This made me laugh. This made me want to drink beer. This made me remember there are actually good movies.

→ What happened to action movies?

See, Hollywood in the 1980s knew something that today’s filmmakers have forgotten. They knew that you could lure people to the theater with the promise of titillation, and sucker-punch them with a story of real substance. They knew that action was about pulling the camera back and letting the viewer see where the antagonists were in relation to one another, and what they were doing, and why. They knew that someone could be part man, part machine, and all cop.

Movies from the 80′s seem to be the games of today. It’s a shame so much American movie making sucks ass these days. It’s almost not a matter that the movies are “bad” it’s more a feeling  “nobody makes movies for me”. Note: Need to watch Robocop soon.

→ Anterior - Venomous – Youtube

Sit the fuck down little boy
I’ve seen a million like you
And I wish everyone could see
Cold heart and hollow mind
This story’s getting so old and dire
It’s rehashed pathetic and weak

Brutal…

→ Angel Vivaldi – A Mercurian Summer – Youtube

Where is the rest of the band in this video?
jb6964

@jb6964 He IS the Band
LordAngelon

Vanbergs showed this to me awhile back and Angel is awesome. That give $5 to get $10 from Amazon a few weeks ago? Buying his albums is where that went.

→ Is Best Buy following CompUSA, Circuit City to certain doom?

The basic pattern that CompUSA (closed brick-and-mortar stores in 2007) and Circuit City (closed stores in 2008) followed was: first select stores were closed, then more were closed, then all stores were shuttered or sold off.

Is this Best Buy’s fate?

No way Best Buy is going to “die”. I still maintain they are the best (ugh) brick and mortar selling all the stuff people want these days. I would like to see them to find a way to leverage their best asset (store pickup), and maintain prices on media that people will actually want to pay. AKA being “The Best Buy”. People are smart (especially in Michigan) knowing Amazon has lower prices, free shipping, no sales tax and are willing to wait to a bit to save dough.

→ The Young Foodie Culture

Chang earns about $70,000 a year; her rent in Park Slope, where she lives now, runs $1,100 a month. As for the rest, “I spend it all on food,” she says flatly. During the one week I asked Chang to keep tabs on her restaurant-going and market purchases, she ate at fourteen restaurants, pizza joints, and cafés, and spent $350.

Food and drink seem to be a pretty big deal these days. I’m not one to talk. Driving over an hour to drink a beer is absolutely reasonable.

→ Relationship Blues On Mass Effect 3

Over the course of the Mass Effect games, I’ve emotionally misled at least three members of my crew, cheated on two more, and seduced both of my female aides-de-camp. Why have I been allowed to play a game called Mass Effect: Shepard Gone Wild? I have no idea. Neither real-life nor video-game commanders should be allowed to seduce their subordinates…

After knowing the path the third game takes (if I ever get to it)  my female Shepard will not indulge in romance in the first game. I also agree with Tom I miss the open planet investigation in the later games. Article is a good primer to the third game and relatively spoiler free. If I was a good writer he writes what I would if given the ability.

→ Microsoft: entertainment overtakes multiplayer gaming on Xbox

Microsoft says that Xbox Live members in the US are now spending more time watching TV, music, and movies than they are playing multiplayer games.

Not shocking  to hear. Whenever I’m on XBL more times then not everybody is either watching Netflix or on Hulu. Streaming video is slowly moving off the PC and onto the TV. It’s also strange how people don’t seem to have a problem paying for Gold to be able to do this when the PS3 and almost any other box let you stream for free.

Not much this week. Might be slow around here for a bit. Try to get something definite posted about Mass Effect 3 in the next couple weeks.

→ New Graphic Warning Labels on Cigarettes Pass Another Hurdle

The decision came in one of two cases brought by tobacco companies against the federal law that would force them to cover 50% of the front and back of each cigarette pack with a graphic warning label, including gruesome images of a smoker’s rotting teeth or a man exhaling smoke through a tracheotomy.

Fear, just what we need in our society. MORE FEAR! MAKE EVERYBODY AFRAID AND TREAT THEM LIKE IDIOTS!

→ House members call for new labels warning against ‘violent’ video games

Reps. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) on Monday introduced a bill that would require most video games to bear a warning label that says, “WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior.”

What a joke. While they are at it they should put that same label on “most” books, CD’s, and movies.

→ BEER #9 – COORS LIGHT

From 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verse 4

Coors Light is patient, Coors Light is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Coors Light does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

21′s century religion at it’s finest.

