Entertainment: Da Vinci's Demons - A Review

Pictured: Genius.

I love watching a lot of television series. Mainly because of the fact that unlike movies, you could get to watch another installment without ever having to cry out "boo" because you find one part better than the other as with a lot of movie series. It is tailored in a way that would make its audience entertained as well as keeping them on the edge of their seats for what is coming next week. And with these things being said, one brand new series has captured my interests and probably a few people more. This new television series ladies and gentlemen, is Da Vinci's Demons. And with the first season already wrapped up and season 2 starting up in March of 2014, this is truly a new show to watch out for.

What is it?
Da Vinci's Demons is a television series depicting a fictional account of the life of the genius man himself, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (which literally means Leonardo, the son of Ser Piero from Vinci - a town in Tuscany). It was conceived and written by none other than David S. Goyer (Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel) which can be attributed to the series' dark elements. The shows casts Tom Riley as Leonardo da Vinci which at the start of the series, was only 25 years old.

What makes it awesome?
There are actually a couple of things evident in this series that makes it a very good show to watch is the fact that it shows a time in our history where a lot of things that can be commonly found today were once just concepts and ideas by Leonardo along with some of the geniuses that lived during the Renaissance era. If you are a fan of these kinds of stuff, you will surely enjoy watching this wonderful series.

Windsurfing - Renaissance Style.

Another good thing about this series is how they gather a lot of their material from history, which makes it pretty accurate (aside from a few facts like date and time which is off for a few months or years only. Though there a few details which were changed for fictional purposes, the detailed accuracy of the shows is still pretty amazing.

The cast is also a good thing to notice about this whole series, they glue in together. Characters feed off each other's energy, and production somehow made everything work like it should be. The conflict, the comedy, everything about the organization of the characters in this series is so intense that you will really get to feel the same way each character is feeling.

Verdict:
At this point in time I haven't really written about anything that I don't like - yet. So for Da Vinci's Demons I would probably rate it 9/10, with one for improvement. Not that I am not satisfied with how the show has become, it's just that I think they are just starting out given that it is only the first season and I know there will be a huge improvement when season 2 arrives. I also hope they would increase the number of episodes to a couple (12 or maybe more) because 8 is just too few. So hold your horses folks and hop on to the Da Vinci's Demons bandwagon. What about you guys? How did you find Da Vinci's Demons to be? Don't be shy to comment below and share to your friends!

Entertainment: Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 3 Good Reasons to Start Watching it Now

To those who have no idea what this show is, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is Fox's newest gig when it comes to creating a comedy show. This series features a band of detectives and their newly appointed super uptight captain who happens to be gay and the result is one hell of a fast-paced, comedy joyride. Recently, the series were nominated and won both Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Andy Samberg) and Best Television Series for Comedy in the 2014 Golden Globe Awards. And if you are still not convinced to watch it by the statement I just said above, here are 3 good reasons to really start watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

3. The Men Behind the Force


For those of you who are not in the know, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is actually powered by two very talented creators which have been very successful in their chosen field, Dan Goor and Michael Schur. Schur is also the creator of another comedy series Parks and Recreation and he is also responsible for writer over 100 episodes of the hit comedy skit Saturday Night Live. Goor created some punchlines for a number of famous names like Carson Daly, Jon Stewart and Conan O'Brien. Together they make what probably is the funniest cop show on earth today in the name of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

2. It's A Cop Series




Quick, what is the most common type of television series in the US that have logged in multiple seasons? Answer - cop series. Law & Order, NCIS, CSI, Criminal Minds, Bones, The Mentalist, Castle, Dexter are just examples of the few. Why? Because cop series have a plethora of plots and twists to choose from (judging from the number of criminals that are inside prison right now) and they can just add some cool details to make it fit the series. And since BNN is a cop series, they can just add some cool cop stories to their already successful office antics and field adventures.

