Cloves and Fedoras: Ty thinks you should give "Womp it Up!" a listen

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

As you all know I listen to many, many podcasts. I'd say about ninety to ninety five percent are comedy. When I heard that Marissa Wompler(Jessica St Clair) and Charlotte Listler(Lennon Parham), who are beloved from their many appearances on the great "Comedy Bang Bang", were getting their own podcast,"Womp It Up!" I subscribed to it immediately I listened to the four mini preview clips with much anticipation. Now that they're four episodes deep, it has not disappointed.

Wompler and Listler are still up to their usual shenanigans. In episode one, they have Eric Gutterman AKA Gutterballs(Jason Mantzoukas) controlling the soundboard and he and Marissa still have their hilarious back and forth. Clearly she loves him, but he's not into her. Jessica St Clair and Jason Mantzoukas are both so excellent as these characters I'm filled with joy when I see that they're are going to be on a podcast together. They are great. Each episode of "Womp it Up!" is show is broken down into sections. On every podcast they will do a spot called "Hot Topix", where in, Marissa dishes the dirt on what's going down at Marina Del Ray High School(that's where the podcast takes place). Then there's "Listler's Love Lockdown", where Ms. Listler reads letters from someone who has a crush on someone else and proceeds to give them advice. They also have the "Spotlight On" section. In this part, they interview a friend, or teacher, or sometimes even former teachers from the school. In episode one, theater teacher, Dr. Lionel Drioche(the always hilarious Seth Morris) explains what it's like to be the theater teacher at Marina Del Ray High. In episode two, "Spotlight On" features Lil Nicky(Chris Gethard), a foreign exchange student from New Jersey, whose passions include ghost hunting and managing an acapella group called "Deep Treble". In episode three, we get to meet Mr. Jordache(Neil Casey). He's a former computer science teacher who had an incident in the men's locker room. Pretty hilarious to hear him explain the incident, I am not going to spoil it so just go listen. In the most recent "Womp It Up!" we get two guests for "Spotlight On". First, we have Marissa's step dad Seth(Brian Huskey reprising his role from "Comedy Bang Bang") and Dr Dennis Endercut, who writes a literary magazine and wants to talk about his bucket list. Each episode ends with Marissa reading a listeners email and giving her "sage" advice on what to do. In the beginning of the podcast we learn that this is a project for the STARS program that Ms. Listler started, which isn't a real thing. The STARS program they explain, is for the kids taking remedial classes. We also find out in the first episode that the podcast is all taking place in the library and that the principal does not know about it because her and Listler are enemies. I know this all sounds crazy and probably a little ridiculous, but fans of "Comedy Bang Bang" and the TV show "Playing House" know exactly what I'm talking about and they know how damn funny these two ladies are. The episodes, up to this point, come out every two weeks. As I said, they're only four in and each one is about an hour long, so there's plenty of time to catch up.

I highly recommend "Womp It Up!" Womp up the jamz everybody!

You can find "Womp it Up!" on the Earwolf network - here.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor at Seed Sing. What is better than reading about culture? Writing about Pop Culture. Join Ty's Pop culture team and write for Seed Sing. You can follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty gives his praise to the Tracy Morgan interview.

This is Ty's follow up to his article on Tracy Morgan.  You can read his original thoughts here.

I just watched the Tracy Morgan interview on the Today Show and that is one strong man. He showed a lot of strength in just doing it and he hit a home run. He didn't try to tell jokes or be funny, he just told the truth and showed that he's a real person that has gone through a terrible tragedy. He lost one of his best friends and he showed his true emotions on national television. He misses his friend dearly and just bringing up the name Jimmy McNair brought him to tears. Anyone who's lost someone can really feel for Tracy Morgan. Matt Lauer asked him if he was going to go back to performing or acting and Morgan responded as only he could. He said he loves doing comedy, referring to it as her, and he wants to get back to it, but he also said that he's not 100 percent yet. He has two scars on his heard where he suffered brain trauma and he's still using a cane from the broken leg, but today was the first step toward his return. This interview was everything I hoped it would be.

Tracy Morgan is on his way back.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. Give him a follow on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty thinks "Ex Machina" may be a vision of our near future

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Yesterday I saw the film Ex Machina and I think it is a modern day Sci Fi cult classic.

Ex Machina is very small on the effects and relies more on the story telling, which is impeccable. The movie opens with a young employee named Caleb(Domhnall Gleeson) who works for a computer company called Blue Book. Caleb wins a grand prize via email to go to the company owner's, Nathan(Oscar Issac), secluded island. Caleb thinks it's just going to be a meet and greet type of thing, but it turns out that Nathan wants to have Caleb do a Turing test with a female robot named Ava(Alicia Vikander, in a star turning performance). Caleb is very on board with this idea, seeing how this could be a great opportunity not only for himself, but also for mankind. The movie is broken into seven sections, each one titled "Ava: Session One", "Ava: Session Two" and so on up to "Ava: Session Seven".  As the tests go on, we start to realize that Nathan may have brought Caleb to his island under false pretenses. Nathan may be a sociopath using his employees as "bait" for his female robot tests. As we get deeper into the movie, we see that Ava may have some tendencies of her creator and she may be playing a game with both Nathan and Caleb. This is a movie you need to go into, I'd recommend, not watching any trailers. If you've seen the trailers, take them with a grain of salt. This is not some type of erotic thriller. This is a disturbing type of horror movie about what life will be like in the not to distant future because lets face it, AI's will be here, if not in my lifetime, they will be here in my son and future daughter's lifetime (is that right Siri?). This a great piece of work done by first time director Alex Garland(writer of "28 Days Later"), so let's hope he gets a lot of work in the future. I don't want to say too much more about the plot because it is such a well written movie with lots of twists and turns that you don't see coming. People need to go see movies like this, so movies like this will continue to be made.

