Humans > Animals - Serious Rant

If you live in the United Kingdom, you've probably heard the terrible news of a teenager being killed by four dogs in the Greater Manchester area. Sadly enough, this tragic scenario plays out far too often, with people, primarily young children, being killed by dangerous and viscous dogs. This may sound ridiculous, but why are we letting these dogs remain in our society when they've been known to attack people on a very, very regular basis?

This has brought up an issue that I have held close to my heart for a long time now. Ever since I've been earning money, I have donated to several different charities. The charities I deem most worthy of my hard earned money are Cancer Research, NSPCC and Amnesty International. Every now and again, however, I am approached in the street by a charity worker who is representing an animal charity, such as the RSPCA or WWF. I'm never rude to these people, but I can tell you now that these people will never see one penny of my money. Why you ask? Because I feel that while we still have humans, our own species, being killed, trafficked into sex industries, starving and dying of curable illnesses, then our attentions have to stay focussed on what is important, preserving human life. 

People who donate to animal charities always come up with the same line every time. "The animals can't protect themselves". Variants of this phrase have been used in the official RSPCA advert drives during the Christmas holidays. This line of argument has always irritated me. Leaving aside the whole evolution side of things which, as an argument against a charity is pretty dickish in itself, this argument assumes that all humans can protect themselves from their circumstances. Bullshit. Do you think that a baby in a war-torn part of Africa who is born into illness and suffering can dictate that he does not deserve this treatment? Do you think a young girl who is abused by her parents every day, physically and mentally, can just open her mouth and make it all stop? Yes, it's sad that animals can't tell you when they're being mistreated, but it's unacceptable when human beings are put in that same position, without a voice and in constant pain. You can say that animal cruelty is always caused by humans and that's why we have to protect them. Well guess what? human cruelty is also caused by humans, and I care much more for a week and helpless child being abused than a puppy. Call me an evil man, but I can't sit idly by while I see people like myself living in such poor circumstances just because they happen to have been born in a different country. That's just wrong. 

So I get back to the original point of this piece. while researching, I have found that, since 2005, eight children and five adults have been killed in dog attacks, with hundreds more being injured in that same time period. That's outrageous. Many of the attacks can be narrowed down to a certain number of dog breeds. For example, in the most recent fatality of a fourteen year old girl, it's been suggested that the dogs involved were Mastiffs and Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Two dogs which have been known for violent attacks for year, and even bred to be attack dogs. I know it's unfair to say an entire dog breed is inherently bad because of its breeding, but these dogs are no longer needed for their bred purposes and are now dangerous to have in modern society. The reason there isn't a more stringent set of Dog Ownership Laws in this country? The animal lobby is too powerful and will not allow it. MPs are scared to vote on such bills as they would lose voters. In my opinion, you would either need to bring in dog licences, if not just for these dangerous dogs then all dogs, or just remove dangerous dogs from this country to stop any more attacks on children and adults alike. My dad was attacked by a dog several times, each time getting progressively worse until it became apparent that this dog was unsafe to have in the community any more. On the last attack, the dog threw him over a car bonnet and pounced on him afterwards. If it wasn't for a neighbour in his community which helped lure the dog away, that dog could have serious injured, even killed my father as a child. He followed legal proceedings with his parents after that to have the dog put down for being a threat to people, in which he was successful. You have the right to say he was cruel for that, but my father feared for his life whenever he walked down his street knowing that dog was there. That's not a life anyone wants to lead. Living in constant fear. Nothing should make you feel that way in your life, be it another person or animal. 

I have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison - Short Story Review

REVIEW MOVED TO:

https://rambolicrambler.wordpress.com/

A Quick Aside...

Hello there,

For those who view my site, thank you very much. I know I haven't had too many view and I don't exactly post regularly due to real life commitments, but the fact that people actually read or view my ramblings is an encouraging thought for any writer.

First thing I wanted to say was feel free to comment on any of my reviews or ramblings. I would love to communicate with the people who read my blog to see what people think or even agree. It's all well and good me venting on here, but the idea of opening a discussion on some of my pieces is a very interesting concept. So, yeah feel free.

Secondly, if you do want to comment on my things or write to me, let me know what you would like the most on here. From views alone, it looks like my reviews of old PS1 games are viewed the most, but I'd like to post more varied content. Baring in mind I will be doing all of these at some point, but I will put more effort into the more popular stuff:

• Game Reviews - I have a couple of games in mind for reviews. One I'm waiting on to arrive which I'm super excited for. I will mostly do Playstation 1 and 2 games in my reviews, but I do own a GameCube, Xbox 360, Wii and Dreamcast (somehow), as well as a lot of Nintendo handhelds. So suggestions would be nice, or else I'll just wallow in nostalgia if not. I will also continue my 'A Non-Gamer's Guide To Gaming' series, in which I take a popular game and try to explain it through the eyes of a gaming idiot.
• Creepypastas - I do write these on the SomeOrdinaryGamers wiki, and I do plan to continue that. Again, I have a few ideas for stories, it's just getting them into a coherent and, most importantly, scary story. I only have one story up at the moment, called Bead Dice Sky, which was my first real attempt. Be gentle.
• Other Reviews - Again, I have some ideas for non-gaming reviews, including album reviews (which this blog actually started off as), movie reviews and short story reviews, one which I will get crackin on after this is posted.
• Rants - The clue's in the name. Just me babbling about things. You know, like a ....blog

If there's anything else you'd like to see on here, my opinion on different things etc, just let me know. I'd be very grateful for feedback on my pieces to help me grow as not only a blogger, but a writer.