1. The Cast


Brooklyn Nine-Nine's cast, as per Jake Peralta's (Andy Samberg) description of his precinct "family" during their Thanksgiving episode, includes 2 black dads (Andy Braugher as Captain Ray Holt & Terry Crews as Sgt. Terry Jeffords), 2 Latina sisters (Melissa Fumero as Detective Amy Santiago & Stephanie Beatriz), 2 white brothers (Joe Lo Truglio as Detective Charles Boyle & Dirk Blocker as Detective Hitchcock), Gina (Chelsea Peretti) and the giant baby (Joel McKinnon Miller as Scully). Together they run the most hilarious police precinct in Brooklyn ever.

Tech: 5 Important Things to Look out for When Getting a New Smartphone

So the new year has come and you find yourself asking this question: should I get myself a new phone this year? And if so, what are the things that I should be looking out for when I am out to get a new one? In theory, these things are pretty simple to answer. But because of the wide range of different handsets available in the market today, you may find yourself in a bit of a dilemma just because there's so many smartphones to choose from. Gone are the days of just choosing between a few phone makers (Nokia, Sony, Samsung) because right now, phone manufacturers from all over the globe are starting to get worldwide recognition such as the ones from China and India. So without further adieu, here are just some of the important factors to consider when choosing a new smartphone.

5. RAM

Pictured: RAM.

For those who are not familiar with the term, RAM stands for Random Access Memory. This is simply where your phone's recent activity data are stored, because one way or another, your may need to access an app or an activity and go back to a certain point without ever having to start all over again. This is probably one of the most important component of any smartphone, more important than the number of cores it has or the type of processor the phone is being ran on. The bigger your phone's RAM is, the faster is the response you will get from the apps you would want to access with minimal problems such as lagging. Nowadays smartphone's RAM vary from as low as 256MB to as large as 2GB.

4. SCREEN

Sometime between the mid 2000's phone manufacturers had the idea of bulking up phones to make them more functional instead of going with the "small and compact" trend. This has proven to be a good point. From then on smartphones have gone from the usual 3 inches screen to 5 inches and even up to 7 inches hybrids called "phablets", the offspring of a smartphone and a tablet. Screen resolutions also have changed drastically from the usual LCD screen to TFT, IPS, AMOLED giving high resolution and definition for these phones making them a good fit for watching movies and other videos anytime, anywhere. Screen strength also improved with the emergence of the Gorilla and Dragontail glass which have been proven to be tough and effective especially for those smartphones that are made for gaming on the go.

3. Storage

Though majority of the smartphones nowadays opt for having an option for SD card external storage, there are still smartphones that do not have these feature and instead opting to go for an internal memory storage right off the bat. This fact is true for smartphones such as the ever famous iPhone, the Motorola Moto X, Asus Google Nexus 7 and other high end phones. Phones with internal storage vary from 16-32GB of data storage, depending on the model while those phones that accepts external memory allows a 32GB SD card to be inserted for data storage.

2. Battery Life

Smartphone's Achilles

No matter how fast or responsive a smartphone may be, it will always have a downside. And that downside is the phone's battery life. Because smartphones handle more tasks such as opening and closing apps, connecting to the internet, making calls, video/music playback and maintaining screen resolution, smartphone batteries usually get drained very easily, even those that promise a longer battery life. However, there are a lot of options that you can choose to prolong battery life such as having a powerbank, bringing a portable charger, and other battery saving apps available in the market or better yet, manually close unused apps in your phone.

1. Price

Pictured: Relatively Similar Smartphones with Different Price Range

This factor of course is the main hurdle in the sale of smartphones nowadays. Because of the kind of technology that has been placed on these gadgets, manufacturers (especially the famous ones) do not hold back on the pricing of their products. This is where small time manufacturers such as the ones from China and India come into play. These manufacturers can build smartphones with relatively similar features with the high end phones while putting a little emphasis on little details such as durability (some units are built from ordinary plastic), sound quality (loudspeaker and headphone mismatch) and screen size/resolution/quality. RAM size is also a determining factor when it comes to price but you can always choose to go for a phone with minimal RAM size (512MB-1GB) and still save a little dime.

So there you go folks. Those are just some of the little things that you have to check out when it comes to getting a new smartphone. Though sometimes you may not get the best of both worlds (e.g. high RAM but weak battery life or good sound quality but poor video resolution), it is ideal to go for something that will surely get the job that you want done without sacrificing most of the factors mentioned above. How about you guys? Are there more factors that I missed that you think might be important for those who are about to get their new phones? Don't be afraid to comment below and of course share it with your friends. Good luck!

