Song of the Day

King of My World (Chris Jericho's theme from like 2002-2004)

This song right here? Awesome song. It's actually the song of the week, but I don't do Song of the Week, do I?

Regardless, this song is really fucking awesome. It's totally speaking to me.

And that runner up: Sleeping Giant (Matt Morgan's theme)

This song throws me into an uncontrollable hype fest. Bad ass

We Need a Plan B: What if SOPA Passes?

So it seems like today, everyone has been going off on how SOPA's going to negatively affect the Internet, how it's against the first amendment rights of Freedom of Speech, so on and so forth.

I've signed, like, three petitions.

I've emailed my Congressmen enough with every last one of my known email accounts.

If you haven't done so yet, you can go to Google.com and click a link on the front page to sign a petition, and you can go to Wikipedia.com and enter a search term that isn't SOPA and PIPA and they'll block the site out and you can find out how to contact the people in the House and the Senate that "represent" you, and tell them that SOPA is bullshit.

But the thing is this... so much dumb shit has already passed through Congress.

And I don't exactly see a reason why this doesn't get through as well.

So. Let's say SOPA and PIPA does, in fact, get through Congress, passes as a bill, becomes a law, and fucks up the Internet as we know it.

Now what?

Do we sit down, accept it, and live lives according to SOPA? Or do we retaliate?

"Retaliate? I'm not going to Washington DC with an AK-47. I don't even know where to get an AK-47."

You're thinking too hard, sir. Calm down.

When I say retaliate, I mean, who are we taking down? Who are we going to boycott? Who are we going to yell at symbolically to let them know that we, American citizens, refuse to get bullshitted?

The way I see it is this:

The SOPA thing is all about stopping piracy of copyrighted material. This stems from the Entertainment Industry, which, I feel, is constantly growing worse and worse in quality by the year, via bad ideas, a lack of ideas, bad decisions, idiots, etc.

So, if SOPA passes, are we gonna boycott movies? Are we just gonna not buy another movie ticket or DVD ever again? That sounds like a plan... make the movie industry bleed money because they thought this shit was a good idea.

What about the music industry? Are we gonna boycott music? Fuck concerts, fuck CD's fuck iTunes. Hell, don't even listen to the radio too much. I assume that being the good human being you are, you already have timeless classics on your iPod/mp3 player/whatever you use to play music that can last you longer than whatever crap they call music these days.

Hell, even video games... do we say, fuck them? If you're a real gamer, you have plenty of games that will last you. You don't need to buy the next Madden because the one you have right now is awesome... right? Oh, wait, it's not? EXACTLY!

That's my point... we lower our standards because that's the best the Entertainment Industry decides to put out for it worth, and they make infinite money without trying. And then they have the nerve to bitch about people getting shit for free? Maybe it's because your crap is overpriced? Your movies suck. Your music sucks. Your games suck. Fuck yeah, I might as well see, hear, and play them for free, because that's about all a lot of this shit is worth.

Now, don't get me wrong though...  I do feel like someone who produces stuff and makes a living off of it should get some money from it. However, do a better fucking job. I've been writing Marko Man stories and having people read them for free for years. If I were to make it big, and I were to sell the books, and you think that my books are overpriced and you'd rather read them at a lower price (free included), personally, I couldn't give a shit, because that's how I started... my shit was free anyway. So getting for free isn't much a stretch, nor does it bother me, because I love writing.

And that's the problem with the Entertainment Industry as a whole... the only love is for money. It's not for the art of the product, the quality of the product. SOPA isn't an attempt to refine works made, or produce better materials. Nope, it's all about the money. Money that, one could argue, is not nearly as deserved as it could be.

So yeah... anyway... Plan B. Someone needs to be targeted. And apparently, this target needs to be acquired before the ultimate censorship actually occurs.

Who we boycotting? Because I can't help but shake the feeling that this thing is going to actually pass......

Apex Preparedness

So, how prepared for Apex am I?

As prepared as I could possibly be.

My bags are (mostly) packed and (almost) ready to go.
I've got travel figured out for the most part.
I'm equipped with everything I could possibly need (I hope).

Now that I've got all the logistics out of the way, how well do I think I'm going to do?

Well, they say that you are only as good as the people you play, and... well, I'm better than everyone that I play... but that's not saying much considering that they don't go to tournaments. I, myself, haven't been to a tournament since 2009. And I did pretty bad in it.

Regardless, I'm diving head first into Apex with a dream to bring about some upsets.

I've entered three events, Brawl singles, Smash 64 singles, and the All-Brawl event.

The one event that I'm probably most prepared for is the All-Brawl event. I know all the items. I know all the stages (except Hanenbow, because the general consensus is that Hannebow is gayer than Rainbow Road. I've literally only played on the level in a multiplaye bout twice in my life. The first time it was seen, it got an immediate quit because of how gay that level actually is. And I shall remain ignorant when it comes to Hannebow. You can tell me nothing about that level. I don't know what game it comes from, nor do I care.). I play with items consistently (because I honestly feel that Brawl is a considerably better game with items on, unlike Melee or Smash 64, where those games are amazing with or without items), and I've seen almost all the random shit that could possibly happen with items (except Ganon's insane item use, apparently). So for that tourney, I'm ready. Even if it's only 2 lives for 2 minutes on a random stage with a random character against 3 other players. It's cool. I'm ready.

Smash 64 is a game that I play relatively consistently on my computer, and I find that game better than Brawl because of the hitstun. If I haven't already told you, the lack of hitstun in Brawl is now officially the biggest thing that kept me from entering the few and far in between Brawl tourneys that I could have entered in 2010. Still, I'm only as good as the people you play, and while I have experience playing the game online and I know that people are on some entirely new shit in that game, I only really play one person consistently, and I'm far beyond him, so that's moot. Still, Smash 64 is the only Smash game that I hadn't entered a tournament for, so I felt the need to finally enter one.

And then there was Brawl. It's the biggest tourney there, with, like, over 400 entrants or something like that, and a $8000 pot with 1st place getting $3750. 7th and 8th place score $200. That's still a lot of money.

And I'm going for it. With a platinum controller and a fist full of dreams, I'm going for it. I'll face the realities of the situation if I lose. I'm not going to eliminate myself from contention just because of how much I haven't played this game compared to how much others have. Someone will have to eliminate me from contention. Period.

Like I said, I'm as ready as I am going to be. My only weakness is the game itself. The one thing that I have been able to do is train my mindset for this tournament, and it is trained well. I'm totally focused, and there is absolutely nothing holding me back from bringing my S-rank game.

So with all that said.... I'm going MetaKnight. No reason not to. BUT! If my tournament life looks hopeless at any point, I'm going Sonic. Period. My last Brawl tournament match Has to be me going Sonic. It is only fitting...

So Yeah.
Apex.
Final Tournament. (probably)
Smash 64.
Brawl.
MetaKnight.
Sonic.
Hype.
Let's Go.