The Very Late VGA Trailer Breakdown

From time to time, I very much enjoy nerding out. Unlike the Hulk I don't have to get angry, but instead my interest must be piqued. So from time to time when this happens, I'm going to bring the nerd. Enjoy.

Couple weeks back, The Video Game Awards on Spike occurred, for lack of a better word, and though the show has been ripped on in the past, the trailers that emerged this year have brought much joy to gamers throughout the world. Or America. Anyway here are a couple of thoughts on some of the trailers.

Halo: Reach. Being a HUGE Halo fan - I've got the games, and the books. Yeah I'm hardcore. - The Reach trailer was much anticipated. It did not disappoint. The score, highlighted on Bungie.net, was excellent, and that little taste the in-game cinema gave left me wanting, neigh, needing more. Since I purchased Halo 3: ODST, I have my key to the Reach beta all ready and waiting when it drops this spring, but even the small glimpses of these new characters has whetted my appetite enough to know that whenever this game comes out, I will be getting it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. Now, anyone that knows me, knows I love comic books, and those who know me well know I prefer DC over Marvel. So when Arkham Asylum 1 came out this fall, and it didn't suck like every game prior, I purchased it and I was not disappointed. The first game was stunning with the free flow combat, and excellent storyline and use of Batman's Rogues' Gallery. This new look at a post-first game Joker, and the Asylum in the heart of the City of Gotham, filled with mayhem and the possibility of sandbox-esque game play has left me with another 60 dollars owed to the proprietor of a video game dispensing outlet.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. I borrowed and played the first game almost a year ago, and being a huge Star Wars geek, was certainly satisfied with the game. The DLC that has come out since has almost convinced me into buying the Ultimate Sith edition, with all of it being included. It had new characters that captured my imagination, and reeled me into a new realm of the Star Wars Universe. That being said, with the end of the last game I thought my ride was over. With this trailer emerging, I am right back on board. How they'll link it to the last game? I don't know. But I'm sure the people working for George Lucas will figure it out. With no gameplay to faun over, I can only say that the idea of another Force Unleashed game has certainly sparked my imagination on where they will go, when it will happen and all sorts of other possibilities. Buy this, I will.

Tron: Evolution. Oh, Tron. Your 80's awesomeness still affects me to this day. With your new movie coming out I am certainly interested in this new story you're pursuing, but nonetheless I know how your games have done in the past (e.g. epic failure). So, yes, while your trailer is shiny and clean, I'll wait till I hear some more about the story and gameplay till I say yay or ney on this purchase.

Mass Effect 2. Another game I borrowed and played the original, but this trailer clearly has a little more of its story fleshed out. The cinematic trailer in full (as opposed to the first 3/4 shown at the VGA's) is a beautiful creation, and if I could buy tickets, and watch a movie filled with that kind of cinematic brilliance, I would have already pre-ordered them on Fandango. This game is clearly going to be epic storywise, and with the addition of new characters and worlds, and bringing in the decisions made from the first game (if you played it) this is definitely a must buy.

The few other trailers there were, were not enough to merit any paragraph writing, either because I haven't played the games prior, and thus feel unqualified to write upon them, or because they sucked. I'll bet you can figure it out if you take a look. This link here has most of the trailers mentioned above, with the others not mentioned above, but a simple Google search should be enough to find them on your own.

So thanks for indulging me nerding out for a bit, I'll be back to nonsensical amusement next time, I assure you! Bye!

End of Semester Wrap Up: Numero Uno

Now, I have no idea if there will indeed be a sequel to this post come spring, but I figure, Why not? Anywho, The Fall Semester at the Good Ole University of Massachusetts has come to an end. And what a semester it was. Filled with break ups, new relationships, new friends and new classes. Nice and corny right? Well with that out of the way, let me just say this; It was bitchin'.

One of the things I am most proud of is the success of my master plan to get through this semester without books. (Read here.) I haven't gotten all my grades yet, but for the most part I'm thinking I did pretty well. I'll update with that later. Breakdown!

• Food Science: Plan of just getting info from the slides in class worked pretty well. Anything I didn't learn in there was covered in my discussion section. Nothing in the packet would have helped that much, plus not having the packet was a great way to make sure I went to class, which was definitely a bonus. Besides being a bit dull, and sometimes a little gross at times, not too bad of a class.
  
