Manor Lords

 

I have heard a lot of talk about the game Manor Lords where you build a medieval town. Most have been positive, but noted that the game doesn't feel quite finished yet.

I found this very well edited reivew about it. Well worth a watch 

Manor lords review

Helldiver 2: Two pelicans

Sometimes in Helldivers 2, two pelicans will arrive and you can't extract. I tried to shoot one down, but if it's possible a direct artillert strike is needed? Have you been able to blow one up?

Kymco MXU 465 T3B ATV

It was time to get a new toy. So we got Kymco ATV.

It's been great fun so far. Using it to explore the woods around here. When winter comes, the idea is to use it to plow some snow.

Dark Jedi Broterhood

Some twenty five years ago I was a passionate Star Wars fan and I started playing TIE Fighter. It was awesome. It was Star Wars. It was a space flight simulator. It had a great story. Darth Vader choking people. Admiral Thrawn looking sharp. I was hooked.

Fast forward a couple of playthroughs and many late nights I wanted to join the ranks of others who loved the game as I did. It wasn't long until I joined the Emperor's Hammer. An association where we could roleplay as members of an expanded Star Wars TIE Fighter universe.

I quickly found my place there and made many great friends. I was very active and contributed to the newsletter, writing stories, novels and created custom missions in TIE Fighter. I started my days in the Cobra squadron. 

A story I recall writing was the creation of a new Star Destroyer, the Challenge. 

I moved up the ranks and joined the command squadron which were the 12 or so members that helped to manage the club directly under the leader.

At the same time I was also advancing in the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, a subgroup.

There I became friends with the great people in Tau squadron. We were like a second family. We were always up to no good, causing mischief. Good times.

As time passed I became a bit disenchanted. We didnt't get the free hands we wanted to transform the Brotherhood. So in the end I parted on not so good terms with the leader.

Thus I made my mark on Emperor's Hammer history, as I became known as the Other..

https://wiki.darkjedibrotherhood.com/view/Crona

Oven temperatures

Temperatures in oven when cooking.

Salmon 55C

Chicken 82C

LG OLEDCX65 on black friday

I've had my eyes on an OLED TV for quite a while, a few months, so this time when black friday came around I saw there was some good deals so I couldn't resist. Unfortunately, delivery times are long so I havn't got it yet. I'll write a few lines about it once I get it.

In other news, corona has picked up again in my area so still working from home. Been working from home since march. 

Corona and working from home

This morning it snowed. That's unusual even for my part of Sweden. It quickly melted though, thankfully.

Still working from home trying to avoid corona Covid-19. I can still go out and shop but I try to be careful and keep my distance.

I watched all episodes of Stranger Things. Now I anxiously await the next season. I love it.

Sadly corona has postponed that as well. Might be sparse with new stuff soon.

Corona och jobba hemma

Solen stod högt på himmeln idag och strålade med på länge sällsynt värme. Den kastade dock långa skuggor. Likt de i sinnet på corona. Jag har jobbat hemma i ungefär tre veckor nu. Ska man ändå jobba så saknar jag mina kollegor som förgyller arbetet.

Allt verkar ändå tyda på att man får gräva ned sig ett tag till.

Altered Carbon season 2 review

I saw the full season two over the weekend. My expectations were pretty low after they didn't secure Joel to continue but Mackie did a good job as the new lead. Using the same sleeve does go a bit against the story.

It feels like a watered down version of season 1. I loved the first one. This is good but not nearly as good.

Blog statistics and bachelor exam passed with distinction

I was reviewing blog statistics today and the most viewed blog post by far apparently is the one about me getting my bachelor's degree in informatics passed with distinction. That's the highest grade one can get in Sweden, at least during my studies. Since then I went on to get a second bachelor in Business Law, also with distinction. Also got a Master's degree, though fell short of the highest grade there.

Not sure why that post has attracted so much attention.

