... i sprzedane! Nippon Ichi dopięło swego. Po wydaniu jednego, naprawdę dobrego tRPGa, kilku spin-offów i niezliczonych ilości bardziej lub mniej zaawansowanych modów (bo i jak nazwać produkt, który korzysta z bliźniaczej oprawy i niekiedy także założeń, opowiadając zupełnie inną historię...?), firma popadła w niemal totalną niemoc twórczą. Świadczy o tym najczęściej w recenzjach ich gier wytykana wada: odtwórczość. RPG-i Nippon Ichi, choć teoretycznie traktują o zupełnie różnych światach, stanowią wieczne odwołanie do produkcji, która w roku 2004 przyniosła im sławę. Teraz jednak, panowie zwyczajnie przelali czarę goryczy...

Pierwsza część (póki co) trylogii w historii gier na stałe zapisała się jako szalenie oryginalny i świeży tRPG, który jednak absolutnie nic nie wniósł do gatunku na stałe. Mimo to, ta prześmiewcza strategia znalazła szerokie grono odbiorców. Historia konfliktu Celestii i Netherworld - dwóch światów odpowiadających biblijnemu Niebu i Piekłu, przez gracza obserwowana z perspektywy „Tego Złego", miała w sobie to coś, czego programistom z NIS zwyczajnie nie udało się już powtórzyć. Opowieść o Laharlu - młodym spadkobiercy tytułu Overlorda, który obudziwszy się z przeszło dwuletniej „drzemki", dowiaduje się o śmierci swojego ojca i w ogarniętej chaosem krainie próbuje zaprowadzić dawny porządek, to niewątpliwie osobliwa, tryskająca humorem baśń. Tu nasuwa się retoryczne pytanie: co zrobić ma producent w sytuacji, gdy jego nowe produkcje coraz to mocniej trącą myszką, a popyt na nie, z roku na rok staje się mniejszy...? Ależ oczywiście - z pomocą przybywa wówczas wysłużona patelnia i zmrożony na kamień kotlecik, możliwe że już nie pierwszej czy nawet drugiej świeżości, ale pierwotnie smakowity. Wystarczy chwilę podgrzać, dla zabicia przykrego posmaku dosypać nieco przypraw i podać w możliwie najdroższej zastawie. Najlepiej w jak najmniej zmienionej formie, ale o innej nazwie - tak, by klient widząc danie w którym zdążył się już rozsmakować, jednocześnie odczuwał ciekawość do tej, pozornie nowej pozycji w menu. Tak właśnie powstały  trzy remake'i: Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness na PSP i Rhapsody: The Musical Adventure oraz Disgaea: Prince na DS-a. Pure genius...

Zostawmy jednak Rapsodię w spokoju - choć z pewnością grze do ideału brakuje sporo, to wprowadzone zmiany (chociażby zupełnie nowy system walki) każą wierzyć, iż twórcy przyłożyli się do niej. Pod względem innowacji (w końcu to właśnie one odróżniają remake od portu) znacznie gorzej jest niestety z, paradoksalnie, lepszą „disgeją".

Wieczorki sponsorowane - Wersja na przenośną cegiełkę nie zachwyca. Od strony fabuły niewielkim niuansem jest fakt wprowadzenia krótkiego epizodu z Zettą - overlordem z innej gry NIS (Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of The Sacred Tome), oraz Rozalin i Adell - bohaterami (już nie tak udanej, choć wciąż dobrej) drugiej części sagi. Warto odnotować także obecność ‘Etna Mode' - trybu alternatywnego, w którym rola głównego bohatera przypada dwulicowej służce Laharla. Cała „remake'owość" tego tytułu rozbija się niestety o oprawę, która pozostała kropka w kropkę przeniesiona wprost z wersji na PS2. I o ile trójwymiarowe otoczenie oraz efekty wciąż wyglądają nieźle (choć widać wyraźnie że tekstury to już „secondhandy"), o tyle w przypadku sprite'ów, korzystanie twórców ze swego dotychczasowego dorobku przyniosło zgubny skutek. Owszem - wciąż robią pozytywne wrażenie, jednak trudno nie zwrócić uwagi na ich rozmycie, czy - zaskakująco jak na PSP ubogą kolorystykę. Jako gracz, do grafiki nie przywiązuję przesadnie dużej wagi (u-ha-ha, bo i do czego miał tą wagę w dobie gameboy'a przywiązać handheldowiec...?), mimo to nie lubię, gdy wciska mi się drugi raz to samo w znacznie gorszym wydaniu, tylko dlatego że komuś zabrakło zarówno kilku zer na koncie, jak i inwencji.

