Tuesday, February 26, 2008

I've burnt my Sunday, Monday and the whole of today staring at a computer screen trying to stick videos together, and then trying to get them out in one whole piece. Unfortunately an error box always prevents me from doing so.

After a lot of trial and error, I managed to get the final video rendered. And I still don't know how I solved it.

Now it starts to pop up again.

I'd say this over and over again - the computer is meant for entertainment. Not work. I'll never be forced to do work on a computer again (yeah right).

Anyway, the A level results are gonna be released soon I guess? Gotta get in those scholarship applications before the current batch of graduates, armed with their 4As, 3 Distinctions and 2 A1s, flood them providers.

And you'd better reply this time, Mr. PUB and Mr. Sembcorp. Or you'll be missing a great talent. XD

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Quote an interview by Excite:

Excite: So as seen in your lyrics, "you look up to the lights in the house; you look at the sad faces reflected in the puddle of water". These little actions by the character (in the song) actually gives the idea of the whole story (to the listener), that is difficult to express in words.
YUI: Also in the lyrics, "I tried saying I'll be fine. But that's not possible." The word "fine" (daijyoubu) is the key word. When someone asks you whether you're fine, the natural reply will be "Yes I'm fine", but when you cool down and think about it, you'll realize that you are actually not. (How can it be possible?) This is what the main character in the story feels. As a detective (the main character in the drama), it's inevitable to feel afraid or uneasy at times, but one always tries to deceive himself by saying he's fine. But the truth is otherwise, isn't it?

Excite: How about you yourself?
YUI: Of course I feel the same way, like everyone else. Taking a couple/ lover as an example, when both of them are parting for one month (say, for work), when the guy asks the girl whether she'll be fine. Her natural reply would be "Yes I'll be fine. Go for your work." Isn't it so?

Excite: Yes, indeed. She'll try to act tough. (to assure her husband/ boyfriend)
YUI: Yes, a phrase that we always use "I'll be fine", "Don't worry about me". It's something that's said too easily.

-Credits to depyon

That's so true, ain't it?

Monday, February 18, 2008

ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

I was just reading about a forum thread debating the quality of Japanese rock bands out there, when I thought about AKFG. Since I'm kinda bored right now, why not introduce them over here?
Of course with Wikipedia and all that stuff, everything can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Kung-fu_Generation

I'll just give a (biased) personal review of them =)

Right. ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, or AKFG, or ajikan (as fans call 'em), is probably one of the more popular indie/alternative rock bands in Japan right now. How did I discover them? Unsurprisingly it was via anime, Full Metal Alchemist to be exact - the song was Rewrite. It wasn't until a few months after hearing that song did I search for more, and discovered 4 albums filled a bunch of alternative, rock, slow-rock and punk rock - styled music. While their style wasn't new, it was a refreshing change from the typical Japanese rock band - low, sexy vocals, fast drum beats, crazy solos, and (most of them) visually appealing.

AKFG has none of those, yet their songs are catchy and unique. Credit goes to songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Gotoh. Compared to other more accomplished vocalists, Gotoh's voice bends towards the raw side, which works well with their high-octave and powerful songs (think Chester Bennington from Linkin Park, though not as screamy). Musically-wise, their star man is drummer Ichiji. Complicated drum patterns dominate their songs, most obviously in Blue Train. Bassist Yamada provides steady, powerful bass-lines, while lead guitarist Kita compliments Gotoh's power chords with rhythmic riffs. While not musically superior compared to other popular bands like L'arc en ciel, they exhibit great chemistry and are great to watch live. Just do a search on YouTube and you'll get what I mean.

I'm just disappointed that I can't get my hands on their CDs and videos in Singapore stores. Which is a pity, considering their album cover arts are bizarre yet stunning.

My favourite playlist of their songs would include these: Rewrite, Kimi to machi Made, Kimi to iu Hana, Loop & Loop, Re:Re, Blue Train, Aru Machi no Junjou, Understand, Powder Snow, Mirai no Kakera and their latest single - Korogaru Iwa, Kimi ni Asa ga Furu.

And I'd like to say one more time - they sound GREAT live.

If I'm feeling bored another day, I'll probably dedicate posts to YUI, chatmonchy and Mika.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

*Beep* Nuclear Launch Detected *Beep*

Thats the sound of someone nudging me on msn.

YES!

Custom-made Starcraft sounds for msn messenger!

Now whenever someone signs in I hear "U want a piece of me, boy?"

The possibilities are endless.

