Prizrak's Construct

My Attempt at Nerdcore Rap

2007-04-11T13:13:00.000-06:00

i’m a digital gangsta in this age of information overload
my hardware is pimp and my data rates are out of this world
anonymous proxy is my bandit mask
as i wear a fake projected identity vest
as i cruise down the ghettos of the information superhighway
doing digital drive-bys on the fools who don’t see shit my way
my wit and my mad skillz are my nine and my ak
taking down lamerz with inferior intellect all day
hola!

Моя Поездка в Сан Франциско

2007-04-05T17:07:00.000-06:00

Я летал с колегой в Сан Франциско почти на неделю. Там была конференция Майкрософта, по разрабодке Виндоз и веб софта. Работа за все заплатила - типа это рабочее обучение.

Останавливались там в гостинице в самом центре. (Photo) Гостиница дорогая, но давольно хиленькая. Старая такая, мебель немного грязная, номер маленький, телевизор маленький, ванная маленькая, итп. Но были все удобства в принципе - майкровэйв и кофе машина, белье и полотенца чистые каждый день, итд. Просто, мы раньше останавливались в лучших, за гораздо меньше. Даунтаун Сан франциско просто популярное место для туристов. Конференция была в пяти минут ходьбы.

Как только прилетели, приехали на метро в центр, збросили вещи в гостинице и пошли гулять по городу. Город большой, шумный и быстротемпный. (Photo) Давольно много бомжей, почти на каждом квартале - в основном черные (Photo) а так, такое впечатление что город китайский. Город холмистый и там трамваи ездят по этим крутым, холмистым улицам. (Photo) Мы забрели в Китай-город и там вообще как в Пекин попал, но много белых туристов с фотиками. Интересное место конечно - там даже архитектура китайская. (Photo) Зашли там перекусить в одну забегаловку в стороне от туристского маршрута. Она была переполнена и нам прешлось ждать. Мы там были единствинные белые люди. Все было очень вкусно, дешево и в больших порциях. (Photo) Гораздо лучше чем у нас тут китайские рестораны.

Потом мы поехали в другой конец города к Русскому книжному магазину "Знание". Магазин закрылся но там в округе были еще разные магазины с Русскими вывесками - типа продуктовые. Я хотел купить кваса, но не хотелось потом долго его таскать. Купил бутылочку Боржоми зато. Она потом сильно пригодилась. Мой колега Лэнц купил Русскую газету какуе-то. Там напротив Русская церковь была даже, с золотыми купалами. (Photo) Мы там фоткались.

Не знаю известно ли тебе, но у нас в фольклере считаетья что Сан Франциско это город геев. Много всяких стереотипов по этому поводу. Я лично думал что там геи типа везде ходят держась за ручки, но на самом деле, мы давольно мало там такого встретили. Но вот в том "Русском районе" нарвались на одну(го). Шла навстречу нам такая пестро-одетая дамочка, в розовой мини-юбке и на каблучках. С начала, я подумал что просто блядь какая-то, но когда сблизились, я посмотрел на "ее" открытую грудь, плечи и руки. Короче, у "нее" плечи были шире чем у меня. Мексиканский бугай, в общем. Мы немного похихикали когда он прошел.

Мы пошли дальше, так как автобуса не было и мы добрели до берега Тихого океана. Был туман, ветерок и моросило чем то мелким. (Photo) Мы прошли в гору вдоль дороги, а потом по парку вдоль берега. Спускаться к самому океану было слишко круто. Проходили через заброшенные военные укрипления эпохи войны. (Photo) Короче, мы набегались, находились в гору и я весь вспотел и промок под дождем. Тот Боржоми очень хорошо уталил мою жажду зато. Наконец мы вышки на Голден Гейт Бридж, один из самых известных мостов в мире и один из главных турестических остановок в СФ. (Photo) Там немного пофоткались в тумане а потом сели на автобус и поехали в одно место под названием Пристань 39.

Пристань 39 - это старая пристань которую переработали в место развлечения для туристов. (Photo) В общем там куча всяких кафе, ресторанов, сувенир шопов, итд, прямо на океане. Лэнц там пошел на такую штуку где его привязали к резине на батуте и запускали как из рагатки. (Photo) Было давольно забавно. В основном дети это делали. Потом там еще целая куча моржей на пляже воляються и гавкают. (Photo) Мы их пофоткали. С берега видно Алкатраз - остров на котором когда то находилась самая суровая тюрьма в Штатах. (Photo) Из нее яко бы никто никогда не збежал. Мы хотели поехать на нохную экскурсию туда, но не записались во время. Туда трудно попасть.

