Ramblings of a Fallen

People Like to Hurt People

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 05:26:06 GMT

I think Barbara Streisand had a song about that, once.

Ever wonder why I seem so busy whenever someone attempts to talk to me? It's usually because I'm working my ass off to keep my site operational. Usually improvements on it, too.

However, people aren't always happy with my site. I can deal with this. Nothing is perfect.

What I can NOT stand, however, is people who set out to do nothing more than say harmful things about the creations of another.

That is just what is being done HERE.

The very idea of the site is disgusting, to me. "Let's open up a site so we can trash on something that someone put a lot of time, effort, and money into." Way to go, guys.

Am I going to shut down the site? No.

Why won't I shut down the site? Because there ARE people who enjoy it. It may not be for everyone, but it IS for someone. And that's who I keep it going for.

If you don't like the way SotB operates, that's super for you. Don't play there.

If you do like the way SotB operates, enjoy yourself. We made this chat for you.

We're trying something different, being flexible, and pushing that World of Darkness "golden rule" to it's limit. Some people won't like it, and that's fine. They say it's not "dark" enough, and that's fine, too. Everyone's idea of fun is different. This is ours. Let's have fun.

No, I'm not going to sign up for an account on that site and defend myself. For one, it seems someone else is doing that FOR me. For another, it's not even worth my time. It's a place where people go when they don't get their way and they want to whine about it. Not everyone sees RPGs the same way, and the idea behind it all is finding a place that DOES fit your mode of play. Not trying to destroy anything that doesn't match your views.

$0.98 more and you'll have a dollar.

Your LiveJournal Pirate Crew
LiveJournal Username
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest!
Cutlass or pistol?
What is the name of your pirate ship?
Where is your secret pirate base?
What kind of loot do you prefer?
What do you and your crew prefer to be called?
Parrot or monkey?
Argh!

Your capable first mate	waiwaimitsukai
Your bumbling cabin boy with a heart of gold	lokicaprion
The aloof, yet honorable, pirate with a mysterious past	blackchz23
Is always the first one into the fray	gwmnpv
Is the naval officer who ruthlessly pursues your ship	spaztic_ferret
Is the comical pirate who is always drunk on grog	charliesariel
Is currently in Davy Jones's locker	meleekitsune
The amount of money you make as a pirate	$69,971


This Fun Quiz created by Lynn at BlogQuiz.Net

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SuicideGirl - Baraqiel!!

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:04:27 GMT

That's right! They accepted my application! I'm gonna be paid to be a model, now! I'm not going to call myself a model, because I'm not going to base my livelihood on it, but I -will- be getting paid for modelling activities! Yeaaaaaaah, baby!

I rock.

Hurgh.

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 12:41:43 GMT

I've been in a really bad mood, these days. I don't know what it is, really.

Everything either really pisses me off or depresses me. I just "don't get" a lot of things that really shouldn't even matter.

For example, we have megumijyaku's problems with Otakon. This got me REALLY pissed off, even though it doesn't really affect me. Sure, it affects Loki going to Otakon, but it's not like he really wants to go. The thing that pisses me off, it seems, is Otakon itself. I guess the concept of it is good enough, but (as you may realize from my previous posts on the topic), anime fans, by and large, have become snobby elitists. This is "their thing", and god DAMN you if you try to become a true "Otaku". You don't know what an Otaku is! You haven't been watching anime as long as they have! They can recite Japanese bits of dialogue to each other over and over again, and that makes them BETTER THAN YOU! This is one of the reasons I don't go to cons, anymore. Well, that and I'm happily in a relationship, now, and a main reason to go to such things was to pick up someone with similair interests (read: pick up someone who does not mind how much of a loser I am, since they're obviously a loser themselves). The problem with going to cons to pick people up is that, as I said, they're elitists, now. If you don't watch subtitles, or if you dare say you don't mind watching it on (gasp!) normal television, you're shunned. Sorry, not good enough to be a "True Otaku". They're fucking hardcore, man, and you'll never be part of their club!

See?! I'm REALLY pissed off about this, and the trigger wasn't even something that should bother me!

A few more triggers just last night... there are problems with the chat. Again, yeah, big surprise. Now, my chat is the best one out there. We all know that's true (well, it's also the only one that exists). And I know we really don't have THAT many problems. But I'm a perfectionist, so I see every problem as a major one. First, we have players designing characters to go against other PCs. That's against what the chat stands for. However, these players want to create characters that "go against the grain" and cause chaos and disruption, and then hide behind the "no PK" theme of the chat so that they won't have to suffer for their consequences. Oh, HELL no. If you go and do something monumentally stupid, or something so horribly selfish that it fucks with other people's game, you WILL be punished. I won't hold back PCs who play the characters who get vengeance (hey, Hunters! This is the chance for Avengers and Defenders to do their thing)! It's Karma, really. What comes around, goes around. And sometimes, you have to BE what goes around.

And then there's the cyber thing, but feh. Everyone cybers, and the idea of it really doesn't bother me. I think just logging in with my current state of mind and seeing it pisses me off, when normally it truly WOULDN'T bother me.

STs are having conflicts with each other, but that's because they have stupidly high tempers. I have my swings, sure.. but some of these people are just volatile ALL THE TIME! At least I have lucid phases.

Now, with the discovery of Magic Workstation, I've been playing a lot of Magic online. A lot! I can play without having to actually BE AROUND people, now! It's great!!!

So, I started teaching one of my good friends how to play Magic. I took it very seriously, because I've taught many people how to play in the past. I know how to do it, and the stages of learning, and all that. However, it's hard to do that when someone else starts playing with her (using cards that she hasn't learned about yet, putting them at an obvious advantage), and keeping me from even getting to TALK to her! The main set-off for last night was when she said "just a tic" before I could do something with her... and that "tic" lasted almost two hours until I finally just went to bed.

