Over the weekend I purchased the Fender Mustang I amp. It is a purely digital piece of music equipment in that it places all effects and amp modeling in one package. I can select many different amp models and modulate their sound very easily. It also comes with software that helps me upload and download other settings. Unfortunately, the POS software relies on Microsoft's Silverlight which really doesn't work.
Today's music break is showing you how to create your own FX from scratch. You just need some ingenuity.
Xkcd hits one out of the park. I was thinking about learning to cook again. Made a big go of it when I first moved out of my mom's, but today, I don't cook at all. I still have ingredients, spices and such, from several years back. They take up a few inches of my cupboards, and they are going old gracefully. I wonder...
After writing up the story about Korean grilles and nudie bars, I had to come back to another tale that will be told about this vacation: the yogurt incident. The accompanying picture is minutes before it happened and is part of the incriminating evidence. If you have been reading my Hawaiiposts you'll find this one out of order. Sorry about that, but this story has to be told.
We had to get out of Ko Olina and experience the real Hawaii. We leave the place and go one exit down H1 for something to eat. The Seed, Capitol Swell and I head for ramen. My brother and his family go for kind grinds. We hang out for a bit before we go back.
Capitol Swell initiates the Yogurt Incident. He goes into this "make your own yogurt sundae" place and comes out with a gigantic cup of yogurt. It looks good and I go in for some. I'm quickly followed by my nephew who decides to make his own gigantic yogurt sundae. I take the smaller cup, but pay for both.
At this "make your own yogurt sundae" joint, you are charged by the weight of the sundae. It costs me $13 for the two. You can guess which sundae contributed the most to this bill.
We sit down and eat. Moments later the nephew is done. "The cold hurts my teeth." He's only a couple scoops in and he doesn't want it anymore. That makes me angry. And I berate him about it until he runs away.
He comes back saddened and tries to eat more. His mom packs it up and takes it with us. It remained in the freezer until we left Ko Olina. It was there for the maids to eat or throw away.
Yeah. She's pretty, and she's pretty strong. You are watching Ice Road Truckers, right? I think this is the third link that she's starred in. She's getting to be ranked up there with the capo di touti capo, Nozomi Sasaki.
I had a pretty weird dream. And no, there was not the girl in it.
We were in Hawaii and we were going to run a 5K, 10K, half-marathon, or some such running event for charity. I decided to do it naked and dropped trou immediately.
We showed up hours early. I was in my birthday suit with the number bib and asian pointy hat to cover up my modesty. We wait for the rest of the people to show up. No one particularly notices that I am naked. As people start arriving, I begin to get worried about being naked.
What I thought would be only a few dozen runners quickly turns into several hundred. I try to hide. I find places in buildings to squat down and not show my dolphin. Of course, then I end up in some school classroom with a dozen ladies who take no notice of my dolphin. Embarrassing or humiliating?
When the run starts, I'm running the other way. Freud would have a field day.
Wednesday night before Thanksgiving we make it into Town, Waikiki, to see the Bob. We're also hungry, so after he closes up shop at the Mall, we go out in search of food.
"We're gonna go to that Korean barbeque joint next to the strip club."
And we're off. Two cars looking for that Korean joint by the nudie bar. The car I'm in stops at the first Korean joint, nudie bar combo we pass. There's Yakuza hanging out front. This must be the place! In we go.
"Table for 15." "Right, away!"
"Water." "Here you go!"
"What's this button?" "Summon you waiter!"
Five minutes pass.
"Should we order or should we wait some more."
"How many Korean joints next to nudie bars are there in Honolulu?" "This HAS GOT to be the place, right?"
*BRRRRIINNNGG*
"Where you guys?" "We're at the Korean joint next to the nudie bar."
"No you're not. We are." "No. We are."
Sorry, Yakuza Korean grille, we're at the wrong place.
We're in the car and drive one more block over. Here's the Korean joint next to the strip club. Who knew?
But look at this picture. It says volumes about how happy we were to eat yakinuku.
Apple will drink your milkshake. They know what to do. And as the link alludes, they know what not to do as well. Apple sets itself apart and makes everyone follow. In an industry of me toos, good for Apple to be original.
