Happy Birthday, REX

My good old PC, Metal Gear REX is five years old today... I can't believe it! I bought it on the same day five years ago, but kept it in its package for another month till I had finished my General Secondary school exams. Although I chose the specs my self, I had someone else build it for me... I redeemed myself with building Arsenal Gear with my own hands.

We have a lot of good memories together. We shared lots of good games, movies and music on it. The first game that I installed on it was GTAIII, even though I had already beaten it then, but I wanted to see how it would run with all the settings on high! The last game that I installed on it was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which ran fine, but not with all the eye candy that I am seeing now on Arsenal Gear.

Metal Gear REX started its life with these specs:

• Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz, 512 KB L2 cache, Northwood Core 120 nm, Socket 478
• Gigabyte 8IR2003 running the Intel 865 chipset with built-in Realtek AC'97 sound codec
• Manli GeForce 4 MX 440 AGP 4X 128 MB (now in Shagohod, my oldest surviving system)
  
• 512 MB DDR-RAM 266 MHz (2x256 MB)
• 120 GB Western Digital HDD 7200 RPM
• Floppy Disk Drive (KIA)
  
• ASUS 52X CD-ROM (now in Shagohod)
  
• Sony 52x24x52x CD burner
• 17" LG CRT

Throughout the years, REX received the following upgrades and/or replacements:

• Intel Processor heatsink and fan (replacement)
• Realtek 8139 PCI Network Interface Card (add-on)
• Sony 16X DVD-ROM (add-on) (now KIA)
• XFX GeForce 6600 128 MB AGP 8X (running as AGP 4X due to motherboard limitation) (replacement)
• BenQ DW1640 DVD burner (add-on)
• Kingston 512 MB DDR-RAM 400 MHz (running as 266 MHz) (add-on)
• A VIA-based PCI-to-USB 2.0 card (add-on)

Not to count 4 power supplies, 5 mice, countless IDE cables, 60 and 80 mm system fans, 1 GPU cooler for the 6600 and 1 GPU slot cooler.

I am still proud that the keybaord that came with REX is still functioning properly (I am typing this from it). The same goes for the outstanding LG CRT.

I hope that you remain alive for many years, my dear REX. We still can learn a lot of things from each other.

He is running now Windows XP along with Ubuntu 8.04.

Falcon-Man

It's a sunny winter afternoon, people are walking in the street and everyone is happy... But wait a minute, there is a woman screaming... A flat is burning. Policemen arrived. Someone is calling the fire brigade. Cars are slowing down so their drivers can see what's going on.

# Insert John William's music here #

Someone yelled, "Look at the sky." What's this? It's a plane. No, it's an eagle. No, it's a piece of cloth. No, it's Superman... No, it's not. It's FALCON-MAN... The Man himself!

Flashback: here is how everything started.

I was driving home after going to the local computer mall with my dear friend Falcon (as you can see, I didn't know his secret identity, yet). We noticed a lot of people standing in the street with a police officer or two. Some MPs were there (you do know why, don't you?). A few seconds later, we saw the fire extending out of a window. A lot of people were standing there. Before we knew that there was a fire we thought it was an accident and we were looking to see if someone needed our medical knowledge. But after we knew it was a fire, I looked to the passenger's seat and saw Falcon changing into Falcon-Man. I smiled and thought, "so, it's you!" Falcon got out of the car and said to me, "I will go up and check if someone is still there." I said, "But it can't be, with all those people standing there." But he didn't listen and went ahead. I don't know why he used the stairs, but I guess he didn't want to blow his secret identity to everyone... He didn't have his mask.

My car was in a very awkward position. After a few moments, I was forced to change its position to make way for the cars already honking their horns behind me. I stopped at the opposite side of the street, facing the burning building. I couldn't park there, as this is a very sensitive area. So, I stayed there looking at the gathered people.

After some minutes, I started to call Falcon on his cell phone, but he didn't answer. I didn't know what to do. I called him again. No answer. Some moments later, the firemen arrived, and I found Falcon-Man returning to the car, now that his work was done.

