eye-shuh's mad blog

New Year Resolutions for 2012

2012-01-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

OK, first let's recap my list for 2011.

- More will power in general, but especially when it comes to over-eating. Meh...I don't think I completely succeeded on this one, but I did do better so I'll call it a half win.

- Exercise more. I DEFINITELY won at this! I exercised the crap out of 2011.

- Save 5000$ for road trip with Beau or different continent with mom. Sadly, no. However, I did get myself completely out of credit card debt, so that's nothing to sneeze at.

- Get started on an AA degree. Nope!

- Call my family more. No. :(

- Sit on the couch less. Yes! Another win.

- Cook more / learn more complicated recipes. More during the first half of the year than the second, but I'm still calling it a win.

- Destroy NaNoWriMo 2011 and write more in general. Fuck yeah.

Overall, I am going to have to declare 2011 a smashing success! Here are my goals for 2012!

- At least one post a week on Pretty Gamer

- Finish at least 5 video games to include: Deus Ex Human Revolution, Bastion, Fallout New Vegas, Dead Island, and Darksiders

- Get back into painting

- Watch every episode of every Star Trek series

- Attend at least one YMCA weight lifting class

- Finish the tattoo on my back

- Reach 120 lbs and buy a convertible Power Wheels car

- ...Also buy a real car

2012 free planner for printing

2011-12-27T09:31:00.001-08:00

I shared my one from last year so I figured I'd share this years too. So far I have only done the 8.5x14 (legal sized) planner. It's formatted to be cut exactly in half and then if you keep the two halves separate it's pretty easy to put the pages together in the right order. Then I have mine comb bound, which you can get done at any Kinko's. In fact, I would recommend just popping one of these files on a USB drive and having it cut and put together at your local Kinko's / copy shop.

2012 Planner PDF

2012 Planner Word Doc - if you want to edit it before printing

If you don't feel like clicking the links (which go to shared Google Docs files so they're easy to preview) you can see below what the pages look like:

And don't forget to customize your cover!

I know that some people might scoff at my use of a paper planner in these times of smart phones and online calendars (I do still make liberal use of Google Calendar) but sometimes I just feel like writing things down. By the end of the year my planners tend to wind up looking more like scrap books, so it's super fun to look back at my notes and ticket stubs, etc.

I hope someone somewhere gets some use out of this!

Brenna's Babble: Leaving GoDaddy

2011-12-24T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm sharing this link to Brenna's blog about switching your Blogger bought domain from GoDaddy. She includes important FAQs for the process. If you bought a domain name through Blogger, please consider switching!

Brenna's Babble: Leaving GoDaddy: FYI: All domains registered for Blogger pages through Google are actually processed through GoDaddy. I'm assuming most of the people wi...

awesome Gene Roddenberry quotes

2011-12-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

It took me FOREVER to find these quotes on Tumblr when I needed them for reference, so I'm posting them to my Blogger which has a much better search!

what I've been playin': Darksiders, Dead Island, Deus Ex

2011-12-18T12:40:00.001-08:00

I haven't gotten very far in any of these games, so this is more a "first impressions" post. Darksiders I'm barely past the tutorial type areas into the meat of the game, Dead Island I think I'm still in Act 1, and I'm the farthest in Deus Ex having just killed the second boss.

Darksiders - This game is just plain fun. It's a Zelda game minus Princess Zelda and set in hell (well, hell on Earth, but still). The combat is pretty basic but I still had fun with my button mashing. Plus in order to beat some of the bigger baddies you have to time your button mashing with jumps and figure out where they're weak, so it still poses a challenge. The only downside of this game so far is that you can't play it with mouse and keyboard. Don't bother trying to refute that. If you are playing this game on mouse and keyboard you are doing it wrong. Go buy a USB game pad. The controls are very good, so even if you're not use to a game pad you shouldn't have issues.

Dead Island - I'm back and forth about this one. It's a fun game but I'm finding myself getting hung up on a lot of the details/mechanics. The worst one for me is the weapon fatigue. It feels like you can use a weapon for maybe 10-20 hits on zombies before it breaks and you have to use a new one. Plus, as pointed out in Zero Punctuation's hilarious review, you can just kick a zombie to death and not have to bother with weapons at all. There is an ability that let's you one hit kill curb stomp a zombie once you've knocked it down with the first kick to its gut. For the thugs you can just toss molotovs at them and wait for them to burn to death. Despite this, I've still been using weapons (mostly because I am prone to lighting myself on fire with molotovs) and it's fun until they die and I'm left trying to kill things with a tiny splinter of wood. Overall it's not a very hard game though, especially if you go with the health regeneration tank character to distract things from your knife expert stabby in the back partner. And despite how other reviews I've seen have marked this as a negative, I think it's hilarious that most of the characters in the game-including yourself in a couple iterations-are mostly drug addicted drunken assholes. It's a nice change from the regular zombie apocalypse assumption that the majority of people who would survive would be nice people.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - I have been having a lot of fun with this game! The story is pretty immersive and the characters are very well done. The combat is a hoot, especially since the game very clearly encourages you to sneak your way out of trouble but doesn't mind if you're a crazy person like me who says fuck sneaking and opens fire in a room full of guards. I like that there are multiple ways to get where you want to go and complete the various missions. Even though I've tended to take the exact same "shoot them in the head" approach to all my quests, I still appreciate the fact that I could have spared their lives or snuck in and hacked my way out of it.

Of course, that brings me to the major issue with the game that pretty much everyone who reviews it agrees on - the boss fights are stupid. Like, really stupid. In the entire rest of the game you have multiple choices and options, but for the boss fights you have to fight them in the one way the game tells you to fight them. Instead of having vents and back doors and multiple entrances, you're stuck in a small room with a boss that can break you in half in one hit and only one really dumb mechanic the game wants you to use to beat them. It's really, really disheartening to run into a boss fight after having a blast screwing around in the rest of the game and it does this game a great disservice. I think it's interesting too that most reviewers say something like "well I built a computer science sneaky dude for the rest of the game so that's why it's hard for the boss". That is extremely misleading since there is no other way to build your character! There are a billion options for stealth and hacking compared to a couple that might help you fly in guns blazing.

I would probably still recommend this game since I've had fun between boss fights, but whereas I might have recommended it to a non-gamer for a nice entry FPS on easy mode, I would no longer do that due to the idiotically out of scale boss encounters. For veteran FPSers though, it is worth picking up.

The Captains = awesome Star Trek documentary on Netflix Instant Watch

2011-12-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

If you are a Star Trek fan (or really just interested it what it's like to be an actor) I highly recommend watching "The Captains". It is a documentary that William Shatner produced, wrote, directed, etc. about the captains of every Star Trek iteration to date. The movie is beautifully done and Shatner does an amazing job of mixing a light fun attitude with serious questions and issues surrounding being not only on Star Trek itself but being someone who the crew and audience constantly looked to. Parts of it are pretty strange but even then I enjoyed it. He goes into some pretty deep questions and I'm not sure he always gets the kinds of answers he's looking for, but he has such a fantastic chemistry with everyone that it's a pleasure to sit back and watch the giants of the various Star Trek universes interact.

Plus, come on, you know you want to see William Shatner in a box:

Grimm vs. Once Upon a Time reprise (no spoilers)

2011-12-15T07:11:00.000-08:00

I'm going to have to flip my opinion of these two shows after seven episodes of each. Grimm has turned out to be a much, much better show.

Though I found the first episode of Grimm awkward, the writers seem to have really grown into the characters and smoothed them out. The complications of the main character being both a Grimm and a detective for the police has turned out to be really interesting and kind of hilarious. I can just imagine the evil beings of the world mocking him about killing them and then have him turn around and be like "Kill? Nah. Enjoy prison jackass!" His reluctant werewolf not quite friendship has also been a lot of fun. The werewolf clearly does not give a crap about helping him but is easily talked into it because he doesn't want to end up on the bad end of a Grimm knife...or in an interrogation room. They have done a great job keeping that relationship casual with tense overtones and very funny interactions. That was something I also didn't expect from the show - it has a Castle like humor between the main police officer buddies that I love. If you haven't watched it yet, I would definitely recommend popping on a few episodes.

As for Once Upon a Time, that show decided to go completely rogue on me. The first episode was enticing, but the more I watch the more I realize Grimm's one-off easy to watch alone episodes are much preferred to Once Upon a Time's very obviously never going to be resolved plot. I thought the show was going to be a sort of lighthearted fun and go off the more modern happier fairy tale versions of Grimm tales, rather than the darker ones. Boy was I wrong. My initial hesitation with this show was that they portrayed the real world as a "place with no happy endings" but then the fairy tale world they show flashbacks to is WORSE than the real world! It sucked there! Rumpelstiltskin pretty much screwed up all their lives in that time where the evil queen is messing with them in the new era.

That being said, I am extremely tired of everyone painting Rumpelstiltskin as a bad guy. In the real world he is not that bad at all. They tried to establish him as evil in the first episode but it was half hearted at best. The only other time he was remotely evil was the Cinderella episode, and my god, Cinderella was horrible in both the fairy tale and real worlds. I did not feel bad for her at all. She was a selfish brat and a complete moron in both versions of herself. I had zero sympathy for that character. I am having a hard time caring about any of the characters.

Then there was the Huntsman episode, and if you've seen it, you know what I mean. The plot finally progresses a little, we get some real evidence that their world might be "saved"/it's not really all in the kid's head, and then in the next instant they destroy it. So fairy tale world is back to square one. I really don't have much interest in watching the poorly written characters fight and scrape their way back to another small win.

If you don't mind a major spoiler about the last episode TV Addict has a fantastic article about why Once Upon a Time is dropping like a rock in ratings that I completely agree with.

Lessons from LOST to ONCE UPON A TIME: Have Television Writers...(SPOILERS)

2011-12-14T10:02:00.001-08:00

I am going to write more on this later, but this is a fantastic article that I completely agree with. While I think it's important for writers to keep viewers on their toes, it is an entirely different matter when they decide to ignore the pitched show premise and jump the shark. After getting this far through the first season of both Grimm and Once Upon a Time I will have to revise my earlier opinions of them. Grimm has turned out to be by far a better show.

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Lessons from LOST to ONCE UPON A TIME: Have Television Writers Been Given Too Much Creative License?

via the TV addict by Tiffany Vogt on 12/14/11

In the after-math of LOST, an interesting trend has begun to emerge in television viewing patterns: viewers are now gun-shy of investing in serialized television. Viewers are no longer willing to invest their time and energy into a show that may take them some place they do not want to go.

For LOST not only dared to kill off its principal characters, it ultimately killed off 9 of its 13 principal characters: Boone, Shannon, Charlie, Jack, John Locke, Sayid, Jin, Sun, Michael – leaving Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and Claire ambiguously alive, and who were revealed to be dead in the final episode. It also killed off a majority of its supporting characters, including Daniel Faraday, Charlotte, Danielle Rousseau, Alex, Juliet, Libby, Ana-Lucia, and Eko.

LOST became the "gold standard" in story-telling because it achieved the remarkable feat of luring in nearly 24 million viewers and ran 6 successful seasons, winning numerous awards along the way. But, in the end, there was a significant amount of "viewer fatigue." Pulling in only 8 million viewers by its final episode, LOST is also a great example in how to disenfranchise an audience.

LOST secured its initial amazing viewership numbers because it offered an array of fascinating characters, so much so that viewers could not wait to learn more about each of them. The breadcrumbs LOST offered were eagerly snatched-up and analyzed and it become part the cultural zeitgeist and popculture.

But it also became a television teaching-tool; it taught viewers that steadfast devotion is not necessarily rewarded in the end. LOST broke too many hearts, upset its core fan-base and became a "shell" of its former self by the end. The fact that it ended with the reveal that a large number of its characters were living in a version of purgatory awaiting their chance to "move on" as their fellow comrades joined them one-by-one in the after-life was thoroughly discouraging.

LOST could have been a show that was about its characters over-coming significant hardship and obstacles to achieve a rescue, fixing a broken timeline or even finding their place in the world; instead it was a show that offered only despair, hopelessness and death. Fans who tuned out early, were gleeful that they had not wasted their time on a show that took them on such a futile journey. Fans that stuck with the show to the bitter-end, were divided on how to feel about it. Some loved it; some hated it. It was a 6-year journey that left a distasteful feeling behind.

In the television seasons that followed the end of LOST, several TV shows attempted to imitate its successful formula – each failing more spectacularly than the next. Fingers were pointed at the pale imitations citing casting, pacing, directing and a whole host of other things that lead to their downfall. But the one thing they all shared in common was huge initial ratings, followed by steep decline as viewership steadily eroded. The shows were getting the LOST formula right, but viewers were not sticking around. Why? It was most likely because viewers saw that the shows were not heading in a direction they wanted to go.

While some may be quick to point out that shows like MAD MEN, JUSTIFIED and THE WALKING DEAD are all succeeding with serialized television shows, those shows pull in significantly lower numbers of viewers than most broadcast television shows. A show that has the luxury of being off-network (AMC, FX, CW) can afford to pull in lower numbers of viewers. They are not competing for mass viewership, only the number of viewers to make them economically viable on their network. Shows competing on ABC, CBS, NBC or FOX must pull in much higher numbers of viewers to be viable. Currently FOX's TERRA NOVA, which pulls in an average of 7 million viewers, is considered "on the bubble" because that number of viewers for a regular broadcast network is considered low. Similarly, ABC's PAN AM is only attracting 4.6 million viewers is considered "unofficially canceled." (In contrast, MAD MEN pulled in 2.9 million viewers last season, JUSTIFIED pulled in 3.9 million viewers, and THE WALKING DEAD averages 6 million viewers.) But for broadcast networks, viewership under 6 million is a death-knell.

So when you look at the viewership erosion of this season's critically-lauded and fan-favorite ONCE UPON A TIME, a startling trend emerges. With only seven episodes having aired to date, ratings dropped from 12.8 million viewers to 8.9 million in less than 2 months. It has been a steady progression as shown:

Episode 1 – 12.8 million ("Pilot")
Episode 2 – 11.6 million ("The Thing You Love The Most")
Episode 3 – 11.3 million ("Snow Falls")
Episode 4 – 11.3 million ("The Price of Gold")
Episode 5 – 10.66 million ("That Still Small Voice")
Episode 6 – 9.6 million ("The Shepherd")
Episode 7 – 8.9 million ("The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter")

The loss of 4 million viewers is significant. For any show, that kind of loss leads one to wonder: what is going on? Viewers are not simply disappearing; they are running away as fast as they can. As I discussed in my article "ONCE UPON A TIME Redux: Why Do TV Shows Have To Break Our Hearts?", viewers tune-out when they are unhappy or disillusioned. ONCE UPON A TIME promised the return of "happy endings" – yet dared to kill off a beloved character within its first 7 episodes. Not even LOST was so audacious; it dared not kill Boone until episode 20 in its first season.

Two recent serialized TV shows that attempted to follow in LOST's footsteps were FLASHFORWARD and THE EVENT. FLASHFORWARD debuted to 12.5 million viewers, falling to 8.5 million by episode 7 (a loss of 4 million viewers), and finally ended its first season with only 4.9 million viewers. The following year THE EVENT debuted to 10.8 million viewers, dropping to 5.4 million viewers by its 7th episode (a loss of 5.4 million viewers), and ended its first season with only 4.9 million viewers — and both FLASHFORWARD and THE EVENT were canceled after their first seasons. As any television programmer or advertiser will tell you, the numbers do not lie. With those kinds of viewership drops, a television show is simply not economically viable.

So the noticeable decline of ratings for ONCE UPON A TIME is something to be worried about. It is very hard for a TV show to reverse a downwards spiral in ratings. Most executives and showrunners are looking for a plateau point – when ratings level off. That gives them an idea of what their true audience base is and whether the show stands a chance of making it.

The fact that ONCE UPON A TIME has been created by former LOST writers and promoted as being a LOST-like type of show leads one to wonder if it will make the same mistakes that LOST did. LOST had the gall to kill off its principal characters and, if ONCE UPON A TIME's most recent episode is any indication, it is following the same formula.

Which leads me back to my question: are television writers being given too much creative license? When a network greenlights a TV show, they are investing nearly $50 million in a show. A pilot can cost up to $10 million to make, and each subsequent episode runs about $2 million, not including advertising. That $50 million investment for a show's first season is something to be protective of. Thus network executives assess and analyze very carefully whether their investment is garnering the anticipated return. Television is about profits, after all. So while the pedigree behind ONCE UPON A TIME is stellar, the creative license invoked is testing whether or not the product is truly viable.

Was it smart for ONCE UPON A TIME to kill off a principal character in episode 7? Particularly since fans were already showing signs of restlessness and dissatisfaction with the direction the show was heading. The show had promised that Emma Swan's return would break the curse and return the "happy endings." Yet within 6 episodes, viewers had quickly figured out that "happy endings" were not being delivered and they were tuning out; and by episode 7, a beloved character had been killed off. With ONCE UPON A TIME off the air for three weeks, it begs the question of whether fans will want to come back now that they know that the writers are willing to break their hearts. After all, who wants a repeat of LOST? No one wants to stick around if all the characters they fall in love with are killed without regard as to whether the viewers have invested in them and all the stories that they had hoped could be told.

Every writer is quick to state that they need "creative license" to bring their vision to life. But television is a business. It is all about seducing viewers and convincing them to tune-in and watch a particular TV show each week. Driving viewers away is only guaranteeing that a show will be canceled and no stories told at all.

It is time for writers and showrunners to recognize that they must work within the confines of the established world of television – television audiences are looking for something that they feel like being a part of each week. Shows like NCIS, NCIS: LOS ANGELES, THE MENTALIST and MODERN FAMILY have figured it out. Viewers want a surrogate family to visit each week. They want to invest in the characters' lives and share the journey they go on. Killing characters only reminds viewers that the writers have little value or concern in what the audience wants. No one wants their "surrogate family" torn apart or their newfound "friends" killed off. Killing characters rarely wins new viewers and frequently upsets established viewers who will seek out other TV shows to call "home."

Too much creative license can back-fire spectacularly. A writer may think that a character death is the answer to creating conflict and a storyline. But beware fickle viewers who do not see things the same way. Killing our "friends" only pisses us off – and if you are advertising your show, which promises to bring back "happy endings," then you had better deliver. LOST is best remembered for not answering viewers' questions and killing off its core characters, and no one wants to revisit that sad ending. Let's take "creative license" and use it more constructively – and to all those executives out there crunching the numbers, pay closer attention to the damage being done by writers/showrunners who are sabotaging their own shows with the liberal use of "creative license." No one really cares about creativity – we just want a show that we all will tune in and watch — and sometimes "happy endings" are just what we are looking for.
Tiffany Vogt is a contributing writer to The TV Addict. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower). Tiffany also writes as a columnist for NiceGirlsTV.

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I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

2011-12-10T11:11:00.001-08:00

Fwd: Happy Birthday from Cheap Ass Gamer

2011-12-09T22:13:00.001-08:00

WHOOOOOOOOOOO
A day early but I have been celebrating all week yo!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Cheap Ass Gamer"
Date: Dec 9, 2011 9:01 PM
Subject: Happy Birthday from Cheap Ass Gamer
Hello eye-shuh,
We at Cheap Ass Gamer would like to wish you a happy cheap ass birthday! Enjoy!

random PAX swag codes

2011-12-04T17:30:00.001-08:00

I don't know if anyone will want these, but I have some random codes left over from PAX that I won't be using anytime soon. Perhaps someone out there will find one they want and be happy!

Female Xbox Avatar RAGE shirt: 66W6M-9QCPP-PM3XK-CH2D4-R9VJZ
Bloodline Champions Starter Kit (4 Bloodlines & 5$ worth of Bloodcoins): 47PNWATUYFV3BN66
Spiral Knights "Prime Bombhead Mask": AWDF-CF79
Spiral Knights "Prime Bombhead Mask": AW7P-JJRH
Lord of the Rings Online mount: ZLXCHPJ43PDWFHE3YWWRRTH4C
Civ World on Facebook 25 gems: DGPLU4QQXMYS
RIFT Dwarven Smithy Goggles: FJ2Y-PQQP-XJK7-GLLD-KJ7E (pretty sure this one is already used but not 100% so posting it anyway)

Feel free to try and plug away if you want one. If it doesn't work, then someone already claimed it!

Yay, now I can clean off my desk!

stealth?

2011-12-04T11:54:00.001-08:00

Stealth is that thing where you shoot wildly into a group of armed guards and then use their piled bodies for cover as more come running in...right?

Side note: Apparently guards forget you are in a room when you go far enough into a vent because obviously vents are too uncomfortable to hide in. In fact, it is so unbelievable that you would want to stay that long in a vent that you can pop out and shoot at them and back up again when they get alarmed as long as you want and they'll still forget you're in there after a few seconds.

HEY HEY LISTEN HEY

2011-12-02T17:50:00.001-08:00

I remember when this game first came out and people compared it to a Zelda-esque experience. Which is why when I got the "watcher" demon guy who lives in my giant hand and comes out at opportune moments to tell me what to do and where to go, I had to laugh pretty hard. He's not annoying as Navi though...he's just kinda a jerk. But hey, demons from the underworld who are sent to watch you because you accidentally brought the apocalypse on mankind early...what can you do? Amirite?

Important Notice Regarding your PopCap Information

2011-12-02T07:41:00.001-08:00

This is not good news. This is not good news at all. I never would have expected PopCap to go to the dark side. For real though, why would they need EA? They must make a killing of their casual games!

Now every time you play Plants vs. Zombies you can rest easy knowing that the coconuts are tracking all your internet browser history and every program you open on your computer and watching you sleep at night from the end of your bed with those big wide watchful eyes.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: PopCap Games <feedback@enews.popcap.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 9:13 PM
Subject: Important Notice Regarding your PopCap Information

Unable to view the email below? Click here.



IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING YOUR POPCAP INFORMATION PopCap is now a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (EA)! As part of this transition, no earlier than January 2, 2012, PopCap will be merging its product offerings and databases with those of EA. EA's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy will thereafter govern any information you have provided to PopCap. To learn more about how PopCap will be making this transition, how the change will affect you, and to read EA's policies, click here.



Read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy in French, German, Italian and Spanish.

PopCap Games | 2401 4th Ave, Suite 300 | Seattle, WA 98121

let the Steam holiday goodness begin!

2011-12-01T18:36:00.001-08:00

Oh, yes. It is December 1st. And you know what that means?! Steam holiday season! Starting today Steam will be giving away the top 10 games on 10 lucky gamers' wishlists to them. All you have to do to enter for the day is log in and just look at the game page of whatever game is on super special that day, which they make extremely obvious at the top of the store page. So go check over your wishlists and click some links this month!

The following is my top ten list. I switched a couple things around when Beau looked at it and remarked "So, you're going for all the 'dude-bro' shooter games, eh?" ....Jerk.

As I side note, because I know someone will comment about it, I have Arkham Asylum on Xbox. Honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of it. I know, I know. Blasphemy. But hey, I'm willing to give it another go on PC. I loves me some Batman goodness, but I hates me some awful game mechanics and button mash auto-targeting.

So...what's on everyone else's top ten?! Maybe I will steal your ideas.

Anti-censorship, senator-dialing widget for your website/blog

2011-12-01T09:25:00.001-08:00

I would encourage everyone to take a look at this and call your senators. The entertainment/record industry has just gone way too far. It amazes me that they are stupid enough to think of something like this, which is a cheap, lazy and ugly way of not having to actually look at issues with DRM and copyright law and come up with real fixes. Gabe Newell for Senate, anyone?

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Anti-censorship, senator-dialing widget for your website/blog

via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow on 12/1/11

Holmes sez, "Fight for the Future have a new way to stop the internet censorship bills: a Senate-dialing widget you can embed anywhere. You enter a phone number and zipcode, it calls you back with talking points, and then connects you to your Senator. You can put it in your site, your blog, your Tumblr page--whereever. Click the "embed" link at the bottom for code you can embed in your site. Take a few minutes to call if you haven't already. It's easy, and the DC-based groups fighting censorship desperately need a steady stream of phone calls to the Senate this week. Most of the outcry so far is against the House bill (SOPA) so there's a real risk the Senate version will slip through."

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I have conquered November!

2011-11-30T07:57:00.001-08:00

BAM said the lady!

It was a close one this year, I pretty much wrote the brunt of my words in the last week or so, but though my finger tips are sore, and my brain is a little fuzzy, it was entirely worth it. There is nothing quite like NaNoWriMo!

Now I will spend the day anxiously awaiting the rest of my guild, the beloved and exalted Guild of the Rough Draft - Rough Writer Order to complete their own challenges and obtain the prize. There can be more than one! (see what I did there?!)

Instant Watch - Snow White: A Tale of Terror

2011-11-17T20:48:00.001-08:00

Since there has been a lot of buzz around the Huntsman trailer that came out I thought it'd be fun to watch Snow White: A Tale of Terror which popped up on the front page of our Netflix today. These events are likely related. I enjoyed it! At the very start and the end they make sure you know that this is the Grimm version of Snow White. To be perfectly honest, while I liked the movie, I can't say I enjoy Grimm over the happily ever after true love's kiss stories that I grew up with. I am pretending this movie is not about Snow White but some other chick who happens to really like poison apples.

Another thing that Grimm did - the dwarves get screwed! I feel bad for them! They should not have helped Snow White. They should have tossed her ass out as soon as crazy shit started going down and called it good. Also only one of them is an actual little person. The rest are normal sized. After watching this the "hi-ho hi-ho it's off to work we go" song will always make me sad.

It's kind of hard to get into this movie from the start. At first the step-mother doesn't seem so bad...she's just one attention whore fighting another attention whore (Snow White/the daughter/Lilli). I can see where she ends up going evil, they make that turn in the story extremely evident and jarring, but before that point I don't really get why Lilli is so disturbed by her. I mean, the lady brings her a puppy! What better way to trick little kids into liking you? On the flip side, I also don't understand why eventual crazy lady thinks Lilli is behind all her misfortune. That idea seems to come out of no where. Well, it comes out of the mirror, but still, crazy lady buys into it pretty quick. OK OK, so the logic probably ends when your mirror starts telling you to kill people, but still!

This was a pretty good horror movie. Not great, but it had some solid suspense and a few jumpy moments. I would recommend it for people who aren't huge on super scary movies but are looking for a bit of suspense and maybe a little faster pitter patter of the heart. Or if you just really like the Grimm version of fairy tales. I can't attest to how accurate this movie is in that respect, but I'm guessing they probably did a decent job.

Two things that have nothing to do with anything:

1) Holy crap, Sigourney Weaver is 62 (48 in this movie) but I'm pretty sure she hasn't aged since she hit 35. And don't tell me it's plastic surgery. Something must have happened on the set of Ghostbusters and now she's immortal!

2) The dude from Ally McBeal is one of the "dwarves" and that made me laugh.

Reasons Not To Buy Video Games At Launch

2011-11-17T10:07:00.001-08:00

This is the third article I've seen that has said the exact same thing. Is it the holiday season? Or do these sites actually think this is a genius new concept? The benefits of waiting to order games is pretty damn obvious. (Most) People don't pre-order or order at launch because they're stupid they do it to either support their favorite dev or because waiting and salivating over a sexy new game sucks. I always have a list in my head of games I'll buy at launch and games I can wait to buy a year later 50% off on Steam.

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Reasons Not To Buy Video Games At Launch

via The Consumerist by Phil Villarreal on 11/16/11

The video game hype machine is geared to spend months -- and sometimes, years -- getting fans to want to line up at midnight sales and pounce on titles as soon as they become available. But it seldom makes financial sense to jump in immediately. You can stretch your gaming dollar by refusing to buy brand-new stuff.
Canadian Finance Blog offers several reasons day-one game purchases are a bad idea.
For starters, just-released games sometimes have bugs that aren't fixed until developers produce downloadable patches after the masses have discovered them. Also, publishers often hold back downloadable content weeks or months after launch to re-interest gamers, but those who wait for the DLC to become available before buying in don't have to take an awkward break before getting the full experience.
Waiting around also lets you buy used games online or at retail, often at hefty discounts. Publishers have started to fight back by charging used game purchasers to access features such as online play.
Lastly, the waiting game pays off best when the pre-release hype turns out to be unfounded and the game turns out to be a stinker. When a would-be blockbuster fails to live up to sales projections, publishers often slash the price in order to move more copies.
5 Reasons You Should Never Buy a Video Game at Launch [Canadian Finance Blog]

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Dragon Age: Redemption Finale

2011-11-15T14:13:00.001-08:00

I just started playing Dragon Age: Origins and watching this short series has made me pretty excited about the game/Dragon Age universe. This was a pretty good ending, though man, Little Elf's girlfriend has some serious self-esteem issues. I'm kinda bummed that this had to be such a short series. I wound up feeling like it could have been a ton longer and still be awesome.

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Dragon Age: Redemption Finale

via Felicia Day by Felicia on 11/15/11

The last episode, the culmination of the characters, the end.
Well, it's been an amazing journey, and it makes me sad to end it because this episode really shows how amazing these characters would be together were they to journey farther. Josmael grew up, Nyree opened up, Cairn and Tallis find redemption. The acting and SFX in this is I think the best in the series, Doug Jones actually manages to humanize Saarebas in a wonderful way. I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't watched, but I look forward to hearing your overall thoughts about the series in the comments below, especially those who experienced the DLC piece with Tallis as well, how those pieces work together.
And please tune in Tuesday night of the finale if you want to our Vokle chat (info and embed in the entry below this one!)

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Misfits

2011-11-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

We've been watching Misfits on Hulu and I am digging this show! It is a dark comedy about a small group of young people who have been sentenced for various reasons to do community service. At the start of their punishment they are outside cleaning when a crazy looking lightening storm rolls in and the five of them get zapped. Once things calm down they discover that each of them has gained a superpower, each power fitting something about their lifestyle or personality. Over the course of the show they manage to get into much worse trouble than they started out with and find out that they were perhaps not the only ones who were effected by the storm.

The show is absolutely hilarious and the situations they manage to get themselves into are brilliant. I just finished the first season, and oh man, it was possibly the best ending for a season I have ever seen. Just perfect. The show continues to surprise me around every turn and it is hard to predict where they are going to take it next, in a good way. The pacing is great. Most of the main characters are legit pretty terrible and/or messed up people, but it's so much so that you can't help but love them. And each one is very distinct and unique from the others.

I am really impressed with this show and I am excited to get started on season 2. I would highly recommend popping on the first episode and giving it a look!

watch instantly: Dumplings (no spoilers)

2011-11-09T06:41:00.000-08:00

Dumplings was really the only "horror" movie we managed to watch on Halloween, but it was enough for me. I really like Bai Ling even though she tends to pick weird movie roles that are pretty hit and miss. This movie was definitely a hit. She was fantastic as the not so mentally stable cook behind the dumplings.

The movie is about a TV show actress who hears about these famous rejuvenation dumplings and despite her hesitation from knowing exactly what the secret ingredient in them is (something they make no secret of in the movie and I see the Netflix description gives it away lol. It's obvious from the start though), she starts on her dumpling youth therapy. The whole time the cook is poking and prodding her along, giving her the little push she needs to keep shoving the things down her throat. It gets to the point where she doesn't think her husband has noticed any change in her and she wants to go to a more "potent" formula. From there it gets even more horrific and disturbing which is pretty amazing considering the way they set up the premise has already set that bar pretty high.

I wouldn't call this movie graphic but it shows exactly what you need to see when you need to see it for maximum "holy shit is this really happening" factor. The movie keeps a really great pace and the whole thing is just disturbing. More than disturbing. There isn't a word for how disturbing this movie is. It's a very subtle disturbing too, which I think makes it even more shudder worthy.

In my book, that's a horror win. I would definitely recommend watching it.

It's also worth noting that abortion plays a role in this movie since there's not a whole lot of other ways to get her secret ingredient. However, it's used as part of the horror as well as a driver for some of the plot, so I don't think it would be offensive to anyone. Regardless of your views on the subject, the movie does a great job of not portraying it as positive or negative thing with regard to debate on the subject. It's just kinda there because it has to be and the way it's used adds to the "holy shit is this really happening".

A Nationwide Emergency Alert System Test Will Take Place On November 9, 2011

2011-11-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

We got sent this information at work in case people get worried and call in, and since they gave us permission to re-share it I thought I'd post it here. Useful info to have:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The EAS test will be broadcast at 2 PM Eastern (11 AM Pacific) on November 9th. All broadcast and cable programming in the U.S. will be interrupted at the same time with EAS tones. The public will hear a message indicating that "This is a test." The audio message will be the same for both radio, television, and cable. Unlike the typical tests that the public may hear or see at random times, this one will be long….up to three and a half minutes. If people don't realize that it's a test, they may become alarmed.
The National-level EAS is a public alert and warning system that enables the President of the United States to address the American public during extreme emergencies. Similar to local EAS tests that are conducted frequently, the Nationwide Test will involve broadcast radio and television stations, cable television, satellite radio and television services and wireline providers across all states and territories.
For additional information, please see http://www.fema.gov/emergency/ipaws/eas_info.shtm

So when your radio or favorite TV show suddenly goes out tomorrow, don't fret! The zombies haven't come yet. They're only making sure everything works for when the zombies do come.

the teddybears are rad

2011-11-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

I like these guys. The music grows on you. Also, this music video is kind of awesome and super freaky. Swedish people are the best at that combination!

Grimm and Once Upon a Time (no spoilers)

2011-11-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

I found it pretty amusing that these two shows came out around the same time. They are both about fairy tales being "real". One is more the Grimms' Fairy Tales version, which while I have never read them I know they have a reputation for being much darker than the more common versions of fairy tales with happy endings, which the other is based on.

Grimm was...OK. I couldn't really get into it. It had the feel of a same old plot sort of deal with the slight fairy tale twist. A person reaches a certain age or has an ability passed to them by the death of a relative to become the next "whatever". They are conveniently never taught about this family secret, despite the fact that they should have been raised from birth to understand it. I'm sure in this particular show they will have some annoying weak excuse later on as to why he was kept in the dark for so long. The first episode had enough action and details to keep my interest and held back just enough that I will probably continue watching the show, but I can see how more than a season of something like this could get old very quickly. There are only so many monsters to draw from, so many situations that can be creatively twisted when you have people who are bound by the "rules" of our world. Which actually brings me to another peeve I had with this show - the main characters are cops, but they spent the episode doing things that cops would never do and/or get sued and/or suspended for doing. It's hard to marry a suspension of reality with regard to fantasy creatures while at the same time trying to ground a show that same reality. Grimm utterly failed to do so. I'll watch it until it annoys me too much to continue.

Once Upon a Time was better. I liked the overlay of lightheartedness but gone wrong...the show had this feel of magic and fantasy, but then it was like that was broken because of events that happened to bring them there. I don't know if that makes sense, but it was the perfect sort of setting and feel for what was going on. The characters in it were much more interesting and I find myself curious to see where they take the show. The first episode is a little bit confusing. They switch between past and present too quickly and not always with a good transition so you're left with a few seconds of confusion as you try to orient yourself to one story or the other. I liked the subtlety of the main character's "super power" as she calls it, and she pulls off being gracious but strong willed well. I could see this show only getting more interesting as they unravel the mystery of how to save their little world and the setting makes it easy to believe in their reality within our own, much much better than Grimm does. I hope they can keep the show on track. I could see it easily jumping the shark in trying to keep the simple plot going. I'll definitely keep tuning in to see how it goes.

EDIT: Oh! I forgot the one thing I really didn't like about Once Upon a Time. They really try to drive home that our world is a horrible evil place. I liked the way Enchanted did it much better. I found the way Once Upon a Time tried to drive it home pretty tactless and harsh.

awesome quote from The Office on fear

2011-10-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

Fear plays an interesting role in our lives
How dare we let it motivate us
How dare we let it into our decision making
Into our livelihoods
Into our relationships
It's funny isn't it
We take a day a year to dress up in costume
And celebrate fear

- Robert California (James Spader) from The Office, Season 8 - Episode 5 "Spooked"

why does Staples hate my fingers and back?

2011-10-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

By "new packaging" they mean that 1) the boxes have less red, which is cool because now it won't rub off all over my clothes and 2) they don't have handles anymore.

No handles. They are saving money by making paper boxes with no handles. It is hard to get leverage on a 50 pound box to lift it when you have to squeeze your hands under the bottom of it instead of using handles!

Soon they'll get rid of packaging all together to save money. Then when they realize that they are actually losing money due to the loose sheets of paper blowing out of the delivery trucks, they'll just send us trees and call it good.

science is so fricking beautiful sometimes

2011-10-26T09:22:00.001-07:00

I didn't see this article yesterday, sadly, so I didn't have a chance to look North. I highly doubt we can see this stuff from Washington, but hey, you never know. The universe is beautiful. I am even more determined than ever now: my #1 New Year's goal for next year will be to start on my road to becoming a Space Physicist. Then when the time comes, I will be ready for Starfleet Academy.

From the stars, knowledge.

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Gorgeous aurorae

via Bad Astronomy by Phil Plait on 10/25/11

A few days ago, the Sun unleashed a blast of subatomic particles, a massive wave of plasma that swept out into space at speeds of millions of kilometers per hour. On Monday, October 24th, that coronal mass ejection slammed into the Earth's magnetic field, compressing it, and causing a secondary wave of particles to cascade down into Earth's atmosphere at high speeds. These particles struck molecules in the air, ionizing them, which then glowed fiercely as electrons recombined with their parent atoms.
In English? Tremendously bright northern lights! Check this out:

That was taken by photographer Eric Hines on the shore of Lake Michigan last night. You can see the glow reflecting in the water! Another photographer, Randy Halverson, took an amazing shot as well and said the aurorae were "insanely" bright, and on his website commented they were so bright it was hard to get them exposed correctly. Universe Today has a lot more pictures as well.
Aurorae were reported as far south as North Carolina and Arkansas! This was a big magnetic event, larger than we've seen in some time. It's already dying down, but you never know: there may be some activity tonight. It never hurts to go outside and look to the north. If you don't look, then you're guaranteed not to see anything.
Image credit: Eric Hines, used by permission

Related posts:
- The comet and the Coronal Mass Ejection
- Stunning Finnish aurora time lapse
- The Hunter, the station, and the southern lights
- NASA's guide to solar flares

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sometimes i think "i need to INSERT ACTION like a mother fucker"

2011-10-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

But then I think, how does a mother fucker do something? Like, if I have to pee like a mother fucker, how does a mother fucker pee? Do they pee different than other people? Why do I have to pee like a mother fucker instead of like a normal person? Are mother fuckers normal people? Do I really just have to pee like myself?

Then I think of this song and the rest of my thought trains goes off the rails.

the CDC plans for the inevitable zombie invasion

2011-10-21T12:16:00.001-07:00

Bahahaha! I officially love the CDC for putting out a Zombie Preparedness page and comic book. [source] I have put a lot of thought into my zombie plan for the the hospital is inevitably taken over. I work in the basement near the morgue which puts me at an immediate disadvantage, BUT my area is its own fire zone with strong fire door, I'm below the MRI machines which means my walls are super reinforced, and the cafeteria is also on this floor. I figure the zombies will start coming out of the ER or OR before they start popping up in the morgue, so I'll have a little warning. I fully intend on turning the backpack I use to carry my work-out clothes into an emergency kit that I can take with me anywhere. So, all I'd have to do is hole up for a few days to a week. The hospitals will be the first places they hit...and then the first places they leave.

Once the coast is marginally clear I can make a melee weapon out of any number of heavy things in my office and resupply in the cafeteria as needed. Then, once I'm able to block of the morgue and secure most of the basement I'll start filling one of the ambulances out back up with non-perishables from the cafeteria and drugs from the pharmacy, including sterile needles, equipment, and microscopes. Once I've got a decent stock going I'll drive home and grab Beau. I think it's safe to assume that cell phones and internet coverage won't be obliterated immediately, so we'll have probably stayed in contact. I'll retrieve him and our roommates from the basement of our house where they'll probably have been blockaded in and then we'll all head to the prison.

The Walla Walla penitentiary has high walls with barbed wire, its own source of energy from the windmills, I assume its own water supply, guns, ammo, food, etc. By the time we make it there it will definitely be a place the military are taking citizens for the safe zone. They'll welcome us with open arms because our supplies will not only add to their own but make it easier to screen people's blood. I imagine we'll have to vote on what to do with the prisoners in order to make room for citizens, but that decision hopefully will be able to be postponed a little while, if made at all. This town is full of farmers...farmers with shotguns. I'm sure we'll have the city more or less under control at first.

Then it's just a waiting game for the CDC to come out with a cure. Despite what The Walking Dead thinks will happen to the CDC, I have faith in them.

Now I just have to learn how to operate a HAM radio and some basic survival stuff like good knots!

i read a stupid game review of Dungeon Defenders. that pretty much sums up this post.

2011-10-21T08:24:00.001-07:00

OK, this is the last thing I'll post about Dungeon Defenders (probably) and then I'll give it a rest. Last night I had a ton of fun with the game. Didn't even realize how late it got until I was told that it was past my bed time or else I would be dead in the water at work! The Monk is an awesome character. I loved his easy combination of ranged and melee and how his weapons let you pick and choose which you want to do more of. We cheated last night so I didn't get to use my auras very much, but they seemed like they could be super handy! I am not high enough level yet to use the one that turns mobs against each other but I'm excited for it.

Anyway, this morning I happened across a review of the game that someone posted on Twitter and I could immediately tell from the title--that it was the "best Tower Defense EVER"--that they had received a review copy of the game from the publisher. Sure enough by the time I got to the end of the review there was the little damning sentence of confirmation at the bottom. Why do I think they weren't being honest in their glowing review? Well, it was barely a review. 3/4 of the article was just describing the game. Then there's a little blurb about something that is wrong with the game but they played it off like it was no big deal after all, and then ended it with a Oh trust us! We promise if you like any type of video game ever, you will like this one more!

First off, the game is a little buggy. Not game ruining, but worth mentioning. More than one of us had issues with it randomly switching us to gamepad enabled mode when there was no gamepad connected to our computer and had to reset the game to get it to bounce back to mouse and keyboard. There are a few other jolts and freezes here and there, but nothing to really write home about so I could probably let those pass. The biggest annoyance for me was that we weren't getting Steam Achievements, but I couldn't say whether that was a game glitch or a Steam glitch.

The art is simplistic but fun. I would like to reiterate again that the Huntress looks like a blow up doll modeled off a cheap whore. I get it. They were making "clever" jokes on RPG characters. Good job Trendy! You noticed that video game women tend to have giant knockers and visible butt cracks! Man, you are so smart. We totally needed that pointed out to us. That was definitely original and clever. Good job. /sarcasm

I would say that this is a challenging Tower Defense game but not the best I've ever played. It's fun to be sure, and the player combat combined with the towers, traps, auras, bumpers, etc. is a hoot. However, this game is only challenging the first time around. After you have a high level character you can just cheat and bring them in, set up their superior defenses and offenses, and then let your lower level characters stand around doing nothing and gain levels. We mostly goofed around and shot at things anyway when the big stuff was put out and dominated everything, but the point stands. Also, I still hate the static cross-hairs, uncontrollable auto-aim, and the worst nonadjustable camera angles a game has ever seen. Those three things nearly ruined the game for me until I relaxed into hack and slash mode and didn't try anymore.

And seriously, there is not a large RPG element. I wish people would stop saying that. At best, there is a weak RPG element with the combat and the stupid freeze frame by frame story telling between major levels. Oh look! Your base for picking levels is in a tavern. If I throw a tavern into a game does that automatically make it an RPG? Apparently the answer is yes according to some reviewers.

It is a solid, fun, mostly original as far as I can tell, kooky Tower Defense. I agree that it's a good game that people should play that has a great price point. I just hate seeing all these ridiculous worshipful reviews that don't give you any real reason to want to go grab it and don't mention any of the game's very noticeable flaws or picks one flaw to point out to sound like they're being fair but then write about it like they didn't really think it was a flaw in the first place.

I don't know. Maybe it has more to do with the writing of the reviews? Maybe they just suck at journalism? I'm not this cynical about all reviews that are glowing for it, there just seems to be a great many that sound incredibly fake mixed in with the few honest ones that actually talk with you about the game rather than copy/paste the publisher's PR release.

tl;dr I woke up late this morning and read a retarded game review that made me ranty. I want to read a positive review of Dungeon Defenders that doesn't just sound like a publisher hand job.

omg I was so wrong about Monk in Dungeon Defenders

2011-10-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

Dude. Dudebros. The Monk is AWESOME. He's got these little fireball ranged attacks that his staffs and axes can enhance, he does mondo melee damage, and his auras are bomb dot com in slowing down and incapcitating the mobs. Plus his butt crack doesn't show!!

Dungeon Defenders is officially awesome now. I am really enjoying it now that I have a playable character!

Lesson learned: The only good thing about the Huntress is that she is the only one that can use the Portal Gun from the pre-order. I am tempted to level her up to 20s just so I can use it, but right now I am enjoying my Monk too much!

I named him Aang.

few thoughts on Dungeon Defenders

2011-10-20T08:17:00.001-07:00

I played Dungeon Defenders last night a little bit. Not enough for a real review but I thought I'd share my initial thoughts after playing a few rounds.

Do not take other reviewers lightly when they say this game is difficult! There were three of us playing on Medium as an Apprentice, Huntress, and Squire. We breezed through a few of the rounds but got stuck and had to rethink our strategies over and over when the game really started throwing its big guns at us. Flying monsters out of no where and giant Orcs that toss your defenses around like they're nothing. I quit that round for fear of running over my bed time, but my companions were able to beat it shortly after. The monsters scale to the number of players. I think we could have won with me there if I had more time to work with them on fine tuning our strategy and teamwork.

I played the Huntress. Her ranged weapons were fun but I found her traps to be pretty lacking. They have a short amount of use and are difficult to repair mid-battle. In the end I think the most useful thing that a Huntress can do is to use her Invisibility and run around repairing other character's defenses while weakening flying monsters and the tougher mobs with her arrows. Maybe throw down a trap here and there outside defenses when the bigger mobs come out.

The Apprentice was a very good class to have around. He could set up towers that shot down the flying monsters and worked as a great last line of defense for our crystal. We didn't work very well together at first so I can't verify this, but I think an Apprentice/Squire combo is probably the best you can use. They could both set up pretty nice towers and blockades.

In my view, the Squire was by far the most useful. He could set up really nice defenses that as a Huntress I could just stand behind and help out on one side while upgrading and repairing them. Not only did they hit hard but they completely blocked streams of monster travel.

We didn't play with the Monk. One of the guys I was playing with said that the character wasn't very useful. The description on him mentions healing, and if that means he can heal other characters then, yes, he is useless. You can heal yourself with very little effort or mana to full health in the middle of battle as often as you want. If he can heal defenses...so can everyone else.

Based on my brief experience I wouldn't recommend playing solo. It's definitely a multi-player game and I think that's where it will draw the most appeal.

Bad things: The actual "RPG" part of it with the fighting is really terrible. You can't adjust your camera to any kind of useful view and the cross-hairs for firing stay overlayed on your character and are completely static making it really difficult to aim at anything and move at the same time. They definitely focused more on the Tower Defense side of things and didn't do a great job mixed genres as they claimed in all the PR stuff. It's still fun, but trying to have much of an effect outside setting up traps, towers, and defenses was mostly useless. The exception of course could go to the Squire who gets to hack at things with a giant sword and probably doesn't have to worry too much about aim.

Worst thing: You see the top of the Huntress' chubby butt cheeks and butt crack the entire time. That's what you get to stare at when you play her. Why? Why would they make the entire top third of her butt visible? Stupidest art/character design I've seen in a game in a while.

Overall it was a decent, fun and challenging game. I was disappointed but I'll probably play it a little bit more before I call it quits.

Also, I just realized I never saw head nor tale of my promised pre-order Portal Gun or TF2 pets! Lame.

EDIT: I was SO VERY WRONG about Monks! They are awesometown!!

EDIT2: I only played in multi-player and the crates containing the Portal Gun and TF2 dudes only show up when you start a local game. lol Oh well. Can't use the damn things yet anyway. Not high enough level!

stargate sg-1, you are the love of my life

2011-10-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

I seriously can't believe that Stargate SG-1 announced it's cancelation after the 200th episode. It did not disappoint and had me rolling with laughter pretty much the entire time. The Farscape reference killed me! You gotta love Ben Browder and Claudia Black.

The studio executives behind that decision truly must not have souls to have seen this episode and still cancel. As if to give proof of this fact, we get the awesome quote at the end:

Science fiction is an existential metaphor that allows us to tell stories about the human condition. Isaac Asimov once said, "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinded critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all."

(youtube video link)

I want to marry this show and have its babies.

achievement unlocked! made the world a better place.

2011-10-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

Shit. Yes. Sweet, sweet fireworks.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated! You guys rule! It is 6AM, I decided to weather out the rest of the night with the team for funzies. I think their brains have almost completely broken down by now, so it was really nice to see that meter hit the top!

As I understand it, Extra Life will stay open for donations until November, so feel free to pop that 100% over the top if you are so inclined!

please help out! last chance to donate to Extra Life! do a lot of good, torture some hilarious people, and save some lives!

2011-10-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

Extra Life is THIS WEEKEND! Tomorrow in fact!

The Epic Default team is so very very close to their goal of raising $4000 for the Children's Miracle Network and that is amazing! Let's help them reach their goal! Anything you can spare helps, and it all goes to children's hospitals saving lives and making lives better.

If you need more incentive to donate besides watching the hilarious folks at Epic Default torture themselves for the night, I'd like to share the email I got a little while after I donated. I definitely got a bit misty after reading it and it made me so happy that I was able to contribute.

Let's make one last grand push and bust up that 4k goal!

Good afternoon.

As one of the generous people who has donated to an Extra Life player’s fundraising goal this year, I wanted to write to say thank you. THANK YOU for your help to cure and save children around the world, by making a local difference at a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital and our international Extra Life partner hospitals.

Today I have the privilege of introducing you to Jo Ellen Enmon, whose daughter, Tori, inspired me to create Extra Life.

As we enter the home stretch this week, I asked Jo Ellen if she would like to say anything to the roughly 10,000 gamers who have taken on Extra Life for their local hospital. Below is her letter to them, which I also feel very strongly is a letter to you as well. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.
Your Extra Life gift truly honors Tori’s family and her memory, and I don’t know that any combination of words could ever adequately convey our gratitude. So as I introduce you to Jo Ellen Enmon, please accept this simple…

Thank you.

Tori never quit. Neither should you.

With no further ado, meet Jo Ellen Enmon.
Jeromy

FROM JO ELLEN:

Dear Friends,

When you hear a child say that God doesn’t cure everyone – you immediately think that they are talking about an older person with an illness. Never did I in my infinite wisdom believe that they were talking about themselves – but they were. And never did I believe that something so awful could affect one of my children. Now I have learned the difficult way, that God does not cure everyone – and that everyone’s name was Victoria.

Victoria, or Tori Jo, as her friends called her, arrived on June 15, 1992 as our third child. We had two girls and a boy, and our family was complete. We thought our life was pretty perfect until….

When Victoria became ill at the young age of 11 – and the diagnosis was Cancer – our world was rocked.

Imagine being 11 years of age – and hearing the word CANCER and knowing that the person who had CANCER was YOU... I can’t even imagine how she felt. When the doctors told her, I saw her tears and I saw her little shoulders shake and I knew at that moment, that our lives as we knew it would never, ever be the same again.

Victoria never cried again! She faced so many, many obstacles and so many bumps in the road, yet she never gave up hope. Once as I was combing her golden blonde hair and it began to just fall out in large clumps, she ended up being the one to reassure me! She told me “it is just hair Mom!” As I comb my hair each day, I am reminded of what she told me. I will never, ever, talk about having a bad hair day!

If I could tell you one thing to remember about Victoria would be that she was always positive that she was going to beat Cancer. She never gave up Hope and she never lost Faith! Her courage was endless. She was a fighter. Today I want you to be a fighter for Victoria and a fighter for all of those children who spend endless days and months in a hospital. For these children the simples things are the things we take for granted. Victoria’s last simple request was to go outside and see the Christmas lights. A very kind man, Jeromy “Doc” Adams granted her that simple request and was able to push her around the grounds of the hospital so that she could see the Christmas lights. Going outside is something we all take for granted. Unfortunately it was her last Christmas gift. She was never to see another Christmas light here on Earth.

When Victoria passed away, I knew again, our lives would never be the same. The hole in our heart is always there and each day I have that reminder that there is never a “do-over” in life. I can not go back and do this over and make it right. I can not make it right for Victoria. That is the guilt that I carry with me each and every day. Victoria never got to go to high school like other children, she didn’t get a driver’s license, go on a date, or even get to graduate and there was nothing that I could do to spare her life. I, as the Mom, could not find a drug that would have cured her, and so I had to tell her goodbye….I felt like I failed her.

As you prepare for your event – please do not give up Hope. Encourage your friends, one more time, to give from their hearts for children like Victoria. Please do not make this their last Christmas! Continue to keep battling for Victoria – and for the other children – YOU CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE! One day we will all see the difference you have made in the lives of a children with cancer and other serious diseases and injuries– they will be cured and saved. We will all know how you made that difference in your efforts to heal sick children. Thank you all so much for what you are doing for the children!

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.”

With love,
Jo Ellen Enmon
Mother of Victoria (Tori Jo) Enmon

best breast cancer awareness video ever made ever

2011-10-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is "wear pink" day at my work. We pay 5$ to wear pink, the 5$ of course going to breast cancer research. I am going to send this video to all of my coworkers. And possibly our CEO. But first! I am going to take some time to do a self check! ;) I love my ladies and I wouldn't want any of these fine gentlemen to be disappointed in me. Heehee.

new Muppets Trailer

2011-10-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

OMG this movie is going to be amazing! XD

i love these head cutout things IRL

2011-10-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

I only wish we had three players at the time. Heehee. Fun times to be had in the Borderlands DLC!

glitch is the creepiest game ever made

2011-10-11T09:53:00.001-07:00

So...Glitch. I played this game for 5 minutes. Why only 5 minutes? It is a creepy ass game! I feel like this is one of those games I'll never understand like Heavy Rain. It's not really a game. You just kind of walk around aimlessly interacting with your environment. Occasionally you have to renew your energy and hunger, which seems to be a pretty easy task. Everything about this game gave me a horrible feeling...the cute factor was taken too far. I was afraid that at any moment the Children of the Corn were going to ask me to build a happy smiling sand castle with them out of body parts next to a sea of blood while we sing a pretty song.

OK, so maybe I'm a little imaginative and I watch too many horror movies. Still, is this game suppose to be some kind of zen gaming thing?

I drew the line when the game had me bite a pig to harvest bacon. Let's think about that. A happy smiling pig lets you pet him, and then has you rip the flesh from his back off with your bare teeth in order to make bacon for you to eat while he just congratulates you on how well you're doing.

I fear games like this will always be beyond me. I am not a conceptual gamer. I need a little quest box in the top corner telling me which alien leader to assassinate.

Netflix Abandons Qwikster DVD Plan, my crazy theories

2011-10-10T08:41:00.001-07:00

OK, here's my theory. Reed Hastings owes the mob 100k in loan money and interest that he took out in order to start Netflix. However, he can't pay them back because of the way he makes his paycheck from Netflix funds or something. So, he's getting hassled by the mob and suddenly he has a crazy idea! What if he purposefully lowers the stock price on Netflix, tells the mob to buy it up, and then puts the company back together before selling to a big name like Amazon or Walmart and theoretically double the stock price back up.

So, first he hikes up prices. Unfortunately that's just not good enough. He underestimated how much his customer base needs the service. However, it does bring up an interesting trend. Instead of quitting the service, half of his customers switch off DVD to streaming only. Interesting, he thinks. How could he use this to drop stock prices? BAM! Qwickster is born! He alienates and screws over half the millions of customers easily while still managing to piss off the other half. Stock prices plummet. The mob buys out stock.

Now, the timing has to be just right on this one. He cancels Qwickster, which he is surprised no one notices it was a hoax. He never even went to the trouble of securing it a twitter handle. Then, he sits back and waits for the prices to slowly rise. Soon, a large established company will come sniffing at his door wanting to buy Netflix. They'll do the rest of the work in raising stock prices once he's sold out.

PLEASE NOTE: None of this is true, please don't sue me. lol. This is just the first thing that popped in my head this morning. Sometimes I think I have the mind of a super villain. Though I *do* think Netflix's next big announcement will be the one where they finally sell out to a bigger company. Amazon is the most obvious choice, but I think it could go anywhere.

Sent to you by eye-shuh via Google Reader:

Netflix Abandons Qwikster DVD Plan

via Mashable! by Todd Wasserman on 10/10/11

In the latest twist in the Netflix saga, the company has backed off a plan to offer a separate service for DVDs under the Qwikster name.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced the change Monday on Netflix's blog, stating, "It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs. This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster."
The company also announced it is "done with price changes" after its unpopular decision to raise prices in July.
The move appears to be an acknowledgement that the company's moves over the past few months have alienated many consumers. In addition to raising prices on consumers who use both the streaming service and DVDs, the company also announced a plan last month to make the two services separate and rebrand the DVD service as Qwikster . The move baffled many and was perhaps further complicated by the fact that Netflix had no control over the @Qwikster Twitter account.
The series of dubious decisions has been hard on Netflix's stock price, which lost half its value in September.

last chance to donate to zombies, run!

