Deadpool Game Less Than a Month Away, But No Gameplay Reveals?

Here we are, less than a month out from the new Deadpool game and there really hasn't been squat for press. I'm seeing more press for the new Krieg the Psycho character for Borderlands 2 than I am for this entire game.

A month from release and no game footage to see? This really is a bit worrisome. There has been some promos for the game, mostly live-action bits of a dude dressed as Deadpool, but pretty much no gameplay.

The closes thing I could find was a small hands-on mini-impression review by Rev3Games. There is a smidgen of gameplay shown and the reviewer says he got to play a bit of the game:

Melting Point

I realize I've been all over the place when it comes to Kickstarter, but this local project is pretty fricken cool.

Melting Point is going to be a long stop-motion animated movie with Legos, also called a Brick Movie. For me, the cool thing is the fact that the Kickstarter Appeal itself is a small brick movie, so right off the bat you get to see this guy's talent in making the very product he wants help funding.

I'm impressed not only by the quality of the appeal (which should in itself be so revealing), but the fact that he isn't asking for a butt-load of money, just what he needs for actual materials/capital to get the project completed....not "pay me to work on the project".

 I really hope he gets this movie made with the help of Kickstarter.

Let's Make Moldy Rice Crispy Treats!

....but not really.

Last week I experimented with making Tempeh, which is a fermented soybean product that is used as a meat substitute. When I pulled the finished product out of the incubator I made my wife took one look at it and said, "You're feeding me moldy rice crispy treats?"

It looks a lot better once when its finished off, but for a while there it really seems like one of those foods first eaten on a dare. Of course I say the same thing about beer, and I like beer. This tempeh was cobbled together from a series of different instructions, most notably from Betsy's Tempeh and Gem Cultures.

Major Munchkin Reporting for Duty at Monsters University

A couple years ago at GenCon I was helping out at the KenzerCo Booth  tearing it down after the show was over. Across the way the guys from Steve Jackson Games were tearing down their booth and they hadn't put away the Munchkin costume yet. A good buddy of mine is one of the Men In Black and demos a lot of Munchking(he actually introduced us to the game). I so wanted to have a picture of me wearing the Munchkin head.

I was warned, several times in fact, that the inside of the head would be quite nasty because it hadn't been cleaned, but I just had to do it.

Fast-forward a couple of years and I'm looking for a picture to use to make a "fake" ID card. The new Monsters University movie comes out in a couple of weeks and the advertising is up in the theaters. One thing they had was this big blank Monsters University ID card on the window. The idea was you could stand behind it and get your photo taken, but the placement of the window sticker was such that you couldn't actually get a picture taken.

Something tells me he is a PE Teacher

I thought it was a funny idea and assumed there would have to be something online to do the same Monsters University ID maker. It is a simple website and it took me a while of tweaking the Munchkin head photo to make it work, but it came out the way I envisioned it.
thing. Sure enough, they have a

Now to just get it printed and laminated.

Tiny Towers Game Exploit: Free Bucks!

A couple of days ago  I discovered an exploit for one of my games. As far as I can tell I'm the first to write about it. This is not a cheat or a hack, but a bug exploit.

I play a couple games on my iPad  and one of them is Tiny Tower, from NimbleBit. Tiny Tower is one of those free games that makes some money off of advertising and "micro-transactions" for players buying a leg-up in the game. Usually you can spend a buck or two, or more likely $10-$20 if you get hooked on the game, obtaining some valuable resources.

Tiny Tower is a building game where you build a tower, stocking it with people and shops. Your goal is to build the highest tower and get your residents into their dream jobs in your shops. Your workers earn coins you spend on building and stocking and there are in-game "bucks" that you can also spend to boost things along. You get these bucks when you build a new floor, fully stock a shop, complete missions, and when it is a resident's birthday.

Recently NimbleBit introduced another way to get bucks, which is by watching a short 10-15 second video for another game or product. You can usually only watch maybe six to ten of these little short ads before the opportunity for free bucks dries up until the next day.

Before

I discovered a way to get unlimited bucks without having to hack anything whatsoever. After the advertising video plays the game presents a final screen shot of the ad with a close button and a repeat button. On your first free buck ad of the day just keep hitting the repeat button to show the same ad again. You can just keep watching that same ad over and over again as long as you like. As long as your iPad doesn't get shut off, like you forget to hit repeat and it goes to sleep, and you don't hit the close button, you will continue to earn bucks, one per viewing.

