Cheap Five Dollar Dress

Just a disclaimer. I am not complaining about the results of tonight. I am merely giving my insights onto what won Obama the re-election and what will happen now, not only to our country, but to the Republican Party as well.

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Entitlements. If you’ve read this blog or listen to my talk show in the past, it’s a real issue for me. Entitlements are what won Obama this election, I have no doubt about it. Fact of the matter is that there are a strong percentage of Americans (some may say 47%) who rely on the government. It’s how they’ve been raised and it’s the only way that they know, which may prove to be quite dangerous. I’m not going to go on and on about entitlements again, because I’ve talked about it enough, and it’s just beating the dead horse.

Perhaps something that may get some attention here down the road is what happens to the Republican party? This has me more concerned than the presidential race. Quite frankly, many conservatives now have lost faith in the Republican party. So look for many, many Tea Party Patriots to come out and call for their own party now because they are fed up with the two party system. Some people may argue that the Tea Party has been dead. They’re wrong, and I feel as if the Tea Party will get even stronger now because of the results. As a guy who falls in line with main Tea Party principles, I find this very likely.

In terms of the Senate, it was a bigger blow to Republicans (if that is even possible.) Many senate seats were given to their Democratic opponents. Included Elizabeth (Fauxcahontis) Warren over Scott Brown, Sherrod Brown over Josh Mandel in my home state of Ohio (Mandel was a candidate I really rallied behind.) Mourdock and Akin lost in Indiana and Missouri because they like rape, apparently. The Senate was a lost opportunity for Republicans but still maintain the House, with even a bigger margin now.

One thing that also really stood out to me was the passage of many marijuana and same sex marriage laws in certain states. This points to a certain change in America (whether if it’s good or bad is up to you.) But look back a few years, these type of issues would have no chance of passing. America truly is being fundamentally transformed, which can be both harmful and beneficial. No doubt ‘Occupy Mentality’ helped out with the passage of these. Don’t get me started on Occupy. For your own good, don’t get me started on Occupy.

I’m trying to stay optimistic here. I still love my country, always have and always will. Things may not have gone the way that I might have liked, but I have believe that God truly will help out in our time of need. Now we wait to see who will run in 2016 (Rubio 2016!) Look for a Biden run against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic seat, I feel like that is inevitable.

A final note to my fellow Americans, don’t get all whiney and bitchy about the results, you are fueling the fire. You also don’t get anything accomplished in doing so (I’m talking to you, Donald Trump.)

PS If you are pissed off about all of the political posts on Facebook, saying that ‘politics shouldn’t be on Facebook.’ Please, deactivate your account. These people have me more upset than the results last night. Facebook is a Social medium. People have the right to post what’s on their mind (hence why it says ‘what’s on your mind’ before you post.) If you can’t take all of the posts that you may like, you don’t believe in free speech. I could go on and get more derogatory, but I think I got the point across. But I may focus a separate post devoted to it.

You know, I tip my hat to whoever finds the time to post to their blogs on a very consistent basis. I am extremely busy all the time, so sitting down and writing a blog post is real hard to do. But I finally have some time (during midterm week of all weeks) to sit down and write about what’s on my mind. This post is going to be all over the place, so please bear with me.

Did you see the ad that Team Obama just put out concerning Big Bird. Yeah, the candidate who epically failed during the first debate (more about debate #1 in a bit) is now reminding people about said debate. Seems kind of backwards. Well the ad has had an immense amount of negative criticism (even from many MSNBC ‘journalists’) to the point that I don’t think that the ad will be getting much air time. But it’s official, the Obama Campaign has jumped the shark and is now in desperation mode. Want to watch the video? Well I was a good boy and posted it, right below. Think about this while watching it: “If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.”

I’ve been noticeably quite during the past couple weeks of the election. I think what I would say would just be echoed from others. You’ve heard it all, so I won’t repeat it. If you know my stance on thing, I think you know what I would say. However, I’ll sum it all up in one picture:

One thing that has kept me occupied is MLB Postseason Baseball. Yeah, it’s a pretty big deal here in Cincinnati. Reds are going for the sweep of the San Francisco Giants tonight. So yeah, I’m kind of excited. However, there is one issue that many Cincy fans have become increasingly frustrated with (me included.)

