Monday, July 31, 2017

PAWG: Now I know

PAWG: Now I know
uh, for research, I have been seeing more and more anagrams of the letters PAWG in titles and not sure what it means. So, I looked it up on the trusty urban dictionary.
((pawg
Phat
Ass
White 
Girl

girl wit da ass of a god.
"Holy shitlook a that PAWG!"))
God bless you, Internet. Now I know and knowing is half the battle. Given that I am a black man, I should have already known the term by heart. However, my ghetto card was revoked.

BTW, don't look up the term at work on Google image...damn.  

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Rockstar being sued by the folks that own the likeness of Miss Cleo

Rockstar being sued by the folks that own the likeness of Miss Cleo 
I had no idea Miss Cleo died recently. Anyway, Rockstar games is being sued by a group of psychic. 
From Screengeek.ne ((Psychic Readers Network, who hold the rights to ‘Miss Cleo’, just filed a lawsuit against Rockstar Games and others who helped make a distribute Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – for allegedly taking her image and Jamacian accent and slapping it on the character known as ‘Auntie Poulet’. ))
There is a huge problem with this lawsuit though. Miss Cleo is actually in the game playing the parody character of herself! Auntie Poulet is supposed to be modeled after Cleo. You can't sue the company if she was willing to bring her likeness and voice to a project. Plus, this falls under parody as well.
This suit will be thrown out rather quickly I think.


BTW, this character is from GTA Vice City that came out in 2002!

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Copyright Saga (Part 3)

Holmes wrote this article in such a bias manner that I got very angry over it. It was posted on the Destructoid main page. If you can remember, I mention that I found it odd that the mainstream gaming sites haven't talked about it. Now, we got a side to it.
Despite leaving key facts out of the story, this is where the shitstorm started.
From Destructoid, ((Unfortunately, not everyone has been so empathetic. Since word got out that Ms. Mauer had issued the DMCA orders against the two games, a sadistic feeding frenzy has formed in certain pockets of the internet, leading to Ms. Mauer receiving multiple online death threats, and opportunistic video game pundits demonizing her in long winded, fruitless YouTube rants.  ))
Why would you go out of your way to not mention the harassment Alex has done against everyone else?
Why not mention the false copyright strikes against nearly a 100 plus group of YouTubers?
He wrote some other things in his original post attacking YT'ers, but that has since been deleted.
Okay, he wanted to protect Alex despite the fact she has attacked a bunch of indie devs. Generally, these game “reporters” are very protective of indie devs, so it makes no sense for him to reshape the story into Alex being the victim. It is a shame when more research goes into the comment section than the actual story. Heck, I did more research than this guy did on the story and I am just a shitty blogger. Granted, I have been doing this for about ten plus years.
What makes it even crazier is that it is clearly stated in the court documents that she is legally not allowed to put up false copyright claims against Starr Mazer streamers. Yet, he refused to put this in his story. Omitting facts in a real news story can shape the way people view an issue. That is what I have a huge problem with in this whole thing.
It seems protecting a trans-person is more important than telling the truth.
When you are a journalist, report the facts and let the people decide how they view the issue. (or let us blogger share our thoughts on it). His clearly has a bias against vloggers and wanted to white knight the issue.
I know that Destructoid is cleaning house and reshaping the company. So, they went above and beyond trying to work out this problem. The editor moved the story from the main page to the writers' community blog on the site. There have been updates put to the story as well.

From the update, (( I've gotten a lot of people telling me that the line about "ambulance chasing Youtube pundits" in the original post was personally insulting to them, so I want to apologize. Specifically, I apologize to SidAlpha and Musical Anti Hero. I heard from Twitter user Fury283 that you were insulted by that statement. I was not referring to you directly when I said that, so I'm sorry that it came off that way.  ))

Monday, July 24, 2017

Webster and that Star Trek The Next Generation "Crossover"