Unless NimbleBit gets paid for these ads I expect them to fix this bug in a

After

future game update, but for now it works like a charm. I've been hitting the repeat button over and over while I'm working on this blog post and I earned 142 bucks! (More time was spent on making the intro graphic than the post itself)

I forgot to mention that after you finally close out the ads you'll have to hit the "Thanks for Watching" continue dialogue button about a bazillion time....ok probably just once for every video you had watched. If you mash the hell out of it trying to get them to close eventually you'll finish and end up hitting the button for purchasing some bucks. You can back out of that transaction easily enough, but there is the chance your button mashing locks things up because of the attempt to purchase bucks. A simple re-boot will un-glitch it.

This isn't cheating the game at all because you aren't doing anything other than playing the game as it is presented. heck, I'd barely call it an exploit, but my guess is that the player was only expected to get between five and ten extra bucks a day from watching the videos, so the ability to watch 142 in one setting has to be a bug.

Xbox Arcade Game Review: Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale

I haven't played Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition and while I'm not trying to dismiss the game it is fair to say that I never intended to give it a go in the first place. I already have a game I like and a one-off with a system I'm familiar with is OK, but a game that by all accounts is a complete departure from expectations...not so much.

A lot of commentary I've heard regarding 4th Edition was that it played like a video game. I do not have any idea if there is any truth to this, but I've heard it quite a few times.

Furniture Row EPIC FAIL: Flag Desecration

Yesterday I happened to drive by the East side of the mall, something I don't do very often. Usually I'm driving to the mall or somewhere near the mall that requires me to pass by the West side, but today I took the seldom-used route that I avoid because of a couple of intersections near Furniture Row, a collection of four furniture stores under one roof.

As I'm driving by, passing underneath the overpass, my attention is drawn to a HUGE US flag being flown by Furniture row. It's a pretty big flag and unfortunately it catches my attention because it is in pretty poor shape. The flag appeared dirty and more than worn. Usually when I see a flag that sorely needs to be retired it has simply frayed at the end, a common cause for a flag's retirement. This flag was so much worse. It had two extremely large holes at the top end of the flag and it was dirty. This flag need to be replaced and it should not be flown in its current condition.

Picture Taken May 23rd, 2013

I realize that a lot of things can really piss me off, but flying a soiled and sundered flag is decently
high on that list. The fact that it is being used as a promotional tool for an upcoming sale is inexcusable.

I've written an email to the company through their customer website form, but I doubt it'll do any good. I need to figure out how to kick this up a notch.

Textastrophe

This falls under both "WTF" and "Awesomesauce" categories because it has me laughing heartily and scratching my head trying to figure out just what kind of moronic genius came up with this idea.

Textastrophe is personalized trolling at its best. This guy/girl/comedic robot finds people's cell number from advertising and then starts a dialogue with them that quickly spirals out of control.

I really don't want to post any spoilers for these dialogues, but you can see them all at the Textastrophe website, just after a short intro from the comedian itself:
"Next time you post your phone number in a public place, think again. This is a collection of text messages I've exchanged with people who have done just that.

textastrophe@gmail.com"

Enjoy...

CSI Graduating Class of 2013

Today is my graduation from college.

At 7 PM tonight in the College of Southern Idaho's gymnasium I could be walking across the stage as part of CSI's 40th graduating class.

Could be.....but I'm not. I don't see the point in driving 2 hours one-way to get my 2nd Associate's Degree, 4th overall college degree. I think it is great that CSI has an actual commencement ceremony and the folks attending to get those diplomas should be congratulated.

I hope those getting their Associates Degrees move on to earn their Bachelor's and those getting Technical Certificates find the type of employment they are looking for.

I just don't feel the same pride for this accomplishment than what many others would. I'm just looking forward to the next step of the VRAP program which is help getting a job. If it wasn't for this unemployment I hope I would have been working on an MBA instead of an Associates. I'm hoping that is still in my future, but only time will tell.

I'm Off to See the Endodontist

I'm off to get my root canal hacked into by a specialist, an Edodontist.

Good times....

....ok, actually the stuff of nightmares for me. It'll be nice to get this tooth infection taken care of and off the narcotics. Why anyone would consider taking this stuff recreationally is beyond my comprehension.

If I can I'll get a pamphlet so I can show the interwebs what I had done. Gotta share the nightmares......

Triple Crown Award

A bright spot today was the delivery of my last three educational awards from Toastmasters International.

My Toastmasters District, District 15, has a special award for earning.....awards. If you get three educational awards inside of six months (?) you get the Triple Crown award. All my awards are within a couple months, but were entered on on the same day. Either way, I earned my Triple Crown.