This winter is for real. There's several inches on the ground and it looks like more coming our way. Now if this doesn't make you want to go back to Hawaii, I don't know what will.
I had brought my Azusa nendoroid with me to help document where we went. I did because, as an otaku, you do stupid things like that. Bring your doll to work day! Anyhow, I didn't get too many pictures because my sister-in-law kept harassing me about it making me feel very embarrassed. I know that I shouldn't have been, but what can you say about a grown man carrying a doll around?
"The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here... you're on your own."
Currently, just chilling in front of the boob tube with the blinds open and watching the snow come down. It's a very interesting sight, because from where I sit see the main road. A car passes by every once in awhile, slowly, and I wonder how they trudge through this wintry weather. It's supposedly coming down a couple of inches an hour, and it's supposed to last well into the night. This is the best storm so far this winter.
Earlier at work, when it was still just rain, I had knew I had to leave early. When a co-worker packed up and left because his wife told him that northern Harford county was getting snow, I decided to get going while the going was easy. That was 3:30. Half an hour later and safely at home, the rain turned into sleet, and then another thirty minutes it was driving snow. If I had stayed at work as I would usually do, I would've been driving in this mess. I'm starting to get smarter about the commute in this weather. Took me 10 years.
Now, I have the lights off and the television on. I have finished dinner. My stock of ramen dwindling. I'm craving some sweets and want to walk up to the Royal Farms for something, but decide against it. If I can only peer at the traffic like you can with the traffic cameras on CHART on the web, I may just go out for a walk. These cameras are a great way to watch the winter arrive. It's also just as good as watching television. It's all live and real.
Seeing that the Coen brothers' True Grit got plenty of Oscar nominations, I thought it befitting to get you caught up in who's who in the coenverse. Check out the link and then check out the giant "Coenfographic." It would be appropriate that Frances McDormand has been in the most Coen movies. She is Mrs. Joel Coen.
In Japan, Evangelion is big. I cannot understand why.
Maybe, it's because when I came to anime a decade after Evangelion was first released, the anime genres I liked most featured happy schoolgirls in a comedy, slice-of-life routine. Evangelion features no happy school girls. They are sad and the protagonist, Shinji, is even sadder. Shinji is mopey. He was emo before there was emo, and emo boys make me angry.
After all these years, Evangelion is coming to America. Today's link is to the official website for Evangelion 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance. I wonder if it will show somewhere in town?
The King's Speech tells the fascinating tale of Young Prince Albert who became King George VI father to Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. He stutters which is not good for aspiring to be King. Yet, it is hinted that his stuttering is because he doesn't want to be King. Guy Pearce even doesn't want to be King, and he wishes that he wouldn't become King replacing Dumbledore. So he abdicates to sleep with that harpie from the colonies. Prince Albert assumes the kingship and must be regal. Will his speech impediment hinder him?
This movie is the story of Albert trying to live up to being royalty and to meet the challenges of the changing world. It follows his relationship with the speech therapist, Lionel Logue. The Prince wants a cure. The therapist wants the Prince to be true to himself and act as kingly as possible. They clash in styles. High-low. Commoner-king. Teacher-student. Patient-doctor.
The reluctance of the Prince to take on the mantle of the heir apparent manifests in his stuttering. The pressure is great on him. He must be great and rise up to the challenges that were facing England and the world in 1930s. The weight of the world is on the stuttering fool. He will recover with the help of the speech therapist.
I liked it. I liked that it was something in the Prince to overcome: being afraid. I liked Geoffery Rush as the Prince's speech therapist. His character didn't care if it was the King he was helping. They were all of the same caste. I guess it takes an Australian to not be too concerned for the social station.
I also liked the fact that Helena Bonham Carter acted. You forget that she can because she's always directed to be over the top. As Queen mother, she is the rock base for the Prince. She loves him and wants him to be as good, as great, as she believes him to be. The love helps him. Bonham Carter makes it believable. Dial her down a notch and she becomes watchable.
