New Diablo 3 Gold Guide Blog.

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The Elders Scrolls 5: Skyrim Creation Kit Release Date Announced!

Bethesda just released the date we should be expecting the Skyrim creation kit for PC. They've stated it will arrive this coming Tuesday, February 7th! They also hinted that it will be coming with another surprise! Can't wait to see what that could be! If anyone has any ideas as to what their little secret might be post in the comments below or tweet @yetanother_nerd. Stay tuned for more news!

Psychoanalysis of Eminem’s First Three Studio Albums

By:Julian Hunt

For: Grade 12 English

Eminem's music has always sparked controversy in the press; however, his music has changed over time, as his character evolves through the development of id, ego and super-ego. This artist has produced a large body of work including several studio albums as well as multiple collaborative efforts with other artists. Analysis of this work may be approached using several literary lenses. Applying psycho analysis to his first three studio albums allows us to understand where all these hotly debated lyrics originate from and how they change over time. As we apply Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche to these albums, they turn from just an angry teen's words to a dark, intricate story of a character’s struggle to deal with his inner demons. To achieve this we must carefully analyze the ego, id and super-ego of the character Eminem throughout the albums “The Slim Shady LP”, “The Marshall Mathers LP” and “The Eminem Show”.

The ego of the character we watch develop through these albums is the rapper Eminem: the public persona he strives to be, unaffected by his id or his super-ego. This character struggles to contradict the id, Slim Shady. He is introduced as follows in the song “My Name Is” “Well since age twelve, I've felt like I'm someone else/ Cause I hung my original self from the top bunk with a belt”(My Name Is). Slim Shady is Eminem's evil side, obsessed with sexual gratification as well murder, rape and assault. Not only does Eminem have a sadistic id trying to influence him, he also has the depressive Marshall Mathers as a super-ego trying to drag Eminem down with memories of his terrible childhood. He is introduced to us in the song “If I Had” on the album “The Slim Shady LP” stating that “Friends are people that you think are your friends/But they really your enemies, with secret identities/and disguises, to hide they true colors/So just when you think you close enough to be brothers/they wanna come back and cut your throat when you ain't lookin”(If I Had). Therefore Eminem has two negative personae trying to bring him down in different ways: one toward depression and the other toward violence.

The Marshall Mathers super-ego is largely based on the rapper’s real life experiences (Marshall Mathers is Eminem’s real name). Books, articles and interviews about rapper Eminem's life explain how he grew up being abused by his drug addicted mother, growing up poor and bullied in Detroit’s black ghettos and never knowing his father. The only father figures he had to look up to were his mother’s boyfriends who abused him as well. These life experiences create the super-ego of Eminem in his music. Songs such as “If I had” as well as “Rock Bottom” are drawn from these experiences. Lyrics such as “Life is like a big obstacle / put in front of your optical to slow you down” (If I Had) and “My life is full of empty promises/And broken dreams”(Rock Bottom) illustrate the super-ego’s influence on the ego. However, in his later music the voice of the super-ego changes. He manages to find hope and positivity which is clearly expressed in “Hailie's Song”. The song begins “I act like shit don't phase me/ Inside it drives me crazy/ My insecurities could eat me alive/ But then I see my baby/ Suddenly I'm not crazy/It all makes sense when I look into her eyes”(Hailie’s Song) demonstrating that he tries to act strong in spite of his insecurities and it is love for his daughter gives him purpose and a reason to keep on going. As the song ends we sense that everything is coming together as it should when he states “My baby's travelled back to the arms of her rightful owner/ And suddenly it seems that my shoulder blades have just shifted/ It's like the greatest gift you can get/ The weight has been lifted”(Hailie’s Song). This shift was foreshadowed in some of the earlier and darkest songs released by Eminem. Take “Kim” and “97' Bonnie and Clyde” for example, both murder fantasies of Marshall Mathers ex-wife, Kim Mathers. Both songs contrast Eminem's hate for his ex-wife with his growing love for his newborn daughter. Among lyrics such as “Sit down bitch, If you move again I'll beat the shit out of you”(Kim) and “Quit crying bitch, why do you always make me shout at you”(Kim) you also find lyrics such as “How did you get so big?/ Can't believe it now you’re two/ Baby you're so precious/ Daddy's so proud of you”(Kim). In his early music the hateful lyrics are a lot more prominent however as time progresses we notice a shift in the music that is associated with the Marshall Mathers super-ego. Much less of this is hate related and love for his daughter becomes the main subject of many songs such as “Hailie's Song” as well as “ My Dad's Gone Crazy”. In spite of this positive influence Eminem still must cope with his diabolical id.

