I've designed a new look for Blog Review Online, one of my hosted sites. If you enjoy satirical technobabble, take a peek at BRO's cutting commentary on the blogosphere.

Yesterday, I had a dinner date with Kayla. We started out at Tokyo Japanese Restaurant. Teppanyaki isn't really Japanese, but regardless, it's delicious! Got to see and chat a little with Derek Munden. I haven't seen him for a long time. I feel sorry for him, it turns out he's going to be a math major.

After dinner, Kayla and I went to Oakwood to see the latest Coen Brothers film, Burn After Reading [imdb.com]. I must say, I thought it was hilarious. It's a great movie about stupid people. I don't believe Kayla enjoyed it as much, but at least it's worth a few laughs if the uncontrollable plot isn't your cup of tea. A star-filled cast doesn't hurt and I think it's a hilarious satire on the spy genre in general. I'd recommend it if only for Clooney's top secret basement project.

Overall, I'd say it was a very enjoyable date, even if she didn't enjoy the movie as much as me, though I hope she had as much fun.

So, for the last few hours, I've been listening to Metallica's new album, Death Magnetic [amazon.com]. I like it quite a bit, however, I will still say their classics (One, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman) are better. I am becoming quite fond of "The Day That Never Comes," though. I'd recommend it to metal fans and Metallica fans alike (though, if you're either, you probably already have it.)

Three years ago, Will Wright blew my mind with his GDC (that's the Game Developer's Conference to those not in the know) demonstration of Spore. In his presentation, he explores the wondrous world of procedural generation, evolution, and sandbox gameplay. Starting from a little skeleton, the game creates actions, music: a literal world around your little creature. Everything is made on the fly. As the game progresses, your animal evolves, transitioning to the sea, land, civilization, and finally space stage. If you haven't seen it, click here [google.com].

Three years after first watching that extraordinary video, I finally have an install of that very game on my hard drive. Why did you sell yourself out, Will Wright? Is money that much more important than your reputation? Will Wright and EA shipped a hollow version of what we were promised. The game was made cute, the mechanics were made shallow, and the 2005 game has disappeared. In 2005, we were introduced to "procedural verbs:" verbs that are created by mixing others. When Will moved and bit with his creature, he invented a drag action. Where did that disappear to? What about swimming the ocean? Why was that entire stage removed? Will Wright's response: "we looked at the Metacritic scores for 'Sims 2', which was around 90, and something like 'Half-Life', which was 97, and we decided - quite a while back - that we would rather have the Metacritic and sales of 'Sims 2' than the Metacritic and sales of 'Half-Life.'" [mtv.com]. Way to sell out your loyal fans. Spore is no longer a procedural game! There is no procedural music, no procedural animation, no procedural actions! It's insulting that Wright and EA would deviate from their fanbase to "casual gamers."

This isn't to mention the SecureROM DRM that ships with Spore. Short story is that irate Spore followers have squashed the game down to a one star rating on Amazon. If you want to know more about that whole mess, click here [theregister.co.uk].

Will Wright, EA, you designed a great game. I still enjoy Spore as it is now. But, you leave me yearning for what you exhibited in 2005. You were proud of that, you shouldn't be proud of halving your ambitions and delivering such a truncated product.

So, lately, I watched a few movies. They were pretty good. Three out of four isn't bad. Four movies, so let's go with chronological order.

The first I saw and thus first on the plate, there's Hot Fuzz [imdb.com]. A movie parodying cop films, I thought that Hot Fuzz was better than most cop films. The action sequences are just so over the top that it brings a hilarity to the preposterous premise of purifying a perfect country town. Doesn't hurt that the British humor is just spot on, making this a laugh-inducing ride. I'd recommend this highly and it really makes me want to see Shaun of the Dead.

Following that, 3:10 to Yuma [imdb.com]. So, Russell Crowe is a big-time crook and Christian Bale is the tragic hero. There's some superb action between the two and some really provocative conversations that end up making this as much an intellectual morality tale as much as a shoot-em-up. I'd recommend this with both thumbs, a western that just hits all the right notes.

Two good movies in a row and sadly, the third time's not the charm here. In Chaos [imdb.com], Jason Statham, who is always either the driver or a cop, plays a cop. Kind of a shame, really. I really wanted to like this one, it almost felt like it was going to be good. But too much psycho-babble really made it a hard one to wade through. Wouldn't recommend this one.

Finally, there's Waiting [imdb.com]. As a server myself, I can't help but love this film. The same interactions happen in my work, too, though the behind the scene stuff doesn't happen. At least, not at my restaurant. Though, there are times I wouldn't mind adding some "garlic salt" (read: dandruff) to an irritating customer's entree. I haven't said much about the movie yet, but that's because it's like second nature to me. But the truth is, it's well done. It's not the best film out there, but it really gives me a smile.

Three out of four isn't bad. Any recommendations?

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary that I have a sweet blog, so here it is. To be honest, I hate blogging, so this is going to turn into a soapbox more often than not. In reality, I made this site because I wanted to try new coding things and it was an opportunity for me to learn. "My crime is that of curiosity." Onto other things, though, this website is also a portal whereby I can put my stuff.

So, the typical thing would be to introduce myself. But you don't care, if you're even out there, and if you don't see that big "About Me" on the side, you're probably already blind anyways. Instead of the mundane, I'm just going to go ahead and say you all suck. I'm better than you.

Also, your mother looks like a Picasso.