Friday, February 7, 2014

WORD OF THE DAY! 2/7/14!

debate [deb-ehyt]
noun
1. A discussion involving opposed viewpoints.
2. A formal contest between opposing viewpoints on a subject.
3. A deliberation.
verb
4. To take part in a discussion or formal contest of opinions.
5. To deliberate.

EX. I struggled with the decision to post this debate, as there is plenty of discussion before and after about whether it would or could have any sort of positive outcome given that, for example, much if not all of the ad revenue for the debate will go towards funding the Creationist Museum and that it might legitimize the option of Ham's Young Earth Creationism by putting it up against evolution, but the in the end, I think that it is a good debate and should be shared with more people.

While it may not change anyone's mind or end the debate about creationism and evolution, it does serve as a platform for us to discuss this subject. Personally, I applaud any chance to get people listening to ideas, thinking about them, and talking about them with others. This sort of discussion, in my opinion as a skeptic & agnostic atheist (meaning "I don't believe in the supernatural, because I have never witnessed any evidence that the supernatural exists, but I cannot know with full certainty that the supernatural doesn't exist"), will lead to people seeking more information to form and adjust their own conclusions and held-beliefs about the world and universe we live in.

I think the debate was fairly interesting and, while many people may have already heard both side's arguments before, I had not heard everything discussed or thought about everything discussed. I learned a lot about Ham's Young Earth Creationism, a belief held by many in the world but especially by fundamentalist Christians in the United States that the world was quite literally created by god around 6,000 years ago and then a Great Flood wiped all life except for two of every animal and Noah's family on the ark 4,000 years ago, and about many different disciplines of science, from biology to geology, from Bill Nye.

My biggest qualm with the debate is that, far too often, Ham fell back upon his faith and the Bible for evidence. In contrast, Nye used scientific evidence and the majority consensus of the scientific community brought about by decades and centuries of tested, true, or theoretical scientific exploration of the observable world around us. The major difference between these two view points is that, for biblical "scientists" like Ham, all of the answers to the big questions can be found in the Bible. Evolution is rooted in observable evidence; it can make predictions about the past, the present, and the future and many such predictions have been found to be accurate (EX. Transitional fossils). On the other hand, new earth creationism is, primarily, rooted in faith; their is nothing wrong with faith (in fact, as an agnostic, I don't rule out the existence of a god creating the universe) but, as far as I and many other see, it cannot do the same sort of things that science can do. Furthermore, most religious texts, including much of the Bible and the Old Testament contradict the evidence presented by all disciplines relevant to history from archeology to geology (EX. Egyptologists have found no evidence in their centuries of study and exploration of the Exodus ever taking place in Egypt) unlike the theories of the Big Bang, evolution, etc. that are backed by hard evidence-- just because they're theories does not make them any less valid (EX. Gravity is a theory. We don't know how it works, but it is an observable force.). Yet, if evidence is found to the contrary of these theories, and very little or none has been found, then the science community would be glad to explore new avenues created by any discovery. That is the very nature of science. It is the systematic collection of information used to formulate ideas about the universe and make predictions about discoveries yet to be discovered. That is not the nature of Ham's creationism.

Religion and science, in my opinion and in many others, don't mix. Creationism's place is in the philosophy class, not in our science text books.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

TABLETOP TALES: MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE: "WHITE & GREEN AURA VOLTRON!"

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS
MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE PT. 1

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:


This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to share my experiences with the Theros pre-release.

You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

And here is a link to Comic Cellar's Website

It cost $25-$30 bucks to signs up and, for that fee, each player received 6 boosters packs, including two Born of the Gods packs, three Theros packs, & a special booster pack for their chosen hero's destiny,-- Lead (White), Outwit (Blue),  Dominate (Black), Conquer (Red), & Thrive (Green)-- and a promo card for your path (which you could use in the event) and with the materials each player was expected to build, with all the lands they need, a minimum 40 card deck. There was six one-on-one matches, each a best of three rounds, and the ranking in these matches landed you more packs (with the top player getting a box) and the Top 20, after those who got more than a pack, recieved a "pity pack". Then, at my event, everyone from the bottom up got to pick a prize from the "swag box". In the end, I think everyone, including my two friends (one of which who has played longer than me and the other was attending his first event), had a good time.

Let's take a look at the new mechanics of Born of the Gods:

INSPIRED- Activates an effect every time the creature card containing the keyword is untapped.

TRIBUTE X- Whenever a creature with Tribute X enters the battlefield, an opponent of the creature's controller's choice may choose to either put X +1/+1 counter on it or, if the "the tribute is not paid", another effect will activate.

To check out the other mechanics features in the Theros block, make sure to check out my article on the Theros pre-release HERE.

The story, this time, has a horde of minotaurs threatening the peoples of Theros and Elspeth rising to the occasion to lead them to victory against the murderous marauders. But all is not as it seems, as Xenagos put the situation in motion so that the victory would result in a riotous celebration and he could use the emotions/spirit of these celebrations to empower his quest to become a god. Achieving his new status as a god, the satyr has rocked the heavens and challenges the other gods for supremacy amongst the worshipers below. Can Elspeth stop Xenagos from pursuing the rest of his plans to achieve his cruel & secret plot?

The will of the gods is slowly turning in my favor because, with this event, I broke my lousy streak and went 3/3. I think I would've gone 4/2 if not for a poor hand I should've mulliganed. While I didn't stress myself out, I still took this event rather seriously to try to place. At the very least, I was in the Top 20 of over 50 combatants. The most interesting part of this pre-release is that I had a fairly interesting pool and could've played anything but red. The best colors I had were white and green, which was my build through the most of the day and that's the subject of this article. The other deck I built for the last round involved abusing two Ordeals of Erebos and lots of discarding.

Let's talk about...

MY BORN OF THE GODS PRE-RELEASE DECK
"WHITE/GREEN AURA VOLTRON!"

I chose white as my pre-release color and found an awesome batch of green creatures in my limited pool. My green pool provided me with three ways to get card advantage through drawing cards and even a way to mill my graveyard back into my deck. Then, my two Sedge Scorpions and a Bow of Nylea gave me a lot of aggressive removal. My white pool brought in some removal but, more importantly, a ton of white creatures, including flyers. But what brought the two colors together were all of the bestow creatures that, thanks to the strong early game, could hit the battlefield as enchantments with pretty good regularity. What sort of scenarios does this deck pull off to help you win the day?

There were several games won by simply pecking away at my opponent's health until I could net a bomb to finish them off, but the best case scenarios involved Bow of Nylea and/or my creatures getting enchanted until they were big enough to just be nearly unstoppable. Nothing quite feels as awesome as swinging a 10/10 trampling flying creature with deathtouch.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

WTF WED! WHITE POWER RANGER IN DA LEAGUE OF LESBIANS!


No video would be more appropriate to post after driving home as the frozen tree tops, glazed in silver, rained down dreary hail on the road. The air was as cold as a cadaver's kiss, the roadside ditches filled with floating sheets of ice and Styrofoam cups, and my fingers felt numb as I gripped the steering wheel. Winter is death. Winter is beautiful.

Also, this silly but brilliant little bit of Hitchcock inspired horror from TVMaxwell will probably put a smile on your face and a little warmth in your heart. Or just confuse you.


As for the vidja here, it is a pretty twisted, funny, and fanservicey bit of fluff from TwistedGrimTV.

As for a small League of Legends update, my ranked team's president Trainer Gary Oak (formerly OGMRSNESBITT) added Dio Omicida (ADC/Support main) and cShots (Top main) to our roster and that means we'll be able to build a full team more regularly and start playing ranked 5 V 5 as soon as possible. I've learned to play a lot of roles, so expect to see me doing whatever is needed to help my team win, including jungling as Jarvin IV.

P.S. My favorite Ahri skin is Popstar Ahri.


It was Aziz Ansari who said his favorite stereotype was that "black dudes are blown away by magic tricks".

A good Power Ranger costume apparently has they same effect, at least in this case. Now, "if only we all just treated each other the same way black dudes treat magicians" (Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive).

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

WORD OF THE DAY! 2/4/14!



clank [clangk]
noun
1. A sharp, hard, nonresonant sound, usually produced by striking together two pieces of metal.
verb
2. To make such a sound, move with such sounds, or cause such a sound.

EX. Clanking into a theater near you are The Ratchet and Clank & Sly Cooper CG-animated films, in 2015 and 2016 respectively, and I gotta wonder...why?

Sure, the franchises are successful and have fan bases, but are they truly big enough to carry a full-length feature film? Do they have the cross-audience appeal to bring in new fans with a film or will the humor, stretched too thin, fall flat across a 90+ min. run time? The history of video game films spell disaster for these two films, but maybe the fact that they're being CG-animated spells a certain level of investment that these film's fore-bearers lacked.

At the least, the internet will have something to whinge about and Deviantart will have plenty of fodder for Rule 34 art.

Clank, clank.

P.S. Still better than the concept art below.

P.P.S. Hoenn confirmed.

Monday, February 3, 2014

MUSIC MON! ATTACK ON SUPER SMASH MY LITTLE RHINOCERATOPS VS. SUPER-PUMA!


My friends and I have been playing Wii & Wii-U every Sunday and one of our favorite time-killers is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I mean, sure, it's not Melee. We all love Melee. But it's kind of fun to play Brawl since we all are less experienced with it. The main point? Playing Brawl has definitely hyped me for the next Smash Bros.

This glorious hand-made animation from Amazingartistyellow certainly helps encourage that enthusiasm, as well as my enthusiasm to give Attack on Titan a chance, as it has pretty much swallowed the anime fan community alive.

Before we move on, my big wishes for SSB 4 is that Mewtwo returns from Melee, they announce Pokémon Trainer returning from Brawl, and that Ganondorf returns....with a twist. I've always felt Ganondorf got shafted as a Captain Falcon clone. Give him a moveset indicative of his swordplay and maybe add in his mage abilities, perhaps with a Zelda/Sheik style transform between Ganon and Ganondorf, and you've got a uniquely brutal character. My main picks for a new entry? Pacman, Simon Belmont, Alucard, Toad, & Ridley.


And how about a little whimsy inspired by pogo? There are a lot of fun remixes inspired by the MLP fandom, but there is something about these sort of trippy remixes that always set me in this pleasant, whimsical, blue, and curious sort of mood.

You can watch the original artist, Pinkiepieswear's music video here  http://youtu.be/viTkj0eu-fk


Let's end with a new animated music video from Ninja Sex Party.

Clearly, Danny Sexbang was inspired by his love affair with the kaiju fest in Pacific Rim and decided to lay down a track meant to put a pair of giant monsters in the mood.

And clearly, that's a good enough place to end this Music Monday. Pardon me for the briefness, but I've gotta eat more terriyaki wings left over from "Super Bowl Sunday"*.

*"Super Bowl Sunday" may equal an excuse to gorge oneself and, rather than watch the game, do the same stuff that my friends and I do every Sunday. In this case, eat Krystals, make Advanced Dungeons and Dragons characters for an Oriental Adventures campaign, and watch Princess Mononoke.

P.S. I retract my briefness apology. And leave you on a simultaneously stupid and glorious .gif from the Super Bowl teaser for Transformers 4. It looks dumb, but it has Optimus Prime riding Grimlock, the T-Rex dinobot (that's a dinosaur robot), while wielding a sword.