Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
I Smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Some of you will recognize the title of this post. It's the name of a Travis Tritt song.
Hopefully, you've seen this. If not, go read it now. I'll wait.
OK, ready? And for those of you who didn't read it after all, I'll sum up events. Travis Tritt was scheduled to perform a concert in Joplin this Sunday (the tenth anniversary of 9/11), partially as a morale booster for tornado victims, and the concert was to be "free." I say "free" because, let's face it, nothing's free. Everything has a cost, especially throwing a concert for a country music superstar.
Mr. Tritt just happened to find out where that money's coming from: donations to help with Tornado Relief efforts. And he did what any honorable person would've done: he backed out. Good for him.
Bad for whoever the "City Official" is that offered this money for Tritt to come in the first place.
I understand that there was the hope/expectation that through sponsorships, the cost of bringing Tritt to town would've balanced out. But as he said himself, that "hope" isn't good enough, especially to those who lost their homes/loved ones in the storm.
I've only been in Joplin 5 months or so, and I'm ready to come down on someone like a Georgia thunderstorm. I can't IMAGINE how angry longtime Joplin residents must be right about now.
Let's face facts: I'm a reporter, so it's a duty of mine to be as clear and unbiased as I possibly can. It also behooves me to try and keep up a friendly rapport with officials. However, I'm also a citizen of Joplin, and I wish to express the following as a member of the public:
I'm outraged.
Donations to tornado victims are supposed to go to -- wait for it -- TORNADO VICTIMS. Not for entertainment. Necessities. Food. Clothing. Shelter. Things that, almost four months later, people are still doing without.
Would a concert have been nice? Of course. I planned on taking my wife to it. But not under these circumstances. This is at best a mistake that misuses these funds and at worst flat-out disrespectful to the survivors of the May 22nd EF-5.
Now, the City has responded to this whole mess: “Money from Community Fdn (Foundation) of the Ozarks was used as investment & necessary to secure entertainment for the event. Community members have been seeking sponsorships & it’s anticipated these donations will cover 100% of concert cost. In addition, Text to Give program will be associated with event and proceeds will go directly to the Fdn (Foundation). This event is meant to bring community together as a positive force in moving forward. Our efforts remain solidly focused on rebuilding this community and helping our citizens.”
While I get what they're saying, I still don't think that makes it right. Secure the money BEFORE spending donated dollars, and you won't have this kind of problem.
There are even some criticizing Tritt for making this call, saying if he were a "Real American" he'd come and do it for free regardless. I've got news for those people: a REAL American does things legit. They don't participate in things they don't believe in, and don't take advantage of others. Travis Tritt is a REAL American, and I applaud his showcase of morality and wisdom in an age where many performers and "artists" would just turn a blind eye to it.
If you want to be angry, be angry at whoever made the call to try and pay for the event using DONATED FUNDS.
God knows I am.
**EDIT** The City of Joplin's Facebook page is ON FIRE right now with upset people.
**EDIT 2: THE SEQUEL** The City's announced that while they did request a loan from the fund, they already had $85,000 to put back into it. Which makes me wonder why they didn't just plan on using that money and not even bother with the loan.
Hopefully, you've seen this. If not, go read it now. I'll wait.
OK, ready? And for those of you who didn't read it after all, I'll sum up events. Travis Tritt was scheduled to perform a concert in Joplin this Sunday (the tenth anniversary of 9/11), partially as a morale booster for tornado victims, and the concert was to be "free." I say "free" because, let's face it, nothing's free. Everything has a cost, especially throwing a concert for a country music superstar.
Mr. Tritt just happened to find out where that money's coming from: donations to help with Tornado Relief efforts. And he did what any honorable person would've done: he backed out. Good for him.
Bad for whoever the "City Official" is that offered this money for Tritt to come in the first place.
I understand that there was the hope/expectation that through sponsorships, the cost of bringing Tritt to town would've balanced out. But as he said himself, that "hope" isn't good enough, especially to those who lost their homes/loved ones in the storm.
I've only been in Joplin 5 months or so, and I'm ready to come down on someone like a Georgia thunderstorm. I can't IMAGINE how angry longtime Joplin residents must be right about now.
Let's face facts: I'm a reporter, so it's a duty of mine to be as clear and unbiased as I possibly can. It also behooves me to try and keep up a friendly rapport with officials. However, I'm also a citizen of Joplin, and I wish to express the following as a member of the public:
I'm outraged.
Donations to tornado victims are supposed to go to -- wait for it -- TORNADO VICTIMS. Not for entertainment. Necessities. Food. Clothing. Shelter. Things that, almost four months later, people are still doing without.
Would a concert have been nice? Of course. I planned on taking my wife to it. But not under these circumstances. This is at best a mistake that misuses these funds and at worst flat-out disrespectful to the survivors of the May 22nd EF-5.
Now, the City has responded to this whole mess: “Money from Community Fdn (Foundation) of the Ozarks was used as investment & necessary to secure entertainment for the event. Community members have been seeking sponsorships & it’s anticipated these donations will cover 100% of concert cost. In addition, Text to Give program will be associated with event and proceeds will go directly to the Fdn (Foundation). This event is meant to bring community together as a positive force in moving forward. Our efforts remain solidly focused on rebuilding this community and helping our citizens.”
While I get what they're saying, I still don't think that makes it right. Secure the money BEFORE spending donated dollars, and you won't have this kind of problem.
There are even some criticizing Tritt for making this call, saying if he were a "Real American" he'd come and do it for free regardless. I've got news for those people: a REAL American does things legit. They don't participate in things they don't believe in, and don't take advantage of others. Travis Tritt is a REAL American, and I applaud his showcase of morality and wisdom in an age where many performers and "artists" would just turn a blind eye to it.
If you want to be angry, be angry at whoever made the call to try and pay for the event using DONATED FUNDS.
God knows I am.
**EDIT** The City of Joplin's Facebook page is ON FIRE right now with upset people.
**EDIT 2: THE SEQUEL** The City's announced that while they did request a loan from the fund, they already had $85,000 to put back into it. Which makes me wonder why they didn't just plan on using that money and not even bother with the loan.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Sweatin' To The Graphics
OK, this may come as a shock, but I'm a bit overweight.
Really? Nobody's surprised? Huh.
Anyway, when Lori and I saw EA Sports: Active 2 on sale at Wal-Mart for $25 last week, we figured what the heck, it's $25. If it doesn't work, at least we'll have a nifty strap-on heart monitor to show for it. So later that week, I finally got around to setting up a workout program, putting on the three motion sensors (one for each arm and one for your right thigh) and fired it up.
Oh, man. I was almost dead by the end of the first workout.
The game provides some specific workout programs, or you can custom-build your own. I went with the 9-week strength builder at first (have since gone with custom workouts for a reason I'll go into later), and I gotta say, I'm impressed. Of course, even Wii Fit has the ability to make one sweat, but the difference here is fun. I was sweating, I was sore, and I was having a good time in the process. The workouts are predictable but move quickly, and the activities (workout games such as basketball, boxing, etc) are varied enough to not get repetitive quickly (unlike Wii Fit Plus's boxing program, which I could practically do blindfolded by the time I gave up on that game).
Another big selling point is that the game doesn't force you to be humiliated daily by a piece of plastic. Weighing yourself daily is the only way to get a mark for your progress in Wii Fit; that means every time you workout, you stand on the Wii Fit board, it tells you you're fat, you eventually get discouraged at your lack of progress, and you give up. Active, however, pretty much ignores that part. You can enter your weight on a weekly basis, if you choose. You can also ignore it completely, and still get credit for actually using the product.
Custom workouts are another plus. Yes, this is technically possible in Fit Plus, but it seems to work better in Active 2, at least for me. As I said earlier, I went to building a custom workout after trying the strength building program. Mostly it was because the program wants me to run and jump; two things I'm not necessarily allowed to do since I live on the second floor of an apartment building (and my neighbors wouldn't appreciate a lot of thumping on their ceiling). The variety is very nice, and the fact that you can use music stored on your hard drive (for PS3 and Xbox 360 users) is a big plus... especially when you have hard metal playing during warm-up and cool-down workouts; it just feels MORE AWESOME.
So as a whole, I like what I see. I'm only a little over a week in, so of course this could just be the honeymoon phase, but I can see myself sticking to this more than Wii Fit, partially because we lost our board, and partially because I don't remember enjoying myself as much with that game.
Score: B+. Only way this could've been good enough for an A would be if it supported the PS Move for PS3 users; the game does support the Kinect for those Xbox fans out there (again, uncertain on the Wii version's features).
Really? Nobody's surprised? Huh.
Anyway, when Lori and I saw EA Sports: Active 2 on sale at Wal-Mart for $25 last week, we figured what the heck, it's $25. If it doesn't work, at least we'll have a nifty strap-on heart monitor to show for it. So later that week, I finally got around to setting up a workout program, putting on the three motion sensors (one for each arm and one for your right thigh) and fired it up.
Oh, man. I was almost dead by the end of the first workout.
