PC - Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead is the result of great game play, great AI, and a theme that never seems to die, no matter how many times we reuse it -- zombies. Left 4 Dead's premise is basically like any other zombie game/movie/book you've ever played/seen/read. A city has been overrun by flesh eating zombies. Their are X amount of survivors (in this game, X being four, which is a play on words -- "Left 4 Dead" = Left For Dead = Abandoned... Yeah. Anyways, you have the option of playing four different characters. They don't have any unique abilities or anything like that, but their personalities differ slightly and whenever they speak in game, they do so from that certain perspective.
The game play of Left 4 Dead is fluid and nearly flawless. The variety of weapons and opponents aren't as plentiful as I would have liked but this game isn't about a plethora of weapons and gadgetry. It shines in its simplicity. The single player mode consists of four campaigns per chapter, five chapters in total -- twenty stages in all. The goal is simple, survive all the stages to reach salvation in the form of a leaving the god forsaken city.
The campaigns and chapters range in difficulty: beginner, novice, advanced, and expert. Even if you beat the game on a certain difficulty, you can replay it at the same level and be playing a whole different game. What I mean by this is that you don't unlock new weapons or skills, instead, the AI places the zombies and weapons you can get along the way in different areas. Making it so that you can't simply memorize the game and do everything the exact same way.
Once you've mastered single player mode, you can play with other people online. The options of this mode are either cooperative, which is much like single player mode except for the fact that you have live players with you instead of AI. The other option is to play versus mode where eight players are pitted against each other in two teams of four. One team are the people trying to survive, obviously, and the other team are the zombies. What makes this mode interesting and fun is that you don't spawn as your everyday, average zombie. You spawn as one of the four unique zombies. A boomer, who can hurl on a survivor to attract a mass amount of zombies unto that target, a hunter who can leap great bounds and slash away at a survivors chest, a tank who is basically an unstoppable force (nearly -- about 150-200 bullets to take him down?), or a smoker, who shoots out his tongue and wraps it around a survivor, dragging it to him and beating the survivor to death.
No matter what side you're on, human or zombie, this game requires a great amount of teamwork if you wish to survive -- or kill.

Counterfeiters

A heart wrenching drama about a Jewish man named Salomon (A.K.A Sally) who happens to be the best money counterfieter of his time. He has it all, money, women, money, a lavish life, money, fame (among a close group of friends and customers), money, talent, and money. He is caught one day and is thrown into a Jewish internment camp where his talents go to waste. One day, he decides to draw a portrait of the Nazi supersoldier that commands his Jewish bungalow. The supersoldier is thoroughly impressed with the result and has him do another one, only this time, in color. HIs commanding officer walks in during the process and soon -- well, Sally ends up becoming their own personal artist. He does portraits for everyone and in return he gets better food and a better life -- that is to say, a better internment camp life. The news spreads fast about his artistic talents and soon he is transfered into another camp. The camp is lead by Adolf Burger (the man who caught Sally for counterfieting to begin with). Burger has an operation going on in his camp that not even the higher-ups are aware of. He has a team of Jewish prisoners trying to counterfiet the English pound. With Sally's help, they are able to replicate the English pound so well that not even the Bank of England can tell the difference. The next job is the American Dollar, the task that got Sally caught in the first place. Will they be able to pull it off? A lot of unknown actors and actresses are in this film (at least, I didn't recognize any of their faces) but all of them play their roles exquisitely making this movie a must see.

Maxim Magazine

If you've got testicles, you'll enjoy Maxim. Maxim's got everything from jokes to gadgets. Oh yeah, did I mention the hot chicks? Yeah. That's kind of what they're known for. They take Hollywood's sexiest stars and, somehow, make them even more appealing. It's like magic -- with breasts. They also search for the hottest "girl next door" etcetera. With a plethora of ads inbetween the interviews, reviews, and man-views -- Maxim not only keeps you up to date with what's hot, but what's next. My only criticism with the magazine is the monthly waste of the last 3 or so pages of the magazine where the content never changes. Want a bigger penis? I already told you last month yes but you're not going to sucker me into buying your magic pills! Jeez.

Hitman

The common action movie that Hollywood pumps out to fill their daily planners. Nothing about this movie stands out. The actinfg, the fight sequences, the plot, the villians, the hero -- all mediocre at best. If you've got time to kill then I guess Hitman would be a good of choice as any if you like bullets and flesh. The basic plot of the movie is a engineered killing machine who is the best at what he does. Unexpectedly, (hah) he goes rogue and begins to kill the people he once worked for. I could go on but if you've seen one, you've seen them all and you know how the rest plays out.

Meet Bill

A charming movie about a man who wakes up one day and doesn't realize how he got there. He has a beautiful wife that's cheating on him with the local newscaster. He works for his wife's father doing absolutely nothing at their big bank. He begins to tutor a whacky kid who has pockets full of money and nothing to concentrate on besides an unlikely lingerie employee. Together, they dive head first into a fantasized reality about life: how it was, how it is and how it could have been. As the movie progresses you see the all star cast of characters fundamentally change from what they once were. Enjoyable but forgettable.

Snatch

Snatch is one of the best movies I have ever watched. It's incredibly fast paced right from the get go. The movie has an entire plethora of actors and actresses that makes the movie come to life. The movie is about a group of people out to get their hands on a huge diamond, but along the way, many mishaps and misunderstandings take place that is the cause for hilarious tangents that still shed some light on the overall plot. The cinematography and the sequence of events seems to come naturally to this film which leaves you wanting more even when the credits begin rolling.

