DeathKnight

[color=crimson]Nature attempts to be balanced. Mankind, in theory, is capable of learning how to balance out his actions if they wish. Imperfection implies there is room for growth and hopefully growth will happen. The negative qualities of sentience which allow us the capability discuss these matters I find more than tolerable. There is beauty in nature but there is beauty in man as well.[/color]

[color=crimson]Nature attempts to wax and wane in a balanced fashion. Things are still killed and eaten. Death is still rampant. Creatures still bitterly fight one another to survive. It is not a utopia in comparison to man's workings by any means. I wasn't aware that our capability to be wildly diverse in ideas made us lesser creatures.[/color]

[color=crimson][center]The issues | I | and yet| involving | am | I feel [b][this planet][/b] has hope | in totality | are great to survive. | honor me. | and deadly.[/center] [center]To describe | Existence | Yet for why | in | you [b][this era][/b] starts | remains | withers a struggle. | transitory. | saddens me.[/center] [center]Blood red | Tears | Empires droplets | unending | crumbling [b][fall upon me][/b] the old order | flooding | infecting me is no more. |everything. | infecting me. infecting me infecting me infecting me [b]INFECTING ME[/b][/center] -~- Introduction: The Siege -~- I stood in the watchtower and reached up to my face mask, pulling it tighter in an attempt to keep the smoke out. Impossible considering my watchtower was situated a few hundred feet from the wall of flame. The orange glow from conflagration still seeped through my tinted goggles as a thousand acres of dead forest burned across the horizon. The heat was intense at this distance and sweat drenched my uniform. Behind me you could hear chaos. There were thousands of soldiers and thousands more citizens. I could hear citizens and soldiers yelling at each other. Someone was crying. You could feel the fear rise in waves from them into the sky. Around me there were rows upon rows of musket men at the ready for the onslaught. I yearned for serenity and got little of it. This was the dramatic battle for Italia. Not for mankind, not for humanity. There were still stronger nations who could do that. This.. was [i]our[/i] stand. A blanket of smoke had spread out since the fires had been set and completely blotted out any hint of azure. Was there a day anymore? 'A silly question' I thought to myself and uneasily glanced up. Distant bells began to ring. Southward, down the rows of stone watch towers following the curve of the city they began to go off. I reached for my musket and readied it. The men down below near the massive fire pit were scrambling backwards from their positions following the plan but I shifted nervously at how frightened they were. Peering off across the horizon all I could see was the smoke and flame. 'What could they be running from?' I thought. 'Wait.. what is that?" Through the columns of gray a blackness broke through. As far as they eye could see a black cloud was swarming over the forests overtaking the smoke and rapidly approaching the fire pit. It stopped at the edge of the forest. It hovered in stillness above the flickering flames below. It must have been a couple of miles before I could see it's end and it seemed to be as tall as the tallest watchtower. Wispy black tendrils snaked out of it and snapped erratically in the air. On the body of the cloud there appeared a horizontal slit and slowly it grew. It seemed to be ten to fifteen feet across when it stopped. It opened revealing a massive, bloodshot eye. It's iris was the color of blood and it looked around rapidly before focusing on me. Across the face of the cloud between the tendrils dozens of these eyes opened, all of them the same crimson color. I heard screams to my left and turned towards them. Tendrils were wrapping around the watchtower closest to me similar to a vine. They shot all along it's surface upwards and downwards as the occupants inside opened fire. Where the bullets hit the tendril seemed to burn similar to paper, pieces of him turning to ash and ember before a rush of darkness overtook the wound. The tower was completely wrapped and with one great constriction it was crushed into dozens of pieces. The tendrils grasped some of the falling pieces and hurled them into our defensive line, smashing through groups of musket men and towers. I knew when one went far into town because even over the roar of the battle I swear I could hear the screaming. Of mothers, of fathers, of children. Gunfire erupted all across the line as the musket men let off their volley, thousands of tiny 'burns' forming across the creature's front. The eyes that were hit clenched shut tightly, black blood squirting down from it onto the ground. The eye directly in front of me narrowed and my tower shook as tendrils wrapped around it. I had time to grab my supply of cartridges before I heard the noise of cracking masonry below me. I tumbled as the tower tilted and righted myself before leaping out of the window. I rolled as I