Mike Reviews His Hat

I've been wanting a nice hat for awhile.  It's taken me something like two years to get around to it, mostly because it doesn't seem like many people sell hats in my area.  I mean, sure, you can get a ball cap just about anywhere you go; I've got more of those than I know what to do with.  And yeah, you can buy cheap fedoras at Target, but that's not what I wanted either.

Finally, a store in my area started selling them, albeit at around $70.  When they finally went on sale at a price I was willing to pay, I was told that it was a doorbuster price and I'd missed it by two hours.

Having seen what I wanted in a hat, and having a price in mind, I eventually wound up at JC Penney's website, of all places, where I found the pictured hat for just $29.99 with free shipping.  The price seemed better than anything on Amazon, and was certainly better than what I'd seen at the other store, so I bit the bullet and bought it.

The hat in question is from Dorfman Pacific's Scala Classico line.  The style is called Outback; it's a style similar to a cowboy or western hat that originated in Australia.  It's even been said that Outback hats are are Australia's version of the cowboy hat, although there are differences.  The crown is shorter and teardrop shaped, and the brim is shorter and doesn't turn up as drastically as a cowboy hat.  If the Outback is Australia's cowboy hat, then Akubra is Australia's Stetson, and an Akubra worn in Disney's "The Man From Snowy River" is credited with making the Outback style popular in America.

There's not a lot of bad to say about the hat.  It's made of a crushable wool felt, so the idea is that you could sit on it, roll it up, jam it in your pocket, whatever you like, and it'll smooth back into its natural shape.  It's also waterproof, which makes it well-suited to western Pennsylvania's unpredictable weather.  The hat is a subtle black felt with a simple leather band and single small feather.  It's stylish enough to look nice with nice clothes, but versatile enough to be a work hat.  It's also exceedingly comfortable.  It's warm enough that you'd want to wear it in the winter to keep your head warm and dry, but not so warm that it feels hot indoors.  In fact, it seems comfortable enough that the protection it provides from hot sunshine would make it comfortable in the hot sun without making your head too hot.  This isn't particularly surprising, since that's actually the purpose of the Outback, but it's good to know that its a design feature that wasn't lost in translation, as Dorfman Pacific is a Californian company.

I'm sure that there are better brands, like Akubra, but I more or less got what I wanted at a very reasonable price.  Final Score: A

Summer slump

I ran into one of my readers the other day, and he (you know who you are) was disappointed at the lack of updates.

Well, it's the summer slump, people. I'm broke. I don't have any new games (okay, I'm playing one that I've got maybe 15-20 hours into, but I have to finish it before I can review it). I haven't seen anything since G.I. Joe (I do want to see District 9, but it's unlikely that I'll have to to see it until I get back from the trip I'm planning to Baltimore).

But hey, if there's something you guys really want me to review, send it to me. I'll be happy to play/watch/experience whatever it is, and even return it. Comment below if you're interested.

Climate Change

I know, I started a blog to review stuff, then occasionally write about completely different stuff. Humor me.

Anyway, a major issue in politics and the media is global warming, or global climate change if you really want to be politically correct. And if you get all your information solely from what people on the TV tell you, you either think climate change is a fact and we all have to get those little swirly light bulbs or the earth will explode. Or perhaps you're aware that there's a debate, but you think that the two sides are enlightened scientists with their facts and numbers assuring us that climate change is the result of human activities versus religious nutjobs who deny climate change entirely.

But is it really that simple?

In one sense, the facts don't lie. Average global temperatures have indeed increased since the 1800's, when people started to keep detailed records. But consider also, that we're talking about temperatures over a span of 100-200 years... a mere moment to our 4 billion year old planet. And when we look back over thousands or millions of years, there's evidence of plenty of climate change. We have evidence that the Earth was actually warmer than it is now during the time of the dinosaurs. And we also have evidence of at least four major ice ages, the most recent about 20,000 years ago. Clearly, the Earth has gone through periods of heating and cooling before the rise of mankind, and long before the Industrial Revolution.

Indeed, while we've seen an overall trend in warming over the last 100+ years, it's worth noting that global temperatures actually dropped in 2007, then again in 2008. In the past month, I've heard both that global warming is going to be way worse than we though, and that the global warming trend is slowing.