My first bachelor paper was on IT projects and their success factors and my second one was on a paragraph in the personal information law which covers when companies are free to target you for unsolicitated ads. I wanted it to tie in with IT and it did since much of advertisement is online these days.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

After beating God of War, I have logged 100+ hours into Kingdom Come this summer during vacation. It has a high learning curve in fighting and lockpicking, but it is pretty addictive and fun to play.

There are a few memorable moments, when the main character Henry is drinking, and I'm a sucker for humor in games.

Fallout 2 and Bloodlines are good examples of games with humor. I am curious on how much humor there will be in the upcoming Bloodlines 2, but considering Chris Avellone is involved it has some potential in that regard.

God of War

Played the final stage of God of War today. I had paused it for a while since I simply didn't want the story to end. Great game. Now I am really looking forward to the sequel(s)..

I don't have as much time to play games anymore, except for mobile games such as Clash of Clans that you can pick up and play for a couple of minutes. But God of War really got me hooked.

So if you havn't played it, I recommend you to.

Star Wars 9 - The rise of Skywalker

I used to watch the original trilogy pretty much every weekend for a while in my teens. On VHS casette. And I was a part of an online fan club called the Emperor's Hammer. I loved the game Tie Fighter. So I was a die hard fan. Sadly, my love has waned over the years with first the prequels and I guess it just didn't quite feel the same with the one ones.

They were pretty good, but they didn't quite stick with me as the first ones.

A familiar evil laugh does however stir hope in and oldened hard that something will stick.

Science fiction exhibition with Star Wars and Marc Singer

This weekend I and the family visited the annual Sci-Fi exhibition, this year in Helsingborg. We had a great time, got to talk to Marc Singer when he invited us up on stage and got some good photo opportunities. Marc was a great and friendly guy.  

The stare of a Stormtrooper and Darth Vader can be a bit unsettling in person for a moment or two.

Not even Darth Vader could keep them from goofing around.

Marc Singer on stage.

Sunset

When I came home today after work I was greeted by great light from the sunset. There was also a great rainbow, but unfortunately I didn't get my camera in time to catch much of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My hot wife in outside shoot

Today I decided to experiment with outside lighting using flashes, having complained a while about there not being any good natural light to photograph. So I decided to try and take matters into my own hands and use my HVL-F58 AM flash and a reflector.

I got pretty hard light, but I am pleased with the results.

Studio

Yesterday I got my first shipment of equipment for my home studio, my Döör background tripod. Naturally, this called for some experimentation and luckily my family were more or less willing test subjects for my experiments.

Since I havn't got my hands on any strobes yet, I only had my HVL F58AM flash to rely on. Tough to get consistent results, but I got a few decent shots if I say so myself - at least compared to no flash or just the built in one.

85/@5 Wife and son

Signs of autumn

I have a few days off now after my daughter was born. It's been busy days, but I've still managed to squeeze in some photography. 

 

 

85/@2 Autumn is approaching

Now when I have an excellent portrait lens in place, which you can see a sample photo of above, I've decided to move ahead on my plans to set up a little studio at home. I've been looking at the Elinchrom d-lite strobes which I suspect I'll end up with.

The wait is over

The wait is finally over, and I am not thinking about the Sony a99 or the new 50mm f/1.4 ZA lens finally being announced.

Yesterday my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She's our third child, with two brothers already in place. It was a long wait in the hospital, but things went very well and my wife did a great job. It's a breathtaking experience and I was very happy to hold her in my arms.

Photography

About two years ago, I rekindled my long dormant interest for photography. Being fostered in the world of IT, I never did much else but sit by the computer. So what better excuse I thought, to get out there than to take up photography again I thought. Oh, and getting out there to drink a lot of beer can be fun too.

For a long time it was all about taking snapshots and documenting life for me. Not until recently, when I upgraded to a better camera and lenses, that I've tried to take it to a higher level and at least put some thought into what I am doing.

Ken Rockwell is a pretty good inspiration for this.

85/@f8. The path to better photography?