How To Coast Through Life

1. Never set your alarm to anything before noon. Only fools wake up at an acceptable time.
2. Never do anything you want to do. Only do what other people or society tells you to.
3. If things aren't working out, wait for it to get better. No need to waste time and energy on things that should come naturally. 
4. Don't express your creativity. Nobody needs to see any of that. 
5. Screw the gym. Nobody needs exercise to feel better about themselves.
6. If you insist on going to the gym, never increase any of your weights or exert yourself in any way. Sweating is gross!
7. Make sure you have as much free time as possible. 
8. Fill your free time with Reddit. 
9. Neglect your blog and put off writing anything for it.
10. Watch other people lead more interesting lives than you are. 

The World's End: Review

Hot Fuzz is one of my favorite movies of all time. Shaun of the Dead is in my mental top-ten list. Naturally, a third and final movie in this lineup would have some pretty big shoes to fill. As great as The World's End is, it unfortunately does fall prey to some typical symptoms of sequelitis. In the end, it rounds out the trilogy created by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in a way only Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost could: with lots of violence, lots of quick smash cuts, and lots of witty humor that the trilogy has come to be defined by and redefine itself in the movie/television/Youtube business.

Youtube business, you ask yourself? Shaun of the Dead came out back in 2004, and was defined by something Edgar Wright created back then: quick, less than a second shots of successive actions that took place, be it a character getting up in the morning or something similar. We have all been exposed to this in some way or another nowadays; watch any vlog-style video on Youtube where somebody is talking to the camera, and if there are quick cuts between what the person is saying or a train of thought, you'll have found what I mean. It's aim is two-fold: firstly it achieves a certain humoristic effect where a subject's reaction to something or someone can quickly be shown, secondly it reflects our societies constantly decreasing attention-span. Of course I would be hard-pressed to say that Edgar Wright is the reason every movie or video nowadays looks like this; Shaun of the Dead was a relatively small movie, with humor that only appealed to a relatively small niche of people. It's hard to deny though how much this style of humor has gained in popularity over the course of the Cornetto-Trilogy's life-span.

The World's End doesn't differ too much from the equation. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost portray characters that don't see things eye-to-eye, but through a conflict that both have to overcome, in this case a city infested by robot-like creatures, they work together and finally forgive each other for their mistakes. Following them is a slew of supporting characters that all overcome their own indifferences, and could all be fleshed out into their own self-standing movies, Tarantino-style. Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, and Rosamund Pike all round off the cast, avoiding the problem Hot Fuzz had by filling an entire police station and town with too many characters for anybody to remember (except for me, who's seen the movie at least four dozen times). I felt like Frost did a comparably better job at playing a new kind of character this time around than Pegg, who seemed like he was Frost's foil instead of the other way around.

There's not much to say about the story, given that any trailer has already revealed half of the entire movie. I won't spoil anything, but the ending does make you think in a transcendental, everyday-issues-looked-at-in-a-different-way sort of way and is definitely out of the ordinary. In my opinion, this has much to do with the fact that The World's End isn't trying to emulate a movie genre like the other two movies were; it simply puts two things together that normally wouldn't be put together: a reunion of friends and hand-to-hand combat. As such, the ending had to be as far-fetched as the premise.

In the end, when the trilogy BLu-Ray boxed set comes out and I'd have to introduce a friend to the witty banter of Pegg and Frost and Wright's excellent cinematography, I'd show them one of the other two movies first. On its own, it's hard to say this is a good movie. The action is decent, the writing is sort of weird, and the encapsulating story is far out. But when put in order with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, it's a worthy third movie in the Cornetto trilogy. If there's one thing we've learnt about Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright, it's that they love their pub and that they love their drink.

Why The Dickwolves Situation Has Been Blown Completely Out Of Proportion

Disclaimer: The following is written by an overly privileged, upper middle-class male living in a developed country with an abundant access to free speech and a working internet connection that isn't censored or blocked by the government. The views and opinions expressed should therefore be taken in the spirit that they are meant: tongue-in-cheek and not entirely factual. 

