Source Filmmaker vs. Batman

     So I've been on a huge Batman kick ever since I saw The Dark Knight Rises at the midnight premier, and these Team Fortress 2 videos made in Source Filmmaker really hit the spot.  What's Source Filmmaker you ask?  Why it's only the tools game developers Valve use to make movies for their games, such as this spot for TF2 (important details within for understanding a joke in one of the later clips).

     Recently, they released these tools free to the public to do with as they please.  So far, almost every video has involved characters and areas from Team Fortress 2, but that doesn't stop the work people do with Source Filmmaker from being amazing.  Both clips I am highlighting can be seen after the break.

Two Bros Viewing K-SQUARED

I just want to take a second and promote a pretty great Twitter account I was introduced to recently called Two Bros.  It describes scenarios in which two bros would tend to find themselves (or not).  Good stuff.  Since I don't know how to post individual tweets and have no interest in learning how to do so at 2:30 AM on a Saturday, you can check it out here:  https://twitter.com/two_bros

I SAW THE DARK KNIGHT RISES AT MIDNIGHT

     The title says it all.  I loved it.  Maybe I'll talk more about it later, maybe not.  All that can be said now is that if you didn't see it, you must.  You simply must.  And in addition, if you are one of those people that only saw The Dark Knight, you must see Batman Begins to fully enjoy The Dark Knight Rises.  Knowledge of what happens in Batman Begins is imperative to the experience.   

WATCH THIS FIRST

TO FULLY ENJOY THIS.

I hope that I've made myself clear.

Smash Bros. for the Rest of Us

     Being raised on the PlayStation consoles, for most of my life I've dreamed of having a PlayStation equivalent to Super Smash Bros.  And now we have precisely that.  While I was initially sceptical about PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale due to the health/damage system, in which a player's attacks are used to build up a super meter of sorts which is then used to unleash the only moves capable of knocking out opponents, upon further review, I welcome the idea.  One of my main complaints with Smash Bros. was that the percentage system led to players camping to avoid being knocked out.  Since PAS doesn't have health per se, I believe the game will end up being based more around offense, because only then can you build up your meter to unless an attack that can knock out opponents.
     Another issue that I have always had with Smash Bros. is the lack of a combo system.  The attacks never really were able to be chained and most players would simply mash buttons to use the few attacks that each characters was able to perform.  The other day I discovered PAS would solve that problem, introducing a Marvel vs. Capcom-esque combo system into the game, allow for the game to involve more skill and strategy than Smash Bros., as demonstrated in the clip below:

     With both of these elements in place, along with the obvious CHARACTERS THAT I ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT BECAUSE I NEVER LIKED NINTENDO, I am optimistic at this point that the final product will be great.  Now just get Crash Bandicoot on the final roster.  Please?

More info after the jump...

Suck It, Wolverine

   

     I was pleased to discover today that a game is being made that's centered around Deadpool, one of my favorite Marvel characters.  Seeing as High Moon Studios, the studio behind the excellent Transformers: War for Cybertron and its upcoming sequel.  Seeing as they seem to have a knack for making games from licensed properties, they will hopefully serve Deadpool the same justice that Batman received with his recent games.

      What makes Deadpool so great?  Not only is he a mercenary/ninja, but his personality is very atypical of the common hero or antihero.  Deadpool is highly sarcastic and  is always cracking jokes at the expense of his enemies, with many of them breaking the fourth wall.  It's difficult to explain further without visual aids, so below I have taken the liberty of providing you, my audience, with a few examples...

...after the jump...

Being a GM

     I started playing Be A GM mode in NHL 12 for the first time yesterday with a fantasy draft.  I turned the salary cap off as well just so I could get the hang of it and I really like it so far.  Generally, I've been simming most of the games and have just been doing the management aspects of the mode.  Yesterday I finally pulled off a big trade flipping Steve Ott and a 2nd round draft pick for Milan Lucic.  I was pretty impressed that I pulled that off and now my team has a young stud that will hopefully sign for the rest of his career.  He's currently on a top line consisting of Lucic-Pavel Datsyuk-Marian Hossa, a line most teams would kill for (but is impossible most likely due to the aforementioned salary cap).  I'm interested to see what happenes to my team after a few years, and if anything happens I'll let my adoring public know.

