old video games FTW

I miss things from my youth..

Well, don't you? I mean life these days contains working, squeezing meals in between, trying to attempt to maintain some small semblance of a social life and try all the other dozens of things one hopes to finish and accomplish on the side. It's only natural that we often resort in memory to those simpler times, those things we enjoyed so much in our youths.

I'm sure everyone does once in a while, the new and fresh charm of the best cartoon movie you ever had, or that place you used to go to have fun like a fair or park. That fun game one would always play with their friends or that cool place one went to every Summer. One thing that really makes me feel nostalgic has to be playing the old video games for Super Nintendo I used to love so damn much. That was it for me.

I was a mega-nerd when I was a kid, so video games were definitely one of the more exciting aspects of my happy but typical suburban life. In one moment I was a bored kid, the next I would press this magical button and would near instantly become enthralled into a mystical world of swords, magic, villains and pretty girls who wanted me to save them. If I found this realm to be not to my liking, I would instantly change that world into one where I was an incredible martial arts expert and would beat, smash, and defeat my enemies with lightning speed. Looking back on how it felt at that age, it's almost incredible.

After playing some of these again, it's almost as if I'm transformed into a world I once lived in - sure simple, not three dimensional, basic and with MIDI music. But that's what I loved about it... the simplicity, the charm of the colourful graphics. The well thought out and interesting story lines. When I was young, innocent, and perhaps naive it was this simple enchanting music that used to help transform the world around me into a beautiful place where I was the adventurer and there was a great problem that only I could solve. The possible achievements were endless and imaginative.
And more than that, it was a refuge from the more boring aspects of the real world at the time. School, rainy days, evenings with nothing to really do. It became a place I recall I grew more and more fond of over the years.

Is there any real way to replicate that sensory igniting and creatively immersing feeling that I had, that could only becoming involved in such a quest or adventure?

When I got older I found myself feeling less and less 'involved' in video games. Perhaps that was just the reality of growing up kicking in, or maybe it was something more. Maybe that cathartic-like feeling that seeped from the very best games, that would steal me away from the boring and normal real world into it's own designed existence of power and the romances of epic adventure. Oh, how I miss that.

That's the whole reason I saved and spent so much money on an X-box 360 which I purchased while living in Shanghai. So I could sit down with a beer and attempt to relax, and find my way back into that world that I feared I had lost.


But it's not the same anymore. Or is it?
Sure, my new games look more real than a video game world to me has ever looked. In one of my games it literally looks as if I am in this beautifully designed world featuring endless forests of various trees and in the distance I can see what looks like cold, windswept mountains. These newer gaming systems are superb - the graphics are smooth and admirable, the very technical controllers easy to become familiar with, and the games larger than life in many cases. And they will only get better as time goes on I would imagine.

.... But that special feeling is not all there anymore. I know not it's gone, lost in my youth, a kind of idealism that there's wonder yet in the world - at least the alternative electronically-powered fantasy world of my choosing. The feeling of possibilities being endless and the stories and adventures requiring your great skill. It was a part of my youth.


But sometimes when I'm deeply involved in a plot or mission - a quest or adventure there is a spark inside my gut.

- Oh yes, it's there all right. Buried under years of baggage and cynicism of the real world, but I know it's there. This is why I keep buying video games, at my age.

Bei Jing Gong Zuo

Working in Beijing has definitely been one of the more unique experiences I've yet to come across - true enough I had my Shanghai adventures some time more over a year ago which offered similiar experiences and stories, but this city here really is the heart of China.

And with being the heart of China means being at the heart of Chinese business. And boy oh boy, is Chinese business one to not forget. When I first arrived in the city by train I had no job, no apartment, no prospects and it was the dead cold of Winter. I knew I had to get things in gear and focus to build myself a life here with my love and my amicable working skills. Teaching ESL seemed ideal - and maybe in the future I would learn Chinese on the side, proper Chinese (well this is said of Beijing talk, but to be honest it sounds like they are speaking normal Chinese with their cheeks stuffed full of rocks). So I knew that I had to find a great, high paying ESL job.

Now my former experience living in Shanghai was that I had a great ESL job provided for me which paid for my accomodations working with a successful business run by a westerner - a South African, actually - and this worked out well for me. My income per month was 8000 RMB and I only had to pay for my maid (sweet!) and my utility bills. I was hoping on finding something similar this time.

