Negative Ads Work

You all probably noticed that I have not been too political in recent months. To be honest a couple of sick/crazy people posting stupid comments that had nothing to do with the subject of the blog or politics had a bit to do with that. Anyway, the recent elections have brought about an insane number of negative TV ads. I mean candidates may as well come out and say that Candidate X will come into your house and steal everything including your dog all the while shooting wildly into the air and screaming ethnic slurs! Come on get real as Illinois' Gov. Blah says. Thing is he didn't get real and accused his opponent of practically money laundering and hating children. Heck one commercial had a blonde nurse (was it even a real nurse?) mixed with an announcer which bascially said "you don't like kids?!" The Gov. even launched his attacks early before a "race" even got going. His challanger sat on the sidelines and by the time she got to advertising had plenty of negative ads being used against her to fight against. She did use some negative attacks of her own, I won't say she's innocent but at least she had SOME positive ads!

Why would she use negative ads though when her opponent was doing the same? I mean logic would tell you people vote for honest and good people and being positive would get out the vote. Well tonight might be proving that logic would be wrong. People apparently eat up negative ads because even though the Gov. has had serious issues even being investigated for the same things Gov. Ryan is going to jail for he's leading the polls and predicted to win by a wide margin. The Tribune did a piece on how if he won it would prove that negative ads work and it would open the gate to all Illinois politicians using nothing but negative ads.

Do we really want people who are so negative? Do we want people who exaggerate and lie in their ads alone? Some candidates launch negative ads that actually are true (as the Gov's challanger did). These still are not somehting we should encourage but at least they're true. Well Illinois will not get better for 4 more years if the polls stay as they are because we've got a con artist in office. Congrats Gov. Blah you've proven once again that negativity is what people are all about. I'm glad I'll be leaving this state before you can raise my taxes via your universal welfare. Welcome back to the Chicago run state.

On a site note I'll try to get back to gaming and sports next time. Cause I know that's what draws people here (sarcasim intended).

Why did Link get removed from Zelda?

Now, if you know video games you are probably wondering "what does he mean!? Link's been in all of the official Zelda games!" Well I didn't mean the character, I meant the title. See recently I noticed an interesting trend in the naming of Zelda games that suddenly ended with no explanation given. Let's walk through it shall we? The first sequel to the original game was Zelda II: The Adventure of LINK. Next came Legend of Zelda: A LINK to the Past. And then finally Legend of Zelda: LINK's Awakening. Now there may not have been a real effort made to include the hero in the title (personally if there was A Link to the Past was clever as heck), but clearly there was a pattern. So why did Ocarina of Time change the trend?

Well to be honest I can't be sure. Perhaps they decided that with the change to 3D that Zelda needed a name overhaul. Perhaps they just decided to go with the Japanese names instead of the Americanized ones (translations were terrible until around the end of the SNES era). Most probably this last possibility is the true one, but if so one wonders what the name of Ocarina of Time might have been with the Link naming convention. Just a thought with all of the hype for the newest Zelda game, Twilight Princess. Will Link find his way into the next Zelda game's title. Probably not, but we can hope. Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go bomb some Dodongos (in fact I can't wait!).

Comfort Movies

Recently I read an article on comfort foods. Now at the time I didn't think anything about it but there are other things that comfort us in our lives. Last night I was kinda feeling down and beaten up by life so I reached over to my DVD rack and pulled out one of my favorite movies: Rocky IV. Now, while this movie is a good one I didn't chose it because I forgot what happens or felt like a drama/boxing movie. No, I chose it because it's comforting and uplifting to me. I imagine just like food, everyone has a certain movie that comforts them in these times. My personal favorite comfort movies all belong to the Rocky series: Rocky IV, II, and V in that order. Yes V, mostly the end where he gets beaten down by the kid he trained (and who saw Rocky as holding him back) and then gets up only to take the kid and his new manager down, leaving the scene with his son and kid back where he started and as he started: just a man in a small town trying to get by.

Anyway, this applies to video games and books as well. When I've had a horrible day there's Nightfire on Gamecube. Or when I just feel down Super Mario Bros. on my NES. When I feel the world has beaten me up Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead , and even the Hitchhiker's Guide make me feel better and let me explore a world where my troubles don't exist. Perhaps it even applies to music and television. Maybe radio and magazines. Perhaps there are even comfort smells. So, I guess, post what things comfort you.

