Agents of SHIELD, Flash, and Legends catchup as well as Arrow.
Considering LG G6 and Sony Mobile Center in Glorietta is no more.Oh, and I got my Oreo update for my XA1.
ASUS laptop is for repair under warranty and we got to ask (at metropoint) regarding T100 repair.
Major Windows update soon and got Office 365 renewed.
Toys R Us US is closing but asian leg isn’t affected. Still sad.
And MAFEX Superman hasn’t arrived.
I don’t think and can’t really check if I’ll cover all geekery stuff I encountered this month. These turned out quite a lot, though.
Computing
AMD Ryzen with Vega graphics reviews are up and they’re positive. I can’t wait for the mobile parts to see how they match Intel Core with Vega graphics. Wow, nVidia’s kinda left out here, but I’m sure they’ll be back in the game soon, hopefully also to work with AMD and Intel in dropping prices and reviving the PC industry.
In relation to mobile computing, Yonni's Youtube channel is up and his interest in getting a new laptop soon triggered excitement in me. purchase consultation. Bwahahaha. What kinda sucks is how Mhae and my laptop still has that horizontal line across it’s screen.
Superhero Universes
Quickly, Black Panther was much better than I feared. No overanticipation there.
My interest in Marvel Legends X-Men 90's/cartoon costume (mostly Jim Lee) versions was triggered. Good thing, the cost and difficulty in getting started (Jean Grey is now quite rare) has stopped me already.
As for the better DC live action universe/s, shows are on hiatus I think due to the superbowl. Legends of Tomorrow is back, though.
And in DC toys, an occasion of getting to see JLU on tv when I had difficulty falling asleep got me thinking of making a hybrid Justice League set with DC Collectibles CW Green Arrow, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl, in addition to my already acquired/pre-ordered MAFEX Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman. Not in scale, though, so that would make it even more of hybrid. Green Arrow of course replaces Green Lantern to get something quite close to the Justice League Cartoon lineup. Holding off decision until after Superman arrives and putting chance of availability in play.
Cellphones
A quick side-shift to phones, MWC 2018 happened and the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ were introduced as well as the Sony Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact. Still think Sony’s Compact line is great with everyone else giving just a Plus flagship “variant”. Or maybe the vanilla flagships are actually their “compacts”? Eitherway, hope this year’s Xperia Compact becomes officially available here this time.
Transformers
Probably the biggest Hascon and Toyfair news is the end of the Bayverse / impending movie series reboot and Hasbro taking over the Power Rangers toy license except for Japan and some countries.
But that’s not the most important Transformers thing to happen. Springer took long, and after a trip to the post office without the claim card, I finally got him! I put him on the display first because the picture taking will take a lot of time.
Turtles
Oh, I almost got to finally get the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reissues, but I arrived (once again, and more by circumstance than choice) with the decision to not get them. I discovered availability in MOA but (a week) later found out they only had Leonardo and Donatello. In a way, getting Leonardo and Donatello now means I got all 4 turtles at different points in my life—got Michaelangelo and that spinning Raphael as a kid. I guess I’m a completionist, and although it would be quite true eitherway, I’m sticking (for now) with my decision. Haha.
Hobby Stuff and Transformers
In addition to ebay, o found Facebook pages to be pretty good sites for hobby stuff. I found the JL Movie Superman still available for preorder in one Facebook page. Also, i finally decided to get the Generations Arcee since the facebook page and contact was accomodating and still had the former ebay posting still available. And with that, I decided to get the rest of “Team Ultra Magnus” / complete the Generations version of the ’86 movie poster…at least the 5 in the foreground.
I’ve ordered Springer (ebay) and am expecting shipment arrival mid-February. I got Blurr at toy kingdom, and Kup, I got at Greattoysonline Pasay branch. In about 2 weeks, I’ll resume the many toy photoshoots I’ve been having a lot of recently. Good thing I got to pause that.
The Titans Return CG cartoon was made available in Youtube and I got through watching it. It’s really the nostalgia of seeing SOME of the classic characters in official animation and in a different story loosely(?) related to the ongoing toyline.
On the Gundam side of things, RG Tallgeese has been announced and HGAW Leo. Ack. Too bad I’m not into that scale and unlike the Transformers collection above, I don’t think I’ll be getting into it anymore.
