Viral Friday: Telekinetic Pranks and Ultimate Dog Shaming

Telekinetic Coffee

With a new "Carrie" movie on the way a telekinetic prank was pulled on unsuspecting coffee shop customers as an attempt at viral marketing. Being that the video was posted on October 7th and has since received almost 30 million views... I'd say it worked.

The video begs the question. If you were in a coffee shop and witnessed someone seemingly holding someone to the wall using nothing but their brain, how would you react?

I noticed that through the clips no one ran away. Sure, almost everyone took a few steps back with every new development, but no one actually left. They were all way to curious on how the event would unfold. One woman was even recording it with her phone. I guess our curiosity has no limits... Even if we're in a room with a raging telekinetic woman.

Ultimate Dog Shaming

This next video is dog shaming like you've never seen it before.

Pet owner of Maymo and Penny posted this video on October 8th. It hs since been watched by pet shaming lovers everywhere over 100,000 times.

If it weren't so damn funny, I'd suggest investing in some dog training... But c'mon, who doesn't love any reason to dress their dogs up as Yoda and tiny Darth Vader?

Part one can be found here.

@lamron_eb_yhw

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Bitten: The First Nibble of the Series

The teaser video for a new 13-episode Syfy series was released and we have all the gory details and first reactions here.

Bitten is based off the "Otherworld" series written by Kelley Armstrong and centers on Elena Michaels (Laura Vandervoort) who is the worlds only female werewolf.

Elena  thought she had left the furry world, and ex boyfriend Clayton Danvers (Greyston Holt), behind when she left Stonehaven to be a "normal" photographer in Toronto - a life she has longed to live. Hiding her secret from new boyfriend Phillip McAdams (Paul Greene), Elena learns of mysterious bodies that are showing up at the packs mansion, Stonehaven.

Now, after years of working to get the "protect the pack and man" out of her system, she finds herself dragged right back in the middle of the life she fought so hard to escape. She quickly learns that nothing can stop her from defending her pack.

Initial reactions on social media seem mixed with some saying it's a show worth howling over, some noting it seems like Twilight meets Smallville, and others still say it seems like any other romantic/drama with model-esque type characters and no real meat. Although, no matter the opinion, it seems many are willing to watch the series for themselves before placing final judgement.

The series will also star Greg Bryk as pack leader Jeremy Danvers and is set to air in 2014 on Syfy and Space. Until then, lets take a look at the trailer and some production photos below.

By: Britt Turkington

@lamron_eb_yhw

Source: Comingsoon.net

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Game Night: Sour Apples to Apples

Sour Apples to Apples is a varient of the game Apples to Apples (reviewed here) with a twist.

Sour Apples to Apples is a card game for 4-8 players with the same basic rules as it's predecessor. As you might recall, the player that is the judge for that turn will draw and play an adjective card while each other player will play a noun that best suits the card drawn. The judge then picks one of the players as the winner and they gain a point.

In Sour Apples to Apples the judge must also pick a loser for the round. The loser then has to spin a special apple spinner that will decide their punishment. The punishments are as follows:

Can't talk your next turn
For the next turn the player is unable to say anything. This could cause the player to miss out on some serious lobbying time and may cause them to lose the point.

Play red before green
For this punishment you must play your noun card before the adjective card is even revealed. As bad as this sounds, sometimes it causes some pretty hilarious results.

Pass the sour apple
Phew! That was close. When you land on this you must pass the sour apple to any other player and they have to spin the apple and except the punishment on your behalf. That was nice of them.

Double play
The next time you play a noun card you get to play two instead of one. Okay, so this one is not quite a punishment. Double the play, double the chances to win!

Lose a card
This is probably the ultimate downer. When you land on this you must discard 1 card from your hand. For the rest of the game you will be down 1 card. The only saving grace here is that if you land on this again, it has no effect. You cannot have any less than 4 cards in your hand at the beginning of each turn.

Another difference between this version and the original is that the decks are simplified by having the adjective and nouns all on the same card. You just flip your card to the correct orientation depending on what you are using it for.

