You killed my family and I don't like that kind of thing.

WTF, Japan?

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:32:28 GMT

W. T. F.

You know it's been a while since you last burned some DVD-Rs when...

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:15:34 GMT

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda9             218G  202G  5,4G  98% /home
/dev/sdb1             7,5G  1,5G  6,0G  21% /mnt/usb

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:04:39 GMT

After years of research, I finally found The Stupidest Comment On The Internetz™:

"So I guess you really want to go back to the iron age
if this file sharing keeps up that is where we will be in 10 years"

Wow. I felt stupid just for copying and pasting it.

Source is #8 here.

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:27:41 GMT

Lord of War
2005 122 minutes
Director: Andrew Niccol

Pretty cool.

No Country for Old Men
2007 122 minutes
Director: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

Fucking amazing. Probably getting on my top 5 favorite movies of all time list (if I ever make it). Btw, I take back what I said about me not watching action movies anymore. :D

After Dark, My Sweet
1990 114 minutes
Director: James Foley

Felt a bit slow at times, but I liked it. The ending was a bit too Battle Royale.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1975 133 minutes
Director: Milos Forman

A bit slow, but entertaining. I thought Jack Nicholson was great as usual.

Stop-Loss
2008 112 minutes
Director: Kimberly Peirce

Good movie. I really liked the shoot-out scene at the beginning.

The Wide Window
Author: Lemony Snicket
214 pages

I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to handle Count Olaf going unpunished for 8 more books.

"If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats."

A Study in Scarlet
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
112 pages

I would probably have liked it better if I didn't know anything about Sherlock Holmes before reading it.

No Country for Old Men
Author: Cormac McCarthy
320 pages

I read this book because I loved the movie so much. I must say the writing kept me from enjoying it more. I was going to demonstrate how it can be bothersome by writing this paragraph the same way, but I lack the skills, so here's a sample:

It dont take long to get a taste for it, does it?
No, she said. It dont.
Well, it aint as simple as it sounds. You'll see.
Why is that.

Yeah, the whole book is written like this. :/ I guess I did like it anyway though. We get a much better insight into Bell's POV, and the plot is still great.

Edit: Oh! I forgot to say the scene between Chigurh and the gas station clerk/owner is simply amazing. I loved it. :)

Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Translator: Heitor Aquino Ferreira
139 pages

Loved it. I'll make sure to read more stuff from George Orwell.

Shit. I need to read harder. :/
Btw, can anyone recommend me some Agatha Christie novels?

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:19:23 GMT

Yesterday I did 7 km (4.35 mi) in 56 minutes. Yay :D

And I'm totally loving the Olympics so far, even though it's messing up my sleep.

ROFL XD

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:35:29 GMT

Let's pretend I posted this yesterday :DD

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:12:01 GMT

So I was browsing wikipedia when I stumbled upon this:

"Each year, citizens were assessed based on the number of merit points earned through their successes — in academia, for works or art, for business ventures, and so on — and the top names were appointed to the council. The council had a role encompassing legislative, judicial and executive functions. They elected a Doge, on the understanding that any councillor who voted to appoint a Doge who took Venice to war and lost would, with that Doge, be put to death."

Now, that's some good law making if I ever saw it. I would leave the loosing part out, though.

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:47:16 GMT

I have a new life goal: being able to run 16 km (10 mi) a day. I was watching a Rocky Marciano sort-of documentary and that stuff got me depressed. If a 85+ kg (187+ lb) dude can do it, then I should be able to do it too, dammit.

On Tuesday I was able to run 5.6 km (3.5 mi) in 44 minutes, so I'm going to work on my resistance until I can do 10 km (6.2 mi) in 1h20, and then start increasing my speed. I'm glad that, thanks to DDR, my heart is taking it quite well at this point and my legs are the ones holding me back, because leg muscles are much easier to improve. :D

And in other news, I've finally joined the ASoIaF forums at westeros.org, which means it has now officially replaced Harry Potter as the series that I'll waste huge amounts of time and brain space on. Yay! :D

Firefox Add-ons

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:33:20 GMT

Have you guys gone firefox 3 yet? I haven't and that's part of the reason I have to index this stuff.

