Well, this is neat: One of my how-to pieces has been chosen as one of the Top 10 Mac|Life Articles of 2008. It’s the one that gives you step-by-step instructions on how to use a Rock Band drum kit as an input device in GarageBand. I had a lot of fun writing it and, uh, testing my procedures.

Testing them a lot.

Anyway, if you’re a Mac user, have a look at the whole list; there’s lots of great stuff in there.

…but wouldn’t it be much more entertaining to imagine your own?

Just a quick procedural note: Any post older than this one is a reprint of one sort or another, either from my 1UP page, my short-lived blog at johnnyhighground.com, or the magazine I worked at for, oh, about ten friggin years.

So if you come across any references that strike you as odd, please excuse them.

I am, however, going to leave comments on all these old posts open for awhile, at least, so if you feel like contributing to any of the preceding topics, please do. And please, enjoy.

Well, some polls are now officially closed. We are at the beginning of the end of a long-awaited day. I’m nervous and excited, happy to be part of the great process of democracy, and eager to see this seemingly endless campaign season over.

I figured now might be a good time to put out a few suggestions for the days ahead:

1. To those of you whose favorite candidate wins, be gracious to those who supported The Other Guy. No matter who wins, lots of people are going to be disappointed. No need to make them feel any worse by rubbing it in. (This goes double for those of you who, like me, support Obama: Practice the unity that you preach. Walk the walk. If this election is, like Senator Obama says, about ending “politics as usual,” then let’s make sure we help with that.)

2. To those of you whose favorite candidate loses, be gracious to those who supported The Other Guy. (Sound familiar?) People support presidential candidates for many different reasons, and most of them — even those who support a candidate you can’t stand! — do so for honest reasons, believing in their hearts they are making the right choice. This does not make them idiots, or evil, or any of the things many of us (myself included, I confess) have said about those who picked the winner of the 2004 election. Everyone has different priorities, and you know what? That’s okay. That’s America.

3. To everyone: Remember that there are more important things in life than politics — and remember that the president neither solves nor ruins everything. This is an astounding, historic election, but whoever assumes office on January 20 is still going to have to contend with two other branches of government, not to mention the will of the American people. If the results come in and you find yourself getting a little crazy, might I suggest a quick walk, a few deep breaths, and some meditation on the number of roadblocks any president has between himself and getting anything done.

4. To those of you who voted: Thank you. Thank you for fulfilling part of your duties as a citizen. It felt good to be involved in this, didn’t it?

5. To those of you too young to vote: Remember this. Not every election will likely be this sensational, but every election is important. Don’t let your interest slip just because the next time around the choices aren’t as charismatic, or as clear-cut. It’s important every time.

6. To those of you who are unable to vote for citizenship or other reasons out of your control: Here’s hoping things turn out in a way you’ll like, too.

7. And finally, to those of you who are eligible to vote, who didn’t: For the vast majority of you in most parts of the country, THERE IS STILL TIME. If you’re in line by the time the polls close, they cannot turn you away. Here’s a map of the poll closing times across the country. Get out there and be a part of this.

Now let’s do this thing!

OK, the last thing I wanted to do was break a weeks-long habit of not updating my blog with a political post, but it just occurred to me that, you know, tomorrow is kind of a big deal politically. So if you don’t want to read about politics, please don’t be ashamed to back slowly out of the room. I’ll have a huge brain-dump mega-update post very soon, I promise. Game-related, even!

So, I’m in Ohio, which means our primaries aren’t for another month. But Ohio has sort of an interesting primary system. From what I understand — and this will be my first time voting in Ohio since 1992, so I could easily be wrong — anyone can vote in the primaries of either party. It’s just that when you walk into the polling place, you have to pick which party’s primary you want to vote in. And that choice means that you become a registered member of that party until such time as you vote in the primary for a different party.

