Test again! Ignore this post if it actually makes it!

Test again! Ignore this post if it actually makes it!, a photo by eye-shuh on Flickr.

Testing posting to Blogger via Flickr one more time before I give up.

EDIT: OMG YAY IT WORKED!!! I'll test a video post tomorrow! Huzzah! Also, this is because I want to be able to post to Blogger during PAX. Last year I posted to Tumblr because their app is one thousand and two times better than Blogger's app. This year I want to be able to post to Blogger and I think sending pictures and video to Flickr via email is going to be a really good option.

before you write that post about PAX or other convention tips...

I was going to post this to Google+, but then it was long. lol

Begin Rant / Nerd Rage

You know what really bugs me? Whenever a huge con like PAX is coming up people start posting a ton about what to bring and what to remember, etc. and every list I see always has some snarky comment about bringing and wearing deodorant because we are all smelly nerds, har har. Sometimes it's not even a list. Sometimes it's just people posting to social networks with things like, "Jesus you nerds, please for the love of god remember to put on deodorant you smelly bastards!"

This makes me angry because these people apparently have never spent a day walking around inside an enclosed space with tens of thousands of other people. You know what happens when you do that? The deodorant you put on in the morning wears/sweats off. Then people start to smell.

In fact, that doesn't even have to involve being around tens of thousands of people or enclosed spaces; these are all normal things that happen to people every day and not at all unique to con-goers or geeks. I put on deodorant every morning. I also walk two miles every day during my breaks. As a result of this, in the summer when it's hot out I end up smelling like I've never heard of that fancy substance called "soap" before.

Look, we know how to shower. We know how to put on deodorant. Even if you keep deodorant in your bag, it's still going to wear off extremely quickly in the convention center because you're mosh pitting in front of the Borderlands 2 booth for the three hours it takes to reach the front of the line in a convention center that is entirely heated to over a hundred degrees from sheer amount of bodies giving off heat. This is all after walking the equivalent of several miles before coming to rest at a line.

"Well, *some* people don't shower or put on deodorant, and I'm saying this for them." Oh, really? Because having someone who doesn't shower and/or wear deodorant is not only rare but not even a little bit unique to any one particular group of people (except hippies) and I'm pretty sure your sarcastic rude post directed at everyone isn't going to change their minds if they already don't have good hygiene.

So, I guess what I'm saying is...STOP IT. You are not the genius that solves the problem of why a large amount of people in a hot room start smelling bad. We all wear deodorant, and you, imaginary sir or ma'am, are a dick.

End Rant / Nerd Rage


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Borderlands 2 "Top Trumps" cards exclusive to UK. Sad face.

I have a Games Press account which I like to browse through and when I see something interesting I can usually scroll down to the Video Games section of my RSS and find a regular gaming site that has reported on it for me to share. I haven't seen this reported on yet, probably because it's UK exclusive and I do not live there or follow gaming news sites from there.

So I just wanted to post pictures and say I am super jealous of UK people right now. Apparently there are only 5000 packs of these special Borderlands 2 Top Trumps cards being made and handed out to people who pre-order the game from a partnered "local indie UK store". I don't even care that I didn't know what that game was until I wiki'd it. I just want all the Borderlands 2 things.







Images are from their press release. Maybe they just haven't announced it for the US yet. Apparently this game exists here! Usually we get the Hero Clix versions of things though.


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pc vs. console gaming: i finally get it

So, I inherited an old Zune from a roommate that is now moved out. He left a lot of stuff that he didn't want to take with him on his new adventures and his poor little Zune was among that stuff. I have been playing with it and I am not ashamed to say that I am in love. Zune Pass for the mega win.

Anywho, in order to sign up for a Zune Pass you have to log in with a Windows Live account. Well, for a myriad of reasons I didn't want my Zune account connected to my Xbox Live account. I have a new @live email address now that Microsoft allows hyphens anyway, so I decided to use that. Then when I went to sign up for my regular username I was shocked to see someone had already claimed it!

I promise I have a point that relates to the post title, bear with me.

Of course, the person who took my regular username was me. I didn't realize that when you sign up for one Microsoft service you are signing up for all of them. I ended up using an older handle with my new email address and just soldiered on. Now I'm debating if I want to keep my Eyeshuh one active.

