My WD1600AAJS - Dying!

After almost 11 months, my 160GB Western Digital SATA II Drive is failing. At first I thought it was just some bad sectors.. well I checked and scanned and used Data Lifeguard from Western Digital.. there were no bad sectors. It was the controller board inside the disk that was malfunctioning due to overheating even though I have three fans in the ATX Casing with one exclusively for the disk. Now, it would fail to read/write once in a while.. or after a few minutes or so, and I have to shut down the PC and turn it ON after a few minutes of rest to make it work as it was 10 months ago. Guess these drives weren't meant to last especially if your PC is "ON" forever with occasional rests every month or so for a few hours.. because I am hosting my own web and email server on it.

All my data and games I wiped clean from the drive because I wanted to format it at low level using Data Lifeguard's "Write Zeroes". Well since it is not caused by bad sectors, there was no hope of reviving it back like a new disk. A month ago I've been experiencing symptoms of Delayed Write Failures (DWF) on Windows XP. And accessing of the disk is very slow. The good news is, I can send this back to WD Services since it is still on warranty till 2010 and have it replaced. The bad news is that this is my only disk and I cannot afford to buy another one while I wait for the replacement which would take about a month and I cannot live without my PC for a day.

Perhaps when I could get a new disk I would send this back for replacement, but for now I am using a ramdisk with 1GB out of my 3GB memory so I can at least browse the net or play low-end small installation games. I am also using firefox portable on my 1.9GB usb drive to browse the net so only windows accesses the hard disk to prevent damaging it some more. My other applications on the ramdisk and usb drives runs very smoothly since it is not using the "slowed-down" disk. Maybe I should consider Seagate Drives next time.

Games stopped: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. SHOC
Application data lost: My 3D Models/Projects and Programming Projects
Low-end games played: Starwars KOTOR, KOTOR2, Outcast, Jedi Academy since they do not access the disk most of the time (only when loading/saving which could fail in my damaged drive sometimes).

I would probably lay low from the Internet for now..

Far Cry (PC)

Far Cry (2005)

When I heard about Far Cry 2 and saw the development reviews and previews of the game, I thought it would be a great 3D game and got the first installment of the title since at that time I haven't played Far Cry... yet. The other day I have just finished the game in "Challenging" difficulty and played in "Realistic" afterwards and I am now halfway through with no other sign of difficulty changes except for more accurate enemy fire that kills you with four hits on a full armor and health status. With the upcoming second installment of Far Cry with a more realistic and stunningly beautiful environment, I can say that the first game already has a great jungle environment that makes me wonder what Far Cry 2 would look when released.

Anyway, you are Jack who has been hired to take this lady Valerie into a group of islands somewhere out in the middle of nowhere where you get hit by a rocket propelled grenade. You have no choice but to swim to the nearest island and figure out how to get out of the jungle. As the story unfolds you will then find out that Valerie is a CIA agent on a mission and have chosen you to get her into the "jungle islands" because you are the only boat for hire with special forces training and thought that you might be able to help. There have been mutation experiments on the islands and both of you are there to stop it whether you like it or not.

The first encounters with the mutated creatures are mutations of monkeys/apes. You later find out that what you encountered were just the untrained mutants, which means there are trained ones out there and I'm not talking about monkeys trained to hunt down prey. They have been inoculating trained human soldiers that mutated into firearm-carrying mutants that could kill you not only with their guns but with one or two swipes of their claws. This game feels very similar to Half-Life but with a jungle theme and mercenaries. I like the part where you get to blow out everything in your path and also the stealth infiltrations at night with your night vision goggles.

The boss fights are very frustration as you get to battle not only the boss but some mercenaries and soldiers as well who snipe you if you don't take them all out first to concentrate on the boss. Better carry that rocket launcher all the way in the game with full ammo as it will help you clear out these enemy soldiers on boss battles very quickly. And when you get the chance to carry that Machine Gun with a capacity of 100 bullets, then do so as it will help kill those big nasties with rocket launchers on their arms with a full burst at their heads.

Some jungle tips. Before entering an enemy encampment on the jungle, try to get everyone on the binoculars as this would enable tracking of your enemies on your radar. Just prone in a good distance away from the camp, use the binoculars and wait for most of them to get registered for tracking. Then snipe or shoot the enemies on guard towers first as they would be your most likely killers from above with sniper rifles and rocket launchers. Move to another location as the mercenaries would be converging on the last known disturbance, which you can see as red dots on the radar which means they are alarmed by your presence. Always aim for the head to deal with them swiftly. You can drown mutant apes if you are near deep water by letting them follow you to the depths. And finally, do not waste your ammo!

I will be gaming with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Shadow of Chernobyl) tomorrow as my game break is still ongoing. Stalker is very much similar to Fallout which I am a fan of, and I'm also waiting for Bethesda's Fallout 3. Will also try to acquire the Stalker film for the Stalker game review after playing the game.

Fable: The Lost Chapters (PC)

FABLE: The Lost Chapters (2005)

Fable was first released in XBox while PC gamers felt left-out. But when it was released in Windows (PC), XBox users felt left-out because the PC version has additional content: The Lost Chapters where you get to go to the Northern Wastes in the Old Kingdom after defeating Jack of Blades in the original Fable storyline. The Lost Chapters offer new weapons, new quests and more choices to make... whether you continue to be a good hero or an evil villain of the Heroes Guild.

You will be able to get the Holy Warrior Helm, a perfect fit for that Bright Plate Suit of yours or the Demon Warrior Helm for you terrifying Dark Plate Suit. You can also acquire Archon's Armor, a more powerful plate suit with better defense but gives a good modifier for those planning on playing with an evil character. In the Northern Waste you get to battle Jack of Blades once more in his new (a perhaps his true) form, a fire breathing dragon. In the end, you get the option on wearing Jack's mask or destroying it, which if you plan on wearing it you become Jack of Blades himself and play as Jack at the end of the storyline after waiting for the game credits to roll out.

The Lost Chapters starts as with the original Fable game. You are a boy where the village you start out with gets attacked and burned to the ground, with your father as one of the casualties. Maze, a wizard from the Heroes Guild will somewhat find you and train you as one of the heroes in the game. You then decide which abilities to hone and master as you grow old (at about a few game minutes or a few hours in real time). As you grow you become older, become scarred and grow your hair and beard if you decide not to get to the local barber of Bowerstone. Experience is dropped for everything you kill (as long as they are not inanimate objects) as experience orb. A battle multiplier is also present for every strike you make which can multiply the experience you get from enemies and will slowly count down to a multiplier of one if not attacking, or will be halved or lowered by ten if you take a hit.

