Poll May 31, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in ICE, Immigration, citizenship, civil rights, human rights, ideas, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, news, people, politics, polls, undocumented student, undocumented students.Tags: illegal immigration, immigrants, Immigration, immigration reform, people, polls, thoughts, undocumented students
add a comment
I like this poll. Perhaps things aren’t bad as I thought they were. Go to Center for American Progress to see a recent poll by ABC/Washington Post that say that immigration reform isn’t looking that bad with the American people.
Read more here.
Meet The… May 31, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in Microsoft, PC games, PS3, Playstation, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, entertainment, games, thoughts, trailers, video games, videos, youtube.Tags: PC, Playstation, PS3, trailers, video, Xbox 360
add a comment
I’ve played Team Fortress 2 from time to time, on my Xbox 360, but I really wished that I could play it on the PC. Alas, my laptop would die first instead of running it. Anyway, Valve deviced a great way to advertice the game. They are the Meet the Team video. They are pretty amazing. I also believe that these characters have more personality than a lot of other protagonists that actually have stories and games dedicated to them. And that’s just sad. And pathetic. Here is the team so far…
Team Fortress 2
Meet the Soldier
Meet the Scout
Meet the Heavy
Meet the Demoman
Meet the Engineer
Meet the Sniper, my personal favorite. I’m not a crazed gunman Dad! I’m an assassin!
Meet the Spy, one of the funnier videos.
62 Year Old Man Threat… May 31, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in America, Americans, ICE, Immigration, deportation, immigrants, racial discrimination, racial profiling, racism, stupidity, thoughts.Tags: immigrants, Immigration, stupidity, thoughts
add a comment
Okay, ICE has WAY too much time on its hands it seems. First deporting high school students, now this, it was ridiculous, no other way to describe it. A man of 62 years of age had cancer of the neck and head was given a special drug to prevent relapses. One of the side effects of the drugs is that the man’s fingerprints don’t appear normal. So, what do the immigration authorities do? Arrest the man because he could be dangerous. A 62 year old man, who just recovered from cancer, is someone who is NOT a threat. God, some people are idiots…
Anyway, read more this story here.
500 Posts! May 31, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in blog, blogging, life, personal, thoughts.Tags: blog, blogging, life, myself
1 comment so far
And it is with weirdness that I announce that this is in fact my 500th post in this blog. I say weirdness because I didn’t actually expect to have that many posts when I first begin this blog more than year ago.
So, to my readers, and I know there are some, Google Reader says that I have 25 followers; I have to ask, why do you come to this site? No seriously, why? Is it because of the immigration news? Because of my constant fanboy tears when I put up trailers for stuff? Is it because of the video games? Is it because of my super awesome writing? Haha, scratch that last one, that was a joke. So, why? I’ve gathered almost 30,000 hits, I should be there soon. Also, if you are reading this and play video games, let me know, I would love to play video games online with you! But yes, 500 posts…I wonder when I’ll get to 1000.
Video Game: Resistance: Fall of Man Review May 31, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in PS3, Playstation, Playstation 3, Sony, entertainment, fiction, games, opinion, reviews, thoughts, trailers, video games, videos, youtube.Tags: entertainment, PS3, review, thoughts, trailers, video
add a comment
Resistance: Fall of Man Review
This wasn’t the game I expected to review at this moment, I was playing Valkarye Chronicles but I had to take a break from it. No, that’s not a negative against that game, I just needed a break.
Any who, Resistance. You’re Nathan Hale, dropped into an alternate history England where in 1951, the Chimera are destroying England, they already took over the rest of Europe and Russia. Your job is to basically fight the Chimera and find out what the hell is going on. Early in the game, you’re infected by the Chimera and get some of their abilities, mainly the ability to regain health and use their health packs. The campaign took me about 2 days to complete, it was fine, nothing out of the ordinary.
This game reminded me of a time before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, control-wise that is. It just felt awkward. I don’t know why, it just did. I eventually get used to the controls though and everything was fine. The visuals are…brown. No, gray. Seriously, there is no color in this game. I couldn’t believe that this was Insomniac, the same company that brought us Ratchet and Clank. For the atmosphere, it works, so that’s what counts. I did feel that the world was ending but it just didn’t feel like a PS3 game. I did like however how you felt when others were fighting with you and shit was blowing up. I felt like it was actual war and everything could be lost, with bullets, explosions and bodies flying. As for sound, it was good too, I liked the music. There is some pop in, but didn’t see any bugs.
