Self proclaimed leader of Tech Nation; Cross Nails and Thorn's very own Tech Support brings you tips, tricks, and reviews on technology, Comics, Movies, and all things geek from a Christian perspective.
Facebook, one of the most popular Social Media sites. Ah, I remember when all Facebook was just a place to keep college kids connected and not about crushing candy, telling your business, what you ate, selfies, spoiling T.V. shows, ambiguous messages, NSFW pictures, live videos, meaningless arguing over battles between heroes from different genres, ruining social interaction.... ok, ok, I digress this tip is not about all that.
Have you ever got a request from someone already on your friends list? Your first reaction may be, Great another fake account which it could be, but sometimes it is in fact that person. Why did they make another account? Most of the time its because they forgot their password...
Instead of making page after page, let's take some precautions to keep your account safe and accessible.
General Settings.
Contact: Make sure your primary contact is an email that you use regularly and have access to (Stop rushing and using junk emails or emails that you don't plan on using on a regular basis)
You can also add multiple email addresses, so that if you forget your password, you can have it reset and sent to one of your emails.
Add your Phone Number as another way to reset our find your lost account.
Security and Login Settings
Here you can choose 3 to 5 trusted friends to help if you get locked out of your account.
Also, its a good idea to turn on Get Alerts about unrecognized logins
Take the time to go through your Facebook Settings. Make sure that it is secure to your liking and that only the information you want is made public.
Explosions ✔
Eye Candy ✔
Sexual innuendos ✔
More Explosions ✔
Everything needed for a Michael Bay Movie: Bayformers a bad movie in disguise. We again get another movie about humans surrounded by explosions and sexual tension with the occasional appearance by a giant alien robot.
Transformers, more than meets the eye. Transformers Robots in disguise. Except for when Michael Bay gets a hold of them, then their giant generic robots who are minor characters in their on movie. You think by movie number five something would change or get better, that you wouldn't get the same movie as the four before it, but alas, Bay has a formula and he sticks to it.
The PlotThe same as the four before it
We start in the past in a war with non other than King Arthur and his Knights; Lancelot and all them in a war that they clearly can't win. Oh, but King Arthur is like; we got this, we just have to hold on until Merlin the magician comes. Arthur's knights say Merlin is a liar, a trickster, and doesn't know real magic and that he is just a drunk.. Absurd! Not the most powerful wizard in history right? Well turns out the Knights were right. We see Merlin elsewhere drinking from a flask, drunk going to some cave talking to himself. I know what you are thinking. What does this have to do with transformers? Yea, I asked myself that too while watching... Anyway Merlin his hit against the cave by a transformer a Cybertonian Knight. Is he the last? No. Merlin pleads that he help them and save Camelot. So the Knight gives Merlin a staff that wields ultimate power... Yes, Merlin got his staff and power from a transformer. Not only did he get the staff but their are 12 knights, yes 12 see he is not the last and they can all combine to form the three headed dragon Dragonstorm. Merlin and Dragonstorm come to the aid of King Author and his Knights and easily take out their adversaries, creating the legend....
Back to the present on Earth. You would think it would be all good, but no. The transformers have become outcast and the government hunts them; calling themselves the TRF Transformers Reaction Force. Its members? Josh Duhmael and Tyrese are back not having been seen since the 3rd generic movie... Wait...wait... that's not Tyrese... In action, he kind of looks like him, but he doesnt talk as much and he only has a few lines....
Anyway, Transformers have been constantly falling to Earth hunted by the TRF. Oh, but Marky Mark is back and is hiding out with the auto and dino bots in a junk yard. He bursts on the scene with Bumblebee after rescuing some Nickelodeon actors, I mean kids from a TRF Walker drone. One a girl who is a survivor of the attack on Chicago in the previous movie who has befriended a little robot Squeaks and a big guy named Canopy. Canopy dies and Marky Mark or Cade finds a Cybertonian Knight who gives him a talisman that he claims will protect him. In the Shadows we see the police car Decepticon Baricade telling Megatron what he saw.
