NoCalMike

Hilarious.

California's video game law ruled unconstitutional (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court ruled Friday that a California law restricting the sales and rental of violent video games to minors and imposing labeling requirements is too restrictive and violates free speech guarantees. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the labeling requirement unfairly forces video games to carry "the state's controversial opinion" about which games are violent. The unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel could have a far-reaching impact on efforts by other states to establish mandatory video game labeling requirements. The court upheld a lower court finding that California lawmakers failed to produce evidence that violent video games cause psychological or neurological harm to children. "Even if it did, the Act is not narrowly tailored to prevent that harm and there remain less restrictive means of forwarding the state's purported interests," the court wrote. Those alternative measures include the voluntary ratings system established by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, educational campaigns and parental controls, the court said. State Sen. Leland Yee, the author of the legislation, said he will urge California Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal the court's ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. "I've always contended that the ... law the governor signed was a good one for protecting children from the harm from playing these ultra-violent video games," Yee told Reuters. "I've always felt it would end up in the Supreme Court." Bo Andersen, president and chief executive of the Entertainment Merchants Association, said the ruling vindicates his group's position that "ratings education, retailer ratings enforcement, and control of game play by parents are the appropriate responses to concerns about video game content." Andersen and Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association, urged the state to abandon any further appeals of the case. "This is a clear signal that in California and across the country, the reckless pursuit of anti-video game legislation like this is an exercise in wasting taxpayer money, government time and state resources," Gallagher said in a statement. The 2005 law, which requires games described as violent to carry an "18" label, has been contested by video game publishers, distributors and sellers. A lower court had barred the law from taking effect in 2006, and later invalidated it. The state appealed that case, titled Video Software Dealers Association v. Arnold Schwarzenegger (CV-05-04188), last October.

Oh snap Dead Rising 2 will be on PS3....the first one was an XBOX 360 exclusive. It was decent, but had flaws.........I hope part 2 kicks ass.

Pantera was a good gateway band. You went to one of their concerts knowing little about Metal, but by the time you exited, you had a bunch of new bands you heard about from others to go check out. I think I was 15 when I saw them, and at the time they were probably the heaviest music I listened to, this was back in 1995. They brought me to Slayer, and the rest was history!!!!

My mother in law just passed away from colon cancer this past Tuesday. Last August she was given three months to live, so she fought it off way longer then expected. The emotions aren't as bad when you have that long to prepare, but it still hurts when the time comes. She was originally diagnosed a few years ago, and chemo really helped, it went into remission for about a year, but when it came back it came back with a vengeance. The worst feeling is the fact that this is the one thing I can't really fix or make better for my wife. She is handling it pretty well given the circumstances though.

That's odd cause you seem to be the one complaining about infrastructure spending that will create jobs!?!

Thus far in the series I'd have to say my biggest issue with the series is the Margine character. I have a hard time buying that she would have ever joined this family in the first place, and even as a part of it, she doesn't doesn't seem to fit in with this lifestyle what-so-ever, and it always seems she is one argument away from just running away. There is nothing about her character that says, "I want to be in a polygamist family" Of course, that may be the irony of why her character exists in the first place.....but still.

I agree for the most part, but it does kinda make me question just how "big" of a star he ever was. I mean lets face it, guys like Hogan or Flair, can pretty much get a job in WWE anytime they want if it strictly for the money, as long as they are willing to put over someone. The difference of course is that those guys aren't broke so they have a lot more leverage then Randy "The Ram" who would have probably been willing to do anything for a paycheck. Most mass wrestling crowds are SUCKERS for nostalgia acts. So that makes me think in theory, not only was he old and broken down, but also had burned a lot of bridges WITH A BLOWTORCH. That was my one major gripe with the film as well, as besides the opening montage of wrestling posters, and a quick reference in some dialoge, we never really get a real sense of how "big" he was, or how far he has fallen. As wrestling fans, we can assume.

