Owner: Blast Shields Down URL:http://blastshieldsdown.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:38:53 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A place for the writings of two college students from Michigan, covering topics ranging from literature to movies, philosophy to pop culture, politics to insane ramblings and everything in between. Site statistics:Click here
Now that's the Life 2007-06-18 21:11:00 Yes... that is what you think it is.
Scully 2007-06-16 11:37:00 It’s funny how everything can change so quickly. People come and go like waves washing over a beach, slowly eroding the sand castle that you spent so much time building, slowly breaching those walls you put up. Feelings appear and vanish, transform and regress, sometimes without even your realization. It’s impossible to pinpoint any of it, especially when those sharp feelings recede into vague recollections. At least the lessons learned remain, even if you don't always follow them, and those memories that once brought pain and uncertainty are nostalgia-drenched to happiness. Sometimes I feel that is how I wish to view everything, through the lens of five years in the future where everything is shaded like a sepia picture. It would be so much nicer then, so surreal, like the plot of some Hollywood movie. It’s funny how one little moment can change everything, how an event can make you see things so differently, how you can be so certain of a thing one week and be lost th
State of the Blog 2007-06-21 15:03:00 My fellow… Er… nevermind… Well, it’s been almost three months since Caleb and I started the blog, and I just wanted to state a few things without having to be humorous or interesting… yes, this will just be boring. I hope you all have enjoyed our rambling on about Star Wars, super heroes and old Sci-Fi movies, though I'm not quite sure why you would. I sure have enjoyed writing this thing, though. But, today we surpassed 1,000 visits on the site, and we have around 1,500 pageviews, so I just want to thank everyone who has visited the site and read what we’ve had to say. Caleb and I both really appreciate it. In these past months we’ve had visitors from every continent (except for Antarctica, but I’m working on building some penguins a computer so we can change that… dammit, I said no jokes and that wasn’t even a good one). I would also like to thank the entire countries of… Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Brazil, Britain, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Read more:State
A Goodbye 2007-06-24 01:14:00 There are so many things that I wish I could express, but I can't. It is simply torture to feel a presence in a room and to look around, only to find nothing, and know that my one constant is gone forever.All I can say is that I could never have asked for a better friend. Read more:Goodbye
Star Wars Robot Chicken 2007-06-29 13:39:00 There was a Star Wars
special on Cartoon Network that aired a couple weeks ago. I meant to post about it then, but I forgot and then things happened... so, I'm just going to mention it now. Here's a link to the page about it: Star Wars RobotChicken
. It's really funny, especially if you've seen Star Wars, but maybe if you haven't. I found a few parts a little stupid and unfunny, but for the most part it was great.I'm not sure when it will air again, but I'm sure it will at some point. Here's a clip from it. Read more:Robot Chicken
Speechless 2007-07-02 23:07:00 George W. Bush is the Matt Millen of Presidents...I have nothing else to say. Read more:Speechless
Starship Captain 2007-07-02 12:11:00 Sometimes I think I should’ve been born in a different era. People always say that, people always crave change. For some reason, they want something new, something different. The grass is always greener on the other side, and probably dozens of other old sayings that don’t come to mind right at the moment. Sometimes, though, it does seem that it really is greener over there, or maybe it is just greener in fiction. Yeah… Maybe I would’ve been better off being born in a different reality, something that wasn’t so concrete, something more superfluous, somewhere more magical. I started re-reading Dune about a week ago. I’m not sure quite what gave me the urge to do it, but I picked it up and started reading it. I think it was some sort of yearning to read an epic space opera... I can't really believe I just used that phrase, but I'm just going to go with it. I would read for a while and then start to feel guilty about doing it and begin to talk myself into r Read more:Starship
, Captain