landed striking my back harshly. I was left momentarily stunned by the sharp paints. Having recovered, I stood using my musket as a crutch. I was surrounded by chaos. As far as I could see down the line towers were being crushed and dozens of boulder sized rocks smashing men and buildings. Those done reloading from the opening fire shot off their muskets again and I turned to look as hundreds of tiny burns appeared again only for the darkness to fill the wound almost immediately. "Hopeless." The black pools of blood from damaged eyes had grown to the point that small creeks were pouring into the fire pit. Massive as it was I wondered if it could ever be flooded as the blood seemed endless. I noticed the pools were bubbling and a look of horror came over my face as a hand shot up from a pool and braced itself on the ground. It pulled itself up and stood looking straight up the fire pit. It had no form to speak of and was made of the blood itself. A single eye similar to the one that spawned it was on it's head which was it's only distinctive feature. Another hand shot up from the pool and another from a different pool. A hundred of them must have been spawning from the pools before my eyes. They launched themselves up the slope of the fire pit and sprinted with inhuman speed towards me. Another volley of fire erupted out at that precise moment cutting into the mob of monsters and yet dozens of them still remained. I drew my sword and cleanly cut one in half, the two pieces falling to the ground into a pool. The pools coagulated and an arm shot out once more. Shocked, I looked up to see a wall of them upon me. "All infantry fall back!" I heard an officer yell as I braced myself. "Vulcan cannons to positions!" I whipped around and desperately sprinted towards the town staring at dozens of musket men doing the same thing. Through the cracks in the retreat the Vulcan cannons crept forward- they were heaping monstrosities of metal, our special weapon. The height of a man with a bulbous growth at it's rear that stored a flammable liquid. It was capable of unleashing a stream of fire for several seconds.. enough to destroy anything in it's path. "If this cannot turn the tide then we are finished!" I heard one of the retreating musket men ahead of me yell. Too far ahead of me. I knew the blood creatures were upon me, I felt warm liquid grasp my ankle and I was drug onto the ground, knocking the wind out of me. It flipped me over and I stared up into it's eye as numerous other creatures raced past. It raised it's hand up to strike me and instinctively I covered my face with my arms. "Fire at will!" A stream of flame shot over me, hitting the back of the creature that was hunched over me. I felt the flames singe the tops of my arms and I screamed in pain. My scream was overtaken by the most deafening, shrill shriek as the creature was lit aflame. That scream was echoed from all around me as the entire mob of them were destroyed by the Vulcan cannon. I was taken to the rear with the rest of the casualties. The blood.. it was freely flowing back here. It was sickening. Missing arms, crushed limbs. The worst I saw was a young man who must have been twenty laying on a table with bloody stumps for legs, droplets of blood falling from the table. I was taken past him to a point with a view of the front. I couldn't decide if I was thankful for this or not. Observing the state of our defense it seemed the tendrils had destroyed almost all of the towers. They paused and changed direction, snaking upwards towards the gray sky. They bled into the gray above, each one's connection making me feel more anxious. The smokey gray clouds darkened quickly to a stark black. I sat up slowly staring at this, my mouth agape. A familiar slit slid across it, much larger than the others. It slowly opened and glared down upon the town unmoving. I groped around me for a musket as rain began to fall. Black rain. Black blood. Pools were forming everywhere along every street. A thunderous crash sent plumes of debris hurtling across the sky. Shielding my eyes from the rain I gazed upon dozens of tendrils snaking down from the heavens. They would raise up and smash down onto buildings or just rake across entire sections of the city. I saw one whip down and wrap itself around a soldier before throwing him down onto the group of soldiers he had been plucked from, routing the entire group instantly. 