The Grax Domain

23 Jul 2008 T2 Risk Taking

I found some guy calling himself T2Darlantan on YouTube one day ranting about having fun (in relation to what other people think) and risk taking. Or something like that. You can see what T2 said at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbB7AlgJTTI.

I did this video blog to try and argue against his idea, that to have a fun and full life you need to take risks. Instead my video blog entry ended up being quite dull and not exactly supporting my argument.

Anyway you can watch the video here. Be warned, it's a two part ramble. If you can't see the videos below then you can watch part one here and watch part two here.

7 May 2008 The thing about sleeping around...

... Is that it can be much more damaging than people realise, not just to an individual but for every single person in the world.

I'm sure many people remember a time in their lives when they were new to the relationship scene. They heard about this thing called love, this sweet union between two souls, and thought to themselves "I want in on that". But then they end up sleeping with the wrong person, hoping that this is The One™. When they open up to this person and say the 'L' word they get rejected. This can be for whatever excuse they feel like saying at the time. Perhaps they were just looking for sex, none of this lovey-dovey crap. After the first knock down you pick yourself up, learn whatever lessons you may learn and try again, hoping that the next one will be better. The next one is bound to be The One™.

But with each rejection, each mistakes, each "sleeping with the wrong one"; it chips away at ones self-esteem and expectations. Soon one starts to think "Actually no one is looking for love. No one will ever love me for who I am; they just want to fuck me". So they give up the quest for love and indulge in the act of sleeping around. After all everyone else is doing it, you might as well go with the flow. It has its advantages and disadvantages. And with a somewhat jaded opinion on human relationships you continue being content with having sex with different partners. Why? Because sex is fun, and having fun is awesome.

Then you sleep with someone who doesn't just want sex. They want something lasting, they want a relationship, they want love. But when they open themselves up to you after the act of shagging they get rejected by you because you don't believe that they are being serious. No one does this thing called love. And so this genuine person loses a bit of herself and starts to join the orgy of the masses that no longer believes in love. Thus the vicious circle continues.

Bringing someone down like that is a nasty thing to do because it hurts them, no matter how much they hide it. Also it makes it harder for them to find true love because they get the impression that everyone of that gender is a bastard (this applies to both men and women). Keeping people from this form of happiness is a cruel thing to do.

But the problem is bigger than that. Soon this shagging mentality spreads with each person that gets rejected, like a virus. No love and true happiness, only indulgence. Humanity becomes darker and less fulfilled in life and the world becomes a more depressing place to live in.

Not exactly a good mindset to be in, is it?

12 Feb 2008 How much of my brain do I use?

I stumbled upon a blog the other day called Let Me Go On And On; a blog from a woman called Debra, who wrote a book about praying and healing or something like that. One of her blog entries talks about the possibility of deceased relatives communicating via dreams. I made a comment about how these dreams could simply be the brain refiling its data during sleep. Which lead to her mentioning that 10% of the human brain actually gets used, which lead to a reply of that's probably not true, with a slight off-topic mention of vampires and werewolves.

So rather than continuing the brain talks on a blog entry about dead people getting their last words via dreams, I figured I'd address the brain issue here.

After a little research on the Internet I found several places which states that the 10% brain activity idea is pretty much a myth. In fact there's a Wikipedia entry that mentions this misconception. So it would appear that every part of the brain is used, which does makes sense. Why would any part of the brain be turned off, let alone 90% of the electrifying flesh-bag? It's like a TV on standby. It may appear off, but it's still buzzing with power, ready to be activated.

But just because we know that 100% of the brain is in use, doesn't mean we fully know what each part of it is doing... does it?

Whilst parts of the brain have been mapped for certain functions like speech, logical thinking, voluntary and involuntary body movement and so on, there are still parts of the brain that people haven't figured out what the hell it does. Certainly New Age proponents take this opportunity to say that the human brain is capable of superhuman feats, such as psychic powers and alternative perception. What if they're right?

Lets play with this idea for a possible scenario. Lets assume that in fact only about 10% of the brain gets used. What could be in the 90%? Could it be untapped knowledge? Information that human beings are simply born knowing; all the maths, science, language, culture, we already know it. Arachnids know how to spin a web immediately from birth do they not? Maybe we actually know everything and don't realise it.

So I think I use 100% of my brain. I just don't fully know what it's doing in my head.

19 Jan 2008 Buy Nothing Day: A way to spread a message

I was talking to my friend yesterday morning during our breakfast run. He talked about how the night before he attended this talk relating to the 9/11 event, the war on Iraq and what can be done against the political conspiracy (or something like that). During the talk he came up with a pretty good idea of spreading the message to politician.

His idea was to take a holiday called Buy Nothing Day and modify it or create a day called something like "Not Buying the War Day". The idea being if enough people bought absolutely nothing on this day it will create an impact on the economy that would make politicians take notice or even be embarrassed.

I thought the idea was intriguing and a good one. It would be pretty cool to see as an experiment what would happen if everyone in the country, if not the world, bought nothing and essentially stopped the flow of money. And of course I believe that no ordinary citizen wanted to go to war to Iraq.

Just imagine it. One person buying nothing will not make any difference. Neither would every person in a town. But if we could get everyone in a county/state to buy nothing that would be something. If we could get a whole country buying nothing for one day, that would be amazing.

If we could get everyone in the developed world buying nothing....

Spread the word, get preparing. Mark November 24h down on your calendars. Whether it be to speak a message or to conduct a massive economic experiment, let's make a difference.

10 Jan 2008 Showing a bit of sympathy for the working man in an evil corporation

It been a difficult few days at work recently. We're in full swing of the 'Test it, debug it, rinse and repeat' stage of our products life cycle. Because of this tedious process the level of team moral is getting a bit low. During one of my breaks I pondered over the possibility of over companies that are going through the same process as we are.

