Misreply.org

No, really…I’m not confused; I did just say William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead.

Official Link

I highly suggest you go see this. It’s hilarious. As much as I’d love to give you a synopsis, it would kind of ruin the fun of seeing it.

However…just imagine this: Shakespeare….and zombies. I mean, really, do you need to know more? GO SEE THIS!

Do: Sit in the first three rows.
Do: Laugh
Do: Wear clothes that you don’t mind getting splattered in stage blood.
Don’t: Be a pansy.
Don’t: Bother to look for parking (it’s pretty much next to impossible, unless you get there early)

People

November 4th is quickly approaching, and the final debate between Obama and McCain took place last night. Many people are still undecided, some refuse to vote, while others defend their candidate with an almost annoying enthusiasm. That being said, there are a few things that generally annoy me about people.

1. Single issue voters. OH COME ON NOW! While I completely agree with the right for everyone to cast a vote, sometimes I feel that there should be some kind of common sense exam before one may vote. Just recently, a long-time friend of mine told me “you know…I agree with Obama on pretty much everything. I would get a pretty decent tax cut, and I think he is definitely better at foreign policy…hell, better at dealing with people in general than McCain could ever be, hell the last eight years sucked, and McCain is more of the same!”. I almost felt the but coming, but I decided to pre-empt it “So, you’ve made your choice already, I see…Go-Bama?”. “Nah, McCain dude….I like my guns.” Seriously…are you shitting me? While I chose to highlight this particular example, I have heard many such variations, except replace Obama with McCain, McCain with Obama, guns with abortion, foreign policy with the economy, and every variation thereof. “So do you know [Candidate X]’s plan for [major national issue]?”. I asked…”Nah, but he is for [single controversial yet minor issue that won't affect the state of the nation or how it is perceived in the world], so…you know…”. Seriously, people, before you go out on November 4th, educate yourself on the issues. Don’t just watch Fox News/MSNBC, or read each party’s talking points. Give it some independent thought, some personal insight; read summaries of actual bills and proposals from the candidates instead of relying on the attacks the candidates make against each other, or their defenses.

2. Tying in somewhat with issue 1…lack of education regarding the actual policies of the candidates. As much as I would like to be able to be impressed by the inherent wisdom of my acquaintances, it is simply not the case; the majority (sadly) have not taken any initiative to become politically smart. They don’t see past the attacks, the talking points and the pundits “expert analysis” of the issues (of which the majority are party biased, depending on the station’s affiliation), and should not taint the Democratic process by blindly voting.

I don’t care who you vote for. I don’t care whether or not you will go straight Democrat, straight Republican, or vote for every possible independent candidate. Your vote is your vote, but please…make it an educated one. Don’t follow your friend’s advice, don’t vote for [Candidate X] because your parents want you to, and don’t vote for the entire package based on one tear in the wrapping paper.

But do make a difference.

General Stupidity, People

Narrative:
* a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events
* the systematic recitation of an event or series of events

Blog
* a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer

Like personal Twitter accounts, many blogs exist on the internet solely to act as validation for the author. Really, Bob, I don’t care that you went to the store today and bought cereal, nor do I care that you enjoyed last night’s episode of [whatever]. Granted, some people use them as an outlet to vent or to organize their thoughts. It’s the 21st Century version of “my secret diary”, except for the whole secret part.

Other blogs, on the other hand, have some narrative substance. Some are a joy to read. These authors have a vivid imagination, exceptional writing skills, and the ability to convey their thoughts to print. Do these outlets for storytelling still technically count as blogs, or are they in a class of their own? I don’t know, nor am I an authority to make such a classification. I’m sure you have your own opinion.

“Let me tell you what I heard today about Apple/Microsoft/etc … “, comments Bob, pretending to be an expert in the technological field, “it’s going to change technology as we know it”. On another site, probably even hosted on the same server, Sally writes: “…and today the polls show…”.

This brings me to one of the biggest paradoxes on the internet: news blogs. Finally, some real-world applicable substance… Is it still technically a blog if it’s written by a respected journalist…is the “blogosphere” an actual news outlet? It’s tough to say, and it depends who you ask. You will get answers ranging from a simple “it’s a blog” to “the blogosphere is real, aliens are coming!”. Personally, I consider news blogs to be a separate category. It’s news…but at the same time it’s someone’s personal interpretation of an event. Is that really any different from someone’s personal interpretation as it would appear on the front page of the New York Times?

When it comes down to it, I wholeheartedly support anyone that takes time out of their day to write. It doesn’t matter if they write political commentary, what they did the day before, their problems with significant others, or if they publish a book. Writing is becoming a lost art. I see the aggregate writing levels decreasing, and it worries me. Throughout the day, I read a lot of technical documentation: Technical documentation written by co-workers, documentation for software, and various miscellaneous web sites. Honestly, some of these are painful to read. I, admittedly, am a grammar Nazi, and I pay attention to elements of grammar as I read documentation. It pains me to see college graduates write the way they do. I feel that if they have the opportunity to write more often, then they should; their writing will improve greatly.

So I say: Read…read all you can so that you can become a better writer by example. Write blog posts, write narratives, write books, write letters. Write…write all you can.

People

Looking around, it was your average drab dorm room. It being an Ivy League school, perhaps I expected plush carpeting, diamond chandeliers, and my own personal butler; it was not the case. It seems that no matter what the school, and no matter how much money you throw away to get that lousy piece of paper, it never really changes…every school, no matter how different, is exactly the same.

