November 17, 2008
#   not quite there yet, but on my way 
posted at: 15:42 - |

Last year, I made a kind of resolution for self-improvment. These things tend to fail miserably at the first opportunity so I'm quite happy to see that contrary to expectations it actually worked out relatively well.

I feel much better.

Incidentally, I just found a flat (that I sure as hell am gonna fight for) which would allow me to finally leave the shitty shared flat I've been living in for nearly three years.

Living in my own space like a proper human being. Woohoo, the prospects. :D
 

November 13, 2008
#   "If I ain't dead already, girl, you know the reason why" 
posted at: 12:41 - |

I promise, it's not about me this time.

No, I'm just posting this as a tribute to Mitch Mitchell who passed away yesterday.

Behold the great Dirty Mac performance from the Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Circus, feat. John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell.

Yer Blues - The Dirty Mac


Share and Enjoy :)
 

#   this page has been ninja'd 
posted at: 00:19 - |

Nevermind.


I can really post some stupid shit sometimes, and I don't even have the excuse of being drunk. I guess I'm pretty emotional these days.



Nothing to see here, move along.
 

November 09, 2008
#   no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise... 
posted at: 15:40 - |

It's been a long journey.
 

November 05, 2008
#   Okay, back to serious business now... 
posted at: 21:15 - |

With all that silly history-making election stuff, I'm totally behind my own story-making, and around 6,000 words from where I should be.

In fact, I didn't write anything since *gasp* saturday, which is a total shame. :o

So BACK TO WORK NOW RAPH. PARTY'S OVER!

So say we all.
 

#   history in the making 
posted at: 06:29 - |

Man I would have given anything to be at Grant Park 30 minutes ago.

YES, YOU FUCKING CAN, AND YOU DID!


Holy shit can't believe it's over. If the big grin on my face was any larger, the top half of my skull would fall off...

Epic win.
 

November 04, 2008
#   nuit américaine 
posted at: 23:17 - |

So this is it, after so many debates and battles, probably the most intense campaign I ever watched that I didn't get to vote in. It's not everyday that you get to follow a historic event as it unfolds... We the world watch the US as they decide which way they'll go, and I think it's pretty safe to say that a majority are crossing their fingers to see Obama elected.

I'm one of them. I must admit I wasn't too interested in the guy at first and only followed the primaries because I was curious to see how Hillary Clinton would set up her campaign as Democratic Nominee.
Of course we all know how it turned out. But it's only when Obama made his speech accepting the nomination that I was really impressed by what I was seeing. Only then did I just look at him and listen. He was inspiring. That night, he really captured the spirit of what the US should be, united regardless of parties or skin colour or whatever. The essence of E pluribus unum, right in front of us. No matter the outcome, this speech should go down in history as a defining moment of US politics.

In my opinion McCain did an okay campaign, but he was no match for his opponent's charisma. At the time I write this, he may still win of course. We'll see. But in terms of campaigning, I just can't find anything the Democrats handled blatantly wrong: they were cool, confident, steady. Respectful.
On the opposite side I often found McCain to be confusing, and his repeated "my friends" really get on my nerves. And he kept being negative, attacking at every opportunity instead of focusing on his plans, especially in the end. However the massive error was the choice of Sarah Palin for VP. Ok I'm young, but I swear, I have never seen someone less qualified to run for a higher office than this woman is. She is truely terrible at best, and I'm just terrified at the thought she could be in charge if, $Deity forbid, something happened to McCain.

So yeah, while I don't agree with everything Obama says (After all he'd be in the Right in Europe, there's no true Left in the US*), I do feel he's the best choice. And he does represent change. Change of course, but also of generation.

It's very much a chance for the US to start rebuilding their credit after the disastrous past eight years.


Also at a personal level, I'm very anxious to see the results as I want to move to San Francisco. As much as I love the city though, no way I'm doing that if the States don't realize the error of their ways. Fuck after eight years I sure hope they do... I really like SF.



So long story short, I'm watching the CNN Live stream, and will probably stay up quite late. Uru Bindai ed era-laf'ack tamosh and all that.




See you on the other side of the night.


* Not any Left that has any chances anyway. That's why it's so funny to see this fear of Obama bringing soviet-style "socialism" in the States. I mean come on. This is the US for Pete's sake! You'll see Socialism there when pigs can fly...
 

November 01, 2008
#   Take Five 
posted at: 13:53 - |

It's that time of the year again.

NaNoWriMo, take five.

And in a spirit of jazzy inspiration, I will listen to Dave Brubeck's iconic tune of the same name while I write the first words. ;)
 

October 24, 2008
#   diaries of an amateur photographer 
posted at: 13:51 - |

I've always been fond of photography. Ever since I bought my camera just over two years ago, I've had an increasing interest for the digital kind as well as graphics editing, although only since the Trail have I really started letting go of the preset crutches and playing with my camera's manual settings and stuff to get, you know, actual pictures and not just snapshots.