The game provides some specific workout programs, or you can custom-build your own. I went with the 9-week strength builder at first (have since gone with custom workouts for a reason I'll go into later), and I gotta say, I'm impressed. Of course, even Wii Fit has the ability to make one sweat, but the difference here is fun. I was sweating, I was sore, and I was having a good time in the process. The workouts are predictable but move quickly, and the activities (workout games such as basketball, boxing, etc) are varied enough to not get repetitive quickly (unlike Wii Fit Plus's boxing program, which I could practically do blindfolded by the time I gave up on that game).
Another big selling point is that the game doesn't force you to be humiliated daily by a piece of plastic. Weighing yourself daily is the only way to get a mark for your progress in Wii Fit; that means every time you workout, you stand on the Wii Fit board, it tells you you're fat, you eventually get discouraged at your lack of progress, and you give up. Active, however, pretty much ignores that part. You can enter your weight on a weekly basis, if you choose. You can also ignore it completely, and still get credit for actually using the product.
Custom workouts are another plus. Yes, this is technically possible in Fit Plus, but it seems to work better in Active 2, at least for me. As I said earlier, I went to building a custom workout after trying the strength building program. Mostly it was because the program wants me to run and jump; two things I'm not necessarily allowed to do since I live on the second floor of an apartment building (and my neighbors wouldn't appreciate a lot of thumping on their ceiling). The variety is very nice, and the fact that you can use music stored on your hard drive (for PS3 and Xbox 360 users) is a big plus... especially when you have hard metal playing during warm-up and cool-down workouts; it just feels MORE AWESOME.
So as a whole, I like what I see. I'm only a little over a week in, so of course this could just be the honeymoon phase, but I can see myself sticking to this more than Wii Fit, partially because we lost our board, and partially because I don't remember enjoying myself as much with that game.
Score: B+. Only way this could've been good enough for an A would be if it supported the PS Move for PS3 users; the game does support the Kinect for those Xbox fans out there (again, uncertain on the Wii version's features).
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Geek Cave Podcast #11: Captain America, GameStop, and DC's "New 52"
So... the latest Geek Cave podcast is live. Listen to it now.
http://thegeekcave.podbean.com/2011/09/01/comics-games-geek-culture-movies/
You can always download on iTunes using this link right here. (link may not be active yet; give it a day or so if it's not)
http://thegeekcave.podbean.com/2011/09/01/comics-games-geek-culture-movies/
You can always download on iTunes using this link right here. (link may not be active yet; give it a day or so if it's not)
Monday, August 8, 2011
Turning 29 and How to Not Fear 30
So I turn 29 tomorrow. Yippee. Truth be told, 28 can go right to Hell. I had an unbelievable amount of stress during my 28th year on Earth, some of which you know of, some I won't get into, so I'm more happy than usual to see my birthday approach.
I mean, who doesn't like their birthday? People who dislike presents, that's who. Also communists.
Now, that's not to say I'm particularly thrilled about turning 29. My wife won't be celebrating with me as she's over 5 hours away on a business trip (we celebrated a couple of days ago, but of course it's not the same as having fun on the actual day). I'll be working on my birthday (I know, cry me a river, almost everyone has to). And last but not least, I'll be one year closer to 30, and even further into the supposed threshold of adulthood.
But I'm not worried about 30. Heck, 30 should be worried about me.
You see, someone wise once said -- or wrote in a webcomic, I forget -- that now that we're the adults, we get to decide what adulthood means... and for me, maybe adulthood means not taking adulthood so seriously.
C.S. Lewis once said "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up," and you know what, he's right. We want to be grownups when we're kids, until we find out what that means. And true, being an adult means several things: paying your bills; taking responsibility for yourself, your actions, and those who depend on you; getting a job that allows you to support yourself at least a little; etc.
But adulthood doesn't have to be all work and no play. Heck, it doesn't even have to be boring. If there's something from your childhood you still enjoy -- be it cartoons, comic books, board games, whatever -- I say keep enjoying it. You're an adult. YOU can decide if you're too old to do this or that (within reason... I'm pretty sure adulthood means no longer sucking your thumb or wearing diapers... unless you're pretty far into adulthood, that is).
Sometimes people have told me I'm childish or even called me a "man-child" for enjoying comics and video games. Heck, Kathie Lee Gifford says I should stop playing video games by this time next year or I'm a freak. And you know what?
I don't care. Because I'm an adult and above name calling. You doodie head.
So 30 doesn't bother me. It's a number that will soon define how many years I've been providing a daily supply of AWESOME to the world.
May there be many more.
I mean, who doesn't like their birthday? People who dislike presents, that's who. Also communists.
Now, that's not to say I'm particularly thrilled about turning 29. My wife won't be celebrating with me as she's over 5 hours away on a business trip (we celebrated a couple of days ago, but of course it's not the same as having fun on the actual day). I'll be working on my birthday (I know, cry me a river, almost everyone has to). And last but not least, I'll be one year closer to 30, and even further into the supposed threshold of adulthood.
But I'm not worried about 30. Heck, 30 should be worried about me.
You see, someone wise once said -- or wrote in a webcomic, I forget -- that now that we're the adults, we get to decide what adulthood means... and for me, maybe adulthood means not taking adulthood so seriously.
C.S. Lewis once said "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up," and you know what, he's right. We want to be grownups when we're kids, until we find out what that means. And true, being an adult means several things: paying your bills; taking responsibility for yourself, your actions, and those who depend on you; getting a job that allows you to support yourself at least a little; etc.
But adulthood doesn't have to be all work and no play. Heck, it doesn't even have to be boring. If there's something from your childhood you still enjoy -- be it cartoons, comic books, board games, whatever -- I say keep enjoying it. You're an adult. YOU can decide if you're too old to do this or that (within reason... I'm pretty sure adulthood means no longer sucking your thumb or wearing diapers... unless you're pretty far into adulthood, that is).
Sometimes people have told me I'm childish or even called me a "man-child" for enjoying comics and video games. Heck, Kathie Lee Gifford says I should stop playing video games by this time next year or I'm a freak. And you know what?
I don't care. Because I'm an adult and above name calling. You doodie head.
So 30 doesn't bother me. It's a number that will soon define how many years I've been providing a daily supply of AWESOME to the world.
May there be many more.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The 3DS is in Trouble 2: Price Drop Boogaloo
So apparently those 3DS sales are troubling Nintendo more than I originally thought, because they just dropped the system's price by $80.
This also includes 20 free games (10 NES, 5 Virtual Console, and 5 Game Boy Advance) for those who bought the system before August 12th (price cut takes effect then), so early adopters don't feel quite so ripped off. Though they still should, since this shows Nintendo was gouging those most loyal to the company (and thus bought the system when it launched).
So the question is: why? Well, a couple of reasons...
Obviously, sales are not what Nintendo wanted to see. They were hoping by now to see the 3DS setting the world on fire, while the actual results are a little more lukewarm. This price drop, coupled with November and December releases for Super Mario 3DS, Mario Kart 7, and Kid Icarus, could give Nintendo the sales boost they're looking for.
Secondly, the PS Vita is coming out this holiday season, (then) matching the 3DS' price at $250 and offering a PS3-like experience on the go. Nintendo's move means their system is cheaper than Sony's, and we all know how that worked out last time.
Thirdly, the drop off of third-party support the 3DS has suddenly been seeing (see my last blog) means Nintendo needs to not only revitalize interest from a consumer perspective, but give other companies reason to want their software on the 3DS. A possible sales surge could do just that, as some developers could be jumping ship because of the current size of the customer base.
I don't know if it'll work out, but they certainly got my attention (I'll be getting the 20 free games since I bought this bloody thing at launch), and they've gotten the attention of a lot of other people. Only time will tell if the house that Mario built can continue the success they've had in the handheld market since the first Game Boy, or if the 3DS will become the next Virtual Boy.
This also includes 20 free games (10 NES, 5 Virtual Console, and 5 Game Boy Advance) for those who bought the system before August 12th (price cut takes effect then), so early adopters don't feel quite so ripped off. Though they still should, since this shows Nintendo was gouging those most loyal to the company (and thus bought the system when it launched).
So the question is: why? Well, a couple of reasons...
Obviously, sales are not what Nintendo wanted to see. They were hoping by now to see the 3DS setting the world on fire, while the actual results are a little more lukewarm. This price drop, coupled with November and December releases for Super Mario 3DS, Mario Kart 7, and Kid Icarus, could give Nintendo the sales boost they're looking for.
Secondly, the PS Vita is coming out this holiday season, (then) matching the 3DS' price at $250 and offering a PS3-like experience on the go. Nintendo's move means their system is cheaper than Sony's, and we all know how that worked out last time.
Thirdly, the drop off of third-party support the 3DS has suddenly been seeing (see my last blog) means Nintendo needs to not only revitalize interest from a consumer perspective, but give other companies reason to want their software on the 3DS. A possible sales surge could do just that, as some developers could be jumping ship because of the current size of the customer base.
I don't know if it'll work out, but they certainly got my attention (I'll be getting the 20 free games since I bought this bloody thing at launch), and they've gotten the attention of a lot of other people. Only time will tell if the house that Mario built can continue the success they've had in the handheld market since the first Game Boy, or if the 3DS will become the next Virtual Boy.
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