Oasis is based on Michel Faber’s ‘The Book of Strange New Things’ and stars Richard Madden (Game of Thrones – Rob Stark) as Peter a priest haunted by his past, that is asked to travel to a colonized planet by an associate David Morgan played by Jonjo O’Neill. Oasis is a planet colonized by humans and is their last hope of survival since Earth (year 2032) is quickly becoming unable to sustain life. Once Peter arrives he finds out David Morgan has gone missing. To make things worse there is something that is not quite right as colonists are seeing apparitions that are causing them to do things with fatal consequences.
The story is intriguing and well written but one thing will need to be addressed is the fleshing out of the supporting characters which are paper thin and vanilla. I am sure if this show gets picked up their back story will receive some attention making them more viable. Speaking about supporting characters I was delighted to see Haley Joel Osment (Sixth Sense – Cole Sear) playing Sy a botanist and one of my favorite British actors Mark Addy (A Knight’s Tale – Roland) playing Hallaoran both which Richard Madden’s character Peter meets on his travels.
When the episode was finished I was pleasantly surprised finding myself wanting to watch the next episode and wondering if what the colonist are facing is the strain of being on a new planet, natives of the planet, or something else.
Head on over to Amazon and have a look I think you will find it an enjoyable watch.
I am always looking for a great tabletop game that steps outside the box and offers something different. One of my favorite places to search is Kickstarter. Not only are there some awesome ideas there but most of the time the creators are looking for their big break. I like that you can help someone else’s dream become a reality and well worth it when it is made and delivered.
Pests! is one of those games that caught my attention. It is a competitive game for 2-6 players. Game mechanics include card drafting, modular board, variable player powers, and an action point allowance system. Play time is 45-75 minutes.
You play as an Exterminator who specializes in the elimination of a particular type of Pest: Flying Bugs, Creepy Crawlies, Winged Beasts, Vicious Vermin, Unwanted Guests, or Spooky Specters. You’ve been hired to clear your type of pests out of a house, but when you arrive, you discover that the house has other types of infestations. The homeowner’s hired several other exterminators, each with a different specialty, and only the first to complete their job will get paid!
A pledge of $39 gives all that is pictured below with shipping included!
Go check out their Kickstarter page and they have 3 days left and you can help them to some very cool and reachable goals!
Amazon.com is asking for help on choosing their next Amazon Original show. All you have to do is watch the pilot episode and take a quick survey of each show. Below I listed all 5 shows with a brief description and a hyper link so you can check it our yourself.
Set in the near future, Oasis tells the story of priest Peter Leigh, who is called to a remote planet where a mysterious multinational company is building the first permanent off-Earth human colony. The planet, Oasis, is humanity’s last chance to escape from Earth’s impending collapse, but it quickly becomes apparent that it may not be as hospitable to humanity as it seems.
It’s 1958 Manhattan and Miriam “Midge” Maisel has everything she’s ever wanted – the perfect husband, kids, and Upper West Side apartment. But when her life suddenly takes a turn and Midge must start over, she discovers a previously unknown talent – one that will take her all the way from the comedy clubs of Greenwich Village to a spot on Johnny Carson’s couch.
A dark comedy about the life of Master Legend – a real life superhero whose mission is the security and safety of the people of Las Vegas. Master Legend juggles the demands of justice with the even more complicated demands of his real family, who don’t see him as a hero at all.
In 1983, three hapless guys from San Francisco are lured from their sex and drugs lifestyle to the countryside to grow marijuana. They find themselves stuck in a run-down cabin in the middle of nowhere, with harsh and unfriendly growing conditions, nosy neighbors, dangerous locals, and menacing law enforcement.
So I have been using my Amazon Echo for over two weeks now. It took some getting used to with how to phrase your question or request allowing Alexa to understand you, but I am sold. I use this piece of tech more and more each day.
The first couple of days I just used it to listen to music and I have to say the quality that comes out of it makes my ears hum with pleasure. As I started to explore I was pleasantly surprised to find some really cool things I can do with it. I have listed below some of the commands I use on a daily basis with my Echo.
Listen to my Spotify account. I love spotify and the music sounds great coming out of my Echo! You can also listen to your Amazon Prime Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and Tunein music as well as listen to your Audible and Amazon Kindle books!
To do list… If I have some tasks that I need to do and want list to show up on my phone in the Alexa app, all I have to do is ask “Alexa add “X” to my to do list” and it is done!
Shopping list… Just like the “To Do” list I can ask Alexa to add “X” to my shopping list and it shows up on my phone in the Alexa app.
Alarms… You can set up multiple alarms just by asking “Alexa set an alarm for “X:XXam” and your Echo will set an alarm! (A side note: as it stand the alarm is only good one time and you have to turn it back on each night. I would like to see the ability to set an alarm and repeat it on certain days.)
Timers… I have to say that this is one of my most favorite abilities of the Echo. I can start cooking something come up stairs and ask Alexa to start a timer for “X” minutes.
