Bioshock infinite

I personally did not like the first two Bioshock games. I thought that the graphics and the atmosphere were amazing but the story in both lacked in my opinion and the controls were odd. It has been years though since I played them though so I am going to give them a second chance and review them later. With that said I absolutely love bioshock infinite. Visually it is stunning and the story unfolds nicely and the character development of the main character (Booker Dewitt) and the female character (Elizabeth) is amazing. It seems like the further into the game you get the more you find out about their true nature. If you are a fan of first person shooters and the steam punk style I would recommend this game.

Arrow Season Two season premier (spoilers)

I love what they have done with arrow so far this season even though it is just the first episode. They managed to introduce The Black Canary and he is no longer calling himself the hood but it hinted that he now wanted to be called The Green Arrow. I really like this show and I like that it isn't like your typical CW show, it is more adult then that and action packed. I am hoping that the rumors are true and that they will be introducing other DC characters this season such as the flash. I also like how the first season was kind of a back story of before The Green Arrow and now they are like you know him well enough now that we are going to go into the green arrows story now.

Mortal Instruments City of Bones (movie)

I did not like this movie. I think they did a horrible job adapting the book to a movie. I am currently finishing up the second book and I love the books. The author puts in a lot of details that make sense into the book. The problem with the movie  is that they take out or alter these details to the point it takes away from the movie itself. I think that if you have never read the book the movie could be very confusing and kind of boring. There are also a few parts that don't flow as well as the book at all. 

For the next movie they either need to change the director or do a closer adaptation of the books which will be impossible to do with the details they left out in the first movie. I hate when Hollywood adaptations try to do their own thing with a story that has already been written. In my opinion though read the book and forget the movie, or waste your time watching the movie and then read the books and you will love them and probably understand them better. The things that I hated most about the movie are the following.

They took entire characters and monsters out and even entire situations that made the story that much better. In the book simon saves the shadow hunters with a Bow in the movie he uses a shovel. In the book the monster that they fight when they find the cup is a greater demon in the movie it is just a demon. In the book they explain Luke's character a lot better then in the movie in the movie they barely touch on his character when they should have.

The movie seemed to bounce around a lot focusing on action and less on story or character development. They changed the order of events and it made the movie way more confusing. They changed the entire story from what the books were making it impossible for the movies to fallow the books at all. 

They altered a main characters back story and in a very bad way because it goes against the everything that builds up in the books. I absolutely hate how they did it in the movie it makes it less of a back story and doesn't have as much of an impact on the story or the person watching the movie. They even went as far as to make a bad guy into a good guy. There are even characters that never get mentioned which make the story really hard to understand. One of these things would be that there is no mention of Alec and Isabel's parents.

They altered the stories ending and it wasn't in a good way they changed the story how it happened and the ending entirely. In altering the story as much as they have  the adaptation of the second one will be far worse then the first I fear.  A lot of the stuff that they took out or changed directly influences the second book and in major ways.

As a stand alone movie I would have to give this movie 2 or 2.5 stars out of 5. 

As a book adaptation I would have to give this movie .5 to maybe 1 star and that is pushing it. 

My recommendation is if you have never read the books watch the movie and then read the books.  If you have read the books don't waste your time or money renting or buying this movie.

iOs7

I updated my iPhone 5 the morning that the iOs7 update came out and at first I was kind of impressed. I liked that they added the Control center with the Flashlight, Calculator , Timer, Camera , Wifi , Blue tooth, and other tools at the flick of a finger. I always liked that with the android phones and now my iPhone has it YAY!

I didn't care to much for the new color scheme though I will post a picture below to show what i am talking about. (I am not a big fan of Pastel colors) Oh well that is not an issue with how the new operating system works just looks. I also didn't care much for the floating icons it is another cosmetic perk and doesn't have anything to do with operation.