So, go see Ex Machina, let it wash over you and gaze into the horror of what the not to distant future is going to look like. We as a people are so obsessed with upgrading our electronic devices that the only thing left to upgrade is the human race, or as Nathan says in the movie (this is NOT a spoiler by the way), "Ava is not an upgrade, she's evolution"

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  Is that right Siri?  Damn Siri can't seem to connect right now.  Give him a follow on twitter @tykulik

Before you watch Tracy Morgan on Today, Ty remembers what made him so damn funny

Tracy Morgan is a personal comedy idol of mine

This coming Monday, June 1st, I want all fans of comedy, especially my generation(millennials) to tune in to the Today Show and watch Matt Lauer's interview with the great Tracy Morgan. This will be his first interview since the horrific accident with a WalMart semi truck nearly a year ago. In fact, the first stand up show I saw was Tracy Morgan at the Saint Louis Funny Bone. I feel like a lot of people have forgotten how hilarious a sketch performer and comedic actor he is. He was a phenomenal cast member on Saturday Night Live with such memorable characters as Brian Fellows, Astronaut Jones and who could forget his great portrayal of Star Jones(quintessential line, "Yes, I am a lawyer" starting every sentence of the character). He was revitalized with his role as Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock. He's  also criminally underrated as an actor. He's the only one worth watching in a crappy movie like "Cop Out" and his scenes in the fantastic Chris Rock movie "Top Five" are some of the best comedic parts in a very funny movie. The fact that this accident happened was a terrible thing. Amongst the many reasons why it was so awful was, he was in development with FX for a TV series that for all intents and purposes seemed to be on the fast track to hilarity.

I don't think Tracy Morgan gets the credit he so achingly deserves. He's so very, very funny. So, do me and yourself a favor and tune in, as I will be doing, or DVR the interview with Matt Lauer and sit back and enjoy the mere fact that, at the very least, Tracy Morgan is on his way back. Let's just hope his full recovery comes sooner rather than later because the world needs some more hilarity from the great and very underrated Tracy Morgan.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing. Give him a follow on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty thinks you should give "Doughboys" a listen

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Ed note: The podcast is called Doughboys.  They do not feel the need to have the differentiated THE.  We have corrected the text.  Find this great podcast here.

I recently talked about a great podcast called "I Was There Too" by Matt Gourley.  I'm always on the hunt for new podcasts that are comedy centric and I've just discovered "Doughboys". The hosts of the show, Nick Wiger(writer for Comedy Bang Bang) and Mike Mitchell(Birthday Boys) have a guest join them each week and they go out and review restaurant chains. On the first episode, they go to Chili's and they review it as if they're professional restaurant critics, but with a comedy edge, since they're both comedy performers and writers. It's very funny, but they also take it kind of serious. I mean, they really give constructive feedback on the food. In the Chili's episode, they really take the ribs to task. Saying that they are too saucy and they look gray. But, with all that being said, they still seemed to enjoy the rest of their meal. The only other problem they had was, the drinks were too sweet. After they review the restaurant they give it a ranking of one to five forks and give their overall impression. While going through the review, there's always some kind of funny story or experience that they've had at said restaurant in the past. Following the fork review, they go to a segment they call "Snack or Wack", where they have some type of big brand name snack(Chocolate Chip Resse's Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chips Ahoy in the Chili's episode) and decide if the snack is good(Snack) or bad(Wack). Also, very funny to hear them rate these well known snack brands as if they are big time food critics. Being a fan of the Birthday Boys(both the comedy sketch team and the TV show) Mike Mitchell being attached to this made me excited to listen, since the Birthday Boys show was cancelled. I was just happy to see he was still doing things since he is my favorite Birthday Boy. They've only done three episodes, with the third one being released today, May 28th 2015. The restaurants they've reviewed are, the aforementioned Chili's, Taco Bell and today, IHOP. I highly recommend checking "Doughboys" out, it's pretty great.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He will only visits restaurants that get reviewed.  He is eagerly looking forward to his first trip to Chili's, Taco Bell, and IHOP.

Last Generation Gamer: Bioshock and Objectivism

Last Generation Gamer is Seed Sings way of reflecting on the greatest video games that were released before the current gen systems.  These are not necessarily reviews.  Let's look at these thoughts as a walk down memory lane.  If you have any ideas for Last Generation Gamer contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

I want to begin this reflection of Bioshock with a small discussion on privilege and maturity.  I studied political science at a small school that was 90%+ white.  Many of my classmates came from wealthy families. It was during these years I picked up Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I immediately decided to be an objectivist, and later a Libertarian (ed note: here is an explanation of Objectivism.)  In 1996 I supported the candidacy of Libertarian Harry Browne.  When I was released into the real world, my view of Objectivism was becoming more critical. I felt like my white maleness was a prerequisite to embracing the objectivist philosophy. During that period of my life I believed that we could do without government interference because I turned out ok.  When I started to take a more critical look at why society may need course corrections, I realized that Objectivism worked only for those who are white men with the means to gain capital. Shortly after this revelation I decided to give up on Objectivism and decided Marxism was the new go to political philosophy.  I did not stay a Marxists very long, I exited before I could even support a presidential candidate. It always struck me as odd that in my twenties I could strongly be associated with two diametrically opposed political philosophies.  It was hard for me to articulate why I embraced these ideas.

