What Grinds My Gears II

Registering To Post A Comment

Hello once again amigos! It's been a while since this segment has been on this platform, but oh well. Today we discuss the frustration and time consuming process of registering on a website just so that you can post a comment.

Today I found myself at Gamepro.com (per Google Reader link shared by my good friend Ranting Pikey). The link was for an article titled "Top 10 Games You Need for a Playstation 3 (PS3)" and naturally as most of you know me or sometimes label me as a 'sony fanboy' I was curious to see what, if any, games were on their list...

Pictured: Site now on my 'dislike' list...almost as bad as Kotaku

Now, without going into too much detail or making this a pure gaming post, I'll just cut to the chase. The list of games that 'NEEDED' to be in ps3 owners' libraries were all MULTIPLATFORM with the exception of 2 or 3 (Fat Princess, inFAMOUS). Honestly, why would you recommend games for a system if they look or play better on another? If it's a PS3 list why not have PS3 exclusive only games?

Man is this game fun!!!

After thinking it over and counting to 10...twice! I realized I would not be content until I got some form of satisfaction (like your mom). That's when I decided I'd just leave them a note on how the list does not pertain well to the title of their article. I figured my input was just as good as any other persons as feedback is usually not taken too heavily, especially on gaming sites. Well, that's when I ran into a problem...

Are you serious??????

Yes, in order to post anything I had to register with the site. W...T...F? It took me about 2 minutes to fill out their b.s. application, then another 2 minutes for their confirmation email to hit my mailbox. So 5 minutes later I'm finally able to make 'a' comment. That's 5 minutes that I should NOT have had to take. Friends, do sites really gain anything from having people register? I mean, sure they want to make sure that people don't spam their message boards or forums, but aside from that it's not like people get rewarded from becoming members. Such a waste of time...my Beaner time! lol

By the way here is my post (once I finally got it to post):

Pictured: Partial Satisfaction...

Notice Exhibit A where I ask them how to get out of there; Exhibit B you'll notice a thumbs up on my comment. Yes, I didn't care if I was only making 1 post, I thumbed myself up(not in a perverse way).

Considering all the time I spend surfing the web during my days and nights, I'm surprised I haven't encountered more situations like these because I'm guessing it's more common than I think, but I had not gotten this stirred up about an article in a while and so I guess that's why I'm addressing it now and not a while back. Oh well, i guess things eventually come around (like your mom).

And that my friends:

Ask the AFC: Are Filesharing/Torrent sites Bad?

Hello peeps!

I would like to introduce a new segment to this week: Ask the AFC. Here we will talk, debate, sometimes argue over random things, events, what have you. As far as why I picked AFC for this segment, simple: he gives it to you straight and to the point, you don't get B.S. answers leading around the issue, no sir. This man will tell you how it is (from his viewpoint which is usually very neutral or 'the norm'), 'nuff said. My side notes/commentary are in blue.Let's start...

This week we caught up with AFC in the beaches of New Zealand:

Stay classy AFC...

He took some time off his precious schedule to discuss this week's topic. The following is a transcript (shortened at some parts) of our dialogue:

What is your view on downloading files via torrents/fileshare?
you may as well take your computer to a free STD clinic afterward
If you can't tell, AFC tries to make us educated in medical terminology. I had to look up what an 'STD' was and lemme tell you, he knows what he's talking about.

Can you elaborate?
those kind of file sharing websites are NOTORIOUS for being loaded with lots of viruses and spyware

First, the filesharing programs, are you aware of them? if so, any that you can name?
not really, I've never had a reason to search them out; kazzaa and limewire I've heard of
He forgot ARES (my personal favorite), as well as BearShare

Pictured: AFC wants NO part in this...too sour for his taste

Now the fact that files are 'shared' via a client, similar to as 2 friends through a chat client, does that make the program bad?
in theory no, but the reality is they are NOT shared because the media never has to be returned and both parties can use it at the same time
But what if people rent it?

On a tangent off that, do you think physical media will one day become obsolete?
the reason digial media is being jammed down our throats is to eliminate things like loaning the games to friends and resellers like Gamestop. But by and large, I don't know many people who prefer purely digital media. I'd much rather have a physical copy. That being said...I think it'll be more of an equilibrium
I agree with him on this one. Despite a lot of things going digital, we're not at a point where every consumer can download Gigabytes of data in minutes, no, it takes hours. I also think there's too many people who enjoy the sense of having a tangible source of media.

