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And While I'm Complaining
14 years ago
Welcome to the first post of my new series, AWIC (And While I'm Complaining) where I most likely whine about an "actual" issue before I dive into a long winded rant about something minor that annoys me. Now then, enough talk, let's get to business.
What the hell is going on in the political world of America? I am registered as Unafilliated, because I believe bipartisanship is stupid and is one of the main reasons why our government is seen as completely incompetent. "Oh I can't agree with you, you're not in MY party, so now I disagree." It's like a bunch of 10 year-olds bitching and whining at each other because if Tyler says he likes the color blue, then Jessica can't, otherwise the world implodes or some shit. With my neutral status, I will say that if Obama does not get re-elected then it is going to mean very sad times. Chances are, Mitt Romney will be the representative for the Republican party, but that man is a gigantic tool, a very, very rich tool. 'Broadening' the tax base is his way of giving more tax cuts to the rich in favor for taxing the living piss out of everyone who isn't rich. Those under the poverty line? Super taxed, because they can afford it while the "job creators" (who happily send jobs to other countries rather than pay Americans a decent wage and give them benefits) get to sit on a larger pile of money. Being a Sociologist, I have discovered, on my own, without reading from a book, that the income inequality is MASSIVELY disproportionate and is only getting worse if Romney somehow becomes president. Never mind more anti-gay/abortion/women/breakfast burrito legislation, but the money factor is really starting to worry me.
Look at it this way, the income inequality is so bad in the United States, that if it was a race, the US would have lapped the UK (who is in a verrrry distant second place) more than 16 times, and this is not comparing the average CEO to the minimum wage worker, it is comparing the average CEO to the average employee. Comparing it to minimum wage workers more than doubles the inequality, but hey one thing at a time.
And while I'm complaining, what the hell happened to Naruto? I will put up a warning for spoilers when the time comes, but this show/manga has spiraled completely out of control for what seems like no real reason. Okay, so the basic story I learned somewhat when I was a Sophomore in high school, and I was like, "Whoa! Neat! Ninjas!" and the crappiest ninja of all was Naruto. He was bad at everything, had no friends, and everyone hated him. Kinda like Yu Yu Hakusho, but while Yuramshi could beat everyone up and didn't care he had 'no' friends, Naruto was secretly depressed like crazy about being a pariah. Despite all of this, Naruto wants to become super ninja president of his village, prove those bitches wrong and show everyone how awesome he really is. Through a lot of ups, downs, hard work, friendships, heart of the cards and all that, Naruto becomes super awesome. But what is the result? Dun dun dun!
Minor spoilers here~ but yeah, Sasuke, currently the worst character ever in any anime or manga I have watched or read, was Naruto's "best friend" (and nothing else, no benefits) for...reasons, I dunno, it kinda happened out of necessity. Okay so the two are rivals, Sasuke is super emo, and because he has been crawling in his skiiiiin for too long he decides to become evil, in like one afternoon. He just decides, "Nuts to this, I'm gonna go join the guy who practically raped and murdered me. These losers who actually like me are chumpwagons!" and he and Naruto fight. So our hero loses, Sasuke leaves forevar to get stupider (I swear to god, he has HANDS that grow out of his back that make him fly. Not nearly as cool as Robin's from One Piece) and shop at Hot Topic some more. That is pretty much where the first half of Naruto's story comes to an end, minus the 100 episodes of filler in the anime (dear god why), but then the second half starts up. Dun dun dun, yet again.
Bit more spoilers here, but you aren't missing out on much. So yeah, Naruto and all of his friends (by the way he has like, 10 other people in his age who are also ninjas with their own personalities and abilities and characteristics and stuff, but whatever) train for two years or something, then Naruto comes back and he's even more awesome. Seems all of that hard work is paying off! Well, no, no it isn't. Fuuurther down the line, we find out (Okay, now here's an actual spoiler, I guess)......................Naruto is ninja jesus. He is the chosen one. He is their ninja messiah. He was proclaimed to become the best ever ninja evar, because some frogs or whatever said so. Hear that kids? You can work hard to better yourself, but you have to be the chosen one, otherwise it won't matter! Wow. What the hell? What makes this even worse? Now it is basically just DBZ all over again.