And so my internet searching adventures began. I sent out at least a dozen applications, and received a lot of replies. One offering 5000 per month and no apartment, another offering 7000 per month with a tiny dorm apartment included. Then I saw it, in big flashing font before my eyes - 10,000 RMB 40 hours per week in the north west side of the city. I sent the email with my CV a resume, hoping it was a done deal.

But no, ohhhh no. Not quite so much. It turned out the job was posted online by a job agency, and the character running this job agency was as shady as anyone I'd ever met. She got me the job, but then began to add all sorts of stipulations - if I did this I would lose 100 RMB from my pay, if I was so many minutes late I would lose 500 RMB. And then she tried to change the contract around altogether ... how about instead of having a flat 10,000 RMB per month, she offered me so much money per class? Um... how about no?

And when one doesn't accept these 'generous' offers, of course the Chinese agent acts hurt and wronged. But we both know the only thing not changing is that I would be sacrificing about 2000 RMB for no reason if I accepted her sneaky evil offer. Does she think I'm some sort of moron?

So now I currently work at Beijing Foreign Language University (Bei Jing Wai Guo Yu Da Xue) as an English teacher and I've found myself quickly regretting it. The work itself is fine, exactly what I expected. What I don't like is the Chinese business practice of the school's appointed manageress to deal with me, and my own hired job agent.
But there is light on the horizon... Oh yes, things are possibly looking up. My contract with this school and it's rotten manageress ends by the first month of Summer, and that will coincide with the time I fire my agent, give her the can as they say, and arrange my own employment. Sometimes in life one has to get it together and realize they are smart, prepared, and resourceful enough to do these things on their own without the help of an insidious third party only out to make a few kuai off of your every action.

So make no mistake, living in China can be a wonderful experience full of great friends, memories, and one can even make a healthy amount of money. But there's monetary predators out there - and the means of Chinese business at least when dealing with foreigners tends to be focused on gaining money and therefore 'face'. It's up to you whether that face of theirs is gained at your expense or not.

The Arab League... needs a slap in the yap

There are fewer things that annoy me more in the world of international politics than politicized tools being created with the excuse of the ideas of justice, fairness, equality, or any of the usual token good things politicians like to babble on about. The International Criminal Court is one of them, and as the Americans themselves have said it is something that is being used the wrong way more often than not and with basically the wrong premise.
Why on earth should other people in another country deserve the right to decide my own fate when I'm not there, or probably have never been there nor met these said judges? To me the whole thing kind of smells bad. And should have been disbanded already.

But then, there's the other side of the coin. Do we all remember the nutjob who somehow gained enough power in Sudan to oust the Prime Minister and become President, one Omar Hassan al-Bashir? To remind everyone, he was the same guy who was recently responsible for millions of people being displaced from their homes and towns, and worse thousands upon even more deaths. The same guy who has more blood on his hands than most people alive today, if not a record setter for Sudan itself these days. Now we combine these two things and we have the International Criminal Court - the ICC's Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, not surprisingly alleged that al-Bashir bore individual criminal responsibility for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since 2003 in Darfur. And seeing the deeds of his orders and his regime the arrest warrant subsequently issued indicting him on five counts of crimes against humanity - being the usual murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape - and two other counts of war crimes -pillaging and intentionally directing attacks against civilians - it is no surprise. The man is likely - okay, guilty of these things. He's a brutal ruler who deserves whatever kind of punishment is issued to him. He's a bad guy for sure. But the ICC? ... really?

Sure, I don't agree with this arm of international justice, but then I am conflicted about what to do if the man is free to live and reign in Sudan as if he has no troubles quite possibly for the rest of his life as so many bloody dictators and rules have in the recent past.

But then another problem is thrown into this equation - The Arab League(TM). Gathering for one of their usual summits in Doha yesterday while understandably attempting to patch out their own differences it seemed they had little trouble almost unanimously agreeing that not only would they not recognize the ICC's issued arrest warrant, which is somewhat understandable. But that they would embrace Al-Bashir and fully support him as their friend and equal. The President of Syria touted what seemed to be the old song that the bloodsoaked problems of Sudan would be discussed among them after the criminals who set Palestine and Lebanon ablaze were issued arrest warrants or brought to justice. And this idea played well with the vast majority of the leaders present at the conference, much to the embarassment of the Arab world I would hope.