In 2014 I picked up a used copy of Bioshock (released in 2007) for my X-box 360. I had a vague idea that the game was tied to the ideas of Ayn Rand, but I mostly thought it was a brainless art-deco styled first person shooter. Within the first ten minutes I was all in.  The only action I had been able to do in the game was swim to the lighthouse. No wrenches or plasmids, just exciting first person swimming. I became hooked when I stopped to read the banner in the lighthouse -

NO GODS OR KINGS

ONLY MAN

That was awesome. I used to strongly believe that.  I thought if this game stinks, I will get my money's worth by replaying that one scene a few hundred times.  The game play itself was ok, not great, in my opinion.  I did not care that much for the photo taking (I got sick of that in Dark Cloud 2).  I have also never been a huge fan of first person shooters (mainly because I am not very good at them).  The story of the game is what made me move on.

I am shocked today with how many people do not think of Bioshock as a critique of objectivism.  In researching this article I found entire college theses on the subject. Outside of the art-deco design of Rapture (which is incredible), the freshman level philosophy class was the highlight of the game.   Since I had a fairly good understanding of objectivism it felt like Bioshock was making damn well sure I knew that Ayn Rand was completely wrong.  

Rapture is a disaster of mans' hubris.  Freedom is the father of  chaos. That seems to be the fable Bioshock is trying to impart on the player. What we the player sees is the end of Rapture.  To build this grand underwater city must have taken the work of many dedicated geniuses (and whole bunch of crazy people).  Objectivist principles built Rapture, and these same principles quickly destroyed it. That is the reality of objectivist (and libertarian) philosophy.  Unfettered ambition and skill will bring anarchy if it is not reigned in.  That is the moral of Bioshock.

The city of Rapture shows hopeful ideas, and it is populated with degradation.  Here is where Objectivism and Marxism share a similar influence.  Both philosophies believe in an Utopian idea for society.  Marxism was born out of uncontrolled capitalism, and Objectivism was born out of spreading communism.  Both philosophies want to unshackle mankind and allow us to reach our greatest potential.  Both philosophies forget to factor in greed and ambition. Objectivists will tell you the greatest of us will have charity.  Some of these supermen may have charity, but the majority will want more capital.  History has proven that nations have ascended, and fallen, due to a few individuals and their quest for more. Rapture did not fail because of the ideas used to create her.  Rapture failed because of the people who built her and wanted more.

The next time you decide to discuss politics in an unknown group and someone starts preaching the tenets of Objectivism (or Marxism), ask them if they have solved the problem of the individual.  When they tell you that Objectivism celebrates the individual and gives us freedom, smile at them and hand them a copy of Bioshock. Say to your new friend "Would you kindly play this game." That person may not immediately see the folly of Ayn Rand's ideas, but they will at least get to play an exciting game with a killer story.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the creator and Head Editor for Seed Sing.  He one time harvested the ADAM from a little sister and spent the next three days feeling guilty (actually he still feels guilty)

Calling all MRAs, Ty has a few thoughts to share with you.

After the phenomenal "Mad Max: Fury Road" I did some internet research on the movie and read about some douche bags who call themselves "Men's Right Activists" that were complaining about the lead of the movie being female.

These guys are the WORST.

I can't believe some assholes are out there complaining that a female has a strong leading role in an action movie. First of all, Charlize Theron is a total badass in the movie, so what's the problem? She kicks as much ass and is as good, if not better, fighter than all of the men in the movie. Where do these "activists" get off complaining about anything that a women gets. Second point - being a man myself, I've gotten way more advantages in my life than an average female gets. I also get to enjoy these advantages and I'm a stay at home dad! My wife goes out there and works her ass off everyday to take care of our family and I couldn't love or adore her anymore for it. She wears the pants in our family and I have no problem with that at all. She brings home the bacon and fries it as well.

She's a boss.

The fact that these guys are out there complaining about women getting more than a man is an absolute joke. They sound like a bunch of ignorant, arrogant, self absorbed dick heads who've probably never kissed a girl before. What a bunch of dildos. I read some more about the "activists" and saw that they are also very concerned and upset about the all female cast of the new "Ghostbusters" movie. Once again I ask, what's the problem? If you want an all male cast of "Ghostbusters", you know what, they made a few of those already in the eighties and they are awesome (ed note - Ghostbusters is awesome, Ghostbusters 2 is ok). Just go and watch those movies and keep your stupid mouths shut. I feel like, in today's culture, people just look for something to complain about. I mean, it's almost impossible, actually it is impossible, to make anything that the majority of people will be happy about. Someone somewhere will find something to gripe about. But, in rare occasions, you get insane people like "Men's Rights Activists".

The MRAs are some of the most difficult people in the world to understand and frankly, I hope they just stop talking so we never have to hear from idiots like this again.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He enjoys being a stay at home dad and never engages in self loathing or being an idiot

Ty does not have enough thumbs to point up for Mad Max:Fury Road

"Mad Max: Fury Road" may be the greatest action movie made this year. Scratch that, it may be the greatest action movie EVER!

The movie opens with a voice over by Max(Tom Hardy) explaining the plight of the human race and then the action immediately begins. I will no relay some of the insanity. Max gets chased and captured by the War Boys who immediately tattoo his information(i.e. license number, blood type, organ donor, etc.) and are about to brand him, then he gets away, a huge fight ensues, only to have them capture him again and put him in some sort of birdcage. Then, the inhabitants of this post apocalyptic land meet to be given their instructions for the upcoming gas acquiring mission. Here we meet Imperator Furiosa(Charlize Theron). She's a total badass with a metal arm and a ton of firearms and ammunition. She also has a war rig, which is the best car to have in this society. Next we meet the leader/dictator Immortan Joe(Hugh Keays-Byrne) talking to the crowd, explaining the upcoming events and then giving the town a small taste of water, since it's so scarce. He's a terrifying looking bad guy and he's as mean as he looks. While going away on their mission Furiosa takes a detour, which we find out later that she's taking the young pregnant ladies(Breeders) somewhere safe. When Immortan Joe realizes what's happening, he sends his whole fleet of WarBoys out to capture her and bring her and his Breeders back. One of the WarBoys, Nux(Nicholas Hoult), is having blood transfused into him from Max, to keep him alive, and he's so excited to go and fight, he straps Max to the front of his car so the blood can continue to pump into him and he won't miss anything. While chasing Furiosa, they all get trapped in a sandstorm and many of the WarBoys meet their demise. This scene is so intense, with the constant color change and flashes of lightening, I thought I was going to have a seizure.

