Being a critic.

Having had the opportunity to take care of some leisure reading on vacation, I've just finished How To Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young. The book, a memoir, chronicles Young's stint as a writer for Vanity Fair while learning to adapt in America (Young is British) in the mid-90's.

While Young is far from a truly gifted writer, he's a damn funny one. The majority of the memoir focuses on Young's riffing on his own failures as a writer, all the while doing so with out dipping into self-loathing, a feat not easily accomplished. Additionally, I challenge anyone not to have an even more cynical view of the pretentious nature of celebrity society after reading this. Young pulls no punches in naming names (except for a few instances when he legally must) and revealing the true ugliness New York's social elite. To put it frankly, Young is the most unassuming smart-ass ever to write at Vanity Fair, which is what makes this book so great. I can't recommend this highly enough to anyone who is interested in journalism or filmmaking; Young's career has led him to dabble in both to incredibly funny effect.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young = A. A funny and brutal look at celebrity culture mixed with the irreverent attitude of Young.

Additionally, I've had the opportunity to play Quantum of Solace for the Wii, thanks to our neighbors who lent us the game. While the level design is poor, the AI is far from intelligent, and the game riddled with glitches (that's putting it nicely), I can't help but be addicted.

Activision, who recently acquired the rights to make the James Bond video games from EA Games, simply didn't do the game justice in the way they needed to in order to win over the die-hard fans of both the movie series and the games. Like several Bond games before it, QoS tries to be Goldeneye in terms of gameplay style and just can't hold a candle to it (Activision even tried to mimic the menus of N64's Goldeneye. Desperate much?). As for staying true to the story of the films (both Quantum and Casino Royale), don't get me started.

Negative aspects of the game aside, Activision has made an action-packed and blisteringly exciting game. As dumb as they may be, you'll have a blast picking off the endless hordes of enemies that swarm you in each and every level. The game does a decent job of combining first- and third-person gameplay, allowing you a great deal of flexibility in combat.

QoS is far from a great game, but if you have a Wii (having the Zapper peripheral doesn't hurt either), the game is worth a rental. Beatable in around eight hours, QoS provides a mindless little break from life, even if you just blow up your friends in multiplayer.

Quantum of Solace (Wii)= C. Stupid AI, but fun if you just want to blow some stuff up. Rent or borrow, don't buy.

much respect,
josh

PS: I'm trying out a new look for the blag. I might tweak it, but I figured it cleaned up the look of things. Whaddaya think? Keep it or lose it?