Nerdy Stuff

Mar092015

#13 Greatest Video Game of All Time

Look at us, we’re on a roll! One week back to back already! Let’s see if we can keep this up. As a refresher, this is the video game brain trust’s list of the top 25 greatest video games of all time and we are now down to #13! These are the ones you’ve missed so far: #25, #24,#23, #22, #21, #20 #19, #18, #17, #16, #15, and #14. Let’s hit it.

Kai – Goldeneye 007 – The only game on this list that I never actually owned (no N64), Goldeneye is an amazing game that I played at every one of my friends’ houses. It’s a first-person shooter based on the Bond movie and is one of the best movie to game conversions ever made.

The single-player is really well done, with complex level design and objectives that scale with difficulty. As good as that was, the multiplayer was even better, with insane tension and battles. I’ve never played more splitscreen multiplayer of anything, even Mario Kart. My friends and I would always load up license to kill (one-shot kills) and proximity mines. It truly revolutionized multiplayer shooters going forward and is still a lot of fun.

Image source

Jun122014

Marvel Universe Top 5

With Denver Comic Con coming up this weekend and Hungry & Fit attending yet again, I think it’s time to throw some flames into a fire that is so fun to watch burn. This is to spark a discussion. We all have our favorite comic book characters. Some of you prefer DC… some, like myself, prefer Marvel. As a little kid, you never want to even entertain the idea that your favorite could possible meet his or her match, but you later learn that everyone is bested at one time or another. No one is greater than the combined force of the most powerful entities in the universe… or the multiverse. Or is there someone?

This time, we are going to look at the characters in the Marvel Universe and the alternative universes that create the greater Marvel Multiverse. I know including the Cosmic beings make this a wash for mutants and other superheroes, but maybe a different list will be released later. This is completely subjective and I am basing my rankings off of my experience being involved in this fantasy world for over two decades. The whole point of this is to spark a debate about who we think are the strongest characters in Marvel, who in DC would enter the fray and come out on top, and why we care so much about something so ridiculously fantastical!

So, once again, it’s my list and I’m open to discussion. Please be aware that Magneto, Hulk, and Thor wouldn’t even last a second against any of the following. There are very few that would. Spoiler: Don’t even bother looking for gods such as Zeus and Odin, Eternals such as The Champion, and even Galactus, who would probably come in just after the following, along with the Celestials.

HONORABLE MENTION: Thanos (WITH INFINITY GAUNTLET) –

Thanos was one bad dude. Born on Saturn’s moon, Titan, to parents that were Eternals, Thanos had some power from the start. With his genius level intellect and infatuation with Mistress Death, Thanos went overboard and started wreaking havoc on the universe. After collecting the original five Infinity Gems and placing them in his glove, he created the Infinity Gauntlet. Although his daughter Nebula mastered its use far easier than Thanos, he still earns this place on the list. By capturing Chaos, Order, Galactus, the Stranger, and other cosmic power level beings, Thanos asserted himself as one bad dude. Once he lost the gems, however, at the hands of greater beings, he falls far off the list. Like way way down.

5. Eternity, Infinity, Oblivion, and Death –

There have been insanely long debates as to which of these four abstracts are the most powerful so we’ll just list all of them. They were born with the Big Bang, have existed forever, and control every force in the universe except for cosmic balance of power. Their embodiment was affected by the Infinity Gauntlet but they are rarely challenged by other entities. A version of them exists in each universe and is watched over by someone later on this list. In my opinion, the order of power, if it had to be broken down, would go in the following: Infinity, Oblivion, Eternity, Death.

4. Molecule Man –

As the picture below depicts, The Watcher, In-Betweener, Kosmos, Order, Chaos, Oblivion, and even LT are making way for Molecule Man. His ability to manipulate matter is absurd. For anyone that thinks Magneto is powerful since he can manipulate magnetism, think about just being able to control any form of matter at any time. MM was so powerful that he had to create ways to limit his own power, took out Galactus without a problem and even took down the next guy on the list after that other person’s powers were decreased by the writers. Nevertheless, his track record and the sheer concept of his power make him a huge force of nature. Yes, it is controversial to place him above the abstracts, but this list is all about what ifs and how could yous. Now, of course you’re going to look at his grid on Marvel’s website and question his durability as a human, but damn, go ahead and I still won’t change my mind.

3. The Beyonder –

In all honesty, at one point in time, The Beyonder might have been Number 1 on this list. During Secret Wars, his power was immeasurable but they decided to change his character multiple times. The result is a still very powerful but far less fun individual. For the sake of this list, I am taking the retcon into consideration and placing him a spot lower than I would have otherwise. If they never made that change I would have him at 2. What is his power… or what was it? They noted that he could’ve destroyed the ENTIRE multiverse or the concept of death itself with a thought. Anything he thinks happens. Now he’s just an incomplete cube, boring.