→ TO MASS EFFECT 3 PLAYERS, FROM DR. RAY MUZYKA, CO-FOUNDER OF BIOWARE

I urge you to do your own research: play the game, finish it and tell us what you think. Tell your friends if you feel it’s a good game as a whole. Trust that we are doing our damndest, as always, to address your feedback.  As artists, we care about our fans deeply and we appreciate your support.

Hope to have more on this later but I’m not sure when. I’m rather far into the game and haven’t finished it yet but I can say I’m shocked all the negative feedback this game is getting. There is so much good (particularly for people who imported from ME1 and ME2) whenever something sucks it doesn’t  seem to matter. When I finish it I’ll write something up and see if that changes.

Nowhere else on the planet can the weather be as diverse in one week as it’s been this week in West Michigan. Here are some links to take your mind off global warming and The Fog.

WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE WON’T HURT YOU…IT’LL KILL YOU! #tweetsfromvanlandw2012

→ The 365 Beers Challenge

I like beer. I like it a lot. This is a blog about drinking a different beer everyday for a year. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Flo started a drinking beer blog that makes me want to drink beer. As of today only 361 more beers to go! Hurry up and post something about Bud Light Platinum and Big Flats.

→ Still a Fast-Food Nation: Eric Schlosser Reflects on 10 Years Later

About two thirds of the adults in the United States are obese or overweight. The obesity rate among preschoolers has doubled in the past 30 years. The rate among children aged 6 to 11 has tripled. And by some odd coincidence, the annual cost of the nation’s obesity epidemic—about $168 billion, as calculated by researchers at Emory University—is the same as the amount of money Americans spent on fast food in 2011.

The full afterword for the 2012 edition of Fast-Food Nation.

→ BioWare responds to Mass Effect 3 criticisms

“When we finish a game, we finish it many months before it actually hits the shelves and the team goes on to work on something else that in those intervening months represent millions of dollars of development time, which either goes toward the next game that you might not see for several years or a different game that they might go to work on like Dragon Age or the Old Republic.”

See: Mass Effect designer defends day one DLC. The way I look at DLC is either a tip to the developer for making something I want to continue and show support  or if word of mouth is strong (case in point From Ashes). Most games hardly do you really see cases where you buy the main game and not really getting a “full” product. Sometimes DLC can be gross but I don’t think the market supports OVERLY gross content.

→ People Everywhere Are Falling In Love With The Starbucks Blonde

We estimate that Blonde (which launched Jan ’12) already represents a considerable portion of drip coffee orders in the SBUX retail stores (~25-30% per checks), with a likely net positive impact on traffic.

This is good to hear. I’ve found to prefer the Blonde to the Pike and I’m glad it’s selling because I don’t want it to go away.

→ Intrigue Behind Stopping The Ticking Clock On ’24′ Movie

Fox wanted a budget around $30 million, while the filmmakers wanted $45 million to $60 million. Fox’s idea was always to make the film at a cost, and reward in the upside.

Not shocked Fox wants to make this on the cheap. What I’ve always thought they should do is a short mini-series HBO style (Mildred Pierce, John Adams), show it broadcast, then put out an extended DVD. Skip the theaters. Couldn’t imagine Redemption didn’t do well for them. If 24 is still a discussion point almost two years since it’s end I’m sure there is enough people that would buy DVD’s with the right cast attached.

→ Giant Bomb team returning to CBS Interactive after site purchase 

CBS Interactive has acquired Giant Bomb, the video game site started three years after its founders left (or were fired from) the media company’s subsidiary GameSpot over controversial circumstances.

Strange to say the least. GB for years has been really the only gaming site worth a damn and their podcast is fantastic. Hopefully that doesn’t change for the worse but I feel confident it won’t.

→ The 25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions

These are all the major ones. Do not attempt any of them unless you have professional experience with (a) sleeping and (b) being some kind of a cat.

Wouldn’t say this is the de facto of ways cats slumber but there are many Tepper cats posted and Tepper cats really are the best.

Got nothing clever to add this week sorry.

→ Storms Mangle Ky. Town; Community Comes Together

MARTIN: So, what do you do as a minister, as a member of this community? What’s your role in this? What have you been doing?

DONAHUE: Well, it is to do whatever we can. To be honest, this is not a one-man team. This is not a one-organization team. We have got people spearheading all different areas right now. We’ve got donations. We’ve got people taking care of displaced people. We’ve got people preparing food. But we have had just an unbelievable outpouring of community love and support.

It’s easy to forget all the good a church can provide for a community. This is a great story.

