Remember the 90's game POG? This was a game so simple and stupid it actually was fun, at least for elementary and middle school kids. I remember a few high school kids playing; the same guys that played card games like Magic the Gathering and Pokemon during lunch and in between classes. POGs literally annoyed the crap out of adults so much so that they actually banned it in schools across the nation. They said the ban was because the game was too much like gambling, but personally I think they hated the mess it made during and after class when kids would scramble to get a quick games in, especially when they'd end up missing their buses because they couldn't find all their pieces. Here are the rules in case you forgot how the game was played:
You take these laminated cardboard disc called POGs that really look like milk jug caps and you make a stack on the
floor in front of you, face up.
You take this weighted, hard disc of a similar size called a
"Slammer" and like it's name you slam it on
top of the pile and see how many POGs you can get to land face down. The ones that do land that way go to you.
You re-stack the remaining POGs and your opponent does the same. You both keep repeating this process and claiming the ones that land face down until there are no more left on the floor.
Count up each other's POGs to see who earned the most; the one with the most wins the game.
Yep, it was that simple! Kids would play for keeps of an agreed upon number of POGs at the game's start. This was the part that kept us using all our allowance money and our parent's spare change to buy these little cardboard things at local card shops, big box and convenience stores. Because the game was licensed and trademarked there were "official" and "unofficial" POGs, which you could tell by the trademarks on the back, making the real POGs cost more.
My official POGsPOGs I didn't loseAmerican Eagle "Slammer"Thickness of eagle slammer
I miss my Blackberry, I really, really do. I haven't had one for a few years now, but with each passing day I miss it more and more. The Blackberry Storm was the last model I had. It was the flagship phone for Verizon back in '08 and it really set the network apart from it's competitors.
Blackberry Storm - geektrio.net
Back then it was a simple paradigm; the top three cell phone carriers in the US (Sprint, Verizon, AT&T) put the majority of their resources 'almost exclusively' behind supporting one brand of product. For Verizon it was the Blackberry, for Sprint it was Android phones and AT&T the iPhone. Each service provider did in fact sell some of the same phones but when AT&T struck a 'exclusivity deal' for Apple's iPhone it was like a declaration of war, like the Boston Tea Party and Prohibition all over again. This sparked the other carriers to seek out exclusivity deals of their own, but with whom? The other carriers were already carrying many of the same products, so exclusivity on those was out of the question. What companies ended up doing in order to compete with AT&T's strangle hold on the industry was exclusively sponsoring certain concept products that the phone manufacturers wanted to bring to market.
Now we come back to my love and affection for the Blackberry. Back in '08 I got this new corporate job that kept me extremely busy. I needed a phone that was going to help me manage my life since free time had become a luxury. Cellphone usage in the work place was necessary for most executives but for lowly guys like me it was frowned upon. Still, even for my department 99% of all communications were via e-mail. Since the company had a cell phone program that was exclusive to Blackberry it was deemed acceptable to have one; it was like having your boss in your back pocket at all times and they loved that! Me personally, I enjoyed my freedom way too much to buy into the corporate phone plan. It didn't make sense to me to spend hard earned money on something I'd have to use on someone else's terms or give back at the end of my employment.
I decided to buy my own Blackberryafter some thought; the decision wasn't hard. Sure, the iPhone was around, but back then it didn't have nearly as many apps compared to Blackberry who had already been out for over eight years prior. Blackberry had already successfully integrated into office culture internationally. Their e-mail service was praised by IT guys everywhere for being both fast and secure, even the President had a Blackberry. Microsoft had their phone out at the time, but their operating system was referred to as "Window's Mobile." Want to guess why? Because Microsoft since 1990 was obsessed with the notion of putting the Windows Operating System in everybody's pocket; it was almost like stating they wanted to rule the world with IBM style authority and who could blame them. Unfortunately once the carriers saw the value in data plans they went into a frenzy and put the majority of their support behind devices for regular people that could utilize data.
At first it was good business for RIMM, now Blackberry Limited, but then AT&T pulled that exclusivity bit with Apple giving them a slight edge over every other North American carrier. Apple's prior success with the iPod revolutionized the music industry and helped catapult their new cell phone into the hands of young people everywhere; it brought together two things the younger generation loved, their cell phone and their music. This all definitely gave Apple skin in the game, but that still wasn't enough to topple Blackberry who also had a pretty strong music player plus a desktop app that could both manage and sync your desktop files to your Blackberry device. It was like taking your computer on the road with you, well not exactly, just the files that mattered most to you like your music, pictures, videos, contacts and calendar entries from Outlook. Couple that with your e-mail and a pretty strong app market and you had the ultimate phone; a phone that gave you 100% productivity, but offered you the sweet luxury of playtime, all at your fingertips
Things have definitely changed. Blackberry Limited may no longer be leader in phone sales but they are definitely an industry leader, a progenitor of the smartphone concept and in my opinion deserving of much, much respect.
Yes folks, that wasn't a misquote...it's actually true. There will be a sixth Highlander movie added to the franchise and it's coming-- well, I don't know when because the film keeps changing directors. A reboot of the 1986 cult classic has been underway reportedly since 2008, but creative differences among other things kept pushing time tables back further and further. Justin Lin, the director of Fast Five originally signed on to direct the film when the reboot was first confirmed. For about three years he stayed on the project and even went so far as to state in an MTV interview back in May 2011 that Highlander was in "pretty good shape," but that he had to see how "...other things come together" in order for them to make it.
Justin Lin on Fast and Furios 6 set Canary Islands - taken from Wikepedia
Three months later Lin stepped down from the director's seat reportedly due to "scheduling conflicts" with Fast and Furious 6. Certainly, three years is a long time for anyone to commit to a single film project, especially when you have monsters like the Fast and Furious franchise knocking at your door. Reportedly Lin agreed to stay on in smaller capacity while Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the director of 28 Days Later stepped up to the plate andtook over in 2011; then just only after one year of being on the job Fresnadillo quit too! Is Highlander really that hard of a story to work with. I mean, if you're having trouble remember the story line here's a quick refresher:
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo - musicacinetv.wordpress.comHighlander is the story of Connor MacLeod, a 16th century Scotsman who joins his kinsmen in a war against the rival clan, Frey. The Freys hire a mercenary called "The Kurgan" to fight, with the agreement that nobody would touch Connor, but him. During the fight the Kurgan mortally wounds and kills Connor, but the MacLeods get the upper hand and emerge victorious. When it's all over the MacLeods prepare to lay Connor to rest, but he miraculously returns to life prompting members of the clan to accuse him of being possessed by a demon. After Connor is nearly beaten and stoned back-to-death the leader of the clan decides that it'd be more human to just give him exile, which the clan grudgingly agrees. Connor escapes and ends up in a new land where he settles and marries a woman named Heather. His blissful life is interrupted by the appearance of a Spaniard named Ramirez who teaches him about his immortal origins as well as how to handle a sword.
I don't need to go into more detail, as you can look this all up on online, but if you're an old fan-boy like me or fan-girl, then all the memories should be returning back to you. The questions I have are: is this a story that's so hard to retell? Do you think retelling this story as-is would be the best course of action? Can a new cast who we can only confirm consist of Ryan Reynalds at this time really lend something new to this already classic story line? Let me know what your thoughts are by commenting in the comment section. I'm curious how many people think this reboot could be a epic hero or a zero.
