A Reward System for School

Procrastination.  The very word whose definition is the mantra of students all across the globe.  Teachers and parents so often complain about the time children spend playing games, going online, and hanging out with friends, rather than doing schoolwork or other work.  What the majority of society seems to think is that these sorts of entertainment waste kids' time, and that work will better prepare them for the future.  But I believe that this justification for criticizing the priorities of children is also the justification for why they do it in the first place.

Notice how methods of entertainment offer short term rewards versus the hard working long term, way into the future, rewards.  It's possible that the youth do not have the full capacity to see into the future, and thus, feels it is not worth working towards.

There is a way to combat this I believe.  Incorporate the idea of short term awards into work to give incentive to students to study harder.  If adults are willing to pay real world money for fake, in-game currency, why not do the same for students?

I remember when I was in grade 3, my teacher would give us fake money whenever we did good things, like showing a new student around, or getting an excellent mark on a test.  It worked effectively at giving students the desire to be good.  So why can't we do the same thing in high school?

We don't even have to waste paper on fake money.  The achievement system should work just as well.  Reach a certain goal, earn some points.  Use points to unlock things, like a new pencil or eraser.  Humans work on a reward system.  With this sort of system, it should be much easier for students to work harder.

Sure, when we meet the future, we will see that it doesn't work in the same way, but old habits die hard.  Hopefully, the incentive to study and work hard will carry on through our lives.  But first, we need to integrate it into our harddrives, and this is where the completely meaningless achievement point system comes in.

Dexter - Blood Theme

This is such an intense song. Even though I've never watched the series, it's still a chilling piece.

Original composer: Daniel Licht
Arranged by Scamper205

Universality

Well, the blog prompts I was given didn't exactly inspire, so I'll be writing this of my own free will.

I've noticed that teenagers nowadays really love to talk back to people.  They love to show how "smart" they are in justifying why they don't have to take orders from people.  One of these ways, and probably the most common, is the concept of universality, that one rule applies to everything.  We get into arguments all the time, and over the smallest things, and we use this strategy often to overcome our opponent.  If our adversary says that it's not the same thing, we call him or her a hypocrite.

I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, probably because I encounter it all the time that I've learned to tune it out of my brain.  But like how one tunes out of radio station, what's left is a wall of static noise.  Nothing to comprehend, but still annoying.  There is just so much sass in the youths today, that I feel like one of those old-schoolers who grew up in the 90's and relish in the classics and denounce the new.  Well, I did grew up in the late 90's and played tons of games and listened to lots of music from that time period and earlier.

I'm always so disappointed in how I can't talk about classic video games like Super Mario World or Gradius with any of my peers because they've never played them before.  My friends are always telling me to get with the times, but I'm quite satisfied with my reclusive thoughts.

I get off topic so easily.  Chances are, anyone who reads this is going to think that I'm some sort of fat, lazy "fag" (pardon the expression) who never gets laid (again, pardon the expression).  Well, I don't care.

And I had such a nice topic to talk about.

Big Bang - Blue

This is for a request from a friend who wanted this particular song.

I probably should've worn better pants when I recorded this. But after so many failed attempts, I'm just so relieved I managed to play through this that I don't really care.

Original Composers: Teddy, G-Dragon

Arranged by Gregory Jen

States with the death penalty have lower murder rates.

This is not necessarily true.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19489_5-terrible-ideas-that-solved-huge-global-problems.html

To summarize what this article says, you don't need violence to deter people from committing crimes.  All these different countries used more passive, mood altering means to change people's mindsets.  What strikes me the most is the "prison" in Norway, where the criminals have as much freedom as a normal citizen.  Of course, if you decided to skip the article, you'd probably be saying "What?"  But it's true.  Statistics have shown that the criminals in this place are 1/3 less likely to go back to a life of crime than their American counterpoints.  1/3 is a huge difference.  Think about what would happen if the death penalty is incorporated.  Chances are, the crime rates will increase.  But why does this happen?  I speculate that because of the cruelty in the usual prisons would harden these criminals and make them angry towards society.  With the comfortable lifestyle, I would be more confident to release these happy criminals.  Mind blowing, isn't it?

Sometimes a person has to break the law to make sure justice is served.

One person comes to mind when I read this.

Bat freakin' Man

Ah, the vigilante.  What to do, what to do.  Really the only reason why he's here is because the police can't do their job properly.  In today's society (or at least here in BC), we have one of the top notch police forces in the world.  We don't need "heroes" like Batman to come save the day.  There is no need for anyone to infract any of the rules to make sure justice is served.  That's what the police are there for.  If you sense trouble, call the police.  If you are in trouble, call the police.  Even if there's no trouble, call the police, because you never know when a sniper is pointing his scope at you.

He sees you when you're sleeping...

I'm just kidding about that last one, but seriously, never try to be a sacrificial hero.  We have specially trained people who can do their job well and effectively.  Maybe it's time we start putting a little more trust in the authorities.

When people are a victim of a crime, they should be able to take the law into their own hands.

