Big Marvel News and I was right (Kinda)

So if you didn't hear the big news yesterday, here's the line-up of phase 3 movies that Marvel announced yesterday:

Marvel Release Dates Through 2019:

The Avengers: Age of Ultron — May 1, 2015
Ant-Man — July 17, 2015
Captain America: Civil War — May 6, 2016
Doctor Strange — Nov. 4, 2016
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 — May 5, 2017
Thor: Ragnarok — July 28, 2017
Black Panther — Nov. 3, 2017
The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 — May 4, 2018
Captain Marvel – July 6, 2018
Inhumans — Nov. 2, 2018
The Avengers: Infinity War Part II — May 3, 2019


And here's what I've been saying since Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier released (click to enlarge):

Basically, I was right for everything except a Black Widow/Hawkeye movie and another standalone Hulk (Planet Hulk was the speculation).


Here's a corrected mapping with the new announcements and how I think they're going to be interconnected (once again click to zoom):

I didn't do so bad guessing after all.

So overall here's how I think it's gonna go down from here:

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Avengers pretty much get messed up from Ultron, ultimately prevailing in the end, but at what cost? Also, I think that Loki's scepter will be an infinity stone (Mind Gem) that plays some part in causing Hulk to go berserk (why we saw him fighting the Iron Man Hulkbuster in the trailer). Unfortunately the lack of a Hulk standalone means that they aren't gonna to fling him into space for Hulk-sized timeout, which would kick-off a Planet Hulk movie.

This whole thing will somehow tie into Ant-man (maybe?).

Anyways, the Avengers get the stuff knocked around, maybe with the twins (Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch) aiding Ultron at some point for some reason, and ultimately this causes Tony Stark to think that all people/creatures with superpowers need to be registered (aka the Superhuman Registration Act). Captain America takes a strong stance opposing this (FREEDOM FTW), and this kicks off the Captain America 3: Civil War storyline, pretty much how it unfolds in the comic books. So pretty much it's a superhero free-for-all. Don't forget that Crossbones survived Cap 2, so be prepared for Captain America Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) to get shot and be replaced by Captain America Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). This lines up perfectly with Stan's 9-MOVIE CONTRACT with Marvel, just starting with Cap 2.

Avengers: Age of Ultron also makes of big deal of 2 small facts in the trailers:
1 - Cap's broken VIBRANIUM shield
2 - Andy Serkis playing a character that looks strangely resemblant of a Marvel villain named Ulysses Klaw.

This has implications for kicking off the Black Panther movie, as Wakanda, a fictional African country ruled by Black Panther is the world's largest producer of vibranium, and Klaw is Black Panther's arch nemesis, always trying to get his dirty paws on some vibranium. Also, Avengers:AoU shot a lot of scenes in South Africa as well. He'll also likely show up for Avengers 3.

Moving on, we've heard that Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be playing Dr. Strange (yay), who got a name-drop in Cap. 2. He will likely tie back into Avengers 3: Infinity War, maybe he will deal with the Soul Gem?

Moving on, Thor also gets a round 3 movie, this time facing Ragnarok, who is essentially like the giant, flame-y Balrog creature that Gandalf fights in the first Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring). It makes sense to use that villain is a fire-based one, as he's already fought ice-based and darkness-based enemies (I guess you could call Thor a light-based hero, I mean they got that fancy rainbow light bridge in Asgard). It all balances out in a sense. Also, DID LOKI KILL ODIN? I MUST KNOW! Anyways Thor may or may not be back for Avengers 3, since he does die in the events of Ragnarok (in the comics), which falls before the Civil War timeline in the comics (this is opposite of the the MCU timeline, where Civil War will happen prior to Ragnarok).

