So yeah... I am back. I feel bad for leaving without notice. I did send my good friend angelbless a long message on Skype to send to the Final Fantasy Fans Union, where I am officer at, not sure if that got through, so I guess all of you felt like I just left you... :( Which I guess... is understandable if you hate me now. 

But anyway, for those of you who don't hate me, THANK YOU, because I don't hate you either :)

Anyway, for the past year and my absence on GameSpot, I have pretty much been... well busy actually. Like, I don't know... I really missed GameSpot. I would come on PSN sometimes and see people from GameSpot. I would sometimes check the unions throughout the last year and see people are still there being loyal and posting... and I felt guilty :(

I was under so much pressure with everything, and to be honest, the pressure isn't even off me yet, but I guess you can say I've learned how to handle it better. I got a new girlfriend who I have been with for over a year and four months now. This is probably my longest lasting relationship, and I really feel like I am going to always be with this girl. She's made me very happy, and while there have been the usual normal common problems here and there, it's been going well :P

As for school, well... I am 6th in my class of 900, so that's pretty good, with a GPA of 6.0. This is my last year in high school and I am on my way of getting the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, a very high prestigeous diploma that is better than the average high school diploma.

Apart from school, the girlfriend, I have also been applying for colleges, and a job. I got accepted into Florida International University so I am on my way to becoming a Software Developer, yay me :D As for with the jobs... well I applied last month, 2 weeks past, haven't heard anything. Any advice from you guys? 

I can honestly say that I have missed my friends here on GameSpot. This was the place where I pretty much expressed myself and to be honest was more closer with everyone here than I was with my own friends in real life. So it really hurt me kinda, having to leave, but now that I am back I feel like I belong again.

I hope you all understand and I am back as I said, and am ready to stay.

Thank you all who have read, and thank you all who are still my close friends. Love you all, and have a good night :)

Well, Facebook has already started to spam my wall :P Wondering if my birthday is on Christmas? Yes, it is lol :P The 25th is Christmas here in the US, though I know in Europe it's the 24th.

Anyway, I turned 17 today! :D

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas, Hanuka, Kwanze and Holidays for whatever you may be celebrating!

Take care everyone :)

So, this is my 100th blog! :D It's been over 5 years since I have been here on GameSpot, so I guess 100 blogs is pretty good... if I do the math, that would probably be around 1-2 blogs every month since I have been here.

Anyway, I am also now Level 40! :D I am leveling up pretty quick, but I doubt it will be quick from now on... :? Especially since my laptop broke like 3 days ago :( The good news however is that I am getting my new laptop in about 2 weeks :)

With this being said, I probably will not be able to be very active :? I am using my desktop currently to write this blog as I have some spare time, but I am usually never on my desktop since other people in my house usually use it; I only go on here for like homework since my laptop broke.

How did my laptop break? Well, Acer never really makes anything good, seeing as it's the below the top 5 brands of 2011 in laptops, so it's because I had a crappy computer. I will however be getting a Toshiba laptop which is 3rd I believe or 4th of the 2011 brands, so it will be much better.

I probably will not talk to many of you until after Christmas... so I might as well tell you all Merry Christmas! :) My birthday is on Christmas too, if you wanted to know.

Also, my Journalism class has a Facebook page, so our school newspaper is basically on Facebook as well as we hand them out :D If you are interested here is our page. I am the Assistant Editor-In-Chief, Layout Editor, Ecology Editor and Staff Writer. Next year I will be Editor-In-Chief :D If you want to add me on Facebook here is my profile.

Well, I think that's about it... oh and what happened to all those Halloween emblems and all those The Controller emblems that I have we have all been waiting for... :? I hope they get passed out soon...

Thank you all for reading and happy holidays!

Comment if you'd like ;)

Well, do I? Of course not!

So then why is my Biology teacher asking us to print out over 60 pages of notes?! That's a lot of ink, paper and money... this is ridiculous.

What's the most you have had to print out? What's your opinion on this? Unfair? Careless?

Thanks for reading.

