Summer  2001

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Each seasonal list is updated periodically; newest entries at the top...

DOT : To good packaging in a PC game...finally! Max Payne, while not the potential Game of the Year many anticipated, is certainly the best packaged game of the year, by brilliantly putting the CD into a larger DVD case (or Playstation 2 game case, if you prefer). Throughout the '90s, once PC games were all on compact discs, everything that used to be in game boxes shrank as well. Most games these days even shrink the game manual into a barely-readable itty-bitty booklet that fits into the CD jewel case.  In this larger packaging, the manual is fully sized and fits snugly in its own niche on the left side, with the CD on the right side of the case. It also looks cool next to your other PC-DVD titles. Let's hope other game companies start doing something similar. The quality of packaging in PC game titles can go nowhere other than up.

Slash :  To Hollywood Overpricing gone awry. News is that the latest live-action TV series by the creators of South Park --the now-cancelled "That's My Bush!"-- was cancelled for the typical one-two punch, of low ratings and high budget. However, it's the high budget that gets me; turns out, this series cost one million dollars per episode! Come on now; a sitcom, with basically the exact same sets each episode, with absolutely NO major stars, costing one million per episode? No way this is a correct price assessment. It took Comedy Central 8 episodes before figuring this out. Gee...funny.

DOT : To knowing where the line is drawn with "Reality TV." In case you slept through it, Big Brother 2 house guest Justin got into a little bit of hot water, when for whatever reason (some say alcohol was involved) he held a knife up to the neck of housemate Krista. This means automatic eviction for Justin (no violence, nor a hint of violence, of any kind), though that's not what earns the "Dot." It's the fact that, regardless of the ratings such an intense scene would grab, CBS has decided not to air the scene. It seems some Reality TV is not the type of "Reality" that should be shown on television. Bravo to CBS for realizing this, even at the expense of a possible jump in ratings for the struggling show. HOWEVER...

DOT : To a mission pack for everyone. Diablo 2's Expansion "Set," Lord of Destruction is probably anticipated by one and all who played the game...Macintosh owners included. Bravo, then, to Blizzard software company, for making the disc installable on both PC and Mac versions. Before PC owners ask "So what," keep in mind there is a good size of multi-players out there who are playing via their Macs (most of which are cable-modem-ready right out of the box), and no expansion set for them means a big potential schism in online Diablo 2 play. Sure, the add-on is around $35, yet at least the option to upgrade is available for everyone.

Slash :  Yes, kids, that Xena: Warrior Princess Series Finale deserves a big, fat, whopper of a slash...no, make that a double slash. This would make it the third time ever that Techtite.com felt the need for a "double" slash (the first, FYI, was when George Lucas and his CGI team fired Kenny Baker, thinking a computer-generated R2D2 would look better in the next Star Wars film. The second was the abysmal PS2 "launch"). To anyone who missed it and wishes for no spoilers, suffice to say, Xena does not live happily ever after. Forget the people who wondered who she'd run off into the sunset with; with writers like these, it would have been preferable if she'd run off into the sunset at all. Yeah, I know; I'm giving too much away. Let's cut to the chase though; the finale was BAD; perhaps on my list of Top 10 Worst Finales of All Time.

Slash :  To a reporter using the obvious to make a point. Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com, has decided to flame the film Tomb Raider, days before the film was even able to be released. He claims he saw the film with "civilians, regular people dragged in off the street." Is this supposed to be belittling the film, or theater patrons? Is Friedman a wannabe snob, that feels that "regular" movie crowds are oh-so-beneath him? He then reports that they "talked through a lot of the screening, laughed inappropriately, and were heard muttering [about the movie] on the way out." Word up, Friedman; this is normal. Regular movie patrons laugh at any opportunity (one patron I viewed a film with, even laughed during a tense scene of Fatal Attraction!), and yes, they always talk about the film afterwards. If anything, the only thing they seem to be doing less, is reading what "professional" critics have to say. Gee, I wonder why?

