What If 2000

I've been toying in my head with two alternatives to what historically occurred and have a few ideas as to what might have happened. The first one is as follows:

What If Gore Won in 2000?
It's an idea that many have come up with and has been tackled to varying degrees of bias. Remaining as unbiased as possible - this is what I came up with.
Gore's term in office is marked by the war in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on September 11th. The economy struggles, but with less of a budget shortfall than under President Bush, it manages to steady itself almost entirely by 2003. 2002 sees major Democratic gains and the capture of both houses of Congress. During his first term in office, Gore signs into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the McCain–Feingold Act, and the No Child Left Behind Act. No Child Left Behind is fully funded. He supports the Kyoto Accord and pushes for some far reaching anti-global warming legislation towards the end of his first term in office. Taxes are increased on top earners in the United States in 2003. In 2003, Afghanistan has its first democratic election under its new Constitution.

In mid-2004, President Gore pulls out of Afghanistan. Gore/Lieberman win against the ticket of John McCain/Lamar Alexander. A high profile speech that some consider the best from the Republican convention, was given by recently elected Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. After the 2004 election cycle, Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele becomes the Republican Party chairman. His tenure begins with a number of public missteps and gaffes, but by the end of 2005 his face seems to disappear from the news.

Federal taxes rise a bit during Gore's second term as he continues to push his anti-global warming agenda in Congress. 2005 sees North Korea and Iraq testing rockets over neighboring airspace. The United Nations condemns their actions. Iran, Iraq, and North Korea each claim that they are working on nuclear programs. Gore calls for multi-party talks with China, South Korea, North Korea, and the United States to halt North Korea's nuclear program. He calls for talks with Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United States to help halt the Iranian and Iraqi nuclear programs. Progress is very slow and does not happen in the Middle East as Iran and Iraq refuse to participate in talks. Economic downturn begins in late 2005 and after years of Democratic party rule, 2006 sees large Republican gains. 2006 sees the Republicans recapturing the House of Representatives and the selection of new Speaker of the House Michael Pence.

In 2007, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal forgoes a bid for reelection endorsing Republican State Senator Walter Boasso as his successor. Boasso defeated Democrat and Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell.

In the 2008 election, Vice President Joseph Lieberman decides not to seek the Presidency citing that serving as Vice President for eight years was all he needed. In the first open election in years, many jump into the fray. The Democratic primary was primarily between former US Senator John Edwards, US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Clinton eventually won the primary in early May and selected Howard Dean as her running mate.

The Republican primary appeared to be more divided at first with former Governors Bobby Jindal and Mitt Romney facing off against former Senator Fred Thompson, and Congressman Ron Paul. Following a huge win in Iowa and South Carolina (Romney wins New Hampshire and ties Jindal in Michigan), Jindal has large momentum going into Florida. Thompson endorses Jindal after his South Carolina loss. Jindal edges out Romney in Florida and then wins huge on Super Tuesday. Romney drops out after Super Tuesday to support party unity and endorses Jindal. With Jindal as the nominee, he waits until Clinton selects Howard Dean as her running mate to pick former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell as his running mate. Jindal/Powell defeats Clinton/Dean in an extremely close election. Looking very similar to the 2004 election in the real timeline.

Modern Macbeth Adaptation

I've come up with the idea for the skeleton of a modern adaptation of Macbeth. It chronicles the rise and fall of Vice President Jonathan Macbeth.

Characters and Macbeth Equivalent:
Vice President Jonathan Macbeth - Macbeth
Second Lady Hillary Macbeth - Lady Macbeth
President Thomas Duncan - King Duncan
Secretary of State Jennifer Baquette - Banquo
Secret Service Agent Arnold Duffy - Macduff
Speaker of the House Malcolm Duncan - Malcolm
Palm Reader Lady Hecate - Hecate/Three Witches

General Plot:Story begins in the middle of President Duncan's second term in office with Representative Malcolm Duncan sworn in as the youngest Speaker of the House in history following mid-term elections. Vice President Macbeth was a retired General who was a critical supporter of the President and important in helping define his foreign policy platform. Following giving a huge speech in Ohio, Macbeth passes a palm reader at the state fair. Lady Hecate invites him in and offers him a free reading. Lady Hecate tells Vice President Macbeth that he will become President one day and that the Secretary of State will beget Presidents. Lady Hecate tells the Vice President that no politician could stop his rise to power. This becomes all the Vice President can think about.

The Vice President returns to Washington and talks with his wife about the prediction. His wife suggests killing the President jokingly. It then becomes all encompassing, all that the Vice President can think about. Macbeth then takes a trip to meet the troops in Afghanistan and meets in secret with an Arabic gentleman who he'll pay big money if he kills the President. Macbeth gives him all the details of a trip him and the President will be having at his cabin in Montana. The assassin sneaks in and shoots the President, as he tries to escape - Macbeth shoots him with a legal firearm making it appear as though Macbeth was defending the President and himself from the would-be assassin. The primary agent responsible for the President was Agent Arnold Duffy. Duffy had been on vacation at the time of the assassination. Duffy immediately suspected the Vice President.

Macbeth then becomes President. The guilt weighs on him and his wife. Macbeth starts to become paranoid. He sends the Secretary of State to a mission in Gaza, knowing that he had information regarding an attack in the area. Secretary Baquette dies in the visit. President Macbeth is concerned about Duffy and has him removed from his post. Around the same time, Duffy finds the information that can incriminate the President. Macbeth goes on a speaking tour trying to build up a good image for himself. The First Lady, while the President is away, commits suicide. The President returns home and continues his descent into madness. He focuses inward and begins to ignore the public, hiding in the West Wing. His cabinet becomes concerned about the President's behavior. Duffy drops off a letter in the mailbox, sending all the incriminating evidence to the Attorney General. The President decides to go out for a speech when Duffy assassinates the President.

