Developer: BIG BAD Brush
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4.15 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.04 out of 5 stars
Everyone likes big monsters, whether it be Godzilla-like beasts or Katamari balls. There’s just some kind of macho fascination with giant, indestructible things that are hell-bent on terrorizing the Earth. Flowers, though – flowers are tough. The idea to have a big killer flower has existed, and has been successful, in the past with the Little Shop of Horrors, but game developers tend to stay away altogether.
Without a degree in psychology or any kind of research, I will attempt to accurately predict people’s thoughts on flowers. Flowers are soft, pretty, smell good, and are loved by girls (and guys, but the stereotype is that they are primarily liked by girls) all over the world for one reason or another. Because of this, many guys don’t want anything to do with flowers in their video games.
BIG BAD Brush sidesteps the gender stereotype by adding BIG and BAD (in caps) to the flower, creating a gender boundary breaking game that is sure to please macho world dominators and little girls alike (not that they can’t be one and the same — Ed.). The game starts with you, a living sunflower that plans on taking over the world. The problem is that every being in the universe wants to stop you.
Each level in the decidedly simple game starts with you, as the big sunflower, at the bottom of the screen with a bunch of things overhead for people or things to appear on. For example, the first levels have the sunflower in a backyard being ravaged by all of nature’s little creatures. Birds and squirrels throw things at you, mushrooms grow and cut off your health, and little critters come parachuting down from the sky to attack.
In your arsenal is a single weapon: bubbles. Again, BIG BAD Brush skirts the gender boundary by adding cutesy bubbles as weapons. To use a bubble, you have to draw a circle around the creature that you want to capture. After the creature is captured, you must swipe your finger on the sunflower and it blows the bubble away.
I know, playing as a sunflower that blows all the planetary domination “haters” away sounds like kids stuff, but the artwork is decidedly testosterone injected. The flower looks mean – real mean. So do the military units and giant creatures that come after you in later levels. Even the icon, complete with crazy eyes, looks mean.
Aside from all the flower talk, BIG BAD Flower is an excellent game that thrives off its sense of style. The game is fun, although slightly repetitive after some time, but the total package is a complete win. I would love to see some other attacks available, like a thorny vine arm or even some fire breath, but there’s really nothing wrong with the bubble system. If you like fast paced games with a sense of humor, be sure to check out BIG BAD Flower. You won’t be disappointed.
AOL, Inc. (NYSE:AOL) has acquired 5min Media, a video tutorial website that teaches people how to do different tasks. Although AOL did not confirm the value of the acquisition, sources believe that it was an all-cash deal worth $50-$65 million.
Globespan Capital Partners and Spark Capital both invested a total of $13 million into 5min. Not a bad return for the two VC firms. Below is the full press release from AOL:
AOL ACQUIRES 5MIN MEDIA, WEB’S LARGEST VIDEO CONTENT SYNDICATION PLATFORM
Combination of 5min Media and AOL’s Video Capabilities Creates Powerful
End-to-End Offering
New York, NY, September 28, 2010 – AOL Inc. [NYSE: AOL] today announced it has acquired 5min Media, the Web’s largest video syndication platform.* The acquisition allows AOL to significantly expand its consumer offering of contextually relevant, high-quality video across its sites, increasing the AOL Network’s appeal to advertisers and is expected to further enhance the distribution and monetization of AOL-produced original video content throughout the Web.** Deal terms were not disclosed.
“Our acquisition of 5min Media is the latest in a number of steps we have taken this year to better position AOL to capture the growing video opportunity on the Web,” said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AOL. “AOL is building a video ecosystem for the next decade. 5min Media is the perfect complement to our powerful video capabilities — it provides a missing piece in the AOL value chain that completes our end-to-end video offering from content creation through syndication and distribution to the consumer experience and monetization.”
“AOL and 5min Media share the same excitement about the direction our industry is taking, and our complementary video capabilities make us a compelling fit and an attractive combination for content creators and publishers,” said Ran Harnevo, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, 5min Media. “We’ve seen rapid and successful growth as an independent organization and becoming part of AOL is a natural next step. We’re confident that AOL’s organizational horsepower, combined with the vast library, audience and syndication capabilities 5min Media offers, present compelling opportunities for AOL as well as the content creators we work with and the publishers we serve.”
