So, when Facebook announced the new Timeline profile page last month, there was the usual outcry.

Right off the bat, I will admit that I was unsure about the change to the social networking site. I am also one of those who usually complains about the changes. But I found a link that gave me the Timeline feature before it officially was released.

Let me be the first person to tell you that this change is actually amazing.

With the new timeline feature, Facebook has gone back to what it was created for: to be about you. The new profile page is all about you and what you do. Consider it you personal web page.

That’s really what it is: your own web page or blog. And if you look at it that way, everything else about it falls into place.

First, let’s start with the top. The most noticeable change is the addition of the cover photo. It’s more or less like a word mark or banner for your “site”. Really, the options are limitless for you cover photo. You have just a normal photo you or you can add words to it, like I have done. Sites are popping up to help you create your own unique cover photo.

The second biggest change is the actual use of a timeline. All of your posts are put into a timeline. Also, all of your likes, new friends and other less important stuff are moved to the side, reducing the clutter.

But that is not the fun part of the new feature.

Facebook is now letting you fill in the gap between when you were born and the day you joined Facebook. You can go back and add photos, accomplishments, possibly even status updates (I’m still checking on that) back before you became a Facebook user. You can now tell your life story.

As far as Facebook changes go, I’m not one for them, but this update has changed my thought process with Facebook. It has now become my personal blog and the new design that has come with it looks way cooler than anything before.

So before you starting groaning about the new Timeline feature, take time to play around with it. You might just be surprised with what you can do.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “My goal in life is to create my own sports bar and grill,” is going through your head right now.

Yeah, probably not, but to the game’s defense, it is quite the entertaining (and addicting) game.

Players start off pretty much with the basics: a bar area, a few chairs and tables, a television and cream soda and peanuts. Do note that players under age 21 cannot sell alcoholic beverages. From there, it is up to the player to decide on where it goes from there.

The bar is created with coins, which are the most common piece of currency, and dollars. Rare items are bought using dollars; however, in order to get dollars, players must either buy them using the in-game Pay-Pal system or receive a dollar every other time the level up.

Coins, and experience points for that matter, are received has you serve patrons. The busier your bar is, the more coins and XP you will collect. Serving multiple patrons wanting the same thing will bring you an extra bonus.

Unfortunately, unlike “Field of Dreams”, just building your bar won’t mean they will come. A few will, but in order get you place busting at the seems, you will need to up your “buzz”. Buzz is basically the excitement of your bar and can be increased by adding different objects to your bar and grill.

Finally, in order for you place to be successful, you must expand. The game starts out with a simple 14 ft by 14 ft part of the building. It can be expanded one of two ways: dollars and by adding neighbors. To get neighbors, you have to ask your friends to first join the game and then ask them to be your neighbor. This is where the social networking aspect of the game.

After that, the game is quite simple. You decide what to do and when to do it. You get to be the boss. Trust me, it can and will be an addicting game.

Now get in there and start cooking.

Swift has released three total albums to date, Speak Now being the latest as it was released on October 25, 2010. Her last album, Fearless, lead the best selling album charts in 2008 and 2009. The anticipation for the album was heightened even more when Swift released her single “Mine” back in August. Finally, as the album hit stores, it was far from a let down.

“Speak Now” consists of 14 songs, but if you buy the deluxe edition at Target the album with have 20 songs including some acoustic versions and three songs not on “Speak Now”. Both versions of the album are amazing and live up to the first two albums. “Speak Now” sold one million copies in it’s first week being released, which hasn’t been done in six years by a female artist.

Whether or not you like country music you should check Swift’s new album out. It’s an amazing blend of honesty, great vocals, and heart warming music that will make you want to sing along with every song.

Right off of I-20 and Matlock, stands the new all-you-can-eat, Furr’s. It’s beautiful, clean, and very promising. Right off the back, I noticed that the employees were extremely friendly, offering balloons and frisbees to all children, and smiling at all guests.

The first thing I noticed about the buffet was a large and extensive fruit and salad bar, consisting of all types of salad, fruits, regular and diet jello, fruit salads and different types of sauces and dressing. There were two types of fruit salads such as one with grapes, apples, kiwi, strawberries, and pineapples, and another one with strawberries, banana, peaches, and a strawberry sauce.

