For the Master- Sifu Review

 

 This game- Sifu, and IP that was released originally on PC and PS4, I did not expect to make it to the Nintendo Switch.  It was developed by Sloclap originally in 2022. Like WarFrame and other PC games, it receives the usual idiotic designation of unplayable on the handheld. It consistently annoys me hearing this label thrown around because of people's fixation on the 90's era of handheld gaming. As I've said many times, no matter how powerful handhelds become, people in general will still expect, and accept no more than incomplete minigames on the platform.

  This story follows a protagonist, who's master was murdered by a rogue student. This student has a large following of gangs, spreading across a corporation that has amassed large wealth. The rogue student- Yang, led an attack on the dojo after being disgraced and ends up taking out the sifu and the protagonist, who is just a child at the time. A talisman heals him just in time, and imbues him with the power to survive fatal attacks at the cost of many years to his life. He vows revenge, and goes after the henchmen, gaining information to track down Yang and avenge the sifu.

  This game uses a button sequence combo system similar to what Shenmue 3 attempted with directional input. It does this very well and has a very clever counter system and defensive options, which I always say is essential in group brawlers. So many games miss this mark and end up being mashers with no strategy, or just unfair enemy oppression with no defensive options. This game also has a takedown feature that you can used on stunned enemies that many of you might recognize from games in the early 2000's. It is not able to be abused, as enemies will read it and power up while reversing it, gaining health, if you do it too much. I loved that addition. You also have a very nuanced dodging mechanic that is the heart of your defense in later levels of the game, as just blocking will not be enough. In fact, you have an integrity meter that can be broken if you block excessively. It is similar in that way to Nioh, where you have to vary your style and approach. There is some exploration, but really it's to find secrets to open areas. Finding keys allows you to unlock doors and shortcuts in earlier levels which you need to a degree. When you reach the later point of levels and the game, you will earn, through unlockables, the ability to fast track to or near the boss of the stage.

 On the matter of bosses, this deserves its own discussion. I am a very big snob with bosses in games, for a reason. They make or break a title, and sometimes, being too easy, too few or simplistic in design, can bring down an otherwise amazing game. I remember playing Wind Waker for the Gamecube and shaking my head to how a great game had such an underwhelming final boss. I used to praise Monster Hunter for its bosses, but honestly, some of the games in the series can tend to have very repetitive and easy bosses that only get slightly annoying when they rage, due to the speed and health buffs. I think Sifu does and awesome job meeting this balance. I watched a streamer play Elden Ring, which I think sets the benchmark for what boss design should be in games. Many of the Souls games meet this mark. These are bosses that adapt and change, and force you to use your entire arsenal of skills and knowledge. Nioh did this as well. Sifu executes this very well. However, the curve for learning the early boss patterns was very steep, and it wasn't until near the end of the game that I began to get the ability to fight through the stages and bosses with some repetition. The girl with the staff and old woman boss with the whip were highly annoying, but in an overall good way. You had to use your directional dodges, which called for utilization of reflexes. It was always extremely satisfying to beat a boss in that game, and even some mid bosses, who could be tough.

  The final boss, Yang, had  several forms and is a very defensive fighter. You can't wail on him like you usually can at first with last bosses. It brought back memories of the last boss in Earth Wars, where he was hard from the very beginning, and had you wondering how you would make it to his other forms. You have to use every skill in your arsenal. I really marveled at the way they make you have to both block, and parry in this fight. You can't lean on any one skill. You will also be directional dodging. You do not have takedowns available to you in this fight in the conventional sense, but you can access pivotal takedown maneuvers by ultimately breaking his countenance, which is essentially the goal of that fight. You are given a way of sparing him, which I thought about during the fight, as he tries to reason with the hero, saying that he has spent the last decades since his assault on the dojo atoning for his wrongdoings. However, the fight was so hard I didn't even think to try it. You  would have to break his countenance twice, letting him reset twice, in  his final form. I had no intention of tackling that. It has a satisfying ending, and you unlock some great extras and missions that have meaning, and are more than fluff. I found myself playing those missions, in order to unlock different outfits. I would also welcome playing this game on the harder difficulties in the future. 

