A Message from the Proprietor

So it has been nearly two whole days since my last blog post and I know my fellow internet dwellers are gossip-mongering about this travesty of a situation. Never fear, this self-proclaimed "Blogger of the People" has not forsaken your cries for anonymous words on a screen (coupled with pictures and a sing-along-song for your viewing pleasure..... ok, maybe not the song) and has a perfectly good reason for having not updated the page in over 30 hours....

It's the Weekend

Please, hear me out before you point out my laziness (noted) and my lack of personal motivation (duly noted) because I have a perfectly good story (see: excuse) for why you should not be mad at me, but at Weekends. Bear with me as this scenario will require a percentage of your imagination.

You see, The weekdays are like that friend you have who is well-mannered and who also accepts responsibility. You spend time with him/her throughout the week doing things like going to lunch, talking about sports, playing some video games, or even going out one night just to unwind some stress. As long as you are around this friend known as the weekday you will get your chores done, you will spend time with your family and have quality time with a significant other. As long as I am hanging out with my friend, Weekday, I am a responsible adult (sometimes). However, this is all before that extremely rowdy, obnoxious, forgetful, wild, coked-up friend of yours shows up called the Weekend, and he brings a whole lot of goodness with him in the form of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. All of a sudden, those responsibilities and obligations you had before Weekend arrived seem like distant fairy tales as you two commit some of the most egregious acts against sanity known to man. By the time Weekday comes to pick you up from Jail the following Monday it is too late, the damage is done by no fault of your own.

Anyways, that aside, I have been working diligently on some new splindiferous things to blog about.

• Eli Manning having to protect the "House that Peyton Built" in SuperBowl 46
• Gamer Fatigue and what you can do to protect yourself
• Old-School Video Game Music and why it was so sexy

I also have been gathering a few images to update my "Around the Webz" and have a few ideas for updating the "Did You Know?" and "Random Nonsense From Yours Truly". You see now? Even giving in to the temptations of my friend, Weekend, I have been keeping you internet homies in mind the entire time. I think I deserve a cookie for that, chocolate chip with caramel in the center if you don't mind. You're welcome.

A Treatise on NCAA College Football Games

Take a good look at these two images. Take away the titles from the bottom of these pictures and many people would not be able to tell which game is what. The highly (and I mean highly) successful gaming machine known from EA Sports has been pumping out football titles for years (for a complete compilation of those titles, see NCAA Game Series Wiki Page) and as an avid lover of video games and everything that they can stand for I have to ask this one question "Why????". What I am asking is why are these games continually pumped out year after year without hesitation? Of course, I have to look beyond the most obvious of reasons for why anything is done in this world (a.k.a. Money) in order to get at an answer that would satisfy the gaming purist in me. Criticizing a very profitable business model is something not done lightly, because for whatever reason or justification you can find for said criticism, it can always be countered by simply pointing to the success of the franchise in question. Therefore, I will be drawing upon basic gaming principles that I feel are important for a gaming franchise to grow into something truly legendary and not just a cash cow meant to be milked annually during the holidays.

To be frank, I actually do buy this game just about every year and will most likely continue to do so. In fact, I can't remember the last time I did not purchase a NCAA football game. I do enjoy playing these games, and while there is plenty I dislike about them there is also plenty I do enjoy. I know I know, that seems totally against what I am about to barf onto this blog but please, forgive me, my insatiable appetite for sports, games, and competition with friends keeps me on the gravy train.

Now that is off my chest, let me get down to exactly what I feel could be changed about this franchise. The change I am offering is nothing drastic, nothing overly complicated, and nothing close to a complete overhaul. My first, and most major of my suggestions, would be to change the release of NCAA titles from annually to every other year! Instead of EA Sports releasing NCAA 11 and 12 in succession, there would simply be 1 of those titles. Many video game companies will release their titles 2,3, even 4 years apart from one another and still maintain financial success. However, such titles like Skyrim cannot be compared to NCAA due to them being so different in every major way. So exactly what the hell am I rambling about here?? Well, with the way video games are going with the whole downloaded content generation, why not use this tool for more than just asking people to pay for stuff that should already be placed in the game.. let's say, use DLC to update teams statistical information, player information, and other technical information such as football field shapes and sizes, team logos, etc. You see where I am going with this now?? The "in-between year" where NCAA would not be released could be used to implement these changes which would allow the developers to further create and finalize new content and graphical updates needed to keep a video game series feeling fresh and exciting.

