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App of the Week: Table Top Racing

February 3, 2013 / Matt Byrd

Developer:

Playrise Edge Ltd.

Compatible with:
iPhone (optimized for iPhone 5)

iPod Touch

iPad

Requires:
iOS 5.0 or later

Price:

$2.99

Available here

So like all kids, I’m guessing you enjoyed playing with “Micro Machines” and “Hot Wheels.” If you were a Playstation user, I bet you like the high speed sci-fi racing series “Wipeout.” And like all everybody everywhere, you probably think “Mario Kart” is awesome.

So if I were to tell you that there was a “Hot Wheels” styled kart racing combat game like “Mario Kart” from some of the makers of “Wipout,” would that be something you’re interested in?

Well I hope so, because that’s just what we’ve got, and it’s called “Table Top Racing.” In it, you compete in several races, circuits and events against a variety of different model toy cars, which are unlockable and customizable, in both single player and online multiplayer modes. Rather than a simple sprint to the finish though, you’ll also use several weapons against your foes including the leader finding heat seeker missile and a beyond devastating EMP bomb.

The best part of “Table Top Racing” is it’s care with the subject matter. Everything about the game feels like playing out the most involved of all your toy car racing fantasies, a feature highlighted by the game’s best aspect, the tracks. All of the eight tracks are cleverly designed common world environments modified to create racetracks. For example, you’ll find yourself maneuvering around sandwiches on a picnic table at a Bar-B-Que, winding around oil cans on a work bench, or (in the best and most appropriate level) racing through a child’s room surrounded by classic toys. The track design is inspired and vibrant to the point of being almost distracting at times, but the brilliant layout keeps them fresh and even learning to keep your eyes on the course takes nothing from their creativity.

As for the gameplay, it’s not near as fast or hectic as the “Wipeout” and “Mario Kart” series that inspired it, but the controls are tight and races are almost always competitive, due in part to the influence of the variety of weapons, and some reasonably challenging AI. There’s always a competitive spirit to the game that somehow never overwhelms the loose sense of fun.

There aren’t enough racing games like this available on mobile systems, and there are none as good as “Table Top Racing.” I wish there were more shortcuts, races, tracks, and speed, but when your biggest knock against a game is that there should be more of it, that’s generally an indication of things going right. That is certainly the case here as “Table Top Racing” does many, many things right, leading to an intense, yet casual approach to the mobile racer with just the right amount of nostalgia to fuel it.

As a, most likely, adult, you are too old to play with your toy cars anymore. With “Table Top Racing” though, you’ll never miss them as it’s the best game of toy cars you never got to play as a child, and my app of the week.

Entertainment

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Hidden Netflix Gems: Raising Arizona

February 2, 2013 / Nate Kreichman

This week’s Hidden Netflix Gem: Raising Arizona (1987)

Even if you haven’t heard of Joel and Ethan Coen, you’ve sure as hell heard of some of their films. The brothers have jointly written, directed, and produced such modern classics as Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit. Their work bounces around in time, space, and genre—the Coens never make the same movie twice—and they’ve been renowned for it over the past three decades, with 13 Academy Award nominations and four wins.

Before all those accolades, the Coen brothers made their debut with 1984’s Blood Simple, a neo-noir thriller. Not wanting to make a reputation as one-trick ponies, they avowed to make to their next project as different from their first as possible. Out of that desire, the one-of-a-kind screwball comedy Raising Arizona was born.

Our protagonist is Herbert I. “Hi” McDonnough, played by the polarizing Nicolas Cage, who can make or break a movie depending on whether or not he fits his character. Hi is the type of lovable nitwit that often fills Coen fare: an erudite idiot reminiscent of Lebowski’s Dude, if he’d been born in an Arizona trailer park and had a penchant (though not necessarily a skill) for robbing 24-hour convenience stores. Luckily, Cage slips into Hi’s skin masterfully, right down to the wacky hairdo and funny accent (“Temp-ee, Arizona”). The performance remains one of his best to date, although ultimately Adaptation takes the cake.

Opposite Cage is Holly Hunter as the tight-lipped policewoman, Edwina or “Ed,” who’s always taking the recidivist Hi’s mugshot photos. After one particularly fateful arrest, Hi finds Ed in tears and learns that her fiance has left her. He proposes after his latest release from prison, and the two get married and move into a tiny trailer in the Arizona desert, which Hi lovingly calls a “suburban starter home.” One of the film’s many sources of comedy is the contrast between the upbeat world of Hi’s narration and that of the more objective reality we see on screen.

Hi does his best to “stand up and fly straight” after settling into married life, getting a job in a machine shop, but finds it difficult “with that darned Reagan in the White House.” Nonetheless, as time passes, the couple want to take the logical next step and start a family. Unfortunately, “biology is against them,” as they receive the unhappy news that Edwina is “barren,” and they’re denied the chance to adopt because of Hi’s criminal record.

