And Everything Else Falls Down-In the Wake of Losing Megaupload

Also, this is why the world hates America.

Technically, it's not the same thing, but it's part of our government's agenda to stop piracy.

Megaupload is Down–The Battle Begins

Now That The Internet Blackout is Past…

I’m pretty sure everyone noticed what happened yesterday. In opposition to SOPA/PIPA, many major and minor websites posted in opposition of SOPA/PIPA, from shutting down their entire site (Wikipedia, Nuzlocke forums) to blacking out their site (4chan) , to making statements that couldn’t easily be ignored (Google, Shortpacked, XKCD). Even right now, I’m watching last night’s Daily Show episode which I missed due to being sick, and they’re talking about SOPA/PIPA.

I hate to say this, and I mean  really hate to say this, but stopping piracy isn’t necessarily  a bad thing. But SOPA/PIPA isn’t the way to stop it.  Here at Black and Blue Socks, we’ve been against SOPA/PIPA since it’s been introduced, and will be making a statement against it as long as I can.

The two big problems with SOPA/PIPA.

1.) It’s basically has the government saying “We want all this power pretty please, and we promise not to abuse it.” Yeah, and the government is good on keeping it’s promises.

2.) It’s so vague. Theoretically my and other American blogs could be in trouble for using copyrighted images. I think? It’s really really unclear. The people who wrote the bill know nothing about the internet. The Daily Show was having fun calling out the people who wrote the bill describing people who know this stuff as nerds.

It’s been funny watching the government try to make the people fall in love with the bills. There was a commercial on tv talking about how wonderful the bill was. It was pulled in less then a day. That’s special.

PS: Sherrod Brown, guess why you’re not getting my vote? For supporting PIPA.

Here’s my favorite internet created media about SOPA/PIPA, Hitler on SOPA

Article which includes The Daily Show SOPA/PIPA Segments

http://gothamist.com/2012/01/19/jon_stewart_sopa_will_drive_us_to_t.php

Knight in the Area First Impression and The Failure of Soccer in the United States

Except in the United States, with the exception of the world cup.

The last time I watched a soccer/football anime, I didn’t watch beyond the first episode due to illness. I’d like to go back and finish it someday, as it ended up with mostly positive reviews. Already having one soccer(I will use my lame american terminology) anime to watch doesn’t make me excited about the prospect of picking up another.

But I heard some good things about the manga, so I figured I’d check it out.

Listen Girls, I am Your Father! First Impressions

So my first step into the winter season ends badly. I was downloading anime, not being aware of what I was downloading, and the fact I download a Feel anime blindsided me.

I could keep it short and sweet. Gay guy finds his sexuality challenged when he’s put in the position of taking care of his sister’s kids. They will take care of him and place him in all sorts of hilarious and supposedly titillating situations until he’s straight. The hot college chick he met will step in as the mom, and he will learn the joy of having a family, until someone calls child services and explain to him that being a dad doesn’t mean getting turned on by your daughters. (Some of this is true. Some isn’t. Unfortunately, it’s the parts you wish weren’t true.)

It’s a wish fullfillment anime for the guys who enjoy that sort of thing.

I'm sorry, but if you're spoonfeeding/being spoonfed by your roommate, you're either deathly ill or there be something more going on.

I’m Not Going To Let Him Upset My Trusting Nature

Damn you Willis.

Willis has a special talent for posting comics when they’re most likely to punch me in the gut, I feel like. I have being scared of guys issues, as most readers of this blog know, and for the most part it’s getting better. However, something happened that caused the problem to get a lot worse again in November, and that’s all I’m allowed to say. Right now, I have good days and bad days. Today was a bad day and my first day of school, I was late to class, and all the seats in my Sociology class had me sitting next to a guy I didn’t know.

The face in the final panel was exactly how I felt. It was one of those “Oh God.” moments.

But as life would have it, I’ve also ended up with a lot of guy friends through gaming and my sister who after about a year I’m finally starting to open up to some degree. I remain optimistic that at some point I won’t be so scared.

On other note, I really like Dumbing of Age, I think it’s easily Willis’s best comic.

Black and Blue Socks hits year 3 and New Year Resolve

I missed the exact date, by long story short, my blog is three years old. The popular theory is most blogs will live for two years, then die, and a new generation of bloggers will spring up, by not having quit at year 3 I broke the trend.

I sorta thought it would be more exciting to hit year 3. I’m also not really sure that I deserve to be called “alive”. Due to my long breaks, then a posting spree, I feel like I’m a zombie blog, neither dead nor alive.

The Rest of the 12 Days of Christmas

On the 7th Day of Christmas, I got seven my little ponies, six friends and their princess. What started on 4chan would spread to the rest of the internet , and became a phenomenon noticed even by the outside world. Recently, The Wall Street Journal struggled to describe bronies on the front page of one of their sections.

I like Derpyhooves

On Day 8, I got 8 initial bachelors and bachelorettes. While everyone else took an arrow to a knee, I checked out the newest Harvest Moon and gave up adventuring for farming. Bitches love farms. While reviews are mixed, it’s my favorite Harvest Moon game yet.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas I got a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. I was woken up by my mother, shocked to hear about the earthquake which hit Japan and the tsunami which followed. The media enjoyed hyping up the fear of a nuclear meltdown in Japan as nuclear plants were hit hard.  Everyone banned together from the blogging community to the government to send aid to Japan during this time.

Yesterday, they were hit by a 7.0 earthquake, but seem to be okay.

On the tenth day of Christmas, I got the tenth episode of Madoka. The tenth episode not only answered the mystery behind Homura, but was, by itself, a fantastic and moving episode which demonstrated just how much could be done in only about 23 minutes. In my opinion, the episode is just as memorable as the series itself.

It would also be last episode the anime community would see for months.

On the 11 Day of Christmas, I got 2011 ending with two bills by my very own government to limit our internet use. An upsetting move, it made transparent how corrupted Congress is, with the fact that most of the country is against the bill and it violates the first amendment, but with two big industries pushing for it, it’s an uphill battle to keep it from passing. I think it was Conan who said that messing with a country’s internet is the stupidest thing you can do back in 2010 or 2011. People will put up with endless shit until you threaten their ability to play Angry Birds.

The current argument is everyone against the bill is a pirate, but when that means accusing the Human Rights Committee of being a pirate, your argument falls a little short.

With the bills fate still in limbo, 2012 opens up to a year with political drama (and not the lulzy kind from the Republican nomination race) in the air. Congress is the one who needs to be convinced, as even if the president vetoes it, a veto can be overturned.

On the 12 Days of Christmas, I got 12 people fighting to the death. Future Diary is an interesting show in that it constantly gives the finger to logic, but everything is so over the top and awesome, it makes it forgivable. It’s a dark show, but I enjoy that this focuses more on having fun with the premise. In a weird way, I wish more shows didn’t take themselves seriously, as this one does, yet still focused on delivery an entertaining product.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas Everyone!

And I will finish the 12 Days of Christmas. Techinically the 12 Days of Christmas are after Chirstmas…and basically, I want to finish it.

Anyway, hoping everyone had a nice one!

12 Days of Christmas Day 6: Pokemon Black and White

In March, the long running pokemon series released Pokemon Black and White here in America, introducing the fifth generation of Pokemon. Most surprising was that the series was not more of the same old same old but actually had matured in this rendition.