Author: Dave Funguy

2019 was quite an NBA season, and no team had a better 2019 NBA season than the Toronto Raptors!

Their victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the NBA Finals made them the first Canadian team to win the Championship, and the first team outside the United States to win the Finals.

It was the first NBA Championship for the Raptors since they debuted in 1995, and even though the win was at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, Toronto fans still got together and celebrated.

Thousands of Canadians celebrated at viewing parties across the country. Yonge and Dundas Square in Toronto was filled with fans who watched fireworks and shut down traffic. Drake, the team’s ambassador, was one of the many partiers outside the Scotiabank Arena.

Success takes time, and success doesn’t happen from a single game. It takes a series of efforts to result in a championship.

Here are the five highlights of the 2019 NBA season that lead to the Raptors’ win:

Kawhi Leonard

Toronto scored big when they acquired Kawhi, one of the best players in the NBA, in a trade with San Antonio. He helped bring the championship to Toronto. In fact, Kawhi Leonard took home the NBA Finals MVP award, his second time winning the honour.

It was thought that he would prefer to play for a team in Southern California, and Toronto was worried he would leave once he was a free agent. But he stayed!

One priceless moment was the look on Kawhi’s face when Paul George of the LA Clippers attempted to check Kawhi at the hip, but it was ineffectual, and Kawhi simply proceeded to hit a fadeaway over George.

Danny Green Helped Defeat the Orlando Magic

The Raptors had been winning games easily and weren’t making the effort they were capable of, until the Magic challenged them and made them step up their game. Green scored 16 points in a quarter and clinched the win for the Raptors.

Pascal Siakam’s Signature Move

Siakam has a spin move that is almost unguardable and is one of the reasons why the Raptors were so dominant far into the 2019 season.

Danny Green Helps Defeat the Memphis Grizzlies

Green does it again, in what was an amazing season for him. His amazing ability to move all around the court as part of the reason that he achieved seven three-pointers in the third quarter, which led to a victory of 45-14 over the Grizzlies. That is quite a point spread!

Pascal Siakam Last Minute Game Winning Drive

Siakam is handed the ball at the top of the key with ten seconds left on the clock. He dribbled it until there are only about four seconds left. There was fear he wouldn’t be able to get a shot off before the buzzer sounded, but with about two and a half seconds left he went from the three-point line to the basket and banked the layup.

These moments and the tough determination of the Raptors resulted in the NBA Championship!

Whether it’s family night or date night, it can be hard on your wallet if you always leave the house. One of the best money saving tips is making the best memories at home – it doesn’t always have to be out-of-this-world exciting.

Learn how to reduce your expenses for quality time with these ideas!

The Classic Pillow Fort

Grab all of the blankets and pillows in your house and start building a fort in the living room. Make sure it’s roomy enough for everyone and that you can actually breathe inside. Once everything is in place, choose a movie or have a movie marathon for the rest of the night. You can set up a ticket station, snack station, and “admit” your guest(s) into the comfy fort.

Cook/Bake Together

Save money on takeout by cooking dinner together. There are thousands of easy recipes online to choose from for all types of cooks from beginner to advanced chef. For some more fun, you can pretend you’re on a cooking show and record the experience to cherish and laugh at later. At the end of it all, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor together.

Game Night

Unleash your competitive side with a night dedicated to playing games. You can choose from classic board games like Monopoly, which can lead to dangerous competitive territory, video games like Just Dance, or both! Raise the stakes with a prize for the winner and a punishment for the loser (dish washing!).

Try Online Challenges

The Cinnamon Challenge of 2012 sparked hundreds of more Internet challenges for the entertainment of Internet observers. You don’t have to live record your experiences, but you can try all of the safe challenges – please don’t eat Tide Pods. Here are some safer alternatives:

• Try Not to Laugh Challenge

Compile a list of funny videos, lame jokes, and other funny Internet content and then challenge each other to not laugh. You can take turns and see who fails the most!

• The Whisper Challenge

Best played with noise-cancelling headphones, but any headphones can do as long as the music volume is high (but not damaging). While one person has headphones on, the other person says a word or phrase that the other person has to guess. The guesses usually are wildly wrong.

• Baby Food Guess Test

Buy a variety of baby food jars and try to guess what kind of mushed up food you’re tasting while blindfolded. This game is more challenging than it sounds – food is harder to identify when mushed.

• Bottle Flip Challenge

Test your physical skills and flip a partially filled plastic water bottle (about half a bottle at least) and try to make it land straight up. You’ll probably be trying to flip water bottles for the rest of the week to perfect your flip.

