• 4Sep 08

  Talking instead of gaming...

  Okay, I'm at work and I'm bored since I can't sleep and there's really not much else to do. So.... what do I do? Write a blog on GS of course!

  While I tried to fall asleep, I started to think a little about GS and games and how much time we all use on discussing games instead of playing them. We care so much about certain topics, that we're ready to spend hrs in "PC vs console"-threads or vote in the endless "What's the best game/RPG/FPS ever"-polls, which you have to agree is as fresh as seeing Madonna in hotpants in yet another video.

  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that other parts of entertainment business like music, films or literature are somehow more worthy of such discussions, I just think that it's weird that some of us (including me) use so much time on talking about the thing we love to do instead of doing it.

  I've written a lot of posts on this site over the last couple of years and I don't regret it, since this forum-activity has resulted in some great acquaintances with some interesting and intelligent people around the world. Still... Lately I've come to a realization that writing the same damn things in threads to the same people is becoming less and less, how shall I say it... fruitful. I just don't see the point in doing it anymore.

  So what made me change my mind? Last June I was churning out post after post after post and now I don't even want to see what people are discussing on the PC Forums.

  One possible explanation is that I had exams at that time. Read medicine or surf the 'net? Let's see, what is more fun...? Now that I have to work, I don't have a PC around me all the time and when I do, I usually use it to perform work-related tasks instead of checking out random threads on GS. After work, I'm not really in the mood to share my thoughts on Mass Effect or Call of Cthulhu. I play them to unwind instead.

  A second explanation is that I took two months off this summer and promised myself that I would use them on doing something else than work, surf the 'net and play games. Guess what, it was great, no, it was fantastic. After travelling to Spain and the US, getting a tan, drinking plenty of beers, taking it easy and simply living the sweet life, I came to a conclusion that posting in threads isn't as funny as I thought.

  Gaming on the other hand... I love playing games again, something I haven't felt for a while now. Say what you want, but that is primarily why we're all here in the first place, even if we tend to forget it at times. I still enjoy talking to friends on this site and write a blog from time to time, but the forums are stale and uninteresting to me right now. I'd rather read a good book or game for a couple of hrs than try to convince some stranger to get Riddick or System Shock 2 for the n'th time.

  Personally I think I'm just experiencing a temporary shift of interest from one area to another. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to dive into discussions about games sooner or later, I just hope it takes a while before I do that. No offence to anyone on various forums, but I'd rather play games right now than talk about them.

  Anyway, I hope this makes sence to someone out there, I'm not the greatest writer in the world, so take this blog for what it is: silly nonsense from a tired guy. And why are you even reading this? Go play a game instead.

  And yes, I do see the irony in writing this blog. To my defense, I'm at work.

  • Posted Sep 4, 2008 8:38 pm PT
  • Category: Editorial
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• 28Aug 08

  My trip to the US

  Soooo, I'm at my mom's looking through some photos from my holiday to the US, drinking a cold one. One thing led to another and here I am, writing that long ass blog I said I'd write. So here we go....

  Where should I start? The trip started in Stavanger in Norway. We flew to Gatwick in London. We actually stopped there for the night. To my British friends here on Gamespot: your kebabs are insanely huge. So are the fries. I mean, come on! I eat a lot, still I threw away half of the chips in the trash. My stomach had to deal with a greasy, yet disgustingly tasty kebab. No way was I going to eat all those potatoes dipped in warm fat too. But it was cheap and served with a smile, so I liked that.

  Next morning we were on our way to Cleveland. Don't think I need to go into details about that. Let's just say that LCD screens right in front of you with a healthy amount of films to choose from is a good thing on Transatlantic flights. BTW, to those of you that remember... I wrote about my fear of flights back in one of my first blogs. After 14 hrs on a plane, I fear no more. The body simply surrenders, lol. So that whole "expose yourself to your fears"-therapy is really, really effective. Afraid of lethal, poisonous snakes? Sleep with them for 14 hrs and behold! You're cured! And maybe dead...