→ Obama Scolds G.O.P. Critics of Iran Policy

“Those folks don’t have a lot of responsibilities, they’re not commander in chief. When I see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, I’m reminded of the costs involved in war” — for those who go into combat, for national security and for the economy. “This is not a game, and there’s nothing casual about it.”

After linking way to much garbage about Santorum recently it’s about time to bring light to Obama kicking ass.

→ Windows UI Concept ~ What Windows 8 Should Look Like

Microsoft have just launched their new Windows 8 logo. It has sparked a great deal of controversy as not everyone agrees if its good or poor. So with this news still fresh in everyones heads we have decided to showcase Sputnik8‘s incredibly minimal and uber sexy take on designing the Windows OS.

Personally I’m not much of a fan of “Metro” and all those boxes designed for displaying advertisements (thanks 360 dashboard). I like the flatness and minimalism of this concept. Especially for support people Metro looks like it could be a nightmare. There might be a tad too much white space but I like most everything else about it.

→ Forza Horizon Coming this Year

The decision to bring in an extra team to provide an “off year” game is normally reserved for the very biggest franchises – such as Call of Duty and Medal of Honor, but Greenawalt said he isn’t phased by the step up.

Game companies are getting really good recycling their best stuff with yearly updates. Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, and now Forza. They keep doing this because it’s being proven it works. ITERATION! Love this posted in the comments: “I was just saying to myself the other day when I was looking at my 360 that what I really needed with my copies of a Forza 2, Forza 3 and Forza 4 is yet another version of the same game!”

→ Mass Effect 3 Review – Giant Bomb

At the end of the day, Mass Effect 3 is a game for people who liked Mass Effect 2 so much that they absolutely need to see how it all ends. Despite claims to the contrary from the game’s publisher, I really don’t think newcomers will get much out of it at all.

Best review I would suggest to all with questions with minimal spoilers on ME3. Everything I’ve heard about that game has been good and looking forward to hopefully getting my copy soon and playing Multiplayer with everybody.

→ Retailer Sends Copies of Madden Instead of Mass Effect 3.

Sounds like “some” customers of online retailer Newegg who pre-ordered a copy of Mass Effect 3 didn’t get what they paid for. They got a game, delivered on time, only it was...Madden 12.

Speaking of ME3…I wrote already about this but I’m glad this story had some legs. From here I can say Newegg’s CS reps are fantastic at their jobs and very diligent. On the downside I have to make my way to a UPS on my own time and gas money to return a product I didn’t purchase and they didn’t provide any credit or coupon codes for my efforts. At least I’m not alone.

→ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive loses cross-play

“The beta has proved we want to update not just the beta, but the game itself post-launch frequently on the PC,” Valve’s Chet Faliszek revealed to Joystiq. “To do that we need to separate the platforms so one doesn’t hamstring the other. So for that, we have removed the idea of cross-platform play — essentially make all platforms stronger by not mixing them.”

Not shocking at all. Many factors I’m sure played here. Resurgence (profitability) of PC gaming? Microsoft not opening up XBL for connectivity to other services? Adoption of Steam not as high on PS3? This is a good move for purists, PC personally is the only way to play CS. This isn’t even bringing up the discussion of the high amounts of KB/Mouse advantages against controller players.

→ INCEPTION

BRRROOOONNNGGGGGG

BRRROOOONNNGGGGGG

It’s spreading. Also, if any readers have an iPad could somebody give me a screenshot of the homepage here so I could see what it looks like? Thanks!

→ Once Film-Focused, Netflix Transitions to TV Shows

Netflix declined to comment on exactly what proportion of total viewing that TV episodes make up, but its executives put the number at 50 to 60 percent last fall. Mr. Greenfield said he suspected that the percentage was 80 percent — an impressive triumph for TV over film.

Sounds about right. I don’t really watch many movies on Netflix anymore but I’m always looking on Instant Watcher to see what new TV shows are posted.

→ Edging toward the fully licensed world

Pretty clear. That stuff ain’t yours. All you get is some downloaded data and a highly restricted set of permissions for where and how you use that data, mostly within within the walled gardens provided by Amazon and the Content Providers. So it’s really more like renting than buying.

Thoughts about this came up when talking about why one would still buy DVD’s or CD’s. This article explains my reasoning to a degree. For stuff I like or interested in a true feeling of ownership is still important. Having the physical object feels like it’s mine…forever…or until I’m dead or my entire world burns to the ground.

