#orion is a big fan of avoiding their problems

[simsbli]

i wish things weren't so complicated

[runephoenix6769]

Vulcan as a Muthafucker!

Some folks have been saying that they find her lack of inclusion in the last 3 episodes really jarring, and 'bad writing'. I argue against that. (I really like T'Lyn, but then again I'm a sucker for the whole vulcan's accusing outwardly appearing stoic characters of 'losing composure' n being 'emotional' because of an eyebrow twitch. I find it highly comedic.)

There's been plenty to discern about T'Lyn this season:

Mariner goes out of her way to invite her and doesn't take T'Lyn's disinclination as a slight/insult suggesting this is a common occurrence.

T'Lyn doesn't drink, and doesn't seem to be a big fan of the perceived 'drink' culture on the Cerritos - which the season has estb the core4 participate in quite a bit - knowing this, its easy to extrapolate that she might avoid this as much as she could.

She's a great friend, who is encouraging/supportive.

From this, we can extrapolate that she's been around them enough off screen for them to listen to her and respect her opinion/ trust her judgement.

She listens and takes into consideration the feelings of those around her, putting friends before her career and potential advancement.

She respects Mariner's opinion enough/ trusts her judgement, to take comfort from her support even when Beckett might not be entirely in her right mind. (Vulcan as a Muthaf*cker) and we've been given insight into her insecurities.

She has a wicked sense of humor.

I genuinely believe that she's just messing with Tendi, when she said her hug quota for the day/week was reached.)

She's similar to Beckett, in the way she can be reckless/gungho n think she is always right w/o considering the consequences. (Turning everyone into a Tuvix meatball, n then finding out she messed up n she can't reverse it.) Like Beckett, shes a doer and takes a direct approach to problems, including nerve pinching anyone who becomes a problem.

She can more than appreciate a hunk of man meat. (Not speculating on her sexual preference, just pointing out her agreement with Mariner on Orion.)

She there's a chance that she likes chocolate -- occurring off screen -- showing it in a Vulcan way that Mariner has noticed. (S4E5 Mariner: I know you don't drink....there's going to be a chocolate fountain, if you want to get wild. T'Lyn: I do not understand what you mean, but thankyou for the invitation.)

She's sassy (i know its from season 3, but still)

She initially viewed her posting to the Cerritos as a punishment - nay i'd even go so far as to say a demotion.

I'd actually love them to expand on this and have her come to the realisation that its not a punishment, but rather a better fit for her, where she can grow, be appreciated, better fulfilled and dare i say happy? But we'll see if that's her arc.

I think that's an insane amount of character establishment squeezed into a handful of episodes.

I'm confident that we'll see more of her in the next two rollercoaster episodes, and she'll be instrumental, or why else include her in this season? Unless they really do intend for her to be just a foil for the warpcore 4?

[xandra-is-batshit-insane]

made a Scarlett and The Shakers iceberg! ^_^ what do y'all think? @ace-of-hearts-sats @ace-of-spades-sats3 @ace-of-diamonds-sats @ace-of-clubs-sats

Points explained:

Level 1!

Reason for "and The Shakers": Scarlett said there was already a band named Da Shakerzz >_< so she added her name on front of it and spell it correctly to avoid being confused with that band.

Scarlett and Rudy are dating: Everyone knows that, no need to explain!

Clover is the youngest of the group: This is also a pretty known fact, she's just 19, while the others are all 21 or older

Everyone has worked for Papa Louie atleast once: As simple as that. Scarlett and Rudy worked at the Cheeseria, Marty at the Burgeria and Clover at the Sushiria

Level 2!

SATS made fun of the RFQ: The Romano Family Quartet got made fun off in a playful way in the WTTLO? (Who turned the lights off?) album cover. The 4tet took it nicely and pranked back with the "Opposite day!" album

Remake of Endless Void is better than the original: A big part of the fandom thinks that this is true for various reasons. On my side, both versions are good! ^^

"And I know it's just a rumour" phrase: this has been a recurring phrase in the SATShakers' music, having appeared once in every album from Ying Yang on

Ying Yang was gonna be named different: The album and song were both gonna have different names. One of the chosen names for the album was "Good and Evil" but they changed it since there was already an album under that name; on the topic of the song, it's previous names were "As Double-sided", "Good and Evil" and "good-and-evil-intro-song.mp3"

Level 3!

A Little Too Normal first album covers: This album was gonna have a different cover than the one we know, which is a face made up with pieces of all the members' faces and hair. Most of the unchosen album covers were arrangements of facial features (like the chosen one) but differently.

Rita and Xandra were part of the group: The first 2 years of existence of SATS had the 4 main members and also Rita on backing vocals. I, Xandra, was on the band till the year and 2 months, I played the keyboards and occasionally was the main singer (very few times tho)

The first logo of SATS: The logo used to be a plain, vertically stretched text in lowercase that said "scarlett and the shakers :P" , it was changed after 3 years.

Unreleased songs: These songs were made by SATS and never got into any album. For example, WHAT THE HELL?!, which is the first and only song they made sung by a Vocasyn.

Fans that say "SHAKEREFERENCE!!!1!!1!!11!!" : This is something that the people in the fandom do when they see something that's, in some way, related to SATS.

Level 4!

www.sats-officiaI.com: This is a fake version of the SATS website. Even though it looks like the real one, the L in official is actually an uppercase i. The fake website was taken down after a fan informed Clover about it.

Shady Business Tactics was gonna be in Well-behaved: This is a song that Clover released in her solo album Sushi Salmonella. The song was gonna be in Well-behaved but it didn't make the cut since it didn't fit in with the other songs

Lost Vocasyn covers: On the 1st year of existence on the band, SATS covered some Vocasyn songs. Most of these covers are lost and we only know of their existence because of Vocarank clips. Some of the lost covers are Alix of human sacrifice, Kyu kyurain, One more roll, I'm sorry I'm sorry, Kitsune's marriage, Stop nagging me! and Melt.

Canceled collab with Doom Bruleé: When the band was starting (2 years after SATS), Scarlett proposed a collaboration between SATS and Doom Bruleé. Orion rejected the proposal due to unknown reasons.

The debut album was considered lost media: It was released in 2005 and simply called Scarlett and The Shakers. After 2 more album releases and seeing it wasn't successful, SATS deleted all trace of their debut album on the internet. The problem is that the fans wanted to listen to the album even though it was lost. Hopefully, Rudy had the entire album on a pendrive, which he shared on a forum and posted on UTube.

Extras!

Rudy and Scarlett got beaten up recording a MV: On the recording of the music video for Bad Night, Scarlett and Rudy were beaten up after recording the part where the whole band holds umbrellas outside. Rudy got a black eye and Scarlett lost a tooth and was bleeding out of her mouth a bunch. They ended up recovering well, but no more MV for SATS songs were recorded outside.

20 seconds of Tohru: These are mini segments included in the episodes of The Shakers' Internet Show. They mostly include Tohru goofing around doing her own things, like cooking!

SATS reference in a videogame OST: The 6th release of the videogame series Touhou Project has a song where one of the parts sounds like the guitar solo in WHAT THE HELL?! . The song in the OST is And then there were none!.

Everyone in the band has side projects: All the current members of Scarlett and The Shakers have side projects related to music. Rudy goes under the name Ruru and released Broken swing, Clover has released Sushi Salmonella under her own name, Marty has a UTube channel for guitar covers of various songs, and Scarlett made an album collaboration with Carlo called Foodini's Fabulous Fashion Flambé.

[cattatonically]

Catered All The Way - Annabeth Albert

Synopsis

Tis the season for a hopeless crush on my older brother’s best friend…

This year will be different. I’m all grown up, my gaming channel is a huge success, and I finally have the confidence to make my move on Atlas Orion, the hottest chief in the navy.

However, I don’t intend for my smooth move to be covering Atlas in cranberry sauce. Not at all how I want to reintroduce myself to my new roomie and coworker. Atlas is in town to help save Seasons, my family’s historic holiday gift shop and event space. Seasons is booked solid with catered parties, so we need to avoid any more disasters.

