Zynga: Rising star or falling comet?

I will start by personally stating the following. I do not currently like Zynga. I admire them, but I do not generally enjoy their games or appreciate their business model. They have published 15 different "social" games at this point, and with the exception of Words with Friends, their clone of scrabble, I do not like any of them. Zynga however is making quite a decent amount of money, unlike many other internet start ups that actually do useful things, such as Pandora, and that impreseses me.
Zynga has 227 million monthly users. In terms of comparison, WOW, or World Of Warcraft, has 10.3 million subscribers. However, these numbers should not be taken as the same thing. A WOW subscriber pays $15 a month in order to trapeze around Azeroth, while a Farmvillian might pay next to nothing. But now, things get interesting.
The method of distribution for getting money in WOW is fairly simple. You play WOW. You play Blizzard money. That money does nothing more then allowing you to play the game. You might pay some motivatedl kid in China to level your Blood Elf up, and collect a huge amount of gold, but this goes on outside of Blizzards system, and gold farming is its own story.
Within Farmville, you pay to get extra gasoline, extra flowers, extra gold, etc. You pay in order to get a leg up on the competition, who happen to be your friends. At the same time though, you want your friends to continue playing, and this is wear Zynga gets interesting.
Infectious Disease Modeling of Social Contagion in Networks is a paper published by a group from Harverd, based on a long term study. The paper demonstrates that obesity and smoking can both spread similar to virus’s in social chains. However, in the overview, it says something very interesting.

“Information, trends, behaviors and even health states may spread between contacts in a social network, similar to disease transmission.”

Facebook if nothing if not a social network. That's what it is. And it makes a perfect transmission vehicle for the Zynga virus. Or at least it did for quite a while. If you sent a notification to a friend to invite them to a game it would show up and they would see it. They might also see that all of their other friends are playing, and think “Why not?”. They would then play the game just to fit in. This led to the popularity, and the massive spread of the Zynga virus.
But a virus can’t spread by its self, and the game design of almost all their games led to the spread. Players needed a minimum level of friends playing the game in order to unlock further levels of items and land expansion. So players would send their friends invite after invite begging them to join the game.
And people joined. Oh, people joined. They flocked to their virtual farms and mob dens, and spent real money. But eventually, those who didn’t play got angry with the spam invitations and Facebook did something that it rarely does: Actually listened to its users. They redesigned the interface to stop the currant deludge of ads, and Zyngas game virus sufffered for it.

Curantly, Zynga has a pile of money, a huge number of game designers. It might making some more good games, and it might not, but only time will tell.

nfl week 15

Jacksonville @ Atlanta - Matt Ryan leads the falcons over Mojo, 26-17.

Dallas @ TB - The bucs will win against the Boys, because the Garrett is slowly turning them into the Miami Heat, bucs by 4.

carolina @ houston - Tj yates has stepped in nicely at QB, and carolina has stats, but can't win. Houston by 3.

Skins @ Jersey A Giants - Eli Manning has more than his share of the Manning family abilities, and he isn't using them, but they are enough to beat the skins. 33-24

Miami @ Buffalo - this game has no meaning, no one really cares. Go Bills. They win 47*-7.
*wide right

Seattle @ Da Bears - this a good bad QB game. Hanie vs. Tavs. Don't expect any scoring, Hanie will come close, but the Bears will drop a td int he endzone*. 2-0 Bears.
*Stevie Johnson

NO @ Minnesota - New Orleans wins this one easy.

Cincy @ St. louis - Again, Cincy will win, eventhough no one really cares. Except the ravens and steelers.

Tennessee @ Indy - Don't Watch This Game.

GB @ KC - the Pack will stay undefeated 53-3.

Detroit @ Oakland - Again no one really cares, watch another game, one with playoff implications.

NEP @ Broncos - You can't beat Tebow, God won;t allow it, 40-43 Broncos.

Jersey B Jets @ Eagles - The Eagles don't play in the 4th quarter, but the Jets dont play the 1st quarter. 10-10 tie

Cleveland @ Arizona - Just eliminate them already.