Remember the end of Transformers Age of Extinction? Don't worry most people probably don't. We see Optimus go into space to meet his makers warning them the he is coming and to leave Earth alone. Well it seems Cybertron has been coming toward Earth and Optimus meets his maker, Quintessa, but his threats go down the toilet when she back hands him into submission telling him for Cybertron to live, Earth must die. With a new red streak on his face an purple eyes from the slap from Quintessa, Optimus bows to find the ultimate weapon that will destroy Earth and save Cybertron. Oh, enjoy Optimus while you can here, because you won't see him again for another two and half hours...
So, the TRF also learn about the weapon that can bring back Cybertron and destroy Earth so they go to of all transformers Megatron for help in finding the weapon and in a Suicide Squad style Montage Megatron requests the aid of Decepticons that the TRF have in uh robot jail. Some Decepticons are deemed too dangerous or not generic enough, but Megatron gets, with freeze frame and name splash, Onslaught, Mohawk, Nitro and Dreadbot... I don't even know why I or this movie listed their names. They are not shown much and you will forget about them anyway.
The orphan girl, Izabella sneaks a ride back to the junkyard where the Dinobots; Grimlock, Slug, Swoop and their babies... I guess it was their babies, it was mini versions of them...anyway and Autobots: Bubmebee, Hound, Drift, Crosshairs, Wheelie have all been chillin and hiding out since that last generic movie with Cade and the Carmichael shows Carmichael. The Suicide Squad... I mean Megatron and the Decepticons attack; all of them die except for Megatron, Baricade, and Nitro... see told you their was no point in showing their names. Cade is then approached by C3PO... no kidding his name is Cogman, but hey even one of the autobots ask who is this discount C3PO is...Anyway, Cogman is a headmaster Anthony Hopkins.... Now what convinced him to be in this movie?
Now you would think we would get some more robot action, but no we see a woman (the eye candy) playing Polo. She is Oxford professor Vivian Wemble and she is then kidnapped by autobot favorite form the cartoon, Hot Rod. Don't get excited this is not the Hot Rod you know and love. He has a French accent and works for the the English lord Anthony Hopkins or as he is in the movie Sir Edmund Burton. Now why did he bring Vivian and Cade to him? Well he is the last of the Witwiccan Order , a secret organization that has been keeping the history of the transformers over the years, a group that consisted of the likes of Fredrick Douglas and....and.... Michael Bay... So, wait does that mean Shia is dead or did his family just have a similar name... eh doesn't matter...
Ok, so it turns out that Vivian is the last descendant of Merlin and only she can get the staff and stop Cybertron from coming to Earth and the last Knight... .No it's not a transformer, but good ol Marky Mark himself Cade. The two find the staff and Vivian activates it causing mechanical horns to rise from the Earth... Now this is this is the kicker, the reason transformers have been falling the Earth, why Cybertron is on a collision course with Earth.... Earth is actually Unicron. Yes, Unicron the transformer devil himself that is the size of a planet. Don't get excited, all you see of him is horns rising from the Earth...
Anywho, they are attacked by one of the Cybertonian Knights. The TRF intervenes and kills the Knight. Then enters Optimus Prime now known as Nemesis Prime. Nice of him to show up at the end of the movie... Anyway, Optimus takes the staff to restore Cybertron. We then get a nice fight between Bumblebee and Optimus. Optimus basically is ripping Bumblebee apart and just as he is about to kill him Bumblebee speaks; and no not in some radio voice, we hear the real Bumblebee saying what I guess is still a recorded line about how it is an honor to follow Optimus and that he would die for him. More Cybertonian Knights appear ready to kill Optimus for his betrayal, but in steps Cade... The talisman.... It morphs into King Arthur's legendary sword Excalibur causing the Knights to yield to him. Cade then tells Optimus to get up and to fight and protect the Earth.
Meanwhile, Megatron, Nitro, and Baricade work with Quintessa at Stone Hinge to bring back Cybertron. The TRF intervene and lord Burton starts to fire at Megatron who without Malice blasts him with his hand cannon. Then the TRF and Autobots team up to go to Cybertron get Vivian to the staff. For some odd reason Izabella tags along with Squeaks who has a heroic moment in destroying the turret. The TRF bails since Optimus is again missing and the get new orders to leave after placing a targeted strike that some scientist said would work instead of believing in a magic staff. Vivian and Cade stay vowing to complete the mission. Optimus finally shows up riding Dragronstorm. Where was he and why was he late, was the turret keeping him away... or did he just have to have his heroic moment? Anyway they battle and defeat Megatron. Optimus and Bumblebee "kill" Quintessa and Vivian gets the staff saving the day.