Now keep in mind, this is about the first twenty to twenty five minutes of the movie.

There are parts where they explain things and you get an idea of what Furiosa is really doing on her rogue mission, but I'd say about ninety to ninety five percent of the movie is straight action. The climatic scene was one of the greatest sequences of car chase, action and fighting I've seen in a movie in a really long time. It's epic. So, for my movie fans out there, there's two movies filled with action, that also happen to be good movies, this summer, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Mad Max: Fury Road". I don't know which one I like better, but since I saw it today, I'd go with "Mad Max".

It's awesome

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is going to sleep now because Mad Max: Fury Road took all his energy away today.  Seriously, go see this movie

Is Everett Golson the right fit for Florida State's football culture? Is that a good thing?

I watch sports for two reasons, to root my teams on and to hate on teams I don't like. With that in mind I ask myself why is it of no surprise that former Notre Dame quaterback Everett Golson,  who was kicked off the team for academic reasons only to be brought back and beat out by another teammate, is now transferring to Florida State. I'll tell you why it doesn't surprise me, because it seems like character and off field issues don't matter to a school like Florida State. All that seems to matter to them is how many wins they can get for their football team. This is a shame. Sure, Jameis Winston is a great football player  One does not get taken first in the NFL draft if you are not talented, but this kid has more issues than the New York Times. First he gets accused of sexual assault, later to be thrown out of court for some unknown reason( I'd say the people of Tallahassee paid this person off), then he yells vulgar things in the lunchroom like a child.  To top off Winston's grand behavior he also steals food from a grocery store! But all this gets thrown out because the dude knows how to throw a spiral. Now they're bringing in Golson, who by all accounts is a good football player, but has character issues as well. First, he gets kicked off Notre Dame's football team because he can't get his grades straight,  and then he just gets flat out beaten out for the starting spot. Who should be there to catch him when he's falling and whining like a baby, Florida State. This is such a joke. I also don't think it will work to their advantage as well as they think. This kid turns the ball over A LOT. I'm just so unhappy with the state of college football right now. When these young kids don't get their way, they just leave a school to go somewhere else and play. It seems the players are following the behavior set by the coaches (looking at you Nick Saban). They've been told yes their whole lives and when someone comes in and beats them out, instead of staying and fighting for their spot, they think it's just best to leave and go somewhere where they can play. Florida State may also be the biggest joke of a "university" there is today. Clearly all they care about is marketing their product and making bundles and bundles of cash more so than the well being of assaulted students or getting these athletes the education they deserve.

Florida State, you're an embarrassment to colleges everywhere.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is a life long college football fan, yet the likes of Florida State are starting to challenge that commitment.

Cloves and Fedoras: Is Leon Bridges poised to be the next great soul singer?

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

I'm always on the hunt for new music that sounds like old music. By this I mean it sounds like a throwback to older music. For example, I started listening to the Black Keys because they sounded a little like Led Zeppelin to me. I started listening to Gary Clark Jr because he had that old blues feel to his music. Saint Paul and the Broken Bones sounded as if they'd just recorded with Rufus Thomas. Well, I think I may have heard the next Otis Redding, or dare I say Marvin Gaye. He's a 25 year old soul singer named Leon Bridges. His music sounds like he just got done recording at Stax Records in the 60s. This guy is legit. He writes and plays, on guitar, all of his own music and he uses vintage equipment to record. How cool is that. This guy is going to be a star. I know comparing him to an Otis Redding or Marvin Gaye is a bit much, but this guy has the chops. His album doesn't come out until June 23rd, but do yourself a favor and go check out his stuff on YouTube. That's where I found out about him. So, next month, go out and buy his album "Coming Home".

Remember the name Leon Bridges. He's the next big thing in soul music.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He likes listening to the musical styling of his parents generation being sung by people of his generation.

Last Generation Gamer: Mass Effect - Renegade Edition.

Last Generation Gamer is Seed Sings way of reflecting on the greatest video games that were released before the current gen systems.  These are not necessarily reviews.  Let's look at these thoughts as a walk down memory lane.  If you have any ideas for Last Generation Gamer contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

I picked up the first Mass Effect game in the summer of 2012, five years after it was released.  The only information I had on the game is that it was a space adventure and a lot of people were not happy with the end of the third game.  I thought, hey I like space games and I like video game controversy let’s give Mass Effect a shot.

I am not going to go into an in depth review on the Mass Effect series today.  If you have not played this game, go play it right now. These three games are beyond awesome. Like many people I am partial to Mass Effect 2.  Unlike many people I did not absolutely hate the ending (I hated it a lot less when I downloaded the free extended ending from X-box live). If you are new to the game, choose to be the female Commander Shepard.  Once a movie is made out of Mass Effect the producers would be dumb not to make Shepard a woman.  She far and away has one of the greatest action hero arcs ever put into the zeitgeist.

