Demented Rants

Loz & I are playing again. I should be on for sure the next few months at least & as long as we aren’t drowned in bills, he should be on as well.

We have been building up the GamingArmy guild and between noon and 1am, we normally have on at least 10-15 people at all times. Peak hours it can get up to 30 or so. All level ranges, and we’re more than happy to help run dungeons and the like. Lately, we’ve been running lots of heroic dungeons & getting as many guild achievements as we can.

Server: Eldre’Thalas
Horde
My main: Savarisin
Loz’s main: Amorian
Loz’s Battle.net email addy: devilduckie@gmail.com

If you wanna join in, feel free to send one of us a message

I’m a newbie on World of Warcraft, and trying to get our guild up

Come play with us Horde side on Eldre’Thalas, join our guild, and have fun.

For every 10 levels you hit I’ll send you a CUSTOM naughty pic. It’s that simple. Don’t have a WoW account? No Problem! Send me your email address & I’ll send you an invite to the game, giving you a 10 day trial.  If you decide to buy the game & pay a month of game time, I’ll send you a free 5 minute video!

My main character’s name is Savarisin. I’ll soon be making a warlock, so if you need someone to start playing with you at lower levels, I can totally do that too Our guild is a fun one and we all joke around and poke fun at each other. No pressure at all. If I’m not on, add my fiance via his Blizzard ID: devilduckie@gmail.com

So, I received a message from one of the people I know who is an affiliate for GeekGirlsOnline. It was titled “Just a heads up” — so I assumed I’d linked something wrong on the last update. Boy was I wrong. Apparently Nintendo has some company as their lackey that goes around attempting to enforce their trademark. This is all fine and dandy if they are enforcing it properly. Unfortunately, they are attempting to use their own idea of what is ‘decent’ and try to get anyone using ‘Nintendo DSi” along with nude pictures, no matter how NOT hardcore they are, to remove Nintendo DSi from their text that is visible, invisible and meta.

Sorry guys, in this case, it doesn’t work that way.

A nonowner may also use a trademark nominatively—to refer to the actual trademarked product or its source. In addition to protecting product criticism and analysis, United States law actually encourages nominative usage by competitors in the form of comparative advertising.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use_%28U.S._trademark_law%29

The Lanham Act permits a non-owner of a registered trademark to make “fair use” or “nominative use” of a trademark under certain circumstances without obtaining permission from the mark’s owner. The fair use and nominative use defenses are to help ensure that trademark owners do not prohibit the use of their marks when they are used for the purpose of description or identification. Fair use or nominative use may be recognized in those instances where a reader of a given work is clearly able to understand that the use of the trademark does not suggest sponsorship or association with the trademark owner’s product or services and therefore is not being used in a manner to confuse the reader.

http://www.publaw.com/fairusetrade.html

Unlike most statutory fair use cases, nominative fair use involves the descriptive use of the plaintiff’s mark to describe or identify the plaintiff’s goods or services. While decided as a statutory and/or common law fair use case, WCVB-TV v. Boston Athletic Ass’n., 926 F.2d 42 (1st Cir. 1991), is more logically a nominative fair use case, although decided before the Ninth articulated the defense and coined the term. This case involved the use of the registered trademark BOSTON MARATHON by a television station in connection with its coverage of the running event. WCVB-TV had displayed the words “Boston Marathon” on the screen before, during, and after their coverage of the actual marathon. The First Circuit found that the fair use defense was properly asserted, reasoning that the trademark was used primarily in a descriptive manner. Because of the “timing, meaning, context, intent, and surrounding circumstances,” there was no likelihood of confusion. The court concluded that without allowing others to use the term “Boston Marathon,” it would be virtually impossible to describe the Boston Marathon.

http://www.cll.com/articles/trademark-parody-statutory-and-nominative-fair-use-under-the-lanham-act#NOMINATIVE%20USE%20AS%20FAIR%20USE

The facts are these:  I posed naked with my Nintendo DSi. I stated as a description FOR the promotional gallery for my affiliates, that it was a Nintendo DSi. My affiliates used this terminology because it is in fact a Nintendo DSi in the photos with me. The company going after people states the following:

Re: BLOG NAME REMOVED

IDENTIFIED PROBLEM: Web site uses a Nintendo trademark (Nintendo) in
the code of the page.

Dear Moniker Privacy Services,

We are an Internet monitoring agency representing Nintendo of America
Inc. (“Nintendo”). We are writing to ask you to stop using the Nintendo
properties in the hidden text/visible text/meta tags and/or title and/or
links of the above-referenced sexually explicit Web site. Nintendo’s
customers include many children and their parents. Unauthorized use of
Nintendo trademark(s)/work(s) is harmful to those customers and will
tarnish Nintendo’s reputation.

We look forward to your immediate confirmation that you have taken the
necessary steps to resolve this matter. To that end, you may email us at
StopInfringement@cyveillance.com.

