Comedy and the Internet

*Just on a personal note, yeah, I know I didn't post last week.  It happens sometimes, especially with celebrating my son's birthday (he finally hit the terrible two's), and well, other stuff as well.  Since I was busy with that, I figure I write up a post that might show a little insight on what makes me tick.  And what better way to to do that than a synopsis of when I'm at rest, calm and relaxed.  This is what I do when I'm away from all the hub-bub of the day-to-day from working and family life, enjoy.*

Oh how I love wasting time (and bandwidth) crawling to all my local haunts for a good laugh. We all do cause if we don't have the time to unwind we'll all go friggin nuts. It seems that nowadays to succeed in comedy on the Internet is more than just telling a good joke, it needs to be visually appealing. After all, it is an escape from the doldrums of the mundane. It could be as simple as some stupid CG or a clip on what they're referencing to as extravagant as a full-on onslaught of a performance. It's dependent on whom is presenting. And for internetphyls like myself, it's a great wealth of hilarity. And I'm not just talking about fails, I'm talking about those who on whatever periodic basis shell out the laughs for us. Now I'll try to stay off the whole YouTube thing because that's just a pool of stuff, I'll stick to stuff that is directed to a self hosted site if possible and barrage with a crap-ton of links to them if you might not already frequent. So here's my synopsis on the state of the funny shit that keeps me coming back for more. 

The first on this rant is Cinemassare. James Rolfe and Mike Matai seem to just shell out interesting stuff everyday. Sometimes two or three times a day. And with my schedule they're feed is a godsend cause sometimes I might miss out on something and it'll be two or three days before I get to it. Most noteable for their Angry Video Game Nerd videos, oddly enough that's not what brought me to them all so many years ago. It was a YouTube clip in reference to one of their earlier "You Know What's Bullshit?" skits back in 2007. Followed the URL at the end of the credits and it's was like a drug, I was hooked. Found other stuff they kept on adding and I'm glad to see it grow as a phenomenon it has become. That, and it doesn't help that I had a soft spot for anything from Philly. And it seems like most juggernauts, it broke ground for other Internet haunts of mine such as ScrewAttack and That Guy With The Glasses (which I also frequent) and all others from association of them. Everything they touch is pure gold. Just spread a little of that love over to BootLeG is all I ask James. 

Another good waste of time is The Oatmeal. In the realm of webcomics they are Penny Arcade meets Far Side with a little bit of Office Space thrown into the mix. It's not about gaming or other nerdy stuff (ok, they're nerdy stuff) but it's mainly a satiric look on people that are web-smart to aide those that aren't. And cats, some sort of weird fixation about cats, and other animals. (Note to self, don't ever move to Seattle). It's a breath a humor and fresh air after a long days work that someone just chalked up all the funny and fucked up crap in a day and put it on a panel or two of "well, it could've been worse..." And now I feel like punching a dolphin.

Another occasional place to browse is clean comic Tim Hawkins. This guy is living proof that you don't have to be foul to be funny. A lot of us could learn from him, especially me. He's essentially the anti-Bob Saget, not that there's anything wrong about Bob Saget but you can only hear him talk about sticking his pinky up Kimmy Gibler's butt so many times. Tim offers a rare brand of comedy that once dominated the scene and it's only overshadowed by the charisma he put into his act. He's mainly on YouTube but his latest videos and all of his music videos are on his site and are worth watching over and over. I even go as far as buying the DVDs for all the stuff that he didn't put up on the Internet to view. You'll thank me later I'm sure. 

Now as a gamer, you would think that I would look for all my gaming news on G4 or IGN. Nope, although I do follow IGN on my Facebook; but all things gaming my first destination would be to ScrewAttack 99% of the time. This is a great example of what a group of people that are passionate (and nerdy) can accomplish if given the opportunity. Daily there's stuff added on that is related to the gaming industry in a witty and often comedic stance. Keeping to short media clips of news, reviews, and other random stuff to keep you coming back for more. And as an added bonus, they recognize that they wouldn't be where they are if it wasn't for the fans that log on everyday. They even let their subscribers (it's free to sign up BTW) submit user created content and even profile some of the best weekly for all to gawk at. It literally wreaks of awesomeness. You've might've noticed me talk or referenced them a few times on the blog. So give them a shot if you haven't already. 

