May Kickstarter Round-Up: Caveman Chow and Ayn Rand Games

Categories: The Intertubes

I have to be honest with you, I almost killed this column. That's how little I like the cut of Zach Braff's jib. Then I thought, "Screw him, I'm still going to showcase the Houstonians crowdfunding awesome ideas!

There are two reasons I want you to fund this MMORPG even though it's a type of game I detest and I will in all likelihood never play it. The first is that the technology demo looks amazing. I haven't fallen so in love with scenery in a game since Xenoblade. Whatever else happens, Nexeon Technologies's game will be beautiful.

But the real reason I want to see it in action is because it's a Libertarian's wet dream. The game takes place after the fall of an all-controlling government and its PVP environment is anything goes. The battle system rewards skill, not levels, which means that it rewards tricks, not prolonged effort. Your virtual apartment can be robbed, and there are no safe zones. By the designer's own admission, it's a griefer's playpen.

Which means we can see that anarcho-captialist utopia that all the Rand fans want to see play out in real time rather than watching it as a story in BioShock. This will be the stuff of intertube legends, full of YouTube gold and online dickery the likes of which we have never seen. Even if you have no desire to play the game, it's very existence makes the gaming world all the more interesting and wonderful.

Goal: $50,000 by June 6

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Straight-To-Vimeo is the New Straight-To-Video

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Adam Brody and Kristen Bell in "Some Girls" which will go straight to Vimeo.
Straight-to-video has gotten a 2013 makeover. Last week, Vimeo, the mature brother of Youtube, released that it would be starting an On Demand service and it will kick off with Neil LaBute's Some Girls. Some Girls is an indie/low budget film version of LaBute's 2006 play about a man who goes on an adventure in exes to find his true match. The movie was directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer (Party Girl) and boasts some big names with indie cred like Zoe Kazan and Kristen Bell. But it's how the film is being released that is getting the bigger buzz.

Some Girls premiered this year at SXSW and rather than going for the standard distribution model of waiting forever to get picked injected into mainstream theaters, the film will open online on June 28 on Vimeo's On Demand platform. For $10 to own the movie and $5 to rent, the producers of the movie are entering into some unexplored territory. Are people ready to watch new movies online without the addition of the big screen?

There's been some feet wetting already in this arena. The female comedy Bachelorette was first released on iTunes prior to its airing in theaters, which gave it a good amount of buzz and viewers. This model is rumored to be in future use for the upcoming Nicolas Refn film, Only God Forgives. We shall see.

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10 Most Amazingly Bizarre Paintings of Obama on Etsy

Categories: The Intertubes

As Houston Press' bizarre Etsy art expert, I thought I'd see how a nation of crafty lunatics would portray our commander-in-chief. The answer is somewhere between "awesomely" and "needs medication badly."

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Mike and Mollie took the title commander-in-chief a little too literally, and here we have Barack Obama looking like a cross between a Bjork dress and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. The weirdest part is he sports a hammer and sickle button, and if anyone can explain to me where the Soviet Union and Native American heritage intersect then kindly let me know in the comments which mental health facility is offering the free wifi you're using to view this.

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Jack Chick's Anti-D&D Comic is Becoming a Movie! 5 More We Hope Get Made

Categories: The Intertubes

JR Ralls of Portland, OR won some money in the lottery. Not like a million dollars, but enough to where he felt like he had to do something significant with it to better humanity. To that end he bought the movie rights to famous evangelical comic strip producer Jack Chick's acclaimed 1984 "Dark Dungeons," which told the story of how young role-playing gamers were just casting twelve-sided dice on THEIR OWN DAMNATION! DUH DUH DUUUUUUUUH!

I love Jack Chick tracts, and maintain a complete collection. I even used to scan and doctor them to create Black Math Experiment flyers because they are that insane. They're vaguely racist, anti-science, scary as a naked clown with a bloody chainsaw, and lovingly drawn by a man who is honestly a comic genius... albeit the way Dr. Doom is a genius.

Ralls began a Kickstarter campaign to help make the movie a reality, and they are near their goal. That's a hint. Go give him your money. There is nothing in the world more awesome than seeing the madness of Chick come to cinematic life. If Ralls is screwing with Chick, it'll be epic. If he's not, it will be a thousand time more epic. The Satanism scare involving goth and gaming in the '80s and '90s remains one of the most hilarious time periods in pop culture ever, and it must be captured on film.

And if Ralls succeeds... there's plenty more where that came from.


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The Easiest Way You Can Make the Internet a Better, Less Misogynistic Place

Categories: The Intertubes

This video kicks more ass than magnetic boots in a room full of Cybermen. Just in case you're in a place where watching videos isn't an option, we have a young guy and a girl who is clearly passed out on his couch. The guy sets up a camera to show his "bros" what's about to happen to this particular slut in the miniskirt who is just begging for it, obviously. "It" is rape, in case subtlety isn't your bag.

