In retrospect...Sleep, The Oil Spill and the Start of E3 2010

     If I had taken some more time yesterday to think about how much I would have needed a full night's sleep today, perhaps I would have gone to bed at a more reasonable hour. But alas, I stayed up watching episodes of The Daily Show from last week until about 2 AM and then had to somehow force myself into existence this morning. It was tough, and I've decided that Jon Stewart is not the person I should be watching when I'm trying to fall asleep. You see, I tend to get pretty charged about what's going on in the US and especially now that I'm living in Japan I sometimes find myself feeling a sense of "What ARE they doing over there, anyways?" (and I hope you catch my meaning there.)

     Aaaaaand right now there is a big oil spill that makes me want to fly down to the gulf just so I can kick some BP executive in the face. Don't worry, I won't get overly political on this blog, as promised long ago, but I will tell you that the environment is where I draw the line here....What the hell is going on down there, anyways? I hear the oil has moved as far north as offshore Maine??!?!? REALLY? Didn't we send some people to the moon once? Don't we possess enough firepower and technology to blow the earth up like fifty times? Aren't there TALKING ROBOTS that function on creepy levels of artificial intelligence? We...can't plug a hole? Um.....I think something might be wrong here.

 Just sayin'....
 We can do THIS:


But not fix THIS:


I hope everybody is just as pissed off as I am about this whole oil spill business...

I was just thinking to myself, "You know, I used to be able to pull this all-nighter sh*t off without any effort at all!"

     In undergraduate college, I would merely drink a big cup of coffee after three hours of sleep (or, an all nighter, on many occasions) and I would perform as usual throughout my day. Now, just two years after graduating, I'm already a total wuss when it comes to staying up late and getting up the next morning for work. It's a little frustrating, because I used to depend on the occasional all-nighter for catching up on some serious boosts of creative writing, photo-editing and other useful endeavors. It figures that I also tend to get my best inspiration in the latest hours of the day (or earliest hours, depending on how you look at it).

     Now, in my Masters Degree Program, I find it nearly impossible to utilize the all-nighter to my benefit. It just turns me into a total zombie the next day. Even when I do my best to hide it, the three-year-olds in my International Kindergarten look at me as though I've not slept in a week and say, "Jessie tired?" Why, yes, in fact...Jessie...very...tired.

     After finally pulling myself into full consciousness (around 10 AM or so during the presentation of my English class as I decided I would force myself to be overly genki...which tends to have the effect of forcing you to be awake) I continued my day as usual and tried not to look at the clock as I subconsciously prayed for 2:30 to arrive. When it did, I slumped my way back to the train station and took a wonderful nap on the way home while listening to Coldplay on my IPOD. AND wouldn't it figure, that now that I'm home and relaxing in PJs I'm not tired enough to fall asleep! Go me.

     At least I have a lot to think about today! This summer session is almost over, meaning I get to have a new class and a new schedule. ALSO: It's E3 right now! Yaaaaay!

 Here are some of the awesome trailers that have come out in the past 48 hours:


Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the Game looks absolutely amazing. River City Ransom-esque, beat-em-up, (and do I see a hint of Guitar Hero in there?) combines with the wonderfully designed sprites and environments that will undoubtedly make this PS3 Exclusive pretty frickin' sweet. Bet you wish you had bought a PS3 when everyone told you too! (*cough, cough...* you know who you are!)


 














The other trailer I want to show you is Lego Harry Potter. Why? Well, because I love Harry Potter and I love Lego....and here they are blended into a cute, fun game that is going to be well worth my 30 dollars. I know that not everyone gets into these games, but I really suggest giving them a chance. Sure they can be glitchy and they're not really super challenging - but that's not what these games are about. They're lighthearted, fun (FUN! Games can just be FUN sometimes you know!) games that give you something new to enjoy with your favorite characters and stories. I really enjoyed Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones was OK too. I'm just saying, if you're only NOT playing them because you're worried you're going to be scoffed at when you bring the game to the counter...do yourself a favor and give it a try. 

 I once had a pretty heated argument at my video game peddling job at The-Chain-Of-Evil-with-initial-G.S.with somebody about Lego Star Wars. The man in question was an avid first-person-shooter who liked to drink copious amounts of alchohol and shoot nooblets in game merely because "They signed onto XBOX Live for the first time and therefore they must be destroyed....." Now, I will admit to you that I really enjoy a good Halo match from time to time. In fact, I will proudly brandish my pink armor and have a hell of a good time of it....but if there is one thing I cannot stand it is gamers who take all the fun out of the online scenario. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, you swearing, smack-talking, played-way-too-many hours of this game so you're going to make sure everybody in-game knows it....jerks. Why can't we just have a good old fashioned, kill-tacular good time in the Halo Universe? Do you have to go around making us mute you and then go after you out of frustration? I mean, really? 

 How did the argument end? It ended with me deciding he wasn't worth gaming with....ever...
 It also made it comical when he attempted to pass his phone number to me over the counter even after I had argued with him for about twenty minutes about the merits of "fun games."



 (Note about this video: Does anybody else think that Game Announcers (especially on trailers like the one above and G4) sound like they are trying WAAAY to hard to sound excited about the games they are promoting? Sometimes I feel like the fake-ness in their voices is oozing out of my laptop.)

 There are a lot of other games getting attention, of course. I just don't feel the need to give props to them because they're already going to sell like crazy no matter what anybody says. Games like Fallout, New Vegas; Dead Space 2, Killzone 3, Test Drive Unlimited 2, Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2 (I'll be honest here, I'm not really looking forward to Force Unleashed 2...wasn't all that impressed with the first one after playing it once and realizing there wasn't enough there to hold that game up.) What I AM psyched for out of the guaranteed-to-sell-like-mad list are Portal 2, Little Big Planet 2, the next Zelda title, and Star Wars Old Republic. 

 Oh, where are you, Star Wars Old Republic? You premiered at last year's E3. But I'm patient...because I know you will kick some serious ass! You will be the massive multi-player that will undoubtedly suck in my soul for good this time... W.O.W. failed where you will probably succeed in taking away any free time I have left in my life. I approve Bioware. I full approve of what you are doing with this game, and that's saying a lot, because I usually don't really like anything involved with the Prequels time-line.


Well, I think that's enough for now.
See you around the Galaxy!
Lady Jones