Not really spoilers here. What do you mean there are tons of characters, who are awesometastic (Shikamaru especially) and sometimes get to do something in the main story while the others are just really expensive wallpaper (Shino, sadly)? What do you mean that every fight will basically be decided by Goku, erm, Naruto showing up after his sucky friends all get their asses kicked and saves everyone by beating the super bad guy (and another complaint, the antagonists in this series are INSANELY stupidly overpowered and make no fucking sense) and then being cheered on for being so awesome. Never mind the fact that he's like, 16, and ninjas will decades more experience than him suck like crazy (even the other people who have the same 'condition' as Naruto) and get killed off with relative ease. Never mind the fact that there is, or well was, an expansive cast with loads of potential, never mind the fact that Sasuke is freaking stupid and has 0 motivation to do anything but still manages to be incredibly stupid. But now the kid who tried so hard to prove himself can slow down, because he is going to win, no matter what. On top of that, the main antagonist has what I like to call the "Bleach problem" wherein everything, and I mean everything, was all just some huuuuuge convoluted plan to get someone to be able to do something like rule or destroy the world or whatever, this isn't spoilery it's just about every anime/manga out there and don't you dare deny it.
Even with the main antagonist having the stupidest...the stupidest big bad plan (Moooooooon) ever, and how impossible it would be for him to get subordinates or whatever, super duper ninjas who because they're evil can destroy an entire village full of ninjas in ten minutes, nothing upsets me more than the fact that I used to give a damn about Naruto. I wanted to see the wacky adventures, I wanted to see the heartache, I wanted to see the victories, character growth (Like Sakura!...Oh wait never mind, one act ruins all of it), and I wanted to see a decent tale. Now it's to the point where I am in rageaholic mode because I don't know what happened, where did it all go wrong? I loved DBZ, because I was young and stupid, but that show starts OFF waaaay too stupid, by making Raditz needlessly overpowered and then completely pointless as a character, and then writing out every character other than Goku/Naruto for the sheer fact of no creativity. It used to be some zany ninja show about ninjas, now it's just about Naruto showing up and saving everyone, because he is the only one who can win (at least outside of the filler where he is still a goof, until he gets SERIOUS. Just like Goku) and nothing is ever going to change that. Sasuke is utterly wasted, the rest of his ninja friends are background characters, and now the story is sooooooo convoluted at this point, they have resorted to doing something so incredibly stupid that I won't say it here.
Okay I lied, SPOILER alert.....................Zombie ninjas. Because when you've used up good ideas, bring back the dead characters.
Now I'm at the point where it's like...why? How could this happen to meeeeee and only meeee? But with my faux self-centeredness aside, I know that in a few months I cam going to peek in on Naruto again, just to see what happens. Mostly, I want to see if it will ever end at this point. They drew me in initially, and yeah I had a great time for a good while, and then once things hit stupid territory, I kept coming back like a battered husband, hoping that this time things were going to be different. But...things aren't, they just keep getting worse, and now the kids are living with my parents and I cry whenever I hear the door open, knowing that...okay off topic, but yeah.
I guess there are some things that can't be helped, like morbidly curious about something I just spent god knows how long complaining about, and let me tell you this I barely scratched the surface. Though it does feel good to get this off my chest, for the time being, I know that no matter what I say or do, Naruto is going to be one of the most popular things evar, even when the writing is so horrid it would make Hemingway blush. Okay that was a huge hyperbole, Hemingway is god awful, but hey I still said it because sometimes I think it's still true.
Watching a trainwreck is prone to leave me angry, but only because I liked the trains to begin with.
Also, guess this means I'll be coming to FA more often than I have been in the past. Weee.
What the hell is going on in the political world of America? I am registered as Unafilliated, because I believe bipartisanship is stupid and is one of the main reasons why our government is seen as completely incompetent. "Oh I can't agree with you, you're not in MY party, so now I disagree." It's like a bunch of 10 year-olds bitching and whining at each other because if Tyler says he likes the color blue, then Jessica can't, otherwise the world implodes or some shit. With my neutral status, I will say that if Obama does not get re-elected then it is going to mean very sad times. Chances are, Mitt Romney will be the representative for the Republican party, but that man is a gigantic tool, a very, very rich tool. 'Broadening' the tax base is his way of giving more tax cuts to the rich in favor for taxing the living piss out of everyone who isn't rich. Those under the poverty line? Super taxed, because they can afford it while the "job creators" (who happily send jobs to other countries rather than pay Americans a decent wage and give them benefits) get to sit on a larger pile of money. Being a Sociologist, I have discovered, on my own, without reading from a book, that the income inequality is MASSIVELY disproportionate and is only getting worse if Romney somehow becomes president. Never mind more anti-gay/abortion/women/breakfast burrito legislation, but the money factor is really starting to worry me.
