October 2016 - Rampant Discourse

Game Review: World of Warcraft: Legion

October 27, 2016

Disclaimer: while this is technically labelled as a review (because I’m not sure what else to really call this), I’m not interesting in assigning scores or even give any sort of recommendation. This is simply a reflection and commentary on said game. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYNCCu0y-Is&w=560&h=315] An odd thing happened to me towards the end cycle of World of Warcraft’s last expansion, Warlords of Draenor. I stopped playing the game. Now, this…

Hi, My Name is Miguel

October 25, 2016

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Hello. I generally do not like doing these things, but Paul is insistent. I consider myself generally Libertarian. My political evolution came along a little differently than some others here. I used to consider myself either Democrat/Liberal almost by default. I was never enamored with the party or its political figures, but well, lesser of two evils seemed to win out. However, in college with the discovery that alternative viewpoints actually…

Steve Dillon, R.I.P.

October 24, 2016

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One of the great comic book artists of our time, Steve Dillon, passed away on Saturday October 22, 2016. Many of Dillon’s fellow comic book creators have reacted to his death. While I don’t measure up to the stature of people like Warren Ellis, Ed Brubaker, and Gail Simone, I can attempt to relate how Steve Dillon’s work affected me personally. His work drew me back to comic books and…

The Toyota Mirai is a Joke

October 20, 2016

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I got an e-mail from my dad the other day. It was terse and somewhat cryptic. Subject: I like the Toyota Mirai Body: I wonder how safe it is. As someone who’s read a lot about the massive dangers of climate change I’m a big proponent of clean cars. I didn’t know much about the Mirai, so I decided to do some research. I quickly found out that the Mirai would…

Book Review: Washed by Blood: Lessons from My Time with Korn and My Journey to Christ

October 18, 2016

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Brian “Head” Welch made headlines in 2005 when he walked away from the successful band Korn. He made even more headlines because of the reason for leaving the band: he found religion, became a Christian, and let Jesus Christ into his life. Quite the turnaround for a hard-living drug addicted rock star. His brief autobiography attempts to explain his life’s journey to religion and offer it as proof that anyone…

Book Review: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

October 13, 2016

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After all, the most interesting of us have been broken and mended and broken again. Jenny Lawson struggles with depression and mental illness. That is front and center in her author bio on the back flap of Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things. It’s also the topic of most of the essays in this collection. You don’t have to share her issues to enjoy her writings, but it…

A Journalistic Crisis

October 12, 2016

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I drive around listening to NPR, like the good little brainwashed semi-millennial/semi-Gen-X college grad that I am. On a recent trip, I was listening to the Diane Rehm show. For those unfamiliar, Diane Rehm is the godmother of talk radio, particularly in the Washington, D.C. area. She’s been the host of her show—a roundtable panel discussion on the radio, which she moderates with an iron fist—for decades, and it is…

The Case for Gary Johnson

photo credit: Gary Johnson via photopin (license)

October 10, 2016

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Every election, it seems like there is no shortage of people proclaiming that it’s the most important of our lifetime (and there’s no shortage of articles touching on this topic). I dislike hyperbole, but it’s hard to look at this year’s election and the major parties’ nominees and not think that this election is in the running for the most important in recent memory. Between the crass, bombastic, bullying ignorance of Donald…

Old Bands Never Die…

October 7, 2016

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Twenty years is a long time. Two decades in the music industry is an eternity. Back in 1996 most people had no idea what an MP3 was; now there are likely young people who have never seen a CD, never mind a cassette. But several major bands from that time period are set to release albums in October and November of 2016. Metallica’s album Load was released on June 4,…

Hi, My Name is Paul

October 6, 2016

3 comments

I consider myself a libertarian. I say this not because it defines me or is the most important part of me, but because it’s likely to be the aspect of me that comes across most strongly in what I write here. As the government gets involved in more and more aspects of our lives, it’s hard to find topics that aren’t touched by politics. I say my libertarianism doesn’t define…

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