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05 Apr 15:48

The HTC Vive offers the best consumer VR experience for now — but it needs better games

by Dean Takahashi
Experiencing the HTC Vive Pre.

The HTC Vive begins shipping today to people who preordered the virtual reality headset based on Valve’s Steam VR technology.

HTC and Valve hope that it will be the beginning of a VR renaissance that immerses us all with a feeling of “presence,” or the feeling that you are transported to another virtual place. This sense of presence is VR’s unique advantage, and if everybody is enthralled by it, VR could become a $30 billion industry by 2020, according to tech adviser Digi-Capital. But the market will be perilous. If VR developers create apps that make half the population sick from vertigo, this version of the technology will appeal only to a small niche of enthusiasts.

The Vive represents the high end of VR today, with an $800 price tag compared to $600 for the rival Oculus Rift. I’ve tried out both systems and have some impressions. You’ll spend this money in addition to a $1,000 PC, which has to be equipped with a graphics card like the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 or better. The high price, the significant hassles around setup, and the current limitations of VR technology mean that this will be a small enthusiast or early adopter market during this generation.

I haven’t seen any obvious killer app just yet, but at least two dozen games and demos are launching today for the Vive. I’ve played a bunch of these in demo form already, and they look surprisingly good when it comes to graphics. For the most part, they don’t give me motion sickness. But I’ve only had a few days to play around with the Vive, and that’s not nearly enough to check out the two dozen or so experiences. My sense is that the Vive is a better system than the Rift, but Oculus has an advantage because it has better content available now.

A simple setup process

Here's what you get in an HTC Vive

Above: Here’s what you get in an HTC Vive

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

The Vive has a setup process that is supposed to last just 28 minutes. I found that was true, but only the second time around. I had help from Nvidia installing the Vive Pre on a new PC. That took a long time in part because they had to figure out where to place the sensors for the Vive’s tracking system. We set them atop two tall book cases and had to drill one into the top of one book case.

The sensors have to see each other. They have to be wired to electrical sockets, and they have to be connected to each other on a wire. HTC put indicator lights on them that turn green if they are functioning correctly.

After you unpack the box, you’ll find a lot of stuff to keep track of. Then you then go online to use setup software. You have to install Steam on your system or create an account if you don’t have one already. The Vive software auto-detected Steam on my computer, and I had to redirect it to a place on a hard drive that had enough space for games.

You have to charge your controllers via USB wires, which are included. And you have to plug the Vive headset into a system link box, which in turn connects to USB and HDMI 1.3 slots in your computer.

When you finish loading the Steam VR software, you get a shortcut on your desktop for it. When you click on it, you will see an image with a headset, two controllers, and two base stations. If all of them are green, you are in business. Then you can look through Steam for various VR demos, or you can shop for full games on the Steam store. Once you buy a game or download a demo, you simply click on it to load it.

You have to know a little bit about your computer to be able to do all this. But it’s nothing that the tech geek in the family can’t handle.

Valve has also created a few fun demos that play when you first use the Vive. They show you how to set up your space for “room scale” VR, how to use the controllers, and now to navigate through the story with the headset on. It’s all pretty simple stuff.

The Vive’s advantage over Oculus

Let's just hope the cat doesn't run under your feet.

Above: Let’s just hope the cat doesn’t run under your feet.

Image Credit: HTC

One of the best things about the HTC Vive is that it supports “room scale” VR. That is, it allows you to set up a space in your home that is 15 feet by 15. The Vive’s two base stations, which you set up at high points in a room, can sense the space in your living room or office and map out the safe space where you can play. This way, you won’t trip over your own furniture while you are wearing the headset. And anytime you come near the border of this area, you see a grid of blue walls appear before your face. That makes the HTC Vive safer.

You don’t have to have a room that is that big. The Vive setup process allows you to map your available space, using the hand controller. And that space can be as small as 5 feet by 6 feet. And if you can’t do that you can also opt to just sit in a chair and play, as is appropriate with the Oculus, which doesn’t have the base stations. The Oculus has one sensor and it has a play area of 5 feet by 11 feet.

Space Pirate Trainer, where you shoot at drones coming from a variety of directions, is one of the games that you can play in a small space or a larger one. It’s better in the larger space because then you can more easily dodge incoming attacks. Fantastic Contraption and Tiltbrush are apps that benefit from a larger space, as you can pull back and see your creation from a broader view.

Those Vive base stations are small and compact, but they’re a bit of a pain. They have to be wired to an electrical outlet, which I accomplished using two extension cords. But they also have to be wired to each other. HTC provides a long cord for this purpose, but it’s still a pain to string this along near the top of your ceiling to connect the base stations.