Look at it this way, the income inequality is so bad in the United States, that if it was a race, the US would have lapped the UK (who is in a verrrry distant second place) more than 16 times, and this is not comparing the average CEO to the minimum wage worker, it is comparing the average CEO to the average employee. Comparing it to minimum wage workers more than doubles the inequality, but hey one thing at a time.
And while I'm complaining, what the hell happened to Naruto? I will put up a warning for spoilers when the time comes, but this show/manga has spiraled completely out of control for what seems like no real reason. Okay, so the basic story I learned somewhat when I was a Sophomore in high school, and I was like, "Whoa! Neat! Ninjas!" and the crappiest ninja of all was Naruto. He was bad at everything, had no friends, and everyone hated him. Kinda like Yu Yu Hakusho, but while Yuramshi could beat everyone up and didn't care he had 'no' friends, Naruto was secretly depressed like crazy about being a pariah. Despite all of this, Naruto wants to become super ninja president of his village, prove those bitches wrong and show everyone how awesome he really is. Through a lot of ups, downs, hard work, friendships, heart of the cards and all that, Naruto becomes super awesome. But what is the result? Dun dun dun!
Minor spoilers here~ but yeah, Sasuke, currently the worst character ever in any anime or manga I have watched or read, was Naruto's "best friend" (and nothing else, no benefits) for...reasons, I dunno, it kinda happened out of necessity. Okay so the two are rivals, Sasuke is super emo, and because he has been crawling in his skiiiiin for too long he decides to become evil, in like one afternoon. He just decides, "Nuts to this, I'm gonna go join the guy who practically raped and murdered me. These losers who actually like me are chumpwagons!" and he and Naruto fight. So our hero loses, Sasuke leaves forevar to get stupider (I swear to god, he has HANDS that grow out of his back that make him fly. Not nearly as cool as Robin's from One Piece) and shop at Hot Topic some more. That is pretty much where the first half of Naruto's story comes to an end, minus the 100 episodes of filler in the anime (dear god why), but then the second half starts up. Dun dun dun, yet again.
Bit more spoilers here, but you aren't missing out on much. So yeah, Naruto and all of his friends (by the way he has like, 10 other people in his age who are also ninjas with their own personalities and abilities and characteristics and stuff, but whatever) train for two years or something, then Naruto comes back and he's even more awesome. Seems all of that hard work is paying off! Well, no, no it isn't. Fuuurther down the line, we find out (Okay, now here's an actual spoiler, I guess)......................Naruto is ninja jesus. He is the chosen one. He is their ninja messiah. He was proclaimed to become the best ever ninja evar, because some frogs or whatever said so. Hear that kids? You can work hard to better yourself, but you have to be the chosen one, otherwise it won't matter! Wow. What the hell? What makes this even worse? Now it is basically just DBZ all over again.
Not really spoilers here. What do you mean there are tons of characters, who are awesometastic (Shikamaru especially) and sometimes get to do something in the main story while the others are just really expensive wallpaper (Shino, sadly)? What do you mean that every fight will basically be decided by Goku, erm, Naruto showing up after his sucky friends all get their asses kicked and saves everyone by beating the super bad guy (and another complaint, the antagonists in this series are INSANELY stupidly overpowered and make no fucking sense) and then being cheered on for being so awesome. Never mind the fact that he's like, 16, and ninjas will decades more experience than him suck like crazy (even the other people who have the same 'condition' as Naruto) and get killed off with relative ease. Never mind the fact that there is, or well was, an expansive cast with loads of potential, never mind the fact that Sasuke is freaking stupid and has 0 motivation to do anything but still manages to be incredibly stupid. But now the kid who tried so hard to prove himself can slow down, because he is going to win, no matter what. On top of that, the main antagonist has what I like to call the "Bleach problem" wherein everything, and I mean everything, was all just some huuuuuge convoluted plan to get someone to be able to do something like rule or destroy the world or whatever, this isn't spoilery it's just about every anime/manga out there and don't you dare deny it.
