My Official Review of All Things TRON

OK, so most of the TRON merchandise I've ordered has been received. So here's a basic rundown on what I think of the whole thing.

TRON: Legacy Mobile Phone Game
Better than expected. I've been let down by nearly every cel phone game I've ever purchased before that involved a platform style or console style game play. Reason being, most cel phones, and more specifically my cel phone, only allow for one input at a time. Meaning, speeding up while turning doesn't happen. Firing while jumping doesn't happen. This is why most games just have autofire and all you have to do is move. This game is on the light cycles. You keep moving forward at a constant rate. You can ease to the left or right with the cycle handles on the touch screen. Then you can fire your disc at baddies while riding. This is done by selecting which disc type then hitting the center fire button. Simple controls for touch screen. Graphics pretty decent, music not bad. Controls unusually responsive for a cel phone game. All-in-all it's decent. Keeping in mind that it is a $7 USD mobile game, don't expect too much. But what you get for the money isn't bad if you're a TRON fan.

TRON: Evolution PC Game
AWESOME. Beat the game in a day and a half, about 12-14 hours gameplay on normal difficulty. The story is good. It answers several questions about what happened after the first TRON movie and why things are the way they are in TRON: Legacy. Of course it brings up several more questions that can only be answered in the movie, mostly surrounding Quorra. Game features disc combat, tank combat, and of course light cycles from the TRON: Evolution generation, the next gen ones from TRON: Legacy AND the classic bikes from the original TRON all unlockable as you progress through story mode. The graphics are amazingly beautiful. The world is big, detailed, and runs smooth and seamless without lag or slowdowns. It features music and voice talents from TRON: Legacy with one notable exception that Kevin Flynn & CLU are NOT voiced by Jeff Bridges (but it does sound like him). While playing through the story mode you encounter disc stations where you can upgrade your character, stats, disc, and vehicles as well as being able to access the grid. The gaming grid is an online mode competition. If accessed from within story mode it will either toss you into an already formed match or create a new one using npc's for the other characters. If a real player joins the npc's are replaced by the real player so the game continues without interruption as real players come and go. From the multiplayer mode selected at the main menu screen you can either jump right into a random match or search by specific criteria for one to join. Or you can create your own match. There's disintegration, team disintegration, bit runner, power monger game play styles. Some maps allow for you to jump right on a light cycle or jump off for disc combat whenever you want while other maps are strictly disc combat. There's 3 game difficulties, casual, normal, and insane. And there's 41 badges you can unlock through the various modes. Character levels are referred to as your current version. I beat the game at version 21 but 50 is the max version level. Your character's stats, version, and upgrades carry over to online gameplay and if you choose to replay at a different difficulty level your character progress carries over but you lose story progress obviously. Game controls are simple, uses keyboard & mouse or Xbox controller for Windows. If you have a logitech gamepad you can easily map it to match the Xbox controller set up with more options than the actual Xbox controller. Probably the biggest issue with the game is that you MUST have and be logged into a Windows LIVE / Xbox LIVE game account and have a gamertag set up. I had lost my old account due to changing from EarthLink to AT&T I couldn't recover the info and the auto recovery process was not working. I had to make an entirely new account. I find this both annoying and ridiculous. IF you are NOT signed into a Windows LIVE account you can not gain achievements or even save your game or options! Microsoft really needs to get off their high horse and stop trying to control every aspect of people's online lives. But, anyhow, the game is amazing and definitely worth getting.

TRON: Legacy Original Soundtrack by Daft Punk
OK, I must admit, I had never even heard of Daft Punk before all the TRON hype. And I was surprised that most of the regular people I had seen interviewed were mostly excited about Daft Punk being in the movie and doing the music. I was wondering why for awhile. The soundtrack came out the other day and I managed to download it. It's pretty awesome. Some of the songs are really, really cool. There are a couple that are kinda bleh. And the rest are so so. A lot of them sound alike. But overall it's pretty awesome sounding.