Like my malfunctioning air mattress. We’re down to one bed, two dudes, and a whole lot of holiday-fling temptation. Atlas has never been with a guy, but I don’t have to do much persuading. And what better way to explore than a secret romp? No strings, and no one has to know.

The problem? With every passing week, I fall harder for Atlas, who’s far more than his drool-worthy muscles and heroic job. He’s kind, funny, makes me breakfast in bed, and each midnight snowball fight brings us that much closer to heartbreak.

Atlas can’t stay in Kringle’s Crossing forever, and I can’t imagine leaving the only place I’ve called home. Our feelings run deep, but is it a holiday illusion? Can we find our way to a lasting future?

CATERED ALL THE WAY is a brand-new, full-length holiday romance from the beloved author of THE GEEK WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS. Lovers of stand-alone swoon-worthy Christmas stories will fall for this geek + military pairing. Full of spicy first times, bisexual awakening, quirky small-town residents, and guest appearances from some fan-favorite characters, this only one bed, brother’s best friend romance is sure to find a place under many trees! Dual POV and the happiest of endings guaranteed.

My Thoughts

I loved The Geek Who Saved Christmas so much that when this one by Annabeth Albert popped up on my feed, I couldn’t resist!

I loved the tiny hint of Paul and Gideon having found their happy ever after, as it really gave me hope that Zeb and Atlas would find their own, in their own way, in their own time. Even with the fun little easter egg, this story really did center around expectations and uncertainties.

Both Zeb and Atlas have insecurities regarding themselves, and expectations for how – and who – they think they should be. These are challenged in a very kind, calm way as the book progresses, which I really liked.

It all felt natural. From Atlas questioning his sexuality to Zeb working out what he wants for his future, the angst was so low-key, I almost didn’t realize it was supposed to be angsty at all.

As much as these were big themes in the book, something else stood out to me much more – the meanings of home and family, and how different those things can be to different people.

The more Zeb and Atlas work through their insecurities, they manage to work out a future for themselves – a future with home, and with family. And they redefine their expectations of themselves, and each other, to work towards a future together. And that meant working towards their shared and separate dreams and goals together.

Overall, this was a fun, fast holiday read, with a really heartfelt and warm tone. Maybe next year, we’ll see another holiday read with a fun Zeb and Atlas themed easter egg.

[autobots-and-their-crazy-kids]

Reviewing Autobot Humans:

⭐ = Full Star 

✨ = Half Star 

Spike Witwicky, Carly Spencer and Chip Chase from The Transformers;

Each of these humans may have simple personalities (which is fair, since this cartoon was made in the 1980s), but each of them are smart and talented in their own fields. 

Spike and his dad are great at building things, while Carly specializes in electronics as well as chemistry and Chip is a computer genius. 

The original Autobot human allies were awesome and yet they’re sadly underrated and sometimes even forgotten. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for all of them! 

*

T-AI and Koji Onishi from Robots In Disguise;

T-AI was basically the human-looking robotic girl of Transformers before Sari from TFA made it cool. 

She’s a helpful hologram with a heart full of hope.

But she does have her sassy and snarky moments too. 

*Meanwhile, Koji is a bright and brave boy who teams up with the Autobots to get his genius dad back from Megatron, but his personality isn’t as memorable compared to Autobot humans from other Transformers media. 

He’s also able to see the good in Skybyte before the Autobots did and asks Skybyte to give his dad a present for his birthday. 

His love for his kidnapped parent convinced Skybyte to free Koji’s father from Megatron’s grasp. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ for T-AI 

⭐⭐⭐✨ for Koji 

*

The Children from Unicron Trilogy’s Armada; 

The personalities of the Armada kids are pretty generic and kinda boring, but it’s pretty badass that Alexis managed to help Starscream to change for the better. 

Alexis is the only human so far to convince a Decepticon to become an Autobot. 

And it makes sense that Starscream and Alexis get along considering that they both can be control freaks sometimes! XD 

⭐⭐ for Rad

⭐⭐⭐✨ for Alexis

⭐⭐ for Carlos 

⭐ for Billy

⭐ for Fred

*

Sari Sumdac from Transformers Animated;

Sari is a unique as well as interesting character with a quirky personality and plays a special role in the world of TFA. 

Sari spend most of her life isolated from the rest of the world in her dad’s building where he creates his inventions. Although her father loved her more then anything, he usually too busy to spend time with her, so he created non-sentient robots to educate, entertain and comfort her. Most kids around her age think she’s too weird and avoid her as well, so the Autobots basically became her first and only friends. 

Sari is also a cyborg. (However, TFA prefers to use the term ‘techno-organic’.) 

⭐⭐⭐⭐✨, I’d give her five, but her origins are never properly explained and I’m not a big fan of how her upgraded form looks... (Love her battle armor though...) 

*

Jack Darby, Raf Esquivel and Miko Nakadai from Transformers Prime; 

Jack is the one with the most common sense of the three and he is sometimes shown to act like a leader to them. But unfortunately most of it is wasted potential. His personality is pretty generic as well and all we know about his interests is that he likes motorcycles and girls. There was one episode where it’s implied that he likes camping and nature too, but it’s never brought up again. His single nurse mom has more personality then him. 

Raf is a genius yet a sweetheart. While Jack has little personality and Miko has way too much personality, Raf has the perfect amount of personality. He’s like a younger version of Chip from G1. I feel he should’ve been the one Optimus chose as an honorary Prime instead of Jack, cause Raf’s personality is quite similar to Orion’s. However, it does drive me crazy how he can understand Bumblebee and we never get a proper explanation... (It’s like Sari’s origins all over again!)

Miko is very different from Jack, but they share one thing in common: they both have wasted potential and lack proper character development. She keeps making reckless, irresponsible decisions that sometimes cause life-threatening problems and never gets properly scolded or punished by the Autobots for it. (Though to be fair, the Autobots should’ve made sure that she doesn’t keep sneaking through the groundbridge.) However, I will give her credit for her loyalty to her friends and taking responsibility for her actions. I honestly think she would’ve benefited more if she got Arcee for a partner instead of Bulkhead, cause Arcee is less of a pushover and might’ve helped Miko mature better. 

⭐⭐⭐ for Jack

⭐⭐⭐⭐ for Raf

⭐⭐✨ for Miko 

*

Russell Clay from Robots In Disguise (2015); 

He’s a nice kid, but unfortunately he suffers the same problem Jack Darby had: his single parent having a more interesting personality then him. 

⭐⭐

*

The Burns Family from Rescue Bots; 

Charlie is truly a legend with the patience of a saint, having to raise four kids. (Even though three of them are older, they still act like kids sometimes...) 

I don’t hate Kade, but he’s kind of a egotistic jerk sometimes and his appearance looks a bit off compared the character designs of the other main characters. 

Graham is a chill, mellow guy and a little less crazy then his siblings, but he doesn’t have a lot of personality compared to the rest of his family or his alien robot partner. 

Dani is pretty cool and is basically a more mature version of Miko, though she can also be hotheaded. 

Cody is basically the ‘Sari Sumdac’ of the Aligned Continuity. He’s a brave, kind and sometimes sassy kid that teaches giant alien robots about the human world and gets neglected by his busy family to do important things even though they love him. Without the cyborg plot twist. But Cody is also his own character. From the start of the show, he wished to be a hero just like the rest like his courageous family, so he could spend more time with them. 

⭐⭐⭐✨ for Charlie

⭐⭐ for Kade

⭐⭐ for Graham

⭐⭐✨ for Dani

⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ for Cody

[jisangyo]

Humanformers+ High school AU

Alright so its midnight but i can’t sleep and i suddenly have this transformers high school au come out of my head

(i know a lots of people had write about that before but i’m going to do it any way, Yeah~)

this one is not a fic, just some setting

Mix of TFP, G1, TFA and IDW, more about TFP

👌🏻Me Asian and watch anime so the school will be like a weird mix of Japanese & US high school

they’re young so nothing too much you know (in every way)

OOC Alert!