Love Actually

Love Actually is a romantic movie about several couples whose lives begin to cross paths ever so subtly. It has an all star cast that will make you laugh, make you cry, make you swoon, and so on and so forth. What sets this movie apart from your everyday romantic comedy is the way the lives of all these people seem to be told as their own separate tales, but soon, we begin to see not only themes and motifs merging, but some of their lives actually merging together as well. The movies leaves you with the sense that everything is everything and that we're all going to make it out oh.kay.

Scrubs - The Complete First Season

Scrubs is by far, one of the funniest shows on the air, at least, it used to be. The last season that aired lust some of it's luster when compared to the earlier seasons. Perhaps that's due to the fact that we, the viewers, got used to it's comedy style making it no longer fresh. The first season, however, for those of you that haven't watched a single episode or Scrubs or only watched a few of the recent ones and thought you didn't care for it, is absolutely amazing. With a great cast that plays their roles down to the T, the unique humor that Scrubs brings to the table is indisputable. I dare anybody to watch the first season and say they didn't thoroughly enjoy doing so. I double doggy dare them. Zach Braff plays JD, an intern at Sacred Heart along with his long time best fried Turk. At Sacred Heart they meet Elliot, the zany embodiment of emotional luggage, Carla, the nurse that seems to know it all, Dr. Cox, the hard ass doctor that spoons out both advice and insults, Dr. Kelso Chief of Medicine the cold blooded manager of the entire hospital, The Janitor who comes up with whacky ideas to keep himself entertained while working (but not really?), etc. Scrubs is a 10 out of 10.

Altoids Peppermint Mints 1.76 Oz Tin (Pack Of 12)

Altoids Peppermint Mints pack quite the wallop considering its small size. I, for one, do not necessarily enjoy its potency of strength. Every time I eat one, my face involuntarily makes that face one makes when they're taken by surprise by a flavor. However, I believe that people that eat Altoids do so for tat very reason. It freshens your breath almost instantly leaving your mouth feeling as if you've just got done washing it out with Listerine. The mints come in a unique cannister that opens up fully, allowing you to offer mints to anybody that wants some. This both works for and against the mints. It works for it in that you can easily share the candy but it works against it because you don't know where other people's fingers have been and while reaching for one, they inadvertently touch many.

Men of Honor

An inspirational movie where the main character overcomes all obstacles in order to finally realize his dream. In this case, that dream is to become a deep sea diver. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays the role of Carl Brashear, a man who starts off as a navy cook that eventually makes it to diving school and is under the supervision of Master Chief Billy Sunday who is played by Robert Deniro. Master Chief Billy Sunday, as the rest of the diving school, doesn't really wish to see Carl succeed because of his African heritage. They give him an abundantly hard time trying to dissuade him from his goals. However, Carl perseveres and eventually gains the rank of Master Chief himself. Based on a true story, this movie is one of those feel-good-movies that makes you think about your life and where you stand in the world.

American Gangster

American Gangster was a pretty good movie overall but the fact that they try to make it seem as if Frank Lucas wasn't all bad limited Denzel's capabilities to play the ultimate bad guy as we have seen him play in Training Day. For those of you who have seen both movies, you are well aware of the vast differences between the amount of cold-bloodedness we see in Training Day's Denzel and American Gangster's Denzel. Given they are both different roles I feel that it could have been done better if only the script would have allowed it. American Gangster is basically a man who came from the bottom, took the top and never looked back. Once he makes it to the top, he brings in his family to the drug scene to help him organize and distribute the illegal contraband. There are obvious conflicts between drug families and thugs and what have you giving American Gangster the feel of the shady drug environment but adds a hint of family value by the way Frank runs his business.

8 Mile

8 Mile is the cinematic equivalent of what Eminem had to go through to get to where he is. I'm sure Hollywood spiced it up a bit in some places and toned it down a bit in under places to meet its specifications but the overall effect of the movie seems to have a genuine aura about it. Marshal Mathers is constantly complaining about his crummy childhood life, and, well, life in general. 8 Mile gives us just a small sample of what and why Eminem can't seem to write about much else. I'm not knocking Eminem for his songs because I've always liked Eminem, but I would be lying if I said the content of his lyrics aren't a tad redundant. However, that's besides the point. 8 Mile was a great depiction of what Eminem had to go through in order to gain his respect. Loaded with great actors, actresses, and a Grammy winning song (great soundtrack), 8 Mile delivers where many other biographies fail to do so.

Rock Band Special Edition for PlayStation 2

Who hasn't, at some point in their life, wished that they were a rock star? Rock Band allows you such an opportunity. Sure, it doesn't come with any of the real fame, or money, or drugs, or orgies that a real rock band would come with but it's a start! The game set up is a combination of the Japanese arcade games that took the arcades by storm. Equipped with a guitar, a bass, a set of drums and a mic, Rock Band allows four friends to attempt to master 58 different songs. Now you say that you've never held an instrument of any kind and couldn't carry a beat or a tune if the nine classical muses spat inspiration in your face? Don't worry. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect and Rock Band is no different. With four different level settings ranging from easy, normal, hard or expert, any rookie could grab a hold of the instrument of their choosing and begin to melt faces with their, soon to be, wicked skills. This game is highly fun and addictive.