Leading Video Syndication Network and Library to Enhance AOL’s Properties
5min Media is the world’s leading video syndication network with a library of more than 200,000 categorized, tagged and rated videos from more than 1,000 of the world’s largest media companies and professional independent video producers. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City with offices in Tel Aviv, 5min Media has been named the largest U.S. independent video property by comScore, with more than 20 million unique viewers and more than 130 million video streams (including ad and content videos) in the U.S. in August 2010. 5min Media’s growing network of 800 partner sites allows content creators to reach this audience of targeted viewers across 21 different verticals, including six verticals – Home, Food, Beauty / Fashion, Health, Travel and Pets – that lead their categories, according to comScore Video Metrix, August 2010. VideoSeed, 5min Media’s proprietary semantic technology, contextually matches the most relevant videos with a partner site’s text content to enhance the consumer experience and increase monetization rates.
AOL has already begun to integrate 5min Media’s video content on its sites through a commercial agreement executed prior to the acquisition. “With 5min Media we’ll be able to add more video inventory to our pages. Importantly, we’ll also be able to identify video content holes among our sites, tap our StudioNow capabilities to fill those needs and create a truly ‘demand informed’ video library,” Armstrong said.
Combination Completes Next Step in AOL’s Value Chain
With the addition of 5min Media, AOL will significantly increase its consumer offering in video programming and connect consumers with high-quality video. In January, AOL acquired StudioNow, the premier online platform for quality video content creation and distribution. With StudioNow, AOL has formed a fully functional platform to produce high-quality video content in a rapid, cost-effective and scalable way for both AOL as well as third-party publishers. In addition, AOL is forging exciting new partnerships to provide relevant content to specific audiences, including partnering with: The Ellen DeGeneres Show; Marlo Thomas; The Jonas Group and MGX Lab to found Cambio (www.cambio.com); and A Squared Entertainment LLC to create children’s content featuring Warren Buffett, Gisele Bündchen, Martha Stewart and the late Carl Sagan.
Guess what, America? There are people who really don’t crave burgers, steaks, and gobs of meat for every meal. There are people who don’t even eat food that contain products that come from animals of any sort. This group of people runs under the Vegan flag. Those of you curious about trying this lifestyle should continue reading.
21-Day Vegan Kickstart is an app geared toward folks looking to jump onto the vegan bandwagon, or just take a gander at what the eating lifestyle is like. The app sports step-by-step recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even a snack. The recipes are easy to read and offer a decent variety of fine dining choices.
Here is where the problem lies in the app. The description goes on to comment about improving and regaining your health. That statement makes it sound like the rest of us are all living some atrocious life style of eating sin. This just rubs me all kinds of the wrong way.
Eating a vegetarian meal can be just as healthy as eating a vegan friendly course. Both of these can be just as healthy as eating a fat slab of slowly cooked prime rib. What makes it healthy is how people live their lives and what they do to burn off those calories from the prime rib.
The benefit to this app is it gives some pretty easy and simple recipes for people to follow. Even if you are not considering a vegan lifestyle, some simple meals are presented that take almost no time to prepare. Just perfect for today’s non-stop running around society.
The app is currently free and available for the iPhone. Regardless of your dietary preferences, there is sure to be something in here to suit just about anyone’s taste buds. Why not give it a look and see just what your taste buds have been missing all along?
Some of you might be a little Adrian Monk in your germaphobic tendencies, and that’s okay. If the iSkin Revo Case isn’t good enough for you, then you might want to try CleanTouch.
CleanTouch is a spray-on cleaner by Monster, and it works on any device with a touchscreen, such as the iPad. The alcohol and ammonia-free solution won’t harm the screen coatings.
This “Purel for iPads” (actual description by New York Times) costs about $25 and is good for 300 sprays, complete with carrying pouch.
Without a degree in psychology or any kind of research, I will attempt to accurately predict people’s thoughts on flowers. Flowers are soft, pretty, smell good, and are loved by girls (and guys, but the stereotype is that they are primarily liked by girls) all over the world for one reason or another. Because of this, many guys don’t want anything to do with flowers in their video games.
We have discussed how 
Some of you might be a little Adrian Monk in your germaphobic tendencies, and that’s okay. If the 
Comments