Archive for January, 2009
Gaming PC needs gaming keyboard
Jan 31st
Now that a week has passed since I got my new EVE-dedicated PC, I thought I take it a bit further and get myself the perfect gaming keyboard. Which happens to be the Logitech G15. This one has a backlit keyboard, and as a bonus it also comes with a built-in graphical LCD display. It should come as not surprise that there are already EVE-related tools available for it. In my case, I installed a chat monitor for the display, which synchronizes to my Corp-channel. Cool indeed.
FAIL #7
Jan 28th
Not a photo I took – but so hillarious, I think it needs to be eternalized here.
It’s so FAIL that a tag is not required.
Latest addition to my gear: EVE Singularity
Jan 27th
So it looks like I gonna be playing the game for a very long time to come. I had no idea how great it is, how much fun… but since the iMac didn’t really cut it, graphics wise, I decided to build a complete new machine from scratch, which I did. On Saturday I got the components, and built the machine. I am fairly certain that this machine should last for a good while to come, it is pretty much over the maximum requirements of a lot of games.
- Intel Core 2 Duo, clocked at 3 GHz
- Asus P5QC motherboard
- 4 GB DDR2 RAM
- Gainward 9800GTX+ Graphics Card, 512 MB on-board memory
- Western Digital 1 Terabyte S/ATA hard drive
- Coolermaster M620 Power Supply
Even a Mac person has to admit: most games are for Windows. So I installed XP SP3 on the machine, obviously. Maybe I gonna go for Vista eventually because of DX10 – but right now I don’t see how it makes any sense.
So here are some pictures of the machine named “EVE Singularity”, and screens of how EVE Online looks with such a over-the-top graphics card.
Cadbury’s Gorilla was good, but they have a new one
Jan 26th
I liked the Gorilla ad, drumming to Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight. The remix with Bonnie Tyler was cool too.
BUT they have a new one, and it’s pretty hilarious! =D Behold my friends.
A decade + 182 days later
Jan 17th
So if you have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember this post here I have written a while back. It’s a part of my backstory, certain things that happened to me a little bit over 10 years ago. If you haven’t read this yet, please do so now if you like.
So today, something pretty curious happened. I am playing EVE like I have been for the last few weeks now. Suddenly my landline rings with a Sri Lanka prefix. I however know no one on that island just off the coast off India. Out of curiosity I answered the phone. Initially I thought it was from Germany, because the prefix is 0049. However, the prefix on the display was 0094.
Either way, I answered the phone: “Yes Marcus speaking?”. My biological mother responds. Wants to know if this is me.
I was stunned. Silent. I did not know what to say or do. Shocked enough, to simply hang up. But then it occurred to me that maybe something really bad might have happened. You never know. So I called back to find out.
“Yes this is Marcus here – is anything important up?”
“Yeah this is your mom, just wanted to see how you are and wanted to hear your voice.”
“Well… uhm, I do not want to”
“But… but why? *sigh*”
“I have my reasons… I don’t wanna talk about it. I gonna hang up now”
Which I did.
You might tell me that I could have at least listened to what she had to say. Maybe she had come to reason. Or the people who did this thing over ten years ago. Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know… and frankly, I don’t care.
When I went there some months ago, I had hopes that in a goddamn decade (a time in which Earth makes ten rounds around the sun yo) they would have thought about it. They would have had a reasonable answer, even if I wouldn’t have liked it. But I expected honesty. ‘We did this because of boom, boom and boom’. Or something. But to say ‘I don’t know’ after 10 years simply just doesn’t cut it for me. Really. Would it for you?
I basically closed the door to that life 10 years ago. The day I left. June 6th, 1998. And as you know, some doors are better left closed. Calling me does not help the situation.
In these situations, you have split-seconds to decide – are you gonna talk, or not? What will be the consequence? I decided not to talk.