Потом мы пошли в рыбный бар-ресторан, где выпили по пару холодный стаканов пива и поели рыбных изделий. (Photo) После этого, нам надо было добраться обратно до центра. Мы сели на трамвай, который был сильно переполнен и ехал очень жестко и делал резкие остановки. Это напомнило мне советские времена. Трусились мы так почти пол часа, пока не даехали. Там так же было душно. Добрались до гостиници и спали как убитые.

На следующий день пошли на конференцию на девять и были там до шести тридцати. (Photo) Там каждый день был безплатный завтрак, ланч и всякие закуски, кофе, сладкая вода, итд. Давольно ниплохо кормили. Там был один зал с диванами и большими телевизорами играющии фильмы и игравые приставки. (Photo) Там можно было раслабиться немного между всеми презентациями.

Так давольно информативная коференция была. Узнали много о новых разработках в нашей рабочей области. Во вторник там был безплатный обед и вечеринка с разным весельем типа разыгрования призов, програмистские соревнования и даже алкагольные напитки и мороженное. (Photo) В тот день, мы провели на конференции четырнадцать часов.

Чего там еще... ходили есть пицу в настоящем Итальянском ресторане... ходили опять к океану, теперь уже в хорошую погоду. Я там сделал много классных снимков. (Photo) Что интересно что там земляника растет прямо на скалах вдоль океана, но ягод еще не было. (Photo) Видели гиганского Калифорнийского слизняка - банановый слизняк называеться, потому что похож на банан. В треть метра длинной - тварь мерзкая. :) (Photo) Ходили еще бродили по унерситетскому району где много приличных домов а потом ели в ресторане на веранде высоко на центральной прощади. (Photo)

О да... там в "Русском районе" видели мазагин под названием "Польская Колбасная Фабрика" а потом окозалось что есть еще гей бар под названием "Колбасная Фабрика" там где то. Мы шутили на эту тему. Проходили один раз мимо гей стрип-шоу под названием "Гора Членов". (Photo) Я уже говорил что там много бомжей... там вот один бомж сидел прямо возле конференции и просил тысячу баксов каждый раз когда мы проходили. Говорил что если нет наличных, что можем пойти на его веб-сайт и послать ему по ПэйПэлу деньги. Да... уже. Еще один бомж в центре посадил такого печально-выглядещего, старого кота деньги просить. Я поскольку обажаю котов, не выдержал и положил 50 центов коту в тарелочку. Мои друзья думали что кот не настоящий, но он вздрогнул когда я бросил монеты. (Photo)

В публичном транспорте там много всяких интерессных типов, включая водителей, который водят как маньяки и еле говорят по Англиски. Один вечер, шли в госиницу в одинадцать вечера а там на площади, на углу ансамбль классный играл. Вокруг собралась толпа и парочки даже танцивали. (Photo) Ребята очень хорошо играли. Их инструменты были подключены к батарее от машины. Мы там остались, досмотрели концерт и даже купили их диск. Весело было. Там даже пьяные китаец, мексиканец и бомжи танцивали.

Еще, в один вечер зашли в Русский ресторан. Называеться "Катина Русская Комната Чая". (Photo) Считаеться как бы самым котируещимся Русским рестораном в СФ. Давольно меленькое место и официант даже Американец был. Было давольно вкусно, но обдираловка дикая - типа два бакса за один блин! Четыре маленьких блинчиков и блюдце с крассной икрой, селедкой и сметаной было двадцать баксов! Это типа закуска была. Лэнц ел пельмени в бульене - а я шашлык (кусочки меса с рисом). Маленькие порции были. Наполеон был вкуссный на дессерт. Мы там тоже бухнули четыреста грам Столичной - другой водки у них даже не было! (Photo)

Много там красивых азиаток и вообще разных разодетых женщин. Насмотрелся. (Photo)

Мне в принципе хотелось там посетить еще кое какие экзотические места, но ребята оба женаты и религиозны. :(

Вот так то прошла моя коммандировка в Сан Франциско.

P.S. Чуть не забыл! - Мои сумашедшие колеги ходили купаться в океане ночью. :) (Photo)

MacBook Pro BSOD SOB!!!

