TV review: Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Now I've finally had the chance to watch third episode of Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I think I might be ready to talk about it. I've never been a big fan of the Terminator movies. As a matter of fact, I only classify the movies by their bad guys: "Arnold is the bad guy," "That shape-shifting one" and "The chick is the baddie." Beyond that, I don't know a lot about them. Keeping that in mind, I have found the television series to be pretty interesting. I'm not worried about continuity. I just want a show with some kickass chicks beating bad guys up. That's not too much to ask for, right? Well, I can say that it definitely delivers for me. Summer Glau makes an absolutely awesome protector-Terminator. (Protectinator?) And thanks to the Firefly franchise, we all know that she can definitely kick some ass when she needs to. I'm not too thrilled with Lena Headey as Sarah though. She seems a lot more fragile than Linda Hamilton was in the movies. (Yes, I will let them play with the timeline of the movies but c'mon, these are supposed to be the same people!) The writers also seem to be playing up the maternal role and making her less willing to do whatever she needs to do to protect John.

Ah, John. Thomas Dekker isn't terrible in the role. Though I think I'd like to see John be a little less emo. Yes, his life sucks but, at some point, you just have to suck it up and accept it. I hope that he'll get to that point in the series.

So, overall, it's not completely terrible. I suppose it might upset you if you are a big fan of the movies but the writers did try to explain their way out of a few things. We're just going to have to wait to see where it goes from here.

Website of the Week - Qassia

In order to jazz this place up a bit, I'm going to start a website of the week feature. Once a week, I will link to a website that I think is interesting or informative or one I just like. Today I would like to talk about Qassia. It's a little difficult to try to describe the site. It is almost like wikipedia due to the user-generated content. However, unlike wiki, Qassia requires that the users vote on the information or 'intel' before it can be posted. By writing intel and screening it, you obtain Qassia credit called Qassia dollars. This credit can't be exchanged for money but, in the future, they are planning to allow users to purchase advertising space and other things with it.

I find myself checking the website multiple times per day. A lot of my Qassia dollars have been accumulated through screening intel from others. I've written a few pieces myself but I've found it a lot more interesting to see what other people have written. Hopefully I'll be able to screen something you've written soon!

Game review: Chocolatier 2: Secret Ingredients

Back in October, I talked about the first Chocolatier game. Since I had a lot of fun playing the first one, I gave the sequel a try. Chocolatier 2 was even more fun than Chocolatier 1. Perhaps it was due to playing the first one but I was able to make a ton of money and gain new recipes very quickly. The basic gameplay is the same and it's easy to pick up if you haven't played the original. The big change is that now you can make your own recipes. Once you reach Entrepreneur status, you can buy your way into the lab to research new recipes with various ingredients. To show just how easy it can be to achieve this, I only played the one hour demo and managed to not only access the laboratory, I also created two brand new recipes. I even got the chance to implement those recipes before the trial ended.

I've played a lot of casual games lately and I have to admit, this is the most fun I have had in a long time. I think anyone would enjoy Chocolatier 2.

Music review: X-Japan - Tears

Artist: X Japan Members: Deyama "Toshi" Toshimitsu (vocals), Hayashi Yoshiki (drums and piano), Matsumoto "Hide" Hideto (lead guitar), Morie "Heath" Hiroshi (bass), Ishizuka "Pata" Tomoaki (rhythm guitar) Album: Dahlia Release date: 11/4/96 Video link: Via YouTube

English translation: "Wherever we go is okay," You said Now what may have been Has been stopped by time

On that night that was too long I had a dream where you left me Staring at a foreign sky I hugged my loneliness

My fallen tears Are piling up on the winds of time At the end I feel your breath

DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE

LONELINESS... YOUR SILENT WHISPER FILLS A RIVER OF TEARS THROUGH THE NIGHT MEMORY... YOU NEVER LET ME CRY AND YOU, YOU NEVER SAID GOODBYE SOMETIMES OUR TEARS BLINDED THE LOVE WE LOST OUR DREAMS ALONG THE WAY BUT I NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D TRADE YOUR SOUL TO THE FATES NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D LEAVE ME ALONE

