January 2005 Archives

Review: Creative Labs Nomad Zen Xtra 60GB MP3 Player

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A very nifty piece of gear... Click "Read more" to see my review...

Review: Evil Genius Game (PC)

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Muahahahahaha!

For my birthday this past weekend, I received a copy of the "Evil Genius" game, among other nice things from my wife, stepchildren, and parents.
As you can imagine, I tore into it and was determined to enjoy it. I haven't "beaten" it yet, which I'd say is a good thing since I've only played it for 2 days, but I have some very definite feelings about the game. There are some things I definitely like about it, and some things I absolutely don't. It's more than I can cover here, so you'll have to read the more complete write-up when I get it posted.

If you want a very short encapsulation of my impressions, here you go... Evil Genius reminds me a lot of the "Dungeon Keeper" series of games, in that you build a lair and defend it against the "good guys" coming in from the outside world. It's a real-time, resource-gathering sort of game like Dungeon Keeper and Command & Conquer. There is a fair amount of depth to it, and quite a lot to learn before you are playing anything close to competently. There is a fair amount of help and tutorial information provided, but I find that it lacks enough depth to really help you understand what you're trying to do. The user interface makes some confusing choices between what buttons you need to click at what times, and the characters in the game alternate between "Sims talk" and English. Still, while I find parts of the game frustrating I also have found it enjoyable, too. I haven't played it long enough yet to rate it on a 1-10 scale, but my initial feeling is it's going to wind up in the 7-7.5 range.

CAO Black Ltd. Edition Storm Cigar Review

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It's probably not a well-known fact about me, but in a normal year I enjoy 1-2 nice cigars. I typically do this to honor the memory of my late great-grandfather, who in my memory very often had a cigar in his mouth or nearby in an ash tray. I haven't had one in 2-3 years, so when I started thinking about my grandfather who passed away this past December (10th), I was reminded a little of HIS father. In a sort of tribute to them, I decided to smoke one of the cigars I purchased back in November from Cigars International. That cigar was the CAO Black.

I'll tell you some more about that cigar and my experience below in the review, but the short version is that the cigar's smoke has a nice scent in the air, the cigar produces a smooth white smoke, it burns very evenly, and leaves your mouth with a distinct peppery feeling - like you just had a bite of a medium-hot jalapeno pepper.