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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Wishlists



A wishlist is simply put it -- a list of stuffs (or events) that you wish you would get or happen. It consists of a list of stuffs/events usually in no particular order you want -- hence the name a wishlist. This is a typical culture in the west where there are festive seasons that are exclusively about this commercialism themed celebration. Everyone is usually obligated to give gifts to those that they are closest with to indicate a feeling of appreciation and endearment. With wishlists, the giver will skip the hassle of having to guess what the recipient might be interesting of having. All they have to do is check the wishlist, look for any items they are interested to get for the said person and they'll be zero risk of the recipient not liking the item. This makes for a more pleasant (and effective) shopping experience. The giver, the recipient; everybody wins.

Now onto the conflict that wishlists might concur -- especially in our community.

  1. Perasan - most people that are aware of a person's wishlist might reflect the person as a person that is perasan (I've no idea what that word is in English). They would think of things like "Hey you inconsiderate asswipe. Who in the world would want to give you those things? Who do you think you are? The PM's son?"
  2. Materialistic - The person might be reflected as someone who is materialistic -- having to measure people's endearment by stuffs that people give to them. People will think that the subject wants these stuff more than the presence of these people at the first place.
  3. Obnoxious - Wishlisters will be applied with both of the properties therefore building up to the ultimate translation of that person is a complete jerk. Usually, people with more than one "morality issues" (usually just 2) will be reflected as "having lots of moral issues" due to the mass generalization that is at large. This will cause the subject to be treated poorly until when-when.
Truth of the being; a wishlist is not something that people (should) shove onto other people's spaces. It should only be made available and accessible to anyone that is interested to give anything at all to the subject without wanting to risk giving something that the subject might not like/already have. It is optional. I repeat, OPTIONAL. No one is forced to look at it and/or even give a flying hot chocolate mousse about the list. It is there for convenience. Just like a lot of other product research that we do, we tend to put stuffs into lists to make it easier and more efficient. The same property applies here. You wanna know, you look at it. You're curious, you look at it. You wanna look at it because you have nothing better to do, go ahead. You are not forced to do anything. But say if the list is just there and not forced to be read (or showed off) but you still judge about how inconsiderate the subject is, then you are currently being very ironic to yourself.

Also, like everything in life that does not interfere with you life directly -- don't be so easy to pass judgement. Be an observer. If you really think the matter at hands should be given extra attention then be courteous and approach with the most effective and non-offensive method possible. Not drop charges like it's hot.

For those of you interested to start a wishlist, visit Wishlistr.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Don't uninstall Steam using CCleaner

I was doing some housekeeping for my primary HDD recently when suddenly my Steam client got corrupted and unable to launch games. So I did the same as with many problematic applications that I have; uninstall and reinstall it. As usual, I uninstalled it with CCleaner, as how I uninstalled everything on my PC. Took longer than usual but it uninstalled. Which come to my surprise when I realize that all of the games in my Steam folder was also wiped out. Nooooooooooooooo! Well, too late to regret. Checked on a few forum on the net and they said there were an option of what to uninstall when removing Steam but it didn't prompt when I uninstall it using CCleaner. So there you have it, wiped out around 25GB of games that now needs to be redownloaded. Luckily all of the save game files are stored on different parts of the PC and it is safe and also lucky it was on Steam so it can never actually be lost since I still own the game on Steam. Lost all of my Non-Steam games shortcut though. These are the games that I lost and need to be redownloaded. Games in Italic are games that I haven't even played or played less than one hour as of yet:
  1. Alien Swarm
  2. And Yet It Moves
  3. Borderlands
  4. Devil May Cry 4
  5. DiRT 2
  6. Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time
  7. Eufloria
  8. Gish
  9. Half-Life 2
  10. Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
  11. Half-Life 2: Episode 1
  12. Half-Life 2: Episode 2
  13. Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
  14. Iron Grip: Warlord
  15. Jolly Rover
  16. Left 4 Dead 2
  17. Overlord
  18. Overlord: Raising Hell
  19. Overlord II
  20. Peggle Extreme
  21. Portal
  22. Puzzle Agent
  23. Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
  24. Red Faction: Guerilla
  25. Team Fortress 2
  26. VVVVVV
  27. World of Goo
Note to self: Backup game when uninstalling Steam.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Upgrades and such

So earlier this morning, I excitedly went to the Pos Laju Centre at Bangi to pick up my parcel. Got there as soon as the place opens. Since I'm guessing they'll be posting the parcel to homes today so I'll have to be quick before they actually load up my stuff to be sent. If this happens, it will force me to wait for an indefinite amount of time. This is the waiting time that I cannot afford to take because I've been waiting for this package for over a week now so naturally I'm pumped! So pumped that punctuations are getting less and less in my sentences. Ordered some bargain stuff since its the Black Friday and stuff and I've saved quite a lot and got stuff that aren't available here in the country. In retrospect, the stuff I ordered was an upgrade of some sort to me.


