Avatar

Well, as of last Thursday afternoon, I'm away from school on my Christmas holidays. So yesterday I went to watch Avatar. How do you like them apples?

When I saw the preview for Avatar, I KNEW it was something I had to watch. (Not that I'm a Smurf fan or anything...O_o). Anyway, it was a pretty big in Jamaica, since they had a massive premiere on one side of the island(which a friend of mine got invited to, but not me...grrr...), and at the local cinema, they finally realized the joys of 3D. Yup.

To be honest, I sort of spoiled the movie for myself by reading reviews. That's not saying the movie was bad (it was really good actually), but I guess my expectations may have been a bit too high because of all the reviews I read. The 40 minute fight scene at the end was awesome, but in my opinion, it wasn't epic on the scale of Star Wars(like some reviewers said it was).

I'm not one for a love story, but I'll admit that it never got in the way of the film too much. It's not particularly like the story was NOVEL though, those who have played Assassin's Creed might have a rough idea of what one of the main plot devices was. Here's a hint, if it looks like an Animus, sounds like an Animus, but its not called an Animus.....

What annoyed me about the story was its environmental crusading, brought out through its one-dimensional human characters("But Gavin...it's in 3D!!" "Shut up."). You have your stereotypical evil corporate mogul that wants a mineral called, brace yourself for it..."unobtainium". You have his loyal army of futuristic soldiers with all forms of mechs and ships that burn forests and kill natives without remorse (apart from one of the better looking female pilots, how convenient is that?). You have the tree-hugger scientist who is so arrogant, she is convinced that you can just TELL people to kindly move because they're resting on the million dollar ore motherlode. And you have the Copenhagen summit, which...wait...where did THAT come from?

Yeah, I sort of find it a strange coincidence that the film came out during Copenhagen, but ugh...whatever.

Now, I'm going to talk about the computer graphics. The CG in the film is AMAZING. In the Marine base, I could honestly not differentiate between which parts were computer graphics and which parts were the physical set. The forest is even prettier. The forest is vibrant, alive, pretty and just REALISTIC(well, if you consider trees with glowing purple tendrils to be realistic, but please, just play along). I mean honestly...the night scenes in the forest were some of the best CG I have ever seen in a movie.

The Na'vi(read: "Giant Smurfs") run into the uncanny valley problem at a few points, but to be honest, I hardly noticed it in any of the main Na'vi characters. It really shows more in the flat Na'vi characters.



I would definitely tell you to go ahead and watch Avatar, its not like you'll be wasting your money. Watch it in 3D too. Seriously. Avatar, my dear readers, is CG history in the making. Let's hope that the game adaptation of it won't be rubbish.

In other news, since I can't remember if I said this before, but I stopped learning 漢字　by grade. I've just started reading Japanese news online and learning 漢字　as they come. Basically, this means that my vocabulary consists of mostly kanji pertaining to economics, at the moment. Hm.

Now here's the sad news. In a move that can best be described as some sort of perverse parting shot, school has left me with two projects to do. The first, is a Chemistry project on Industrial Processes. A MASSIVE Chemistry project at that too. Also, I have my Caribbean Studies Internal Assessment (a project) to do. Wish me luck.

Later,
Lord Robinson/Gavin/Haze

A Compendium of Whats New Since I Last Updated

Yes, its another one of your favourite types of post to read, my beloved Happy Desolation readers. It is my greatest pleasure to present to you, the billionth "Here's Whats New Since I Last Updated This Blog" post.

To celebrate this special event, I have decided to do something new. This something new, is actually a compendium of everything interesting that has happened since I last blogged. Without further ado, I present it:



Yes, nothing has happened. Oh wait, apart from the following:

1) The pace of school has sped up. I have end of term exams starting next week Tuesday.

2) I'm hot. I'm losing weight. Still a bit puffy and fluffy though, but the chicks like it that way, don'tcha? (Screams of "NOOOO!!!" lol)

3) Directly related to number 2, I've started Pai Lum Tao Kung Fu classes. Yes, Yours Truly is a Kung Fu ckhead.

4) I've learned a lot of Japanese since I last updated, but my rate of learning has slowed down, thanks to this millstone around my neck called school.

Christmas is coming soon. That means Christmas PARTIES!!! Heheheheheh...(would any one of my DEAREST FRIENDS reading this, be so kind as to hook me up with some free passes...thanks...you guys are the best!!! lololol)

I really forgot about Happy Desolation for a little (not forgot as in forgot that I had it, but forgot more as in NEGLECTED it). I really, really do want to be more regular with my blogging in the future. If things work out as they should, I should be actually.

Well yeah kids, that's about it really. Have fun till next time.

Peace,
Lord Robinson.

LCD Monitors Are Oh So Juicy

Yes...it's shameful. I was living in the 1980s before today. I was holding down a dreadfully antiquated CRT monitor. Now...I'm finally in the 1990s...I got a 19 inch LCD monitor. My eyes are still trying to readjust to the new aspect ratio and different brightness and such, since I can't seem to set them exactly like how they used to be on my old CRT, but hell, change is good.

Lately, I've been listening to the Notorious B.I.G. I'm really enjoying his song Juicy. For regular readers, you would all know that my listening tastes are quite eclectic...I jump from listening Benny Benassi, Daft Punk and the Global Deejays, to Notorious B.I.G. and Nas to Vybz Kartel and Tony Matterhorn to Saosin and Limp Bizkit. I have a very "globalized" ear, as a friend once put it.

