It's that time of year again. And if you love baseball and own one of the major video game consoles, then it's time to "play ball."
"Major League Baseball 2K8", or "MLB 2K8", for short is an improvement over last year's game. When the 2K6 version of this game came out, it had a lot of issues that were hard to get past, but when the 2K7 was released it addressed a lot of those issues and fans were for the most part pleased.
On the outside, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes grabs the game cover, pushing aside last year's cover boy, Derek Jeter. But announcers Jon Miller and Joe Morgan return. Inside, "2K8" features refined gameplay, and fixes some of the problems from the last title. Developer Krush Games went all out and included the following changes for "2K8": 90 playable, real-life minor league baseball teams and players, player trading cards, a new pitching scheme - in which the pitch type is chosen with the analog stick - and a revamped analog batting system. A new throwing system and other changes that make this a better game.
Culture
Pre-Historically Crappy
Where is siegfried when you need him. From the director responsible for Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow comes a movie without "day" in the title.
I didn't care for Independence Day and Day After Tomorrow is one of the worst movies ever made. As if that's not enough, Emmerich's list of credits also includes Stargate - the first movie I ever walked out of. Perhaps not surprisingly, 10,000 BC is a worthy successor to all those half-efforts.
I'm no historian, but I'm pretty sure that tribal cave-like men hunting mastodons didn't co-mingle with the Egyptians building the pyramids, as this movie wants us to believe.
They speak in English, but their phony "accents" are anywhere from Bulgarian to German to British to Pathetic. Unbelievably, it's narrated by Omar Sharif, who I thought might have even been faking an accent.
High-Level Hanky Panky: The heist film gets even grittier
No Life Til Leather The title of the new heist thriller, The Bank Job, doesn't begin to describe the twists and turns this film takes, as it delves into 1970s British society. What initially appears to be another buddy-burglary story, much like the Ocean franchise, Snatch, or The Italian Job, instead unravels into a Serpico-style exposé. Only because we know from the outset that the film is based on true events is the audience able to believe an otherwise nearly implausible story.
The 1971 Baker Street bank robbery was under a government gag order for 30 years; no arrests were made, nor was any money ever recovered. After thieves tunneled into a bank vault in London's Baker Street, they looted safe deposit boxes of cash, jewelry, and incriminating evidence. Though the robbery made headlines, the story disappeared almost immediately, because of a "D" notice, which gagged the press.
Getting in Touch With My Inner Geek at Gallifrey: A weekend with my fellow Doctor Who fanatics
A deadly Dalek threatens to EX-TER-MI-NATE other convention-goers. Why aren’t they scared?Question: What's geekier than a Star Trek convention?
Answer: The 19th annual Doctor Who convention, held a few weeks ago in Southern California.
So what was I doing there with more than 1,000 sci-fi geeks at the LAX Marriott hotel?
I
was looking for a story, but I was also fulfilling a childhood fantasy.
I discovered Doctor Who in the late 1970s during the "dark ages" before
cable TV. As a latchkey kid, I watched the super campy series after
school on PBS. I loved everything about it: the psychedelic intro, the
British humor, the tin-foil aliens. It was like tripping on acid at the
tender age of 10. The campy, sci-fi series first hit British airwaves
in 1963, running for two and a half decades before being cancelled
abruptly in 1989.
Jurassic Turok: Getting knocked on your butt by dinosaurs is just part of the fun of “Turok”
It’s okay to shoot, they’re only endangered on their home planet. The "Turok" franchise has been quiet over the last few years. The last offering, "Turok Evolution" didn't quite live up to the original game. Still, developers Touchstone and Propaganda Games haven't given up hope that there is something left in the Turok series. While this game is an improvement from the last one, Turok's latest adventure leaves much to be desired.
As in the original, you play as Turok, a Native American and member of an elite squad of soldiers. Turok's spaceship crash-lands on a jungle-covered planet where he finds time to blast apart some dinosaurs.