Hurley TRON: Legacy Inspired Women's Long Sleeve Dress
Pretty, fits nice. My one big nag is that the blue "piping" is not UV sensitive. I was hoping that the TRON like lines would appear illuminated under a blacklight but that is not the case. The lines are modeled not after Quorra but after the Daft Punk suits from the movie. Although their suits were white on white because they're ISOs and this is blue on black because it's based off the BASCIS loyal to The User. It's a bit short but that's not always a bad thing. Definitely advise wearing this with boots. And should be able to mount the frisbee version of the identity disc to your back with black thread fairly easily if you're going for a costume look. Also, it's not so over the top TRON that it can't be worn again on a regular occasion making it worth the money just to have something that fits in my case lol.

Spin Master - Identity Disc: Sam Flynn
What can I say, it's a frisbee. It does nothing. It's made of a softer pvc plastic so it won't crack if you throw it at something. It looks nice, a bit bigger than the normal sized disc. Good item to mount on your back if you're doing a costume thing. The blue lines are a bit lighther than they really should be but all-in-all it's not expensive so it's worth what you pay.

Spin Master - Deluxe Identity Disc: Sam Flynn
Nice. If you buy one collectible this should probably be it. It has 2 light up modes, one that just lights on with sounds for a second or two just as a quick display and one that goes through a programmed series of lights and sounds. My big disappointment with this though was that there is no constant on mode. You can't just light it up like in the game and movie and keep it lit. It does the power on sequence, then does a flickering malfunction sequence for a bit and flashes then eventually does the power down sequence. You can press and hold the on button to keep the inner ring lit but that also causes it to spam repeat the power on sound which gets annoying fast. And while the button is easily located and accessed it's not very easy to keep it depressed for more than a second. It has a really lame display stand as well, stand mostly pointless as this clearly needs to be hung on the wall for display.

Spin Master - Light Cycle Launch Baton
OK, first off, this thing is not easy to get. It was a Target limited time exclusive that is long since sold out at all Targets. You can get it second hand from comic and sci-fi collectors and resellers for more than it was. It was $15 USD at target. Most online shops are selling it for around $30 USD. Some are around $28. I found one site though, Entertainment Earth (Google it if you're interested). They had it for $17 with shipping and tax it came to $25 total. As for the item itself. It's the Light Cycle Launch Baton, the staff that they wear on their hips that turns into their light cycles. Quorra is said to be an expert at baton combat using it as a weapon. It's pretty, it extends and has nice design and buttons. My surprise was the fact that not only is it a roleplay style item but it does in fact launch a small replica of Sam Flynn on his light cycle out of the end of the baton! There's a button that releases a hatch at the end and out pops Sam on his cycle hehe. I didn't even know it did that when I ordered it.

Disney TRON: Legacy Screensaver, Avatar Icons, Wallpapers, Posters
Available from the official Disney TRON site. The Screensaver isn't bad. Mixture of both animated and still shots. It loads up fast unlike some screensavers and it has sound. The avatar icons, very small, very poor quality imgaes. Wallpapers, several of the links on the site for these are broken. The first 4 or 5 wallpaper links don't work at all, the rest do though. They have various size wallpapers including iphone and ipad ones. Posters, nice pics, worth getting I guess though I don't know what you'd do with them.

Disney TRON Online Games
There have been several online flash type games released. First off is the classic arcade game. What they don't tell you is that the one they have up is the second version of the game. I know this because I played the first version of the arcade game almost every day at the drugstore that was half a block from my house for about 8 or 9 years they had the arcade machine. In both version you are presented with 4 directions to go, it's initially unmarked as to which direction is which game. You have 10 seconds to choose. The four possible games you get are the light cycle race (derezz all your opponents), the tank battle (derezz all enemy tanks), the grid bugs (make it past the bugs to the I/O beam tower), and the breakout clone (destroy the bricks to get your disc and you into the heart of the MCP). In version one you just played the games beat all 4 games and got new round with 4 tougher versions until eventually it became too hard and you die. This second version they have up adds a dark mode to one of the four games starting at level 2. Meaning, 1 of the 4 games looks different, is harder, and everything is dark, I don't know why exactly lol. None the less it's classic arcade goodness! Also available are replicas of the games written by Kevin Flynn. There's Space Paranoids, the game he's seen playing at the beginning of the first TRON where you're in a light tank blasting recognizers in an old school first person shooter format. Then there's Light Cycles, a 3D ish version of the classic light cycle game.