One final site that I frequent is That Guy With The Glasses and pretty much anything affiliated with Channel Awesome. This think tank of, well, awesomeness, is a cornucopia of all geeky, funny, and WTF. Doug Walker and his many personas like The Nostalgia Critic and Chester A. Bum headlines the brood of chaos and hilarity that is shelled daily and the various contributors such as Spoony, The Game Heroes, The Nostalgia Chick, Benzie, Angry Joe, Linkara, MarzGurl, and a whole lot of others that would take forever and a day to go though. It's a helluva site to check out to see all the content that is produced. Like I said, some of these I probably wouldn't have known if they weren't referred from other sites like Cinemassare so I hope that this is an opportunity for me to pay it forward. 

Also just as a notable mention, you should check out Stupid Game Show Answers. Even though it's not updated on a regular basis, it's still full of gems and other coolness. That and we all know my addition to gameshows. But as of now I'm gonna get the hell off of this and go to another place of humor and stupidity, as if my blog isn't full of that already. 

BootLeg sampler.. signing out...

*No dolphins were harmed during the creation of this blog post.*

Vending Machines

They're are few mundane things that really sets me ablaze. One of those things are vending machines. At times they're the greatest thing to have ever graced a break room or any other waiting vestibule, and at others their the bane of our existence and dollar bills. 

You know when you glance by one and you see all of those goodies that it offering you and it lures you to who out your wallet and spend spend spend... It entices you with their ice cold beverages and the high calorie, high carb, low nutrition candies and pastries, and yet, that's THE NORMAL STUFF!!! It's the other crap they put in that to the machines that are off the wall. Let's take a stroll along the off the wall weirdness that is vending machines. 

One thing I've noticed is the tender machines take. When the hell would someone break a $20 for a Twix bar?!? It used to be if you didn't have change you were screwed. Don't get me wrong, I love that little bit of convenience that they implemented into them. Since the introduction of the dollar feeder I was impressed. Now a days you can get a Pepsi by coins, bills, credit card, thumbprints and retina scan, hell, even telepathic inception so I can think it as soon as I get there and debit my account... It seems that no matter how you want to pay for it, they got you covered.

Now that we covered how to pay, lets get into what we're paying for. When you usually think of vending machine goods we think of a candy bar or can of soda. Normally that's all good, maybe the occasional bag of chips or an ice cream bar. But from what I'm seeing is that vending machines are automated quickie-marts. They house everything from gum, to aspirin, to 5-hour Energy, to diapers and wipes, to just about everything. Whatever happened to being the weirdest thing to buy from a machine was condoms, tampons, and cigarettes; and those were in bars, not in the front entrance of a mall. I just don't know when did we get so inept to needing such things at a moments notice that we need to have it along with our Butterfinger?!?

Speaking of Butterfinger, who the hell are these people that fills these machines. Just about everywhere I see them they put the inconvenient of snacks in these things. Why do you put something as fragile as Butterfinger or a bag of chips at the TOP OF THE MENU!?! I know that it probably don't apply to chips much, even though I hate half the bag being crumbs, but Butterfinger of all things? It's broken in half half of the time when I buy it at the grocery store, why take a potential good one and set it to fail from the top row?!? That irks the crap out of me. It's just as bad as when they put in sweet, beautiful looking pastries and smash the creme filling right out of it making a danish look like a drive-by Gingerbread Man massacre. (BTW, if you haven't played Texting of The Bread yet, try it, it's friggin' awesome.)  About the only "food" that can survive the vending machine gauntlet are gummies. Anything gummy is just about bulletproof from the tight quarters of it's screw-fed housing to the seemingly forever free fall from where it's placed within the machine. 

