PixlBit

Happy Friday to you good people of Pixlbit! The weather here in Southern California has been odd. Earlier in the week it has been warm. So much so this is what I was up to earlier this week

 

This is my Instagram pic from my walk around the neighborhood on Tuesday or Wednesday. It was warm, which made it kind of odd while listening to Bing Crosby sing about how’s it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Yep, December, and I was in shorts, enjoying the sun, and talking to a neighbor who was piloting his boat around the lake (I think he was a bit tipsy…at 4pm!). Now it’s windy, a little chilly, and I think it rained last night, but most importantly it’s Friday which means another edition of Quick Hits With Chris!

 

Chris Rants About X-Factor (if you watch this show and didn’t see last night’s episode, skip this)

 

 

Here it comes...

 

 

So last night it was the season finale and it came down to three singers: Carlito, Jeff Gutt, and Alex and Sierra.

 

I thought Carlito was the weakest of the three in terms of vocals, but he made up for it in performing, and kid has a motor. I thought he would finish at least second because he’s a young kid and teen girls seem to scream a lot for him.

Jeff Gutt is who I thought should win. Dude has the rocker look, and voice, seems really humble, and has a pretty good story to sell to (from Detroit, struggling single dad, wants to make it big so his kid has a better life, etc.). I thought his song choices for their final performances were strong, and he killed it.

 

The actual people who won are Alex & Sierra

 

They were hit and miss for me, but what bugs me is that the producers keep pushing the “uber sweet couple who love each other, sing together” storyline. Yeah it’s like drinking a cup of syrup. I thought they were a 3^rd place team, but somehow they beat Carlito and Jeff. I feel this is the second year the X-Factor blew the final. The little girl from last year should have beaten the country singer. Anyways I think next season I might skip X-Factor and just go back to American Idol.

 

Chris Wins A Contest

I use a service called Get Glue that lets you check into your favorite TV Show/Movie/Music, etc. and you earn stickers. At one point they used to mail you physical stickers but have since cancelled this nice feature and now give you animated digital stickers aka .gifs. Well turns out that when I checked into the show Treme, I was entered into a contest, and I won.

 

I won a pretty cool Treme Cookbook. Apparently one of the recipes is for Filipino Adobo (I did learn in college that a lot of Filipinos were brought to Louisiana to help fish the area way back when). Awesome prize, and again thanks to the good people of Get Glue!

 

Football Uniforms!

The LA Kiss showed off their new uniforms.

 

The Kiss is an Arena Football team named after and owned by the band Kiss. They’ll play in the Honda Center in Anaheim (I’m hoping they’ll change the name to LA Kiss of Anaheim). Yeah the uniforms and logo are pretty bad, but I’ll root for them anyways.

 

Oregon showed off their new bowl uniforms

 

It’s been awhile since the Ducks had new uniforms, and by “awhile” I mean two years. I hope these make it into the NCAA Football game because I’m currently the Ducks Head Coach in Dynasty Mode. I will gladly give you my $1 EA Sports if you make this happen.

 

Free Stuff

So I found a couple of freebies that might interest you folks.

 

In the Google Play Store they have been released 10 track freebies of some pretty good stuff in their December Deals

 

Yeah it’s older songs, but you can’t go wrong with free right?

 

I saw this on Steam, and I might give a try later on today

 

I’m starting to browse through Steam’s store, doing a little window-shopping, and there are a bunch of cool games that are free to play. I even spotted Marvel Puzzle Quest Dark Reign, which I might also give a try later on today

 

In the game Real Racing 3, EA is giving away a free car

 

I already own the car, so I don’t know if I have this version or not, but it’s a nice gesture to get people to play the game.

 

In the Simpsons Tapped Out, the community earned enough to unlock the Totem Pole. I don’t know if we can get everything else unlocked because the values are nuts, but I think this is the way for the game creators to sell another premium piece.

