I'm sorry if I offend anyone, many things are meant to apply to a general group instead of individuals.
This is pretty belated, I know, and if anyone saw my other post, you'll remember what I said about people forgetting some things quicker than others and/or the press going on to the next big thing in present life instead of beating to death one issue. I wanted to say somethings about the killing of bin Laden since I had all these ideas swirling around for a while on the different issues with it that people keep raising for reasons unknown to me. They're unknown because him being dead was enough to elate me in this War on Terror even before I heard it was US Navy Seals who took him out.
So when some people I knew well and trusted well were pushing so hard to vilify our government worse than bin Laden himself I had a serious "WTF" moment. Mind you, the degree of vilification varied as did the aim. All of them also did not question for the same reason and were sometimes content with him being dead but for the sake of principle prodded but even then, there were times I thought it was too much. Questioning is an important part of being a citizen in a government run by the people and for the people. Respect however should still be maintained.
To start, I just want to say I wholeheartedly do believe that US troops went into Abbotobad, Pakistan and secretly took out Osama bin Laden. Its true that our government has given us many reasons to not trust them in the past century but seriously, if you're just going to assume everything they say is a lie, don't be involved in it. It is similar to criticizing something you don't like or are not interested in or don't know jack about, why are you making a fuss over it? Also, people in our government are always changing, you can't attach the same transgressions to one person 30 years ago to another person today that holds the same office or is part of the same body.
Branching from that, there are 3 main bodies in the government with many different federal agencies with varying agendas and degrees of power in the various facets of running the country and our operations over seas. If someone lies and tells it someone else to tell it someone else, how can you hold all of those people responsible if you yourself could easily just be stuck in that rut? If there was a lie or breach of trust from our government, it is absolutely unfair without knowing the details of where it could have originated to point fingers and vilify people.
It is also always better to have a positive outlook on the nature of people because if you stop giving them a chance, they will head down a one way road to self-destruction. Its like Lex Luthor on Smallville when Clark trusts Lex less and less for no reason other than him being just as curioius about the other person as it is vice versa. The only difference was that Lex was smarter and had more means to find out what he wanted. Similarly, God forbid, our government could go straight down that path of violence and rebellion because there is no trust left between the people and the government; I pray everyday for the welfare of our country and its citizens. If you think that was a convoluted analogy, then you're probably right, the point is treating someone or something like a villain will eventually make it that way.
Anyways, lets say that the US didn't kill Osama and that he died some years ago of whatever illness they were suggesting he may have died (note "may" have died, not he "did" died of those illnesses as people keep inferring; I never remember hearing any confirmed reports of his death till recently). Who cares? He's died, isn't that what matters, isn't that one of the goals we were aiming for in this War on Terror because this is the guy who was the face of one of the worst attacks on US soil in history? It also doesn't matter how he died because as history has shown, even monsters don't always die a fitting death; in my belief, for some cases it is a case of God letting their evil deeds add up for a greater punishment in the hereafter or there are other reasons, many of which will just digress this topic so I'll just continue.
Then people will bring up the point that they're angry because the government lied about it. Again, who cares? Mind you, if I ran the government, I wouldn't lie (if you think I'm naive, maybe I am but I pray that God gives me strength to keep that fortitude) but maybe that's why I would not be good at running this country. It is the nature of this country to have to lie occasionally despite what any politicians say and it isn't always for personal reasons either. There is such a thing as "need to know basis" which people who are so bent up about revealing other peoples faults publicly forget about and sometimes put the lives of a few or even hundreds and thousands at stake or higher stakes in the case of terrorism today.
If Osama died of natural causes or some stupid death not by US hands, it would be elating to hear he died but not as elating as hearing that US Navy SEALs got the job done. Its like the "Inglorious Basterds" ending to Hitler as opposed to the real ending in history, all the persecuted minorities in Europe were happy when they found out he died but they'd be partying like crazy if it happened like the movie. So people who have been going all out about the possibility that they're lying to us, you ever wonder maybe they had good intentions at heart? Maybe they wanted to raise the morale of a country that's at war in two countries, just got out of a war that lasted almost a decade, and hated by the people of many others? Why can't it just be taken as that?