You know this rating is going to bite me next January, but I really dug this film while watching it. Very well told story, good acting, and clear direction. It's been some time that I've doled out the max, so here it is. Because it is all true.
As of this moment, I was reading my archives trying to gauge how well I wrote. I also followed a few links from these old posts just to see if they were still linking to something and if their owners were active. Unfortunately, I find out #!usr/bin/girl has stopped writing since 2009. She's probably switched platforms and URL. On her front page, we find today's link.
It goes to some dude giving tips to taking pictures of cute, small, plastic figures. Hey, I do that, too! All his tips are valid, but I think I've already discovered them out on my own using trial and error.
I'm posting this link though to remind my readers that my hobby collecting nendoroids and anime figures is not as weird as you think. There are other peopled doing the same. Other people who are not crazy otaku.
At least this link gives me the motivation to make my shots of nendoroids better. I wish the dude had some tips on setting up a model shoot indoors. What lighting to use. What backdrops to use. I want to stage a photo shoot of each of my nendoroids and make them look awesome. Trial and error may work.
As promised, here's that nutty version of Hokago Tea Time's (K-ON!) "Don't Say Lazy" done by Scandal with Shoko-tan. A cover of a 2D schoolgirl band done by a live schoolgirl band. My mind asplodes thinking about how awesome this is.
Super kawaii photo from Kraster with immense gratitude.
I still have a few nendoroids that are unopened, all three Love Plus girls and both of the schoolfestival K-ON! kits. But I just love how cute they are!
Oh, you're still here? I thought that you would be off following the music break video and surfing the related YouTube videos spending the hours upon hours lost in the world of anime song covers.
You didn't? Well, good.
Let me send you on another journey into the land of the rising sun. This one is another excursion into its music scene. I wonder if this is J-POP or J-Rock? Who knows but since I wanted to see K-ON! videos. Here's a real live all school girl band. Well, they're not school girls anymore. They're rockers! (In school girl outfits!! Yes!)
Surfing around YouTube last night because I was really, really, really wanting to hear more K-ON!. As you know how it goes, you find a video, then follow the related videos and follow and follow and follow. Next thing you know a couple of hours have gone out the window. Wait, I was looking for K-ON! covers and now I'm listening to "Diamond Cravasse" sung by Ranka and Sheryl (Megumi & May'n) accompanied by the great Yoko Kano. How'd that happen when a few videos back there was that awesome May'n cover of "God Knows?" And that SCANDAL cover of "Don't Say You Are Lazy" with Shoko-tan? When are these going to be music breaks?
Don't worry all in due time.
Anyhow, this is a sweet performance of "Diamond Cravasse" from Macross Frontier. Perhaps the best song from that anime. It's usually sung by May'n but with the help of Ranka's voice actress, Megumi-chan, a duet of great sadness. Hit me up in comments to show your appreciation. Count this song as number 7.6 in the "You Should Be Watching Anime" list.
The seed wonders aloud why he blogs. He mutters something about cheese sandwiches and Mac forums, but finds that he doesn't really have anything to add to the conversation that is on the intertubes.
I beg to differ.
Check out this simple list of reasons on why to blog. You'll find some things there that can fit the niche the seed has carved out for himself. Why skimming that list, I know that the seed has shared his expertise on video recording and editing. He's currently updating his list of hotties, so that puts him into engaging a debate with total strangers. And one thing, his blog will always represent him on the intertubes, facebook not withstanding. So it's not completely worthless.
When I look at that list, my main motivation in writing the blog is to create a permanent record of things that are important to me at particular time. I'll let the google hive mind index it which allows me to remember all of it better. Second motivation on the list is that I really enjoy leading my readers to content that I think (and hope) you would like. Why do you think that my number one tag has been the "Link of the Day?"
Not to go all meta on you, but I did start another post about those "Link of the Day" posts and why I do them, but couldn't write about it prosaically. Thanks, seed for this opportunity to write something. Actually, that would be the third reason from that list as to why I blog. I like the art of writing, even when I am so terrible at it.
It is totally worth writing a blog. And twitter, too. But you have to be on it to understand. It ain't 100% junk. It's another form of conversation. Now about facebook.....
