Loog's bio  
Game Shows  
Video Games  
Loog's Writing  
Political Rants  


Message Board  


Links  
E-mail Loog  
Yes, I know the address is misspelled.
loogslair.com Now in living color!


God Bless America

Wednesday, 9/18/02, 10:12 AM
Two more stories, one of them mine

In case you're wondering whatever happened to that story contest, I have received another submission by another one of my pals over at DDR Freak. Since two stories makes for not a whole lot of a contest, so I've extended the deadline to October 30th (which, if you've read the stories I've written, is of particular significance). I've also added another of my own stories, entitled Now or Never. If you liked the original story, here's a chance to look into the relationship of Colin & Kathryn when things get interesting.

Loogaroo Looks Over: Pyramid & Syndicated Millionaire

I haven't had a chance to really see the new incarnations of Family Feud and Hollywood Squares, but I hope to have thoughts on those shows up later this week. I did catch the two premieres, though, and here are some observations.

Pyramid: This show has a bit of a strike against it, since they unceremoniously kicked me out of their contestant audition last August, but I'll try not to let that color my review any darker. All joking aside, though, this show is pretty darn good. The reduction of the front game to 6 words in 20 seconds was a necessary sacrifice in this era of more commercials, and it actually makes the game a little more exciting, since perfect scores are no longer a gimme like they were back in the '80s. The Winner's Circle is just as great as it used to be, albeit with a different execution. Donny Osmond is a decent host - I'm giving him a 2 now, but hopefully he'll settle into his job after a little while. Final score: 3/2/2/1 (I'm docking a point for no returning champions), for a total of 8.

Syndicated WWTBAM: I will say one thing: as much as I was deathly afraid that Meredith Vieira would do quite the botch job in Reege's chair, but she does do one thing right: she actually lets the contestant hang. Granted, she does have her problems (like having an aversion to calling the game by it's full title), but that alone makes her hosting job much more watchable. The questions are a little tougher, but if you've got a smart cookie up there, it probably won't make much a difference. You won't be seeing too many smart cookies, though, since the phone game and Fastest Finger rounds have been unceremoniously removed from the game (and the set looks awful bare now without those ten computer terminals lining the edge). Final score: 3/2/2/1, another 8.

-Loog   

Wednesday, 9/11/02, 9:22 AM
Random thoughts on 9/11

It has now been one year since we witnessed what will likely be the single most galvanizing event of our time. Every generation has had one day, one moment, where our perceptions of the world changed in a heartbeat. To the last generation, it was the assassination of President Kennedy. To the one before that, it was the attack on Pearl Harbor. Before that, the great depression. On September 11th, 2001, the young adults of America got their first taste of how brutal the world can be.

When it occurred, the nation was in a state of paralytic shock. Some were conjecturing that over 10,000 people had died as a results of the attacks (the final tally was just over 3,000), that for once, cynicism and sarcasm had taken a back seat to the cold, harsh, and plain truth: that there exists a large number of people who loathe us, who wish to see all that we stand for lie in rubble. And on that day, they hit us. Hard. The irony of the attacks being carried out on airplanes marked with the words United and American was not lost on us, nor could the intent of their offensive - to do as much damage and kill as many people as possible - be ignored.

Unfortunately, that is what I fear is beginning to happen. In fact, it happened not long after the attacks took place.

I've been of the notion that September 11th was a bruise to the American people: It hurt severely when we got it, ached a bit when we poked at it, but eventually it faded away. After the counterattack of Afghanistan was carried out, one could tangibly sense the country going back to its old routine.

I am not saying that we should never have done that - in fact, it has always been common knowledge that the purpose of a terrorist is to disrupt the norm - but over the last few months, it became apparent to me that this patriotism, this spirit that helped bring us to get through this tragedy, this sense of pride for our country and resolve to bring those who would threaten its land, its people, and its ideals to justice - has all but dissipated.

Quite honestly, I don't think Americans care any more about the world around us as they do about when the next season of Friends will premiere.

I've seen poll numbers, read newspaper and Internet articles about how more than two thirds of Americans believe that we should invade Iraq, but with the people I've spoken to directly, the cynicism and apathy that had supposedly collapsed with the World Trade Center is back in full force, perhaps even stronger than before. Some contend that this is nothing more than a PR move to keep President Bush's approval numbers high on the cusp of mid-term elections. Others say that the government is only doing it for the oil. Another segment of my peers believe that the sole objective behind our impending assault on Saddam Hussein is little more than an act of spite, with George Jr. cleaning up what his dad left behind. Some have even gone so far as to say they'd flee the country if it looked as if a draft might be necessary (which it won't - our military techniques allow us to take out a large portion of a country's military forces before committing ground tropps).

The writing has been on the wall now for decades. In the wake of the Vietnam War, the young people of America have sided further and further with the concept of peace at all costs. Democrats in congress - the same ones who lambasted the Bush administration for not "connecting the dots" and finding a way to prevent the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington - are now complaining that since the Iraqi dictator hasn't done anything yet, we have no grounds to issue a pre-emptive strike.

I don't consider myself a hawk. I don't support the unilateral invasion of any country that doesn't kowtow to our supremacy. I'm not the kind of person who responds to every global conflict with the two-word edict of "Nuke 'em."

With apologies to John Lennon, all I am saying, is give war a chance.

We have spent over two hundred years developing a society that endows us with freedoms that, in other countries (such as the ones in the Middle East), are faint ideals. We can practice whatever religion we choose - or we can choose to not practice any religion we want. We can listen to music. We can set out on the career path of our liking. We can bash the government for not making the decisions we would like them to make.

But with all these freedoms, there comes a heavy price. Whenever a presence comes forward and puts these freedoms in jeopardy, we must do more than just merely defend them. We must go after those who wish us harm and make examples of them, so that those who bear witness to our wrath will think twice about trying it themselves. It started with Afghanistan. It continues with Iraq. But it will not end there.

Sadly, while others are cynical about the public having overreacted to the attacks on September 11th, I fear that despite all the media coverage and public attention that has been paid to them, it wasn't enough to completely sober us to the fact that these people are trying to destroy us. To a degree, the fact that it was only September 11th that goes down in history as a black day, and not also September 12th, 13th, or 14th is something we should be thankful for, but at the same time I have a sinking feeling that the only way the entire American public will pay long-lasting attention to its enemies is if this country really and truly came under attack. Not just "Hijacked planes crash into WTC and Pentagon" attacked, but "Hijacked planes crash into WTC, Pentagon, White House, Golden Gate Bridge, Disneyland, and Golden Gate Bridge; President feared dead" attacked.

As always, I could be wrong. I predicted that Bush would use the opportunity of today's revisiting of the events last year to begin the invasion on Iraq. And this time around, I hope I am. But if I'm not, if this sentiment of skepticism and distrust is real, then I feel that in the end, all we stand for will be lost, either by the destructive force of terrorists, or the cowardice of their victims.

-Loog   

August 2002 archive
July 2002 archive
June 2002 archive

All original material is © 1996-2002 by Tim "Loogaroo" Connolly.
All video game and game show screenshots are the property of their respective companies, and no challenge or implication of ownership is made with their use.
This site is viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer with a 1024x768 resolution.