Mike Flacy

I love stories like this: Link

To sum it up, a Yelp user wrote a negative review for a Mexican restaurant in Saint Louis and the restaurant owner threatened her with a lawsuit if she didn’t remove it. For those that don’t know, Yelp is a social networking site for people that like to eat out. You can sign up to write reviews of your favorite restaurants and browse other opinions via a city breakdown.

Getting back to the story, she received a threat of a $100,000 lawsuit if she didn’t remove the review from the site. Being the social networking butterfly, she responded by using Twitter to pose a question to the collective internet about what she should do. It spread to Digg and the restaurant’s Yelp page is now being bombarded with bad reviews.

So instead of watching the negative review slip away among the positive ones (assuming the food & service was consistently decent), the restaurant owner effectively destroyed his restaurant’s rating in the online world. Not only is the Yelp rating getting trashed, but internet users are spreading the word to any publication that mentions the place; St. Louis blogs, newspapers, forums , etc… I wouldn’t be surprised to see local news coverage eventually.

In yesterday’s snail mail, I received a friendly reminder from AT&T that I can upgrade my phone since my two year contract is running out. I knew those bastards enjoyed my $50 for letting me talk a few minutes and send a couple texts a month. My trusty, but woefully dusty, Razr was a wonderful upgrade for me a couple years ago. I had been carrying around a gray monstrosity from the late nineties that was as thick as a computer mouse, so the super thin Razr was an obvious choice for me. Unfortunately, the poor battery life and painfully directional earpiece has annoyed me from the start. So I’m in the market for a new phone.

I’ve been browsing the blackberries, but haven’t seen anything I’d like to pull the trigger on. I’d love to have an iPhone, but the cheapest model on sells for an absolutely ridiculous $400; that’s with the two year contract discount. So as much as I salivate over the coolness, the price is an extreme deal breaker. But wait, what’s this I hear about a 3G iPhone?!

I’ve gleefully stumbled into a fantastic time to be in the market for an iPhone. On June 9th, Apple is rumored to announce a 3G version of the iPhone at their developer’s conference. I had no idea what this meant until I started reading about what the 3G iPhone will offer. Here’s what I dug up:

• Cheaper Price: AT&T is rumored to trim the price to $199 with a two year contract. They would have the ability to cut the price due to the nature of 3G. Apple would continue to sell the unlocked version of the iPhone in their stores, but service providers would finally be able to offer discounts. $200 is just about my limit for spending money on a new phone, especially one as cool at the iPhone.

• Better Specs: Namely a higher quality camera and built-in GPS caught my eye. The 3G hardware supports up to a 5 megapixel camera and video chat, so one would assume that Apple would upgrade the pitiful 2 MP camera in the original iPhone. It could be a dual camera system if video is enabled. I’ve also read rumblings about a FM transmitter to send those iTunes songs wirelessly to your car radio, voice dialing, increased storage, flash support, and a slightly thinner build.

• Close Release Date: AT&T employees have been issued a memo that they will be denied any vacation time during the period of June 15th to July 12th. The reason? “An exciting product launch”. The original iPhone launched on June 29th, so a late June / Early July launch is feasible for the 3G iPhone. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it out on June 15th or the day of the announcement considering that iPhones have been in development for a year.

So it’s time to wait and see. I’ll live with my Razr for another month and hope ole Steve Jobs gives me enough of a reason to upgrade.

As I watched last night’s Lost episode (Part 1 of the finale), I felt that tons of groundwork was being laid for the Oceanic Six’s return to the island over the next season. But I do have some predictions for the final episode in a couple weeks based on what’s currently happening on the island.

1. Jin & Desmond live. I’m absolutely sure the freighter is going to go boom before the episode is over as it’s a great way to kill those extras that Daniel ferried over already, but Jin & Desmond will escape the blast. A Desmond / Penny reunion has to happen before the end of the series and Jin is too good of a character to kill off. However, I believe Sun will be convinced that Jin dies; either by Keamy’s hand or Locke’s action at the Orchid. (more on that in a minute)

2. Michael dies. I can see Michael sacrificing himself to save Jin / Desmond, but failing to escape the blast. The island will have no use for him anymore and allow the death. This also lends credence to the theory that Abbadon is a future version of Walt; searching for answers to what happened to his Dad on the island.

