After deliberating, waiting, and editing their posts, Team Random (formerly TI6 champion Wings Gaming) released their Weibo statements this morning regarding their departure from the squad. They’ve now got to focus on playing the Kiev Major which, given their results in recent months, should prove quite important to their finding a new home as a team, whether they stay together, […]
His jaw was slacked, and his wrist was perched by his chin with hand dangling as he walked in a dotted rhythm. He pushed forth in what appeared to be willed excitement, dribbling a basketball offbeat on the sidelines, and occasionally, when play stopped, would rush onto the court, and use both hands to scoop the ball, and shoot an […]
Had a great feeling about the Manila Major shortly after I landed, when I was greeted by several people to be driven to the hotel (complete with motorcycle escort!). One of the greeters apologized profusely for not being able to find me initially after I got off the plane, to the point where I almost felt ashamed or wondered if […]
I find myself following sports less and less over the years, not just because there’s less time, but with less interest. There’s a lot to it, but maybe it’s just an old man thing, and what was once fresh and exciting and spoke to the inner child no longer does so as much? Anyway, the story in the NBA this […]
I’m not sure when I last looked forward to something as much as I did Star Wars Episode 7. Here’s a quick rundown of what I enjoyed and disliked about it…I’m pretty sure I’m going to watch the movie again, and then maybe write up a further review. But I had to get these out while the movie’s still fresh. […]
As you know by now, Unknown beat Newbee, starting what was ultimately less of a Cinderella story than an NCAA tournament run, the kind where a small school somewhere takes down a goliath before being exposed and extinguished in the next round. For awhile the TI4 champs seemed to handle the Peruvian upstarts like it was business as usual; they […]
Origins For South Koreans playing Starcraft and other games, what began in after-school PC bangs eventually blossomed into periods of untouchable eSports dominance. For Peruvians playing DotA, such a bright future is currently difficult to imagine. But a foundation is slowly growing. The places are called cabinas, and the people who go to play are called cabineros. When you play on USEast and […]
I imagine most people who wanted to play PoE with the new 2.0 expansion have done so already, but if not, check it out. Lots of huge improvements and QoL changes including the virtual elimination of desync, ability to search easily through your stash, and other UI and interface improvements, and a fun new Act with some well-designed monsters. I […]
I have to wonder what Jeremy Lin was thinking, signing a 2-year $4.3m deal with the Charlotte Hornets. He has said that he wants the opportunity to prove himself as a starter…and though he’s played the past two years with two of the worst possible backcourt mates for a pick and roll creator to have (James Harden and Kobe), why […]
Maybe this is the inner old man talking, but I don’t expect much out of most mainstream movies these days. Most of them are either sellout rehashes or reboots of once-original ideas and series, or just thinly veiled excuses to show off action shots and special effects. In fact the recent movies I’ve liked best, like The Raid 2 (or […]
We could spend all day talking about the hodgepodge that Lebron just tried to carry to a championship past Golden State, but that’s already pretty obvious. The series pretty much turned out as expected, if not better, since the Cavaliers’ castaways and D-leaguers could not score without Lebron, who needed to be on the floor every minute to give his […]
First, a quick update. I’m now the station manager for DotA FM, a growing audio/internet radio station providing DotA related content. You can see our page (showreel to the bottom left) at mixlr.com/dotaFM, and follow us on Twitter @theDotaFM . We’ve recently added a bunch of new hosts, and people doing larger production value content as well. The other interesting […]
http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/man-arrested-subway-shoving-killed-bronx-man-article-1.2015432 Basically, this man is believed by police to be responsible for pushing an elderly man to his death in the subway tracks while his wife looked on helplessly. Already with an incredibly long rap sheet, he was also identified by another victim as the attacker who robbed him in the subway in an incident taking place half an hour […]
This guy’s quickly become one of my favorite game reporters/reviewers recently, able to make seemingly banal game experiences fun and insightful. Unsurprisingly, one of the immediate reactions people have to seeing his site is that it’s from the 1990s because the coding and presentation seems to be old. Well, fuck that, because the content is classic and continues to be […]
First off, hope some of you NBA fans caught the Bulls-Cavs game tonight, if you weren’t out and about doing Halloween stuff. Really intense back and forth game, Kyrie Irving was even caught during a timeout asking ‘so is this what a playoff game feels like?’ And it most certainly was. Should be an awesome season for these new Cavs, […]
I was listening to some older podcasts this morning when I came across Radiolab’s Cut and Run – a short story about the Kalenjin, an ethnic group in east Africa which has utterly dominated the world of distance running. The ‘cut’ part of the title refers to a tribal ritual in which Kalenjin males are forced to endure a painful […]
