Archive for the 'News' Category

Oct 29 2011

Unreality’s Reader Halloween Costume Contest!

Published by Paul Tassi under News

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and no, I don’t mean Christmas. Yes, presents are nice, but Halloween has a leg up because of all the awesome costumes we get to see. Between all the homemade amateur outfits and pro cosplayers, we love costumes here on the site, and as such, Halloween is kind of our Mecca.

Yes, I will be featuring my own costume, and probably the girfriend’s too as we did last year, but I also wanted to open it up to our readers. If YOU have an amazing costume this Halloween, we want to see it. The best one sent to me (paul@unrealitymag.com) over this weekend and through Halloween on Monday will win a DVD or Blu-ray of their choice. You will also get the high honor of being the lead image on an Unreality post, which you can’t really put a price on.

If there are enough cool costumes, I’ll make a full gallery, if not, I’ll probably just try to find some around the internet. So yeah, if you think you’ve got a great costume, dress up, take a few pictures, and send them over to me for a chance to win!

3 responses so far


Oct 28 2011

A Brief Announcement

Published by Paul Tassi under News

Hello readers, hows it going? Getting ready for Halloween? Me too. I’m polishing my ceremonial dagger (not a euphemism) and getting ready to head out tonight as Nathan Drake.

But before that, I wanted to make a brief announcement about a minor site change. Some of you have noticed that  some of our longer articles, we now break up them up into pages. This doesn’t effect many of our posts, but longer reviews, galleries, or lists are being broken down. Usually into 2 or 3 pages, sometimes up to six.

We’re not doing this because we hate you, I promise. The fact is, as much as I love writing Unreality, the site is a business, and on the internet we need to be as clear as possible with all articles.   Frankly scrolling on and on kind of messes with our layout and the aesthetic of the site. Breaking up pages is a way to keep the articles more succinct and organized for us.

So please, readers, we’re not asking for donations, we’re literally asking for another click or two from you, which…doing the math here, adds up to probably one or two seconds of your time per day and makes our site way more organized.  We’re not going to start doing 30 page IGN lists, I promise, but we needed to do this to help the site grow more professional (gotta compete with the big boys!) Our content itself will remain the same level of awesome it always has, and hopefully these few clicks on a few posts is honestly not too much to handle.

Anyway, we love you guys, and as much as we’d love to have everything on one page, we just can’t swing that. Hope you understand.

26 responses so far


Oct 20 2011

Ohio Man Brings 12 Monkeys to Life by Freeing Dangerous Zoo Animals

Published by Paul Tassi under Movies,News

We don’t normally straight up report the news here, but this story was too similar to a classic movie for me to ignore. A deranged Ohio man ran a wildlife preserve, and decided to let more than 50 wild animals out of their cages before committing suicide. What happens next is the even more insane part.

Sheriff’s deputies shot nearly 50 wild animals – including 18 rare Bengal tigers and 17 lions – in a big-game hunt across the state’s countryside Wednesday after the owner of an exotic-animal park threw their cages open and committed suicide in what may have been one last act of spite against his neighbors and police.

As homeowners nervously hid indoors, officers armed with high-powered rifles and shoot-to-kill orders fanned out through fields and woods to hunt down 56 animals that had been turned loose from the Muskingum County Animal Farm by owner Terry Thompson before he shot himself to death Tuesday.

After an all-night hunt that extended into Wednesday afternoon, 48 animals were killed. Six others – three leopards, a grizzly bear and two monkeys – were captured and taken to the Columbus Zoo. A wolf was later found dead, leaving a monkey as the only animal still on the loose.

Wow, this is both the simultaneously saddest and most badass thing I think I’ve ever heard. It’s tragic that all these animals had to be put down, particularly a bunch that were endangered species like the tiger. On the other hand, being called into work as an Ohio sheriff’s deputy and being told that your job for the day was to hunt down 50 tigers, lions and bears in the suburbs is probably the most surreal thing you could ever hear. The scenario reminds me very much of 12 Monkeys (you’ll get it if you’ve seen it), but I could easily see this bizarre situation being its own movie someday, couldn’t you? Or it could be a tragic reworked ending to the upcoming We Bought a Zoo where Matt Damon runs his own wildlife preserve.

 

10 responses so far


Oct 03 2011

Arrested Development is Coming Back to TV!

Published by Paul Tassi under News,Television

I literally can’t believe I just wrote that title. I actually feel like I’m dreaming. Is this real life?