Ok let’s start:

Optimus Prime is the student council president, with Ultra Magnus as the vice president.

i separate orion Pax from optimus as his younger brother bc why not let two op love Megatron instead of one∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

Starscream, thundercracker and Skywarp are drama club members, of course starscream as the leader of the club.

knock out and breakdown is also in the drama club, breakdown is there just bc knock out ask him to.

Megatron is in the basketball team, hang out with decepticons all the time, most likely soundwave and shockwave, starscream half mess half flirt with him if he is there so mega try to avoid him😂,

Tarn in another hand, Mega like him but Tarn get really touchy all the time since Mega’s family adopted him when he is little so Mega is his big brother and all (wtf am i writing（´-`）

Mega, Orion and Optimus are very close when they are little, they use to be neighbors but Mega’s mom past away so they move to the other side of the town, 

Mega and Optimus get in to a big fight and break off, Megatron still talk to Orion but he refused to be near Optimus.

Tarn get adopted bc Megatron save him from the burning house that Tarn’s family used to live in, right before Mega’s mom died.

Wow everything is starting so get dark so lets talk about other

After everything happened, Megatron started to get new friend like Soundwave, he is the new neighbor with rumble and Frenzy as his little brothers.

Shockwave is the rich kid in town, he join the group bc his father don’t want him so stay in room all the time doing weird experiment, so he get push out of house everyday after school and he run into Megatron’s little “Gang”.

Starscream hang out with popular kids in school so he kind of just get involved, he is good looking indeed and smart(sometime), Megatron don’t mind people like him hang around even though he is annoying as fuck😂

Predaking moved in town in high school, he said he don't hang out with cons but still sit with them in lunch.

Megatron secretly write poetry and is very good at it, he post them online and actually have fans online, only two people know about that its Tarn and Soundwave.

Student council member: Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Ratchet, Blur, Jazz, Arcee and Rodimus Prime.

Megatron doesn’t date a lot bc most of them get scary out by the people around him, he actually think something is wrong with him and try to improve it🙈

The story will be more focus on Megatron I guess, bc I love him so much, he is my life and the reason when I'm on Tumblr 😂😂😂

Yep actually think about that, its going be a everyone love Megatron’s story, he is so great and deserve all the love in this world that he can get👌🏻

Welcome to ask me anything about this! I hope I can write more as soon as possible, don’t mind all the grammar problems please, Thank you😄

[aion-rsa]

How Star Trek: Discovery Has Changed the Federation and Starfleet

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 5, “Die Trying.”

After four episodes of searching for what was left of the United Federation of Planets, the crew of the USS Discovery actually finds the new incarnation of their government, 930 years later. For a casual fan, the new Starfleet and United Federation of Planets may not seem all that different — after all, didn’t they have greyish uniforms kind of like that in the last Chris Pine movie, Star Trek Beyond? Superficially, Starfleet may have been given a sleek upgrade, but the look and feel of the most famous fictional space-faring organization isn’t actually the big news. Yes, we got a good look at a new (or old?) USS Voyager as well as several other shiny starships from the 32nd Century. But, the bigger changes fundamentally alter the context of what Star Trek is all about. Here are three ways Discovery has altered what Starfleet and the Federation are all about… 

Federation and Starfleet are apparently now the same thing.

In two separate instances in “Die Trying,” it’s established that the “civilian government” of the United Federation of Planets and the pseudo-military organization of Starfleet have essentially combined. Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) tells Saru and Burnham that this has been the case since The Burn. Earlier in the episode, Saru reminds us in his Captain’s log that Starfleet and the Federation are “separate entities that now must abide together.” 

But what does this actually mean? Well, because we only see Starfleet officers deciding what goes and what everyone is supposed to be doing with their time, it’s possible to assume that Starfleet has kind of taken over the decision-making process of the Federation. That said because Vance admits that it’s pretty difficult to keep in touch with other Federation planets because of all the problems with subspace relays being knocked out, it’s possible you could have entire pockets of the Federation being governed and behaving entirely different than the “real” Federation that we see. In other words, although we’re told that this is the “real” Federation and Starfleet and that this is their Headquarters, this actually just represents a consensus of aspects of the Federation that could stay in touch.

Starfleet running the Federation is a nightmare situation David Marcus and Captain Sisko wanted to avoid.

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk’s son, David Marcus, points out that “scientists have always been pawns of the military.” Carol Marcus insists that “Starfleet has kept the peace,” but the idea that Starfleet would – and could — easily seize power over its civilian entities has always been an ethical conundrum throughout most iterations of the franchise. In the Deep Space Nine episodes “Homefront” and “Paradise Lost,” Sisko and Odo work to prevent Starfleet from declaring martial law on Earth. Granted, in that scenario there was a legit conspiracy at work, but, in some senses, Discovery has presented a version of Starfleet that is the literal manifestation of interstellar law, regardless of whether that power has been “earned.” 

The age of exploration is over.

Vance tells Saru and Burnham that “we don’t have five-year missions anymore” and claims this is because Starfleet is all about doing other stuff. This kind of echoes a complaint from Jean-Luc Picard in the movie Star Trek: Insurrection when he said: “Can anyone remember when we used to be explorers?” The larger point is that Starfleet is 100 percent focused on putting out fires and keeping the peace on whatever worlds they claim are under Federation protection. Part of their biggest concern is a kind of space mafia known as the Emerald Chain, which seems to be an outgrowth of the Orion-Andorian syndicate glimpsed in “That Hope Is You, Part 1.” 

So, Starfleet/Federation is mostly dealing with fighting off a big space mob, which seems to be hell-bent on expanding its sphere of influence across a bunch of Federation planets. This means that Starfleet’s less-than-nice approach to running things makes a certain amount of sense. In some ways, the new Starfleet has more in common with the Resistance in the Star Wars sequel films than with the Starfleet of old. They’re not exactly a government, but they really want to create a galaxy in which a better government is possible. 

Is there another Federation?

The last piece of this puzzle is arguably the Short Treks episode “Calypso.” In that episode — possibly set in the same time period as Discovery Season 3 — we learn that the people of Alcor IV are at war with the “V’draysh.” This season of Discovery has established that “V’draysh” is a pidgin word for “Federation.” So, why is some aspect of the Federation at war with anyone in this future? (Or even further in the future?)

Maybe, the Federation we have met in Discovery Season 3 is, as stated, just a collection of ships and planets that have managed to stay in touch. Perhaps, there are other Federations out there, totally out of contact with this one. And if that’s the case, then they might have a totally separate set of rules than the new Starfleet we’ve met. If this were a Star Wars problem, you’d be tempted to wonder if that means more good guys or more bad guys. But, because this is Star Trek, the answer will probably be both. And neither.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Star Trek: Discovery is streaming now on CBS All Access.

The post How Star Trek: Discovery Has Changed the Federation and Starfleet appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/38PZIac

[terabitweb]

Original Post from Microsoft Secure Author: Eric Avena

Many years ago, I worked with healthcare organizations to install infrastructure to support the modernization of their information systems. As I traversed hospitals – both in public and private sectors – I was often struck by one particular best practice: the privacy reminders were ubiquitous. If I stepped into an elevator or walked down a hallway, there was signage to remind everyone about patient privacy. Nothing was left to chance or interpretation. This was also pre-social media, so the concerns ranged from public conversations or inappropriate use of email, to leaving a document on a public printer.

Fast forward to 2019. Our society and culture have changed. We are much freer with our personal information on social media. We talk openly about our lives and post pictures and family information in the wild. We are less concerned about our privacy, as we use these platforms to connect with others – a connection we might be denied given our busy lives. However, as has oft been written, these platforms can be a cache of riches for someone seeking to steal your identity or compromise your email and other accounts. This same type of free flow of information is also following us to other parts of our lives and making it easier for the bad guys to attack and profit. Let me explain with a few examples.

