- Manata and the One More Feature Adventure
Link it!
See that thing in the bottom left? Yea, that’s new.
More on the way!
- Manata and the First Compiled Version Adventure
Well, HotIron has a compiled EXE.
I still don’t have a bundled version/installer to give to people, because I spent the day baking cookies with the kids. Even though it doesn’t look significantly different from what you may have already seen in the previous video, here is proof!
- Manata and the Hot Iron Adventure
Well, I finally did it. I have been kicking around the idea of developing a Twitter status updating application for quite a while now, so I finally started one and it is functional. It’s about as basic as it gets, which is exactly what I’m looking for. When I realized the beautiful simplicity of Prism (Firefox’s web-application “jail-breaking” platform) I knew I had my goal: Something simple and functional. There are so many twitter updaters, and all of them have great features, but I wanted one to run as an application that was no-frills. This one accomplishes the job.
Sure, eventually I want to pretty it up, maybe skin the windows with something nice and glossy, but for now I’m pretty proud of the result.
Here’s the basics of how it works; Twitter authenticates using HTTP Basic Authentication, which is about as easy as it gets to manipulate. In fact, this application simply stores this information in a preferences file for quick retrieval. When the application loads, it checks this file for an account, so when you type your post and click Update, it grabs these variables and signs you in. It then writes and executes a “disposable” batch file using the CURL libraries and submits it to your twitter api. There’s a little feature which keeps track of your characters too. The most feature-rich we’ve gotten is to turn the number red if you go over 140.
Anyway, everything was done with free/open source (which are not the same thing, necessarily) software. I even did an intro video to the beta executable.
Check out the video here. (~6MB)
The exe will be available soon!
- Manata and the True Blood S01E10 Adventure
YO! I totally didn’t want to post about True Blood again, but Holy Cracker Crumbs! The end of E09 into the beginning of E10 was pretty good stuff. All of the sudden Quentin Tarantino made a directorial debut. Ok, not really, but all of the sudden we have a vampire show with some blood (other than the squished possum in the opening credits).
I’ve gotta say that I suspected a guy (even if he is a vampire) with the name of Longshadow to be up to no good. I mean, every one of the other vampires goes by a traditional name, but not this guy. Also, now that Bill isn’t the only bad ass on the block (Eric is more like the Lestat character, for those keeping score of popular vampire screenplay adaptations) the power-plays have finally gotten interesting. I used to be most interested in Jason’s storyline, but this chick that he’s hooked up with went from hippie to addict too fast and I’m not sure why, so this Vampire Bar (FANGtasia, can you believe it?) storyline (including the bloody vampire implosion) has my attention.
Also, I’m quite interested in the structure of the hierarchy that has been defined over the centuries of back story that we are not privy to as a viewing audience. This probably stems from me playing Vampire: The Masquerade online for a while while I was in high school (but, even if you print this off and shove it in front of my face, I’ll deny it ’till my dying day). Finally, we get to see Bill and Eric hammer out some details after we were told that Eric was eldest back in episode 3 or 4. We finally have a voice for rules and structure in the realtiy relative to this TV show.
For example, in this episode we are first introduced to Edict, which, those us of us from civilized countries know that, while it’s traditionally spawned from monarchism (or, at least, typical single-leader elected or entitled “offices”), the voice (or outcome from potential uprising) of two or more from a lower level in the hierarchy must be louder (or less desirable for the whole) than that of one from the voice (or actions) of those in the level above. If you don’t adhere to these rules, the society risks becoming…I don’t know…call it either Vampirismic Cuba or Blood-Thirsty-Stalistic-USSR.
Does it say this in the episode? No, not at all. In fact, not even close. Anyway, it’s just a certain way of saying: “Hey, this vampire show is neat-o, hur, hur, hur.”
- Manata and the Oakley Split Thump Adventure
Oakley Split Thump
See these sunglasses? Do ya? Yea? Well, I own some just like ‘em. Oakley Split Thump 1GB, polished balck frame, warm grey lens, plays mad crazy file types, and they have my prescription lenses in them. They’re pretty cool, but, honestly, they do kinda make me look like a NASCAR driver. I’m cool with it if you are.
