You Are a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed. Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.

Are You a Dumb American?

George Takei responds to Tim Hardaway

Funny video featuring the Star Trek actor here.

Fall Out!

I rented Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz this week because I have fond memories of Super Monkey Ball 2 on Nord's GameCube. I heard reviews that the learning curve was difficult but was better to use the Wii Remote than an analog stick. The reviewers were right on the learning curve. The first world is cake, the second mixes it up, the third starts getting difficult. By the end, it is exceedingly difficult. I don't care for it, but Book Lady seems to be having a blast. I take it she likes the puzzle challenge games. I like knowing a game has the hope of being beaten, and this one has a faint glimmer. The minigames are depressing as well. Most are hit and miss, especially the ones based on real games. The fun ones are the ones they made up. But it's not enough for me to buy it at this time. It is a good rent, though. It gives you something to work on for a week and then get sick of falling into ravines or lava. I plan on picking up Rayman Raving Rabbids this weekend. That is an example of a fun single player with outrageous multiplayer. Super Monkey Ball is good, don't get me wrong. You just have to be determined to enjoy it.

On another note, I borrowed Animal Crossing from Heidi. That's very interesting. It's a good boredom game, but it's not much to watch. It makes people watching it to start playing the Sims 2. I know it's coming out for Wii, it's just a matter of when and what it will do. I would love it if it expanded on your GameCube save game that you may or may not have made. I am afraid that I will rent it and keep getting messages from animals on my Message Board.

STOP Class

Today I had my STOP class to get rid of my citation. It started at 8 and I had a minimal breakfast of juice and water before going in and I felt fine. About an hour in, the instructor starts talking about an accident involving this woman who totaled her car into a house. She got out of the car but didn't really know that she had about a minute to live because she separated her aorta. I'm not a big fan of large quantities of blood as that is one of the things that keeps me from watching horror movies, although Carrie doesn't creep me out because it's so fake. But when I hear extended blood talk that I am unable to ignore, I feel like I become aware of my own blood which is unsettling. The way he's describing it, particularly how after the blood circulates and without an aorta, how the blood "empties into her belly" it makes me a little queasy. Even after he moved on, the images were still in my brain and it made me very woozy and I felt like I overheated and blacked out.

When my vision and hearing returns I am on the ground with very blurred vision and people asking "Are you alright?" I answer I'm fine and realize that I am in fact on the ground. At first I think it's my mind daydreaming playing a trick on me but soon that wears off. They give me my glasses which are very bent and have a drop of blood on them. They ask if I'm epileptic and I say no. I get back on my chair and check my forehead which is bleeding a little bit. I go to the bathroom to clean up and wash myself and I sit down for a few moments. I return and the instructor asks me if I'm fine or if I want to take the class at another time. I say no and I'll manage. It was just very strange to have that happen.

Apparently I looked as though I feel asleep, then fell on the floor. My eyes rolled into my head and the instructor thought I may have been having an epileptic seizure. They rolled me on my back and I came out of it. The last time I blacked out completely was around 8 years ago in church when I overheated. I also lost my vision on Christmas when I ate a really hot piece of food and it lodged itself. All the same I will probably look into it just to make sure I'm OK but I'm hoping it was just a fluke.I did get to joke about it though when he asked when the last time anyone had experienced tunnel vision and I said "About an hour ago." On a positive note, I did pass the test with a happy face and a "Good Job" meaning I missed no questions.

Doom, New Goblin, and Venom

I found a link off digg that has production art of the villans from the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Spider-Man 3. Doom looks interesting and New Goblin and Venom seem to be on track with everything else we've seen.

Check it out here.

**Updated: Thank God the Doom artwork has been confirmed to be fake. The action figure basically looks the same as well so there may or may not be a redesign of the character's appearance.**

Lectures vs. Discussion

I'm taking the History of World Religions. I went in thinking it would be fun to learn about more than I know. But recently, I find it so dull. I think I've narrowed it down. He wants us to read the book and then discuss it. While that's nice and all, it's disappointing because I don't learn that way. When I read a required text, I have to try to figure out what is essential and what's going to be asked. I hate that. There's no narrative to follow or anything so I find myself bored. I prefer lectures. I know many would shoot me for that comment but I am much more attentive plus it gives me something to do in class, take notes. I learn better when I'm taught. I am still the student here. If I wanted a book to teach me, I would've paid for it alone and not pay for the class with attached instructor. I was hoping the person in there would teach me something I didn't know. I don't want to discover the text together. When I took Hickey's Military History class we had to read and discuss. I sucked at that class so bad. But now I'm in his Early National America and it's lecture based and I am enthralled with the topic. It's not that Military History is boring by any means. I just hate reading a text instead of being lectured at. I'm hoping it gets better when we get to the more mainstream religions and I know more. I would drop the class and take up something else later but I already had to choose between this and Renaissance/Reformation and I may be regretting it. Although Renaissance/Reformation has a complete ton of reading. Oh well, it all makes me excited for Greece.

DDR: Hottest Party for Wii

Some information has been released on the new DDR game for the Wii. It looks really interesting. It seems you use the GameCube pads combined with the Wiimote and Nunchuck. The pads record the arrows and there will be symbols for when to shake either the nunchuk or remote. This reminds me of the Rayman "dance" modes and is reminiscent of what they wanted you to do with the EyeToy camera with Extreme on for PS2. I hope this doesn't get too confusing but I'm excited. Plus, you can have up to 4 players at once. Something the Xbox version had on the PS2. It's going to be weird to buy DDR pads again. I haven't done that since 2003. One thing is for sure, you are going to need one large room to fit 4 pads comfortably but it's still freakin' sweet.

For more information on Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party, go here or here.