~maniamsmart

Ok, so as some of you may already know, last week was my IB Pinning Ceremony. This ceremony represents me and my classmates as becoming official IB students. The IB program is basically the highest level of education if you don't know, in simple terms its college classes in high school lol :P

But anyway, last Thursday we got our official IB pins, and it was really cool. Our whole IB class (class of 2013) had to sing a song too... too bad I don't have the video for that, I'd post it lol :lol: I don't think we sounded great though, the teachers say we sounded good though.

Anyway, I have some pictures from the ceremony in our school auditorium for you all to see if you're interested, so here they are, enjoy!

Picture 1: I'm the one in the center with the black suit and the reddish shirt.

Picture 2: The IB pin (sorry, blurry).

Picture 3: Me with some friends.

Picture 4: Walking up to get pinned by the IB seniors (we are juniors).

Picture 5-6: Me with some more friends.

Picture 7: My teachers and IB administrators. I may have told some of you about my math teacher that is always funny and curses and doesn't care. He is the old guy second from the right with glasses. Rich guy too lol, freakin' thousand dollar suit there.

Picture 8: A shot of everyone after we sang. (The teachers did not sing lol :P)

Picture 9: Getting pinned. :D

Picture 10-13: More pictures with friends and a shot of us after we finished singing.

Comment if you'd like, and thank you for reading.

~maniamsmart

Ok, so we had to do a movie project for IB Biology II class, and I decided to use Adobe After Effects to make the video. I didn't do anything big and fancy, just some animation and some basic things, but it's my first try with the program and just wanted to show everyone.

So here it is, enjoy, the music is Final Fantasy :D

[video=diAwxTL65bMIvDbZ]

Leave a comment if you like, and thank you for reading and watching :)

~maniamsmart

10. The Gatherers (Amnesia The Dark Descent)

The primary enemy in Amnesia. You have no way to fight these monsters, you can only try to run and hide. Looking at them degrades your characters sanity and he even has a hallucination where he images that one is chasing him.

9. Nazgul – Lord of the Rings series

Perhaps more so from the movies and books than from the games themselves, the Nazgul are men who have fallen to the power of Sauron, the face of evil in Middle Earth. The Nazgul can't be killed, but they form they possess can be destroyed, though they do not die.

8. The Master (Fallout)

This very, very twisted thing that shows what happens when one mixes egomania with hope of the morbid kind, e.g. the endeavor to "save" the world's inhabitants by damning them to a horrible existence that otherwise inures them to animosity and suffering.

7. Scourge Splitter (TimeSplitters 2)



These mysterious Splitters from TimeSplitters 2 never cease to hunt you down to get the crystals from you. Nearly every story mission in TS2, they appear, just out of nowhere, splitting through time - just to get the crystals in your possession. Talk about dedication, eh? And their appearance reflects their intimidating and alien arsenal that they use as well.

6. The Hag (Thief: Deadly Shadows)

A mysterious old woman with powerful Glyph magic that stalk and kill victims at night, stealing their skin to use it for disguise. Once, she killed and skinned an orphan, then used her skin to infiltrate the Keepers as Interpreter. Her goal was to destroy the keepers and use their glyphs. Besides transformation, she possesses the power to bring statues to life and making them fight for her. In her true form she looks like a huge ugly humanoid with multiple face scattered around its body.

5. Diablo (Diablo)
Also known as the Lord of Terror, Diablo is a large demon, his skin is red, has claws on his hands and legs, and large spikes out if his his back and head. He is the strongest known demon, can transform to any shape, controls the powers of fire and spread fear among his enemies.

4. Venom [Spiderman]

He is one of the biggest villains in the series of Spiderman game. By judging the appearance of this creature, he doesn't have any part showing that he looks like a spider instead he looks like the hulk painted in black. He has a bulky appearance just like those wrestlers that I saw in WWE. The creepiest moment is when he pulls out his long tongue with lot of saliva dripping on the floor. He does not use any type of weapon as a bare hand is his strongest weapon. The way he is smiling is like he did wish to bite you off.

3.Chainsaw Man (Resident Evil)

You hear a chainsaw revv up offscreen. This has got to be the Chainsaw Man, and there is nothing enjoyable about him. He's bloody, he wears a burlap sack on his head, he has a chainsaw....

