Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 5:55PM 
Orphan will not make sense. It will have moments in the plot that bend logic well beyond a breaking point. However, given the somewhat strong cast and out-of-nowhere twist, you may find yourself making an exception for 'yet another horror movie starring a creepy looking child'.
Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 6:50PM 
Illustrations by Nina ChakrabatiPublished in I Want You Magazine, Nina Chakrabati had pretty damn great idea of applying tribal designs to the models in magazines. The result: excellent. This is a smidge of what you can find over at Today & Tomorrow site.
More of Nina's work after the jump...
Chakrabati, Nina in Art, Artists, The Internet Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 6:38PM 
The sixth installment in the Harry Potter film franchise, you would assume the character development would be fleshed out and interesting to the average movie goer. Alas, Mr. Potter has suprised me again. Harry Potter is cute, pretty and has magical moments, unfortunately none of those moments equate to this movie being nothing short of a Goosebumps novel, scratch that, I actually like Goosebumps novels. This movie is not dark, it is actually the fluffiest of the Harry Potter movies I have seen, granted I have seen the first, half of the second and the fifth prior to this two hour and 30 minute waste of time.
Harry, Potter, Summer 2009 in Cinema, Reviews Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 8:16AM 
PopCap is well known in the casual/social gaming world. If playing their games through "Yahoo! Games" did not kill many work hours, then these past couple years of PC and home console invasion* will no doubt wrap its icey grip around your throat. In PopCap's latest endeavor, Plants vs. Zombies, they venture into the Desktop Tower Defense genre. This seems like abig switch for PopCap considering they specialize in incredibly accessible games for people who do not regularly park themselves behind a screen that bleeps and bloops. Plants vs Zombies is a funreal-time strategy[or RTS] which has all the staplesof most of the PopCap games. It is simple, cute to look at and has an easy concept to grasp: plant stuff to stop the zombies.
Although Plants vs. Zombies is, for the most part, a surface RTS with moderate depth. There is something interesting that happens between the point of the game 'teaching the gamer', an example inthis case is the gamegiving you the basic walk through of collecting sun rays in order to plant more items. The next point would be the difficulty ramp up and how you, the gamer, will freak out by what Plants vs Zombies will throw at you in the latter points in the game. Here's why this is interesting, the game goes through a thorough walk through [which isn't heavy handed, if you want to go against the computer's advice, you totally can, but BEWARE]. After a certain point you are able to collect and acquire [it's weird to say this] 'plantible weapons' and other items which help in your zombicidal defense. In the midst of introducing these more complex elements Plants vs. Zombies becomes 'more hardcore'
At the onset of the game, you are defending your lawn. You collect sun rays in order to plant sunflowers, which also produce sun rays. With sun rays you have the ability to plant plants and mushrooms that shoot peas and fumes. It is very 'Rock-Paper-Scissors'. As the game progresses you have items that set your peas on fire, freeze zombies and fling butter in order to slow zombies down. "But what about the Zombies?" you ask. With complex items come complex zombies. There are zombies who read the paper [where the newspaper functions as a shield for a couple hits]. There are zombies who like to dance and will resurrect their fallen brothern "Thriller" style. There is even a gigantic zombie which can destroy an entire row of your plants if your yard is not properly armed.
I have no idea how Popcap went from Peggle to Plants vs. Zombies, but it is a welcomed change. Typically, RTS games require you to sink hours of gameplay in, while engaging in intense battles coupled with a fair amount of strategic weapon placement. Plants vs. Zombies has this, but the ease of dropping in and out of a game is also there as well. It is a PopCap game sothere are moments where throwing cabbage at the heads of zombies feels 'almost too easy'. The stages after those moments are usually where the difficulty ramps up and the player has to put infour seconds of thought into their actions as opposed to two.
Once you are staring at 9 slots for potential weapons and over 40 items in which to punish your 'brain-NOMing' friends; its clear thatthe average casual player of Popcap games has a decision to make. A fault of Plants vs. Zombies is that at some point this decision of thinking more in depth may not be every gamers's cup of tea. Managing a plant here and a sunflower there got you through the first couple worlds, but midway through the game you have to start thinking about how can you freeze the Football Zombie and take the pogo stick from the Pogo Zombie [hint: You want to use the magnet-mushroom].
