Today's Notes 11/7/20

 Good Morning Everybody...

While I've not gone to sleep yet from yesterday morning.... so in an effort to wear myself down I loaded up Fitness Boxing.... and to my surprise, even though it was a little after 2 AM when I did, it counts for today's session.... so yay, workout already done lol... I big take away from this realization is that I can make sure I get a daily workout in at any time to keep my streak going

Last night's stream that featured Twitch Sings was intended to go longer than it did because I wanted to do a little standard gaming, but the Windows 10 Update that totally fucked with my established settings, made audio monitoring through OBS impossible. Now the stream started at about 7:35 PM and we ended the stream before 11 PM, kind of the usual amount of time for weekday... but the goodnews is I figured out the problem. Any audio sources in OBS that was being monitored (such as via an Elgato Capture Card) needed to be deleted and re-created for it to work. So everything works, and we'll be ready for today's N7 stream my first time playing Mass Effect on console.

So which news outlet have I had on my TV since I've been keeping up to date with this stuff and losing sleep over it? Well it's been CNN.... because between it, MSNBC and Fox News... it is the most level-headed... and in the middle of the night Fox News seems to just run re-runs and infomercials. MSNBC is so.... fucking weird. That said at 3:30 AM (as of the time I write this), Joe Biden's lead in Pennsylvania and Georgia is widening. Not sure exactly what Donald Trump is waiting on because at this point he has no shot at winning, particularly when one notices that Nevada and Arizona are increasingly out of reach as well)

I have logged in some matches for the new ranked Season of Overwatch, probably will just do the qualifiers because I always ended up being a tank or support, and if I'm stuck doing that I might as well just play Quick Play matches... which of course is what we do on Sunday Nights over on twitch.tv/fredcasden (haha)... still it does amaze me how some people refuse to play defense, or to play aggressively. or stick with bad DPS match ups. 

Anyway let me wrap this up, we'll see every this afternoon for N7 Day!

Today's Notes 11/6/2020

Good Afternoon Everybody....

I did not go to bed until 5 AM because like a good chunk of America, or at least people here in the Philadelphia area, I was keeping an eye on CNN / MSNBC for updates on Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada... I did not wake up until 11:30 AM... and the first thing I saw, was a message from Kalenal (twitch.tv/kalenal) of a tweet that said 'The Penn Is Mightier'... and I knew what that meant. Keeping in mind I voted for Jo Jorgenson and the fact that I live in New Jersey, I'm fucking thrilled that Joe Biden caught up to and passed Donald Trump, along with the fact that every vote is being counted... and they are still not finished counting. If you want proof, more than ever that every vote matters, this is the election year that proves that fact.

This has also lead to a major spark of interest in the show It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, a show that I certainly enjoyed for the first 8 seasons. Or should I saw an interest in memes surrounding the show, such as Flip-adelphia, In These Trying Times, and of course 'The Gang...' in the later, it's followed by 'The Gang Saves Democracy' and other similar titles of would be episodes . I certainly did not waste time, as I went on Amazon to order myself a t-shirt with that saying on it (direct link will be included below) because you know it's true.

Now most people have had concerns because the Democrats did not win control of Senate, well I have a theory on that... it's because this election is more about getting Trump out of office and restoring a sense of calm, normalcy and professionalism. I'm fine with that to an extent, the real question is will Mitch 'The Bitch' McConnell actually work with Joe Biden to get things going forward.

So with all that said, I shorten my Fitness Boxing routine today due to when I woke up, which meant doing a Strength & Cardio work out that was more in line with the recommended time-settings as opposed to my standard or 45 minuets. It certainly was a more compacted workout for sure.

Last Night's Star Trek Online stream was business as usual, as we went through the first three episodes of the Gamma Quadrant arc and did a couple of Task Force Ops as well. The voice acting of the DS9 Alumni still remains stellar, and the moment of Kira slapping the taste out of Odo's mouth for endangering Bajor just never gets old. Of course the stream did start off with technical problems as the recent Windows 10 update did something that screwed with how OBS handles media sources. Hopefully I can figure out how to repair what was broken so that I can properly monitor all audio again.

 Tonight I'll be doing a Twitch Sings stream, because tomorrow is November 7, which is of course N7 Day, and we'll be starting up a run of the original Mass Effect using the Xbox One. It's going to be a challenge for sure because I won't have access to all my key-binds that makes the PC version obviously better because you don't have bring up the weapons wheel to switch gear or to direct the companions. I think I'll start that play-through on a reduced difficulty just to wrap my head around how the console handles it.

