All posts by Kage

Writing

Independent Kiosk: Here to stay!

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So independent kiosk are trending and being called a failed experiment. I disagree and have no problem pointing out that the complete opposite is true. So here is a quote from The Atlantic.

The checkout kiosks bleat and flash when you fail to set a purchase down in the right spot. Scanning those items is sometimes a crapshoot—wave a barcode too vigorously in front of an uncooperative machine, and suddenly you’ve scanned it two or three times. Then you need to locate the usually lone employee charged with supervising all of the finicky kiosks, who will radiate exasperation at you while scanning her ID badge and tapping the kiosk’s touch screen from pure muscle memory

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/10/self-checkout-kiosks-grocery-retail-stores/675676/

So basically, nothing changed at the grocery store, but instead of small talk with the local elementary school drop out, that has a criminal record and is now a tax break, thanks to Obama, that can’t scan the code right, you get the luxury of doing it yourself. Yeah, that sucks so bad!

Table tasting had this to say

self-checkout systems more than double the rate of theft in stores.

Read More: https://www.tastingtable.com/1366529/reasons-self-checkout-failed-time-to-move-on/

https://www.tastingtable.com/1366529/reasons-self-checkout-failed-time-to-move-on/

Ok, for one, there is no evidence to support this claim. A machine going off due to a misplaced item is automatically seen as theft. This is the kiosk equivalent of the “teen pregnancy rates are down” because abortions don’t count toward that total, which is bullshit. Pregnancy is pregnancy and carried to term or not didn’t stop it from developing. Same here, More bleeping is not more theft. Look at California, where theft is out of control at the moment, what independent kiosk caused that?

Let’s look at this argument. People claiming it cost jobs. The same was most likely claimed about the fork lift, but today, many men and some women, still man the docks of a store and take items off the back of the truck. In fact, one argument back then in favor of the switch to a fork lift was probably, less people on the truck, less likely to get stolen. There is a reason “it fell off the back of a truck” has always been a figure of speech that meant stolen.

Independent kiosk are effective, efficient and helpful to strengthen and streamline the shopping process. Besides, when 90% of shopping is done online at Amazon, why would you want more chasiers working over glorified welfare? Some of these arguments could of held some truth over 20 years ago, when they first started popping up, but the landscape has changed and millennials are more mad about doing this as a chore, while sounding like out of touch, middle aged, fuddy duddies.

In the long run, these automated machines will continue to make the little bit of real world shopping, far easier than ever. Independent kiosk are here to stay!

Writing

Kageoween: The Fog, 1980, review

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INTRODUCTION: So my television decided this year should be dedicated to John Carpenter movies. I assume it has to do with his soon to be released Peacock Halloween anthology series. Anyways, I seen a majority of this man’s movies, but never reviewed them, so I’m doing so for Kageoween. The Fog has to have had the weirdest of pitch meetings ever attached to it, because I don’t know who in the blue hell could of say straight faced through it, Which seems fitting to say about most of John’s movies. Lame concepts turned into iconic movies. So what are my thoughts? Read on!

PLOT: The Fog is rolling in. People are trapped on this island or something, IDK! Ahhh! Scary/sarcasm

VISUALS: It was made in the 1980’s on what appears to be a $13 dollar budget. Not millions, but literally $13 dollars USD. Thankfully John had great people surrounding him and a knack for visual flair, which makes a movie that should look a lot no retro, seem like it still could of be released yesterday to capitalize on nostalgia with retro movies, instead of being limited to tacky styles due to actually being filmed in the decade that birthed those styles. Unlike Halloween, where bell bottom are seen, along with middle age men, running around in tweed jackets thinking those were excellent style choices. (Writers note, I tend to like tweed jackets.) The most dated thing in this movie is a shot of a captains cup, looking like a middle schooler’s first attempt at clay firing and shellacking. You know, the hard to wash cups that get filled with cracks from day one and still, for some reason, exist? While still not John at his best, visually, it definitely shows a director making better overall choices and about to hit his peak with style by the time he gets to The Thing.