The following part is written as told by the great Falcon-Man (Legal notice: This is exclusive to this blog. Falcon-Man didn't authorize any other geek to write about his adventures. If I see his heroics written on any other site, I will be very angry. You won't like me when I am angry. Besides, I have some powerful friends, eh?):

I went up the stairs quickly. I heard a woman yelling, "my mother is still in there." I busted the door open with a single kick. I checked the door knob to see if it's hot or not. (Snake's note: He later told me that it's a safety procedure so that those who are opening the door won't be engulfed in the flames because of the pressure difference. Not that the flames will hurt him.)

I went in, I yelled for the lady. I found her in her bedroom. I took her to safety. It was very difficult to see inside. My infrared vision was disturbed because of the heat, so I used my cell phone to light the way for me. I saw that I was getting a call from Snake. I couldn't answer now... What a sissy?!

After I handed over the lady to some gentlemen at the door, I went in again. Again it was very difficult to see. I shouted if there was anyone else in there. But there wasn't. I went inside the burning room. It was the kitchen. It was very hot inside and the flames were apparently coming from the natural gas pipes. (Snake's note: Later on I told him that I saw some workers cutting the main gas supply.) Water wouldn't work. It was time to use my Freezing Breath move. I took a deep breath, but alas... I inhaled some smoke that made this pathetic human lung irritated. I started coughing... Imagine this... It was worse than Mac-onite!!! I thought about doing the super spinning move to create the nano-Black Hole. But then, I heard the fire brigade cars coming. I thought, "Oh well, let them have some of the glory. There is nothing left but the dirty work."

I went back to the building entrance. I looked to the car where Snake stopped, but the car wasn't there. What a sissy? Did he turn tail and ran? I looked further and I saw him parked in a far place. I should change my friends. Too bad Falcon-Woman wasn't with me today.

This act of selfless heroism made me really ashamed of myself. I didn't go up there, not because I was afraid (I wasn't afraid, and that's the truth). But I just didn't go up there. Maybe it was the car. Maybe I thought that there was no need (I didn't know that there was someone in the flat until Falcon told me). I am really ashamed of myself.

But I am more than happy to know a person like Falcon. I am really honoured to have him as my friend. What he did today was an example to everyone. I hope it will be one of his good deeds to present before Allah on the Day of Judgment.

What? Where are the pictures?! I am Amorphous Snake, not Peter Parker!

Three Movies from 2007's Best

No Country for Old Men

You might have noticed that I am a fan of the Coen's Brothers' work. I mean, I liked Fargo, Miller's Crossing, The Ladykillers (2004) and The Man Who Wasn't There (first post of this blog!!!). Many reviewers have stated that No Country is their magnus opus. Well, I agree...

Everything about this movie is beautiful, even the violence (which is plenty). I know it's hard to say that the violence was beautiful, as it's hard to put the two words in the same sentence. But, the Coen Brothers are famous for their style. Their movies are highly stylized, and so is the violence.

I won't say anything about the story. But you should know that the movie introduced the "best" villain since, say, Darth Vader! (EDIT: I think we have seen some pretty good and memorable villains since Darth Vader, like Hannibal Lecter, The Terminator and many others that I totally forgot about). This guy, Javier Bardem, really deserves an Oscar. If he doesn't get it, then that's what I would call a rip off.

The movie probes into the state of chaos and violence that our communities are degenerating to, in the first minute of the movie, Tommy Lee Jones is telling us about the good old days when his grandfather was sheriff.

This movie is highly recommended. It gets an Amorphous Score of 5/5. Do yourself a favour and watch it.

There Will Be Blood

This movie is Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, Boogie Nights) tale of an oil man, Daniel Plainview. It's a tale of greed, power and madness. It spans about 30 years during the beginning of the 20th century. The character was magnificently done by Daniel Day-Lewis. No words can describe his superb performance, so I won't waste my time trying. The only thing that will be a reward for him, will be to walk out tonight with the golden bald statue!