It’s not every year when we have something to celebrate here in the Queen City. So the Reds being on the fringe of heading to the NLCS, we expect to be noticed. However, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Take this past Monday: a Reds fan would have to wait till the end of that edition of SportsCenter to even see the highlights of their 9-2 victory where Bronson Arroyo tossed a 1-hitter through 7 innings. To us here in Cincy, that seems to be a pretty big story. However, the Broncos and Patriots game was shown at the top of the hour followed by other NFL games and even NASCAR were shown before the Reds game was highlighted.

The reasoning for this is easy: money. I have studied media markets a little bit and understand what media outlets do to help ensure the greatest profit. I’ll spare you all the details, but I’ll do a simple sum up. Cincinnati is not a huge sports market. If you live in Cincy, I think you can agree with that. So when it comes to ESPN, they want to show games and highlights of those teams who are in a big market. This is why you always see the Red Sox and Yankees play on Sunday night. So put yourself in their shoes. In the end, it’s all about the $$$. So we get screwed and it doesn’t seem like it will end. It’s rough being a Cincy Reds fan, but we’ll let our play on the field do all the talking and bring home the World Series crown this year.

If you haven’t known by now, I am off of Norse Code Radio. It was a hard decision to make, but in the end, sacrifices needed to be made. Still trying to get a weekly podcast together in one form or another. We’ll see where that takes me. But until then, CFDD and Twitter are where you will hear me.

This is a short post, but I just want to post something while I had the time. Not the best looking post on the web, but I got everything off of my mind. Got suggestions for topics? Send me a tweet @ryanfinfrock. I’m on fall break starting Friday, and I’ll see if I can get some more posts in, no promises, just a goal. Although, expect something after the Comedy Hour known as the VP Debate on Thursday. Paul Ryan will be going up against the gift to the GOP that keeps on giving in Joe Biden.

Follow me  on Twitter to get updates and quick thoughts on current events. It’s much easier and not as big of a time commitment as CFDD.

Most people my age love to talk about that one awesome party that they went to over the summer, a vacation that they went on, or all of the hours of work they put in to help pay their outrageous college tuition. For me, this summer was highlighted by a trip to Indianapolis to visit some family and partake in the 48 Hour film fest. This is a complete change of pace for me here on CFDD. However, I felt the need to write about it because it was an experience like any other.

Being an Electronic Media and Broadcasting major, making film is a key part of the major. Going into college last year, this is where I was most worried. I’d never made a film before in my life, nor did I really want to know how to make film. I was more preoccupied with the broadcasting elements of the major (obviously.) However, during my very first semester of college, I took a class called Introduction to Media Aesthetics. This was my one class that semester that I was worried about (We’ve all had them, don’t deny it.) This class consisted of aspects on filmmaking. Different types of lighting, white balancing, different types of shots, aspect ratios were all some of the points that we covered. Although these may seem like things that would be extremely boring to talk about, I seemed to be extremely interested in all of those. As the semester went on, so did my appreciation for film. As my professor said, I can never look at a movie the same way again. I’m always looking for various aspects of that film and if it works well or if it doesn’t. It has ruined my friends’ ability to watch movies with me. It’s funny how perfectly okay I am with that. Film has now become a passion for me, something I thought would never happen to me.

Then came the opportunity to put together a film over this past summer. This is where I realized my knowledge of film still has a long time to develop. I have some family members who are well-versed in film and have a strong passion for making film. They asked me to help with a project for a competition called the “48 Hour Film Festival.” So at the beginning of August, I traveled to Indianapolis to take part in said festival. Whoa, what a weekend it was.

It started on Friday August 3rd in an old Tire Discounters store turned into a creative center. If you like people watching, this place did not disappoint. People with all sense of style packed into this small building waiting for their chance to pick the genre of film that would be the basis of their entire film. Somehow, I was the one who stuck out like a sore thumb with a pair ok khaki shorts and a t-shirt. As we heard everyone’s team name called up to pick their genre from a hat, the one thing that went through our team’s mind was, “Not silent film! Not silent film.” Silent film was the only one that we didn’t want to pick. Of course, as I went to pick our genre from the hat, I picked silent film. My first 48 film fest with this team and I didn’t give off a good first impression. Maybe I was going to be a source of bad luck this weekend. We decided to throw away that genre and go for a ‘wild card’ pick. We ended up with ‘buddy film.’ Okay, that’s something we can go off of.

