veriPhone

The Verizon iPhone came out today and I have been bitching about getting one since August. I'm kind of bummed that I didn't go and sit in a long line like an idiot in order to possibly get one.

Nothing exciting has happened. I went to my first metal show and it was pretty much what I expected. Girls at punx shows are wayyyyy cuter.

February 15th Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris are debating a couple of Rabbis, neither of which are Rabbi Boteach who is a total jerkface imo. I want to go and get Hitch to sign a copy of my favorite book of his The Missionary Position. I'm hoping to get him to write, "Stay classy" or something.

Finally I sent in one grad application and I'm revising a paper I wrote in 2009 that I need to send as a sample of my writing. I've sent in my transcripts and all that is needed on my part is pretty much covered. I basically have to make sure that the three professors that I asked for letters of rec send in the letters in time. I contacted them a few days ago and not one has responded. This totally blows and I am frustrated about this because February 15th is also when my CSUN app and letters of rec are due and that is next Tuesday. I cannot wait until all this is done and I can just play Zelda in peace.

Regards,
Joe Creason

Just for you, Dave

The new Karate Kid movie was actually pretty good. I wish they stuck with the title Kung Fu Kid instead though...I doubt that someone wouldn't have seen it unless it had some association with the original movie...I mean, A Fistful of Dollars was still freaking badass and awesome, they didn't need to name it Yojimbo! (Yes I know that was a long time ago when they made those movies.)

Still trying to get into grad schools, need to write my statement of purpose.


Regards,
Joe Creason

AIM Screen names...A trip down memory lane

During the high school portion of my identity crisis/classic adolescent attempt to define myself I kept changing screen names...a lot. The following is a list of screen names that I used to use:

battyxtom - When it was cool to be into hardcore* and put x's in your name. I don't recall why I made this name, might have been a character I
made up for a comic book.

BPRD Capt - Reference to Hellboy.

c0deless - I think this is still connected to my cellphone and is always online.

Capt Lightner - Another character I made up, I later met a person irl with the last name Lightner. He was nothing like the character I made up.

cliffthesnail - Joke name, when I was a kid I used to have pet snails and would name them Clifford.

cup0joseph - I still kinda like this name.

derluftaffe - "Der Luft Affe" a drawing of a flying ape I made in my German class in high school. My German is non-existent and I took 4 years of it.

ejactulati0n boy - Joke name I made with these old friends I had...some sort of awkward teen super hero I would hope?

gcsmellsbad - Oh boy, when I was punx and was making fun of Good Charlotte!

Ink Jet Kid - Ooooooooold name I made, I liked the sound of "ink jet"

JOE meets World - I used this one for awhile and even wanna kinda use it again...maybe.

mart1nihenry - Another WWII character I made up named after I think a British nickname for the lee-enfield rifle...though I don't think he used one.

mynejtc - Oldest screen name** ever...I think "Myne" was a Dragon Ball Z character I made up.

mysnisscene - Back in the day when it was punx to make fun of "scenesters". Now it is more proper to make fun of hipsters and I consider scenester to no longer be a pejorative...linguistic evolution!

pencilscars - Deep...I am glad I moved on from whatever life stage I was in when I made this screen name.

pocketsander - This is a quote said by Dale Gribble on King of the Hill. It still sounds kind of cool and like a weird euphemism for masturbation...
Here is a video from the scene:


Pro Nazi Hunter - Another WWII referenced name, my profile said, "I'm on to you Nazi..."

SAR castic Mint - My friend Corey had a dream where he was sitting in an airplane and saw a compass on the ground at his feet. He then somehow summoned the compass and it floated up to his hands...this was the dream. Based on this dream he changed his screen name to "TheFlyingCompass" and the "SAR castic Mint" is the first name I could come up with copying that name.

shoppin4acrew - A joke-hardcore band (or they could just be considered really posi) named Good Clean Fun song making fun of all the stereotypical things associated with Straight Edge crews...

Shrub Gnome - Don't remember the origin of this name...

thats soOo ska - At a family Christmas thing my cousin Ben commented on a See's Candies bag and said, "That's so ska". I was also pretty into ska at that point...pickitup pickitup pickitup.

xPEL1CANx - Me copying the LiveJournal name of someone who posted photos of hardcore shows (which in retrospect weren't anything special). His name was "xsheepx" and looking back on it now, he really didn't listen to all too great hardcore either. He was from the UK so maybe the UK just has lame hardcore bands?

yomommaisacomma - Probably the dumbest screen name ever.

I liked compiling this list because it gave me a chance to stroll down memory lane. Usually when I think about my past-self I actually get sorta down but this was a more positive-feeling-inducing entry.



*This is a kind of music that is pretty much punk but if anything, faster and with more bursts of gang vocals sprinkled throughout their songs. I guess it is more proper to call it "hardcore punk" but there are so many sub-genres within it that it seems kind of--too much, to have a sub-genre with different sub-genres. It is kind of annoying telling people that I listen to hardcore music because (a)they either make really bad jokes about how serious or pissed off a band can sound like or be about a topic (b)the only hardcore bands people are super crappy Christian bands.

**And I know I have even more screen names. The oldest one had "papercut" in the name.

Atheist Know More about Religion than Religious Folk

All the hip atheist bloggers are talking about this survey that was held by the Pew Forum On Religion & Public Life testing American's knowledge on religion. Though I wouldn't say that my blog is primarily about atheism or anything I think this is a good current event topic that I can write about and establish that I am in fact irreligious.

In fact, like Douglas Adams, I wouldn't mind being labeled as a "radical atheist" just to make sure that ppl don't leave thinking that I might just be agnostic :p

But back on topic, these findings don't really surprise me and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't surprise religious folks. Pretty much here is a run down of how high different religious groups scored (good job Jews and Mormons btw):





















I later took the quiz myself and scored a 13/15 which I am rather upset by.

You can take the quiz as well if you want.

Regards,
Joe Creason

Haha, awesome.

Here is a lovely photo of me at FYF 2010. Taken by this person:Emayoh


I was watching 7 Seconds play...

The big orange guy to the right of me I am pretty sure is the big orange guy that was wearing the jean shirt and holding up Tim Bevins in this photo I took long ago, at a Defiance, Ohio show:


Good times.


Regards,
Joe Creason

No Time for Titles!

Hey kids,
I suppose this will be very brief in that I have to go twenty minutes early to a review for my chem. midterm if I am to get a seat. But yeah, this will be my official blog, as in, the blog where I talk about the interests and items that truly are important to me which consist of anthropology, evolution, science education and misanthropy. I will comment about the last interest in detail hopefully soon considering it needs explanation, and I do not want to be lumped into the category of the other---CRAP! I need to go.

Regards,
Joe Creason