new update

for those of you who are out there and are wondering what is going on with the blog and see nothing new. here is the reason why:

Mark is busy with his youth group and does not have internet at home quite yet.

I have not seen nor heard of Justin and his current endeavors in several months now.

And last of all, the reason I have not really heard from Justin is the fact that I am currently working on deployment. Yes we finally leave country in a few weeks. (we have been in training since mid Oct.)

so there you go.

Free Money? 10 million dollars?

For those of you who don't know the principle, you can make a 10 million in 30 steps from just one penny. Start with one penny, and double it. Then Double it again, and again, 30 times. When you are done you will have $10,737,418.24. Too hard? Not really, thanks to moola.com you could do it possible even sooner than 30 days. moola.com is an ad supported page where you quietly sit through an ad and answer a question about the short video then play a head to head match with somebody, you win, you get their money. Simple. WAIT!! What happens when i run out of money? moola.com generously gives you one more penny to build your empire on. Getting a nice bank and are not willing to risk it for another round? Cash out at any time.

Well, the only draw back is that it is only in beta testing right now, so you have to have somebody on the inside give you an invite. Visit the website to find out how to get one.

Zombie

Didn't I Predict This Pt.2

Firefox OS

New/Old Halo 2 Maps

Hang Em High is finally available for Halo 2, along with Derelict. The catch? The pack is $4 and you have to download it on Xbox Live. You also have to wait until April 17. Check out the announcement on Bungie.net

Didn't I predict this?

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C1895%2C2109401%2C00.asp

New version of PSP Video 9

PSP was updated to 3.30 and now there is the ability to play larger video files on the PSP. Hence, better quality videos for your PSP. PSP Video 9 is the best free video converter program out there for PSP and I use it whenever I convert my DVDs to watch on my PSP. Check out the developers website. http://www.redkawa.com/blog/#0

Great Games for under $4

I have never been one to rush out and buy a video game the first week it is out. Frankly I have never been one to buy a game till it drops to about 50% of its original price. That is if it's a PC game. Xbox or Nintendo or Sony I'll just play on your system. So I got to thinking about how to get games for the cheapest possible (legally). I think I may have found it.

So Valve's Steam has been given a lot of flack in the past, but is currently on the good side of most gamers. If you don't know what Steam is I'll tell you. Its a content distribution system, and additionally a piracy deterrent. Say you want to buy Halflife. Well normally you would drive to the store buy the product, get taxed on it and return with a CD and a serial code. You install from the CD and enter the serial code and go. Well with Steam all you have to do is log on with your free account and purchase the game. Its is downloaded to your computer and you never have to worry about loosing that serial key or cd. Its always yours. If you buy a new computer just re-download it. If you are on someone else's computer you can download it there. The real jewel to this is the sheer amount of content it offers. I defy you to find a new copy of the original Counter-Strike. You're not going to find it anywhere, but on valve you can buy it for $10. If you don't mind old graphics its a great game and lots of people are still playing it online.

Now one of the offerings is a complete Valve package. For $80. Now thats alot of money for games that aren't very new, but its still a bargain if you don't have these games. This includes Halflife, HL2, Counter-strike and CS:S, Day of Defeat and DoD:S, HL2 Ep:1, HL2 Deathmatch, and some other junk. There are about 17 games there. Not all are worth playing, I'm looking at you Ricochet. By my estimate about 8-12 are really worth playing depending on your personal style.

But there is more.

I'm talking mods. Source was designed to be modded. And there are dozens of HL mods that are already established. Valve lists quite a few of these on Steam.

Here are a list of mod that you can play with this pack that are worth it:

Hidden:Source - Very scary not many people on at any one time. Beta 4 is very playable.
Source Forts - Clever mod of Deathmatch. Seems difficult for new players.
Natural Selection - Like playing Starcraft in FPS. Source version in production.
Digital Paintball -If you are a fan of paintball I guess. Source version in Alpha
Dystopia- Source mod. Bizarre and hard to get into. Think Tron meets Quake
Gary's Mod Version 9 - HL2 sandbox. Wanna see who will win against Zombies and Combine?
HL2 Capture the Flag - Interesting mod of Deathmatch. Includes new weapons and Parkour.
Minerva - Adam Foster didn't think Valve did a good job on map design and did his own. 2/3 parts done.
Pirates Knights Vikings II - HL2 mod. Will be testing this one out.
Plan of Attack - Tactical game the way Counter-Strike should have been.
Zombie Panic - Its like resident evil only the zombies are real people. Now you can kill the teammates that let you down.
The Trenches - Sort of DoD for WW1

This is just a quick overview of some of the mods for the above pack. Most of these games are worth playing and almost all are multiplayer. All are worth something. So theres about 20 games there that I mentioned. At $80 that comes out to about $4 a game. Not to mention the other mods that are out there. Many of these will play on an older computer. All will play on my laptop. So if I left off any HL or Source mods send them my way I'd like to try them.

Remember just say no to $60 games!

Trip to Mexico

I'm travelling to Manzanilla, Mexico tomorrow morning at 3am. I am leading a trip of 6 other people to Josh and Susan Sanchez' one year old church. It's a city of 125,000 and right on the Pacific Ocean, due West of Mexico City. Please pray for the trip and the people we will meet. Pray that the Word is shared and changes lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. Most of all, pray that we will be complete servants of Christ. That language barrier is always a little tough to get through, since it's Spanish...you know? I don't speak Spanish well, I know some words, but that's it, mostly.

The trip lasts from March 22 - April 2. I'm bringing my video camera and I think I'm buying a digital camera to take so there will be stuff to share.

I bought Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for PSP last night. Entertainment for the plane. I'll probably review that later. See ya in 11 days.

The Old Batman

I have to say. I liked the original Batman movie the best. You know the one with cheezy gags and Adam West in purple tights. Why? Just because it makes me happy. There is no psychological deep issues. It just simple stuff that makes me smile. Then came the next Batman movie. The one by Tim Burton. Still fun. More realistic and yet still fun.

Now I tell you this because something has been bugging me about the last Batman movie that came out. It was good as a movie, but I didn't enjoy it the same way I enjoyed other Batman movies. It was simply too realistic. Honestly it was a great story, but it didn't give me Batman happiness of the olden days.

Bottom line: Batman is just more enjoyable when its weird.

300 (The Movie)

I saw 300 Thursday night at a preview screening. There are four scenes that are totally unnecessary and I found myself scratching my head as to why they are in the movie. 3 of these comes from added material that is not included in the original graphic novel itself.

