Tonight, or late last night, or early this morning, depending on how you look at it I finished Lost Odyssey.

As is tradition for me, I took one of my end game screen caps.


Usually the time indicator is a decent way to tell if I enjoyed a game or not. In this case I spent 92, almost 93 hours (which I believe is the longest I've spent on a single player runthrough of a game). Logic tells us this means I liked it quite a bit. So much so that I didn't actually want to beat it. I really wish it could've lasted forever, and as I typically do when I reach the end of a game I adore, I procrastinate. I did manage to complete a decent amount of the side quests while putting off the ending, but I still have a few loose ends to tie up along with tackling the dowloadable dungeon.  Alas, I decided to take the plunge late Sunday night and at least see the ending. I'm extremely glad I did.

I'm not one to really review games -- mainly because I believe there to be a indescribable amount of subjectivity that I could never really.. you know.. describe to other folks. Everyone else is so much better at it than I am, I just tend to gush like I am now. What I can say is that this game is among my long list of "all time favs". Every time I played this game I would shut off my computer, put my phone on silent and turn my online status to busy. I wanted to be completely immersed. And out of those 92 hours and 44 minutes there wasn't a single moment where I wasn't honestly enjoying myself.  I'll also openly admit that this game caused me to tear up on more than one occasion. Probably the most of any game I can remember playing.

I probably say this every time I play one of these super long emotionally charged, highly rewarding experiences, but goodness if this isn't the very reason I love playing vidya games -- I really don't know what is.

/swoon

I managed to get my hands on the first upgrade for Rachel, my new camera.


Placed atop a small tripod in the hot shoe of my HV30 is a Rode VideoMic.

I'm taking a Sound and Post class in school and it prompted me to gather some new equipment for a couple reasons. First, I don't like renting from the school and dealing with the extremely harsh check-out conditions. And, secondly, because I want to use this bad boy on my own stuff whenever I want to!

I ordered a .45x wide angle today as well. The first thing I got for my old camera was a wide angle lens, so I figured I had to do as much for this one at least too. Next on the upgrade schedule is most likely a new tripod. The one I'm using now is actually meant for still photography and I need a good video tripod with a fluid head for smooth panning and tilting action. After that (hopefully around the holiday season) I'll try and take the plunge and get a 35mm adapter so I can get some shallow depth of field happening, as well as some radical manual focus. Then I'll probably have to get a rails system to mount it on as well as a new monitor for better focusing and perhaps a follow focus to further improve that. It's going to be an ongoing process, that's for sure.

Also got the new Typography project coming up. I have a little less than three weeks to work on it, so I need to get going. I ripped the audio I'm thinking of using this weekend from the film, O Brother, Where Art Thou -- although, I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with this or not. It needs to be at least a minute and I'm sitting at 1:20 with this one. Have a listen and let me know what you think...

She's a Canon HV30 and she's stolen my heart.

I still have a lot of things to figure out with it. I'll probably browse through the manual at work tomorrow and do some test shooting this weekend. Unfortunately classes start Monday so I have no idea when I'll be able to put something together.

I also need to find a suitable name for her. I forgot what I was going to call her initially.


Boy that sure would be fun.. Maybe someday...

I have a loose plan to spend even more money on accessories as well. She might look and transform into something even more radical come the end of the year, if things go smoothly.

Stoked beyond belief, I am.

• Call of Duty 3 has an atrocious checkpoint system. This is probably my hardest CoD Veteran run, but only because of the friggin' checkpoints. Rather, the lack thereof. Lame.
• I made it to the third disc in Lost Odyssey. I swear, if I could procreate with that game.. I totally would. (I adore the game, still)

• I got 6 new figures in. I should take pictures of them.

• I haven't been working on my kinetic typography project like I should. It's going to take long enough as it is without me procrastinating.

• I have a lot of XBLA games to buy. Unfortunately, some of them are going to be more expensive than expected. Hopefully I won't be sending the wrong message by purchasing them.

• I want to do more videos, but I've been taking full advantage of these last few weeks of summer. Playing games every free moment I have. I wish there were more hours in the day sometimes...

• I started up Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom with some friends again. That game is pretty simple, but oddly satisfying. I've been synthesizing weapons and armor to rather ludicrous levels. (+27000 HP for a piece of armor-- and that's not even close to the max!)

• I have to admit, that last one was pretty nerdy.

• I have a bunch more, but I want to play more Lost Odyssey and watch the final cut of Blade Runner on HD-DVD.

• CoD 3 has awful checkpoints.

My good friend Tony has made himself a new episode of As Casual as it Gets. I went ahead and took the liberty of making a teaser for it. You know, cause we're friends and stuff.

This is kind of neat-o, eh?