Everyone already knows how much of an information overload that the world has become in the past 10 years, give or take..

The internet created this place where everything was instantly available, where feedback was instantaneous, and where 99% of everything has a smell of bullcrap about it.

Many of the stories aren't stories at all, or are stories about stories, or worst of all, stories created by stories or by the press itself. You think that all of the coach tirades due to magazine articles, squabbling amongst basketball players and team management due to comments made to the press, etc, are all results of circumstance? I guarantee that each incident had something to do with someone looking for news and then making it happen. Slashdot is a prime example of it, and they pretend to be 'stuff that matters' and have a supposedly smart readership. Huh? I'm trying to think of the last time I saw something factual appear on that site, something that wasn't filtered through a free-software Linux opinion page. In fact, most things that look like a news site are really an opinion site, first and foremost. I wish they would advertise that fact instead of pretending to be actual news.

On to the self-promotion. Do I really have to spend time wading through stories about Tiger Woods' new advertising deal promoting Gatorade to find actual real sports information and opinion? That is not a news story. How about all of the useless ABC/Disney/ESPN tie-ins on ESPN.com? Even when I'm not looking for news, instead looking for opinion, I can't even find it. The good part of everyone having a say about the world is that you should at least be able to find good opinion pieces. Instead, what I find is promotion. Stupid, transparent, fake news.

I hate everything that the "new" UCF football stands for.. a bad and pointless rebranding effort, throwing money at everything (including a 12-24 coach), not having that "play anyone, anywhere" attitude, and ... ugh.

Edit: The UCF players worked their tails off for 60 minutes against Texas. They earned respect from me and anyone else who knows what football is about. However, the uniforms and logo are very mediocre, and Knightro still looks like the front grill of a Dodge truck.

I was inspired by reading Edge Magazine's list of the 100 best games and decided to "adjust" the list correctly. Even though I thought it was as good as I have seen of such a list, covering dozens of my favorites, it still suffers from some problems, notably placing XBox360 Games on the list (j/k), along with not enough of the retro era titles (everything was 90's and beyond).

I don't think I have the desire to list 100, so lets say a top.. erm 30? Listed to the side is the Edge ranking. Also, I'll be avoiding similar titles in the same series where possible, just picking the best of that series.

1. The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past (6)
2. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (33)
3. Tetris (9)
4. Super Mario 64 (3)
5. Final Fantasy VII (18)
6. Quake 3 Arena (46)
7. Xenogears (N/A)
8. Resident Evil 4 (2)
9. Super Smash Bros. (91)
10. Halo (7)
11. Metal Gear Solid (35)
12. Pac-Man (N/A)
13. Final Fantasy Tactics (N/A)
14. Super Metroid (10)
15. Street Fighter 2 (16)
16. Ico (13)
17. Guitar Hero (56)
18. Katamari Damacy (31)
19. Grand Theft Auto 3 (12)
20. Counter-Strike (55)
21. Goldeneye (17)
22. SimCity 2000 (25)
23. Rez (27)
24. Starcraft (37)
25. Silent Hill 2 (85)
26. Half-Life 2 (4)
27. Super Mario Kart (14)
28. Wario Ware Inc. (40)
29. Paper Mario : The Thousand Year Door (93)
30. Galaga (N/A)

Did I miss anything crucial? Remember only 1 per 'series'. What's your top 5, 10, 30, 100?

Edit : I just saw (Japan's top gaming magazine) Famitsu Magazine's 100 greatest of all time. Play many RPGs?

While hunting through movies to watch, I once again found myself sitting here, whining about how crappy summer movies are (for the most part), how crappy the stuff in the theater is compared to what is actually created, and how biased the Academy is when picking their Best Picture.

Take a look at the winners of the last 6 years:

2001 : A Beautiful Mind
2002 : Chicago
2003 : The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004 : Million Dollar Baby
2005 : Crash
2006 : The Departed

Of this list, the only worthy winner I even see is Million Dollar Baby (2004 was a good year : also Garden State, Sideways). So many better movies get looked over. So many great, great movies don't even make the list of nominees, much less win. And so many don't ever see the inside of a non-indy theater.

Without further complaining, I give you exceptional movies for each of these years, each of which, I believe, is better than their counterpart in the list above. None of these films saw a major release, or "box-office" numbers. A few fared better on DVD, thanks to smart film aficionados.

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Memento (2001)

This is probably the best known of this list, if only because of director Christopher Nolan's later successes with Batman Begins and The Prestige. Challenging and innovative, this is one of my two favorite films ever, the ending just as great as the puzzle as it unravels.

Whale Rider (2002)

Follows the story of 12 year-old Pai, part of a New Zealand tribe, and is both about her determination and the family bonds among three generations.

City of God (2003)

A brutal, yet equally brilliant movie about children who become young men in the gang-run streets of Rio De Janeiro. Virtually no experienced actors were involved. Voted one of the best films of all time by several media outlets.

Nobody Knows (2004)

Painfully beautiful film about a group of siblings abandoned in Tokyo by their mother. The cinematography and music perfectly fit each scene, somehow managing to float along and above the subject matter.

Junebug (2005)

I found this film hard to watch in parts. Film is about a country-born and bred man bringing home his artsy, British wife to the family. In showing these culturally incompatible characters clash, and interact, and somehow exist in a film, it was so different from the fake relationships you see in so many higher budget productions - and so much better written and acted.

Children of Men (2006)

OK, Little Miss Sunshine was definitely the best picture of 2006, but I liked this movie just as much and it deserved much more than it got. Anyhow, the bigger point is that MANY (and really, most) movies are better choices than The Remake (Departed). The source material (Infernal Affairs - 2002) was basically the same. What a complete joke. How do people justify this crap?

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If you have the time, please check out these movies (if you haven't seen them already). I think that they really show the diversity and excellence in filmmaking that you just don't see in typical Hollywood.

Although it took me entirely too long, the Contact Me now actually sends emails! It took me reinstalling Apache with SSL enabled, PHP using the correct SSL plugin, splicing GMailMaker into my PHP Blog code, but it was so worth it (not at all).