Baltimore @ San Diego - Joe flacco and Rivers are both very dissapointing, baltimore by a lot.

Pitt @ San fran - Steelers are with Harrison, so Alex Smith should survive, but the Steelers will win

Na No Wi Mo Part 1

The alley way old. Not necessarily dark, but the age seemed to have some way of blocking the sun. Large grey concrete buildings, with few lights on stood on the side. The street was empty, and a single trafic light at the end, changed colors mournfully, as if hoping someone, someday would need it. There were very few cars on the side of the road, old vans, or perhaps other smaller ones. Trees, planted in a civic manner were along the sidewalk, slumped, leaves, already shedding in the fall air, swished along the edges of the buildings, or scutteled like crabs through through the concrete beach.
But then, a change. A car came down the street, obaying all speed laws, despite the fact that it could have done a hundred, and not a single policemen in the world could find it in himself to care about it. It slinked down the street, as if the driver didn’t want to be seen. It was seen anyway. A man watched it from one of the buildings. He wore a gas mask over his mouth, the rest of his head carefully wrapped in bandages. A motorcycle helmet thats jawstrap had been hacked off was also on his head, covering the rest of his face. A scarf was wrapped around his neck, but a tiny bit of it was visable. There were more bandages., He also wore a long coat, which hung around his body as if it was on a hat stand. His arms were crossed, and on his hands he wore ski gloves, thick puffy things. He stood straight up, and he wore a pair of dusty khacki pants. On his feet was a pair of neatly polished shoes, also slightly dusty. He spoke, and his voice was muffled by the gas mask. “She’s coming up. Get the door.” There was whine and he turned, then gave a muffled sigh. “And put some damn pants on.”

The whole building felt like a parking lot. The stairs were concrete, the railings were industrial iron, and small rubber mats were put down stairs. The doors seemed to seperate the hallway from the rest of the buildings, and all were different. But after a few floors of stairs and uncomfortable lights, she came to a wooden door with small brass plaque on it. The plaque read “Alan and Phil: Professional, Discreet, Licenced Practitioners.” She knocked tentativly, and the it was pulled open. In front of her was a beaming man, with scruffy blond hair and a no beard. He was wearing a hawian shirt, gym shorts, and 3 pairs of socks. He smiled. “Alan Pendragon, professional investigator.” He motioned with his arm. “Come on in.”

The room was not as she was expecting, a pigsty, and neither was it a occult library. Instead, it gave the feeling that half furniture came from Sweden, or had been stolen from a expensive hotel. Half was neat and overly tidy, a gentlemens study, the other more like a collage dorm. There was a desk, a TV, some chairs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man who had introduced himself as Pendragon discretly push some magazines under a couch.

“Er, I was told over the phone that you deal with unusual problems....” The was a muffled voice and she gave a start. “Yes, we do.” There was a man at the desk, even though she hadn’t seen him a second ago. He spoke again. “Please excluse my unusual appearence. I was involved in a incedient a few years ago that crippled my immune system, and despite my eventual restoration, my appearence is quite unappealing, and so I wear these.” He motioned toward the gas mask and ski helmet. “My skin is also quite sensative to light, and other stimuli. I find it helps to explain my unusual appearence before meeting with a client.”

“I am Phil Newton, please take a seat. And how may we help you today?”

Week 11 NFL Predictions

Colts @ bye - This is going to be a tough match up for Indy. Painter will have to face the practice squad in extra scrimmages. He'll be lucky to throw no interceptions against these guys. But, maybe the Colts can use this match up to implement a simpler offense that Painter actually understands.

Jets @ Tim Tebow - If anyone can stop the run heavy offense in Denver, its the Jets.
26-10 Jets.

TB @GB - Aaron Rodgers is too good, 43-10 Pack Attack.

Carolina @ Detroit - Cam Vs. Fairley part 2, Lions win and break their skid. 18-15.

Jax @ Cle - Both teams have nothing on either side of the ball. Please, don't watch this game. Neither team scores 0-0

Oak @ Min - AP vs Darren McFadden. Ultimately Oakland's depth wins this game for them. 31-21

Buffalo @ Miami - Miami gets off to another quick start and is up 17-0 at halftime, but no one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills. 21-17 Buffalo.

