Blocked Websites and the Problem with Restrictions

If you're a teenager and you go to high school, elementary school or middle school, or any other kind of school that you're not directly paying for, you probably know that websites have blocks. In my country, it's Bess Block. It sounds like Best Block, but it's not and it's probably the worst restriction ever. All of the blocks have to be manually submitted and reviewed before they're blocked or approved to be unblocked. It's not like the program filters out certain search results or blocks contents based on parameters that have been set. For the longest time, What Would Tyler Durden Do, a very raunchy and NSFW celebrity gossip website, was unblocked until a student was caught on it. Similarly, a popular site in my school is just a hastily-slapped-together web page that walks like a research database, but is actually a ton of flash games if you take the time to scroll down.

My question to things like Bess Block is, what's the point? The idea of it is good. Guide students away from games and motivate them to get thewir work done efficiently and on time. The inherent problem with trying to block anything or restrict students, especially teenagers, is that they'll feel driven to try and get around this block. We, the teenagers, absolutely hate being told no. If you tell us not to drink or smoke or have sex, we'll try our hardest to do all of those things. If you tell us not to play games on the internet, we will. There are a hundred ways to get around the website blocks, and more are popping up all of the time.

Usually, getting work done is a priority for me. When I'm trying to find pictures for a project or research someone famous, like a philosopher or a war hero, some teacher somewhere has decided that this website is unsafe. Well, this leads me to get angry and then to play games on a site that I know isn't blocked. They wanna see an animal, then I'll shit on the floor!

This is a terrible way to go about it. If you look elsewhere, like the world of gaming, you can see the same thing happening with PC games. Developers and publishers are so worried about people stealing their product that they slap on super-strict DRM which ends up messing up gameplay for the people who bought it legitimately. Instead of trying to find a way to encourage people to buy games instead of pirate, or to do their work instead of play games, they try to grab us by the collar and sit us down and force us to do things their way.

It doesn't work. Either have a full, functional and sophisticated blocking system (or DRM) or don't have it at all. We don't like being pushed around, and the stupid attempts being made by schools and developers to stop it isn't helping at all.

EDIT: Tyler Durden is still up. Someone unblocked it. Oh Bess Block, you suck.

Alien Banners and the Killing of Spare Time


All of my loyal, fanatic readers may have noticed something is a bit off. Did I get a new, worse air freshener? Did I change the carpet? Or is this new, shiny blog simply losing its beautiful, illustrious shine? Well, if you really were loyal and fanatic, you'd notice that THERE'S A NEW HEADER! Huge thanks goes out to my buddy Ryan for making this awesome, awesome banner. He also has a blog and I'd fucking love to link to it, but the internet doesn't want the page to load, so I'll edit that in when it comes back up. It's called The Mixed Drink Rant, so google that shit and take a peek.

Second things second. When it comes to spare time, I have absolutely none at the moment. I'm cutting into my fantastic dinner to write this, and God has seen fit to bestow upon me the wonderful gift of being able to hammer out blog posts really quickly. (Not actually religious, btw)

Between all of this stupid, time-consuming school and this exhausting, exhausting play, I don't have much free time at all. So if, for the next few days, you come here and there are no new posts, fret not. I live still, but I just can't get anything done.

Once again, big thanks to my buddy for the banner. And the blog link is coming soon!

EDIT: Here's the link, if you decided Googling was too hard. Enjoy!

Death and Things That are Important


Have you done anything recently? And I mean really done something. Not just go to school for a week straight, or finish all of your homework, because that's stuff you have to do. What about stuff you don't need to do? Anything like volunteering, extra-cirricular activities, spending time with your parents or friends. Something more than what you are required to do.

For the past few months, I've been all wrapped up in a play called 'Death', by Woody Allen. Drama has always been something I've enjoyed taking part in, so it seemed like an easy decision to sign up. Everything started out well. We did a read-through, everyone had their parts and we were working on memorizing our lines. Due to complications, one of our cast members had to leave and parts (including mine) were shuffled around. A bunch of the male talent started out from nothing. And then people stopped showing up, only coming once every few weeks. We had five snow days, then, and missed out on a bunch of practices. We didn't have our set. Costumes weren't done. We were weeks and weeks behind.

While trying my hardest to keep positive and keep attending the rehearsals, my friends and I couldn't help but feel that we were doomed. This was to be performed in a month, and we had nothing done, and then performed again for the Sears Drama Festival, where we'd be judged and rated. How embarrassing would it be to be the worst of three or four participating schools? Joining this play was something I was beginning to regret. Come the night of the first performance for parents and loved ones, we hadn't had a single perfect rehearsal of the play.