Now that brings us back around to our favorite comical bunch of space oddballs - Guardians of the Galaxy 2. This time, Star Lord's dad will likely have some larger role as it was mentioned at the end of the first Guardians movie. Further, did you notice that big cocoon/blob/Halo Flood looking thing in the Collector's museum? And notice how it was burst open in the post-credits scene? Yeah, Adam Warlock aka THANOS'S GOOD-GUY COUTERPART. At multiple points in many Marvel comic series, he gets the Infinity Gauntlet and uses it for good. He also typically fights alongside the Guardians.  Also, the Howard the Duck credits-scene from the first Guardians movie will either spin off a Howard reboot after 2020 or was just a giant troll joke from Marvel. Also, Guardians 2 will likely tie into either Captain Marvel (who will likely be Captain Marvel 2.0 aka Carol Danvers, whom I was sure that would ultimately have been revealed to be Skye from Agents of SHIELD), since it's Kree based (the Guardians fought the Kree in the first movie). Also, the Inhumans will probably have a tie-in here, as they are essentially genetically modified sleeper-cell human/alien creatures that were placed on Earth to eventually turn on humanity and prep them for alien takeover. I don't know much about it, but people have been saying that it's pretty much like Game of Thrones in space.

Also, RED SKULL - WHERE IS HE? It's very likely that he didn't die from getting sucked into that inter-dimensional vortex from the Tesseract in the Captain America 1, so where is he and when is he going to pop out again? Loki used the Tesseract to inter-dimensinally jump to Earth in the Avengers, who's to say that Red Skull isn't hiding out with Thanos.

And don't forget about your favorite Marvel TV show - Agents of Nothing (SHIELD). It will also likely have tie-ins directly to Avengers 2, Captain America: Civil War, GOTG 2/Captain Marvel/Inhumans, and ultimately Avengers 3. AND HYDRA, WHERE THEY BE? I know that they aren't going to make the big bad guys from both of the Captain America movies only appear in the TV show spin-off from now on.

Also, don't forget about the street-level heroes Netflix series: Daredevil, Power Man, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist, ultimately culminating in a Defenders mini-series. This is all slated to be going on around the same time as the 2016-2018 movies.

And finally, what everyone has been waiting for, Avengers: Infinity War, Parts 1 & 2.

KSJDFB.KsdjbfsjvfwekHFjnlkjsdhf,adjksbfkljsdbf.aksdhfjasdgflihawre.fbwefjhvweufh...

We've seen this coming since Avengers 1. It had even more implications from the end-credits scene of Thor 2 (where The Collector basically says that he's after the Infinity Stones) and during GOTG 1, where Thanos makes a direct appearance. Thanos, the ultimate big bad guy, is basically after the 6 Infinity Stones, 3 or 4 of which have been revealed, and the Infinity Gauntlet (currently locked up in Asgard, courtesy of a Thor 1 Easter egg), which when all combined, give him god-like powers. Basically, this movie is going to be so epic, and have so many superheroes in it, that they had to split it into 2 movies to contain all the awesomeness. Adam Warlock will likely have a pretty big role, and it will likely not be until this point that the cosmic heroes (GOTG, Captain Marvel, Inhumans) join up with the Earth-bound heroes (The Avengers). Also, expect A LOT of people to die. That's just how it goes. I'll leave you all with this lovely snapshot of the reveal showing.

And here's another freebie - MCU infinity stone infographic:

Also, does anyone here look or sound familiar:
(Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Captain America, Black Bolt (leader of Inhumans), Black Panther to name a few. Mr. Fantastic will not be present as he is owned by Fox.) 

Basic White Guys & Pumpkin Beer

It's fall, which means one thing to every red-blooded, beer-loving American man: Oktoberfest/marzen and pumpkin beers.And for those that know me, I've become a little bit of a beer snob over the last year (and yes i take pride in that).

I've compiled a little list of my opinions of all of the pumpkin beers that I've tried so far. Just a little background on my rating system - I use the standard Untapped/Beer Advocate 5 star system, divided by .5 star ranks. Most okay beers get around a 3, good beers usually get a 3.5, great beers get a 4, and anything that I would go out of my way to pick up again because it's so good get 4.5 - 5 stars.