The Vive has Oculus beat in one obvious way. Right now, you have to use an Xbox One controller to play with an Oculus. You’re pushing buttons for now, until the Oculus Touch controls arrive later this year. But the Vive is already equipped with two handheld controllers that can duplicate a lot of the functions of your hands. Most importantly, you can point them in different directions at the same time, so you can shoot at two different moving objects at the same time in games such as Space Pirates Trainer. This advantage is temporary, as the Oculus Touch hand controls will be arriving later this year.

The VR content

Fantastic Contraption

Above: Fantastic Contraption

While the Vive has advantages over the Oculus Rift, the content battle is pretty even. Oculus has the exclusive rights to its bundled game, Lucky’s Tale, which is a delightful experience for both kids and adults. It’s like Mario and Crash Bandicoot in VR. It has some other great experiences like Adr1ft, Henry, and Eve: Valkyrie. These experiences are fun even when played with the inferior Xbox One controller. The great thing about Lucky’s Tale is that I can see myself playing it for a long time. But most of the experiences are much shorter, like arcade games.

The Vive comes bundled with Fantastic Contraption, a $40 VR game on Steam. In this game, you have to move a ball forward by building a contraption that allows you get a purple ball from one place to another.  A full tutorial on how to play it is here. It’s surreal VR building and puzzle game, where you create life-sized machines as tall as you can reach. Once you complete them, you set them into motion to get the ball to your goal.

You can achieve this goal just about any way your can imagine. You can use a complicated Rube Goldberg solution or go with something minimalist. The full Fantastic Contraption game launches today with 50 levels, online solution sharing, and a lot of replayability.

Later this year, the game will come out on the Oculus Rift with the Oculus Touch. Version 1.0 focuses on room-scale with a minimum play area of 2 meters by 1.5 meters, but later modes will allow for standing or seated play. You have to love unstructured play if this is going to work for you. I found it difficult to get started. But the contraptions built by those who have played the demos look pretty cool.

I found it more fun to play Skeet: VR Target Shooting, a shooting game that runs at a frenetic pace. You pump your shotgun with the left control and fire with the right at skeet targets. This is one of those games that makes you sweaty, and I like those kinds of experiences. But I don’t think I would pay much for this. Audioshield is also a lot of fun, except you’re blocking little colored balls that come at you. You block the blue balls with a blue shield, and red balls with a red shield. When they come at you fast, you have to block with the left and right shields really fast. And that also makes you sweat. It’s fun, and it’s particularly entertaining to play in a group setting. But like I said. You aren’t likely to pay much for party experiences.

I’m still waiting for something really compelling to show up on the Vive.

Conclusion

Dean Takahashi plays with the HTC Vive Pre VR headset.

Above: Dean Takahashi plays with the HTC Vive Pre VR headset.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat

I’ve noticed a few pain points of VR as it exists today. It’s going to be decades before we get perfect VR, which resembles a Star Trek Holodeck experience. But it’s already easy to see what we’ll need in the next generation of VR.

I’d love to see a version of the Vive without a big triple-wire coming out of it. Wireless technology would make the base stations much less painful to set up. The touch controls are awesome, but you can only really pretend to use one or two fingers. What if, as with Leap Motion’s technology, you could use all 10 fingers?

Eye-tracking technology would also be a natural fit for VR. And the VR headsets should be able to convert to augmented reality, where you layer animations on top of the real world. But we’re not there yet, and the HTC Vive is a very good step into the era of virtual reality. It needs more content, particularly from Valve. Hopefully, it will materialize and give us all something to do in this brave new world.


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04 Apr 19:01

Panama Papers reveal the tax-avoidance strategies of David Cameron's father

by Cory Doctorow
Nick Garner

Guess what, guys! Everything is still a nightmare!

David_Cameron_and_Vladimir_Putin_10_May_2013

The fact that Ian Cameron -- father of UK Prime Minister David Cameron -- ran a firm called "Blairmore Holdings" that rich Britons used to move their assets offshore and out of reach of UK taxation is no secret. (more…)

17 Mar 18:40

Captured: a book of prison inmate drawings of CEOs and other too-big-to-jail criminals

by Cory Doctorow
Nick Garner

Niiiiiightmaaaaare peeeeeooople.

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Jeff Greenspan and Andrew Tider are two artists who spent more than a year working with prisoners to identify CEOs who presided over terrible crimes without any personal penalties, and paired convicts with CEOs, commissioning portraits of the rich people whose impunity protected them from the inmates' fate. (more…)

16 Mar 13:02

Hearthstone’s Whispers of the Old Gods expansion is all about engagement in a $1.2B market

by Jason Wilson
Nick Garner

I've been off Hearthstone for two weeks or so now (Thanks very much, Swifty and Puzzle and Dragon), but I super love the flavor of the Beckoner and Elder cards. Goddamn cultists. This is revving me up for some dang old Arkham Horror.