TIME THROUGH THE RAIN HAS SET ME FREE SANDS OF TIME WILL KEEP YOUR MEMORY LOVE EVERLASTING FADES AWAY ALIVE WITHIN YOUR BEATLESS HEART

DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE

My fallen tears Are piling up on the winds of time This feeling at the end Makes my blue rose change DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE

My fallen tears are piled on the winds of time again At the end I can feel your breath DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE DRY YOUR TEARS WITH LOVE

(talking) If you could have taught me anything You would have found what love is If you could have taught me what was on your mind I could have shown you the way Someday... I will be before you Have you ever thought about that time? I never imagined the pictures of that night For now I will try to live for you And for... I will try to live Try to live the love, the dreams, And finally, the tears. About the song: Tears is an amazing power ballad. Toshi's voice is powerful enough to rock yet still give the song the raw emotion it needs. A good portion of the song is the vocal, a piano and a small orchestra. When the guitar, bass and drum kicks in, everything pulls together wonderfully. I'm not the type of person who cries at songs but this song makes me weepy.

Favorite Friday

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I just realized that I completely forgot to talk about this movie. My husband and I had been looking forward to seeing this movie since we saw the first preview. Now neither of us are particularly big Johnny Depp fans but we are fairly big fans of Tim Burton. So on December 31, the three of us (my husband, my daughter and myself) went to the only movie theater in our area that was showing the film, purchased our tickets and snacks and had a wonderful time at the movies. There are probably a few of you out there that aren't familiar with Sweeney Todd. I shall give you a quick run-down of the plot. Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) was a successful barber on Fleet Street in London. He had a beautiful wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), and a cute baby daughter, Johanna. However, evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) coveted all that Barker had. So he had Barker arrested and sent to prison in Australia. Turpin then raped Lucy, causing her to commit suicide, and took Johanna as a ward. However, our story really starts when Barker comes back to London as Sweeney Todd, bent taking his revenge against the man who destroyed his life. Todd finds a friend in Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), his former landlord who currently sells the worst meat pies in London. The two find a way for Todd to take revenge against those who have wronged him while making Mrs. Lovett's pie business boom. Yes, Sweeney Todd kills the people and Mrs. Lovett bakes them into pies.

The original stageplay had Angela Lansbury (yes, that would be Mrs. Potts from Disney's Beauty and The Beast) as Mrs. Lovett and Len Cariou as Sweeney Todd. It really was a magical performance that made me realize just how talented Angela Lansbury is. It also made me sad to have been born too late to see her perform on stage in person. If you enjoy musical theater, I recommend that you add this to your collection. You won't regret it.

Anyway, back to the movie version. While the plot is rather dark, there is a bit of comedy underneath. I'm not sure that the comedy came through all that well with Burton's style. The darkness of London and Sweeney Todd's personality came through magnificently but Mrs. Lovett didn't come off nearly as daft as she is supposed to be. In my opinion, it really was Mrs. Lovett that orchestrated most of the evil plots in this version. As for the music, the singing wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. However, there wasn't a lot of movement while the songs were performed. Considering that the actors were lip-synching during the filming, it shouldn't have been too difficult to have them move a little bit more.

Overall, I did enjoy the movie. I'm probably going to buy the DVD when it comes out too. But it's not going to replace the Angela Lansbury version in my heart.

Game review: Fashion Rush

It seems that fashion based time management games are becoming extremely popular. I've already talked about Fashion Fits! and Fashion Craze. Now we've been presented with Fashion Rush. Fashion Rush is similar to Fashion Craze in that your character has to pick fabric colors and clothes styles instead of just handing out pre-made clothes. However, this game steps it up by making you keep track of how much fabric you have available. Each color has a set amount of fabric and each time a piece is cut to make a garment, the roll gets smaller. When the roll of fabric runs out, it is up to you to put a new roll on the holder. (Hm, that makes it sound like toilet paper!)