1) The oracle women wears a see-through white covering and you see everything when she is flailing around on her back.

2) King Leonidas and his wife are featured in a sex scene.

3) There is a scene in Xerxes tent where there are lots and lots of women, mostly naked, dancing and kissing each other and having sex and such.

4) King Leonidas' wife gets raped.

Due to these scenes alone, I would recommend renting this on DVD when this comes out if you really want to see it. You could, in fact, read the graphic novel and enjoy yourself without compromising your mind if you are male.

The blood and gore in this movie is no problem for me. The battles are gory, you see limbs chopped off, blood flies, and there is no mercy in battle. The movie basically adds plot by adding more characterization to King Leonidas by having you feel for his family, and there is also a subplot dealing with the politics in Sparta.

This movie is rated R not only for the violence, but for nudity, naked women. I enjoyed the film some, but it gets somewhat repetetive with more waves of men coming and them getting slaughtered. The scenes I mentioned first make me not recommend this film to be seen in the theatre. In fact, it's rated R, don't go see it. Quite simple, actually.

The Line Game

I found this fun flash game today over at AlbinoBlackSheep called The Line Game. You guide the red line through a maze or obstacle course of such. It reminds me of a mini-game in Super Monkey Ball for the Nintendo Wii. It loads quick, is fun, and challenging. It keeps your time score too and you can submit it to a leader board online. Stay in the Black!

Where in creation is Mars Hill?

Mars hill is in the midst of the Areopagus in a place otherwise known as Athens, Greece. Now that we have that settled, where does that leave us? Far away, that is where it leaves us. Why am I so interested in a hill in Greece? I’ll tell you why. We live in a society that has religious trends. Religious trends you ask? Let me explain.

9-11 happens; churches everywhere receive influxes that double and even triple their numbers for a few months. War in the Middle East happens, Even more people go to church, some just return. This only last so long and then it too dies out. Islam, Hedonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Wicca, and Christianity are growing at rapid rates. People are creating their own religions like Scientology, and Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (http://www.venganza.org/). Why? In today’s times where we are getting so technological we are impersonalized society. We are taking human interaction and throwing it to the wind. Social networking is rise with Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube. Human interaction now happens in cyberspace and people are looking for relationships. They want to feel loved and feel close and to have a relationship. They want to belong and they are turning to religion because most religions are about family and love and togetherness. They are seeking fellowship and are getting brainwashed.

Now, to that hill in Greece I was talking about earlier. Paul, a wonderful evangelist was walking through a land that was very similar to our own. The culture was awash with fear. Are we giving our due to God? They were so fearful of not offending god that they had a god and altar for everything and they would make sacrifices for everything. Make a sacrifice for food for dinner. Now make a sacrifice because I burned dinner. Make a sacrifice because my spouse didn’t like it. Make a sacrifice because my child ate too much. Make sacrifices because I need sleep now. Pray to that god for a sunny day tomorrow… nest day it is raining…Pray to the God I prayed to for sun and ask forgiveness, sacrifice my newborn to it to gain back good graces. Oh, yeah. Now I need to pray to the god of rain to thank them for it…and so on and so forth. Yeah, gets old real quick. So Paul walks in seeing all of this he is like, “Come on people! It is so much simpler than this!” A crowd begins to draw because look here is yet another god that I have been forgetting! I need to learn about this one too! And Paul says this.

“It is plain to see that you Athenians take your religion seriously. When I arrived here the other day, I was fascinated with all the shrines I came across. And then I found one inscribed, ‘to the god nobody knows’. I’m here to introduce you to this God so you can worship intelligently, know who you’re dealing with.”

Wow! Somebody who know about the unknown god! Wow, now I can get that promotion and that raise because I will have all of the gods on my side!

Well, not quite. Paul didn’t want to introduce yet ANOTHER god; he wanted to introduce THE GOD. Paul goes on to say that all of this running around like chickens with their heads cut off is ridiculous. End the madness! God can take care of himself! He went on to say this.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?”

Well, well, well. What do we have here? You mean that there is only one God and he alone is responsible for everything? And he wants to have a relationship with us? You know that never works out. I mean look at that one god over there, he had a relationship with that mortal woman in stone over there and this other god got angry, and yeah, a big mess. And I can’t believe that this god doesn’t need anything from me. See this god doesn’t have a home and he goes around expecting the people to give them their very best. When they don’t he burns down their houses. But this god wants nothing from me because he created it all anyways? How cool is that. I mean, that one god ate 2 months of food having a party that one night and I don’t know if I will have enough to get through winter now. Oh, I can’t see him? What do you mean he sends his spirit to dwell in me? Does that mean I become possessed or something? No, no. That just means that he gives you help and guidance on how to lead a good life and you will be blessed from that life. Oh, ok. I think I get it now. Dear god! Please forgive me and I will sacrifice everything I have for you to forget all of these other gods I have worshiped! I bet Paul was ready to throw his hands up and shout, “I give up Lord!” But no, he goes on to say.

“God overlooks it as long as you don’t know any better—but that time is past. The unknown is now known, and he’s calling for a radical life-change. He has set a day when the entire human race will be judged and everything set right. And he has already appointed the judge, confirming him before everyone by raising him from the dead.”

What? A god that forgives, I like this god. He must be a real god because he wants the best for us. He wants to bless us and loves us. I can get a hold of this. And all I have to do is follow him and I will get to live with him in the end? Wow, I am going to follow him to the end. Some were not so convinced. When Paul mentioned that god raised somebody from the dead they said to themselves that there was no way Hades was going to let one of his precious souls be resurrected to life and they turned their hearts and walked away. They are the ones to be judged in the end.

Do you know who God is? Are you following Him every day? Or are you the one who is turning your heart and saying how real can he be? Or, I can get away with this one more time, after all, he is forgiving. I mean there was only ever one perfect person and he was the Christ for heaven’s sake! I ask of you, live a Godly life and quit fooling yourselves. God loves you and awaits your true and earnest love and desire to follow Him.

All verses taken from The Message Bible. Acts 17:22-34

The Greatest Multiplayer Video Games: Mario Tennis

I'm doing a new segment on video games starting with this. I want to focus on multi player video games, because that's where the real fun is at. Social Gaming! Where else would I begin?

Mario Tennis for the N64 is one of the most fun and intense multi player games I've ever played. In my college tenure friends and I would play many many nights and we even had a room tournament. I live off-campus and I get guys telling me all the time how we should play Mario Tennis.

