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

This Year's Darwin Award Goes To....The Khronos Group

Yann L Moderator Member since: 2/6/2002 From: Breizh
Quote:
Original post by speciesUnknown
Its nice to know why, but what concerns me is what do we do next? The only alternatives to windows PC's for gaming, without a more up to date OpenGL, is Cider on apple machines, or consoles. For indie game developers, this means XNA, therefore the Xbox. Either way, MS now get a further increased share of the video game market, to the point where the effect of free market competition is non existent.


But what can you do if the only real competitor kills itself with a stunt that would be the digital equivalent of a Darwin Award ?


I'll make the explanation of problem at hand short. OpenGL 3 has come out. Nobody likes it.

I guess that April Fools joke of mine now is an April Fools reality of mine. FUCK!!! This means I probably should have listened to Marc. In his mortal words, "Forget cross-platform, DirectX rocks." He was right I guess. Famous last words? If I get my way, yes.

First Bernie, then OpenGL. What will die next? Will Smith?

Well, I guess that DirectX reading up I was doing came in handy anyway. Now if only I could find a working .X file format exporter for Blender, I'd be a happy boy.

I really can't believe this. I was looking forward to objects.

Later,
Gavin.

My Internet Connection Isn't Working, Do I Need More Memory?

Really, if you read the topic of this post and thought that needing more memory was seriously the answer to that problem you need to turn off the computer now and go back to playing with stones in the mud.

My internet connection, despite recently being upgraded to 5 MBPS is so damn slow. My computer is also on its way out. I'm getting bashed in OGame. I had no fun last night. BBSpot took 10 tries to load. Deus Ex : Invisible War is annoying with all the running up and down.

I think I'm finished complaining.

I don't really have much else to say, apart from the fact that I have a MD5 loader which analyzes the content of MD5 mesh files. No rendering is done yet though. That's about it.

Bye,
Gavin.

Half Assed or Medium Rare

Well, as you know, in addition to being a hobbyist progammer, I am also a purveyor of half-assed ideas(POHAI). Here are some of my more recent ones:

1)Become a kickass PUA
2)Start my own webcomic(I can't even DRAW >_<)
3)Learn how to draw(Maybe this is in the wrong order)
4)Write poems

Well, okay, the first and the last ones are pretty reasonable. For longtime readers of Happy Desolation however, you all probably know that my art skills are well, the stuff of nighttime talk shows. So, lets keep it realistic.

Number 1 is going pretty well, trust me. I'll stay tight lipped about it here though.

Number 4 is easy. My father is a pretty good writer. He's won a few competitions, but has never been lucky enough to get a book published or a movie script sold. Its not a matter of the quality of his work, as much as its a matter of our geography, if you know what I mean. I guess writing skill is genetic, because I sure as hell have it.

I was always writing MASSIVE stories in high school. I was always at the top of my English class. If Clive reads this, he can probably vouch for me about that story I wrote in Grade 8. 15 pages in one night. Most of the class did 4 pages. Clive's story about a dying dog warmed our hearts. Mine about a boy who made a deal with a demon froze their blood. Hehehehe.

So, by special request, by a special girl, I post the first poem in my series of poems here.

Haze
Dedicated to Bliss

I don't know where to start this poem,
And thinking would take too much time.
When I try to talk from my heart,
I suppose I could compare you to a fine piece of art,
But really, I'm not a nice person, why should I start?

Your personality is amazing,
And from what I remember, your ass is blazing,
Knowing you makes me lucky, so I'm praising,
Don't let your brother see this, please, no hell raising.

You seem really outstanding,
As bright as a day,
I swear to God, although I'm writing this poem, I'm not gay.

Your eyes seemed as cold as ice,
But at the same time as clear as a bell.
I wonder, if I hadn't met you, would I be in existential hell?
At the time, you seemed as silent as the grave,
But now that I almost know you, its like you're naughty, you can't behave.

Silent yet as pretty as a picture,
After reading this I'm expecting you to give me a stricture.
I'm running out of Blogger space,
But keep this poem in your heart, your special place.

Thats all I can write about you for now, Bliss,
If you really like it you can repay me with a kiss



Oh lol.

Did I really write that? Sounds a bit too mushy. Hmmm...needs a few more heavy metal guitars and rockstars bleeding out of their eyes. Oh well.

You guys should definitely check out Questionable Content. It is one of the funniest and best webcomics I've read, alongside Striptease and Animals Have Problems Too.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not much of an artist, but that's about to change. I've decided to practice the HELL out of myself lol. I started at like 2 in the morning. I've been drawing logos, then decided to move on to more advanced stuff. I drew the QC characters. I think they came out pretty well, for a terrible artist like me. They look a bit smudged, sorry. They weren't really that smudged, but my scanner is like almost half my age, so its a bit outdated(a bit huh?).

Here it is for your viewing pleasure or displeasure, if you get off on that sort of crap:



Whew, that was a MASSIVE post. I haven't written this much for a while. I think that's about if for now. Hope it was to your liking, my dear readers.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us,
Signed : Gavin

P.S. stricture(noun) - 1)Abnormal narrowing of a bodily canal or passageway
2)Severe criticsm

Learning is fun KIDS!! lol.