Optimus like he does in every movie gives his speech saying now Cybertron and Earth are connected and he invites all Transformers to come home to Cybertron. Then in a mid credit scene we see some scientist look at pieces of Unicron when a woman shows up saying she can help them destroy the being... Yes, its Quintessa... I thought this was going to be the last movie, no do not continue this!
The Good
The Fights
I mean when we did get action there were some nice fight scenes with the Transformers. Optimus always came in hard like a boss "Don't you know who I am" He says after chopping the heads off a line of Quintessa's soldiers, "I'm Optimus Prime
Bumblebee
We get a little bit of his history again seeing that he has been on Earth for a long long time even fighting against the Nazi's.
He appears to be Cubix now as he can break apart and control his parts individually and come back together
So there is suppose to ,be a spin-off move set in the 80's with him; just leave Michael Bay out of it, or reboot this universe...
Anthony Hopkins and Cogman
This duo was a highlight of the film creating some nice comedic moments
The sets
The scenes and backgrounds looked nice being filmed in IMAX
Optimus Prime
He wasn't in the move much, but when he was, he was an OG, one bad robot!
The Bad
The Plot
This movie was all over the place and did not fill like a transformers movie.
As always, the humans are the stars and get the most screen time; the Transformers are minor characters in their on movie
Same plot that has been in previous movies
The Transformers
Again Michael Bay has some of the transformers portray racist stereotypes
Most are generic and if they are not named Optimus or Bumblebee, you forget who they are
The Sexual Innuendos
Classic Bay as we get a scene with Cade and Vivian trying to find a clue in her father's study to where the staff is and as they talk to the outside it sounds as if they are doing the do to her mother and her friends.
Hot Rod
Hot Rod, the young brash autobot that became leader after Optimus died in the generation 1 cartoon is now just a servant for lord Burton.
He has a French accent
The Tech Worthy
The Earth being Unicron
Now this is an interesting idea and creates a whole new dynamic in the Transformers war.
Cogman
Robot headmaster and butler portrayed by Jim Carter who is basically being his character from downtown Abby (I have not watched the show, just read that online)
Tech Rating
How is this Franchise still going when its the same movie every time? All I can say is if you like the four before it, then go see it. If not, don't waste your time or money. If you take the beginning and end of the movie and take out the middle with all the human dram then you might have a decent movie. Time for Michael Bay to step away and reboot this franchise and actually make it about the Transformers!
Let's face it, when you are a non-profit organization or a church trying to help the world you face the challenge of having the necessary funds and equipment to serve. Computers; hardware and software cost and you may not have the technology you need to accomplish your mission.
"However you do good in the world, there's something for you at TechSoup"
TechSoup is a non-profit product donation program that help charity, public library's, churches, and other non profits with tech products and services! All you have to do is sign your organization up and you will have access to reduced price or even free latest technology solutions and tips, how-tos, and webinars!
For example as of writing this you can get Microsoft office Professional Plus for only $40.00 vs paying $399.99 from the Microsoft score... Yea that's a big difference. You can even get a reduced subscription price to Office 365. It doesn't stop at Microsoft as they have Adobe products, Anti Virus software, Cisco, Quickbooks... just to name a few. And its not just Software, you can also choose from refurbished and donated Hardware.
This is a great community that can help get your nonprofit started or,if you are well established and can do so, you can become a donor and/or volunteer.
Ever since Nick Fury sat on Tony Stark's couch in the after credit scene of Iron Man and mentioned the Avengers Initiative the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on a role. So, of course. DC wanted to follow suite but has not quite got their formula right. Although, Wonder Woman has has finally given DC a critically acclaimed hit and they may just be on their way if Justice League is solid. You would expect this from Comic Book movies, they have man characters with their own books who come together for events or team up titles it would make since to do it in the movies as well. Even the other studios that have comic book characters have tried or are trying to like Fox with the X-men and Sony... Sony trying to start a Universe with Spider-man Characters... Go Home Sony your drunk, stop being money hungry and let Marvel handle it.