Experience distribution is applied to skills you need to improve in the Heroes Guild's Map Room. General experience (green) can be distributed to all skills (warrior, thief and magic) while red, yellow and blue experience can only be distributed to warrior, thief and magic skills respectively. You gain red experience by using your melee weapons or fists, or eating strength enhancing food like meat. Yellow experience is acquired with using your bow, or eating carrots (not the golden ones). You get blue experience points by using your Will/magic and by eating certain types of fish. If you master one or all of the three skills, your appearance will also change. For example, mastering most of the magic spells will grant you magical tattoos just like Maze's, plus your hands will be glowing with Will energy. Mastering warrior skills of strength will give you muscles and a pumped up body.

You will also have choices to make in the storyline which will bring you to the path of good or evil depending on your choices and actions. Stealing, breaking barrels and killing innocents will bring you closer to the dark side while fighting monsters and some good deeds/choices/missions will bring you to the light (the good side). Some food items will also change your alignment like eating a crunchy chick will give you an evil alignment while tofu will make you good. The good character will have blue eyes at first, then butterflies flying around you on the second level, a halo on the third and a bask of holy light on your feet on the final level (with a more distinct halo). The evil character will have red eyes, small horns on the head, flies, and finally an evil red glow on your feet/path with full grown horns. Some magic spells can only be mastered depending on your alignment like heal for good and drain life for evil but regardless of your alignment you will still become a Will Master if you master enough spells.

For every town you can get to buy your own house where you can rent it out for extra gold, or get married and live in the marital home you bought, so you can have a wife for every town you have a house on. You can also marry Lady Grey in Bowerstone North even if you don't own a house. Married life can have its rewards, your wife gives you gifts like powerful weapons or armor which you can sell since you already are using that legendary weapon (artifact) which is more powerful than the expensive weapons. And if you're evil, you can sacrifice your wife in the Chapel of Skorm which might bless you with the game's most powerful bow if you sacrifice her at midnight. If a villager or shop owner is killed, you have the option to buy the house they live in or the shop, but make it quick as when the game respawns a new villager or shop owner, the replaced villager will automatically buy the vacant house or the replaced shop owner will resume the shop's ownership. Taverns can also be bought if you kill the game master, the bartender and the bar maid.

Fable provides a good role-playing theme, and will also change your appearance for the role of the character you are trying to create... somewhat different from other RPG's where you decide the role of your character at the start through a character generator. I will also be keeping an eye out for Fable 2.

Overlord (PC)

Overlord (2007)

This is a first person fantasy game where you are the overlord, master of goblin-like creatures called minions. You start the game with brown minions waking you up from your evil slumber on a sarcophagus with a steel helmet, armor and axe. There are four types of minions. The brown minions are your standard melee attackers and are available in the start of the game. The red minions are the ranged fighters, hurling fireballs at enemies and can survive on fires (can extinguish them as well). The green minions are your stealth assassins, when grouped (flagged) they can become invisible and can back stab enemies within their range while the enemy is looking away from them, as well as survive poisonous areas and can disable poison producing plants that block the overlord's path. The blue minions are the support creatures, they can resurrect fallen minions and can swim/traverse water but are weak fighters (but can swarm an enemy and resurrect the fallen comrades if some will die).

You start with only five minions that you can summon but the maximum number of minions can be increased by collecting creature objects or by upgrading your helmet on the forge. Minions can only be summoned on summoning pits: browns are summoned on brown summoning pits, reds on red summoning pits, etc. Your tower is your headquarters, where all the tower objects are placed like creature, health and magic objects as well as creature hives. In order to summon creatures of a certain type, you must acquire their hive.

Weapons, armors and helmets can be created on a forge somewhere within the tower but first you must acquire the steel forge and command your creatures to carry it to the nearest teleporter to your tower. You can also upgrade your equipment on the forge, sacrificing minions to give it additional damage, power and abilities. For armors, you can sacrifice green minions to give it health regeneration, with a percentage depending on the number of green minions you sacrifice. Brown minions increase the armor's defense, red minions increase your maximum life bars and blue minions increase your magic capacity. You can get two other forge types as well which increase the maximum number of minions you can sacrifice to give your battle equipment more abilities.

Although you can summon a limited number of minions (from you current maximum summons), you will have a pool of available minions that you can summon to replenish your ranks which reside in your tower. You can increase your minion pool by gathering lifeforce. Sheeps that you or your minions kill will generate brown lifeforce (with a yellow color) and is the most common. Red lifeforce from certain creatures/enemies will increase your red minion pool, green lifeforce for greens and blue lifeforce for blues. There is also an arena in your tower where you can battle previously encountered enemies, very useful for filling up your creature pools because these arena enemies will drop lifeforce. The bugs are a perfect arena combatants as they drop lifeforce depending on the species and I would suggest you try to find these bugs in the game to make them available in the arena as soon as possible. The battler beetles drop brown lifeforce, the magma beetles drop red lifeforce, the puff beetles drop green lifeforce and the dazzler beetles drop blue lifeforce for a total of 75 lifeforces in every arena battle with a specific bug.

---spoilers---
Now on to the summary of the game storyline. You were actually a gallant knight who once fought an evil overlord along with your other hero comrades. You were left for dead in the last overlord's tower after that overlord was defeated by the other heroes. The leader of the heroes was a wizard who was determined to stop the overlord's evil reign. Unknown to all, the wizard was possessed by this overlord in their battle and all came to believe that the overlord is dead. The wizard then corrupted the other heroes and the new overlord (you), the knight left for dead in the tower was resurrected/awaken to take over the overlord's tower temporarily which the wizard planned in taking back later. You will battle all of your corrupted hero friends and finally meet the wizard who you must defeat to remain the tower's current overlord, your minions will battle against his minions and prove yourself to be the best overlord. In the end, the minion jester who you beat up in the training sessions and kick around in your tower will give an evil grin with eyes glowing, probably possessed by the overlord wizard.

There is also Overlord: Raising Hell expansion which I plan on acquiring.

July-August 2008 Game Time

Went on a game time break with three PC titles: Overlord (2007) by Triumph Studios, Fable: The Lost Chapters (2005 PC) by Lionhead Studios, and Far Cry (2004) by Crytek Studios.

With Overlord, you control an evil master of creatures (minions) in the game to help you do your evil deeds. You can just be an evil overlord or become more evil by choosing your actions in the main quests. Your armor, helmet and weapons can be upgraded by sacrificing your minions in your forge. This game reminds me of Dungeon Keeper and enjoyed it for 1 week of full game time.

Fable has been released for XBox, but the PC version includes additional contents: The Lost Chapters. You start out as a little boy, gets trained in the Heroes' Guild... then you choose which class you are going to develop your character with. Your character will also show signs of aging and scars from battles as time goes on. This is one great first-person role-playing game! Enjoyed it for a week and a half, finishing the story as both good and evil hero.