Seriously, having a NCAA come out every year where the biggest change to the game comes in the form of adding Erin Andrews to the sideline is disappointing from this gamer's perspective. I don't care about the flashy intros by the teams for the game, and more often than not, they actually show off the game's glaring graphical issues as the players, fans, and mascots look robotic and downright sad (just take a look at this Youtube Video and see how pathetic it looks). This is a plea to stop trying to give the masses a horribly implemented crowd system (which has gotten worse over the years), Erin Andrews (wtf is the point of her, seriously, why do people like her so much /fuming), and bad team intros... instead, give gamers a more polished NCAA in the form of better tackling (which is being worked on thankfully), better hit and ball detection, reduce player barriers, and for the love of all that is holy take out the totally unnecessary replay system.... the game knows when someone stepped out of bounds early or was down before a fumble occurred, I do not need to sit there and watch a couple of poorly constructed A.I. bots stare at each other before the correct call is made.

Sports games like NCAA (as well as racing "games") have never been something I have considered a true game. Maybe it is because I grew up playing more RPG's and action games than sports and racing or maybe it is because those types of games rely more on the Michael Bay Theory in gaming (add in flashy, purely eye candy material and they will come) more so than taking the time necessary to make each NCAA stand out from the last. I feel the developers need more time in between each title in order to completely hash out and implement new gameplay elements as well as creating a more worthwhile experience. When it becomes more exciting to find out who is on the cover and what the grass looks like in game instead of the actual gameplay, I think a video game series has long reached its apex and is in need of serious creative help, or maybe just a change of pace.

Top 10 Must Haves in a College Dorm

Based on my personal experience of living in a dorm, I have constructed a basic list of the things it takes for a college dorm room to fully come together. Trying to pull this decor off in a normal, real world, home would most likely result in people judging you for being lazy, poor, or irresponsible. Lucky for you, a college dorm is not something that applies to real life, so having a complete mess of a dorm is often celebrated as being "party-central" and will most likely have the coolest tenants.


Without further interruptions, rants, or pickles, here is the Top 10 Must Haves in a College Dorm:

1. If your dorm is furnished with a dining room table, you must use said table not for eating, but for making beer can pyramids. Get to it.
2. Any and all window blinds will be harassed, fondled, kicked, cut, broken, slapped, pulled, and smashed appropriately.
3. The walls of the dorm must remain bare save for a handful of posters. These posters will contain only the following: Picture of Animal House or John Belushi in his college shirt; Naked women (or ponies if you are female); A Poster of a picture of a collage of random Beer Tops from around the world; A calender; Black Light Posters; Psychedelic Imagery.
4. Your calender will be used to keep track of important test dates and information for no more than 1 month, from that point on it will never be touched except to find the days your are out for holidays.
5. Each roommate will be incredibly stalwart when it comes to who takes out the garbage, most likely 3-5 bags of garbage will pile up before someone decides to give in to cleanliness. Same rule is applied to the dishes.
6. It is preferable for there to be a small puddle of some eerie looking, liquid substance hanging out around the Bathroom of the dorm. No roommate will own up to said puddle, but at the same time no one will clean it because "they didn't do it".
7. Ordering take-out is a staple of the college life, therefore it is imperative each person in the dorm save their takeout boxes by simply not throwing them away... ever. Taking this a step further, if you really want to draw the respect of your fellow college goers, just display the many take-out boxes in the living area of your dorm. Trust me, all will come to appreciate such an act.
8. A dorm's refrigerator must be filled with the absolute bare minimum of groceries. Upon opening your fridge, guests should be greeted by a lone ketchup bottle on the top shelf, followed by an expired gallon of milk and sandwich mystery meat. Other items in the fridge will include: moldy leftovers; that desert you brought from home during Thanksgiving but its March now; a half-eaten bowl of cereal; mustard; butter; and some stains from that drink you spilled but cant remember because you were too drunk.
9. A piece of furniture that is owned by the college should be broken in several places and put aside in the room. Perhaps a couch that doesn't hold up in the middle, or a chair missing it's legs. These broken pieces of furniture will serve as another reminder of how hardcore your dorm living actually is.
10. Clothes. Everywhere. Clean clothes, dirty clothes, their clothes, your clothes... it doesn't matter just have clothes lying about in all the places you might need them.

