Building a Great Website

I'll admit that I haven't been doing a lot of blogging as of late- that is, unless you count my Facebook and Twitter rants. But I've been busy over the past couple of days working on a new website, courtesy of the folks at Wix.com. Wix allows commoners- such as myself- to build websites. Without costing one red penny. So, the site I'm building now will eventually have photos and video, plus I'll feature some art work- paintings, sculptures, and other pieces of art. The site looks a little out of sorts right now, but when everything falls into place, this will turn out to be a great site. It'll take time, but I'm getting somewhere at least.

The name DWA Studios is the name of what will be a video production entity- before the year's out, I'll have the name incorporated.

Copyright 2010 by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.

And I Thought the 2000 Presidential Election Was Chaotic

In the United Kingdom, there is no clear majority in the just concluded elections. The Conservatives, who got the most votes at 306, were 20 short of being the outright ruling party. The Labour Party, which the current Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a member of, has 258, and the Liberal Democrats got the smallest number of the major three party, with 57. This is the first hung parliament in 36 years, and things will get very interesting over the next several days. I've been watching the coverage from the BBC, and right now, I'm learning that the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are talking about a deal of power-sharing- a coalition government, actually.

Think that'll work here in the States? I know, dumb ass question. But I can't help but wonder, perhaps even picture a 2012 presidential election where neither the Democratic candidate, the incumbent president Barack Obama, nor the likely Republican candidate, Sarah Palin, will get the required 270 electoral votes. Especially given if several "third-party" candidates run, and given the fact that both American major parties are drawing the ire of the tea party movement, that could very well be the case. Call me crazy, but I think the madness of 2000 will have nothing on the forthcoming 2012 elections.

I do know that the idea of doing a coalition government will not wash with the Democrats and the Republicans.

(C) MMX, by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.

Too Early To Call It a "Relationship" - Darren W. Alexander's MySpace Blog |

Too Early To Call It a "Relationship" - Darren W. Alexander's MySpace Blog |

Normally, I wouldn't talk personal business here at this blog. But I never did follow any rules- I don't think there were any (at least in the days when this blog was called "The Alex Chronicles" and "The View from Planet Alex").

Recently, I began a new relationship- even though it's only three days, for all intents and purposes, I suppose I can call it one. I won't divulge much at this point, and any updates will be on my blog at MySpace.

So, go ahead and read the entry. It could last- or I may be looking for someone new. Only time will tell.

(C)MMX, by Darren W. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.

Comcast Buys Watchtower

On Thursday, Comcast- who is already buying a majority stake in NBC Universal- announced that it has bought the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, the corporate arm of the Jehovah's Witnesses faith. The deal was approved by government regulators last week.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Watchtower president Don Adams (no relation to the late "Get Smart" actor) jointly announced that with the power of Comcast behind the Watchtower name, the quest for world domination is fully within reach. "Who better to reach customers than the Jehovah's Witnesses?," Roberts said. "They knock on doors, and sell Watchtowers and Awakes- now part of the Comcast stable. and now, they also will tell you when you cable bill is late. It really saves us from mailing those pain in the ass notices."

Adams went on to say that with the deal, "This makes the (Watchtower) Society more open to everything. Every idea. Every person we reach."

Among the proposed changes the new Comcast-Watchtower deal are:

•  allowing women and openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and crossdressing persons to lead congregations,
• changing the names of the two main magazines: "The Watchtower" will keep its name, but will drop the "Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom" subtitle. The Watchtower symbol will also feature the NBC peacock  prominently inside the symbol. Also, the format would change to that of Comcast cable listings and profiles on stars on the NBC Universal TV networks. "Awake" would become "NBC Awake", and would feature stories from NBC's "Today" show,
• congregational meetings will become more entertaining, and the religious aspect would become optional, as opposed to the stiff and formal settings that now take place.
• Many of the Kingdom Halls would be renamed "Comcast Halls". several others will keep the "Kingdom Hall" name, except now, the Kingdom Hall name is trademarked by Comcast. Furthermore, some Comcast/Kingdom Halls will serve as broadcast facilities, mainly for NBC news programs.
• At the 2010 District Conventions, across North America, big name pop stars, such as Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, and Taylor Swift will perform at several venues (of course, venues and dates are still being negotiated at this time). Also, "Today" will broadcast from at least two convention sites.

Except for making programming better, there should be no noticeable changes, Adams says. Adams will be vice chairman alongside Roberts, and is in the running for running some of the NBC Universal networks and NBC-owned TV stations.

(C) MMX by Darren W. Alexander.

All Rights Reserved.

Who Wants To Be a Viral Rapist?: Controversial Game Causes Uproar

There is a video game that's on the viral sites that allows players to sexually assault young teenage girls, and even their mothers and female siblings and other relatives. It's called RapeLay, and- understandably- womens groups are up in arms over this. What kind of message does this bring to players- and those who are registered sex offenders, and even those who are suffering from sex addiction? Obviously, the manufacturers of this game didn't stop and think about the unintended consequences, otherwise, the thought would have never occurred to them to release it.

You can say that this game goes too far- and I think that it does. Unfortunately, however, the manufacturer is within its rights to create this-although Japan censors sexual content (genitalia is obscured), themes and ideas are left unregulated. Here in the U.S., I have to wonder if the gaming industry would allow such a game- such as RapeLay- to be released (even in adult media stores, such as Fantasy For Adults, a local adult novelty store chain here in Portland, Oregon, for example). Even if that's not the case, it can be found found online- one can just Google it, and find a list. It's pretty damn troubling to find that a game like this exists, but what more can feminist groups do? If they force the game manufacturer to stop release, these same womens groups could run the risk of getting sued by the game makers. On the other hand, stopping the game may help stem the tide of sexual assaults around the world. But as with everything, there is no easy answer, is there?

To see the CNN story, just click on the title.

(C) MMX, by Darren W. Alexander.
All Rights Reserved.