Let's talk about websites or Torrent providers you said early on they carry viruses and malicious software?
they're well known for it. I don't use em so I don't ask about them so I don't know about them

Alright, next i'm going to give you some 'scenarios' and I'd like to see if the actions are justified w/filesharing...

scenario a) Let's say you bought the latest Garth Brooks CD somehow it gets misplaced (cause AFC doesn't lose things...ever) Since you paid for a copy, would it be fair for you to obtain the content via fileshare/torrents?
arguably yes. But you and I both know situations like that NEVER happen. It may have happened twice in the history of the Internet. It would be easier and wiser to find someone else who had bought the CD and burn a copy

finally scenario B) you stumble upon a CD (via torrent/fileshare) of an artist that no longer records and whose CDs you can't find in any major online or physical retailer would filesharing/torrents be 'ok' to use?
I suppose that falls into the same logic I used when I downloaded emulators of only nes, genesis, and snes but really, outside of mexican tuba/accordian band how often does that happen?
Oh AFC, you know me too well... :'-)

Well, he had me there. And thus concluded our conversation. AFC everyone...

For those that wish a topic to be discussed on 'Ask the AFC' simply email or leave your feedback. He's a busy man but I'm sure he can find time for his fans, or your mom (zing!).

Amigo's Review: The Final Destination (3d)

It's been a while since my last post, but oh well. Today we look at a recent movie release:

Pictured: vomit

So this weekend, yours truly and some comrades went up to the Twin Cities (awesome weekend), and while there our schedule made it difficult to catch a showing of 'Inglorious Basterds' or 'District 9' so we opted for what we thought was an alternative...plus the sound of a 3d horror film sounded 'new' and 'different' but in a good way. Thus we embarked on a journey to which I wish we had not gone.

Premise: For those unfamiliar with the series (like myself), the premise behind this series is the following: random person is able to foresee catastrophic, horrific events that involve mass amounts of people and objects just making an endless long chain of events that trigger something which causes people to die in very obsucre and sometimes cruel ways.



With that said, most of the movie obviously revolves around the protagonist trying to figure out why he's having weird visions or dreams and he finally realizes he's seeing how people will die next, but the problem is that he has to find the people first to help them avoid death in hopes of breaking this 'chain' since people (survivors of initial mass death) are dying in the order they were 'supposed' to die.

Obviously this being a horror film, there are plenty of deaths. I won't spoil it much but don't be too surprised with the ending. This film reminded me of the 'Saw' series (Saw > Final Destination in my opinion); however, unlike 'Saw' this series relies too much on things and certain triggers coming together in a perfect timing/alingment sort of like when 'all the stars align in the skies' which to me seemed to be their biggest flaw and thus their downfall. I mean, the deaths in 'Saw' are gruesome too but they don't require you to believe many things other than 'oh crap, it's a puzzle of death.'

Now don't get me wrong, there were some good aspects of the film.

Good aspect of the film

At times it seemed that the film did show lots of promise (like your mom); you felt a sense of suspense because you knew something sudden was coming but you didn't know when. Also, the 3d factor was a good way of seeing the deaths and getting a better sense of 'depth' so as to make the screen jump out (duh).

However, the overall film (which was short in my opinion; about 1hr and a half it seemed like) didn't capitalize on giving that 'horror' feel. If you take out the long detailed death scenes which are rewound and then played over again, you get a story that could probably have been told in 10 minutes. I haven't seen that many 3d films but I can say this is no 'Beuwulf' or that ride at Hong Kong Disnelyand which was awesome less mainlanders.

<>
Pros:
+3d adds new way of seeing death
+Hot chicks
+Crazy deaths

Cons:
-no real story
-not that scary
-too 'fake'; not all the things that are triggered would actually happen in real life
-not the best acting I've seen; no big name stars
-final destination cow has been milked too much

Overall, I don't think I got my $13 worth. Though I could have kept the glasses, why would I keep them? They would serve me no real purpose. Unless you're a fan of the series, put it on your last resort movie if you get to the theaters and there's no other movies playing at that time.

This movie gets 2.5 out of 5.0 of my mexican rocking beans