My friends are all full of shit.

Generally though, while I listen to practically every type of music, I noticed I tend towards songs with strong and/or repetitive/driving basslines. Maybe I have some subconscious desire to have some subliminal messaging programmed into me...who knows?

Onto the next topic...Kanye West really needs some concept of appropriateness. Ugh..he's a great rapper, but he needs to SHUT UP once in a while. I think what he did to Taylor Swift at the VMAs was just terrible. Even if Beyonce deserved the award more, I don't think he should have ruined Taylor Swift's time onstage like that. How would it have gone if Nas, for example, ran up on Kanye receiving an award onstage, grabbed the mic from him, and shouted, "My man Jay-Z deserves this shit, Kanye is just some wack ass crap man!!"

Not very well, I can tell you that.

Anyway, I should just say that I seem to be overcompensating with blog posts on weekends, since I can hardly do them during the week, but I suppose getting 2 loaves on Friday and Saturday is better than getting none at all for the week right?

I apologize to creator of that idiomatic expression. Like, I'm totally sorry for butchering it like that dude..it was nasty. That was so bad...there was like blood all over the place and stuff, you know?

Learning Japanese is going pretty well by the way. I know somewhere in the region of 100 basic kanji (the 80 Grade 1 Joyo Kanji + a couple of common verb kanji). I'll start Grade 2 Kanji eventually, hopefully, by the end of next week...but I'll just have to see how that fits in with my school schedule.

Oh yes...and for all those who it matters to, PUA Haze is alive, kicking ass and taking names.

Peace Out,
Lord Robinson

P.S. Here's something for the non-Jamaicans to figure out, most Jamaicans worth their salt should figure this out in 10 seconds or less. It's a line from a dancehall song, you can post the answer to the comment box or email the answer to me if you think you know what it means. Extra points if you can tell me the name of the song it's from.

"If yu tell me fi squint me nuh squint my eye."

Good luck people.

Life and Breadboards

Well, its Friday night as I type this. This is my second week back at school. It feels different somehow. I'm in my second and final year. I guess I'm supposed to feel older and wiser. I'm feeling none of the above. I've completed a week's worth of labs more or less. I suppose I'm getting more experienced with them, since I hardly had any issues really. Well, apart from with my Physics labs, where I'm having hell with the breadboards.

Then again, it's REALLY fun watching my group members getting shocked by raw wires and burned by overheated resistors while I just sit there smirking...but I digress, I'm a prick like that.

On a more personal front, I haven't quite lost much weight, yet I'm convinced that my attractiveness has skyrocketed. Seriously. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a second year dude now, and that does wonders for my reputation. Maybe its that nice, shiny "Honour Roll" pin that I got on my first day back. Or maybe it's because I managed to drill into my head over the summer that I'm God's gift to women.

I'm going with the last one. I've been trying to internalize that mindset for quite some time now, but I think I just woke up one morning and I had that attitude. It's awesome really. I suppose it's what everyone calls "swagger". I call it "me".

Yeah, moving on. I'm here, doing what I'm famous for. Obsessively reading...this time, about breadboards, so when we proceed with the experiment next week, I'll be an expert (as always). I'm pretty excited to be working with electronics this year. Honestly.

By the way, the whole neurosurgeon dream, while I'm not going to say it has been thrown out of the window, it has been derailed. I'm going to be going for a PhD in Computer Science. All of my friends who I've told this have been like "DUHH!!! Did you FINALLY hit your head and knock some sense into yourself? That was how it should have been in the beginning!!!"

Thank God I have middle fingers on both hands.

Anyway, yeah, this is just to let the people who follow my blog know that I'm still alive. I guess I'll be back next week with some wacky, witty and original.

Till Then,
Gavin.

Chez Robinson

Today, I made yeastless bread. The word technically is unleavened, but not really in this case. I still rose the dough. I just didn't use any yeast.

The chemical principles behind it were pretty easy, they came to me last night when I was studying Japanese. Normal household vinegar is diluted ethanoic acid. I had 5% ethanoic acid, and some baking soda(sodium bicarbonate).

Now, before I get into this anymore, maybe I should explain what happens with NORMAL breadmaking. You add yeast and sugar to your dough, cover it, and leave it somewhere warm. After a couple of minutes, it rises, and voila, leavened dough ready for the oven.

The dough rises because the yeast(which is actually alive), uses the sugar in respiration to produce energy. The byproducts of the yeast respiring, are alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide escapes into the dough, and makes it rise. As for the alcohol, them amount of it produced is so small, that it all evaporates away during baking, and you can't get drunk off it. (Sad, but true =[)

So, if sodium bicarbonate(baking soda) + ethanoic acid(vinegar) produces carbon dioxide, and yeast+sugar also produces carbon dioxide, and we know that carbon dioxide makes the dough rise, common sense says that we could use the baking soda and vinegar as a substitute for yeast and sugar, right?

Yup, I'm here to tell you that it works, but there are a few details you need to take into consideration.

First of all, you need to store the vinegar at a cold temperature (the reason for this will become apparent later). It would also be nice if the baking soda is at a cold temperature too. Also, although I said you don't need to add yeast + sugar to the dough, you may want to add a LITTLE bit of sugar (and salt) to the dough, just to help the bread to taste like bread, instead of saltwater on flour(a LITTLE, not American little, but Third World™ little).

