WORD OF THE DAY! 4/14/15!

Today's definition is about The United States Fair Use Law which, thanks mostly to the music industry but also television, movies, and video games, is something that, as a citizen of the internet, is good to know:

According to and expressed by the letter of the law in The Copyright Act of 1976, "the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or photo records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."

Nintendo has recently been having Youtube flag and take down videos that contain content related to their software under the idea of protecting their IPs, intellectual property, from being misrepresented or exploited. Usually, game companies leave reviewers and other content creators alone, in these matters, because they act as free advertising-- whether or not the content represents the work in a way they like-- and having the content removed is bad press. But, as Nintendo can do what they're doing on youtube's site as a venue, it is difficult to foresee these policies changing without Nintendo deciding to relax.

The real question? Why is Nintendo suddenly taking such a destructive interest in their fanbase and what action can be taken to make them realize the error of their ways?

Can't we all be buddies again, drive around and drink orange mocha frappuccinos, and then have a gasoline fight?

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/20/14! (DESTINY: FUN BUT FLAWED)

destiny [dest-in-ee]
noun
1. Something that is to happen to a person or has happened to someone.
2. The predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistable, course of events.
3. The power of agency that determines events; fate.

EX. Destiny has been out for two weeks and I've played a lot of it. With that in mind, I wanna give my thoughts on the game. It is... my destiny.

Just letting you know that first list is gonna be brief but to the point. I really like playing this game with friends, but it has some issues. In fact, I love playing this game, but is has some serious problems. I mean, this is the MMO I've been waiting for, but it has flaws.

Let's get on with it.

FIVE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT DESTINY

1. The first person shooter gameplay in conjunction with your class's grenade ability, jump ability, and super ability creates satisfying gameplay reminiscent of Bungie's Halo tenure (especially Reach onward).

2. The environments of the various planets and the atmosphere created by visual effects, combined with a top notch score composed by Marty O'Donnell, fill the game with amazing places to explore and kill stuff.

3. The designs of the four enemy factions, while reminiscent of other enemies/archetypes, are quite interesting. For similarities reference:

• The Fallen are space pirates reminiscent of the Elites from Halo.
• The Hive are undead enemies resembling pretty much any generic zombie-like or demon-like enemies...so basically Doom or the corrupted enemies created by the Reapers in Mass Effect. Oh and the Flood from Halo.
• The Vex are artificial intelligent robotic enemies like Skynet & the Terminators from the Terminator franchise, Sentinels from the Matrix trilogy, or the Geth from Mass Effect trilogy. Oh and the Prometheans created by the Forerunners in Halo.
• The Cabal are giant space marine monsters like a more sophisticated version of the Brutes from Halo.

These aren't really criticisms. Similarities are bound to happen. The enemy designs are cool.

4. Marty O'Donnell's score is a perfect fit that creates tense and awe-inspiring moments that I've never experienced in any MMO I've tried.

5. Creating a three-man party, made up of characters of multiple levels, to do missions in the game is easier and more convenient. This is a game meant to be played with friends and the teamwork involved created some amazing experiences.

6. The dancing is bliss.

These elements kept having me say "I frickin' love this game!" for about a week. Then I got to the end game, the honeymoon period ended, and I really began to notice some of the game's more frustrating flaws.

Before I get into the flaws you need to understand that I understand that the game is an MMO, a work in progress, and basically a released Beta. As long as the game releases updates, tweaks, and new content it could go from a 3/5 experience to a 4/5 or better. But at the moment, I feel like the game was released in a form that doesn't feel like it was worth 60 and I'm worried it won't have any staying power with all but a small audience.

This game is supposed to have a ten year lifespan?! Um, oh dear.

FIVE THINGS I HATE ABOUT DESTINY

1. The story mode is pretty short and ends abruptly. Furthermore, while there are some brief glimpses of intriguing characters and lore, the former only really comes in the form of your dealings with the Stranger & the Reef and the later is hidden away on a grimoire you have to access using Bungie's website. After you beat the story, you basically have the options of a few side missions and the game's PVP mode, The Crucible.