 I like the changes overall and I am not going to list all of them (it would take far to long) I will however talk about the things I don't like. iOs7 seems to drain the battery on my phone way faster. I also have problems with my apps either not working or not working well. It isn't all apps but it is enough to be frustrating. I also had a hard time connecting to wifi for the first day or so but now that seemed to fix itself. Over all I am impressed with the new iOs for iPhone but I am really excited for them to fix all the little bugs that has come with it. The iPad is another story entirely and if I get the time I will write a review on that in the near future.

Oakley Combat Boots

For my last security post I was required to buy boots due to the chemicals I might encounter. My first choice was going to be cheap Walmart boots and then one day I was up at the Castle Rock outlet mall and came across the Oakley combat boots for one hell of a deal so I decided to buy them instead. Best idea ever. I think my least favorite part about new boots is breaking them in, it always seems to be painful for like the first week. The Oakley boots though fit like a sneaker right out of the box and ar super comfortable. They are designed with Vibram soles and are leather and cloth. One thing that I like is that the soles on the boots come up the sides about an inch and even further in the back so if I were to step in a small puddle of liquid I never had to worry about it getting up to the leather or cloth part of the boot. The insoles on the boot are pretty good but if you are on your feet a lot or have knee or back issues you may want to buy new ones. (I have not needed them and I have knee and back issues.) So I would recommend these boots to anyone that is on their feet for extended periods of time and if you don't need steel toed boots. They come in 8 inch and 6 inch boots and in black or tan.

R.I.P.D movie

I have heard a lot of negative feedback about this movie such as Men in Black with demons. I myself liked the movie because it was like Men in Black and I liked those movies. It  is funny and action packed and for at least half of the movie it leaves you stumped on what the outcome will be. The movie did seem kind of short though and I think that they could have done some better character development. I wouldn't say that the movie was bad but it wasn't amazing either. If you have some time to kill and you want to watch a movie that is a lot like the first men in black then I would recommend renting this movie. I don't think that I would bother buying it until after you have watched it at least once.

Monsters University (Movie)

Last night my son and I sat down and watched monsters university and I have to say I enjoyed it. I liked how it showed where the monsters came from and what brought them together. I also liked that it had enough twists and surprises to keep me interested in the movie. I am not going to ruin the movie for anyone but the whole movie is not what you would expect for the dynamic duo from the first one. I would recommend anyone that liked the first Monsters inc. should check out Monsters University.

Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (Show)

The new Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D  was a pretty good show. I thought that it was going to be like a CW style show like Arrow or Smallville but instead it felt more like a T.V. version of the Avengers movie. The first episode was kind of cool because they talk about the Avengers movie and the super heroes in the movie. It makes it feel like it is an extension of the movie and not just some gimmick. What I am hoping to see in the future of the show would be some cameos of the other marvel super heroes like Spider man, any of the Avengers and maybe even x-men or fantastic four. I would recommend that anyone that liked the avengers give this show a chance. Only the first episode is out so far (the new one comes out tonight) so when I watch more episodes if my opinion has changed at all I will update this post.

Sleepy Hollow (Show)

I started watching the new show sleepy hollow. It was better then I expected by far. The show Starts during the Revolutionary War and Ichabod Crane is fighting in the war, he ends up fighting this monstrous man with a black mask on. He shoots the man and the man just gets up and shakes it off so then Ichabod cuts off his head and gets injured in the process. This is where the story got weird Ichabod's wife turns out to be a witch so they do something to him and he crawls out of a hole a in our time something like 150 years later. I thought that this show would be like Once Upon A Time and kind of childish but the writers went the opposite way and actually made it quiet bloody and kind of action packed. I myself liked the show but my sister in law and her husband did not. This show may not be for everyone but it is worth checking out at least the first episode.

