Portal was a revolutionary game, but you knew that already ...

An anonymous artist posted these pics on the web not too long ago, talk about a creative use of rubber and air AND Portal ! Yes, the portal balloon, complete with balloon Chell !

Georges Laraque is one tough m*th*r*u*ker, but you knew that already...

In case you don't follow hockey that much, yesterday I saw the most vicious hit I ever saw in an NHL game, courtesy of Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins against Max Pacioretty of our beloved Montreal Canadiens :

The guy is out with a severe concussion and a neck fracture (fourth cervical vertebrae). By looking at the replay, we clearly see that Chara intended to ram Max into that steel bar ... Chara had all kinds of excuses at the end of the game; "Hockey is a fast game" , "you don't "plan" to do that" , "it's not my "style" to hurt players" ... Obviously, the guy didn't see the replay.

You got to remember that Pacioretty triggered a little turmoil at the end of the Bruins last visit in Montreal when he shoved Chara after scoring the game-winner in overtime... According to what we saw yesterday, it seems Chara is a spiteful guy ...

We were all waiting for the decision of the NHL today regarding this case. A few games suspension? Rest of the season? High cash penalty? ... Well, the decision came in late this afternoon : How about ... NOTHING !!

Yep, the NHL is officially a league of buffoons where you could actually die while trying to play this sport because they don't protect their players from moves like that and don't enforce a no tolerance policy against this type of action, except for the standard penalty in minutes during the game ... Maybe they'll come up with a 20 minutes major soon for "attempted murder".

Well, I thought about the situation and came up with a brilliant plan ! We have this big tough guy, Georges Laraque, under contract for another 2 years even though is at home trying to convince us of becoming vegetarians or something like that. We pay him $500 000 a year for that.

We should get him dressed for the next Boston/Montreal game on March 24th, with the sole purpose of him grabbing Chara and hit him relentlessy against that pole with an half-inch of foam on it for "protection" against players hitting it at 60 miles an hour ... That would show the NHL what kind of league it's becoming.

No need to even give him skates, he jumps on the ice when play calls for a face-off near that famous pole, he makes a sign to Chara, they do a symbolic faceoff and all hell break loose. Then we get Georges to tell newsreporters that Hockey is a fast game, that he didn't plan to do that, and that it's not his style (hey, he would be more believable anyway? He's not 6'9 and 270lbs like Chara... Sure! The guy is all about no contact fair play ...).

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think it's a great idea ! Do that Georges and you can cash in this million for the last 2 years of your contract with a good conscience ! Everybody in Montreal will LOVE you !

... Don't forget to tune in for the next MTL/BOS game, March 24th, maybe on a UFC pay-per-view near you.

Real money is not the paper you have in your wallet, But you knew that already ...

I wouldn't qualify myself as a coin collector, even though I actually like looking at old coin pieces and pick up a few old quarters and dimes from my pocket change when they include silver (all pre-1968 quarters and dimes and Canada) but last week-end I came across an interesting forum of people who literally hoard 1 cent pieces for their content in Copper, and then I stumble upon the video of this guy on Youtube :

The guy has been collecting copper cents for 3 years now and has accumulated, hold on to your hats, 1 TON of pennies ! The funny thing here is that Copper price is on the rise, and each and every cent he has there is actually worth, at the time I write this, around 2.8 cents in metal value. A quick check on eBay and you end up with a few lot here and there of people actually selling common 1-cent piece in bulk for their copper value :

5000 Copper Pennies Pre-1982 Old US Coins Collections Lot Cents Free Shipping!!

US $139.95

3d 23h 30m

5 Pounds Copper 95% Cents 1959-1982 Investment Lot!

US $14.89

17d 21h 33m

4 COIN LOT 1 1907 INDIAN CENT & 3 2011 1 OZ ADVP Copper Rounds Morgan Indian UNC

US $10.50

9d 11h 36m

9 Pound Lot Pre- 1997 Canadian 98% Copper Pennies Canada Cent Bullion Bulk

1 Bid

US $24.95

1d 36m

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It seems unbelievable that you could walk into any bank and "buy" a case of cents that would include 30-50% of the lot in Copper cents that you could then easily sell for a profit, if not hoarding them too until Copper is worth more. I had to try it ! So I checked up on the Canadian cents stats and they turned out like this :

So while in the USA they got copper cents only until 1982, we got them until 1996 ?! And best of all, they're of a purity of 98% compared to the american ones at 95%? I was sold and had to do the test...

