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Exercise. That 4 Letter Word!

Yes, I said it. Exercise. I know, I know. It’s a nasty word! Before anyone jumps to conclusions or gets upset I wanted to let you all in on a little secret. With new technologies like Wii, PSMove, and Xbox Kinect, we now have the option of getting an extremely beneficial workout at the same time as playing video games.

Working Up a Sweat

Back in the early days of the PlayStation2 I actually lost about 35 lbs using the Dance Pad with Dance Dance Revolution and got a pretty nifty little benefit of cardio endurance during my marathon trainings. Most of the time I didn’t even realize I was working out because it was so much fun dancing to the beats and trying to remember the combos to score extra points.

Then, came the Wii with motion controls. When I had a FirstGen Wii, I loved playing games like Wii Sports and Wii Dance. I never did get a chance to experience the Wii Fit but I heard it is pretty fun. There are many more options to choose from now. EA Sports just released Zumba Fitness and some other really awesome games like Football Trainer and likewise there are many versions of Just Dance as well. Unfortunately, I had to “donate” my Wii to someone else, but was lucky to have kept my Ps3, a feat I am proud of to this day.

This brings me to the purpose of this blog. I recently had been released from the doctor to work out again and wanted to do something different than I had done before. It’s boring going to the TV and popping in a DVD or watching Fit TV to get a boring exercise routine out of the way just to say I did it. Blechhh!

Like many, I don’t like using my gym at the clubhouse here either because people are gross and leave many things unclean. I also don’t have confidence enough to walk in to a local gym with Barbie and Ken doing their 5 mile hill climbs and 30 mile recumbent bike rides when I am walking briskly for 1 mile and feel like, “I am going to DIE!”

I found a solution. It’s completely awesome and so much fun. The game is called EA Sports Active 2. It’s a second version, similar to the EA Sports Active that was previously only released on the Wii a few years ago.  This newer version however is available for all 3 platforms and uses Kinect for Xbox360. The cost is about $99.99 but I’ve seen it around the web for as low as $69.99.  Pretty cheap considering the average gym membership is about $50.00 or more plus a personal trainer is going to cost you extra.

EA Sports Active 2 Personal Trainer Box

This game lets you personalize an avatar. Mine happens to be a bit curvy and has some junk in the trunk. Exactly my type of avatar! I don’t want to work out as Kim Kardashian if I don’t look like her. Maybe one day! Ha!

After you personalize your avatar, you create personal goals, and make a workout calendar for yourself. I began working out 4 days a week with 3 rest days as recommended by the game. I also chose the 9 week workout plan. It starts you off at a beginner level and then presses you through workouts at 3 interval phases throughout the program. You get to choose your own personal trainer. Mine is a motivating dude who lets me know when I’m doing a strength training move incorrectly by saying politely, “Stay still and make it count!” To which I usually reply, “Shut Up I hate you. No More Reverse Crunches!” Only because the game really makes you work hard but really it is truly fun. It’s definitely challenging for sure.

3 Phases of Fitness with Active 2

EA Sports Active 2 mixes cardio, boxing, kickboxing, step aerobics and strength training exercises all together.  There are really entertaining  exercises like Soccer Block, Bike Riding, Rail Sliding, and Basketball Shooting. We had a friend over on Thanksgiving when I got the game and he is an ex personal trainer at a well known gym. He did the exercises to try the game out for us for about 30 minutes and he was sweating. He said, “This game is way better than any of the other games I have played. It’s more real and makes you move.”

How does it track your movements? With the game comes three censors and a USB drive. There are two arm bands and one leg band. One of the arm bands has a censor on it to track your pulse and the other two are for motion censing. Now the first time I played, it was a bit awkward and the leg band kept slipping off my leg but I think because I didn’t have it tight enough was the problem. It also comes with a resistance band to help with the strength exercises like curl arm presses and reverse flys. It works pretty great at toning. I am already showing a bit of tone in my arms especially and my legs too from all the squats they have. The USB stick keeps track of your progress so that if you want to switch consoles or take it to a friend’s house to work out together you can travel and keep your progress on your stick. It’s pretty rad.

EA Sports Active 2 Equipment for Ps3

Your progress is kept daily. The games contains fitness goals, nutrition logs, tracks calories burned, fitness levels attained, weight loss and heart rates achieved. It’s rather thorough I’d say. You can also create custom workout groups to workout with friends and watch each other’s progress. Unfortunately, you cannot use cross platform groups. A friend of mine purchased Wii version of the game and created a group and I tried to join on my Ps3 version and we could not. However, we did make an online group on the EA Sports Active 2 website and were able to track each other’s progress that way.  I like to track my progress on facebook using the Ps3 feature of posting my achievements on my facebook profile page via Ps3. It’s motivating for me.

