Comic book stores, NOT FREE

Ok, so I was standing at the sidewalk waiting for some friends after work. I went into a comic book store and was met by a very nice young lady greeting me. She pulled a joke, and then she asked for my briefcase.. I was stunned! - Really, do you think I will steal your comic books was my reply? Then a man appeared from the back , explaining with a hesitant voice that it was kind of crowded in the back, and bags.. bla bla bla.. bullshit! They simply just assume that people will steal. This is the direction this country has taken my friends. I promise you, nowhere in my European country, and many other this would not happen. It is not normal to submit your personal belongings to the staff in a store. Don't let it pass. I can't say it's unconstitutional, but it is close to it. Regardless, submitting your personal belongings (except maybe your weapon in church) is not freedom.

So, American comic book stores have earned their spot on the unfree list.

In Memory of 9/11

There are still a few hours left of 11 September 2010 in New York and today the Americans deserve better than bashing. Even though acts and deeds conducted by Americans in the wake of 9/11 is questionable, in conflict with national and international law, and imoral; the attack against New York was horrible and unacceptable. To honor the memory of those who died and those who helped I post a picture I took of a wall painting in Queens.

Why Americans don't like the American

Ok, so the other day, me and my girlfriend went to see the American, George Clooney's latest attempt to be old and sexy. For anyone who read the reviews, you know the story takes place in Europe and was actually filmed in Europe as well. Big up to the usually so lazy producers for not settling with Mexico as Italy, and some heavily made up Mexicans as Italians! Those of you who have read the reviews also know that the style of the American is far from American. Instead, the producers has taken the subtle European approach, excluding all exaggerated action, the Bruce Willis style one liners and more cuts per second than the eyes of a 30+ person can handle. All the Americans moaned in gloominess over the lack of action, the sighed every time "the bad guy" wasn't bad, and they yelled when "the good guy" wasn't so good. Of course, I as the pretentious European I am, I thrived in the sophistication and the questions rather than answer the film offered. When the farce finally came to an end, the theater was bubbling with patriotic hate towards traitor Clooney. Isn't there a law against such calling something so UN-American American? 

Seriously, American people, I urge you to try and use the braincells god gave you to not only develop extremely sophisticated weaponry but also to watch a philosophical movie once in a while. Understanding other people's perspectives isn't always BAD, you know.. More importantly, it's not subtle movies that are boring. It's the exaggerated action movies that no longer has any meaning or contents that are boring! There was a time when Hollywood knew how to use special effects without forgetting that story and depth is important. Terminator 2 for example was intense, had outstanding special effects for its time and even though it was a futuristic movie, stayed within the limit of the imaginable and probable. What happened in Terminator 3 and Salvation? Every ounce of reality went out the window and was replaced by super robots fighting humans that would make superman look soft. The Die Hard Movies are even worse.. just compare John McClane in the first, second and third movie to the superhero character we meet in the most recent Die Hard 4. 

The best of America, a Burger?

Somewhere, hidden behind the fanatic Christianity and the double standard of American morality, great little wonders of civilization can be found. One thing is the extreme, food. As all extremes, they are good in reasonable amounts. Yesterday I had the 20oz (560g) Kobe Hamburger at one of New York's most famous and legendary steak houses, Old Homestead. The delicious, juicy meat is bread by crazy Japanese people who only fead the cows asparagus and massage them to make the meat tender. The fact that there is a market for such products in America, and the fact that anyone (with about $40 + tips and tax to spare) can go and get one makes America awesome! I mean, if I have to choose a country to live in I'd rather go for one with universal health care than the massaged-cow burger. But I love that I can visit your lovely country, have the best burger in the world and go back home to have my obesity cured for free..

AT&T is screwing you over!

Real Americans! The big corporations are screwing you over, over and over again. You need to know how the competition on the free market is not working in America! Let me tell you a story. The other day I went to ad another number to my AT&T mobile plan for my girlfriend. Since I have 900 minutes I rarely use and it's only ten dollars a month, it sounded like a good deal. We only needed a number for a duration of 4 months because we will leave for Europe again. The nice people working there who I hold no grudge against, since they are only minions striving to make a living then informed us the following. Not only would it be the extra $10 a month but a further $10 a month to be able to share minutes, which also lowered the amount of minutes from 900 to 700. The logic behind 700 minutes costing $20 dollars when 900 is $10 is apparently "that it is a completely different thing". My argument that it would still mean less minutes of traffic in AT&T's network didn't bite. Of course they also offered a free phone, which would only be an extra $30 (of which I had to pay $80 now???). Also, there would be a termination fee which meant that I should keep the plan for 6 months even though I only needed 4, and then pay the cheaper termination fee of  "only" $126. When they finally asked me if I also wanted to be able to send text messages and informed me that it would be another $5 a month it was to much. I grabbed the salespersons calculator and made a pretty detailed estimate of the final average monthly cost of this "cheap deal". It was just above $70... from 10 to 70. But hey, I would get a phone i didn't even need. I left the store empty handed.