P.P.S. If by the odd chance that you're reading this Mr.Jacques, I'm sorry for butchering Marteen and Hanners. I think Pintsize came out quite well though. lol.

Still Here, Sorry To Disappoint You

Yeah, its been three weeks since I've updated. Sorry about that. I've been sorta busy. I'm still here though. I was working on a little OpenGL sample device, to encapsulate shaders, sorta like a template for X-LAX. I've also been brushing up on my shader programming.

My birthday is on the 16th of July. Hip-Hip Hooray.

Thats it. I'm sort of brain-blocked now, so some other time. Oh, and about the evangelion episodes, just go to megavideo and watch them. I don't want to get in any legal trouble for it.

Sorry for the cheerful mood, I'm just brain-blocked as I said earlier.

Peace,
Gavin.

OGame and Stuff...Right?

Lately, I've been umm..wait, let me think.

Oh yeah, I've been playing OGame(www.ogame.us), and watching funny youtube videos:



and working on Mons Blanc. No you can't see the latest design document. Why? Because I said so, mwhahahaha!!!

I like Flippy. He makes me seem umm, mentally well grounded.

Still, I'm only posting this to let you guys know that I'm still alive.

Free...

The title of this post probably says it all. Thats right. I'm free. No more exams. I was free from yesterday, but i was too lazy to post on my blog.

Now you have officially been informed. My first order of business is to download Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2008 and the Windows 32 SDK, because lately DevC++ has been pissing me off, crashing every minute.

You'll probably get the skeletal animation tutorial a month or so from now, because I'm still a little brainblocked. Sorry.

I've been practicing a bit of SS as I told you, this is the summer of pimp.

Remember how a few months back, I did an April Fools joke about switching to DirectX?

Well I'm still joking. I'm actually going to keep on using openGL, but since I'm going to have to switch to Vista sooner or later, I'm going to start learning up on how to use DirectX 10.

Maybe if Mac had decent graphics libraries, I would be programming games for it. lol.

As for Irrlicht, I really don't know. I sorta developed this preference towards doing things myself lately. I'll probably stop using it. I'll leave the tutorials up though.

I'm also trying to track down Shogo. (You know, the game, very old, anime style, done by Monolith?) If you're still clueless:



Tata!

APRIL FOOLS!!!

I don't know if I scared anybody by saying that I was switching to directX, but I was just kidding. I however am technically working with directX, as I want to take a peek around in the D3DX library to get a better idea of what I need to support. LunaLib is on hold though. I just finished 8 sample DirectX applications, from creating a simple window to picking. Those were for my personal practice though.

The whole DirectX thing was an early April Fool's joke, because I probably wouldn't be able to update tomorrow.

OPENGL FOREVER BABY!!!!

That will be all humans.

Oh, and before I forget, you should all watch Battlestar Galactica. I was reluctant at first, thinking it was a Star Trek ripoff, but I ate my words after watching one episode. That show is AMAZING!!!

Thats all I can say now, BYE!!!

TTYL,

The Latest From The I

I just decided to update the Source of War design document and show it to you guys...so, knock yourselves out. Remember, its MINE...and I will sue, it saves me the work of actually making the game.

Read this doc on Scribd: Source of War Design Document Version 1.1

I also decided to give up on OpenGL...or at least I'm having an existential crisis. I'm still going to do the Skeletal Animation Tutorial though, so don't worry, my fellow brethren who I betrayed.

Just because I'm giving up OpenGL doesn't quite mean that LunaLib is out of the picture. I'm still going to work on it. Its just that from now on, I'll make directX my favourite development platform.

As I said, existential crisis.

Too bad I don't really have much more to talk about, so...here's a Smash video:



and:

Later!!

Blender, Physics Engines, Holidays and Quake 4

Today, after playing Quake 4, I went on MSN messenger to talk to some friends of mine. Out of the blue, one of them suggested I should make a quake 4 mod. Fine. I started messing around with the Quake4 editor, and to my surprise, it was amazingly easy and intuitive. Another plus was that the scripting language resembled C, so I was right at home. After messing around with it for a few hours, I got bored, and decided to move on. I wasn't in the mood to work on my game engine, but I felt like improving my artistic skills, so I started working on the Blender Noob to Pro lessons and then messed around with MakeHuman. As I write this, I'm working on the modeling a die part in the beginner section of the Blender lessons.
So whats the point of all this information? Well, between all 3 programs, they have one thing in common. All of them have cleverly designed user interfaces, which gives me a great idea of what proper GUIs look like. What I've learnt will be put to good use, in the map editor for my game engine.For example:
1) I will do my best to make the whole thing Linux compatible.
2) Everything will be rendered in openGL(thus, it will use GLUT).
3) It will use a grid like the Quake 4 editor, with measurements shown.

Nerd stuff aside, in other news, today I went to my prize giving ceremony. I came second and got a book and a bunch of certificates.(Whoopdedooo!! <_<) I came second in my class. I don't mind this, because the guy that beat me has only 50% of his teeth, so he doesn't count. It was only a 1% difference.




Anyway, jokes aside(well, maybe not), today marks the official start of my Christmas holidays.

Here's another funny picture:



Bye People!!