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6: Brand Focus: Los Angeles Apparel

September – the season of changing leaves, pumpkin spice lattes (those are nasty but if I speak…), and – usually – back to school shopping.

However, now that life has transitioned online, there is no reason to wear anything that is uncomfortable or at least two sizes oversized on a day-to-day basis. But – and don’t fight me on this - there is nothing more satifying than new and quality loungewear.

This is where Los Angeles Apparel comes in.

The brand formerly known as American Apparel rebranded as Los Angeles Apparel – the same basics brand, full of heavyweight cotton, styles ranging from classic to contemporary, and a wide range of colours, everything from neutrals to neon colours.

After bankrupting twice, American Apparel was purchased by Canadian manufacturer, Gildan, in 2017. Gildan went on to rebrand and remove the more notable points of the company’s marketing strategy – namely, the borderline pornographic advertising and sinfully high price range (some AA products can now be purchased on websites such as Wordans and Amazon).

Founder and Montreal native Dov Charney (who has his own demons, including accusations of sexual harassment and mismanagement of funds when he ran American Apparel in 2014*) then decided to take his ideas elsewhere, introducing Los Angeles Apparel.

Now operating out of a south Los Angeles warehouse, LAA poses itself as an ethical, basics, brand, paying workers between $15-$20 USD, as well as overtime pay and benefits, and varies from other fashion retailers in the amount of transparency to behind the scenes of their warehouse and in the production process – many of the brand’s Instagram stories include shots of models, posing outside and throughout the warehouse, and well as videos of various garment and production workers at their daily dyeing, stitching, and cutting tasks. Another plus of this brand is the composition of the garments, specifically their sweatshirts and sweatpants, tops, and bodysuits. Most places do not manufacture goods with 100% cotton - traditional brands either use a 50/50 blend of cotton and polyester, or an 80/20 blend for goods in the heavyweight category. Using 100% cotton leads to a garment that looks even better with wear and tear, as well as prevents pilling, worn out elastic cuffs and hems, as well as less discolouration. Lastly, LAA is mostly devoid of branding – their clothing has no flashy logos or tags, no awkward stitching or excessive distressing, product styles, and unsavoury colour combinations – likely stemming from their roots as a wholesale blanks company. There is a bit of 90’s flavour to the styles shown on the website, included oversized sweats and t-shirts, lots and lots of pleats (pants, skirts, shorts, everything), as well as having more fresh-faced models, both men and women.

I’ve never personally been a huge American Apparel shopper – the original brand was not the most inclusive in terms of sizing as most of their items run on the smaller size (even to this day – their 2XL fits more like a very roomy XL) or were the dreaded “slim fit” (the ugliest cut of clothing to touch down on this face of the Earth, please don’t argue with me). However, since rebranding, Charney and the rest of the LAA team began to embrace more true-to-size and oversized fits. After rebuilding my wardrobe with quality basics, I can say about 80% of my wardrobe is from LAA – the pieces are good quality, minimal, and tasteful. Also, as a person who tries to be as ethical with my spending practices as possible and invest in quality clothing, I feel a bit better knowing the $40 t-shirt won’t be falling apart in the wash or after a few wears. For anyone who has considered dipping their toe into LAA or has been looking for other basics to add to their collection, here is a listed review of my favourite items from Los Angeles Apparel**.

HF09GD Unisex - Garment Dye 14oz. Heavy Fleece Hooded Pullover Sweatshirt

If I had the power to get rid of all of the hoodies in the world and replace them with only one, this would be it. This hoodie is thick as hell to the point where sometimes it feels like canvas, but not in an uncomfortable way. The colours are also super rich – my favourite one is Chocolate (one day we will talk about how brown is the supreme neutral for its ability to be and blend with both warm and cool tone colours, but I digress). Another interesting thing about these hoodies is that they don’t hold smell the way I’ve found polyester blends do and when washed, literally smell like an entirely new garment. This is also one of the products that I found is actually more of an oversized fit, and as with most cotton goods – stretch (but not unreasonably) with wear. It comes in a huge selection of colours as well and the sizing is fairly unisex, as both me and my boyfriend have worn this hoodie and have marveled at the quality. While it is an investment ($100 CAD per hoodie, about double that for the whole set), it is truly the hooded sweatshirt I’ve ever owned.

Size: XL, Colour: Chocolate, Price: $100 CAD

3380GD - Heavy 2x1 Rib Crop Tank

As our beautiful friend who was floating around Twitter not too long ago said, “Get into eeeeet!”. And she was absolutely right. This tank top is made for the people who want to get into the w*fe-beater/undershirt-as-a-shirt trend but don’t particularly enjoy the length or thinness of those traditional tops. This cropped tank is a racerback, but not to the point where it is completely unwearable without a bra, provided you have a convertible bra. This top is also 5% elastane as opposed to polyester (for those who are curious, elastane is a member of the Lycra and Spandex family, so the stretch in this top will also provide some shaping benefits). While it does only come in two colours for the time being, I’m one of those people who owns everything in my closet in both black and white, so this was perfect for me. Another thing to note, all my BBWs, this top does not roll up or require too much adjusting throughout the day, and sits just above the belly button for a cropped look without making you look like Roger the Alien (you know what I’m talking about….). This tank top is relatively affordable, considering the wearability, and the ribbing isn’t too noticeable so if you wanted a nice cropped but semi conservative top, this just might be it.

Size: L, Colour: Black, Price: $30 CAD

1215GD - Heavy Jersey Garment Dye Casual Pants

Ok, you know when you want to wear sweatpants, but you also realize that maybe the occasion is not appropriate, or you just need a little bit of pizzazz without all of the frump? This is these pants. When I first read the reviews, I was skeptical, but after realizing all I own are jeans and sweatpants, I copped a pair. I wore these in 75-degree weather, walked a good three or four miles, and was comfortable all day. Plus, unlike most traditional womenswear pants, these pockets are DEEP. Like Mariana Trench deep, which I love because one thing about me – I’m going to use a damn pocket. I would say to avoid these if you aren’t into the straight leg look because with a t-shirt, they do give very public-school art teacher vibes, but they also come in a huge range of colours. A lot of people complain about the elastic band for a lot of their products (too tight), but personally I prefer that – it provides a longer wear time before you have to wash (since it takes longer for the garment to stretch out) and keeps everything cute and covered. These pants are also a nice alternative to jeans, and even come in the couple shades of blue to mimic the idea of dark/light wash. The price is a little obscene for some casual pants, but I think you’re someone who usually wears pants from Urban Planet, H&M, or even Zara, these will be a nice upgrade, sure to last a very, very long time.

Size: L, Colour: Black, Price: $52 CAD

1406GD - Long Sleeve Garment Dye Mockneck T-Shirt

Another one of my favourite things about LAA is the fact that a lot of their products are unisex (while not explicitly labelled as such, you will see a lot of the same items in both the men and women tabs on their website). I love a good long sleeve shirt, but my proportions were never too forgiving to pull it off without looking like a 1960’s ghost, or like I had gotten dressed in the tent section of Home Depot. This top is more of a boxy fit, but the bottom is cropped enough to make it hit just above the thighs for a nice, slouchy look. The colours in these are also super nice, veering more towards neutrals and pastels. This shirt looks good with bike shorts and tucked into jeans, and (the best part) the white is not see-through at all, which was one of my biggest complaints when buying shirts from brands like Hanes, Gildan, Fruit of the Loom, and Keya. The neckline is a lot higher than most traditional crew necks, but I’m a fan. Plus, I feel like it looks a lot better when you layer jewelry over it. If you’re springing to get a basic colour, I’d say it’s totally worth it, at $41 a pop, considering that it’ll last damn near forever.

Size: XL, Colour: White, Price: $52 CAD

B128CF - Long Sleeve Crossfront Bodysuit

The bodysuit that started it all. Y’all. The number of compliments I get whenever I wear this top is insane, not to mention of all the bodysuits I have purchased from this brand, this one is the most flattering, the most versatile, and the most forgiving, in terms of sizing. The cross-front bodysuit is a happy medium for people who want to get into the criss-cross top look without the hassle of strings and shit like that. Not to mention, many bodysuits in this style tend to be ribbed – and not the good kind of ribbing either *retches*. I own this bodysuit in both a medium and a large, and my advice would be to size down, especially if you’re planning on wearing it without a bra (not much of a choice considering this bodysuit has a deep, deep, V neck) and will definitely add to the effortless look of the whole ensemble. This bodysuit can be dressed up and dressed down, but my favourite way to wear this is with some slouchy ass sweatpants, white sneakers (preferably a little beat up) and a small shoulder bag – ad square or transparent sunglasses for some big 90s energy, like you just left a Bikram yoga class or something. The colours on this could be better – aside from the white, black, and flesh toned colour, I really don’t see a purpose for the coral or blue shade, but I may be biased considering I do avoid bright colours like that. Now, it may seem a little overpriced for what it is, but I promise you – in my years of bodysuit research, the only brand that’s coming close to this, especially for larger chested laydeez, is Capezio, and that’s literally dancewear. Like, industrial ass dancewear. Regardless, this bodysuit is top 2 and it’s not 2.

Size: M, Colour: White, Price: $49 CAD

BD12 - Bull Denim Oversized Bag

If I had to give a name to my aesthetic – particularly when it comes to accessories – I’d say I’m somewhere in between “Bag Lady” by Erykah Badu and first year art student in the Midwest working part time at a dusty bookstore. This bag is more of the latter. For reference on size, it’s about as big, laid flat, as my large Telfar, but when on, doesn’t have the same structure, thus keeping it from looking like a burlap sack (or keeping you from looking like Santa on December 24th). The material is bull denim, which is similar in texture and style to regular denim, however, dyed to give it a rich and uniform colour. Also this bag comes in literally all of the ROYGBIV colours, plus black and white, and in a variety of styles and closures (they have one with a zipper for people who are diligent about things like that, as well as a more standard tote size and shape). This bag is perfect for literally everything – I like it when I go grocery shopping, or even getting from A to B when I have to carry a million things. Another bonus is the construction of the strap is thick without being comical, meaning that you won’t have those nasty lines in your shoulder after a long day, and you won’t have to worry about a strap busting and embarrazzzzing you (Nella Rose voice) when you’re out. In terms of pricing, you could get a little pleather number from H&M for the same price, but if you don’t take yourself seriously, then just say that (kidding!). as someone who loves the look of a good canvas tote, without wanting to look too much like a crunchy granola kinda person, this bag is lowkey one of my favourites (sorry, Mr. Clemens!).

Size: OS, Colour: Navy, Price: $58

Notes:

*= We do not condone predatory behaviour from anyone, but it is important to highlight that just because you love something doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Part of being a responsible consumer is also knowing about who you purchase from, not just what and how things are made. I am aware of this and am taking accountability for not knowing this information sooner.

**= All of these opinions are my own and not sponsored. Product codes will be listed in the title, and sizing, colour purchased, as well as CAD pricing will be listed at the end of each review.

12, 16, 21, 25, 27, 30, 42, 43, 46, 50, 51, 55, 59, 66, 70, 77, 80, 87, 90, 93, 97, 100 on the ask thing?

oh hell ya big ask B)

12~ whats your favorite planet? 

pluto! its so small i love it sm

16~ whats your favorite pasta dish?

either spaghetti or spinach tortellini!