'Where are they running to?' I asked myself. I realized the implications of that and my heart sank. The first blood creatures began to raise from the puddles. In every direction, down every street. There was no front line anymore, the Vulcan cannons were being swarmed from behind. Many desperate musket men were fighting valiantly. They were simply outmatched. The creatures refused to die to swords and I watched soldier after soldier fall in grisly ways. One was smashed into the ground and the blood creature jumped on to him. His body enveloped the soldier and I could hear a gurgling scream of pain. When the blood creature got up all I saw was a skeleton with bits and pieces of flesh attached to it, a single eyeball still stuck in it's socket looking out. The casualty area was being overrun. Blood creatures descended on the wounded like vultures. I took my sword and pointed it to my heart with a firm grip. Within the screams, within the dying, within the sound of the city being destroyed I spoke my last words. "This is a nightmare." -~- The Situation: An Empire's Last Breath -~- It is referred to as the Scourge. Most out of the circle of nobility were certain that it had been summoned by the Caliphs of the East, specifically the vilified Caliphate of Levant. Within the upper echelons of the Empire of Italia however they knew that communications with the Caliphs had stopped two months ago. All vessels that drifted near to Afrika, Anatolia and Levant never returned except in the form of drifting wreckage. Swarming up the Italian peninsula it thundered into Calabria and Apulia like a great tide. The defensive effort at Salerno was planned to be the turning point against the Scourge. The material, manpower and effort lost at Salerno destroyed the spirit of the Italian Nation. That loss was something we could never recover, no matter how much manpower or material we mustered. After the total loss of every man, woman and child that had lived within Salerno the Empire responded weakly with a long series of fighting retreats northward leaving the civilians to mostly fend for themselves. At least two million refugees poured northward just ahead of the front line desperately racing against the continually collapsing front behind them. The number of them that died is unknowable. Exhaustion. Starvation. Disease. Murder. All that I can say is that by the time the three major refugee camps at Milan, Venezia and Turin had formed their combined populations were estimated to be, optimistically and at the most, one million civilians. One out of every two people that had fled were gone.. ignoring those who stayed in the cities or were conscripted into the army. Yes, the army. The losses in the army were horrendous. No longer were Italia's proud musket men standing and fighting in the face of any danger. Hopelessly outmatched by the Scourge morale plummeted. Insubordination could quickly domino into mutiny and in the closing months, along the river Po, civil war amongst the military broke out even as the horrors of the Scourge crept forward spawning it's nightmares yearning for blood. The German Federation had sealed it's borders, rendering any entry from the east to the North unusable. The French Theocracy took it one step further, invading into the frontier lands of Italia to acquire a more defensible position along the final portions of the Alps. There were rumors of some people finding success at sneaking across the Austrian State border to the east but most who tried found a quick end at the hands of Federation authorities. To the west, with the Holy Army constructing a massive series of fortifications there was even less hope of sneaking by. As the army of nightmares crosses the river Po and eliminates what remains of Italia's armies the clock ticks down for the refugees all along her borders.. -~- You sit in front of your tent drinking from a tin cup. The water tastes nastier than usual and your face contorts in disgust. It would be tolerable if it wasn't rationed to where this was your only drink for another six hours. Ignoring your food, some kind of gruel, you stand up and look across the thousands upon thousands of tents that are spread out in every direction. Coming to the refugee camp north of Milan was a difficult decision to make. You had fled after the fall of Salerno trekking north past Rome towards the Alps that was the border between Italia and the German state of Switzerland, hoping in vain that the border would be unsealed. You've heard the stories about Turin. The army's rout, the fall of the city, the lack of significant survivors beyond the cowardly soldiers. Gone within a matter of hours.. and you are only a few days away from the river Po yourself. Your grip on the cup grows stronger and you drink the rest of it in one big gulp. Something big was going to happen. You could taste it in the air. Or maybe it was the water? A weak smile comes across your face. -~- Sign ups: All manner of people from all walks of life have come to the Milan Refugee camp. Civilians, soldiers, merchants, nobles. Even the Doge himself resides in one of the more lavish tents. The one thing uniting you all is your Italian nationality and.. fear. [b]Name[/b]: [b]Gender[/b]: [b]Age[/b]: [b]Appearance[/b]: [b]Profession[/b]: In this era most members of society were good at their trade, having trained in it extensively from a young age. This singular focus will be common amongst the lower classes and tapers off the more affluent or rich you wish to be. [b]Skills[/b]: What skills do you bring to the table? [b]Biography OR Snippet[/b]: A brief summation of either your life history or a snippet of your character in action. [b]Extra[/b]: If I have not covered something you wish to add, feel free to do so.[/color]

