Five Reasons Why Indy 4 Kicks Ass

1 - It has Russians! And not just any Russians, but KGB Spetsnaz GRU infiltrators (including a colonel!). Stalin's been busy continuing with the mass search for powerful artifacts that Hitler had ordered back in the first and second Indy movie.

2 - Harrison Ford may be in his late 50s, but at least he doesn't let his age slow Indiana down. Indy is still the ass-kicking, physically robust archaeologist that he was in the 30s.

3 - Returning characters! I won't say specifically who, but some return only as memories while others come back with major surprises for Indy.

4 - Incredibly long fight scenes. One scene must have spread over three different areas, killed off many Soviet extras, and lasted over 20 minutes!

5 - The ability to pull off a decent Indy movie twenty years later. Mind you that it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty damn good. Indy was not some old cripple and managed to star in almost every scene, as opposed to a specific younger actor taking the spotlight. The storyline was pretty good too and tied many different legends (both modern and ancient) together with a very interesting plot twist at the end.

Russia and Her Glorious Airforce

Russia makes the best fighter planes (along with the best military equipment overall). Their reasoning is simple and involves two strategies:

• Build aircraft that exclusively rival or counter American aircraft
• Design these aircraft to be effective, yet far cheaper and easier to produce

For instance, the above aircraft is an Sukhoi-30MK. This is one of the most modern models of the SU-27 family (which debuted in the 80s) and is popular for export purposes (specifically to India, Iran, Venezuela and China). The SU-35 is another modern model that is used mostly by the Russian Air Force and is their current rival to the newest American air supremacy fighter, the F-22. Indeed, the F-22 is individually superior to the SU-35 in aeronautics, electronics and weapon systems, but the SU-35 victory comes in cost. The SU-35 only costs 35 million to the F-22's 140 million.

So in likely theory, two F-22s in an beyond-visual range (BVR) engagement with a squadron of five Su-35s would lead to the acceptable loss of two-three SU-35s in the first attack. In the counter, the remaining SU-35s would engage in within-visual range dogfighting and, with their superior mobility, probably down two very expenisive American fighters. Of course, this is only theoretical, because there's many factors to consider (pilot skill, AWACS support, SAM/AA systems).

Though even with this strategy, Russia still has to produce the difference in equipment (they are not at full capacity yet). This is why their testing and employing new techniques and features. For instance, while the US bloats about "stealth" aircraft, Russia tests its own versatile stealth features on its long-range bombers and fighters over the Arctic. Though when concerning Russia, stealth is only one of many technological feats that they've played around with over the years.

Time Goes Fast?

I've noticed that time seems to fly by in the summer months. It's especially apparent now. For instance, here are some of the things that I'm noticing. For one, I remember back to when Kelci was counting down the days to her birthday camping trip, back when she was at 33 days, as if it were yesterday. I remember hearing that the new Indiana Jones movie was going to be released this year, and holy shit I'm going to be watching it tonight!

I even remember not being able to afford my firearms license on my 18th birthday back in February, and as we speak I'm filling out the forms with $80 burning in my pocket (thanks to my income tax return!).

I should probably be weary of this time discovery though. I don't know if time passes quickly simply because I can't remember most of it due to intoxication, but what I do know is that if I don't pay attention, I might fall behind in this school crap.

Three Little Black Fish

So the other day I went to Kamloops with no money. Somehow, near the end of the day, I ended up with over a hundred bucks burning in my wallet and the obsession to buy some fish. Low and behold, mostly thanks to Walmart being the only place left open, I acquired a 10 gallon starter aquarium with three little black moors. I even bought them a little battleship to swim around.

Apparently these guys get pretty big too. The wanker who sold these to me mentioned that they get big, but I didn't realize they meant 10 inches! That's friggin' huge! At least my aquarium can support them. I bought them because of their velvet appearance, but luckily for me they are extremely resiliant to low water temperature. Technically, I'm supposed to have my tank at 22*C, but it's down to around 20*C (not like I can heat it anyways). These guys are also vurnerable to overfeeding, so I'll have to slow down on that too.

Maybe these guys will multiply and I can create a navy of them, maybe strapping lasers to their heads or something.

Indiana Jones and the Grad Portfolio of Doom

Let's make this a double-feature!

First off, this grad portfolio is REALLY pissing me off. I just spent an hour writing in a bunch of stuff about my last job and the damn thing failed to save (meaning that it was lost forever). Really, why the hell should we even have to do one of these things? My cousin from Abottsford said that somebody complained about this a few years ago and they canned the portfolio. My English correspondance teacher didn't believe me when I told her that we still had to do it, and she noted that it's really only a burden on the teacher who has to mark it.