Yes, I know it hurt her. I know she’s probably crying right now as I type. You know what? That is what she deserves. Sit in your little living room, and cry. Understand. Come to terms that I ain’t no comin’ back. I sincerely, honestly hope this 1-minute-phone call will haunt you for rest of your life.
I am a good person. I am trying to spread joy among people, I am trying to be more than I am or was all the time. I am trying to help people, to make them feel better, to cease their suffering. You, yes YOU, did all the opposites of these things to me, now you call me… WHY goddamnit? Why you try to upset me STILL?! Have you not understood what I’m trying to tell you?!
Let me live in peace. Let me live my life. I have seen so much more already at 26 than you will ever have in your, I don’t even know, 50′s? Or 60′s? I worked for the biggest companies in the world, make some good money.
All I ask is that you leave me in peace. Please do not upset me again. I want to leave this door closed. I want to leave this Shadow Of Memories behind. Forever.
My name is… Madlax
Jan 15th
In the country of Gazth-Sonika, war rages on. A civil war. And it has been there for 12 long years. In one of the last remaining refuges of the country lives Madlax, a skilled assassin with a 98% mission success rate. Her skills border on supernatural, her moves are like a dance with guns. She gets her assignments from a mysterious man named SSS (pronounced Three-Speed), always over the phone. In the seemingly peaceful country Nafrece lives the young Margaret Burton, together with her maid Elenore Baker. They both live a tranquil life. Margaret is a clumsy, mind-absent girl, speaks in riddles sometimes. Elenore is her maid and she has made it her duty to protect and to serve her. Vanessa Rene, Margaret’s neighbor and former tutor works for a company named Bookwald Industries, who is now living in Nafrece and decides to stay with the two girls. However Margaret is in possession of a mysterious picture book, she barely looks at it, and she won’t let her maid see it, for some mysterious reason. As all of them are soon to find out, this book has a significant meaning to all of them – and their destiny.
The main characters of the show: Madlax (center), Margaret Burton (top left), Vanessa Rene (top right), Carrossea Doon (middle left), Limelda Jorg (middle right), Friday-Monday (bottom-left), Elenore Baker (bottom right)
Over the last few days I have been watching an anime television series, named “Madlax” (マドラックス , Madorakkusu). It is a show with 26 episodes, each with 24 minutes runtime. It is a show written and produced by the Japanese company Bee-Train and has been released in 2004, I think it aired in late 2004 for the first time in Japanese TV. Later on it aired in the US and eventually in Europe.
In the beginning, the main characters have seemingly little in common, the episodes switch between different center characters and their lives. You get to know the characters, their stories. As the story is told, and at the second third of the show, the main story kicks in. The picture book somehow has to do with all of this, all the characters are curiously connected to each other, in quite some tight way – as you are to find out. The show tells the story of very different characters, how they meet, and how their destiny has to do with it.
Beauty and skill: Madlax about to ghost soldiers of the Gazth-Sonika war (Episode 1, “Gun Dance”)
Until two days ago I had watched 22 episodes of 26. Up until that point, I was already blown away with the story, how it was told. How destinies intertwined. So I was really looking forward to see the ending of the show. Ordered a good pizza, and let the episodes run on my movie theater. What do I have to say, after having seen the end?
I was pretty much blown away at how the missing pieces of the story fell into place, completing the circle of the characters, their lives, their truths. The story concluded in an absolute fantastic way, there even have been make-you-cry moments in the show. I have seen some anime shows so far, but this has by far been the best. Deep story, deep characters, greater things to life as it originally seemed.
Even the music score of the show was pretty top-notch, superbly done. Some of the insert tracks have the names of characters of the show, and reflect their personality, the way they are, how they live. At other times the very same track (“Margaret” for example), is used to describe a landscape, a scene, an event. I have seldomly heard such a fantastic score that works in so many different ways.
