MIXED BAG. LET'S PLAY POKÉMON PLATINUM!: THE WIENER J. CHRONICLES! PART 1 & 2!

POKÉMON PLATINUM! PART 1! "BANE'S MOM!"

&

POKÉMON PLATINUM! PART 2! "WIENER J. CHOOSES..."

What's that? You're a little disappointed that we don't have the next two parts to the Emerald Nuzlocke Challenge? Well, considering that only one of the other cast members from that Let's Play was present during our second recording session and I've had an itching to play Platinum, I think the decision to start a second series is a fine idea. Besides, we fully intend to continue the Emerald series, so don't worry. Now, let's talk about the details of this new series:

This isn't a Nuzlocke challenge (though it could be converted to that, if need be). Instead, this is a simple Let's Play. I'm joined by Quallbear (Katherine Qualls),  JAS (Justin Shavers), and Yeti (Zach Stanifer) for a riotously amusing session of Pokémon related humor. The strengths of this series is that we warmed up before we started, meaning it has laughs from the get-go and that we bring a lot of energy to the session, and that I've developed some more audio editing technique to bring some richness to the audio for your ear's pleasure. In the end, I am really proud of the resulting session and can't wait to continue soon.

And there ya go. I hope you enjoy the series, share it with your friends, and give us any feedback you deem necessary.Thanks.

WTF WED! BANE CAT KILLS EVERYTHING ANIME ABRIDGED!

KILL LA KILL ABRIDGED EPISODE 1!

First, we were blessed with the first installment of an abridged series that I have been waiting to see come to fruition since I saw some shorts on youtube performed by the same voice actors.

Kill La Kill is probably the biggest anime in the last year, after Attack on Titan, and is certainly one of the most visually interesting anime I can think of.

The first episode of the abridged series has some good laughs and I hope they produce some more because, like most abridged series, these things get better over time.

BANE CAT!

And the funniest Bane parody I've seen in a while stole the collective heart of the internet thanks to its use of obese felines, Bane cat costumes, and lots of quotes from The Dark Knight Rises. Bane is simultaneously ridiculous and awesome at the same time. I think it is safe to say that Bane is officially far more quotable than Heath Ledger's Joker.

There. I said it.

NEW SERIES! (MY FAVORITE APRIL FOOLS JOKE...) NSFW.

I apologize for nothing. Seriously. This was funny.

 Same time, same place, every week. Have a good one, folks.

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/1/13!

spoiler [spoi-ler]
noun
1. Person or thing that spoils.

2. A person who robs or ravages; despoiler; plunderer.

3. Aeronautics. A device used to break up the airflow around an aerodynamic surface, as an aircraft wing, in order to slow the movement through the air or to decrease the lift on the surface and, as a result, provide bank or descent control.

4. Automotive. a similar device for changing the airflow past a moving vehicle, often having the form of a transverse fin or blade mounted at the front or rear to reduce lift and increase traction at high speeds.

5. Sports. A team out of final contention that defeats a potential or favored contender and thereby thwarts its chances of winning a championship.

6. Any competitor, entrant, or candidate who has no chance of ultimate victory but does well enough to spoil the chances of another.

7. An important plot point/s or moment/s being described that could spoil the contents of a story to another member of the audience that has not gotten that far in the narrative.

SOURCE: dictionary.com 

EX. I'm only about four or five seasons into Breaking Bad. I'm a new fan. Please, no spoilers.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/15/13!

propane [proh-pehyn]
noun
1. A colorless, flammable gas, C ₃  H ₈  , of the alkane series, occurring in petroleum and natural gas: used chiefly as a fuel and in organic synthesis. 

EX. “The only woman I’m pimping is sweet lady propane! And I’m tricking her out all over this town.”

