Itunes really sucks for fixing the tags and loading the album art. It doesn’t do the former at all and only does the latter after you’ve given Apple your credit card details. Yeah, fat chance.

Here’s the best method I found so far. It involves a couple of programs, the process is kinda tedious, but since iTunes insists on being a piece of sh…

Tags:

The best tagger that I’ve found is Musicbrainz Picard. It tags and fixes file automatically by either scanning the metadata and tries to find the metadata in its databases with the closes match, or it scans the content of the file and tries to find a set of metadata with a similar content signature. I think. It’s easy to use and finds almost all the right metadata.

As a sidenote, metadata lookup fails more often than scanning, and the metadata is not consistent with that of the Amazon. There are minor variations. For excample, in the Picard database the individual artists’ names would come up for High School Musical, where as in the Amazon database, it only comes up as “various artists”.

This might be a problem is you use Picard in conjunction with a program that searches the Amazon database, such a MediaMonkey. I used MediaMonkey to get the album art before I didn’t notice is that if the metadata does not match the Amazon metadata, MediaMonkey changes it along with downloading the album art, problem is that the Amazon databases had less information and craps up the metadata.

Loading Album Art:

As I mentioned above, you can use MediaMonkey to to fix the album art and tags, but it doesn’t do this very well, and the album art search occasionally comes up empty or searches for the wrong terms.

A better alternative that I found was Album Art Downloader. You have to install the Microsoft .NET framework if you don’t have it, the program runs on that. This program requires you to search manually for the album art by typing in the name of the artist and the album, which isn’t too bad, since the searches always turn up album art. Album Art Downloader searches databases of various album art websites, Google Images and Amazon among them, so you’ll get a wide choice. Album art around 300×300 can be found for album released in the last few years, older albums tend to have smaller album art. Getting album art will take a while if you have heaps of singles.

Also check the comments field in your metadata, people tend to leave website URLs and stuff like “enjoy” in there. I have no idea why people do that, and would like to give people who do that a sincere “screw you” for wasting my time by making me delete all the useless comments.

TIME magazine recently (I think), made their archives available for free online. That’s very article from 1923 onwards, since TIME magazine was created by Briton Madden and Henry Luce. That’s an amazing amount of articles.

A good single-lined description of what the magazine is the suggest acrynomn of “The International Magazine of Events”. The magazine summaries significant events of the week, it being a weekly publication, and provides excellent editorials, thorough journalism and insight into events. The magazine is written in a comprehensive format and honestly, it employs some of the best journalist around.

TIME Archive

The TIME archive has all the articles archived and indexed, which means it keyword search able. Lets test it out, the magazine was started before the Second World War, so it should feature articles concerning such a prominent world-wide event.

*Unfortunately, it orders the search results from the most recent onwards, gah, now I’ve got to trawl through hundred of pages.

A search restricted to 1939-1945 brings up:

Japan’s war lords were forced to tip their hand last week. Faced by hard military realities, they revealed one of the major strategic decisions of World War II: to cut their losses in “Greater East Asia” and withdraw into a kind of Asiatic inner fortress, there to concentrate their strength against the blows which they knew would soon fall. Thus, in effect, they confessed the bankruptcy of the imperial venture they had launched three and a half years ago at Pearl Harbor.

Fortress Nippon > TIME, Monday, Jun. 11, 1945

Or, if you wanted to know how high the hippies got in the 60s:

Taosenos complain of the hippies’ immorality, drug abuse and public nudity, but the complaints have proved largely illusory. A more realistic reason for the rancor is the fact that as many as 25% of local residents—most of whom are Mexican Americans—are unemployed, and many resent the white middle-class hippies’ obvious flouting of the American ideal. “They are making fun of our poverty and our fight for survival,” says Francis Quintana, a local school principal. Another explanation is that local entrepreneurs fear the hippies will hurt Taos’ largest industry, tourism. “Tourists don’t want to come and share the venereal disease and hepatitis with us,” said Mrs. Beverly Gonzales, wife of a Taos merchant.

Paradise Rocked > TIME, Friday, Jun. 20, 1969

The scripting need to be optimised though, I had a few database error when I was looking around. An important note too, make sure the spelling is write, the archive doesn’t have spell checks or spell-error redirects like wikipedia. Hmm, honestly, the search feels kinda unwieldy.

The articles in TIME are excellet snapshots of the feelings, ideas and journalism of the times they were written in. It is an excellent preservation of significant events, atmosphere and issues of pst time inmodern history. TIME chronicled events of the 20th and 21st Century from, such that the archive is almost like a diary of an omiscient being who has lived through the 20th and 21st as a mortal man.

