Binge Thinking?

Over the past two weeks or so I have been burning through the show Heroes on Netflix. I just finished the first season yesterday and began watching season two later that night. The first season brought me much enjoyment and I'm hoping the second will do the same. I'm not completely sure, but in my estimation, I would say that this is the fastest I've made it through any season of any show. This got me thinking about the word "binge." Binge is a word defined as "a period or bout, usually brief, of excessive indulgence, as in eating, drinking alcoholic beverages, etc.; spree." by dictionary.com. Or you could use the #1 definition from urban dictionary: a period of time that you do alot (should be two words) drugs in and/or drink a lot (got it right the second time) of booze. Must be more than one day. I'm also going to point out that dictionary.com's wonderful usage of the word "bout." Anyway, I think "binge" is a word used too much, and why is it only used for indulgences? I think that's complete bullshit. Why? Because there are plenty of other things that people do in a binge manner, mainly work, that doesn't get a bad name for it. Yes, I understand that's probably part of capitalism, but wouldn't everyone like some more time for themselves spent away from work?

I'm not overwhelmed or overworked at work, at least not yet, but I would certainly like some more time to do whatever it is that I feel like doing. I could have finished the entire first season of Heroes in about 3 work days, but I couldn't because I was at work... sitting in my cubicle... looking at a computer screen... I'm sure doing that five days each week is wonderful for my health. And even though I did watch a whole season in about two weeks, I bet I still had way more physical activity than many people did in the same time period. Imagine if people drank alcohol for eight hours straight each day for five days a week? I don't want to know the answer to that question, but I do know what happens to people when they go to work and sit around for eight hours a day, five days a week. A lot of these people gain weight and become fat, especially in the United States. You know what I call that? Binge working.

Binge working is a result of the insatiable desire to make money, turn profits, and make money. I recently spent four years at a college geared toward business. I've heard more than my fair share of acronyms and other bullshit, but I've learned so much about business from Jack Donaghy, a Harvard business school graduate for the mere cost of Netflix, $7.99 per month. Before I go any further, I would like to point out that I am not an anarchist. What I would really like is some more free time. Do we really need to work for eight hours a day, five days a week? I think not. We could probably work a few hours less per day and a a day or two less each week and get about the same amount of work accomplished. I know that not all 40 hours in my work week are incredibly productive and I think we could all use some more time for fun!

People like to watch television, people like to play games, people like to do drugs, people like to drink alcohol, and people like to eat. I don't care how much or how long people do these activities, but the word "binge" should be all inclusive. Binge working is a part of mostly every person's life. I don't really know where I'm going with this anymore, but I'll be sure to crush this problem with my A.S.S.

With all this said, I must be one of the very small minority of people that enjoys life after college more than life in college. Sure I had more free time and got to run track in college, but I didn't like it all that much. There were some good times, but now I don't have to be surrounded by people that I would not choose to surround myself with. That right there is the biggest difference. Now I feel like I can choose who I see and avoid all the retards, something I could not control in school. I still speak with my friends who are in school and I've been back three times to visit this year. Each time I used my old ID, so that was worth keeping. I might be a part of the machine that is our workforce, but I like it better than at an institution where they want everyone to think alike, and I thank Mr. George Carlin for that one. Man was a genius.

Love this guy

Well, I'm done for now, but I will provide some foreshadowing for the next post. I've had a bunch of people ask me if I have a girlfriend in the past two months, what's with that? I might take on this topic in the next post, and maybe I'll even put it up in less than two weeks!

Let's Talk Some Dead Space 3

First off, I want to make it clear that I dislike silverfish. I really do like most creatures, insects, arachnids, lizards, those types of creatures. But I really don't like silverfish. Those sly bastards walk around your bathroom like they pay you rent or something. I've got news for you, Walter Cronkite, (insert pause here) they don't. More to the point that I have yet to make, I'm losing faith rapidly in reviews of any kind. The only reason I still consult reviews on things, such as video games, movies, electronic products, music, etc. is simply because I don't have a bunch of money to burn to try them all myself. Regardless of reviews I knew I was buying Dead Space 3 because I love that video game series, it's probably my favorite granted I haven't played all that many series, though. Dead Space 3 has not received bad reviews, but the scores it is receiving are lower than the first two games for the most part. I enjoyed the game and thought it was fun. That's all I really care about.