→ Millions of Americans Have Pulled The Plug Since 2010

Friday Links is a sheer testament to how amazing/addicting the internet can truly be. Every day I find something interesting, learn something new, and find things I want to share with the five people that read this site. Way too much to get to this week.

→ Santorum’s Gospel of Inequality

Santorum said, “I’m not about equality of result when it comes to income inequality. There is income inequality in America. There always has been and, hopefully, and I do say that, there always will be.”

The statement above was said in Detroit, Michigan of all places. I urge all Michiganders please do not vote for this man. See: 10 Outrageous Things Rick Santorum Has Said. The GOP is insane.

→ Mitch Albom: Death for Houston as sad as her life

I don’t know about you, but when my time comes, I really don’t want anyone I didn’t call family explaining my demise.

The “news” media at times can be so gross. Celebrity news in particular is awful. If I want to know anything about celebrities it’s facts and that’s about it.

→ Please Steal These webOS Features

Now that it is becoming increasingly obvious that HP won’t do anything useful with webOS, it’s time to start stealing the things it does well. Here are some of these things.

Back when they were on firesale I ended up getting a good deal on a 32gb Touchpad. I’ve been meaning to write a review on it but there is already so much written there wasn’t much I felt I could add. Shawn Blanc’s review is all you need to know about the base Touchpad experience. The above link shows all the best features of webOS .

→ Twitter / @chouse 

Really sick of the ‘dumb dad’ att dsl commercials. Also, 768k dsl is not “high-speed” internet. It’s the new dial-up.

Cannot put into words how frustrating most advertising is these days. Just watch and almost every commercial the ”guy”  is portrayed as a complete idiot and more likely then not either controlled or upstaged/outsmarted by their female companions and children. In Twitter speak #ignoreeverything. See: 25 Horribly Sexist Vintage Ads

→ Twitter / @AndersFridn

Just so you know…Time will never be your friend

Best tweet ever. Even nice usage of a contemplative ellipsis…

→ Call of Duty: Devil’s Brigade Revealed

Five months before the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a small team of developers began work on a top-secret, third-person Call of Duty spin-off. Set in Italy during World War II, Call of Duty: Devil’s Brigade would feature squad-based mechanics, exploration, and a grim story about a team of skillfully trained killing machines.

Great scoop over at The Verge. The game they were trying to make sounds genuinely interesting shame this wasn’t continued. There is no way they don’t widen the scope of Call of Duty now that it’s the de facto in gaming these days. Super Call of Duty Brothers 3D Land?

→ BIG BOSS WANTS YOU! THE “NEXT” MGS

If you are interested in becoming part of our team, please visit the Konami Group booth, #1914, in the Career Pavilion.We look forward to meeting lots of enthusiastic and talented candidates.

If I had any of the skills Kojima Productions are looking for I would apply without question. The image of Big Boss on the splash screen if they sold it on a T-Shirt I would already have pre-ordered. Just more on top of more reasons why Metal Gear is my favorite. Also see: Why 3D doesn’t work in first-person view on Metal Gear Solid 3 on 3DS

→ Battlelog: Confirmed Fixes and Tweaks so Far

Players now get up from Prone slightly faster, allowing better odds of getting away from a grenade or threat when prone.

Looks like another 2gb update from DICE for Battlefield 3. Hurray…

→ Redesigning the Windows Logo

We hope you enjoy our new logo.

Scathing comments alert and I agree with them. In the comments there are designers blasting the new logo and making better versions (my favorite I’ve found is here). Over at Brand New (one of my favorite sites) has another take and another 200+ scathing comments.

→ Coffee’s Effect on the Heart Is So Small You Should Stop Worrying

Coffee has a bad reputation when it comes to heart health, while tea is generally accorded special healing properties. We have good news for both coffee and tea drinkers: neither is bad for the heart.

Fantastic, all the other salty, fatty, and sugar filled food I eat will be the cause of my demise. Thankfully it won’t be my favorite beverage.

→ Ultimate Warrior Goes Nuts on Mean Gene

This made the guy the champion for 293 days. That’s longer then any Bret Hart reign, any Chris Jericho reign, any Edge reign, any Eddy Gureerro reign, any Undertaker reign, any Stone Cold Steve Austin reign. WTF.
Moredread25

Wrestling used to be so cool. Got linked to Botchamania awhile back and while I don’t miss watching Raw and Smackdown every week for some reason that business I still find interesting.

→ Dilbert Comic Strip for 2/19/2012

“Apple” “Netflix” “MS”

Those are the companies mentioned within the comments. When I read that strip all I was thinking about was DLC. See: Downloadable Content – Wikipedia #Criticism 

So much awesome stuff out there. Then there’s this, which is also awesome, for all the wrong reasons.