The archive is amazing, if a big laggy, and it’s kinda eerie to read articles from the 1920s in the layout of the TIME website. It’s like, woaw, they had internet in the 1920s… Anyway, checkout the archive, and see just how much pot the hippies smoked and where Saddam got all that money to buy that golden AK of his.

Chuck tells the story of a computer geek called Chuck. Chuck works at a computer store called “Buy More”, as a part of the “Nerd Herd”, think Nerds on Site. Chuck has been working at Buy More for a couple of years, and he’s bored out of his mind, but he doesn’t know what else to do. The monotony of the Nerd Herd gets to him, as does the disappointment he feels about himself. After all, Chuck did go Standford. Chuck envisioned himself a successful software developer 5 years after he leaves school. All his dreams and ambitions were shattered his best friend betrayed him and got him kicked out of Stanford.
Just as Chuck finishes up a game of Call of Duty, he receives a email from his old Stanford roomate, the same one that got him kicked out of Stanford. Whilst not exactly being on speaking terms with his old roomate, Chuck opens the email and the attachment out of curiosity.

The attachment was an executable, a line reminding Chuck of his old text based RPG he wrote appeared, figuring out that it’s a kind of a authorization pass, Chuck types in his reply. It unlocks the file, and a stream of images flash on the screen. Chuck is transfixed on the images, and he can’t look away. Before he knew it, it was morning again.

Chuck just had an entire server of intelligence databases of the NSA and CIA subliminally transferred into his brain.

Turns out his former roommate was an “rogue” CIA agent. He infiltrated a facility that contained the Interceptor. the Interceptor is both a storage and processing unit for government and agency secrets. It evaluates and processes the connections and relationships between events and people. By opening the email, Chuck has now made himself a top priority asset of the United States Government, and a potential and highly valuable target for all of the opposing factions and opportunists of the United States.

Two agents, one from the CIA and NSA are sent to protect him. Sarah Walker, the CIA agent, is under cover as Chuck’s girlfriend. Major John Casey, the NSA agent, is disguised as a fellow Buy More employee. Chuck struggles to balance his life as a Buy More employee, a brother, a friend and a undercover agent assisting the CIA.

The series premiered on September 24, 2007 on NBC. The first season finished airing in the United States on January 24, 2008. It was announced by NBC that Chuck has been picked up for a second season in 2008/2009.

The TV show is funny, exiting and earnest. It is co-created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. Schwartz previously created the the OC, and you can really feel the similarities between Chuck and OC, whilst not obvious in the plot, chuck is reminiscent of the OC in its awkward quirky humor of the characters and the way they act. The cinematic technique of Chuck, if you pay attention to it, is strikingly similar to the OC, especially the use of establishing shots of settings. Example, before showing what is happening inside the house, if the previous scene was showing events out side the house, a shot of the exterior of the house will be shown before the scenes inside the house. It won’t surprise me if Schwartz employed some of the people who worked on the OC for Chuck.

The casting is spot on, Adam Baldwin is excellent at playing Casey as a tough, uncompromising, yet vulnerable NSA agent intent on distancing himself from all those around him in order to protect them and himself, who wants the live a life of normality with a family, but sadly decided to sacrifice all that for the greater good. Yvonne Strahovski plays with amazing authenticity the character of Sarah Walker, as an independent, strong and caring CIA agent, who even as a hardened CIA agent with a lonely life style, never forgot what it is like to care about and trust someone. Zachary Levi, it seems, had the character of chuck written for him. He plays Chuck with a natural ease that tells you that he is not together too unlike his character. Chuck is a slightly awkward computer-wiz who cares immensely for his sister and his best friend. Chuck is earnest, trusting with a quirky humor. He is unsuited to the world of espionage precisely because of these qualities.

Chuck is seriously funny, with amazing writers and actor(and choreography). It is well worth the time to watch it. Even with the craptastic amount of ads in the ad breaks. The Rachel Bilson cameo was pretty cool too.

Please, please, PLEASE will somebody explain this phenomenon. Quite honestly, I can’t. I’m reaping the benefits, but have no idea why. My question is this:

Why the hell do chicks dig geeks all of a sudden?

Okay, I’ll admit it. I watched the OC while it was still on. [Ed:Yeah... me too] Two reasons: Hot chicks and Seth Cohen. Seth Cohen, we are not worthy. The guy is the reason chicks dig geeks. Allow me to explain:

Chicks watched the OC -> Seth Cohen is portrayed as sensitive, geeky guy -> Chicks like the guys off the OC -> Wearing a Green Lantern shirt might just get you laid*

Recently, this crazy idea exploded with Superbad. Those guys quite quickly became the world’s most popular geeks. And then it happened. Michael Cera was described as; and I quote**; “A sex-symbol”. Suddenly, being thin, not muscular, pale and having an encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars are turn ons.