It’s not often something as simple as a tweet makes me stand up and cheer, but when I read that last night I just about lost my mind. I scrambled the internet looking for any information that could confirm it, and when I discovered that The New Yorker was hosting a reunion of EVERY Arrested Development cast member this weeked at their event, I knew it had to be true.

And it is, I repeat, Arrested Development is coming back to TV. But not quite in the way you might be thinking. Creator Mitch Hurwitz explains:

“We’re trying to do a limited-run series into the movie. We’re basically hoping to do 9 or 10 episodes, with almost one character per episode.”

So each episode will focus on a different character, and they will all culminate in the long-promised movie, which looks like more of a reality than ever. Hurwitz explains how the first episode might begin, which will focus on Buster:

“The latest joke we have is that it’s Cambridge, Massachusetts and there’s all these scientists in lab coats and they’re waiting for somebody. Buster comes through the door in a white lab coat – ‘Let’s begin’ – and they say, ‘Oh, no, you don’t get to wear the lab coat. We’re experimenting on you.’”

I know these characters and this show’s sense of humor so well, I’m already laughing and don’t even need to see it acted out. But I’m SUPER excited about this, and I assume many of you are as well. I’m still hunting for more details, and I have conflicting reports about Fox and Showtime distributing. I say screw Fox, they cancelled the show, they shouldn’t reap the benefit of it coming back. And with Showtime, they’d have more freedom than ever.

Yeah, still feels very surreal to have my favorite show of all time actually coming back to life. Glad to see that after all these years, our cries were finally heard.

9 responses so far


Sep 13 2011

At Long Last I’ve Done It

Published by Paul Tassi under News,Video Games

There it is folks, I’ve officially crossed over. Last week I had a debate of the day set up where I asked if I should get a PS3. The response was overwhelmingly that I should, and this weekend I finally bit the bullet. The recent price drop to $250 was a big reason why, and also it helps that every game I want to play is probably about $20 or $30 now at the most.

So far I’ve picked up Uncharted 2 (I’ve played the first one already) and Demon’s Souls, a game that I will allegedly hate as it’s one of the hardest ever made and I have zero patience for that sort of thing. But it will be interesting to see how far I get and I can write about my experiences. After I get through (or attempt to get through) those, I’ll want to get to Infamous and Infamous 2, God of War 3 and probably Little Big Planet. Any other PS3 exclusives I must check out?

I haven’t played anything yet, despite having the system set up, because I was frustrated to learn when I opened it that the PS3 does not come with any sort of HD cable. For a system that purports itself to have the sharpest graphics, they seriously make you pay extra to play it on its max settings? I’m not going to boot up Uncharted until my $1.79 from Amazon HDMI cable shows up in the mail, as I want my first experience to be a good one. Xbox came with at least some sort of HD capability (though not HDMI), although I will say not having to buy a separate adapter for internet, nor pay a monthly fee for it, more than makes up for that shortcoming.

So yeah, I’m happy with my purchase, and this reminds of when I bought an original Xbox after being a PS2 loyalist for years. I had a great time playing Halo’s 1 and 2 and Fable, but most other titles crossed over. The same is true here, and really I only got this system for a few games, but doing what I do for a living, it’s probably a good idea to be well rounded. And now I guess I am a fanboy no more. Feels good.

40 responses so far


Sep 12 2011

I Am Spartacus

Published by Paul Tassi under News,Television

Very sad news today. Spartacus: Blood and Sand star Andy Whitfield passed away this weekend from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He had been battling the disease for the last eighteen months, and his absence from the hit Starz show caused them to shoot a prequel series and recast his part for season two.

Whitfield’s wife, Vashti, called her husband a “beautiful young warrior” who died on a “sunny Sydney morning” in the “arms of his loving wife”.

Spartacus is currently one of my favorite shows on air, and Whitfield’s performance is much of what made the first season of the show phenomenal. It’s sad to see someone this young and talented cut down by a disease like this, but it happens all over the world every day to people who don’t happen to be famous. Donate to the American Cancer Society to help continue Whitfield’s fight.

4 responses so far


Jun 13 2011

The Winners of Unreality’s Comic-Con Costume Giveaway

Published by Paul Tassi under Movies,News,Television

All last week a lot of you posted your best sci-fi jokes to a Facebook thread, and I’ve sifted through them all to find a pair of winners who get $100 worth of costumes and accessories from HalloweenCostumes.com.

