Barbariser's GameSpot Friend's Blog Posts

biggest_loser writes: Monsters University - Film Review

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:05:50 -0700

Reviewed on June 15th, 2013
Disney presents a film directed by Dan Scanlon
Screenplay by Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson and Dan Scanlon
Starring: (voices of) Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Helen Mirren
Running Time: 110 minutes
Rating: G
Released: June 20th, 2013

One of the more understated strings in the bow of animation giant Pixar are the moral lessons that their films provide to audiences. In 2001 Monsters, Inc. introduced us to Mike and Sully, two monsters that were part of a corporation where monsters could travel through teleportation doors and into bedrooms of children to scare them so that their screams would power their operations. Children were also seen as dangerous outsiders until the business learnt that laughter is a more successful for increasing production. Overcoming our fears, risk taking and laughter are lessons that the animation studio itself taught us and embraced on its own.

Pixar have again upheld this optimistic, moral outlook because Monsters University is a celebration of diversity and learning your specialist skills. The film is a prequel to the 2001 film, with Billy Crystal and John Goodman reprising their roles as monsters Mike and Sully, who are not friends but college rivals learning the trade of scaring and hoping to be accepted into the Monsters, Inc.

The film will give parents an opportunity to talk to their children about the subject of college in a positive outlook. In American there has rarely been a more important time to have this conversation. The Huffington Post wrote in April that there had already been thirteen college shootings this year. In 2007 thirty-two people were shot dead at Virginia Tech. Though never short of funding, the American education system also still produces consistently subpar performances. Countering these pillars of fear and tension, Monsters University captures the emotions of college life and then gleefully subverts them.

The core of the film is the friendship of Mike and Sulley, who represent contrasting attitudes in college study life. Mike is hardworking, ambitious and by the book but also small, an outcast and a loner. He wants to be the sole leader. Sulley is unprepared, lazy and coasts off his family name as a Sullivan. He's bigger, more intimidating and popular than Mike and expects everything will come through his natural ability and that he doesn't need to study. After making a bet with Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren), they're thrown together into a Scare Games contest, where they reluctantly band together, along with other loners, to complete a series of challenges to stay enrolled in the college.

Each game played against the other rival fraternity houses gives the film a story structure that is not dissimilar to The Internship. Unlike that film though, you actually care dearly about the characters. This is one of Pixar's greatest strengthens, not just as animators but as filmmakers. Each of the hilarious characters, including a middle-aged student and a two-headed dancer, helps to understand each other's strengths and how to use these in the tasks.

It could be viewed as a generic 'be yourself' message but in the context of a college setting its thematically sensible because college should be a place where people learn their own skills and can take unexpected detours and still succeed. For those assuming this is a derivative underdog story, there is a huge point of conflict in this film, coupled with Pixar's trademark lump in the throat moments, as the story shifts into its darker unexpected final act.

The director of the film was Dan Scanlon, who worked as a storyboard artist for Pixar on Cars. He graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and in his first Pixar film as director he has used these visual skills exceptionally. The film is hysterically funny, partly due to the wit but also the number of sight gags on display.

Monsters University itself resembles a proper college, with lecture rooms, dorms and orientation stalls, and uses this detail to reference old college films and campus stereotypes. I liked the variety in the monster designs, like how one of the students had a moustache shaped like a vampire bat or the gothic monster that had spikes coming out of the microphone she was holding. Dan Scanlon also controls the beats of the story so that there are breathing spaces between the challenges and that action sequences are brisk and never overlong.

Hollywood films now are bigger and louder, but with little to say. Monsters University is a rare blockbuster that could teach audiences something. The film is about learning to accept fear and failure, while remaining hopeful about change and growth through our different skills. Pixar's personal talent is that their films are still as simulating as they are funny and creative.

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"biggest_loser writes: Monsters University - Film Review" was posted by biggest_loser on Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:05:50 -0700

with_teeth26 writes: The Alpha's and Beta's of Gaming in 2013

Sun, 26 May 2013 19:56:47 -0700

While 2013 has already provided us with some great high profile releases like Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and Metro: Last Light, most of my time over the last few months has been spent in a variety of Alpha's and Beta's for games slated to release later in the year. Here is a rundown of the game's I've been playing for dozens of hours despite their not having been released yet, and what I think of them so far.

Rising Storm

I'll start with Rising Storm, the stand alone expansion for Red Orchestra 2, since it is the most recent beta I have been playing. I loved Red Orchestra 2, and eagerly pre-purchased Rising Storm for 12 bucks when I learned it would get me into the beta right away. Despite somewhat tepid first impressions, I have since become totally hooked on the game. It keeps the basic mechanics of RO2, but it feels totally different mostly due to the change in map design, difference in play style between the two sides and presence of the glorious Banzai Charge. This involves the Japanese screaming their heads off and sprinting at the enemy lines, which suppresses them making it hard for them to aim. The more people involved in a Banzai charge, the more dramatic the effect of the suppression. This results in some pretty epic moments of last minute ditch efforts to capture points.

