Friday, August 31, 2007

Endodontic Treatment

I might want to get one before the holidays end. I'm not exactly afraid of dentists, I dunno the pain doesn't really bother me. I like being prepared so I did some research. Endodontic treatment, or root canal treatment, removes the unhealthy nerve cells (pulp tissue) in your molar and replaces it with endofile. It actually looks pretty interesting.

Looks yummy to me! I also found a video... looks like huge fun!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Season 3 Arena Gear



They're just reskinned T6, which is nice I guess. You should realize the lock one isnt there yet, it's too ridiculous to show. I've seen it somewhere but cbf looking for it.

Monday, August 27, 2007

I Saw A Peacock

Not really I haven't seen one in 8 years. It's the given name of an anonymous poem that is a masterpiece of ingenuity. I heard it in a ChannelNewsAsia TV ad and immediately gained interest. I never decoded it until I searched it up on Google.

Well it goes like this:
I saw a peacock with a fiery tail
I saw a blazing comet drop down hail
I saw a cloud with ivy circled round
I saw a sturdy oak creep on the ground
I saw a pismire swallow up a whale
I saw a raging sea brim full of ale
I saw a Venice glass sixteen foot deep
I saw a well full of men’s tears that weep
I saw their eyes all in a flame of fire
I saw a house as big as the moon and higher
I saw the sun even in the midst of night
I saw the man who saw this wondrous sight

Well when you first read this, you assume it to be figurative. For example, a peacock doesn't exactly have a fiery tail, neither can a pismire (an ant) swallow up a whale, or a house be as big as the moon. However, there is a round-around method to make complete sense of this poem. Scroll down a bit if you want to see it.








I saw a peacock,
with a fiery tail I saw a blazing comet,
drop down hail I saw a cloud,
with ivy circled round I saw a sturdy oak,
creep on the ground I saw a pismire,
swallow up a whale I saw a raging sea,
brim full of ale I saw a Venice glass,
sixteen foot deep I saw a well full of men’s tears that weep,
I saw their eyes,
all in a flame of fire I saw a house,
as big as the moon and higher I saw the sun,
even in the midst of night,
I saw the man who saw this wondrous sight,

Tada, amazing isn't it! Oh if you really didn't get it... basically what happens is that the end of the first clause is the end of the second clause... so you get...

I saw a peacock,
I saw a blazing comet with a fiery tail,
I saw a cloud drop down hail,
I saw a sturdy oak with ivy circled round,
I saw a pismire creep on the ground,
I saw a raging sea swallow up a whale,
I saw a Venice glass brim full of ale,
I saw a well sixteen foot deep,
I saw their eyes full of men’s tears that weep,
I saw a house all in a flame of fire,
I saw the sun as big as the moon and higher,
I saw the man even in the midst of night who saw this wondrous sight.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Corrs

I was always a fan of them. I dunno, there's a divine harmony in Andrea's lead vocals, the instruments they use and sharon's/caroline's voices. Their lyrical style fits their amazing vocals and irish taint as well. Their lyrics are surprisingly simple though; rather narrative, very organized, with interesting rhyming couplets although you could tell that they're forced into place (very much like Blake).

One of my favorites is No Frontiers.



If life is a river and your heart is a boat
And just like a water baby, baby born to float
And if life is a wild wind that blows way on high
And your heart is Amelia dying to fly
Heaven knows no frontiers and I've seen heaven in your eyes

And if life is a bar room in which we must wait
'Round the man with his fingers on the ivory gates
Where we sing until dawn of our fears and our fates
And we stack all the dead men in self addressed crates

In your eyes faint as the singing of a lark
That somehow this black night
Feels warmer for the spark, warmer for the spark
To hold us 'til the day when fear will lose its grip
And heaven has its ways
Heaven knows, no frontiers
And I've seen heaven in your eyes

If your life is a rough bed of brambles and nails
And your spirit's a slave to man's whips and man's jails
Where you thirst and you hunger for justice and right
And your heart is a pure flame of man's constant night

In your eyes faint as the singing of a lark
That somehow this black night
Feels warmer for the spark, warmer for the spark
To hold us 'til the day when fear will lose its grip
And heaven has its ways, and heaven has its ways
When all will harmonise and you know what's in our hearts
The dream will realise
Heaven knows, no frontiers
And I've seen heaven in your eyes
Heaven knows, no frontiers
And I've seen heaven in your eyes...

Saturday, August 18, 2007

SimTower

Maxis games were always fun. You might consider them the God of simulation games 10 years ago, but there have been allegations of them copying ideas from Japan. I played most of their games though, SimCity, SimPark, SimTunes, SimTower, SimFarm etc. I wasn't a huge fan of Simcity per se, I preferred SimPark and SimTower; they were less intense and more creative.

I just downloaded SimTower and I'm just starting to realize all the diff mechanics I never found out as a kid. Very interesting indeed.

The guy who came up with the original concept and game for SimTower, Yoot Saito, had an interview with SEGA and this is what he said:

"I am a simulation game guy. I don't do RPGs. I don't do shooting games. So, in simulation [games], you have to tell stories without giving users one linear story, but by giving users a simulation model, so that users can select which way they want to go. In a role-playing game, at certain points, the game designer is going to provide two choices—go to the right or to the left. But in a simulation game, you have to provide an unlimited number of selections, because it's a simulation model. So this kind of framework… may I mention my last game, Sim Tower? It's a free-format game. You can build a skyscraper as you like, and it doesn't have a goal or an ending. It's like a sandbox, where you can create anything you like. Only, this game simulates elevators and [human] traffic, so it doesn't have any concept of air conditioning or earthquake protection. It didn't have any of those kinds of elements - only traffic. You have to decrease the stress of the people waiting for the [elevator] cars. So the mission of simulation game designers is to not add new things, but to remove things from reality, like a sculpture, so that only the required elements remain. So, first of all, to start designing a game, you have to get rid of things out of the chaos."