Now, consider this: the famous Great Red Spot on Jupiter is shrinking. Nearby, a second red spot is growing, and it might actually become larger than the original. Apparently, Jupiter is also going through a period of climate change. I think it's safe to say that mankind can't be blamed for that one.

Mankind's effect on the global climate here on Earth is debatable. I've already mentioned that the earth has gone through periods of warming and cooling. We all learned in school that the four seasons on Earth are caused by the fact that the Earth is tilted in relation to the sun. If you imagine a flat surface radiating out from the Sun's equator (called the ecliptic), and a physical pole running from the Earth's north pole right through its south pole, that pole would currently be tilted about 23.4 degrees from the ecliptic. As the Earth rotates, it wobbles like a top that's starting to slow down. The Earth's title relative to the ecliptic ranges from about 22 degrees to 24.5 degrees in a phenomenon known as obliquity. Obliquity relates to another phenomenon known as procession. Procession is a combination of obliquity and the Earth's movement around the Sun and considers how much the Earth is tilted towards or away from the face of the Sun.

One other important factor in the Earth's motion is eccentricity. By now, I should think that anyone reading this knows that the Earth revolves around the sun. Most of you also probably know that the Earth's orbit around the sun isn't a perfect circle, but actually an ellipse. Eccentricity describes how far away the ellipse is from being a perfect circle. What you probably don't know is that the eccentricity of Earth's orbit is not constant. When given numerical values, Earth's eccentricity ranges from a nearly circular 0.005 to a high of 0.058.

Lastly, the Earth doesn't just fly in a simple loop around the sun like NASCAR drivers around a track. The Earth actually drifts up and down relative to the ecliptic, like a horse on a merry-go-round. This phenomenon is known as orbital inclination.

The period of time between maximum and minimum values for obliquity, procession, eccentricity, and inclination can be estimated and predicted. And scientists have noted some evidence of connections between these mechanics and periods of climate change on Earth.

This isn't to say that mankind is or isn't responsible for the warming trend, but I would suggest that mankind may not be the sole factor. So this begs the question: what do we do about global climate change? The Kyoto treaty has been estimated to cost the U.S. as much as 20% of our entire GDP. If human activities are only part of the cause, what do we expect to achieve with Kyoto? Indeed, any benefits from Kyoto are further mitigated by the fact that Kyoto has exemptions for "developing" countries like China and India.

Global Warming might not even be all that bad. Statistically, people get sick less in the winter. A shorter, warmer winter also means less heart attacks and muscle injuries from shoveling snow, less injuries from falls on icy surfaces, and less automobile accidents from poor road conditions. Also, warmer weather would mean more usable land, longer growing seasons, and more crops. Global warming could actually be an ally in the fight to end world hunger.

At the end of the day, I'm not saying that we can't or shouldn't be a little more green. We all want clean land, clean air, and clean water. Making an effort to use less electricity isn't just good for the environment, it can save you money. And investing in alternative fuels will help break our dependence on foreign oil as much as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But I am suggesting that the global warming hysteria has to stop. The alarmism is used by scientists to get more money from governments, and it's used to scare up votes for politicians promising to do something about it. We're not all going to die in 10 years. We don't need to (further) wreck our economy over it, and we certainly don't need to strap machines on cows in an effort to keep their farts out of the atmosphere.

More Twitter stuff

I know some people check this blog fairly often, and I know I update like once, maybe twice a week. For those of you who check this site often, but are too lazy to read my Twitter stuff, I've now set things up so that you can read my last three Twitter posts from this site. Now, I'm viewing this site with a 1680x1050 resolution, and I can see it without scrolling, but I'm sure there are a lot of you using 1200x900 or 1024x768, and you guys might have to scroll down to see it. So, I'm writing this post so you don't miss it! It's right over there on the right, just under the "About Me" section, just above the "People Who Care What I Think" section.

Is Blogger broke?

I guess not. At least, not anymore.

Mike Reviews Twitter

I guess I'm Tweeting now? I blame the peer pressure.

This means you have to avenues to access my thoughts via the web: here, and my new Twitter account.

Why have both? Again, I blame the peer pressure. But, I suppose it'll go like this. This blog is for reviews. If I want to talk about whether or not I like something, so that you may benefit from my experience, I'll write something detailed and cohesive here. Twitter will be for short, random, and possibly pointless posts based on whatever happens to be in my head at the moment. Also, when I get around to putting up a new (and often infrequent) post, I'll link it on Twitter, for those of you who find checking two separate sites a little too strenuous.

