LadyCrimson

(looks at pic of that giant hammer) Hahahahahahahahahaha!!

Ender's Game - Note: I have not read the book and won't be reading the book (I do know of book...never could get into O.S.C tho). Watching it as a movie, independent of book comparisons, the film was mildly watchable, and I'd imagine on the big-screen those battle scenes were cool to look at it. The actors, imo, all did ok/fine. But it felt a bit perfunctory/cold and I had little reason to care about this big war, the supposed enemy, and had no sense of danger or impending doom, so, y'know, in the end ... who cares. I kept thinking of Tron for some reason. Anyway, I don't regret watching it or anything. It was nice eye candy, just not emotionally engaging in any way. Harrison Ford is beginning to really creep me out when he's on screen, tho. I'm not sure why. Maybe they put too much make up on him to try to hide that he's pretty darn old now - gives him a rubber face look?

Rust (the most popular imitator, I gather) is cheaper...I wonder how they compare.

The mudcrab and horse are in the same package ... don't have to choose, can have both! It's not that I'd mind having a horse, I'm sure it's handy at times, but I never really liked horse riding in Skyrim, so I doubt I'd like it that much here.

For the past week or two, I keep going back to stare at the DayZ early access page. While not normally my type of game, somehow, going in and constantly being in fear that someone is going to kill you for your shirt and a piece of fruit as soon as you spawn, or while walking down a road, or while trying to save someone else, is kinda appealing. But the price seems a little steep for early access and a lot of bugs...

It's obviously made of a special, weaponized, transparent aluminum alloy.

I'm glad your mother came to visit, Woldan. Good thing she was there. Today I'm going to buy a new slow-cooker and make some tasty beef soup. The grey weather has me in the mood for such. Plus it makes the house smell nice.

I gave up on trying to watch sports in the Olympics. The only supposedly live coverage is on nbc's cable channel (not their "network" channel) after midnight (my time) and while I'm often a night owl, the selection of what they're choosing to broadcast isn't really my thing. Well, there was one skating bit at 6am or something but I'm not staying up that late. I don't mix politics with my sports and I don't know anything about this years athletes, either, so no investment in that fashion. It mostly just makes me miss baseball season.

Not really TV series but I've been watching a lot of the 30/30 ESPN sports docs on Netflix. Some are better than others, while a few were mostly interesting to me because I remember watching it as it happened (Tonya Harding). I especially liked the one that wondered why sports fans/media so wants a "scapegoat" when teams don't win, and how often the scapegoat may not even have been the biggest (rational) factor. Also, Heads Up, a documentary re: contact sports and concussion risks. Interesting (if not surprising) and a little frightening, mostly in terms of young children. Maybe mild head concussions where "no one even thinks it's a concussion" experiences explains a few things about me.

The mudcrab is part of the digital Imperial edition. If I were to pay early for this game, I must have mudcrab. The horse I don't care about. Imperial race ... can take it or leave it, although the Imperial armor stuff sounds interesting. From what I'm reading, crafting-alts may be ... optimal. I hear my task-obsessive nature calling. Still, ES and I don't tend to = longevity so that makes me hesitate on a personal level. Looks very pretty, however. And I like that it seems you can explore quite extensively even if that means you're most likely going to die. What I'd be most interested in is what lvl25+ people think, but I think that's still off-limits to discuss or something.

So if you pre-order the $79 pack, can you try it for the 5 days as soon as you order, or does it mean you get to play 5 days early? (March 31, say) $80 is cheaper than that NW:Online pack I bought, so eh...well, we'll see. I need more info about micro-transactions (there are micro-transactions, right?) I do kinda object to subscription plus micro-transaction model, even if the micro-transactions are vanity oriented. I'd rather they offer an optional higher monthly tier ($20-25/m, for example) that includes the vanity stuff instead.

One of my main irritations with the ES series has always been the combat mechanics. Don't like 1st person melee, and the 3rd person never felt quite right. Does ESO change any of that or does it still all rather feel kind of awkward. At least some articles make it sound like ranged is fun-ish. The early impressions, now that the press embargo is off, don't exactly inspire. Especially the writing. Not that I'd play a MMO for the writing, really. But one complaint I'm seeing is a lack of impact feel to combat. I might like the exploration and quest design, tho. That sounds at least promising, for my style. rockpapershotgun's 1st several hours impression article made me laugh, tho, re: some of the tortured dialogue. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/07/hands-on-the-first-few-hours-of-elder-scrolls-online/

Dangit, I should've have looked at the preorder page. Mudcrab pet! Dangit.... *goes off to read lukewarm reviews to temper desire for a mudcrab pet....*

Does it feel worth a subscription?