Going into the issue itself a little, the number of reasons for why it doesn't make sense that Osama was there and the US killed him probably equal the number of reasons a lot of the conspiracies don't make sense. People with theories have all these doubts which they believe gives the truth and in the process of coming to those theories, they don't realize how many more doubts those theories have. In essence, those who are going to doubt will be like that always regardless of what evidence is given to them. They've lost their faith in the government enough that just questioning all out is meant to prove that view. I genuinely believe that no matter what the government said about his death, it would be seen as a lie in some shape or form by lots of people anyways and probably the same exact people.
God bless America and let it not perish from this Earth.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Disaster Victims Everywhere: You Are Not Forgotten
So I just saw this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42935279/ns/weather/
A few days ago, I also saw a similar comment by a friend on the twisters being forgotten for dead terrorists and royal weddings. I'm quite sad that such a sentiment exists not just because I think its thinking too little of people like me who do care and have not forgotten these people in my prayers and thoughts but also because it sounds cynically presumptuous if that makes any sense.
The news is there to tell about what is happening in the world today and everyday and something notable pops up, its going to go on the front cover, especially if its sells well. Because something happened a week ago or even a few days ago doesn't mean it will continuously be covered to death for months on end. The article said that the effects of Katrina are still present but as we move forward in time, we can't just keep our full attention on that one notable disaster and keep crying and devoting all our energies to it.
Continued donations and community work is of course not wrong but making everyone feel guilty solely about you when good and bad things are happening around the world all the time, trivial to you or not, is not right either. People will care long after something has stopped being discussed in the news and being posted on facebook in a million statuses. Yes donations and community work will decrease but so will its need.
Even this story about bin Laden, as far impacting as it has been, I'm starting to notice a decline in the fervor around it just a few days after it happened. It's still quite lively everywhere because of it and the news is still deep in it but a few weeks from now, I think it will only have small mention and we will be on the trail of other news such as his replacements and Al-Qaeda's further initiatives and what America is continuing to do about that.
This whole business of whether it is fake or not too will die down like the question of whether the holocaust was a hoax or the moon landing was a hoax. I remember at least about the holocaust that the story surrounding people questioning it was in full force only a few weeks before other things came up. Mind you, I believe in the holocaust and the moon landing and Osama's death and if I feel like it, I'll make posts on them, maybe a few months from now just to tease this point on caring.
One more thing, the people of Japan suffered a great deal worse I think than anything we've faced so far this year, even Katrina couldn't compare with the death, damage, and danger. They do not however worry about the world forgetting them because they know two things. First, they must take an initiative in picking themselves up when they've fallen and second, as long as there are good people in this world, people will always care and not let the suffering and fallen people in this world be forgotten.
I'll give a fictional example. The destruction of the planet of Alderaan was the worst disaster to hit the Star Wars universe since God knows what. For so many books and movies they kept pushing it forward and making charity cases of the survivors and making us feel really sorry for them. After a point though it got irritating and pathetic. People still cared of course but just rubbing it in over and over while dozens of other crises were occurring in the New Republic was a real hindrance and mood killer at points. Point being, time moves on, so should we.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42935279/ns/weather/
A few days ago, I also saw a similar comment by a friend on the twisters being forgotten for dead terrorists and royal weddings. I'm quite sad that such a sentiment exists not just because I think its thinking too little of people like me who do care and have not forgotten these people in my prayers and thoughts but also because it sounds cynically presumptuous if that makes any sense.
The news is there to tell about what is happening in the world today and everyday and something notable pops up, its going to go on the front cover, especially if its sells well. Because something happened a week ago or even a few days ago doesn't mean it will continuously be covered to death for months on end. The article said that the effects of Katrina are still present but as we move forward in time, we can't just keep our full attention on that one notable disaster and keep crying and devoting all our energies to it.
Continued donations and community work is of course not wrong but making everyone feel guilty solely about you when good and bad things are happening around the world all the time, trivial to you or not, is not right either. People will care long after something has stopped being discussed in the news and being posted on facebook in a million statuses. Yes donations and community work will decrease but so will its need.