Off on the road trip

So tomorrow we head out on a long road trip (where we'll be until the end of August) and wouldn't you know it I was packing my Nintendo DS up with GBA games and I got hooked on an old game that I never completed and haven't played in a while: Golden Sun. One of the first GBA games ever made, the graphics in this game are incredible and my memories of playing it included words like "fun" and "amazing" so I decided I would play it for a short while.. which ended up being 4 hours. The game is an Role Playing Game where you are a boy/young man who is sent on a quest to help not only your home but the world from evil forces (ironically you would play as these "evil" forces in the sequel to the game). Pretty standard RPG and the graphis were on par with Chrono Trigger of SNES stardom.


Picking this game back up I realized perhaps why I decided I didn't have time to complete it... there is a TON of text. People in the game talk forever about anything. Maybe a quick statement advances the plot a bit but leaving town took me 10 minutes. Geez... it's not a funneral here folks. This is perhaps the most irritating part of the game and for a portable game where you can save anywhere, it is annoying to have to play for 20 minutes because you took 5 minutes to accomplish a task and it's taking 15 minutes for eveyone to shut up so you can save. Guess the phrase "Hold on I have to save" wasn't being used enough in 2001 and so Camelot (the company who made the game) decided it needed to come back big time. Increasing the text speed doesn't help much either. So if you play this game you need patience.

However past that it's an (at times) engaging story with nice graphics and a fun battle system. I will totally be playing this for the next 3 months. Actually upon stocking my DS with GBA games I found there are a ton of RPG's I have that I haven't completed and one had to stay behind to make room for Golden Sun, Mario and Luigi (which is fun but I've put off for so long I'm lost when I go to play it again and I don't want to have to start again). Hopefully I can finish a few of these and work on my thesis this summer. There will no be a shortage of video gaming where we will go that's for sure. At any rate sometimes the things that distract you from your main task can be very worthwhile. This sure was.

What the Cubs Need Right Now

... a new manager. Sure that's easy for an armchair quarterback to say but let's look at some information to back up that suggestion. If you follow the Cubs you surely have noticed that Baker takes a "hands off" approach to the team. Basically if a guy is having a hard time he lets them try to figure it out. This can be a good approach if one knows when the right time to step in and say something is. This is the ability Baker seems to lack. What the Cubs need right now is a classic coaches talk similar to the long speech that Jim Leyland gave the Tigers that have turned them from a terrible team at the start of this season to a team beating the Sox in the division race! It needs to be a speech that inspires and yet points out the flaws of the team and what needs to be corrected. The word "practice" should come up often here from hitting practice to base running. Baker needs to take the lead here. Can he do it? He hasn't yet at least since 2003.

You may ask, "Well isn't he better than Baylor/Riggleman/....?" in some respects yes. Baylor definitely but Riggleman was more the kind of coach the Cubs need right now. Zimmer would definitely be a welcome sight right now in the Cub dugout. Both of these managers cared so much that they didn't care if they showed it. What does Baker do after a loss? Packs up his things calmly and tells the press he thinks the worst is over and that it can't get much worse. Does he pound the wall or kick a cooler? Does he yell in pain at the next loss? Does he get so frustrated that he tries to get kicked out of a game just to spur his team on? No. And the toothpick isn't looking like it's going to suggest these actions to Baker. Heck, just on the south side of Chicago is a manager that does those things. We can see the results.

Is Baker all bad? No of course not. He almost got us to a World Series. Problem is "almost." Did he have the catcher go out and calm the pitcher down or have a short meeting on the mound to assess the situation before the disastrous 7th inning got worse? No. Did he chose to use 2 starting pitchers in the see-saw 7th game of the series to back Wood's effort? Nope. Did I scream at the TV over these things? Oh yeah. Of course it is also the players who need to perform and you can only work with what you’re dealt.

However, a manager change has turned around many teams in the past. Take the Chicago White Sox, Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, and Houston Astros to name a few. And do you think the Braves would have 14 straight division championships if not for Bobby Cox? I think not. Well that's my rant. I look forward to seeing what some of you have to say especially those of you who have seen your teams turn around because of a manager.

