Nicked a Name

  • by Drew

Maybe from now on I’ll just refer to Mad Science The Card Game as “The Science.” That sounds sort of cool as a shorthand thing. I mean, I’m usually pretty adamant about using the complete game title (Mad Science The Card Game) instead of just Mad Science because there are so many Mad Science references out in the world. I want to be clear that I’m not, say, trying to infringe on the copyright of any actual Mad Science training facility because, let’s face it, those are not guys you want to meet up with in court. But if you strike the proper analytical balance and consider all that is implied by those last three words (The Card Game) I don’t think any mistake can be made. Unless it is willful. Or unless you’re Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

Loving the Wireless

  • by Drew

The Black Friday season introduced me to low-priced Blu-Ray players with on-board wi-fi. Low, low prices were enough of an enticement to finally step up to the next level in video technology, plus I can stream Netflix on every TV in the house. That includes the one in front of my eliptical.

Now I won’t go into the problems with streaming because we are stuck with Cablevision. While I’m perfectly satisfied with the quality watching Spongebob and Portlandia via streaming Netflix, the Cablevision connection fails time and time again. And believe me, it is neither a Netflix fail or an in-house wi-fi fail. Cablevision fails time and time again. It’s tough living in the country, absent alternative high speed internet options.

Nevertheless, I’m loving these wi-fi Blu-Ray players. For awhile we considered another WII or even a Playstation or Xbox to add streaming video to a different TV in the house since we were initiated with our WII. But the Blu-Rays were way cheaper, and let’s face it… even with three kids in the house, we really don’t need another game system. Soon enough the kids will be wanting something else.

Hopefully the next system will come with maid service and SAT prep. Hey, a guy can dream, right?

Gift Shopping Redux

  • by Drew

I saw lots of electronics on sale this year. TVs up the yin yang, and super-cheap Blu-Ray players leading the charge. Decent prices on lower-end laptops here and there, though I’ve seen a lot better in the past. Some jewelry sales, though the good stuff never seems to waver. Precious metals hold their value no matter what, right? I mean, you can always find bargain basement gems because an occluded yellow diamond was inflated to begin with, but you’ll never see a near-flawless diamond making it into the bargain bins.

Not a lot of booze on sale and flower discounts were almost non-existent – at least in this guy’s circles. Some movies and music on sale, but certainly not across the board. It seems the studios pick a handful of titles to rock out on, and everything else holds steady.

The best toy sales were early. By Black Friday and all the hoopla leading up to the last minute shopping, sales were frequent, but the price dips were rarely that impressive. I say buy early and get a heck of a lot more bang for you buck.

So speaketh the king of clearance.

Head Gear

  • by Drew

When I first started working on the script for the upcoming next issue of Skateboard Heroes, I wanted to do some stuff with kids on bikes. It was a way to get some of the boys’ friends involved, and also a logical pool of antagonists. Kids on bikes would of course be natural foes of kids on skateboards. No brainer, right?

Thing is, I wanted a decent old school BMX style helmet with full face coverage. Mostly because I wanted to have a potentially unlimited pool of villains, and I didn’t want to have to buy scores of helmets or secure the services of dozens of kids. With some face coverage I coulld easily make one kid play the role of 10 or 12.

It proved difficult to find a helmet within my customary budget of EXCEPTIONALLY little, though. I tried bike helmets, motorcycle helmets, toy plastic things…you name it. I even considered a welding helmet. Finally, after much searching, I ended up with a World War II style motorcycle helmet with vintage-looking goggles.

The thing is, it is a fully padded motorcycle helmet for an adult. It actually looks great on kids because it covers their entire heads. On me, however (because I did hope to press it into service as my own safety helmet) it has a sort of Dark Helmet from Spaceballs vibe. All the interior padding makes it perch way high on my head. And it is BIG.

Oh well, there’s always Halloween.

Another way to read

  • by Drew

So I’m an audiobook fan, that much is clear. The thing I can’t totally wrap my head around is ebooks. I get it, and I don’t object or anything, I just haven’t cozied up to a digital book yet. I know some people who are totally dedicated to their devices, as well as the savings associated with buying ebooks versus hard covers.

Maybe its that I haven’t decided if I want to stay with my smart phone and go the kobo ereader route or if I want to throw it all away and go with a super kicked up tablet. I like the idea of being able to watch movies and use the Internet on a thingamabobber that would also allow me to read books. But I don’t know if it outweighs all the other variables. Hmmm… the jury is still out.

Mad about Ernie

  • by Drew

Did you ever hear of Ernie Kovacs? He is one of those classic comedians who was just off the charts funny. He did groundbreaking television work, he was an early contributor to Mad Magazine, when it was the absolute king of American satire. He was known for playing all sorts of crazy characters, always shilling Dutch Master cigars. He made the music of Esquivel cool 30-plus years before hipsters in the 90s got into space age bachelor pad groovy lounge music. He died young, but his influence is so crucial to what we find funny today. Look him up, kids. Kovacs with a K.

A New Frock

  • by Drew

Yeah, the site needs a new outfit, don’t you think? I’m bored with the photo montage nonsense. But since I’m a  WordPress user, there are some limitations to the templates and such. At least for me, not being a php-maestro. I’m old school. I’m not against innovation. Read the wix reviews, if a Flash site is your thing, have at it. Lately, though, I’m seeing so much expansive design. Huge images and flashy animations. It can pretty cool, no doubt, but are all of these sites serving their purpose.

I remember back in the day when designers has to actually consider file size. We had to think about bandwidth and server load. These days optimization is an almost forgotten art. DSL and cable modems have made sensible design passe, a thing of the past.

I, for one, mourn the loss.

End of the World Party

  • by Drew

If it is all coming apart in May, I think I want to have party. Agood one. We can screen Until the End of the World and drink good wine waiting to see who gets left behind. I’ll make sure we invite a lot of our non-Christian friends…just in case we actually get sucked up into the sky. That way there’ll be somebody to clean up afterwards.

Okay, I know I’m riffing on this a lot, but anytime someone who doesn’t believe in science uses a calculator to come up with a significant apocalytic date I have to be…sceptical. Although I have to admit that the possibility of a pseudo-celestial location where acne treatment for our leading blond divas is a thing of the past…it just seems super fair, don’t you think?

Brats

  • by Drew

Can I take a moment and make some paternal complaints? The kids are into video games. They love them. They have handhelds, they play wii and Internet based games, they recently even discovered games you can play with the remote on cable. Like I really need my 8 year old bragging about his Tetris prowess. Dude, I OWNED that game in college. I can totally bury his butt. Of course, then he cries, so I have to let him win…or at least give a good show of competing.

Anyway, my complaint is this: why are my boys incapable of putting the damn games away. Specifically with their handhelds or the wii. I am so sick of finding wii sports resort under the living room coffee table with the booklet from Mario Kart and the weird PS3-ish case our used copy of Lego Batman came in.

Meanwhile, my 19 month old baby girl can satisfactorily deliver an heirloom china cup across a thirty feet of hard tile from Mommy to Daddy on a whim. And then she’ll rearrange the tupperware on the shelf in the lower cabinet so everything fits and close the door. Is this a genetic thing? Is it ingrained gender type stuff? I don’t know, but if you could bottle it I’d have my boys drinking it by the liter on a daily basis.

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