Creeping through the dense jungle on either side is super intense, especially since it can be really hard to determine if someone you see moving in a bush 100 yards away is a friend or a foe. After getting used to the new mechanics and learning the maps somewhat, I'm having the more fun in Rising Storm than I've had in any competitive online shooter since Bad Company 2. People really seem to using teamwork which can be really involving, especially since servers hold 64 players. At this point, the community is thriving and there are loads of populated servers, something that was often a problem with Red Orchestra 2. If you are tired of the lack of teamwork in BF3 or have an interested in a really authentic WW II game, you should absolutely check this game out.

I currently have 1 spare beta key for Rising Storm for one lucky winner, first person to ask for it in a comment gets it!

Company of Heroes 2

Continuing with the WW II theme, I had the chance to play the Company of Heroes 2 closed multiplayer beta for about 30 hours, and came away largely pleased. CoH 2 is the game I am most excited for since I know it will provide a lot of play time for me, and I can already tell from the Beta it will live up to this hope. While the balance between factions is currently a bit dubious, the gameplay is as good as ever, with matches becoming more and more intense as they progress. The weather effects on the winter maps really force you to think of new strategies to deal with the cold, and some of the tweaks to the base game work really well. The best change in my opinion is the way points are captured. Instead of having one squad go cap a point, forcing them to become ineffective in combat and not allowing another enemy squad to cap a point, there is now a ring around each point. You must clear the ring of enemy soldiers in order to start capturing a point, a mechanic which serves to further increase the frequency and intensity of the fighting.

I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the final release of CoH 2 when it comes out later in June.

Arma 3

I have always liked the idea of the Arma series, a large-scale military sandbox full of flexible missions and gameplay, but I have never been able to really get into the games. I spent loads of time on mods for Arma 2, namely Dayz and Wasteland, but only ever spent a few hours in the base game. I decided to pre-order Arma 3 since it was cheap and gave access to the Alpha, and I put about 15 hours into it. The clunkyness of Arma 2 has certainly been reduced, and I had some fun with the multiplayer, but I'm still uncertain about the game. The amount of content that shipped with the Alpha is pretty small compared to what the full game will have, so I am interested to see how the title progresses as it moves into the Beta phase down the road.

Trackmania 2: Stadium

I poured a ton of hours into Trackmania 2 Canyon, a game that set itself apart from others in the series with its epic drifting mechanics. Stadium is the second environment coming to Trackmania 2, and it is currently in open beta accessible through steam to anyone. To be honest, its exactly the same as Trackmania Nations Forever apart from some minor graphical improvements. The handling is the same and in multiplayer most of the tracks are the same since they are being ported directly from TMNF. Only difference is that TMNF was free and TM2 stadium will cost 10 bucks when it comes out. Not too impressed with this new environment, hopefully Valley proves more interesting.

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"with_teeth26 writes: The Alpha's and Beta's of Gaming in 2013" was posted by with_teeth26 on Sun, 26 May 2013 19:56:47 -0700

ghoklebutter writes: Ms. ghokle

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 19:36:23 -0800

Disclaimer: I am writing this blog entry because I often find myself explaining to every other person on OT about my sex. I think that it wouldn't hurt if more people knew.

A few months ago, I realized that I am trans*. In other words, my assigned sex at birth is different from my innate, subconscious sex. I am a trans* girl in that I have a male body, but my true, subconscious sex is female. My femaleness is not something I can change with experience; it is an inherent aspect of my identity. I also have dysphoria in that I wish to transition fully. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), sex reassignment surgery (SRS), laser hair removal, electrolysis - all of those things are on my mind because I have an internal need to end the dissonance between my body and my mind once and for all. I don't hate my body, but I need to change it.

Feel free to ask me any question you want! I'm open to all questions, especially if the people who ask are asking in good faith. Please bear in mind, however, that trans* people are a very diverse group; in regards to questions about personal experience and perspective, I intend to speak only for myself.

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"ghoklebutter writes: Ms. ghokle" was posted by ghoklebutter on Sun, 23 Dec 2012 19:36:23 -0800

CharlieSpot writes: I am charliespot

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:19:51 -0800

I am charliespot. How are you today?

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"CharlieSpot writes: I am charliespot" was posted by CharlieSpot on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:19:51 -0800

iloveflash writes: Wizards in the Government

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:51:49 -0700

I'm here googling this quote from Harry Potter ("Wizards have a government?") to see which book it came from, and I stumble across this random thread on the Internets from a forum called Flat Earth Society. Below is a couple of posts from the thread, titled "Wizards in the Government". Prepare to be awed.