Far Cry has a wonderful game world, a paradise of islands in the middle of nowhere. You can enjoy the scenery while blasting out mercenaries on your way to the mission area. Then you fight your way through hordes of mutated creatures; mutated monkeys at the start of the game to mutated mercenary soldiers which are trained for combat. Got this game after reading up on the upcoming Far Cry 2 PC title, with a better paradise and lots of terrain to cover. Finished it on "Challenging" difficulty and still halfway on "Realistic".

Full reviews coming up while getting ready with another game title, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl.

Setting Up Your CO.CC Zone Records

This post is an instruction in setting-up your CO.CC (sub) domain's Zone Records. If you do not have a CO.CC domain yet, you can get one here for free (if it qualifies as a free subdomain of CO.CC)... and be able to have an almost total control with this domain without any ads or banners whatsoever. Currently you can register a maximum of two CO.CC domains. It is actually a subdomain of the co.cc top-level domain, but a domain nonetheless and a short one too ;-)

There are three ways to make your CO.CC domain point at your web site. First is by pointing your domain's nameservers to the nameservers of your site's web host. Second is by editing the zone's A, MX, NS and CNAME records. And third, is by redirecting to your site. I shall talk about the second option... the zone records.

When I say that you have almost total control of your free CO.CC domain, what I mean is that you can change/edit the most useful parts of the zone records without going to the hassles of the common ones which will be handled by your hosting company or by CO.CC themselves. You don't need to edit the SOA, or make reverse-ip entries.

What you need is just the ip address of the site which you are going to point to. This is usually a shared ip address for all the users in the server and you need to park your domain to make it point to your actual account in the hosts (unless it's a dedicated hosting or you have a static ip address for your site). You can get the ip for your site by doing a DNS whois or lookup, or it may be written somewhere on your control panel depending on your hosting. There are many online whois tools available like in DNSstuff.com, or just do a search for something like "online whois".

So let's say the ip to your site is 74.86.133.24 (from x10hosting.com) and your free domain is example.co.cc (currently for sale at CO.CC). Go to your CO.CC account panel and choose Manage Domain, select the second option which is Zone Record. Add "example.co.cc" for host, 1D TTL (1-day time to live, default), A type record and enter the ip address 74.86.133.24 as value. After that, you wait for the dns to propagate (usually 1-2 days, sometimes much shorter) and it will then point to your site if you parked the domain or created a hosting account with "use my domain" option earlier in your web host. The "www" subdomain (www.example.co.cc) is usually entered as a CNAME of the domain example.co.cc but that is not currently allowed in your CO.CC account. So if you add an A record for www.example.co.cc with the ip of your site then example.co.cc will cease to function.

If you use google apps, you can enter MX records as well in your domain's zone records with these values:

(host - TTL - MX type - MX priority - value)

example.co.cc - 1D - MX - 1 - aspmx.l.google.com
example.co.cc - 1D - MX - 5 - alt1.aspmx.l.google.com
example.co.cc - 1D - MX - 5 - alt2.aspmx.l.google.com
example.co.cc - 1D - MX - 10 - aspmx2.googlemail.com
example.co.cc - 1D - MX - 10 - aspmx3.googlemail.com
example.co.cc - 1D - MX - 10 - aspmx4.googlemail.com
example.co.cc - 1D - MX - 10 - aspmx5.googlemail.com

You would also be required by google to verify that you own the domain by creating a CNAME to google.com using a subdomain. Example will be googleffffffxhdksld.example.co.cc which must point to google.com for your google apps account to be verified. So for the host enter googleffffffxhdksld.example.co.cc, 1D for TTL (default), CNAME for type, and google.com for the value. You may want to change your email (or docs/calendar/sites/etc..) URLs in google apps so that you just type mail.example.co.cc by adding a CNAME (same as above) with mail.example.co.cc as host and ghs.google.com as value.

You can also give subdomains to your friends like myfriend1.example.co.cc to point to your friend's site. Just modify the A record with your friend site's ip and give your friend a subdomain in the host field.

Setting up NS records for your zone is just the same as the first option, but your zone details might be modified by the server it is pointing. If you do a DNS lookup for your domain, NS entries should just point to CO.CC's nameservers by default.

With an almost total control of the Zone Records, you can have blog.example.co.cc point to your blog in blogspot.com, example.co.cc pointing to your cool site hosted at x10hosting.com, use the email address yourname@example.co.cc with google apps and maybe serve other subdomains pointing to different hosting!

Wanted [2008]

I watched this film mainly because of being a fan of the Dozor (Watch) series which were directed by Timur... I wanted to see Timur's new movie. It also casts one of the primary characters in the Dozor films, Konstantin as a Russian fraternity member (The Exterminator). Info on Sergei Lukyanenko's ongoing tetralogy novels on film: Nochnoy Dozor (Night Watch, 2004) and Dnevnoy Dozor (Day Watch, 2006), both directed by Timur which I'm still planning to review. I am also waiting for Sumerechny Dozor (Twilight Watch) and Posledniy Dozor (Final Watch). Wanted also has the "articulated action sequences" of the Dozor films.

Wanted [2008|Action]
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Cast: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Konstantin Khabensky... (more)

This film was based on Mark Millar's comic book mini-series of the same title (J.G. Jones was the artist). It tells the story of an ordinary accountant who is recruited by a group of assassins known as the Fraternity. The film added a new element to the story by including the looms of fate to determine the Fraternity's assassination targets.

The film starts with Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) narrating about his pathetic life, then the scenes shift to Mr. X being assassinated by Cross, a rogue Fraternity member who has been killing the assassins one by one. At a later part, Fox (Jolie) appears on Wesley's side to protect him from Cross, because Wesley was Cross' next target after killing his father Mr. X (plot related).
Wesley is then recruited to the Fraternity (same old stuff about "your dad was a member now its your turn") with his primary task: to kill Cross.

The film ends with Wesley taking back control of his own life and putting a bullet on another assassin; with the bullet travelling from his sniper rifle - to his untrustworthy best friend's drink - to his glutton-bitch-boss' donut - to his target.

Final note: bullets don't fly straight!

The Ruins [2008]

The Ruins [2008|Horror|Thriller]
Based on Scott Smith's novel "The Ruins"
Directed by: Carter Smith

A group of American and Greek tourists explore an uncharted Mayan ruin in Mexico. Mathias' brother had just met a beautiful archaeologist who has been exploring the ruins. He has not come back since spending the night at the archaeologists' camp there. Mathias met with the Americans and invited them over to the ruins to find his brother. Once there, they find a group of armed Mayans who try to drive them away at first, but then won't let them leave once they got into the ruin's vegetation.