Here we go:

1. Sam Adams Pumpkin Ale -- 3.5 stars (decent pumpkin beer from good ol' Sam Adams)
2. Avery PumpKYn [2014] -- 4.5 stars (excellent bourbon barrel aged beer, batch 1)
3. Schlafy Pumpkin Ale -- 3.5 stars (good, extremely true to the tradition pumpkin beer style)
4. Rivertown Pumpkin Ale -- 3 stars (okay, bits of unfiltered pumpkin floating in it)
5. Southern Tier Pumking -- 3.5 stars (very sweet, some artificial flavor but drink with a brown sugar rim for a surprise)
6. Epic Fermentation without Representation -- 4 stars (one of my favorites that I've had so far)
7. Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale -- 3 stars (okay, not bad for a Blue Moon beer)
8. Flat 12 Harvest Jack Pumpkin Ale -- 2 stars (just awful, tried at the Beers Across The Wabash festival, tasted like cheap spiced rum with no beer/pumpkin flavor at all)
9. Travelers Jack-O-Traveler Shandy -- 4 stars (tastes like pure liquid pumpkin bread, almost no beer taste at all)
10. Southern Tier Warlock -- 3 stars, the flavor almost felt artificial and forced
11. Saranac Pumpkin Ale -- 3 stars, middle of the road pumpkin beer

These are the pumpkin beers that I currently have cellared or in my fridge that will likely be drank in the upcoming weeks. I'll update this post after drinking them.

1. Hoppin' Frog Frog's Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale [2013]
2. Avery Rumpkin [2014]

These are the ones that I'm still looking to try this year:

1. Dogfish Head Punkin Ale
2. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
3. Brooklyn Brewery Post Road Pumpkin Ale
4. Mad Tree Pumpcan
5. Terrapin Imperial Pumpkin Pie Porter
6. Cigar City Good Gourd Imperial Pumpkin Ale
7. Cigar City Good Gourd Almighty

Untappd profile: https://untappd.com/user/TheWiredDJ/beers
Beer Advocate profile: http://www.beeradvocate.com/user/beers/?ba=TheWiredDJ

Thoughts on OS X Yosemite

Thought that I'd write down my thoughts on OS X Yosemite, the latest free operating system update/release for Macs.

Installing/updating:

The download was about 5.6gb, downloaded pretty quickly. however the initial install froze with 22 minutes remaining and stayed that way for the better part of half and hour. Eventually it continued on with the progress bar, but as it installed, my screen showed weird block lines until it went black 20 minutes later and reappeared with a white-grey screen with the Apple logo. Another 20 minutes of that, then back to a "running final updates" screen much like the installer screen for about 10 minutes. Then it started the typical "sign in with iCloud/choose your options/send crash reports/etc" run-through.

The look:

Right off the bat I knew that I didn't like most of the new look and feel of Yosemite. Much like iOS7 & iOS8, which use vector display formatting and bright colors, it immediately looks less professional than Mavericks does (which for some people might be a good thing that it now matches your phone).

Things that have stuck out to me already:

• The font of the top bar is different, or bolder, or a different size, but I don't like it as much.
• The colors are brighter to match those of iOS7 & 8.
• Everything has a vector appearance, much more akin to iOS8 than anything else.
• The notifications pop-out pane has been re-branded to look exactly like it does in iOS8, including having separate "Today" and "Notifications" tabs.
• The close/minimize/expand (red, yellow, green buttons at top left of panes) changed slightly.
• Icons, both within native programs and for the programs themselves have been redesigned to look more like iOS8 icons. Some that were previously not square are now squares.
• Then entire icon set for Finder has been updated. Still not sure if I like it.
• Dashboard now uses a blurred version of your desktop background instead of the weird grey dot wallpaper from previous OS X versions.
• The finder icon changed and now looks extra creepy. 
• Custom folder icons that you may have been using did not update their look (Google Drive, looking at you).
• The side pane of Finder is now a blurred grey overlay of whatever part of your background wallpaper is behind it.
• iTunes now has a red/white icon. And it looks pretty different. I would assume that iPhoto/iMovie are the same since they also updated.