Adblock Plus (EasyElement)
keyconfig + extra functions
Tab Mix Plus
NoScript

Menu Editor
Firesizer
Download Statusbar
Personal Menu
UI Tweaker
Searchbar Autosizer
Favicon Picker

UnPlug
Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic
Dictionaries: English (US), Portuguese (Brazilian)

4chan
FoxyProxy
DownThemAll
Megaupload SX

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:19:38 GMT

Dirty Harry
1971 102 minutes
Director: Don Siegel

Maybe I should just stop watching action movies. I might have enjoyed this movie if the story made any sense. That must have been the worst villain I've ever seen. He's just completely crazy and that makes him want to shoot people. The guy from Taxi Driver was also crazy and all about cleaning up his filthy city and he didn't just go around shooting people like it was a game. The rest of the characters were also just bad stereotypes.

Der Name der Rose (The Name of the Rose)
1986 130 minutes
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Sean Connery's character was fun and the setting was pretty creepy and all, but by the end it seems that the author just came up with any story in order to criticize the Church. Nothing wrong with that, but I expected a better ending.

Love Letter
1995 117 minutes
Director: Shunji Iwai

I kinda had to watch the first 10 minutes twice, but after that it picked up and went on great. Fun and slow paced like Hana and Alice. I have to remember to get other movies from Shunji Iwai.

Songhwan (Repatriation)
2003 149 minutes
Director: Dong-won Kim

Awesome documentary. It made me realize South Korea's government was just as bad as North Korea's. And that the Cold War sucked hard for everyone. Anyway, director Dong-won Kim was amazing. I would have loved this movie even if I didn't care about the Koreas at all.

Blood Diamond
2006 143 minutes
Director: Edward Zwick

Hey, finally a movie set in Africa that isn't just "random African people kill each other in a random country lolz." It got me thinking about greed and consumerism. Once again, I liked DiCaprio's performance.

Thank You For Smoking
2005 92 minutes
Director: Jason Reitman

Rewatch. One of my favorite movies of all time. So funny and awesome. :D

Silent Hill
2006 127 minutes
Director: Christophe Gans

Exceeded my expectations. I wish the Resident Evil guys had done something like this. The ending could have been happier, though.

Syriana
2005 126 minutes
Director: Stephen Gaghan

I thought it was funny that when the other CIA dude told George Clooney that the prince was a terrorist, I believed him. XD Anyway, very good movie, I just wish we got to see a bit more of the CIA's previous jobs before getting into the main story.

Juno
2007 96 minutes
Director: Jason Reitman

Great movie. "He is very good in... chair" made me ROFL IRL. The fact that I was already on the floor helped, but it was still very funny :D

Babel
2006 143 minutes
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Unfortunately, this one was a bit disappointing. Overall it's a pretty good movie, but they went a bit OTT trying to keep the tension up until the end. If you have four different plotlines happening at different times, it's really ok to just resolve the first one before the second and so on. Trying to keep the audience on the edge of their seats wondering what is going to happen next for two hours is something that only bad horror movies should attempt.

Zatoichi
2003 116 minutes
Director: Kitano Takeshi

Rewatch. IMO Kitano couldn't have made a better job on this one. Even my girlfriend liked it, and she pretty much hates Japanese samurai movies.

The Subtle Knife
Author: Philip Pullman
Translator: Eliana Sabino
294 pages

This book felt... pointless. It's like its sole purpose was to introduce Will and give him the knife. I don't understand why it wasn't just appended to the first one. I was expecting a lot of Christianity bashing and it didn't happen. I was also expecting some good plotlines since at least half of the series is done and, you know, it should be at least as good as Harry Potter. Yeah, that didn't happen either. I'll try to read the last one soon, but for now, I'm disappointed.

Heart-Shaped Box
Author: Joe Hill
Translator: Mário Molina
309 pages

Scary, fast paced and action filled. Loved it.

House
Author: Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker
Translator: Marcelo Barbão
291 pages

Fine for the first part, started to derail halfway through, and then just ended in a big pile of crap. I almost didn't finish it because the story started to just get more and more confusing while not going anywhere. Maybe I shouldn't have, because that ending was just WTFery. Both authors are now blacklisted.