The Mayans were actually placing the tourists in a quarantine, for the vegetation was actually a sentient creature-plant. The plant is capable of mimicking sounds and even the voices of people around to lure it's victims. It is somewhat like a parasite that enters human bodies, either as an unwilling host or to populate and spread.

The ending in the book tells how the last survivor commits suicide to warn others of the danger, but the plant drags the body so no one will find it. In the movie, the survivor escapes on a jeep and the camera focuses on the face to reveal the worm-like movement of the parasitic-plant under the skin.

WWW Directories

Internet directories provide links to your site and (may) improve your SEO rankings and traffic. Most of them allow you to submit your site for free with a reciprocal link to their site. You can also post articles on some of them. After submitting your site, be patient.. some directories are approved by volunteer editors and may take months (or a year) depending on the volume of submissions and the editor's time.

Here are some internet directories where you can submit your sites for free. It will be updated once in a while with every free directory site that I would stumble upon.


www.dmoz.org (highly recommended) :: The Open Directory
www.wowdirectory.com (recommended) :: Free Weekend Submission Review Directory
www.topsitelisted.com (good) :: SEO friendly internet directory of free listings
www.searchpowertour.com :: General Directories - Free Directory Listings - Free Website Submissions
www.urlguidenet.com :: Web Site Search Directory -URL Guide Net Web Directory
www.freeonlineindex.com :: SEO Friendly Web Site Search Directory-Free And Cheap Feature Listing Sites
www.worldurllink.com :: World URL Link Directory -General Web Directory Free Website Submission


You can also find more free internet directories with comments and reviews here.

---Updates---
www.valid8or.com (recommended) :: Not only adds your site but validates it as well... for free!

In Bruges [2008]

In Bruges [2008|Dark Comedy|Crime|Drama]
Directed By: Martin McDonagh
Primary Characters: Ray (Colin Farrell), Ken (Brendan Gleeson), Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes)

After accidentally killing a child on his last hit, hitman Ray and his partner Ken is sent to Bruges, Belgium by their boss Harry Waters to lay low for a while. While Ken thinks that the place is great, Ray feels otherwise and has been tormented by guilt as well. After agreeing with Ray to go sightseeing at night, the two left their hotel room and came across a movie shoot with a midget actor (they prefer to be called dwarfs). Here, Ray finds Chloe, which becomes his love interest.

As the story unfolds we then find out that the reason Harry sent the duo to Bruges is because he wants Ray to experience the magic and beauty of the place before taking him out, Harry has a principle that child-killers do not deserve to live and that if he had accidentally done it then he would swallow his own bullet and die. Without knowing Harry's intentions, Ray wanted to kill himself on the park but was stopped by Ken, who was supposed to kill him. Ken asks Ray to get on the train and disappear instead.

Upon learning this, Harry went to Bruges himself to deal with Ken. On the train, Ray was placed under arrest and was sent back to Bruges for a minor incident that happened earlier. At this part of the film we will see the chasing and the shooting. All three gets a bullet, two will die and one is brought by the ambulance in the end and wishes to live.

Getting Free Hosting With Free (SUB) Domain

The first thing you have to do is get a free domain. You can get a free co.cc domain of your choice. The co.cc domain is actually a subdomain but at least it is shorter. Sign up for a co.cc domain here. This free domain can be customized: Zone Records (A CNAME MX NS), setup with the nameservers of your free hosting so you can park or host it there for free, or you can redirect all traffic from this domain to your existing websites.

After you get your domain, you can sign up for a free web hosting at byethost or x10hosting. These free hosting services allow you to have bannerless PHP/MySQL sites for free (see their terms to what suits your needs). You can select the free subdomains (yoursite.byethost17.com, yoursite.x10hosting.com) or you can host your co.cc domain by pointing your domain's nameservers to them (information on this can be found on the member's area). Now you have a free domain and a free bannerless hosting for your site.

Want more free services? Apply for a google apps account and register your co.cc domain (information can be found on google). In your webhosting CPANEL, change your MX records to that of google apps so that you can have an email address like: yourname@yourdomain.co.cc!

Movies <-this-> Week (Jun 08 4th Quarter)

Hard Boiled [1992] - A John Woo film starring Chow Yun-Fat as a no-nonsense detective.
Cleaner [2007] - Samuel L. Jackson stars as an ex-detective turned crime scene cleaner who "cleans" some evidence by accident and got himself into trouble.
Kung-Fu Panda [2008] - A martial arts animated film with voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jacky Chan, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, and many others.
Semi-Pro [2008] - Starring Will Ferrel as Jackie Moon, a one-hit singer who bought a basketball team to be the playing coach.. with ambitions to take his team to the big league, the NBA.
Street Kings [2008] - Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker in another cop drama.
The Incredible Hulk [2008] - Edward Norton stars as the marvel character Dr. Bruce Banner in the Hulk's latest installment. You can see Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in the last part of the film, a preview for the next Hulk movie where the classic Marvel battle with the Hulk and Iron Man might be taken into consideration.
Be Kind Rewind [2008] - With Jack Black and Mos Def in this comedy about making "sweded movies".
Vantage Point [2008] - Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox and Forest Whitaker in this action-drama about assassinations and conspiracies in the U.S. goverment taking place in another country. The story is told in different perspectives about the assassination attempt for the US president visiting Salamanca, Spain.

JL Trish V4.2 now in Poser Format

I have just updated my free character head morph for Victoria 4.2 to poser format. JL Trish V4.2 only requires Victoria 4.2 Base and is free to download at JLee 3D. I packed it in 7-zip compression format which WinRAR and 7-zip could extract, so if you have Victoria 4.2 Base, Poser or DAZ|Studio, and either WinRAR v3.71 or 7-zip then you may be able to get her in her own download page. Head morph only with no supplied textures, eye mats and hair. Enjoy!

BSG's Gayatri Mantra

ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं ।
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥

OM bhūr bhuvah svah
tat savitur varēnyam
bhargō dēvasya dhīmahi
dhiyō yō nah pracōdayāt

Translations (wiki):

• om The mystical Om syllable.
• bhū "earth"
• bhuvas "atmosphere"
• svar "light, heaven"
• tat "that"
• savitur devasya "of Savitr, the god" (genitives of savitr-, 'stimulator, rouser; name of a sun-deity' and deva- 'god' or 'demi-god')
• varenyam accusative of varenya- "desirable, excellent"
• bhargo "radiance, lustre, splendour, glory"
• dhīmahi "may we attain" (1st person plural middle optative of dhā- 'set, bring, fix' etc.)
• dhiyaḥ naḥ "our prayers" (accusative plural of dhi- 'thought, meditation, devotion, prayer' and naḥ enclitic personal pronoun)
• yaḥ pracodayāt "who may stimulate" (nominative singular of relative pronoun yad-; causative 3rd person of pra-cud- 'set in motion, drive on, urge, impel')