Evil Dead 2013 "SPOILER"

I watched the new Evil Dead movie last night and was pretty impressed up until the ending. I think that they did a great job remaking the original and keeping the story fairly true to its roots just making it scary and not cheesy. Then the end came and they ruined the whole movie and ruined any chance of making a decent sequel. If you are going to watch the movie and don't want the ending ruined stop reading now. I do not like what they did with the ending having the brother ( kind of supposed to be like Bruce Campbell's character) die and the sister survives and loses a hand and sticks a chainsaw on her stub. I think that this was way to drastic of a move from the original and I think that they ruined a chance at making a sequel. This really disappoints me because I would love to see them make a remake of army of darkness with todays technology and a more serious version of the film. Regardless these films can never truly beat the originals they are one of a kind.

Altitude Cup 2013

Last weekend my Son my Wife and I went to a little town in the mountains called Empire Colorado. The reason that we went there was to check out a Mountainboard competition called The Altitude Cup. This was the sixth year that it had been put on by Altitude Sickness a local board shop in Empire. (see my review of the shop)

When we first arrived I wasn't sure what to think I had never been to a Mountainboard competition due to the fact that we didn't have them in Spokane Washington. The park looked small and kind of scattered and at first I was thinking to myself we drove 2 hours for this! Then people started riding.... MIND BLOWN. Apparently that saying "it isn't the size that matters its how you use it" applies to this park. Once you see people ride it the park makes more sense.

Trying to figure out where the races would be held I looked around and all I saw was a run going down the outside and behind the half pipe at the end of the park. "How exciting can the races be" I thought to myself. Yet again MIND BLOWN. When the racers started I didn't know what to expect then at the first turn they hit a fairly steep little hill and took off. Most of the races were neck to neck and I found myself at the edge of my seat wondering who was going to win. Right before the end there was a nice left turn up a pretty large sidewall, This obstacle seemed to be what got most of the racers. There were some pretty good bails and at one point during practice someone even went off the edge and hit a tree. (they were ok though)

Over all this experience was awesome and the riders totally prove to me "it isn't the size that matters it is how you use it". I would recommend if you have some free time next year to come check out The Altitude Cup in Empire Colorado and if you feel up to is register and compete.

If you would like to check out video and pics from this event go to :
https://www.facebook.com/events/483094005091994/

The results for this years Altitude Cup are:
6th Annual Altitude Cup Mountainboard Challenge results

           Groms

BoarderX 

1st "Flyin" Ryan Enochs

2nd Hanna Combrink

Freestyle 

1st Hanna Combrink

2nd "Flyin" Ryan Enochs

3rd Braden Combrink

4th Gage Sheader

            Youth

BoarderX & Slopestyle

1st Wyatt ParkRat Harper

             Sport

BoarderX

1st Ian Forgette

2nd Wyatt parkrat Harper

3rd Matthew Tornado Spinney

Slopestyle

1st Matthew Tornado Spinney

2nd Jacob T-Bone Ochsner

3rd Ian Forgette

4th Wyatt parkrat Harper

          Women

BoarderX

1st Catherine Rios

2nd Melissa Ponce de Leon

3rd Ari Coats

Slopestyle

1st Ari Coats

2nd Melissa Ponce de Leon

3rd Catherine Rios

         Masters

BoarderX

1st David Kennedy

2nd Phil Sheader

3rd Brian Bishop

Slopestyle 

1st David Kennedy

2nd Phil Sheader

3rd Brandon Fry

            Pro

BoarderX 

1st Kody Stewart

2nd Jason Lee 

3rd Evan Carlson

Slopestyle

1st Devin Garland 

2nd Kody Stewart 

3rd Evan Carlson

Altitude Sickness

So this last weekend my Son, my wife and I went to the Altitude Cup in Empire Colorado. The Altitude Cup has been put on the last 6 years by a local Mountainboard shop called Altitude Sickness. Though the shop is small and I didn't have a whole lot of time to poke around I was able to get everything that I was looking for. They have a pretty decent selection of shirts from various companies and years  I was able to Pick up an MBS shirt I had never even seen before.

 If you are going to go to Empire to hit the Mountainboard park I would recommend stopping in this shop and checking it out it is a pretty sick shop. The people run it are very nice and they seem to be very knowledgeable in what they do. Plus it is conveniently located up the hill from the park so if you have anything break chances are from what I saw they probably have what yo need to fix your board.