You get to see the rise of Daniel Plainview as a major oil man from his first well till ... (well, I will leave this out). His greed and will to dominate all his competitors fuel up his anger and hatred. He is a man who hates all people, except himself. He want success to himself, and himself alone.

The movie is professionally done and is a feast to the eyes, but... I think that the movie could have used a little trimming. Don't get me wrong, the movie is terrific as it is, but I think that some non-important scenes took too long and, in my humble opinion, didn't affect the story a lot. But you see, watching Daniel Day-Lewis acting is really great. If I were the director, I would leave every shot recorded to film alone. Let the world see what real acting is...

Hollywood doesn't seem to be getting it right this year. For example, Atonement could have used an extra 30 minutes, while There Will Be Blood could have been better with 30 minutes less of its 150 minutes runtime.

The title of the movie is deceiving, there is very little blood throughout. Moreover, Paul Thomas Anderson made a great move that I really appreciate in movies: he delayed the first lines of spoken dialogue. As in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Once Upon a Time in the West.

EDIT: This movie joins some of the best movies to touch the subject of greed (one of the characteristics of the human personality), like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (by my favourite actor, Humphrey Bogart) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (by the eternal Sergio Leone).

This movie is a great watch and is, again, highly recommended: 4.5/5 Amorphous Points.

Michael Clayton

George Clooney has his share of great movies, but some were not so fortunate, cough*Ocean's Twelve*cough.

I wouldn't get into any details as this is the kind of movie that you must follow all the plot twists and turns. But my only complaint is that it has been done before, many times. I won't say what movies were like this one as you will know what to expect then.

If you let the repetition fact go, then you will have a nice movie. Clooney's acting is superb, but he is no match for Daniel Day-Lewis... Hell, even Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises is no match for him!!! The music is also great. It's from the same composer who did Batman Begins.

So, a good plot and an interesting one at that, superb acting and a good score will make a good movie... But this is not Best Picture material. They did this movie a huge injustice by placing it in the same category with other superior movies.

A good 4/5 Amorphous Points is the score.

Oscar Night 2008

Today is special for any movie lover. This is the Oscar night. Due to the time zone differences, it will be actually on tomorrow's (25th of February) early morning. I like to watch the ceremony itself. So, I record it on video when it's being aired, live. This way, I won't see all the ads when it's re-run. I have kept this tradition for 3 years! Also, I do not visit IMDb or any other movie or news site till I watch the thing myself.

The Award itself means nothing to me. After all, they gave Shakespeare in Love the Best Picture Award!!! It's the gathering of all the stars and directors. It's the features that are shown in between the awards. It's the speeches made by the winners.

I skipped college today! I left college at about 9 am and then I went straight home. Since the movie scene has been very active lately, rips for No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood were released yesterday. I downloaded them, but I had to watch them. To hell with college!!! After watching both of them, I threw in Michael Clayton as a bonus.

So, in case I don't publish the reviews on time, here are the Official Amorphous Awards... (for the movies I have seen, of course)

Best Picture: No Country for Old Men
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
Best Actress: ----- (haven't seen any of the movies)
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress: Saoirse Ronan for Atonement
Best Director: The Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men
Best Original Screenplay: ---- (haven't seen most of the movies except one)
Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country for Old Men
Best Cinematography: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Best Editing: No Country for Old Men
Best Art Direction: There Will Be Blood
Best Costumes, Makeup, Music, Song: ----- (haven't seen most of them except one or two)
Best Sound: No Country for Old Men
Best Sound Editing: No Country for Old Men
Best Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Best Animated Feature, Foreign Movie, Shorts...: ----- (haven't seen ANY of them!!! I am a loser!!!)

So here it is, ladies and gentlemen. No Country for Old Men is the best movie I have seen so far in 2007. There is a lot of movies that I have yet to see, especially the Foreign ones (my favourite!). I will try to write a review for the three movies I have seen tonight, if possible.

