Categories
*.AVI

Saturday Night Live (2024)

“The Bear” changed cinema. “Saturday Night Live” tries to recreate the same frantic athmosphere, minute by minute: the movie is 90 minutes in length, and starts 90 minutes before the show goes live on TV.
I feel like it requires too much prior knowledge. Am I supposed to know all those comedians that they mention? John Bellucci? Chevy Chase? Billy Preston? Because I don’t.
One bit I didn’t get is why they used Nicholas Braun (Succession) for two characters. One of them is some strange Italian, and another a muppeteer if that’s the name. It doesn’t seem like any other characters acknowledges it’s the same person. The one I actually knew was Dan Aykroyd, Ray from Ghostbusters. And I actually did see Chevy Chase in “Memoirs of an Invisible Man”.
After reading some more, I discovered that some of the cast died before they hit 40, either from overdose or cancer. And most of them left the show after 4-5 years.
I can’t deny it’s a good movie. The allegories with putting bricks is brilliant: just like putting a show together. Also, the actors they choose represent their real-life counterparts extremely well.
But I’m not sure it’s a movie anyone should go to theaters for.

Categories
*.BAK

Auchentoshan Three Wood

I’d like to say that I didn’t like this whiskey, and the only reason I tried it is that it comes in 5cl bottles. And that would be partially true. I didn’t like the taste, a bit smoky, a bit tarty, a bit sweet, it is almost as if you chew on biltong. Later I read that it is bourbon, PX Sherry and Oloroso sherry. But I wouldn’t associate it with sherry much, I would lean more into some wine casks, even.
But I must admit, it is complex. And it does numb the mouth, and gives a bit of warmth, and a suprising amount of lightheadiness for a 43%. And all that for 45GBP. Not something I would buy, but not because it’s not interesting, but because it isn’t my style.

Categories
Hardware

Keychron M3 Mini Metal

I finally got tired of Razer Deathadder V3 Pro, and decided to try something new. Since I absolutely adore Keychron keyboards, the choice was quite obvious.
As I mentioned previously, I don’t like the current trend that tried to make mice as light as possible. But since there’s no alternative, and I wanted a change, I got the metal mouse with holes in it. Not a fan of the holes, but they also don’t bother me as much as I envisioned. Also, I thouth that the mouse will be cold to touch, it isn’t much different from plastic, though.
What I do like, compared to Deathadder, is mostly that Keychron didn’t do all the stupid mistakes Razer made with V3. There’s Bluetooth support if I ever needed one, there’s a clear switch for on/off and DPI. I would have preferred larger side buttons, but they aren’t much smaller than V3.
What I do like is how the mouse clicks. It’s a much lower “thud”, compared with a high-pitched “click” from Razer, the sound is much like Keychron keyboards.
One strange decission is how big the receiver is. All receivers I’ve seen until now were small enough to disappear in a USB slot. This one is the size of my pinkie, and it needs to be connected with a USB-C cable.

Categories
MMORPG PC Gaming

Albion Online

As I still have a couple of days of Premium, I decided to keep at it. A couple of hours in, you finally get some weapon variety. Not just sword and shield, but two handed swords as well.
There are no experience levels, but instead every skill has a level. Swing a claymore, and you will raise both “sword” and “claymores”. Swing it enough times, and you’ll be able to use claymore of the next tier.
Levels also affect which skills you get. Every piece of equipment has multiple skills to pick from. The choice is mostly between single-target and AoE.
Group dungeons are fun. Or at least they are fine. But unlike Diablo Immortal, there’s no built-in mechanism where you queue to a dungeon. You just need to descend into a dungeon and hope other people will come with you.

Continue reading “Albion Online”
Categories
*.BAK

Rivington American Barleywine

Beautiful bottle, with a was seal. Tastes like triple IPA, but without the gas. Nice, as I like when a beer doesn’t taste like a beer anymore, but the aftertaste is bitter, and I probably wouldn’t buy it again.

Categories
PC Gaming

Albion Online

I can see why many praise that game. The chunky low-poly visuals are reminiscent of Torchlight 2. Combat is quite solid, with enemies telegraphing their attacks and cycling through skills. The other aspects don’t inspire me us much, though. All equipment seems to be just generic “Novice Sword”, “Journeyman Sword”, etc. And the whole gathering/refining/crafting loop seems tiresome.

Albion-Online-2025-03-23-13-42-04-04-DVR-mp4-000243-999

Albion-Online-2025-03-23-23-42-12-07-DVR-mp4-000423-999

Albion-Online-Screenshot-2025-03-23-22-19-47-15

Categories
PC Gaming

Far Cry 6

Right of the bat you get access to some pretty powerful weapons. One of the makeshift weapons is a crossbow shooting harpoons. And then there’s the in-game shop, and maybe because the game is pretty old they were giving away in-game currency at some point, but I had enough to get a bullpup sniper rifle as well.