You also get to choose which styles of clothing you are going to offer to your customers. There is a limit of four styles per level but it is up to you to decide if you will sell four styles of dresses or one pants design with a jacket, a shirt and a dress. I found this part to be the most exciting. If you don't like a certain style that is offered, you don't need to offer it to your customers. Of course, the problem is that a lot of the designs are cute and you can only have four designs at a time!

While I'm not a fashion mogul, I do like the direction that these games are taking. Instead of forcing the gamer into an already determined path in the game, there are a ton of choices that are being offered. Considering that these types of games need to follow a "work your way to the top" type of theme, it is really refreshing to have at least a little bit of say in the storyline. I hope that more time management games pick up on this. Maybe one day we'll see a Diner Dash where Flo gets a say in what goes on the menu!

Game review: Hot Dish

In my day-to-day life, I don't cook. My husband does a majority of the cooking in our household. This is mostly due to the fact that I hate to cook. For some reason, I decided to load up Hot Dish to see if I'd like that any more than real life cooking. I both liked and hated this game. On one hand, the simulated cooking is a lot like Cooking Mama on both the Nintendo DS and Wii. You choose a dish and you go through the steps to cook it. From chopping the vegetables to simmering the seafood to baking the bread, you do it all. However, Hot Dish throws you for a loop by forcing you to prepare more than one dish at a time. It starts out with one dish in the tutorial but you are quickly thrown into making three dishes at once! This means you have to keep track of when to flip your grilled chicken over so it does burn while stirring your warming milk so it doesn't curdle while flipping your sauteed shrimp. It really does get to be too much.

In my opinion, this game would have been better if it had focused on making two dishes at once instead of three. As it is, you already make an appetizer, a main course and a dessert. Do you really need to make three of each at once? The game only shows one reviewer and I doubt that she is eating that much food by herself. I think I'll stick with Cooking Mama. At least she doesn't try to drive me to drink!

Music review: Do As Infinity - Wings

Artist: Do As Infinity Members: Tomiko Van, Ryo Owatari, Dai Nagao Album: Tangerine Dream Release date: 9/29/99

English translation: What's been the matter recently? You've been looking down Even your harsh language, which you were proud of, has disappeared Even if this world is just unfair, As for the weak, even the answers won't be found

On the nights the storm goes away, the sky is clearer than usual & the twinkling stars are blowing kisses to us

* Tomorrow is shining & the beat will stir up a miracle there We're together & time stops immediately We go beyond the horizon where the evening sun begins to melt

Let's throw away the excess baggage Let's just take the Gibson (guitar) If we can go willingly without choosing a goal, even the rusty fate will begin to pass

Even on the days of the preestablished harmony, it's better to throw everything to the shore, even if it's just the freedom in appearance

Even if the sparkling season passes by, let's hold onto the memories that don't change The fragments of the wish are in a dream You can grab them with a little courage

When you are tired of flying, it's better to rest your wings We know that you did your best

* repeat About the song: Wings was on DAI's debut single. It was rerecorded as Wings 510 for the New World album. This version of the song has a relaxed feeling to it while the rerecording sounds a lot more....well...studio, I guess is the best way to put it. The original recording has very simple instrument lines. The rerecording brings in more...stuff in the background. Both versions are very good songs. However, I like the simpler version better.

Game review: Pizza Chef

It's very difficult to classify Pizza Chef into a type of game. There's a little bit of time management in it but not a whole lot. There's a bit of three-in-a-row but that's not the entire game. It's almost like a mix between Cake Mania and Bejeweled with a shape puzzle tossed in. The basics of the game are simple. You try to match three objects in a row on your board as customers at your counter order pizzas. The pizzas are in various shapes and sizes. As you match the objects on the board, you open more spaces for you to use. In these spaces you fit the shape/size/type of pizza that each customer wants. For example, if a customer wants a rectangle-shaped pizza, you need to open a space that is 2-squares wide by 4-squares long. Then you place the customer's pizza in that space to "bake."

The bizarre combination in the game makes it interesting for awhile. However, when the levels start to get more difficult, it just gets annoying. It gets difficult to find matches in the shapes that you need them before your customers get angry and stomp off. I really think that the game designers should have picked one type of game and stuck with it instead of trying to mix two very different genres together.