Lindsey Stirling in Nashville: The Follow Up

On July 13, 2014July 13, 2014 By R. PettyIn Concerts/ShowsLeave a comment

Lindsey Stirling played Music City on June 28, and I had the pleasure of seeing for the second time. The first show was great, but she has definitely grown and learned from her strengths and experiences.

Seeing the evolution in her performance from year to year is one of the coolest things I’ve ever witnessed. In 2013, she played the small Cannery Ballroom, which fits about 500 people standing. This year, she played the historic Ryman Theater, which seats more than 2,300.

Show highlights:

1. Set list. She recently released her second album, so she has plenty to pick from. At the first show, she played nearly her whole album. This year, she played for 2.5 hours and had a great mix of new, fan favs, and new songs.

2. Higher attendance. Last year, my RevPub partner and I went. This year, I had to buy six tickets! They were more expensive too. It’s a great example of an up-and-coming artist really making a name for herself. It was my oldest brother’s first concert too, and he’s 26 years old. In another year, she will sell out an even larger venue.

3. Lights and screens. I was impressed with the light show. Every song was different and complemented her playing well. My favorite was the little 8-bit Link that ran along the screen during Zelda Medley.

4. Dancers. Lindsey has a great pair of back-up dancers, but last year there was no room for them. The Ryman’s stage allowed them to dance, play, and have a dance-off during her breaks. They tossed her around and picked her up, all while she never missed a note on the violin.

5. The band. She has a live keyboardist and drummer on stage at all times. This improves sound quality beyond the normal noise that dubstep can sometimes project. I could tell the group really cares for one another, and it was very much like a family. You don’t see that closeness often, especially in bands, because of ego and entitlement issues.

6. A personal view. At one point, Lindsey played a photo slideshow of her growing up. Not only can you hear her emotions and experience in her playing, but you could see that at an early age she loved to play and dance. A lot of performers fill in break time with random messages or images, but Lindsey wants you to know her. I’ve never seen an artist open up on stage the way she did.

If you never seen her, you should. I’ll let this video speak for itself 🙂

Video by pixiegirl2426

Building the New Gaming Table

On July 10, 2014 By James CastroIn Random FunLeave a comment

After discovering the world of Warhammer 40k and later the proliferation of board games stemming from Wil Wheaton’s Table Top I have discovered a love for table top gaming as a hobby that greatly surpasses any other purely entertainment hobby I currently have.

Moving into a new place I shed the limitations of space and decided I wanted to have the proper environment to play all the games I love. To do so I needed a gaming table. And since I have yet to find enough money tree seeds or magic beans enough to buy one, I turned to making one as the next best thing with the added bonus of making it to my personal specs rather than finding one that’s “close enough.”

My own carpentry skills are minimal at best. My friend Mike and I once tried to make a smaller skateboard from a bigger one and created something that was somehow completely incapable to be placed in either the “skate” or “board” category. Mike said we wouldn’t even be able to make a 2×4. In his words we would end up with a “2×4-5-6.”

My dad however is quite skilled so I enlisted him to do a lot of the woodworking, with me there to support and guide design.

I originally wanted a large 4×6 table (standard games of 40k, big enough for full Arkham Horror) with pull-out player places and shelves underneath. The realities of moving a table that size quickly set in and I went with basic 4 legs, solid top, moulding on the edges. All in all it worked very well and after a coat of red chestnut stain, it has a nice antique furniture look to it:

The top is sanded ply, light, strong, and surprisingly attractive.

My dad’s design for the legs made them right angles that wedged into the corners of the table. This makes them very strong and prevents shaking or bowing as much as possible.

The moulding on the top is actually crown or window moulding. It gives the table an attractive finished edge and provides a natural lip to prevent cards, board, or game pieces from sliding off and even a place to firmly hold a Realm of Battle should I ever buy one.

The legs are bolted on with two decorative bolts each. This makes them removable so the table can fit through doors and down hallways.

