Blaugust Topic Idea: Reviews (and a Daylight Review)

An updated map would have solved everything.

Due to terrible luck, a bunch of people get stuck in a tunnel as it collapses on both ends and begins to fill with water. Their only hope is an ex-rescue specialist (Sylvester Stallone), who does everything he can to defy authority and put himself in there to buy those civilians more time.

It works well as an action disaster movie though other than Stallone, you will probably not care for any of the rest in the party despite their individual five minute intros prior to the tunnel event. There's a lot of dead weight too, with at least a third of the group being removable and it wouldn't change the story much - though obviously it looks better if Stallone saves more people.

Make that 1/2 the group could have been removed.

It's hilarious to think that with an updated map of the tunnel system, the majority of the movie wouldn't have needed to happen. Stallone didn't even have to go in at all, or at least - not the way he did. Ah well, the benefit of hindsight right? This one gets two bracelets out of five.

Blaugust Note: Reviews are another main stay on my blog and are also good "ammo" to load up on for future posts! They also have the benefit of being pretty fast to write given most of them would be one and done. :)

Blaugust Topic Idea: Stories and Guides

Stories are a good method of writing practice and lend to being perfect "ammo" to store up in your "prepared posts" list. There are two major downsides to them though and the first is the prep time, especially if this is going to be a multi-post story which is exactly the type I like.

I tend to get creative on game play through stories in particular. This saves some time as you are already given a setting, main plot, and artwork (screenshots) to go with your tale. You just have to make everything cohesive, make some sense and ideally be as interesting as possible. I'm still working on that last part!

The second problem is this is the least read type of post. If you want the high numbers, write guides (as I suggested in the Specialized Skills post).

These also require prep time, not really in the writing because that should be succinct and concise, but in gathering the knowledge for said guide, be it a boss run battle, a cooking recipe, or a how to.

I don't do many of these because of that "someone else has posted it already" syndrome and it doesn't really lend to creative writing, but thanks to Blaugust I'm going to try break that trend.

Blaugust Topic Idea: Pretty Pictures

When you are struggling to find words remember that a picture paints a thousand of them! This is a technique Bhagpuss admits to using himself, and is one I'm going to use right now because I wanted to show off these two nifty posters I bought from the last Supanova Convention I attended.

Lothric, Lorian and Solaire.

There's always room in my house for Dark Souls. :)

Blaugust Topic Idea: Future Tech

I am always interested in learning about new technologies and devices, hard ware in particular. So while you can talk about the new OS of your phone, I'd be much more interested in hearing about exoskeleton power armor advancements and electromagnetic levitation.

Yep, that last one came to light for me during the Masterchef Australia 2018 finale when Heston Blumenthal had food on a floating pillow. I know he used a floating plate in a previous season but it wasn't as visually stunning as this.

No strings, just the magic of magnets.

Turns out you too can get your own levitating items from Levitating X: Levitate Everything. Their "how to" video is particularly good, you should go check them out. :)

Blaugust Topic Idea: Pet Peeves

Sometimes a rant makes for a good post, but be careful not to go over the top in weight or in frequency as it will foster general negativity. Griping about unskippable cutscenes in a single player game is around the safe mark. Wishing death on others, which I still do from time to time, is probably a little extreme and is a good example of what not to do. :P

But really, people that cross the road without using a proper pedestrian crossing, without looking, and often looking at their phone while listening to music deserve what's coming to them. It's the modern method of natural selection.

August 2018 Status: Blaugust Reborn!

Not really a Blaugust related post today but I just wanted to keep this status thing going to see how I'm progressing with my task list. Apparently I'm not. That's what happens when you prioritize gaming over other things! Eek!

Expect more Blaugust stuff for the rest of this month, and given my increasing work schedule it's going to be challenging to clear stuff off this list.

    End the year with less weight (-1 kg from last month, running total: -2.9 kg)
    Draw 12 drawings of anything (7/12 - no progress)
    Make board game prototype (no progress)
    Complete web comic chapter 1 (no progress)
    Clean out wardrobe (no progress)
    Complete NWO: Ravenloft (0/2, only boons to go!)
    Prep Eador Story (done)
    Board game re-review (done)
    Witcher board game redemption trial  
    Update Facebook pictures (no progress)
    +Destroy Black Mold invading the house

Backlog Update:

FROM GIFTS (or freebies)
Sims 3
Hand of Fate 2 (in progress)
Sniper Elite 4 (haven't installed)
Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Done)
Hyper Light Drifter (Done)
Battletech (in progress)
Shadowrun Chronicles: Boston Lockdown (in progress)

COMPY CAN'T RUN (but I want to play)
Batman: Arkham Knight
Dying Light
Alien Isolation
Shadow of War
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Satellite Reign
Assassins Creed Unity
+Astroneer (Alpha)

Blaugust Topic Idea: Specialized Skills

Blaugust Reborn has now officially started, (you can still click the link to join though!) and according to the structured format this week should be one of Topic Brainstorming and suggestion so I'm going to start off with:

Teach a beginner one of your specialized skills!

It doesn't have to be blogging related. It doesn't even have to be an "advanced" tutorial. Heck, I made a post about folding plastic bags once.

The real reason of why I thought of this is because Chestnut gave an open invite for Blaugust participants to be part of her mini-cast which has a voice recording requirement. It turns out I'm terrible at it and don't know what programs to use, why there's so much static noise, and why my mic recording volume keeps going up the longer I record. Eek!

Might be something an experienced pod caster wants to shed some light on in a "This is my method" post? :P