LadyCrimson

Dead Island (too bad the game sucked). I'm not sure which I found more affecting, the original or when IGN reversed it to be in chronological order. Borderlands 2 Doomsday trailer (too much fun).

For me it's less escapism per se as it is just ... like I said, I can't shut my brain up a lot of the time. I'm one of those people who can't "relax." Chronic depression since a child - I'm not bipolar but there are still ups and downs that have me either sleeping all day or mind-jittering like I've had 20 pots of coffee (the latter is why sometimes I'm here babbling inanely on the forum). Without something to really focus my attention I go mad, one way or another. Reading was helpful because it makes my brain focus on imagining/painting the picture the words represent so I form movies in my head, but it only works if I read non-stop (reading a novel a chapter a night does not work at all). Photography helped a little because I have to focus on technical things like light, angle, and with digital cameras, editing if I feel like it. Games help because I focus on the obsessive tasks of leveling, hunting, combat techniques, building characters towards being uber, designing cities, fast paced decisions, analyzing data, etc. Games in terms of just stories or lore don't usually work very well because unlike books I don't have to imagine the world/faces/places inside my head, it's all drawn out so to speak so my attention wanders a lot. Same with movies/TV. I loved Baldur's Gate, it was probably the first "serious" CRPG I played that was less action oriented than some others. But even there my focus was stats, tasks, builds, self-found humor/amusement re: chrs and battle situations, erasing every dot of the map black space. I don't even remember the plot at this point, tbh. Heh.

Aha! So that's why that 3D printer was so cheap. It's a DIY thing. So many parts to put together. Hubby might have it done by this evening. This morning ... missing my cat. Missing my mother. Avoiding the grocery store again but darnit I'm out of caffeine. Standing by the wall heater with wild bed hair with a cup of coffee stolen from my hubby's pot, feeling grumpy.

*looks up 2017/2018 median Vancouver home prices* ...sounds about the same as San Francisco, which went over 1 million US recently as well. SF Bay Area as a whole is lower than that (600k?) but it's still just nuts and the lower priced places are tiny or run down or in undesired spots. Our postage stamp 980sq. ft. 3bd/1ba single-family, which we bought for around $575k 9 years ago (just before or just as the major US crash) would be over a million now, which I find absurd for a 9year period that includes a long market crash. Even during the height of the crash it never went below $500k. Lack of housing for population continuously wanting to live here for some unfathomable reason = bidding wars between the richer people, inflating the value in seller's/market's minds. ...salaries for higher paying type jobs tend to be inflated in metro, but if you're not in one of those lines of work, then yeah, good luck affording a decent home in large metro areas these days for most/the average worker. You save up and if the economy depresses, try to jump in before the banks start to tighten up. Or have mom and dad help and co-signers etc. ...even the rent around here is nuts (probably $2500-$3000ish for 1bd/1ba). I often wonder how all the service/retail workers manage. It's one reason ppl want the minimum wage raised a lot, but then of course service prices would skyrocket, meaning even less living affordability, etc. Endless conundrum.

Hubby: "I just spent too much and bought an expensive geek item online." Me: "Geek item?" Hubby: "A 3-D printer." Me: (envisioning thousands) "And what is 'expensive?'" Hubby: "$300." Me: "Oh, is that all. ... You and I have very different ideas of expensive. **Seen our monthly groceries expense lately? Inflation? Y'know?" I had no idea you could get 3d printer for so cheap. I wonder what kind of quality you get for that. He wants it because he's always wanting these little "parts" that no one makes anymore so now he can experiment with making them himself, or something, I guess. It'll be cool to see one in person tho, vs. just videos. Maybe it'll get me more excited about them vs. just vaguely interested in their far-future potential. As to hubby - well, let's just say even if he won a huge lottery, he'd still complain about having to spend more than a buck-fifty on almost anything. **edit: I hope that doesn't come off as snobbish. I just mean in relation to our income. It's no longer $3.50/hr like back in the 80's...

Good. Stick to what makes you happy. I still play FONV and Bloodlines more than anything while fitting in bits of other games when I feel like it. Have no use for the majority of new releases, AAA nor Indie, the art of Cuphead being the lone exception. Oh and ... yeah, I know. It's just that sometimes I feel like I'm so out of the loop, not knowing anything about anything, being years behind, nothing to say since I'm not familiar with what most are playing. And all the spoilers you have to avoid. Or learn to not care about spoilers (which is mostly the way I went).