And we nailed it.

I've done two performances of the play since then, and each time it gets better than the last. Through all of the stress, bad rehearsals, missing cast and re-purposed props, the spirit of our crew and team shine through and we get better. Joining this play is one of the best things I've done in my high school career, even if it is an extra workload. At the end of each performance, when I look at my team, all of their faces are lit up with a smile. We can't help it.

So, what are you waiting for? Get into something. As cliche as it sounds, you'll have the time of your life.

Podcasts and Silly Names Therein


I don't know about anyone else, but I'm under the impression that podcasts are just the best. Long, in-depth discussions and videos that allow people to see and hear why and how things work are, simply put, absolutely fascinating to me. I used to be really antsy when it came to the internet (I blame that on gamer-ADD), but now there's nothing I love more than sitting down for an hour or so and sinking my teeth into a meaty podcast. To me, they're just the bomb.

Hey, speaking of 'the bomb', I've been sitting down and sinking my teeth into a lot of Giant Bomb's awesome, awesome bombcasts (it's a silly name for podcast!), mailbags, quick looks and such. Maybe you know Giant Bomb, maybe you don't, but there's no doubt that it's infinitely better than the creator's original venture. Ryan Davis, formerly of IGN, was fired for some reason that isn't officially stated but the generally accepted reason is that he gave a bad review to Kane and Shit- er, Kane and Lynch, and IGN didn't like that.

Something I've really grown to love about Giant Bomb, and something that's kept me coming back, time and time again, is the sense of comradrie between all of the guys who work there. It's normal for guys to get together and laugh during a podcast, but almost all of the features on the site show these guys getting along spectacularly whilst also doing their jobs. Whether it's the staff opening a massive box of twinkies, or two of the staff sitting down and playing a game (not dissimilar to an LP), the videos are always rife with laughter and fun and everyone is having a great time.

Does that not seem like a dream job to you, if you game? Sitting in a gamer cave-a basement complete with a shit-ton of big tvs, a green screen, high-end computers and a bunch of posters and merchandise- with all of your friends, making videos of yourselves opening fan mail or getting drunk at the bar that you also have?

Oh yeah, they have a bar.

This post is dedicated to everyone who wants to do that for a living. If I could work with my friends playing videogames and going to a bunch of gaming conventions throughout the year, well gee, I couldn't be happier.

127 Hours Passed in 127 Seconds


127 Hours is another brilliant movie that passed me by because it wasn't in theaters until after it had been nominated. I had heard about it before it was released, and I was, to say the least, extremely excited to see it. Being trapped somewhere, hopeless and desperate is something that is something of a nightmare to me. A truly great movie has two things: character development and mental connection. Good movies might have just one, like Die Hard (who doesn't want to be a terrorist kicker-asser?), but to be great you have to have both. That's something that 127 Hours accomplishes, seemingly, without effort.

From the get-go, the movie faces a massive challenge, and that challenge is holding your interest. The ending is well-known (though if you don't know it, I won't say it here), and that's something I kept in mind going in. The middle is often the most difficult part of a story to tell, but 127 Hours is all middle. It wastes no time setting up the situation, but the opening is extremely different than you might expect, which is a great move by the director to grab your attention. He then meets two girls in his travels, and his interaction with these two ladies sets up his personality and shows you how he is in the moment. Fun-loving, laid-back, easygoing and easy to get along with, but earlier scenarios set up that he is afraid of commitment and closed-off. In fifteen minutes, we have a solid ground for the middle.

And then it gets to the meat. He falls into a hole, his arm is trapped in a rock. At first, the movie concentrates on the hopelessness and isolation. As he screams for help, the camera zooms out to show the landscape: a barren, desolate valley, with not a single soul around. The rest of the movie centers on his emotional revelations, and his realization of why he is the way he is.

I am not an easy man to make cry, but every single twist of fate, every single turn of the tables, every little event and glimmer or hope and condemnation had an effect on me. There isn't an event in this movie that is wasted. If not for my girlfriend being beside me, there would have been two separate occasions where I would have cried: once out of pure happiness for the guy, and once out of sadness, during his revelations. In no small part, this is thanks to James Franco's absolutely stunning performance. He swings from happy-go-lucky cool guy to brink-of-insanity and then comes around for a side of soul-searching. He cycles through so many realistic emotions that it's hard not to become mentally invested in him.