Prince Power...? - „Co na konsoli N robi tak hardcore'owy tytuł jak Disgaea?" - zapytacie. Cóż - to samo, co na PSP - trzepie niemałą kasę przy minimalnym wkładzie pracy jego ojców. Tu jednak panuje już prawdziwa „Sodoma w Gomorze" - zmiany względem wcześniejszej wersji na handhelda Sony są śmiesznie małe (najważniejszą jest... umożliwienie odblokowania i zwerbowania kilku nowych postaci), natomiast cięcia w oprawie a/v - olbrzymie. Przy pierwszym kontakcie z Disgaea: Prince, osoby które z pierwowzorem miały już styczność, zapewne poczują się jak w trakcie gry na komórce... Z głośniczków dobiegają żałosne, plumkające covery w midi (ciekawe w jaki cudowny sposób autorom takiego TWEWY udało się wpakować do swej gry prawie 20 kawałków naprawdę dobrej jakości, hm...?), 90% voice actingu gdzieś wyparowało, natomiast sprite'y wyglądają wręcz tragicznie. Jakby tego było mało, gra ma częste-gęste problemy z framerate'em. Marną pociechą jest możliwość niesamowicie topornej obsługi gry za pomocą rysika - wersja na Nintendo DS jest zwyczajnie wybrakowana, a przyczyną jest lenistwo twórców, którzy nie zdecydowali się zoptymalizować kodu, tudzież zafundować grze pojemniejszego nośnika. W efekcie, zwolennicy Nintendo otrzymali niestety grę o jakości wykonania zbliżonej portom komórkowym.

Na peryferiach - Ilość biletów, których „Japońskiej Jedynce" udało się odciąć od sukcesu Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, jest olbrzymia. Mangi, pluszaki czy figurki, to w przypadku japońskich produkcji standard, niewiele jest jednak gier, którym dedykowano anime. Dwanaście odcinków w luźnym ujęciu (momentami aż nazbyt luźnym - dziwi nader często występujący brak zgodności z fabułą oryginału) streszcza historię znaną z rolpleja. Produkcją zajęło się studio Oriental Light and Magic a animacja - podobnie jak w przypadku ich 'Pokemona', jest dosyć prosta i oszczędna. Ścieżka dźwiękowa niemal w całości składa się z utworów znanych z gry, zaś głosu postaciom udzielili aktorzy znani z wydanej na PSP Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. Sam serial do wybitnych z pewnością nie należy, jednak jako płatna reklamówka serii sprawdza się całkiem nieźle. Że niby nie o to powinno w tym chodzić? Cóż, najwyraźniej słupki wykresu twierdzą inaczej...

Sprostowanie - Czytając moje wypociny, można dojść do wniosku, że jestem przeciwny całemu temu hype'owi na Disgaea. Wbrew pozorom, nie uważam jednak tego zjawiska za negatywne - remake'i (czy może raczej porty) pierwszej części, pomimo licznych przejawów lenistwa twórców, wciąż zachowują to, za co głównie pokochano pierwowzór (humor, barwne postacie, KLIMAT), natomiast anime bez wątpienia ucieszy miłośników Netherworld. Chodzi mi głównie o to, że Nippon Ichi, zamiast marnować czas na wałkowanie po raz setny sprawdzonych schematów i rozpamiętywać „jaką tośmy kiedyś wspaniałą grę zrobili", mogłoby naprawdę przyłożyć się do jakiegoś nowego, innowacyjnego RPGa. Fakt - marketingowo, takie posunięcie byłoby znacznie bardziej ryzykowne, jednak według mnie, najwyższy czas zerwać z tą sztuczną polityką asekuracyjną. Bo wraz z nadejściem Disgaea: Prince, naprawdę zwątpiłem, czy tą załogę stać na coś więcej...

boromi

The fact that Iceland was declared bankrupt last week has affected lots of councils, to say the least. Scottish councils had taken millions of pounds of money into schools projects, general funds etc. We now really think the crisis is getting to a stage where it is ridiculous. Yes, fuel prices have gone down. But this has left a very bad effect on the Economy. We can all be happy that we can fill our car up for less. But we may be living in constant fear that the jobs in our countries are under threat, for which we here at WWCTN feel very sorry for, because of shares in companies dropping so low that the business can't stay afloat. 