As far as the game goes, if you are looking to workout but you hate gyms or monotonous workout videos, give EA Sports Active 2 a try. Similarly, if you have a Wii, try out the Football Trainer that just came out this month. I would be interested in hearing if anyone gets it going and how they like it. It’s really a blast and the health benefits are already showing for me after only 4 weeks of training. Run out and grab your copy!  Happy Fitness New Year!

Sprinting
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Chipset Likeness User – TRON Review

Awaiting the Grid to Open

Finally! The grid was re-opened at 12:01am on Friday, December 17. We got our tickets two months ahead of time on Fandango and they were said to have sold out one week later. The crowd of 450 Programs was a bit rowdy and everyone was Tweeting, Facebook Checking, and picture taking like mad.

As you looked down the 3 hallways that we all sat and waited for two hours to get the best IMAX 3D viewing experience, people were talking about everything from Daft Punk to Olivia Wilde, Googling, and You tubing like I’d never seen before.  It was a glorious Geek fest and we loved it!  Everyone was clad in their Tron T-Shirts, Threadless jackets, glow sticks, Identity Disks, and even a homemade Tron Jacket my boyfriend made with EL Wire and sewn with fishing string. It was amazing!

Using EL Wire to make a Tron Jacket

The theater managers let us in about an hour before the film and people all around us were engrossed with their cell phones and electronic devices. At one point, a guy in the front row stood up and announced, “Excuse Me! If anyone has a Nintendo DS and would like to play Mario Kart let’s do it!” Everyone roared with laughter. At another point, someone asked us to sing Happy Birthday to an elderly gentleman, and the crowd obliged.

About 10 minutes before the start of the film, the managers of the theater announced that glow sticks and glow devices were not allowed during the film. Needless to say the crowd was quite annoyed but complied. They had a short quiz session with prizes afterward and their questions were what I’d call “Simpleton” level. “What company did Flynn work with?” “Which game did he create?” “What does Tron Stand for?” … Simpleton!  Needless to say, I didn’t win anything.

Cue the Film! Don’t worry no spoilers.  In all it’s glory, the film began complete with a Tron inspired Disney Castle logo and loud Daft Punk music playing. The overall feeling was of excitement and joy.

Everyone was completely silent. All of us were on the edge of our seats the entire film. Nobody dared leave his/her seat to use the restroom.

Personally, my overall feeling of the film was utterly awesome! I was impressed with the digital images and younger version of Flynn. I also appreciated the “Easter eggs” they strategically placed throughout the film for those of us who saw the first film. I didn’t think it was necessary to have seen the first film to understand the second but it was great background and made you look deeper at the film.  For example, look closely at the fireworks over the City, and notice the name of the warehouse that adult Sam Flynn lives in. Quite awesome! And finally, I learned what C.L.U. , Flynn’s likeness in the game, stands for “ Chipset Likeness User.” Rad!

I did think that they needed more “battle” scenes. I was expecting more gladiator type games and less “epic hero storyline.”

There was one controversy of the film. Part of the IMAX 3D version was shot in 2D. They announced that at the beginning of the film, but honestly, I didn’t think it took away from the film at all.

Tron Merchandise at Disney's California Adventure

Ok, now that I’ve seen it, I plan on seeing it again very soon! You should totally check it out. I heard, but have yet to have seen, that D Street and California Adventure Tron Stores both have new merchandise after the release of the film. I hope to report back on that sometime this week. I also hope that it is better than the last Disney merchandise they released. It was a HUGE disappointment in that they did not have what I like to call “real people sizes,” clothes that are a large are a large and not an extra small, fitted. Likewise, the cost for merchandise was outrageous! Let’s hope they go on clearance and brought in some newer size-friendly merchandise. Oh! One last thing, I found some very cool Mickey ears . For $80 you can own your own Tron inspired Mickey Ears! How cool is that! If anyone wants to get me a present, this would be the one! *hint, hint*

Tron Mickey Ears

End of Line.

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What’s a Qwiki?

So, here I was in my living room two weeks ago, and  somehow on one of my infamous web quests for information I sprang across a little web site and was introduced to Qwiki.com. It had not as of yet been released to the public, but I quickly signed up both of my email accounts hoping to be a Qwiki Alpha tester.  I tested a few of the demos that didn’t require sign ups and even shown a few friends my latest find. It looked like an interesting enough site anyhow. Well, early last week my invite arrived!

What in the world is a Qwiki you ask? I’ve got the answer for you. Qwiki is a new website that takes generic information on topics like “Eiffel Tower” for example and showcases a vast array of photos, information, and clippings while a female voice program reads you the information that scrolls at the bottom. It’s pretty awesome in that respect and the photos were great representations of the topics.

If you are looking for a lot of information on a specific topic, this is not the place to search. I believe the majority of people at first will look at the site and maybe use it here or there, but honestly I was a bit disappointed in the little amounts of information included (so far) on each topic. Let’s hope with time they beef it up a little.