The rise of technology as part of pop culture is also a factor. Now you won’t be stared at funny for bringing up Super Mario. Every single thing on my list of “top 5 items for the chic geek(insert link)” has been complimented by a female on more than one occasion. And we’re talking REAL females. [Ed: Have you been smoking Remotehog's marijuana? Damn it, I knew he started dealing...] Not some 45 year old guy sitting in his parent’s basement claiming that he’s a twenty two year old blonde going by the name “gamerchix_45″ on WoW.

Even with all of this, it doesn’t make sense. The word “Geek” is still an insult. Granted it’s an insult I’m proud to call myself, but it’s an insult just the same. The stereotype is not an attractive one. So yeah, somebody PLEASE give me the rest of the reasoning here, because I seriously don’t get it.

* Or at least, that’s what the t-shirt company selling it claims.

** From a handout given to my media class

SYDNEY-A 19 year old man in the suburb of Bella Vista has been charged with interfering with a crew member while in an aircraft(with a laser).

The helicopter was flying at about 6pm at an altitude of about 1600 feet, when a green laser allegedly targeted the crew. The crew members were “momentarily distracted and disoriented by the incident”, according to a New South Wales Police press release, but were uninjured and managed to identify a yard from which the light originated. The officers landed the helicopter nearby, and contacted local police who arrested the teen and confiscated a laser device. He was taken to Castle Hill police station, where he was interviewed and charged, before being released on bail. He is scheduled to face Hornsby Local Court on June 2

Wikinews - News South Wales Government

People seems to think that you can do this with a normal laser. There is no way a normal laser can be strong and coherent enough to hit planes a kilometer or so away. This kid was using a high powered laser, like, a megawatt laser. Lasers with this amount of power can blind you if shown in your eye for a few seconds and can light matches.

Haha, I have to admit, shining massively overpowered lasers at stuff kilometers away sounds pretty fun. But in this case it was at a helicopter that was in flight, with police in it. Lol, bad luck. Imagine the look at the guy’s face.

Guy with laser: Haha, lol, look at that, it’s a helicopter. I’m going to shine a massively owerpowered laser pointer at it.
**Helicopter lands, police come out**
Gut with laser: Oh, SHIT!

Recently the parliament of New South Wales made this illegal due to frequent acts of stupidity with lasers in the past few months.

This writer hesitates to say that had he a massively overpowered lasers, he would be able to resist the urge to shine it at police helicopters.

I don’t sleep well. I guess not going to bed has something to do with that, but still. So naturally, when I see a psychological thriller about an insomniac I’m immediately drawn into a connection with the main character. When I see the rest of this fantastic game from Remedy (the guys who did Max Payne), I’m sucked in completely. I’m probably going to go out and buy a 360/upgrade my computer (I’ll get to that) immediately when this is released.

The Hip:

It looks SPECTACULAR. The developers are boasting Photo-realisitc graphics. If the demos aren’t the final render, I’d believe that they could actually replicate real life here. Because the demos look FANTASTIC. Also, it has an amazing plot line. I would be hard pressed to find anything released this year with a plot that intrigues me more. Promise to be an absolute mind bender, this one does. I’m expecting quality of Fight Club proportions (Don’t worry Edward Norton, I’ll still be your fan boy).

The Square:

This is going to be the game everyone brags about as far as how good their graphics card is. You are going to the the mother of all graphics cards to play this game on full settings. Especially seeing as they intend to release this primarily for Vista clients. Yes that’s right, everyone’s favorite operating system. [Ed: I wish people would stop being sarcastic when they say that, I like it... ] Also, we could have another “Fahrenheit” on our hands and wind up with a plot twist like “It’s was ancient Mayan magic, ooh spooky”**.

Conclusion:

Just play it on Xbox and you won’t have to care about graphics cards and accept the possible ludicrous twist and this game’ll be a keeper. Seriously, if you buy this and don’t want it, send it to me. I’ll be happy to take it off your hands.

4.5/5

TRAILER TIME!!!

Wow… looks like this one’s also ending in a two parter. I really need to stop doing that.***

*Just put up with the pun already

** Don’t get me wrong, spectacular game, I just hated that one twist.

*** Actually, that’s a lie. I love doing that.

For those who haven’t, check out the Engadget LiveBlog and Popular Mechanics LiveBlog of the Keynote from WWDC.

Apple showed many demos of programs that have been developed on the iPhone with the SDK, and they also introduced a service similar to Microsoft-exchange, but geared more towards the consumer than enterprise.

But what everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats for was details on the the new iPhone.