....In other news, I just listened to this song and I really like it.

Zach Parise: The Decision

I and many other fans around the National Hockey League are STILL waiting for Zach Parise to decide where he's taking his talents.  Instead of going to every credible hockey website on the face of the Earth every five minutes and hitting refresh, I found one that performs the same task much more effectively.

I present http://haszachparisedecidedwherehesplayingnext.com/

It's worth a look, trust me.

UPDATE:

Is Charlie Sheen Still Winning? Duh.

     Charlie Sheen, lord of all that is winning, has a new show debuting tonight on FX at 9:00 PM.  I'm considering checking it out to see if he still is as winning as he was during that glorious time last year.  But I already know the answer to that question.  Charlie Sheen is always winning.  ALWAYS.

When Charlie Sheen goes Super Saiyan.

Until next time, folks.

Taylor Swift and the Penguins Curse

     This image has been making the rounds... well, around the internet the past couple days, so I thought I'd give some insight into what the big deal here is for those of you who haven't been spending the better part of each of the last few days hitting refresh on all of the major hockey sites (like myself).

     This picture was taken in 2009, in the fall following our third Stanley Cup victory.  Since then each Penguin that took part in this iconic picture has died a slow, painful death.  One by one.  Or they each left the Pens by various means one by one.  Not sure which.

Alex Goligoski (2nd from the right) was the first to make his leave from the Penguins, being part of the deal that sent Matt Niskanen and, more importantly, my homeboy James Neal from the Dallas Stars to Pittsburgh, PA.  No complaints there.

What else is going on in this image??  Better continue reading to find out...

How to Make Some Noise at the NHL Draft, Lesson 1

Skip to about the 3 minute mark for the fireworks.

The aftermath of said fireworks.

     I'll start posting actual content again soon, but for now, WOW.  The Penguins made the biggest splash at the draft that they were hosting with this announcement, and with this trade, there is potential that the team could become, very, very good come next week when free agency comes around, not to mention the fact that we are now LOADED with defensive prospects (enough to field an entire team, actually).  If and/or when that happens, you will be hearing about it from me.  Without going into detail, I've read this particular article several times and it still makes me giddy thinking about the possibilities.  With this trade and dealing Michalek to Phoenix for peanuts, expect something BIG to be happening in Pittsburgh July 1st.  Mark my words.

For now though, I'd like to welcome to Pittsburgh the newest immediate member of our hockey family, Brandon Sutter, and wish farewell to Jordan Staal.  May both of you continue to have excellent careers.

Brandon Sutter, the Pens' newest player.  For now, anyways.

K-SQUARED Status Update

The search bar appears to finally be working.  Come my children, share in my jubilation!

In other news, I finally figured out how to change the header into something other than its current, boring text-filled self!

However, it will take some time for me to come up with and design a header image befitting this blog.

But don't worry!  It shouldn't be more than a few days before the new header is designed and ready, and then I can get back to working on those posts I promised earlier!

Now that's more like it.

The Best of SNL: Clint Eastwood Chrysler Ads

     I'm sure most of you remember this commercial form the Super Bowl this year and the debate over what message its message truly was.  During the Zooey Deschanel episode this season, Bill Hader impersonated Clint Eastwood in several parodies of this commercial in order to answer that very question.  These were personally some of my favorite bits this season and are definitely worth checking out.  Enjoy.

Continue reading for parts II and III

They Will Find Him, and He Will Kill Them

     So apparently they're making a sequel to Taken.  Hopefully a trailer will be released that includes Liam Neeson giving a monologue that will be quoted endlessly for years to come, kind of like this:

What? Jonah Hill is Evolving?

     I recently was reminded of this meme and I must say, some of these are very clever.  No explanation necessary, just look at the pictures.

More after the jump

Your Call is Important to Us

     I don't know how many people actually read any of the stuff I post on here (if you do, please comment and tell me what you think!!  I would really appreciate some feedback!), but my one confirmed reader (who apparently has this blog set as his homepage), asked me to type into Google "the sky tonight was inspiring" and post the first result here.  Well my friend, today is your luck day.  I have no idea what exactly I'm looking at in this link, but hopefully the information within will become useful in a key situation.

But probably not.