So, yeah. I'm moody, right now. I try to do so much for people (making the chat, teaching people games, and just generally trying to be nice), but it always comes and fucks me in the end.

In other news, I took one of those silly quizzes (I think you hip types call them "meme", for some reason I'll never understand), and the result struck me as deliciously ironic:

You scored as Angel. Angel: Angels are the guardians of all things, from the smallest ant to the tallest tree. They give inspiration, love, hope, and positive emotion. They live among humans without being seen. They are the good in all things, and if you feel alone, don't fear. They are always watching. Often times they merely stand by, whispering into the ears of those who feel lost. They would love nothing more then to reveal themselves, but in today's society, this would bring havoc and many unneeded questions. Give thanks to all things beautiful, for you are an Angel.

</td>

Angel

59%

Faerie

58%

Demon

42%

Mermaid

25%

Dragon

25%

WereWolf

17%

What Mythological Creature are you? (Cool Pics!)
created with QuizFarm.com

Asshole neighbors strike again!

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 21:47:08 GMT

This is yet another update to the "Asshole New Neighbor" saga. If you missed the first parts, here they are:

Part One

Part Two

Now, then. Since those days, things have been relatively quiet. Miss Florence's car hadn't moved at all, until eventually someone came by to tow it away. The house was lived in, it seemed, by a solitary old lady (who I only ever saw ONCE, peeking out of her door when I got home one day). Said old lady, unlike Miss Florence, had no car of her own. Therefore, I thought it wouldn't be a problem at all if I parked in front of her house. I always parked so that there was plenty of room for another car, and so that there was plenty of access room to her driveway. That, alone, could accomidate three guest cars for the new old lady. Er... "new" old lady, I guess I should say.

To set up my street, I have to give you this image. It's a one-way street, with only enough room for one car to drive down the center, and parking on both sides. Directly across the street from us is a Day Care Center, so cars are -always- parked on that side of the street. My parents have three vehicles between them: my stepfather's work vehicle, my stepfather's personal vehicle, and my mother's vehicle. Then there's Loki's car, and my car. All in all, five vehicles for four people. Not terribly bad. My stepfather rarely takes his vehicle anywhere but work, so he parks both his work and personal vehicles in our driveway. My mother's car and Loki's car out front, and my car in front of the next-door neighbor's house, which now had NOBODY utilizing that parking space. Every residence on our street has a driveway, with space in front to accomidate two more cars. Got the image? Good.

When I came home, today, I saw the absolute pinnacle of my new neighbor's assholery. Apparently, the new old lady next door doesn't like anyone parking in front of her house! She must have called the bitch (the one who demanded my car be moved in the first place), and the asshole who has a pickup truck. I assume that the bitch and the asshole are both the old lady's children, but it's irrelevant. Driving down my road from a typical wretched day at work, I saw that the bitch had parked her car DEAD CENTER in front of my house, meaning nobody could park there. The asshole in his pickup truck had parked himself DEAD CENTER in front of my next-door neighbor's house. Therefore, these two cars were taking up four spots, and neither saw fit to use the old lady's driveway. I couldn't park in my own driveway, because my stepfather would be home any moment. I had to drive some distance away before I found another place to park.

Fuming when I got inside, I watched from the bathroom window upstairs for any sign of bitch or asshole. I knew my stepfather would be home, and he would storm over there and raise a fit if he saw such a thing. That's exactly what I wanted, because if I went over there, someone would be missing limbs. I was filled with hope when I saw bitch and asshole leaving the new old lady's house, standing outside and talking for a while. If my stepfather came home to see them talking whilst taking up four parking spots, the shit would truly hit their yuppie stuck-up fan. Unfortunately, today seems to be the day my stepfather is coming home later than usual.

Is there anything at ALL I can do about my neighbors deliberate misuse of parking? Is there any kind of statutes or obscure laws I can invoke on these fuckers, if I ever see this again? For any of you law-types out there, look to see if there's anything in Maryland State or Baltimore County laws that I can throw at them.

Justice must be served!

Note: If anyone out there wants to go vigilante, I cannot be held responsible for your actions on my behalf, and I disavow any knowledge of your actions. That said, my contact info is clearly displayed through my user profile. But I don't want you contacting me to see if there's anything you can do that's "outside the law" to these people! Right? Yeah... right.

Blurrrr

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:56:19 GMT

People who make their entire journal "Friends Only" piss me off. That's just more stupid elitism at work.

Just sayin'.

More Spiteful Angst

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 15:07:55 GMT

So, more news on the new "horrible neighbors" story of yesterday.

For some reason, mowing their lawn took approximately three hours. I'm not kidding. The job that takes me roughly 40 minutes (and we have the same size yard), took them three fucking hour. Three hours of a constant lawnmower noise ruining any chances I had of taking a nap to recover from their 8 AM "Wake up Baraqiel" cuntishness.

I looked outside and saw all of Miss Florence's things being put in trash bags and dumped unceremoniously out onto the front lawn. Her neice is like a disgusting vulture who obviously doesn't care a whit for the poor old lady. I'm still not TOO sure if it's her neice moving in, but it has to be a family member to know so much about the situation.

I really miss Miss Florence, the more I see what this wretched, horrible woman is doing. Florence was old, yes, but I don't think she was incapable enough to be put into a retirement home. And then I get these paranoid thoughts... have you ever heard some of the awful stories about what some nursing home workers do to abuse the elderly? Somehow, to me, that's just as sad (and sometimes sadder) than child abuse. It's a pretty well-known fact that I'm very oversensitive, and the way that this vulture is tearing apart the only life that this poor woman had just disgusts me.

