Trying to understand this bizarre system hurts the brain, even for someone who follows politics...
And that doesn't even get into the fact that there's both a primary and a caucus there, but while the Republicans apportion half of their delegates from the primary and half from the caucus, the Democrats apportion them all from the caucus (which comes first)... but hold a primary too, even though it means nothing...
Oh, and if you vote at a polling place you can vote in either party's caucus without checking off which party you are a member of, but if you vote by mail (Oregon and Washington have vote-by-mail), your vote won't be counted if you don't check off one of the party-affiliation boxes... and a lot of people forget to check them.
And how about Louisiana, where if nobody gets 50% in the vote, instead of the vote winner getting any delegates, the state convention chooses all of the delegates, all of whom probably go to the national convention unaffiliated? Huckabee only got 43%, so his win there might mean nothing... but his (seeming, it's being contested for good reasons) loss in Washington might end up with him getting the delegates, depending on how the convention goes... (26% McCain, 24% Huckabee, 21% Paul, 16% Romney (who quit), 13% Unaffiliated? What a mess... but it's an all-or-nothing state, unless deals are struck like there was in West Virginia (where McCain and Paul's delegates went over to Huckabee to stop Romney from winning; Paul's got a few delegates for the national convention out of the deal)...
Compared to this the electoral college system looks simple and easy! :D
My old lappy is getting on in years [3 this May], so I figured it was as good a time as any to upgrade. Here's what I'm looking at:
4 sticks of 1GB DDR2 1066 RAM
160GB Western Digital SATA harddrive
Asus P5K motherboard with built-in Wifi
Geforce 8800GT with 512MB
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 at 3.0GHz
Acer 20" widescreen LCD monitor with native resolution of 1680X1050
Cooler Master Ammo case
Standard DVD burner
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit
Total cost of roughly $1300.
Also, I'm thinking about adding in a Bluray drive somewhere down the line. Not right away though because they still cost $190 for ones that don't even burn DVDs.
Scifi movies don't actually need a whole lot in order to good. In fact, they really only need one thing. It's not exactly a big thing, or urgently important for that matter. Do you know what that one thing is? Would you like to guess? No? Well, I'll tell you then. That one small things is this: It stirs your imagination and leaves you in awe of the universe. That's it. That's all. Sunshine does it. 2001 does it. Planetes does it. Blade Runner does. Solaris does it.
Is to see the alternate ones of other cultures. Now this is an interesting one I hadn't heard of before... It sure puts the "blood type" info I see in game manuals (or the dog tags in Metal Gear games) in a different light... I just thought it was a military gesture, like say in the event of a transfusion...
I'd intentionally mismatch blood types in the same way I would intentionally mismatch astrology signs when making fictional characters.
In conclusion, America created Huckabee, the one that created Huckabee is who he calls his running mate, a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain, which makes his running mate McCain, which means America is McCain. Congratulations everyone! You're ALL the front runners of the Republican party!
I think I speak for all of us when I say I'm willing to put up with totalitarian regimes so long as it occurs exactly like dystopian cyber punk fantasies.
Some of this will just be the shameless quoting of another topic on another messageboard.
Anyway, it ain't no Silent Hill, but it's better than nothing. Actually, I'm not exactly in a place to judge, having never played them myself, but judging from the other topic post:
Quote:The Silent Hill games tend to get more praise because of the more varied and absolutely creepy atmospheres that they create, but the FF series has bigger and more frequent scares.
I prefer subtle, creepy, and unnerving atmospheres/plots, but again, better than nothing. Jump-out scares will frighten you for a minute. Creepy and unsettling scares will keep you tense for days, if captivating enough. I seek dread, damn it!
Quote:Like the previous Fatal Frame games, it's being developed by Tecmo. But this time they're teaming up with Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda 51. Not only that, but they're partnering with Nintendo who will be publishing it. IGN says there's an unconfirmed rumor that Nintendo actually purchased the Fatal Frame name to keep the rest of the series exclusive.
Looks like REmake, with its pre-rendered backgrounds and all (you can have pre-rendered backgrounds with real-time lighting, right?). Anyone play any previous iterations? How was it?
From the IGN preview:
Quote:Shibata Makoto as director, Keisuke Kikuchi (longtime series producer), and even Suda 51 – best known for Killer 7 and No More Heroes – serving as a second director for the game.
The hell? They need 2nd-directors now? Killer7 is indeed good, and I hear No More Heres is good as well, so this is good news.
Quote:Since you're constantly running from ghosts, and since ghosts aren't exactly scared of melee or projectile weapons, Fatal Frame – as the name suggests – equips you with a unique soul-capturing camera. Known as the Camera Obscura, Fatal Frame's only weapon forces you to risk life and limb to get the perfect shot of advancing ghosts. While the main game is done primarily in third person view, you'll need to bring the aging camera up into first-person mode, and then focus in your shots face-to-face with the ghouls themselves. Based on how well the shot is executed (size of ghost, position of ghost in the frame, and action the ghost is doing at the time), a certain amount of damage is done. Put yourself out on the line even further, and capture a "Fatal Frame" shot seconds before the enemy attacks.
When I first read this paragraph, I was turned off. So, it's a combination of Resident Evil and Pokemon Snap? Greeaaaat... Then again, imagine trying to take a snapshot of a ghost just as it's inches away from grabbing you. If pulled off correctly, this has great pants-shitting potential. It does sound a little gimmicky, though. At least it should make some interesting usage of the wiimote. You could hold it sideways and eye-level to take pictures.
Quote:The game is out to scare you, and as such there are tons of horrific images, extremely uncomfortable scenarios, and extremely moody worlds. It'll be a "Mature" rated game without question. Fatal Frame will also bring a level of depth and maturity we don't normally see on Wii, as the stories are usually about double the length of a standard Resident Evil game, and feature tons of upgrade items, side quests, and backstory for those looking for a fully realized world.
Good, good. Hopefully that'll help the fact that it's a game where the focal point (har har) is taking pictures of ghosts.
They have a video (the third iteration of the game for PS2 to give you an idea), but it started out non-work-safe, so I probably shouldn't watch it now.
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