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So CBS has released the first look at their modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes, Elementary. Can you hear that? Yes, that’s Tumblr having a seizure.

 

Taking up the scarf mantle of the titular role is Jonny Lee Miller, whose apparently softly spoken take on the character whiffs of a deliberate precaution to make this iteration polls apart from the Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman BBC hit. And then there’s Lucy Liu as Joan Watson. This, I don’t mind so much – I can take that more than, say, if there were ever a female Doctor outside of a farting alien special – but with there already being a Sherlock on the air, again, it just seems gimmicky for the sake of showing a difference between the two.

And that’s not just the fanboy in me typing, that’s me with my director/writer hat on which is really my headphones. Moff’s wife, Sue Vertue, said earlier in the year that the CBS series is “extremely worrying”, and now seeing what they’ve come up with, honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it. While judgement should be reserved for the series proper, the taste we got wasn’t palatable in the slightest, and it really should have been given its purpose as a teaser trailer. The acting seems wooden and the delivery and execution in Sherlock’s deductions come of lacklustre and bland. Sure, Cumberbatch’s frenetic portrayal isn’t the steadfast archetype, but in comparison – and fanboy or not, it will all come down to comparison – it just falls so flat. For another comparison, anyone else get a Doctor Who movie vibe? You know, the one where Paul McGann was excellent and the American influence was really hit and miss.

Oh, and you know that they’ll have Femson (that’s what I’m dubbing her, so hence forth shall she be dubbed) get it on with Fauxlock (re: above parenthesis).
 

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I remember seeing Project Detroit talked about a few months back, but had forgot about it until it was mentioned again just recently in this overview. To highlight, Project Detroit was the mission to reconstruct a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback to be outfitted with the latest in Microsoft tech for the show Discovery World.  (FYI, the show aired this past March, but check your local station for repeats.)

If you know anything about me based on some of the blogs I’ve written, you’ll know that I’m into both gadgets and cars.  Project Detroit was the best of both worlds.  This baby is definitely not stock. Here’s a quick rundown what’s inside.

Software:
Windows 7, Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Visual Studio 11 Beta, Visual Studio 2010, Expression Blend 4, Windows Azure SDK, Windows Phone 7.1 SDK, Phidgets APIs, .NET Micro Framework SDK, Netduino SDK, IIS, ASP.NET MVC 3, SQL Server Express, Kinect for Windows SDK, NuGet, nAudio, Coding4Fun Kinect Socket Service, Coding4Fun Toolkit for Windows Phone, Silverlight Toolkit for Windows Phone

Hardware:
A Ford 2012 Mustang, 2 Sony VAIO Z 2011 series laptops, 2 Samsung Series 7 slates and 1 Samsung Series 7 dock, Xbox 360, Netgear N600/WNDR3700 wireless router, Cradle Point MBR900, Verizon USB LTE card, Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone, 2 Kinects, OBD-II to USB cord, two 4″ linear actuators, a linear actual controller, Netduino Plus, Seeed Studio Relay Shield, 2 Casio Green Slim projectors (XJ-A250), SSID Rear projection film material, Sparkfun protoshield board, Digital Addressable RGB LED w/ PWM strips, Phidget 8/8/8 interface board, USB to Serial cord, 4 12V DC to 5V DC power supplies, optical reduction lenses for the HUD system, Microsoft Streets and Trips USB GPS dongle and external speaker system

So what about storage, right? Well what I love about this group is that they aren’t afraid of clouds — they’re using cloud services for their storage hookup.  Here’s what they are doing:

Using the built-in wireless network, the Mustang is able to communicate with cloud services including Bing Maps, Viper’s Smart Start system as well as store real-time telemetry data such as speed, location, RPM and fuel level in Windows Azure.

How cool is that?  Ladies and gentlemen, I have found my dream car. Now about that sticker price…

 

 
Wedding cakes aren’t cheap.

I know what you’re thinking, “Really? I had no idea!” Well, turn off your sarcasm app for a moment and walk with me on a journey for the perfect wedding cake.

My dream wedding cake wasn’t one that was simple; in fact, it was huge and amazing and probably cost as much as my wedding dress. You see, a while ago — before Dan and I were even engaged, I came across the most epic cake ever. SusieCakes in Brentwood, CA had designed an “Impressionist Cake” modeled after Van Gogh’s painting Starry Night. This cake (click here to see some photos on Flickr) is, in a word, epic. I later saw the Doctor Who episode “Vincent and the Doctor,” and when it came time to start planning our wedding, I fell in love with the idea of having this cake and a TARDIS cake-topper.

However, the average wedding cake of the most simplistic design averages from around $3-5 per slice, so you can imagine what a custom cake like this would cost. I am both pretty awesome at baking and fairly artistic, so I thought about the idea of baking my own cake, but 1) I’m sure that would be super stressful and 2) the reception site only allows food from licensed caters, and the cake is already included. Because our all-inclusive package at the wedding facility we’re using requires us to use their catering and cake persons, we didn’t want to spend that much more money out of what we would get for free. What we get for free is a very basic cake with two tiers and a choice of some pretty basic designs. So, how to make this cake awesome and geeky without going way over our budget?

The obvious answer is the cake topper.

A TARDIS alone would be sufficient for some people, I think, but I wanted it to be a little more than that. That’s when I saw the picture on the right floating around on the Googles and the Internets. I’m not sure where the image originates, as I think I first founding randomly Googling “TARDIS wedding cake,” but I thought this was a splendid idea: a cake topper with a couple holding hands and entering the TARDIS.

Seeing this picture, I began my search for my own components to recreate this wedding cake-topping scene. At first, when I was looking at cake-toppers, I was shocked at the prices. Many of them averaged around $50-60! I kept searching, and eventually I managed to order said topper for $25 with shipping. Not too shabby. As for the TARDIS portion? I found one on Amazon.com for a decent price and had Dan buy it. I don’t have as many qualms about paying $30 for a TARDIS that makes noises and is awesome, because once the wedding is over, we can definitely use that to decorate our new home. So, we wound up spending about $55 for our cake topper, but at least it’s going to be awesome.

As far as the cake itself, we decided on something a little more traditional, but we made sure to have something a little unique about it. The cake itself will be “blue velvet” (like red velvet cake, but blue) with ivory colored frosting. So, when the cake is cut into, it will look pretty cool to have a bright color on the inside instead of the traditional white or chocolate cake. It may not be the cake I dreamed of originally, but it’ll still be pretty awesome.
 

