Author: raymond padilla

Random Thoughts on The Fate of the Furious

The Fate of the Furious is the latest chapter in the saga of Dominic Toretto and his vaunted family (#family). Starting with Fast Five, the franchise has transformed from a tale about street racers to a tale of international adventurers. While there’s a race early on in the movie, the rest is about fast cars, ridiculous action, massive collateral damage, vicious punches, and diatribes about family. Although there are some new characters and major changes to old ones, nothing about The Fate of the Furious feels fresh. It’s loads of fun if you’re looking for big, dumb action, but I doubt it will create any new fans.

Here are some random thoughts on The Fate of the Furious, presented in RPadTV binary style. If you don’t want to see any spoilers then it’s time to hit the NOS button and drive on outta here.

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Vaping Diaries #385: Uwell Crown 2 vs. Uwell Crown 3

The Uwell Crown 3 is the latest in the company’s line of sub-ohm tanks. The original Crown was one of the first sub-ohm tanks to use stainless steel coils and was able to handle higher wattages than its competitors. While it vaped nicely, it was a bit of an eyesore. The Crown 2 offered greatly improved looks, but the initial coils were troublesome. I still enjoy the original Crown and, after some coil revisions, the Crown 2 has become one of my favorite sub-ohm tanks. With all of that in mind, I was excited to check out the Crown 3. Uwell’s latest tank looks similar to the Crown 2, but has a number of substantial differences under the hood. Let’s check it out!

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RPadTV Homescreen For Evolv DNA and YiHi SX Mods

Do you use a mod with an Evolv DNA or YiHi SX chip? Are you tired of your plain and boring home screen? If you’ve answered yes to both of those questions then feel free to download this file for a snazzy RPadTV graphic. Whether you’re rocking a DNA 250, DNA 75, SX350, or SX450 mod, it will become exponentially cooler with an RPadTV custom home screen. This has been clinically proven…by scientists and stuff. It’s true!

New Day Rocks WrestleMania 33 With Final Fantasy

WWE faction The New Day rocked WrestleMania 33 with an assist from the legendary Final Fantasy videogame series. Serving as the hosts for WWE’s biggest event of the year, the team came out dressed as characters from Final Fantasy’s job system. Xavier Woods was dressed as a monk, Big E was decked out like a samurai, and Kofi Kingston made for a dashing red mage. The team even had a pushcart (filled with New Day ice cream, naturally) adorned with chocobos and moogles. Check out the clip below to see  New Day’s spectacular WrestleMania 33 entrance.

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Random Thoughts on Logan (Wolverine, X-Men)

Logan is easily one of the two best comic-book movies Fox has ever released. It would be difficult to argue with anyone that says it’s the best. For me, it’s not (more on that later), but that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that Logan is a fantastic movie that serves as a bittersweet farewell to Hugh Jackman’s take on Wolverine. Before I go any further, activate your X-gene’s spoiler-blocking abilities, because it’s time for some random thoughts on Logan.

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Five Reasons Why March 2017 Will Be an Awesome Nerd Month

March is going to a be a glorious month for nerds and people with nerdish tendencies. There are so many wonderful things to look forward to — potentially fantastic movies, a new videogame console, and an all-new, all-different television series from Marvel. While I’m still adjusting to life in America after a month in Asia, these things will certainly make the transition easier. Let’s take a look at all the brilliant nerd stuff coming in March 2017.

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Coffee Talk #673: Low-Hanging Fruit

Several weeks ago in the RPad.TV chat, smartguy used the term “low-hanging fruit.” He was talking about politicians and their predilection for doing the bare minimum in order to get the job (kinda) done. As usual, I agreed with his take, but I also started having flashbacks (not quite flashbacks to ‘Nam, but along those lines in a less traumatic way).

You see, last year I worked for a website that constantly used the phrase low-hanging fruit in regards to editorial strategy.  Continue reading “Coffee Talk #673: Low-Hanging Fruit”

Alex Fernandez DICE 2017 Interview (AIAS)

A few weeks ago, I had an extremely animated chat with Streamline Studios CEO and cofounder Alex Fernandez. Obviously, we spoke about his company, which develops original games and assists on some major franchises (Street Fighter, BioShock, Saints Row, and more). The conversation became loaded when Alex Fernandez wanted to discuss politics. He released a video statement (embedded below) speaking out against United States President Donald Trump’s immigration policy. As Alex Fernandez is a Latino-American that operates a business with offices in America, Europe, and Asia (in Malaysia, a primarily Muslim country), he had strong opinions on the matter. Here’s some of what he had to say.

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Jason Rubin DICE 2017 Interview (AIAS)

Here’s a DICE 2017 chat I had with Jason Rubin, head of content for Oculus VR. Some of you will remember Jason Rubin as the cofounder of Naughty Dog, while those of you that follow the videogame industry closely will recall some controversial statements he made at previous DICE Summit events. In the chat below, he discusses what he said at DICE 10 years ago, how his views have developed over the years, and the tremendous potential of VR gaming. Here’s a clip from my conversation with Jason Rubin.

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CHiPs Will Be My Favorite Bad Movie of 2017

I’m very much excited for CHiPs, starring Dax Shepard and Michael Pena as California policemen Jon Baker and Frank “Ponch” Poncherello. Oh, I’m certain that it’s not going to be a “good” movie, but I’m also certain that it will have its moments. CHiPs is late to the party of ’70s television show remakes hitting the big screen. Charlie’s Angels, Starsky & Hutch, and The Dukes of Hazzard have already received Hollywood remakes. However, CHiPs holds a special place in my heart and I’m more excited for this movie than I was for any of its contemporaries.

Nostalgia is, of course, a tremendous factor in CHiPs’ appeal. As a kid, the show resonated with me for several reasons. First, motorcycles are frickin’ cool. My childhood friend Chris and I would ride our bikes as we pretended to be Ponch and Jon, substituting the bland sidewalks of New York for the exotic highways of California. The show was also the first time I saw a non-white lead. That was huge for me as a kid. All my other favorite TV characters were white (Batman, Buck Rogers, the Dukes, etc.). Sure, I wasn’t Puerto Rican like Erik Estrada (Ponch), but the fact that a non-white person could be the coolest guy on the show was a revelation.

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