As many of you have known I am a man who has next to nothing that is in monetary units. Meaning, I am a cheap bastard that when the chance is given I will most likely get something from the internet in a price that I can afford ($0 - $0).

And thats why I have grown fond of the internets and its naughty ways. Like a mistress of the night saying you know its wrong, but you snicker like a little kid and go along with it. Like a hooker, the internet is full of Viruses and other nasty bits. But every now and then you find a nice high class hooker that actually plays well enough to be reviewed. The hooker today is the game "Mafia: City of Lost Heaven".

Mafia is developed by people in the Czech Republic, which so far the only thing I have learned about Czech is that they are nice people but game makers, no not really. Prejudice aside, the Czech's have made a really awesome game no doubt about it.

Now lemme describe to you in a single sentence the game:

Its like GTA, but its the 1920s.

And that is the basic idea of this game. At first you are a taxi cab driver, but you manage to meet up with some mafia blokes and you manage to be good friends and you go about the game doing your gangster thing. Smuggling alcohol, killing traitors, driving around shooting the bad guys. Everything and everything. What makes the game interesting would be the person you are playing. He's not a ruthless gangster, he is a guy with a heart, that no matter how many individuals you kill as him on the street, he manages to let the person he had to kill get away cause he feels sad for the person.

If a game like this has a theme it would be that the mafia is basically making you a bitch in this whole charade. Every game its drive here, kill that, shoot him, car chase and fire you gun at the same time (which by the way can get frustrating!!!). Then the mafia throws money at you and says good job. Which after getting your ass kicked for the fact that you did not land a perfect headshot is a not so bad compensation.

The story is really something I must confess, I really see nothing wrong with it, I mean many of these things can be shortened and made into a feature film any day now. It is the story that separates this from other open world games like GTA.

The general atmosphere in the game is fairly okay. There are moments in the game which is not so 1920s as it is so very gangsta. The licensed big band music adds a nice touch and the original score makes-a-me so Italian!

As controls go I found something that truly angers the utter shit out of me. Games think I am left handed at times which is by far the shittiest thing you can do. The controls defult is by far the gayest thing in the world. I move with the arrow keys, but my hand has to move away from them to use anything like reloading or actions. WHY!! I want to move and reload, I wanna run. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to change and experiment with controls that worked for my hands until finally I settled with my friends the WASD keys. Thats love!

Overall I have grown fond of this game, its questioned morals and giving you a fairly okay ride. If your computer cannot stand GTA or your mommy won't let you play, you can pick this game up, and with a HUGE cult following you should get a chance to enjoy the many mods as well

overall: B

finale: its fun, and should keep you quiet until a greater game comes out

If any of you experienced techno music you normally know the feeling, thumping bass, loads of repetition (which is awesome!) and the occasional vocal. Also the crap load of ecstasy "accidentally" placed in your drink.

However a band (more like a duo) like Ratatat brings a truly different sound. Infusing hiphop roots along with there famous 70 hand made guitar loops all in one track. There first album "RATATAT" was made with Mike Stroud's amazing guitar riffs, and fine synthesizing by Evan Mast. After a successful hiphop remix album, the next album "Classics" did the same only with the add on of a Bass guitar and a sound effect here and there.

After another remix album, LP3, is recorded and slated for a July release. Me being impatient decided to steal it, because that's what all the cool kids do along with stealing just about any type of media.

Anyway, the album is different than what they have done in the past. Percussion, sound effects, a guitar here and there, they kinda cleaned up a little bit and decided to go all out on experimentation and try what ever they feel is best.