Ok enough reminiscing about the good ol' days.

These few days have been enlightening and relieving for me. Even though I feel tired out from all the late nights, its hard to not be in good spirits.

Looking forward to the weekend!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

The average human being: "Bugs are dumb, they fly and bang themselves on light bulbs the whole night and drop dead."

The naturalist: "Poor bugs. We humans screwed up their senses by inventing light bulbs (hear that Mr. Edison?) instead of enhancing our night-vision via evolution."

Random musings gleaned from observing dumb moths crash and burn against my fluorescent lamp tube.

Come to think about it, we have devolved (Greymon to Agumon style) in a sense that night blindedness and short-sightedness are becoming increasingly common. What next?

Friday, February 08, 2008

Xin nian kuai le, wan shi ru yi!

Probably the most spoken phrase these past few days.

Well, its the Year of the Rat, so hopefully there'll be lots of rice to eat this year. Remember rat <3 big rice? LOL.

CNY has been rather mixed so far for me. Got to see relatives which I haven't seen for a year, eat delicious food, wake up late for 4 days (cheers for CNY falling on a Thursday!), get ang pow and relax.

On the other hand, I've had to contend with some project to be completed by next week involving Photoshop which I'm still terribly noob at, a pain in my nose probably caused by excessive "heatiness" and an overall lethargy carried forward since guard duty.

Plus the sheer bad choice of movies showing on TV (i.e. the 1st Harry Potter, I Do I Do and Kung Fu Soccer) Oh alright Kung Fu Soccer wasn't that bad, at least it was funny, but its probably been shown a zillion times already.

Where's a Jackie Chan police story when u need one?

Oh well, Happy New Year everyone!

Monday, February 04, 2008

ruido.

Voila, the project I've been working on for the past few weekends! Finally finished recording last night, after a few hours of trying out different solos.

Still not very satisfied though - I found the solo a tad too slow (and simple) to match the upbeat tempo of the song. Oh well, at least it fits =)

Click to play!

or if u wanna hear it over and over again on your computer(LOL), download link here:

RUIDO (instrumental extended ver.)

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Somehow I went to sleep last night with sore neck muscles (I don't know how it happened, maybe a combination of a few headers in soccer, weird sleeping positions in the car and some head-banging to Japanese rock songs), and woke up this morning with no neck muscles.

Ok I'm exaggerating here, but I nearly couldn't get up just like how you feel after chionging 40 sit-ups in 1 minute for IPPT.

I need a brace.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

fried.

I fried the USB ports on my old Compaq P4 PC this afternoon after a freak accident. I was connecting the USB cable for my external hard drive when a balloon popped up and said something about USB ports not working, then I noticed that my USB-powered mouse couldn't work. That was when I smelt this faint chao da smell.

Oh shit.

Turns out I short-circuited the chipset which controls the USB ports. Which means no more USB connectivity. Luckily, I found a solution over the (what else?) Net - get a PCI card with USB ports! Never knew it existed in the first place. Thankfully it costs below $20, otherwise I'll be wasting the advance CNY pay I received today.

Lesson learnt: Connect all your USB gadgets very carefully! And don't plug them in and out repeatedly like a pair of rabbits in heat - apparently the ports can get fried from the excess, erm, heat.

Friday, February 01, 2008

beefing up time.

Chinese New Year is coming!

As with all festive seasons, I'll be careful with what comes together with all those "Gong Xi Fa Cai" e-mails and greeting cards. Who knows, a bak_kwa.exe might just be the next killer of computers.
Plus with all those reports coming out about super trojans and bugs, its starting to get me uneasy, even with my extra paranoid (by ungeeky standards) security systems in place.

Best 46 Free Utilities

Thats a really useful site, especially if you're tired of paying $60 every year to renew that Norton Anti-virus license. I personally don't like Norton and McAfee, 2 common AV programs that come pre-installed in our PCs. Why pay when you can get better ones for free?

After another revamp of my system(s), it stands like this:
AVG Free Anti-virus 7.5
AVG Anti-spyware Free
Spyware Doctor 5.0 Starter Edition (Free)
Windows Defender (Free with Vista)
COMODO Pro Personal Firewall 3.0

and CCleaner to clear out the crap from my temporary files (thats what the "C" stands for ^^)

As a testament to its prowess, I haven't had a single virus attack (minor one last year, detected and cleaned immediately), and no serious spyware/trojan attacks. Bring on those pineappletart.exe and hongbao.exe buggers!