Software/functionality changes:

• Immediately it wanted me to upgrade to Java 8u20, and Java's website says that Java 7 isn't supported on Yosemite (you can download it here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jre8-downloads-2133155.html)
• Safari is completely redesigned. Haven't tried to use it much.
• Firefox has lost the functionality to go full-screen as a new desktop (expand button from top-right of pane is gone). Unsure if this is true for all programs that could do that in Mavericks.
• Okay it appears that the green button in the top left now makes a pane go full-screen instead of snapping to just fit the whole screen.
• You can now upgrade your iCloud to use "iCloud Drive" for documents; haven't messed around with this, so I don't know if it's trying to replace dropbox or just let you share documents between apps/programs on devices easier through the cloud. 
• System Preferences now has an "Extensions" page to change settings for things like the Finder/Dropbox app integration.
• Adobe Flash requires an update to work with Yosemite. 
• iCloud drive have a default location tab in Finder.
• McAfee is having troubles reporting that all 4 of it's features are enabled at that same time. The most I can get is 3/4.
• The calendar widget on the Notifications pop-out bar doesn't show all-day events.

That's all I have for now, gotta run to class. I'll post some updates as I get more into the thick of it, but for now it's gonna take some getting used to since I did like the color scheme/icon scheme/general looks of Mavericks better. There might be a revert in my near future.

Update 10/20/2014:

A few more things to add:

• McAfee Endpoint Protection was pretty much shot so I had to uninstall it.
• The green snap button now either snap a program onthe main desktop or expand it to full screen, depending on the program. I've found that regularly updated and native Apple programs go full screen while older Microsoft Office programs still snap. The icon that is displayed withing the green button will tell you what action it is going to take by hovering over it.
• Some programs that ran just fine before now require a legacy Java 6 to run (since Yosemite requires Java 8).
• Mail is having some issues verifying certain exchange servers.

iOS 8 Thoughts

Thought I'd make a post, been pretty tied up lately with Senior Design and another design class. Here's my thoughts on iOS8 and some nifty things that I've noticed.

iOS 8 First Thoughts: It's exactly the same, but better.

The first thing I noticed when it booted up was that my default home screen looked 100% exactly the same. The only real "looks" that changed here are the control center (the one that swipes up from bottom) has become more vector art-ish, and the notification center (swipe down from top) has changed to a little more flat vector look as well. The overall design of iOS8 seems to be moving more toward a flat vector design more so than iOS7 did, and away from the skeuomorphic iOS6 and prior designs.

They dropped the "Missed" tab on the notification center, and the widgets in the "Today" tab have changed a little too - the calendar shows more of an agenda view instead of a block calendar view, and you can set Dropbox to display things in this tab as well.

The lock screen now has a line separating notifications from different apps.

When you get an alert that rolls in from the notification bar at the top of the page, swiping down quickly will pull up either a quick reply for messages, or the option to reply to or trash an email.

When you double click the home button to switch between or kill apps, you now have a list of recent contacts that displays at the top for quickly contacting them (message, call, facetime). Swiping right on this line of contact circles will reveal your favorites (contact favorites). You still kill apps by swiping up on them from this screen.

Within messages, you can now send audio and video messages, recorded by holding the microphone icon on the right side of the text bar.

Voice-to-text now shows you what it recorded word by word instead of having to finish the entire recording before it displays.

Swiping left or right on emails within the mail app allows for various new features, such as Mark Unread, Flag, Trash & more.

You can set email threads to notify you specifically when someone replies to the thread.

Siri now has Shazam music identification integration, and can pull up mathematical plots and calculations through what I can only assume is Wolfram|Alpha.

 Camera now includes a delayed photo timer.

Family Sharing looks cool but I haven't really dug into that one yet.

iCloud Drive seems to be Apple's solution to Dropbox (which is weird because Dropbox is integrated into the notification center now too).

You can now choose 3rd party keyboards, such as Swype (popular on android). The new default keyboard includes a predictive text bar, which you can turn off in the Keyboards menu (Predictive -> off).

The whole Handoff feature looks cool but I haven't figured out what apps it works with yet (allows you to start something, then pick it up on another iOS device via iCloud).

The new Healthkit functionality is pretty cool, but it's pretty useless without an app integrating with it via API. A lot of the data sets are arbitrary things that you can't measure on your own.

But good news! GBA4iOS and NDA4iOS still work! Facebook still requires you to download Messenger to see/use messages. Can't win them all.



Will post edits as I find more cool features.