Please note that these are automatic email boxes so typically no
response is sent as long as the problem is corrected.

Sincerely,
Cyveillance

Um. No. I don’t give a shit if Jesus himself surfs the web looking for a Nintendo DSi — the simple fact of the matter is that not ONLY are my affiliates in the right but I am in the right for instructing them to use the phrase in the first place. It’s describing the object in the photo. Deal with it Nintendo. You’d be pitching a goddamn fit if I put it down as some other console, so take the publicity and move on about your lives. I promise, you’ll be less like tools if you do.

Btw, a couple of the photos mentioned are right through this link: http://www.geekgirlsonline.net/hosted/athenahollow4/ (OBVIOUSLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK!)

Also, another example of how Nintendo is being rediculous, is pointed out by our friends over at KinkyGamer. I was talking to the owner about the whole situation and here’s what he had to say:

It appears to be related to the below picture of Athena from Geek Girls Online enjoying her DS while nude. The funny thing is, they did not seem to have a problem with a barely dressed girl playing the Wii Fit on youtube which got millions of views immediately following the release of the Wii Fit.

[Read the Full Post] (Also Not Safe For Work)

Yea……. off that cross Nintendo.

Precursor: My twitter posts that inspired such a conversation….
I my kid. She just chose to put on Super Mario Brothers Super Show over Spongebob. Fuck ya, kid!

Birdo is a creepy bitch dragon in this show… I forgot about that lol

And why the hell does she have glasses on and a terrible spitting lisp!? Come on Mario! Whoop that dragons ass!

Now onto the fun part….

Ron: Birdo’s a guy

Me: not in the supermario super show
Me: “When a Birdo mistakes Toad for her missing baby and kidnaps him, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool must rescue him while avoiding Koopa’s attacks.”

Ron: how dare they change his sexuality

Me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdo
Me: The manual asserts that she is a male who believes he is a girl, and would rather be referred to as “Birdetta”.

Ron: manual = bible

Me: but that was only in the original release
Me: and besides, it doesn’t count
Me: it was doki doki panic reskin

Ron: how’s it not count? first appearance should count

Me: they’ve devolved it to the point that it’s indeterminate in gender
Me: and most TG ‘guys’ I know, prefer being called girls
Me: so, for all intents and purposes, Birdo is a girl.

Ron: where the fuck do the eggs come from tho?

Me: unisexed?

Ron: I want Birdo to be the one thing that makes sense in the Mario universe
Ron: I don’t care about floating blocks, or fireballs underwater

Me: why does there have to be anything that makes sense… it’s a fiction universe.
Me: lol
Me: but yea, birdo is transgendered. period.
Me: so anatomically, it is probably male, but mentally, psychologically, biological makeup (excluding sex organs) it’s a girl

Ron: that makes it rude to call her birdo then
Ron: it should be Birdette

Me: I know guys named camille and girls named jo
Me: lol
Me: why does a name have to be gender specific

Ron: but.. in this specific instance, they don’t want to be called Birdo, they want Birdette… so why go as far as to call him a she, but then go and and use the male name they don’t like

Me: For the same reason why my friend’s license says Michael but he prefers to go by Ashley…

Ron: right, and I’m assuming you say Ashley… right?

Me: maybe mario & them are bigots?
Me: they are italian
Me: not bigots
Me: homophobes

Ron: just saying… the Super Mario Super Show is ran by a bunch of bigots
Ron: uh yeah… Mario hates all races
Ron: he eats mushrooms, even tho his friends are made of them

Me: Well Birdo doesn’t really correct them either
Me: so maybe they don’t know
Me: *shugs* we are delving way too deep into this

Ron: of course Birdo doesn’t correct then, that’s asking for a hate crime by 2 Italian plumbers with fireball power

Me: lol

The hilarious and lovable crew who brought you The Gamers & Dorkness Rising is asking for your help!

Ok, DG fans, we need your help! We scored a *great* deal on build space for the JourneyQuest sets, but now we need to return the favor. So come to “Company” this Thursday at the Seattle Musical Theatre. We’ll be there too, so let’s make a night of it!

Call (206) 363-2809 for tickets. Get $10 off if you mention JourneyQuest!

That was their latest post on Facebook, and here’s a link to a post on their site. It goes into more detail as to why you should go see “Company”

Dead Gentlemen Productions Blog

Ok, well it’s not exactly the T-Virus.
But it’s damn fucking close, if you ask me.
It is called ANEW CLINICAL Derma-Full X3 Facial Filling Serum.
It is to make you look younger (sounding familiar yet?)

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) for Avon, it is the IMAGE that bears the striking resemblence to the Resident Evil T-Virus.

Come on now, there’s no freaking way you can say that this is total coincidence!

Avon’s Serum

T-Virus

I think it’s about time we all stock up on shotguns, hand grenades, flashlights and our very own The Zombie Survival Guide with maybe a couple The Zombie Survival Guide…

I thought I had seen it all folks.

But this is the most awesome reason to buy a video game ever.