MMR’s just a number. But you can assign value to and make goals out of anything. For those of you looking to improve your solo queue ranked MMR, and get past what some consider a ‘4k trench’ (bogus in my opinion) into 5k territory, here’s a road map based on my own observations. Emotional Management Why do we start here […]
Brutal ironies are but one of many things capable of causing content to be posted here. A few months ago, Chicago’s Robert Morris University announced that it would be offering four-year athletic scholarships to League of Legends players. Here’s the bigger Times piece on the growth of E-sports: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/technology/esports-explosion-brings-opportunity-riches-for-video-gamers.html?_r=0 And a shoutout to Ben Wu, recently profiled on CNN Money about […]
I’ve already mentioned how I don’t really like Love for the Cavaliers, and I’ll get to that shortly. But first, I think this whole process has given us an unprecedented look at just how powerful the league’s best player at the peak of his influence and free agency can be. Lebron’s process basically held up league traffic this summer as […]
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/11/crooked-ladder
Skewed reporting in times of war is, of course, nothing new. The higher-ups who managed war correspondents have usually found innovative ways to either keep them quiet or make sure they’re singing the right tune. This can happen through the editing process (which it did for a long time) or through restricting/channeling access, such as ’embedding’. But Twitter and social […]
I might revisit the Lebron situation in greater detail at some point, but it’s really just a set of perfect circumstances for him. It was going to be quite difficult to improve the existing Heat roster without the major pay cuts that he and Bosh were unwilling to take – they’d have to get Wade to take some kind of […]
What an epic game from Tim Howard. He basically kept us in the game and, soccer being a sport where you can get badly outplayed for the duration of the game but still come away victorious, Chris Wondolowski had a golden opportunity to beat Belgium late in full-time. All American soccer fans have gotta be hoping that Howard remains healthy […]
I’ll just leave this here. http://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2014/06/25/coulter-growing-interest-soccer-sign-nations-moral-decay/11372137/ I ended up liking this article more and more as I read it – I can’t remember the last time I read something that elicited such a strange combination of shock, amusement, pity, admiration, disgust, and wonder. I was entertained. This is one of the best trolljobs I’ve ever seen.
As the Heat continue to battle what looks like a much tougher Spurs team than last year, I can’t help but notice the vitriol from some of my friends and social media on – surprise surprise – Lebron James. I’m trying to figure out why. I understand that The Decision was an easy reason to hate Lebron for people who […]
It’s an hour after the third season episode of Game of Thrones I’ll only call “Trial by Combat”, and I’m still kinda trying to repress what I just saw. Even the books didn’t really prepare me for this, like it did for a wedding a season ago. I think a new benchmark in brutality has been reached for Thrones…and I […]
Lately my friends and I have been exhibiting some signs of age. Joints are getting creakier and motors don’t start or move as fast. People suffer from balding and more serious ailments. Other people get married and have kids. Seemingly obvious things are forgotten. Tastes are…refined? There’s less tolerance for garbage, and the extraneous. Of course, at the tender age […]
Hey, maybe Phil Jackson doesn’t need front office experience to make good moves. Today the Knicks announced the firing of Mike Woodson and his entire staff. I don’t think I’ve seen a team that was actually trying to win games and contend play as poorly on defense as this year’s Knicks. And while I don’t know who was ultimately pushing […]
TV has had it pretty good these last few years…but I wanted another series to get into this winter to fill the void before Thrones and Mad Men returned. I’m usually late in acting on recommendations for movies and TV series, but I acted on an old suggestion to watch Friday Night Lights, the TV series. Even as someone who’s […]
Here’s a nice article from Grantland summarizing the Northwestern decision: http://grantland.com/features/northwestern-ncaa-college-athletics-union/ I like that this big step has been taken towards eventually reforming the NCAA system. Even if there really existed some hazy version of amateurism once upon a time in major American college athletics (this article argues that amateurism was ALWAYS exploitative and grew from tainted roots), it’s long […]
There are certain words that, in this age of American political correctness and entitled righteousness, automatically elicit a certain response, or are warped into weapons to defame, deflect, or defuse any rational line of thought. Words like socialism and racism. When casually thrown around as labels, these words are used by all different groups and interests to cripple legitimate discussion […]
First I want to say that this was not the first time it occurred to me that writing while high is a good idea. I recorded some thoughts on a recent trip to a cabin in upstate New York as well, but didn’t blog them up (though many of them revolved around an epiphany about night being optional). I think […]