2006-07-08T15:44:00.000-06:00

This is going to be one of those blog posts written in a moment of anger and frustration, meant to help me vent these emotions. By the way, Word 2004 (Mac) just underlined the word “blog” as a spelling error! LOL! Any way, as some of you may know, I recently needed something new to play with and ended up acquiring an Apple MacBook Pro 15.1”. You know, one of those babies, which according to Apple are inherently more fun and stable than the “Windoz PeeSeas”. Hardware-wise, this laptop is hardly a match for my beastly, custom-built, overclocked Athlon 64 desktop with 2 GB of CL2 RAM, 10,000 rpm Raptor hard drive and a GeForce 7800GT video card, yet I have it hooked up to my monitor and am using it as much as possible here at home, just to familiarize myself with OS-X up to level I am familiar with Windows XP and to a lesser extent, Ubuntu Linux. So, getting to the gist of this post… I am sitting here and multi-tasking in OS-X. You see, I have recently found a CD-R disk that I had misplaced for a while. The disk contains all of my early experiments with digital photography, going back to early 2001, when I bought my first digital camera, a measly 1.4 megapixel FujiFilm FinePix 1400. I was really happy to find this disk and promptly imported all the photos to my iPhoto library. At this point, I proceeded to going through all of the pictures, picking out the good ones, fixing them and queuing them for upload to Flickr, while at the same time chatting with fags on IRC, listening to my iTunes library and a little bit of web surfing. I got through 75% of the pictures, having queued dozens and dozens for Flickr upload, when this happens! I get the OS-X version of the infamous Windows BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death), locking me out of the OS and telling me to do a hardware reset. Just see the picture. Fucking great! Now, I have to redo going through hundreds of photos, picking out the good ones and queuing them for Flickr upload. Thanks for wasting my time, Apple. Fun and stable – for me to poop on! At least your version of the BSOD is more attractive –overlaid on top of the desktop and without the completely useless diagnostic info. The useless error report comes up after the forced reboot. The sad thing is that I can’t even remember the last time I lost a bunch of work due to a BSOD in XP. Kids, don’t believe the hype! Macs are still great and all, but don’t expect magic.

Gay Emo Poem That Leaked Out Of My Head Practically On Its Own

2006-06-29T00:40:00.000-06:00

I saw you out the window… walking by.
So perfect, so full of grace…
You were a rare sight in this shithole place.
You turned your face toward me and looked past into the distance and I saw the sadness in your eyes.
I can’t get you out of my mind.
Fucking girl in designer low-cut jeans, high-heels and pretty white top!
I thought you were just a piece of ass at first, but then for a moment, I saw what’s inside.
When I remember you, I wanna cry.

Wireless Desktops and Logitech DiNovo Laser Desktop Bluetooth Impressions

2006-06-13T16:21:00.000-06:00

I've been shopping around for a decent wireless keyboard because I got bored of my old PS2 HP keyboard and also wanted something that would work with my new MacBook Pro. I've been doing quite a bit of online research and "borrowed" a Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 from Best Buy. I liked the feel of the semi-ergonomic keyboard that came with that, even though it gave me random connection quality warnings and the driver would crash from time to time. I disliked the MS Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 though. No matter how hard I tried to get used to it, it just felt "off" compared to my old Logitech MX1000. The tracking didn't seem as precise and it just didn't fit comfortably in my hand and was hard to pick up. So, I tried to use just the keyboard with my old mouse, but unfortunately, they seemed to intefere with eachother, giving me all kinds of weird movement anomalies in games. So, I took this MS combo back to Best Buy. I didn't see anything to replace it with at Best Buy and went to Staples. Staples had a much finer selection of input devices, which included the ultra cool looking Logitech DiNovo Laser Desktop Bluetooth. The idea of Bluetooth is really appealing to me, due to its increased security over the standard RF wireless and ability to connect to something without some external receiver device. Of all the Bluetooth combos on the market (all 3 of them), this one had the most decent reviews and a major coolness of design factor. Unfortunately, it was a steep $200, but I decided to "borrow it" to see how it works, figuring that if I like it, I could always take it back to Staples and buy it for much less online. So, here are my initiall impressions:

So far, I have to say, I AM rather impressed. A lot of the reviews mention how sucky and hard to install the software is, which is not that unusual with Logitech products. This is why I just avoid installing their software. Both my PC and Mac picked this up right away (Mac using its internal Blutooth) and it just worked. The volume control and media keys work just fine without the bloated software suit. The numpad/remote thingie doesn't work I'm sure (well, the numpad part of it actually does), but I already have a PC remote and thus not interested in this functionality.

