TSFD update

There were times I peaked around 215. I haven't been in this range in 2+ years.

It's kinda nice to be back.

Password Reminder

Saw this on the front page of bakabt.com, which is where I go for anime downloads:

No wonder people get hacked now and then :P

Zynga's Cafe World

Be the Ceasar of Salad: Cafe World Hints and Tips
by Xtian Mac

Zynga finally releases Cafe World, a restaurant/cafe sim that promises to be an addictive treat to a wide variety of players out there looking for great, wholesome, challenging fun. Who cares about running a tiny, low-budget shack of a restaurant? Just ask the thousands or millions of people who sent the system crashing in its first couple of days. As the Zynga people scamper like headless chickens trying to fix things before people actually sue them for the tons of spoiled, rotten, unsold food caused by said crashes, we have thought of offering you, our dear resturateurs, some tips on starting out:

Your troops: You start out with two people, yourself, the chef, and a facebook friend of your choice who becomes your waiter. To be efficient, you must set aside an unobstructed path for them to work with, especially your waiter. Although characters can pass through other people, they behave weirdly when interacting with objects. Make sure the stoves face away from any walls. Same goes through with the counters. Using the Customize option, rotate counters and stoves so they can face to where the people are properly.

Laying it Out: Efficiency is the key to hoarding money and experience, just like, well, any American capitalistic enterprise. Most people have found that arranging tables into squares or rectangles are more efficient. The trick is to close of that square of tables with the food counters. If the counters are made to face the inside of the square/rectangle, the waiter/s ideally would get trapped inside the square/rectangle. As the inside of the square/rectangle is unobstructed, the waiter/s will have a quick/easy time serving and cleaning up.


What to cook: You may want to start off with a few cheeseburgers. Only a few customers will come trickling in expecting to be fed. After you have made around 30 or so, you may want to start churning out the chunky fruit salad. It cooks for about 15 minutes and makes 100 servings. Makes a great buffer and nets you goot exp as well. Although not confirmed, it appears that the customers would prefer a variety of dishes to have your buzz rating increase. We recommend you set aside a stove or two to cook food which need longer preparation times, like the French Onion soup. If you need to leave or sleep in the real world, you might as well prepare the food that literally take days to prepare, like that meatloaf and pot roast and spitfire chicken.


Expansion: In time, if you have gathered enough money and friends, you are given the option to expand your restaurant space. This option can be found in the customize button, represented by a brick wall. Well, ideally, bigger spaces can net you more money, so if you have the cash, buy this upgrade but don't forget to have some cash left over to buy extra tables and chairs. Otherwise you just end up with just more space that doesn't bring you more money.

Friends: Zynga enjoys making users do a ton of the advertising for them. You might as well scrounge up or invite people to play because having friends allows you to expand your restaurant, and visiting friends' cafes nets you some exp and money, so in this game, there's no such thing as having too many friends. However, you need to get them to agree that you be neighbors too, which is simply a task of sending out invites.

Decor: Pretty flowers and lamps are Not really necessary to reach the maximum buzz ratings, and no evidence suggests that they add buzz ratings. However, uneven wall colors and floor patterns are annoying to a number of people, even to restaurant owners.

The Door: When you want to keep your buzz rating intact when you need to leave the game, go to customize, click on the door and drag it down to the other furniture. Without a door, there's no way customers can get in, which is handy when you don't have anything to serve them anyway.

Cafe World: Additional Tips
by brymac

Buzz:
- max(?) 105.0
- One satisfied customer = + 0.1 buzz
- Cant sit down = - 1.0 buzz
- Doesn't get served = - 1.0 buzz
- Sits on an empty plate = - 1.0 buzz

Below is a screen of my 9x11, 6 stove, 17 seat, 88-ish buzz layout:


Edit: As requested, here's my 105.0buzz 8x9, 13 seat :P

Have other tips regarding Cafe World? Feel free to post a comment! Happy Cooking!

Headbangers Reunited

Chris C is back in the country after being gone for so long. We went out for dinner to catch up and laugh about old times.

UP 3D (2009)

Watched UP 3D with Dulce yesterday and it was amazing and so damn funny. The 3d experience was nice, but I have to complain:

How am I supposed to enjoy 3D when I have tears in my eyes most of the time?