Graphics upgrade
I was running an outdated graphics card before. Just an Nvidia 9500 GT. It was ok 2 years ago but it gets old quick. A lot of electronics stuff gets old quick nowadays. Ordered up an EVGA Nvidia 450 GTS 1GB that I got for just $80. The manufacturer's standard retail price (MSRP) for this item is actually $130. So I saved $50 there. Been targeting just as far as the 250 GTS but at this lucrative price I might just as well jump the gun since this'll be the maximum card my current motherboard and power supply unit can handle. I not throwing away my old 9500 GT 512MB though. It is now my dedicated PhysX processing unit. A lot of forums been saying that its too slow to be a PhysX card though but I'm gonna try it on a few games first and see how it goes. As for my new primary weapon; the 450, its rather a large card really. Quite heavy too. Had to move my secondary HDD to make space for the card. Installation was very easy. Although since I'm running an older monitor, which forced me to use the DVI to VGA adapter, the image comes out a bit... how do I say it.. funky. Ain't sharp as usual. It has that HDTV feeling to it. I dunno. But it doesn't look bad though. Not a deal breaker. Tested a few games and so far have been able to run a lot of games on maximum without any hiccups. Well I don't have that big of a monitor to being with though. Just a 19' sporting 1440x900. Now I can go nagging about this for quite a while but I don't want to. Gonna stop here for graphics card.



Wallet upgrade
My old wallet was in a very very worn condition since... well it been worn so its suffering from wear and tear, more so than usual since it's not water resistant but has been exposed to water several times already. Not only it was ugly, it was breaking the card in it. Had to change it. Got the wallet at a very special price. Also Black Friday deal. Its uh Calvin Klein if I'm not mistaken. Black. Leather. Smells like PVC though. Removable ID compartment. I can't find an image for this but hey its wallet what could it possibly look like.

Humor upgrade
Well its not that my sense of humor thats getting an upgrade. I don't think thats even possible. Rather I got the Cyanide & Happiness books, both of them. The self titled and Ice Cream & Sadness. Only been taking glimpses at both of these books. I thought it was a hardcover but it wasn't. It's also white in color so I'm going to find a plastic cover for it as soon as possible. Also on sale for the Black Friday. Got both of them at a special price. As for the contents themselves, well what can you say? These people are comedic geniuses.

Problem upgrade
Actually I also order a Creative Vado HD (2nd Gen) since I've been wanting to have my own pocket HD camcorder.But luck has it that its not my time yet to have one. I received a defective unit. It cannot be turned on. Checked out the site, went to the forums and saw a lot of people having the same problem as me. In fact, its the most viewed thread in the whole section. What does that say about the quality of their product. Now I have to return it to Amazon waaaay out there to Lexington, KY. Thats gonna cost even more money. Not to mention how much I've already spent shipping it here. I'm never gonna buy anything from Creative again. First experience with their brand and already problematic. I hope they can give me a refund. I wanna get something other brand. This camcorder sucks. No wonder they're very cheap.



There are some other stuff as well. Even free gifts. Don't feel like writing about them. Let them be them. Spent a lot on stuffs I've always wanted to buy. I don't regret buying them. Black Friday's discounts are very kind towards electronics and I took advantage of it. That is all.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Grabbin' Deals

Bought some awesome stuffs during the Black Friday sale. At the time of writing they are still shipping. In short I bought an HD camcorder and a new graphic card. That's right I bought a new card after wanting to upgrade for a year! Also some stuffs from the Steam sale. They always offer awesome sales during these holiday seasons.




Will update later with further detail. Maybe even more than texts. Can't wait!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

PC Upgrade Checklist

New Graphic Card
Current target: Nvidia 1GB 250 GTS
Brand: Any (preferably BFG or XFX)
Current best price: $90 for BFG (refurbished)
Note: To be set up as primary graphic processor. Current processor will be set to render physics exclusively to take the load of the primary card.


Faster Primary Storage
Current target: 32GB Solid-State Drive
Brand: Western Digital/Samsung/OCZ
Current best price: $78 for OCZ
Note: Current system files will be transferred to this faster drive for faster boot-up and system processes. Games will remain on HDD.



Research done at: google.com/products
(you're awesome Google)

*will be updated and bumped from time to time*


This is how a nerd distracts himself from the real world.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Thanks

For all this privilege and honors.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Future

Is not a linear progression, just because age is. Occurrences are based of cause and effect. There are multiple branches of multiple outcomes, in which branches into even more outcomes itself. Anything today is not necessarily tomorrow. What is tomorrow, might not be what tomorrow should be. Past events are unalterable but won't progress linearly in the future. The present is the past when today is yesterday. A condescending personnel is tomorrow's defeat, today. Stand for today believe for tomorrow. Then tomorrow will come one day.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Gagal

Aku gagal dalam menulis sebab aku tak reti luahkan apa yang aku betul-betul rasa. Aku gagal dalam berkata-kata kerana aku lebih lemah dalam meluahkan apa yang aku maksudkan. Aku gagal memberi kerana semua yang aku beri selalunya tak cukup bagus. Aku gagal menerima kerana aku sering kelihatan seperti aku tidak menghargai. Aku gagal berusaha kerana aku tak berusaha cukup kuat. Aku gagal bersabar kerana rasional aku terlalu lemah. Aku gagal meluahkan apa yang sebenarnya sungguhpun ia sangat-sangat bermakna.


