Steam sales, the Arab Spring and the Web 2.0

So yeah.

First things first, Steam sales. If you don't know what Steam is (the digital distribution software not the the water vapour) I emplore you to take a look. They just finished their summer sales, and I picked up a few titles. GTA IV is pretty sweet. Yes, its an "old" game I suppose, but its still pretty fun. I'm impressed by the change between GTA IV and GTA III. San Andreas and Vice City were ok at the time. Seven years ago it was pretty entertaining to wreck havok in those cities. However going back and replaying the titles just goes to show how generic and generally poor they were. Lets just say that its a good thing that gameplay changes over time. The fourth title is a lot smoother and plays a lot better too.

Secondly, the Arab Spring. Just about everybody in the world must have at least HEARD about whats been going on in the middle east/north africa for the last 6 months. Really I found out about the whole thing right from the start through Al Jazeera. (also known as the terrorist news network) When I first started watching the channel I was genuinely shocked at how well done it is. The news hour watches just as well as other news networks, and theyre pretty professional at what they do. They also cover the news of the middle east/north africa better than any other media outlet. Literally, I was extremely surprised and I had many of my preconditioned views on the middle east derailed by watching the channel and learning about these areas. Its a complete culture shock learning about the different kinds of culture and religious views of the people in these areas, but at the same time what is the greatest surprise is the simalarities between western and arabian culture. Really watching people in these areas overcome huge challenges is heart warming. Which of course brings me to the civil war in Libya and the revolutions of North Africa and the influence of the social media in these developments.

I think its best coined as the "facebook revolutions." Social media playing a positive role in motivating and uniting people to work together to overthrow their dictators.


What's sad is when these dictators refuse to leave. Much as in the case of Libya and its ongoing civil war. I won't be surprised when its over and we find that Muammar Gaddafi has wiped out tens of thousands of innocents.

So many people here in the first world complain of the US/NATO so called "invasion," but just watching the people in those places. People who would have previously called the US their enemy now cheering and praising the support of their military, you gotta think, well maybe we here in the first world just don't and can't comprehend what those people are going through.

Imagine how many would be dead if there had been no intervention.

First Post, First Blog

So here is my first post. As the title suggests, I've never had a blog before either. I'm still not exactly sure why I would want a blog, other than to try to use this as a form of digital journal.

At present this blog could go in many different directions. I could use it to rat on about my everyday life. Which I'm certain would be a thrill. As soon as I learn to imbed youtube clips I'll try doing a bit of that too - kind of like a catalogue of the funny/interesting clips I find. I might even try to incorporate a little bit of "my music" into this too.

First I guess an introduction is in order.


Hajimemashite. Hello
Boku wa Jacob desu. I'm Jacob
Ni juu ichi sai desu. I'm 21
Crassicu musicu daisuki. Classic music hells yeah
Doozo yoroshiku. Nice to meet you

So there it is, my introduction to the Web 2.0. Who cares if I'm five years late.