Today is Halloween. Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.
A History Lesson, as a Pagan, I feel I should educate.
Falling on October 31, Halloween history tells us that this celebration is only the herald of the holiday that medieval Christian Europeans were intended to celebrate -- All Saints' Day, November 1.
And thus the story behind the term itself, which is short for "the eve before All Hallows' Day," the latter referring to the fact that saints of Christianity were "hallowed" individuals. It is thought that the Church decided All Saints' Day should fall on November 1 to make it coincide with its precursor, a Celtic festival of the harvest. By "overwriting" the pagan origins of Halloween, perhaps the new religion could steal some thunder from the lingering Celtic influence in Europe.
But if this was the Church's intention, the strategy backfired to some degree. Drawing on Celtic traditions, people evinced much more interest in honoring dead ancestors than in honoring dead Christian saints. To curb this un-Christian tendency, the Church instituted another holiday to promote Christianity -- All Souls' Day, November 2. On All Souls' Day the people were encouraged to pray for the souls in purgatory.
All Saints' Day was instituted as a holiday in the year A.D. 609 (initially celebrated in May, it was moved to the November 1 date in A.D. 834). Prior to that, a study of the pagan origins of Halloween reveals that the Celts had celebrated "Samhain" at this time of year. The Celts inhabited large portions of Western Europe throughout ancient times.
I hate Wiki's but here is one on Samhain if you want to know more.
I recently took a long drive to Seattle WA, to see an old friend. The drive was an experience I shall never forget.. open, free, full of turns that could take a person any place they could want to go. Opportunities for a new start at every city I encountered. The drive there was long.. while the drive back was fast.. I was driving away from a city I hate, to a new place... and I could not get there fast enough. Coming back, I was driving back to a place I despise, I place I loath, A place that sucks the life from a person and makes them feel like less than they are, and keeps its foot on your throat and holds you down so you can never escape. I hate this place, and it hates me.
I own a game store called TOY SOLDIERS, I am in the process of closing this store. I had 3 customers, that I thought were friends who made a false claim that I stole some items from them that were donated to the store. One of the Items I even paid for. So they sent cops to my house and I was arrested and locked up. I don't know what a rape victim feels like, but If it means feeling like you have no power, feeling like your at the mercy of your captures, if it means feeling like your not even safe in your own home, like they could return at anytime and have their way with you and you have no recourse to defend yourself, then that is what I feel like. In War, you can kill those who wish to harm you, hold you against your will, its simple, kill or be killed, you know who your friends are, and who is not, and for me I would rather be dead than held against my will ever again. I was not heard, just arrested... his word was greater than mine since he was the one making the accusations, and he had 2 people too back him up. I also wonder if it was not a racial thing.. he a Hispanic, and I the Caucasian. I don't know.
I have experienced freedom, and now the opposite. I know I can not stay in this city, I know I have to leave and never come back. I am tired of not being happy, I am tired of sacrificing my self for some inner feeling of obligation to my family here. If they love me they will understand and let me go be free.. and have a chance at growth.
I just got back from this movie, and I have mixed feelings from it.
One side of me thinks it sucked, the other thinks it was kinda cool.
The way it started off, was kinda cool.. I would of not thought we would of started in a Medieval setting.. and to be honest that part was fast and really not important to the whole theme of the movie... it could of been done as a flash back scene like they do in many parts of the film.. hey its an Origins film.. it is trying to explain where each character comes from.
I am also not a big Marlon Waynes fan, for me he was just not the right fit, I understand they wanted to have some comic relief.. but for me he is more annoying than funny. Also how many military men have the whole goatee thing going on? Really. This is supposed to be the ultra strict super soldier known as Duke.. and the man is sporting a goatee. Also Scarlet was all into Ripcord.. what was that all about?
The whole Duke, Baroness thing was an interesting plot twist, but I am not sure how I feel about the little brother aspect of that. I think that role would of been better filled by the Baronesses current husband, after all the name suggested it and it may of been a way they were headed and changed along the way.
The whole end thing was way to STAR WARS for me, and just ruined it. But now we know who would win in a face off between Snake Eyes and Storm-Shadow. I have to say their story, even as brief as it was, was the best.
There are other factors like the way some stuff was just like actors reading lines on a stage in a high school play and how some things were just figured out a bit to easy... it seemed too easy and forced. Also they do a scene with the hero's all doing this super bad ass stuff, and then are taken down by a local police force... some super soldiers... stuff like that just did not seemed thought out very well.
They also had a perfect time to do the COBRA scream at the very end, and they didn't so no where in the whole movie do we have the COBRA scream.. so that sucks the most.
It was not all bad.. I just hope in the next film, because you know there will be one, they do a better job. The one thing I was most impressed with and liked.. they killed people, no parachutes or last second saves, or androids (B.A.T.S.) so that was a nice change.
Well, I have found a way to work out my aggressions.. A medieval game called ADRIAN EMPIRE, sorta like the SCA. We meet at a local park, get geared up in our knightly garb and beat each other with real swords. We also practice with Shinai ( bamboo swords ) and have rules that keep it safe. But this has to be the most fun I have had in a while. If your looking for some exercise and are wanting to be part of something cool and unique then I strongly suggest the ADRIAN EMPIRE, because real men and women don't use foam.
What does eGADDS stand for you ask? Small e or i before a word explains is has to do with the internet in some way.. so that explains the lower case e. GADDS G=Game A=Attention D=Deficit D=Disorder S=Syndrom.
Why am I talking about this now? Well My best friend who lives in Seattle, has been on a week long benge of trying all the free MMO's we can get our hands on... and I have been right along side him for the journey. After trying many we have come down to two faves for the moment..
1: REQUIEM ( http://www.playrequiem.com/ ) - a Great Hack and Slash blood and gore fest. Has some neat features too. Good Graphics, Good Story line, and did I mention the great Gore and blood this game has.. down to the dead bodies twitching after they drop from the battle. Heads come off, bodies get cut in half.. yeah its not for your 13 year old... and some of the bodies get pretty close to nude.. but so far I have not seen anything you would not see on a beach.
2: Perfect World( http://pwi.perfectworld.com/ ) This game is very deep, it has crafting, arena battles, guild wars, and a ton of awesome features. The controls are a bit funky at first, but you get used to them pretty quickly.. but this Game is Pretty.. I think even more so than WOW and many of the pay to play games... it is feature rich too like I started off with. The double super jump is sweet, and you can also swim in this game and dive under the water for combat in the deep blue.. most free MMO's hell pay to play dont have that feature. Its a great game, and I could see playing in more in depth in the future. Just because the world is just so pretty, and it has many of the features the big boys have in a free MMO.
One gripe I had with both games though, you have to pick a race to be a class.. instead of having some general classes all races can play, and like 1 or 2 special only for each race. But hey the games are free to play, so why complain?
If you tried Conan and left as fast as I did, there is a game that is just as nude and graphical, and I think as easy to play as CONAN for free... its called Shaiya and it is just as dark and adult in nature as Conan.. but better in quest and combat. Check it out here: http://shaiya.aeriagames.com/
Sometimes suffering from eGADDS, can be rewarding... as it was with these 3 games. Hope this helps you find a good MMO thats free to play... if you know of any others please let me know!
Please let me know what you think. This is my first round model, I also have a small game box model with 7 different skins you can only get at the SnarkPit.
WIDGETIZE