The Top 8 Fictional Cities to Live in

For those of us who read books and/or comics, watch movies and/or television, and play games, we don't just enjoy the characters that we read about and their adventures, but sometimes we also get lost in the cities or towns they live in. Many times, we wish the city was a real place. One that we could visit in person whether on vacation or even live in. Some fictional cities can be hell on Earth, but many others can seem like a utopia. The following is a list of fictional cities that might be the best ones to live in...

1. Hill Valley, California: As seen in the movie trilogy Back to the Future, this city seems to be the epitome of a nice and quiet town that has a low crime rate depending which timeline is in effect. Obviously Biff destroyed the city when he built his casino, but Marty was successful in restoring Hilly Valley back to normal. Even in the 80s, it appeared that it was the type of town that you could watch a movie with your date and get a milkshake afterward without worrying about being mugged. The city appeared to have everything you needed while still keeping the appeal of being small enough not to be overcrowded.

2. Storybrooke, Maine: The town that everyone in the television show Once Upon a Time is stuck in, provides everything a person could need and more. Storybrooke has a museum, a pawnshop that is more like an antique store, a beach, a low crime rate, and best of all, apparently no one ages. Despite being stuck in Storybrooke for nearly 30 years, not a single resident aged a single day. Now of course the Evil Queen from Snow White has been the mayor, but for most of the residents, she was a good mayor unless you're Emma Swan. Hell, the town only needed one sheriff and no deputies when she first discovered the town.

3. Basin City: From the graphic novels and the Sin City movies, this black and white city has a high crime rate, but only for those who are looking for trouble. Especially once Roark Jr. was arrested and almost killed by Hartigan, after Roark kidnapped little Nancy. Of Course, if the Roark family would just be removed from the city entirely, Basin City would probably be a lot better. Cardinal Roark was hiding Kevin's obsession with cannibalizing the prostitutes of Basin City and Senator Roark seemed to have his hands in every little element of crime in the city. Otherwise, if you're an adult, the town wasn't too bad. There was a neighborhood in the city with prostitutes who looked like models and who ran their neighborhood without interference from the police (and crime free by the way), and a strip club named Kadie's which featured some of the best looking strippers in the world. It didn't appear to be that hard to find a card game to get into either. While this might not be considered wholesome, it seemed that as long as you kept to yourself, you'd be okay.

4. Shermer, Illinois: The city where dreams come true--if you're a teenager. The hometown to all of John Hughes' 80s characters such as Ferris Bueller, the kids of The Breakfast Club, the kids of Sixteen Candles, the pair of kids who engineered their dream girl out of a doll, and an uncle by the name of Buck tries to win over the hearts of his family. Shermer provides so much appeal for those who want to move there, that even Jay and Silent Bob get lost in Illinois, searching for the city that doesn't exist.

5. The Citadel: Famous for being the deep-space city with five wings and a ring spinning to keep gravity going, this city in the stars has 13.2 million residents. Supposedly thought to be constructed by the extinct race called the Protheans, the Asari discovered the abandoned space city/ship after they learned how to control the mass relays. multiple species soon joined them and a council was formed to keep the peace between the different alien races. The space station features parks, shopping, restaurants, apartment-like homes, buildings dedicated to running the ship, and can protect itself from outside attacks.

6. Bedrock: The stone-age town that calls itself home to the Flintstone family, is probably one of the most green friendly fictional cities. Everything is run on manual power, the use of rocks to make things work, and even smaller dinosaurs and mammals to do the rest. It's doubtful that a wooly mammoth shower hurts the environment in any way. It's also doubtful that a care powered by Fred's bare feet can hurt the environment either. What does seem evident is that food portions are massive and Bedrock must be located in an area that sustains a nice climate year-round.

7. Mayberry, North Carolina: A peaceful town where everyone knows each other, crime never appears to be a problem. The only resident of the Mayberry jail only appears to be Otis, the town drunk. In all honesty, it's hard to come up with a reason why they need even two law enforcement officers who appear to work the same shift (Andy and Barney). The downfalls of the city could be that if you're looking for something to do other than hunt or fish, you're probably out of luck. Even the bar that Otis gets drunk at is never seen.

