Author Archive for Guest_Writer

Star Trek Sucks!

Published
by
Guest_Writer
on 10/29/2004
in guest author and star trek
. 3 Comments

Guest Blogist: Chris Simpkins

For the final guest blog of the week, Derick and I have agreed on a topic which we’ve discussed many times before. As you may or may not know, Derick recently found his inner Trekkie (just when you think you know someone… *sigh*). But at one time, he and I held a similar opinion of Star Trek: it sucks.

When I find Star Trek while flipping through the TV channels and I see a dog faced alien with horns coming out of his head, I can’t help but cringe. And I guarantee that after Derick reads that last sentence he starts thinking to himself, “what is he talking about… there aren’t any dog faced aliens with horns… he probably means [insert obscure race name here]… ignorant fool.” But that’s what I see when I look at Star Trek. A bunch of people wearing bad costumes, using corny voices in made up languages to make themselves appear alien. I’m pretty sure that if we ever do find aliens, they’re not going to look like us with bumps on their heads (even if we all did come from the Progenitors).

A few months ago, I promised Derick that I would watch one episode with an open mind. He presented me with what he considered to be the episode that best demonstrated character development in Star Trek. I still haven’t watched it. I’ve put it in a few times, but I just can’t bring myself to watch it. I can’t help but feel like I’m not only going to waste 40 minutes of my life, but actually be negatively impacted by watching the episode. Star Trek makes me angry!

The Treknobabble… it exists for no reason other than to convey a sense of high techiness and fill time. It’s an insult to the viewer, in my opinion.

It probably doesn’t help that I have a disdain for science fiction in general. Maybe it’s because sci-fi is mostly a derivative of the action genre, and the majority of TV shows and movies in the action genre suck. Doubly so when they take themselves too seriously.

I’d like to appreciate the good parts of Star Trek (and I’m sure there are some), but I simply can’t stomach the fakeness/cornyness of it all. The show’s budget limitations leave realism to be desired. I will say one positive thing about Star Trek: I respect the some of the real theories behind the science. Other than that… two thumbs down and kick to the toilet! Star Trek sucks!

With that, I’d like to thank Derick for allowing me to post on his blog all week. If you’ve enjoyed my posts, you can find more at my website, Millsplace.com. Thanks for reading!

-Chris

Election Over, November 3rd?

Published
by
Guest_Writer
on 10/27/2004
in guest author and politika
. 0 Comments

Guest Blogist: Chris Simpkins

6 - number of days until the general election
270 - number of electoral votes needed to win
∞ - number of lies told by Bush in the past four years
3 - sequentially ordered number of this guest blog entry

Todays question, posed by Derick, is “Will this election be over on November 3rd?”

While I’d like to say ‘yes’, the teachings of 2000 tell me ‘probably not’. In the great spirit of America, both sides have lawyers at the ready (maybe I should say ALL sides, since I somewhat expect Nader to declare himself the righteous winner after a post-election tirade about the illegal, discriminatory two-party system). Both John Kerry and George Bush are ready to challenge whatever results come out of this election.

The ‘experts’ predict a close race. I think if the race actually is close, say within 2%, then we will see another drawn out period of legal battles (think Lord of the Rings, only in court). Last time, it took until December 13 for Gore to finally concede the election. And we only had problems in one state! This time, multiple states are already facing legal challenges regarding election practices… and the election hasn’t even begun.

If the race is outside 2%, I think we can expect a quicker official declaration of the winner. Although, I’m pretty sure if Bush wins by any margin greater than 2% the Democrats will have a hard time believing the election was legit.

Whichever way things go, there will be huge emotional upset for one side. Honestly, I’m worried about this country’s short-term stability after November 2nd.

As an added bonus, check out these real people making the switch from Bush 2000 to Kerry 2004

Bias in the Media

Published
by
Guest_Writer
on 10/26/2004
in guest author and politika
. 0 Comments

Guest Blogist: Chris Simpkins

Hello again. Chris here for the second installment of guest-blogorama. Today’s topic, chosen by me, is Bias in the Media.

Since I started paying attention to what’s going on in this country a few years ago, I noticed that the distinguishing line between news and entertainment has become so blurry that it’s nearly impossible to see.

Talk radio (yes, the shows on those fuzzy AM frequencies) is a good example. The two main AM competitors in Rhode Island both feature taglines promoting themselves as news stations:

“news talk radio” - 920 WHJJ
“news radio” - 630 WPRO

Yet the majority of their programming lineups feature unquestionably partisan commentary on the news. Sure, they have special ‘news jockeys’ come on for five minutes every hour and spout off the AP’s headlines. But how can they, in good faith, call themselves news stations when 92% of the air-time is dedicated to commentary and advertising? One might make the argument that “news talk radio” means talk radio about the news… but the real problem is hidden further below the surface.

Take Fox News, for example. They have personalities who come out and present the news during the week and then host partisan talk shows on the weekends. Fox will often cut from news segments directly to commentary about the news. And as Fox’s ratings go up-up-up, other stations have begun to adopt similar strategies.

People are more trustful of news coming from someone with whom they agree. Which is why Fox has done so well. People see anchors who clearly express their opinions on the issues. And when people agree with those opinions they are more likely to trust those anchors as valid news sources. Fox continually beats out the other news stations in ratings because their viewers trust them. And what is that trust based on? An agreement of opinions. It’s sneaky… and it works.

For specific examples of bias: Media Matters for America
For a beer drinking robot: The Bar Bot

A Critical Election

Published
by
Guest_Writer
on 10/25/2004
in guest author and politika
. 0 Comments

Guest Blogist: Chris Simpkins

Hello Ariyam.com loyalists. This is Chris from millsplace.com. You might remember me from such events as Halloween 2002 or as “the guy who used to live at Greenhill before Derick.” As previously mentioned, Derick and I are guests on each other’s blogs for the week. The topic chosen (by Derick) for today’s guest blog was “Why is the outcome of this election so critical?”

After thinking about it for a while, I began to realize that everything I came up with was very partisan. I thought of countless things George Bush has done that I simply disagree with. And then I realized what the real problem was.

The country has not been so divided in a looooong time. For many years democrats and republicans disagreed on the issues, but they always found some common ground. Today, I fear our country is no longer trying, or able, to find that common ground. This administration has turned a blind eye to anyone with a viewpoint differing from it’s own.

And who was to stop them? The republicans have control of the House, Senate, and White House (and arguably, the Supreme Court). What ever happened to checks and balances?

Only bad things can come from a situation like that… and only bad things have. This country has been taken down a dark path. I worry that November 2nd may be the only chance we have to get back on track before it’s too late.

And while I’d like to launch into a condemnation of nearly everything that’s taken place over the last 4 years, I’ll end it here instead.