Almost everyone is bad when they first start out. The biggest tip I can give beginners is that forget about trying to throw for power/distance for the first few months of playing. Most folks see someone else throw the disc 300 feet and the first thing they do is try to heave it has hard as they can, and it just goes up in the air and to the side. Work on your technique first, which is to make sure the disc gets a flat release, the release point should be in front of the body, and make sure to try and put some snap into it(especially if you throw sidearm). The power will come with time, and is pretty much already there, but lack of technique negates any power anyways.

Par is almost always 3, unless the hole is unusually long. The Avg distance of a basket from the tee I'd say is 300'-350' Every course is different, with a lot of variables, the biggest being what kind of land the course is on. Some of your more basic courses are in community parks, these tend to be the smaller 9 hold courses. The 18 baskey courses tend to be in woodsy areas with a lot of land. Some courses are more technical, where you have to throw the discs around obstacles, while some holes are straight ahead, just a long ways away. www.discgolfcoursereview.com

While I wouldn't be suprised if Disc Golf is on that list somewhere, that particular entry is referring to "Ulimate Frisbee" which is something completely different. It's almost like playing flag football with a frisbee instead of a disc.......not the same thing. Never played that.

should this be moved to sports? I guess technically it is a sport....

Oh don't worry I'll give him a chance. If the NOES trailer ends up being as cool as the F13th remake trailer then yeah I'll give it a shot. One other thing, it's not like it's been THAT long since Robert Englund has played Freddy, he is still very fresh in most people's minds. That will make it harder too. It's not like this is a UNIVERSAL horror film that is over 50 years old, and no one really knows about.

Portion control with a healthy dose of exercize is probably the best way to go. I used to do a low-carb diet and it did work strictly to take the pounds off, but it doesn't do anything in terms of making you more healthy perse(less pounds is more healthy by default though). There really is no replacement for exercize. I really don't do nearly enough of it. Most of my exercize consists of disc golfing, but that is only once a week(twice once in awhile) due to working full time, and having other obligations. Also working a swing shift doesn't help because when I get off of work it is going to be dark, regardless of the season, otherwise I would do it after work, 3-4 times a week. Also, my hobbies are the computer/internet, videogames, and movies/tv, and those aren't excercise-heavy, lol.

Right now I'm throwing an Innova Star SL and an Innova Starmax for my drives, and a Discraft Rhyno for my putts. There are a ton of courses in Sacramento and the outlying areas. I go about once a week barring weather conditions(which recently have kept me going for a few weeks). I can par most holes when I am concentrating and keep the beer drinking to a minimum. Sometimes I go to actually play well, sometimes just to hang out with friends and get fucked up while throwing some discs, but lately I have been weening myself off of drinking and my game has stepped up a bunch. So anyone else out there do this?

Yeah, Friday the 13th was probably the easiest horror franchise to reboot/make sequels for because of how bland a character Jason himself is. A big hulky beast of a man weilding a special weapon of choice. Even if you loved Kane Hodder the best as Jason, it's not like the Friday's without him lost much because he wasn't playing Jason. There is no face attached to the Jason Character, just a Hockey Mask and a Machete.... On the other hand...... ROBERT ENGLUND is the reason Freddy Krueger is the horror icon we all know and love. Personally, I think having him in the movie at all is worse then just not having him in there. Isn't that going to risk Robert Englund outshining and stealing the show away from whoever ends up playing Freddy? It will be just another reminder of "Hey look it's me Robert Englund, and guess who I'm not playing for the rest of the movie?" Oh yeah and the director they chose.....UUUUUUUUUUUUGH.

Season 3 has just been outstanding so far. I am very impressed with where the storylines are going.

Friday Night is a horrible timeslot. Especially for the targeted demographic. Hard to expect much, but do ratings also account for DVR and Tivo? Cause I didn't watch it until Saturday. I thought the episode was decent.

I was going to make a seperate post about the future of the PPV model, and how much longer it will be a successful entity. Programs like SopCast and TVUPlayer, among many others, have become pretty damn reliable for offering free streaming links for PPV programming, and the quality is pretty acceptable as well. We are still a couple of steps away from the mainstream being tech savvy enough to be able to transfer online content onto their television, but a lot of people already can do it(most people reading this probably). Once it becomes more of the norm less and less people are going to actually be purchasing PPV. I mean seriously is anyone else actually buying movies or porn on PPV? So right now that leaves live/special events, but like I said those can also be found on the internet for free. Then you have the other group who is perfectly willing to not buy the live event because it will be uploaded on the internet, minutes after it airs anyway. What is the future of the PPV model and how will it effect companies like WWE, UFC?