So we were now on the clock! 48 hours to make a film. Brainstorming, scheduling shots and actor schedules all took place during the first night, undoubtedly our longest night. All of this to get ready for the next day of shooting aaaalllll day long. Although the hours were long, the time spent didn’t seem to be as long. We all were having such a great time filming that we lost track of time (in the good way.) The actors, camera people, grips, audio guys were all so talented in what they were doing that I ended up learning more from them than they did from me. Yeah, and they all are in high school too. Mind. Blown.

I’m not going to give you a play-by-play of all of the action of that weekend, because then it just gets monotonous and you will lose your interest fast, more than likely. But all I will say is that I had never experienced the full production process before that weekend. Learning from kids who are younger than me but a million times more talented than me was not the way I thought I would get acquainted with the filmmaking process, but I am perfectly okay with that. I took so much away from that weekend and enjoyed it so much that my love of filmmaking only grew stronger.

At the conclusion, we had our film all finished. “Love, Your Son” was the title of our ‘buddy film.’ You can watch it here:

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/47403926″>Love, Your Son</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user4682968″>james leagre</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

The award ceremony took place the following weekend. Although I was unable to attend, I knew what the ceremony consisted of. All of the films were played in front of an audience (42 films in all.) At the end, they would gives out some awards for certain categories. Our team didn’t worry about awards, all we wanted was a fun weekend making film and learning something during it. We didn’t worry about awards, also, because we were going against some very top notch production teams. Being the youngest group out of all of the teams, our chances were pretty slim. However, I receive an email a couple days later saying that our team won TWO awards. The awards were for Best Acting and Best Musical Score. This speaks volume to the type of talent that I was surrounded by. Like I said before: Mind.Blown.

I know that this is a lot different from posts that you are used to see here on CFDD. There’s more to my mind than politics and pessimism. This was an experience unlike any other. The kids were extremely hard working and very relatable. It’s funny how I started dwelling on my high school days during that weekend. Funny how those days seem so far lost but only ended about a year ago.

This post isn’t supposed to give off the vibe that I’m bragging about a project I was a part of and how we got some awards for it as well. My part was minute compared to others. I was extremely honored to be asked to be a part of the production process. I only wish I could possess some of the talent that these kids had. I can’t wait for next year where hopefully I can give back a little more.

 

Watch this video, my closing remarks on Let’s Talk with Frock will be concerning this video, which aired a couple days after my last broadcast. Can you guess what I’m going to talk about? I know, it’s not that hard

For a college kid, you can tell when summer is coming to an end when you have tuition payments due, professors are starting to email you, and the realization that classes are less than two weeks away. Yeah, it’s coming. So what I thought I would do now since I haven’t had a show since the beginning of May, is to wrap up the top five stories from summer 2012. Looking back on it, it has definitely been an eventful summer. I’m almost depressed that I couldn’t rant about all of it on my show. But don’t worry, I’ll make the time to rant about it in one way or another.

So here it is:Frock’s Five stories from the summer of 2012!

5. President Barack Obama’s “Evolved” Stance on Gay Marriage

To be honest, I went back and forth on deciding on whether or not this story is even worth putting on the list. I say this because it had absolutely no effect on anything whatsoever. What this was, essentially, was an absolute desperate plea to strum up some votes come November. With the way the Obama re-election campaign is going, you can tell that he is trying to stray away from the economy as much as he possibly can. He knows that his record with the economy is less than stellar (and that’s putting it lightly.) So what does he do? He says that his stance on gay marriage has “evolved.” With this, nobody can accuse Romney of flip-flopping because their main guy is now guilty of this as well. As for the effect, it hasn’t shown. I guess the average voter knows where the true issues are. The ones that support the President’s new stance probably don’t even register to vote. A baseless accusation, I know, but I say it with confidence.