Spin Master TRON: Legacy Action Figures
These come in 2 basic styles with a 3rd style for one or two of the charactes. First there's the 3 to 4 inch little basic action figures. These don't do much besides look cool. And as opposed to Hasbro or other large toy companies Spin Master has their stuff reasonably priced! Then there's the 6 inch ones. These come in several styles based on which character it is. Some are basic 6 inch figures, that don't so much, but look very nice. Some are what are called "impulse projection" figures. These are really nice. First off, they don't have the usual crappy plastic face replica of the actor. These all have the light cycle helms on but when activated their suits light up just like in the movie and a 3D lit up projection of the actual actor's face is projected inside the helmet. This is such a simple yet ingenious idea. I can't imagine why no one ever thought to do that before. No plastic wannabe faces, but the actual actor's face in 3D light inside their helmet! Then there's at least one figure that talks. CLU, the program written by Kevin Flynn that took over TRON City and The Grid. And, not only is it an impulse projection figure but it speaks in the REAL Jeff Bridges voice. It is in fact real clips of Jeff Bridges speaking taken directly from the movie. Not like those 1998 1999 Star Wars voice chips which were voice actor impersonations.

Spin Master TRON: Legacy Vehicles
Lots of these too. I like the little die cast 3ish inch ones myself. But there's larger ones for the 3 inch figures and even bigger collector deluxe ones. All pretty cheap compared to other toys and collectibles. The list includes the usual, light cycles, Kevin Flynn's retro civilian white enclosed style cycle seen in both the movie and ridden briefly (before you trash it lol) in the game. There's the standard movie version cycles in blue for Sam and yellow for CLU. There's a recognizer playset for the bit stuff and die cast mini for the little stuff. There's also in the die cast set CLU's command ship seen in both the game and movie. And of course, Quorra's Light Runner car / buggy.

Spin Master TRON: Legacy Zero G Light Cycle
OK, I don't have this one yet and what I've read about it makes little sense. First off it's remote control. So, naturally it's inproportionate due to real world physics it's wider so as to not topple and such. All the reviews and ratings I've seen are pretty bad on this item. What gets me though is the description. It "claims" that this thing can run up your walls and upside down across your ceiling... yeah I'm like huh? Last time I checked the human race had not yet figured out anti-gravity. Part of me wants to buy it just to see what the heck it does but the reviews and ratings are all so bad that I'm torn what to believe.

TRON: Legacy Electronics
Several of these, not sure I'm qualified to judge as I love my logitech stuff. However, there are keyboards, mice, gamepads, xbox and ps3 controllers, wii remotes, ipad docks, light cycle usb drives, speakers, even gaming chairs and more made by Razor and Monster and others.

TRON: Legacy Clothing and TRON Inspired Clothing
There's a lot, too much to mention. Naturally Disney has a line of t-shirts, jackets, hats, hoodies and such. But Hurley, Adidas, Reebok and Nike all have sporting clothes lines inspired by TRON from shorts to shoes to dresses. And there is, coming soon, officially licensed, street legal motorcycle suits based off Sam's and Quorra's cycle suits including jacket, pants, removable skirt, boots, etc. And there's even costume replicas if you have $1000 to spend.

Other Random TRON Stuff
Well, there's an online app that makes a video of you riding a light cycle by projecting an image of your face into the helmet and then manipulating it so it looks like you're talking and stuff. It's kinda goofy. There's also some that make pics of you in a disc battle and other stuff.

I think that's about everything worth mentioning. One week until the release of the movie, can't wait! I'm going to add links to stuff after I post this so if anyone is interested in finding out more about any of this or where to get it I'll direct you in the right place. It may take a bit to get all the links up though so check back if you don't see a link to what you're looking for. Not that anyone but me even reads this! lol I think I'm just talking to myself anyhow...