Oh yes, the  point! Well, here's the thing. Microsoft does not have me trained to want achievements. They have me trained to crave them. So, when I started playing some Bing Games and logged in with my shiny new handle and saw a big fat ZERO for gamer points, of course it saddened me greatly!

The easy solution to this problem was to pop in Borderlands and blast through some quick achievements. I practically have that game memorized by now. Also I thought it was broken but apparently it's my Xbox that was broken. It works fine in Beau's Xbox.

So I'm loading up Borderlands, getting familiar again with that long forgotten feeling of holding a controller in my hands, and as soon as it's possible to do so I open up the settings menu and do two things that I have always done with console games: (1) invert the Y axis (2) turn off auto-aim.

Then I start to play...if you can call it that. Holy crap you guys, how did I play First Person Shooters on console before this? I mean, seriously, was I always this bad on console? Is everyone this bad on console and you just don't realize it until you experience the precision that is playing an FPS on PC?

As I was stumbling through attempting to line up cross-hairs to heads with limited success and realizing I was going to have to build a melee Siren, it got me to thinking. FPS games are just better on PC. Do they even have auto-aim on PC? That would be weird since you don't need it. Mouse and keyboard just works for shooting things in the head.

BUT that lead me further in thought to how much I was craving popping on a puzzle game and relaxing on the couch with something like Chime and my Xbox. This is coming from someone who despises puzzle games. Now I'm starting to wonder if I just despise puzzle games with mouse and keyboard. I also tend to stay away from platformers on PC because I know that I should plug in my wired controller but am usually too lazy to do so.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share an epiphany from a former hardcore console gamer turned hardcore PC gamer turned I finally figured out that some games work better on console and some games work better on PC and will now purchase accordingly gamer.


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redbox review: Get the Gringo (no spoilers)

Oh, Mel Gibson. He might be crazy but he definitely picks some gems. When we saw the trailer for Get the Gringo we knew immediately we had to rent it when it came out. We were not disappointed with this one! It is hilarity.
The whole movie gave me this very strong impression that I was sitting in a bar hanging out and a random guy walks in, buys a couple drinks, sits down at my table, says "You know, I had one hell of a summer..." and then just starts telling me a crazy story that gets weirder and more awesome as he keeps talking. I really liked it! It was a story telling element you don't get in a lot of movies. Instead of watching a story, the movie is literally telling it to you.

The acting was pretty fantastic throughout the flick; Mel wasn't the only one with some chops. The way the story plays out from start to finish is extremely clever and I really enjoyed watching his shenanigans. I won't say that I tried to figure out where anything was going - the movie is very fast paced and doesn't give you a lot of time for guesswork. Everything just happens mostly in succession and it worked out to a perfect pace.

There is even some suspense in the movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering how on earth they are going to fix everything and if they're even going to bother...and then, again, with the cleverly written solutions.

It's like a strange hybrid romance, drama, suspense, comedy! I also wondered at the portrayal of Mexican prisons and if that was real, and Beau said that it was probably part of the point of why the movie was made. Knowing Mel Gibson, that's probably true, but if there was some subtle or not so subtle message going on I didn't entirely catch it. I was too busy being entertained.

I really loved this movie. I was expecting something much different and much more slapstick, but this is a very well written, well acted, well paced, well everything movie.

Go watch!


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cupcake cake for my first Extra Life donor!

I got my first donation for Extra Life! Yay!!

I was so immensely happy when I saw the message pop into my inbox! Then my heart exploded when I found out the donation was from one of Beau's co-workers. I had Beau get his boss' permission to put a sign up with information about Extra Life and a few cards attached with my custom donation URL on them. This donation came in less than 24 hours later.

I always knew I was going to do something extra special for the first person to donate. It just so happened that I recently attended a cupcake decorating class with a friend and since it was one of Beau's co-workers, well, what else could I do but make an Extra Life cupcake cake?!

My original idea was to shape the cupcakes like their logo (the controller with wings) but I couldn't figure out how to do it without using a very small amount or a very large amount of cupcakes. So, I settled with putting the cupcakes together to form a blank canvas:

I only bought one container of frosting, but it was enough to mostly cover all the cracks:

Then came the doodling for the final product:

...OK, so I'm no cupcake Picasso. But hey, I think it turned out pretty cool!

I am also going to write a note thanking him profusely. I can't describe how much it meant to me to recieve my first donation and know that I helped make a little bit of a positive difference in the world and that there are people out there kind enough to support me and the cause.

