Because of you, master, this clone has learned wonders that cannot be accomplished by a regular man.

Through you, he has learned and excelled in mastering the skills necessary to execute orders through the [Device of Computer Input]. Combining these patterns with the [Hand Arch of Scroll Ball] (remember those?), the clone has been destined to complete objectives set out for him.

It has been foreseen that together, you will slay the Prime Evils by walking through the fires of Hell, after traversing the jungles of your favorite rainy region.

It has been foreseen that your teachings will put this clone on a level of the dreaded Somali, known for their lootings.

It has been foreseen that in your teachings, he will design pages of data to be displayed to the internet, using only functions involving boxes and rows to distribute information.

It has been foreseen that in your teachings, he will learn the truth of the enemy. The Overlord Windros, rival to the Penguin King Lin, and half cousin to Lord Jobs and his (i)ntellectualArmy. Also, he will learn to stay away from the waters of “The Pond” and to use the skills acquired from the simulation “Duck Hunt” for the better of humanity.

It has been foreseen that through your teachings, he will better understand the darkness that follows him, stalking his every move. Without this, your clone may feel alone and overwhelmed.

It has been foreseen that through your teachings, the clone will aspire to be the best that he can possibly be, constantly journeying for the answers, taking note of all obstacles as a reminder of how he has gotten to where he is now.

It has been foreseen that through all your teachings, you will have opened the eyes of the clone to a world that did not exist. One harsher than the world he has been living in, but one that must be accounted for for him to survive.

While all this has been foreseen by your current teachings, there lie times ahead in which you shall continue to influence him. Times ahead in which new enemies will be found, new evils will be slain, and more dark stalkers shall attempt to breach you both. But now that the cloning has been completed, the “Young Fett” is now ready to serve, and destroy.

DISCLAIMER: THE “YOUNG FETT” IN THE CONTENT ABOVE WAS A PROTOCOL MODEL, AND WAS CANCELLED DUE TO A MALFUNCTION. A LARGE, RED MAGNET WAS FOUND IN THE CLONING CENTER AND HAS CAUSED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE NECESSARY DATA REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THE CLONE. WE HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND, AND WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCES.

Sincerely,
The Director Under the Main Bureau of Super High Intensity Training.

I just want to flag this segment here and say that I am in no way speaking for the views and ideologies of the cast, director, or any staff involved with “The Guild”. I am simply expressing my own interpretations and viewpoints, whether they are wrong, or spot-on.

From what we’ve seen as far as the four seasons of “The Guild”, we know that there are two primary groups. The Knights of Good, and The Axis of Anarchy. The Knights of Good are founded to do just that, be chivalrous caretakers to each other. The Axis of Anarchy just wants to be the top dog at everything, and will obtain this status by any means necessary. I honestly felt a correlation to the economical structures of Communism and Capitalism.

The idea of TKoG being Communist sounds extreme, and really, within season 4, that idea shatters, but it shouldn’t be neglected from the previous 3 seasons. Indulging into the graphic novel, readers find that the creation of TKoG occurred because Codex wanted to make an official pact of players that would always participate in activities together. It would be one helping the other. That was the original intent of TKoG, and for awhile it was successful. Eventually, viewers could see that human nature would distract from this, particularly when Clara does not receive an item from Vork, losing it to the highest bidder. It only gets worse from there, with the Tink and Bladezz conflict, Vork monopolizing the market, and the competition for creating the guild hall. It is here that the ideals of the original TKoG crumbles, and perhaps The Axis of Anarchy takes a turn to rise up.