Ok ok, I know what you think! Stupid European. What did you expect? To get a plan for something like $20 a month? My answer is: YES! Simply because that is how it works in the small "socialist" European country I live in, where competition on the free market is actually healthy and leads to lowers end prices for the customers. I would like to prove this through a little comparison  of prepaid plans. Supposedly a good option for the person that does not use their phone to much. To make it easier I have converted all numbers to American dollars.

AT&T Prepaid and versus European alternative, loading the card with $25.

With AT&T you pay: 20 cents a minute for both incoming and outgoing calls, except to AT&T which is free. On top of that you pay $1 for every day you use your phone. You also need to purchase 200 text messages for $5 of the $25 you loaded the card with. Otherwise you are paying 20 cents for every outgoing and incoming text message, which would up to $40 after 200 messages. With the European alternative you pay: a 13 cent starting cost for the call and 3,5 cents a minute after that. 5000 text messages are included for free. You never pay for anything incoming, phone calls or text messages, never.

So, assuming that we use our phone only 15 days a month making shorter phone calls of five minutes. With AT&T we get:

20 minutes of calling time, incoming and outgoing.
200 incoming and outgoing text messages.

and the European alternative gives us:
80 minutes outgoing phone calls and unlimited incoming.
5000 outgoing text messages and unlimited incoming.

Do you see the difference? Do you think the AT&T has higher costs for their network that the European company? No, but upper management in AT&T have bigger houses in the Hamptons and their speedboats consume way more gas. This is not all. With they European alternative, the money you add to your card stays for at least 6 months whereas with AT&T the text messages expire after 30 days and the calling time after 90.

Have you ever thought about why you pay for incoming minutes and phone calls? What would you say if you had to pay for postage on the mail you receive in your postbox? Well, you are doing it everyday on your phone that shit is wicked. Why competition is not existent in America I do not understand. Maybe they are involved in price cartel formation, or maybe the costs of the battalions of lawyers the need to write the fine print screwing you over forces them to charge these absurd amounts of money. Regardless, you, as a normal American are being screwed over everyday by your phone company.

Freedom isn't free

Recently I visited a a beach in NYC. It happened to be Rockaway beach in Queens but I'm quite certain my point also applies to a wider range of New York City's recreational areas. The first thing that surprised me as a European were the restrictions of where you could swim. Only in between the flags or get the whistle from the life guards. I understand that it saves lives, but still, it does not correspond with the usual strong notion of individual freedom and individual responsibility. But, the most surprising thing was what happened at 6pm. The water closed. How does water close? In America the state decides when the citizens can enter the part o nature called water. I was happy to see though, the freedom loving Americans did not seem to understand that the beach was now closed and kept splashing around. Possibly because the water was right in front of them and the waves kept temptingly rolling in. But the state was used to freedom loving citizens and reacted with dispersing security guards who begun patrolling the beach, requesting that people "step up from the water, the water is closed". As soon as they turned their back, the freedom lovers ran back in and the circus went on for almost two hours until it was time for me to leave. Most likely this show plays every night, every day of the warm summer. In my European country, a sign saying "swim at your own risk" would do the same job because wasting tax payers money to prevent the same tax payers from enjoying nature is not popular if you want to be reelected.

This whole episode reminds me of slogan "freedom isn't free" used in the U.S. Armed Forces. It describes exactly the feeling of tourist in America who is expecting to see freedom but is instead met by security guards with loudspeakers fending off kids who want to splash around in the water. For some reason, I suspect that the double speak (hypocrisy) on Freedom in America will be a reoccurring issue. Therefore, I have decided to create a list of features in America that isn't free. Let's call it "the freedom isn't free list"!

Americans, I encourage you to demand your acclaimed freedom! It is not normal for the state to prevent you from swimming!

Pursuit of bigger asses

Men's Health did a report on the 20 worst drinks American beverage producers could provide, a mind-opener article. To the American, the braking news is the fact that these are not healthy while the European is baffled to hear that Americans actually consume crap like this on a daily bases. IT IS NOT NORMAL to gulp down 1,5l of whipped cream and ice cream with a scent of coffee flavor! And just because it's orange doesn't mean it contains healthy fruit. Of course, it is tough for the average American to enlighten themselves and break the brainwashing cycle as they are fed this crap as soon as they go off breast milk. (Yes my fellow Europeans, they buy this stuff for children. I wonder if a child's belly can actually hold 1,5l of fluid??) The results? It's simple, Americans are fat. We have all seen this picture. I wont say it's scientific, but honestly, you couldn't find an ass that size if you went through all the McDonalds in an average sized European city. And in any American mall, you have to dodge them like slalom posts.


But hey, if it is any comfort, you have some great and price worthy coffee!