Happy Friday Pixlbit Nation! I am typing this blog up on Thursday morning because hopefully this time on Friday I will be sitting in a theater watching the Avengers and wondering how Agents of SHIELD fits in. While I am typing this up I’m currently watching Green Batman (Arrow) and I’ll give my thought about the season so far later on in our little conversation. So shall we get started with Quick Hits?
The Midweek Swapmeet
Last night I decided to visit the Midweek Swapmeet and something big happened: The entire lot the Swapmeet is located in was full. This was a shock because the usual suspects from the weekend Swapmeet were there, with the exception of the lady who sells shoes, toys, and video games (my brother bought some Jordan XI’s for $20 and flipped them on eBay.) Fake Lego Lady didn’t have anything new but she told me to come back next week and there will be new products. I think she knows I don’t care for the Minecraft, Super Mario, and Transformer Fake Lego Minifigures.
Roaming Around The Neighborhood
Out on a walk again and I snapped this
So about that drought…
Chris Watches…
WWE Extreme Rules/King of the Ring
So last Sunday was Extreme Rules, another pay per view that was really underwhelming. The only matches I was somewhat interested in was the Nikki Bella/Naomi match, New Day/Cesaro & Tyson Kidd, and the Seth Rollins/Randy Orton Cage Match.
The Bellas, Paige, and if they use her right Nattie are head and shoulders above the rest of the Divas. Naomi is getting a push because Paige is “hurt” (filming a movie for WWE) so they needed someone who can challenge for the title. I don’t care for turn she made, or her finisher, and if anything she is making the Heel Bellas much more of a fan favorite.
I'm liking the new turn to heel fro New Day. The chants of New. Day Sucks are funny and they're more likable as a heel than as a good guy team.
As for the Rollins/Orton match, I like both wrestlers, and this storyline they are building up between Rollins and Authority teammate Kane reminds me of when Orton was in Evolution the first time. At some point they are going to fight. Anyways as for this match it wasn’t bad and it was cool to see Randy Orton use Triple H’s Pedigree and Rollins use Orton’s RKO.
As for King of the Ring, I really wasn’t interested in it but it was a WWE Network exclusive so I watched the semi finals and the finals. Before it began and not knowing who would take part I told my friend I wanted Wade Barrett to win just so we can hear “Bull Hammer,” and turns out he did win.
Daredevil
I think I may have watched an episode last week and I have to say the violence in this show is much higher than in Arrow or SHIELD. Once scene with Kingpen, a dude, and a car door was a bit much for me, which kind of turned me off of the show for a bit. I guess I’m in that mindset of this is supposed to be network TV with movie violence.
SHIELD
I’m really hoping someone from the show makes a cameo in the Avengers flick.
How bad ass was this scene?
Arrow Black Bars Galore!
So Ollie is now one step closer to being the new Ra’s and he has to do one more thing: destroy his town with the biological weapon that he fought to stop in one of his flashbacks. I can’t wait for Green Batman to stop the train from heading towards Wayne Headquarters, in the center of town…oh wait.
I’m a bit tired of the Ollie goes Ra’s storyline. I get it, he’s a bad dude, and there are people fighting for him, kind of like earlier in the season when Ollie took a sword to the body, fell off the side of a mountain and survived. I feel the writers could have made last episode where he’s wearing League gear the final scene for this season, but we still have more storyline. The teaser for next week is Ollie has to marry Ra’s daughter, and my theory is that Ollie will marry Nyssa, and once current Ra’s dies have Nyssa become the new Ra’s because she’s been claiming that throne since day 1, and he goes back to Starling to resume his role as Green Batman and spend the next season earning back the trust of his friends while leaving Nyssa to be a sort of ally as she does her thing as Ra’s.