Bungie reinvented the wheel with Halo's multiplayer but in Destiny...

2. ...the PVP mode isn't really anything special. It reminds me of Halo's most basic multiplayer with a few flaws; the imbalance in matchmaking means you'll wind up playing with players with vastly different levels of skill and equipment. There are only a few maps. Ultimately, the PVP's strategy comes down to who has the best equipment, best twitch muscle, and best knowledge of the maps. There is no strategy in trying to control anything on the map, besides a few turrets and vehicles (the latter of which is overpower), and the only way to really have a chance is traveling in packs. The only way to deal with multiple enemies is with your super.

Basically, shoot at anything that moves and hope you have the right weapon/right range and that your weapon deals more damage than your opponent. Or that they don't have their supers which have no counters. They might have counters if you could predict which super the enemy has...but you can't because...

3. ...the class's most significant differences come in their supers. Because all classes can use all weapons and they look so similar in design, you cannot tell the difference between a Titan, a Warlock, or a Hunter in the heat of combat. In other class based games, they take special care to make these differences more pronounced.

If I know my enemy is a hunter, at a glance, I can be prepared to counter their super with a stun grenade or just running like hell but if they turn out to be a titan instead they're probably just gonna dunk me.

But yeah, my main beef with classes is they all seem too similar even when you get to "max level, which speaking of that...

4. ...getting to "max level" doesn't take very long; I'm not a hardcore player, but I managed to get to level 20. The problem? After you beat the story mode and hit level 20, your options are to replay old missions on harder difficulties or wait for content like this week's Vault of Glass. The majority of this game will be played after level 20 and, after you reach level 20, the only way to get progress is to get rarer and better equipment. The only way to get the better equipment is with hours upon hours of grinding or playing the multiplayer.

The problem? Playing on higher difficulty and playing difficult raids requires better equipment that you can only get through hours of grinding. And playing on higher difficulty...
5. ... just means you have to fight more enemies with more health that can do more damage. The enemies don't get any smarter, in my experience, and tend to just chase you down, mindlessly, and use abilities. Some will hide behind cover when shot at, but no enemies really pose any challenge unless they've been overbuffed with health or damage. They don't dive out of the way of grenades, they don't really have good maneuverability, they don't flank, etc.*

* Some people may disagree with this opinion more than my others.

But the point is that the enemies are not diverse enough and, as aforementioned, you cannot hope to defeat them without a high level of patience and weaponry. Every enemy, on higher difficulties, is a bullet sponge. You spend minutes dashing around, firing to try and take down their shields, deal a little damage, and dash away. Rinse and repeat.

Speaking of rinse and repeat, I'm done ranting mindlessly and need to beat Link to the Past, do some dishes, and get to work writing some D & D material.

I know this is just, more or less, a ramble, so I'll say that, in the future, I might try and do a more in-depth review or analysis of Destiny.

DESTINY (dunkview)

SCI-FI FANTASY FRIDAY! WORD OF THE DAY! 1/10/14!

THE SILMARILLION PROJECT

Silmarillion [sil-muh-ril-ee-un]
noun
1. Literature. A collection of the mythopoeic works of J.R.R. Tolkein posthumously collected, edited, and published by his son Christopher Tolkein with the assistance of Guy Gavriel Kay in 1977. It serves as a origin story of the setting, including the genesis of Ea and creation of the various factions/races, that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place.

mythopoeia [mith-uh-pee-uh]
noun
1. The creation of myth.
2. A modern genre of literature and film where a fictional mythology is created by the fiction.

EX. This guy's work made me want to complete the mythopoeia of my own fantasy world, The Wold, which involves old gods, new gods, clay people, each race having a counter to their creation, crazy geographical shifts and a lot of nonsensical stuff that fit into any creation story. The fascinating thing about origin stories is that they tell you a lot about the world but even more about the people, since their world view is often shaped by their myths.

