Pixlbit Nation how are you? It is Friday and I am ready to do nothing but take some pictures, and play some games, but I am currently waiting on a client to see if my latest creation is a go or no go. So while I am doing that I think its time to celebrate Friday with another edition of Quick Hits with Chris! So anything interesting happen to you folks this week? On my end I found out that Kool-Aid makes a Cherry Limeade flavor and that has quickly become my favorite drink. This weekend I’m thinking about visiting a neighboring town’s park to take some different pictures, and listen to the albums I added to the iPod. Anyways I think its time we get started with another edition of Quick Hits With Chris!

Chris Listens To…

Podcasts

I’ve been getting back into my routine of listening to podcasts regularly and I have them playing in the background when working. I am up to date with a couple of them and I’ve thrown in a new one here and there just to try something new. I stopped listening to certain ones because I felt it was more filler than actual content that I was interested in.

The current lineup is: The Tony Kornheiser Show, Adam Carolla Show, Ace on the House, Cheap Heat, Grantland Pop Culture, A Cast of Kings, Cagcast, Videogame Generations, Watch The Thrones, Bayside High and Drunk and Quiver: The Green Arrow Podcast

Juicyland Radio

So awhile back I started listening to Juicy M’s Juicyland Radio on Soundcloud. I would download the episodes and stick them on my phone or iPod but I stopped for some reason. Last week I started getting back into it and I downloaded all the episodes I’ve missed. I have a couple on my phone because while I’m walking around stores or other spots it provides upbeat Electronic/House music and a couple of the songs in the mix I actually purchased.

If you want to check it out, here is Juicy M's Soundcloud page, and I think she also podcasts this on iTunes

Phone Mix

Since I am using my phone more and more as a music player (its easier to do this than bring my iPod because for some reason the minute I get into something on my iPod my phone rings. It’s like the situation where the minute I put on headphones, people want to talk.) Since I bought the 16GB iPhone I am limited by a small amount of space so I have to be picky, so I’ve decided to change up the playlist of 200 songs on my phone every month. That way I don’t get tired of listening to the same old stuff.

Audiobooks

I haven’t listened to any this year but I did find my stash of audiobooks I bought from the .99 cent store awhile back that I never got around to ripping. They probably didn’t play nice with my old laptop, so I put them to the side and forgot about them. If I get around to it, I’ll rip them and add them to my iPod

Halestorm – Into The Wild Life

I saw this album at Target for something like $7 bucks and decided to give it a listen. I was going into it blind, but I’ve had some luck with some albums but this one I just didn’t like. I might have to not listen to it for a bit, and then go back.

While Typing This Entry

Diana Ross & The Supremes. It’s a double album on one CD. I think I can get through one of the albums before I finish

Chris Watches…

Daredevil

I’ve watched three episodes, and I like the story but there’s something about the lead that bugs me. The action is on par or at times better than Arrow, and I’m still at the point where we see the core group of characters and we are starting to see what brought them to this point. At one point where they started doing flashbacks I was a bit worried it was going to be a red version of Arrow and Ollie’s backstory.

Arrow

I keep saying how great the season finale is going to be, but I am worried that next week’s story will be a dip in momentum. Of course I’m judging this by the little promo for next week’s episode. While browsing the internets cough Reddit cough there’s gonna be something from the comics happening next week.

As for what is going to happen, I do have some theories about where the story is going to go, especially with all the developments of this season. It maybe a little crazy but I think it could work.

SHIELD

Its still chugging along and setting up Avengers. This episode feels like a setup for the big reveal that I think is coming. Of course with the news that SHIELD is getting a spinoff with Bobbi and Hunter, it kind of gives away what’s going to/could happen in the season finale.

Lip Sync Battle

I caught the marathon on Spike and this show is freaking hilarious! For those who haven’t watched, you take two celebs and have them lip sync two songs. The first song is just them in regular clothing, and the second song is them dressed up, a little dancing and tons of laughs. It’s hosted by LL Cool J (*cue the Adam Carolla joke about LL hosting everything) and Chrissy Teigan (supermodel, married to John Legend, and is funny on Twitter)

Chris Roams Around…

Neighborhood Garage Sale

Last weekend was the neighborhood garage sales and I decided to walk around in hopes of finding some cool stuff and maybe spend some cash on some Lego. I also took my camera to take pictures of views I found interesting while walking around.

These neighbors took their sweet time on the sidewalk and proceeded to cross the road, only to stop in the middle and enjoy the view.

Towards the end of my walk around the neighborhood I spotted this guy in a driveway

This was before he went Beep Beep and took off.

Three miles later of weaving up and down streets the one garage that stuff worth buying was a husband blowing out his basketball card collection and dirt-cheap prices. Young Chris would have bought the lot, but my third thought behind this is freaking awesome, and this is freaking cheap, was what am I going to do with them. Adulthood sucks. Anyways there was a kid selling Lemonade and treats at one of the garage sales, which deserved major props. 

Record Store Day Aftermath

I decided to check out the local spot a couple of days after RSD, and surprisingly they were picked clean. There was a couple of RSD stuff left including the wrestling double LP album I kinda wanted but $30 made me think long and hard and I decided against it for now.