Wizards in the Government

TFHExpert writes:
So I wanted to call to your attention the fact that there are wizards not only being hidden and employed by the United States government but are responsible for some of the largest catastrophes in the world. I recently learned of this from a study done by a professor at UC Berkley. They did a study on weather patterns for before hurricane katrina. The weather patterns did indeed match with pre-hurricane weather but in further investigation from a weather balloon that there were unique energy signatures. Upon more in-depth investigation of these energy signatures were that same energy signatures found on 9/11 at the WTC, the earthquake in Japan and Hatii. These signatures carried the same charge and unique movement of atoms with constantly forming and dissolving ions bonds. To our knowledge there is now ay to mass produce this energy without a controlled setting. The only explanation we have is that it originated from a source that is secret to the public. While the government denies any knowledge of this but aside from a piece of machinery that would use all the power in the world, the only explanation comes from the supernatural. There have been wizards through history from Merlin to Rasputin all the way up to Criss Angel. If this idea is too proposterous for you, the brain control waves from washington have already gotten to you and you MUST wear a tin foil hat at all times to break their hold.

Chris Spaghetti writes:
----See left
(Beneath his profile picture is the quote: "Sure, blame the wizards!")

TFHExpert writes:
One of the many attempts of society to get the truth out

Raist writes:
I am sick of this racism towards wizards. Blaming all of the world's problems on them is sick and just another excuse to continue their persecution. Your post reminds me of nazi propaganda towards the jews before WWII. What kind of energy signatures are you talking about? Why would a weather balloon be keyed in to wizard energy signatures. What professor at burkley? Your racism sir is sick and I'd ask that you take it elsewhere. We support the wizards in their struggle against your kind and we will fight to the death for their right to live in our society.

Freedom hater.

TFHExpert writes:
You are obviously under their mind control. The weather balloon was not keyed in but monitoring intrusments were. Wizards have the potential for good but at the moment they are on the wrong team. They need to know how much they are hurting our world by hiding their wrong doing in things like Cthulu and Obamacare

Raist writes:
Take your wizard hating propaganda out of here. Racism isn't allowed. We don't approve of genocide, where do you think this is darfur?

Lorddave writes:
Magical Energy signatures... HA!

You're just a fool who believes in magic. I, however, know the truth.

Mad Science.

"Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur Clark

Thus, if you think it's magic then it's just science you don't understand and the only science capable of such a thing is the work done by mad geniuses.

Please see www.narbonic.com for factual stories related to Mad Geniuses.

Ryan Onessence writes:
Now lets look at some coincidental title's and phrases

1. Magistrate ?

Now I'm not inferring that all figures whom go by the title Magistrate are wizards. However I would like you to consider the notion of the OPer in regards to the words origin.

Magistrate; Magi; Mage; Magician; Magic; and just for the sake of it, Magnetism Strate; Strategy.

you might consider that wizards may have been employed as Magistrates because they have the wizards strategy behind them in unveiling truth and or concealing

2. Weather "Forecast"

Fore; in precident of something

Now would it be unreasonable to point out that we never see a truly live realtime rendition of weather patterns, its always some half baked slide show of pre recorded (possibly shopped) frames.

Given the idea that thought & emotion = manifestation power, then these wizards are using the public through Televison and radio to custom divert disasters. The wizards have no real power of their own, they need the public to willingly and unwittingly focus their attention toward the desired outcome of the elite, so hypnosis it is, or errr rather was... for Now the elite have gotten more on their plate than they can handle with regards to weather control.

i.e. they have never been able to truly of their own accord create a catastrophic weather based event, but only direct the energy away from themselves through the manipulation of the masses attention.

Tausami writes:
Posting in this quality thread.

Mrs. Peach writes:
Magistrate has a different linguistic history, the Indo-European root meg giving us Greek megas, Latin magnus, maximus, Sanskrit maha-, while magi or magic comes to us from the Zoroastrian priests known as magus. This is not to say that the proto language words were not convergent, but the added magical meaning can be traced historically and is quite separate.

Maybe we share a common love of words?

Ryan Onessence writes:
Thanks for the pointer; I have heard of "Magus" but was unaware it was Zoroastrian in origination although it makes perfect sense considering they are the oldest known origination of the Kabala

if by common love you mean tracing original meanings then yes...but generally I do my best in eliminating internal dialogue when alone (its an active approach to meditation), unless of coarse when I am writing.

For those interested in meditation or relaxation of the mind as I see it, One technique that I have found to help silence the mind is to imagine ones voice and mouth moving when engaged with internal dialogue. That way by imagining the voice to be emanating form the vocal cords rather than the head it frees up "headspace" to be either clearer and relaxed or creative. It creates a sort of virtual replication effect where when you stop imagining that your voice is coming from the vocal cords your mind actually stops thinking in words cos your already using your mind to produce the illusion of speaking which then stops...almost like the mind goes to recede back into the usual dialogue loop but realises there is nothing to recede back into as it already is in the state...when you succeed at mastering this effect you will probably notice a very pronounced third eye/thalamus sensation that has an extended invigorating saturating effect out into the eyes as tho a load of usually squandered energy is released and relaxed/expanded over the whole brain and eyes/optic nerves.

Mrs. Peach writes:
I'll have to read that over again when my mind's more awake. Sounds interesting.

rooster writes:
Tausami writes:
Posting in this quality thread.

(See the thread here.)

---

Me to all my friends today:
Another boring doomsday... Next up is 11 11 11, lets see what happens... Or not.

