The Sega-Nintendo War

Console wars can get nasty, and during the Sega-Nintendo War, ultra-passionate fans argued bitterly to defend their choice.

Console wars can be an amazing phenomenon for gamers to witness. When two consoles are struggling for dominance of the video game market, both manufacturers will compete to create some of the best system features and highest quality video games ever made. Console wars can also get nasty, as they involve fans who are ultra-passionate about their favorite console and they’ll argue to defend the choice they’ve been spending their money on. That’s exactly what happened in the 1990s when Sega and Nintendo went into a console war. This is the story of the Sega-Nintendo War, one of the greatest business wars of all time.

A History of Console Wars

Console wars are nothing new to the world of gamers and gaming. Before there were video games, the manufacturers of board games and backyard games competed for the greatest market share. When the earliest home video game systems were released—Pong, Atari, Magnavox, Nintendo Color, etc.—those consoles’ manufacturers were competing for dominance in market shares.

Fierce competition started up with future generations of video game systems like the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Atari 2600, and of course, the Sega Master System. The latest console war is between the Sony PlayStation 4, the Microsoft XBOX One, and the Nintendo Wii U. That doesn’t even include various handheld game systems.

Beginning of the Sega-Nintendo Console War (Read more)

Here's what the Libertarian Party won this election

UPDATE (12/31/16) In Southeastern Virginia, Tidewater Libertarian Party Vice Chair Jessica Abbott was elected to Virginia Beach City Council. She is the youngest (27) person ever elected to VBCC, and with 60% of the vote, she is the first challenger to defeat an incumbent by more than a 4% margin.

UPDATE (11/11/16) Libertarian Senator Laura Ebke (Nebraska) is still in office and runs for reelection in 2018.  Also, Libertarian Rep. Max Abramson (New Hampshire) won 4% in the race for governor and thus qualified the LP for automatic ballot access in New Hampshire. Additional states where we won ballot access not listed in the first draft include New Hampshire, Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Many Libertarians feel demoralized after the general election.  One of the two authoritarian demagogues was going to win no matter what.  The most painful part is that our national ticket couldn’t clinch that 5% (and even people on the Gary Johnson campaign are unhappy with Governor Bill Weld).  Regardless of the disappointment, LP Nevada still applauds Governor Gary Johnson for bringing the Libertarian Party up to new milestones and for carrying forward the message of our platform.  Here are some of the victories we gained this election: 

(Read more and be pleasantly surprised!)

The Career of Carrie Fisher, Sci-Fi Princess (Part 2: 1985-2016)

"Instant gratification takes too long." Carrie Fisher

Courtesy of Time, Inc. via Fair Use

Continued from Part 1: 1969-1984

Star Wars catapulted the young Carrie Fisher into stardom overnight, which led to wild partying and drug use.  Since her recovery from those days, she always took responsibility for her actions and put forward the message that she had a real problem that required real help, and she was strong enough to eventually get it. As someone who really struggled with a nasty drinking habit, I fully appreciate Fisher’s advocacy for addiction therapy and mental health treatment. Sometimes a person with a dependency issue is just too damn scared to admit an uncontrollable problem and get help. Who better to get that last nudge and encouragement to clean up your act and walk tall again than from the Princess of Alderaan?

Better yet, Carrie Fisher took all that negativity, all those mental health problems, and all the wild times (both good and bad) and used them to create new works which are beautiful and inspiring. Her time off the deep end resulted in an overdose and hospitalization episode in 1985. This traumatic episode led to a slow renaissance in which she emerged as a writer. The 1985 episode and the times before and after inspired Fisher to write a novel, Postcards From the Edge, loosely based on herself. The 1987 novel was a success and also the beginning of Fisher’s rich writing career. She adapted it into a screenplay and Postcards From the Edge became a movie in 1990, directed by Mike Nichols (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Working Girl, Charlie Wilson’s War).

Fisher wrote several more novels loosely based on her own life. (Read more)

The Career of Carrie Fisher, Sci-fi Princess (Part 1: 1969-1984)

Published by OMNI Magazine

"She'll always be royalty to me." -The Force Awakens

Carrie Fisher passed away this morning, and her passing leaves tens of millions of sci-fi and Star Wars fanatics stunned. Already, the obituaries and Facebook tribute artwork are flowing freely as people communicate their sadness at this passing. I’m one of them, though this moment is admittedly more bittersweet than it is sad. In her sixty years, the famous sci-fi princess lived a full and robust life as an actress, a talented writer, and a mother.

She performed on stage, performed for television alongside Lawrence Olivier, and wrote many books and screenplays...  (Read more)

Rogue One: Take Two for Star Wars!

Originally published by OMNI, the science fiction portal for great minds.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story does the original trilogy justice and pushes the boundaries of film-making!

"...imagine one dynamite movie where Scarlett Johansson, Emma Watson, and Emilia Clarke appear beside Lauren Bacall, Olivia De Havilland, and Marilyn Monroe!"

***This article contains major spoilers. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, this is your only warning.***

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a movie that gets it right! For the first time in more years than I care to remember, I left the theater genuinely in awe and wonder after a Star Wars movie. Episode 7: The Force Awakens was a fun movie, but it had nowhere near the same emotional impact as Rogue One. The performances are great, the real-world celebrity and Star Wars celebrity cameo character appearances are a huge treat, and the suspense is real. Unlike Episode 3 where everyone knew exactly how the plot would turn out, all anyone knows about Rogue One is that it’s about the mission to steal the Death Star plans, which leads to the destruction of the Death Star in Episode 4.

The acting is spot on, with just the right blend of convincing acting and a touch of original trilogy-style campiness.  (Read the rest at OMNI.)