→ How To Disable or Improve Google’s Google+ Integration

The Google+ integration, also known as “Search, plus Your World” or personalized search results, takes a few forms. It doesn’t only show personalized content — it also presents popular Google+ pages, even if you’re not logged in. Disabling Personalized Search

f/ Vanberge – Good primer for the non-tech-crazy on reversing or fixing Personalized Search. I would also add I highly suggest installing the plugin Disconnect.

→ Quoted sayings in the Call of Duty series

…the screen blurs away with the sound and an inspirational saying or military related saying is shown in quotation marks. Sometimes, the price of a military weapon or vehicle is shown to give perspective of how much money is needed to fund a war. Here are all of the quoted sayings shown in Call of Duty Series.

Nothing is more condescending then the game that’s pushing your shit throwing quotes from dead men at you. Honestly there are some good quotes here.

→ Best VGM 765 – Total Distortion – You Are Dead (Game Over)

I want this played at my funeral
tomaboma 1 year ago

Speaking of death screens, death would be welcome in Call of Duty if this song played everytime you died. The above was exactly what I was thinking when I first heard the song.  The whole Best VGM Youtube channel is worth bookmarking I’ve been following it for years.

→ Bastion Soundtrack LIVE: Build That Wall — Setting Sail, Coming Home

Bastion audio director Darren Korb and vocalist Ashley Barrett play two pieces from the Bastion Original Soundtrack in developer Supergiant Games’ studio! Get the OST at http://store.supergiantgames.com/

Speaking of soundtracks, the instrumentals and particularly the original vocal arrangements are just one of the many pieces that make Bastion an amazing video game.

→ Letters of Note: The Love of a Parasite is Worth Nothing

In May of 1948, author Ayn Rand received a letter from a fan named Joanne Rondeau. In it, she asked Rand to explain a sentence in her bestselling 1943 novel, The Fountainhead, which reads:

To say ‘I love you’ one must first know how to say the ‘I’.Rand responded with the following letter.

Hardcore

→ Asked & Answered: Max Payne 3 and More…

Yes, make sure to watch our official Max Payne 3 Pop-Up Edition Trailer where we confirm that tidbit along with lots of other facts about the game. He (James McCaffrey) is also the face of Max in Max Payne 3, and provides the majority of his movement, in and out of cutscenes.

This was confirmed awhile back but clearly this is fantastic news. James McCaffrey is irreplaceable as the voice of Max Payne.

→ How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy

Indoor cats pose no threat, he says, because they don’t carry the parasite. As for outdoor cats, they shed the parasite for only three weeks of their life, typically when they’re young and have just begun hunting. During that brief period, Flegr simply recommends taking care to keep kitchen counters and tables wiped clean.

The title is a tad misleading BUT still interesting for cat owners. My cat drives me crazy in other non-parasitic ways.

→ Don’t Tell Me, I Don’t Want to Know

A study published last month in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking found that the more time people spent on Facebook, the happier they perceived their friends to be and the sadder they felt as a consequence. What we’re losing, Ms. Turkle said, is a healthy form of compartmentalization.

Social Networks are hell and everyone is burning. The article is a little chicky but makes some good points. Everybody should leave a little aura of mystery to themselves.

→ Apple sold more iOS devices in 2011 than all the Macs it sold in 28 years

The iOS platform as a whole reached 316 million cumulative units at the end of last year. The iOS platform overtook the OS X platform in under four years and more iOS devices were sold in 2011 (156 million) than all the Macs ever sold (122 million).

Click the link and check the chart. Who are buying all these iPhones?

→ Phantom Menace Reissue Nostalgia

To help excavate our suppressed collective memories, Moviefone asked 13 writers — including one who was there with George Lucas at the premiere at Skywalker Ranch — to take us back to what we all thought was going to be a very glorious day.

See alone for some Kurt Loder action. Yup he’s still out there.

→ Youtube “Feather” Beta

This is an opt-in beta for “Feather” support on YouTube. The “Feather” project is intended to serve YouTube video watch pages with the lowest latency possible. It achieves this by severely limiting the features available to the viewer and making use of advanced web techniques for reducing the total amount of bytes downloaded by the browser.

I was using that Youtube Options plugin for awhile but while it lasts Youtube Feather is best way to browse Youtube. Way less suggestions, no advertisements and the whole site does seem snappy. Worth checking out.