Anyway we'll see you all later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Every Vote Counts & Full Throttle Remastered Review

This week's commentary video sees me addressing the obvious fact that Every Vote Counts before I give my thoughts and impressions of Full Throttle: Remastered, which was featured this week over on my Twitch channel (http://twitch.tv/fredcasden)

Today's Notes 11/5/2020

Good morning everyone (or afternoon)

Didn't get up till 10 AM because of course I was up again looking for poll number updates while hoping Trump takes a long walk off the White House roof... and let me say this, if you're someone who is saying 'stop the count', do the world a favor and just leave it, we don't need idiots like you on this planet. You're the problem, so the only solution is for you not to be here, simple as that.

Anyway, we got today off started with Fitness Boxing as usual, getting in a 50+ minute workout that was focused fully on strength and cardio. Really had some problems with my left knee, hope I didn't hurt myself, but it only bothers me when I'm throwing punches from the right side. Which is just... weird. Overall the workout was pretty good as despite the issues with my left knee I kept up a good tempo.

 

Last night we played and finished Full Throttle: Remastered, and fucking hell was the music in that game awesome, totally sets the tone and everything. Really wished I played it back in 1995 when it first came out, because it easily could've been one of my favorite games of all time. Puzzles were pretty straight forward and the bike combat, is surprisingly fun.

Tonight's stream over on twitch.tv/fredcasden will be focused on Star Trek Online as we'll be starting the Gamma Quadrant story arc for my Cardassian in the Klingon Empire. Probably will go through three epiosdes and then do a Task Force Opperation. There are of course patch notes, as Thursdays are also update days for Star Trek Online.

General:  

• Resolved an issue that was preventing teammates from receiving Episode rewards.  
• Resolved an issue where claiming all the pieces of the Iconian Resistance Ground Set would reward the incorrect Title. 
  •  Players that have already done this and received the incorrect Title will find a new Reputation Project in the Iconian Resistance Rep that they can use to claim the correct Title. 
• Resolved an error in the description on Solar Gateway that indicated it dealt Antiproton damage. 

Known Issue: 

Titles rewarded by Iconian Reputation 3-Piece Ground Set completion and Iconian Reputation T5 completion are identical.

As we see, nothing major, and certainly nothing that impacts anything that I normally do with in Star Trek Online.

Apparently my SR-2 hat that I ordered from Bioware has already shipped, but my hoodie and the comics collection has not, because technically the hoodie was a pre-ordered and their policy is not to ship an order that has a pre-purchased item until its available. 

Deepest condolences to long time friend Felkimchi, their brother passed away yesterday.

And on that note, we'll see everyone later. Have a great day (unless you're a Trump supporter)

Today's Notes 11/4/2020

Good Morning Everyone,

Well it's a nice brisk October morning, I got up a bit before 9 AM, got my Fitness Boxing routine in, it was a Strength and Cardio session, which I think will be my focus fully going forward because when I stepped on the scale I saw that my weight has gone UP TO 121 KG (267 lbs). I will admit I've been bad with the snacking lately... I really got to get a handle on that the way I did heading into this month.

Last night the plan was to play Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but I was keeping a close on the Presidential Election prior to the stream and let's just say, my heart wasn't in to playing something where I would see little progress made on. So we switched things out for Final Fantasy XV Comrades, and surprisingly we did see a lot of progress made with that, as I stumbled onto the fact that some of weapons can be upgraded and crafted into better gear which has made a lot of things so much easier. On the flip side, I did also learn that some of the best gear is behind a different currency path which meaning FFXV:C is more of a grind than it already is.

Tonight over on twitch.tv/fredcasden, we'll be playing Full Throttle: Remastered, the original Full Throttle was released back in 1995 and was published by Lucas Arts.  The Remastered version was done by Double Fine Production who also handled the remastered versions of Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango. We need a good adventure this evening that's for damn sure.

One. last thing.... and this goes out to anyone who voted for Donald Trump, fuck you... fuck you and your ignorant, self-serving attitude... you are without a shadow of a doubt, a fucking piece of shit just like he is, and the world will be better off without the likes of you. And I'm saying that from both a professional and personal level, because for the last four years I've had to deal with more verbal abuse from Trump voters and Trump Apologists who have sold their souls just to have a TV star in the White House because he has their lack of integrity and honor. To all of you who voted for Donald Trump, I'll see you in hell. 