We had some left over flex-pay that would otherwise go to waste if we didn’t spend it by the end of the year. You can only spend it on things like co-pays, over the counter meds, glasses, etc…so I don’t feel too guilty spending $425 on a pair of glasses. I know, it sounds high, but you’d be surprised how much crap like glasses and sunglasses actually cost when they are not covered under vision insurance.
For a demo, they threw a couple of files on there to show off the quality of the earphones. Well, they’re actually pretty good. I’m sure they’re just some kind of pod-safe-creative-commons-license band, but they are actually really good tracks.
- Manata and the True Blood S01E06 Adventure
Ok, so I killed a few more episodes of True Blood list night and now I’m on episode 6 of 12. I threw the files on my 800G external and I’m watching the show on my 22″ Widescreen in full color. It was an HD signl mixed down to a divx video, so it still looks pretty damn crisp, but I think, more than anything, that it’s the fact that it’s in color that is the most different.
Sookie’s telepathy is still a bit overly dramatic and annoying, but we’re talking about a vampire show, so overly dramatic comes with the territory. What I guess I never noticed with the black and white version I’ve been watching is that Bill is one pale son-of-a-vampire. Also, Anna Paquin is pretty hot in color or in greyscale.
Now, this is coming from a guy who LOVED Deadwood (another wonderfully executed HBO original series), especially E. B. Farnum, played by William Sanderson. I guess that may be why I’m totally digging Sheriff Bud Dearborne’s character. The two are very similar in their Jessica-Simpson-ness. Basically, it’s difficult to tell if they are actually a bumbling idiot or if they are using that illusion to their advantage.
The Sam (bartender) vs. Bill (vampire) feud over Sookie is finally getting worthy of being a main plot-line, but Jason’s (womanizing ex-jock meathead) and his ability to screw up any situation and Lafayette’s (gay short-order cook drug dealer) over the top attitude have been the most entertaining as far as I’m concerned.
On a technical note, the music in this show is fantastic. With only a few exceptions, each episode has ended with an amazingly appropriate track. Also, the opening song (Jace Everett, Bad Things) is perfect. The music is the best way to transition an ending and a beginning, but, seeing as we are in the “On a technical note” paragraph I also must add that the fact that they have no (or, at least, minimal) transitional garbage is commendable. In fact, episode 5 ended with the same scream with which episode 6 began. Sure, you get the “experimental” art direction and camera shots that come with HBO, like independent films. Sometimes they seem forced sometimes, like they did in 6 Feet Under.
WAIT A MINUTE: just as I wrote that sentence, I checked imdb.com and noticed that Alan Bell directed both. Holy Crap, that’s awesome. I seriously had no idea and thought I had discovered something clever. Wow. I have such a sarcastic and snarky personality that nobody would believe that I’m not being facetious right now. Huh, comes with the territory, I guess.
–UPDATE–
Ok, now that I’m looking for similarities, I think that the kitchen in True Blood and the one in 6 Feet Under are the same. If they’re not exact, they’re certainly similar.–UPDATE 2–
Oh, snap! William Sanderson was the guy on Newhart! “I’m Larry. This is my brother Darryl and this is my other brother Darryl.” Oh,imdb.com, is there nothing that you don’t know?
- Manata and the True Blood S01E03 Adventure
I am about 10 minutes into the third episode of True Blood, and it started off ridiculous. Seriously, I really liked the first 2 episodes, and I hope that it was just a late plot device to plant some hard-facts int he vampires vulnerabilities…but mostly it was just straight up retarded.
I am watching it on the new gOS machine, which clearly has some display driver issues because it’s using the old 17″ Kogi flatscreen. Anyway, although it was recorded and downloaded in color, it’s only playing the .avi files in black and white. I think that the black and white presentation is actually working in this series’ favor. I mean, it has a lot of strikes against it:
- Terrible and inconsistent Louisiana accents.
- A lead character who is a vampire named Bill Compton (no, I’m not kidding).
- Another lead character named Sookie Stackhouse (fo’ real).
- Random and gratuitous sex scene (not that they’re bad, they just come out of nowhere)
- Terrible “fangs out” lisping (seriously, a couple of hundred years and you haven’t learned how to talk with your fangs out?)…and on, and on, and on. But what it really tells me is that amongst all it’s faults its still a pretty damn entertaining show. No, it’s no Deadwood, but its still got something good going for it. I just read that they picked it up for a second season starting in January of 2009.