Anyone can pretty much pick up this game and play with it's two button and one control stick simplicity. Many may say it's Pong and well, tennis is pretty much that. Add in drop shots, lob shots, serves, and such and you've got tennis. But this is no ordinary tennis, this is Mario Tennis. Enter the characters of the Mushroom Kingdom, from Nintendo's Mario games and even a new character in Waluigi (the evil side of Luigi!). Think arcade tennis.

There are several classes of characters: All-Around, Power (serves in the 100mph plus), Speed (Quick character), Technique (Not quite sure...), and Tricky (the ability to put ridiculous curves on serves)

1 - 4 players are possible, but you really need 4 for the ultimate fun. I can crush you in one-on-one, but a doubles match takes great teamwork and timing on everyones part.

There are several ways to play multi player. One is the traditional court where things are normal for the game. The next way of play is "Rings." You play as individuals to attain a set number of rings by having shots go through the rings and the winner of that point collects all the rings the ball passed through. The other option is the "Bowser Court." This is a mode of play where power-ups exist for shots and the court actually moves and will make you slide since it is suspended form above.

Are you competitive? Do you want to win? There are so many "agh, oh man, what? that was amazing!" moments when you play. New phrases were associated with this game to describe a well played return that was difficult ("Good Get!").

One thing is, the drop shot *stars* lie!

Several Words to describe playing multi player: Frustrating and Amazing.

Too bad this isn't for more then 4 people. How could tennis pull that off anyway? For more then 4, go for Halo.

Buy a Nintendo 64 for this game alone and you won't be disappointed.

I should design programs

So I mentioned a few posts down that we need a Web 3.0 browser. Well the kind people at Mozilla, that open source group that makes Firefox, are working on a way to store documents and files and programs on your local computer. Now this seems scary, but its really not. See it creates a SQL database on your computer so that the browser can access it offline. An example of this would be to load up the stored program for compose new Gmail. You type up your e-mail, just a short little note and send it off. This would save bringing up the Gmail inbox waiting for all of your e-mails to load, clicking on compose, and finally waiting for that page to load.

The are also working on Javascript 2.0. No doubt this will make is less applicable to 1997 type web pages and closer to Web 2.0 and web 3.0 applications. Firefox 3.0 sounds like it is a stepping stone to web 3.0 and Firefox 4.0. I doubt that my vision for full applications in your browser will be there, but I do welcome cleaning up Javascript.

Man I love Mozilla.

Something to look forward to

The Prestige

The Prestige is a movie I saw in the theater, and now that it has been released on DVD, I have seen it a second time. I purchased it the other day at Wal-Mart and viewed it. I had no expectations when I saw it in the theater, I read nothing about it and I was impressed and wanted to see it again. My wife also liked this movie. The second viewing is different in the fact that I know what's going to happen so I was looking for items and parts I missed the first time around. The focus changes because I know what's going to happen.

When I first saw this film, I was very involved and guessing at what was happening. I was very "into it." It captures you and tells quite a good story, in my opinion. I had no idea about any of the twists involved, which would probably have spoiled everything. In fact, I didn't even know to look for them. The whole movie is a magic trick that you don't even realize is being performed before your eyes. "Watch closely," as the magician would say.

This is a movie about two magicians in Victorian times who are feuding each other and are very obsessive. This takes place in London, England. The look and feel is good and interesting. There are many themes and metaphors throughout. You even get David Bowie playing the inventor Tesla. You can't really corner this into any certain genre, but it could possibly be a thriller?

My only gripe is that the ending is in no way satisfying. You walk away and feel "What? that's how it ends?" There is very happy music immediately with the credits though. Hmm.

You get actors Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, and Michael Cain for actors (woah!) and it's directed by Christopher Nolan (Momento, Batman Begins).

I don't want to spoil anything. Go out and rent it or something.

Who will "Showdown?"

In the past we have featured articles of a VS sort. Zombies vs Pirates, Flood vs the aliens from Half-Life 2. I want to know, what does the reader want to see in terms of possible future VS articles? We are going for alternate universe situations (Not Marvel vs Marvel, more like DC vs Marvel.) Classic nerds want Star Trek vs Star Wars maybe? I heard some people in Wal-Mart arguing if Star Wars or Lord of the Rings was better. "LOTR is too complicated!" I heard. Gah!

Watch The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny and maybe you'll like that too. It influenced our idea a bit.

New Contributer, New Topics, More Experience, Same old look....and Some Special Help With WiFi

Well, the look isn't changing. Neither is the emphasis of the blog. But I can tell you one thing, I bring experience in some fields that may be good, or bad. While I will agree with Justin in the fact that group games are great...when in a smaller group, bring out the classics...yeah, the cheap ones. Chutes and Ladders, or Mouse Trap. Some of those. Great Games.

Looking for a WiFi Router/Card?
If you go to Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, Best Buy, Online etc. you may find that there are many different wireless routers and cards. All the brands, which one is for me? Stick with name brand for one. Well, they are all name brand! Well, here you go.

CNet
Good alternative to the name brand, but only good for minor Internet use and single users. If you put a heavy load on it then you are going to start experiencing some slow downs, major lagging. Cheap, effective, one step behind the power curve on latest technology. Number 3 on the list to buy.

Netgear
Long time networking company tries to go end user and fails...Yes, I said fails. I have had the pleasure of testing and dealing with many Netgear routers and have always ended with one problem. They Don't Work When Hot. You may be thinking, "But I have Air Conditioning." No, the routers do not have any cooling, including passive. So the chips inside heat up and the router freezes and does not allow wireless access. Yes, the heating only seems to affect the wireless access. So if you want to spend extra money for a wireless router that does not work, go ahead. Stay in the corporate world where you belong Netgear. Number 5 on the list to buy.

D-Link
Excelent large scale and Decent end user networking equipment. The only problem is that they will use 3rd party technology to allow for cheaper manufacturing and saving you a buck or two. Thus comes there problem. They sometimes will have a bad unit. Great, Durable, low user number. End-user based on hub technology so one user can hog all the bandwidth. No Wireless N yet... Number on the buy list, 2.

Belkin
Expensive, just like Vaio. Good tech, but expensive. Great wireless, always up to date with current technology. Looks great, not user friendly. Number 4 on the buy list for the simple fact that they are not user friendly and they take up too much space.

