So, just over a month ago I picked up a new hobby, and I’m starting to get good at sucking less.
I’ll try to update this page a little more often again, but no promises.
Anyways, here are some examples of using my big dumb grippers on some little tiny locks.
So, I haven't been posting much lately. I have a pretty good reason for not doing so, and I explain it all in the video.
I meant to record a quick 10 minute video, but it went a bit long. Sorry about all the pauses, and the stumbling with my words, but I didn't want to edit it so you could see part of the effect on me my explanation has been. I don't edit my videos to make me sound like I'm a good, off-the-cuff, steady stream talker, because I usually am. Plus, this is me, talking to you, the viewers, the readers, the fans, and the friends.
I hope you are having a great day, now excuse me while I get ready to go see our most favoritest bartender about some wings and a sprite!
I'm going back to My Chemical Romance, and as promised, it sure as hell isn't anything from Black Parade, which is overhyped, and just not good.
I'm Not Okay is the song that first brought MCR to my attention. You got massive tempo changes, a couple guys singing in chorus, while one of them starts to scream, you've got shouting, and you have this stupidly awesome music video that is made to look like an awesome 80's teen highschool movie trailer.
What more could I want?
Enjoy!
So, I'm old enough that I actually got to see The Abyss in theaters. If you ever wondered what I did for my 10th birthday, I went and saw The Abyss.
James Cameron made a movie underwater. Imagine that. But this was his first one! And it was his best! It is the kind of "smart sci-fi" that doesn't leave you hating whoever wrote the original story. It doesn't talk down to you. And if you watch the SUPER long director's cut, you will see all kinds of crazy things that I'm not willing to spoil here.
Go, watch this movie.
And enjoy!
Oxenfree.
Oxenfree is an odd blend of old school point-and-click adventure game and new school branching dialog social interaction game. And this is definitely a game with a weird story.
I really enjoyed this one, and no matter what the IGN reviewer said, it is definitely worth a second or third playthrough.
It will set you back about $20, and is available on Xbox One, PS4, Mac, and PC.
Enjoy!
Another #musicmonday, another chance to recommend more He Is Legend!
I mean, come on, I don't do it THAT often, but I have had them on the mind a bit lately, what with them having an album not far from release, and all!
This is the title track from their second album, which came out in 2006. Like all of their music, it holds up a decade later, still sounding fresh.
Give it a listen, it's one of the #drunkontaco crew's favorite bands!
Enjoy!
So, you like Final Fantasy games, huh? Final Fantasy VII is the greatest JRPG of all time, right?
WRONG!
Its all about Final Fantasy VI(released as Final Fantasy III, here in the US). I mean, FFIV is pretty okay, too, but if you want THE BEST JRPG, it HAS to be Final Fantasy VI.
I mean, I even have the Mog the Moogle tattoo from the US box art to prove how dedicated I am to the fact that FFVII is NOT the best Final Fantasy game. Want to play it? You can get it via Steam, or on pretty much any modern phone.
Enjoy!
BONUS!!!
WRASTLIN'!!!
Or wrestling. Of the professional variety. We absolutely love it. The weirder, the crazier, the better. Only one thing. Well, TEN things. You have to accept these ten things, or wrestling makes no sense.
Also, it helps to realize that WWE isn't ACTUALLY wrestling. No. WWE is a series of shows ABOUT people putting on a wrestling show. It's like how Sports Night(which was one of the greatest sitcoms ever written) wasn't about nightly sports news ,but about people making a nightly sports news show. Its the only way you can explain all the crazy behind the scenes stuff. There is actually a documentary about JUST that concept, and its pretty amazing. It is also HILARIOUS. So why don't I include it as the bonus content this week? Sure, why not. It isn't exactly a short watch (almost half an hour), but it is SUPER worth watching, even if you DON'T like wrestling. These two videos make for a GREAT introduction to professional wrestling!
Enjoy!
More Goldfinger? Hell yes, more Goldfinger!
King For A Day is the 5th track from their self-titled album. It is far from their most famous song, and it didn't get a video, but it's probably one of my favorite (non-cover) ska songs!
Sorry this post is going up later than usual, but I'm moving a tiny bit slow due to messed up ankles. They were already acting up Friday, and I didn't rest up as much as I should have Saturday, and then yesterday I went to one of #bigmike's and my favorite events: Import Face Off(as purely spectators), and we took the bikes. That translates to me being on a bike for well over 6 hours in temperatures from 55 to 85. and it was long periods of highway riding, with my feet locked into one position, so I've been moving pretty slow at pretty much everything for the last 18 hours.
Alrighty, this week, I'm bringing you Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Fantasy Flight games has been releasing lcg's(or living card games) for a while now. Unlike ccg's(or collectible card games), you buy the basic box, and you are good to play. You want more cards and more adventures? They will be releasing add-on packs, which are pre-determined collections of cards, so you only need to buy the cards you actually want, and there is no horrible random element to what you get. The game itself is a lcg representation of Arkham Horror, which is a cooperative game based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Supposedly the game is out either now, or later this month, and I'm SUPER excited to get my copy from my friendly local game store!
Okay, so this week for #weirdwednesday we are talking about Ghostbusters 3. Wait, did I say "3?" Yup. There was a third adventure of the original crew(and only crew, unless you count the additional 'busters introduced in the "Extreme" cartoons. There will be no debate on any movie released after 2009 that has the decietful title that would make people think it is in some way related to the original stories). The game was actually really good, the story was well written, and the jokes were JUST right. They even got the majority of the original cast to come back to voice the characters. It was released for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, and is super cheap these days. It also holds up extremely well, so go find a copy!
Guano Apes is a female fronted rock band from Germany. They first formed around 1994, and they found success starting around 1998. Open Your Eyes is probably one of their most well-known songs, and is from their debut album "Proud Like a God."