Syllabic Pronounciation in the (All New) Battlestar Galactica Theme:

• Ooommm (prolonged OM)
• bur-bu-va-ah-su-vah
• tat-sa-vi-tur-va-re-en-yam
• bar-go-de-vas-ya-ah-di-ma(h)i
• di-yu-yu-na-ah-pra-cu---day-at

W3C Validation Linking Tips

W3 in W3C stands for the World Wide Web (W3 or WWW) and the C part is for Consortium, or as a whole: the World Wide Web Consortium. What's the use of these validations? Well, having a valid html/xhtml page ensures you that your page will load properly (and that means how you want or expect your page to display) in all browsers especially those browsers who are W3C compliant. Take note however that not all browsers conform to the W3C standards and you may have to add certain "hacks" on your page to display them right. Rest assured however that major browsers comply to these standards, among them is Mozilla FireFox. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 does comply to these except for XHTML's mime type "application/xhtml+xml" (as of this writing, if I am not mistaken) which your page must change to "text/html" whenever it is browsed by IE, but maybe an update from Microsoft will fix it someday.

Anyway, to get to the linking tips.. for an HTML/XHTML page you may validate to W3C's Online Markup Validation or to W3C's Online CSS/Stylesheet Validation page or to both. To validate to W3C easily, just add a text or image link in your page to:

• "http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer" for the markup validation.
• "http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer?profile= css3%26usermedium=all%26warning=2%26lang=en" for the CSS3 validation.

Notes: Due to maximum width, the above link was broken into the next line. Make sure there are no spaces or newlines within your <a> (link) tags. Always use lowercase for your tags. For URLs, replace '&' with '%26' or '&amp;'.

When following these links, it will automatically validate the current page you placed the validation link, hence the 'referer' (referrer) parts in the links. If your page does not validate, errors and warnings are listed so you can correct them. The markup validation also has an option to clean up your code so you will know how to correct them, just toggle the "Clean Up With HTML Tidy" option in the validation page.

Currently, this blog is not yet W3C compliant, and is because I used a default template from blogger plus the widgets. But once I get to finish my W3C compliant website then I will concentrate on my blogger accounts. View the html source of my 3D site to learn more on how I linked to W3C.

Visitor Map

Visitor Map for Do or Die! - June 7, 2008

Ubuntu

Guess what came from the mail yesterday?

My Ubuntu Desktop CD.. has just arrived.. unfortunately the Ubuntu Server CD that is suppose to come with it is missing! The package reads One Ubuntu Desktop CD and One Ubuntu Server CD. I don't know whether it is an error from Ubuntu or from the post office. I've waited almost a month for the CDs to arrive..

Well anyway, I'm gonna have to make do with the Desktop Edition. Now to find enough disk space for the installation..

HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.1

Finally converted the index page of my site to XHTML 1.1 and HTML 4.01, depending on what browser the page viewer is browsing from. Since the index is in PHP, I can manipulate the headers so it will display HTML 4.01 on Internet Explorer users or XHTML 1.1 (default) for viewers who use Mozilla Firefox (v2 or later) or any browser that supports XHTML. All stylesheets used are CSS3 validated.

Since there are google ads on my pages, I decided to revert the mime types to text/html instead of application/xhtml+xml since most if not all of the javascript ads like adsense does not support xhtml yet. There are a lot of sample PHP code to do this and after gathering enough examples I have created my own. Here is what my script provides:

1. If XHTML is supported, send XHTML (with XML) headers to the page but retain text/html as the mime type, and make sure the XML tag is placed on the first line and column of the page.
2. If XHTML is forced to be the markup language, use application/xhtml+xml as mime type, thereby disabling ads that don't support XHTML and browsers with no support for this mime type will not be able to display the page properly, i.e. some of the page styles are lost.
3. If XHTML is not supported, HTML 4.01 will be used for the headers with text/html as mime type plus all closing tags "/>" are converted to ">".
4. If HTML is forced to be the markup language, all HTML 4.01 conditions (see no. 3) will be enabled.
5. If validation from W3C, the default markup language (XHTML 1.1) and mime type (application/xhtml+xml) is used.

You can validate the markup of your pages at the W3C Markup Validation Service. You can validate your stylesheets at the W3C CSS Validator.

The Forbidden Kingdom [2008]

The Forbidden Kingdom (April 2008)

With Jet Li as the Monkey King and the Silent Monk. Long ago, the monkey king was tricked by the Jade Emperor's General, the Jade Warlord portrayed by Collin Chou. The Jade Warlord turned the Monkey King into stone, but before that, the Monkey King banished his staff to the mountains in the hope that someone will find it to free him from his imprisonment.

It also stars Jackie Chan as the drunken immortal Lu Yan and the Old Hop; Michael Angarano as Jason Tripitikas, the kung-fu fanatic destined to free the Monkey King; Yifei Liu as Golden Sparrow, orphaned by the Jade Warlord and vows revenge; and Li Bing Bing as the mercenary Ni Chang who was promised the Immortality Potion if she can bring the Monkey King's staff to the Jade Warlord.

This Week's Visitor Map

Here is the visitor map since I started gathering statistics for this blog last week. The most number of references to this site is Google, sending most of the traffic. At least I know someone stumbles upon this blog every now and then. :insertsmilingemoticonhere:

Count High No. 375

I've been assigned the number 375 for Adam's Count High Project. My contribution is rendered in Vue 6, the number 375 is textured with rusting steel and the marsh-like waters are populated with seaweeds using Vue's Ecosystem.

Don't know what Count High is? Go here for the history and the goals of the project. If you want to know what to do, just click in here for the instructions. Only your contributions can make this project work.

BSG - Last Supper

An all new season of the all new Battlestar Galactica. Season four is the final season, where the survivors finally get to earth, and the last of the final cylon will be revealed. Moore said that this unknown cylon is not part of this Last Supper photo of the cast, and that anyone in the photo who was not yet revealed as a cylon is human. Of course there are rumors that there are thirteen cylon models and not twelve, and that there are still two more unknown cylons to be revealed. Just wondering: isn't there thirteen people in Jesus' Last Supper?

It all has happened before... and it shall happen again!
Or something like that.. ^_^

Movies <-this-> Week (May 08 4th Quarter)

1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [2008]
2. The Chronicles Of Narnia Prince Caspian [2008]
   
3. Iron Man [2008]
4. Nancy Drew [2007]
5. In The Name Of The King [2007]
   
6. Ocean's 13 [2007]
   

Spectral Canyon [Low-Res]

This test animation is rendered in Vue 6 xStream. The spectral atmosphere enables the low clouds which is then animated. Low resolution of 160x120 with 10 seconds (241 frames @ 24fps) took about 30 minutes. Computer used is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+, 3 Gb of RAM and nVidia GeForce 8800 GT OC.