So, like any Good Christian™ (forgive me, I just learnt how to use the trademark symbol today =]..lol), you make your dough with all the traditional ingredients, minus the yeast. Now, you need a pretty big pan to pull this off. You're also going to want something small to mix the vinegar and baking soda in, such as the cover of a peanut butter bottle(...ghetto, right? I know, homey, I know. lol). Don't mix it yet, here's some more info for you.

Put the dough to one side of the pan. On the other side, put your cover or whatever small object you're going to store the baking soda in. DO NOT FILL IT COMPLETELY. In fact, just shake a LITTLE bit of the baking soda into the bottom of the container, about half or a quarter teaspoon full. Remember people, Third World™ little. :P

Now, cover half of your pan with a dishtowel/teatowel/whatever you wierdly accented people want to call it. I'll stick with the word dishtowel, thank you very much.

Make sure the half you've covered is the half with the dough in it. Now, take your vinegar out of the fridge(hopefully its cold by now, but not frozen), and pour a SMALL amount into the cover. Don't pour a lot, because there's going to be a bit of effervescence, from the carbon dioxide being released, and it might spill out and make your dough wet and sloppy.

As soon as you add it, cover the entire pan quickly, so the carbon dioxide doesn't escape.

The reason we kept the baking soda and the vinegar cold is because the chemical reaction is pretty quick under normal circumstances, so most of the carbon dioxide would escape really fast. Chemical reactions(in general) are slower at lower temperatures. Hence, the reaction would be slowed down a bit, so not a lot of carbon dioxide would escape before you get to cover it.

Now, you're almost done. Check back on it in half an hour, and empty the small container where you mixed the baking soda and the vinegar. Refill it like I just described above and leave it for another half an hour.

After that, remove the container with the mixture and dispose of it. Then, bake the dough that's left over like you'd bake bread normally.

I'm no chef, but the end result when I did it was pretty tolerable. I still admit that it would taste better with yeast though, but then again, my baking skills have room for improvement.

Scratch that, they have a STADIUM for improvement.

Maybe I just need some practice.

Okay, I'm lying a bit....the bread wasn't tolerable. It tasted like crap. That was mostly my fault, due to not adding enough salt and sugar to the dough(hence the reason for me warning you earlier, so you don't make the same mistake).

The point is, my dough rose, due to sound scientific techniques...heheheh. Maybe someone with a better baking technique than me could pull it off using the baking soda and vinegar method.

Anyway, I'm done blogging for today, just wanted to let you guys know what killed me, so you can tell the coroner, if you ever get called to identify my body at the morgue.

Peace and Love,
Gavin™

P.S. Technically, I simplified the chemistry a bit. The baking soda + vinegar doesn't produce carbon dioxide directly. Instead, it produces carbonic acid (H₂CO₃), which then breaks down to produce carbon dioxide and water. I suppose my hot tropical climate was partially responsible for the reaction being so quick. Who knows?

Now go make your own bread and go to hell.

Some Cartoon Theme Songs

Today I was flipping through the channels of a local TV station, and I came up on an episode of X-Men Evolution. Of course, we all know and love X-men, but my mind didn't turn to them. Instead, it turned to the topic of cool cartoon theme songs.

I like the X-men evolution theme song, so I started thinking about OTHER cartoon theme songs I liked. Here are 8 of my favourites (not in any particular order). Note that I haven't included anime's since I've watched like a bazillion animes, and I can't bother to think of anime songs now. I'll deal with Western style cartoons in this post alone:

1)X-Men evolution theme song:


2)Thundercats Theme Song


3)Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers


4)Galaxy Rangers


5)Defenders of the Earth


6)Pink Panther and Sons


7)Jayce and The Wheel Warriors


8)Transformers: Robots In Disguise


Yes, I still watch cartoons.

And I was bored when I came up with this.

And I'm going to stop making an ass of myself now.

Peace,
Lord Robinson

Twitter, Japanese and Mathematics

No, I guarantee you that none of the nouns in the title of this blog post are linked, I'm not that far gone yet. However, I'm blogging about them right now since they're significant. First, onto the issue of Twitter.

Yes, I've been a lazy BASTARD lately. I haven't been updating my blog, but I have been updating my Twitter feed. As I write this, I'm on the eve of my 100th Twitter post(For those of you retards who don't know English, it means I'm at 99 Twitter posts...dumbasses.) If you got to this link via Twitter, it means that you just clicked on my 100th Twitter post, WOOT!!! That's right people, my 100th Twitter post was a link to my blog...wow!!

Everyone knows how AWESOME Twitter is, so I won't waste my time regurgitating what you can find all over the web. So instead, I'm going to talk about the useless crap that has been going on in my life.

First, one of the obvious facts of life. I, Gavin Robinson, r teh HAXXORS!!

Why?

Well, within 3 weeks, I have managed to acquire a functioning knowledge of Japanese, including knowing the entire Hiragana and Katakana tables, knowing basic conversational Japanese, knowing how to conjugate regular Ichidan and Godan verbs (the two main categories of verbs in Japanese, similar to ar/er/ir verbs in Spanish), and learning 12.5% of all Japanese Grade 1 Kanji, as well as the on-yomi readings, kun-yomi readings and the radicals associated with the Kanji.