Gossip Girl
Author: Cecily von Ziegesar
208 pages

Short and easy to read, but where's all the character development? What about some plot? I didn't particularly dislike it, but I'm also not that interested in reading the rest of the series. The parting of the Red Sea made me LOL hard. XD

A Briefer History of Time
Author: Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
Translator: Vera de Paula Assis
140 pages

Loved it. I wish it went into a bit more detail about everything from relativity forward, but then it wouldn't really be briefer, right?

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Author: Murakami Haruki
Translator: Jay Rubin
607 pages

Amazing book. And again, unlike anything I've ever read before. I thought it dragged a little bit right after the Akasakas are introduced, but otherwise a solid 10 out of 10. For some reason I absolutely loved May Kasahara, and Mr. Okada was pretty likable too. I learned a lot of cool stuff about the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and the USSR's Mongolian dickery and post-war forced labor camps. Great ending also.

Weekend update

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:35:51 GMT

This is getting ridiculous. Every time I wash my hands I have to spend the next 10 minutes warming them up, because it is so freaking cold! We've been getting temperatures around 5 to 15 °C (~40 to 60 °F) every night and cold wind non stop. You guys must think that that isn't cold at all, but keep in mind we don't have any sort of heating and our clothes are not designed for these temperatures. A couple of friends have told me they've been double dressing, like wearing two pants and two coats, while inside their own houses. XD

Anyway, yesterday we played Rival Schools, aka Shiritsu Justice Gakuen, aka the most awesome fighting game ever made, which was definitely the best video game playing I did this year. :DD I learned that on the psx I'm still pretty good, but on pcsx, not so much. XD We also played scrabble. I pretty much just watched, but it was my first contact with it and I liked it. :)

On Saturday I made my girlfriend watch the X files' first episode with me. She had a pretty bad impression of it, so I needed to change that. I never watched the whole thing myself, just random eps here and there, and I was pleasantly surprised. That is one nice pilot right there. It wasn't rushed at all like most pilots are, and the character introductions were nicely excused IMO. It felt more like a short movie than a tv show. :) And it made me want to get the rest of the first season. :D Also, Mulder was so much fun. He's so passionate and funny and always one step ahead of Scully, lol.

Btw, what's up with Scully going "Time is an universal invariance!" half an hour after we learn she wrote a thesis on relativity, wtf?

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:09:04 GMT

So, apparently, this is how you turn Warsow's CA into Rocket Arena:

set g_ca_armor "100"
set g_ca_strong_ammo "10 100 20 50 100 150 50" // GB RG GL RL PG LG EB
set g_ca_weak_ammo "0 0 0 0 0 0 0" // gb rg gl rl pg lg eb
set g_ca_weapons "16256 16256 16256 16256"

Since I can't get anyone to try it out ("What? A FPS with no vehicles??" =_=), I played a bit with some bots. I really like Warsow's physics, though I'm still pretty bad with the bunny jumping. I hope I can get it with a bit of practice, because the days I would spend hours in Defrag training a single jump are long gone. :D

It's kinda sad that the EB (aka the railgun) is so weak now, but at least the rocket is still good. Now I just have to figure out how to turn off the gunblade's reload so I can use it like the gauntlet. Btw, their forums are not as helpful as one might hope.

Oh, I also redid my config file. Now I have:

Forward - mouse2
Back - mouse3
Left - S
Right - F
Special - A
Crouch - V
Jump - Space

Gauntlet/GB - D
Shotgun/RG - 4
Gren Launcher - Q
Rocket Launcher - W
Plasma - G
Shaft/LG - R
Railgun/EB - E

It's weird, but it works.

In other news, it's been really cold and dry here, which is the worst combination IMO, and it will probably only get worse until September. I've been playing a lot of Mario Kart DS (I can play on 100cc now XD), and listening to Rhapsody and Nightwish. I'm in a rock mood lately, but I can't find any new bands that I like, so I have to go back to trying new metal genres. I was also supposed to be reading, but the laziness has got me and won't let go. XD

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:23:57 GMT

My vacation so far is made of running errands and playing video games. XD

From vicious_lullaby:

I'm afraid of 18 out of 72 common fears:

[ ] the dark
[ ] staying single forever
[ ] being a parent
[ ] giving birth
[ ] being myself in front of others
[ ] open spaces
[X] closed spaces
[X] heights
[ ] dogs
[ ] birds
[ ] fish
[ ] spiders
[ ] flowers or other plants

