I have been hoping for something like this to happen. To have someone like Mr. Barone suggest it makes me giddy.
Month: October 2012
Idris Elba as the Next James Bond?
Please make this happen.
Boom. Win.
How does President Obama think he can get reelected when he has lost the support of Rob Schneider?
[Letterpress](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fletterpress-word-game%252Fid526619424%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30), a new game by [Loren Brichter](http://www.macstories.net/msinterviews/a-conversation-with-loren-brichter/), has been all the buzz today. Though the game is a blast to play, I found that it can be a little confusing to to work through the initial GameCenter signup required to actually play the game against your friends. Here are the steps I went through:
## One
Once you launch the game, you’ll see the welcome screen. You’re only given one option, so click on “Sign In with Game Center:”
## Two
Clicking “Sign in with Game Center” will take you to the Game Center screen, which looks like this:
at this screen you want to enter your Apple ID. If you are someone who uses two Apple IDs–one for purchasing and one for iCloud–I would recommend you use your iCloud Apple ID here. After clicking sign in, Game Center will walk you through the process of completing your Game Center sign up. You’ll have to agree to the Terms of Services and you’ll get to pick your Game Center nickname. The Game Center nickname is important because it is one of the ways that people can find out if you are available to play games against.
## Three
Once you’ve completed the Game Center sign up process, you’ll be dumped into the main Game Center page[^fn1] where you can start to add friends. Click on the “Requests” button in the lower right, which will bring you to this screen:
From here you can now click on “Add Friends” to begin the process of adding friends[^fn2].
## Four
In the “Friend Request” screen, type in the email address or the “nickname” of the person you want to friend in the “To:” field. For example, if you were trying to friend me, you would type “**games@johnkiv.us**” in the “To:” field. You can change the default message to send out with your friend request. I admit, it looks kind of silly if you do not:
## Five
After you have submitted some friend requests, you have to wait until your friends accept the requests before you can play them in *Letterpress*[^fn3] . Once you start getting the notifications that you friends have accepted your requests, go back and open *Letterpress*. When you are in *Letterpress*, select “New Game”:
This will take you to the Letterpress-Game Center integration screen, where you can choose to either “Invite Friends” or “Play Now.”
If you choose to “Invite Friends”, you’ll be presented with a list of the Game Center friends you setup in the previous steps. If you choose “Play Now,” Game Center will give a random opponent against which to play. Either way, you should be playing an actual game of *Letterpress* in no time. Good luck![^fn4]
[^fn1]: If you are not in the main Game Center Screen because you are either back in Letterpress, at your iPhone’s home screen, etc…then open up Game Center.
[^fn2]: You might notice there is a “Friends” tab on the Game Center screen. This tab lists your current friends and gives you recommendations for new friends. I found that when I was first configuring Game Center, this tab was kind of useless.
[^fn3]: If you want to just play Letterpress against a random opponent, you can do so now. Just follow the rest of the instructions and select “Play Now” instead of “Invite Friends” when you are presented with the option.
[^fn4]: Unless you’re playing me. In that case, worst of luck to you.
Meanwhile…back in the Halls of Justice
Rumors are that Zynga used the Apple event as cover to lay off a bunch of people. Stay classy Zynga.
The biggest disappointment: $329. That said, I bet they sell a metric bazillion of them.
The 13″ Retina Macbook
This is my next?
Homeland Renewed for a 3rd Season
Was there really any question?
First Iron Man 3 Trailer Released
Go watch it. I’ll be here when you get back.
Be in front of your computer at 1pm Eastern.
The Last Presidential Debate
I think Yuval Levin’s summary of the last presidential debate sums up my thoughts nicely:
> It was absolutely clear that both candidates understood that this debate was entirely about Mitt Romney. Romney’s only goal was to seem presidential, and Obama’s only goal was to make Romney seem not presidential. By that measure, Romney clearly achieved his aim and Obama clearly did not. Romney did this by treating this debate very differently than the other two. He didn’t really try to score points, and he wasn’t afraid to express agreement with Obama, which he did remarkably often. His goal was to answer every question with a calm, responsible attitude and convey sobriety and level-headedness.
I, like Mr. Levin, am not sure if this means Governor Romney will be our next president, but I think this debate showed he would be an excellent commander-in-chief.
I hate the CW for sucking me in with all their little DC Comics easter eggs. For example, the villain of the week this week: Deadshot[^fn1].
[^fn1]: I feel like I should get out my old _Secret Six_ comics in preparation for watching it.
Victor Davis Hanson on the Debates
> By now there is a clear pattern in the three debates: The Democratic candidates are running as if they are not incumbents and talk vaguely about what they might like to do rather than concretely about they have actually done the last four years — often as faux conservatives in touting tax cuts and more drilling. They more often speak, interrupt, and gesticulate, and the moderators are far more accommodating toward them — while Romney and Ryan have the greater recall of facts and present the more systematic argumentation in the face of guffaws, snarls, and meandering emoting.The radically shifting polls reflect that reality: Voters seem not so interested in tit-for-tat score-keeping as much as which candidates seem the more reliable, civil, informed, and trustworthy.
I have watched the other two debates, but I have a feeling I will be watching the NLCS tonight instead of the debate. I have seen all I need to see.
What a horrible game. The Patriots look just terrible on defense.
*See also,* [Bill Barnwell’s Weekly Write-Up](http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8536374/the-patriots-flawed-other-week-7-news) (if, as a Patriots fan, you really want to be depressed).
The Arguments for John Farrell
Some potential reasons why the Red Sox selected John Farrell. I like the idea that Mike Aviles is being sent to Toronto to start telling other players how awesome it is to play in Boston.
Review of Daniel Bard’s Season
> In the end, Daniel Bard’s performance in 2012 doesn’t hold a candle to some of the truly awful years we’ve seen out of players in the past. John Lackey’s 2011 alone makes it seem almost irrelevant. But put in context, this disaster may be one for the ages if we don’t see something different out of him in 2013.
Daniel Bard flaming out as a starter made this horrible Red Sox season just that much worse. I really hope he can pull things together next year. Maybe John Farrell coming back will give him some help.
Looking at the Red Sox Shortstop Options
I have my fingers crossed that Jose Iglesias can get his hitting up to a manageable level, mostly so I can watch him play defense. He really is a witch with the glove.
Federico Viticci explains [Huffduffer](http://huffduffer.com), a great service that I’ve been using for, what seems like, years. Essentially, you create your own podcast feed with audio files you find online. I use it to pull single episodes from podcasts that I do not always listen to. I just put the podcast feed in [Reeder](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Freeder%252Fid439845554%253Fmt%253D12%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30) and when I see an episode that looks particularly interesting, I add that to Huffduffer[^fn1].
[^fn1]: I, of course, have my Huffduffer feed loaded into [Instacast](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Finstacast%252Fid420368235%253Fmt%253D8%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30)
BusyCal 2.0 [is now available in the Mac App Store](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fapp%252Fbusycal-2%252Fid567245998%253Fmt%253D12%2526uo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30)[^f4239]. I have been using the previous version of BusyCal since it was released and cannot imagin going back to Apple’s built-in Calendar application. Whenever someone tells me they are having problems syncing their Mac Calendars with Google Calendar, I tell them the solution is simple: Get BusyCal.
There’s a [30 day trial](http://www.busymac.com/busycal/index.html) for those who want to see what BusyCal can offer.
[^f4239]: Affiliate Link (as is the post link.)
Tigers Sleepwalk to Victory
The headline says it all. Of course, I guess I should be happy that Clemson is actually at a point where they can not show up for a game and still come out with a victory.