21~ talk about your favorite bag, the one thats been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces

yo this bag i got from earthbound like 3-4 years ago has been KICKIN IT!! its so cute its like this mix of earthy shades of green, pink, black, and tan and its super durable. on its last leg though i think. a strap is starting to lift at the fabric and theres holes in the back oop

25~ whats the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into? 

an old abandoned high school building. there were a LOT of spray painted penises. there was also a coochie spray painted tho so, women’s rights were served

27~ whats your favorite bubblegum flavor?

i think just the classic pink bubble gum! 

30~ think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

yep! not the best moments in my life’s history but it happens it happens we all good

42~ do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!

yes! its this little place called serdonos! its in the downtown area of where i go to college and its super cute. its logo is this rainbow (but mostly red) parrot with its wings spread across and honestly, when i tell you they make the best chai latte, i mean THE BEST chai latte. immaculate.the flavor. im in awe. 

43~ who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

my grandmother and cousins! we all laid down on her back porch and watched a star shower together! :)

46~ tell us the worst pun you can think of?

why did the scarecrow win the nobel prize? because he was outstanding in his field!!

50~ whats an odd thing you collect?

im not sure if this counts as a collection? but whenever i clean off my pallet, i peel the paint off and add it to this ball of paint i have chillin with my art stuff. i just wanna see how big i can get it! 

51~ think of a person. what song do you associate with them? 

honest by the band CAMINO. i’ll link it!

55~ whats the most dramatic thing you’ve done to prove a point? 

i would have to say i dove off the side of a cliff to prove that the dirt underneath was soft enough to land on. (in my defense, it wasnt THAT tall off a cliff AND the dirt WAS soft. i take pride in that victory)

59~ whats your favorite myth?

mermaids but the ones that are GIANT

66~ what would your ideal flower crown look like? 

big white flowers with some kinda reddish pink flowers strung in

70~ have you ever used an ouija board?

yep! it was super cool i talked to some passed away relatives. even talked to my brother who passed! truly a legendary moment in time but i told myself not to use a board too much so after like, the third or fourth time i’d ever used it i deemed it to be the last time

77~ pink or yellow lemonade?

pink!

80~ what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose them? if so, why?

theyre old trailer house wallprints lmao. i cant paint over it it’ll just peel off so, sad times. i do have a really cool tapestry hung up though!

87~ what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime?

fern gully!! the fairy in that movie is the reason i am gay!!!!!!!! that and also spider-man into the spiderverse bc that movie is a work of ART

90~ talk about one of your favorite cities.

where i live when college is open! it’s where mardi gras originated :) its this super cute downtown area and like, no matter when you go there’s always something happening. like a saxophonist out on the street or some people graffiti-ing old buildings, just a really cool mix of stuff going on at once! that and the best cafes and restaurants

93~ whats the hairstyle you wear the most?

used to i’d have my hair half up in a bun but i got my haircut last night so its a little too short for it. now i’ll just opt to a half up pony tail! 

97~ myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house?

mb- mediator! (INFP) zs- cancer! hh- i think last time i checked i got gryffindor? 

100~ if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years to the future, which one would you press? why?

future! i would like to see what life if like once i come out to my family

thank you for the ask! i enjoyed this one a lot! :)

if anyone else would like to send an ask, you can find the questions here!

Bon Bon Chocolat

What's everyone's deal with chocolate? Especially the whole dark vs white chocolate debate. Why does milk chocolate get ignored? It is a completely valid form, and so is white chocolate. White chocolate is real chocolate, no matter what you think. It has the word "chocolate" in its name, so how is it not? The answer is simple. It. Is. Chocolate. Periodt. And people will do anything for a bit of chocolate. Just look at that one guy from Spongebob. A boy leans against the entrance of the cafeteria, eyeing the tray of chocolate muffins and chocolate delicacies. This is Cyrus Goodman. Watch him drool over the sweetness of it all. It's adorable. Cyrus has been referred to by the entire student population of Jefferson Middle School as the most fragile student in the school. He takes his time maneuvering across the room, in attempt to grab one of the muffins. He dives into a rolling position and rolls to the counter, unnoticed. He really doesn't give a care. If he's hungry, he's hungry. And he'll do anything to satisfy his hunger. He rolls for a hot second. He's really feeling his oats as he expected this to go another way. He couldn't even do a somersault a few weeks ago, and now he's all athletic and all that. All this exercise activity will make TJ proud. Oh God. Now he's thinking of his best friend. Why would he do this to himself. He knows every time that he thinks of the jock, he gets weak in his knees and too shook to function properly. The sudden thought messed him up and instead of continuing straight, which is the only time he's been straight, he wobbled and started shifting left and right. Instead of landing at the counter, he ran into a trash can. One of those big metal ones that made a loud 'clunk' like noise when made in contact with. On the upside, no one was near him to see it. Or so he thought. As he rubs his head to relieve some of the pain, a hand reaches out towards him. Cyrus opens his eyes, which then widens. "And, I oop- " TJ chuckles and shakes his head a little. He forms a small smile as he looks at the smaller boy. Thoughts upon thoughts ran through his head as to how this happened, but overall couldn't stop thinking about how cute he looks, even if he's on the ground and has specks of dirt on his clothes. "Need some help?" Well, obviously, Cyrus couldn't what he really needed help with, but he has to accept what he's offered. He reaches out and takes hold of TJ's hand. He's pulled off the ground and brushes off the dirt. "What was all that about?" TJ asks. His concerned tone was melting Cyrus's heart faster than the chocolate by how adorable it was. To be fair, anything TJ says in any tone made Cyrus fall for him even more. "Do you need some more help with your somersaults?" Cyrus shakes his head. "Nah, fam." He points to the counter. Almost all the muffins were already gone, along with the random chocolate candies. "Wanted my usual muffin. Tried to be a little extra, but as you saw, it failed." TJ sighs and places a hand on Cyrus's shoulder, which causes the boy's heart to pound faster than the time he drank a whole can of Red Bull. His breathing is stammered. TJ opens his mouth to say something. "You could've asked me to get you one. Just stand by and look pretty as I get it for you." TJ walks away, leaving Cyrus with his mouth wide open. Did TJ Kippen, THE TJ Kippen, captain of the basketball team, most popular guy in school, his bestest friend ever, just tell him to look pretty? Was he pretty? Of course, he has his charm. But does this mean that TJ thinks that he is pretty, as in a synonym for attractive? Cyrus couldn't really spend much longer on the question as his mind went to another place, along with his eyes. He kept his eyes on TJ the entire time. The way the boy walks conveys so much swag that it made him look pretty, well, prettier. TJ reaches the counter and pops up the hood of his hoodie, like the sly guy that the is. After a minute, TJ returns. Empty handed. "Sorry, Underdog. They ran out before I got there. Tried to find out if they had any in the back." "It's ok." Cyrus tells him. Although he was upset that he was without muffin, at least he's with TJ, and that he tried. A boy that kinda sort of finds him pretty and that attempts to get his favorite school food, Cyrus couldn't get luckier. Even if they were just friends. "Let's just go to our table and enjoy the rest of lunch." Cyrus went to their usual table and places his head on his hands in defeat. TJ watches his friend and frowns. He hates seeing him upset, that's why he's willing to do anything for him. He just couldn't figure out how to get him out of this state. Or did he? TJ frantically shakes his head and pulls out his phone. He opens his email app and scrolls through everything. He soon finds one that was sent a week ago. He finds the one from Hersey Factory. About a month ago he entered a contest and won two tickets to tour the factory. He smiles hard and ran to his friend. He practically shoves the phone in his face. "What, TJ?" Cyrus asks. He barely lifts his head. "Just read this." Cyrus listens and reads the email. He lightens up and smiles. "What's this for?" "Just thought this would make you happy. Going to a whole building dedicated to chocolate. Even say we'll be given gift baskets at the end. It'll be like a date." At that, Cyrus really perks up. He still doesn't comprehend what TJ means. Did he mean like a romantic date? A date as casual friends? Or did he accidently say that word? ''And this weekend is the last day I can use them. Didn't know who to take and now I have a reason to use them." "And I have a reason to live." Cyrus says softly. "What?" Cyrus tries covering up what he said. "Oh, it was nothing. I'm so excited that I'm practically about to explode." "Don't hurt yourself." A few short days later, which felt like eternity to Cyrus, the weekend came. For the past few days Cyrus has been a nervous wreck, even more than usual. His mind continued to be filled with thoughts about TJ. How cute he was, how he looked good no matter what he wore, the way he took care of him and made him feel special. And now he couldn't get the words 'pretty' and 'date' out of his head. He couldn't figure out if those were said accidently or just in the moment, or the option that wasn't even a possibility, was that he was secretly trying to tell him he wanted to try dating. Nah. TJ is straight. He plays a sport. Right now, Cyrus's room is a mess from the clothes that are thrown all over the floor. He usually wasn't this worked up over what he wore around TJ, but this wasn't their usual day at the swings. This was, in Cyrus's mind, their first date, even if TJ didn't see it as such. Eventually, Cyrus settled on slacks and a green button up. He remembered that green is TJ's favorite color. A knock on the door snaps Cyrus back to reality. He runs downstairs and opens the front door. He sees TJ standing on the other side, and he's wearing his usual hoodie and jeans attire. Today's hoodie is a black one with rainbow sleeves. Upon seeing it, Cyrus's face practically turned into the heart eyed emoji. There was so much UWU that one could take. "Están listo?" TJ asks. His Spanish is improving, and his accent is so adorable. "Sí." Cyrus steps outside and locks his door. The pair walk down the driveway to RJ's truck. Since neither of them could drive, and all their parents are busy, TJ asked his older brother to drive them. Cyrus got in the back and buckles up. Next thing he knew, TJ is opening the other backseat door and sits next to him. RJ adjusts the front mirror. He sees the two as he starts the engine. He begins driving to the factory. "You two better have a good time. TJ's been talking about this nonstop for the past three days." TJ blushes, which Cyrus doesn't notice. However, Cyrus does notice RJ chuckling. He doesn't know if he's joking or what. "He even waited to wear that hoodie for the longest time." RJ continues. He turns onto a different road, getting closer to their destination. This time, both backseat boys were blushing. This lasted the rest of the ride, which fortunately was only a few minutes. When the car pulled into the factory, TJ and Cyrus quickly got out. "Enjoy your date." RJ then drives off. TJ rubs his neck and faces his friend. Their faces are back to normal. "Ignore him. He likes to joke and mess with me. Typical older brother things." Cyrus shrugs it off. The two looked around and find the entrance. The door is designed like a chocolate bar, which was pretty cool. Once inside, the layout was nothing like the chocolate factory from those movies. There were no edible rooms, no colorful field with chocolate rivers, no little orange men with green hair who sang songs. People say never believe everything you see on tv, but they were hoping this would be the same. Instead, the rooms were full of machinery. Everything was gray and the logo of the company was on everything. An employee approached them and shook both their hands. "Welcome to Hersey Factory Shadyside Section. I'm Mr. Walter and I'll be your tour guide today. Please follow me, and don't touch anything." The boys followed him, super bored by the way. The website made it seem so much more fun. They groaned after everything Mr. Walter said. There were times they felt like they were sleepwalking. The entire atmosphere felt like a magnet that was dragging them down, causing their walking to decline to them forcefully dragging their feet. After what felt like forever, they were given a break. TJ pulls Cyrus to the side. "Sorry for bringing you here. Should've let the tickets expire." Cyrus shrugs. "It's fine. At least we got to spend a Saturday together." "But I wanted to make it fun, exciting, and memorable. Gosh, I'm so horrible." TJ starts tearing up. He turns away and wipes his sleeve across his face. Cyrus comforts him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Teej, it's ok. I'm happy as long as I'm with you." Cyrus froze as he caught on to what he said. Did he, did he just out himself? He stands still for a second too long and realizes his hand is still touching his crush. He swiftly removes it, which results in TJ turning back around. "You know what will make this fun?" TJ says as he grins like he's up to something. Cyrus couldn't figure out what TJ meant. Did he know about his crush and wanted to try something? Was he playing a prank? "What do you have in mind?" TJ peaks around to make sure none of the employees were near. He leans down to Cyrus's ear, which causes the boy to shiver. "I saw an interesting room down that hall over there. I think it has something we'll both enjoy." Cyrus gulps. He starts shaking. "What do you mean?" TJ grabs his hand and leads him away. The whole time Cyrus couldn't stop thinking that TJ is technically holding his hand. Leading him to do who knows what. Cyrus always wanted to try the wild side of life, but this may be too wild for him. Seconds after, they reached the door TJ talked about. It was slightly open, the key still in the lock. TJ made one last look around to confirm no employee was looking. Once the coast was clear, they went in. TJ turns on the light switch to reveal the room. Both gasp loudly at the sight in front of them. It was a literal chocolate room. Like, for real, everything is made of chocolate, except the door they entered through. The walls are chocolate. The floor is chocolate grass. A huge fountain is in the center, and you guessed it, it's made of chocolate. And instead of water, chocolate is coming out of it. There is a chocolate pool in the back. It was enough to send them into a sugar coma simply by looking at it all. Cyrus is in awe of everything that he's, for once, speechless. He keeps his frozen stance until the corner of his eye sees something. Next the he knew TJ is shirtless. If his mouth wasn't open, it is now. "TJ, what are you doing?" TJ starts making his way to the pool. "I was dreaming this would be like the movies." He takes off his jeans right before he jumps into the pool. Chocolate from the splash got over the already chocolate covered ground. "Man, this feels relaxing." He takes sips of the pool. "And delicious. You should come in and taste this. Or the grass. Or the walls. Chocolate is just so good." Cyrus walks over to the fountain and sits on the edge. He dips a finger inside and licks the chocolate off. TJ was right, it is good. Cyrus continues the process. Next thing he knew, his entire face ended up covered in chocolate. He looks to his right and sees a chocolate covered TJ smiling. "TJ!" Cyrus yells. He looks down at his shirt, which caught some chocolate. "This shirt is brand new! And my hair!" TJ couldn't stop laughing. "Sorry, Cy. But it was too convenient." Cyrus tries wiping off as much as he could. This just about solidified that TJ was straight, because straight guys love playing these jokes on each other. A loud thud startled them both. Mr. Walter stands in the doorway. Although Cyrus's eyes still have traces of chocolate in them, he could tell he was angry. Maybe just about to explode. "Out! Now!" The boys didn't have to be told twice. They scurried out of the room, Cyrus grabbing TJ's clothes. They were immediately escorted out of the factory. It wasn't too bad because at least they ended the pain of boredom early and had a little bit of fun. Also, they were given the gift baskets because the contest required them. Luckily RJ was there early to wait on them. When he saw them, especially his brother, he laughed hysterically. "Towels are already in the back. I expected this to happen." The ride back home was silent. However, RJ was able to stop and let TJ dry off and get dressed again. Once home, Cyrus plops onto the couch. He opens his gift basket and takes out the chocolate bar plushie. He squeezes it. Outside, TJ stands at the beginning of the driveway. He looks deeply at Cyrus's house. He doesn't know how much trouble he might've caused, but he wants to fix it. Thing is, he might've ruined things for good. Everything was perfect between them. School, then park, then home. And the occasional basketball game Cyrus would watch and not understand. After sighing, TJ looked at RJ, who simply nodded. TJ slowly made his way to the front door. Each breath he took felt like shards of glass attacking him. Each step felt like lava. When he managed to reach the door, the knock felt like his hand hitting nails. Cyrus opens the door with a blank expression. Seeing TJ made a simple yet small smile form. Basically a Mona Lisa smile where it's debatable. "Yes." TJ sighs. A subtle tear runs down his face. "I'm sorry about today." "What about today?" "Getting you in trouble. I know how you feel about that. And about splashing chocolate on you. I know it was a stupid move but I didn't know what else to do. I care about you, a lot. I just didn't have the right words, so I acted stupid." Cyrus looks him in the eyes, seeing the tears fall. Now he knew the truth. "It's ok. We all do stupid things when we're in our emotions. Come on, I have a whole gift bag of chocolate that's not going to eat itself." TJ smiles and follows him to the couch. They sit, eat, and just have a good time until RJ got annoyed of waiting and started honking his horn.

