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The writers on this show need a team of editors. I have no idea what their editors are doing right now (if they have any) but those guys should be kicking the writers around. Can't keep characters straight, can't keep plotlines in order, and can't grow enough of a pair to just LET SOMEONE DIE. Hiro is not going to die. Look at precedent. Nikki dies, Ali Larter stays on the show to play her identical twin (triplet, whatever) -- who later dies, but doesn't! Nathan dies, actor stays on the show because Sylar, who also should have died, is forced into assuming his identity. Seriously, the only semi-major "good" character to ever snuff it was DL, and that was a mistake too! The whole Kelly thing was just so ridiculous--this is one of the show's biggest problems. I count at least twice, three episodes into the season, that the writers have inserted completely new pieces of a character's past. Now, this kind of thing works on a show like Lost, where we know absolutely nothing of the character's past lives and so that's some fertile ground and a part of the show from the very beginning, but on Heroes we get these supposedly HUGE things--Nathan committed manslaughter, for God's sake!--that were never even alluded to before. Something that significant should have come up in the first season, but of course, it hadn't yet crossed the writer's minds. It only did so when they needed a plot device. And when you do that, manipulate the characters for the sake of the plot, your story loses focus and becomes the mess Heroes is now. I'm continuing to watch for the lesbian scenes, which are ridiculous, but I am a teenage male.

GH:VH copies are arriving now. Only for the 360 so far, so of course I'm stuck waiting longer. Damn preferential treatment. A few of the songs look absolutely insane and almost every single song has at least one challenging solo. Just look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0OXRKzRtpw&feature=channel_page WHAT. And Eruption: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrrrdgTwcr0&feature=channel_page

Heh, I've done nothing in the game so far except the tutorial. My (limited) time has been spent on the title screen, having aerial battles between my pegasus-riding, lance-wielding self and a pterodactyl. Also, God rode an elephant.

It's not like anyone would actually want to play as Kurt Cobain, unless they want to see him perform something really embarrassing. That's the point of the whole thing, in a way. Courtney Love is just out there, but lots of people feel Kurt should have been locked to only the Nirvana songs. Something about him playing other genres being disrespectful to his memory or whatever. Me, I wouldn't care one bit except that Dave Grohl is one of those people. You don't piss off Dave Grohl. He could cause some serious damage to rhythm games if Activision made an enemy of him. But, Courtney signed the contract, so meh.

I. Hate. This. Expression. I have never once heard someone say "couldn't care less." Always "could care less." How hard is it to think about the meaningless words spewing from your mouth? Gah. Rant over. And, For all intensive purposes, the problem is likely to stem from people thinking more in "spoken language" then whether what they're typing actually makes sense - maybe it would have had the same effect on me if I were a native English speaker. Regardless, the topic does peak my interest. I think I fixed most of it. No. The expression is "for all intents and purposes," which isn't really appropriate anyway. What is with people's block about these things? (No offense to Azvy, I know English is a second language.)

I. Hate. This. Expression. I have never once heard someone say "couldn't care less." Always "could care less." How hard is it to think about the meaningless words spewing from your mouth? Gah. Rant over. And, For all intensive purposes, the problem is likely to stem from people thinking more in "spoken language" then whether what they're typing actually makes sense - maybe it would have had the same effect on me if I were a native English speaker. Regardless, the topic does peak my interest. I think I fixed most of it. No. The expression is "for all intents and purposes," which isn't really appropriate anyway. What is with people's block about these things? (No offense to Azvy, I know English is a second language.)

Only Kanye can go on stage, because he's Kanye [bleep]ing West, the voice of his generation.

To repeat what I just said on Facebook like five minutes ago, Taylor Swift should have given him the finger or something instead of looking gormless. I managed to find a Youtube vid of it before it got taken down, I wasn't watching it live.

Fire and Ice just flows better. Nah, Ice and Fire is much, much better. Ice is sort of weak-sounding in a dramatic context. A Song of Fire and ICE just doesn't have the oomph of A Song of Ice and FIRE.

[wagon] is censored/uncensored depending on the mood swings of the Admins. When it's censored it's [wagon]. EDIT: Actually, [wagon] in conjunction with "dumb" is censored as [wagon] right now. Fascinating.

