GEEKING OUT! A places for nerds, geeks & freaks

[thedivahrrrself]

[thedivahrrrself]

[thedivahrrrself]

[thedivahrrrself]

[UofMfan]

[thedivahrrrself]

Originally Posted by UofMfan

A vigil, for the characters we loved:

Lady (Sansa's direworlf)

Mycah (the little boy Arya was playing with)

Luwin (the old guy who took care of the Stark boys)

Ros (everyone's favorite whore, recently killed by the evil Joffrey)

Jeor Mormont (Jorah's father and Lord Commander of the Night's Watch)

Drogo and Rhaego

King Robert

Ned Stark

Renly Baratheon

Robb Stark and Talisa and baby Eddard

and of course, the beautiful and strong Lady Catelyn



Feel free to add your own grievings....

[thedivahrrrself]

I might not have put Batman in with these Epics...

[tonaderspeisung]

did anyone else use the konami code on the british vogue website - it amused my inner geek to no end

[thedivahrrrself]

[deb_U_taunt]

[*Anya*]

No Touching! An Arrested Development Quiz from Geeks Who Drink

Category: Other
When: Saturday, July 20, 2013 5:00 pm

How: Official Website
Cost: $5.00

What/Why: And now the story of a wealthy family whose future was abruptly canceled, and the one quiz company who had no choice but to hope there'd be a fourth season worth of material to ask about.

It's Geeks Who Drink's 'Arrested Development'... quiz.

This July Geeks Who Drink is delving back into the world of the Bluths in the wake of the highly anticipated Netflix-supplied fourth season with NO TOUCHING, our third Arrested Development Quiz.

Sure, you may have napped during the George Sr. parts, but by now most 'Arrested Development' geeks already know how many episodes featured an ostrich, which characters played The Thing in Tobias' Fantastic Four musical, and the names of the three woodblock apps on the iTunes store. This is your team's chance to show off and win a cash prize of anywhere between $200 and $500!

LEGAL NOTE: In some jurisdictions "cash prize" may be awarded in the form of Babytock devices.

As always, teams are limited to six players, and there's an admission fee of $5 per player. The quiz won't be entirely Season 4, though. We'll have plenty of questions from the first three seasons, so get ready for your second (or third) rewatch of the year. Also, we're not just tooting our own horn when we say this was the most popular quiz event of last year, but this was the most popular quiz event of last year with thousands of attendees across the country. You don't need to camp out or anything crazy, but plan to get there at least an hour or so ahead of time so that you don't miss out on all the cornholing action.

Never been to one of our themed quizzes before? Read the FAQs below so you know what to expect!

Oh, and here's the trailer for the event:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AVzj5QA...%3DAVzj5QAXgXI

QUIZ LOCATIONS

ALBUQUERQUE
O'Niell's Pub (Heights) (9pm) | 3301 Juan Tabo Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111

AUSTIN
Opal Divine's Penn Field (10pm) | 3601 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX | (512) 707-0237

BOSTON
Common Ground* (5pm) | 85 Harvard Avenue, Allston, MA | (617) 783-2071

CHICAGO, IL
Pitchfork Food and Saloon (2pm) | 2922 West Irving Park Road, Chicago, IL | (773) 866-2010

COSTA MESA, CA
Durty Nelly's (5pm) | 2915 Red Hill Avenue G101, Costa Mesa, CA | (714) 957-1951

DALLAS/FORT WORTH
West End Pub (7:30pm) | 1801 North Lamar Street #100, Dallas, TX | (214) 748-5711

DENVER
Moe's BBQ (Englewood) (5pm) | 3295 S Broadway, Englewood, CO 80113

GLENDALE, CA
Complex (Doors at 4, quiz at 5:30pm) | 806 Colorado Street, Glendale, CA | (323) 642-7519

HOUSTON, TX
Lucky Strike Lanes (6pm) | 1201 San Jacinto Street, Houston, TX | (713) 343-3300

KANSAS CITY, MO
Charlie Hoopers (3pm) | 12 West 63rd Street, Kansas City, MO | (816) 361-8841

KNOXVILLE, TN
Preservation Pub (5pm) | 28 Market Square, Knoxville, TN | (865) 524-2224

MADISON, WI
Buck and Badger (3pm) | 115 State Street, Madison, WI | (608) 230-7999

NEW ORLEANS
Bruno's Tavern (7pm) | 7538 Maple St New Orleans, LA 70118

PITTSBURGH
James Street Gastropub (7pm) | 422 Foreland Street, Pittsburgh, PA | (412) 904-3335

ROCHESTER, NY
Southwedge Colony (9pm) | 503 South Ave Rochester, NY 14620

SACRAMENTO
Capitol Garage (7:30pm) | 1500 K Street, Sacramento, CA | (916) 444-3633

SALT LAKE CITY
Gracie's (4pm) | 326 South West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT | (801) 819-7565

SAN ANTONIO
Firehouse Pub (5pm) 5380 Walzem Road, San Antonio, TX | (210) 946-9600

SEATTLE*
Ballard Loft (2pm) | 5105 Ballard Avenue Northwest, Seattle, WA | (206) 420-2737

TUCSON
The Canyon's Crown Restaurant and Pub (8pm) | 6958 East Tanque Verde Road, Tucson, AZ | (520) 885-8277

This list could change or be adjusted, so follow up as the event gets closer in case we updated anything.