2. The Living Tribunal –

He can thank Tom DeFalco’s awful change in the Beyonder’s origin and powers for second place. The Living Tribunal is currently, unarguably the second most powerful individual in Marvel. It is indisputable now that the Beyonder has been altered. You can argue it is Molecule Man based off of that image above and his matter manipulation but very few would agree with you. As for anyone else in the Celestials, Abstracts, etc., they have all yielded to LT at one time. Thanos wanted no part of LT even with the IG. He is the hand of the most powerful entity that exists in the Marvel Omniverse and as a result the individual that controls the balance of all powers and forces that exist. He is essentially an all-powerful judge that observes and does not like to act, but will when necessary.

1. The One Above All –

And I’m not talking about the leader of the Celestials with the same title. This is unquestionably the strongest being in Marvel. There are some that would argue The Beyonder precon was number 1, but no one else will put up an argument for any other character. Now that The Beyonder is diminished by writers, The One Above All stands strong. He is referred to and has appeared from time to time around beings such as LT, Kosmos, Peter Parker. However, my favorite reference is a line by Mephisto (Marvel’s Satan), when he is asked if LT is “god” Mephisto tells the bartender “No, he’s not God. He’s just the biggest kid in all the playgrounds. And if he knows the Principal, he’s not exactly chatty about it.” Many believe The One Above All is Stan Lee himself, but maybe one day we will find out.

Noticeably, Phoenix Force has been left out because of its classification as a force that enters individuals. Similarly, Captain Universe has been neglected because it is a seemingly infinite power of every being in the universe that is taken by an individual from time to time. Also, Franklin Richards, the strongest mutant of all time, has also been left out because he is still young and has not yet reached his full potential. Sentry is the strongest being on Earth, but lacks anything more than pure firepower. Black Bolt, Hyperion, Gorr, and Gladiator are very destructive as well but lack more complex powers. Any heralds of Galactus such as Silver Surfer obviously have not surpassed their creator. Obviously, the rest of the Celestials and everyone depicted in the picture below would round out a slightly larger list.

That is a picture of a lot of powerful beings, all worthy of a Top 20 list. Thanks for reading and tell us who YOU think should be top 5 Marvel characters! See you at Denver Comic Con! And as always…stay hungry and fit!

Jun052013

Nerds Unite and Stay in Shape!

Fit and I are considered “interesting” individuals because we are a mix of very physically active and extremely nerdy. Somehow, we find a way to balance everything and although we aren’t quite as fit and don’t have as much time to play video games as we want, we still get the best of both worlds. Sometimes it is difficult to balance busy lives, and sometimes there isn’t motivation to do something that you don’t want to do but we are always stressing to individuals to stay healthy and active.

You don’t need to be a professional athlete, bodybuilder, or martial artist to be healthy and active. You need to maintain a healthy ratio of lean muscle mass and body fat, eat nutritional and wholesome foods, stay hydrated and well-rested, maintain proper hygiene and be able to control your own body. Absolute strength is your total power output, but relative strength is your strength to weight ratio and your ability to handle your body. I am proposing that everyone, even those nerdy people that love to sit down for hours and play MMORPGs (we would love to do this when we have time), try to achieve what I consider a healthy and active lifestyle and here’s a few steps of how we can do that.

1. Eat healthier! I know that Red Bulls, Mega Monsters, and Mountain Dew are great ways to keep you awake through your dungeon raids but they are nutritional black holes! Consider other electrolyte heavy drinks such as Gatorade, Powerade, Smart Water, Vitamin Water, or even some supplements to keep your energy levels more naturally high. I logged 72 straight hours of Final Fantasy XII the night that it was released and I didn’t have one energy drink or sip of soda the whole time. My good health helped me stay energized and if you can increase your endurance and conditioning it could help with long nights of playing.

Captain American: Master Chef

2. Exercise! Working out helps us increase muscle mass, decrease body fat, create definition in our muscles, increase our metabolism and more. You don’t need to buy expensive clothes, equipment or memberships to work out. If you’re reading hundreds of issues of manga or comics at a time like I do, try to set goals. Every week when my new manga are released I blaze through them in minutes. After waiting a week and sometimes more! Make the volume last a little longer by doing 10 pushups and 20 crunches after every few pages. Set goals for yourself. Try to do body weight exercises such as pushups, variations of pushups, crunches, abdominal and core exercises, planks and more every few pages. If you’re playing a video game, set requirements for every time you level your character up or beat a major boss. These little things can make a big difference.