[color=crimson]When I'm poor as **** I doubt I'll care either way.[/color]

[color=crimson]It's a good thing most of us don't have boobies apparently. I don't think I'd wake up and be like ahh time for another day of tweaking myself ^.^ They'd just be big. And guys, being guys, would notice them.[/color]

[quote name='James][font=arial']I think most Turkish people are Muslim, aren't they? Arabic is pretty prevalent in Turkey.[/font][/quote] [color=crimson]98 percent of the population or something like that is Muslim.[/color]

[quote name='NIKI12345']Yes but they also share the Aribic language for like reading the Koran=bible. So I know both.[/quote] [color=crimson]Interesting, you're Muslim? How many languages do you know?[/color]

[quote name='NIKI12345']Don't worry I'm Turkish so I already know Arabic.[/quote] [color=crimson]What does being Turkish have to do with that? Turkish people have their own language.[/color]

[color=crimson]Well I keep an alright appearance about myself. Shave every day or every two days. Shower pretty much every day, skipping a day here and there when I have no outstanding plans. I don't comb my hair but I wash it regularly and it looks alright without much attention to it. I wear clean clothes everyday [shirt, pants, everything] just because I feel kind of nasty wearing dirty clothes lol. I just keep myself presentable unless there's a formal occasion I need to look really spiffy for. I exercise every other day. I lift weights, do a significant amount of ab work outs and I'm going to start running regularly. I don't go to a gym, I own a couple of 20 pound weights [the only thing I've bought from Wal*Mart in two years] and the abs/running don't require any equipment so far. This exercising is mainly because of health reasons- a couple of years ago when I was very overweight I had the double header of pre-diabetes and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Nothing scares you into caring about your health like the idea of your liver dying. After losing a significant amount of weight my liver function tests were normal and as far as I can tell my tolerance of glucose has evened out. Even with that I don't Aside from that, yeah, I'd like to look slim. Not going to go out and try to get a six pack or anything, just trim down. Personality wise I wouldn't say too many of my traits are from being a guy- I know plenty of loud women for example, lol. Maybe my love of military history or weapons could be said to be kind of a guy thing but I'm sure there are a minority of women into it too. Conditioning into gender roles has affected me yeah but human beings are quirky enough to still be individuals if allowed the chance. Me, I talk. I don't really mind if you don't want to listen, I'm going to talk. I use humor. I rant. I rave. I'm serious at times, not at others. I know women who share these traits. I know men who don't. Just depends on the person. The opposite sex.. well girls are stereotyped enough, I don't really need to add onto that. I think there is some pressure from society at large, a fixation on 'beauty' that might affect them more than they'd care to admit. There's nothing wrong with attending to how you look but I know several women who are very, very pretty physically and mentally yet their self-esteem is totally non existent. It's hard to watch, really. Very hard to watch. Not to say that society is totally to blame for this but I doubt it helps. For some reason when thinking about if I was a girl I'd imagine I'd have a huge rack. Not sure why.[/color]

[quote name='Venge']She is a good admin and like all women, she has more intelligence then most men.[/quote] [color=crimson]Man I'd be smarter if this damn penis wasn't always getting in my way. Popularity comes and goes on this site. Here's a few quick pointers to being popular on this website. *The more numbers in your screenname the more noticable it is. *Drawing comics, writing fan fics or starting role playing games when you have no talent at doing any of the above is a quick route to success too. *Emphasize your sense of humor especially if it's a bad one. Bonus points for this. *People adore it when you are combative, long winded and opinionated in serious topics. *[url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=56433]Recent threads[/url] have uncovered the fact that vast numbers of OtakuBoarders are actually ninjas. Be sure to join their ranks or, at least, don't mess with them. *If you're a guy, making a contribution to the Secret Staff Yaoi Forum is an easy bribe to make. *If you're a girl, you're smarter than most of the guys anyway so just use that to your advantage. And, most importantly, always remember that sarcasm is a secret handshake of sorts around here.[/color]

[color=crimson]In opposition to the steady flow of dully pessimistic people I present to you the following piece. I hope you like it. [In actuality I was inspired to write this due to my girlfriend which caused me to look at the broad majority of my peers and realize most of them were so fixated on negativity they forget to stop being blind to the light that was desperately trying to illuminate their path.] [b]In My Dreams[/b] Imagine this, if you will. You stand in the midst of the most magnificent of hurricanes upon this Earth bearing the brunt of the wind ripping through your very being as the rain pelts down upon your face and yet eventually you know the eye will rest upon you. All of what this grey tempest can throw at you has been wrought and now you can feel the first moments of stillness following the storm wash over your body. The most brilliant peaceful serenity amongst the turmoil will rest upon your weary soul and you can know that for that moment you can relax for the maelstrom around you will grant you the most brief of brief respites. Relax and take a deep breath within this vision, reflect on what you have faced yet do not keep your eyes shut for long. Open them again. Can you see the blue sky above you? There is littered destruction spread around you and yet all of it seems so insignificant compared to the majesty of this moment, this serenity amongst the ruins of what was. Reflect and see what will be, imagine the rebuilding of it all as people come together from the wreckage and struggle for normalcy from this new beginning amongst the skeletal ruins of the last chapter. What is lost is not lost forever, from the destruction will come the beauty of construction, from death will come life. The sky will go grey once more and you will struggle against the tempest again but right now, at this very moment do not allow yourself to lose focus on the brilliant azure canvas above you looking down upon you with curiosity as you stare back up at it. It says to you "Do not falter" though you cannot hear it, it earnestly says it so. This is what it says: "Do not falter, child, do not give up your struggle. All across this world I see you in all things, all of them encountering hardships as you do. We are all with you, across this planet wishing for you to find safe haven. Even now among you there are people who wish with all their heart to guide you to a sanctuary." There will times and situations when you will feel that the crashing winds and rains could tear you from your place, that perhaps you will not see the end of the storm but know that nothing short of death can bring you down as long as you feel within yourself the capability to fight on. Feel the willpower, understand that beyond this storm lays a thousand days, a thousand possibilities, a thousand smiles. You are not alone. You will never be alone. In the crowds that teem this planet you can feel so far removed from all of them you feel melancholy, but always on the face of this Earth there is at least one person connected to you that earnestly desires your company. They wish to hear you, to see you, to be with you. As if a mirror to you, they similarly squalor in anonymity unknowingly wishing for you to come along. Find them, know them, love them. The majesty of you rests within the possibilities of who you are: your strength, your intelligence, your creativity and so much more. It is often hard for us to see our potential, hard to see the growth that can be achieved but you are such a beautiful person, do you know? You will find out someday hopefully, you will look into the mirror and realize the magnificence of what you are. Dark times will ebb into lighter ones and ebb once more into darkness but do not ever lose hope in the fact that the light will come once more. Do not give way to depression. Do not doubt your capabilities. Do not let the disease of darkness fester within your mind as that would be a tragedy. Most of all do not let yourself become so addicted to your flaws that you forget the beauty that you have, never forget the sheer splendor of what you are, what you can be and what you will be. Love yourself and love others. Be generous, be lively, be.. human. The Earth is not a cold dark place, don't let yourself fall into that opinion. There is much to see, much to do, much to feel. Little do you know how many of us are cheering you on.[/color]