The walls were gray, the ceilings white, with paper thin grey carpeting all around. The windows barely opened, perhaps a safety precaution to the inevitable drunken person that would attempt to lean out that window. The windows barely opened, but people still found ways to kill themselves that year by “mistakenly” falling out of their window from one of the top floors at Towers, or by stumbling over the railing on the roof of the frat house across the street. Arriving early in the morning on move-in day, I managed to snag the second largest room in the suite. The largest was occupied by Mike, our asian suite-mate who had a fetish for school books and microwaving chicken, since he moved in a week earlier due to his duties as campus IT. Ry and Bill got shafted even more, since their rooms were about the size of a county jail cell. The idea, as it was originally envisioned, was that the person with the largest room would switch mid-year with the person who had the smallest room. The people who had the other two rooms, likewise, would switch. In reality, this never occurred, and the end result was that most of our suite mini-parties would end up taking place in my room.

Tonight, however, four of us found ourselves in Bill’s room — the smallest room. This made sense at the time…somehow, although I could not begin to fathom what our train of thought was that night. I’m fairly certain that alcohol had something to do with it. I mean, hell, Firn was 2 cases in, and everyone else was having a good time as well. Tonight, Matt from next door wasn’t joining us; I don’t remember whether it was because he was recovering from his vodka+Mt. Dew (“Never again!”), or whether he was scared to repeat it.

“Grab the chair, Firn”, Bill egged on as I sat down on the bed next to Ryan. There really was no room in there at this point, so I figured that moving a chair would be a good idea…I said nothing. Bill points to me and says “you won’t drop it on his head”, to which Firn responded with a resounding “oh yea?”.

to be continued

People, party

I turned to Ewald and said: “At least he will be the best wingman ever now”.
He turned to me with his typical half-smile half-scowl and retorted: “Yea, either that or he will be the biggest cock-block in the world”.

Imagine this scene: We are standing outside of a Christian Seminary surrounded by at least 200 priests and as many seminarians along with their families and friends. Surprisingly, with me and Ewald there, somehow the holy water was not boiling and the walls of the chapel did not erupt in spontaneous flame.

After high school not many people kept in touch, contrary to their “K.I.T. call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx” inscriptions in everyone’s yearbooks, but a few of us were here celebrating Spaz’s ordination into Deaconhood. I haven’t seen Lily in years, ever since graduation, but she had not really changed at all. Neither did Nicolo or Kelly. Granted it’s only been seven years, but it’s amazing to see how subtly everything changes. Conversation carries on just like it did those seven years ago, but somehow it is different. The subjects of conversation are similar, save for the substitution of “job” for “class”, and “engaged to” for “hooking up with”, but everyone seems more distant than before…more engulfed in the business and problems of their own life. Except for Ewald…he is always good for an off topic and completely uncouth comment, and we loved him for it.

“I swear to God, if Father [removed] comes over here and says something, I’m going to fucking punch him in the mouth.”

Good old E.

Just a half hour earlier, approximately half of our section could barely contain laughter due to Ewald’s off-color comments, and the rest claimed that they would go to hell just for being in his presence, but I just sat there trying not to look too visibly entertained during what is supposed to be a solemn and holy ceremony.

I think that particular Mass had everything possible:
* 200+ priests – check
* 200+ seminarians – check
* 600 parents and friends – check
* A priest drill sergeant – wait..what?

I whispered to Ewald and Gina, “I feel like I’m in a concentration camp, or the army or something with this dude”, as I pointed to the priest that was barking out orders on how we were to sit, how we were to line up for communion, and how we were to return to our pews. “Yes, drill sergeant!” I whispered to my friends as Father Captain Blood gave us the precise instructions we had grown to expect over the last five minutes.

* an alcoholic seminarian, dubbed Deacon Chug – che…ck?

With the plethora of priests, deacons and ministers vastly outnumbering the communion recipients, there was a substantial amount of leftover wine in the chalice of Deacon Chug. However, instead of either sharing it with the rest of the clergy, or calmly sipping the rest of it as to not waste it; this particular Deacon did something I had never thought I would witness during an Ordination Mass….or any Mass ever: He took the chalice to his mouth, threw his head back, and chugged the remining wine like a freshman at a college party.

“Chug Chug Chug”, Ewald said while barely keeping a straight face.

—-

“Chug Chug Chug!” we yelled at Firn as he took another can of beer from our fridge at Penn and put it to his lips. For a college freshman, Firn was a god among men when it came to the raw consumption of alcohol. Ryan, Bill and I simply watched in amazement, being freshmen ourselves at the time.

Firn was starting his second CASE of Coors Light and showed no signs of stopping…

(to be continued)

People, college, party

Today was the PA primary. Did you do your part? It doesn’t matter if your candidate won or not, but the fact that so many people went out to vote is monumentally important for our nation, which has been historically weak in voter turnout.

The only thing that worries me is that we probably won’t have the same kind of turnout in the general election, and that’s unfortunate.

People

Friday night at the Korban apartment proved to be an epic event. This…is their story.

Read more…

People

The day was Saturday the 20th of October, 2007. The event: a shackmeet of epic proportions.

It all started with ThomW’s post a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. The idea was simple: gather a group of Shackers that are local to the Pennsylvania area in a somewhat central location. That location was HersheyPark.

The participants:
ThomW
El Tigre
Patch-E
PapaBoo
Stuman1337
mccreadypj17
notd665
Korban
Evil Benius ( and his +1 )
Mad Brahmin Disease
ShadowDane

The idea:
Meet at Houlihan’s for some lunch, and then head out to the park. El Tigre and his group would meet us inside the park since they (heathens) arrived separately (heathens) and then went their separate way after a few rides (heathens).

The rest….well…just click on the “Read More” button.

Read more…

People