I have an exceptionally fine memory, but it isn’t quite photographic. I in no way can look at a blackboard and remember everything on it. I don’t really want to brag in writing about this, because I want to make a different point altogether, but I do have a very visual memory, and by visualization I can remember things very well. Since it would be incorrect to describe it as photographic, I don’t describe it that way. Instead, I made up the term “Videographic Memory". It’s like photgraphic, but instead of the brain recording photos of events seen, it records videos of events as they occurred.

What I mean when I say I have a videographic memory is that my mind records pretty much every event that happens, but it doesn’t necessarily record every detail and it doesn’t record in high definition. So I can’t, for example, recite the text out of the page of a book I’ve seen. Instead, I can recall how something occurred, but not necessarily the finer details of that event. This has been helpful to me as a writer, because I can take event from real life, and even though I can’t remember all the details, I can use my creativity to create a fictional version of those details.

As I said, I’m not writing this to brag, but instead I’m talking about this, because if you know you are gifted in some area, but can’t explain it using terms you know, then just make something up. The beauty of this is that no one can argue with you. No one can tell me I don’t have a videographic memory, because I made it up. I know exactly what it means, and it describes me perfectly.

With this in mind, I do not suggest going around making up self declarations about yourself. There should be some reasoning behind a description you’ve made up. I do have an exceptionally fine memory, therefore I can make up some term to describe my memory. On the other hand, for example, someone who is not athletic, could not make up a term such as “recreationally innate", which implies athletic ability, and use it do describe their self. Some descriptions work, and some don’t, so be careful when describing those attributes about yourself where you consider yourself gifted.

Just in the last six months, maybe a little longer, I have noticed something new in the grocery stores. Short shopping carts. These are perhaps one of the greatest things I have seen in recent years. As a bachelor, going to the grocery store usually involves picking up only a few things. Previously, I had three options. Try to carry everything by hand. Use one of those baskets that you can carry around. Or use a full-size shopping cart.

Compact shopping carts.

Now, carrying items around by hand is fine if you only need two items, or possibly three if the items can be held in one hand, but for grocery shopping this will certainly not work.

What about the baskets? Don’t get me started on those. They could possibly be the worst shopping invention ever made. Have you every used one? First of all, they are extremely awkward to hold. And if you put so much as a bottle of pop in them, the weight distribution is unbearable. It’s not that they are too heavy, it’s that they throw your center of gravity completely off balance. You constantly have to shift baskets from one hand to the other.

So, the best option had been full-size shopping carts. And they worked okay, but usually I found myself putting all the things I was buying in the child seat area, and that has the problem of smaller items falling out into the main basket anyway. Ultimately I had to reach down to the bottom of the cart no matter what. In additional to that, I always felt silly pushing around an enormous cart when I was only getting a few things.

All that has been relieved, however, with the introduction of the compact shopping carts. These miniature carts bring a certain amount of satisfaction to me as I push them around the store. I actually like going grocery shopping, simply for the thrill of navigating these through the isles. They maneuver much better. Ninety degree turns are a cinch. They hold exactly the right amount for a single person. They are perfect. The only question I have about them is: Why on earth did someone not think of this sooner?

Released in 2006, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is a medieval first person action game. Players take on the role of Sareth a young man under the apprenticeship of a wizard named Phenrig. The story begins with the Sareth retrieving a magic crystal, and then being asked to take it to the wizard Menalag in the city of Stonehelm. From there Sareth is asked to perform many more tasks, meanwhile discovering his own dark past, and his destiny as the Dark Messiah. The majority of the game is focused around the city of Stonehelm, it’s sewars, and a mountain top temple, and a lair traversed to by way of portal.

As mentioned this game is best described as a medieval first-person action game, a fairly rare genre that gained some popularity with the Heretic and Hexen series, but one that has never shown promise, for reasons that will be made obvious in this review. The game itself features fairly straightforward levels, usually linear, but with a few opportunities to approach obstacles in a different way. It is powered by Valve’s Source Engine (the driving force behind Half-Life 2) and alongside that engine the game features stunning graphics.

The graphics and level design are absolutely astounding. While the Gothic architecture alone is enough to impress the most avid of fantasy gamers, the actual concepts are even more astonishing. One of the levels is a mountaintop temple. Which means it is a temple/monastery built on the walls of a canyon. The player will be excited to look across a deep canyon to see buildings hanging from the cliffs of the other side. This serves as a realization to the fact that they are standing in the same types of buildings, and at the snap of a rope, or the breaking of a board, the very spot that they are standing could collapse into the gorge below. Obviously this doesn’t happen all the time, but there is one building that will collapse, and just the thought of it is exciting.