Game of Thrones
We have Kitana from Arrow in the seven kingdoms. We can add her along with Dr. Bashir form Star Trek DS9 as people I know from outside the show. Sansa is continuing her path on becoming my favorite non Lannister on the show. Jon Snow is starting to move up but his who dilemma on whether to take Stannis’ offer or keep his title as of the Night’s Watch. I see parallel’s with Snow and Daenerys storylines and how they got to this point except Snow listened to Ned Stark in the 1st episode about dishing out the punishment instead of having someone do it for you, or something like that.
*It is now Friday morning and this is where I resumed my blog
Chris Is Up At Sunrise
Yeah I don’t know what it is but for the past couple of days I’ve been waking up at 5am and I can’t go back to sleep so I’ve been watching a lot of Local Morning News. This morning after a Twitter Conversation I decided to go outside and try to take some pictures. More practice with the Manual Controls (I think I’m startling to get the hang of it) and I snapped this
I think it turned out ok, and I got occupied with taking pictures of this random lizard while waiting. It didn’t come out as clear as I wanted, and when I used the camera’s flash it took off.
Chris Takes Pictures
I spent more time using various settings but this time I went back to some settings I’m comfortable with (or at least in the same ballpark)
I got a picture of the neighbor while having some of hummingbird Kool-Aid. I still can't get a clear shot of mini hummingbirds in the nest, but every so often their heads poke up which is cool to see.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time outside during sunset because that’s usually when I go walking. Anyways I was trying to get something cool here, but I think I could bring out more of the flower with some Photoshop help
The next photo I took when the sky was filled with clouds because of a passing storm (lots of thunder, and some sprinkles.) The photo itself looked a bit flat and I thought it could use some Photoshop magic
Here is the before picture
And here is the after the Photoshop treatment
Thanks for checking out my pictures!
Links To Stuff You Might Want To Check Out
Most of you folks know my stance on the majority of freemium games. There are a handful of them that are worth playing and you don’t need to spend a dime, the rest are trash.
As much as I liked the first one, Versions 2.0 and now 3.0 do not interest me. At first the concept was interesting but what am I going to do with all the plastic figures after I’m done with the game? At least with the Lego Version they fit in with my other Lego items.
This is a cool gesture by Bungie. If you’re a fan of Destiny or want to help their cause, the DLC and shirt is $25 bucks.
I thought this was pretty cool especially since a lot of audiophiles love the original Playstation as a CD player.
Pickups
Games
While on another trip to Target I decided to check out their wall of $20 games to see if anything interesting was added and someone hid this game behind a couple of other games
I already own it on 360 but when I checked the price it came out to $4, and I figured I could complete the collection on Playstation.
From the midweek Swapmeet I didn’t find any fake Lego (or legit Lego) but a random vendor who was selling off his original X-Box, which was modded because next to it was a stack of burned games. Next to this was a couple of original games that were in good shape. I ended up picking up this game for $5
I’ve been in a wrestling mood and I am a sucker for the “Only on X-Box” icon.
Music
So way back in the early 90s (like ’92 or ’93) I bought my first CD. It was SWV’s It’s Time. I bought it at Circuit City for like $13 bucks and the main reason was for the song Weak
Anyways fast forward to last Sunday and I purchased my 2,000th CD from Barnes & Noble for around $14 bucks
If I didn’t get caught up in the downloading craze in college I would probably have more but I am excited to hit that mark. During this time I went through something like 7 personal CD players. Out of all the Aiwa’s and Sony’s the one that lasted the longest was $20 Walmart CD player that came with headphones, case, batteries and something else that I can’t remember. I do love the format and I’m hoping albums will continue to be released on CD because nothing beats physical media.
A couple of other CDs I bought from Barnes & Noble
I do love their budget section because there is a lot of good stuff there for $5, $8, and $10 bucks. I’ve been in a Daft Punk kick recently so why not get a Greatest Hits album, and there are a couple of songs on the Outkast CD I like.