I Can't Think Of A Witty Title, But Here's Everything You Need To Know About Free Computer Programs

So, for those who know me, I work for the IT department for one of the colleges at Purdue (no I do not work for iTap, I would probably go insane). I am constantly getting people asking me to help them fix or setup their personal computers, and 99% of the time, I'm happy to help do just that. However, I am a bit tired of people asking me "What programs should I put on my new computer?" I figured it would just be easier to make a referable post to answer that question.


Windows based computers

Overview
First off, I am not a fan of Windows 8. I don't like the whole "tablets moving toward desktops and desktops moving toward tablets" ideology. That being said, I do have a lot of experience with this OS and while it is nice for some once they get used to it, it is a pain in the ass having to support a load of these computers from an IT perspective. I recommend Windows 7 for anyone considering buying a desktop style computer. It's been around and is still supported for like 95% of software out there. Windows 8 is alright I suppose for anyone in the market for a touchscreen laptop or tablet like the Surface, for instance (but non-touchscreen laptops still deserve Windows 7).


Recommended Free Software
Firefox - my preference for third party internet browsers
Chrome - another solid choice for third party internet browsers
Skype - video chat/IM software, group chats are now free for everyone
iTunes - if you have an Apple device
VLC - a solid all-around great media player
Audacity- a great open source sound-editing program
Adobe Reader - a good PDF viewer
PDFcreator - a good PDF file creator
7-Zip - a great file extraction tool (for unzipping/zipping files)
Dropbox - a nifty tool for Dropbox users that allows syncing to a local folder
Google Drive - a nifty tool for Drive users to launch Drive files
Filezilla - a wonderful file-transfer tool, if you do a lot of that stuff
CCleaner - a cache/trash tool for freeing up extra space on your computer
Handbreak - a CD/DVD ripping tool
Malwarebytes - an anti-malware tool (use in conjunction with an anti-virus program) 

[Runtimes/Plugins]
Java 7
Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Shockwave
Microsoft Silverlight

Classic Start - this is a Windows 8 program that allows you to launch a Windows XP/7 style start menu from the desktop and avoid having to always use the clunky navigation tiles.

Open Office - a free, open source office suite; use if you don't want to pay for Microsoft Office or a 365 sub

Microsoft Office - while Office 2013 and newer are technically *free*, you still have to buy an Office 365 subscription to use them to create files. I recommend buying Office 2010 if you opt for the software, as it is more simplistic and time-tested, and you're probably already familiar with that version.

Anti-virus Software - I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting a good anti-virus program. I personally use McAfee VirusScan Enterprise because Purdue offers it for free to its students, but McAfee, AVG, Norton or Kaspersky are all great options. I also recommend just going ahead and buying the paid version from the get-go, you avoid conflicting installations that way. Also, choose one program and go with it, you'll thank me later when your computer isn't blowing up because multiple anti-virus programs are fighting each other.


Downloading/Installing
Everything listed (except for Microsoft Office, CCleaner  & Adobe Flash) are available for download from Ninite, which is a self-installer website program (and the handiest tool ever for IT people). Just select which programs you want, then download and run the Ninite program and it will automatically install/update all of the programs that you have selected. You can also use it to update all your programs quickly and easily. CCleaner is available from the Piriform site and Adobe Flash Player is available from Adobe. Microsoft Office is available for purchase from Microsoft or a retailer such as BestBuy or Amazon, or likely from your University IT dept. at a discounted price if you attend a college (unfortunately, Purdue no longer offers older Office software at a discounted price though iTap, but does offer a 4 year Office 365 subscription).


Free software installers from Ninite
CCleaner download
Adobe Flash Player download



Mac OS X based computers

Overview
Not to be biased, but I switched to a Mac cold-turkey back in 2011 and never looked back, and I don't think I'll be switching any time soon. I love my Mac and have used it every OS X iteration since Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) (by comparison, I'm currently running OS X Mavericks which is OS X 10.9, with OS X Yosemite (10.10) debuting sometime this year - yes, I'll likely be upgrading). The nice thing about the new future of Apple is that they are making all future OS X releasing since Mavericks free (as in $0.00 to upgrade or install). With every new Apple computer purchase, you get a free download of the Mac office suite as well (Pages, Numbers and Keynote - the Apple equivalent of Word, Excel and Powerpoint).