Whispers of the Old Gods is the new, kinda creepy Hearthstone expansion.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is about to get an injection of new cards … and tentacles.

Lots of tentacles.

Whispers of the Old Gods is the collectible card game’s third expansion, Blizzard Entertainment revealed today, and players should get their dances with the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired devils toward the end of April or the beginning of May. It’s just one of a series of major updates coming to Hearthstone, the market leader in the $1.2 billion digital card game market (according to market research SuperData), as it prepares for the biggest changes in its two-year history: the launch of the new Standard and Wild formats — which are hitting at the same time as this 134-card expansion.

A patch next week adds more deck slots (doubling from 9 to 18) and Deck Recipes. Players have been asking for additional room to store decks throughout Hearthstone’s life, and the new Deck Recipes will help beginning players (or those that just need some guidance) build decks around either the base set of cards or specific themes. Both of these are tactics that Blizzard is employing to improve engagement and retention in a game that’s made $500 million, according to an estimate from SuperData.

Hearthstone gets darker (well, as dark as a game about two people playing cards in a made-up tavern in a made-up world can get) with Whispers of the Old Gods, and like with the recent League of Explorers adventure, the designers get to tell a story that doesn’t come from a raid or event in World of Warcraft. These beings have immense power, having enslaved Ragnaros and the other Elemental Lords, created the arachnid Nerubians, and hell, they even corrupted a mighty dragon, turning it into Deathwing, one of most destructive powers in Azeroth.

And its in that corruption, the twisting of the natural order, that these beings have their power.

“They’ve been affecting Hearthstone for a long time,” said senior game designer Ben Brode. “Their control is influence, slowly corrupting things around them.”

The expansion has been in the works for about a year, though the Old Gods has been an idea that’s been bandied about since Hearthstone’s earliest development. It doesn’t contain any new keywords, such as the Discover or Inspire mechanics, nor does it have new tribes to join Murlocs, Mechs, and the others in the game. The set will appear in the Arena mode as well after it debuts.

"My dream ends — your nightmare begins."

Above: “My dream ends — your nightmare begins.”

Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

Their influence is even being felt in how Blizzard is introducing this set. The corruption of the Old Gods is bursting out of Hearthstone store. With this set, Blizzard is giving away a legendary — C’Thun, a bulbous being of eyes and tentacles, and two copies of one of its cultists, the Beckoner of Evil. Players who log into Hearthstone during a special promo period receive three free Whispers card packs.

What’s interesting about this set, at least with the cards we saw, is how the cultists work with the Old Gods. C’Thun’s followers all boost his strength and health, even if it’s not on the board and in your hand or your deck. An image of C’Thun pops out from the left side of the screen, and you can see him getting stronger. And when he hits the board, he sends out purple shots of doom, one for as many attack he has, to all your minions and your character.

The ancient evil is bad news, indeed.

C’Thun and his gang

The many eyed-and-tentacled one himself is a 6 attack, 6 health minion that costs 10 mana. But he’ll rarely appear at that power level, for his servants, the Beckoner of Evil and the Twilight Elder, work together to make him stronger. Their faith in his power boosts his attack and health, reaching some ridiculous levels. In an interview later in the day, senior designer Mike Donais went over one scenario that happened in playtesting where C’thun got to 30/30, and when he came onto the board, it dealt out 60 damage because Brann Bronzebeard, which duplicates your card’s Battlecries, was also in play.

 

Beckoner of Evil and Twlight Elder

Above: The Cult of Extraordinary Icky Evil.

Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

 

The Beckoner of Evil is a 2 attack, 3 health minion for 2 mana, and she gives C’thun an immediate +2/+2 boost no matter where he is. Her accomplice is the Twilight Elder, who at a well-costed 3 attack and 4 health for 3 mana gives the Old God a +1/+1 buff at the end of the player’s turn. These cards can quickly steamroll the effect, especially when a someone plays two Beckoners before Turn 3.

During a presentation Wednesday at Blizzard’s campus in Irvine, California, Brode and senior game producer Yong Woo shared their excitement about these cultists.

“They’re not slowly corrupted — they’re all-in,” Woo said. “They make C’thun more powerful wherever played — see it happens, gruesome tentacle-y portal opens, getting more powerful. Sixteen cards that interact with C’thun one or more ways — really excited to have a card like C’thun.”

Old friends … corrupted forms

C’thun and his merry band of elder evils have spread their special form of love to other minions in Hearthstone. Blizzard showed off three other neutral minions who bore the taint of the Old Gods, and each take an existing card and change it.

Meet the Polluted Hoarder. This gnome was just greedy before, trying to grab loot he had no right to take, but now, he’s found a nasty surprise in a chest that should contain gold and jewels.