Then I thought about the evil corporations of TV and film. It occurred to me that most of the time their products, from the Mega Death Ray to the Super Soldier, failed when it mattered the most.

You've seen the scenarios. Some evil corporation has created this diabolical product that they claim is perfection and will allow them to fulfill their evil scheme, whether it be world domination or total annihilation. Yet when the hero arrives he manages to find the one fatal flaw in the system that completely ruins the evil corporation's notorious scheme, thus 'saving the day'.

A good example of this is the movie Drive. In the movie our hero, Mark Dacascos, is a prototype enhanced human and he faces his successor, who is suppose to be superior to him in every way. And yet the superior model developed a simple fault during the fight, which allowed Dacascos to overcome and defeat the superior model.

With such a fatal flaw with the evil product, you'd think that the creators and the development team would have ironed out those kinds of problems long ago. However if you think about the conditions and the pressures that the workforce are faced with, then you starting thinking that maybe it's not their fault.

They slaving away long hours over the labour of love (or tortured into it, either way), they have an obscene series of deadlines to meet, they going though fixing various bugs (which can be hard to fix if the bugs are attacking you), they don't manage to test every scenario (after all, it can't be easy to recreate the 'hero scenario'), it's no wonder that the ultimate weapon has a few kinks when the time comes to expose it to the world prematurely.

Of course its not like the developers don't know that it'll break. In fact they warn the big boss, they beg with the big boss not to release their creations too soon because 'it's just no ready yet'. But they get told to release it to the hero and, of course, it gets destroyed. I can imagine it being soul-crushing to see their hard work, their blood, sweat and tears get destroyed in front of their eyes. Those poor people.

So I raise my cup of tea in honour to all those poor development team members who have to see all their hard work being ruined because there just wasn't enough time to fully debug it all. Whenever I watch an evil corporation collapse and crumble on television because their doomsday device failed, I'll think of the people at the bottom of the work force muttering under their breath "I told the boss it just wasn't ready, it needed more time. No one ever listens to me..."

May their careers lead on to more fruitful things.

... Y'know, so long as they haven't been killed for 'their' failure.

4 Jan 2008 Ideas about Darwin, Adam and Eve

What if I was to suggest to you all that Charles Darwin had revoked his Theory of Evolution on his deathbed and that Adam and Eve were spawning kids long before The Apple Incident in the Garden Of Eden?

Last night I had helped a friend of a friend moved his things out of his house as he was being evicted. Afterwards we sat down, drank some wine and started to make small talk. Along the way I mentioned that I took the Alpha Course and, being a Christian himself, we had found a common ground to discuss deep and meaningful things. He told me many things related to Christianity and the bible, including how the length of a day in the 6 days of creation did not necessarily mean 24 human hours (after all God's perception of a minute could equate eons to mere human perception), the things that will happen up to and including The Second Coming of Jesus, and how other religions have got it wrong.

But it was two main points that came out of the conversation that really got my attention; Charles Darwin and Adam and Eve. I may not manage to write down word for word exactly what was said, but this was the general idea...

During our discussion Christian-Friend-Of-A-Friend (CFF) and I got onto the subject of evolution (as you do).CFF stated his beliefs, I stated mine. Then CFF stated that the earliest starting point of mankind according Darwin (monkey to man) does not match up with the starting point of mankind as stated in the bible; the bible dates back much further. Also CFF stated that Charles Darwin came to Christianity on his deathbed and actually took back his Theory of Evolution (or something like that). Now when you hear all this it sounds like Darwin had never been 'in touch' with Christianity and the bible has it all correct after all.

I was compelled to do some background research and I took a look at Charles Darwin on Wikipedia. The article tells the story of a man who did believe in Christianity. But over time his belief faded and had completely disappeared when his daughter, Annie, died in 1851. Later on in the article it states that the claim of Darwin reverting was refuted and dismissed by Darwin's children and historians alike. So it sounds like Carwin knew this Christian stuff and still said no. However one cannot draw conclusions from only these two sources (CFF and Wikipedia) and more cross-referencing must be done.

Still just because the evolution origin dates and the bible origin dates don't match up doesn't necessarily mean that one is right and one is wrong. Perhaps they can both be right and both have the same starting point, especially if you think about the different timescale perceptions between God and Man as stated earlier.

Now the next point that CFF made about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden I had never heard before, least of all from a Christian. It was both fascinating and refreshing.

As the story of Genesis goes Eve was tempted and ate The Apple from The Tree of Knowledge and then tempted Adam, who also ate the fruit. They realise what they have done, God casts them out of the Garden, Eve's punished with the pains of labour and periods, they give birth to Cane and Abel, Cane and Abel have their misadventures, they go off and they find other people in the world. CFF's made the following claim...

Adam and Eve lived for a long period of time in the Garden of Eden, in fact hundreds of years (which makes sense since there was no concept of death). During that time Adam and Eve would have been doing what comes naturally to them; reproduced. They would produce hundreds of offspring (and it wouldn't hurt Eve labour wise, remember that pain was a punishment for later) and their children could have gone off and populate the world. And when Adam and Eve ate The Apple the curse was passed down to all the offspring, which includes death.

So there you are, when Cane and Abel ventured out they actually met their relatives.

But there's something about this idea that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Why would immortal creature reproduce? It doesn't seem to make sense in terms of ecological balance.

One of the main points of reproduction is to keep the species alive and to replenish numbers when they die. But if the organism doesn't die then the population will just explode wildly out of control. This would mean millions, billions, even trillions of human beings that consumed the Garden's resources (food, oxygen, etc) at an alarming rate. Not to mention taking up so much space. It would be like a virus! The only possible way the Garden could have supported this was that it produced unlimited resources and space. Which I suppose is possible, what with the unlimited power of God, but it doesn't seem very practical. There's no sense of natural balance for there to be immortal human beings that reproduced.

