A poem

The River

Still hurts when I see your face somewhere

Thoughts of your grace still linger in the air

No other woman has quite the same flair

Your cruel absence drives me into despair

Sitting alone in this cold, empty place

Wondering who could fill this space

You left in what seemed like a race

And you disappeared without a trace

You found another and you moved on

My sorrows I drown in Walker's John

Oh where, oh where has my love gone?

I used to have joy, but now I have none

My life must go on, as hard as it seems

Though I still see you in nightly dreams

But no longer I cry and painfully scream

For new love I look in life's raging stream

- This poem is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, "Reflections", which will be available on Amazon, Apple's iBookstore, and other online bookstores in the next few weeks. Follow me on https://www.facebook.com/officialsvb for release info!

The verdict is in

The verdict in George Zimmerman's murder trial is in: not guilty.
Celebrities (always quick to grab the spotlight), civil rights leaders (just as quick) and ordinary folk are outraged.
How could Zimmerman get away with murder?
Well, he didn't. He's free because he's legally innocent.
A lot of people will stop reading now and write angry rebuttals and personal insults in the comments section; but to those of you who can control their emotions long enough to finish reading this article: I congratulate you.
Emotions make people upset, and they forget facts. They exaggerate rumors and hearsay, and then believe in the lies and myths that they helped to create and spread.
A common myth is for example that George Zimmerman is a racist. People believe that he called the police on that night to report a "black man" walking through the neighborhood. This is actually how NBC first aired a recording of the police call, but they edited it so that it would show Mister Zimmerman as having a racist motive. The actual, unedited police transcript shows that Zimmerman reported a suspicious person, was then asked if that person was white, black or hispanic by the police dispatcher, and only then answered that the person in question was black.
Zimmerman himself has black family members, identifies as hispanic. His neighbors and coworkers have nothing bad to say about him; and a black acquaintance - Joe Oliver, TV news reporter- said "I'm a black male and all that I know is that George has never given me any reason whatsoever to believe he has anything against people of color."
It is also known that Zimmerman was unhappy with how the Sanford Police were treating the case of Sherman Ware, a black homeless man, who was beaten by the son of a Sanford police officer in 2010. On a recording of a January 2011 community forum (well before the Martin shooting), Zimmerman can be heard condemning the Sanford Police Department and its former chief Brian Tooley. Zimmerman said that Tooley had engaged in a cover-up and should lose his pension. Later in 2011, Zimmerman distributed fliers with details of the case in the local community to get more people involved.
These are not the words or actions of a racist.

Another fact, verified by one of Martin's friends at trial, under oath, is that Martin referred to Zimmerman as a "creepy-ass cracker." If anyone was racist here, it wasn't George Zimmerman.

Yet another fact is that only Zimmerman suffered wounds during the struggle with Martin; only he had cuts and bruises. these were on his face and on the back of his head. Martin meanwhile suffered no wounds, except for the fatal gunshot. Does that not make it obvious that Zimmerman was being beaten up by Martin, and not the other way around?

So does this mean that Zimmerman's actions were reasonable? No, not in my opinion. He should have stayed in the car. He should have waited for police. And if he hadn't had a gun, he might just have done that. But in a country where people take 9mm pistols with them when they go to buy milk, "reasonable" isn't something that you expect. Zimmerman had apparently only bought a gun (in 2009) to fend off a pitbull that sometimes ran through the neighborhood. Seriously, the man bought a gun because there was a dog running around in his neighborhood! Now, dogs have never been friends of mine, but I think pepperspray or a taser might have done the trick, don't you? Imagine what would have happened if Zimmerman had tasered Martin? He'd still be here, and Zimmerman's life wouldn't have been ruined by a very public trial.

And if you can imagine that, imagine a situation that you could reasonably face in America where a taser would not be enough. Dark parking lot. Bank robbery. Break-in. Do you really want to kill somebody?

Think carefully, because if you answer "yes" you might find yourself in the same position as George Zimmerman one day. A position that you'd deserve.