YouTube Link

Woodland Ruins

The sun had already risen and is almost level with Espyre Mountain's peak behind them when they were able to see the outline of the Drakkan Mountain Range. The range's base is marked by a solitary landmark, the ruins of the Southern Abbey which was destroyed by the 99-year war that took place many years ago in this region. As Blackwind gallops through the last acres of level ground, his two riders were too busy watching their backs from possible pursuers that they were not able to notice the strange movements in the trees behind the ruins.

"I don't think they followed us. It is way past daybreak. They appear only at night, right?", the black-armored knight said to the young sorceress.
"Yes, Brynn. But the Scillia are awake during the day; their eyes during the day."
"Well, Blackwind can sense the Scillia. He trembles when he can feel their presence. I think he's not sensing any since he's racing at a steady pace. I think we are safe for now. We should rest by the ruins, we all need it after that terrible ordeal last night."
"I agree. I feel very weak from casting the cloaking mist all night. At least it worked and we have escaped, or there would have been no one to report the ambush. I just wish we were able to take Janos with us. Last thing I saw, he was shooting hallowed arrows at those wraiths and then he was gone, just like a snap of the fingers."
"I'm sorry, Hera. There's nothing that we could have done to save him."

With Blackwind's speed, they reached the ruins in no time, both quickly dismounted and settled in the still standing archways; sitting on the ruined floors with their backs on the broken walls. Brynn closed his eyes as soon as he can, whispering at the same time.
"I don't know why the wraiths appeared last night for no reason. Do you think the Wraithe-Lord has returned, controlling those other wraiths just like before?"
"I don't know... I don't know...", with her reply Hera closed her eyes to rest.
ZzzZzzzZzzzzz...

They were both roused from their slumber when they heard Blackwind rearing in excitement. Two fire dragons are closing in on the horse with deadly efficiency. Brynn unseath his shadow blade and made a dash to Blackwind's side. He keeps himself very low next to the horse by kneeling his left foot and as the dragon is about to gnaw on Blackwind's neck, Brynn made an upward thrust to the dragon's throat killing it instantly.

Hera stood right away and rushed near the second dragon, her eyes glowing in a bask of white light. In an instant, electrical arcs are forming on her hands and lightning bolts were unleashed from her fingertips, incapacitating the dragon. But because she was still weak, she collapsed on her knees. Red dragons have a slight resistance to electrical attacks, and this one have fully recovered from the stunning effect after just a few seconds.

When Brynn looks in Hera's way, it was already too late. He is too far away to help Hera as the dragon pounced. Then suddenly, a frost arrow struck the dragon's right forearm just before it can make contact with Hera, throwing it to a small distance to the left. Another frost arrow hits its right hind leg. Although injured, the dragon is persistent and is now standing in the direction of his unknown attacker with its hind legs, exposing his bare chest. Then, three hallowed arrows hit its heart in quick successions, the first arrows were split into two from the next ones. The dragon is dead.

The two looked at the hooded figure in the plains, which is still a mile away, with a smile on their faces.

VUE 6 - Sunset Scene

Rendered in VUE 6 xStream. Enjoy the view!

VUE Ecosystem - Garden Hill

VUE 6 Ecosystem, generating a garden on a hill. Ecosystems can be used as materials so plants (and other 3D objects) can be populated on a terrain. I created a procedural terrain, a hill actually, and populated it with grass, red and white poppies, and some primerose. Right now it is overly populated, about 90-100% density of the ecosystem population. LoL!

Quick Render

Quick Scene - Quick Render

Probably a victim of a forest serial killer.. LoL! She looks as if she's seen something lurking behind the trees. A quick forest scene that's supposed to have Aiko 4 on it but having problems with the eyes so I reverted the A4 morph back to V4. DAZ|Studio 2 has some problems loading some characters right. Rendered in DS.

Movies <-this-> Week (May 08 2nd Quarter)

1. You, Me and Dupree
2. Snakes On A Plane
3. Tomb Raider 1
4. Tomb Raider 2

--- -- - -- ---
Will probably watch more later after some renders..

Assassin!!!

Got my copy of Assassin's Creed yesterday, the 1st of May. The game has been released by Ubisoft a while back for the next generation consoles, but the PC version was just released last month (April 2008) and I had to wait. Produced by the beautiful Jade Raymond and developed by Ubisoft Montreal Studios. Here is the link to the wikipedia entry of Assassin's Creed.

The story is based on Genetic Memory wherein you not just inherit the traits of your parents and ancestors, but their memory as well. The main character was abducted in order to extract the genetic memory within him, whose ancestral tree involves an assassin from the Christian Crusades, Altair. He unwillingly becomes a test subject and will then escape his captors with the help of one of the "scientists", as you uncover the plot of the game's story. Probably one of those great games from Ubisoft along with their latest Prince of Persia series.

This should keep me busy for one week.. :wink:

Playing With Clouds and Effects

It's the air dragon zooming through the clouds. This uses spectral atmospheres in Vue 6, some metaclouds, some low and high clouds with the camera between them. Turbulence effect is just a cylinder with the dragon on one end, textured with cloud textures and transparency. I might add some more models in this scene if I revisit this again, but for now I'm on to playing with other effects like water splashes or fireballs, and maybe make a dragon breathe fire. Air dragon is from DAZ3D, posed and textured in DAZ|Studio with elemental air textures.. and then imported to Vue 6 xStream for the effects and final render.

HD Render of Remember Pitch Black? A.K.A. Before Pitch Darkening

The high resolution, 4000x3000-pixel render with HDR lighting of Remember Pitch Black? also known as Before Pitch Darkening is now available in RAR archive format. See previous posts for more details about this download. Get It Here!

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JLèé © 2008 All Rights Reserved
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HDR Re-rendered In High Definition

I've revisited one of my works to apply some of the new techniques I have learned so far in Vue 6 xStream. The image known as Before Pitch Darkening in ArtZone, which is also known as Remember Pitch Black? in Renderosity has been retouched by HDRI lighting. I have also retextured the ground and the terrain to look good on the new sky light. And as a bonus, it is rendered in a high definition (hi-res) image with 90% quality to minimize the gigantic file size. The 4000x3000 pixel image will be uploaded shortly as a WinRAR archive in FileCrunch since blogger and other galleries resize or disallow uploading of images with this resolution. Please click on the image to view the full size (1600x1200 here in blogger) and compare it to my previous posting of the original image (April 2008 Archive) to see and spot the difference. License is unrestricted for commercial and non-commercial use (GPL).

Rendered by JLèé © 2008

Vue 6 HDRI Test

What's good in Vue is the ability to create and export HDRI for use with your scene's HDR lighting. You just have to export the sky in a UV Sphere with a resolution of at least 3000 pixels, save it as an image file and you got yourself a nice HDR light source.