Even this story about bin Laden, as far impacting as it has been, I'm starting to notice a decline in the fervor around it just a few days after it happened. It's still quite lively everywhere because of it and the news is still deep in it but a few weeks from now, I think it will only have small mention and we will be on the trail of other news such as his replacements and Al-Qaeda's further initiatives and what America is continuing to do about that.
This whole business of whether it is fake or not too will die down like the question of whether the holocaust was a hoax or the moon landing was a hoax. I remember at least about the holocaust that the story surrounding people questioning it was in full force only a few weeks before other things came up. Mind you, I believe in the holocaust and the moon landing and Osama's death and if I feel like it, I'll make posts on them, maybe a few months from now just to tease this point on caring.
One more thing, the people of Japan suffered a great deal worse I think than anything we've faced so far this year, even Katrina couldn't compare with the death, damage, and danger. They do not however worry about the world forgetting them because they know two things. First, they must take an initiative in picking themselves up when they've fallen and second, as long as there are good people in this world, people will always care and not let the suffering and fallen people in this world be forgotten.
I'll give a fictional example. The destruction of the planet of Alderaan was the worst disaster to hit the Star Wars universe since God knows what. For so many books and movies they kept pushing it forward and making charity cases of the survivors and making us feel really sorry for them. After a point though it got irritating and pathetic. People still cared of course but just rubbing it in over and over while dozens of other crises were occurring in the New Republic was a real hindrance and mood killer at points. Point being, time moves on, so should we.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Religion is a scapegoat
If religion did not exist, people would use other excuses to try and justify their hate and violence so people will follow them, its as simple as that. However, many people don't consider it as such unfortunately because they either are quite narrow minded on many topics or they've had first-hand bad experience with people who say they do something because of religion. It is a difficult to task to change the views of many people but the more open-minded people remain, the further we will go away not only from the misconceptions about religion but fanaticism for those who still choose to follow it.
Most all religions have some peaceful roots both in their origins and core beliefs. They did not originate randomly when someone dreamed of world domination through the generations. It is when the religion has become so ingrained in the people of society that negative forces see fit to use that strong passionate belief to give them control. Overtime that merges with the beliefs and practices and it seems as if the religion is the dominating force creating all the trouble when in fact, even if it has become so, it was not always like that and it was made that way by outside forces of corruption. Its just put up as a face for the most part and the other part involves things being put in to the religion or created.
If religion did not exist, there would still be some strong motivating beliefs and ideas out there to manipulate by corrupt people. Those ideas, very basic ideas like love or compassion could even be twisted into being evil and wrong when it is only bad people creating that corruption. So it is quite flimsy to suggest religion is the
cause of all problems in the world, the root of all hatred, or the reason for histories wars. History is filled with examples where something else started something and then the religion was used to rile it up further because the main reason was too complacent to act on.
Another way to look at it is to look at other reasons wars were initiated in our world. European and American powers fought Native Americans for many years, breaking treaties, taking land, forcing them to migrate further and further west, etc. That wasn't simply motivated because they didn't believe the same as they did, they also had a different skin complexion. The colonization of Africa by European powers and the breakdown of China and its kingdom through spheres of influences and drugs was followed by a wave of religious zeal but the oppression was started by it. Knowing all this, you wouldn't say that we should abolish all cultures or make people breed so much that races don't exist. One, that's genocidal and two, it destroys an important aspect of humanity, that is it's diversity. Same way, religions all hold different views and ideas of the world but only those that choose to use it and corrupt it without remorse for their purposes will sacrifice it in the peoples minds. Blaming it and calling for its abolishment would serve no purpose.
As I said, history is filled with these examples. The most basic way to look at it but also the most time consuming would be to look at every war and its causes and the reason for each side fighting. I have looked at many wars including so called religious wars and could not truly find religion ever being a cause of any fight. Even the Crusades can be seen as the Papacy trying to increase prestige, land, and influence by starting a full scale war against the biggest threat to Europe at the time; its like Hollywood making movies capitalizing on the tension of the Cold War by making movies about Soviets being evil monster bad guys against the US. No one would say that Hollywood was being very patriotic by making these movies, they just wanted a good villain for movies to make a lot of money.