It was a fascinating 5 hours of discussion and it certainly gave me something to think about. But it's something that I would need to do more research into.

I may even...

*gasp*

I may even have to read The Bible.

What do you guys think of all this?

27 Nov 2007 My problems with Christianity

I had so much to say about this subject that rather than typing it all out I felt like recording it as a mp3. Kinda like one of those dang fangled podcast thingys you hear so much about.

You can listen to my rant here. Click to listen or right click and 'Save-As' to download.

P.S. It's around 30 minutes long.

17 Nov 2007 A Theory of Everything

I am a great believer of multiple dimensions of reality. The idea that there are several different universes in other dimensions with different versions of me seems very plausible. Kinda like Jet Li's The One, only without the bad soundtrack chosen by a nu-metal emo kid. I once read this article in the science magazine New Scientist which talked about the idea of time being purely a human perception. It gave an example of the frog's perception of time being a fraction slower than the fly's perception of time, therefore the frog missed the fly when it tried to eat it. I wish I could remember which issue it was because it was fascinating. Anyway there was a theory of reality in there which I would like to paraphrase and make into my own words:

"Anything and everything that is possible in life and reality happens all at once; time, space, matter, human emotions and choices, everything. This creates a kind of reality White Noise (much like the colour of white is the reflection of all light bouncing off an object, so too is the 'white light' of all possibilities).

"Human perception of reality is a series of still frames that goes in order, much like a Zoetrope. Therefore whenever someone makes a choice in life, or is guided down a particular path in life he is perceiving one set of snapshots of reality.

"This, in theory, can accommodate the idea of 'Free Will VS Predetermined Fate'. That is to say both can exist at the same time because everything has happened (past, present and future) at once, which covers fate, but mankind has the choice of perceiving one set of reality, hence the free will part."
Grax

I remember reading a comic, Marvel's Hyperion from Supreme Power fame in fact, and in it there was a character called Arcanna, of Squadron Supreme (Earth-31916) . She has the ability to perceive and influence parallel quantum dimensions, which is kinda similar to what I just said. Upon reading her Wiki entry I found this length page about Many-World interpretation. I have yet to read it due to it's sheer length, but I'm sure it's a fascinating read.

What do you guys think about all this?

24 May 2007 I'm no schizo. Nor am I

I found this article a long while ago that claims that hearing voices in your head is a common thing:

Voices in the head 'are normal'

One of the key points it makes are that it's not the fact that hearing voices in your head is the problem, but how the person interprets those voices.

I find this to be an interesting idea. People hearing voices in their being a common thing? It almost removes some pressure about being crazy.

One thing it doesn't really make clear is the definition of hearing voices in your head. After all, does giving yourself a pep talk in your head count? What about day dreaming? Technically you hear the voices in your head and not with your ears. Or is the definition of voices in your head simply that you hear voice that sound like they are coming from outside yourself but there is nothing there to cause it?

I quite often talk to myself in my head for things like pep talks and stuff. But I'm creating that voice with my mind on purpose. It's not something that's happening beyond my control. I've had incidences where I've been so tired that just before I fall asleep I hear my name being called by someone voice. When I lift my head to check there is no one there. It sounded just like the person was next to me, but it was something in my head. But those incidences are rare and I put it down to fatigue.

I wonder if anyone else goes through the same thing as me sometimes. Or am I the only crazy one?

26 Mar 2007 Ann Coulter's global warming rant angers my blood

I always assumed that everyone in the world agreed that global warming was real and is indeed a bad thing for planet Earth, the only thing that's stopping us is our own greed and apathy. It never occured to me that there are some people who don't believe in global warming.

Well Ann Coulter doesn't believe in it. And apparently she's pretty high up on the social ladder.

This rant that she did a short while ago talks about how not only is global warming all made up, but everyone in the world who believe in it want to wipe out nearly everyone on the planet in a mass genocide.

Liberals want mass starvation and human devastation.... They want us to starve the productive sector of fossil fuel and allow the world's factories to grind to a halt. This means an end to material growth and a cataclysmic reduction in wealth.

Her entry angered my blood as I read through it. It all seemed a little extreme if you ask me.

One thing that is blatantly obvious about Ann Coutler is that she doesn't like 'Liberal' people one bit, as nearly every paragraph she writes is a stab at Liberals:

Liberals haven't the foggiest idea how the industrial world works... They have no idea how light miraculously appears when they flick a switch or what allows them to go to the bathroom indoors in winter — luxuries Americans are not likely to abandon because Leo DiCaprio had solar panels trucked into his Malibu estate.

She tries to make valid points against the idea of global warming but she doesn't actually come up with any solutions to help make the situation better. Whilst it's true that modern society can barely function comfortably without a constant supply of energy, there are better renewable ways of getting energy without wasting natural resources.

It's very possible to lead a low carbon-emmiting lifestyle; a carbon-zero lifestyle and not be any less comfortable in ones way of life. Things like recycling, using cars less, putting up wind turbines and solar panels on houses. These all benefit people and the planet because there is less waste, and less waste cost less in the long run.

But there is a clear message in Ann Coulter's hate-rant. She is concerned that millions of people will starve and die during this 'eco-cleanse' whilst the 'elite' upper-class of society will comfortably survive with all their wealth. How noble of you.

Too bad there are already millions of people in the world starving and dying. And we're not even trying to be good to the environment. However uncle Grax has a solution to the problem that is simple, fast and elegant:

Everybody in the world, from the poorest of society to the richest celebrity, put in 10% of one months wages into a money pot.