Yes, I'm boasting. So what? Bite me.

But then, what sort of blogger would I be if I didn't use this to spread free information?

So how did I do it?

Well first of all, get some oxygen to your brain. I'm not advocating the usage of hyperbaric oxygen chambers, but some cardiovascular exercise (in my case, skipping) does help to improve memory (at least it helped mine). I don't seem to be getting any fitter (yet), but at least I'm not getting any fatter.

Next, bite into your lower lip, and prepare for pain while you learn the hiragana and katakana syllablaries. Seriously, this is painful. It's like one of the hardest things (next to memorizing Kanji). This is especially true if you're a natural English speaker like me (or most of the people that come to this blog T_T). It may feel unnatural drawing symbols to represent syllables, but you'll get over it soon. Personally, I found it easier to start with katakana and move on to hiragana. The way I learned it was by learning the katakana/hiragana in sets of 2-5 at a time, then writing each character out about 12-25 times (yes, WRITING them). Then I learnt some vocabulary that used them, and practiced writing those words from memory (its easy to remember words in romaji). I kept this up until I could write the whole Katakana/Hiragana table from memory. I highly recommend these lessons:

Kanji Kafe's Complete Katakana Lessons (also contains incomplete Hiragana lessons)
Hiragana Exercises
Joyo Kanji Up To Sixth Grade Level


Next, go and learn some basic conversational Japanese vocabulary. About.com's Japanese lessons are a good place to start. Don't get ahead of yourself and try Kanji now...you will be in PAIN!!(as in eternal damnation style pain)

After you've soaked up enough conversation vocabulary, check out verb and adjective conjugations (also on About.com's Japanese lessons). Yes, adjectives can be conjugated in Japanese too. Thankfully, adjective conjugations aren't very hard. Neither are verb conjugations for that matter. You'll see once you reach this stage. While learning about verbs, you should also learn basic sentence patterns such as how to say that one noun is another noun, or a certain adjective describes a noun.

By now, you should probably have run into a few difficulties here and there with little oddities in the language. This is why I recommend getting a friend who is DAMN good with the language. Preferably a HOT one.

Sadly, my search for a hot girl that knew Japanese was an EPIC FAIL =[. The one I found was a nice enough person though, and relatively smart. (I'm kidding Shrewy, please don't kill me '^_^ ). In all honesty though, I consider myself fortunate to have found a friend who fit all the criteria for a J-sensei. =]

But seriously, a good friend who knows the language and/or a friend who is interested in learning the language is a great help. The wise friend who knows the language can always help you when you're stuck, and the friend who is interested in learning provides a source of rivalry...so you always feel motivated to work. Then again, that's just me...and lots of my friends say I'm overcompetitive...balls to you all!!! (some friends they are T_T).

By this time, you should know the basic sentence structures, so take a day (as in a 12 hour day) to make some basic sentences using the verbs, tenses and sentence structures you know. You may periodically need to refresh your knowledge of the kana tables by trying to write them down from memory. Personally, I find the hiragana for the syllabes "mu", "yu","ne" and "nu", as well as the katakana for the syllables "mu" and "ne", a bit hard to remember.

Do a refresher on everything for the better part of a week (about 4-5) days, and then go and try some learn some Japanese Grade 1 Kanji. I guarantee you that this is the hardest part.

You can now go and try to read some Japanese websites. I recommend getting the Rikaichan browser plugin for Firefox first though, because there are going to be quite a few phrases/Kanji you don't know. I also recommend getting the Denshi Jisho bookmarklet, for quick reference.

Tada...you now know enough Japanese to find the bathroom if you ever find yourself in the middle of a Yakuza conference by accident (although in all honesty, I think you'd have bigger problems than wetting yourself if you found yourself in the middle of one of those O_o).

Next...up..Mathematics.

Yes, I bet some of you cretinous proles have looked up on some AWESOME people such as myself at times in the past, and wondered, "How can he multiply such large numbers, mentally, so QUICKLY?!"

Well, all your human sacrifices have pleased the I, so the I has decided to reveal to the thou how the I dost do it. Keep in mind that everyone is different, and this is just MY personal method, so other people may tell you different stuff. Mine works fine for me though, so I'm cool with it.

Look at this:

369 x 69

You could do it mentally, but it would take a lot more than 15 seconds. Using my method, you can do it in less than 8 or so. Of course, doing mental arithmetic also depends on how well I slept the night before...some days were just NOT meant for Mathematics.

You split up the numbers first.

369 to 3 6 9
69 to 6 and 9

Now, here's what you do. Normally, you'd multiply 369 by 9 and multiply 369 by 60 and add them, using conventional mathematical methods (If you're confused about multiplying by 60, think about it, you put a 0 at then end, then multiply 369 by 6 to get the second number you use to add. This is equivalent to multiplying by 60. If you're still confused, just think about it a bit.)

So here's what you do, multiply the first separate set of numbers (thats 3, 6 and 9) by the 9 from 69.

So, this gives you:

27 54 81

Now what you do is add these numbers together as follows:

2700
0540
+ 81
------
3321

That's the first number.

You find the second number in a similar manner, but multiply your result by 10.

So, for the second set, you'd have:

18 36 54

This produces:

1800
0360
+ 54
------
2214

which you then multiply by 10 to get 22140. You then add this and the previous number to get:

22140+3321 = 25461

This principle works off the fact that its faster to break up the different parts of the number and add them than it is to try multiplying the WHOLE number by something else. In this way, it's a simplification of traditional multiplication, although the basic principle stays the same.