MUST Check Out Links for TRON Fans
Flynn Lives (hint...click on everything)
Hello Flynn? I'm not sure what this is yet but check it out! Login and enter the following codes: 139378391318, 675469546194, 356343532556, 273143722135, 329363554862, 485926738343, and most importantly - 698478232862.
ENCOM
Flynn Frontier
PopTech75 (weird)
Hydecker Designs (more weird stuff lol)
Wellminster Academy
Amazon Capoeira
Dumont Shipping
McClaskey Airstrip
Perfect Parachutes

Official Links
Official Disney TRON Site
Create a Program
Ride a Light Cycle
Posters, Wallpapers, Buddy Icons, Screensaver
Soundtrack by Daft Punk
Official Facebook Page

Toys and Collectibles
Spin Master Website
Entertainment Earth Online Store

Video
TRON YouTube Channel

Game Links
Classic TRON Arcade Game Online
Classic Discs of TRON Arcade Game Online
TRON: Legacy Light Cycle Online
TRON: Legacy Disc Battle Online
TRON: Legacy Digital DJ Online
Space Paranoids Online

Holidays, hmmph, Don't Get Me Started... TOO LATE!

I really don't care for most, if not all, holidays.

My parents have already started in with this Thanksgiving crap again. Cause neither of them, nor my aunt that seems to end up stuck with us every year (poor woman), can ever decide what to do, where to go, what to eat. Then it comes to me. At some point they decide to leave it up to me where we're going. That is so totally the WRONG thing to do. First off, I hate this stupid holiday. Why? Cause of what it really stands for, which I'll get to in a minute. Second, and probably far more significant, is the fact that I don't care for turkey, and flat out despise, squash, cranberry sauce, and most other "traditional" Thanksgiving foods.

Holidays, yeah, whatever. Christians are so quick to tell you how Christmas is not about Santa Claus and Easter is not about a giant creepy bunny that lays eggs for whatever reason. But, when it comes to Thanksgiving they're as quick to believe the lie as everyone else. This holiday is not about giving thanks for those you love yatta yatta. That's what people have come to believe yeah sure, like Santa and that damn bunny. It started by Europeans coming to the new world, conquering the natives, raping their women, murdering their children, torturing and enslaving the men, taking over their land, and causing the complete genocide of entire tribes of native americans. Yay, let's celebrate that! NOT! This is wrong, just wrong, and it annoys me how quick people are to shoot down the myths of what Christian holidays are about and yet believe the lie that is Thanksgiving. You wanna give thanks, do it on another day in my opinion. This holiday is bogus.

Quite honestly, all holidays are bogus. You should celebrate Thanksgiving (not the holiday but the idea it has become) every day. If you're Christian you "should" be treating every day like Christmas and/or Easter. And if you're pagan then make every day Samhain. Why we put everything into these holidays and then blow off the rest of the year. Why we believe the idiotic lies about these holidays. Why the world is like it is is beyond me. I truly don't get it.

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, St. Valentine's Day, I'd bet less than 10% of the world even know what these holidays are really about, how or when they started, or what they're really celebrating. And hence it's all become a joke. People celebrate lies that have been fed to them for generations. People believe the commercials and shows on TV that depict everything wrong and help to reinforce people's beliefs that holidays are celbrating things which don't really have anything to do with the holiday itself.

I always get infuriated around this time of year. I get depressed on Halloween because, well, amongst other things I've been engaged twice on Halloween neither of which worked out. Then we come into Thanksgiving where my parents pretty much kill what's left of my patience and tolerance. Then after all that we're hit with Christmas, I won't even comment specifically on that one as it will likely piss off a few dozen people.

Anyhow, yeah, I'm venting rage, anger, and frustration again. What can I say? I'm a Gemini and I'm not just Italian; but Sicilian. We should all just be lucky that no one was injured in the making of this post lol.

Happy Holidays, or whatever, pfft

Krysta's Top 13 Songs for Samhain (Halloween)

Krysta's Top 13 Songs for Samhain (Halloween)
Goth, Rock, Metal, Industrial, Trance, Dance, Dark, Emo


13 - Ministy - Every Day is Halloween



12 - Lords of Acid - VooDoo-U



11 - Type O Negative - Christian Woman



10 - Gossamer - Run



9 - Samael - The Cross



8 - The Electric Hellfire Club - Bela Lugosi's Dead



7 - London After Midnight - Where Good Girls Go to Die



6 - Rob Zombie - Dragula



5 - My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - The Velvet Edge



4 - Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl



3 - Rasputina - Transylvanian Concubine



2 - Evanescence - Bring Me to Life



1 - Lacuna Coil - Falling Again



Not every song actually had a video. Some appear to have been either too old or too obscure or possibly both. I tried to find the ones with the best sound.

