Pulp Awareness - Venture Brothers and APE

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Pulp Awareness is a segment where we highlight upcoming or recent happenings, events, or sightings of anything revolving around the pulp culture. This week we see the return of a classic show as well as a collection of all things alternative.

Venture-Brothers-venture-brothers-301534_1024_768.jpgVenture Bros is slated to hit your televisions this coming Sunday. If you've already seen the season four promo video that's been hitting the airwaves, you know that this season is set to raise both the level of absurdity and vintage awesomeness that we all have come to love. Check it out this Sunday on Adult Swim at 11PM.

APE Expo returns this year. If you are a native of San Francisco, this year seems to be quite a treat. One neat thing that might not be known about attending APE is that if you attended this years Comic-Con International, you can get into APE for free, just present your badge at the check in.  Check it out and for all the Arcade Fans out there, send us your stories of this years APE Expo and we'll publish your story on the site, making you a Junior Scientist of Pulp Arts. Send all stories to js@arcadeteamgo.com. Keep a look out and enjoy the week.

Junior Scientist: Alex Douglas

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At Arcade, we are hear to promote the awareness of Pulp Culture and put the science back into the things we love. It is with great honor that we publish a junior scientist (not really a junior scientist but in our world he is) article about a video project he did in school. Please welcome Alex Douglas.




First off, I would like to say this video was because of "Team Nitrotech Productions" from my group in my video production class in high school. We had to make a commercial that had to get people interested to buy this product. We researched other product commercials to see how we ourselves thought of these commercials and how we reacted to these commercials. We looked at the serious commercials like the ones to buy and sell gold. These made us uninterested because it didn't show any excitement and had terrible acting. We looked at other commercials that were more "action-packed" such as the commercial for "Bow-flex". This got us more interested and had a lot higher percentage to actually want to buy the product if we actually were going to purchase the item or actually have money. Then we remembered the fake commercials that were introduced to the beginning of the movie "Tropic Thunder." These commercials made us the most attentive because it was focused on comedy while still advertising these fake movies especially the "Booty Sweat" commercial. So we decided to make a combination of both the action-packed and comedy-oriented commercials to get the audience their full attention.

The next part was to make a script. This was actually pretty fun to do. We wanted the product be a "Man-cake" because it wasn't just a cake because it was manlier. Our teacher made it so we had to do the commercial on an existing product so we chose "Nitro-tech." We kept a cup cake in there to keep its originality. I was chosen as the nerd cause i was the only tall white skinny kid in our group. We made it so I changed into a tall African-American for more of a comedic approach. We originally had two girls run up to him to show that "Nitro-Tech" attracted women and made you all around better. This didn't work because the two girls could not keep a straight face doing it. Due to the short amount of time we had we decided not to repeat that scene.

We also had to get props. We made sure I was completely nerd-like. We did the basic nerd look with a hint of "Star War" nerd look thanks to the white socks, sandals, rolled up pants, tucked in fully buttoned up shirt, "Star Wars" belt buckle, and big glasses. We got the glasses from Cody who was in our group who wore them anyway. We wanted duct tape on the glasses but could not find any.  The shirt was from the director/voice of this commercial, Michael Calderon. The rest were from me except the belt buckle which I received from my brother and decided to keep. We found the cone just randomly a school and decided to use it.

The last part was the editing. All we did was transfer from the video camera to the computer. We edited for about two hours because we only had to put in music and special effects. The music was already on the computer and we decided since it sounded exciting and more "action-y." We were messing around with pitch of the voices because we were bored. This is why the voice went from really deep to sounding like a chipmunk. We used a "Pop-in Pop-out effect" for me turning into the big African-American. We also did the scene with someone throwing the
Nitro-tech at me at least ten times cause the girl who did, who was actually one of the girls that tried to be in one the earlier failed scenes, could not get the throw right. Luckily she hit above the waste most of the time. Me actually eating the cupcake with the Nitro-tech on it was a scene we only had two chances to do it because we only had two cupcakes. It took only one cake but I still ate all of them both. Even the bite with Nitro-tech, I ate it. If you look closely I actually coughed up some of it and it blew out. They were tasty after that.
 