[color=crimson]Right now I'm unemployed and applying to a wide range of bookstores and retail outlets. My last job was working for Wendy's. I started January of [b]last[/b] year and worked until mid-November. The work itself was what you would expect. The back area of the store is always an oven from all the hot equipment, customers are hypersensitive about the state of their .99 cent food items, there is plenty of gross moments especially when washing dishes. I did everything there plenty of times- grill, fries, registers [front and side], sandwiches. The easiest thing was sandwiches prolly- slapping stuff together is easy as ****. I was a closer so I'd usually work from 5PM till past close which was at 2AM. We'd get out of there anywhere from 2:10 to 3:50 one time. There are tons of issues with fast food that are hard to get into beyond just the lack of pay for how much work you do. The corporate system above you is inefficient and stupid like most other jobs, just you don't get paid nearly enough to deal with their stupidity. A big problem is that in my store they refused to promote any of the workers to managers. People who had worked there 3-4 years and knew how to do [b]everything[/b] weren't offered promotions. Instead they'd hire brand new managers, sometimes people who literally had [b]no[/b] expierence in any fast food businesses. Several times I ended up having to train my shift manager on how to do things.. like basic procedures you learn when you train as a minimum wage worker, lol. It was ridiculous. You could try to give them the benefit of the doubt and wonder if maybe they were good at the money/organization end of being a manager but no, they weren't. They were bad workers and bad managers so it's little surprise that of the 3-4 new managers they swapped in, most of them quit lol. What made the job alright were the people, they were good people. I was friends with everybody there, including most of the experienced managers. I met my girlfriend there too. A lot of them are stuck in minimum wage jobs like that.. it was disheartening when I had the realization that they were going to do this for the rest of their lives. A couple of my friends got out by joining the service so I have a few buddies going to Iraq now. In particular there was one manager named Linda who was this fifty something black woman who had been doing fast food for decades. She and became friends pretty fast, lol. Somehow somewhere along the line she learned I write stories and asked me to give her some.. I did and she made me promise that if I started writing books I'd send her some. That's all she can do though. That's all she's done. Her entire life, in those cruddy jobs. I got fed up with everything eventually. Customers. Argue all you want about it being their money and their food and etc. but no matter what you say there is no way to condone unnecessary rudeness. Managers. I had a really horrible cough one time and I had asked my general manager if I could go home for the day, he said alright. It was a trap, lol. About five minutes later he came out with some varnish and a rag, told me the only way I could go home early was if I polished the woodwork across the entire store. I did, sniffling and coughing as I went along polishing. I almost punched him in the face when I was done I was so seriously close to just blowing up, lol. The food itself I got so sickeningly tired of, the smell of all that crud. The smoke from the friers killed your lungs, that has to give you cancer. Just overall it was making me feel very negative about [b]everything[/b]. Workers with no futures. Fat customers ordering hordes of food. Inefficient operations. Waste. So I put in my two weeks and quit, my girlfriend did too. Still lingering in my mind are all the obese people ordering the biggest burger we had with the largest fry we had and to drink? A diet coke. As for the future, well, for a few months I think I'll be working in retail if any of these jobs come through. I'd like some cash flow. The only restriction I've put down is no fast food but I'd be alright with being a waiter. Further out I'm going to major in English in college (starting this Autumn) and do something involving writing. I'd love to try to get a published novel out sometime, try to be at least a moderately successful author. No need for the JK Rowling level of fame. It's going to be a hard road to achieve even that level of success so wish me some luck. [/color]