  LA. City of contrasts. Seriously, one of the weirdest places on Earth. One minute you're in some of dangerous places you see on Discovery (yeah, we got lost a couple of times. We weren't exactly nervous, but we didn't stop for a burger either...) where people are poor and a tourist is like an open wallet on two legs. (Sorry if my impression is all wrong and feel free to give me a virtual smack on the head for being a narrow-minded ass.) Half an hour later, you're in the Hills, looking at all the Ferrari's, the shallow, pretty people with too much silicone in their bodies, 50 year old women that look like cats because their facial skin is so freaking tight after all the surgeries. The beautiful women with nasty old men. Money, money, money... One thing that was especially weird was the "ethnical" areas in this city. There's a HUGE Korean town in the city. With Korean signs and everything. That's something I've seen in Norway too, but we're talking about a block or too, not huge areas like in LA. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with that, but man... Human nature, I guess. Familiar = safe or something.

  The beaches in LA are fantastic and huge. In fact, I've never seen beaches of this magnitude before. Venice Beach and Manhattan Beach are the ones we visited the most. I heard that Manhattan B was in top 10 in the world when it comes to beautiful women. Eeeh. No. Just no. If you don't belive me, come to some of the great beaches here in Europe. Barcelona is one example. But the waves were great. I even forgot that I'm not really comfortable in the Pacific Ocean, also known as "A shark could bite you in the ass"-ocean. Body surfing (without a body-board) is a lot of fun.

  After a few days we were on our way to San Diego. We stopped in Laguna Beach. If you've seen the show on MTV, you know that the only chicks you find there are not finished with high school yet. It's a pretty place and all that, but we didn't stay there for more than a few hours before we headed south.

  San Diego is a great town with a relaxed atmosphere. A bit touristy, but that's not always a bad thing. It's a big town, but it managed to have a charming feel to it. If I ever go back to Cali to live there for a couple of years, San Diego would be the first stop, I think. Other than being a great town for relaxation, there's not much to say about it.

  One thing I would like to whine about is: All the clubs close at 2 am in California. Who the bloody **** came up with that brilliant idea? We were all drunk, dressed for success and ready to rock at 1 am, just to hear: "We close in 45 minutes." Seriously. And I thought California was a liberal state...

  And now the desert. Mojave (I think I spelled it right). 112 Fahrenheit. No wonder people call it Death Valley.. It was pretty cool to see too. Like I said once, fjords are boring. I wouldn't call the desert beautiful, but it's certainly unique. Anyway, I liked it. Not enough to live there or anything like that, but it's was cool to see something completely different from what you're used to in everyday life.

  Las Vegas. Sucks. You. Dry. Say goodbuy to your money and your bodily fluids in that place. All the lights, the music, the booze, the insane temperature, zero humidity in the air, sleazy dealers. The place is all about screwing you over. I love/hate Vegas.

  We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel, which isn't on the Strip, but you don't really have to leave the hotel to have fun, so we didn't bother to go to the Strip more than once. My bro gambled a little and we actually managed to earn some money on poker. 300 bucks or so, we lost more than 250 dollars over the next couple of days, but still. Not a bad result.

  Body English is the club to be in at that particular hotel after 11 pm. The weird thing about popular places in USA is that you have to pay off the huge oxes that stand between you and the heaven that is inside the club. WTF. A hundred bucks to get in? Just because we're two guys or "four balls" as that long haired bouncer-moron called us? **** that. This is one of the stupid things about LV and probably many other places in USA I felt I had to mention. We coughed up the money (of course),needless to say, we had a great time inside. Lots of good looking women and lots of VIP-places I got kicked out of. Lol, good times.

