The Bizarre Story of “Gaming in the Clinton Years”

Today, I get most of my entertainment from YouTube. Around 2007, I discovered the site and began watching stuff like Angry Video Game Nerd, Nostalgia Critic, and stuff from the folks at ScrewAttack. However, there was one show that I watched that looking back at it, I can’t help but be confused and entertained. That show is Gaming in the Clinton Years.

Red Hot Chili Pepper Music Videos

While my father was at work Friday he decided to send me a Red Hot Chili Peppers music video every hour for the rest of his shift, I feel that deserves some appreciation.

Five Athletes Who Were Taken Too Soon

This past week the sports world lost a true legend and a great guy in former Phillies and Blue Jay great Roy “Doc” Halladay, who died tragically in a plane crash at the age of 40. Halladay was a dominate right handed pitcher whose career lasted fifteen years. Over the span of his career, Halladay was 203-105 on the mound with a 3.38 ERA and 2,117 career strikeouts. Halladay was an eight-time all-star, two-time Cy Young winner, lead the MLB in wins twice, and had one perfect game and one post season no hitter. Roy Halladay was one of my all time favorites to watch with one of the nastiest 12-6 curveballs in the leagues history. Halladay played the game the way it should be played. Upon Halladay’s death I found myself thinking about the mark he left on the game and the fans, then I began to think about those who we will never be able to see their full potential.

Is Tommy Nitro an Epic Hero?

Karate. Either you practiced it, or if you’re like me, you grew up seeing it referenced in shows like SpongeBob SquarePants. However, what if I told you that it spawned a toy that spawned the greatest epic hero that you have never heard of.

Return of the MAC

I’m proud to say that after over a year away, it’s time to bring back fresh content. Hopefully, everyone is ready to click and read your quarantined boredom away.

A Few Hot New Soundcloud Songs

Here’s a group of songs recently posted on Soundcloud that are really worth giving a listen.

Songs to Spice up the Holiday Season

Here’s a quick list of songs to help spice up your holiday season.

Saddest Week of 2018?

This week has been awful. There’s no other way to phrase it. Several sad events have occurred this week that really have me bummed out. I will be talking about two of them in my article this week.

The first of which is the awful news coming from the world of professional wrestling. Arguably the biggest star in the WWE, Roman Reigns, revealed that he is being forced to step away from wrestling to battle leukemia. The news of this really hit me harder than it should. I’m not a regular viewer of new WWE programming anymore. I’m not a particularly big fan of Roman Reigns as a performer. However, this is a man who has a young family, who has tirelessly dedicated himself to the entertainment of others, and who clearly takes care of himself. More than anything, it is a sad reminder that cancer doesn’t care who you are. It’s a sad reminder that this horrific disease still effects people every single day. As someone who has lost multiple family members to cancer, it’s a sad reminder that this awful thing still exists. Roman’s going away speech on Raw this week was about as emotional as WWE programming gets and I eagerly await his return.

The other tragic event that occurred this week is the attempted bombing of several key figures in the Democratic Party. A significant number of prominent Democrats, many of whom I deeply admire, were the targets of attempted acts of terrorism. Those targeted by these attempted bombings are staunch critics of President Trump, the Republican Party, and conservative ideals. These are the people who think the way I think. I hope to one day be amongst these people as prominent, outspoken figures against Conservatism who are trying to promote a better America and a better world. The targets of these attacks are individuals fighting a battle of ideals, not weapons. It is important to note that in addition to several key Liberal figures, CNN was also targeted with a mailed explosive device. CNN has been repeatedly criticized and demonized by the President and other conservative figures. Logic suggests that a radical right wing person or group is responsible for these attempted killings. Those responsible attempted to commit mass murder directed at the left. The fact that this is the point we have reached in America is deeply saddening. I disagree with just about every conservative idea that has ever existed. However, not once have I ever considered the murder of anyone on the right to be a good idea. Even the thought of killing people for their involvement on the opposing side of the political spectrum is absolutely mind-blowing. This is where we are in America, apparently. It is just sad.