So far, Bill is no Lestat; that much is for sure. He’s avoided living in “a nest” so, by his own admission, he has been able to keep more of his connection with humans. Ugh, weak. Give me a vampire who is also a rock star any day. Actually, it seems to be the human characters in this show that are the most interesting. Remember, this is only the 3rd episode, so maybe that will change. But, for now, I’m enjoying it.
- Manata and the Hockey Fight Video Adventure
I saw this video posted on digg again, and although it’s a few years old, it still inspired me to think about they way we interpret fighting in professional sports.
Clearly, I love hockey more than most. Since I live in Indiana, it doesn’t get much respect, especially when you factor in that I live in a College town and hockey is most exciting when college basketball is in full swing. But, when reading the comments, I noticed that people still love a good old fashioned hockey fight.
Hockey is the only major sport left where it’s “allowed”. Obviously, they don’t allow it in the traditional sense, but there are standard rules in place to deal with it as if it was any other type of penalty. If you love competition, experiencing the flaring of tempers is all a part of the game. In fact, playing an aggressive game is a strategy and is as psychological as it is physical.
Why, then, would two goalies come in on a hockey brawl? These guys, quite literally, couldn’t be farther from each other during the course of the game. What possible problem could they have with each other? It’s not like they’ve been checking each other or even talking trash on the ice, right? Well, maybe not, but here is my take on it: respect.
What? They fight each other out of respect? My answer is Yes. These guys have lived their lives with most of it revolving around hockey in some capacity. They respect the game, and they respect the other people who can play it at their level. The whole point of playing a sports game is to see, all other things being equal, who is better.
That same mentality comes into play when fighting. With the different protective equipment they have to wear and their relatively equal amount of fatigue due to the specific position that they play, it is only fair for them to fight each other. The simplest interpretation is “this guy has to wear pads like mine, he does the exact same job as me, he’s on the other frikkin team, there’s a brawl going on, let’s fight!”. To put it another way, a defenseman who takes swings at a goalie gets immediately pounced upon by other non-goalie skaters not only because they are closer to defend their team-mate, but also because it’s completely unfair in terms of pad restrictions, etc. It’s outside of the respect for the game and it’s players, and it’s put back in check via a left-right combo and few ear smacks.
I’m sure that there are a lot of off-ice factors and relationships between these guys that are not being factored in here (as most of them have been playing together, both on and off of different teams, for years). I’m just saying that, all things considered, it’s really not that strange to have to goalies start going at it, and it’s because of respect that they fight.
It’s not quite the same as when the drunken redneck guy says “I beat you because I love you” to his girlfriend, but it’s close.
- Manata and the Stand By Me Adventure
This is the coolest video I have seen in a very long time.
It’s also an amazing story; combining the these great street performers and creating a global collaboration of artists in one song and video. I’m totally digging it.
- Manata and the Processor Comparision Adventure
In 1983, Apple released the LISA computer, which shipped with a 5 megahertz processor. To run the recently-released game Crysis, the minimum system requirements say you need at least a 2.8 gigahertz (or 2800 megahertz) processor in order to run the game.
That would mean you would need 560 Apple LISA computers to run this game. Sounds like a lot, right?
Wait for it…
LISAs cost $10,000 in 1983 is the same as $21,744.28 in 2008.
So if you need 560 computers that cost $21,744.28 each, that’s $12,176,796.80. Let me spell that out for you: Twelve MILLION one hundred seventy six THOUSAND seven hundred ninety six dollars and eighty cents.
Someone check my math please, my head is spinning. We’re not even talking RAM here, just pure processor power.
Many sites estimate the play time of the single-player mode in Crysis to be around 10 hours, which would make this game about $2,174.43 an hour, or $36.24 per second to play.
I’m not even sure why I decided to share that, but I thought it was cool. Anyway, here are the references:
Apple info: http://library.thinkquest.org/22522/timeline4b_en.html
Crysis system req: http://www.crysis-online.com/page/system-requirements.html
Inflation calculator: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
Crysis play time: http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=661.0;wap2
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