I also have to wonder what happened to that poor dog. Miss Florence had a tiny little dog. One of those sorts that like to yap and yip very loudly, and incessantly, and that most people say they would like to kick. I thought the dog was just the most adorable little thing, and I wonder about her fate as well. Knowing how ruthless and heartless the new tenant in the house is, I wouldn't at all be surprised if she sent it to the pound to be destroyed.

All of these thoughts are plaguing me, on top of more chat/website-related bullshit news. If you're the type who skips any post I make about my site, you can skip this last part.

Last night, when I got back to my computer, there was a staff meeting going on.

Now, you wouldn't think that was that big of a deal... but I didn't know about it. Yes, it's true, that it was posted on my site's message boards for the past month and a half. However, it was posted on my message boards... for a month and a half. I talk to everyone pretty regularly, and nobody ever said "hey, don't forget that meeting", or anything even similair. That's part one of what pisses me off.

However, that compounds with ANOTHER thing on the site that's been bothering me... whenever they make a post saying "e-mail the Administrators", they include all the Administrator's names... except for mine. Me. The fucking owner. The one who took all the time and effort to learn how to code in PHP and navigate SQL to spend a month of her life doing NOTHING but coding this website. A website I'm not even making money on. A website that (much like everything else I do) is there only to make others happy.

No, it's not a fucking power trip to want to run the site I built. It's not me being some tyrranical despot just because I want to be recognized as the person who pays for, creates, and maintains the site. If anybody out there has ever really put the kind of work and effort into a project like this, we have the fucking RIGHT to want the credit for it. We DESERVE the respsect that we expect. We made something for a group of people other than OURSELVES, and people just don't seem to respect that.

You need proof? Look at this.

This is actually what I saw that triggered my "why should I bother" entry a while ago. Look at how he meticulously picks apart how a chat site should be run, and everything that the owners and staff do WRONG. Look for any hint of "however, I can understand, since they put all their time and energy into something that we can enjoy for FREE."

No.

Not a single glimmer of gratefulness anywhere in that disgusting peice of writing. I'm not just saying that because I know he's directing some (or most) of that at me. I'm saying that because THIS is exactly the sort of thing we administrators have to deal with, day in and day out, because players will never be satisfied.

The very fact that someone will sit there and go through everything that's WRONG with a site, instead of wanting to be more constructive and actually talk to owners and admin says a lot about this person's character. The fact that he doesn't even seem to care about the sacrifices that owners make just to give him a place to play make me absolutely furious. It's not even the spinelessness of his insults that bother me. It's the fact that his bitching is completely anti-constructive, and possibly even counter-productive. If you don't like how things are, try to work with people to fix it, or just leave. Don't try to cause some big scene.

Again, I have to reiterate: We chat owners don't (and legally, can't) charge our players anything to play on our site. We have rules, yes, because there have to be some (unmoderated chats are very, very chaotic and usually not fun). Players aren't doing us a FAVOR by coming to play on our site. We're not making any profit. Hell, we're LOSING money.

Stop being such fucking prima donnas and just take what we can get and understand that we're doing the best we can to make the majority of people happy. If you're not one of those people; sucks to be you. And you know what's more? Sucks to be a chat owner, too.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaate

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 13:51:40 GMT

To start of this tale, I need to give you a little background.

We inherited this house when my great-grandmother passed away some years ago. One of our many neighbors was a friend of my late great-grandmother, and she was a rather nice (if eccentric) lady. She'd allow me to park in front of her house without any problems (parking is tight in my neighborhood), and I'd do things like carry in her groceries, take out her trash, etc.

For the past two weeks, I noticed there was never any trash in her can to be taken out. She wasn't needing help with the groceries. Her little dog hadn't been let outside. Her car hadn't moved. I started to worry, but I didn't want to ask or visit, because (as you may know), death freaks me out and I'd have rather avoided that whole situation.

So, today. A Saturday. Eight o' clock in the fucking morning, my mother knocks on my door, telling me I have to move my car. Naturally, I was unhappy about being roused early from my slumber on one of the few days I don't have to wake up early, so I queried why I had to perform such a task. It seems that the new neighbors had come to my mother, and the following conversation ensued:

Neighbor: (Demanding) You have to move this car. We can't get into the driveway.
Mother: (Trying to be polite) Sorry about that. Miss Florence always let--
Neighbor: (Snidely cutting off my mother) Well, Miss Florence has gone to a nursing home and doesn't live here, anymore.

This new neighbor seems to be Miss Florence's neice, and in the nearly two hours we've been dealing with her (and her family), we've already put her at the top of our "most hated neighbor" list. It should be noted that the only other neighbors on this list are the rednecks across the street who've damaged our vehicles.

No, no... there was really no point to this, other than me being sleepy as fuck and really pissed off.

To Jen: Unfortunately, this probably means you won't be able to get the headless Virgin Mary statue in Miss Flo's back yard. I can still try, though, if they attempt to dispose of it.

Political Confusion

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 21:44:45 GMT

I was reading the news thread about price hikes in London. In a nutshell, hotels jacked up their prices when they realized that all those displaced victims needed somewhere to stay.

Reading the comments on this thread, however, turned into a debate. Something about a Libertarian not liking this would be "ironic", since Libertarians are all about a free market.

So, I ask you, constant readers... help me figure out what I am. I always considered myself a Libertarian, but I never considered my economic standpoint, before. I've always been vehemently anti-capitalism. So... what does one call someone who is anti-capitalist, but mostly libertarian?

Other than "freak".

Gratitude!