Now that you have played the game (hopefully as FemShep), go and start over on Mass Effect.  We are going to choose all the renegade options.  Early in the series the renegade Shepard seems to be a stuck up militaristic xenophobe. The best way to play as a true renegade is to speed through the game, no side missions (that is the reason you should go full renegade on a second play through, you will need the advantages of a fully equipped and better experienced crew). Once you get to Virmire, the renegade Shepard becomes a full blown jerk. Wrex will draw his weapon on you once the discussion of Saren’s genophage research becomes personal.  You will gun down your ship mate, and then tell the salarians to dump him in the ocean.  That is when you become a cold hearted snake.  What makes that moment great is that the rest of your crew is still fully behind you.  It helps that Ashley is also a xenophobe, but the rest of your crew really does not have a good excuse to back you up.  I guess they could justify your actions by saying Wrex was unstable, but the dumping in the ocean line, cold.  On the second play through, your renegade Shepard can still complete the romance option, and can even cause the first incarnation of Saren to commit suicide.  One less fight, way to go jerk Shepard.

Mass Effect 2 is where renegade Shepard moves from being a jerk, and starts to become a sociopath.  A speed run through of the game is vital to make renegade Shepard truly shine. You need to skip all the loyalty missions to make sure that your crew is not safe (on a third play through there are some epic renegade options to explore in the loyalty missions).  The only loyalty mission worth exploring is the one on Omega to kill the Asari Justicar Samara’s daughter (Morinth).  This mission uses all the skeeviness of Renegade Shepard and allows you to have your allied killed by a dangerous psychopath.  Morinth will even join your party and disguise herself as Samara.  The extra great bonus of gaining Samara is that after the game you can load your last save and have Morinth sex you to death.  I am not kidding.

If you played Mass Effect 2 as a true renegade, and gained Morinth, the ending will be very lonely.  Nearly everyone will have been killed, including Garrus (the subject of a future Last Generation Gamer).  The only people left on the Normandy will be you, Joker, and Morinth. 

Your actions as a pure renegade Shepard make Mass Effect 3 a very different game.  There is no Garrus on Palavan (you uncaring jerk).  There is no Talia to help liberate Rannoch (thanks to your lack of safety upgrades on the Normandy).  Grunt, Miranda, Mordin, Legion, Thane, Jacob, Ashley/Kaiden – all gone.  Your play through of Mass Effect 3 will only consist of Shepard, Liara, Vega, EDI, and maybe Ashley/Kaiden.  The true renegade Shepard will tell Ashley/Kaiden to stay with the alliance and not join the Normandy.  This may be the most humane thing renegade Shepard does, especially since most people who have served on the Normandy ended up dead.

With all the bodies you have left behind as renegade Shepard, the galaxy still makes you their most trusted warrior.  Why not?  Your methods may be unfeeling, and dangerous, but you have gotten things done.  The big final question to renegade Shepard is what ending must be chosen.  If you followed my advice, and this is the second play through, all options should be available.  The most obvious choice is to become a reaper (which is a fitting end for renegade Shepard), but I do not think this is the best ending for this play through.   If you downloaded the extended ending there is a fourth answer option to give the Catalyst, keep fighting.  That in my opinion is the true renegade Shepard option (even if the clip says paragon). When you tell the Catalyst that you will keep fighting, it does not end well for our heroes.

I love Mass Effect because of how it made me feel about my ship mates.  I felt responsible not only for all of the galaxy, but for my friend’s less than epic issues (except for Jack, I did not really care that much about her).  Being renegade Shepard actually challenged my sense of morality.  I honestly did not attempt this kind of play through until my fifth time.  I also completely changed my Shepard’s appearance in each game so I would not feel like I was betraying a true hero.  I know that sounds lame, but that is the power of Mass Effect.  The games make you emotional tied to your decisions.

Go out and play these games.  On your third or fourth play through, give renegade Shepard a chance.  It may feel wrong, but you will see a great old game in a new twisted light.  Being renegade Shepard may even make you respect the ending of the Mass Effect trilogy.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the creator and Head Editor for Seed Sing.  He loves playing RPGs on his new-old X-Box 360 and is always looking for recommendations. 

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty has a few issues with critics proclaiming the Mad Men finale as great television

If you have not seen the Mad Men series finale DO NOT READ(come back when you are ready). This review is full of episode spoilers

Last night was the much anticipated series finale of Mad Men and in my opinion, it fell completely flat. Lots of spoilers coming, so beware. 

This particular episode of Mad Men was like any other episode in the series, not a finale. Most of the episode took place in a hippie commune where the people there all talked about their feelings, it was very boring. There was also the three phone calls that Don Draper(Jon Hamm) made to the three important ladies in his life, Peggy Olsen(Elisabeth Moss), his daughter Sally(Kiernan Shipka) and his ex wife Betty(January Jones). This was interesting, but it came and went. I felt like you got little to no closure with these calls and then it was done. Then back to the boring hippie commune. There was also Joan's(Christina Hendricks) closing story. Very fast and very unexplained. First, she took the buyout from the new company, goes on vacation with her much older boyfriend(Bruce Greenwood), does cocaine for some unknown reason and then starts her own production company. Very unfulfilling. Then Peggy and Stan(Jay R Ferguson) fall in love with each other very predictably. Pretty lame. Pete(Vincent Kartheiser) and Trudy(Alison Brie) got back together and he took the job that Duck(Mark Moses) offered him in the previous episode. Who cares. Roger Sterling(John Slattery) and Marie(Julia Ormond) stay together and presumably get married and live happily ever after, because now Mad Men is apparently a romance show and not a hard drama. And poor Betty, smoking a cigarette just waiting for the lung cancer to kill her. I felt the worst for her, in fact she was the only one who I felt any feelings for in the finale. But the icing on the crap cake that was this finale was the final shot of Don Draper sitting in the hippie commune meditating, close up on his face and then pull back to the show the famous "If I Bought the World a Coke" commercial. Of course Matthew Weiner decided to give Don a happy ending because what does every drunk, wife and girlfriend cheating, workaholic a hole deserve? Apparently a happy ending. The fact that Matthew Weiner said, prior to the finale, that he doesn't owe anyone anything was very apparent watching the finale. He only cared to stroke his own ego and say look how smart I am and how dumb all of you are who don't get it. He's an a hole as well. 