Show Artwork
All in all, “Madlax” is an anime show really well done – arguably the best writing of Bee Train and their people. I was blown away by the story, how the circle closed and how the story was told. If you haven’t seen it, go to your next anime shop or order on Amazon, or download the torrent. Watch it – see it – judge for yourself. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.
Madlax
Bee Train presents a Bee Entertainment production
Released: April 5, 2004
Runtime: 625 minutes (approx.)
Genre: Anime, Action, Mystery
Madlax tribute: Gravity Of Love (DO NOT WATCH THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE SHOW!)
Slumdog Millionaire
Jan 10th
Jamal Malik, an 18-year-old kid who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, is one question away from beating the game. Only one question is in his way of becoming a millionaire, to fulfill his wildest dreams – but even more, to complete the circle of his destiny. The nation is watching in awe as Jamal enters the hotseat one more time to confront question 15 of a possible 15 on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? UK Titlecard
I saw the premier of the movie yesterday night. The cinema was surprisingly full, and they showed on the biggest screen in the house. I think I seldomly have seen so many people, including my two friends I was with, so focused on the movie, so focused on what was happening next. The critics called it the “feel-good film of the decade” with 5 stars, and a “hymn to life”. Well after having seen the 120-minute movie last night, I have to say they were right. With everything. Even all the people who commented on the trailer on YouTube – they were right.
So Jamal Malik, our hero, is in the hotseat one last time to play for 20 million rupees – roughly 309,000 Euro. However this is the highest possible amount in the Indian version of the show. After answering question 14, worth 10 million rupees, he is brought to the police because they think he cheated. No one ever has gone that high up in the question ladder – and they want to know how he did it.
Jamal is in awe as Prem Kumar tells him he got another question right
So he rolls out the entire story of his childhood, his life, what he experienced, and how he met the one girl he fell in love with. And along the way he narrates how he ended up in the hotseat of the show – he’s not in for the money, but he’s hoping that the one he loves, Latika, is maybe watching the show. And so he explains how he knew the answers, how he made it that far.
The movie narrates a touching story of a boy and his brother, about life, about destiny, about that there’s more to life, and that it all has a meaning.
This question is worth 5 million rupees – would you have known it?
I think it is one of the best movies, if not the best, I have ever seen – everyone should see this movie right now. Trust me when I say that you won’t regret speding 10 Euro on this one, and two hours of your life. You will leave the cinema thinking that Jamal is a well deserved winner of the show, you will think about his story, and how it all comes together in the Millionaire show.
Besides of that I’m a big fan of the Millionaire show, I watch it when ever I can. The combination of the most successful quiz show in the world with Bollywood makes it a unique movie, one with a fantastic, touching, even making-you-cry story. I recommend to watch it right now, take your loved one with you, or a friend – even if you don’t like Chris Tarrant and his show.
From me, it gets a perfect 10.
Slumdog Millionaire
Fox Searchlight presents a Celador Films / Film 4 / Warner Brothers production
Released: January 9, 2009
Runtime: 120 minutes
Good EVEning
Jan 8th
If you have been reading this blog from time to time, then you know that I probably fit more into the Sci-Fi-guy kind of category. I like space, a lot. When I look up to the stars, I always have the feeling that there’s something more. To life and everything. In the end of the day – we come from the stars, we go to the stars. Or so I’d like to think.
A long while ago I have already posted about a game I always wanted to actively play, and this game is known as EVE Online. So last weekend, I have gotten around to get myself a paid account (after my trial had looong expired) – and started playing the game. Again. Apparently there have been many changes, the “Quantum Rise” patch, which also is the 10th expansion to the game, added some more juicy graphics and improved the overall performance.