[color=crimson]So when will you guys get around to making some music?[/color]

[color=crimson]I've lost my nifty throne! *arrogant gasp of surprise* [size=1][spoiler]pscongratulationstoyouguysandpropstotheimageforthetragedyofmitchandalex[/size][/color][/spoiler]

[quote name='Mythologicly']I'm not saying you should try it and I'm not asking for sympathy but instead of being in the victums shoes try seeing from the attackers ppoint of view, if it was you would you commit a crime to survive.[/quote] [color=crimson]Do what you want to do to live. Some people bust their butts in a couple of minimum wage jobs, some people decide to do something more drastic. Personally I'd have to be in really dire straits to rob someone or burglarize a place- like, I couldn't feed my family dire straits. Not "this is kind of uncomfortable" poor where you work your *** off for little reward. That would suck but, uh, crime wouldn't be the answer for me personally. Do I judge people that do? Kind of. I'm not trying to sound cynical but crime, I'd imagine, is usually not done as a last resort but because it's easier than anything else. Go rob someone, make a few hundred bucks or more and that's two weeks pay at some minimum wage joint. The broader social issues, the complex ethical questions and otherwise aren't their concern. The easiest way to get themselves some money is their concern. Sometimes maybe that's all they can do but not normally. Whatever the case they let the richer people who have the free time to think about their actions and the larger picture do so. Let's not disappoint them eh.[/color]

[color=crimson]The Communist society that was formed in the USSR and spread should not be said to be anything resembling what Marx or Engels intended with their ideas. Specifically the political system implemented by the Bolsheviks, where you have one 'Party' ruling over everything despotically, is particularly flawed and pretty far removed from the descriptions of a classless, stateless utopia you read in the Manifesto. Unfortunately the system of government the USSR used was copied by every other Communist country that existed. It spread like a disease. I'd like to take the time I'm not making the argument that any other attempt to implement a communist society would work since it's very idealistic, impossibly so. It's just simplistic to say "Communism has failed" as there are a bunch of Trotskyist and others who would bitterly disagree with you. Much more complicated than that.[/color]

[quote name='White][COLOR=DimGray][FONT=Tahoma]Eh, I got into beta. I got tired of it very quickly. I'm back into WoW.[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] [color=crimson]So you went from one mediocre game to another, nice. Just kidding, I just wanted to ask how bad the issues were? I've lurked gaming forums, specifically the Vanguard ones before they got all switched around, and they all described bugs/glitches but never in depth as to what kind of issues were happening. How bad are we talking? What sort of issues were there? Was it game breaking stuff or a ton of little annoying ones? My gaming clan is thinking of moving onto Vanguard after being MMO homeless for awhile so I'm interested in talking with anyone who's had a good chunk of time with the game.[/color]

[quote name='Billy Shears][COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=1]Amazing song right there. And in an eerie twist of fate, I suggest "Only Moment We Were Alone" by Explosions in the Sky, another ambient/rock band like This Will Destroy You, as my song of the week.[/SIZE'][/COLOR][/quote] [color=crimson]Hearing post-rock music live is a really amazing expierence. I don't know if Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Gregor Samsa or any other post-rock band will come to my city anytime soon but, thankfully, This Will Destroy You is from a town thirty miles away so many of their shows are local lol.[/color]

[color=crimson][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBy6AIv4dL0]The World Is Our.. by This Will Destroy You[/url] is my pick for this week. I saw this band live last weekend and they were stellar. I hope they get the publicity they deserve.[/color]

[quote name='Jakehammaren']They sound exactly like every single other band in their scene - so if you like them, you've got a whole slew of groups to check out.[/quote] [color=crimson]He has a point there. They aren't particularly unique within.. whatever genre that emo/popular/rock stuff is. That wouldn't necessarily make them [b]bad[/b] per sey just, you know, what you expect is what you get so it's all up to your tastes.[/color]

