Archive for July, 2005

All your questions answered

Published on Jul. 27, 2005 in General. 9 Comments

People find my site searching for the strangest things. Just to help them out, here’s the answers to many of their questions. I swear these are all real.

  • is daryl brunt gay: There’s a rumour going around that his boyfriend was at the last taping of Canadian Idol. I have absolutely no proof of this claim though.
  • kalan porter is he gay?: Probably not.
  • kalan porter s new single single: Yes, his single is called Single. It’s all very clever. If you want to watch the video, go here.
  • what is so postmodern about the comedy the office: The existential nature of the protagonists oppose meta-narratives formed around subcultural ideologies. …Actually, I don’t even know what that means - I just strung together a bunch of big words that postmoderns throw around.
  • cheesiest song ever: As I stated in my post, Good Cheese, the cheesiest song ever is Diana DeGarmo’s I Believe.
  • backstreet boys - incomplete - who sings what part: A.J. sings the verse. Nick sings the prechorus. Nick leads the chorus, while the Boys back him up. A.J. sings the bridge, with a bit of backup from the Boys. So, basically, Nick and A.J.
  • i love my ipod button: I’m glad that you do.
  • ryan harne gay?: No, I don’t think he’s gay either.
  • things to do in vancouver on a saturday: There’s a lot of things to do. But I wouldn’t know, as I don’t get out enough.
  • i need a video clip of the final moments on american idol where kelly sings her last line: You can find that right over here. You can also get finale photos here.
  • britney i hate you but i love you: Er, go tell her yourself.
  • is coffee fattening?: Anything that’s not straight up black coffee or espresso is fattening. Especially anything with whipped cream or syrups.
  • how many lungs do humans normally have?: Um. That would be two.
  • if you divide a person s weight in kilos by the square of that person s height in metres you get an index which is known by which three-word phrase: Body Mass Index.
  • in which part of the body would you find the incus or anvil?: You’ll find them in the ear.
  • how to make a popsicle bridge: You use lots of trusses. And lots of popsicle sticks. And glue.
  • real songs from today that would relate to ophelia from hamlet: I dunno. I’m not well-versed on bands who write music about sexually frustrated, suicidal women who drown themselves in rivers.
  • how to use gel: Squeeze some into your hands, then smear it in your hair. Trust me, it’s not that hard.
  • speed of gravity?: 9.8 m/s² is the acceleration of gravity on Earth. Here’s a discussion on the speed of gravity, which is approximately the same as the speed of light.
  • essay madonna and lil kim message in music: I don’t know for sure, but Madonna’s message is probably be something about Kabbalah, while Lil’ Kim’s is probably about avoiding being thrown in jail for a year and a day.
  • does stacie orrico exist: Yes, she does.
  • how do you make a layout?!??!: The first step is to stop using extraneous exclamation and question marks at the end of your sentences. Then, you use Photoshop to create or edit images. Then, fire up a text editor and write some sweet XHTML/CSS/JavaScript. Then, you make sure your XHTML is standards compliant.
  • am i naked: It’s not a good sign if you’re asking this to a search engine.

Behind the times

Published on Jul. 26, 2005 in Tech. 0 Comments

Podcasting is all the rage now. It’s been around for at least a year, but it’s started to pick up more momentum recently, especially with the release of iTunes 4.9, with built-in podcasting support. Normally, I pick up on these kinds of technology trends pretty quickly and get into them before it hits mainstream, but I’m woefully behind this time. Most bloggers either have their own podcast or subscribe to them. You know you’re really far behind when Arnold Schwarzenegger gets there before you.

So, like a good blogger, I started listening to some podcasts. I even wasted a few minutes listening to the Governator talk about safety in the sun and heat-related illnesses. I’ve listened to a few prominent podcasts, including Adam Curry’s, and a few really bargain basement ones too. Because pretty much anybody with a microphone and some Web space can start up a podcast, there are lot that are really, really bad. Most have poor sound quality and provide little interesting content, making me to unsubscribe as quickly as I subscribed.

In the end, the only podcast that I really like is Stupid Church People. They’re a duo of former pastors who now speak out against the problems in the modern church and in modern Christianity. I love it because they don’t pretend to be pious Christians who live every moment by the book. Christians and non-Christians alike have acclaimed their podcast because it’s just so good. They’re not perfect and I don’t always agree with what them, but they’re definitely funny, interesting and engaging.

I wish that there were more interesting podcasts out there. Generally, I just don’t find them too interesting. I think that the whole thing has been a bit overhyped, since there really isn’t that much quality content available. It won’t take over radio, just the same way that blogs won’t take over newspapers, but the good podcasts out there will certainly grow in their respective niches. But for now, I’ll just stick to Stupid Church People.

Letdowns

Published on Jul. 24, 2005 in General. 8 Comments

So, The Amazing Race didn’t really go as planned. Though I suppose, these kinds of massive things are hard to plan and even harder to execute. Many problems cropped up throughout the day, which were a bit disappointing. But if there was anything amazing about today, it was Jen. Throughout all the logistical glitches, she kept her positive disposition and worked through them without skipping a beat. Go Jen! You rock. Frannie was awesome too - without her driving me around, we would have been even more screwed. It was also great to have her and Mike keeping me company throughout the day. You can view photos at my Flickr account.

Also, my nose spontaneously started bleeding while walking on the street. That was … awkward.

I probably won’t be organizing something like this again. It’s too much work and I never really feel good about it afterwards. Next May, I’m having a very simple birthday party.

