LadyCrimson

I'm liking that GoG is getting more and more indie/new release and other "not old or at least not super old" titles - even if my current self isn't much of a gamer anymore. Maybe in another 10 years I won't care about Steam at all.

I've been slowly watching the K-Drama Secret Forest (or Stranger if on Netflix/Wikipedia, or Forest of Secrets elsewhere, these name changes get annoying). Probably one of my fave non-romantic serial-murder/legal crime kdramas so far. The lead actor is fantastic (as a prosecutor who had surgery to quell childhood seizures and thus has little to no empathy/emotion) and the lead actress matches up to and counterpoints him very nicely as well. Quite compelling.

^ there were many games where I think I spent more time standing around in the inventory screens than actually "playing." Although most of that was because of my personal habits, of course, vs. actually having to.

Dungeon Siege 2 was a lot of fun I agree. Had a lot of improvements and is generally a better arpg overall than DS1, although I'm very fond of the 1st one as well. And loved that main theme (DS2 used a similar but slightly altered version I think?)

Could still get lucky with a temp. bounce-back recovery, but I may need a new cat soon, my current one seems to have finally "broken" to his long-term disease, pretty badly this week. :/ Whatever the case, at least he got 2-3 extra years with the treatments etc. He is going on 12 now so it's not like he's super young. Still ... even when it's 18+ years, it's never long enough. And I only had Mr. Black since he was around 6 (Humane Society adoptee). Other than, a lazy relaxing holiday week.

2018? I'm still partying like it's 1999. ...hope the year goes well for all.

Didn't want to interrupt the TV thread w/my nonsense so: I can totally see such a show being wonderfully ludicrous and hilarious. I might have to check it out. Edit why does YT embedding sometimes not work...

Swerving away from SW, I saw this trailer last night and it cracked me up something fierce. Which doesn't mean I'd advocate to see it - I wouldn't pay to see it in other words - but the trailer. lol. Jason Bateman's delivery kills me at times.

I remember seeing Return in the theater with my cousin and when the landspeeder motorcycle thingies showed up and speeding through the forests, we were all "wheeee! awesome!" because on the big screen, that was awesome at the time ... that was about the extent of our enthusiasm. Although admittedly the Emperor confrontation was pretty cool. I should say that I don't hate the current SW. I just don't care. I don't find them enjoyable/fun even in a child-like fantasy or light-action fare way so it's all just "meh" and I'm not going to follow it any more than I'd follow yet more Rocky or Terminator movies. Hollywood/business really can't leave things alone sometimes.

Still running around with the chocobro's now and then (in a new playthrough). It's nice when a game is the type for you where you can take a long break from it and when you come back, it's fun again. Versus some games where no matter how much you loved it while playing, you can't make yourself replay it again for some reason. I'll never figure out exactly why that is. Although, tbh, even with FFXV it's mostly the first half I replay. The linear sections towards the end don't interest me nearly as much. Just so relaxing riding those cute chocobo's around the open world section listening to tunes.

It's funny because I had this issue with Raiders of the Lost Ark a few years or so ago when I tried to rewatch it. My memory did not recall the horrible editing I kept noticing and I found myself wondering if I had a bad copy. Ever since I can't make myself watch it anymore, and I absolutely adored that movie. Editing is done so differently these days, one forgets the way they often did it back then. I don't mean technical improvements ... just stylistically. As to Star Wars, the first one (still not New Hope, to me, ever) is really the only one that stood up for me over the years. And even then I acknowledge it's because I was 9 when I saw it (it has some of the editing issues of that era as well, on hindsight). Prequels had some fun action but was otherwise a big joke as far as I was concerned. Was not overly impressed with the first one in the new trilogy, probably won't even watch the 2nd when it comes to HBO or whatever. Just like Star Trek, SW is dead to me now.

I'm not a big war film fan per se. There's just certain themes or historical events that interest me so I'll check one out, or if they're just well crafted suspense/drama type films that happen to be set during a wartime. As to what changed ... I just chalk it up to "time". Time changes us all in so many little and often unpredictable ways even as our basic core may largely remain the same.

To be honest, sometimes I feel kinda bad that I don't seem to enjoy a lot of (US) movies these days. Feels like I would've liked some of them 20 years ago. Ever since CGI became the dominant factor however, most (blockbuster) US movies have slowly become items that make me feel nothing and if I feel nothing, I'm bored. They're mostly just sound and fury or visual assaults and/or "isn't this cool." Which was definitely fun at first but... I need to rent/watch Dunkirk soon. I have high hopes I'll like that one.

Ok, I watched Alien Nation: LotR Edition er I mean, Bright. The first hour was just slightly interesting enough to keep my attention but it quickly bored me after that and I started fast forwarding in small increments until the end. Couldn't get Alien Nation (1988 film, not the TV series) out of my head even if it's fantasy races and a Wand instead of a single alien race and Drugs. Same done to death cop buddy concept, same tolerance messages, same dark/gritty atmosphere and two good actors who try their best with what amounts to a potentially interesting idea but with mediocre/half-baked material. It's not that it's bad, it just bored me, despite all its attempts to convince me it was something fresh. Smith and Edgerton didn't have much chemistry imo, and although there was one pretty effective scene in that first hour, most of it falls flat, with a lot of actors/chrs. wasted with little to do but make faces at the camera lens. I can see it being a sort of cult film in the long run tho, had that sort of appeal. Of all the reviews I read, only one mentioned Alien Nation, which made me feel old. I guess Suicide Squad and LotR jokes are more relatable now. Haha, that made me laugh.