Planking–keep it tight!

3. Sleep enough! I am not asking you to sleep 10 hours a night. Try to get at least 6 hours of sleep or quality rest every 24 hours. Really try to get 7 hours and push yourself to get 8 on the weekends if you can. Your body needs to rest and recover to continue operating at a functional level. If I tried playing a hard platform sequence in Ninja Gaiden while I was exhausted, then I would have no hope. If I’m playing Settlers of Catan and can’t think straight because my brain is trying to sleep, I won’t be able to compete against my opponents if they’re well-rested.

Zzz

I am speaking out of experience and trying to help my fellow nerds. And please do not take offense to the term nerd. You could be a console gamer, PC gamer, manga fan, anime fan, comic book fan, RPG fan or any other person who enjoys these types of fun activities. We enjoy all of them and are proud of it. So if any of this relates to you, if you think that you could better your diet, exercise, and sleep then please consider some of our suggestions. If you are really interested in turning your life around contact us for our help because that is what we love to do. We want everyone to stay nerdy while being hungry and fit!

Fit and Nerdy

Hungry and Fit! Our pose

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Jun032013

Taking Over Comic Con 2013 (Denver, CO)

I want to avoid making this painfully long so if you want an in-depth review of the roughly five hours we spent at the event, read my biography in a few decades. I’m only saying this because I could talk about those five hours forever. I know we didn’t spend much time there but we made it count and it was completely worth it so let me tell you how we ended up at DCC and how it went.

Months and months ago, the great Stan Lee, inventor of Marvel Comics and most of its iconic characters, announced that he would make his return to Comic Con after a near twenty year hiatus this year in Denver. They published an article about it in the Boulder Weekly and I immediately told Fit. She had never attended a convention, especially one of this scale, so we decided it had to be done. Unfortunately, we had planned to attend a wedding in Santa Monica months in advance to that so we knew we wouldn’t be able to take off of work for Friday and Saturday… bummer. We settled for Sunday and I bought tickets in person at Guiry’s in Boulder at a discounted rate. I bought two one day passes for Sunday.

Months pass and we don’t put any thought into the event or what we should wear. Saturday night rolls around and costume-less, we decided to wear our aprons that we use in the house. Alana was a makeshift fit and cooking Wonder Woman while I was the same version of Captain America, with a Sonic the Hedgehog hat that has ears. It cost us no time and no money but we figured no one would even pay attention to us but oh were we wrong.

Excited!

Before leaving

We drive to Denver and pass a line that stretches for half a mile. Ten minutes after parking we end up at the back of that line and wait for the doors to open around 9:30 a.m. Almost everyone there is so nice and accepting of one another. The only people I don’t like are the bullies that make fun of other people. And we don’t tolerate bullying so there was none of that, but rather lots of positive reinforcement, high fives, and pictures. I will say that we got our money’s worth in people watching alone. The cosplays and costumes were top notch and I loved how passionate everyone was. We tried figuring out everyone’s costume and did a really good job. We even helped some clueless people by eavesdropping. Our first picture came when I ran into none other than the hero of Hyrule, Link. He was sporting his red fire tunic and the Master Sword. Link is super fit so I had to take a picture with him.

Link!

While the line was moving, the most unexpected thing happened. A photojournalist asked for our picture. We obliged and posed… little did we know, this would happen about 14 more times throughout the day. We never expected to be so popular but vendors, exhibitors, staff, photojournalists, bloggers, and attendees asked for our picture. One young woman who was with her friends even asked for a picture with us. Not just of us. We said yes and gave our regular pose every single time. I would love to see those 15 pictures especially the one with our fan because it was so random. Either people loved the idea that we were wearing aprons and it was creative or they thought we were fit and somewhat sexy.

Hungry and Fit! Our pose

Once we got inside we headed upstairs for the main hall. By doing this, we ended up missing a bunch of the panels and presentations we wanted to attend, such as the spotlight on Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day. What can you do? We don’t regret our choice because we had our most fun upstairs. When we ended up looking for the panels, gaming rooms, main events, and what not we ended up just wasting energy and getting frustrated. The easiest way to do this is just explain what is in our pictures since they highlight the best parts of the day.

Celebs

Here is Fit posing with Han Solo trapped in carbonite. Damn you, Lando, for selling him out to Vader and Boba Fett. This was a part of the Far Away Creations area where a group of Star Wars fans provided models and replicas of the original trilogy. Lots of fun.