Entertainment, Movies

Coen Brothers Ethan Coen Hidden Netflix Gems Hidden Netflix Gems Blog Holly Hunter Joel Coen John Goodman Nate Kreichman Nicolas Cage Raising Arizona Staff Picks - Movies William Forsythe

Drink of the Week: The Pisco Sour

February 1, 2013 / Bob Westal

You missed it because I didn’t write it, but last week’s Drink of the Week at La Casa de DOTW was Kroger generic Alka-Seltzer Plus. (Delicious!) Fortunately, I’m feeling much better this week and have returned with a special drink for this weekend’s very special day.

And what day do I speak of? It’s a day when an entire nation stops for several hours to cheer the works of great achievers, modern day gladiators, if you will, who are the finest exemplars of a noble and glorious, if physically dangerous, national tradition. I speak, of course, of the bartenders of Peru and Peruvian Pisco Sour Day, which this year falls on February 2. I think there’s something big happening this Sunday, too, but I can’t remember what.

In any case, it’s probably time for me to mention that this week’s post is not unrelated to a complimentary bottle of pisco that mysteriously arrived at my humble hacienda. To be specific, the booze gods blessed me with a bottle of Pisco Portón, an acclaimed high-end brew developed especially for the U.S. market. Now, this was the first time I’ve tried pisco straight up and, I must admit, it’s an acquired taste for this Yanqui. Pisco is basically Peruvian brandy in that it’s a hard liquor derived from grapes, but the flavor is more like a 150 proof tequila or Brazillian cachaça, which is kind of an achievement as Pisco is only 86 proof.

Still, I’m working hard to understand pisco and it does taste better straight once you’ve learned to sort of accept it as a fact of life. Much more important from my point of view, it’s actually pretty awesome — as in awe-inspiringly delicious – when mixed, even slightly. For example, the improvised Old Fashioned I made with it last night was extremely nice.

Still, that variation on the whiskey classic had nothing on a proper Pisco Sour made with Portón. It is, indeed, a thing of beauty and a real crowd pleaser of a cocktail with a very appealing balance of sweet, sour, bitter, and frothy flavors. Trust me on this folks, there’s a very good reason this true cocktail classic has been inexorably retaking it’s long lost place as a staple of U.S. bars. It’s really good and the Pisco Portón definitely gets some of the credit. Maybe I’ll eventually learn to like it straight.

The Pisco Sour

1 1/2 ounces pisco
1/2 ounce fresh lime or lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup or two teaspoons superfine sugar
1/4 ounce egg white
1 dash Angostura aromatic bitters (optional, but visually appealing, garnish)

Combine the pisco, citrus juice, syrup or sugar, and raw or pasteurized egg white in a cocktail shaker. (Measuring a small but exact amount of fresh egg white may be tricky, as the viscosity of the egg white tends to make it sort of clump together. You might try whipping it a bit first.) If you’re using superfine sugar in lieu of simple syrup, stir the liquid to dissolve the sugar. Then, before you add any ice, shake the contents vigorously to properly emulsify the egg white.

Next, lift the top of the shaker. You should see a nice, white froth on the top. Add lots of ice and shake again, very vigorously, a while longer. Strain into a very well chilled old fashioned/rocks glass and add a dash of aromatic bitters for color. Sip and salute the achievers of American football, Peruvian cocktails, and anything else you care to toast. By the time you’ve finished, you’ll just be marveling at what a tasty — an actually quite simple — cocktail you’ve had. You’ll probably want another one.

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As befits any truly great cocktail, there are tons and tons and tons of variations on just what proportions of ingredients you should use in a Pisco Sour. I started with the Wikipedia version, but I found I much preferred the recipe Portón offered, despite the very small proportion of egg white, one of my favorite ingredients. The recipe above is my slightly altered version, based on the fact that I found that substituting superfine sugar for simple syrup and/or fresh lemon juice for fresh lime juice created a drink that tasted almost exactly the same — and in this case that’s a wonderful thing.

That being said, I have no idea how similar this version is to the original version of the Pisco Sour invented by Victor Vaughn Morris, a Norteamericano bartender living in Peru during the 1920s who first got the bright idea of switching out the whiskey in a whiskey sour for pisco. It works for me. Now, go serve Pisco Sours at your silly American Superbowl party, and get called names by your friends for making fru-fru cocktails instead of downing Budweiser after Budweiser. This is a cocktail worth fighting for.

Food & Drink, Lifestyle, Vices

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“Death Race 3” Cars

February 1, 2013 / Bullz-Eye Staff

Bullz-Eye.com was back in South Africa again as we visited the set of “Death Race 3: Inferno.” Check out all of our “Death Race 3” coverage which includes interviews with some of the beautiful actresses from the film, including Tanit Phoenix, Michelle Van Schaik and the Navigation Girls. One sexy Navigation Girl is paired up with each driver, while Tanit Phoenix plays Katrina Banks who pairs up with Frankenstein, and Michelle Van Schaik plays the only female driver in a badass role.

