The Arrested Development of G4 continues...

Hey,

According to a post from a very good TV blog known as TV Squad, Arrested Development, one of the best TV shows to air in the past 2 decades, will be rerun on G4.

I can't believe it.

This is in line with G4 wanting to become a Spike TV/MTV/X-Play Hybrid (it has less to do with video games every day) but it just amazes me. I hate G4 for any number of reasons, as displayed in a post made a little under a year ago on this blog. Basically it's because they gobbled up and shat out what was a wonderful TV network, TechTV, and then became less and less relevant. But I will watch Arrested Development on G4, if nothing else to boost it's ratings, and maybe, just maybe, put it back on the air. It worked for Family Guy and Futurama, so why not an infinitely better show? And yet, I am repulsed, saddened, and distraught over any mention of G4. And it's not like I really NEED to watch the show, as I own the first 2 seasons on DVD, and plan to acquire the 3rd ASAP. But I will, cause I love it that much...

Why does it have to come to this. Why must G4 take something else I desperately love? WHY!!!!!!!!!!!

-Pudge

Don't Touch That Dial er... Mouse, or The Internet TV Revolution

Hey,

Has it already been a month since my last post? Shit, that's way too long. Oh well, with all the finals and stuff I had, I guess you faceless readers could forgive me. Although I don't really care, but if it makes you think it makes me feel better... OK, that's just weird, lets move on.

I would have posted the first day of summer, but the Saturday after school was over, I FINALLY got my Xbox 360. I've been toying around with it over the last week, but now I'm finally ready to start posting again. I've recently been exploring the different broadband offerings on TV station websites. These digital channels offer a wide range of material, from small clips from popular shows, to full blown streaming episodes, all at no cost to you. What I have compiled here is a TV Guide for the Internet, a list of every Broadband TV offering I can find. I will update this list if I find any more, but this is the stuff I have found so far.

TurboNick
http://www.nick.com/turbonick/index.jhtml
TurboNick is an interesting offering. It shows 1-2 streaming episodes of most of the current teen dramas and cartoons airing on Nickolodeon, as well as much better episodes from such classics as AHHH Real Monsters!, Ren and Stimpy, and even Invader ZIM. I highly recommend this relatively new service, as there are sure to be more shows added in the future, and if you haven't seen some of the old Nick stuff in a while, it's most certainly worth it.

VSpot from VH1
www.vh1.com
This website is impressive. The VSpot service gives you access to original programming, interaction with VH1, as well as movie trailers and music videos. They are also running an expansive Internet Radio service, and a Flash Games site with such arcade classics as Rampage and Defender represented in official Midway versions. The VSpot isn't that great onto itself, but with the extra radio and game content, it is surly worth checking out.
BTW, if you enjoy Best Week Ever (and if you read this blog, you should) they also run a Best Week Ever Video Podcast out of ITunes. This podcast gives you reviews of everything worth watching on TV and full episodes of Best Week Ever. Good stuff.

Adult Swim Fix
http://www.adultswim.com/adultswimfix/index.jsp
This small site offers streaming downloads of old Adult Swim shows that are rerunning in the block, as well as past failures (the latest being Paranoia Agent). They also offer the premiere episodes for that weekend all week long, meaning you could check out the new episodes whenever you want. Another really good site if you're looking for real good content, as there is always a good ATHF or Sealab episode up.

SciFi Pulse
http://www.scifi.com/pulse/
This site was being blocked by my pop-up blocker, so yeah I feel stupid. Anyway, it's mostly cast interviews and other stuff that's not very intersting. However, there is one clip worth seeing. The Amazing Screw On Head. From the creator of Hellboy comes a great pilot that could become a show, so be sure to vote for it!

Toonami Jetstream
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/toonami/jetstream/index.html
This site is now officially active and has full length episodes from shows such as Prince of Tennis, Naruto, MAR, Megas XLR, and Samurai Jack. Any person who calls themselves an action cartoon fan should check this site out.

MTVOverdrive
www.mtvoverdrive.com
I can't believe I would say this, but MTV's broadband offering is one of the best I have discovered so far. Overdrive streams a wide range of video content, from a wide range of exclusive broadband shows, to full video streams of MTV Awards Shows and Headbangers Ball, to the easy stuff like exclusive interviews from current MTV program. The content is showcased with first a list of new content, and then an option to browse through an impressive archive of content organized by show title. I'm sure if I didn't hate MTV, I would love this service, but I am very impressed with the effort.

To Be Continued when I give a Damn...