I got to my bank and asked if we could "buy" a case of pennies at $25 (apparently, that's how they're packed, 50 rolls of 50 cents), mumbled something along the line of  "I collect cents", which sounded stupid, and then proceed to get out of there as fast as I could, because ... well... if this thing was true,  I had the impression I was actually stealing from the bank ! ...

And true it was, damn ! I had almost 60% of all the cents in there being from 1996 and earlier, all 98% copper ! So I ended up with around 1500 copper cents that could probably sell tomorrow for at least twice their face value, that's impressive!

But damn! Is that time-consuming ...

Another interesting fact is that I had at least 2 full rolls of American cents in there out of the 50, It would probably have been nice if we were still 10 years ago when the US dollar was worth $2 CAD, but now it just feels like I was robbed of a few cents !

Just check your pocket change and I'm sure you will be surprised at the amount of copper cents you have right there.

So? Will you hoard copper cents? Do you hoard them right now? Ever thought about it? Will you try it?

The new Tron movie kicks the ass of the old Tron movie, but you knew that already...

What doesn't kick asses at all is the new toyline of action figures based on Tron Legacy made by Spin Master. It feels like we're back in the 80s with these ugly looking heads put on Star Wars action figures (think of the yellow-haired Luke Skywalker farm boy!), where you even had 2 sizes for the Han Solo head !

After seeing the movie last week-end, I ventured into the nearest toystore to try to pick up a few figures from the movie to put on my desk ... I'm at a loss for words trying to explain to you how I felt when I got in front of the display.

I mean, look at this Kevin Flynn action figure? He looks overweight, the face doesn't even come close to something we could call a pseudo likeliness if we looked at him through a glazed window in the night with only the moon as lightning. Terrible job there ! In this day and age of rotocasting action figures (or something that sounds like that, I'm not an expert and I don't feel like googling this right now) where they can get laser like precision on the likeliness of the actors who inspired the figures, how can you come out with this?! It's a luck they could put an helmet on 90% of the action figures there (and come up with this holographic thing on their huge deluxe figure to divert our attention to the fact that their sculptors can't differentiate the face from the butt on the human anatomy! ... Yeah, maybe it's Kevin's butt on there after all ! With a beard ! ... And a nose! ).

They even put an helmet on the Quorra figure ... That's how bad of a job they could do with the faces on this line ! Cover up the face of their only female action figure in the line (we see her with an helmet a whole ... 13 seconds in the movie?).

This line is a disaster, made for a quick buck only, their value will drop real fast.

I may pick up a few Black Guards when the local wal-marts will let these figures go at 3 for a buck in a few months ... Until then, I'll hang tight and do something else with my cash instead of lining the pockets of Spin Master with it.

If you're in the mood, you can check a few of these on eBay right now, I can't believe some of them are actually still quite scarce to get (including the overweight Kevin Flynn) :

DISNEY TRON LEGACY RECOGNIZER PLAYSET WITH SAM FLYNN LIGHT CYCLE BRAND NEW

0 Bid

US $9.99

34m

Tron Legacy UK Disney Store Exclusive Light Tank Vehicles x 3

0 Bid

US $47.42

1h 37m

TRON LEGACY Flynns Arcade EOL Bar Coaster SET OF 4 from SDCC

0 Bid

US $16.99

2h 51m

DISNEY TRON LEGACY SAM FLYNN & SIREN 2 FIGURE MOVIE SET (V.RARE), NEW AND SEALED

5 Bids

US $13.44

2h 54m

TRON LEGACY Light Cycle/Sam Flynn & Clu Actions Figures NEW Lights & Sounds

US $28.00

6h 37m

RARE ERROR!! Tron Legacy Sam Flynn Tron Arcade Target Exclusive CHASE VARIANT!!