Seconds later, he puts a pillow under her head, a blanket over her, pulls up a bedside table and leaves her a glass of water. He then looks at the camera and reminds us that real men treat women with respect. It's a quick, simple and undeniably wonderful message to my gender that needs to be more widespread. Kudos to the minds behind this work. I say Kickstarter the cash to run ads nationwide.

Unfortunately, it's also on YouTube, which means commenters. Hateful, misogynistic, vile commenters peppering the praise with hate and vitriol. Today, I'm going to teach you how to make the Internet a better place.

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April Kickstarter Round-Up: Let's Build a Freakin' TARDIS!

Categories: The Intertubes

Once a month we'll be bringing you a look at some of the local Kickstarter campaigns in order to let you know what's getting ready to be unleashed through the help of small investors.

Chesstache: Chess is fun and easy to learn. In fact, if you want to look über-smart figuring out how to decimate an amateur opponent, it takes about, oh, five minutes of practice. Online chess is fine, but it's never going to live up to a good physical game. Unfortunately, carrying around a board is a pain in the ass.

Laura Landry & Spencer Anastasio have solved that with Chesstache. It's a simple roll-up canvas board that also houses a tube of circular game pieces, meaning it's also perfect for a game of checkers. Each one is handmade, fits in an average-size purse and is durable enough to take pretty much anywhere. It's pretty steep. You have to drop $50 before you end up with a full version of the printed product, but can you put a price on intellectual hipster cred from carrying your own board everywhere like a brainy gunslinger?

Goal: $22,170 by April 24

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The Best Red Profile Pics Supporting the Marriage Equality Movement

Categories: The Intertubes

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Two things happened this week that I was absolutely sure were never going to happen in my lifetime. The first was the Supreme Court of these United States taking up both a case to repeal Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage in California by popular vote as well as possibly repealing the Defense of Marriage Act that denies more than a thousand benefits to same-sex couples even in states that allow such marriages.

As passionate a defender and advocate for LGBT equality as I am, I never forget the saddest fact I've ever learned; the Civil Rights Act passed only after the children of the last slave-owners had died. That's how long social change takes to happen. That in just the last decade the movement for equality has come so far is astounding. Something else last week topped it, though.

Changing your profile pic on Facebook actually mattered. The absolute pinnacle of slactivism, the acme of false effort, somehow became freakin' relevant. I don't know about you, but I couldn't tell who the hell I was talking to online anymore in the sea of red equality symbols. When something like that gets mentioned in Forbes you're no longer talking bush leagues.

In celebration of this unthinkable action, I thought I'd show you the way people changed up their show of support.

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The Etiquette of Tagging on Facebook

Categories: The Intertubes

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Use the Force for good, Luke!
I actually do a fair amount of my work through Facebook as far as picking up pop culture news, crowdsourcing ideas, and connecting with bands and artists. Of course, I also do a lot of not-my-work on Facebook because it sucks in your soul like some kind of reverse Ark of the Covenant. Which brings us to tagging.

Facebook allows you to identify people in pictures, or people who were with you when the pictures were taken, or link you to an ongoing discussion in the comments. It's as simple as typing their name most of the time, and it can range from endearing to extremely annoying.

After having to correct several people this week, I thought I'd make a list of simple do's and don't's when it comes to tagging. Hopefully it will smooth out the ride for us all.

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March Kickstarter Round-Up: New SNES Games and Heinlein Comics

Categories: The Intertubes

Once a month we'll be bringing you a look at some of the local Kickstarter campaigns in order to let you know what's getting ready to be unleashed through the help of small investors.

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The estate of the late science fiction master Robert A. Heinlein is actually managed right here in Houston. Virginia Edition publishes a 46-volume definitive collection of Heinlein's work that is as expensive as it fantastic! Their latest project is bringing to life a Heinlein novel in graphic novel format, with further adaptations to follow if successful.

The novel in question is Citizen of the Galaxy, a wonderful tale of a young slave boy who begins to rise in galactic society first as a freedom fighter, then a military officer and finally as the long-lost heir of a wealthy and influential company orphaned so his parents' enemies could secretly profit from the slave trade. It's a dashing space tale and it can only get better under the pen of Batman and Deathstroke artist Steve Erwin. Fifteen dollars gets you a soft cover edition, and $50 a signed hardcover. That's a pretty fair price for a graphic novel.

Goal: $26,400 by March 31

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10 Best Websites to Maintain Your Sanity

Categories: The Intertubes

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Maru
The online world is a magic land were everyone whips out their genitals, writes every single half-assed opinion they have on them, then lovingly rubs them on the screen so you can get an eyefuckful. Politics, religion, conspiracy theories, people refusing to shut up about weed saving the world... it's enough to make you want to open a vein in the bath tub.

Not all is lost, though. There's hope online, and these ten websites can act as the vaccine against nuttery and bloody-mindedness. Try and visit them at least once a week.

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