Is it just me or does it seem to you like the gamespot staff almost have their own click, which is nearly impossible to break into? It makes sense as they work for the same company, but I would like to get to know some of them better... do any of you have suggestions? I have a few ideas, but each requires a sizable amount of time as well as some luck...

Perhaps I should not be posting this as I will actually be trying one of those strategies right after this. If it works, then I may get some backlash for this blog. However, that is not what I want. What I really want out of this blog is ideas for befriending them as well as hopefully comments from the staff itself about their position on this; I know I am only seeing one side of the coin.

BTW, do people like my math questions? If so, I will keep posting them (there is a current one in the comments on theblog twice ago).

With such a busy life, sometimes it is good to stop and look at beauty. Here is a list of a few things I thought of/saw/heard today:

While on the way to Home Depot, I saw a full, bright rainbow in the sky. Normally I don't get excited about rainbows, but this was a full one (even purple, which I rarely see) and was easily visible. It was just gorgeous! :) In fact, it is what gave me the idea for this blog.

When leaving Home Depot I looked to see if the rainbow was still there; instead the western sky (rainbow was in the east) had a cloud formation that looked like an eruption/explosion. While it was not "beautiful", it was still cool.

Turning to music, there are some things that are just beautiful, such as Newsboys "He Reigns", Michael W. Smith "This is Your Time", and Philips Craig and Dean "My Praise".

I cannot talk about beautiful music without bringing up Josh Groban. I don't even like the genres he sings! However, his songs are incredible, and it is not just his stand-alone voice (he does duets, but a decent number would argue that he has the best voice EVER. In fact, if I heard correctly, he has already out-sold all other artists, including ones like Elvis and Frank Sinatra and (insert anyone famous)). My three favorites of his are "Awake", "Believe", and "In Her Eyes". All three are absolutely incredible!

I have also had many beautiful dreams, but those will wait for a future time... ;)

Please leave any comments/questions about anything I wrote. Also, feel free to leave something you find beautiful! :D

PLEASEcomment on whether you are a male or female gamer and what types of games you play and preferred sitting time (how long do you like to play at a time). I want to see if there are any correlations (even though this will probably not be the best sampling; which is why I NEED lots of comments!). In the future I may do further comparisons, depending on how well this one does ;).

For example:
Male
RPG, Platformers, Adventure, Racing, TBS
Mainly short spurts

BTW, if anyone wants a math problem: Does ( x^2 - 1 = 8 ) imply that x is odd? Prove your answer (there is more than one correct way).

First off, please keep the question game going.

Also, I wanted to let you all know about my friends policy. I am becoming a bit more leniant, so as long as I see a number of posts from you, I will start tracking you. That also means that I will be reading your posts (even if I don't comment). I figure I should try a strategy of befriend now and see if they continue to be friendly. What this also means is that I am going to be a bit harsher next time I go through my friends list.

A major piece of news: I will no longer be as active here on gamespot (for a month or so) as today my summer mathematics institute started up. My entire day is gone and evenings will be spent tutoring and helping out around the house, so my activity will drop some for a while. However, I still hope to remain active on The Game Development Union (join now if you have not done so already!).

BTW, because I just brought it up, if you have any academia questions, feel free to ask me in either a comment or PM as I am a tutor (and I love to help people!).

A random piece of news: I did something totally random; while going through a blog chain, I came across a user I had never seen before whose entire blog was asking for people to befriend a friend of his. I decided why not? So I went over and started to track him. Thus, I have one friend on my list who I don't know anything about (or know anything about the user who asked for the befriending). Sometimes I enjoy being spontaneous! Let's see now if he starts to comment... ;)

One final thing: I found an interesting logic question during class today; can you solve it?: Three children are in line. From a collection of two red hats and three black hats, the teacher places a hat on each child's head. The third child sees the hats on the first two, the second child sees the hat on the first, and the first child sees no hats. The children, who reason carefully, are told to speak out as soon as they can determine the color of the hat they are wearing. After 30 seconds, the front child correctly names the color of her hat. Which color is it, and why?
(So far, I think I have figured out that it is a black hat (two red hats and the third would have known that his was black), but how did she know that she did not have a red hat and the one behind her has a black one?)

First off, I don't like swearing, especially when I hear it accidentally coming out of my mouth or flying through my head. However, I do have a question: what makesa swear word?

Are words considering swearing based on their origin, such as"the finger"and sh*t? Or is it how we say them? Or is it when we say them? What makes a swear word?

