FFDShow’s XviD Thumbnail Generator Not Working?

For quite some time, FFDShow’s XviD thumbnail generation has stopped working on my main box. I first realized this when I uninstalled the XviD codec because it was crashing explorer whenever it was trying to create thumbnails for what I can only assume to be faulty formatted XviD files. After unistalling the XviD codec, explorer no longer crashed, but it would no longer create thumbnails for XviD files. I thought maybe uninstalling the XviD codec removed something FFDShow installed, so I reinstalled FFDShow, checked the reset all settings box and tried again. I even rebooted my machine just because it said something similar to “To complete the setup, you must restart the computer.” Anyway, XviD thumbnail generation still didn’t come back. I even logged into my administrator account (since I’m running as a non-admin user for my default account) to see if it could be something related to being an administrator. That didn’t fix it either.

I actually resorted back to installing the XviD codec so thumbnail generation would work and avoided directories I knew which would crash on me.

Anyway, after Ryan brought up the issue a few days ago, I decided to to get to the bottom of this once and for all. Once again, I uninstalled the XviD codec and installed the latest FFDShow. And it still didn’t work. I tried forcing FFDShow to decode every codec possible in the list provided. That didn’t work either, which I then reverted.

Finally, I remember these 2 new pages in setup that asked for a whitelist of programs that FFDShow should only be allowed to be used in. I remember, I had to add oblivion.exe and morrowind.exe before to the do not use FFDShow in list. I went into the Video Decoder Configuration and in “Info & Debug”, after the “Don’t use ffdshow in:” line, there was a “Use ffdshow only in:” line. I was like, this wasn’t here before… I check the list and indeed, explorer.exe was not listed in there and the checkbox was enabled. I added “explorer.exe” and guess what… my thumbnail generation for XviD files via FFDShow is working!


Random Crap:

GDC: LittleBigPlanet ‘Full Demo Run’ (from MS newsgroup) – MUST SEE demo of new, amazing PS3 game. I have to say, that game looks rather cool and fun. Not enough to get me to buy a PS3 though. Kudos for those game developers! In the same thread, someone posted La réalité augmentée (Augmenting Reality) which I was totally amazed with what it could do. You have to see their live demonstration. Do note, this is in real time and not post-processed.

Piotr Fox Wysocki – The Artist himself (from Digg) – A very realistic human facial 3d rendering.

Electricman2HS (from Digg) – a very fun stick figure fighting game. Reminds me of Xiao Xiao. I beat all x levels on Easy, but it was an amusing 30 minutes.

Fable 2 Dog Demo (from Digg) – With Fable 2 just around the corner, they’ve introduced a new aspect to the game, which is your dog. Really cool. Reminds me of the level of interactivity with your pet in Nintendogs. The dog’s awfully cute. I wonder if I could choose which breed it is.

Stereo Eclipse (from Digg) – “What an extraordinary view,” says Lika Guhathakurta, STEREO Program Scientist at NASA headquarters. The fantastically-colored star is our own sun as STEREO sees it in four wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light. The black disk is the Moon. “We caught a lunar transit of the sun,” she explains. The stereo eclipse looks like an eye ball that needs some eye drops.

Wonder Woman, Your Car Is Ready… (from Digg) – Computer-generated outline? Nope. It’s real. Dubbed “Modern Japanese Classic,” this 1:1 Subaru Impreza wire frame sculpture is the work of British artist Benedict Radcliffe. Apparently local traffic cops weren’t pleased that the art was parked outside of the gallery on the street, as over the course of a few days, it was issued a few parking tickets! The marilyn-bmw-hood.jpgpiece was recently displayed as part of a larger Radcliffe show at the Paul Smith Gallery in Mayfair last month, and we’re sorry we missed it. I was thinking and thinking… where’s the car? All the images looked like there was a computer outline of a car on them. However, upon closer inspection, that is really a frame and not CG.

Wipe out a single memory (from Digg) – Drug can clear away one fearful memory while leaving another intact. A single, specific memory has been wiped from the brains of rats, leaving other recollections intact. Neat! This can totally be like Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

Tremendous Symbiosis of Progress and Nature (from Digg) – The Stockholm Metro, or Stockholms tunnelbana, is the metro system in Stockholm, Sweden. The system has three main lines and one hundred stations, 47 of which are subterranean and 53 are aboveground (surface and elevated) stations. This subway station is totally awesome!!!