Far-Cry-6-2025-03-06-21-16-14-29-DVR-mp4-000449-999

In addition, you have a superpower in a form of a improvised backpack. The default is kind of a mortar attack, but there’s also poison and EMP AoE variants.
With all this crazy weaponry and constant references to superhero comics, it would be interesting if they try to turn this into a “Vanishing of Ethan Carter” kind of story, where everything is just imagination of the dictator’s son. Speaking of which, no matter which gender you choose at the start of the game, everyone still calls you Dani (Daniel/Daniella), which is a smart trick, instead of everyone “swallowing” the protagonist name like in some other games. And condiering how androgynous this “son” looks, it might be he’s not son at all… But we’ll see.
Far-Cry-6-Trial-Screenshot-2025-03-05-23-29-54-64

Continue reading “Far Cry 6”
Categories
PC Gaming

Kingdom Come Deliverance

Completed Kingdom Come Deliverance.
Quite unexpectedly. Which is a funny thing to say about a game you spent 80 hours on. But the thing is, one of the very first quests you get is to recover your father’s sword and avenge the dead of your parents. And turns out, you never get to complete this quest. This is quite brilliant.
So, in the end, Istvan, the evil henchman of the Hungarian king, is allowed to go free, and you end up traveling with Hans Capon, the arrogant “prince”, to convince the lords to ally with king Wenceslav.
There’s still plenty of bonus content I didn’t complete: the village that you can rebuild, and helping a band of mercenaries, and a whole lot of other stuff. But I think I had enough of that for now.

Continue reading “Kingdom Come Deliverance”
Categories
PC Gaming

Kingdom Come Deliverance

As by the end of the game most enemies become heavily armored, in a historically-accurate manner simple blunt weapons become much more effective than fancy expensive swords. Every battle I feel like Henry IV from “The King” played by Chalamet, wielding that punny hammer with mostly anguish.
On the main quest, you need to enlist kind of a “mad scientist” to build a trebuchet for the siege. And he tells you that a trader that arrived in town recently is there to assassinate him, because he had a row with Hungarian king. You can confront the trader, and he will deny everything. At night, though, he tries to pick the lock. You can confront him again, and he’ll provide a plausible excuse. I thought that’s the end of it. Imagine my surprise when he suddenly did appear in the camp and assassinated the engineer in front of my eyes.
Johanka’s quest line makes you take a pilligrimage by walking across the map wearing a robe, and ends with a heretic trial. I didn’t get the best ending, but by that point, I was pretty tired with the whole affair, honestly.

Continue reading “Kingdom Come Deliverance”
Categories
*.BAK

Edradour 12 Year Old Cask Strength

This whiskey literally made me laught out loud, as it doesn’t even taste like a whiskey anymore. It’s like they got the oloroso sherry casks, and decided to squeeze every bit out of them. It’s like drinking madeira, if madeira came at almost 60%. Probably sweetest whiskey I ever had. It’s delicious. Numbs the tongue, warms the mouth. Buying a bottle before trying is always a risk, but this time, I was spot-on.

Categories
*.BAK

GlenAllachie 12 Years Old

Another one of 50ml tasters I bought separately, Glenallachie 12. It’s a surprising one. Very smooth for a 12 years old Speyside. Sweet, but more into apple crumble sweet. A bit of numbness on the tongue, no warmth in the throat, but nice warmth in the belly.
For 55GBP, it’s a great find.

Categories
PC Gaming

“Elite: The game that couldn’t be written”, Alexander the ok

The author is all over the place, but it is still interesting video to watch. I didn’t know that in the 80’s BBC was powerful enough to tender its own line of PCs, and then force UK government to finance half of their price.
Also it’s fascinating how they had mixed resolution: part of the screen was “high-res”, but black-and-white, whie the lower part of the screen had 8 colors, but was rendered in lower resolution.

Categories
*.BAK

Painting Skaven

I bought myself an Artis Opus S 00 brush. Surprisingly, it’s better than Rafael. Surprisingly, because it cost the same, more or less, and I thought that Rafael are more “professional”. But it holds the tip slightly better out of the box.
Now I’m experimenting with contrast paints. It’s like painting with acrylic versus watercolors (not that I painted with any in the past 30 years). One one hand, it’s kind of amazing how the model “paints itself”. As the contrast paint dries, it sets into recesses creating natuaral shading. But if you skrew up, it’s harder to fix. You can’t just put another color on top of it anymore.
I think I’ll end up mixing both techniques. As even now I paint metal parts still with metalic paints.

Categories
Hardware

Netgear Nighthawk AC1900

Netgear Nighthawk D7000 is such a cool piece of hardware, I’m finding trouble simply throwing it away. I bought it on my first business trip to the UK, some 9 years ago.

Although I can understand why in modern times nobody would buy it: DSL is a dead technology by now, and it is not WiFi 6.

Categories
*.APK/*.CAB

Tacticus


Unlocked Yazaghor, from grinding the campaign battle. Needed for Saim Han Mirror campaign.

Unlocked Sy-Gex, also known as “gay sex” from it’s event. The easiest event unlock yet.

Unlocked Toth, again from grinding the campaign, second character for Saim Han Mirror.

Unlocked Gulgortz on the same day from Guild Raids. This is actually big, because this finally opens the Ork Octarius campaign.
Unlocks have obviously slowing down, as the game wants you to pay 20GBP for a single character. But maybe Ork campaign will help out a little, as you should get 10 scrolls from each campaign.

