sokorra

American History, essay, history, Politics

The Amendments: Two

Posted on February 26, 2016 by sokorra

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. (Source)

The Second Amendment (part of the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791)is perhaps the most abused, debated and known Amendment. I honestly thought about skipping this one till the end, but in the end decided to stick to the order they came in.

I’m pro-gun control. I am not however against people having guns. I’ve always believed this law is about being able to form a community militia. It does not bother me that people own guns. Some people hunt, some people use it for protection. I do however think that there are some common sense gun laws that could go into affect that don’t affect one’s right to bear arms.

Both sides use this one a lot. The Pro-gun lobby seems to believe that any form of gun-control (even something as restricting gun magazine sizes) is an infringement. The Pro-Gun control group has many facets ranging from the mid-grounders like myself who just want tighter background checks, better regulation of gun ownership (basically making sure people who buy guns actually know how to use them) to the stricter varieties who want guns gone all together outside militia groups.

This Amendment protects the right of the citizen to protect themselves from military take-over. It protects the right of small militia groups to form. It’s debatable if it protects against certain guns (Like AK-47s and more militaristic weapons) being regulated.

It also brings up the debate of whether Amendments can be timeless. That some laws/Amendments might have to be altered, as technology improves and the country as a whole realises the original intent needs adjusting (there are several amendments which are basically doing just that).

This is a hot button issue.

My personal belief is that one should only have the guns you need to protect yourself and/or hunt. Unless you are some collector getting antique guns, you really don’t need to arm yourself like you are your own one-person militia. And if you want a gun, you should take the time to learn how to properly use it, clean it and store it. I see way too many stories on the news about people accidently getting shot because they didn’t clean it right, or they didn’t store it right and some kid got into it, or they did something stupid and ended up shooting their foot off.

I know people who believe the opposite, ranging from more open about gun use to those who make me wish guns were taken away so they didn’t have them. I also believe this Amendment protects your right to own a gun, not your right not to have guns safety laws and regulations.

American History, essay, history, Politics

The Amendments: One

Posted on February 23, 2016 by sokorra

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (Source)

This amendment, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, has a lot in it.

Congress can not make a law that either establishes one religion over another or prohibiting people’s ability to practice the religion of their choice.
Congress can’t take away the freedom of speech, or the citizens right to have free press.
Congress can’t stop a assembly if it’s peaceful even if it’s against something they did.

This is where people usually go to when they try to explain why laws that are obviously religion based in nature are unconstitutional, even if you believe our country was founded on Christian principles. This was a reaction to Britain’s state religion and how alternative religions including alternative practices of the state religion were often considered criminal. Many of the first colonists were coming because they wanted to practice their religion in peace in the way they choose. And this right protects this. It also protects those who believe differently then you from being forced to worship in the same way if you are the one with power.

This does not however outlaw a lawmaker using his religion to influence his decisions, even if we disagree with them.

This amendment also protects our freedom of speech. Which yes, does mean we can say what we want to say. We can all have opinions. This does not however protect you from receiving consequences from utilizing your freedom. I have seen people say stupid and/or cruel things and when they are confronted scream FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Ok, that means you have the right to say what you want to say, not that people can’t react to it. Mostly this refers to the citizenry’s right to protest it’s government. To be able to disagree with our leaders without being arrested for it. To have ability to form our news organizations without it being controlled by our government.

The third element of this amendment is to make it so the government can’t arrest people who are peacefully protesting the government. This has been a challenge for some smaller governments as they have long-term protests that disrupt things that have no relation to the protest. It goes with the Freedom of speech. You have the right to protest, but if you do something stupid with your freedom you might end up having consequences.

American History, history, Politics

The Amendments: An Intro

Posted on February 22, 2016July 18, 2016 by sokorra

I’ve noticed that in a lot of the recent elections that amendments of various kinds have come up on all sides on whether you should or shouldn’t vote for a person. And While I have read the constitution before, I never really mesmerized the amendments. Therefore I have decided to go through each one and write a post on each one, hopefully completing this series before the November Election.

This is primarily a place for me to write my thoughts on the amendment and put in what I learned. Feel free to comment, but remember to be polite especially to anyone else who comments. Politics can get under people’s skins pretty fast, especially when one has a differing opinion.

There are 27 amendments, although 33 have been proposed. In order to be official, it must be ratified by a majority of the states after going through a congressional vote and being sent to the states to sign. Continue reading “The Amendments: An Intro” →

general

National “Love Your Pet” Day

Posted on February 20, 2016 by sokorra

I don’t really think loving your pet deserves its own day, but according to the google search on what national/international days/month this is, JAnuary 20th came up as Love your Pet day.

So I’ll talk about my Pet. Who I’ve shown before.

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This is Max. Max is a four year old cat. We believe he is partially Maine Coon because he seems to have quite a few of their characteristics. He’s a very friendly cat, likes to hang around humans, particularly ones who are a little older and will let him cuddle without trying to make him play with them as the younger set do.

