Category: Entertainment

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. It’s filled with imagination, creativity, and it’s truly as much or as little of a day as you make it out to be.

As a kid I gravitated toward some classic costumes (bats, cats, mermaids, etc) but what made them special was the amount of craftsmanship my mom put into each one. As an adult, I’d like to think I put that same level of love into decorating for Halloween and planning fun activities to do with family. (We’re a little old to be trick-or-treating sadly…)

Jumping topic only slightly now…an article I read recently noted that my generation was less religious than any previous generation and, maybe more interesting is that…60% believe in New Age concepts like tarot, horoscopes, and psychic readings. [More]

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Categorized as Games

Developer Week 2017 in San Francisco

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This was my first time attending the Developer Week Conference and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I attended a handful of talks and walked around the show floor and was overall pleasantly surprised.

I should start off saying that I’ve always found virtual reality (VR) to be a bit too gimmicky. Often applications that are released are focused around video games. While that may be fun I’ve never understood why Silicon Valley has been so in love with the technology until now.

Two specific events at this show helped me to make the jump from VR skeptic to VR advocate. [More]

TCM Falls Short with Streaming Video Service FilmStruck

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I need to confess, before I signed up for FilmStruck I already had it in my head the kind of glowing review I was going to write. I was going to talk about how FilmStruck was going to run away with a bunch of Netflix customers, but then I created an account. I used my computer and while it wasn’t a horrible experience I did take note of the bulky join flow they had.

“That’s ok,” I told myself. “It’s just a join flow. Not everyone’s spent years optimizing those like me!” [More]

PSA For Rural Pokémon Go Players

I know the frustration, I talked about it here in great detail, but this post is short. I’ve got some good news for you rural trainers!

You can now request to add a PokéStop near you! Yes, now you and your friends can now bombard the developers with requests! I’ll warn you that I did have my request denied, however, I assume they will keep this information on file somewhere for a possible future expansion. Don’t give up hope! It also might be a good idea to coordinate your friends to request the same location. [More]

Playing Pokémon Go from Rural Area to Big City

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First off, I need to admit something. I don’t have the Pokédex memorized, I failed at nearly every Name-that-Pokémon, and I have never finished a single Pokémon game. You know what though? It doesn’t matter when playing Pokémon Go. The game reminds me a lot of Pokémon Snap. There is no great storyline, gameplay is simple, and there are a limited number of Pokémon you can catch. So why is everyone playing it?

It’s got a great community vibe to it. When I installed it I was in a rural area and there were no landmarks or gyms nearby. [More]

The Woodland Welfare Manifesto

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This was a hilarious comic I picked up at last Comic Con and just got around to reading it. It’s a timely read with the increasing popularity of socialist values that’s cropped up recently.

Now, I argue quite a bit with my friends about politics, because don’t we all know what’s best for our countries complex social and economic systems? This comic pokes fun at capitalism and socialism in the best ways. And without ruining the ending, has a fairly realistic compromise between the two systems.

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As you can probably tell from the artist’s style, the characters are wacky.   [More]

Netflix is Officially More Expensive Than Amazon Prime

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Do you remember Netflix way back in the day? Before it was primarily a streaming service, their tiered plans revolved around how many disks a month you could order. You might also remember their marketing practices were horrible. They used misleading banner ads, hid the terms of your account billing, and made it so that no matter when in the billing cycle you canceled your account, your access was instantly shut off and you received no refunds. There goes that free month you got when you joined!

Yeah, for those of us who remember, Netflix has never actually been a, “good” company. [More]

Bug Industries: A Game for Programmers

I’m a sucker for new tabletop, card, dice, pretty much whatever games. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see this kickstarter. The game is called Bug Industries. Each player is in charge of a project and they need to de-bug their project first to win.

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The game is simple, but it looks to be hilarious and enjoyable. It’s also just a great way for non-programers to get a sense of programing culture. I wouldn’t consider myself to be a programer even though I dabble. I simply think this would be great to play with say, a marketing department, so they can understand the frustrations that tech teams experience. [More]

Women-Owned Comic Publisher Kymera Press

It’s been awhile since Comic Con, but believe it or not there is still a pile of independent comic books that I haven’t had a chance to read! I’ve just started to get around to checking out the comics I picked up from the Kymera Press booth. I hadn’t heard of the company before Comic Con, but I have to admit I’ve been itching to get to these since the show.

Kymera Press is a comic publishing company that was founded in 2013 for women. It’s owned by women, and intends to help women succeed in the comic industry. [More]

Venture Brothers Season 6 Sponsored by NY State Taxpayers

I love New York and I love the Venture Brothers. If you’re keeping up to date with the show (no spoilers) you might notice an image of New York State and some text fly by in the end credits. Most people probably wouldn’t know what it’s for, but after working for the local Economic Development Center I can spot those logos anywhere.

The Venture Brothers is just one of the many TV shows produced in New York, likely for some of our juicy film credits. The program known as Governor’s Office for Motion Picture & Television Development is part of the Empire State Development program. [More]

NIL A Land Beyond Belief: The Perfect Read During Election Season

NIL A Land Beyond Belief is a fantastic graphic novel I came across recently and it’s incredibly fitting for this election season. The graphic novel written and illustrated by James Turner examines the beliefs of people who believe in nothing. It’s hilariously tongue-in-cheek and takes logical arguments to the extreme.

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The artwork is wonderfully modern while borrowing elements from classic propaganda posters. Anyone can pickup on the vibe of this book from page 1. It’s cynical, logical, and explores the worst parts of human nature while remaining comical. [More]