When it comes to photography, there is always the need to edit our photos and give them a little punch, as they say, at least for me. For years, I have used many tools to accomplish this, including Snapseed, VSCO, and Darkroom. I never ventured too much into tools like Lightroom, I have always found them overwhelming.

My software of choice for the past year or so has been Darkroom, primarily, on iOS/iPadOS. The app has gotten better and better over the years, I’d even dare say comparable to Lightroom. On its most recent update, they added the ability to for users to share their presets which it’s super-cool and all of them are great. I have downloaded just about all of them to my devices. Although having all these remarkable presets and options to edit my pictures is nice, it also presents a problem, the problem of choice.

Whenever I sit down to edit my photos, I find myself “scrolling” and adding all these presets and choosing whichever gives me the results I like. But that also means that all my pictures have different “voices” rather than one voice that defines my style of photography. Perhaps I am severely overthinking it, but I prefer to have fewer choices. That being said, not every photo I take, is taken under the same conditions, so perhaps my go-to preset, might not suit a specific shot, which makes having choices a good thing.

I am definitely overthinking this!

Maybe I just need to pay more attention to which ones I use the most and delete the rest. So far, I find myself using the same two, one of the app’s default ones. For black and white, there are three different ones I go to that have been shared.

Speaking of which, I had set a photography challenge for myself for the month of January. I have been doing it, taking pictures whenever I can, I just haven’t been posting any of them, but I will soon. This will also give me the perfect opportunity to figure out my presets' dilemma.

Not to keep beating a dead horse, as the expression says, but, Twitter.

We all know what’s going on there, we are all angry and sad or whatever. Some have stopped using the service entirely, closed accounts and moved to other services. With mastodon being the most popular choice for many people.

I closed my Twitter account, deactivated it, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo gone!

Weeks went by, I did find myself missing it, no necessarily the service but people, this who haven’t moved to mastodon or whatever. Artists, game developers and pixel artists. Furthermore, there were a few instances in which I wanted to have a screenshot I took from a game I’m playing on the PlayStation 5 and the only way to share it and retrieve it, is through Twitter. So, there was that too. All of that to say that I eventually, reactivated my Twitter account, also didn’t want to lose my handle.

Although the account is open, I am not engaging, I do not reply to tweets, I don’t post, other than sharing those precious video games screenshots, and even then, I save the image and delete the tweet 😅. My last tweet was 44 days ago, according to the thing.

Another thing I noticed is that the timeline is extremely slow, and in many ways, boring. Boring is good sometimes, you know. You can tell many people have left or like me probably not posting anything anymore.

I do have my feelings about what’s going on with. I don’t like the new management, at all! I loathe the man and what he’s doing to my favorite bar, well, what used to be my favorite bar. But there’s still a use case to keep my account active.

There, I’ve said it. 😜

Back in 2012, Annie and I scheduled a trip to Puerto Rico, it was also around the time I got back into comics (2011) with DC’s reboot, The New 52.

I remember, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I saw a post from my favourite artist, Greg Capullo, that he would be in Puerto Rico ComicCon the same weekend that we’d be there. I think this was PR’d first ComicCon, actually. Not only that, but I remember going to my local comic book store and getting a physical copy of one of his Batman books, which he was working on along with Scott Snyder, building up to the Court of Owls story line.

Anyway, he was there, along with Dan Didio. It was a short line, again, it was PR’s first ComicCon, even Tommy Oliver was there, I remember. I did the line, book on had, Batman #2 (because I didn’t have #1) and met my hero.

The pictures are pretty bad, considering today’s standards, I believe these were taken with an iPhone 4S 😅. The thing is, I have thought I had lost these pictures.

A few days ago, I got the infamous message that my camera’s memory card was full. Today I found my external hard drive and was ready to transfer/backup all the pictures to it, when I saw a folder called photo stream. I dived into it, and long and behold, I found these pictures, along with some others, from the same year. Found a couple about my grandpa, who passed away years ago.

Delighted to have found all these, and then some.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, before when the pandemic started, we used to go to our local Winco Foods for our groceries. It is, locally, probably the “cheapest” place to go.