Slash : To hypocrisy in video game "progress." I'm talking about the way the upcoming "Nintendo Game Boy Advance" (in stores as of mid-June), looks a little too much like Sega's Game Gear to ignore the similarity. Remember Game Gear? That was the portable game system which had trouble competing with the then only black-and-white Nintendo Game Boy, even though the Gear was color, larger screen, and on and on. Now Sega is no longer making hardware, after not being able to compete with the media blitz of Nintendo and Sony. Yet even through it all, about a decade after Game Gear made its debut, here's a "next millennium" Game Boy, that looks a lot like the system that tried to weed out the Game Boy 10 years earlier. The marvels of technological progress in video game machines never ceases to amaze me.

DOT : To (can it be...?) a Trekkie with GUTS. Opinions on Star Trek are often mere cut-and-paste retreads you hear everywhere, as if Trekkies are so wimpish they are too afraid to speak their mind against other Trekkies themselves. Not so for Frank Ahrens, whose Washington Post review of the Star Trek Voyager finale is filled with some of the most radical --though understandable-- comments seen online in years. Here's a small sample: "Stewart’s Capt. Jean-Luc Picard was by acclaim the best actor of the lot, but as a starship captain he was — and let us say this delicately — a weenie." Such brash honesty will have Trekkies gasping for their allergy inhalers for weeks. There's also the notion that Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine is "the first authentic Trek bombshell since Uhura." For those of you just joining us, that's a kick in the shins for Troi, Dr. Crusher, Dax, and yes, even Major Kira...yet again, it's brutally honest, and true. There is something refreshing and enjoyable about a Trekker speaking his mind, and not bowing down to rubber-stamp conformity online, like something out of the silent film Metropolis. Yes, kids, you can call Picard the weenie that he often was. Furthermore: you can still like the classic series the best. It's allowed. They're called opinions. Feel perfectly free to have one of your own, like the Post daringly does
 DOT : To the hope of bringing back Star Trek, at its best and finest. The fifth series, in case you haven't heard, will be titled "Enterprise," and will chronicle the first, never-heard of years of the Federation, Starfleet, and the best starship in the galaxy. Who will be at the helm? Scott Bacula, whose role as the time traveler in Quantum Leap seems to make this appear to be a good choice. Better yet, this is a series set even before Captain Kirk, so this means the show going back to its roots; exploring a whole new galaxy, with the Romulans and Klingons at every turn. If done right, this could be just the thing the franchise needs.

Slash : To El Cheapo ways to make an extra buck. How many hotels have the "luxury" of a simple soda machine available 24 hours? You know what I mean; it's an easy way to get a Coke or Pepsi, anytime, without having to call room service for it; stick a buck in the slot and choose your drink, plain and simple. Well, get ready to start packing your own soda, if you intend to get thirsty at a Disney World hotel, where an apparent economic genius took away all the soda machines! Granted, the theme parks themselves have concession stands every 10 yards, though the resorts --where you want to relax with a drink now and again-- are suddenly sans soda. The only drinks you can get are either at the gift shop --presuming they're open-- or the little, dinky, miniature cans available in the room's mini-refrigerator...for $2.25 a can! From my vantage point, this is a very recent decision; probably sometime during the winter or early spring. Just wait to see what this decision will boil into, during the hot summer months. After all, how hard is it to offer a soda machine???

DOT : To giving people what they want, before you go. Sure, the 8th season finale of The X-Files was David Duchovney's last appearance on the show, though hey, what about Scully and Mulder? Forget "Will they or won't they"...with the tease of Scully's pregnancy all season, did they, or didn't they? The finale's last scene said it all, in a very charming, subtle fashion, as they share a final-shot kiss that said more than any cheesy narration or monologue ever could. Admittedly, I have had my love of the series at the beginning, only to be sadly disappointed with last year's season. I must admit, though, that this season had its moments...and this was one of them.

Slash : To yet another Entertainment Tonight "shocking story" tease. The story, as it was publicized in its Friday preview,  implied Sarah "Sex and the City" Parker revealed something to Oprah that was, allegedly, a major confession. What was this confession? They wouldn't say, until Monday. Then Monday's show arrives, and again, the opening says Sarah made this confession to Oprah, that you'll see first on Entertainment Tonight. Then we all wait...and wait...until the very last 4 minutes of the show. The confession? Sarah owns lots and lots of shoes! SHOES?!?!? C'mon, ET; you know better than this. Play fair.