2011-10-08T01:50:00.000-07:00

Zombies, RUN! only has a few days left on its Kickstarter campaign if you're wanting to donate! Those who put in 10$ or more will get the full "season 1" of the game which is supposedly a 20$ value. To be honest, that price bothers me for a phone game, especially since they've well exceeded their fundraising goal. The game better be more than amazing if it's going to cost over 20$ for all the content.

That said, the game does sound pretty fantastic. It tracks your running/walking/jogging and gives you little story snippets along the way. Then when you're done exercising you can go in and use what you gained from your time spent working out to fortify your base and play the game. It is a pretty dang cool idea to get people motivated. The more you exercise the better you'll be able to defend yourself against the zombie hordes in-game!

I'd love to see this sort of thing adopted to a full on PC game. I would run all the time if it meant experience points for, say, my Borderlands character. lol

I've been trying to find some motivation lately for exercise beyond using it as my reading time. I thought Fitocracy was going to fit the bill, but I find that it didn't really do anything to make me care about what level I was. The system they built felt rather meaningless. I think Zombies, RUN! does a great job of taking that idea of a gaming related reward system and integrating it in such a way that actually makes you want to get up and go. Hopefully the devs deliver!

watch instantly: Splinterheads (meh) & Wristcutters: A Love Story (good) (no spoilers)

2011-09-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

- Splinterheads was not great. It was cute-ish but dragged a bit. The main character was not at all likable, he was extremely annoying. I'm not sure what they were trying to go for with him besides that he was a complete loser. He wasn't even the lovable kind with some sort of redeeming quality...he just kind of sucked until the very end of the movie. There was no reason I could see that him and his love interest should have ever gotten together and the flimsy story the girl gives for her situation sounded half assed, like they wrote it in after because they knew the audience would wonder how an intelligent attractive girl got herself where she was. It had a couple humorous moments, but not nearly enough to carry the movie. At the end it just felt kinda pointless. Pretty much the only cool thing that came out of watching this movie is now I know about Geocaching!

+ Wristcutters: A Love Story has a pretty interesting premise. When you commit suicide the afterlife is just like regular life but it sucks just a little bit more and is kinda drab. It really is the ultimate punishment: you kill yourself to escape life but then get stuck living a slightly suckier life for eternity. This one was also a bit slow but the dark humor and plot played off well to make up for it. The first word that comes to mind is "cool". The movie was just cool. Great plot, fantastic premise, good actors, and an ending I didn't entirely expect but should have which left me happy with it. I really enjoyed this one from start to finish and I was pleasantly surprised to see Will Arnett stir up some trouble. I would definitely watch this one again. Recommend!

stuff and things stardate 92411

2011-09-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

Star Wars ToR has a release date of December 20th, 2011 and...well, I can't say I really care. I was on the brink of being excited for the game but it just never quite hit me. Their PR hasn't been stellar and aside from a little mention here and there when the closed beta launched I haven't sensed the amount of anticipation that I expected for a game like this. I am likely to pass on this one.

Good Old Games is offering a pretty cool deal if they hit 6 million downloaded games the person who hits the number on the dot will get every game in the catalog and everyone else will get the chance to download Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars for 48 hours. I like the idea behind GOG, but sadly I can't seem to get the DOSBox to work. ;_;

As far as I know, nobody died from space debris! (BUT THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR THAT)

Scientists might have found something that goes faster than the speed of light. You know, no big deal. It's just the pillar of physics as we know it. Whatever. So...when do we get to meet the Vulcans?

Speculation continues to abound on the reasoning behind Netflix's crazy moves. They clearly want to focus on streaming, but with a huge loss like Starz, I don't have a lot of hope for the service. Neither do their investors, it seems. I hope Netflix pulls it's head of of it's ass long enough to realize that new streaming services who might have not had much of a chance before are going to start looking a lot shinier to it's customers.

LAWLS. The Foo Fighters serenade some idiots from Westboro Baptist Church who were protesting across the street from their concert. As much as they have the right to protest, you gotta love everyone else's rights to a creative counter-protest!

WELL PLAYED IGN. Where Harley got her hot moves for Arkham City.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil looks AWESOME.

Watch Instantly: Hobo with a Shotgun (no spoilers)

2011-09-23T08:46:00.001-07:00

We sat down to watch Hobo with a Shotgun last night and...well, it's not very good. Haha. The first half of the movie is pretty boring. They spend way too much time setting up the characters and some of the characters just aren't all that interesting. The plot is extremely simple and I don't think I'm giving away any spoilers when I say it's about a hobo with a shotgun who shoots bad people. If you read the summary of the movie on Netflix, that's the entire movie. However, there is a cute little twist with an item that the hobo wants to buy and why he wants to buy it, so it's not all bad.

The violence is very reminiscent of any old Japanese horror flick you might see. At this point I judge most low budget horror off of Tokyo Gore Police. Hobo with a Shotgun seems to hold back a bit. You still get the exploding heads with blood spraying everywhere, but it's much more tame that you would find in flicks of a similar nature. The main bad guy was more disgusting than anything else. I didn't find his "death games" very creative. More just an excuse to use their cheap prop blood and guts because they couldn't think of anything better.

Rutger Hauer plays the hobo, and you'll recognize him one way or another from the myriad of both low budge and high budget (sometimes blockbuster) films he's been in. He does a pretty fantastic job which is a given from his distinguished career as a character actor. He plays the crazy but not quite all the way off his rocker hobo thing very well.

The ending...is an ending. It's an ending that I can't really say I liked or didn't like, the movie was over, and that was all. It's rather abrupt, so you don't really have much time to mull over whether or not you thought it worked. I almost wish they had started the movie in the middle and gave me another half with the same fun gore and ridiculousness of the second half, maybe letting the girl continue the story/journey.

If you're really, really bored, you might as well take a gander at this one on Instant Watch. It has it's funny moments and occasional "so bad it's entertaining" scenes. If you're not desperate for a movie, you can probably skip it.

Better title: Amazon brings Kindle format to libraries and a review of Overdrive!

2011-09-21T19:23:00.000-07:00

Now, I already know that some libraries have e-book programs previous to this. Seattle has one and it is something I have missed a lot since moving to Walla Walla.

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw the announcement that Amazon was starting a program to get e-books in more libraries! I didn't have much hope though that Walla Walla made the list. This is a small town with an old fashioned community. Sure, we have quite a large amount of college kids here, but they tend to stand apart from the rest of us and don't often hang around between quarters.

Despite my skepticism, I decided to hope a little and checked out the Walla Walla Public Library's website.

BAM! I see the above message on the front page! I AM SO FRICKIN EXCITED!

I immediately downloaded the app on the Android market and played around. It's pretty straight forward, like any other e-book reader you might grab on your phone. It has a nice clean interface.

Like the Kindle app, you have to go to a separate mobile webpage to get your books. All in all, it was a painless experience. You pick your library from a drop down menu, enter your library card number, and off you go! I downloaded Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson no issues. In fact, the download was surprisingly quick! Much like the library, you can only get a book if it isn't already checked out by someone else. I didn't find this to be an issue though as there seems to be a huge selection and, also like your average library experience, you can reserve a book. Books are only out for 14 days, which I think is a great amount of time. Easy to finish a book in two weeks and not a horrible amount of time to wait for one that's out.

The biggest issue I had was with the DRM. You're forced to sign up for an Adobe account in order to read any books that are under copyright. The process was annoying, but not overly time consuming.

All in all I am very very happy about this. I do love reading books in paper form, but that is not really an option for me at the gym, where I like to get a lot of my reading done. I was usually restricted to the stationary bike when I wanted to read and then on other machines I would just pop on my music or re-read one of the few books I have actually bought in e-book form.

To be honest, I'm not big on owning e-books. They are convenient but I would rather have a paper book to loan to friends and sit with on the couch.

The awesome thing about e-books for me is being able to read in places I would not otherwise get the opportunity. It is much easier to tap the side of a phone sitting on the display of an elliptical machine than it is to try and balance a paperback!

I hope that people who are against the e-book movement will give this a chance. E-books and audio books are not here to replace paper books. They're here to widely expand the list of places that you are able to conveniently read.

EDIT: Hahahaha, well, apparently Overdrive has been around for quite some time! All Amazon did was add the Kindle format. However, I never noticed it at my local public library before this. :)

Extra Life! Donate for the children! Donate for the glory! Donate because you're awesome!

2011-09-21T11:14:00.001-07:00

Extra Life is an amazing event put on each year that raises a ton of money for children's hospitals across the nation. Gamers try to encourage donors by playing games for 24 hour straight on October 15th, many streaming from their areas so others can keep up with their efforts to keep awake. As if that weren't bad enough, participants also usually take silly requests from donors...anything from dancing in costume to torturous hours of Rainbow Unicorn Attack.

You can read more information on Extra Life here.

Please consider donating. You are helping a lot of sick children have a better experience at the hospital and helping the hospitals save a lot of young lives.

If you'd like to donate to a particular team, I'd like to recommend Team Epic Default. Their streams should be pretty hilarious, you can watch over at Epic Default!

I know at least one person on the Epic Default team is giving to the Seattle Children's Hospital which is where I had surgery as a baby. Since I'm still here today, I am grateful to them! I knew a kid at a foster home across the street from where I grew up who was very sick and unfortunately passed at a young age. Despite the tragedy, his foster parents could not speak enough of how amazing the Seattle Children's Hospital had been and the amount of good they did for him while he was with us.

Please, please donate! Anything you can give helps!

PS: If you are a RIFT player, Trion is holding an Extra Life event! Just log-in and play on October 15th! If you stay up the whole night you can win fabulous titles and prizes! Check out their announcement for more details.

how to cure a paper cut

2011-09-20T10:45:00.001-07:00

Step 1: Cut yourself up good with some paper. These injuries are actually from a cardboard box, but it's the same idea.

Step 2: Wipe vigorously with alcohol. I have little wipes!

Step 3: Cover it with a boo-boo wrap. This...this is actually from cutting myself with a paper drill.

Step 4: Cured! It will usually only take a day to close up this way. Paper is filthy and germ ridden (seriously) so dousing any paper related injuries with rubbing alcohol kills the bad stuff good and dead. Plus, paper injuries are usually small, so the sting from the alcohol isn't as excruciating as it might be for other injuries.

/ Wisdom imparted

Netflix, you dun messed up

2011-09-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

(Note: attempting this via email. I'll fix it later if it gets effed up.)

Oh Netflix. You're trying so hard to save your business, yet failing so badly. Basically, they decided to ease customers into having two separate services for DVD and streaming by, you know, raising their prices with a pathetic explanation that we'll "understand soon". Then, we see why they raised the prices only to be met with this horrible idea of making the one convenient overhead service into two much less convenient and more costly services.

I have a couple questions for Netflix:

(1) Why on earth would people subscribe to your DVD service when they can get Redbox cheaper, who by the way, already had video games? Yes, you get a huge selection with Netflix compared to Redbox, but I just don't see the DVD only as worth it. Plus, come on, Qwikster? Which do you think is quicker, me walking two blocks to a Redbox or waiting two days for mail, three to four with a Sunday involved? And don't even get me started on how the postal service is having huge budget issues and is likely to cut back on general mail deliveries across the country. Aces for your timing on that one.

(2) With Starz continuing the trend of movie companies leaving your streaming service to attempt to create their own, why on earth would we pay a higher price for it? We are getting much less value now.

I think that Netflix knows they are boned. Their service was already trending down, and now they've completely eliminated their biggest convenience--everything under one roof--to give us a dying streaming service and a DVD/video game rental service that you can get much better deals with elsewhere.

Netflix, I am disappoint.


	Dear Isha, I messed up. I owe you an explanation. It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing. For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do. So here is what we are doing and why. Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies. I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service. So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently. It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming. Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated. There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready. For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you. I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly. Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions. Respectfully yours, -Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.

lawls Marcus family portraits

2011-09-18T02:46:00.000-07:00

I never noticed the Marcus "family" portraits up in the Underdome before:

Seriously, best game ever.

stuff and things

2011-09-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

Epic Default is back! Rejoice! They are very funny and have awesome articles/podcasts.

Trion Worlds is doing an Extra Life event in RIFT. Great game, great cause, great prizes. If you're a RIFT player, go check it out!

This video is kinda funny and super random:

You guys, I seriously love Popcap. Crazy Dave gots the mad beats.

So, after watching Stargate SG-1 "Heroes" this story made me want to cry all over again and also hug someone in the military. I realize that the characters in SG-1 aren't real people, but damn if that show isn't amazing and on the mark. Real people like them exist.

Square Enix is bringing some games to mobile devices, which I think is an amazing trend that should continue. Much as I love my gameboys, I am relying more and more on my phone for my quick gaming needs.

I love this picture of me and my boys taken at PAX (especially for the facial expression on Paragas), but I realized looking back at it that I have no information about this game. I barely even know what it is. The people at the booth just took our picture and called it good. They didn't even attempt to sell us the game. I am a little perturbed by this. Yes the gimmicks and swag and pictures and things are fun, but the people in the booths could make SOME attempt at telling a group of gamers a little bit about a game they might buy while they are getting prepped for a silly picture.

i love you Borderlands

2011-09-16T00:25:00.000-07:00

Being at PAX and seeing Borderlands 2 propaganda reminded everyone how awesome it is. The list of friends playing this game on Steam or via other methods keeps growing and spreading. You see one person playing and think "Huh. I loved that game. Maybe I'll start a new character for fun." Then, suddenly your entire list has thought the exact same thing.

How does this game hold up so well? I still laugh at all the boss signs, could spend days doing nothing but running over skags and giggling like a mad woman, and I don't mind doing the same base quests over and over again for four different characters. Not only do the quests continue to entertain me, but they are always subtly different with what spawns and drops. I find myself meticulously working on each character just so I know I'll always have a useful place among a group of three friends.

Not that they would want me necessarily. I generally have important business to get to while the others are off doing missions, like making sure our cars are parked legally.

He'll probably be fine. Probably.

Nothing ever gets old for me. Nothing seems repetitive. I always have fun no matter how much money I have to spend getting reconstructed from an assortment of inspired deaths.

I am forced to conclude that Gearbox has some sort of video game magic dust they sprinkle over each copy. Perhaps they hired a wizard? Trade off for not taking Leprechaun gold? Or maybe, just maybe, they have a fantastic team that is going to deliver an amazing Borderlands 2. Fingers crossed for that one! (Or another Leprechaun)

X-Men: First Class and Cowboys & Aliens double feature review! (no spoilers) (and also Tangled review at the end)

2011-09-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

OK! I have decided to jump back on the proper blog train. No, really. I am getting a little tired of Tumblr spam, as fun as the platform is. I remembered that I posted my short reviews of X-men: First Class and Cowboys & Aliens on my Google+ but never in an expanded form.

tl;dr - X-men: First Class good, Cowboys & Aliens bad, Tangled awesome.

