Robbed by knifepoint for iPhone, then robbed by AT&T

I was just robbed at knifepoint in Queens, NY, for my iPhone. Yes, I’m serious. I was walking home fairly late at night and a man walked up to me wielding a 8- to 10-inch or so blade and demanded my money and my iPhone.

I am writing you because after reporting the robbery to the police, I called AT&T – my service provider for 3 years – and asked if they could possibly work with the NYPD to track down my phone via the iPhone 3G’s GPS. They said it was not possible to track any closer than the closest cell tower if the iPhone’s functions were used, which kind of defeats the purpose of GPS in many ways. Given the Patriot Act and everything, I figured they can track down where we’re taking a piss at this point.

But the big problem came when we started talking about replacing my iPhone 3G. Now I was an early adopter of the original 8GB iPhone and I just purchased the iPhone 3G in July. So when I asked if there would be a free replacement or a discount of sorts, the woman at customer service responded that since I just purchased the iPhone 3G that I would have not qualify for the discounted $199 iPhone 3G and I would have to purchase the phone at the higher price point of $399.

So after being such a long time AT&T customer and supporter of Apple’s marquee product of the moment, I have been told that despite the fact that I was robbed by someone brandishing what was essentially a mini-machete I am now being robbed by AT&T.

I feel insulted as a customer, and appalled by the customer service at AT&T. This is beyond poor customer service; this is a lack of basic human compassion.

The Force Unleashed: Everything a Star Wars Game Should Be

So last night I finally got around to playing The Force Unleashed demo that was released last week and I was pretty goddamn impressed. I wasn’t really expecting much given the poor showings of previous Star Wars games to recreate the flow of battle in the Star Wars universe with uninteresting, automated saber controls. Whether it holds up to a full game is a question I can’t possibly answer. If I had to give the demo – and just the demo – a score, it would be 10/10.

Sure, it isn’t perfect with some slight targeting issues – in the fight versus the AT-AT, I continually shocked barrels underneath its feet rather than the walking air conditioner itself – but the game is f’n fun. It’s the argument Kevin Pereira made for Too Human: it’s not perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

The problem with using Too Human by comparison is that The Force Unleashed pulls off “badassness” even better than Too Human because Too Human is weighed down by unimpressive character models, bad animations, and a lazy control scheme in which you jam randomly on the analog sticks to pull off attacks. By comparison, I do everything I want in The Force Unleashed. I can slice a guy up, then zap him with a lightning shot, lift him in the air and fling him away or Force pull a goddamn Tie Fighter onto him.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – Badassness Personified (though not really personified since it’s a piece of software, but roll with it…)

Democrats Digg Questions; Bury Answers

Digg is running a interesting social media experiment that will likely fall prey to the impossibility of getting politicians to answer any real questions. In an attempt to mix two disparate cultures – one being the Internet community’s embrace of openness and the other being Washington’s sugar-coated avoidance of hard questions – Digg Dialogg is at the Democratic National Convention presenting politicians with the top voted questions as voted for by the Digg community.

While an interesting experiment, we’ll likely have to toss this one up to a PR gag that will likely give voters any true answers. There’s no way Nancy Pelosi will give an interesting and nuanced answer to questions like these from something called Digg.

“Many believe that the recently elected Democrat controlled congress has in a sense “rolled over and played dead”. As you may know, this is because they feel that this congress has done little to stand in the way of the ever expanding power of the executive branch, and has done little to negate controversial legislation passed by the Republican controlled congress before you.

To sum it up, you may remember that Jon Stewart frankly called you a bunch of pussies. And I don’t entirely disagree.

I’ve always considered myself to be a Democrat, but the unwillingness of this congress to act has made me question that. Why should I continue to believe that a majority of Democrats in our government can effectively lead? And if you don’t believe that your congress is playing dead, explain why.

The Aliens Are Here In Disguise

Forget about Roswell, Area 51, and that crazy guy from Denver. Hell, even that somewhat senile NASA astronaut, Edgar Mitchell, doesn’t have it right.

The picture on the right does not represent what aliens really look like, and I’ve uncovered the truth. Why would aliens chose to invade our world by taking on an image that incites fear and panic? No, these are more intelligent lifeforms, aren’t they? With that in mind, and through my own keen perception, I have discovered actual aliens. They come here in disguise of our own species, just like this guy. My proof? What he does in this video is inhuman. Period.

Plus, doesn’t he kind of a have a odd jaw?

Entering the Twilight Zone

My name is Anthony Perez, publisher of Gamer 2.0 and explorer of the Interwebs. I will be posting all sorts of things to this, my personal blog, that may spark controversy or constructive dialogue. Everything from random feedback on news to interesting links to share shall penetrate your mind.

But, odds are no one will read this. Either way, enjoy!