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This article will contain some fairly major spoilers for Season One of Once Upon a Time. Just so you know…

A couple months ago I remember my sister asking me if I was watching any new TV shows. Before long I arrived at Once Upon a Time… “I’m not sure how ‘good’ it actually is, but the past couple weeks they had Emilie de Ravin play a live-action version of Belle from Beauty and the Beast… they put her in the dress and everything, then they revealed that the dwarf Grumpy is grumpy all the time because of his tragic love story with a fairy played by Amy Acker.” My sister’s eyes got wide and she said “I’m not sure I’m ready for that show.”

That’s the thing about Once Upon a Time. On one level, it’s so bad it’s good. It’s incredibly cheesy, from the writing to the acting, the characters often have a tendency to be idiots, more than one “big reveal” has fallen flat on its face, the special effects are pervasive yet almost always badly executed, the plot has a tendency to head down pointless cul-de-sacs, and it suffers from an over-reliance on absolutely terrible child acting. Yet, for some reason, I just can’t quit the show. I found myself not only tuning in each week, but weirdly excited about it. And after watching the first season finale Sunday night, I find myself looking forward to doing the same with Season 2.

Once Upon a Time, for the uninitiated, is based around the idea that all of your popular fairytale characters like Snow White, Red Riding Hood, etc. were trapped in our world (in the town of “Storybrooke, Maine”… yep) by an evil curse concocted by the Wicked Queen to get her revenge on Snow White. Before the curse descended, Snow and her husband Prince Charming were able to place their baby girl in a magical tree built by Gepetto (again, to emphasize, not making any of this up), so that she could one day come back and be the “Savior”. Cut to 28 years later, and that kid is a grown up, butt-kicking blond bounty hunter named “Emma Swann” who is brought to Storybrooke by her own son who she gave up for adoption. The catch is that the kid was adopted by the evil queen, now presiding over Storybrooke as “Mayor Regina,” and she appears (at least initially) to be the only other person who knows the truth about what’s going on.

The two showrunners for the series, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, came from Lost, and it shows. They even cribbed Lost’s story structure of featuring flashbacks in every episode that are vaguely related to whatever’s happening in the present day. Except in this case they’re “fairybacks,” as the internet has dubbed them, telling what “really” happened in all those fairy tales. Some of the twists have been pretty fun: for example, Red Riding Hood is the Big Bad Wolf. While the show had some down periods this year (what was the point of that murder trial, and the adultery, and… I could go on), over time it built up an interesting cast of characters who play well against each other. Of course, a big help in all of this is that the show airs on ABC, and can use all of those Disney versions of these characters we’re familar with today. There’s a thrill in seeing live-action versions of these cartoons we all remember. They even have Jiminy Cricket as the town psychologist! The show’s biggest problem is that its main cast, while likable, for the most part lacked agency while they were in Storybrooke: they didn’t remember who they really were, so their vague efforts to fight Regina ended ineffectually. The “fairybacks” were the most interesting part of the show most weeks.

But, and here’s where the spoilers come in, in the first season finale the show did what I thought it would wait until the SERIES finale to do… Emma broke the Curse. So now everyone remembers exactly who they are, though they’re still stuck in Maine for some reason. And Rumplestiltskin has somehow brought magic to our world, so that next year things will get extra crazy. Maybe they won’t even need the fairybacks… So Season 2 should be interesting, but where the show has really succeeded is in setting up an interesting batch of characters, all with their own motivations and backstories, that don’t fit neatly into two teams. Yes, on a basic level the show is about Emma and her “parents” Snow/Mary Margaret & Charming/James/David (I told you it was complicated) vs. the Wicked Queen/Regina, but there’s also the incredibly powerful Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold, who’s not on anybody’s side but his own. The insane Mad Hatter, cursed all this time with the knowledge the others lacked, who is murderously pissed at the Queen now for going back on her deal with him. The mysterious rider who roared into town at midseason turned out to be Pinocchio, with his own guilt-ridden backstory. Even the town convent has its part to play, as all the nuns are actually fairies.

By the time we got to the season finale, I was watching Emma pump handgun rounds into Maleficent the dragon (from Sleeping Beauty) and throw the evil queen against a storage locker and, well, it wasn’t so bad it was good anymore. It was just loads of fun.

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      “Nothing’s holding me back any more. I know what I want, and I’m going to get it.”    ~ Blair Waldorf       What better way to end Season 5 than with a bold statement from Queen B. Until the fall… xoxo       Episode 111 aired 14 May 2012 [...]

Cloud storage is a business that’s quickly rising in popularity as fast as streaming music. And also like streaming music, there is an abundance of service providers available including Dropbox, ZumoDrive, and the recently announced Google Drive. Even Xbox has entered the mix allowing cloud storage as an option to save your games.

But cloud storage isn’t for everyone.  For some it’s a brave new world of anytime/anywhere accessibility. For others who may not be so technologically inclined, it’s a dark scary place…or bright and fluffy depending on what your image of clouds may be.

So let’s demystify this a bit – the cloud is just a server…or, a bunch of servers. It’s a collection of hard drives sitting in a data center run by a few guys who know a bit more about computers than the average bear and are waiting for you to access it with your music, photos and anything else you love and cherish.  Just like any other server, it will store your data just as a regular hard drive would. So there you go, don’t be afraid of the cloud.

The first time I used Dropbox, I thought it was a great way to have my info wherever I wanted it. I dabbled with ZumoDrive because it had an app that worked on my Android phone allowing me access to my music.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a total cloud convert. I will always be reliant on my external hard drives because they give me a great sense of security and stability with my data. But a cloud solution can give you a sense of freedom that you don’t always have with traditional storage because of the accessibility of data centers.

Although I suppose there is a bit of a personal stake in this. After all, who do you think supplies the hard drives used in those data centers?

Seagate is a “cloud friendly” company. We understand the importance of cloud storage for businesses and consumers alike.  We know you want you the convenience of having your data secure and available at any given time because life happens. So take a load off and relax because we’ll enable you to have access to your data from the cloud to something as close to you as, say, your pocket.  And isn’t keeping your information close what it’s all about?