In case you have been living under a metaphorical rock that happens to block out all gaming-culture related news, "Dickwolves" are a fictional being brought into life by the creators of the video-gaming related webcomic Penny Arcade. In the comic, an NPC character begs the player to save him from being "raped to sleep by the dickwolves", who then promptly refuses.

The above comic sparked a large controversy among people who disliked the casual use of rape as a setup for a joke, and while Mike Krahulik, one of the creators of Penny Arcade, has apologized several times to the public, he has also ridiculed his critics by offering merchandise with "Dickwolves" plastered all over it.

While the act of rape itself is a very touchy subject, one that many people have already gotten into trouble with, the situation against Penny Arcade and their single comic has been blown way out of proportion. While one cannot speak for what the creators thought the intent was, to me, the comic is simply portraying the fact that a player in an MMO has a finite amount of resources to collect, in this case slaves, to finish a quest. Nothing more. The fact that the slaves are raped to sleep is a mere descriptor, used to contrast the player's rational decision to not save any more.

Would the comic have been less funny if instead of being "raped to sleep" the slaves were "tortured to sleep" or even "electrocuted to sleep"? Absolutely not. Likewise, if the slave had only mentioned that his life is pure agony and unbearable and completely left out the rape part, would the joke's punchline cease to exist? Of course not. Of the hundreds of comics produced, this one is simply yet another that pokes fun at an aspect of video-games and the culture surrounding it.

Granted, the way Penny Arcade has handled this situation isn't very exemplary. I wouldn't want to be one of them and then have to explain to my children why t-shirts with "Team Dickwolves" on the front exist. Some websites that cover video-game news have even refused to continue coverage on PAX, an expo organized by Penny Arcade stating that they "believe that the values of the company operating those events conflict with ours". Stating that "It’s funny and the fact that some people don’t get it, or are offended by it doesn’t change that" is a valid thing to say because it expresses your honest opinion. Removing the merchandise, then talking about how their removal was "one of their biggest regrets" is also an honest opinion, if a little bit misguided.

If Penny Arcade really did support a so-called "rape culture", what is stopping you, a consumer of free, uncensored speech, from simply not reading it? Yes, you do have every right to stand up and criticize a joke being made about rape, but accusing someone of supporting or propagating the act of rape is pretty close to being just as bad.

Criticizing is easy. Forgiving or ignoring somebody's mistakes and opinions is a lot more work. Let's all take a look at the original comic, read it, and then take it for what it's intended purpose was: a simple joke about how ridiculous video-games are compared to real life. Because that's really all Penny Arcade really is.

Politics, And Why It Should Matter To Me

If you had asked me a month ago what current views I held on a certain political issue, I would've told you I don't care about politics because it doesn't affect me. With elections coming up in Germany though, it was getting harder to ignore the political posters popping up everywhere, with slogans ranging from traditional to wildly exotic (for German political standards).

SPD: "Together we decide (the future)"

Piraten Partei: "Why am I up here? It's not like you're going to go vote anyway."

Die Linke: "Share the wealth: Tax the wealthy!"

After being slightly disgusted by the "Die Linke" posters, bored by the SPD posters, and intrigued by the Piraten Partei posters I decided that it was a good time to find out really what it means to be a political party in Germany, and how one actually becomes a Chancellor. After hearing about something called a Wahl-O-Mat (read: Vote-O-Tron) I decided to give it a go myself. The user is tasked with deciding whether or not they agree with 30 or so current political issues, and then having his or her answers compared with the answers given by political parties currently running for a seat in the Bundestag.

After running through all the given questions once, I realized that there were a lot of things I didn't have an opinion on. Some issues, like whether or not to impose a general speed limit on German Autobahns (hell no) or whether or not Germany should be more culturally diverse (no joke) were pretty obvious for me. Other things, like whether or not there should be a minimum income law or whether the 1% should be taxed more were answered with "neutral". Not surprisingly, the Vote-O-Tron told me my answers matched up to about 67% with the SPD, the Socialist Democratic Party, with other parties not trailing far behind; a result I was neither surprised by or expecting, since I honestly didn't go in identifying myself with a certain party.