Rock Band offers the ability to upload your characters from the game, to their website, and in turn you can pay to have them turned into 6″ figurines!

Who said rock toys were reserved only for KISS?

Rock Band “Merch” Table

While you’re at it, sign up and add me to your friends list!

Athena Hollow @ Rockband.com

In Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), the United States Supreme Court held, in a unanimous 8-0 decision, that the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantee prohibits awarding damages to public figures to compensate for emotional distress intentionally inflicted upon them.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Now, onto things that don’t cause me to spaz my retard alert…

OMG Rockband 2. Rockband 2 OMG. I love this game. I spent probably $250 on it total, thus far. There’s just too many good goddamn downloadable songs! And there’s at least $50 more that I want, but I am going to be good and not get them for a few weeks. Might as well perfect the ones I have.

Onto the Wii…

It’s been said 1000 times that the Wii isn’t in the next-gen console wars. I have to agree. It’s in a standalone competition by itself.

Nintendo is always up for the challange of being different, and succeeding every time. My only real complaints are due to the fact that if you are playing a precision game, it can become quite difficult.

I started playing Trauma Center: Second Opinion. Best I can tell, it is a remake of the DS version of Trauma Center. Fun ass game on the DS, even though I got to a level that was absolutely unbeatable and never finished it, I still had a blast when I COULD play. Unfortunately, I’m a slightly shaky person, and because of that, some of the stuff that was simple and scoring me “A’s” on the ds, are scoring me a “C” … disappointing.

The actual decision on getting the Wii though, was for the emulator and gamecube compatability. I mean, had we went out and bought all of the systems it actually supports, we’d have spent WELL over what the Wii costs.

I don’t know about you, but I loved quite a few Gamecube games, and am quite pleased that I will finally get to play Baten Kaitos. (It was my white whale. When I COULD find it, it was damaged, but finding it was rare indeed.) And I will also get to beat BOTH Paper Mario games.

Also, the Wii is going to be my new Workout machine. Instead of spending thousands on a workout thingy just for it to take up gobs of space in my already limited bubble, I put money down on Wii Fitness (not to be confused w/ the $90 Wii Fit). It doesn’t come out till May, but goddammit, I am GOING to use this thing to get in shape.

So there you have it. Yes, the Wii is pretty nifty in it’s own right, but is it in direct competition with Sony and Microsoft? Not a chance. It appeals to a totally different audience even.

The Wii targets families, kids and casual gamers, and whereas the 360 and ps3 wouldn’t mind having a slice of that pie, they just can’t justify coming out w/ games that are essentially Tamagatichi’s for kittens/puppies/horses/whatever.

Three reasons why I haven’t posted in a few days:

1.  I got my tax money on Friday, and have been on a slightly conservative spending spree.

2. I bought Rock Band 2 (’nuff said)

3. Microsoft decided to make my computer act retarded.

To elaborate on the 3rd…

Everything was working fine. Kid was watching a movie on my computer, it went kaput, I restart, and get a stupid “Reload boot” error.

I didn’t feel like dicking with it, so I let it go for a couple days, figuring that somehow the boot file or MBR was fucked up. I know how to fix those problems, but was kind of enjoying the days off to be honest.

Well, I give in and try to fix it today. Neither fixboot, fixmbr nor bootcfg fixed it. So, what was the problem? Oh, that my main drive was jumpered as slave.

Now, this would normally be an issue that could be corrected the first time you use the drive. But no, I have been running this copy of xp pro on my computer for oh, about 7 months now. Not a single problem. And then *poof* Windows decides that it has to be on a master jumpered drive. WTF? I didn’t realize that Windows had such a picky AI installed.

But, needless to say, all is well in Athenaland now. Computer is back up and running better (because I also can-aired out the psu, cpu and gpu) and I will be back soon to give some insight as to why I both like and dislike my spiffy new Wii.

Recently, Sony announced that there are roughly 20 million registered Playstation Network accounts, which is about 3 million more than that registered for xBox Live.

Really? Well, I mean, it makes sense, since the xBox live network is being calculated solely on xBox 360 accounts, and the playstation network is an all encompassing set of numbers for both Playstation 3 and PSP.

I’m pretty sure that means that yes, Playstation may be doing better on raw signups, but does that necessarily mean their networks are better?

Here’s just a couple of differences of the pros vs both networks:

PSN pros:

* Free
* Utilized for both PSP and PS3

XBL pros:

* Exclusive downloadable content for games that AREN’T xBox exclusive games
* Exclusive demos for games that AREN’T xBox exclusive games
* Netflix integration

Yes, xBox live costs money, but with that money they are able to negotiate exclusive DLC, along with other major points of content interest such as the netflix deal.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather pay a whole $50 a year for something that will get used on a daily, or semi daily basis; has excellent uptime; offers unique content, than get a ps3 where I personally don’t know of a single game that is exclusive that I would enjoy enough to justify paying $400 for a console.