Lately, it culminated with my black & white experiments in New York City. I've also read a lot about HDR manipulation, and I'm eager to give this technique a try. Incremental steps up the amateur scale that brought me to a point where I'll soon upgrade to a full-fledged DSLR, very likely by year's end.

At the same time, I've been toying with the idea of a photoblog/gallery of sorts for a while, where I could showcase not only my snapshots but also my aforementioned experiments. I have done a few standalone galleries for my trips as well as embedded ones for screenshots and artwork, but nothing that really stood out on its own as a dedicated photo site.

This is now done with my new website Picturesque.

Keeping with my penchant for minimalist layouts, I styled this website off the default Wordpress template and basically got rid of everything "fancy", for a barebones feel that will, in my opinion, put the emphasis on the posted material.

Critics welcome, once it's a bit more fleshed out :)



Incidentally, I'm completely sold on the Wordpress CMS, to the point I may very well migrate all my blogs to that one in the near future. It's probably the best system I've used so far, fluid, seamless interaction, and easy as pie to hack to your liking. Just great. :)
 

October 18, 2008
#   let's build some hype* 
posted at: 21:17 - |

I've come across a few websites lately during my search for the Next Big Thing™... and I may very well have found it.







* like, you totally want to know what I have in mind now, don't you?

October 07, 2008
#   Gaming! 
posted at: 21:12 - |

Been a while since I last spent some time gibbering about this, so here goes.

BioShock

As you may or may not be aware, the demo for the PS3 flavour of BioShock was released last week. But to clarify first, let's start where we left off last year: I'm still very pissed over the debacle that surrounded the PC release and what the publishers did to the game (DRM, install limitations and all that), however I have a different view on DRM on consoles that has, to my surprise, puzzled some folks.

See, I see the P in PC as very important, I build my computer and I want to know what goes on the hard-drive, I don't want any restrictions and I want to be able to use it as I godamn please. On the opposite, in my experience a console is a closed system dedicated to one single purpose, and its manufacturer can do whatever they godamn will, I have little to no control on that.
In that regard, I couldn't care less about DRM on BioShock|PS3, since I am forced to have a PS3 to play it anyway and it's a locked system by definition. I don't know if you follow my logic here, but basically I see two kinds of machines. And this brings us to the main point: the game itself, and the fact I can play it now.

Or rather the demo, in that case.

I liked what I saw, pretty much. It did its job very well in that I still want to buy the full version. I read that there have been occasional hiccups, but I didn't experience any bug myself.

Control scheme is ok, once I inverted the Y-axis. The environment is just gorgeous, I loved the water effects and the reflections, it's really well done. It was a bit too dark by default though (may be my monitor tbh) so I had to tweak the gamma.
I thought overall the atmosphere was great. My favourite moment was approaching that corridor with a woman talking to an empty cradle, with great shadows... the ambiant lighting there was close to perfect. The lost city does feel a bit like the Von Braun, what with the inscriptions, debris and logs lying around.

I'm not too psyched about the Vita Chambers, they feel like a cop-out, and activating them should have been a minimum requirement. Fortunately there is a difficulty level where they are not active at all, which sounds like real fun. The hacking system is a neat game but water pipes don't make much sense to repair a flying bot...

Physics are reminiscent of DXIW, where merely touching a chair will send it flying across the room... Weapons are ok, though I wonder how they explain the external windows don't break when shot. I noticed one slightly annoying design trick in the level, which is to use broken stairways to prevent you from turning back. It's somewhat inconvenient for exploration, I hope the full game doesn't rely too much on that. Enemies were ok, being able to zap them in the water with my new lightning-like ability was a neat trick. The demo's big battle was cool, though I lost track a bit because I'm used to R1 being the "fire" button, and R2 the "switch weapon" one. Meaning I managed to die during the fight, and experience the Vita experience.

To sum up, impressions were pretty good. It looks like a slick game and I'm eager to discover more of that universe. And after seeing the scripted scene introducing them, I don't want to confront a Big Daddy, ever. ;)

Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow

I got that PSP game last January and so far it's the best game I've had the opportunity to play on the platform. That said, it's also the first one I actually complete.

Its flaw, I would say, is that it can become repetitive, once you get used to the game's mechanics. However it provides plenty of cover and I was pleased to see that it also has damage zones, especially for a particular kind of enemy: You can hit it anywhere, it won't bulge, but if you heat the knee, it exposes its back with the suit's generator, and if you shoot that, he's zapped. There's also nice tricks like reading passwords with infrared, actually having to type passwords instead of having a cutscene showing you do it... It's a welcome change to the usual gun 'n duck kind of gameplay, and it's what make this game so damn good.