Had a convo about mini-games within games (most of which I can't stand) which reminded me of Might and Magic's Acromage. One of the very very few such mini-games that I ever liked. Yes it cheated sometimes I think but what AI doesn't. I'm reinstalling Might and Magic 7 right now just so I can play Acromage. Maybe I'll play the whole game a bit too, if my back doesn't mind sitting at a desk for too long.

--I still miss Win98. Not because it was the best thing evah, but because ... I understood it. --I'm used to Win7 now but it's where I stopped being a "computer" person because I became fed up trying to keep up with such things. I have it set up and leave it alone and rarely do anything deeper but play games/edit pictures/surf the net on it now. Most anything else is a mystery. --I still haven't built a new rig because I don't want to deal with Win10. Everyone, including my husband who knows me best, says I'll hate changing to Win10 100x more than I hated changing to Win7 and so... --maybe if I overclock my old i7 to 3.2 and stick more RAM on the mobo. --in a few years I bet more games will be Win10 only, plus there's the DX thing. --I could build new rig just to game on and keep old rig, but that never works long term because one gets fed up switching and transfering files and all of that constantly. --I could just give up PC's entirely.

Guess it took more than 2 years. Yet another common tale. ...the scenery does look nice, can I just be a wandering ghost and fly around looking at all the pretty? ...still think the 1st person melee perspective is ugly and awkward as all out, and I don't just mean in this game. For me, 1st person is for guns and snipers. Seeing 1/3 to 1/2 of your weapon and occasionally an elbow flailing around with a slightly fishbowl look to gazing at your opponent always bothers me. When I hold something in my hand, I can see my entire arm and the entire thing I'm holding. Also, my legs, my feet, my torso, etc without having to even bend my neck. Not seeing that - plus no peripheral vision representation (widening field-of-view into ever more fishbowl is not peripheral vision) - makes no visual sense to my brain in most games and I can never really get into it. ...combat doesn't look "fun" to me. Technically interesting and more realistic I'm sure, just not "fun" the way I define fun. Not putting it down, just not my thing I guess. ...the visuals and animations look pretty good (npc soldiers, armor, talking to folks, details on walls, paintings, etc) ...seriously, is there a sandbox-observer mode? I'd probably just like that. Running around, taking screenshots, waiting for rainy days (are there rainy days?). Although not for $60. Maybe $30.

Watched the first episode of "Counterpart" on Starz. It's a bit of a slow burn episode, setting things up, lots of visual/observation and reaction shots vs. dialogue keeping things mysterious with little explanation. But J.K. Simmons is masterful at a dual role. Every gesture, tonal inflection, shoulder slump, walking style, head movements, all differentiate between the two different but same selves and it's awesome. They should just call it the J.K. Simmons is Masterful and You Know It, Show. Once there's a few episodes available on-demand to binge, I'll keep watching. I'm not sure yet about the series as a whole/the plot but I'm not sure I care. I'm here for Simmons.

I have a habit of watching TV for 15-30 or so minutes every time I eat, and the past few days I kept seeing ads for the "last role/performance of Daniel Day Lewis" and thought he'd died, which made me a little sad since I knew he wasn't super old. Then I finally looked it up - guess he's just retiring. They could have worded it better.

In the 70's and 80's, I did nothing but read tons of books. I loved books. I'd check out 20 at a time from the library. I read while eating, walking, in classes, in bed, all day long, etc. Then I became kind of tired of reading. Photography was cool but not quite the same. The internet came along. I spent tons of time on usenet, message boards, making webpages, learning html. Then hubby brought home Doom one day, because everyone at his office was playing it. Never looked back. In essence, I don't like 98% of hobby activities that require live/physical interaction so computers/games/internet were awesome inventions. I like solitary, loner activities that cater to my well known ability to be mindlessly obsessive and task oriented. Such shuts my brain off and lets me "stop thinking" way more than anything else (TV/movies are fun but usually doesn't shut my brain off very well) and those are the things I focus on. Sometimes that could just be grout-cleaning the bathroom tile (but usually not that...). I don't play/game as much as I used to (the industry as a whole is becoming a bit dull for me) but I can still get lost in one for weeks/years if I find one I do like. I see it as no different than those who watch 1000's of movies, do nothing but read, knit, climb mountains, go clubbing all the time, cook extensively etc. We all have our "things."

No spoilers, it's just the open credit music/art sequence. The more I think about this movie, the better I like it. Not as some classic, but ... I'm still chuckling over certain bits this morning. Plus theme/credits is a lot of fun. Oh and if you haven't seen it, don't watch the trailer. It shows half the movie in there.

I don't think I'll ever watch another dinosaur/Jurassic movie. I mean I wasn't even all that enraptured of the first one, but that original t-rex water glass moment will always be the pinnacle for me, seen in a big theater with floor and seat shaking bass. But it's gotten to the point these days where I'm pretty sick of any animated/CGI dinosaurs/dragons/enemies in film/games. They all have exactly the same hind quarters/butt/tail and movesets as the t-rex or raptors in Jurassic and it's visually dull now. At least in a game you get to sword-stomp them. Yes, I know, how else would you draw them, but you know what I mean. ;p

I'm beginning to feel like I'm never going to play another game besides FFXV again, ever. I need help. I mean, I try sometimes, but then I go right back to XV. Haven't been this game-single-minded since when played DK1/Diablo1/Caeser3 for literally years. I can replay the 1st 2/3 of XV over and over and over whenever I want a gaming fix between TV/film and real-life, never gets old. ...maybe a year after Square finally stops updating it and then another year for PC version and any modding shenanigans (if that pans out). Think Diablo4 or Borderlands 3 will be out by then? ....

In A Valley of Violence (2016, Ethan Hawke, John Travolta) omg ... such a B Western movie, but totally absurd/hilarious in some spots. All the cliches - stranger with unknown past rolls into town, just wants to be left alone, but they won't leave him alone, so yknow what happens after. And the cutest dog evah! One of the better more recent Travolta roles, as well. One forgets how well he can do absurd humor but given the role, he'll find it. Anyway ... don't get me wrong, it's not some great film. But it was entertaining if you like Westerns with absurdist flair. Not quite satire, not quite serious, sometimes quite bloody.

It only works in Chapt. 5 (so new game or Chapt. Select to get there) and you can't save or do certain things, but it's rather funny/fun to do it. Considering my main complaint re: character combat swap is the long-butt delay that ruins all momentum (hit "swap to Ignis", wait 12 seconds before his files fully load and you can actually do anything/move), the glitch lets you free roam and just have silly fun. So I made a save file in that chapt. and as long as the glitch exists, will use that to goof around with. It's a limited area Chapt, but I like that it's always rainy plus there's plenty to do if you wish.

Attempted to watch the 1st episode of Devilman Crybaby via Netflix. ...wtf did I just watch. I don't think it's for me, I am not that cutting edge. *removes from watchlist* ...but the visuals were nicely animated!

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (anime, Netflix) ...well, the monsters were nicely animated. The movie was filled with way too many of these long, talky, techno-babble scenes complete with "look at our complex computer screen info simulations" that went over why Godzilla was nigh invulnerable and the "plan" to find its weakness. Over and over. The main character is largely unsympathetic (English speaking version). The ending was also weak since it's basically one of those "coming next, part 2!" moments. But the monsters were nicely animated.

And ... I also find that kinda ugly. But I don't think there's been a "special edition" anything, in this vein, that I've ever liked. Console, controllers, PC cases/keyboards, mice, whatever. I like my basic solid black, in everything. I'm boring that way.

Just wanted to correct myself on a couple points: --Supposedly the console version will also have 1st person mode added, which is a change from what I read some months ago. --$20 price for the Royal "Pack" was apparently a website eager error and the price is actually undetermined, although one wonders if it's more truly SE backpedaling in the fast wake of ppl complaining $20 is too high. I'd prefer $15 myself. --the new boat feature sounds more robust than I initially thought, with new fish/fishing from the boat and access to new exploration (islands? beaches?). Fishing from the boat, I can dig it. PC edition/Royal Edition both on March 6th. PC pre-order will include some outfit bonuses or something, and so far at least will not include Assassin Festival stuff (crossover copyright issues I take it) but will include Chocobo Festival stuff.

Email from my sister this evening. My mother has passed. No need for more condolences, btw, just processing it a bit in my head. After reading the news, I surfed the net some, went to the kitchen and calmly made some brownies, and only after that did I tell my husband and started to bawl but it didn't last too long. Now I'm all calm again. I assume it'll be like that all next week. Funny how that works. Thanks for choosing to adopt and raise me, mom. See you when I see you.

It's a good one. I even bought it for the PS4, so I could idly dig and build from the couch sometimes. Although I don't have zombies on then, because trying to combat in 7DtD with the controller would = me dying all the time. Only negative is console version is an alpha behind PC, but since I'm just building/free roaming, it's ok. I haven't checked in on what the next big update might entail. I've played it off and on for a couple years or more so I'm kind of waiting to see if it ever goes into Beta/final, now. Or at least a few big updates so it won't seem so familiar anymore. hehe.