Bad luck follows

So, I know, I know, I've written more excuses than a teenager with a report due...
But you know what? I have a REALLY REALLY good one this time....
My laptop got a really ugly virus...and it is now looping on the startup screen.
I'd fix it but, I need to use the windows disk...
Which I have and I'd use it if...
my husband hadn't forgotten to screw in my disk drive the last time he took apart my computer for whatever reason...
Its like a bizarre benzie-box now...(wow, I feel old)
What does this have with my stalling?
Everything....well...most of it....
Why?
because my links and notes and such were mostly on that laptop....
sure I have my happy notebooks but...
I write like a crippled dog and so I can't read half of what I wrote...
So...
There you go...why I didn't turn in my report Teach.
I'm trying to piece together my chicken scratch and I remember some of the the links I found pics and such from so...I will have to put my nose to the grindstone and redo it.


Honestly at this point I am hating  this subject SO DAMN MUCH.
Does anyone even really care anymore about what I planned on posting??

Don't mind me, right now I'm nursing a dead car battery and a very high fever....maybe I should go sulk in bed.

Dante's Update---the unspoken 10th circle of hell

   I know the natives are getting restless, I've been asked by a few people where my damn Dante piece is, I've actually been asked by more people than I ever figured read my blog (in other ways more than 2). I promise, I have not forgotten. Not only have I not forgotten but I've also had quite a few other topics for future posts pop into my tiny over-worked brain. So, its still coming...I did say this week and technically that means I have TWO whole days to get it done and typed (no pressure).

  My children getting their 1,000th Sinus Infection of the year has really cramped my style the past week or so. And of course what gets them....must get me too...so HELLO stuffy nose, headache and stomach aches! This has of course slowed  me down, so much so that I actually turned on my Xbox and played Bayonetta for 2 days in a row. SHOCKING!! I know.

   So, as much as I am growing to hate the name Dante, I'm still at it and it will be here for your reading pleasure soon enough...and NO, I won't be bothering with the new DLC The Trials of St.Lucia. There's only so much suffering I'm willing to do for my art.

Hello my lovely readers!

   How're ya'll doing?

I am currently undergoing the Sisyphean task of  note taking. 

   Note taking you say? How hard is that? 

I currently have between 7 and 10 tabs open and 3 separate notebooks that I'm jotting notes on. 

   Why three? 

Well, to keep everything in order. I know, I know, seems very disorderly but trust me, it'll make sense after I explain it.

   Notebook  number 1 is for Dante Alighieri's life and times...and honestly, he wasn't really much of a partier so its pretty dull going.

    Notebook number 2 is for the evil that started me on this path in the first place the video game Dante's Inferno...so far the similarities between notebook 1 and 2 is that they both have the names Dante, Vergil and Beatrice in them and hell. I'd say that video game Dante isn't much of a partier either but...well...there was plenty of killing, some body modification and I saw lots of boobs so it sounds like a party to me!

   Notebook Number 3 is for La Divina Comedia, specifically Inferno...unlike its author, the characters in this book partied a bit TOO HARD and are royally screwed. While this offers many gruesomely awesome mental images of eternal torment (WHAT? Its not MY torment, therefore, rock on! I enjoy other's misery, what can I say?) its got 9 flippin levels! Not only that but...they rhyme...and its starting to unhinge my mind. 

  My lord you see?

  This is what work does to me.

  I'm purely ornamental, heavy thinking makes me mental... 

  This is the result of  poetically reading the occult.

  A poetic verbal assault.

   I wish that I could end it, cause this rhyming is horrendous. 

   But this is far from over,

   and I am far from sober.

   So here I go again,

   back to writing without end,

   about long dead Italians

   and games chock full of violence

   and the dark unholy creature this union came to spawn.

  

Dante's Inferno ---a brief interlude

Hello hello.
   I must apologize for my laziness. Got a bit overwhelmed with life the past few days and had to put the rest of my post on D.I. on hold. However, I have not forgotten about it.
Not only have I not forgotten about it but I'm hard at work with my trusty pen and notebook taking notes for the continuation of my views on D.I.