[Flash fiction] Dearborn Street

He stepped off the jet plane with an eye to looking for something more than a cheap fling. Two days later he got back on the plane with a broken heart, crushed dreams, and a desperation for getting the hell out of dodge as soon as possible.

In looking away from the woman who wouldn't, couldn't be his wife, he could only sigh with longing...  Looking past the glittering, expansive Chicago skyline, his gaze always rested on a downtown loft on Dearborn Street. He thought often of a beautiful Chinese girl with the longest, blackest hair he had ever seen. She was dimmer than a broken bulb, but she could speak fluent French with a fluidity that made the words roll and glide melodically and caused his knees to tremble.

She was a free spirit, a sexually charged rebel whose very existence was a bitter protest against monotony and boredom. Deep inside her soul was a firecracker burning brightly in a sea of urban despair. She was beautiful in every sense of the word, inside and out, and she gracefully lit up the world around her. All the magic in the universe could be witnessed in her carefree laughter.

He found himself falling for her, fast and incredibly, mercilessly hard. Oh, but how she hated him! She hated him with a passion, and the fury with which she hated him only made his foolish heart love her even more.

The best he could hope for was to make her hate him even more, for he'd sooner be loathed with intensity than to never pass through the mysterious passageways of her mind.

He was thousands of miles away now, but he kept an old postcard of Chicago's gleaming spires bathing in the endless sunset. He pulled it out whenever he wished to let his waking dreams wander back to a beautiful Chinese girl on Dearborn Street.


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Chicago skyline painting nt Stephen F. Condren.

Insurgency: A STAR WARS Fan Fiction

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

INSURGENCY

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They marched the captive stormtrooper into view of the holocam, clad in full armor except for gloves and forearm plates. His hands were bound together behind his back. His helmet was cracked across the brow and visor, eliminating its ability to send or receive transmissions, especially GPS distress beacons.

Zero walked into view and removed the helmet, betraying the frail humanity beneath the expressionless mask that had become a symbol of fear and repression across the galaxy.

"Name," Zero demanded.

The stormtrooper's fear was visible in his wide eyes. "Zax Shumack." The trooper did his best to retain some composure.

"Serial number."

"IC-9983567."

"Homeworld."

"Imperial Center."

"Excuse me?" Zero barked.

"C-Coruscant," the prisoner stammered.

Zero knew then that some part of the prisoner still clung to hope for his life. Zero almost pitied him, until the memory of his dead wife strengthened his resolve and his hatred for the Empire. "What is your unit?"

The prisoner shut his eyes, knowing that repeating the information already given up during several beatings somehow wouldn't help his case.

Zero raised his voice to a near boom. "What is your unit?!"

"S-Second Brigade, F-F-Five Oh First."

"Ah," Zero half intoned and half breathed, "the infamous Vader's Fist. We can see how mighty Vader's Fist really is," he bragged to the holocam. "Tell us why you came to this world."

"T-To apprehend and eliminate dissidents."

"To kill them, you mean."

"Or arrest them," the trooper shot back.

"And what happens to these lucky suspects who merely get arrested?"

"Th-They get taken in for interrogation by the Ministry of Security, or Imperial Intelligence."

"And then what?" Zero patiently asked, eagerly awaiting valuable ammunition for his anti-Imperial propaganda.

"I don't know."

Zero grabbed the trooper by the hair and kneed the side of his face. The sound of the prisoner's cheekbone cracking was audible enough to be picked up in the recording.  "You don't know?! You mean to tell me that a member of Imperial Special Forces, with access to more Intel than 99% of the galaxy, doesn't know?! Don't play stupid with me, you criffing Imperial jackbooted bastard!"

"They get executed!" the prisoner yelped as he failed to hold back his emotions. Fearful tears began leaking from his eyes and pouring down his face as the Imperial stormtrooper broke down.

"They get executed," Zero reaffirmed, nodding grimly. "What about the civilians that run from your kind? What happens when they resist unconstitutional arrest?"

"We-- We're ordered to open fire on them. Ordered, I'm telling you. We don't have a choice!"

"You don't have a choice?!" Zero's anger was quickly turning into cold annoyance. "You're not a clone. You weren't bred for war like Palpatine's flesh robots. Nobody put a blaster to your head and forced you to enlist in a postwar army. You had a choice, trooper. Unfortunately for you, you picked the wrong side."

Zero released the captive stormtrooper from his grip and stepped out of the holocam's view for a brief moment. He returned into view holding a vibroblade. Zero ignited the blade and a purple glow drowned out the silver of the metal as the blade came to life, its electronic hum echoing the captive stormtrooper's swan song.

"Now," Zero continued, "every Imperial trooper and recruit will see how free men respond to any government thug who shoots down civilians!" Zero grabbed the trooper by the hair and held the vibroblade up to the trooper's throat. The captive begged Zero, 'No no no!' but his fate was sealed. He choked and gurgled as the insurgent leader sawed back and forth, causing the prisoner sharp bolts of anguish until the rapid blood loss made everything go dark.

In less than a minute, Zero was holding in his hand the stormtrooper's severed head. "As you can see, the Emperor's finest troops are not invincible." He threw the head down and watched it roll before he stepped close enough to the holocam to fill the screen with his face. Fire burned in his eyes. "You're next, Palpatine. If the Jedi could be killed, so can you. Don't think you're safe, you monster!"

The holocam went dark with the end of the recording.

Star Wars: Insurgency

A rebel army forms to challenge the Emperor

Vader's Fist will show no mercy

A student of the Force will turn to the Dark Side to defeat the Empire

Do you like what you read? Do you want to read more?  Comment below or email me at politicalzachfoster@gmail.com

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Star Wars is the property of Disney and Lucasfilm.  This story is a fan fiction and has not been approved by Lucasfilm Story Group.  All images used were obtained from Wookieepedia (StarWars.wikia.com)