Hijinks Inc.

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  • Quick Hits

    Quick, what does Bo Pelini, Kevin Garnett, Matt Serra, the NFL draft, and the NHL playoffs all have in common? They are all topics in my latest Quick Hits! (OK, so it’s my first Quick Hits, not latest… p’sh!) See what I have to say about all of them after the jump.

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  • Top Ten iPhone Apps

    As my fellow blogger Fred has recently pointed out, we have a new reviews section and rating system for mobile applications for the iPhone/iPod touch. In honor of that, I decided I’d post a quick top ten list of the best apps in my opinion for the iPhone (this list only includes apps that I currently have installed).

    1. Installer.app – I know it’s a cop out, but without it installing apps is rather frustrating.
    2. Fring – Support for VoIP, GoogleTalk, Twitter, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and ICQ.
    3. Touchpad – Awesome app for controlling your computer from across the room.
    4. iPhysics – Countless hours of fun
    5. Tris – The most polished version of Tetris available for the iPhone.
    6. MxTube – Easy to use application for downloading and saving YouTube videos.
    7. NES – Super Mario Bros on the iPhone, ’nuff said.
    8. Millionaire – Without Regis Philbin it’s a much better game.
    9. Pool – Excellent use of the touch screen for controls.
    10. AFPd – Makes copying files to and from your iPhone a breeze (assuming you’re on a Mac).

    What’s your top ten list of apps look like?

  • Hijinks Rating: A tutorial.

    With the advent of Hijinks Reviews we’re adopting a 0-5 rating scale; whole numbers only, so no 2.5 or 4.999999785 reviews. As of this moment I have no plans to officially review anything but software available for the iPod Touch/iPhone. I may give you a rundown of a particular game I’m enjoying elsewhere, but I won’t be throwing a rating on it. The logic behind this decision is that judging a game made by one or two people on their own dime with the same scale as one made by a hundred people employed by a large game developer just isn’t fair.

    This isn’t to say that I’m going to cut any slack for mistakes and flaws I come across in these ‘indie’ games. Check out my review of iDope if you don’t believe me. My goal is to provide some kind of reference to folks who want to discern the good from the bad, and even though it’s a fairly new platform of development, there’s a lot of material to cover. If you have a particular game or app you’d like to see critiqued, let us know in the comments.

    Hit the jump for a rundown of exactly what those little blue guys mean to our rating scale. (more…)

  • 2008 Summer Movie Releases (POWs, BIFFs, and WHAMM-Os not included) Part 2

    The month of June has a couple movies that pique my interest a bit more than May could offer. For my thoughts on May’s movie releases, see my first post.

    June starts out with a couple of very iffy movies. Kung Fu Panda and You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. Kung Fu Panda (June 6th) is Dreamworks’ latest offering and features the vocal talents of Jack Black and a slew of others. I’m sure it will end up being a great family movie, but I’ll save my money and get it with my Movie Pass when it comes out for rent. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (also June 6th) is, from what I can tell, probably the worst name for a movie in the history of movie names. Zohan is played by Adam Sandler and apparently is supposed to be a Mossad agent that fakes his death so he can re-emerge in New York City as a hair stylist. Yeah… sounds like another renter… if that…

    The rest of the summer gets better though, so follow me and you can see what I have to say about them after the jump. (more…)

  • 2008 Summer Movie Releases (POWs, BIFFs, and WHAMM-Os not included)

    How’s that for a title, eh?! Before I get into all of my movie reviewing madness, I want to let you know that I will be including a link to the Apple Trailers site for all of the reviewed movies at the end of the article. Everyone else here seems to include something related to Apple in everything they post, I figured I should too. Now that I’ve got that covered, you may now continue.

    It’s approaching the summer movie “season” and I know that I’ve got a couple I’m looking forward to. On the other hand, there are a few that I couldn’t care less about. The Dark Knight (release date July 18th) is without a doubt the movie that I’m most excited about. I always grew up a fan of Batman, but I grew up watching the 1960’s version, complete with the POWs, BIFFs, and WHAMM-Os (you knew I was going to tie in that ludicrous title some how!) and a cheese factor that oozed out of nearly ever line of dialogue and ever scene.

    I never really got into the Batman movies that were released mostly throughout the 90’s and because of that, I never even saw Batman Begins until it was at the local dollar theater; in spite of the fact that everyone I knew that had seen it told me it was very good. When I finally was able to see it for myself, I renewed my interest in the Batman franchise and was excited to see where Christopher Nolan took it. He maintains the dark side that made the first one so appealing, and this time the battle includes Batman’s most famous nemesis, the Joker.

    Notice I said includes not featuring. Regardless, I hope to be in line on opening night. You’ll find some of my thoughts about May’s releases after the jump. (more…)