Updates.

And now, a few updates for recent postings:

"It's Alive!"

 

In an impressive long-distance maintenance accomplishment, NASA has managed to remotely rewrite Voyager 1's code and return it to near-normal functionality.  Which is all very well and good, but damn it, NASA, we had a movie plot riding on this!

"All Roads Lead to Amber."

And so, The Adventure of the Walotsky Portfolio comes to an end with the delivery of the Ron Walotsky Amber series cover portfolio that I had purchased on eBay.  The portfolio package itself was a bit the worse for wear, but the contents were in reasonably good shape, and I've added a favourite to the decor in our second bedroom.  I'm pleased with my purchase, but I'd still like to get a full set of the prints - perhaps the Walotsky Adventure will have a sequel...

"Unite the League."

I also received the Alex Ross Justice League poster that I unexpectedly won with a low bid on the Heritage Auctions web site.  It's an impressive piece of work, but the sad truth is that, at 24 x 65 inches, it would probably cost me four or five times the purchase price to have the damn thing framed - and I'm certainly not going to use thumbtacks.

"Nice fourth-wall break back there!"

I'd like to thank all the people involved in the decision to feature the remains of Toronto's CN Tower in the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer - there's a certain logic to that, given that both the characters are Canadian.  And, as I've commented before, it's hard to find a really good post-apocalyptic Canadian image.  (But not impossible.)

 

"It's Alive (2)."

Having just added a new purchase to my Electronic Arts launcher, I was surprised to note that Battlefield 2142 was available as a download option - an unexpected option given that the game servers have been deactivated since July of 2014.

A little digging around on the interwebs took me to a link on a modder site, which offered a patch and application combo that would bypass the BF 2042 server access requirement.  I'm always cautious about this sort of thing, but since I rarely use my Windows configuration* for anything except gaming, I decided that I would take a chance on the download.

I cautiously followed the instructions for the mod, and to my extreme happiness (and mild surprise) it worked seamlessly, and I was able to log in and access single player mode with no problems at all. Not only that, but the mod download included a wide selection of single-player versus bot maps that were not part of the original game download, including a fun multiple walker versus walker level.  

No offense, EA, but why would you still have a game available for download that can't be played without hacking it through a third party?  Would it not make more sense to mod the game yourselves?

- Sid

* I run Windows 10 using the MacOS Bootcamp software pretty much solely for gaming access, but in quiet moments I visit the Dell Alienware gaming system page and dream of what might be.