Hell, even previous grads, those who were supposed to get the super delux version of the portfolio symphathize with me rather than laugh at our misfortune. Why the hell isn't this thing optional? If it was optional, I probably would've knocked it off months ago just for something to do, but since it was pressured, I procrastinated and I need to get this fricken thing finished by Friday so I can shove my graduation credentials in Agar's smug face just so I can be blessed with the glory of being one of the few people actually setting up decorations (as opposed to standing around and fantasizing about everything that will NOT happen at grad itself). Sometimes I question the lengths I go through just to help my friends out. Hell, if I tell Agar to go screw himself, I could have at least an extra month to complete my English course and portfolio.

Isn't life just splendid?

Well, there's actually something that makes that question rhetorical. There's a new Indiana Jones movie coming out on the 22nd, and if you don't know, Indiana Jones is the epitome of any man alive (aside from Stalin, of course); He quests for humanity's greatest treasures, he hates Nazis, and most of all, he always gets the girl (unless she's a Nazi, like in the third movie). Although Indy is now old and will probably be killing Soviets by the dozen, it's still destined to awesomeness. I mean, c'mon, IT'S FREAKIN' INDIANA JONES!

Silent Hill - The Greatest Horror Series of All

The Silent Hill game series is by far the greatest, most complex and probably the most shit-bricks-in-your-pants scariest series ever created. The only thing that even comes close is Resident Evil, which was mostly zombies and shotguns, but now that series has gone to shit with its new and horrible action approach.

Silent Hill is based about events that take place in a fictional town, believed to be somewhere in New England, US. The town has a great history, starting off as native spiritual grounds and then a settlement by the English. However, an unknown plague wiped that settlement out. Sometime after that, the town was rebuilt to be used as a base for the American civil war, and housed a POW camp deep under Lake Toluca, which the town mostly surrounds. The return of the plague lead to the creation of two hospitals (emergency and long term care) and a sanitarium (probably just for the sake of being a scary place). Eventually the town boomed into three fair-sized areas into its modern day version.

The games themselves start to take place around the late 80s to current day. The principle storyline (0,1,3) is about a prevalent cult within the town that practices ancient rituals. They believe that they can revive an ancient "god" so they can have their promised land, and to do so, they produce a child with spiritual power only with the intention to sacrifice her at around age 8. The cult itself is very powerful, with its leaders being experts in the occult and a smartass doctor. They fund their activities via a local cocain-like drug called "white claudia". This activity eventually lead to police intervention, but after the cult managed to kill off several officers, they backed off.

Of course this is a very simple synopsis (mostly of the first game), because the entire series is famous for its details. The storyline is extremely brilliant and not so far off from actual occultic activities. There was a decent movie made for the series too, but sadly its storyline and most of the details were far off from the games (movies are never as complex as games), and the movie was very 'hollywoodized'.

The thing in the picture above is called "Pyramid Head", which is featured in the second SH game and mentioned in some others. It's probably the most popular and scariest thing in any horror game series. What it is, is questionable. Some believe its an apparition that provides reprecussion to a specific character while others believe that it is a sub-deity (one of two).

Drugs Pt.2

Certain narcotic drugs can be used to enhance specific aspects of perception. In fact, most drugs in the public market have this ability, with the exception of the few that are manufactured for the sole purpose of capitalism and have no real consideration for the health and dignity of the user (aka meth/crack).

My point is most prevalent in LSD, which is considered to be one of the most potent drugs available. LSD was originally created as a blood circulatory stimulant, but after Hofmann's magical bike ride in 1943, its primary use became apparent quickly. LSD started off as a government project, and the CIA experimented with it in many different ways. For instance, it was used on alcoholics in sanitariums where it successfully showed the patient an alternate perception on the effects of their alcoholism (ie the effects on their family) and had a high success rate.

LSD also had military considerations. Throughout the 60's, the CIA experimented on its own soldiers to view the negative effects of large doses of LSD. The idea was to litterally drop large clouds of LSD onto the enemy (Vietcong/ARVN) to make the enemy too incompetent to battle. However, LSD also had positive virtues aswell. The proper dosage could make a soldier feel little or no pain, and to have little influence by emotion (an upgrade from morphine). Also, through modern warfare, some soldiers (specifically snipers) have experimented with LSD and morphine because it allows them to see the battlefield in a new, more efficient and unpredictable way to the enemy. For instance, if a sniper who was hunting another sniper took LSD, they had a higher chance of percieving the location of their enemy through otherwise unknown differences.