And if anything, it's worth all the trouble because of the ending cutscene. No spoilers, go play it. :)

Deus Ex 3

This week also marked the first media release of Deus Ex 3 material, and it looks gorgeous. The art is simply stunning and I love the "Cyber-Renaissance" theme they're going for. Things I didn't know, it is now confirmed that it will be a prequel, which is somewhat disappointing, however I can understand where they come from since the DX:IW ending cutscenes explained in detail what happened to the world afterwards. Four times.

Anyways. Prequel, with nice views of Shanghai, divided into two worlds, the upper levels for the upper class and the lower level for, you guessed it, the lower class. No middle-class left in the world eceonomy of 2027, so I better get rich quick if I want to avoid ending in a dump yard.

Understandably, no nano-augs in sight, the game will focus on mechanical mods since those were the big thing pre-2052 and the birth of the Dentons. Apparently, this is before the second US Civil War so the world is still shiny and polished on the surface. Well, in the upper levels at least. The screenshots published there are actually reminiscent of Deus Ex in some ways, which is excellent.

Matters of concern, two of them: Although the devs ensure it's a FPS with an emphasis on RPG elements much like the original was, stealth will be third-person POV. I can't stress how wrong it is, first for a FPS of course, but above all for one bearing the Deus Ex title. Third-person POV is just not cool. The argument that DX had TP at times is shot by the fact these were cutscenes, not gameplay. I don't want to "see Adam do some cool stuff". I am Adam, I want to do the cool stuff myself, if indeed it is cool, which remains to be determined. It's an FPS for Pete's sake. It will break immersion, big time.

Second potential issue, the actual mecha mods. I hope they're not too gimmicky. I'd love to punch through walls, but leaping from building to building, Dr Octopus-style, that's too comic-booky for me. Deus Ex is not Spiderman.

So, good vibes overall, but we'll need to keep an eye on it. It looks like the devs are earnestly trying to avoid another DX:IW, which is a very good sign, and that they are actually listening to at least some of the community's concerns.

To be continued :)



That was my $0.02 about gaming this week :) Here endeth the review.
 

September 30, 2008
#   There and back again, by rapho baggins 
posted at: 23:00 - |

Well I'm back. I can't sleep and I'm jetlagged as hell.

But I had the most excellent holidays ever. I think I actually did manage to top the Trail, which wasn't an easy task. But looking at the results, it's quite clear:
- I jumped out of a plane at 18,000 ft and survived
- I saw Clint Eastwood
- I hiked in the Yosemite wilderness alone and managed not to get mauled by bears
- I visited a ghost town

Now pushing it further is going to be real hard. I honestly don't know if I can do better. I'm thinking either my ever-postponed Aussie Southern Coast roadtrip (Sydney-Perth) or maybe a safari.

I don't know. I'll come up with something, no worries ;)

I'm gathering my strength now for the next big thing: NaNoWriMo. One month to gear up, and I lost a lot of time. After starting so great on a routine, I haven't written anything in over two month :/

Sucks.

Stay tuned.
 

September 11, 2008
#   "Where The Mind is Without Fear" 
posted at: 16:16 - |

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

-- Rabindranath Tagore
 

September 05, 2008
#   Highway 120 Revisited 
posted at: 22:00 - |

In little less than two weeks I will set foot in San Francisco for the second time. What follows is then similar to last year in that I will only spend the night there, and leave the following day to Monterey for the Jazz Festival.

Then the program changes a bit. I'll stick to No Cal this year, staying in the Yosemite area, and driving back to San Fran on the 26th. But no worries, I got some pretty good stuff scheduled for these ten days, and I fully expect these holidays to be nothing less than completely awesome.

Yep.

Follow the adventure at Highway 120 Revisited, this year's travel blog.
 

August 31, 2008
#   *blink* 
posted at: 17:35 - |

Not often does a TV show genuinely freaks me the fuck out. The Weeping Angels are by far the scariest villains I've ever seen...
 

August 20, 2008
#   The Dark Knight 
posted at: 12:12 - |

Heath Ledger was one damn brilliant bastard. He steals the show every time he's on screen.

There are several things way better than in Begins, yet I don't know yet if I'd rate it higher... Review underway.

 

August 17, 2008
#   funny line of the week 
posted at: 19:51 - |

"The government surgically grafted stupidmantium onto my skeleton."

I so have to use that line in an online debate. You gotta love Sinfest. :D
 

August 13, 2008
#   now available in MONSTROVISION™ 
posted at: 11:50 - |

I just received my new graphics card, a Sapphire Radeon HD 4870.

...

Speechless. That thing is a MONSTER, I've never seen a card that big. And heavy too.
I "only" bought one but I hope to give it a CrossFire upgrade later on. The case I have in mind is way big enough (Cooler Master Cosmos 1000).

I foresee lots of stress during assembly. Geez yeah, I hope I won't screw up my most powerfull and expensive rig to date!

Next, the case, after I come back from Cali in September.

