The water is super warm and there was a full moon (but unfortunately high tide) last night so I got Derrick and Scott to do a stealth sess.

After Hawaii I was confident in my Ikelite flash, meaning no scrapped session or dealing with ziptied Speedlite or manual trigger.


From the times it had worked intermittantly, I knew that it would blow out the water right in front of me. I attempted to mitigate this (a bit) by taping the lower section of the flash. The solution is a snoot, of course, but I need to think about how to do this such that it will survive waves.


The directionality of leds had proven to be difficult last session, so I went with glowsticks. This turned out to be a mistake - they weren't great for viewfinder aiming and not nearly bright enough for focus.


The other problem was that the flash was too powerful on manual mode and too weak on ttl. So I went with manual and tried to hit them at greater range. Still, there were a few that ended up blown out.


But if there is a theme to all these sessions, it's that focus is a harsh mistress. Sometimes it turns out kind of cool (above), but most times it just results in disappointment (below).


But even the squirrel with cataracts occasionally finds a nut:

I'm wondering if I can rig an some sort of IR flashlight to the housing to further assist.

I should really get on this.

I ordered a scuba-rated led glowstick that I'm excited to try. Probably considerable brightness with 360-degree visibility. There seemed to be something similar available through Amazon from a nearby dive warehouse. Even if the IR beam works out, it'll be crucial to have a guide in the viewfinder.

Some sort of flash snoot would be great.

And I need to figure out the deal with flash power - probably need to go manual with on-camera and on-housing compensation.

I actually quite like this one.

Work.

In this post: bathroom renovation, appliances, Fallout 4, Warframe, and The Last of Us.


After a morning paddle out with the bros, Jes and I went down to the cove to watch the fireworks. The bluffs above the caves were a great spot, although the people on kayaks might have had more fun.

I didn't set out to photo the show, but grabbed a quick phone snap and video to illustrate the view.




The theatre was packed. I am amped about the return of the show.


Medicine cabinets really aren't my thing, so I tiled the alcove to match the bathroom.


I looked around for 72x36 vanity mirrors. There seem to be a few, but either as a part of a vanity set or a special order. Dual mirrors are the other way to go with a dual vanity. And this meant I could take advantage of the vaulted ceilings once more. Like most everything else, this calls for cable lights, or maybe a track.


And the washer from the Morelos house finally died. I took the opportunity to upgrade both units. They're now stacked, which is great for space.


We did a photoshoot, it was partially successful.


It took a little while, but I got back to Fallout to complete the journey. It was a semi-satisfying ending, but perhaps frustrating that you can't find the way to unite the factions.

Still, it was fun to play around with legendary tactical nukes:





I'll be up to rank eight soon, and J and I founded our own clan. We finally took down Lephantis and had a laugh at the alert that set all enemies to level 9,999.









On universal endorsement, I picked up The Last of Us (Remastered) and buckled down for some survival horror.


Being unwise, I decided to go for it and went straight into hard difficulty. That made for a lot of deaths - between the tankiness of almost everyone, the one-hit from clickers, and the general lack of ammunition. But heightened anxiety is what zombie games are all about, right?


TLOU is very The Road-like, but with zombies. And so it makes for an intense, bleak, and well-developed story that is told in a cinematic, immersive way. Some credits:

• Awesome visual effects - reflections, textures, and lighting that is ahead of its time.
• Great voice acting.
• Motion capture and environment interaction that makes NPCs move more naturally than any game to date.
• Writing, like a dark Firewatch.

The production quality and immersiveness really elevate the game to must-play levels, but they also impact gameplay. Sneaking is mandatory and combat is not easy - traditionally this makes a game unfun but it's a hallmark of survival horror. Areas are confined and linear. Ordinarily bad, this thankfully saves aimless wandering and avoids the need for distracting navigation elements. So it's limited in a world of sandboxes and MMORPGFPS gameplay, but it fits the game.


Unlike The Road and Silent Hill, the story is not claustrophobic. The environments certainly are, but our hero and heroine traverse a variety of landscapes and interact with numerous well-developed characters.


The only real gaming-type mechanics are crafting (which is fairly simple and probably superfluous) and listening (which is essential to sneak). Beyond that, TLOU gameplay breaks down into four modes:

1. Walking/talking - tension breaks that develop the characters and story.

2. Puzzle solving - which is usually trivial placement of bricks, planks, and ladders.

4. Cinemas - the really harrowing bits.

Next up, The Witcher 3...

		[Map pin at Shores]		Derrick
Gage	I bet you're not surfing
		Surfing the wave of adulthood and responsiblity.
	I've spent my whole life paddling away from that one

Chris	Wayne what is our startup going to be?
	Better get me as your sw lead before another company snatches me up.
		PAID LLC - Predictive Analytics Incubator Distribution		KO
		Not sure what we offer

I ever tell you about the time my buddy Keith drowned in the Tunnel of Love? You wouldn't think it would happen cause the water's so shallow, but that's how he gets you, man: Over confidence. Keith was with his lady at the time and he was yelling for her to save him but she didn't wanna get wet--

?