They should bring back the form factor of the original 7-11 Big Gulp cups, the short squat ones that looked like a mini-bucket. If they go for making it taller as the graphic suggests, then it may look like a less daunting drink. Plus, I didn't know our stomachs were so small. I guess that's why with the 24 oz soda bottles I feel full afterwards.
This picture would make the perfect desktop photo. Don't you think? Here's how: click the picture, visit all sizes, select the largest, download. Install as per your own operating system.
I think I'll install this at work and pretend that I am on the beach.
After the humiliating defeat to the hated Steelers, what's a Ravens fan to do? Well instead of getting chocolate wasted, I had to vent my frustrations on twitter (Follow @browsermetrics on twitter yo!) Most of my invective was aimed at Joe Flacco the QB. Well I had to because it would seem like he had lost the game for the Ravens. Two turnovers on consecutive possessions does not make a good outing for a QB. It was bad. And I was angry.
Of course that's the way the ball bounces. Someone's got to lose, unfortunately it was the Ravens.
The next day, I felt like pizza. Stopped by the local pizza haunt and look who's eating lunch -- my buddy, Joe Flacco. Should I berate him? Should I yell at him? Give him a sarcastic comment?
I wished him good luck towards next year. He thanked me. As he was leaving the area he signed some autographs for a couple of kids. I couldn't get angry at him. It was just that one day.
Classy guy. Wish he could've won the game. There's always next year.
I saw nice preview of this on Kottke.org wherein the Dude walks into the little Lebowski shop in New York. Imagine the hilarity! So I went to program my DVR to record it but unfortunately the local PBS station on DirectTV seemed to not have it on at all. Luckily for us, it was on public television who always has it available on their website.
Can you make it while living in Hawaii? It is really a beautiful place, but could you make a go at it like our cousin Bob? Is even cousin Bob making a go at it?
But it really is a beautiful place, the fake Hawaii, not withstanding.
Black Swan is a cautionary tale for the creative types. If you seek perfection in what you do, the rigid regimen may leave you vulnerable. You can't really play wild because it requires you to let go and be rather than act. Of course this could be dangerous as this throws all logic out the window and you'll go crazy. Just ask Natalie Portman.
Her character can't be perfect to play the black swan. It tears her up inside trying to find perfection in the flawed. Then it tears her up literally in order to find that spark of inspiration to be the black swan.
This movie pretty much writes itself once you know the players. In fact, I knew even before what was going to happen once you hear about Swan Lake. Portman is the quiet, mousy type who's talented but vulnerable. Her mother, Barbara Hershey, lords over her as only a tyrannical stage mother can. The French ballet dude lords over her too making her a new star to take the place of the aging Winona Ryder. Mila Kunis comes in as the doppleganger who could be her rival and/or her lover.
I liked that Winona represented the old guard. You have the millenium generation's ingenue replace gen-x's gamine. Very symbolic. And lots of this movie made use of symbolic things. Swan Lake with the white swan-black swan. Old versus new. Darkness versus light. Perfection versus intuition.
One last thing, that scene, you know that scene, was pretty hot. Filmed like a nice porno. And don't masturbate if your moms sleeping in the same room!
Oysters! Get your oysters here. Mmmm. This looks like a blog to read and savor, then go out and mimic these guys by ordering up a dozen at your local raw bar.
Once in a while, you just have to want to blow up the earth, because earthlings are foolish in their ways. We hate and hate and annoy and hate and despise one another that it's a miracle that we are still here. We have to stop and remember that we all inhabit this world and there is no place else to go.
"So I was sitting in my cubicle today and I realized that ever since I started working, every day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life."
Please make sure that John Lackey and Josh Beckett continue to have subpar pitching performances in the upcoming season. Please make sure that Andy Petitte has truly retired, and if he hasn't ensure that he will not be the Andy Petitte that we all know and loathe. Please allow the Devil Rays to field a AAA level caliber team. Please allow Toronto to fall back behind the Orioles in the wild, wild AL East.
Please allow the Orioles to win some games in this tough division and to turn around their farm system so that 2012 is not El Apocalypto.