A Couple of Blog Links and Rambling 2007-07-01 13:56:00 Due to several startling accusations that this blog is beginning to resemble a "livejournal", I feel I need to respond. Firstly, the whole point of this endeavor was for Caleb and I to write about whatever the hell we wanted to, and I'm sticking to that point. Secondly, I don't ramble on about my problems or whine about anything. Anything that I write is going to have shades of my personal experiences in it, because, well... I wrote it. But, if I did want to complain about my love troubles or how I sunk a really sweet jump shot in basketball the other day, I will. Lastly, don't take offense to any of this... I enjoyed the comments and know they were not meant with any ill will. You know, to be safe, just don't be offended by anything I ever say.I have a couple of blog links today of a literary nature. Both sites are really hilarious (at least if you find bad grammar amusing). The first is Left Behind at the Fishbowl. Paul found this somewhere and I came across the link on h Read more:Rambling
A Duo of Sci-Fi Shows Resurrected 2007-06-30 11:09:00 Rejoice!Futurama and The X-Files are both getting new movies... hopefully, and I couldn't be more excited. They're two of the greatest TV shows of all-time, and at least Futurama was ended way too soon. I'll debate with you whether The X-Files was or not...Here's an interview with Matt Groening on some magazine/website I've never heard of, but it seems legit enough... and I remember reading Groening saying basically the same thing from another source. The basic gist is that they are releasing four straight to DVD movies, then chopping up the movies to play as episodes on Comedy Central. Sounds good to me.The X-Files news is a little less certain I suppose, given that I can't find any information on it from what resembles an actual news source, but whatever, I don't care. I'm going to just dive wildly into the hope and if my heart gets crushed, so what.Here's a link of some news and a supposed interview with David Duchovny. They call themselves "the movie reporter"... tha
Independence Day 2007-07-04 10:28:00 Happy Independence
Day, everyone. I'd just like to take this time to thank some of those responsible for my living in a federal republic and having the freedoms that all men should have.So, I'd like to thank:The ancient Greeks for their democracy,The British for curtailing the power of the King and producing such documents as The Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights,John Locke for his political philosophy,George Washington for his leadership and commitment to his ideals,Thomas Jefferson for the Declaration of Independence,Benjamin Franklin for convincing France to join the Revolutionary War,John Adams for his unwavering belief in independence,James Madison for federalism and the Constitution,The Anti-Federalists for the Bill of Rights,And all the statesmen, soldiers and ordinary people who were integral in achieving Independence from Great Britain and founding The United States of America. Read more:Independence Day
And as I am Peering down Springs Blouse... 2007-07-09 17:21:00 Why will I continue to search for meaning in a seemingly meaningless universe? Why must I reject those beautiful bouts of chaos? They hit me like pleasant strokes, bubbles in the brain-at the park last summer they floated through that cramped air and sun streaked sky. Sitting in the tub I am four and my mother’s blowing bubbles over my head and they stick to the white tile walls and the water is getting cold and the bath is full of mountains of white that keep popping and a hair floats by and I get scared. When the water is too chilly for me to take and the heater in the basement is already dead from exhaustion mother fills a pot on the stove. Pouring it over my toes I know she loves me. But then it was summer again and for some odd reason music sounded better then it ever had before. Something in the air had changed and what more than that, Spring had crept out from 45 degrees of rain into a stuffy car and suddenly its 63˚ at the city airport. And that damn it all to hell Apr Read more:Springs
, Blouse
Lions 2007-07-07 14:26:00 I’m not quite sure what the point of this article is, because every football fan already knows what I am about to say, and no one else cares, and its not even football season, but here it goes anyhow… I’m beyond hurt, I’m beyond caring… I’m just sick to my stomach. The Detroit Lions
were never great, but when I was a kid they had greatness. There was Barry Sanders to watch, the greatest running back ever to play the game. Watching him run was like watching a gazelle evading a cheetah, it was pure motion, pure elation. He was a little blue streak doing things that were not humanly possible. It was simple greatness. The Lions might not have won any games that actually mattered, they might have disappointed, but at least they won. At least they had players who you felt cared, who you knew were good and at least you figured that the people in charge knew what the hell they were doing. Not anymore. I’m not even going to name names. It’s just gone all downhill
Ein Aquarium Explodieren 2007-07-12 18:05:00 While I know most of you won’t understand the song, I think it’s a good song and should be enjoyable even without speaking German, and it’s pretty easy to understand what’s going on from the video. Besides, the destruction of the apartment is pretty damn awesome. Read more:Aquarium
Super Mario World 2007-07-16 17:06:00 Victory! Glorious, glorious triumph… After twelve long years, I have finally done it. I can finally die happy… I have saved The Princess… I have defeated Bowser… I have beaten SuperMarioWorld