Image from Engadget

An iPhone with 3G and GPS for under $200? GPS makers, PDA makers, Smartphone makers, the Windows Mobile team, portable media player makers must all be shitting themselves. For under $200, you get the iPod media capabilities, PDA functions of notes, calendar, email and Microsoft Exchange, the best mobile web browser available, phone capabilities, GPS incorporated with Google Earth, and a plethora of third-party software that’s going to add even more functionality to the phone. For under $200!(subsidized)

Almost all of the GPS devices I’ve seen retail for more than $200, as do most of the Blackberries, smartphones and stand-alone PDAs. At $200 the iPhone has all the above features for less than most of the models which offer half the features the iPhone does.

Althought Smartphone sellers, who’s sales are going to be the most affected by the new iPhone, do have about a month to get their act together and slash some prices. The new iPhone will start hitting stores 11th of July.

“70 countries this year. We’re going to start with 22 of the biggest, rolling out the iPhone 3G at the same time in all of these countries. July 11.”

Steven Jobs

The only limitations of the previous iPhone was the price, international availability, ability to have third party apps, 3G and instant messaging. Apple appears to have jumped all these hurdles, there really isn’t anything that appears to be holding back the 3G iPhone.

Apple is going to experience an absolute explosion of sales of iPhone, not to mention the halo effect on Mac sales too. With this new iPhone model and pricing, Apple is going to DOMINATE the smartphone market, DoTA style.

Ultimately, this mean other phone manufacturers have to get their acts together and stop selling crap phones for exuberant prices. So it’s a win-win for consumers. Yay!

Though I’m curious as to how Apple go the prices so low, and I still have a slight problem with the iPhone platform, that you have to get a Mac to write programs for it, and that Apple has a strangle-hold on the distribution of third party apps, unless you go to the trouble of Jailbreaking your iPhone. Something not alot of people will do due to the new functionalities introduced by the recent update.

Regardless, I can’t wait till I get the iPhone.

I found a book review I wrote a while back, thought I’ll post it here.

Ah, the tangled webs of conspiracies begin. Dan Brown writes amazingly intricate and complex storyline that keeps you lost and confused, in a good way, in your armchair as you progress through the plot in his books. Deception Point is no exception. It lacks the historical mythology of The Da Vinci Code, but it more than makes up for it with Digital Fortress styled modern edginess and mystery.

Deception Point
by Dan Brown

The story begins with an NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) employee called Rachel Sexton, her father is a prominent Senator residing in Washington DC. Rachel Sexton is the security liaison for the white house, her job is to summarize and analyze intelligence data and turn them into one page briefs. The opening scenes of the novel involves Rachel’s father Senator Sedgewick Sexton offering her a job because Rachel as the security liaison is technically working for the political opposition in the upcoming election year.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Rachel gets a call saying that the president needed to talk to her, being bit weary of refusing the president, Rachael went. Her adventures were to take her the the arctic, to a closely coveted meteorite that may end the debate of life beyond earth.

Deception point is an amazingly complex scientific thriller with twists and turns like a spastic monkey that’s been over-caffeinated. Dan Brown is an amazing writer with the skills of writing action like Matthew Reilly, and the ability to construct a plot that both makes perfect sense that you never saw coming like Agatha Christie.

Storyline is not as complex and intertwined as The Da Vinci Code, but it’ll hardly be noticed as the reader becomes snared in the quest of finding out who’s the mastermind behind events that unfold.

If you’ve enjoyed other books by Dan Brown and scientific thrillers with the occasional governmental conspiracy, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this one.

Normally, I’d do an intro. However, I figure the contents of this are pretty obvious. Five mini articles about the top five geeky fashion items/accessories. These are the items that are so geeky and so awesome that people who aren’t geeks would seriously consider buying them. So without further Ado:

5. Rubik’s Cube Key Chain

Prove that you too have too much time on your hands… or on your keys for that matter.

The Hip: Just being able to solve these things impresses those that can’t. It’s an easy way to keep a constant source of awe in your bag. Plus, for that reason, chicks dig Rubik’s Cubes. You have no idea how many times solving a Rubik’s Cube on a date has ended well*. I know, logic defying.

The Square: You actually have to be able to solve a rubik’s cube to make this work.

Conclusion: Learn to solve a Rubik’s cube, then get one. Or vice-versa. Either way, it’s great for impressing people.

4. The Comic Book Movie

I know it’s not a fashion item/accessory. But it is going to help with geek chic. This is the beginning of the comic book movie era. Now, I’m not going to pass judgement and say straight off the bat that a movie will be good or not. I will however note which movies I’m looking forward to, which ones I’ve seen and liked and which ones I’m not/didn’t like**.

The Hip: Iron Man, The Hulk, Wolverine, Magneto, Captain America, Watchmen, Supermax (Green Arrow), Thor, Justice League and Ant Man.

The Square: Captain Marvel, Sub-Mariner and Wonder Woman

Conclusion: Fan-boy senses tingling. These are going to be big. Being a geek never became so convenient. Your random knowledge of comics will finally have a real life application in random conversations people are having. And I was beginning to think that knowing the line-up for the original avengers*** was never going to have a use.