ACTING: Mostly good, but Jamie Lee is at her worst acting ever and her character is basically worthless, making her dialogue to Tom Akins in the boat, the most meta dialogue ever, about how she is basically worthless.

CHARACTERS: Mostly good, albeit sparse character development. Compared to other movies of its time though, this is still pretty good.

FX: You get two FX styles in this. Ghouls and the fog. The only really bad FX shot is near the end as the fog, rolling over a crespecular bay, looks like it’s on par with the moon in Evil Dead, except instead of a box, it looks like the fog is moving sideways on top of the water, like those old kids toys, that pretended to be video games, but just featured a moving background with a plastic car on top of it. Except those toys were bigger eye sores.

DIALOGUE: Good. Nothing overwhelming cringe.

CONCLUSION: For a movie whose title misrepresents the entire premise is a pretty good movie. It even has some pretty intense and scary moments that got me, even. The scariest part, is the lack of Tom Atkins mustache. The story is mildly interesting and done very well, for what is really a “from beyond the grave” ghost movie. Albeit I’m not quite sure why it took the Ghost nearly a century to take revenge, but lack of plot details aside, it works, minus the weak resolution that leads to an awesome finale sequence that more than makes up for it. Still a great Halloween movie, that hold up, some 43 years later.

4 stars out of 5

Writing

Kageoween: One Chip Challenge Video.

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Normally I won’t post videos. Not really my thing. I don’t absolutely hate it, though. It has its place, but for the stuff I do, I find it a major waste of time. No one needs a 25 min long, super edited video of a review. Although I enjoy some of those videos myself, I just don’t think the footage is worth it. It would be different if I was directing a movie, but overall I think it would be unnecessary to to videos. That said, I did mention in my review that I recorded video of me talking the #OneChipChallange in Sept, so I am posting it here as well. I also updated the review with the video, which is at the bottom. Enjoy!

Me eating the #OneChipChallange

Writing

Kageoween: Clash Royale, app game.

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Quick view at gameplay. I won this one, thankfully to a crazy start.

INTRODUCTION: Normally this time of year I focus on Horror reviews, I mean it is Halloween time after all. While couple of those may be coming this month, I want to focus on this game as it has a Halloween theme this month so it fits right in.

GAME: Simple game. It’s like Infinity Wars, meets WWE Supercard with a bit of Magic:The Gathering sprinkled on. The concept is capture the flag like. First person to destroy all three castles or the major one wins. Seems super simple and in a small part it is, but it can be challenging and rewarding.

GRAPHICS: Remember Advanced Wars for the Nintendo Advanced? Yeah, these graphics were on point 22 years ago, but it suits the games cartoon like aesthetic.

PRICE POINT: Free to download but in app purchases. You can play without making a lot of purchases and this game does not seem like a pay to play. It balances everything out.

OVERALL: This game can be a time sap. My brother has been playing for over a year and I’ve been playing for three days, but it has its moments. I think it’s worth a gander.

4 out of 5 stars

Source:IMDB.com
Writing

Paqui One Chip Challenge 2023

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INTRODUCTION: What’s to say that hasn’t already been said about this chip since 2016? Seven years, seven different challenges and more combinations of hot chili peppers torture devices than should be legal. So naturally, even though I despise trends and find these viral challenges stupid and not my thing. Still I enjoy spicy things and have heavily been doing so since I was a teenager. I’m 37 now, so that’s 20 years of stupidity. I’m what you call an “expert” here. So how was it?

PACKAGE: Way better than the old red one of yore. The marketing team has up their game and it shows. The package alone is worth paying $10 for.

INSIDE: You get a nicely packed chip and a pull out, plus a graphic warning you of the potential pain you are going to be in.

CHIP: Opening it smells of fruity blue berries and quite inviting. Do not let that fool you, because it isn’t innocent. Also mine was in one piece, so that’s good. Taste wasn’t as bad as people claimed. I think it tasted better than the Haunted Ghost Pepper chips. Still a little dry though.