3. Keamy will die by Ben’s hand before the end of the episode, the rest of Keamy’s men by an Other ambush. It’s going to be a sweet revenge kill for taking the life of Alex. This sets up an empty chopper for the Oceanic Six to ride off the island before Locke gets down to business in the Orchid.

4. The Orchid doesn’t physically “move” the island, it moves the entrance. By shifting the electromagnetic field around the island, time is also altered as well. Unless someone searching for the island knows the exact entrance, they would spend years upon years looking for it.

5. Paik Industries is involved with Widmore / Dharma. It would be the most obvious reason why Sun would purchase a controlling interest in the company. It also offers a peek at how the Oceanic Six will be able to return to the island. I have a feeling Ben is in cahoots with Sun, similar to Sayid, and they will work together to defend the island from Widmore.

The more I think about Locke’s journey on last night’s episode of Lost, the more impressed I become with the writer’s sly incorporation of themes like Buddhism. The first time the young boy version of Locke meets Richard, picking out items that belonged to him is taken from the Buddhist test of finding the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Young John picked the vial of sand, the compass, and the rudimentary hunting knife.

Visibly upset, it’s clear that Richard wanted Locke to pick either the book of law or the ‘Mystery Island’ comic book; perhaps designed to represent rules and imagination respectively. But Locke picked the items that truly belonged to him. This fit in the theme later in the story when Locke rejected the idea of science camp (another attempt by Richard to alter John’s path) to choose his own destiny.

Later in the story, we see Abbadon manipulating John into getting on that Oceanic Six flight for his Australian walkabout. Rather than becoming upset at John’s choices, he encourages them. If Richard is supposed to represent destiny, then Abbadon clearly represents free will. Abbadon’s intentions are less clear though and he obviously remains oblivious to the island’s location after the Oceanic Six are rescued.

I believe Locke is a combination of both destiny & free will, but neither side realizes this yet. The only person that finally understands is Ben. What Ben saw as a manipulation of Hurley’s destiny under the guise of free will, Locke offered actual free will to Hurley.

Moving the Island

There are two distinct possibilities on this one. Physically moving the island is out of the question, so the island will have to be moved through time via the Orchid station or the pathway into the island will have to be moved. I’m leaning toward the time theory, although both are possible. The time theory would certainly explain the Black Rock ship sitting in the middle of the island. If the island jumped to a different time, any ship on the open seas in that area would suddenly be sitting on land rather sailing around. On the other hand, moving the entrance would fit with Widmore’s inability to find the island after the Oceanic Six get rescued. Plus it would be easier for a mass television audience to swallow than a time traveling island.

- My Favorite Moment: Hurley sharing his candy bar with Ben. It was sweet and a nice sidebar to the tension of the moment.

I completed the single player campaign over the weekend and took some time to reflect today. The plight of Niko Bellic was very much a series of well constructed moments, designed to bring out the inner sociopath or benevolent soul in you. There are brief, flourishing cinematic points that sparked delight in me, Packie’s Three Leaf Clover being the most notable (Heat anyone?). But beyond those moments, beyond the hype, beyond the rushed reviews, there are negative aspects that keep GTA IV from perfection in my mind; 7 to be exact.

I’m back in Liberty City, so where’s my Double Clef FM?

There’s just something inherently classy about mass murder when listening to “O mio babbino caro” while behind the wheel mowing down pedestrians. I miss Morgan Merryweather’s pompous attitude and continual spouting of untrue facts about classical music. Over all the 18 radio stations within GTA IV, I don’t understand why Rockstar didn’t immediately jump on the chance to recreate the classical one. Not only that, they didn’t create a way to load user tracks onto the radio. I suppose I’ll just have to settle for Jazz Nation Radio and the smooth style of Roy Haynes.

Worthless green paper in my wallet

Money has become completely devalued in this version of GTA for a couple reasons. You don’t lose any weaponry at death and there’s a ridiculous amount of ammo found on each mission. While health care costs can bleed a player dry in the very early stages of the game, money has no worthwhile use for the majority of the game. I ended the single player game with about $950,000 in the bank, but it might as well have been $950 for what I needed it for.

Liberty City’s Most Wanted

OK, I’ve just killed 58 beat cops, 32 SWAT guys and 4 chopper pilots. I have a five star wanted rating and I’m racing from the scene in a stolen police cruiser. What’s the best way to lose the cops? Take a nap. Yep, the police will call off the manhunt if you find the nearest safe house and take a 6 hour nap. This should have been an automatic arrest for the police, but apparently dingy apartments are too confusing for the police to enter. (I realize this is a flaw of the overall series, but Rockstar should have fixed it by now.)