Mike:
Doomsday... was that today? Oh I'll have to miss it, I have a lot of work to do.

Me:
Plenty of opportunities coming up

Mike:
So it happens multiple times?

Me:
they're still figuring it out

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"iloveflash writes: Wizards in the Government" was posted by iloveflash on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:51:49 -0700

T_P_O writes: Gone for an indiscernible amount of time

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 09:51:09 -0700

I realised that lurking OT is going to eventually crush my mental faculties, so I'm off for a break. For those in my friends list, keep posting, you're the only reason I stayed for so long.

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"T_P_O writes: Gone for an indiscernible amount of time" was posted by T_P_O on Sun, 13 Mar 2011 09:51:09 -0700

555SSOO writes: My thoughts on...+lvl 26 :D

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:26:35 -0800

Warning:If you don't want to read about my melancholy,you can skip this whole section and go strait to END/START

There was a time when I didn't have Internet on my computer,and when I bugged my brother every hour-or so just to see what has happened on gamespot,did I get a new lvl,a new update,invite or something similar.I used my PC JUST for gaming and playing every singleplayer game I could get my hands on...Those days are sadly over...

And every time I saw a person here making blogs about his/hersdiminishing presence on gamespot-I thought-"what a jerk", or "how can someone prefer something else over this?!"...

END/START

But of course,while I'm no longer spending time on gs,I have used that time to somewhat advance in my social skills It's vacation here and it's just what the doctor ordered I go out with my mates every night,I made many new friends and there is this girl I really like (yes,another one ) and we are going out this weekend ..

Oh I almost forgot to wish you all a very happy New years

How did you lot spend your New years eve?(not like anyone is actually reading this so it looks like I'm talking with myself,but what the hey!)

I was at this party and got with this girl (yes,another one ) and she is really nice and good looking,but she had a boyfriend and I like that girl that i mentioned before,so we decided not to tell anyone (+it wasn't serious,just a bit of fooling around )

Since my religion is orthodox,Christmas is tomorrow and we don't really give gifts,it's more of a celebration thing ,but guessing most of you here are catholic your Christmas was a few weeks ago,so I wish you a (late)merry Christmas

GAMES

Well,I haven't played many games in the last few months because of school but I have played Tron and Harry Potter and they both suck big time (but maybe they get better after some time but the beginning sux)

+mw2 and some Fallout:NV to calm the nerves

I mentioned school and I'm really frustrated by mine,I mean,it's INSANE!It is totally missing the point .The education in my country SUX BIG TIME X( ,and not in the "oh the children are retarded ohh what are we going to do?"way,but the education is astoundingly stupid.Let me explain.First of all,the thing that annoys me the most is that we don't have any choice to choose what we want to do,which is really daft because in the later stages of education you learn upper levels of cla$$es which you may,or may not want to know.The most important thing in this modern world is,I like to believe,is choice,if we didn't have choice,we would be back in the medieval ages.We do get a choice,but it is wayyyyy to late imo.You might be thinking "Why am I reading the rants of some bad student complaining about the difficulty of his 2+2 math?".Well you would be very wrong.First of all,my grades are among the top 3 in my class,with almost all "A-s",or "5-s" as we call them.Secondly I think that this one fact will be enough to convince you of the difficulty of my (and most others in this country).Children in this country,by the age of 14-15 have 15 cla$$es,and they have at the same time nuclear physics and molecular biology.Is that REALLYnecessary?!?And that is in a totally average school.But still,despite the toughness of education here,the generation of the kids that are in school now is maybe one of the dumbest ever.I am saddened to be a part of that generation,in which there are really many kids that are extraordinarily smart and talented.There are 2 reasons,and both are relating education.First is kinda like the saying "you can't force a frog into water",meaning that when these kids are forced into studying they won't learn anything,and the second is that there aren't any consequences of not studying.It is really sad and bad and I could go on for days about this subject but I'm tired from talking when no one cares .

Anyway I see that I have reached lvl 26 which is really cool and I'm happy about that.

And on a side note I started learning (about 3 months ago) how to create and modify images in photoshop and how to make programs in dev c++ and I can say that I'm getting quite good at it

Sooooo anyways,I have to go now,happy holidays and all the best see ya!

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"555SSOO writes: My thoughts on...+lvl 26 :D" was posted by 555SSOO on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:26:35 -0800

Drazule writes: 2010: The Games I Bought

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:28:07 -0800

The games I bought this year are:

-Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising

I loved this game even more than I did the first. The new units were a loads of fun to use, and the Chaos faction really added a lot of flavor to the game with the worship mechanics. The campaign was (IMO) very fun, and definitely better than the first.

-Mass Effect 2

This game was amazing. The combat wasn't all that fun and the RPG elements were trimmed, but the production quality and the sense that my choices actually meant something made this game worth it. Very few games I play through twice, let alone wanting to play a third.

-Starcraft 2

I absolutely love this game. Admitadly I haven't played it in months now, but I am sucha huge fan of Blizzard RTSs and this game truely delivered. The campaign was awesome with it's blizzard cinematics, mission variety, army customization, and more. And just by the name the MP doesn't even need to be mentioned.