Luckily, something great happened on the way home. After Frannie dropped me off at Burrard Station, I felt restless and just wanted to walk around for a bit. On my way to the mall, I bumped into Teresa and we just decided to go to English Bay to hang out for a while. It was nice, just sitting in the sun talking with a friend, while sipping on cold drinks. We stopped for pizza on the way home too. It was such a welcome surprise after the disappointing race. Also, she agreed to go to the Backstreet Boys concert with me! Sweet.

In other events, last Friday, I had to sing and play piano at church. It was praise and worship night, so we played close to 30 songs. Even though we practiced a few times, I still didn’t know a lot of the songs by Friday. I just kinda played the chords on the page when it sounded like it was the right time. Invariably, I missed a whole bunch of chords. Hopefully, nobody noticed too much. Also, I sounded terrible and completely missed a whole line in the song that I soloed. It’s so hard to sing in front of people because it’s really obvious when you screw up and because it’s hard to hear yourself while you’re singing.

Also, last week, I found out that I failed my work term report. Thanks to the wonderful co-op office, I received notice of this a swift three months after I handed it in. I have to meet with my coordinator about this on Tuesday, but I don’t like talking to her because she’s mean. This is bad timing because now I have to rewrite this report in addition to writing my second report.

I can’t wait until we go to Victoria. For whatever reason, I just haven’t been in a very good mood lately. Hopefully, our trip will give me a much-needed boost in morale.

23 - poor man’s Flickr?

Published on Jul. 22, 2005 in Tech. 4 Comments

Lately, I’ve been researching photo management sites, to see what might be the most viable option for me. Right now, I’ve just set up a gallery on my home server, which I’m really not supposed to be doing. It’s also a bit slow.

However, a lot of the free sites out there are pretty terrible - poor interfaces, ad-ridden pages, difficult upload methods. The diamond in the rough, though, is Flickr. Simple, intuitive, efficient, easy and free. And no obtrusive ads! There’s even an iPhoto plugin available, which allows me to upload photos from my iPhoto gallery straight to my Flickr account. It’s dead simple. The only downside is that you’re only allowed to upload 10MB/month with a free account. A paid account is just $2/month, allowing you to upload 2GB/month (wow!), which I am seriously considering. That, or I could shrink down my photos to lower resolution.

I was also considering to just download the Gallery script and use that on my server, but the downside is that I have to use my own web space to host photos. Ideally, I’d like a place where I don’t have to worry about how much free space I have, though if I have enough space, it becomes a moot point. So, I’ve also been considering switching my hosting to Dreamhost, where I would pay just as much as I do now, but get 2.4GB of space, which is definitely enough for me.

But now, I’ve got a third option: 23. It’s very similar to Flickr, with tagging, easier uploading, sharing, etc. The only difference is that it’s in beta right now and free beta accounts are allowed to upload 1GB/month. Once it’s out of beta, new accounts are only allowed to upload 15MB/month. Also, unlike Flickr, they don’t have any restriction on free accounts only being able to show the latest 200 photos uploaded. It’s definitely looking promising, so far. One downside is the lack of photo program plugins. If I could just set my iPhoto to upload everything to my 23 account, I’d be very happy.

Canadian Idol 3 - Top 10

Published on Jul. 19, 2005 in Music and Television and Movies. 1 Comment

Aaron Walpole: Somehow, he just didn’t connect well tonight. I still like him and all, but this was sadly one of his weaker performances.

Emily Vinette: I really didn’t like her back in the top 32, but her vocals were better tonight. She sang all the right notes, but she just can’t convey a song at all. Her high notes were too screamy for a song that’s supposed to be reflective and emotional. She could have really done well with this song, but instead, it was just very dull.

Daryl Brunt: His introduction video had hilarious shots of his scrawny frame posing in front of muscle cars, which completely cracked me up. All his friends are girls. I love him. He sang well and that’s all that really matters. He wasn’t amazing, but he didn’t screw up, so he’s not in danger of being eliminated.

Suzi Rawn: I was surprised that she didn’t choose a rock song, since that’s what sets her apart from the mostly bland top ten. I think she needs to get back into her box, since it works so much better for her.

Melissa O’Neil: She sang and performed well. She’s good and all, but at the same time, she tends to blend in with all the other ballad singers in the top ten. I think she’s got potential to do really well, but I think she needs to really separate herself from all the other female singers in the competition.

Ashley Leitao: Heee. I like her brother. He cried during his interview and said, “It’s like Oprah. They try to get you to cry!” She gave a very solid performance with Amanda Marshall’s Let It Rain. She’s my favourite of the pretty princesses.

Rex Goudie: I couldn’t understand anything that he said in his intro video. I think it was a bad choice to sing Born To Be Wild, as you really can’t escape comparisons to Kalan Porter. He was less animated than Kalan and for whatever reason, it just didn’t seem as authentic.

Amber Fleury: She’s probably one of the most consistent of the contestants. She gives solid performances and just generally has a great tone. Same as Melissa, she needs to find some way to separate herself from the others.

Josh Palmer: Sang Hallelujah. Definitely, the most memorable performance of the night. If I were going to vote tonight, I would vote for him. I hope he stays in this competition for a while, since he makes things more interesting.

Casey LeBlanc: She was just very blah. There wasn’t much that was interesting about her performance, despite her power notes.

Bottom three: Casey, Emily, Aaron.

Gah. When does Kalan come back to this show and show these people what Canadian Idol is all about? I miss him a lot. I wish he was coming back tomorrow instead of Carrie Underwood. It makes more sense for him to make an appearance, since it was Canadian Hits night. I hear that Hedley will be back some time towards the season finale though.