Cowboys @ Redskins - Tony Womo vs. Grossman, and John Beck. Demarco Murray dominates this game, he runs all over the skins D for 200 yds and 4 tds. 51-0 Boys. Oh yeah, and the Boys drop Felix Jones immediatley after the game, he had one touch and 1 fumble.

Cincy @ Baltimore - The Ravens can only seem to beat the Steelers this year. Dalton and Aj Green torch the Ravens D, 21-7 Bengals.

Arizona @ San Fran - This is a kickers game, Akers is on fire. 12-3 niners.

Seattle @ St. Louis - Lynch runs wild on the Rams. 23-7 Seahawks.

Tenn @ ATL - CJ decides to show up, 27-25 Titans.

Super Chargers @ Da Bearsh - Interception fest '11 10 total picks between the two teams. 3 of them in the red zone, 27-7 Bears.

Eagles @ G MEN - Eli Manning is the luckiest QB in the NFL, Eagles lead by 14 with 5 minutes left, until Eli channels his inner Peyton and leads the game winning drives. 17-14 G MEN.

KC @ NEP - Maybe the worst Monday Night game yet, and there have been some bad ones. NEP by 41.

Electronic Blizzard

Blizzard: The word brings to mind, in most people, a snow storm. In another slightly less social and well groomed group however, it brings up thought of what is one of the biggest gaming juggernauts. It created a Starcraft, a game played professionally around the world for thousands of dollars on the line. It created Warcraft, a RTS masterpiece that created the world that is known today simply as WOW. World Of Warcraft.

Yet for all of this Blizzard seems to be losing its touch. Starcraft has been filled with issues with the company, arguments over LAN play, and balance changes. Diablo 3 will have the ability to sell and buy in game items with real money, a fact that already has would be fans in conniptions. WOW has lost over 800,000 subscribers since 2010. Stock is down 5%.

The real question is: Why? Why is a company that is loved by it's fans doing so badly? Heres a hint: it may have something to do with a second company, the one that merged with Blizzard in 2008: Activision.

Activision is best known as the publisher for the Call of Duty series. Yet, the company seems to have little desire to really do much. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, despite being billed as the most anticipated game of all time, is already drawing criticism. The games crash screen shows "Modern Warfare 2" has crashed. The website had a variety of grammar and spelling errors. This was not a blog post, this was a multi-million marketing campaign, and yet someone spelled "which" "witch". The servers have crashed. Fans have noticed that building in the previous game were directly reused!

The modern public game company is under pressure to churn out games every single year, with only 1 year for design, bug testing, and other issues. The make these games both for top of the line computers, and 7 year old consoles. But such a schedule leaves no room for innovation, or interesting gameplay. Is it any wonder BF3 and MW3, both are almost the same game?

All points aside, the few WOW players I talked to who quit, were angry about the change in the difficulty. Monsters got easier, players got stronger, and suddenly anyone could get all the items, and gold, and acheivements. When everyone is special, no one is.

Blizzard has not marketed to the casual gamer. Starcraft? 1 misclick can lose you the game. Diablo? Don't die, you can kiss some EXP goodbye. Warcraft DOTA? I have never heard so much profanity about mistakes.

The point is, game companies seem to be looking out and thinking that casual gaming is the next big thing. Well, Zynga beat them to it. Will Blizzard become the epic giant it once was?

The next WOW expansion will allow you to play as a panda monk. (Think Kung Fu Panda) You will be able to collect and battle pets. (Think Pokemon)

I'll let you decide.

NFL week 9 predictions

Miami @ KC - Two terrible teams face of in a matchup to suck for Luck. Miami wins this one 17 with 17 points to KCs 21, (Jackie Battle get excited and scores on the final play of the game after breaking 5 tackles).

ATL @ Indy - Harry Douglas torches the Indy secondary for 4 tds and 150 plus yards. ATL wins 42-7

TB @ NO - The Saints cant comeback after getting beat by the Rams. Tampa win 31-10.

