Greetings and salutations!

*Take note of the PLAY button now atop the menu; press it for some random sampling and the occasional Podcast!

WORLD FOCUS

For those of you who were holding out hope of any quick, diplomatic reformation of Hamas, take a look at one of the latest comments from an "official spokesman" here. I don't, as I've stressed many times in the past, mean to imply that I unwaveringly support all the decisions of the Israeli government. There are, in fact, several areas of major policy that I strongly disagree with. The recent decision to withhold all tax funds from Palestine certainly being one of them. But let's not pretend either of the sides involved is actually interested in living peacefully with each other.

The Olympic Games, held in Turin, Italy, are now over. Canada did tremendously well, bringing in a 3^rd place 24 medals (just one under the goal of 25) – thank God for winter sports and, most especially, for Canadian women! Congratulations go out to all our athletes…except the men’s hockey team of course!

NET FOCUS

Much to my despair, two of the ongoing Web series that have kept me so entertained in recent years, are coming to an end. Earlier this month Matt Wilson's Bonus Stage ran its last episode. Shortly thereafter, in one of his typically depressing rants, Megatokyo creator Fred Gahallger announced he was drawing his manga series to a conclusion. Sad announcements to be sure; and what will be left to fill the void....Spacetree you say? I would simply have to shoot myself *S*

THE WORLD OF JOE

I know I don't actually use this space to write a whole lot about myself. I've learned from the mistakes of my many blogging predecessors, as well as a few of my own, to maintain a safe distance between my public life and my private life. That being said, there are a few things to report:

XBOX for Sale!!!

That's right kids; I'm putting my XBox Crystal Edition up for sale. The unit is in great condition (as you can see) and comes with the DVD remote, 2 Ver. 2 Controllers, and the following games:

• NFL Blitz 2003
• NHL 2004
• Metal Gear Solid 2
• Street Fighter Anniversary Edition
• StarWars Starfighter
• Dead or Alive 3
• Sega GT 2002
• Jet Set Radio Future
• Gun Valkyrie
• Amped
• Euro 2004 (Soccer)
• Halo 2

It's all going for the price of $250! So email me if you're interested.

My friend Helen has just undergone surgery to receive a cochlear implant. We wish her all the best of luck and pray for a successful operation and quick recovery. To see for yourself a fascinating video of the procedure, click here.

Book I’m Into

Anime I’m Into

Things are still up in the air pertaining to this year’s E3 trip, but I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop there. Aside from that, the only announcement I have to make is that I have decided to implement a Stalinesque series of 5 year plans!

RANDOM INSIGHTS

"And this the world calls frenzy; but the wise
Have a far deeper madness, and the glance
Of melancholy is a fearful gift;
What is it but the telescope of truth?
Which strips the distance of its fantasies,
And brings life near in utter nakedness…"
Lord Byron

"Directly a man begins to say "Yes" without the question "Why?" he becomes a dogmatist, a potential, if not an actual liar. And it is for this reason that we are so bitterly opposed to and use such scathing words against the present- day rationalist. We have to confess that the part of it [mental life] of which rationalism can give an account is relatively superficial. It is the part that has the prestige undoubtedly, for it has the loquacity, it can challenge you for proofs, and chop logic, and put you down with words. But it will fail to convince or convert you all the same, if your dumb intuitions are opposed to its conclusions. If you have intuitions at all, they come from a deeper level of your nature than the loquacious level which rationalism inhabits."
The Varieties of Religious Experience

"For we see he is doing for Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer what the early Christian did for Jesus, Peter, and Paul; and that is, that he, having already idealised them, is now in the act of apotheosising them. Soon, if left unattacked, will their word become THE WORD, and in the place of the "Book of Genesis" shall we have the "Origin of Species," and in the place of the Christian accepting as Truth the word of Jesus shall we have the Rationalist accepting as Truth the word of Darwin."
PROF. William James.

FICTIONAL DREAMS (It’s been too long….)

There's a premise....a secret we feel will be defeated in the telling - but tearing away the curtain only serves to replace suspicion with expectation, and reveals the truth of the illusion of change, and the brutality of power.

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And into that great morass I went no more willingly than the damned into the flames of Abbaddon, but even I, as uneducated as I was in the ways of men, knew that I had little choice but to take that dreadful plunge into darkness. For if even for a moment my palpating heart failed me, I would turn away in fear, assigning myself to shame and my brother to torment more macabre than any poor mortal should have to bear.

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And I watched her from a distance, dancing between beams of moonlight. As it was, her movements, graceful as they were, were more an intricate swaying on the breeze than a structured rhythm. Her gossamer wings caressed the night sky as the forest held her in its intimate embrace. Standing there I felt at once that I was a part of everything sacred, and yet a peeping tom, an uninvited squatter to the symphony of the night.

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So rest well, ye dearly returned and lovely lost, for long have been the travails from which such sordid misery has been wrought, in bringing ye back at long last to home forgotten and family forsaken - a welcoming of violence and decay for sojourners far too accustomed to the abuse of this world. Shake off those shackles of rusty betrayal and take up the lyres of less mournful song...for the morning has come and ye remain to celebrate the spoils of bitter conquest and broken campaign. Here here! Ye brothers of shadow and dust! Ho ho! Ye children of twilight - the time has come for the dance of the summoned, the jubilee of the wayward soul.

With Hope,
Joseph

Winter Olympics | XBox for Sale | Bonus Stage