  It was quite the ride, and was quite poetic in nature. I am a longtime practitioner and appreciator of martial arts, and this game pays good homage to the arts, and has an extensive movelist and techniques. It focuses more on the story than it does the principles of martial arts, but it pays more tribue than Shenmue 3 did. I would actually say I love the game. I had a concept for a martial arts movie based on a real argument of principles I had with my own master years ago, which ends similar to this game, where the villain is not so obviously a villain. I thought of it when I got to the end of this game. This is tribute to you, master. 9/10

2 New Albums- The Opera and Ever Full

 I've dropped 2 new albums. One is from a 2010 opera that I have not yet completed, titled, "The Ink in Me." This was a project I ended up stretching out over a few subsequent albums including the Magnum Opus series. I rerecorded a few takes, but this album contains all of the original takes and dialogue. The new album is "To Be Ever Full." This is a passionate project I have contemplated for the past year, as I completed my schooling and my Computer Science degree, wondering if I had it in me to rise again with an experimental album, returning to drums. I was very aprehensive, but did get the job done, I'm proud to say. Here they are. Look the works up on Spotify or ITunes.

Cyber Security Case Study 2

 New Scam Tactics

Here is another update of Social Engineering techniques used by people using Door dash. There have been several scams on the app over the past year, but I encountered a new one while dashing the other night after a long shift of work.

  I would be remised to skip the back story in this event. I have just had a whirlwind of a year, with several housing changes and employment surprises, having started travel agency work late in 2023, and had a contract ended suddenly by a company due to discrimination reasons in North Carolina, while in the process of trying to financially recover. This spawned the opening of an EEOC case that would not be heard for another 6 months. In the meantime, I was in an employment gap, that thankfully, my agency was able to lessen and get me reassigned, prematurely albeit to the North East region. As you already know, travel and re-establishment of housing is in itself a huge expense. I took this on in the middle of financial crisis and relocated for the impromptu assignment. I  was needless to say, behind behind the 8 ball. Being that there is a delay before getting the first payment of your assignment naturally, the recurring bills I have piled up to the sky in the process, to the point where side jobs and gigging became necessary to provide daily food needs and get by. I had a few contracts come up with my business, but they were from contacts still assuming I was in the NC area, so I had to decline. At that point, the first check would probably not get me ahead at all, or even on track, but just close the gap. I turned, during this time to the Dash app, having no idea what I was in store for.....

I have to start paying more attention to the texts and the orders themselves. There's a lot of dialogue and text on the screen to unpack, and I tend to do this while multitasking at my main job. I have found a new scam which was embarrassing for me because I am cyber security. Apparently, door dash knows about it and puts the exclaimer in the authentication text then send, but if you are flying around like I was, you likely won't read it. These people put in an order, watch for when you arrive, and call you from a number listed as Door Dash. When you answer the phone, you are asked several authentication questions, to verify your account. Right there, because this is common practice when you call Door Dash, it is the first concealed flag. After taking this information, they confirm that you will get paid for the canceled dash, and to confirm the last 8 digits of your dasher direct card. They carefully craft the dialogue they use, because if they asked slightly more or less, even though flustered and busy, I likely would have caught them.

 They generate a few codes to be sent to authenticate your account, and ask that you read the code to them, another thing that many companies do in fact do. After this, they tell you to check the app and that the balance should have increased to reflect pay for the canceled job. It doesn't show anything, and then they say to proceed, and that the change should reflect within the next few minutes. At this point, it is highly likely that you have not read the messages in full yet. And then there are the people that were under attack before Door Dash caught it.

 Honestly, these kinds of issues can be further mitigated with self-authentication on the client side. Your token should be self-generated and acknowledged on your device. This can eliminate the need to differentiate the devices and ensure they are the actual user. A phone number is its own token and points to the holder of the authentic device. You should never be in scenarios at all where you are asked for authentication information at any point. And by conditioning users to do this on occasion, you lower their guard. Now it seems like a legitimate approach. I've always had an issue with this in general because it's sloppy protocol.