That's a lot of money. That would be enough to clear off the worlds debt for one thing. Wipe the slate clean, give all the developing countries in the world a chance to grow. After the debt-wipe there should be enough money left over to invest in giving every home a carbon-zero make-over, solar panels, wind turbines, a vegetable patch in the garden, the works! Everyone can lead self-sufficient lives, no-one digging up the Earth to rape it of its resources, everything stays green and pretty. Result.

See, I can make an argument and provide a solution. Grax FTW.

It makes me wonder if Ann Coulter practices what she preaches. Judging by her Wiki entry she doesn't strike me as the typical American that she is 'defending' in her argument.

14 Feb 2007 Bad Anger Managment Technique

Who wants some bad advice on controlling ones anger?

Here's an example on a possible scenario.

Lets say you had a discussion with somebody and they ended it on a bad note, something that you don't like. Then they happen to walk away before you get to blow you top. Or perhaps you go away for a bit, think about what has transpired and it gets you all steamed up.

Now you could go back to that said person and unleash hell upon them, effing and blinding and whatnot. But it might not be a good idea to do so as doing so would, for example, ruin your chances for a promotion, get you fired or cost you the one thing you want most in life.

So rather than doing the act of blowing up, why not try thinking about it? Use the power of your imagination.

Find a nice quiet, relaxing place (like in a hot bath) replay the instance in your mind to remind yourself of what made you so mad. Then imagine what you would do next. This is your safe-zone so you can do anything you like. You could try talking calmly, you could see what it's like to completely lose your cool and really let them have it? Say what's on your mind, raise your voice, see their reaction. What to get a little bit rough in your imaginary world, give it a try. Feels good doesn't it? Almost exciting isn't it?

And because you've played out the scene in your head it can help calm you down a lot, thus you don't feel nearly the same level of hate towards that said person you can carry on with your day quite happily with no ill will. And becuase you kept your mouth shut then whatever was originally pissing you off will probably blow over and work itself out and status quo is restored. All because you kept your mouth shut. Brilliant.

Course the disadvantage of this imagining your anger is that you can only imagine the scenario in the way that you want to be. The person on the other end will not react in a way that they would actually react in real life, so basically it's all a lie. Another word of warning is that you act violently in your imagination then please do not act this way in real life when you are having a conversation. It'll only end in tears.

This concludes some bad advice on controlling ones anger.

If you want some good advice on controlling ones anger, then try talking and sharing your problems with your friends. Chances are they'll tell you what you need to know.

28 Jan 2007 Hard evidence of global warming

I remember a time in the south of England where in January the weather was very cold, grey and miserable. The only sign that Winter was over and Spring was beginning (besides looking at your calendar) was by the sign of the humble daffodil popping up everywhere.

These yellow-flowering weeds would normally show their faces around March time and die off around April time, the Easter season. This is tradition, this is how the world is suppose to work. End of discussion.

This is what I saw today outside on a not-so-cold January day...





Don't you people realise what this means?! Daffodils in January?!? IT'S GLOBAL WARMING HAPPENING IN FRONT OF OUR EYES!! THE EARTH IS COOKING LIKE AN OVEN DAMMIT!!

WE'RE ALL DOOMED!! DOOMED!! DOOMED TO THE POWER OF THREE!!! DOOOOOOOMMMMMMMEEDD!!!!!1

15 Jan 2007 Addiction to petitions

It started off innocently enough, I gets an email at work from a coworker. I read it and it describes an online petition, a petition of UK Road Travel Tax. It reads:

The government's proposal to introduce road pricing will mean you having to purchase a tracking device for your car and paying a monthly bill to use it. The tracking device will cost about £200 and in a recent study by the BBC, the lowest monthly bill was £28 for a rural florist and £194 for a delivery driver. A non working Mum who used the car to take the kids to school paid £86 in one month. On top of this massive increase in tax, you will be tracked. Somebody will know where you are at all times. They will also know how fast you have been going, so even if you accidentally creep over a speed limit you can expect a NIP with your monthly bill. If you care about our freedoms and stopping the constant bashing of the car driver, please sign the petition on No 10's new website.

This is not on I thinks. I don't want to pay more money I thinks some more. Fortunately there's a link to the page where you can leave an online signature against this proposed tax which I promptly click through and sign.

The thing that struck me about this site was that it is an official UK government site. It's like having a direct access to No. 10 Downing Street, home to the Prime Minister directly... In a not really kind of way. I rummaged around the site some more to see what other kinds of petitions they had. They have hundreds of petitions on different categories. I found myself signing a half a dozen petitions for things I thought would make the country I live in a better place.

Although the petition for standardised umbrella sizes I feel is a little silly...

People of the British community online go to the 10 Downing Street petition site and sign some petitions or even make your own up. Make the British people's voice heard! The Prime Minister will probably stick his fingers in his ears saying "LalalaI'mnotlisteninglalala", but at least you'll feel better with the illusion that you tried to make a difference.

12 Dec 2006 Green Day: How times have changed

I remember back in the days of Dookie that Green Day was an old school punk band. When they played in front at a concert they would get a cheer of like-minded lad chanting along to all their tunes. It was a satisfying sound to hear.

I recently listened to
Green Day - Bullet In A Bible. It an album recorded when they were at Milton Keynes National Bowl in June 2005 and the sound I heard was unusual.

Instead of the roar of hundreds of guys I heard the screams of hundreds of teenage girls. It sounds so odd, so un-punk, so.... Pop.

I didn't really like the sound of this. The rest of the album was ok, but this noise... I shared my opinion with the guys at work. One of them gave me this repy:

"If you were in a band would you rather play to a bunch of guys or a bunch of teenage girls? Because I know which one gives better head."

... The man has a point.