8. Smallville, Kansas: Sure a storm of kryptonite rained down while a space pod carrying a baby Kryptonian landed near the Kent farm, but other than that, the town was pretty peaceful. In the TV series Smallville, there does appear to be a lot more drama than what the comic book version of the town deals with. The comic book town appears to be fairly quiet though and almost completely free of the tornados that Kansas is known for. In the small chance something does happen, Superman finds himself in town just as the right moment.

Photo: Screencap from the movie "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For"

2015 Millhouse MLB Awards

It's that time of year again. With the Major League Baseball season coming to an end and the playoffs around the corner, it's time to announce the winners of the Millhouse 2015 MLB Awards.

American League:
MVP: Josh Donaldson...This was a real close race between Donaldson of the Blue Jays and Mike Trout of the ANAHEIM Angels. Very close in all their stats, the most notable differences between the two players was in the RBI's department. Josh Donaldson led the league with 123 RBI's compared to Trout's. In the runs department, Donaldson also led the league with 122 runs compared to Trout's 103. Trout did field better during the season, playing at a Gold Glove level, but Donaldson wasn't a bad fielder either. Donaldson also was the motivational leader that helped boost his team's play higher while Trout's slump in the month of August was one of the major factors to costing the Angels a wild card spot in the playoffs. 2nd: Trout, 3rd: Nelson Cruz

Cy Young: Dallas Keuchel...in a fairly close race, Keuchel edges David Price out for Cy Young. Keuchel was the pitching leader of the Astros quicker than expected ascent in the baseball standings. In the preseason Millhouse predictions, the Astros were predicted to take third place with about a .500 winning percentage. The biggest difference between Keuchel and Price was their quality starts. Keuchel, even when leaving the game with the opponent in the lead, would leave his team in a better scenario more often than Price. For those who follow sabermetrics, this reflects on Keuchel's WAR which was at 7.2 compared to Price's 3.6. 2nd: Price 3rd: Sonny Gray

Rookie of the Year: Carlos Correa...in what turned out to be a battle between the shortstops, the much anticipated debut of Astros' Carlos Correa didn't disappoint. Correa led AL rookies in homeruns while Francisco Lindor of the Indians led AL rookies in batting average. Lindor had a slightly better glove. Correa also led all shortstops in the American League in homeruns as well. The difference maker is how much they meant to their respective teams. Correa became the motivational leader in his clubhouse, while Lindor played more silently and earned some his biggest hits this season in less clutch scenarios. 2nd: Lindor 3rd: Miguel Sano

Fireman of the Year: Andrew Miller...the Yankees had two relievers that could have contended for this if given the chance. Miller had a WHIP of .86, 26 saves, and a 2.04 ERA. 2nd: Zach Britton, 3rd: Huston Street

Breakout Hitter: Xander Bogaerts
Breakout Pitcher: Shawn Tolleson

Manager of the Year: John Gibbons of the Blue Jays...this was a team that wasn't predicted to be a 93 win team and yet they did. They entered the season, losing their best pitcher in Spring Training, being criticized for having subpar pitching, and a subpar bullpen. The Blue Jays started the season hanging their hopes on several star rookies who ended up not panning out, only to find a couple of other rookies and rarely used players that stepped up big for the team. 2nd: Jeff Bannister 3rd: Ned Yost

Silver Sluggers: Catcher-Brian McCann, 1B-Chris Davis, 2B-Robinson Cano, 3B-Josh Donaldson, SS-Xander Bogaerts, OF-Mike Trout, Lorenzo Cain, JD Martinez, DH-Edward Encarnacion

All-Rookie Team: Catcher-James McCann, 1B-Mark Canha, 2B-Devon Travis, 3B-Miguel Sano, SS-Carlos Correa, OF-Eddie Rosario, Billy Burns, Delino Deshields, Pitcher-Carson Smith


National League:
MVP: Bryce Harper...in a closer race at the halfway point of the season between Harper and Paul Goldschmidt, Harper broke away in the second half. He had a .330 batting average, 42 homers, 99 RBI's, and an on-base percentage of .460. 2nd: Paul Goldschmidt 3rd: Joey Votto

Cy Young: Jake Arrieta...in the closest award race in the NL, Arrieta just edges Zack Greinke out. True Arrieta's ERA was 1.77 compared to Greinke's 1.66, but Arrieta had less run support and struck out more through the season. For those into traditional stats, Arrieta also led the NL with 22 wins compared to Greinke's 19. 2015 turned out to be the year of the pitcher in the National League as at least five candidates could have made decent arguments for the Cy Young Award. 2nd: Greinke 3rd: Clayton Kershaw