TAoA is made up of elitists that serve an obscure combination of themselves, and their leader, Fawkes (I love you Al, er, Wil). What I mean by this is that they do what they do for self-pride, fame, and power, yet they seem to humbly follow the orders of Fawkes, because they really believe that he is capable of taking them to such great heights. Capitalism correlation? Surely.  TAoA, are elitists. The individual must work hard and provide for the team, otherwise let them down. In real-world analogies, a salesman who is not providing high levels of profit to a company would essentially be “/gkicked”. Now my comprehension of the Communist ideals is miniscule, but I assume that they also have their form of /gkick’ing for lack of performance. So then, does that not make TAoA just as communist as they are capitalist? To be honest, it would appear that they are more communist. They have an end-goal and attempt to reach it together, as the elite (paradox). They try to be better than everyone else, working together to project themselves to the top. They don’t care how they get there, or who gets what, as long as it happens. They are well disciplined, as ironic as that may be as Anarchists, and they acknowledge their personal roles within the system. I guess it would make sense that they were an Anarchist Communism… XD

Obviously, leadership and responsibility plays a vivid role, and a Fawkes vs. Vork comparison is definitely a large enough topic for another blog post. (First, I will be buying the Vork comic to do more background research…. pitching for a Fawkes one!)

So then, in comparison, has the structure of TAoA dominated because of their ideals? Sure, they did lose to Codex and The Knights of Good in season 4, but any internal conflict afterward has not been as observable. Could they have the ideal social and economic structure that society has been searching for? Could their crudeness be humbled to make it relative to a better social experience?

These are questions that one could ask about current guilds within the MMO market. Every guild could be considered a participant in the grand economic scheme that is the server. There are those that want to make it to the top of the server, providing skill and time that they possess. There are others that wish to only help each other, and build fellowships that last a lifetime. Is it possible to make a successful, classless guild within an MMO? Could society study these social structures for the better of humanity? Are video games allowing us to observe bigger concepts than we allow them to? What if we were to develop a guild experiment, on various WoW servers, and just sit and observe the production and development of these guilds? From the success of their progression to the reputation on the server, if they are not already proportionally related; record and make variables for economic success in terms of in-game currency, the in-game economy, and display in relation to time…maybe we’re closer to answering these “bigger picture questions” than we thought we were.

I’m dying to write a “Philosophy of…” book on “The Guild” >_>

Fight Scene from “The Guild” – Season 3 (episode 11)

That being said, I was nearly on the verge of tears after reading Felicia Day’s “The Guild”.

I honestly felt connected to a greater entity – something I’m known to have a hard time with. I realized that despite all the obstacles I’ve had laid out in front of me, from relationships, to bursts of internal conflict, I was not alone. Felicia Day helped me accept that, simply by writing a somewhat parallel graphic novel about it.

There were times when I nodded in agreement to the context that Day had laid out. Other times, I had no choice but to vocalize the word “YES!” as my eyes lit up and I recalled past experiences in my life that reflected that of the story. I felt understood. The development of Cyd was driven at a wonderful pace, and the twists and turns of her life were not so unrealistic. Well, being a pyromaniac was probably a more internally-centered reflection, but other than that, the build-up of confidence she mustered was driven by very real obstacles. It really went to show that online interaction with people has its definite pluses. I know from personal experiences, that my own interactions with the online gaming community has honestly saved my life.

If it were not for those people that I have met, and maintained relations with, I would not be where I am today, and possibly for that matter, alive. They have gotten me through many hard times, not only as an escape, but a reminder that I was never alone. In reading “The Guild”, I was strongly reminded of that.

Despite the fact that I may be ridiculed and shunned for expressing my geeky interests, I know for a fact that there are others out there like me. Others that feel somewhat neglected, and too different than the rest of the world. They may be living wonderful lives, or they may be grasping for life itself, but regardless, remember that you are not alone. Jump online and say “Hi” to your guildies, jump on a forum and watch a season of “The Guild”, or have a chat around a table and lose yourselves as you roll some dice to open a door. Do whatever it is that makes you happy to be who you are, because life will always throw lemons at you, and you don’t have enough cooking skill to make lemonade… but you can juggle pretty damn well.

“I feel so much shame,

I get dissed for saying that I game.

No one understands,

Why I’m living in a fantasy land.”