From the local mom & pop’s Buy 5 Get 5 free $1.99 wall
More Rap for the library. DJ Quik reminds me of the summer
There are a couple of songs on each Jennifer Lopez albums I like and fit with my various playlists
Having the CD version of Like A Prayer means I don’t have to rip the vinyl version now. This Jessie J album is brand new and still in the shrinkwrap. At Target it goes for $12
There were a couple of tracks on the Lilith Fair album I wanted to listen to but overall this compilation just isn’t my thing. I forgot who here told me to check out Beck, so I bought my first Beck album.
The final album this week comes again from Target
I listened to half of this album and I like it. Lots of familiar songs and Gaga and Tony Bennett work well together. I’m a little disappointed he calls her “Lady” instead of “Gaga” but other than that it’s a good pickup.
Toys
So I had a stack of a bunch of cars I thought looked cool. This past weekend my uncle and his 2 year old came to visit and he loves cars so now he owns 12 new cars. I thought about keeping the Skyline but he would enjoy it much more. He wanted to open the Fast and Furious cars and that was a big no go from me but I told him next time he visits he’ll get more cars.
I thought I’d mix it up a bit and got him another muscle car and a truck.
I struck out on Lego at the Swapmeet but I did find this at Target
They’re not supposed to go on sale until today but Target Cashier hit the override button and I now have
Speaking of Lego, Lego is teasing their Star Wars stuff
I can’t log in for some reason but my friend said there are some Tie Fighters, which I might pick one up. Also Toys R Us is doing a special build in store that day and encourages everyone to dress up in Star Wars gear.
Last night was the first night of the NFL Draft and even though the Cowboys didn’t move up to get Gordon or Gurley, they did get some help in the secondary
There are so many good running backs in this draft waiting was a good decision.
Before we end this blog, and I can jump into the shower before heading out to my movie (mmm breakfast popcorn) I saw this on Reddit last night and you good people can also share in the laughs
Have a good weekend Pixlbit!
That’s all for now, more later!
-Chris
Hey Hootie & The Blowfish were on TV and I missed it.
It was me. If you don't like Odelay try another album. He changes things up on almost every record. Sea Change is a good one.
My bad for not remembering. I'll make sure to check out his other stuff, especially if they hit the Buy 5 Get 5 wall.
I'm interested in another LEGO Star Wars game. Are they doing one for the new movie? That would be cool.
I believe they are making one for the new Jurassic World movie, and a sequel to the Mavel one that I think are both coming out later on this year. Those games and Dimensions, and there is going to be a lot of Lego games I'm going to be playing later on this year.
Cool. I hope I have time for them.
great pics! especially the one of the sunrise. I need to start taking more photos. My camera has been collecting dust lately.
Daredevil is violent, but it suits the subject matter. Daredevil was always kind of an adult comic. My dad was put off with the scene where young Matt Murdock sews stitches on his dad's brow. So, it is kind of gross sometimes. Still, I really like the show.
Yeah, like Matt said, ever since Frank Miller got his paws on Dare Devil back in the 80's (or late 70's), the comic took on a much gritter theme than in the 60's. Though I agree with you...I was taken aback when Kingpin beat that guy to a pulp (almost literally) and you could hear his brains squishing everywhere. Kinda ruined the episode for me.
I'm not into that HBO, Showtime level of violence. But to be fair, that doesn't characterize the entire show, and it was perhaps a necesary evil just so viewers get an idea of how brutal and ruthless the Kigpin can be if pushed too far in wrong direction. Otherwise, I've been enjoying the show thus far. I think I have 4 or 5 episodes left to watch.
yeah i just saw the third episode where the guy impales his head on the sharp piece of metal, and I was a bit taken aback. It might be a little bit over the top, but like you said, the rest of the show makes up for it.
Thanks for the info guys, since I'm used to the current crop of Superhero shows, I thought it was going to be more of the same, so I was caught off guard with the level of violence. It is interesting to see how Kingpin can go from one extreme (being nervous/awkward on a date) to going psycho within a couple of scenes. I'll get back into the series with some new perspective. I do want to see how the storyline between Deborah Ann Woll's character and the reporter plays out, and if it will affect the lawyers.
