Half-Life 2: Shooting your way through an Orwellian dystopia

I am a major fan of video games. Not just playing them, but enjoying the storylines, some of which can hold their own against books and films. Recently, I bought the Orange Box for my XBOX 360. I found myself greatly enjoying it, not just for the stellar gameplay but for the well-crafted storyline

The main game in this collection is Half-Life 2, the sequel to the groundbreaking first person shooter Half-Life. Half-Life told the story of Gordon Freeman, an employee of a top secret research institution. One day, an experiment went horribly wrong, allowing aliens from another dimension to invade Earth. Gordon seemingly managed to stop them in their home dimension, but was then frozen in stasis by an enigmatc figure. Half-Life 2 picks up some 10-20 years later, when Gordon is released from stasis to find that aliens have took over the earth and are ruling over humanity with an iron fist.

The game has a very Orwellian atmosphere. Propaganda blares from large television screens, while masked police officers beat up anyone who is even slightly out of line. People live in you make your way through all of this, you begin to understand what happened while you were dilapidated apartment blocks with sparse furnishings. The city looks run down and neglected. As out. The soldiesr and cops speak in electronically masked voices, making them sound inhuman. The police dispatcher can be heard speaking in a distinct semi-British voice issuing ordersto police and citizens alike

The Best Of Betty: How You Need To Learn To Laugh At Yourself

One of the short stories we read, "The Best Of Betty," consisted of letters to an advice column; the titular Betty responding in increasingly snarky ways. By the end of the story, she is outright telling her readers that their life sucks. This is what I really liked about this story, laughing at someone elses misfortune is fun. Sometimes the stupidity of the world just makes you want to vent. However, it can be quite useful to laugh at yourself. Nobody is perfect, not even yourself, and realizing this and learning to make fun of your own problems can make a bad day go by faster. Life can be furstrating. Sometimes a quick jab at someone, even yourself, can liven things up.

What if all of the problems facing humanity could be overcome just by making everybody beautiful? This is the question posed by Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. They are the story of the world 300 years in the future, when after modern society was destroyed by genetically engineered oil eating bacteria, mankind built a new society where everybody is made "pretty" on their 16th birthday. After this operation, they get tolive a carefree life with no responsibilities.

The story follows a girl named Tally who is looking forward to her 16th birthday and the operation. However, her new friend Shay isn't excited at all about it. When Shay runs off into the wild, The government gives Tally an ultimatum; find where Shay ran off to, or never turn pretty.This series is surprisingly well-written, especially for something aimed at teenagers. The setting is well fleshed out and feels believable. Although the books at first glance don't look particularily interesting, once you start reading them you'll be hooked. There are a lot of interesting gadgets such as hoverboards, which the books go into some detail about how they work. I would wholeheartedly recommened this series to this class.

My first week of class with Stephanie Scott

My mother suggested that for summer school this year I should take a literature class. I initially grumbled at taking any summer class: after all, summer is the time to relax, and I am already working a few days a week. Then I saw the ads for the lit class I needed taught by Stephanie Scott, a teacher I had in high school. This would be an excellent oppourtunity to get that one humanities credit I need for my degree. Although I am oftentimes more interested in video games, I had recently read a series that I enjoyed immensely; one of the few things I have read recently that wasn't a tie-in to Halo. I can have a lot to say about a good story, and I found it quite enjoyable to discuss literature at Ms. Scott's book clubs back in high school. I look forward to discussing literature with Ms. Scott and this class.