I travel a bit (okay, a lot). While my global travel is mostly for work, this provides an informative world lens for people watching and listening. I am often between flights in an airport reading or catching up on email and overhear a wide variety of conversations – without even trying. Recently, I was in the U.S., delayed at the Chicago O’Hare airport for several hours as “there is (was) weather in Chicago,” the worst phrase in the US travel industry. I overheard a man on the phone discussing his declined credit card in detail, including his full name, billing ZIP code, card number, expiration date, and so on. My shock quickly faded when I started thinking about how many other times I was in public and overheard things that could lead to financial or IP or other loss for an individual or company. The number is non-trivial. That’s when I decided to tweet some simple advice, and solicit input via my twitter feed.

The results were equally horrifying and amusing. Some even thought my post was an attempt in social engineering. Overall, the response convinced me to write a blog as the evidence I gathered suggests this isn’t a small problem. Rather, it’s a real problem. So let me start by sharing some examples and then make some suggestions (which may seem obvious to many of you) on how to protect your privacy and security.

  Notes from the airport lounge: social engineering is a thing … a really big thing. Please protect your personal information (like credit card numbers, sensitive customer information etc).

— Ann Johnson (@ajohnsocyber) April 15, 2019

I’ve overheard people many times talking in lounges about confidential info re: unannounced acquisitions.

— Orion (@OrionListug) April 15, 2019

And a few drinks later I’ve learned about unannounced acquisitions… marriage infidelities, the amount of debt someone owes, passwords pulled up from a word doc. pic.twitter.com/pPDDZd6xq7

— root (@rootsecdev) April 15, 2019

My favorite are people who have had their credit card disabled because their travel inadvertently flagged fraud prevention. So they are in the middle of the airport, reciting all their personal info to the bank to get the card turned back on.

— Andy Mallon (@AMtwo) April 17, 2019

How you never lock your system when you walk away because it’s so inconvenient to enter your credentials. o_o. // How people on the CTA hold their phone outward and call utility companies and banks and provide information loudly. >_<

— Christopher Clai (@ChrisClai) April 17, 2019

At one of my first IT gigs we kinda beat each other out of the first one by changing people’s desktop backgrounds to annoying memes. (I got to the point of using a bluetooth dongle and my almost-smart phone to autolock it lol)

— Chris (@tuba_man) April 17, 2019

I recently interacted with a thread where it asked individuals for the security weaknesses that they recognized in their orgs and felt would be critical if not fixed. I’m sure if people didn’t warn against accurately responding might in fact harm their org if used by attacker.

— C:…Security (@chris_foulon) April 17, 2019

So how do you protect yourself from theft of personal or proprietary company information in public? The super obvious, somewhat flippant answer is: don’t share any of this type of information in public. But, at times, this is easier said than done. If you travel as much as I do, it becomes impossible to refrain from conducting some confidential business whilst you are on the road. So how do you actually protect yourself?

Many people will read this blog and say, “well that’s obvious,” but sadly it is not, based on what I have personally observed and the feedback I received in preparation for this post. When in these types of situations, my recommendations are:

Use privacy screens on your laptop and your phone when in public, in meetings, and on airplanes. I cannot tell you how much confidential information I could have obtained just sitting behind someone on a plane.

Do not discuss confidential information in a public place: restaurant, club, elevator, airplane, etc. Based on the Twitter solicited feedback, people somehow think planes are cones of silence.

If you must conduct personal/confidential business on the road, wait until you arrive at your hotel or find a quiet place in the airport/club/restaurant where your back is to a wall and you can see anyone who is located by you. Use your best judgment.

Never give anyone your password. I don’t know how to say this more strongly. Do not ever give anyone your password.

Use a password manager. Don’t reuse passwords. This way if someone does obtain one of your passwords, you limit your exposure.

Be cognizant of what you put on social media. I am very active on social media but, remember, your information can and will be used against you. Be careful of when and how you post to avoid advertising when your home will be vacant for vacation or any personally identifiable information that could expose your passwords.

If someone calls you claiming to be from your bank, the IRS, the police, your company, a tech support organization, offer to call them back from a number that is published on their legitimate website or the back of your credit card, etc. Do not give any confidential information to an inbound caller.

Use encryption for sensitive data and sensitive communications.

If you must install IoT devices at home, segment them to a unique network.

If you are renting a private vacation home, there are some very good apps to scan the network to make certain you have privacy (e.g., cameras in a location that was not disclosed by the owner)

I am not a fan – at all – of listening devices at home, but if you do have one, remember there is a possibility we will find out all of your conversations were recorded. Be aware of what you say….

The world is quickly evolving as we embrace more technology. The onus is largely on users to protect yourselves. While this blog is just a high-level discussion on social engineering and privacy, using common sense is always your best defense.

  The post Oversharing and safety in the age of social media appeared first on Microsoft Security.

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Go to Source Author: Eric Avena Oversharing and safety in the age of social media Original Post from Microsoft Secure Author: Eric Avena Many years ago, I worked with healthcare organizations to install infrastructure to support the modernization of their information systems.

[samanthasroberts]

6 Movie Locations You Can Visit (But Probably Shouldn’t)

Some movies are so amazing that their greatness can’t be contained on a simple movie screen. It’s why the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter is a multi-billion-dollar venture and Disney continues to insert employees into permanently smiling horror-beasts. But not every tie-in attraction can be a runaway success — or attract throngs of rabid superfans who will trash your property (see: Breaking Bad) — especially these ones.

6

The Thrills Of Indiana Jones … As A Bed-And-Breakfast

Paramount Pictures

There are an endless number of things an Indy-themed attraction could involve — rolling boulders, snake pits, or melting Nazis come to mind. And the Indiana Jones Bed & Breakfast provides none of them. It’s just got beds. Also breakfast.

EasyBuy4u/iStock Indy presumably enjoyed breakfast in several unfilmed scenes.

Admittedly, this isn’t just any house; it was featured in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, where you’ll recall it as the least memorable location in the film. Venice, Nazi castles, a city carved into a cliff, and this:

tripadvisor.ca Petra this ain’t.

It gets maybe 20 seconds of film time, during which it communicates all the glamour you might expect to find in any old house. Glamour it carries to this day.

Indiana Jones Home Bed & Breakfast Walls. A VCR. Sconces even!

There’s really not much Indiana Jones in it at all. The room names are cute (The Cortez and Coronado rooms sound interesting; the Holy Grail room sounds better), and there are a few other plausibly Indy-related thingamabobs strewn about the house as well. But, honestly, if you’ve ever been camping or ever met a German person, you’ve probably had a more authentic Indiana Jones experience than this.

Indiana Jones Home Bed & Breakfast Twist: All the whips could be S&M-related.

5

The Twilight Tour That Doesn’t Show Anything From Twilight

Summit Entertainment

Despite the best efforts of internet snark-merchants, Twilight ended up being a pretty big deal. The books and the movies were incredibly popular, which has inspired throngs of fans to descend on the small town of Forks, Washington, where the franchise was set, to meet their own ancient, powerfully sexual vampires.

As a result, the town of 3,500 has slapped a thick coat of Twilight on everything in it. “Twilight” now clings to the name of many of the town’s establishments, to help remind everyone why they’re there. You know. Just in case someone drove to Forks, Washington, by accident.

Bobak Ha’Eri/Wiki Commons This was definitely worth looking at damp trees for 12 straight days of driving.

There are Twilight-themed coffee shops, and mailboxes, and quilts, and while that certainly is an impressive collection of Twilight, uh, physical matter, it’s lacking something, isn’t it? Like authenticity. Where are the actual shooting locations?

Well, there aren’t any. Because it turns out none of the movies were actually shot in Forks. Which means the Twilight tour must be at least a little disappointing. Although the tour guides are up front about it, at least a few fans have realized sadly that the only thing this place has in common with the Twilight franchise is a name and a preponderance of pale teenagers. The tour apparently consists of places in town that, shrug, might have been places from the books. (“There’s a house! It might have been Bella’s house!”) Evidently, the only thing there that looks remotely like something from the movie is a replica of Bella’s pick-up truck, and you’d better believe the town knows this. This is from the Forks chamber of commerce’s website:

forkswa.com The sparkling is from magic, not a cheap GIF, for those asking.