A voyage back to yesteryear, Stephen Hyden goes back to his record collection in search of his youth, and as wee young lass growing up in America, liking music, and grasping for sounds that explain himself, he finds it in the alternative music of the 90s. Alt.90s if you will. From Nirvana through Alice In Chains he looks over the bands that made that era.
The funny thing is even if I had 10 years on him this was also the music I listened to as well. It was my pop music and reinforced who and what I was during that time. I spent the last hour reading all the way through to 1996, the latest article. It reminds me of good times.
It was all about the food. Visiting Bob was a side effect. Wonderful that it happened during Thanksgiving. More like a coincidence.
There was the usual plate lunches of kalbi short ribs, fresh tropical fruit, roasted pig, and fish, lots of fish. Fresh fish. Raw fish. It's always so good.
Ran across this insightful critique of Inception and Christopher Nolan late one night as I visited movie critics on the web. Although I did give Inception a good rating, I completely regret it the more and more I think about it. This revision comes from my dislike of Nolan as a director. I remember sitting through Inception wondering why does it have to be so talkative, which for much of the film it was. I think the action in the final third plus the dream concept overrode my initial dislike. I have seen my ways, but today's link puts up ideas that help codify my revision of Inception.
I was searching through my archives looking for that post on Inception that so many people seem to reach via google and then I remembered that I never put up 2010's list of best movies. Now these are just the ones I believe that I had liked at the time I wrote the review. As I look at them, I wonder if these rankings even stand up now. I definitely know it doesn't stand up for Inception, but that is because I don't really like Christopher Nolan's films.
No 5 star films? That's usual, but looking at these only Scott Pilgrim and The Social Network I feel still deserve the ranking. I wonder about Kick Ass. Does it really? I'll have to see.
Speaking from the belly of the beast. The more we spend on this shit. The more we can't spend on any other shit. Our representatives know it. Our president knows it. I doubt that the country does. When talk of tightening our belts is bandied about by those in the know, they never acknowledge this reality: we can only make bombs.
I think I need to crawl out from under the belly. It makes me wholly depressed.
All the little nieces were supposed to get a Hello Kitty plushie for Christmas. They all did, but why did I have two left over? Gave one away and no all that's left for me is Chococat.
Today's link would probably blocked at work so don't even bother clicking it while there. And that's why I'm having it posted late at night after family hour. Keep your kids from clicking through.
Vote for Playboy's playmate of the year. It doesn't matter which one (they all look the same) just vote. Vote early and vote often. Just vote. Democracy needs you.
Then again, when was the last time you thought about Playboy. It's getting to be a joke in this day and age. That old man, Hugh Hefner, getting engaged to woman a quarter his age. I'm jealous and sickened at the same time. I mean it has to be just about the money, because no matter how charming Hugh Hefner can be to find a soul mate with that age difference has to be helped along by the millions he's got in his bank account.
Anyhow, you need to link to some softcore porn once in awhile. And you should vote for Miss February.
Oh, Sawa-chan-sensei, I doubt that you could convince those girls into studying with that sweet temper of yours. Perhaps, you ned to bust out the devil eyes. Yes, devil eyes.
It goes to show you cool the Panasonic Lumix LX3 and its successors LX5, GF1 has been. It's body mimicking a classic Leica body has brought many a photographer over. Now it seems its got some competition. Let's see how well the Fuji camera does. I can't wait to hear the reviews.
So you've seen me old school that golf on Kiawah Island. Now fast forward 15 years and see that I can still play. Of course my stupid scoring is still at the same place as it was back in the day. Except I can hit a driver now, but my short game is gone to pot. My iron play was also terrible no idea why.
When we were in Hawaii, we played golf a couple of days. This is the first day of the vacation and we had a fivesome going but we still played in under 4 hours. Thanks god as I hate how long a round takes.
Weird facebook thoughts about about not going public and just playing with their own money. No idea if this is the right thing to do. It's the ruthless thing to do: make money hand over fist outside of the scrutiny the regulators. It's with Goldman Sachs who themselves don't have too much of a good thing.
I don't know where this is going. Just read the link. I just need a link to keep the streak alive. Seven days baby!