Anyway, you can check out my Twitter here:
http://twitter.com/mikeszekely

Oh, yeah, and I said I'd review Twitter. Well, while I think my blog is useful, I'm not sure why anyone would care if I was hungry or not. But people seem to like it, so...?

Final Score: C. I guess.

2008... the year for computers?

So, counting my wife's, we've got six computers in our one-bedroom apartment. Six, for two people. While that might be impressive enough, what really made me think that 2008 is the year for computers is that all but one of those six were acquired this year. Two others were also acquired this year, but they're already gone.

A quick rundown:

Computer 1: MacBook
1.83GHz Core Duo, 2GB of RAM, Intel GMA 945 graphics, 250GB hard drive, dual boots Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Windows Vista Enterprise. While I owned a Sony VAIO desktop and my wife owned a eMachines desktop going into 2008 as well, this MacBook is the only pre-2008 computer I have left.

Computer 2: HTPC
1.6GHz Celeron, 2GB of RAM, NVIDIA nForce 630i/GeForce 7150 graphics, 500GB hard drive, Windows Vista Business. I built this computer myself with an EVGA motherboard and an In Win desktop case, then hooked it up to my home theater system. It's where my iTunes library is stored, and is mostly used for watching videos in the various computer formats floating around, since not all of my videos are compatible with the other various hardware connected to my home theater.

Computer 3: IBM/Lenovo ThinkCentre 8288-G1U
2.8GHz Pentium D, 2GB of RAM, Intel X3100 OR Radeon X1550 graphics, 80GB hard drive, no OS. My buddy's work was tossing this computer since "it didn't work." I fixed some BIOS settings, upgraded the hardware a little and dropped a new OS on it, and it worked fine. I use this machine for testing purposes. Usually, this means that there's some form of Linux on it, but I'm actually really looking forward to beta testing Windows 7 in the near future.

Computer 4: "The Gunmetal Obelisk"
3.0GHz Core 2 Duo "Wolfdale", 3GB Hyper X RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+ graphics, 80GB hard drive, 320GB hard drive, Windows Vista Ultimate. My pride and joy, I built this one myself with a DFI P35 Lanparty Dark motherboard, and Antec TruPower Trio 650 watt power supply, and an Antec P182 case. This is my main computer, because whatever you want done, ti does it fast. Of course, this also makes it an excellent system for gaming, running Crysis with all the settings maxed very well... at least until the snow level. The particle effects there kinda dragged it down. For most games, this computer cranks out so many frames per second that vsync must be enabled because the monitor can't keep up.

Computer 5: Acer Extensa 5420
1.9GHz AMD Turion X64 X2, 2GB of RAM, Radeon Express 1250 graphics, 160GB hard drive, Windows Vista Home Premium. Snagged this puppy for my wife for under $500, and used it to replace her aging desktop for two reasons... 1) her computer couldn't run Puzzle Quest, it was that old, and 2) she liked to watch TV while surfing the net, so she'd constantly be on my computer instead of hers. Problem solved!

Computer 6: Asus EEE PC 900HA
1.6GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM, Intel 945 Express graphics, 160GB hard drive, Windows XP Home. Yeah, I got in on the "netbook" craze. I like having a solid notebook for vacations and stuff, maybe do a little gaming and what not (which I why I'm looking to dump the MacBook and replace it with something that's got NVIDIA graphics). But they tend to be bigger, heavier affairs that can be tiring to lug around all the time. A netbook appealed to me because it's something small enough to sit on my desk while I'm using the Obelisk. That way, I can keep up with my e-mail and instant messaging while playing a game or something. It's also easier to move from the desk to the sofa.

Oh, and if you were wondering, the other two recovered-and-dumped computers were ancient. One was an HP with a Pentium III 733MHz with no OS installed (I put Windows 2000 on it), and the other was a custom-built (by a computer store, not an enthusiast) with a Duron 900MHz and Windows 98 (I upgraded it to XP).

So, what about you guys? What kinds of computers do you have?

Change of plans.

And since Obama was elected, I guess everyone's into change. Especially ambiguous change that has the capacity to bring even more ambiguous hope... unless it's actually hope that you're into, the hope that can inspire change. Or something.