Be it from the mushy parts between Carl and Ellie or the unintentional antics of "Alpha dog", my emotions kept being stirred by this great work of Disney Pixar.

I highly recommend watching it :D

Innocent Eyes

Blood: The Last Vampire (2009), bloody brilliant or bloody hell? [updated]

I liked the animated short movie. I liked the series based on the movie (Blood+). So even with Jeon Ji-Hyun (JJH)(Gianna Jun) as Saya... will that be enough for me to like this version? I'll leave that decision after watching it on the big screen :P ( I saw a poster at SM and it starts June 10). Let's watch!

You can watch some clips here.

[update]: Hmm... hmm... even with my expectation pretty low, I don't think it was able to get there. *sigh*

Farewell Rebirth?

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes * 4. 2,102,400 minutes. 24/7 faithful service from my beloved desktop 'Rebirth' and I think she's on her way to gadget heaven.

After hanging, she didn't want to boot anymore. The fan/heatsink for the chipset might have separated, possibly frying it. Sigh, I really thought she still had a good year or two left.

I'll spend some time to locate the real problem, then contemplate if I should:

• Completely abandon having a desktop
• Locate and buy the part (probably phased out by now)
• Upgrade the mobo, processor and memory althogether (ouch)

*Sigh*

Left Straight? FAIL! Pacman vs Hitman

Image from cbc.ca

Hehe, I'm riding the Manny Pacquiao vs Ricky Hatton post fight fever. Manny probably wanted to prolong the fight, but was pissed at how dirty Hatton fights.

It was setup with a right jab/feint. No question, that was a mastodonic, solid, legen... wait for it.. dary punch. Some sites call it a left hook, some sites describe it a left cross which are probably both correct. But how in heaven's name is that a "left straight?!" I'm so glad that I didn't watch the Philippine broadcast first. I'd be cursing/laughing so bad that I would not have enjoyed his win.

Go Manny! Get more money, make mayweather see stars too.

To sweat is human

This is my version of the idiom "To err is human, to forgive divine".

I've been learning about it in a couple of documentaries that I've watched. Sweating is almost just a human trait. They say that in the course of our evolution, we lost our fur and needed to sweat due to a number of reasons:

• Most of the animals we hunted might have incredible burst speeds, but they lost out if chased far enough as they could not run and cool themselves at the same time. We achieved this by getting better at running and being able to sweat.
• In our evolving brains, as with computer processors, heat is an unwanted byproduct. Our entire body might have been modified to be the brain's heatsink/fan :P
• In a study, it was found that there was a preference to bodies with less hair. Through the generations, this might have led to less and less hair.
  

Why did I just discuss sweating? I think it sucks if you sweat so much or have "bungang araw" or have "summer hands" or can't thermoregulate properly. Damn summer heat :P


History Channel "Evolve" 4 of 11 "Skin"
BBC "What's the problem with nudity?"

A worthy successor for skuld?

It took me a while to decide on the 1000d to replace/accompany my loyal skuld(350d), but my old camera is still toughing it out and may have waited for this:

Catch words are 1080p, 20fps. So its a 15.1mp still cam which can record HD :P Gawd, it's so tempting. It'll be available beyond May, so I'm hoping skuld will stay a while longer until I can save up for this baby :D

RockEd: Fresh Take

I first heard this project from Gang's blog and then Joey promoted it on the Pisay96 ygroup. Mic brought it up and I got me thinking about equipment required, number of shots, batteries, etc.

I scoured google, youtube and other sites, where there was a passing mention of using a desktop computer's atx power supply to power Vivitar 285HV flashes. I'll post again some other time regarding this mod, but for now, it works :D

Although it was hot and tiring, I'd say it was a worthwhile experience and I'd like to invite all of you to inquire and help out.

Here are a couple of outtake pics from the shoot... none of the actual pics coz I haven't confirmed the usage policy :)

Late 08 Trends - Buraimaku

Here's a quick review of the things that caught my attention during the year that was, 2008.