Then the CPU (SKU yet TBD, but definitely Core 2 Quad) and the RAM, 8 gigs. I'll buy the HDs last.
 

August 11, 2008
#   A little Dark window 
posted at: 00:57 - |

Back to System-that-was, I reloaded XP way before the end of Vista's 30-day eval period. I have to be frank, I see no real improvement over XP, so there was no need to continue the experiment.

I'm back to XP and also to another venerable piece of software: ShockEd. I reloaded System Shock 2 and that little brat of an editor last week, and played with it again a few times. Oh my, the nostalgia! Revisiting Fort Mendes, the main stage of The Shock Project, was like meeting an old friend. I was wandering through my very own Storage levels and amazed that I was the one who built that thing. (Bear with me on that one please, that level is frikkin' huge) For the sake of honesty, wandering through Medical and Command is also amazing. AR Master's level is brilliant, the best of the bunch by far.

See, I'm planning on going at it again and finish what I started when TSP was handed over to me, what I said I'd do even as we closed shop and put all we had online. I want to finish Fort Mendes and connect the levels together. Finish assembling the TSP stage, complete the base. And there I was last week, as I ran through those corridors, wondering where to even start...

I haven't forgotten everything. By the time I reloaded my Cygnus F4 levels, I remembered a few shortcuts and the old commands came back to mind. It's just so daunting. I have about 8 levels to connect together. And it's not just about adding a few bulkheads, I'll have some serious building to do. Kinda didn't remember that at first.

But here I am, with a Dark Engine fired up and ready in front of me. And that little dude and I, we got some unfinished business to get to. It may be time for that particular dance to end.


This is why Purkaia Software rises from the ashes.
 

July 31, 2008
#   full circle... 
posted at: 21:46 - |

...again

It's pretty much certain I'll go back to XP SP2.
 

July 26, 2008
#   You've been Vista'd 
posted at: 20:32 - |

I decidedly suck at the Linux, especially when it comes to wireless. As long as I'll be hooking up to the Web through that damn Netgear dongle, seems I'll never be able to get a proper connection... So in spite of all the advantages, I'm back in the WinWorld. While I was at it I picked up a Vista Business CD and ran it. Yeah, I guess, I decided to see for myself and actually know what I was talking about, instead of relying on biased reviews.

To my surprise, the bells and whistles do work. It took me a while to get the wireless to work, but once I got there and once all the updates installed, it ran surprisingly well.
I'm not yet convinced and I have 30 days to decide whether or not I'm gonna keep it. There are quite a few disorienting changes, the control panels, the commands, the settings... Nearly none of them are where 10 years of Win98 and XP got me used to see them.
Oh and my performance index is 3.1 because of the CPU. Lowest perf of the bunch. I got lag on videos and stuff, sometimes it gets a bit shaky. I, of course, disabled the UAC as soon as I found out how. Also, I'm less than 24 hours in Vistaland and Explorer already crashed on me once.

So, not perfect.

That said, my building the PC to pretty good specs three years ago makes it a smoother ride than Ubuntu. In spite of the shaky bits, it did work better out of the box, and the drivers were so much easier to find, in spite of the large Ubuntu user-base.
I'm also disappointed that Ubuntu still has a kinda clunky look. Now hold a sec, I don't want to contradict myself from a few weeks back, Compiz is absolutely amazing and I was blown away, but the rest of the UI, after a while, feels so much like the 90's. I know it's Linux, and it's a huge success over what it was before, but if things like Compiz can exist, why not smoothen the entire UI? I know eye-candy is not a priority, and I know color schemes can be changed, but I don't get why people make fun of the turd-colored Zune when Ubuntu's default theme is also in the brownish range.
(Actually I don't get how anyone can pick that color, for anything.)


Anyway, I won't install any apps, just Opera and AVG for Internet, and Word, so I can continue work on my stories. See you in 30 days.

The 24hrs conclusion: I'm not liking Vista yet, but I'm not hating it either. My only regret is that I forgot to remove my iTunes authorization on the Ubuntu install before nuking the partition, and now I got only 4 left.

To be continued.


[EDIT] Actually now I think about it I may reinstall NOLF as well. I've been wanting to replay that one for a while...
 

July 22, 2008
#   A noodly tale of Kung Fu and Awesomeness 
posted at: 18:12 - |

As I said earlier, another great production from the Dreamworks guys, Kung Fu Panda is a noodly tale of Kung Fu and awesomeness.
The epic opening sequence, drawn in "traditional" 2D reminiscent of traditional puppet theaters, is followed by fantastic animation (although I have to admit Pixar's still better), and superb voice acting to tell us the cool story of how the clumsiest Panda in the valley became the legendary Dragon Warrior.

In the course of his training, Po the Panda will gain the respect of the five legendary Kung Fu fighters Tigress, Monkey, Viper, Crane and Mantis, and incidentally learn the secret not only of the Dragon Scroll but also of the Secret Ingredient Noodle Soup.

