Post 176 | Think Positive

Hell I am almost there. Less than three weeks left and this hell of a semester is done. It has been kicking my butt hardcore and I am so tired of it I just want to walk up to my various teachers and throw the respective books for those classes in their faces. That may sound a little violent, but hey, that's what it feels like to be a college kid.

Life has been good, there was a rough week or two in there somewhere but I decided to be happy instead of pissed of all the time at the little things in my relationship, and guess what? It worked! I believe my girlfriend and I are as happy as ever right now, and why we are no longer in the "honeymoon" phase anymore, I am quite happy with where things are.

Let's see what else... Indeed school is crazy and hurts my head on a daily basis but like I said before, I am almost done with this semester then I will have a much needed break. I am going to begin working at the campus radio station more regularly now, which is good because I need the money. I also go in tomorrow morning-ish to see what responsibilities are included in being the online editor for the school newspaper.

Getting involved right? I don't have band anymore and these are both things I am interested in. Very much so. I like the idea of posting the news stories on the internet simply because it is the most interesting form of media to be involved with right now. With the evolution of HTML-5 and websites becoming more and more interesting and easy to use and f-ing fantastic, it only makes sense that our school's newspaper explore what kind of presence it can make for itself online.

Oh but this radio gig, I think the first time is going to be the scariest, I am just so unsure of myself but I think I can do it, and if I have any problems the guy said I could call him, he is only two minutes away, which is great. My only concern right now is getting into the building on Friday night haha.

I always say I am going to write in here more but I never do, I have been way to concerned with taking care of myself and getting my life on a good path and just trying to have a great time and try not to look down on the little things too much. I know I am looking down on the rest of the semester, but give me a break on that one? I am beyond tired of this semester.

I am going to Chicago on Saturday with my class and we have to spend upwards of 30 bucks. I MEAN WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY? Having to spend more money after the book and paying for the class itself paying even more money to do something is just dumb. Making us take the train downtown, and the EL and the bus and a taxi? Are you kidding? I don't have that kind of money to just throw around. BLARG.

On top of it all I got sick tonight, not a cold sick, but a bad stomach ache sick and that was most unpleasant, hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

I just thought of something negative I could say about my girlfriend, but I chose to ignore it in my head and think of the positives instead, it made me smile, which is good! People should be smiling more and frowning less. Think of the positive! We don't have the power to change the entire world anyway we want and we should really just live with what we are given and deal with it and make the best out of it instead of trying to change everything to suit our exact needs.

I can say all this and still only slightly believe in God right? Ok cool. I am reading this really good book Blue Like Jazz and am really digging it, you guys should check it out whether you are religious or not, it's quite funny and even thought it is about a guy believing in God, or his path to God, it is really interesting to read about and study.

Ok I think that is enough of me on my pedestal for one night, I should probably catch some shut-eye, not too long of a day tomorrow, but a lot of homework to get done for College Writing II and Persuasion and Media Influence (the second of which is the Chicago trip). Thanks for reading guys, I really appreciate it. Talk to you guys later!

Post 175 | Uncharted 3

So I wrote this review of Uncharted 3, and I gave it 5 out 5 stars on giantbomb.com I thought I could post it here so maybe some other peeps could read it. Enjoy!

Going into Uncharted 3 one could say I was more than a little bit excited. After Uncharted 2 I was more than ready for more globe trotting, train hopping, ass kicking action than ever. Among Thieves set such a high precedent for what could follow that I honestly wondered if they could live up to their own standards. I loved Uncharted 2 so much, and played the hell out of the multiplayer that I enjoyed so much, that every other video game that year fell to the waste side. Uncharted 3 was an instant buy for me, no matter if it lived up to the expectations or not, and I am pleased to report it just about did.

First off Uncharted 3 is an amazing game, and it is easily my choice for game of the year, and the one I hope wins in deliberations this year, but it is a game that is also flawed. I wanted to fly through the game just like a movie, so much so that I wound up moving the difficulty level down. I am not inherently bad at video games, but I would rather enjoy the story than face a serious challenge. I would say it helped the experience a little being able to gun down enemies a little easier and not failing as frequently.

There were a few moments sparatclly through the game where I found myself up against a wall and unable to pass it. I would do what the game wanted me to do, but I would just fall. This happened specifically in the Syria level while I was climbing a tower. I was swinging a chain to and from and jumped the way they wanted me to but it took me a good ten tries to finally get to that spot they wanted me to. It was quite fist shankingly frustrating but once I got past it and moved on I got distracted by the awesome the game was.

Other than that the only other things I had difficulty with were after the large battle among the wreckage of the boats I was unsure where to go and had to look around for a good ten minutes and the shadow puzzle. These three flaws that may have only appeared in my game put a damper on the experience a little but did not stop me from having a great time at all.

Now I mentioned earlier that it "just about" reached my expectations. Much like Uncharted 2, Drake's Deception had its set pieces and crazy moments, but I remember being much more "wowed" while playing Among Thieves. Whether it was riding a train for multiple levels, or jumping through a falling building, or climbing up a train that is falling over the side of a cliff, Uncharted 2 was simply amazing, and while some of those "wow"s are in U3 as well, U2 just did them better.

But Uncharted 3 shines in a different light and what I believe makes it the game of the year is the story, and how well it is integrated into a video game. This game's story is something to behold, with character development, and heart renching moments, and a flash back to boot, I enjoyed it and was on edge the entire time. A moment within one of the final chapters of the game had me yelling at my television and got my roommate quite concerned. I could sit here and type about the gunplay, or the AI, or the traversal, and animations, but the shining light of this game is really the story. It really feels like you are reading a page turner, or watching a relentless movie.

Uncharted 3 has its flaws, if you diverge from what they want you to do you will break the flow of action, or if you die the same will happen. But falling out of a f-ing airplane, hallucinating, and the sheer level of detail and graphical design easily outweigh any negatives that could come out of this game. Uncharted 3 was an amazing experience, and I will be diving into this multiplayer more so than any other game I have bought this year.