Olivia Newton John - Magic

DSL Working Again (Final Recap)

It's now past 8pm est and my DSL is still connected.  I think it's safe to say that it is in fact now working again.  FINALLY!

Let's go back over the situation one last time.  Approximately five months ago my DSL started to randomly disconnect.  It only happened a couple times a week at first so it wasn't bad enough to be bothered worrying about yet.  It got progressively worse.

After about two months it had gotten to the point where it was becoming unbearable.  And so came the first of many calls to EarthLink.  At this time I had EarthLink DSL which had worked flawlessly for about 10 years, and had EarthLink dial-up for about 3 years prior to that.  I never had any real problems.  Had a few modems break that they promptly replaced.  Not much else.  This was the first serious problem which I had to contact them about.  Well, I was asked to do all the usual.  Clear my web cache, reset modem, reboot pc.  Nothing changed.

After several calls and many weeks I had tried everything imaginable.  They had sent me a new modem, I checked for anything that could be interfering with the signal, redid wires inside house, tried my modem with and without PC connected at all the wall jacks and phone box and got the same issue no matter what I did.

By this point it was happening frequently enough that I was able to notice a VERY distinct pattern.  At 8pm est every night my DSL would disconnect.  The internet light would go out and the DSL light would flash red for about 2 seconds then flash green for 2 more second before going solid.  The internet light would then flash green for 2 to 5 seconds before going solid and I'd be reconnected.  Exactly five minutes later that exact same thing would happen again.  And again every 5 mins repeatedly until 7am est.  This was happening every night like clockwork.

EarthLink finally sent an AT&T tech out to check the lines, but it was during the day!  When they worked fine!  Naturally everything tested out perfect.

Every time I called I got someone that didn't understand what I was saying.  All their customer service is outsourced.  And that in its self is not bad.  Except that the people they had answering their calls were idiots and clearly did not speak English or understand me or the problem.  I am the least racist, sexist, biased, etc. person you'll ever meet.  It wasn't their nationality or language that bothered me.  I just speak English and when I call for help on a product or service that I use I expect to get someone that also speaks English... fluently, AND understands the technical part of what I need help with.  If I spoke Hungarian and called for help on a cosmetic product I'd expect to get someone that spoke Hungarian and wore make up to help me.  If I spoke Chinese and had an issue with my car I'd expect to call and get someone that spoke Chinese and was a mechanic on Japanese cars.  Is that too much to expect?  Ok, I guess so, but that's still what I "needed".

Four months, 15+ phone calls to EarthLink, still no help.  My final call I was told that there was nothing left for them to do and that they refused to open another trouble ticket since it would simply automatically close itself since there was nothing left they could do.  They had planned to simply leave me with DSL that worked 50% of the time and continue to charge me far too much for it.

It was at this point I finally gave in and decided to change to AT&T.  I figured if I have a problem outside somewhere with the lines the best company to have would be AT&T since they own those lines.  I have AT&T home phone and Cel phone so it made sense despite the hassle of changing email addresses for 13 years of internet, shopping, and gaming sites and programs.  So Sept. 2nd I put in an order for AT&T Highspeed DSL Xtreme 6.0.  THREE weeks later I finally got the setup pack with equipment, modem, filters, dvd, so forth.  I set it up, logged in, that night, SAME THING.

So, I called AT&T, late, got outsourced, however they were smart.  But they couldn't do anything since they were just the late night phone help.  I did not know that at first.  They tried to help, but failed.  I was told they'd call back the next day when the tech department was open, they did not.  I called back the day after that and tried again, it was late, they tried to help, and failed again.  I was told to call back the next day myself.  I did, coincidently that day they had an outage in my area and said they couldn't pinpoint my problem until that was fixed.  Two days later I called back, late but not as late as prior calls.  Again they tried to help and failed but told me someone would call me the next day.  This time around they did, and they tried to help but failed as well.  They said call back in a day or two after they had time to run tests.

