Author: Steve Murray

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Wednesday Link-Off: Abandon Ship

brie-and-nikki-bella-twins-muscleandfitness16-02Republicans are abandoning ship over Donald Trump’s sexist comments. It took many of them this long to come to grips with the fact that he doesn’t represent them. It makes me wonder if there is a baseline of racism, xenophobia and misogyny that’s tolerable but at least bragging about sexual assault is a place where the line is drawn. How about being a Russian sympathizer? 

Anyway, it’s Wednesday which means that we’re doing the links. Since Trump is a WWE Hall of Famer, let’s kick off with WWE stars Brie and Nikki Bella.

Donald Trump claimed to know nothing about Russia but he’s sure doing a good job of reading Russian propaganda at rallies. (Newsweek)

A US Intelligence official says that Donald Trump is fully aware of Russia’s hack of the Democrats and their intentions to influence the election. So why would he deny it? (NBC News)

The question has been asked about whether WikiLeaks is acting intentionally or unintentionally working for Russian interests. Now, Julian Assange has become a key part of the Trump campaign strategy. (Bloomberg)

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The Best of the Hydraulic Press Channel

If there’s one part of the vast greatness of the internet that has taken the world by storm and quickly earned its Best of the Interweb status, it’s Finland’s Hydraulic Press Channel. The Finn family Vuohensilta use their hydraulic press to see what will happen when all manner of things are crushed, frozen, exploded, shot or otherwise dealt with.

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Fails of the Week

Every so often, we take a look at the most epic fails from the week that was in the Fails of the Week. This week, we have five pictures, GIFs and videos that we think are the most epic fails of the week.

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Sunday Link-Off: Beyond Unfit

Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen Donald Trump go from being considered unfit for the presidency to proving himself unfit for the presidency to showing himself for far beyond that consideration that it’s amazing that he’s not polling at 0%. He wanted to promote the Trump brand with this campaign but he might have just nuked it for he and generations of Trumps to come. Without the brand, what do they have?

Anyway, it’s Sunday which means that we’re here for the links. No pictures to kick off the links this week. I trust that’s understandable given the context of the post.

The latest week of the campaign ended with another should-be campaign ending scandal as a tape was released of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women and being able to do so with his star status. (New York Times)

And here’s Trump’s non-apology. If he could have dropped the politics for a moment (like not pivoting into “but my opponent’s husband is worse”) and been honest (like that he’s a different person when he’s just spent last week fat and slut shaming Alicia Machado), maybe it would have been somewhat effective. (NBC News)

Don’t expect these sorts of stories to end any time soon, a producer on The Apprentice says there are “far worse” tapes out there. When those drop, could that finally be it? (The Hill)

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Forza Motorsport 6: Apex Review: Full-Course Caution

forza-motorsport-6-apex-bannerWith the nearly forced conversion of Windows 7 and 8 users to Windows 10 earlier this year, Microsoft also announced their Xbox Play Anywhere program that promises all Microsoft published Xbox One titles will be available on PC via Windows 10 and the Microsoft Store. Given some teething problems with games through the Microsoft Store and the Universal Windows App (UWP) format, no one would fault you for being concerned.

The first experience that I’ve had as a result of Microsoft’s push of Windows 10 as a gaming platform is Forza Motorsport 6: Apex. Unlike the upcoming Forza Horizon 3, this isn’t a full release of Forza 6 on PC but rather a jumped up tech demo. While Forza 6 is a decent experience and certainly worthy of the Forza franchises comparisons to PlayStation’s Gran Turismo series, I can’t help but think that Apex is a little lacking.

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Wednesday Link-Off: Still Unfit

halle-berry-w16-02Three days later and the story hasn’t change. While it’s not like it could get better, for Donald Trump, there’s the reprieve from last week’s scandals because this week’s aren’t that bad comparatively. And you have Mike Pence drawing attention with the VP debate as well. It doesn’t change the fact that Trump still doesn’t seem very Presidential. Under the scrutiny of an actual campaign, the Trump mythology starts to become just that – a myth.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday which means that you’re here for the links. Let’s kick things off with Halle Berry. Something, something, Space Mountain. Woo!

The Attorney General of New York has ordered the Trump Foundation to cease and desist from soliciting contributions since it’s not licensed to do so. (NPR)

Does coming back from a near billion dollar loss make you a great business man? No, it just means that he lucked into his last name. (Bloomberg)

In another self-dealing matter, a look at Trump Foundation tax filings suggest that over a quarter-million dollars was spent to put Donald in position for a Presidential run. (Real Clear Politics)

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F1 Malaysia Grand Prix: Shoe-In

To finish first, first you must finish. I’m sure that Lewis Hamilton has those words ringing through his head after this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. A sure win after his teammate’s bad luck to start the race would put him back on top of the World Drivers’ Championship. Instead, he’s now 23 points behind Rosberg after his car spit more hot fire than he does on his album.

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Facebook Fails of the Week

Every so often, we look at the most spectacular fails that the internet has to offer. Well today, we look at the most spectacular fails that Facebook has to offer. This week, we have five of the best fails Facebook has to offer.

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Sunday Link-Off: Unfit

anna-kendrick-trolls16-15If there’s one thing that the whole world bar 40-some percent of America can agree on, it’s that the last week has seen Donald Trump prove repeatedly that he is not ready or capable of being an effective leader of the free world and President of the United States of America. This week might be the worst week any presidential candidate has ever had during a campaign and it still won’t convince his base to change their votes.

So since it’s Sunday, that means we should get down to the links. Let’s kick off with Anna Kendrick who is starring in Trolls. If ever there was a more appropriately named movie for this presidential election, I don’t know what it could be.

The New York Times have obtained Donald Trump’s 1995 tax return and found that he claimed a $916 million loss that year that he could be carrying forward to avoid paying taxes. So how does losing nearly a billion dollars make him smart? (New York Times)

This massive loss along with his appeal concentrated among low-income and less educated voters could all be hurting the Trump brand. (Fortune)

For the first time in its history, USA Today gave voting guidance with its denouncement of Donald Trump saying no one should vote for him. (USA Today)

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Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

Doom Review: Back to Basics

doom-bannerReboots are a tricky thing in entertainment. I’ve talked about this previously with Tomb Raider’s reboot. You want to do something fresh while retaining the spirit of the original. Something familiar without feeling like a retread of what people have already seen or played and loved. Doom 4’s lengthy start-stop development cycle saw the game lose the number at the end and have work scraped and started from scratch.

The end result is a fantastic reintroduction of the classic FPS franchise to the modern generation. It finds the right balance between new and modern gameplay with the classic mechanics and spirit of the 1993 original.

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