Defying the ICC on the whole pretext of it's existence I can understand - although in truth I had originally hoped that the Arab League would evolve seeing the world's situation to be a tool to fix the problems nations across the Golden Crescent were facing, not a politicized group of world leaders whom would protect and even embrace a fellow local state's sheerly because that said leader opposed such an international institution such as the ICC for that reason alone or worse one that is such a wretched man as Al-Bashir. The Arab League should be condemning him utterly, not buying into the idea that opposition to the United Nation's Security Council and the ICC at the expense of their own dignity by offering support for this tyrant is the solution to unifying their ideals and political aims.

Sure the ICC is lame. I get that - sure it was a good idea but with a bad theoretical premise in it's creation and even worse in its hopes for its ruling's implementations - and ignoring it's warrants is not necessarily bad thing... not at all compared to offering support for one of this millenia's worst rulers alive so far. Get it together guys. Is he really worth using as a symbol against your perceived view of western lead aggression on Arab leaders? Really? Because there's other more reasonable and good ways to go about it.
.... This guy isn't going to end up with 72 virgins and you all know it.

Tibetan Serf Emancipation Day... okay we GET IT

Well a couple of days ago the Tibetans and Chinese celebrated the end of serfdom in Tibet, and what better a way to celebrate it than to have rows upon rows of Tibetans - mostly older folk and of course young girls holding little red flags - arranged in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa while selected speakers discussed their horrible experiences under the old Tibetan Lama regime and the new opportunities that the change in government the experienced brought them. As many people know, Tibet was a part of China for hundreds of years until the chaos of the early 20th century known as the 'Warlords Period' when it and many other parts of the old Chinese Empire broke off into powerful and semi autonomous states, only to be reunited again by Mao Zedong and the communist regime. Of course this would inspire over half a century of mostly American-lead political disdain towards the Chinese and the rise of the popular western cry 'Free Tibet!' - a cry that was somewhat renewed with new energy and zeal prior to and during the recent Chinese hosted Olympics here in Beijing. Protesters would be present at airports when the Chinese Premier would visit different cities worldwide, and the rise of the popular idea that crying out for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet was somehow a push for the fight against tyranny, despite the fact more often than not I find that these protesters are usually uninformed or unaware of the history of Tibet and more importantly the political situations of the Tibetan peoples. And more often than not in this case I regret to say I find this to be correct.

I'm not a Marxist by any means, but the system before the Chinese reasserted their central rule from Beijing was certainly a feudal(ish) one and exploited it's lower classes by all means. The Lama regime didn't give a rats ass about the serfs (I hesitate to say slaves entirely) and the Dalai Lama himself was the world's largest scale slave owner of the 20th century. The Lamas seemed to have nearly 100% of the wealth and control of goods, and lived much more well off than the commoners. And people were literally their property, and if not serfs then they were the poor monks whom were forced to beg for simple things like food and drink based on the monastic ruling system in place which favoured only the elites.

Certainly it is true that in modern times the PRC has improved life for the majority of people Tibet - more cash has been funneled into the infrastructure and lives of the lower classes in the last half century in Tibet than ever under the Lama regime one could argue. Think of Communism and China what you will, this is a fact.
It was a genuine end to serfdom. A modern Tibetan under the PRC lives a far, far better life than any of their ancestors before the Chinese retook Tibet. Something for the sign wavers to dwell on perhaps.

Quite honestly I feel a lot of people justify their red Sinophobia with the excuse that 'the poor Tibetans are being bullied/persecuted' - quite frankly they are at the same level as all peoples across the whole of the PRC under that same government. They are not ethnically being persecuted at all, unless you're a rioter - and a Han rioter in Beijing would have the same kind of punishment or worse. The Tibetans in China (PRC) are also just as welcome to join the Communist Party and partake in governmental process there if they so choose - which many Tibetans actually do. And ironically enough the Tibetans are doing better under the said 'evil' PRC regime than they ever were under the tyrannical religious Lama regime, which originally was set up as a Mongol puppet to begin with and pursued policies of public humiliation, torture, and rough executions until it was overthrown. It was a regime that deserved to be shattered and I'm personally glad it's forever gone. It is impossible to deny that Mao and the PRC did the Tibetans a service by crushing the Lama regime. Of course the debate becomes complex when we continue on to think of what it was replaced with, a regime in itself that for decades would be stained in it's own bright red coloured bloodshed.

... And on the side as a reminder lets not all forget that the Dalai Lama was never the 100% sovereign ruler of Tibet in theory or historical practice anyway. His position, while viewed as 'ancient' took the reigns of power in it's own historical governmental coup thanks to the Mongols and their yoke... there was quite another set of rulers in power before the said Dalai Lama and his chosen regime. And while probably as medievally barbarous in their dealings and rulings, they existed back then. The Dalai Lama ruled up until recently on the historical scale.