He likes to sleep next to computer uses, putting his paws around their arms (as you can see above) as if to keep them from leaving. He also sucks his thumb at times and purrs realllly loudly.

We got Max after another family found he didn’t quite fit in with their other animals who weren’t so fond of Max. We agreed to take in what we told was a kitten. Max was about six months old at the time, and we had assumptions.

Max was a big kitty. He looked like a fully grown cat at six months so we had to get new things, because all of the litter pans and stuff were for small kittens. Now he’s about 12 lbs, so he’s still a hefty cat. He could probably sit on my sister’s cat and we’d never know. He’s still really friendly, and cries when he doesn’t hear human voices or see us. We end up leaving the TV on when we are away just to keep him company.

He’s seriously one of the most cuddly cats I’ve ever met. He is actually sitting next to me as I type, one paw on the laptop, purring away, sucking on his paw.

American History, essay, Politics

Voting & The Electoral College

Posted on February 18, 2016 by sokorra

(I am an American, so this post is about the United States election system. If you are a non-American reader, I would love to hear about how your election systems differ)

Many times I have heard people claim they don’t vote because it isn’t like their vote matters anyway; in the end the Electoral college chooses, not the people. And in a sense they are right. Since the US is a Republic, we choose representatives based on population. Therefore states with more population have more electoral votes in the college. Therefore places more heavily populated tend to get favored in the Electoral college.

Except for two facts:

Continue reading “Voting & The Electoral College” →

essay, film, movie reviews, rant

Deadpool and his Friend, Rating R

Posted on February 17, 2016February 17, 2016 by sokorra

Deadpool was rated R. It is rightfully so rated. It earns its rating with aplomb and is happy about it. However parents across the nation seemed baffled about a Superhero movie being R, choose to ignore it and then took their young children (and by young I mean under the age of 13) to see a movie clearly not meant for them.

The odd part of this is how much Deadpool marketing, as well as fans familiar with the comics went out of their way to try and inform parents that this movie was marketed towards adults, has always been for adults, and that it might not be something you want to bring your child to see.

Yet I sat behind a boy who couldn’t have been more then ten, and he wasn’t the only child there. Continue reading “Deadpool and his Friend, Rating R” →

Awareness, essay, fanfiction, rant, writing

Writing and Plagiarism: How Cassandra Clare affected my life

Posted on February 16, 2016February 16, 2016 by sokorra

When I first started to be active in fandom, the first fandom I really found myself falling in love with was Harry Potter. It was the first time I started seeing a lot of stories just like the ones in my head, where I continued scenes, or made whole new ones. It introduced me to the concept of OTPS, and various other fanfiction terminology. It drove my creativity in my mid-teens.

One of the things I loved was the Draco Trilogy. I eagerly awaited the updates. In fact, my friend and I actually would take turns checking to see if it was updated. It was novel length, and I started reading towards the end of the second book.

Then I got slammed with the truth. Around the time I graduated high school, it came out that Cassandra Claire (since changed to Clare to avoid the association), the author of the series, had taken almost whole chunks out of other people’s published works. She didn’t credit, and when the issue was brought up didn’t add a credit. The one thing I’ve always been taught is to always credit when it’s not yours, be it fanfiction, an academic paper or some kind of artwork. You always credit what you use that isn’t yours.

I was stunned to find out my favorite fanfiction author at the time was doing this. The evidence seemed pretty damning (still does) and it was liking finding out your role model fell from grace. Suddenly you had to reexamine what you liked about what she wrote, and was it really hers or someone else’s? There was a loss of trust in the author. I imagine this was similar to when people found out that Milli Vanilli didn’t actually sing their songs. I was sad, I was disappointed. I felt betrayed myself. I felt angry. Continue reading “Writing and Plagiarism: How Cassandra Clare affected my life” →

book reviews, bookit

Bookit Review: Once Upon A Second Chance

Posted on February 14, 2016February 14, 2016 by sokorra

Title: Once Upon A Second Chance
Author:Marian Vere
Publication date: 2012

My Grade: B

My Review:

I actually read this in one sitting. I was having trouble sleeping, so I decided to read. The book I was reading turned out to be, well, horrible, and I couldn’t finish it. I instead went to the online store and I stumbled upon this one which is based on Persuasion. That’s always a good point for me, as that’s one of my favorite books, and definitely my favorite Austen.

The book follows Julia, a financial advisor slash administrative assistant. She was partially raised by her older sister Lisa (Who I assume is taking the role Lady Russell plays in the original) who encouraged her to end an engagement after they had only been dating a few months.

8 years later they meet again when Nick, the ex-fiancee, shows up at her firm and gets assigned her team. Julia’s best friend, Bree (the Louisa of the book) soon finds herself infatuated with Nick much to Julia’s discomfort.

Miscommunication, awkward midnight meetings, jellyfish, and impromptu engagements happen along the way.