Updated contact info

303 489 7699

        Or

707 884 7929

Store Front

Contact info / Business card

Motorola MOTOACTV

I have had this watch for about six months or so and I love it. Not only is it a watch but it is also an MP3 player , excersize watch, With a Bluetooth heart rate monitor you can monitor our heart rate, and you can receive calls and text messages if you sync it with your phone (doesn't work with windows phones).

There are two different sizes to this watch right now an 8 gig and a 16 gig. I got my 8 gig for 149.99 plus $10 for the watch strap (it only comes with a belt clip).

 Some of the cool things about this watch is that you can download personal trainer data onto the watch and it will remind you when it is time to run and it will keep track of your pace and distance and even heart rate if you have the heart rate monitor. It also has this cool feature of keeping track of which songs motivate you more due to increase of heart rate and speed and it will play those songs more frequently. If you sync the watch with the MOTOACTV web site you can view all of your stats including a satellite image of the route you took. It has a slew of different actives that you can track too. (list coming soon)



 I will post more about this watch later I just wanted to throw this up to give everyone something to read.

This is what the route feature looks like on the watch itself

MP3 player. This is also what the unit looks like without any strap or anything

Watch mode

Armband

Ryders Running Glasses

My wife bought these glasses 3 or 4 months ago when we decided to start running again. If I recall correctly we paid around $45 for these. 

In many ways these glasses are a lot like Oakley's. The glasses are comfortable the lenses are dark and clear and they seem to be pretty durable. My wife likes to keep them in her purse and our 2 year old son likes to run around the house in them. There are also vents at the top of each lens that seems to keep the lenses from fogging up to bad. I don't really have a lot to say about these glasses they are an amazing set of glasses and if you are looking for some new running glasses I would recommend running glasses by Ryders.

Oakley GasCans

I went through at least 6 pairs of glasses a year and at around $10 a pair I could have bought five or six pairs of Oakley's by the time I bought my GasCans.

I have owned these glasses for a little over a year now. I tend to have an issue with sunglasses where if they don't fit right across the bridge of my nose my nose starts to hurt and I get migraines. With the Oakley GasCans I don't have this issue. Half the time I forget I am wearing them. I also have a piece of shrapnel in my right eye so bright sun and some overcast causes my eye to hurt like shampoo is in it. With the lenses on the Oakley's I can wear them on the brightest day or even when it is over cast and they work amazing and everything is super clear. The lenses are super easy to replace too you just pop them out and pop the new ones in.

There are also many different color lenses (I am not sure if all the colors below are available for the GasCans) and frames to choose from. (see pictures below)

The durability of these glasses are better then any other glasses I have ever owned. My son has got his little  hands on them many times and quite frequently they end up in my back pack or in the center console of my car and there isn't a scratch on them. For the price I think these glasses are worth every penny.

SOL REPUBLIC V12 TRACKS ULTRA HEADPHONES

These are some of the coolest most unique headphones i have ever owned. The headphones break down into four interchangeable pieces; The head band, the wire, and the two earphones. The coolest thing about these headphones is that they are starting to sell replacement parts to change out so you can fully customize them.


The sound quality of the headphones is outstanding and the other cool thing about them is if you have an iPhone you can use these as a hands free device so you wont miss any calls if your listening to music.

The downside to the headphones is that the hands free portion of the headphones only works with Apple products. The other thing that I didn't like about these ones is the size of the ear cups. They fit over my ears but not around them so after about an hour or so my ears would start to hurt. These two issues ultimately caused me to get rid of these headphones.

Sol Republic does sell multiple types of headphones at different specs sizes and prices so if you are considering some sol republics I would recommend the brand for the price and the sound but i might not recommend these particular ones for the reasons stated above.

Chasing Mavericks Movie Review

So I just finished watching the movie Chasing Mavericks.