Bad grammar aside, it accurately describes what was going on in my head when I read that statement.  Who in their right minds would let the victims of a crime decide what kind of punishment the criminal will suffer?  There are so many different types of people in the world.  Let's say there are two murders of the same severity, same circumstances, same everything.  Chances are, one of the families will be so enraged they'll banish the murderer to the moon!  On the opposite extreme, there lies the possibility that the other family will say "I forgive you."  Do you see any sense of fairness at all?

There is a reason why we have judges and courts and laws.  It's to make sure nobody gets too emotional and affects the sentence of the perpetrator.  Justice is supposed to be blind.  Victims are not blind.  They see that offender and biases are starting to form.  It's like a conglomerate mass of prejudice being shot towards the criminal.

Like this except with more hate.  Or love, depending on how you look at things.

I honestly think that letting the victims take control of what to do with the criminals may be the worst idea possible held by any human being.  It is in no way advantageous to bettering societal justice.

A true friend will tell you the truth, even when you don't want to hear it.

What kind of friend would a person be if he/she didn't tell the truth?  A bad friend.

And what kind of friend would a person be if he/she hurt your feelings?  A bad friend.

Then what happens if the person told a lie to make you feel better, or told the truth that made you feel worse?  Does he/she become a neutral friend?

I've always liked to think that a good friend is one who always puts a smile on your face, and a true friend is one who is honest with you.


I wonder if bathing together counts...

So I totally agree that a true friend will tell you the truth, no matter how much it will hurt you.  But there is a boundary.  It's not really nice if he/she just says it outright with no remorse.  How the person says it is extremely important.  I don't want to be friends with someone who tells me I don't look good in this pair of jeans because I'm fat.  I'd rather have someone tell me I don't look good because the jeans don't fit me.  Is there really any difference?  Nah, but at least I don't feel as bad.

People that are poor should rely on their friends, family, or church for help, not the government.

I can't really say that I agree with it.  During the Great Depression, Canada introduced the welfare system so the citizens could have some money to continue living.  Without the government, they couldn't have been able to survive.

If you look throughout the Internet, you will see a lot of criticism of the welfare state.

Yeah.  A lot of criticism.

So many things in this world are criticised for not being perfect and people are quick to complain.  Thing is, despite being so imperfect, sometimes it's better than not having it at all.  Without the welfare state, what are we going to do with all the poor people?  They'll probably litter the streets as they lose their money, their homes, and even their families.  Yes the government is in debt, and spending money on welfare isn't helping them get out of it, but imagine the trouble the people who can't sustain themselves will cause for society.  Sure, friends, families, and religion can help these people, but they shouldn't rely on them.  Friends, families, and the church can definitely offer support, but they are not parents.  It is not their responsibility to take care of the unfortunate.  That's the government's job.

Films vs Books

There is always much heated debate on the topic whether movies or books are better.

I'm just going to say one thing.  The original is always better.

This means that the movie adaptions of books are never as good, and vice versa.  Book adaptions of movies also suck.

We can actually extend this even further.  There exists a glaring example of why one should never remake anything.  The Street Fighter franchise was so popular that movie moguls decide to cash in on it.  So, they released Street Fighter: the Movie, which was a box office bust.  If that wasn't bad enough, people actually made a game based on the movie, called Street Fighter: the Movie: the Game.  I don't even need to say the amount of stupidity it requires to make something like that.

Another adaptation I don't like are remixes of songs.  In fact, a lot of times, my friend and I debate over which is superior, the remix or the original.  I say the original is always better.  He says remixes show improvement a lot of the time.  I don't play by those rules.

Really, all I wanted to say is that the original is always the best in my opinion.

First World Problems

 Check this out:


You know what I don't like about this?  Hunger, Cholera, and Rape are considered "real" problems.  I would say they are "Third World" problems to parallel with the "First World" problems.  Just because we have our basic necessities doesn't mean the annoyances we encounter everyday are not "real" problems.  We have our standards.  Other people have their standards.  Who's to say who has "real" problems or not?  It annoys me to no end how people sacrifice themselves in order to raise awareness of poor conditions in other countries.  The 30 hour famine, the vow of silence.  Why do people have to be so stupid as to starve themselves just so people are aware?  I understand that people think it makes a difference but it doesn't help anybody when hundreds of kids are adding to the problem of starvation.  In the grand sceme of things, nothing matters.  Who cares about HDTV?  Who cares about parking spots?  Who cares about rape?  Who cares about cholera?  None of them are important when compared to the cosmos.  But the thing is, we do care.  Throughout this rant, I can imagine people screaming at me for being so insensitive.  Let me defend myself for a minute.  I always try to be as unbiased as possible.  I treat everything the same as much as I can.  It may be weird for you to think of war having the same severity as lagging on the computer, but try to see things my way.  I understand what this person was trying to say with the "First World" and "real" problems, so try to understand where I'm coming from.  I would like to make clear that I am concerned about all of these problems.  I just don't like how people categorize these as "important" or "unimportant".