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 22:45:56 GMT

In one of my previous entries, I posted a rant about my website and how it didn't seem people appreciated it. I posted a similair entry in my SuicideGirls journal. I later got this reply from one of my players:

I know I sent a praising e-mail before, but I feel I need to send another one after reading the journal. As I do agree with the emoticons being annoying (at least some of them), I don't think that person should have quit. I figured the icons would have been tired of after a while and removed. But honestly, I understand your feelings on the matter of the players complaints. I want to say I support you in all your actions with the chat, even if I personally ain't fond of them. A lot of players I believe feel that way too. Its your money going into the chat, please do what you wish. If I had any free money myself I would probably be lending you some to help out, but can't manage it at the moment. Thank you for putting up with us. Thank you for continueing to provide us this chat to enjoy our evenings on.

I love this chat for even its flaws. Its given me and so many other players a chance to really test our limits with our characters, in a good way of course. I mean, where else could you find a Son of Discord as a playable character with endless restrictions from STs? Even without a constant SL to go upon in our games, I'm enjoying myself. Thats one of the few things I normally don't get to do on other chats with direction. You have an amazing work before you and amazing people who play on it. I don't ever want to see it fade away.

If there is anything ever I can do to help the chat out, that doesn't require money I don't have right now, please feel free to ask.

Thank you, Bara. Thank you for everything you have done for all of us.

I need more players like that, and less players like this.

Death

Thu, 07 Jul 2005 19:41:24 GMT

Today, I thought a lot about death. As many of you know, death is quite possibly my single biggest fear. The mere reminder of mortality in general gets me in a sour mood, such a seeing or hearing about someone or something dying. Naturally, with such a huge fear being such a major part of my life, it's on my mind quite often. Finally, I decided to jot an idea about death down.

Many people say that humans are the only creatures aware of their own mortality. After a lot of thought (like, a whole lifetime's worth), Apparently, animals only avoid danger and flee out of primal instinct, rather than an understanding that they're going to die. I don't think that's true.

The difference between humans and other animals is that part of our mind that makes us rationalize things. We don't flinch away from a fire because of some part of our minds just telling us to; we do it because we know it could cause burns and tissue damage. So because our reason replaced our instincts, certain mental features evolved in us so that we would still do the things that animals did. Sex isn't just about procreation; we feel pleasure from it. Food isn't just nourishing, we actually like the tastes and textures of what we consume.

From this cognizance, then, sprung language. Language is the way we communicate with each other, by assigning labels to things, which are generally accepted to be the same labels that others have for the same things. We know a rock is a rock because -everybody- knows it's a rock, and they all call it a rock. By labelling things with language, and reasoning about why it is, we explain something that was previously unknown, and thus feared. We now know that water and lack of oxygen puts out fire, and it's no longer the big red thing that can eat us.

Basically what I'm saying, here, is that we use our reason to defeat the unknown, and that, in turn, reduces our fears. Any fear that we have of things that are already "scientifically explained" are considered to be irrational, even if people don't say so directly. If you're not afraid of clowns, you probably think someone who -is- afraid of clowns has an unrealistic fear.

I'm getting back to death, now, finally. When we die, we do not know what happens. Many religions will try to tell you, and many Athiests (who I thoroughly disagree with, by the way) will say some snide remark like "you just rot in the ground". But what happens? What -actually- happens when our life functions cease? Nobody can say for sure. Nobody can prove it. It's still an unknown, and thus we still fear it.

This is where the difference between ourselves and animals comes into play, I believe. Animals fear death because of instinct. The only reason for something to be alive is to exist (and procreate), so anything that would stop such a thing (ie - death) is to be instictively avoided. Humans fear it because we're not sure what lies beyond.

Is it possible, then, that animals do? Why would I suggest such a thing? Animals don't label everything. They all know a rock is a rock, but you don't see them talking about how the rock came into being, or what type of rock it is, or what colour the rock looks to be. No reason, no language. No language, no labels.

It is my thought, then, that every living creature, at one time, knows exactly what their place in the order is, and what happens beyond death. However, whatever happens is well beyond our mental scope. Are animals smarter? Not necessarily. But it's undeniable that animals are far more in touch with primality than humans are, and thus they don't have all those labels and "reason" clogging up their mind and telling them what things should be.

What I'm basically saying, then, is that it's possible that through mental evolution, we lost an integral part of our minds that could have explained a lot of what we don't understand.

...

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 22:09:00 GMT

Seriously, why do I bother putting time, effort, and money into something, if the only feedback I get is negative?

A player actually quit because of the EXISTANCE of emoticons. This is the kind of bullshit I have to deal with all the time! Petty, stupid bullshit!

I should just shut it all down.

A Tale of Perspective

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 20:53:13 GMT

With a grunt, Baraqiel descended the stair, her "Master of the Universe" coffee cup dangling off one of her fingers. She was dressed for work, already, which consisted of a three-peice suit meant for either a teenager or a very small male. When she arrived in the kitchen, Loki was there, and he noted the former Angel's foul mood. After swallowing a bite of his Nutella-covered toast, he asked in a casual tone, "You didn't break up with him, already, did you?"

Baraqiel shook her head, refilling her large mug from the pot, then dumping in the copious amounts of sugar. "Nah, things are still fine with him. It's the fucking players, again."

Loki scrunched up his face a little, leaning on the counter as he continued to snack. "If your players annoy you so much, why don't you just shut the game down? Are you even enjoying the site, anymore?"

"Well, that's the thing," she replied, filling the remaining space in the coffee mug with milk, both to serve as creamer, as well as make it more room-temperature. "I know there are players who really enjoy the chat. A lot of them, in fact. What annoys me isn't that the players are complaining, but it's what they complain about."

Loki didn't issue a verbal reply, but the look he gave over his toast definitely conveyed a sense of curiousity. Baraqiel continued, prompted by the Demigod's silent query. "You see, all the players that bitch and moan... they basically bitch and moan because the chat isn't perfect. No game would be good enough, for them. I used to be like that, too, so I opened my own game. My own site. The way I thought a game should be run, you know? However, now that I've done that, I know how hard it is to run a chat! There can't possible be a 'correct' way to run a game, because you simply can't make everyone happy.

