I haven't given much love to the old 360 lately, but that changed recently. What changed? The addition of Crackdown is what changed.

Well, the demo anyway. But still, if the the demo is any indicator, it's going to be a great game. Shallow but fun.

It has the same look and feel as Saint's Row did, only with cell shading. And the cell shading isn't the clunky, thick-line type of the past. It's a little more refined but still with that cartoonish feel.

What surprised me the most: kicking cars isn't as much fun as you would think.

What was the most fun: jumping rooftop to rooftop like the Hulk.

It'll be neat to see how the co-op will work and what the achievement points will be. I thought the boss fights could have been more climactic. Hopefully there will be cut scenes and not just the pictures with voice-over briefs that were in the demo.

If the final game is anything like the demo, Crackdown should be a great romp, even if it's as deep as a kiddie pool. Because GTA clones are like sex and pizza, when it's good it's great. And when it's bad, it's still pretty good.

There are tons of things I feel really guilty about. Some are the little shames we all feel and others are personal psychotic conceits. But there is one thing I am most ashamed of. One thing that I never tell anyone for fear of persecution. This thing I have never admitted to anyone. Until now.

One of my favorite things in this world is...This Old House. Yes, the corniest of corny shows ever to be produced is a can't miss for me.

Why, you might ask, would anyone other then your octogenarian relatives like this show? How can anyone sit through the inane banter and stiff dialog? Well before I answer how I can not only withstand but also enjoy this PBS standard, let me give you a little background first.

Created by the PBS paragon WGBH in 1979, This Old House (TOH) had Bob Vila host a pretty straight forward home remodeling program. Since many of the show's project homes were in the Boston/New England area TOH started to use a regular group of handymen and craftspersons, most notably carpenter Norm Abrams.

As TOH progressed it started having more and more interaction between the host and various specialists to help breakdown the hows and whys of their given expertise. Having good "go to" guys like Tom Silva and Roger Cook helped keep these exchanges loose and informative. But since each project usually needed different outside contractors, these conversations started to get more and more scripted.

Currently TOH is a well oiled machine moving through almost every facet of a house remodel, from water and electric to landscaping and interior design. The show also features the home owners and architects with the same focus and care as the contractors and laborers.

So why do I enjoy a show that is less offensive then a Lawrence Welk special? Well for one, it is actually informative. The show's host and experts alway keep the insider speak to a minimum and use ease to understand metaphors to explain complex concepts (a la Star Trek.)

Another thing is the scope of the show. Most of us probably won't remodel any homes anytime soon, but the way TOH goes about showing you how a remodel is done is still intriguing. The show will go over the history of the given home, from the origins of it's surrounding area and builder, to the architecture and building materials. Presently a third of the show is now on things tangential to the current project (like a recent feature on the new Institute of Contemporary Art on Boston's waterfront.)

Finally, I enjoy the sight of people who are really good at their job. You always hear about the shifty contractors who cut corners or use shoddy materials to save an extra buck. But you hardly ever hear of the contractors who find ingenious techniques to increase productivity and speed the build, except on TOH. It's a joy to know that there are actually people who take pride in their work even if it is roofing or electrical wiring. I really feel better knowing that there are those who are Hank Hill-esque in their chosen profession.

So say what you will about This Old House, it is for all intents and purposes the most life affirming show on television.

The illusions continues.

Almost two weeks since THE University of Florida beat (read: ass stomped) the ohio state university and I'm still find myself stupidly happy over it (why do I feel so good? oh yeah, the Gators won!) And I know it's petty and sad but I've been reading a lot of sports blogs since the win. What I found out about myself; I thoroughly enjoy watching the pain and sorrow of others. Not the best of admissions but it's true.

In other news I haven't been playing many games lately. It's been a slow couple of months in terms of new games for the 360 so I've been stuck waiting for titles I like. I could have returned to playing World of Warcraft (not having to pay $500 or more for a level 60 on ebay) but I thought against it. For one, I'd have to reinstall the damn thing over again, all 4 hours of disc swaps and patch downloads (fun!) Also leveling to 70 isn't the most tempting idea. I get sort of sick just thinking of having to kill X number of mobs for Y number of random drops over and over again.

So what have I been doing instead of playing games? Watching them talkin' pictures for one. Here's a small rundown of the films I saw.

The Departed and Internal Affairs: That's the Hong Kong version of Internal Affairs which The Departed is based on. I was surprised to find out that Martin Scorsese said he never saw the original since there a quite a few scenes seem to have been lifted from Internal Affairs. I guess at least Marty's director of photography at least saw it.

Both movies were great in their own way. The original version felt a little more tighter (i.e. shorter) and the end had the "bad guy" actually get away with it. Scorsese's like always had those iconic scenes, the kind that inspire years of Saturday Night Live skits. But there were touches that seem unnecessary, like having the movie theater they meet at as porno theater. Also the love triangle wasn't in the original (I thought that that plot line was sort of shoe horned it but at least you got to seen the chick in her underwear.)

Vera Farmiga's lovely blue eyes just stole your bike.

Grilled: Ray Remano and Kevin James's movie about meat salesmen. It was a direct to video release. Bout all I have to say about that. On the plus side, Sofía Vergara was in it.