  One thing I noted was that when I called customer support after I was very suspicious at the call, the call intakes mirrored each other, and I noted this to the agent. I commend the fact that they released messages to alert the scam activity, but there should be protocol changes made. A few months ago, a woman was murdered because the Dash app did not protect from a malicious user who set her up to be shot trying to retrieve money from a customer for a ransom. She was in the dark, and the scam artist was effectively in the dark themself. All they do is use the app as a customer and use that to launch the scam. You should not be able to authenticate absent the phone device that you use. That is your token. And it is a good idea to implement mandatory biometrics. It would be all too possible in the near future to intercept key information and authenticate on another device. If a phone number is used as a tag, a connection should be established between the phone device to complete authentication. With that strategy alone, the attack I fell victim to would have never worked.

 Going forward, I personally will, and encourage others to always read the dialogue of any message carefully, no matter how long it takes. Consider all information you are asked for as sensitive. Many companies will act irritated with you for doing due diligence, but that is because they are ignorant to the cyber security dangers. Ignore that and slow it down. Your money, and even life can be at risk.

Experts

 

 I'm just mindblown right now at what has become of the world today. I was watching a youtube video just recently, and it brought me back to a topic I discussed on my Magnum Opus series. It regards what an expert is in essence. On the record, I talk about how people who are considered connoisseurs on a subject, in the times we live in, don't even talk in depth about that very thing. This album was completed in 2014.

 Fast forward to 2024, I'm watching a video of a youtuber I admire, who has someone on as a guest who is considered a calisthenics guru. Now, I have been heavily into both weight training and calisthenics throughout my life. I have trained people at times, and have trained at a very high level. But due to my "status", I get no respect as anything near a guru. That's besides the point. Calisthenics is the art of using body mechanics and weight to train the body from head to toe. You master how you can get the most out of your body and maximize its potential using only resistance and body weight. I've done countless maneuvers and created some of my own. I'm literally watching this proclaimed diety of the discipline talk about how one of the secrets to doing impressive upper body movements is that they don't work legs to keep their weight low. He then stumbles through each lower body workout looking like a fool. So what this idiot is referring to are the videos they desperately put up across the web for your clicks and likes, that show them doing flag poles, handstands, v-sits and other gravity defying moves. They want to generate a wow from you and get revenue. The last thing they actually care about is creating a maximized body, and because they attach themselves to the discipline of calisthenics and have your respect, that equals mastery and supremacy of the discipline. Wow!

  I have a program, one of the many I created, called "Road Work" which entails jumping jacks, burpees, and mountain climbers. There are 3 other moves in the workout, but the last three I listed are core calisthenic maneuvers. When the heck did body weight movements only entail working your arms and back and nothing else? That's because these "gurus" lock in on the simplistic stuff that catches your eye, and choose to call that the entire essence of calisthenics. This is disgusting. There is a word called comprehensive. A big bro of mine posts instagram shorts of boxing, medicine ball workouts, and other full body moves. We used to train together years ago at work. What we do is calisthenics. But beyond just this topic, this is what has happened to society today. Every single thing has become watered down. If you just google any topic or subject right now. The exhaustive list will show you the most superficial and basic approach to it compared with what used to be available several years ago. A colleague of mine said that this could be due to the deep dive into AI and preparing the net and the infrastructure for that to be the authority on information in the near future. Either way, this is very bleak. People have been conditioned to think very shallow on every single topic or not at  all, and avoid depth in all forms.