6 Dec 2006 Know your path and enjoy it; a different kind of self-help

If you ever have a spare half an hour or so I'd recommend having a read through Scott Young's articles:

When to Quit
When to Quit continued

Scott Young is a self taught self-help guru (or so it would appear) and he has written many self-help articles for all to read and they are rather different. Rather than shoving down our throats the "happy-happy, blindly 100% positive not matter how meaningless it sounds" mythical approach to self-improvement, he questions the conventional wisdom and offers an alternative approach which is refreshing. The "When to Quit" articles he wrote caught my eye in particular.

These articles in a nutshell describe how one should take a look at his or her goals/dreams/current direction/etc in life and decided whether it is worth continuing to do them. In a sense it's giving you permission to say "It's not worth doing this anymore" rather than stubbornly saying "I mustn't give up. I've got to keep going no matter what!" Scott also makes a bold claim that reaching your goals in the end is not the way to ultimate happiness:

"There is an implied assumption when you are pursuing your dream. That assumption is that reaching your outcome is the only valuable part of the process. Being the famous actor, owning the billion dollar empire, selling the best-selling novel. Realizing the dream is what matters most.

There is only one problem with outcome-based thinking. It doesn't work! When you ask most hugely successful CEO's what the best part of their journey to success was they will tell you it was when they were still young, optimistic and struggling. Achieving goals doesn't make you happy because achievements on their own hold no lasting emotional value. Only growth, fullfilment and passion has value."

A bold claim indeed.

After writing the first article various people wrote their comments about it. Some people wrote their own counter-articles on their own sites, including this guy (who basically wrote "You've always got to keep going. Lots of people in history didn't give up, including Spud Webb, and they all did pretty damn good"). The things he wrote are valid and true. Scott followed up with his second article which can be summerised (and indeed was summerised by one of the commenters) by one simple Buddah phrase:

"There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way"

Enlightening.

I think we've all been in situations where the journey to our dreams itself was much more fulfilling than the end result itself was. I know I have on many occasions. My career choice for one thing. I originally wanted to be a computer games programmer and I dedicated my school and college years toward that goal. Then upon reaching University and realising "Oh bugger, this is actually pretty hard" I diverted my energies towards web developing. I had a blast learning all sorts of new skill, constantly improving and growing with time. That is where a lot of the fun was and it still is.

Ultimately the buzz of reaching your goal is short-lived and is never ever-lasting. Was the journey to it worthwhile?

If you're still in the mood Scott has written various other stuff that may be worth a glance sometime.

26 Oct 2006 Marvel has done it again! Stop it!

Warning: Spoiler Alert

Remember when I talked about Marvel character deaths and how they would be doing something silly like bringing back Bucky from the dead?

... *sigh*

Oh dear.

I guess this means my other predictions will come true too.

19 Oct 2006 The Money Shot; worth its weight in gold?

It's a funny old thing The Money Shot™. If you sit down and think about it you realise that it serves no useful purpose in life outside the porn industry, other than to satisfy people's fantasies.

The reason for TMS is to show the fact that the man has climaxed after a lengthy session of sexual intercourse. Whilst this may be a useful thing for all the people watching these movies with their pants around their ankles, when you're at it you don't need to be reminded that you have 'finished and in need of a nap and/or smoke'. At least I don't anyway. Also in procreational, evolutionary terms what other animal do you know has sex with a mate and then flips her over and sprays sperm all over her?

So is there a point to this? Do people actually enjoy giving and receiving TMS?

I can see why men may enjoy doing it to the ladies. Maybe it's a sign of dominance, it's a way of marking the woman thusly making her his property. It's like a non-verbal way of saying "You're my wife now!" Maybe men like presenting women with home-made pearl necklaces. I just see it as an awkward moment where you both give the look of "What the hell you doing?" to the man and then the man feel obligated to clean up the mess he just made. Maybe I wasn't doing it right.

And despite what the porno films might make you think I've yet to meet a woman who feely and openly admits that they like rubbing man-cream all over their silky smooth skin whilst moaning in an orgasmic manner because the cream keeps them eternally young. Or something like that.

So perhaps the TMS fantasy myth should go into retirement and try showing a more realistic way of representing the climax. After all it's generations of young men that will be influenced by the porn of tomorrow, they ought to see something that is mostly true to real life. Maybe the man should climax into a condom, tie it up and wave it in front of the camera and say with a smile on his face "paydirt!"

2 Oct 2006 What we need is Captain Planet

Planet Earth is in a pretty sorry state right about now. Rising global temperatures, mass deforestation and extinction, melting ice caps, pollution. The list goes on. And the situation is getting worse. Clearly something needs to be done. Sure we can try things like increase awareness, pass laws, or even pay attention to what we're actually throwing away. But I believe we need something more potent, more meaningful, more Xtreme™ to get us to change our ways.

What we need is Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Think about it. Captain Planet was kicking pollution in the nuts in the 90's, defeating villains like Duke Nukem, Dr Blight, Hoggish Greedly, and the likes every week. And no wonder, look at his powers! Flight, super-strength, the ability to blow hurricane force winds, telepathy, telekinesis, can change shape, transmute matter, and virtually any other super-power required by the circumstances currently facing him. He has the powers of a God! And some might say he's cheating. But he's fighting on the planet's side so it's alright. If he was around nowadays he would sort out all of Earth's pollution problems. And he would always end it with a moral story about looking after the planet through the power that is television (aka brainwashing), like he's done in the past. Even like Popeye has done in the past.

However before you start looking up the lyrics to the Captain Planet theme song we need to take stock. Let's examine Captain Planet in more detail:



What we have here is the look of Captain Planet, which is loosely designed around the DC character Captain Atom. Now to me there's one glaringly obvious flaw with Captain Planet that needs to be addressed.His mullet!!