The Best Auteur You Never Saw (from FuzzyWuzzy) – Svankmajer has spent much of the past 40 years working in the relative cinematic obscurity of Prague, his hometown, where he has handcrafted 32 wondrously bizarre, funny and deeply disturbing films. Though he remains the most anonymous of the world’s essential filmmakers, Svankmajer’s also one of the more influential: Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and David Cronenberg are all students of what might be called the Svankmajer School of the Grotesque. Those moving meat are rather creepy. Interesting film though.

OK kids, colour in a gangsta… (from Angelus) – FURIOUS parents last night demanded that a colouring book for kids showing gun-toting rappers should be taken off the shelves. The 30-page Gangsta Rap book, which has a loaded pistol on its cover, is on sale at Topshop for £6.

The extreme end of stubbornness (from Derek) – Developers came and bought up all the houses around these guys. They refused. The bulldozers came anyways. Apparently the family has government connections, and is not expected to be forced out. According to one of the commenters:

This is in Chongqing, China.

The problem was this. The owner of the house would not leave without getting paid a large sum of money, how much? 20,000,000RMB, that’s about $2mil. No one is living in there, but the owner would not move unless the money is paid. And house owner claims to have connections with the officials, and dares anyone who destroys his house.

http://news.cq.soufun.com/2007-03-11/975176.htm

Throughout IRAN (from Digg) – This is a gallery intended to show views of other side of Iran, different with what you may have seen in the media. And now after about 4 month, this gallery obtains more than 100,000 hits, locates among top popular galleries in 90 days period and the most importantly, attracts attention of those nice people who visits, leaves COMMENT and VOTE; I appreciate all these supports. This encourage me to keep this Gallery live with new views of my country, as long as I can take picture. (12.03.07)
Hope to enjoy it.
I have to say, Iran is a lot more beautiful than I had imagined.

Ants test nonviolence of Buddhist monksBuddhist monks, who are bound by faith to nonviolence, are grappling with how to rid a temple of a severe ant infestation without killing the insects. I think leaving a trail of coke to another temple would work. ;p

Daylight Saving Time

It’s that time of year again, but this time, we’re a couple weeks ahead of schedule due to changes in policy. Since it’s Spring, we’re set the clock forward (spring forward, fall back). Both my computer and my Weather Channel radio controlled clock jumped from 2am to 3am.

UserFriendly – SundialSuddenly. These are looking pretty fabulous to software maintainers.


Random Crap:

There was another strip from UserFriendly that I found amusing: Cracked Copy of Vista for Cracked Copy of Civilization 4.

RayAlome had sent me a link to the trailer of Paprika. The animation was amazing. I really liked the quote it had near the end:

Evidence that Japanese animators are reaching for the moon, while most of their American counterparts remain stuck in the kiddie sandbox.”

-Manohla Dargis, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Stereogram Tut Animated Shark Small (from Digg) – I was just talking to Lisymle the other day about Magic Eye and Stereogram images and she told me she has never gotten a magic eye to work. I tried to show here a few websites and techniques on trying to focus beyond the screen and merge the 2 images, but she hasn’t been able to do it yet. This was the first magic eye in animation that I’ve seen. Pretty neat. See if you can see the shark wiggle.

Big Brother State – An animated short about public surveillance by David Scharf (from Digg) – an interesting film. When I saw it earlier, it was a higher quality version. It appears you can still download the higher quality version off bittorrent or download it from Internet Archive. I do have to disagree with his bit on TC (Trusted Computing). It may be true that TC will warn users about particular software that’s being installed, but I still have final say if something gets installed or not (or at least I hope so).

German man chainsaws house in two in divorce split (from Digg) – A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck. Awesome!

Mom accused of driving son to fight boyThe mother of a 13-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly driving her son to a fight with another boy, then cheering him on as he struck his smaller opponent. Police say the mother shouted down another woman who tried to break up the fight across from Sutter Middle School on Monday. A student caught the scene on video.