Webster and that Star Trek The Next Generation "Crossover"
I wrote about this years upon years ago in another Trek post. I think it was a Reading Rainbow crossover with the TNG BTS crew. I talked to the founder of the Agony Booth and we talked about this often overlooked episode. He said he wanted to go over the episode. Even though I haven't seen it in years (20+), I still remember it. It kind of falls under that whole missing canon rule like the Ewok TV movies.
From Memory Beta, ((This episode has Webster transported into the future and aboard the USS Enterprise-D, where he has a conversation with lieutenant Worf and relates some of his experiences to him. Webster is ultimately returned to his own time, where he questions if the experience was a dream - only to discover he still has his souvenir from his visit to the Enterprise. ))
I remember when this episode came out. My brother still watched Webster and recorded the episode. I couldn't believe it that Webster showed up on my fave show at the time. Now, it just seems strange. It was a Webster clip show under the veil of a crossover with TNG. TNG and Webster shared the studio lot at the time.
This crossover happened during the second season of TNG due to Worf having his S2 Klingon head and gold uniform. Plus, the bridge has been redesigned for its S2 appearance. Plus, all the background crew members were extras on the TNG show at the time. That included Ensign Youngblood. Yes, that was his name on the show.
Since this was filmed during S2, there was a lot major shakeups going on during the filming of this crossover. Gene was getting sicker and more hooked on meds. Another producer had just fired Gates McFadden and brought in Dr. Pulaski and the actress didn't get along with the rest of the cast.
I love the fact that none of the rest of the TNG cast shows up for this shitty crossover. They probably went out to lunch and left Dorn there to film this mess. It should be noted that the folks in Trek almost never talk about this crossover and Dorn seems to never talk about it at all given he stars in the episode. It has been almost forgotten it seems other than those Trek fans like myself and a few others like the writers of various sites.
Like the story has said, this was the last episode of Webster. I find it strange given this is a clip show. Generally, these are done to save cost, but not as a finale episode.
Anyway, make sure to read the rest of the post at the Agony Booth.

Check here and here and here for more about this strange crossover.  

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Passengers (2 of 2)


Passengers (2 of 2)

I liked seeing this world where a huge cooperation has taken over space travel. This new style of space travel is now considered the wild west and a fresh start for people on new worlds/colonies. Everyone one is just trying to start anew for different reasons. However, it still takes a very long time to travel between planets, so everyone has to sleep in pods. That plays a huge factor into the overall plot. Pratt's character will be stuck alone on a huge starship. Will he go crazy?
It is a nice touch to see that there is a tier system to the luxuries on board the ship. Only the rich get certain varies of foods and drinks and access to certain areas is restricted to those that can't afford.  Lawrence has the money to get certain items, whereas Pratt has to break into things. That was a nice touch.
Michael Sheen plays an android that is a bartender. Sheen is great in the role, but he is in a limited role. Was the Android activated when Pratt's character was awakened? Or was he “always online”? Does he have real AI feelings? This isn't really explored that much and only hinted at. It should be noted he is programmed to listen to human problems and give advice too.
Now, the movie does take a turn where certain truths are revealed. While I like characters owning up to their mistakes, it still falls under cliché romance movie issues for me.
The movie does sort of switch gears toward the 20-minute mark and might turn some people off that were in it for a sci-fi mystery story. And, I found myself less interested in the love/friendship story aspect of the movie when it switches gears and pace than the first half.
The movie does take another turn when we find out the reasons behind the sudden activation of Pratt's pod. Another factor is introduced to the story, and it doesn't work that well other than the shock of seeing this other factor. I wasn't expecting this factor to appear, it just feels more like a re-wrote more than anything else.
-The notion of people giving up their old lives needed to be expanded upon.
-What about the AI programs and the other automated systems? Was there something else there? Or was it cut from the movie?
-The Dance-Dance Revolution program is a bit too much like that Michael Bay movie.
It feels like the movie is trying to cover a lot of ground but fails on some fronts due to its running time. I think this sort of story could have been properly handled as mini-series. The movie has some pacing issues in the middle but gets back on track in the third act.  Lawrence and Pratt are great, but the weak script sometimes makes their relationship seems a bit too cheesy and bland. There are other sci-fi elements that could have been explored but appears these elements were either thrown out or never fully realized. The FX is nice and the score works, yet the script is very weak. We needed more of everything.

Grade: C

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

How did I get here?

How did I get here?
I just re-watched this episode a couple of days ago. I love how crazy this show is. In the comments, they revealed the the host of the show is actually listening and looking at them watching and talking about his show. Watch his eyes move toward the people talking.
I love the Trek reference.
And, stay away from the coffee machine. I am certain we will get a small callback to this scene.   