*We may offer an additional seating for this event at this location. Stay tuned.

THEMED QUIZ FAQs

How much to play?
It's $5 per person to play (bring cash!), and we'll ask you to pay for everyone on your team before we give you quiz materials.

What's the maximum/minimum players per team?
There is no minimum, but if you want to win, you should have a fully staffed squad. Use our Facebook and Twitter to recruit. Team maximum is strictly six players, as always.

Can we play the quiz twice by traveling to another city?
No. No. And no. First of all, our themed quizzes are now on Saturdays (with the rarest of exceptions). Secondly, even if you figure out a way to cheat, don't do it. We will catch you. Again, the answer is no. We had a team who did this once, and they are cheaters. No, we're never going to let it go, thanks for asking.

Can minors play?
That's entirely up to the venue. Check with them.

Do spectators have to pay?
Yes. Yes, they do. Spectators generally have to pay for sporting events, right? This also goes for Geeks Who Drink employees that aren't working at the event.

Can my dad/girlfriend/friend sit at our table and not play? No. Six people max seated at a table and all players must pay.Can you host this at BLANK bar in BLANK city? No. We host these at venues that meet certain criteria. So, if we're not in your city, there won't be a quiz. If we're in your city, and there's no quiz, we're sorry. Feel free to let us know if you think demand is there, and maybe next time we'll get it started.

Is there a prize for second place?
Nope, this is winner take all. But second place is impressive; you should be proud.

How is the prize amount determined?
In most cases, the prize amount is 50% of the total take. Why not 100%? Because we have to cover our costs of producing and marketing these event quizzes.

Will BLANK TOPIC be covered?
Everything is fair game. Study hard. And we never give clues.

Do I need to RSVP?
Seating is first-come, first-served and there are no reservations. These things quite often sell out, so get there as early as you can to guarantee a seat.

[thedivahrrrself]

For music geeks!

I was watching Music Voyager yesterday, and it was in Hollywood, FL, of all places, covering a festival to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of Ponce de Leon. Hollywood looks beautiful, and they are having a bit of an artistic renaissance from the looks of it.

They covered this great flamenco singer/guitar player/killer percussionist, and he was talking about collaborating with Cuban musicians. He said this was interesting because Afro-Cuban music uses a rhythmic system called clave, which goes in two-measure patterns, as opposed to the system classical musicians are used to with predictable emphasis every 1 measure and 4 measure phrases. This immediately interested me, and upon listening and drumming out a few of the beats, I was crazy fascinated!

So basically, it's like writing music in 8/4 time, which gives you some room to play with your rhythm and vary it without worrying about the every measure emphasis (on the upbeat of 1 &3 that is so popular, for instance).

If you take this even further on the melodic side, not having the 4-measure phrasing means some chord patterns can be a lot more complex and less predictable.

OK, so I just had to geek out on that for a minute. Because it totally explained why my brain has just attached itself to Cuban music for the last year or so.... the patterns are so unique and intricate, and now I know why

[Kelt]

275,000 Dominoes - Enjoy Your Life (Guinness World Record)

[thedivahrrrself]

[thedivahrrrself]

“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.'”

― Edgar D. Mitchell

[always2late]

[Allison W]

So I played Rogue Legacy recently. It's pretty bloody great. It's a strange side-scrolling dungeon-crawling action-RPG that doesn't take your shit, and its hook is that every time you die, instead of loading a previous save or whatever, you pick an heir from a group of three randomly generated descendants to pick up where you left off. Random gender, random name, random class, and... 0-2 random traits. Ranging from stuff like peripheral arterial disease to Alzheimer's to attention deficit disorder to hypochondria to stereo blindness to irritable bowel syndrome to nostalgia. Kind of like in real life, you don't get to hand-craft your kids and have to just kind of take them as they are, with their quirks and their choice of profession (well, eventually you can get an upgrade that lets you use mad science to reroll your kids once per generation, but that's it). Sometimes they're fat or a little potty-mouthed or are terrified of chickens or are insane or are not the profession you were hoping for or are just really tall or have an eidetic memory or are exceptionally flexible or are gay or so on, and that's OK. (Some of the traits that sound negative, like peripheral arterial disease, are actually really useful, and this amuses the stuffing out of me for some reason.)

I went through 72 goddamn generations trying to get to the throne room of that castle, and on the 72nd, Lady Faye VI, the Legendary Lich Queen, beat the final boss when she was one hit away from not going back to her wife and kids. It was pretty tense. And then I started New Game Plus mode, at the end of which Lady Stephanie VII, the Legendary Spellsword, was the one to complete the family's quest, which I imagine beat the hell out of her other potential career choice, that of putting on a jester's costume and being Stephanie the Farter, flatulist to the king.