That's all from me, guys. I'm not very good at ending posts....so....

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (PS1) - Game Review

REVIEW MOVED TO:

https://rambolicrambler.wordpress.com/

I've written a Creepypasta!

Yes! That's right! Not only am I arrogant enough to think you care about my opinion on games and music, but NOW I'm arrogant enough to think you give a shit about my fictional writing!!

All joking aside, I've been a fan of this form of literature for a while, mostly thank to a YouTube channel called Some Ordinary Gamers, which showcase them. Recently, they've set up their own site for posting said Creepypastas, so I've decided to throw my story into the fray.

It's called Bead Dice Sky. Without ruining it, it's about a computing teacher who is sent a hacked game by one of his more mysterious students. It's not based on any specific game, as the game in the creepypasta is actually original.

If you're interested, then go have a look and help me out!

Thanks!

http://someordinarygamers.wikia.com/wiki/Bead_Dice_Sky

A Non-Gamers Guide To: Minecraft

If you own a PC, you've probably already heard of this fairly massive phenomenon. You can't look around YouTube without seeing some kind of Minecraft gameplay. Be it parody, modded or 'vanilla', this simple yet addicting game has pretty much taken over.

The Background

Minecraft was the brain child of a single mind, Markus Persson, although he is better known by his nickname – Notch. There is speculation that his idea had already been made by a group of people and their game, Infiniminer, with the slight difference that this game was basically a blocky Team Deathmatch game, and not much fun at all. So I will disregard this criticism because I can. Mojang developed and published Minecraft in 2009 as an open Alpha and gradual move progression into Beta. It was in this phase that the game gained a massive following, with many prominent YouTubers making their names and reputation publishing videos of this game. Minecraft finally saw a full release in 2011. Since then, it has garnered much praise from gamers and developers alike for making both an interesting adventure and creation game in both single and multiplayer.

My Personal Experience

 I’d like to preface this entire section with the fact that I have only played the Xbox 360 Edition of Minecraft, which I feel is an incredible beginner’s tool for this very immersive game. If you read my League of Legends ‘review’, you will know my computer can barely handle the programs on it at the moment, so I think this game would probably just kill it, so all of this perspective will be from that version.

I had heard a lot about the game being a massive time sink and that they were going to release it as an Xbox Live Arcade game late 2011. I’d never really been too interested in Minecraft videos online up until then, as it was to a game I’d probably never play. However, when I heard of this version, I began to look it up. My favourite part of all the videos I watched was the amazing structures that could be build out of the simple blocks that were given in game. The gameplay itself, if slightly over exaggerated by certain YouTube celebrities, looked very appealing to me. I did take all of this footage I was seeing with a pinch of salt, however, as I did realise it would be different to the launch set up of the Xbox Version, but it was safe to say I was excited for this game to come out.

When it finally arrived, I was both amazed and disappointed at the same time. I was amazed as it was such a good version of the game. I saw my first problem would be the infamous difficult crafting recipies, and contantly having to check back to the Minecraft Wiki to get the information. This was completely taken out in the Xbox version, replacing it with a much simpler system where, if you have the items to make something, you can just click on the icon and it will make it for you. This was very much a beginner’s guide to Minecraft. I appreciated this, being the dim witted man-child I am.

However, this joy was short lived, as I noticed a lot of the things that were in the PC version were left out at launch, most disappointingly for me, the Creative Mode. Yes, you could play on peaceful and build to your heart’s content without mobs, but digging out all your materials when all you want to do is build a castle is arduous and unwanted. Fortunately since then, creative mode has been added, yet, to my knowledge, the End is still unattainable for some reason, although updates are coming very frequently with ‘new’ mobs and blocks every time. As soon as I was able to go into creative mode, I was hooked. I would say that Minecraft is probably the game I have given the most time to since Final Fantasy IX back in the Playstation 1 days.

If you are new to the game, but like to watch YouTube videos of people playing Minecraft, there are certain things you have to realise:

1) Creepers are not as scary as some people lead you to believe – Yes, if your stuff gets blown up that sucks a lot, but it doesn’t make you shit yourself with fear. Think of it like an explosion in any other game, but coming from a walking shrub. I guess if you are scared by slow moving shrubbery then you have every right to scream, but also no right to play a game where it’s basically their mascot.

2) Digging straight down IS a terrible idea – You may think, as I did, that digging straight down will get you to the more valuable ores quicker than a normal staircase. Not the case. Alongside random spawning of said ores, you are also more likely to find a lovely big pool of lava to burn all your materials or a beautiful ravine, which you will be seeing from the inside as you fall towards your death.

3) Minetracks are pointless – unless you’re aiming for a massive build or just want to show off, there’s no reason walking won’t be less costly and more efficient. Seeing how precious iron is on some seeds it seems silly to waste it all on a track.

My Verdict

Minecraft is the very well presented time sink everyone has said it would be on the PC, and playing it on the Xbox only makes it easier, for me at least. Although it’s still not perfect, it’s definitely worth 1200 Microsoft points, and the skins are pretty cool too. The skins go from Banjo to Marcus Fenix and everything Xbox in between. If you’ve plated the PC version already you may come away slightly disappointed, but newcomers to the game will love its simplistic nature and, now that there is a fully functional creative mode, enjoy the building and exploring even more.