4

The Zombie Museum That Will Not Die

United Film Distribution Company

The Living Dead Museum has seen better days. It was originally located in Pennsylvania’s Monroeville Mall, which is a fantastic place for a zombie museum, being the shooting location of George Romero’s 1978 zombie classic Dawn Of The Dead. Sadly, though, it was forced to relocate after the mall succumbed to the bloodthirsty menace known as gentrification.

mapio.net That said, it does look nice with all the blood and limbs cleaned up.

The museum is now housed in Evans City, a small town an hour away. This was, admittedly, the place where Night Of The Living Dead was filmed. But that was a substantially less iconic location, and, well, it kind of shows.

Google Maps That’s the museum there next to the Subway.

Inside, it’s not that bad. It’s got photos, and posters, and a bunch of creepy mannequins, as you’d hope. It’s also got a wall covered in bloody hand prints for some reason.

Living Dead Museum Kind of puts us in the mood for Subway, actually.

But like every museum in the world ever, the real point here seems to be the gift shop, which is where it gets a little sad. Remember that mall the museum got kicked out of? Well they’re selling tiny pieces of the J.C. Penney escalator. Which seems a little clingy. The mall’s just not that into you, dude. Let it go. (Follow-up reaction: Also, what the hell is anyone going to do with a piece of an escalator?)

livingdeadmuseum.com “If you have a better way to repair my escalator, I’d like to hear it.”

3

The Twister Museum Is Located In The Thirstiest Town Ever

Warner Bros.

Somewhere in the tiny Oklahoma town of Wakita, an elderly local is telling a hapless visitor about the time Helen Hunt and a cow were attacked by a tornado. That time was 20 years ago now, but to Wakita, that time was everything.

Google Maps Imagine a one-horse town if that horse got bored and left 20 years ago.

In the mid ’90s, Wakita welcomed the Twister production into town with open arms. And why wouldn’t they? The producers promised to upgrade the town’s facade, knock down some old unwanted buildings, and clean up a bunch of debris. Which they did! On top of that, the locals hoped the film would revitalize the town’s economy, provide a steady tourism income for years, and make Wakita the go-to destination for Hollywood productions. Which it didn’t.

Google Maps Hollywood may have had trouble finding it again, actually.

But for two decades now, the town has steadfastly refused to see the uninterested writing on the wall. It’s even erected a Twister museum to pay homage to the 1996 blockbuster. Which is, uh, not exactly a big-budget affair. From the models depicting tornado ravaged dollhouses:

Eileen Blass/USA Today

To the “Twister debris” that’s really just a bunch of random detritus haphazardly scattered in a corner:

tripadvisor.com “See the genuine pile of garbage!”

It’s all very, very quaint. The museum’s success has been so limited that residents are willing to drop literally anything they’re doing for the opportunity to guide someone around piles of Hollywood rubble and spend hours chatting about their close encounter with film-industry elite. This museum is quite literally their only form of entertainment in town:

tripadvisor.com

So if you’re a die-hard Twister fan who also happens to be in the middle of nowhere, maybe check it out? The locals seem like nice people, at least. They could maybe use someone to talk to, as well. Also, maybe try showing up and talking about how much you love Armageddon, as a goof. Let us know how that goes.

2

Kevin Costner’s Kevin Costner-Themed Restaurant Is A Little Kevin Costner Heavy

Orion Pictures

Back in the ’90s, if you wanted to make a baseball movie or post-apocalyptic piece of crap, Kevin Costner was your guy.

Warner Bros. Also if you wanted your Robin Hood to have an American accent.

But Kevin Costner hasn’t been in too many movies recently, possibly because of all those jokes we made, but also because he’s been busy with his restaurant and casino! Located in Deadwood — which is an actual real-life town in South Dakota, apparently — it’s called the Midnight Star, and according to Kevin Costner, it’s the highlight of Deadwood.

themidnightstar.com Which is huge if true.

With the bare walls of the establishment — of all establishments, really — just begging to be Costner-ized, Costner hasn’t sat idle and has filled the place with memorabilia from his life. Props and costumes from classics like Field Of Dreams and Dances With Wolves line the walls, while a Bull Durham poster sexily watches people eat their baskets of calamari.

Orion Pictures “Could someone turn that thing around?”

But the downside of an extensive collection of Costner-bilia is that it reveals just how many turds he’s been in. What is The Guardian? Or Mr. Brooks? Up on the wall is some kind of doctor costume from the movie Dragonfly, which was about … dragons? Dragons that need doctors? To help fly again? Also there must be some Waterworld stuff there too, just haunting the place, making all the drinks taste a little bit like urine. (OK, that’s probably not true. But it should be.)

1

The Official Cheers Bars Had Dead-Eyed Robot Versions Of The Cast

CBS

Cheers taught us that all it takes to make your crippling substance-abuse problem tolerable is for everyone to know your name. Which is a fine premise to base an actual bar on as well, once you remove that pesky need for knowing or even caring about your customers’ names. Which is how Cheers-branded bars began popping up in airports and hotels across the world in the 1990s. Not only were these bars called Cheers, perched at the end of the bar in many of them were horrific Chuck E. Cheese’s automaton versions of Norm and Cliff.

United States Court of Appeals Fated to get hammered for their entire miserable existence.

As you can probably tell, the replicas were less than perfect. Cliff had no mustache, Norm had aged a good 20 years, and both looked quite a bit less like human beings than they did the embalmed corpses of political cartoons. These discrepancies may not have been an accident, perhaps done to avoid paying likeness rights to the actors; the robots’ names were also changed to “Hank” and “Bob.” If you think that seems like bullshit, you’re not alone: John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, the actors who played Cliff and Norm, thought so too and ended up suing Paramount over it, in a case that almost made it to the Supreme Court.

Roger L. Wollenberg/Pool via Bloomberg Where everybody knows your name because it’s written down on several important pieces of paper.

Yup, the United States Supreme Court had to decide whether shitty robot doppelgangers of sitcom characters swilling beer in airport bars were worth their time. Their eventual decision — “Nah, not really” — left it in the hands of a lower court, where the actors eventually settled with Paramount. We don’t know what the terms of that settlement were, but seeing as there don’t seem to be too many of those robots around anymore, we kind of hope they all ended up in George Wendt’s basement, where they’ve become his best friends.

You can check out Carolyn’s depressing Twitter account here.

What’s The Best Fictional School To Attend? In the muggle world, we’re not given the opportunity for a magical hat to tell us which school we should go to. Usually we just have to go to the high school closest to where we live or whatever college accepts our SAT scores and personal essay. This month, our goal is to determine what would be the best fictional school to go to. Join Jack, Daniel, and the rest of the Cracked staff, along with comedians Brandie Posey and Steven Wilber, as they figure out if it’s a realistic school like Degrassi or West Beverly High, or an institution from a fantasy world like Hogwarts with its ghosts and dementors, or Bayside High, haunted by a monster known only to humans as Screech. Get your tickets here!

Also check out 7 Movies That Were Filmed In Terrifying Locations and 5 Photos That Shatter Your Image Of Horror Movie Locations.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out 8 Places You’ll Recognize From The Background Of Every Movie, and other videos you won’t see on the site!

Also, follow us on Facebook, and we’ll follow you everywhere.

Source: http://allofbeer.com/2017/10/28/6-movie-locations-you-can-visit-but-probably-shouldnt/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2017/10/28/6-movie-locations-you-can-visit-but-probably-shouldnt/

[adambstingus]

6 Movie Locations You Can Visit (But Probably Shouldn’t)

Some movies are so amazing that their greatness can’t be contained on a simple movie screen. It’s why the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter is a multi-billion-dollar venture and Disney continues to insert employees into permanently smiling horror-beasts. But not every tie-in attraction can be a runaway success — or attract throngs of rabid superfans who will trash your property (see: Breaking Bad) — especially these ones.