Chasing Mavericks is about Jay Moriarty A kid that discovers surfing when he almost drowns at the age of like 8 or 9. In the movie he is living in a pretty broken home with his mom and his one escape is surfing. One day he follows Frosty Hesson a local legend on a surfing trip and discovers the legendary Maverick swells. After discovering these he convinces Frosty to train him how to surf them. There is more to this movie but I don't want to ruin it.

I don't know how accurate a lot of this movie is but if you like movies about someone working their ass off to achieve their goals this is a great movie. It also shows that if you push yourself hard enough you can make it through anything and to any goal. I am not going to go into details about this movie because there are a lot of parts that you don't expect and I don't want to ruin it for anyone. I would highly recommend watching this movie though.

Triton Kunai WiiU headphones

I got these headphones not long after getting my WiiU, sometime around Dec 2012 if I remember right. The reason I got the Triton Kunai's is because at the time they were the top of the line for the WiiU and at the time I was playing a lot of Call Of Duty Black Ops 2.

My first impression out of the box was that these headphones were gorgeous. I got the black and silver and they looked like they should be upwards of $100. I liked the feeling of the ear pads ad the center pad on the band they made the head phones fit very comfortably. The ear pieces are large enough to cover the whole ear but not swallow the side of a persons face. The detachable mic was a nice touch since I didn't always chat while playing and I hate having to find a position to place a mic to get it out of my face. The one cord connection was another perk to these headphones. They have one wire that connects to the tablet and that is it. They are very basic with only a volume control and mic mute on the cord which makes them very user friendly.

When using the headphones with the WiiU the look is pretty much the only thing I was really impressed with. I thought being Triton and all that these headphones would have amazing sound and make it easier to hear online. I was not as impressed as I would have liked for $50. For some reason when using these headphones they didn't get as loud as I would have liked and you can still hear noses outside of the game. I connected the headphones to my phone and listened to music even made a phone call to see if I could and the sound was amazing and if you want to look like a football coach walking around you can even make calls using them. So why is it they don't produce the same sound while being used with the WiiU. I don't think that the issue is as much with the headphones as it is with the WiiU but still your connecting them to the WiiU so they kinda go hand in hand.

Ultimately if you are trying to get headphones so you can hear your game and not disturb other people these are pretty good headphones. If you are trying to improve your kill streak or what not on Call of Duty try to find a different set of compatible headphones. I like the headphones over all but i wish I would have only paid $30 for them not $50 plus tax.

This picture is meant to show off the padding that theses headphones have

The pretty Triton logo across the band

Detachable / adjustable mic

Volume control

Mic mute toggle switch

Bern helmet

I do not remember the model number of my helmet since I have had it for a few years all I know is that it is a Bern duel purpose helmet.

 I love this helmet it fits well and it is designed for use in the winter and the summer. I like the look and the feel of the helmet and the overall protection. With the amount of sports that I do I like only having one helmet that I can use year around.

The helmet has a liner that is a lot like a head band that easily snaps into the helmet. If you want to seal the helmet even more in the winter it comes with a piece of foam that fills all the holes in the top of the helmet. I never used this extra piece of foam but my head also sweat a lot when i was snowboarding so it was nice to be able to let some of the heat out.

The helmet also has a hook on the back to attach your goggles to so if you wipeout hard they don't fall off ( my brother tested this out a few years ago with an epic wipeout that gave him a pretty bad concussion, but hey his goggles were still attached)

Out of all the helmets that I have owned I think that this is my favorite. I am thinking this year it may be time to buy a new one and if I do I will be sure to post a review.

This is what the helmet looks like with the liner

This is an example of the liner , hook and foam piece that plugs the holes inside

Side view of my helmet

Goggle hook located on the back of the helmet

This is where the liner snaps into the inside of the helmet

GoPro Hero 3 Black

I have had my GoPro Hero 3 Black for a couple months now and i must say it is an impressive little camera. The issue is it is too impressive. I have talked to multiple people that have the same problem I do. The camera itself is so powerful that my 2008 macbook pro cant review the videos by simply importing them and watching them. When I do this the video is choppy and the sound is off. I have to actually import it onto my computer then import it into iMovie to see the video in all its splendor. I think that this is less a camera issue but more a software / hardware issue with my old computer.