I actually like this book. It remains unique while taking on the vague outline of Persuasion. If you’ve read the book you can pick out the references, but if you haven’t, its not going to feel old, or like they are trying too hard, which sometimes happens when someone tries to make a modern adaption of an older book.

Its also relatively inexpensive right now, only $3 for your kindle when the usual going rate is about $8.

film, movie reviews

REVIEW: Deadpool

Posted on February 13, 2016February 17, 2016 by sokorra

Tonight I got to watch the film Deadpool. It’d a comic book based film, and probably one of the more well known of this year’s new movies.

It centers around Wade Wilson, a mercenary for hire who finds out he has terminal cancer. He is offered a chance at a possible cure and while he rejects it at first he ends up deciding to do it as it would mean more time with his fiancée. Things of course don’t turn out as planned.

The movie was hilarious. It is definitely not a film for children or people easily offended by swearing, some nudity ( of both genders) , or gory violence. It definitely deserved it’s R rating. I liked the more realistic reactions to situations by the characters.

I wouldn’t go to see it if you expect the same guy you saw on Wolverine: Origins. This one is less creepy and more like his comic character.

Rating: 4 stars.

essay, fanfiction, writing

Fandom Writing Starter Kit: Reviews, Flames, and Kudos

Posted on February 12, 2016February 12, 2016 by sokorra

Like with most of the topics we have gone over, the post-publishing part of fanfic mirrors the professional writing world, but has its unique terms and looks on things. In this post, I will discuss the different kinds of responses that readers can make to your fic, as well as things you can do when you get a responce.

Kudos/Likes

Most archive systems, particular those made especially for fanfiction (like Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own) have a system where the reader can show how they like what you are writing by leaving a Like or a Kudo. This usually only involves a series of clicks, and is what you will get the most often. These allow the reader to tell you they like it without making an actual review.

Some sites have pages where you can track the statistics of kudos/likes and see what stories got the most likes and the like. I like this because it sometimes is nice to see a story that might not get a lot of comments, yet many left kudos.

The Comment/Review

Depending on the site, you may see reviews called, well, reviews or comments. Sometimes replies. This is what we all wish for. That occasion when a reviewer has decided that they were interested enough in our story to let us know in a way that takes more then a simple click. These range the gamut from the simple “This is awesome/This Sucks!” type of comments to long paragraphs. One of my happiest moments in writing was when someone wrote a long long email with comments and suggestions on how to improve my writing. I was 15 at the time, and it was the first time I had gotten any input other then “This is great!”

Comments and reviews that are lengthy usually come in three forms:

The Critique
The critique is where a reader has criticism and writes you to help you improve your writing and your story. These are one of the best reviews a writer can receive because we can always improve. It also means this person took the time to really take in your story. Respect this reviewer.
The Discussion
These are fun. I had a review on a story that started a back-and-forth discussion on a canon plot arc in Doctor who. By the time we were finished (actually probably by the second or third reply) it no longer had anything to do with the story.
The Flame
Ah, the flame. This is a negative review that has no constructive criticism. Most of the time if someone doesn’t like your story, they just won’t review and move on. But occasionally you get that one person who just wants to tell you how much you suck. Half the time nothing they say will make sense, and you’ll wonder what they were reading. The other half of the time its just disheartening. Often times flames can be really short (the “You suck!” type) but they can be longer, depending on much effort the troll is trying to make.

Usually the longer ones come from people who hate the character/pairing you write and make you wonder why they clicked on it to begin with. The Answer: So they can write bad reviews and make you feel bad.

Responding to Reviews.

To the short reviews, just a quick thank you is usually good. The longer the review the more there is probably to respond to. Just remember to be polite. Being rude to a reviewer usually does no one good.

If its a Flame, feel free to ignore them. They aren’t worth your time. Just recognize that a negative review is not automatically a flame. NOt everyone is going to like your story. If they write a review and say they don’t like it, its not a flame. If they write a review saying “You suck!” it is. Constructive crit is always a good thing, so if they say they don’t like it, and explain why, that’s not a flame, its a critique and you might find yourself finding tidbits of things to improve upon even when people hate your story.

Occasionally you’ll get reviews that make you just shake your head. I once got a review for a fic I called “Photographs” because it had the main character looking at a series of pictures. Someone reviewed and asked me where they pictures were. I still don’t know how to respond to that, but that is probably one of my favorite reviews simply because off its oddity.

Keep in mind this is all for fun

Don’t take negative reviews completely to heart. Or the fact that you never get reviews. It might seem like no one is reading, and that might be disheartening. I know that since I have fics in small fandoms where no one is writing anymore and no one thinks to go reading it either. Its a little depressing, but I keep in mind that I wrote the story because I felt inspired by the original story, or felt that something was needed.

Fanfiction should be primarily for yourself. You are its primary reader. You are the audience you are writing for. Now, taking into consideration your audience is always a good thing in writing, but with fanfiction you can afford to be a little more self-centered about your writing. And like an original writer you don’t have to take every suggestion your readers/betas give you.

Enjoy yourself.