I couldn’t get to play the multiplayer, I have no internet access for my PS3 so I couldn’t test it out. I apologize for that. It was a good game, but I feel that others have done it better, Mainly, CoD4 and Bioshock for instance. Play those instead, but if you find this for cheap, try it out.
Played single player to completion in normal difficulty. Only on PS3.
Arpaio May 30, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in Immigration, dehumanization, deportation, discrimination, human rights, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, life, news, opinion, people, police, politics, race, racial discrimination, racial profiling, racism, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students, videos, youtube.Tags: dehumanization, deportation, illegal immigration, immigrants, Immigration, racial profiling, thoughts, undocumented students
add a comment
Ah, Arpaio. The man is an asshole. This video proves it. He also seems to have anger management problems, haha. Why couldn’t he be like the dude in Houston.
Immigration and Couples May 30, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in Immigration, citizenship, civil rights, dehumanization, deportation, gay rights, human rights, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, inspiration, law, life, marriage, news, opinion, people, politics, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students.Tags: Immigration, racial profiling, illegal immigration, immigrants, life, thoughts, dehumanization, deportation, family
add a comment
Well, this situation sucks. It sucks being an immigrant, but being a gay/lesbian immigrant, with a partner, must suck more. I believe this because heterosexual couples have the opportunity to fix their status, if one partner is a legal resident or citizen, the other person can be too. Not so for couples that are of the same sex. Since same sex marriages are not recognized by the federal government, they can’t be recognized by immigration authorities. This is another barrier that needs to come down.
In the following article is the story of one such couple that almost had to leave the US with their kids because they didn’t want to be separated. Senator Diane Feinstein made it possible for the undocumented parent to stay thanks to a private bill but hopefully messy situations like this one can be avoided in the future if the laws are changed.
Also, don’t bother going to the comments on that article, there are some sick people there…
Read more here.
Opposition to Sotomayor May 30, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in Hypocrisy, Immigration, Republicans, ideas, people, thoughts.Tags: Immigration, Republicans, stupidity, thoughts
4 comments
Okay, I found this story in the Daily Kos. Mainly, it repudiates the cheapening of Sotomayor recent nomination for the Supreme Court as a cheap political move by Obama. It seems that what many media outlets are saying is that he nominated to throw a bone to the Latino community so that he doesn’t have to work with immigration reform. I find that appalling and cheap move from the opposition. Sotomayor’s nomination and immigration reforms are entirely different matters, hell, that’s why up until now I didn’t even mention her nomination in this blog. I just didn’t know what to say, except good luck and hope she gets in, because I don’t know that much about her polices and wouldn’t feel comfortable saying anything else.
Any who, immigration, while largely involving Latinos, is NOT just about Latinos. I certainly know other undocumented students who aren’t Latinos who are affected by this as I am.
Read more about the article here.
Quote of the Day May 30, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in personal, quote, quote of the day, quotes, thoughts, writer, writing.Tags: life, personal, quote, quote of the day, thoughts, writer, writing
add a comment
Writing is a lonely life, but the only life worth living. – Gustave Flaubert
I don’t know if the quote is true, in a writer’s life being the only worth living. If you are a writer, like myself, often wonder why everyone else doesn’t write. I don’t mean publish of course, I’m not published, but just write. I don’t mean blogging either, that’s different. I don’t know why I think that, but I’ve always held my blogging to be separate work from my own writing. I think because my own writing takes much, much more effort to do.
Writing is a lonely life. So far this summer, there are only 2 friend with whom I’ve been speaking regularly. 3 others have messaged me though, and that felt nice, not being completely forgotten. But it is the summer and people have shit to do, even I do, in writing.
I’m still not to the point where I can ignore everyone and be fine with it though. While I don’t know if the solitary writing life is one the ONLY worth living, I do know for sure that it IS worth living.
Police and Common Sense May 29, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in America, Americans, Immigration, cops, dehumanization, deportation, discrimination, human rights, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, law, news, opinion, people, police, politics, racial profiling, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students.Tags: Immigration, racial profiling, illegal immigration, immigrants, undocumented students, thoughts, police, law
add a comment
Common sense! Hooray! Houston Police Chief is against implementing the 287g program. Why? Well, here is quoting the article.
The yearlong study of 287(g) by the nonpartisan Police Foundation was critical of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement program, concluding it erodes law enforcement’s public safety mission, diverts scarce resources, increases exposure to liability to charges of racial profiling, and heightens fear in communities.