Aaron Diaz, author of Dresden Codak, has taken to illustrating a cover for each chapter of J. R. R. Tolkein's Silmarillion on tumblr and each work is a beautifully rendered illustration that encapsulates each era of Middle Earth's ancient past. My favorite work comes in the way he depicts the Valar and Melkor (pictured at the top), the gods of Middle Earth, and imbues them each with their aspects and a personality. I also love the way he draws his monsters.

I mean... just look at the stylized glory of these cartoonishly but impressively rendered creatures of Middle Earth reminiscent of the Jim Henson studios films inspired by the works of Brian Froud, such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/2/13!

bantling [bant-ling]
noun
1. A very young child, especially an illegitimate bastard or poorly brat.

EX. Oh, the Pokémon Daycare. Is there anywhere more responsible for unwanted, unnecessary, and unseemly procreation in the history of fiction? How many unwanted bits of data have you churned out only to sit in the PC box (might as well be abandoned), be released into the wild (basically abandoned), or hatched, evaluated, and then, far more often than not, abandoned? What happens to these bantlings born of abominable unions between witless parents driven by the magnetism of being of the same egg group to create new life in a multiplayer environment now, thanks to the wonders of Wonder Trade, bloated with mediocre Pokémon?

There was a time when anyone would be happy to receive a Bulbasaur or even an Evee. Natures, IVs, EVs were all extraordinarily niche concerns to only the most hardcore master. But, thanks to the evolution of the sixth generation, the process of making one's Pokémon perfect is stream-lined enough that anything less than a perfect Pokémon is undesirable. Now, unless their newly adopted bantling off of wonder trade is an uber-mon, trainers either essentially delete these unwanted hatchlings from their PC box or send them to a new foster parent.

Damn you Brock.

For more viciously rendered cynical and crude reflections of humanity, check out more comics by Jake Lava at The Floor Is Now Lava. A slight NSFW, as his comics commonly involve adult themes and crude imagery that some may find more offensive than funny.

For a more heartwrenching/warming look at the perils of Pokémon breeding and wonder trading, please check out the following comic about a Bulbasaur bantling by Rolos AKA Renee P.

WONDER: A POKÉMON STORY

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/25/13!

substitute [sub-stuh-toot]
noun
1. A replacement for a person or thing.
2. Pokémon. A Normal-type move, normally taught through TM 50 in Gen I & TM 90 in IV, V, VI, that takes 25% of the HP of the user to create a dummy with that HP and 1 additionally HP that blocks all incoming damage for the user until it is destroyed.
verb
2. To replace a person or thing with an alternative.
adjective
3. Describing something that replaced a person or thing.

EX. On days like these, where I'm trying to type up a few articles in the few hours I have before going to bed early to prepare for overnight shift, I really wish I could find a substitute blogger. Much like the use of the move Substitute, it might be very effective in making me more competitive.

In fact, Substitute users are some of the most frustrating opponents in the metagame. You just need a Pokémon with a move that heals it's own health and/or Leftovers to set up a rather annoying situation for your opponent. Combined with status effects and effective moves to damage your foes, a Pokémon using Substitute can become an annoying roadblock and/or sweeper for your team.

For example, a Gengar with Substitute can switch in, put down a blocking doll, and the proceed to Focus Punch, Thunderbolt, and Ice Punch its way to victory.

What do you think? Would it be wrong of me to use a substitute writer on my blog? Would it still be the same blog? Would it taste like real blog butter?

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/17/13!

capital punishment [kap-it-uhl-puhn-ish-ment]
noun
1. Punishment by death for a crime; death penalty.

EX. Ya'll remember VG Cats? I think that anyone who stands in the way of producing new comics should be a victim of capital punishment. Or a good scalding. On this Pikachu, execution... it's not very effective.