When i was in 8th grade, we had to do a movie report on one of the movies on a list the teacher gave us. I didnt recognize most of the movies on list, and the ones i did were because i heard other people talking about using them, so i just decided to pick one that had a cool name.

The movie was called "The Wave". It was a German movie, i watched it with english subtitles because i didnt speak a word of german at the time. It was about a teacher who was forced to teach a class during some sort of 'culture week' thing. Basically the class was about nazis and how they screwed everything up. So this teacher goes up to the front of the class and is like 'so what do you guys think about this topic' and the entire class just kinda shrugged and was like 'nazis cant happen again. It sucked but its over and done with and wont happen again'. The teacher stood up at the front of classroom silently. He just kinda stood there. Studied his students. Looked at his notes for the plan he made. Looked back up.

He said (in german), "alright, tomorrow i want all of you to come in a white button up shirt and jeans." And then he just kinda ended the class for that day.

The next day, there was only one girl who wasnt wearing a white shirt. That day, the teacher invented a little handshake thing, only for the students in that class. Asked the students to come up with their own ideas. They come up with a logo, ideas, things that they could try to do. One of the kids gets super into it, basically becomes the leader of the whole thing. The kids get their friends involved, who get their friends involved. The next day, the kids come up with more ideas. By that night theyve made stencils and started drawing their mark anywhere they can physically reach. The kid who was basically the leader at this point goes up to the teacher and thanks him for giving him a purpose.

It the final day of the culture week. The group of kids involved fill up an entire auditorium, not a small one either. Standing room only. Its so huge that there are police cars gathered outside. The leader kid is up on stage, and the teacher walks up. The teacher looks out at the mass gathering of kids.

He does the handshake thing (it was some sort of wave motion done with one arm). The entire audience follows suit. He looks at them all, and he says. Look at yourselves. Really. Can you tell the difference between each other? Or whats special about the kids who refused to join?

"You looked at me and you said that the nazis were a one time thing. That they couldnt possibly happen again, because no one was that stupid."

"The Wave is over." He tells them. "Go home."

The leader kid freaks out. "It cant be over," he says. "Its my only purpose, i finally, finally had something, and youre telling me its gone?"

The teacher stands there. Looks at him. "Its enough," he says. "Its over."

The leader kid starts crying. Hes lost his purpose. Hes had a pretty shitty life, but he was someone who mattered in this group. He was important, he had a purpose.

He said something. Some sort of denial. He pulls out a gun. The teacher's eyes widen.

"No," the teacher goes. "Stop-"

The kid sticks the gun in his mouth, tears still rolling down his cheeks.

A shot rings out in the auditorium. Someone screams.

The last scene is of the teacher getting handcuffed and shoved into a police car.

That was, what? 6 years ago? I still think about it sometimes.

I didnt understand a single word that was spoken in that movie. Im kinda tempted to find it again now that i know a bit of german and see if it hits as hard in its original language as it did when i read its subtitles in english.

So anyway, america, basically im saying that if you cant make a movie that only gets more powerful over time about a near defining yet horrible characteristic of your country, then youre doing shit wrong.

ART SCHOOL | Q&A with Scott Chenoweth

A man of many sketchbooks, Long Beach based artist Scott Chenoweth’s black and white illustrations focus on subtle humor, puns, and all things that capture his many imaginations. Not only one thing, Scott creates art in different styles for different things– using what he has learned from being the art director at Surfing Magazine and his experiences as a director at What Youth art program. We’re stoked to find out more about Scott’s artistic process, find out his art school tip, and about some of his many projects in 2018 – including his first solo show in over 12 years! 

Photographs by Taylor Dunfee

Introduce yourself?  I’m Scott Chenoweth, a freelance illustrator and designer from Ventura, Ca currently living in Long Beach. Lets see, the basic run down is I’ve spent the last 12 years making magazines, was the art director of Surfing Magazine for 5 years then started What Youth and just wrapped up my time there. I also opened a brewery called Madewest Brewing Co. in Ventura with some high school friends that’s been so much fun to work on and a great way to get art out that I never thought possible.

Describe your works for us. I have a few different styles, I like to use each medium for different things. For example, my illustration style is predominantly black and white silly line drawings of puns and other things I think are funny. I like to use that medium for myself, just to enjoy making things that people can smirk at.

Whereas my design style is a lot more buttoned up. It’s the one that I take a little more seriously. Clean, minimalist, no marks made unless they’re essential. That kind of thing. I do a lot of brand identities and have spent a lot of time in print. The design work is definitely more visible than my illustration stuff, but hopefully that will start to shift this year.

What were some of your early influences? Art heroes?  I got into art super early so I have a lot of different influences. Love the abstract expressionists Rauschenberg, Rothko, any of those artists that were really messing with the platform of what it meant to make art. Francis Bacon, Goya, Klimt and when I was a kid I was pretty obsessed with Nagel, H.R. Giger, Escher and so on. I loved anyone who was skilled with a pen. When I was a kid I thought the more realistic the drawing looked, the better artist you were. I think that’s why I gravitated to the abstract expressionists when I figured out that wasn’t the case. 

Tell us what type of things are you inspired by in your recent works?  I get super inspired by working with the kids (ha, 18-24 year olds). I have been lucky enough to surround myself with some incredibly talented people at What Youth that are always questioning the way I learned to do things. Filmakers, artists, photographers - just kids who have never been told not to do something a certain way. I grew up and went to art school where I was yelled at and told how things must be done. The younger generations are skipping the school shit and just making stuff. There’s so many platforms for it now that didn’t exist when I was that age. It’s so sick to see unfiltered expression that’s the result of all this new media.

Do you keep a sketchbook or work your ideas as you go along?  I do, I have 5 in the works right now. One for notes the rest for sketches and ideas. I have small ones that fit in the pocket for when I’m out and about. Larger ones that get a little dusty from time to time. I stopped using them as much recently, cause if I ever wanted to do something with the art in them, it’s kinda pointless. I’m not going to have someone ask to buy a drawing and sell them my whole sketch book… and I definitely don’t want to rip it out. The books kinda become sacred personal items, and I am trying to get away from that. Art is meant to be shared, not hoarded on a shelf.

What’s something you can pass along art tip wise? What have you learned in your years of art making? I think a lot of people don’t understand the commitment you have to make to do anything with art. If you’re not completely self motivated, it’s probably not for you. Everyone I know that’s actually making rad shit right now is completely obsessed. And it’s so cool to see that drive and what they do with it. There’s no dabbling in it.

How do you stay fresh or spend your time when you’re not drawing? How do you overcome drawer’s block? The usual suspects I guess. Hitting the road traveling, spinning records, drinking beers on the patio and I’ve gotten super into cooking lately too. As far as drawers block, I just try and not force it. I have so many outlets drawing is kind of the fun thing to get back to. I have a silk screen press in my house, paint murals, design logos, build furniture, etc. There’s so much to do that drawers block kinda doesn’t exist. If you’re not feeling it, switch mediums or just take a break and walk around the block. 