-Fallout: New Vegas

I had a lot of fun with this game(and about 60 hours). It really improved on almost the entirety of Fallout 3 with it's voice acting, gun variety, actual choices, gray areas, ect.

-Dirt 2

I didn't actually buy this one but it came free with my processor and I never played it

-Alien Swarm

Didn't buy this one either, but it was very fun before we all figured out they aren't going to add more campaigns.

-Portal

I bought this with the Orange Box, played it, got it for free on Steam, played it again.

-Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

I played this one as a kid(I know, I know) so when I saw it for two bucks I couldn't resist.

-Team Fortress 2

I've owned this for a while but I bought it for my current Steam account on like the 31st of last year on sale.

-Sins of a Solar Empire [Expansions]

These are an absolute must buy for any sins fan. My brother and I probably exponentially increased our time clocked in Sins once we got the expansions.

Maybe something else? Who knows?

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"Drazule writes: 2010: The Games I Bought" was posted by Drazule on Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:28:07 -0800

Jazz_Fan writes: Happy Holidays

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:05:51 -0800

Oh the Holidays, a cold and gloomy time of the year that we use as a time to get together with friends and family and give the gift of love. I suppose we do need these glamorized rituals and ideas of the holiday season to get through the terrible weather and the inertia this tends to ensue. As for me? Well, I am surviving; getting through the days and hope to use these few weeks off to get some fun stuff done like watching some films I've been sitting on for a while, playing some video games and finish up a book and then write an essay on it for class. I am going back to California on the 29th to my fathers' house for New Years Eve so that should be a good time to finish up on my work, though I probably won't given my chronic procrastination. A few of my cousins and other relatives are coming over from Brazil and from other places around the US to celebrate Christmas and it's always great to have family over because it makes this big empty home vibrant and filled with cheery people making for a rather calming time. I suppose because Christmas has never lived up to my crazy standards when I was a kid it made me rather bitter and cynical about the time of the year and I take for granted some of the sincerity friends and family have to come together and try to make it an enjoyable time of the year for everyone when they can easily spend those days of relaxation to themselves. With all the commercialism, religious, historical and political influences of the holiday season; it's easy to lose focus of things, but whatever it all means, I just hope to savor the moments because they won't last forever.

Well, if you actually spent your time reading my whiny rambling of a blog you deserve this more than anyone: Happy Holidays everybody.

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"Jazz_Fan writes: Happy Holidays" was posted by Jazz_Fan on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:05:51 -0800

sandyqbg writes: All Hail Lelouch! (Anime talk)

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 10:45:03 -0800

I had put GS on hold for the last few days - exams, TV and most importantly anime!

Bored with gaming and with no good books to read, I turned to anime to satisfy my craving for a good story (and some inspiration for my new literary venture).

I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of anime. Yes, I was crazy about Dragonball Z (note was because it started going downhill after the Frieza arc) and recently I was bit by the Naruto bug. For the last three years I've been on and off Naruto, waiting for the anime to move forward significantly so that I need not wait for each episode every week (I don't like stories broken into so many small and slowly progressing chunks). But I was quite sure I'd never fall for another anime... and yet, I fell for it ---

---Code Geass took me by storm. For the last two days I've been watching both parts of Code Geass and have just finished all the 50 episodes. What can I say? The series left me trying to figure out what I actually felt about it. The only thing I can say for sure is that it was an awesome 50 episode ride.

Okay, the setting is not very original (mechas anyone? ) and same can be said about the plot. However, the the one thing that the series managed to hit right on spot were the characters, or to be more precise, a character called Lelouch. If not for anything, the anime should be watched for Lelouch alone. Of course, inspite of a few irregularities in the plot, it showcased some brilliant execution, which again has a lot to do with Lelouch's portrayal. It leaves you in the dark on what Lelouch's next move would be without the cheap dramatics(of course, there are dramatics, but it doesn't grind you as happens in a number of other anime).

The character philosophies here(standard fare of every anime) aren't actually praiseworthy because it's not something everyone would accept and moreover they are weakly presented.

I can easily say that (with some normalizations applied) that Lelouch is one of my most favourite characters across all forms of storytelling - books, games, movies, anime...

Oh and maybe I might be writing a comparative review of the animes I've watched after I finish Fullmetal Alchemist, which I'm moving onto next.

I'd like to know what you guys think about CG. If you haven't watched it, I suggest that you do... and then of course comment here.

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"sandyqbg writes: All Hail Lelouch! (Anime talk)" was posted by sandyqbg on Thu, 25 Nov 2010 10:45:03 -0800

Gonzafan writes: My E3 Emblems

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:06:39 -0700

I have got my first E3 emblems!

I know my chances of getting any more emblems is now over, and it ended very great, unlike in the previous years. I have got 7 E3 emblems within the E3 times, 4 common and 3 rare emblems. Although I missed only the Nintendo and Microsoft emblems due to that I do not have the chance of watching it live, I also missed the Box Seat emblem and the Special Agent emblem, the emblem I am looking for the most. Anyways, it is very happy getting the E3 emblems, and it also marked the first time I got the E3 emblems.