"Mine, all mine!"

Above: “Mine, all mine!”

Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

 

He’s not just evil-looking and toting around a box oozing tentacles — at 4 attack and 2 health for 4 mana, he’s twice as strong as the existing Loot Hoarder, a member of the Classic set (making him a permanent part of Standard). His Deathrattle, draw a card, remains unchanged.

“It’s a way to see the influence of the old gods working. Everything is twice as big — two times attack, two times health,” Woo said. “Twisting it makes a bizarro version — Wario to Mario.”

The Corrupted Healbot twists the Antique Healbot, which heals you for 8 health when you play it. Now, this 6 attack, 6 health minion has a Deathrattle — healing your foe for 8 health when it’s destroyed. This evil-twin version, as Woo called it, still costs 5 mana, and it fills the role of Zombie Chow from the non-Standard Curse of Naxxramas set as a powerful minion with a hefty drawback.

Watch for those syringe guns!

Above: Watch for those syringe guns!

Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

 

 But it’s only a drawback if you have a limited imagination.

“I love looking at cards and thinking of ways to turn downside into a tactical advantage — play with Auchenai (Soulpriest, a Priest card that turns healing effects into damage), for example,” Woo said as Brode marveled at this dual-syringe guns and pointed out the tentacle-like appendages coming out of the bot’s back.

The next minion is getting his “I told you so” moment.

“One minion’s been calling it, been telling you so,” said Brode as he showed the Validated Doomsayer. The whispers of C’thun and his brethren had the Doomsayer predicting the end of the world, and when this 0 attack, 7 mana minion was played, he would wipe the board at the start of your next turn. He’s now 5 mana, and if he survives one turn after you play him, his attack grows to 7. He’s the same mechanic — surviving one turn — but with a twist, just like other minions in the set.

Told ya so!

Above: Told ya so!

Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment

Oh, and he’s quite happy now, too.

“He had a self-fulfilling prophecy before — now it’s his time to party,” Woo said. “He’s now happy.”

What about the other Old Gods?

The other elder evils of Azeroth are Y’Shaarj, Yogg-Saron, and N’Zoth, but for this presentation, Brode and Woo didn’t talk about them. Later interviews with other members of Team 5, Blizzard’s Hearthstone development squad, were mum about the other cards we could expect from this trio. C’thun is among 16 cards that interact with his camp, and the Hearthstone designers didn’t say if the other Old Gods would get the same amount of complementary cards.

Donais did note that Paladin would get a card (or cards) that are like “a cleanser,” fitting the theme of a good and godly warrior combating the risen evil. Warlock would get dark cards, since corruption fits the class’s theme as well.

With previous expansions, Blizzard offered a preview for players to tinker with before the set debuted. For Goblins vs. Gnomes, cards appeared in Arena for drafting into a deck, and for The Grand Tournament, a Tavern Brawl (a more casual mode with a new challenge that appears each week) showed off some cards. Woo didn’t commit to anything like this happening for Whispers of the Old Gods.

“We like trying new things to introduce a set to new players,” Woo said. “This time around, there’s a lot happening.”

But they did note that when the patch goes live Monday, players will be able to buy 50 Whispers of the Old Gods packs for $50, bagging a special C’thun-themed cardback for ordering before the cards are available to play. This cardback is also the first with an animation — the eyes move.

It’s like the cards have been watching you all along … just like the Old Gods have been eyeing Azeroth.

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15 Mar 18:27

Google pilots Hands Free payment app that lets you pay using your face or by saying your initials

by Paul Sawers
Nick Garner

In an unrelated story Android device Battery Life has been increased by -76%

Google Hands Free

Google is still in the process of bringing Android Pay to merchants around the U.S., but the Internet giant is now extending a new pilot project that will let you sidestep the need to “tap and pay” with any physical contraption.

Available now for Android and iOS, Hands Free was first teased last May, though no launch details were given for the service. Now, however, Google is inviting South Bay (near San Francisco) residents to take part in the early-stage program, though it will only be open to a “small number” of local eateries, including McDonald’s and Papa John’s.

Once you’ve installed the app and completed your profile, Hands Free uses a mixture of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and location-based services on your phone to establish whether you’re in close proximity to a participating outlet. When you go to pay, you tell the cashier that you’ll pay with Google, give them your initials, and the cashier then verifies that you are who you say you are by looking at the photo on your Hands Free profile.

In some stores, Google said that it’s doing away with the need to use your initials altogether — a carefully positioned camera will scan your face and match it against your profile to authenticate and process the transaction.

With companies such as Google, Apple, and Samsung all fighting for their share of the lucrative mobile payments pie, we’re already seeing significant steps toward a true friction-free shopping experience. Cash has been becoming obsolete for some time already, with contactless cards and more recently mobile phones stepping up to replace paper and coins.

