If you have ever been a fan of the Spider-Man comic books, then you
must be aware of the Gwen Stacy character.  She is one of
Peter Parker's first real love, and in fact they were most likely to
have gotten married, until she died from a confrontation with Norman
Osborn's Green Goblin.  Her death was actually pretty important to
the Marvel Universe, as it showed that a hero's girlfriend can't always
be saved.  Due to her tragic and controversial demise, her
character has grown to be one that a lot of fans cared about. 
Through legend, she was the perfect woman for Peter Parker, which makes
her death even more tragic.

Now in 2004, her history has been brought in question in the storyline
"Sin's past."  Three important events occurred in this storyline;
that I believe hasn't been concluded yet.  One was that Spider-man
is being attacked by a man and a woman who turns out to be Gwen Stacy's
children.  Two was that Mary Jane knew Gwen had kids all this
time, but kept this from Peter.  Three was that the father of the
children turns out to be Norman Osborn himself (which explains the
accelerated growth of the kids)!  For many many fans; including
myself, I was greatly disappointed by this turn of events.  It's
like they destroyed the perfect image of Gwen, and it was uncalled for!
why why why? I don't even read comic books much anymore, and this is
something that's been in my mind the past few months! I'm still in
disbelief that they did this.

But then I read this website...
http://www.spideykicksbutt.com/GreenwithEvil/DeFloweringGwen.html
...and now I more or less accept this addition to Gwen Stacy's history.

"Sin's past" has made me like the character of Gwen Stacy a lot less
now, which is unfortunate, but I suppose I can live with it.  As
for Mary Jane, she gained a lot more points in my eyes as Peter's true
love. Maybe that was part of the reason they did this, since they
couldn't possibly put Gwen in the current live-action movies. It's all
evil I tell you, EVIL.

I suppose that she will always be the representation of the pure love that was lost and never to be.

batman begins international teaser poster

Miracle Random

Bush arrested for War Crimes! (link)

brain electrodes helps patients play video games (link)

skateboard jump (video)

dance dance resurrection (link)

speed demos archive (videos)

the cereal restaurant (link)

women starting cars (video)

grammy awards nominees (link)

awkward much? (video)

naked melee armageddon (flash game)

band name origins (link)

get your beer logos (pics)

reflex (flash game)

girl drinking fun (video)

----- which Halo 2 character are you? -----

"Dimebag Darrell killed in concert shooting"
http://www.nbc4i.com/news/3983630/detail.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story

If you don't know who he is, Dimebag was the guitarist from the Metal
band Pantera.  Pantera's lead singer; Phil Anselmo, decided that
he wanted to do his own project and in the process broke up the
band.  Dimebag and his brother Vinnie (drummer for Pantera) then
formed the band "damageplan."

Now, the whole break up of Pantera caused a lot of their die-hard fans
to really feel rejected, shocked, and betrayed.  Fingers were
pointed to each member as who was really at fault for the break
up.  So now this resulted with some freakin fanatic who because he
can't get over this fact, decides to shoot Dimebag while he was
performing. 

Here's a statement from somebody who was actually there, posted on a forum.

"i was up close to the stage on the side where DBD was playing.... then
i saw the guy jump out of the crwod onto the stage... he was yelling
something about how "you broke up pantera.... you ruined my life....
what about phil??? he needs heroin money..." or something like that
then i saw the gun and he shot DBD right in the head... when DBD went
down he kept shooting... then he turned around for bobzilla then
vinnie... teh hole time i thought it was part of the show... i had
blood on me i was so close... i'm still freakin' out here...

after he turned around and kept shooting i was gone... i swear i almost
crapped my pants... it was ####' crazy as ####... people were totally
messed up outside... i was standing next to this one chick and she was
crying and couldn't stop... she fell on the ground and it was like she
was possesed or something... dude it was so kayotic its not even
funny... the cops showed up and then people started sayin' that DBD was
killed... then people started freaking out even more..."

This is ridiculous!  Things like these don't usually happen in a metal concert, so this is absolutely shocking to me.

With the release of the Ultimate Matrix collection on DVD, I thought I'd say my piece about this trilogy. 

For everybody concerned, the first Matrix movie is considered well
loved and respected by many.  It featured a sci-fi anime
cyber-punk comic-book stylized storyline about the meaning of life and
existence that speaks volumes to a person's perception and
psyche.  It also featured awesome CG a la "Bullet Time," that will
go on to be one of the most imitated piece of special effects for years
to come.  It used Hong Kong Martial Arts cinema to great use with
the excellent fight sequences.  Finally, what I think was the most
important reason why the first Matrix movie is so well remembered and
loved; it had quotes and scenes that are quite memorable. 