Six Flags Trip Report

Alright, I am finally posting. Amazing huh? Well not all of you may care or may be able to get to the Chicago land area, but this trip report can easily apply to any Six Flags branded park in the country because it emphasizes the changes that the new management (lead by Mark Shapiro) has made. We went before the park opened for a private outing and upon entering the park were greeted by a sound I have not heard since I was a child: Great America's "opening theme" if you will. A song which the park used to open with every day and dancing to it were the Looney Tunes characters in front of the carousel all dressed in bicentennial regalia. I already could feel how much the new management cared about brining the original themeing back to the park solely based on this.

Going past the photography mob we took a quick pic and then when another worked asked us to stop we said we already had one taken just a few steps back. Normally these workers would never even say "OK, sorry" and they would simply move on as if you didn't matter. This worker said to us "Sorry to bother you have a great day and enjoy the anniversary" (the Six Flags chain is 45... the park is 30). That's a HUGE improvement right there. We walked by another worker selling Bugs Bunny balloons, something I have not seen since the early 90's. I swear they locked up 1976 in the back of the park and the new management found it and brought it back! He was also courteous when we said we did not want to buy one and said to "enjoy the anniversary." Perhaps workers have been encouraged to say this but when they said it they seemed actually happy and not fake Disney happy. This was real. They were (are) actually a lot happier. A company that cares will do that to a worker.

We then went on the Whizzer roller coaster, then Giant Drop, Raging Bull (where the staff was having a competition to see who could shake the most number of people's hands), and some Demon before lunch. Along the way I couldn't help but notice the improvements. More characters as promised... a ton. Heck I saw Taz and Tweety and I don't think I have ever seen those costumes used a day when I was in the park. Not only Looney Tunes characters were out but also Hanna Barbarra characters such as Shaggy and human characters like a lone gunman in the Southwest Territory handing out badges and entertaining the kids. Each character (except for the gunman) was with a staff member who was supplied with bottles of water and what looked like some kind of snack food. Lunch in the car was fine as always and returning back to the park we found the line for Superman almost empty. We waited about 10 minutes per ride and we rode twice. However this was the worst park of the park as the Superman character pictures were terribly beaten up and damaged and the Superman logo sign at the front of the queue was ripped. Well Rome wasn't rebuilt in a day I guess but I sure hope the park takes some time to fix those items up before my next visit.

We then headed around the park finishing up any coasters we hadn't done already. Going into the Mardi Gras section we were greeted by more entertainers or the New Orleans type and more crazy characters. Iron Wolf was good and looked like it had a bit of a pain job done to some of the pieces on the coaster. We then headed to Batman and unfortunately I did not see Batman and Robin like I was hoping to (yes I got into the character thing and was actually hoping to see some). I did see Wonder Woman and Green Lantern though but with the Batman ride looming overhead and the Batmobile right there it seemed a shame that Batman was not there himself (he was on opening day and every day now). When getting seated for Batman a staff member who was checking my safety restraints asked me how it was going and I told her it was going well and then pausing a minute added "How is your day going?" She was behind me by then checking other restraints and I figured she did not hear me but before we took off she actually came back and answered "Pretty well thanks." Clearly the staff was happier and friendlier. Batman was amazing (in the front no less) and it seemed faster than normal. It did have the new side panels that they added last year taken off the coaster and from what I have seen they still have not been put back on. Maybe they are going to St. Louis?

Then we went on Vertical Velocity which also seemed faster (maybe it was the wind that day), got another 2 Demon rides in and finished off the day with another Raging Bull. Deja Vu was down and apparently still is and will be until it decides it wants to work. They were testing it though. Does anyone else think that it was so not worth giving up the Sky Whirl ride to get a ride that is seemingly never open? Uggghhhh Vekoma why can't you make rides that run ALL year?

All in all a good day and it was topped off by funnel cake at an insanely crowded shop. That was the slowest moving line of the day in an otherwise increased efficiency park. Looks like SF is coming back and bringing families with them. It's good to see my old park pretty much back to its original glory.

FYI

I know it's been a long time since either of us have posted. I want to post a trip report and analysis of the new Six Flags Great America (and yes, under the new management it has significantly changed for the better), but I am incredibly busy with projects, presentations, and soon finals. So stay tuned cause I will post (hopefully late this week) and tell you all about the cool improvements they've made to Great America. Let me leave you with this clue though, you'll feel like you're in 1976 all over again.