During the pandemic, obviously, we stopped going. We would much prefer to order online at our local Walmart and pick it up. Even after things loosen up a bit, we’d still rather order online and pick it up, in fact, lately, we even get stuff delivered from Walmart. Today, we decided to go back to Winco, after wha, two-three years?

Well, first off, still probably the cheapest place to shop, from what we gathered, on a few things. Second, I also remembered why I hated the place, especially on weekends. Way too many people!!

On the drive back, Annie tried to recreate the same purchase on the Walmart app. The difference? About 10 USD. However, like I’ve mentioned before, Walmart delivers and for free. Well, we paid for the Walmart plus, so deliveries are free.

We can’t still say for certain which one is better, thus far, but if the different between the two places ain’t much, i much rather have my stuff delivered over getting out into a crowded place again.

Savvy?

No matter which template or theme I’ve used for my Micro.blog hosted blog, it has always been a light and dark theme. For a while now, I have been toying with the idea of having an only dark theme for whichever template/theme I am using.

There were a few color schemes I was definitely considering, Dracula, Nord, and Catppuccin, which I’ve never heard of before. In the end, I went for Catppuccin. My thanks to Zachary for suggesting it.

So, inspired on Catppuccin’s color scheme, well, one of the few it’s got, I went for the Macchiato color pallet.

Though I tend to change setups fairly regularly, I am pleased — so far — how this one came out.

Well, hello!

I have been meaning to play around with this weblog. And just for testing purposes perhaps even just copy and paste a previous blog post from somewhere else, but that’s dumb, I think. Unless I plan to move things over? I have to confess, I have no idea, or rather, I am a little unsure of how this works, looks like I need to do some playing around and “research”.

Let’s play!

When I used to play SNES, I must confess, I did not play many, or none at all, RPGs. If I did, I do not remember right off the top of my head right now. I remember action games, Megaman games,  fighting games, and of course, Super Mario World. Same on the PlayStation One days, I, at the time thought of RPGs, particularly RPGs, as kind of boring. If I wasn't getting any action in the first ten minutes of the game, and instead, lots to read, I was out.

This obviously changed eventually, especially when I started working at the local GameStop, which wasn't entirely local, it was the next town over but the closest one obviously. Then I started revisiting and playing RPGs. I very much remember finally playing Final Fantasy VI, what I don't remember is, if I played it on the Gameboy Advance or in an emulator, I did play a lot of old games like that back in the day.

The thing is, that eventually, I had to catch up with many of the SNES RPGs as well as many from the PS1 eventually giving me a newfound appreciation for these wonderful games.

Fast forward to the present day, and I am a sucker for playing these games on the Nintendo Switch. I find is it the best way to revisit some, and play many I never had the chance to play before, as well, as some new games that are trying to capture that nostalgia of what to many, is the golden era of RPGs.

A game I have been playing these past few days, is Chained Echoes, on the Switch. This was released in early December, of 2022 basically on every main platform., by indie developer Matthias Linda.

I have only put on about three hours into it, maybe four and it has been a delight to play. The combat is the turn-based combat you know and love.  Four members of your team get to take turns swinging their weapons or skills at the enemy. Each member has a totally unique moveset and each of them can be paired with another member and you can switch between them in real time without losing a turn. This makes the battles, more strategic, and as my kid would say, much more funner. The combat system has an Overdrive meter that adds an extra layer of complexity to the combat.   The meter is displayed at the top of the screen, and it builds up as you attack or use your skills, the more powerful the skills, the faster it builds up. And of course, you want to stay in the green area, rather than go all the way to the red area. While you are on overdrive or green area, you deal more damage vs in the read, you take more damage and enemies get more turns. A few ways to back up the meter, you can just defend, or there are some moves or attacks that may also push it back a bit.

Like in any RPG, there is a lot of exploration to do, and of course, and yes, exploration is rewarded. Random treasure chests, helping someone and in turn, you might get a fancy weapon, sell stands with special deals, etc.