After trekking through some aisles of vendors and trying our hardest not to spend every penny, we decided that we could each have one big purchase. Fit decided quickly that she wanted a picture with Chewbacca. Thus we paid Peter Mayhew for a picture with our camera and he autographed a photo of Fit’s choice. She chose a scene where Chewy and Han are wielding their bowcaster and blaster pistol. Epic. He was huge. He was as tall as us while sitting down and his hands were enormous. She also ran into a Storm Trooper with an awesome voice box and a Jawa.

Alana with Peter Mayhew (who played Chewbacca) –she can’t contain her happiness here

NEVER LETTING THIS GO

“Move along, move along”

Now it was my turn to decide. William Shatner, George Takei, Felicia Day, and Wil Wheaton were all tempting individuals to meet and take a picture with but my decision was a no brainer. I wanted to meet and take a picture with Kelly Hu. I had a massive crush on her when I was a teenager. She starred in The Scorpion King, X-Men, and voiced Visas in KOTOR II. For some reason, she had no line while all of the others were absolutely packed all day long. Her picture proceeds went to Much Love, a charity for animals. She was super nice and was happy to talk to us about everything from shopping on Amazon to our pets and more. Here’s the picture.

Kelly Hu and I

After that I got caught by Umbrella Corp because I was infected by a zombie. Their vehicle was awesome.

Here I am spying on someone’s crafts hoping to get some ideas for a friend. Secret agent style.

This is a co-worker’s ex-boyfriend showing why he was the coolest guy in the room. He’s a self-taught lightsaber master but he had a hard time actually talking into the mic. The crowd loved it though so good for him.

Gandalf! Literally hunted him down the whole time and finally found him

Fit met Gandalf and he let us pass.

Buff chicas. She actually made that armor!

Fit’s favorite costume of the day was Commander Shepard from Mass Effect.

Hungry’s favorite costume of the day was a Hello Kitty samurai. He let me hold his war banner.

Hungry and Fit! Our pose

Here we are on stage finally getting a picture of us together after fifteen other people took them first.

Fit found a bantha to cuddle up next to. It looked like a baby.

Hungry found a sausage for lunch while Fit had a pear salad. We spent a bunch on bad food there but it was expected and we didn’t mind.

I know my brother (Kai) would’ve loved to play this (I’m Gonna Wreck It!)

Fix It Felix Jr. does exist! We didn’t get to play.

I could go on and on but I don’t want to bore you too much so we’ll leave it here and keep you updated the next time Hungry and Fit attend an event!

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Oct252012

Help! I’ve Been Infected with K-Pop!

This article was planned months ago. I mean it! I say that because since then K-Pop has entered our maintstream culture. Not sure what I’m talking about? Psy’s song “Gangnam Style” (pronounced kang-nam) blew up a few weeks ago. His song is actually a satire of a rich part of Seoul in South Korea, about the rich having an empty lifestyle. No matter, his dance moves and catchy song caught on. He was on SNL, Ellen, and so forth. He signed an American contract (with the same guy that manages Bieber). You can see his video below.

It’s a fun song, and it will become addicting. And always fun to try those dance moves. However, I was converted to this K-Pop (Korean Pop) much earlier than this song came on the air. And I’m guessing you might have an idea you could’ve possibly introduced me to such music…coughChris. Yes, ladies and gents, it was Chris who introduced me to this at-first strange and-then addicting music.

I’m going to focus on BIGBANG, a five-man group that we listen to most. Okay I’ve got to admit, and he knows this, I thought it was the most annoying music at first, lots of tech and pop-yness. Not my favorite thing. But I kept listening as Chris always played it and it slowly grew on me like a strange Korean tree moss or something. I caught myself seeking out the songs that I liked the most and their music videos…wow. Blow our silly American ones out of the water. And they actually have good voices. Weird, right?

So in BIGBANG, we have G-Dragon (the leader), Daesung (we call him the Voice, best voice), T.O.P. (the model, has an awesome deep voice), Taeyang (the dancer), and Seungri (the random one, we say).

From left right: Daesung, G-Dragon, Taeyang, T.O.P., and Seungri

They’re pretty great, always tons of different styles, and they really love each other and have that great chemistry. Chris can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe G-Dragon wouldn’t do one song if their producers didn’t give Seungri a solo album. They’re just great like that. And it’s really interesting, in South Korea, they find these great singers when they’re young and put them into a music-type academy and eventually end up either pairing them together, creating groups, or pushing them out solo. It’s fascinating.