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"Gonzafan writes: My E3 Emblems" was posted by Gonzafan on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:06:39 -0700

StraiN-ShifTeD writes: Fastest Browser [Peacekeeper]

Sat, 22 May 2010 04:32:44 -0700

As I'm still looking for a decent browser I decided to do some research. I installed several different browsers in their - as of today - latest versions, even some BETA releases, and let them run the (online) Peacekeeper benchmark. Futuremark's Peacekeeper tests multiple elements of your browser and gives you a score at the end of the test. This way it determines what browser is the fastest and works the best on your system. The hardware I used is described in an older blog-post of mine: New game system.

Please don't forget to comment and say what browser you're using, and why!

0. Content

1. Results

2. Browsers

3. Winner

1. Results

Peacekeeper summed up all the browsers I tested, finally I took a screenshot of the end result. I put BETA (in red) in front of all BETA versions.

Full-sized image: CLICK HERE (Opens in a new window!)

2. Browsers

Below are all the browsers I used with each their corresponding version number and score.

Google Chrome:

v4.1.249.1064 - 3995 Points
v5.0.396.0 BETA - 6680 Points

SRWare Iron:

v4.0.280.0 - 4336 Points
v5.0.380.0 BETA - 6491 Points

Opera:

v10.53 (3374) - 4412 Points
v10.54 (21868 ) BETA - 4698 Points

Apple Safari:

v4.0.5 (531.22.7) - 3337 Points

Mozilla Firefox:

v3.6.3 - 2789 Points
v3.6.4 BETA - 2869 Points

Microsoft Internet Explorer:

v8.0.6001.18702 - 423 Points
v9.0.7766.6000 BETA - 1925 Points

3. Winner

Google Chrome - 6680 Points!

It's clear that Google Chrome is the winner by a neat 6680 Points in total! I would love to use Google Chrome as my default browser but the fact - unlinke Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Apple Safari and Internet Explorer - it lacks a sidebar for my bookmarks (hundreds) I won't touch it. I really hope that Google decides to add a bookmark sidebar since it's a serious disadvantage over the other browsers.

As for the second place.. SRWare Iron is - in fact - based on the same Chromium engine as Google Chrome. So just like Google Chrome it lacks a sidebar which keeps me from using it. Unlike Google Chrome, SRWare Iron does not concern the users privacy. Also it's less bloated than Google Chrome since it doesn't have things like Error Reporting or an Updater service which starts on Windows start-up.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment! Stay tuned for future blog updates.

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"StraiN-ShifTeD writes: Fastest Browser [Peacekeeper]" was posted by StraiN-ShifTeD on Sat, 22 May 2010 04:32:44 -0700

bangell99 writes: My Experiences in the Strangest Places on Earth.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:00:28 -0800

A quick question for you all: Where is the one place on Earth where you are 100% guaranteed to find at least one paedophile, one religious fanatic, one alcoholic who's on the verge of a nervous breakdown, one conspiracy theorist and several teenage girls whose vaginas have been used so many times they contain graffiti?

School, that's where.

Only the government-enforced education system could bundle such a diverse and volatile group of people into the insane social gathering we call school.

Now, the chances are that if you belong to any ethnicity or social group whatsoever, I will probably indirectly insult you in the course of this blog. If you touch children, you will definitely be insulted.

So, where to start with this blog? Well, let's travel back in time about 11 years, to when I first started school.

My first school was a dismally pathetic establishment called Broadwater C of E school. That's right - a Christian school. I understand that it may be hard for you to visualise me - an outspoken atheist - in a Christian school, but it happened. I'm not sure why my Mum sent me there, or if she knew that I'd spend the next 7 years at that place fending off religious propaganda and bullies who could claim that Jesus told them to beat up the atheist kid.

I spent 7 years at that Christian school, and while I don't look back on my time theretoo fondly, I'm just pleased that I managed to avoid being raped in a broom cupboard.

The first 2 or 3 years of First School didn't really involve much education. We basically used glitter, pasta and paint to makecrappy pictures of magical cows or whatever our innocent, crazy little minds could think up, while the patronising teachers gave us encouragement and ridiculously big smiles. I think the encouragement was somewhat misleading - kids shouldn't be told they're talented when they're not, because once they reach the adult world, the realisation that everything they do is actually **** will be rather shocking.

Similarly, I think High School Musical is to blame for giving many kids misconceptions about how high school is going to turn out. No-one starts singing a jaunty pop song as they're queuing up for the canteen; they'd be punched in the face for acting like a moron. High School Musical is a complete misrepresentation of reality; if I'd been directing it, I'd make it like a real American high school – Gabriella would take some cocaine at a party and give a stranger a blowjob, and Troy would consequently become depressed, drink himself into a stupor on his Stepdad's vodka cache, go to school and murder his clas$ates with a hunting rifle before blowing his own brains out in the gymnasium.