4. Mitt Romney’s VP Choice

As the news broke today about Mitt Romney’s choice of Vice President, I found myself with a smile on my face. His decision to pick Paul Ryan from Wisconsin is reason to celebrate. As a Tea Party favorite and man who knows how to assemble a budget and strong conservative values. It is now apparent that Mitt Romney has settled with many people who were a little on edge with his moderate tendencies (me included.) Also one of the first things to come to my mind is the Vice Presidential debate to happen in October. If you want to see entertainment, watch Joe Biden try to keep up with Ryan. It will be a slaughter. I can’t wait! Now, the Obama camp is in full attack mode trying to discredit Ryan and more than likely stretching the truth, as they are known to do. Game on, Obama. Things are about to get interesting.

3. Penn State’s Deadly, Non-Death Penalty.

-A five year probation period

-Post season bowl ban for five years

-$60 Million dollar fine to be used to fund a foundation for victim of sex abuse crimes

-Football scholarships reduced from 25 to 15

-Wins vacated from 1998 to 2011

It may not be the death penalty, but it may, in fact, be worse. The scholarships prohibit a team from growing, a bowl ban will keep recruits away, and also the fact that many people will no longer want to be associated with the University. It will be a very long time (if any) before Penn State can move on from this scandal.

2. Chic-Fil-A’s “Crazy” stance on marriage

I’ve written about this before, check out the post. But what many people don’t understand is that there is a big group of people who believe in free speech (crazy right?) Also, why do people believe that a company believing in traditional marriage is worthy of all of this ridicule? However, if you saw the appreciation of Chic-Fil-A day as anything more than people supporting free speech, you are completely missing the point.

1. Midnight Shooting in Aurora, Colorado

Everyone has heard about this story. Tragic. But using it as a way to put in more strict gun control laws is absolutely arrogant. That’s all I’ll say.

More on these topics to be talked about tomorrow (Tuesday 8/21) on the Fall premiere of Let’s Talk with Frock from 4-6 PM ET on norsecoderadio.com. Join the discussion on Twitter @ryanfinfrock. It will be a fun discussion and I am extremely excited to be back behind the mic.

I can see it now, all of the people calling me a homophobe and other negative names now. What I am going to talk about is not meant to offend anyone, just my opinion on a very controversial issue. Call me what you must, but read on and see a point of view that you may not see out of a lot of people in college.

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I was extremely excited to go to Chic-Fil-A today. They have absolutely delicious food and today gave me a good excuse to indulge myself. However, when my friend and I approached the local Chic-Fil-A, the line stretched a quarter mile onto the street. I was stunned, but also had a huge smile on my face even though we decided not to stop by to get some chicken because we didn’t want to wait.

It’s hard to look at any social media and not see someone bashing Chic-Fil-A. If you haven’t heard about it, google it, it’s not that hard. But once you read it, realize this: the owner of Chic-Fil-A has a right to donate his money to any organization that he pleases. If where he donates his money offends you, don’t eat his food. Nobody is forcing you to eat there and not forcing down “anti-gay devil meat” (as I saw on Facebook) down your throat. This group of people also seemed to be the loudest out of either group. It seems as if a strong majority of people were against Chic-Fil-A and a minute group of people actually stood with Chic-Fil-A.

However, today speaks a tremendously different story. Photos from across the country show that many, many people are standing with Chic-Fil-A on “Chic-Fil-A Appreciation Day” where people supported Chic-Fil-A’s right to free speech by going to their local restaurant. But by looking at social media, you would think that it would be the opposite.

This is where I find a problem. I have quite a few friends who are ‘left leaning’ or ‘the average college kid’. They stand for something that they realize once by watching a TV show with a big celebrity supporting gay marriage and/or listening to a college professor once day and feel ‘enlightened’ (Trust me, I know a few people that are like that.) These people feel as if they are right about every issue and hearing a contrasting opinion (and popular opinion to a lot of Americans) will force them to yell out “RACIST!” “HOMOPHOBE!” and such labels that are not necessarily true. If someone doesn’t have a similar opinion to these people, this is exactly what happens. Look at Tea Partiers compared to Occupiers at your local college.

So now that the Chic-Fil-A Appreciation day has been a nationwide success, these same people are calling everyone who went to Chic-Fil-A today homophobic and even some people I know are asking people to de-friend them on Facebook if they happened to eat Chic-Fil-A today. Oh, the humanity! The fact of the matter is that there are still a tremendous population who don’t share a belief that most people in their late teen’s and twenties have. Many people in this country still believe that marriage is a unification between a man and a woman and that’s how it should stay. But if you feel that way, you are frowned upon by those people who don’t agree with you. Maybe you should take the words of Elton John”If gay people want to get married, or get together, they should have civil partnership. Heterosexual people get married. We can have civil partnerships.”

Cities such as Boston and Chicago are telling Chic-Fil-A to stay out of their cities because of their stance. Disregarding the fact that this is a big violation of the first Amendment, how do you think those cities feel now that lines were out the door at locations across the country to support Chic-Fil-A’s right to free speech?

Also, there is a “Kiss-in” planned for this Friday for those who want to boycott Chic-Fil-A. Not really sure how this will turn out, but one thing is for sure: the media will be covering this a lot more than the event today, because that’s how the media works. Even though I can almost guarantee that crowds will not be as big as they were today. See also: Tea Party rallies compared to Occupy protests.

So eat Chic-Fil-a or don’t. But I am going to eat my chicken because it’s delicious and now I know that I am sticking it to those who are completely against Chic-Fil-A, who seem to be in the vocal minority. It’s like the old adage: “Actions speak louder than words.” People showed their support for Chic-Fil-A and if you can’t handle it, I have no idea what to say to you.

 

Wake up blog! Time for a little bit of writing.

Anyway, I’m back writing on CFDD (How many times have I said this now?)

Anyway, sooooooo much has been going on in the news recently and it is driving me crazy not talking about it on LTWF. However, this post is not going to talk about that stuff, more about my anticipation for my gosh darn laptop to get into my hands!

I ordered one of those shiny new Macbook pros with the retina display last Monday.  I originally thought that it was to show up 7-10 days which would mean that tomorrow is when I were to receive it. N0. Apparently as I was putting in my order, the shipping time changed to 2-3 weeks. Yes, weeks. I called Apple to see if this were a glitch or anything but they just said I was in line and the time to wait changed as I was in line (Can I get one of those Disney fastpasses?) So now I sit here, typing on my 6 year old laptop, feeling antiquated. But I guess since I waited this long for these to come out, I can wait another week-week and a half, right?

In terms of software I am getting or thinking about getting, I was thinking of Adobe Creative Suite 6.. because it seems to be where a lot of professionals are heading towards now-a-days. I am also debating on other things to get that will help me and my possible career field. In terms of nothing relating to my major, is Diablo 3 worth picking up? I heard it looks crazy good on the retina display and was curious about it. Hmm… decisions, decisions.

Changing gears now, it looks like the first show of Let’s Talk with Frock will air sometime late August or somewhere around there. I already know what I am going to do with the first episode, so stay tuned there!

Summer podcasts are also coming as soon as my laptop comes, which now looks like June 29th at the earliest. So once I figure out that stuff and how to post it on here, I’ll let you all know.

So this is where I’ll end the post today, have to go out and make some money now that my bank account is drained.

Signing off.

Time to blow off the dust on CFDD because it is summertime and I have a lot planned for CFDD in the summer of 2012.

First off, I have a post in the works that talks about concussions and the real life implications of them. I know that this story has been in the news for some time now but now since the suicide of NFL great Junior Seau is said to be connected to concussions, I started paying closer attention. Why? Well, because I have had a few concussions in my lifetime and who knows what will happen down the road for me. So look for that story on Wednesday.

Also, I am getting a new laptop this summer and things will be kicked into overdrive for CFDD. Whenever the new versions of the Macbook Pros come out, you can be sure that I am getting my hands on one. This means a lot for CFDD. First thing that came to my mind was podcasting. Since Let’s Talk with Frock is off the air until the Fall, I need my weekly dose of release therapy and discussion. Podcasting is coming. Not sure what I’m going to call it yet but you can bet that it will be a very entertaining show.

So this is a quick update on the happenings at CFDD. Summertime is here and now I have some free time on my hands to dedicate to the upkeep of the blog. So stay tuned! Follow me on Twitter @ryanfinfrock and like my Facebook fan page and instantly be notified when a new post hits the web.