Anyway, I decided that it's a lot easier to edit my impressions into reviews after I finish a game than to actually write a new review. So, if you read my impressions of a game, be sure to look for it to change into a review. I hope.

Final 2008 Presidential Debate

Let me open by saying this: this was the best of the three presidential debates. I don't think either candidate strayed too far from their usual talking points, but the style of the debate did force the candidates to address each other more directly, as well as respond to criticism from the other about their respective planks.

With that in mind, I don't really know what we should have expected from this debate. I don't agree with Barack Obama on, honestly, much of anything. I don't agree with John McCain on much, either. Neither told me anything I didn't already know about themselves or each other, or their politics. In fact, both candidates wasted way too much time whining about negative campaigning, although the moderator is perhaps at fault for asking such a pointless question when there are more important issues to talk about.

I do intend to vote for John McCain. I disagree with both candidates on a lot of matters including the economy and health care, but I think McCain's ideas on energy, education, and foreign policy are more in line with my way of thinking. That said, I'm giving this last one to Obama. Sure, he was evasive answering some of McCain's criticisms, but McCain made a few smarmy chuckles and sometimes flat out ignored Obama's explanations of his policies in a way that seemed at best undignified and at worst immature.

Final Score: C

Town Hall Presidential Debate Review

Did this one suck more than the last Presidential debate? I think it did.

Same talking points, same lies and half-truths, same bull. Now twice as catty!

If I don't watch and review the last debate, it's because both McCain and Obama suck and I'm sorry we're stuck with one of them for at least four years.

Final Score: F

Town Hall Presidential Debate Impressions

I'm craving a milkshake. I can't be the only one who thinks going out and getting a milkshake would time better spent than watching this crap.

Hey, get these guys outta here. Bring back Biden and Palin!

Man, what does the media see in Obama? Charisma? Every time he prefaces what he's about to say with, "Look," in that condescending tone of his I just want to smack him right upside his pompous head.

A teacher making $30,000-$35,000 a year? Might want to double that figure.

John McCain points out that Obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthy. Obama says McCain is lying, then explains that if you make less than $250,000, he won't raise your taxes. That would mean that he would raise taxes if you make more than $250,000, right? So how is McCain lying? And why do Democrats love this class warfare stuff so much? They're basically saying that rich people should pay more because have more... which is fine, but that top five percent Obama would raise taxes on already pay something like 90-95% of the income taxes collected in this country. Should we just keep taxing them until the rich have the same take home pay as the middle class? If that's the case, then no one will want to be rich, and then who will we tax?

I think we'd be a lot better off if the government didn't waste so much money. I mean, downsizing works for corporations, right? Get rid of the government we don't need... Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Homeland Security, National Endowment for the Arts, Secret Service for people who are no longer President, Department of the Interior, National Drug Control Policy, and the Department of Education (a matter for the States). We can also reduce the number of Congressmen in the House of Representatives, the salaries of the President and every member of Congress, and the size of the Department of Transportation.

Everybody could afford health care if income tax was half of what it is today.

Sure, let's bring up Iraq again. As if going on about it will magically send us back in time and keep Bush from invading. The irony is that I don't disagree with Obama on this matter... we should have focus on Afghanistan, we should have focused on bin Laden and al-Qaeda, we shouldn't have invaded Iraq. Doesn't change the fact that we did get involve with Iraq. We do need to finish up in Iraq, but we need to do it responsibly.

I pity this moderator. These clowns are bickering like idiots.

"I wanna follow up."
"If he gets to follow up, I wanna follow up too."
"You already did!"

Raise your hand if you think that either Barack Obama or John McCain are qualified to be President. Now would all of you with your hands up please move to another country.

I think Hillary Clinton's crooked. I can't stand her as a person. But I wish she was still in this. If this is about picking the lesser of evils, Hillary was it.

How'd I know that Obama would bring up North Korea when talking about diplomacy? North Korea is a terrible example. They act up, we negotiate, we give them something, they behave for awhile, then they start acting up again. It's extortion. We're basically rewarding them for their bad behavior.

Now I want a sandwich.

Mike Reviews Patrick's Vacation.

It was awesome. Trust me.

Final Score: A+

2008 Vice-Presidential Debate Review

It's sad, really, that Obama and McCain are both at the top of their tickets. As I mentioned in my review of the earlier Presidential debate, both candidates were my last choices for their respective parties. And after watching the Vice-Presidential debates, I'll also say that both their running mates would make better top-of-the-ticket candidates than they are.