   Not only that, but I have run into my old notebook from way back when, so I'll finally be able to complete my Sexism and gaming piece...I know I know, SUPER LATE, but better late than never. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, its ok, I don't blame ya, I tend to forget what I had for lunch yesterday, no way I would remember something from a few months ago.

   So, as a brief refresher....Long long ago when I did my BIG piece on Sexism and games, I closed my "final" post with this:  The final installment will be about  a reversal of the "Hot chicks" with offensively large anatomy in skimpy outfits.
Obviously that never happened so, I really wanna get that out too. I have the pics, I have some notes, so I'm gonna be working on that this week.

   So, I've got a lot of work ahead of me and I'm really excited about getting it up and posted.

   I've got another little plan that is gonna be really really cool so you should stay tuned and check back often. Alas, since I'm not sure how it will all work out, I'd like to keep it under wraps for now.

   So, ya'll come back now ya hear!

Dante's Inferno

     I live a life of sickly leisure. Meaning, I don't work, I do very little housework and I lounge around popping pain pills like candy in between popping anti-crazy pills most of the time.
For this and many other reasons I live the life of a virtual hermit, avoiding daylight like I'm one of Dracula's brides  and preferring the week long wait for a new game ordered off Amazon to actually interacting with the unwashed, unintelligent masses at the mall. 
     I can go weeks without seeing a single human being that does not share a last name with me. While this might sound incredibly depressing to some (most) I have learned not only to deal with it, but to rather enjoy it 99% of the time. It gives me a chance to think, play games, read a book etc. Due to my obsession with games it also gives me tons of time to read about them and to find out about games that aren't all that popular (but should be).


    Where am  going with this? Well, if you bear with me just a bit longer, I'll tell you...


     Having all this time on my hands I find myself roaming the net for amusement (minds out of the gutter people) and having found said amusements I have my own little internet routines, however, I won't bore you with a play by play and just get to the main reason I'm explaining this. Mondays and Wednesdays at around noon are sacrosanct to me. Why? Because on Mondays  The Escapist posts Unskippable and on Wednesdays its Zero Punctuation. 
     For those of you who might not have heard of these 2 hilarious pieces of game-related media. I'll give a quick and dirty explanation:


      Unskippable takes video games' unskippable cinematics and makes them hilariously watchable by adding amusing commentary.
      Zero Punctuation features fast talking Yahtzee Croshaw ripping apart games with his scathing reviews, which are given in hilariously evil comedic cartoon form with appropriately funny visuals and no sugar coating. Most of the time, he's pretty much on target with his reviews.


     So, today is Monday which meant a new episode of Unskippable for me to watch and get my daily does of laughter. What game was on todays mocking menu? Dante's Inferno. Like Mana from the heavens. (not the RPG type or the Visual-Kei kind of Mana, though those are awesome too). 


     Now, I know, I've given my own impressions of Dante's Inferno when I played the demo on the 360, and because I had posted that I didn't bother to post when I decided to wade deeper into this monstrosity on my PSP. I also didn't bother rehashing it when Yahtzee did his review not so long ago (you should check it out if you haven't seen it):

The Escapist : Video Galleries : Zero Punctuation : Dante's Inferno

   Today however, feeling dead tired and achy from a bizarre cleaning frenzy I went into yesterday I sat down to see what wonders Unskippable would hold today. I was not disappointed...it was..Well, obviously, Dante's Inferno.

The Escapist : Video Galleries : Unskippable : Dante's Inferno

   Once I stopped laughing uncontrollably I decided that I wanted to expand a bit more on my brief and painful experience with Dante's Inferno....

TBC- Break Time

Where have I been???

   I know, I know, I've been awful quiet here (as opposed to everywhere else).
I've been doing something I don't do too often...actually playing games. Currently playing Fallout3, Dragon Age Origins, Mass Effect, Bayonetta and random PSP games.