My first Qwiki search was for information on David Bowie. Basically the voice program sounded great! The tiny bit of information they had compiled however, was a bit of a let down. They only included basic information about his career as a musician and where he was born but did not include anything about his Film career or other prospects. I think this has to do with the fact that either there is so much information to gather it takes time, or the fact that they want to limit the time of each automated clip. Either way, it was rather bland for someone looking for information for a report or large quantities of information about a certain person or place.

Being in an education field, I think this site has great potential for students wanting limited information in a focused place. Also, it would benefit second language learners greatly in that it has visuals along with spoken information about each topic. Unfortunately, I have tried to use it at work and it has already been blocked for some odd reason I am sure, yet they let other Wikipedia type sites go untouched.

All in all, I say Qwiki has some great potential. It will be interesting to see when it gets released to the public how much editing they will allow the users to add to the information or how that process would go about.

It’s in Alpha testing now but go sign up and see for yourself, or find someone (like me with unlimited invites) who already has access to Alpha and check it out!
Let me know what you think.

http://www.Qwiki.com/

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Practically Free Things To Do

Like many of you, I get tired and irritable and just need something to do that is not one of my daily tasks or work related in any way. I usually will break out into an “I’m So Borrrred!” or something like that. Also like many of you I do not have a ton of cash for that dream vacation to the Bahamas or that short jaunt to Greece for my olive oil facial and dreamy Greek masseuse to give it. OK, dreaming aside; Heck! I don’t even have enough time or money to afford to go to El Cheap-O Spa with costs of living rising and my paycheck dwindling.

I have come up with a solution! And it doesn’t involve a ton of cash or anything too fancy at all. Something that will get our minds away from thinking about work or the inescapable tasks and duties of everyday life. DO FREE STUFF! Sound simple? It is.

What can you do when you don’t want to really do anything? Here are 10 things that don’t require you to be a Trump nor travel great distances to have a spectacular time:

1) Go on a picnic. We all have parks, neighborhoods, or yards and we all have to eat. Why not pack up the kids and significant other and go on a picnic? Remember, like the “old” days? Make a basket lunch and spend some time playing at the park or relaxing in the grass. It will not only relax you but will get you out and about in the open air.

2) Catch up on some DVR or Movies. If you’re like me, you haven’t been watching TV a lot lately. Catch up on the latest and greatest. I would highly recommend Big Bang Theory, Outsourced, and Mythbusters but that’s because I am a total geek! The last movie I saw? RED. It was very well put together and I think will hold me over until TRON arrives in December, maybe.

3) Look up some historical sites in your city. Every city has a history, why not check it out? You may be surprised! My city is full of wineries and several historical buildings along with Route 66!

4) Learn something new. The internet is full of vast knowledge and if you are glued to it, like some of us, you can “Google it” or go to the library to find some How-To books. Learn to do Origami, Crochet, Change Your Oil, Whatever you are interested in.

5) Rearrange your house. Move furniture or other things around and see how different you can make it feel. It’s amazing how much this helps. I did this about 3 months ago and my apartment feels much more spacious.

6) Read. Ok, so you are like me and don’t like to read, “War and Peace.” News Flash: You can read whatever you like. That’s the joy of reading. Magazines count too!

7) Research your Family History. Ok most of us run to the internet for this too. Why not talk to relatives and interview them? Take some time to ask about what their life was like and document or record it somehow. Put it together in a family album. My sister and I have decided its that time in our lives to start asking the grandparents about life and are working on putting together a virtual family history book.

8 ) Write. About anything. Go somewhere you are comfortable and write about anything you want. Journals, blog, draws, create poetry, whatever. Writing is not only a good therapy, it’s also neat to go back and see what your life was like on that day and time in the future.

9) Take your pet for a walk. Take a stroll outside in the open air. They will enjoy it and you can get a break from the mundane tasks. I am lucky enough to live close to a dog beach so that is one way we have fun. Dog parks are relaxing for you and you can meet new people from your area. Singles, this is a great way to meet new potential dates!

10) Exercise! Yeah I hate that word too. But really, it’s what we all need more of. Nowadays, we can play video games or just simply go for gander around the neighborhood. If you like sports, play a game or two with some friends or family.

Well, these are 10 relatively easy, mindless, and fun things to do if you need some time to get away or just can’t think of anything new to do. Let us know if you decide to try ‘em out!

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In Like Flynn

Power Surge

Greetings Programs. Let the Gladiator Games Begin!

On October 28, 2010 Disney Parks Blog hosted a free Meet-Up for the new experience called ElecTRONica. This exclusive event was invite only, but if you follow the blog or @Disneyland on twitter, you will get updates like this one on occasion. All you needed to do was send them an email with your first and last name and a certain subject in the space and you and a guest of your choice were “In like Flynn.”

