Saturday, October 6, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/6/12. If Pokemon Were Real...

debate [dih-beyt]
noun


1.  A formal discussion, as in a legislative body, in which opposing arguments are put forward.
2. Discussion or dispute.
3. The formal presentation and opposition of a specific motion, followed by a vote
verb
4. To discuss (a motion), especially in a formal assembly.
5. To deliberate upon (something).


EX. I've always been a sentimental, altruistic, optimist and dreamer; the problem with these qualities is that, without my intellect keeping my hold of reality intact through reason and skepticism, I'm constantly fantasizing about life in an alternate universe; especially one with fantasy or sci-fi elements. The debate and the two images above made me think about one of my favorite realities; I, sincrerely wish we lived in the Pokenmon universe for the following reasons, mostly in no particular order.

TOP 11 REASONS THAT THE POKEMON UNIVERSE 
IS BETTER THAN OUR UNIVERSE

Friday, October 5, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/4/12.

red herring [red-her-ing]
noun
1. Something intended to divert attention from the real problem or matter at hand; a misleading clue.

EX. I don't think there has been a more overused red herring in a series of fiction or entertainment...well, except for a Pup Named Scooby Doo's Red Herring.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/3/12.

patronus [puh-troh-nuhs]
noun
1. Harry Potter. A charm that evokes a partially-tangible, positive energy force, also known by the same name. Also, called a spirit guardian, it is the only counter to Dementors and has other more mysterious properties.

EX. My patronus is Bill Cosby.

WTF WED! POKEMON COLLECTION #1

WTF WEDNESDAY PRESENTS
POKEMON COLLECTION#1


First up, we got a pretty tame video from Mangafood that focuses on the silliness of the metagame reasons for Pokemon not obeying you at certain levels, like if you don't have the Cerulean City Badge, your Charizard might not obey you...


And we're also doing things by when they came out and this hilarious, but HIGHLY inappropriate video from Spazkidin3D is just well weird and kind of amusing.


This video from Screwits has a lot in common with the last video but has distinctive jokes and material that set it apart. Enjoy.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/2/12.

tic tac [tihk-tak]
noun
1.  A brand of small, hard mints manufactured by the Italian confectioner Ferrero, and available in a variety of flavors. The individual candy pieces are commonly called Tic Tacs. Tic Tacs were first produced in 1969. They are usually sold in small transparent plastic boxes with a flip-action living hinge lid. Originally, Tic Tacs were dyed specific colors for different flavors. Now, in many countries, the transparent plastic boxes are colored but the actual Tic Tac pieces are white.

EX. Tic Tac is just one of those brands that is so synonymous that it has become part of our cultural zeitgeist; if a person has bad breath, usually for a comedic reason, someone will offer them a tic tac, for instance, rather than just a piece of gum. 

Also, fun fact, my favorite Final Fantasy game is Tactics on the Gameboy Advance.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 9/24-9/30/12.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS

“Here ye, here ye! Calling all beasts and birds!
I am the Unicorn. I am, therefore,
Unique.” The beast said, in Englishman’s words,
“Henceforth, I am the King of the Forest!” -A Sonnet about a Horse

6. MUSICAL MON! THE EMOTIONAL CLAWS & HAN SOLO GANGNAME STYLE!

"If only a beast like me could make music and make people smile...maybe there wouldn't be so much...war."


5. WORD OF THE DAY! 9/29/12. Mass Effect.

I swear I'll play Mass Effect 3 next time I get a break; I loved the first two games, but I really need some time to be able to dedicate to that game (I'm a 100% completionist in the first two games). Who was your favorite companion? Mine was Wrex.

4. WORD OF THE DAY. 9/27/12. Blowing...

According to the article I am citing in this Word of the Day, as well as Nintendo, the image to the right (or above on a mobile device) is incorrect and blowing into cartridges are a bad idea. Apparently, we've all been hurting out carts over the years.

3. WTF WED! GAME GRUMPING BREVITY WITH PORTALS!

While I do love some good animation and this week's stuff was awesome, I miss doing weirder and more thinky stuff. Hmm....