I was hooked on a couple of tv series, as well as some anime. 'Gossip Girl' tops the list, all thanks to hawt Blair. Got introduced to 'How I Met Your Mother' and really liked it's Awesomeness. I caught up with One Tree Hill, Moira Kelly still has me in her spell. Legend of the Seeker, kinda weak, but dibs on the Confessor :P. 'Knight Rider' 2008 version... weak series, but I'd like to take home the new KIT. 'Merlin' ... not so magical.

Wasn't so updated with anime this year, just caught up on some older ones. 'Macross Frontier' is the latest addition to the Macross universe, a worthy watch over Macross 7. 'One Piece', zomg 390 episodes and counting, but it is pleasant enough to watch. 'Hajime no Ippo New Challenger' is the continuation of the story; a must-watch.

Games: Persona 3 FES rocks. Persona 4 - haven't found time to play, because I know it'll fetch 200+ hours of my life. DOTA here and there.

Notable commercials: 'Gloria and Barrack','Ang lakas ko-arthro', 'Makulay ang Buhay'. 'VCO exorcism' and 'VCO long-haired guy'. 'Rexona Men'-cheerleaders.

Great new products: 'Schick Quattro' costly but well worth it. 'St.Ives Blemish and Blackhead facial scrub' great cleaning and scent. Old Spice Body Wash. Blue Touch hand soap. Pulpy discharge... I mean Orange. Lucky Me-No cook. Jonas beef mami. Dip n Chkn.

Of Christmases past

Looking back, the Christmas of 2008 was simple and humble for me. That month, I attended two weddings, held a Christmas party for streetkids (pisay96) and the celebration of the day itself was with the family at Bulacan. The family celebrated it a bit better last year by eating out at a hotel, but I think I prefer it just homey and intimate.

I didn't bother writing a wishlist, because it normally ends up that I don't get them or I buy them myself. Thankfully enough, I did get great gifts: a spankin' nice celio from my sis and seeing a dear old friend.

There were moments though that made it the worst xmas yet. Want to grab some coffee?

Who is Brymac?

The next three posts is for everyone, but specifically for a certain project. That is, I'm not sure how I got involved or why I'm helping out. Oh, well...

I'm living a Freelance lifestyle, working at home and taking pictures for fun. I'm part of Techbanana, a company that I started with my close friends. I find things like electronics, photography and videos are on top of my interest list. There are some things that I want and aspire to have/achieve in life, but I'd rather not divulge them here. I'd rather they be things discussed over coffee :P

Break your rules

*** Warning: Adult Content ***











Ok, I've forbidden myself from talking about actual pron here on my blog, but I'll have to make an exception. I just saw two incredible girls, each with previous amazing videos, star in one crazy threeway.

I'd have to shut up now :))

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

I found this through one of my 'sources' and downloaded the audiobook.

Features: Contains five stories including 'The Tale of the Three Brothers' that was included in the Harry Potter book. Added to it was commentaries from Albus Dumbledore who alluded to some events in his life as well as 'historic' accounts.

I kind of liked it. It's like a HP version of DVD movies with Director/actor commentaries. It mixes the writings of 3 different people (but just one real author): Beedle, Albus and JKR herself.

I Got Stung...

I was on my way to a shoot with Mimi and Trebs, so I started closing my bag when I felt a sharp prick. When I looked closer, I saw a medium sized scorpion where the bag's zipper was. Thinking fast, I grabbed some alcohol and showered the affected area. I then grabbed my pointed tweezers and captured it.

I then googled and tried to find symptoms and species of deadly scorpions. Reading a bit and feeling nothing out of the ordinary, I left for my scheduled shoot.

After I got home, and not really harboring any ill feelings to the lil squirt, I decided to keep it as a pet. Again with the help of google, I researched a bit about how to take care of it.

So, if I manage to keep it alive for a week, can you help me give it a name?

PhP 270M Fail

Well, it's not like their budget matches their prizes :P

Neo Vivid 1190

Had this netbook (Neo Vivid 1190) in my possesion for a short while (added antivirus:AVG, spybot, openoffice, etc). I looked at the neo website and they didn't have downloads for this model yet (attn neo). So I looked at the bottom and saw that the model number is J10IL1.