Slim Shady is a fantasy character expressed in some of Eminem’s music who is his characters’ id and indulges himself according to the pleasure principal. However, while the pleasure principal states that the id tends to seek pleasure and avoid pain, Slim Shady receives pleasure from the suffering of others. Often presented as a very violent criminal he is introduced as follows in the song “Crack A Bottle”:

The moment you've all been waiting for..
In this corner: weighing 175 pounds,
With a record of 17 rapes, 400 assaults, and 4 murders,
The undisputed, most diabolical villain in the world:
Slim Shady!(Crack A Bottle)

Sigmund Freud's states that the id originates at birth and that “The mind of a newborn child is regarded as completely "id-ridden", in the sense that it is a mass of instinctive drives and impulses, and needs immediate satisfaction, a view which equates a newborn child with an id-ridden individual”(Id, Ego and Super-Ego). The latter explains why the source of most of Slim Shady's pleasure comes from women. If the id originates at birth, most of a baby's needs are fulfilled by the mother, a woman. This is exaggerated in the case of Slim Shady as he did not have a father during his childhood and therefore everything he needed would be supplied to him by a woman. If the id truly is created at birth then it make sense that Slim Shady continues to seek out women to fulfill his pleasures as that’s how he was raised and was born to think. Inexplicable by the definition alone of the id is the source of violence and anger towards women that are fulfilling his pleasures/needs. However, because the Marshall Mathers super-ego, the Eminem ego and the Slim Shady id are all contained within the same physical body it is fair to assume they have experienced the same events. The latter explains the id's anger and hatred stemming from the way he was treated by his mother as a little boy. At the time of the mistreatment the body that the id inhabited was physically inferior to his mother and therefore he could do nothing to fight back. However, since his mother also provided him with fulfilment of his needs he was forced to take the abuse in order to achieve satisfaction. More than twenty years later, the id inhabits the same body except that it is now physically superior to those from whom he seeks pleasure. Being the dark part of a human's personality the id is releases his anger towards those he considers fulfilling his mother’s old role. This strong force is difficult for the ego to resist.

The ego in this story is the rapper Eminem. He is angry at the world for the way his music is perceived, and he is being torn apart psychologically by his id as well as his super-ego. Eminem fits Freud’s description of the ego in as he search for balance between his id and super-ego while dealing with the outside influences of social morals, norms and taboos. This places a huge amount of stress on the character of Eminem. Because his egos are expressed when he raps the resulting lyrical content is offensive to many members of the media, who thus are very critical. The latter causes him to have much built up anger towards the media which he releases through many of his songs such as “White America” and “Say Goodbye To Hollywood”. This has negative effects on him expressed in such lyrics as “Cause all I wanted was to give Hailie the life I never had/But instead I forced us to live alienated…”(Say Goodbye To Hollywood) However, Eminem is also proud of his success through controversy as displayed in the following lyrics from “White America”:

Who would of thought, standing in this mirror bleachin' my hair, with some peroxide,
Reaching for a t-shirt to wear, that I would catapult to the forefront of rap like this, how
Could I predict my words would have an impact like this, I must've struck a chord, with somebody/ up in the office, cause congress keeps telling me I ain't causin' nothin' but problems, and now/They're sayin' I'm in trouble with the government, I'm lovin' it, I shoveled shit all my life,/And now I'm dumping it on(White America)

