12 Days of Arbor Christmas - Day 4: Christmas Is Here (Right When We Need It To Be) by Santa's Little Helper

For the past 12 years, musicians from South Jersey, Philadelphia, and beyond.. have gathered to record a compilation album and live play called the Arbor Christmas Show. It's inspired by "the old Christmas TV specials that had the celebrity host "at home" and all of their celebrity friends would stop by and hang out and maybe perform a song." The songs have been amazing year after year, so I wanted to share my top 12. But feel free to explore for yourself! All of the compilations are available for downloaded/stream at http://www.arborchristmas.com.

Day 4: Christmas Is Here (Right When We Need It To Be) by Santa's Little Helper

Santa's Little Helper is one of the bands that get together just for the yearly Christmas show. Led by Mike Maier (one of the writers of the show), they'll usually close out the night with a live performance of their song. And since the songs usually directly coincide with the story, it's always really cool to have their songs as a memory of all of the live shows. This one goes all the way back to 2007. 

December Deal: Rory's Story Cubes! (plus our Director's Cut variant)

I would suggest Rory's Story Cubes as a gift for anybody on your list. It's a set of nine dice with images on each side. The images range from environments (bridge, earth, tree, pyramid) to items (cell phone, flower, fish) and much more (key hole, little baby with a shadow that looks like a goblin, a question mark, etc). Some are vague enough that they can be a few different things, depending on the player.



You can do whatever you want with these dice. Most commonly, people will make up stories. Starting with "Once Upon A Time..." you roll the dice and continue the story. My 4 year old daughter plays with them, and my gaming group (ages 18-50) plays with them. They sell for around $7-9 US, and can be found in Walmart, game stores, and even in our Wegmans grocery stores. You can also buy them online at http://www.storycubes.com.

The older versions come in a little box that seals magnetically, and the newer version (seen above) has bigger dice and comes with a cool carrying bag. I have two copies already (one for home and I keep the other in my car for emergencies), but I'll be buying one of the new versions for my daughter's stocking, so she can have her own. She will usually roll the dice, tell a story, and then start over. The second time around she will change all of her rolls so they match the first rolls and then tell the same story all over again.

Click through the jump for the quick rules for our Story Cubes variant called Directors Cut.

Thank GIF it's Friday

A fraction too late for Australia, but just right for the 'Mericans.

Some shameless cuteness to ease you into the weekend!

OMG LEGO LOTR

This is the best news since Lego announced the Star Wars license on April 30th, 1998. Seriously. 

The LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS collection will translate into LEGO form the epic locations, scenes and characters of Middle-earth as depicted in all three films, including The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

In late 2012, LEGO THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY will give fans of all ages a chance to build and play out the fantastical story and new characters of the legendary Middle-earth adventures depicted in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyfrom Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, slated to premiere December 14, 2012.

So, what are your dream Lord Of The Rings Lego sets?

I am most excited about one word in the paragraphs above.. LOCATIONS. I want Hobbit houses, Moria, Helm's Deep. The Prancing Pony Inn. All of Rivendell. Shelob's lair and Shelob, and Treebeard and Balrog... THE MOUTH OF SAURON.

There will be a goddamn Gollum minifigure. I can't take this excitement.

Alternative Christmas Music Playlist

Same old Christmas songs got you down? Sick of hearing Neil Diamond while trimming the tree? Looking to amp up your holiday routine? Never fear, as someone you don't know on the internet has expertly curated a Spotify playlist just for you! Enjoy some classic tunes in ways you may not have heard, and some different originals to get you through the season.

 As with anything on Spotify, regional limits may vary, but some descriptions and links are after the jump:

Friday Night Movie Review: Louis CK: Live At The Beacon Theater

I had fully intended to watch something else, but the new Louis CK live performance DVD would not leave my mind. Links and praise about the downloadable performance have been popping up all over my Twitter feed and Facebook account all week long, so I decided to finally give in. It's hard to resist when the hour long comedy show is only $5 through Paypal, and you get a few streams as well as a few downloads. It took about 2 and a half clicks and it was mine, which is more convenient than most other methods, even YouTube (which is slow as ever now) or torrents. It also is as cheap as buying a medium sized app, which I don't think twice about.

12 Days of Arbor Christmas - Day 3: Reason For The Season (You Dig?) by Ages

For the past 12 years, musicians from South Jersey, Philadelphia, and beyond.. have gathered to record a compilation album and live play called the Arbor Christmas Show. It's inspired by "the old Christmas TV specials that had the celebrity host "at home" and all of their celebrity friends would stop by and hang out and maybe perform a song." The songs have been amazing year after year, so I wanted to share my top 12. But feel free to explore for yourself! All of the compilations are available for downloaded/stream at http://www.arborchristmas.com.