WORD OF THE DAY! 6/18/13!

fatherly [faw-ther-lee]
adjective
1. Of or befitting the manner/isms of a father, especially a good or attentive father.

EX. Yo, just throwing up this amazing dorkly comic about fatherly love in the video game universe and, considering all the father themes in Man of Steel, I'd recommend taking your pop or pop-like figure to see the flick this week. Yes, I'm recommending a film to word of the day articles in a row. Sue me.

WORD OF THE DAY! 5/30/13!

sentimental [sent-uh-ment-uhl]
adjective

1. Expressive of or appealing to sentiment, especially the tender emotions and feelings, as love, pity, or nostalgia.

2. Pertaining to or dependent on sentiment.

3. Weakly emotional; mawkishly susceptible or tender.

4. Characterized by or showing sentiment or refined feeling.

 

EX. You must raise your Pokémon, not with the sentimental spirit of a chubby Chansey, but with the heart of a Gary Oak. Teach them to be strong or they will simply resent you later when they get their teeth kicked out by the Elite Four (as seen above). Not every Pokémon is popular enough to get a hold item to make them feasible despite their crappy stats like Pikachu.

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/2/13!

thaumaturge [thaw-muh-turj]
noun
1. A magician or a worker of miracles.

EX. It is difficult to be a hero in a fantasy world without killing literally thousands of creatures that were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and trying to defend their wrong home from the wrong invader (you're the invader). Remember, every time that your lowly thaumaturge shoots a kobold in the face with a magic missile after invading a temple-- a temple that may have been their home for dozens of generations-- that you were the one who decided to go dungeon diving. Those kobolds probably had a culture and, by killing them all and destroying their home by taking trinkets, you probably left little for future dungeoneering anthropologists to discover. You didn't just kill the kobold. You killed the idea of them. When you die, most likely, your memory of them will be lost alongside those of every other creature you killed that was just trying to mind its own business until you killed it to root around in its burrow. But, hey, they're being total dicks, right?

WORD OF THE DAY! 2/10/13.

film noir [film-noh-awr]
adjective
1. Primarily used to describe cinema, but also used to describe a visual style, the term is used to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that cynical attitudes, sexual/violent motivations, and dark, "gritty" environments.

SOURCE: RAY-B.NET

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/10/13.

pizza [peet-suh]
noun
1. A flat, open-faced baked pie of Italian origin, consisting of a thin layer of bread dough topped with spiced tomato sauce and cheese, often garnished with anchovies, sausage slices, mushrooms, etc.

EX. I always knew that Splinter was no good- raising his turtles in the sewers on pizza and fortune cookie wisdom.

P.S. I always see people complain about how Naruto is not a real ninja... tell me, honestly, with a straight face, that the Teenage Mutant "Ninja" Turtles are legit? They can be stealthy but about 90% of the time they just crash into a room and start raising "shell". And this is coming from a fan of the franchise.

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/3/13.

fart [fawrt]
noun
1. Slang. Bad fan-art.

EX. Fan-art? More like fart. I kid, I kid. I love fan-art. But we all know there is a lot of bad fart out there in the internets... (looking at you Sonic the Hedgehog fans).

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/2/13.

posterior [po-steer-ee-er]
noun
1. The hinder parts or rump of the body; buttocks.
adjectives
2. Situated or at the rear of.
3. Coming after in a series, or in order of.
4. Coming after in time; subsequently.
5. Anatomy/Zoology.  a. (in quadrupeds) Pertaining to the rear or end o the body.
b. (in humans) Pertaining to or toward the back plane of the human.

EX. Phantom posteriors are a real problem in are local area. I'm tired of all these civil war butts floating around me all the time. Yeesh. Can't they just go out into space already and haunt Mars or something? Plenty of room out there....

WORD OF THE DAY! 12/2/12.

procrastination [pro-krah-stuh-nay-shun]
noun
1. The act or habit of putting or delaying a task, especially something requiring immediate attention or with a quickly arriving deadline.

