Since my last post about Chad Vader, Blame Society Productions has put together a ton of other Chad Vader videos. Check them out embedded here for you convenience.
Apparently they are lumping the first 8 episodes into “Season One” and have packaged it on DVD. If you still haven’t got your Chad Vader fix, these related videos are also fun:
This video was aired on C-SPAN originally and more recently on the Daily Show. I’m shocked at how accurate his predictions of how an invasion of Iraq would effect America and the region. This account is spot on and certainly if he was uninvolved in the current administration he’d be jumping up and down saying I told you so.
Tim Russert: Do you regret not taking Saddam out nine years ago?
Dick Cheney: I don’t, Tim. It was–and it’s been talked about since then. But the fact of the matter is, the only way you could have done that would be to go to Baghdad and occupy Iraq. If we’d done that, the U.S. would have been all alone. We would not have had the support of the coalition, especially of the Arab nations that fought alongside us in Kuwait. None of them ever set foot inside Iraq. Conversations I had with leaders in the region afterwards–they all supported the decision that was made not to go to Baghdad.
They were concerned that we not get into a position where we shifted instead of being the leader of an international coalition to roll back Iraqi aggression to one in which we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world taking down governments. So I think we got it right, so suppose it’s one of those things that’ll be debated for some time. But I thought the decision was sound at the time, and I do today. [Meet the Press, 8/27/00]
The most distressing aspect of this is that when we went into Iraq across the board the administration convinced the American people that this was going to be a simple operation, oil would pay for it all, and the Iraqi people would “greet us as liberators.” This feeling of betrayal and a sense of being manipulated is what demonizes the current government in my opinion.
There are solid arguments on both sides on whether or not we are better off having invaded Iraq and unseated Saddam. I don’t think it is productive to engage in this debate at this point. In many ways this hindsight clouds the overall discussion.
Instead, I am most bothered by this example of clear manipulation of perceptions by the administration. Nothing has changed to prevent this from being done again. They might claim 9/11 changed everything, but it 100% fact that Cheney was not clear with us about what negative potentials this invasion presented. This irresponsibility has cost over 3700 US lives and innumerable Iraqi and international coalition casualties and injuries.
9/11, baghdad, cheney, coalition, dick cheney, iraq, manipulated, manipulation, saddam, saddam hussein, think progress, US, video, war
I quit World of Warcraft a couple years ago, but I still find the game and it’s world fascinating. This is why I was interested to hear the announcements of the expansion titled: Wrath of the Lich King. The following is what has been announced so far about this expansion:
– The continent of Northrend added to the world of Azeroth. Northrend is about the size of Outland. – New Content for WoW players level 68 and up. – The WoW Level cap increased from 70 to 80. – An array of new abilities and talents introduced. – A new “Hero” class added – the Death Knight; this class will need to be unlocked through certain criteria before it becomes available. – New Profession: Inscriptions – allowing you to permanently enhance spells and abilities. – Siege Weapons and Destructable Buildings added to the PvP landscape, as well as a new Battleground. – A plethora of new Dungeons, including 25-player Raid Dungeons and Heroic variants. – An abundance of new quests, monsters, items, and recipes.
blizzard, blizzcon, death knight, hero, hero class, siege, siege weapons, warcraft, world of warcraft, wow
Puzzle Quest is a puzzle game combined with an RPG. Insane? Yep. Bizarre? Absolutely? Fun? You betcha.
Puzzle quest is one fo the most engaging and deep Nintendo DS games I have played so far. Justin turned me onto this a few months ago, but I just picked up a copy last week. I’m repeatedly shocked at how fun and deep this game is.
Unfortunately, it’s a bit difficult to explain. This is a classic RPG in the ways that you have a character of a specified class who gets abilities, items, and levels up. In fact, you can also build cities, make items, capture enemies, train mounts, and more. You travel from city to city gaining members to you party as you follow a story.
So where does the puzzle piece enter? Puzzles are how you “fight”. You do battle through this interesting puzzle game where you gain money, experience, and mana; while trying to do as much damage as possible to your enemy before he defeats you.
Wellington Grey has put together a well researched analysis on the classic debate of pirates vs ninjas, titled: “The Great Debate of Our Time”. He looks at both pirate and ninja without bias.
I take issue with his final conclusion, but otherwise it’s a fun ride through this analysis.
I’m not 100% sold on Heath Ledger as Joker, but this image rules. This is from the upcoming sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight. In related news, check out WhySoSerious.com for some viral Joker marketing.
DC and Warner Brothers’ marketing teams didn’t stop there with the marketing though. Check out IBelieveInHarveyDent.com for the political campaign site for Harvey Dent (aka Two Face) played by Aaron Eckhart. Or… the related (fan created?) IBelieveInHarveyDentToo.com, which initially looks empty but if you click and drag to highlight is extremely creepy.
(As usual, thanks to Keith for the heads up on these)