Seriously, I am on cloud OVER 9000 right now!

If you are interested in making me the happiest girl in the world and donating some money to help a sick child in need of financial assistance, please click the donate button you will find on the giant (now not completely empty!) thermometer on the top right of my blog or click the link below for more information! <3 p="p">


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Help me help hospitalized kids! Please consider donating to Extra Life. Click here for more information!

seriously internet. can we not do this anymore?

I am begging you, internet. Please. Please stop doing this.

Runnin' Rhino - a t-shirt on Threadless. 

8-Bit Vendetta - a t-shirt on Threadless

Listen. If you look at Threadless and see a cool t-shirt, and the first thought that runs through your head is "OMG, I can make this so much funnier!" I want you to just freeze. Don't right click that mouse. Don't save that image to your desktop. Don't open Microsoft Paint. Just stop.

I won't sugar coat this for you - you are an idiot. I am not even going to bring up the fact that these are copyrighted images. I'm just going to point out to you that these images were funny before you decided to add your "hilarious" text and post them to Tumblr. In fact, everything you're thinking right now about writing over the image is making it less funny. You are ruining the joke in your effort to steal other people's work and pretend that you are clever.

You aren't. Just stop.

Listen, if you need attention on the internet that bad, there are better ways. Post a video of yourself to YouTube of your cat playing with a laser pointer. Pick a random subject and create a Tumblr blog titled "F*ck Yeah That Thing!" Create a podcast using the stock voice recorder on your phone of you and your friends laughing for 60 minutes while high. Then it will be you. You did that. You created something. Good job!

At the very least, when you look through Threadless for your next victim, link to the t-shirt. If you liked that shirt enough to paste your text all over it, you should like it enough to give the site a few hits from the reference when your three Facebook buddies click on it or when it gets reblogged on Tumblr.




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OHSGC - Portal 2, Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Eufloria, Hammerfight, Hard Reset

One Hour Steam Game Challenge! In which I try to play at least one hour of every game I own on Steam, since Valve torments us all by giving us such great deals on games we can't help but buy them regardless of whether we actually want them or have even heard of them. My goal is to get my Steam list to 100% played.


Portal 2 (1.7 hours) - Beau bought this for me a really long time ago and I have shamefully taken this long to actually play it. The 24 hours that were on it before are from a friend who played through with Beau on my account and Beau says that doesn't count for my challenge.

Here's the thing...I don't like puzzle games. I play video games to relax and to shoot the crap out of things. Puzzle games accomplish neither of these objectives for me. It's not that I find puzzle games too hard, because I don't. I just don't get much entertainment value out of figuring them out. I played the first Portal game because it was the hotness at the time and I greatly enjoyed the humor. I never finished it though. I got stuck on the second to last puzzle and gave up without too much effort, then just YouTube searched the ending. I am committed to finishing Portal 2...eventually. I still do love the humor but I knew that I would. However, I can get the humor out of silly clips and .gifs and images with quotes from the game without all that puzzle business. If I were to ever like puzzle games though, Portal would be it. The puzzles and challenges are extremely clever and well done, to the point that I am more entertained by how impressed I am with their genius than with actual game play. I do get some amount of joy out of figuring them out though. It's just not my bag, man.

Play again? Fo sho yo. Beau will make me.


Anomaly: Warzone Earth (61 minutes) - This one was definitely from a bundle of some sort. I have no idea why I buy bundles of indie games. Most of them are strategy and I hate strategy games. Oh wait, I know why! Because Steam makes them cost three cents each! a;hsi'hatgiw'hith

I didn't hate this one! I'm going to be honest with you guys. I'm super hung over right now. Like, a lot. This game has three modes of challenge. Usually I try to pick whatever is "normal" or in the middle so that I can get a good sense of the game. However, my brain isn't functioning right now. I would say in this game "Casual" is basic brain functions, "Advanced" is quick thinking, and "Hardcore" is intelligence. I am just barely making it by on Casual at the moment. It's like that Austin Powers scene with the guy screaming as the steamroller comes at him super slow. My little military units are like "Shit, shit, turn right! There's a giant killer vortex in the road that we're very slowly rolling toward!" and then I go "Oh, uh, OK, hmm, I think I click the right mouse? No, left mouse. Then..uh.." and then they all die.