2. Darth Vader

The mighty Darth Vader has terrorized helpless life forms on the big screen and on the small screen. He is wearing a black mask with a coating armor. With his evil and the power to conquer the space, he doesn't care the person is a rebellion or villager. No one could ever survive on his bare eye. His favorite weapon is his laser stick where he used to battle with Sith Lord and Jedi in the series. I can't see how he is laughing but we all know he can laugh hard in sound where the sound of his victory and mission success.

1. The Joker (Batman: Arkham Asylum)

The Joker is a criminal, psychopath killer with a clown-like appearance, white face, green hair, red lipstick and Wearing a purple suit. He's always smiling and throw jokes, he's good at manipulating people and make fun of them.

Hello friends,

Well, I felt like writing a blog so now I am :D I would like to make some shout outs to some of my friends here on GameSpot, but that will come at the end of the blog. :)

So... what has been happening lately? Well a lot actually, and if you'd like to comment on anything then please do so, I'll be glad to read your comment :) First of all, my girlfriend... some of you know her... she cheated on me :( You ask why? I honestly have no idea at all. I'm as lost as you probably are, but oh well, I guess that's how life goes, some things just don't make sense. I have gotten over it by now already, especially since she didn't even tell me anything and didn't even want to say anything to me about it, it was like walking up to someone, shooting them, and then just leaving them to bleed to death... that's how you could describe it :? This happened like 4 weeks ago or so by the way.

Also, school has started again, I know all my peers know that, so I am in Junior year now, after that one more year. :D Teachers are working us to death though :? On one side I can't complain since I'm in IB, but on the other hand I feel like they have no understanding and just don't care. In my Journalism class (School Newspaper) I did meet a really nice girl though :) She's cute too, she is a Sophmore, her name is Sage, maybe I can have some luck with her :D

My mom is also in the hospital at the moment, I'm not sure for what, but she has some sort of pain in her stomach. She has been there for the past 2 days. Will have to see what happens in the coming days.

I have also been trying to recruit new members for The Final Fantasy Fans Union (FFFU), and have been putting up a fight with GameSpot to reconsider their endorsed and official unions, since some of them don't even deserve it. A lot of new things will be coming to the FFFU as well, me and the administrative officers are working on 2 new projects at the moment :D I also won the Countdown Tournament in the FFFU against Raven325, she almost beat me, I won due to the last round though :D I also wish we would get more caption entries in the FFFU's Caption Contest. Could you all please submit a caption if you have time and are interested? That would really be nice of you :) Have also been getting many emblems as I'm reaching to 60! The Social Network Union has also been doing very well, so I'm happy about that as well.

Hmmm, what else is on my mind today? Ah yes, I have been listening to not only Eminem lately :P but also to Robbie Williams a lot. He actually has a lot of good songs, and I like them a lot. I recommend you look his music up, you may like it ;) Now time for some shout outs :D These are the people on my mind tonight :)

@angelbless, I read your blog and it really stunned me. :( I hope you can recover soon and at least try to feel better :) You're doing a great job at leading the FFFU as well, we are gaining many new members :D Glad I can be a part of the union!

@raven325, I loved our competition in the FFFU, we were really close in score, and I honestly thought you were going to beat me since you won in one of the Hangman rounds. Good game though, I enjoyed playing against you. Too bad we could not pull our plan off at making it a tie game :P

@The Emblems Union, I want to thank everyone that manages that union, you guys are really helpful to the entire GameSpot community :) A lot of my emblems are thanks to your informative updates.

@DreadDLordD, I want to thank you as well for your continuous support in the FFFU :) I also think you and I may have to do the podcasts and maybe Balmane as well if angelbless does not have time, because I know he is under a lot of pressure at the moment :? We will see how things go though.

Well, that's all for today. Thank you all for reading, have a wonderful day/night and take care!❤

~maniamsmart

Well I'm going to share my thoughts with you all before I go to bed today... it's quite late :P

Anyone tried Google Plus? I heard that it sucks and Facebook is still better...

Is there a Reviewing Emblem? I've been writing a lot of review lately... well only 3 but still :D

Is Google Chrome better than Firefox, or the other way around? I don't know, I use Google Chrome, and I like it.

Is my teacher gonna reply to my email already? I've been waiting all day... not that I really care if he replies today or tomorrow, though it'd be nice if he did today... :?