Passengers (Part 1 of 2)

Passengers (Part 1 of 2)


This is a flawed movie with some interesting concepts of space travel and some good character moments. The trailer claims a more sinister type of movie, but it isn't that at all. I liked the first 30 minutes and the last 40 minutes a great deal. It is too bad the love story suffers a bit in the middle. There are some things that are not that bad to watch. Yet, the movie is missing something to make it stand out. The acting from the entire cast (a small one) is overall very good.
I know that the movie received some major backlash from critics, but it isn't that bad.
Due to a major malfunction aboard a sleeper ship, one person is awakened from his pod. He discovers that he is the only one awake aboard the ship. He only has some robots and androids to keep him company. Later another, another person wakes up and the two spend time together. Yet, something is wrong with the sleeper ship.
The directing by  Morten Tyldum isn't bad. In some places, it is downright beautiful. I love the space walk scenes and the moments where the characters witness a sun up close. Jon Spaihts ' script is a bit too weak in some places that it hurts the overall movie. Is this a sci-fi thriller or a love story? Neither one of them is that strong on their own and weaker together.
Knowing that there were extensive re-shoots, this probably is the reason for the weak and somewhat uneven script.
I love that Star Lord, er Chris Pratt Spends the first 30 minutes alone aboard a giant ship, and he is going a bit crazy. The scenes do properly convey the loneliness this guy is having . He will spend 90 years completely alone on a ship, and that is a problem for him. I like seeing these emotions overs the course of a year. So, he does something drastic...
Spoiler Alert: He actively opens a pod of a female passenger and lies to her. Jennifer Lawrence is this passenger. Lawrence is very good in the part. She does a good job showing a idealistic writer that is bored with Earth and wants to embark on a new adventure. I like this aspect of her character and find myself identifying with her.
Pratt and Lawrence are great together, but I just wasn't feeling the love story.
I guess it is a good thing BOTH of them are really attractive people. It would be a whole different story if one of them were unattractive. There is even a joke about it in the movie too!

Monday, July 17, 2017

R-Kelly doing freaky things



R-Kelly doing freaky things
I am a freak, but even I have to say that R-Kelly is a major freak that is on the dangerous side of things. Kelly is a good artist, but something is gravely wrong with him. It all follows a pattern. He gets in trouble, he denies it and the black community has his back. He puts out some thinly-connected religious song and goes back to his more booty-shaking songs at a later date.
Now, he's been accused of having a “cult” of women he has around him that he controls with an iron grip illegally.
From Variety.com, ((According to parents and the former associates, Kelly keeps several young women at his homes in Atlanta and Chicago; replaces their cell phones with ones specifically used to communicate with him and forbids them to contact their families; requires they call him “daddy” and ask permission to leave the studio or their residences; films their sexual encounters with him; and abuses them physically and verbally.  ))
Now, we have to be extremely carefully about what comes out of this reveal, because R-Kelly has some really good lawyers. I don't like the new allegations are coming from Buzzfeed, but it does ring true with his past incidents. Remember he married  Aaliyah illegally at the age of 15. He met her at the age of 12. Her family forced the marriage to be disbanded shorty after through legal terms. He and Aaliyah denied this marriage took place. Let's not forget the pissing trial and the fact he got off Scott-free.
That should have sent up red flags.
The Boondocks predicted all this from the get go. I love this speech by Huey Freeman.



Saturday, July 15, 2017

False Copyright Striking gone wrong...(Part 2)

About that False Copyright issues on Youtube Update
It looks like things are really heating up between
River City Ransom: Underground was another game she worked on, and she has mass flagged a bunch of YouTubers for streaming the game. Again, she refuses to release the claims even though she doesn't own the rights to the music.
She has also gone after the company that made the game on the Steam platform.
From siliconera.com ((River City Ransom: Underground is no longer available on Steam. A DMCA takedown has been filed, resulting in the game’s delisting. This means people will not be able to search for and buy it from the storefront and, if they have acquired keys from the Humble Store, will not be able to redeem them on Steam.
Read more at
))
So, now she has pretty much destroyed two games and rumors are she is going after another game. There is some good news though.
There has been a restraining order put on Miss Alex for the false copyright claims on the
But not for the Ransom City sequel. This has to do with lawyer Leonard French taking her to court. She is legally NOT allowed to issues anymore claims on Starr Mazer DSP due to the restraining order/court order. Keep in mind that Alex is already on thin ice to her criminal record and probation from what I can tell, but I could be wrong. If you doesn't want to end up in jail, she needs to stop this nonsense and lay low.
The good news is Starr Mazer is back on steam and it appears the false strikes are being cleared up on that front. However, Alex has fired a few of her lawyers and still hols Ransom for uh ransom. Her family hired the lawyer and she instantly fired the lawyer. Someone in her family needs to get some serious help for her before she does some serious bodily harm to herself or others.