The things that I love about the camera though far out weigh the issue I wrote about in the previous paragraph. I just started playing with all the crazy features the other day when I went to the skatepark with my son. One feature that I am in love with is the 100 fps shooting for when I want to slow a video down.

 The second thing that really impressed me was the app. When the app first came out it was pretty badly broken and almost not worth using, But now that they have updated it and improved the glitches it is really nice to use when setting up the camera stationary or for seeing where the camera is pointed when it is mounted. In the last update they also made it to where you can preview the sound through the app so you can tell if you need the waterproof or the other back plate when recording.

The only issues that I have with the app right now is the fact that there is a good 4-5 second lag between the camera and the app when reviewing. The second issue that I would like to see them fix in the future would be the inability to review videos that you have already recorded.

The third thing that impressed me with the Black Edition is the remote. When I first got the camera I thought to myself I will never use the remote, I was wrong. When I was still living in washington state I  used to go mountainboarding every saturday with my brother. When I mountainboard I wear some pretty thick motorcycle gloves and with the GoPro I could press the buttons to turn it on and to record but sometimes it was a pain. With the remote I can just mount it to my glove or arm and the buttons are large enough to easily press.

This is all I have for now about the Hero 3 Black Edition but I will update regularly as i figure things out. Videos showing the 100fps slow motion should be up by the end of the day. If there is anything that you would like to know that I didn't cover please feel free to leave a comment either here or on my Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/KrisSquibb511ProductionsCO

Hero 3 Black Edition

This is the back of the hero three I have the open back plate to get better sound in my recordings (this makes the GoPro no longer waterproof)

New clasp design makes it more secure you have to slide the button over then flip the clasp down to unlock

The additional button on the side it to enable or disable the wifi 

new larger flat buttons make the camera easier to use in or out of the case

The new Hero three takes a Micro SD card and has Mini HDMI out

Kahuna adjustable Big Stick

Two weeks ago I took the plunge and bought the Kahuna Big Stick. I have made home made big sticks in the past and they worked pretty well but they were nothing compared to Adjustable Big Stick from Kahuna Creations. It has:

- adjustable Aluminum shaft that is as easy to adjust as a set of crutches. 

-The overall weight is just 2.2 lbs and all the weight is in the rubber "blade". 

-The blade grips the road very well even though I did experience some minor slipping when I first started using it. (I don't know if this was caused by it being so new or by user error.) The blades are easy to remove and easy to replace.

So far the Big Stick seems to be very durable and it feels very sturdy when being used. I was kinda skeptical at first with the telescoping aspect of it I didn't know if it would "wiggle" or not. There is no wiggling so far and I have skated around 5 miles so far with it. (which doesn't seem far but I feel as if my arms are going to fall off.) 

The ride that you get with a Big Stick is amazing you get your feet in your perfect stance and you let your upper body do all the work. You can either casually cruise with it or you can use it to gain speed going down hills. The other great part is you can use it to pivot on when turning giving you increased balance in turns. 

I don't remember the exact height adjustments but i know that it is adjustable to anyone that is 4'5" all the way up to over 6'. 

One thing to be cautious about though if it is something that you worry about is that the graphics are just a decal and as I found out today they will peal off if you are not careful.

Overall I am very excited and happy with my purchase and I would recommend this to anyone that would like to try paddle boarding on land. 

If you are interested in purchasing a Kahuna Big Stick (or to see more about them) you can order them at 

www.Kahunacreations.com

Big Stick Collapsed to smallest (storage size) not meant to be used in this position

Soft grip handle

Road blade

Fully extended to 6'

Lowest usable length at 54" long