People on GS that are on my mind right now for no reason whatsoever... if your name is mentioned congrats I guess :P

@Angelbless

@Synthia

@Cheesyjon

@Balmane

@JodyR

@Raven325

@Skye89

@DreadDLordD

@Irishdude199210

@Sandulf

@Hannahevil

@SQUALL20XX

Quite the random blog I know... well good night everyone!(:

Alright, so today I'd like to share with all of you how GameSpot seems to moderate whatever they feel like moderating... in fact I'm gonna share with you some personal messages I had with the person that locked my thread...

So here is the topic I posted in OT: LINK TO MY TOPIC

Here are the messages from my inbox:

[QUOTE="maniamsmart"][QUOTE="DroidPhysX"][QUOTE="maniamsmart"][QUOTE="DroidPhysX"][QUOTE="maniamsmart"][QUOTE="DroidPhysX"][QUOTE="maniamsmart"][QUOTE="DroidPhysX"][QUOTE="maniamsmart"][QUOTE="DroidPhysX"]

Your pro-life post had no objectivity and therefore cannot hold weight.

DroidPhysX

Your locked thread on aboriton. Your reasoning was fundementally flawed.

I don't think that was the case, I believe it was more along the lines of an authoritarian falacy. My thread had a fundemental reason behind it, it had the reason for spreading the reasoning of abortion. Not to mention I had further included a piece of support from an outside resource and shared it with a community of people. Having a poll also made the topic a fundamental discussion in which reasoning could not only be drawn from my piece of supprot but also from the responses of other members that would have stated their opinions.

I'm part of the International Baccalaureate body, and I've written extended essays and discussion topics which are based on reasoning, if anyone would know anything about fundamental reasoning... that would be me.

Now if you would have told me that my posting was disruptive due to the huge paragraph then yes, that would have been a good moderation TOWARDS MY POST, not towards the entire topic.

Seeing as you did not state that, you my friend have exhibited an act of an authoritarian falacy whether it was towards your preferences towards the topic or not...

~maniamsmart
Senior Gamespot Member

I saw no objectivity, no factsand therefore it holds no weight. Are all your essays like this?

And mind you the topic was on Abortion, thus there are no FACTS based on the topic since it is an opinionated topic. If you would like to moderate everything based on FACTS, I suggest you sit in your chair and begin looking over 50% of the topics on the OT board.

~maniamsmart
Senior Gamespot Member

So your opinion on abortion held no weight? Gee, never heard of an arguement against abortion like that.

I don't even see why I have to argue with you, your obviously not getting my point... you locked my topic due to an authoritarian fallacy... a moderator is not supposed to do that... in fact I doubt you even know what that means... which continues to prove to me that there is no point in even talking to you anymore.

Many of the topics in the OT board do not have facts in them, and they are all opinions... they don't get locked. My topic was no different from others... opinions vary by personal perspective... there is no value or weight for an opinion since it is a statement based on someone's own beliefs.

I think you need to review your moderation guide again because there was no purpose in locking that thread. The only reason that you could defend yourself with is that my first post had ahuge paragraph that could have been seperated... you did not even let the topic stay open long enough for me to do that. Your reasoning for closing the topic because it had "no weight" is a pathetic reason and if you want to defend yourself with that reason then please do me a favor and lock all topics in the OT board that do not contain facts and apparently hold no weight.

Have a good day sir, you've already wasted enough of my time, I thought a "moderator" such as yourself would understand and have an open mind, but apparently I was wrong.

~maniamsmart
Senior Gamespot Member

First off I was arguing about the legality of abortion.

And secondly...I'm not a moderator.

Legality? Wow... I don't what your trying to prove... let me ask you something... are you just bringing words out of your head that may sound smart and big to defend your argument? The legality of abortion is different in every country, thus making it a good topic for discussion... if you were arguing the legality of abortion then why in the world did you lock the topic in the first place?! Post your argument in the thread.

And if you're not a moderator, then that's even worse, then you're completely using an authoritarian fallacy to lock the thread

~maniamsmart
Senior Gamespot Member

I already did ;)

Now take a look at this topic, it has the same purpose and the same topic and it is not locked...: LINK TO THE TOPIC

I don't get it... the mods these days are messed up, or at least the one I dealt with...