Hole in pyjamas reveals Internet plagiarismCandidates for British universities have been caught red-handed copying their applications from the Internet after hundreds mentioned “burning a hole in pyjamas at age eight” on their online entrance forms. The phrase, taken from a Web site which provides examples of personal statements used by successful candidates, describes an early encounter with a chemistry set.

Fans pay to chat with Jackson in Japan) – Excited fans got the chance to meet Michael Jackson in Tokyo on Thursday — but only those who could afford to pay 400,000 yen (1,770 pounds) for the privilege.

Animaniacs – Rob Paulson (Yakko) – Nations of the World (from RayAlome) – Here’s a little thing a friend of a f… Here’s a little thing a friend of a friend of mine went to. She saw Rob Paulson who is absolutely awesome! He’s here singing the world song! You can hear her scream her lungs out at the end! Enjoy! =P It’s been so long since I’ve watched this cartoon. Oh what sweet memories.

Beijing’s Olympic Stadium (from Digg) – I’ve got to say, the design is rather cool.

25 UC Berkeley Courses Available via Free Video (from Digg) – Not long ago, we wrote a popular piece about UC-Berkeley’s iTunes initiative which, to sum it up, allows anyone, anywhere, to download complete university courses to their iPods for free. Amazing. Today, we want to point out that Berkeley also makes available full-fledged courses via video/webcast. You can find the complete list of courses here, but below we have listed below 25 courses that figure into a “core” undergraduate curriculum. In short, this list includes many good nuts and bolts courses, which will teach you a lot and, even better, cost you nothing. Each of these courses, coming straight from the classroom, can be accessed with Real Player, and some can also be accessed as MP3s. I remember when I had to go through a whole semester’s worth of these before finals. Or did I…?

The Host (괴물)

Just watched this movie tonight with Desperajo, Stanman, and Saran. Really good movie in my opinion. If you had asked me if horror and comedy could ever be mixed, I wouldn’t have known how to answer before watching this. I’ve been hearing than Korean Horror is the new Japanese Horror. Honestly, it’s not really that scary. If I had to give it a scary level, I’d say it’s a little bit more scarier than Jurassic Park. The creature design was definitely interesting and the trailer was somewhat misleading. And the ending… well…

Official Site
IMDb: 7.2/10 (3,133 votes)
Yahoo! Movies: Yahoo! Users: B+
Rotten Tomatoes: Rating: 94% / Average Rating: 7.9/10
Apple Trailer
Amazon.com DVD
MY RATING: 8/10

the host posterthe host posterthe host posterthe host posterthe host posterthe host poster

Spoilers: (Show)

My New HTPC

I finally got my hard drive replacement yesterday and reinstalled Vista and now my living room setup is semi-complete. I’m still missing a few key items which I’ll be getting along the way which include a small coffee table, a better TV stand, a HDTV tuner card, a bluetooth keyboard and mouse set, and a surround sound system.

Anyways, let’s talk about my HTPC. It’s made up of the following components:

Motherboard
Abit IL9 Pro Motherboard – $85
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 CPU – $204
Case
Lian Li PC-C30A Case – $130
Graphics Card
Asus EAX1600PRO SILENT Radeon X1600PRO 256MB – $93
Memory
2x Kingston 1GB DDR2 DDR2 667 RAM – $136
Hard Drive
Western Digital 500GB SATA – $140
Optical Drive
NEC ND-3550A 16X DVD Burner – $29*
Power Supply
Ultra V Series 500W – $0
Input Devices
Remote Control and Receiver for Media Center – $25
Remote Keyboard for Media Center – $45
Cables
HDMI DVI Cable – 10ft – $5.74
3.5mm Stereo Plug/2 RCA Plug cable – 6ft – $1.25
UPS
APC BX 1500 Battery Back-UPS – $100

The final total comes up to be $994. Most of these items were purchased out of state (via Newegg), so there wasn’t any sales tax and most of them had free shipping.

I originally had purchased a Seagate 7200.10 500GB SATA hard drive with perpendicular recording, but the drive was rather noisy, especially when writing, so I swapped it out and replaced it with the Western Digital 500GB SATA drive which people have commented on to be quiet, and indeed is.

