LadyCrimson

This weekend we're going to try 4-player BL2 with only 2 active players. Two 'placeholder' characters that never move from the fast travel points on secondary PC's (they get auto-dragged with you when you load new areas) and then us playing on our main PC's. I'm mostly curious how much tougher it really is. Plus the non-playing chrs. can have helpful team-mods on, like some low level ammo regen. This should be interesting.

I really need to buy myself a cape.

This makes me want to re-watch the first 3 or 4 Hellraiser films, in order. I didn't actually love the movies per se, but I used to love the chr. of Pinhead.

The last one looks like what you'd see out your kitchen window on the day voles decided it was time to take over the world.

I dreamed I was dying (some kind of dream-y terminal disease), and was going through old family recordings and personal history with my mother and my sister, then suddenly I was crawling up some rocky path over a bed of lava thinking about all this stuff, and woke up crying. I hate dreams like that.

--Installing Steam and BL2 on my other PC just so I can "rush" myself. I miss being able to run 2 instances of the game with BL1, on a single PC... --Looking at the number of prayer-invoked coins on my main NWO chr, I can't believe it's been over 5 months since I first installed that game. I wonder what will happen first: I finally get the 360-coin companion, or I stop caring about even minimal logging in to pray etc.

I liked Risen 2. I didn't finish it, but I liked it when I was playing it. It's some really big dude wearing a really weird helmet. Which is pretty much par for the course in BL2. Weird helmets, I mean. The purple is a weapon attribute effect (slag).

Me: Sometimes I'm so oblivious that I wouldn't even know there's an alien invasion in progress. So on that day you'd run through the front door screaming for me to pack a bag and get in the car 'now now now!' and I'll be all 'huh?' Hubs: What makes you think I'd stop at home first? I'm gettin' the heck out of dodge! Me: You could at least call me first. Hubs: You probably wouldn't answer the phone. Me: True that. Hubs: See? You're on your own, baby. Me: At least I'll have Mr. Black. Mr. Black: Only if the aliens don't have better kibble.

Hubs and I reached lvl 61 in BL2 and are now going through some of the DLC's in Ultimate difficulty to try to level up before doing the new mini-DLC/gain "overlevels" and farm for lvl 72+ oranges. I still hadn't ever done the pirate/ship-cars DLC, so we're going that one first. And I got a lvl59 Pandemic Grenade out of the ammo machine. Which hubby immediately demanded I copy for him (he luvs that grenade). W00t.

"Gravity" (3D) - I'd give the movie something like an 8.5, and the 3D a 5. The film is definitely Ms. Bullock's, and I thought she did a fine job. Clooney, for once, was likable (to me) vs. just sorta "meh." I guess he works better in small doses versus leading-man. The film is gorgeous, and when they used it, the music soundtrack fit well and added to the feeling of suspense. They didn't use much "sound in space", just sound via their helmet speakers and thuds on outer hulls when they're inside. It was interesting where sometimes it seemed like sound, but I think what they were trying to capture was maybe feeling vibrations, not hearing sound. Anyway, outside of suspension of disbelief re: the preposterous luck of Bullock never tearing her spacesuit, was entertaining and refreshing from the usual action/superhero. The 3D - y'know, it's cool when rain and snow and water droplets look like they're outside of the screen, but it still doesn't make the film experience any better. And more than half the time, the depth they use looks too phony - it's not like looking at someone from across a room - instead they "pop" out from an over-blurred background and it's just....fake. That said, for me, it wasn't actually distracting and once in a while it does work. And it was definitely better in this film than in Avatar.

Tip: If you don't like the way Steam wants to "check for updates" (even in offline mode) when you start it up, try fully exiting the program before shutting down the PC. Where it's not in the systray/icon. I have Steam disabled on bootup (msconfig), don't know if that matters, but for some reason exiting the program before shutdown = it doesn't do the update check bit. Works for both hubby and myself.