"However, these few players still feel the need to bitch and complain and whine that Storteller X or Admin Y or Chat Owner Z aren't adhering to every little last thing that would make them, a single player, happy, so therefore the whole chat sucks and the owner has no idea what she's doing. Honestly, I don't think any Chat Owner deserves this. We spend our time, money, and give everything we have to make something for others, and instead of seeing it as a privelege, they spit in our faces! Even she doesn't deserve that."

Loki definitely raised an eyebrow as Baraqiel, in a sense, mentioned "her". The "other chat" owner. The one that, for some reason, has declared war on Baraqiel and does everyting possible to vent her petty rage against Shadows on the Bay. Naturally, Baraqiel took the high road and simply laughs at the attempts. Well, except for the one that was a violation of the law, but that was handled through legal action. "So what you're saying is... even though you say other chats are inferiour to the point of not even existing... they still don't deserve the amount of bitching and criticism they receive?"

"Right!" perked Baraqiel, gulping down some of the super-sweet creation that passed for "coffee" in her life. "Even though I may get upset and say how I wish every other chat would go away, I still think that every single chat owner is doing a wonderful thing. It's not like we charge players to come to our site! Quite the opposite! We pay so that others will have a place to play. Why can't players just accept that and give us some slack?"

"Why?" snorted Loki. "You say it often enough yourself, but I figure I'll remind you: Humanity sucks."

Baraqiel didn't have a reply for that. It was simply the answer to everything, and it seemed doubly true here. She mentally decided to just not let the complainers get to her, anymore, and just be happy that she had people who agreed with her vision of what an online game should be. Everyone else can go to hell.

Corporate Stupidity (Not Surprising)

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:18:04 GMT

Baraqiel ranting time!!!

So, my friend showed me his DVD collection of the first season of "Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law". Awesome, hilarious series, if you've never seen it, but I digress. I liked the series so much, I went a-huntin' for sound files from the show to put on my computer. Being a nerd, we do that sort of thing. I found a neat site for it: The Daily Wav.

This site has a lot of sound files from a lot of stuff, and I think it's pretty darn neat. However, looking through their considerable archives, I came upon two seperate letters from lawyers' offices representing major production companies bullying the site into removing their sounds (MGM for the lion roar, and another for the Simpsons).

To the mega-corporations of the world: Enough! Okay, I can almost understand the problem with pirating movies and music. Yeah, I can see how the internet can maybe.... MAYBE put a smallish dent in your massive profits and make your CEOs take one less fucking trip to his $600,000 summer home. And yeah, I doubt anyone who this is aimed at is going to read this... but in the event that one of you mass-media bigwig fucktards is reading my journal for whatever reason, I pose you a challenge!

You give me one good, solid, and plausable reason that having a few sound bites from your entertainment can POSSIBLY cause any damage AT ALL. Seriously, at all. If someone has a .wav file of Bart Simpson saying "Eat My Shorts", does that mean you need to lay off some animators? Fuck no!

People obviously like what you've produced, else there wouldn't be a NEED for such sites as The Daily Wav! Your creations are so recognizable that even when taken out of visual context, the mere auditory reproduction of very, very small portions of it invoke pleasant feelings of nostalgia. Why would you want to take that away from us?

So, in short, Corporate World; the internet pirates aren't destroying you. You're doing a damned fine job of trying to do that to YOURSELF.

Oh, and you record labels who don't let the lyrics from your songs get posted? I'm comin' for you next.

World of Darkness?

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 03:18:58 GMT

Take the World of Darkness Quiz
by David J Rust

The breakdown: Vampire Score 21, Werewolf Score -9, Mage Score 0, Wraith Score -1, Changeling Score 2.

Wow. My Werewolf is negative. Who didn't see THAT coming?

If Technocrat was an option, I would have gotten that, I think.

Pop quiz, hotshot.

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 01:42:32 GMT

How much like Baraqiel do you think? Well, just take the simple quiz below (pick the answer that BEST fits, not always COMPLETLEY fitting) and calculate your "Baraqiel Points" in the scoring table! Then you, yes you, will know exactly how much like Baraqiel you are! I know you're just dying to find out how you compare to the Former Lightning of God, so let's begin!

1) What is the proper driving speed?

A) Under the speed limit! Safety first!

B) Just at the speed limit. Don't want to get a ticket!

C) Over the speed limit. They won't pull ME over.

D) As fast as you want. I know what speed I can handle!

2) You've been given the honor to change a law. You choose:

A) Death sentence for not only murderers, but prostitutes and adulterers.

B) All public transportation is now free.

C) Public nudity is now fully acceptable!

D) Cars now always have the right of way on roads. No more bikes and pedestrians in your way!

3) Which of the following categories should be outlawed?

A) Guns, prostitutes, drugs, suicide.

B) Loud music, dance clubs, strip clubs, and bars.

C) Taxi cabs, "No Turn on Red" signs.

D) Babies in movies, cellphones while driving.

4) What political view to you most associate with?

A) Conservative

B) Anarchist

C) Liberal

D) Libertarian

5) How do you feel tax dollars should be spent?

A) More sports stadiums and traffic enforcement!

B) Anti-drug programs and raids of possible drug houses.

C) More money to maintain roads, but no more of this absolutely frivolous construction to impede traffic!

D) The government should pay for all education, health, and insurance, rather than the crap they HAVE been wasting money on!

And you're done! Ta-da! Now, for every "A" answer, give yourself -10 points. For every "B", give yourself 0. For every "C", give yourself 10, and for every "D" you get 20.