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t an artist? Probably be a paramedic. My pop is a doctor and my mom’s a nurse. I grew up around the medical stuff my whole life and was always super into it and loved being around that kinda thing. 

What are your favorite Vans? Any of the classics. I’ve had em all on heavy rotation since I was 7 years old with my first pair of checkered slip ons and still rock the same hand full of styles. I guess that’s just part of growing up in southern CA. The classics never die.

What advice would you give someone thinking about art as a career? Now is the best time to do it. There’s more opportunity out there than I’ve ever seen. So many new things coming out, so may platforms to share your work on, so may ways you can get your work seen. If you’re getting into it now, be lucky, but also realize you’re not alone and you’re going up against everyone else trying for the same jobs. And if the job you want isn’t out there, make it up. That’s what we did at What Youth and we had great time running around the world making shit

What’s up for the rest of your year? Anything you’d like to mention?  This year has been and continues to be super hectic and exciting. I left full time work for the first time in my life to attack freelance design. There’s a ton of exciting projects coming in outside of the surf/skate world that really excite me, especially in the cannabis industry. I also have a few big painting and mural projects coming up this fall. Got the new silk screen set up and am cranking out new shirts under the label “Don’t Feed The Ghosts”. I have a bunch of new Madewest Beer cans coming out this summer, we’re launching like two new cans per month. And just overall saying yes to anything I can get my hands on. Oh, and I just signed up to do my first solo show in over 12 years at the beginning of next year, so its going to be a busy year to say the least. Thanks for reaching out!

Check out SCOTT | Website | @scottchenoweth

POKEMON BADGES ARE GIRL SCOUT BADGES?!

Holy shit i think that's it! On the early sprites and artwork for Red you can see some sort of weird big circle pattern on his hat, his shirt, a different place on his hat, with no consistancy. And i've just seen one concept art where it seems to have the Cascade Badge logo on it?? So were they originally envisioned as fabric badges that trainers would sew onto their clothes as a status symbol similar to scouts? That would kinda explain why you saw trainers holding their pokeballs on belts and bandoliers in the first gen, like i know everyone jokes about them being ammo holders but what if they were scout sashes? And then i guess it was just one of the many things that the anime reinterpreted that then became canon in later games. Like how pokeballs didnt have a button and used to literally look like gachapon capsules including one half being translucent so you can see the pokemon inside. Which would also literally shrink via magic rather than being stored in cyberpunk super energy technology. The Adventures manga actually kept this idea and i think its super neat!

Mannnn i wish they'd kept the fabric badges now. Im kinda torn tho? Like i understand that them being tiny plastic/metal clip ons makes more logical sense, and the whole thing of sticking them inside your coat pocket and dramatically revealing them would look coolwr in the anime and also save on having to draw them on the character model 100% of the time. But on the other hand fabric badges is such a cool cute and nostalgic aesthetic! It makes them feel more like an accomplishment, sorta? And more like this world has established a culture around the concept of gym challenges, if you see people wearing their badges in different ways as a fashion statement. It also makes a lot more sense as a thing you'd give to kids, like maybe kids get this version and the metal badge version is an alternate miniature equivelant for adults who feel theyre too mature for the normal one. And its cute to imagine it as an excuse for the player character to go back to visit their mom so she can help them sew on their new badge and congratulate them! Daww! Or imagining the kids being very responsible and talented if they were able to carry around their own sewing kit. It could explain the accessories for pikachu and eevee in the new game, like the protag learned to sew for the sake of his adventure and then he was just mending his clothes and then he actually ended up really enjoying it and learning to make miniature copies of his outfits for his new best buddy pikachu. :3 Oh oh, or maybe all the gym leaders are just nice kindly big sibling/parental figures to all the kids who beat them? You have tea together afterwards and they help sew on your badge and give you some tips for the next leg of your journey and a big ol motovational speech and also imagine Lt Surge's raichu cuddling your pikachu and acting as a move tutor to it? I will continue to aggressively headcanon lt surge as a good man because im still mad about the anime making him an asshole and telling me im supposed to hate raichu and not want pikachu to evolve. I evolved my pikachu in pokemon yellow IMMEDIATELY after that episode, i was so mad! Like yeah ash's pikachu has every right to not want to evolve, thats his decision. But that doesnt mean that lt surge's raichu is bad because it made the other decision! You could have just said pikachu doesnt want to evolve without making its evolution look like something the kids arent allowed to want. :( and also making a random gym leader an evil guy when nothing implied thatvin his game version :( what if he was a nice man with ptsd from his time in the war and he just saw you like pikachus too and he wanted to be a nice mentor figure to you and also he is Spark's uncle and also he hugs his raichu every day :( I love lt surge cos i was told to hate him, just like how i love Gaspar the random traded haunter in diamond and pearl just because they wrote his trainer being a jerk. I had to train him to level 100 just to spite her! Ans now i have to cherish lt surge to spite the anime!! I will style my pikachu's hair like him and take selfies together and be all hashtag my new pokemon dad. I really hope he is just like his red ans blue version in the new games, id be so sad if anime jerkness is canon like how jessie and james now are. Leav cool raichuman alon

WOW THIS POST WENT IN EVERY DIRECTION WOW IM SO FUCKIN TIRED

VideoBuilder App Review 2021 : Create Incredible 3D Animations Effortlessly | 3D Animation Software | 3d product animations

Videos are very famous and effective in advertising and marketing campaigns, tutorials, explanations, etc. Many people, particularly marketers, want the potential to make stunning 3D movies / videos for their product promotion.

Now a days there are many video makers being handy on the market. Out of them, most are belong to these two types: the first one is kind successful and highly-priced and hard to hire, and the second one is non experienced, easy to hire; but they cannot provide what you want. So, the big question we have “is there a software program that amateur can use to make tremendous videos?”

Fortunately the reply is “Yes” and that software is VideoBuilder App. This software is developed by a veteran developer who has many profitable products, Todd Gross. Isn’t it sound great? Let’s start my VideoBuilder App. Review now!

VideoBuilder is a web-based utility for making and modifying videos. It offers you a special capability to create appealing 3D animated movies / videos that can change expensive, difficult studios and presenters. You can additionally import your texts, results to the software program as nicely as edit your movies effortlessly. The nice phase is that this utility is very newbie-friendly; it requires customers no ride or education to function it

(A) What makes VideoBuilder APP different from the others?

For the first time on the internet, customers can now use the world’s first automatic “lip-sync” technological know-how that adapts the lip moves of the animated 3D avatars to any audio. The person has got the right of entry to our next-generation text-to-speech engine presenting forty-seven extraordinary voices and over 24 languages and lip-syncs to the 3D avatars with the voice generated. Captivate and interact with your target market with the use of this life-like 3D avatar technological know-how to captivate your target market as no different video can.

What makes VideoBuilder exclusively different video software?

1.     Super effortless to use – Just comply with some easy steps, fill in some textual content & different data and you will locate your self-developing dynamic and pro-quality videos. Watch the demo inside!

 2.     Easy to manipulate and share your videos – Once VideoBuilder renders your movies / Videos and downloading is a snap! Then, you can put up to Youtube, Vimeo, your blog, site, FB, or any different social media.

 3.     “State-of-the-art technological” – No different video-creation app offers you the power, flexibility and customizing alternatives that VideoBuilder does – mainly at such a low cost!

 4.     Take your enterprise world – VideoBuilder lets you use amazing life-like 3D avatars that can communicate in any of 24 languages. Need to create videos for precise United States of America or language market? With VideoBuilder, it is simpler than ever!

 5.     Works on any Electronic Device – VideoBuilder is platform-independent and it can be accessed with the aid of the browser on any kind of PC or smartphones – no software program set up required.

(B) Features of VideoBuilder

The VideoBuilder App comes loaded with satisfactory life-like 3D Avatars that the end-user can pick and add voice in seconds!

All the avatar's interior VideoBuilder App is built-in with the world’s first automatic “lip-sync” technology. The avatars routinely adapt to any audio file uploaded or use our next-generation text-to-speech technological know-how to convey the message to life!

It is convenient to pick out from a large range of avatars to carry any message to your audiences effortlessly!

Users are bored to the old technologies and no longer interested in a camera, mic, and a spokesperson to make notably enticing videos. The top-notch HD avatars act as a personalized spokesperson.

Insert Text Effects, Animations, Transitions, Avatar Spokespersons, Green Screen Videos, Backgrounds with World’s 1st Voice Lip-Sync Technology, and More!

(C) What you can do with VideoBuilder?

1.     We can easily create fascinating animated intros & outros, lower-thirds & different cool video factors for new videos, or even current movies / video with the built-in editor!

2.     You can upload your textual content (for the avatars to communicate with or show onscreen), images, graphics, trademarks & different factors to your app with simply a few clicks! You get complete flexibility & serious innovative control!

 3.     You can take your video advertising to the subsequent degree with our state-of-the-art 3D avatar & animation technology! Your avatars & animated characters can talk in any of 25 languages, with forty-seven voice patterns & accents with near-perfect lip-syncing!

 4.     If you want to document your own voice for your video; you can without problems do it properly via VideoBuilder’s interface!

 5.     You can create highly-customized movies with any aggregate of a recorded voice, the avatars, your audio, any graphics, and video & even textual content that you choose to exhibit on the video. The combos & probabilities are genuinely endless!

The app consists of a media library with heaps of royalty free images, movies, and tune that you can use in your videos.

You can now make use of many ground-breaking, never-seen-before elements like:

·         3D life-like Male and woman avatars.

·         World’s high-quality text-to-speech engine proposing forty-seven one of a kind voices, accents, and over 24 languages.

·         Automated “Lip-Sync” technological know-how (the 3D avatars lips sync with any audio or text-to-speech)

·         Multi-track science to create lovely movies with music, avatars, voice-over, backgrounds, and a total lot more.

·         The wholly bendy video canvas makes it handy for customers to add images, videos, textual content effects, animations, and extra to create HD animated explainer movies effortlessly.

 Deluxe improve right away unlocks:

·         Premium action animations are delivered to the consumer every month at no extra cost.

·         20 extra movement animation factors such as intros, outros, lower-thirds, textual content effects, and an entire lot more.

·         Three extra 3D life-like human avatars with one hundred percent lip-sync.

·         Five done-for-you editable video advertising and marketing income scripts. (Customers can add the scripts to the app and convert it to Text-to-speech, lip-sync with the avatar and create any movies in minutes)

·         Five professionally recorded voiceovers to instantly add a human voice to the automatic lip-sync avatars to increase consequences except for any effort on your part.

·         Agency license to promote the movies they create to clients.

·         1080 ultra-HD renders (regular customers get 720p HD quality)

·         Double the size of movies – 6 minutes (regular customers get three minutes TTS and length)

·         Step-by-step coaching on how and the place to promote the videos.

·         Green display removal.

 This improvement offers you get admission to TWO special state-of-the-are software program equipment that can right away power site visitors on demand and converts your movies into income machines.

Software 1: Video Submission Robot

Just click on a few buttons, upload your movies to the impervious cloud, and hit submit. Your movies right away get syndicated to all the pinnacle sharing video websites like Youtube, Dailymotion, Veoh, Vimeo, and Flickr in seconds.