This is my HDR test render wherein I added a sunlight source so I could have some soft shadows (at least 5% softness) and in the atmosphere editor under lights, I made sure that sunlight gives the scene just 10% of the total light in the scene. Soft shadows and HDR crystal clear lighting!

Final Daily Dragon

The seventh and last of my Daily Dragon Entries for DAZ's Daily Dragon Contest. This is called Before Pitch Darkening, and is based on the movie Pitch Black wherein a ringed planet covers one of it's two suns. The creatures featured here are DAZ's Wyverns with Raw Wyvern textures. They were posed and textured in DAZ|Studio 1.8, then imported to Vue 6 xStream for the final render of the scene.

Daily Dragon Update 04252008

The original entry for daily dragon no. 2 which is done in DAZ|Studio and postwork by GIMP. This is the water dragon and the wyvern or "Dragon&Wyvern".



Daily dragon no. 5 is the "Submerged Dungeon", with the sea dragon from DAZ swimming in the partially submerged dungeon which is Stonemason's "The Dark Corner of the Dungeon" product.


I have just submitted daily dragon no. 6 which is "Jaws of the Flipper". This is my test run of VUE 6 xStream, everything here is rendered in Vue except for the copyright watermark which was added later by GIMP. DAZ's sea dragon passing through a sunken ruin, stonemason's "City Ruin" product. Tagline: Is it the great white shark or the dolphin?

Dragon Elementals

Well, its time for my daily dragon and my fourth entry for Dragon World 2008 Daily Dragon Contest has four of them, each representing the four basic elements (water, earth, fire, and air). Rendered in Carrara for the best water reflections and realistic sky. Each of the dragons were imported from DAZ Studio where they were posed and textured. The columns are also textured according to the elemental alignment of the dragon standing (or hovering) over it. On the far right is the Air Dragon (blue), standing over the crystalline column. To it's right (next dragon, counter-clockwise) is the Water Dragon (lighter blue) standing over an icy column, followed by the brownish Earth Dragon standing over a stone column. The Fire Dragon (red) is standing over the column of a once molten lava.

The Three Daily Dragons

These are my first three entries for DAZ3D's Dragon World - Daily Dragon Contest. Daily winners are chosen randomly and gets a DAZ voucher for the marketplace. A fun way to improve those rendering skills, plus a chance to get that bundle pack in DAZ for free.

This is the remake of my second entry in the daily dragon contest entitled "The Dragon and The Wyvern". In the original entry, the models (water dragon plus the wyvern) were rendered in DAZ|Studio; the backdrop was rendered in Carrara; and they were then put together with GIMP, my new favorite and free image processor aside from the commercial "Adobe Photoshop" and "Paint Shop Pro". This is rendered in Carrara 6 Pro where I added terrain, a realistic sky, and a lens flare.

This is called "Fire and Bone". The fire and bone dragons were posed and textured in D|S. They were then imported to Carrara so I can easily add the terrain, the realistic sky with the sun and moon, and add some fog.

My first entry was a render before I started playing with Carrara. This is called "The Dragon's Lair" A.K.A. "Fun With Millenium Dragon II". It was rendered in D|S and was my first work with the Millenium Dragon. The lair is the Dragon Cave which is a freebie.

Curling Eastern Dragon

JL Trish V4.2 Morphs++

For those of you who have V4.2 Base and V4.2 Morphs++ plus DAZ|Studio v1.8 or later.
This is my freebie character head morph for Victoria 4.2 and is available here.
A pz2 version is also available (for Poser, requires V4.2 base only) but I still have to make it perfect, sadly I don`t have the time.

Licensing: Unrestricted

Here`s some screens and renders (click to enlarge):

Movies <-this-> Week (Apr 08 3rd Quarter)

This week is crime movies week.. what I downloaded and watched for this week:

• The Bank Job (2008)
• Mad Money (2008)
• Flawless (2007)

Whoever said that crime does not pay is definitely not a criminal!

Aiko 4 - I Heart Aiko

Finally got my copy of the latest version of Aiko from DAZ3D. She is the most popular 3D Anime Model on the planet (Vicki is the most popular 3D non-anime model - :wink:). She is built from the body geometry of Victoria 4.2 so you'll need V4.2 Base for A4. And because of that, V4's clothes/hair/shoes/props will fit directly into A4.

Wait for my renders of A4 in my galleries on ArtZone. I love Vicki, but I heart Aiko! :LoL:

DAZ Glossary:
Vicki/Vicky - DAZ3D's Millenium Figure Victoria, nickname
V4 and V4.2 - Victoria 4 and Victoria 4.2 respectively
A4 - DAZ3D's (Anime) Millenium Figure Aiko 4

Darkstar One

Currently playing Darkstar One (wiki), released on June 16, 2006 by Ascaron.

It is another freeroam space combat/trading/bounty hunting sim just like Freelancer, Privateer, and X3: Reunion (or the X series). Unlike the other games, you only have one ship (you cannot buy another) but because of this, you can upgrade your ship from a high-end combat fighter/freighter to a super- or very-high-end and powerful ship. Confused? Well from the start of the game, your ship dubbed the "Darkstar One" is an experimental and 'already' powerful vessel (hence the high-end description above). This experimental state-of-the-art craft can collect artifacts scattered all over the game's space in order to gain the next level or level up.

I think I will be stuck in my room for a week or so for this. Off to my bounty!

New Amsterdam

You will not grow old.
You will not die.
Until you find 'the one'.

That's from the new series on Fox, New Amsterdam. The story revolves around a man who has been around for about 400 years, Johann van der Zee, who came to the new world and later became one of the pioneers of the Dutch Colony (New Amsterdam then, later called New York).

On the pilot episode you will discover how he became immortal and how he is to become mortal once more. Here you will also meet his soulmate, "the one".

Read more on Fox.

Virgle - The Mars Project

I've been watching the youtube videos of Virgle applicants, and I felt sorry for those who didn't know. Poor things. I think google should reward them for being good sports on this special day in April.

My internet surfing habits have saved me from the prank though. I always read the Terms of Agreement, F.A.Q.s, infos, forums/discussions, and go through all the links before joining anything on the net nowadays because of spam and hoaxes.

Happy April Fools Day. And don't throw all your hopes up, this is still to happen.. yet!

Top Space Sim Games

Freespace 2
Freelancer
Darkstar One
X3: Reunion
Wing Commander Prophecy
Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos
Spaceforce: Rogue Universe
Star Wars Empire At War
Galactic Civilizations I/II
Master of Orion II

Note: Some very good but older (like DOS games) space sims are not included. Others I may have failed to mention.

