Ramblings and Musings

Stance on US Gun laws

2011-01-18T22:16:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,
So I wrote this up as a response to a comment on another blog dealing with new restrictive laws in response to the shooting in Arizona recently.

I'd like to respond to the comments that said that guns don't kill people/everyone should have guns.

It's true that a gun isn't the *only* thing that is needed to kill people; give a normal person a gun, and they're not going to kill anyone. BUT, if that guy didn't have a gun, do you think he would have managed to injure and kill the same # of people that he did? Never. Maybe he could have stabbed someone, but kill or injure 15+ people? No. That's why gun control is important, and why guns DO kill people.

The idea that everyone having a gun would be great is also fairly laughable. FIrst of all, not everyone is going to be willing to carry a gun. They're big, expensive, heavy, and dangerous, so it's just not feasible to have everyone have one. Plus, more guns=more kids getting ahold of them=more accidents.

Secondly, easy to get guns means that disputes can easily turn more violent. What if a couple of people are in a bar, drunk, and get into a fight? If one gets scared and thinks his life may be at stake, he's definitely going to pull out his piece and start shooting, killing not only his opponent but also bystanders, which takes me nicely to my 3rd point: If everyone had guns, you would have many people carrying guns (and you already do now) who are horrible shots. It takes time, dedication, and money to learn how to shoot well, and the average American might not have these things. Thus, you have people who don't know how to use guns with them. These weapons would likely be small, concealable handguns, which are *extremely* inaccurate, especially cheap ones with cheap ammo. Now, when a "bad guy" pulls a gun (or some trigger happy moron *thinks* someone has a gun and ends up shooting a teenager pulling a cell phone out of his pocket), all these newly armed citizens will start spraying away. They'll be lucky to even hit the "bad guy," and it's extremely likely that they would shoot innocent bystanders, especially in cramped quarters like a school where stray bullets could easily pass through walls and kill those on the other side.

What we need is STRICTER gun control, and I agree that we need to stop black market gun-running. That's what will make us safer, not arming every moron with a pulse.

So that's my opinion on that. I'd love to hear comments from you guys, and I welcome anyone who disagrees with my opinions.

Green Hornet

2011-01-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

So, I just saw the Green Hornet last night. I didn't have all the much hope for the movie; Gizmodo had a pretty positive post about it, but then Rotten Tomatoes had it in the mid-40s, which is hardly a glowing endorsement. But, long story short, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Seth Rogan was his usual funny self, which worked here, and Christopher Waltz (the Nazi in Inglorious Basterds) made a great villain. However, while Kato had a great role, I didn't feel like Jay Chou played him all that well.
Nevertheless, the film's action was intense, and as this is partially a car blog, I feel the need to mention the many awesome cars this film had. The Black Beauty (the Green Hornet's car) was of course the star of the show, and deserved it, but there were plenty of other great cars for the auto-enthusiast to notice, including a Bugatti Veyron, Mosler, 300SL Gullwing, Ferrari 275, Nissan GTR, Honda NSX, and many others (sadly, none of these cars get any real action scenes).
Overall, a good popcorn flick, with a good mix of action and humor and some good actors. It won't be vying with King's Speech and True Grit for "best" film out now, but it's fun enough to justify spending the time,

New 1M priced at $47k

2011-01-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

So, the new BMW 1M is finally going on sale, starting at a price of $47,000. Personally, this seems like a pretty good deal; I've never driven a 1 series, but I've heard fairly good things about them, and very good things about the 1M. With over 300hp and M-tuned handling, I think this thing has a lot of potential, especially considering that a base Porsche Cayman starts at over $51k with only 260hp, and even a base Mercedes SLK commands a $48K entry cost, and that's with 230 hp. I'd call this a big win for BMW then.
(picture and some info came from www.autoblog.com, article link and many more pictures here: Autoblog article

Shutter Island

2011-01-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know I'm a little (or a lot) late to the game here, but I just finished Shutter Island, and was pretty disappointed. It seemed like one of those movies where you get a good build up, and the middle of the movie itself is entertaining (though did we really need all those nazi death camp scenes? They really had no relevance to the overall plot or the ending...), but the ending just ruins a good premise. The twist is fun, sure, but its execution seemed rushed and not as developed as it might have been, and the ending was too abrupt for me. If you want a movie with a cool twist ending without all the psuedo-horror ridiculousness, why not just see Memento?
So, what do you guys think? Was this movie worth the time to you?

Hey guys!

2011-01-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

Hello world!
Well, this is my very first post for my blog. I hope whoever comes across it enjoys it. I've made this blog to talk a bit about whatever is on my mind, whether it be a movie I just saw, a book I read, a news story, a car, or anything. So, feel free to take a look around, I should be posting some new content ASAP, and if you like what you see, follow me!