FINALLY

I finally figured out the track playing during the fight with Eugene/He Who Dwells in InFamous Second Son. It's been bothering me for the last couple days but it's from Lair "Return to Mokai City." I thought I would share because it's apparently a big deal for me. Wonder why the developers decided to recycle that track in particular...John Debney has done a lot of work on movies, but I can't figure out why they used that track in particular. So far I can't dig up any connections with Nathan Johnson who composed the music for Second Son, so I'm not sure why it was used. Maybe he's a fan of Lair? I happen to love that soundtrack and I'm glad it was used, it just baffles me. I just remember sitting there playing and I was not paying any attention to what I was doing because I was trying desperately to figure out why I knew the track.

Frozen Inside

Inside my work that is. It might actually be warmer outside right now. There is no heat to counteract the air conditioning that I think is stuck on. I wouldn't have a problem with it, only I didn't dress warm enough for this today. Spring is finally here, which means misery for my sinuses. I don't even know what it is I'm allergic to. It's just spring. I am allergic to spring.

Anyway, I didn't make a post to complain about temperature and nasal congestion, though it certainly gave me the opportunity. I have been working away all weekend whenever I have time, and have completed a lot of Half Life 2 videos. I posted three videos over the weekend (one was supposed to be posted last night, but the video didn't publish for some reason and I JUST noticed) and I expect to post three parts of Ravenholm in the next couple days. The gaming laptop I am using to record it (quite literally the only machine that I can use that CAN record it due to lag) is breaking video in all sorts of interesting ways. So far, I have been able to handle it.

What to expect this week:
-HL2: Ravenholm chapter
-The beginning of Penumbra: Black Plague
-A couple Bioshock Infinite videos (the LP is on hold otherwise)
-Just Cause 2 Multiplayer videos (as requested by my brother)

IMPORTANT: We are currently not recording Bioshock Infinite as Shauna has encountered a problem with her HDMI cable connecting her laptop to the TV. While we could play this on her laptop screen, it is a lot more difficult for two people to see and comment on it. In case someone out there can help us (or more specifically her as it is her machine), this is what's going on:
-HDMI previously connected to the television fine
-When it is connected now, the TV will not recognize the laptop, or the laptop's screen will flash on and off
-The laptop will connect on start-up (ie the Windows start-up logo and screen) but fails to work when it reaches the desktop
-She has not installed any new software aside from games (particularly Deus Ex)
-We have tested the resolution and that is not the issue
-I am unsure of whether she has tested the refresh rate
-The cable is not faulty as we tested this with other devices
-The TV is not faulty for the same reason

If anyone has a solution or has encountered this and fixed it, please leave a comment on this blog, or message me on YouTube/Google+. She would really like some answers.

Soundtrack Thursday 14

A lot of my Thursdays seem to be cut short. Today will be a shorter soundtrack Thursday as I am heading out to Trochu for the evening. Where exactly is Trochu and why am I going there? I'll let you make up your own story.

Anyhow, it's Hans Zimmer week again, so today we'll start out with:

Batman Begins - Watched this again last night with my brother. It's my favourite of the three. Yes, even more than the Dark Knight (though I will admit the acting in the Dark Knight was unmatched). So many good lines from this movie. So many cheesy, cheesy lines and moments. I love it. 

There is an Easter Egg hunt set up around my office. I have been scoping out all the egg locations in the slice, though I anticipate a fight to the death over the eggs scattered on the table in the couches area. Man, the last time I did an Easter egg hunt was when I was like...12. 

DaVinci Code - Remember watching this and people were getting mad about all the plot holes and historical inaccuracies I was pointing out. I struggle so much not to riff on the movies I'm watching with other people. It's so hard. I even riff on them watching alone. I think those might be habits picked up from LPing and critiquing back in the Hot Box days...

 And no, I didn't read the books, so I have no idea if those were any better. 

Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest - Too bad it's only available in 240p. I love these soundtracks, even if the 2nd, 3rd and 4th movies were a little "meh"

Not Hans Zimmer but: InFamous Second Son - I've been listening to this soundtrack a lot this week.

Plan for this weekend:

Record some Half Life 2

Record some Bioshock Infinite

Finish InFamous Second Son

Finish the Brigmore Witches

Maybe play Dungeon Siege multiplayer?

Sleep

Start watching Breaking Bad

All of the above might be negated by the final item on the list. Or at least that's what my brother tells me.

Penumbra Overture

Is finally completely uploaded. I explain this in the description and in the video, but there is a significantly large portion of the video near the end that was corrupted and unusable. Therefore, all I had to work with was the mic audio. I cut out about 5-7 minutes of this audio, only putting in bits I thought were important to note...or particularly silly. At any rate, I apologize for this once more, but there is little I can do to fix it. I could have re-recorded it, but it would have been a bit botched anyway, and I do not have easy access to the save files as it was played on Shauna's computer and not my own. Anyway, the most important piece of the video are still there, so hopefully it doesn't bother you much.

More Half Life 2 and Bioshock Infinite queued up for this week. That is if I can force myself to focus on it and not play inFamous Second Son or Dishonored the whole time. I am a little bit addicted...and may only have received four hours of sleep last night because of it...

The new inFamous is actually pretty fantastic. I like the new character...even if he's a little ridiculous sometimes. All the time. Every time.

Soundtrack Thursday 13

Another soundtrack Thursday. It's been another tough week, though for different reasons. Regardless, I'm still sick and I have no energy so I'm going to let you guess what today's theme is rather than explain it.

Bioshock 1 - I actually thoroughly enjoyed this soundtrack. I liked it better than the Bioshock Infinite one. I've decided I need to LP this sooner than later.

Must resist the urge to listen to...Dishonored...tracks...

dot dot dot

Chocolate peanut butter eggs have been delivered to me via shady staircase hand-off. I may yet survive this day.

Dead Space 1 - Another game I really need to LP in the near future. I never actually finished it. Also...wtf when did I purchase Dead Space 2?

Motivation to stay functional...dropping. Must, get, coffee.

Half Life 2 - Fitting as I am LPing it.

Yep. The bottom of my coffee was where all the sugar escaped to.

F.E.A.R. 

Holy crap I nearly had a heart attack when I thought my coworker was a giant, elongated cat head walking towards me out of the corner of my eye. This is not a good sign people. Now I know what terrifies me. Aside from spiders and demented Muppets popping out of closets and demonic omnipotent death hares and giant bat people. This is just a whole bucket of NOPE.

Actually I'd love to see concept art of the last three...as long as they stay out of my dreams.

This blog post appears to be an exercise in growing madness. I better conclude it before it gets worse. I added a list of all video LPs that you can see if you scroll down to the bottom of the blog. Also, I have fulfilled most of my promise for this week's videos. I only have to finish Penumbra Overture now.
Crap.

...

link

shh....

Derp

As I mentioned a few times last week, I didn't get much video produced as I had lost a lot of sleep, and really wasn't up to spending the time and energy producing the high-maintenance LPs...which incidentally is all three of the ones I'm currently releasing. I am currently encoding the last segment of Dishonored, so that LP will be fully prepared for release after I get the other three in order. I seem to have prioritized these poorly. I am going to redouble my efforts this week.

Penumbra Overture will be finished by the middle of the week (though I don't know what to do about the corrupt portion near the end...I'm tempted to re-record it myself, but we'll see). I'm actually quite pissed at how corrupt and desynced this LP turned out. It may be tainting my overall opinion of Penumbra, and that's really not the game's fault. That said, I may have a few words about the games themselves once this is all over.

Two new episodes of Bioshock Infinite have been uploaded. Expect 2 - 3 more by the end of the week. Also another pain in the ass to produce because of the echo.