Linksys
Yes, I am partial to good technology. Linksys has something that none of the other end-user WiFi makers have. Cisco design and technology and research funding. Cisco, the largest network component company out there bought an already established, well known established company when they were on the brink of doing something stupid and made it even better. (more on the stupid part? email me, I'll give it to you in a short 200 pages.) Wait! When I look at Linksys on the shelve is is so confusing! Stick simple unless you are a guru. SpeedBooster is nothing more than a MIMO tech. Many companies would give MIMO a label like 22Mbps or 54Mbps. Reality is, 54Mbps is standard tech.
Anyways, stick simple unless you are a guru. Yes SpeedBooster is good, but most people will never knotice the difference. SRX200 is even better, but yet again, most people will never notice the difference. SRX200 comes in for streaming media, online wireless gaming and major downloading. One problem, these technologies are great, but are only truly effective if you have their corresponding card to go with your router. Yes you will see some difference with a regular wireless card, but you will not receive the full benefit.
Linksys also offers another item...Gigabit wireless "gaming" router. Another useful tech for the gamer or guru. Ease of use? Some of Linksys' stuff includes a "one touch setup" button. For a non secure network option, it is great. End-user ease? Excellent!
For those users who have large houses, basements, 2nd stories, and back yard patios. Linksys also sells larger antenna's for better signal reception.
Number 1 on the buy list...but remember, buy only what you need. Not something you will never use.

If you are saying, what about internal wireless cards for my laptop? Look for something Intel based and it is generally a good buy. Stay away form Proprietary technology such as Dell or HP cards. This saves you in the end run...such as you get a new laptop, of a different brand and now you have to get a new card...think smart, proprietary tech doesn't always have the best support either. (see Mark's last post on his laptop)

Keep is simple and Go with trusted reliable technology.

I just can't recomend Acer anymore.

About 2 months ago if you asked me what kind of Laptop you should buy I would tell you: Apple, Asus, Toshiba, or ACER. The last of which happens to be the brand of my laptop. Excellent specs on this machine. Core Duo, 2 gigs of memory, a near HD quality LCD, 120 gig HDD, DVD-RAM drive, ATI x1400 video card. This thing will do any game technology outside of AA4X+ or DX10.

That is until the problems started. In the middle of the night my Ethernet went down. Grrrr. Ok I still have my WiFi. No believe it or not about a week later the Wifi went out too. This is at the end of the semester and I've got a million projects due so as you can guess this is both inconvenient and impossible for me to send the computer in for warranty work. So after the semester is over I fill out the form on ACER's website. It sends me a couple e-mails and frankly the whole thing is confusing. So I call them a few days later and the tech rep walked me though making sure it was a hardware problem. He suggest that I need to call my ISP. I tell him that another computer is on the same connection and it works and my problems happened regardless of the ISP. So he told me to send it in. I did. $27.xx at the post office grrr. Heather's laptop had a problem and DELL sent a guy to her house to fix it. I don't like Dell as anyone who knows me can testify, but that made me happy.

Anyway nearly a week to get the laptop there, over a week in repair, nearly a week to return and I have my laptop back from ACER. They had to replace the motherboard. The Ethernet worked, but the wireless still had the same problems. And the big problems started.

Two days after I received my laptop back a vertical line of discolored pixels appeared. About 3 inches in from the left and about 1 inch wide. As you can imagine that is annoying. The only way to fix it is to open and close the laptop. That of course kicks it into standby mode. Grrr. Well after a week of opening and closing the lid, the root of the problem spread branches. It was cracked and the screen totaled. So, I send it back in. I have difficulties with the website again, only this time they are because of not using the same e-mail.

Over a week since I sent in my laptop I get a phone call that screen breakage is not under warranty. I explained that the problem stared after their repair and that their repairs have warranties on the work done. Irregardless the repair would cost me $600. Which as I later found out was actually $649. Still they called it $600. They even told me that I should have called them when the problems started. I'm sorry I don't want to wait on the phone for 45 min for a problem you cause, and I can't just be without my laptop for months at a time. Frustrated I said good-bye.

The next day I called them back and they decided that would drop the labor fees and charge $200 less. Now I asked my pro computer repair friend and he informed me that an LCD replacement would take him 45 min; 1 hour to be conservative. So that comes out to a grand total of $200 an hour for labor. And $449 for the LCD itself. I told them that was too much, they said that was the cost of one. Now if you do any shopping for equivalent or identical LCD monitors you can buy them for about $200-$250. On top of that I'm looking at an ACER laptop with this exact monitor (the 15.4 CrystalBrite Widscreen) for $599 so you know it doesn't cost that much. Ok lets review: thats $200 an hour for tech the messed up my computer the first time, and about a 100% mark up on product. At what point does that get ridiculous?

I talk to a supervisor and get no where. They won't even suggest where the problem started. Ok fine, just go a head and fix the Wifi which is the second thing I requested. Nope. Won't fix that unless I let them fix my screen too.

I just can't recommend Acer anymore.

Group Games

When you hang out with other guys, naturally you blow each other up in a round of Halo, Star Wars: Battlefront, or the like. Right? But what do you do when you have women in the mix that don't play, or rather, "can't play," aka, suckage, get pwned, at video games? Don't worry, we can handle the situation! The solution? Classic, or as in this article, new group games!

Do you enjoy the game Risk, yet realize that game takes way too long to play? Do you enjoy Scrabble, but other people can't spell? Battleship or Guess Who, but more than one other players are present? I've come to enjoy several group games that happen with friends. Really, when you're married, you hang out with other people who are married too, so you need games for that. I'll be going over three and only three: Apples to Apples, In A Pickle, and Pit.

Apples To Apples

Ah yes. This little game I learned how to play about a year ago. I never heard of it then, but it's gaining in popularity these days. This is a game of words, with several variations, but I'll just go over the basic game. Each player gets 7 cards, which are all english NOUNS. Every card has a little description of it or fun remark. One person sits out each turn and becomes the judge. This entails the drawing of a green card, a DESCRIPTIVE word. This card has a list of synonyms for that word also. (See picture to the left) All of the other players lay down one of their cards they think the judge will pick. Maybe the judge will pick it because it's funny, true, or appealing to them, which has nothing to do with logic. It's a fun group game and I enjoy it a lot. I don't ever win these days, but that's what you get when you play with females. Who can understand them? All my humor is lost if Kung Pow isn't funny. You play to a set number of cards. Laughs abound for some comedic moments. There is also a juniors version for kids. This is for high school and up I'd say.