By forgoing shelving underneath it ended up being very spacious and it’s a comfortable 30” high.

After all was said and done the cost was between 150-175 after stain and brushes. The largest single expense was the sanded ply, which was $49.99 the rest of the wood pieces being pretty inexpensive, especially seeing as how several of each were needed.

It was a great project and will hopefully be the home for many good gaming sessions to come!

Whoever vs. Whomever

On July 6, 2014July 5, 2014 By R. PettyIn Grammar and PunctuationLeave a comment

Whoever vs. whomever isn’t commonly used, but every now and then it comes up. Just this past week I had a lovely coworker ask me this rule. It takes a little thinking, but if you can remember him and he, you can remember which one to use.

Common Terms Used in This Post:
Pronoun: A word that takes the place of a noun. Eg: He, she, it, I, me

You’ll need to think about the sentence and replace the pronoun with either him or he:

Whoever: him + he

Pick [whoever/whomever] volunteers first.
Pick him. He volunteered first.

Whomever: him + him

We will visit [whoever/whomever] you recommend.
We will visit him. You recommend him.

I know it feels a little weird, but never fear! There’s a great quiz, so you can practice as much as you like. Of course, you can always cheat and just reword the sentence – which I also suggested to my coworker.

The Cheat

Please let me know [whoever/whomever] is the correct source to contact for the article.
To avoid usage: Please give me the most appropriate contact for the article. Who should I contact for the story?

No matter what you choose and as long as its correct, your readers will appreciate the accuracy. And if you’re ever in doubt, look it up or ask someone. It only takes a minute. Happy writing, everyone!

Source: The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, my brain

Artist Spotlight: Ike Petro

On July 1, 2014June 30, 2014 By R. PettyIn ArtLeave a comment

This month we’re spotlighting a young man who I have known his whole life 🙂 He’s a talented 15-year-old who is truly passionate about video games. Not only does he play them, he creates them! Ike has played video games since he was three years old and beat his first game at four. Thanks to Ike for being this month’s artist spotlight!

Be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel at Ike Petro.

1. What are your favorite things about video games? The fun I usually have (emphasis on usually) and the challenge. I almost always have fun when I’m playing games, and challenge in the games keeps them from getting stale. I mean, who would want to beat a game without trying?

2. What inspires you to create new stories and games? Nothing in particular, really. I just have a very creative mind. My friends sometimes make me think about something, but that’s about it.

3. What are your goals when creating games? I don’t have much experience yet, just my RPG Maker DX. It’s hard to figure out where to set up grinds and side-quests. My main goal is to learn more and more from this software to eventually create a full-fledged game, complete with challenging bosses, creative stages, and great characters. I haven’t done it in a while, mainly playing games with friends in the meantime.

4. What are your favorite games and why? My favorite game of all time is Dragon Quest 8 — Journey of the Cursed King. I love turn-based RPGs and always will. This game is challenging, has a great world to explore, has great side-quests (Love the Monster Arena personally).

5. Why do you want to be a game designer/programmer? People always say do what you love, and if you don’t play video games, where does that lead you? Possibly to some random job down the street you don’t enjoy doing. I’ve loved video games all of my life (People, I started when I was 3), and I’ve loved them ever since. So, I’m sticking with what I love to do, and that’s fact.

6. What makes a good video game? People have very different opinions about this. I think what makes a good game is if you enjoy it. Sure, it might not be the best, but if you like it, don’t let anyone make you think differently. I personally like some challenge (aka, not a ball-busting game or Kirby’s Epic Yarn, for the matter), has an ok at least story(i don’t care that much anyways bout the story, it just helps), and it has to be fun.