      Like I mentioned, as far as I know, the only people reading this blog are those that my anonymous "benefactor" has tipped off to its existence.  I have no idea how many people this entails, but if I am going to continue to allow myself to suffer through these posts, I would like to know what my viewership thinks.  I apologize to anyone that read my first few introductory posts due to their absurd length.  I wanted to give a brief introductory to myself to allow you (my adoring fan base) to have an idea of what to expect within.  So much for being brief.  I therefore promise that none of my future posts will drown you with words.  They might contain a lot of pictures or videos, but I feel that some posts would not be as effective in presenting the material without them.  If it's too much, let me know.  Lastly, I'd like to know what you think of my writing style.  I'm my own worst critic, and therefore can only find fault with everything I write, so any suggestions or comments are appreciated.  Otherwise, I have to assume this is what K-Squared look like at peak hours:

Hello?  Anyone?  Please?

continued after the jump.....

25 Years of Cat GIFs

     25 years ago yesterday (meaning June 15, 2012, I was just a little slow to the trigger), saw the introduction of the .gif file format, which is commonly used throughout the interwebs to showcase brief animations to enlighten the poster of said GIF's audience.  An example and personal favorite as of late is this gem showcasing a scene from Anchorman:

He dabbles in jazz flute.

     IGN posted an article detailing a brief history of the GIF yesterday, so I suggest checking it out.

Lastly, this wouldn't be a post about GIFs without cats, so here you go:

Obligatory

I Wanna Be Wanna Be Wanna Be Jim Morrison

     Me too, Thom Yorke.  Me too.  Anyway, I haven't made any posts exclusively regarding a song or music in general, so I thought this would be a good way to stat and hopefully introduce my audience to some music that is hopefully new.  Today's song is "Anyone Can Play Guitar" by Radiohead. This song comes from their first album, titled Pablo Honey, which has a grungey, Nirvana-esque feel to it, and as a result doesn't sound a whole lot like their later, more well known albums such as The Bends and OK Computer.  It's basically a straight forward rock album , but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  While none of the songs are as classic as anything Radiohead released later on (save "Creep"), the album still has some decent/good material and is definitely still worth a listen to appreciate where the band started out.

     But I'm starting to ramble.  "Anyone Can Play Guitar" has been showing up on my shuffle in iTunes a lot lately, so I figured it was worth sharing.  Enjoy.

Uncaged

I see my life as having two major segments - before and after I first saw this image:

Only after I learned of the magic of invalidating arguments through the use of your hair becoming a bird did I begin to understand how the universe operates.

Saying Goodbye to Andy Samberg

     A few days ago I mentioned that my favorite SNL cast member, Andy Samberg, would not be returning next year for the show's 38th(!) season.  NBC.com has put together a nice collection of some of the best skits that he took part in, so I highly suggest checking it out.  There's more than a few laughs to be had at this link.

     That's all I have for right now folks.  I'm about to head out to pick up the new Rush album that was released today.  This is actually going to be the first time I pick up an album on its release date.  I'll be sure to post my impressions after I give it a listen.  Until then, later.

Crowning the Kings

     Prior to the commencement of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, I was about 90% that this year the Cup belonged to my beloved Penguins.  I guess I should have taken those two botched games against the Islanders late in the season as a forewarning.  Anywho, in my anticipation of the Penguins impending dominance, I ran a single simulation of the entire playoffs using NHL 12.  Who won that simulation?

The LA Kings.

    

     Apparently the game knew something that I, nor every other fan of the NHL didn't.  It said that the LA Kings, an eighth seed (the lowest seed in the NHL playoffs) were to triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team one point outside of 1st place in the Eastern Conference.  At the time, I laughed it off.  The notion that an eighth seed would win the Cup, regardless of opponent, was utterly ridiculous.  Yet here we are, a month and a half later, and the Kings have defeated the New Jersey Devils in 6 games to win their first Stanley Cup, an event 45 years in the making.  But they did more than win the Stanley Cup; they made history.

An Investment

     I picked these bad boys up the other day on a deal that I equate to highway robbery (about $90 total when each is normally $75 individually).  While I wasn't really that pleased with myself for spending that kind of money on something like this, I reasoned with myself that it would be worth it in the long run.  I looked at buying these as an "investment" into my future man cave, which will feature a very nice television and impressive sound system to allow the viewing of these fine miniseries as they were meant too be seen.  I knew that I would pick these up for just such a purpose, so buying them now would let me take advantage of a deal that I may not have received then.  And people think I don't plan for my future.