Star Trek Into Darkness Review

I've been a Trekkie since I was a kid in Germany, and I can proudly say that I've seen every single episode of TNG, DS9, and the original series; plus most of Voyager. I thought of "Enterprise" as an unfortunate misstep for the franchise, although those Andorians grew on me; and hey, bad Trek is better than no Trek, right?
Then along came J.J. Abrams to helm the franchise. I was shocked. This is the same genius who created "Felicity", a show so deep and intelligent that when the star cut her hair, people stopped watching. He made "Lost", a series so convoluted and pointless that I'd rather watch paint dry. He was nominated for a Razzie in the "Worst Screenplay" category for "Armageddon",  created the silly "Alias", and was responsible for the last two "Tom Cruise in lots of random stunt sequence" movies, erm, i mean, "Mission Impossible." And this person was put in control of Star Trek? Who made that decision?
Well, 2009's "Star Trek", the first Trek film by Abrams, was a disappointment. The charm and the stories of old Trek were replaced by lens flare and a plot that made so little sense that it had to be explained away by saying that this new Trek now takes place in an alternate timeline. It was embarrassing. Sure, Trek movies have never been as good as the show (sorry, Wrath of Khan); after all, the studio needs to try and get mainstream audiences into theaters to recoup their money. But no Trek film was ever quite as bad as Abram's first outing.
Thus, I didn't have high hopes last night when i went to see Into Darkness; Abram's second (and hopefully last) Trek movie.

If you don't want spoilers, you should stop reading now.

The film opens with the crew of the Enterprise trying to save a species of aliens without announcing their presence to them, as that would violate the prime directive ("do not interfere with other civilizations"). But Kirk is soon forced to reveal his ship. It rises out of the ocean, a magnificent behemoth, stunning the natives with its sheer size. So how did they get it into the ocean without anyone noticing it? The movie is full of plot holes and logical errors like this one.
That is not its most egregious fault however. The real problem is, once again, that the film has no heart. Star Trek is about people and the way they deal with problems, and the spaceships are only there for decoration. Star Trek is about difficult questions and difficult decisions; it challenges us to ask ourselves what we would do if we had been placed in a similar situation. "Into Darkness" is merely about lens flare, explosions, and a nonsensical re-telling of the reawakening of Khan (from the original series). It is a story about revenge, plain and simple. This guy did something bad to me, so I am justified in doing something bad to him. The logic and motivations of an 8 year old who got into too many schoolyard fights. We see Kirk punching a man in the face, over and over again, we see Spock doing the same. Why? Revenge. Oh, and it allows the actors to portray how deep their emotions are, because apparently real men display loss and anger by punching someone in the face. And yes, Spock has emotions here, because you know, this is totally an alternate timeline where Vulcans aren't really Vulcans anymore.
There is no sense of right and wrong here, no morality. the bad guy -Khan- wasn't really all that bad; he was turned into a baddie by one of Kirk's superiors, who dies rather horribly, but is never really criticized for his actions. His warmongering was all in the name of the Federation, aka "us", and so it's all good.The secret "Section 31" organization is never questioned for its role, and after the bad guy dies, all is well. The crimes committed in our name are alright, while the bad guys are horrible people for doing the exact same things.
Henry Kissinger once said "The problem with Castro is not that he's an asshole, but that he's not our asshole." The movie seems to follow the same mantra.
Well, and in addition to all that, it's also pretty boring and derivative. You can see plot twists coming from a mile away, and some scenes are simple re-imaginings of scenes from much earlier Trek films. This time Kirk saves the Enterprise by going into the reactor core, poisoning himself fatally in the process. And Spock is left outside a transparent door to exclaim "Khaaaaaan!" Seen it before. So many scenes in this film borrow ideas from earlier, better movies that we are way past "homage" territory, and deep inside "we've run our of ideas" land.
So are there any good things I can say about this film? Well, Zachary Quinto's Spock is well-acted, even if he is much too emotional (the script's fault, not Quinto's). And Benedict Cumberbatch as Kahn was intriguing, although he lacked the charisma of Ricardo Montalban.
The most positive thing I can say is this: maybe this film will get a new generation interested in Star Trek. And maybe this generation will want to check out the show, and learn why Trek has been so popular all across the world for over 40 years now. They'll find out that there aren't millions of Trekkies on this Earth because of lens flare and CGI explosions. They'll discover the real Star Trek.

