WWE Make-A-Wish Charity Event

Yesterday afternoon, I received a call to do some red-carpet interviews at WWE’s “Superstars For Hope” charity event for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. WWE fans know that the company does a lot of work with this outstanding charity. John Cena makes a lot of appearances for Make-A-Wish and as much as I dislike his character, it’s awesome to see how happy he makes children with life-threatening medical conditions. Most of the talent I spoke with put Cena’s charity work over in a major way, which is completely deserved. While I was mostly stuck with scripted questions, I did have some fun off-camera chats with some WWE Superstars and Divas. Here are some random notes and photos from the event.

Triple H
I’ve interviewed Hunter a few times, with my first interview being at E3 ’98 (I think) when he was European Champion. He’s always been good to chat with, but was usually very serious about his character and the WWE business. This time around I got goofy Hunter — the Triple H from Degeneration-X. While many fans know him for his intense pro-wrestling character or as a serious behind-the-scenes worker, it seems like time and fatherhood has mellowed him out. For example, one of the questions in my script was, “What makes Summer Slam different from other WWE events?” His answer caught me by surprise:

“Well, it’s in August. None of our other pay-per-views are in August. That’s different.”

He did follow up with a more serious answer, equating Summer Slam and WrestleMania to the All-Star Game and World Series, respectively. Still, that deadpan opener made me laugh. It was goofy and I love goofy humor.

Daniel Bryan
This one was a lot of fun for me as a longtime Bryan Danielson fan. He told me a story from his indie days, about sleeping in his car on Wilshire Boulevard in order to save money. He was parked in a restaurant parking lot and the police told him to move. He didn’t want any trouble, so he drove to a residential area and slept in his car’s trunk. Going from that to the main event of Summer Slam has been quite the journey. I’m really thrilled for his success.

That said, it has come at a price. While he’s an amazing wrestler, red-carpet walks and press-conference speeches are relatively new things to him. The jacket-and-tie combo was definitely not his thing. His outfit was put together by his girlfriend, WWE Diva Brie Bella. She was proud of the ensemble she put together. When I asked Danielson if he had to buy all of it or if he had any parts of the outfit already in his closet, he looked at his clothes and said, “Just the cords. I’ve had these cords for a long time.” The cords were, of course, the scraggliest part of the ensemble.

Lastly, we chatted a bit about Austin Aries (the best wrestler in TNA and the greatest man that ever lived). The two worked together for years on the independent circuit. Thanks to going to Aries’ shows, I was exposed to awesome wrestlers that are making it big in the WWE. It was fun watching wrestlers like CM Punk, Claudio Castagnoli (Antonio Cesaro), and Danielson perform in bingo halls and high-school gyms. It’s a testament to their talent, hard work, and perseverance that they are where they are today. Hopefully Danielson wins the WWE Championship at Summer Slam and Aries captures the TNA belt soon. That would make the world a better place.

Stone Cold Steve Austin
It’s always awesome seeing a pro-wrestling legend. For many people, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin represents the pinnacle of the WWE. I’ve been watching this guy for a long time, back from when he was “Stunning” Steve Austin. When he was part of the Hollywood Blonds with Brian Pillman and when he feuded with Ricky Steamboat, I always thought, “This guy should be way better. Why isn’t he a star yet?!?” As you know, he went on to become one of the biggest stars in WWE history.

Austin seems happy doing movies and television. With his Hollywood experiences, he was easily the smoothest red-carpet interview of the night and it’s clear that this is his world now. I do wonder if working with Sylvester Stallone has influenced him. I don’t know if Austin has had plastic surgery, but it sure looks like it. His skin appears remarkably taught for a man his age and he has the telltale sign of limited mouth movement. I get that it’s part of Hollywood and everyone does it out here, but it kind of takes away from his completely kick-ass character from the WWE Attitude Era. Can you imagine the guy that beat the crap out of his boss with a bedpan getting Botox and collagen injections? Ha!

Then again, Austin has made it clear that he loved his time in the WWE and has moved onto other things. Oh well, at least his (supposed) plastic surgery makes more sense than Garry Shandling’s.

Assorted Notes
The Uso brothers are really chill and fun. Hopefully they get to show this side of their personalities in their characters in the future…. Nattie Neidhart is really charming in real life. I dig her sense of humor. I remember laughing at her use of the phrase, “You better settle your tea kettle,” when I interviewed her in 2010…. Funkadactyl Cameron is super-cute in person…. CM Punk is so polished now. He’s gotten so good at these types of interviews — very different from the guy that posed with my Pokemon toys in 2008…. Interviews I was bummed to miss: Mick Foley, Dolph Ziggler, and Brodus Clay…. I love shaking hands with the Big Show. It’s like sticking your hand in a turkey…. Hornswaggle is one helluva gamer. We had a nice chat about PlayStation 4 vs. Xbox One…. Speaking of which, it seems like most of the WWE gamers are going with Xbox One over PS4…. I was sad that Fandango didn’t correct my pronunciation of his name….

Grand Theft Auto Online Trailer

Rockstar Games has posted a gameplay trailer for Grand Theft Auto Online (embedded below). Based off of the video, the game looks like an impressive mix of GTA gameplay, competitive play, cooperative play, and user-created content. That’s…impressive. There’s a very high chance that people will be drawn to the game because of the Grand Theft Auto name and stick around because there’s so much to do. On paper, I really love the diversity it offers; players that enjoy beating each other up can play competitively, those that enjoy tearing up cities with expertly coordinated team-based attacks can play cooperatively, and creative types can construct all kinds of things for players to enjoy.

Now that the trailer is up and you’ve had some time to imagine the possibilities, I’d love to hear what you think about Grand Theft Auto Online. Is it something you’d play? Do you think it will be another smash hit by Rockstar? Do you think we should start an RPad.TV gang? What kind of gang would it be? Would we terrorize cities? Try to make the world a better place? Or crumble due to infighting? Leave a comment and let me know (please!).

Grand Theft Auto Online Trailer

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

This weekend, I’ll be continuing (finishing) the incredibly mundane task of switching my work-related notes from Catch Notes to Evernote. Thankfully, I’ll be mixing in some DuckTales: Remastered to break things up. I’m curious about this game. Several of my friends in the gaming business have been playing it and most of them are raving about it. I have fond memories of the original, but it’s been so long that I don’t remember why it was so much fun back in the day. Hopefully it’s a fun-filled escapade that blends classic platform gameplay with spruced up graphics. My fear is that it won’t be that good and will make me think, “Why did I like the original DuckTales so much in the first place?” Yes, that totally qualifies as a first-world problem.

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist?

Win a KRE-O Star Trek USS Enterprise Construction Set

My buddy at CuteMonster is having a contest for the super-cool KRE-O Strek Trek USS Enterprise Construction Set. Since many of you are Star Trek nerds and you should all be LEGO nerds, this is something you should enter. (And yes, I know this is a KRE-O toy and not a LEGO toy, but I’m using LEGO the same way many people use Coke as a general term for soda.) This Star Trek toy is totally cool! I’d love to win one for the price of free. I wonder if you can buy extra packs of red-shirted Starfleet officers to use as fodder….

Source

Watch the Evil Game Design Challenge

Here’s a long, but terribly fascinating, video featuring three veteran game developers participating in the “The Evil Game Design Challenge.” The panel is hosted by Scott Foe, known for his work on the Sega Dreamcast, the Nokia N-Gage, and, most recently, Douche Defender. The participants have been in the gaming business for a long time, but have recently been focused on free-to-play games. You’ll watch Greg Costikyan, Dan Rubenfield, and Ethan Levy — dressed as evil villains — compete to come up with the best monetization, retention, and virality plans for Super Mario Bros. 3. Yes, imposing modern monetization, retention, and virality methods on an all-time classic is evil.

Check out the clip below and let me know what you think of “The Evil Game Design Challenge” (I usually say please, but since the subject matter is evil, I’m leaving it out). Lastly, help me get over my hangup that “virality” is becoming a word.

Source

Call of Duty: Ghosts Multiplayer Reveal Trailer

Activision has posted a multiplayer trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts. I’m looking forward to the game, but honestly, I’m more into the Skylanders franchise these days. However, I know that several of you RPadholics are into the franchise, so kindly check out the video below and let me know what you think.

On a side note, I noticed that this game will be getting two special editions — “Hardened” and “Prestige.” Are any of you planning to get hard or prestigious with Call of Duty: Ghosts? Continue reading “Call of Duty: Ghosts Multiplayer Reveal Trailer”

Charles Dance to Star in Witcher 3

CD Projekt RED has announced that Charles Dance will voice the Emperor of Nilfgaard in Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This is completely awesome. Why is this completely awesome? Because Charles Dance is completely awesome! That’s why. In recent years, fantasy nerds have marveled at Dance’s portrayal of Tywin Lannister in HBO’s Game of Thrones. While he has been brilliant as that character, Dance’s brilliance to the nerd community goes back a long ways. Many of you RPadholics know and love Dance from The Golden Child, in which he played Sardo Numspa (Brother Numsie!). Lastly, Dance completely owned in Last Acton Hero as Benedict, one of the coolest bad guys to grace the silver screen.

I was already looking forward to Witcher 3, but now that Sardo Numspa/Benedict/Tywin Lannister has been revealed as one of the game’s voice actor, I want the game even more. To celebrate this awesome news, let’s take a look back at some of Charles Dance’s best scenes.

Vaping Diaries #89: Ahlusion Review VI

Ahlusion’s aromatic e-liquids are some of the best tobacco juices you can buy. Made with naturally-extracted tobacco, these e-liquids are fantastic for vapers looking for authentic and complex tobacco flavors. In the past, I’ve covered Ahlusion’s Blue Grass Burley, Devil Dog!, Vurley, and Honey Cured aromatics. This time around I vaped Cocoa Blend, Maple Burley, and Sweet Georgia Peach.