  A somebody who craves depth when I get into something, this makes me very put off by new ventures. I find that I just do a lot of digging in the crates and look backs at old works, because if not, you can actually start to forget how to do a deep dive into studying something. That is very scary, but necessary to mention. I think I might start to cover deep dives on topics as a series on one of my outlets or host it myself. You see, another issue I have is that in this age of censorship, the internet and its algorithm constantly search for ways to block out and cancel the uninitiated. I've seen celebrity content creators post some very questionable material that is left online and called educational, yet when I do a music video for black history month depicting the history of African Americans and how it is celebrating their victory and creating what I call "Day of the Free," Youtube takes it down and calls it offensive. They do the same thing with an instrumental jazz jam session I did in the same vein. We've gone from the Information Age to the Age of Suppression. They don't want to hear that, but it's true.

 My next wave of initiatives is going to be creating a way to host content on a new and less enterprise level. Perhaps it will catch on, and become something, but I don't like the idea of slowly being indoctrinated and silenced. Also, after the longest drought of my career, the next record is finally in production. I feel like the forces of the world did not want me to make another album. Every time I was inspired to the point of waking up with concepts, several things would happen that would kill any chance at a recording session or even laying down tracks. Now, I forced it, and once I get the process started, it's only a matter of time. It usually takes getting 2 tracks for the album done to solidify the record happening, and that has just about happened, so haters, stay tuned. LOL.

Inspiration

 

   "Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices, that, if I then had waked after long sleep, will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming, the clouds, methought would open, and show riches ready to drop upon me, that when I waked I cried to dream again."

  I have so many thoughts to unravel... I don't remember what I was going to write here but this is quote from "The Idiot" which I have yet to finish. Long book.

New Works

 

NEW WORKS

 Greetings All. As the time unfolds, I am finally nearing school's completion. I hope to work towards expanding the IT services and the applications that I am developing. I have been working with the band and gigging over the past few months, so I haven't really don't much recording, but the writing and recording bug have been biting, just in many directions. I am currently working on finishing the autobiography and perhaps I will begin work on a new Sci-Fi novel TBA. I have more than enough essays written to facilitate the beginning of that project. And perhaps a new album at some point as well. I usually end a music project with at least a fraction of work for the next one done just in case. But the biggest bug that's been biting me is the fact that I haven't painted in so long. It feels alien at this point, and so I put together this brief reintroduction piece that I pretty much abandoned after short time, as I ran out of ideas. But at least I'm getting the reps back in. This piece was inspired by a picture I took from an interview recently of the UFC President Mr. Dana White. Anyways, stay tuned, as I know the essays have been very scant on this blog, but they will be coming back out soon.

Cyber Fraud Case Study 1

 Here I will educate on how deceptive cyber criminals are and what you can look out for. I've encountered many scams over the years that used various forms of social engineering, but in recent times, you will be floored to see the methods used. Tenacity is their main weapon. I have spoken in the past about prior attempts I encountered in my experimentation, and as a client. The world of Cybersecurity is said to be wide open for employment opportunities. I haven't see this personally, as I only get job rejections and see rare postings, but in honesty, the field has to be wide open, because the criminals are more psychotic and maniacal than ever. The level of robotic sociopathic behavior they will exhibit will blow you away, to the point you actually refuse to believe

 Recently, I was contacted on What'sApp by an individual proposing a part time and full-time opportunity. I had never heard of the person, and no clear entity was given at first. Being that I've been searching for remote work for some time, I decided to look into it. I recently encountered a few fools on Facebook pretending to sell trailers and cars to loop people into account stealing scams. I could go on for hours about the many scams I confronted people on. What you will find interesting is how dogmatic and forceful they are. They will argue about the merit and legitimacy of the business, even attacking you, for hours or even days, simply hoping that you break down eventually and take the bait.

  I was told I would get contact from a superior afterward with details about the job. I always tell companies, including the lender I used for my trailer, that legitimate companies have to take care to have very good ethical compliance when dealing with customer information and transactions, so as not to mirror the behavior of cyber criminals. I said the same thing to these people. I found out  that the company is BandCamp music apparently, and I didn't see much in the way of research. I was told I submit tasks for increasing visibility of music for artists. Oddly, the page I was directed to had a balance already in an account, and you clicked a button to assign the task, then you get a fraction of the amount generated. It was just as convoluted as it sounds. The records that showed were old pop records that had their play almost a decade ago from artists like John Legend and Adele. It looked very suspicious.