You know what I'll just shut up and give you a link with a trailer and screenshots and a description that does it better. http://store.steampowered.com/app/241600/

[thedivahrrrself]

Ran across this on FB - ♥♥♥

[thedivahrrrself]

10 Words That You've Probably Been Misusing

[Allison W]

Just finished Brütal Legend (well, finished the campaign and got 100% on the single-player stats screen, but I haven't beaten it on Brütal difficulty or gotten all the achievements). It was pretty bloody great. I went in mostly thinking I was just going to get a world made out of metal album covers and face-melting guitar solos that actually melt faces and stuff and cameos by metal stars and other big names (the Guardian of Metal is Ozzie Osbourne, General Lionwhyte is voiced by Rob Halford of Judas Priest, the Kill Master is voiced by Lenny Kilmister of Motörhead, Rima is voiced by Lita Ford, and the demonic Emperor Doviculus is voiced by Tim Curry), and I got that and an actual narrative and characterization and excellent world-building and mythology with Titans and Metal Gods and introduced to a lot of great new metal too (the game's track list is just a bit over 100 songs, ranging from Black Sabbath to Marilyn Manson to KMFDM to Lita Ford to Dragonforce to Whitesnake to Cradle of Filth and on and on and on, and some pretty great more-obscure stuff too). Forgive that run-on sentence but there is quite a bit of awesome packed into this game.

The protagonist, Eddie Riggs, is a roadie who ends up transported back in time to the Age of Metal when his blood gets into the mouth of his belt buckle, which is actually an icon of the Fire Beast, Ormagöden. The "roadie" thing is fairly important, as a roadie's job is to take care of all the practical concerns in a music show, like stage-building and working with the crew. Part of this, in this game, is helping the leaders of the human resistance movement (long story), Lars and Lita Halford, assemble a metal army, and guiding that metal army in metal rebellion against metal oppressors like hair metal warlords and S&M demons (remember the mythology bit? imagine mythology describing how BDSM demons got into BDSM; that's actually in there). It turns out it's a game that's a lot like playing a D&D bard if D&D bards were awesome and didn't suck: a lot of the game mechanics involve helping and empowering allies rather than fighting all the battles yourself. One fine detail I noticed is that you don't get rewards (Fire Tributes from the Metal Gods, used to buy access to their secrets at Motor Forges raised by powerful guitar solos) for killing randomly encountered enemies yourself, but you do get rewards for encountering a battle between friendly and enemy forces and intervening to help your allies.

Some of the elements of this whole... working with and empowering others thing tripped up some of the earlier reviewers and players, who were expecting a hack-and-slash and not expecting that the game had mass battles with real-time-strategy elements. I knew what I was getting into, though, and it was fine; only two of the battles are actually that troublesome, and both have a trick to them that makes them easier.

One thing that did worry me at first was the matter of treatment of women, particularly at Lars's mention that the young men of the human resistance movement were enslaved in General Lionwhyte's mines and the young women had been taken to his Pleasure Tower (ugh). And then I ended up quite surprised by how it was actually handled in the end--early-game spoilers here, admittedly, but Eddie never has to lead a rescue mission for the young women like he expected, because a female character gets it arranged and taken care of well ahead of schedule. Instead of rescuing them, Eddie instead ends up arming them (with guns harvested from the local metal wildlife--you read that right) for the war against Lionwhyte, and before they join the Halfords' army, they've already developed their own group identity that isn't defined in terms of their relationship to male characters, including their own graffiti. Moreover--particularly if you speak to your units prior to major battles--the game actually appeared to understand that the attitude of women being seen as a resource or reward or otherwise as objects--"chicks 'n' booze 'n' stuff," to quote Lionwhyte's hair bangers--comes at the expense of the "chicks" in question.

Beyond the above, there are a couple of important female characters in the story that majorly affect the plot, including one who's absolutely critical to the backstory (not gonna say anymore, 'cause humongous spoilers). The game's track list includes women artists--not a whole truckload, but they're there, including original work for the game by Lita Ford (who also does voice acting in the game). I admit I would have loved to play a badass woman metal warrior rolling over the Brütal Land in a badass car with flame decals and chopping up metal oppressors with a badass axe, but failing that, I appreciate that the game actually treats women as people. (Well, I guess there were the scantily clad jungle amazons with the KISS-like face paint, whom Eddie remarked seemed like they looked like they must be awfully cold and at other times offered them t-shirts, but.)

It's going for like twenty bucks now. I snagged it on Steam while it was on sale for half that price. Worth every cent. If you're not a gamer, or don't want to deal with the RTS elements, or otherwise have no plan of actually playing it, look up the cutscenes, and possibly some of the missions/major battles on Youtube. Even people who don't like playing the game (see: real-time strategy elements) have described it as great to watch (and to listen to).

By the by, the ASCII code for a lowercase u with umlaut (ü) is ALT (hold) + 129. The code for a lowercase o with umlaut (ö) is ALT (hold) + 148. Make sure you have NumLock on.