Darn! Reload? Now? DOUBLE DARN!

I don't dislike it per se, but 3D doesn't feel like it really adds anything either (hence no desire to pay extra). Probably more about what they tend to use 3D for - making stuff feel a bit separated from background (depth) doesn't typically do much in the average film. The only 3D I liked was in a Vegas IMAX, with this crazy cartoon. But that was animation and it involved wearing something that was sorta like, but not quite, a helmet, vs. the cheap plastic eye glasses they hand out in the theater. Something like Gravity, set out in space above a planet, vs. cars, explosions, superheros, and always super-busy scenes, might be more interesting. Anyway, going to see it in a few hours.

That actually sounds pretty delish, and not weird to me at all. Hubby doesn't like kimchi tho, so I'll have to make it when he's not hungry/away. Which is fine, because it means more for me!

Persian, you say? There's always this option: (edit)...wait a sec, I thought this was the what you did today thread...

Explain a little more, please. Sprinkled on top? Stirred up into the other taco-filling ingredients? I love kimchi/kimchee...never thought to use it on a taco. I have tossed it into scrambled eggs, tho.

Well, yes, but that could mean he sits on that couch in a few bits, sits around a board table for a few minutes, has a phone convo or two, and then has a 5 minute end-film fight sequence. Spoilers! If I'm actually close, well, the 2 min preview I watched made it pretty predictable. That and the 1000's of other films that follow such a routine. Heh. I did want to see Keanu, he tends to entertain me in action stuff, but it's $10 on HD-VoD and not sure if it's worth even that.

I use something called PDF Xchange Viewer. But I only use it to view them. I have no idea of its usefulness outside of that. All I know is it's speedy and works well enough. As to Adobe ... all I know about them is that hubby hates them with a passion and I mostly don't care. I think the only thing I use by them is their web Flash, since half the websites/website videos in the world seem to not work without it.

*watches video* What the ... ?? That's terrible. There are some things that just don't work when you try to make them "new and improved."

Well, yes, but that could mean he sits on that couch in a few bits, sits around a board table for a few minutes, has a phone convo or two, and then has a 5 minute end-film fight sequence.

Love the 2nd pic, Shady. Makes me want to pull up a chair and enjoy the view. The last one makes me think of someone I knew from the East Coast. He'd always talk about enjoying the turning of the colors in fall - something we don't get in large quantities, typically, around here.

Was Keanu's role in the film very big? I saw that in the VoD list and I was tempted to rent it for an entertaining chuckle, if you know what I mean, but I wasn't sure if he'd only be in for like 5 minutes. Seemed mostly about the other guy.

Double-posting, different subject: We are apparently late, underestimated, or whatever, on paying $49 on part of our last self-employment Federal Tax payment. So they sent us another bill, of course. For $115. Penalty and interest. For a month. This is why, in the US, you do not mess with the IRS. I remember one time, for almost a year, they kept saying we owed them more, and we'd pay it, and they'd come back a month later and say we owed them more + interest that we couldn't avoid since we'd only know about owing it when they sent the bill....IRS is the devil, that is all.

Doesn't give me headaches, but 3D Avatar didn't impress me at all so I haven't bothered since. Still, my fave reviewer (who doesn't typically like or recommend 3D) raved that 2D wouldn't do it justice. It's made me curious.

Got ticked off at Steam's software + update demands + installer when it gave me can't connect errors (hadn't been "online' in 2 months...). Took me 2 hours to figure that one out (at least I didn't have to reinstall games...) and then I didn't feel like playing the game anymore. It's been a pleasant weekend overall, however. Some gaming, some out and about-ing, some family. All nice and relaxing. Except when my cat gallops around the house knocking things over during some fur-shedding, yowling dervish mode. The animal shelter lady said "they're 6ish, don't expect them to be too active, cause older cats don't do kitten-y things." ... Mr. Black says "haha you're wrong."