Related Posts:
Life’s Good…in the Cloud
What Would/Could You Do With 5GB of Free Storage?
The Shift to the Cloud and its Two Masters

 
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg by Philip Jose Farmer

Genre(s): Adventure, Science Fiction
Publisher: Titan Books
Description: In a delicious slice of sci-fi whimsy that sits cleverly alongside Verne’s original tale, Phileas Fogg’s epic global journey is not the product of a daft wager but, in fact, a covert mission to chase down the elusive Captain Nemo – who is none other than Professor Moriarty. A secret alien war has raged on Earth for years and is about to culminate in this epic race. A novel in the Wold Newton universe, in which characters such as Sherlock Holmes, Flash Gordon, Doc Savage, James Bond and Jack the Ripper are all mysteriously connected. 
Availability: Paperback and ebook

 
Many people these days seems to think that what we call “fanfiction” was an invention of the internet. But the phenomenon of writers taking other people’s characters and telling their own stories with them is not only not new, it’s not really limited to amateurs. Philip José Farmer is an all-time great science fiction writer, credited with introducing frank discussions of sex to the genre with his award-winning story “The Lovers” and famous for his Riverworld series of novels , in which seemingly every human who ever lived is reborn on an alien world, along the banks of what appears to be an endless river. If you haven’t read these strange and wonderful stories, you owe it to yourself… the multiple attempts at a adapting them to film completely fail to do the books justice.

But Farmer is also known for the so-called “Wold Newton Family,” a series of stories and novels that essentially amount to a sprawling attempt at Victorian literature crossover fanfic, though a very well-written fanfic. Farmer’s underlying premise is that the actual, historical meteorite strike that occurred in 1795 near the Yorkshire village of Wold Newton caused genetic mutations in several people passing by at the time, which were then passed on to their descendants and gave them extraordinary abilities. From this beginning Farmer draws the idea that pretty much every old-timey adventure hero, from Tarzan to HG Wells’ Time Traveler, exists in the same fictional universe. In fact, his “Wold Newton” stories became so popular that others began to add on with their own stories, which even continue today after Farmer’s death.

In 1973′s The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, now available in a handsome reissued paperback from Titan Books, Farmer lovingly adds the works of Jules Verne to his growing continuity. The story is, essentially, a re-telling of the story of the Verne classic Around the World in 80 Days, down to the inclusion of some of the same dialogue. Phileas Fogg, of course, was Verne’s strange traveler, the man who makes the exciting trip around the world with his french valet, Passepartout. Farmer comes to the conclusion that Fogg is not only a little too strange, but is in fact part of one of two warring alien factions, and from there pits Fogg against another of Verne’s famous characters, Captain Nemo, who we discover is best known in England as Moriarty…

While Farmer is a great writer, always subverting audience expectations in interesting ways, here he’s writing for a very specific audience. I’ve read and enjoyed Around the World…, but it’s been at least a decade, and I felt like I wasn’t getting as much out of this as I might have. I have a feeling that someone who had never read the Verne classic would be totally lost. But it is a great story, only improved by the addition of aliens fighting over teleportation technology in between games of whist. It also helps if you, like me, have a weakness for crossover stories. There’s a half-finished Buffy and Firefly crossover sitting on the internet somewhere with my name on it. Farmer is particularly good at suggesting how these connections might happen… just the idea that Moriarty and Captain Nemo are the same person makes me smile. But if you’re a purist English major that might give you some trouble.

I’m fairly certain that Farmer didn’t write these books because he was trying to make money… they feel distinctly like a labor of love. If Jules Verne isn’t your cup of tea, Farmer wrote better-known works featuring Tarzan and Doc Savage that are still readily available. I’m fairly certain that a good portion of the people reading this have sought out fanfic for their own favorite stories, but you may not have known that some great writers have been doing it for decades with some of their favorite books. If you’re a big Jules Verne fan, The Other Log of Phileas Fogg is worth checking out.
 

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Me and my nephew, William.

One day, I hope to be someone’s mother. As I get older, I don’t know when or how that will happen, but I know that it will – whether I have children of my own, whether I adopt, or whether I have a series of foster children. I will be someone’s mother someday. I say this with confidence, because of all the things I do well, the thing I always think of as my best skill is my way with children. And the reason I have this confidence, as well as this skill, is because I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by some amazing mothers in my family who have and continue to teach me that it’s possible to nurture children completely and wholeheartedly without giving up on yourself.

(from top) Caroline, Janette, and Colleen.

I was in college when my older sister, Janette, had her first child, and I thought it was so weird. This was the same person with whom I’d go to the mall and Great Adventure. The same person for whom I took phone messages from many gentleman callers for a quarter each when I was a kid. Now, she was all married and having a kid of her own. It was weird.

She now has two daughters, and I continue to be amazed by how well she is raising them. She always seems to strike the right balance between “fun” and “parent.” She’s not stingy with discipline, but she also realized that discipline starts early – she took her babies out to restaurants and church and other people’s homes from the time they were infants, teaching them how to behave as they went, so they wouldn’t grow up to be the kids you see running around restaurants like little animals. She (and my brother-in-law, Denis) works so hard to give them opportunities that she and I didn’t have growing up – stuff like gymnastics, and dance classes, and martial arts, and Girl Scouts (I couldn’t afford more than a year), and sports. She encourages their talents without pushing anything on them, raising Caroline and Colleen to be caring, hilarious, intelligent, creative people. I don’t say this often enough, but my sister is an amazing mother.

Ann with my nephew William and his little sister, Hannah.

I met my sister-in-law, Ann, when I was a senior in high school and my brother took her on a date to one of my school plays. I liked her from the beginning. So much, in fact, that I wondered what, if anything, would change once she became a mom. You see, she was too cool to be a mom (despite the fact that she, for some reason, wanted to marry my brother!).

What I realized later is that the very things that made her “cool” – her laid-back manner, her friendliness, and the matter-of-fact way in which she’d talk to my brother – are also the things that make her an amazing mom. Her son, William, is autistic, which is not always an easy thing to navigate, but you’d never know it to watch Ann, who seems unflappable most of the time, never afraid to discipline him when needed and never unwilling to coddle him when needed. Meanwhile, she’s raising Hannah to be a brilliant, fearless, verbose girl who makes excellent imaginary tea and can recite Toy Story in its entirety. Ann is an incredible mom.

Dad and Mom at Lake Ronkonkoma – 1994.