Come on, the mullet was SO 1990. No one's going to take him seriously. The insults thrown at him would be far more deadly than any form of pollution (Captain Planet's kryponite). So a hair-cut is in order. And if we redesign his hair we may as well redesign all of him. Update him, to be part of the noughties, not the nineties.

He needs something new, fresh, Xtreme™, Anime™, and any other corporate made-up buzz words you can think of.

Captain Planet needs an update Planeteers, will you heed the call?

28 Sep 2006 Crap Music - Gnarls Barkley "Transformer"

Gnarls Barkley "Transformer" is one of the biggest pile of wank I've ever heard. I cannot begin to describe how irritating it is. I'll be really pissed off if it gets used as a track for the Transformers Movie just because of its title, even if it's only in the credits.

Mind you the "Necromancing" track is pretty interesting to listen to. You can't help but turn your head when they mention the world 'necrophillia' a lot in the lyrics.

12 Mar 2006 Depressing thought #1

I think that a person reaches a low in his life when he's desperate enough to pay for cuddles and affection. That is to say, he longs for affection so much, the kind that can only really be provided by somebody that you truly deeply love, that he is willing to pay somebody to provide it. This is not the same as paying for sex. I'm talking about paying someone just so that you can hug them and they will stay with you for the night and allow you to hold them in your arms. That kind of raw feeling. The trouble is, this kind of show of affection is fake, the other person doesn't actually feel the same way as our person in desperation. So it's not the same.

It is a sad day if a person doesn't experience that kind of love. But it's even worse for someone who has and loses it. And is so desperate to get it back.

One reason that makes this depressing is that this is a really selfish thought.

14 Jan 2006 Comic Book Fanboy Rant: X-Men 3

Kesley Grammer as Beast in X-men 3?? That was the new snippet I read in a newspaper several months ago. I threw it away in disgust. They can't do that, putting him in a blue monkey suit won't work! But then I thought that maybe they'll only have his voice and CGI the body of Hank McCoy. That would work, after all Kesley is usually typecasted as the intellectual.

Then I saw that trailers for the new X-men movie were available to see. So after downloading the latest version of Quicktime (and iTunes cos I had to, which I then promptly removed) I began to watch the trailer. I threw my monitor away in disgust.

I don't like what I'm seeing here.

Yes, Kesley Grammer is in fact covered head to toe with blue make-up and blue patches of fur on his face. But there's more reason why I'm not liking what I'm seeing.

• Vinnie Jones is the Juggernaut and it looks like he's wearing a six-pack foam suit. Juggernaut is one of my fave super-villains and it pains me to see him represented like this. He should be CGI. His arms should be as big and as wide as me!
• From the trailers it looks like it's going to be "The Halle Berry show; guest starring the X-men". Seriously when is on screen she hogs most of it. I think her superhero-success has gone to her ego and she wants more. Well let me bring you down to earth sister; you were in Catwoman.
• I'm not sure if Ben Foster is the right actor to be Warren Worthington. In my humble heterosexual opinion, he is not pretty enough, or his looks are not quite right. Though I'm willing to admit that I might be wrong about this one.

"But Grax" I hear you cry "You're just being a fan-boy twat because you're complaining about some of the characters not being CGI. It'll still gonna own!" I will admit that I am knit-picking. In fact I think live action films of superheroes shouldn't happen full stop. You can't make comic stuff look good in real life. If you wanna make a film about it, make it all CGI or animate it. It'll look much better as a cartoon because it is a cartoon! But the point is I fear that it's going to suck not because of those petty reasons, but because superhero movies usual suck. I felt Spider-man 2 was terribly cheesy and he kept revealing his secret identity to everyone! The Hulk was terrible because it just didn't follow the storyline. Spawn, Catwoman, Batman and Robin! Need I go on?

I just don't have high hopes for X-Men 3.

In related news the makers of Spider-man 3 have revealed that Topher Grace will be playing as Venom (I know this might be old news, but I only found out about it recently). What?? Eric, from That 70's Show fame is going to be Venom, my all time favourite comic book character? He had the body of a nerd! Judging by this it'll probably mean that the storyline will follow a similar storyline to the Ultimate Spider-man comics, which means we'll only get about 25 minutes of Venom actually being on screen. Place your bets now on how long Venom will be on screen.

This had been a rant from your local comic book fan-boy.

31 Dec 2005 ... In with the new

It's nearly all over. The end of 2005 is nigh. The year 2006 is upon us whether we're ready for it or not. I don't exactly have an action-packed New Years Eve Event planned this year. Things kinda fell apart at the end when some people who I really wanted to meet pulled out at the last minute with their own plans. But it's cool, still gonna go to a gathering with some friends so it's all good. I feel like now's a good time to reflect on my year.

This is the point where I rant on about my year and it's purely for me. You can go somewhere else if this doesn't float your boat in any way.

I guess the one thing that I should be asking myself is that am I happy with myself? Am I happy with the way that this year has panned out? I could look at all the things that has happened in 2005. I've attended a friend's Stag weekend, been to two wedding-type events, been in a (short) relationship earlier in the year, been made redundant from my job halfway through the year but found a new, better job a month afterwards, moved to a new town and found out there are worse places in the world to live cos now I'm stuck in one of them, got my tarot read and it said that overall the next year is looking good for me, and towards the end of the year I took a big chance and when to Argentina for holiday to visit a girl that I met online. That's my proudest achievement this year.

So that's my year, with it's series of ups and downs. Am I happy with how it turned out? Yes I am happy with how it turned out. I'm a better person overall because of it. Am I happy...?

Mostly... but there's plenty of room for improvements.