Best Chocolate Rain Remix?

I mean seriously, this is getting out of hand lol. I'm going to rank the top Chocolate Rain remixes I've found on YouTube as an exclusive! (I might be getting a severe increase in hits this month).

There are more and more remixes of Chocolate Rain being loaded on YouTube and I've found the best 3!

1. Tay Zonday ft. Tupac - Chocolate Rain (Black Cotton Remix)


2. John Mayer ft. Sherrod Small - Chocolate Rain (Timbaland Nelly Furtado 'Say It Right' Remix)


3. Chocolate Rain (8bit Remix)

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Final Assignment for AMG

So horrible. I spilled 1 medium-sized drop of apple juice onto my keyboard and Left Shift and Left Ctrl keys are dead. Also for w/e reason Right Shift is dead as well. I am using "Key Remapper" atm so I'm slightly getting used to this.... I'm not too sure how Acer processes services since my laptop's warranty card has expired.

Well at least I finished AMG (Audio & Music for Games) if not I'd be beyond frustrated. The uncompressed .AVI is actually 884mb large but somehow I managed to compress it to 20~mb .WMV movie. I have uploaded it on Youtube so everyone can see it. I'm sure Mike and Shaun are a bit fanatic as I am for this final assignment because a lot of hardwork was put into it. Also the tracks are all WoW and TBC soundtracks, except for 1 which is from D2 =)



Anyway holidays are coming in 1.5 weeks so I can't wait... I know I did substandard assignments for this sem so I'm going to have to buck up next sem :s

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Resilience Cap?

Well so yes, there have been suggestions that Resilience does cap at around 500. Please do not misunderstand me like any other noob who goes "but I have 550 resilience!". Resilience appears to cap at 12.5% crit reduction and 25.0% crit damage reduction. Technically, this puts the Resilience cap at 494, but since Idejder (TAO priest and class designer) mentioned on IRC last night that 500 resil is the cap, that may be more accurate (12.67/25.35).

Someone on the forums did reply with a stat test but there are some issues with it atm. I might get someone to test it out soon.

Perhaps the importance of this discovery is whether it's a coding mishap or an intentional design feature. If let's say the programmers coded in such a way that 493 is the cap for ratings, then would this also apply to crit and hit rating? On the other hand why would Blizzard put caps on gear bonuses? I personally think it's a coding error but it's going to take a classic 12 months to get fixed...

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Lee Kuan Yew Day

I just don't get why people still get so turned on by NDP. It's almost the same thing over and over again, the songs are the same every year, the itinery is so bland and erm, notice the people in white are the same every year lol?

No, I'm not being excessively cynical or anarchist, the fact is NDP is B-O-R-I-N-G and it hurts the eyes, the ears, the spirit and most importantly your intelligence quotient. It's very much illegal (and socially unacceptable) to parade through orchard road screaming patriotic slogans even though it's National Day... how ironic. This nation is so unnecessarily authoritarian.

Ok I'm going to pull off a political stunt, but believe me I'm not trying to be a political columnist/dramatist. I hope I don't get into trouble, but if you belong to the KGB or whatever it's called here please regard this as satire. (sense my fear?)

But yeh........ just the mole and inverted hair colors i guess.

I think most Singaporeans have pondered on the degree of calamity facing the passing of the Minister Mentor. Would there be factionism amongst the PAP? Is there a possibility that the PAP will be wiped off the general elections soon after LKY's death? Would there be declassification of heinous secrets surrounding LKY's illustrious and dramatic life?

Well for one, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (his son) isn't meant to be treated like a transparent scarecrow. Wow I just noticed the fabulous planning. Anyway, I shouldn't be ranting about Singaporean politics on the day before my birthday, and definitely not when I have lovely chocolate cake in my mouth... :D

Thursday, August 2, 2007

LF Warlock 2v2

Yep you heard it. If you have friends who may be interested please get them to speak to me. Hopefully I'd be able to entertain well-geared well-experienced players.

Intending to get top 10 in 2v2 this season =)

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Why Warhammer?

It's a very good question really. Tbh, the whole thing about WoW dieing is overturning drastically. Blizzard has done extremely well over the past months in terms of marketing WoW and establishing partnerships with major gaming organizations. I think Blizzcon will solidify WoW's status as the MMORPG-to-reign for 2007 and probably 2008, especially when tips about Northrend have sufficed. So why am I even considering Warhammer?

Well for one, the very fact that WAR is made by Mythic Entertainment proves that it WILL hit; hard. Having produced DAOC and being the original designer of UO, they're not a random encounter at all.

The biggest advantage however would be the fact that EA acquired Mythic last year, hence EA Mythic. As far as I know, EA is moving their headquarters to Singapore, and I also confirmed that Warhammer is definitely opening its doors to Asia, specifically Singapore, but I'm not saying it's absolutely a positive thing to note... ya know :s Hey anyway, I might end up working for EA :O?

So yeh, it might actually be possible that I get to play a decent MMO with decent ping...