Recommended Free Software (Non-App Store)
Firefox - my preference for third party internet browsers
Chrome - another solid choice for third party internet browsers
Skype - video chat/IM software, group chats are now free for everyone
VLC - a solid all-around great media player
Audacity- a great open source sound-editing program
PDFcreator - a good PDF file creator, although Preview can manipulate PDFs and is built-in
Dropbox - a nifty tool for Dropbox users that allows syncing to a local folder
Google Drive - a nifty tool for Drive users to launch Drive files
Filezilla - a wonderful file-transfer tool, if you do a lot of that stuff
Handbreak - a CD/DVD ripping tool
Malwarebytes - an anti-malware tool (use in conjunction with an anti-virus program) 

[Runtimes/Plugins]
Java 7
Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Shockwave
Microsoft Silverlight

Anti-virus Software - I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting a good anti-virus program. I personally use McAfee VirusScan Enterprise because Purdue offers it for free to its students, but McAfee, AVG, Norton or Kaspersky are all great options. I also recommend just going ahead and buying the paid version from the get-go, you avoid conflicting installations that way. Also, choose one program and go with it, you'll thank me later when your computer isn't blowing up because multiple anti-virus programs are fighting each other.


Recommended Free Software (App Store)
iTunes - if you have an Apple device or just want to use the native media player
iMovie - video editing software
iPhoto - photo organization program
CCleaner - a cache/trash tool for freeing up extra space on your computer

Microsoft Office - while Office 2014 and newer are technically *free*, you still have to buy an Office 365 subscription to use them to create files. I recommend buying Office 2011 if you opt for the software, as it is more simplistic and time-tested, and you're probably already familiar with that version.

Apple iWork - this is Apple's version of Microsoft Office, and includes Pages, Numbers and Keynote (instead of Word, Excel and Powerpoint). They are free to download from the App Store if you buy a new Mac computer, otherwise they are $20/program as of the last time I checked.

Other Useful Programs/Tools (Free/Paid)
Smart Converter - video format conversion tool; App Store - free
Stuffit Expander - file unarchiving tool (zip, rar files); App Store - free
Caffeine - menu bar tool for disabling screen sleep; App Store - free
Memory Clean - menu bar tool for freeing up memory (RAM); App Store - free
Auditri - FLAC file conversion tool; App Store - paid
InsomniaX - machine sleep tool; Internet - free download page
gfxCardStatus - graphics card switching control tool for 2009-2012 MacBooks; Internet - download page
Nocturne - day/night screen tint/brightness tool; Internet - free download page
Fan Control - allows controlling the speed/turn-on conditions for the internal fan; Internet - download page
Connect 360 - allows streaming music/videos from iTunes to an Xbox 360 over wifi; Internet - purchase
Perian - self-updating media codec tool for a wide variety of formats; Internet - free download page
Itsycal - calendar app that sits in the menu bar, very streamlined and non-intrusive - free download page
PS3 Media Server -DLNA based media server program, useful to stream your Mac files to an Xbox One/PS3/PS4 - free download page

Downloading/Installing
Just like the Ninite program that allows easy installation of the free programs for Windows, GetMacApps allows for easy installation of a lot of the non-App Store programs that I've mentioned. Just open their website, select which programs you want to install, and copy/paste the code they give you into the Terminal app on your mac, and all of the programs that you selected will auto-install.

Programs not available via this method have download links below or next to their description.

Microsoft Office is available for purchase from Microsoft or a retailer such as BestBuy or Amazon, or likely from your University IT dept. at a discounted price if you attend a college (unfortunately, Purdue no longer offers older Office software at a discounted price though iTap, but does offer a 4 year Office 365 subscription). Apple iWork is available for download through the App Store.

Free software installers from GetMacApps
Malwarebytes download
Java 7 download
Adobe Flash Player download
Adobe Shockwave download
Microsoft Silverlight download



Linux based computers

Overview
If you're using Linux, you're obviously advanced enough to not needing to be reading this blog post about what free software to install on your machine.



Afterword
If there is more software or utilities that you think deserves to be on this list or helps you out, feel free to post it and I'll check it out and add it to the list. Also, if you have any questions about any of the programs that I have mentioned or need help in any way setting up or working on your computer, let me know and I'll see if I can indeed help.