I’ll start with the one I liked: X-men: First Class. To be honest, I don’t have a ton to say about this movie, except that it was great! The movie itself is pretty sad from beginning to end and will definitely leave you feeling bummed. However, the story, acting, characters, scenery...everything about this movie was really well done. It’s worth seeing this one, even if it is a bit of a downer.

I have slightly more to say about the one I didn’t like: Cowboys & Aliens. I was ready and waiting to see this movie since I first heard the name of it announced. X-men: First Class was an afterthought to this one, since we went to see it in the drive-in theater and drive-ins generally play two movies. Man am I glad X-men was that second movie!

In all the positive reviews I’ve read, the main positive point seems to be that it is a “true Western movie with a cool alien overlay” which is complete bull. Those people have never seen a Western. If anything, Cowboys & Aliens pays a hokey tribute to Western movies with half glued together elements from a handful of them. Now, that would have been fine with me if there had been any redeeming qualities of this movie, but there just weren’t.

It’s incredibly boring with sequences that take way too long to complete and move on, the same action repeating over and over again. The acting is dry and as much as I love Harrison Ford I can only imagine his character works because that’s just the kind of quirky guy he is. His persona fits well for Westerns; I’d love to see him in a real one.

Olivia Wilde is probably the worst thing about the movie. The only point or worth of her character is to wrap up the story because there was absolutely no other way they could have done it. The movie works itself into a nice little impossible place and her character seems to be written over the top of the movie so that they have some other ending than “and then the aliens killed them all. The end.” Honestly, I would have preferred to see the characters try and fail than to see them skip out on a real solution.

In the end, I guess that’s what I get for expecting so much. I should have guessed it was going to be a terrible movie. It had a great director, great actors, and a great premise...when you put together such obviously fantastic elements with the anticipation of a huge hit, you’re bound to get some laziness in actual execution.

I did like the reason the aliens came to earth. That was fun.

I would barely even recommend this one for a rental. Maybe check it out on Redbox for a dollar just to dispel any hopes you had.

Man...I don’t want to leave this on such a bad note! Hey! Hey guys! You know what was a super awesome movie that will make you smile forever?! Tangled! It was awesome! Fantastic edition to the Disney princesses. Plus the movie is great for all audiences with a broad scope of humor and entertainment. I was really surprised at how genuinely funny it was; both Beau and I were rolling on the couch with laughter the majority of the movie. The ending has a very classic Disney feel. The plot goes by pretty quickly, but I like that it’s short, sweet, and to the point. It sports beautiful and smooth animation with great voice acting that is just spot on. The songs are super fun! I haven’t been a huge fan of recent Disney movie songs (with the exception of Enchanted), but here they work them in with some fun twists (which made me love it more because it reminded me of Enchanted).

Seriously, awesome movie. For reals. Go watch it. I caught it on Netflix Instant Watch, so it might still be there! Watch it and be merry my chums!

Video Games Awesome's cosplay review including the rad Princess Peach

2011-09-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

This show is awesome in general, but I LOVE their review of some of the cosplay at PAX. They crack me up!

The Princess Peach they interview definitely made a splash with her incredibly accurate and well constructed costume. I am extremely happy to see that she also apparently has a hilarious and awesome personality! I hope she comes back next year!

(video below. Just realized it's not showing up in RSS)

ew...

2011-08-26T17:09:00.001-07:00

PAX posts not looking good from the Blogger app. Gunna transfer those to Tumblr and then just do a round-up here!

amazing fan made Portal video

2011-08-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

This is just fantastic:

OK Go and The Muppets - Muppet Show Theme Song

2011-08-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

What was that? You're looking for the best thing ever you say? Well, it just so happens, I have the best thing ever right here!

hostel living, night 3

2011-08-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Well, we've moved on from "girl who can't turn off her alarm" to "lady who doesn't think it's necessary to have her room key". She literally, as far as I can tell while I'm here, has never opened the door with her key. She has knocked on the door every time. I think she's packing up to leave today, so maybe she thought it was OK to not have her key for a one night stay?

This morning I also had the amazingly fun experience of walking in on not one, not two, but THREE people who didn't lock the bathroom door. One was showering and two were on the toilet. I don't care how fast you think you can pee, there is never a reason not to turn the little lock from "vacant" to "occupied".

Best part? After walking in on the showerer, which I luckily didn't see anything because I caught the sound of the water on time to avert my eyes and quickly shut the door, I went past to a different hallway and on my way back I saw that the door was now marked "occupied" from the lock being turned but the person left the door partly open. I'm going to allow for a slow clap on this one.

So, here I am, sitting in bed, kind of afraid to go take a shower for fear I will walk in on several more people. At least I get to listen to my roommies have their tearful goodbye from knowing each other for 24 hours. Am I crazy, or is that weird?

hostel living, night 1

2011-08-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Last year at PAX I booked the Green Tortoise Hostel for the weekend, but it was right after I got together with Beau, who was staying at the Sheraton. Thus, I got an upgrade and mostly slept in his room.

This year I am in town a week early so I decided to give the hostel a real try. So far my experience has not been horrible, but that 1000$ I would have spent staying an extra 5 nights at the Sheraton is looking more and more reasonable, even compared to the mere 150$ I spent for 5 nights here.

Now, I could just be overreacting...I am awake over two hours earlier than planned. Why, you may ask? Well, as it turns out, one of the girls in my room has an alarm that is great for waking up every person around her at 4:30AM, but not the actual owner of the alarm. It really is a magical device. It went off for a solid 10 minutes before one of the other girls went murder-face and angrily woke the owner up to tell her to turn it the eff off. By that time though it was too late for me. I didn't have to wait for a shower, which was nice!

Breakfast here is an interesting affair. You have the people who know what they're doing walking confidently around the kitchen glaring at the people who don't know what's going on instead of, you know, offering a little help. Besides some cut fruit and sliced bread it's completely serve yourself so you have to cook your own eggs and pancakes. I would be OK with that if there was more than one spatula that was easy to find.

Waking up early did allow me to observe my blunder from the night before. A much smarter girl in the bunk below me had all her morning stuff set out so she wouldn't have to bumble around in her suitcase like I did. She also had flippity floppies, which in my genius I forgot. Showering in Keen sandals is comfy but now I have some extremely wet shoe wear.

The beds are for midgets. Not joking. I am 5'3" and my feet hang over the end. I'm not sure I even want to call them beds for how hard they are. Even the pillow was rock hard. I considered napping on the carpet.

Also, and I say this without prejudice for hostels as I came here with an open mind, I'm pretty sure one of the girls in my room is doing drug deals out of her suitcase. She had no less than three strange shifty looking men in our room (which is against the rules) and she would rummage around, grab something out, hand it to them quickly, then leave.

At least none of them farted.

how to be a sexy cleric

2011-08-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this here too from Tumblr because it still makes me laugh:

And for the low low price of free, you too can learn how to be an awesome Cleric in RIFT! The Cleric attempting a mating ritual with me in the video above is actually a good friend of mine who recently wrote a fantastic article for RiftJunkies.com about leveling. Go check it out!

less than three

2011-08-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry Blogger. I keep lying to you. I keep ignoring you for Tumblr. But then Brenna went and had to make a comment about how Tumblr was basically just a place to reblog silly pictures, and, well, that's pretty much most of what I do on Tumblr. Lawls.

I also read recently that something crazy like 70% of Tumblr is photographers and illustrators. I am neither of those things! I do like the platform though and I wish Blogger had as nice of a phone app as well as audio hosting.

I'll probably still post a bunch of PAX stuff on Tumblr (OMG PAX IS COMING), but perhaps I'll do a daily round-up type thing here. I think that would work out dandy.

Oh look! Something hilarious!

Knights of Badassdom

2011-07-24T12:24:00.001-07:00

YES PLEASE.

The Hobo Wars

2011-07-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

ZOMG! I'm finally done! I present to you guys, my NaNoWriMo from 2008:

The Hobo Wars

A few notes:
(1) If you don't know what NaNo is, it's this super cool creative exercise where you write 50k words during the month of November. You aren't allowed to edit, just write. It's really hard but also really fun.

(2) That being said, this story was written for fun! It is extremely silly, full of plot holes and kinda nuts. Once you get to the end of NaNo, you just sort of write whatever pops in your head. lol

(3) If you are easily offended, don't read this! It is not politically correct at all.

(4) This is in no way shape or form a commentary on homelessness, the military, crime and punishment, morals, ethics, or whatever else you might think of. I promise you, there is no subtext or anything between the lines. It all started with a random idea I had and snowballed crazily from there with very little actual thought or research put in. That's NaNo for you!

(5) I'm hoping that in sharing this, others will share theirs as well! So many people have told me they are afraid to share their crazy stories, and I say let it fly! It's fun!

so, if your taint is moist...

2011-07-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

These are the best things ever, collectively.

Really Netflix? Really?

2011-07-12T12:38:00.001-07:00

FU Netflix. "Better reflect costs" my ass. You just realized you were practically giving away streaming for free and wanted to make more money.

I'm quitting the internet.

i forgot to lock my computer...

2011-07-11T23:52:00.000-07:00

adult wesley crusher?!

2011-07-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

I missed you blogger

2011-07-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Tumblr is just so neat! But Google+ has got me hot for Google again, and I missed you my Blogger love. I got this for you:

This is the reason I watch Star Trek, and sci-fi in general. In every show, movie, book, video game, story...we get to explore the potential of humans. And humans always have amazing potential.

reason #152 why Defiants are better than Guardians

2011-04-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you're rolling around in the lower level PVP areas, you'll come across a lone Guardian trying to quest. Now, we can't have that! So, you kill their face. In the few seconds it takes you to destroy them, they take the time to type out things like "stop it!" and "why are you killing me?!" because they are really stupid and don't understand how a PVP server works.

Then you continue on your way, only to be stopped by a level 50 character who murders you and says something douchey like "next time maybe you'll listen!" because the lower level Guardian ran to their higher level mommy/daddy.

Now, the only mature and responsible thing to do in this situation is to go grab your own high level characters and start destroying some low level Guardian footholds just to spite them. Once you've done that as well as killed any and all Guardians in the area, you can log out your character on a cliff and wait for new prey while you continue to quest.

I literally can not believe the amount of Guardians that have told me to stop killing them in the open world PVP areas. Just because you suck at PVP does not mean I'm going to be like, "oh, my bad! How dare I start shaming you and your poor gaming skills!"

If one more Guardian emote "sighs" at me or my party as we kill them, I swear I'm going to put together an army and put an end to the "contested" status of several areas. We will own them.

PS: If you are a Defiant and you're not on Emberlord, we're not friends anymore. And if you're a Guardian on any server our now former friendship was a LIE.

Gone with the Wind is THE most awful movie in history

2011-04-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

Seriously, someone explain to me why this movie is, or ever was, so popular. I don't understand. It is terrible. Scarlet O'Hara is a legit psychopath - she has no real emotions. She pretends to feel things so that she can get her way and destroy anyone in her path while acting like a petulant child throwing a tantrum the whole time. There is just one likable person in the entire movie, and she get's tossed under the bus from the start. Not to mention that it's hard to like a movie that tries to glorify the old south. Fuck the old south. The only fun thing about the setting was that I could yell things like, "Yeah! Down with Lincoln! What a douche!" and "FYI: You guys lose this battle and the yankees rape you. 'MERICA."

There is absolutely nothing, NOTHING even remotely romantic about this movie. The two most famous lines are taken completely out of context every time you hear them in modern times. I waited four damn hours to hear "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" and the line is basically just the culmination of everything horrible that can happen in life. When he says the line, he's giving a big ol' middle finger to everything that happened to him in the movie and runs off to forget about it like the audience should have done.

The moral of this movie: life always sucks, no exceptions. No matter how nice or terrible you are, it doesn't matter. You're still going to get screwed. Money might not buy happiness, but FYI your life is going to suck no matter what you do, so you might as well face it with a shit load of cash.

The movie is on Instant Watch. DO NOT WATCH IT. Unless you want to spend four hours of your life wanting to tear your eyes out and then shoot yourself.

Noodlin

2011-04-07T14:15:00.001-07:00

This is what it looks like when you make home made noodles!

Here are the notes that I took while Stu was teaching me. It was actually not very complicated, just a LOT of work when it comes to the process of turning flour and egg into noodle. If you can make sense of my notes, you should try it!

free form pesto noodles with chicken

2 large eggs per cup of flour (one cup per person?)
Kneed together until smooth (see picture of egg and flour volcano, slowly add flour to eggs in the middle) (and seriously, this will take FOREVER to get the dough smooth enough. and you will get egg and flour all over yourself.)
Let sit under plastic wrap for 15 minutes
Roll out to 1/16 inch or preferred thickness (this will also take forever and make you want to die)
Put through pasta machine or suffer through cutting into strips

Hang on hangers (I think it stretches them? the reason doesn't really matter though since it's just fun)

Heat olive oil in pan medium heat
Salt and pepper chicken generously
Seer chicken
Turn when just white
Season with rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, coriander
Let cook
Turn and season with rosemary, basil, garlic
When golden bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until done

Cook noodles. They don't take long since they are fresh.

Fry chicken with pesto and add cooked noodles

Done!

Stuff for dipping cut up French bread into:
Balsamic vinegar with pinch of salt, reduce - high temp for fast boil
Reduce heat to mid-low until barely liquid
Put extra virgin olive oil mixed with rosemary and little salt in a bowl
Spoon in reduced vinegar

Amazon App Store Failtown

2011-03-25T07:44:00.001-07:00

I downloaded the Amazon App Store as soon as I saw an ad for it because I sign into way too many computers to check my email, so there is no way I'm giving Google my credit card info. It's a pretty sweet app - looks just like any other Amazon store which I love, plus you get a free app everyday that you'd normally have to pay for.

So, I woke up this morning at 6:40 to my dog snoring especially loudly. Usually I wake up at 6:30 to my second alarm saying "ok its seriously time to move your butt out of bed now! Go go go!"

I groggily checked my phone to see why it had forsaken me only to find that the Amazon App Store needed an update.

I was like "Dude, why did you turn off my alarm?"

And it was like "Sucka please, I am way more important than alarms."

And I was like "Not cool man. Not cool."

And it was like "Gimme updates hoe!"

And I was like "F U dude!"

And it was like "I need some updates, man. F'reals, just gimme some updates. I'm coming down hard, man. Just give me updates bitch!"