Reading the reviews the day after made me even more angry. Publications like the AV Club and Uproxx saying how genius it was, come on, you didn't get it either, you just want to sound like a pompous intellect and spoiler alert, it's not working. You sound like a bunch of wannabes. This was an emphatic thud of a finale and real fans of the show deserved better.

Let's just say, Matthew Weiner owed us more.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He enjoys good television, and does not enjoy indulgent series finales.

Cloves and Fedoras: Alabama Shakes refuses to submit to a sophomore slump.

I just recently bought the new Alabama Shakes album "Sound and Color."

This is a work of art. People and critics talk about sophomore slumps when bands put out their second album after the first was a surprise success, but let me tell you, Alabama Shakes knocked it out of the park with "Sound and Color." You can really hear the growth and exploration of the band through all twelve songs. They are taking chances and stretching limits more than most rock bands making music right now. Their first single off the album "Don't Wanna Fight" is a great rock/pop song with Brittany Howard's beautifully gritty singing voice driving it home. Her guitar playing on the song, and throughout the whole album, is a distorted, crunchy pleasure to the listener. The opening track, "Sound and Color" is a very trippy, slowish tune with, what I believe to be a marimba, accompanying the whole song. It's a great tune. I love every song on the record. This is an album you can put on, press play and let the whole thing go with no skips. If they continue to grow and explore on forth coming albums like they do on "Sound and Color" the sky is the limit for them. Last year they were playing small rock clubs, now theaters. Keep this up and they'll be selling out arenas in two to three years.

Very, very good album. Check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is eagerly anticipating the next great album from Alabama Shakes.

A step up for the Axe body spray spokesman? Ty's thoughts on the new Hamburglar.

What in the world is McDonald's thinking with their re branded "Hamburglar"?

He looks like some hipster tool that just walked out of a Hot Topic store in the mall. Who is McDonald's trying to appeal to? Frat boys and douche bags. This makes no sense to me whatsoever. Why would they decide to make it a real person? What made the original "Hamburglar" tolerable was the fact it was a cartoon character. Now they have this real person, with an unshaven half beard, leather red gloves, a black cape, a stupid fedora, the striped shirt and a leather mask! What in the world were the marketing executives thinking? Who are the geniuses that thought this was a good idea. The people at the top are either very old or very stupid. I wouldn't want to hang out with this wannabe "actor" anymore than I'd let him sell me or my family a hamburger. And this poor guy that took this job. He was probably so excited. Probably a down on his luck "actor" just hoping for a break and along comes McDonald's with a job offer. How could anyone refuse. I'm sure he showed up for his first day ready to go and then they showed him what he would be wearing. I bet his heart sunk. But I'm sure he was convinced that this would be a good thing and he did his job like any struggling "actor" would do. Poor, poor guy. This is beyond absurd to me, but that being said, McDonald's will continue to make money hand over fist no matter how dumb their executives ideas are.

Shameless.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor at Seed Sing.  He doesn't visit McDonald's that often, and will be going less as if the Hamburglar is hanging out.

How do you solve a problem like Ohio Part 1: Technology

(feel free to sing along)

Ohio always turns out for the president

But all other elections she is absent

Ohio attracts all the talent

Except in non summer Olympic years

I hate that I have to say it

But I feel very strongly

Ohio may not be an asset to her citizens

How do you solve a problem like Ohio.

Last week I presented my case for why Ohio voted for President Obama twice, yet has a conservative republican state government.  We know the why, let's figure out how to change this duality in Ohio's voting behaviors.

The primary obstacle that needs to be dealt with is the ineptness of the county parties.  When you have the same people in charge after years of failure, staff replacement is not an option. These party bosses are in their position because they played the right political game a decade ago. These bosses think things like knocking on doors, bowing to the local unions, and swearing fidelity to the national party are the ways to run political elections.  Technology has changed the process over the last ten years.  The rise of social networking has made the idea of door knocking antiquated and wasteful.  

Let's talk about technology.  The first iPhone debuted in 2007, and the public started to enter the world of smartphones.  Twitter came on line in 2006, Facebook allowed non-college students to join in 2006, Instagram started sharing photos in 2010.  The party bosses running the local elections were in charge when the rise of social networking and the ability to share information started to take hold.  There was a new wave of political strategists that understood the power of social media.  These strategists did not respect, or were respected, by the established local political bosses.  The future of political outreach rested in social media, and nobody was taking advantage of this incredible tool.

The rise of the internet allowed political candidates a new, and usually less expensive, portal to voter outreach.  All that was needed for a candidate was a simple website that showed the public what the candidate believed in, and how you could contribute money.  Today we see very few local candidates use the benefit of the internet.  Many local parties refuse to invest the low cost / high reward resources on websites and social media.   They would still rather rely on high resource / low benefit activities like door knocking for voter outreach.  The average dedicated voter would rather spend time on the internet than answering an unknown doorbell pusher.  In 2015 if your doorbell rings it is usually a solicitor, unexpected family member, or a political candidate.  In today's world, none are a welcome presence.