Staying home isn’t lame. You can save money and have a more intimate time with your partner or family by doing something at home. You don’t have to worry about overspending and it’s a win-win for everyone, except for whoever loses!

With all the money in the world, you wouldn’t have to look at any price tags while shopping. Alas, that dream is just a dream and actively watching what you spend can be tedious and no fun. When it comes to buying things that we don’t need, some of us have more self-control over others and don’t need to budget, but others might need a limit before they blow all of their hard-earned cash on something like a boat.

That’s why you have to define what you consider entertainment. It can include spending money on:

• Movies
• Video games
• Concerts
• Sports games
• Eating out
• Impulse purchases

There are more things to add to the list, but in essence, anything that you don’t need to live and function are the non-essentials that fall into the entertainment budget.

Why Budget?

The reasons for learning budgeting tips mostly are for people to stop themselves from using the bulk of their finances on things they can live without. With a budget for entertainment, you can have part of your monthly income that you can use however and whenever you want. Rather than putting all your money towards “non-fun” things like paying bills, you can have money dedicated for you and only you.

The suggested amount for your entertainment budget is around 5-30% of your income, depending on how much you make. It’s ultimately up to you how much you put away, but it shouldn’t be the lion’s share of your income.

Here’s What to Consider in Your Budget

1. Eating out

Eating out often can “eat” much of your budget. You can get the best bang for your buck with coupons and specials to stretch your dollar a little further. Plan according to your budget and determine how many times you can buy meals rather than cooking yourself.

2. Movies

New movie releases come out all the time, but a trip to the movies can make a substantial dent into your funds. Plus, if you’re paying for your family, $15 per ticket + popcorn and drinks at an inflated price can mean up to $100 for just one night. Put aside enough for as many movie nights that your budget allows. As an alternative, you can consider streaming a movie and popping your own popcorn at home.

3. Sports

Being a part of the crowd during a basketball, baseball, hockey, or any other live sports game is much more fun than watching the game on TV, but tickets can be pricey and getting to the game might also cost you extra. Use your budget sparingly on live games and save money by watching at home with friends.

4. Beauty treatment

A spa day with massages and manicures would be a wonderful reoccurring experience, but these services cost your arm and leg that you just got waxed.  

Don’t feel bad about treating yourself, you don’t work just to survive. It’s your money and you can spend it however you want, but strategically. Give yourself a break from the real world with an entertainment budget that works for you.

Video game developers are spending the end of 2019 perfecting their new video game releases to the public. Just as players are eagerly awaiting video games like the Final Fantasy VII Remake from Square Enix, they are also anticipating the release of The Last of Us Part II in the new year. The Last of Us Part II release was scheduled for February 2020, but the game developers announced a delay until May 29, 2020 to give more time to get the game up to proper standards.

When The Last of Us (TLOU)was first released by video game developer, Naughty Dog, for the PlayStation 3 in 2013, there was an overwhelming positive response to the new game. Players enter a post-apocalyptic world where the game players must do anything to survive and keep their loved ones safe. TLOU stood out from other video games with its realism and emotional investment for every death in the game.

The Last of Us Part II: What We Know

The story follows Ellie, a 19-year-old survivor, and her mission to avenge the death of her loved ones, but at the cost of her own humanity. Anthony Newman, co-director, explains the first installment was about extreme love and the lengths that people go to protect each other. In the second installment, this extreme love transforms into extreme hatred from the emotional weight of the life and death choices the characters have to make to survive.

Players control Ellie and watch her morph from an innocent survivor to a soulless killer that her world made her. The realism keeps players emotionally connected to Ellie and the game as they make ethical decisions throughout the game. Unlike other games where players must maintain their character’s heartrate, players do not have to worry about Ellie’s heartrate in the same way. However, every action does affect her heart and her breathing that affect the actions she can and can’t do.

Release Date Pushed Back

The highly realistic cinematic story-telling and game development is an overwhelming project and to relieve the stress from those working on the new video game release, Naughty Dog pushed the release date by three months. The gaming industry is notorious for stressful working conditions and this extra time can give both developers and players a better final project.

In addition to more time for development, this pushback works better for The Last of Us Part II since it no longer has to compete with the jam-packed release month of February. Its new release date in May occurs during the low season for new video game releases meaning that the game will have the undivided attention from players.

This new installment of The Last of Us will have players re-enter the realistic, disastrous world and must balance the emotional toll of the characters and the necessary kills to survive. There is no shortage of violence and excitement in the game that will captivate players trying to complete the game as unscathed as they can be.