Weather… All you have to do is ask. For local you just have to ask “Alexa what is my local weather?” and she will give your current and nighttime weather. You can also ask Echo what the weather is in another city and it will answer with the weather for that city.
News… You can setup “Flash Briefings” and what you ask your Echo for the news it will play you the recorded news. I have NPR as my briefing and is pretty good at giving me the highlights of what is going on.
Control Wifi enabled household appliances, thermostats and lights. At this time I do not have any of these but hope to try it out in the near future. You can check them out here!
To find your history of what you have asked your Echo all you have to do is open up the Alexa app and you are greeted with it. If you want to manage any of the lists, alarms, or timers just click on the menu icon on the upper right hand corner and it will open up a menu giving you the option to view or edit anything you wish on your Echo. This where you can connect your music and book accounts as well as changing your settings for the Echo.
If you do find it difficult to see what you want on your phone there is an option to allow you to access that same page from a web browser. As long as your Echo is connected to your network via your WiFi you can open the following address in your browser giving you an easier way to access the site. alexa.amazon.com
Combined with the Alexa App for my Android phone the device is very powerful indeed.
So as you can see it is more than just a speaker it actually has kept me from burning my dinner, over sleeping, and forgetting things at the grocery store!
Setting up the Amazon Echo was super easy…. I mean a monkey could do it…. well maybe not that easy. First thing you have to do is to plug the Echo into a wall with the included power adapter. Once you do the light ring on the Echo will turn blue, and then Orange where you will here Alexa’s voice for the first time greeting you. This is where the fun begins….
Echo BlueEcho Orange
Next you need to download the free Alexa app for your chosen device. To download the Alexa app, go to the app store on your mobile device and search for “Alexa app,”.
You can also go to https://alexa.amazon.com from Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer (10 or higher) on your Wi-Fi enabled computer. Your device operating system will need to be Fire OS 2.0 or higher, Android 4.0 or higher, iOS 7.0 or higher.
Once you have the application installed it is time to connect your device to it. This is easy just open the Alexa app and then follow the instruction. The first thing it will do is connect your Echo to your local Wi-Fi. Once that is done it is time to start speaking to Alexa. The Alexa app has a nifty little setup process called “Voice Training” that gives you 25 statements to read to Echo to allow it to learn you speech patterns and help Alexa understand you better.
That is it… Alexa is ready to listen to your request. Just say for instance “Alexa play “Bring Back the 80’s from Spotify.” and she will respond with a confirmation and then start your request. I know do not judge me I still love to listen to “Karma Chameleon”!
Next time we will delve into my first couple of days of using the Echo!
I have been looking the Amazon Echo ($179.00) for sometime. I have gone back and forth on just how useful this tool would be in my household. I decided to take the plunge…. Today it arrived in all its glory!
The Amazon Echo
When I opened the box I was greeted by the attractive packing. As you can guess it did not take long for me to bust out this puppy so I could take it for a test drive.
Outer case removed
As I started to manhandle the box the first thing I noticed was the weight. I mean this thing weighs in at 4 pounds! This guy is a sturdy piece of equipment and the weight shows it.
What is in the box?
As I opened the inner box I found the Echo loving tucked into a cozy little nook. I gently pulled it out and set it aside so I could remove the other contents. Which included the power supply, setup instruction, & a quick start guide.
Fintie Protective CaseFintie Protective Case
As many know I am a bit of a freak when it comes to my electronics and with the money spent on this device I decided to purchase a Fintie Protective Case for Echo ($17.99). It snapped on very easy and is wraps the Echo tightly. Not only does it have a strap to slip your hand through and secure it from being dropped it has a separate bottom cover to protect the Echo from being set down into something less than desirable. There are so many color choices that anyone can find something that tickles the fancy. I chose purple because, well it is my favorite color and I am a Baltimore Raven’s fan!
There are two minor things I questioned….
The weight of the Echo makes it hard to take with you, whether it be the office or someplace else.
There is no battery. The Echo has to be plugged in all the time for it to work. (I did some research and found this nifty solution by Echo Battery Boot that tackles this deficiency. They are running special pricing ($69.99 12-14hr, 59.99 9-10hr, 49.99 6-7hr.) for those that pre-order. I think you should really consider doing so if you want your Echo to be portable.)
Tomorrow I will go over the setup and my first day using it.
We arrived in Orlando on Friday afternoon ready to watch all the Call of Duty – Advance Warfare action. Once we were in the hall we were presented with flashing lights and bumping sound of music. Not unlike a night club on a Friday night!
At first it was a bit over whelming but we quickly found our bearings and made our way to the main arena to find a seat and settled in.
UMG Orlando 2015
Counting the main stage there were twenty one eight player stations and there was CoD action from the moment the hall opened up until the end of the night. Screams of joy and failure rang throughout the hall at a steady pace. The main stage area seating was always full especially when Optic Gaming took the stage where it was standing room only and at times did not seemed like there was not enough room for that.
Both Gamma Labs – GFuel and Scuf Gaming had booths where you could purchase their highly sought after products. You could also purchase UMG t-shirts and gear for the UMG store booth.