Still, this has been a LONG post, and I don't want to bore you people now (as if you aren't bored already). So, I'm going to say:

ざまたガャビン
(Later,
Gavin.)

P.S. My friend's an artist btw, and I figure one of the best ways to thank her would be to link to her DeviantArt profile...so I'm putting it here for the WHOOOOLE world to make fun of:

Laugh away =]

EDIT: Added a link to a site containing the Kanji up to Grade 6 level.

Michael Jackson

As I write this, I have tears in my eyes. Micheal Jackson is dead.I can't believe it. He's really dead.

I don't know how I can cry for a celebrity, much less a person I've never met, but I'm doing it right now for Michael. Maybe its because Thriller was one of the first music videos I ever watched. Maybe its because the Moonwalk was the first dance move I ever fell on the floor while trying to learn. Maybe its just because despite all the crap he did to his physical appearance, you couldn't help but appreciate the things that he did.

It was probably one of the worst ways to wake up. I woke up at 4 PM, went outside, turned on the TV and was watching CNN news. I woke up that late because I was pulling an all nighter, writing some plugin code for a project I'm currently attached to as a member. Then, I heard that TMZ reported that Michael was dead, but it was unconfirmed. I hoped that was just some stupid-ass Hollywood rumour. The one time that TMZ should have been wrong, they were right. Why? Why couldn't they have just been reporting some unconfirmed crap that would turn out to be wrong as usual.

It's all over Facebook. All of my friends had statuses that pertained to Michael. A few had pictures of him as their profile picture. I don't intend to change my status until the first of next month, as a mark of respect for him.

It's all over Twitter too. In fact, its all over most social networking sites. From what I've seen, there are at least 10 Twitter channels dedicated to Michael Jackson with thousands of posts on them. In fact, on the one I'm currently on, there were about 5000 new posts in the time it took for me to write the first 3 paragraphs(about 5 minutes).

I wanted to meet him. He was famous. He was great. His songs were cool and creative, and he made some of the best videos of his time (from what I've seen). I was trying to embed some of them that I had on the computer, but I was having problems uploading to blogger, and most MJ videos on Youtube restrict embedding. See below:

This paragraph is written more than 9 hours after I started this post. The video is still uploading. Way to kill the mood Blogger. You can get other videos all over the net. I predict a major surge in the download of Michael Jackson songs from file sharing networks...oh, and album sales too. As I write this paragraph, I'm listening to a feature on the BBC World Service about his death. My mood has improved a lot (who cries for 9 hours straight, really?)

Just because I haven't mention Farah Fawcett yet doesn't mean I don't have any respect for her. Charlie's Angels ROCKED!!!

Check this out before I wrap up:


Rest in Peace Michael and Farah,
Gavin.

Poon: The Definitive Etymologicalistic Thesis Thingy

"Poon"...what does it mean to you?

Is "poon" a state of mind? Is "poon" a state of being? Is "poon" some abstract spiritual quality we all must strive for?

Nope..."poon" is that wonderful quality we all desire in a woman.

I'll let the innuendo sink in for a while. For the daft ones among us, I've included a link so you can see what I'm talking about:

But seriously, if you're wondering what inspired this post, I was reading through Texts From Last Night and the site regulars use the word quite a bit (at least compared to people who live in the REAL world). So, I decided to look it up. I already had a few context clues as to what it meant, but Google decided to light up my world a little bit more.

Fine...I decided to pass the knowledge onto you, my dear readers.

After all, isn't that what bloggers do? Aren't they responsible for keeping their beloved readers informed and up to date on a variety of culturally significant topics?

You say no?

So what do they do then?

On second though, forget about it, let me get on with my exposé on poon.

So where did the word come from?

Well, according to this site, it may be a corruption of the French word putain, meaning whore. However, it may also be derived from some part of Chinese language (as well as some other reasons, go read the link if you're one of those people who's interested in "facts" and "logic" and all that crap).

So, having given up my quest to find a definitive origin for the term, I decided to do something that only Gavin Robinson can do. Harass people with the newest addition to my slang vocabulary. I almost got injured a few times, so I'll just include one, in order to preserve my dignity. This interaction took the form of a MSN messenger conversation.

Me: hey man, you ever heard of the word "poon"?
Friend: lol, yeah man...it means [censored to ensure the academicityness of this article]
Me: oh, I should go get some then, huh?
Friend: Fi real...you look like you really need it lol
Me: eat [censored] [censored]
Friend: lol
Me: so do you think I could use it as a verb?
Friend: huh?
Me: yeah, say something like, "that whoring bitch pooned me last night"
Friend: ummm...i dunno, i guess.
Me: yeah...or like, "My favourite drink is Poon Tang."
Friend: ewww
Me: or even better:
Friend: i get the point, please shut up
Me: you get my pooont? cool
Friend: you're [censored] crazy, you know that?
Me: too much poon
Friend: you're creeping me out man, later

I therefore conclude that the word "poon" is a legitimate slang term, that should be respected and feared by all speakers of the English language.

-END OF THESIS-

If you're one of those people who thought this article was serious, you need to close your browser, turn off your computer, and go get some poon. lol

Peace Out,
Gavin

Microsoft Strikes Back

I'm pretty sure we all know about the Conficker worm.