. Is it just me, or does the Princess kind of look like she has a beard? Now, I know what you’re thinking… “Matt, that game is a million years old” and “Who the hell cares?” and “You’re a friggin’ moron”. I know I’ll get the same response I got when I finally saw the episode where Mulder and Scully kissed. No one cares because it happened so long ago, but hear me out… Super Mario
World is an amazing game! It’s definitely in my top five favorite games of all time along with Ocarina of Time, Civilization II, and a few others. The controls are so fluid and responsive, the levels so innovative, the gameplay so fun. Isn’t it every kids dream to beat SMW? Freeing Yoshi from the eggs and all the secret exits and that crazy koopa in Read more:Super Mario World
Maid Marian 2007-07-18 22:16:00 I've been getting some suggestions lately, which is good... I'm glad to have ideas on what to write about, but normally it just doesn't work that way. To write anything that I consider good, I need to be in the mood to write on the subject... so instead of writing a season preview for Michigan football, or posting funny youtube videos, I'm just going to ramble for a while about a subject that I know nothing about.I guess it doesn't help that the first lesson of love I remember came from a Disney movie. As a child I watched Robin Hood daily, and a hen always told me that, "absence makes the heart grow fonder". I'm not sure if that's true, but maybe if something is meant to be it is. Maybe crocodiles do truly come back if they are yours... or butterflies, if you'd rather. Sometimes, I think that maybe absences just make it easier for the girl to forget about me, to convince herself that it is best to stay apart. I don't know. I never find that that's true for me though, Read more:Marian
Wii Impressions 2007-07-25 14:11:00 BSD has been slow lately for a variety of reasons… my internet being sketchy, reading of the seventh Harry Potter, my getting used to my glasses and not having as much time to write lately. With two of those problems solved, I’ll try to get writing on a semi-regular basis, though I have no word on Caleb. Thanks to Paul, I’ve had a Nintendo Wii
for the past couple of days and a whole bunch of games. While I haven’t played any of them long enough to actually “review” them, I just wanted to give my impressions on some of them and the console as a whole. I’ll probably do this again with some more games once I’ve played more. Oh, and I’m going to try to make it through this whole post without a penis joke, but I’m not guaranteeing anything. Wii SportsIt brings me back to the good old days when my Genesis came with Sonic the Hedgehog. While really more of a tech demo than anything I guess, it really is a fun collection of mini games. There are a few differ Read more:Impressions
Telemarketers and Resumption 2007-07-24 13:10:00 If Heather from "Accounts Services" is reading this, I know there is currently no problem with my credit card account seeing as I have no credit card account. Stop calling me!In other news, I'll be back tomorrow with a longer post. Read more:Telemarketers
Michigan and Trumbell 2007-07-27 19:46:00 I have no idea when the first time I saw Tiger Stadium was, or what transpired at any games that I attended there, but what I do remember I feel is far more important. I’m not sure if I would have turned out any differently had I never visited the stadium, but I cannot imagine a childhood without lazy summer days spent in a ballpark. I remember those long low tunnels and the great expanses of green everywhere. I remember the sea gulls and the hot dog vendors and watching batting practice. I can still remember sitting in those plastic chairs eating peanuts with my dad and even if I wasn’t paying complete attention to the game, I was learning to love it, I was soaking in the atmosphere. I’m not even sure what more I can express about baseball or childhood or the Detroit Tigers that I have yet to in this space. It meant everything to a kid from Dearborn, to a Detroiter at heart whose blood was full of motor oil, to sit in that stadium and be part of something that stretche Read more:Michigan
Utopia 2007-07-30 16:01:00 While watching Star Trek, I was always led to believe that The Federation was some sort of utopia. Their ships seem to be built for science and exploration just as much as they are for battle, and there is economic cooperation between the member worlds. Half the time they are off to stop some epidemic or to solve some dispute, or getting caught in some sort of alternate time period, but there really isn't that much warfare (honestly to my annoyance). Humans have stopped fighting one another, disease has been pretty much eradicated, starvation solved, and Earth seems to be a peaceful and as Q put it, "boring" place. I always questioned what the government was, and the economic system and about the freedoms of the place, but they seem to make it a pretty damn nice place to live.That all changed when I watched the Deep Space Nine episode "If Wishes Were Horses". How the hell am I supposed to believe this utopia if humans have stopped playing baseball? That's just ludicrous. Read more:Utopia
