Archive | October, 2011

Convention swag giveaway!

31 Oct

I’ve amassed tons of t-shirts and other swag over the past few months of conventions, and right now they’re just taking up space in my room. My room is too small, help me!

So in total, that’s 5 t-shirts, a belt buckle, and a pair of shoelaces. Here’s how you can enter to win them all:

1. Subscribe to me on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/ruckus7s)

2. Follow me on Twitter and tweet the following: “I just entered @JessBrohard’s convention swag giveaway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJU1harlyug RT, follow, + subscribe to enter!”

3. Post a comment on the contest video with your twitter username so I know you did the first two!

I’ll contact the winner after about a week or two…and if I get enough entries, I’ll do an even better giveaway next time :) Good luck!

DIY Gunnars, part deux

30 Oct

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about Gunnar Optiks, and whether or not I thought they seemed legit/worth it/etc.

The tl;dr of that post was that I sort of “made” my own Gunnars; I’d heard of a company called Zenni optical that made inexpensive prescription eyeglass frames, and I discovered that they also allow you to add a yellow tint and anti-glare coating for about $5 each. Sure, I was actually adding the yellow tint as a part of my Halloween costume (Sniper from Team Fortress 2), but hey, yellow is yellow.

Here’s my analysis:

The yellow tint made looking at my dual monitors much more comfortable. It’s actually hard to describe; staring at some sort of screen (PC monitor, iPhone, 3DS, etc) all day wasn’t exactly uncomfortable before, but the Gunnars (well, the fake ones, anyway) make everything instantly warmer. Like the rose-colored glasses paradigm, everything was more pleasant.

Now, these faux Gunnars didn’t make me an instant pro gamer; they didn’t improve my aim, accuracy, nor k/d ratio. But hey, that’s not what Gunnar claims they do. They’re marketed simply as a (non-essential) gaming accessory that will reduce eyestrain and fatigue. And the fake ones did just that.

I actually am surprised, and will now admit that Gunnars are not a scam (disclaimer: this is my opinion based on my experience with a pair of “DIY Gunnars”, not with authentic Gunnar glasses). Sure, I still wouldn’t pay upwards of $80 for a pair, but that’s because they’re just not my cup of tea, and I can’t fault anyone who does so.

But if you’re like me and want a similar effect for a fraction of the cost, go to http://www.zennioptical.com, pick out any frames, and add 50% yellow tint and AR coating.

Enjoy.

DDR: cure for osteoporosis?

15 Oct

Osteoporosis runs in my family – my mom and grandmother both have it. Which means I’m high-risk for it when I get old.

So the other day, my mom comments that since I’m still young, I should take preventive measures now, like doing weight-bearing exercises. It’s a proven fact that strengthening your muscles also strengthens your bones.

Her direct quote: “You should probably start playing DDR even more so that you don’t get osteoporosis.”

Check back with me in 30 years and we’ll see if she was right.

DIY Gunnars…kind of

15 Oct

Gunnar Optiks has gotten a lot of publicity. Both good and…well, they say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Though when you type “Gunnar Optiks” into Google, the first autofill suggestion is “Gunnar Optiks scam.” In fact, there’s so much buzz about them that I’m almost tempted to jump on the bandwagon and buy a pair, just to “prove” they’re bogus. But there are myriad problems with that.

First, it’s been done. To death. Every doubter out there has seemingly bitten the bullet and forked over wads of cash just so they can “expose” Gunnar Optiks as a overrated company. Which brings me to my second problem: I’m not so sure it is a scam. I mean, I know it’s a legitimate business, but I also think these supposed snake oil salesmen might be onto something. Just maybe not $119 worth of something.

All the reviews that set out to debunk this expensive eyewear always seem to end up at the same conclusion: “Oh wow, they actually DO something! Color me surprised.”

So, before I started waxing verbose, I was trying to get to the point: I’d really rather not drop upwards of $80 for something that I think would only have a marginal improvement on my daily life. While it’s true that I do spend 80% of my waking hours in front of a screen of some sort (gamer, duh), I can’t say I’ve experienced a ton of the headaches and eyestrain Gunnar’s marketing team claims I should be feeling after a long gaming sesh.

With that, I’ve decided that I’d gladly pay up to or around $20 just to test a pair of these puppies out. And luckily for me, Zenni Optical (known for their cheap frames and amazing customer service) happens to offer the ability to tint glasses yellow, among other colors.

So, I ordered a pair (actually for my TF2 Sniper costume for Halloween, but it still counts), and will be testing out my theory when they arrive. But keep in mind: gravity’s “just a theory” too.

Battlefield 3 beta?

7 Oct

Last night I decided to give the Battlefield 3 beta a try. I’ve never played the Battlefield series in any capacity really (well, aside from that week when I took a break from Modern Warfare 2 a year ago and tried Bad Company 2), so I wasn’t expecting to love it.

The good news? It met expectations.

Ok, that sounded a bit harsh. I didn’t hate it. In fact, I sort of enjoyed the PS3 version. (I was shocked when, within minutes of picking of the controller, I wasn’t at the very bottom of the leaderboards.

So, on to the PC version.

Wait, what the fuck? Why does it keep opening a browser tab when I click play?

Oh god. They’ve implemented some sort of horrible browser-based matchmaking. And the worst part is, matchmaking doesn’t even work! I wasn’t able to find a single match that way, no matter how long I let it run; I had to manually browse servers and join that way.

Memo to self: if you get Battlefield 3, get the PS3 version.