What is interesting is only YT news people seem to be talking about this strange copyright tale.  

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

False Copyright Striking gone wrong...

Wow, this fell under the radar for me and I missed out on some major drama. Due to the ligious nature of a certain person, I won't be posting her/his photo or putting up any of her/his music. NOTE: Do NOT even post a picture of her/him on your blog. Trust me folks, this is epic for all the wrong reasons. I've been on the Internet for a long time and I've never seen anything this loony.   (By even mentioning her name puts me in trouble.)
Let's talk about Alex Mauer and the rain of false copyright strikes.
I kept reading story after story with them saying “she”, but all the Google Images are of her being of a hairy dude, so I was confused.
Basically, this composer was hired for a videogame (Starr Mazer DSP) to write music. He/she wrote the music and the company made the game. Out of nowhere, YouTubers and Twitch Streamers received copyright strikes for using Alex's music, which she doesn't really own the rights to. The company that made and publish the game are the copyright holders. This is all over a dispute with the VG company, so she goes after the streamers.
From Oneangrygamer, ((Unfortunately, the copyright system in the United States has allowed her to assert rights that she does not actually own. And her assertion of those rights has caused Imagos and Don to lose credibility with many of the people and companies they do business with. ))
Instead of taking it up in court with the company, Alex has attacked the YT'ers and told them to deal with the company. Yet, she/he is the one that caused he copyright strikes on music she doesn't own. Does any of this make a lick of sense?
And, TB is right, she is manually striking anything with the VG title and picture of her. After all this hate, she seems to have doubled down on her nonsense.
But it gets even better...
Alex allegedly sent death threats to her detractors.
A rep for the company is receiving some interesting e-mails. From Heavy.com ((Linsay has been seeing a lot of hate mail sent to her by people believing her to be Mauer. SidAlpha also received an email from someone believing him to be Mauer telling him (her) to go kill herself and that she was deserving to be raped. ))
From Heavy.com, ((French has also been receiving death threats from Mauer, who said that she was going to break his windows, burn his building, and more. She also said that there was a knife to her neck but that wasn’t a suicide threat, it was “something else.” ))
She allegedly threatened the lawyer in the case. She sent pictures with knives and things like that. WTF? I believe French got the police involved.
I could literal write a novel on everything that has transpired with the saga. I can't go through the entire saga. I could go on for about five more pages on this saga, but I don't have the time.
I'll keep you updated.







Saturday, July 08, 2017

The Goonies Octopus Scene

A lot people in my age group remembered seeing THIS scene in the movie and claim up and down that it was in the movie proper. There was always a controversy among movie fans about this scene and it still floats around today. Even I have read conflicting reports about this scene. People claim the scene was in the theatrical release, but deleted for many of the home releases. I watched this on HBO and tape and this scene was not in the movie, but was in the special features on the DVD.


IMDB and other sources claim this scene was cut for the HBO release. From IMDB, ((In a version broadcast on US cable channel HBO, several scenes were cut. These were back for the Disney Channel version, however. They include ))
Legends Revealed has a very good write up on the scene and I think this post holds true to the actual reality. From Legends Revealed, ((The scene did not appear in either the theatrical release of the film or when the film was released on VHS. However, a funny thing happened sometime in the 1990s. The Disney Channel aired the film and since the film had more than a few references that pushed the boundaries of acceptable children’s entertainment as far as The Disney Channel went, they edited out those scenes. After the edits were made, though, they wanted to make up for the time being taken away so they added a couple of deleted scenes, including the octopus scene (another notable deleted scene has the kids encounter Troy, a jerky local jock, at a convenience store. ))
The octopus does not hold up and looked silly even in the 80s. It seemed out of place with the rest of the movie's production. I also find it interesting that the scene was deleted from the final cut of the movie very later in post-production because the score was clearly written for this scene and the music for the player.
And, it seems odd in the manner they get rid of the octopus. Data shoves a radio/tape player into its mouth and it dances away from the kids. Why? It makes no sense. I know this was supposed to be a kids adventure movie with a bunch of random incidents happening to the kids as they went on their journey, but this is just plain strange.
The editors left the Data line about the octopus in the final cut too, which confused people.
And, I am not going to even talk about the even more obscure escaped ape scene which was allegedly filmed for the movie as well. With the exception of the these photos, there is little to no no footage of this subplot still in storage. Maybe it will turn up.
Here's another deleted scene that I and others remember being in the movie proper.

