Well after some very helpful feedback from many of you on my last post, this past weekend I decided to go out and do the unthinkable… I bought a Mac! It was an epic struggle between the right and left sides of my brain, but in the end, I decided that the new Intel iMacs are a wonderful fusion of both. It’s mind-blowing and somewhat unnerving to think that such a powerful machine is contained within the sleek monitor casing alone. The technical side of me doesn’t really like the fact that I can’t just bust it open and swap in new parts on a whim, but the practical side of me realizes that hardware is a hassle I’d rather deal with as little as possible.

I am currently putting the system through the ringer and making sure that it will meet all my requirements (I do have 14 days to return it), and so far it is passing with flying colours. I now have it dual booting with Windows XP running quite smoothly, and I’m in the process of installing Half-Life 2. I can’t wait to see how it runs. I’ve also been familiarizing myself with the Mac OS (I think the last time I used a Mac it was running System 7) and checking out some of the cool software that’s available for it. I’m taking notes so that when I’m done I can put up a post here with my tips on how to bridge the gap from Windows user to Mac user.

I think we may be on the brink of a brave new world here, now that these affordable machines can handle both OS X and Windows XP with minimal hiccups. In some ways I’m still asking myself whether I had a valid reason to defect from the PC world, but the more important question is, what do PCs have to offer that Macs don’t? Assuming that these PC games run as smoothly as they’re supposed to, I really can’t think of anything. So hopefully I’m getting the best of both worlds here, and really, who wouldn’t want that?

Did you hear about those Australian girls who were sentenced to life in prison for killing a friend while she slept, just to see if they would feel bad about committing murder? That is some seriously disturbing shit. Just out of nowhere, they decided to strangle their friend with speaker wire and then bury her body under the house. I cannot fathom the human mind (free of intoxicants, no less) that would somehow imagine such a thing, much less actually carry it out. Are coal-mining towns in Australia really that starved for entertainment (and common sense)?

CNN had an interesting piece last week on the alarmingly low TV ratings for most major networks this spring. I find it funny that there was a box office drought just a couple years back, and now TV is supposedly in trouble. In both cases, I think what we’re really seeing is a shift in people’s viewing habits. I mean, let’s face it, the quality of TV is better than it has ever been, but people are watching TV shows on their own time now using PVR’s, BitTorrent and iTunes. Mark my words, television is going to be making the jump online sooner rather than later… just look at the crazy number of viral video sites being started by big name celebs. People want content on-demand, and they want it portable and accessible anywhere. They don’t want to base their lives around TV Guide anymore.

Hey, what’s the point of posting without a little bit of Guitar Hero news too? Kotaku has the low down on the first 7 tracks to be announced from the upcoming Guitar Hero: 80’s Edition, including “I Wanna Rock” by Twisted Sister, “Metal Health” by Quiet Riot, and “Holy Diver” by Dio. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

More Links For Today:
Carbonite Han Solo Chocolate Bars
Gears of War Golf? (Stolen from Raze’s Hell)
The Cure for Female Premature Ejaculation?!