And we all know about Microsoft(right Mom?).

Put them together, and what do you get?



(No, that's not a serious pic, and I linked to it from Gizmodo by the way...its not my invention.)

"Is this guy for REAL?!!" you ask yourself, while laughing hysterically.

Nope, I'm just a figment of your imagination who writes this blog.

Anyway, those of us who use Windows Live Messenger have had to tolerate that piece of crap called the Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner anytime we transfer files. Scanning my files every time I send and receive them wouldn't be so bad, but it always seems to freeze my PC (and no, its not a memory or processing power issue, the OneCare scanner just sucks). Yes, that's right. The WINDOWS LIVE ONECARE SAFETY SCANNER sucks, and I hope it's mother gets run over by rabid, castrated, hellbound MOUNTAIN GOATS!!! (Yes, I know you can turn it off, and I did that, but I just had to get that out of my system :D)

So, I check out the BBC World News website today, and what do I see?

Well, I see Microsoft out to release FREE anti-virus software. Yup people, that's right, free like beer!! Its called Morro. And it won't come bundled with the latest version of Windows (probably due to antitrust concerns....you can't expect to be an evil megacorporation without some consequences now, can you? You should follow Google's example...lol). I wish them all the best with Morro, but I hope they remember to make it so that it doesn't piss people off.

Windows has actually been pissing me off a lot lately, and I don't know why. I suppose its WMS(think PMS style symptoms, but as it pertains to Windows...yup lol).

So will I actually be using Windows 7?

The answer is, yes, I will.

Why?

Because Windows has a monopoly on gaming. And as both a dedicated gamer and aspiring(read: wannabe) game designer, I have no choice but to stick with established traditions(at least until I get the resources to run a campaign to put Linux on top as the ultimate gaming system :D)

Anyway, onto less serious issues:

First of all, I've almost beat Devil May Cry 3. The final fight with Vergil is really difficult...and its pissing me off. But I will persevere (this is coming from the guy who fought Beowulf about 15 times lol).



I love this song. I feel like a complete dork for not remembering the name of this song. The instrumental is wicked, although the vocals are sort of crappy.

Next video:



Yes, Will Smith used to be a rapper,for the benefit of those of you who never knew that (this means a lot of people, surprisingly). This was like the cool song when I was in Grade 5 or so. (Its still cool to me, and you people can't tell me shit otherwise :P)

Here comes Men In Black...Galaxy Defenders...
With a theme song like that, it could have been a cool Saturday morning cartoon. In fact, it had a cool Saturday morning cartoon at one point. The score for it sounded pretty cool too. Here it is for your benefit:



Anyway, I'm done writing enough crap for now. Its 2:24, but I don't want to go to my damn bed. I think I'll go read some Questionable Content, and then go eat some Oreos, then vomit them all over the floor.

Goodnight World!!
*Exits stage left*

I Feel Like I've Been Here Before...ughh...

As you can see, if you scroll down to the bottom right corner of the page, you'll see my Irrlicht-Python integration tutorial. Its not the same as the original version I first posted, because I lost that in a tragic harddrive crash :).

I think its better than the original though, because this one is larger in scope. In the last one, it simply rendered a texture to screen using Python script. In this one, it does all of the following in Python script:

1)Creates a cube scene node.
2)Loads a texture.
3)Applies the texture to the cube.
4)Writes my name at the top-left corner of the screen.

I think it's a job well done. I'd appreciate corrections or improvements of any sort. I plan to do a second part to the tutorial which would cover the integration of classes. If all goes well, that should be ready within the next three days.

Anyway yeah, enough programming talk.

I've been working out a bit lately, but its not enough to produce any results within a reasonable time frame. I need to get intense with it. I'm going to start keeping records of everything I eat and how long I exercise for. I was reading somewhere, and it said that to lose a pound of fat per week, you need a caloric deficit of approximately 3500 calories a week or 500 calories a day.

I intend to reach this by skipping, jogging and weight lifting. I like dancing (despite not being able to do it to save my life), but I don't think I dance enough for it to be a worthwhile contribution to me losing weight.

I need to find the motivation to use this summer wisely. I should be able to lose about 10 or more pounds by the time I get back to school. Wish me luck people.

Tata for now,
Gavin.

Now Playing: Devil May Cry 3

Well no, I'm actually not playing it YET. Its still downloading (yarrr matey...I be a software pirate...lol).

Anyway, as you can clearly see, I've renovated the blog for summer. I added my Twitter feed (my account name is puahaze) and enabled Google Friend Connect. The weird thing is, I thought I had these features on my blog before. Oh well, I guess I was wrong. Do you think I'm going senile?

Anyway, I just got this site called Texts From Last Night off TSB Magazine. I've been cracking up since I found it. These people are something else. Seriously, I'm left wondering if some of these people EXIST....I would definitely want their autographs. Some of the funniest ones I've seen so far are:

(612): What started out as a threesome has become me sitting here watching them have sex... Can I get a ride home?

(310): ohhhh fuckk. chicks a dude.

(404): Can I crash on your couch? I just came home to find my wife giving two guys blowjobs.
(1-404): Two?
(404): Two.

(603): not only are you not the girl i fell in love with, but from the looks of it, you ate her

(978): i'm sick of taking my pants off and seeing a look of disappointment on the girls face. i want her to be frightened

(513): I feel like Captain Hook just gave me a pap smear.