6

The Thrills Of Indiana Jones … As A Bed-And-Breakfast

Paramount Pictures

There are an endless number of things an Indy-themed attraction could involve — rolling boulders, snake pits, or melting Nazis come to mind. And the Indiana Jones Bed & Breakfast provides none of them. It’s just got beds. Also breakfast.

EasyBuy4u/iStock Indy presumably enjoyed breakfast in several unfilmed scenes.

Admittedly, this isn’t just any house; it was featured in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, where you’ll recall it as the least memorable location in the film. Venice, Nazi castles, a city carved into a cliff, and this:

tripadvisor.ca Petra this ain’t.

It gets maybe 20 seconds of film time, during which it communicates all the glamour you might expect to find in any old house. Glamour it carries to this day.

Indiana Jones Home Bed & Breakfast Walls. A VCR. Sconces even!

There’s really not much Indiana Jones in it at all. The room names are cute (The Cortez and Coronado rooms sound interesting; the Holy Grail room sounds better), and there are a few other plausibly Indy-related thingamabobs strewn about the house as well. But, honestly, if you’ve ever been camping or ever met a German person, you’ve probably had a more authentic Indiana Jones experience than this.

Indiana Jones Home Bed & Breakfast Twist: All the whips could be S&M-related.

5

The Twilight Tour That Doesn’t Show Anything From Twilight

Summit Entertainment

Despite the best efforts of internet snark-merchants, Twilight ended up being a pretty big deal. The books and the movies were incredibly popular, which has inspired throngs of fans to descend on the small town of Forks, Washington, where the franchise was set, to meet their own ancient, powerfully sexual vampires.

As a result, the town of 3,500 has slapped a thick coat of Twilight on everything in it. “Twilight” now clings to the name of many of the town’s establishments, to help remind everyone why they’re there. You know. Just in case someone drove to Forks, Washington, by accident.

Bobak Ha’Eri/Wiki Commons This was definitely worth looking at damp trees for 12 straight days of driving.

There are Twilight-themed coffee shops, and mailboxes, and quilts, and while that certainly is an impressive collection of Twilight, uh, physical matter, it’s lacking something, isn’t it? Like authenticity. Where are the actual shooting locations?

Well, there aren’t any. Because it turns out none of the movies were actually shot in Forks. Which means the Twilight tour must be at least a little disappointing. Although the tour guides are up front about it, at least a few fans have realized sadly that the only thing this place has in common with the Twilight franchise is a name and a preponderance of pale teenagers. The tour apparently consists of places in town that, shrug, might have been places from the books. (“There’s a house! It might have been Bella’s house!”) Evidently, the only thing there that looks remotely like something from the movie is a replica of Bella’s pick-up truck, and you’d better believe the town knows this. This is from the Forks chamber of commerce’s website:

forkswa.com The sparkling is from magic, not a cheap GIF, for those asking.

4

The Zombie Museum That Will Not Die

United Film Distribution Company

The Living Dead Museum has seen better days. It was originally located in Pennsylvania’s Monroeville Mall, which is a fantastic place for a zombie museum, being the shooting location of George Romero’s 1978 zombie classic Dawn Of The Dead. Sadly, though, it was forced to relocate after the mall succumbed to the bloodthirsty menace known as gentrification.

mapio.net That said, it does look nice with all the blood and limbs cleaned up.

The museum is now housed in Evans City, a small town an hour away. This was, admittedly, the place where Night Of The Living Dead was filmed. But that was a substantially less iconic location, and, well, it kind of shows.

Google Maps That’s the museum there next to the Subway.

Inside, it’s not that bad. It’s got photos, and posters, and a bunch of creepy mannequins, as you’d hope. It’s also got a wall covered in bloody hand prints for some reason.

Living Dead Museum Kind of puts us in the mood for Subway, actually.

But like every museum in the world ever, the real point here seems to be the gift shop, which is where it gets a little sad. Remember that mall the museum got kicked out of? Well they’re selling tiny pieces of the J.C. Penney escalator. Which seems a little clingy. The mall’s just not that into you, dude. Let it go. (Follow-up reaction: Also, what the hell is anyone going to do with a piece of an escalator?)

livingdeadmuseum.com “If you have a better way to repair my escalator, I’d like to hear it.”

3

The Twister Museum Is Located In The Thirstiest Town Ever

Warner Bros.

Somewhere in the tiny Oklahoma town of Wakita, an elderly local is telling a hapless visitor about the time Helen Hunt and a cow were attacked by a tornado. That time was 20 years ago now, but to Wakita, that time was everything.

Google Maps Imagine a one-horse town if that horse got bored and left 20 years ago.

In the mid ’90s, Wakita welcomed the Twister production into town with open arms. And why wouldn’t they? The producers promised to upgrade the town’s facade, knock down some old unwanted buildings, and clean up a bunch of debris. Which they did! On top of that, the locals hoped the film would revitalize the town’s economy, provide a steady tourism income for years, and make Wakita the go-to destination for Hollywood productions. Which it didn’t.

Google Maps Hollywood may have had trouble finding it again, actually.

But for two decades now, the town has steadfastly refused to see the uninterested writing on the wall. It’s even erected a Twister museum to pay homage to the 1996 blockbuster. Which is, uh, not exactly a big-budget affair. From the models depicting tornado ravaged dollhouses:

Eileen Blass/USA Today

To the “Twister debris” that’s really just a bunch of random detritus haphazardly scattered in a corner:

tripadvisor.com “See the genuine pile of garbage!”

It’s all very, very quaint. The museum’s success has been so limited that residents are willing to drop literally anything they’re doing for the opportunity to guide someone around piles of Hollywood rubble and spend hours chatting about their close encounter with film-industry elite. This museum is quite literally their only form of entertainment in town:

tripadvisor.com

So if you’re a die-hard Twister fan who also happens to be in the middle of nowhere, maybe check it out? The locals seem like nice people, at least. They could maybe use someone to talk to, as well. Also, maybe try showing up and talking about how much you love Armageddon, as a goof. Let us know how that goes.

2

Kevin Costner’s Kevin Costner-Themed Restaurant Is A Little Kevin Costner Heavy

Orion Pictures

Back in the ’90s, if you wanted to make a baseball movie or post-apocalyptic piece of crap, Kevin Costner was your guy.

Warner Bros. Also if you wanted your Robin Hood to have an American accent.

But Kevin Costner hasn’t been in too many movies recently, possibly because of all those jokes we made, but also because he’s been busy with his restaurant and casino! Located in Deadwood — which is an actual real-life town in South Dakota, apparently — it’s called the Midnight Star, and according to Kevin Costner, it’s the highlight of Deadwood.

themidnightstar.com Which is huge if true.

With the bare walls of the establishment — of all establishments, really — just begging to be Costner-ized, Costner hasn’t sat idle and has filled the place with memorabilia from his life. Props and costumes from classics like Field Of Dreams and Dances With Wolves line the walls, while a Bull Durham poster sexily watches people eat their baskets of calamari.

Orion Pictures “Could someone turn that thing around?”

But the downside of an extensive collection of Costner-bilia is that it reveals just how many turds he’s been in. What is The Guardian? Or Mr. Brooks? Up on the wall is some kind of doctor costume from the movie Dragonfly, which was about … dragons? Dragons that need doctors? To help fly again? Also there must be some Waterworld stuff there too, just haunting the place, making all the drinks taste a little bit like urine. (OK, that’s probably not true. But it should be.)

1

The Official Cheers Bars Had Dead-Eyed Robot Versions Of The Cast

CBS

Cheers taught us that all it takes to make your crippling substance-abuse problem tolerable is for everyone to know your name. Which is a fine premise to base an actual bar on as well, once you remove that pesky need for knowing or even caring about your customers’ names. Which is how Cheers-branded bars began popping up in airports and hotels across the world in the 1990s. Not only were these bars called Cheers, perched at the end of the bar in many of them were horrific Chuck E. Cheese’s automaton versions of Norm and Cliff.