JETS @ Buffalo - No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills. After trailing 8-0 at halftime (4 safeties for the Jets and -14 total yards for both teams) The Bills win 31-8.

Seattle @ Big D - Demarco Murray runs all over the seattle defense. Boys 27-3.

Browns @ Texans - Texans beat the offense-lacking Browns, 10-3.

49ers @ Redskins - DC doesn't have a QB, John Beck and Rex Grossman don't count no matter how many yards they throw for. Alex Smith is finally showing why the niners drafted him. 49ers win 24-7

Cincy @ Tennessee - This is a sad game, after CJ gets bench for not gaining any yards on his first 5 carries, Javon Ringer lights up Cincy for 3 tds and 180 yards. Titans win 27-6.

Tim Tebow @ Oakland - Tim Tebow wins on a jump pass that is deflected back to Tim Tebow who runs into the endzone in OT to win 6-0 (Tim Tebow missed the XP).

Super Bowl 42 rematch Gmen @ NEP - David Tyree gets called up and make a big catch on third down at the 50 yard line to keep a late drive alive. Then Mario Manningham catches a TD with 30 seconds left. 17-14 G MEN.

Rams @ Arizona - Two bad teams playing good football. Arizona 27 Rams 24.

Green Bay Packers @ The Supah Chagahs - Philip rivers fumble 3 time, and Billy Volek leads the game winning drive to win 14-10.

Ravens @ Stillers - Total combined offense - 2 yards. Ravens win 4-2.

Daa Bearsh @ The Igles - Cutler is sacked 30 times and loses a total of 300 yards. Eagles win 14-0 on two pick sixes by Asante Samual and Chris Gocong.

Why the SEC will win another National Championship

I am guaranteeing that the SEC will win its 6th consecutive national championship.

Well first they need to get a team into the game, which shouldn't be a problem, because they have 3 teams in the top 10 and South Carolina is not far out. Last year, there was actually a possibility at one point of an Auburn vs. Alabama National Championship game. But, this year, either LSU or Alabama will go undefeated in the regular season and will face South Carolina with one loss in the SEC title game. LSU, my pick to win the west, should handle South Carolina's offense with ease. But, lets say that Alshon Jeffery dominates Heisman candidate Tyrann Mathieu, and Marcus Lattimore runs all over LSU's defense, Jordan Jefferson, Jarrett Lee, and Spencer Ware can keep LSU right there with them. LSU wins.

So LSU now needs a team to play in the BCS bowl, that comes down to Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Boise St., and Stanford. We can rule out Boise St. because they dont get the respect they deserve, sorry Mountain West. Stanford loses to Oregon in the championship game so that takes the Pac 12 out of the equation. So it comes down to undefeated conference champs Oklahoma and Wisconsin. OU has been ranked higher all season, but lose in this matchup due to strength of schedule, Wisconsin had to play Penn State, The Ohio State University, Michigan, Michigan State, and Nebraska to win the Big 10+.

So the stage is set, LSU and Jordan Jefferson, who yet again shafts Jarrett Lee out of a starting job, versus Wisconsin and Russell Wilson. LSU's secondary easily shuts down Russell Wilson early, while Wisconsin establishes the running game with Monte Ball. Against a defense from any other conference, Monte Ball would take over this game, but LSU has already faced Trent Richardson, Marcus Lattimore, and Micheal Dyer, they have a package to stop him. Meanwhile, Wisconsin's defense is no match for the LSU offense. They haven't seen a strong balanced attack like this in the Big 10+. Wisconsin has nothing unique about them to make this into something that LSU hasn't already faced in the SEC. That is why Oregon was able to hang with Auburn last year. It is impossible to replicate that offensive attack. Yet again the SEC comes out on top.

Prologue

It was a dark smokey room. The occupants in the rooms sat with hoods on their heads, around a scarred table. Only one wasn’t wearing a hood, and he was wearing a cowboy hat on his head, and trench coat. They sat crouched over the table. One of the taller figures seemed to be the leader, and the others watched carefully.

