There was a lot of junk in it, huh?
As for the brightness, what you are seeing is the shading that is done on faces to create the 3D appearance on the 2D screen. If you don’t want that shading, click Use sun for shading and cross up the sliders. Light to left and Dark to the right.
You could also turn off the Foreground photo in the Styles edit tab. In fact, do both.
