December 2007 Archives

One of the prerequisites of being able to stick 180s is the ability to ride "switch" proficiently.  Switch-stance just means riding facing the opposite direction of your normal stance.  If you ride regular-foot, your normal stance faces to the right and your switch faces to the left.  If you ride goofy-foot, your normal is to the left and switch is to the right.  It can feel very awkward to begin riding switch, but without acquiring the skill, you will struggle to balance or ride away from a 180 or (don't get ahead of yourself yet!) a 540.  

After having read the article about a new USPS surcharge that could cut into Netflix's profits I got to thinking about the future of movie rentals.  If you're a Netflix customer and haven't tried their streaming video service, I recommend you give it a shot.  I've noticed the weak selection of titles available on it and can only imagine that it must be a licensing issue with the MPAA or specific rights-holder.  While I enjoy their online video-watching service, I don't enjoy watching movies on my laptop as much as on my TV and I also don't enjoy having to plug my laptop into my TV.  There is a feasible solution for all of this covering concerns like licensing agreements (giving consumers better selection) to proper television integration (no more laptops plugged into the TV.)  Read on to find out how I see a successful movie rental business operating in the near future.

As the latest in one of the most successful video game series today, Guitar Hero III offers the same rhythm-based game play as the previous releases.  It is available for PS2, PS3, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360.  So far as I have read, the game runs very well on all platforms except the PS3.  Playstation 3 users are plagued with issues including controller problems and strange game behavior.  I was one of the unfortunate ones to have excitedly purchased this game for PS3 only to find out that it's very difficult if not impossible to have a positive gaming experience with it.  I spent some time researching the problems and my conclusion is that the PS3 version was rushed and absolutely not ready for market.