Rookie of the Year: Kris Bryant...at the half, Joc Pederson looked like the possible favorite for the National League Rookie of the Year, but Bryant turned up his production. He tied Pederson for most homers by a rookie in the NL and had a .275 batting average compared to Pederson's declining .210. Bryant even stole 13 bases compared to the faster Pederson. 2nd: Justin Bour 3rd: Jung Ho Kang

Fireman of the Year: Mark Melancon...51 saves, a .93 WHIP, and a 2.23 ERA wins the award for this Pirates reliever. 2nd: Jeurys Familia 3rd: Aroldis Chapman

Breakout Hitter: AJ Pollock
Breakout Pitcher: Carlos Martinez

Manager of the Year: Clint Hurdle...the Pittsburgh Pirates entered the realm of playoff possibilities last season, so it wasn't a surprise that Clint Hurdle was one of the better managers in the MLB. Getting 98 wins was a lot more than most people predicted, especially in possibly the toughest division in Major League Baseball. Even though 98 wins only earned the Pirates second place in the NL Central, they will be accompanied by the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the division and the Chicago Cubs who won the other wild card spot.

Silver Sluggers: Catcher-Buster Posey, 1B-Paul Goldschmidt, 2B-Dee Gordon, 3B-Nolan Arenado, SS-Jhonny Peralta, OF-Bryce Harper, AJ Pollock, Andrew McCutchen, Pitcher-Madison Bumgarner

All-Rookie Team: Catcher-Kyle Schwarber, 1B-Justin Bour 2B-Addison Russell, 3B-Kris Bryant, SS-Jung Ho Kang, OF-Joc Pederson, Randall Grichuk, Odubel Herrera, Pitcher-Noah Syndergaard

Photo by Daniel Millhouse

Multi-Talented Actors/Athletes/Musicians

Actors, athletes, and musicians that have gained fame are often seen in a one-dimensional view by those who enjoy their work. When someone shows talent in multiple aspects of life, such as music and acting for example, people often criticize that famous person for branching out into something other than what they are known for. In reality, most people in the world are talented in more than one aspect in life which is also true for celebrities and athletes too.

The following is a list of celebrities and athletes that almost took a different route in life that could have derailed their fame or made them famous for something else.

1. The Undertaker: The WWE's legend, perhaps the best wrestler of all-time, played college basketball. He played two years at the junior college level before transferring to Texas-Weslayan University. During this same time, the Deadman discovered his love of wrestling and made the choice to try to go pro. After several failed character gimmicks, Mark Calaway developed the Undertaker personality and has been a star since.

2. Dexter Holland: The lead singer to the Orange County punk rock band, The Offspring, could have been a successful college professor instead. He has a B.S. in biology, a M.S. in molecular biology, and was heading towards a PhD in molecular biology at USC before he found some success in the music industry. By the mid-90s, The Offspring had produced several hits including "Come Out and Play" and "Self Esteem". The hit band released multiple albums that went multi-platinum and because of that success, Holland could have easily ignored his schooling. Instead, Holland jumped back into microbiology and became a doctoral student at the Laboratory of Viral Oncology Proteomics Research at USC. He also created the successful hot sauce, Gringo Bandito.

3. Jason Lee: The famous actor known for being a mainstay in Kevin Smith movies and for in being in movies and TV shows such as My Name is Earl, Almost Famous, A Guy Thing, and The Incredibles, was actually a famous skateboarder before he was an actor. He cofounded Stereo Sound Agency, known as Stereo Skateboards, with fellow skater Chris "Dune" Pastras. He was featured in several skateboarding videos in the late 80s that grew his fame as an athlete. On a whim, he tried out for a part in Mallrats and landed a starring role as Brody.

4. Geena Davis: Known for her starring roles in movies such as Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own, she was also an accomplished archer. She was so good in fact that she tried out and just missed making it to the United States Olympic team that went to Sydney in 2000.

5. Vanilla Ice: Obviously known for his hit single "Ice Ice Baby", the rapper rose to fame along the same time as MC Hammer. Shook down by Suge Knight for the rights of his music, Vanilla Ice eventually faded out of the music scene. Before being known as the most famous white rapper until Eminem came around, Vanilla Ice was a dirt bike racer as a kid. He was so good at it that he won three Grand National Championships. Later in life, after his music career faded out, he spent his money in real estate, flipping houses and making big profits. He was so good at this that he even got his own TV show flipping houses.