For starters, it was refreshing to see that Senator Biden and Governor Palin respected each other. I mean genuine respect, too, not that fake respect that McCain paid to Obama, or that general condensation that Obama paid to McCain. After the debate, they even brought their families up for introductions, and while their conversations were inaudible, they seemed quite friendly. Both candidates played to their strengths, and both candidates came across as intelligent and articulate. I think both of them, while more or less selling their same old talking points, did a very good job of expressing their tickets' ideas and platforms, and even if they disagreed on the finer points of some issues they weren't really afraid to admit when they agreed on some issues. A friend of mine even said, "man, I wish we could vote for a Biden-Palin ticket." I even think that, despite legitimate concerns about the impartiality of the moderator, Gwen Ifill, the debate was moderated quite fairly.

That's not to say that it's all roses and sunshine. As I mentioned, they were more or less selling the same old talking-points. And most egregious in my opinion was when Palin stated that she did in fact think that greedy lenders on Wall Street are responsible for the financial crisis. Do people really believe that? Let's look at that idea for the moment:

1. Give money to people more money than they could possibly pay back.
2. ????
3. Profit.

Can you replace those question marks at #2 with anything that actually makes sense? I mean, imagine you were walking down the street when a homeless guy asks you for a buck, and you tell him you'll give it to you if he gives you back $1.32 (in twelve monthly installments of 11 cents). Are you really surprised that the homeless guy, who has no job and spends your dollar on a McChicken sandwich, never pays you back?

By agreeing that Wall Street is at fault, not only was she fundamentally wrong, she set herself up to let Joe Biden rail against John McCain's push for deregulation without any comeback as well as allow him to pin the blame on Bush's administration, which he and Obama have constantly tried to like McCain too. But the simple fact (as I've talked about in my earlier Presidential debate review), regulation, not deregulation, is the problem, and the government (specifically the Clinton administration) is to blame.

Coming up on an election where the economy, specifically the financial crisis, is likely to be the issue foremost of most voter's minds, it is essential that the McCain campaign place the blame where it belongs and stop leaving themselves open on the issue.

All-in-all, I felt that both candidates performed quite well... indeed, Palin may have performed better than many expected. If pressed for a winner, though, I would probably say Biden. Palin did a good job of connecting with the people and coming across as genuine, but I do feel that Biden did a better job of addressing her attacks.

Final Score: B

Mike Reviews the Big Mac Museum

Today, I went to the Big Mac Museum in Irwin, PA. I'd say it's a bit of a stretch to call it a museum... there's a board with a time line of Big Mac advertising, another board with info about when and where the Big Mac was invented and how it spread around the world, and a few display cases with some old Big Mac bun toasters, McDonald's Christmas ornaments, Happy Meal toys from way back, and similar memorabilia. Otherwise, it's just a McDonald's restaurant. Sure, there's Big Mac ads from around the world for wallpaper above the booths, but there's still booths, and you're still eating food at them while soccer moms dump their kids in the Playland in the back.

Strangely, though, the food there is definitely better than a normal McDonald's. Maybe because this is supposed to be some kind of tourist attraction? Compared to the other McDonald's in my area, the Big Mac Museum's food is hotter, fresher, and seasoned just right. That said, it is still McDonald's food. It might be the best McDonald's food you'll ever eat, but don't order a Big Mac and think they're going to give you a Red Robin Monster Burger.

Given that it is just McDonald's, I can't really suggest that you go out of your way to eat there. But, if you're in the area, you should definitely stop in and give it a try.

Final Score: B

First 2008 Presidential Debate Review

So we have a genuine financial crisis on our hands. Contrary to what you may have heard, it has less to do with deregulation and "greedy capitalists on Wall Street" and a lot more to do with the fact that the government was more or less forcing banks to give loans to people that the banks knew wouldn't be able to pay them back. The Federal Reserve during the Clinton Administration threatened to sue banks that wouldn't consider welfare or unemployment payments as valid income when applying for mortgages. President Clinton's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Andrew Cuomo (a man John McCain suggested during an interview with 60 Minutes could potentially be part of a McCain Administration) investigated Fannie Mae for racial discrimination and proposed that half of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low-to-moderate income borrowers by 2001.