Cats and Dogs 2007-08-03 15:01:00 I'm not really sure how to say this. It's hard to even think about, to tell you all the truth, but I suppose it is my duty to my readers to come clean on all manner of distasteful things. So... here it is: Caleb is now a Spartan. He will be attending Michigan State University this fall. Why? I have no idea. Having an enemy in my midsts is not comforting, but as the old axiom goes, keep your friends close, but... But he's a Spartan and I'm just going to have to live with sharing this blog with one of their kind, I suppose. I don't like it, but accommodations must be made and I will soldier on. Besides, he's already showing his Spartan work-ethic by never posting. You'd think that they would have taken there name from something lazier than a Spartan... made they should be The Michigan State Bureaucrats or something...Anyhow, I'm honestly happy for Caleb. I just hope he enjoys his time there, and besides, now I get to be nastier to MSU once football season starts.In othe
Machines Are Out to Get Us 2007-08-01 23:25:00 While surfing the web I came across this article from PC World. I hate to make light of this find, but I can't really help it. It just makes me think of the Futurama episode where all the robots rebel on Mother's Day.Fry: Yeah, uh, I'd like a cup of coffee, please.Coffee Machine [pleasant voice]: Would you like cream?Fry: Yes, please.Coffee Machine [crazy voice]: OUT OF CREAM!Fry: Oh, uh... okay.Coffee Machine [pleasant voice]: Would you like sugar in your coffee?Fry: Yes, uh, eight spoons.Coffee Machine [crazy voice]: OUT OF COFFEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!Fry: Uh, Lila... I think there might be something wrong with the coffee machine.The coffee machine then begins to spray Fry with coffee, yelling "how do you like me nooooooooow?! Hahahahaha!"So great. Oh... and I guess maybe this printer particle thing might be serious or something like that. I'm just glad I have an inkjet...
Triumphant Returns 2007-08-11 11:56:00 Well, I am home... and my fantasy baseball team is in shambles. I'm out of first place for the first time since Harding was in office thanks to some Toronto team. It's pretty fishy that I should be in Canada while Toronto overtakes me for the lead. I'm going to be looking into this.Some stuff happened while I was away, but as Kudron put it, "nothing happened while you were gone", so I'm not going to mention any of it. I should start posting again, but I make no promises. Read more:Returns
NORAD of Camelot 2007-08-15 15:46:00 I'm not really sure if anyone understands human relationships, or how they even can. I know that I don't, and I'd bet the farm that I never will. I'm pretty sure that it takes truly understanding the other person to have that sort of connection, and who even understands themselves that well? How is it even possible? It's getting to the point where I'm beginning to think that human social interactions are just too complex for our species' intelligence. I have never met any two humans that have a relationship that can be said to be easy that truly care for one another. That can't be said about dogs or rabbits or pigmy marmosets, can it? Do dolphins passive-aggressively torture one another? Do they get into fights for no reason? Do they play mind games with one another and obsess over every little thing until they go insane? No, they fight or play or ignore one another, or whatever else, but they don't really have so many problems. I'm not saying they aren't complex Read more:Camelot
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes: A short piece on fear 2007-08-23 21:46:00 Some of the scariest things in life aren’t phobias but necessities. When people grow up they put better names to things, but when we’re young we don’t have sociophobia, agoraphobia, and necrophobia, you’re just scared, of things like strangers, being alone, and bogeymen. I do not know about you, but most of my greatest fears in life are those same things I was afraid of when I was just a little kid. But I’m not talking about losing a toy or a person or yourself, I’m talking about that feeling you got every Halloween that’d cause you to bring your legs up close to your body in bed just in case a madman tried to chop off your legs. Before I even knew what a madman was, what was really mad, what Friday the thirteenth meant or why white vans were terrifying I knew I was scared of all of them, with no little help from my older brother. For years I slept in the center of my bed, clutching a heavy flashlight (and in later years a police baton), my arms folded over my chest l Read more:piece