Favorite FNMs

Faith No More *** Favorites ***

• Stripsearch - "F for fake"
• Ashes To Ashes - "Give the same to me then I'll be closer"
• Digging The Grave - "Comfortable.."
• Epic - "You want it now but you can't have it"

Freelancer (PC)

Got an old space sim game called Freelancer by Digital Anvil, which was published and released by Microsoft on March 2003 (Wikipedia and GameSpot).

It is an open-space, free roaming simulation of a privateer.. uhmmm.. I mean a freelancer in the Sirius star system. You get paid (in credits) from a wide variety of jobs and trading which you can use to upgrade your ship or to buy another one. Although released in 2003, it is a 2001 game (or perhaps older) and the 3D graphics are expected to be from early year 2000 games.

I'm gonna get busy in the next two weeks hauling cargo and blasting pirates.

Minimum System Requirements:

System: PIII 600 or equivalent

RAM: 128 MB

Video Memory: 16 MB

Hard Drive Space: 1300 MB

Jericho 2x07

Patriots and Tyrants [MORSE: IS STILL THERE]
The last episode of season 2 due to the show being cancelled.

Rob and Jake goes to Cheyenne to get the bomb back. There they meet up with Gray, who then returns back to Jericho. The two continued on their mission, got the bomb, and went over to the Texan Consulate in Cheyenne to seek political assylum.

Meanwhile in Jericho, Beck got hold of Hawkin's laptop and found out about the connections of Jennings & Rall with the new american government in Cheyenne. Eric ran out of options and tried negotiations for an alliace with Constantino, but he did not go through with it because it involves killing american soldiers to defend their town and that's not what they are. While Stanley and the others were burrying Bonnie, Beck came to them and tells them they are free to go and he will not be taking orders from the Cheyenne government anymore.

Rob and Jake transports the bomb to Texas by the Texan Ambassador's plane and is tailed by two Cheyenne Jet Fighters. They were about to be taken down by Cheyenne's planes when Texan jet fighters appeared and took down Cheyenne's. Rob and Jake was escorted to Texan airspace with the bomb to be examined by the Texan independent government.

In Jericho, the DONT THREAD ON ME flag is now raised instead of the Cheyenne's Allied State's flag. Beck's men were shown Robert Hawkin's laptop and decided to side with Beck and the rest of Jericho's residents.

Note: At this point in the TV series Jericho, the Allied States of America (Cheyenne) and the Independent Texan Government (Texas) are now at war because of the air incident with Robert and Jake while transporting the bomb. Texas will side with either the eastern part of Mississipi's states or on the Western part, will depend solely on the result of the bombs "examination". The bomb could either be a fake or the real deal, which could be a plot twist to extend the storyline of the series.

Movies <-this-> Week (Mar 08 4th Quarter)

Finally got my hands on Cloverfield and 10,000 BC.
Watched the 1998 film Godzilla again, after watching Cloverfield.. Godzilla is way much better and had to watch it again because I missed it.

Summary:

1. Cloverfield
2. 10,000 BC

Jericho is Cancelled Again!

After its cancellation last season (season 1), and after the "NUTS", Jericho came back only to be cancelled again. Sigh.. this is going to be another FIREFLY, a great show cancelled because the ratings say that very few are watching it. I mean, even if no one is watching it they can't say that no one is interested in it. Maybe its the timeslot that's giving the low ratings (like with the case of Firefly). Anyway, they are gonna make a movie out of Jericho soon.

Firefly Theme Song

Main Title Theme Written by: Joss Whedon
Performed by: Sonny Rhodes

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don't care, I'm still free
You can't take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
There's no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can't take the sky from me...

It`s sad how firefly was cancelled after only 14 episodes, 3 of which were never seen in the original season airing of the series. That means no more Summer cameos but she's still there in the Serenity movie and of course the Terminator series.

I want more of River Tam!

T`was The Days Before Easter

It was the days before easter
None were stirring except me and my PC
My firefly downloads are at about 96.8% done

Its gonna be another marathon
With cigarettes and chocolates for popcorn
I will see Summer once more
While waiting for season 2 of Terminator


Happy Easter!

Firefly

Just found a good western sci-fi tv series called FIREFLY.
Found out about this after I have seen Serenity the movie (2005, imdb).
Serenity was the name of their ship, it is a firefly class transport (small frigate).

Summer Glau, the terminator sent to protect John in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, also stars in this series and in the movie as River Tam.

Status Report

TV Series:

• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (done with Episode 1)
• Battlestar Galactica: Razor (done with TV movie)
• Battlestar Galactica (All-New @ 2003, done and burned Seasons 1 to 3)
• Stargate Atlantis (done until s2ep13)
• Stargate SG-1 (done until s2ep4)
• Knight Rider (done with the 2008 pilot episode)
• Jericho (done until s2ep6)
• Heroes (done with Season 2)
• Avatar the Last Airbender (done until s3ep13)
• Prison Break (done with Season 3 if s3ep13 is the last episode)

Currently watching:

• Firefly Season 1
• Serenity (Firefly the Movie)
  

Movies to watch:

• 10,000 B.C.
• Cloverfield
• ..and waiting for more upcoming movies..

Games still on my PC (I still want to play and/or finish them):

• Oblivion + Shivering Isles
• Need For Speed Underground
• Bioshock
• Galactic Civilizations II
• Black & White + Battle of the Gods
• Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
• Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
• Warcraft III + Frozen Throne
• The Witcher

Games finished (only the best ones that I can remember):

• Half-Life 2 + EP1 + EP2
• The Witcher
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within
• Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
• Thief Gold
  
• Thief III
• Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen
• Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
• Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2
• Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
• Legacy of Kain: Defiance
• Dungeon Keeper 2
• Doom III
• Master of Orion
• Master of Orion II
  
• Master of Orion III
• Lords of Magic Special Edition
• Final Fantasy VII
• Final Fantasy VIII
• Mechwarrior 3
• Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries
• Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance
• Need for Speed: Carbon
• Fallout 2
• Fallout Tactics: The Brotherhood of Steel
  
• ..and other games whose CDs/DVDs I could find no more..

The Witcher (PC)

My name was Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer!

Done playing The Witcher.. nice game!

Played with version 1.1a (PC ENG), so far bugs are very low to non-existing.
Graphics was very good, I'd say a 9 out of 10.
Audio and sound effects.. perfect in my opinion.
Storyline is good, information on plots depend on the actions you make throughout the game.
Animation is excellent! 10 out of 10.
I like the potion-making style of the game, meditation.. as if you are really preparing it.

I could compare the creators of the game CD Projekt Red with Blizzard North, the guys who made the first of the Diablo series. They really know how to make an RPG.

Нас не догонят

Not Gonna Get Us, in russian.

Yulia, Я люблю вас!