In A Pickle

Another card game (In fact, all three of these

games are card games!) dealing with english words. Foreign people will struggle with these games, this one more. There IS a difference between in and on. This is a game of nouns. Each person gets five cards in their hand. There are four cards laid out like a compass (North, south, east, west or your up, down, left, right...) and that is how you begin. You take turns, going left, like every card game in existence. What you try to do is put the noun already down "in" the card you place on top of it. EXAMPLE: Turkey is the card laid down. You put a card that says Mall on top of it. A Turkey in a Mall. You could get creative, say , a Turkey in a purse, and argue for pieces of turkey in a purse. You can also go the opposite way and stick the card under the last of the stack. Say, a Bone in a Turkey. You can interrpret the words as you pretty much like, encouraging creativity. When four cards are laid as a stack, "A Pickle" begins. Everyone gets a chance to top yours or the others card with something bigger. The winner of that pickle wins the set. You play to win a predetermined amount of sets. Simple, but fun. This game WANTS you to argue with people and makes them not just make stuff up. Logic vs Wierdos! This game was only $8 or $10.

Pit

What a wierd game this is. Clearly, this was made to encourage you to become a stock broker or something like that. You have to have like 6 people or more? I don't know. You each get 9 cards and your goal is to collect a set of 9 of the same items, or "corner the market." So once the dealer starts the game, you trade with each other until someone gets a set. You can only trade up to four cards at a time. Each set is assigned a certain amount of value, from 50 to 100 points. Some versions of the game have oil, gold, gas, silver and such. There is a 'Bull' card that can be a wild card and a 'Bear' card that is worth negative 20 points or something like that. I think I have the most fun with this game when I hold my cards and don't trade, killing the purpose of the game. You play to a set amount of points, say 500. That reminds me of 500 Rummy (what a good plain ol card game.)

I recommend In a Pickle and Apples to Apples for sure. You should try these games, maybe even buy them.

How to beat Windows

How to take down the world's most popular desktop OS in six easy steps.

Step One: Create a brand name and generate large profit.

Step Two: Build Web 2.0 style Apps such as a spreadsheet program or a world map program.

Step Three: Design a programmable Web 3.0 browser.

Step Four: Build Web 3.0 applications such as an office suite.

Step Five: Build a simple OS with the new programmable browser as its main feature. Give it away free.

Step Six: Profit!

There it is how to take down Windows in Six easy steps. Well you also need to basically rebuild the internet, but I'm sure thats minor.

Alternate method (three steps):

Windows Vista/Office 2007 Launch Confrence

So Microsoft has been traveling the country to tout the joys of their new products. Especially Vista and Office 2007. I was able to attend the developer section of the day. Four hours of why you should write programs that force people to upgrade to our new products. My review follows.

First of all and open letter to Microsoft that they will never read.

Dear MS,

Please, please, please stop using the letter "X" in everything. DirectX, Xbox, and XAML are enough. You are done. Just because Apple monopolized the letter "i" does not mean that you need to find your own letter. Frankly, I'm surprised the Zune was not spelled Xune. Thank you.

Mark W. Lee

Ok on to the products.

Vista:

The main thing that was pushed on Vista was the way it looked, and how easy it was to create product that looked good on it. You use a program in .NET 3.0 framework using the subsystem feature called WPF. It works very much like Adobe Flash, only more like an .NET program. Using standard design it sharpens the look while allowing the individual user to customize all programs that use this by changing settings on the OS rather than the individual program. Such as don't use special effects.

It looks like it makes things easier to create, and look better. Basically is just an addition to the .NET framework in order to make pretty things faster than normal. Basically it turns your programs in to Flash looking things. From what I have read WPF, however, is available for XP PS2. It seems that you can have all of the features including the rendering. There may be some features excluded.

At first I was interested in what the examples he was doing . He made web sites that looked like a windows application. Thats because they are. XAML is a IE on Windows only feature. So if you decide to use Opera or Mozilla or a Mac you will not find any benefit from these websites.

The back end also looked good except it does nothing new. It just looks better. They talk about P2P like it is something exciting and new. Just replace Peer with Node and you have the Internet at its roots. They are trying to create a framework that already exists.

Now a lot of people are saying that Vista is just copying Mac. I don't think thats as true as we think. Rather than having an operating system that looks good Vista is a framework that looks good. It helps you make pretty programs.

Security is still questionable. There are a lot of new features. Some good, some just don't seem right. There is something that really scared me though. A new way of payment. Its kinda like Paypal. Paypal is sort of like a credit card if you would. Except that they are a credit card for your credit card. Well Microsoft created something like that. Only on your computer. Just swipe your virtual card. Thats right no password, no key, no security. All I have to do is get your computer and I can buy anything. Thats what I call very dangerous. Of course it will never catch on bc it is naturally insecure and it is platform/OS/browser specific.

Verdict: It is pretty all the way through. It pretends to be secure in most places. It isn't new anywhere.

Office 2007

I like it. I like it alot. Ribbons. Tried and true design improved by long study of work habits. It might actually get me to switch from OpenOffice.org. I'll tell you why later.

It looks nice to program with. It looks good. It add quite a bit to documents. It just works. They have a new document format which is more fixable if something goes bad. It also helps to make it more secure, which is good. It is also fairly simple to add features that tie into your programs written in .NET. This is nice for development. I wonder how I can tie my python programs into it.

Verdict: Good and getting better.

Finally I also managed get get some goodies. When I signed in I was given a bag full of stuff, a Livestrong style Microsoft bracelet and a survey. In the bag was a T-shirt, a light up pen, some reading stuff, a notepad and a card. What then do I do? I fill out the survey and turn it in with the card and they give me a disk and a serial number. What is the serial number to? Microsoft Office 2007. Yeah thats right. A free copy of Office 2007. Now, that is cool.

As soon as I get my lappy back I will tell you how Office 2007 is.

Call of Duty 3

I rented Call of Duty 3 the other day for Xbox 360 at this place in Moberly called 1UP Games. (Very clever, with the whole mushroom logon from Super Mario Bros.) It was a three day rental for $3 so I was happy about that. Anyways, I played it like a crazy man for those several days and I beat it on Hard difficulty after many hours.

Complaints: There are some sections of this game that take you forever to beat. It took me an hour of repeated death to beat a small section of so many levels. They make it so you pull out by the skin of your teeth on luck when you actually do pass it up. You die so many times in this game, death is a normal and acceptable part of life.

I got shot through a wall by a guy whose gun (3D model) clipped through.

The worst of all, there are parts where enemies are endless. If you sit back in cover and pick them off with your rifle, more just keep coming endlessly. If you don't advance, it's an endless stream. You never know when this is either. Sometimes also, there are parts where they do stop coming because it's part of your objective, but you don't really know. "Am I suppose to run into the open and get mowed down, or not?"