I made a login, and then for some reason, my trainer had me log into their account to complete their tasks. I then asked about training, and was told it isn't needed, which was odd because I thought that's what we were doing according to the instructions given at the outset. I was then ordered to go back to my account and complete the same kinds of tasks. After I was done, I was said to have accumulated money that I could extract to my account. This is where I got really interested, and as you can see in the dialogue I captured, I began to question to see if they would quit while they were ahead. I explained my knowledge of cyber security, and the comical condescending tone that she took was breathtaking. You can see by her dialogue, that no matter what red flags I exposed, until she was in handcuffs, I was nothing but a stupid fool and potential victim to her, regardless of the awareness I clearly showed to her. That's when I became really aware of the sociopath personality these people have. They are trained to be like pit bulls that bite and scratch until they succeed. All humanity stripped away.

 They stated that for security, they used crypto currency. I was then instructed to provide my crypto address. This required me to open a new crypto wallet, as PayPal's is now down due to a merge issue with Europe. I set up my account and linked the address, but was required to do more tasks. Below, you can see screenshots of the experience. You'll notice a staff level next to your icon. Apparently, this raises as you complete these tasks of pressing a green button that assigns a song to a list. The person guiding me was apparently from Germany, according to them. If you look at the layout, it makes no sense. And what I found interesting is that my trainer/manager, or whatever she was, thanked me for helping her complete her tasks, when I completed the training that wasn't training. After I had exhausted my tasks, I tried to get more, and was told that I have to deposit at least 100USD in order to reset my task counter on my portal so I could click the green button more to earn cash. I was instructed to contact Customer Service each time I needed to do this reset, which itself is a huge red flag and quite stupid. I'm reasoning the entire time with this person, explaining to her that it only made things more odd with her denying how bad the layout and protocol looked to an observer. Take a look at the captures below and study them.

I really wanted to cut off and block the person, but for studying purposes, I resisted, because I really wanted to see how far they were willing to go. The site itself is not very impressive. You can put together those pages and layouts today in minutes with the templates that exist out there. What was impressive is the slide show that she was willing to fabricate and lie through for hours. This made the clown who pretended to be a house wife looking to sell me a car on Facebook for over a day, look like child's play. They have carefully written scripts typing confidently about percentages of return and remuneration etc. It's designed to intimidate and confuse. By the time they ramble on for hours, you will be convinced that it is lunacy for it to be a scam at that point. And that's exactly what they want you to think. When I pointed out the factors that made it a scam and put them before her, she went on for over an hour, livid at the claim and acting as if I was crazy, even stating that she was well aware of the penalties of cyber criminal activity and would never be so stupid as to participate. This is how disrespectful these clowns are. Until you lock them up, you are nothing but a stupid clown to them.

  Eventually, the punchline I kept asking for came. I was told that each account needs to have a 100USD balance - which is a crypto equivalent, in order to be reset with tasks. This amount was the responsibility of the worker, who would then receive that money on the back end as revenue when they submit tasks going forward. So basically, you are paying to work, and they promise you'll get money on the back end. That's the point where I had enough intel, and I could assess and display how these criminals have advanced over the past decade. They are constantly finding new ways to drop the guards of their victims, even if it means running a marathon in the other direction. Even robbing you for a penny is worth it to these idiots, because they do it for the thrill and the bigger picture. I was chased for months by QuickStar Productions to scam me for $75 with a campaign for a fraudulent music release that did not exist out of a Maryland office that did not exist. Today, they are willing to make their efforts more elaborate and diligent, even trying to use some legitimate sources in the process. Be on the aler to the individuals.