I really like how small and low profile the keyboard is, in addition to looking hella cool and futuristic. It will definitelly get you some jealous looks from your buddies. Since I don't really use numpads, it leaves a lot more room for my mouse on the desk too. I am still getting used to the keys, but I think I am going to like them. Overall the keyboard is pretty comfortable, especially if you like laptop keyboards. The mouse is a new and improved Bluetooth version of the venerable MX1000 Wireless Laser Mouse. It adds a tilt wheel for horizontal scrolling and seems to be a bit lighter. The charging station is a lot smaller too and the mouse fits into it easier. As a long term MX1000 user, I really like this mouse. Despite some users of this combo reporting mouse lag problems, it seems just as accurate and lag-free to me.

I also really like how there's no big ass wireless receiver that plugs into a USB slot through a cable, like Microsoft products use. The only thing here is a little flash drive sized Logitech bluetooth dongle that plugs directly into the USB slot. I believe it lets you connect any other Bluetooth stuff as well.

Oh, I did run into one issue with this combo. I was playing Half-Life 2: Episode one and I have the Alt key assigned to Sprint. I noticed when I hold it down to sprint, it often doesn't stay pressed and instead goes into a kind of "auto-fire" mode or makes me stop sprinting all together. Hopefully I will be able to resolve this issue.

Macs vs Dells: The Price of Trendiness

2006-06-09T17:04:00.000-06:00

I originally posted the following as a comment on this post --> http://lseeley.blogspot.com/2006/06/macs-are-expensive.html

I thought it relevant enough to make a blog post out of, so I hope you enjoy:

Here in the US, Dell offers insane deals on their Inspiron line, practically on daily basis through coupon codes that you can apply when the configured laptop is in your cart. Sites such as www.techbargains.com and www.bensbargains.net post these coupons all the time. The typical coupons are the $300 off a $999 purchase, $450 off a $1499 purchase and $750 off a $1999 purchase.

I have a 1.83 Ghz MacBook Pro that I paid $1900 for, but I recently ordered a Dell Inspiron E1505 for someone else, using the $750 off coupon. That system was configed as follows:

2 GHz Core Duo
1 GB RAM
1680x1050 15.4" TrueLife display
120 GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD
8x Dual Layer DVD Burner (Wish my MBP had this)
9-cell battery
Radeon Mobility X1400 256 MB
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
Windows MCE 2005 (this OS is actually based on Pro and not the Home Edition)
Audigy HD Audio
TV Tuner and MCE Remote

Guess how much it cost? $1286.
Do I feel bad that this laptop blows away my $1900 MBP in most features? No. I'm a shallow, consumerist, trendy gadget whore and I was willing to pay the extra dough for the Apple design, 1 less pound of weight and the little extras such as the MagSafe connector and backlit keyboard. OS-X is one awesome, good-looking, easy-to-use Linux distro and I love playing with it but I didn't really _need_ it. You see, I'm what you'd call a PC power user. With a few tweaks and free pieces of software, XP Pro (or MCE2005) turns into a very secure, fast and stable OS. Norton and McAfee? No thanks. No one should pay for that buggy bloatware when something like AVG Free works so well while using so little system resources. The thing is that I'm a very heavy XP user and I haven't even come close to getting infected with a virus or a trojan in many, many years and only have downloaded stuff infected with that stuff (Adware trojans) once or twice. All it really takes is not using IE, keeping up with Windows Updates, virus definition updates and using your brain when it comes to choosing the web content you access. Something like Windows Defender or SpyBot provide a nice safety net.

Ok, I'll be realistic and admit that the vast majority of PC users wouldn't know a thing about XP security tweaks or that they don't have to pay for bloated software suits to get virus protection. Yes, OS-X is much safer "out-of-the-box", but you do have to pay a hefty premium for the previledge of using it. Bah, who am I kidding? Most people don't know about those Dell coupons either. :)

myPod Nano Update: myBad

2006-06-07T22:36:00.000-06:00

All of my problems with the Nano went away after I got rid of the iPod Linux partition, reformatted with FAT32 and restored the Apple firmware. All those who follow in my steps, beware... In other news, I'm turning into a Mac fangrrl. Hopefully, I'll post more on that later.

