School’s out, but I’ve been quite occupied with web design projects. I really wanted to do a revamp of suadref studios, especially since the code I used in this site is written when I’m still learning CSS & XHTML. When I look at the code, I couldn’t remember which part is for what.

I hate coding, but markup codings I can handle, a bit. So, I tweaked around the design a bit, and check out the alternative suadref studios home page. White actually looks good eh?

However, this won’t be the revamped look. I still haven’t figured out how to re-make this site to be more umm.. modern.

White Concept, in consideration.

Current Dark Concept

Also, I’ve finally installed Ubuntu. And with a GREAT deal of help from Ram, I’ve managed to pimp it up to such a high level, I blow myself away every time i boot up the system!

My desktop, halfway thru pimping. It looks a hell lot sweeter now.

This post is written to remind me to elaborate on these two topics. My update frequency has been really going down. Well, stay tuned for the pimped up Unix details and my web endeavours!

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It has been a day of races. Earlier at noon, Motogp was held in Motegi, Japan. And later at night, the historical F1 Singapore Night Race. And even though F1 was so much closer to home, well, it IS home, I still felt more excitement watching motogp, where the 2008 world champion was decided today.

Valentino Rossi could win the championship title just by finishing top 5, in the worst case scenario where the number 2 man, Stoner finishes first. But that’s not Rossi’s style. He had to go out and WIN the race. And what a fight he gave.

The first 1/3 of the race was superbly nailbiting. With the top racers of the season battling neck to neck for a lead. It was Rossi vs Stoner vs Pedrosa. Closely followed by the likes of Nicky Hayden and Jorge Lorenzo. It was awesome!

But later on, Pedrosa dropped behind a bit, and faces Lorenzo in a hard battle for third position. Meanwhile Stoner and Rossi had it out, again! How many races this season have seen these two racers battle out in close quarters!

If Faster, the docudrama hosted by Ewan McGreggor, was made featuring Rossi and Biaggi rivalry, there should be a sequel to really portray an even more awesome rivalry between the superskilled and crazy Valentino Rossi and the rather skilled, arrogant but with a hot wife Casey Stoner.

Stoner’s trying his best not to be the villian, as Biaggi had before. But I just don’t like him. It’s his style. He’ll ride fast at first (thanks to his Ducati) and lead alone. But he’ll never be able to confidently overtake someone as well as Rossi or Pedrosa could. He’s pretty cowardly when it comes to overtaking. Plus, he’s never happy with any results if its not 1st. One time he actually shakes his head in disapproval to his crew as he rolls in 2nd.

And his victory celebrations can bore me to death. Makes the entire race not worth watching. Unlike Rossi’s antics every time he wins a race.

And what a show he gave when he clinched the 2008 World Champion title today. He went to a table which mysteriously appeared in the middle of the track, and made some dealings with a man in a suit. Reports later claim that he’s going to the Doctor’s office to get his “Doctor”’s license back. And he wears a shirt that says “sorry for the delay”. All these to signify his return to the champion position after two years of letting it slip to Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner.

Boy, do I write a lot when I’m sleepy.

The F1 night race was my first time watching an F1 race, ever. Still I didn’t watch it fully. Just the first few laps and the last 18 laps. It bored me a little, but the crashes made it slightly more interesting.

The circuit looks great, except for the fact that the entire circuit was lined up with cages. That totally removes the “Need for Speed” image I had in my head when they say ‘Night Race’. But still, it looks impressive when they zip by all the familiar landmarks in Singapore.

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I was about to get started on my post-school to-do list, and one of the first things I was about to do was to install a unix OS onto a partition of my hard disk. I still want my windows XP. I only want to explore the possibilities of the Ubuntu OS.

I was up to the point where the disk partitioning manager was detecting my disks. It was taking some time so I went to the kitchen for a while. So here comes my super cute little 2 yr old nephew. He’s extremely tech savvy. He loves shiny techy stuff. Be it cameras, iphones, laptops, or all types of handphones.

He came into my room, happily sat at my computer, and punched away on the keyboard and clicked away on the mouse. God knows what he pressed but when I got back, the partitioning was cancelled. I had no idea what happened. I tried to continue the installation on the desired partition but it kept failing.

So I decide to procrastinate some more and put off installing Ubuntu. I tried to reboot into Windows now and whaddayaknow … boot sector corrupted. Something must’ve happened to my Windows partition!