The tallest sat talking in whispers. The others were leaning in close to listen. Maps had been looked over, and were spread out across the table.
“This leads to only one last question, my friends. Can I trust you?”

“My people will support you.” growled one of the cloaked figures. “We have not forgotten what they have done to us.” It was one of the bigger people at the table. It slammed a large green scarred hand on the table.

One of the smallest figures spoke next, with a deep gravelly accent. “I do not enjoy all of those seated. I do not believe with everything you have said. But, as it has been said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We will support you.” It slammed a thick large hand on the table, wearing many rings.

A third figure spoke. It was a cool, calm voice. “I can’t claim to speak for all my kin, the way you two can, but only the kings seem to reap our gains. I don’t know who will support us, but I suspect most will. I’m in.” A rough, hand, that of a worker slammed on the table, callused and scarred, perhaps from years at a anvil.

The forth figure spoke, in a scratchy voice. “Long have my brothers and sisters been burned at the stake, slaughtered, and abused. We save those we can, but while they think we are evil incarnate, my kind will be slaughtered.” A thin spindly hand slammed on the table, with long dirty fingernails, and veins visible. “My siblings will join you.”

The fifth figure spoke. They were hunched over, eyes glowing in the hood. Their voice was snarling, yet smooth. “They created us, and they throught us out. They betrayed us, and called us evil. We were no ones pets, but they treated us as such.” A clawed furry paw slamed into the table, with yellow talon's. A pair of canine eyes blinked in the light, and some of the others flinched. “They will die.”

The first figure smiled. “I speak for no one but perhaps myself. And that is enough.” A hand was placed on the table. It was scarred, but tough. No rings, no jewlery, nothing except for a single tattoo adorned it, that of a gear.

There was a mummer. And then the first voice spoke again, a different tone. Now it was tinged with hate and malice, the bitter poison of carefully nursed grudge.

“We will destroy this city. They think we are but nightmares and illusions, and treat us as so. They kill us, genocide on a unimaginable scale. They kill us for what we were born. They kill us for what we make. They kill us when we speak. They slaughter our families, leave our children fatherless, rape our wives.”

“They are cowards. They are afraid, taking us on one by one. They show there strength in this, but its a farce.”

“Tomorrow when they fall asleep, the nightmare becomes real. Their houses will burn, their lands will be torched. They will fight. But this time they will fall.”

“They will fall to your clubs. They will fall to the sentient war machines. They will be slaughtered by the mobs pitchforks, and your blasts of fire. They will fall to your claws and fangs.”

“This age of tyranny, gluttony, and narcissism will fall. It will be crushed by a thousand angry fists, furious voices, and bloody anger.”

“Tomorrow, we take what they would not give us. Our freedom. Our inventions, our right to live as sentient beings. Our own choices, our right to walk without being burnt at the stake, without being slaughtered like a cow.”

“So will end the so-called Age of Light, crushed by the Age of Steel.”

“There is much to do my friends. Tomorrow....” The speaker paused, and then spitting the words like bones in meat, spoke. “We. Take. It. All.”

Technology

About five minutes ago, I had 400 words written on this blog. I was thinking it was about time to wrap it up, and then post it. Suddenly, my display shuts off for some reason. Amidst swearing and fist waving, I realize the computer is still on and is not responsive. My charger is still plugged in, so it is not an energy deal. I have had this computer, a MacBook Pro, for 6 months, so its still quite new. So why the hell am I going to have to spend another 20 minutes rewriting a completely random piece of free writing that has no real purpose? Because technology (Sorry Fritz Wallace) is consistently unreliable. We live in an age where technology is king, where people continually praise its wonders, its practicality, and its potential. Technology is wonderful, practical, and very powerful, yet it has yet to be flawless. The owners of every major technological enterprise claim with every new device that it is faster and better. Yet I have yet to notice a decreasing number off flaws in the technology I use. Every new piece of technology seems to fail me as frequently as the rest. I am certain that if I explained my woes to some computer expert (Fritz) they would supply an explanation that would only shifts the blame to me, when in fact the truth is that everything that is manufactured using many parts has an increased chance of not working, and a laptop these days has more components than almost anything. The worst part of all this is that computers fail so infrequently that we have started to rely on them too heavily, causing the failure to be so much more devastating. Sigh. I don't know how many words I have but I am posting this now before I am betrayed once more.