I'm gonna go play with my Wii

Welcome to a new age of gaming. An age where you can use magic wands to control plumbers and bounty hunters. An age where game companies make movies about old Jappanese folk tales (Google it, it's true). An age where urine jokes are all the rage.

Welcome to Nintendo Wii




Serriously, I'm sad for NOA (Nintendo of America). This is obviously more for the Jappanese markets than American markets, but why not have two different names? The NES was the Famicom over there, its been done. The Revolution sounds SO much better, cooler, everything. It sounds like a gaming machine, not yellow liquid.

And I was just starting to look forward to buying a Revolution on my birthday...
-Pudge

The Death of a Dream, or DisneyQuest will be closed in 2 years

Hey,

Today is a bad day. Today, as I was surfing www.jimhillmedia.com, and I saw this article. Game Over:WDW's DisneyQuest to close in early 2008. I can't get over it.

For those out of the loop, DisneyQuest at WDW is one of Disney's many 90s experiments that was, to put it lightly, unsuccessful. It was supposed to be a chain of indoor, 5-story, virtual Theme Parks. Rides include CyberSpace Mountain, where you build your own coaster, and then ride it, and Pirates of the Carribean, where you are on a ship and you shoot physical cannons at 3-D Pirates Ships. This awesomeness was supplemented by an entire room filled with not only the latest of Arcade games, but the classics like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Galaga. Only 2 were built, and the Chicago location closed long ago. But the WDW location has always been crowded enough to sustain itself. Or at least, I thought it was.

I first went there in it's second year of operation, I think I was 8. I was fascinated by the 3-D, but I couldn't appreciate what it really was. Last summer (as mentioned in my Killtacular Tour), I went back there, and I was fascinated by the stuff I didn't see the first time. I always thought this massive arcade would last until I was a little older, but that dream was shattered today. Why wasn't I born in the 80s? Oh well...

I'm going to try to make several trips up to Disney Quest before it is closed to build yet another ESPN Zone. (sigh)...

Damn Franchises

-Yet another reason why the world sucks ass
Pudge

Pudgie Quickie: Do You See that WHITE LINE?

Hey,

This may be my post for the month, but it's a quick one.

A tip to beginning drivers... Check your blind spot.

Today, as I was switching lanes in my Purple Truck (The Pudgemobile TM), I almost ran over a motorcycle. Now, if it was just a guy on a motorcycle, this wouldn't really be a problem. However this was a police motorcycle, with a black policeman on it. I got a warning, but it was scary

Always check your blind spot!

Pudge's Websites of Choice Vol.1

Hey,

This is probably obvious to you, but I find myself spending a lot of time on the internet. Maybe this is because I do my homework on a Wi-Fi enabled laptop. Whatever the reason, there are many sites I find myself visiting regularly, and so I will give props to those websites that have my interest of late. I already spoke of Gamertag.com in the previous post, so just consider that the first site.

X-Entertainment
www.x-entertainment.com

In order to introduce this site, I'm gonna point you to one of my favorite articles on the site.
http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0712/
This article is a review of an old anti-drug movie given out by McDonalds. This may seem strange to you, and if it does you wouldn't like this website. You don't need to see the movie to appreciate the greatness and downright hilarity of this review.
Anyway, if you liked it, X-Entertainment is chock FULL of shit like this. Reviews of the latest media blitz for Star Wars or Shrek, forgotten 80s action figures, articles about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a yearly Christmas pageant staring a snowman, two renegade Stormtroopers, Mare Winningham and an Utrom waiter as the central villains. I sometimes spend days going through the archives of this site, laughing at the reviews of The Wizard (the NES commercial turned into a movie) or countless horror flicks. A true gem.

MiceAge
www.miceage.com
MiceAge is a photo blog run by Al Lutz, a devoted fan of the Disney theme parks. Each week, it goes over the happenings at the Happiest Places on Earth in intricate detail, which is great for me, as I am a devoted fan to all types of theme parks. Not amusement parks, as I don't really like roller coasters, but THEME parks, like Disney and Universal. Speaking of which...

IOACentral
www.ioacentral.com
This website is currently under construction, but it is one of the only photo journals for Universal that I can find. I am really more of a fan of the Universal resort than of Walt Disney World, but both of these sites give me a little dose of being in Orlando, as well as keeps me up with the news about the park. If I ever need to know anything about the other workings of Disney besides theme parks, I go to...

Jim Hill Media
www.jimhillmedia.com
This site is one of the best resources on the net for insider information on the goings on in the Mouse House. It also goes in depth into attractions that never got built at the theme parks. The site does go a little overboard with their judgments sometimes, but it is still a hoot too read about some of the stuff the imagineerss come up with.