Get an immediate video rating so your movies on search effects and site visitors on demand from your videos.

Software 2: Social Traffic Suite

Using the social site visitors suite you can publish and agenda your movies and content material to 10 of the pinnacle social media websites like Facebook, Tumblr, and Linkedin, and more. This software program places your movies and content material in front of hundreds of thousands of eyeballs and receives your on-demand from viral site visitors on social media

Instantly liberate 25 actual human spokesperson movies from some of the freshest niches online. The spokesperson movies have been recorded through professional actors with scripts written using a professional copywriter.

You can effortlessly add these movies to your video displays and create wonderful movies to promote any business. We have movies from some of the most in-demand niches, so you can goal companies such as chiropractors, dentists, plumbers, wedding ceremony planners, actual property dealers, and 20 different videos. You can now add logos/images/animations to these movies and promote to neighbourhood consumers for hundreds of greenbacks barring ever having to appoint an actor.

 (D) Why Should You Buy It?

You Can Create Attractive 3D Animation and Improve Your Business with It.

With VideoBuilder, every of your merchandise or companies will be introduced in important points through innovative 3D characters. Your clients will genuinely take activity if they apprehend extra simply about your products, particularly from stunning videos. Normally, it can also fee you thousands of greenbacks to appoint expert presenters and studios to make your videos. Now you can reap these movies barring that massive investment.

It’s Effortless to Use

You can use VideoBuilder except for any ride or know-how in making videos. Its avatars, text-to-speech engine, and the library can do the work of many technicians at once. You solely want to select the favored elements, then order them and the utility will produce outstanding movies in a few minutes.

 (E) Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does VideoBuilder Work On Windows and Mac both?

VideoBuilder is a one hundred percent net-primarily based platform hosted on the cloud. With this ability, you by no means have to down load something ever!

2. Is there A Limit on the Number of Video I Can Create?

You Can Create UNLIMITED 3D Motion Animation Videos with VideoBuilder. There is no restriction on the variety or number of movies/ Videos you can create!

3. Are There Any Monthly Or Ongoing Fees To Use The App?

For a restricted time, VideoBuilder is reachable for a small one-time charge as a launch special. The rate can also trade to a month-to-month subscription at any time barring observation as soon as this exceptional deal expires!

4. Does VideoBuilder Work In All Countries?

YES. VideoBuilder aspects world’s quality Text-To-Speech engine presenting 24 distinctive languages. You can have your 3D avatars talk in ANY language. With this ability, you can create movies in any language in minutes!

5. Can I Download the Videos I have created with VideoBuilder?

YES – You can download all the gorgeous 3D Animation Videos you create in 720p HD quality. Upload them to video sharing websites like YouTube or use them on your websites and blogs to WOW your audience!

6. What Makes VideoBuilder Different From Other Video Creation Apps?

With VideoBuilder you can leverage by no means viewed earlier than facets that consist of life-like 3D avatars, progressive computerized “lip-sync” technology, action animation factors like textual content effects, intros, outros, and more. Nothing comes shut to what VideoBuilder presents at a jaw shedding low price!

 (F) VideoBuilder Review – Conclusion

According to me, VideoBuilder has been an exceptional assist to my business and surly to others. The 3D animated movies / Videos have been increasing my visitors and customers. Moreover, I can make my movies/ Videos through myself, besides any reliance on outdoor help or pricey services.

It is challenging to reap the success of your work whilst playing the process. Fortunately, this utility software is the device that can assist you in this regard. More importantly, there are 30 days of cash lower back guarantee; why don’t you strive for this software now?

I hope my trip can assist you in your work, simply one extra step to be successful, purchase it and experience it! 

  Thank you for studying my VideoBuilder Review!

Razer Book 13 Review: Gaming Laptop in a Suit

Razer Book 13

8.70 / 10

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We recommend the Razer Book 13 to anyone who is looking to get a small compact laptop that offers great performance and adequate battery life for schoolwork, games, and occasionally heavier tasks like video editing.

Specifications

Brand: Razer

Storage: 256 or 512GB

CPU: Intel Core i7-1165G7

Memory: 16GB

Operating System: Windows 10 Home

Battery: 55 WHr

Ports: USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB-A) x 1, Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) + Power x 2, HDMI 2.0 x 1, MicroSD Slot x 1, 3.5mm Combo-Jack x 1

Camera: 1MP / 720P

Display (Size, Resolution): 13.4" Full HD or UHD

Weight: 3.09 lbs

GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics

Pros

Gorgeous display

Compact and sleek industrial design

Excellent performance

Good variety of ports

Fantastic speaker system

Cons

Keyboard is a little underwhelming compared to the competition

Hard to open with one hand

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The Razer Book 13 is a refreshing take on the productivity laptop, but should you buy it?

The ultrabook market in 2021 is kind of stale, especially on the Windows side of things. With brands like Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft releasing iterative updates to their laptop lines, it can be underwhelming to see the same designs over and over again. Enter Razer's new Book 13: a sleek, compact statement piece that packs in some serious power.

This is Razer's first productivity-focused laptop, and frankly, it's one of the best first attempts you're going to find. You're getting a modern design, a gorgeous display, and comfortable performance in a highly portable package.

Design

The Razer Book 13 is truly impressive from a design standpoint. The enclosure gives off an industrial look with flat edges all the way around. The laptop is a bit heavier than other productivity laptops, such as the Surface Laptop 4 13.5-inch, weighing in at around 3.09lbs, but you're going to get one of the most compact 13-inch computers on the market.

The front lip on the bottom edge of the laptop allows you to open it with one hand, but because it's magnetic, I found it to be cumbersome at times. That said, closing the screen makes a very satisfying snap.

Unlike other Razer laptops, this one comes in a silver colorway called Mercury; the finish is pleasantly paired with the color-matched Razer logo and white keyboard, but it gets dirty regularly. If you put this laptop into a bag or any storage compartment, you will see dark marks begin to form on the metal body. These marks are easily removable with a cloth, but it can be a hassle when you have to clean your laptop frequently.

Display

The Razer Book 13 has one of the best-looking laptop displays, period. The spec I got for review is the Full HD variant with touch; Razer also offers the Full HD non-touch variant for cheaper, or you can opt for the top-of-the-line UHD model which also supports touch.

This screen is arguably one of the best aspects of this laptop, and it's nearly the perfect display for a productivity laptop of its class. It gets reasonably bright, and colors are vivid and mostly color-accurate. The bezels are very slim and minimal, making for a truly immersive experience for working, gaming, and streaming movies and videos.

There's nothing to complain about here; this display is great. Some additions that would make this panel better would be changing the aspect ratio from 16:10 to 3:2. The 16:10 aspect ratio on the Razer Book 13 is better for productivity than its 16:9 gaming siblings, but opting for the taller 3:2 aspect ratio would be good to see. Another thing Razer could do is offer a higher refresh rate. The Razer Book 13 display is 60hz, but since Razer already offers 144hz panels for its Blade 13, a higher refresh rate on this laptop would set it apart against other productivity laptops.

The Keyboard: RGB isn't Enough

So far, we've raved about the superb design of the Razer Book 13, but this gets overshadowed by the laptop's suboptimal typing experience. Compared to other productivity laptops like the Surface Laptop 4, the Razer Book 13's typing experience is disappointing.

This keyboard feels mushy and cramped compared to its competition. It's far too shallow, and in my time testing, I never got used to it. I always ended up missing letters, and when typing fast, the stiffness of the keys meant you couldn't recognize when a key was being pressed.

In typical Razer fashion, this keyboard does support Razer Chroma RGB, and the laptop comes with Razer Chroma Studio preinstalled to allow you to customize the lighting effects on it. Razer also says the keyboard has Anti-Ghosting, which supposedly allows it to pick up on multiple inputs from keys at once. However, this isn't effective when you end up missing keys because of the keyboard's mushiness. The trackpad on this laptop is glass and supports Microsoft Precision drivers on par with other premium productivity ultrabooks.

Overall the keyboard is by far the weakest feature of this otherwise great laptop.

Specifications and Performance

The Razer Book 13 comes equipped with Intel's 11th gen i7 EVO processor, which features Intel Iris Xe Graphics. You can get this laptop with 16GB of RAM and either 256 or 512GB of storage. The base model Razer Book 13 is sold exclusively on Razer's site, and it brings the price down to $1200 by using the 11th gen i5, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.

The variant we have for review is the mid-tier i7 with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and this is the configuration we recommend for most people as the i7 performs considerably well.

This laptop is powerful; during testing, it could easily handle a 4K Premiere Pro timeline at full resolution without dropping any frames. This laptop can run graphic-intensive games at medium to high settings for gaming but don't expect crazy framerates.

Compared to Razer's gaming lineup, you're getting a weaker U-series chipset than the H-series found on the Razer Blades, and you're using integrated graphics compared to GeForce 30 series graphics on the Blades. All this boils down to allowing the Razer Book 13 to be compact and power-efficient compared to its more gaming-centric siblings.

The thermal design on the Razer Book 3 is great for a laptop of this form factor as it's mostly silent and stays relatively cool during heavy workloads.

Overall, you're getting superb performance on a laptop that's as small and compact as the Razer Book 13.

Battery Life

The battery life on this laptop follows suit with most other productivity laptops; on average, you can expect 7-8 hours of screen-on-time with moderate usage. In my testing, heavier workloads within programs like Premiere Pro meant you're going to get just under 6 hours of use before needing to plug in.

Keep in mind that the model tested in this review is the Full HD variant, so if you opt for the higher resolution 4K version, your battery life will most likely decrease.

The laptop charges via USB-C, and the included power brick supports 65W charging. The charger for the Razer Book 13 is quite nice since the brick is small and compact, and the cable is very nicely braided.

Key Features

The port selection on the Razer Book 13 is excellent. You'll find two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, a USB-A 3.1 port, a full HDMI port, a MicroSD card slot, and a headphone jack. This is great for productivity since you'll be able to utilize a diverse selection of ports without having to ditch out any extra money for dongles or docks.

The USB-C ports both support power, allowing you to plug in the laptop from both the right and left sides, making it super convenient for charging.

The Thunderbolt 4 supports 40Gbps of high bandwidth, so you can easily plug your laptop into a dedicated monitor or eGPU to maximize speed and performance. The versatility of Razer's port selection is great to see in a compact laptop like Book 13.

The Razer Book 13 comes equipped with a 1MP 720p camera paired with a 4-mic array. The mic input on this laptop is decent, but the camera is nothing special; it's considerably noisy and unappealing. The laptop also comes equipped with Windows Hello facial recognition, and this allows you to log into your device with little to no hassle.

For the speakers, Razer opted for a dual pair of upward-firing speakers, and for the most part, they are crisp and clear, but it's nothing too extraordinary. You will still experience distortion at higher volumes. The laptop supports spatial audio, but it's not that effective in this type of form factor.

Repairability

The Razer Book 13 follows suit with most ultraportable within its class when it comes to repairability. You can upgrade the SSD, which is great to see as you can get more storage compared to Razer's offering of only 256 or 512GB. The RAM, however, is soldered on, so if you opt for the 8GB variants, you won't be able to upgrade it. The laptop is accessible through the bottom using a T5 Torx screwdriver.

The Razer Book 13's non-upgradeable RAM isn't a dealbreaker, but it does mean you will have to ditch out $1600 for more RAM; the highest configuration of RAM you can opt for is 16GB.

Who is the Razer Book 13 For?