Cute Little Tech Wiz

It could be a variety of reasons why my windows suddenly screwed up. But I like to think it was the work of my little genius of a nephew.

Oh well, now I’ve installed Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Hardy Heron (damn, I couldn’t even get the name right) on my computer fully. No more Windows on my desktop.

Unix boy, if you’re reading this, I’d appreciate a comprehensive guide on how to pimp my Unix. You should know what I use the computer for right? Whenever you’re free man… Meanwhile I’ll go gather what I can from your blog.

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The presentation is over. FYP is over. School’s over.

It went pretty well, I think. We were the second team to go up, right after the RPG team. Being one of the earlier teams to present has its advantages; ie, the accessors & supervisors are still fresh and looking forward to seeing the students’ work. Unlike later teams, who said that the audience look bored with their presentations, even though their games look really interesting.

Wow Safari was quite a success. I’m glad to have made it through. The other teams seem to have done well too. The only thing that sucks was we can’t watch each other’s presentation. We only saw each others’ games after. But I still haven’t seen the PSP, RTS and XBOX games.

I went around looking at other students’ games and asked for their websites. Some website links to the games built over the 2 months:

• Role Playing Game
• Racing
• Real Time Strategy
• Nintendo DS
• Your’s Truly, Safari Simulation

I don’t know the PSP and XBOX game websites. But their games look wickedly good, packaging and all.

The Wow Safari website has been updated. You can watch our presentation video there. I’ll be uploading a higher resolution one to youtube soon.

After the presentations, I was talking to my previous group, and I’m happy that they still have the dream to take RIFT to higher grounds. I’m all for it. That’s one game I’m really proud to be part of.

Come to think of it, RIFT doesn’t have a website. I’ll make one, soon.

So, that’s it for SIM, school, ridiculous fees, crappy admin, slack lecturers, nonsensical exam, irregular hours and short deadlines. Glad it’s all over. It’s been quite a ride.

I could still remember my first day in school, where I trudged on after skidding off the expressway, bleeding leg and all. Sigh… memories…

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With all the big ruckus about the launch of almighty Google’s new browser, I think I’ll have a say in it too after trying it out for a few days.

I’ve decided that it’s got a few good stuff, but overall, I’m still using Firefox. However, I’m leaving Chrome on my desktop in case of quick net searches.

Why is Chrome nice?

1. Awesome load up speed. It’s almost like, to quote a friend, loading up a folder in your computer!
2. Precious real estate. I’m talking about the tabs being put way on top, practically on the title bar. There is NO title bar. Just tabs and a little google word beside the - [] X on top.
3. Incognito Mode. This shouldn’t be here. It should be found below, in the not-nice section.
4. The multiple mini-site Home page. I know, most browsers have this, but Chrome’s super load up speed and displaying this with no added time makes it a charm.
5. Easy Importing. I spent minimal effort in making Chrome feel at home with all my bookmarks, cookies and saved passwords imported over from Firefox. But I’m sure many other browsers have this feature too.
6. Holy Crap. I just added this: Chrome has: right click>>Inspect element. SWEET!!!! It literally breaks down the design of the site~!!!

Then why am I not a total Chrome convert? Mainly coz of lack of the following:

1. No Add Ons. Even though I don’t use a lot of Add Ons, I really treasure and maximise the usage of those addons I have. Stuff like WebDeveloper toolbar, Download Helper, DownthemAll, and IE Tab (heh) are priceless to me. Can’t live without ‘em.
2. No: Right Click>> View background Image. I have this habit. I see a pretty website, I’ll think of how they got this up on their webdesign. So I’ll go around the screen looking at how the lay out their CSS. It’s a lot harder to do when you can’t simply view background image. FORGET THAT! I amended this, see number 6 above.
3. Chrome’s streaming isn’t perfect. I was watching some Veronica Mars, and it got interrupted quite often. Firefox never had that problem. Unless my dumbshit Internet Provider cocks up again. Yes Starhub, I speaketh of you.
4. No customizability on the toolbars. I want this here, I want that there, but I can’t do anything. Minimalistic is good, but gimme some room to customise, will ya?
5. Bookmarking. It’s just.. unfamiliar, and not too detailed. In Firefox 3, you can type keyword tags and suddenly the page url comes up in the address bar. I’ve really taken a liking to that.
6. Incognito mode: Who are they kidding when they say that it’s useful for planning secret birthday parties for friends? Pfft.
7. No full screen. Sometimes I wanna see the whole view. Another weird habit. Don’t ask.
8. Others: They don’t really concern me, much. But from what I’ve read around, here are some more, briefly: Non-windows support, dragging tabs back into windows  (or into bookmarks), profile roaming, who knows what else.

