Tag: technology

Fire Emblem Heroes gatcha fail, October 2017

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Because I apparently like being in abusive relationships, yes I’m still playing Fire Emblem: Heroes on my phone.  Mostly on account of the fact that I’m kind of OCD and I tend to do the same things every day, all the time, and playing FEH is kind of one of those said things that’s kind of engrained in my everyday activities.  For the matter, I’m still playing Pokémon Go on a fairly regular basis, mostly because I don’t even bother to help it.

But in regards to FEH, I still play because I have these pointless hopes of assembling perfect teams that can run roughshod throughout the game, be it in the arena or any of their rotating challenge modes, but in order to assemble what I believe to be perfect teams, I have to get the necessary characters in order to build them, which has been about as possible as making pigs fly, yet I still keep on trying.

Or, in the case of October, there are sometimes just characters that are released that I simply want, usually because most of the time they’re sexy anime wimmins that feed into my inner-15-year old that wants to fill my roster with gold five-star sexy women characters, so that one of my set teams can be “Sexy Team.”  And the crown jewel of the October Performing Arts roster to me, was the special green-class Azura, and I really wanted to get one.

But, because FEH has worse odds than winning at a slot machine, such a want was one that was going to be something with an extremely unlikely chance of happening, but it still wasn’t going to stop me from trying.

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The death of an era

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Pour one out soon: AOL Instant Messenger announces it will shut down permanently in December after 20 years of being the penultimate forefront of instant messaging over the internet

Honestly, I don’t think anyone is really ever going to fully understand the importance of AIM in my life, or that I am going to be legitimately sad when it logs off for good on December 15th.  And this isn’t so much of just another “something from Danny’s childhood is vanishing for good” kind of emo as much as it is a genuinely true passing on of something that was very integral to my daily living for nearly two full decades.

I still have my original screen name for when I was even still an AOL subscriber for $19.99 a month, and I logged on through their software on a 2400 baud then eventually a 33.6 kbps modem, and have been using it as recently as 2015.  Back when I originally made it, I didn’t even grasp what an ISP was, and didn’t realize internet access even existed outside of AOL.  I also remember knowing it tied up phone lines and made accessing my house over the phone nearly impossible for whenever my sister and I weren’t fighting over computer time and someone was parked at it, chatting away on the world wide web.

Through AOL did I come and go through my tremendous anime weeb phase of my life, but along the way I made lots of internet friends whom I’d shared countless hours and nights chatting away with and role-playing Ranma 1/2 characters in cleverly-named Members chat rooms.  I had like two different internet girlfriends at various points, one of whom I’d actually met in person once at an Anime Expo which was a completely different rabbit hole, but the point is, I learned it was entirely possible to meet, make and maintain real human relationships over the internet in spite of all the endless skepticisms that it was full of creepy terrible predators.

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No logo > bad logo

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

As I’ve observed, people like having logos for things.  Whether or not they actually need one or not, there’s this innate feeling that having a logo makes something official or real for many, which I guess explains why there are so many logos out there in the first place.

Which brings us to Gwinnett County unveiling what’s supposedly going to be their new logo and identity; naturally, it’s hot garbage, and basically a blatant rip-off of well, Google.  It looks like the Chrome logo, and the font is almost identical to Google/Alphabet’s typeface.

Seriously, it’s basically the Chrome logo, if the Chrome logo extended their primary colors further into the center of the circle and had the colors overlap.  But in the case of the Gwinnett logo, the overlapping doesn’t even make sense; red and blue make purple, not yellow, and green and red or blue makes some pukey colors, instead of light blue or light green.  This is some light urple kind of color theory we got going on here.

And then we get to the county’s new slogan, “vibrantly connected” in all lower case no less.  Because lower case is casual and not shouting, and the handwritten typeface tries to double down on that kind of feel.  I’m not sure what it means to be connected vibrantly, because I think a connection is a connection; whether it’s done with energy or not, once a connection is made, it doesn’t seem like something that can be measured quantitatively.

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Stamford gets it

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

This I like: Stamford, Connecticut proposing law that would fine individuals who haphazardly walk and text at the same time

Seldom does a day go by where a dickface on their phone manages to inconvenience me.  Whether it’s while driving or while on foot, at least once a day, it’s inevitable that I will get stuck behind someone not paying attention, because their face is buried in their fucking phone.  Short of making it law and penalizing those who violate said law, this is something that will never have any chance at improving; and even if there is a law in place, that’s still not going to deter every jackhole who thinks they’re better than the law and completely incapable of getting busted by it.

Regardless, I have to give kudos to Stamford (along with Honolulu) for at least trying to curb stupid behavior by proposing to make it illegal to walk and text at the same time.  As long as there are police willing to enforce this kind of behavior, I could see it actually having a degree of effectiveness at deterring people from doing so, or at least adopting better etiquette and learning how to get out of the way if they have a dire and essential text message to send immediately.

$30 for a first-time offense isn’t a back-breaker, but it is inconvenient.  If I I’m out with mythical gf and we’re on our way to the movies, and I get busted texting and walking and get a $30 fine; that’s basically admission for two right there, that I have to throw away due to my own idiocy, instead of getting movie tickets.  $30 lost basically means no drinks, popcorn or snacks, because I’m responsible with my money and $30 lost in one place will essentially mean $30 not used in another, expendable way.

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Happiness on conveyor belts

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s not often that I will point out a single business on my brog that nobody can read, but it’s not often that I come across restaurants that bring me such enjoyment and hope for future visits.

KULA is supposedly Atlanta’s first ever conveyor belt sushi joint, and I had been looking forward to this place as soon as it was announced to be coming to the area.  Since I’d never been to Japan, I can’t say that I’ve ever had conveyor belt sushi before in its native land, but I have had it before a long, long time ago when I was out visiting Seattle.  I really loved it then, so it wasn’t a surprise that I would enjoy it in my own home city.

Needless to say, after my first visit, I’m completely smitten by the place, and I’m already looking forward to my next trip.  It’s a place that is a fun atmosphere, the quality of the sushi is pretty good, and all that shit is served to you on conveyor belts from the convenience of your own table. 

It’s dangerous in the sense that it’s very easy to lose track of just how much you’re eating, but at the end of the meal, my company and I demolished 39 small plates of sushi and rang up a little over $100.  We cleared them pretty furiously at the start, but I think it’s safe to say that everyone was well full by meal’s end, and honestly, at like $25~ a head for a good sushi meal, it’s not out of the ordinary.

Needless to say, this is a place that easily lifted my spirits and made me extremely pleased.  I know that I will definitely be back in the future, and now that I’ve been there and experienced the joy myself and don’t feel the need to keep to keep quiet about the place, I implore everyone in the area try this place out.  I know that this is going to be a definite go-to option for friends and visitors alike from now on.

I don’t want to tip my Uber drivers

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I hate tipping.  Tipping sucks.  I still do it when it’s expected (required). 

C’mon, I’m not Scottie Pippen.

Generously, too, because I like to think I’m a decent human being, and I also understand that those working in industries that expect tips are often ones where the laborers themselves are grossly underpaid and that it’s the unfortunate responsibility of patrons like me, to make sure they can make their ends meet.

But still, I hate tipping.  It’s a practice that reeks of labor abuse, and that companies that allege to care about their customers, put the burden of paying their workers onto them.

What I liked about Uber, aside from the obvious reasons that it’s not a dirty, rickety cab driven by an asshole that smells like one too and they show up relatively quickly and have (usually) better cars is that I don’t have to tip.  I know my cost up front, it is taken out of my PayPal account, and I get from point A to point B with full transparency on cost, who’s taking me in what type of vehicle, and a fairly accurate estimate of time it is going to take.  And at the end of the ride, I don’t have to tip anyone, don’t feel obligated to tip anyone, and the drivers (I hope) aren’t expecting any tips.

That is, until soon, since Uber is apparently rolling out tip capabilities across the board.  Initially, they’re claiming it’s to keep up with their rivals Lyft, but really for both companies and all other rideshare clones, the integration of tipping is something that is closing the gap between rideshare and taxi, but in the wrong direction.

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A completely different meaning for wrestling fans

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard a radio spot for this employment app called Jobber.  Supposedly, it’s this comprehensive all-in-one employer app that can do everything from asset management, payroll, hiring, and all the other bullshit nuances that go into day-to-day business operations.  Honestly, it seems kind of cool, and like the perfect kind of tool for inexperienced business operators to get their feet wet in the world of commerce.

However, what I can’t get around is their name.  Jobber.

I would wager money that I’m not the only person in the world in their car or listening to Sirius radio elsewhere that heard this radio spot and immediately had their wrestling fan senses triggered by name Jobber and started thinking about constant losers like Heath Slater, the Brooklyn Brawler, Alex Wright, Tommy Dreamer and Crash Holly, among countless others.

To people like us, the phrase “jobber” will never be synonymous with a potentially useful employment application; jobber will first and foremost always be a phrase used to describe a professional loser, who shows up to work, gets their ass kicked, loses a wrestling match, but then gets paid at the end of the day, they go home, and the cycle repeats itself for however long as they are needed to do so.  Jobber isn’t just a noun, the act of jobbing is also a clearly defined verb, and it’s pretty efficient at being an adjective as well.

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