At the same EU summit Gordon Brown (British Prime Minister) has given the quote that The United Kingdom will lead the way in the credit crisis. The country sitting here very hopeful indeed that we may even get any help from the , what has been an unpopular government for many reasons. 

As countries are desperate not to fall into recession we should be thinking about how we can save ourselves and how we can lower the money we spend so that we can live as efficiently as we did before this horrific crisis. 

Nathan

No se que esta pasando en el mundo, pero este crash de wall stree va a traer serios problemas para la paz mundial!!

Aqui les dejo el articulo en su original

The Prime Minister said Britain would seize the assets of Icelandic companies and take “further action against the authorities” over the collapse of the island’s banks.

The diplomatic row, which has echoes of the Cod Wars of the 1970s, erupted after it emerged that more than 100 local authorities have deposits in Iceland. They stand to lose a total of more than £1 billion. British companies are said to have as much as £12 billion in the failed banks and individual savers more than £6 billion.

Unless the Icelandic government agrees to return the cash, British taxpayers will have to foot the bill to bail out local councils and other public bodies. This would come through increases in council tax or Treasury funds. It would mean the Government spending more public money because of the financial crisis after staking £500 billion in an attempt to rescue British banks.

Yesterday there were few signs that Mr Brown’s bail-out gamble was paying off. Bank shares rose but the FTSE-100 closed 1.2 per cent down. There was little evidence that banks were more prepared to lend to each other and no British bank has requested any of the £50 billion available.

Mr Brown said the behaviour of the Icelandic government in failing to guarantee the return of British money was “unacceptable”. He vowed to go beyond the action already taken against Landsbanki, one of the Icelandic banks which had its UK assets seized on Wednesday under anti-terrorism laws meant to stop extremist groups laundering money.

Mr Brown told the BBC: “We are freezing the assets of Icelandic companies in the UK where we can. We will take further action against the Icelandic authorities wherever that is necessary to recover the money.”

He has also called on the rest of the world to follow Britain’s “ground-breaking” move to save the banking system. Mr Brown urged other governments to put money into struggling banks and offer similar guarantees to persuade them to resume lending to each other.

Icelandic investment companies own several high street chains including Debenhams, Whistles and Oasis as well as the Premier League football club West Ham United. A war of words started as Geir Haarde, the prime minister of Iceland, used a press conference to denounce the seizure of Landsbanki assets. The use of anti-terrorism legislation was “not pleasant”, he said.

The Treasury has guaranteed the deposits of the estimated 300,000 private British investors in the collapsed banks Landsbanki, Glitnir and Kaupthing, which have been put in government administration.

But ministers say they cannot give the same assurance to wholesale investors, including councils and companies. The Daily Telegraph has established that at least 111 public bodies have £944.07 million deposited in Icelandic banks. That includes 15 police authorities, which invested £95.72 million, and transport authorities including Transport for London, which deposited £40 million alone.

The remaining bodies were local councils. Kent county council was the biggest investor, with £50 million — £59.76 per taxpayer in the county – at stake. The London borough of Haringey deposited £37 million, equal to £324.14 per taxpayer.

The Local Government Association insisted that the sums remained a small proportion of councils’ total funds and said no front-line services would be cut. Ministers promised emergency help for councils “facing severe short-term difficulties”. A team of Treasury officials may go to Reykjavik as soon as today to discuss an agreement with Iceland.

Vittorio Sabadin per "La Stampa"

Gordon Brown

Per capire quanto sia vero che anche i ricchi piangono, bisogna andare a Londra nei locali di lusso prima frequentati dagli ex padroni dell'universo delle banche e dagli oligarchi russi e indiani. Tutti spariti, a fare i conti con le perdite accumulate negli ultimi mesi.

Cifre spaventose: Lakshmi Mittal, il re dell'acciaio e quinto uomo più ricco del mondo, possedeva quattro mesi fa l'equivalente di 33,24 miliardi di euro, che si sono ridotti a 11,82. Ci potrà vivere ancora benissimo, ma certo non deve essere stato facile osservare dalla sua residenza di Kensington Palace Gardens gli indici di Borsa che lo hanno privato da giugno a oggi di 234 milioni di euro al giorno, quasi 10 milioni all'ora.

A Vladimir Kim, il magnate delle miniere originario del Kazakhstan, è andata persino peggio: ha perso solo 4,2 miliardi di euro, ma ne possedeva in tutto 5,2. