A LARP Movie Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

I've never been much of a fan of LARPing (Live Action Role Play), although I did get to participate in a "Live Dungeon" at the Origins Game Fair last month and it was a blast.

I've got enough hobbies as it is and I prefer to sit around a table and play with friends, not subject myself to the whims of a bunch of ex high-school drama queens.  Truth be told, if you like LARPing, go for it.  The worst of you is still several rungs up the geek hierarchy than the furries*

Where Did I Go Wrong?

Yesterday I was hankering for a bite to eat and I figured I would try this recipe for "Instant Mug o' Mac & Cheese".  I had almost all of the right ingredients and it looked so good.

The 3-2-1 Snack Cake, another mug dish, worked out just wonderful, so I was willing to give this a go.

What a mistake that was......

Tindie

This morning I was notified of this cool site by the folks over at Hack a Day.  I don't go around voiding warranties nearly as often as I'd like, but there are times I really wish I could get on-board with a few new projects that I'd have fun with.  Now I might be able to get some projects that I didn't have to hack together myself.

Tindie is basically a hacker/maker's online faire. Think of it as Etsy for more technical geeks.

There are projects to buy, projects you can sell...and my favorite...a "wanted" section.  I can think of a few ideas I've had that simply didn't come to fruition because I didn't quite have the needed resources.

Kick-Ash Cartoon Overview

This was featured on io9 today and I thought it was so awesome I had to share it.

Bonus Video!

Vocal Car Repairs

Those who used to know me years ago might be able to attest that I used to swear a lot.  Industrial-strength Blue (#3727) streak, should have been a sailor kind of "a lot".

I'm certain I still swear way too much around the house, but I've largely cleaned my act up.  You cannot swear at work and I doubt I swear in my sleep, so most of my day is spoken for (pardon the pun).  Believe it or not, I picked up swearing in 6th grade of all places.  I didn't go to a good middle school back in Boston and the kinds of things we said to our teachers.....let's just say I'd kick my own ass if I could come across my 6th grade me some day.

Cool Fan-Made Deadpool Video

Art by Lan Medina

Since my most popular blog post is about Deadpool I thought I needed to share this hilarious fan-made video.  The only issue I have with it is that the credits run almost 25% of the entire video, but even the credits have a few surprises.

Consider this a bonus post....

Karma

If you are like the average American you probably have some electronic device that can get online.  If you are like me you have quite a few of them.  Aside from my smartphone I have another smartphone (not activated with service), a Toshiba Thrive, a Kindle Fire, my laptop, an iPod touch, and and iPad.  I'm sure I have a few more devices if I think about it.....like I forgot my old Fujitsu tablet.

Unless I'm at home where I can use my internet connection I'm pretty much at the mercy of free wifi where I can find it.  My wife and I have an "unlimited" data plan with AT&T, but that covers my smartphone.  If I share that connection with any of my other devices I'm likely to get dropped by AT&T and slapped with a huge fee for "early cancellation".  Instead the big carriers would rather that I purchase a special version of my other devices and pay for additional data plans.

This data gouging has got to go....and Karma is stepping up to the plate to do just that.

Simpsons vs. Family Guy

I remember when The Simpsons was just a clip on the Tracy Ullman Show.  Now that series is in its 23rd season and has over 500 episodes under its belt.  In my opinion that series is a bit long in the tooth.

Family Guy, on the other hand, is going into its 11th season and has 188 episodes.  There isn't a standard number of shows per season.  Personally I prefer Family Guy, but the show seems to have run its ground already and the characters are too one-dimensional.  I'm glad that Family Guy's creator, Seth MacFarlane is moving on to fresher projects.

In my experience, people usually prefer one show over the other.  To bad, because when you mix the two you get all kinds of awesome, as the video after the break will prove.

Bowling For Soup

One of the gifts I got for my birthday was an iPad 3 and a $25 iTunes gift card.  I've just begun playing with the iPad.....which blows the hell out of my Kindle Fire or Toshiba Thrive so far, at least for several things I really wanted to do.  I'll probably blog a bit about that when I get some more iPad time under my belt.

It took me less than an hour to burn through $22.35 of that gift card....buying up some of the Bowling for Soup songs I didn't have.

Red Tails

Yesterday I got to see two movies.  The first one, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, was a weird, but good movie that is hard to blog about.  It is just something to be experienced and I recommend people go see it.