The album opens up with the single "Shiller". Giving the listener the atmoshpere of something that is old and timeless, but also setting up for something big. Almost like an overture, it basically "introduces" the album in some way with a slow start and constantly adding on more beats and loops. Until it brings in a wave of sound similar to fans of RATATAT, almost saying that something is different, but not entirely. The next track "Falcon Jab" is a great example of this. A near throwback to their other famous single "Wildcat". Falcon offers the addition of some more instrumentals not normally associated with RATATAT, but in the end it is pure RATATAT, nothing is truly new which is nice and fine by me. The next track, "Mi Viejo" gives a simply reverse loop and places a beautiful Guitar on top of it, which gives it a hispanic feel. Then in a random twist of cultures, the addition of indian tabla drums creates a wierd mix, that makes it seem more Hispanic as the name which means my old. As the song speeds up you are then dropped into this malstrom that is "Mirando". A tribal/jungle piece that moves like a Drum and bass song but offers something completely RATATAT by the great guitars through from the middle onwards. The album then gives you a short song called "Flynn", a song that in its own way calms the person down to slow movement almost making this 1:55 song going for an eternatity. But as soon a "Bird Priest" comes on, you are brought up again, but not as uppity as say Mirando, you are thrown into something that is a mix of 8-bit and a very sinister loop. "Shempi" makes you basically forget about Bird Priest and thrusts you into a up and more disco like feel, this is probably a song that is perfect for the nightclubs. The organ and synths created the effect that something is out of this world and futuristic. Almost like the main goal in Techno music in general. As "Imperials" comes on you immediately think of something as lounge and dub as Apex Twin or Broken Social Scene. Don't listen to the water loop so much, kinda wants to make you go to the bathroom. Don't the clavichord opening of "Dura" fool you, this is something that RATATAT loves, hiphop. The focus is of simple beats continuing to get complex as the song goes on ending in a slow simple rythm. "Bruleé" gives a near gospel approach to RATATAT along with a more tropical flavor added in, a very enjoyable song that makes you very mellow in certain ways. Whereas "Mumtaz Khan" creates yet another tribal and a different arabic approach, this song is loud and complex, and something along the lines of video game, with the slow build up and quick response of sound that is produced, with that classic hip hop edge the duo loves. The second short (this time 1:37) called "Gipsy Threat", gives a sense of a fast, old arcade game, simple yet rushing loop and the adding of random effects, give the sense that things are simply passing the listerner by. The album is finally drawn to a close with "Black Heroes", a song that flat out signals the end of the album, with a ballad approach of booming drums, and a marry tune finally ending with a synthesized violin redubbed to be something like a record fading to end.

Overall LP3 gives listeners a chance to see what RATATAT is trying to do, something different, I have personally mixed opinions, while it is gleming with different tones and mix of cultures, RATATAT strays from the Hip-Hop they love, which Im guessing most fans love as well, I cannot blame them I guess. But to sum it all up LP3, is something completely different, however is completely RATATAT

to take a listen at LP3 download the torrent, if you still need to know about torrents, then look at my tutorial

Torrent Link:
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/44379710/LP3?tab=summary

*note: this was written way back in the day when GTAIV was huge, now time has passed and I have simmered down.

I used to think the M rating on ESRB meant to be a stop sign of sorts to stop kids from shooting each other and what not. Then I simply realized that belief was just a scape goat, kinda like Romans vs Christians or Black people vs. Black people. But the more I thought about it I think the M rating should be taken in the literal sense, "mature". If you can shut up for once and play a game through while being fair to all the other poor kids then you deserve this game. GTA is a grand example of such

I admit GTA is fun and I bet so is IV, but for fucks sake stop hopping mad and spraying jizz all over its face like it loves you or something because it doesn't if it did then it should wake you up in the morning, give you breakfast, fix the Red Ring of Death, talk about your problems and offer to be submissive in the gay sex orgy you have with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Call of Duty 4, and Halo 3. I also love the person that owns the game to go on and on at nausea about how super happy fun amazing it is then when you ask the question (and everyone has) can you play it. The person runs off and says no cause he supported capitalism and that you should have gotten it yourself bring you to feel all guity inside.

But don't, because they never supported capitalism, their mothers did. You know, the ones I had sex with so I can be cool and stuff cause apparently mothers and pedophiles seems to be all the rage (yes I digressed)

Back on the whole mom thing, it was their mothers that got it for them, grant there are a select few who have this magical money making machine called a job and actually got the game around their pay check. But the glory of the spoiled child is to be their so when he grows up and thinks he can own the world, the world throws up all over him with hot lava and melting glaciers and finds himself carring yet another magical money making machine called reality.

If GTA has taught me anything it is that everything has consequence. You only break a few eggs, not all. Because if you do thats what gets yo gangsta azz locked up or capped g.