Tried to watch the first episode of Bates Motel. Seemed like it might be all right...I wasn't disliking it or anything. But couldn't focus on it so I turned it off for the moment. The woman playing the mother seems pretty good...the guy playing Norman felt a touch too twitchy, but otoh, appropriately weird and wimpy? wussy? repressed mamma's boy?

Are you saying it's going to be bad? It's just a Princess Bride reference, nothing more.

Pillars of Eternity - You Killed My Father, Prepare to Die Edition. ...I don't really see any reason for a subtitled title. They can save that for the sequel, if there is one.

Last thread Finally got around to watching "The Croods". It's not a Pixar masterpiece or anything, but I enjoyed it. Even made me chuckle a few times. The imagery was nice to look at, too. Plus, y'know, I want one of these.

Post limit. Time for a new one.

Hopefully it's actually a bug and not you developing cat allergies. ...I hate being allergic to my beloved cats...but it doesn't stop me, either.

Nice poem and sentiment, Hurlshot. Lucky wife. Pizza and movies night. Some family movie called Firehouse dog is on CN and since it has Bruce Greenwood in it, so I must watch it because I'm a Greenwood fangurl. Also has Josh H., which took me a few minutes to remember "oh yeah, Hunger Games". I forget how young he is/was, even in Hunger Games. Plus, y'know, cute dog. Earlier I caught a bit of Silent Hill, which also had me going "Hey, the blonde from Walking Dead!" (who's a lot hotter with short hair, imo, I might add). A whole lot of people are in that movie, actually. Fun times.

If they get to a VR point where I actually feel as tho I am an actor playing a role in a movie - but without having the embarrassment of having to have anyone see/hear what a terrible actor I am (haha!) then I may end up loving games as a story medium. I mean, if I'm alive at the time, games with tactile sensory imput, total 3d immersion and picking up a stick means reaching out to pick up a stick that would be pretty awesome. eg, a holodeck. Also, it'd get rid of the couch-potato syndrome. ...but unlike alan, I feel the interactivity of a sit-at-keyboard computer game actually takes away from the flow/pace of story, and to me, uninterrupted flow is everything. Whether this is because of current methods of integration/implementation in games I have no idea, but I'd guess it's pretty likely.

I have difficulty with the over-reaching story arcs in a lot of games because of all the player-stuff I have to do in-between the snippets of story that are doled out. By the time I get to the next story bit, my brain is stuffed with side quests, chr. arcs/stories, profession skill/gear/other choices, exploring, beating up dozens of bad guys, etc. that I've practically forgotten there is a story arc. That's just me tho. And it's not that I don't appreciate/want a good story in the game. It's just not my favorite format for getting one (vs. a book/movie).

Watching little bits as I wander back and forth around the house. So far the best stuff is watching those hunky speed skaters and a shoe commercial that used the theme to Underdog as its music. Haha. I did finally realize last night that it was mostly opening ceremony stuff...for some reason I thought it had already started a day or two ago or something. So that explained that. I felt a little bad that the one light ring didn't open. The floating island fantasy thing was kinda pretty too. At least I found the NBC cable sports channel that seems to play more of the actual sports. Especially at late night. Sadly I don't have a DVR to record it.

Recovering flu-wise, I'm at about 90% I think. Mostly the cough left. Oddly, this means I'm more sleepy. Guess one doesn't get a lot of quality sleep when sick, perhaps. So it was a quiet day, listening to the rain, snoozing off and on. Nice to see some rain this week. Clears the allergens, soothing sound, gives moderate temps. This weekend...no plans. Might buy myself a 40" TV (not pc monitor) for this room and set it up with a cablebox. I'm getting a little tired of competing for the living room TV w/hubby and his couch-gaming. He doesn't like sports and half the stuff I watch, anyway. Plus that way I can have sports on while still doing something else on the PC's.