To talk about more current events and central examples of the fallacy that religion causes all problems, people in Muslim countries didn't like their corrupt politicians and governments, their lack of resources, the debts they had gained from western powers, the long gone days of glory the Muslims had, etc., not that the West was Christian or Jewish. That was made to exacerbate the hatred but it certainly didn't start it. Any fighting that has happened between the Muslim countries themselves has occurred through Western Power meddling from the end of the Cold War.
They upset governments and peoples there for many decades to counteract the influence of the Soviet Union. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, they also divided up the region into their own countries with their own royal families and petty disputes so that there would be little hope of reconciliation and reemergence of a strong Eastern Power such as the Ottomans and others who had been a pain for the Europeans for many centuries. Once they started overcoming that and other problems started emerging from continuous outside influence in other forms, they just went over the edge.
To gain some unifying force for violence and retaliation, those who chose to terrorize used the common religion of the people because it was a strong ideology that had not faded so much as it had in the West. Corrupt governments certainly didn't care as long as their rule was kept intact and whatever deals they had with strong foreign powers was kept. Current events show however that the people are now getting fed up of even that. Governments fighting amongst each other too use it. Both sides in the Iran-Iraq war said their people would go to heaven for killing the other and they would go to hell even though both were Muslim and both had a considerable population of either denomination who fought, Iraq does anyways.
I hope that clears it up some for many people, I spit it out as I see it and as it comes to mind so its not always organized or even very considerate sometimes so I'm sorry if anything offends anyone.
Most all religions have some peaceful roots both in their origins and core beliefs. They did not originate randomly when someone dreamed of world domination through the generations. It is when the religion has become so ingrained in the people of society that negative forces see fit to use that strong passionate belief to give them control. Overtime that merges with the beliefs and practices and it seems as if the religion is the dominating force creating all the trouble when in fact, even if it has become so, it was not always like that and it was made that way by outside forces of corruption. Its just put up as a face for the most part and the other part involves things being put in to the religion or created.
If religion did not exist, there would still be some strong motivating beliefs and ideas out there to manipulate by corrupt people. Those ideas, very basic ideas like love or compassion could even be twisted into being evil and wrong when it is only bad people creating that corruption. So it is quite flimsy to suggest religion is the
cause of all problems in the world, the root of all hatred, or the reason for histories wars. History is filled with examples where something else started something and then the religion was used to rile it up further because the main reason was too complacent to act on.
Another way to look at it is to look at other reasons wars were initiated in our world. European and American powers fought Native Americans for many years, breaking treaties, taking land, forcing them to migrate further and further west, etc. That wasn't simply motivated because they didn't believe the same as they did, they also had a different skin complexion. The colonization of Africa by European powers and the breakdown of China and its kingdom through spheres of influences and drugs was followed by a wave of religious zeal but the oppression was started by it. Knowing all this, you wouldn't say that we should abolish all cultures or make people breed so much that races don't exist. One, that's genocidal and two, it destroys an important aspect of humanity, that is it's diversity. Same way, religions all hold different views and ideas of the world but only those that choose to use it and corrupt it without remorse for their purposes will sacrifice it in the peoples minds. Blaming it and calling for its abolishment would serve no purpose.
As I said, history is filled with these examples. The most basic way to look at it but also the most time consuming would be to look at every war and its causes and the reason for each side fighting. I have looked at many wars including so called religious wars and could not truly find religion ever being a cause of any fight. Even the Crusades can be seen as the Papacy trying to increase prestige, land, and influence by starting a full scale war against the biggest threat to Europe at the time; its like Hollywood making movies capitalizing on the tension of the Cold War by making movies about Soviets being evil monster bad guys against the US. No one would say that Hollywood was being very patriotic by making these movies, they just wanted a good villain for movies to make a lot of money.