My only issue with this is that sometimes you toss out really great words because the card is being used for the other side. That being said, there is still plenty of hilarious combinations to be made.

Again, Sour Apples to Apples recommends the player be 12 or up, but it really can be played with younger players. The cards are not mature in theme and the rules are simple enough to be understood by a child younger than 12. 

Sour Apples to Apples is every bit as great of a game as the original. I personally have both versions and they get busted out at family gatherings all the time. The kids especially love this version as the threat of a punishment adds a certain level of excitement to the game. It can also be considered a deterrent to use a turn as a "throw away" when you feel like you have nothing else to play.

If you're board of Apples to Apples and want to mix it up a bit, I would definitely recommend picking up a copy of Sour Apples to Apples. It is sold exclusively at Target, but doing a quick Google search shows there may be some re-sellers out there if you're looking to pick it up online. 

I give this game 7 sour apples out of 10.

@lamron_eb_yhw

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Gamer Equality: The life of a gamer girl

I think at this point it is pretty clear to anyone who pays any attention that girl gamers exist, and that our population is on the rise. But what doesn't seem so clear to all is the way in which we are treated within the gaming community.

First, I should say, back when I decided to make my own Xbox Live Gamertag I had no real intention of playing any games online. The Gamertag I originally wanted was taken and I didn't want to add numbers to it so I added "Miss" to the begging. Little did I know this was going to cause me issues in the future.

After years of owning an Xbox I was introduced to Call Of Duty and I was instantly hooked. Once I became familiar with the game I started to play online matches. This is where my understanding of how gamers, that just so happen to have a vagina, are treated in the online world.

What I found was that my interaction with others fell into one of three categories: either I was hit on, talked down to, or embraced. The last of the three happened infrequently but I found it's frequency also depended on the game I was playing at the time. If I happened to be playing COD, I was more than likely going to fall into the first two categories. In Left 4 Dead, on the other hand, I found I was more excepted by my male counterparts. Some of them even saying that they come across many females in the game and found it refreshing. But, even with that glimmer of hope on the distant horizon, I still had issues with falling into the first two categories.

In my nativity, I tended to brush off any of the comments, break out the AK47, and proceed to kick some ass thinking they would stop once I proved myself a worthy competitor. Some of the time I was right and they would welcome me to the team (although never once apologizing or even acknowledging any mistreatment). Other times any talent would only worsen the ridicule.

It was only recently that I began to see this as a problem. You see, as someone who doesn't make a terrible amount of money, my boyfriend and I decided there was no reason to have a second Xbox Live account and that he would, when he felt so inclined, just use my account to play things like NHL with his buddies. Basically, we didn't see the point in purchasing a whole new account when he normally plays the Playstation anyways. Perfectly harmless, right? Maybe not. Apparently there are just some games women aren't invited to play.

Recently I logged on to my account to see I had a bunch of new messages. Not having had time to play anything recently I wondered who they were from. When I read them I found that 90% were messages my boyfriend had received while playing NHL from guys either trying to pick him up; thinking he was me, or some form of obscenity, again, thinking he was me.

The above are just the messages that I haven't already deleted. I should also mention that none of these have been replied to and yet sometimes, as you can see, the original sender will continue to express their opinion over several messages. The examples above were both sent while my boyfriend was playing NHL13. Sure, maybe more men play NHL than women, but does that mean you can put a stake in it and claim it for your own? Your entire gender now owns NHL games and women aren't invited? What is this, the fourth grade? 

I am for sure not the only one out there who experiences this. A simple Google search will yield many screen shots of messages very similar to the ones listed above. In fact, to my astonishment, there is even an entire website dedicated to it. And these are just the text messages. You should hear the things that get sent in the form of voice messages. 

Now, you may be thinking why I don't just make a new account or pay to change my existing Gamertag to something else. When this gets suggested to me a little part of me dies inside. Why should I have to? Why should I go out of my way to change my Gamertag, my avatar, and refrain from using my mic to make sure everyone online thinks I have a penis. This should not be the only way to gain any sort of respect from fellow gamers.