Harddrives and Backups
In the spirit of keeping old things new, I’m going on with my quite ellaborate schem of backups and archives at work. It was nerdtasting to receive the 4GB drives and even more when the 6GB drives arrived.
There was quite a day spent in trying to fix Fed’s PC after a boot fail (probably caused by but I’m guessing coincidentally with) the attempted partition resizing. Image backups and not getting bcd system partitions stuff was a confusing experience until I tapped out and let IT reformat and reinstall Windows. At least I’ve been having better luck with mhae and my laptop’s partition resize. (Although it now has a screen problem that’s still under warranty.)
Gadgets
I finally got a good casing for my XA1. It’s quite a shame that I didn’t get this as soon as I got the phone. Now, it’s really to hide the scratches and not to preserve the phone from getting any scratch on the backside. I still can't get a rubber screen protector, but I’m pleasantly satisfied with the good results in my second try in cutting a "classic" matte screen protector. Of course, the included screen protector with the casing was a big help along with a more focused mind when cutting.
LTE sim upgrades from Smart and Sun finally had me using the 3310 3G mhae and I got before Christmas. The hipster feel is great. Haha. I’ll be missing the C2-00, though, especially it’s PC connectivity—something that’s really a shame not to have in the new 3310.
And on the available model updates to my current phones, the Xperia XA2 has been announced and reviewed and it looks like an upgrade candidate should I decide to not get a warranty-less XZ1 Compact. Also, the 3310 4G was unveiled (without my USB Type C prediction, though) but is still currently just for the Chinese market.
“TV” and Movies
After returning from the midseason breaks, I actually had to catchup with Arrowverse and Agents of SHIELD episodes. Still hooked, so that’s good. I kinda lost the pace with South Park. Big Bang Theory episodes are getting more meh, but the Sheldon series has a hearty feeling so those offerings (going hand-in-hand) are still much appreciated.
I don’t think I’ll do the MCU marathon and just watch black panther when it comes out. Mhae and I missed Pitch Perfect 3 and we both didn’t really anticipate Jumanji, so our first movie this year will be in February.
So here’s another quick runthrough for the month because I didn’t note as much as I wanted to (as I usually don’t).
PC Repairs and Non-repairs
There were Windows 10 problems with one PC at the office but I didn’t have the time to bother finding out why that happened and finding a solution other than formatting. Oh well. And so much for Windows 10 upgrades, the loophole closes today but I don’t seem to have any Windows 7 or 8.1 machines left to upgrade.
On more successful repairs, after the kinda good experience I had with repairs on mhae’s and papa’s netbooks (lcd and cmos battery replacement respectiveley) at metropoint, mhae and I brought gen’s old samsung laptop for a battery replacement. Alas, they easily found a replacement and it came quite cheap.
I also got to install Office 365 on my home pc but had to deactivate the intall on the downstairs pc as I can only install in 2 computers (the other one is the asus laptop). Looks like the 5-pc limit needs more than one individual microsoft account or I still actually have 365 personal in my account and not 365 home. I’m actually enjoying Office 2016 on this desktop.
As for the ASUS laptop, I still have yet to solve the WHEA logger errors.
Star Wars
Got to see Episode VIII and it was fun. Apparently, it’s another divisive film. Interestingly, just like last month’s Justice league, rotten tomatoes shows a disagreement on the critics and audience side, albiet with opposite cases.
I’m on the lookout for merchendise, though. Quite “lucky” I didn’t run into on-sale lego starwars microfighters that appeal to me.
PC Recommendation
No year-end build now. All I can say all three—AMD, Intel, and nVidia—had a blast this year and new builds would be good in almost any combo.
Oh, and apparently the Titan V launched. Wll look into that after the new year.
Phones
Got myself a yellow Nokia 3310 3G with Mhaelord’s support. Still have to get my smart and sun sims replaced/cut though.
Retro
In getting my mother a new am/fm radio, Mhae and I came across a Sony radio with a Cassette and CD player. Wow. I got really tempted to get it but passed. Got an RCA, though, apparently an even more retro brand. “Ganito brand ng radyo namin noon,” said mama. She was pertaining to when she was a child. No cassette and cd racks, though. I might, in the near future, get the sony.