Other good Disney sites-
www.mouseplanet.com
www.laughingplace.com

Vol. 2 will go into my video game sites, as well as some other random stuff.

-Happy Surfing
Pudge

Gamertag.com, or the best Xbox Live Community on the Net

Hey,

I've been having chronic headaches, as well as stomach problems (to say the least), which has been seriously delaying any work on this blog. I have several articles up my sleeve, and I hope they'll be up by the end of the month, if not sooner. I however thought that I might as well post up something to keep the hungry, yet anonymous, legions of Pudge fans satisfied. So here is a short little post about one of my favorite websites.

Gamertag.com is a community of XBL gamers who are tired of the constant Halo 2 action. They believe that there is more to Xbox than just Halo. To spur play of different games, they organize Community Gaming Nights for games you might not expect. Some of the more usual games they play are...

MechAssault 1&2
Crimson Skies
Ghost Recon in all it's forms
Unreal Championship 1&2
Far Cry (Every Friday)
As well as various 360 Titles

They also encourage anyone to start a CGN once you've gone to a few, and as long as it supports plenty of players, any game is eligible. The forums are also updated fairly frequently. Basically, if anyone has XBL, they should be going to this website and playing!

-Cya at the CGNs!

Pudge

All creatures gain KEYWORD, or the Keywords that SHOULD be in Magic (UPDATED 2/11 with new Keywords)

Hey,

Just got back from the Guildpact release event, got my Holo Gruul Guildmage, and it got me thinking. The current staff of MTG have done a lot of things right, introducing good playable sets, standardizing creature types, clarifying stuff like Trample and Protection, and adding a few new standard keywords like Fear and Vigilance. But I think they should take a page from the Richard Garfield playbook and make even more common abilities into standard keywords. Here are some of my nominees for the next new keyword in a basic set.

Firebreathing (R:This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn)
This ability has been used steadily since it's exception at the beginning of Magic on an Enchant Creature named Firebreathing. It doesn't seem that bad to have mana abilities as keywords, but if everyone knows what it does anyway, it shouldn't be that bad.

Shade (B:This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn)
Same reasons as above, although this ability hasn't been used as often as Firebreathing. This would mostly be a creature keyword like Bushido or the Moonfolk ability, but there have been enough shades to warrant the keyword.

Stampede (You may have this creature deal its combat damage to defending player as though it weren'’t blocked.)
I actually gave up on this becoming a recurrent ability since it was stated as being too powerful by several people on magicthegathering.com, but they used it on at least one Guildpact card, and that card gives it to all creatures. That card is more powerful then any other use of the ability and its uncommon. Hence they're gonna use it, and it should be keyworded.

Shroud X(Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, that player discards X cards.)
A general Specter ability, can be printed without the X, but with the X it fits more current cards. This is kind of a personal one, since my first deck was discard, and I still run it in some form.

Insticast X (You may play this card any time you could play an instant if you X.)
This has been put on creatures and sorceries for as long as I can remember. It's a very flexible ability, as X could be something other than mana, like tapping creatures and sacing stuff. There could also be no X for stuff like Mystic Snake

Retribution (Whenever this creature deals damage, you gain that much life.)
Mostly used on angels, and a fairly common ability, this is probably pretty high on the probability factor and will actually happen, although I made up the name.

Threaten (Untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature gains haste until end of turn.)
This ability is the biggest offender of a wordy, but common ability. This should definitely be keyworded. It would be strange at first, but the current card Threaten, as well as other cards that use the ability could just say "Threaten target creature" and that's that. It would work rather well.

Immunity (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities)
The name for the ability comes from the Aura that gives the ability, Diplomatic Immunity, this has been a Green/Blue ability for a while, and is mostly fine the way it is. But why not make it a keyword?

Web (This creature may block as though it has flying)
The spider ability since Alpha, I have no idea why this hasn't become a keyword yet. It's flavorful, has an Aura named after it (although it does more than just give the ability), and everyone knows what it does. Wouldn't be surprised if this would be introduced in one of the next few Core Sets.

Toxin (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a creature, tap that creature and it doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.)
A wordy ability used by the Kamigawa snakes, if it was keyworded back then, there could have been a more rich story for those snakes, as there are only a few of the Orrochi with flavor text because of this ability.