Even with the main antagonist having the stupidest...the stupidest big bad plan (Moooooooon) ever, and how impossible it would be for him to get subordinates or whatever, super duper ninjas who because they're evil can destroy an entire village full of ninjas in ten minutes, nothing upsets me more than the fact that I used to give a damn about Naruto. I wanted to see the wacky adventures, I wanted to see the heartache, I wanted to see the victories, character growth (Like Sakura!...Oh wait never mind, one act ruins all of it), and I wanted to see a decent tale. Now it's to the point where I am in rageaholic mode because I don't know what happened, where did it all go wrong? I loved DBZ, because I was young and stupid, but that show starts OFF waaaay too stupid, by making Raditz needlessly overpowered and then completely pointless as a character, and then writing out every character other than Goku/Naruto for the sheer fact of no creativity. It used to be some zany ninja show about ninjas, now it's just about Naruto showing up and saving everyone, because he is the only one who can win (at least outside of the filler where he is still a goof, until he gets SERIOUS. Just like Goku) and nothing is ever going to change that. Sasuke is utterly wasted, the rest of his ninja friends are background characters, and now the story is sooooooo convoluted at this point, they have resorted to doing something so incredibly stupid that I won't say it here.
Okay I lied, SPOILER alert.....................Zombie ninjas. Because when you've used up good ideas, bring back the dead characters.
Now I'm at the point where it's like...why? How could this happen to meeeeee and only meeee? But with my faux self-centeredness aside, I know that in a few months I cam going to peek in on Naruto again, just to see what happens. Mostly, I want to see if it will ever end at this point. They drew me in initially, and yeah I had a great time for a good while, and then once things hit stupid territory, I kept coming back like a battered husband, hoping that this time things were going to be different. But...things aren't, they just keep getting worse, and now the kids are living with my parents and I cry whenever I hear the door open, knowing that...okay off topic, but yeah.
I guess there are some things that can't be helped, like morbidly curious about something I just spent god knows how long complaining about, and let me tell you this I barely scratched the surface. Though it does feel good to get this off my chest, for the time being, I know that no matter what I say or do, Naruto is going to be one of the most popular things evar, even when the writing is so horrid it would make Hemingway blush. Okay that was a huge hyperbole, Hemingway is god awful, but hey I still said it because sometimes I think it's still true.
Watching a trainwreck is prone to leave me angry, but only because I liked the trains to begin with.
Also, guess this means I'll be coming to FA more often than I have been in the past. Weee.
You pretty much hit the nail on the head with your observations, and the only thing that is more worrisome then the issues themselves is the fact that the majority of people do no seem to be aware that this is going on...and a good chunk of the people who are just don't care.
Bipartisanship is when people from different parties cooperate/compromise/whatever. It sounds like you mean partisanship.
Agreed on the States' political system being messed up beyond all reason, etc. There is nobody on the table for whom I could vote without feeling terrible.
While I could fill this entire reply with a minirant of my own, I'll just say that after sitting through the original stuff, and every filler episode, and even a good portion of the start of the real episodes after that, I just completely stopped watching it when the focus changed to Sasuke. In fact, the episode I stopped at had Sasuke and his 'team' or whatever in a little diner or something, eating, and ever. Single. Female. was drooling over Sasuke. I just stopped after that, and haven't touched it since.
I would like to see some tax relief for the small business owners, SPECIFICALLY. If their companies do well, they can pay their employees well. That raises quality of life for not just the employees but their families. Being able to charge less for their goods and services means people will be more willing to support said small businesses which means they will do even better.