Like freebie gaming, check it out.

 

Pickups!

 

Gaming

I found some new games to add to the 360 portion of Mount Backlog

 

Lego Batman 2 was found at the used section at Target. I could never find the missing the minikits in the level where you drive the Batmobile in front of the giant Joker robot. Hopefully I find it here in this game, and then go back to my PS3 version and get the Platinum there. $13 bucks for what seems like a new copy that was slapped with a used sticker.

Stranglehold I found at GameStop for a couple of bucks. It’s a game I lost interest in on the PS3, but I’m hoping the 360 version with achievements will cause a spark my interests in the game.

 

Over G Fighters I picked up with Stranglehold. It was also a couple of bucks. It’s probably not very good, but it’s something new to try. Medal Of Honor I bought at the Best Buy across the street from GameStop. My cousin and I were just walking around the store when he mentioned that it was $5. Heck it’s worth a try at $5.

*Ok so when my cousin entered GameStop, they have the guy who hands out the flyers and tells you about the deals. Usually they’re chill, but the guy we encountered was really obnoxious. He did his spiel about promotions, handed us the flyers, and then proceed to follow us asking what we were looking for. We said we were fine, which is the universal “leave us alone now” sign, but dude kept at it. I split from my cousin so I can look at some games in peace, but he seemed to hover over my cousin for a couple of minutes.

Dude finally got the hint when my cousin went quiet, and started bragging to his co-workers about how he also works at Five Guys (shitty burgers…yeah I said it, I’m in the In-N-Out camp). I get that either you're proud of your other job (much respect) or you just want to brag, don't disrespect the job you're currently at like that, especially in front of customers.

While we were there a nice couple went in looking to buy a PS4 and were told that they only had the $700 bundles. The lady was a little mad since they had a box on the floor that said “PS4 $399”. GameStop lady then told them that was the only spot to get the consoles right now. On their way out, I let the man know the Target down the street had both next gen consoles in stock. Both were happy, GameStop lady, not so much. I like GameStop, but your bundles are f’n insane.

 

Back to pickups

 

I don’t watch The Walking Dead (I don’t care for Zombies) but I heard the game was really good, and I found that they were on sale on the 360 for $1.60 an episode, so I bought the episodes, and another companion game my cousin said to pick up. I’m still playing the freebie game, and apparently I’m not very far into it. At my rate, I might finish the series this time next year.

 

I also bought this game because the gameplay looked fun. I played some of it, and it’s pretty entertaining. I think I would enjoy it more on the Vita, and if it’s a couple of bucks on the PSN Store, I’ll probably pick it up. The levels always change so it’s always new.

 

I also picked up Blazing Angels 2 on the 360 Store

 

I liked the original, and this was also a couple of bucks so why not give it a try?

 

I got this through PS+ and this game is freaking awesome

 

It’s funny, some of the side quest are hilarious (punching chickens, finding cheese for an enchilada, etc.). What I like is that I can play it on my PS3, send my game save to my Vita, and continue playing the game. It’s $3.75 for the game, $2 for some extra costumes that add some extra abilities, and I think $2 for some bonus level where you can unlock some extra costumes with added abilities.

 

Music

 

Added some Christmas music, and random rap CD from Target.

 

Another Christmas album. I’m listening to it while typing this

 

I have some extra Google Play credit and this weeks discounted albums on the Google Play Store were Christmas albums (if you don’t have an Android device, go to play.google.com, and you can buy and download the freebies from there).

I added more Christmas music. I really should start listening to Christmas music after Halloween, because I like it so much.

 

Random Tweet

While SDSU was playing Southern Utah I saw this tweet and it made me laugh

 

Southern Utah got lucky because they caught the student section during Winter Break, or else they would have been heckled mercilessly. I do like their “You Should Transfer” chant.

 

The Show last season. They make Viejas a tough place to play

 

And finally…

 

Reddit knows what’s up

 

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris