Mafia Wars vs. Spymaster

The social Networks have transitioned from a place to just leave messages to a place to play games and make money for developers. No arguably has done a better job at this than the makers of Mafia Wars. This game is as addictive as cupcakes to 6 year olds at a party. It is the top game on Facebook as well as MySpace. With its ability to buy more tools to help you in the game at the cost of real money or your time with trails and surveys it is also very profitable to the developer. Now there is a new kid on the block that intends to change that with the help of another new kid in the park. Twitter is the place to see and be seen in this day and age of social networking. There have been attempts at games for it before but none has been as addictive as Spymaster. At first glance it seems like a carbon copy of Mafia Wars with a different title but you would be wrong. It takes more than just random "jobs" to reach new level. Although it is easy to get people to follow you on Twitter, it should be interesting to see who followers view the tweets that the game produces. I think some will view it as spam but others will be tempted to join the fun.

Pulse Pen: The netbook's netbook

The Pulse Pen at first looks like an oversized pen but you quickly learns that this pen is more like a mini computer than anything else. I have the 2GB version which has more than enough space. The pen records audio and links it to what you write. While I thought I would not use this feature. I soon found that sometimes it was easier to record a note rather than writing it down. The pen comes with a pair of headphones that let you record in what is called 3D. What it really amounts to is surround sound. I test it out at Barns & Noble, Best Buy and Buffalo Billiards. The sound performed perfectly. I was able to record conversations from all directions.

This pen would have been very helpful during undergrad. If you are still in high school or college I highly recommend getting one. Although the instructions say that you can only use the pen on one computer, that is not so. If your tech savvy enough you can share it with as many computers as you wish. All you have to do is install the Litghtscribe desktop to a Live Mesh folder. If you don't have a Live Mesh or never heard of it, than you should sign up for it. It's free by the way. The Pulse pen software lets transfer & share your notes, organize them, and even search for words within your notes. The best thing is that you can upload your creations online for everyone to see, hear and play. The reverse of that works very well also. You can download someone that teaches you how to draw a cartoon say Family Guy or notes to Calculus class from an A student. (To be used for studying of course) At just 1.3 oz. The pen will fit just about anywhere. The instructions say that the Pulse Pen requires Windows XP with service pack 2 or Windows Vista to run but I have found that it works just fine on Windows 7 RC as well.

Terminator: Salvation?

Is this Terminator the salvation the franchise so desperately needs? Will this action packed summer flick be the best thing McG has done since Charlie's Angles? Does Mr. Christian "F bomb" Bale live up to the hype?

In a word yes, although I did not walk away completely over joyed with the plot. For one thing Skynet tells Marcus the half robot & half human that he is the only one of his kind but a few cut scenes later he is fighting his upgrade Arnold. Little things like that should not happen in a movie of this size. But all in all this movie does pass the bill of being a summer action blockbuster. You should see it just for the soon to be infamous helicopter scene right in the beginning. That is the best action sequence I have ever seen . There is not much of a review needed for this movie. You know what you are getting. Heart pounding action from start to finish. Who needs cohesive plots anyway?

I give it a 4 out 5 stars.

Angles & Demons: Unrealistic but good

Angels and Demons is a good meaningful film that has lots of heart but features a message that tries very hard not often anyone. I give the movie 3 out of 5. Now read on for the full review if you still want to see the movie.

A man from The Vatican who seeks Robert Langdon’s help. Right away it is evident that this film is a lot more straight forward and to the point. It is not a sequel to DaVinci Code nor does it seem like a predecessor although there are many hints to the contrary. Hanks is flawless as he always is in every film he does. Therefore he is not the problem nor is it Howard's impeccable directing. The movie is just not as enticing as the first movie and you keep hoping that it will live up to that older sibling but it never does. The science is sound in some places but so unrealistic in others it hurts to watch if you’re a tech geek. Creating antimatter is not impossible but containing it is. Also creating it in such a great quantity is also very unrealistic. The impact of antimatter and regular matter is just so unpredictable. No one really knows what will happen.

The special effects are great but there were was not much to do to make it that way. A side from the ending which I will not tell you, the FX was largely stunts by doubles that any company could have done. There you have it an unbiased review. Next week I will review Terminator: Salvation.

Star Trek: A J.J. Abrams Story

If your a fan you can name each of those captains in the picture. Now imagine all that back story never happened. I’m a Trekker not to be mistaken with Trekkie Trekkers love Star Trek but leave at that. Trekkie eat, breathe and dream all things Star Trek. They go to conventions and name their kids after the show characters. Now that is clear, I will sum up the movie in one word and go from there. Overhyped. Ok, I may have cheated since technically that is not one word. But you get the point.

J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the franchise will generate enthusiasm among Trekkies which leads to repeat viewings will enable the film to do very well at the box office. Why? Because even if the movie sucks it is still a Star Trek movie and Trekkies only care about that fact. Now a Trekker such as I and others like me will go see the movie once and leave it at that. Why? Te movie lacks in key parts that would make it a great movie. The DNA of Abrams is all over this movie from the time traveling paradox to father/son conflict that is in all his shows. He did leave in all the catch phrases such as "Beam me up!” and “Set phasers to stun!” but there were done in a classy way. They worked with their respective scenes. All cannot be put on JJ's shoulders, writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman who collaborated with Abrams on Mission: Impossible III have come up with a head-achingly (think LOST) plot that effectively has no relevance to nearly 40 years of Trek. Six TV series and 10 movie history was brushed under the carpet like they never happen. It felt like JJ read about the show (Yes read because he admits to never watching the show or movies) and took just the characters names and worked with that.

As a fan of Star Trek your left feeling kind of cheated. I understand the movie had to appeals to a greater audience but at the cost of core fans is not the way to do it. Transformers did a great job or appealing and appeasing the core fan boy.

Bottom line. This is a good movie but not a great movie and definitely not a summer blockbuster. Here’s to hoping Transformers does not let me down.

1, 000 Tweets!!

I have made to another twitter milestone. There are a few to keep track of.
1. When you get your first non friend or relative to follow you
2. When you reach 100 Followers
3. When you have 1000 sent out tweets
4. When you have 500 Followers

I have just gone past 1000 tweets sent out. Next up is to try to get 1K followers. This is not going to be an easy job. A non celebrity actually has to work to get and maintain followers. This is done by delivering good and accurate content consistently throughout the day. If you can do that than your following will grow and grow. Mobile twitter is an absolute must as well as an automatic distribution system such as Twuffer that allows the Twitter user to compose a list of future tweets, and schedule their release. Once you reach 500 Followers your community is on auto pilot from then on. A good rule of thumb is to keep giving your followers the same class of content meaning don't go from to one topic to another. If you want to switch topics start another twitter account for just that topic. The flip side of that is if you started going all over the place from the start than it's too late continue doing it, they must like it if they are following and switching now would only hurt. Remember they started following for a reason.

30's the new 20?

I heard a great poet say one time that 30' the new 20. Well if that is the case than why does age seem like an uphill climb rather than a stroll around the park? Whoever that poet may have been must have been living in a different time line or circumstances. Ah wait, Jay-Z aka Hova aka Young Hov aka Jigga aka Sean Carter was this poet. Mr. Cater came from nothing on the streets of Brooklyn to International Superstar. So he can say that he is like 20 again with that kind of transformation.

Short Blog but I will be updated it daily