*I also swapped DVD burners between my main machine which had the NEC ND-3550A (or 3540A) which is very quiet, but no longer carried by Newegg. I had gotten the NEC 7170A-0B 18X DVD Burner, hoping that since it’s still NEC, it’d be nice and quiet like their previous models, but boy was I wrong. Apparently this drive is actually manufactured by Optiarc, a joint company formed by Sony and NEC. I’ve tried tools like CD Bremse and Nero CD-DVD Speed as recommended by those at CDFreaks.com, but neither worked. Someone also suggested AnyDVD, but I have yet to try it. What these tools are suppose to do is set the drive to run at a slower speed, so it can never goes into high speed mode (i.e. 18X), because who really needs 18X when watching a DVD. I’ve tried flashing the drive, but the tools don’t seem to be able to control it. On the contrary, both were able to control my ancient NEC ND-3550A.

Here are some pictures of while I was building the HTPC:
building krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpcbuilding krunk htpc

Installing Vista was a breeze, a lot easier than I had expected after hearing “horror” stories. Though then again, I was installing it on a clean machine and had been warned what hardware was compatible and what were causing problems (apparently nVidia Vista drivers are still iffy). After updating drivers and running the performance test, I hit 4.3 and the limiting factor was my graphics card. 4.3’s already an really good score, so I wasn’t too worried.

My next problem as I realized was there wasn’t a easy way for me to connect my HTPC to the existing network and internet. Derek and I had spent something walking up and down my stairs trying to figure out the best way. At first I thought I would just get a wireless bridge and use 802.11g to talk wirelessly. However, with all the HD content that I’ll soon be accumulating, having gigabit would be nice. So I ended up pulling a long cable from my switch to my new HTPC. I purchased a bunch of these cable hooks from Lowes and hammered them around my stair frame. I also didn’t have a ladder, so I used my plastic table as a platform to stand on.

network wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiringnetwork wiring

I’ve also rearranged the couches so that I have more living room space to actually put something in between the couch and the TV. The main reason being that I was setting up StepMania with my USB dance pads and they didn’t really fit in the old configuration. Now that I pushed the sofas back, I have a lot more space and can actually fit a coffee table or maybe even an exercise bike. What’s neat is also there’s 2 front USB ports on my Lian Li case and that’s perfect for 2 DDR dance mats.

Our company store today just announced that the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 was available. Derek and I have been looking at the Logitech diNovo Edge. However, I wonder when the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 will be released.

Here’s some pictures of my semi-final TV setup with my so pretty Vizio 47″ 1080p LCD HDTV:
final tv setupfinal tv setupfinal tv setupfinal tv setup

Remember, each picture also has a FULL SIZE.

Random Crap

It’s been awhile since my last post. You can blame the TV. Been playing with it too much. It’s so sexy!

This past week was somewhat weird. I’ve had training for a course in Advanced Windows Communication Foundation (Indigo), which was quite informative. Unfortunately this 2-day class began at 9am, and for as long as I remembered, I don’t recall getting up at 8am for work. I also ended up going to sleep around 12am (ahhh! so early!) for those few days.

This past weekend, Stanman and his gang came over to my placed and we played the Wii, Guitar Hero, Xbox 360, and some other stuff on my new TV.

I’ve been meaning to post my new HTPC experience for awhile, but I’m still waiting to get my hard drive. I currently have the Seagate 250GB + 500GB 7200.10 SATA hard drives in my HTPC. They’re a bit noisy. I’ve already purchased the Western Digital 500GB SATA hard drive (which everyones seems to say is very quiet) and should be arriving this week, at which point, I’ll be swapping out the Seagates and putting in this Western Digital. Then my HTPC will be complete (minus the TV tuners, which is a later project) and I’ll blog about it.

When watching TV or movies on my new TV, I feel a bit odd, somewhat out of place. Before, I would always be multi-tasking. Watching a movie, surfing the net, and chatting with friends all at the same time. Now putting me on the couch and just watching TV feels a bit odd. I’m thinking I might just start using my laptop while I watch TV so I don’t feel so weird. That or I can purchase an exercise bike and force myself to exercise when I’m watching TV. Derek suggests that I make the bike be the power source of the TV so if I stop, the TV turns off.