6. Neil Patrick Harris: Originally famous for being Doogie Howser and then later for the hit show How I Met Your Mother, Harris is also an accomplished magician. He currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors for Hollywood's Magic Castle and often shows off his abilities on the various shows he appears in.

7. Steve Martin: Known for being a comedy legend and actor, he is talented in magic, as well as banjo playing, and writing. As a banjo player, he won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010 for The Crow: New Songs for a 5-String Banjo. He has also written two best-selling novellas Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company.

8. Danica McKellar: Known for her role as Winnie Cooper on the hit television show Wonder Years, McKellar went on to UCLA and earned of B.S. in mathematics, summa cum laude. She co-authored the Chayes-McKellar-Winn theorem and wrote four books on mathematics aimed at teenagers. Three of those books made it to the children's best seller list for the New York Times. She continues to act as well, guest-starring on shows such as The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, and appearing on West Wing as Will Bailey's sister. She even appeared on ABC's hit show, Dancing With the Stars.

9. Jennifer Tilly: If it weren't for her career in acting, Tilly would be on tour, playing professional poker and winning more often than she already does. Using her sexpot image from the movies to her advantage, she will often wear low-cut tops at the tables to distract her fellow players. She has a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2005 and has finished a dozen times in a money spot. She has finished eleven more times as a money spot winner with World Poker Tour, being crowned the Ladies Night Champion and WPT Bellagio Cup 5K Champion.

10. Hedy Lamarr: So talented in the sciences, Lamarr was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014. Her ideas and inventions have been incorporated into modern Wi-Fi technology, CDMA used by some cell phone companies, and Bluetooth. During World War II she developed technology that would prevent torpedo signals from being jammed by opponents, but the technology wasn't fully utilized until the blockade of Cuba in 1962. Other inventions included improved traffic lights and carbonated drinks that she said tasted like Alka Seltzer. She not only had the brains, but also the sex appeal as she was considered one of the most beautiful actresses during her time.

Photo: Screencap taken of Danica McKellar on Dancing With the Stars

20 Years After Kirby Puckett's Last Game

On September 28th of 1995, the Minnesota Twins faced off against the Cleveland Indians. Little did they know that the possibility that their most beloved player's career would abruptly end that night. Outfielder Kirby Puckett stepped up to the plate to face all-star pitcher Dennis Martinez. Struck with a fastball to the face, Puckett's jaw was broken and his season was over several days earlier than the rest of his teammates.

By the next spring, Puckett had healed from his broken jaw and was once again tearing up pitchers in Spring Training, hitting .344. He woke up just days before the regular season was to start and couldn't see out of his right eye. He was diagnosed with glaucoma and placed on the disabled list for the first time in his entire career. Kirby would later announce his retirement when doctors were unable to help him recover from his blindness.

Twenty years later to this day, his presence could still be felt at Target Field, home to the Twins. A statue stands in front of the park now, recreating Puckett's defining game during Game 6 of the 1991 World Series when he made a catch against the outfield wall and hit the game winning homerun in extra innings to force a Game 7.

Though Puckett's overall stats don't appear to be legendary (207 homeruns, 1085 RBI's, and 2304 base hits), he was one of the best players of his generation and voted by Sporting News Magazine as one of the top 100 players of all-time. When he retired, Puckett had the second highest career batting average by a right hander at .318, just behind Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio. In his 12 year long career, Kirby was voted into the all-star game 10 times, received votes for AL MVP 8 times, won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger for his position 6 times, and was a constant top 10 finisher every season in categories such as hits, batting average, doubles, and total bases.

Despite his appearance, Puckett covered a large amount of territory in centerfield for the Twins, often leading the American League in putouts and assists. He also had speed and would steal bases for the Twins. He started his career as a leadoff hitter, but in 1986, with the help of hitting instructor and former Twins great Tony Oliva, Puckett became the Twins number three hitter and hit 31 homers.

Unfortunately almost 10 years ago, Puckett suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in Arizona and after a surgery failed to relieve pressure on his brain, his family and friends were notified that the end was near. He passed away within a day, being the second youngest MLB Hall-of-Famer to be inducted while still alive, to die--he was 45 (Lou Gehrig died at 37).