I could go on and on, but its better that you just read it yourself.

CAPE exams for me are almost finished. I have Mathematics and Biology multiple choice papers left. I think I did pretty well on everything, apart from the Physics long paper, which was an EPIC fail >_< due to a stupid mistake on an optics questions. I still think I'm getting distinctions on everything else. Maybe I'll be getting a 2 in Physics, which at CAPE level is still a distinction. Ah well, life's cool.

Despite the fact that I have two exams left, its SUMMER!!! YEAH!!! The idea of me working out is not working out. Seriously. I started running yesterday though. Hopefully by the end of this month or so, I should see or feel a noticeable change. I'm not convinced, although there's this dent in my belly, which could indicate the start of weight loss(or pregnancy >_<).

Here is a clip of the 08-09 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Before clicking play, you may want to get some tissue to wipe up all the drool. You'll see:



Yeah I was just a bit idle on youtube, all the feminists here, forgive me please. lol

Still, no I haven't forgotten about programming. I've just been a bit...discouraged. But no, I'm not giving it up. More about that some other time.

Oh yeah, and by the way, you guys should check this out. Its pretty enlightening. At least to me it is. I don't know about you "well-thinking" human beings. lol

Peace and Love,
Gavin

The Coolest Thing Evar!!

Well, CAPE exams have started. Communication Studies went pretty well.Thanks for asking :).

I have Chemistry tomorrow and Physics the day after that. Am I ready?

Yes,I think I am.

In my downtime from studying, I've been scouring blogs. I came found this cool story blog,
The Thousand Chapters of The Writer.

"But sure," you say, "blogs with stories are nothing new. Plus, there are only 2 chapters there so far."

Well yeah, thats true. But the authors are planning ONE THOUSAND chapters. Its worth following even if its just to see how they reach the 1000th chapter. Not counting that, the writing is also pretty snappy. I like it.

Anyway, I can't wait for summer to come. Freedom. And I'll finally get to snag eight hours of sleep. This post may seem rushed, but blah, I am in a hurry.

Oh yeah, did I say I beat Dead Space? The last boss fight is cool, although a bit anti-climactic. I think I'll go through it again to play with my bonuses. I also beat Devil May Cry 4. Maybe I'll go get Devil May Cry 3 now...if my PC can handle it.

Peace Out People,
Gavin

Dead Space!!!!

Dead Space is awesome. Its scary, but not too scary. The suit looks cool, the weapons are pretty creative and I love the zero gravity sections!!! Buy, borrow or steal. Preferably the first or second one.




CAPE exams finally start week after next. My first examination is Communication Studies. Since the school year is technically over(that is, you won't find me anywhere around the school campus until next September), I decided to make a list of some interesting quotes from my friends.

So here goes:

Number 1:

Me: "Hey, Clive, have you seen Smithy lately?"
Clive: "Yeah, mi did see him pon Saturday inna mi neighbourhood."
Me: "Oh ok....wait....inna yu neighbour WHAT?"

Cultural Note: "Hood" is a slang term for penis in Jamaica for all of you that don't know....ignoramuses. :)

Number 2:

Teacher: "So what's the answer to the question class?"
Vivek: "-2/(x+3)^2"
Teacher: "No Vivek, sorry."
Michael: "Dunce fuck!!!"
Teacher: "Whats the answer Michael?"
Michael: "15(x+3)^4"
Teacher: "You're almost right, but you forgot a term."
Vivek: "Yeah...dunce fuck!!!"

Number 3:

My friend Orlan walks by a bunch of girls the day after the incident at the airport with the hijacking happens (click here for more background info). As all the people who know him can tell you, Orlan is obviously partially of terrorist descent [hehehehe :) ].

Girl: "Its the hijacker. He escaped!! Run and call the police!!!"


Trust me, there are a lot more, maybe I'll edit this post later and add more. I'm updating this from the school library computer. When I reach home, I'll probably make the additions.

Peace and Love,
Gavin

Unfortunately...I'm Still Alive

Well, I'm here. I'm writing up a PowerPoint presentation to use in my speech for my Communication Studies IA(are you regular readers sick of those 3 words yet?)

The Devil(colloquially referred to as school) has been keeping me down as of late. The good thing is, all the stress of schoolwork has driven me to find good music to listen to while toiling away in the labour camp. So without further ado, I present my top 20 songs for the past month and a half:

1) One Four Love Part 2 - Mos Def and some other black guys
2) Down Goes the Devil - Channel Live
3) Lock It Up - Channel Live
4) Alcohol - T-Pain(yeah...the fact that I'm listening to him surprises me too)
5) In the End Remix (I have no idea who did this song, but it sounds GOOD!!)
6) It Was a Good Day - Ice Cube (I vaguely remember bitching about the virtues of this song in a previous blog post.)
7) Rob and Sherri - Matthew Dear (This is really creepy if you're not used to techno... lol)
8) Satisfaction - Benny Benassi
9) Bitch/Technologic Mix - Benny Benassi
10)Session - Linkin Park (If I remember correctly, this was on the Matrix soundtrack.)
11) Clubbed to Death(Kurayamino Mix) - Rob Dougan (Another song from the Matrix soundtrack.)
12) Still - Common, Talib Kweli and Gangstarr
13) Rhymes and Ammo - The Roots and Talib Kweli
14) Sea Weeds - Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew (pirate rap is teh HAXXORS!!!)
15) Mad Izm - Channel Live and KRS One (All time favourite people!!!)
16) Sex for the Sport - Channel Live (Another all time favourite of mine...seriously.)
17) Homicide Ride - Channel Live (Yeah, I have a thing for them.)
18) Burning and Looting - Bob Marley and The Roots
19) Come Fly Away - Benny Benassi
20) Baby You Got Me - Erykah Badu and the Roots

Time for some video love kids:

Don and Sherri by Matthew Dear


Yo Ho Ho By Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew


So...what else have I been doing that is uncharacteristic of 16 year old kids with CAPE exams?