If I was closer, I'd definately take the challenge.

I like that idea. I also think a podcast would be fun. We could all just download the software needed, and then maybe have 2 regular people doing it and the third & fourth spot would go on a rotating basis. The regular spots would obviously go to the folks who have the spare time to make sure they can always have new content for whatever deadlines are to be met, and the other two sports could go to folks who make an appointment/deal to contribute for that particular podcast.

The 60 votes, was to merely make it filibuster proof though, right? Harry Reid should have dared Republicans to filibuster this package and let them go in front of the american people and explain why taking no action at all and just standing around doing nothing is somehow going to make that work, that and why giving tax cuts to the top 2% is somehow STILL a good idea? I understand the notion of bipartisanship, and why it is useful in certain situations, but the fact of the matter is, when people put the Dems in the majority in 2006 and then one step, one huge step more by electing Obama as president, to me that send a pretty clear message that we/they are tired of the economic policies of the past eight years and WANT a rapid new direction. That is what the stimulus package was offering, originally. The Republicans are standing around and acting like the Dems are going against the will of the people or something when the last two elections are pretty clear indication that the public wants them to STFU and know their role for the time being and give something DIFFERENT a chance. Oh and on the topic of the housing market. How do we protect from another bubble-type economy? For example, where I live in Sacramento, before this current bubble burst, 3-4 bedroom homes were going for 500,00 or more. Now this city and general outlying area does not having the income to suppor these housing prices, and most of the home buyers were folks from the Bay Area either buying & renting out 2nd homes, or just moving here because it was cheaper then the bay and commuting to work. I understand why homes going up in value is a good thing, but on the flip side of the scenario, when the value starts to become so inflated that no one living in the city can actually afford to buy a house i also see that as a big problem. I guess prices of houses rising wouldn't be as much of a problem though, if wages were somewhat keeping up, but they aren't. So how do we protect from another inflated bubble housing market, once the economy turns around?

I saw the full trailer on the big screen before Friday the 13th.....looks awesome.

Just got back. Wow. It was a lot better then I expected. The trailers looked good, but not enough to make me thing I would be this satissfied after the movie was over. The kills were cool, and they managed to write a script that wasn't overly annoying. They managed to find that fine line between cheezy-goodness and annoying and stuck with the former. I do agree with the sentiment that it didn't really feel like a remake at all, and more like a new updated installment, which is perfectly fine by me. I guess the only con I would have would be, Oh and also, My theater was packed and it was nice to see a crowd so enthusiastic for a franchise that hasn't been around for awhile, I mean there is Jason X and FvJ, but those are kind of alternative-world Jason movies if you ask me.

Well it took 30 years of Reaganomics, plus some Clinton free trade, to get us into the second Republican depression, yet people want Obama to get us out in four? Yeah fucking right. The likely scenario is Obama is long gone before anything has a chance to work, and labeled a socialist, tax & spend liberal, while all of his economic policies are reversed. Ok that was a bit sarcastic but really, the stimulus package is already a fraction of what it was originally, and now what, over 50% are tax cuts anyway, which isn't going to stimulate a goddamn thing, so the lesson of the 2006 and 2008 elections is what exactly, that Democrats still roll over and bend over backwards even when they are in the f-ing majority. Considering the way they were treated the last eight years when it came to input on any legislation, I think for now we can put this "bipartisan" bullshit aside, and do something for the economy. Right now the Republicans win because if the stimulus package works, they are going to say it's because they stood their ground and got a bunch of additional tax cuts worked in and got the spending down, and if it doesn't do anything soon, they can scream about "tax and spend, tax and spend" I understand the Republicans have a completely different ideology when it comes to the economy and how to get it working, but for two elections they have had their asses handed to them, yet refuse to show any sort of humbling, and are still carrying on about why we have to continue the same economic polices that we've used the last 30 years, which is a major factor in how we got here.