Armored Core V - Damn you console gamers...

Long ago on the original PlayStation our roommate and I would spend hours abusing the hell out of Armored Core, this going back 14 ish years ago. Well, now it's on it's fifth iteration, and I'm curious to see what they've come up with. It's not Battletech... but it's mechs, and prior games always had a good pace and feel. Release date is looking like the 20th of this month for PS3 and XBox 360. This is one of the only times I actually get 'Console Envy' as a computer gamer. Buy.com has it cheaper than normal buy a couple bucks (3 bucks is 3 bucks... just sayin): 

Buy.com

Real Life vs Games

I have no idea why we sequester ourselves in our homes to play games and watch so much television. The graphics are so much better in real life, you never have to worry about total devaluation of your hard work and leveling with a new release upping the level max. The PVP areas are a lot easier to avoid unless you've made some really bad choices, and even then, those that PVP don't generally last long since there's no spawn point. You don't have to worry about people trading each other on ebay as much... and there's lots of systems in place to keep rude people from pulling a ninja on boss drops... granted, I've yet to see drops IRL. Real life has far better smells than stinky gamers, and I don't care what your level of cooking is, your game steaks are nowhere near as yummy as the ones i'm going to cook on the grill. Sure, both involve some really boring grinds, but the options in real life are infinite. Ever explore the REAL world? It's huge... you'll never run out of landscape. No voice will tell you that you are leaving the mission area because there's no more area left to explore. Just be careful out there friends, there's no spawn points. And healers really like to overcharge.

Cane Fighting

Oh the dangers of this one...   I am afraid to buy it lest I will want to test it out...   does a cane put out 2d4 damage?  Any size modifiers?  Given Cold Steel's offerings out there, this might get very interesting...

Thanks Cole!

Music of the Day - Megadeth - A Tout Le Monde

So after both a recommendation that we post up some Megadeth since they are coming in May to Pittsburgh, and an old friend making mention of this song, things fell into place on what to post today.

This song reminds me of a few others that scare most people to think about and hear about...  sometimes when we feel at our lowest, it's something to explore the darkest thoughts we have instead of denying them.  Just make sure exploration doesn't mean fulfillment.  That said, great and powerful song... 

Edit:  Much thanks to Mike Williams as well as my personal executive breakfast chef for the recommendation!

Pocket of Holding - Blackhawk! Pocket Pack

For our first series of posts, I'm going to cover a subject I live by.  It's called Every Day Carry, or EDC.  I have a very simple philosophy in life.  I like to have what I need when I need it.  I absolutely detest when a package won't open, or when I've got a non screw top bottle to open, or when I have to cut the red or blue wire to save everyone in a huge skyscraper from another catastrophe, or how about a screwdriver that works on glasses?  I could go on for hours.  The problem here is, by the time you are done, you will have put Batman's utility belt to shame...  While he's got the money, the style, and the bad ass butler, let's face it YOU don't.

That leaves your pockets...  and the minute you put more than one thing in there, they get mixed up, scratch each other, and poke the stuffing out of your leg.  Enter the concept of the Pocket of Holding!  Various manufacturers make some fine products along these lines, however the particular item that fills this role for me is the BLACKHAWK! Pocket Pack.

Setting up for tomorrow

If you aren't already into it, there's this OUTSTANDING site called Instructables, where people post information on how to make just about anything.  Today's fun is creating a lightbox, lets just hope in my constant state of sleep deprivation I don't get the steps for a lightbox mixed up with those for a smoke machine...

Stay tuned, tomorrow I should have something interesting!

Music of the Day for March 12

Hurray for a timely fix by Amazon!

Today's pick for Music of the Day is RJD2's Magnificent City Instrumentals.

Delays for March 12th

Alright, so it's time to make some excuses.

Amazon's affiliate program has screwed up and deleted part of my account, so I cant get to the nifty widgets that allow me to put samples of music on my site. Bummer...

On a good note, I've got AvantLink up soon for REI gear, so I'm going to be more inclined to review REI stuff, for good or bad. Keep in mind it's these links and referrals that will be paying for more stuff to review.

Short version: Music of the day will be skipped a day while I bark at people to fix our stuff, but later this week other things will start popping up. Thanks for the patience!

Music - Mar 11

Welcome to my first Music of the Day posting!  I'll try to change this quite often to bring some variety into your spicy life, and I'll let you know when I change it.



Today I've listed the album "Fellow Prisoners" by Amish Rake Fight.  Amish Rake Fight is a solo project by Mike Fisher (http://www.amishrakefight.com/bio/index.jsp), once the keyboardist/programmer for Machines of Loving Grace.  This album is full of amazingly powerful instrumental electronica listening pleasure.

Sample some on the widget on the nav bar, support starving musicians AND bloggers.

New Site!

Greetings!

So begins my new blog, plusfivegear.com.  My intent is to talk about "stuff" be it gear, places, businesses, experiences, and other like subjects, so my readers might be a little more educated in some of the stuff out there.  If you have requests, feel free to email them to me!

In my role as a consumer, I've found too many videos and sites that simply regurgitate things and give the obvious boring same old information that anyone could get off of a web site.  Instead I'd like to give as much detail as I find as well as my opinions on it from my perspective.  I may not be right, you may not agree with me, but at least I'll give you this man's take on things in this man's world so YOU can make better decisions about what you choose to own, consume, contribute to, or sell your soul to.