Edit:
I don't think I will be able to record it. I haven't used my VCR in ages. I am pretty sure that the head will need cleaning and plenty of it. Besides, I don't think I have video tapes large enough to record the whole thing (about 4 hours). And the last thing I want is what happened to me a couple of years ago: I was watching the recorded show when I found that I didn't record the whole thing. I switched to the TV channel and they were showing it, so I continued from where I stopped, ads and all.

I have faith, strong faith in the TV scene to upload a torrent of the show. Keep up the good work, pirates.

And the winner is... Blu-ray

Today, Toshiba admitted its defeat! They will stop producing their HD-DVD format that rivaled the Blu-ray one, backed by Sony and Co. Both Blu-ray and HD-DVD (high definition DVD) were competing for the succession of the aging standard DVDs. They offer superior video and audio quality than the normal DVDs and have higher capacities (50 GB for Blu-ray and 30 GB for HD-DVD).

The beginning of the end for Toshiba began this year, when Warner Bros. Studios went to the Blu-ray camp. The rest was like a perfectly orchestrated symphony that played exactly like Sony would have liked it to. Sony has lost a similar war with JVC in the 1980s. The Betamax vs. VHS one. And as we all know (because almost everyone of us has one in his/her home) VHS won...

The key to Sony's success is, undoubtedly, the PlayStation 3. There are millions of PS3s in millions of houses, and each one can play Blu-ray, out-of-the-box.

Microsoft, which opposed Sony and backed the HD-DVD format, issued a press release today saying that they "didn't care for HD-DVD's problems". I guess someone wants to cry but is too ashamed to do it. 2 or 3 years later, when the double layer standard DVDs that are used in the Xbox 360 are no longer sufficient, M$ will go crying to Sony so that they can license Blu-ray for use in their console. My pride hurts... You hear me Bill Gates!!!

Congratulations to Sony and hard luck to Toshiba, after all, both are friends. Toshiba is manufacturing the Cell processors for the PS3s, if you don't already know! Toshiba bought the Cell manufacturing plants from Sony some months ago.

Happy Birthday... to me!

"... to us."
"Yes, Precious... I mean to us!"

Enough Lord of the Rings fanboyism! Today, is my birthday. Now I am 22 years old. I am growing older, and hopefully, wiser.

We are having a small family party here, so I haven't eaten the cake yet. I will save a piece for GLaDOS, so that she may know how a delicious, juicy cake tastes! The cake is not a lie today.

I had a great day, today. Really. A big thanks to those that made it that great.

I received very good birthday gifts this year. I can say that Arsenal Gear is my family's gift. I got a Logitech mouse from G-Company. As you see, all of these are PC hardware. So, I decided to give myself a different gift... I bought myself a new toothbrush!

Mid-year vacation movies

I have seen a lot of movies this mid-year vacation. I can't possibly write a review for each and everyone of them. So I am just going to rate them.

I am changing my rating system. Instead of the 1-10 scale, I am using a 1-5 one. This way, I will have 10 possibilities, not 20 as in the previous system.

Here is the list, ladies and gentlemen:

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others): Mind-blowing... 5/5

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: A huge surprise! 4.5/5

2046: no score given, entitled for a re-watch. It was the last part in a trilogy!!! Damn!

Brazil: re-watch is a must!

Gone Baby Gone: Ben Afflick has talent!!! 4/5

Ballad of a Soldier: Heart-breaking. 4/5

Annie Hall: Finally, a realistic romance. 4.5/5

Lust, Caution: Generally, good. 4/5

The Matrix Reloaded: Better than what I remembered from my first viewing. 3.5/5

The Matrix Revolutions: Shouldn't have been filmed... A disgrace to the original. 3/5

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Special Extended Edition): 1000/5! Enough said!