• Greek Myth: That class was awesome. Hands down, best class I've ever taken. Dr. Tuck was a boss, and knew everything I could ever think to ask. I don't know what else to say, I mean I wanted to go to that class every day, and when I couldn't I made sure that I got notes, or worked hard to catch up. Didn't need the book once. I love Greek Mythology, I loved that class, and after I finished the final, I shook Doc Tuck's hand and said a hearty Thank You. Guy said thanks for taking the class, and I took off into the sunset. Okay, not really, but still. Fairytale ending.
• Anthro: Class still straight up sucked. Ended up getting an 86 on the final though which, I can assure you, nearly made me fall off of my chair. The lecture was hardly worth going to, seeing as most of the time I read a book, or did a crossword puzzle in the newspaper, and all the slides containing the minimal information presented ended up online. Only way I ended up doing well was going through the study guide (which was almost as long as the notes I had for the test) and filling in all the information from my words, and from the 20 some odd pages I photocopied out of the book. Seeing as I only needed the words out of the end of the chapters, I copied all of those, along with the review of the chapters, then copied the glossary out of the back of the book. Problem solved. 75 dollar book, meet 3 dollars worth of photocopies. Take that.
• Legal Studies + Honors Seminar: The rules ended up being: Honors Students take 1 of the 2 tests, write 1 of the 2 essays regular length, the other 2 pages longer, skip the final test all together and add 2 pages to the final essay as well. Got a 96 on the 1 test, wrote 1 3 page paper, 2 5 page papers, and showed up. That's it. As class was right before the seminar, I could just pay attention on what I was supposed to read that class, and talk about what we talked about in class after. Easy enough. Don't get me wrong, really interesting class with some cool insights on the Law, but for the most part, the readings were pretty long, we talked about it in class anyway, he gives you the questions for the quizes before the actual quizes, and I didn't want to buy the book. Whenever I needed the book for an essay, I just borrowed it from a friend, or if I had to, the library. (I didn't have to.)
• Astronomy: Not much to say. We just kinda sat there all semester. He talked. Other older kids asked really stupid questions, and every once and a while we went outside. Then we had a quiz on the entire semester at the end which acted as a final. It was 5 fill in the blanks, 8 multiple choice, 2 label the pictures, and 5 short answer.... Yeah. Not bad, but arguably not worth the effort to walk across campus every Tuesday night.

So that's the breakdown. 5 classes, 0 books. Go me right? I'll update this later with grades and stuff so you can weigh how I really did, but for the most part, I'm chalking this one up as a win here team. I urge you to follow in my footsteps, put the money you would spend on textbooks for something more useful, like food and video games. Send schools a message to lower their prices. Study hard, Party harder. Wait. Scratch that, reverse it. Thank you.

I'll update one of these days with my thoughts on some of those sweet, sweet trailers that came out at the VGA's right before finals kicked off, but until then, Merry Christmahanakwanzika and to all a good night.

Update: Got my grades (well most of them) so here's the breakdown for you to decide whether buying books or not is worth it.

Food Science: A-
Legal Studies + Honors Seminar: A
Greek Mythology: A
Anthro: B-
Astronomy: Still Unknown

Looks pretty damn good to me, but hey, you be the judge.

No-Shave November

Yeah, I took a month off, you wanna fight about it? But fo rizzle, my bad. I'm sure you guys were really upset. I could tell by the huge pile of reader mail I got regarding my absence (read: non-existent.)

So what have I done in this past month? Well I did that whole radio training deal. Kevin and myself turned in our program application for next semester, and if everything goes well you'll be hearing our show entitled, Our Sincerest Apologies come the end of January. Did some overnights, some sit ins, and now we play the waiting game.

Also did some classes unfortunately. Food Science is still touch and go, Anthro sucks, and Greek Myth is still bossome. By the way, Boss + Awesome = Bossome. Did that, picked my classes for next semester (going to be awesome), went home for thanksgiving, worked a little bit, and now I'm back for the last two weeks of the semester.

You might notice that nowhere in the above paragraphs did I say "I shaved." Most of the time you could chalk this down to me glossing over the unimportant details. But for the month of November, it's because I didn't shave. No-Shave November has become a tradition among my friends and myself, and we often find that we feel more and more manly as the month goes on.

"But Jim! Your rugged, manly beard must be out of control!"

No need for concern, my rugged, manly beard is fully under control. But I must warn you, some (I) have feared that it is too awesome. I love having a beard. My beard doesn't come in the best, but it is most certainly a beard, it is mine, and I love it. I don't know why, but beards have always just been one of those things that I've aspired to have. That, a hoverboard, a fedora and bullwhip, and the black suit, hat and Ray-Ban combo. Name those three movies and win a prize! (Not really.)

Back to my point. Beards are sweet. In my mind, the only people who don't like beards are guys who can't grow them, chicks, and the New York Yankees. (The hate is implied on that last one.) I mean really, growing a beard is pretty much the most masculine thing a guy can do. Girls can have six pack abs and ripped pecks, but let's face it, that's kind of gross. Barring the occasional bearded lady, you're not going to find a girl out there that can have a sweet beard.

