Aviously

Dear BDB and the MTA

@iAmAviG

October 16, 2017

Dear NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio,

This idea of charging some New Yorkers more money on taxes in exchange for the low income getting half-priced fares is just unfair.

We are all stuck in this over-congested city, suffering from the same terrible subway service, and it just isn’t fair that some people should pay less for the “right” to ride those homeless infused germ boxes.

If there’s going to be a new or raised tax to help fund the MTA, then all New Yorkers should benefit from it.

Instead of yearly fare increases, halt them for a few years…or if you insist on a discount, then lower the prices by 25-50 cents. This would result in more people using the subway, bringing in more money for the failing-MTA.

You may have been our Mayor for four years, and you may be about to be re-elected for four more, but don’t mistake that for “General Approval”.

Lowering the cost of a subway ride would win you a lot of thumbs up from both sides of the aisle.

Sincerely,

New Yorkers

Reclaiming Those Unused Amazon Gift Cards

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October 11, 2017

If you’re like me (you’re not), you send people Amazon gift cards for gifts. Be it birthdays or holidays, or just a regular Wednesday, I send people digital Amazon gift cards to their emails.

Recently I was scrolling through my older Orders on Amazon and noticed that each digital card had a status on them, which if they have been used says “Redeemed”.

But sometimes you find unclaimed ones like I did from 2015 and earlier, and Amazon gives you the option to resend them…to any address.

Now if you are a nice person, or if they are a really good friend, you might resend it to them or remind them that they have money they never claimed.

But if you were just sending it to random co-workers, and they haven’t claimed them 20 months later, you can also send it back to yourself, meaning that (1) the money doesn’t just get added to Amazon’s profits, as unclaimed monies and (2) you get the money back that you spent and they didn’t have the courtesy to use.

And no, I have no regrets taking back gifts that the person didn’t use and forgot about.

10/10 Song of The Day

@iAmAviG

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October 10, 2017

Yes, it’s the date, and it’s also a top-notch Song of the Day post, so all around it’s a 10/10!

The last SOTD post was absolute fire, with all four songs being some of the best songs I’ve posted on here if I do say so myself.

But this time I’m going to try to approach that high bar, and by doing so we are going to have two back-to-back artists, something I try very hard to avoid but is simply impossible to do when the songs are this good.

At My Best – Machine Gun Kelly feat. Hailee Steinfeld

I shout, I swear, I get angry, I get scared
I fall, I break, I mess up, I make mistakes
But if you can’t take me at my worst
You don’t deserve me at my best

Doin’ Fine – Lauren Alaina

I’m doin’ fine enough to know that everyone’s a little broken
Fine enough to learn that hearts are best when they’re wide open
I’ve still got fear inside of me
I’m not okay, but I’m gonna be alright
For the first time in a long time I’m doin’ fine

No Promises – Cheat Codes feat. Demi Lovato

I just wanna dive in the water
Oh baby, we can’t see the bottom
I just want to dive in with you
I just want to lie here with you

Last Time For Everything – Brad Paisley

Last call, last chance
Last song, last dance
Sometimes you just don’t know when that’s gonna be
Cause there’s a last time for everything

Origin by Dan Brown – Review

@iAmAviG

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October 9, 2017

The world came to know Professor Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, even though that was the second book in the series, after the amazing Angels & Demons.

Now, after the Professor of symbology, made famous(er) by Tom Hanks, has explored CERN, Da Vinci, the Freemasons, and Dante, they come to face the age-old questions of “Where do we come from?” and “Where are we going?”, and how religions center around those questions.

The scene is Spain, and all the Kings horses and men are focused on Edmond Kirsch, the Elon Musk of Langdon’s world (even though Musk exists as well), as he looks to unveil his newest prediction about the future of the world.
His previous predictions have all come true, and his high-tech inventions are things of the future, including Watson, his “Alexa/Siri” that will top all other virtual assistants.