Bashing the golf ball has been fun. Maybe it would've been super fun back in the day if I didn't have to deal with lame equipment. Perhaps it time for an upgrade.
Love this photo from back in the day when I use to go on golfing vacations with my dad, brother and titos. It's the first hole on the most difficult course I've played, Kiawah Island Ocean Course. The layout was tough enough with tiny, raised greens to shoot at. The wind blowing off the ocean just contributed to the difficulty. The fairways were wide and generous only because with the wind keeping it on the fairway was tough. Off the fairways, your stuck in sand. It's bunker shots all the time.
This shot is from the first hole. Nice and easy here. I think I bogeyed. We got three holes in, before the wind came up. It was a nasty day. My brother gave up and hated it, but it was a fun, fun day. We'll be back someday.
Joining Derek Lee, Mark Reynolds, and JJ Hardy in Camden Yards this upcoming baseball season is BrowserMetrics, your humble narrator. I'm just as excited for the upcoming season as the other guys. I just made the commitment by re-upping my season tickets. I'm almost in the same spot, but now 2 rows closer.
Whaa?!
I thought I wanted to be further back in order to catch more foul balls. But then they told me that I could sit two rows closer and all those plans went out the window. Maybe, sitting closer to the ball person will help me increase my chances of receiving a loose ball here and there. Or maybe Nick Markakis can throw one my way.
Now how does this change my predicament of needing someone to come with? And how about when it is three or four people? Darn, I'm wondering if I can keep up as well...
I don't actually cook but to put coconut milk into adobo can't be right. As the article states, there are a million and a half different recipes for adobo, the Philippine's national dish. One for each island in the archipelago and two for each person living there. Even I, who doesn't cook, probably have a version of adobo that I would make: less sauce, beef, like my mom makes.
One thing about being a nerd is that you become obsessive on things. Imagine if you were a nerd who loved, loved, loved the anime K-ON!!, then you would absolutely try to learn everything about the show. You'll find out about the main characters. How tall is Mio? What's Ritsu's blood type? Where is Tsumugi from? Is Yui an orphan? Afterwards, you'll begin to delve into the more esoteric things of the show like the background characters (NSFW). Yup. You'll research who they are and what makes them tick. Just imagine how nerdy you have to be to do that.
I had a nightmare last night. I can't remember the complete specifics. Maybe it wasn't a true nightmare of being chased or stalked or haunted. Maybe it was just a creeped out feeling while asleep. All I know is that I woke up in the middle of the night with the chills as if something, evil, was in the room with me.
I usually keep the door to my bathroom closed. Since it's winter, my furnace is always on. So I keep the door to my bathroom open so that it isn't stuffy with heat in the morning. After I woke up in chills, I spied the black maw that is the open bathroom. I couldn't get it out of my mind that something, evil, was going to come out of there.
I roll over, but that black maw of creepiness is still there.
I try to use the magic kumut, but it was too hot to get under the cover.
I have to go to bed tonight. The dark maw of the bathroom beckoning, but hopefully nothing evil in the room with me.
While it was Hawaii, whose temperature never changes, there was a lot of trade winds blowing. You would think that it wasn't all that bad, but it was. It was a little bit chilly. Getting in the water took a quick jump or a slow ease into. Once in though, it was delicious. We spent every day at the beach or by the pool and the trade winds blowing finally convinced me to get a wind shirt for the water, a pretty little navy blue one from T&C.
Let's drink. It's the new year, but we've been drinking since Thanksgiving. We needed the drinks considering that it was already 15 hours of traveling and we had not yet made it to our destination. Anytime you travel that long, a beer will taste nice.
Starting to post the pictures to last year's awesome Hawaiian Vacation. It may take a couple of days because I took close to 600 pictures. I'm gonna curate the pictures and post only the ones I like. I've already posted some of the pictures: Azu~nyan's vacation.
Just needed a post here so that I can write that binary number you see above.
I keep meaning to finish this manga but, because it's kind of out of print, I have to buy it online. Dang. Someone get me this for Christmas! Oops. Maybe next time.