My review of the game would say that Dead Space 3 was good. Dead Space and Dead Space 2 were also good games. I don't like rating scores because they are completely arbitrary. What really is the difference between 7.8, 8.4, and 9.6? Or why does one game get an 8.6 and another a 8.7? What accounts for a difference of 0.1? Who the hell knows, I just say it's good, it was ok, I didn't like it, or it sucked. That's an easy scale to understand. The first review I watched of Dead Space 3 was IGN's video review, which gave it a 7 point something. I'm not going to bother to look at the video again to get the exact score. I have since then lost all faith in the reviewer and the credibility of that review because the reviewer was puzzled why Ellie's eye was back. Yes, Ellie's eye was gauged out by Stross in Dead Space 2, but right after the 5 minute prologue of Dead Space 3, i.e. not very deep into the game, there is a text log in Isaac's apartment that tells you that Ellie got an eye replacement. No wonder this clown reviewer had a hard time following the story. Therefore I don't trust it.

Many reviews of the game said that Dead Space 3's story was dumb and was hard to follow. I don't agree with this. The story was no more ridiculous than the other two games. How can you even criticize how realistic the Dead Space story is? The whole thing is science fiction, that means it's made up. It's like saying that Star Wars isn't good because the story is unbelievable. So which part's of Dead Space 3, or any Dead Space for that matter, did you think were unrealistic? Probably just the part at the beginning of Dead Space 3 when f*ckin' Eskimo-like necromorphs are attacking you in the city before you get to the ice planet, right? Or maybe Kendra's babylons in the first Dead Space, those things were way too big to be real.

What? You don't think these are real?

 Maybe I just like the story because I'm a sick f*ck and I like weird, strange, demented things. Yes, I admit that I'm a bit of a sick f*ck when it comes to entertainment. But only in that strange, sick things such as the whole Dead Space atmosphere is very interesting to me. I like science fiction settings such as what is portrayed in Dead Space and I didn't think the Dead Space 3 story was any worse or better than the previous two. The only thing I can say is that Dead Space as a series might suffer from "Star Wars Syndrome." In my own strange mind I have created another way to describe things, just like a good psychologist would do! The Star Wars Syndrome is hard for me to explain but I'll do my best. Many people consider the second Star Wars movie of the original series, the Empire Strikes Back, to be the best, and one of the all-time great films. This of course is the film with the famous "Luke, I am your father" quote comes from. The first Star Wars film started the trilogy and got people interested. The second film was a masterpiece, a classic. Then the third film was alright, no Empire Strikes Back, but a decent film to wrap up the trilogy. I think that this is the same pattern that Dead Space followed in it's current trilogy state. I say that because there is definitely a possibility for another game. The first Dead Space game got people interested, the second was a masterpiece, a classic. The third game, the one to wrap up the trilogy was solid, but it wasn't the second game, it wasn't a masterpiece and it wasn't in the exact same vein as the original. So let's all bitch and moan about it.

This game is so unrealistic

Lots of people complain that Dead Space 3 lacks the horror of the first game. They complain that Dead Space 2 was much better. Well if these people want the horror of Dead Space, then go play Dead Space. If you think Dead Space 2 is that much better, then go play Dead Space 2. I think these people would be bitching if Visceral Games put out a Dead Space 2 clone. Then they would be claiming that EA are money whores and just put out the same game. Well, they do still complain that EA are money whores. At this point there's nothing EA can do about that. Any game that EA puts out is obviously a money grab. This reminds me of the Star Wars trilogy again. Some Star Wars fans got mad about what George Lucas did with the Star Wars films. Well f*ck them, those movies belong to George Lucas, he f*cking created it. The same goes for Dead Space. The Visceral team created the series, the can do whatever the hell they want with it.

My personal opinion on the game is that it is good. The combat is well polished and fun. I really like weapon crafting, I get a lot of enjoyment creating weapons that fit my play style. After I beat Dead Space 3 I started playing it again the next time I video gamed. I've only done that with one other game, Dead Space 2. I really enjoy this series. The criticism of Dead Space 3, in my opinion, is unwarranted. The game is good and I think the vast majority of the complaints are f*cking stupid. The only thing that bothers me is that often the enemies don't seem to react to getting shot like in the first two games. Mostly when using a weapon like the ripper.

One more thing, definitely get Dead Space 3: Awakened, the DLC once you complete the game. The DLC is not very long, but it's highly entertaining and interesting. It is also the reason I think there might be a Dead Space 4. Once again, I think Dead Space 3 is a good game, and no, I will not give it an arbitrary score.