EX. Procrastination? Well, blogging is something I've gotta do every day more or less....so what if I gotta read about 340 more pages on Henry VIII before tomorrow, study for an exam tomorrow and two on Tuesday, and have a 10 page paper to work on....I gotta take breaks....right?

WORD OF THE DAY! 11/3/12.

death by chocolate [deth-bahy-chaw-kul-it]
noun
1. A marketing term for various desserts that feature chocolate (especially dark chocolate or cocoa) as the primary ingredient. Supposedly, the term and its various incarnations began as a result to satisfy a fictional dessert of the same name. These sorts of desserts may be layered chocolate cakes, a molten chocolate cake, a flour-less chocolate cake, or more messy dish made up of brownies, mouse, chocolate bars, whipped topping, chocolate syrup and/or so many other chocolate sweets.

EX. I'm sure you all know that dogs can truly meet its end via death by chocolate, so perhaps it would be instructive to explain why chocolate is amazing to humans, but poison to dogs. Dogs process the chemical in chocolate, theobromine, much slower that humans-- we process it in 20 to 40 minutes and  a dog processes it over a dozen hours. Small doses can cause nausea and diarrhea, while larger doses can cause permanent brain/heart damage through heart attacks and seizures. The darker the chocolate, such as baker's chocolate, the worse it is for the dog.

Here is a short list of some other foods dangerous, unhealthy or toxic to dogs: Avocado, alcohol, onions & garlic, coffee, tea, and anything with caffeine, grapes & raisins (they cause brain damage), milk & other dairy products, macadamia nuts, candy & gum, fat trimming & bones, persimmons, peaches, plums, raw eggs, raw fish, raw meat, salt, sugary foods & drinks, yeast dough, and much more.

My advice? If you wanna know whether its safe to feed a dog something... do some research.

WORD OF THE DAY! 10/11/12.

kick flip [kik-flip]
noun
1.  In skateboarding, a trick involving a push down on the tail of the board to flip it lengthwise before the rider lands back on the board.

EX. I don't think he can do a kick flip over the moon...but I want him to.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/19/12.

haboob [huh-boob]
noun
1. A thick dust or sandstorm that blows in the deserts of North Africa or Arabia or on the plains of India.

EX. Hey, Tyranitar, what's all the haboob?

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/12/12.

stare [stair]
verb
1. To gaze fixedly and intensely, especially with the eyes wide open.
2. To be boldly or obtrusively conspicious.
3. (of hair, or feathers) To stand on end; to bristle.

EX. Few things are more unsettling than a staring cat. A dog? No problem. A cat? A world turns on such stares.

Check out more of this funny, tragic, and heart-felt web-comic at Super Mutant Magic Academy.

WORD OF THE DAY! 8/6/12.

Gerudo [geh-roo-doh]
noun
1. Video game. A race of humanoids introduced in the Nintendo 64's Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), their most prominent trait is that the race consists almost entirely of females and a male Gerudo is only born about every hundred years. They are talented warriors, fear and respected, and known throughout Hyrule. The most infamous member of their race is the villain Ganondorf and, arguably, for this reason they could appear in almost every Legend of Zelda game.

EX. Link should be using his time with the Gerudos to discover some weakness in Ganondorf...but, instead, he is much more interested in the timeless question of "Where do babies come from?"

WORD OF THE DAY! 6/20/12.

run-time error [ruhn-tahym-ehr-or]

noun

1. An error in the execution of a program which occurs at run time, as opposed to a compile-time error.
A good programming language should, among other things, aim to replace run-time errors by compile-time errors. Language features such as strong typing help.
A good program should attempt to avoid run-time errors by, for example, checking that their input data is sensible. Where this is not possible, the program should attempt to detect the error and handle it gracefully rather than just exiting via the language or operating system's default handler. Here again, a good language will make this easy to do (or at least possible).

EX.