Month: December 2005

  • December 31, 2005

    2005: Year in Review

    Well, 2005 was quite an eventful year for me. One of my resolutions was to read more, and I definitely did that. I plan to do even more in 2006. After going through the archives for this year, I found some older posts with some nice insight here and here. I think it was partially due to more insight on my blog that it grew so much. ’05 was a great year for me internet wise.

    2005 was also a year of travel, concerts and new experiences for me. For one, Ireland. It was unlike anything I have ever done. Plus, I said I would never travel over seas. I am now glad that promise didn’t hold. In Ireland, I also saw U2, which kicked off my 2005 concert tour. I saw A LOT of concerts this year. All of the pics are here. U2(amazing), Bloc Party, Misfits (met Jerry Only), TransSiberian Orchestra, HIM, Dane Cook, and the best of ’05- CKY. I was especially excited for CKY to begin with because of the great time I had in 2003 when they played the Chance. Not only did they have a lot of energy this year (and then too) but we got to meet and take pics with everyone in the band. They are all about their fans, which is great to see.

    The last thing I want to talk about is programming and me in 2005. I have made some serious advancements in PHP/MySQL and Java. I have come to know that it really is something I enjoy and want to keep doing and get better at so I can do cooler stuff. No 2 programs are the same, and there is always ways to improve already existing programs. When I finish the book I am reading now, I will be reading a book on AJAX and the Java Cookbook, maybe doing 2 or 3 programs out of it a week.

    Thanks to everyone who read this and the rest of my blog in 2005. Its popularity grew and that really means a lot to me, because I don’t just feel like I’m talking to myself. I am glad my advice is reaching people. Later.

  • December 30, 2005

    CKY in Concert

    CIG

    I’d like to start off with a post from the last time I saw CKY, in 2003. This is from my half-assed static blog, before I even knew what PHP (or CSS) was…

    Tuesday, March 4, 2003…6:30am

    Wow- Im tired. The cKy concert was fucking amazing. The were awesome. The whole night was- afterwards Greg Terlekey got a guitar pick, I told Jesse Margera he was my fucking hero, me and Greg were roadies, we went up on stage and met the singer- who is fucking cool as hell, and then we went back to the front and met Chad- who told Phil he was awesome and told him to fuck authority. Me and Matt were just hanging out in the back at this point. Man was Chad wasted. he was like “Save driving home…..or whatever…home…” They are the coolest fucking guys you well ever meet…

    I wasn’t (and probably still am not) that great of a writer then. But, the concert. I’m going to say the best one of 2005. Maybe of any I’ve been too. And I saw U2 this year, and Green Day last year. The guys are still the coolest fucking guys you will ever meet. First of all, they are absolutely amazing performers. They played for 2 hours, and rocked out the whole time. The crowd was so energetic and into the show. Not to mention that are all great musicians. And Derron screams now- it’s pretty amazing. They played a lot of great songs too- Escape from Hellview, 96 Quiet Butter Beings, Tripled Manic State, etc. They closed with Promiscuous Daughter, and encored with Disengage the Simulator, which is one of my favorites.

    After the show, the all came out, signed our stuff and talked with us, and we got pics with all of them. All in all, an amazing show. If you get the chance to see then, DO NOT pass it up. Later!

    Flickr Pics

  • December 27, 2005

    King Kong

    King Kong

    Another Peter Jackson film. Another 3 hour marathon. I haven’t seen the first one. Therefore, I cannot draw comparisons. However, I thought it was good. Not amazing. Not LotR status. Then again, not much is. But this movie definitely had its great points, and its ehh points. *Warning: there are some spoilers, but if you know the story of King Kong, you already know what happens.*

    First of all, Naomi Watts- beautiful and a great performance. And beautiful. But anyway, at first, I tried to rationalize the film. Some parts were really ridiculous. But, you shouldn’t try to rationalize a movie about a giant gorilla. Look at the big (excuse the pun) picture. The message of the film. That’s what made the movie great. I mean, Kong was a lonely guy, looking for a companion which he found in Watt’s Anne Darrow. So the beast had feelings. He wasn’t just a blood thirsty monster. You felt bad for him when he got hurt and then captured trying to protect Darrow. And at the end of his movie, his final goodbye on top of the building was touching. He started to feel like a friend in that pet sort of relationship.