3. Audio Equipment

Yes I’m talking about massive headphones. But if you want to use a mic lead as a necklace for some Geek bling-age, go for it.

The Hip: Shows you appreciate your Audio quality. Gives you the in for the Musician crowd. Plus, they’re plain badass.

The Square: People will say “Why the hell did you get such big head phones?” A LOT. Trust me.

Conclusion: Come up with your own specific way of answering the question, and you’re set with these. I use “It’s so I don’t get disturbed while I’m gaming” a lot.

2. Pacman Belt

This has one distinct advantage when it comes to being cool. That would be… being cool.

The Hip: Worn by Noel Fielding as Vince Noir for The Mighty Boosh Live, making it obscenely cool. Plus, It looks like Pacman is doing his thing.

The Square: It’s a belt. There’s a chance that it will be hidden by your shirt.

Conclusion: The greatest accessory you can buy. And it being hidden by your shirt is completely counteracted if your shirt is the next item on the list.

The Robio News

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Our belt ranked #2 on Plasma Shield Chic Geek List

Wooo.. See the complete list right here.

Robio News

1. “Video Games Ruined My Life…” T-Shirt

…Good thing I have two extra lives. Yes, that’s right. Just like a cat, us geeks have multiple lives. We don’t need to get a life, you need to find another in this level in order to catch up to us. This might just be the greatest t-shirt a geek could ever wear****.

The Hip: It’s a stylish blue t-shirt. You don’t necessarily have to be a geek to wear it. But it helps. Plus, it’s freaking funny.

The Square: Not really much here. I guess the only down side is that people who live under rocks/30 years ago won’t understand the concepts of lives in video games and therefore won’t get the joke. However, the rest of the public will.

Conclusion: Top stuff.

* Hint: So often I now no longer leave the house without one.

** Please note: not all of these are going to be released this year.

*** Hulk, Thor, Ant Man, Wasp and Iron Man. Formed after Rick Jones made a call to the Hulk for help which Loki redirected to Thor. Everyone else picked up on the signal and the rest as they say is comic book history and therefore subject to change.

**** I say “might” because I don’t want to rule out the possibility of a t-shirt that has DotA built into it sometime in the future.

Wooo.. See the complete list right here.

Brina Lam from Gizmodo met Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell and inquired about the Ultra portable Laptop he was carrying. Dell was gracious enough to let Lam get some photos of the laptop.

bumped into Michael Dell at All Things D after his interview, and he was nice enough to show me this laptop that he was carrying that he said no one’s seen before. It’s a small form factor notebook, just like the Asus Eee and the HP 2133. He wouldn’t tell me what OS it’s running, or the pricing, but that it’s a low-cost notebook meant for developing countries, and I hope here. Maybe it’s Atom-powered. Who knows? But I do see three USB ports, a card reader, VGA out, Ethernet, and that red candy shell.

Gizmodo

The laptop looks pretty cool, hopefully it’s got a similar sized keyboard to the HP Mini Note, and runs on the Intel Atom processor. The major problem of the Mini Note was that it was underpowered and had heating problems, but I hear both would be fixed if they switched from whatever random CPU they’re using now to the Intel Atom processors.

Judging from the drawings, the HP MiniNote is a little bit more appealing. The MiniNote is either smaller than the Dell UMPC or if it’s the same size, the Dell UMPC has a smaller keyboard. Which kinda sucks, if the keyboards gets any smaller than the MiniNotes it’s going to be hard to type on.

HP probably didn’t use the Atom processors due to the higher cost, but there’s no point having a ultra-portable that overheats, because care has to be take to make sure it doesn’t overheat, and the overheating indicates that it does not use the power efficiently, having more of the battery power converted into heat, and will probably have a shorter battery life as a result.

HP better hurry up with an Atom powered MiniNote, it looks like that otherwise the Mini Note will be superseded by the up coming Dell UMPC.

Plastics are polymers formed by hydrocarbons from crude oil. I’m surprised that there are bacteria that feed on that. Given how there are no proteins, or bio-organic matter to decompose.

A high school junior from Waterloo, Ontario conducted an experiment that involved mixing landfill dirt with yeast and tap water, then added ground plastic, and left it in a tissue culture chamber I assume, and tested the decomposition rates against the decomposition rates if plastics without the mixture. It was found that the rates of decomposition was higher for the plastic in the landfill dirt mixture. After changing temperatures and growth variables, the bacteria was isolated and it was found that two were of the bacterial genera Pseudomonas and Sphingomonas.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an bacteria from the Pseudomonas genu.

Wikipedia: Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterium with unipolar motility.An opportunistic human pathogen, P. aeruginosa is also an opportunistic pathogen of plants. P. aeruginosa is the type species of the genus Pseudomonas (Migula 1894).