The story would end with the Speaker, the late President Duncan's son, being sworn in as the next President of the United States of America.

Thoughts welcome.

Sonic Chronicles Review

For Christmas, my brother-in-law got me a copy of Sonic Chronicles for the Nintendo DS. As a ridiculous fan of Sonic the Hedgehog games, and owner of each Sonic collection for the Gamecube, the Sonic Adventure series, and a strong proponent of Sonic and the Secret Rings, this seemed like a good choice for me. It was.

Sonic Chronicles is an RPG created by BioWare. BioWare were the creators of such RPGs as Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Mass Effect. Sonic Chronicles is a quasi-serious RPG about Sonic the Hedgehog taking plot elements and world setting elements from the Sonic Adventure series and Sonic Heroes. The game begins with Sonic in the Green Hill Zone with Tails getting in touch with him. Tails tells him that Knuckles has been kidnapped by some alien creatures who were going after the chaos emeralds and the master emerald. Sonic is then led on a quest to try to save Knuckles and figure out the agenda of these invaders.

The gameplay is entirely done using the stylus. Pointing and dragging the stylus around moves Sonic around the level. Combat sequences are fun, if not the most challenging. Super moves are interesting in that you follow a pattern sequence to complete them in Elite Beat Agent-esque format. It adds a level of challenge to make sure you can pull off the interesting attack maneuvers. The learning curve felt large when I first tried the game, but turned out to be much easier than anticipated.

The story is actually interesting and characters are developed better than one would expect from a video game based on a character such as Sonic the Hedgehog. Shadow is the most developed I've seen him in any game he's been in, and I've played Shadow the Hedgehog. Big the Cat is a lumox, but enjoyable. Amy and Cream are even amusing. Eggman's introduction into the game is also wonderfully crafted as far as I've seen thus far, I'm currently halfway through the game. The dialogue is cleverly written. One fun option is that Sonic is occasionally given options beyond the standard in conversation - being allowed to make snarky comments and those he's mocking act accordingly leading to some fun interactions.

All in all, if you like simple RPGs and Sonic the Hedgehog, try the game. It's a lot of fun and I'm looking for someone else to trade Chao with.

Huron Carol

I've been listening a great deal to the Crash Test Dummies Christmas album, Jingle all the way..., and it's great. A Christmas carol I had never heard of ends the album, it's entitled The Huron Carol. The music is beautiful and the vocals of Ellen Reid with backup by lead singer Brad Roberts makes for an amazing melody that I had never heard before. The Huron Carol is a traditional Canadian Christmas hymn according to Wikipedia it was "...written in 1643 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Canada." He wrote the lyrics to a traditional French song in the native tongue of the Huron/Wendat people he was living with. Also, instead of using traditional Christian terminology to discuss the nativity, Brébeuf used imagery and words which would make sense to the people he was preaching. In the early 1900s, the lyrics were translated into English in 1926 by Jesse Edgar Middleton. The lyrics weren't so much translated as they were altered to use early 1900s imagery to discuss the nativity. The Crash Test Dummies used the 1926 lyrics, which is traditionally sung in Canada.

One of the striking aspects of the song, besides the imagery of Jesus wrapped in rabbits skin and pelts brought by the wise men, is the use of the traditional Algonquian name for God, Gitchi Manitou. If you are interested in a new Christmas carol that most Americans have never heard before, check out The Huron Carol. It's filled with an interesting history and a beautiful tune.

Garfield Minus Garfield

In one of the greatest advances in comic strip history, a man decided to create a comic...that took Garfield comics and removed Garfield, the character. What remains is an esoteric look at single life from the perspective of lonely and mildly depressed John Arbuckle. It also makes you realize that Garfield was always thinking his responses to John Arbuckle...so John was always talking to himself anyway...

Measured Out with Coffee Spoons

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Crash Test Dummies...well, just the album God Shuffled His Feet, and I've got to say...it's great.

The music is very well composed and no one sings quite like Brad Roberts. The songs are interesting and altogether creative. I find myself thinking about the oddities of the music as I sing along. If you, like me, remember the album from the early nineties and like many, only remember Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm...pick the album up again and give it another listen. From Afternoons and Coffee Spoons to the thought provoking The Psychic to the sexual confusion of Swimming in You Ocean. Try it out the album again, it's worth another listen...

Katy Perry's Ridiculous

Katy Perry doesn't want to be one of the boys, despite her current album title. The album I was able to pick up for $3.20. People will say a lot of things about this album. They will call it ridiculous, they will call it modestly homophobic, they will call it crazy pop. They will be right...ish.

The entire album feels like a crude satire on modern teen culture, making fun of slang, attitudes, actions, partying, etc. The songs range from the pop sensation "I Kissed a Girl" to the reflective "One of the Boys," which almost serves as a tomboy anthem. The album hits all aspects of pop music with Perry writing or co-writing every single song. It's one part Alanis Morissette, one part Avril Lavigne, one part Britney Spears (pre-"Britney's Back, Bitch"), three parts extreme satire.

Many of the songs can be taken as offensive, but I'm of the mindset that the album is satirizing all that's wrong with this next generation of teenagers. Perhaps Katy Perry isn't as clever as I give her and her production staff credit for. Perhaps she's just a little crude and just as bad as all those fools who use "Gay" to mean stupid/lame instead of it's true definition...happy or homosexual. If you want to enjoy some great pop music, check out some of the less than well known songs on the album like "Hot N Cold" or "Fingerprints." Will she ever get a second album? Who knows, but I do know that this album is fun...if not amazing. If Kelly Clarkson went ridiculous in her lyrics on My December, I could imagine it fitting in alongside this album...