To talk about more current events and central examples of the fallacy that religion causes all problems, people in Muslim countries didn't like their corrupt politicians and governments, their lack of resources, the debts they had gained from western powers, the long gone days of glory the Muslims had, etc., not that the West was Christian or Jewish. That was made to exacerbate the hatred but it certainly didn't start it. Any fighting that has happened between the Muslim countries themselves has occurred through Western Power meddling from the end of the Cold War.
They upset governments and peoples there for many decades to counteract the influence of the Soviet Union. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, they also divided up the region into their own countries with their own royal families and petty disputes so that there would be little hope of reconciliation and reemergence of a strong Eastern Power such as the Ottomans and others who had been a pain for the Europeans for many centuries. Once they started overcoming that and other problems started emerging from continuous outside influence in other forms, they just went over the edge.
To gain some unifying force for violence and retaliation, those who chose to terrorize used the common religion of the people because it was a strong ideology that had not faded so much as it had in the West. Corrupt governments certainly didn't care as long as their rule was kept intact and whatever deals they had with strong foreign powers was kept. Current events show however that the people are now getting fed up of even that. Governments fighting amongst each other too use it. Both sides in the Iran-Iraq war said their people would go to heaven for killing the other and they would go to hell even though both were Muslim and both had a considerable population of either denomination who fought, Iraq does anyways.
I hope that clears it up some for many people, I spit it out as I see it and as it comes to mind so its not always organized or even very considerate sometimes so I'm sorry if anything offends anyone.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Star Wars: Dark Forces - some comments
I've played the games and now I've read the graphic novels and I've gotta say I enjoyed both a lot. However, I still prefer the game not just because I don't get to play Kyle Katarn, the most awesome Expanded Universe character I know, but because its like they did some things better in the games. Also, they sort of deflated some of the awesomeness of Kyle Katarn in the books but he still kicked butt.
The main thing I didn't like in the books was that they sort of just ignored the majority of the first Dark Forces game. Its almost as if they didn't even happen. They get the part where Kyle steals the Death Star plans but leave out the whole arc where he destroys the Empires plans for Dark Troopers and became one of the few people who defeated Boba Fett. In fact, the one point where Boba Fett comes up in the books, he acts like he never met or even fought the guy; maybe it was such an embarrassing moment as a Mandalorian (though not as bad as what happened in Return of the Jedi, such a noob way to go).
This leads to my next point that they didn't just skip the game but they ignored its impact on the people in the Star Wars universe. Mon Mothma was suspicious of Kyle before he stole the plans for the Death Star and then less so after that but she still was and they showed that in the book. However, considering how much Imperial butt he kicked in the first Dark Forces game and on her orders, that's pretty rough.
Another thing that was disappointing and I wish they'd have given it more depth was his Imperial Academy training. He leads one strike mission, graduate, finds out about his dad's murder, finds out the Imperials actually did it, and then he defects. The author doesn't let him go on more missions which would have given more experience as a soldier and mercenary and also explain his prowess in the video games as a one man army. It also would have shown him express early on hate and a leaning to the dark side before his force powers came to fruition because he thought the rebellion had killed his dad. But no, he just does one mission, feels angry and then finds the truth and changes his mind. Maybe he wanted to emphasize his growth in the force helping him to become this way more than experience which is fine I guess too, it makes it more awesome that he became a Jedi Knight on his own (with help from a dead Jedi Master though) and in such a short time period. Luke did that too if I'm not mistaken.
Going back to the one man army comment, that is another let down. He acts more like a spy at times and other times like he's trying to conserve ammo for some reason. The one time they kind of show off his awesomeness as a one man army is when he infiltrates the Imperial base for the Death Star plans but that's the end of it. I guess it makes more sense though considering his prowess with the force which continues to grow through the series and most Jedi might go for stealth more than strength but if Knights of the Old Republic said anything about the types of Jedi, it was that some were diplomatic, some were stealthy, and some were soldierly and Kyle is definitely more of the last and first kind, not the second.
