The Patent Dragon's Zone of Soul Retraction

"...a brand new gaming PC!" - or at least that's what I'm now researching. Yeah, I got the laptop back yesterday (with a new fan in it), and following some advice from Ultima Online associate Aurelius (thanks, my friend), I searched online for any indication that this laptop's issues might be something others have encountered, and perhaps solved without any additional expense - only to learn that a whole bunch of folks have experienced the same overheating. There is an official "solution", in the form of a fan override program that forces the fan to work at maximum speed on request...

I installed it, and it worked just ONCE (so far). I got good FPS and a fairly cool system for a short stint at Minecraft, and Star Trek Online ran pretty well after that... BUT the heat then was definitely on the increase, to what felt like dangerous levels.

This is getting beyond a freaking limit. There may be other things I can do, but I'm now certain those will only be short-term work-arounds. A new desktop gaming machine is becoming imperative.

Time to climb the Mount Doom of computer specs. unfortunately, I don't seem to have a Samwise to share the journey with me...

Aww. England are out of the World Cup.

Am I heartbroken and inconsolable about this?

Like buggery.

Meanwhile, THIS...



OH, and this from this time last week:-

Struggling to get into a blogging mood. Maybe I should try and do it at the start of the evening, INSTEAD of the end...

News, news, news... is there any? Oh yeah: we ARE getting Thanos in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (57 days to go), played, or at least voiced, by James Brolin - but how big a part that will be remains to be seen. In the meantime, there's one less big movie between then and now, as Jupiter Ascending slides from July to next February, apparently to allow more work on the SFX (probably some tinkering with 3D conversion (sighs)...?). It could be that the makers are afraid that the "not a franchise" tag is going to hurt their product, like it seems to have impacted on Edge Of Tomorrow (unfortunately).

Meanwhile, and this may be hard to believe, I appear to be finding my way back into Star Trek Online, at the cost of any serious involvement in Minecraft. Crazy...

Huh. I really struggle to even consider blog posts right now. It hasn't helped that I've just had a week and a half of messed-up schedules, and that was all a bit more screwed-up than usual (yes, exams, I'm talking about YOU), due to some management issues. All in all, the whole exam period went by with absolute NO conflicts of personality OR procedure - but *sighs* there were other matters, such as unexpected additions to my timetable, and a sore heel that messed with my down-time...

Yeah, I just seem to be running into a stream of "negative input" at the moment - the early mornings, the long work-days, the heel pain, a domain host that has given me grief with making payments for as long as I've been with them, Stargazer Season 5 doesn't really have a direction - and I really don't feel like fighting the current just now. I still have to post a review for X-Men Days Of Future Past (which was really good - and sadly the only thing about Spiritwalk '14 that worked out), but that, and other stuff, will just have to wait for the right moment, probably another couple of days down the line.

I need to change down several gears after the exams, and get back into my previous routine for a full week, I think.

This one is...



Previously (Tuesday/Wednesday)...



...Sunday-ish...



...and last Friday...



We are now at NINETY-SEVEN videos. Next week, at this time, it SHOULD be the magic 100!

*Gasp!* On the same day as it goes live...!



*ticks one item off the list* Now, what's next? Oh, a movie review... well, I'm not quite as up to speed as that, but I'll try and have it ready for tomorrow.

Sorry for the silence, folks, but YES, I am still alive, and just about functioning. So, what's new...?

Well, for a start, there are another two videos. From Thursday (which I'll from hereon make a Friday)...



and yesterday...



As I mentioned above, I've tweaked my schedule, and the plan now is to post videos on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday, to minimise disruption to anything else I might be doing online at the time. Hopefully, I'll manage to do an update post here on the same day.

Meanwhile... technical issues. My TV is still screwed up, despite getting a new aerial, and now the laptop is making unhealthy fan-related noises. Oh, and I'm a bit stuck, room-lighting-wise - an expensive new LED bulb isn't quite cutting it...

*sighs* I hate crap like that.

Yup, still coughing and sneezing and generally feeling sh8 right now - and to make matters worse, I may just have broken Minecraft as well. I went to take on the fabled Ender Dragon, and *boink* no sound in game, before, during or after...

Wonderful. I've posted an enquiry on the MC boards, but 99% of the time, my requests for help get ignored there, so I'm not holding out much hope. Update - sorted by a relog. Weird, that.

Meanwhile, I stick to the schedule...



Sunday, Tuesday AND Thursday, as planned...!

Note to self: must remember to do some more of those custom thumbnails...



I could also do with running off some more completed videos, for Season Three, 'cause I'm really needing the hard drive space - although I could just buy some more...

Meanwhile... Getting ready for wednesday, and the "kick-off" for the 2014 "Season" - Blockbuster Season, that is, and it's going to be a busy one over the next few months!

ITEM! I now have THIRTY NINE episodes of EDGE OF CHAOS ready to post, and there ARE going to be yet more! Best estimate so far is 44...

ITEM! Thinking about a special Spiritwalk outing - X-Men - Days Of Future Past apparently opens on that day, just a week after GODZILLA...

Also, there should be exams to oversee about that time. Tricky.

ITEM! Absolutely DEVOURING the books that have become the monster hit TV series Game Of Thrones - on satellite TV. I'm more than halfway through the fourth book - officially the second part of the third book - and holy shit do the "hits" just keep on coming! Compelling stuff, in a classic example of a fantasy world that has been crafted with great, and loving care.