A Stargate – a massive faster-than-light transportation relay that allows for travel between the star systems
What is EVE Online? Well technically it’s a MMOG – much like World Of Warcraft. Except it has been around a few more years. However the difference lies in the complexity and diversity of the game and the persistent world. For starters, it is the largest fictional universe the world has ever seen. All takes place in a part of the universe that spans some thousand lightyears, and probably a few hundred star systems. Each system has a name, and is very detailed. Similar to WoW though is the concept of guilds – which in EVE is called Corporations. A player can try it solo of course, be on his own. However at some stage it makes sense to be in a corp. It is a universe full of pirates and corruption, but also full of peaceful people. The game is complex enough for it to have its own stock market. NASDAQ like. That’s right folks, there is a stock market in-game.
So what’s the story of the game?
Taking place 21,000 years in the future, the fictional background story of Eve Online explains that long ago humankind, having used up most of Earth’s resources, began colonizing the rest of the Milky Way. Eventually, humans expanded to most of the galaxy. Resources became contested and war broke out. When a natural wormhole was discovered, dozens of colonies were seeded at its other end, in an unexplored galaxy dubbed ‘New Eden’. An artificial wormhole generator was built to support the collapsing wormhole. When the natural wormhole collapsed, however, it destroyed the generator with it. Cut off from Earth and its much-needed supplies, New Eden’s colonists starved in the millions. Five known colonies managed to return to prominence, eventually rebuilding society together. These colonies make up the five major empires in Eve: the Amarr Empire, the Gallente Federation, the Minmatar Republic, the Caldari State and the Jove Empire. All but the Jove Empire are playable; CCP said that they intend to use the race within the Eve storyline.
And the wormhole was called EVE.
I wonder how long it took to build this – whatever it is
So after having played the game for a few days since Saturday now, and having found a Corporation with a nice group of people, I have to say that I am deeply impressed with the diversity, the complexity. In time, several other websites beside the official one have emerged, made by players, for players. Sites for example that offer detailed maps of the EVE universe. Or where you can find storyline agents. Other pages work as a news network. And then there are course the Corporation websites, on which you can find information about them. Also it is important to understand that since these are corporations, as in corporations, you just don’t waltz into one of them and you just work with them. It’s not like that. Most of them have very specific application processes and have certain requirements. These can be skills, or reputation standings – or both. Much like in real-life. That does not necessarily mean you are unemployed – you can always carry out missions. However, most of the fun lies in being with a Corporation, which gives you much greater possibilities. Plus, you get to know people. In the end they are players, and sit at their homes.
The currency in-game is called the ISK – Interstellar Kredit. The more coin you have, the better – obviously. The more ISK you have, the more things you can buy. Which is inevitable… you have to buy stuff. Like items. Skills. You can buy shares of corps. At a later stage you will have to buy entire ships, and equip them. With items and technology you either buy or invent yourself (inventions in turn require blueprints and the materials outlined on those blueprints – and blueprints, in turn, you can buy on the market). Long story short: the more coin you have, the better. Spend it wisely though.
Target destroyed sir! Set a course for the next Stargate
If you wanna get a feel for how big the entire EVE universe beyond New Eden really is, check this out – it is the latest political map (yes, political) of the EVE universe. Each white dot represents a star system with its planets, moons and stations. The lines to and from those systems represent the routes you can travel on with the help of the Stargates, massive transportation and faster-than-light relays.
So… all in all, if you want to escape your normal day to day life and want to explore another amazing world, and if you have no problem in paying for it, then EVE is for you. Its complexity and diversity will blow you away for sure, you are gonna find nice new people, possibly new friends when playing the game. If you’re unsure about paying, you can still download the full game and fly free for two weeks – to give you a taste. If you like Sci-fi, you will have great great fun playing this.
Course laid in. Warping to Stargate.
And this is EVE.
MacRumorsLive got hacked
Jan 6th
As you know, at the time of this writing there’s a Keynote going on at the MacWorld, delivered by Cuddly Phil Schiller. Usually I follow these keynotes on MacRumorsLive.com – this time however something unexpected happened.
Some hackers seem to have gained control of the system at MacRumorsLive and are now able to feed anything into the live ticker as they see fit. I’d say: FAIL. Sorta.
So here’s the hack in its glory.