  The Rehab is the pool party at the Hard Rock on Sundays. Insanely fine women, lots of alcohol, nice bodies, silicone, jocks on steroids, silicone, alcohol, pool, music and a bit more silicone. Confession: not really a fan of fake boobs, they look weird and when everyone has them, the novelty wears off relatively quickly. Let's say it out loud. Fake = meh. Real = yay! The party itself was great, too bad I felt like puking after the previous night. After three hrs I couldn't take it anymore and went up to our room to sleep. I woke up, grabbed a gin & tonic and was ready for Body English later that evening. Yeah, I'm really one of those "do as I say and not as I do"-doctors...

  After Vegas our bank-account balances were a pitiful sight. I was feeling like poo the day we decided to move on to San Fransisco, the car was freaking hot after standing out in the the desert sun, I could not eat or drink, I almost vomited several times during the 10 hr car-trip, my heart raced at 100 bpm (dehydration does that to you), but I thought it would be worth it. Finally there! San Fransisco!

  I have to say that the city skyline blew me away when we arrived later that day. The first let-down was the hotel. It was one of the more expensive hotels on our journey, yet it was also one of the crappiest and smallest. Second let-down was checking our already mentioned accounts. No more shopping or having fun in clubs, Vegas does suck you dry in several ways. Third let down was the weather. Rain, 59 Fahrenheit (which is like 15 Celsius), plenty of cold winds... Both me and my brother got a cold. Don't get me wrong, San Fransisco is probably a fun city if you're there with your shopping-mad girlfriend or if you live there, but we didn't come all the way from Norway to freeze our asses off in California. So we left the town one day earlier than we originally planned to relax in LA and get rid of the colds. Snot in my nose and nasopharynx = pain in my ears on a plane.

  Now on to a few general observation I made in the US.

  People in California are very polite and the service is top notch. After stupid waiters in Spain that could not give a rats ass about our food, eating in USA was a joy. I know waiters smile and act like friends primarily for a bigger tip, but regular people often came up to us without a reason to ask where we were from, smiled and chatted for a minute or two. I really like Americans now. Not that I hated you before, but when I saw US-residents in Europe, I often saw loud, drunk apes. I'm glad to say that that is not the impression I have of you now. I still think that you guys do a lot of weird **** in your country, but at least I like you even though I don't agree with all of your ideologies.

  Food. Plenty of great food. I don't really see the appeal of all the junk-food, but I like your restaurants. Huge portions, okey prices, plenty of meat. What more can a guy ask for? Oh yeah... What's with all the fries and mashed potatoes? You guys know that you can do a whole lot more with potatoes than beat them to death or fry them? Just saying...

  USA = cheap. True and not true. Not true because although restaurants are cheaper than here in Norway, I still used a buttload of money on food. But I guess all vacations are expensive, so this wasn't unexpected.

  CNN in Europe >>> CNN in the US. You could feel the stench of nationalism a mile away. Not a fan of that, not a fan at all.

  I think I should wrap this up. Too tired to write anything else and I'm sure you're tired of my ramblings by now. All I want to say is that I loved a lot of things about the US, especially the people there, hated a few things and thought some things were just meh. I wanted to post some pics, but that would make this blog even longer, so screw that. Wanna see pictures? Add me on Facebook or send me a message.

  Anyway. Peace.

  Tired Artur.

  • Posted Aug 28, 2008 6:45 pm PT
  • Category: Travel
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• 22Aug 08

  New Gamespot....

  What the hell happened to GS? I'm gone for a little while and suddenly the site looks all weird and stuff. Bah! I hope I get used to this new look fast, because navigating in here is a nightmare right now.

  BTW, I won't have an Internet connection for another month (!). Yay for small places in Northern Norway! This means I have to find alternative means to spamming you all with jibberish. Which means: at work. Hehe, save lives? Meh. Surf and post crap? Woho!!!

  BTW, I'm 29 now (21st of August). Feel the wisdom, JP, and bow respectfully. Or else... I'll write something about your hair again.

  • Posted Aug 22, 2008 6:24 am PT
  • Category: Rant
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