The same guns, textures, and models are taken from Call of Duty 2. The missions were cooler in that game too. This time you are saving Paris is all. You play as Canadians, Poles, Americans, and English. The ending just ends...like the previous game.

Cool Stuff: You can throw grenades back at enemies. Just pick them up and toss before explosion. Why wasn't this in Call of Duty 2? This was my most wanted feature in that game.

Multi-player is better than #2. That is to say, I played vs my wife one round and that was it.

This game looks great on the HDTV.

It can be frustrating, but I got my Moneys worth. 12 or 13 hours of play for $3? I'm sold. Way better than a movie rental.

Another WWII game? I should have been in the war. Oh wait, I would have died right away, if this game has anything to say about that.

Smoke grenades are great!

Does killing Nazis ever get old?

Peanut Butter Mystery

Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter Products Beginningwith Product Code 2111 Recalled for Possible Salmonella Contamination. So, how did it happen? DUN DUN DUNNNN!

Peanut butter gone bad! Someone must have left the peanut butter in the danger temperature zone (41F - 140F). I know that thanks to my in depth Subway food knowledge. Does Subway carry peanut butter? No. Did they used to carry peanut butter cookies? Yes. Was I working when they carried those cookies and sold them? No. Maybe it was a sick joke? "haha, I made you sick, take that little children who eat peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches."

I have a feeling ConAgra Foods is going to hurt big time on this one. I mean, besides the obvious of having illness enducing peanut butter causing horrific pain, but they make Great Value Peanut Butter also?!?! Who knew Peter Pan was the same exact product. Now everyone will totally never buy either peanut butter and Jiffy Peanut Butter profits will soar. You should really buy Jiffy stock, I'm thinking.

I returned my peanut butter to Wal-Mart and got my $2.50 back. There was a whole row of containers in the return section. One someone ate all the peanut butter and still returned it... They should have let us know back last year when this was happeneing.

The Mystery X Button - Theories

So Bungie finally released the button layout for Halo 3. Its pretty much a mix between H2 and Gears. But everyone knows this frees up the X button which used to be reload. So here are my theories as to what that button will do.

1. Sprint Its not that exciting, but a short sprint to get away from a frag would be helpful. Additionally it would make leveling in H3 more interesting as well as adding new tactics. Bungie says no. I say ok?

2. Duck and Roll The Elites could do a form of it since H1. Ok it was more of a duck and move over, but the idea is still there.

3. Yoshimitsu Style Suicide I'm a fan of the suicide grenade. When I'm simply not going to win this fight a well placed grenade just before I die is a beautiful thing. Why not just explode yourself and take out all of the baddies in the area with you. Not that great if you have any skill, but if you are fodder like me... its a valid tactic.

4. Bullet Time You can match this up with #3. It can be for multilayer and this can be for single.

5. Taunt Like an auto teabag button, or a Super Smash Brothers type biting of ones thumb. What else would be better than taunting me right before you kill me for the 50th time this game.

6. Positive Reinforcement Lets face it, I'm Cannon Fodder. A peon. I'm Robert Goulay to SNL. Sometimes I need to know I'm not a looser. Push X and hear something like "You are getting better" or "Those other guys just don't have a life." Yeah.

7. Grappling Hook It worked for Link, but could you imagine the possibilities? Your teammate is being ganked over there, but you can't get to them. Look! Up there. A high cliff.! Next thing you know you are swinging across the map picking off the baddies with well placed shots to the head. Its like Tarzan with a plasma rifle.

8. Dive If I notice that a sniper is scoping me up I think it would be a good time to get out of there. Why not dive behind that boulder? Hit X and survive to die another way.

9. Call in the Calvary! This could mean anything from a beacon that calls all sorts of people to you or an all out Zerg like Flood attack on any nearby baddies. This of course would be limited to me, simply because I suck.

10. Ok Fine Shield Grenade or Shield Grenade Activation I didn't want to say it, but ok here it is.

Ghost Rider (Movie)

I was privileged to see a screening of Ghost Rider last night. Starting off, I am a comic book fan, so a movie based off a comic book is a joyful thing to me (most of the time). This movie was ENTERTAINING. It did not contain the most amazing acting, plot, or awesomeness of other movies out there (sometimes). It was a fun movie that captured my interest. I admit, the minor villains were lame and really served no purpose. I thought the voice of Ghost Rider could have been better done and it times it felt campy. This is a 'popcorn' flick, through and through. If you are looking for something fun to watch, this is it. This is a predictable movie for sure. It doesn't try to be a serious, serious movie (blast, why did the critics make the movies important?) but has a cool hero and then some. I don't remember the villains name, besides the bad guys are Nephalim, and in this movie those are angels that fell from Heaven and are "waiting in the elements of earth until the end of days." I had read someone say "I thought I would enjoy seeing Nick Cage's head on fire (sarcasm)," and the graphics are definitely good looking. What's cooler than the "penance stare," making evil do-ers feel the anguish and pain of all of their victims, ever when they stare into Ghost Rider's eyes? Of course, this is setup for possible sequels and the legend of Ghost Rider....ride Johnny Blaze, ride.

When did special features become so lame?

When did they become so lame? I remember getting my Special Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. It had two, yeah two baby, disks of how they made the movie. I enjoyed that almost as much as I enjoyed the movie. I remember the joys of the special features on the Matrix. How cool was that to see how they did it. Thats what I love about special features.

Now. They are all the same. The trailer of the movie you just watched. (Why would I want to watch that?) Maybe a directors commentary. (2 hours of the movie you just watched with the lamest dub over ever.) And my personal pet peeve: The making of the movie. Movies are getting more and more high tech. I just got done watching the Illusionist. Great movie, sweet special effects, nice story. Lame special features. I really don't want to listen to that soft porn star from 7th Heaven talk about her character. Its always the same anymore: recap the movie, have the actors talk about the movie, and thats it. No one wants to watch your special features!! I'm talking to you V for Vendetta. Who was that guy who managed to argue that terrorism and killing innocent people is a valid form of warfare? I forget, maybe because I don't care.

If you will excuse me, I'm going to watch some Alias on DVD. At least their special features are worth watching.

New CDs

So..there are some new CDs coming out soon that I thought would be worth mentioning!

Bear Colony - We Came Here to Die
Comeback Kid - Broadcasting
Anberlin - Cities
The Chariot - Fiancee
The Showdown - Temptation Come My Way

So ya, most of these cds come out of the 20th of February for some reason. I haven't listened to any of this music except for the new Bear Colony, but I have enjoyed the past releases of the other bands immensely. You should check them out.