Random Notes

2006-06-07T22:33:00.000-06:00

We have this old lady wondering around downtown all the time, checking around the parking meters, phone booths, soda machines, etc, like she's trying to find dropped change. Any way, she actually looks pretty normal and not that badly dressed, but she's always talking to herself, using some rather colorful language. For example, I was getting some cash out of an ATM recently and as she was walking by, I heard "fuck shit cocksucker."

I’m Posting This From Within MS Word 2007 Beta

2006-05-26T16:40:00.000-06:00

This is just a test post.

myPod Nano Update: The iPOS

2006-03-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday morning, on my way to work, I try to play some tunes through the FM transmitter in my car, only to discover that all my settings and music have been wiped clean. This is actually the second time this has happened to me. Only the first time it was even worse, as the iPod wouldn't even boot. When I did get it to boot, all the shit was gone. It's pretty minor annoyance when I'm 3 miles away from home, where I can restore the iPod and transfer all the music back, but it would really suck if this happened when I was on some out-of-town trip. That would make me really pissed at Apple. Though, I do wonder whether some if not most of my iPod problems are due to the fact that I have a Linux boot partition on the thing. Well, I had a Linux boot partition on it. Before I restored the iPod yesterday, I wiped it clean using and HP low level formatter for USB drives. After that, I restored only the original iPod OS. So, we shall see if ditching Linux will prevent anything like I described from happening again. If not, the iPOS moniker will stick.

myPod Nano

2006-03-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

I bought a 4 GB Nano a while back. Even though I despise the whole pod culture and Apple fanboiz, there simply wasn't another quality 4GB flash MP3 player on the market at that time. I needed something small, relatively high capacity and without moving parts, so the Nano fit the bill. I thought that it was worth $250, especially after I found out that I can install Linux on it and play Tetris. :)

Any way, you can't help but to be impressed by the packaging and presentation of this player, but it's still far from a perfect product.

The battery life is shit and you won't be able to enjoy its attractive looks and glossy finish for long, as you HAVE to put it in some kind of a case or skin, that is unless you want it all scratched and smudged after a week of use. The skin that I bought does a great job of protecting, but attracts dust like a Hoover.

The player is also fairly glitchy. Well, not as glitchy as my old Rio player, but close. The most annoying issue I have encountered is parts of my song library getting corrupted. I would listen to a song and all of the sudden, it would get interrupted by another song, from a different album. Stuff like that...

The click wheel is really not a big deal to me. I found my old Rio player to be just as easy to control with its standard "d-pad" thingie. In fact, sometimes I overshoot with the click wheel and end up turning the volume up too high or something and think that digital controls would be better.

iLinux was fun to mess around with, for about a week. It was cool to show iDoom to people. I still play Tetris and watch music videos on it from time to time.

Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase.

Bill Maher Mentions Blogging

2006-02-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

I was watching the season premier of Bill Maher on HBO last weekend. He is a cocky SOB, a self-professed playboy, who changes model girlfriends like underwear and personally, I find that Jon Stewart is wittier, but I happen to agree with most of his views on things.

Anyway, he was saying how we (the Americans) often say that we cherish privacy, but in actuality, we are a bunch of self-absorbed, exhibitionist attention whores. He brought up a number of examples to support his argument. One of them was the fact so many people want to be on reality shows or as he put it, "People actually compete to be on a show called 'Big Brother'!" He went on to mention how people want you to "Please, read my blog" as another example. Touche, Bill, touche...

I still harbor some personal disdain for blogging as I remember how, in the late 1990's, the IRC community, which I was a part of, frowned upon the great grand-daddy of modern blogging, The LiveJournal! It was the domain of whiny, depressed goth teenagers and vain, attention-craving girls, the place where they posted their awful gothic poetry and underwear webcam pics. I just realized that most of today's blogging activity would fit into that description as well. (chuckle)

These days, the depressed goth boys have all grown up and become the uber-geek "power bloggers". For the most part, their writing abilities have greatly improved and instead of bitching about how the school jocks pick on them and their parents "just don't get them", they now write witty, mildly-useful little articles on network security, W3C-compliant web design and the like. In between those articles, they insert random bits from their lives, mostly for the purpose of bragging about their newly-achieved life status; a link to a picture gallery featuring their hot foreign student girlfriend and/or Lexus, a description of their new gazillion megapixel SRL camera (complete with horribly-shot pics), their endless, 4-star hotel business trips, etc. When they express an opinion on something outside of their immediate area of expertise, it's usually incredibly shallow and cliche. I'm afraid they are still as annoying as they were back on LiveJournal.