Nice. Those are really good. YOU BET YOUR [wagon] THEY ARE. It's Ice and Fire, by the way, not Fire and Ice. Common mistake from what I've seen. Ahem. Sorry. I'm just overjoyed to know some people around here read quality fantasy. The constant mention of Eragon and The Belgariad makes me depressed. Currently reading The Great Gatsby. I love AP Lit.

So, anyone hear about Courtney Love claiming she never signed a contract to let Activision use Kurt Cobain's image?

If I'm right in assuming that this is for an English class or something, whoever assigned it should be fired. Okay, a bit extreme if this is just grade school, but there is nothing you can teach students by using Twilight as a source, except how not to write a novel.

Yesterday I finished As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Extremely confusing for a while, but eventually it made enough sense for me to appreciate it. It grew on me in the second half and will most likely require a second reading, which I will happily undertake. Overall I think it's a new favorite.

I don't get why people are all worked up about B:RB. I love the Beatles as much as anyone (and more than a lot of people, no doubt), but really. That's the hardest drum chart? Nice. Yeah, it's more for the experience, blah blah. When you get down to it, it's an absurdly easy game and really not worth the money for those who want to play a somewhat challenging rhythm game. I'll stick with listening to the band. Oh, but it's Harmonix, and they can do no wrong. Of course.

I thought I was done with new GH games and would just be sticking to RB2, but I'm glad I caved. It's the best one yet IMO. Plus it's hard to ignore a free copy of GHVH two months before retail release. Hopefully it'll be exportable and I can break even on the whole thing by selling it :lol: Gotta say that Do You Feel Like We Do is just awesome. A 14-minute song that never gets boring? Yeah, it happened.

Well, I traded in GHWT for GH5, bought an 8GB SD card, stole a Smash Hits ID from an open game on the shelf (lol GameStop) and now have 151 songs on GH5. Glad not to have a bunch of discs floating around.

The Music Store isn't up yet for the Wii (I'm not sure about other consoles), but I agree that it's a pretty nifty feature. You're only able to get 35 of the World Tour songs so I wouldn't ditch the old disks too quickly. I stand corrected on my favorite song. No One To Depend On, Do You Feel Like We Do, and Scatterbrain are all amazing to play. You don't need the disk, just the manual code, and they're working on getting all the songs licensed. I can live without a few of them if they can't get them all and might end up deleting some anyway. Now I need to find a Smash Hits and Metallica manual . . .

I've heard some good things about GH5 and the option to import songs on Wii blew my mind. Might be time to invest in GH5, a 16 or 32 GB SD, import all the old songs (when they become available) and sell all the old disks and be done with it.

Uh, Calhoun was a huge figure in the South, like Daniel Webster in the North. Big states' rights guy. I doubt he was the one to introduce the tariff you're talking about. I'm not familiar with there being a particular tariff, just that the tariff was a dividing issue. An addendum to the morality of the Civil War: there's a reason the Emancipation Proclamation wasn't issued at the beginning. No one actually wanted to abolish slavery on moral grounds except abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison, who were far fewer than many history classes would have you believe. The North had gotten rid of slavery, but as long as it didn't spread further than it had already they were willing to let the South be. When the South seceded, the war ensued in the interests of preserving national unity and the main points of conflict were economic and political--not social. Slavery eventually became centric to the conflict, but only after the war had gone on for a few years.

??? When do you get to school? Starts at 8:00. We have every class every day with 45 minute periods, unlike a lot of places that do block scheduling. Although we do have a pair of days each month that are double periods for half our classes. Morning classes one day, afternoon the other. An hour and a half of bioethics and then I can go home :P

Well, I fixed up my schedule a bit and this is the final result for the first semester: A: Calculus (Apparently it's the same thing as AP AB just without having to take the AP test . . . dammit.) B: AP European History C: Accelerated Physics (No way I'm touching AP.) D: AP English Lit Lunch E: Bioethics F: Free G: Free My day ends at 1:25. This year will be awesome.

It is absolutely [bleep]ing awesome. Some of the scenes, especially the first one, are crazy long, but it's still absolutely [bleep]ing awesome.