And I'm like "Yo, this ain't what I signed up for. This friendship is over."

And then it was like "Khaaaaaan!" as I uninstalled it.

So now you know why I didn't have time to shower before work this morning.

Am I just too stupid to find the "would you like to stop crack addicted apps from thinking they're more important than your alarm? Yes/No" button?

I love you blog

2011-03-16T13:29:00.001-07:00

Thanks for all the good times. I got you these flowers. I heard blogs like flowers.

Easy A - what the hell, here is a blog post

2011-03-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

I have exactly 6 minutes until my RIFT patcher finishes updating, so here is a quick word about Easy A!

The Quick Word: AWESOMETOWN!!

If you loved Juno, you will love this movie. If you hated Juno, you will love this movie.

Easy A manages to take it's smart, sometimes borderline snarky but mostly just light and humorous dialogue and put it together into the perfect movie flow. Unlike other movies that have attempted the same thing, this movie does not leave you wanting to strangle any of the characters.

The acting is fun and quirky (high five to Stanley Tucci who is amazing at everything even when he's in bad movies, which this is not), and the premise for the movie is dubious but made into a hilarious spectacle. They take a perfectly predicable plot and toss so much shine on top of it that you barely notice you've seen this movie before. In fact, they want you to recognize that you've seen this movie before because that is actually an inside joke within the movie! MIND BLOWN.

Plus, now I want my life to be an 80's movie.

Go watch it fool!!

(OK, hopefully RIFT is done now. Smooches!)

The Time Traveler's Wife (light spoilers)

2011-03-13T23:52:00.001-07:00

I was really surprised at how good this movie was. It could be that I am only impressed because I was expecting it to be so bad, but I enjoyed it.

They do a great job of taking a simple concept - a man who involuntarily travels through time at completely random moments - and play with how that might affect his life and the lives of his wife and child.

This is not even a little bit a sci-fi movie, so if you watch it don't expect any explanations about his condition. That was something I actually really liked - they give just enough of an idea of what is happening to him to give you some context without having to spend a lot of time with the hows and whys.

Probably the most interesting part of the movie for me was when he and his wife were trying to get pregnant and she had miscarriages because the fetus was actually time traveling out of the womb. I also love that the places he was 'pulled to' as major events in his life play an unexpected roll in the turn of events throughout. The movie focuses on these sorts of problems rather than the concept of time travel itself which I think give it a really unique story.

A friend of mine had me borrow this and I'm glad she did! I definitely recommend giving it a watch. It's surprisingly not heavy on sappy romance, so don't worry too much if that's not your cup of tea! I think this movie is something that most people could enjoy as long as you take it at face value and try not to dig deep and ask too many questions. I know lots of people are incapable of that, so don't watch this if you are a movie critic or movie snob. ;)

Did you ever want to press a button or pull a lever really really bad but you knew that if you did something bad would probably happen so you have to leave it alone and see it every day and go a little crazy making up stories in your head about what it does?

2011-03-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

I can relate.

the new transformers trailer confused the crap out of me

2011-03-09T21:18:00.000-08:00

OK, so, Beau and I were watching True Grit (awesome movie) and suddenly the following trailer comes on:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810159115/trailer

As they're building this thing up I start laughing and whisper to Beau "I hope they find a Transformer!" HAR HAR HAR ...wait...what's that Beau? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS ACTUALLY A TRANSFORMERS TRAILER?!

The ridiculousness about me joking about them finding a Transformer and then sitting there shocked while they actually find a Transformer in this horrible trailer is so immense that I my brain might have exploded a little. I officially can't watch this movie. Turning the moon landing into a secret Transformer operation was too much for me to handle, lol.

The glory of the sound transit link train

2011-03-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

Sometime in December 2010 the city of Seattle finally opened the long talked about link train between Seatac Airport and Downtown Seattle with several stops along the way.

IT. IS. AWESOME.

I was fully prepared to pay 15-30$ to take one of those special busses/vans that pick you up at the airport and drop you off at different hotels near the convention center.

Instead I paid 2.50$ and got dropped off right at Westlake. TWO FIFTY. The train is a super smooth ride, fast, and comfortable. (that's what she said)

There are terminals all around the stops to purchase tickets (cash, credit, and orca), and it's super easy to find. Once you get off at Seatac just hop up to the main parking garage floor, cross the sky bridge, and follow the arrows.

Anyone coming to PAX Prime should know about and use this wonder, because it will save you money and probably a lot of time since you don't have to fight through traffic.

You're welcome.

EDIT: OK, Apparently I am really stupid and this has been out for over a year. Lawls. My bad. I DON'T LIVE IN SEATTLE ANYMORE AND NEVER WENT TO SEATAC WHEN I DID.

The government is on top of things

2011-02-22T16:18:00.001-08:00

Yup. I just now got my 2009 tax refund. All 4$. On a check that is cleary void. I'm rich!

Never Meet Your Idol - Community 2.16

2011-02-21T00:11:00.000-08:00

nostalgia

2011-02-21T00:03:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Old School Reading Rainbow Theme: ""

Anyone need a free to print paper planner / calendar for 2011?

2011-02-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get bored. And sometimes I want a planner for the new year that looks exactly like I want it to. Then when you combine those two things, you get a bunch of different planners and calendars that I made when I was bored.

A wild page has appeared!

If you need a weekly planner or a yearly calendar or some other random printable stuff and you don't want to pay monies, feel free to click above and print one for free! Wheeeeeeeeeeee

Note: These are nothing fancy, just super simple stuff I did in my free time.

Clever Girl « Here’s What I Think…

2011-02-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

OK, so I said in the comment that I would re-blog this if it was in blogger, but then I remembered I have a little "blog this" button in Chrome! Wheeee! Continuing my stealing of people's posts, go click on that link, because Loki is awesome and this post made me smile lots.

Clever Girl « Here’s What I Think…

RIFT open beta...go download it right now!!

2011-02-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

RIFT is holding an open beta starting tomorrow (Tuesday Feb. 15) and going on for a week! Go download it...you know you want to!

In case you don't know - RIFT is a WoW clone (I've heard it's also like Everquest) with some fun twists. The class building system is unique and interesting. You get three "souls" within your class, each giving you a different combination of abilities. Dumping points in each allows you to create a very custom build. It's very Diablo-esque but more in depth. The environment is pretty cool too. I haven't had a chance to play around a lot with the rifts, but the way they interact with each other and with the characters is amazing. (Plus you can open a rift over people in PVP and mess with them. Heehee.)

The beta is completely free and completely open starting Tuesday...so why wouldn't you try it?! Fool!

I DEMAND THAT YOU CLICK HERE AND DOWNLOAD IT RIGHT NOW!

Logitech diNovo Edge

2011-02-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

We got a fancy new wireless keyboard for our TV! This thing is so slick I just had to blog about it! It's a Logitech diNovo Edge and Beau has been wanting to get it for our TV ever since we attached our server to it. The keyboard looks gorgeous and has a sleek little charging stand that will fit just about anywhere. It IS a fingerprint magnet, which is a little ironic for a fancy keyboard, but only if you are really trying to smudge around the keys. Therefore, I can not recommend this if you have children. The touch pad is very responsive which makes up for the small size. Though you don't really need anything bigger for a gadget like this. We haven't experimented too much with the search buttons, but the volume non-button line is nice. Also, don't press the moon unless you want to turn your server off, lol! I kind of wish the left and right click was a non-button button like the volume, but you can just tap the touch pad to click, of course, so it doesn't matter too much.

Best part - it glows a pretty orange when you press things!

Anyway, if you are in need of a cool wireless keyboard for your media center, I recommend this one!

Testing official Blogger app!

2011-02-11T21:51:00.001-08:00

Yay a completely pointless Blogger app! It is really not hard at all to just email posts in, lol. Especially since it seems like this app has pretty much JUST that functionality. :p Oh well, maybe they'll add more later.

Below behold my vicious dog! (It took me 20 minutes to take that picture. Silly thing thought my lazy butt actually wanted to play.)

yesssssssssssss

2011-02-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

Watch instantly: Weather Girl and Desert Punk

2011-01-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

If you liked Timer it's very likely you'll enjoy Weather Girl. Both movies have the same kind of feel, though Timer was definitely more clever. However, Weather Girl was pretty consistently hilarious which is pretty amazing for such a simple idea. It's about an early morning news weather girl who is dating the anchor of said morning news show. The anchor cheats on her, she finds out, and the whole thing runs on with the silly concept from there. The movie wastes no time and almost immediately sets a great pace for comedy that it retains. I love the relationship between the main character and her brother - it's the kind of relationship one might actually have with a close brother. I also really enjoyed the struggle she had with being a 35 year old woman and having to choose between wanting a grown up life with a stable job and a man to support her and just saying screw it and taking the fun less certain option instead. If you like lots of laughs and quirky romances this one's for you! Plus it takes place in Seattle! XD

Desert Punk is a horribly perverted anime with a main character who is completely insane, driven by his dick, and has no redeemable qualities at all. Example: He takes on a little girl as his apprentice because he sees a picture of her hot mother and thinks that someday the little girl will grow up to be just as hot and then he can play with her jubblies. Seriously. It is so friggin hilarious! The show constantly steps over the line and I am always surprised at how far it goes. It's really hard to tell if the the Desert Punk is really clever or so stupid that he gets lucky constantly because no one would ever consider that someone could make such retarded moves. The show takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where humans are a dying breed. People have to do whatever they can to survive, and in doing so, constantly betray and rob each other. It makes for some hilarious moments. Even the announcer who sets the scene for every episode kills me. For real, you have to watch at least one episode. You'll be so shocked by it's perversion and hilarity I guarantee you'll watch more! Note: Not for prudes or people who take things too seriously. :P

Below are the end credits in English, because I think they are super neat!

UPDATE: Don't watch any episodes past episode 12 "A Change of Heart". All the episodes after that are total crap from start to finish. You can tell by the change of awesome opening and ending credits. After that, only the last episode is worth watching, it's a good end.

birthday batman stories

2011-01-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

I meant to compile these after my birthday but I kept getting distracted. I posted the following message on my Facebook wall the day before my birthday:

"Instead of posting "happy birthday" to my wall tomorrow, I want you all to think of a person, place, or thing, fictional or real, and then describe how Batman would win in a fight against him/her/it."

And I got amazing responses! XD

Kal El, last son of Krypton, lies on the rocky desert of a barren world that looks a lot like Southern California. A small chunk of green Kyrptonite lies in his chest, fired from a primitive cannon by the clever space captain. Why did these weird gods make them fight again? Superman winced and coughed blood as he looked up to his killer. "B-Batman will...avenge me. You'll never see him coming."

Kirk, his shirt torn, laughed dramaticially. "Batman? Bat-Man?! Kal El...don't you see? Don't. You. Understand?! A man, trained to be the. BEST! at everything he put his mind to? A genius of technology. A suave ladies man who nevergetsattached? A mind that can handle any madness, any terror without blinking? A man who knows humans will always win? A man driven--Driven! to be the best-the EPITOME-of humankind? A...MASTERofDISGUISE?! Superman. Before you die, you will know...

"I. AM. BATMAN!!"

[Robert M.]

Batman vs. Hitler reincarnated as the cutest puppy you can imagine. The puppy gives Batman the cute face. Batman just straight-up kicks the puppy. Because Batman does not f*** around with Hitler puppies.

[Travis H.]

Batman vs. Chuck Norris. This can only end in tears...

[Jessica BD.]

Batman vs. Izzy's: The only one to lose that fight is the utility belt.

[Stuart Z.]

Batman Vs. Wikileaks. Julian Assange thinks he found Batman's secret identity (you know he is way wrong). Batman uses Wayne Enterprises Internet Service Provider DNS servers to upload a script to the wikileaks site that displays a random name to each new hit to the site.
An anonymous source then leaks that Julian Assange is related to Victor Von Doom, and funds his science experiments.

[Anthony A.]

The first person that popped into mind was my lil bro, as I was just thinking about him before getting on FB. Now I am certain that Batman would easily win a fight against Scott especially seeing as how my little brother, while aging each day, is less than a month from being 14 and to my knowledge still has yet to hit the 5' or 80 pound mark. Not hard at all. I am sure Batman has at times, like say after a hearty Thanksgiving meal, even dropped a deuce larger than my lil bro. The real thing that comes into question in my mind, is what specific defense would Batman have for when Scott goes for the only thing he knows and inevitably tries to junk punch him? I know Batman is your world, so maybe you can answer that for me. And then maybe Larry, Paul, and I can somehow implement said defense for the protection of our own Caped Crusader and Dynamic Duo.

[Bubba]

What if Batman fought Batman? Would the universe explode? Or would it just be an endless but amazing techno-ninja battle, since neither one would break their moral code and finish off the other one for good?

[Jace P.]

Batman always knows your secret weakness - that's why he wins against everything.

[Uhura J.]

I once heard that Batman fought a mountain. Typically he's cool with mountains but this one was in his way. Batman was like "I'll give you one chance to move." The mountain stared back defiantly so Batman destroyed the mountain, but he went a little too far. And this is how the Grand Canyon came to be.

[Josh C.]

Hmmm...well...I think Batman should battle Vinyl Man. Clearly his toolbelt would have an awesome adaptor with a mask in it for him so the offgassing wouldn't kill him, right? I think he probably knows of a sinking village somewhere and can put the gas in giant balloons to help keep the buildings floating.

[Randi I.]

Batman vs Team Shenanigans "Hey guys I brought four lokos!"

[Brian C.]

So, the Goddamn Batman walks into a bar.
The bar tender says "Hey, what're you drinkin'?" Batman draws his batarang, throws it, and it knocks the glass out of the bartenders hand.
"TELL ME WHERE THE DRUGS ARE GOING", shouts the Batman.
The bartender whimpers "I...I don't know what you're talking about...."
So, Batman bashes the Bartenders head against the bar, and leaves.
A Rabbi, a Priest, and a Monk walk into the bar, seeing Batman leaving, and the bartender bloodied.
"Well guys." says the monk, "We can agree on one thing."
"Yeah." says the Rabbi, "That guy is an ASSHOLE."
-END

[Dylan M.]

‎"BATMAN, I MADE YOU" boomed a voice that shook even Batman's nerve a little. But just a little.
"YOU CANNOT WISH TO PUNCH ME. I AM THE ALPHA AND OME-" and God was silenced as Batman punched him in the face. The sound of God hitting the floor of heaven made countless tsunamis worldwide but it was nothing compared to the sound of Batman pile driving God through Heaven. As they both fell down to Earth Batman put God in a sleeper hold.
"You'll thank me for this later." growled the caped crusader as God passed out seconds before both of them crashed into the ground.
After the dust settled Batman stood up to dust himself off and looked at the fallen deity at his feet.
"It looks like I" Batman paused as he put on sunglasses "made you more down to Earth."