  Many of these idiot companies overlook my resume, shred it, send me a rejection letter, and hire trained monkeys to pick up their phones and drool on their keyboards. But if people were really about security and awareness, they would be looking for who can uncover attacks like this and save potentially millions of dollars. Let this be a lesson. Who of your applicants is putting together a knowledge base like this on their own, due to having a passion for the field? Jokatech

Leaving Mainstream Gaming Platforms

 Finished with Mainstream Gaming Consoles

 I've been an avid handheld gamer for over 3 decades, and I've always loved being able to game on the go. Since the early 90's, I was a supporter of every major and minor company in the handheld space. I had almost every Gameboy iteration, briefly a few Sega handhelds, and of course Sony's handhelds, which is a key part of this discussion later on. When it comes to home consoles, I still own and play them, and I've seen the shift in era of updates, which I've come to accept. However, there is a line I have to draw.

  Nintendo has always been a very principled company that will go against the grain to do what they feel is morally right. And that's one of the reasons I've always stood behind them. Many of their unpopular choices have gone on to be mimicked, or gain popularity over time, such as embracing Indie games as a main focus. 

 I was online the other day and saw a very stupid comment by some idiot in a forum. He decried the notion that what gaming companies are doing right with updates is akin to the Don Mattrick doomsday scenario. He went on to normalize the practice as if it is a legitimate security measure. And he was so smug it annoyed me because he has no idea how stupid he is. When updates started heavily back in the early 2000's, needed features were presented as the software or platform matured. I'm not going to reiterate the history that I've already broken down in a past post here. However, as I stated, I was very skeptical about how updates became a forced norm in all tech industries. No one seemed to blink, like the bots most people are. However, now, at this point every company has bought in.

  I have a Nintendo Switch that has been offline for the past 5 months completely. I've played it a bit over the time, but have not really gotten into any games, so it sat for quite a while, as I was moving several times. Earlier in the morning, I go to play Ring Fit Adventure, and I'm stopped by an update notification. I am not in an active network at the time, so I elect to skip the notification and play my game. I get a message that until I update, I will not be able to play most of my games. This struck me as very odd, because my system wasn't even online at all since shortly after the last update, so how would it know that a new one was needed, with no reference to a network attached server. That's when it hit me. I realized that the update blocks that we get are actually initiated by counters that are placed inside of the last update script on your system. The counter expires at a certain point, which they plan on having a new system update out by. This is specifically applicable to system firmware updates.

  So you don't have to be online at all. If the company failed to put out an update, which would likely never happen, there would be a sea of bricked systems that popped up periodically due to this disgusting practice. That's why when you see most updates, they are empty downloads with no noticeable changes at all. This is because it is simply patching a counter onto your system to keep you on a leash. This goes back to the old argument that some conservative gamers have made about the new age concept  of not actually owning any of your games. There is a great deal of truth to that at this point. If I was not able to establish a network connection somehow, which I barely did, there was no workaround to allow me to play a game that I paid money for and supposedly own. And this is also a physical copy by the way

 The poster on the forum acted as if it was a needed security measure. The truth is that there are other ways to protect a system. If the concern is homebrew software touching the system's precious network, you can simply create a hash screener that will block online interaction without the recognized hash from the latest update patch. It is easy to isolate units to offline only. They're not trying to protect your system or their network. They are trying to play police and bully everyone to punish the few. That stupid update practice literally only serves to block you from your own content.

 Now that I have experienced this, my love for Nintendo, or any mainstream systems has faded largely. I will be transitioning to only homebrew systems in the future. I don't mind playing online, or even going online, but the fun is ripped out of gaming when I'm facing looking at a bricked system if I don't periodically check in with the principle. That is not ownership. That's borrowing. If that's the case, I should be able to get the thousands of dollars I've paid in game purchases back at any time. Can I? NO! This is why I'm happy to have modded my Sony systems. I don't collect games to simply be borrowing them in actuality.

 Like some Youtube Collectors have stated, the days where you had a Super Nintendo, Playstation, or Dreamcast were so much better simply for the fact that you had your games and they were yours to collect and use as you wish. With Systems I'll tolerate the update culture, because they are stationary for the most part. But with handhelds, I will not tolerate being in chains.