Build your April Fools' Day arsenal with these fun pranks and 'gifts'

Guys can start April Fools' Day off on the right foot by presenting their girlfriends with the 2-carat Cup ($15 at Andaluz). It looks like a big, sparkling, diamond solitaire engagement ring in an oversized jewelry box -- but the ring is really just a cleverly disguised handle to a coffee mug (albeit a handle she can slip over her ring finger). This should probably come with a disclaimer: Make sure you have a comfortable doghouse -- you may find yourself in it.

Prefer to begin your morning with a jolt of fear? The Mixed Messages do-it-yourself ransom note mug ($16 at Andaluz and Fireworks) makes it easy to create your own ransom message with colorful letters that cling to the enclosed white mug. Your significant other will be sure to meet your caffeine demands when faced with the message, "Fill with coffee and nobody gets hurt."

Another fun way to wake up family members: Pop some Frozen Smiles ice cube dentures ($9.95 at Portage Bay Goods) into an unsuspecting sleepy person's glass and watch them perk right up.

Once you're ready to head out the door, don't forget to accessorize: Fingerless gloves are all the rage, but you can make a real fashion statement by wearing Handerpants (“underpants for your hands,” $11.95 at the legendary Archie McPhee) on April Fools' Day.

Gross out your friends
Have some fun at school, the gym or at the office: Bring along Stuck Up Magnets ($6 at Andaluz), which look just like chewed-up wads of gum.

Not gross enough for you? The latest hot item from Fred & Friends is Lunch Bugs, a box of standard plastic sandwich bags -- with a great big roach printed on the front. These make a boring brown-bag lunch a real scream. Lunch Bugs are so new that none of the stores in Seattle have them yet (Andaluz is awaiting a shipment), but you can score them at Perpetualkid.com (24 bags for $5.95) and on Amazon.com ($11.95). Or, if you're tired of colleagues stealing your lunch out of the office refrigerator, employ the ingenious Anti-theft lunch bags ($7.99 at perpetualkid.com), which deter lunch theft by making it look like your sandwich is covered in mold. (Hopefully, you'll still be in the mood to eat it.)

Amuse and alienate co-workers
Remember in "The Office," when Jim came in early and moved all Dwight's furniture into the men's room? That's far too labor-intensive, but you can stick it to your co-workers by coming in early and putting tiny, creepy-cute eyes and mouths on all their office supplies, courtesy of In Antimate stickers ($3.95 at Portage Bay Goods). It's aliiiive!

Here's an idea from the annals of passive-aggressiveness: Leave a box of Get Along with your Co-workers Tea ($10 for 16 tea bags at Andaluz) on someone's desk. This makes a very Seattle gift -- it's organic.

Get fired
Participate in office meetings by adding your own cartoon soundtrack effects with the Special Sound Machine ($16.50 at Fireworks). Fart machines are so grade school -- this grown-up gadget offers good, clean April Fools' fun by adding effects like head-injury twittering birds, falling anvils, a high-speed running exit and more. It's more fun than Board Room Bingo.

Cubitek's M4 Series mid-tower cases go on sale

Following the Tattoo, Tank and Magic Cube series, a fourth line of PC cases has now been launched by Cubitek, and it includes two midi-towers 'designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts', the M4 and M4 Silencer.
Both chassis' measure 202 (W) x 470 (H) x 485 (D) mm, and have a black exterior, a 0.5mm steel structure, a door which takes up half of the front panel (can be used to store optical discs), a top I/O panel (2 x USB 2.0, 2 x audio ports), a built-in mini USB cable (micro USB adapter is included), four exposed 5.25-inch bays, plus one 2.5-inch and five 3.5-inch drive trays.
Cubitek's cases allow for tool-free installs of optical drives, hard drives and PCI cards, support graphics cards that are up to 400mm long, and feature two pre-drilled holes at the back for watercooling tubing.
The M4 includes one rear 120mm fan, has an all-black interior and costs €49.90, while the M4 Silencer has two 120mm fans (front and rear), a grey interior, sound insulating foam sheets on the top and side panels, and a price tag of €59.90.