Now contrast that to the sequels (reloaded & revolutions), while
featuring similar aspects to the first movie, turned out to be totally
different.  Not only that, but a lot of fans hated them.  The
storyline for one thing got really convoluted with high philosophical
overtones that almost verged to pretentiousness.  The CG while
technically better than the first movie, weren't as astounding as the
first introduction of "bullet-time" to many.  The "wire-fu" also
carried on with the sequels, but the fights lost the "oomph" factor of
first seeing non-asians remarkably doing Hong Kong martial arts is
gone. The quotes aren't as quotable as the first, and the scenes seems
a little more "forced" than before.  But did that really mean that
the sequels
were altogether bad? 

Dig deeper and you will see that it really isn't the case....

When I first saw the Matrix, I honestly wasn't that WOWED as a lot of
people seemed to be.  Although I was a fan that admired and respected
what the Wachowski Brothers had done, I had my problems with it. 
I did in fact get a "been there done that" feel to the storyline which
diminised my enthusiasm for the material.  It's not entirely the
film's faults, since it is more or less a universal storyline that is
spawned from comic books, sciece fiction, cyber punk, martial arts, gun
actioners, and anime.  So "been there, done that" but in a cool
live-action showcase.  Can't fault it too much.  But with
that in mind, I didn't buy into the hype of the sequels, and lowered my
expectations. 

After watching the sequels, my apathy to the Matrix universe completed
turned into amazement.  Clearly, this story is a lot bigger than I
imagined it would be and I LOVED it. The sequels introduced many things
about the Matrix story that greatly emphasized on the original idea,
and I really appreciated them for that.  This truly was not a
simple sci-fi action franchise, but one that challenges you to be
engulfed in it.  The reason for that is the directing.  This
time around, the Wachowski brothers decided to add a huge dose of
Japanese cinema in their directing style.  What that means is that
many things will be presented to you on screen, but nothing will be
literally explained. Facts about the storyline are flooded out of the
screen, and you may not even know it.  It'll get you to think
about why something is the way it is, and keep you thinking.

But that's just it. The sequels were directed in such an odd way, with
it's philosophical banters and it's unorthodox pacing in the action
sequences, that it alienated the original fans.  It can be argued
that the Brothers wrote TOO MUCH into the sequels that they forgot how
to make a "proper" movie.  "They were just making things up as
they went along," some would say.  I don't blame the negativity,
because the sequels really aren't the kind of movie that will please
everyone.  But then, those kinds of movies are usually the ones I
end up really liking. Another problem is that after four years
in-between the original and the sequels, a lot of fans ended up hyping
up their "own vision" of what the sequels should have been, and most
likely ended up disappointed that it wasn't what they had in
mind (kinda like the Star Wars prequels).  For that, I can blame them for their negativity.

You know how there is the Animal Planet cable channel? What comes to
mind when you think of that channel? Cute cuddly pets and animals that
make you go aawwwww?  Maybe.  For me on the other hand it
gives me nightmares of animals getting abused.  The reason for
that is because every time I seem to channel surf to that network, all
I get are shows that focus on animal cruelty and abuse.  It's all
about "oh, we have to rescue this animal from their cruel
owners."  Sure there's almost always a happy ending to these
shows, but still.... I can only take the "oohh, the poor doggie"
stories so much. That channel is BANNED!

Random vertigo

this place is for bikes! (video)

the Toyota i-foot and i-unit (pics)

problem solving flow-chart (pic)

Batman Begins teaser poster (pic)

curveball (flash game)

plumbing with pride (pic)

hooters look isn't exclusive (link)

uuhhmm that's not a phone (video)

Santa on Skis (flash game)

white boy can dunk (video)

aliens made me drive too fast (link)

barbie girl dancer (video)

so what are those processes running the background for? (link)

the funniest jokes from the UK? (link)

You know, as some of you guys know, I've always been a little weary
about doing those MMORPGS. My primary reason would be the "I don't have
time for that" aspect, and the "what's the point" excuse.  I see
them as games where you get to live a "virtual life" and quite
honestly... I don't have time for that.

I can't believe I'm still playing this game...

Random's coming home again

2005 movies for all nerds and geeks (link)

breakthrough vaccine against HIV (link)

yale students perform prank (link)

road rage flip book (link)

McRorie One Man Live (video)

the AOL throne (link)

Fembot PC ERN002-PC - Maya (pics)

boobies for peace (flash)

play space doctor (flash game)

aerial photography from RC planes (pics)

spongenapped! (video)

the Miss Prison contest (pics)

angry alien productions (flash)

Local H does cover of Britney's Toxic (mp3)

Now that we're all getting to be old-foggies (I keed I keed) there is
one thing that I've been noticing with a lot of people lately when it
comes to gifts.  Instead of actually wanting a particular item, a
popular request would be to get a gift certificate instead.  Now
why do you think that is? 

The two reasons that I could probably think of are...
1) The person has most everything they really want.  At least a
gift certificate will provide a money alternative in the near future.
Giving money as a gift has gotten passe, so gift certificates are a
good alternative.
2) The person would rather not get a gift that they wouldn't
like.  Requesting a gift certificate eliminates that problem,
since they can just buy whatever they really want with it.

...and then I look at the wish list I made...

One thing about gift certificates though, is that you don't get to see those nice boxes under the Christmas tree.