Complaint to Eating Well

A letter that I sent (through email) to the editors of Eating Well Magazine.

* * *

Eating Well-

As much as I enjoyed reading this October's issue of EatingWell, I was left with a sour taste in my mouth after reading "The E-Mail Home."

Your writer must have intended for this to be a humorous piece poking fun at parents and their eating habits, but I believe it portrayed parents (and grandparents for that matter) as being completely oblivious as to what they are consuming. Next time, I suggest you spend your time writing about something intended to be humorous, but don't poke fun at parents - they do the best they can to raise us to be healthy, smart and as aware as possible while tailoring to our every needs. They sacrifice a lot for our well being.

I can't wait to arrive home from school and eat a wonderfully nutritious meal thoughtfully made by my parents. Perhaps I'll get a stomach ache from eating too many greens. How ironic would that be?

Erin Donohue (age 17)

Norwich, Vermont

* * *

I guess you really had to read the piece to understand my complaint letter. Oh well...

NFL Week 2 predictions

Detroit vs. Kansas City: After a surprising loss week 1 to the Buffalo Bills, I am not expecting much from the Kansas City Chiefs. They will be without their star Safety Eric Berry, and really will have no answer for the Lions offensive attack. They Chiefs are also a very run oriented team, and will not be able to run on the Lions stout and deep defensive line. 32-7 Detroit.

Buffalo vs. Oakland: Oakland impressed me week 1 by beating the Broncos. But they won by 3 which they got on a 63 yard record tying field goal in the final seconds of the first half from Janikowski. I would not expect any field goal over 50 yards in Buffalo a tough stadium for kickers. But, Buffalo was very good offensively last week, and are a passing team playing against a run defense. 35-21 Buffalo

Minnesota vs. Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay should turn it around and Blount should run all over the Vikings D. 24-14 Buccs

New Orleans vs. Da Bearsh: Urlacher missed some time early this week due to the death of his mother, but he will be back with the team for sundays game, and the bears will rally around him and challenge the Saints. 30-27 Bears

Titans vs. Ravens: I think all I need to say is Raven's D. 24-3 Ravens.

Indy vs. Cleveland: Kerry Collins and the Indy offense should do better, and the Browns wont bring much of a pass rush, or secondary, but they will still win. 27-14 Browns.

Jets vs. Jaguars: Simply put the Jags gave away their QB. 27-3 Jets

Pittsburgh vs. Seattle: Pittsburgh's defense will not let up more than 21 points 2 consecutive weeks. They have been humiliated and will rebound. 21-0 Steelers.

Washington vs. Arizona: Neither team brings a defense to this game. Arizona win because of 2 factors: Larry Fitz, and Rex Grossman being Rex Grossman. 24-21 Arizona

Carolina vs. Green Bay: 27-18 Green Bay.

49ers vs Cowboys: Cowboys put up a fight vs. the Jets week 1, and Rob Ryan's D will shut down Frank Gore and whoever Harbaugh has at QB. 24-10 Cowboys.

New England vs. San Diego: The Dolphins were able to pass and run on the Pats defense, I think Philip Rivers and Ryan Mathews will have a field day with the Pats and their lack of a secondary.
28-27 Chargers.

Miami vs Houston: Miami was impressive offensively week 1. I think they come into this game with confidence and Reggie Bush should run all over the Texans' D. 24-21 Dolphins.

Denver vs Cincy: Cincy doesn't have Andy Dalton, so Denver should pull this one out. 21-14 Denver.

Atlanta vs. Philly: the Eagles' Superteam will dominates Matty Ice and the Falcons. 38-21 Eagles.

NY Giants vs. St. Louis: Rams will be without Steven Jackson. 21-10 G Men.

Modern Art by Fritz Wallace

I have seen a good number of oil slicks, and good amount of modern art. The latter I would consider generally more harmful, for unlike the oozing slick, it is a deliberate disaster, a conscientious, and thought out attack on go scocsity od taste.

