FXGuru: Movie FX Director leads Android Apps of the Week

2013 presses forward with fewer and fewer apps dedicated to New Year's resolutions, and more dedicated to random entertainment, like adding special effects to your home movies! At least, that's the case with our top app of the week, FxGuru: Movie FX Director. We've also got an official MediaFire app, a lazy way to try out fun new recipes, an official Blockbuster app, and yes, at least one more Fitness app. But it's OK, because this one is cooler than the others. I promise.

FxGuru: Movie FX Director (Free)

Despite there being no shortage of fun special effect apps on the Google Play store, you don't really hear about them as much as one does with the iTunes App Store. FxGuru: Movie FX Director from Picadelic seeks to change that. I think the problem was always ease of use. Those other apps weren't as simple to use, and most importantly, weren't as much fun. Although you only get three effects for free, and have to purchase the rest in-app, it is simple to add any crazy effects to any video on your android device, old or new. The wide assortment of effects available for purchase is pretty impressive, too.

MediaFire (Free)

The classic online storage center known as Mediafire finally has a mobile counterpart, even if it is fashionably late to the app party. It's always been a useful file and picture sharing service, but now you can upload and share things, including full photo galleries, straight from your device into the cloud. You can easily search through and manage all of your MediaFire folders, so that important spreadsheet or presentation is always at your fingertips. Of course, you'll have to have a Mediafire account set up beforehand. It's a simple service, but it's well-made and crazy useful if you love sharing files.

Fitocracy (Free)

I know what you're thinking. "Oh, what a surprise! Another fitness app!" Well, I find your sarcastic tone completely unnecessary, I'll have you know. You might be right, but this app offers something those other don’t. Achievements! That's right, you can now earn achievements and experience points for working out, and even level up. You can easily share achievements with friends and gloat, which is always fun. Gamification of everything is coming, as purported by esteemed game designers such as Jesse Schell, so you might as well not fight it and get fit.

Whisk (Free)

Whisk is a great new service for those of us who are paradoxically too lazy to go shopping, but willing to slave away in the kitchen to experiment with new ingredients. Nick Holzherr, former star of the BBC Apprentice, even had a hand in the creation of this app. Essentially, it lets you browse through various recipes from chefs around the world, separated by plenty of specific search categories, and then order the necessary ingredients for that recipe directly to your front door. If you want to create interesting new dishes, but for the life of you can't seem to find any flax seed oil near your house, this app is for you!

Blockbuster (Free)

You can stop snickering now. Yes, Blockbuster is still alive and kicking, and they've released an official all-encompassing app. They've already offered a Netflix-style service of direct to your door DVD and Game delivery, but now you can manage those queues and directly order things from your Android device. God willing, you can even find one of the very few remaining brick and mortar store locations from the app. The app itself needs some work. It's not bad, but it's not very good either, lacking many features. Say what you want about Blockbuster. They just won't die, and you've got to admire their fighting spirit.