This was a very fun project that I was happily part of. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Sub-verse Transmission 010 - The Horrors of Reality

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Have you ever wondered what is real and what isn't in the world of Horror? We disect the fact from the fiction and delve into the ideologies of what really makes horror horrific... REALISM. To be honest though, most of everyone doesn't believe in anything, including air.
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The Horrors of Reality - October 9th 2009
1 hr 26 min - 83.5MB

Synopsis 
Continuing the Halloween Theme, horror is the topic of venue. Does Horror Fiction have any basis in reality? We draw parallels from the human world to the fictional worlds of Horror in this weeks installment. Also, our very first e-mail, and a new chapter in the, THE GAME SHOW show.

Intro [0:52]
[03:36] Reading of our first e-mail
[05:25] Question of the Night - Long Beach Comic-Con

People, Places, Things [09:39]
[10:10] Warren Spector's Epic Mickey 
[15:30] San Diego Comic-Con selling out already
[20:39] Warhammer 40k Movie Announced/Arrested Development movie ACTUALLY moving forward

Main Topic [29:03]

The Game Show: [1:12:44]
[1:21:20] Verdict

Closing Statements [1:23:52]

Change is coming...

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We here at Arcade are always thinking of ways to promote Pulp Culture and inform the uninformed. The past few months, we have intercepted a frequency being produced from a rip in the psyche plain appearing to be beamed in from a place called "the sub-verse". For a while, we have been passing the transmissions on to you, our loyal supporters. Aside from these transmissions, we've seemed to of neglected our home base site, but all of that is about to change. While our operations will remain covert still, just know that change is brewing here at HQ and will be presented to you in a timely manner (i.e. very soon). Keep your eyes keen and sharp and await the arrival of something new.

We are Arcade Team, and we are GO!

Sub-verse Transmission 009 - Oh, The Horror

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Oh The Horror - October 2nd 2009
1 hr 41 min - 91.3MB

Synopsis
Horror has evolved over the ages from elegant stories of prose and monsters to the killers in all of us. Is this change good, has horror lost it's meaning or that bone that strikes fear in everyone? This week we begin our Monster Mash! It's the month of Halloween and all month long, we are to celebrate the things that go bump in the night. From Monsters to Zombies, we discuss it all. This weeks installment of the Sub-verse we discuss the relevancy of the horror genre and whether or not it's in the right hands with today's generation of media makers and consumers.

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Sub-verse Episode 4: What's in a Sci Fi?

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This week's episode spurs the conversation that started the sub-verse in the first place. In an un-transmittable episode, our sub-versians discussed what it was that made science fiction, science fiction and delved deep into the ideologies of how people classify the genre. In this renewed topic, Kyle, Jordan and Moses discuss into greater detail that very question.  

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What's in a Science Fiction - August 22th 2009
1 hr 25 min - 82.3MB

Break Down
03:36 - Revisit of last week's topic (Movie Franchises)
18:40 - People Places Things
48:08 - Main Topic (What is Science Fiction)

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Sub-verse Episode 2: COMIC-CON

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Aside from my recent outburst in an attempt to grab some attention from my masters, things at Arcade have been alright yet slow. This week emerges yet transmission from the Sub-verse, the space between spaces.

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The Con of Two Thousand and Nine - August 5th 2009
1 hr 29 min - 82.3MB

Break Down
(This is where input for the show is inserted)

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The Sci Fi Channel is now SyFy

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I'm a big science fiction nut.From the blood in my body, to the impure thoughts of making it with an alien woman, I love science fiction. It's been the catalyst for the many imaginings I had when I was growing up as a kid, and to this day, still resonates as a great genre of possibilities and endless journeys. When I stumbled upon "The Sci Fi Channel" back in 1996, when I finally got cable television, I was lost in the worlds of space operas and trans-dimensional worlds. I stuck around for Stargate, for Farscape, and the recent incarnation of Battlestar Galactica. 

The reasoning behind this trip to memory lane is because today marks the reboot of the popular science fiction channel. "Sci Fi Channel" is now known as "SyFy", Imagine Greater being their maxim. Well, what if greater isn't greater but just... different? Already we've seen Sci Fi Channel transform and delve deeper into other genres such as fantasy and horror. Not to say there is anything wrong with that but looking at the trends television stations take, it's only a matter of time before "SyFy" becomes "ByeBye" and decides to show reruns of The Hills only before spinning off and making a similar show. 