- Felicia Day in “Game On”, (Now on iTunes! )

So, thank you, Felicia Day, for expressing this outlet, and making known its powers to the public. Thank you for reminding me that I’m part of something bigger than myself – one of our basic human necessities. And thank you, to my guildies of the past. Without you, I honestly may not even be writing this. You guys have done so much for me, and you may not even notice. I hope our Facebook interactions can be more lively.

Have I always been selfish?

All I can remember is growing,  getting anything I wanted, whenever I wanted it.

There is no memory of a humble and helpful Emman.

What have I done with the talents I’ve acquired? The assets bestowed unto me?

Has my purpose been nullified not by the world, but by myself?

Hell, by even seeking my purpose, have I simply become what I just questioned?

Has anyone actually ever been touched by me?

Or has everyone just been affected by me?

Do I have an impact in the world worth noting?

With everything I have, I feel like nothing was done.

Nothing of worth.

Nothing of purpose.

Nothing human.

Or do I feel that way only because of response?

Has everything I’ve ever done just gone unknown?

It shouldn’t matter, but why does it?

The human desire to be part of something bigger than they are comes to mind.

Have I always been so cold?

Yes.

I’ve always been thanked, but never appreciated.

My existence has been purely business in that sense.

But then what does it mean to be appreciated?

I’m only being selfish looking for that answer.

Do I even have any friends?

Anyone to care for me for who I am?

Maybe one.

But even then, my faults display crevices.

And that’s probably because I’m perceptually selfish.

So that puts me at 0.

Coulton is right. Me 0.

Has there been ANYTHING right about me?

/that moment when you realize you’ve just been screwing everything up.

You know, last year wasn’t the year of rejection – it was simply the awakening. It has always happened, and it always will. No matter my status of class, no matter my status of relationship, no matter my status of health – there is always rejection. It lies within, stored someplace House has no cure for.

On a much more related note – I’ve been sick and coughing for the last month.

It’s true, it’s so bad it’s good. I had to look into it.

Let’s look at the flat-image that is “Friday”:

1) The lyrics are terrible. I mean, come on – I learned the days of the week before Kindergarten…

- Turns out the lyrics weren’t written by this girl, but instead given to her by the option of Ark Music Factory. She chose to sing those lyrics over one about adult love-making. So, I could honestly understand why she, a 13 year-old, picked a song with poor lyrics over one about doing the nasty.

2) Her voice isn’t the greatest.

- She was auto-tuned, yes, but some of that is her actual voice. Nasal, and unique in its somewhat disgusting way. Parody to pop music of our generation? Wouldn’t surprise me.

3) She’s ugly.

- So am I. I’m also yellow… I want stars to shine for me :’(

Ok, so I’ve gotten over the fact that it’s so bad it’s good, and come to the conclusion that really, it isn’t that good. It’s crap. Terrible lyrics, sub-par singing, and very poor production. You get what you pay for ($2000 ). What does it mean now, though? It’s so bad, people bought it. Rebecca Black is now a viral sensation, for all the wrong reasons of course, but renown either way. She apparently held the 31 spot on iTunes and has made bank, which she said she would end up donating to Japan relief efforts and other charities.

She also made an appearance on Good Morning America, with a few segments that got to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjFIzWjT5I4

2:10-2:25… That is something I would say. A bitch move, and I am fond of that.

2:36-2:50… The lyrics were so bad, sure she shouldn’t have chosen to sing them, but she paid for it and took the responsibility for it. You post crap on the internet, you’re going to get crappy responses. I know from experience. However, she seems to be taking the criticism well, and may end up working to better herself in the end with whatever she decides to do next.