But what Google is doing now is seeing how far it can push the boat out — why the need to swipe or tap at all? “Imagine if you could rush through a drive-thru without reaching for your wallet, or pick up a hot dog at the ballpark without fumbling to pass coins or your credit card to the cashier,” said Pali Bhat, senior director, product management at Google, in a blog post.

It’s still early days, but Hands Free gives a glimpse into the future of commerce. But it will also raise some privacy concerns, given that Google and retailers will be scanning customers’ faces in some locations, although Google is quick to point out that the images are deleted “immediately.”










12 Mar 07:11

The Latest News About Hitler's Cock

Nick Garner

Stupid Hitler and his tiny Drumpf dick.

Achewood strip for Friday, March 4, 2016
02 Mar 05:24

Meat dog dislikes mechanical dog

by Mark Frauenfelder
Nick Garner

Shared for 'the uncanny uncanine valley' in which we all now reside.

2kG8RM

From Steve Jurvetson's YouTube channel: "The robot's lifelike movement catches the attention of a real dog. The uncanny uncanine valley. This is the latest quadruped robot from Google's Boston Dynamics group, and the only one outside of the military."

01 Mar 16:53

Clarence Thomas stuns courtroom by asking his first question in a decade

by Mark Frauenfelder
Nick Garner

Mike Terry, I heard ya bro got chatty on the bench today.

thomas

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is famous for rarely speaking in court. In fact, he hasn't asked a single question in ten years. But he broke his silence this morning on a case about domestic violence convictions and gun rights. He directed his question toward, Ilana H. Eisentein, a lawyer for the federal government:

“Ms. Eisenstein, one question. This is a misdemeanor violation. It suspends a constitutional right. Can you give me another area where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right?”

The New York Times says Thomas doesn't speak often because he was teased about the way he talked growing up:

He has offered shifting reasons for his 10 years of silence. In his 2007 memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son,” he wrote that he had never asked questions in college or law school and that he had been intimidated by some of his fellow students.

He has also said he is self-conscious about the way he speaks, partly because he had been teased about the dialect he grew up speaking in rural Georgia.

In Monday’s second argument, on judicial recusals, Justice Thomas was again quiet.

01 Mar 06:34

Catholic priest 'caught snorting cocaine in Nazi room'

by Xeni Jardin

Image: SUN

Here's a report about a Catholic priest said to have been found snorting cocaine in a room adorned with Nazi symbols. In other words, another Monday on the internet.

(more…)

24 Feb 16:31

Video: watchmaker services a 234-component Omega wristwatch

by Mark Frauenfelder
Nick Garner

Shared for this Jay Duplass lookin' motherfucker cleaning your watch.

watch

It's always fun to watch a master craftsperson at work. In this case, we get to observe a watchmaker named Harry service a Omega Speedmaster Professional, which has 234 parts, and costs $3,444 on Amazon.

Consider there are significantly more old watches that need service each year than there are new watches that need to be made, and yet the Swiss invest so significantly into watchmakers for creation and yet barely consider after-sales service. In this video, we head up to Manfredi Jewels in Greenwich, CT, to talk about this, and see why now more than ever we need qualified repairmen via a detailed look at servicing one of the most iconic timepieces in history – the Omega Speedmaster Professional. For the full story, go to Hodinkee.

Several years ago, when I was editor-in-chief of MAKE, I had the delightful inventor Tim Hunkin write an article about learning to be an amateur watch maker. You can read the article on his blog.

22 Feb 21:36

Odin's Raven – A well-loved card-based racing game gets a swanky upgrade

by Gareth Branwyn
Nick Garner

A camp friend had a copy of Odin's Ravens and swore by it, board game friends, have you guys tried it?

tumblr_o2en6mhZzw1u9pcmwo1_1280

See more photos at Wink Fun.

Odin’s Ravens is a gorgeous, quick, and easy-to-play card game for two players. The story behind the race at the heart of the game is simple: The Norse god Odin has two ravens, Huginn and Muninn. Every morning, he sends them out to circle the world and report back on what they see. The ravens have turned the daily ritual into a competition, as they race around Midgard to see who can return to Odin first. To win, neither of them are beyond calling on Loki, the trickster god, to thwart the journey of the other.

I absolutely love the production on this new edition of Odin’s Ravens, from the sturdy, very tome-like clamshell box, to the vivid and handsomely designed cards, to the two wooden ravens that serve as the playing pieces. Since the game itself is rather simple, it was smart of Osprey to up the aesthetic impact of the game. These two elements, ease-of-play and pleasing components, coupled with the mythological gloss of the backstory all combine to create a very satisfying gaming experience.