And they are GREAT workout songs. Seriously, I always get incredibly pumped and end up having a fantastic workout. My personal favorite workout songs are “Still Alive,” “Tonight,” and “Fantastic Baby.” But for you to understand their awesomeness, you need to watch the videos (especially “Fantastic Baby” which by just watching makes you want to get ripped). See them below

Sadly no music video for this yet

Just awesome beats and pump-up song

WATCH THIS ONE! And try not to get pumped up (around when Taeyang starts)

And if you’re like me, it’s annoying when you start listening. But give them a chance, seriously. They’re a great group. And they don’t only do up-beat songs, they have tons of love songs as I’ll share below.

“Blue”

“Monster”

K-Pop is a very strange thing, but it’s turned out to be fun and interesting. Something I now listen to on a regular basis. Enjoy!

Aug292012

TOBI REVEALED! SHONEN JUMP RELEASE SUMMARY

For any of our great followers who do not read manga, especially Shonen Jump, I would honestly advise you to stop reading now and wait for one of our normal posts within the next twenty four hours. For anyone else, follower or not, that has an interest in Naruto, Bleach, and/or One Piece, and is currently up to date on the Japanese releases of those mangas, you might want to keep reading.

I had to write about this as I just finished a few pages from this week’s Japanese release of Weekly Shonen Jump (I’m still waiting for Toriko to be scanned and eventually translated). And with that, I am going to start with the biggest news; this was one of the most obvious/anti-climatic missed opportunities in the history of manga. You have a character, Tobi, who is arguably the largest antagonist in one of the largest and most popular series in history. For years, or what has felt like years, Kishimoto has been stringing us behind the identity of this masked villain who has always behaved differently from your typical main bad-guy. Now, as soon as his name was revealed to be Tobi, all of us super-fans immediately tried to figure out the importance of his name, and with the release of the Kakashi Gaiden arc, no one’s name showed more promise than Uchiha Obito. OBITO. TOBI. It might not be a perfect match, but it’s close enough when you have these types of reveals happen all the time, i.e. A Song of Ice and Fire (I won’t say who or when).

Now, as the series developed it seemed far too obvious that it was Obito to a point that everyone figured Kishimoto would never let the fans easily figure out who it was. Some other clues, the Sharingan was the opposite of Kakashi’s, the ability to know and use Uchiha abilities, and the motive. Sure, Obito wasn’t evil, he wasn’t overly ambitious, but he was mysterious. The Kakashi gaiden arc was short and fans could make up their own opinions about Obito. Although it might have seemed like he was jealous of Kakashi because of Rin’s feelings for him, he asked Rin to transplate his eye into Kakashi. Was Obito plotting some project to take over the world as a small child? I don’t think so but Kishimoto might prove me wrong in the upcoming weeks. There was no way Obito could have expected to survive the cave in that crushed half his body when he was really only capable of using basic Sharingan techniques and fire-based jutsu. We saw him die, or at least we thought we did. Somehow, perhaps with the help of a random Orochimaru or someone else that could corrupt his mind and use his body as a surviving member of the Uchiha clan, as they would later be slaughtered, helped him get to where he is now.

As the flashbacks in this week’s issue show, it seems Obito was a weaker willed Naruto that had a bad break with the cave-in. Team Minato mirrored Team 7, and Obito mirrored Naruto with the exception of that hidden fire and will to overcome everything and be confident even if the abilities aren’t there. Surely, the impact of the Third Shinobi World War, led Obito who was crushed (mentally and physically) to develop Project Tsuki no me, in order to create a peaceful world void of the ability to truly live and be yourself in order to preserve life. Having witnessed and suffered from such a horrible event at a young age could have that sort of impact, and it seems his feelings for Kakashi have somewhat changed judging by the anger he has shown him recently. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking Obito’s side. He has obviously been corrupted and like many others before him, has created an evil plan no matter how he justifies it. I’m just curious how a weak genin could become so powerful, before having acquired the Rinnegan. Shame on Kishimoto to let us all be right and make it the obvious choice, although it leaves for many questions to be answered and will end up being better than making it a no name character from the war that witnessed the Kannabi Bridge destruction and picked Obito’s eye off of him after he was crushed. I personally cannot wait to see how he survived and if Rin, a medical ninja, had anything to do with it since she went missing after the war… Heck, maybe he’s just pissed Kakashi didn’t take care of Rin, which was his dying wish and now he has come back to wreak havoc for the girl he completely was in love with…

For a quick note, One Piece was more or less a filler. The most exciting event was Vergo’s confidence in his ability to crush the Mugiwara crew, Law, Smoker, the Samurai, etc… good luck to him….

And Bleach continues to be getting back to being amazing, despite Kenpachi getting destroyed in a fight we didn’t get to see…. no surprise there.

Captain Commander is pissed off and the troops are getting amped up so let’s see what happens in this huge clash of the titans. Hopefully, it won’t be like Yamamoto v Aizen.