The modern artist is the waste product of society. While his peers attempt to try to gain a greater understanding of the universe through physics, mathematics, and neuro-chemestry, the modern artist attempts to gain understanding with the help of Cannabis sativa, and various similar compounds. They have little understanding of color and perception, only knowing that "more is better".

Now, when I say modern art, I do not talk about the twisted pieces of metal found outside large corporate structures, nor do refer to the Lovecraftian architectural masterpieces/horrors perpetuated by certain architects on unsuspecting millionaires. If it exists in more then 2 dimensions, or could not be created by a over eager man with crowbar with access to his ex-wifes husbands car, it is not what I am referring to.

Modern art tends to be flat. It may have lumps of paint, or wrinkled canvas, but the art will be flat. If encountered anywhere but in a art museum, one would get the impression that a world championship paintball tournament had had happened somewhere in the vicinity, and that one team had taken to hiding behind a large piece of fabric, and the other had attempted to blast the crap out of it.

Now, some will say that I am overly harsh. They will point to the good reveiws of critics, to the lavish amounts of money paid for them. To which I will reply, there are people who pay to have fish eat dead skin off your feet. Let me say that again. Fish. Eating skin. Off your feet. (This is still a better use of money then modern art)

Now, why then does modern art seem so well liked? The root of the problem here is not the art, by the reviewer.

Consider the modern day art critic. He dines at fine restaurants. He wears inauspicious, but tailor made suits. He attends parties that would best be described as Galas, but without dancing. He drinks, eats, breaths, and lives off the very pinnacle of refinement in our culture. He is the sort of person who fixs typos in his late night reading. His late night reading is the dictionary. He can write 10,000 words about the symbolism in a picture of a man standing on the beach. Whether or not the beach goer in question is thinking anything more then "I wish I had put on more sun screen" or "Did I lock the hotel door?", the critic can still write a waterfall of words about this.

Now consider what happens to this poor sheltered member of the human race when he encounters modern art. His mental thesaurus fails him. His perception of good taste and the sort of things you should find in galleries is inexplicably shattered. He must then write 1,000 words on it. 1,000 words, a paltry amount, now a mountion from a molehill. What can he write? That it was "Stunning"? "Shocking"? "Undescribable"? "Unprecedented"? It's all he can write. And this makes modern art look good.

So perhaps you may enjoy it. Perhaps you can delude yourself into believing there is a deeper meaning. Go ahead. Its your time and money.

I however, in lieu of the recent Supreme Court ruling, will be enjoying my art on a computer screen, and try to level up a Assassin to 20. For the eighth time. God I hate Werecats.

Dear Cam Newton,

Congratulations on the BCS championship, you definitely defended your hiesman status in that game. How awesome did it feel to win, after such a turbulent season with all that scandle stuff involving you taking money from colleges? I had your back the whole time, clearly you are too much of an upstanding citizen to partake in illegal activities, and went to school just for the education and opportunity to play good football. I was wondering though, with the NFL putting salary caps on rookie contracts next year, will you go into the draft this year and get paid or will you wait and finish your college education before going to the NFL? I bet that decision is one that requires lots of thought, but if it were my decision, I would take the money.

-john staiger

Embryonic: Excellent Album

The Flaming Lips most recent album of original music, which came out in 2009, (their other new album was a cover of Floyd's Darkside of the Moon), is one of my favorite new albums of the past few years, and even the past decade. The Flaming Lips are band that have swayed between several different musical styles, often mixing electronic and rock sounds together. Some of their albums I have found particulary dull, such as "Soft Bulletin", and to a lesser extent, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots". These albums I would consider too much in line with standard, boring indie fare of today, although "Yoshimi..." should be lauded for being a semi-concept album in this day and age of singles rather than albums. Embryonic is also a semi-concept album, not exactly telling a story, but all the tracks are united by common themes and common sound. This is an album to sit down and listen to the whole way through.