For once, I am asking a question I do not know the answer to. In fact, I don't quite like this blog (and hoping I don't get moderated for it; there is no way around asking this question). I do see a difference between using a swear word as a description and using it against someone. However, why aren't "shoot", "man", "boy", "yargh", "what", "nuts", and all of the other exclamations not considered swearing? They are sometimes used in place of swear words and thus mean practically the same thing! This simply does not make sense to me...

What is your opinion on female characters in games? Which ones have been done correctly, and which ones have been royally screwed up?

My Opinion:
Personally, I like to see a good number of female characters in games. However, I don't want to be seeing clevage, too short of shorts, etc. I think women offer so much more than just bodies. In fact, I believe they are even more complex then men. So much could be done with a great female character that it is such a shame that we don't see many of them. However, some games are making a comeback when it comes to female characters. At least now I can find games with great female characters. Also, I may be strange, but I find them to be the best when they are not trying to be sexy. For example, take Mila in Hotel Dusk. Although she is only in one game, she has moved at least into my top 20 favorite characters, if not top ten. The artists did not try to draw her as sexy (although she does get comments from Louie); instead, it is the sorrow in her life and how she has triumphed that makes her such a great character. Also, as to actual looks, she is dressed rather well, in a dress that is not designed to be provoking, but looks cute (not best word, but no better one comes to mind), which is much better. Other ones I have enjoyed include Florina (Fire Emblem 7), Lyn (Fire Emblem 7), Daisy (Mario games), Hope (Sonic Comics), Sally (Sonic Comics), Natasha (Fire Emblem 8), Marisa (Fire Emblem 8), and more (mostly from FE 6/9, neither of which I own (but read stories and looked at sprites and graphics)). Only two games come to mind for the other extreme: Puzzle Quest right off the bat. Only the two female knights are well-dressed. Every single other character I remember (including NPCs) had plenty showing. I also have disliked many of the females that I have seen from the Final Fantasy series. With that said, one of my favorites (just from looks, know nothing about her) is from a FF game (I don't even remember the name or game; it is the one djmarky likes so much).

What are your thoughts on this topic?

BTW, I think one of the reasons for the slight increase in good female characters comes from the increase of female gamers. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but do any of you actually like the inappropriate clothing?

This works great in unions, so how well it work in my blog? You all decide that ;).

Do you like Sonic the Hedgehog?

I will add two to the list:

101. My birthstone is the pearl/alexandrite.

102. My favorite person to meet up with would be a childhood friend back from Illinois (who was also my first best friend (that's also a correction)).

Can some of you post your own information taken from the list? Or why not copy and paste it into your blog and change the answers to you own? I would read it.

103: A Defining Characterstic: Imagination

I have the most vivid and one of the craziest imaginations of everyone I know of. That is why I like to discuss game ideas or theology (or other deeper items). I also have the ability to dream what I want to dream about to some extent. This gives me yet another dimension to my stories and game ideas as I am literally seeing them. However, I only see generalities. I cannot make out distinctive features.

Question: does anyone know of a good way for me to catalogue my game ideas and stories on gamespot? I have yet to find a good system... actually I have yet to find any system, besides that you can search tags for "The Dreamer" or "WorldWind".

Does anyone want to read another story? I have plenty...

I figure I have been getting my name out enough to generate enough interest to do this 100 question-long Q&A I found on SamThePrankster's blog (I have added a few (the letter ones)):

