Burger Burger

From The Age, via elrobbo:

Burger Burger
Style: Hamburger simulation
Developer: Gaps

Instead of designing theme parks, this sim lets you design hamburgers. How does it go again? “Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese…” Burger sims are huge in Americana-obsessed Japan, and after tinkering with Burger Burger, we’re inclined to see why. Coming up with your own creation to rival the Big Mac or McTeriyaki while beating your competitors into a ketchup-splattered pulp is a right laugh. Players can customise everything on their menu, hire pre-pubescent staff, select the site for their burger empire and even choose novelty items to keep the kids happy. Just don’t dream of running some ill-conceived Monopoly competition with last year’s tickets…

Hell yeah. My double-chicken-’n'-beef chilli burger* would kick some serious arse.

*– No such burger exists, and if it did I’d strong discourage anyone from actually eating it.

Advice

If you’re going to put together a spreadsheet for your personal budget, make sure that you get all your formulae right.

If you’ve got a big long column of monthly expenses with a total at the top of the list, make sure the total includes those little items at the top of the list. You know, things like rent and car repayments.

Check your projected balance at the end of the month. If it’s -$350, something’s probably wrong.

Cover Bands

The discussion between Andrew and Polly about cover bands (and why they’re hated) has really got me thinking.

Writing a good song is really, really hard. Walking into any original music venue in Melbourne will tell you that. While I’ve got all the respect in the world for bands getting out there and plying their trade, most of their songs suck. The bands I’ve been involved with are just as guilty of this as anyone else.

So why wouldn’t you start a cover band? The hardest part of starting a band is writing songs, so why not draw on the collected efforts of every songwriter who has gone before you? You could say that it’s the difference between being a musician and an artist, but who would deny the artistry of Johnny Cash, Miles Davis or the multitude of other great artists who have made great careers out of (at least in part) performing the songs of others?

Most successful bands get around their average songwriting by being entertaining. I don’t think that U2 have ever written a really great song. U2 became popular by working hard and having a really good live show; not by being great songwriters. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Most successful bands are in the same boat. Many of them have written one great song that got them noticed, but their continued success is due to hard work and providing entertainment.

This is why most bands fail. They’re just plain boring, or they just don’t work hard enough. Again, I’ll put up my hand and admit I’m guilty of this, too. I guess a bad band is just a bad band, but a bad band playing good songs is better than a bad band playing average songs when you’re trying to sell bourbon and coke.