After the movie we stopped off at the store and I picked up Red Tails at the Redbox.  It was a bad movie where the entirety of the film was worth less than the sum of its parts.  At $1.20 to rent I think I paid too much.  The only consolation I have in that regard is that Carolyn and I saw the movie together so it was only sixty cents a viewing.

Happy Birthday....to me

I officially turn 41 today.  Technically I turn 41 at 4:49 PM Central Standard Time, but close enough.

The last few years I've been fortunate enough to spend my birthday surrounded by friends because the Origins Game Fair has been at the end of June.

A friend of mine, who happens to be in AA, gives out books to members of his home group on his AA birthday.  I like that idea, so I've decided that I'd like to take that as something I do.  Now I'm not in AA and therefore don't have a home group, so while I'm obviously modifying that tradition to suit my own needs I'll just make some more changes.  Generally speaking I plan on picking a friend and sharing something with them.

Last year I made a batch of "special" booze and gave everyone who joined us at the Bar on 2.  My friend Jolly Blackburn made me a cool graphic to put on the flasks.

Picture courtesy of Hyatt

This year I kind of repaid the favor and chose to send Jolly a gift of some of the resin gaming terrain pieces I painted a couple weeks ago.

Next year I'll have to come up with something a bit cooler.

Judgement is Coming...September 21st.

I've always said I was a sucker for movies derived from comics, so it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm looking forward to the (Judge) Dredd movie that premiers on September 21st.

This flick looks like it will be a much more accurate depiction than the 1995 Judge Dredd that starred Slyvester Stallone.  The trailer below is proof of that.

Miu

I've just finished with what was arguably one of the most difficult tasks in my 40 (almost 41) years of life, properly burying my cat Miu.

Miu passed away several years ago and I simply did not have the hart to bury her.  Instead I placed her in a cardboard box and put the box in the garage freezer that we really don't use.  I thought maybe it would be easier to wait and bury her after some time had passed.

I was wrong.

Futurama Season Seven Launches Tonight

Futurama's one-hour season premiere will air tonight at 10/9C on Comedy Central.

I wish that we had cable and could watch the premier, but at least we have Netflix.  With season seven starting tonight that means we can watch all the way up until the end of season six now.

I can wait...especially since they've put up this awesome clip of the live-action opening sequence.  That's right....LIVE ACTION.  Check it out after the break.

Working Around the House

One of the joys of being a homeowner, and I'm not being facetious,  is getting to fix and improve things around the house.  With my garage clean-up & organization routine well underway I was motivated to fix a few things that I needed to and wanted to.

Yes, the garage is not finished yet.  I've got the hard stuff done and now just have a ton of fiddly things to deal with.  I've come up with a new method of completing the work where I spend an unspecified amount of time in the garage each day working methodically until my time is up.  Sounds kind of lazy, but what I do is turn on the radio and take note of the first song being played. From then on I just work steady until I hear the station repeat that first song at which point I clean up and pack it in for the day.

Works for me.

Hacking a Wall Poster Into Something Functional

I love this idea where someone decided to hack an office poster to turn it into a means of changing the office music.

Ever since my time in the Air Force I find it difficult to not notice the sounds around me.  Sure, I may not be able to always make out everything going on, but I definitely notice it.  When I worked at Fred Meyer this because a problem for me.

It was difficult to work outside when the local Air National Guard unit was flying because I'd pick up the distinct engine noise of the A-10.  Just made me want to get back into the field for some controls.

Christmas time was particularly painful because there was such a short loop of music.  One year I came close to loosing it since they had four versions of the same song in the rotation.  I would rather go back through resistance training in survival school than listen to that &^#%!# song ever again.  Yoko Ono and a crying baby were more soothing than this one song I won't even look up in fear that I may hear a snippet by mistake.

Listening to music at work is great.....having some measure of control over the music is even better.

Back to School?

This morning I discovered that I qualify for a Veteran's retraining program, so I applied.  I don't know if I'll get selected, but I went ahead and front-loaded the process by re-applying for admission to Boise State University.

There were a few classes I wished I had picked up last time, but I was trying to hurry up and finish.  These classes would be required for the degree/program I'm applying for and I'd have to tack on another seven classes to round out my degree requirements.

Hopefully I'd be able to get into either a work-study program or a part-time job while I'm going to school.  At the very least I would be able to actually apply for some of the paid internships floating around.

I wasn't planning on going back to school, but if the opportunity to get some more paid-for education comes up I'll have to take it.

Ikea

If money wasn't an object...and I had the physical means to do so, I would outfit my home completely from Ikea.