HEAT: So you have probably seen all the horrible videos online of people screaming and running, dousing themselves in milk as if Kurt Angle just showed up to WWE Raw circa 2001. Well I didn’t think it was as hot as people claimed, that’s why I tried it. Well I was half right and half wrong. The problem isn’t so much the heat, rather in how it burns. Normally a burn from a pepper is on the tounge. The lips feel a burning as well. The reaper is an exception as it hits the throat. This though wasn’t burning my tounge, it was a muted burn. It hit mostly my vocal chords and cheeks, something that doesn’t normally happen. Also a rarity was feeling it inside my ears. Peppers usually cause myself to cough a lot. Here I coughed very little. I also do not tend to tear up in the eyes and yet here I did. My nose will run more with peppers or sauce, with this, I had very little. I recorded this, but it was hard to speak with my vocals aflame. So overall it was kinda hot but weird. I swear it was made just to induce a sense of pepper burn as opposed to a real pepper. I had their Haunted Ghost Pepper chips and those are more conductive to what one would expect from a real pepper and not this. Overall all though, even with my very high tolerance, I would not recommend it to most people that are not experienced with peppers.

Burn Time: You’ll find a fold out within that gives you the time and a title. Hold off up till and hour and you’re an apex predator. The problem is though, it last only about five minutes at max before it is over. Leaving even the biggest chili heads looking like bitches because you had a drink long after it subsided and now they know you will buy another just to man up. Excellent marketing but very transparent.

One chip to destroy them all-Tolkien, maybe

PROBLEMS: With peppers I get some stomach cramps. Nothing too crazy. Super hots give me a nice, warm internally. Similar to chili on a cold winters day. That was true of this, until I ate a couple Cheetos a few hours later, causing a sharp pain in my stomach. This type of pain only if I over eat, say like Thanksgiving dinner and that can be taken care of with a couple tums and Tylenol. Although alcohol will allow me to eat more and experience no pain, but would not recommend with this. If I had avoided the Cheetos, I probably would of been fine all night. It says to eat something for pain or drink dairy. I don’t recommend eating after this.

OVERALL: It wasn’t that bad until I had the Cheetos. Then I was like, well, I regret this. I bought two and might eat the second for Halloween. It was fun, but I have spent $10 bucks on better. Would I do this annually? No! I could just buy reapers and eat those and be happier cause I can make my own hot sauces or sprinkle it in what food I want with a better experience. I’m glad I tried it though and give it 3.5 out of 5.

Video of me taking the challenge.
Writing

Pico De Gallo

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Kage doesn’t always post food, but when he does, hopefully it is epic. Pico De Gallo is epic! I cannot ever recall trying this in my youth, but I’m glad I finally got around to it!

Doesn’t look like much, but es is muy benuo!

Ingredientes:

Chopped tomatoes

Chopped Jelepeno

Lime juice

Cilantro chopped

Lime juice

Onions. I used purple. White is traditionally used, though.

Green peppers.

Optional is garlic and some salt.

Let settle for 10 mins or so.

I didn’t include amounts, given you need to go with personal taste when you cook and keep in mind the amount of people you are going to serve.

FLAVOR: Last time I tried something new that was this epic was Mikey Chen’s of Strictly Dumplings Chinese chili oil. I’m still trying to perfect my version of his oil.

Normally, cilantro has a bit of a soap taste to me, but when prepared right, like Pho, it’s magical. In this, it mixes with the other flavors and takes on a lavender/minty profile the lime kicks in and ups it to a sweet/citrus profile and then the jelepeno kicks, making you cough like a rookie smoker. Very Interesting experience. I personally do not think that onion adds much, nor do I think extra green pepper was necessary. I made Carne Con Queaso tacos with it in a traditional style. They meld very well together. Worth trying!

Would recommend not using salsa with it, though. Best taco I ever made.

5 out of 5