Thursday, July 06, 2017

About this CNN thing...

About this CNN thing...
Back in the early 2000s, I wanted to work for CNN in some way. I loved the dogmatic way of finding the stories. Now in 2017, you have CNN in a petty troll war with a stupid child-like President. When Trump re-twitted a gif of himself beating down a CNN meme. CNN got butt-hurt and did a search for the guy that created the original meme. And, then this happened.
Check it out from CNN via Lifezette.com, (("CNN is not publishing HanA**holeSolo's name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again," wrote Kaczynski. "CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change." ))
You reserve the right? That's pretty bold. How many anti-doxing stories have CNN written or produced over the years? Regardless of what his history happens to be, why was it important to reserve the right to release him name? It makes it look like you all were embarrassed and went after the meme-maker. A meme-maker! We literally have North Korea wanting to go to war with most of Asia and the US and you are writing and making videos on a troll-a-hole from reddit. Stay focused on the news and not being the actual NEWS.
And, you know you screwed up when your allies and enemies all come out against you.
From sandiegouniontribune.com ((CNN explained that the purpose of the story was to find out how the president of the United States ended up sharing the meme, which on Monday drew criticism from those on the left who considered it incendiary and threatening to journalists. ))
This is not the CNN I remember growing up. If you're going to roll around in the dirt with a pig, at least make the story about the freaking President acting like a member on Xbox-Live.
CNN, why so salty?
BTW, the new memes are epic.  

Tuesday, July 04, 2017

Transformers: Arrival to Earth

Transformers: Arrival to Earth
Remember when the live TF movies were good? Yeah, I stopped watching them after the second movie/ However, the first movie has a lot of heart and care put into it. That was when Bay took advice from the writers and the Producers. It felt like a TF movie.
One of the best things to come out the movie was the score by  Steve Jablonsky. While it was a departure from the TF series of the 80s, it was still an nice turn on action music. Sure it has a Zimmer feel to it, and that was because Zimmer produced the score. Arrival to Earth is one of my favorite tracks from the movie.

Random Things

Random Things
-Still depressed: But I am feeling a bit better. I still have a bit of down-ness and sadness here and there. But things have gotten slightly better. I've been spending a lot more time alone and dealing with these issues alone. Keeping a better attitude is a key.

-Hawaii Five-0 Two stars leaving:  Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park are both leaving the show. When I was in the hospital for a week, I watched and hated watching these episodes. Kim and Park are both the faces of the show and seem to get paid way less than their co-stars. That does seem a bit strange. Actually, I had completely forgotten the show was still on their air. Then again, I have very little interest in watching Network TV anymore.
-Remember those Hawaii Five-0 in show ads:  I wrote about these "hidden" ads years ago.  The writers didn't even bother trying to integrate the stupid ads into the show.  The characters litterally stop and talk about the sponsors.  Think about the Subway and Bing ads in the show.  
And, yes, there is a Jared remark pre-arrest and conviction. 

-Lady Gaga still has “fans”: I guess Gaga's fans went after singer Ed Sheeran. He made a sideways remark about Gaga and her waning popularity. He got trolled by her fans so much that he left Twitter. My first question is; Is Gaga still a thing? Second, why are you on Twitter anyway? I was sick of Gaga and her shitty music, but at a certain point she sort of disappeared.  

/ Digital Homicide still trying to shovel poop...literally

 Digital Homicide still trying to shovel poop...literally
If you remember, DH tried to sue Jim Sterling for bad reviews and the case got thrown out. They also tried to sue members of Steam and got kicked off of the platform. Here's the thing; they might be trying to sell their shovel-ware under a different company name despite the fact they were banned on Steam.
Really, DH? Allegedly, they re-branded themselves Loot-Toot Games. Spraying painting a turd is still a turd. And, I thought these guys had quit the "gaming business". After the crushing blows they took online, you would think they would take some time off...a lot of time.
A turd is still a turd no matter what you call it.  And, it still stinks.  
These guys won't stop making shitty games and refuse to give up making said shitty games.
Maybe, there needs to be more research into this new companies background. Here's a FB page that has the same name, but they're mostly a “giveaway” company. Here's more proof over on reddit. And, for the lulz, here's their patreon. So far, they have two followers out of 500. One of them simply did it to troll them. Way to go, guys. Sorry the gig is up, boys.   
 
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