So yeah, I'm not really surprised to see both parties trying to shift blame away from themselves toward "rich Wall Street fat-cats," which it seems no one likes, but it really is the government's fault. The solution? A $700 billion bailout that both candidates seem to agree on. So you might think that both candidates can put aside partisan differences and work together on this matter, and at the debate they might focus on presenting their ideas in an intelligent and thoughtful manner.

Aw, who am I kidding? No one really thought that.

And the fact is, the debate could best summed up as follows.

Obama: Evil greedy men caused this mess, so the government needs to take control of everything.

McCain: Yes they did, and the government does need to fix this. But you love big government, and I don't.

Obama: No, you're wrong.

McCain: Nuh-un. You're wrong.

Repeat the last two lines for about an hour and a half. Basically, what we got from the debate is that McCain thinks Obama is an ultra-leftist who will stop at nothing until the government controls every aspect of our lives, and Obama thinks that McCain is full of shit when he talks about being a maverick and is more or less the second coming of George Bush. In other words, we didn't get anything out of the debate that we didn't get from all those stupid campaign commercials we can't seem to avoid with the new fall lineup.

All this just serves to remind me that we really are picking the lesser of two evils here. I mean, I'll be honest, I'm a Republican, but McCain was really my last choice during the primaries. Meanwhile, on the other side, while I was no fan of Hillary I figured a President Hillary do as little as possible and cover her ass. Instead, we get a liberal who pretends to be a conservative, and guy who's greatest achievement prior to running for President was voting "present" something like 800 times. Combined, they've turned the debate into a bitchy little cat fight.

2012 can't come fast enough.

Final Score: F

Impressions vs. Reviews

I mentioned before that professional reviewers, for the most part, finish a game before reviewing it, and the ones that don't generally seem to be looked down upon. Despite being just some guy blogging his thoughts, I figured I could maintain a veneer of professionalism if I emulated that behavior. I neglected to take into account two very important things:

1 - Professional reviewers, including bloggers more established than I, get review copies often a week or more in advance. They have an opportunity to play and finish a game either before a game comes out or soon after, to insure that their review is close to the game's actual launch. The soonest I can pick up a game is launch day, which means you'd have to wait a couple of days minimum before the review could go up.

2 - Professional reviewers do it for a living. It's their job. They get paid to play the games they're assigned all day long and then write about it. I don't have that luxury. I have to buy my games, which means I can only get them here and there, and often nowhere near launch. And I play them for fun in my free time. I also blog in my free time, so typing this is actually going to cut into time I can spend playing games I can't really afford anyway.

With that in mind, I've decided that I will make two posts for may games, just like I did with Castle Crashers. One post will be the review, with the score, when I'm done with the game. Note that I said "done"... I'm an average guy. Sometimes, I don't finish a game. Sometimes, I'm just done with it. It could be too long and monotonous, it could be too hard, or it could flat out suck. I think it's probably like that for a lot of people, and I decided that it is fair to review a game without beating it, as long as I tell you why I didn't beat it.

The other post, meanwhile, will be my early impressions on a game. This is a lot closer to what I was writing when I was sending out my huge e-mails that partly inspired this blog. It's basically I get a game, open it up, and play it for a bit. Then, when I'm not playing it for whatever reason, I write about how I like it so far; whether I'm having fun or not, what's good or bad, etc. That way, with brand new games I buy at launch, you can get my thoughts within a day or two, and maybe decide if you want the game or not that way. While both types of posts will be similar, reviews should be more detailed, and impressions won't carry scores.

Mike Reviews His Own Blog

Well, there's no posts yet. But since it's my blog, I know what kinds of things I'm going to post. For starters, you can expect video game reviews, because I often find myself shooting e-mails at my friends because they want to know what I think of games I'm playing that they might like. There will be movie reviews as well. In fact, I've been watching some Asian horror films lately, and a friend keeps asking me how the movies were. That, more than anything else, motivated me to start blogging my reviews. But I figured, why stop there? I'm pretty opinionated, and there's lots of stuff I've experienced that I liked or disliked. Restaurants, food, software, candy, books, comics, people, whatever... it's all fair game. I'm reviewing life.

So, we've got an idea and potential, but no posts. And even though I'm biased for my own blog, it'd be pretentious to score myself too high, right? So...

Final Score: B+