Plants vs. Zombies is a fun, addicting game, but it comes with a barrier for entry. The barrier is covered in brain bits and cute mini-games giving you a sense of confidence, but only to a certain point. The fun times that are had can eventually turn into small intervals of panic which could turn off someone who just wants to take ten minutes out of their day to explode a couple zombies with a cherry bomb. The game is rich with items you can collect well after you have completed the main story mode. There are some tough achievements which further entices the completest-gamer to try some of the more harder methods of completing the game. There is even a zen garden!
Friday, July 17, 2009 at 11:40PM 
If You Look Close Enough, You Can Still The Lip Gloss It is quite clear Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is America's movie. The movie is huge [in many respects], tons of things happen with very little reasonable explaination; even under the guise that this is 'a movie about robots'. More importantly, the viewer must accept the fact that the this Transformers movie will in some way be entertaining and tie-in [plot wise] to the previous effort. With standards low, and a large cry from the general public saying, "Just turn your brain off and enjoy". How is it possible that a movie so incredibly racist, chauvinistic and rife with some of the worst [I shutter to say] acting, lack the one element most people come to see in a Transformer movie? Entertainment.
Fox, LeBouf, Michael Bay, Terrible, Transformers in Cinema, Criticism, Entertainment, Reviews Friday, July 17, 2009 at 3:17PM 
So This Isn't Borat 2?
If you liked Borat you will 'probably' like Brüno. The odd focus of fashion at the start of the movie will keep Ali G fans satisfied, but when you factor in the scripted and non-scripted events throughout Brüno; you see the set-ups as weaker moments in the movie. Of course there are plenty of shocking imagery in the feature. However, when seeing the 8th or 9th penis on-screen, you want more impromptu 'Candid Camera' moments and less Sacha Baron Cohen slapstick scripted skits. Much like the character Sacha Baren Cohen portrays, Brüno as a movie makes up for in its commentary what it lacks in personality.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 1:26AM 
A couple weeks back we here in Columbus, OH found out that apparently we are one step closer to eating our belts. It is no secret that Ohio is pretty damn broke. We've been facing a $7+ billion dollar debt for quite some time and with a Mayor that has been introducing some questionable projects in the future, it seems to make things in this city appear to be a bit more bleaker than what we have already had to deal with.
Monday, July 13, 2009 at 9:07PM Falling in line with all things tech culture related on the brog, Penn & Teller have constructed quite the piece debating the factual evidence surrounding violent video games and their effects on this generations moldible minds. As in any episode you would find of Penn & Teller, be prepared for tons of profanity [awesome] and loons [on both sides of the fence] as well as some solid points made on behalf of the games industry. Do violent video games make for an aggressive person or personality? Is it training our children to be zombie-like killers?
More Parts 2 & 3 after the jump!
Friday, July 10, 2009 at 5:39PM 
Another long day at work, I found myself griping with a user on eBay. It turns out if you do not describe an item you want, to the person selling it to you with lawyer-like precision chances are you will be paying for something similar to a box with packing paper protecting my new shiny pet rock. I scoured the net to see if there were others out there who have suffered wanting or paying for one thing, yet getting something the seller did not describe to be what you would call 'the truth'.
Lo and behold I find an aptly titled site: Item Not As Described.
Example after the jump.
Craigslist, The Internet in Advertising, Ebayin!, Humor Thursday, July 9, 2009 at 5:39PM 
Like most of you guys/gals out there I have to field a fair amount of e-mails from coworkers, customers, and a good lot of strangers. Anyone who has dealt with anyone on craigslist or eBay will be able to relate to the need of a website, a blog that vocalizes the: overly wordy, ill advised or just plain stupid e-mail that people get on a daily basis. Well folks I give you:
One man, by the name of Mike Partlow [or Anderson, I'm pretty sure it's a name we shall never know in order to shroud his identity from the people who want to commit heinous acts on his person] has decided to take it upon himself to make sure anyone who posts an ad in the classifieds or similar 'help sites' on the web and make the average Joe's live a little tougher to deal with
After The Jump Is An Example
"Fear For Your Puny Lives!"