Transformers
Passed by Toy Kingdom and saw Transformers: Titans Returns toys at discounted prices. Got tempted to get myself a blurr, kup, and even a scourge. Passed on the chance, though. Power of the Primes is on shelves now and I just found a pinoy reviewer on Youtube. Rodimus Prime reviews are kinda mixed, too, just like The Last Jedi and Justice League. I guess I’m inclined for the divisive.
The Year
The year in geekery had quite a number of divisions—mostly in geek movies, but also in tech stuff. This is a good thing for tech, as the “division” means more choices. For movies and hobbies, I think varying opinions make people who like, appreciate more, and those who dislike, get to refine their taste.
So yeah, I just had to put some concluding remarks. That’s the year 2017 in geekery, and it was good.
Something from the previous month’s post, the problematic file with the Insider Build was volsnap.sys. just wanted to note that.
Computer Hardware
On computer hardware stuff, there was official news on an upcoming Intel processor with AMD graphics and it was another one of those PC industry developments that make this year the best. AMD looks to be the PC industry MVP this year. Unfortunately for AMD, though, Radeon Technologies Group boss Raja something left and signed up with Intel. I was an instant fan of his when he dropped the RX480 in an exclusiv interview with linus last year. Nonetheless, all should get better in the industry as a whole.
Computer Backups, Updates, Repairs, and Turnovers
Mhae’s Samsung netbook suddenly gave up, and needed repairing, and it is a long nd ongoing/on-hold process. Initial procedures I took lasted more than a day, so after relaxing a bit, I settled to backup (which also took a long time, including the part where the process stopped because I think I chose to not ignore bad sector errors.)
I also got myself to get Papa’s ASUS netbook operational again, and resorted to restore to Windows 7. It was a successful repair but needed a new CMOS battery. Since I’m not confident enough to open it up and can’t easily find a replacement, Mhae accompanied me to Metropoint and the trip solved the problem just in time for Papa’s trip the next day
I took it to myself to update windows 10 to v1709 at the office, and with Papa out of town, I got the chance to apply the update to the X3-pc with allowance for screwups. Good thing, none encountered. I also finally started going through with the office 365 adoption at home with the X3-pc. That’s where the problem occurred. Another win, though, thanks to the internet. Troubles in papa’s user account with Office 2010 and Office 2016 (via Office 365) installed side-by-side were easily solved with a simple registry entry a week after. As of this afternoon, Papa’s MS Word experience (still in 2010, though) is as smooth as it has been. Still holding off for the 2ng Gen i5 check and upgrade.
On the mobile space, Ate handed down to Mama an iPad mini for her birthday. I’m not sure, really, about the generation, but Mama’s having a good time with it, easily adjusting. Not two weeks later, the Acer tablet seems to be getting battery problems.
And on hand-me-downs, Gen is home from Europe for a few weeks. She brought home a Windows 8 Samsung laptop and her old iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 is apparently out of support so it’s not the best to get for a new user—not able to install common apps like facebook due to iOS version requirements. As for the Samsung laptop, it needs a battery replacement and I’ll try to get it to Windows 10 with the assistive technologies option.
Superhero Stuff
Justice League hype is over. Mhae and I got to see it on the first week and we had fun. Opinions and reviews are super divided, but I’m taking it as a good movie, simply because the justice league members are simply awesome and it felt like a good episode in a series.
And before the movie, I got to acquire a MAFEX Batman v Superman (Regular) Batman at playgiantcollectibles via ebay. Managed to get a best price despite the last price statement in the description. I think I’m decided on getting the Justice League “reissue” of Superman since the original BvS one is just too orange-skinned. I’m contemplating on getting the rest of the Justice League through the years with releases of their solo movies until Green Lantern.
On the TV side of DC, Crisis on Earth X was overwhelming. It’s a step-up from last year’s invasion. I’ve also accepted that I missed out on the DC Collectibles TV Supergirl and won’t be getting the Green Arrow and Flash combo. As for the regular episodes, about 2 months through, I must say each story is engaging and it’s quite a shame the season finales are airing next week.
Marvel’s Agents of SHEILD’s new season starts next week, though, so the gaps gonna get filled a bit.
Marvel’s Punisher is brutally awesome. Decided to start watching a couple of day ago. 3 episodes done, and still good.
And finally for superhero stuff, Avengers: Invinity War Trailer is epic. Nothing more I could say.