And yeah, perhaps the story's not original, it's actually the classic Kung-Fu story we've heard before with the grouchy Master who never smiles, the crazy student who just breaks stuff but is really worthy, and the former student turned evil, but honestly, who cares? It's well-drawn, well told, and funny as hell, and it's a joy to watch. The colours and the atmosphere perfectly render a traditional China and its postcard landscapes, mountains lost in the mist, sunny valleys, starry mystical nights, and... loads of fireworks.

Great stuff.

9/10
 

#   a last one for the road :) 
posted at: 12:22 - |


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.


Kung Fu Panda was excellent. Lots of laugh, plenty of fun. Awesome voice acting. Here's another promise for one of my reviews that I never write. (I really should get to it, that's like 4 movies now...)
 

July 19, 2008
#   And this is how it ends. 
posted at: 10:02 - |

Mr. Whedon, I should have known since you were behind this. You just did it again, didn't you?

All of this has happened before. And it has happened again. Pulled a Serenity on us. Let us love the characters just to kill them off in the final act.

Absolutely great ending. Have to watch it again, but really the more I think about it, the only logical one. The rise of Dr. Horrible as a supervillain comes off as a true tragedy, in typical Whedon fashion (We can see he shares the awesome with his brothers... Can I have some? I mean awesome, not brother...) I'm kinda curious to see how Dr. Horrible will fare in the ELE given his admission is pure luck. Or bad luck, as it were. He still hasn't resolved the slight issue of his devices malfuctioning and exploding to his face. Totally lolling at the fact Bad Horse is an actual horse. :D

If I have to find one flaw, and it's not even an objective one, I'm a bit bummed by the musical side of that third act, it sounded less sing-along-y than the first two. Still very good music though, and in tone with the rest of the act I guess. It's one you would rather watch than play music to.

It also reminds me of the genesis of James Bond, in a twisted, super-hero way.

Dr. Horrible sets a new standard in WebTV or whatever this will be called by "mainstream" media. It shows that the "made for Internet" label is not incompatible with great writing, excellent production and A-grade acting. I hope it will kick-off more productions of the same vein. Heck, it made me discover The Guild, which is more League of Henchmen than ELE, let's face it, but still good fun, even when you don't like WoW-type games.

More of this please. And high on the list, at the number one spot, the sequels. Plural.

Because I want a big damn trilogy of that. And given the success of that one, this time, we might get it too.

Peace.
(But not literally)
 

July 16, 2008
#   The world is a mess and I just need to rule it. 
posted at: 12:21 - |

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

This is so fracking good I can't stop watching it. A Whedon musical starring Neil Patrick Harris (as Doctor Horrible, the wannabe supervillain), Nathan Fillion (as Captain Hammer, the cheesy hero and Horrible's nemesis) and Felicia Day (as Penny, the girl at the laundrymat). Untransmattered Comedy Gold.



Click and watch. :D
 

July 12, 2008
#   Inspiration 
posted at: 13:12 - |

I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.
(W. Somerset Maugham)

I've been trying to make mine the words of that guy for a little over a month now (incl. a one week recess due to going back to France for holidays) and I must admit I'm surprised to see that it actually started to work before I left. I'm getting back on track now (lost a bit in this vacation's-over, back-to-work week), but yeah this system is definitely helping.

Except 9am is the time I go to work, so I actually start at 7am.

One to one-and-a-half hour of writing, every morning, except on week-ends. Okay, the first three weeks were spent recompiling everything and adding new ideas, and I've just only started actually writing stuff. But still. After two weeks I got used to it and now it's practically become part of my daily routine.

I expect this to continue.
 

July 11, 2008
#   Dawns of Disruption 
posted at: 12:30 - |

aka: Part III: Title Unveiled.

I finally resumed work on the first two parts of my Rift War story. After recompiling all the places and characters, as it had become a bit complicated to track them all, I've started the cleanup/rewrite process on Evasive Maneuvers and compiled additional plot points for Rift War Rising.

In the process, and to avoid a repeat of my pathetic NaNoWriMo performance last year, I also started outlining the main plot threads that will constitute part 3, which will for now be known as Dawns of Disruption, until I find something better.

So it's going slower than I thought, but the engine is running again, which is an excellent thing as I aim for mid-2009 for a completion date.
 

July 03, 2008
#   freedom 
posted at: 23:27 - |

Well, I honestly wasn't expecting that one any time soon.

Ingrid Bétancourt is free.

Six and a half years. Geez, I can't even begin to imagine how hard that must have been.

Awesome news. Respect.
 

June 24, 2008
#   sudo make me a sandwich 
posted at: 12:42 - |

Config complete!
After setting up the wireless and the codec issues, I installed Wine and got it to install iTunes for me (I have a hefty collection of tunes in there) and it went without a hitch. Everything is going much smoother that i expected, and certainly much better that the last time(s). Ubuntu and Linux as a whole have come a long way...