Odin’s Ravens is played out on a racing track of land cards. Each card depicts two different land types (mountains, forests, plains, desert, frozen northlands). Each raven starts on one of the two land tracks depicted on the two-part cards and races through all of the domains to arrive back at the beginning. Players have a deck of cards depicting the five different domains and must show a matching card from their hand that depicts the next land type they want to move onto. If the active player does not have a matching card, s/he can play two cards of the same land type instead and still move forward. If the player totally gets stuck, she can spend a Loki card (if she has one) from her hand. Each Loki card shows two available options for monkeying with the land track to make it work for you or make it harder for that clearly inferior other raven to make it back to Odin. The first raven who flies over all of the land and returns to Odin’s arm first is clearly the superior raven.

Osprey Publishing has recently been venturing into the realm of board, card, and role-playing games with some very cool and somewhat offbeat offerings. This edition of Odin’s Revenge is a refinement of a game that’s been around since 2002. Besides redoing all of the art and upping the ante on the production values, they’ve also streamlined the rules to make the game faster, less cumbersome, and I suspect, to widen its appeal. This is the perfect kind of game to play with the family, for a quickie, or to play something fun with people who don’t normally game.

Odin's Raven
by Osprey Games
Ages 8 and up, 2 players, 30 minutes
$20 Buy a copy on Amazon

22 Feb 20:40

Donald Trump's animated head pasted on various Game of Thrones assholes

by Mark Frauenfelder
Nick Garner

Whelp this is a goddamn delight.

gJxZLD

Huw Parkinson created this short film, entitled "Winter is Trumping."

16 Feb 16:07

Hunger is a mood: the psychology of weight loss and self-control

by Cory Doctorow
Nick Garner

I just read through the whole linked article here after putting it off for weeks and it was a fascinating read. The basic takeaway is that if you eat the 'right' stuff your hunger does a way better job of self regulating and you don't even have to count calories.

2343649298_f04a240c01_o

Michael Graziano, a psychologist, lost 50 lbs in 8 months by experimenting on himself to see how different dietary choices affected his feelings of hunger, reasoning that the major predictor of weight control isn't calories consumed versus calories burned -- but the extent to which your unconscious mind exerts pressure on you to eat more and exercise less. (more…)

16 Feb 15:27

John Oliver on states' voter ID laws

by Cory Doctorow
Nick Garner

Oh my sweet lord, I have _missed_ this show.

animation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHFOwlMCdto

John Oliver hosts his first show of the new season -- and his first-ever election-season episode -- and as you might expect, it's amazing. (more…)

20 Jan 21:16

Ray Goes Paleo

Nick Garner

We're all having fun at our houses with our ugly nuts, right?

Achewood strip for Friday, January 15, 2016
08 Jan 19:17

Taxidermy "gooseneck" lamp

by Cory Doctorow
Nick Garner

I love this lamp! (I don't want this lamp in my home!)

_MG_7565

Sculptor Sebastian ErraZuriz rescued a damaged stuffed goose from a taxidermy museum's trash and turned it into a "gooseneck" lamp.

Rescued from the trashcan of an old taxidermy museum, the taxidermy bird with a broken neck get’s given a new life as and reconstructed to become an iconic classic. The Duck Lamp by New York based artist and designer Sebastian ErraZuriz is an eerie, yet funny and beautiful object that explores the borders between sculptural and functional of both art and design.

DUCK LAMP II [Sebastian ErraZuriz]

(via Neatorama)

26 Dec 06:29

Hark, A Vagrant: American Manners




buy this print!

Just a little one, from my trusty book of manners. I don't know about Americans, but I love puttin' my feet up! I won't do it on your kitchen table though.

Well I have had a very busy year. I finished two books, and published two books, and toured them with four different publishers. I'm writing to you now from my new Nova Scotia home, where I moved to at the end of December. Farewell Toronto! I will miss all my lovely comics friends. If you go to Toronto, be sure to take in The Beguiling comic store, or the Toronto Comic Art Festival (TCAF) in May.

Again, I have everyone here to thank for my books coming off of any bookstore shelf in the first place. Thank you for sticking with me, and my work, all this time. Here's a cheers, to many more years together. *Clink!* (that was two wine glasses)

xoxo

kate
26 Dec 03:48

Back in the silk saddle!

by me
Nick Garner

Well well well, ain't this portent of a very happy 2016?

Daaang, you ain't too bad at fillin' out some briefs, Ray Smuckles—

Oh! Hey there! Merry Christmas! Caught me in my reverie, you know? For those of you unfamiliar with my reverie—which is hopefully all of you— that's when I do the full-length in the morning and check my complete regalement before I step out for the day. Brushed, shined, tucked and peaked. Brushed, shined, tucked, and peaked. Don't know what peaked means? Check out a photo of me. That's peaked. I'm always peakin'. 