And then there’s my mom, who managed to teach me some of the biggest life lessons in the smallest moments. The main thing she taught me? The thing that stands out, and dictates the way I try to live my life? One day she said to me, “I don’t want you to do the right thing because you’re afraid we’re going to get mad at you. I want you to do the right thing because it’s the right thing.” My mother was a person who taught by example. She hardly ever told me what to do. She showed me what to do. She just lived it, and because she was someone that everyone liked, who always made miracles happen despite not having much money, and who seemed to have God on speed-dial, she was someone I wanted to emulate. And so I did what she said. It’s because she (and my dad) did that that I now feel free enough to stumble and make mistakes. Because I know I’m not being judged, and I know that I only have to answer to my conscience and God, and I think I’m a better person for it. I never really had a “rebellious period” growing up. Don’t get me wrong, I was bratty plenty of times. But I rarely got into trouble, and I never really had an entire rebellious phase, because I never needed one. Because my mom never gave me a curfew (so long as I called when I was gonna be really late), never forced me to go to church, and told me how she felt about certain things (like smoking, drinking, sex, etc) without making it sound like “rules.” And so I always called, and I went to church on my own without my parents, and I never did anything overly sordid substance-wise or sexually (not as a kid, anyway). My choices were my own, and had nothing to do with rules set by my parents. It was about doing the right thing. And thanks to my mom, I think I’ve done the right thing more often than not. She made me believe that I could choose the right thing, and that there is power in that choice.

I have the pleasure of knowing so many amazing mothers. Eileen, who’s gone to hell and back for her kids. Jean, who stalks the playground like a lioness for Charlotte. Katie, who is raising her (now) two children with an abundance of love and patience. And even Robin, who’s become quite the stepmom to Marissa. And then there are my surrogate mothers, who’ve at various times taken care of me and taken an interest in me long after my own mother no longer could. Gloria, who’s opened her home to me from the time I was about six, and who worries (just like my own mother would) about when I’m going to finally settle down and get married. Arlene, who’s been treating me like a daughter since I was ten. Joan, who manages to make everyone her son (my good friend, Adam) cares about feel like family.

There are more of you out there, I know, but then this blog post would go on forever. Basically, I wanted to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day. And I’m grateful that, when the time comes for me to be someone’s mother, I’ll have plenty of amazing examples to follow. I’m a lucky girl.

Filed under: Non-Fiction, Photos Tagged: family, Mom, Mother's Day

5MB Seagate ST506 Winchester (circa 1980)

We asked an open question on Facebook recently to see when the last time people had backed up their hard drive. I was a bit surprised by the number of people who actually had – especially within the last month.

Backing up your hard drive may not be something you think about on a regular basis. It’s the equivalent of using that weird shaped brush to clean your refrigerator coils. I mean really, when was the last time you actually did that? And don’t get me started on dusting air vents.

But I digress.  Imagine a situation where you’re going about your day working along and whistling a happy tune.  Then *bloop*, you’re computer dies. You’re stunned. You’re shocked. You may start using words full of color as an expression of your frustration.  Then it slowly begins to sink in and you ask yourself “When was the last time I saved my work?”

When I was in design school, we lived by a simple motto – “Save Often.”

We had to. The work we were doing was very precise and trying to replicate it again was difficult and time consuming.  Why should this be any different? Whether it’s a spreadsheet, a blog, digitizing photos or music composition, the work you’re doing is of the utmost importance.

So “Save Often.”

Your digital life should get the same treatment as your work. Accidents are called accidents because they don’t happen on purpose.

So “Save Often.”

Backing up your hard drive may sound intimidating, but it really isn’t. In most cases, you can automate the process so while you’re in a blissful slumber, your computer is slowly gaining sentience preparing for the technological uprising all while saving your important data.  If you’re more of a “hands-on” type of person, you can go through a quick process to get things started while you catch up on the last few episodes of Desperate Housewives before the show ends it’s seven-year run.  There may be minor differences depending on your system, but everyone knows the importance of data storage (at least they better), so it’s much easier than you may think.

Regardless of what method you choose, “save often.”

So what are you waiting for? Go back up your hard drive today.

 

Put on the last suit you’ll ever wear. Help defend the Earth from an impending alien invasion. As a rookie, you’ll need to get trained….and fast!

Activision’s MEN IN BLACK: Alien Crisis is just what you need. Check it out at http://www.opposingviews.com/i/entertainment/activisions-men-black-alien-crisis

 
Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf

Genre(s): Non-Fiction, Fantasy, Travel
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Description: In Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, Gilsdorf crisscrosses America, the world, and other worlds–from Boston to Wisconsin, France to New Zealand, and Planet Earth to Middle-earth to the realm of Aggramar. He asks D&D players, LARPers, medieval re-eanctors, World of Warcraft players, Harry Potter fans and convention goers–old, young, male, female, able-bodied and disabled–what attracts them to fantasy worlds, and for what reasons. What he discovers is funny, poignant, and enlightening.
Availability: Paperback and ebook

 
I first encountered Mr. Gilsdorf when he put out a net call for input into an article he was preparing about the future of D&D for a well known periodical. I submitted my thoughts and asked him to let me know when the article was published. We exchanged a few emails and on the heels of the nationwide announcement of D&D Next or 5th Edition (depending on what camp you are in) true to his word, I received an email notification and a request for my mailing address. About a week later, I received a copy of his book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks with a hand written note thanking me for my input.

I was thrilled! What writer for an awesome website like this wouldn’t go ga-ga over a book that has the words fantasy, freaks, gaming, and geeks in the title? Add a D20 and a picture of a gamer circa old school D&D with a battle axe deliberately photoshopped in his hand on the cover, and it puts a geek like me over the moon. Then as you turn the already treasured tome over to find another picture of a D20, a scene filled with minis, a shot of one of the sets from LOTR, SCA fighters, a screen shot from a fantasy MMORPG, a bearded Klingon, and a small photo of Gilsdorf doing his best Pete Townsend impression, the anticipation soars. After taking in the mosaic of words and geek appealing photos, I opened the book and, while I was hoping that opening would be accompanied by the song of angels (or at the very least, some really cool music) and the mysterious self illumination that always seems to accompany someone opening a treasure chest or an ancient tome, instead I found an even greater treasure. The inside cover was the red and white negatives of several old school graph paper maps, maps that we all relied on before cartography programs came along. Without reading a single word, I was flooded with gaming memories of the happiest kind!