One thing I think deserves mentioning is UMG’s charity that they sponsor… Operation Supply Drop what a awesome charity. It sends gaming goods to our men and women over seas to bring a little fun to a place where most of the time there is none.
Operation Supply Drop
The pro-players are super friendly and we saw this first hand with EnVyUs’s Clayster was inundated with fans and he took time to take pictures and signed autographs for everyone that approached him.
EnVyUs Clayster
Optic Gaming’s Crimsix was another example on how approachable these guys are and how much they appreciate the fans. (He signed autographs outside of the restroom.)
Optic Gaming Crimsix
Over the next three days we witnessed a lot of matches and consumed many many ounces of Gamma Labs – GFuel but in the end there could only be one winner.
Champions Optic Gaming
So with that being said congratulations Optic Gaming for winning the UMG Orlando 25K tournament!
The awesome folks of Paizo we generous enough to send me over a copy of their Advanced Class Guide. For the last week I have been devouring it’s pages so I could write up my review. As I was doing so I decided that I needed to at the very least divided it up three post to give each section it needed attention.
The Book:
I have to say that the standard that Paizo sets on the quality of their products is so high. I mean everything they do is polished to a high sheen and Advanced Class Guide is no different. When I opened the box I was welcomed by a beautiful cover depicting, two of the books featured heroes (Bloodrager and Swashbuckler to be exact) fighting a nasty un-dead emerald dragon! The cover artwork by Wayne Reynolds is so stunning I was afraid to touch it and ruin it’s perfection (I love Wayne Reynolds I have a framed signed piece of art on my den wall to prove it)!
Pathfinder: Advanced Class Guide
I knew I had to so I eventually picked it up and cracked the cover open to find out just what Paizo had in store for me. I thumbed quickly through to find what the cover art promised, a awesome tome of painstakingly created companion tome for Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook.
The book pages falls in at 256 pages which includes 10 new classes (We will delve into these shortly), archetypes and class options, new feats, new spells, new gear and magic items, and instructions on how to create you own hybrid class.
Classes:
If you are like me I love with things get mashed together. I mean who does not like two great songs mashed together making them into one epic song? So what does this have to do with Advanced Class Guide you ask? Well it does just that it mashes two awesome character classes and give us one epic character class! We are given 10 of these in chapter one and Paizo calls them hybrid classes.
These 10 hybrid classes are: Arcanist – a Sorcerer / Wizard mix who is a scholar of all things magical. Bloodrager – a Barbarian / Sorcerer mix that puts fear into his enemy with bloodline and combat prowess. Brawler – a Fighter / Monk mix who can quickly adapt to changing battle conditions. Hunter – a Druid / Ranger mix that forms a team of a adept hero with a highly trained animal companion. Investigator – a Alchemist / Rouge mix who is a investigator that loves to solve mysteries. Shaman – a Oracle / Witch mix are divine spell-caster that use the power of spirits for the spell-work. Skald – a Barbarian / Bard mix is a front-line bard that inspires his allies in all of their endeavors. Slayer – a Ranger / Rouge mix who knows the opportune time and location to take out their enemy. Swashbuckler – a Fighter / Gunslinger mix that are light on their feet and quick witted with their tongue. Warpriest – a Cleric / Fighter mix who is the perfect healing fighting machine.
I like a few more than the others… The hunter for instance really calls to me and actually reminds me of the hunter class in World of Warcraft. I can say that each of these hybrid classes are well thought out and well balanced and I am sure that everyone will be able to find a favorite or two to play. Hey and if you do not in the back of the book there is instructions on how to create your own! Come back in a couple of days to hear more about that!
So next time I will be delving into archetypes and class options, new feats, & new spells!
Thank you Leo for all the time you spent us. We were blessed having you as part of our wacky and crazy family. Play hard with your ferret brother and sisters on the other side of the rainbow bridge.
As some of you know I used to live in Baltimore and one of my favorite things about living downtown was the sites and sounds that you could encounter. One weekend stands out above the rest and that is Otakon was being held. What is Otakon you ask? Well….
Over 20,000+ and more con goers invade Baltimore for one of the most well-known and established anime conventions in the USA. Otakon is one of the largest and longest running anime convention in the US. Fans of anime from all over the world swarm into the city where most are cos-playing their favorite characters. Which range from icons from video games to manga and I have to tell you some of these attendees know how to cos-play!
You will also find well known performers attending the event such a USA sumo wrestler champs, voice performers of your favorite anime, and a bunch more! Otakon also sports a gigantic dealers room where some con goers honestly get lost in because there are so many vendors looking to sell their merchandise. Also they have a fantastic art show letting artist showcase their work and gives them the chance to auction off their work whether it be silent or live auction.
Pricing:
Three day: 80$ (Sorry no one day passes!)
So if you find yourself in Baltimore in July do your self a favor and hang out at the Inner Harbor you will not be disappointed. Oh and if you are feeling re adventurous why not attend the con itself!