I am a slave

If Microsoft never bought out Bungie. Would we all be playing Halo on a Mac?

I hate Windows. I suck at programming, but this is terrible. I mean these guys freaking write compilers, but they just can't seem to work them. I'm looking right now at a Windows Live Messanger notice stuck half way down on the screen. Why? I don't know. Why do I have to use windows live messenger? Because the computer I'm on needs to be reformatted before it will work. Why does it need reformatted? Windows sucks. Microsoft makes enough off of their flagship that they can loose Billions of dollars on their gaming. Awesome Microsoft working defensively again. The ship is sinking. About 2 years ago I would have never recommended a mac. Now when people ask me what kind of laptop to buy I say Toshiba, Acer, Asus or Apple. Why? MacOS is just as good as Windows.

There it is. MacOS is just as good as Windows. I have a Kodak camera. I have to install all sorts of programs just get my pictures off of it. My Mac friend just plugged it in and it just worked. I was getting blue screens and lock ups over a driver problem and he didn't even have to do anything. Stupid Windows. It just doesn't work.

Which is also what is my beef with Linux. It just doesn't work right. It just doesn't feel right. Its very stable. Its very adaptable and getting better every day, but it just doesn't work right. Whether its having to enter a password and adjust settings just to use my WiFi every time or trying to install a new program in Ubuntu in an RPM. There is a huge learning curve.

So am I going Mac.... nope. No games. Over price hardware. Difficult upgrades. Sorry good os. Not sold on the hardware. One button mouse? Why? Because its simpler.... ehh didn't you also come up with the uber complicated mighty mouse?

So...

If I was a nerd which I am I would use Linux on PC

If I was interested in Media which I am I would use MacOS on a Mac

If I was interested in Games which I am I would use Windows on a PC

So...

I'm a slave to Windows.

Or a multi boot system.

--Mark

Why I Will Never Buy An iPhone

Because I already own one.

In fact this one works better than your's ever will.

Its got a screen bigger than my face. A 5 megapixel camera. A calendar. A massive amount of memory for music. It can transfer data at a 1gbps. It works with Sprint. It allows 3rd party software. It is completely modular and can shrink to the size of a mint box. What kind of devilry am I talking about? I mean I've had it for a while now. I already own everything it already does.

My laptop does webpages. My phone calls people. My camera takes pictures. My PDA tells me when I need to go. What else is left? (Well there is that ordeal about the DS, if only I wanted a PS3 would have found it by now.)

Lets talk in metaphors and similes. The iPhone is like a sledgehammer. It is very useful. You can use it to hang pictures or you can use it to demolish a house. The problem falls in that a sledgehammer is too large for tapping little nails into plaster and too small and slow for breaking down houses. What works well for hanging pictures is a little hammer and what works for busting up houses is bulldozers. When I surf the internet. I generally use my laptop. If I'm going somewhere that I want to surf the internet I will bring it. If I don't want to surf the internet I don't. I have a cell phone. It goes with me where ever I go for two reasons: one for safety's sake and two in case someone needs to get a hold of me. I like the fact that when my phone rings all I have to do is flip open the lid to say hello. See my point? Big project small project.

Truth is I am very much one of those people who likes their devises to do one thing and do it well. My phone has a calendar on it, games too. Do I use them? No. Why? Because my Palm does a better job at keeping my information. Thats why I bought it. I didn't get the one with WiFi or a phone built in because all I want is for it to keep my information and sync up to my laptop. I could have bought one that would be more powerful and could play games, but I prefer to play games on my computer. Why? Because why would you play on a stamp size phone screen or a low quality palm with a slow ARM processor when you could enjoy a high quality screen and a modern processor? Could I have combined the features of a games, and webpages, and calendar and phone in one? Yes, its called a Treo. But why do that to myself?

Now there are some features of the iPhone that are seemingly impressive. Safari and maps. I've been away from home for weeks before with no internet. Did I live? Probably. When would I use it? During a boring meeting? No that's rude. I'd rather use my laptop and make it plain how lame I am then to be outed. On the ride to work. Erm there are enough people out there that can't drive. There just isn't anytime that I need to surf the internet when I can't get a computer. And when I do know I need to access the internet I will just pack my laptop. Yes, its heavier, but I'm not going to read webpages by zooming and un zooming or using a magnifying glass. And I'm not going to talk about a GPS-less map program.

Not only that say I drop my phone in a lake. Yeah, I've done it before. My boss did it too. Boom I'm out my contacts and since it wouldn't sync to Outlook I'm out my contacts. My music. My portable music player. My 2 Mega pixel camera. Gone. If I drop my phone its a trip to radio shack. Sometimes they even work after they've dried out.

I just don't have any any any reason to buy one. And I don't think I ever will.

On the same topic. Hey Justin, remember how you hate it when I touch the screen on your DS with my fingers. The iPhone will not use a stylus. Could you imagine how greasy thats going to get after the first day.

Still can't find that stupid DS.

Antics -Love Mark

Venom in Spider-Man 3

So Venom has finally been revealed for the Spider-Man 3 movie, in action figure form, at least. First off, I think the new design for the black spider-man costume is alright, but this is horrible, in my opinion. I really like the original black costume and it's my favorite of all the Spider-Man costumes. In my feelings, they messed up with a new design. I thought Venom might stay the same as the comic version, but he has been changed completely to fit the new Spider-Man design. They kept the claws and mouth though...but this isn't as menacing or just awesome as looking as the original Venom I know and love. Do you like the new design? Maybe I am just hating change here.

Falling Sand!

There is this game on the internet (you need java by the way) called Falling Sand and there's lot's of variations of it on there. It's very simple and extremely fun too. You can make land, sand, water, plants, wax, etc. Nitroglycerin, fire and other things bring ruination and you can build and destroy without any mess! But the best part is you can summon zombies for your creation. Yes, zombies!

"Falling Sand Game", also "Hell of Sand", is a Java applet first found on the Dofi Blog, later enlarged and rehosted by Chirag Mehta and then again by Falling Sand Game. The game has been popular on community link sites and forums like Falling Sand Game, Digg and Delicious and involves four main falling particles: sand, water, salt, and oil. Each of these particles have special properties that can be manipulated; among these include burning, desiccating, growing, eroding, and more. Along with these four, main particles are auxiliary environmental manipulators: Wall, Fire, Plant, Spout, Cera (or wax), ???, and Erase. By putting these together, one can thoroughly enjoy the modeling and the construction of very complex structures and systems. There is an additional special feature that can be turned on, off, or told to remain in place. This is called the namekuji which means slug, and reacts naturally for the properties of a slug when salt is poured onto it.