Total so far: 2

[ ] being touched (this one must suck)
[ ] fire
[X] deep water
[ ] snakes
[ ] silk (wut XD)
[X] the ocean
[X] failure
[ ] success
[ ] thunder/lightning
[ ] frogs/toads
[ ] my boyfriend's/girlfriend's dad
[ ] boyfriend's/girlfriend's mom
[X] rats (just the big ones)
[X] jumping from high places
[ ] snow

Total so far: 7

[ ] rain
[ ] wind
[X] crossing hanging bridges
[X] death
[ ] heaven
[ ] being robbed (depends on what I'm carrying with me)
[X] falling
[ ] clowns
[ ] dolls
[X] large crowds of people (not really afraid, but they do make me uncomfortable)
[ ] men
[ ] women
[X] having great responsibilities
[ ] doctors, including dentists
[ ] tornadoes

Total so far: 12

[ ] hurricanes
[X] incurable diseases (the reason I hate hospitals XD)
[X] sharks (I know I shouldn't)
[ ] Friday the 13th
[ ] ghosts
[ ] poverty
[ ] Halloween
[ ] school
[ ] trains
[ ] odd numbers (lol)
[ ] even numbers
[ ] being alone
[X] becoming blind
[X] becoming deaf (becoming paralyzed or loosing a hand/foot too)
[ ] growing up

Total so far: 16

[ ] creepy noises in the night
[ ] bee stings
[X] not accomplishing my dreams/goals
[ ] needles
[ ] blood
[ ] dinosaurs (lol)
[ ] the welcome mat
[X] high speed (who's driving? :D)
[ ] throwing up
[ ] falling in love
[ ] super secrets

Final Total: 18

If you get more than 30, I strongly recommend some counseling.
If you get more than 20, you’re paranoid.
If you get 10-20, you are normal.
If you get 10 or less, you’re fearless.
People who don’t have any are liars.

Yay, I'm normal :D
[X] not being normal
Final Total: 19
Damn XD

From summersdream:

Below is the Entertainment Weekly's list of 100 Classic Movies of the past 25 years. Bold the ones you've seen, underline the ones you plan to, strike out the ones you HATE and refuse to watch ever again.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler's List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999) (awesome)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (awesome)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)
41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)
51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996)
61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006) (awesome)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)
81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003) (too funny XD)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987) (Kubrick is always win)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
~~99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)~~ (craaap)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)

37/100
Over one third, yay :D

And this one from dukesnorre:

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well, let's see.

1. Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2. Italicize those you intend to read.
3. Underline the books you LOVE.
4. Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)"

The list:

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (2/3)
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

11/100
But if I count each book separately, it's 22 :D

HELL YEAH!!

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:25:52 GMT

I got perfect score on my physics test!! XDDDD

And...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:55:49 GMT

My finals are over! :DDD

Yay!

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:58:11 GMT

Today I replaced my increasingly noisy stock cpu fan with an artic cooling alpine 7 I had bought a while ago. Best. Decision. Ever. Oh, I also started using the cpu's frequency scaling functionality. I have no idea of how I managed to survive without it until now.

It's weird that five years ago I could listen to a whole album encoded in 48 kbps mp3 and not notice anything, and today I'll use flac and listen to it through my stereo. That same thing has also kind of happened to images too, and it's one of the reasons I haven't got a LCD screen yet (damn you, jpeg). But when it comes to my ears, it's not only a matter of attention to detail, they really are getting more sensitive.

I used to own an athlon xp 3000+, which heats up as much as a space bus entering hell's atmosphere, so you can guess how loud the fan was, and I left it on while I slept almost every night. I usually even had the case open. Now I can't sleep listening to Beethoven on a really low volume. WTF.

And of course computers can be loud and all, but let's not forget my new two archenemies: traffic and construction. The building next to mine is having work done on its pipes or something. So everyday the workers come out several times to dump all the pieces of brick and cement into this large metal trash can they use for those things. It feels like they are throwing those bricks on my head. T_T

Speaking of pain, I think I've got some mild infection on my left year. I seem to be unable to keep water from getting inside whenever I take a shower. u_u

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 19:46:30 GMT

I got a PIU mat yesterday! Mwahaha!
You have no idea how hard it is to find one here :(
Btw, playing PIU for a couple of hours and then switching to DDR can break your brain.

