It seems like video games are becoming more and more real these days. One of my favorite single player games of all time is Call of Duty 4. It isn't your typical war game. In fact, the message you receive loud and clear is that war is ugly, brutal, and devastating to people long-term, including the people who wage it.

You also get different perspectives. For example, you go through the following scenarios:

1) Dying in a nuclear explosion
2) As a government leader, being executed by Muslim extremists
3) Watching a friend and mentor die before your eyes

All of this in glorious HD resolution! But the game is even more real than I previously thought it to be. There is one mission where you are a gunner in an AC-130 gunship, floating in the air, vaporizing the enemy with giant bullets. The guys you fly with in the mission often make ironic comments or crack jokes about the situation below.

Last night Josh and I were on YouTube looking for videos of Apache Longbows administering justice to the enemy, when - ta da - we found some videos of AC-130 gunships under the cover of darkness just like in Call of Duty! In one video, the first thing a guy says is "If you find me some bad guys, I'll buy you ice cream for dinner!" I almost fell out of my chair laughing once I realized how much it resembled the mission in the game, and how they exaggerated it to sort of point the finger at attitudes like this.

Now, don't get me wrong - stuff like that isn't in every video, or even nearly the majority. I certainly am not one to give a damn if a shithead terrorist gets what's coming to him, either. What I find interesting, and frightening, is the potential for humans to be so callous. I don't think we'll ever learn.

• By the way, anyone on XBOX Live? ***

This article shocked me, so I'm absolutely certain it's going to shock you. Camille Paglia takes some swings and shows her independent streak yet again. The honesty is so refreshing in today's media environment. I don't agree with everything she says, but she is 110% correct about what motivates most people who talk dookie about Sarah Palin. She's dead-on, bullseye accurate about that and about the unacceptable turn towards ideological orthodoxy in certain circles. Look at the comments from the unstable peanut gallery - ouch! Be careful Camille, if you don't regurgitate the Kos line or the lies/innuendo you read in the Times, you might just be out of a job!

Article here - please aim your hate towards her, not me.

Just an expression of frustration, here. No names involved.

Is it mandatory that when you get a girlfriend you fall off the freakin map?

I've been struggling to post lately. It seems in the last month or two a couple of dozen times I have started a post just to give up on the post and cancel it. Sometimes it is worth engaging someone, sometimes it is not. I will say this - if we are all suddenly poor and on the bread line, aren't we running out of people to hate?

There, I finished a post. If anyone wants a serious discussion about the first amendment, and how it applies legally to violent protests, give me a shout.

That's right, I said it and even made a new journal category. That new show, Mad Men, had me thinking about design. I said I couldn't care any less about the design but upon further review, when you start thinking about how cool period shows like that are you DO like the design. So here I am.

Anyone who has been to my apartment knows I am not the most design oriented person in the world. I lump it in generally with style and fashion, which I think are some of the most trivial things we've ever invented, but for the first time today I thought about whether I would like my living space better if I made it look a certain way. Could this affect your mood?

There are other times I realize I appreciate design. For example I really love certain album covers, and I really love classic cars. Anyone remember the classic blue Aston Martin from the recent Bond movie? I think if I were to ever spend real money on an automobile I wouldn't get a run of the mill BMW or anything like that. I would get a classic car. When it comes to this stuff I love classic style.

One man definitely agrees with me - Ralph Lauren. I saw a program recently about his car collection, which is among the best in the world. A museum in Boston actually had an exhibit recently featuring a number of automobiles from his collection. Can you imagine walking into a gallery and seeing cars instead of paintings? What makes a work of art? I have a hard time arguing when you see some of these pieces.

Look at this Ferrari. Amazing. Photo by Michael Furman.


This won one a major competition. Photo by Martyn Goddard.


The thing that makes me absolutely love Ralph Lauren is that he isn't a guy who is interested in things that just look pretty. Nope, the Ferrari and the Alfa Romeo are one of a kind RACE cars that haul serious ass. They have a purpose to exist beyond aesthetics, which to him (and to me) is crucial. I can't even imagine the joy driving one of these beauties. Ralph claims that the belief in everything needing a purpose to exist is reflected in his clothes as well, but I'm not really in a position to verify that as I haven't yet bought any of his "real" men's wear.

I guess design isn't for metros and petty people, eh? I think I want to fix up my place, seeing as winter is coming and my ass will be inside a lot more.