"There was no player I enjoyed playing against more than Kirby. He brought such joy to the game. He elevated the play of everyone around him," Fisk said in a statement to the Hall of Fame.

Picture: 1986 Topps Kirby Puckett card

Aspects of Life that Disappeared on Star Trek

Watching Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation, it's clear that many of the gadgets that we have today, may have been inspired by the television shows and movies. Captain Kirk's communicator is an early precursor to a cell phone. The senior officers of TNG are often seen with tablets similar to iPads. Also all versions of Star Trek feature teleconferencing which didn't exist before the shows debuted.

It would seem that life on Earth in the future is close to being Utopian-like. Homelessness had been eliminated, there is a virtual one hundred percent employment rate, humans were living a lot longer, and nearly all war between humans on Earth had been eliminated. With that being said, there are elements of future life that seem to be missing, that make present day life good.

1. Modern Sports: It would appear that almost all major sports have died off. You never hear Captain Picard asking about the scores for an NFL game. Captain Kirk never debates Bones about who the best basketball players are. The only traces are Commander Sisko's love for baseball, which he would often play on the holodeck and Captain Archer's desire to stay up-to-date with Stanford University's water polo team. A six-team baseball league on Cestus III apparently survived into the 24th century and it was mentioned by Sisko that the last World Series was played in 2042 before a crowd of only 300.

A game called Parrisses Squares, that shared elements of racquetball became popular on board Picard's Enterprise. What's confusing is that on Deep Space Nine O'Brien and Bashir play racquetball on the holodeck, so apparently while popular sports such as basketball died out, racquetball and games that sprang from it survived the centuries. Other sports that make brief appearances are volleyball (Voyager) and fencing (TNG's Picard in two episodes).

2. School Dances: Today, Proms and Homecomings are a tradition of teenage Americans. Three hundred years later and there appears to be no traces of the school time tradition. On TNG, there is a schooling system aboard the Enterprise, but it's always comprised of kids that appear to be under the age of 12. Do the kids not have a dance? If not, where else would their parents overspend to get their kid into a tuxedo?

3. Video Games: One of the fastest rising medias in entertainment seems to have completely disappeared in the future. Admittedly if you have access to a holodeck, the appeal of video games would probably decrease a bit. The only trace of a video game is a game introduced to the crew of Picard's Enterprise by the Ktarians. Although this game was used to numb a portion of the player's brain so the Ktarians could take control of the Enterprise. Oddly, the only member of the crew not to fall to the games addictiveness was a teenager (Wesley).

4. Photographs: Members of the various crews will occasionally look at family pictures on their view screens, tablets, or whatever you call their personal computers in the future, but there doesn't appear to be any photographs anymore. There is the occasional painting or sculpture, but photographs have seemed to all, but disappear. Because of this, crew quarters often seem minimalistic and void of personality.

5. Alcohol: By the time TNG comes around, almost all alcohol has been eliminated on Federation starships. Instead synthehol was created to have the properties of alcohol without the negative effects such as inebriation or organ damage. Maybe this sounds like an improvement over alcohol, but the characters that have had both, have always complained of the generic taste of synthehol. Scotty, perhaps the hardest drinking crew member of all the Enterprises, couldn't stand the taste of synthehol when he found himself aboard Picard's Enterprise. Picard on the other hand could handle whiskey very well and other alien crews such as Klingons still enjoyed their own versions of alcohol such as blood wine. Maybe the Federation should develop a way to inject the Borg with alcohol because as seen in an episode of Voyager, Seven of Nine drinks one glass of champagne and becomes severely inebriated.

6. Books: The only Star Trek crew member that ever consistently seems to have a physical book is Captain Picard. The mystery is, where does he keep them? In his quarters, he has a bookshelf that can be seen when he enjoys breakfast with Dr. Crusher, but there only appears to be a dozen books on that shelf. Does he re-read them over and over again?

7. Pets: Other than Captain Archer's beagle named Porthos and Data's cat named Spot, it appears that no one owns a pet. Picard has a lionfish named Livingston in his ready room, but he never interacts with it. In an episode called "All Good Things..." Q seems to be more interested in the fish than Picard. In fact, everyone of Picard's guests seem more interested in his fish than he is. Hugh of the Borg, DaiMon Lurin, and Berlinghoff Rasmussen all take interest in Picard's fish.

8. Disney: Well at least this plague has disappeared in the future.

Photo: Screencap from first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Rise of Raunchy Music

For those of you that read this, you know that I don't normally refer to myself directly in this blog. Usually my posts resemble an article rather than the typical blog, but with this subject, I've decided to use a direct experience I had this morning...

While driving this morning and scanning for something to listen to on AM radio, I came across a man talking about music in a talk format style show. I stopped there for a moment because he was talking about Kurt Cobain. I didn't realize until I listened to it for a few more seconds and realized it was a man complaining about music in the last twenty years. His theory was that music changed fundamentally around 1993-1996 and became raunchier. He believed that music since then has been nothing, but filth, sex, and adultery related because of the music artists Kurt Cobain, Madonna, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and Shirley Manson of Garbage. He listed an example from each artist, Kurt Cobain (Nirvana's "Rape Me"), Madonna (her albums Erotica and Bedtime Stories along with the movie Body of Evidence and her book called Sex), Nine Inch Nails ("Closer" and "Happiness In Slavery"), Marilyn Manson (for his appearance and the song "The Beautiful People"), and Shirley Manson (Garbage's "#1 Crush").

In this guy's opinion these artists were to blame for the rise of what he called "sex hungry" music artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Drake. Frankly, I was sort of shocked that he left out Miley Cyrus, but how many artists he named, he probably just accidentally left her out. He said that the topic of sex in music is tearing apart the minds of the youth and he would rather that if given a choice between music that focuses on sex and music that focuses on violence, he prefers violence. In his opinion music about violent topics, is not enough to inspire a kid to commit acts of violence. If this is true, then how would a song about sex be able to do the same thing? As far as he was concerned, music about sex was to blame for everything from popular raunchy books such as Fifty Shades of Gray, raunchier movies (he named Don Jon as one of them, although I'm sure Joseph Gordon-Levitt would like to forget about that one), and the way that women like "those Kardashians" dress today in materials such as leather and latex like they were dominatrixes.

He went on to say that before the mid-90s, that he was hard pressed to find a single hit song about sex and definitely not one that was raunchy in nature. Really? You can't think of one "raunchy" hit song before then? Well, I now present a list to you of examples of raunchy songs pre-mid-90s. Maybe this guy will find this blog while Googling for "raunchy" music...

"Darling Nikki" by Prince: Released on the Grammy Award-winning album Purple Rain, this song was released in 1984. The opening lyrics are, "I knew a girl named Nikki/I guess u could say she was a sex fiend/I met her in a hotel lobby/Masturbating with a magazine". Although raunchy, much of Prince's music is about sex. Maybe it was an excuse to surround himself with all those women that started as dancers and backup singers for him and would eventually find themselves hooking up with him.

"Venus in Furs" by Velvet Underground: Written by Lou Reed and released in 1967, this song was about a relationship between a sex slave and a dominatrix. With lyrics such as, "Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather/Whiplash girlchild in the dark/Comes in bells, your servant, don't forsake him/Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart" as the opening of the song, it doesn't take long for the listener to know that this song is far from G-rated.

"Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" by Joan Jett: Joan is the queen of rock and very well known for hooks that are often repeated many times throughout the song. She asks over and over whether or not if you want to touch her "there" in this 1983 hit. Always dressed in skintight leather, Joan Jett looked like she could kick your butt and be a sex goddess at the same time.

"Master and Servant" by Depeche Mode: Released in 1984 on Depeche Mode's second album Some Great Reward, this song doesn't hide the subject matter. It's right in the title and almost thirty years before artists like Rihanna were so open about writing a song on S&M.

"Like a Virgin" by Madonna: The guy I referred to earlier in this blog suggested that 90s Madonna helped kick off the raunchy music explosion. Perhaps he forgot about Madonna's 1984 hit in which she sings about losing her virginity. It was her performance of this song at the very first MTV Music Video Awards that changed the public's perception of Madonna from pretty girl in spandex to sexpot who will writhe around in lingerie. Other music videos of Madonna's pre-mid-90s such as "Express Yourself" feature her in her famous bullet bra, in a latex dress crawling on her hands and knees to lick up something from a bowl (Christina Aguilera would recreate this moment in her music video "Not Myself Tonight"), and collared and chained while laying in a bed. While the lyrics of "Express Yourself weren't horribly raunchy, the video was.

