I've been asked a few times recently if I got married, which is a nice thought, but totally impossible because Jason Statham is currently in a relationship with someone else. Anyway, the explanation for the name switch, if you had noticed, from Carrie Venetia to Carrie Gouskos is not in any way glamorous, but I thought I would share it regardless.

When I first started writing reviews online, which was only at Frictionless Insight (RIP) prior to GameSpot, I went by Carrie Venetia, my first and middle names, for two reasons. The first being that I was afraid of people on the internet and I hated the idea of putting all my information out there for the world to see. But with stuff like WHOIS and People Search now, you can't really protect yourself anymore, so there's little point in worrying about it. The second reason is that I worked in game development under my first and last name, and I liked the idea of separating the two careers. When I started at GS, I stuck with my online moniker and didn't think much of it.

Then E3 came around and I found I was introducing myself as "Carrie...umm Gouskos, but well, Venetia... uhh... it's just Carrie" which is long and complicated and annoying, so I asked if I could reclaim my rightful identity as Carrie Gouskos... and so it was done.

See I said it wasn't very exciting, but really, the whole point of this is to say that I Wikipedia'd (<3) my great-great-uncle, who I recently found out was an Olympic medalist at the first summer games and there he is!

So apparently the sales have been pitiful. I hadn't done my part because I had played it through with a friend, but I'm picking up a copy at full retail price (even though they've already dropped the MSRP on it) today. Two copies actually. Maybe even three. I think that might be my token gift this year (last year it was copies of Infinite Jest). I'm actually considering buying more and mailing them to strangers.

If you buy any game this year, my recommendation is that it be Psychonauts. When I hear a game that clever, deep, unique, and all-around amazing is barely selling, not only does my faith in humanity die, but a little piece of me dies as well.

Please, if you can, buy Psychonauts.

Oh man, I have meant to post so many different times, but for now you'll just have to settle on a brief update to let you know that I'm still alive and made it through E3 (barely). Here are some things that I would like to share about last week.

1. When everyone you meet from San Francisco tells you not to move to the Tenderloin, you should proceed directly to the Tenderloin and find an apartment there.

2. It's EXTREMELY difficult to write when people are constantly taking pictures of the 12 foot applique of Jeff which you were dumb enough to sit behind.

3. There's a place in LA called the Golden Gopher, but it's not where it thinks it is. Also it should be called the Golden Goose.

4. Camp Freddy.

5. Camp Freddy OMGBLAGRIGHDIDOGOK.

Okay I think that's about all I have time to muster up right now. More to follow once I actually move and have more consistent access to the internet.

PS. I love you all... especially Camp Freddy.

I'm off to my first official function as a GS employee, and I'm very excited. Although this will be my sixth E3, this is my first time in this exact capacity, so it should be interesting. Although I hope to sign on and keep you updated, I have no idea what my days are going to be like, so I'm not making any promises. I'm sure you guys will come up with all the interesting things I never would have thought of, anyway.

See you in a week!

...that My So Called Life was canceled after one season.

...and that Forever Young by Alphaville isn't played from a giant loudspeakers wherever I go.

Let it be stated, for the record, that I'm obsessed with Wikipedia.

When I was little, as with many children, the standard punishment was to be sent to my room. My mother figured that since I never had a TV or a phone (not to mention a computer, what was a computer?) in there, that the punishment would be devastating and that I would have to sit around and be penitent.

One of her favorite things to say now is how much she regrets doing that, because as much as I loved playing outside (omg outside, what's THAT?), I loved being sent to my room. In my room there was a deep portion of my closet that I could sit in and read.... encyclopedias. Take a minute and get all of the nerd jokes out of your system. You'd think I'd be Ken Jennings incarnate at this point, what with all the trouble I got in (but I'm so not).

Anyway wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that is not only awesome (and as far as I can tell, reliable) but will also link you to OTHER interesting articles. So instead of having to fish around for another volume, you're just a few clicks away from all the information you would ever need to try to get Alex Trebek in bed (that is sooo not my intention....okay it is) So when I'm sitting around on the computer, procrastinating, I head over to wikipedia and start reading about something, and then something else, and then next thing I know I'm reading about the Battle of Aljubarrota and then two seconds later Andreini tessellations (true sequence). I just WISH I could retain it all, how awesome would that be.

There's point, isn't there? Well not really, but my travels through wikipedia brought me to three of the coolest names in the wholeentireworld and so I thought I'd share them, and then ask for any submissions and then I thought I'd make a be all end all list of the coolest names in history. I don't have any particular reason to do that either, except maybe to have done it.

And I'm so positive that my entries will blow you all away that you'll be unable to come up with your own, but it's worth a shot.

1. Hieronymus Bosch
2. Boutros Boutros-Ghali
3. Amedeo Modigliani

Because I'm a modern woman, I have decided that if I get married, instead of changing my name to my husband's last name, I'm going to change my name to Carrie Hieronymus Bosch. Talk about being the coolest kid on the block.

Man, I don't usually like to push down journal entries this quickly, especially because I'm still very much in the mentality of the last one, but at the apparent interest of a few people in OT, I changed my UCB around a little bit.

The Rocking Chair is a place for old(er) forumites to come together and talk about anything. I imagine some of the topics will be completely independent of age, but I like the idea of getting the older perspective on common video game (or even off-topic) themes.

If you're 18+, either physically or at heart, drop on by! And if you're not, feel free to come by and gawk at the old people!

A pet peeve of mine is the enforcement of affirmative action in academic papers. I am no longer allowed to say "when a philosopher examines his own..." (in fact I'll be marked off for doing so) But somehow it's perfectly acceptable to say "when a philosopher examines her own..." If I must, I'll stick to gender neutrality, so that when I'm forced to use sentences like "...because it is his/her freedom that makes him/her what he/she is..." that they'll see just how ridiculous it is.

P.S: Don't you see a potential Vicious Infinite Regress because I put "him" first in the him/her? I might mention that next time I turn a paper in.

P.P.S: What if I made my ten page paper a string of him/her/him/her/him/her/him/her/her/him/her/him/hers? I think it would make a real statement if I forced the teacher to count through all of those to see which gender I favored in the end. How suspenseful!
 

Lara Croft and I have a rocky past. I mean things were fine between us at first. I felt like she really understood me. When her second game came out, I boldly called it the greatest action game of the age (that might have been slightly hyperbolic, but I contest that it still did some incredible things within the action genre that have not been touched since).

The following releases were all a blur. Then there was that whole movie bit. I mean sure Angelina Jolie may be perfect looking, but I had been Lara Croft for the four preceding Halloweens and I had beaten every game (on every platform). I just don't see where they get off not giving me my due.

Angel of Darkness was a pretty big smack in the face. In fact, I don't think things have been the same between us since. And yet I'm always ready to kiss and make up. Oh Lara, how I've missed you.


I swear, I'm not...that...obsessed.

One of these days I'm going to simultaneously look at those pictures, these pictures, and the Nintendogs gamespace and die from an oversaturation of cuteness.