Book Review: Morris Berman - "Why America Failed"

It should be rather obvious at this point that it is not "Morning in America" any longer. Rampant unemployment, a shameful level of poverty, a healthcare system that denies coverage to millions, crumbling infrastructure, a supposedly-matchless military that cannot find victory in either Iraq or Afghanistan, a gridlocked government...the list goes on. So the question is, then, where did America go wrong? And how can it get back on track?

Great Games That Actually Suck: The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim

As a child of the 80s, I was a pretty Nintendo-obsessed kid. The NES was the greatest gift anyone could ever bestow upon the world, and every game made for that console was beyond reproach. Nintendo could do no wrong in my eyes, and I considered every NES game released to be a masterpiece, regardless of whether or not it was actually developed by Nintendo.

That is, until my parents brought me a game they had purchased at a garage sale - Where's Waldo?

Great Games That Actually Suck: Mass Effect 2

The first Mass Effect was a game that was somehow enjoyable in spite of itself. Looking at its individual parts in isolation, it wasn't a very good game at all - the combat was generally dull, lifeless, and lacking in intensity, the weapons were bland and generic, differing only in some numerical statistic, planetary exploration was often tedious, and the game's dialogue system seemed intent on offering up paraphrases that bore no resemblance to what your character would actually say. Yet in spite of these flaws, Mass Effect created a compelling, believable universe that harkened back to the Golden Age of Science Fiction and seemed to offer huge array of possibilities for future installments. But alas, it wasn't to be. If the first game was a flawed attempt at making a Space Opera RPG, then its sequel is a half-hearted attempt at making a very generic sci-fi shooter.

Great Games That Actually Suck: The Witcher 2

I can't recall a game that received more hype than The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. No, not from the sycophantic gaming press (who will gush over anything, provided there's advertising revenue at stake), but from the fans, who will simply not shut up about its "brilliant" storytelling and the "mature" attitude the game takes towards the player. Hearing all the near-unanimous praise, I purchased The Witcher 2 for the same reason many did, I think - as an alternative to the wretchedly awful Dragon Age 2.

"I wanna be a durrrrgon..."

Kevin O'Leary - Portrait of a Blowhard

John Maynard Keynes once said that "Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all." Well, I think "nastiest of men" is the most apt description for Canada's greatest windbag (closely edging out Don Cherry), Kevin O'Leary. That's right, this nasally-voiced asshole:

On Respecting Science

Imagine you're sitting down to watch some sci-fi film or TV show, and suddenly a massive space battle breaks out. Laser bolts are flying, ships are exploding left and right, and it is glorious.

Then some twerp comes along and snidely remarks that, "You realise there's no sound in space, right? You wouldn't really be hearing all those explosions."

Don't you just want to smack him?

"Un-American"

How many times have you heard the phrase "un-American" get bandied about in debates? How many times have you heard someone say that anyone who disagrees with his or her opinion must "hate America?"