-50 to -10: You disgust me.
0 to 20: You disgust me, too. Just not as much.
30 to 50: You have some good ideas, but you're mostly not my kind of people.
60 to 80: Hey! With a little bit of work, you can be absolutely awesome.
90 to 100: Do me, now.

Six?

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 22:21:46 GMT

So I saw in one of my (very rare) LJ friend reading things this:

Pick 6 of your current favourite songs, and then choose 6 people that have to post this in their journal with their six favourite songs and list of people...

Now, this presented two lovely problems. First, I'm not big on the music. I can easily name six songs I HATE... but six songs I can call my "favorite?" That's a bit challenging. However, ainslye picked me as one of her six people, so I'm obligated to do SOMETHING. However, it's my damn journal, dammit, so I'm changing the fucking rules! So here we have the top six songs that I hate! Just for your info, #1 is the song I currently hate the most. And an added bonus! I'll be leaving a little comment about each of them!

6. Coldplay - Clocks

Now, let me start by saying that I personally don't think this song (or any song on this list, for that matter) sucks. These are all my personal preferences, and I'm not saying that my liking or hatred of any of these songs should influence anyone else's opinion. In the world of music, it's pure perspective, and therefore nothing can really be "good" or "bad", but it's based solely on the individual listener. That said, I hate songs like this. I hate mellow, cool, calm, relaxing songs that make you feel as if you're just floating on a big fucking cloud of wispy crooning. That said, I hate everything Coldplay has ever done, and I hope to not hear them on the radio ever again. I know it won't happen, but I can dream.

5. Jane's Addiction - Jane Says

Okay, what in the living fuck is this? Seriously? What the fuck? This isn't a song. It's a guy screeching about... about... something, I don't know what the fuck he's garbling on about. I just know that it doesn't rhyme, it's not exactly something you can sing, and I hate it. I don't hate Jane's Addiction, though. I like "Been Caught Stealin'," as well as... umm... okay, maybe, for the most part, I do hate Jane's Addiction.

4. U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday

Actually, I only picked this particular song because it epitomizes all that I hate about U2. I can't put my finger on why, but if I had to pick a U2 song I hated more than any other U2 song, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" would be the song I picked. But make no mistake! I hate all U2 songs. I just hate this one a little bit more.

3. Creed - My Sacrifice

I picked this song for the same reason I picked "Sunday Bloody Sunday" above. The only difference is that I hate Creed more than I hate U2.

2. Radiohead - Knives Out

Okay, when I listen to "Jane Says", I'm thinking "How the hell is this a song?" When I listen to "Knives Out", I'm thinking "How the fuck could anyone listen to this?!" Like I said above: it's all preference. But really! What... just what the hell is this shit? I know all you goddamned Radiohead freaks are out there saying "Oooh, you just don't understand Thom Yorke's genius" or some shit. Fuck that. I'll call Thom Yorke a genius when he gives us world peace or a cure for cancer. I'm not ever going to say the man is a genius for putting out a song that sounds like a remixed "Scary Noises" tape that you pick up from the party store for Halloween.

1. Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams

I love Green Day. No, really, I do. I adore those songs I went to High School with, like "Basket Case" and "Welcome to Paradise". There's others I love, too, like "American Idiot", "Hitchin' a Ride", and all those other peppy tunes that Green Day knows how to crank out. However, an atrocity happened in 1997. That atrocity was their song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". A mopey, sad, slow song by Green Day seemed to make a lot of people happy. That seemed to make Green Day think that they should break away from the crackheaded format that I love to put out another song in the same vein. That would be "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". And as everyone knows I only like upbeat music that usually results in faster driving, this is NOT what I want to hear. Another example of this in another band is Blink-182's "Adam's Song", which resulted in a whole slew of depressing slow-shit from a band that I love for the OPPOSITE type of music.

Well. That's a lot of ranting out of my system. The next part of what I read in ainslye's journal was a list of 6 of her LJ friends that were supposed to do this same thing. I'm not going to list 6 LJ friends, here, because I can only think of 3 or 4 other than ainslye herself that update/read journals with any regularity. Instead, I encourage everyone who reads this to do their own "Six Songs I Hate" and post it!

Star Wars Nerd? Me?

Tue, 03 May 2005 23:11:54 GMT

Playing Knights of the Old Republic as much as I have been, it seems that I'm really turning into a total geek... seriously, it's insane!!!

Star Wars Meme by sailor_phobos

1st 2 Ltrs of 1stname + Last 3 Ltrs of last name

1st 2ltrs of moms last name+Last 3ltrs of city brn

Sith or Jedi

Jedi

Skin Color

Pink

Eye Color

Blue

Light Saber Color

Orange

How close you are to switching sides: 64%

Username

You're Random Star Wars Quote:

I don't know who you are or where you've come from, but from now on you'll do as I say, okay?

Your Padawan (if you're a jedi)

scivitri

Your apprentice (if you're a sith)

waiwaimitsukai

You're Master

vedubgirlie

Quiz created with MemeGen!

A Jedi? I really figured I'd be Dark Side. Weird.

For my fellow fans of "The Prisoner!"

Fri, 22 Apr 2005 02:18:53 GMT

Some friends and I were goofing around, and this idea came about. I decided to just go ahead and post it here, even though most of you won't get it.

Watch The Prisoner! It's an AWESOME show, dammit!

