Aurora, CO

I got a phone call earlier today from my mother.

"I'm sure you've seen the news, about what happened in Colorado at the Batman movie.  I wanted to get your thoughts on why this guy did what he did, since they're saying the movie influenced him and you know more about those movies."

The funny thing is...I was prepared with an answer.

The news of what happened in Aurora hit me while I was at work.  At around 4:30 in the morning, my coworker put on CNN; I had my back to the TV at first, but that quickly changed once I started hearing words like "multiple gunshots," "panic" and "confirmed dead."  By now I'm sure that I don't have to go into specifics about what happened since every news outlet has been focused on this story since it broke.  What I want to do instead is just share my own thoughts on the media speculation on why this man did what he did.

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"With respect, Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man that you don't fully understand...some men aren't looking for anything logical...they can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with.  Some men just want to watch the world burn." - Alfred Pennyworth, The Dark Knight
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 It was that exact quote that went through my head upon hearing the first reporter talk about motives.  This attack has shown that not only was this fully planned out, but the man responsible wanted to be captured and wanted police to search his apartment.  Why and for what reason we may never know.  But why do we need to know?  What does that solve?  The thing is, every single time something like this happens, people need to know what the reason is - what is the meaning, the symbolism behind this event?  They feel that it will help them grasp the situation better and somehow make it more rational.  In the long run though, it only serves to alter freedoms of people that were not even victimized by this crime.

For example, AMC Theaters have already begun to deny costumed patrons entry into their theaters.  This was within the span of 12 hours after the shootings took place.  In the same article I read, there were mentions of increased police presence at cinemas.

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"Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets...you know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan," even if the plan is horrifying.  If tomorrow I tell the press that a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics.  Because it's all "part of the plan."  But when I say that one, little old mayor will die...well then everyone loses their minds!   Introduce a little anarchy.  Upset the established order, and everything becomes...chaos." - Joker, The Dark Knight
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 The fact of the matter is that we'll probably never know why he did this.  Oh sure, we might get the usual, "Well, the movies clearly influenced his actions," argument; frankly, I'm surprised we haven't had a dose of, "It's because of Doom/Halo/Call of Duty/video games in general," yet.  Do I think that The Dark Knight had a major influence on this guy?  If you've been paying attention to the quotes I've posted, then you should have your answer by now.  But do I think that's an adequate reason for his actions?  Absolutely not.  The man had something else going on inside of his clearly gifted brain; whether it was emotions gone awry, psychological trauma or mental illness is yet to be seen.  For now though, we just have Anderson Cooper and company speculating and dragging witnesses and victims in front of the camera asking for their take in true media fashion.  The point is, we can't let this persons actions turn the "established order" into "chaos."  Giving into the panic of trying to find a motive only serves to make these actions valid in his eyes.

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 "You don't want to die, but you don't know how to take a life...give it to me, and I'll do what you should've done ten minutes ago." - Big, burly inmate, The Dark Knight
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So...instead of watching the coverage on the news, I'm choosing to do what that big, burly inmate did towards the end of The Dark Knight - toss the detonator that is this event out the window, and sit back down.  What's happened has happened, and I choose to not give into fear purveyed by what I feel is the attempted recreation of a character based on a character in a comic book.  I'm going to keep on going to movies, I'm going to keep on enjoying violent content and I'm damn sure still going to see The Dark Knight Rises.  But above all I'm going to keep realizing that just because the media tells you that a motive hasn't been figured out yet, it still doesn't change the fact that 12 people are dead on account of some crazy asshole that doesn't need me wasting thought on or wasting airtime of news networks.

Band of Gold

The air needs to be cleared once and for all.  Your issue isn’t with gay marriage.  It’s with gays.  Period.

The sooner you all admit this, the sooner we can all get back to reality.

If you need some elaboration, then I would be more than happy to oblige.

For years the central argument by Christian conservatives against gays getting married has been this notion that marriage is sacred, and that to allow people of the same sex to get married would tarnish or destroy the sacredness of such a thing.  Even now, as of May 2012, this still holds as the main reason for these folks to continue to rally against basic human rights.  And yet, here I am today finally saying to these people, “You are so full of shit.”

Four Months In...

Here we are. April.

Well, that didn't take long.

So remember what I said in January? It sounded like a good idea at the time. The problem though is that life always loves to throw curveballs. First, there were the issues my wife was dealing with; and then came my own problems.