Angry Birds cause a flap

A POPULAR puzzle video game called Angry Birds, which has been downloaded millions of times as an iPhone application, is causing a flap in more ways than one in Singapore.

The distinctive cartoon birds from a game originally developed in Finland have now winged their way off the screen to become huggable soft toys coveted by fans all over the world. They are officially due to arrive in Singapore only next month at the big toy stores and are being brought in by Megcorp and Co, the licensed distributor of Angry Birds plush toys in Singapore.

However, some of the coveted soft toy birdies have flown in under the radar already.

The early birds popped up at a SingTel booth at the IT Show 2011 at Suntec Convention Centre recently to the delight of fans. They were obtained from the game's developer, Finnish-based Rovio Mobile, through a supplier in the United States, according to a SingTel spokesman. SingTel was using the soft toys in promotions.

Angry Birds plush toys have also been spotted in several locker consignment shops around the island. It is not known if these Angry Birds from unofficial suppliers are the real deal from Rovio, like SingTel's were, or knock-offs.

They are for sale at Toy Outpost outlets in VivoCity and Jurong Point, as well as at Magic Cube & Novelties in Shaw Towers, retailing from $15.90 to $49.90, which at the higher end is less than the Rovio price on the Internet. The managers of all three stores declined to reveal their sources under agreement obligations.

Android game Mr. Hat and the Magic Cube plays to the small crowd

There's no better judge of a kids' game than a kid. My six-year-old spent a good 30 minutes

with Mr. Hat and the Magic Cube. She likes it, so who am I to disagree?

Based on the gameplay, which I tested on Nexus One running Gingerbread, I'd say the game is

aimed at ages six and under. Animated sequences begin and run throughout the game. The

storyline involves a set of kids who stumble upon a magic cube, and get drawn inside. There

they meet Mr. Hat and his crystal wand. Mr. Hat is happy to use his wand to send them home,

but just before he does, Dr. Romo flies by in an airship to steal all the jewels from the

wand. Your kid's mission is to play the games and solve the puzzles to get the jewels back

and go home.

There's a tilt table, which my kid loved, where you guide a colored rolling ball into its

matching colored hole. A conveyor belt of letters, where you must touch the missing letter to

spell the word that matches a picture. You'll also find a memory game, where you select pairs

of identical characters out of a group, and a counting game.

Any complaints? Well, a couple of small ones. There's a second or two of blank screen between

the end of an animated sequence and the start of a game section. The game also froze a couple

of times when I tried it after my daughter finally handed back my phone. It's worth noting,

however, that she never complained about these things. She just laughed when she did well,

and groaned when she didn't.

The Avengers (2012) Plot Details and Spoilers

According to the Latino Review, the big bad guy the Avengers will be facing in the

Joss Whedon directed film of the same name will be, who has been rumored, Loki.

Apparently, Loki gets his hands on the Tesseract, or as us comic readers know it by -

the cosmic cube.

According to sources, Loki uses this to summon the alien race known as the Skrulls to

attack earth.

What about the Hulk?

We do know the Avengers are said to battle among themselves and Marvel Studios

President and producer on The Avengers said the following:

"In my opinion, The Skrulls are really the only viable threat that would require so

many super heroes to fight as a team. Sure, you could have The Hulk as a villain in

the beginning, but then they have to come together for an even bigger threat.

Something hinted about in IM2, Thor and Cap by Nick Fury's presence. Plus Fox doesn't

have the rights to The Skrulls, only the Super Skrull. But this is just my inner geek

thinking out loud and hoping."

--------

What I think happens and spoilers for Thor, Captain America and The Avengers. Assuming

any of the above to be true:

Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk at the beginning and is uncontrollable. The Avengers are

summoned to handle this threat. Eventually, the Green Goliath is subdued with the Hulk

transforming back to Banner.

pic

The Tesseract plays a part in all three movies as we already know from the images of

the Red Skull, it appears in Captain America: First Avenger. According to the Thor

script spoilers, the Tesseract appears in the movie inside Asgard's treasure chamber.

Loki wants to rule Asgard - and obviously gets defeated in the upcoming Thor movie. So

he wants revenge and of course, at the same time, still wants Asgard. Loki acquires

the Tesseract summoning the advanced shape-shifting alien race known as The Skrulls.

He wants his brother destroyed, as well as Midgard (Earth); note: but not Asgard.

Well, something goes wrong and Loki no longer has control over the Skrulls. Perhaps,

the Tesseract loses its power, and the Skrulls now decide to invade and take over

everything.

This is similar to Loki's MO in the comics, where he is only thinking of himself and

brings forth a great threat that ends up threatening that which he loves - Asgard.

Of course, the Avengers assemble - with the Hulk - to take down this threat.

pic

Actually, Kevin Feige was involved in an animated Marvel movie "Hulk Vs." where Loki

brought Banner to Asgard, separated Banner from the Hulk - and then unleashed the Hulk

upon Asgard. Loki thought he could control the Hulk with his magic, but couldn't tame

the beast. When Loki realizes just what he has done, he ends up teaming with his

brother to stop the Hulk.

Sounds similar.

I guess, we'll have to stay tuned as we are still a year or so away!

The Avengers is set to assemble in theaters May 4th 2012 starring Robert Downey Jr.,

Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, and Samuel L.

Jackson.

PETERS: Leaves Desert Fifth In Series Points

Red Horse Racing driver Timothy Peters bounced back from a late-race spin to finish

12th in the Lucas Oil 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix

International Raceway and move up to fifth in the series points standings.

Peters showed speed out of the No. 17 GearWrench Toyota Tundra from the start of the

weekend, as he drove to third early in the long practice session at the 1-mile track.

After making adjustments, crew chief Butch Hylton sent Peters out for a mock qualifying

run in the closing laps of the practice, but Peters was blocked by another truck and

had to abandon the fast run.

Peters then qualified 11th for the 150-lap race, which began as the sun was setting

across the southern Arizona desert.

He moved into the top 10 in the opening laps of the race, though he was reporting the

truck was tight entering the corners. Hylton made an air-pressure adjustment on the

first pit stop on lap 43, and Peters continued to race in the top 10.

With 48 laps to go, Hylton made another air-pressure adjustment, and the Red Horse crew

gained Peters two spots on pit road under a caution.

As he challenged another driver for sixth place on lap 123, Peters made contact with

another truck and spun in Turn 2. He didn't hit anything, but the tires were flat-

spotted, and Peters headed to pit road for four tires.

Peters restarted 15th with 24 laps to go and gained three positions in the closing

laps, even though he was racing on older tires because the team had used its allotment

of fresh Goodyears.

"We had a decent truck all night long," Peters said. "Our GearWrench Tundra was a

little snug, but they got me right in the pits. Those guys do a great job in the pits.

"I just put us in a bad position (with the spin). The hole was open, and I went down,

and it closed up pretty quick, and we spun out. It's not what we wanted, but we had a

good truck and we finished 12th, in one piece."

Peters may have accepted the blame for the spin, though replays showed otherwise. Two

trucks were racing for position ahead, and those two slowed as they exited Turn 2. That

caused Justin Johnson to take evasive action, and it just happened to be to the low

side, where Peters was making a move for position.

Still, with the finish of 12th, Peters managed to move up two positions to fifth in the

Camping World Truck Standings. He has 66 points, five behind leader Matt Crafton and

one behind fourth-place Johnny Sauter.

"We'll go to Darlington and maybe make up for it there," Peters said. "As far as I'm

concerned, I got my worst track out of the way until we get to Loudon."