[color=crimson]I'd say all of us on OtakuBoards have enough expierence socially and romantically to have an opinion on public displays of affection so I'm going to start a kind of personal topic. I'm starting this topic for more selfish reasons though as I'm helping out my girlfriend with a school assignment she got to give out a survey.. her partner and herself decided to make it about public displays of affection and here we are. I'd like some help from you guys in doing the surveys but that'll come later. For anyone who is unaware public displays of affection are pretty much, you know, anything remotely affectionate- holding hands, hugging, kissing, touching and so on done in "public" places. For the topic, what are your opinions about PDAs? Are people too carefree about being affectionate in public places? Would you say you'd be comfortable being affectionate in public with a significant other? I'd like to start off by saying I personally don't have any problems with other couples displaying intimacy in public places depending on the situation. Just as long as the level of intimacy they are displaying is, you know, logical for just how 'public' they are. You know, if you're at the mall or in a pretty big crowd don't go too much beyond a passionate kiss. If it's more private and empty, just go with the flow. If you're comfortable with more then go for it. Between my girlfriend and I we that's how we feel. We're cool with being affectionate in public and just regulate how affectionate it is depending on just how "public" it is. Now, as for the survey I'd appreciate at least six replies who do the survey along with replying to the topic at hand. The questions might be a bit personal so if you're uncomfortable doing it, don't do it. I'm not trying to offend you, just trying to get this **** done lol. [b]Survey[/b] *First of all, I'd like to ask how old are you? *How would you say you feel about abstinence? (A. Excellent, B. Good, C. Fair, D. Poor) *And how many times have you been in a situation where you had to make a decision to abstain from sexual activity or not? (It's cool to estimate.) *How many relationships have you been in? (A numerical estimation is cool here too.) *How often would you say you see public displays of affection? *When you see these public displays of affection would you say you're offended in any way? *Would public displays of affection be alright for you to show? *How far would you say is too far for a public display of affection? (A. Kissing, B. Hugging, C. Other. If other, could you provide me with a short explanation of what you consider too far?) *In your opinion have school dances become too sexual? Yes/No. *At what age do you think that dating should begin? (Like, a real age not "Whenever!") Thank you in advance to anyone who does the survey too. :)[/color]

[quote name='Sandy']Not all Americans are red-necks, but all red-necks are Americans...[/quote] [color=crimson]Unless they aren't.[/color] [quote name='Gavin][SIZE=1']Alex come on, most of the garbage comes from the U.S. and if you're honest enough you'll admit it. I probably could have phrased what I said a little more tactfully, and it did come out a little more preachy than intended, but I still stand by the fact that most of these sites and their proliferaters are American in origin.[/SIZE][/quote] [color=crimson][b]Specifically[/b] the hot topic of gay marriage in America has spawned a wide range of babbling incoherence from sides for and against it, yes but not all ******** spawns from this country, no. The debate that has arisen will unfortunately bring out extremists and I cannot apologize for their actions as an American but I will fault you on being a fool about it. People like this exist in every nation and, when offered the proper stage, will show themselves just as loudly.[/color]

[color=crimson]I was waiting to see who else saw this film but since this thread is dying faster than I thought I'll step up to the plate. I saw this movie when it was finally released across the States [or at least it first started showing on the 19th here] with my girlfriend. I was surprised at how packed the theater was- it was 80 percent full for a foreign language fantasy film, lol. I thought it was a fantastic film, very well done. I'm not familiar with any of the actors but they all did a fantastic job, especially the little girl who played Ofelia. The Captain Vidal, Ofelia's mother and Carmen were all wonderfully acted too. Of course, props to the Pan as well but I enjoyed [spoiler]the Pale Man[/spoiler] almost too much. I consider the latter to be one of the best villains I've seen in a movie for a long time, lol. The cinematography, effects and make up for the fantasy parts of the movie were suburb too. It didn't come off as campy at all, it was a little too realistic at some points with how much violence was shown in this movie, lol. The violence wasn't a negative point to me but I have to admit I had to look away during most of the scene involving [spoiler]Vidal putting his cheek back together and trying to take a drink afterwards[/spoiler]. The plot and the overarching theme seemed to have a duality, there was the more typical morality tale you'd expect from a fairy tale and yet superimposed on it lingering there I thought that it seemed much more was being said. Things about people's desires, reality, grim truths and hope. The film had a happy ending. I just don't know if people will realize that.[/color]