United States Court of Appeals Fated to get hammered for their entire miserable existence.

As you can probably tell, the replicas were less than perfect. Cliff had no mustache, Norm had aged a good 20 years, and both looked quite a bit less like human beings than they did the embalmed corpses of political cartoons. These discrepancies may not have been an accident, perhaps done to avoid paying likeness rights to the actors; the robots’ names were also changed to “Hank” and “Bob.” If you think that seems like bullshit, you’re not alone: John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, the actors who played Cliff and Norm, thought so too and ended up suing Paramount over it, in a case that almost made it to the Supreme Court.

Roger L. Wollenberg/Pool via Bloomberg Where everybody knows your name because it’s written down on several important pieces of paper.

Yup, the United States Supreme Court had to decide whether shitty robot doppelgangers of sitcom characters swilling beer in airport bars were worth their time. Their eventual decision — “Nah, not really” — left it in the hands of a lower court, where the actors eventually settled with Paramount. We don’t know what the terms of that settlement were, but seeing as there don’t seem to be too many of those robots around anymore, we kind of hope they all ended up in George Wendt’s basement, where they’ve become his best friends.

You can check out Carolyn’s depressing Twitter account here.

What’s The Best Fictional School To Attend? In the muggle world, we’re not given the opportunity for a magical hat to tell us which school we should go to. Usually we just have to go to the high school closest to where we live or whatever college accepts our SAT scores and personal essay. This month, our goal is to determine what would be the best fictional school to go to. Join Jack, Daniel, and the rest of the Cracked staff, along with comedians Brandie Posey and Steven Wilber, as they figure out if it’s a realistic school like Degrassi or West Beverly High, or an institution from a fantasy world like Hogwarts with its ghosts and dementors, or Bayside High, haunted by a monster known only to humans as Screech. Get your tickets here!

Also check out 7 Movies That Were Filmed In Terrifying Locations and 5 Photos That Shatter Your Image Of Horror Movie Locations.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out 8 Places You’ll Recognize From The Background Of Every Movie, and other videos you won’t see on the site!

Also, follow us on Facebook, and we’ll follow you everywhere.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/2017/10/28/6-movie-locations-you-can-visit-but-probably-shouldnt/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/166892480217

[allofbeercom]

6 Movie Locations You Can Visit (But Probably Shouldn’t)

Some movies are so amazing that their greatness can’t be contained on a simple movie screen. It’s why the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter is a multi-billion-dollar venture and Disney continues to insert employees into permanently smiling horror-beasts. But not every tie-in attraction can be a runaway success — or attract throngs of rabid superfans who will trash your property (see: Breaking Bad) — especially these ones.

6

The Thrills Of Indiana Jones … As A Bed-And-Breakfast

Paramount Pictures

There are an endless number of things an Indy-themed attraction could involve — rolling boulders, snake pits, or melting Nazis come to mind. And the Indiana Jones Bed & Breakfast provides none of them. It’s just got beds. Also breakfast.

EasyBuy4u/iStock Indy presumably enjoyed breakfast in several unfilmed scenes.

Admittedly, this isn’t just any house; it was featured in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, where you’ll recall it as the least memorable location in the film. Venice, Nazi castles, a city carved into a cliff, and this:

tripadvisor.ca Petra this ain’t.

It gets maybe 20 seconds of film time, during which it communicates all the glamour you might expect to find in any old house. Glamour it carries to this day.

Indiana Jones Home Bed & Breakfast Walls. A VCR. Sconces even!

There’s really not much Indiana Jones in it at all. The room names are cute (The Cortez and Coronado rooms sound interesting; the Holy Grail room sounds better), and there are a few other plausibly Indy-related thingamabobs strewn about the house as well. But, honestly, if you’ve ever been camping or ever met a German person, you’ve probably had a more authentic Indiana Jones experience than this.

Indiana Jones Home Bed & Breakfast Twist: All the whips could be S&M-related.

5

The Twilight Tour That Doesn’t Show Anything From Twilight

Summit Entertainment

Despite the best efforts of internet snark-merchants, Twilight ended up being a pretty big deal. The books and the movies were incredibly popular, which has inspired throngs of fans to descend on the small town of Forks, Washington, where the franchise was set, to meet their own ancient, powerfully sexual vampires.

As a result, the town of 3,500 has slapped a thick coat of Twilight on everything in it. “Twilight” now clings to the name of many of the town’s establishments, to help remind everyone why they’re there. You know. Just in case someone drove to Forks, Washington, by accident.

Bobak Ha’Eri/Wiki Commons This was definitely worth looking at damp trees for 12 straight days of driving.

There are Twilight-themed coffee shops, and mailboxes, and quilts, and while that certainly is an impressive collection of Twilight, uh, physical matter, it’s lacking something, isn’t it? Like authenticity. Where are the actual shooting locations?

Well, there aren’t any. Because it turns out none of the movies were actually shot in Forks. Which means the Twilight tour must be at least a little disappointing. Although the tour guides are up front about it, at least a few fans have realized sadly that the only thing this place has in common with the Twilight franchise is a name and a preponderance of pale teenagers. The tour apparently consists of places in town that, shrug, might have been places from the books. (“There’s a house! It might have been Bella’s house!”) Evidently, the only thing there that looks remotely like something from the movie is a replica of Bella’s pick-up truck, and you’d better believe the town knows this. This is from the Forks chamber of commerce’s website:

forkswa.com The sparkling is from magic, not a cheap GIF, for those asking.

4

The Zombie Museum That Will Not Die

United Film Distribution Company

The Living Dead Museum has seen better days. It was originally located in Pennsylvania’s Monroeville Mall, which is a fantastic place for a zombie museum, being the shooting location of George Romero’s 1978 zombie classic Dawn Of The Dead. Sadly, though, it was forced to relocate after the mall succumbed to the bloodthirsty menace known as gentrification.

mapio.net That said, it does look nice with all the blood and limbs cleaned up.

The museum is now housed in Evans City, a small town an hour away. This was, admittedly, the place where Night Of The Living Dead was filmed. But that was a substantially less iconic location, and, well, it kind of shows.

Google Maps That’s the museum there next to the Subway.

Inside, it’s not that bad. It’s got photos, and posters, and a bunch of creepy mannequins, as you’d hope. It’s also got a wall covered in bloody hand prints for some reason.

Living Dead Museum Kind of puts us in the mood for Subway, actually.

But like every museum in the world ever, the real point here seems to be the gift shop, which is where it gets a little sad. Remember that mall the museum got kicked out of? Well they’re selling tiny pieces of the J.C. Penney escalator. Which seems a little clingy. The mall’s just not that into you, dude. Let it go. (Follow-up reaction: Also, what the hell is anyone going to do with a piece of an escalator?)

livingdeadmuseum.com “If you have a better way to repair my escalator, I’d like to hear it.”

3

The Twister Museum Is Located In The Thirstiest Town Ever

Warner Bros.

Somewhere in the tiny Oklahoma town of Wakita, an elderly local is telling a hapless visitor about the time Helen Hunt and a cow were attacked by a tornado. That time was 20 years ago now, but to Wakita, that time was everything.

Google Maps Imagine a one-horse town if that horse got bored and left 20 years ago.

In the mid ’90s, Wakita welcomed the Twister production into town with open arms. And why wouldn’t they? The producers promised to upgrade the town’s facade, knock down some old unwanted buildings, and clean up a bunch of debris. Which they did! On top of that, the locals hoped the film would revitalize the town’s economy, provide a steady tourism income for years, and make Wakita the go-to destination for Hollywood productions. Which it didn’t.

Google Maps Hollywood may have had trouble finding it again, actually.

But for two decades now, the town has steadfastly refused to see the uninterested writing on the wall. It’s even erected a Twister museum to pay homage to the 1996 blockbuster. Which is, uh, not exactly a big-budget affair. From the models depicting tornado ravaged dollhouses:

Eileen Blass/USA Today

To the “Twister debris” that’s really just a bunch of random detritus haphazardly scattered in a corner:

tripadvisor.com “See the genuine pile of garbage!”