I love their stuff and a visit to an Ikea store is a bit of a trip back to Europe for me.  One of these days I'll probably rent a truck and make a trip down to Salt Lake city (the closest store to us) and load up.  Until then I'll be happy with what we've got.

I like to check-in to the Ikea site periodically, because I like to see the different designs they have.  Another place I like to go that is Ikea related is Ikea Hackers.  People have a good time taking Ikea designs and re-purposing them into other projects.

Ikea always seems to be pushing the envelope with affordable design.  Case in point: Ikea's new cardboard digital camera.

Reading Rainbow

Spent about 11 hours working on a project that will help me with future projects: my garage.  I allegedly cleaned it out last year, but in reality all I did is get rid of some crap and a low-level organization.

This go around is a bit more intense...and my muscles are feeling it.

When I'm done I'll post a before and after pic.

I'm looking forward to getting this space cleaned up and squared away because that means I'll have a place to work on other projects and for once I'll be able to find my tools.

The whole thing started yesterday when I couldn't find my palm sander.....

On the good side an old acquaintance of mine pointed me to this awesome video of Jimmy Fallon singing as Jim Morrison:

Quick Video to Share

This awesome video was posted on io9 yesterday and I found it awesome.

Not only is the video well made, but it does accurately depict how guys would act if given such a powerful tool.

Bearlove Good, Cancer Bad

I've blogged a couple of times (namely here and here) about people stealing artist's work and taking it on as their own.  It happens and sometimes the offended party can do something about it an sometimes they can't.

Web cartoonist Matthew Inman, who does The Oatmeal website had been having problems with Funnyjunk, an aggregate site where members can upload "funny junk" they encounter online.  Matthew contends that Funnyjunk was stripping his identifying marks off his work and then posting it on their site without attributing Inman.  You can read Inman's blog post about the ordeal here.

Salta Vending Machine

Yesterday I was over at Gizmodo yet again and saw something that just shouted out "awesome".

At first it seemed like a stupid idea, but when I saw the video (embedded after the break) my opinion did a 180* turn.

Salta, a Heineken brew made in Argentina, isn't rated highly by beer snobs, but evidently it's a hit compared to other Argentinian beers.  In a country known for it's soccer fans, Salta seems to be popular in a region that is nuts about Rugby.

Tomb Raider Reboot

I haven't been a hug fan of the Tomb Raider games.  I think I played only one game in the entire series because it was a bit much.

To me it was gamer porn, and I don't mean that in a good way.  While it was great to have a strong female leading character in a video game, the fact that it was a rather buxom woman who jumped around....or bounced around a lot.....kind of ruined it for me.

The game I played was basically a puzzle platform jumper with some odd combat thrown in.  The most interesting graphics were Laura's buns & boobs.

The new Tomb Raider game from Crystal Dynamics looks like this franchise is getting a serious reboot.  The initial trailer looks pretty sweet, but it might not be appropriate for all viewers, so I have it embedded after the break.

The Perfect To-Do List?

One thing you might not know about me is I'm a list guy.  I'm also someone who thinks that making lists is a bit on the anal-retentive side, so I'm not huge about sharing or using lists even though I really want to.

Because of this my lists are often mental.  It isn't uncommon for me to mentally tick off the things to add to my to-do list before I get out of bed.

Sometimes I try to actually write stuff down, but those physical lists often get ignored or I end up using the act of writing things down to help cement things in my head.  I do better remembering things I've read than things I've heard, so writing stuff down is useful for me.

A is for Awesome!

A website I do not visit often is io9.com, which bills itself as coming from the future.  In reality it is just another themed blog in a larger family of blogs (Gizmodo & Lifehacker), some of which I do follow.

Since these blogs are inter-related, sometimes posts from one will be reused on the others.  To some this is just a cheap way of adding content, but for others....like me, it is a way of seeing some things that might be missed otherwise.

I'm real glad I didn't miss this gem...

Kickstarter & Supporting Your FLGS

Special Note: I actually started this post to talk about something completed different, but I wanted to segue into that topic and....well...this happened.

I think a lot of folks have had enough with Kickstarter, even though it is going strong.  I think they've jumped the shark and it is only a matter of time before things implode over there.  Don't get me wrong, it is a great idea and it really fills a hole for young start-ups, but established companies are quickly turning it into a method to pre-sell products and cut out middlemen in the distribution chain.