Old vs. New - The Evolution of Console Gaming

Video games have been around for only a short time.  The first arcade games came out in the 70's and from there, a booming industry has been created.  But there now rises a conflict between the veterans of the pre-2000's era of video games and the new generation of players.  While I try to be impartial in the comparisons of these two eras, I should note that I am on the side of the old school games, mostly because they were the ones that I played when I was young kid and they hold many amazing memories for me.  Actually, I'm probably going to spend most of the time praising the genius of old games and complaining about the new ones.  That's just the way I am.  I will be using specific games in order to illustrate some points.

The era of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the introduction of Super Mario Bros.  brought about the golden age of video games.  It was so simple yet gave so much replay value, and with its pick-up-and-play style, kids spent many a weekend not doing homework.  Nintendo dominated the market for the next decade or so.  The Legend of Zelda brought the concept of adventure.  Metroid combined platforming with action and adventure.  Street Fighter gave us special moves brought by certain button combos.  It was great time for gamers with new innovations coming every year.  Nintendo further continue their leadership of the video game industry with the Super NES (SNES) and its assorted games.  Theses were the games I grew up on.  Games like Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island (my favourite game of all time), Street Fighter II which is considered the best fighting game of all time, Mortal Kombat whose controversial violence influenced the creation of the ESRB rating system, and Gradius III.  There were games like the Mother series who made grown men cry from their sad tales about families and friendship.  The Donkey Kong Country series brought platforming to new, unparalleled level.  All these games are considered classic and timeless.  The stories they told and the way they connect to the player will never cease to be forgotten.

Fast forward to today with the widespread PS3 and XBox 360.  Today, companies are focused mainly on immersive environments.  The way to do this is by improving the graphics.  It really seems like at gaming conventions, companies always introduce new games with the promise of realistic graphics and make their whole presentation about how the game uses the console's full potential to make things clearer and more realistic.  Now I'm not saying that good graphics are stupid, but companies are sacrificing processing power in order to make the environments pretty.  Literally the loading screens that gamers have grown to loathe are a result of the game rendering the beautiful scenery.  Another thing about the new games compared to the old ones is how quickly they become obsolete.  The Call of Duty series that seem to captivate today's youth and be the bane of every previous generation of gamers, is a prime example of this.  Every sequel made has made the previous out-of-date.  When Modern Warfare 2 came out, the old games were forgotten.  Everybody was online shooting each other.  Black Ops came out and everyone switched to it, leaving behind MW2.  Then Modern Warfare 3 replaced Black Ops.  The Halo series has undergone the same treatment as well.  On that note, hasn't anyone noticed that all people seem to talk about are first-person shooters (FPS's)?  Call of Duty, Battlefield, Ghost Recon, Resistance, Far Cry, Counterstrike and countless other franchises have the player looking down gun sights for most of the game.  Most of them involve military soldiers battling terrorists.  There's really not much imagination anymore.  In fact, many of the games introduced over the years were either sequels, remakes, or spin-offs.  Companies are really milking everything out of their franchises.

I had originally intended this to be a fair and objective comparison, but it ended up with me complaining about the recent years of video games.  This is a really serious subject for me, as well as many others, as I feel that the youth of today are lost.  They have no respect for the classics and spend hours racking up kill counts.  No wonder parents are worried nowadays.

Yiruma - Beloved

"If you love someone, tell them now while you still can."

Original Composer: Yiruma

The quote was taken from a NintendoCapriSun video.

Yiruma - Hope

I'm really hoping it would snow here.

Leave a comment saying what you hope for the most. I'm interested in what is on your minds!

Original Composer: Yiruma

This is the first song by Yiruma that I memorized, though I still used sheets for this recording.  I think my pedal could use a bit more work.

Original Composer: Yiruma

Yeah, I'm addicted to gaming.

I love this picture because it really speaks to me.  To those who don't understand the context behind this, a lot of software, such as in video games, have bugs and glitches when it is first released.  When the company receives enough complaints, they release a patch or make an update to fix these anomalies.  What makes this picture so funny is that it treats us as if we were programs developed by an entity (God?  Perhaps to the creator of this image), and the everyday annoyances are just bugs that are now going to be fix with this updated version of a human.  What makes it more enjoyable is that all of us have probably experienced these "glitches".

I, being a self-proclaimed hard-core gamer (not really), feel like this speaks more truth than it actually shows.  How many of us would like a system upgrade to help make our lives run more smoothly?  I know I definitely would.  Chances are, it's not happening soon enough, and all I can do now is laugh at this ridiculous image.

Of course, now that I've just explained the meaning behind it, it's not that funny anymore.

Yiruma - May 27

The peaceful music continues.  I probably need to include artists other than Yiruma.

Original Composer: Yiruma

Yiruma - Wait There

A friend of mine really likes this song. This is for you!

Original Composer: Yiruma

Yiruma - Do You?

This will be the beginning of an onslaught of peaceful piano music.

Original Composer: Yiruma

Halloween - Theme Song

This is the most iconic song in horror movie history. Just in time for Halloween!

Original Composer: John Carpenter