Overall, the Razer Book 13 is an exceptional productivity laptop. You're getting a sleek industrial design, great performance, a stunning screen, and decent battery life. The port selection is diverse, and you can easily conquer tasks with ease on an ultraportable form factor.

That said, the keyboard remains to be the only major weak point on this laptop with its shallow key-travel and mushiness. If you're a heavy typist, you should consider picking up an external keyboard to go along with your Razer Book 13 purchase.

We recommend the Razer Book 13 to anyone who is looking to get a small compact laptop that offers great performance and adequate battery life for schoolwork, games, and occasionally heavier tasks like video editing.

Razer Book 13 Review: Gaming Laptop in a Suit published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15 REVIEW: POWERFUL PORTABLE GAMING

If you’re looking for the absolute most powerful gaming hardware out there... well, you don’t want the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15. You want a desktop or a laptop that weighs seven pounds, requires multiple power bricks, and is basically a desktop. But if you still want something you can realistically carry around, the Strix is about as powerful as it gets.

We’ve reviewed a number of Asus laptops this year that are members of the ROG Zephyrus gaming line — powerful, while still portable and attractive. You’d buy a Zephyrus if you want decent gaming results but also want an everyday work machine you could bring into the office or class. The Strix line eschews the latter role. These are gaming laptops. They are just for games. They’re not cheap, they’re not subtle, and they hold nothing back.

That’s where the Strix Scar 15 stands out. Every aspect is designed with the gaming enthusiast in mind, and there are a number of unique features for those customers. Of course, those also come with a few trade-offs — and folks who might need to use their machine for tasks besides gaming should consider other options.

The Strix Scar 15 starts at $2,199.99 on the Asus store. The base model comes with a Core i7-10875H, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super, 1GB of SSD storage, and a 240Hz screen. The model we’re looking at today is a significant step up from that: it costs $2,799.99 and is powered by Intel’s eight-core Core i9-10980HK and an RTX 2070 Super, which are joined by 32GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and a 1920 x 1080 300Hz screen (3ms response time). The 10980HK is a workhorse — it’s one of the most powerful mobile chips on the market — and 300Hz is the fastest display you can get on a 15-inch laptop.

If you clicked on this review, you’re probably most curious about the frame rates this laptop is putting up. Suffice to say: they’re good.

On CS:GO at maximum settings, the Strix Scar averaged 248fps. Thanks to this model’s 300Hz screen, the chips aren’t just rendering 248fps; you’re actually seeing 248fps. You’ll see a frame rate difference between this system and an identical one with a 240Hz display, albeit a small one. (But to folks who play a lot of esports and first-person shooters, a small difference can matter.)

Overall, CS:GO was a smooth experience. The Scar only dipped below 100fps once when I was running through a thick flurry of dust.

Not all titles are able to take full advantage of the 300Hz screen, unless you plan on bumping the quality settings down. The Strix put up 67fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s highest settings with ray tracing on Ultra. On Red Dead Redemption II (one of the most demanding games out there) cranked up to Ultra, the Scar averaged 54fps. Both games were quite playable on those settings, without any stuttering or slowdown. Those results are right on par with the MSI GE66 Raider (which put up 50fps on Red Dead and 70fps on Tomb Raider) and beat the smaller Zephyrus G14 by a significant margin.

It’s worth noting that while I was letting the Scar rip in Turbo mode (the highest power profile available) the 10980HK got quite hot throughout my gaming session, spending a chunk of time in the mid-90s and even hitting 99 degrees Celsius a couple of times. When I swapped to the regular Performance profile, the CPU spent more time in the mid-high 80s, and I only saw a 1-2fps difference as a result. So if you’re worried about frying your hardware, you won’t miss much if you stay on the Performance profile.

Moving on to other laptop stuff. Apart from its chips, what distinguishes the Strix Scar 15 as a gaming laptop is the design. It features a customizable per-key RGB keyboard, a luminous logo on the lid, and a bright LED strip around the front three sides. A glowing strip may seem obnoxious, but this one is actually more subdued than strips you may have seen on gaming rigs like MSI’s GE66 Raider. It wraps around the underside of the deck, so you don’t see it full-on; the effect is less garish gamer than the GE66 Raider and more fancy nightclub. (You can turn all of the RGB stuff off, of course. But then, what’s the point?)

Another cool thing is the deck design, which is printed with what Asus calls “Cybertext.” Basically, Republic of Gamers is written all over it in an urban-chic sort of font. It’s subtle and far from distracting, but it gives the whole product a subtle sci-fi vibe.

Speaking of the keyboard deck: the palm rests are coated in a unique “soft-touch paint.” It’s much smoother than your typical palm rest (you can very much feel the difference when you touch the rest of the chassis) and is quite nice to lay your hands on.

Asus keyboards are often among my favorites, and the Strix Scar’s keyboard is no exception. I love typing on this. I feel like my fingers are flying while using it. There’s a satisfying click with very little resistance. And I especially appreciate the convenient row of hotkeys at the top, which includes volume controls, a microphone mute, one that changes the performance profile, and another button that brings up Armoury Crate (Asus’ app where you can adjust various settings and features).

If you’d rather plug in your own peripherals, you have a good port selection at your disposal. There are three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and an audio jack on the left side, while the back houses one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port (which supports DisplayPort, but not PD charging), the charging port, one LAN RJ-45, and one HDMI 2.0. That’s most of what you’ll need but there’s one glaring omission: Thunderbolt. Plenty of people may not care about this, but it’s a port I’m disappointed not to see on a $2,799 laptop.

On the right side is a Keystone II reader. A Keystone II is a physical key on which you can save personal settings. You can also use it to access a private storage space, which Asus refers to as a “shadow drive.” This can be encrypted if you have Windows 10 Pro. (Only this model ships with that operating system. You’ll need to upgrade from Windows 10 Home if you buy the base configuration.)

The Keystone II is a neat idea considering how many settings and profiles there are to keep track of on the Strix. In the ROG app GameVisual, you can choose between color presets for different types of games (FPS mode enhances brightness and contrast, RPG mode prioritizes vivid colors, etc.). In Aura Creator, you can customize your keyboard’s colors and animation. In GameFirst VI, you can prioritize bandwidth between the programs you have running; there are presets like Gaming First, Live Streaming First, and Multimedia First.

One more thing I like: the speakers. Music sounded great, with a nice surround quality. The Strix won’t replace a good external speaker and percussion was a bit tinny. But vocals were quite clear, and at maximum volume, I never heard distortion. The laptop’s fans get quite loud during gaming, but I had no trouble hearing my games’ audio over them. (You can also switch to the Silent profile if the whine is bothering you.)

There’s lots of good stuff on the Strix, as you can see. But there are trade-offs, too. Most of them aren’t super relevant to gaming (and thus, forgivable on a laptop like the Strix), but they’re worth bearing in mind nonetheless.

For one: there’s no webcam. It’s not a deal-breaker — streamers will be using their own equipment anyway — but it’s a big minus for anyone who would otherwise use the Strix for an occasional work meeting or virtual catch-up with friends.

I also have a couple of issues with the trackpad. It has discrete clickers, which require a bit more skittering around to press than integrated buttons. I like these particular clickers more than most, but they’re still easy to miss and I sometimes found myself whacking chassis when trying to click. Generally, I found it less responsive and less accurate than I wanted it to be. Occasionally, it thought I was clicking when I wasn’t, causing me to accidentally drag things everywhere.

The touchpad also has a nifty feature where it can morph into an LED number pad if you press an integrated NumLock button in the top-right corner — but I hit this button with my palm while typing and accidentally activated the Numpad several times. Unlike with Asus’ ZenBooks that also have this feature, you can’t navigate with the touchpad while the Numpad is up, so I kept having to interrupt my workflow to deactivate it. (You can disable the touchpad itself with F10, but there’s not an easy way to disable the NumPad without disabling the touchpad.)

The biggest downside, though, is battery life. I averaged two hours and 28 minutes of sustained multitasking and office work with the Strix on the Battery Saver profile with the screen around 200 nits of brightness. (With all the battery-saving features off and a slightly heavier load, I got as low as one hour.) The Strix is a gaming laptop, so I wasn’t expecting hours upon hours of juice. Still, plenty of competitors do better: The MSI GE66 Raider (also powering an LED strip and RGB keyboard) made it through four hours of that same workload.

AGREE TO CONTINUE: ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

As with other Windows 10 computers, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 presents you with multiple things to agree to or decline upon setup.

The mandatory policies, for which an agreement is required, are:

A request for your region and keyboard layout

Windows 10 License Agreement and Asus privacy agreement

A PIN

In addition, there is a slew of optional things to agree to:

Wi-Fi network

Microsoft account

Device privacy settings: online speech recognition, Find My Device, Inking and Typing, Advertising ID, Location, Diagnostic data, Tailored experiences

Customize your device for various purposes (gaming, schoolwork, creativity, entertainment, family, and/or business)

Link your Android smartphone

OneDrive backup

Office 365

Allow Microsoft to access your location, location history, contacts, voice input, speech and handwriting patterns, typing history, search history, calendar details, messages, apps, and Edge browsing history to aid Cortana’s personalized experiences and suggestions

Asus member registration

Set up McAfee account

That’s five mandatory agreements and 16 optional ones.

Gaming on battery is possible, but not great. Red Dead ran mostly in the high teens and low 20s. I got an hour and 15 minutes of the game on a charge, but I started to see stuttering when the Strix was down to 60 percent (about half an hour in) and the game became unplayable at 10 percent. Realistically, if you plan on bringing the Scar anywhere, you’ll need to bring the massive 280W adapter and spend some time charging the device. (It took 45 minutes to charge up to 60 percent during very light Chrome use.)

Overall, these nitpicks emphasize Asus’ priority with the Scar. It’s not a laptop that’s meant to double as a travel companion or a work-from-home driver — don’t buy it to be your primary PC.

But that doesn’t mean the Scar isn’t great at what it’s supposed to be great at, which is gaming. Its results are on par with those of the best 15-inch rigs on the market, and it offers useful customization software with a unique colorful design to boot. If you need the best frame rates and the fastest screen, the Strix Scar 15 is a fine purchase.

Halloween Gift Guide

♬ Darkness falls across the land ♩ ♪ The midnight hour is close at hand.♫ ♩Creatures crawl in search of blood ♬ To terrorize y’all’s neighborhood ♫ And whosoever shall be found ♬ ♬ With the cash for getting down ♩ ♬Will enjoy our Halloween Gift Guide...     ...And stay alive where others died

XENI

Skull Table Runner

A handsome 14x72" graphic banner that can be used for any number of pirate parties, Halloween hoedowns, or other dark festivities.

BUY

MARK

Halloween Cat Favor Boxes

For your favorite trick-or-treaters, fill these 3.25-inch cubes with high-quality confectionery treats.

BUY

ROB

Digital Halloween Decor

At the Boing Boing store, we're proud to offer these spooky holiday decorations. They go in your window, startling passers-by. Now you too can frighten the neighbors without all the legal complications that come from standing there at the window naked in the dark.

BUY

JASON

Super creepy PVC Scooby Doo mask

This creepy Scooby Doo mask is both made of PVC and rather disturbing! Liven up your office party, or even better your spouses.

BUY

DAVID

Bag of 500 Self-Adhesive Googly Eyes

If only you could see what I’ve seen with your googly eyes.