Oh dang, there's the phone. It's gotta be Roast Beef. Hey, Roast Beef! (I'm gonna take this call. He probably wants to know when he can drop off my portion of Christmas moussaka. Damn does he do it up creamy and lamby, and I KNOW he smokes that eggplant all gentle, subtle, American Greek boy makin' moussaka his own, dig.)

(It was actually Pat, reminding me not to park across the sidewalk when I drop off his present this year. Reminds me, I got to get him a present. Hm. What do you get for a ass hole? Answer that. I need help. Every year. Set your calendar. Don't say toilet paper. Tried that once. He didn't get it, and said he didn't use the kind I got anyway cause of bleach or whatever. If you ask me, Pat's like the one dude ever who needs an anal bleaching...of the soul.)

Hey, I'm back. Now I'm sittin' here with a tusky mochacchino, blissed on a Razzberry jammer scone and slice of chive and ham frittata, finally writin' this blog again after a few little while.* Sharp chilled strained OJ and still Perrier at the side. Don't do bubbles in the morning. Bad for the lining.

Phew. Whew. Here goes. 

So at first I was like, how do I tell my story of where I been? I feel like I should relate all that has passed, since much people got their hay up askin'. Problem is, it was all big and heavy and shit and every time I wanted to write it out and get it all off my chest like my therapist said to—be all honest and dispel my tensions and move on and all that—I felt bad about draggin' everybody down. Couldn't do it. Too much to relate, and all of it too pity-party soundin'. It ain't Smuckles to crybaby on stage. So I was stuck not sayin' anything, and you were stuck not readin' my blog. It was hopeless for us all. A vacuum. I left the world blogless, and without form, and darkness was on the face of my MacBook Pro.

Then a miracle happened. Stone cold. Completely unexpected, like all the most classic miracles.

The miracle was that I saw a YouTube interview with my boy Dicky Valentine. (You know Dicky, right? Lead singer of Electric Six? They do that Down At The Gay Bar song? Best band ever, probably, and that song is up there with The Star Spangled Banner and Fuck Tha Police**. Love those guys, love me that Dicky Valentine.) Anyhow. I was lookin' at a YouTube interview with him (he even had a Santa hat on! True story!) and he was all like, "I don't know what I'm singin' about most the time. I'm just havin' fun." And you know what? I heard him say that, and I was like, that's me! I ain't a main dude of suck times. I'm just bein' Ray to have fun, you know? If you want to read some tear-jerker of a blog about a dude who almost died and lost it all and had to learn how to walk again and tell people he didn't remember what they did together in recent years, and eat all his pride on dry grain toast, well, google most of that sentence. It ain't gonna lead you to this blog. 

What am I talkin' about with all these bad-times references? Okay, real brief. As you may remember, I basically keeled over dead when I tried to quit boozin'. Disappeared blank from my own mind a couple weeks, then went all inpatient for a good long while, then hit the road and met some characters. MANY characters. I'll get to those stories here, 'cause they fun some of 'em (except Altimeter Tim, that guy was just goddamned brain dead from bein' on acid and weed his whole life, and I have NO idea how he paid for that little apartment of his, or any of those dumb Japanese figurines that were always showin' up in the mail). But not today. Today's about movin' on, bein' in the present, and bein' damn happy that of all the molecules in all the gin joints in all the infinite universe, I got a set to call my own. (They teach you how to think this way at inpatient, minus gin references.) I'm seein' the silver lining of everything, and I'm thinkin' of havin' a signature coat made this way besides. Could be a thing, like how Prince wears purple, or Donatella Versace looks like she could eat Hell and shit raisins. 

So this is me breakin' the silence. I hope you ain't been worried. I'm off the trouble shrub now, and stayin' that way. When you were on the donk 24/7/365/20+, you don't get to go back, or it's curtains. Yellin' and cryin' at bus stops, filth in the hair, huge Reeboks popped from shufflin'. Ain't judgin, just sayin'. I get all blissed on some early wake-ups now, or fine red chili and a handshake down at Curtis Smallfield's, or even just installin' a Hollywood smoke cannon where the tailpipe on a Tesla would be and drivin' around while the boys GoPro that action and we do up kind of a viral thing with a four-figure targeted social media ad spend and closed-loop ROI tracking. Group trip to Cabo with the proceeds. The simple things.    

Okay, I'm off to do some last minute Christmas stuff. Thaddeus gonna just puddin' up my hair today, for the group photos I'm havin' done tonight, and I'ma treat myself to a sick Purple Label black cashmere turtleneck I had my eye on down at the Hidden Hills Ralph. It's gonna look ill as the devil on film with my Bally camel hair 2-button. 

Merry Christmas, one more time! 

-=RAY=-


* Seven years

** If anyone ever needs to remind me who I am—like if I get hit on the head real bad—I just need these three songs on a mix, and a glass of (still) water.
09 Dec 08:25

Undercover Greenpeace activists buy off corrupt academics in a climate science sting

by Xeni Jardin
Nick Garner

Speaking of 'barf barf barf barf', here's this little chunky dump...

L-R: Dr. Will Happer, Dr. Richard Lindzen, Dr. Patrick Moore.

The environmental activism group Greenpeace today disclosed that it led an undercover investigation to expose how easy it is for big oil, gas, or coal companies to pay academics at leading U.S. universities to write research that sheds doubt on climate science, and promotes the commercial interests of the fossil fuel industry.

(more…)

16 Nov 05:49

This Is How You'll Fall In Love Day!

Nick Garner

Oh my sweet lord do I love this.

A bank representative will come to your house and tell you it’s not your house anymore, it’s the bank’s. Your husband will die of a heart attack on the spot. The bank representative will help you try and resuscitate him, but it won’t be any use.

At the funeral, the bank representative will stand by a tree and watch. You’ll go to him, with the same flush of giddiness you felt when you first saw him standing on your porch.

“You felt it too,” you’ll say.

“When we were performing CPR,” he’ll say. “I knew your husband was gone. But I kept performing mouth to mouth. Knowing that his lips had probably recently touched yours, I couldn’t resist putting my mouth to his again and again and again.”

“I thought you were hogging him,” you’ll say with a giggle. “But you were wrong. His lips hadn’t touched mine for quite some time.”

He takes you home because you need a roof over your head and you live the rest of your years together. On your death bed you’ll say to him, “Thank God my dead husband never paid his bills and ruined his heart with fatty foods.”

“Thank God my bank had a no mercy attitude to delinquent borrowers,” he’ll answer.

He kisses you, with the same hungry kiss he gave to your husband when he searched his mouth for a lingering taste of yours. He kisses you to keep you from opening your mouth and saying goodbye.

Happy This Is How You’ll Fall In Love Day!

27 Oct 00:41

Music: "Eye of the Tiger," Survivor (1982)

by Jason Weisberger

Face to face, out in the heat! Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry!

26 Aug 22:04

🎶 Do you wanna jam 🎶 Do you wanna bodyslam 🎶

by nobody@flickr.com (party cat)
Nick Garner

Swifty! What is going on here? Walk me through this!

party cat posted a photo:

🎶 Do you wanna jam 🎶 Do you wanna bodyslam 🎶

18 Aug 05:39

Seven hours of road-trip lip-synching

by Cory Doctorow
Nick Garner

Worth. The. Trip.

White Rhino entertained his sister on a seven-hour road-trip with some damned fine lip-synching to tunes ranging from the Spice Girls to Enya to Daddy Yankee to Keyshia Cole. (more…)

13 Aug 19:51

Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker now selling buckets of potato soup on TV

by Mark Frauenfelder

Jim Bakker, the smarmy, sex-scandal embroiled, 1980s TV evangelist fraudster and ex-con who fleeced his followers for decades with his then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker, has a new gig: selling "creamy potato soup bulk buckets" to end-times preppers for $160.

Read the rest
13 Aug 17:32

Larry Lessig considers running for the Democratic presidential nomination

by Cory Doctorow
Nick Garner

#1 supporter of "Lawrence Lessig's ideas on ending corruption for president".

He'll be a "referendum candidate": if elected, he'll immediately pass campaign-finance reform, then resign. Read the rest

09 Jun 06:42

Bracket

Nick Garner

Guys, we've got one hell of a show for you, Louis Armstrong is in the house tonight!

I'm staring at the "doctor" section, and I can't help but feel like I've forgotten someone.
09 Jun 06:41

30p26

by Christopher Hastings

30p26

30p26 is a post from: The Adventures of Dr. McNinja Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad could be here, right now.

30p26 is a post from: The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad could be here, right now.
09 Jun 06:40

A Softer World: 1237

Nick Garner

Finally, 1237 comics in, we finally meet this strip's main character.


buy this comic as a print!
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If you enjoy the comic, please consider supporting A Softer World on Patreon
04 Jun 20:17

Gentleman, possibly inebriated, loses his carbonated beverage

by Mark Frauenfelder
Nick Garner

Oh my sweet sweet lord. Please don't ever let... oh no... god exists.

Comedic brilliance. Laurel and Hardy couldn't have done it better.

[via]

22 May 21:54

Spirited Away is still so lovely as an old Nintendo game

by Laura Hudson
Nick Garner

Oh my sweet shit this is so good.

This 8-bit tribute to the greatest Studio Ghibli movie transforms the magic of Miyazaki into pixels. Read the rest