[Alejandra W.]

Batman vs.25 birtday candles: Batman sees a giant fire in gotham city, rushes there in his batmobile, only to see that 25 giant candles were lit chasing a woman named isha, Batman swoops isha into the batmobile, as they speed away with the 25 candles chasing them, he leads them to the ocean, the bat mobile turns into a boat, speeds away and the 25 candles follow them into the ocean and the rest is history.

[Mom]

Batman Vs. DIMD
I MUSHROOM STAMP YO FACE BATMAN
~fin~

[Ryan O.]

Batman versus the World of Warcraft.

Realizing that trying beat the game by playing it is futile, Batman arranges for WayneCorp to buyout Activision-Blizzard. He then socks Bobby Kotick in the fun bag.

[Derek D.]

Batman Vs Spaceman Spiff

Batman's conscience prevents him from assaulting a small child throwing water balloons and yelling about space aliens. This changes, however, when he walks through a doorway, and a bucket of water drops on his head. In his attempt to discipline the child, he beats him within an inch of his life. The child cries out to a stuffed tiger, who only watches on with cold, dead eyes.

[Marc S.]

My story is Batman vs the Orgasm-a-tron. Our story starts with batman checking his g-mail. Usually it was full of your typical wrist watches and viagra spam but today was different, as he recieved an invite to the ever exclusive fetish stone cutter society annual 'ho-down'. Batman was excited because he had always secretly had an interest in a variet of fetishes. He put on his tightest latex suit and informed Robin he was going "out to water the daisies".
When Batman arrived at the "get together" he found that all of his enemies had also gotten an invite. He couldn't help but wonder how all the bad guys always get invites and he never does. Before long the party was in full swing. He walked around and visited the various sections and watch the different fetishes going on. Penguin was there doing his whole beastiality thing. Infact each of his nemesi had their own specific fetish they were into (f-u i'm not going to sit here and be clever for longer than 5 minutes).
After a little while of exploring he noticed everyone was headed to the main hall, so he also headed that way. Apparently there was a new gizmo up for display. A man in a tuxedo wearing a rubber chicken on his head (really a rubber chicken? Okay I am getting bored) went on stage and said he needed a volunteer for something spectacular. Just about every hand went up in the crowd; Batman being the cautious type decided to just sit back and watch. The man at the stage looking over the crowd got a view of Batman and instantly called him on stage.
Although he wasn't really interested, he ultimately buckled under peer pressure and got up on stage. A couple of assistance came over and helped Batman into some sort of chair. After securely binding him, they pulled off a sheet and the orgasm-a-tron was now in plain sight.
~~~~~~~~~
You know what, this should probably be sent to you via e-mail. I somehow don't think you want everyone reading the next part :D

[Luke B.]

The Recession: Batman would win in a fight against it by having Wayne Enterprises kick off a huge job creation initiative in its experimental weapons division and kickstarting the East Coast economy again, while simultaneously investigating the underground network of bankers and investment firms that would no doubt link back to LexCorp. Punching would ensue.

[Sam R.]

Batman vs Robot Unicorn.

Batman can't actually win this one because he'd be entranced by the song eminating from Robot Unicorn. However, the unicorn wouldn't be able to win either because it's just doesn't have enough good attacks, so Batman would ride Robot Unicorn into the sunset until inevitably crashing into a rock, where Batman would use his super awesome gadgets to survive while Robot Unicorn blows up...again.

[Lisa F.]

I would like to point out that this entire last story came to me via text message, because Kendall is amazing:

You know, I heard an interesting story, you see Batman heard that his most favoritest person was having a birthday and her girlfriends was stuck across the state in bed with mono. That just wouldn't stand so Batman started digging through the batcave...he knew it had to be there somewhere...finally in the back of the bat-closet under the lowest bat-shelf he found it the bat-self-induced abnormally-small-then-back-to-normal-through-unexplained-science-sounding-things-ray.

Now he was ready, he sped across the country arriving in Seattle on the eve of Isha's birthday. He found the building and scaled the wall with ease...and knocked...then knocked again...and again

"Kendall pssst Kendall let me in"
"Who the fuck is out there...there's no ground...or balcony..what the hell?"
"It's me remember, I use to live with you...Batloft, remember?"
"Wait Isha??? How did you...oh wait...hey Batman what's up?"
"You want to put down the bat?"
"Oh right...so what's up?"
"I heard you were sick"
"Yeah I have mono again."
"I've been looking for things to defeat...and I've set my sights on mono, on your back and open your mouth."
"Uhh...what kind of movies have you been watching Batman?"
"Trust me" Batman said, Kendall looked at him and said "Ummm this is kind of weird."
"I swear on Indiana Jones' sexy-man chest this is all in the interest of science."
"Isn't that what Dr. Frankenfurter said?"
"What? I can't hear you."
"Sorry Batman...nothing important. So on my back, then what?"
"Then I will use one of my bat rays to shrink down, hop in your mouth, and defeat mono!!!"
"But how will that work? It's a virus, how can you defeat it? There's like a million little monos running around in there."
"I AM THE GODDAMN BATMAN THAT'S HOW!!!"
"Well, that's good enough for me."

Kendall laid down on the floor and opened her mouth, Batman placed one foot in her mouth and turned the ray on himself. "I'll be back in 5 minutes." He pulled the trigger and disappeared. Kendall did her best not to move and closed her eyes slowly counting the seconds until Batman would return...only 60 seconds left...only 30...now 10 finally there was a great yell and Batman seemed to appear from nowhere. He was tired...and looked less than his bat self. "THAT WAS DISGUSTING." He turned back towards Kendall, "but now you should be fine."

Kendall gradually stood up and found that all of her ailments had disappeared. "Batman, how did you do it??? I feel amazing!!!" "I don't want to talk about it...get yourself to Walla Walla and we'll call it even." "Aren't you coming?" "I'll meet you there...first I need to shower...for a day." So Kendall hugged Isha all day and that evening Batman came bringing the most delicious bat-cake ever.

[Kendall GP]

New Years Resolutions 2011

2011-01-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

Hrm. I can't seem to find my resolutions for 2010. It's possible I didn't make any, which was smart on my part. The list from 2009 is met with pretty grim results:

- 140 lbs by April 10th (Sakura-con) [Nope. Did make it down to 150 from 175 though.]
- 130 lbs by September 4th (PAX) [Definitely nope.]
- Passing grades in all courses [This went well for a bit while I was taking classes, but ended with nope.]
- Jog at least 3x per week [Yeah, nope.]
- Finish 4 console games [I don't think I even started that many.]
- Finish 2 PC games [I got halfway through Torchlight?]
- Learn to build a computer [Sort of yes! With lots of help from Beau.]
- Let hair grow passed shoulders [Yes! But then I cut it again. Currently at shoulders.]
- Volunteer at least monthly [Wish I had done this one.]
- Save $5000 in savings account [Not even close and no longer have a savings account.]
- Finish 50k for NaNoWriMo 2009 [Yes! I dominated NaNo2010.]
- Wake up by 6am every morning [Nope, but I do now because of work.]
- Major road trip with group of friends, destination tbd [This one is a very sad nope.]
- Actually update Rad Things on time [Rad Things is deceased, so nope.]
- Go back to school full time [That's a big nope.]

I'm glad to see I have at least a couple 'yes' marked in there. And despite the fact that I know making a list will only end in tears, here is my list for 2011:

- More will power in general, but especially when it comes to over-eating.
- Exercise more.
- Save 5000$ for road trip with Beau or different continent with mom.
- Get started on an AA degree.
- Call my family more.
- Sit on the couch less.
- Cook more / learn more complicated recipes.
- Destroy NaNoWriMo 2011 and write more in general.

It's a shorter list, but hopefully do-able!

Wandering the Metaverse: This one's for you, eye-shuh!

2010-12-30T20:56:00.000-08:00

Wandering the Metaverse: This one's for you, eye-shuh!: "He must have a summer home here..."

(I'm going to start a re-blogging trend on Blogger. So eat that Tumblr!)

am I a bad person for loving this song?

2010-12-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

I need to ask my dad if my A-rab grandma is a Lesbanese.

I AM A WINNER!!

2010-11-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

this is all I have to say to CERN right now

2010-11-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

they don't look THAT different...

2010-11-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

A little shoe polish goes a long way!

do you hate small children?

2010-10-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

I saw this in my Google Reader this morning, and it made me laugh a little.

If you vote no on 1098 - The Washington State Income Tax - you obviously hate small children. You should be ashamed of yourself.

It reminded me of this kinda terrible movie I watched on Netflix not to long ago, "Totally Baked: A Pot-U-Mentary". The movie itself obviously has a strong pro-legalize marijuana agenda and I wasn't very impressed with the message. However, they did have a really clever part where some evil senator guy was trying to push through an initiative that was titled something like "Save the Small Children and Adorable Kittens" that was about banning marijuana or some such.

It also reminded me of a flyer I got in the mail for "how teachers are going to vote", which was basically another "if you don't vote this way you hate small children" ad. They gave all the initiatives ridiculous and misleading headlines, and it made me want to vote the opposite of whatever they endorsed.

Anyway, this made me amused as I looked at more "vote yes on this!" or "vote no on this!" ads for this year. Most of them tell me I hate small children no matter which way I vote. Luckily though, so far I still love kittens.

A judge quoted Spock who quoted Caesar

2010-10-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

A few sites have written about a Texas Supreme court case that involved the judge directly quoting Spock and referencing Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan in his footnotes. The judge's reference and subsequent footnote is funny and clever, so kudos to that guy!

However, it made me wonder how much our pop culture will eventually take the place of our history lessons. While Spock's words are original, the idea behind them is not. His quote is a modernized paraphrase of a passage out of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius Caesar.

That which does no harm to the state, does no harm to the citizen.
In the case of every appearance of harm apply this rule: if the state
is not harmed by this, neither am I harmed. But if the state is harmed,
thou must not be angry with him who does harm to the state. Show him
where his error is.

Source: Meditations, book 5

Meditations is strongly influenced by Stoicism, which is why he brings anger up as an issue. Don't be angry at someone who tries to put their needs above the state, instead explain to them why they are wrong.

In the end, it doesn't matter how the idea is stated or where you think it's from, so long as you take away the wisdom that's at the heart of the idea. It just amuses me to think that the words of the fictional, however epic, character Spock from the insanely popular science fiction series Star Trek may someday replace the words a real life person who happened to be an emperor.

I leave you with a silly conversation that I had about it:

Me: This is seriously awesome: [link to one of the articles]

Beau: That's just a re-quote from Marcus Aurelius Caesar...or a paraphrase, would be a better way to put it I suppose.

Me: Shhhh...it's from Spock. And it's law now. Do you hate the law? Do you hate the constitution? DO YOU HATE 'MERICA?!

Beau: No, I just hate plagerizing Vulcans.

wil wheaton vs gamer politics

2010-09-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

Haha, ok, I had to put this together in a blog post so I could actually follow what the eff was going on. Thought I'd post it in case anyone else was confused.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Did Wheaton overreact, or is GamerPolitics just confused about advocacy?

As someone who attended Wheaton's PAX07 keynote, I can safely say there is a lot of value in inspiring masses and lighting a fire under the butts of gamers. He's probably done more good with his words than most organizations could ever hope for. And let's face it, even assuming he didn't do more than that, having someone famous tell the world that gaming is something that is OK in the manner that Wheaton does is incredibly valuable to gamers.

Sub-note that Beau brought up: What else is there re: "gamer's issues" besides Net Neutrality and the ECA (which covers protecting the right to violent video games and DRM nonsense). I'm pretty sure that's it. Those are the issues. What am I missing?

EDIT: Missed seeing this before I posted - Wil Wheaton talks about the situation on his blog. Definitely go take a look!

Researching for a story: high-profile gamers and celebs who game, do they get political and for what issues? Shout out if you know.

GamePolitics

@GamePolitics if you want to follow high profile gamers, I suggest WilW . Will Wheaton is A-list at game cons.

gamergirl80

RT @gamergirl80: if you want to follow high profile gamers, I suggest @WilW. Ya, Wil is good, but what does he advocate for gamers/gaming?

GamePolitics

.@GamePolitics are you serious? What do I "advocate for gamers and gaming"? Really? Are you for real?

wilw

@wilw Err, yeah... Hi, Wil. Big fan, but other than NetNeutrality...

GamePolitics

.@GamePolitics Maybe you could look at my keynotes to #PAX Prime in 2007 and PAX East in 2010 ... or not claim to represent our culture.

wilw

@wilw Hmm, not claiming to represent anything, Wil. And while I've really enjoyed your keynote speeches at PAX, it's not really representing

GamePolitics

.@GamePolitics And talk to the ECA about how quickly they folded when some douche lost his shit because myself a gamerdad.

wilw

@wilw Not sure what that means, or what it has to do with representing gamers/gaming...?

GamePolitics

.@GamePolitics Unbelievable. I can't believe the ECA associates with your organization. I'm withdrawing all support for the ECA.

wilw

@wilw Err, ok... You know that ECA publishes GamePolitics, right? And by me complimenting you, but asking what you advocate, you're pulling?

GamePolitics

.@GamePolitics If you don't know what I've advocated - and continue to advocate - for gamers, you have no business claiming to represent us.

wilw

@wilw So some dusche calls you a Gamer dad, you stop caring about gamers' issues and blame ECA and unleash on GamePolitics, about advocacy??

GamePolitics

.@GamePolitics: I'm insulted, offended, and disappointed. How dare you question my commitment and contributions to our culture. I'm done.

wilw

@wilw Again, I didn't question anything of the sort. I just asked a fan what, other than NN, you advocated publicly for...

GamePolitics

So I asked the Twitterverse what celeb gamers stood up for what Gamer issues. A fan said @WilW. I asked what, other than NN, and... the end

GamePolitics

Since there's been a lot of questions about my research, I'll just say that I was looking for celebs who stick their neck out and found few.

GamePolitics

Regarding @WilW what I found was net neutrality and ECA... Period. Hence the question of the person advocating him as champion of Gamers.

GamePolitics

Paul and Storm Get Thirsty

2010-09-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

This is very likely one of the best things ever.

the hidden and terrible PAX wars

2010-09-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes at PAX there is a challenge issued...

And when that challenge is met, SHIT GOES DOWN.

In the end, we had to kill them all.

(Pictures stolen soullessly and without remorse from genius photographer MetaverseNomad)