And before people start jumping on that train, please remember the big companies like Wal-Mart and McDonalds and what not all started as small businesses. Sure, I don't care for wal-mart, I try not to shop there if I can avoid it. Not because I have something against their business practices (which is another matter entirely that I won't get into here), it's because I find the place to be generally unpleasant. I don't like shopping there because the experience is so poor. It's hard to find what you're looking for a lot of the time. The products they carry are either far too cheaply made or not the sort of thing I'm really looking for. They are always too busy for the number of check-outs that are open. The people who shop there I've found are rather unpleasant and even out and out rude to me. The employees all look like they'd rather not be there. And with every re-arrangement of the store, I find it difficult to locate what I'm looking for. I don't shop for groceries thre largely because they don't carry some of the things I like to use... which is why I use a grocery store just down the street, Market Street, a place I used to work, and they carry products of much higher quality in my personal opinion, and checking out isn't some horrible, long, chore where the check out people make you feel like you're inconveniencing them for being there. But still, it started as a small business and it used to be a wonderful company... but then Sam Walton died and the kids took over and things changed... dramatically.
As the son of a small business owner, I get to see some interesting interaction between corporation and government (granted much of it is state rather than federal, but there's a good deal of that too). As such, I get to see how bigger government can hurt. Not to say that smaller government is the absolute correct answer either. It's a tricky proposition and I've learned that I honestly do not have the answer... nor do I think anyone really does... largely because the people who WOULD do well in power, don't want to be due to the enormous level of scrutiny they would be put under. The ones who love the limelight are the ones currently in power... and I have come to believe they don't know anything about what they're doing. They THINK they're doing the right thing... or they are just out and out doing something for themselves in certain cases... but whatever it is... they're screwing up, and screwing up badly.
I really wish there was a way to reorganize the entire government without needing to put it all on hold while we do so. If it were possible, it would be nice if the country could file for chapter 11 bankeruptcy, to reorganize... but that would never fly. People would freak the hell out and then... well... global colapse would be emminant.
At any rate, it's a shit storm waiting to happen. All anyone can do at this point is try to take care of themselves and not get too bogged down in the what-if's of the government. I personally am attempting to start up a financial plan that will support me regardless of the changes made by the federal or state government. It's tough, but I'm trying. It helps that I have a stable job and watch my spending quite heavily. Unless someone has their act together domestically, I don't think they can offer too much advice on the large scale... that being said, I'm no one to talk since I still owe my parents around $4000 for the period of time I was unemployed. I'm working on that, and then I'll be able to get into high gear with my portfolio. Until then, I just have to keep chugging away.
I've actually been completely ignoring this coming presidential race. I haven't been listening to the campaigns too hard, I haven't been seeing who's running, hell I don't even know who else is running for the democratic nomination. I know I know... everyone assumes Obama will get it 'cause he's already in office. You never know. I don't take it for granted that he will. All I know is whoever goes in after him, be it this race or the next, will be just as much of a jackass and an idiot as he and his predecessors. The presidency is no longer a symbol of respect.. it's a joke, and a bad one at that. I'm about ready for that shadow government thing to kick in so I can just ignore the 'real' government. At least with a shadow government, we know shit's getting done. Good or bad... it's getting done. Though... not sure I'm ready for a government run entirely by clones of a single angsty hedgehog.
Imma skip to replying to the second half of this since I don't do political discussions. Naruto... There are bits in it that make it interesting. Watching it is like eating a lemon: You're curious and interested, and when you take a bite it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but after you give it time it starts to taste a little sweeter, though you probably won't do it ever again. I liked the supporting cast a lot, and some of the ninja stuff was cool when it wasn't FILLER. Pretty much everything you've been saying I can agree with. XD I've only watched to the end of the first series, I never touched Shippuden or the manga(s).
on a side note: welcome back skunky! *huggles u tail*
And Sasuke is a borderline sociopath. All he cares about is himself and his revenge. He seems to have little to no remorse and no longer has any compassion as little as he had n part 1.
Will u be posting stories anytime soon?
Second hugs! *huggles u fluffy tail again*
In the beginning Naruto was actually tolerable. I didn't watch a lot of episodes of the show (and read even fewer parts of the manga), but from what I did see it wasn't really that bad.
Then they started getting into stuff like "Oh, Orochimaru's not really dead yet, we have to go find him and kill him before he kills us" and such, which I didn't really care for. I understand the need for an antagonist, but why the hell couldn't they just off him there?
Another thing about it, there was waaaaaaayyyyy too much filler--at least four or five episodes between any two episodes where anything remotely interesting or plot-important happens. I didn't really care for this either.
I have yet to watch or read ANYTHING related to Shippuden, and from the looks of things it'll stay that way.
Now, with all that said...
Welcome back ^^ 'Twill be good ta see ya back on