Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category

Jan
11/12

Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 January 2012 03:39
Written by Cobberwebb
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

The following entry is an introductory piece from a new writer for the Talkingship. He’s been an avid fan of the show (and of me personally) and has been very active on our site and facebook page. When we put out a call for content, he was one of the first to answer. So raise your glass, put on your reading glasses and welcome Cobberwebb.

We all like to have fun and fun comes in many different forms depending on your individual tastes. Some enjoy movies, games, music and even cosplay. I figure I’ll spend a little time here giving you a glimpse into my particular tastes.

Arrghhh! My eyes!

I count myself lucky as I don’t have a girlfriend or kids which gives me plenty of ‘me’ time. (Some of you might think that I’m unlucky because of this but, I’ve had my fair share of girlfriends and I think you’re all crazy.) I’ve ended up trying to fill this time with so many different hobbies that it makes my head spin. I like to watch movies and this particular form of entertainment has for me been the most disappointing in recent years. Hollywood just seems not to care anymore about making good films. (see Jack and Jill)

Hey! What you drinking there?

The conveyor belt of shit that emerges from the big screen these days forced me to look elsewhere. In my search for a replacement I’ve found anime. The Japanese writers are fucking twisted and I love them for it. I’ve never seen such a wide range of characters and such imaginative story telling since……well ever. This gave me a new problem. I’ve spent hours and hours watching anime since January 2011 and have still only scratched the surface of this amazing culture. (A topic to be covered more in depth in the future.)

Helloooooo nurse!

So what about my gaming? Luckily for me I’m a picky gamer and It’s not very often that a game comes out that I have to buy. This allows for more beer money for the games I actually do purchase. At the present time I’m being forced to replay Halo: Reach on Legendary with a friend of mine so he can get the achievements (then I want to do Halo 3: ODST for the same reasons). I’ll admit, I’m a good friend and an unabashed Halo-lover.

Now, when it comes to music, I love just about everything. I love heavy metal, rock, classical, Michael Jackson, Elvis, I love it all and again I’m lucky in this department. I’m a delivery driver, which gives me hours of time in a van to listen to music, podcasts and the sports radio channel. I also like to create music now that I’ve recently become a vocalist in a band (see the Talkingship Facebook page for some of my videos), so now I need to find time for that. Where does it end?

I have books to read and instruments I want to learn to play. I have a telescope, a DSLR camera that allows me to dabble in photography. Do I write up a schedule to fit all this in? I can’t quit my job because I need money to fund all of this shit! So as I write this (thinking this could be yet another time sucking endeavour) my brain is turning into a substance you could only describe as jellied porridge. Do I make a list and give up on some of these fun activities? I’ll just have to have a long hard think about it, or, maybe see what you guys have to say on the subject.

In the end we all only have a limited time here on Earth so maybe it’s best not to stress about these small problems and just be happy that I can be entertained by such a wide variety of interests. At least I know I have something fun to fall back on if one of my hobbies loses its flavour. With that thought in mind, I need a beer.

Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)

Tags: cob, entertainment, talkingship, webb | Posted under Front Page, Rants |

2 Comments

Dec
11/11

The Independent Manifesto

Last Updated on Sunday, 11 December 2011 11:24
Written by Jitterbug
Sunday, December 11th, 2011

jameshance.com Go. Buy. Now.

Culture has shifted irrevocably, and you need to recognize not only how great this is, but also how you need to embrace it. Thanks to the internet, art and expression will never again be stifled, and we should stand up and rejoice.

The internet first offered us a chance to entertain ourselves with mindless jaunts into the foray of chat rooms. Long hours spent arguing the validity of Star Trek warp drives dominated the new landscape of our virtual world. It was a fun waste of time, but not much more than that. As the internet swelled, we began to see the potential it held, and the business world took note. Corporate greed swept in and took advantage of the free market space now open to them. The NASDAQ rocketed and internet start-ups became multi-million dollar ventures within months/weeks/days of opening their doors.

Then it all fell apart. The dot-com CORPORATE craze gave way to realistic expectation. The suits backed off, and the independent artist stepped in. What few people saw coming was the artistic revolution we now find ourselves in. Today, this very minute, is the single greatest moment in art history – and tomorrow will be even better.

You see, the greatest thing the internet gave us was not the ability to sell pet products online, or to have business discussions over Skype, or finally decide how a warp engine works. The greatest thing the internet gave us was unbridled communication. All of the sudden, each and every one of us has the ability to reach out and communicate with wide swathes of people to whom we would have never met twenty years ago. This advancement of communication is unparalleled in history. It puts the printing press to shame.

With this new openness comes an outlet for artists that forever changes the way they can approach their craft. In the past, to survive on your art meant you had to submit to the control of a corporate interest. Sure, there have been avant-gardes that have bucked the system and made a living from it, but those are the exceptions and not the rule. To make it in the art world, whether a musician, writer, painter, or what have you, it required that you bow down to the people in the suits that would tell you what everyone wanted to enjoy.