Other Movies
Mhae and I have completed out Star Wars extended marathon with The Force Awakens. It’s kinda cool that Mama’s selling me tickets for The Last Jedi. It’s for a fund-raising for The Legion of Mary. We saw Episode VII two years ago also for a different fund-raising activity.
Games
So I tried South Park Phone Destroyer and had fun for a few days. Haven’t gone back to it for a while.
NFS Payback’s release with meh reviews. I’m probably not getting it. Got to play NFS Most Wanted (2012) from time to time this month though, and that’s good enough for me.
Tech
I’ll start off with a recent problem with a windows 10 insider build. I’m not sure if I’ve encountered one before, but I experienced green screen screen errors a number of times. Gladly, I got to fix the error with:
I got a problem with the start menu earlier and seem to have gotten around it by disabling auto-log-in setting that I’ve been using for years now. I’ll have to check soon if this won’t be a problem with this updated build. I think that’s one of the downsides of being an insider, but the thrill of having to and getting to fix problems (with the help of the microsoft and non-reformat problem-solvers out there) is one of the upsides of it.
Mobile parts of AMD Ryzen with Vega grapfics got launched recently and they look promising. The laptop market is now starting to taste the Ryzen effect. On the dektop side, the release of Intel’s 8th‑Gen . Intel Core CPU’s is another evidence of the positive effect of AMD’s resurgence for the consumers. Once availability gets stable, it’s gonna be quite a thrill choosing a new build. Good thing I got mine mid-year and I’m still happy with it.
On the mobile phone side, with the disappointment of the unavailability of the XZ1 Compact and the availability of the XZ1 (vanilla), I’m settling with my XA1 for a bit longer. I’m getting accustomed to the XA1 camera which I guess has been satisfying coming from the Z1 compact. This is, afterall, if I’m not mistaken, the one used in the Z5 series.
One last thing on tech stuff and transitioning to movie stuff, apparently NCIX Techtips didn’t get to hang on with one host left. The last netlinked (for now) gave a bit of a heartbreak. But as long as LinusTechTips is still on—and it won’t be going anywhere as per WAN show that I have come to appreciate more, recently—all isn’t sad in the world of tech news.
Movies
And on movie stuff and Youtube, ScreenJunkies is pracically in hiatus given the controversy with its founder. No honest trailers (for now). Quite a loss, even moreso as it took over Clevver Movies (though unsatisfactorily for me).
A bit of James Bond news, and another loss, apparently Cristoph Waltz won’t be returning as Blofeld in Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007. So much for Waltz returning if Craig will. Oh well.
Mhae and I got to see Star Wars Episodes III and VI this month for our Star Wars movie weekends. Episode VII left before the theatrical release of Episode VIII in December. I think I’m a bit successful in avoiding the trailer that the director recommended to avoid. I’m guessing that’s not the one shown in Thor: Ragnarok.
Speaking of Thor: Ragnarok, it was a fun movie. I thought it was coming in Philippine cinemaes 1st week of November, but I’m glad it didn’t and we got to see it at once.
Arrowverse shows are having a slow start for me. Not sure if it’s because of the episodes themselves, or because of the other things that keep me occupied. Nonetheless, I’m glad they’re back on air, along with The Big Bang Theory. Inhumans is out of the question so I’m just waiting for SHIELD and hope there are a good number of nods to Thor. In the anime and cartoon departments, I got the episodes for the current Fate series but haven’t gone to see them, and I’ve been seeing South Park quite consistently recently—on Season 10 now.
Justice League hit theaters in a couple of weeks and that’s one I’ve been excited for for more than a year now. We went to the UniteTheFans exibit at glorietta last weekend but I chose not to get movie passes (and the poster) as the screenings would be in Trinoma. I did enjoy the displays and got even more convinced on acquiring the MAFEX BvS Batman (of which I found one available from an ebay seller earlier today) and the upcoming MAFEX JL Superman to go with me MAFEX BvS Wonder Woman.