A common misconception is that this abuse is coming from the younger demographic of gamers, and that we should just ignore the immaturity and move on. I can tell you first hand that this is not correct. While some of the comments directed at me and my girl gamer friends are indeed from youngsters, the majority are from grown men. How are we going to teach these young teens and preteens that this isn't okay when the adults of our community are the biggest offenders?

Don't get me wrong, I know it isn't all male gamers that act like this. I'm merely calling attention to the ones that do. And I know this isn't the only problem with online gaming. This it just the issue of focus for this particular article. So what are we going to do about it? Well one thing is for sure, ignoring the problem won't make it go away. "Don't feed the trolls" does not apply here. Nobody got anywhere in fighting for equality by sitting down and hoping that it would pass. We need to keep the conversation flowing.

Listen, it boils down to this, we're all in this for the same reason - we love video games! So lets all just relax, take a step back, and look at it for what it is. We're all equals here. Let us start acting like it. 

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Viral Friday: Dancing your way into and out of a job

I Quit

On September 28th Marina Shifrin let her bosses, and 12 million other people, know that she quit with a video that quickly went viral.

In the video Shifrin says that her boss would prefer quantity over quality, and that she has sacrificed her time and relationships for the company.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, the young, newly unemployed woman responds to her critics.

"I understood that it was a risk, but I never named the company or my boss and I mean, have you seen my dancing? How could anyone take that seriously [?]"

Marina also says in the future she hopes to find a job where she can be a little more creative.

We're Hiring

After Shifrin danced her way out of a job, the company she worked for made a parody of her video replacing the words "I quit" with "we're hiring".

The video has received nearly 3 million hits since it was first posted on  October 1st.

The response to the video stirred up skeptics that claimed both videos were an elaborate publicity stunt. NMA director Mark Simon responded by sending a statement to Gawker, who originally posted Marinas video.

"I don't think she meant for it to be seen as so harsh, but we're getting some nasty attacks on our managers, who she says she respects."

I wonder how many video parody applications they are going to receive.


@lamron_eb_yhw

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Rainmaker Relaunches Reboot

Bust out your Tamagotchis and your high-wasted jeans because we're headed back in time with the announcement of a new Reboot series.

Rainmaker Entertainment inc. disclosed the news in a press release that coincided with the 20th anniversary of the debut in 1994... 1994? Does anyone else feel as old as I do?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, it is a Canadian CGI-animated cartoon that
was set in the inner world of a computer system known as Mainframe. The city was populated almost entirely by binomes, little creatures that represent either 1's or 0's, and some Sprites, such as Bob and Dot. The series consisted of adventures focused on fighting computer viruses, such as Megabyte, and defending the city from Game Cubes sent by the User.

Although there seems to be a lot of excitement around the mews, fans may have some reason to be weary. Back in 2008 Rainmaker announced it was working on a Reboot film trilogy. There was even a trailer released in 2009. Sadly, 5 years later, we have no such luck. Also, while heartbroken fans look forward to a new future, the show is still looking for a network to air on... I'm looking at you, YTV.

Maybe I'm the overly optimistic type, but the talk seems sincere. The company is even utilizing social media to gauge interest in the show. As for the fans, unless we want this news to be reformatted with the rest of the Reboot announcements, my suggestion would be to show your support on the official site.

There is of course the question of how the show will be restructured to fit the world today. While the original show focused on Bob defending Mainframe from the 1994 world of computer technology, with all of the advances, there is no telling where they can take a new series in 2013. Maybe Megabyte has been overpowered by his older, much larger cousin... Terabyte?

@lamron_eb_yhw

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Game Night: Apples to Apples

If you're looking for a fun, family card game that will allow you to make absolutely bananas comparisons, Apples to Apples might just tickle your fancy.

The box consists of to separate decks of cards: Things (the noun cards) and Descriptions (the adjective cards). The noun cards are red, and the adjective cards are green.