I have no idea what any of that means, but it has been shown in various studies that linking to Wikipedia increases the chances of you getting laid.

Yeah… and I couldn’t find a picture of an bacteria from the Sphingomonas genus.

Daniel Burd, the high school student commented that his plastic decomposition experiment can be scale up to an industrial level

all that’s needed is a fermenter, a growth medium and plastic, and the bacteria themselves provide most of the energy by producing heat as they eat. The only waste is water and a bit of carbon dioxide.

The process itself is simple enough and transposing it to an industrial scale would be easy, but for the industrial sector to take to it there must be some kinda of profitability in doing it. The only waste is water and carbon dioxide, so the waste aren’t exactly that useful. Looks like only the public sector and governments will be the ones to take advantage of the bacterial to cut down on waste and have an additional recycling system.

If they haven’t already…

[Via Wired]

Check it out, this is an awesome example of Parkour.

Wagging is of similar meaning as skipping school, if the term is unfamiliar.

Sometimes, you sit in class and you get nothing done, and you sit there thinking you probably should have gone to the library, the toilet or something, and you probably would have gotten something done then. Then you get tired of not getting anything done and/or tired of the boredom of class and/or the lack of productivity during class and wag school. Well, now I have someone to quote should I try to explain my wagging. (Yeah, wagging class because you don’t get anything done is a bit paradoxical)

Here’s a few quotes from a blog:

Why do we assume that time = productivity instead of talking about the kind of results the person is actually getting?

Isn’t it funny that we rush to work everyday and then spend the first hour at our desk reading the paper and drinking coffee?

Isn’t it funny that if you’re done with your work for the day at
four, you can’t just leave? Why do you have to stay that extra hour and
pretend to be busy?

The quotes are from a blog called “The Four Hour Work Week“, those who pay attention to the New York Times bestseller’s lists will notice that its the same title as one of the books on the list. Both are written by the same author, Tm Ferris. Tim Ferris is an time management and efficiency blogger, speaker and advocate. Check out his bio here.

His recent two blog posts concern a system of work called ROWE, Results Based Work Environments. The system is explained using the workplace as an example, but it can easily be applied in studying and schooling.

If you come across a student that wags class, you first reaction would be, damn that kid must be failing whatever class he’s wagging. That assumption is made on the premise of that if you’re at school, you’re being productive. Which may not be the case, there are plenty of students who don’t wag and still fail.

That’s why I think the school system should be more flexible and that students should have a more realistic mindset. If you miss a class it’s not the end of the world, and if you think about it, you probably didn’t need to go to some of your classes and the time can be more effectively used. It’s better to study smart than study hard, especially if you’re lazy. Use methods that get the best results, not take the longest time or results in the most pens being used up. People assume that the more work you do, the more productive you are, but really it’s the amount of effective work that you do that is important.

In the information age, geography is not longer such a exuberant limiting factor that it used to be. This has began to be realized and taken advantage of in the corporate sector. The educational system should also take note and put less emphasis on geographically fixed learning, put more content available on the internet and take advantage of the anywhere-and-everywhere feature of the internet. Universities do this quite, but high schools do this horribly.

But most importantly, stop giving me detentions just because I allegedly wagged a couple of classes. I was actually there, if I knew I was going to get detention for wagging that didn’t happen, might as well have wagged anyway.

And yes, repioritisational is a word.

Hooray for dark humour! A new series has boldly taken on this style where the big studios wouldn’t dare. The drama is only AMC’s second ever series for the channel which originated as a movie channel. Breaking Bad is a very grim and depressing story of a high school chemistry teacher turned methamphetamine cook (Not an area of specialty of mine) [Ed: I dispute that notion]. Breaking Bad has received initial critical acclaim where it has even received decent rating on Metacritic with 74 points. The show though has not been receiving the hype that it deserve as it is not being aired on a major network. It’s time to shed light on the little dull gem.

Basically Breaking Bad is about a fifty year old chemistry teacher going through a not so dull midlife crisis. Walter White’s mid life crisis is marked by doctors diagnosing him with stage 3 lung cancer giving him at most a few year to go. Instead of cowering and pinning Walter is “awakened” and gradually becomes fearless and ruthless. This change of heart is the meaning of the title ‘Breaking Bad’ where in the south (US) means to let loose, go crazy. Walter’s attitude helps him to deal with the many hurdles going in his life such as the never ending debt, a son with cerebral palsy and then a child on the way. Walter is lured into cooking meth when he goes on a raid for fun with his DEA agent brother in-law.