Examples of great dudes in history with beards:

• Abe Lincoln - He had a top hat too, so x2 multiplier on the awesome.
• Heracles - Beard. Club. Lionskin. Three of his most identifiable features. Boom.
  
• Indiana Jones - He was always at his best when he sported the 5 o'clock shadow. Always.
• Confucius - Pretty much the greatest wisdom beard ever.
• Peter Griffin - He housed a family of birds in his beard.
  
• Merlin - I mean really. He's a WIZARD.
• Albus Dumbledore - See above.
  
• Jesus - 'Nuff said.
• Chuck Norris - 'Nuff said.
• Mr. T - I pity the fool who tries to start something with Mr. T. (Sorry, had to do it.)
  

The list goes on. Beards are great, and anyone who says otherwise is straight up lying to your face. So whether you choose to celebrate Octobeard, No-Shave November, Decembeard, Manuary, or some other twist on a month without shaving, go and be proud of yourself. You can grow a beard; You are a Man. And anyone who tells you, "Your beard looks gross!" or "You've got a little food hanging right off the side of your mouth there..." is just jealous, of your manliness.

My Thoughts: Halloween

When it comes to Holidays, everyone usually touts their birthday and Christmahanukwanzaka as their favorites. But lets not forget good ole Halloween. For everyone between the ages of 3 and 30, it's pretty much the best night of the entire fall.

On Halloween you get what you want pretty much. When you're a kid, you want to just binge out on candy, BOOM Halloween. When you're a teenager, you want to hang out with your friends, play some pranks, and have some candy on the side, SNAP Halloween. Then when you're a young adult, all you want to do is get drunk and mack on some chicks (or dudes if you're in to that,) BAM Halloween. As most holiday's are, Halloween is a great excuse to buck shackles normally forced upon you by convention and The Man, and go out and just have some fun.

For some reason, some guy, some where, decided that Halloween costumes should attempt to be less realistic, and more slutty. He was definitely a bro. I believe I speak for most men when I say, Thank You. Halloween has become one of the most fun weekends on campus at college in part for this reason. I, for one, never knew that the dress codes for sailor women, army women, firewomen, and particularly nurses was so... how do you say.... form-fitting. And while I think everyone enjoys this variety of delicious eye candy, it's also just a great way to meet new people.

On Friday night, I dressed up as Jimmy Neutron. I know, I know. Awesome. Equally awesome though, was the calls of "Hey! Jimmy!" when I was walking through the dining hall, and later walking around. Being able to walk up to somebody and strike up a conversation with a "Hey, what're you dressed up as?" or a "DUDE! SWEET COSTUME!" makes going out on Halloween one of my favorite nights of the year. I walked up to one kid who was wearing a Purple Parrots shirt, and argued why Purple Parrots sucked and why Green Monkeys dominated, tried to convince a sailor girl that Zeus was in fact not Pikachu in vain, quacked with the Mighty Ducks, high-fived a pedophile for being awesome at flip cup, and made friends with Sloth, Envy, and Greed. I mean seriously, can you say you did that any other night of the year? No, and that is what makes Halloween one of the best, and most underrated holidays of the year.

I am personally of the opinion that there should be more Holidays like Halloween. There's Christmas in July. Why not Halloween in April?

Video did not kill the Radio Star, I'm still here

Oh me, so modest right? Well that's neither here nor there. Well in the recent weeks myself and my good amigo Kevin have been going to the UMass radio station WMUA 91.1 Amherst, and have been going through DJ training. I decided I wanted to do this over the summer, when the only reprieve I had through the monotony that was working at the Marblehead Garden Center was listening to podcasts, specifically The Adam Carolla Podcast, and The Sandbox podcast.

Now the Sandbox podcast is a shortened down version of the radio show The Sandbox on WFNX 101.7 Lynn/Boston. Listening to this show every day (for the most part) got me to thinking. What do I do for the most part? Talk. What do these guys do all morning? Talk. The gears were turning. So I figured, hey why not give it a shot right? So I looked up the info, shot off an email, and forgot about it. A couple weeks went by, and I got a response. All the info about training, when they would be having meetings etc. So I my mind was set.

A month or so later, school started, and the time came for the first meeting. I was pretty much on my way out the door when I saw Kevin. In what I could only assume was out of suspicion of some murderous plot against him, Kevin asked me what I was doing. As I told him, he nodded and said "OK, I'll go with you." I was awestruck. Someone else wants to do the radio? How did I not pick this up all last year? But as I soon learned Kevin was no novice when it came to radio.

Kevin's small town, where we just recently learned they do indeed have cable TV, (A shocker, I know,) also had it's own little radio station run by the high school. Kevin was a DJ there and pretty much had free reign. Their version of giveaways was giving away the class books that were property of the school. That right there's sticking it to the man. But eventually after getting a new antenna the FCC, who had previously ignored their small 1 mile radius station, started taking notice, and made them actually start doing things the "right" way. Lame.