Fight Club: I haven't seen this movie in ages... Still great. 5/5

I, Robot: A decent sci-fi flick. Not the next Terminator. 3/5

I Am Legend: A bad ending to an otherwise very good movie. 4/5

The New World: Malick delivers... as usual. 4/5

Atonement: My only complaint is that it was too short: 4.5/5

Los Olvidados (The Forgotten Ones): It has aged terribly... Watch Cidade de Deus (City of God) instead. 3.5/5


As you see, they are a lot, but I wanted more... You have to take into account that I was busy with the assembly (err... I mean forging) of my precious Arsenal Gear.

If the assassin was an Arab...

I remember when Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. I was about 10 years old. We were moving flats then, so most of our stuff was packed in cardboard boxes or plastic bags. Beside some books in an old cupboard we had, there was some pages from the daily Al-Ahram wrapping something. I remember there was an article title printed in large font, saying in Arabic, If the Assassin Was an Arab.

Of course we know that the killer was not an Arab, but was an extremist Israeli. But, as the title says, what if the killer was really an Arab? I think all hell would have broken lose.

My good friend Falcon asked me to write about the recent massacre in Illinois, to demonstrate to the world (err, I mean to the handful who reads my blog!) that terrorist acts are done by other people than Arabs and Muslims.

Yesterday, a student in a university near Chicago opened fire on his fellow students and professors. He was armed with three handguns and a shotgun. The police found 48 empty bullet casings and 6 shotgun shells. He killed 5 people before he pointed the gun to himself.

As you see, this was an act of lunacy. A despicable act that claimed the lives of many innocents. The gunman was not a "raghead". He was not an Arab or a Muslim. He didn't have an explosive belt or a rusty AK-47. He was an American citizen.

Does this make all American terrorists? Nope! It doesn't. This is (I mean, was) a troubled person who did an unbelievable thing. The thing he did should be condemned but without generalizing. Without racial remarks. Without hatred to his kind.

In last year's Virginia Tech shooting spree, the shooter was South Korean, but American media didn't jump to the conclusion that all South Koreans are crazy terrorists, right?

So, dear reader, I ask you the question that haunted my memories for so long:

What if the killer was an Arab?

P.S. I hope that they don't blame the shooting on video games! Blame it on guns, people!!!

"Dave... I am afraid..."

Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted.

Humanity is on the brink of advances that will see tiny robots implanted in people's brains to make them more intelligent said engineer Ray Kurzweil.

He said machines and humans would eventually merge through devices implanted in the body to boost intelligence and health.

"It's really part of our civilisation," Mr Kurzweil said.

"But that's not going to be an alien invasion of intelligent machines to displace us."

Machines were already doing hundreds of things humans used to do, at human levels of intelligence or better, in many different areas, he said.

Read the full article here.

Scary!!!

HAL 9000, The Matrix, Metal Gear Solid and Arnold Schwarzenegger comes to mind...

"A gift to remind you of the Alliance..."

Last Thursday I received an early birthday present from my three dear friends: Kamolly, Falcon and Leopard. A mighty gift, it was. A Logitech G5 mouse...

Yeah... Finally, a good gaming mouse. This baby has a 2000 dpi laser engine that rocks!!! Not only that but you can change the sensitivity on-the-fly, sans any drivers!!! You have a choice between 400, 800 and 2000 dpi, which is great for playing FPS games.

The mouse is so ergonomic and feels professionally done. It has extra custom weights to adjust the weight of the mouse to your liking. It also has 2 extra thumb buttons.

Add this mouse to my precious Arsenal Gear and you have a PC gamer's wet dream!



Thanks a lot for this gift, my dear friends.

One Rig to Rule Them All

Three Rigs for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Rig to rule them all, One Rig to find them,
One Rig to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

And for my vanity...

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

- Gandalf

Behold... The Rig of Power...