Brown takes us on another fresh adventure, as another “ready for the movie” book hits all airport shelves, getting an 8 out of 10.

Hulu Live #Review

@iAmAviG

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October 4, 2017

After I finished my testing of YouTube TV, I went ahead and tried out Hulu Live, and while it may give YouTube a run for their money, they both still have a long way to go.

Live TV plays smoothly, no issues starting up or finding the Network you’d like. Although it would be nice if there was a “TV Guide” style list of all the shows currently on, as the current look can be a little clunky.
On that note, it makes it hard to find upcoming recordings, which often leaves you wondering if you are going to have the shows that night.
The recordings are very tight on time. If your show is from 8-8:30, you are going to get a recording of 29 minutes, 59 seconds. That’s not okay. It means that if their servers are off by a few seconds (which they are), or the show runs over by a few seconds, you are going to miss parts.
- Speaking of which: Sporting events need to have an extra half hour tacked onto the end of them. Sometimes (okay, most times), the games run over, and having just a little bit of pad room would be nice.
When loading up DVR recordings, the app will sometimes just load infinitely, with the time on the bar showing a negative number of about 50,000 minutes…
Choosing what you are recording is a real hassle, especially when it comes to sports.
- My example was trying to record all the NYCFC matches. Hulu let me put “teams” on my list, but it wouldn’t record the games. And if I choose “MLS”, it would record all MLS games and not just City.
  So in order to do it properly, I would have to go find the game, and click “Add to episodes”. But I wouldn’t be able to find it unless I went to the channel airing the game, and scrolling through the timeline until the time it was going to air, which isn’t doable until the day before the match.
I paid for the version of Hulu with “No ads”, which meant when watching regular Hulu programming, most shows would be ad-free.
But when watching the recorded shows, the ads are still there…which is completely understandable and expected.
However, instead of the commercial breaks being part of the “recording”, they show up as added breaks, like regular ads on Hulu which you can’t skip through, forcing you to watch ads on recordings.
The Channel list is really good, equaling YouTube toe-to-toe, despite each one missing a handful of channels, in this case AMC.

After experimenting with YouTube TV and Hulu Live, I have decided to go back to no cable-cutting TV streaming…for now.

For more info on the add-ons, pricing, and other features of Hulu Live check out my other post.

The Never Ending Story of an NYCFC Stadium

@iAmAviG

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October 3, 2017

NYCFC has been around since 2013 and playing their home games at Yankee Stadium for three full seasons now.

But with the fans clamoring, and the front offices promising, it’s time for a stadium that we can call our own.

This team is built around the 5 boroughs. The logo is an NYC subway token, the team’s unwritten mascot a pigeon. It’s been promised from Day 1 that this team was all about New York City, unlike their cross-river rivals playing in New Jersey.

But the first actual proposal that floated to the surface is in Elmont, NY…located just outside of Queens. This is alienating the fans that are dedicated to this city, and moving out of it will lose at least 50% of the fans.

City Football Group and the Yankees have the money. A lot of the fans, don’t. Don’t make the game more expensive to go to, requiring everyone to take LIRR instead of the Subway.

It’s one of the reasons I don’t go to New York Rangers games: The tickets are too expensive, and it just makes it not fun to go to a game.

Make it harder to go to games, and people will just stop going.

Big Mouth #Review

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October 2, 2017

Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, who recently popped up on Netflix in Oh, Hello on Broadway, have continued their strange connection with Big Mouth, a show about teenagers hitting puberty and figuring out their feelings.

Being alone is great, It prepares you for real life.

The hormone monster and monstress are taking over their lives, dictating their every move, and this 100% not for kids animated show is a decent way to spend a slow weekend.

Dirty jokes abound, absolutely filthy, but if you can put up with all of that it’s got a lot of hilarious moments.

You’re picturing it, we’re talking about it.

