Support Rock Vibe on Kickstarter!
Rock Vibe is basically Rock Band for the blind. A player attaches peripherals to her/his arms, and the devices vibrate when the player needs to strike a corresponding note. It’s a brilliant way to make a modern video game playable for the visually impaired.
The creators of Rock Vibe need money to get this project off the ground, as building hardware isn’t exactly a cheap endeavor. So far they’ve raised about $15,000 on Kickstarter (an incredibly cool crowd-funding site, if you haven’t seen it). Unfortunately they have not yet reached their goal of $32,000, and they only have three days left.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that one of the creators of Rock Vibe is a woman named Rupinder Dhillon who is the sister of a good friend. That doesn’t take away from how cool her project is. Hardware/ software combinations like Rock Vibe will help blind gamers now, but I have no doubt that their concept has the potential to heighten the gaming experiences of sighted gamers in the future.
Best of Funny Christmas Movies, TV & Music
Surviving another month in the “holiday spirit” echo chamber made me ponder, “Which of these movies, television episodes, and songs do I actually enjoy?”
Best Christmas Movie
Winner
Die Hard (1988) - ”Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.” It’s a tale of redemption set on Christmas. That makes it a Christmas movie. Deal with it.
Runner-up
Elf (2003) – Everyone likes this movie. If you don’t I recon you might be one of those damned communists.
Best Christmas Television Episode
Winner
South Park – Woodland Critter Christmas (Season 8, Episode 14, 2004) – Stan helps some adorable Woodland Critters give birth to their savior. Insanity ensues. This isn’t for the faint of heart, or for young children.
Runner-up
Futurama – Xmas Story (Season 2, Episode 8 1999) – 1,000 years in the future, a robotic santa (John Goodman) distributes gifts on Xmas. Robot Santa’s behavior standards were set too high in the factory and he judges everyone as naughty… And tried to murder them for their misdeeds.
Best Christmas Song
Winner
O Holy Night – Matt Mulholland - Be sure to read the description of this song, and stick around for the crescendo at the end; Mulholland has exceptional vocal range.
Runner-up
The Night Santa Went Crazy - Weird Al Yankovic
Happy Holidays!
Good Riddance Kim Jong Il
There are more than a few utterly despicable tyrants who has spent time wandering this Earth. Most of them eventually have to suffer the wrath of those they have harmed. Sadly, Kim Jong Il was not one of them.
Kim was blessed with dominion over a hill no foreign leader cared enough to conquer, and he did such an exemplary job of keeping his people in the dark that the overwhelming majority of them have no idea what the world beyond their town looks like, let alone realize how obscenely oppressed they are. There is no better example of the dangers of excessive government than that of North Korea. It’s like the people of North Korea are living in the Matrix. They are slaves, and they don’t have any idea just how thoroughly they have been subjugated.
One day the people of North Korea will have to wake up, and I do not envy the pain and anger they will feel when they realize how extensively they have been harmed by their dictators. I have my doubts that Kim’s death will bring about that change, but I hope it comes sooner than later for them. No one deserves to live in mental and physical slavery.
Good riddance Kim. Even if your death doesn’t improve the lives of your people, the world is a better place without you in it.
Cancel the Oscars, Here’s “Battleship” the Movie
Sure adapting the classic board game Battleship for a movie seemed a little strange, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the movie would be a WWII naval extravaganza like Pearl Harbor (without sucking), or some Cold War ear Hunt For Red October with more explosions and less Alec Baldwin. Nope.
Now that some trailers are available it’s clear that “adapted’ is the wrong word, “mangled” is more accurate.
Judging a movie by the trailer is typically a bad idea, but this is clearly the proverbial exception. This dreck looks like someone dumped Battleship (the game) and Transformers 2 into a Blendtec Blender for a rousing game of “Will It Blend?” The answer is, yes, it will blend, but I wouldn’t recommend drinking it.
That trailer looks like it was yanked from Michael Bay’s porn collection.
I dub thee, Battleshit.
(Image via IMDB)
Goodbye GamePro – Thanks For Teaching Me To Read
GamePro Magazine taught me to read.
Growing up my parents pretty much only purchased toys on birthdays and at the Holidays, but they would buy reading material whenever we asked. The thing was, I hated reading. I didn’t enjoy reading mostly because I had a very difficult time learning to do it. GamePro was the first written material I encountered that helped me see the immediate benefits of reading. Best of all, I could get a new one every month!
I persuaded my mom to buy me a subscription when I was in second grade, and I read every issue from then until its recent cancellation. There were times where I didn’t own any current gen consoles, and couldn’t play the games they wrote about, but I still kept and read the magazine (I’m looking at you Playstation 1 era). GamePro introduced me to geek culture and quirky writing. I discovered satire through the magazine’s April Fools LamePro editions which initially confused me, but clearly impacted me.
I thought about canceling a few times over the years, but I am a man of few rituals, and reading GamePro every month was probably the only life-long ritual I’ve ever had. I’m bummed to see it go.
Goodbye GamePro, thanks for teaching me to read.
(Via IndustryGamers)
Arm Cannon = Metal + Classic Gaming
Instrumental music (acoustic or electric) is my personal preference for work time for all of the reasons your would assume. I’ve been working a ton lately, so I’ve been listening to a lot of instrumental artists ranging from Bela Fleck, to Rodrigo y Gabriela & Jake Shimabukuro. On the geekier side, I’ve also discovered an awesome band called Arm Cannon.
Arm Cannon takes their name from Mega Man’s primary weapon, they combine metal and classic 8 & 16 bit music in creative and fun ways. There’re a lot of bands out there that do this, but Arm Cannon is my new favorite.
If you like that, consider checking out two albums; they’ve got a lot of great music.
In other news, I was off the blogging wagon for a while, but I’m back on.
The Police Disappoint Again
I just witnessed a nasty accident.
Off in the distance, I saw a minivan slam into a bicyclist. I wasn’t close enough to see the details, but when I drove up I truly thought that the bicyclist was dead. The only other people on the scene were witnesses who saw the whole thing, and were freaking out on the phone with 911, and the distraught man who crashed into the cyclist.
I got out of my car to try to help the guy on the asphalt. I checked to make sure he was breathing; wasn’t bleeding too badly; and started talking to him as he slowly regained consciousness. Then I just kept him talking until the cops showed up.
The cops are what I’m writing about.
Over the years I’ve had a number of interactions with the police (none where I’ve done something wrong). Every time I deal with the cops I think, “there is no way they are going to be assholes to me this time.” And every time I’m disappointed. I’m not looking for them to be pleasant, I’m just looking for them to not be assholes. I set low standards, and they always fail to meet them.
These cops seemed completely indifferent, uncaring, and unhelpful towards the victim. They were also very mean to the witnesses. It’s totally fucking unnecessary.
I’m so damn tired of police treating people poorly. They are supposed to serve and protect. Citizens aren’t the enemy; especially those of us who actually try to help in bad situations.
I’m not looking for a medal, or even a thank you. It’s not about that. I just don’t want the police treating me like shit when I try to help a person in need.
The next time I hear an off-duty cop bitch about how “they spend all day seeing the worst of humanity,” I’m going to tell them to open their eyes and pay attention and be thankful when they happen upon someone doing the right thing when they didn’t have to. People do it all the time, but if you’re so jaded, you will never notice.