While not all of the tracks can stand for themselves, they are all intruiging to listen to, and I enjoyed every bit of the album. All too much these days albums are essentially three songs the band put a lot of work and production into, and the rest of the album is just filler. Since the album is well over an hour long, I will just discuss a few of the tracks that really stood out for me.

"The Sparrow looks up at the Machine" is the second song on the album and my favorite. The song's guitar and vocals are heavily destorted. The rythmic pounding of the drums and heavy, heavy bass puts you into a trance like state almost from the beginning. The songs lyrics, about finding truth in an age of machines, and the numerous mentions of dreams fit perfectly with the music, which as well as putting one into a dream like state, also feel almost like industrial equipment pounding away in a factory.

My other favorite song from this album was "Worm Mountain". I am not sure of the significance of the song's meaning, but this one I like just for the sound its self. Similar to "The Sparrow... the guitar and bass are really distored and heavy. Really, Really distorted and heavy. The riffs and bass hooks are really catchy too.

Last but not least, my third favorite song, "The Ego's Last Stand". The song has a really catchy double bass line. It is one of the more minimilistic songs on the album, being mainly just bass, a touch of percussion and singing for most of the song. Towards the end the drums and guitar kick in, making for a terrific crescendo as the finale.

Please let me cook dinner...

My parents are away on a business trip, and my aunt is staying with me and my sisters. While she may be a nice person, she really, really doesn't have any idea of how to cook. On some diet involving only the consumption of raw vegtables, she makes herself fresh salad every day. The rest of us are not so lucky. She has already cooked most of the meals for the week and frozen them. Tonight we had spaghetti cooked three days ago -not leftovers- but specifically cooked to be eaten three days later. What madness is this? Spaghetti is arguably one of the easiest foods possible to cook. Step 1: Boil water. Step 2: Turn burner down and place spaghetti in water, leave for ten minutes. Step 3: Pour spaghetti in a colander and serve. Why can't she just do that at dinner time? The bread, which was French, was also bought several days ago. French bread is notorious for going hard the day after it's baked. I live two hundred meters from Dan and Whit's. Fresh bread was within easy range of acquisition. I don't mind that you are one some crazy diet in which you can't eat carbs, but think of the rest of us. Cold, tastless mush is not something to look forward too after a hard day of school and practice. Please let me cook.

Grammar Topics APW 3

Anderson, Darcy	Misplaced modifier
	Comma after intro items
Callahan, Katherine	Free modifiers
Erdei, Mandy	Misplaced Modifier Part phrase
	pluperfect
Johnstone, Kate	comma between coordinate adjectives
Kuehlert, Esra	dashes with parenthetical stuff
Lawless, Nicole	No comma w/ conj if compound oject
Liu, Evan	MM
	MM
Lufkin, Steven	commas after intro elements
Papadoliopoulos, George	hyphenated adjectives
Rosen, Emma	Sentence fragment (part phrase)
Smith, Tyler	Frag
Staiger, John	Use of reflexive pronouns
Stephens, Chris	dashes as (that is, defining sub-group)
Tengdin, Priscilla	No comma with compound predicate
Voelkel, Harry	Comma not needed
Wild, Claire	Fragments

How I Feel

This post is for the essay that was due so long ago I don't even remember what it was. But here is my post anyway, better late then never right? Today I'm a little tired, and it doesn't help that I'm wearing a snuggie. I am excited, however, for the Patriots game versus the Jets, because I do believe that they will crush the Jets. Go Pats! I am also excited for next week because I don't have many exams, like at all. I only have two days of exams wednesday and thursday, and then we have Feb. break which is a always a good time. But I'm a little nervous for the new semester, because I fear change, but it is what it is.

letter #5

The hardest thing about this whole letter/blog-writing thing is remembering every single paper to write a new letter. It seems the further I get into the class the more likely I am to forget things. Right now, I'm so tired I don't even know what to write. I'm all applied to college, and it's making me not even want to do anything. Vacation felt like forever, yet didn't last long enough. And now waking up for school every single morning is killing me. I feel like it'd be a little bit easier if I wasn't up till two am the nights prior but it's all a habit that takes time to resume. One habit I would love to be done with though is high school. Only five more months and then I'm done forever.