Yeah, I know. I need a life.

Yes this is me in case you didn't notice.

...I'm still better than you though.

This pretty much sums it all up.

I know its been talked about like crazy, and you're probably tired of hearing about it. But the recent events at Gamespot after Gerstmann-Gate won't let it go away.

The first to leave was Greg Kasavin, managing editor, and the main man responsible for the strict review guidelines that gave the site its journalistic integrity. But his dreams did not lie in game journalism, because early last year, he left to go make games at one of the many EA studios. His departure, while sad, did not really seem to be a huge deal for the everyday activity at the site. All was well on the homefront. But that was until Josh Larson was hired to take his place.

Larson is not a passionate gamer to say the least. Hell, I don't even think he is a gamer at all. He was the man responsible for selling those annoying ads that take over the page when your mouse scrolls over them, and now he is the man in charge of the entire editorial staff. (I say "is" because he is still in the position today.)

It is reportedly this changing of the guard that led to the criticism of Gamespot's integrity and the eventual firing of Jeff Gerstmann, 11 year veteran of the site, whose opinion I truly respect and admire. The immediate lashing the site received after this news officially broke was wide ranging and explosive, and cracked open the discussion that, in my opinion, is the biggest video game related issue of 2007.

The game industry needs the media just as much as the media needs advertisers, and for years a happy medium has been in place between the two.  Places such as Gamespot are is happy to show ads for a product to make their site profitable, and the advertiser gets their product out there. At the same time, the advertiser must also accept that once the product is out at retail, it is open to any and all criticism. (Its called the First Amendment.) But to break this trust and betray the church-and-state separation is like being a public school orchestra teacher and giving all the opportunities to the best players. It makes you look good but fucks over all the other students who don't get a say in the situation.

I still support Gamespot because I like the personalities that I have come to know over the years and don't want to put them out of work. But if they ever get the opportunity to rebel against this bullshit corporate censorship, like Frank Provo, Alex Navarro, and Dan Hsu  already have, without becoming unemployed in the process, I sincerely hope they do. Because even though the government isn't involved (thank god!), that's exactly what this is, censorship.

This pretty much sums it all up...

Ok, lets get the ball rolling.

Its been three days here in my second semester, and I can already tell which classes I am not gonna like. 

Overall, everything is pretty fun.  Mass Communication and Society may be a class where I just learn common knowledge about the media and how it works, but the things the professor talks about and references are things that we hear about pretty much every day (britney spears, writers strike, beavis and butthead), so I think I might be able to have a little fun there. Hey, I may even get to make myself known defending video games if it ever comes under discussion.

I was scared shitless about going to Honors American Government, but it turned out to be not so bad.  The teacher is very high energy (in a limp wristed way), and keeps us interested because he knows that we would never have taken the class if it weren't for required Honors credit hours.  From what he tells us, were going to be talking about current affairs, domestic policy, foreign policy, all that crap you hear about on those channels you never watch.  Im a little concerned about the fact that a big part of our grade is based on us participating in discussions, which will inevitably turn into debates, one thing I have never been good at.  We'll see though.

Aural skills I is okay, its just a lot of singing and ear training.  Right now its really easy and for some strange reason I can hear my own voice over most of the class, but I'm sure that will change soon.  Sightsinging in modes...ack!

As much as I like to write, I hate my English class!!  The teacher is like an unfunny version of Ms. DeOre, and we're going to be doing literature analysis again, which is one of the most tedious and boring things possible in a class.  I would rather eat glass, vomit it back out, and wash it all down with a cool glass of pig urine.

Oh, and its a half hour longer than all my other classes too.

Despite the fact that I have to go to theory at 8 in the morning, I don't have much else to complain about, its music theory. 

Ok, last one, and probably my least favorite, college algebra.  Oh wonderful wonderful college algebra!  Where would I be without you?  

Oh yeah, thats right, HAPPY!!!!  I mean, I took math classes all through middle school and high school, and I don't plan on going into something that uses math for a career.  So why do I have to take this fucking torturous class?  The location is far from the class I have before it, its boring, I already learned the materials at least once before, and the teacher barely speaks english.  Nothing remotely good can come from this experience, but I guess I have to go through it to actually take classes related to Electronic News.  I think I'll survive, but I'll be hanging by a fraction of a thread.

So thats where I am at the moment.  

College is fun, but it can be a lot of work sometimes.

Hello everyone!

I made a blog some unknown time ago and then proceeded to not touch it since.  I dont even remember what it was called or where it is.  So yeah...uhh...Hi.

If I feel like posting stuff you might see something on here.