Day 3: Reason For The Season (You Dig?) by Ages

Ages are the reason for the season. They've contributed an average of 2 wonderful songs per year to the Arbor compilations, and by now they have their own full length Christmas album (available for free download at http://ages.bandcamp.com). It's impossible to pick a favorite, but this one from 2010 is up there. 

Singing Christmas Hedgehogs

Terribly cute!

Lunch Break 3d

Time for a lunch break

This stressful looking "game" was made by Clay McIntosh

Mario Kart 7 - Two Sentence Review!

First thought: more of the same.
Second thought: that's exactly what I want from Mario Kart.

Two Hand drawing

eff this guy!

seriously!

what an a-hole

Review: Dark Souls. A Hateful Game, Made by Ass-Souls.

It's that time of the year when I'm desperately cramming as much of the year's offering of entertainment as possible, in preparation for my obligatory Top Ten lists and the inaugural 2011 Fruitless Pursuits Awards. I'm catching up on a number of video games that I missed, and one that really can't escape without comment is the punishingly difficult, humourless, cowardly punch-in-the-throat roleplaying/torture simulation Dark Souls. Crafted by bastards, never before has a game been filled with so much hate, not just for its audience, but for humanity in general. Dark Souls hates life, and makes every attempt to crush it.

Wanna' here more about my frustrating, spirit-crushing, tear eliciting adventures? Then do yourself a favour and join me after the jump!

12 Days of Arbor Christmas - Day 2: K-hristmart by Norick Eve

For the past 12 years, musicians from South Jersey, Philadelphia, and beyond.. have gathered to record a compilation album and live play called the Arbor Christmas Show. It's inspired by "the old Christmas TV specials that had the celebrity host "at home" and all of their celebrity friends would stop by and hang out and maybe perform a song." The songs have been amazing year after year, so I wanted to share my top 12. But feel free to explore for yourself! All of the compilations are available for downloaded/stream at http://www.arborchristmas.com.

Day 2: K-hristmart by Norick Eve

Lazer Tag, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Masters of the Universe... all in just the first verse. This song is awesome. 

But if you're a Gobots fan, you might want to skip this one.

Flaking Over Star Wars

Do I need two banners? I may need to rethink that whole philosophy.

This place is a one man army of posting...I see something I THINK might be new or interesting, I know I am rolling the dice on whether or not someone has already posted about it, or it might actually be old news.

But? Waddya gonna do?

Sometimes you have to take your chances and hope for the hard six.

Friend of mine clued me into these over on Facebook, sent me a link.

They are kick-ass Star Wars snowflake designs, and you can find templates and everything you need at two places that I know of.

An original site that introduced them, called Matters of Grey, and another blog site that made even more, called Anthony Herrera Designs, inspired by that site!

Go get 'em!

OUT.

12 Days of Arbor Christmas - Day 1: Make It Home Alone by The Not Fur Longs

Welcome to the 12 Days of Arbor Christmas!

For the past 12 years, musicians from South Jersey, Philadelphia, and beyond.. have gathered to record a compilation album and live play called the Arbor Christmas Show. It's inspired by "the old Christmas TV specials that had the celebrity host "at home" and all of their celebrity friends would stop by and hang out and maybe perform a song." The songs have been amazing year after year, so I wanted to share my top 12. But feel free to explore for yourself! All of the compilations are available for downloaded/stream at http://www.arborchristmas.com.

Day 1: Make It Home Alone by The Not Fur Longs

I'm just going ahead and starting off with my favorite. The theme is the best ever (Home Alone), and the song is so perfectly mellow. There is a part in the middle that is awesome, and then the end gets even better.

Santa's by Grickle

I need to finish playing Puzzle Agent which was also by the very talented Graham Annable

Most Memorable Presents: The Titanic in Las Vegas

About 5 years ago I was thrown for a real Christmas surprise when my wife bought me (us) a trip to Las Vegas.

Here's why I was surprised:

December Deal: "Han Shot First" Star Wars Poster by Fro Design Co!

Click through the jump to zoom out and see the whole thing. It's awesome.

What's Out? 14th of December

Happy New Comics Day! Although, I just saw that my local comic shop has their shipment delayed and that may be the case across Australia, giving you more time to study this list.

Nerd History: Early Attempts at Robots

You, for one, may welcome our new robot overlords. What you may not realize, however, is that robotkind has been trying unsuccessfully to enslave humankind for centuries, and you might not even realize it.

Join me beyond the jump for some of histories more curious robot attempts:

Movies Worth Buying!

Hi, everybody!

So I did one of these last week, and here we are, on week two.  Will there be a week three?  Only time will tell.  I have to admit, I kinda dig writing these so far.  Even if it is just me looking at the list of new releases on Amazon.com and pointing out the stuff that I think is cool, and maybe why people should buy them.  It also helps me get some of it out of my system so that I don’t have to make quite so many purchases myself.  Because I have a problem…

Recently, I’ve actually been working on a project related to the massive amount of movies I own…the act of actually watching them.  One of the bad habits I have is buying a movie that I want, even if I’ve never actually seen it, and then never actually getting around to watching the movie once I’ve bought it.  Granted, many of the ones that I still need to watch are ones that I owned on DVD, and have replaced with a Blu-Ray…but still.  I still have about a dozen to go before I can move on to the Star Wars/Star Trek Blu-Rays, and then I’m going to sit down and once and for all watch ALL of my MST3K DVDs.  Like I said, I have a problem.

