Since 2017?

I haven't posted anything since 2017? Yuck! I'm rectifying that now.

For the first time in a long time, I am working on a new song. It's in a very different style and has forced me to really work on some guitar technique and a slightly new vocal style. None of it is very hard, but I've found it hard. Go figure.

I hope to at least put out out an acoustic version of it out this year. It's definitely meant to be loud and electric, but any good song should be able to work acoustically too (I believe).

Some New Photos

My wife needed to do a photoshoot for a class she was taking, so I was volunteered to be the subject.
She is so good at what she does! The fact that she can take such a goofy bastard like myself and make me look like kinda cool is rather amazing. What a talented lady!

11 Netflix Shows You Need To Watch

Make sure to check these out these 11 great shows on Netflix (in no particular order)!

Sherlock
The Walking Dead
Stranger Things
Broadchurch
The Fall
Black Mirror
Wallander
Marcella
The Killing
Happy Valley
Top of the Lake

Dicte

Pro Tools 8 And Windows 10

For anybody that's wondering out there, Pro Tools 8 works with Windows 10. At least it did for me.

Pro Tools has always been very fussy, so I was very leary of trying the upgrade, but I finally gave it a shot. I have Pro Tools 8.0.5 (yeah, I know that's super old), and I installed Windows 10 Pro 64-bit over Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.

It took Pro Tools what seemed a longer time than it used to to load, but it did load, and played back without issue.

Nexus 6 MTP Fix

My Nexus 6 would connect fine via USB at work, but at home, it just won't show up at all on my Windows PC as MTP.

I realized that in Device Manager, it was showing up as an ASUS device, even though it is most definitely a Motorola Device.

At first I just uninstalled the driver, but it kept showing back up as an ASUS device in Device Manager.

Then, right I tried uninstalling it again, but I checked the box to delete the driver.

After that, I scanned for hardware changes. It took a while, but finally it installed a new driver on it's own, and now it just shows up as:

Portable Devices

And it works.

I hope it helps you out!

Risen 2 Mods

If you're thinking of playing Risen 2 (yes it's an older game), but were hoping there were some mods for it, then you're in luck. It's a very decent tool, which will query a database for available mods, and will help you install them. The instructions are a bit wonky, but it works.

Click on the Link for R2MDS_OnlineDB_2_0_0_0.exe on the bottom of this page:

http://www.worldofrisen.de/english/download_85.htm

Then, when you open the tool, click on Internet MoDs DB. It'll query the database, and pull a list of mods. You then pick what you want.

Slick and groovy.

Enjoy.-

Dark Souls

I finally beat Dark Souls today. It's a tough game. A really damn tough game. But it's worth it.

If you are considering playing it, know that it is punishing and brutal, but also beautiful and smart. It'll force you to think and move quickly at the same time. Button mashing will get you killed quick. You'll have to study your opponents, learn their weakness, and exploit them.

Prepare to die. A lot. Like really a lot. Some areas or bosses truly are unfair and cheap, though for the most part if you learn from your mistakes enough, you'll find a new way through. And a huge plus is that once you finally beat something that you've died 25 times in a row at, you'll find yourself cackling in glee and waving your arms around. Trust me, you will.

I also need to say that the level design is completely top-notch. Some people might poo-poo my following statement, but I wish there was an extremely easy mode so that folks who aren't hard-core gamers could experience this amazing game.

It's hard, dark, beautiful, and cruel, and in the end extremely rewarding.

Although I started off as a pyromancer, I quickly found that the spells were just too slow for me, so I switched over to melee. While I did switch around for a while, I settled in to a build that I kept between the middle of the game to the end.

By far the hardest boss for me was Smough and Ornstein. I eventually got pretty good at killing Ornstein, but once Smough powered up, he had two attacks that one-shotted me. I ended up having to bring in a player and an NPC phantom to beat him. I didn't end up using phantoms to beat any other bosses.
The other boss that gave me a pretty hard time was Kalameet. For the rest of the bosses, I was usually able to beat them at most in 10 tries.

Here are my build stats when I beat the game:

Weapons:
Black Knight Halberd +5
Grass Crest Shield +15
Long Bow +15
Pyromancy Flame +15

Armor:
Havel's Helm
Havel's Armor
Havel's Gauntlets
Havel's Leggings

Rings:
Havel's Ring
Cloranthy Ring

Estus Flask +4

Total Deaths: 676

Upload your save file this website to get your death count checked:
http://darksoulsdeaths.com/