A week or so had gone by at this point.  I called in the evening this time and got someone here, in the USA, New Orleans to be specific.  They understood what I was saying and had theories right off.  They talked to the tech and tech talked to me.  It was believed at this point to be either the very old, but not working, street light behind my house, the wiring in the walls, or something called a dslam box in my neighborhood.  I was told however that the dslam box has been having problems for "many months" but that the equipment was expensive and it was not known when or if it would be fixed any time soon.  That was what we all had assumed was the main issue.  However, to cover all my tracks I called FPL (Florida Power & Light) and put in a request to have that light fixed and/or repaired.  And I had them send a tech to test the line anyhow.

First person I spoke to said latest a tech in my area works is 5pm.  Second person said 6pm I said ok fine let me set up an appointment then.  When I actually got to the person to set the appointment time though they said they have someone that can come between 5pm and 8pm.  I was like WHAT!  Cause all this time I had been told no techs could be sent during or near the time my problems have been happening.  So, I set it up and had him not to come as late as possible.  He did, he came at exactly 8pm.  He swore he saw the problem in the box immediately and started to redo some wiring.  I stood there watching him and trying to help with flashlight and stuff till nearly 9pm.  He finished, I was so excited and hopeful.  I came inside, SAME PROBLEM.  Nothing was fixed.  I told the man and we both felt bad and made sad faces and gave up basically.  He left, I came in depressed and sat here thinking what the heck am I going to do next.

For about two hours I watched the DSL modem disconnect every five mins. same as it had been for 5+ months now.  I did a little bit of what one might call praying, keeping in mind that I'm not Christian and I'd rather not get into the details involved in what I did here in this blog.  Then I got caught up watching NCIS and House.  Around 11:15pm I noticed that I hadn't seen the modem go off in some time.  I also realized that I hadn't really been paying THAT much attention to it due to TV shows.  But at that point I started to watch it more closely.

Somewhere around 4am or 5am I passed out but at that point it was still working and had not disconnected.  It has also now been a complete hour since I started writing this post and I am also still connected.

I may never know what really happened that made it start working anymore than I will ever know what made it stop working right in the first place.  What I do know is that it IS now working.  After five months I can resume my facebook posts, my EverQuest raids, my gaming, my chatting, and everything else I have been unable to do for half the day, every day this whole time.

I'm happy, which in itself is an odd an unusual feeling for me.  It'll pass...

finger eleven - Paralyzer

EarthLink, AT&T, & the Murphy Brown Connection (or is that DISconnection?)

So, I've had it with EarthLink. Limit of my patience reached, no going back for them, they've pushed me that little bit too far.

Thirteen or so years ago I needed to get an internet connection. I didn't know who to choose, where to begin, or anything else about it at the time. EarthLink however had a cool sounding pagan ish like name and it was owned by Sprint. At that time Sprint's spokesperson was Candace Bergen and I LOVED Murphy Brown. Seemed like as good a reason as any to choose them.

For over a decade I enjoyed a reliable, decent connection at decent speeds for a decent price. I had no complaints, it worked fine.

Then, I had my first and last problem. Four months, 15 phone calls, and the last thing they said was that there was nothing else they could do and that they wouldn't even open a new trouble ticket.

The problem according to the AT&T tech that was here is the wires in the wall being nearly 70 years old. While I don't think switching to AT&T is going to resolve the issue, I can't deal with EarthLink for another second. Regardless of what happens after I switch; EarthLink must go!

I don't know what I'm going to do about the fact that I need those emails to retrieve my pw's and login info and registration for dozens of websites, games, services, etc. I don't know what I'm going to do about the fact that my mom uses one of the 8 emails that EarthLink gave me. I don't know what I'm going to do about the 80gigs of webspace I'll be losing where my current website, and bits of 3 other old sites remain. I'll figure it out though.

Trying to stay focused I know only one thing for certain... I HATE EarthLink! HATE THEM!

. . . T R A N S M I S S I O N E N D S . . .