Anyway, the game is fun for a strategy game. I am surprised that I didn't hate it. I could be severely biased though since you only have to use the mouse to play and that is blessedly leaving one of my hands open for a cup of coffee. I thought the voice acting would be annoying but the guy yelling at you the whole time sets the mood well. The graphics in general are amazing for an indie game, the cut scenes even more so.

Play again? I think I will! Not until I get some more one hour challenge done, but I'll definitely be re-installing this one some time in the future.


Eufloria (64 minutes) - This must have been from a random indie pack of some sort.

I...I don't know. I don't know what is going on. It's some sort of strategy game I guess? You're some little red dots that are seeds and you want to plant trees on asteroids which are different sized circles. There are little grey dots that don't want you to plant trees or they're sick or something. The Deku tree wants you to kill them before they kill you, so that it can spread its seed across the universe. OK OK, it wasn't called a Deku tree. Seriously though, this game is creepy. I feel like I am helping the god tree rape the rest of the universe. That's how the language of the "story" played out in my head. Then once I got a bit further I felt like the little grey ones were Reavers and that I was the Alliance trying to destroy all the Browncoats.

Play again? No. It's creepy. I only managed to get through the full hour because it wasn't even a little bit hard so I could zone out most of the time.


Hammerfight (6 minutes) - I don't even know where this came from.

This game is stupid and glitch-tastic. The game mechanic of using your mouse to control your little floating machine and moving it around in circles to try and hit things with your very physics based weapon is kind of cool. Unfortunately, the dev ruined it with a poorly slapped together game over a cool idea for a mechanic. Even the writing is awful and I wasn't a fan of the music. This game might have been saved with a silly multi-player battle royale, but it is retardedly only single player.

Play again? No. There was no way I was even going to last close to an hour on that one. Those were some pretty rage filled six minutes.


Hard Reset (a deceptive 2 hours because I left it on when I ate dinner and watched Project Runway) - I have no idea where this game came from. Probably saw it on sale and liked the cut of its jib.

I really loved this one! It's an extremely solid FPS with a few interesting elements tossed in. Nothing super exceptional, but it was a refreshingly well put together game. The pacing is perfect, normal difficulty was a great challenge; it's rare that I find a game that sits on that perfect line between challenging but not frustratingly difficult. I like that the game throws in a ton of environmental hazards to shoot for electric output or explosions to supplement your weapons. I wasn't very good at utilizing the mechanic, but my brain is still on the fritz. Everything also pretty much looks the same and melds into each other, so I didn't always notice things. It has a very good selection of weapons and I like that you can pick between energy weapons and typical bullet based weapons. The upgrade system was great too - you collect orange "money" canisters and once they add up to enough you get one upgrade point to spend on either of your weapon types or your armor. The voice acting is horrendous and I didn't understand the story, but I can get passed both those things easily given how fantastic the actual game play is. Then again, I am the type of person who prizes game play well over story. I know that a lot of other gamers would choose the opposite of fantastic story with shitty game play if given the choice. However, I believe that this game is so well made that anyone looking to shoot the crap out of some robots in a solid FPS would love it.

Play again? Heck yeah! This was a surprising very well done treat. I'll be watching out for other games from the studio.

Hahaha! I googled Hard Reset and found the Zero Punctuation review. As always, Yahtzee says it better than I ever could:

The Escapist : Zero Punctuation : Hard Reset

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August Move Your A$$ Challenge

 

Just sticking this ticker on my blog for my own reference! This is for the August Move Your A$$ Challenge on the MyFitnessPal forums. The forums are usually a horrendous place full of "rate the person above you" and "nah this is 4 totlly srious, how meny calories r in sperm, I'm so not saying this for attention" posts. I was pleasantly surprised to find something that looked like it would actually help with weight loss rather than for gathering MySpace followers!

My goal is 100 miles in the month of August through different forms of cardio! Hopefully this will help me get back on that sexy weight loss train. It will also serve to get me much closer to Mordor. (that spreadsheet is open so feel free to join us on our journey!)

I've been maintaining my weight very steadily, which is amazing and awesome, but I still want to drop a wee bit more before PAX.

Which is at the end of August. Today is the first day of August. PAX is at the end of this month. asdh;afi;whetgi *happy seizure*





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Help me help hospitalized kids! Please consider donating to Extra Life. Click here for more information!