Now, I’m a registered Independent, because I’m really not much of a joiner. I’ll vote for who seems likely to do the most good, no matter which letter appears in parentheses after their names (e.g., previous posts on the matter).

But you can be damn sure that, come March 4, I’ll be considered a (shudder) registered Democrat. (At least until I can figure out how to unregister and return to my natural (I) state.) Why, you ask? The answer is simple:

Barack Obama.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about why, because the fact of the matter is, if you’re supporting him you already know why, and if you’re not there’s probably little that’s going to change your mind. But let me offer a few general thoughts on the matter.

There is a school of political thought that believes that politics is black and white, that Our Side is benevolent and merciful and Their Side eats decapitated puppy heads for dinner. This ideology is complete bullshit. Without people of differing perspectives working together, nothing gets done. That’s the whole point of our checks and balances system.

Hillary Clinton appears to subscribe to this us-versus-them philosophy with a terrifying zeal. When she stares into the camera with her dead eyes and Joker grin and talks about who or what is right or wrong, you can see that somewhere in her head there’s a tiny, wizened old man feverishly replacing the word “right” with “Democrat” and “wrong” with “Republican.” She strikes me as a fanatic in exactly the same way George Bush is a fanatic: blind to opposing viewpoints, absolutely convinced of her moral high ground, and willing to do whatever it takes to bring herself into power and keep herself there because she believes, deep down in her metallic heart, that Mother always knows best. (See her position on videogames for just one example.)

And then there’s Obama. Standing in sharp contrast to this uncomfortable zealot, he speaks of the power of working together to make things happen. And the damnedest thing is, the guy has such charisma and such intelligence that in spite of my profound political cynicism I actually believe the guy. I actually believe that he can be a leader that a majority of the U.S. population can get behind. I actually believe that he can deal with both enemies and allies (on both a personal and a national scale) fairly and sensibly, and at least make some progress toward making America less of a global laughingstock (or object of zealous hatred).

Lots of people I know have come to support Obama through lots of different paths. I liked the guy since the 2004 DNC (and wished he could have taken over for Kerry right then and there), but I didn’t really know all that much about him. So I started doing as much research as I could, deliberately trying to find things I didn’t like. And dammit, I just couldn’t find anything fundamental that I disagreed with him on.

So I started to get more and more excited about the idea of him actually getting the chance to run for president. But when I read his speech on the role of faith in politics it was a done deal.

Some of you may know that I was a Philosophy major in college. With 12 years of Catholic school behind me, I tended to focus on writings about the underpinnings of faith — Kierkegaard, Hume, Kant, those guys. My education wasn’t as good as it should have been, but it was enough to allow me to say the following with at least some degree of experience:

Obama knows what the hell he’s talking about. If that speech is any indication of how he really is (and I haven’t encountered any reason to believe that it’s not), he’s the real deal.

Now, I don’t expect Obama to be elected and suddenly the sun comes out and angels start singing and all is right with the world. Presidents aren’t miracle workers; I don’t even blame George Bush for the repeated transgressions against foreign nations, our own constitution, and ethical behavior. It’s the people the president surrounds himself with — and his ability to work with everyone else — that makes things happen.

I do think Obama can make things happen. And I think he’s an honorable, ethical man who will want to make good things happen. For such a person to have a fighting chance to become the president of the United States is so unusual it’s almost absurd. How often have you heard about elections being between choosing among the lesser of two evils? To have someone I can genuinely support is…well, I almost don’t know what to do with myself.

If you’re in a Super Tuesday state and you weren’t already planning on voting for Obama tomorrow, I urge you to take another look. His website has very detailed explanations of his stances on most significant issues facing our country (even if the font is almost unreadable in Firefox). Read some of his speeches, check out his positions. But don’t stop there. Check out sites like On the Issues to get an idea of the differences between him and Hillary Clinton.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a president who cares more about the welfare of the country than about political gain, party lines, or a tiny club of the disproportionately wealthy?

I sure think so.