Art for the past century has been stifled by the grip of corporate influence. Musicians have been forced to ‘write for the radio’ in an attempt to craft something that would sell. Painters have been told their work is too controversial and will never be commercial. Writers have been instructed to stick to what works and to follow in the footsteps of other, more successful scribes. Every part of entertainment was strictly guided down a path of ‘proven formula’ that created generic, predictable mush for the masses to consume. Those days are over, my friends. Thank Fucking God!

The internet has been taken over by the artists (and pornography, but that’s a different discussion). The outlet that the world wide web has opened can never be shut. The avenue between artist and consumer no longer winds through the boroughs of corporate control. We are now able to communicate directly. The free distribution of thought, art, and expression have never been so widely available. This, my friends, is the Age of the Artist, and it is high time we embrace that fact.

So what now? Eschew the norm. Move beyond the television, the radio station, the movie theater, the book store. These things mean nothing to you now. Everything they offer is available elsewhere. Embrace the independent artists and support them, not only with your money, but with your love. Instead of raving about the new Katy Perry album (*shudder*) find an independent artist that tickles your fancy and scream their name from the rooftops – wait, fuck the rooftops – get on your various social sites and post the info there. These are the new rooftops from which we shout. Race to Twitter, Facebook, or whatever site you choose and tell your friends and family about the artist you just discovered.

Jazmendo.com

For your music fix, run over to Jazmendo.com and peruse their MASSIVE library of free music. These are albums that the artists themselves have posted for you to enjoy. There is more music here than you will ever be able to listen to (53,831 at the time of this article). Find what you like, then tell your friends about it. Also, give up the cds (Nerves, I’m looking directly at you on this one, buddy). Limiting yourself to physically purchased albums is guaranteeing that you shut off a faucet of independent voices. Do not allow yourself to get tied into the former corporate distribution methods. These things are useless to us now.

For books, check out Smashwords.com (shameless self-plugging here! Wait, strike that, GLORIOUS self-plugging here!!) You can find thousands of independent authors there that have chosen to put their books onto the market without going through the standard publishing route. Also, forget your rigid stance on needing to actually HOLD A BOOK. This is just like the mentality of needing to own a CD and ignoring online downloads. It’s time to embrace the new wave of technology and open the floodgates on independent thought. Or, you could just continue to eat what the corporations tells you tastes good. Also, if you own a Kindle, Nook, iPad or some other reading device, jump onto their forums. Each of them offer a section that features free or extremely cheap downloads from independent authors.

Finally, with all of this said we come to the single most important part of this article: Don’t listen to a word I’ve said.

Taste is subjective, and if you love Katy Perry then don’t let some internet asshat (me) tell you not to like her music. If you love to watch Transformers movies over and over, then do it. If reading only New York Times bestsellers is your preferred way of snuggling down with a good book, then keep doing it. The important thing is that YOU decide what to be entertained by. Don’t let anyone else determine it for you. The goal, hope, or secret desire of all artists is that they reach a level of success that will support them, and it is foolish to demonize them for reaching that level. I applaud the artists that have made it to the top, but I want them to receive a very stern warning letter: The independents are on the rise. Step up your game.

It is time for you to embrace independence. I, for one, will never turn back. Viva la resistance!

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Posted under A.R. Wise Books, Front Page, Rants |

No Comments

Dec
11/11

Santa’s Terrifying

Last Updated on Sunday, 11 December 2011 09:32
Written by Jitterbug
Sunday, December 11th, 2011

Yesterday my wife and I took our daughters out to sit on Santa’s lap for pictures. My normally gregarious little angels saw that bearded man in white and clammed up faster than Rick Perry at a fashion show. Something about that rotund, jolly old weirdo set them on edge.

Maybe it is his demonic red and white attire, or his loosely fitted beard, but whatever it was about him, they didn’t like it. My oldest daughter gingerly sat on his lap and looked at me as if we had asked her to do something that went against everything we had ever taught her before, “Go ahead and sit on that stranger’s lap, honey. He’s not creepy and terrifying!”

Then it was my youngest daughter’s turn, and all hell broke loose. She was not one to daintily plop down on this supposedly magical man’s jiggly hips. No, she decided the best course of action in this situation was to scream bloody murder until we relented and took her away. Ten days from now we will be receiving the pictures, and that got me thinking about just what they might look like, so I’ve gathered up some of the best Santa pictures on the net for you to enjoy with me.

There you have it! I hope you enjoyed those as much as I did.

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Posted under Front Page, Rants |

2 Comments

Oct
31/11

Phobos Space Station

Last Updated on Thursday, 8 December 2011 05:22
Written by Jitterbug
Monday, October 31st, 2011

Mars and it's moons, Phobos and Deimos

Is your mind set securely in your head right now? Because I’m about to blow it away.

Scientists suspect they have discovered a secret alien space station orbiting Mars. No joke – this is 100% for real, and everything I am going to talk about here is factual as best as I can tell. This is not just some wild speculation dreamt up by crack pseudo-scientists either, this has been widely agreed upon by the smartest people on the planet. This shit is going to seriously blow your mind. Or, alternately, you might get a lesson about not believing everything you hear. Let’s get on with it!