[color=crimson]I was adopted by the people who adopted my mother within weeks of being born. My biological mother was only 16 and has some issues. She was adopted at such at late age [5] that there was time enough in her development for some things to go wrong in her head. Respectfully to any of us who consider our lives to have been difficult some of the things she dealt with in her first five years are probably well, well beyond things you have suffered and it screwed her up for the rest of her life. She's not been a part of my life at all, same thing with my biological father. I have a half sister and that is about the extent of the people who I'm 'related' to that have my blood in them. I don't know my lineage or my family history. Since my mother was adopted and my father's relatives I know nothing of I consider myself to pretty much be the beginning or the end of my family history depending on if I have kids, adopt, or do neither. I was raised and currently live with a pair of senior citizen, socially conservative Jehovah's Witnesses who have been retired for two decades or more from disabilities. They are not such a perfect match for marriage, the dysfunctional parts of their personalities grate on each other's nerves. So they argued, sometimes pretty intensely, for most of my childhood about the most useless and meaningless of things, lol. They almost had a divorce when I was 12 but, almost miraculously, they reconciled and entered a really peaceful, nice period of their marriage. They still have disagreements about things but it's no where near the bombastic, shrieking arguments they had in the past. My childhood I, well, I was a normal kid. I played, mainly with little toy dinosaurs and legos. At the age of three they got a computer and I started playing on that too- educational games at first and slowly I did other games. I wasn't always too successful- trying to beat Myst at the age five doesn't work too well. Started school, they thought I was illiterate early on in First Grade but that assumption changed when they realized I couldn't see what was being written, lol. I got glasses and being able to see improved my grades [i]ever so slightly[/i]. I was invited into the Gifted and Talented program that year. The program itself was interesting although I don't really remember what we did for the first three years, but we were always doing neat projects and stuff. Like in fourth grade the GT program did a production for a couple of acts [the closing ones I think] of A Midsummer Night's Dream and I was King Oberon. Since then I always joke to people that at one time I was King of the Fairies so, you know, don't **** with me. It was fun, I think GT classes were my favorite part of school most of the time. It wasn't as stuffy or bland as normal classwork was, it was dynamic and challenging most of the time. Grades were a big focus for my parents. They did everything they could to make sure I had good grades- helped me with my homework, forced me to study, punished me if I was lazy about my work. With their pushing and whatever intelligence you say I have I've managed to have a good track record academically. Other than that the most important thing in my life was religion. I was a Jehovah's Witness too and it was such a huge part of my life. I did the whole thing- went to meetings three times a week, went out door to door to bother people, participated in their public speaking school. It taught me such a variety of things. Obviously I learned about the various Christian doctrines and sects there are (mainly why they weren't 'right'). Learned how to talk to people door to door- to present ideas in a method to try to get them to agree with you. Any shyness you had to go if you were going to talk to random strangers at their home or give speeches in front of hundreds of people, so that died in me quickly. Most of all, well, it did what religions do for people- it gave me hope, it made me feel good that there was a God above that was looking down on it all and planning something paradisiac. That after all the suffering, after the bloodshed, after the struggle mankind has had against a host of elements that there was, awaiting a faithful bunch, paradise. I slowly drifted from my religion after I became a teenager. I questioned it and started coming to my own opinion about things. I came here around that time and assaulted the members of this board with a mix of pseudo intellect and stubbornness that was more annoying than enlightening. Eventually though I genuinely started to study topics that I was curious about- Eastern religions, philosophy and politics. Politics especially interested me because Jehovah's Witnesses include in their dogma a strict political neutrality so I really had no clue about what was going on in this country let alone most of the world politically. At fifteen, after reading some books, I decided I was an anarchist. This stopped when I decided that was stupid since Anarchy could never exist on the grand scale necessitated by modern nation-states, so I became a Trotskyist. I took my sweet time in deciding that the same was true of any brand of Communism and now I'm Democratic socialist. In relation to the politics of the United States I don't find either party particularly appealing, Republicans especially due to their Conservative stances on several Domestic issues. I'm an independent. Religiously, now, I'm an agnostic although I say I'm a Discordian for my own amusement and on the off chance someone else gets the joke. Socially, well, I was made fun of when I was in public school. Most of my friends were from church or kids on my street. I wasn't ostracized or anything, I just had some of the usual unflattering traits to some kids- I was overweight at the time, nerdy, wasn't into popular culture (music/T.V.) and so on. Ignoring the people who made fun of me I had a great many friends from a wide range of cliques- A couple of preps, some nerds, loners, some would-be jocks. I was friends with anyone and everyone. Nowadays, having graduated from home schooling just a bit back, I still love to socialize with anyone and everyone. I'm pretty easy going and care free, I don't really care who you are just as long as you're cool with yourself. I have a few pet peeves with people like anyone else but, overall, I'm fine with a wide body of different types of people. Presently I have a beautiful, smart girlfriend; I'm getting into college; I'm doing alright for myself. Things go as they go.[/color]

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy][COLOR=DarkOrange']Why does it seem like every time Adahn starts a topic it's littered with sarcastic, breif, off-topic posts which to nothing but to degrade the conversation and generate needless controversy? Just tell us why your here, why you gotta be hatin?[/COLOR][/quote] [color=crimson]And if we're here to hate?[/color]