I didn't spend anything this Xmas .... since I spent too much before Xmas. Woke up late, showered, puttered around outside, ate lunch. Me: Going to game. Hubby: I could bring in a bunch of blankets into your cold room and come watch. (eg, he's bored) Me: Just try not to snore too loudly.

Why are chocobo's so darn cute?!

I actually didn't shut that movie off. Although I probably should have. Later I found hubby watching it (HBO, as usual) and I warned him, but he didn't listen. He did however come to me later and tell me I was right.

Don't feel like playing games, nothing on TV, hubby's going to be gone until late-night, and I guess I've lost too much weight (padding) because I'm constantly cold even tho this is Calif. Which makes the old cat happy because the wall heater is always jacked up to 74F and he's curled against it all day. Maybe I'll take his cue and go back to bed. @Keyrock - can I come to FL with you? It sounds warm.

My distance-view hadn't changed in 2 decades until very recently, so I got a new pair of glasses. Doesn't decrease the eyestrain concept at all (and yeah, they've been asking whether I do computer work, for years). TV vs. IPS monitor doesn't change it either. I also have brightness type settings way down most of the time and tried blue-light blocking lenses as well. It's not just about whether text/anything is actually blurry, don't misunderstand. It's just ... more eyestrain. Like, hold a can of soup arms length. Can you read the ingredients list on the back? If you have to, pull it in until you can only just read it. The thing to note is that the text isn't blurry, right? Just small so it makes your eyes feel more strain to read it. It's like that, but all the time. I can't explain it. Also, my vision at night has worsened and I don't like to drive at night all that much anymore. Again, it's not that it's blurry. It's ... more sensitive to glare? Even more reduced depth perception in the dark than normal? I have no idea. It's just more nerve wracking. And I used to be a night-driving mo' fo'. Everyone's eyes are going to be different and age differently.

When you really need to do a last grocery run before the actual Xmas day but you also really don't want to deal with it so you procrastinate all day until it's 8pm... Also, we finally found an auto shop place that actually did work on my car. I've taken it to dealers in two cities four times as well as the odd other mechanic now and then and I'd tell them to do everything, check everything (fluids, wires, brakes, whatever). They always claimed they did and it was "all fine", despite the fact the car kept running rougher and rougher. Suspicious all they looked at was the mileage of the car (very low) and their notebooks told them didn't have to check then so they didn't - without considering how old the bloody car is, low mileage or not. Book-lackey mechanics. Place hubby finally took it to - "your headgasket needs replacing. Your spark plugs/wires, don't think one was even firing/they look very old (like never changed). We disabled/unhooked the alarm after checking to make sure nothing important was attached/reliant on it" and other stuff. Gave us this big box of parts they replaced. It runs/sounds much better now.

Someone explain HDR on smart-TV's and why it's good for games. Because I don't understand. I know it will vary a bit quality wise depending on TV/source methods all that etc and I can maybe see it more for films. But games... In-game HDR setting Off, I fiddle with TV settings until I basically see this, only on the TV screen it looks better/more vivid of course, vs. a compressed .jpg. The main point, however, is that what I see on-TV fairly closely resembles what I also see if I take the screenshot or a video and it does so even when I copy it over on any other device. But then you turn in-game HDR On, the smart TV detects a HDR source (I guess) and turns into "HDR mode" (which gives similar but different color preset options). If you leave all of those presets at default, game on TV horribly overblows all bright areas/light colors but will look ok in darker scenes or more evenly toned scenes. If you fiddle with all those presets forever, you can get what you see on the TV to mostly look like you want/normal, even those bright areas, but this is not reflected in screenshots/videos. It's horrid and thus seems pointless. So...I don't understand. I guess if you never take screenshots or videos you won't care but ... I'd rather have consistency across the board. Maybe I'm doing something wrong with all this "smart" TV crap. Pfft. *whatever, keeps HDR off in-game* The really irritating thing about my particular TV/LG's firmware is it detects netflix as HDR as well (at least if it's a netflix "app") and then locks you out of your normal desired presets and gives you those other ones and ... you have no idea how many hours I've spent fiddling with all these bloody inputs/presets. TV's look pretty nice these days, but all this "Smart" stuff sucks.

Sure, I have quite a few friends who like FO4 the most but they are mostly console gamers that don't like RPGs all that much. ;P I may be slowly turning into one of those people (just don't make games I truly like anymore overall tho, console or PC) but I still prefer NV over FO4. But then, overall, I've never been a huge fan of Bethesda games. They always feel so lifeless in some unexplainable way, to me. Morrowind was still my favorite and at this point that's probably more from the nostalgia point of view.

That saber fight at the end with him was awesome tho. I remember buying the DVD for the movie only for that reason and watched it several times.

AHAHAHAHA...............I'm not that old, but I can still relate.

Yeah, it's the LG HDR. Firm upware update last year. Assuming the game has HDR and you set all the smart-TV settings properly while using that game, turns the input lag down to around 30ms or less, from the previous 50ms or so. Making input lag for self largely unnoticeable according to most. In terms of online competitiveness, no clue. And I'd guess such will improve later. https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1490236854 I think the cheap TV I bought might have all that actually, but I haven't tested it to be sure. Maybe not since it's not OLED but...In terms of PS4-Pro and games I play I don't find input lag to be an issue so don't care.