Also, I need some good books to read this summer. There is nothing better than sitting outside on my porch and read a good book. I’m looking for some suggested reads out there from you guys, so let me know!

So here’s to a great, safe, and entertaining summer for everyone!

Signing off

That’s my life in a nutshell right now. I actually don’t know how I found the time to write right now. Anyway, I am back! For now!

If you are a listener of the Let’s Talk with Frock program, you would know that I haven’t been on the air for a couple weeks. Between spring break and not feeling well enough to do the show last week, I have a lot of catching up to do this week! Some people have been wanting my take on the Sandra Fluke, Rush Limbaugh controversy and I will definitely be talking about that this week!

Changing gears right now, I finished Mass Effect 3. It really felt good to finally wrap up the series and see what happens to Commander Shepard. Although it is not as good as ME2, ME3 finishes up multiple stories that I have started since the beginning, which is absolutely incredible when you reflect on it. But one thing that has been on my mind, like many other people, is the ending of Mass Effect 3.

I am a man who has a very strict interpretation of the term ‘entitlement’. If you listen to my show, it’s really obvious. When discussing matters such as video games, nothing is different. The ending of Mass Effect 3 had many gamers in an uproar. They felt as if Bioware (developer of the game) took the easy road to get the game completed. They felt that your decisions that you made in previous games weren’t taken in to effect for the final, no doubt the biggest, decision. I’m not going to spoil anything here because you really should play the games if you get the chance to.

So to make their disapproval known, gamers made petitions, ranted on forums, and even filing a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission to get the ending changed or to expound on the current ending. Why? Because they feel like they can make a better ending.

This is where entitlement comes into play. These gamers are all about themselves. They want what they want and if a developer strays too far away from what they wanted, they get in an uproar. Gamers are the hardest group of people to please, and in a way, I can sort of see why. More on that later. However, but when you conclude one of the greatest gaming trilogies of all time, you bitch… which is sad and pathetic.

Bioware spent nearly eight years to get the Mass Effect trilogy out. A labor of love to the many gamers who showed them all sorts of support. So this is how they (the gamers) treat them? Accept the game as it is. Video games are an art form, and if you petition one part of the game and what it to be changed… it is no longer an art form. It’s like saying, “I don’t like  the way the hands look on the Mona Lisa, let’s change it!”

News broke today that Bioware is making DLC (downloadable content) to address the gamers’ discontent. A cowardly and smart move all together. Cowardly in the sense that they broke down to the plea of gamers. They originally stood by their ending and saying the way that you feel at the end contributes to what they have done so well for 3 games. Now they are backing down and saying that change is on the way. This is also a smart move in the sense that it means more money for the company. Little explanation is needed there.

Now going back to what I alluded to before. I can kind of (very little) see where the gamers are coming from. They spent 60 bucks for this game expecting it to exceed all expectations. To them, they didn’t they spent as much as 180+ bucks on this trilogy, and the finale let them down, it was money wasted to them. But that’s where the sympathy ends.

Expectations were extremely high for the finale of this game. Expectations that Bioware knew going in and knew they had to deliver. But it was like when LSU played Alabama in football during the regular season. People called it the game of the century… and were let down when neither team scored a touchdown. Expectations are hard to meet. I don’t think gamers went into this knowing that.

For me, the ending was pretty well done. I believe the ending was supposed to make you feel a certain way, even if that feeling was discomfort.

That’s my analysis of this debauchery. Looking forward to see what the DLC is going to be.

 

Don’t forget that Let’s Talk with Frock airs every Friday from noon-2 ET on norsecoderadio.com – Your Campus Radio Station. Join the discussion on Twitter @ryanfinfrock

On a completely unrelated note. Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets today. I am actually going to follow this extremely close this season. I have a feeling that the New York media is going to use a fine-tooth comb when he plays. It’s definitely going to be a challenge. But I think that it’s like oil and water, it will not mix at all. That on top of Rex Ryan being the egotistical ass that he is, Tebow is in for a rude awakening. But maybe that’s why the Jets brought him aboard: to hopefully change the direction of the organization. It will be very interesting.

Signing off.