So then Kevin went to college and forgot about it. But then I rekindled it! Whooo! So now we're training and having fun and all that good stuff. We've got our test to see if we get to be DJ's in two weeks I believe. You can wish us luck. If all goes we'll get a show next semester. We don't have a format, and we don't have any idea what genre we want to play, but we figure we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

In the meantime however, we've got access to the production studio and we got a chance to get in there two weeks ago and take it for a test run. So if you feel like wasting an hour and would like to hear me talk about nothing, instead of just reading me write about nothing, give it a download. And if you do please, please, please let me know what you think. Okay? Thanks.

Wow that was a pretty long post for me just to ask you to oblige me. Oh well. :D

Boss of the Week: Dr. Tuck

So the other day in my Greek Mythology class, we were talking about Dionysus, drinking, alcohol, and how in the ancient world it was seen as some sort of divine force, and allowed one to transform into someone else. It was interesting, but then my teacher busted out this story:

Back in the 80's, he was out on a date with some girl (who in retrospect wasn't all that hot) and due to the fact he didn't have a car, he ended up being out on the date with this girl and his three friends. He talked about how they loved tequila, got drunk then went to Burger King, (some of you may know it as the B.K. Lounge,) and were standing in line when these three HUGE guys walked in. Not only were they ripped but they also were wearing Gold's Gym wife beaters to prove it. He then told us about his friend Guido, a small guy, with a big personality. Standing at the back of the line, our teacher and this girl were right in front of the three amigos, so Guido goes up to him and whispers loudly enough so that everyone can hear, "Hey, Tony, don't steroids make your nuts shrink?" Immediately our teacher tried to brush it off as he looked around nervously, but it was too late; One of the big boys had overheard.

He looked down at Guido, "Excuse me? What did you just say?"
Guido coyly responded, "I was just wondering if Steroids made your nuts shrink."
With a look of sheer anger, the Big guy asked if Guido would like to take this outside.
Guido obviously said yes, but then to take things further he said, "Tony, back me up."

Now with this on him, he looked at Guido, and then to the girl who obviously said, "Well, what're you going to do?" with that look that said you better get your ass out there. Begrudgingly he went out to the parking lot.

Shortly after, as he was laying on the sidewalk bleeding and bruised, he saw the girl get into the car with the three muscleheads and drive off.

Moral of the story: My Greek Mythology teacher is a Boss. As if being a walking encyclopedia on Greek Mythology, and sharing my views of making fun of those Jesus Lovers who walk around and hand out pamphlets all around campus wasn't enough, he's got hilarious stories like this one. I've probably learned the most in his class so far this year. Plus, it's one of those things where I actually like going to class. And so to you, Dr. Tuck, I award my first Boss of the Week award. Here's to you.

Multi-Tasking: Friend or Foe?

I embark on this post, with neither a direction, nor a purpose. Except maybe to alleviate my boredom. As I sit here in class, my professor talking about something regarding Japanese internment camps, and constitutional law, I can not help but turn my attention away. Not because I don't feel as if this topic deserves my full attention, is unimportant, or the professor is unintelligent, but instead because that is what I do.

Now I wouldn't say I have ADD. In fact if I really get into the zone with something it is hard to pull me away. *coughvideogamesandcomicbookscough* I think instead what it is, is that I've almost become dependent on multi-tasking. A self-proclaimed multi-tasking master, more than once this summer, I sat in my room reading a book, watching SportsCenter, and talking to people online. Good times right? But now when I'm stuck in class, listening to my professor talk, I just can't do it. I have to do something else. More often than not I don't have my computer, so I just end up doodling all over my notebook. But with a computer in my hands, I've bounced back and forth between my Facebook, Twitter, and iGoogle about a million times, looking for something to keep me distracted. The only reason I've settled on writing a post is because from my teacher's perspective it probably looks like I'm taking notes very, very adamantly. The fact that I can look up and pretend to nod in agreement while I type does well to enhance this illusion.

But now, I ask for your feedback. As I would very much like some input on this topic. Is it a bad thing that I can't put my full attention on my teacher? Don't get me wrong, I'm still learning, hearing, thinking, but at the same time I've also got a part of my brain working on writing down this entire situation that I'm in. Is it bad that I can't feel my right foot, as it fell asleep a long time ago, and I felt like letting it take a nap? Do you do this same thing? What classes does this happen to you most in? Or can you just walk in to class and enter in to a trance-like state when the professor begins talking, and become some sort of note-taking machine? I'm bored, and I'd be eager to hear your thoughts on this matter of utmost importance.

Starting.....Now!

Psych! Now!