I’ve written about the subject many times and I’m glad that a study has proven it. It doesn’t make sense to have 287g because it terrorizes a community and goes against what a police officer is supposed to do.
The chief had the following to say, according to the article.
“I don’t want my guys out on the street trying to determine which of 32 different visas” an immigrant might be issued is valid, Hurtt said. “I want them to concentrate on keeping Houston safe from thieves, drug dealers, sex offenders, and making sure we maintain the trust and support of everybody who lives in Houston, and that means members of the immigrant community we serve.”
Wow, isn’t this guy so much better than that asshole dude from Maricopa county in Arizona. Why yes, yes he is.
Read more here.
Aliens! May 29, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in aliens, news, science, thoughts.Tags: aliens, science
add a comment
Well, this is interesting. According to one Russian scientist, an UFO crashed into a meteorite that was going to impact Earth to save us from the impact.
Dr. Yuri Labvin, president of the Tunguska Spatial Phenomenon Foundation, insists that an alien spacecraft sacrificed itself to prevent a gigantic meteor from slamming into the planet above Siberia on June 30, 1908.
The result was was the Tunguska event, a massive blast estimated at 15 megatons that downed 80 million trees over nearly 100 square miles. Eyewitnesses reported a bright light and a huge shock wave, but the area was so sparsely populated no one was killed.
I don’t know what to make of this. Part of me finds it to incredible sounding to believe it but another side of me does believe that there has to be other life outside of this planet. Universe is too big for just humans. Who knows…
Read more here.
FF Music May 29, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in Playstation, Sony, entertainment, games, music, thoughts, video games.Tags: entertainment, music, Playstation, Sony
add a comment
Well, I’ve always been a fan of video game music, when it is done right, epic and memorable. And what better than the music of Final Fantasy to have. The following are some of the stuff that I’ve been listening to while I write. Nobou Uematsu is the man!
Liberi Fatali from Final Fantasy VIII
Theme of Love from Final Fantasy IV
One Winged Angel
On Writing May 29, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in life, personal, thoughts, writer, writing.Tags: myself, personal, thoughts, writer, writing
add a comment
I’ve been writing. Not that much actually, I have yet to be swept away by my writing at the moment. I’ve been hitting mental roadblocks that don’t allow me to do much progress. So, instead, I’ve been looking back at old my projects. Now, I’m going to list my writing projects here. The number are the numbers of pages, 12 sized, Times New Roman font, single-spaced.
- Advent (Fantasy) (223)
- Darkness (Fantasy) (95)
- Solitude (Fantasy) (5)
- A Job (Immigration) (3)
- Sister (Autobiographical) (6)
- Long Gone (Immigration) (4)
- Juan’s End (Immigration) (7)
- A Future (Immigration) (11)
- An Alien Story (Sci-fi) (6)
- Am I Legend? (Immigration) (5)
- Assault (Sci-Fi) (4)
- Assumptions (Immigration) (2)
- Blind (Immigration) (4)
- Bubble (Immigration) (10)
- A Father’s Story (Children’s Literature) (2)
- Death (Fantasy) (7)
- Friendship (Fiction) (12)
- Gone (Immigration) (5)
- Harry and Claudia (Immigration) (7)
- He sat Alone (Autobiographical) (3)
- Julio and May (Immigration) (8)
- Last Battle (Sci-Fi) (4)
- Last Night (Autobiographical) (3)
- Wrong Life (Immigration) (9)
- Memories (Autobiographical) (5)
- My Story (Autobiographical) (11)
- Not an Alien Story (Sci-Fi) (4)
- Old Age (Immigration) (4)
- One Choice (Immigration) (18)
- Outbreak (Fantasy) (10)
- Shorty 1 (Fiction) (1)
- Shorty 1.5 (Fiction) (2)
- Shorty 2 (Fiction) (1)
- Shorty 3 (Fantasy) (2)
- Shorty 4 (Fiction) (1)
- Shorty 5 (Immigration) (1)
- A Simple Story, part 1 (Immigration) (6)
- A Simple Story, part 2 (Immigration) (13)
- Start (Fantasy) (3)
- The Mind (Sci-Fi) (5)
- Voices (Autobiographical) (6)
- Voices 2 (Autobiographical) (2)
- Waste (Immigration) (3)
- Wizardry (Fantasy) (3)
- Soledad (Immigration) ?