The Sony Spiderman Universe

I know that I haven't finished/posted my rant about the Marvel Studios MCU series yet, but I wanted to get out what I have to say about Sony's The Amazing Spiderman movie series and it's developing universe. Also, potential SPOILERS included, read at your own risk if you haven't seen the movies.

Continued after the jump.

Gotta Catch 'Em All

So, it's no surprise that as a 90's kid, pokemon was a big part of my life growing up, especially since I had very few friends and most of the ones that I did have were also pretty into it. I'm talking the trading cards, gameboy games (original Blue version, REPRESENT), TV show, the whole shebang. 

Anyways, I digress, as the point of this post is more or less about a cool app that I found about a month ago: GBA4iOS. It's a side-loadable iOS app that allows one to DL and play Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance games on a device like an iPhone, iPod or iPad. It's actually pretty dang legit. Unfortunately as the powers that be would have it, Nintendo got it taken down (GBA4iOS.com is no longer active, developer Riley Testut posted the copyright takedown notice from Github). So boo Nintendo, launching copyright complaints over games that you don't even manufacture or sell the games or devices for anymore.

EDIT 5/27/2014 - GBA4iOS is now available again, visit http://gba4ios.angelxwind.net/ on your mobile device for the direct sideloading app download.

Anyways, I digress again, as this post is ultimately about the GBA games that I wanted to talk about, and as you've probably guessed by now, I'm talking about pokemon games. Oh yes, the good old nostalgia train is kicking in right about now for about 72% of my readers. I've always had a soft spot for those games through the years, having played playthroughs of various ROMs over the past couple years on computers, but it was only until recently discovering GBA4iOS and watching the Twitch Plays Pokemon run throughs back in April that I wanted to play through some myself. If you didn't see the whole crowd-controlled pokemon Red and Gold playthroughs on Twitch Plays Pokemon, then you missed some of the best entertainment of the year (they spent 24 hours trying to navigate the warp pad maze in the Team Rocket Game Corner Base).

Now I'll always be a fan of the orignal Red/Blue and Gold/Silver/Crystal stories, and the Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald games were pretty good too, but after that is where new pokemon kinda fell off the face of the earth for me (I don't consider anything after Gen III to be "real" pokemon. So naturally, when I found GBA4iOS, I started out with a FireRed playthrough, cause 'dat original storyline and 'dose graphics tho. It brought the nostalgia back pretty quickly. But it wasn't enough. I went into the ROM archive to find a new game after beating FireRed, and what did I discover?

The glorious thing known as Pokemon ROM hack games.

A hack game is one that has been, well, hacked, to have new features, graphics, gameplay, etc. There's even a flew out there that are entirely new games (for example, the Pokemon Flora Sky version is based off of FireRed's graphics and engine but has an entirely new map, storyline, and pokemon all the way through Gen VI). Basically, I've now played through 2 of the 3 hacks that I plan on playing through, and this is what I've been trying to ultimately get at.

1. Pokemon AshGray:

This hack ROM has been redesigned as a Kanto playthrough with an entirely redesigned map, new features such as no HMs, and the entire storyline is that of Ash's story from the first season of the TV show. There are overworld events such as pikachu not listening, finding bulbasaur/squirtle/charmander in their respective situations, letting butterfree go, etc. It's was probably the best ROM playthrough experience that I've had since playing a new game on an actual gameboy as a kid. 

Jake's rating: 9/10

2. Pokemon Emerald Dreams:

This hack ROM is a remake of Emerald with FireRed's engine and graphics. Although I haven't played through this one, it's very well received and supposedly serves as the prequel to the Pokemon Liquid Crystal.