Hmm, people think I’m super pro Chrome coz of my MSN nick. I just forgot to change it for some time. In summary, I think Chrome’s still a new browser which has much potential to uncover, especially with Google making it, I’m curious to see where future versions will take it.

Meanwhile, the Mozilla people aren’t just shaking their legs.

On a lighter note, do yourselves a favour and watch this amazing piece of film. It’s TERMINATOR vs ROBOCOP!!! A dream film!

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This here is an excellent show which ranks with tops like Prison Break, Heroes and, as some may argue, Lost.

I’d known it was a good show since I first saw one of its episodes. But me being lazy to keep up with TV series unless they’re presented to me as a full season (or seasons) package, I used to just skim past the show when it’s shown on Channel 5.

Not till I stumbled upon its entire season available for streaming, did I actually sit down and watch the episodes one by one. Right now, I just finished watching Season 1 of Veronica Mars. It’s superb. One of the most underrated shows ever. I’m still not up to the point where I’ll be crying ‘why oh why did the network cancel the show after season 3!’. But seeing how things are going, I think I just might be.

I first got to watching it because of Kristen Bell. Well, asking a hot chick to play a lead always get first impressions going… But its really the character of Veronica Mars that kept you coming back for more. She’s all witty and smart yet scary like. 

The story… well, that’s the main part which rocks as hell. Every episode does have a standalone story, but they all pile up, and each episode reveals a bit on the major mystery. A season long mystery, one might say. 

If you wanna know what its about, go google or wiki it. But don’t read spoilers. I seriously recommend the show. As serious as recommending Prison Break season 1 and 2. Not so much on season 3, though. 

End of Veronica Mars season 1 was a cliffhanger, a small one. I couldn’t resist and I checked up on what season 2 is about. Well, let’s just say it got me intrigued enough to want to watch Season 2. 

It was damn good, and it’s taken up a lot of my time. Well, I gotta get back to my shits. By shits I mean FYP and projects and such. 

Till next time! 

(damn this website needs a revamp!)

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It’s not really an interesting race, well, except for the fact that Stoner crashed OUT… AGAIN!

This time, I actually felt pity for the dude. I’d wanted Rossi to kick his ass the old fashion way, beating him in the race itself. But the overambitious whiny Aussie kept pushing himself too hard and he fell down in the last three races, crashing out in the two of them, causing V.Rossi to take the lead and now get a 70+ point lead in the tables.

That’s not all that makes me happy. Jorge Lorenzo, who’s had a poor couple of races, crashing out in some, has come back to 2nd place today! It was a beauty watching two FIAT Yamahas leading the pack, and I’d be even happier if Pedrosa could take 3rd, but I guess Tony Elias got a break today, clinching his rare podium finish.

Pedrosa’s a good racer. Crazy devil, my friend would call him. Lorenzo finished poorly in the last race but I guess that’s just him pacing to strike more ‘gold’ as his helmet suggested. (He wears a golden Chupa-chups helmet)

I was lucky enough to watch the repeat telecast of the race, but I had to run off before the celebrations and the crazy antics I’m sure Rossi did. All thanks to a cockup in my reservist unit, causing me to go back to the faraway camp just to sort things out. Damn.

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 44min 41.884 secs
2. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 44min 45.047 secs
3. Toni Elias SPA Alice Team (B) 44min 53.589 secs
4. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 44min 59.354 secs

Pics and Stats from fasterandfaster.net

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They say a picture speaks a thousand words. So, here’s a random posting of some of the projects I’ve been up to in the past few weeks. Click on each picture to read more about it.

Others

New comics for PCM
You’ll see in the desktop screenshot above, I’ve installed GTA San Andreas. The actual intention was to capture backgrounds for the comic I’m working on. Yea, a comic. But till today, it’s not lifted off the ground. I kept scrapping the first issue over and over again.