Each chapter is preceded by a quote or set of quotes from famous folks from the past. This, along with clever chapter titles, was great foreplay for me. These carefully selected quotes or passages from books were all spot on and fun to read. They kept me on my trip down memory passages (actually it is a dark passage that appears to be about 60ft. long. The walls are made of a rough cut stone, it looks like there are brackets on the wall that once held torches, there is a faint light at the end of the passage that seems to pulsate with a sickly green light…)

My euphoria was soon extinguished when I started reading the prologue entitled ‘The Momster’.

I wasn’t upset because the writing was bad. In fact, there was this brutal honesty that cut me to quick. Gilsdorf’s single mother suffered from an aneurysm in 1979 that transformed her into what he describes as “The Kitchen Dragon”. We tend to idealize the people in our lives who have passed away, but not Ethan Gilsdorf! As the book progresses, there is no doubt that he loves his mother, but to put in writing how his 12 year old self felt when dealing with his disabled mother and the effect that the changes she underwent, had created a soul bearing moment that few authors can honestly express and even fewer authors are willing to.

Gilsdorf uses his mother’s ultimately tragic aneurysm to explain why he was drawn to gaming. He doesn’t use his mother’s condition as an excuse, but shows that it was a contributing factor. Gilsdorf goes on to describe his youthful affair with RPGs and his love for all things Tolkien (big surprise, right?). We soon find ourselves with a grown Ethan Gilsdorf who is still a lover of Tolkien, but suffers from self doubts that he feels stem from a desire to experience fantasy worlds, and overdeveloped case of gamer shame. Rather than retreating to a basement, he decides to embark on a modern day hero’s journey of his own.

While Gilsdorf states his intentions for embarking on this hero’s journey, I found that he often strayed from the path and, at times, his actions were overruled by his fears of a gamer relapse and that overdeveloped affliction of the aforementioned gamer shame. Gilsdorf’s journey, while a bit convoluted, had all of the right destinations, but his actions while he was there and his failure to simply let go and be himself were the honest reactions of a man trying to fight off his past, while still trying to understand why he did what he did way back when.

There were times during this book when I got pissed off. Here is a guy who is on a holy grail-like quest that most geeks would give their entire dice collection and at least three or four source books that they had triples of to experience. One of his goals on his quest is to meet Gary Gygax, one of the fathers of D&D, so he arranges to attend Garycon. Sadly, Gary passed away shortly before the Con, so Gilsdorf headed to this D&D Mecca and plays voyeur. Like a good writer, he watches, but unlike the best writers, he never actually joins a game. On the last day, he does join a chainmail minis game, but for a former gamer to sit around and watch some of the legends of D&D play actual games and not get involved made me sick to my stomach. It was like having the prom queen or king call you, tell you their parents are out of town and that they are lonely, and instead of going to their house, knocking on the door and taking care of business, you sneak around the back of the house, hide in the bushes, and hope you catch a glimpse of them getting ready for bed.

As Gilsdorf’s journey continues, he falls into a voyeuristic pattern that diminishes his ability to actually complete his quest. For a person who is a fan of Tolkein, there are times in this book where I began to wonder if he actually paid attention to the story. During his travels and in his writing, Gilsdorf doesn’t sugar coat his internal struggles, or try to gloss over the fact that he wasn’t willing to knock on that front door. While his actions made me want to club him like a baby seal, his brutal honesty in expressing his doubts and fears had me rooting for him.

I’m sure that you can tell that this book stirred up many bi-polar feelings inside of me. I didn’t go into this book with any expectations so I didn’t build it up to be something it was not, then claim I was misled. Ethan Gilsdorf is a geek who has made it to the big time. His works have appeared in the New York Times, LA Time, The Boston Globe, the SF Chronicle, USA Today, the Washington post, Nat Geo. Traveler, and Psychology today. Many of these articles are about gaming so in one sense, he is truly living the dream. I recommend this book to my fellow freaks, geeks, gamers, and anyone else who claims titles for their passions and hobbies. For those of you adult aged folks who suffer from gamer shame, this book will let you know that there are other people who suffer from the same anxieties that you do and that what you are feeling is normal. For those of us that let our freak flag fly, while you will experience disappointment, you will be treated to one heck of a trip into the dungeons of your past by a DM who is a great writer. No matter what camp you come from, this book threatens a crit!
 

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Hey there, loyal readers! (all ten of you) You might have noticed that I’ve been a little ayzy-lay in the ogging-blay epartment-day. The past month’s been a little insane. Lots that I’ve tried to accomplish (but haven’t), financial insecurities, and by the way, I’m moving again! My third time in nine months. Nothing horrible, mind you. Just time for me to move on. At this rate, I’ll have had quite the grand tour of Los Angeles before my L.A. Year One comes to a close!

However, even though I haven’t been posting much of substance this past month (save my response to Moviefone and this post about Girls), I’ve been sprucing the place up little by little. You might have noticed some new tabs up top – like **MERCHANDISE** and **PRESS** and **SPEAKING.** Check them out!

Also, I’m hoping to get back to some regular features here. Some new, some that I’ve done before and miss doing. I’m hoping to do more with the following old features:

Pop Goes Teresa – wherein I talk about pop music intelligently, because I don’t automatically equate “pop” with “bad” or “unimportant.” (check out one of my posts on Lady Gaga)

Teresa’s Bookshelf – wherein I review books I’ve read and make recommendations! (check out my most recent reviews HERE)

The Fray Project – wherein I challenge myself to be better. Yes, I’m still doing this, and starting next week, I’m getting back into the swing of daily posting on that. (Read all about the project HERE)

There will also be a new feature I’m calling MINORITY REPORT, wherein I will highlight awesome work/projects/progress made by women, racial/ethnic minorities, and LGBT folks in the media. There will be some critical stuff, too, but it’s important to me not only to complain about what’s wrong, but celebrate what’s right. This will be my space for that. And when I say “media,” I mean TV, Film, and Comics.

I also plan on doing more at my other blogs, The Gender Blender and Geek Girl Traveler, and I will be linking all that content here as it posts.

So, thank you for popping in and giving my words a gander. I hope you’ll come back to hang out and have a chat! I’ve got lots more chatter in store!

Filed under: Non-Fiction Tagged: Geek Girl Traveler, L.A. Year One, Minority Report, Pop Goes Teresa, Teresa's Bookshelf, The Fray Project, The Gender Blender, TJE Behind the Scenes, writing life

Ubisoft dropped a slice for all of us to taste in the form of an Assassin’s Creed 3 trailer. Check out the link to the article i did for Opposing Views here http://www.opposingviews.com/i/entertainment/new-assassin-s-creed-3-gameplay-trailer

I LOVE the detail of Conner’s Tomahawk! The blade being the Assassin’s Creed logo and all!