   Last night I played the Dante's Inferno Demo and I must say, I'm even less interested in this game now than I was when it was first announced. Now, I read The Divine Comedy many many years ago in high school and I really liked The Inferno, Purgatorio was ok and Paradiso about put me to sleep; Seriously, artists, writers, whatever, they always paint such a boring, dull image of heaven. But I digress.
   The point I want to make is that I don't dislike the Game Dante's Inferno out of some deep rooted loyalty to the original work (though seriously, I'm surprised Dante Alighieri hasn't risen from the grave to massacre everyone at EA...perhaps with the help of Virgil.).

    I'll take this step by step.

    I fired up the game and squinted to read some blurry text, then I was treated to Dante the self mutilation freak sewing a cross to his chest (WTH) after a while I got to control Dante. He controls like Kratos after drinking a few casks of wine.The fighting was dull and repetative. I know I know, God of war was repetative, but you know what (and this is my personal opinion before ya'll get up in arms) I never got tired of fighting as Kratos, it was a sort of "murder ballet". Because his weapons were on chains fused to his arms most of the fighting had you twirling and spinning and swinging the Chaos Blades and it flowed, it was smooth and beautiful to look at, and incredibly deadly. Dante might have the killing power but most definitely not the moves.
 
    Now I know that the "good" enemies come later in the game but the pathetic little wraith/zombie/WTH things I fought were weak and obnoxious. Also, I'm sorry but the whole absolve or not thing...NO, just NO. Harvesting or healing little sisters in Bioshock worked because it was a pause in the game  with a specific scene given to the little sister struggling while you attempt to do one or the other. However In Dante's Inferno while all the other little pathetic minions waited for me to "purify" their little buddy, the big spinning wheel a la Indiana Jones Boulder  was not as patient.

     Then, I got to fight Death himself, the big ole Grim Reaper (would have been a lot more fun had he been voiced by the whoerver voices Grim in th Billy and Mandy). Being a big Castlevania fan I've fought death many times, hell in Portrait of ruin it was Dracula-Death. Usually for me at least those fights with Death can be well...life and death situations. (Death has wiped the floor with me on many occasions). So I was prepaired to get a mssive butt kicking by all of death's awesome powers. HA!
     I slapped him arounda bit, took away his Scythe and then made him cry like a little girl and kiss my patent leather hooker boots (ok, ok, he just spit polished them).
   
      After this snoozefest, at this point my daughter is looking at me like I should be shot for playing this rather than Fallout3 and asking me "Dude, why are you playing this, its crap, just like 2 worlds, its a demo, you don't HAVE to play it all! Just stop and delete it." (ahhh wisdom from the mouth of babes.) there's some sort of cutscene or something and beatrice dies and gets taken to hell and if I didn't miss the point here....The reason she is  in hell and Dante is in deep crap is because....she gave it up cause he was off to war and then he got some on the side while he was at war and she's pissed...HUH? Yeah, I have no flippin' idea what's going on and I really don't care to.
   
     I actually found myself enjoying the demo do Divinity 2 better. Also my daughter was really in a mood to give me shit last night (because I interrupted her Fallout3 game to play some demos). AS I played through Dvinity 2 I was polite and nice to everyone.  When I play Fable 2 I'm nice and polite to everyone, when I play Mass Effect, I'm polite and nice to everyone...well you get my point. My daughter thinks this is silly and I should answer like myself. After a few conversations in Divinity she asks me, "Why are you always so nice, be mean!" I responded, but then people won't like me and it might screw up later quests. She rolled her eyes at me and said "You do realize this is a demo, right?" I felt just a lil dumb at that point.

    My daughter Ghani however, she doesn't hold it in. She smart mouthed EVERYONE on the Normandy before they got to Eden Prime. Lately she had been playing a lot of make-up and dress up games on the DS and I thought that they were making her soft....yeah, I was wrong...Sometimes, she scares me...I'm so proud!