Yep, they finally stuck it on ye Virtual Console. If you don't already own it, BUY IT! I do already own it. I'll buy it for my little brother. HE MUST BE INFORMED OF THE PAST BY FORCE!
OB1, this is your chance to own a piece of history. Hand crafted this coin of SMRPG will be something you will cherish forever, but act fast because... oh wait it'll be up there forever? Oh good.
Something I really should have added a long time ago... the two categories I added are the ones I'd potentially use. Want any others and either add them or ask (if you're not a mod/admin).
(Note that a couple of days ago, one day after confirming that Sarah Palin had indeed been a member of the AIP, the party leader "denied" it. Obviously, some McCain campaign officials got to them and 'convinced' them to pretend that she hadn't been a member...)
It's kind of odd that after all that about Obama and his ties to Ayers and the radical nature of his church, McCain chose someone with ties that are at least as bad or worse for his VP...
If anything has rung through loud and clear, it's that all Republicans can do is lie about Obama and the Democrats. "They will raise your taxes!"
But Obama has promised to LOWER taxes on 95% of Americans.
"Democrats hate America and freedom!"
Because Democrats all hate America? Did you skip Obama's acceptance speech or something?
"Democrats don't understand America's values"
But polls show, on many issues liberal positions have solid majorities.
etc... that's not going into word usage either, because everyone does that kind of thing -- "we're in favor of letting parents decide where their children go to school", for instance, as opposed to how a Democrat would put it, "you want to destroy the public school system"... but that's expected, everyone wants to put their side in a good light and the other side in a bad light. So both sides on the abortion issue are "pro", for instance. Pro-choice, Pro-life...
Oh, and the other lesson? Abortion is back as a major political issue, in a big way. The Republicans are pushing it, HARD. I really hope that this will backfire, because a solid majority of the American people are opposed to banning abortion. And the Republican party platform's abortion plank is in support of an absolute ban -- no exceptions.
It has been pretty interesting to see how so many Democrats made so big of an effort to only attack Republicans on issues and not question their character (see, for instance, all of the praise for McCain's military service), cumulating with Obama's speech and its masterful combination of outlining a platform of core Democratic party positions with a continuation of his Washington-is-too-partisan theme of, for instance, his 2004 DNC keynote. I'm sure part of it is that I like the Democratic attacks on Republicans while I don't like the Republican attacks on Democrats (because I happen to like many of those policies... once you remove the lies and spin they're layering on top of what the Democrats actually want to do, that is), but still...
This is a long-term theme, really. Republicans are always harsher in their attacks, and, I think at least, looser with the truth... and it does help them win. Obama has proven throughout this campaign that he's a bit weak on the attack politics angle; the Clintons are much tougher there. Obama's trying, but if Hillary were the nominee instead of Obama, responses to Republican attacks would definitely be harsher, I think. But at least Obama is doing a much better job of fighting attacks than Kerry did.
But anyway... the Democratic convention was fantastic, one great major speech after another. But the Republicans... they know they're down and struggling, and all they can think of is trying to win once again by rallying the base and playing the politics of fear and hate, tactics that have done very well for them for a long time now. I'm just hoping that it doesn't work this time... the polling looks good so far, but we'll see.
(Oh yeah, and did you know John McCain was a POW? It's true!)
Now... will McCain himself come out tomorrow with another attack speech like the ones of the past few days, or will he aim at a general audience? It makes sense to attack, of course -- conventions are for the base and party activists first an foremost, of course. Many Democrats did somewhat comparable things. So we'll see what McCain says... though I do think the tone here has been, like usual for the Republican party, more viscous than the tone the Democrats were setting. As if it's tougher and better to lie and be mean than just try to debate actual policy differences...
Though if all you listen to are TV ads, I can see how it would work.
It's by Foundation 9, not Atari Games/Midway Games West like the old ones were because that studio was shut down back in '01 or so, so I wasn't sure as to whether this game would be good or not... but wow, the videos convinced me. This is Legends or Dark Legacy style Gauntlet, and it looks great. Whether or not it's actually as great as those two games, it looks like it'll be fun. I want this... I very much want this. :)
Just to be clear, yes a similar thing also happened at the democratic convention, and it was as horrible there as it is here.
What I'm saying is this is terrible, and honestly neither political party, which is to say, a frickin' gathering, should have this sort of political control over the police forces of these two cities.
It's oppression and violation of human rights, pure and simple. We judged China guilty of the same sorts of actions (done to a greater degree, admittedly) during the olympics and rightfully so. It's a shame how easily ideals are forgotten when you preach them in a building while they are broken outside it.
It's a movie. Go watch it, if it's playing anywhere near you! Very, very good...
Very interesting movie/documentary on Phillippe Petit and his high-wire act between the two World Trade Center towers... presented in the style of a bank-heist movie, a style that fits it very well. Saw this in the theater today after seeing the four-star review in the papers, and it is definitely good... that everything went off so well despite such great challenges is pretty amazing. And the sheer fearlessness you would need to go out there, so high off the ground... and not just that, but to spend six years before that planning and dreaming of that chance. And then to see it all fall into place, against all odds... amazing.
All of the people involved are in the movie too, talking about their parts in the act and their thoughts on it. This is combined with many photos, a few authentic (black & white) videos from the time, and re-enactment videos (in color) of many other scenes. The different forms merge together well, tied together by the narrative, amazing visuals of him in various high-wire showings (Notre Dame Cathedral, Sydney Harbor Bridge, the WTC) and a great soundtrack. Phillippe Petit's character really drives the movie... he has such strong personality and character and drive, even decades later, for this crossing. He really gets into telling the story, and he does it well. The others do a good job too, but he is the central force behind the film. And it's his dream and his story, so that is how it should be... many people never accomplish their dreams, but he was lucky enough to not just dream big, but achieve those dreams.
The movie never mentions 9/11, but it is always in the background, something the audience knows will happen later. I think that definitely affected the movie; I definitely think that the sad, sentimental music they play during the scenes showing the building of the tower would have been quite different if the buildings still stood. But avoiding a direct mention of 9/11 is for the best; that has nothing to do with this feat, it stands on its own.
The movie is definitely recommended.
... Hmm, should this go in the movie review forum?