Well for one, I've been playing Devil May Cry 4 and Left 4 Dead like crazy.

Another thing is that I've been investing in an eye patch and a peg leg so I can join Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew after I leave school. It'll probably be the only future I have ahead of me...kidding...lol.

Yeah, that's about it.

Peace out people,
Gavin.

Something Not Related To School At All

Have you ever noticed that while computer graphics are getting better, the illusion of realism is spoiled every time the scene starts to move? That question was aimed at gamers really.

Today, I was googling up on some DirectX info. I saw some pretty photorealistic shots, but realized that in the videos, as soon as there was motion of any kind, the realism disappeared.



DirectX9, despite its age, is still pretty damn capable. DirectX 11 also seems to be shaping up pretty well.

If you've noticed, I haven't used the word OpenGL yet. I still can't get over what the Khronos group did. Maybe 3 years down the line, they'll come up with something cool, and I'll look at openGL again. I'm considering installing Vista over XP on this PC, but I don't know. Maybe I'll just wait for Windows 7 (which by the way is coming soon.)

I LOVE UBUNTU!!!

Maybe I said that before, maybe I didn't, but its the truth. It may not be uber-pretty, but its cool. The only thing is, I don't really have that much of a practical use for it, apart from having an OS that not many other people I know have. Dumb reason, right?

Yeah, I know.

I got an early build of the Linux source code (as in version 1.0). I don't plan to build my own distribution, but I was just curious as to how the code looked. Its yucky, but understandable. After a few books worth of assembly tutorials, that is.

Next thing to rant about, Alpha Centauri.

This game is about 10 years old by now. It doesn't matter, its still deeper than most strategy games out nowadays. It has that Civilization feel (its made by Firaxis, the same studio that does Civilization) but with a sci-fi twist. What I love are the quotes, I always feel smarter for listening to them. lol.

I don't particularly think they should try to make a sequel, they might ruin it. Lets hope that Alpha Centauri always stays cool.

Peace to the People,
Gavin.

Woohoo!!! Level 60!!!

No, I haven't actually wasted that many hours of my life on a certain RPG. Rather, this is my 60th post on Happy Desolation. As you can see, I decided to celebrate with a new blog layout(Shit, do I know how to party or what?). Anyway yeah, its back to school for me.

School is not treating me very well at the moment. Nor am I treating it very well. As such, I propose to hack the school's network.

Ok, fine...maybe thats a bit too extreme. Still doesn't make it any less fun though. lol. What I really want though, is for June to come. By June, this damn school should be just a distant memory in the haze of cigarette smoke, liquor, loose women and computer parts. Oh well.

CAPE Unit 1 (thats the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exams) is coming up within like 2 months, so just like during CXC time, I won't be blogging as much. There might also be a surprise coming up for all you loyal readers.

Write to you guys later!!

Microsoft Word 2007 is a B****

So kids,here's my latest bitching topic. I'm working on my Chemistry project which I got for the holidays. I'm on the second to last topic, so I'm almost finished. Out of force of habit, I press Ctrl+S to quick save on a regular basis(like every 10 minutes or so).

So I press it, and it brings up the huge "Save As" dialog box. I decide to refrain from cursing at that point and just save over the document, which would have the same effect as the quick save. It's located on the base C:\ drive. I click the button. The little green bar on the status bar at the bottom of the screen fills pretty quickly, then it appears again. About 85% of the way through it stops and tells me there is an error in saving chemproj.docx. I curse.

My little brother hears me and laughs.I decide to try it again. Hmph. Same f**king thing. I decide to outsmart Microsoft and copy the entire document to an empty word document and saving it. Didn't make a scrap of difference. I got an error there too. Shit. I do a bit of googling for a solution, since I typed a lot and I don't want to have to retype it.

I see somebody talking about disabling their firewall and antivirus. I'm skeptical, but desperate, so I try it. Nope, no such luck.

I resign to my fate of losing the 3 paragraphs I wrote. I close it, and give up for a few seconds. I decide to open a blank document, type some crap, and see if it will save. It does. I decide to try saving my project again. It doesn't. >_<

I scream, and try the tactic of copying the whole document to a blank file again. I save it to My Documents, and somehow it works.

Its pretty damn weird.

Right now however, I'm just thankful that it worked. I'll figure out the issue later. There is no way I was planning to lose 3966 words of information that was hell to find.

*Sigh*
Oh well. I just had to let it out. I also did a Twitter post about it. For those of you who don't know, besides being an aspiring computer programmer/neurosurgeon, I also want to be a PUA. You can see the Twitter status update on my other blog.

Thats about it still, so I'll write up something some other day. Wish me luck on the project.