3:30-3:52… Yeah, she does have some talent on some level, I’ll give her that, and again, she’s honest about her skill set. It’s definitely easier to be honest about something like that when you’re on national television, though, so don’t think that wasn’t factored into her thought-process.
In the end, I think this Rebecca Black character has gotten the criticism she deserves. Justifiable tidbits of saying “Man, this sucks.” As for the others that tell her she should cut herself and die, etc… welcome to the internet, hun. You’re playing with the big kids now. Reminds me of my first adventures in Diablo 2 back in 3rd grade :’)

I attempted to do another experiment in which I held up a sign that said “Looking for Friend – Make a heart if you will be one.” This was inspired by the idea that Emile Durkheim brought up regarding Egoistic Suicides. The concept was that someone that didn’t feel as integrated into society would be likely to commit suicide. Past thoughts of those kids from Columbine, and the Virginia Tech shooter came back into mind when I realized, yeah, maybe they weren’t just “Crazy” like the mass population would deem them. Like anyone else, they wanted to be part of society, but due to what society would label as their “implications”, they weren’t as widely accepted.

Internet society is one very different than the physical society that you and I interact in when we go to school, or go eat food, or hang out with friends. It’s definitely a lot more hostile, but interaction to the individual, will still be interaction. Depending on the community, I’m sure results would differ, seeing as if I walked around La Verne with the same sign hung around my neck, one of the last things that would happen would probably be being flipped off. However, the middle finger in the case of the social being, is probably just as demeaning as being laughed at or looked at funny.

In the following data, you will see a rough sketch of what a generalized Chat Roulette community consists of. I held up the sign, and took marks of numbers based on the reactions of the individual, or in other cases, groups on camera. This data is very, very broad – with the numbers being generated from the overall perspective. This means I didn’t factor in whether or not the individual was in a group or alone, what ethnicity or age the agents were, or the ordinal level of hostility if they had insulted me.

166/200 were 1′s, meaning that 83% of the people on Chat Roulette completely disregarded my call out to them. They either skipped the moment they saw me, or stopped and read the sign, then skipped.

15/200 were 2′s, meaning that roughly 7% of the people on Chat Roulette had insulted me in a certain way. The primary insults I took were the middle finger, the laughing at me then skipping, and the shaking of the head with the eye roll. Some even made the heart, then displayed a broken heart with a middle finger after. These were also recorded.

19/200 were 3′s, meaning roughly 9% of the people on Chat Roulette had complied with the message and made a heart, whether typed, or with their hands.

Again, this is a very broad, and general data spread. I also wish I could do the video, but I highly doubt that the people “surveyed” would like to be labeled as the one that insulted me, or the one that skipped over me, so it’s probably not the best idea to do one anyway. I might honestly continue to develop this idea, and somehow bring it onto Facebook. For now, we can see that the internet society, particular to Chat Roulette, is one of a very individualistic type. Many showed no empathy, or desire to be a part of the life of another in even the simplest of ways.

With that, I leave you with the closing statement to Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine”:

(In a conversation with Marilyn Manson)

Moore: If you were to talk directly to the kids at Columbine, or the people in that community, what would you say to them right now?

Manson: I wouldn’t say a single word to them, I would listen to what they have to say, and that’s what no one did.
PS: Again, I do plan on refining this more – consider it a rough draft of a grander experiment.

Here’s to another year of self-reflection,

To the moment in which I find connection.

Here’s to the sorrow that I’ve felt,

My darkness, and my strongest cards dealt.

Here’s to the hatred that kept me untorn,

An emotion that I dare not scorn.

Here’s to the happiness I’ve gained,

The little amounts that healed the pain.

Here’s to the solace in which I’ve been chasing,

The acceptance that is finally embracing.

Here’s to the family that has been wise,

Shielding me with facts, beliefs, and lies.

Here’s to the love that has been regrowing,

Could she be it? Or am I just snoring?

Here’s to the hope that supposedly exists,

Giving  me another year to live with bliss.

Here’s to another year of self-reflection,

And to the moment in which I make connection.

Happy birthday to me,

There is still much to see,

I know not what will be,

but enlightenment will be key…

Happy birthday to me.

Second: Survey The Web – My first Chat Roulette project. Haven’t done any of these in awhile, so maybe it’s time to try something new. Complete with YouTube video!

and First: Six Defense Mechanisms According to Freud – A quick AP Psych project I did for homework one day. Complete with YouTube video! My first attempt at cloning myself, trust me, if you follow the channel – I’ve gotten a little better.