With just that model number and Google, I managed to locate the real manufacturer(Equus CS) and at least they had easy to find downloads for this one. I found the driver there so I downloaded it. But it seemed that that was already installed, so why is the webcam not working or was not detected? Duh! There's a Fn + F12 that enables the webcam. Duh?! Wow, a computer noobie moment... haven't had that in a while :))

General impression: Its kinda nice. XP is relatively responsive. Built is sort of bulky but 'macho'.

Gateway MA3 MX6447

Symptom: Blue Screen of Death(BSOD) after logging in. Fan does not spin once Windows starts.
Googled cause: video card(ATI) driver version seems to prioritize GPU temperature over CPU temperature, causing cpu overheat before gpu signals fan to spin.

Solution attempts:

• Clean fan and heatsink with brush and blower.
  
• Uninstall ATI driver, unsuccessful... BSOD before reaching uninstall.

Solution Steps:

• Backup data, prepare for reformat and reinstall of Windows XP Media Center 2005
• Download Win XP MC2005 (laptop has license key anyway)
• Laptop refuses to boot using the downloaded disk, but it works on another laptop.
• Remove HDD and connect to usb. Make sure there are multiple partitions, one for the OS and another a temporary drive(FAT32). Attempt diskless install via: "Z:\I386\winnt32.exe /syspart:K: /tempdrive:K: /makelocalsource /noreboot" where z is the dvd drive is and K the fat32 partition. (note: DO NOT use sp3 installer, will give 'iaStor.sys' not found errors)
• Place back HDD in laptop. Boot and install winxpmc2005
  
• After XP, install ATI video driver and ATI Catalyst.
• Installation is stable although fan still doesn't spin while in XP. still investigating.
  

New Challenger

For a while now, I've been following the series "Hajime no Ippo" aka "Knockout" aka "Fighting Spirit". The show is extremely inspiring and entertaining, with crazy humor and interesting plot. In a nutshell, its about a bullied youngster who found inner strength through boxing. The animated tv series ended just as the show's lead, Makunochi Ippo captured the Japanese Featherweight Belt. After one movie and a special, the watcher is left hanging, as the story wasn't concluded. 2002 saw the end of the series, thus after running through all the watchable media, I went to read the Manga. This sated the craving for a while.

After 7 long years, it was a welcome development that they launched the continuation of the tv series and subtitled it "New Challenger". This run would hopefully cover all plots up to the latest manga, which includes the following storylines:

• Miyata's OPBF Title Challenge
• Kamogawa Gym's latest genius recruit: "Itagaki"
• Miyata's Dad's Past and the Filipino Champion "Randy Boy Jr."
• The return of Gero-michi
• Takamura's Rampage of multiple weight classes
• and a lot more.

Please support the official DVDs when they come out, but for the fans that want to watch it asap, you can find them thru tokyotosho.com. A number of groups are subtitling the series: SpeedStar, Animebreaker, Saizen & Ignition-One, Mahero, Frostii. Speedstar releases the fastest, saizen&ignition-one would probably be a good version to keep (because they scanlate the manga too).

Queen B and Poopy Tea

The fine line between REM dream and reality is a weird place.

I was in a beach, which felt oddly similar to Tree Hill's. Going about my business, I felt that I was being bullied. People were shunning me and preventing me from doing things I had to do. All this orchestrated by a mischievous girl who greatly resembled Blair Waldorf.

Throughout the episode, I would randomly utter "Damn, I need to crap", although there was no immediate urge/pain/reflex to do so. People would then without fail, clog up the lines to the restrooms which was starting to get into my nerves.

Luckily enough, I chanced upon an occupied stall with no one waiting in line. After a while, I got impatient and looked over the stall door. What I saw was 'Blair' "brooking" herself, either tempting me or pissing me off.

So I woke up a bit dazed, then I ran off to the toilet. Damn poopy tea.

Two Zero Zero Nine

The year 2008 was a bit rough, with a lot of lows and some highs. May 2009 be fortunate, and I do hope to take more control of my destiny.

It's been a theme in my recent posts, but it's just over 4 months until I turn 30. Pictures from my last trip to pangasinan revealed an unsightly truth, that I'm overweight and out-of-shape. Time is ticking, bmac. Chop chop.

Strobist info: Camera on tripod, 10sec exposure. Handheld flash, radio triggered.