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The Review List for PRES
The Review List for Ponza Report Energy Shots:
(These are in no particular order.)
Rockstar Energy Shot - Wild Berry
Rockstar Energy Shot - Tropical Punch
Amp Energy Shot "Jakfruit" Citrus
Monster Hitman Energy Shooter
Monster Hitman Energy Shooter - Sniper
Mana Potion
Health Potion
Hype MFP Shot
Hype Marionberry Shot
NOS Energy Shot
Jolt Energy Shot - Grape
5-Hour Energy - multiple flavors (grouped together)
There's still a few to work on, but already, you can see there is quite a list forming. If anyone can tell me some other shots to look for, I'll start touring around stores here looking for them. Most gas stations and corner stores place them close to the front, by the register, for easy access. The newest to hit the list are NOS Energy Shot and Monster Sniper. I found those at a pharmacy shortly before they were available everywhere.
I'm excited to show off my findings and crown a champion Energy Shot! It's a close one!
Foreword: Ponza Likes Caffeine...
For those of you who don't know me that well, or haven't seen me in public or at work very much, there's one thing that I enjoy. I enjoy caffeine. I don't just enjoy coffee mind you, I also enjoy energy drinks, shots, and caffeinated soft drinks. Sure, there's a lot out there, but not much in Nova Scotia. So, I've decided to start to devious task of documenting the energy drinks and energy shots in my home province, to dig into my caffeine lifestyle, as well as teach the readers of my blog about me, my terrible habit, and about energy.
Energy Drinks and things of that nature, by themselves, are bad for you. There, I said it. They are BAD FOR YOU. By themselves anyways. With that noted, it is highly recommended that you drink your daily intake of water, and on top of that, a few more cups, beyond the consumption of energy drinks or energy shots. Why? Well, let's do some quick, logical and wise fact-checking to figure out why water is so important.
Most energy drinks, shots, and things of that nature, contain caffeine, of course. They also contain other sources of "energy". One in particular that comes to mind is Taurine. There is an instant problem here: Taurine actually doesn't give energy. In fact, the only proven things Taurine has accomplished is reduced blood pressure, and potentially prevent tendonitis (since it helps in the maintenance of skeletal muscles). So don't rely on Taurine to provide anything but help your hands from cramping up. The next thing energy drinks contain that claim give energy is Vitamin B Complex. B vitamins are eight very helpful vitamins that play roles in cell metabolism. Energy drinks and shots are LOADED with Vitamin B Complex. In fact, the human body can only take so much before you piss out the rest. 5 Hour Energy Shots claim to have 8,333% of your daily intake of B-12, and 2000% of your daily intake of B-6. These aren't totally necessary, and any claim that Vitamin B Complex gives energy hasn't been proven at all. Thus, two of the major "energy" sources aren't really energy at all. While Taurine and Vitamin B Complex are helpful, too much Vitamin B Complex can be harmful to the human body.
Let's go back to a big word for a minute: Metabolism. I generally have high metabolism. I weigh 150 lbs, and I probably drink 8-12 glasses of water a day. This is a good thing, considering I drink energy drinks, because the water keeps up with the metabolism increase caused by the Vitamin B Complex. Energy drinks and shots dehydrate you. It's a proven fact. Drink water to avoid being dehydrated. Also, drink water so that the extra Vitamin B Complex in your body gets processed as waste. If it doesn't get processed as waste, and gets consumed by the body, it could be potentially harmful. That's why they have warning labels on these things. When used incorrectly, they'll not only dehydrate you, but they'll also caused physical damage.
Alright, so I have covered the partly important bits. There is other things to discuss about when it comes to the dangers of energy drinks, but I'll get to those later on in the Projects. Sugar is the big one, and that will be discussed in the next Foreword.