The level design in general is excellent. Even the sewers are well done. Naturally, a sewer might be a boring rehash of various pipelines, but in this game there are goblin encampments built into the sewers which give the feel that the player is more than just wading through waste-water, but that they are in a location that has become a community of monsters. All of the dungeons and underground levels give the player the epic feeling as seen in the Mines of Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring. All are beautifully rendered as well, the game is as gorgeous as any game from 2006 could be. The game doesn’t just focus on the places where the player can stand, but backdrops are designed to enhance the overall feel of being somewhere epic.

This game is proof that beautiful graphics, well designed Gothic levels, and
lush environments do not make a good game.

While the graphics are excellent, this game proves one thing: good graphics and level design don’t make a good game. The bottom line is that a game needs to be fun to be good, and this game isn’t fun. The thing that makes this game so bad is the combat, and being that this is a combat-centric game, nothing about this game is fun. Pretty much every moment of the game is frustration, uncontrollable temper-loss, waiting forever for a save-game to reload, and cussing out the designers of the game.

The combat is awful. The player is awarded skill points throughout the game, with which they can upgrade various skills. There are basically three types of skills the player can upgrade: combat, stealth, and magic. No matter which style the player chooses to focus on, they will be disappointed. Magic is almost useless. Sure there are some powerful spells, but they take forever to cast, and so a player can get maybe one shot off, and then they’ve got to start running backwards to get the next shot off. Even then they are lucky if they actually hit their opponent with the spell they cast. Further, when Sareth runs backwards he is about as slow as a slug, so the enemy is going to catch up with him and beat him to the ground. If you want to run away, you have to turn around, run for the limited amount of time that you actually can run, then turn back around and hopefully the enemy is far enough away that you can get another shot off without being killed.

Sword and shield combat is just as bad. Enemies are too tough. One of the mechanics behind the game, was to use physics to kill enemies. That means that you fight in such a way to get enemies near a loose piece of architecture, then you whack the architecture, perhaps a wooden plank with some barrels on top of it, with your foot or sword, then something falls on the enemy and kills them. Alternatively you can coax your opponent so that they are between you and a set of spikes on the wall, at which time you kick them into the spikes and they experience instant death. There are also many opportunities to kick enemies over the edge of a cliff. There are many problems with this style of game-play, the first being that once you get into a combat situation, you are going to be focusing on dispatching the enemy, and running away as necessary, so you are unlikely to see what type of architecture you can use to your advantage until after the enemies are already dead, then you think to yourself “oh, I could have knocked that over". The next problem being that you face too many enemies at once, maybe you can get one enemy lined up just right to kick them into certain death, but when you are facing five at a time, your pretty much screwed.

The last option you have is to take enemies down with sword and shield, but the sword just doesn’t do any damage. It literally doesn’t do any damage, when you hit an opponent with the sword, or any other weapon, they always block it. You have to do power swings to do any damage, which take forever to charge, and even most of the time those get blocked. Soon enough you find yourself dead and reloading your last quick-save, yelling at the game about how bad it is. Later in the game, and once you have enough skill points, you can get better at cutting through an enemy’s defenses, but this comes far too late, and it still isn’t fun.

Maybe you developed a part magic, part combat character, in which case you think you would be able to cast a spell that causes the enemy to be stunned or frozen, then use your weapon on them. In theory this should work, except that switching between weapons is a pain in the behind. You see if you want to equip a weapon and shield you must equip the weapon, then the shield, there is no way to equip both at once, and the whole inventory system for equipping and using items is so bad, that if you were to freeze an enemy with a spell, by the time you switch to your sword, the enemy would already be back on it’s feet. You see you have to switch to combat spells to use them, thus sheathing your weapon and shield.

Sareth cannot see what is below him, because he refuses to move his shield aside.

The truth is that this game goes too far with it’s level of realism. In real life combat would be difficult, but in the video game world it isn’t fun. The game makes every step that Sareth takes as realistic as possible. The camera bounces around like crazy, when you look down you see Sareth’s body, not to mention that if you are carrying a shield you can’t look down at all, as all you will see is the shield. You need a shield if you want to survive. You have to put the shield away if you want to enjoy the visuals, but you will not be enjoying the visuals, because you’ll have your shield, and you won’t put it away because of the frustration of switching between inventory items.

The final boss is the most anxiety you will experience. After excruciating combat where even the most simplest of enemies has caused countless shouts of greef, the last thing you want to do is fight an enemy that is even tougher. Well, perhaps the satisfying thing is that it isn’t that tough of a battle. You fight a Wizard and his summoned dragon, but it is surprisingly not that hard. As long as you have enough potions. Is the ending worth it, though? No, it isn’t. This game is not worth playing at all. The only reason anyone would play this is if they were a hard-core Might and Magic fan, but even then, since it isn’t connected to the original lore it can easily be skipped, as well as it should be.

