Kyle Field Time Machine Shadowruns to WCW Summer PPVs – WIRed #47
This week on WIRed, Kyle Field gets improvements to become the best college football stadium in Texas, an Iranian scientist reveals his time machine invention, the “Shadowrun” franchise return in…well…”Shadowrun Returns”, and the WCW’s classic beach-themed summer pay-per-views! Also, LEGO James Bond is kinda-sorta a thing (thanks, internet)! Read the rest of this entry
‘Casino Royale’ Opening Scene…IN LEGO Form, Shot-For-Shot!!
Yes, I LOVE LEGO! I also love James Bond movies. So, yeah…this fits well here. Read the rest of this entry
WCW’s Summertime Blues: The Great American Bash & Bash At The Beach
I remember my summer days as a youth: sleeping late during the week, playing outside (after being told to go outside while watching TV and playing video games, of course), going to the coast to check out the beach, and the fireworks on the Fourth of July. As a young wrestling fan, the months of June through August had three summer-themed pay-per-views to watch for my viewing pleasure. While SummerSlam was WWE’s only summer-themed PPV, WCW had two, back-to-back, summer-themed pay-per-views: The Great American Back in June and Bash At The Beach in July. Read the rest of this entry
A Classic Returns! ‘Shadowrun Returns’ coming to Steam in June!
Shadowrun is a science fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1989, that is set in a near-future fictional universe where cybernetics, crime, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. The original game spawned a diverse franchise that includes a collectible card game, two miniature-based wargames, multiple video games, a series of novels and music. My earlier experiences with the Shadowrun franchise is limited to the two video games released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, and now — thanks to Kickstarter — Shadowrun Returns, the long-awaited video game sequel, will be coming out for PC this summer! Read the rest of this entry
LIVESTREAM: The PractitioNERD at Google I/O Extended (Geekdom San Antonio)
Google I/O is a huge annual industry conference where Google typically unveils mind-blowing new products related to Android devices, Google Glass, etc. — as well as a number of technical sessions focusing on programmers who work with Android, e-commerce, Google Maps, advanced web development, and much more. Google I/O also produces a few less technical topics as well. Google I/O Extended is coming to San Antonio for the 1st time, thanks to Geekdom and Sweb Development, from May 15 to May 17, and The PractitioNERD will be here for the main keynote address on May 15th. NERD ON!
New Monitor, Retro Games & Duke Nukem FOR-EV-VURH! – 1′Offs
In this edition of “1′Offs”, I show some things I picked up recently, including: a new wiiiiiiidescreen monitor, some retro Nintendo and PlayStation games, and the reason I buckled and bought one of the worst games in recent history… Read the rest of this entry
Great Scott, Doc Brown!! A TIME MACHINE in IRAN?!?
It looks as if that 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 with plutonium that would supply the 1.21 gigawatts of power to the flux capacitor that I’ve saved up for won’t be necessary. Iranian scientist Ali Razeghi is the managing director of Iran’s Centre for Strategic Inventions says that he created a time machine called “The Aryayek Time Traveling Machine”. Well, it’s KINDA of a time machine because it’s only limited to taking you to the future. Well, it won’t actually bring you to the future, per se, but it rather brings the future to you, and Razeghi says that using complex algorithms in his invention can “predict five to eight years of the future life of any individual, with 98 percent accuracy”. Hmmm… Read the rest of this entry
Kyle Field Redevelopment Reflects Passion of Texas (Aggie) Football
Texas A&M University received approval from the A&M System Board of Regents on May 1st to proceed with one of the largest college football stadium redevelopments in history for the historic — as in “since 1927″ historic — Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. The total cost of the project totals to approximately $450 million, increasing the capacity from 82,589 to 102,500, and making it the largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the state of Texas –insert “everything’s bigger in Texas” joke here. The reWHOOPification (or as professionals call “renovation” and “expansion”; whatever, man) of Kyle Field will begin immediately following the end of the upcoming 2013 college football season and is expected to be finished in time to open the 2015 season. The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Football Team will show how much they don’t fear construction, concrete and cranes by continuing to play their home games during the reWHOOPification of the iconic stadium.
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Vietnam Drive-By Photogs REGULARly SHOWing Starrcade ’87- WIRed #46
Contents of this week’s episode of WIRed includes: talk of Vietnam’s Blade Runner-esque pavilion proposal, innovations in drive-by PHOTO shooting, Regular Show goes the way of gaming, and strange crowd reactions at Starrcade ’87. Also, Call of Duty: Ghosts and allergies are things… Read the rest of this entry
As The Crowd Turns: Ric Flair vs. Ronnie Garvin, NWA World Title at Starrade ’87
Back in the day, the National Wrestling Alliance’s Starrcade pay-per-view was one of the most — if not THE MOST — prominent wrestling supershows in the country! For a brief rundown of the history of the event, check out this older story I wrote. Anyway, at the 1987 edition of Starrcade (given the subtitle of “Chi-Town Heat” since it was held in…well…CHICAGO), Ron Garvin was defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Ric Flair in a steel cage match. Garvin, who had been the champion for only two months up to this point, had previously beaten Flair on September 25, 1987 for the championship, and beforehand both men had been in a rivalry due to Flair lust over Garvin’s valet, Precious. While the title match was the original big story, the change in the crowd’s reaction garnered the most attention in the match’s place in history.