Also, I've uploaded the video mentioned in my last post over here. :)
(it's a 30 MB avi, 1991 kbps xvid, 64 kbps mp3)

OMG YAY

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:04:41 GMT

Turns out this song is even easier than the Rockafeller Skank once you get the stamina to play it several times in a row :D

There's a video, but I'm not sure if I'm going to upload it.
Edit: uploaded, link is here.

PS: Dial-up users: I'm sorry!
PS2: Search for that song performed by Unit R on youtube, it's awesome :D

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:43:38 GMT

One of the things I hate the most is trying really hard to accomplish something and then failing. Actually I have a big problem with failure. If I don't see great chances of being successful at something, I can't usually bring myself to even try it.

Two weeks ago we received another computer networks assignment, and once again we had to figure it all out by ourselves. The only sources I was able to find were a great book, except for being totally useless in this case, and two tutorials found on google. Just two, and not very detailed. And then there were the man pages too.

Sometimes you get a program and all you need to know is its usage information. I mean, just the letters used for each option. In those cases I don't really mind a simplistic man page, or just a --help option. But when you are writing a library, it's probably a good idea produce better documentation. It's easy to think that people using it will be knowledgeable enough to go through the code and figure everything out, but you might ask yourself what good is your library if everyone will have to spend time figuring out what it does. Isn't saving people time the whole point? How much longer would it have taken them to write their own functions?

Anyway, between the most cryptic names they could come up with and man pages that direct you to other man pages, that direct you to files that direct you nowhere nor have the information you need, I ended up spending somewhere between 10 to 20 hours of reading and 10 to 15 hours of coding. I'm talking about a Final Fantasy order of magnitude here. And the result was something that might work if only I was able to finish it. It just doesn't feel as good as having level 50 characters with the second most powerful weapons in the game.

It's probably just my fault for reaching out too far. I had met all the requirements, but we all know they don't reflect what is actually required of you once you take the class. Like when you loose points on a physics report because you didn't solve a differential equation, even though you are only supposed to learn how to solve them on the following semester.

Liability aside, the fact is that I failed at completing this assignment. As usual, this got me frustrated, which leads to a horrible cycle of not feeling like doing anything and then feeling guilty about not doing anything. I'm trying to break out of it with DDR and two new books, and I better be able to do it, because I have my finals next week and the one after it.

The Evpatoria Report EP

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:36:52 GMT

I'm fucking in love with this album.

(legal downloadz here)

Fri, 23 May 2008 19:17:39 GMT

Rear Window
1954 112 minutes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock

The main character was a bit annoying. Or maybe it was the marriage plot which was a bit annoying. Other than that, the main plot is not brain breaking and there isn't any gore, sex, etc. And it's also fun. Watch it with your friends/family.

The Virgin Suicides
1999 97 minutes
Director: Sofia Coppola

Pretty good. I think Cecilia's death wasn't supposed to be all instantaneous and painless like that. There's a reason people don't usually kill themselves by impalement, right? Bleeding to death takes a while.

Lost in Translation
2003 102 minutes
Director: Sofia Coppola

Amazing! The engrish made me go ROFL IRL ("Lip my stocking!"). XD Bill Murray was great. IMO this is the best from Sofia Coppola so far. :)

Léon
1994 110 minutes
Director: Luc Besson

Best action flick I've watched in a long time. Before I got it, I wasn't too excited about the plot, but then I saw Jean Reno, Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman were in it and I had to watch it. And it payed off; everyone was great. EVERYONE!!!

Der Untergang (The Downfall)
2004 156 minutes
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Yay for German and for Bruno Ganz as Hitler. One of the best war movies I've ever watched.

Schindler's List
1993 195 minutes
Director: Steven Spielberg

I'm not that much of a Spielberg fan, but he did manage to make this movie feel an hour shorter. Now, the best thing about this movie is that it gives you hope for mankind, unlike most WWII movies which give you hope that the red army might get here any second. :D

RRRrrrr!!!
2004 94 minutes
Director: Alain Chabat

Reasonably funny, but a bit dumb. I was actually expecting more laughs after reading the synopsis. All in all, Les Visiteurs was much better.