I'm also kind of disappointed they didn't bring the live action actors back in the 3rd game for live action scenes but I guess live action scenes in games do tend be low budget and corny often so that's why they just stuck with in game acting for the 3rd game plus they were more necessary in a time when games had bad resolution and live action just looked better. Mind you, the scenes weren't corny and they were pretty serious and had alright acting but the special effects weren't great.
What I did like was the inclusion of more characters, the game seemed kind of microcosmic because there were just a few speaking characters of any importance in the second and first game with a whole lot of faceless mooks. Now you got political refugees on the planet containing the Valley of the Jedi, stormtroopers with friends and family, officers with aspirations, and so forth.
I also liked a lot how they explained the back story of the Valley of the Jedi because they didn't explain it enough in the game. Few thousand years before the game, an army of light side Jedi fought an army of dark side Jedi and they met at a final confrontation where the dark siders made a force bomb called a "thought bomb" and killed everyone. Its a really creepy and crazy attack too and it made Kyle more awesome that he was able to free all the spirits it trapped. Here's a detailed article on it too: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Thought_bomb
Anyways, another cool thing was how he got used the lightsaber so fast, he defeated 7 Jedi Knights so easily, easier than I could in the game mind you. He didn't even need a lightsaber for 2 of them, one he just shot in the face and the other he just beat to death. He also uses smart tactics to defeat them such as how he used the anger of one Dark Jedi to make him lose his concentration and then against the Big Bad, he made a force bubble around the guy to cut off his connection to the power from the Valley of the Jedi; I had to chase him around in the freakin' game hacking away with my light saber and dodging those crazy Force Destruction attacks. On a side note, I wish that attack was more prevalent, its like a Force Hadoken except you don't have to be standing still to use it.
Finally, his relationship with his partner was expanded upon earlier on than in the games too; considering the years they spent together between when they met and the second game, it would only make sense. In the game though, they just didn't emphasize any of it and it was almost like the developers didn't want a relationship between the 2 and then they changed their mind in the 3rd game.
Aside from that, I enjoyed the whole story and action and awesomeness of Kyle Katarn, the Star Wars universe needed more awesome characters like him. Its almost like giving a normal awesome character like Han Solo and giving him Force powers. I might not want them to make a book on the last 2 games though, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, considering they delved a lot in the story already in the game as opposed to not so much in the previous games.
The main thing I didn't like in the books was that they sort of just ignored the majority of the first Dark Forces game. Its almost as if they didn't even happen. They get the part where Kyle steals the Death Star plans but leave out the whole arc where he destroys the Empires plans for Dark Troopers and became one of the few people who defeated Boba Fett. In fact, the one point where Boba Fett comes up in the books, he acts like he never met or even fought the guy; maybe it was such an embarrassing moment as a Mandalorian (though not as bad as what happened in Return of the Jedi, such a noob way to go).
This leads to my next point that they didn't just skip the game but they ignored its impact on the people in the Star Wars universe. Mon Mothma was suspicious of Kyle before he stole the plans for the Death Star and then less so after that but she still was and they showed that in the book. However, considering how much Imperial butt he kicked in the first Dark Forces game and on her orders, that's pretty rough.
Another thing that was disappointing and I wish they'd have given it more depth was his Imperial Academy training. He leads one strike mission, graduate, finds out about his dad's murder, finds out the Imperials actually did it, and then he defects. The author doesn't let him go on more missions which would have given more experience as a soldier and mercenary and also explain his prowess in the video games as a one man army. It also would have shown him express early on hate and a leaning to the dark side before his force powers came to fruition because he thought the rebellion had killed his dad. But no, he just does one mission, feels angry and then finds the truth and changes his mind. Maybe he wanted to emphasize his growth in the force helping him to become this way more than experience which is fine I guess too, it makes it more awesome that he became a Jedi Knight on his own (with help from a dead Jedi Master though) and in such a short time period. Luke did that too if I'm not mistaken.
Going back to the one man army comment, that is another let down. He acts more like a spy at times and other times like he's trying to conserve ammo for some reason. The one time they kind of show off his awesomeness as a one man army is when he infiltrates the Imperial base for the Death Star plans but that's the end of it. I guess it makes more sense though considering his prowess with the force which continues to grow through the series and most Jedi might go for stealth more than strength but if Knights of the Old Republic said anything about the types of Jedi, it was that some were diplomatic, some were stealthy, and some were soldierly and Kyle is definitely more of the last and first kind, not the second.
