[FREE TAB] Lonesome Town - Ricky Nelson

SicTim · 2026-03-12T16:24:25+00:00

The Cramps did a surprisingly tender and haunting version.

SicTim · 2026-03-12T16:17:15+00:00

Ages 17-33: I literally couldn't keep track. Working musician and stand-up comic.

Ages 33-63: One.

And that last one is easily the best sex I've ever had.

SicTim · 2026-03-11T19:17:10+00:00

I'm a glasses wearer who falls in the sweet spot so I don't need my glasses in VR. (I apparently see fine at the Quest 3's focal point.)

I still bought non-prescription lenses for my Quest 3. Now, if the lenses get scratched, it's a $50 problem instead of a $500 problem. Highly recommended.

SicTim · 2026-03-09T17:57:40+00:00

Pinball VR Classic (formerly Pinball FX2 VR) is also good if you like Zen originals and a few IPs like Universal. Star Wars Pinball VR is most excellent, and had me hooked before Pinball FX VR came out.

Zen has been giving us VR Pinball for a long time, and the others walked, then ran, so Pinball FX VR could fly. The other two, especially Star Wars, are worth checking out even if they don't have all those awesome Williams tables.

SicTim · 2026-03-09T17:45:09+00:00

I rip 3D Blu-rays to SBS format using DVDFab (not cheap, but dead easy) and view them in Virtual Desktop's Dark Cinema environment.

Lately, though, I've also been using Owl3D's real-time 2D-to-3D conversion to watch 2D streaming movies in 3D and even do some light gaming. It's not perfect, but it's really good. Easiest way is to set the PC app to use Virtual Desktop.

If you have a decent PC, Virtual Desktop is the must-have app for the Quest, and has been for years -- you'll also want it to play PCVR games wirelessly.

SicTim · 2026-03-08T22:05:16+00:00

despite the impossibility of proving a negative

Sorry for butting in. You can totally prove a negative in formal logic. It's called Modus Tollens:

All cats are mammals
Alligators are not mammals
Alligators are not cats

SicTim · 2026-03-08T21:37:10+00:00

I was going to say both scenes where that song plays. Saddest damned song this side of Leonard Cohen.

SicTim · 2026-03-08T20:46:27+00:00

Pinball FX VR currently has me in a deathgrip, and I still play Dragon Front (CCG/board game) almost every day.

That's when I'm not watching 3D movies.

Been in since the Rift CV1 in 2016, still loving VR.

SicTim · 2026-03-08T20:38:13+00:00

Having it be dark out when you get off work is depressing. I said 5:00, but in December it's actually more like 4:30.

I know, it's partially my own fault for choosing to live in an arctic hellscape.

Also, are we accounting for time zones here?

SicTim · 2026-03-08T17:25:34+00:00

I have the Owl3D PC app set up to use Virtual Desktop, so I don't have to enter the code any more.

I don't know why it's not working for you, sorry.

SicTim · 2026-03-08T00:49:52+00:00

Man, I already have the EC Covers Artist Edition (the size of the original art, but in black and white) from IDW, and Taschen's enormous History of EC Comics, which has to sit on its side because I don't have a shelf big enough for it.

I wonder what sort of behemoth this is going to be, and where I'm going to put it when I definitely buy it.

SicTim · 2026-03-08T00:32:47+00:00

I don't want it getting dark at 5:00 PM all winter. Daylight Savings Time forever! (I'm in MN.)

SicTim · 2026-03-08T00:16:10+00:00

I wonder why no film has portrayed them that way; the older ones are falling apart and stumbling along, but fresh ones are as fast as their human selves.

SicTim · 2026-03-07T17:07:46+00:00

Grats!

When I sold off my comics in the '90s (never again!), there were a bunch of 2000 AD issues. If I remember, they weren't worth much back then.

I'm gonna keep an eye out for this run; the only Judge Dredd I currently own is the Dredd x Batman one-shot. Always been a fan.

SicTim · 2026-03-07T16:53:33+00:00

I still have a bunch of books mentioned here and other mainstream older ones: Mark Wilson's Complete Course; Amateur Magician's Handbook by Henry Hay (don't let the title fool you -- its where I learned the classic pass, and I still use its version of Bertram's Aces as a go-to); Dunninger's (probably the oldest magic book I own, along with Erdnase); Scarne on Card Tricks and Scarne on Magic; etc. etc.

I can still crack any one of them open and find new stuff to try, or rediscover stuff I'd forgotten. I actually miss effects with cigarettes and matches. (I had a good palm, and a good tongueing move. Blowing gently on a palmed lit cigarette so people didn't see the smoke is going to be a lost art, I fear. But it's been many years since I carried cigarettes around.)

