News, rewards & reviews...

I've been playing through Halo 2 lately and decided that I really don't like this game. It might be advertised as an evolution of gaming (or some such), but I don't see any evidence of that. Maybe they meant for the original xbox, because GoW and Quake4 are much better games than Halo 2. I guess I'll rent Halo 3 when it is released, but I hope it actually is an evolutionary step away from previous versions.

Tomorrow I guess I'll return Halo 2 and see if rb6Vegas is available. Or maybe Chrome Hounds. The selection is kinda limited so who knows what I'll find.

Anybody else notice that MS really wants people to play and stack up those gamerscores? Take a look at this article on Ars Technica. A rewards program for rack up the scores to get a free xbl game and maybe a t-shirt. Seems to be only a half-hearted attempt, though. Like maybe an idea an intern gave to an exec, but the exec wasn't going to put any real effort into it just in case it backfires. Maybe the rewards will be better if MS continues the program.

I just noticed that the tracks played on my last.fm account is above 11,000. Wow, thats a lot of music in just over two years. I think I've taken one of my iPods almost everywhere I've gone. The people at work probably consider the iPod (and assorted cables & remote) an integral part of my body. I call it my sanity-saver; it keeps me from wanting to kill these time-wasting & noisy morons.

Some pocket movie reviews...

Flags of our Fathers – Action/war/drama. Raises the important question – what is a hero? Is it the people who give encouragement to others, is it the people that give their lives for their team or country, is it the people that risk their lives to save others, is it all of the aforementioned plus more? This movie revolves around the six men that raised the US flag over Iwo Jima during WWII, and thereby causing a turning point during the Pacific campaign. Deeply moving and should be watched and discussed in great detail.

I can't wait for 'Letters from Iwo Jima' to be released on DVD. It will be concerning the men and battle from the Japanese viewpoint. Should be equally moving.

Running with Scissors – Comedy/drama. Quirky & sometimes silly, but alway very odd. Supposedly autobiographical about the author being raised by an alcoholic father and loony mother. His mother allow her shrink to adopt him into a bizarre extended family that uses biblical divining and bowel movements to give them direction, then the movie gets weird. I would recommend if you have a couple hours and don't want to watch another brain dead slapstick comedy.

Trust the Man – Romantic comedy. Been here, done that, have the mental scars to prove it. So this is what 'The Duch' has been doing since X-Files ended. Somehow I thought he would have found something equally as deep, but apparently not. Chicks and fans of the genre will get a kick out of the movie, the rest can just roll our eyes are await any fallout.