I'm also kind of disappointed they didn't bring the live action actors back in the 3rd game for live action scenes but I guess live action scenes in games do tend be low budget and corny often so that's why they just stuck with in game acting for the 3rd game plus they were more necessary in a time when games had bad resolution and live action just looked better. Mind you, the scenes weren't corny and they were pretty serious and had alright acting but the special effects weren't great.
What I did like was the inclusion of more characters, the game seemed kind of microcosmic because there were just a few speaking characters of any importance in the second and first game with a whole lot of faceless mooks. Now you got political refugees on the planet containing the Valley of the Jedi, stormtroopers with friends and family, officers with aspirations, and so forth.
I also liked a lot how they explained the back story of the Valley of the Jedi because they didn't explain it enough in the game. Few thousand years before the game, an army of light side Jedi fought an army of dark side Jedi and they met at a final confrontation where the dark siders made a force bomb called a "thought bomb" and killed everyone. Its a really creepy and crazy attack too and it made Kyle more awesome that he was able to free all the spirits it trapped. Here's a detailed article on it too: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Thought_bomb
Anyways, another cool thing was how he got used the lightsaber so fast, he defeated 7 Jedi Knights so easily, easier than I could in the game mind you. He didn't even need a lightsaber for 2 of them, one he just shot in the face and the other he just beat to death. He also uses smart tactics to defeat them such as how he used the anger of one Dark Jedi to make him lose his concentration and then against the Big Bad, he made a force bubble around the guy to cut off his connection to the power from the Valley of the Jedi; I had to chase him around in the freakin' game hacking away with my light saber and dodging those crazy Force Destruction attacks. On a side note, I wish that attack was more prevalent, its like a Force Hadoken except you don't have to be standing still to use it.
Finally, his relationship with his partner was expanded upon earlier on than in the games too; considering the years they spent together between when they met and the second game, it would only make sense. In the game though, they just didn't emphasize any of it and it was almost like the developers didn't want a relationship between the 2 and then they changed their mind in the 3rd game.
Aside from that, I enjoyed the whole story and action and awesomeness of Kyle Katarn, the Star Wars universe needed more awesome characters like him. Its almost like giving a normal awesome character like Han Solo and giving him Force powers. I might not want them to make a book on the last 2 games though, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, considering they delved a lot in the story already in the game as opposed to not so much in the previous games.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Hello, this is The Khan
Hey, this is my first blog, you can call me The Khan and if you know me, you can call me what you call me. This is my first time blogging and some people told me its a good way to get things out there, I'm just interested in getting them off my chest and sharing them with anyone who cares. Most people don't but thats alright, this way anyone who does can come along and see for themselves instead of me forcing stuff into conversations.
Anyways, like I said, I feel like putting thoughts down about different stuff in my life from my hobbies to my beliefs. I thought of using facebook but the status messages aren't meant for that abuse I think and I didn't feel like keeping up constantly with a twitter account; I don't have the time for that or the money for a data plan. Obsessive ability is there but thats the problem I don't want to face. This I hope will let me sit down and think over clearly what I'm thinking and also make me work on my organizational writing skills. So here's a few things I can go on about.
I watch and read a good amount of manga or at least I've gotten back into it; I got into from Toonami for anyone who remembers that. I lost cable for a while and when I got it back, I was shocked to find it was cancelled and so I just watch it elsewhere now which is fine because Toonami had a limited audience to cater to and limits on what they could show anyways. It would take away from the feel of a lot of shows and also be disappointing that some really good shows couldn't be shown. So when I do read a new manga or watch a new anime, new to me anyways, I'll probably have something to say, especially if the characters really tick me off. Its not to say they're bad or the show is but being the outside observer, one can't help point out appalling stupidities even if it is just fiction.