In closing, all I have to say is that more happens in 127 Hours, a movie all about someone trapped in a crack in the earth, than in any movie I can think of. The emotional journey that James Franco takes us through is, all at once, touching and revolting. Sometimes, 127 Hours is painful to watch, but I admire a movie that isn't afraid to make you cringe. This is a movie that, amidst the bland action movies, is like a splash of cold water to the face. It jerks you out of a trance, grabs you by the collar and pulls you through a riveting and beautiful tale of human perseverance. You will walk out of 127 Hours with a new appreciation for your life and those around you.

Brilliance in Movie Form


I remember, a year ago, seeing trailers for The Social Network run before other movies played. The movie theater was awash in a giant, collective sigh. Really, a movie based on Facebook? There could really be no worse idea. Yeah, so what, it's a social networking site, big deal. I proceeded to not think about the movie right up until it was nominated for 6 Golden Globes and 8 Academy awards. I was blown away at how this movie had gotten such glowing reviews, and I resolved to see it for myself.

Upon watching it, I was completely blown away. While I had written this movie off as a crappy Facebook movie, Now I can clearly see that it's not so much about Facebook as it is about the creators of Facebook. What The Social Network does, and what so many movies year after year fail to do, is create rich, human characters that you feel for. Mark Zuckerberg's character, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is generally portrayed as a smart-ass prick without emotions, and Eduardo Saverin (played by the amazingly talented Andrew Garfield), but Zuckerberg's humanity shows through during the court cases, where his silence portrays the pain that he feels for betraying his friend.

On the topic of Andrew Garfield, his performance as Eduardo Saverin is nothing short of absolutely sensational. In a movie full of hackers and asshole entrepreneurs, Garfield is the only character who is truly and completely human. He starts out as a hopeful and helpful best friend to Zuckerberg, and the movie ups the tension when Sean Parker (portrayed by Justin Timberlake) is introduced, and the differences between Sean and Eduardo ultimately lead Eduardo to sue Zuckerberg.

The way the movie is directed and edited is nothing short of fantastic. The movie could easily have been a complete bore to watch and waste of two and a half hours, but thanks to David Fincher's unique and almost eclectic directing style as well as music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, the movie manages to make a rowboat race and a dinner conversation edge-of-your-seat thrill-rides.

Of all of the movies I've seen, especially in the past few years, The Social Network ranks in the the top 3. If you're only going to see one movie for the rest of the year, I'd recommend this be the one. And certainly don't let yourself miss this amazing movie.

Today's Cool Things


As of today, I am going to start weekly updates of what I'm doing, what I have done, or what I think is cool. This is to get me writing and to (hopefully) keep (both of) you interested. I'll try to make it accessible (like not talking about the new gear I picked up in World of Warcraft) and whatnot. And let's start today with something I think we can all agree is straight-up goddamn awesome.

Savings.

A lot of companies that sell cables are very big on touting how amazing they are, saying that their digital signal is the best around, and that gold-plated connectors help signal and make everything about it a million billion times more awesome. Wanna hear something great? IT DOESN'T. At all. With cables, it either works completely or it doesn't at all, like how a computer charging cable will continue to provide power until it's fully out of the socket.

Next time you see an HDMI cable for $70 (some even go for over $100 per foot- holy fuck!), say no to that BS and make a trip over to Walk-mart. They have HDMI cables, and probably a lot of other cables, for not a whole lot of money. That's the thing you want to go for, not the Hell-powered diamond-plated thirty foot cable with signal boosters every inch. It doesn't make a lick 'o' difference.

Save yourself some cash. Don't buy expensive cables.

Hot Topic: UBB


UBB. Usage-based billing. This is something that internet service providers are going to start implementing. When I heard about this, I sort of blew it off. But then I started to think about how unfair it is. my family pays for 60 GB of internet per month. Do we use all of it? No, but we use more than 25 GB. It does what it needs to, it supports what we do, and we can afford it. I use Steam, so I have to purchase and download games. My mom watches a lot of YouTube, I torrent. But as of March 1st, anything over 25 GB will run you $2. Yeah, two dollars to transmit data, which costs nearly nothing. And even if you don't surpass your 25 GB limit, you still have to pay the full price of the bill.

I can't say anything that this awesome anti-UBB site doesn't already say. It's amazingly worded and points out every single flaw with this disgusting limit imposed on us. I can't stress enough that you need to get this out. Tell everyone, show them this website, and do everything you can to oppose the UBB. The movement is massive, and we need every single bit of help we can get to defend our rights to what we're paying for. Seriously, this isn't a joking matter. We all need to pitch in.