• Intel Core 2 Duo "Penyrn" 45nm E8400 @ 3.0 GHz with 6 MB of L2 cache
• Gigabyte P35-DS3R Revision 2.1
• Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT overclocked @ 700 MHz with a custom Zalman fan
• 2x1 800MHz Kingston DDR2 RAM
• Western Digital Caviar SE16 500 GB SATA HDD
• Samsung 20X DVD+/-RW
• HEC 580 W PSU
• LG L194WT 19" WS LCD

Precious... My Precious...

ARSENAL GEAR

May God protect you.

And may you last me for many years and give me the power to conquer all those in Game-earth. We wants it... We needs it... It's ours... Ours...

Yes... Precious...

Stupid people!

Today I had a truly horrible experience! I decided to go with my family and watch I Am Legend in the theater. Don't get me wrong. The movie is actually very good, and I do enjoy going to the cinema with my family, so that's not the issue. I will try to write a review for this movie soon.

The experience itself was horrible. For me, going to a movie in a theater is the highest possible way of entertainment for me. It's my nirvana! But that's not the case every time. The problem is when people in the theater start talking! Theaters are made for watching movies, not chatting with friends. Talking in the sacred shrine of movies is unbearable for me.

I don't know if I am neurotic or my luck is really bad, whenever I go to the theater, I must meet one of these retards. A man with his finace, he tries to show her that he has some gray matter and she tries to show him that she is the innocent girl who can't think for herself, so he must explain the movie for her, and most of the time, he doesn't understand a thing of what is happening on the screen. A person who gets a mobile phone call and he must answer it! A mother who, in her immense stupidity, must take her 3 years old into the theater, and of course the kid must scream! A group of young men going out together, they don't care about the movie and all they want is to have a good time. Or worse, a group of young men and women going out together, again they don't care about the movie, and as in the first example, the man will play the know-it-all role. Or finally, my favourite, an old woman with her adult daughter who don't give a damn about the movie and they just sit there chatting! Wow, what a charming bunch of people I meet in the theater.

I require absolute silence while I am watching a movie, it's part of the rituals of watching a movie. You see, rituals. The process is very spiritual for me.

But it's never easy for me, I ask politely, and I ask not-so-politely, and most of the time nothing happens, or they just shut up for a short time before they start their normal routine.

Today, I had a nemesis in the form of a mentally-retarded individual who was accompanied by two women, possibly his wife and his mother or mother-in-law. They started talking. I asked politely to shut up. It worked for a few minutes, then two young men started talking, loudly, to my right. I hushed them. It failed. Then the trio sitting behind me started talking again, and this time I wasn't able to do a thing. I felt really humiliated. I am not an aggressive person and I believe in reason, but how can you reason with someone who is mentally-retarded? Someone who doesn't even think that he/she is doing something wrong. Someone who doesn't even think that they are attacking my freedom.

A friend told me that your freedom ends when others' begin. All I want is my freedom. I don't want to take anything more than my freedom. Theaters are made for watching movies, not for talking. People should respect this. They should keep their stinking mouths shut at all times when they are watching a movie. This is the right thing to do. This is what should be done. This is all I am asking. I don't want them to do anything special for me, just follow the simple, civilized rules of humanity. When you keep your mouth shut, you won't be harmed and you won't harm anyone. But when you talk, you annoy other people and you make a fool out of yourself.

So, please, people, shut up when you are in a theater. SHUT UP. SHUT UP!!!

Accordingly, I decided that this is a thing that will never resolve. People in Egypt will continue to talk when they are watching movies because they don't care about movies. All they want is to spend a good time with their friends and to have a good laugh in a stupid movie, so when they watch a movie that forces you to think they just start talking, to pass the time and to enjoy themselves so that the night won't be a failure!

So, I decided that I won't attend the 3, 6 and 9 p.m. shows anymore. I will only attend the 10.30 a.m. and maybe the 1 p.m. ones because they have the least possible audience, and besides, they are cheaper. Most of those who attend these early shows are either people who really want to watch the movie, otherwise they wouldn't go there in that early time with all the inconveniences it has, or they are love birds who just want to sit with each other, and most of the time they are silent.