2. WORD OF THE DAY! 9/30/12. Conclave.

I actually loved writing this little preview/primer article about my choices for the pre-release and I think I might try to do more magic articles, if you guys like that sort of thing. If you do, lemme know, and I'll share more of my thoughts on the subject. I want to work for Wizard some day so I like to talk/think about Magic and D & D a lot.

1. WORD OF THE DAY! 9/24/12. Life support.

And I think my most interesting article from last week was the comparison between The Dark Knight Rises villain Bane and Star Wars's Darth Vader. Character comparison! W007!

Monday, October 1, 2012

TABLETOP TALES: RETURN TO RAVNICA PRE-RELEASE

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS
MY RETURN TO RAVNICA PRE-RELEASE

To check out my other decks, hit the link below:


This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to share my experiences with my third pre-release.


You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

And here is a link to Comic Cellar's Website

I took part in the Return to Ravnica pre-release on September 30th, 2012, at The Comic Cellar. It cost me $25 bucks to signs up and, for that fee, each player recieved 6 boosters packs, including a special booster pack for a chosen guild-- including Selesnya (Green-White), Rakdos (Black-Red), Azorius (White-Blue), Izzet (Blue-Red), and Golgari (Black-Green) (symbols pictured above)-- a promo card for your guild (which you could use in the event) and with the materials each player was expected to build, with all the lands they needed, a 40 card deck.  They were 6 one-on-one matches, each a best of three rounds, and a ranking (the top 16 get increasingly more packs until you get to 1st place which gets a whole box of packs). Each player also received a "pity" pack at the end of the day. All together, the event was well worth the admission fee, and a blast that began at 10 AM and went to 5:30 PM.

We also got a life dice unique to our guild, a sticker of our guild symbol, a letter from our guild leader, and an achievement card (pictured above).

Return to Ravnica is the new fall set, starting a new trilogy of set releases to happen seasonally in the fall, winter, and spring. This set sees a return to the setting, the massive city plane controlled and fought over by ten guilds, Ravnica. The first card set that took place in Ravnica was introduced in 2005 and was a very popular setting. Ravnica has several minor themes, from the artistic and flavor themes of cities and technology, to a mechanic for each of the guilds.

Some of the cool mechanics and themes to look forward to with Return to Ravnica include special lands (gates and shocklands), multi-color spells, and new mechanic for each guild:

Detain (Azorius, White-Blue) - A mechanically usually targeting a non-land permanent when a creature or enchantment activates it by a mana/tap ability, entering the battlefield or attacking. (Until your next turn, that permanent can't attack or block and its activated abilities can't be activated.)

Overload (Izzet, Blue-Red)- On instants and sorceries, (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change its text by replacing all instances of "target" with "each".)

Unleash (Rakdos, Red-Black)- On creatures, (You may have this creature enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. It can't block as long as it has a +1/+1 counter on it.)

Scavenge (Golgari, Black-Green)- On creatures, (X, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on target creature. Scavenge only as a sorcery.)

Populate (Selesnya, Green-White)- On creatures, instants, sorceries, and enchantments, (Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of a creature token you control.)


My ending record is still even, with another three wins and three losses, and, for the first time, I placed amongst the players. Out of about 40 people, I placed in the top 16 (netting me a prize of two booster packs), and had a lot of fun. I got to play against the guys who ended up in the No. 1 and No. 2 slots.  and I didn't place near the top, but I had a great time. I definitely played to type, as I said I would in the article I wrote before the event (check it out here) and to discuss that let's look at my...

RETURN TO RAVNICA PRE-RELEASE DECK:
GREEN-WHITE AGGRO!

Unlike my first two pre-releases, I had some decent themes to play with, and was able to build one nifty and fast deck. The themes I played with were the Selesnya mechanic populate (though not as much as would've liked), token creatures, potent two and three drops creatures, and a very light bit of smattering of other useful mechanics to get me through.

Also, I went back to playing my bread and butter color combo, green and white, and this helped me succeed against a wider berth of opponents. I really know how to put together a green and white deck and, although I didn't have many stand-out cards, I was able to build something competitive with only three rares.

In the end, I more or less built the sort of deck I wanted, and am pleased with results. Keep reading to see what I pulled together and what I learned.

MUSICAL MON! LIAM NEESON: THE MUSICAL!