7. What makes a bad video game? Where to start? Start with the opposite of what I said previously — not fun, too easy [Kirby’s Epic Yarn (cough)] or too hard. Story, as I said, I don’t care much for, but it’s ok with me. A lot of people hate bad voice actors or bad writing. It can be annoying, but I don’t think that aspect itself makes or breaks a game. It doesn’t change how the game itself plays at all; that’s why I have no problem with it. Now, the main reason … bad gameplay. If this is bad, the game is BAD. There’s nothing changing this, not a great story, scenery, etc. If you screw up on this part, it isn’t going to be good. Who likes a game you can’t play? While glitches are usually a problem, I mostly laugh at them. If they screw up a quest or objective, yeah, then that’s bad (looking at you Skyrim).

Off the Edge: A Commentary on Forums and Commentaries…

On June 25, 2014 By James CastroIn OpinionsLeave a comment

Everyone needs a good rant. And it’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to go off a bit. It’s been a busy few weeks so I thought I’d take a break to let off some steam.

A lot of people use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family; share random things about themselves; or surreptitiously stalk people. I use mine almost entirely for news and the occasional non sequitur. I’m a fan of several things, including boxing, films, and miniature wargaming. And news flows freely on Facebook in the form of rumors, leaks, and on-the-scene reports. The news is almost always welcome; the response to news in the form of comments rarely is… I thought I’d let some gripes go about the mood of internet commentary:

1.) Negativity: I’ve been to several forum sites for ALL my favorite hobbies and the commentary of the reading public is about 90% negative. And of the negativity about 80% of those aren’t just dismissive but also hateful. Games Workshop releases a new model and “it’s the ugliest, most expensive thing ever,” a new movie comes out and it’s “boring, slow, and overrated,” a fighter wins a fight he was expected to lose and it was because his highly favored opponent was “old, washed up, or over-trained.” I made similar comments in my How to be a Fan posting series, but why is EVERYTHING the worst thing ever? Rarely will you see some positive comments, but forums and article comments don’t seem to be a place for discussion any more. They’re all just places for people to bitch… Apparently those who remain silent are the quiet approvers…

2.) Pop-Cultured: This one isn’t related to just forums, but following themed news sites (sci-fi sites, gaming sites, fan sites) they all seem to be obsessed with the same few topics that everyone is obsessed with and post them endlessly. For a few quick examples out of MANY:

Nintendo Culture: Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw said it best; Nintendo has basically been making three games, the same three games over and over again for 30 years. And people freak out every time the new Zelda (which is just like the old Zelda) is released like it’s made out of gold…
Game of Thrones: People love the show. I don’t particularly care for it (fantasy soap opera with nudity) but it’s all the posts talk about. Mostly they talk about characters dying. My thought, if all these characters die at random why would I care the least about any of them?
Firefly: It got cancelled. Lots of great shows get cancelled. It’s not coming back. Saying it over and over doesn’t help.

So what’s the problem with these posts? Well we see about 800 Game of Thrones “these people died” posts a day. Meanwhile other great fantasy/sci fi topics are getting ignored by sites supposedly designed to discuss sci fi and fantasy but seem to be stuck in the same few loops. I think it would be remiss if themed sites ignored the most popular topics, but when 90% of topics ARE Nintendo or Game of Thrones the site has become a specified fan page. How about introducing people to some lesser-known material? Save “All Firefly All the Time” for the specific fan pages.

3.) Memes: I won’t lie. I do find some of them hilarious. All the “Shut up and take my moneys” and Grumpy Cats make for good quick reference moods but they’ve become ridiculously overused. The evolution of the Meme is so fast even Professor Richard Dawkins’ head would spin. It’s gotten to the point where people almost talk in “Meme.” And they are almost always snark-based. So not only are people negative but they’re lazy and negative. Posters could use some training in how to be cleverly negative. Read this review or this review from Roger Ebert to see how it’s done. Just posting “meh” or the Picard face palm isn’t nearly so effective.

Yes I’m aware of the irony of complaining about internet complainers. But what can be done?

First, remember why you’re there. If you’re on a hobby site you’re there because SUPPOSEDLY you enjoy the hobby. Then why are you just complaining? Some forums have an active debate where people discuss merits and even theories, but many are just lines of hatred. The latest rulebook for Warhammer 40k hadn’t hit SHELVES yet and people were declaring they were quitting because it was the worst ever. Calm down. It’s a hobby. It’s for fun. If you’re not having fun do something else instead of bitching about why you’re not having fun playing something you haven’t played yet based on news you read 15 minutes ago.