One of Those Days...

2006-02-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days when you're in your car, feel like shit, running late to work and can't find a damn spot to park in places that normally have plenty of spots available? I just hate that. But, I particularly hate it when there is actually room for a lot more cars to parallel park on the side of the street, but the assholes who got there first, parked too far apart from one another, taking up all the space. I mean, some of these jokers park far enough apart for a VW Beetle to fit in between them, but not any normal-sized car. Makes me wanna attempt a parallel parking and hit their cars on purpose.

Bum Shakes

2005-11-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

I know this might sound insensitive, but I just hate it when some bum bums a dollar or a cig off me and then offers me his hand as a misguided sign of gratitude. The problem that I have with this is that when I look at such a hand, more often than not, it looks like it hasn't been washed in about a year. I don't think that it's too paranoid or pathologically germophobic of me to think of all the fecal matter,coughed up tuberculosis (TB) bacteria and other unmentionables which might call such a hand "home".

I suppose that I could always choose to refuse such a bio-warfare hand shake, but I just don't have the heart to do that and so, I grind my teeth and shake.

This happened to me earlier today as I was finishing up my smoke outside of work. The guy actually wanted 2 smokes. Afterwards, I found the nearest bathroom sink and thoroughly scrubbed with anti-bacterial soap 3 times.

Giving cigarettes to bums presents a related issue. When friends, co-workers or even non-transient looking strangers ask to borrow a cig, I am perfectly fine with holding out my pack and letting them pick one. With bums, I prefer to get the cig out of the pack myself and then hand it to them, without letting them touch any of the remaining cigs that later end up in my mouth. Unfortunately, like today, I don't always remember to do that and end up with a throwaway pack. I should have just let the bum have the whole pack after he reached into it, but I didn't think to do it at that moment and so, the pack later ended up in a garbage can. There were about 12 cigs left in there. $3 down the drain...

Little Beauty

2005-09-09T23:07:00.000-06:00

Raw and Uncensored

I come out my front door after dark tonight and find this little "beauty" sitting on top of a web, freshly-spun right by the outside light, where all the bugs gather up. I see a lot of spiders around the house (mostly inside), but never anything like this monstrosity. The ones that I do see a lot are fast, long-legged, thin-bodied Hobo spider look-alikes that don't even seem to weave webs. I have no idea what this thing is and I am not even sure I want to know what kind of neurotoxin or necrosis agent it carries in that huge nutsack on its arse. I just thought that it looked rather cool and began to take about 20 pics with the ole digicam. I think that the one above turned out the best, so enjoy. :)

Rotten Apples

2005-09-08T11:42:00.000-06:00

I posted this before in a web forum thread discussing the new iPod Nano and decided to post it here too. By the way, "ihpod nanoe" literally translates into "little gimp" in Finnish. I kid you not!

"Is all Apple software as "awesome" as the QuickTime player? Damn, I hate that thing. I really wish I didn't have to ever install it again, but there are still a lot of QT video clips on the net, despite the inferiority of the format and the buggy and bloated propriatary software.

As far as Apple and iPod, I don't like them. I don't like their trendy designs that try to appeal to the AOL yuppie crowd, their lack of features compared to other players, their proprietary music stores, etc. I don't even think that iPods look cool. They look like bars of soap to me, but to each their own...

I myself own a Rio Forge 128 MB with a 1 GB SD card. It fits my needs nicely. It has very nice ergonomics, perfectly fitting inside of your palm when you carry it, giving your thumb easy access to volume and navigation controls. The navigation is very easy. I can't really imagine how it could be simpler.

I also don't use any propritary music management or "store" software. I either rip my CDs or buy unprotected MP3s online, stick the SD card into a reader built into my monitor and copy the MP3s from Explorer or Konquerer. Very simple, very effective, no extra bloatware installed..."

In addition, I've read something funny posted by a guy who actually sells iPods at a store. He said that a lot of dumb yuppies coming in and looking for one don't think that it's an MP3 player. They are under the impression that it does something more than all the other MP3 players out there, while in actuality the iPods usually lack features compared to the competition. That cracked me up.