PROPANE & PROPANE ACCESSORIES 

I love King of the Hill. Some day I will be able to properly articulate my feelings about it, with enough time, but for now I will leave you with a small moment that illustrates the show's strengths:

When Khan Souphanousinphone, Hank's overly competitive neighbor, is stricken with so much shame at losing his job, as the result of trying to impress Hank with a military project his company has been working on, that he leaves his wife and daughter in the lurch it is Hank that steps up to help out his neighbors. Partly out of guilt and partly out of his generous nature, Hank takes up the patriarchal housework and chores that Khan would normally be required. The episode comes to a dramatic climax when Hank runs into Khan in a restaurant restroom and confronts him. Khan declares he cannot return home until he has a new job. A few days later he returns home, with a new minivan, and a job. Khan brags about the vehicle and Hank, reluctantly, admits that is pretty nice to help bolster Khan's confidence.

Hank Hill can be a very stern, no-nonsense character. At times, Hank is at odds with his neighbors and family because he is often the one who accurately judges the actions of others as being destructive. This can make him seem authoritarian or patronizing, at times, but, if your neighborhood ever needed a hero, Hank would be a pretty good choice.

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/8/13!

context [kahn-tehxt]
noun
1. The parts of a written or spoken statement that surround or follow a word or passage that help give the word or passage meaning.
2. The circumstances that surround a situation, event, something that happens, something has been said/written, etc.

EX. This is a great example of how the internet can take anything out of context; what started as a joke between two friends, one of whom was an important employee at Microsoft, escaped it's bounds and the sarcastic words of the employee were taken as serious statements (rather than the trolling that they appeared to be by the language and lack of logic) by a great number of gamers.

CLICK HERE FOR THE WHOLE STORY!

Within hours of this hitting the net like a sack full of bricks through the glasshouse gamers are constantly rebuilding (after smashing it down themselves over some perceived slight), many a gamer was declaring Microsoft dead and that they would be buying a PS4. The sad part? Even if the rumors about "always online" aren't true (and I hope they are), many gamers will hold to the story until it is beaten to death with advertising by Microsoft. People need to be a little more skeptical and patient when it comes to stuff they find out about online. Last time I checked, Twitter wasn't a forum for anything other than mindless nonsense anyway...

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 2/11-2/17/13!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS

POKÉ-FEELINGS WEEK!

7. POKÉMON OF THE WEEK! FEB 16-22/13. CASTFORM.

Woof. I know it seems like I've been down-talking some Pokémon designs in February, but you gotta be aware of the fact that I choose them at random. Castform is just not that interesting. Just meh. Pretty much sums up the week.

6. WORD OF THE DAY! 2/15/13! SUPER MARIO BUSTERS!

2011 was the year I found many passions.
2012 was the year I started really feeling old.
2013 needs to be a year of new experiences.

5. WORD OF THE DAY! 2/14/13! Crash.

I woke up into a panic attack last Friday morning (or something of that sort). I can describe it best as waking up with the sensation that my body was covered in tongues, a jellyfish was in my chest, and everything was moving at about 1.5x normal speed. This is true. I'm sorry if this week's round up get a little personal, but that's part of the reason I do them.

4. MUSICAL MON! OBAMA'S AERODACTYLS DIE HARD!

Some positive news is that Dungeons and Dragons has picked up lately with me and my group (we play on Sundays now). The group has changed from when I started the blog. I guess I should count myself lucky to have any sort of gaming group, but I wish our society put more emphasis on putting aside time to just hang with friends rather than spending all our time watching reality TV and working ourselves to death (if we can get jobs).

3. WTF WED! PAPER MEGAMAN'S PONY LIGHTSABER! OH MY!

Sorry. I'm a bit of a downer. My humor keeps me going, if you need a light at the bottom of the hole I'm digging myself.

2. POKÉMONS OF THE WEEK! FEB 9-15/13. RAMPARDOS & BASTIODON

You know what? Time for a less depressing confession-- I have generally been disappointed with the end results of every fossil Pokemon. Meh. Rampardos and Bastiodon though are probably my least favorites just because, despite having such a slam dunk concept, they still managed to drop the ball. On the plus side, if there is something I'm hyped for this year it's....