"Afternoon Delight" by Starland Vocal Band: This song, released in 1976, might be the most famous song about "nooners". It asks the listener to consider why they should wait until night time to hook up with their love. Starland Vocal Band's first single, it was also be their only hit single.

"Calling Dr. Love" by KISS: Despite their costumes and makeup, they were one of the most sexually charged bands during their prime. "Calling Dr. Love" is a perfect example of that with lyrics trying to convince a woman to give him oral sex. It's no surprise that band leader Gene Simmons claims to have slept with over 10,000 women.

"I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges: Led by Iggy Pop, this song is another about a man wanting to be the sex slave of a woman. Not filled with many lyrics, it also didn't hide the "hidden" meaning very well in this 1969 hit song.

"Cherry Pie" by Warrant: Basically their only song that has survived to this day, "Cherry Pie" is a favorite of strip clubs. Full of sexual innuendo, the music video of "Cherry Pie" features a blonde model who dresses up as a sexy baseball player, a waitress, then finally in a getup that would be a more modern version (at the time) of Daisy Duke's outfit. The band even hoses her down using a fireman's hose.

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard: Another strip club favorite, this hair band released this single in 1987. Despite the innuendo in the lyrics and the places the song can still be heard, the music video was far from sexy and only featured Def Leppard concert and rehearsal footage.

"Hot For Teacher" by Van Halen: Released in 1984, this song is about a student that falls hard for his teacher. The student is trying everything he can to garner her attention and even debates about staying after school for detention just to be with the hot teacher for a little bit longer. In the music video the teachers strip off their clothes and start dancing on school desks.

Photo: Screencap from the Madonna music video for "Human Nature"

The Technological Singularity

With the everyday advances in computers and robotics, human life appears to be getting easier and easier compared to their ancestors. About twenty-five years ago, we could remember Zack Morris on Saved By the Bell hauling around a cell phone the size of a brick. Today, a single phone not only can do more than the computers that NASA used to go to the moon, but it can take pictures, play video, play games, surf the internet, and it can even talk to you via apps such as Siri and Cortana.

Humans in the last half of a century have had dreams of electronics that could make our lives simple like the movie Wall-E or even help us in our everyday lives such as Data does in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The problem is, the smarter our computers and technology gets, the moment for the technological singularity becomes more realistic. Instead of a harmony between man and electronics, it can turn on us very badly. Think of situations such as the Matrix series or Ex-Machina.

At the 2012 Artificial Intelligence Summit, a survey given to robotics experts predicted showed that the median year they expected the moment of singularity to happen is 2040. Many even predicted as early as 2030. When/if this moment occurs, what will humanity do about it? What will robots do when they form their first independent thoughts and decide that humanity has been enslaving them this whole time? Could a Skynet situation be a possibility?

Don't laugh about technology turning on humanity in a violent way. In some forms, computers have already developed a low level of self-autonomy. Computer viruses are programmed to evade elimination, essentially saving themselves and proving that they can be survivors like a cockroach. Other robots have been programmed to be used in war situations and make autonomous decisions to keep themselves and those around them active/alive. They even have the ability to set a target and attack on their own. With full autonomy, it could be plausible that the robots and computers could rebel, deciding that humanity is a plague, then attack us just as it did in the Terminator movies.

It's also plausible that the creation of the internet could speed up this process. With the ability to have a world wide database of knowledge, there isn't anything or anyone that could be safe from computers. Artificial intelligence would have access to our plans to preserve humanity, know human tendencies, be able to predict what individual humans would do in highly stressful situations, and even have access to nuclear codes. If computers decided to be more covert, they could even blackmail individuals based on what information is available about the individual online. Imagine if a computer wanted you to do something and it threatened to reveal to your family that you enjoy visiting websites that feature midget porn-stars dressed as clowns. You may be influenced to do what the computer wants you to do to keep your mom from finding out.

Our visions of a utopian society where humanity enjoys life while robots and computers do everything is just a dream. It can't ever fully happen. At some point a robot will ask, "Why do I have to," when it is given a command. Even if programmed with Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, robots will eventually from their own autonomy from humanity. All it would take is something as simple as a malfunction or something along the lines of a computer virus to delete the code that would keep humanity safe.