Categories
*.BAK

Bunnahabhain 12 Years Old

I thought I had Bunnahabhain 12 Years Old, but turns out, it was their Toiteach A Dha, which is peated. While regular Bunnahabhain 12 is just down my lane. It’s very sweet, Aberlour levels if not more, and leaves a nice numbness on the tongue, although no warmth.


This is all thanks to the fact that they release it in 50ml bottles. After great success with Tamdhu tasters and now this, I wish more distilleries would do the same.

Categories
*.BAK

Microhistory Sharp Concepts beer

Another beer I brought from Zurich, this one brewed in Latvia, not a country you associate with beer usually, but then some of the best beers I had were from Norway.
It’s a “German dobblebock”, but at 15%, it’s more of a “qudruperbock” (term that I just invented). Deep amber and opaque, it reminds of classic Gulden Draak. But I’m not sure that extra 5% alcohol adds anything in terms of taste.

Categories
*.BAK

AeroPress Flow Control Filter Cap

After the trip to Texas, where AeroPress proved very useful, I decided that I want to try using a metal filter instead of disposable paper filters, despite the fact that those were widely available. Metal filter works, but the coffee drips even worse than with the paper filters. So the next step was to replace the default filter cap with a pressurized one.
Coffee machines use pressurized baskets to mitigate effect from coffee that was ground long time ago. Here, the idea is that a rubber gasket in the centre prevents coffee from dripping, until you start pressing it.
I’m yet to see the promised crema even with freshly ground coffee, byt at least I don’t end up with hands soaked in hot coffee, which is still a good thing.

Categories
PC Gaming

Kingdom Come Deliverance

Someone really wanted an episode where you have to infiltrate a monastery, it seems. The problem is, this kills the pacing of the game. You just led an assault on Cuman camp and chased counterfeiters. Now you have to smuggle wine and wake up in time for morning prayer. Having godly lockpicking and speech skills by that point in the game definitely helps, though.

Kingdom-Come-Deliverance-Screenshot-2025-02-27-21-08-51-94

One of the chores in the monastery is copying books, and it demonstrates well how monks were able to produce those stupid mistakes. Good luck doing better:

Kingdom-Come-Deliverance-Screenshot-2025-02-28-21-08-58-75

Another extremely helpful skill in this game is the “Headcracker” perk. A change to one-hit-kill an opponent by simply aiming to the head is huge. Saved my life many times, for example, when the three bandings still turned up on me despite me spending a week in monastery doing those stupid quests.

Kingdom-Come-Deliverance-Screenshot-2025-03-01-21-46-35-84
At this point you discover that when Sir Radzig called you “my boy”, he didn’t mean it figuratively… And all the royalty knew about it.

Kingdom-Come-Deliverance-Screenshot-2025-02-14-20-53-20-91
After that point, some quests will auto-fail, but guess you can’t get the all 🤷‍♂️

Continue reading “Kingdom Come Deliverance”
Categories
*.AVI

Penguin S01

I didn’t watch The Batman with Pattinson. Not a fan of DC or the Batman universe. But after The North Water, I decided to see Colin Farrell play another villain—and I’m glad I did.

 

The only connection to Batman is some names: Gotham, Arkham, Oswald Cobblepot. Batman himself is literally mentioned twice: at the very start of the first episode and at the very end of the last one. Everything else is a crime drama.

 

I almost want to say they pulled a bait-and-switch, like Mad Max: Fury Road, which wasn’t really about Mad Max but about Furiosa. But they didn’t. It’s just that Sofia Falcone is very fleshed out here. But so is Penguin. They toe a fine line, without making it a story about a “Girl-Boss” who was told all her life what to do, betrayed by those Evil White Men, and now she will crush them… No, it’s not that kind of story.

 

I also almost want to say they just repeated what Joker did—creating an ultra-realistic villain attached to his mother. But that’s incorrect too. Phoenix’s Joker wasn’t a villain at all; he was an anti-villain, in the way there are anti-heroes. While Farrell’s Penguin is a full-fledged villain.

The main theme for me in Penguin is the theme of lies. Cobblepot is an absolute liar, as demonstrated in the very first episode when he’s tortured by Sofia, and again in the very last, where she tortures him once more. He never tells the truth, never admits it—he always doubles down. There’s a lot of defiance of expectations throughout. And it’s not just Penguin; his mother plays into this as well. What actually convinced me to keep watching was Deirdre O’Connell in the first episode—that switch between a somewhat lost old woman with dementia and a vicious, megalomaniacal force.

And going back to lies—the biggest lie we tell ourselves is probably that what we do is to make our parents proud.

Visually, it’s so stunning I can hardly believe it’s a TV series. They did borrow a bit from Fallout, with ultraviolence set to jazz songs, but they have their own style too. Probably the scene that impressed me the most was the “vote of confidence” using cheap beer cans. But really, there was so much to unpack. Like the mundainess of Penguin’s violence.

All I can say is—my faith in TV series has returned. For now.

Continue reading “Penguin S01”