Project PRES (Ponza Report Energy Shots) is the first project to kick off. I'm still trying to gather the materials, so the project will be in 2 parts. Part 1 is the major label brands, those being Amp, Monster, and Rockstar. Part 2 will be the lesser known brands, those being Hype, Jolt, 5 Hour Energy, and whatever else I can find that fits the category of Energy Shot. Thank you for reading the Foreword, and
Breaking News: Slim PS3 exists at $299 US, Worst kept secret ever
The rumors were true.
Sony's Playstation division is releasing a new model, a "slimmer" PS3 unit with a small power consumption value, and lacking certain features compared to its bigger brother, for $299 US. The Slim lacks PS2 backwards compatibility, and an ethernet jack, so you must have WiFi to use Playstation Network on this Slim. The bright side? 120 GB hard drive in the initial units, with a 250 GB hard drive coming shortly after, possibly to either increase the price point again, or to skip another price drop. I think this is a good deal.
Microsoft and Nintendo have yet to counter this move. This makes the Playstation 3 more affordable, AND the beauty of a Blu Ray player at $300 US is pretty nice.
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Introducing: Project PRES and PRED
Today, I'd like to introduce two new projects I've been working on for a long time, one of them is near completion. Project PRES - Ponza Report's Energy Shots - is nearly complete, as I've been personally reviewing on paper all of the energy shots in the Maritimes of Canada. Project PRED - Ponza Report's Energy Drinks - is a bigger project, and it's about half complete, but will be more in-depth.
The Energy Shot market is starting to pick up around Nova Scotia, with many of the carbonated soft drink brands and energy drink regulars getting involved. Monster, Rockstar, Amp, 5 Hour Energy, Jolt and Hype all have shots available, between standard grocery stores, pharmacies and discount stores. Project PRES will investigate the shots for flavor, value (dependent upon sale prices and typical regular prices) and volume. Right now, it looks like Monster Hitman is a clear winner, so those not willing to wait for me to finish the project, that's the definitive solution. However, some energy shot brands claim their product does not cause crash, so that will be investigated as well, if they do talk about such claim. If not, "crashing" will still be part of the project.
The Energy Drink market is huge, and is consistently changing. The Maritimes is a huge market, and Nova Scotia has drinks that New Brunswick doesn't have and vice versa. So Project PRED is only for Nova Scotia, with a couple exceptions (those being XS Energy and Bawls Guarana, which are readily available in other provinces and in the USA).
I look forward to the completion of the projects, as they are fast approaching.
The Energy Shot market is starting to pick up around Nova Scotia, with many of the carbonated soft drink brands and energy drink regulars getting involved. Monster, Rockstar, Amp, 5 Hour Energy, Jolt and Hype all have shots available, between standard grocery stores, pharmacies and discount stores. Project PRES will investigate the shots for flavor, value (dependent upon sale prices and typical regular prices) and volume. Right now, it looks like Monster Hitman is a clear winner, so those not willing to wait for me to finish the project, that's the definitive solution. However, some energy shot brands claim their product does not cause crash, so that will be investigated as well, if they do talk about such claim. If not, "crashing" will still be part of the project.
The Energy Drink market is huge, and is consistently changing. The Maritimes is a huge market, and Nova Scotia has drinks that New Brunswick doesn't have and vice versa. So Project PRED is only for Nova Scotia, with a couple exceptions (those being XS Energy and Bawls Guarana, which are readily available in other provinces and in the USA).
I look forward to the completion of the projects, as they are fast approaching.
Follow-up: Halophax Season Finale
So, I went to Halophax's Season Finale at the Halifax Forum yesterday.<< MORE >>
My Boring Ass Life gets an update
No, I didn't suddenly turn fat and wear the number 37 on half of my wardrobe. I'm not that crude or vulgar. Okay, maybe I'm lying, but I'm still a gamer after all. I thought about placing a post in now that I have a chance today.
Those Tekko pics I took are kind of horrible. I really should have taken more. I will post them if my photobucket allows it. The video is way too long for youtube, so I'll have to compress it and make it available for free somewhere.