There were some good, some bad, and some nonsensical, but I picked these two out as my favorite. One is actually a joke I’ve been telling for about ten years (the first one) and the other I laughed despite it’s innate simplicity.

So check out the two winning entries from Clark Rumble and Stephen Duffin below, and if that’s you, check your inbox for a FB message from me about getting your prize. And actually Clark, now that I’m looking. Your privacy settings are actually such that I can’t send you a message, so hopefully you either read this or accept my friend request which I felt awkward extending.

Thanks to all for entering, and see you next contest!

Continue Reading »

9 responses so far


Jun 10 2011

So NBC Tried to Kill Community’s Dungeons & Dragons Episode

Published by Paul Tassi under News,Television

So normally the kind of stuff I choose to share with you is interesting pictures or videos or some of my reviews or columns and the like, but today, the focus is on straight up information, which highlights what’s wrong with network TV these days.

I know there are a lot of Community fans out there, myself included as you guys encouraged me to get into the show. Unquestionably one of the best episodes of the series so far was “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” where the gang tried to help out a depressed classmate by organizing a game of D&D. Pierce promptly took over the game as the lead villain, and even though it was just eight people sitting around a table, it was one of the best comedy episodes (with a pretty heavy dramatic punch) that I’ve ever seen.

But as it turns out, NBC never wanted this episode to air. They were vehemently opposed to the entire concept of a D&D episode because they thought it wouldn’t appeal to the demos they were trying to target.

The Onion AV Club has an ongoing interview series with creator Dan Harmon where he talks about every episode in the season, and reading what he has to say about Advanced Dungeons and Dragons makes me weep for the state of network television, and it quite literally made him cry as well.

I’ve pulled some highlights below you should definitely read:

Continue Reading »

16 responses so far


Jun 07 2011

Unreality’s E3 2011 Liveblog – Nintendo’s Keynote

Published by Paul Tassi under News,Video Games

Alright folks, it’s the one we’ve all been waiting for. If you haven’t tuned into E3 yet, you haven’t missed a whole lot as Microsoft and Sony didn’t have too terribly much to debut. Read my thoughts about those two shows here.  Rather the best parts of the show have been game demos like the one for Elder Scroll: Skyrim. Autonomous randomized dragon encounters. AMAZING.

Anyway, it’s time to actually make some news. Nintendo is set to debut their newest console at their presentation today. A few details about it have been leaked, including the fact that it’s supposed to be more powerful than the PS3, and its controllers have touchscreens. Other than that though, I’m not quite sure what to expect out of “Project Cafe,” and one of the aspects I’m most curious about is the name itself. What the hell are the going to call this thing?

This is a big moment for the industry, as it’s the first real step into the long-awaited next console generation. What wonders (or horrors) wait ahead? I guess we’re about to find out. Liveblog starts below, and you can refresh the page for updates. Watch on G4 or streaming on IGN.

Continue Reading »

24 responses so far


Jun 06 2011

Unreality’s E3 Liveblog 2011 – Sony’s Keynote

Published by Paul Tassi under News,Video Games

Why yes, it is 8PM and I’m still writing things. I just love you guys that much.

But seriously, it’s E3, and I’ve been liveblogging these press conferences for something like five years now. Seriously, check it out back on the original Unreality from way back when.

If you caught my Microsoft press conference post earlier today, you could tell that I was none too please with the company whose console I actually own. I usually have given them fairly rave reviews for past E3s, but between an hour of Kinect content jammed down our throats and the “surprise” of Halo 4 having been leaked hours earlier, there wasn’t much to get excited about.

Microsoft’s conference was an exercise in laziness, though it’s hard to blame them. Consoles are selling, Kinect is selling and they don’t have to do much but sit back and see what Nintendo does next. Sony has self-destructed recently because of the PSN fiasco, and so their only aim is going to be to get people talking about something else besides that.

Will they issue another apology, or dodge the issue entirely? Will the debut some sort of new security set-up? They probably should, although hackers would just start taking notes and have it cracked by tomorrow no doubt.

I can’t imagine that Sony will rely as much on Move as Microsoft did on Kinect. It hasn’t sold nearly as well, and with even Nintendo apparently moving on past controller based motion control, they’re going to seem real antiquated if they push Move too hard. Rather, hopefully we’ll hear some new titles announced that will get people excited, and hopefully some cool hardware upgrades or even a possible hint at a new console? One can dream.

Liveblog starts below. Refresh the page for updates cause we’re not high tech here. Watch the event on G4 or streaming on IGN.

Continue Reading »

6 responses so far


 




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