I've made fun of the award in the past, but I get how the Triple Crown might help motivate people to get out there and finish up some loose educational award requirements. I know it has motivated me to try and work towards an extra award as my Competent Leader award from this Triple Crown is my second overall.

Toastmasters International Competent Leader Award

Toastmasters International Advanced Communicator Bronze Award

Toastmasters International Advanced Communicator Silver Award

In order to earn my ACB I completed 10 speeches, 5 from the Specialty Speeches manual and 5 from the Special Occasion Speeches manual.

To finish my ACS I had to complete another 10 speeches, but this time I worked out of the Storytelling and Speaking to Inform manuals.

I think I'm getting a lot out of Toastmasters personally and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to improve their speaking ability or really just increase some important  job and life skills. I think that Toastmasters is definitely more cost effective than any speech class I've ever taken.

Not Feeling So Well

It is finals week and I still have two tests and a project to finish up by this Friday. I was all set to get the one take-home test and my project done this weekend, specifically Sunday, when I had an almost literal kick in the teeth.

A toothache started up Friday and was pretty benign until Sunday. Since I had stayed up until 3 AM on Thursday and got up at 7 on Friday I just assumed I did something stupid like sleep on my face. I tend to get really loopy when I'm sleep deprived and dumber things have happened. My lip was swollen just a tad so it made sense and I assumed hoped it'd just go away....

.....but it didn't. Yesterday I was a near vegetable just trying to keep from extracting the painful tooth on my own. Carolyn was at work and I wasn't willing to go to an emergency dentist. All I wanted to do is suffer as little as possible until I could see my dentist. A few drinks in me combined with as-close-to Ranger Candy as possible only went so far. Soaking a cotton ball in vodka and sticking it in like a wad of chew helped a bit more. Only when Carolyn came home with some Oral Gel did things ease up enough so I could sleep.

There was no way I was good enough to work on my test or school project. To put things in perspective, I had the TV on yesterday showing my Xbox Live home screen....for 9 hours. I didn't flip it over to Netflix or play a game until after 10 PM when I was finally a bit on the buzzed side.

I'm sure I was a joy to listen to when calling home for Mother's Day.

We were at the dentist office just after they opened at 7 AM. I have an infection all right, but they want me to see someone who specializes in dealing with root canals. My appointment is at 3:30 PM today. Ugh.

At least I got a script for some antibiotics and pain meds. The bad part then was my pharmacist doesn't open up until 9 AM and while I know we have a 24 hr pharmacy or two in town, I have no idea where it is at. We'd probably spend just as much time driving to it and back as we would just waiting for the local pharmacy to open. Carolyn and I got to go out and eat breakfast together, which was a nice (albeit painful) treat.

It took far too long, but at least I'm safe at home in the process of being doped up. At this point I'm just waiting for the "good stuff" to kick in and hope it doesn't turn me into a zombie like it did last time. I had oxycontin last time and made sure the dentist new about my reaction, so this stuff is dialed back a notch.

If I'm lucky the drugs and the next dentist visit will do the trick and I can get back to my school work and real blog posts.

Stoopid Buddy Studios

I'm about 1/2 way through the fun that is two weeks of finals projects and final exams to finish off this degree. I have one more project and two more exams left. With a bit of luck (having problems scheduling one of the exams) I'll be free and clear by next Tuesday afternoon.

Until then I'm suffering along, more so today than usual. I was up until 3 AM finishing one project and I had to get up at 7:30 AM to go in for an early morning Toastmasters meeting. When I got home I finished a second class project.

Right now I'm trying to stay awake so I don't sleep for the next 16 hours. A good way of doing that is to keep engaged on a mental level. This is where some funny videos come in.

Yes, I realize that I've probably been posting too many videos this last week.  I've been busy.

Busy is good....busy helps pay the bills. Busy also makes me share more awesome videos. Pretty much anything from Stoopid Buddy Stoodios is worth checking out. I'm going to watch some of these again and then maybe get some Robot Chicken action on Netflix.


 Some of the same guys.

Spock Vs. Spock

Even though I should be working on a couple of difficult class projects due Friday, I still start off my morning with a quick hop around the interwebs. At first I thought this video was pretty "meh", but ....well, I should let you discover that on your own, spoiler-free.

I cannot find the site where I came across this this morning, but I was able to find it again on YouTube.