Unfortunately, the storyline is a little slow and dull after a few episodes, and it doesn’t ramp up again until close to the end of the season.

The show stars Kroll, Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, Jordon Peele, Jenny Slate, and guest appearances from Kristen Wiig and Zach Woods.

The show is decent and gets a 7.5 out of 10.

Tell Me You Love Me – Demi Lovato

@iAmAviG

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September 29, 2017

It’s hard to believe that 25-year-old Demi Lovato has six albums out over a nine-year span, as she still feels like one of the fresh new voices, but with today’s release of Tell Me You Love Me, Demi opens up about relationships, life, vulnerability, and everything in between.

This album doesn’t have a bad note on it, and with Sorry Not Sorry leading off, a single that has potential to be Song of the Year, you just know that this album is going to be packed with solid music.

She talks about her Daddy Issues and how it affects her relationships, and speaking of those, Ruin The Friendship discusses her crossing that line with a really good friend…I’m kind of looking at you, Nick Jonas…

But on top of all that, I think the title track has some of her strongest lyrics:

I need someone on days like this, I do
On days like this
Oh, tell me you love me

The album has only one song with a featured singer, Lil Wayne, but the deluxe version include two other top Demi songs, in which she featured, from this year: Instruction (by Jax Jones) and No Promises (Cheat Codes).

This album is powerful, and the vocals within are as well, and Demi is definitely my new obsession, getting a 9 out of 10.

Transparent Season 4 #Review

@iAmAviG

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September 28, 2017

The Pfefferman’s are back and heading to Israel, for speaking engagements, escapes from reality, and to get in touch with their religious sides.

But when Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) discovers his long dead father may still be alive, and a “Cool Guy” on top of that, the search into their lives gets a little deeper.

Meanwhile, Ali (Gaby Hoffmann) is exploring Israeli/Palestinian relations, from a one-sided point of view. Sarah (Amy Landecker) is trying to figure out what divorce means, as she’s still kind of with her ex Len, all while making friends with Lila, played by Arrested Developments’ Maeby, Alia Shawkat.

Josh (Jay Duplass) is dealing with his Mom (Judith Light) living with him and testing all his boundaries, including that strange kissing on the lips.

But when all is said and done, the Pfefferman’s are same semi-dysfunctional/semi-functional family that we’ve known since Season 1, but with a more solid determination of who they are as a people. But the show has mellowed out, and I don’t think is as “binge-worthy” as it once was, only getting a 7 out of 10.

FIFA 18 #Review

@iAmAviG

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September 27, 2017

FIFA 18 comes out this Friday, and the summary of it is eerily similar to last years game: Pretty darn good.

Gameplay is outstanding, running on the still fairly new Frostbite engine (debuted in FIFA last year), and looking as close to real as it can get.

They have turned up the presentation a little, as the “viewer” experience is now even sharper, with pre-game commentary and visuals showing you the players on the pitch.

And while last years ball gravity realism was fine-tuned, they have made it more user-friendly this year, allowing passes and ball movement to be crisper and easily playable, without making it too arcade-like.

One of the best new features is “Quick Subs”. We all know that we are going to bring in certain players for certain players at some point of the game (Realistic: David Villa may be subbed out in real life, but you are not taking him out in a video game, even if he hasn’t scored yet…it’ll be Rodney Wallace or Tommy Mac coming out.), but until now you had to pause the game and go to your substitution page and make the same subs…game after game.
So now you have the ability to set up three Quick Subs, that you can trigger during breaks in the game, and not take any time or pauses to do it.

Meanwhile, The Journey heats up in Chapter 2: Hunter Returns, as Alex Hunter is faced with new challenges. Heading to America for a preseason tournament, meeting stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, and maybe even getting a call to join the famed Real Madrid?
Make your decisions carefully though, because life has a funny way of derailing fast if you get too anxious.

One of the best video game franchises of all time, continues to be one of the most played games out there, as it retains its 9.5 out of 10.

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