Yesterday I sudo'd my way into installing the full package for compiz, the GUI manager, and holy shit, it can kicks Vista's ass any day of the week. I know for certain my PC would choke at the Aero features, yet the whole Cube thing in compiz works without so much as a hiccup. The "Expose"-like feature to toggle between apps is also beautifully integrated, it works more like iTunes' cover flow.

So offline everything is great. Now my wireless keeps disconnecting without reason every now and then, and I don't know why, nor can I fix the problem without rebooting... It's annoying but apparently it's the dongle I use that's the problem. I don't get it, I have the proper drivers and all. Ah well.

I saw Mystic River yesterday. Great movie, but jesus it's fucking depressing.
 

June 22, 2008
#   I can haz Linux 
posted at: 21:26 - |

Well, it's what, the fourth or fifth time I install Linux on one of my machines... And it looks like it will be the last time. The last time I install it to uninstall it a few days later, that is. I've just installed Ubuntu 8.04 and it looks like everything is fine, and what didn't work out of the box, I finally managed to get right on my own!

Whee!

Among other things, what I couldn't get to work before, codecs and the Internets, now work fine. The wireless especially wasn't easy but I managed to find a how-to to set it up just right. After that the various updates were easy as pie. Relatively speaking. But still. Even my hardware (Logitech G15) had the main shortcut keys properly configured by default. Still have to work on my G5 mouse though.

So I now have a fully up-to-date Ubuntu system and I'm quite happy with everything so far. It came with Firefox 3 beta but I got Opera 9.5 instead. Old habits die hard.

Colour me satisfied =)
 

May 26, 2008
#   Battlestar... yes, that's right, Galactica (again) 
posted at: 21:05 - |

I'm a bit relieved that they seem to be going in the direction of Kara's prophecy not meaning she'll turn into a genocidal psycho.

There seem to be a lot of guessing that Gaeta is the last Cylon, but that's doesnt seem right to me. Plus if the prophecy is as accurate as Kara's seem to to be, I can't find anything he'd have to find redemption for, not that he didn't do anything wrong over the course of the show, but it never was so big as to be mentioned in a prophecy spanning five thousand years in my opinion... (Me I'm still betting on Zareck, but that's mostly for lack of a better choice.) I know he's in pain, what with losing his leg and all, but God that singing was awful, I wanted to just shoot the guy... Not that it was bad singing, mind you, but it just got on my nerves after a while. I just wondered why they didn't just give him a shot of whatever replaces morphine in the BSG universe.

The alternating Opera House/Galactica chase scene had someone over the sci-fi.com theorize that Galactica itself is the Opera House, and I agree with that, it makes sense.

Can't wait to see what will happen when they unbox the Threes, too. Tigh is totally freaking out.

Extremely good music and mood overall, great, absolutely great ending. That eppy had me on the edge of my seat. After a weak beginning this season has finally picked up some steam and we're really feeling like we're going somewhere.

This is going to be one hell of a ride. :D


And yeah, those are spoiler tags, so don't highlight lightly...
 

May 25, 2008
#   So that's the big move eh? 
posted at: 23:09 - |

Decided it on a whim... Since freylia.net is vacant I'll just move lhoss amdir over here. Link to LG Classics is still on the menu right up on the left sidebar. Everything else is still pretty much the same.

That will be the big review site... Not quite what I had in mind, but hey, when I opened the blog I did choose the three R's to define it: Reviews, Rants and Ramblings.

So there.

Keep flyin'
 

#   hey, t-day today ;) 
posted at: 22:29 - |

Thought I'd forgotten?



I'll try to have an extended review of Indy 4 later, as well as one for Iron Man, that I saw one day earlier. (and very much enjoyed it as well)

I ordered Blazing Angels for PS3, as I completed Need for Speed Carbon and am in the middle of my second Resistance campaign. I loved that game btw, it's brilliant.

Looking back at the past five months, I really feel life has taken a turn to the better, highlighted by the two trips to New York. Everything is still not perfect of course but I seem to have definitely accepted to face my issues and start addressing them. I do think, albeit without certainty yet, that by end of year most of that work could be done and I will be ready to move on. I want to change as always, the only difference is that I have started to act accordingly.

And if you knew me before, that's a pretty big difference.
 

May 24, 2008
#   new new layout 
posted at: 18:40 - |

I end up copying the basic freylia layout over to all my subsites... +10 for consistency, but eventually isn't it a bit monotonous?

Hm.

It's a good design imo. If it ain't broke...
 