On each turn there will be one judge. The judge will draw an adjective card and read it out loud. They will then place the adjective card in the middle of the table for all players to see. Each other player then takes a noun card from their hand that best suits the description. The noun cards are placed face down. After all players have played their card the judge will shuffle them, read them out loud one by one, and pick the card they like the most. The winning player then receives one point. To make for easy scoring, the winning player can just keep the adjective card in front of them as a score keeper.

As the judge you can decide if you want to pick the card that is the funniest to you, the card that is the complete opposite, or something that fits the description completely. As this decision is completely up to the judge you will find each player will learn to adapt to their audience.

Apples to Apples is meant to be played with anywhere from 4 - 10 players. As always with these types of games, the more players usually means makes for a more diverse game. However, my friends and I found it was possible to play with as little as 3 players if each player (aside from the judge) played two noun cards to give the judge more options.

Although the game recommends ages 12 and up, it really is possible to be played with a younger crowd. While there is some cards that a younger audience may not understand, for example the names of older actors or politicians, the cards are all clean and appropriate. It can also provide a learning opportunity as each card does have a small description at the bottom.

Each game lasts anywhere from 30 mins to an hour but can really be customized to meet your gaming needs. If you only have a short time to play, you could have a game where the first to 5 points wins. On the flip side, if you want a longer game, you can make the goal higher.

The great thing about this game is that you really don't have to be a complex gamer to understand and have fun. The rules are simple enough for anyone to understand and yet the game play packs enough punch to keep everyone entertained. It is so rare to find a game that will both keep adults and children entertained for hours on end and Apples to Apples definitely does just that. When playing with children it's easy to keep things clean but if your game is strictly adults it's possible to slip the odd inappropriate joke in there.

Whether you have a young family or just want to play while having a few drinks with your friends, the diversity of the crowd it speaks to alone is worth picking up a copy of Apples to Apples. I give it 7 out of 10 apples.

@lamron_eb_yhw

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Viral Friday: Firefighters, Flatulent Singers, and Fatherhood

Firefighter
In the event of an emergency I'm sure all of us would want our pets to be taken care of with as much consideration as we would receive. Well, that's exactly what happened in this video. 

A Fresno Firefighter, Cory Kalanick, was caught on tape with a GoPro saving a small kitten from a burning apartment. The video was posted in an ad-type fashion by GoPro on September 25th and has since warmed the hearts of pet lovers everywhere close to 5 million times. The original video was posted on June 15th and has 1.5 million views. 

Unfortunately, in this case, Kalanicks efforts did not save the kittens life in the end. Since the owners weren't around the kitten was taken to a vet where it succumbed to its internal injuries overnight. 

“It's a very sad loss.  The kitten, however, was in very loving hands to get taken care of,” said Beth Caffrey, of Central California S.P.C.A.

Kalanick was sad to hear that the kitten did not make it through the ordeal. I don't know about you but for me, whether or not the animal survives, I am overjoyed that people like this exist in the world.

Flatulent Singer
This bass singers video was uploaded on September 12th and has almost 200,000 views. Okay, maybe not quite viral but too insane to not talk about.

So obviously this man is not actually flatulent, but he sings a C note so low it honestly sounds like it. I mean really, did he swallow a saxophone?

As if that isn't entertaining enough just look at the faces he makes when he does it. It almost looks like he's possessed and if you play the video backwards you would hear some sort of demonic message.

But seriously, with all playing aside, how insane is that note at 0:41?

Fatherhood
What would you do if you had four kids and a batman mask? Well for one father he has made it is crime stopping mission to teach his kids valuable lessons... well... mostly.

BatDad, A.K.A Blake Wilson, first became an internet sensation with his Vine account. He has since posted a compilation of his Vine videos to YouTube in this 3 minute video on September 19th. The video has since reached over 6 million Batman lovers.

Wilson says he knows he knows he can bother his four kids sometimes with the act but he also knows he can make them laugh and have a good time. Don't worry Blake, I'm sure your kids will appreciate having The Dark Knight on their side.

Looking for more reasons to love Batman? You're in luck. I just so happen to have such a list right here.

@lamron_eb_yhw

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