BBQ video
Way long overdue BBQ video is finally done. Didn’t take much time to edit actually. I don’t know why I procrastinate so much. The people involved probably won’t know when the hell this BBQ took place. I’ll release the trailer soon, and whoever wants it, I’ll burn a copy. I guess holding screening sessions nowadays is next to impossible seeing how busy everyone is.

RAYA video
Yet another overdue project. RAYA 07. Hmmm, I think I’ll get it done by RAYA 08.

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Image Metrics is a revolutionary new way to capture expression of human actors and ‘map’ it to their animated characters. One project which will feature Image Metrics is the upcoming movie by James Cameron, Avatar.

If you’re already impressed with the realism of Beowulf, Image Metrics is said to be 20 TIMES more powerful. I could not imagine such a thing. Then I saw the demo video. It’s on youtube.

Seriously, when I first saw the demo video with “Emily”, I was thinking… no, she can’t be ‘not’ real… She’s too real. And then… BAM. She’s animated. It’s bloody amazing.

The demo video with Emily talking is actually just a facial replacement. The body, hair and clothing is still real, I think. However, go to their website to see a better demo of Image Metrics, where they map the facial expressions on a totally 3D model.

Image Metrics 3D Model

Amazing. The future is here. Say bye bye to facial animation the traditional way. Well, unless you’re doing cartoony animation, that is.

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The Bogaman from Down Under has written something which prompts me to reply with this post.

First off, I’m not too skilled in all the tech jargon, so you can expect a simpler discussion to why I still am, and will remain cooler than the Bogaman.

But seriously, it’s not about who’s cooler than who. Well, partly coz we all know who’s cooler. I’ve told him many times about my stand on Unix. I’ve used Unix in school several times. I’ve even had to run it on my computer at home for months and months. Although they haven’t been nice experiences (due to the shitty programming assignments),  I do realise that it’s an OS with huge potential, provided that YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT.

Which brings me to talk about some people who are boasting about how good UNIX is, when they don’t even use Unix in their computers. They only said it’s cool and good because they saw other people use it to some level of coolness. I don’t wanna be among those people.

I never said that Unix sucks. One reason I don’t use it is because I dislike change, and I’m too comfortable with using Windows to explore others. I’m not the exploring type. And also, Unix doesn’t have the softwares I’m comfortable with. They have alternatives, yes, but not the actual softwares.

For example, Adobe stuff: like Premiere, After Effects, Dreamweaver. Also, I don’t know about the sound editing software I use. I’m lazy to search if they have Unix versions. I’m thinking they probably don’t.

Oh and all the stuff which I’ve just picked up great interest on, like 3d softwares such as Lightwave, 3dsMax and other standalone 3d apps. Then there’s the game engine which I have to use for my schoolwork. They don’t run on Unix unfortunately.

Looks are important to me. I must LIKE what I see on screen, especially the desktop. That’s why I bother getting all those themes to replace the ugly XP theme. My schoolmates will acknowledge my obsession with a nice looking desktop, since I always bring around the theme with me and install it on every lab comp I use before working.

Unix can be made to look stunning, no doubt. Even Mac users are so bloody proud of it. Yeah, it’s nice. But again, I’m just lazy to install it. Or I don’t see a pressing need to.

Honestly, other than the stuff I mentioned above, I rarely use the computer for anything else except for the internet. Webdesign falls under web. Oh, I forgot to add Photoshop up there. It’s one major software I always use. Gimp is nice, but I’m lazy to learn and familiarise myself with it and I’m sure there are lots of stuff it can’t do that PS can.

Anyway, surfing the web is OS independent isn’t it? It’s not a worry which OS you use to check your mail, watch YouTube vids and whatever stuff you do online.

So all in all, the advantages of Unix are quite substantial, but not really so great that I HAVE to change to Unix.

That said, here’s the thing:

My Desktop, which I’ve recently formatted and reinstalled XP, is having problems again. Some authentication crap. My cracks didn’t work. So in 3 days time, it’ll expire, I think. If it does, I guess I won’t go through the trouble of installing Windows again.

Unix installation is quite a breeze, I’ll give you that. Or maybe it’s the damn lab session where they made us install Unix so many times, it becomes a walk in the park.

Therefore, I’ll probably get that OS in my desktop, while my laptop will remain running Vista (again, I have the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude).

So there, Ram, I’ll be having Unix on the desktop soon. Happy? Then I’ll start bugging you for Unix stuff.

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