May 23, 2008
#   Indy 4 
posted at: 01:01 - |

Just came back :D

Woohoo!:D The beginning was a bit weak with the references to Marcus and Papa Jones looking quite a bit forced imo, but then it was all back to pure fun. Broadbent is a ok substitute to Brody, not that he appears much anyway. LaBeouf is not bad at all as a sidekick and my, as soon as Karen Allen made her appearance the movie was a joyride. The chemistry between her and Ford took me back to the Lost Ark days, and is worth the entry price in itself.
The plot is more extreme than the previous three installments although fantasy has always been part of the Jones universe but the whole movie feels like an old serial brought back to life, which is what I hoped for. It was great.

Raph Approved* :thumb:




*Patent pending. Does not guarantee anything. User experience may vary. Your shoelace is undone.

May 21, 2008
#   b&w... 
posted at: 16:06 - |

That one's a bit too darkish after all... I'll try to whip up something better later on.
 

May 19, 2008
#   new layout 
posted at: 23:25 - |

Time for a change. Hope you like. :)
 

#   hrm 
posted at: 19:50 - |

Yeah, I'm a whiner. Deal with it.
 

#   fed up 
posted at: 00:03 - |

I wish I could leave that fucking city. I know I will eventually, but it's still at least a year away and I'm so tired of it here. Not the job, the city itself, I just can't stand it anymore sometimes.

May 09, 2008
#   Mai '68 
posted at: 16:04 - |

L’Âne et les trublions

Dans une capitale un certain mois de mai,
Assiégé par une foule pour le moins agitée,
Un âne regardait en hochant la caboche,
Les tempes douloureuses d’une fièvre inopportune,
La cité retentir de l’invasion de fortune.
Les trublions arrivent, et de l’âne s’approchent ;
Dépavant la chaussée, montant des barricades,
Clamant leurs doléances avec force bravade,
“Fi, Monsieur, regardez alentours,
Que de gâchis et peine, que d’esprits étroits !
Abattons les barrières, mettons à bas ces tours,
Illuminons les âmes de ces lâches bourgeois !”
Aussitôt la foule s’anime, et scande à l’unisson,
La clameur se répand dans toute la nation
L’aigle et l’âne prennent peur, envoient les hirondelles,
Mais rien n’y fait, partout les trublions résistent,
L’âne concède enfin la ruine ministérielle
Face aux huées sans fin des meutes avant-gardistes.
Respirons maintenant, disent les trublions :
Nous avons tant fait, tant dit, maintenant plus de haine.
Ça, Monsieur l’Âne, payez-nous pour la peine.
Faites place, sortez, nous vous remplacerons,
Ainsi certaines gens, faisant les révoltés,
Après s’être immiscés dans les affaires d’État,
Décriant leurs aînés et leur esprit bourgeois
S’installent ensuite dans la place libérée.

Quarante années après les jouisseurs sans entraves,
Iceux se prélassent dans la fleur de leur âge,
Et si vous pardonnez cet excès de langage,
La situation reste quand même assez pourrave.



(contribution à ce petit concours de fables)
 

April 21, 2008
#   BSG cont'd 
posted at: 12:56 - |

Contrary to what I usually do (I fear spoilers) I went to some BSG forums as I wanted to see the reactions to this week's episode's $MAJOR_EVENT.

More that said reactions, I was surprised to see that a few analysis and thoughts about the Cylon Zareck theory put it just as likely as anyone else if not more, and there are definitely hints out there, more than I thought, dating from way back even. Although it obviously does not guarantee he (or anyone else for that matter) is the Final One, he is one serious contender for the title.

To be continued.
 

April 20, 2008
#   Battlestar Galactica and other TV shows. And gaming. 
posted at: 03:26 - |

This season is probably going to be most interesting of all. This week's episode was a serious WTF and I guess it means that in the end everyone is or will be fair game... (Which is good, see Serenity for example). They're certainly not holding their punches, that's for sure. It's very sad but well, the almost-Final Four are Cylons after all. Still, I'm kinda pissed they did what they did.

I liked where they were going with the Cylon schism and I hope there will be more about that. Cavil is a real bastard though but there could be something left there, or at least repercussions.

My latest theory on the Final One is Tom Zarek. I'm probably wrong but in some ways it kind of makes sense. I still think Adama, Roslin and Baltar can't be the One. Especially Baltar. That would be too easy.

In other news I borrowed the boxset of The Wire, Season 1 from a colleague, and holy cow what a good show it is. Gritty and real, I'm definitely hooked. I had to watch the first couple of episodes with subtitles though, but now I got kind of used to it I understand ok. Gotta find more of dat shit, yo. Know whadda mean?

I completed Resistance: Fall of Man, and I can't wait for the sequel. Been a while since I last played a game that good, probably a year, year and a half since Half Life 2. I hope they keep the same control scheme, it's the most intuitive FPS I ever played on a console. I was a bit bummed at times that they cut to a cutscene instead of just letting the player go through hell (like with whatever that was in that level) but overall it's a fantastic game.
 

April 16, 2008
#   freylia.net TNG 
posted at: 11:41 - |

Now the move to LG Classics is pretty much complete, I decided to convert freylia.net as a review website. Meaning I'll post reviews of movies primarily, but also books and possibly music.