Videogames have taken a back burner for a while, so I can get adjusted to something new: I'm dating again. Erin is a fun girl to be around, even though she's a bit quiet like me. She's a gamer too, a casual one at that, and she has some experience with games I haven't played yet (mainly WoW TCG, which is actually something I look forward to). She recently had her vacation in the USA, down in Danvers MA for some conference about photography. She's a really good photographer. She puts her nice work on Facebook but keeps her amazing stuff elsewhere. She's definitely fun to game with, too, so I hope I can talk more about her in the future, while I review some games. We're playing a fun party game right now, and I might post a review in the next month on it.
Quick review time for a couple games that are on the download for their respective consoles or handhelds:
- Magic: The Gathering has a game out on XBLA and PC, called Duel of the Planewalkers. It's basically a massive tutorial, but doesn't give enough edit options for deck builds, outside the preset decks they give you. The new rules for 2010 Core Set are used, so current players can get a grip of those while new players can learn the ins and outs of Magic. Definitely worth the BUY, if you're a Magic fan or not, because the 200 Gamerscore isn't complicated to take a decent stab at. Even has online.
- Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman: What Did I Do To Deserve This? is a quirky Japanese "ant-hill" defense game for the PSP, available only on PSN, where you are a master God of Destruction (you think), and you make minions based on nutrients in the ground, to try to protect an Overlord from being captured by Dragon Quest inspired warriors and magicians. The funny catch is it abuses all known internet memes that flow with the game itself, like Omnoms as critters, and an almanac describing your monsters in the most hilarious of ways. Aside from the humor, the basic game is hard, as you micro-manage your critters to spread resources and make more critters, more powerful critters, and then even demons and pixies who are hard-set on destroying the enemy heroes at all cost. On the brightside, there's lots of resources on the internet to try and become a better player at the game. It'll just take time.
There's a demo available as well, so check it out. I say RENT or DEMO the game before you buy, as $20 US might seem like a stretch for a game like this, but I say it'll keep you busy for a while.
Ponza's Thoughts on E3 2009 So Far
Alright, I have seen all of what Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have had to offer for this year's installment of the E3 Keynote Addresses.<< MORE >>
A few of the things I'm working on
As anyone may not know, I'm getting my hands on a sweet limited-edition shirt from the people at SEGA of Europe. I beat their in-house Outrun player over Xbox Live, and they agreed to send me a t-shirt of the retro Outrun logo from the 1986 arcade machines. If you'd like to see what the shirt looks like, either Google for it (because F40, a beastly fast British Outrun 2 player, has it) or watch this very blog, and I'll post pictures.
Also coming soon are some Tekko pics that I've been meaning to post.
Here's the games I've been working on recently......<< MORE >>
Also coming soon are some Tekko pics that I've been meaning to post.
Here's the games I've been working on recently......<< MORE >>
Just can't stop... Just can't stop... Gotta keep going...
Wow. I don't have a review for today yet, but good things are in store. I finally got my hands on TWO, not one, but two MadCatz Street Fighter IV Tournament Edition FightSticks for PlayStation 3. Broke in one last night, and getting used to the square gate is taking some time. Not really a big fan of it. Kind of wish it was an Octagon, so I could feel it better. Always a critic, I am, but if it's realistic for the Japanese arcade machines, it's good enough for me.
Also coming soon, my pet project is finally coming into fruition.<< MORE >>
Ponza Review - Outrun Online Arcade
Outrun Online Arcade
Developer: Sumo Digital, AM2
Publisher: Sega
System: Xbox 360 (played), Playstation 3 (coming later today for European regions)
Rated E for Everyone!
Publisher: Sega
System: Xbox 360 (played), Playstation 3 (coming later today for European regions)
Rated E for Everyone!
For more information regarding the ESRB, visit www.esrb.org
"Splash Wave, Musical Sound Shower, or Passing Breeze?"
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"Splash Wave, Musical Sound Shower, or Passing Breeze?"