To give you an example of some of the political parties running, here are some campaign slogans from some popular, as well as not so popular parties:

CDU (Christian Democratic Union) : "to combine liberal, conservative, and christian ideals ... and to honor the christian picture of Man"

Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (The Green Party) : "... ecological, social, democratic, and violent-free..."

NPD (National Democratic Party) : "... to prevent the disintegration of German history, culture, and race through conscious foreign immigration..."

REP (The Republicans (not what you think)) : " ... protection of the German-national country ... withdrawal from the European Union ... prevent immigrants from holding back economic growth ..."

FAMILIE (The Family Party) : " ... focus on family-oriented policies ... children have the right to vote and the right to free education ... pacifism as well as peace-keeping ..."

If you can tell, there's a very large spectrum of opinions, morals, and views to choose from. What surprised me the most was that poltical parties like the NPD, REP, and Die Linke, parties that supported the notion of being "Ausländerfeindlich", or hostile towards foreigners, still existed in Germany. While there are talks about whether or not political parties that are unconstitutional should be banned, something that I strongly oppose since we live in a free country, I am still surprised that there are people out there that are not only willing to vote for such a party but even represent it.

Another sad truth in politics in Germany is that the last voter turnout was very low. During the last election in 2009, only 70.8% of the elligible population cast a vote. By comparison, voter turnout in 1949 was 78%. Fortunately it isn't as bad as America's last election turnout, which makes everything else pale in comparison to it's 57.5%. As one of my friends who I've started talking to about politics once said, the more privileged the population gets, the less interested they are in who governs their country.

Come September 22nd, I will be able to shape the next four years of Germany's history: whether or not Angela Merkel is doing a good job, which party should get more seats in the Bundestag, and whether or not Germany will be able to start paying back its debt in 2015. It may not be much, but every vote does count, especially my own.

How To Be More Confrontational

I don't think I am confrontational enough.

Uncomfortable situations make me feel, well, uncomfortable. In those cases, I let myself fall back onto old habits or routines that put me into a passive role in a confrontation. Instead of actually saying what I think or making the other person hear my opinion, I back off and agree with whatever they are saying.

While this kind of behavior has definitely occurred less this past year, due to the fact that I speak out more often now, some situations still bring out the old "me". For the first time in  several months, a situation the other day made me seethe with rage internally. Instead of standing up for myself, I carried around this rage for the rest of the day until I finally got it out of my system by going to the gym.

This should mainly serve as a reminder to myself: be more confrontational. I have a Post-It with this written on it hanging in your room, it shouldn't be there to just take up space. Get used to the idea that being an asshole is okay, and in the long-run, better for my health.

Starting Fresh

What is FirstPersonPolitik?

FirstPersonPolitik is a small experiment by me. It is a small blog that will hopefully be able to contain the many thoughts, feelings, and ideas that I deem worthy enough to write down somewhere.

But why all of a sudden?

I've always felt like my online life was very one-sided; continuously consuming and taking in information, while not really giving anything back or making my mark. This is hopefully an attempt to balance the ratio.

But you suck at writing or expressing yourself.

Thank you for your honest criticism. Fuck you.

So you're probably doing this to learn how to better express yourself?

That's correct. 

And anybody can read this?

At first, no. While I do admire honesty and transparency, not everybody needs to know about my thoughts. In addition to being an outlet for expressing myself, I also want to use this to organize and track my real, as well as my digital life. The key idea here is having a digital presence.

What kind of content should I expect?

At first, I plan on submitting short musings about recent thoughts I've had, as well as a link or two to the pictures I upload to Flickr, along with a short description. 

Up until now, I've always felt like the things that fly around inside my head haven't had much significance to anybody on the outside - nobody's ever asked me so why should it interest them? The more I get to know myself and the people around me, the more I've realized that what I have to say or think does really interest the people around me, or at least the people that are willing to be that open with me. 

Tell me about yourself.

This is superfluous. Only people that know me personally will have access to this at first, so anything I say here won't be anything new to anybody. 

Whatever.

If you are among the few that take the time to read this, don't hesitate to tell me why something sucks or is actually good. I can take it, so don't worry about hurting my feelings or anything like that. 

Lastly, thank you for taking the time to read this. I really do appreciate it.