Medieval first person combat has never worked. First person action games have always been best served as shooters. Anytime heavy hand to hand combat is involved the game is bound to have problems, and this game is no exception. There is a reason why there aren’t very many games of this type, they aren’t very good, and no one has figured out how to make them good.

Rating: 4/10

Alternatives: None worth playing, but if you want medieval try a full-fledged RPG such as Oblivion.

Link: http://www.getsnuggie.com

Anyone who has watched television has probably seen the advertisements for the Snuggie. Advertised as a blanket with sleeves, the commercial claims that it keeps you “totally warm", that “one size fits all", it is “ultra soft", and gives you the convenience of using your arms without having to take them out from under a blanket. The Snuggie has gotten so much popularity that it is now available in most department stores. So what exactly is the Snuggie? And is it everything the commercials make it out to be? As with most “As Seen On TV” products the answer the the latter question is an unsurprising “no". The question then becomes, what makes the Snuggie such a lousy product? That can be found in the answer to the first question.

The Snuggie describes itself as “the blanket with sleeves". The idea being that you can read, use a remote control, and even eat all while in the warmth of a blanket. This sounds great, which is probably why the Snuggie has sold so well, but once you actually have one in your hands, you will know that you’ve been duped. The Snuggie is essentially, as claimed, a fleece blanket with sleeves on it. It should be clarified that it is a soft and very thin polyester.

The first major problem in it’s construction is the 100% polyester material that it is made out of. The material itself is fine, it won’t cause itching or any discomfort to your skin, but the blanket is simply not that thick, and hence it is not very warm. The claim that it can keep you “totally warm” is absurd, maybe if you live in Southern California, but certainly not anywhere that actually has cold weather. The commercial claims that you won’t have to turn up the heat, but in actuality you will.

The second major problem with this product is in it’s claim to fame, the sleeves. They are a hassle. First of all, their diameter is so small that unless your arms are bare, it is a pain to get your arms inside them. For example, if you are wearing long underwear the friction between your shirt and the Snuggie is going to, undesirably, roll up your sleeves. It must also be realized that the fact that it has sleeves, means that cold air can get through them, which means that unless you have a sleeping bag, or another blanket to put over the Snuggie, your still going to be cold, and your going to have to hold the ends of the sleeves shut with your hands, which means you can’t do anything with your hands.

Perhaps the last complaint and by far the worst is the claim that “one size fits all". That is a flat out lie. The true slogan should be, “One size fits none.” The thing is simply to small, and not just the diameter of the sleeves. Those who have seen the commercials will be under the impression that you can wear the thing like a robe. In the commercials the Snuggie is always shown from the front, but look around back, and you’ll see it is wide open, it is too small to wrap around even the smallest of human beings. The idea behind it must have been that you sit down and place it on top of you. Well, that isn’t how people wear regular blankets, they wrap blankets around themselves. Owner’s of Snuggies are frequently asked questions such as “What’s it like wearing it?", or related comments, and all they can think is, “You don’t wear it, you just sort of put it on top of you and slide your arms through the sleeves.” If you actually need to get up to do anything, you will have to remove it.

The bottom line is that the Snuggie is too small, you can’t wrap it around yourself. It isn’t thick enough to keep you warm. Pretty much everything that the commercial promotes is impractical in the real world. If you purchase this, or receive it as a gift, you will be disappointed by it. You’ll use it, sure, but honestly you are much better off getting a blanket, or a sleeping bag, or a heavy robe, or anything but this worthless pile of cloth. Sit in a chair and duct tape a blanket around yourself, you’ll be much happier.

This review is strictly for the popular product The Snuggie™ and may not apply to other sleeved blankets.

Fallout 3 is an excellent game, deserving of some of the best awards given to games. It received those awards, with several publications naming it the Game of the Year, hence the release of Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition. This version of the game included, in addition to the base game of Fallout 3, all the down-loadable content that has been released for the game. The DLC includes Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steal, Point Lookout, and Mothership Zeta. Though this review will briefly discuss the vanilla game, it will mainly be focused on the DLC.

Fallout 3

This game was the long anticipated sequel to 1998’s Fallout 2. Though not a chronological sequel, it is set in the same post-apocalyptic world that the previous two games took place in. The first two games took place in southern California, and this one takes the setting back east to the Washington D.C. area, in what is known as the Capital Wasteland. Fallout 3 is true to the original games, with a dark sense of humor, and extreme violence and gore. The combat system is a throwback to the first two games, but updated for a modern experience. The game is excellent, and most RPG fans will love it. Those that have never played an RPG will probably enjoy this as well.