Broken Flowers
2005 106 minutes
Director: Jim Jarmusch

I'm not sure if I agree with that ending. Overall it was a good movie, but it felt slow. Do you really need to fade in and out of every 10 second traveling scene? I liked Lost in Translation better.

Akira
1988 124 minutes
Director: Otomo Katsuhiro

Rewatch. I was finally able to understand the plot! Yay! XD
Psychic powers + motorcycles + 80s fashion sense + a bit of gore = Akira. If you are looking for grown up anime (and have already watched GitS), then go right ahead.

The Pianist
2002 150 minutes
Director: Roman Polanski

Not as sad as I was expecting, but that's not really a bad thing. :) I thought it was funny that it started to feel like Cast Away towards the end. XD Well, it really was a story of survival anyway.

Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face)
1960 88 minutes
Director: Georges Franju

Disappointing. :/ The story seemed rushed by the end. Also, if someone could hack away half the characters, the movie would be only 10 minutes shorter and the story wouldn't change at all. The scene with the dogs was really well done, though.

Little Miss Sunshine
2006 101 minutes
Director: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Funny. IMO, the clutch problem was not the best choice, a dead battery/electrical problem would be better for the effect they wanted.

Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers
2003 54 minutes
Director: Erik Gandini

Crazy and short. XD Not revolutionary, but also not as dumb as some people in IMDB want you to think.

El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
2006 112 minutes
Director: Guillermo del Toro

I thought this movie was going to be a bit childish. Man, was I wrong. XD I really liked the troll or whatever it was. The one with the eyes on its hands. And I liked the ending too. :)

The Reptile Room
Author: Lemony Snicket
190 pages

I liked the first book's story better, but I remembered most of it from the movie, so this one had more surprises. Again, short, fun and easy to read.

The Elements of Style
Author: William Strunk, Jr.
45 pages

I learned more from this book than from any English teacher I had in school. A must read for everyone.

Nineteen Eighty-Four
Author: George Orwell
Translator: Wilson Velloso
297 pages

This book blew my mind. I went through it feeling like I was inside it. And it scared the shit out of me, because the story feels so... possible. "If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever." That pretty much sums it up. :D Go read it if you haven't already.

The Time Traveler's Wife
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Translator: Adalgisa Campos da Silva
485 pages

The most beautiful love story I've ever read. It even made me cry, and that's very unusual of me. The time traveling logic was also flawless. Totally recommended for everyone old enough to read the sex scenes.

Tue, 20 May 2008 23:43:35 GMT

I finished getting A or better on all Supernova's 7 footers! :DD
Gekkou chou almost gave me a heart attack XD

Sat, 17 May 2008 03:16:17 GMT

Extra! Extra! Thousands whine because Portugal is getting rid of useless letters in hundreds of words!

Wake me up when we drop the cedilla and all the accents. u_u

Fri, 09 May 2008 03:13:03 GMT

Find Out Which Disney Girl You Are!

You scored as Mulan

A free spirit, a beautiful soul, all things that most people would tag on a lovely girly girl - but you're more boy than anything! Sometimes you're considered a 'nerd' or 'dork', but that just comes with the package - you even embrace your inner nerd. Go you!

lol wtf

Thu, 08 May 2008 03:02:05 GMT

I happened to go by a department store today and they were having a big DVD sale: everything for R$12.99 (~ 8 dollars). Of course I had to go in. There were actually some good movies this time, which is very unusual. Anyway, my girlfriend and I were there skimming through all the DVDs available, when she says "Hey, isn't this that asian movie you like?" and shows me this:

My answer is "WTF?... Wait is that Jay Chou?!"
It's Initial D! There's no way in hell I would have recognized it if she hadn't made me look closer!

The title was replaced with "[idiotic slang for]Street racing - Unlimited Speed", the sort of title that makes me not want to change into a channel when I'm watching TV. At the top, they put a "Similar to 'The Fast and the Furious'". Are you kidding me? Initial D is as similar to tFatF as Takumi's AE86 to Vin Diesel's car, after he crashed it XD

And what were they thinking when they chose that picture? Jay Chou was squeezed into the top left corner to make room for a completely unimportant character in the center. His AE86 (the manga's trademark) doesn't even show up. Speaking of the manga, near the bottom they say the movie is based on a comicbook named "Manga". LOL. I can't even imagine the amount of miscommunication that led to that one.