How do we reach the dedicated voter in the twenty-first century?  The smart candidate will first use the free tools available, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  The minimal time spent to set up a profile for the social networking sites will pay large dividends in the end.  Instead of knocking on 100 doors on a Saturday, use the time to post and respond to 1000 potential donors.  Do not be bullied into canvasing by other "establishment" candidates.  Build your online profile and watch the support (and money) pour in.  The most fertile voter base for local candidates is the millennial generation.  They are going to be much more excited by a candidate's online presence than they will be impressed by a one sheet paper handed to them on a sunny summer day.

Embracing the idea of online voter outreach will also attract a new, dynamic, type of candidate.  Many people interested in running for local office are new to the political process. Telling them that they have to spreed their spring / summer / fall days knocking on doors is usually a hard sell.  Many winnable candidates will turn down the offer to run for office when the local party bosses start talking about canvasing.  Let's use these candidates greatest assets to get them elected.  Walking door to door is nobody's greatest asset.  We want great ideas and voices to be our leaders.  Social networking gives these ideas and voices a megaphone to needed voters.

The days of mapping out neighborhoods and going door to door is over.  In order to get a truly people elected government you have to find out how to get the people to vote for your ideas.  We do not like to answer unknown front door visitors.  We do get excited by leaders who understand the twenty-first century.  If you want to start to solve the Ohio problem, do not talk to 100 potential voters on a Saturday in September.  Connect with thousands of potential voters every day equipped only with your passion and ideas.

The establishment has lost the way.  You are your own political boss.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the creator and Head Editor for Seed Sing.  He wants your ideas to run the country, not the ideas of an antiquated party system.  Contact seedsing.rdk@gmail.com for support on launching your political career.

Cloves and Fedoras: Review of a little gem featuring the greatest indie actors of yesterday and today - AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

I know I usually review independent or small budget movies, but I recently saw Avengers: Age of Ultron and, oh man, was it fantastic!

I loved everything about this movie. The action is relentless. I love that about eighty to eighty-five percent of this movie was fighting, car chases, fights while in flight, etcetera. It was a seemingly endless array of action sequences. I also enjoy the fact that we got a little back story on Hawkeye. I was never a huge fan of Hawkeye as an avenger, I mean who cares about a sharp shooter when there's guys with crazy suits of armor, a super soldier and a doctor who turns into a big green super strong monster, but this movie made me like Hawkeye more than I thought was possible. The addition of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch was great. Two new additions to a rather large buffet of heroes. I love it. The running time was about two and a half hours, but it flew by. I could have watched another two and half hours no problem. I loved every part of this movie, but there is one specific fight scene that's shot in slow motion, singling out every Avenger, that literally gave me goose bumps. It was incredible! James Spader as the voice of the evil robot Ultron was an excellent casting choice. I'm not that big a fan of his, but his voice acting was so good and creepy. A great role for him. Perfect choice.  Every person, everywhere needs to see this movie right now. It's phenomenal.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He enjoys the quiet thoughtful films punctuated with explosions

Cloves and Fedoras: Favorite artist Saul Williams does a not so favorite live show

I attend a lot of live shows. Most are good, some great and some not that good.(I don't like to say bad, because these people are performers and I'm sure they work very hard) Recently I unfortunately saw a not so good show.

Saul Williams was playing the Duck Room in Saint Louis last month. I was very excited when the show was announced and got my tickets immediately. I did this because I'm a huge fan of Saul Williams. I've seen him do his poetry live, I've read all his books, I own all his music and I've seen pretty much every movie he's been in.(The best being "Slam" in my opinion)

My problem with the recent concert was, it wasn't really a concert. In his own words, it was a "workshop". This had me off guard from the get go. I went there expecting to hear music, but all I got was a damn "workshop". He would move back and forth between doing half a song and then reading poetry and then just talking to the crowd. Another problem, this must have been the sound and video people's first live show. They did not know what in the hell they were doing. First, their video playing on the screen froze before Saul Williams even got on stage. And then, the sound mix was so bad, Saul Williams himself had to tell the guys to turn the bass down and turn his microphone up. He was impossible to hear at times. It was unbearable.

There was another thing that had me frustrated. The show started at 9pm with two openers and Saul Williams didn't even get on stage until 11:30pm.  Once on stage he only performed for about an hour. Two and a half hours of standing around and the payoff was a "workshop". Even after seeing this, I will still probably see him if he comes back to Saint Louis, but I will definitely think long and hard before purchasing tickets.

Still a big fan, but this "workshop" was a huge disappointment.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  Look for him around St. Louis at any number of live shows.  Do not expect him to attend anymore workshops.

Deflategate punishment: Ty respectfully disagrees with idiot sports commissioners .

I recently stated my opinion on the non story "deflategate". Now that suspensions have been given, I have a take on what was handed down by the NFL.

First of all, taking away picks doesn't bother me. Teams aren't made with first round picks, they're made with fourth, fifth and sixth round picks(like Tom Brady). So, who cares about the loss of first round picks. No big deal. The thing that bugs me the most is the four game suspension handed down on Brady. I'm not upset about the suspension, he deserves something for lying. I take issue with the amount of games. He got four games a season after Ray Rice only got two for knocking out cold his then fiancee in an elevator.  Why is the sports media not focusing on this issue. Four games for under inflated footballs, but only two for hitting a female. WHAT THE HELL! Are you kidding me Roger Goodell! Are you out of your mind NFL! When did under inflating a football become more of a crime than physically assaulting a women?! This is complete nonsense! I can't believe how STUPID both the NFL and, Satan himself, Roger Goodell are.

When are they going to get their act together? I've said it once and I'm sure I'll say it again, but the country's most popular sport is only going to go down a black hole until Roger Goodell is let go. I love pro and college football, it pains me to see the NFL being run by an incompetent, power hunger, boob. He needs to be fired now. Let's start a trending topic on Twitter everyone, #fireRogerGoodell.. All my football fans out there, let's get the NFL to wake up and get rid of the anchor holding professional football down

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He loves watching football and gets ill when he has to think of the commissioner. 