 
That bean spilling, leaping-out-of-the-bag cat – also known as a press release – has outted the airdate for the season seven (or series thirty-three depending on who you ask i.e. me) premiere. Well, sort of.

Like last year’s Let’s Kill Hitler, the first episode of the new season will be screened at the Edinburgh International Television Festival between August 23 and 25, with the Moff and Mark Gatiss attending to field questions.

So how does that equate to an actual date that we can mark in our diaries, pull the phoneline out of the socket, draw the curtains and warn our loved ones that should we be disturbed during the broadcast, that a fiery wrath of verbal abuse and possible slipper throwing will be blasted in their general direction? Well, according to some tinfoil math, we can extrapolate that an airdate of September 1 is the most likely candidate due to past episodes being premiered a week before actual transmission.

Like last year, season seven will be split into two parts, taking a mid-season break after five episodes – the last which will see the departure of our Ponds and the return of the Weeping Angels – pop up again after Christmas lunch with a special that will introduce the new companion, and then continue during spring of 2013.

The first episode is reported to be the one where every type and model of Dalek ever seen in the Doctor Who universe returns. I’m all for giving the Daleks a break so that their scare isn’t diminished but, blimey, I’m sold. Seriously. ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ Daleks. Remembrance of the Daleks Daleks, complete with the Special Weapons Dalek? I’ll be a fanboy mess, squeeing throughout I’m sure.
 

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Maybe it was the hypnotic sight of the printer dishing out ninty-odd pages at a rate of knots that made my mind wander, or maybe it was actually because I’d found a mouldy tangerine earlier and was worried that a mutant maggot would burst out and go for my neck, but throughout the day, I just couldn’t stop thinking about the time that I met the Doctor.

It was my seventh birthday, and it was on a Saturday, so by the laws of the universe, that constitutes a guaranteed pretty bloody awesome birthday right there. Presents were ripped into with a grin to rival that of the Cheshire Cat’s. All of them opened, and thanking hugs exchanged, I went to fire up the Mega Drive when I was presented with one final wrapped parcel from my Nan and Grandpa. It was soft. Childhood intuition/suspicion told me that it was clothes, and gratitude aside – and be honest now – when you were a kid, clothes were the one thing you didn’t want for your birthday, because Power Ranger figures. End of. Or something. Anyway, opening the wrapping paper, my brow furrowed. Beige. Another piece unfolded, green trim with red splodges. Then my eyes fell short of popping straight out of my head. It was a woollen vest, the one that the seventh Doctor wore, but knitted, just for me. I bounced around the room more than Stewie going to Disney World.

But that wasn’t all. A final gift, a flyer. Jon Pertwee, the third Doctor, was signing books. Today. My birthday. Stunned into silence and sort of not knowing what was going on, I looked to my Nan and she nodded her head. She didn’t need to say anything. This time bouncing was replaced by a jaw hung expression because this birthday just became surreal.

“What are you going to wear?” my Grandpa asked.

Now I didn’t need to say anything.

Fast forward to my Nan and I stepping off the bus and making our way to the venue. It was safe to say we’d found the place on account of a line of people and a homemade Dalek patrolling the street. The irony was not lost on me, however. There I was. In line to see Jon Pertwee. Dressed as the seventh Doctor, complete with a cloth hat, paisley scarf and tie, and an umbrella sadly not with a question mark handle. The others in line seemed to love it and were greatly impressed, especially so when they asked if I wanted any rice pudding, to which I replied “unlimited.” Plus, the fact that I actually had an umbrella when it started piddling down helped.

As the afternoon crept on, so did the line until we were just over the threshold. That’s when it got real. I could see him through a gap in the snaking line. He looked exactly the same considering this was 1994, and while I was grown up for a seven year old, I happily let my childhood mentality kick in, if for only moment to believe that this was confirmation that he was indeed a Time Lord. I took my Nan’s hand and squeezed it tight. This was amazing. All anticipation went out the front door because this was happening, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of him. Me. In front of the Doctor. Clearly sorcery.

He looked up and smiled, stifling a laugh, and my Nan prompted me to hand over my book for all the staring. In a blazoned scribble he’d signed his name and handed the book back over. I nervously said thank you, and he replied, with a nod, “Doctor.”

I don’t remember much after that. Well, apart from the jumping and mid-air heel clicking once we were outside because I’d met the Doctor, the Doctor. But there was one final surprise waiting for me at home. A very special TARDIS cake made by my Aunt. Now that was a birthday.

What’s your favourite geeky memory?
 

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Oy, oy! You lucky people! (anyone get that reference? Anyone? Lemme know in the comments below!) You get second helpings of Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows goodness this week, and this latest post brings us totally current!

Excerpts:

Once Upon a Time -

And Henry. Wonderful, fabulous Henry. I knew the moment that Henry came over to Emma’s apartment that the only thing that would spur Emma to action would be if he ate it. But honestly? I wasn’t sure if they’d do that. Putting kids in danger, even fairy tale danger, is less palatable in a real-world setting than it would be if, say, Henry existed in the fairy tale world and we watched him be trapped by a witch. However, I’m so glad that the show was brave enough to allow this young character to do the necessary thing. One of the things I love most about this show is that it treats children with respect, and allows them to make choices for themselves, even questionable or harmful ones. In this moment, Henry got to be as noble and heroic as any fairy tale character, and watching him do it was magic.

Grimm -

This episode was so bad, I found myself getting progressively angrier as it went on. Not since Episode 2 (ie: Gilda and the Stupid Bears) have I been so disappointed in an episode of Grimm. And they both contain blondes stripping down to their underwear for no good reason. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The fact that this was actually an episode written by the show’s creators was hugely surprising to me, considering that the biggest problem I had was that the main characters and plot were hardly a part of it. This felt like an episode they handed off to someone else, and that someone else got it wrong, but they had to use it anyway. This was not the case. *sigh* “Happily Ever Aftermath” was way too unbalanced in favor of the guest stars.

For the full reviews, or to comment on the post, CLICK HERE!

Filed under: Non-Fiction Tagged: Grimm, Once Upon a Time, television, Tor Posts, Tor.com

How many apps do you have on your smartphone? Do you use them all?  I found myself in a bit of an app conflict recently as I was going to download a new game to my phone when I realized I was running out of storage space.  And sadly for me, while Seagate is teeming with storage solutions, on-board smart-phone storage is not our thing.