As I briefly mentioned, this NWA World Heavyweight Championship match was memorable for more than just being an excellently executed — wink-wink, nudge-nudge to Bret Hart — title match. During this period (and from what you may have gathered from the end of the first paragraph), Ric Flair was the heel — or villain — and Ron Garvin was the face, or good guy. Typically in that era, wrestling fans would often cheer for the good guy while booing and heckling the villain (because reasons; LOGIC reasons), but that concept of expected crowd reaction had turned on its ear that November night. About halfway through the match, the crowd would turn on the babyface star Ron Garvin and began cheering for Ric Flair. Matt “Spike Dudley” Hysen said in an interview that he was shocked that the Chicago audience turned on Garvin to support Flair, due to the nature of the time that heels were never EVER rooted on by the crowd.
In the end, Flair would reverse an Irish whip that sent Garvin’s head into the cage, and then Flair pinned him to win the match and the title. Ron Garvin’s first and only reign as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion lasted for only two short months. Ric Flair had started his fifth reign as NWA World Champion, and while remaining champion for over a year, in early 1988, a young rising star named Steve Borden — or Sting — would challenge Flair to a match at the first Clash of Champions.
YAY-YUH! The ‘Regular Show’ Video Game IS A Thing!
Without a doubt, one of my favorite shows on television is Regular Show, created by J.G. Quintel that airs on Cartoon Network. The program stars the slacker duo of Mordecai, a blue jay, and Rigby, a raccoon, and incorporates of all of Quintel’s favorite childhood pastimes, ranging from the corniest of 1980′s action flicks to gaming on the underrated SEGA Master System (and yes, the Master System is awesome). With references such as these running rampant through nearly every episode of the series, it was only a matter of time before this cartoon series would take the next step into the video game realm.
D3 Publisher has recently announce a partnership with Cartoon Network to publish a series of games based on the series. I personally have a lot of faith in this project due to the fact that D3 recently took care of the distribution for Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?! developed by WayForward.
In an interview with Destructoid, Quintel said that if Regular Show was ever made into a video game, he’d love for it to be in the style of a classic brawler (oh, the 80′s…) or something a little off-kilter such as ToeJam & Earl. Both styles could be implemented very well for a gaming venture of this franchise (because, well, the 80′s…). Plus, going by D3′s history with working with unique franchises like Adventure Time, I’m sure that they’ll find the perfect developer to take on this project.
[Thanks to D3Publisher & Shacknews]
Peaceful, Non-Violent & EPIC ‘Drive-By’ Photography
Johnny Tergo is a photographer based in Los Angeles who has developed an interesting way in snapping some awesome shots. Since he’s already a frequent traveler, he wanted to take advantage of the time he spends commuting, which takes the idea of “drive-by” and turns it on its ear. Tergo built a custom camera and lighting rig inside his Chevy Silverado, allowing him to take great-quality pictures while he’s on the road. This is definitely the type of drive-by that I can get behind. HOORAY POSITIVITY! Read the rest of this entry
Vietnam’s “Blade Runner”-Esque Pavilion Competition Proposal
It’s been a while since I’ve made references to “Blade Runner” in my architecture stories, so — ladies and gentlemen — here’s that follow-up you’ve been waiting for! This is a conceptual design for Vietnam’s Pavilion for the Expo 2015 in Milan, and it focuses on creating a space that mixes settlement and agriculture. Designed by H&P Architects, the building is steel-framed with large modules connected via simple joins and/or overlapping (the longest module is at least 23 feet long).
LOUVERS! REBEL COPTER! SEGA PLUTO! TV TITLES! – WIRed #45
This week on Episode 45 (wow) of WIRed, I talk about louvers, louvers, LOUVERS, a Confederate Army helicopter, the existence of the SEGA Pluto, and the world championship…of TELEVISION. Also, SWEEPING.
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ARCHITECTURE: http://thepractitionerd.com/2013/04/29/louvers-vertical-louvers-all-over-nothing-but-louvers
TECHNOLOGY: http://thepractitionerd.com/2013/04/30/check-this-crazy-confederate-copter
GAMING: http://thepractitionerd.com/2013/05/01/get-your-own-sega-pluto-console-not-really
PRO WRESTLING: http://thepractitionerd.com/2013/05/02/respect-the-wcw-world-television-championship-son
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The PractitioNERD Store: www.thepractitionerdstore.blogspot.com & http://astore.amazon.com/thpr06-20
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Music: “Loping Sting,” “RetroFuture Nasty,” & “Chipper Doodle” from Kevin McLeod of www.incompetech.com (Royalty-Free Music)
Respect The WCW World Television Championship, SON!
I can remember when World Championship Wrestling was around, and one of the championship title that intrigued me the most in that promotion WASN’T the World Heavyweight Title. To be honest, it was the World TELEVISION Championship, and part of was made me curious about it was it’s name, purpose, and how the belt was treated and represented in the company. Sure, it wasn’t the primary heavyweight championship, nor was it dedicated to a class, group or weight class of talent, but the WCW World Television Title is to be recognized and remembered as one of the important titles in wrestling history. Read the rest of this entry