Like I said from the beginning this isn't a rant to discredit vending machines, they're actually a pretty damn good thing, just not a great thing. It definitely made some advancements since the old "exact change only, pull the lever and peanut butter crackers come out" (I still wonder if my old barber still have that machine), but it cod still improve on some things. If anyone of you out there reading this a vending machine engineer, just take note on what I've discussed. Or at least if your a vender, make an effort to not commit Butterfinger genocide. That really pisses me off. 

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Lots O' PS3 news

First I just want to thank Screwattack and Hard News for bringing this info to the masses in an informative (and I use that term loosely) mean. I enjoy going to Screwattack's site and getting my viral videogame fix. I just wish that I was in Dallas to be part of SGC this year. That would have been epic. Well, at least I got the chance to name their new retail videogame store.

So onwards to what I want to talk about on this post; the Playstation 3. I want one so bad, and yes, I'm a gamer that don't own a PS3. I have lots of expenses behind the scenes that needs to be dealt with before throwing down $400 for the best blu-ray player money can buy. And I say it's the best because it's a game console for crying out loud. What made the Playstation 2 dominate over Sega's Dreamcast, the ability to play DVD's back in 2001 that's what. And I'm not afraid to admit as a die hard Sega fanatic that that was the company's downfall as far as competing in that generation's console war. (Crap I'm going off topic, better start a new paragraph to get back on...)

The Playstation 3 when it first came out had backwards compatibility to it's predecessor's games, the Playstation 2 and the original Sony Playstation. We all rejoice because in this generation's console war, a big issue was backwards compatibility between older systems, the PS2 had it with all PS1 games and so on. But then it took a turn for the craptacular in that later models of the PS3 would drop PS2 compatibility. It still kept it for the PS1 but that drove some gamers that haven't purchased the console (like myself) towards their competitors, Microsoft's Xbox 360 that was backwards compatible to most of the original Xbox's titles and the infamous Nintendo Wii (same deal with it's Gamecube games.) That was a crap move on Sony's part. Sure systems still sold, but not as much in my opinion. Now news is surfacing that they're trying to produce an emulator engine for the current processors that are in the PS3's to make them run PS2 games once again. This beacon of light is great because its a software emulation versus with the first batch of PS3's and how they did it was that they put in an emulator chip that played PS2 games (thus the high price mark.) With this rumor, maybe it would drive sales of PS3's like free money spewing out of a broken ATM.

Second for the next tidbit of Sony info was rumors of the PS3 slim. The reasoning behind that is with all of Sony's consoles in time they slimmed down to be more streamlined and not a friggin' behemoth in your living room or game room. That tactic worked for it's PS2 and PS1 and many people just don't like the fact that currently the PS3 looks like a $400 George Foreman Grill. So it seems that now they're trying to manufacture PS3 slims to be available later this year. There have been pictures of what the PS3 slim might look like and each incarnation is different from the last. It's a true enigma on if this would come out and if so, would it also share the same fortune as being backwards compatible again (if that rumor holds up as well.)

All of this I'm definitely hope for would be true so this way I can finally convince my wife on allowing us to have a Playstation 3 at home. So far, her main gripe about the PS3 was at first it's too expensive. Currently her main gripe is it's not backwards compatible to the PS2 and I don't want to have a console that is not going to let me play the games I'm currently playing for so much money. I can definitely understand her stance on this one. But as a gamer, I want the PS3 because it's the friggin' PS3. Why the hell not don't you want it! But I'm not about to go and pick a fight on that one because I'd know where that would end; and it ain't pretty folks. So I ask of these rumors; please don't tease me. Let this be the real deal here. That is what I (and I think a lot of gamers would think) would call a win-win situation. There's not much more to say for now except "Please babe, the PS3 its a good thing to have."

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...