It’s all very, very quaint. The museum’s success has been so limited that residents are willing to drop literally anything they’re doing for the opportunity to guide someone around piles of Hollywood rubble and spend hours chatting about their close encounter with film-industry elite. This museum is quite literally their only form of entertainment in town:

tripadvisor.com

So if you’re a die-hard Twister fan who also happens to be in the middle of nowhere, maybe check it out? The locals seem like nice people, at least. They could maybe use someone to talk to, as well. Also, maybe try showing up and talking about how much you love Armageddon, as a goof. Let us know how that goes.

2

Kevin Costner’s Kevin Costner-Themed Restaurant Is A Little Kevin Costner Heavy

Orion Pictures

Back in the ’90s, if you wanted to make a baseball movie or post-apocalyptic piece of crap, Kevin Costner was your guy.

Warner Bros. Also if you wanted your Robin Hood to have an American accent.

But Kevin Costner hasn’t been in too many movies recently, possibly because of all those jokes we made, but also because he’s been busy with his restaurant and casino! Located in Deadwood — which is an actual real-life town in South Dakota, apparently — it’s called the Midnight Star, and according to Kevin Costner, it’s the highlight of Deadwood.

themidnightstar.com Which is huge if true.

With the bare walls of the establishment — of all establishments, really — just begging to be Costner-ized, Costner hasn’t sat idle and has filled the place with memorabilia from his life. Props and costumes from classics like Field Of Dreams and Dances With Wolves line the walls, while a Bull Durham poster sexily watches people eat their baskets of calamari.

Orion Pictures “Could someone turn that thing around?”

But the downside of an extensive collection of Costner-bilia is that it reveals just how many turds he’s been in. What is The Guardian? Or Mr. Brooks? Up on the wall is some kind of doctor costume from the movie Dragonfly, which was about … dragons? Dragons that need doctors? To help fly again? Also there must be some Waterworld stuff there too, just haunting the place, making all the drinks taste a little bit like urine. (OK, that’s probably not true. But it should be.)

1

The Official Cheers Bars Had Dead-Eyed Robot Versions Of The Cast

CBS

Cheers taught us that all it takes to make your crippling substance-abuse problem tolerable is for everyone to know your name. Which is a fine premise to base an actual bar on as well, once you remove that pesky need for knowing or even caring about your customers’ names. Which is how Cheers-branded bars began popping up in airports and hotels across the world in the 1990s. Not only were these bars called Cheers, perched at the end of the bar in many of them were horrific Chuck E. Cheese’s automaton versions of Norm and Cliff.

United States Court of Appeals Fated to get hammered for their entire miserable existence.

As you can probably tell, the replicas were less than perfect. Cliff had no mustache, Norm had aged a good 20 years, and both looked quite a bit less like human beings than they did the embalmed corpses of political cartoons. These discrepancies may not have been an accident, perhaps done to avoid paying likeness rights to the actors; the robots’ names were also changed to “Hank” and “Bob.” If you think that seems like bullshit, you’re not alone: John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, the actors who played Cliff and Norm, thought so too and ended up suing Paramount over it, in a case that almost made it to the Supreme Court.

Roger L. Wollenberg/Pool via Bloomberg Where everybody knows your name because it’s written down on several important pieces of paper.

Yup, the United States Supreme Court had to decide whether shitty robot doppelgangers of sitcom characters swilling beer in airport bars were worth their time. Their eventual decision — “Nah, not really” — left it in the hands of a lower court, where the actors eventually settled with Paramount. We don’t know what the terms of that settlement were, but seeing as there don’t seem to be too many of those robots around anymore, we kind of hope they all ended up in George Wendt’s basement, where they’ve become his best friends.

You can check out Carolyn’s depressing Twitter account here.

What’s The Best Fictional School To Attend? In the muggle world, we’re not given the opportunity for a magical hat to tell us which school we should go to. Usually we just have to go to the high school closest to where we live or whatever college accepts our SAT scores and personal essay. This month, our goal is to determine what would be the best fictional school to go to. Join Jack, Daniel, and the rest of the Cracked staff, along with comedians Brandie Posey and Steven Wilber, as they figure out if it’s a realistic school like Degrassi or West Beverly High, or an institution from a fantasy world like Hogwarts with its ghosts and dementors, or Bayside High, haunted by a monster known only to humans as Screech. Get your tickets here!

Also check out 7 Movies That Were Filmed In Terrifying Locations and 5 Photos That Shatter Your Image Of Horror Movie Locations.

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from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/2017/10/28/6-movie-locations-you-can-visit-but-probably-shouldnt/

[letstraveltoorion]

The Master of Orion Challenges: 1 - Canonicity!

Here, I’d like to discuss or explain what will be challenges and problems I am or will have to face and overcome if I want to write about Master of Orion.

My first challenge will be, of course, “canonicity”! With a setting spanning 4 games and numerous fan fictions and theories, canonicity is one of the things that is hard to abide by.

In regard canonicity, I will class the follow sources as follows:

Master of Orion Conquers the Stars (games + References Materiel)

Master of Orion 2—Battle at Antares

Master of Orion

Master of Orion 3

Internet fan fiction and the likes.

 That said, I intent to follow canonicity wherever or whenever it applied to any of the game’s races … unless it impacts the story negatively or the facts are just too illogical to be considerate as such. However, I intent to take a more creative approach with it comes to the setting, background and story.

For one thing, I do intent to bring plot elements and (maybe some aliens’ races) from the old PC Game Starflight/Starflight 2. But don’t be alarmed! I looked into it and some of the element I intent to use, and they will fit perfectly with the story I’m writing. BTW, I do not think the game’s designer fully realized the full implication of the title: “Master of Orion—Battle at Antares”! But I digress and this will be the topic for another discussion.

In short, what I want to do, is something analogue to Robotech! For those who wonder, Robotech was a cartoon created by Carl Macek using 3 different animated series from Japan:

The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982–1983)

Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross (1984)

Genesis Climber MOSPEADA (1983–1984)

The result was a saga that span 3 generations…

This is what I hope to achieve: the blending of 2 or 3 different setting into a masterpiece of a sci-fi story. To do so, I will use the material at my disposal such as other science fiction works (from novels to manga), mythology and my past professional experiences.

My story will take its sources from:

Master of Orion’s Game suit, primarily. (Of Course! Dah!) Or else I would not base my story on them.

Starflight/Starflight 2: as some element do fit nicely and complement the MOO setting perfectly.

Galactic Empires (collectible card game): some aliens and technologies (along with some monster or spatial phenomena) could be used … but at this point, I’m still a long way to go.

I may also use other sources such as certain RPG (like Palladium’s Books’ Rifts/Phase World), or other types of games (Like Cosmic Encounter) if my story warrants it.

However, because I already read some other fanfiction that tried to blend multiple sci-fi setting into a single unified one with some … err … hmmm … rather some disturbing psychedelic results; let me tell you this is a fate I really intent to avoid. Whatever disparate element I may end up using in my story, I will do so in a way that will make sense and is fun to read … while respecting the essence of it.

By now, you must be asking why I want to incorporate more foreign elements into Master of Orion’s universe? Surly there is enough stuff in it to make all the stories I want?

 Well, space IS big! The Milky Way Galaxy span over more than 180,000 LY. It contains around 100 to 400 BILLIONS of stars! When I played the original game back in the 90s, it was pretty clear to me the actual story was happening in a “Sector” of the galaxy … but Master of Orion 3 and the current version has placed the setting in an entire galaxy… This is an order of magnitude I am not ready to deal with and I will explain why later.

But space is still HUGE and it gives me room for creativity … so why limit myself? At this point, I will set the story OFFICIALLY in a radius of 600 to 900 LY from Earth. This is giving me a sphere that ranges between 1200 and 1800 ly in diameter … enough to place all of the 20 races and then some.

So, again, why limit myself?

Just tag along and enjoy the story.