Several different versions exist, varying from applets with zombies, or human bodies, that have their own unique properties to applets where auxiliary environmental manipulators have additional properties.

Selling Car Speakers

I'm selling some Pioneer TS-A168OR car speakers. Interested? I don't mind a shameless plug. Check out my EBay page for all the details. If you are in Moberly, no need for shipping and maybe we can settle on a price and forget about EBay.

Apple's Newest Gadget

Apple reveiled the new iPHONE today at MACworld.

"iPhone combines three products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone. "

This looks like Apples' try to get into the handheld pc market that MS dominates. Thoughts?

(thanks buzzgrinder)

Zombies on Acid.

So
javascript: function cut(target) {if (target) return parseFloat(target.substring(0, target.length - 2)); else return 0;} function shift(target) {var a = target.childNodes; var b = 0; while (a[b]) { for (var d = a[b].childNodes.length - 1; d >= 0; d--) { var e = a[b].childNodes[d]; if (e.hasChildNodes) shift(e); if (e.style) { e.style.position="relative"; e.style.top = cut (e.style.top) + (Math.random() * 6 - 3) + "px"; e.style.left = cut(e.style.left) + (Math.random() * 6 - 3) + "px"; } } b++; } } setInterval("shift(document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]);", 500); void(0);

No the webpage didn't explode through. Copy and paste that into the address bar and watch the blog get trippy.

In other news I still can't find a DS could have bought 2 or 3 PS3s by now but I don't have that much to spend.

I'm looking for a project to write in Python. I'm thinking about writing something to keep track of my students and programs. Any ideas?

Microsoft Gaming News

Guitar Hero II is coming out for the Xbox 360 in March. I'm pretty psyched about that. Well news is out now that 10 more songs will be added to the already large list of songs on the PS2 versions. Besides these additions, there will be online score and leaderboards, additional songs to be downloaded, and other nickle and dime content. Guitar hero is one of my favorite games out there, so I'm saving my EB Games credits for this one and it's slick wireless guitar.

Microsoft also announced that the Zune will be a gaming machine by 2008. Now does this mean it will be their foray into the handheld console market? I don't know but there have been rumors of a portable gaming machine by Microsoft for a while now. I'm thinking it will be more like the new iPODS that play bejewled and tetris, but you never know. Has anyone used a Zune? Music sharing seems pretty cool. Now, if I had a use for a porable MP3 player I might look into it a bit more. I noticed that cd players are losing shelf space to digital players and all the new boomboxes and such are just speakers with docking stations for iPODS. Pretty cool, yet I only found one such device for the PSP. They are pricy at around $100 at Wal-Mart.

Oh ya, I bought a couch. Come play some Xbox 360 with me.

Book of the Week

First and Second Kings (Living Word Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol 7).

Now I just got this book in the mail yesterday. I attend Bible College, so as it just so happens, I have classes based on books of the Bible. I started reading last night into the introductory matters and I'll continue digging as I have to read it all for the upcoming semester. Already a funny moment for myself, Miller (the author) goes on to list many people's theories about discrepencies between Kings and Chronicles for pages and pages, but ends listing his opinion, taking up no room at all. Religious liberals make me read so much more material then I should have to.

I also bought many books yesterday at the school book store. They are having 25% - 75% off sales so I bought some of Warren Weirsbe's small books that start with "Be..." for $5 a piece and other commentaries. A teacher recommended to me "The Call" by Os Guiness, so I purchased that too.

I am also reading Building Dynamic Faith each day with my new wife. My father-in-law bought it for me for Christimas and it's a 30 day devotional. Jerry Falwell is the author and Baptist, but we'll see how good it is.

Umm... FM transmitters for cars from PSPs suck. I bought one like this and there is plenty of static at all times. What a complete waste of money. I can't believe EBGames would even sell this piece of junk. STAY AWAY.

New X-Men Omnibus

I read this monstrosity of a comic collection, coming in at 1096 pages and I have to say that this is an excellent collection. Spanning 42 issues, Grant Morrison has written one of the best runs on comics I have ever read. The writing is superb and anyone can pick this up and read it, you don't have to have been a fan at all. It includes all the regular issues, an annual, Grant Morrison's initial proposal, and other artwork. In hardcover form and coming in at $62 on Amazon, this is a steal. I have one complaint to file though. Sometimes the art is atrocious. Frank Quietly is alright and is fine most of the time, but the inking is plain bad in many issues. There are many artists throughout this run of 3 1/2 years and I wonder why Marvel didn't put a good artist on for the long run. X-Men is Marvel's bread and butter, their most popular franchise today. In a visual medium, I thought much better could have been done. I don't buy the explanation of the first vilain so much, but hey, it's good stuff. Everything is leading up to something and even when I thought there were side stories, it all was brought back to add up in the end. I have to say that this is a MUST HAVE for anyone. This makes me want to read more of Grant Morrison's work.

New Years Predictions

Happy New Years everyone! In good taste here is my list of predictions for the most important occurrences in 2007.


1. Scalpers breathe a sigh of relief when a serial killer who went around killing anyone who bought a PS3 to sell it on ebay is finally caught.

2. Blizzard is the target of a class action lawsuit from wives whose husbands are addicted to WoW.

3. Windows Vista looks as beautiful as promised. In fact it looks so good that no one even cares when 95% of users are hacked in the first week.

4. AMD, in order to turn up the heat on Intel, creates an 18 socket motherboard. Intel replies with higher clocked CPU's and larger heat sinks.

5. Duke Nukem Forever will be given a release date for late 2008. Gamers' exuberance wains when the trailer is a flip book drawn on a stack of post-it notes.

6. The Phantom is found out to be a scam for investors' money. You knew it was only a matter of time.

7. Due to a wrist strap failure the first case of Wii remote impalement will be reported.

8. Nintendo will redesign the DS. Not only will it be sleeker, have longer batter life, and a larger screen, it can also be used as a Wii-remote.

9. Apple will get into the video game business with their own console. It will cost more than any other console with less power, but it will be totally stable and shiny white.

10. Sony wins the next-DVD format war when they actually become competitive in price.

11. The value of WoW's currency is greater than that of the dollar. The IRS responds by adding an IRS agent at the end of every dungeon.

12. A new fad begins on Second Life: people begin to log on to virtual computers to play Third Life.

--Much Love Mark