Behind the fruit and veggie bar was everything anyone could want from a buffet. Fried chicken, mac and cheese with a layer of shredded cheese, sweet potatoes, blackened fish, sweet carrot pie (strange but amazing!), enchiladas, chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, meatloaf with creole sauce, and most importantly the cantonese chicken. This amazing dish is fried chicken covered in a tangy cantonese sauce, similar to wings but crispier. As I continued to get serving after serving of it, I overheard an employee grumbling, “It’s empty again? Every time we fill it, it’s empty almost immediatly.”

One of the most popular items at Furr’s s the ice cream bar. Four types of ice crem and tons of topping keep options open. There was chocolate and vanilla ice cream and pomegranate and peanut butter frozen yogurt to make the base. After that, you have the choice of extras such as Cap’n Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, M&M’s, Skittles, Oreo’s, nuts, gummy bears, mini peanut butter cup, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, chocolate, caramel, and strawberry sauce. With so many options, I couldn’t choose just one so I got a mix of chocolate and peanut butter ice cream, chocolate sprinkles, and mini peanut butter cups. Simply put, amazing. One suggestion: don’t do what my friend did and get skittles in the ice cream. They freeze and turn rock hard.

Finally, to go with the ice cream, there is a desert bar packed with cakes, cookies, pudding, fudge, brownies, and pies. To finish off my meal, I got a slice of red velvet cake and added chocolate syrup and chocolate sprinkles. It ended up being eaten by everyone at the table since it was so moist and chocolaty.

For being brand new, Furr’s is making quite the impression. It has friendly service, amazing food, a family sports atmosphere (this might just be because I went the night the Rangers knocked out the Yankees), and decent price. A perfect place for when the whole group is hungry and in the mood for some real food.

The owners of this newly opened bakery, Leslie Miller and Parker Coble, opened Sweet Crumbs Bakery together this month right here in Arlington, TX. 

  ”I wanted to open a bakery so i could spend more time with my family,” Mrs. Miller said. “At my last job I was out of the house from 6 a.m-7 p.m. Now I get to work with my husband and I have a 13 year old son that I want to be able to work here when he gets older.”

Everything in their bakery is baked from scratch everyday. Sweet Crumbs specializes in cookies, specialty cakes, cupcakes, muffins, and cake truffles (a ball of cake and icing mixed together into pure goodness). Prices on these baked goods range from $1.00 to $35.00.

“Our biggest sellers are the cupcakes,” Mr. Coble said.

This baking duo plan on opening another bakery in Longview, TX next year and another bakery in Carrolton, TX after that. I would recommend this bakery to anyone with a sweet tooth.

People these days are always searching for the next big thing. The next fashion icon, the juiciest celebrity gossip, or the best technology that “out does” the rest. The next big thing is what we need to make our lives exciting and worth while, and quite frankly, 3D movies are the hit of this era. Why hate on 3-D movies? The amazing film Avatar was in 3D and it was an absolute breakthrough in cinematic technology and was nominated for nine Academy Awards. I mean, you can’t get any better than that. Movies bringing in millions,  and that are at the top of the charts, are showing in an Imax and 3D theatre just as much or even more as showings with regular technology. Regular – without energy, lack of excitement, and typical action scenes that our minds naturally  expect. Regular is this ear’s definition of dull and most unfortunately, lame! 

The eye-popping intensity of 3D technology are seen in suspenseful movies like Inception to classic Disney’s like Toy Story 3. In any genre, you’ll leave your seat more satisfied if objects were coming at you in full speed than…well…not. Trust me. I personally don’t mind paying an extra dollar or two for the glasses you get either. If I’m going to pay to see the movie anyway, I might as well see in the best way possible. The illusion of the screen practically popping out flames in reaching distance during unexpected scenes like in Predator (when the mother ship explodes in mid-air) is by far an exhilarating experience.

If technology like this is too hard for you to handle, you’re obviously still stuck in the 90′s. Get with the program, because if 3D movies continue to bring in huge revenue and open up doors for other amazing cinematic entertainment, it will forever be the next big thing.

3D movies used to be an object of excitement. Unfortunately they are so overused that people everywhere are becoming bored with the once amazing breakthrough. 3D is at the end of almost every movie title these days, and to hear about a new one is no big surprise. Step Up 3D, Pirhanna 3D, Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D, and coming soon Conan 3D. Blah, Blah, Blah.

I still remember my first grade field trip to an Imax theater to see the release of the new craze. It left everyone in my class including the teacher both excited and wanting more. 3D was the breakthrough in entertainment that the public had been waiting for. It provided an opportunity to be “in the movie” while sitting in the fourth row of a movie theatre was pure genius. Now, after almost a year of nonstop 3D, I have one word to say: ENOUGH!

The public as a whole is soon going to grow weary of having to pay the extra money, and will be able to predict down to the second the same expected action scenes that appear in every new movie.  I’m getting tired of seeing every single movie in the third dimension, I just a simple movie to take a date to, without looking silly in those over sized, uncomfortable glasses. Is that so much to ask?

So maybe we should return to the old days of Imax theatres being the only places that show 3D movies, or simply limit the amount of movies that come out in 3D. My wallet is emptying, and my ears are hurting from the cheaply made cardboard glasses, a regular movie with no 3D pop outs sounds just fine to me. Just like I was taught, in my economics class; the more they supply, the less we will demand.

How 3-D works: 

“Most human beings use what is known as binocular vision to perceive depth and see the world in 3D. The binocular vision system relies on the fact that we have two eyes, which are approximately 3 in apart. This separation causes each eye to see the world from a slightly different perspective. The brain fuses these two views together. It understands the differences and uses them to calculate distance creating our sense of depth and ability to gauge distance.

A simple way to understand this principle is to hold your thumb up at arms length and close one eye. Then try closing the other eye. As you switch between open eyes you should see your thumb “jumping” back and forth against the background. To see how much of a difference the binocular vision system makes, have a friend throw you a ball and try to catch it while keeping one eye closed.”

(www.nasa.gov)

Luckily, Devil is here. It is written by M. Night Shyamalan, who has been behind hits like the Sixth Sense, The Unbreakable, and Signs. He has unfortunately been in the shadows since creating flops like The Village and The Happening. But finally, he’s back in the game with Devil. In this movie, five seemingly different, unsuspecting people are trapped in an elevator where they learn that one of them is secretly the Devil. They must find a way to survive as the death toll rises while the guards outside must watch helplessly from the security cameras and try to figure out who is the murderer, who is the victim, and why they have been chosen to be the audience to this wicked play. As they begin to turn on each other, the trapped people must come to terms with their lies, secrets, and dark pasts in order to discover what they have in common and what they must do if they want to survive. Of course, when facing the Devil you may not get the chance to do so before it’s too late and you wind up the next victim.

Though the plot is slightly weak, the suspense is enough to keep anyone on the edge of their seat. The mere bloodiness and gruesomeness deaths in which the five are suffering one by one is more than enough to make up for the fact that a lot of the movie is spent in an elevator shaft. Shyamalan is known for throwing twist into all his movies, so when the Devil finally reveals himself, who he has come for, and why he has chosen the man he wants to observe this act, it was unexpected by everyone.

Like most movies, there is a slight moral behind the whole story and forgiveness is crucial towards the end, but it’s easy to overlook. This movie will leave almost anyone frightened of elevators and wondering what kind of secrets the people around you are hiding.

On Cooper, right before Mayfield, is a modest looking restaurant with a bright red sign that reads CHINA HARBOR. Most people know it for being the buffet that took the place of Golden Corral, and are often a bit leery to try the buffet, believing that there is no possible way that it’s better than Golden Corral but I was in the mood for Chinese and just happened to drive past it so I decided to give it a shot.

It was more than worth it. The buffet was huge and extensive, ranging from Chinese to American to Italian. Classic eastern foods such as fried rice, orange chicken, lo mien, and sesame chicken are all on the menu along with local things like ribs, giant buttered biscuits (self-control was the only thing that kept me from eating these amazing things all night), french fries, and cherry and apple cobbler. Even things like pepperoni pizza and boiled crawfish can be found.

My favorites were the Teriyaki Chicken, which was strips of steamed and grilled chicken covered in a sweet and savory teriyaki sauce, the buttered biscuits, which were large fluffy and butter. The sugar biscuits were little, dense with a coating of sugar and butter. The lo mien was slightly spicy but good when mixed with a little bit of soy sauce.

In the middle of the restaurant is a large sushi and Mongolian BBQ grill, where chefs cook the food right in front of you. There are all kinds of selections around the bar, ranging from Mongolian, full cooked sushi, partially cooked sushi, and then finally raw sushi. They even put raw eggs for the truly adventurous eaters. Following the theme, a large pile of steamed oysters rest on a pile of ice. Though they tasted pretty good, they are very difficult to swallow and should be treated with caution.

Of course, no one can forget the desert bar. Fruits of all kinds, pudding, mousse, cakes, cookies, and ice cream. Everything anyone could ever want. The types of cakes vary depending on the day but typically include items such as strawberry shortcake, triple chocolate, and tiramisu all cut into small squares so that many types can be sampled. Triple chocolate was my favorite but tiramisu was good for anyone who likes coffee flavored cakes. Right next to them is all kinds of large cookies but since they are kept near the cold items they tend to be frozen and kind of hard to chew. The fruits include bananas in a strawberry sauce, blueberries, kiwi, mango, watermelon, apples, and an assortment of berries that some people tend to enjoy along with the puddings, which comes in chocolate or vanilla. At the end of the bar is a freezer with several unlabeled cartons of ice creams. It’s difficult  to know what kinds they are but the best by far is the chocolate and the green, yellow, orange sherbert.

The buffet comes at a cheap price too. Only $9.95 for adult dinner and all day weekend and is topped off with a fortune cookie for everyone at the table at the end of the meal. Golden Corral never did that, did they?

If you haven’t seen the show, you’ve really been missing out. Contestants go through four rounds of obstacle courses and challenges to hopefully be the one holding $50,000 at the end of it all. In the first round, 24 contestants go through the “basic” course featuring the famous “Sucker Punch” and “Big Balls”. The 12 contestants with the fastest times move on to round two.

The second round has changed from season two to three. In the beginning, contestants stood on top of podiums as a sweeper arm came by to try to sweep them off their feet. The six remaining contestants move on to the next round. For the third season, ABC introduced the “Double Cross” and “Overdrive” for round two with the basic idea for both to get from one side to the next by using the rotating arms and avoiding the sweeper arms. Like in seasons before, the six contestants who make it to the other side move on. 

Season three also debut three new challenges for the “Road to the Final 4″. First up was “Circular Challenge” where contestants go around in a circle trying to go through different obstacles and getting pelted with themed objects. A baseball challenge, dubbed as “Bruise Ball” made its debut as contestants tried to touch all of the bases with various challenges and dodge sweeping arms. Finally, some contestants face a spinner that they try to stay on while dodging sweeper arms and themed objects thrown at them from above. After the first three courses, the top four advance to the Wipeout Zone.

At the Wipeout Zone, contestants face the toughest course of the day under lights, in the cold. The course varies week to week with a different challenge each week, such as paint on the course or foam. The contestants race each other to see who can get the fastest time, and whoever gets the fastest time is declared the Wipeout champion and is handed $50,000.

Since it’s debut in 2008, Wipeout has recieved great reception. When it debuted, it had the highest rating for any new show of the summer. Over the years, it has grown bigger and every week features more anticipation for the competition.

One reason for it’s popularity is the duo of John Henson and John Anderson as the hosts. The two use rhetorical puns and give nicknames to the contestants  that move on from round to round. Henson has also been know to try to “one up” his co-host, creating an interesting drama between the two. Down “on the field”, Jill Wagner interviews the contestants and gives insightful information to the hosts and to the viewer. 

The U.S version of the show has been so popular that it has since expanded outside the border. As of right now, different versions of Wipeout have been broadcast in 30 territories. The U.S version is also shown in Canada, Britain, New Zealand, Australia, the Phillipines, India and the Netherlands.

Overall, Wipeout is pure family television. It’s better than any game show that I can remember and it’s must see T.V. So if you’ve got nothing to do during the summer, tune into ABC and get ready to laugh at other’s failures.

But a recent special has been bringing people back like wildfire; Never Ending Pasta Bowl. With 42 different combinations, any pasta lover is almost guaranteed to leave satisfied. Olive Garden now offers combinations ranging from pastas such as spaghetti, whole wheat linguine, linguine, fettuccine, penne, angel hair, and oreccheitte, and sauces such as Chianti Three Meat, Creamy Parmesan Portobello, Alfredo, Meat Sauce, Five Cheese Marinara, and Marinara all for only $8.25.

The new additions such as Creamy Parmesan Portobello, a thick Alfredo sauce with mushrooms and garlic bread stick crumbs, and Chianti Three Meat, a slow cooked red wine sauce with a blend of Italian meats are all becoming more popular.

In order to drown my sorrows from the Homecoming defeat, I went to Olive Garden to sample the special and it was more than worth the suprisingly low price. I ordered the Spaghetti and Meat Sauce, Fettucine and Alfredo, and Fettuccine and Chianti Three Meat. If I hadn’t been to full to eat another bite, I would have kept trying all the pastas. All three were good but by far the Chianti Meat Sauce was the best part of the meal.

Since the special is only a come and go type of thing, chances are it’ll be gone in no time. If you like pasta then this is the time to go and enjoy a whole buffet of all kinds of combinations. Hurry, because this is not a special that should be passed up.