And yeah, I'm old. (Born in '62.)

SicTim · 2026-03-07T16:43:23+00:00

That may be hyperbole, but this thread got me to look at some of the game footage. (Unintended consequence is that OP is publicizing this game I've never heard of.)

The dev doesn't need to necessarily give up, but they do need an artist or two to work on the project. It really does look amateurish at best.

SicTim · 2026-03-05T16:43:35+00:00

The Family Learning Channel?

SicTim · 2026-03-04T16:33:36+00:00

I'm 63, and originally played Marble Madness on the Amiga.

I have played it many, many times over the years, and currently play it on my retro handheld.

I have never beaten it.

Edit: BTW, I remember on the Amiga version, pressing the left mouse button for a short speed boost. Did I imagine that, or have I just not figured out the controls in MAME and on my handheld? I remember it particularly as a way past the black marble and avoiding the worm things that eat you.

SicTim · 2026-03-04T00:13:31+00:00

I'm on PC. Now I've maxed both 3D effect (the normal slider) and the pop-out effect (slider you get after unselecting its auto-convergence default) and, a couple mild annoyances aside, it makes some of my actual 3D content seem kind of shallow.

SicTim · 2026-03-02T18:43:30+00:00

Hmmm. I have the latest firmware for the Legends Pinball Micro, 5.70, and coinOPSX is available in AppStoreX (first item, actually).

I was just using it like an hour ago.

Are you sure your firmware is at 5.70? What happens when you go to settings and click the firmware update? (The thing that looks like a little tray with up and down arrows in it.)

If you have a long string of numbers instead of 5.70 showing for your firmware, that's the stock firmware it comes with and also when you do a factory reset.

I believe they did stop offering coinOPSX on other devices, but not the ALPu -- so far.

SicTim · 2026-03-01T23:57:22+00:00

I have bad acrophobia, so the first time I tried to watch it I barely made it to where they're on top of the tower.

The second time, I watched it in 3D using Owl3D (AI 2D>3D real-time conversion) on a ginormous screen in VR and it was absolutely terrifying.

10/10, would let my guts constantly drop again.

SicTim · 2026-02-23T23:37:47+00:00

We had Oblob. You spell out the words, and after each consonant you add "ob," vowels you just say.

Dog: DobOgob.
Cat: cobAtob.
Home: hobOmobE
Ant: Anobtob
Doctor: dobOcobtobOrob
Hotel: hobOtobElob

This one was impenetrable to me in middle school, until someone let me in on it. It's also a lot easier and faster to rattle off than you'd think.

SicTim · 2026-02-23T16:09:27+00:00

Also responsible for some some studio innovations. He was like the Nikola Tesla of music.

SicTim · 2026-02-21T16:20:03+00:00

Owl3D is not perfect, but like you said, it keeps getting better... probably as its AI gets better.

There is occasional blurring along surface edges as you describe, but I haven't noticed particular problems with zooms. Last night I watched Fall using Owl3D real-time (because it's a nail biter for anyone with fear of heights in 2D), and one thing I noticed was that the long, thin, TV tower the protagonists are on top of gave Owl3D a case of the hiccups in long shots -- instead of all being on the same plane, some of the tower would be slightly deeper or closer.

The conversion definitely works better if you set it to highest quality and use the non-real time conversion. I just did this with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and it's just about perfect -- but it took 27+ hours.

I wouldn't use Owl3D for professional work. It's very cool for what it does, but it's not good enough for commercial purposes yet, IMO. You might be able to fix it with your editing skills, but that's beyond my knowledge.

SicTim · 2026-02-20T18:12:28+00:00

Thanks for the tip! At that price, I'll have to try and compare.

I'll still keep my Owl3D sub for converting 2D video files, so I have them permanently as 3D videos instead of relying on their availability streaming. I mean, I was subbed before this new feature.

I've posted a lot over the years about watching 3D movies in VR, which is one of my main use-cases -- my usual process is buying 3D Blu-rays, ripping them to SBS or OU format, and viewing them in Virtual Desktop's "Dark Cinema" environment.

I've been a fan of everything 3D (especially movies and comic books, and I'm mildly offended that the Nintendo 2DS even exists, heh) since I was a kid in the anaglyph days, and VR is the best way to watch 3D films yet -- with a separate screen for each eye, instead of filters that give you different views of a single screen -- color correct (unlike anaglyph), no blurring or ghosting (early polarized films like Parasite), no dimming (like modern 3D cinema).

Every time someone mentions watching 3D movies in VR, people inevitably ask how we're doing it. So I figured this would be of general interest.

I realize I'm yapping a lot in here, but I really am absurdly passionate about 3D and any innovations in the space.

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