Wednesday, January 31, 2007

New York Teen counter sues Music Companies

All I got to say is that it's about time someone stood up those bully tactics used by the MIAA and the RIAA or music/media industries.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37337

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Mancunians and all that

My cousin came down this weekend from Manchester, we are close but we love to compete and love to argue over everything!

So when he brought down Pro Evolution Soccer 6 with him (PS: I only play Winning Eleven 10 (Japan Pro Evo 6) we lined up ready to clash yet again.

Somehow he isn't that good at it and I can thank my Winning Eleven experience for wiping the floor with both him and Umi :-)

But he got his revenge with the countless beatings I took in Monopoly!
Out of around 8 games I was the first to lose in all but one game (in which I still lost to him)!

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Counter Strike Source : Dedicated Server

I decided to attempt to install SRCDS on my Linux server (that's SouRCe Dedicated Server for those out of the loop).

I found it pretty straight forward, but this is for LAN use first I haven't got any expectations to open it up to the Internet, maybe to local friends etc.

Here are some useful HOW TOs to try out, only thing I had issues with was the Mani Admin plugin which wouldn't start.

But on the How to site:

http://wolphination.com/linux/2006/03/29/how-to-setup-a-cssource-dedicated-server/

There is a post near the bottom explaining how to fix the start up issue:

"manith - You need to create the vdf file. To do so, open your text editor and copy and paste the following lines over to it:

“Plugin”
{
“file” “~/srcds_l/cstrike/addons/mani_admin_plugin”
}

Save that as mani_admin_plugin.vdf in the directory /home/username/srcds_l/cstrike/addons
That should allow Mani to work, and then pressing ‘p’ should work too.

Tolerance - See the Installation->Configuration->Sounds section of the Mani documentation. "

I managed to get owned by the CS Bots on the server :-(
My CS l33t cousin is on his way down tomorrow, time for some deathmatch me thinks!

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Prison Break: Worth the wait? Other TV Series

The 2nd half of Prison Break 2 (or Prison Break Season/Series 2) began on Monday.

Initial reaction was "That didn't just happen? How is Lincoln going to clear his name now?" and after mulling over it with my cousin the reason I didn't like this episode too much was there was too much location/story hopping.

One minute you are with Michael and Lincoln and the next you are with Agent Mahoney and then off to see T Bag, and then and then...

There is little chance to appreciate the atmosphere or the scene due to the fact each take last less then 5 minutes.

I can only hope the season starts to slow down and perhaps a good half of an episode (non stop) is dedicated to one person's adventures and not to 8-9 different sub plots.

In the mean time I finished watching Kekkon Dekinai Otoko (The Man who cannot get married) which is a comedy based around a 40 year old architect Kuwano Shinsuke (played by Abe Hiroshi - the lead in Dragon Zakura and also in Narita rikon)who is a perfectionist and finds the idea of having a partner a burden and considers it to be in his best interests to be single.

That is until he meets up with Hayasaka Natsumi (Natukawa Yui) who works as a doctor at the local hospital/walk in surgery who is 35 and has failed to find her partner and is totally unlady like in her interests and behavior towards our lead man.

They both are insanely rude to each other and get their kicks by putting the other down, which makes for some crazy arguments and fights.

The series shows Shinsuke's feelings and ideals slowly change under the influence of those around him, but will he ever get married?

Read more at D-Addicts Wiki site here:
http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kekkon_Dekinai_Otoko

Series Updates!
Akihabara@DEEP has finally been completed! Although the full ending will only be available in the DVD version, also there is a special to be translated in the future!

IWGP has had episode 9 released by SARS today! What will happen to Makio?

I started to watch Tatta Hitotsu no Koi (Just one love), it stars the two of the best young actors out there in Japan - Kamenashi Kazuya (Sappuri, Gokusen 2 and member of KAT-TUN) and Ayase Haruka (Sekai no Chuushin, Byakuyakou) in a Cinderella (but with the guy being the poor person) type scenario based in Yokohama. This is cool to watch in HD (720p) because the scenery is great and of course Ayase is worth watching! I have seen episodes 1 and 2, but further watching is restricted till I free up space on my hard drives...
Time to buy some more storage me thinks or crack open my USB mybook to try and swap in a larger hard drive. Man J-TV has filled 90% of my 320GB drive!!