The DEA catch a cook in the raided house while Walter has to stay in the car. Walter catches a glimpse of the real cook running away from the neighbouring house supposedly after doing the neighbours wife. He pays a visit to Jesse one of his previous delinquent students who he strikes a deal with and become business partners. Walter begins a double life as a chemistry teacher and a family man while on the other hand cooking methamphetamine with Jesse in the middle of a desert in New Mexico. The duo comes up with some great ideas like cooking in an RV in the middle of a plain barren dessert to avoid and easily escape from cops. Walter’s profession as a chemistry teacher empowers him to make the purest and highest quality form of methamphetamine in the area.

The duo gain a good reputation in the industry from their superb product but it does not solve all their problems. Between dealing with cooking meth the show also focuses a lot on the personal issues with Walter and his family. This emphasis on important things in life such as family, health and money problem diverts “Breaking Bad”’s image from illegal drug glorifying to a sensitive satire on drug running.

For a show which is suppose to centre on the drug trafficking world paring it with the sensitive issues such as family and morals is weird but makes the show tasteful. This aspect is probably one of the reasons why this show has not received much condemnation for its high violent and criminal content. Another good asset is the much acknowledged acting by the cast of the show which it uses to show a sensitive emotive side of the show.

The show stars Bryan Cranston as Walter White who is most notably Hal on ‘Malcolm in the Middle’. Cranston superbly plays Walter with a dry seriousness which is a far contrast from the outlandish Hal. Walter’s son Walter Jr. is depicted as having cerebral palsy is actually played by RJ Mitte who in real life overcomes a minor case of cerebral palsy to be an actor. Even though the show may be on a minor network the show is produced by Sony Pictures who has found a very appropriate cast.

Haha, get it? Money Laundering.

In previous postings Breaking Bad was one of the victims of the Writer’s Strike it had to end the season short with 7 episodes. The recent end of the first season though has summed up the series nicely where many, including me, see potential in the show. The first season started off very well in pulling audience into Walt’s world, but to do this it has spent a lot of time into small detail which has caused the show, in terms of storyline, to have a slow start. A unique characteristic of the writing is that unlike many shows today is that it does not purposely leave the viewers hanging or yearning for the next episode, instead the characters themselves make you want to follow their lives.

An aspect which many may not like is the grim and depressing mid south style like ‘No Country for Old Men’ which works quite well to depict Walter’s mid life crisis. But it seems contrary when the show is preaching letting loose and taking things as they go. This gives the show an awkward feeling/personality which plays on the modern day pressure cooker a feeling which is an accustom taste which you may get used to. For many of the TV critic this style/taste is what defines the show and has a lot riding on it. The show overall is technically done very well, but in terms of ‘viewability’ it is a great satire if you ignore the melancholy. This dull gem deserves a polishing for the next season.

Ladies** and gents, I’m getting angry. I’m currently sitting under a mountain of homework.

Wouldn’t it be convenient if I could turn into a hulking green giant that could take care of things?

That leads me rather nicely into one of the few things I’m NOT angry about: the new Hulk movie. Edward Norton will be starring as Bruce Banner, a scientist that was bombarded with Gamma Radiation in an accident. As a result, whenever he gets angry he turns into an 8ft tall, 1,400lb, mean green fighting machine. When like this, his strength is limited only by his anger, so he’s infinitely strong. So, if, say, the US Army wanted to track down Bruce Banner whilst he’s trying to find a cure for his condition, capture him to try and turn Hulk into a weapon and say, perhaps, pissed him off a little while doing it they could be in; oh I don’t know, what’s the technical term?; deep shit. That’s the premise for the hulk movie.

The Hip:

Edward Norton. I have weeks where Fight Club is my favourite film. This guy is the lead in Fight Club. See what I’m hinting at here? No? This guy is an AMAZING actor. Absolutely fantastic. So good, that if I appeared on ROVE live and he asked me “Who would you turn gay for?” I would answer “Edward Norton”.

He’s also an amazing Writer and Director. Why is that relevant you ask? Well, that’s because he’s the writer and director for the Hulk. This is a good thing. Norton is a self confessed Hulk Maniac. He saw the original script, decided that it wasn’t true enough to the comics, and rewrote it. They went with his version. So not only is this going to have kick ass acting, but it’s also going to stay true to the comics. As far as the non-norton related areas are concerned, special effects look fantastic. Hulk’s fight scenes are going to be amazing.

The Square:

I hate to do this. I really do. But Edward Norton makes it in here. Only because he’s doing everything. Now, it should work out fine. But there is a chance that because he has to focus on everything, he’s going to not do everything to the best it could be. Also, the villain: the Abomination, looks horrible while he’s a human. Also, the film now has Iron Man to live up to. Iron Man is now the benchmark for comic book films. And it’s a pretty big benchmark. This film needs to be spectacular to match it. However I have complete faith in Norton to do so.

After all… he’s Edward Norton.