Cartoon Network, famous for its, well, cartoon block line-up, has recently thrown their hat into the live-action relm, combating with the likes of Disney and Nickelodeon. Remember a time when Music Television was about music? I could be just over thinking things and chances are I am, but one can't be to cautious about what's happening to something they love, especially something they've love for a long, long time. Time will only tell what's brewing at SyFy headquarters and with the end of Battlestar Galactica earlier this year, who knows what they have in store. It might just be just a silly name change for image, but what does it all mean? Is Science Fiction morphing into something completely different? Is it being forced to crawl into the dark depths of the black abyss to accompany Lovecraft as only a niche genre? Should we all be worried? 

I would like to imagine greater things for science fiction, but something just doesn't feel right.

The Wii Fit Challenge: Week four

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    I woke up this morning feeling pretty dang sore. More so than I have in a while. I can only assume that this means that my work out routine continues to be effective. I've tried to keep it as varied as possible by switching between jogging, weight lifting, and exercise on the Wii Fit. Yesterday I tried some of the more difficult Yoga poses for the first time. I wonder If thats why I'm so sore today. All I know is I haven't felt this way since I played soccer in High School and, in all honesty, its a feeling I've missed. The sense of accomplishment that accompanies a sore set of muscles is very fulfilling.


    More good news to report today. This last week I lost six lbs. This means I've lost a total of eleven lbs in about ten days. Now I'm not one to argue with quick results but compared to the first few weeks that's an amazing difference. I wasn't sure if it was healthy to loose weight that fast. I did some research and apparently a lot of what I lost could have been water weight. I also found that that kind of weight loss isn't terribly unusual if I'm working out every day and doing lots of cardio. Jogging and my exercise with the Wii fit both add up to a hefty amount of cardio so I think I'm okay.


    I can easily say I've never felt this determined to stay committed to an exercise routine before. I'm out running every day and I'm already seeing noticeable changes in my figure. I weigh 235 lbs now, a weight I haven't even been close to since college. Perhaps the most momentous even of this week is the fact that I have reached my first REAL goal. According to my BMI when I started, I qualified as obese. Now I'm about 6'3 so I carried all my weight pretty well but I just couldn't stand to hear the cutsie little pixilated voice tell me, "That's Obese" every time I weighed myself. Now, after loosing over ten lbs, I no longer fall into the 'obese' category of the BMI. Now I'm just 'overweight'.


    So I've made some good progress but I have a feeling that the real challenges are going to be in the weeks to come. I'm going to have to really push myself if I want to see results. I'm aiming to loose another ten lbs in the next month So I hope anyone reading out there will continue to follow my progress along with me.


Wii Fit Challenge: Week Three

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    It's the third week of the Wii fit challenge and I'm happy to report some good news. This last week I've lost five pounds! Fantastic! It's been tough going, and I've really had to push myself, but I feel slimmer, stronger, and better about myself in general. So far the best thing about the Wii fit is the manner in which it tracks your progress. Daily BMI tests are plotted on a line graph and its quite honestly a great source of motivation. Anytime your weight goes back up you can reflect on your activities in the previous days and try and correct your behavior.

    The aforementioned aspect has also been a great help in controlling my diet. Most of the times where my weight fluctuated upwards I could pick out where i could have made better eating choices. Loosing weight and becoming healthier is a two-fold process, as I've stated before and as any doctor will tell you. I feel that the Wii fit has thus far helped me manage both of those in a far more effecient fashion than I could have on my own.

    I must admit, where as at first I was working out almost exclusively on the Wii fit every day, I am now expanding my Exercise regemine. In just a few short weeks I'm up comfortably jogging two miles as a warm up for my workout. All in all I walk/jog for about thirty minutes which is the minimum recommended time for a worthwhile cardio workout. That leads into Wii Cardio exercises like the Stepping working or rythem boxing. All in all it makes for an manageable an effective seeming workout. I've also begun lifting weights in tandem with the Wii strength exercises. Best of all, even if I'm not actually using the Wii, the exercises I've learned fit in very well with weight lifting and other strength training exercises.

    At the end of the third week the best thing I can say about the Wii fit is that it got me off the couch. I wouldn't have fell so easily into an exercise routine if I hadn't had the Wii fit to start me off. How large a part the Wii Fit my actual exercise regemine in the future remains to be seen however. I'm attempting to incorporate it as much as possible.