Last Generation Gamer: The Legend of Zelda (NES - 1986) - The Greatest Open World Game Ever

Last Generation Gamer is Seed Sings way of reflecting on the greatest video games that were released before the current gen systems.  These are not necessarily reviews.  Let's look at these thoughts as a walk down memory lane.  If you have any ideas for Last Generation Gamer contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

The Legend of Zelda is the greatest open world game in the history of the entire video game industry.  I know that is a bold statement for a game released nearly 30 years ago (1986 in Japan 1987 in the US).  Since the release of The Legend of Zelda we have experienced some epic Final Fantasy worlds, the Grand Theft Auto series, and the Elder Scroll games to name just a few of the open world games that are currently occupying our consoles.  Legend of Zelda was one of the first open world games to be a commercial success, and it came out decades before the genre was defined.

How is Legend of Zelda even considered an open world game (says the reader I am thinking will have this exact question)?  Go ahead and turn it on, I can wait.  Now that your Wii, DS, Wii U, or (if you are truly hardcore) your Nintendo Entertainment System has loaded the start screen, begin a new game.  The screen should show Link and a cave to the north.  I dare you to go any way except in the cave.  Did the game drag you back to the cave?  No, it let you move to the next screen filled with enemies (either tektites or octoroks).  Your only option is to keep moving, unfortunately since we skipped the cave their is no wooden sword to use and dispatch the enemies.  If you are very good at dodging the monsters, and have a lot of luck, you can make it through every screen on the over world map without ever going into the first cave. Not many of the open world games of today will let you visit every part of the main map when you first start the game. Games like the Elder Scroll series (Skyrim, an upcoming Last Generation Gamer column)  make you play a short introductory quest before you have access to the whole over world.  

It is possible to complete The Legend of Zelda and never grab the wooden sword.  There are rupees hidden under Armos (the statues you touch to wake up) in the over world.  Get some rupees, get some bombs, get two more heart containers, then get the white sword.  The old man who offered you the wooden sword because of the dangers outside is not as helpful as he previously led on.  You actually could complete the game without any sword.  That would require a lot of time, rupees, ,and luck.  The possibility alone makes for many more options of playing through and winning a game that came out nearly 30 years ago.

I thoroughly enjoy the freedom of today's open world games.  The ability to forget about the main story when you see some dingy hole in the ground weirdly appeals to my senses.  I never grouped The Legend of Zelda into the open world category until I started to try different play through on my Wii.  I have yet to attempt to go through the whole game without a sword (I do believe that would be impossible on the second quest).  I do however try each different session by skipping as many of the early dungeons, and leaving them for the end.  Try out your own out of order, or lack of items play through.  I guarantee you will find the excitement and difficulty on par with anything running on your current console.  You may just rediscover the most open world game ever created.

RD Kulik

RD Kulik is the creator and Head Editor for Seed Sing.  He is currently playing through all of the great games (and some mediocre ones) on his new Xbox 360.

Can Alex Rodriguez ever measure up to the greatness of A-rod? Sports thoughts by Ty

Can someone please tell me why certain people and networks (ESPN) are celebrating Alex Rodriguez since he's passed Willie Mays on the all time home run leaders list?

Did everyone forget that he missed all of last season due to a PED suspension? Did we all forget that he's, by all accounts, a garbage person? Did we all forget that he's a prima donna? Did we all not see that even his own GM doesn't want to pay him his bonus for passing Willie Mays?

Let's get one thing straight, Alex Rodriguez will never be the player, or person, that Willie Mays is. Not now and not ever. Rodriguez was great as a rookie in Seattle. He looked to be, and turned into, a perennial All Star. It seemed as if he'd win every MVP award for a long time. Eventually he was ready to leave Seattle and, in my opinion, only look for the big payday. I don't think wins mattered much to him, all he wanted was the big contract and the Texas Rangers gave it to him. They gave him 250 million dollars over 10 years.  Let me write that again, 250 MILLION DOLLARS over 10 YEARS. Twenty-five million dollars a year to play a game. He proved in his time there that he couldn't turn Texas into a playoff contender, just like he couldn't turn Seattle into a contender.

Rodriguez eventually left Texas and signed with, you guessed it, the New York Yankees. The Yankees were the only team who could take on the rest of his contract. In New York, not only was he not the best player in baseball anymore, he was not even the best player on his team. That title went to Derek Jeter. Jeter was a much better baseball player and person that Rodriguez. The Yankees moved Rodriguez to third, which proved to be difficult for him. This was rightfully done to keep Derek Jeter happy. Rodriguez did play on a team that eventually won a World Series, but he didn't have much to do with it. He was just part of the eight position players, not the star anymore. Now (I assume) he has taken steroids and other PEDs throughout his entire career, but I bet when he realized he wasn't the star anymore, he took more and more. And that still didn't help. He was eventually named in the reports, denied like all cheaters do, and was finally and mercifully suspended. He tried to repeal the charge, but to no avail. Now he's back this season and he's hitting at a very pedestrian rate, but he was so close to Mays on the home run list that it was inevitable that it would happen this season. The Yankees have moved him to DH, since his fielding is sub par at best It seems like Brian Cashman(the GM) is doing everything in his power to get rid of him and it looks like his own teammates don't even like him. So let's not get ahead of ourselves people Alex Rodriguez will never, ever be on any kind of level with Willie Mays. Never.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor of Seed Sing.  He enjoys watching baseball.  He does not enjoy the endless Yankees / Red Sox coverage on ESPN