This put me in a bit of a conundrum as I had to determine which apps I really wanted versus what I really needed. I don’t recall the last time I ate at Pizza Hut or looked for a local Ben & Jerry’s so those two got canceled faster than a Christian Slater show on network television.

Yet as I made space for one app, I found myself wandering my app store looking for related applications and recommendations.  After all, now that I’ve freed some data space, I have to fill it up again. This quest for the next big-time killer app while shoe shopping with the little woman reminded me of some news I recently saw on the rise of mobile apps.

What really stuck out for me is how Apple isn’t as dominant as advertising may lead you to believe. In fact, they are number three on the top platform list and number five on the top phone list. Another interesting tidbit is that with 300K in downloads; you can’t dispute the appeal of hurling upset fowl at a green hog…even in space.  Social networking will remain category king on smartphones with apps for Twitter, Facebook and several others.  We have yet to see the full growth of app downloads as it’s projected to hit 21 billion by 2013 — way over the 5 billion from 2010.

Seems I’m not the only one who’s app happy as I am! Check out the infographic below for more stats and think about this the next time you go to update your copy of Fruit Ninja.

Infographic created by ShoutEm

 
An article over at I4U cites the opinion of JP Morgan analyst, Mark Moskowitz, that Apple Television is not coming in 2012. We are talking about an Apple branded television, not the nifty little hockey puck sized media streamer that goes by the name of Apple TV.

A few years back, I joined the Apple cult. I wouldn’t classify myself as a fanboy, but I did join. It started with the usual gateway drug, the iPod touch, and has grown into ownership of several other Apple products like the iPad (1 and 2), an iMac, Airport Extreme and Airport Express, and Apple TV. I like my Apple products and while I sometimes lament some of their limitations, we have a pretty good relationship. I got a great deal on my Apple TV that I just couldn’t pass up, and in typical Apple fashion, it was sexy, minimally packaged, easy to set up, and limited. Now, when I say limited, I’m not talking crazy limited. It was more like a pair of underwear that was just a little too tight. My model would only stream at 720p, although that didn’t matter as I had saved money by buying a 720p TV because everyone was going for the 1080s. I could discuss the other limitations, but this isn’t an Apple TV bashing exercise, it is a SWAG (Super Wild Ass Guess) prediction.

I believe that Moskowitz is right. There will be no Apple Television in 2012. Now, I’m sure that Moskowitz had done in-depth studies and looked at marketing and production reports, but I, however, have a much more effective method: the SWAG. Like Billy Ray Valentine in Trading Places, I don’t have a Harvard education or a big budget to base my analysis. Instead, I have that un-common commodity – common sense.

The first question we have to ask about Apple Television is why? Why would a company like Apple try to extend themselves into an already over-saturated market? How many companies are there out there right now? These days it seems like every store has its own brand and exclusive models produced for that store by five or six other major brands. After my TV shopping experience, there are lots of them… lots and lots of them. Why jump into a sea of sharks when you don’t have to? Apple would most likely turn to other television producers to produce some of their major components, so why bother? Is it more profitable to produce an entire TV with parts from all of your competitors and an Apple brain, or to just keep producing the brain? Seems like a no brainer to me.

Based on the amount of sharks in the tank, let’s talk costs. Apple provides a quality product, and they charge for it. People who have joined the Apple cult are happy to pay these premium prices for the products they love; however, those who have not injected the rice grain sized GPS tracker soaked in the DNA of Steve Jobs might not be willing to pay those premiums (Note: No one will confirm the whole GPS tracker or that it was soaked in the late Steve Jobs DNA. After I bought my iMac, I woke up the next morning with a strange puncture mark on my arm and every now and then I feel a rice grain sized lump in my arm, but I’m sure this is all just a coincidence).

Big TVs are in and people are looking for bigger and more beautiful. Apple’s 27 inch sized displays are huge and they look great; but again, price. Why would I pay an estimated twice the price for an Apple branded TV made of parts from other TV companies when for $99.00, I can get the brain (Apple TV) and attach it to a bigger, more flexible TV? Oh yeah… that expensive TV will say Apple on it. I understand the need to “own” the living room, but most of the companies that have tried that have failed or are still sharing shelf space with other brands. I am completely happy with the 27 inches of real estate that my iMac monitor gives me so why ,would I go out and buy a TV that will cost almost as much as a fully fledged computer? Apple has vision but they are not stupid!

I’ve brought up a few good reasons why there won’t be Apple Television this year or an Apple Branded Television ever, but in the grand scheme of things, I think, even with the past failures of other companies, Apple will give it a go. They have a robust ecosystem that could support consumers’ voracious need for content, but they can do all of this with their current Apple TV. I just hope that Apple isn’t trying to resurrect an interesting idea that Steve Jobs had just because he had it.

Final Analysis: Apple Television this year? Hell no. Apple Television by 2014? Maybe… Do we need Apple Television? Common sense and the SWAG say no, Apple TV is just fine!
 

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We’re finally back to another installment of the Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows! And there’s some clarification on the scoring process that I lay down in the comments, so make sure to give those a look, too.

Excerpt:

Once Upon a Time -

Two things stood out during this episode. The first, of course, being the clever retelling of the story of Pinocchio. We all know the ending of Pinocchio — the Blue Fairy turns him into a Real Boy. But what happens after that? We don’t take into account the fact that the Blue Fairy did leave him with a challenge to remain “good, brave, and true,” and so it’s interesting to see that what has brought Pinocchio (now August) dangerously close to reverting to his wooden self is his inability to be true. It was inspired to put him in a long-term situation, like protecting Baby Emma, that would challenge the most difficult of the three things expected of him.

Grimm -

However a majority of the episode, most of which had to do with Nick coming into his own as a Grimm, was wonderful. The humorous opening scene of Nick doing weapons training with Monroe set the stage for more humor between them as they try to navigate their relationship during dinner with Juliette. The humor of those interactions then proved a wonderful counterpoint to the end of the episode, where Nick is flipping over Reaper scythes to kill two Reapers who’ve come after him, and Monroe helps him chop their heads off so that he can send them to Europe as a warning. It was a delight to see Nick be his most badass self, Monroe at his most clingy and flustered, and the cracks starting to show in Juliette’s tolerance.

To read the rest of the review or post a comment, CLICK HERE!