Second, remember these are people you’re talking to not just screen names. Debating is good. We all have unique perspectives, but declaring someone’s opinion invalid simply because it disagrees with yours is non-sense. Could Ali beat Tyson? We’ll never know. But your guess is LITERALLY as good as mine. So just because we disagree doesn’t make either of us wrong. Also those about whom you’re spewing your venom are also people. Jervis Johnson is certainly not an idiot and wrote very complex rules for a very complex game in conjunction with several other game experts. If you can do better maybe you can make your own game (with blackjack! And hookers!) or maybe it’s easier to arm-chair general and criticize than actually DO something? Being proactive about things is hard but it’s actually progress rather than just whining.

Third, remember none of us are perfect. We will make mistakes, lose our rags, and make bad decisions; but remember it’s EASY to criticize, which is why the rewards for doing so are so low. It’s much riskier to actually be out there doing something, but the chances at achieving something and making an actual difference. If you’re ever proved wrong or change your opinion be gracious enough to admit it. You’ll be surprised how effective that is…

I know I’ve sounded like “can’t we all just get along” before, but it may not be the best philosophy, because we can’t and shouldn’t. Disagreement leads to new ideas (Thesis+Antithesis=Synthesis=NEW Thesis+Antithesis, etc.) but we can be respectful at all times. I’ve had many, many great debates with people and we were all are allowed to conclude our discussions as in the Napoleonic Wars, “in good order, with colors and arms.”

It’s just the internet. It’s hobbies. It’s entertainment, people. It’s NOT that critical.

How to Be Cool According to Be Cool

On June 22, 2014June 21, 2014 By R. PettyIn MoviesLeave a comment

How does one be cool? What is cool? The definition varies depending on who you ask, and sometimes being cool is just being yourself. You may not be cool to everyone, but you’ll be cool to someone.

And what better example to use for discussion, then a movie entitled Be Cool? Often criticized for not being as good as Get Shorty, Be Cool is the sequel to Get Shorty and ranks as one of my favorite comedies of all time. It’s not as well written and it’s silly, but it’s fun and hilarious. It has a star-studded cast who you can tell had a great time filming and working together. I can’t think of a single character or actor in the film who isn’t cool.

So, if you want to be cool, you must decide what kind of cool you want to be. Here’s a breakdown of the main characters in the movie:

Chili Palmer (John Travolta): Suave, slick, fearless, and dressed in all black. He knows how to work people and isn’t afraid to take risks.

Edie Athens (Uma Thurman): Cute, smart, and sexy. She’s a great example of a woman who’s not afraid to live without her man, especially because he gets killed in the opening scene.

Linda Moon (Christina Milian): Adorable, can sing, and sexy in a good-girl way. She’s cooperative and works hard, and her enthusiasm for music makes me feel like I too can do anything I want to do.

Raji (Vince Vaughn): Dresses like a pimp, silly, thinks he’s black, and not very bright. One of the best roles Vaughn has ever done, and paired with The Rock, the two make this movie.

Elliot (Dewayne Johnson): Has a variety of styles, looks smokin’ in a blue cowboy suit and shiny red boots, gay, and happy. And he even does the People’s Eyebrow!

Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer): Rich, successful, classy, thugish. He’s the perfect mix of gangster meets Hollywood dad.

Dabu (Andre 3000): Careless, not bright, overly excited about killing people. He’s a great complement to Sin and brings his own personality to the movie.

Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel): Suave, know-it-all, but not as slick as Chili. Great example of an older man trying to stay hip in a fast-paced society.

Once you decide what kind of cool you are, run with it. Just be yourself and have fun, and if you haven’t seem the movie and like comedies, definitely check it out. If you have any favorite scenes or lines, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section!