Throughout his third album “The Eminem Show”, we get a sense of things coming to a close by examining the song titles on the album: “Cleaning Out My Closet”, “Say Goodbye To Hollywood”, “Without me”, “Sing For The Moment”, “When The Music Stops” as well as “'Till I Collapse”. Despite this, the last song on the album “My Dads Gone Crazy” leaves us with a depressing feeling that he has given up and given into both of his altered personalities. This is resolved a few years later, with the release of “When I'm Gone”, including dialogue between himself and his daughter Hailie. This song displays his final struggle between giving up to his egos or to shrug them off to stop performing as Slim Shady and take on his responsibilities as a father. The final verse of the song ends with the following:

“I hear applause, all this time I couldn't see
How could it be, that the curtain is closing on me
I turn around, find a gun on the ground, cock it
Put it to my brain and scream "die Shady" and pop it
The sky darkens, my life flashes, the plane that I was supposed to be on crashes and burns to ashes, That's when I wake up, alarm clock's ringin” (When I'm Gone)

It is now clear that Eminem has killed off his id Slim Shady and can finally move on.

This story of a character’s struggle with his inner demons is Eminem’s work of art. It could be compared to psychological thriller movies or to literature such as “Go Ask Alice”, the story of a teenage girl's struggle with a drug problem. Eminem’s trilogy of albums was supposed to shock the audience with the dark, twisted plot and strong characterizations. Taking songs out of context as the media has done makes the artist seem like a homicidal woman hater. However, one must look at the story as a whole to truly see this work of art as it was meant to be.

Feel free to discuss what I've written about in the comments or tweet at me on twitter! @yetanother_nerd

WORKS CITED

Eminem.”If I Had”, ”97’ Bonnie and Clyde”, ”Rock Bottom”, “My Name Is” The Slim Shady LP. Interscope, 1999. CD.

Eminem. ”Kim” The Marshall Mathers LP. Interscope. 2000. CD.

Eminem. “Say Goodbye To Hollywood”, “Hailie’s Song”, “White America” The Eminem Show. Interscope. 2002. CD.

Eminem. “When I’m Gone” Single. Shady Records. 2003. CD.

Eminem. “Crack A Bottle” Relapse. Interscope. 2009 .CD.

"Id, ego and super-ego." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web.25 January. 2012.

New youtube series : Maxed Out PC Gameplay

5 Misconceptions About Building a Computer vs. Buying One Pre-Built

The reason that big companies like Dell and HP are able to make money is due to the fact that the general population do not realize that they could easily build themselves a desktop computer with more performance and at a better price than these companies. AND it's no harder than assembling a bookshelf from Ikea!  In the following article I'm going to cover some of the misconceptions attached with building your own computer.