More Creative and Beautiful Wallpapers (from Digg) – Wallpapers can be creative, inspiring, gorgeous and hilarious. Recently we’ve posted an overview of Selected Wallpapers for Desktop and Web Design and Christmas Wallpapers. Now it’s time for something fresh, original and creativie. Let’s take a look at some more creative and beautiful wallpapers for your personal desktop. A nice collection of sites with some pretty wallpapers.

$1500 electric guitar made from 1/3 of a $15 Ikea table (from Digg) – Zachary built a very nice looking electric guitar top from a $15 Ikea end table. He says he can build three tops from one end table.

Construction of the World’s Highest Bridge (from Digg) – Construction of the Millau Bridge in France – The Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains is more than 300m (984ft) high – taller even than the Eiffel Tower. With its concrete and steel pillars soaring high above the morning fog in the Tarn Valley, the construction makes a spectacular sight.

Speedtest.net (from Digg) – Another pretty neat speed testing site. A lot more fancier than Broadband Reports’ Speed Test.

Empty boxes and politeness dent generosityThe research by Victoria University of Wellington’s economics department showed that how much is already in a donation box, the mix of coins and notes, and what sorts of signs are present will influence how generous the public will be. … “The most important thing is to never leave the box empty,” said senior lecturer John Randal. … More banknotes than coins led to larger individual donations, but a fall in the number of donations, while more coins saw more donations but of a lower value. Interesting study.

Dog store sign angers Seattle residentsA newly opened store catering to very pampered dogs, especially female dogs, is getting more than questioning looks for its name, High Maintenance Bitch. Haha.

Wii Quarters (from Digg) – A parody Wii game cover for a common college game: Quarters. Hilarious piece of work.

Not just good, but good for you (from Digg) –

Mounting evidence suggests sex helps keep us healthy

  1. Easing depression and stress
  2. Relieving pain
  3. Boosting cardio health
  4. Countering prostate cancer
  5. Healing wounds
  6. Fighting aging

There were some rather funny/interesting quotes:

But wait, there’s more. A recent study of college students at the State University of New York in Albany suggests that semen acts as an antidepressant. Females in the study who were having sex without condoms (see safe sex caution, above) had fewer signs of depression than women who used condoms or abstained from sex.

I can’t resist another plug for semen. It’s possible that male goo can lower blood pressure. Another recent study found that women who gave their men oral sex, and swallowed, had a lower risk of preeclampsia, the dangerously high blood pressure that sometimes accompanies pregnancy.

The Poshest Gas Station in Los Angeles (from Digg) – A very funky modern architectural gas station. I didn’t know what poshest (or posh) meant, but according to dictionary.com, it means smart and fashionable. I would hardly describe this thing as “fashionable”. Also, it shows a clear misunderstanding of what octane is (i.e. 87, 89, 91) by describing them as good, better, and best respectively. I guess that’s what the common people believe to be the case.

Vegetables as we don’t see (from Digg) – An interesting assortment of animal carvings from vegetables and fruits:

bell pepper frogseggplant sealscauliflower sheepcabbage fishbell pepper rabbitpotato guinea pigmushroom seewawlettuce duckkiwi and orange and ice cream cones made of carrots and cauliflowersquash pigscreaming orange

恭喜發財! My New TV!

恭喜發財! GONG HEY FAT CHOY! Happy Chinese New Year! Today marks the beginning of the new lunar calendar year. This year is the year of the pig.

So I was at Costco today getting some necessities (alright, they were more like goodies), when I decided to ask them about when my Vizio 47″ LCD HDTV would be coming in. After a quick lookup, they said they had already tried to call me, but apparently it was the wrong number. The guy who wrote down my cell number must’ve heard me say 675 instead of 679. I guess 5 and 9 do sound similar. So I could’ve been called a week ago since they’ve had stock for some time and I called in to give them my cell over a week ago. I even called back a few more times asking how much longer before it’s my turn, but each time while waiting for the supervisor (with the list), I get hung up. Anyways, they said it was available for me to purchase today.

At first I was planning to borrow Tekman’s van to carry this, but this was totally unprepared for. I decided, what the heck, Derek was able to fit it into his Civic, I should be able to fit it into mine. Unfortunately I didn’t calculate the fact that Derek also has a wife (or at least someone else who went with him to Silverdale). I pull down all the seats in my car and pack everything into the front, the box just won’t go in as I try to jam it. Guess I miscalculated the size of my trunk. Tekman lived all the way in Bothell and it’d suck to tell him to drive 40mi to Bellevue Costco to help me out.

