So every Wednesday we go out for some fast-food junk, fire up the laptop, crank the stereo system to 11, and s-video it all up for dinner with Bleach!

It's one of those fighting shows that's really dumb, but highly entertaining in that when it ever decides to take its self seriously, you can't help but fall right in. The last two weeks have been hour long specials, and this week's episode was top notch, right back to what made us love the series in the first place: A main character who's strength, resolve, and idiocy allow him to face any challenge and beat it. Word on the street is that Adult Swim is going to air this at midnight soon... mmm, prepare for some sleepless nights.

I'm also following two other shows this year that have really caught my imagination this year: Mushishi, and Ergo Proxy.

Mushishi is a show where each episode is self contained, all featuring the exploits of a travailing exorcist of sorts. Think animal planet meats ghost busters, seriously mellow, and in feudal era Japan. The music is quiet awesome as well, kind of an ambient bamboo percussion to highlight the rather gritty and surreal stories.

Ergo Proxy is 1984/Matrix/Blade Runner/Brazil all rolled into one show that takes it's self very seriously. It's wonderfully drawn, and beautifully animated. It's got a nice balance of talk and action to keep you on your toes. If I give out much more than that I'd ruin it for you.

I would like now to engage in a bit of political discussion.

To start, here is a quiz to help plot your general view: World's Smallest Political Quiz

You may notice a bit of bais in those questions, it does lean libertarian, which is my current party of choice.

from their site:

What is a Libertarian?

Libertarians believe that you have the right to live your life as you wish, without the government interfering -- as long as you don’t violate the rights of others. Politically, this means Libertarians favor rolling back the size and cost of government, and eliminating laws that stifle the economy and control people’s personal choices.

lp.org

So where do you stand in this crazy world of ours? I've chosen to cherry pick from both left and right wing, dropping the bits I found illogical or against my totally pro-choice nature. Less government leash and more personal responsibility for me please.

I have a great deal of discussion with my roommate, such as the issue of drugs. He says, and with good reason, that they are right to be illegal, that they should be banned outright as they are, for they are clearly dangerous. When under such potent chemical influence, it clearly and profoundly impairs an individual to do silly, and often highly dangerous acts.

Even so, I stand fast to pro-choice, that if one wishes to engage in a clearly dangerous act, then only he is responsible for his actions. If he hurts someone, regardless of chemical influence, he should be punished to the full extent of the law. The government is not in the position to prevent one from making mistakes, however, it is in the position to punish for them.

It is often difficult to maintain this position, especially when so many people suffer, but if you issue bans and controls on one issue, it makes it easier to do the same for others. Where do you draw the line? And, who can be trusted to draw them?

On this day 23 years ago, the world was made a better place.

I hope to maintain this level of awesome for at least another 23.

Man, I feel all weird today. Tired and cranky mostly.

Birthday coming up on the 31st, I'll be the big 2-3. So far no mass depression like the last few years, but more of a forward looking "now what?" What ever "what" turns out to be, I've decided this is the year to make it "now." I've always known what I've wanted out of life, and to dance around pretending I don't really want it is just not cutting it anymore. Time to pounce, and my only worry is that I may worry about worrying. Too late!

There's several major gigs on my plate right now, in Life, Machinima, and Everything. I've spent the last winter mulling over the proper steps to take in pursuing these endeavors and have come to the conclusion that to solve them, I must first approach them. If I can at least walk up to the plate, I've got a as much a chance as anyone else of cracking one over the back wall. (Sorry for the bad baseball analogy, but I was just handed two Texas Rangers tickets.) I figure the more risk I take, the better off I'll be; hey, if only one out of ten pays off, I'll be much better off than if I continue to take none at all. At least then I'll know where I stand.

On the movies front, I've seen V for Vendetta and recommend it, and Inside Man which I can recommend as a rental. Just watched Howl's Moving Castle, and it continues the trend that all Studio Ghibli films make tears of bliss flow from my eyes before the end. I recommend this for your DVD collection. It's a two disk from Walt, and as always I advise you watch in Japanese audio with English Subtitles first. It's almost as re-watchable as Nausicaa (My personal favourite in the Ghibli collection.)

For Games: Finished Fable for the xbox, give it a “meh,” and just started Elder Scrolls IV and so far give it a “Awesome!” even if it kills my high end PC. I've had Guitar Hero for a while, and still play it nearly everyday for half an hour. Also grabbed the Guild Wars a few weeks back. While neat, and much more interesting than WoW for me, I can't help but be not blow away. Elder Scrolls took it's place for now. I went back to Action Half-Life for old times sake, ended up becoming addicted again. If not for Elder Scrolls, I would be playing it right now.

Holy crap! I raided this vampire cave right, killed them all with prejudice (that's what I named my fire-claymore,) as any good Red Guard fighters guild member would do. In my raid I stumbled upon a strange bottled drink called "shadowbane." It must of been a freaking GPS enhanced bottle because I got bit in my sleep that night and now I can't walk outside during the day! (I was way on the other side of the world by then) I've got to feed on the blood of the sleeping by night to boost my vampire powers to maximum! Crazy delicious!

I can run faster, jump higher, I can see at night nearly as well as during the day, and I have a spell that seduces people. (Among a slew of enhancements to battle skills, and one serious weakness to fire) Freaking awesome game! FREAKING AWESOME!

My carefully chosen olive green eyes are now red, and my face is all ugly(er), but it's a small price to pay for being a FREAKING VAMPIRE!