Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Running on Fumes takes the Joy out of everything. :(

For quite some time now, I've been running on fumes. I have no energy for anything, I don't enjoy anything like I typically would, I don't even sleep well. Since basically last spring, I've been going FLAT OUT with so many wonderful and crazy things (got married, bought my first house, started a new job, started a new business venture, plus a bunch of personal stuff to boot) that I'm just to the point of it all just becoming a little much and I want the world to stop for a bit. So, I GO ON VACATION NEXT WEEK! :D

Life does have a tendency of sneaking up on you. Sad but true, we all need that all important 2 to 3 week period out of every year that allows us to just slow down, hit the reset button, and relax. Not many of us get the true ability to do this, and to be quite honest with you, this is my first "real" vacation in so many years that I don't remember the last one save for my college and university days. I've had a week off here and there, not really enough time to do much at all. This two weeks I'll be doing some photo expeditions, some minor renovations on my home, and some real, hardcore gaming. :D

It'll be a "don't call me, I'll call you" period. :D

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I picked up Alpha Protocol this week, hesitantly. It's supposed to be Mass Effect but in current day. So far, it's ok. The graphics are really bad, sadly. Worse than Dragon Age. (I really was disappointed with Dragon Age visuals...) The control is a little wonky but manageable. The story is super spy stuff, so I'm really into that. I haven't played enough to give a good recommendation for or against it yet. I've had fun with it so far though.

I'm almost finished Dead to Rights: Retribution. I'm on the last level. It's a game that I could have played through in 1 weekend but I've had it for the better part of 6 weeks now, playing on and off. The slice of the 80's has, for me, been nostalgic and fun. It's the kind of nostalgia that really works well with me. It's a game obviously made for today, but with the "feel" of a game from the past. So, it's the best of both worlds. It looks great but feels old.

I almost never "go back" to older games. I remember them fondly, then I see them, and that fond memory is almost always replaced with "wow, that's ugly". Biggest example: Final Fantasy 7. I rave about the wonders of this game, and will do so for all of time. However, it looks fucking terrible by today's standards. Unfair to say that given that it was made in 1997ish. But... it IS today, and it's hard to let go of how amazing Final Fantasy 13 looks. It not play as good, but it does look WAY better.

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I want to figure out how to do HDR photography. There's a HDR automate thing in Photoshop, but I have heard it doesn't handle very well. "In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight." (stolen from Wikipedia) I've seen a number of old home shots that really benefit from this technique, as it really brings out EVERY line and little detail in the paint flake and wood cracking, really making a very interesting picture.

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All for today! Thanks for reading!

C

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