3. Pokemon Liquid Crystal:

This hack ROM is a remake of the original Crystal version with FireRed's engine, with like 5x the gameplay. No lie, I've logged 100 hours of gameplay (25 in real time since I fast forward it to 4x speed). Not only does it have the original Crystal story, it has a a variety of added dungeon locations including an undersea cavern system connecting all of Kanto/Johto, Gen I/II/III pokemon capable of completing the Gen III national pokedex, a whole new villainous team (Team Saturn) with their own events, new Team Rocket events, new rivals, and a whole new Orange Islands map area and event structure. I haven't even made it all the way through the Orange Islands events and I'm still over 100 hours of logged gameplay. It has a few bugs, but nothing that detracts from the overall experience. It is an excellently pieced together hack and I've thoroughly enjoyed playing it and discovering all the new features, not to mention that you can get every legendary from Gens I-III.

Jake's rating: 9.9/10

If any of my readers want me to send them a side-loadable copy of GBA4iOS 2.0, just send me a message and I'll send you the file and instructions on how to install it on your device.

Well that's enough geeking out for me for one post.

How American Are You

This weekend I was lucky enough to get the chance to attend the Purdue Astronaut Reunion Forum, which for those who weren't in attendance, was a huge Q&A event with 7 of Purdue's 23 astronauts hosted by Purdue President Mitch Daniels. I also got to attend a smaller Q&A session with Gene Cernan (the last man on the moon, Apollo 17) alone with the ECE department (as Gene attended Purdue for a BSEE back in the day).

By the end of the forum, it was our running gag that everything that Gene Cernan said boiled down to "America, F*CK YEAH," which, well, was pretty true. It was a great time, and as a result of some of the jokes that resulted from Gene's apparent patriotism, I give you "How American Are You, A Sliding Scale." You can fill in the pieces where other big names/events/things would fit. It's not exhaustive by any means, but I got a kick out of it, so knock yourself out.

Unravelling the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Part 1

So something that's been bugging me a lot over the past few weeks is the extreme development of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and what that means for viewers.

So, let's start simple and work our way there.

If you're not familiar with Marvel comics/heroes, then why are you even still reading this? Marvel technically started in 1939 as Timely Publication, then ran through the WWII era as Atlas Publications before finally launching as the Marvel Worldwide that we know and love in 1961, spawning the start of our modern heroes with the Fantastic Four. Some well known characters from the Marvel universe include favorites such as Spiderman, Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, X-men, Wolverine, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Thor, and some 5000+ more characters. Now in 2009, Disney acquired Marvel Worldwide's parent company, and now controls Marvel Studios, which produces most of the recent superhero movies (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers), and the nice thing about one studio pumping out all these movies is that they share continuity, with one movie's storyline somehow affecting or spawning the storyline of another movie down the road, and characters showing up in different movies across the board.

So what, you ask? Why does any of this matter? And more importantly, why isn't Spiderman in the Avengers when he was in the comics?

Well, that's a good question. Our answer can be found back in the 1990s when Marvel decided to start selling off movie franchise rights to keep itself funded. They did this on the stipulations that the studios had to make a movie involving that character/franchise every X amount of years, or the franchise rights revert back to Marvel Studios. Sony acquired Spiderman, Fox got X-men and Fantastic Four, Universal got Namor, and Lionsgate got Man-Thing. Below is a nice breakdown of who owns the rights to what:

So what else does this mean? It means that Spiderman can't be in the Avengers movies because Sony owns his franchise rights and probably won't give that up until the make 40,000 reboot prequels first. That also means that any other heroes/villains directly associated with Spiderman are also over at Sony. The same deal goes with Fantastic Four and their respective villains, and the whole X-men/mutant crowd at Fox. This actually brings up an interesting point, as Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver as technically the twin children of Magneto (X-men), but are appearing in Marvel Studios next Avengers movie. It will be interesting to see how they work around that. Man-Thing got turned into a Sci-Fi channel TV movie, and Namor's screenplay got scrapped (which his rights will probably revert back soon anyways).

Ok. At this point you're probably asking yourself why you read all of this and where I'm going with it. Well, here's the short answer. It explains why Sony is rebooting Spiderman with Andrew Garfield's 4-movie contract in The Amazing Spiderman after the disappointing Toby Maguire trilogy ending, why Fox is still churning out sub-par X-men and wolverine prequel movies and is about to reboot Fantastic Four (with a black Human Torch, just why?), BUT NOT WHY THEY AREN'T MAKING A DEADPOOL MOVIE.

Part 2 comes later will more relevant information & ranting. Peace.