    But getting to these points were very long and drawn out. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. That’s because a lot of it was. It was unnecessary. Also, the finding of skull island took way too long. The whole ship getting tossed around was really drawn out. And there were some ridiculous parts, with giant bugs, dinosaurs and whatnot.

    Jack Black was very good, to my surprise. This was his first major non-comedic roll, and he was a bit of an antagonist. He took them to skull island, he put them in danger, he captured kong, which led to kong’s death. He did a really good job of making us hate him in the movie. Over all the movie could have been shorter, but it was good- it had some good action (watch Kong fight off 3 T-Rexes) not too much of a love story (but just enough) and a companionship that really played to the crowd. Later!

  • December 26, 2005

    Happy Holidays Indeed

    Well, I’ve got to say, the holidays were good to me. Most Notably, I got a Panasonic Video Camera is that absolutely tiny. I’ll be playing around with it in the next few days to see how cool it really is.

    I also got a multitude of games and DVDs. My Xbox 360 will be working over time. Madden ’06 (review coming soon), Call of Duty 2 (ditto) and Kameo will be occupying my time not spent on programming/computer stuff. I also got Family Guy DVDs and some other whatnot. Let me know in the comments some of your cool gifts!

    My next review will be King Kong, because I’ve been asked about it. Maybe later tonight?? Later!

  • December 16, 2005

    Winter

    Winter Wonderland

    It seems to be the buzz word on blogs and news sites today, so I guess I’ll throw in my 2 cents as well. Scranton got dumped on yesterday, starting with snow at around 2pm, turning to ice then rain throughout the night. While I usually Love snow, this time it was unappreciated.

    For one, it prevented me from going home yesterday night after my CS Final. I was looking forward to going home yesterday, esp. because it came as a surprise the day before. Unfortunately, that was no longer the case. The drive home today also isn’t going to be all that great. As my friend over at Mekosh.Org reported, while the weather is worse, people aren’t really driving better. NOTE: After writing this, my dad called and told me he was stuck in traffic due to a bad accident…case and point… But, the semester is over and I’m planning on taking these 3 days for some R&R before I begin with work and projects I have been putting off. Later!

  • December 14, 2005

    IE Tab for FireFox

    IE Tab

    In the midst of finals, packing, and the butt load of other stuff I have to do this week, I figured I’d take some time real quick to mention a FF extension that I have been loving. IE Tab is an extension that allows you to right click on a page and open an IE tab right in FF. This is just great for site development and for those sites that don’t support FF (but that is another story). I find it to be a great and convenient tool that allows you to have the processing of IE with the safety of Fire Fox. Later!

  • December 12, 2005

    Redecorating

    I’ve decided to do some redecorating around here. Of course, right now I have nothing to do, and I stuck in a lab, so now it’s ok. But we will see how I feel about it tomorrow when finals start….
    Later!

  • December 11, 2005

    Video Uploading

    This semester I took a video editing class, and just recently I have been working on my final project. I want to put it on the web for people to view and give me feedback on, but the video is 1.37GB. Right now I am using Google Video to upload it, but it is taking a very long time. I understand that a video > 1 GB will take a long time, but does anyone know of a free video uploading site that might take less time, or of a way to compress my 7 min .AVI to something smaller? (I tried zipping/raring it, but it is still 1+ GB). Later!

  • December 5, 2005

    Some Recommended Listening.

    I’ve gotten some new CDs over the past couple of weeks that I think are pretty awesome. I’m thinking about adding a recommended listening section and I seem to do these on a somewhat regular basis.

    SkinDred: Babylon: They opened up for HIM when I went to the show a couple of weeks ago. They have a cool sound and had a lot of energy on stage. I would describe them as “Rosti-Rock”. They have the heavy rock/metal riffs and drums, and the vocalist gives it this kinda Rastafarian sound. A cool album to move too. #

    The Darkness- One way Ticket to Hell… This album is as great as their first, with a very different sound. It is more mature, you can tell they have grown up a little bit. The songs have a great sound to them, and there is a good mix of hard and soft. My favorites include “Hazel Eyes”, “One way ticket to hell and back” and “English Garden”.#

    System of a Down- Hypnotize: This CD is better than Mesmerize- same message they have with crazier songs and a really cool sound. It hooks you in and you want to hear more. It picks up right where the last one left off- it’s crazy, melodic, and fun.#

    Well that’s it for now. Hope you enjoy! Later!