Phobos is a moon orbiting Mars that was discovered by Asaph Hall in 1877 and is one of the oddest celestial bodies ever discovered. It orbits very close to Mars and spins around the entire planet in 7 hours. It is on a decelerating path and will one day break up in the atmosphere of Mars, then turning into a ring around it. The reason this moon is of interest though has nothing to do with it’s eventual demise, but rather with the secrets it might contain.

In 1958, a scientist named Samuilovich Shklovsky surmised that the moon was hollow. Based on his observations, the moon could not possibly rotate around the planet in the way that it does if it weighed what it should. Instead, it had to be hollow, and there is no such thing as a hollow moon. It just isn’t feasible.

Many other scientists around the world corroborated Hall’s findings, including Carl Sagan who helped write a book detailing the findings and what they could possibly mean. If what Shklovsky was saying was true, then there was no denying Phobos was artificially created. Even a scientific advisor to the White House, Fred Singer, attested to this when he stated:

The Phobos Monolith

“If the satellite is indeed spiraling inward as deduced from astronomical observation, then there is little alternative to the hypothesis that it is hollow and therefore Martian made. The big ‘if’ lies in the astronomical observations; they may well be in error. Since they are based on several independent sets of measurements taken decades apart by different observers with different instruments, systematic errors may have influenced them.”

This is where the theory seems to fall apart slightly, as later calculations seem to contradict what Sagan and Shklovsky had said about the moon, although even these new calculations seem to show that Phobos must be far more porous than would be expected. Some scientists now believe that the moon is actually filled with ice, which could account for it’s odd weight. All that being said, this story isn’t finished getting weird.

This strange moon is one of two orbiting Mars, but it gets far more attention from the world’s space programs than you would expect. Everyone seems desperate to get to Phobos and explore it… for seemingly no good reason.

In July, 1988, the Soviet Union launched two probes meant to explore Phobos. The first was lost on the trip, but the second took several photos of the moon before being mysteriously destroyed, but not before taking one last, bizarre picture of a cigar shaped “thing” sitting nearby in space (make sure to read the PS portion of the article to learn more about this UFO). This is fascinating, but this isn’t the only strange thing about the Phobos 2 probe’s trip. It also took a picture of Phobos that seems to reveal a structure that has been labeled the Phobos Monolith.

You might expect the scientific world to laugh at the people that postulated that this was a man made structure, but they didn’t. In fact, Buzz Aldrin himself came out describing this as a major discovery and one that must be explored. And Canada has taken it a step further by launching a probe that is going to land directly beside the monolith so that it can be explored. Russia is also interested in getting back to Phobos and has teamed up with China to launch a new probe on November 8th, 2011. The European Space Agency has declared an interest in Phobos as well and plans on sending a probe to perform tests there for future Mars missions instead of landing on Mars itself. In all, there seems to be an inordinate amount of interest in this odd moon.

The "Cigar" UFO Debunked

The skeptic in me immediately dismisses this as lunacy, but the wild eyed romantic in me wants desperately to believe that this is worth believing. Could it be possible that an ancient civilization constructed a moon-like object to house a portion of their population to avoid a cataclysmic event? It makes a lot more sense than you might be willing to think. Scientists around the world have agreed at the very least that this moon must be explored and it’s secrets need to be revealed.

PS – The cigar shaped structure captured in the final picture taken of Phobos by the Russian probe is, sadly, a deliberate hoax. As happens a whole hell of a lot, an over zealous UFO enthusiast decided to ignore the fact that most of the pictures Phobos 2 took contained a white mark on the lens similar to the one they claimed was a UFO. It’s frustrating to have to weed through data to find the truth, but in this age of internet information it becomes necessary to look around for the truth, even after it seems like you’ve already found it!

It’s a lot of fun to speculate about these types of things, and we should always entertain our imaginations – but it is never okay to willfully ignore evidence that run contrary to your opinions or decided beliefs. When you choose to deliberately ignore facts, like so many people have done in reference to the “Cigar UFO” in the Phobos pictures, you become the reason that no one is willing to believe anything anymore.

Is Phobos an alien space station? It sure is fun to think about it, but let’s wait and see what they find out in the next couple of years. That being said, discovering that this moon is filled with water makes it immediately one of the most unique and fascinating celestial bodies in existence and will likely change the way we look at the Universe anyhow. All that said, it sure is fun to think about an ancient civilization living within this moon!

THAT’S NO MOON! THAT’S A SPACE STATION!!

Rating: 4.7/5 (3 votes cast)

Posted under Front Page, Rants, Uncategorized |

6 Comments

Oct
29/11

Coolest Pumpkins Ever Carved

Last Updated on Thursday, 8 December 2011 05:22
Written by Jitterbug
Saturday, October 29th, 2011

Ray Villafane has been carving pumpkins for a long time, but people finally took notice of his talent in 2007 when he was asked to participate in a Food Network Challenge to find the best pumpkin carver in the world. He easily won, and then returned in 2010 to defend his title. He won again. You can see why below. These pumpkins are absolutely jaw dropping! He has also done sand sculptures and has made some toys which you can check out HERE.