Here’s to a new year of reflection, information, and success.

So at that, what is darkness?

In its technicalities, darkness is simply the absence of light. I say “simply” like it’s really just something out of a text book, but in that statement alone, there lies a world of energy, photons, and reflection that  makes an object dark to the human eye. I sit in a room now, walls painted blue, LED light emitting from my laptop monitor, with the rest of the room in what one would consider, “darkness”. That may be the reason I call it simple. I’m sitting in a room where there isn’t much light, therefore it is dark.

So why would I elaborate so lightly (no pun intended) on the matter if I felt that darkness was just simple? Well, because it’s more than just scientifically the absence of light. Metaphorically, it represents evil, a lack of honor, fear, and even death. However, it also raises many questions in terms of perspective.

Genesis 1:3 – “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

According to the Bible, darkness was present before the light was. God tampered with it to give Man an aid in their vision. Now if this meant he created the sun or not is up for the clergy and the scientists to fight over. However, what it means to me is that darkness probably wasn’t as bad as we made it out to be. We can blame religion and ancient folklore for making the dark seem to be as evil as the devil himself. Religion has a tendency to tamper with what’s “natural” and what “should be”. Back in the day, the church taught that the world was flat, and everyone who thought otherwise was an idiot and should be burned at the stake, like the witches of Salem, or the homosexuals of today. That, in itself, is another blog.

So why choose darkness over the light anyway? It’s impossible to see in the dark, which is the reason that we have AM and PM now. Huglug the caveman probably said, in a very sophisticated manner, I’m sure, “I can’t see anything when giant sky ball makes no bright color in the sky, so me stay in cave.” Seems logical enough, but sometimes I wonder, maybe living in a world blindly is better than in the light where you can see everything. How often do we find others and judge them purely on their looks over their internal thoughts and feelings? There are even studies on fertility levels and healthiness based on physical attractiveness. In a world of darkness, one would probably rely on survival skills and personality as a gauge of attractiveness. I, myself am guilty of following the light in terms of relationships – but now, I simply cannot bear the weight of someone who embraces the light so much that they won’t take a minute to listen to the darkness that came before them. Sounds metaphorical…but what about this post isn’t? Perhaps when I get older, I’ll reset my life schedule to work and live during the night whilst sleeping during the day. One would ask, “Why would you do that, Emman? Monsters come out at night.”

Well, that’s where perspective comes out again. We fear darkness because it represents the unknown, an evil unknown at that. Man tends to fear if they don’t know something, which is the reason monsters tend to be considered as scary. Darkness hides something from people, and no one likes to be scared by something hiding, yet horror movies tend to be pretty successful. Could be all of the adrenaline rushes that occur from those moments, knowing that something that terrible couldn’t happen to the selfish individual watching it for the thrill. So then what is there to fear about darkness that there isn’t to fear about the light? Sure, crime and other tendencies occur during the night more often than the day, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t, and don’t occur within the sun’s presence as well. The only reason they would occur like so is to avoid being seen as easily, which technically, if one was able to amplify light somehow, it would make things just as difficult during the day.

So, yes, darkness is indeed the absence of light. What makes things dark is the absorption of a certain energy photon that has that sort of reflective color property. But as you can see, there’s more to it than meets the eye. In fact, it also meets the cerebrum, and all of the chemicals within the brain that channel perspective.

Is that enough food for thought on the idea of darkness? I hope not, because there’s just so much to talk about, and to discover. What parts of our brain respond to darkness in a bad way? Do all people have a bit of darkness in them, or did we all start with darkness? Are people born good, or evil, or are we corrupted by society to join one side? What did that last question have anything to do with darkness?  Does my desire to obtain more knowledge of the darkness make me evil? If it does, I want a cool name – emmandabomb won’t be very awesome. Actually, yes it would, and it is.

At that, here’s a quote I searched for just for the hell of it:

“Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always gotten there first, it is waiting for it.” – Terry Pratchett