Derek had to pull his out of the box, so I guess that was my next step. I open the box in the parking lot of Costco and start removing things. The TV was rather heavy and trying to be careful and lifting the damn thing didn’t really work out. I gave Derek a call, since he was only 15mins from this Costco asking for help. Derek comes of course and helps me load the TV into the trunk and then helps me carry it into my place.

I had made plans with CDMCC to watch Breach tonight, so I didn’t get a chance to play with it till I got home and it’s SWEET! My “basic” cable comes with a bunch of HD channels which I’m guessing is part of the “basic” package since they’re required by law (I believe) to include these channels. I then tested it with my Xbox 360 running at 1080p via component cables and tested a few games. Now I just need to get some cables from monoPrice and my HTPC is set to go!

Random Crap:

The cost of leaving your PC on (from Digg) – Between my server and my Windows Media Center home theater PC, I have at least two PCs on all the time at home. Have you ever wondered how much it’s costing you to leave a computer on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? … So leaving my server on is costing me $200 / year, or $16.68 per month. My home theater PC is a bit more frugal at 65 watts. Using the same formulas, that costs me $81 / year or $6.75 per month.

Man wins $25,000 lottery two days in rowAn airline pilot from Maplewood won a $25,000 lottery jackpot — two days in a row. Raymond Snouffer Jr. matched the winning numbers 11-14-23-26-31 to win Saturday’s Northstar Cash drawing with odds of about 170,000 to 1, Minnesota Lottery officials said.

Why it’s gross to kiss your sisterResearchers who wanted to find out why it is not only taboo to kiss your sister, but also disgusting, said on Wednesday they have discovered why in a discovery that challenges some basic tenets of Freudian theory. … Spending time in the same household and watching your mother care for your brother or sister is all it takes. This is all subconscious, of course, reported the researchers, who worked with Debra Lieberman of the University of Hawaii. … “It should regulate both altruism and incest disgust.” … What determined incest disgust and altruism was the same — how much time an older sibling spent watching his or her mother care for a younger one, or how much time the two spent together in the same household.

Mega gallery: 07′ LEGO video game art (from Digg) – a bunch of video game pictures made of Legos including Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Someone From Work Left Today And His Goodbye E-Mail Was Hilarious… (from Derek) – Hilarious email. Apparently this was originally written by Chris Kula, but I wonder if someone really sent this.

Blingo!

Just won another Blingo! I didn’t see an iTunes GC option this time and it seems to have automatically selected movie ticket for me. Also, a few months ago, well the last time I won, which was back in August ’06, they had updated the system so that you got your prize immediately. No more waiting 6 weeks or so before getting your iTunes GC code or for them to mail your Blingo movie ticket. Now, you get the code immediately and as for the movie ticket, as it turns out, you get a Fandago Movie Ticket. Pretty neat!

The code for your Fandango Movie Ticket is **********.

To redeem your code, go to http://www.fandango.com/blingo/

Your code expires on December 31, 2007.

Blingo

Cyanide and Happiness

I’ve been reading a new comic strip called Cyanide and Happiness. Rather funny, but humor’s a bit crude. Not sure if you’ll all like. Here’s a select few that I found:


Random Crap:

Wow, it’s been awhile since my last post. Been really busy at work with Beta 1 sign off and Deep Dive and have been pulling 10-14hr days. It’s finally over and I think things will return back to normal. I didn’t even get to watch 24 (2 episode special) till today. I’ve had to actually get to work before 10 for a few days, meaning I have to wake up at 9. I couldn’t believe how hard that was. I guess going to sleep at 4am didn’t help.

I’ve also been playing Ys: The Oath in Felghana (GameSpot), another thing that’s been keeping me away from blogging and keeping me up till 4am. I’ll be talking more about this in a later thread.