1. WORD OF THE DAY! 2/13/13. Eveelution.

Pokemon X & Y! My money, in case your wondering, is riding on Ninfia (ENG: Sylveon) is going to turn out to be Normal or Flying. My wish is that she'll be something new...

WORD OF THE DAY! 2/13/13.

crash [krash]
verb
1. Computers. When a hardware or software problems force a system to malfunction and, effectively, shut down.

EX. Speaking of computer crashes, let's talk about ReBoot.

ReBoot was a Canadian CGI-animated telivision program that ran from 1994 to 2001 and, in my humble opinion, was doing video game world commentary before and better than Wreck-It Ralph and deserves to be, for lack of a better word, rebooted.

The world of reboot is Mainframe, the innerworld of a computer system inhabited by anthropomorphized computer programs and concepts. The two biggest threats to the citizens of Mainframe are viruses and other destructive programs, but also the "Users" or humans. To them, the Users are invaders that drop a cube on a sector of Mainframe (in actuality, its them booting up a computer game). The series started out highly episodic-- Bob, the protagonist, hops into the cube to play as an NPC and, with the help of his friends, defeat the User to save the sector. As the series progressed, things became more complex in terms of their universe, but perhaps more importantly, in terms of the characters.

The second season was external threats, like The Web, becoming even greater threats and the heroes having to to greater and greater lengths to fight off the intruders until devastating results led to a huge shift into the third season. The characters in the third season dealt with more adult problems and philosophical conundrums that couldn't be as simply solved with a clever one-liner like in the first season.

The most interesting thing about the series is that, despite the limitations of the early use of CGI, the show created an interesting world that I believe deserves to be rendered in modern technology and perhaps influenced by more updated computer terminology/ideas/philosophical problems. If in the original series the Web was so intimidating, you can only imagine what sort of threat it would be now...or perhaps it would be more integrated into their world. Food for thought.

Here is to the hope that the series reboot, which seems to be in development hell, is better than ever and get the acclaim it deserves. You can watch ReBoot on Netflix or do a simple search. Its probably not as good as I remember, but that doesn't mean its not a good idea.

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

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS

OPPA GANGNAM STYLE WEEK!

7. MIXED BAG. POETRY JAM #5

“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!

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/24/12.

life support [lahyf-suh-pohrt]
noun
1. A system, or piece, of equipment that makes life possible in otherwise deadly environmental conditions.
2. Medical equipment, or a system of such equipment, that replaces or assists bodily functions and so enables a patient to live who might otherwise not be able to comfortably function or survive without the aid of such equipment.

EX. Today, I'd like to take a look at two iconic film villains, Darth Vader (Star Wars) and Bane (The Dark Knight Rises), that share several similarities. Both characters are physically intimidating villains, both need life support to live that makes them part machine, with the imagery of Bane deliberately drawing on that of Darth Vader (arguably the most iconic villain in film history), and both have a similar arc in their respective films. By comparing the two characters, we will get a better understanding of the mythology underlying their development.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/26/12.

square off [skwair-awf]
verb
1. Taking a fighting stance, preparing to fight, beginning a brawl by means of intimidation, posturing, and stretching, as well as other mind games.

EX. It had been nine months since Mysterion defeated the arch nemesis Prof. Chaos and Butters had been sent to his room for a year without TV. There had not been a single sign of Mysterion's presence; was he dead or in hiding? Nobody knew except for his established contact in the South Park County Geology Dept. and member of the City Council, Randy Marsh. Mysterion had become a criminal when he killed Kenny, that bastard.

There had been word of a new force to be reckoned with in the sewers of Southpark. Trained by Mr. Hanky himself, Bane, was a monster of a man that had taken over the underground market of meth and cow wrangling in South Park. He went too far when he started work on a bomb that could bring the mountains down around South Park.

Randy Marsh ended up chasing some guy who stole his margarita mixer into the sewers until he ended up getting shot (luckily, he was wearing his geologist's bulletproof vest) and was dragged before Bane. Randy quickly got off to square-off against his foe.

A cloaked figure from the shadow's shoots a dart into Stan's leg.

"Aw! No fair!"He howls before tumbling back over the railing behind him into the drain out of the sewer.

To be continued in...

MYSTERION RISES

MIXED BAG. PODCAST #4 Special Edition: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES!

And the fourth Mixed Bag. Podcast rolls out, despite a month long delay. In the future, we'll be trying to get them done faster but, Zach has been having some problems and we're trying to adjust the schedule to better fit his own (since he edits the audio, which is the most time consuming part of the editing process). Regardless of the delay, I hope everyone enjoys this episode.

For those of you out of the loop, the subjects covered in the podcast are just like those covered in my blog; from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to 2001: A Space Odyssey, we'll cover films, television, video games and anything else that falls under our nerdy radar.

The program is hosted by Zach Martin (check out his blog by following him HERE) and myself.

This week's episode is a special edition discussion of the Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, including a discussion about the film on its own, the film as a trilogy, and comparing it to other big movies in the super hero genre.

A few notes about my opinion that has changed: Cat Woman was okay, but completely unnecessary.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 7/30-8/5/2012.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS

MANATEE WEEK!

7. WORD OF THE DAY! 7/30/12. Havoc.

Sometimes I wish I had a dog that was cool enough to LARP. All my dog does is pirate DVDs and watch old episodes of Battlestar Galactica...

6. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/4/12. Caliber.

Power Girl at least has a more defined character than Super Girl: excluding the boob hole, she is pretty funny and kind of a crazy biatch. Super Girl is sort of just "Superman's cousin".

5. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/5/12. Book it.

Screw that evil Mask and its preference for us not to steal its key from Doki Doki Pan...err...Super Mario Bros. 2. Adam West gifs because Batman.

4. WTF WED. MATRIX X OFFICE SPACE CROSS-OVER!

I wonder if staples represent something in the Matrix. All I know is that Keanu Reeves is one the about six people I like to see in every movie...

3. WORD OF THE DAY! 7/31/12. Sisyphean.

Four of the five people in my house have still not watched The Dark Knight Rises...I need to talk to someone about this film or, rather, make fun of Bane's voice in every situation.

2. MUSICAL MONDAY! THE EXPENDABLES: THE MUSICAL!

I am still waiting to see an action movie where Arnold Schwarzenegger plays every character: the protagonist, the antagonist, the supporting characters, the narrator, and even the animals...

1. TABLETOP TALES! FIASCO! EP. 1 DIRTY POLITICS PT. 3

The highlight of my last two weeks has been my first game of Fiasco. Spoilers about the next game: Vampires & HBO.

WORD OF THE DAY. 4/7/12. TOP 12 BATMAN VILLAINS

insanity defense [in-san-i-tee-dih-fens]
noun
1. Legal. In criminal trials, the defense which a defendant claims that he or she was not responsible for his or her actions due to mental health problems, such as a psychiatric illness or mental handicap. The exemption of the insane from full criminal punishment dates back to, at least, the Code of Hammurabi. In the United States, use of the defense is, despite how it has been displayed in the media, quite rare, and offenders of heinous crimes are least likely to see any leniency.

EX. The Gotham justice system's Achilles Heel is the insanity defense and, contrary to reality, defendants use it successfully to have themselves committed to Arkham Asylum, time and time again, rather than be sent to an actual prison. In the real world, most of these psycho- and sociopaths would've sent to prison for their first offenses and, most certainly, would get life or the death penalty for repeat offenses.

But, in the world of DC, and in comics in general, every super hero needs his super villain and every Batman needs his rogue's gallery.

So, to top of Batman Week 2012, I presents the top 12 Batman villains. I've tried my best to rank them from the 11th to 1st, but it is difficult to pick out winners. I am trying to rank them by how likely they would kill Batman. Also, fun stuff, one of the villains is relatively new.

NERD CULTURE SMACKDOWN PRESENTS

GOTHAM'S DASTARDLY DOZEN: 

THE TOP 12 BATMAN VILLAINS!