Definitely worth a couple minutes of your time:

Iron Man/Skyrim Mashup

I'm a bit busy this week with most of my final projects for school due this week, but I do like to start off my mornings with a quick trip through the websites in my "daily" folder.

I hadn't been able to go through my subscribed YouTube channels, so I have to give Kotaku some credit for showing me this cool Iron Man/Skyrim mashup today. I might have found it on my own next week...but I might not have.

Found a New Category for Kickstarter Epic Fails: WTF Projects

Now I'm not one to actively dismiss someone else's creative efforts out of hand, but I am quick to call BS on general stupidity or simply dumb ideas.

Love Kickstarter or hate it, you have to admit that there are a lot of good projects seeking funding and a lot of bad ones as well.

Few projects tick me off more than people who ask for "money so I can quit my job and try to put out X, Y, or Z product" A close second are those that just want to ask for money so they can then screw over their usual business partners.

A week or two ago I found the 3rd worst: simply dumb projects. The other day/week I was looking through local projects and came across what I thought was the perfect specimen for a WTF project. A "graphic designer" made a design featuring the name of a city he used to live in and a picture of his kid. That city isn't even in the same time zone as the one either one of us lives in, so there is no "local appeal". The design is such that the kid could look like any boy that age living within around here, which I don't know if it is good or bad.

I don't care for the design myself....I don't need a graphic of a city name and someone else's kid. Maybe that is just me....but I really doubt it. The Kickstarter project intends to get some 4x4 stickers made of this art because, "I have shown the design to several family, friends and friends of my son, they all loved it and have asked me to get them printed as stickers."

Again, maybe this is just me, but if your friends and family wanted stickers of your kid, then why don't you either ask them for money or just pony up the cash yourself? I can't see strangers ponying up $1-$25 dollars so they can get a sticker for every buck they donate. Evidently I am not the only one because although this Kickstarter began on April 18th, there hasn't even been $1 donated.

Seriously? Grandma didn't even kick in a buck? Are you sure folks wanted these stickers, or were they just being polite? Maybe you should just go down to FedExOffice (used to be Kinkos) and have some stickers printed for yourself. It'll only cost a couple bucks....

Am I just getting too cynical regarding Kickstarter or is there a need for some kind of vetting process to get projects onto the sight? I realize that these two options are not mutually exclusive.

Go See Iron Man 3

Carolyn took me to see Iron Man 3 this morning. We ended up seeing it in 3D, which is usually a no-no for me, but this time I didn't have a single issue. The 3D work was great and for the most part it just simply worked, sliding into the background so I could focus on the movie and not the effects. The only times it really hit me were on some of the close-up conversation bits where it became really obvious.

This movie didn't feel like the culmination of a 3-part series, but really the culmination of a beginning chapter for one character that took four movies to tell.

I really liked this movie and expect it to do well because everything comes together so nicely, and there were enough surprises for me to enjoy the film. I don't like completely formulaic films and there was really only one thing I completely expected to happen which did happen, but that was telegraphed enough that it didn't feel like a ruined surprise, just part of a scene which worked out the most likely way.

Obviously I'm trying to avoid any spoilers, so you won't get any real ones here. There were two things I really noted about the film, with one being a cool that-never-happens kind of thing and the other a WTF moment:

• In one scene a bad guy basically does the, "screw this, I'm out of here" bit and leaves. All too often we see the army of bad guys, most likely mercenaries of some sort, fight to the death when they are so far over their head. I wouldn't expect everyone to have such a fatalistic drive for the cause as the main villain, but 99.999999999% sure seem to.
• We watched the credits because you know there would be a scene at the end of them. As we watched the credits roll by I noticed that Don Cheadle didn't have a stylist or make-up assistant like everyone else. Instead he had a "groomer". That struck me as odd and archaic. Did this guy (I don't remember the name) actually "groom" Mr. Cheadle like he was an animal of some sort, or was he a manservant like the gentry of old had. Just seemed really weird.

In short: awesome move, you need to go see it.

Fixed Something With Minimal Blood Loss

Yesterday after I mowed the lawn I went to hook up the Ghetto Sprinkler System we have for the front yard and it didn't work. At first I thought that maybe something had gotten lodged in the hose.  All I got was a weak stream.

I took everything apart, played around with it, swapped out pieces, but nothing seemed to work.  When I had the faucet on I was able to push it in a bit and a gush of water sprayed out.  My faucet (unfortunately) has always leaked a little bit, and I mean only a little bit.  It wasn't enough warrant a lot of trouble.

Water gushing all over the place....that is worth some trouble.