Cincinnati, Ohio. The city is big and dirty. The riverfront is nice, and there are some really cool-looking old buildings, and lots of suspension bridges across the Ohio River. Including the Purple People Bridge, which is fun to say. I'm not a city person so there's not much more I can say about that. The countryside is very hilly. We have neighborhoods named Mt. Something-or-other all over the place. Which is why I felt some extreme vertigo when traveling through Kansas/Nebraska. Way too flat. I live in the middle of the woods on the top of a hill. Lots of corn fields around, which sounds contradictory to the fact that it's hilly, but there you go. I have nothing really to compare this to, so it's hard to point out features you wouldn't find in other countries :?

Part III Isaac shut the car off. His head thumped against the seat as he closed his eyes. The chilly fog of the morning had burned away, leaving where he was in no doubt. He had driven aimlessly for an hour, but he knew he would eventually end up here. He had known since he woke that morning. The image was too clear in his mind for him to mistake. Reluctantly he opened his eyes and turned his head. The old apartment building across the street looked as it always had, ever since he began coming here. It was purportedly deserted, but Isaac knew that if he were to open the dented old garbage can that sat near the corner of the building he would find a layer of fresh refuse at the bottom: beer cans, fast food wrappings, and other, more questionable things. And the sidewalk; it was festooned with its normal complement of age-old graffiti, some of which climbed the walls of the building as well. Isaac had always admired the artistry it contained, and thought graffiti deserved a better reputation than it got. His eyes were drawn to one particular place: a twisting mosaic that depicted the Ascension, beginning on the sidewalk with a crowd of upturned faces and crawling up the wall, where Christ floated up to Heaven. The scene was as it always was, yet it was not complete. Isaacs gaze lingered on the Ascension. His fists clenched in his lap. He forced himself to look away and get out of the car. He stood for a long time simply looking. He knew he had already been spotted. Sooner or later he would have to act, and leaving now wasnt an option. Suddenly it seemed foolish to have come. He should have stayed away. But he needed out, he knew that now. This would be his last visit. In any case, he was expected. Isaac started across the street. Upon reaching the door, he hesitated again. Was this the wrong course of action? Didnt he know that the door would open - Sup, Ike? Isaac jumped. The door had swung open to reveal a young man, half-dressed a puffing on a cigarette. He grinned. Hey, Kev, said Isaac. Come for the order? Youre earlier than we thought you would be. And what was with all the waitin around? Kevs eyes narrowed. You havent ratted us out, have you? Eh? No, no, Isaac said quickly. I just came straight here. Didnt want to deal with them crazies, huh? Dont blame you. Well, come on in and well seal this deal. Uh, about that . . . Isaac began, but Kev had already turned away, beckoning casually for him to follow. Warily Isaac did. He was beginning to sweat. This might not be as easy as he had thought. Kev led him up a few flights of stairs and a hallway, a familiar route. They entered a room where another man reclined on a couch, also smoking and watching ESPN. He looked up briefly when Isaac and Kev entered, then proceeded to pay them no mind. Kev gestured to a corner, where a small plastic grocery bag sat innocuously next to an empty plant pot. The drugs are there. Theres quite a lot of it, and thats a lot of money, as I told you before. Them crazies better cough up. Say, he said, as though it had just occurred to him, you do have the money, right? Not going to them first and everything? Isaac hesitated. Im not exactly here for that, he said. Kevs eyebrows rose. Really? Why else would you be here? You been comin for a fix for years -- I dont use! Well, then its all for the crazies. Which is why youre here, no? There was a gleam in Kevs eye as he spoke, but Isaac did not heed it. No! Im done with this! Keep your drugs. Im out. Kev looked flabbergasted. Out? You heard me. My fiancé, I got her off the streets and now she works helping people -- kids -- in the same boat she was, and all this time Ive still been peddling out here, doing the dirty work for a team of white-coated hypocritical animals. Im done. I cant keep doing this anymore. If youre done, said Kev quietly, then what do we do with these drugs here? Sell them to someone else, I dont care. Theres plenty of market. Im not taking them. Isaac turned to leave. He was grabbed violently from behind and slammed against the wall. He struggled, but was stopped short by the feel of cold metal pressed against his neck. Dont move. Evidently Kevs associate had decided to stir himself. See, Ike, we cant have you leaving here, said Kev. With or without the drugs, now we cant really be sure you wont go to the cops. So youll have to stay while we decide what to do with you. No! Isaacs face was pressed harder against the wall. He wasnt afraid for himself; he knew they wouldnt kill him. He knew, and as sure as he knew he would survive this, he knew it wouldnt matter. --- Halfway done.