Steve Jackson Games put up an Ogre Kickstarter to raise $20K.  Actually that isn't really accurate as they put up the Kickstarter to pre-sell 3,000 copies of Ogre.  They've gotten 4973 pre-orders so far, but that was with some quick math.  Some folks are getting multiple copies so let's make it an even 5,000 orders.

Gee Chris, that sounds like a good deal...why does this bother you?

Creepy Text Messages

This afternoon I was getting ready to walk my dog Tessa when I got the weirdest text message: "Lets go to the park! *~*~*Mrs. Hutcherson*~*~*" Since I was planning on going to our local park I found the message a bit creepy.

Two minutes later I got the same text message.

While I know this is most likely a wrong number, the fact that this coincided with my planned visit to the park I held off going for over an hour until my wife came home.

We took Tessa to the park without incident and moments after we got home I received another text message from "Mrs. Hutscherson" that read "u cant keep secrets from me"

WTF?  This went from slightly creepy, but coincidental to where is my effen gun?  My first thought was that there is someone spying on me.

I've sent a text back saying that I don't think they are texting who they think they are and if I get any more messages I'll escalate things from there.

This wouldn't be the first time I've had phone problems due to wrong numbers.  One time a company in California put a toll-free area code in front of their local help line number instead of actually using their toll-free number.  My number was printed in all of their tech support materials for a small-business line of cash registers.  I would get calls at all hours asking how to fix their cash registers.  When I told people they had the wrong number they'd apologize, read the number in their manuals and call again.  When I tried to straighten things out with the company they put me in touch with a marketer that simply accused me of stealing their number.  She couldn't understand that it was their people who repeatedly gave out a wrong number to begin with.

Eventually I had to talk to a company VP and threaten legal action.  After all, I was paying for all of these wrong numbers, not to mention my time.  Getting woken up at 5 AM for their East Coast tech-support calls was not what I considered fun.

What would have been fun is getting a hold of the proper manual and then guiding this company's customers over the phone to "inadvertently" ruin their cash registers to the point that they would need to be returned for service.  Then I could give them a bogus address and/or an RMA number.

Yes, I was that cheesed off by these frequent calls.

Here's to hoping this creepy text messenger doesn't push things that far.

Friday Morning Edit: I am alive with my kidneys intact, having received no more creepy text messages.

Left 4 Dead Prequel in the Works?

I got word today that there is possibly a Left 4 Dead prequel game in the works!

Computer and Video Games is reporting that Overkill Games is partnering up with Valve on a project depicting the turn of events that lead to the setting of the Left 4 Dead franchise.

You had me at Left 4 Dead....

Job Search Rant

I've had some ups and downs during my job search this last 18 months, some of which I have shared here.  Finding gainful employment has been difficult and every time I see the news talking about the economy, the job market, or unemployment I just have to cringe.

When I think of the employers I've interacted with during my search I wonder if the economy has had a negative impact on how they treat job seekers.  I've had one.....ONE interview where the employer made me feel valued as an individual.  Most employers seem to treat the whole process of searching for new employees as a distasteful exercise that deserves as little participation as they can muster.

I've been to interviews where it was clear that the job was filled before I had even applied.  There have been interviews where I haven't been notified that I wasn't hired.  More often than not I'll get an email stating that someone else was hired.

Seriously?  If you actually interview someone, someone who has to get dressed up, drive to your workplace and sit through what could have been a painful interview, you OWE them some small measure of personal closure.  Shooting off a form letter or email is a bit insulting.  Even if you have interviewed 10 people, spending a few minutes to touch base with the 9 people you didn't hire is just common courtesy.

A couple of weeks ago I had two interviews.  I haven't heard from the one that required me to drive four hours to attend.  The other one sent me a form email stating they went with someone else.  The email is bad enough and not even hearing from the other is terrible, but what really was a slap in the face was how I got the email from the first interview.

I generally send off a thank you card for the interview, but the last few times I have had the cards returned because the addresses on people's business cards were for the physical address instead of the mailing address.  To hedge my bets this time I also sent off an email to the person leading the interview.  My rejection email was sent as a reply to my thank you email.

Talk about a slap in the face.  The employer couldn't have been bothered by actually having to type my email address in their email program?  Was their time so precious that they had to reduce their response to a couple of mouse clicks?

HackMaster PC Kills at Origins Game Fair 2012

I got back from my annual pilgrimage to Columbus Ohio for the Origins Game Fair.  Attendance was way down, so much so that I didn't even see the people I knew who actually lived in Columbus.