MUSICAL MONDAY PRESENTS

Oh boy, I don't even know if I can handle this one; last featured back at the end of July, with the Expendables Musical, the Kaplan Bros. have managed to bring us something that mixed nerd-baiting and film fan excitement by celebrating the career of Liam Neeson. A man of a hundred roles, most involving saving a girl from getting kidnapped or being a vaguely respectable demi-god figure, but nonetheless he has been in at least a half-dozen genre films in the last decade from the abysmal Phantom Menace to the Nolan Batman series. I hope you guy's enjoy and subscribe.

I'd like to know how you guys feel about Neeson, because admittedly I have pretty neutral feelings about him; so tell me what you like about him, don't like about him, etc. And, if you like him, give me an example of your favorite Liam Neeson film. Speaking of which...

BONUS VIDEOS: SCHINDLER'S LIST: THE MUSICAL ACT I (Liam Neeson)

SCHINDLER'S LIST: THE MUSICAL ACT II (Ralph Fiennes)

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/1/12.

elemental [el-uh-ment-uhl]
adjective
1. Of the nature of an ultimate constituent; simple; uncompounded.
2. Pertaining to rudiments or first principles.
3. Starkly simple, primitive, or basic: a spare, elemental prose style; hate, lust, and other elemental emotions.
4. Pertaining to the agencies, forces, or phenomena of physical nature: elemental gods.
5. Comparable to the great forces of nature, as in power or magnitude: elemental grandeur.
6. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of the four elements,  earth, water, air, and fire, or of any one of them.
7. Pertaining to chemical elements
 
EX.  The core and foundation of the Pokemon video game series is, besides the elements of collection/trade, based on a strategy around elemental combat. Locked in a rock-paper-scissors system, with a constant addition of stats and variables to make the combat increasingly more complex, and varied. Its interesting to consider how easy to the elements of the starters could've been shifted for the same effects, but it is also obvious why they are what they have been for five generations. Grass (Earth), Water, and Fire (lacking wind), but the elements are an integral part of Eastern and Western mythologies.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/30/12.

conclave [kahn-kleyv]
noun
1. A private or secret meeting.
2. An assembly or gathering, especially one that has special authority, power, or influence.
3. The assembly or meeting of the cardinals for the election of a pope.
4. The body of cardinals; the College of Cardinals.
5. The place in which the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church meet in private for the election of a pope.

EX.  Alrighty, so today I am talking to a pretty particular audience about a very niche subject, even amongst my readers; Magic the Gathering, specifically Return to Ravnica, a new set that comes out later this week. This weekend, the 29th and 30th, is the prelease for the set. I am actually going to an event on the 30th and am writing this article as a kind of self-primer for the event. The purpose of the primer is to explain my choice of guild affiliation for the event, The Selesnya Conclave.

Let's start by looking at Selesnya's charm, both figuratively and literally, to understand why anyone would pick this guild over the other four choices for the pre-release. Selesnya is going to have some of the best creature options and support, through buffs and mana support to get them on the field. Combined with the new mechanic, which I'll explain in the next paragraph, and you'll see how Selesnya is going to have the ability to overwhelm your foe with monsters (a satisfying experience). It is only bested by Azorius in its abilities to control and pacify threats after the fact (blue being expert at countering and white expert at removal) that will allow you to stall long enough to get some big creatures on the battlefield.

The other appeal is that the Selesnya mechanic has a lot of potential; populate is going to afford you a lot of creature support and it is attached to and supported by a lot of cards. Initially, I was concerned the mechanic might not get the necessary tools but, the set proved to have what ya need to make it happen.

The biggest reason I went with this guild is that Green and White are my favorite color combo in magic; the first decks I ever built were green and white. I like big creatures, control, auras, etc. And Selesnya definitely brings that in force. I made a white-green angel deck at Avacyn Restored's pre-release, to great effect, and I'm hoping that this will be even more successful. I like to experience by playing against type, but sometimes you've got to indulge youself.

And I think the other reason I like Selesyna is the flavor; I like life, order, altruism, etc. I like having pride in oneself and in one's community. I like the aesthetic of nature mixed with the white marble of the cityscapes that Selesnya inhabits in Ravnica. All I got to say is that, as I mentally prepare to duke it out against my foes, "FOR THE CONCLAVE!"

Expect a breakdown of my results as soon as possible.