Half Life 2 is fairly easy to edit and produce, but I got halfway through editing the next segment before I felt like smashing my face into the keyboard (not related to the game, I just stopped functioning at that point). I will be recording more this week, hopefully finishing the game completely. Expect at least 2 more episodes of that this week.

So in summary, you should expect a minimum of 6 videos, and a maximum of *shrug*

Point is, I'm still here, and I thank those who are waiting for specific videos for their patience. Meanwhile, I took a few hours to make a VERY SERIOUS VIDEO, because I really needed a little silliness this week.

Soundtrack Thursday 12

It's been a rough week. Busy at work, a lot going on, a couple of tough conversations and an extreme lack of sleep has left me pretty spent for a Thursday. So I'm sitting, kind of spaced out at my desk, wishing I was at home spaced out playing Dishonored because I'm almost done the game, and thinking about how I said goodbye to my coworker at the second level, forgetting that he worked on the third level with me. Awkward.

I have tea. I have chocolate chip banana muffins. I have 7.5 hours left to get through. Let's do this.

I'm going to pick soundtracks from some of my favourite movies.

 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - I want to do another LOTR movie marathon, extended versions. But now I feel like I should include The Hobbit movies...I don't think I have enough time in a day/enough energy to get me through it all. I've now done 2 and a half 3 movie marathons. The one marathon is only a half because we fast forwarded through some of the slower parts. Though if you count the ski weekend where people turned it into a drinking game and we watched one movie a night...that's still not a marathon.

The Avengers - How have I never posted this for soundtrack Thursday yet? I love the Avengers. Best midnight showing I've ever gone to, mostly because of the collective geekiness of the entire audience. Someone one lone gentleman managed to quiet the entire theatre for the shawarma scene...for about 1.5 seconds. I'm also pretty sure that half the people in the theatre freaked out at the credit preview despite not knowing who the hell that guy was. I can only describe it as a collective "OHHHHHHH, OH SHIT" and then frantic whispers of "wait, so who was that?"

4 Hours left if I skip lunch break and just eat while I work. There is a piece of dried mango stuck between my teeth. I can't get it out. Seriously, people over-complicate torture. All you need is constantly administered minor irritants that cannot be stopped. Popcorn stuck in teeth, Katy Perry pop songs on loop, finger nails on chalkboard, finger nails on denim, being gagged and forced to listen to lectures from Creationists, Clockwork Orange style screenings of Michael Bay movies...

Captain America - Because I'm on that track now after the Avengers and I want to listen to that super catchy song. I should look up a survey on everyone's favourite Avenger from the movies. I think Captain America would probably be in the lower numbers. No love for good old Cap =(

Also, I saw the Need for Speed movie last night and I am unsure of whether it was delightfully awful, or brain damaging. It was basically a 2 hour and 10 minute commercial for Ford full of plot points that went absolutely no where, unrealistic interpretations of time, a ton of stressful reckless driving, 20+ casualties for the sake of two grudge matches (one to prove that he was innocent of one casualty while they ignored the countless others), tired tropes, hilariously awkward moments, poorly delivered lines, a woman who couldn't decide on an accent (though I think that was a joke?) and a good ten seconds worth of Rami Malek's ass. Aside from the speaking parts and the unnecessary ass shots, it stayed true to the video game. Cars, fast driving, casualties and interesting courses.

Oh crap I'm getting sucked into a critique. I honestly could spend pages picking apart this movie and nothing would be accomplished. Okay in short: movie exceeded expectations, but that says something when expectations of the movie was "wow, this will be shit"

Also...why do you keep selling out to terrible movies Linkin Park? Granted the song used here (and I'm enough of a geek to have recognized the tune from the first couple of notes...) actually WORKED (cough cough Iridescent), but seriously, can't you guys can't sell out to a good movie once in awhile?

PS - No videos have been been uploaded in the past few days because my motivation to make them has been at an all time low. I will remedy this on the weekend.