And now I feel like I’ve killed enough space to warrant putting the actual list behind the jump.  As always, there will be Amazon links with each listing, but that’s just because it’s easy and I’m lazy.  You should always feel free to buy stuff anyplace you see fit.  Ready?  Then hit the jump and follow along!

George Takei attempts to broker peace

You may have seen the back and forth between Shatner and Fisher flaming the Star Wars vs Star Trek war. Well George Takei has decided to weigh in on the battle and to tell them there is a bigger foe to fight

G.I. Joe Retaliation Trailer Premiere!

Knowing how well the first G.I. Joe film went over, I only have one question..

Thoughts?

Lego DC Super Heroes Are Out!! (And Other Cool New Lego Sets)

Now you can re-enact all of your favorite comics of the new DC reboot using officially branded Lego sets! Unless your favorite was Firestorm... or Animal Man... or Frankenstein... or Swamp Thing... or basically anyone that isn't Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Catwoman or Green Lantern...

BUT #1:
But those characters look super awesome! (They do!)

BUT #2:
But it's Lego and I can make whatever I want! (You sure can!)

Click through the jump for more images, including a few Non-DC ones. 

Metal Mondays: Heavy Metal Parking Lot

I hope everybody has already seen Heavy Metal Parking Lot, but just in case you haven't... here it is. It's a documentary of an actual concert parking lot in 1986 and it's unbelievable that this is what we were 25 years ago. If this was shot in Philadelphia, a few of my uncles and aunts would have been in it, for sure.

The intro and link to the complete 17 minute long film is below. If you just want a quick taste, here's a minute and a half preview.

From Snagfilms.com: It is the quintessential '80s magnum opus, made complete with a vast display of muscle cars, spandex, bleach-blonde frizzy perms, bare-chested dudes, Mullets From Hell, faded denim metal chicks, and the largest collection of late '70s Camaros ever seen in one location. Virtually unknown to mainstream audiences for two decades, HMPL was a VHS bootleg favorite among musicians, movie stars and cult-video fanatics worldwide.

Under the Man-croscope / Most Memorable Presents Crossover! Sonic the Hedgehog!

Consider the Man-croscope! A highly critical device that trains its phallic lens on that which you held dear as a child and scrutinizes it with the unfulfilled eye of a disenfranchised adult! And seeing as how we're taking a journey into the past anyway, why don't I combine it with our wildly underwhelming Christmas feature: Most Memorable Presents! We're taking a stone and murdering two birds. And one of them is a turkey.

Now, it might be hard to believe, but back in the early nineties Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog was an honorable, plucky harbinger of an innovative new generation of videogames; as opposed to the sass-talking, Urkel-voiced poster boy for creepy furry porn that he is now. And in 1992, at sweet sixteen, I received one of the greatest Christmas presents of all...

Join me after the jump and I'll tell all about my sordid history with the world's fastest hedgehog!

Kickstart the Week: Portals by Jayne Vidheecharoen

I just stumbled across this project, and I am really glad because it immediately has my mind racing. From a board game / video game perspective, this could be really, really cool. My first thoughts were a war game, but then I thought of a Street Fighter game. You need to watch all three videos below. They're quick, especially the bottom two. If you have any other ideas on uses for these Portals, post away in the comments!

Click through the jump for more details and additional prototype videos.

Comics Face: Your Trend Guide

Comics Face Archive.

Game of Thrones 'Cold Winds' teaser

Is it April yet? I haven't read ahead of the tv series, but even I know that Stannis is a badass, and shit is about to get real. OH YEAH.

Keloid Trailer

Here's a trailer for a pretty looking completely cgi short film by Big Lazy Robots

Here's the synopsis

"What if, as Yudkowsky states, ‘Humans are not secure’? Could we chess match our best creation to grant our own survival? Would man be humble enough to accept he was superseded, to look for primitive ways to find himself back, to cure himself from a disease that’s on his own genes? How to capture a force we voluntarily set free? 
What if mankind worst enemy were humans?


In a near future, we will cease to be the dominant race.


In a near future, we will learn to fear what is to come."

BLR also did vfx this short 'The Gift" for a Phillips Cinema campaign. which is also quite pretty

GFTROU: Tiny Tower

Welcome to another installment of Games For The Rest of Us, for people who don't want a 40-hour committment, just something to play in the ad breaks of Glee (or, er, whatever you happen to be watching). This week we are putting on our hard hats and jumping into the construction-mad world of Tiny Tower.