Blackberry Thumb

Joining the ranks of Carpal Tunnel, Tendonitis, and Trigger Finger ...
iPod Finger
Repetitive Stress Injuries

BlackBerry users, for instance, use their thumbs to feverishly scroll through e-mails. They flex, stretch and move the digit side to side. The thumb isn't cut out for such dexterity work, says Dr. Andrew Sherman, an assistant professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Miami. The keys are smaller than on a computer keyboard so you press harder.

Blackberry Thumb

I have little sympathy for these people as I have seen people addicted to them. They whip out their PDA/MP3 player/cellphone/IM device and start tap tap tapping at the screen with a stic, furiously manipulating the scroll wheel, and franticly pecking away at the microscopic buttons. Its funny seeing them move their elbows up and down as they put more force on the hand currently 'pecking'.

Whole companies needlessly depend on the hive mind mentality of being in the know. As a result, people oftentimes have information overload or are bombarded with superflous emails or texts that nickel away at their workday.

Besides, these people just need to exercise their digits more. I can remember being ten and beating the living crap out of my thumbs on my Game Boy. And I was proud of my gamer thumbs, they withstood much punishment. I imagine if I had been a little more fit I could have balanced myself on my thumbs.

Devices of MMOGs in General vs Spellborn

Let me lay out briefly the meat and potatoes of what drive the genre along. For those of you who don't indulge in MMOGs- your typical console or PC game either drags you on a story point (rescue princess, revenge, or a mystery of your hidden past etc.) or that of bragging rights (played X-days to capture a city, beat Z# of characters in duels, fragged Y people until end of life etc).

MMOGs go along combining a number of aspects from traditional games, only your character progress is saved in a remote database and has the debatable benefit of having continuous and new content. You also have a choice of teaming up or against other players without having to drag your computer to a LAN. The differnce between your PC game multiplayer option and the MMOG is the content doesn't end, and doesn't rely on the community to release new maps or realms like in an RTS like Warcraft, FPS like Unreal Tournament, or RP like Neverwinter Nights .

Common carrots- get to peak level, get best gear, be the best PVP'er, have the most powerful weapons/spells/powers/abilites, have maxed crafting ability, have X characters so have all the most powerful combinations in the game offering, have a mount, pet, house, be in Y top guild, participate in guild activities, be in Z important position in raids, uncover secret content/beat bosses that you can't do without W qualifications that involve any of the above to accomplish. That covers the majority and most common drivers.

Standard progress is to create your character model, choose a class, a starting point, and start following quests to level and gain gear or ignore the quests except when necessary to move to a new area and simply slaughter NPCs (non players-beasts/humanoids etc) that give the most expereince. There are subtlties in the flavors of each game, but most of these forms are what they have in common.

TCOS caught my attention when my husband said that they weren't going to have gear give you any character statistics. The only other game I've played EVER that didn't do that was City of Heroes, which I can only enjoy up to a point- the game suffers from lack of carrot to me.

Not having to stress over having equipment that has only +3 to my ability to cast spells/swing weapons/survive more hits when most people have +5, not having to worry about that is golden. Doesn't sound that bad until you realize that in most games this worry is extending to about eight plus body slots on your character. +24 versus +40 is a huge differnce in what you can do.

Eliminating that is a huge relief to the game. Much like in real life, skill determines a better martial artist, not if his gi has an ornamental badge or is of canvas or cotton. A non rusted piece of plate is going to be just steel, not make you move any faster or make you stronger. The better fighter is going to be the one who catches on to opponent weaknesses and has more experiences to take advantage of them. This also leads to the cedibility of a game- people are more facinated with subjects that can suspend their disbelief, if you bring in lessdebatable ojects or mechanics into the game it is more successful since they can base it on logical reasoning. For the person that says who would want to play an as-life MMOG, I must point out that integration of some aspects won't hurt most playable points and that the Sims is a very very successful game.

Wicked - Cast Recording

First off, I didn't buy it- I only previewed the samples. My first impression, "Man, I'm glad I didn't jump on this when I saw it at Best Buy." I like the book, I've nearly adored my softcover to pieces that I got around 2000. I don't doubt that watching the book come to life on stage would be absolutely charming.

I like plays. I've watched the black and white versions of the Phantom of the Opera and love to sing along to the original cast recording I have when no one else is in my car. Out of all the plays I saw in high school, West Side Story made the best impression on me. I don't think I'd buy the soundtrack to it, but I enjoy it all the same.

But the dark and witty, the gritty and snarky, the inescapable criticism and clever jabs at the various levels of society are simply not supported by the "Bye Bye Birdy"-esqe interludes. Please, no attacks- there are a time and place for musicals and the tone of "Bye Bye Birdy" fits to the papers. Wicked is about youth before we came to know them through the eyes of Dorothy as adults, but by no means should the poppy, petulent, and superficial overtones take control.

I agree with a lot of the reviews that this is indeed a talented cast of singers and they project very well. So well in fact I mourn that the music that accompanies them lacks the depth and voice to support them. There is war, subterfuge, oppression, drama, mystery- and I'm hearing "Popular", "What is This Feeling", and I feel that only "I'm Not That Girl" even comes close to the themes Wicked brings to the table.

That's just how I feel from the previews anyway. I might would give it a listen if someone else I knew had it- but I doubt that would happen.