That's the thing I'm most looking forward to in 2006. Considering the past couple of months I feel that I actually have decent goals to achieve. Not crappy goals like loosing weight and getting fitter (but I'm gonna do that, just like the millions of fat bastards in the world) but big goals based on what I really want. And I know that I can do it! It's in the cards! I've even made simple plans to follow. Trouble is it's going to be a long road to achieve these goals, something that won't happen till the end of 2006. I can't wait that long. I want it now!!

I found a quote on a friend's site and it made me smile so much that I'm going to steal it. Full credit for the man at harlandos7. He says:

"all i say is find that one thing that makes u smile, the one thing that makes u wanna get out there and do it and grab that oppertunity, cause its not always gonna b around."

2006? Bring it.

Happy New Year everybody.

24 Aug 2005 My master plan, or lack of

It's been a while since I've done a good rant. In fact this could article could be argued that it is not a proper rant, because it is too personal. I'm still going to talk about it anyway. Maybe I should introduce a new section called "Whining". Hopefully you'll get something good out of it.

I feel like I'm in a bit of a rut. Despite having a job that pays money it's barely enough. I'm having trouble leading a comfortable lifestyle. Especially with all the sudden costs that pop up, like getting the car fixed. And the thing is I don't know what I am going to do next.

I was talking to my friend about this subject. Actually he brought it up himself. Mainly because he hates his job with a passion (being a sort of web developer for a government funded company) and is desperately trying to find a career for himself. Or more like he want to work with computer generated models, but the only main way of doing that is to get into computer games, which is something he'd rather not do. The point is he feels that I need an overall goal in life, a plan that will last for 5-10 year. One question that comes up often is "What are you going to do next?" The thing is I don't know.

And it's starting to get to me. I'm going to a job that has lost its appeal. I don't know what happened. Maybe the atmosphere of the place is less jolly than I initially thought, maybe there's hardly any challenging work to do, maybe I'm sick and tired of doing "PowerPoint style" flash animations for clients. I feel like I want to break away and do something new. But I can't do that surely? I not been there for two months yet, I lasted much longer in my old job in terms of enjoyment. I wouldn't mind a holiday abroad, I've not done that in years. Trouble is I only got one place on my mind that I would like to visit, and the tickets cost about £700 return! Damn those sexy people living abroad. ^_^;;

But I digress.

For a time I was happy just coasting through life doing, what I considered, simple tasks that I can do to get me by with a dash of challenges. I always thought about now and in a few months, rather than thinking about where I see myself in a few years. But right now it's not enough. The only basic goal I have in life is:

• Make stuff, mostly from scratch. Whether it's physical (like a model) or virtual (web page)
• Make things that I wanna make.

And... and...

Ah hell, it's taken me three evenings to write this shit out. I kinda lost momentum on the point I was trying to make. It was something along the lines of "Find a better job, find more jobs, do another animation, earn more money, have sex, etc etc" but the moment is gone now. It all ruined! Don't look at me!!!

10 Feb 2005 Ok Marvel, this is getting silly now.

I recently picked up the latest issue of Uncanny X-Men #455 (the latest volume) and I have to say I'm not entirely liking what I see. But what I'm about to say will contain spoilers for people who haven't read it or any of the recent comics, especially the people from the UK who only have the X-Men comics from Panini Comics to rely on. So I thought I'd be nice and continue my rant in the comments bit below, so that the people who don't want to be spoiled won't have to read it; thusly they won't bitch at me for ruining it for them.

Click on the comments link below. I can wait...

12 Jan 2005 Wanted: Tester To See the Side Effects of Mobile Phones

I been hearing a lot in the news today about how mobile phones should not be given to 8 year olds due to the unknown effects of "mobile phone radiation". Personally I wouldn't give it to them because they're too damn young and irresponsible to own one. Who are they gonna call anyway?? But that's not the point. Scientist are still debating over the safety issues of mobile phone. There's no strong evidence saying that they are dangerous, but there's also no strong evidence saying that they are harmless. What they need is a large group of guinea pigs to test these phone on and record the outcomes. My point is this:

Ladies and gentlemen WE are the guinea pigs. We have been for several years.

Think about it. If mobile phones we even possibly unsafe they wouldn't release it for public use would they? You wouldn't release the latest Action Man doll with kung-fu chop™ if it was possible that it would stab you to death with it's metal knife (though that would be an interesting thing to see). Regardless more and more advance phones are being sold and we're just happily cooking our brains and/or groin areas with these evil invisible rays of death (although this is not proven). I've had a mobile phone in my pocket for years now and I'm probably infertile due to these bastards. Or worse, I'll only be able to produce mutant children that have special powers like they do in the comics (that would be nice but I'll probably end up with a kid with three and a half eyes, lumpy skin, an oversized limb and a hump).

And the only people who'll benefit from all this will be the scientist, analysing our misfortunes and coming to the conclusion that "Whoops, we shouldn't have released that..... Oh well, let keep making money out of it". This kind of crap has happened several times in the past. It happened with tobaccoo, it happened with cocaine (it used to be used in Coca-Cola soft drink and it was also a cure for sexual impotence), no doubt it'll happen again. Dammit if we have to put up with this kind of public experimentation we should be compensated. A new mobile phone would be nice.

So to conclude I say if you want to know the possible side effects of mobile phone then keep handing them out and wait a few decades. Your results will probably be in the hospital wards. I'll see you there ^_^

One more thing, I've heard a little rumour about mobile phones and I wanna try it. I think you all should too. Try this little experiment; take an uncooked egg and two mobile phones. place the phones on opposite ends of the uncooked egg about 6-10 inches apart (or centimetres I can't remember which). Leave them for about 12-15mins. See whats happened to the egg. Let me know the results because I'll probably forget to try it myself.