---------------
The Original Scene:
Number 6: Where am I?
Number 2: In the village.
Number 6: What do you want?
Number 2: We want information.
Number 6: Who's side are you on?
Number 2: That would be telling. We want information. Information. Information.
Number 6: You won't get it.
Number 2: By hook or by crook... we will.
Number 6: Who are you?
Number 2: I am Number Two.
Number 6: Who is Number One?
Number 2: You are Number Six.
Number 6: I am not a number! I am a free man!
Number 2: *Laughs maniacally*

The Netspeak Scene:
Number 6: wtf?
Number 2: here = teh village.
Number 6: y?
Number 2: gimme crackz!!
Number 6: 4 u?
Number 2: gimme crackz 4real!!
Number 6: lolno
Number 2: yes! >:O
Number 6: a/s/l
Number 2: 2
Number 6: whos 1?
Number 2: u = 6
Number 6: omgwtf? no!
Number 2: lolz yes! ^_^ kekekeke

The Stupidity of People

Sun, 17 Apr 2005 00:19:47 GMT

Hey, kids. Who's ready for another batshit-insane Baraqiel rant? Well, too bad! My journal, dammit. And get away from my chocolate.

Okay, even though the event that caused me such grief is related to the upcoming movie "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", this can be applied to anything where pretentious purists like to bitch and moan about their little cult things. Look at my earlier "anime rant" for another example of such idiocy.

So here's basically what I'm hearing out of the die-hard Douglas Adams fans: "The Hitchhiker's Guide movie is going to suck so bad!"

Now, as with my last rant, let me remind you all that I am a Douglas Adams fan. The day he died, I actually stayed home and cried. I loved his work, and I thought he was one of the most fabulous writers the world has ever seen.

So why are many Douglas Adams fans saying this movie is going to suck? "It changed __________ from the book."

Ah, the "Adaptation Blues". Yes, we all seem to lament when things are changed from the original by the Hollywood villains, right? NO! Stop being upset by this, you stupid assholes! And I TOLD you to get away from my chocolate!

Why should you not be upset by this? I'm glad you asked, considering I'm much smarter than you.

The movie is created with the intention of making money, not with necessarily giving the audience what they expect based on the basis for said movie. Yes, they're going to change things. They've been doing it for decades, now. This shouldn't come as a terrible shock to anyone, really.

However, there are those who will argue with me (stupidly), saying "But, Baraqiel! It's not how Douglas would have wanted it! And this chocolate is delicious!"

Ah, in this case, there's no way we'll know, because Mr. Adams is dead. Even in cases of non-dead authors, you can never really know what the author has in mind when selling the rights for his movie. Either way,for an author to even GET to the point where his book becomes a movie, that book has to have sold a good deal. That means said author has a comfortable sum of cash from his work, already. Sure, the movie may change it, but he'll still get profit, and everyone can be happy.

Now, another layer to this is that some people may watch the movie, and actually become interested in the book. Then they go buy the book. Oh, look, they're reading the original. The author makes more money from the book, perhaps gets another loyal fan, and the cycle of bitching can begin anew. If the watcher of the movie does NOT buy the book, then it's their loss, I guess. Either way, the movie and the book should be viewed as two seperate entities. If the movie WAS just like the book, why see it? Just read the damn book again. Some people don't like to read, so let them enjoy the story in whatever way they want to.

In the particular case of Douglas Adams, for people who bitch about the changes that will be made: Ever heard the radio show? Oh, I can see some (not too many) Adams fans looking around all guiltily, and mumbling that they, indeed, have NOT heard the radio show or read the scripts. Yeah. THAT was the original. The book changed a LOT of things from that. How many people do you see bitching about the book, saying "OH, this is SO different from the original!"

Yeah, nobody. Why? Because it doesn't fucking MATTER!

Also, a little note - I think Douglas Adams wrote the screenplay, too. If you're saying it sucks, you're saying his own work sucks because it doesn't compare propery to his own work. And that would mean you're stupid. But this statement only applies if Adams DID write the screenplay.

If the movie sucks, judge it based on it's suckitude as a stand-alone film, and don't try to compare it to the book (or the radio show, for that matter). As always, Baraqiel is always right. Just repeat this mantra.

And I don't even like chocolate.

Random Quiz Crap

Sun, 20 Mar 2005 17:29:46 GMT

Why be meaningful? Nothing's going on, in my life!

You are a temptress

Which Ultimate Beautiful Woman are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Like this is any surprise...

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 19:52:06 GMT

Ultimate Gamer!!
GM says drop 2d10, aanndd... you roll 77% !

What, are you a first generation gamer? Did you own the brown box?!

Whatever you do in your spare time, gaming seems to be your job. Either you looked up the answers or you're the best of the best, the type that makes other gamers strive to know more. Just don't let the knowledge overwhelm the newbies, it tends to push them from the hobby.

We all bow before you. You are the living nat 20, congradulations. I'm going to flee the scene now ;)

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 62% on dice

Link: The Real Gamers use Dice Test written by luminasita on Ok Cupid

I suck.

Tue, 15 Mar 2005 22:36:03 GMT

I really feel like a total failure, right now.

I feel like I can't do anything right, and that anything I have done right, in the past, was actually wrong all along.

Anime Fans

Tue, 08 Mar 2005 01:06:20 GMT

The trip to Canada? Let's not go there. Suffice it to say, at least Zuriel and I are still friends. I'm not looking to get into another relationship for a long, long time.

But no, I write today's post because today, one of my biggest pet peeves was dragged across a cheese grater, leaving ragged, bloody trails across my angered psyche. That peeve, today, is anime fans.

"But Baraqiel", I hear you say, "you're an anime fan, are you not?"

Yes. Yes, I am. I enjoy anime a great deal. I do not, however, like most anime fans. And why do I dislike anime fans? I give you this scenario:

Baraqiel: I really don't like subtitles. I'd rather watch anime dubbed.
Otaku: Oh, you really don't watch anime, then.