1. Name - Brian C.

2. Nickname - The Ambassador or J4Y

3. Place of residence - Michigan

4. Place of birth - Illinois

5. Zodiac - don't care

6. Gender - male

7. School - Homeschooled

8. Car - None

9. Yahoo - None

10. MSN - None

A. Email - ambassador@wideopenwest.com

B. Graduated - from high school, will enter college as a junior by credits

-Appearence-

11. Hair color - Blond

12. Hair length - Short

13. Eye color - Blue

14. Weight - don't know ~170?

15. Height - don't know ~5'11"

16. Braces - no

17. Glasses - yes

18. Piercings -none

19. Tattoos - none

20. Righty or lefty - Righty

C. Watch - yes, one that I alternate arms with

-Your first-

21. Best friend - Phillip

22. First Award - don't know, maybe the soccer contest...

23. First sport - Soccer

24. First pet - feeder fish!

25. First real vacation - Travelling all around the western part of the US (~ 6 years old?)

26. First concert - Plus One (probably one earlier, but I cannot remember it)

27. First love - none

D. First hobby - video games

-Favorites-

28. Movie -hard one... probably one of the Star Trek movies (IV?)

29. Tv show - Star Trek or Early Edition or Numb3rs

30. Color - a cool blue

31. Rapper - um... does DC Talk count?

32. Band - Philips Craig and Dean? I have many favorites...

33. Song - either "He Reigns" (Newsboys) or "My Praise" (Philips Craig and Dean)

34. Friends - Ryan

35. Sweets - 3 Musketeers (taste great but not that bad for ya!)

36. Sport to play- Tennis

37. Restaraunt - Ram's Horn

38. Brand - don't know, I don't pay attention to that...

39. Shop - Gamestop, Best Buy, or christianbook.com

40. School Subject - Computer Science & Mathematics

41. Animal - Horse (especially Pegasi)

42. Book - Blink (Ted Dekker)

43. Magazine - Sonic Comics

44. Shoes - actually I like the black Dr. Schols ones

E. Pasttime - Gamespot blogs or reading comments on my own

F. Board game - Stratego

G. Card game - Lost Cities

H. Union - GDU or GDU (Game Development Union or Game Designers Universe)

I. User - none at this time, used to be -SpikyBlueHero-

J. Writer - Bill Myers or Ted Dekker

K. Crazy thing you've done - Started the Game Development Union

L. Fear - (Favorite fear???) Either heights or roller coasters as I conquered both of them

M. Singer - Josh Groban

N. Actor - David Krumholtz

O. Actress - Navi Rawat

P. Shorthand - BTW

Q. Smiley - :):D:P;) Take your pick; I use all four a lot

-Curently-

45. Feeling - like this will take longer than anticipated :P

46. Wearing - green shirt and blue pants

47. Have a crush - no

48. Eating - nothing

49. Drinking - nothing, but normally ice water

50. Listening to - In Her Eyes (Josh Groban)

51. Thinking - that people will never figure out why I like that song (it's because of the line "I am not a hero, I am not an angel")

52. Wanting - Time

53. Watching -the laundry (not a show, in real life (literally just beeped!))

R. Playing - Hotel Dusk

S. Reading - Hotel Dusk and Sonic Comics (not at this exact moment)

-Future-

54. Kids - Perhaps

55. Marriage - Only if I happen to meet the right woman

56. Career - Video Game Development leader

57. Destination of Residence - USA

58. Car - something that can get me place to place stylishly, comfortably, and not gas-guzzingly

-What do you prefer in opposite sex-

59. Hair color - don't really care

60. Hair length - don't really care

61. Eye color - don't really care

62. Measurments - don't really care

63. Cute or Sexy - Cute

64. Lips or Eyes- eyes

65. Hugs or Kisses - Hugs

66. Short or Tall - don't really care

67. Easy going or Serious - can be both

68. Romantic or Spontanious -not really either, but don't reallycare

69. Fatty or Skinny - don't really care (except far extremes either way)

70. Sensitive or loud - can be both

71. Hook up or Relationship - relationship

72. Sweet or Caring - can be both

73. Troublemaker or Hesitant -not really either, but don't really care

-Have you ever-

74. Kissed a stranger - no

75. Had Alcohol - no

76. Smoked - no

77. Done anything crazy - yeah, tons of stuff (none dangerous to my health though)

78. Ran away from home - long story, a few short times

79. Broken a bone - no

80. Got an X-ray - yes, hasn't everyone?

81. Went out with someone - no

82. Broken someones heart - probably not (I don't understand women though :P)

83. Broke up with someone - no

84. Cried when someone died - Yes

85. Cried at school - no

T. Fallen asleep in school - yes, for short periods of time

U. Had a job - yes, many (started at age 11 in a summer job, now tutor AND work in a biomedical place)

-Do you believe in-

86. Miracles -yes, I have seen plenty of them personally

87. God - yes, I am a devout Christian

88. Love at first sight - yes

89. Ghosts- no

90. Aliens-no

91. Soul mates - yes

92. Heaven - yes

93. Hell - yes

94. Angels - yes

95. Kissing on first date -no

96. Horoscopes - no

97. Karma - not really

98. Personality - What does that mean? Yes, I think...

99. Favorite meal - Meatloaf, cheese, ketchup, and mashed potatoes stack (sounds nasty, but tastes great and is quick and easy to make (can do the meatloaf and mashed potatoes together))

100. Favorite game - currently Hotel Dusk

(BTW, can someone tell me why those were not in the "favorites" section?)

-Video Games-

V. First video game - Sonic the Hedgehog 2

W. First beat video game - Sonic the Hedgehog

X.First system - Sega Genesis

Y. Easiest game - Ecco the Dolphin (Genesis)

Z. Hardest game - Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future

So there you have it: 126 questions and answers. So do you think you know me better now? In some things I am probably busier than you thought, but in others I probably seemed rather boring.

Please comment! Let me know I did not just waste the past hour!

So how many of you wanted to know more about me? I have changed several things to public access, and I will add my birth date to the list once glitchspot stops acting up...

Also, if you want to know something specific about me, just ask! :)