BUY

CORY

Four anatomical models you assemble from 132 anatomically correct sub-components

The $45.28 Learning Resources Anatomy Models Bundle Set is a well-reviewed set of anatomical models: a 5" heart, a 3.75" brain, a 4.5" body and a 9.2" skeleton, all of which disassemble into anatomically correct sub-components that you assemble into the finished pieces.

BUY

JASON

Five fucking pounds of candy corn

I've heard from some folks they love candy corn when it is stale. They'll be thrilled with this 5lb bag.

BUY

XENI

Dia De Los Muertos Skull Swirlies

This 30-piece Day of the Dead decoration kit includes skulls and swirls in festive foils, and transforms any room or outdoor space within minutes of easy assembly.

BUY

JASON

Twelve cans of Barbisol shaving creme (sewing needle and lighter not included)

This halloween? Relive your youth! Prep a few cans of Barbisol for battle! Wait for those annoying parents who can't pick their kid up from a traffic circle to pass by the bush you've always thought would be a great spot for an ambush, then rain soap upon their parade!

BUY

CORY

Splorch ovipositor

For when you want to role-play stern schwa and sweet, submissive Whitley Streiber; comes in two models but the $120-130 Splorch is the clear winner.

BUY

DAVID

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Remastered Deluxe Edition)

More than a half-century since it first aired, Linus is still waiting for the Great Pumpkin to rise "out of his pumpkin patch and flies through the air with his bag of toys for all the children,” Snoopy continues his battle with the Red Baron, and Charlie Brown can’t get a break. A masterpiece of animated television that, like the Peanuts gang, never gets old.

BUY

ROB

Articulating lowpoly skull mask

Wintercroft offers this devilish DIY maskmaking kit (and more like it) for just $6 on Etsy: "Sometimes, we've just got to take life (or death) by the horns and do something a little different. The Horned Skull Mask takes our favourite symbol of warning, mortality, anarchy and independence and ups the ante with a pair of horns and a moving mandible."

BUY

JASON

Lion mane for your cat

This also looks very silly on small dogs.

BUY

XENI

Nightmare-black Nitrile Exam Gloves

Matte black nitrile gloves for cleaning up around the house, or whatever creepy stuff people do with

BUY

DAVID

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand

Brunvand, the iconic professor of urban legends, compiled some of the greatest and grisliest tales of contemporary folklore into one book and wrapped them in compelling context. It’s a wonderfully creepy collection of modern myths, except of course for the story about the teenagers in the parked car who narrowly escaped the hook-armed maniac. That totally happened to my brother’s friend’s cousin and her prom date.

BUY

JASON

Sugar Skull Ducktape

A lovely holiday variant of everyone's favorite fix-all.

BUY

MARK

Vintage Halloween Scene Bobbing Apples Pill Box Pill Case

If you've recently purchased some esoteric research chemicals over the dark web and have been at a loss as to where to store them, this is for you.

BUY

MARK

Spider Web Thigh High Stockings

These unisex stockings can complement any costume, or can be worn on their own for a costume everyone will appreciate.

BUY

DAVID

John Carpenter Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998

Carpenter didn’t just direct some of the most iconic scary movies of the latter 20th century, he also scored them. The themes from Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, and They Live make for a fantastically groovy soundtrack for your own horror house. Available on vinyl for those who dare and CD or digital download for those who don’t.

BUY

MARK

Ouija Planchette Lapel Pin

Summon Captain Howdy on-the-go with this cartoon occult ceramic pin.

BUY

ROB

White Walker Halloween costume

Described as a "sexy white walker" Halloween outfit, this also doubles as a terrifyingly realistic costume of Sir Jimmy Savile in his current state of repose. It's $150 and comes in four sizes.

BUY

ROB

Pumpkin Necklace

There's a lot of cheap tatty Halloween jewelry to be found, but ForTheCross's offers year-round quality at a reasonable price. This necklace, for example, comes in under $40.

BUY

CORY

My Favorite Thing is Monsters: a haunting diary of a young girl as a dazzling graphic novel

Emil Ferris's graphic novel debut My Favorite Thing is Monsters may just be the best graphic novel of 2017, and is certainly the best debut I've read in the genre, and it virtually defies summarizing: Karen is a young girl in a rough Chicago neighborhood is obsessed with monsters and synthesia, is outcast among her friends, is queer, is torn apart by the assassination of Martin Luther King, by her mother's terminal illness, by the murder of the upstairs neighbor, a beautiful and broken Holocaust survivor, by her love for her Vietnam-draft-eligible brother and her love of fine art. It's a tribute to -- and critique of -- the classic monster comics and magazines of the era, which Karen is obsessed with, and through whose visual styles her story is told. It's a tribute to fine art and the pieces hanging in the galleries and museums of Chicago where Karen and her mysterious, womanizing, tattooed older brother Deeze brings her. It's a complicated story about friendship among girls, about gender identity and queerness, about family.

BUY

DAVID

Liquid Ass

Invented by a high school prankster with a chemistry set, it’s described as smelling like a fine combination of "butt crack, kind of a sewer smell with a hint of dead animal.” Don’t buy this. But do know that it exists.

BUY

CORY

Animatronic, maniacally giggling spooky eyeball doorbell

When you press the button, the eyelid flips open and a green, glowing, bloodshot eyeball peers around while one of several spooky recordings welcomes your visitors. It is surprisingly well-styled and the audio is surprisingly cool for a seemingly generic crapgadget, and I'm already scheming a teardown after 31st to see if I can program it with my own little recordings.

BUY

XENI

Ancestor Paper Dolls

FROM Tim Holtz, clipped vintage portraits that can be used to make collage greetings or party decorations, or added to a Day of the Dead art-altar.

BUY

MARK

Satan Loves Me T-Shirt

A great way to remember who to thank on the most devilish of holidays.

BUY

XENI

Goth Cotton Swabs

They’re basically really good quality ‘Q-tip’ swabs, with spiral heads, and they’re all black.

BUY

ROB

Skullcap Tee Shirt

Designed by Sarina Frauenfelder, this scary scull is topped out with our classic logo and terrifies your friends with its spooky, staring eyes. $20 shipped.

BUY

CORY

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" - the pop-up book edition

Pelham and Wormell have serious pop-up/illustrated book chops. The seven pop-up effects they've prepared for this edition are extremely beautiful, and lend themselves to being "animated" by the reader -- for example, you can flap the Raven's wings in time with the "Nevermore's"or have Edgar throw wide his chamber's door at the precise moment you say, "here I opened wide the door."Poe's words are hidden on each page, nestled in fold-up/fold-down tabs that you have to open after each reveal, and as I read this to my 9-year-old daughter Poesy (it's not a coincidence that we call her "Poe"for short -- EA Poe is one of her namesakes), the double-reveal of the pop-up (not a dud among them) and the prose made for an extra bit of drama.

BUY

ROB

Bone-shaped battery charger

It's a bit of a reach, but it's the only other thing in our official store that's remotely Halloweeny. (We're all out of 99%-off lifetime subscriptions to Hell, but you can get one of those for free by voting Republican in next year's midterm elections)

https://boingboing.net/2017/10/13/halloween-gift-guide.html

If You’re Going To Get A SNES Classic, You Should Get One From Robert S Dunn

You remember Robert don’t you? He’s the guy who made that super cool, pint sized Astro City candy cab. And what you see above is his latest creation, something that looks exactly like the SNES Classic Edition that we’ve all been dreaming of (and is something that we all know Nintendo is gonna eventually make happen).

I came across the image above while scoping out Instagram, for the next (and long overdue) batch of Game Culture Snapshots, which I hope to have out tomorrow or early next week. Was originally going to include it in that, but then realized that it might deserve an extra bit of the spotlight.

The passion project is something Robert first revealed a little less than a month ago, and ever since he’s been sharing work in progress pics. Here we have it in its earliest state, which is simply a rendering via CAD…

As you probably already guessed, Robert’s half scale SNES is basically a very fancy looking Raspberry Pi 3…

I’m not even going to bother doing a search; I’m assuming that there’s tons of similar shells out there, just like how there’s a bunch based upon the original NES, meant to emulate the impossible to find real deal NES Classic. But I’m also pretty sure they all pale in comparison to Robert’s craftsmanship. As you’ll see in just a bit.

The above featured a test print of the bottom half, and here we have both the top and bottom, after its second coat of primer after a spot fill. Though the buttons still need to be filed and the ribs around the based still need to be sanded as well. Yet it still looks far more polished than the aforementioned janky NES cases that even Amazon dares to list…

As one might have already assumed as well, it’s 3D printed, which still a relatively new innovation. Here’s a video of Robert explaining how something that may seem perfect right out of the oven might not end up being so, after the plastic has gotten a chance to cool down. Yet when a shell comes out right, and has been given the proper treatment afterward, it looks right. Here’s a comparison with his take on the SNES Classic and the real thing…

Some decals being printed up…

Robert notes…

“Well I didn't have any color ink for my decal so I had to make due with a black halftone. The greys on the SNES are quite purple especially the logo. You can see how purple the logo is when compared to a neutral grey.”

Okay, now we have Robert truly getting down to business, with the flourishes that demonstrates why he’s so damn good at what he does…

“Sprayed the grey parts with a misted light coat of Acrylic Enamel clear coat to give everything some texture and protect the primer and decal. Still need to mask and paint the eject button. I wanted to protect everything first before doing that.”

Behold the ultimate proof this isn’t just some ordinary case that Robert’s making. Here we see that he has de-soldered and removed one of the USB ports to wire his own USB PCB. That’s why all those other cases don’t work, cuz the Pi’s default placement of its USB simply doesn’t accommodate the design of the NES and SNES…

So here we have it, the finished product, which Robert has dubbed the MGS Mini. Just look at it…

A close examination of the topmost image shows that not only has a LED light been installed, the power switch also works as it does on the real thing (there’s no on/off switch on the Pi, you have to add that functionality yourself, which involves extra hardware, hence why most people skip it).

And from the looks of the other pics posted on his Instagram page, this first batch includes four; two of which are already accounted for, and the rest are going on eBay. No word on what the price will be, but whatever it is, keep in mind all the hard work involved, as evidenced above.

Though no matter what it is, the cost will no doubt be on par with (or might even be less than) the asking price for the genuine article (if one does materialize) among scummy eBay hoarders.

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.

Why DotEmu Has Me Worried About Windjammers On The PS4

Early in 1994, an unassuming little game named Windjammers made its way to arcades. Developed by Data East for the Neo Geo Multi Video System, Windjammers is essentially high-octane video air hockey. Players pick one of six characters with different skills and shots, one of six courts of different sizes and layouts, and proceed to volley a frisbee back and forth with the hopes of jamming it past their opponent and into the goal. It’s a game that’s dead simple to pick up and play, but that simplicity masks an amount of depth to its mechanics and variety in a player’s options that makes Windjammers something special. When two skilled competitors go at it throwing rapid fire shots, counter-shots, trick shots, super shots and counter-super shots, the game is an edge-of-your-seat adrenaline pumping blur. Unfortunately, most people just didn’t seem to catch on to that hidden layer, and Windjammers was generally met with a middling reaction.

As time went on and arcade game emulation became easier, Windjammers gained a bit of a cult classic status. For a good long while it was a side-tournament staple in the fighting game community, and a French community had rallied around it and were doing their thing, but it wasn’t until website about video games Giant Bomb started playing it in 2013 that North American awareness of the game really started picking up. As much as I would like to be a cool on-line guy and say that I was way into it before that, I was only tangentially aware of the game prior to Giant Bomb’s coverage (I was more of a Street Hoop guy when it came to weird Data East Neo Geo sports games, for whatever reason). Nevertheless, it’s a game I feel like I’ve been a fan of for a long time, if that makes any sense. It’s an immediately and deeply lovable game.

The only port Windjammers has ever had as of this writing was a Japan-exclusive release on the Wii Virtual Console in 2010. This release eventually got delisted in late 2013, shortly after Giant Bomb’s coverage started strangely enough. Ever since then, there’s been a steady rumbling of people asking for the game to come to modern systems with online play, mainly aimed at PlayStation’s Third Party Production team. After all, they’re the guys who got us a Final Fantasy 7 remake and Shenmue 3, right? If anyone can get this weird obscure frisbee game out of whatever licensing hell it fell into following the death of Data East and years of turmoil SNK has gone through, they could! Well, at PlayStation Experience 2016′s showcase event it finally happened. The lights dimmed, a familiar tune started playing, and there it was on the big screen: Windjammers was coming to the PlayStation 4. The wish had been granted.

And then the monkey’s paw curled.

Pictured above is the banner for the Windjammers booth at PlayStation Experience 2016, and pictured in the zoom-in of that banner is the one thing powerful enough to instantly turn a retro video game fan’s excitement into dread: the logo of French video game company DotEmu. Founded in 2007, DotEmu is a company that specializes in bringing old video games to not-so-old platforms. Over their nearly 10 years of existence they’ve built up a network of connections with Japanese developers and rightsholders and have been responsible for bringing a sizable amount of classic games to various platforms (an exact list is hard to compile, as even their website’s game list is clearly incomplete). The rub here is that, despite the years of experience and web of trusted business partners, DotEmu consistently puts out products that can be described as poor at best.

Generally not poor in flashy, attention grabbing ways mind you. They’re competent enough that a passerby could go “sure, that’s Metal Slug!”, but for the people who love and care about these classic games the vast majority of DotEmu’s output may as well have shipped with crash bugs. It’s not just old game obsessives that suffer either as, even though it may be difficult to point out specific shortcomings without side-by-side comparisons, the way DotEmu’s ports are busted have an undeniable effect on the way these games play at even the most casual levels. These problems aren’t flukes, they’re consistent and documentable, but they often go ignored in media coverage of the company and general discussion of their releases. 

I don’t think this is due to any sort of nefarious intent or anything, but rather a lack of education about the subject. Most of the complaints are loosely organized tweets, or squirreled away in niche message boards, and the informative reviews that hit Steam are easy to lose among the less-than-informative ones. The reason I set out to write this article was to attempt to find and document the issues plaguing DotEmu’s ports (with a focus on their Neo Geo offerings as they pertain more to Windjammers) and, most importantly, put everything somewhere easily viewable and shareable. With that mission in mind, I jumped into the Steam version of one of my favorite arcade games: Metal Slug 3.

The Steam version of Metal Slug 3 was, unbeknownst to me at the time, my first brush with DotEmu. I ran through it once back in mid-2014 and here in 2017 all I could recall was that it was the worst port of the game I had ever played, so it was a natural pick to start off with. I played the Steam release simultaneously with the game running in MAME, trading off every other level, just to make sure I was getting all the facts straight. The most immediately apparent issue with the Steam release is that the audio is wrong on almost every level. Most of the sound effects are off in different ways, the worst of them reduced to nothing but shrill screeches, and the music is mangled in one of the oddest ways I’ve ever experienced. It has trouble keeping a steady beat, but it doesn’t quite skip and instead sort of tries to rush back to where it’s supposed to be. It almost makes it seem like the music is being performed by some sort of drunken orchestra, or as if someone were briefly holding back the turntable of a record player in the few cases where it seemed to affect the pitch. I’ve taken the liberty of making a video comparing the music of both versions, below.

The other two big issues are slightly more subtle, but much more impactful on the gameplay itself. First off, the Steam version drops frames like crazy, which means the game consistently stutters and jumps around erratically. Metal Slug 3 is pretty chaotic so it can be a little tough to pick out amidst the explosions, but the DotEmu port drops frames at all times, even during the game’s rare quiet moments. I found that the tiled background of Stage 3′s pre-sub cave area offered the most readily visible comparison (below). [UPDATE 1/12/17: This is actually an issue with frame-pacing rather than dropping according to John Linneman of Digital Foundry. Frame-pacing issues are where, rather than completely skipping over frames of the game, individual frames will stay on screen for longer or shorter than they’re supposed to. The end result is still a stuttering, choppy mess.]

This problem only exacerbates the next issue: the Steam version has input lag. Input lag means, well, there’s a lag on your inputs. You press a button and it takes a little bit longer for the corresponding action to happen on screen. Don’t know why, don’t know how, but there is a slight amount of input lag present in the DotEmu port that just isn’t there in the MAME version. Weirdly enough it wasn’t anything visual that tipped me off, but instead something auditory. The gap between pressing the fire button and hearing the gunshot sound effect is a bit wider in the Steam version, and it’s fairly noticeable when you’re going back and forth between versions.

These two issues are bad enough alone, but when combined it causes the game to feel muddy and unresponsive when in actuality it’s quite snappy. Easily dodgeable attacks suddenly become less so, simple actions such as jumping and shooting below you become more difficult to perform effectively, and the game is much more likely to register jumping and shooting as a simultaneous press of A+B, making you accidentally activate your kamikaze Slug Attack while in a vehicle. This isn’t any sort of scientific evidence, and I certainly wasn’t playing amazingly in either version of the game, but I did demonstrably worse in my playthrough of the Steam version and I attribute that to the generally awful feel of the controls.

The one nice thing I can say about DotEmu’s port is that the online play seems, from my extremely limited experience, totally fine. I played the first couple of levels with a friend and it was smooth throughout. The port’s underlying problems still existed, and I’m not sure how the netcode would hold up to something more timing intensive like a versus game, but online play did not accentuate any of the port’s issues from what I could tell.

A brief check-in with the Steam port of Metal Slug X revealed that it, unsurprisingly, has the exact same problems Metal Slug 3 has. This is where my firsthand experience with DotEmu’s products ends, because I’m not enough of a sucker to buy three bad versions of old games. Just two. Craving more info, I put out the call to my wonderful, smart, definitely non-sucker Twitter followers. What follows is everything I was able to gather from them.

Now, I love Metal Slug 3, but I’m far from an absolute expert on it. There are people who have played the game for longer than I have and are way better at it than I am. I doubt the same can be said for friend of the site LordBBH regarding Shock Troopers. One of his favorite games of all time, BBH has probably put more hours into playing Shock Troopers than anyone on the planet (and plenty of those hours are on video). He knows the game inside and out, and he found all of the same issues in Shock Troopers that I found in the Metal Slugs, but he also stumbled upon a couple of things I would have never even thought to check. Such as the difficulty settings, for instance. Every Neo Geo game has about 8 or so different difficulty options that you can change in the system settings, but DotEmu’s ports have just four: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Very Hard. Whereas the original release of Shock Troopers adjusted the damage you take depending on what difficulty you were playing on, the difficulty options in the Steam version, from what LordBBH can tell, do... absolutely nothing. If it were anyone else I would chalk it up to not knowing the game well enough to spot the differences, but this guy knows.

There’s also another issue that’s entirely specific to Shock Troopers and definitely worth noting. There were two versions of the game, and the thing with Shock Troopers is you can either select one character or a team of three that you can freely swap between in-level. In what’s generally considered the “main” version of the game, a team has individual life bars for each character. In the other version, the whole team shares a single life bar. This minimizes the difference between playing as a team and playing as a single character, and the version of the game that uses the shared life bar is treated as more of a curiosity than a thing people play. The DotEmu port uses the single life bar version, and there’s no option to switch to the other one. This is probably an easy thing to overlook if you’re not, you know, a company in charge of porting the game to a different platform. But if you are, it shows a real lack of knowledge and care for your product in my eyes.

If you want a really, really long look at LordBBH playing and discussing the Steam version of Shock Troopers (and a little bit of the next game), he uploaded a video of it to his YouTube channel. For now though, let’s move on.

Twinkle Star Sprites is a cute versus shoot ‘em up game where players compete to clear out the enemies on their side of the screen and launch attacks at the other player. According to the info I received, the Steam version has all the general problems of the previously discussed games, but with a couple of fun unique wrinkles. First of all, the online leaderboards report impossible scores. Like, scores in the billions. For a while people weren’t sure whether it was a bug or people were hacking, but it turns out the leaderboards take the sum of all scores attained in all the versus matches you’ve played and post that. This makes the feature useless for competition, as you can rack up higher and higher scores simply by playing more. 

The other thing I was told is by far the weirdest one I’ve heard. While the previously mentioned useless difficulty options actually do something in Twinkle Star Sprites, what they do is increase the frame rate. The game itself is unaltered, it’s just sped up. I have absolutely no clue how or why this would happen, and I didn’t receive details on how much each option increases it by, but this is apparently a real thing that happens and I kind of can’t believe it.[UPDATE 1/12/17: My source on this has gotten back to me with claims that this does not actually happen. Whether or not it never did or was fixed in a patch is unknown. The difficulty settings currently do nothing. Leaving everything here for transparency.]

With that we’ve gone through all the specific examples I was told about and could find on my own, so that about wraps up the “what” of this whole situation (for now). Now we have to move on to the “why”. Why are these ports so consistently shoddy? Why does a company that positions itself as trying to make sure classic games don’t “get lost” continue to bungle everything in both the most basic and most baffling ways? The answer to that isn’t exactly clear. We could look at the case of DotEmu (legally, don’t start) using Nebula, an emulator last updated in 2007, for their 2015 Neo Geo Humble Bundle releases and question their competency. We could look at stuff like the apparently lacking Heroes of Might and Magic 3 HD release or the fact that their promotional Windjammers PS4 theme contains no actual elements from Windjammers and question their passion. We could look at any number of things and take any number of guesses, but I have a feeling the real reason for all of it is simple: they can get away with it. You can technically play through everything beginning to end, and the amount of people who care about these games to the point of easily noticing and articulating these flaws is minuscule compared to the greater number of players. Major outlets aren’t going to report on the input lag of a specific port of a 17 year old game. Negative Steam reviews complaining about frame drops aren’t going to drown out the people going “just like my child days!” and giving a thumbs up (except in the case of specific franchises where obsessives outnumber nostalgia fiends). The people just coming to these games for the first time aren’t going to have the frame of reference to know something is wrong, for all they can tell the game just normally sounds like that. DotEmu can phone it in because there’s not enough people to get the word out that they’re calling collect.

As for the final question: “where” does all this leave the PlayStation 4 port of Windjammers? Only time will tell. DotEmu has been talking up how they’ve had the French Windjammers community constantly playtesting and giving feedback to make sure they get things right, but then again David Sirlin said the same thing about having pro players help with the development of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. It’s just not enough of an assurance to make me overlook the company’s extremely rough track record. I hope they prove me wrong and knock it out of the park. I would love to have an official and fully featured re-release of this game that I love, but I’m not holding my breath. My money’s on it being another in a line of DotEmu botch jobs. For a company supposedly devoted to making sure old games aren’t forgotten, it’s almost ironic that they’ve so consistently helped make sure they’re something even worse: misremembered.

Did I miss something? Get something completely wrong? Do you have something to add about a different game? Let me know! I want to update this article with as much relevant and accurate information as possible! Feel free to get at me on Twitter or send me an email.