So, I used my ipod touch to send a quick email with my name and a friend of mine did the same so we could take our significant others. When it came time to find out who was chosen, she got in and I did not. NOT FAIR! So like a good friend, I convinced her to take me and leave her husband at home. She did! (Actually her husband didn’t really want to go.)

The party was limited to 1500 attendees and a guest of their choice who each received a commemorative Flynn’s Arcade token and exclusive park entry from 4:00pm until 11:00pm. Attendees were also granted special access to the creators of TRON: Legacy by lining up early. The first 200 people were able to meet them and obtain autographs.

One of the highlights was the Power Surge Show where we saw a team of dancers perform in their 80’s style jean jackets and denim pants tucked into their slouch socks. We also learned the End of Line Dance to Daft Punk’s “One More Time.” When the time was right, there was a huge clock which counted down to the presentation of ElecTRONica.
“10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1!” the crowd roared.
“Let the Gladiator Games Begin!” he announced.

Dj spinning Daft Punk At End Of Line Club

Upon entering the spectacle in a mass of 2998 other participants, we were greeted by huge video screens and large beams and structures flashing grid like patterns and playing small clips of the movie.

When we reached the end of the street, we were faced with a huge Recognizer that identified me this time as “This program has no disk.” “Great!” I thought, “My identity disk water pack has been erased.”

We then headed into the area of the dance party. There was a he DJ spinning many of Daft Punk’s hits and other remixes as programs were dancing the night away. Many of them were imbibing in their favorite glowing beverages and meeting new friends.

Directly behind the dance floor was a special showing of the Laser man where he seemed to bend light with his hands and body at times. It was quite popular as well.

In the far corner was the gem of the night. Flynn’s Arcade. Well, a remake of the original, complete with 80’s music, token machines that spit out special coins to play the arcade games, and neon lights all around us. We found the GALAGA machine and I called “We got next (game)” as my friend Amy slammed her token on the machine while the other player was playing their last round. HA! “It was a trip and was like the world didn’t exist for a brief moment in time,” she claimed.

To the right of the Arcade experience they had a special room dedicated to movie paraphernalia and posters filled with some of the concept art before the film was made. We spent a few moments browsing some helmets, posters, and a full body gladiator suit from the film which appeared to have a very life-like manikin inside. The best of all though, was a white cloak worn by “Flynn,” Bridges himself in the film. It had never previously been seen in public until now.

As we left the arcade as we had drained our pockets of tokens, there was a Tweet Up announced from Mouse Planet, a third party blog and forum that many of us frequent to attend scavenger hunts and the like at Disney parks. We hung out for a few moments and then spotted Heather, the writer and main blogger of the Disney Parks Blog. We went over to meet her and she was kind enough to offer us an exclusive Blog Pin for our lanyards. It was very awesome!

We then went back to chatting about new TRON merchandise that I had spoken to a CM (Cast Member) about earlier when I purchased my official TRON: Legacy T-Shirt. He said they had the merchandise in stock but were not allowed to release it until November. (BOO!) Adrienne, the “big cheese” of Mouse Planet said she had seen some hats that said “ElecTRONica” on them and was thinking they should sell them at the park. (They currently only sell TRON embroidered hats.)

The Cloak worn in the film by Bridges

As we were chatting about it, I spotted a CM wearing one and beckoned him to come over and let us inspect his hat and Jacket which had an embroidered Identity Disk on the back. “When and where can we buy these?” I asked. He said he wasn’t sure but asked “Which one of you wants to be in some games?” Amy, my friend, pushed me into him practically and said,” She’ll do it.” “Great!” I thought to myself. So I waited with anticipation with the other 7 “Gladiators” to play the new Wii Game TRON: Legacy for a chance to win prizes.

As the time grew closer, I was starting to get shaky. Thank goodness they let us practice once before we had to play in the tournament. Oh, but get this, Amy, my friend was asked to play too. He called “Gladiators to your podiums!” and we ran with smiling faces. I was up against a college age guy… piece of cake! I took him in round one. “SWEET!” Amy won her heat as well. The announcer asked, “How are you doing? I said, “Great! I am sooo getting my TRON on!” My competitor said, “In like Flynn!”
Heat two began and the guy I was against kept my light cycle to the wall. I crashed 3 times and was out. Well, it was amazing while it lasted!

The last stop was the TRON: Legacy Sneak Peak 20 minute clip from the film. It was almost in 4D because it was held in the Muppet’s 3D theater with special effects all around us! It was a blast!
Overall the experience was quite a spectacle and I would highly recommend checking it out. The portal is open from 8:00pm until park closing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Nights at Disney’s California Adventure theme park. Check out my videos of the experience here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEGpBqdn9nM

End of Line.