Aku gagal. Menjadi lelaki yang baik. :(

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Censorship in Malaysia

A few days ago I went to watch The Expandables. You know, that movie with a star-studded cast of stars? Yeah that one. Now even before watching we know it's going to be a violent action movie. They won't compile that many action stars in one movie to film a chick flick now would they? While queuing to get tickets, I noticed something. The movie is rated "18". Now not that it's weird or anything but movies in Malaysia so far has been subjected to be rated using either "U", "PG13" (this rating has only been enforced since the last few years), "18SG", "18SX", "18PA" or "18PL". The rating for this movie however was just "18". Looking around other posters, any movie with adult content is also rated with just an "18". Looks like they're simplifying the ratings with just an "18". They're also now more strict with minors trying to watch 18+ movies. I saw the lady in front of me being halted by the ticket receptionist to make sure that she's over 18 because she looks like she's not. Luckily she was. Now, before this, the censorship in Malaysia was pretty strict. Any kind of cursed word is usually cut out except for "damn" and "shit". But the thing is I think it was ran by careless people because they censor out all of the F-bombs but if that word is infused with some other word, it was allowed to pass. Hilarious I know but true.
 With the new simplified ratings system enforced, I would love to see if it was just a simple ratings change or was the censorship board has a new kind of approach to censoring. Now before getting to my point I would like to say that I think ratings are important. It's a tool for parents and guardians so that they won't allow the children under their care to view inappropriate content. This applies to all sorts of media be it movie, music, video games, books or anything at all. The only downside of it currently is that all of this ratings is being disregarded by some parents and guardians who would then lead to blaming the government for "weak enforcement". Parent and guardians, I know by all means I am not in the position to say defy you but the government is not the parent/guardian to the child under your care. It is not their responsibility to completely monitor what they are viewing. To these few ignorant parent/guardian, clean up your act and step up to the plate.


Now, onto the movie. I can gladly say that this new rating system somehow is up to the par of many other censorship board around Asia. The F-bombs are not censored (well, at least initially) and can clearly be audible in the movie. The violence is there for the most part. Violent gunshot blood squirt and dismemberment are aplenty in this movie and they seem to be left out untouched; though most of the violence in this movie is so fake and unconvincing, at least to your truly. There are a few parts of the movie that has been noticeably left out, in which I predict the scenes were of obscene vulgarity in words. They might be still a few parts that was left out but not that I notice any. The censorship in this didn't break the movie. They were few and insignificant to the media. I would say the current censorship is heading the right way.


Before some of you go guns ablaze on me, I would like to say that I am not for violence and profanity. But I am all for dynamic thinking. I think the new censorship guidelines are heading the right way because it's not trying to babysit the viewers. They have been informed earlier that the movie will contain adult content and if they happen to disregard the remark and still bring the minors to watch it (or be it the minors went themselves), every single social impact is to be carried along on their own. By not censoring the movie to a certain degree, the movie will be conveyed closer to how they intended to be viewed by the creators of the movie and the viewers won't feel like they're being monitored about all the time. Adult viewers should uphold to their own responsibility as an adult and be responsible about what they are viewing by not condoning it or even try to imitate it.  The new censorship board expects the viewer to be smart enough to take care of their own well being. Well, unless you are not then you might need to bring a few friends that are, just in case. How do you measure whether you are or not is up to you. The censorship board are also being smart because they know no matter how much they censor every mundane scenes in the movie, they are still accessible to other media by anyone of any age. It'll be better if they just leave it as it is in order to preserve the authenticity of the movie because, like I said, the viewers were informed of the adult content. Just don't watch it if you are just going to complain later.


This is the internet age where media are spread easily around the net. For every single sexual, violence and profanity content that are on the movie, a similar level or maybe even worse; far far worse are accessible on the internet. I believe that at the end of the day the success of censorship is governed by the parents and guardians themselves and how they enforce it to their young lings. All of this adult contents will be around permanently. It ain't nice and I'm not supporting it but we know there's nothing we can do to prevent it from being here. Be a smart viewer; a smart citizen and evaluate everything that has been presented to you, not just media but everything. That way no matter what is the issue at hand it can be evaluated as optimal as it should be.

*Everything here is purely my opinion and everyone has their right to object conditionally. There might be mistakes here and there but I am human after all.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Web Comic


Cyanide and Happiness gotta be my favorite web comic there is. All the random unpredictable jokes. My gosh these people are creative. I used to spend hours just clicking on random to read on random strips. Gets me everytime. Not for kids though.

Check the link out for more!