Have you heard of Angry Birds? I never did until I got an iPod Touch
last week and downloaded the Lite version. I was instantly hooked and didn’t even wait to finish all the levels before I purchased the paid version, for 99¢. This 99¢ has bought me hours of mindless enjoyment. More hours than I should have been spending on a game, believe me. But once you start playing, it’s hard to stop.
The premise of the game is very simple. You control a crew of pretty mad birds. They are pissed at the evil green pigs who have stolen their eggs. Your weapon? A slingshot. When I first started playing, I thought, “This is dumb….the entire game you are just slinging birds at pigs?” Well, it turns out, yes that’s all you do, but it really is so much more than that. There are 5 different birds (although some have said 6, I haven’t gotten that far), that all have different “abilities”, and there are obstacles between the birds and the pigs that get harder and harder throughout the game. It turns out there really is strategy involved in slinging birds at pigs. It’s kind of hard to explain, but you can watch this video, which shows some gameplay:
I haven’t been addicted to a game like this since Super Mario Bros. 3 on Nintendo. I’ve tried to limit my gameplay time to a half hour a day. It is so easy to lose time while playing it! I had a minute to write this post because I ran out of batteries playing the game and needed a recharge…oh, wait…it’s charged. Gotta go sling some birds!
I just got home from Larger Than Life in 3D featuring Dave Matthews Band. Since it was announced, I have been anxiously awaiting the opening of the movie, which will only be out until December 17th. It is playing in 500 theaters across the country, so I thought for sure it would be crowded. Since it was opening night, I purchased my ticket in advance and met some friends at the theater. I cracked up when I walked in, 5 minutes before the movie started and there were about 10 people in a HUGE theater.
Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello performed first at All Points West Music & Arts Festival in New Jersey. I had never heard of them, but they were quite entertaining. Next up were Ben Harper and Relentless7 with a performance at the Mile High Music Festival in Denver. I was a huge Ben Harper fan when Welcome to the Cruel World first came out. I haven’t listened to the new band’s music, and hoped to hear “Burn One Down” or “Forever”, but what they played was still great.
Dave Matthews Band, filmed at the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas were next. I was a little disappointed in that there was no backstage footage as there was with Ben Harper. Granted, it was only 30 seconds, but I would have enjoyed watching Dave put headphones in his ears more than Ben. DMB played the following setlist:
You Might Die Trying
Funny The Way It Is
Seven
So Damn Lucky
Shake Me Like a Monkey
Why I Am
Burning Down the House
So Much To Say
Ants Marching
While the movie was great, I wish the people in the theater were a little more into it. I think part of the fun at a DMB show is the energy of the crowd, and the audience at the AMC Stony Brook theater was lacking enthusiasm. That didn’t stop my friends and I from clapping and singing along with every song. Nothing will ever beat seeing DMB live, but if you are a die-hard Dave Matthews fan, like myself, it is a must-see. And don’t forget…you only have till next Thursday to see it. According to InConcert3D, it will never be released on DVD or on TV.
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I came across the Twitter account @DoLifeNow recently. Do Life is a grass roots organization, introducing the positive and hope-filled DO LIFE symbol for ALL to live life to the fullest or lift the spirit of those fighting ANY disease. Here is the background of the movement from their website:
Due to a personal tragedy of losing Mom to pancreatic cancer I set out to create a symbol for all awareness causes. As a result I designed and trademarked the powerful and hopeful “Life” symbol since the “living of life” should be the real and true meaning of ALL awareness campaigns and causes. The power of the Life™ symbol is that it redirects the attention from a negative (cancer, leukemia, AIDS) to one of hope in reminding us to “DoLife Now!”.
All major cancer-related organizations are vying to bring attention to “their” cause but none celebrate the fact that we are in Life™ and sick-or-not we need to cherish every day to the fullest. We all know that pink stands for breast cancer and gold is for pediatric cancer, but we should celebrate the fact that todays 5 year blood cancer survival rate for children is 94% vs. 4% in 1962!
We only put our Life™ symbol on the best quality products available. We offer caps and KeepKool Bandannas, products that are usually associated with ‘awareness events’. The caps are excellent quality and show off the Life™ symbol in 3-D embroidery on the front panel plus on some models the “Life” and “DoLIfe” logos are embroidered on the bill, back panel and/or closure strap. The caps are made overseas with American raw cotton. The Keep-Cool bandanas are also made with the same high quality fabrics plus I personally ship the gel crystals from a chemical factory in Ohio (no more ‘sticky’ feeling as with most hydrating bandanas). Other high quality awareness-relevant products will be added to the line soon.
Every awareness campaign, whether it be for breast cancer, pediatric cancer or AIDS, can greatly benefit from the positive impact that the Life™ symbol has on all who are exposed to it. Show your support for any one of the many causes with the new Life™
After everything I have gone through, one thing I can certainly celebrate is life. I am still here, still kicking. Although in pain sometimes, it certainly could be worse. I think Do Life is a great message to promote, especially since pretty much EVERYONE can relate to it. They have a great range of merchandise available on their site! Make sure to check them out.
I recently came across a new social networking site called Knoyce. The word Knoyce is based on the word nice, but it implies that something is “better than just nice”. And that it is. Knoyce is a combination of all the great things on all sorts of social media sites.
On Knoyce you can:
- Create a customized background. Choose from over 120 different themes and then customize all the colors
- Create a blog
- Update your status
- Upload music to put on your profile
- Search people by location, school, job
- Join groups to meet others with similar interests (I made one for Twitter and Facebook)
- Play with the hundreds of applications and thrid-party widgets that are available for free
- Access your profiles on Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, FriendFeed, StumbleUpon, Digg and more right from the Knoyce page. (The only site they have not added yet is Twitter, but that’s what TweetDeck is for)
- Group chat and private chat
A lot of these features are available on different social media sites, but none of them are available on one site except for Knoyce. You can check out my profile at http://www.knoyce.com/profile/BeckyKopprasch.
The only problem with Knoyce is its lack of members. At the time of this blog post, Knoyce only has 1,169 members. Get in at the beginning…it’s really a great social networking site! Make a profile today: http://www.knoyce.com
You’ve all seen the commercials. They will send you an envelope for you to send back your gold jewelry and you will get a check back for them! Sounds too good to be true. And according to reports, it is! First of all, why would anyone send expensive jewelry via UPS with insurance of only $500? As much as I enjoy shopping and connecting with companies online, this is one thing I would rather go to a jeweler in person for.
Since I thought this company was a scam, I recently went to a jeweler with my old gold jewelry and was told that it isn’t gold, since it wasn’t marked. Apparently, she isn’t too swift a jeweler. I knew for a fact that every piece was gold, and told her so. She shook her head and said, “I don’t know who told you that, but they were mistaken”. I put the ziplock bag of jewelry in my purse and left. I called my Mom, who purchased some of the jewelry for me. She said, “of course it’s gold!” I have been pretty busy lately and have not had the chance to go to someone else, but perhaps when I’m in need of some quick cash, I will try again. However, I will certainly not be mailing it off to a company in hopes of getting a few bucks back.
Have any of you used this service? What are your thoughts?
When I was first asked to review the Panasonic 360° Quick Steam/Dry Iron, I hesitated. Although I do own an iron and ironing board, I have not actually used them in at least 2 years. Conveniently, the weather just got chilly and I started using my duvet again. After 4 months in the closet after being washed, the duvet cover was pretty wrinkled. So, I waited for my iron to arrive. And alas, a few days later, there it was. My landlord (knowing I don’t iron) gave me a funny look when she handed me the package.
I’ve seen the new Cirque du Soleil 