1 Jan 2005 A public house charging entry? No!!

The bloody cheek! What's a guy gotta do to get drunk around here?? New Years Eve me and my friends tried to do a pub crawl thing to end up at one pub for a final destination, and do the whole countdown thing. Nearly every pub on the street was charging people to get in. Charging people!! We eventually found a pub that weren't charging at the door and we settled there for the whole night. Nice place and all in all it was fun, but that's not the point I'm making.

Now I expect that kind of charging for a nightclub, but a pub? It's wrong in every sense. It's even illegal for a pub to charge entry (or so I hear). Besides it's a pub, a public place for everyone to go. Some tried to justify the charge by saying things like "It's for charity, some of the money will goes towards the Tsunami Appeal".

BULL-SHIT! We all know you're trying to cash in!

I think next time I should hire our a ma-hoosive warehouse, a couple of DJ and their sound systems, and jam pack it full of friends and random people on the street I like the look of. And I'll charge them nothing to get in. Take that you money-grabbing law breakers!

Oh by the way, Happy New year everyone. ^_^

11 Nov 2004 Random Rambles

What if being in a band was a souless job position rather than a individual's passion?

What I mean is that a band is like a company which some big manager owns, like say Metallica for the sake of argument, and each of the positions is a temporary job position that anyone could fill. That way, if someone's no pulling their weight, the big guy fires that person and puts out an ad in the local paper for a replacement. If none of the 'employees' are doing well enough, then they would all be fired and new members would be hired (for a smaller payslip probably).

The main feature of this theory is that the band could (in theory) live forever, but its member would always be different. Maybe it would change every generation or something. It wouldn't be just the employees either. The whole style of music could change as well. Like Industrial Goth Metal one generation and Tripping Trace the next. I was thinking about this idea the other day whilst listening to "Metallica: S&M".

Now I think about it, the whole thing is pretty similar to what happens in real life, isn't it...? Prime examples are AC/DC replacing their singer, Metallica replacing their bass player twice. Madonna has changed her music styles a few times over the years. My theory is nothing new at all. I've just wasted my time and yours talking about it haven't I?

I'll shut up now.... ^_^

20 Jun 2004 This is just a (Fathers Day) tribute

Whilst my car was having its MOT test on Friday (it failed the test by the way) I was reminded that it's Fathers Day this Sunday 20th June. But my dad's not the kind of person that's into the whole commercialsm of these kinds of holidays/celebrations/whatever you call 'em. So I thought "Hey, instead of buyinh him a crappy card, why don't I make him a crappy card? Give him something from the heart". So I got the raw materials and draw some portraits of my dad. Then assembled them into something that looked like a greeting card and sent it off in the post. You can see the pictures I drew in the Art of Grax, under the Friends Art section (hmm... maybe I should rename that section to "Family and Friends"...)

My dad and I don't get to talk much, seeing as he lives in a different city miles and miles away. Which is a shame, because I don't get to say how great he his to me. He helps me in so many ways, even when I probably don't deserve it. He always been there to help, even if we don't see each other or talk to each other often (such is the way of men relationships, not in a gay way). Man, I sound like every other guy ranting about their dads trying to make up for all the time they don't get to talk to each other.

Chances are he won't see this little rant, so I'd probably should give him a call later to say "Happy Fathers Day" and thanks for everything, even if he's not into that sort of thing.

"My Dad; what a guy". A tribute by his son.

1 Jun 2004 Muscle Men: Blessing or Curse?

I was at the gym today working on the free weights (that's right ladies, I work out ;) ) and I happen to spot a guy with a set of dumbbells. He started lifting 10kg on each hand for about 12 reps. Then as soon as he put them down he moved on to a set of 12.5kg, and did another 10 reps. Then he dropped those and moved onto a set 15kg, same again, then 17.5kg, same again (with fewer reps), then he went down the different sets again! I can only manage about 8 reps with 12.5kg. And this guy had bulging biceps, about 18inch in circumference. His friend also had huge muscles, his neck muscle was resting upon his shoulders, it was the size of a mans arm.

Seeing this feat of strength, I was a little impressed. But it got me thinking; why do we bother with weights?

• To look good for the ladies: While it's true that no lady likes a man with a spare tire around his gut, we men have to be careful not to go too far. I've spoken to a few lady friends and they all agree that bulging muscles is a turn-off. So I guess huge neck-muscles are out.
• To increase strength: It's cool to be able to lift heavy stuff, but do we need to in this age? Unlike our hunting ancestors, the majority of people's habitats include working in a office for long periods sitting down, eating food that is always around us, then veg out at home on the couch where our thumbs gets a work out on the remote. Hardly much opportunity to put our strength to the test (of course there are exceptions, like construction dudes and heavy lifters).
• Work on our self-esteem: This is more like it. It feels good to put all our energies to lift heavy stuff, to release ones destructive, stressful, angry side and turn it into something constructive, i.e. muscles and strength. And studies have proven that doing exercise that help with dealing with mental issues like depression and stress. Of course that energy can be dispersed when you see that guy across the room bench-press over 100kg, making you look like you can manage to bench-press a twig... just!

So despite all these reason against weight lifting why do people bother; why do I bother? Because it feels good to be able to lift heavy things. Because while women are not great fans of muscle men, fat men are probably respected even less from women (so it can't be all bad to have muscle). And there are other minor benefits, like health (but who cares about that nowadays?)

Now I've got that off my chest, I'm off to work on my guns.

17 Apr 2004 Music Does Sooth the Savage Beast

I got "Echoes: the Einaudi Collection" on CD today and I have to say it is amazing! He's a pianist as heard on Classic FM and Einaudi's music is moving. And I'm usually more of a rock/metal kind of guy. If you get the chance to listen to his work, I highly recommend it. Which brings me to another thought. There aren't enough instrumental bands on the market, in fact there's practically none. While lyrics are good some band can produce some really strong rifts and tunes that would be great on their own. Am I alone on this?