1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

My Most Anticipated Games of 2013

Since it’s the start of 2013 and I’m done with my own 2012 lists, I thought it would be fun to look ahead to 2013. While I know that I’ve started a geek culture blog, I thought that this would make a fun extension to my favourite games of 2012 list. As good as 2012 was for gamers, I’m liking how 2013 is stacking up already. There are some good-looking games already confirmed for 2013 release that will be Day One purchases.

So, in no particular order, here are my ten most anticipated games of 2013. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Happy New Year

genevieve-morton-miraclesuit12-02Well, I’d like to say that I had a better start of 2013 linkdump for you but the internet’s pretty much been shutdown since, well, Christmas. I do have a few links but it’ll be a pretty short post. Anyhow, let’s start with Genevieve Morton.

If you live in a Canadian border town, you’ll probably have been the victim of random roaming charges because your phone picked up the stronger American signal. It’s not just happening to you. It happens to a lot of people and the cell phone companies aren’t too worried about being proactive about it. (CBC News)

Scientists believe that garbled text messages could be a sign of serious neurological issues such a stroke. (CNET)

You might not consider pickpocketing a form of magic but the way the world’s greatest pickpocket, Apollo Robbins, does it, it may just be. (The New Yorker)

After the jump, a look inside NBC’s Sunday Night Football, new year’s resolutions for video game journalists and Stephen Harper style. Continue reading →

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The Lowdown Blog Annual: 2012

With the start of a new year today, let’s take a look back at the last 12 months on the blog. Last year was another massive year for the blog. We nearly tripled our traffic over our 2011 and had more traffic in the last 12 months than the 36 months our blog was around previous to that. That was probably helped by our emphasis on longer posts and columns which got us featured on Freshly Pressed for the first time this year. So let’s look back at the year with our most read posts from 2012, the most read posts overall in 2012 and the best liked posts of 2012. Continue reading →

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Worst of Music 2012 Retrospective

There were some highlights in music this year but, as always, those highlights were largely overshadowed by some craptacular music in 2012. While the Worst of Music feature wasn’t on the blog regularly this year, that didn’t mean that music got better this year. Apart from some highlights like Psy and Adele, there was a lot of bad music other than the 15 WoM winners of 2012.

To look back on the year that was in music, both the good but mostly bad, here’s is a collection of mashups of the hit songs of 2012. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: Ending 2012

nina-agdal-aerie12-26As the year comes to an end, we’ve reached the last linkdump of 2012. I probably should have made this the year-in-review post but there were almost no other links to choose from for last Wednesday’s linkdump apart from the year-in-review links. Mind you, this linkdump isn’t looking too long either. Anyway, start the last linkdump of the year with Nina Agdal. You’ll be seeing her again when I do the annual SI Swimsuit cover odds post.

The courts may have bounced Toronto mayor Rob Ford out of office but it certainly hasn’t solved all of Toronto’s problems. (MacLean’s)

The most interesting story of the US Presidential election may have come two months after the vote. Tagg Romney says his father, Mitt, never really wanted to be President. (Daily Kos)

Wikipedia has finished up its annual fundraising drive. The problem is, though, how Wikipedia uses the money. They don’t seem to need all of it. (The Register)

After the jump, why it’s okay to not lower expectations, plenty of oral histories and some best of 2012 videos. Continue reading →

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Entertainment Link-Off: Fight. Dream. Hope. Love.

Emma WatsonIt’s time for another edition of the Entertainment Link-Off. Due to the holidays, it has been a bit slow on the news, but there are still a few noteworthy things to check out. There’s not many new releases this weekend, but if you haven’t had a chance to check out The Hobbit, Jack Reacher or Les Miserables, this might be your chance. Let’s kick off the last ELO of 2012 with Emma Watson only because I recently saw The Perks of Being A Wallflower and thought it was a fantastic film.

After the jump have another look at the lack of creativity in poster design, check out the most pirated TV shows and movies, a few Star Trek tidbits, How I Met Your Mother is sticking around for another season, the worst movies of 2012 review themselves, watch the first four minutes of Warm Bodies and Ed the Sock shares a story about Christina Aguilera. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray Humour

Caption This: January 1 – December 31, 2012

Inspired by the Globe and Mail’s caption writing person, we waste our time writing funny picture captions for some of the more interesting photos we come across when blogging. So here are some of the best pictures from the whole of 2012 with a funny (-ish) caption. Continue reading →

4 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Video Games

My Twelve Favourite Video Games of 2012

Since we’re doing lists of our favourite things of 2012, I thought I would cover video games. This was an odd year in gaming. New triple-A IPs were few and far between. Sequels were the name of the game this year as developers and publishers bided their time until the launch of the next generation of XBox and Playstation. However, thanks to Kickstarter, indie game bundles and digital distribution on multiple platforms, I think 2012 started to usher in more emphasis on high-quality independently developed games.

So in no particular order, here are my favourite games of 2012. Continue reading →

3 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment

The History of Doctor Who Theme Music (Updated for the 50th Anniversary)

Any true Brit or Anglophiles know the cultural impact of Doctor Who. The show is one of the iconic pieces of British culture and science fiction. The show has been on-air since 1963 and has aired 790 episodes and one TV movie. Each of those episodes has started with the iconic Doctor Who theme song originally composed by Ron Grainer. Unlike your standard TV show, however, the Doctor Who theme has undergone some dramatic revisions. As Doctor Who reaches its 50th Anniversary in 2013, here is a look back at the history of the Doctor Who opening music, updated through this week’s Christmas Special. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Year-in-Review 2012

kate-upton-vogue12-07It’s time for our year-in-review linkdump. Rather than the usual assortment of fun and/or timely links, it’s time to look back at the year that was. It’ll also make our lives easier if we end up doing a year-in-review podcast but that would mean we do a podcast which means it’s not likely to happen.

Anyway, let’s kick this post off with our 2012 woman of the year, Kate Upton. If you’re wondering how we select the blog’s woman of the year, we use maths and search results. If you don’t like our pick, you only have the internet to blame.

For the second time, Barack Obama was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. The other time was after he won the 2008 Presidential Election. (Time)

From proper news to the terribly written news, it’s a look at the worst columns of 2012. (The Atlantic Wire)

But if you’d like to read something a little better, the NYT has their 100 most notable books of 2012. (New York Times)

After the jump, we look at 2012 in pop culture, sports and more. Continue reading →