If you haven’t read up on the Miami Dolphins’ ongoing bullying saga between Richie Incognito, a player with a history of disciplinary and legal problems, and Jonathan Martin, by all accounts a softspoken, friendly, and nice player who was recently admitted to the hospital on account of emotional distress, there’s plenty of material out there for you to catch up […]
I’m a pretty big fan of public shaming. Social pressure is a huge factor in shaping human behavior, and frankly I think too many people get away with way too much under the auspices of “freedom”, especially in the public sphere. How many times have you heard “free country” as a response to something unfathomably awful or stupid someone says […]
This PBS Frontline piece aired near the beginning of this year, and it focuses on how despite all the hooplah about the commissions and task forces designed to catch the high-level bankers who nearly destroyed the American economy, none of these high-level criminals have really been prosecuted, much less placed in jail. The part of this that really stands out […]
There’s bogus insanity/”fugue state” defenses for murder, which just shouldn’t be allowed to stand, but now this too? Are you fucking kidding me? How little responsibility are people going to take for their actions, through legal wrangling? http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/nyregion/drivers-defense-too-drunk-to-be-guilty.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0 As for the insanity stuff…I feel like that shouldn’t be a defense at all. If you’re too insane to be in control […]
My father died on October 10th, 2006. The upcoming anniversary of his death prompted me to write about it. I’ve written a bit about this before, particularly his funeral, but I figured I’d write something different this time, and also, it felt right as the last thing to publish as someone who is 26 and stupid. (Although I’ll keep writing […]
During Hurricane Sandy, lines could be seen going around the block at virtually every gas station as people tried to secure some for their vehicles. This, not because of the city itself, but because oil refineries in New Jersey had sustained damage. So today’s NPR post about security concerns during the shutdown raised some similar sentiments. The lesson here is that […]
SPOILERS ABOUND. SO MANY SPOILERS. DON’T READ UNLESS YOU’VE FINISHED BREAKING BAD, YOU DICKNOSES. *********************************************************** Upon seeing the final shot of Breaking Bad—a camera pan out of Walter White, arms and legs spread over a sterile cement floor and at peace (a contrast to his look of exhausted post-breakdown in Crawl Space)—I was left with a feeling of general satisfaction. […]
One of the few sites I’ll regularly read at work is Cracked. Even though it recognizes that many of its articles aren’t meant to be taken seriously, there’s alot of genuinely surprising stuff to be learned there, many sparks for long wikipedia searches. David Wong (who I’ve just learned through wikipedia is the pseudonym taken by a certain Jason Pargin) […]
Sent by a friend. http://www.texasobserver.org/anatomy-tragedy/
Awhile ago, I wrote about how StarCraft II was more like SC 1.5, had failed to take any really big, risky, innovative steps, and became boring to play and watch once the game solidified. The game’s design quickly led to stagnation in the competitive scene. Well, here’s a recent post by SK_MC, a decorated champion once considered the best Protoss […]
We need more of these. From the Times Magazine, which still produces some quality stuff: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/magazine/paul-kagame-rwanda.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes&partner=rss&emc=rss& And Grantland: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9626413/the-mysterious-death-17-year-old-football-player-valdosta-georgia
http://www.theonion.com/articles/let-me-explain-why-miley-cyrus-vma-performance-was,33632/?ref=auto
http://tiny-tyke.deviantart.com/art/Dota-2-A-lapse-in-vigilance-325001417 the thumbnails are on the right. So good.
“Jack, did you just invite me to play? Why the fuck are you playing dota right now? You realize that’s like…if you asked me to play a pickup football game during the Super Bowl…” – Dean Sunday wrapped up the week of DotA 2 comprising the biggest event in e-sports history, with 16 teams competing for a prize pool of […]
http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/post/55715208108/baseball-fans-super-angry-hispanic-american-superstar Actually you know what, this entry isn’t entirely dystopian because my faith in humanity has gone up, knowing that there’s at least one site dedicated to embarrassing these idiots. Thank you, public shaming tumblr.
This is what White House spokesman Jay Carney said about Snowden after he was allowed to fly from Hong Kong to Moscow: “Mr. Snowden’s claim that he is focused on supporting transparency, freedom of the press and protection of individual rights and democracy is belied by the protectors he has potentially chosen: China, Russia, Ecuador, as we’ve seen,” Mr. Carney […]
First of all…this is by a wide stretch the best playoff series I’ve seen. You got the feeling that every single possession mattered; and they did, despite the fact that several of the games ended in “blowouts”. Anytime the Spurs or Heat lost focus for a string of possessions in a row, the game quickly spiralled out of control, because […]
While frantically and excitedly sharing the roller-coaster high from the unbelievable back and forth ending of game 6 on gchat, a curiously novel thing happened. I discovered that both a nerdy friend of mine, as well as one of the 26 and stupid, couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. The fact that many people don’t follow basketball isn’t […]