Venom (Whenever this creature attacks and isn‚’t blocked, defending player gets a poison counter.)
WOTC has been saying forever that Poison counters have been coming back to Magic soon, so what better way to ring it back in then to introduce a keyword for it? It would be awesome to see Crypt Cobra reprinted in 10th Edition with this ability.

Lure (All creatures able to block this creature do so.)
A nice keyword that has had an Aura since Alpha, there are only 11 cards that use the ability, but it is used so much just by Taunting Elf and Elvish Bard in Elf decks deserves to be keyworded.

Curiosity (Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.)
I didn't even know there was an Aura for this ability until I stumbled across it while looking up another card on Gatherer. Considering it has an Aura and several cards that use it, I use the logic used above and say it should be keyworded.

Rampage X (This creature gains +X/+X for each creature blocking it.)
I have always felt bad for Rampage. It is an awesome idea that is still used, but because it had a bad clause "beyond the first", they couldn't continue to use it. I say that they fix this error and make all the newer cards that use the ability have Rampage without the clause, and take it away from the older cards and give them the "beyond the first" ability without the keyword.

Attacker (This creature can't block)
Why not? If defender is an ability, why not the other end of the spectrum? It's only a matter of time, although I bet they can come up with a better name then that...

I also believe that some keywords from the past should be brought back for another block, or to become basic ones. Stuff like Provoke, Ninjitsu, Bushido, etc. could fit on a lot more cards and bring out new design space.

-May you pull a Firebird, Niv-Mizzet, or Ghost Council in your next pack of Guildpact
Pudge

Izzet, Gruul, Orzhov, or The Guilds of Guildpact

Hey,

My holday hangover lasted 16 days, so now you can expect the semi-frequent updates you expect from the #343 Procrastinator in the nation!!

Anyway, Guildpact previews just started their second week over at magicthegathering.com, so I've decided to create this article rating the three new guilds coming out based on what we know so far. I'm psyched for this set, as I believe that this is one of the best blocks to come out of WOTC (Wizards Of The Coast) so far, and I plan to have decks based on each guild by the end of the year. I also believe that a lot of the cards can work with older cards seemlessly, a fact that was sorely lacking in the past two blocks (Mirrodin and Kamigawa). Anyway, on to the guilds!

Izzet-This sure is an interesting idea, a modern attempt at basically creatureless decks. From what I can tell, apart from the 2 Guild Legends and the Guildmage, an Izzet deck needs no other creatures. It is based entirely in Sorceries and Instants, and the Izzet Keyword works well to that effect. Replicate is an ability which allows you to pay for as many copies of the spell as you want, sometimes at less cost then the original mana cost. This will bring up interesting decks that will only need 1-2 copies of a vital spell in a small deck, and I will guess that Izzet will need a higher mana base that most guilds as well, because of the focus on instants and the costly keyword. I am interested, as this could be a hit or miss guild like Dimir (which turned out ok in the end, but Transmute seemed like it did nothing to help the guild deck your opponent, and I think I've used it maybe once in my life!).

Gruul-Now this is more my line of thinking. Red/Green BIG creature beatdown. This is probably one of my fave concepts yet, as I already run a R/G Beast Tribal Deck, so if their is enough support, I might just be able to fuse this deck with my other one. The concept is pretty straightforward, so not much has been revealed from this guild yet, but what has been looks great. Their keyword is Bloodthirst which is a creature ability that give X +1/+1 Counters to the creature as it comes into play, where X is the amount of damage delt to opposing players durring that turn. Finally, a use for Main Phase 2!! Serriously though, this is an interesting way to think of the turn, saving your heavy hitters for Main Phase 2, when Izzet and Orzhov have already played their creature destruction and/or counters for the turn and by the time it comes into play, it's too much of a beatstick to destroy without a lot of effort. Sounds like fun, I'll be playing this guild a lot, I can tell.

Orzhov-This guild is a weird concept, just like Boros from the last set. It's hard to see the concept without all the cards, and they have been focusing on it a lot durring the previews. The keyword for this guild is Haunt which is an ability that triggers when the Haunt card goes into the graveyard. The Haunt card is then removed from the game and then "haunts" a creature in play, and when the hauntee goes to the grave, you get the effect (or come-into-play ability for creatures)from the Haunt card again. This, combined with the awesome guild leader known as the Ghost Council makes this something to look for in the future. For now, I'll say that I look forward to playing the deck to see how it works, but I have high hopes.

That's it for now, and by the time you read this, the rest of the set will be revealed at www.magicthegathering.com, and if your like me, you'll be reading every card 5 times over. Too bad most of you aren't...

-May your next rare be awesome
Pudge