Anyway, I guess it was only a matter of time before other studios try this with their properties. If you have seen Split you know that M Night Shyamalan is building his own universe as Bruce Willis's character from Unbreakable appears at the end and we realize that James McAvoy's lead in one of the enhanced human or as in this case Super Villain.
Oh, but low and behold Universal announces ahead of time their Dark Universe. Yes, Universal can be credited with the first Cinematic Universe with the monsters A movie verse where all of the major monsters will play a role, Dracula, The Wolfman, Frankinstein and or the wife of, Dr. Jeckhel... etc etc. Now before this universe was suppose to start with 2014's Dracula untold, but apparently it sucked so now in 2017 we get The Mummy.which also sucked....
The PlotI guess there was one...
Back in Ancient Egypt Princess Ahmanet was the only child born to the Pharaoh and his first wife. She was destined to be Queen and to rule. She was even called a goddess because of her beauty. Well just as she was dreaming of leading the people her father had a son with his second wife; so sorry sister he will be Pharaoh and you will be... well nothing. Well, this did not sit well with Ahmanet so what does she do? Sells her soul to to the god Set who promises to give her her wish of being queen if she will give him physical body. After getting some power from the god Set, she solves her problem by killing her whole family, even her baby brother in cold blood. You know, why did she need to sell her soul? She just went in and killed them as they slept... Anyway she then took her lover, her chosen, to sacrifice and give the god Set a body, but before she can she is captured mummified and buried.
Present Day Iraq, good ol Tom Cruise... I mean, Nick a soldier who liked to find things to sale on the black market with his friend Chris and they find Ahmanet's tomb. Well, Archaeologist or whatever she was one night stand turned love interest for Nick, Jenny, demands the bring the sarcophagus with them on their plane. Well his friend turns zombie from the spider bite he got in the cave kills the Colonel and then the plane goes down from a bunch of Crows. Nick gives Jenny a parachute and he goes down with the plane. Well, you probably know how this all plays out. Ahmanet wakes up, chooses Nick to be her new sacrifice since he found and freed her. Yes, he survived because he is cursed destined to be the body for the god Set.
From here you get a lot of Tom Cruise running; a must for one of his movies. We then meet the Nick Fury of the Dark Universe, Russel Crowe's Dr Jekyll. The head of Shield... I mean the head of the Prodiguum a secret society that hunt and contain supernatural threats with a base under the Natural History Museum of London. We get to see some body parts and skulls of other monsters like vampires and such to say hey they exist and you will see them all in future movies and then a big team up movie... Anyway, Dr. Jekyll wants to kill Nick so Ahmanet can't do the ritual. Well Nick is opposed to this so he protests and takes Dr. Jekyll's serum that keeps Mr. Hyde in check. The two fight, Nick sticks him with the serum and he turns back to normal. So i guess they cool now and Nick sets off to stop Ahmanet.
More Tom Cruise running and we get to the climax. Ahmanet kills Jenny and Nick wants to bring her back so after they fight he stabs himself with the sacred dagger completing the ritual. He then gets the power over life and death and becomes the new Mummy. He then brings Jenny back to life with an ugly CGI face and yell. Scared of himself he leaves fighting with the evil power that is now inside of him. He brings his friend Chris back to life and the go across the desert on horses. Jenny is like his good he can control it, he can help us, Dr. Jekyll is like; we will see... Avengers Assemble!
The Good
uhhhhh, I liked Ahmanet and how she beat Tom Cruise around like he was a rag doll and Dr. Jekyll....
Ahmanet was a good mummy, but had to take a back seat for a Tom Cruise action movie...
The Bad, Very Bad
Tom Cruise
We get plenty of him running and doing his own stunts. He plays Nick who is supposed to be a thief who only things of himself, but at the same time is charismatic. A young actor should have been chosen if this is the start of your universe... yea Robert Downy Jr. worked for Marvel, but Tom can only run so much...
Humor
The Jokes fell flat and this movie was not fun like 1999's version.