1. It's not worth it. Ill save money buying a pre-built system from Dell. WRONG.                                    You sir could not be more wrong. Maybe if you are looking at buying a 300$ desktop from Best Buy. However, I'm talking about building a more expensive computer. Let's say in the 800-1200$ range. Something that can play games very well, is great for watching movies, can edit videos, maybe some photo editing and is really good at multitasking. Considering that this Dell Alienware Aurora costs over 2000$ what would you say if I told you my computer could out perform it in any game. You tell me I was wrong right? Well I'm not. By being able to choose each part specifically that I want, I'm able to squeeze the maximum performance/$ I spend. If you want to see my exact specs and prices for my rig check out my article about it.
2. I don't know what to choose. Which parts are good? What do I really need.                               Now this may require some research on your part. You need to sit down and decide what you want this computer your building to be able to do and what your budget. Simply entering " Best computer part list under XXX$" on google should provide you with and ample amount of  part lists. You can also check out my parts/price list for my current computer. If you're completely lost at this step and realise you only want a computer for e-mail and facebook you may just want to consider buying a tablet. However you must consider the state of tablets at the moment. For more on this check out my article on the matter. 
3. It's to hard. I don't know what I'd doing. I don't know what to put where.                                                                                            This is something you shouldn't be to worried about. Just make sure you don't work on a carpet. Buy one of those anti static wrist bands if you are really paranoid. However, simply working on a bare counter or table should keep you safe enough from zapping any components with static electricity. As I said before, assembling a computer is no harder than assembling a bookshelf. Just follow the instructions with the parts your bought. If you're still not confident you know exactly what you're doing youtube will be your friend. There are hundreds upon hundreds of tutorials on assembling computers on youtube. Just pick one with a lot of views and post any questions you have in the comments and someone is bound to give you a few words of advice.
4. Building a computer requires tons of tools I don't have.                                                               Wrong. All you need is your hands and a screw driver. Most of the pieces just snap together like legos!
5. If I build it myself nothing is under warranty!                                                                                              Wrong again! All the pieces you have have a warranty. As long as you don't stab your motherboard with a knife you should be able to get it replaced if it fries. My motherboard has a 5 year warranty. I probably won't even own it in 5 years so everything should be under warranty individually to the manufacturer. Just not as a complete system. If something breaks you just need to identify the problem. Remove the broken hardware and send it in to get replace and VOILA!

Hope this helps clear up some peoples concerns about building a computer themselves to save money! If you have any questions feel free to comment below and I will get back to you as soon as possible!

My Current Gaming Rig and How Much It Cost to Build.

This article is to accompany my 5 misconceptions about building a computer. Here is a list of what is in my computer and links to the prices. All prices are in Canadian dollars so assume they will be cheaper in the United-States.

i7-2600k quad core processor @ 3.4ghz(3.8ghz Turbo)  : 309.99$ 

Asus Sabertooth P67 Motherboard : 189.99$ 

RipjawX 16gb(4x4gb) 1600mhz CAS9 ram : 104.99$

2x ATI HD5850 ( no longer available but comparable to AMD HD 6850) :2x 144.99$(289.99$) 

Western Digital 1TB 5400rpm Hardrive:132.99$

Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W Power Supply:189.99$
Apevia Case( Any sub 100$ full size case will work):69.99$
LITE-ON DVD burner ( Any brand is around 20$):20.49$
Total Cost : 1308$                                                                                          

Will We Ever Get a Good Business Tablet?

Sure you can buy a tablet that runs windows 7 and coming soon we will be able to get windows 8 tablets. However with there current battery life they are not very viable. If i need to use this tablet at school for 6-8 hours a day I'm not going to be able to use a windows tablet with 4 hours of battery life. However the Android and iOs tablets just don't seem to have the performance/utility needed to be used in an every day environment. I would love to be able to take all my notes on an iPad or an android tablet, but considering that the only tablets with active pens are not very good/reliable products. Your stuck with a bunch of tablets using capacitive stylus' that don't reject your palm requiring you to write your notes in a very awkward manner. The Lenovo Thinkpad Slate Tablet is great on paper but has some design flaws that annoyed many. In theory it has palm rejection but according to reviews it only works well in certain apps, the power button often brakes due to bad design, the performance is not on par with other tablets. We must also consider the fact that some of the problems with these tablets will be fixed with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwhich. However this update will be reaching the Lenovo Thinkpad in June, by which I'm hoping we will have some more business or school orientated tablets announced using a better stylus input and faster performance using at least the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor or something much faster. I won't be buying a tablet for school this semester as it is just not worth 5-700$ to buy a tablet for taking notes that will be more of a pain in the ass to use than just plain old pen and paper. Hopefully by next august we will see the new generation of tablets come out that will have performance and utility that is worth the money.

Feel free to discuss the current state of tablets in the comments below or post any news you come across relating to tablets that work for taking notes that allow for resting your palm on the screen.