Should I wear a suit or a suit or a suit?

There are 3 unique clothing stores in the game. That’s right; a digital version of New York City only has three types of clothing stores. Obviously Rockstar kept it simple to work hand in hand with the girlfriend system, but it’s an extreme step down from the amount of clothing / customization options in Vice City & San Andreas. Additionally the clothing options are far too similar and the interface, while visually improved, is still slow.

Love the internet, hate the browser.

The brilliant, snarky humor on the in-game internet, and the television programs for that matter, is classic Rockstar and deserves praise, but the asshole that designed the browser should be fired. Why? There’s no way to bookmark a site. Every time you return to the PC, it’s back to the keyboard to type an insanely long web address or, even worse, one letter at a time on the controller. Accessing the site (whattheydonotwantyoutoknow.com) that holds the maps for hidden items such as armor, health, stunt jumps, etc. is a ridiculous pain in the butt and likely sends droves of players to the real internet for map screenshots.

Rocky Marciano, I’m not.

From the start of the game to the finish, there was rarely a time without some firearm in Niko’s hand. I choose that route because the hit detection system in hand to hand combat absolutely stinks. Character movement doesn’t work fast enough with the targeting system to accurately land punches and the combos are nearly worthless. It only took a few minutes of boxing my shadow before I permanently glued the semi-automatic machine gun to Niko’s right hand.

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy

With the exception of a handful of missions, the game difficulty is really quite low for the experienced video game crowd. Without a slider to increase difficulty, popping off head shots is pure simplicity; even with auto-aim off. Over the entire 30 hour campaign, I was never busted by the cops and died less than 10 times. The rare, occasionally challenging mission was easily completed after tooling up with body armor and plenty of ammo. Besides giving the game a rushed feeling, the real shame is that many missions offer alternate dialogue between main characters upon reloading. Unless you play through the entire game again, you won’t get a chance to hear all the stories and comedic banter.

Digsby added Facebook Chat as a supported client last week, frankly shocking considering Facebook Chat only went live for the entire Facebook community a week previous. I’ve been evaluating the service for a week and have grown to prefer it over the Facebook in-browser chat screen. Using the Digsby interface is easier on the eyes and messages pop up instantly. I often miss messages from the in-browser screen due to lack of attention. It also seems to update friend status faster than the Facebook Chat window in addition to providing notification windows.

Digsby’s blog indicates they will eventually add the ability to move FB Chat users into groups as well as syncing IM status to FB status. Very cool moves for the IM / Social Network power users. Digsby just keeps getting better.

I’ve been distracted by Grand Theft Auto for the past week, but I did want to take a break to write about the most recent Lost episode. After reading the description in my Google reader, I knew it was going to be an episode of filler, but wondered what curve ball the creators would toss at me. Turns out to be Jack’s Dad, yet again.

I have no problem with slow, unrevealing Lost episodes. I do have a problem with anti-climactic episodes though. We knew Jack was going to be perfectly fine from the surgery, yet were forced to sit through the operation anyway. The only purpose it served was to offer yet another doppelganger moment as the situation improved on the island, the situation post rescue deteriorated for Jack.

We learned very little from this episode other than Charlotte speaks Korean, Sawyer decides to stay on the island, and lots of those crazy mercenary bastards survived the wrath of the smoke monster. But the writers decided to give us a lovely “What the Fuck?” moment when Papa Shephard shows up to lead Claire off into the jungle. For you folks that forgot, Jack’s Dad is also Claire’s father. I believe Jack’s dad is involved in the island’s fate somehow and perhaps we will find more out in the season finale. His brief appearances are becoming utterly ridiculous at this point though.

Before the previews for next week rolled, the only thing this episode really achieved was setting up possible scenarios for the finale. Jack may not be well enough to travel on the helicopter, Jin made it clear that he won’t get on the chopper before Sun and baby Aaron is on the way to his new mom, Kate.

Oddly enough, the previews were more exciting than the entire episode. For one, it’s clearly going to be a Locke episode. Does this mean we will see a Locke flashforward? One can only hope. We also saw a brief clip of Horace Goodspeed chatting it up with Locke. Seeing how Horace died 12 years ago in Ben’s purge, he’s either another ghost or been faking his death for years. Either way, I want to see Jacob for the love of Pete. I can’t go another entire year without some details about that crazy mystery man.