So let's return to the present, as I didn't mean to engage in a long and winding history lesson that is vividly spotted with my opinion. The idea of a Serf Emancipation Day in Tibet isn't a bust - the method in which it was carried out perhaps was, and done lamely to in a fashion only the Chinese could imagine - if any of you saw footage from Lhasa two days ago - but in the end my advice to the pot-smoking hippy lunatics who intend on making their life purpose to annoy foreign governments for populist reasoning they don't really know much of or understand I only beg that they take the time to do at least the slightest bit of research. It's not at if it is being labeled a 'Happy Tibet Since the 50s Day'. And no, the PRC isn't the most wonderful polity in the world and Mao himself as we know was a brutal leader, but China has drastically improved that land from the one at least the Tibetans were forced to live in. As of late especially. And the fact is Mao's long gone - your calls for the return of the regrettably very much alive Dalai Lama and the return of his sadistic regime aren't helping anyone and possibly making the situation in Tibet even more strict. Making 'communist' a pejorative while pushing the idea that Lama and government together is not, is well, bordering insanity. Think about it. And be honest, you don't really know what you're talking about, do you? ;)

... And to my dear friend China, please stop trying to shove it down all our western throats so much. We're choking on it. A small taste, tastefully done is what might do the trick. Some of us actually get it. I respect what was done in the removal of the Lama regime, but don't play it off like it was something pretty and done with clean hands and that everyone is perfectly happy today. Reality is never that clean, nor ever has to have perfect rows of elderly people sitting on plastic stools lamely listening to endless winding speeches about freedom. Call me a pessimist, but let the millions of dollars you are investing into that land speak for itself, hospitals and roads and schools go a lot further than lame celebrations that no one seems to really enjoy... although I respect the symbolism of it all - having a special day to inspire the indignation of the more ignorant people in the world will only cause heightened trouble, and annoy the hell out of me when I'm trying to watch English language TV.

The voyage to written adventure..?

A new blog! My first one, and what better a place to rant. But what about...? I'm in the typing mood today, so I guess it's... books and reading.
It's rare that you find people reading the classics these days.
No, I don't mean Bram Stoker or Jane Austen, Mark Twain or even Dostoyevsky. I mean genuine classics. I'm talking Beowulf, Dante, or good old fashioned Homer. I fully appreciate the fact that people have different literary tastes and for the most part the number one English language books being sold these days are the various biographies of Barack Obama among the excellent modern fictional literature - I'm looking at you Cormac Mccarthy - but in the whirlwind of upcoming and numerous writers and technologies for reading and consuming stories with our kindles and our audio books have we lost track of literature's humble beginnings in western civilization?

The classic stories of adventure and mayhem that have defined our culture have faced one great foe in this last century which I think they can't recover from - that is their own popularity over time to fall back into obscurity. People think they've seen the film, or heard the ending all to often. And all to often they choose to neglect the admirable beauty of the story in it's full original form based on the preconception that they know it through and through without ever hearing any of the original words of the tale. But I do know this, the stresses of life and work and easily escape accompanying Erik and his men on a great saga of a journey to Vinland - Escape the feeling of being lost in life when accompanying Odysseus and his men into a fuckton of misadventures in being truly lost.
...Oh, that and the weakness of translation from old English and other languages into our modern day talk. That's always a problem.

But then again who am I to complain of all this, I who have not dug out half of the old books I spend countless dollars on purchasing with the intent of illuminating myself with. In Canada I have a room filled with books of some type of classic nature or another - my Roman stories lay unread and my Persian poetics untouched, collecting dust. I, who criticize others for not taking the time, I who spend so much on books I so rarely read, I who point my blaming fingers at all you am in truth the worst of this kind. It seems I always have too many things to read and when I do manage to have free time I tend not to use it to read at all, but rather to socialize and explore things outside my home. Truth is, there's just enough time in the day. And I bet you're the same, if you're a reader.

I suppose in the end I understand the reason other people don't have time to engulf themselves in literature - the same reasons the books are collecting dust in my 'library' (Or was it a study?... damn, I forget) - and that reason is audio books.
Damn them and their exciting narrators, which sound so much more pleasant than that voice that reads books for me in my head.

/ End of first nonsensical rant.