I quickly made friends with two other kids - Matt and Sam. We weren't exactly "The Cool Kids" in our trio, a fact which didn't change for the rest of our time at the school, especially since Sam acquired the nickname "Shagger"- a nickname I would be rather proud to bear, but he seemed to be extremely uncomfortable with it. He was one of those people who thinks that girls have "cooties" and being touched by one would result in his face melting into a puddle of pure, bubbling sin.

After condemning myself from an early age by landing myself with the weirdoes, I did little to improve my social status. In Year 4, I moved to Southampton for several months, which was bloody miserable, because I was quite frankly a dick and a social reject. I think I amassed a grand total of 1 friend in that terrible school. It did have some rather amusing characters, though, such as a pathological liar who had actually convinced himself that he was on the run from the FBI for hijacking a military jet, and was hiding out in our school as a fugitive. His paranoia had reached the point where on a Boy Scout camp, he decided to start patrolling the campsite at 4 in the morning with a large stick, in search for any "intruders".

Eventually, he tired of this, went for a piss in the bushes, and returned to the tent in order to throw Mars Bars at us.

So, after spending 7 years as a friendless dick, I moved up to high school, where I was fully anticipating the moronic world that awaited me. I decided to try and make some friends, which worked. Unfortunately, all my friends were, and still are, total dicks. Still, I like them in a warped way. Actually, they'll probably end up reading this, so to all of my friends: I hate you, stop putting your crisp packets in my bag.

It took me a few years, but I finally managed to propel myself up the social ladder, into my current position of hanging out with a broad assortment of trolls and idiots. I even have a girlfriend – one of the few people who I don't hate. My school is populated by a rather interesting selection of people, ranging from anti-social yobs to self-harmers to sex-obsessed midgets.

One child has anger management problems and only one arm that functions properly. If I had a conscience, I'd pity him, but I instead use him as a reliable source of laughs, seeing as he's constantly being antagonised by a particularly stupid, fat chav – a situation which often degenerates into the angry kid chasing the fat kid and trying to "chop" him with his arm.

There's also a kid who has a fascination with anal fisting. Yeah, you read that correctly. Apparently, the trick is to lubricate the fist and insert with a single, swift movement, though I still don't get how it would work… It would look like someone trying to swallow a boxing glove.

I like the idea of him getting with a girl for the first time – she expects him to put on a condom, and he instead starts strapping on a rubber glove. I'd give her 5 weeks at the very most before the diameter of her anus has expanded to the point where it looks like a second mouth.

Other notable characters include a child whose head is shaped uncannily like a giant egg, a sexually aggressive gay kid with a lisp, a guy who looks like Frankenstein with slightly more stylish hair, and a kid who managed to include the word "chapatti" in almost every one of his sentences for a couple of months.

But before you think that my school is completely made up of freaks, I should probably mention a certain "local legend" who attends our school – an undeniably incredible superhero known as Stevie T – an idol and inspirational figure for every young man. He looks like a werewolf and he speaks as if his oesophagus has been replaced by a broken moped engine.

Whoever decided it was a good idea to assemble such a diverse group of zany freaks in one place is probably not the smartest guy around, as you can probably assume. However, a group of equally moronic people known as teachers have been tasked with controlling, and – get this – educating us. All the teachers at the school start out perky enough, but after a few degrading months, they either begin to have violent moods swings that cause their prim exterior to melt away into demonic rage, or they simply fall into a state of clinical depression. Many of them achieve a good balance between the two.

I often feel a beautifully rare sense of irony when teachers tell me off, and especially when they make comments like "You'll get nowhere in life!"… The beauty here being that they are a middle-aged, low-wage drone, who spends their time teaching and arguing with morons, while lapsing into an ever-worsening state of depression that will probably induce an alcohol-fuelled heart attack by the age of 50.

There are many interesting individuals that make up the teaching staff. My history teacher's chin contains an enormous crevasse, for example. I suspect that it is actually a portal to another dimension. I'm looking forward to the day when he gets so pissed off with a pupil that he simply walks over and consumes them in his chin.

One of the Maths teachers is a particularly masculine woman, who boasts a crew cut and a pair of breasts that sag down to the point where they rest on top of her skirt. She always wears a watch, though her ability to tell the time is restricted by the fact that the rolls of fat on her arm cascade down to engulf the timepiece.

The best part of our Maths lessons is hearing her from across the Maths department, shouting. If you were to imagine how a gruff army sergeant would look and sound, you'd have a pretty good idea of what she's like. Alternatively, imagine a rhinoceros in a cage, which you've just spent half an hour throwing peanuts at.

One of the members of the leadership team at my school is a middle-aged white man, who's convinced himself that he's actually a young black man. He also seems intent on reminding us of his "blackness", as well as the fact that his wife and sons are black. Still, I guess that he's just trying to appear "hip" and "cool" to appeal to the chavs. He may as well dress up as Mr Blobby and recite his favourite parts of the Conservative Party manifesto, for all the popularity it gets him.