Quick Thoughts: Ghostbusters II

For the Halloween watch along in my discord this past week, the film selection was Ghostbusters II, the 1989 sequel to Ghostbusters... and while it is in many ways a re-telling of the first film, it does has a number of things that stand out about it that make it a positive viewing experience after 30 years. 

First and foremost is that the GB2 actually continues the story from the first film and shows time has passed. The fact that first thing we see when the film starts is 'Five Years Later'... and then Dana with her baby on a chilly November/December evening says a lot when you think about. Not to mention it does give a strong follow up to things that happened in the fist film that most people gloss over. Let's remember, government agencies in their first film started to raise questions about the Ghostbusters, obviously first and foremost was the EPA... and there is a line in GB2 from Winston to Ray stating 'You conjured up a 100-foot Mashmellow Man'... meaning that the Ghostbusters were probably interviewed about what happened on top of central park west, leading to wonder if Ray's unintentional 'pop in there' moment was what caused the city, county and state of New York to shut the Ghostbusters down. Second, it actually gives everyone something to do, meaning Winston has moments to shine... even though his absence and lack of involvement with anything to do with the initial investigation into the circumstances of Dana's baby is something that still bothers me to this day.Speaking of said investigation, the whole situation involving little Oscar is never an afterthought, it is the center focus of the film with the pieces gradually falling into place for our heroes.

On the negative side is the amount of cut content from the film, some of which we see the montage that takes place after the court room scene, such as Louis and Slimer's interactions, which included Louis learning how to use a proton pack, as well as Ray being possessed by Vigo while driving the Ecto-1A after starring into the eyes of the Vigo painting at the art museum. As I mentioned before some elements from the first film are basically re-told, primarily Venkman and Dana's relationship, but one could argue that Venkman needed to mature quite a bit from where he was as a character in the first movie. The Ghostbusters not being in business at the start of the film could be counted as a negative, or at least the reason for it because by 1989, in the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, they established that there was periods of time when ghost activity would be pretty low for one reason or another, and that could've and should've been the reason why they had some odd jobs here and there.

One more thing of note, when Dana goes to Egon to get help following the opening of the movie, Egon's experiment regarding human emotions (the arguing couple and the child given the puppy) basically lays out the entire premise of the film regarding positive and negative vibes. I wonder how many people actually realize that.

Today's Notes 11/3/20

Good Morning Everybody,

It's Election Day here in the United States, and so let me state the real obvious: if you vote for Donald Trump you are betraying not United States of America, but you are also betraying humanity. There is no fucking reason that you can give to justify voting him. If you vote for him you have the brains of a fuck trout, and no I'm not talking about the Angels outfielder, I mean you have the brains of a fucking fish that is easily caught and cooked for dinner. 

Anyway, last night's stream of WWE 2K20's Bump in the Night and Wastelands DLC content was interesting, if it really over-exposed the bugs with the game when it comes to executing what moves you want to do. Hell it took 5 minuets just for the game to realize I want to perform a leg grapple and not pull the opponent up to their feet. I do feel this would've been a lot more fun if there were not in match objectives to perform for every little thing, most of which does not make sense. Anyway there is still the Southpaw Wrestling and Empress of Tomorrow DLC stories to do, which we'll do as apart of next week's line-up.

This morning's Fitness Boxing session was alright, very light as it was only about 42 minuets based on the in-game time. Left knee continues to bother me at times, particularly when I'm set up to throw punches from the right side (since I'm naturally right handed), so trying to stay in rhythm is a big more of an issue. Still nearly was perfect with everything to day.

Bioware is pushing N7 day hard this year with merchandise and promotions surrounding Mass Effect... and I'll admit I did put my order in for another N7 Hoodie, and SR-2 hate and the complete comics collection. I am really hoping on Saturday they are announcing the remastered trilogy collection and or Mass Effect Andromeda 2.... preferably both. If its just a 'cast reunion' type deal that we've seen with movies and shows this year I'll be very disappointed.

Tonight's stream at 9:30 PM EST will of course be focused on Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, probably will be looking for temples and towers. The advantage of open world games is things can be done in any order... which is also the disadvantage when you really think about it. Of course every stream I do is over on twitch.tv/fredcasden. 

And that concludes today's notes, have a great day folks!