Filed under: Non-Fiction Tagged: Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Tor Posts, Tor.com

When Nike posted on their site, that there was something revolutionary coming on 1.19.2012, the world (mostly sneaker heads like myself) waited in anticipation to find out what the House of Swoosh had in store for all of us. When that glorious day fell upon us, the Nike FuelBand was unveiled to the world. According to Nike, this was going to change the way we look at exercise as a whole.  The Nike FuelBand is the new addition to a stable of products Nike has developed, especially for running. With that being said, the Nike FuelBand is not strictly made or meant for running and runners, it was meant for everyone.

The FuelBand:

The FuelBand tracks everyday movement of any user, runners, basketball players, soccer moms and even Joe Schmoe. If you’ve ever wondered how much physical movement you perform in a 24 hour period, the Nike FuelBand can provide you that answer.

The FuelBand is made from thermoplastic elastomer, polypropylene, magnesium and stainless steel (the product uses no polyvinyl chloride, or “PVC”), weighs in at just over one ounce (30 g) for the medium model, which is what I got. There are only three sizes sold (small, medium and large), each band comes with two easily removable links (8mm and 16mm) for a more customizable fit. At its  “thickest” or “fattest” point (the latch), the FuelBand is 8 mm thick.

There’s a lot of sweet tech that went into the Nike FuelBand. The LED display on the front of the FuelBand uses 100 white and 20 color LED lights seated just under the FuelBand’s surface. One small button works the display, which cycles through four readings: Fuel, calories, steps and time. Yes, time. The FuelBand also acts a watch, which I found convenient while at the gym. Although if you’re just getting it for that purpose, I recommend getting an actual watch instead.  An ambient light sensor in the display detects light levels, automatically adjusting the brightness of the LED display depending on the current environment lighting.

I got the FuelBand on my birthday and decided to try it out over the weekend…..so a 3-4 day period to see how it works and if it is hype or not. Unboxing the band was easy. All I needed to do for set up, was to plug my band into my laptop into the USB port, download the Nike+ Connect software and then input my information (height, weight, gender) and then FuelBand specific information (left or right wrist, daily NikeFuel goal) and it was ready to play. It just took about five minutes. That’s all . If you want to get a little bit more comprehensive, especially if you’re into social media and sharing events with friends, you can sync your Nike account with Facebook and Twitter. You then can share your achievements and daily NikeFuel points with your friends.

What is NikeFuel?

NikeFuel is the new metric that Nike calls “the ultimate measure of your athletic activity.” Right out the gate, people assume it’s a fancy way to market Calorie counting. That’s not true. According to Nike, NikeFuel is the result of highly developed research. The metric, which was developed by Nike with the assistance of sports and science experts, is based on oxygen kinetics – the amount of oxygen intake necessary for a given activity or movement. Fuel points are essentially derived from comparing movement, measured by the device’s three-dimensional accelerometer, to data collected on oxygen kinetics for different activities. Thus, instead of just measuring calorie expenditure, which is variable by both gender and body type, Fuel is a normalized score that awards all participants equal scoring for the same activity regardless of their physical makeup or gender. A calorie burn counter is also available in your options, along with a step counter and time. Yes time…..the band acts as a watch as well.

I downloaded the NikeFuel app on my iPhone and synced it with the FuelBand. It’s as simple as syncing a Bluetooth headset, actually easier. When synced to your wireless device, in this case my phone, the app shows your stats, from Fuel Points totals via graphs and charts, which chart your hourly totals from 12am to 12 am, to daily/weekly/monthly/yearly totals.

First thing I did when I got everything I wanted synced up and running was jumping jacks. I wanted to see how the band would tally up Fuel points and it’s difference with the calorie count. True enough, there was a difference. I also noticed that because the device is on your wrist, solitary movements of the lower body like cycling, or lower body exercises were hardly recorded as there’s hardly movement from the upper body. This was also addressed and acknowledged by Nike in their instruction manual in the box. This however, is probably being looked at and quite possibly sees a solution down the line. The way Nike+ is evolving from strictly running and now in basketball and cross training, I foresee a solution soon.

With that being said, I was excited to see what my day would be like, graphically. Day 1 was a non-gym day. It consists of errands, walking and going to the movies. Even though you could tune your daily Fuel goals as you go along, I decided to just set my daily goal at 3000 points (Nike’s baseline standard for an “Active” setting). I was surprised to see how much activity I had in my day, based off the stats on the Nike FuelBand.

 

Day 2, Gym day. Besides the everyday activity, the gym helped push my Fuel point total past my daily goal of 3000. So you’re probably asking, what happens when you reach your goal? When you work towards your goal, each of the 20 LEDs light up from red to green. When your Fuel goal is attained, a “GOAL” animation takes place, like a celebration for your hard work. When you sync it with your wireless device or computer, the Nike Fuel mascot pops up (it reminds me of Sackboy from Little Big Planet) celebrating your achievement. It also makes an appearance when you hit certain markers and milestones. This concept is nothing new to gamers, who might be familiar with Trophies and Achievements and Gamer Scores that are utilized by PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

 

The Nike+ Connect program uploads your data and saves your progress and achievements into your profile. On your profile page, you’ll see a tally keeping track on your “Goal Streak” and the number of times you hit your goal. With social media integration, all this information can be used as a form of competition among friends, athletes and anybody for that matter. Very much like a multiplayer campaign in a video game. Through the app, users can join “missions,” where they can compete against fellow FuelBand users, friends and professional athletes alike. Examples of recent “missions” include Fuel point challenges against Kevin Durant and Andrew Luck, a fundraiser for LIVESTRONG and a scavenger hunt with DJ duo Duck Sauce. This video game like form of gain and reward feels familiar and helps keep me motivated. Which in turn helps me out in the overall scheme of things. So it’s practically a win-win.

In the grand scheme of things, the Nike FuelBand justifies the $150 price tag. It’s not just a “wristband” or a “LIVESTRONG bracelet”. It’s a sleek, beautiful technological athletic tool that helps motivate and drives one to achieve their goals on a day to day basis. The design is simple, clean and fashionable as well.

On a personal level, the Nike FuelBand has help me through days where I feel tired, drained and unmotivated. To attempt and keep my Fuel goal tally consistent, I find a little something extra to try and make that mark. With this device, the possibilities are endless. Combined with the advancements of Nike+ technology in running, basketball and training, I can’t wait to see what the future could bring.