You're probably wondering – surely there's a paedophile in here somewhere! Yeah, we've got a few. My former drama teacher was one of the most easy-to-spot paedophiles I've ever encountered. I'm glad I didn't ever have to experience one of his detentions - whereas most teachers increase the amount of time you have to stay behind for, depending on the severity of your crime, I expect our drama teacher just increased the amount of fingers that he uses... I'd often wondered why there was a gimp mask and a saddle at the back of the props cupboard.

So, that's my school years in a very small nutshell. School may be abysmal in many ways, but it's also provided me with the most entertaining experiences of my life. I'm going to miss high school when I leave – I doubt I'll ever found a place quite so moronically lovable. I'd like to congratulate Worthing High School on being awesome. Awesomely crap, but awesome nonetheless.

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"bangell99 writes: My Experiences in the Strangest Places on Earth." was posted by bangell99 on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:00:28 -0800

Krssmn96 writes: Early Christmas!

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:00:38 -0800

My parents are divorced, and I won't be seeing my dad after this weekend until january, so he decided to have christmas this weekend with me, my sister, my dad, my stepbrother and my stepmom, this is what I got:
Xbox 360: Halo ODST Edition

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Pheonix ps2 game

that's all, but I'm still getting from my moms family on christmas

Anyway, I've been gone a while so here's a short update on my life:

I asked this girl out and she said yes!! unfortuanatly she's leaving at the end of the year but I've decided I'm gonna be happy with the time we have together.

I finally landed a pop-shuvit, after 2 weeks of trying I did it yesterday.

I got new shoes!! I got Pink Floyd converse to wear with my skinnies

I also heard slipknot for the first time, and I really like it.

My friends all think that slipknot is emo music, I'm not sure how that works.

yeah that's it, I'm going to be a lot less active on the forums from now

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"Krssmn96 writes: Early Christmas!" was posted by Krssmn96 on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:00:38 -0800

Forerunner-117 writes: Over The Breaks

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:21:03 -0700

So this time my title was chosen just because it had "break" in it, which is relevant to this blog. Yes, that means I'm going to be taking a break from GameSpot, even though I haven't exactly been spending a lot of time on it anyway, haha. Lately it just seems like all of its appeal has been fading. OT hasn't really been interesting the few times that I've been on and neither have the PC forums, a lot of the unions have either been somewhat the same as the forums or have even been dying and my favorite bloggers have either stopped blogging or their blogs seem pretty few and far in between. I actually considered leaving, but I thought "Nah, I'll just take a break for about around 2 weeks (though maybe it'll be longer, just depends) and then see if I can rediscover my interest in GameSpot," so that's my plan. If I'm still not feeling it when I return, my next blog may be a goodbye blog, so we shall see.

Before I end this, I just want to give a short update on what's been going on with me in several categories for those that are interested.

Games

Not too much to say here other than I'm really starting to lose interest in videogames. This may be a big factor as to why GameSpot isn't really as appealing anymore. I'm not totally giving up yet, as I still have not started on Fallout, Fallout 2, Company of Heroes Gold (thanks to the annoying patches) and Baldur's Gate II, nor have I finished the StarCraft, WarCraft 3 and Crysis campaigns, so the plan is I'll try to finish up some of those campaigns during this break from GameSpot and see if that renews my interest in gaming. But if you guys think I should try some of those classics first, I'll consider that.

Music

The latest music purchases I've made are:

The JV Allstars - Take Me Back To Spectre
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
Katharsis - VVorld VVithout End
Negura Bunget - Om
Born of Osiris - A Higher Place
Suffocation - Blood Oath

All of them are really great albums so far, and I haven't regretted getting any of them.

As far as music in general, I've been really getting into the whole pop-punk thing lately. The JV Allstars, Blink-182 and Green Day have all been dominating my listening time lately. Also, an exciting thing is that yesterday my friend and I decided to start a Green Day cover band (nothing too serious of course), so we each got a music book for their album 21st Century Breakdown (I got one for the guitar, he got one for piano/keyboard). It's already fun and probably really good for my guitar playing as it's getting me to play something other than metal! Heh.

Life

Life has really been great lately, and this summer has definitely been the best one I've had so far. I've been getting out of the house way more, have actually gone to a party and tried new things and have been doing well in my 2 cIasses (psychology and sociology; finals are coming up in the next 2 weeks!). This weekend I'm leaving early Friday morning to go on this religious retreat thing to Arizona (as you probably all know, I'm not religious, so I'm doing this with my friends as a kind of "old time's sake" thing, haha) and I'll get back Sunday night, then next weekend I'll be going to Indianapolis for the Denker Tournament of High School Champions to compete with other K-12 state chess champions for the second time, so I'm very excited!

Now I know in my last blog I said if I got a request, I'd give an update on the girl situation, but just give me until my next blog on that one, haha.

So that's about it! I hope everyone else has been having a great summer too! And maybe if I learn a full song from that 21st Century Breakdown album by the time I do my next blog, I'll post a video or something.

Peace.

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"Forerunner-117 writes: Over The Breaks" was posted by Forerunner-117 on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:21:03 -0700