Toys
I guess I’m a DC guy more than Marvel. And with the upto 50% Lego sale at waltermart, I got myself (after a few days of indecision) the Clash of Heroes set. It was a great deal at 40% off and so worth it, with the Batman and Superman minifigs. The only better set would have been the larger and more expensive Heroes of Justice… set that had Batman, Superman, Lex, Lois, AND Wonder Woman. even at 50% off, I think it was a good pass since I wouldn’t have had much space and fun with the batwing inspite of the complete character set. I am really satisfied, afterall, with the set that I got, one reason is that I got to do a superhero café reference with it and the double-decker couch set.
The recent Lego build brought about some nostalgia and some stories on may father’s Lego buying experiences when I was a kid and even when before I was born.
Probably planned to be in-line with the recent introductions of the Ferrari Portofino and FXX-K Evo, Shell finally had a new collection campaign, albeit a little complicated and in limited availability. Petron also had a 1:24 promo but less exciting (or maybe it’s just me) though simpler, less expensive, and looks to be wider in availability. My father and I passed on these after apparently losing to the space argument with my mother. Oh well. It’s nice to see Shell Ferrari collectibles again, though, and I’m actually interested in how things will go with Bburago, the new Ferrari scale model licensee after Mattel/Hot Wheels and Maisto (which interestingly, recently acquired Bburaggo) further before.
On the eastern side of toy geekery, I got to claim the Revoltech EVA-02 that I ordered in August. I got a bit less from what I expected from a Revoltech figure until I realized that the shortcomings are actually to be expected from a Revoltech, and even more from an older model. Even still, it was a fulfilling buy as I have quite completed the EVA Rebuild 1.0 & 2.0 collection I’ve been vaguely thinking off since the EVA 1.0 gasha. Wow, that was 6(?), 7(?) years ago.
I got to plan and more or less laid out the Rebuild and Robot (Gundam, Virtual-On, Eva, and Transformers) Collection calendars. I got 2 months to shoot and print them for the upcoming calendar year.
And lastly for this lookback, Gundam 00 was released 10 years ago earlier this month. Wow. That led me to some collecting memories and I must say it was fun. I think I’m closing my collections but being able to look back does give a good smile. Just realized, that is really good naming for Good Smile Company.
It appears that because of the holiday, I found a lot of time to write about all those. Nice.
No superhero movies this month. Inhumans doesn’t count, and the bad reviews make it an easy exclusion from the MCU experience. The Arrowverse shows are showing in less than 2 weeks from now as well as Agents of SHIELD so that’s gonna be filler enough until Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League arrive in November.
Mhae and I got to see Star Wars Episodes 1 and 2 this month on the laptop and I think we’re on track in our preparation for December’s Episode 8. We have Episodes 3, 6, and 7 left.
Found some time to play NFS Most Wanted (2012) and finally enjoyed the gaming PC nature of my PC. I still have to figure out why the hangs. And that didn’t last long.
Before the month ended, I got triggered by a post from a friend asking for advice between a gaming laptop and a gaming desktop. There were actual answers of a gaming laptop, and none about ryzen. Naturally, I had a couple of ellaborate comments and I’m happy he’s now choosing between a gaming pc or an xbox one x. PCMR in me is actually less concerned about an xbox one x for gaming than a gaming laptop. One thing I found out in doing research, though—the geforce 10 series mobile parts are actually decent compared to all previous and even amd’s current mobile graphics parts. As for the intel core i7’s for “mobile gaming”, still not so sure.
The Note 8 and iPhones 8, 8 Plus, and X (ten) were released this month. Meh. What’s a big deal for me is the realization that the Xperia XZ1 Compact won’t be officially available here in the Philippines. I’m now looking for alternative phones to buy or considering getting the XZ1c from unofficial channels. Incidentally, my old Z1compact automatically updated a google service and did that restarting thing again. I got to fix it by doing the clear data trick but since some google account settings were also reset, some apps got to update themselves. At any rate, it’s been running fine since that mishap.
I’ve been experimenting with other audio recorders because audio recording is one of the two things I’m unsatisfied with with my current, supposedly temporary phone, the XA1. The second one of course is the size. I proved myself right in my clumsiness and real need for handy phones and extended warranties when I dropped my XA1 on a stair step at the office entrance one night. Amazingly, it falling flat on its back, the phone doesn’t seem to be damaged. Thank God, really.
Lastly apparently, the changes in NCIX Tech Tips are bigger than I thought with only one host left. I sure hope for the best. They, along with Linus, are my current tech heroes, quite the same way Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton were back in the TechTV days.
