Liberty City

I picked up GTA IV on the 13th. And I have to say, so far I'm quite impressed. As I am only about 20.5% through the game I'll save my reactions for a later date.

A new player in the world of OS

If you've ever thought, "I'd really like to switch to Linux but I don't know about it's security," this is for you. It would seem the NSA thought exactly the same thing. So they did what any tech oriented intelligence agency would, they developed their own Linux OS and then decided to distribute it for free. I don't know about you, but I think this puts the NSA at the top of my list of government agencies.

*Update 01/28/2009*

Looks like SELinux got moved here.

Tony Stark Is A Badass

So I'll start off by saying that I saw Iron Man this past Thursday. That's right, I saw a May 2 release movie on May 1. I just have that much pull with the local theatre. In all honesty though, the movie was awesome. Following, in no particular order, are several reasons for this:

First. Robert Downey Jr. does an excellent job portraying the womanizing, alcoholic, billionaire anti-hero of Tony Stark. Downey seems to have fed off his personal struggles when looking for inspiration for this role. This allows Downey to do so with such conviction I don't think I can see any other actor pulling off this role with the same degree of success.

Second. I think this article from Gizmodo says it best:

Verdict: 126 Minutes of Gadget Porn

Seriously. Stark has some f-ing sweet gadgets. Everything in his house is so futuristic, but simultaneously frustratingly tangible. Everything from the arc reactor that powers the suit, to the interactive hologram displays in Tony's basement workshop, to Jarvis, the AI that runs everything in Stark's house. It all makes me ask, "Why can't I have this stuff now?"

Third. The most obvious gadget from the movie, the Iron Man suit itself. One of my favorite aspects of this movie was watching the evolution of Stark's iron man suit, of which there are several iterations shown during the course of the film. The failed tests are often as spectacular as those which succeed. And who doesn't love the hot rod red / gold paint job.

Needless to say, I would totally go see this movie again. And I'll probably purchase it when released on DVD. Yup, that good. I think it's worth checking out for anyone who is a fan of the series, or who, like me, remembers watching the cartoon.

Those fans eager for a sequel after the not-so-subtle foreshadowing of the arrival of War Machine need not fear. Marvel has already announced it (in addition, it would seem, to films banking on several other high profile Marvel brands).

Edit: One last Gizmodo plug, a poll for anyone who has seen the movie.