Conclusion:

Should be spectacular. I have two fanboys inside fighting over who should be the reason to see the film: Edward Norton or the Hulk. I’ve got high hopes for this film.

4.5/5

* But I’m still lovable when I’m angry. C’mon, tell me you’re not fighting the urge to hug me right now.

** Can’t scoff when I say ladies anymore, Barley’s on staff now. Someone female might read this.

Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman. Rise and shine…

G-man

The notices can be delivered much more efficiently on the school website, and events can be released via an iCal feed. It would be seriously easier to organize and be notified of event using that method, probably because I’m more likely to look at my Outlook calendar than pay attention in assembly.

The main problem is that there is no intrinsic value in these assemblies, I’m not gaining any useful knowledge, I’m not being entertained, and I’m not allowed to use the time for more useful means, such as gnawing the bench I’m sitting on.

Well, I finally got round to watching it. After hearing my friend rant on for a little bit about it, I decided “What the hey?” and went to go see it.

Thank god I did.

I have officially had my mind changed about comic book movies. No longer will I worry about them sucking. This was amazing.

The Hip:

Oh my god, the special effects. I really do mean wow. Explosions haven’t looked this good in a while. His suit’s all sleek and shiny. The fight scene’s spectacular. The action exceeded my expectations. Which were extremely high, as they were the one area I knew this movie would do well. However, the area I wasn’t expecting much from; the dialogue; was also really well done. The series of hints dropped*** and all the S.H.I.E.L.D. references**** are plain awesome. Seriously, I’m actually worried about what’s going to happen when it comes time for me to talk about the bad points. Downey even surprised me by putting in an amazing performance as Tony Stark/Iron Man.

The Square:

They took care of “the ten rings” too suddenly. Oh, and they could have used more awesome one liners from Stark.

Yeah… that’s about it.

Conclusion:

Honestly, I’m a little worried for the Hulk now. Not for the same reasons I was worried about Iron Man. No, I’m worried for the Hulk because it now has this as a bench mark. This is what comic book movies should be like*****.

4.5/5 (Well, if I give it a perfect score, there’s no room for the Hulk to be better, and I’m an Edward Norton fanboy)

* Nana Nana Nana Nana Na NA NAAAA**

** Still haven’t listened to it huh?

*** “Next time, baby.”

**** “I’m sick of these Mother F***ing Avengers on this Mother F***ing plane”

***** Ya hear that Spiderman 3?

Again i have gone off track with something that has caught my eye and my hippocket. The Sony Errison X1 is touted as the phone people are going ga ga for after the iphone. The X1 is Sony Errison’s up coming flagship model of Sony’s new Xperia range. It was first presented in the World Mobile Congress last february and has recently been announced to be realesed in Q2 2008. The new Xperia range will be a line of smartphones catering for the elite buisness world.

The reason why the X1 is recieving so much hype is that is packed full of features and new concepts by Sony. The phone which has been designed in conjuction with HTC is the first device to be powered by Windows Mobile by sony. The X1 like the Iphone is a jam packed smartphone sporting:

3″ 800×480 touchscreen, qwerty keyboard, 3G phone with video talk, push email, 3.2mp Camera with 30fps video, Bluetooth (A2DP), aissted GPS, WIFI, microSD expansion and Windows Mobile 6.1 on top of Sony’s Xperia panel

From the list you can easily tell where it get’s it’s hype from sporting nearly every modern phone functions. The X1 is basicaly a windows mobile smartphone tweaked by Sony. Sony has been flaunting it’s Xperia Panel which is a concept which allows the X1 to have multiple Windows Mobile profiles (e.g. work, play, multimedia). Each profile is set to cater diferent tasks with certain functions more prominent and on the idle screen (e.g. email on work screen). The phone which is based on Windows Mobile 6 will have the usual WM features such as office, Mobile Outlook, Internet explorer and Windows media which will be used for multimedia. The X1 though only has 400mb of space but will this time support MicroSDHC upto 32gb not Sony’s proprietary memory stick. A feature which has not been fully explained my Sony is the incoporation of aGPS in the X1. The X1 will no doubt be able to be used for directions as it will be very handy for the buisness amn on the go.

One of the most dassiling features of the X1 is it’s form factor. The X1 is a slider mcuh like the HTC TyTN II where a full qwerty keyboard slides out from the side. The unique thing about the keyboard Sony’s proud curved slide design out which tilts the screen up a bit when the keyboard is extended. The deign in general of the X1 is very sleek which comes in either a black or silver metal body. The most eyecatching feature of the X1 is the 3inch touchscreen which has an oustanding resouloution of 800×480pixels. This high resoloution enables the user to browse websites without needing to zoom in. The only drawback is the screen’s colour range is only 65k 16bit which is the average windows mobile specification.

That chick in the video is seriously smokin’ hot.