US $24.99

7h 35m

Tron Legacy ULTIMATE CLU 12" Action Figure Lights & Sounds Animated *NEW*

0 Bid

US $34.99

8h 32m

CUSTOM TRON LEGACY minimate of the BLACK GUARD

0 Bid

US $10.00

9h 21m

Tron Legacy ULTIMATE CLU 12" Action Figure Lights & Sounds Animated *NEW*

US $38.50

9h 24m

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Skittles don't really taste like rainbow, but you knew that already...

They're quite useful to make old school videogame characters though, as the brillant idea shown here by DeviantARTist Matt McManis. How come nobody ever thought of that one before today ?! Genius ideas are still out there ladies and gentlemen...

Be sure to visit his DeviantART portfolio to check out Link and a few Final Fantasy characters made from the same stuff I wouldn't be able to craft with (would end up in my belly before I get to do Mario's pinch for sure).

P.K. Subban will be the Rookie of the year 2011 in the NHL, but you knew that already...

I don't know how many of you are fans of Hockey around here, but being a Canadian sort of settle the case for me ; it's put in our blood at birth.

There's a rookie we can't stop talking about in Montreal; P.K. Subban, and there's a good reason for it ; The guy is incredibly talented !

Not sure if you watched the game last night (December 16th, against the Boston Bruins), but P.K. laminated Brad Marchant right in an invisible wall he created himself a fraction of a second before the hit (yeah, he's THAT good!), which inspired me to do a little compilation vid of some hits he delivered in the NHL as of now (and we're talking only 2010 here ... ). Keep and eye out for the Marchant bodycheck of yesterday, I've put it at the end :

Boys will be boys, but you knew that already...

Sega just announced a new gaming interface called "Toirettsu" which is intended for installation in restaurants' and retailers' urinals. The goal of the game is to, well, piss on the target. They hope that pissing mini-games will help people try to aim a little bit better inside the urinal instead of, let's say, the floor.

Here it is in action :

Personally, I think it would encourage guys to piss all over the place to see how the game reacts or if we could find an hidden trick in the game or something. Hey ! We're competitive ...

Can't wait for the KINECT version ...

Valve corporation makes kickass games, but you knew that already...

What you may not know, is that the lobby at Valve HQ just got a new gadget : a full scale Team Fortress 2 sentry gun, complete with motion detection and sounds !

Here's a video of the sentry gun in action :

The sentry was assembled by the talented studio in New Zealand called Weta Workshop (the guys behind the special effects for movies like Avatar, LOTR and District 9) and can actually detect movement, track from side to side, make authentic sounds and light up.

Now, if only it would shoot Nerf balls ...

Girls like hula hoops, but you knew that already.

The most recent Toyfare (#162, on sale now!) revealed to us the next installement in the Masters of the Universe Classics (a.k.a. MOTUC) line; Sy-Klone ! Another Hula Hoop fanatic it seems !

I'm not a fan of the big hula hoop thing he came with in the 200x Masters of the Universe line, so I'm really disappointed to see this mega thing back in the MOTUC figure.

This may not be the final version, as some work is supposed to be done on the shoulders. It's supposedly not coming with an action feature either, which I'm kind of on the fence about ... After all, the classic figure had one.

So what do you think of this updated Masters of the Universe Classic figure?

The Transformers 20xx movies can't hold a candle to the original series, but you knew that already ...

Still, the first trailer for the next installment in the Transformers Movie series is out, and it seems like it will be kickass ! But I'm no reference, I'm always excited when I see a new movie trailer of a movie I have even just a remote interest in ...

Watch it on youtube while you can :

Or grab it straight from Apple Trailers in full 1080p glory !