I love the art style of this game, it looks fantastic, with gorgeous environments, and fascinating characters.  It pays some homage to games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, which in fact, it was what sold me to this game. Again, I need to mention the Soundtrack, it is great!

So far it is presenting a very intriguing story and characters, and I am very eager to see where this game goes. Also, did I mention mechs? There are mechs your character can be equipped with, at some point, I am yet to have one but I know they're there!

Either way, I am happy this game is finally out for everyone to play, I am having fun with it, and worth checking out.

According to my scale this morning, I am 6 lbs lighter. How that came to be, I have no idea. I haven’t been to the gym in two months. Perhaps I am losing some muscle mass? Still, 6 pounds of muscle mass is a lot. Maybe a little bit of both, muscle mass and fat? Stress? Either way, I’ll take it, lie to me, baby 😂!

That being said, the plan for Q1, is to get under 200 lbs.

We shall see.

If I am to pick my top movie of 2022, that’s got to be TOPGUN: MAVERICK, hands down.

I grew up watching the original TOPGUN from 1986 over and over, obsessing over it almost. This new one, brought nostalgia, fun, and excitement.

Runner-up:

The Batman (2022)

For January 2023, I’ll do a photography challenge, for myself. Although I’ve done these before, it is always good to do these for both practice and to get out off my comfort zone in a way. I am always shooting photos, with my camera, with a 45mm lens (I believe the equivalent in full frame is 90mm). On this challenge, I intend to shoot on 17mm (35mm equivalent) for the whole month of January.

I think this is me trying to convince — or test —myself that I can shoot at this focal length too. Otherwise, I’ll sell the lens, lol. My comfort zone has always been the 45mm or 25mm (50mm equivalent).

We shall see.

Welcome, to another post of Games of the Year!

God Of War Ragnarök

My impressions of the game are here.

This is the kind of game, well this is the game that you'd want to buy a PlayStation 5 for. I have played through the entire main story and it was a thrill, to play this game. Definitely worth coming back to it for the extra missions.

 Xenoblade Chronicles 3

My impressions of the game are here.

By far, one of the bests games I have played on the Nintendo Switch this year. The character development, and the overall story, it's so great! I genuinely invested in these characters and the sorry, chapter 5, uff, it really got to me. A game is definitely worth picking up and enjoying.

Horizon Forbidden West 

No impressions on this one, not sure why 🤷🏼‍♂️

I am very surprised, I did not make a post on this one, or perhaps I did while I was hosting – briefly – my blog in Ghost. So we can say that those impressions on the game... ghosted.

This is another game, worth getting a PlayStation 5 for, even though this game also came out for the PS4 if memory serves. The graphics, story, action, and everything about this game make it a  game of the year for me.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

My impressions of the game are here.

Best Independent game I played on the Nintendo Switch this year. Developer Tribute Games did an outstanding job on this game. Bringing a great beat 'em u, full of fun nostalgia, a fantastic soundtrack, and lots of fun!

Trek to Yomi 

Also, no impressions.

I can't recall how I became aware of this game but I do remember taking notice of its classic samurai film visuals. It was like Ghost of Tsushima but in side-scrolling. I can't really say that is 2D side-scrolling because it does have some different camera angles. The game is beautiful and full of surprises, and it can also be tough, it is almost soul-like. You need to memorize your opponents' attacks and strike at the right time, there's no hacking and slashing your way through this one.

Games on deck:

Currently, I am playing a few other games that haven't played enough to be runner-ups.

On the Switch, Chained Echoes.

created by a single developer, is my understanding, with the help of some pixel art artists but developed by  Matthias Linda. What got me sold on this game is that it is an homage to games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. Very much calling back to some SNES classics JRPGs. I have played a few hours but not enough to be truly invested yet.

On the PlayStation 5, Need For Speed Unbound

I do have a lot to say about this one, I think. I have played a significant amount so far and I have a lot of mixed feelings, mostly good but, well, stay tuned.

Well, there ya' have it, my top 5. Let me know, down bellow, what are your top 5 games, if any, and what have you been playing.

Okay guys, until next time! ✌🏼