So she plays a transexual in the movie, like you'd kick her out of bed if she really was.

Brick: A real surpriser. Who would have thought a neo-noir set in a modern high school would work. Great little film that got lost in the shuffle last year.

No, really. You actually were in a good movie.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: This movie should not be good. First of all it's based on a Disney ride. Second it's a sequel of a movie that was based on a Disney ride. Third, the story is f@#!ing insane! So having said that, it's actually a good movie. After you get past the ludicrous plot and absurd length you got yourself a wonderful adventure picture with some of the best action scenes you'll ever see.

I'd have a smart ass saying here, but I'm cleaing up the drool at the moment.

So what's left to do? Go to more sports blogs to lap up the tears of Buckeye fans. Pray that Isohunt finds a new ISP. Have impure thoughts about the iPhone. Wait on Crackdown, cuz throwing cars is cool.

Later.

Go Gators.

Some more large scale optical illusion paintings. 

Well it wasn't infinity to negative ninteen, but it might as well have been. With an amazing first half offensive sets Florida let their defence manhandle Troy Smith and OSU to win it out.

41-14 FLORIDA......GO GATORS!

Well today's the day. Ohio State. Florida. It's the same old story: contender vs. pretender. Sure money vs. long shot. Top dog vs. under dog. Some say the Gators are undeserving (hey Michigan, how do your roses smell?) Some say the Buckeyes were already the winners even before the game was played. Who knows.

What I do know is that this poor excuse for a post will probably have the same insight and knowledge of what the game will be as anything you'll find on ESPN or your local paper. So without further ado, I'm gonna hack it up like every other sports journalist (with some uninformed NFL playoff picks to boot!)

The Colts' defense showed that they're no push overs, it just took the whole season for them to show up. But they're still nothing compared to Baltimore's D, not even one murderer (alledgedly) on Indianapolis's sqaud. Colts 21, Ravens 27.

If it weren't for Drew Brees' former team mate LT he'd be a shoe-in for MVP. And if it weren't for the Eagle's hot hand the Saint's would be going to the Superbowl. Eagles 30, still-the-Aint's 17.

Rex Grossmen is the worst quarterback to ever win 13 games. Too bad for the Seahawks he'll also be the worst QB to win 14 games. No amount of neon green gloves can save Seattle. Seahawks 13, Bears 25.

LaDainian Tomlinson had a season for the ages. But if history says anything about it it'll be his one and only. So will it continue through insurgent Patriots? Nope. Pats 21, Chargers 20.


And finally, what you've all been waiting for. The Forecast of All Forecasts. The Prognostication of all Prognostications. The Guess of all Guesses. The Winner of the first annual Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game will be... The Florida Gators! C'mon who else was I gonna pick.

Gators ∞, Buckeyes -19.

(Oh and just for the record, Kirk Herbstreit and Pat Forde can kiss my ass.)

It's not a drama or an over acted soap opera. It's not an all too cute kids show nor the evening news. It is the PBS series Frontline, a documentary that shows you, in all of life's detail, that you don't know anything.

Frontline does more than just informing you on things such as how false information could so easily slip through the filters of government or how Wal-Mart is squeezing local businesses into closure and forcing manufacturers to go overseas. With it's ever present voice over, with his deep baritone, Frontline is almost like your dad showing you the world and how awful it is.

I mention this because I just saw the movie Little Children. It came out this past year and is a wonderful character study of longing and regret. Oh and it has voice over by the same guy from Frontline. With his booming voice-of-god narration, he adds depth to the movie without it been force fed to you or overstating the subtext.

I also got to see Children of Men and Pan's Labyrinth, two great films by Mexican directors. What struck me most about Children of Men was its cinematography, with the movie's long takes and stunning sets. The funny thing was a lot of it reminded me of Gears of War in terms of rubble and destruction everywhere with muted, washed out colors. There was even a running scene that was almost exactly camera angle using when you're running in Gears, the shaking camera and everything.

Another thing I got a giggle at was that one of the main characters in Pan's Labyrinth, Maribel Verdu, also starred in Y tu mama tambien that was directed by Alfronso Cuaron who also directed Children of Men. Yeah that's a little too six-degress-of-Kevin-Bacony but that's what you get when you have IMDB and too much free time .

In the future we will all be watching TV, masturbating eating fast food, and electing morons into government. OK, we do that already but in Mike Judge's second movie Idiocracy we really do it. It depicts a future where everyone is mind numbingly stupid and one average Joe from the past tries to make sense the new world around him. The film was in theaters a few months back but didn't get any publicity for it's release. So even though Judge's last movie did well after it went to DVD when movie execs also didn't give it press, they did the same exact thing to Idiocracy.

Hopefully Idiocracy will have the same life in video like Office Space did because this is just a great funny movie. And I have to wonder why the movie studio didn't support this film? Maybe it hit too close to home.

Just came across this article that delves into the connections people make with video games.

"It's our contention that the psychological 'pull' of games is largely due to their capacity to engender feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness," says Ryan. The researchers believe that some video games not only motivate further play but "also can be experienced as enhancing psychological wellness, at least short-term," he says.

Well for me, games have always worked like Prozac. Or crack, one or the other.