Not enough Ahmanet (had to take a back seat for a Tom Cruise action movie)
You could build a franchise around her... Yea she can come back, I guess the Monster Avengers will need something to fight....
She is nice take on the Mummy. She sucked the life force out of people to gain her body making them her zombie army.
The Setup for the Dark Universe
Seeing the Easter Eggs like the Creature from the Black Lagoon's hand in a jar and the skull with Fangs was cool but did not get me excited for whats to come
Ahmanet
Every time she fought Nick she put the beat down on him. It was funny seeing her knock him around like a rag doll.
The Tech Worthy
If you look at the scene where Mr Hyde and Nick fight Jenny hits him with the book from the 1999 mummy (Brand Frazier should have been called...)
Again the Prodigium with all the different monster Easter Eggs was cool to see and could be a movie franchise in its on right.
Tech Rating
This is a Rental at Best. If you are going to the theater see Wonder Woman again. Want to see a good Mummy movie? Go watch the 1999 version. Want to see a good Tom Cruise movie with plenty of him running? Watch any of the Mission Impossibles....
I wanna cry!!!! That may be what you say if your device is affected by the WannaCry ransomeware virus.
A nasty virus that attacks outdated Windows Devices. What does it do? Well its another form of the crypto virus; it will encrypt (basically change your data into unreadable files) and then charge you like 300 - 600 dollars to get them decrypted.
I'm a little late to the party as this all started back in May 2017; that is why in last week tip I talked about keeping your devices updated.
Especially in this case, you need to make sure your Windows device is updated. Make sure Automatic updates are on.
For Windows 10. Go to Settings > Update & Security. You will See your status there.
For Windows 8.1 go to Settings > Change PC Settings > Update and Recovery
For Windows 7 go to Control Panel > Windows Update
Windows XP? You still on that? Why? If you are, Microsoft went ahead and released a patch for it for the Wannacry, but keep in mind XP is no longer in service and does not receive updates regularly. I highly recommend you update or get a new device.
I really hate ransomeware; they basically hold your data hostage. Another thing to do is keep regular backups of your data. Weather it be an external hard drive or using the cloud always have more than one copy of your data in a secure place.
If there something strange, in your PC, who you gonna call? Tech Support! If your PC's acting wierd, who you gonna call? Tech...
Well, actually you can subscribe to the blog and follow Tech on Twitter and CNTNation.
Now on with the tip... the Tech Tip! No matter what device you own or have, PC, laptop, phone, tablet, gaming console, Smart T.V. and or watch, the key to keeping it working properly and to keep it secure is to keep it updated.
Now, I am speaking of security updates and patches and not necessarily operating system update. Sometimes for those it is fine to be patient and wait till all of the bugs are worked out. Most devices will ask you before jumping to the next operating system, but having an out of date operating system can be dangerous too (If an operating system is out of date it is no longer providing security updates i.e Windows XP) Always be sure when it comes to security updates and patches automatic updates should be turned on.
Side Note, Yes, Windows 10 has taken a new approach to this and will touch on it in a future Tech Tip.
Reason being there has been many hacker attacks as of late and one way to be save is to stay updated; so that you are protected against viruses and hacks.
I will in the future break down updating certain devices. More to come in future Tech Tips!
In the video below, I along with Chill B and our friend Teflon Viper were excited for Monday Night Raw. Being wrestling fans since the early 80's we decided to attend Raw as we have attended other shows and Chill B, Humble Diva, and Barz have even attended Wrestlemania 27 (Well not the best of the Wrestlemanias, but that's another story)
As I said we were ready for a good time, but as the last few years, and the ratings, have proved Monday Night Raw has been on a steady decline and this show was no exception.
I admit, I started watching during church service in the back room with my cousins when Hulkamania was running wild, but I truly got to watch and keep up with it all during the famed attitude era. The day I came home from school and saw that cable line going to our house, I got to join others in flipping back and forth between Raw and Nitro during the Monday Night Wars. Now this was a great time to be a fan with wrestlers like The Rock, Stone Cold, The Undertaker, DX, the APA just to name a few. Nothing last forever and wrestlers get older...retire, but that is where new guys should be groomed to fill those shoes. Something where WWE has failed. Is it because they went PG? No, you can still tell great stories in a PG setting. The attitude era as great as it was also had its flaws.