I’ll leave my overly depressing article with this thought….. Maybe some good will come from this. Perhaps Roman Reigns’s recent diagnosis will bring about more attention to cancer and increase funding for a cure. Maybe politicians on both sides of the isle will come together to help heal the wound that has clearly split the country. Maybe the President will do something to reverse the violent and hateful climate he has helped create in America. I believe that the first two could genuinely happen, maybe. The last one, probably not. Be we will see. I’ll be back next Thursday with hopefully a slightly less depressing article. Be sure to check out some of the other great content on Mid-American Culture!

Black Ops 4: My First Impressions

Welcome back to my first impressions series! This is the series when I give my unsolicited opinion on things far too early for them to be educated opinions. Today, I will be discussing my first impressions of Call of Duty Black Ops 4.

I’ll start with the most anticipated addition to the game, Blackout mode. Blackout mode is a battle royale style game mode that is very similar to Fortnite and PUBG. I have played around 20 games in this mode and I can confidently say that it is pretty cool. I always sucked at building in Fortnite, so the idea of a battle royale game without that added element is very appealing to me. The vehicle play in Blackout is far superior to that of Fortnite, and that is a huge plus. The map is spectacular, mixing in old COD maps, zombie spawns, new locations, and an abundant natural space between locations. With that being said, there are some issues. The lag is absolutely horrible. This is an issue that I think will be fixed with time, as this is COD’s first time operating with servers anywhere near this size. Also, I think most guns in the mode need some kind of buff. The recoil is significantly greater in Blackout than it is in multiplayer and I often find myself enraged by the amount of shots that I just can’t seem to make in Blackout. Overall, however, I really enjoy the mode and I look forward to seeing what they do with it in the future.

Next, I will briefly discuss Zombies. I played a couple games in zombies and I was kind of disappointed. Much like most of the more recent games, I feel like they just tried to do too much. The game set in a gladiator arena is cool, but the mode is overly complicated. Most of it just feels unnecessary. I doubt I will be playing much zombies.

Lastly, I will discuss multiplayer. Multiplayer is the highlight of the game for me. The gameplay is reminiscent of Black Ops 2, which was one of the high points in the Call of Duty series. The game is futuristic, but not overly so. The removal of the crazy jumping and wall running and all of that other nonsense is a great move on Call of Duty’s part. The game play is still fast-paced and exciting and I have enjoyed it very much.

Overall, Black Ops 4 seems to be a solid game. It is right up there with WWII in terms of quality and I highly recommend it to any gamer. I eagerly await to see how it ages over time.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to check out some of the other great content here on Mid-American Culture!

Will Black Ops 4 Be Terrible?

Since the days of Modern Warfare 2, I have been a huge fan of the Call of Duty game series. I have put countless hours in to the games throughout the years. During the heyday of my all-time favorite COD game, the original Black Ops, I logged an absolutely absurd 22 and a half days of game time. If there was any doubt that I am a fan, that statistic should put it to rest. With that being said, I have been extremely disappointed in almost every Call of Duty game that is set in a futuristic time period. The only exception to this being Black Ops 2, which was a great game in its own right. Call of Duty strayed away from the future warfare genre last year when it released WWII. That game was phenomenal and reminded me of why I fell in love with the series. The only major hole was that I felt the Zombies experience was greatly lacking. Other than that, the developers hit it out of the park. Which leaves me cautiously optimistic about Black Ops 4. The gameplay looks spectacular and the introduction of the new Blackout (Battle Royale) mode has me very excited. I’m also hopeful that the zombies experience will be much improved from WWII. I haven’t done extensive research on it, but the Black Ops series generally does pretty well with zombies. The game is set to release tomorrow (Friday, October 12th) at midnight. I will most certainly be up and ready to try out the multiplayer and the new battle royale mode. Next week, I will most likely write an installment of my “My First Impressions” series on the game. Until then, be sure to check out some of the other great content here on Mid-American Culture!