home from Hertz's. The first album we listened to together was Crossing the Rubicon from The Sounds, and one of the songs we really got into a groove with was Beatbox. You could even say it's our song. At that moment I knew Rubicon was the perfect pet name for Mercury. Red and Rubicon, what a fit. So, here's to you my beloved Rubicon.
Sigmund Freud Strikes Again! Last week it was announced that Zenimax Media, parent company of Bethesda, had acquired id. This move came as a shock and instantly people started speculating about the possible cross franchise mashup possibilities. However this story may not be all that it appears.
When this story broke I reached out to the PR department at Zenimax Media for a comment on their acquisition of the video game studio id. Their response was to question the validity of my story. I then sent them a link to the article that broke the story. There message back to me was, "No, this is what we acquired," followed by this link. Id, ego, and super-ego
What this means is that Zenimax did not acquire id, the video game studio, they acquired id, as in id, ego, and super ego. According to Wikipedia, "The Id comprises the unorganized part of the personality structure that contains the basic drives. The id acts as a pleasure principle: if not compelled by reality it seeks immediate enjoyment. It is focused on selfishness and instant self-gratification. Personality, as Freud saw it, was produced by the conflict between biological impulses and social restraints that were internalized. The Id is unconscious by definition."
It is unknown what kinds of games can come from this acquisition, as it is unclear how many people at Zenimax understand what id is. Hell, I barely understand what id is. All I know is I want a Coke, and I want it now!
In Other News... On June 25th 2009, Michael Jackson died after suffering a heart attack at his Neverland Ranch. In the days that followed, news outlets worldwide ran stories about Michael Jackson, his life, his music, his family, and his affairs non-stop. The following is a list of some of the events that have gone unreported since the death of the King of Pop. Reaction by the viewers after a screening of Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen caused a riot among nerds in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Cars were flipped over, fires were set, and action figures were recklessly removed form their packaging. This nerd riot raged on until the Philadelphia Police Department dispatched a special police squad to the scene. What made this police squad special is that it was filled exclusively with women. The nerd riot in Philadelphia ended with all of the rioters on the ground bowing as if worshiping some geek deity. The second coming of Jesus Christ happened. Jesus's first words were, "Hello! Over here! Son of God returning." Lex Luthor stole all the water from Lake Erie. The only response to this was from a little known gay porn star. China declared war on Delaware. Their reason for doing so, "Because we can." Finally South Caroline Governor Mark Sanford admitted to more extra marital encounters with his Argentinean mistress. This includes Governor Sanford fucking his mistress in his office, telling his staffers that he was exercising, loudly.
Take your normal superhero origin story. Guy gets powers, guy realizes he has powers, guy goes out to save the world. Now factor this in: the guy has a score to settle.
Everybody wonders what it is that makes them who they are. The Hawk thought that question was securely answered. However a meeting with a boy in a hospital causes him to question everything. Why he is, who he is, what he is, and even if he is.
Eleven years after the events of Consequences Of Mayorust, The Hawk finds himself dealing with many of the same issues that many of us deal with: A less than satisfying job, co-workers of variant annoyance, and a romantic life is unhealthy at best. Thrust into all this is Madison Medina, a well meaning woman who's adversarial relationship with The Hawk morphs into a kind of friendship. Madison, in addition to learning more about herself and her abilities, help to reveal deeper problems inside the organization both she and The Hawk work for.
In every workplace there is a person. A person who doesn't talk to anyone, has walled themselves socially, and seems openly hostile to everyone. Every workplace has this person, even if you don't know of such a person, they're there. The Black Robin Christmas Carol is the story of one of these people. It delves into who this person is, why this person is, and how this person can change for the better.
There is a story. A story of pain, a story of loss, a story of unspeakable horrors, a story that has not been given it's proper attention. Some are ignoring this story. Some are unaware of this story. Some know of this story but are complicit in it's darkness. This is a story that must be told. Told so that the good can stop it and the bad can feel shame for it.
When I thought up thig blog, the name I first thought up was "Random Bullshit". Quickly I recognized that this name would put some people off. Then I thought of the name "Random Bull****". That seemed to be to much clutter. Then I was inspired with the name that dons this blog today.
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