From rumors and whispers during the early 2000s to the announcement in 2015, the highly anticipated March 3, 2020 release of Final Fantasy VII Remake is right around the corner. Originally released by Square (now Square Enix) in 1997, Final Fantasy VII became a popular RPG combat-style videogame that boosted the sales of the PlayStation. Since its original release, new installments have come out and replaced its battle system with more straightforward action.

Rumors to Reality: FF7 Remake

After a PlayStation 3 tech demo, Final Fantasy VII fans began requesting a remake of the original game that followed the mercenary Cloud Strife working for an eco-terrorist group, AVALANCHE, by fighting against the villain corporation, Shinra, that is using the planet’s life energy.

Attempts at a remake did happen, but there was no follow through due to the difficulty in rehauling the game on the hardware available during the 2000s as it would require heavy content cutting. Enix was in the process of developing Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels and could not handle a large project like a remake.

But after some talk between the original creators, development for the remake began in 2015. Now, close to five years later, Enix finally released demos to tease the new game to fans.

What FF7 Players Can Expect

The remake follows Cloud on a mission to blow up a life force refinery when something gets in his way. The game incorporates both straight action as well as the original’s turned based tactics. Early demo testers have called it a “marriage of both new and old” referring to the choice between real-time combat, just as any other slasher RPG game and the ability to pause and use tactical attacks.

Before the demo release at the 2019 E3, game players had their reservations that the game might try to tackle too many elements to please different playing styles, but found that they have done the job perfectly when it comes to combat. The cinematic and strategic style gives players the excitement of a new game along with the nostalgic memories of playing the original game.

The Countdown Begins

As the new decade approaches with new video game releases, three different generations will be able to enjoy an upgraded version of the original Final Fantasy VII that has all the perks of today’s technological advances. The creators made this remake with the player in mind and though the gameplay can seem overwhelming, it is ultimately up to the player to decide how to play the game.

From demo reviews and online sneak peeks, players are eagerly awaiting their turn to play Final Fantasy VII Remake and begin the episodic adventure with the original characters as well as new elements that bring the 90’s game into the 20’s. Soon PlayStation owners can hold the controller and play the mercenary for an imagined planet. This escapism will capture millions of players worldwide and bring the spark of the original game into flames after March 2020.

We all can’t be a comic book expert. It has almost been a whole century since the Golden Age of Comic Books that happened between 1938-1956. The days of running to the comic book store to buy a new issue are over unfortunately, but the instantaneous Internet has filled the gap for those who never knew the world of comic book stores.

Instead of feeling left out from all the juicy adventures, facts, and triumphs superheroes experienced, comic book fans from this century can learn everything they wanted and more with a quick online search. And with the superhero movie industry booming, it’s important to stay in the loop to actually understand the many intersecting plot lines.

Where to Start?

As one of the largest comic book publishers in North America for over 80 years, it comes as no surprise that there are a lot of comic books out there – over 56 000!

There’s no one right way to get into the DC universe, but here are some starting options:

1. DC Rebirth

Fortunately, DC Comics has made it more convenient for new readers to start their journey with DC Rebirth. In 2016, DC relaunched all major titles following the end of their 2011 initiative The New 52. This new beginning gave readers one timeline to follow their ongoing, monthly superhero titles like fan favorites Batman, Wonder Woman, and Justice League.

Comic book experts have created a DC Rebirth reading guide for those who want to get into the current comic book events.

• By Superhero(es)

By far the easiest way to start is just picking your favorite comic character(s) and start reading. Once you get into the universe, you’ll find your way to everything you need to know.

• By the All-Stars

You’ll get to the minute details eventually, so you can start with the most popular comics of all time! Just like starting with one superhero, the DC comic world is your oyster and you can choose whatever you want. There’s no setlist of the best comic books, but comic book connoisseurs have compiled a suggested list of the best ones for new comic book fans.

Become the Next DC Comic Book Expert

The 56 000 DC comics can seem overwhelming, but once you ease yourself into the many multiverses, you’ll have trouble getting out. The best part is knowing that you have so much more comic book content to consume after you finish one timeline or character.

The Internet has gifted younger generations with everything they need to know about DC Comics. Not only can new comic book fans find direction through the superhero world but have access to the opinions, theories, and explanations from other comic book fans who have spent years expanding their knowledge.

Seasoned comic book veterans can unleash decades of DC comic information on all platforms for every kind of comic book consumer. There is no shortage of YouTube channels, blogs, Instagram posts, and other websites that compile the magic that comes from the imaginations of the minds of comic book creators.