Finally, all my computer parts have arrived and I’ve built my HTPC. Unfortunately the copy of Vista I got was the incorrect version and somehow ended up with Enterprise instead of Ultimate. Will report to you about my HTPC later too with pictures! Too bad my HTPC doesn’t have a TV to broadcast on yet. Derek’s been making fun of me and saying I should’ve driven to Silverdale (1.5hrs each way = 3hrs of driving total). Maybe I’ll just show him and get a better, bigger, and cheaper TV. ;p

The youngest mother ever (from Digg) – The youngest mother was a 5 year old Peruvian girl. … Her name was Lina Medina, a Peruvian girl from the Andean village of Ticrapo… Lina’s parents initially thought their daughter had a large abdominal tumor… but Lina was eventually transferred to a hospital in Lima, where she delivered a six-pound baby boy by Cesarean section on 14 May 1939. Lina’s father was temporarily jailed on suspicion of incest, but he was released for a lack of evidence and authorities were never ableto determine who fathered Lina’s child. Even Snopes.com says it’s true. The question everyone’s asking is, if it’s not the father, who’s the child’s father?

Gela Skins (from Digg) – GelaSkins are made using premium grade vinyl with advanced adhesive technology by 3M and photo quality graphics by artists from around the world. These skins look rather cool and according to the Gearlog, they can be purchased at GelaSkins.

Vasectomy: $400. Speechless look on her face: priceless. (from Digg) – A hilarious story about how someone pwned his girlfriend when she claimed she was pregnant with his child.

Paradoxical Undressing (from Digg) – Victims of even slight hypothermia often exhibit altered states of judgment, which is known in mountaineering circles as being “cold stupid”. One common but especially bizarre behavior of hypothermia victims is a conundrum known as “paradoxical undressing”. … Paradoxical undressers remove their warm clothing even as they are freezing to death. An interesting read.

A few interesting films (from MS newsgroup):

  • Karma – We all make mistakes but do we always take responsibility for our actions? Karma has unique ways of catching up especially when we know what we are doing is wrong. The film was shot with a Panasonic HVX in two days with a crew of three (director, DP and one person to help out with lights/sound). Shot in Seattle in October whenever it stopped raining.
  • 9 Seconds – Tucker Gray has the power to “rewind” time nine seconds. He finds this ability amusing, until the day comes when nine seconds forever changes his world.

Guide to Secret “Off The Menu” Items/ Call for EntriesJamba Juice has an entire secret smoothie menu. We remember that it used to be on Wikipedia, but has mysteriously vanished. All the smoothies are made from stuff in the store, but most aren’t as healthy as the ones the promote. They are, however, in the register. Some secret ones to try: Strawberry Shortcake, White Gummy Bear, PB+J, Pink Starburst, Skittles, Red Gummy Bear, Sourpatch Kid, Now and Later, Push Pop, Fruity Pebbles. The consensus seems to be that “White Gummy Bear” is the most delicious substance known to man. I’ve gotta try that White Gummy Bear next time.

Enable Netflix Video-On-DemandIf you’re not one of the lucky people who has Netflix video-on-demand pushed to their account, you can click here to enable it.

Fla. teen hiccuping for over 3 weeksJennifer Mee can’t stop hiccuping. For more than three weeks now, the 15-year-old St. Petersburg teen has hiccuped close to 50 times a minute — despite the best efforts of doctors and home remedies.

Mother cat adopts pup rejected by mother– Who says cats and dogs don’t get along? Workers at the Meriden Humane Society are marveling at a short-haired mother cat who has willingly adopted a six-day-old Rottweiler puppy that was rejected by its mother. Story wasn’t that interesting. The puppies were so cute though:

puppies adopted by cat

Chinese workers paint mountain greenWorkers who began spraying Laoshou mountain last August told villagers they were doing so on orders of the county government but were not told why, media reports said Wednesday. Some villagers guessed officials of the surrounding Fumin county, whose office building faces the mountain, were trying to change the area’s feng shui — the ancient Chinese belief of harmonizing one’s physical environment for maximum health and financial benefit.

The man who fell 12,000 ft … and survived (from Digg) – It’s the most gut-wrenching, mesmerising and shocking clip of video footage imaginable. Shot from the tiny camera in the helmet of champion skydiver Michael Holmes, it records with chilling clarity what happened when he plummeted 12,000ft to earth. This article’s been posted everywhere, but The Mail apparently has exclusive rights to the video forcing all other news outlets to remove the video and even the YouTube uploads to remove it. You can watch the video at World exclusive skydiver video… watch the incredible footage here!