If this doesn't work then I will stop going to the theater, but I highly doubt I can do this!!!

I have a dream: when I have the money, I will get the best possible projector and a screen and I will watch the movies I want, sitting in the comfort of my home, alone, in a dark room and without any interruption and with surround sound. High-definition movies in 1080p make this a possibility, and who knows, maybe when I actually have the money, quad-high-definition will be out, along with 12.1 surround sound!!! This will be fun! If only I had the money...

But even if this doesn't happen, a good 19" or 22" wide screen LCD with 5.1 surround sound and showing a 720p movie will be acceptable, and this is more affordable, you know. And the good thing is that you can get the movies for free, from you-know-where!!!

KDE 4.0 gets released!

I have always been more of a Gnome fan than KDE. But KDE 4.0 is pretty interesting. Some of the new ideas in this new release are amazing. The new artwork is so good, and in fact, so Gnome-ish!

But the sad thing is that they rushed it. So far, all reviews of the release candidates were not good. Reviewers spoke of instability and frequent crashing. Even some of the project's leads spoke of the same issues.

It's a safe bet that version 4.1 will be better, but this will be 6 months from now, but the month of April is getting nearer and we will see the distros that will be released, Kubuntu and Mandriva and how they will handle KDE 4.

openSUSE, Mandriva, Fedora, Kubuntu, Debian and many other distros are already providing either Live CDs for the final release of KDE 4 or they have already uploaded the updates to their repositories.

I will be downloading the Kubuntu 7.10 KDE 4.0 Live CD soon, God willing. I will post back here for my impressions, but I highly doubt that it will be stable or usable. After all, a lot of the awaited KDE 4 programs are still to be released, as Amarok 2.0 which is still in the works.

Operation: Clean Fingers

This is my good ol' trusty A4 TECH keyboard I bought in 2003. Thank God, it has been functioning ever since. It's a good keyboard with only one minor flaw, it has no LEDs for the Caps and Num locks.

Throughout the years I cleaned this keyboard several times. It's a painful and tedious process in which I must use a piece of cloth and glass cleaner to clean individual keys! So, I didn't do it too often.

I left this keyboard for almost 8 months or so without cleaning and this was the result... Behold...


You will notice that the W, A, S, D and E keys were clean. These are the keys used for games mostly. You will also find part of Tab, Lt. Shift, Lt. Ctrl, Lt. Alt, the Space bar and a small area of Enter to be clean, because these are the keys most often used. Oh, and I forgot to mention the Esc key.

After criticism from my family and friends, I decided that this must be cleaned immediately. And this was the result...

When my sister saw the clean keyboard, she asked me if I had bought a new one!

Mission Accomplished!

A night with the monkeys!

I never learn, do I?

Last Thursday, I brought to my home my 2 friends; Falcon and Kamolly. Originally, it was a mini-LAN party night meant to be spent fragging each other in CoD4. But, instead we decided to watch a movie. We picked some movies and I recommended one of my favourites: Kubrick's eternal 2001: A Space Odyssey. Well, I should have known better...

I don't know what the rest of my family thought, but I think that they thought we were on crack or something!!! Falcon and Kamolly's hysterical laughter rocked the house! Their comments during the "music" intervals in the movie were simply hilarious!

Kamolly kept commenting on the apes at the beginning of the movie and he made the night's most hilarious comment: he described the Discovery as the world's largest sperm!!!

Falcon, on the other hand, was laughing, even more than Kamolly, because of an episode of Futurama that was a parody of this movie.

I can't say that I was disappointed that they didn't like the movie. But I don't need their opinion to like or hate this movie. You can't help but LOVE this movie, if you are not on crack, that is.

This movie is like a poem, you either love it or you hate it...

Finally, after countless comments and an insane amount of laughter, especially at the movie's legendary ending, they left.

I have recommended this movie to 2 friends before, one of them saw it and its sequel, 2010, and he liked it!!! The other didn't, for now...

The codeword was: monkeys!