One of the biggest attractions for these films has to be the badass Death Race cars, and you can see all of them below including the car driven by the infamous Frankenstein. Check them out and compare them to the Death Race 2 cars we covered for the last Death Race film.

Frankenstein’s Monster

Driver: Frankenstein (Luke Goss)

Jeep Wrangler Pickup

Driver: Akula Girls

Jaguar X

Driver: Psycho (Jeremy Crutchley)

Ghurkha

Driver: Razor (Bart Fouche)

Land Rover Defender

Driver: Tasmanian Devil

Sand Rail

Driver: 14k (Robin Shou)

Jeep Grand Cherokee

Driver: Baby

GMC Yukon

Driver: Rebel

Cars, Entertainment, Movies

Bart Fouche cool movie cars Death Race Death Race 3 Death Race 3 cars Death Race DVD Death Race Inferno Death Race racing vehicles Death Race vehicles Frankenstein's car Frankenstein's Monster Ghurkha GMC Yukon Jaguar X Jeep Grand Cherokee Jeep Wrangler Pickup Jeremy Crutchley Land Rover Defender movie cars Nav Girls Sand Rail tough movie cars

The Light from the TV Shows: TGS: 30 Great Shows (That Don’t Actually Exist)

January 31, 2013 / Will Harris

With “30 Rock” departing the airwaves after a not-unrespectable seven seasons – a particularly incredible achievement when you consider what an incredibly off-the-wall, insider-y sort of sitcom it was throughout its run – it seemed only appropriate to offer up some sort of tribute to the show in this week’s column. Unfortunately, since everyone else seems to have swiped all of the good angles that are 100% show-specific (indeed, I actually wrote a piece on the 30 best “30 Rock” guest stars for the “Today” blog, The Clicker), I had to think a little bit outside the box, but since a key aspect of the series was its show within a show, “TGS with Tracy Jordan,” it seemed like a perfectly reasonable concept to spotlight 30 of TV’s great fictional TV series. Lord knows these aren’t all of them, of course. Hell, even limiting myself to a one-fake-TV-series-per-real-TV-series rule…with the only exception being “30 Rock,” which seemed only fair, given the reason for the list in the first place…there are still thousands of omissions, so feel free to offer up your personal favorites that didn’t make the cut, “Family Guy” fans. (There’ve been so many on that show, I didn’t even know where to start.)

1. TGS with Tracy Jordan (“30 Rock”)

For those who can remember back to the pilot of “30 Rock,” Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) was originally in charge of a not-terribly-great sketch comedy series called “The Girlie Show,” but when GE’s new Head of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming, Jack Donaghy made an executive decision to add the completely unpredictable Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) to the show, the comedian’s ego necessitated a change in the show’s title to feature his name more prominently. 136 episodes later, we’ve scarcely seen a single “TGS” sketch in its entirety, and what bits we have seen have rarely been funny (at least not intentionally), but the shenanigans surrounding the series have been consistently hysterical.

2. The Alan Brady Show (“The Dick Van Dyke Show”)

Dick Van Dyke has discussed on many occasions how many TV writers have come up to him over the years and told him that the biggest reasons they decided to break into the business in the first place was because Rob Petrie and his cronies on Alan Brady’s variety show made it look like one of the most entertaining occupations in the world. Strangely, he hasn’t spoken nearly as much about how many of those writers finished their comments by yelling, “Thanks for nothing, you big liar!” I’m betting it’s about 50/50.

By the way, although “The Alan Brady Show” wasn’t real, the folks at MeTV talked Carl Reiner into doing a promo for the addition of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” to their line-up where he reprised the character. Funny stuff.

3. Invitation to Love (“Twin Peaks”)

If you’re not a David Lynch obsessive, you may not remember this soap opera, but those with keen eyes will recall that it turned up at least once in each of the first seven episodes of “Twin Peaks.” It’s also worth noting that “Invitation to Love” pointedly features identical-twin characters played by the same actress, which – in no way coincidentally – was more or less what Sheryl Lee did as Laura Palmer and Maddy Ferguson.

4. The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy (“Spongebob Squarepants”)

The best bit about this cartoon-with-a-cartoon was the fact that the “Spongebob” show runners reunited former “McHale’s Navy” co-stars Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway to prove the characters’ respective voices. It doesn’t get much cooler than that.

5. The Terrence and Phillip Show (“South Park”)

Disproving a longstanding theory that Canadians can’t be funny while cementing the not-really-in-question suspicion that farts are always funny, it need only be said that Terrence and Phillip are a stone-cold gas. Sadly, this clip is from their movie, “Asses of Fire,” rather than their series, but it’s basically the same thing. Y’know, except filthier. Much, much filthier.