I'm an Ahmadi Muslim and if you don't know what that is, the short summary is in "About Me" and the longer description can be found here: http://www.alislam.org/introduction/index.html. The main site is as follows: http://www.alislam.org/. I'll write about different subjects relating to the Ahmadiyya Movement and Islam and issues relating to them universally and in the group and so on from time to time.
Ever since I got Netflix, I've been watching movies more or less regularly. With my reawakened anime fervor though, its been halted a bit. Nevertheless, I do watch movies relatively often, especially when they come in the mail. I usually don't have anything elaborate to say about movies besides "its good" or "its ok" and I'm usually a really lenient critic in terms of criticizing movies but if its really good or really bad, I'll have a lot to write for it. This is another reason I'm writing a blog now because I used to put down stuff about the movies I saw and people were confused by my trend or something.
I really love books, fiction and non-fiction. I am definitely for happy endings though I usually forgive a bad ending if its a war story. I'm also not afraid to read a romance novel though they're usually few in number in my books to read. I'm a big fan of Star Wars Expanded Universe novels or all novels on Star Wars. They're not always the best piece of literature and if the reviews are bad enough or the story doesn't capture me well enough, I don't go for it but I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan so I give a lot of them the benefit of the doubt. Other books that capture my interests include books on history, war, science, and religion but mostly the ones of my own faith because reading and writing is so important to the Ahmadiyya Community. Like films, I'm not especially good with reviews but if something really gets me, I'll go on about it.
This is where I always get stuck in writing anything, the ending, so I'm just going to let it anti-climax here...
Anyways, like I said, I feel like putting thoughts down about different stuff in my life from my hobbies to my beliefs. I thought of using facebook but the status messages aren't meant for that abuse I think and I didn't feel like keeping up constantly with a twitter account; I don't have the time for that or the money for a data plan. Obsessive ability is there but thats the problem I don't want to face. This I hope will let me sit down and think over clearly what I'm thinking and also make me work on my organizational writing skills. So here's a few things I can go on about.
I watch and read a good amount of manga or at least I've gotten back into it; I got into from Toonami for anyone who remembers that. I lost cable for a while and when I got it back, I was shocked to find it was cancelled and so I just watch it elsewhere now which is fine because Toonami had a limited audience to cater to and limits on what they could show anyways. It would take away from the feel of a lot of shows and also be disappointing that some really good shows couldn't be shown. So when I do read a new manga or watch a new anime, new to me anyways, I'll probably have something to say, especially if the characters really tick me off. Its not to say they're bad or the show is but being the outside observer, one can't help point out appalling stupidities even if it is just fiction.
I'm an Ahmadi Muslim and if you don't know what that is, the short summary is in "About Me" and the longer description can be found here: http://www.alislam.org/introduction/index.html. The main site is as follows: http://www.alislam.org/. I'll write about different subjects relating to the Ahmadiyya Movement and Islam and issues relating to them universally and in the group and so on from time to time.
Ever since I got Netflix, I've been watching movies more or less regularly. With my reawakened anime fervor though, its been halted a bit. Nevertheless, I do watch movies relatively often, especially when they come in the mail. I usually don't have anything elaborate to say about movies besides "its good" or "its ok" and I'm usually a really lenient critic in terms of criticizing movies but if its really good or really bad, I'll have a lot to write for it. This is another reason I'm writing a blog now because I used to put down stuff about the movies I saw and people were confused by my trend or something.
I really love books, fiction and non-fiction. I am definitely for happy endings though I usually forgive a bad ending if its a war story. I'm also not afraid to read a romance novel though they're usually few in number in my books to read. I'm a big fan of Star Wars Expanded Universe novels or all novels on Star Wars. They're not always the best piece of literature and if the reviews are bad enough or the story doesn't capture me well enough, I don't go for it but I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan so I give a lot of them the benefit of the doubt. Other books that capture my interests include books on history, war, science, and religion but mostly the ones of my own faith because reading and writing is so important to the Ahmadiyya Community. Like films, I'm not especially good with reviews but if something really gets me, I'll go on about it.
This is where I always get stuck in writing anything, the ending, so I'm just going to let it anti-climax here...
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