(Not So) Stupid Human Tricks

 
     Someday I hope to develop a talent that is completely useless but at the same time really impressive to a lot of people.  I feel like this would fit the bill quite well.

In a Perfect World...

... ESPN would treat coverage of the NHL and NBA more like the Canadian version of SportsCenter (titled SportsCentre, eh).  A man can dream.

Hatfields & McCoys & Brothers in Arms

     I had DVRed Hatfields & McCoys when it was on last week.  If you haven't heard of it, climb out from underneath your rock.  The History Channel had been promoting it fairly heavily, and I was glad to see something on what used to be my favorite channel that actually gave its namesake some meaning.  For the uninitiated, the story revolves around the feud that took place between the titular Hatfield ad McCoy families in the 1880s in the states of Kentucky and West Virginia and how it nearly brought the U.S. into another Civil War.  I just finished watching the final part of the three part miniseries about fifteen minutes ago, and I must say it was phenomenal.
 

Kevin Costner (left) plays Anderson Hatfield while Bill Paxton (the other left) plays Randoph McCoy, the leaders of the two families.  Both portray their characters convincingly.

A Follow Up & More!

     After thinking about all of the time I wasted the last week posting about what kind of content would be found on this blog, it occurred to me that the last two posts were not entirely accurate.  While they did a good job of describing my interests and gave me several topics to discuss here, obviously, there is going to be more to discuss than what those few topics covered.  I'll be sure to comment on anything interesting that I do or come across, be it in reality or online (I am a fairly active denizen of the internet, after all).  After a few posts, I'm sure my readership (which I still believe to be at 1) will begin to understand.  Expect the unexpected.

A map point out where the guns were located in relation to Pointe du Hoc.

Captain's Log Part III: Will It Blend?

     I really want to get done with this introduction so I can start posting pictures of cats like the rest of the internet.

Now that's more like it.

     While I am surely not the first person to notice this, it has recently occurred to me that all of my interests tend to "blend" into each other in one manner or another.  Let's run through an example, shall we?

     When I was in the 7th grade, I saw the film Saving Private Ryan for the first time.  This affected my life in a profound way and today I consider it to be my favorite movie.  The opening scene on Omaha Beach was the most intense scene I had ever seen in a movie, and arguably to this day still holds that regard.  The rest of the movie was a harrowing tale of men just trying to do their job as part of a larger picture, with most of them never making it home.  For those who are completely oblivious, this movie takes place in France following the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 (which is, coincidentally, the day on which I am typing this).  That movie profoundly opened my eyes to World War II and these unreal experiences that very real people lived through.

Captain's Log Part II: The Least Interesting Man in the World

     I believe that it was world famous boxer Ivan Drago that once said "I must break you."  This was said prior to him being repeatedly pummeled in the face by fellow famous boxer Rocky Balboa.  The result was the end of the Cold War.

The Cold War lasted 50 years because the match lasted 50 years.  Duh.

     You may be asking yourself right now ("yourself" referring to the likely one other person besides myself that will ever read this), "what does that have to do with anything?"  That is a very excellent question.  And all excellent questions deserve equally excellent answers.  Over the last few years, there has been one particular friend of mine, whom we will refer to as "Rick," that has insisted that I must create a blog.  Why is beyond me.  As per the title of this post, I do not consider myself to me a very interesting person and certainly do not lead an interesting life.  I am a 19 year old college kid from the Pittsburgh area.  That's about it.  Not a lot of excitement there.  However, Rick insists that I have interesting topics to discuss, from my interests, opinions, and happenings in my life.  As such, after years of prodding, I have been broken by his iron will.  This blog has been forged out of my own blood, sweat, tears, and the blood, sweat, and tears of my enemies.  The jury is still out on if there will be anything to post that will actually be interesting to anyone, most importantly you, my dear readers (all 1 of you).

Captain's Log: Batteries Not Included

I am a very weak-willed individual.  I said I would never do it.  I said that this wasn't my kind of thing.  But here I am, after spending two hours on a background image due to my acceptance for nothing less than absolute perfection, with what one may refer to as a "blog."  If I actually decide to continue with this, I will commence updating within the next couple days.  Until then, stay frosty.