POTD: Summer in Missoula

2005-06-17T11:32:00.000-06:00

Click Here for The Full, Unmolested Version of The Pic

Budget Priced FPS/TPS (Third Person Shooter) PC Game Recommendations

2005-06-14T23:17:00.000-06:00

Far Cry – First person shooter with fairly open-ended game play. Lets you take them out quietly with silenced weapons or go in Rambo style. Fun vehicles to drive on the ground, water and even one to fly! The plot is a cross between Commando and Island of Doctor Morreou (sp?). Captures the feel of an action-packed monster movie perfectly, though the acting and story-telling are a little on the tacky side. Far Cry is set on a beautiful chain of tropical islands, using one of the best graphics engines out there. The levels are very expansive and full of plant and animal life, providing for the best outdoor environment in any game to date. The enemy AI is quite cunning at times, working together to outflank, surround you and generally hunt you down. Employing real-life combat strategy is highly advisable. The game is a major CPU hog though and the network code for multiplayer is deficient.

Halo - Port of the original Xbox "killer app". Tight alien-killing action with wonderful sense of style and great storytelling sparkled with humorous touches. Somewhat dated graphics are made up for with great artistic design. The action is complemented by an epic musical score, great voice acting and generally excellent sound design. There are a number of vehicles to drive and fly, the funnest being one the Warthog jeep. On the negative side, the DirectX 9 shader code in the game is very unoptimized, causing it to run doggy on even the most powerful of systems if you have the Specular Lighting effect enabled. This only affects the indoor levels of the game. I recommend turning the specular off altogether. Also, there are some questionable level design choices later in the game, making you repeat similar level sections over and over. I haven't spent much time with multiplayer, but it does seem fast-paced and fun, involving a good deal of vehicle action.

Chronicles of Riddick - The plot behind this game makes it a prequel to both Pitch Black and CoR the movie, chronicling Riddick's brief stint at the infamous Butcher Bay "triple-max" penitentiary, aka the place where he got his eyes "shined". The game actually happens to have a better plot than the CoR movie, featuring many twists and turns and the acting by Vin and others is very good. It also features one of the best graphic engines around, which at time rivals Doom 3, though the animation is not as good. The whole thing is presented in a very cinematic and immersive manner. In a nice change of pace from other FPS games, you can actually see your limbs and body, doing whatever they are supposed to be doing and there's a neat hand-to-hand combat system. The game play involves quite a bit of sneaking up on people and quietly (or not so) disposing them in creative ways, such as breaking their necks or blowing their heads off with their own guns. The stealth aspect of the game play is helped by the excellent, realistic shadows for you to hide in. The firearm combat in that game is actually not that great. The weapons just don't feel powerful nor accurate enough. The best of the bunch is a type of a "stun gun", which instantly knocks out the enemies for a brief period of time, allowing you to run up to them and finish them off with a boot to the face. Like most of my favorite games, this one also has a very good music score, comprised mostly of spacey ambient tunes with a Middle Eastern flavor. Chronicles of Riddick has no multiplayer mode.

Call of Duty - The WW2 FPS to get, as there are no equals. Very intense, cinematic action, stylistically borrowing a lot from Saving Private Ryan and Enemy at the Gates. Does a great job portraying the chaos of war with some of its epic battle scenes. You play for the American, the British and the Russian sides. The only things that bring down the experience is the linearity and scripted nature of the game and also, some of the "lone wolf" levels tend to drag on for too long and are not as exciting as the group battle ones. The multiplayer mode is very solid and popular.

Max Payne 2 - The game that introduced the world to the HAVOC 2 physics engine, which was later prominently featured in Half-Life 2. The physics add a lot to the surreal, cinematic shooting action done in the style of John Woo films and the Matrix. Watch the enemies get thrown backwards from your shotgun blast, realistically crashing into a china shelf in the kitchen, bringing it down and scattering broken dishes all over the floor. Watch just about every object getting shattered or sent flying in intense crossfire... all in slow motion. Yes, this third-person shooter features what's called a "bullet time", an effect that lets you slow down time around you and pull off all kinds of crazy dodges and other cinematic action moves. Though, after a while, the action does tend to get repetitive and the game is rather short. Another negative is the convoluted, "film-noir" inspired plot, full of pretentious narration by the main character that is outright nonsensical at times. No multiplayer.