These flavored aromatics behaved similarly. The striking tobacco hits your first and is complemented wonderfully by the secondary flavor. These juices are heavy and not recommended for carto/tanks (the coils will gunk up fast). Dripping gives you more of the tobacco flavor (my personal preference), while vaping in a Kanger T3 clearomizer brought out the sweetness of the complementary flavor. Keep in mind that when using a clearomizer, you’ll have to rinse and dry-burn the coils more frequently. Unlike many made-to-order e-liquids, the aromatic line doesn’t require steeping and is ready to go right from the mailbox.

As with my previous Ahlusion orders, these juices were immaculately packed. As far as protection goes, the company does the best packing job I’ve seen. As for the e-liquids themselves — they’re fantastic! The tobacco flavor is superb and the complementary flavor blends in marvelously. Here are the flavor breakdowns and steeping notes.

Cocoa Blend: This juice took me by surprise, due to my own ignorance. I’ve had a lot of bad chocolate e-liquids, but this one uses cocoa, not chocolate. My friend Andrew let me try some of his Cocoa Blend and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The cocoa has a nice bittersweet flavor that works brilliantly with the Virginia and burley tobaccos used in this juice. The outstanding tobacco blend’s earthy tones are highlighted by the bittersweet cocoa. The flavors mix together perfectly for a deep and authentic tobacco vape with a lovely bittersweet touch.

Maple Burley: I was expecting something different from this e-liquid. I thought it would be more like Vurley, which has a deep burley tobacco taste and a brightly sweet vanilla flavor. With Maple Burley, the tobacco is the dominant flavor, while a natural maple sugar flavor is in the background. I’m a big fan of Ahlusion’s maple sugar flavor; it’s sweet, but not in that artificial maple-syrup way. Although the mix wasn’t what I expected, this ended being my favorite of the three. Burley is one of my favorite tobaccos (for e-liquids) and the maple sugar flavor is delicious.

Sweet Georgia Peach: A few of my vaping friends are totally high on this juice and it’s easy to understand why. As expected from an Ahlusion aromatic, the tobacco flavor is phenomenal. What’s really interesting is the peach flavor. Most peach e-liquids use a flavor that’s similar to a Peach Gummi candy or a natural, fresh peach. Ahlusion’s peach is distinct; it’s natural, but more like a dried peach than a fresh peach. It works incredibly well with the tobacco flavor. This juice is an amazing approximation of peach pipe tobacco. It’s wonderfully executed, with a perfect blend of striking tobacco and a unique (and yummy) peach flavor.

Steeping Notes
On the advice of Wlad from Ahlusion, I’ve been trying a new steeping method starting December 27, 2012. When the e-liquids arrive, I leave them uncapped for five minutes. Previously, I left them uncapped for about two days. After the liquids are given a few minutes to oxidize, the caps are put back on. The bottles are shaken every day for at least two weeks before vaping.

Cocoa Blend
70/30 PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: May 31, 2013 6:32PM
Vaped: June 24-July 16, 2013

Maple Burley
70/30 PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: May 31, 2013 6:32PM
Vaped: June 25-July 16, 2013

Sweet Georgia Peach
70/30 PG/VG ratio, 6mg nicotine
Uncapped: May 31, 2013 6:32PM
Vaped: June 23-July 16, 2013

Review Process (Updated February 17, 2013)
RPad.TV e-liquid reviews focus on the flavor of the e-liquids, since throat hit and vapor production can be altered by the PG/VG ratio and nicotine level selected. Each juice is vaped over a period of days in an atomizer, a cartomizer/tank setup, and a clearomizer. The exception is naturally-extracted tobacco (NET) juice; since those are known to clog up cartomizers quickly, those are vaped in atomizers and clearomizers.

Lady Gaga’s “Applause” vs. Katy Perry’s “Roar”

Two major pop stars have new singles out. In the red corner, Lady Gaga tries to get your adoration with “Applause.” In the blue corner, Katy Perry gets fierce with “Roar.” Which song do you like better? Kindly give them a listen (videos for both songs embedded below) and vote in today’s poll! Continue reading “Lady Gaga’s “Applause” vs. Katy Perry’s “Roar””

The Pirate Bay Launches PirateBrowser

The Pirate Bay has launched PirateBrowser, a barebones web browser that helps users reach the popular torrent-file service when using Internet service providers (ISPs) that block it. PirateBrowser is a mix of Firefox, FoxyProxy, and Tor. Here’s the description from the company’s blog:

Do you know any people who can’t access TPB or other torrents-sites because they are blocked? Recommend PirateBrowser to them. It’s a simple one-click browser that circumvents censorship and blockades and makes the site instantly available and accessible. No bundled ad-ware, toolbars or other crap, just a Pre-configured Firefox browser.

While PirateBrowser should unblock The Pirate Bay for many users, it’s important not to mistake it for a product that offers truly anonymous browsing. It’s a potentially useful tool for people that like to…uhm share files, but a good virtual private network (VPN) is the way to go if you want your Internet activity masked from your ISP, the government, nosy martians, etc. Don’t get me wrong. I love that this free product is being offered, but I fear that some people will overestimate its capabilities.

Any of you thinking of giving PirateBrowser a whirl?

Source via BGR