This song hit American radio a little after I graduated high school and had a bit more time on my hands to listen to music. I always seems to rediscover this band, realise just how much I love their music, listen to them, forget them, then come back a few years later to rediscover them again. The music really holds up, even almost two decades later. Unlike that one dude's hat: that thing is hideous.
Enjoy!
Carcasonne!
Carcasonne is an amazingly simple game, it never gets old, and it is a fairly great way to get into modern european style board games.
Carcasonne is a tile layer and a resource management game with a little bit of math, and if you can't find someone to ply with, it pretty easy to find a computerized version of the game to play either by yourself or online with others. iOS, Xbox 360(and it works on Xbox One), Android, and pc versions are available, and they tend to be fairly inexpensive.
Try one of the computerized versions, and if you want a physical copy, go find/visit your friendly local game store, and enjoy!
Larry Correia
Mike Kupari
Okay, so this week we are trying something new: a #wordywednesday post! Don't worry, it is still a #weirdwednesday post as well.
The "Dead Six" trilogy(don't quote me, the story got wrapped up pretty well in the third book, unlike the cliffhanger endings in the first two books) is written by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari. The series reads like good Tom Clancy, but set in a world where you just KNOW that Lovecraftian horrors are somewhere behind the scenes, but you will only ever really see them rustling the curtains, but never actually show themselves. It is an extremely compelling narrative compromise that lets the world carry on with being the world, but still lets you question the little things that aren't QUITE right.
I became a fan of Mr. Correia's from his "Grimnoire" series of books, which will probably be the subject of a blog post at some point in the future. He writes a heck of a heist story, and he knows his stuff when it comes to weapons and tactics, so whenever he writes about tactical folks doing tactical stuff, it comes off just that little bit more authentic.
Mr. Kupari has released one solo book, Her Brother's Keeper, and his work in this series is outstanding! I have yet to listen to Her Brother's Keeper, but it is next on my list, and I very much look forward to devouring it along with any books he might write in the future!
This series is published by Baen Books, and is available at most book stores, and the audiobooks are available from Audible. The audio versions are narrated by Bronson Pinchot(who you might remember as cousin Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers), who does a great job of bringing these books to life!
Man, this is an odd one for me. Yes, it is monday, and yes, this is a music video, but it is so much more. Wintergatan ("The Milky Way" in Swedish(like the fish)) is a "folktronica"(???) band from Sweden. They also seem to know a little bit about mechanical engineering. And electronics. And God only knows what else. They have a couple videos of them building things, and these guys are smart. Like, as in, I feel dumb watching this.
Anyways, the Marble Machine is a mechanical masterpiece, and the song it plays is actually really good and is really catchy!
Enjoy!
This week I'm bringing you a review of the Space Hulk: Death Angel card game by one of my favorite board game critics, Tom Vasel.
He can sell you on the game better than I can, but for basic info, it is a completely, 100% cooperative card game, where the cards actually kinda build a board by their placement. Their is a special d6 used, but a normal d6 could be used in its place easily, and it is set in the extremely popular Warhammer 40k universe from Games Workshop.
The game is easy to learn, very fun, and fairly inexpensive. Also, and this is a HUGE selling point for me, it makes for a GREAT single player/solitaire game! I have personally purchased it twice, once I left it behind in a hotel and it was cheaper to just buy another copy, and my second copy, well, someone walked off with it, so it is time for me to buy a third copy!
Enjoy!
So, I have shared a lot of Western/European horror, but this week, the Scary come from the East.
Big Trouble in Little China is one of our favorite movies. Like, not mine, not #bigmike's, EVERYONE's. Seriously, you can't get more than 3 of us together and NOT expect this movie to come up.
The movie was made by John Carpenter, and even though Kurt Russel's Jack Burton gets top billing, he isn't ACTUALLY the hero. Dennis Dun's Wang Chi is actually The good guy to watch, where ol' Jack is more like a hapless sidekick. If you haven't seen this movie, find a way to watch it.
Enjoy!
Hey. So this week I'm bringing you the cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt, as performed by Johnny Cash for his 2002 album, American IV.
Do I really need to tell you about Johnny Cash? The man was Elvis, if Elvis had been cool. The man was Ray Charles, if Ray Charles had had soul.
Most people know Mr Cash for his original songs, but he performed more than a couple covers, and all of them are pretty amazing, I just personally find this one to be my favorite.
Enjoy!
Okay, so I kinda jumped into #nerdythursday without really letting you know what to expect.
Each week I'll either post up an interview that is somewhat nerdy, or the trailer (and maybe a review) for a game that I have found to be particularly worth checking out, or a video of a gameplay demo for a board or card game that I think is worth your time.
This week, I'm recommending you check out Firewatch. I have no idea how much it currently costs(expect to find it for $20 or less), but I can tell you it is available on Xbox One, PS4, Windows, Mac, and Linux, so chances are you can play it. It isn't a praticularly long game, but it tells a pretty amazing story, and there is a patch coming out shortly that will put a walking museum audio tour type of mode in, and I'm actually looking forward to going back to check it out!
Enjoy!
Okay, I know you have probably heard of this if you haven't already seen it, but if you haven't seen Stranger Things yet, and you have access to Netflix, you really do need to watch it.
Stranger things is a pretty awesome sci-fi series that can be described as E.T. meets Firestarter meets Silent Hill. If anyone desribes it directly, as opposed to comparing it to other great properties, it will totally spoil the show. And you don't want this one spoied for you. Trust me.
Anyways, if you don't have access to Netflix, find a friend with access and watch this. or meet a new friend with Netflix. Just find a way to watch this. And, as always: Enjoy!