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Sunday, January 21, 2007

J-Dorama - Last Christmas



A very good review of a good Romantic Comedy starring Oda Yuji(Odoru Daisousasen fame) and Yada Akiko(Top Caster).



http://cheesemon.livejournal.com/97889.html



Saw this series last year and it is worth grabbing the whole series and watching it on a rainy day or on those long winter nights!



Shame this was one of Oda's last appearances in a Drama role before becoming exclusively a Film actor...



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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Create unhackable passwords with ease


I very good guide I just read via digg on how to easily create something called compound passwords:

http://neomeme.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/generating-the-perfect-password/

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Monday, January 15, 2007

DELL 24" 2407FPW Widescreen LCD Monitor

I finally went and bought it after weeks of shuffling through articles to try and find the perfect desktop LCD.

I have posted unboxing pictures on my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theskillster/tags/dell

My first reaction was "damn better not drop it!" followed by "shit this is a tad too big for my desk"!

The screen is so grand is deserves a matching setup to go with it, my PC is OK Spec wise (Core 2 Duo, 1GB ram, Nvidia 7600 GS, etc) but I need a decent table to go with it.

I did order the Dell Soundbar to go underneath the monitor's frame to accommodate speakers - that has arrived a few days after and I will post photos of when I have it hooked up.

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Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Rolling Star - Yui - Fansite

For those Yui fans I stumbled across this fan site who basically translate all the info on Yui's own site (www.yui-net.com).

I was actually looking for lyrics to Rolling Star (Bleach's new Opening track) so I advise all fans to take a look at some point here:

http://bluewind.wordpress.com/

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Monday, January 08, 2007

HYD Season 2 Softsubs are OUT!

Yes the first episode has been translated:

http://arashi.vox.com/

Get the softsub file from the post on that site and rename the .SRT file to match the name of the RAW avi you have.

Make sure you have the CCCP codec pack installed.

Happy Hana Yori Dango'ing...

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Hana Yori Dongo Returns and more!

Yes that is Correct!

HYD returned with season 2 last Friday with a 2 Hour special!
Hanazawa Rui and Makino go to New York to visit Domoyoji!

I hope there will be a Soft/Hard Subtitled version out in the next week or so. When there is expect a full review!

In the mean time I have watched the great Dragon Zakura (a great GTO themed drama), Gokusen 2 (not really worth my time).

I am currently following Akihabara@Deep (hard subbed by Love Song) and IWGP (Ikebukuro West Gate Park, subbed by Sars) which are both good comedy with a bit of detective story behind them.

I was watching Yamato Nadeshiko which is a story about a women who originally is poor and is only happy with wealth. She goes on a group date and one of the men pretends to be a wealthy surgeon. Lots of humorous lies and deceit made this an interesting watch, but a shame that Mognet who are doing the Hard subbing have only managed 3 episodes thus far and there are no Raws and Soft subs to go by.

Another piece of news, the Bunto/Filler Story of Bleach is Finally over!
That's right from about episode 65 till 109 we have had to hold back our anger - but towards the last 10 or so the action was alot better.

Episode 109 was a summary of everything thus far and ushered in the new arc. Grab episode 110 which is airing on Wednesday I think.

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Big Screens or Higher Resolution?


Here is an argument I personally think deserves some attention.

People in the UK seem to be obsessed by screen size (40" TVs etc), but after spending money on a 32" LCD TV a couple of years back I quickly came to realise something - you can only appreciate the size of a screen when you have a resolution to match and make use of every single pixel on that screen.

Hence I believe it is worth spending the extra 100-200 quid to get a screen for my PC that has a resolution that would spank 22"-24" LCD TVs.

It is like playing your Super Nintendo or Playstation 1 on a 40" LCD and thinking "the graphics never used to look THIS bad?". No point in just simply "blowing up" an image on a larger screen is there?

I am going to put my money where my mouth is and am investing in a quality LCD to go with my recently upgraded PC.

I will have a unboxing and review shortly

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