Here's a list of some episodes you might want to watch instead of Abrams's mindless explosions:
The Original Series

The City on the Edge of Forever (season 1, episode 28)

The Menagerie (two-parter; season 1, episodes 11&12)

The Next Generation 
- The Measure of a Man (season 2, episode 9)
- The Defector (season 3, episode 10)
- The Drumhead (season 4, episode 21)
- Chain of Command (two-parter; season 6, episodes 10&11)

Deep Space 9
Duet (season 1, episode 19)
Improbable Cause (season 3, episode 20)
The Dies Is Cast (season 3, episode 21)

In the Pale Moonlight (season 6, episode 19)
Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges (season 7, episode 16)

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it ought to get you started. :)
For those of you in the United States, you can watch teh entire original show on CBS for free:
http://www.cbs.com/shows/star_trek/

Jeff Hanneman and the Westboro Baptists

Jeff Hanneman, founding member of metal band Slayer, died on May 2, 2013; probably of liver failure related to alcohol abuse. It was a sad day for me,  just like it was a sad day for millions of other metalheads around the world.
But the fanatical idiots that constitute the Westboro Baptist Church were happy.
Nothing new, after all they are also happy when innocent people die, they regularly picket funerals of soldiers killed overseas, and they make their young children walk around with large signs that read "God hates Fags" and "Jews killed Jesus" and other such nice messages. Of course this racist, homophobic, misogynist, openly anti-American group of morons would rejoice at the death of a popular musician, if only for the publicity their picketing of his funeral would get them.
I was pissed at them. They have no respect.
I visited their website to see if their lunacy could somehow cheer me up. I know, laughing at the deranged isn't a nice thing to do; but maybe I'm not a nice guy. I watched a video narrated by a guy called Steve Drain. Drain explained that Hanneman was somehow related to the devil -not a metaphorical one, but the actual person, the devil- and that his death was deserved, because he had apparently led millions of children down a path deemed "wrong" by Mister Drain.
Did this piss me off more? No.
It is very difficult to stay mad at Mister Drain and his fellow cultists because it becomes obvious very quickly that they are very poor and desperate human beings. Nothing on their entire website is positive; everything is about hate, hate, hate. There is nothing else in their lives, only hatred for those who do not share their very specific and peculiar beliefs. That means that they hate about 7 billion human beings, and that explains why they have nothing positive to say about anything, and must fill the emptiness in their lives with even more hate. Perhaps it makes them feel important somehow, perhaps they believe that spreading hatred and intolerance somehow gives their existence meaning. Or perhaps they have realized that they are incapable of contributing something to society and are thus setting out to destroy it; a tiny man angrily brandishing a toothpick at the well-armored giant that is the rest of humanity. How can one be mad something so pathetic, so insignificant? How can one take them seriously?
I can't answer those questions, but there is one more thing I would like to say. On the off chance that one of you WBC nutters reads this, please take this genuinely well-meant advice to heart: to fill the void in your life, chase away the dark cloud, and free yourself from the unbearable hell that must be your life, you do not need Jesus. You need a psychiatrist.

Sincerely,
Sascha von Bornheim,
Metalhead


Jeff Hanneman - Wikipedia
Westboro Baptist Church - Encyclopedia Dramatica
The WBC homepage, for your amusement

Is Kim Jong-Un a pacifist?

Kim Jong-Un (aka Kim), dictator of North Korea, has been threatening the South Korea, the US, and Japan with nuclear war.
The world is upset and frightened, anti-missile batteries are being installed in Tokyo, pundits are analyzing Kim's every word...
But what if he is actually trying to surrender?
It sounds absurd, but read on. Kim was educated in Switzerland, where as a teenager he witnessed what the west is really like. There is no famine in Switzerland, people well-fed and happy, and their freedoms have not led them to execute their democratically elected government. The country 'just works.'
North Korea, on the other hand, is a mess.
So now we have Kim threatening nuclear war. But what are his chances?
If North Korea were to attack South Korea with conventional weapons then most of the South's casualties would come from their soldiers laughing themselves to death at the sight of thousands of skinny North Koreans storming into their homeland, using museum-grade weapons to strike fear into local schoolchildren and the odd chicken. The North wouldn't stand a chance; not against the South's well-trained and well-equipped army. Plus, there's support from the US which maintains a permanent presence in South Korea. Oh, and then there's the fact that entire battalions would defect to the South if given the chance. Nobody wants to stay in North Korea; even Kim himself lived in Switzerland for a decade or so...
And what if he attacked using a nuke or two? Well, there'd be heavy casualties in Seoul, but in response the US would wipe North Korea off the face of the Earth. That much is certain.