Rating: 9/10

Operation: Anchorage

This was the first piece of DLC released for the game, and in many ways the most disappointing. Rather than adding new content to the Capital Wasteland, it adds a simulation device, that allows the player to visit a simulation of the war between China and the US. That war has been part of the Fallout lore since the first game, and was part of the cause of the nuclear holocaust. The simulator allows the player to experience one of the battles from that war. This DLC was mostly focused on shooting, presenting the player with a lot of enemies, and fairly linear level design. It adds plenty more game hours, but it isn’t that fun, and it doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the game. The main thing that it offers, is that it allows the player to receive Power Armor Training perk without having to complete significant portions of the main quest. It’s not horrible, just disappointing.

Rating: 6/10

The Pitt

This DLC could possibly be the best of the Fallout 3 DLC, though some will argue that Broken Steel is the best. This expansion adds a new quest line involving slave labor in Pittsburgh, PA. It expands the Fallout lore by adding more details about why the slave trade is so prominent, and involves a plot-line about curing certain forms of radiation sickness. The game-play is consistent with the original game, and overall blends in nicely with the rest of the game.

Rating: 9/10

Broken Steel

This was perhaps the most anticipated DLC, mainly because it raises the level cap from 20 to 30, and allows the player to continue playing after completing the main quest. It adds on a new quest-line that takes place after the main quest, which is an aftermath quest that allows players to participate in some of the events that they would expect to occur after the story of the main quest. This DLC does have one problem though, and a pretty serious one at that. With the new level cap it also introduced three new “tough” enemies. The Super Mutant Overlord, the Albino Radscorpion, and the Feral Ghoul Reaver.

These new enemies, especially the Super Mutant Overlord, are ridiculously difficult to kill. They aren’t fun to fight, players are guaranteed to run out of Action Points while fighting them, they are annoying, and encountering them is likely to cause some lost tempers. These enemies don’t show up until the player character reaches levels near and above 20, but once they do they are the ultimate frustration. If a player delays the main quest, then by the time they get to Vault 87 it could be literally filled with Super Mutant Overlords. Super Mutant Overlords are about as tough as Behemoths, except that there are a lot more of them. Part of the fun of reaching level 20 in the base game was that a character was so tough that they could kill almost everything in a single shot, with a satisfying slow motion sequence of the enemy being blown to bits. With these tougher enemies, slow motion shots that would normally mean a lot of damage is about to be dealt, mean that maybe 10% of the enemies health will be reduced. It simply isn’t fun to fight these guys.

The actual quest introduced at the end of the game is quite fun. It takes the player to Adams Air Force base. Perhaps the best thing about the air force base is that it is wide open and flat, unlike the Capital Wasteland, and it provides a good opportunity for players to use the signature Fat Man mini-nuke launcher. For once, players will find themselves able to light up an open area with nuclear explosions, and without having to worry about damaging themselves. The whole mission is excellent, and adds a really great finale to an already excellent game.

Rating: 8/10

Point Lookout

This DLC adds a new area of wasteland to explore. While the other DLCs are very linear in game-play, this one is the most open. Player’s are taken to the south of Maryland. This area has not experienced the nuclear holocaust of the Capital Wasteland, but it has been mostly abandoned, and many of the inhabitants have gone insane, making even worse enemies than the Feral Ghouls. The area is creepy, it is a horror setting, by which it should be understood that it is a horror-comedy. For example it parodies The Blair Witch Project in that there are little dolls hanging on trees, all over the place, but rather than being creepy looking stick figures, they are silly looking stuffed toys. It plays on other horror themes associated with the swamplands as well. There are references to Lovecraft mythology. It is quite funny in a dark way, and is fairly satisfying, but as with Broken Steel it introduces enemies that are simply “too tough", and that takes some of the fun out of the game.

Rating: 7/10

Mothership Zeta

This DLC is on par with Operation: Anchorage. It features a fairly strait-forward shooter style quest. The player is abducted by aliens, and from there goes on a killing spree, wiping out all the aliens in sight. It’s not very fun, it doesn’t add anything to the Fallout lore. It is merely a throwback to the random UFO encounter of the first two games. It introduces some new weapons, none of which are that impressive. It has the same problems as Broken Steel and Point Lookout in that the enemies are too tough to be fun. This is the worst DLC that has been released for the game.

Rating: 5/10

The bottom line with the DLC for the game is that if you got it with the Game of the Year Edition you may as well install it, unless you don’t want tougher enemies, then avoid installing Broken Steel. If you just want more Fallout 3 game-play The Pitt and Broken Steel are highly recommended. Point Lookout is worth a look at. Operation: Anchorage can safely be skipped, and Mothership Zeta should be skipped.