That’s a lot of projects if I do say so myself. Most of my friends have never read any of my stuff and even if they decided to read anything now, I highly doubt that it would be the same as the files that I have. I’ve sent copies of my stuff around but never get anything. Writing is a private process so I don’t usually go around telling people that I’m changing things and such, otherwise known as editing. I’ve doing lots and lots of editing lately, specifically for my novel. Poor Thad and Diana, that only means that I’m trying to find more ways to make them suffer. And suffer they will, Thad is my greatest creation though, or so I believe him to be.
I also noticed that the majority of my short stories are about immigration. Immigration, in the sense that the protagonist deals with it in one way or another. Apparently, I can sound preachy which is something I’m trying to change. Out of all those stories, the ones that I like the most are The Mind and An Alien Story. I don’t know why but I just like them.
All of my story suck. I’m not the best editor in the world, so grammatically they suck. A lot. Story-wise, well, the immigration stories sound preachy but I don’t know about the others. No one reads my stuff, probably because for a long time now I’ve kept a no one reads my stories policy. I’ve learned that people are enthusiastic in the beginning but then never really do anything for me, so I don’t see the point anymore. Only 2 of my friends have ever actually offered some criticism, one of who is a writer herself and other one, well, I didn’t expect that criticism from him. Haha, it was good though, he was a good friend and I miss him a lot. I wonder what he does now. So, in order to avoid disappointment, I don’t share my stuff anymore and well, I’m fine with that I suppose. Something special happen the other day though, someone did acknowledge me as a writer and that felt good, to know someone else knows, haha. Okay, I’m weird…moving on.
Any who, I’m back in the game of writing. Hopefully I’ll enter my mode where everything, including my video games, food, sleep, and other stuff, go out the window. I’m not there yet though, which is sad. Any who, of the people who read this blog writers and if so, what’s your experience with it?
Quote of the Day! May 28, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in life, quote, quote of the day, quotes, thoughts, writer, writing.Tags: life, quote, quote of the day, thoughts
add a comment
A blank piece of paper is God’s way of telling us how hard it is to be God.
Sidney Sheldon
I have to say, that feeling like god is an intoxicating feeling. One that I don’t like letting go off when I’m not writing. It is absolute power over fictitious beings is just…wow, can’t even describe it. It is bad, in my case, for my protagonists. Mainly because I put them through absolute hell. But the best stories are not the ones where everyone is happy and alright, the best ones are those in where people suffer, a lot, and still go on for some reason, they go against all reason and expectations and continue with their lives.
I’m also not one to believe in a happy ending, so, yeah, I just ruined my novel. Everyone dies. Haha, well, not exactly but it is sure as hell not a happy ending, for any of my 3 novels. Surprisingly, some of my short stories do have happy endings.
But a blank piece of paper is scary. In my case, a blank open word document, they are terrifying, because, well, you have no idea what to do. You have to create something out of nothing. Absolutely nothing. And not only that, it has to have setting, dialogue, mood, tone, characters, and plot, make sense and entertain, wow, writing is a hard job. Why do I do it again…? Oh, because despite the fact that no one reads my work, it is the only the life worth living.
Immigration Courts May 28, 2009
Posted by iamashadow in ICE, Immigration, citizenship, civil rights, courts, dehumanization, deportation, discrimination, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, law, racial discrimination, racial profiling, racism, undocumented student, undocumented students.Tags: dehumanization, deportation, illegal immigration, immigrants, Immigration, racial profiling, thoughts, undocumented students
add a comment
Well, ICE continues to be an asshole organization. They are no deporting people who are dealing with deportation proceedings. That’s right, people in court. They are taking them away. They are disrespecting the judge’s power and just saying that what he or she may say in regards to the case doesn’t matter, the person is getting deported. Here is a quote from the article that I read about this.
In another case, Salvadoran immigrant Victoria Alfaro was arrested in early May at the Los Angeles immigration courthouse, even though her case wasn’t over. She had been deported in 1990 because of a drug conviction and returned illegally. She was placed in immigration proceedings after applying to the government for protected legal status.
Now, she is in immigration custody and her attorney, Gregory Olive, is trying to get her released on bond so she can continue with her case.
Olive said he questions why the government has been moving forward with her court case over the last three years if it planned to arrest and deport her before it was over. “It’s a waste of resources,” he said.
I believe that someone like the likes of Arpaio would love for immigration judges to shut up and just let him deport people. People like that need to be gone…
Read more here.