The long story short is that come Monday (yes, this Monday) I will be having surgery performed on me to remove a large mass from under my chin. Thankfully it's a cyst and not some type of tumor, but nonetheless, I'm going in for surgery. And it scares the hell out of me. At least, it did; during these past few days, I've become more comfortable with the thought of it. However, because of the amount of time it has taken to get so many tests performed and visit with an assortment of doctors, I haven't read much besides that old stand-by: the internet. There were books planned out, they were right in front of me, but in the end who the hell wants to read when they're unsure of what lingers beneath the skin of their chinny chin-chin?

Now the problem is where I go from here. There's always the possibility of setting a new start date, but I think the most important aspect of this resolution wasn't so much to adhere to deadlines. It was to get me to read more. So with that in mind, I think what I'll do instead is just read. Read and give my thoughts on what I've read if it's at least interesting enough. As far as video games are concerned, well...that resolution got shot, too. Granted, I've cooled off on buying things on a near weekly basis, and most of what I've purchased has been at a good discount (seriously, who can pass up a Nintendo 3DS game for $2.47 brand new?).

So, the resolutions have been broken. Now if only someone can fix the way the year has been going so far.

Updating

Well, who could've seen this coming?

My first entries for both INSERT COIN and Booked Solid were scheduled to be up by now. Then life hit. Big time. To make a long story short, January was just awful for the wife and I (well...more so for the wife). I did have a book planned out and had games to talk about but little to no time or drive to do so.

With that out of the way, let's talk about what's going to happen next. January's book is now going to be February's book, which I plan on starting this week; it's kind of short, but it's one I've been very interested in reading for a while. As for the games...well, there will be talk about what I've been playing for the last few weeks as well as an RPG I started just an hour ago that I'll be playing routinely until it's complete.

Thanks for understanding, and hope to have something for you soon.

WELCO METOT HENEX TYEAR

Well, well...2012. This year means a few different things for myself: 10 years since graduating high school, the whole "end of the world" craziness, another 3 years until Marty McFly goes back and buys a sports almanac that fucks with the space-time continuum. However, this also marks the start of an interesting "experiment" of mine; folks call these "New Years Resolutions," usually. To me this is going to be an endurance trial. For you see, my main resolution this year is to stop purchasing video games.

This includes every type of video game-related thing across the board: physical media (disc, cartridge), digital media, consoles, accessories, DLC...the whole shebang. If it's something I have to pay for, it's forbidden.

As a result of this resolution, I was able to set forth some other resolutions that I hope to accomplish as a result. For example, tackle the backlog of games that I already own; there are so many things I've purchased that I've either barely played or haven't played at all. Coincidentally, this ties in with another resolution - to blog a lot more than I have. Tonight, I formally announce a monthly feature here on One Man's Whatever: INSERT COIN, a look at a game or games from my collection that I managed to play in each month.

Not much of a game fan? Well then, hold onto your hats...I'm also announcing another feature for the site that also ties into another resolution: Booked Solid. Each month, I'll read a book and post my thoughts and feelings on it.

Of course there will also be random posts to the site throughout the year whenever the feeling catches me. Everything new will be posted to my Facebook account for easy access.

To anyone and everyone that reads this, I thank you for taking the time to read my crap. I wish you all the best in this new year, and ask you to please look forward to what I've got coming.

WARNING: Rant, Ahoy

Lately I've been going through some internal reflection. For the most part, this is due to my job; for well over a year now, I've worked to the best of my ability and managed to continue living despite working very unusual hours (by typical standards, anyway). Even though I show up on time, do my best and eventually leave, I feel as if it's all for naught.

I graduated from college with the degree I gained for a rather simple reason: to help those who need it both mentally and physically, and to hopefully one day make a difference in someones life. This required classes in psychology as well as human development; I graduated in 2008.

Here it is, the year 2011, and I have a job in the human services field. Only I have no use for my college degree with this job; if anything, what I needed was a degree in patience for both those with disabilities and those with little to no common sense.

We Never Talk Anymore

Hey there. How's it going?

It's around 3AM and I'm up and about, so I figured it's probably best to blog. I mean, why not, right? That's what normal people do. I guess. Shut up.

Anyway...I haven't been making any posts lately; there's a pretty good reason for this somewhere in my mind but the bottom line is, I'm lazy as shit. Inspiration to write has been lacking for a while, as well. I can't really put my finger on why this is; there's just been a dry spell that I can't seem to get past. There's no doubt in my mind that this is a passing phase because writing is what I dig. With other interests in my life, I find that sometimes a major downtime is needed to keep things fresh. Is that downtime coming to an end? I kind of hope so. But I honestly don't know.

So with that, I'm just going to say that yes, I fully intend to keep this going and that it might just take a little while longer for me to get back in the swing of things. I've got some ideas for regular features which might make things interesting, so please stay tuned.

G'night, kids.