Battlefield 1942 - Soon to be overshadowed by its first, highly-expected true sequel, this ultra popular online FPS is set during WW2, pinning the axis against the allies, in up to 64 player action involving different character classes and numerous aerial and ground vehicles. The game play is actually fairly easy to get into, because of its arcadish nature, which turns off realism buffs. This is definitely not a sim game. BF1942 can be found for about $15 new right now. Probably the best reason to get it at this point is a free "total conversion" MOD called Desert Combat, which does away with most of the game's original content and sets it during Operation Desert Storm, pinning US troops against the Iraqi army. This mod also disposes of many shortcomings found in the original game. The publisher was so impressed with this free "fan-made" MOD, that they hired the people responsible for it.

Joint Operations - This mostly overlooked online FPS supports an unprecedented 150 people playing on one map. The action pits the US troops against a few imaginary enemy forces in a near-future war. I personally have not played it, but it sounds pretty good, as described by the rabidly loyal fan base, who swear by it over other, similar games.

Alien vs. Predator 2 - Having been released in 2001, this one falls into the "oldie-but-goodie" category. Thankfully, having nothing to do with the horrible movie, this FPS lets you play as all 3 of the galaxy's deadliest creatures. Yes, there are 3 different single player campaigns, each with some radically different game play styles. The Colonial Marine, while lacking in physical attributes, is equipped with night vision, a motion detector and some major, alien-tearing firepower. The Predator, with his thermo-optic camouflage and highly specialized vision modes and weaponry, is a stealthy, high-tech hunter who has turned killing into an art form and enjoys collecting various trophies, such as skulls. The Alien Xenomorph is a different animal altogether. Guided by the instinct to protect his queen and hive, this semi-sentient creature makes up for its lack of technology with tremendous speed, the ability to climb walls, ceilings and to leap great distances. Its claws, jaws and tail can slice, dice and chew through its enemies before they know what hit them. All that a Xenomorph has to do to restore its health is to feast on its victim's warm flesh. The action for each character is tied together by a surprisingly decent, interconnected plot, which makes you want to finish the game with all three. I never tried the multiplayer, but it sounds like it could be really fun.

No One Lives Forever - This is another one for the "oldie-but-goodie" category. This cult classic FPS features a plot and characters inspired by everything James Bond, which delicately lampoons the famous spy series. It takes place in a whacky, late 1960's spy movie world, where you play as the beautiful Cate Archer, a young Scott of aristocratic descent, orphaned in childhood and becoming the professional thief renown as "The Fox". After being captured by the authorities, our heroine is promptly recruited by a British spy agency, who was very impressed by her abilities to break through the toughest security measures, athleticism and sophisticated intellect. So, now Cate travels all over the world, spoiling the evil plans of dictatorships and various super-villains. The tongue and cheek plot and setting don't distract from the seriousness of the action, as the game play is rather involved and sophisticated, making you look for the best approach to each situation, often resulting to stealth and high-tech gadgetry, though there is plenty of shooting to be found here as well. The settings range from East Berlin, to a sunken ship, to a big orbital space station, which are all populated by various colorful and interesting characters.

Freedom Fighters - This third person action game takes place in an alternate reality, where the Soviet Union still exist and in fact, is more powerful than it has ever been, pushing out capitalism all over the world and isolating the United States. You play as a New York plumber, turned rebel during a Soviet invasion of the East Coast. The game gives you limited command over a squad of 8 fellow rebels and you better learn how to utilize them if you want to survive. Luckily, the squad interface is very streamlined. Freedom Fighter has good looking graphics and great artwork. The war-torn New York City environments are well-done and atmospheric.

Hitman Contracts - Never played it, but Hitman 2 was pretty cool.

The Suffering - This third-person combination of survival horror and fast-paced action is not for the squeamish or the weak of heart. It takes place on an island housing a notorious maximum security prison with a very bad history. As our "hero" arrives, the island gets isolated from the mainland by a storm and invaded by forces of unspeakable evil. Each demonic invader is based on some method of torture or execution, which makes for some really creative enemy designs. The environments, consisting of the prison complex and other locations on the island are all interesting and very spooky. The action is fast-paced and brutal, letting you utilize a number of melee weapons, as well as guns. Over time, your character actually gets covered in the blood of slain enemies.