Just to give this review some perspective, I've been playing the various iterations of Civ for a very, very long time. I spend endless hours on 3 and 4, balancing game commitments and my real life. When Civ 5 was announced, I didn't hesitate. I bought it immediately. In short, it didn't take me long before I realized that this new Civ was nothing like the Civ of old. I've never played Revolutions, but I've heard there is a lot of overlap. I don't know. What I do know is that this game is boring. Really, really boring. Never have I clicked the "next turn" button like I have here. Maybe it's because it takes forever to build anything...so long, in fact, that it's easier just to hoard gold and buy things. Maybe it's because expansion and/or conquest isn't really encouraged. The seemingly massive happiness hit just makes it unreasonable. So I sit there, just watching the world slowly go by.

This model is fairly expensive for an inkjet printer but there is an elegance about its design that appeals to me; especially when I need a versatile printer while traveling. This printer is about the same width and depth as a NETbook computer and about twice as thick. Print quality of text and color graphics on plain copy paper is excellent. Aside from NOT having separate tanks for each ink color and dual paper trays this printer offers all of the features of my larger PIXMA printer, and even better print quality, without the bulk and weight. Since I usually have access to electric power during my travels, I didn't order the optional battery pack which adds bulk, $100 to the cost and nearly 2 pounds to the travel weight. However I can see how the availability of such an accessory would be valuable to those who need it. I am pleased with my purchase.

All I can say is that I was extremely impressed with this film. Based on the trailers, I was expecting this film to be mediocre, I was wrong. In my opinion, for a superhero film to work, it all narrows down to special effects and the acting. For this movie, both are great. This movie may not have been as good as X-men: First Class or The Dark Knight, but it is an above average superhero movie. Ryan Reynolds is good as always and Mark Strong delivered a strong performance as well. This movie is heavy on special effects and they are SPECTACULAR. The dialogue is nothing new but don't expect it to be excellent given the fact that its a superhero movie. Overall, this movie was very well done and I liked it a whole lot more than I thought it would.

Fast Five continues where Fast and Furious left off, with Dominic sentenced to 25 years in jail and the bus chase that was seen at the end involving Mia and Brian. The aftermath of their interception was that they managed to break Dom out of custody, dodged every authority, and have fled to Rio de Janeiro. In order to break free, they attempt to pull off a 100 million dollar heist. It isn't long before they all become a few of the most wanted criminals. The first act of the film is fast and furious. It quickly takes the audience on a relentless train ride where we see a train robbery in process. This act quickly builds up a background for the story so the audience knows who, what, when, how and why the team are in Brazil. The second act revolves around the main plot element of the $100 million heist. The film decelerates slightly here when we see the crew plotting. Anyone who would have seen the details of the film beforehand would realise why – this lasts over 2 hours, longer than all of the previous films. The 10 minutes after a full two hours weren't really necessary but show us the aftermath of the third act, the hugely thrilling act. Any who feel frustrated at the pace of the second act – stay for the climactic scene in the third act.

First, the Mac Mini is so small I could hardly believe it. Since I bought it for an entertainment center I couldn't spare the space for a full desktop model. Newcomers should know that the disk drive loads differently than you may expect. There's no tray, and unlike my Playstation 3 which sucks in a disk right away, you have to push a disk about 90% of the way inside before the Mac does the rest. Looking at all the features and feeling intimidated, I noticed that this machine comes with 2GB of RAM, and had no idea if those critical of it meant I should be worried. Not once has this machine stalled in doing anything I ask of it. I can have internet radio going with multiple web pages open and it works. I can run two videos simultaneously and there's no hiccups. The DVD player works fine, though it's impractical for me since I'm using an entertainment center with a dedicated DVD player connected. If you are just an average person who simply wants a computer so you can check your e-mail, surf the net, copy and edit your photos, store your digital music, and other everyday tasks, you can't do better than this machine.

The most beautiful and graphically rich Civ ever is the most boring and tiresome to play. So many features have been removed or dumbed down from the late, great Civ IV it's hard to know where to start. Gone are religions, espionage, tech trading, stacking, city defenses, spending sliders, and more. The unique powers of leaders and wonders have been watered down. New are all manner of boring and annoying features like AI-governed mini-civs called city-states, buying tiles to expand city zones and hexagon-shaped tiles. Back to Civ IV.