Moto: Choosing the Right Motorcycle for You

So you finally decided that you wanted a motorcycle for yourself. Maybe you wanted to make a career change for the new year or you just wanted to break free from your boring life or you have just finally made up your mind about whether or not you should get a bike or not; and you decided to go for it.

With this in mind, you are still faced with a dilemma of what kind of bike you should get for yourself. Luckily, in the motorcycle world, there can be a lot of choices that you could go for. So without further adieu, here are some of the different kinds of motorcycles and the most common ones that anyone can choose from for their first bike ever.

Scooters

Yamaha Mio Soul i

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Contrary to the old scooters of the 80's and the 90's scooters nowadays are high powered and can reach high speeds with minimal effort. This can be a good vehicle for people who live and work within a city. This is also a good beginner bike for whose who are still trying to learn and know what it feels like to drive a two wheeled vehicle on the streets. Scooters have no gear shifting mechanism, which means that both of your feet can lay comfortably flat on to the floorboard area the whole time, with the brake levers conveniently placed on both sides of the handlebar. With good seats, comfortable riding position and an engine that will not embarrass, the scooter is a good choice for a motorcycle nowadays.

Standard Motorcycles

Honda CB 500F

This is the most common type of motorcycle that you normally see on the streets, hence the name. Standard motorcycles are recognized by the upright riding position that you will not normally see on other types of motorcycles. Standard bikes, unlike scooters have a gear shifting mechanism which can be operated by pulling the clutch lever which can be found on the left side of the handlebar while stepping or pulling the gear shifter which can be found on the left side of the motorcycle as well. A standard motorcycle's braking system can be found on the right side of the bike, the front brake lever can be found on the right side of the handlebar while the the rear brake lever can be operated using the right foot.

Cruisers

Honda Goldwing

Cruiser motorcycles can easily be recognized by their relatively low and slightly reclined seating position. Some of the common types of cruiser motorcycles are those made by Harley Davidson, Indian and even Japanese brands such as Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki. Because of the comfortable riding position of these bikes, they are usually used by people for long rides and some like the Honda Goldwing shown above, have compartments that can be used to hold different kinds of things during a trip while providing a comfortable position for the passenger as well, they are also called touring bikes because of this feature.

Sport Bikes

Honda CBR 1000 RR

Sport bikes or super bikes, to my own opinion, are the main reason why a lot of people want to go out and get a motorcycle. And why not? These beautiful machines are crafted for speed and looks. But people should understand that this is not really a good motorcycle to start riding on especially if you are still a newbie when it comes to motorcycles, as these bikes can really go at high speeds and controlling it can be a bit difficult if you are still new to motorcycles. But if you already have experienced riding these types of bikes before and you have the funds for it (it can get a little bit pricey), then these thing of beauty can be all yours. Since sport bikes are specialized to go at high speeds and quick cornering, its foot pegs are raised a little higher and are placed backwards and the fairings are built for aerodynamics.

Dual Sport Bikes

Honda CRF 250 L

Dual sport motorcycles, as the name suggests, are the type of motorcycles that can either be used on and/or off road. Just like the Honda CRF 250 L shown above, these bikes are built to withstand different kinds of abuse and can go through any kind of terrain. May it be concrete, sand, mud, etc., you can be sure that a dual sport motorcycle can go through it all.

Underbones

Yamaha Sniper

Underbones, may it be manual or semi-automatic, are motorcycles with a specialized step through frame and are famous in various parts of Asia. In fact, the most produced motor vehicle in the world is an underbone, the ever famous Honda Super Cub. Like the scooter, underbones have gone through a lot of changes through time, especially when it comes to speed. These bikes are good for commuting since its lightweight and has a sleek design fit for city driving.

So there you are folks, some of the different kinds of motorcycles that you can choose from. Just remember to use safety gears such as helmets, jacket and pads before riding and to drive safely and moderately to avoid accidents. How about you guys? Do you have anything to add when it comes to choosing the best motorcycle? Don't be shy to comment below and ride safe!