Walmart

While spending time in the Lego and Hot Wheels aisle I spot this

Oh Target items…

Nothing Bundt Cakes

For the past couple of years I’ve been getting NBC mini bundt cakes and medium sized bundt cakes for birthday cakes, which are cool, but last week I made my first trip inside a store and it was a bit overwhelming with all the choices. I decided to grab the Bundtinis

Because they are the size of cupcakes and are perfect for birthday parties because there are three or four different flavors.

Chris Takes Pictures

So I’m still outside in the mornings practicing with different settings and I’m getting better at mixing and matching the F number along with the shutter speed. I really should pay attention to the math involved, which I try to do…sometimes. Anyways I’ve been messing around with settings and I wanted to share some pictures I took.

I have no idea what the name of this plant is, but I do like to take pictures of it. I think it looks interesting.

My next picture was a serendipitous event because I didn’t notice the little flying bug I caught in the image

My next picture I spent a half an hour and many shots trying to get a picture I liked. I actually got a couple but this one was my favorite because it was clear and the subject wasn’t blurry

It was fun sitting taking pictures, waiting, and taking more pictures. I’m also happy the sprinklers didn’t come on while I was sitting and waiting.

My final picture I took on Thursday and again it was another happy encounter but this time it was with the Hummingbird that setup shop in the backyard

I think this is the little guy that gets chased by the other hummingbird. It’s like a mini dogfight (like in Top Gun, not the actual dogs.)

Those are my pictures, thanks for taking time and looking at them.

Randoms

Oh you know this is my favorite goalie helmet

Let’s Go Ducks and #PaintItOrange

I thought I was the only one who labeled files like this

Apparently I wasn’t the only one. I have gotten better by just calling them concept01, and updates are concept01a, concept01b, etc.

Pickups

Games

Target find that came out to $11.

I replaced my digital copy with a physical copy and opened up some space on my memory card.

The next handful of games is from K-Mart. If you didn’t know K-Mart is blowing out all their games because apparently they are not selling video games anymore. The local store is picked over but they still have some interesting things. The games were 50% off so it wasn’t bad.

Yeah the game is probably as good as the flick, but its worth a try for a couple of bucks.

Ok I have to admit I’ve been watching that Test Kitchen game at a couple of stores but $5 is a bit too much, but for $2, hell yeah. At some point I will play some of these Harvest Moon games.

I’m giving Monkeyball another try, and there is always room for a racing game. The big catch for that racing game is that you can take a picture of your face and have it in game. Of course the 3DS camera is terrible so I might use a Lego minifigure.

Music

From Target I bought this CD

Yeah I mentioned earlier about how I felt about this album. Sorry Halestorm fans, I’m not a fan. This might change but for now I might have wasted $7.

Instead of spending a bunch of cash on Record Store Day, the Buy 5 Get 5 Free wall was calling.

I like the Gin Blossoms, and I’m a bit bummed that I didn’t get into their music while in high school but I’ve been catching up. I have most of the songs on this album already but there are a handful of new stuff I’m excited to listen to. I like the Dixie Chicks. I thought their music was good, and Natalie’s solo album was good. I never bought the album by the other two members and I’m interested to hear this album.

Kriss Kross will make you want to JUMP JUMP! Oh this reminds me of High School. The lunch area had speakers like a DJ and would play the local radio station, and this is one of the songs they would always play. Surprisingly I don’t have any Temptations in my CD library.

This was an interesting CD. It has two Diana Ross & The Supreme’s albums on one CD. I listened to the first album and was only halfway done with this entry so I was a bit off with my prediction. The Jets were an 80s band that I liked as a kid. You know the stuff that was always on the radio and now I have their hits on my iPod.

I finally bought a copy of Jay-Z’s Unplugged. I used to have the digital version, but now a physical copy is always better. This is one of those albums that rarely left my CD player. The copy of Jurassic 5 is actually the wrong case. The CD inside is for the Jurassic 5 self titled EP.

Yeah I added another Kesha album to the library. I think this Cypress Hill album is my third album that was recorded at the Fillmore.   

The next albums were a little more expensive at $4 each but it was all-good

The Humpty Dance and The Roots.

The next two finds were in the freebie box by the register

The CD had small scratches but it ripped fine.

I grabbed this album because it was from Hawaii and it looked cool, and I have a soft for the 60s-70s Hawaiian albums especially the ones sung in the Native Hawaiian language.

To finish off my music purchases for the week are some digital albums I picked up, one was on sale on iTunes, and the other is a freebie from the Google Play Store

Juvenile – Juve The Great

Yeah back when I was The Super Sub I would play parts of this album, and now I officially own a copy. I think the biggest song from this album is Slow Motion.

Oh Toto. This is another album where a lot of the hits were part of my soundtrack growing up. The song Africa reminds me of going to the local fair and then hitting the Gemco (remember that place?) because my pops said instead of playing the games at the fair or buying the crappy toys there, I could get a couple of Hot Wheels or a GI Joe. Anyways this was a cool freebie because I like a lot of these songs.

Alright Pixlbit it seems we have once again come to the end of this installment of Quick Hits. I am currently waiting to hear back from a client to see if their project is finished or if it needs further tweaking so in the meantime Mortal Kombat X on the iPad is going to be my time waster of choice, just as soon as I finish off my picture practice. Have a good weekend!

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris

Hi Dr. Nick!