Obama-Biden 08!

Wow that was a long speech. I don't know how politicians do it, but Barack Obama, president of the US in just a couple of months, just spent about an hour delivering one hell of an acceptance speech.

Pundits wondered if his speech could top his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when John Kerry was officially awarded the nomination. Anyways, as one can assume, Obama's speech talked mostly about his family's struggles when he was a child, how he overcame poverty and all that to be the man he is today.

Compelling stuff, but most of us that have been following the election have been hearing the same things for about eight months. Regardless, it was very cool seeing him deliver the acceptance speech, with over 80,000 people watching at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Must've been a shitload of security there.

Another point that Obama kept driving in is that voting for John McCain would be voting for another term of Bush-Cheney, because they share similar, if not identical, views on almost everything. He then stated "eight is enough," meaning that eight years is enough suffering, and Americnas don't deserve anymore of the same kind of politicians running their country. This sent the crowd into furious repetitive chants of that phrase, "eight is enough!" There were actually an insane amount of standing ovations and cheers from the crowd, not an irregular occurrence at an Obama speech.

It seems like Obama will make a great president, and Senator Joe Biden a great vice, even though I have no American citizenship, I look forward to eight (not only four) years of the most powerful country in the world being run by someone that actually knows how to run a country.

If you are American and you're reading this, you know what to do.

Let Yourself Get Sucked In

Remember when I said I'd write every day? So do I, and I'm sorry to say that I've made that promise many times before, each time eventually failing to keep the blog going after a couple of posts.

A week alter, I've realized that to accomplish my goal, I must keep writing, regardless of my mood. I just finished watching my 34th episode of Heroes in the past two weeks or so. I bought the second season on DVD yesterday, and just finished it tonight. I guess that's what happens when you lack the kind of social life that involves you having plans in the middle of the week. What can I say, I was bored, and watching an episode of Heroes is like eating a Baked Lay. Betcha' can't watch just one.

Through the show's critically acclaimed two seasons, (it's already won 15 awards,) a group of ordinary people with extraordinary abilities (one of the tag lines,) have come to find each other. Many are related, many are good looking, and some are even evil. I'm not going to get into too much plot details just yet because I don't want to spoil it for newcomers, but if you have never watched the show, you must start now.

There are 23 first season episodes, and 11 from the second season. Season three starts Monday, September 22nd, so that gives you about 26 days to watch 34 episodes. There is nothing more excited than theorizing about people and events form this show, but ti's hard to say too much without giving anything away.

Anyways, I strongly encourage you to get into the show if you haven't already, because you're missing out. One warning though; after a couple of episodes, this show will consume your soul and not let you off until you've seen it all.

PS. The show is also filled with extremely good looking women, including Hayden Panettiere, Kristen Bell, and Ali Larter. So watching the show is nice on the eyes too.

Hot Rod Sucks

Just got home from watching the movie at a friend's house, and it might be the stupidest thing I've ever seen. It's pretty much a dumb SNL skit stretched out to a full-length feature. The plot is that Andy Samberg plays a guy raising money as a stuntman to get his step-dad a new heart. Cute eh? He's doing this so his step-dad could get healthy enough that Samberg's character, Rod, could beat the shit out of him and earn his respect.

The movie was so insanely random, that towards the end a man dressed as Ebeneezer Scrooge pops out of a school bus chanting "roast ducks! roast ducks for everyone!" for no apparent reason. At least the movie features the always hilarious Bill Hader as one of his stunt team crew members, and the guy that plays Red in Pineapple Express as another, along with the insanely attractive Isla Fischer (redhead girl form Wedding Crashers, married to Ali G.)

Anyways I just needed to vent about how stupid the movie was, even if it did provide a couple of laughs.

Good Night.

The Beauty of The Classics

In the new Millennium, we've fallen into a new age of technology. Games are becoming more realistic, Movies are becoming more visually pleasing, and even musicians are inventing new sounds. When it comes down to it though, nothing is better than the classics, the things that started it all.

I say this as I listen to a song that was released in 1969 (Communication Breakdown), playing a computer game that was created IN 1995, a while ago in the virtual world (Civilaztion II.) And wearing on my feet what has not been fashionable for hundreds of years, (nothing.) Basically, what motivated me to write this post, other than the fact I just wrote one, was how much pleasure I'm getting out of this stupid video game.

Civilization II was created 13 years ago, when all computer games were very basic. I played Madden 09 for 360 yesterday, and almost sharted because of how realistic it was. But realism is not always the best option. The point of Civi is two maneuver a civilization of your choice form birth to the end of the world. You start of with one "Settler," who must build a city, where more settlers, warriors, and other units can be created. Every so often your scientists ask you what technological advance they should research, like writing, bridge building, or even chemistry.

The more you develop, the more things you cna do, and the more options you have to do anything really. As of now I've started a new civilization called "The Gurus," with their Capital city of Montreal. I'm at war with the Russians and the Japanese, and the Russians just ransacked and conquered the city of Cote-St-Luc, leaving only the cities of Hampstead and Westmount, and very little military units, to defend myself. It may not sound very exciting, but even though games 1000 times more advanced do exist, nothing beats the pleasure one cna gain form an old classic like Civi II.


Till next time,

- Jamie


Civi Update 1: Just a funny note, I'm still playing Civi, and the French (one of the other Civilizations in the game,) have just taken control of Montreal. Cute eh? (Posted at 9:00 pm)

Civi Update 2: That was fast. It's only 9:05 and the Russians just broke our cease fire and pillaged the city of New CSL. All that's left now is Hampstead and westmount. Shit.

Civi Update 3: Wow I really did not plan this out well. It's 9:09, and the newly created city Pleasenokillme, just got captured by the Barbarians. My alliance with the Japanese is still strong, but useless, and with the French, Russians, and Barbarians all on the same landmass as me, I'm essentially fucked. Oh well.

Civi Update 4: 9:14, the French just cpatured Westmount, leaving me with only one city left. sucks.

Civi Update 5: 9:18, and the English have just captured Hampstead, destroying the Guru civilization.

That might've been the fastest game I've ever played, but ti was still fun. Anyways I'm out but remember to keep checking back for more posts, or subscribe to my RSS feed.

It's About F&*%$@g Time!

This has taken too long. I've procrastinated for months now, putting off writing more for this blog. It started off as occasional writing, and now I don't even write at all. So on that note, I'm announcing the resurrection of The Blender.

The Blender, which was written most frequently this March, had a brief uprising in May before it's death. Now, with the school year starting and more motivation as ever, this blog will start actually becoming what it should be, a blog. Daily postings talking about anything from sports, to politics, to world news and more, will be posted, as well as new kinds of features which will be revealed soon.

And the beauty of it, for me at least, is that I'm killing two birds with one metaphorical stone. By writing this blog I allow myself to improve my writing, (because "practice makes perfect,") and hopefully give my readers, however few they may be, a chance to inform and enjoy themselves.

And with that I'm off, don't forget to check back often.