Youth Gets Old: Coppola’s Youth Without Youth doesn’t live up to his reputation
Is that the new i-Phone?I really wanted to like this movie. It just wouldn't let me. I spent almost the entire second half aching for it to be over.
The
opening montage was nice. The old-school credits in the beginning,
reminiscent of '40s-style movies, were refreshing. The colors and
photography were close to captivating. There's nothing wrong with the
acting.
Then there's the story. Somewhere hidden in this mess is
a cool concept. Steeped in ambiguity, I just can't figure out where the
legendary director stashed it.
Short and Sweet: Mountainfilm fest brings a weekend of globetrotting films
A taste of the wonderment that is the Mountainfilm fest.This is your chance to vicariously scale the globe. Mountain bike
through an old growth forest, ascend Colorado's Black Canyon, or go fly
fishing in Baja, all from the comfort of your Tower Theater seat.
Bend-based nonprofit reSource hosts the touring film festival,
Mountainfilm on Tour, as a fundraiser for the organization. With an
emphasis on sustainable living, the event is also intended to encourage
Central Oregonians to make everyday choices that reduce our impact on
the environment. Play lists include 7-8 short films per night. Here's
are some particularly eyebrow-raising films from the weekend schedule.
HERstory: More than a phrase: Bend’s ladies celebrate their legacy by showing off talent
The HDCs Jenni Peskin: She’s not only one of the minds behind HERstory, she’s also a performer.Women's history month is upon us, and what better time to celebrate
women than spring? Fertile, re-birthing, glorious spring! Though we
certainly do not forget women for the rest of the year, the National
Women's History Project successfully petitioned to have March adopted
as Women's History Month in 1987, 10 years after March 8 was designated
as International Women's Day.
Before the NWHP, even the concept of
women's history was unheard of. Throughout the 1970s the group worked
hard to promote the study and recognition of women's unique place in
the historical record. With this study comes the inevitable scrutiny of
the word "history" itself and in this era that has witnessed
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, most people can break it down to
read "his story." During the cultural revolution referred to as Women's
Liberation, the term "HERstory" was coined to refer to the study of the
past in which women play more than a wifely role. This year the NWHP
has chosen the theme of "Women's Art: Women's Vision." Women chosen to
be honorees by the organization include painters, sculptors and
printmakers.
Box of Fun: Tearing into The Orange Box (Half Life 2)
Forget everything you ever thought about guys in dorky glasses.The Orange box is a collection of five fantastic first-person shooter
games and is priced around 60 bucks for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and
PC. Valve, the games' publisher, blends the older "Half Life 2" with
some new content and delivers a great collection of games. Even though
the PS3 edition is quite good, it runs noticeably slower than its Xbox
360 counterpart and the PC version runs best on a higher-end PC system.
It
starts with "Half Life 2," which despite its age looks stunning and
showcases magnificent environments like rippling water, has a ton of
action and gives some of the newer games a run for their money on the
physics side. As the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, you don't just play
to find out what happens, you also experiment. There are chain
reactions with exploding barrels, splintering wood and zombie slaughter
all unfolding while you're skimming across the water on a hovercraft.
If you've played this game before, then there's nothing new here. The
uninitiated, however, will find a treasure chest while exploring this
game on the newer game consoles.
Ex-Presidential Treatment: Carter tours for peace in Man from Plains
He doesn’t seem to mind those critics.The funniest thing about this documentary is Johnny Carson's plaid leisure suit in the film's opening scene. Aside from that, the film is a sobering lesson on the ongoing struggle between Israel and Palestine and Jimmy Carter's three-decades-long involvement in the conflict.
From the honest, jovial, straight-forward way he handles things, cutting to tiny bits and pieces defining glimpses of Carter's real persona to details you'd never know about him-he swims daily, reads from the Bible to his wife every night (in English and Spanish) his favorite poet is Dylan Thomas, he believes in science and evolution along with his devout Christianity-he's like the Mother Teresa of politics.