Follow these 10 basic steps and your dorm room can be set on the path to pure college living. Enjoy, and Happy Dorm Living!

Having trouble getting that female attention?

 This is for those people who have trouble dealing with the female part of our society. It's ok, just look below for some easy solutions. Information found on Laura Serra's blog

 30 Ways to Make a Girl Smile

1. tell her she is beautiful, not hot or fine.
2. hold her hand at any moment you can.
3. kiss her on the forehead.
4. leave her voice messages to wake up to.
5. when she is upset, hold her tight and don’t let her go.
6. recognize the small things; they usually mean the most.
7. call her sweetie, not baby.
8. sing to her no matter how horrible your voice is.
9. pick her over all the other girls you hang with.
10. write her notes (she loves them).
11. introduce her to family & friends as your girlfriend.
12. play with her hair & if it smells good tell her.
13. pick her up, tickle her, and play wrestle with her.
14. pick her up and act like your going to drop her and she will scream and yell let her down even though she loves it.
15. tell her funny jokes, tell her stupid jokes, okay just tell her jokes.
16. throw pebbles at her window in the middle of the night just because you missher.
17. let her fall asleep in your arms.
18. carve your names into a tree.
19. if she’s mad, kiss her.
20. give her piggyback rides.
21. bring her flowers just because.
22. treat her the same around your friends as you do when you’re alone.
23. let her take as many pictures as she wants.
24. slow dance with her even if there isn’t music playing.
25. kiss her in the rain.
26. take long walks on the beach at night with her.
27. wait outside her house in the pouring rain to surprise her when she gets home.
28. when she’s ill stay by her bedside.
29. play fight with her and let her win.
30. and most importantly if you love her, tell her.

Pink Floyd showed me how to music.

Picture @ rateyourmusic.com

All throughout my life music has been somewhat void to me. I never have enjoyed it on the level of most people, including my friends and family. Of course, the people I know listens to a wide variety of music ranging from Pop to Rap to Country to Led Zeppelin and blah blah blah, you get the point. What always bothered me about music was mostly the singers themselves, the words they would use would most often ruin any attempt at creating music, in my opinion.

So yea, I disliked music. (Disclaimer: I did listen to some music as I was growing up, but I rarely ever did that). This attitude changed during my college years (around year 2) when my one of my roommates had a huge collection of Pink Floyd, Jimmy Hendrix, etc etc... Anyways, listening to Pink Floyd was something of a revelation for me. The discovery that, for me, music could actually be good without the annoying attempts at singing most "artists" would try to force on the public. No longer did I try and force myself to listen to three minute shouting matches so I could learn to appreciate music for I now had songs that would last ten to twenty minutes. (insert happy dance now).


Understand this, Pink Floyd has been the only band that I have ever listened to over and over and over (x 10000 billion) and never tired of a single second of it. I guess everyone has that band where you can listen to it so many times everyone else around you hates the very esssence of your soul (true story...almost). For me, every time I listen to this band its like the first time I ever heard them, and adventure from the very beginning as if I am riding through some strange Alice in Wonderlandish dreamstate.

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The Beginning of..... Something...maybe...

Welcome into a place filled with the musings of a madman. If you are looking for a quick laugh, an intelligent idea, or just a story to lift your spirits you have come to an interesting place because here, at The Arrowed Knee, I will be filling this space up with nonsense, such as musings about Video Games, Movies, Books (maybe), Reviews, Barnacles, lots of Videos and Pictures, and other stuff I can't think of at the moment. I have no idea if anyone will find this interesting or dumb or smart or even abstract... but I do know that 2+2=4 which means something to someone somewhere in this world.

If you are still reading at this point then congratulations, you may (or may not) have ADHD. Otherwise, lean back in your most comfortable chair, grab yourself a nice refreshment (maybe do that first) and enjoy my general ranting and brilliant finger-to-keyboard skills.