Yes. Yes, I do, you stupid lifeless cunt. Every time I see some bullshit, snotnosed, pretentious "Otaku" looking down their nose at me for watching dubbed anime, I want to claw out their fucking eyes and shove them up their ass. I like dubs. Others like subtitles. I don't judge them for what they like, and I (perhaps foolishly) expect the same in return. But unfortunately, I gain no such respect. No, instead, I get shunned by these fuckheads who want to make anime their "elite little thing". Guess what, cumdumpster? You're still watching cartoons. Don't act like you're up on some fucking artistic pedestal. Sure, I watch them, too. But I don't believe myself to be better (or worse) than anyone else for the WAY I watch them.

Seriously, grow up, people.

Happy Good Update Fun Lucky Journal Time!

Sat, 05 Feb 2005 14:33:24 GMT

Note: Some of this is a repost from my SuicideGirls Journal

Friday night I actually went to a movie. This is unsual, because:

- I don't like to leave the house
- I don't like to go out on Friday nights
- There's usually not many movies that interest me

But my friend convinced me to go see House of Flying Daggers. It was very pretty, but I'll fully admit that I just don't get it. However, from watching such films as House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, and so forth, I have learned much.

Things Baraqiel Learned from Imported Martial Arts Films

- A sword can cut anything. No, seriously, anything.
- If you know martial arts, thrown items have their own sort of "homing device". Your opponent can be three blocks away, and hiding in a maze, and you can hurl a pebble into his eye.
- Blind people fight better than anyone with vision.
- Old ladies are always hiding something. They're either the world's greatest assassin, or the head of the crimd syndicate, or maybe God himself. But they're never just an old lady.
- Nintendo should have been our first hint with Super Mario Brothers, but the films prove it; anybody can jump up to 50 times their height.
- When fighting your opponent in single combat, make sure the music in the background does not stop. As soon as the music stops, you're fucking dead.
- The more opponents you face, the less likely you are to die. If you're being chased by 20 men with swords, you'll come out unscathed. It's the one badass you meet down the road that will ruin your day.
- Zhang Ziyi is adorable. She's beautiful. You just wanna pick her up and hug her (probably naked). But she will rip your throat out without a thought, because she's god-damned warrior-scary in every fucking movie. I'd love to see her play the helpless little village girl just once, so I can say "awww" without waiting for her to slaughter the Emporer's entire army.
- The Village sucked. No, this has nothing to do with Martial Arts films, but I really hated that movie and I wanted to let you all know that.

In chat news: I got the absolute sweetest e-mail the other day. I was so moved by this, that it's actually taken a few days to figure out how to respond. I was moved to tears when I read it, and I still smile now just thinking about it. Here is the edited version of the e-mail, with parts cut out only to protect the sender's identity. If you are the author of this e-mail and wouldn't mind me using it in it's entirety, please let me know and I'll post the uncut version.

[EDIT] - Rage Halo, the author of this e-mail, has informed me it was okay to use the uncut version! Yay!

-------------------------
From: Rage Halo
To: Baraqiel
Subject: Thank you

Bara, I wish to thank you and the staff of your chat. Originally I came here from another chat because I was tired of Administrators being cocky and thinking everything they said was right, no matter what it costed others. The inconsideracy was nearly unbearable eventually that I moved some of my favorite characters here after dealing with a lot of the bull crap. But, as I have found here, this is far from the case. I have come to love this chat and nearly all those in it. The admins are open and fair, playful and not so god-like just because they have a red name. Also the openness is amazing. An example: when I originally wanted to created Christopher Creed and attempted to get him sanctioned, it resulted with me loosing my dhampir for nearly no reason at all, they suddenly claiming I couldn't handle rare character types. Here, I have had Christopher Creed sanction and even remade my dhampir here. I have proven myself able to handle him without any problems or objections from STs. I'm just so thankful that your staff is how it is. I can actually sit around and talk with an ST or Admin without fear of some bad whiplash. Your chat is amazing, in personality and style of its set up. I want to thank you for starting this place and letting it be how it has. I have had nothing but roleplaying fun.

With great joy,

Chris
--------------------------

After all the crap that I've been getting from those few people who were trying to bring me down, it's good to know that a great number more people are made happy by my site. For those of you who voice your positive opinions, I thank you and appreciate you. It makes me want to work harder for you all.

And indeed, that's just what I'm doing. Last night I went out and bought myself a big, hefty, $50 book for a new computer programming language. I bought this book solely to make the site better, and if I manage to grasp it, we'll be certainly twenty times more kickass than we already are.

Keep on playing, and keep on hating The Village. 'Cause that movie sucked hardcore.

How do you like me, now?

Tue, 25 Jan 2005 03:59:38 GMT

I am happy to say that the tribulations have come to an end. At least for now. Those who seem to just randomly cause havoc out of boredom have been told that they're doing things the wrong way, and that there are consequences to their actions.

I have to give a big, big, big heartfelt thank you to Todd Johnson, Executive Vice President of Digi-Net Technologies ( http://www.digi-net.com ) for his personal attention to this disgusting ordeal, and all the crew at Digi-Net for getting the problems resolved more quickly and efficiently than I could have ever dreamt possible. I also like to thank all the friends and supportors who urged me to keep on, and keep on the "high road", even when I was put up against some underhanded, and downright unscrupulous tactics. It's nice when justice actually works out the way it should.

On top of resolving all the issues without it having to get legal, Mr. Johnson gave us that chat upgrade we needed! Remember that 50-user limit? He actually cared enough about us to read my LiveJournal (hi, Todd) and give us a present that fit our chat's needs. It's people like this that actually give me hope in humanity, despite some of the wicked things some people are driven to do out of pure self-loathing. Again, a big, heartfelt thank you... I'm sure I speak for everyone who supports Shadows on the Bay and Nevermore City Prouctions when I say we do appreciate this.

And as for all you malcontents out there who like to get off on the misery of others:

Say goodnight, Gracie. Your fifteen minutes is up.