The Beatles said it best with the line "all you need is love/love is all you need". There is nothing that exemplifies that more than the decade called the 60s, a time of turmoil and free love. In the 60s, in stark comparison today, everything went fairly slower than normal, either because you were high or off fighting a war at night and relaxing during the day. Free love, expressionism, a time of DIY and morning after pills. Sex was as normal as people going to a new religious church, or joining a new club. It was a time when people escaped. Whether it was watching Kirk and Spock save the Enterprise or doing the new thing with your significant lover. The 60s brought something called an individuals paradise. Something a person liked was given to them in bulk. Then it took a sharp turn.

Granted the turn was slow to them, but the era changed our parents and grandparents into something different. We just never figured out why. Was it the rise of cults or spread of communism locking them in fear which is seen through the eyes of news casters as we see trade centers fall. Did you see the disgust they get at seeing a teen sex comedy. They did worse or just like them. Hard to think, so best not to think at all. Why do you still go on vacations? Because your parents could not go because they, like many, where in their own paradise, broken after the elder conformist 50s living senator brought something to their attention.

The world was going to hell but no one here truly cares. Hippees did, then they smoked their troubles away, they escaped. Soldiers with nothing to do but kill, they forcefully escaped. When musicians blared sounds on the radios of when they escaped through riff and rhyme. And when two star-crossed lovers made love to those sounds and closed their eyes they too, had escaped. Just like everyone else.

Then they woke up. They saw the boys come home, glory forth and sadness back. They saw things they rather not speak of and from then on it was pure silence. So quiet was America the day the boys came home, so quiet. Yes many tried to escape, but in the end came silence. Something that has been reflected on us, the silent generation. And as we stare at windows and clocks of our classrooms and our workplaces, we silently think the same thought:

whats next?

Poems

beat the drums by Beatnik friends

for troops
In The Winter

a man grips his gun
he looks around
no sun
just clouds
his trench coat keeps him only slightly warm
the gloves don't eirther
he signals his men continue
the only sound is the krunch of boots

everything is quiet

no one can can be heard
the man closes his eyes
takes in this silence
thinks about his wife
his kid

the cool chill comes down his spine

he opens his eyes

the cold chill is still there
he tries to scratch his back
something wet in on his coat

wet and warm

the cold chill is still there
he turns around
his men are dead

as is he

he closes his eyes
no one can can be heard
he takes in this silence

for the not guilty
The Man Faces His Audience

He breaths heavily
he is worried
He didn't know
he was going to give one

He eyes the crowd around him
everyone is looking at him in silence
they all look at him dead
with there slow gazes at him
the crowd is waiting for him to speak

He hestitates
pauses
takes a breath

and says

"My life has always been hard
I never got far in life
my father and mother where drunk
and my sister shot stuff into her body
as a man much, much older caresses her budding breast

I stare at such things
and realize Im staring at lifelessness
I have to make something of myself
and I did
whatever I did I thought was right

I thought I had it all
but sadly I realized
whatever I was doing was wrong
all this time

and with that I am so deeply sorry"

the bag is placed over his head
inside the bag are tears
as the man quietly sobs

The man was convicted of murder
he killed the man who hurt his sister

He thought he had it all

and with one switch it was gone

for the homosexuals
I Love You

but I can't have you

we are same
as we are different

I want to hold you
to touch you

but we are not allowed

cause we are same
and we are different

I wish to kiss you long
into the unpredictable night

down the street we hold hands

people watch us
stare at us

we say they are jealous
they say we are sick

they want to bash us

for being gay

we are same

What I am about to tell you is not ment to hurt you, punish you, scare you, or threaten. This letter is simple trying to tell you something important.
We are now in the year 2008, within the coming years, as I see it, changes will show up like a tidal wave in force. The powers of China and India are growing into superpowers, pulling themselves slowly up from the mass poverty and disease they have endured. At the same time Europe rises from the ashes of war and internal conflict that have plagued the lands for so long. In Africa, change is coming about from within the hearts and minds of its people. South America known for cities with mass corruption continue its fight. America, the world is changing, countries who had been given aid now give it away. Countries that fight for survival are now the fittest. The world is changing, a global revolution has begun. The earth is changing, a global revolution has begun. The world is connecting, joining, evolving at a rapid pace. As more and more powers rise, unification and communication brings distant countries close, like neighbors. The understanding of people and cultures creates the largest social network.
America, change is coming, now it is your turn to aid the rise. America can hold the sword that might shatter, a pen that could break, a doctrine old and weary, or the open frail palm. All things can go wrong if handled incorrectly. However with the proper care in the minds of youth, may America join the cause. And like the American revolution, as Benjamin Franklin puts it:

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

From
Vijay Kamaraj
Cary, IL

It is now more apparent that the future will now foresee China and India as competitors for the next superpower. As America now must either pass on the torch or perhaps seize the blade. Even though this decision is to be handed down to us, we are currently fighting a war, between how smart we are.

The Socialist and the Social Scene

The average American High School student is subjected towards a competitive approach when it comes to his or her education. He or she gets into an honors class, takes up a sport, performs a play, plays a song, within all this is competition. In America we determine who is the best and who is not. Also, many factors are put in, who can play well, who knows more people, who has the money and the mind to invest their knowledge. Plus we go by the idea that we love the friendly competition, known to break the spirits and hopes for others at an emotional level. And when we lose we find things against the winner, just so we can feel a sense of pride that we have tried. It almost makes us cry. However if we look at China and India, we see a different kind of competition. Something along the lines of ordered. While we do have similarities when it comes to the actual competing, how we compete is different. In India and China, they are asked to figure equations within seconds and almost never with a calculator, they are given a chart at times. The idea of ordered competition relies on more on mental thought than physical, emotional, and social. Social class is not apparent within any of these countries, not even in India, the largest democracy. China's communist policy is still apparent within its country. India, while diverse, is divided, with every state and territory with its own characteristics and people, almost like a cafeteria clique. Within the two countries competition is just as important there as it is in the USA.

You Take The High Road

The motivation for an American High School student is to do well, get into college, find a job. The motivation for a person in China or India is quite literally, leave the country. It is not hard to understand who is more motivated to do something. The Chinese encourage education with its 9-year rule, meaning at least 9 years of education MUST be taken in order to have some sort of social status within the mainland. Also stating that respect to teachers is the most important. From the beginning the Chinese push education, and when you have been in a Communist govt for so long, conformity is your only choice. In India, education is placed very high, in a country still in development, education is pushed for all no matter what caste, religion, or region. Even the poorest child may spend Rs. 10-30 at an internet cafe, print out the textbook chapters, and continue on his or her way. The materials given to both countries aid in driving the children to seek education as a high priority. This is not what some might say "adequate", but understanding the current conditions and the confidence many children have to make it in the world pretty much fills the kids need to learn.

True or False?

Is America headed downhill once Generation Y takes over? The answer, maybe, we need to realize there is, in fact, a difference between academic smart and street smart. However, problem solving for these countries would become a lot easier. America is known to set the standard, of course, times change, and as these super powers rise, America is going to have to struggle in order to be on par with them. The rise of these superpowers may either be welcomed in open arms or a threat to the country. But changes can be made, like the No Child left behind act. Punishing schools for not do great on standardized tests, and those that do raise the scores once more, if they reach unreachable levels then they fail even at the highest potential. It was a plan that was designed so that all schools can fail at some point. Aggressiveness to a teenager always will yield the same result, a return of aggression, be it direct or passive. Something America should not raise, because at the same time, right across the world, a kid with a dream and an imagination similar to the American teenager is constantly willing to reach that dream of theirs.

In 2004 a game called World of Warcraft was created by RTS freaks Blizzard entertainment makers of starcraft and the warcraft series, Real-Time Stratagy games, that focused less on infastructure and more on fighting. When they announced to the world and by world I mean hordes of South Koreans (Blizzard Entertainments surprising large demographic), many people where baffled at the thought of another MMORPG that bore a similar resemblance Everquest, a huge MMO that had a much larger fanbase then any MMO on the market, they basically dominated.

While many people laughed at them they kept going, and once the game was released!!!!!!.......serve