We had four HackMaster games scheduled, but ended up only running three.  The games were a tournament in name only and the "prize" was that a member of the KenzerCo D-Team was going to run a game on Saturday for the "winners" of the previous games (determined by player vote).  The "Final" had to be cancelled due to real-life issues for the D-Team, but since we only had two players show up for the Thursday night game, I pushed back the games one session and ran the last "regular" game on Saturday and invited everyone who had played in previous games that I could get a hold of.

I think everyone had a good time and while it was a bit disheartening to be running one not-quite-full table for most of the time slots, we didn't have any problems.  There was one thing that came up though that I felt needed to be addressed.

Last Interview Down...and Out

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I had two job interviews in two days.  The first interview was pretty good, and even awesome compared to the second interview.

Have you ever sat down to an interview and a few minutes into it realize that you aren't getting the job because the job opening probably doesn't exist?  That was my second interview.

Gaming "Business" Cards

I should be on my way home from the Origins Game Fair.

"Should be" because this post was written in March after I finished up one of my small pet projects: business cards.

Now just any business cards, but a take off of a take off of the old Monopoly cards.  I'm assuming that Jolly Blackburn created the originals.  The KenzerCo guys had these cards that were "Get out of Player Character Story for Free".  They had a crude picture of Bob Herzog as the Monopoly Man getting busted from a birdcage.

A lot of folks have seen those cards, but few have seen the "opposite" card that had Squirrely on it that specifically countered the first card.

Saving with Coupon Sherpa

For over a year now I've been keeping a small second wallet for the myriad of giftcards and store loyalty cards that everybody and their dog seems to issue these days.  Sometimes I keep coupons in there as well, but I have to remember to cut the coupons and then put them in the wallets before I go to the store.

There is no way I'm keeping them all in my wallet on the off chance I might be able to use one, the payoff isn't worth the effort.

I've been using Key Ring to help me get rid of quite a few loyalty cards and now I have Coupon Sherpa to help with some of the coupons.  The app has two components to it, a retail side and a grocery side.  I'm not getting much use out of the grocery coupons yet, but when I'm out and about shopping it is definitively worth checking out both the Key Ring Coupons and the Coupon Sherpa.  Sometimes the coupons are the same ones I could have clipped and carried, but also there tends to be some ones I hadn't ever seen and for places I normally don't get coupons for.

Worth checking out.

WTF GI Joe?!

I was complete set to watch GI Joe this month and for some reason they've decided to postpone the release date and flush pretty much all the money spent on marketing so far down the drain.

The "some reason" is that they decided less than a month before the release date to make GI Joe: Retaliation a 3D film.

Wow.....really?  You decide now you want the movie to be in 3D?  You couldn't have.....I don't know, filmed it in 3D to begin with?  I just don't understand this rationale.

What I do get is that maybe there is too much competition for the original release date, or that maybe Hasbro's stock price can only tolerate one over-priced movie bomb per year.  Maybe the initial fallout from Battleship is just too much for the company to take.

The only silver lining I see is that, according to Deadline.com, this move allowed TED to jump ahead to an earlier, hopefully better, release date.

TED is Real, and NSFW

I'm not talking about the infamous TED talks, which you really should check out, but an upcoming movie staring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis.

The story is about  a Teddy Bear that is brought to life by a childhood wish.  Now that child is older and trying to live life with his best friend in the world.

This movie is scheduled to debut on July 13th and you can get some sneak peeks over at www.tedisreal.com.

Did I forget to mention that Seth MacFarlane wrote the screenplay and is playing the part of Ted?  I'm thinking you could get just about anyone to play the other two leads because you have Seth doing the best parts.

The NSFW trailer (hilarious) is after the break.

Zombie Playground

I know I've blasted Kickstarter in the past, but this particular project a) appeals to me and b) is the kind of thing Kickstarter is made for.

Zombie Playground is a side-project that some game developers over at Massive Black are trying to get off the ground.  From what I can tell, these guys are primarily digital artists that want to take their work and expand upon it.

The whole project feels like Left4Dead (which I love) with kids as the protagonists.  The kicker is (pun intended) that this project is not aimed at kids and not simply a L4D clone.  The game will be a bit of a cross between a FPS and an online RPG.

Because this is an artistically grounded project, I suspect that the visuals will be even more stunning than anything else going on in the recent glut of zombie games.  While I'd love to show you a lot of the graphics they've laid out for the game so far, you should really head on over to their site for that.

I will, however, put up a small video of one of their artists drawing a scene.  I've always found these types of videos really cool because when you think something looks good the artist starts making changes and you get to see the project look even better.