It seems now that the writing and storytelling has taken a turn for the worse. The Raw that we attended was suppose to be be the go home show for Extreme Rules this Sunday. The go home show is supposed to get you hyped and ready for it and back before the WWE Network it served to get those who were on the fence to buy the Pay per View. I will tell you this, this show failed to that. I miss the days where watching Monday Night Raw was a priority but now I have it own as background noise. Three hours is too long, especially when you fill it with crap story lines and segments.... Segments like the one we saw live Monday with Alexa Bliss.
This was by far the worst part of my experience. This Sunday Alexa and Bayley face each other for the Women's title in a Kendo Stick on a Pole match. So, what does WWE decide to do to hype us for this match? Oh, they have Alexa come out with Bayley this is your life segment... Now back in the day this worked when Mick Foley did it for the Rock, but this here was horrendous. It was long, boring, and a waste of time. Alexa just went on and on about how lame Bayley is and had some of her personal belongings on a table in the ring.... How did she get these? Did she go to Bayley's house and steal them? Should she not be in jail right now? Yes, because this segment was a crime against humanity. Alexa had Bayley's teacher, child hood friend, and ex boyfriend in the ring. All of them telling stories of how Bayley was too nice, her dad was always there... in class and even on dates... I guess this was suppose to be funny... In the end the child hood friend and ex boyfriend started to make out in the ring... (Yea, this was worth my ticket price). The segment was so bad we chanted "delete delete delete" and "boring". (Teflon Viper takes credit for starting the boring chant) With all this, Bayley then decides to come out. The crowd cheered, more so that it meant the end to this segment. They then fought, a fight we could not see because it was behind the table... this brought on chants of "move the table". In the end Alexa had a Kendo Stick under the table and she used it to again best Bayley.
Was the almost four hour show all bad? No, the main event with Roman and Seth was a a good match. Like every other city, poor Roman was booed. Personally I cheered him, because he does not deserve the boos. He is only getting booed because he is Vince McMahon's chosen one to replace John Cena. Vince created this monster by the awful promos he wrote... One having Roman saying Sylvester the cat's famous Suffering Succotash line, or having Roman eliminate fan favorite Daniel Bryant early in the Royal Rumble, and some may argue with the latest in having Roman be the second man to beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania and retire him... It may be too late now, but Roman should have went heal when the boos started and by now Vince could have the top face Roman that he wants, but nooooooo. Now the funny thing is when the camera's went off and Roman posed after his win, the crowd cheered him. So, maybe Roman will be seen as a true face one day... or it may take a Shield Reunion to do it...
Along with the main event I enjoyed the fatal three way with Fin Baylor, Samoa Joe, and Bray Wyatt (another character the writers have messed up on) and also seeing the Hardy's and Dean Ambrose take on the Miz, Cesaro and Shemus in the opening. Even so, WWE, ya got to do better. There is no excuse for the lack of storytelling and waste of talent that has been happening for the last few years. I miss the days having a house full on Sundays because people couldn't wait to see the ppv. I mean Smackdown is better being two hours and seems to be able to cope even when Raw thinks it can be better by taking the stars they made or NXT which is a great show, but now I fear the day an NXT star is called up because Raw will chew them up and spit them out!
I hope to discuss this further with the others of CNT Nation to get their thoughts on Raw and the WWE as of late in a Podcast or YouTube segment, because something has got to give... Even with no direct competition there are still alternatives like Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network Wednesdays at 9 p.m. or the always reliable Ring of Honor. And no i will not recommend TNA or as they call themselves now Impact because they are the reason the Hardy's can't go completely broken and there product is still bad, far worse than Raw....
Facebook, one of the most popular Social Media sites. Ah, I remember when all Facebook was just a place to keep college kids connected and not about crushing candy, telling your business, what you ate, selfies, spoiling T.V. shows, ambiguous messages, NSFW pictures, live videos, meaningless arguing over battles between heroes from different genres, ruining social interaction.... ok, ok, I digress this tip is not about all that.