The Gauntlet 2007-08-29 19:44:00 Remember when video games were hard? Yeah me too. People complain about video games now, but there is nothing bad that can be said about any game that you didn’t have to pound on just to get it to play. The hardware error that companies like Nintendo, Sega, and Atari built into there cartridge platforms bread a whole generation of wife beating children who, even before you could kill whores and steal cars in Liberty City, were reverting to violence to solve their problems. I pounded on Donkey Kong harder than Mario did to Princess Peach, or King Kong did to Fay Wray.Looking back it occurs to me now that besides being harder to start these games were also harder to play than anything on the market today. The controls for some of the classic and super Nintendo games are alright, but that’s easy when all you do is run and jump. But in the original Donkey Kong even athletic great Mario jumped like a ballet dancer on acid. Once you get to Jurassic Park on the Genesis, the one pla
BLANK 2007-09-02 10:39:00 I had planned on writing a preview for Michigan when I came home on Tuesday. I had planned a bombastic ramble about the virtues and greatness of the Wolverines, of how their glories would be unsurpassed this year, how they would sweep through the teams they played, vanquish Ohio State and I would be on that field at The Big House with the players and my fellow students, running and laughing and without a doubt happier than I have been in my entire life. Now… now I’m just empty. I feel like a shell of my former self. I cannot even bring myself to type the words that are required to explain what happened. I guess I’ll just post a few links later… it’ll be less painful that way. Besides, I didn’t even see the game, I say helpless and watched the scoreboard online, sat and stared in shocked, unbelieving horror at those numbers. Those impossible, unfathomable numbers. And as I watched, a knot formed in my gut, no not in my gut, of my gut… and I watched as my one
Greatest Movie Ever! 2007-09-21 16:52:00 This is just incredible... the potato/broccoli duel... the dance scene that should have had Max Rebo in it... the sex scene... the tomato suicide?! Simply amazing, utterly hilarious and horrifying at the same time. Sophocles would be proud... Read more:Greatest
Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame 2007-09-17 16:19:00 Maybe I'm odd, but after a good Notre Dame drubbing, I like to go around humming the Notre Dame fight song. I only know the first two lines, but everyone knows the tune, right? It's probably because I'm such a smug bastard, but it really lifts my spirits to know that we defeated the Fighting Irish for another year. I know I have a long list of sports enemies, but Notre Dame is at the top of it... I hate them with everything that I have. I at least can understand why some people might be Ohio State fans if they live in Columbus, or Yankees fans if they live in New York, but Notre Dame fans? It's not like anyone actually lives in Indiana... I've been there, I know (more on that soon). And if you do happen to live in Indiana for some odd reason, you should root for Indiana or Purdue or someone like that... even Utah.Moving on to the real reason for this post... we won. Michigan finally got a victory, and did it with conviction. Throughout the day I kept hearing "Is Michigan t
Blank, redux 2007-09-13 17:39:00 The old anecdote goes that when the upstart Continental Army defeated the British at Yorktown, Cornwallis refused to meet Washington after the battle and sent an aide to present his saber to his American counterpart. It is said that the British band started playing “The World Turned Upside Down”, a song that I have never heard, and perhaps never will, but I can still somehow sing in my head right now. I have never sympathized with Cornwallis, not until now… I feel like nothing makes sense anymore, a issue that is only further emphasized by the fact that the Lions actually didn’t completely choke this game away, that a last minute fumble actually went their way. Michigan is winless and the Detroit Lions are undefeated… I’m not sure I can explain any further. In 2003, I was in High School and my dad was cooking duck on a September day that was supposed to be a good joke, a little arrogant celebration after Michigan defeated Oregon. The duck was still good, but it was
A Serious Moment... 2007-09-07 13:47:00 There’s something really magical about sitting around at two in the morning the night before a big test, in your underwear, slamming down milanos, pounding the keys and rocking out to sympathy for the devil. It’s a wild a feeling when you’ve left the windows open and there’s a shiver rising up you, straight from your belly and jittering legs. "Please to met you, hope you guessed my name."Singing in the shower is all right, but sometimes I like to dance too. I know it isn’t a good idea, because I could slip and fall, but I don’t mind, I do it anyways.I don’t especially like Tricks cereal. Also it turns your poop green. Superman ice cream has the same effect, but I can’t help but eat it for the sake of childhood nostalgia. And it makes me feel little less like Clark Kent. When I hear tornado sirens it makes me wish I was having sex with a beautiful and caring woman. Someone I really loved. That way, if we died at least we’d be happy. At least I know I would. Read more:Moment
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