First posts will be reviews posted here that no-one ever read. (Not that it's gonna change once they move over :p)


But yeah let's do that.
 

April 15, 2008
#   XKCD 
posted at: 15:58 - |

It's comics like this that just make my day.
 

April 07, 2008
#   fade in, fade out, whatever, just fade to something! 
posted at: 20:25 - |

...says the inner voice.

Because we're one week in and I still haven't written shit. I really have to start soon or this thing is over before it's even started.

Also need updating my black and white photos.

Also need to wake up earlier.

Also need to play less Resistance: Fall of Man and go to bed earlier in order to accomplish previous item. No, replacing Resistance: Fall of Man with Motorstorm is NOT an option.

Also, need to log off this damn blog and start to actually WRITE.


/me's out.
 

March 27, 2008
#   black and white photography 
posted at: 03:24 - |

It's difficult but I'm starting to get good results...

Here's a try at old-style fashion:



comments welcome :)
 

March 26, 2008
#   N.Y. 
posted at: 00:50 - |

“It’s times like this when you realize that anybody who doesn’t live in New York is, let’s face it, kidding themselves.”
- Jenna Elfman, Keeping the Faith
 

March 20, 2008
#   screw this, I'm gonna live. 
posted at: 21:29 - |

... or how to try to emulate a master writer (in this case Joss Whedon) by writing my own shitty wannabe-brillant script. ;)



Weeeeee, here it goes again :)
 

March 17, 2008
#   "Moi, j'étais fait pour être jardinier." 
posted at: 17:33 - |

Alors non content de te trouver, ils sont allé chercher celui qui t'a descendu. Un pauvre aviateur aveugle, accomplissant sa mission dérisoire...
J'aurais tant aimé qu'ils te laissent en paix, Tonio. Avec les tiens, Jean, Henri, Marcel et tous les autres. Mais les statues de glaise sont faciles à admirer, et tu étais une cible bien facile.
Et tu auras donc été victime d'un jeune pilote un peu trop enthousiaste. Ou peut-être fus-tu imprudent en ce dernier jour, qui sait ?

Peu importe après tout. Cette mitraille n'était juste qu'un petit serpent qui te renvoyait vers ta rose, dans les étoiles, et l'histoire touche ainsi à sa fin, si tragiquement prosaïque. Une histoire de guerre au fond, comme tant d'autres, banale, déchirante.

Repose en paix, Tonio, frère des hommes.

March 05, 2008
#   <title> 
posted at: 21:11 - |

For about ten-fifteen years, I've been dreaming to go to New York. Some of that time was spent thinking about moving there but mostly I just wanted to stay for a while and visit.

And now I'm going there for the third time in less than six month. And instead of just two-three days, this time I get to spend a whole week, and since (just like last time) I'm going for work, I won't have to pay a dime.

I was a bit startled at first last October after spending two weeks on the road and after the relatively cool vibe in California... That said I liked it a lot, and the few days we spent at the Company's 15th anniversary event last January made for an awesome confirmation of that feeling.

And now, a whole week. Granted, I'll be working all day, but this is a fantastic opportunity. And I don't mean that for the tourist factor only...

I've been really feeling better since last January since it coincided with some change in my life that was much needed, and since that change was very close to be a bad one, I'm very grateful of the chance I got to pretty much start over and make it work this time. I'm also trying to have a better outlook on life, even if the personal side of it is still pretty much no-show. I also try to not see myself as an utter failure like I always did, something that's slowly working its way in my mind as something I could some day consider true.

I can't say that it did all the work, but a book absolutely helped in this process, it's "Learned Optimism: How to Change Your mind and Your Life" by Martin E. Seligman. Not all of that book rang a bell, but when I did that test and found I had a score that made me borderline suicidal, something just snapped, I had to stop being such a wreck. It's not easy, of course, and it's not like I'm gonna wear Hawaiian shirts and flashy hats from now on, but I'm (slowly, again) trying not to give to much thought to every single thing people say to me, trying to think that not everything people say is personal and has a hidden meaning.

In a way, I'm learning not to care about stuff, which admittedly could be a slippery slope, but a necessary one in my case. I've been taking everything personally for so long, I just can't take it any more.

Next step will be to open up. Considering my relationship skills are non-existent, that will certainly be interesting... But I'm decidedly at one point in my life where I can really see some change on the horizon, and after so many screwups, I feel like it's a last chance or something. It's the last lifeboat on my own personal Titanic, and I have to get in there.


In other news, since Oz2K8 is postponed, I decided to go to Monterey in September for the MJF, and then go spend a week in Yosemite, in June Lake. And that won't interfere with my birthday present to myself, since there's also a skydiving club in Monterey.

That's my only resolution for 2008: This year, I will jump 14,000 feet. Mark my words. ;)