So why does Kim pursue this strategy of provocation? He knows full well that he cannot win a war alone against the rest of the world -even China is calling for him to be more reasonable at this point-, and negotiations have become all but impossible in the current climate.
So once again, what could his reasoning be? And then it hit me: maybe he's trying to provoke a war he knows he will lose.

If he actually cares a bit about his country or his people, then reuniting them with the South should be at the top of his list of things to do. But he can't just tell his generals to throw in the towel. These are men who were trained to hate and distrust the South and the Western world, sworn to loyalty to North Korea. The entire population has been taught to hate the South for 60 years now -several generations of schoolchildren who have never heard anything else but their government's propaganda- and they're not going to give up just because Kim tells them to. He recently executed several high-ranking military and party members, probably in an effort to show strength and unite the military and the party behind himself. If he is so scared of then that  he has to execute them, what does he think they would do to him if he were to ask them to lay down their weapons? How would the farmers in the countryside react, would they just accept that everything they have learned in their lives was false? Or would they rise up and create militias and defend their beliefs?

Thus, starting a war that he knows to be lost from the get-go might be the only way to unite the two Koreas. Following the defeat of the North, the SOuth and the US will occupy the North, deliver food aid, and slowly show people what the world is really like. And they, the defeated, will have little choice to accept it, once they see that their ideology has proven to be the inferior one.
What will happen to Kim in this case? A trial for the crimes his short reign caused and condoned? Life in prison, or in exile?

Of course, that is all just my imagination and fantasy talking.
Maybe Kim is just plain old-fashioned nuts, and wants to mount lasers on the heads of sharks.

Please share

"Greetings Citizens of the world, we are #Anonymous, we are #KnightSec. 

On December 23, 2012, we released a video detailing the story of a young

 rape victim in Steubenville Ohio who was attacked by the Big Red High 

School football team and raped and kidnapped carried party to party 

unconcious and intoxicated. Only 2 members were charged with the actual 

crimes, when everyone present was guilty."

Please share the link on your websites, blogs, facebooks... the more people know about this, the better. Thank goodness for anonymous. 

http://stopbigred.com/ 
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I'm Spartacus!

I've been watching a lot more TV lately, shows like Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, and especially Game of Thrones. TV used to mean lousy acting, low budgets, and cheesy scripts, but those shows have raised the bar considerably. Strong actors, budgets that allow the writer's vision to come to life, and scripts that are unafraid to experiment a bit have all done their part to make TV worth watching again.
In a shocking twist, I am now going to say that I watch porn. Perhaps I shouldn't talk about such private things here, but let's face it: porn rakes in billions of Dollars each year, and that's not me and Charlie Sheen alone. That's hundreds of millions of people, and if recent studies are to be believed, the percentage of women viewers is increasing.
What does that have to do with HBO?
It's quite simple: I recently came across a film that has done for porn what Boardwalk Empire has done for TV: Spartacus MMXII - The Beginning.
It's a pretty straightforward title I thought, a porn parody of Spartacus, the TV series. But I was wrong: the actors are really just that, actors; the sets are utterly convincing; the costumes are worthy of a Hollywood production; and the story is great! So great in fact that the movie has a running time exceeding 3 hours, but I never once felt bored. I never thought I'd ever say this, but I actually watched a porn for the story. Weird, huh? Apparently they even brought in a professional stunt coordinator for the sword fighting scenes!
Aside from the sword action, the "other" action is also great, and watching porn shot with the same type of high-speed cameras used in big-budget TV shows is a different type of experience. It approaches the look of something like Game of Thrones, but with sex. What's not to like?

The trailer below does not feature any naughty stuff :)

These links however are NSFW:
Adult DVD Empire
Official Spartacus MMXII Blog

Enjoy.