Got milk? Got beer!Great news for beer and milk lovers: A liquor shop owner in Japan’s largest dairy farming region has stopped crying about local spilled milk and started making beer from it instead. Hmmm…

Top 5 ways to hustle free drinks (from The Consumerist) – The main theme of all these hustles is something called a Propostion Bet. Basically, a proposition bet is a challenge which looks like it only has one outcome…and it does…it always favors the person placing the wager. That’s because you know something the other folks don’t. You know the ‘challenge’ is always going to go your way. Always. A show in Britain called “The Real Hustle’ does these bets often as a way to show you how much fun they can be, and also how to avoid getting caught out by them. So, here we go. My Top 5 free drink hustles, in no particular order. Watch the videos, they’re rather interesting. So if you get hustled into buying others alcohol a lot, you should remember these tricks.

The Original Hamster Dance ?!? (from RayAlome) – I was watching some of my old Disney Cartoons when I recognized this one tune at the beginning that the rooster is whistling. then I realized, “Whoa, it’s the hamster dance”. this is a video I threw together bored on a Wednesday night. The clips are from the Disney Cartoon “Robin Hood” and the song is “The Hamster Dance”

The Most Amazing Waterfall In The World (from Digg) – The power of nature is truly magnificent! Enjoy this stunning video footage of one of the largest waterfall in the world. The waterfall Iguassu forms a natural border for Argentina and Brazil, and consists of about 275 waterfalls, sure beats the hell out of a fence…. I will have to agree that the pictures of this waterfall are AMAZING!

Zoo tours cash in on hot monkey loveGenevieve Chandler has been visiting the Lowry Park Zoo since she was a kid, but the tour she got the other night was definitely not the G-rated fare of her childhood. Among the things Chandler, 30, and her date learned on their “Wild at Heart” zoo tour: Male pigs have a unique corkscrew endowment and impressive, um, output; manatees have orgies and don’t really care if their partners are male or female; and a male porcupine has only one four-hour window a year to mate — very carefully, of course.

Britons ignorant about sex, survey revealsNearly one in three Britons think that if a woman jumps up and down, washes or urinates immediately after sex, she can prevent pregnancy, a survey revealed Monday. Haha!

I was reading this strip from Real Life Comics when I realize what the guy is saying is true: Have you ever noticed how “keeping it away from someone else” seems to be a common thread in cereal commercials? With Trix, they’re trying to keep it away from the rabbit, Fred’s always trying to keep Barney from eating his Fruity Pebbles. Hell – that leprechaun actively tries to keep kids from eating his lucky charms! Besides that, there’s the police trying to keep the robber and his dog from getting their hands (and paws) on Cookie Crisp. It’s just an interesting idea which I never noticed.

The Motel

A very touching and close to heart movie about a young Chinese boy growing up in an Asian family. In the morning he goes to school. When he comes home, he helps out with the family business, which is a motel. Just hitting puberty, this boy is beginning to enter a whole new world.

Official Site
IMDb: 6.7/10 (224 votes)
Yahoo! Movies: The Critics: n/a / Yahoo! Users: B-
Rotten Tomatoes: Rating: 86% / Average Rating: 7/10
Apple Trailer
Amazon.com DVD
MY RATING: 7/10

the motel poster

Spoilers: (Show)

El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)

Saw this over the weekend with CMDCC. Really awesome movie. The story was wonderfully told and the cinematography was just amazing. The soundtrack they used was also heavenly. Definitely a movie you MUST see! I hardly ever give movies a rating of 9. You can listen to the soundtrack at the official site below. Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to skip or go backwards, but I’ve been playing the music for the past 30mins.

Official Site
IMDb: 8.5/10 (11,378 votes)
Yahoo! Movies: The Critics: A- / Yahoo! Users: B+
Rotten Tomatoes: Rating: 96% / Average Rating: 8.5/10
Apple Trailer
Amazon.com Soundtrack
Amazon.com Showtimes
MY RATING: 9/10

pan's labyrinth posterpan's labyrinth posterpan's labyrinth posterpan's labyrinth poster

Spoilers: (Show)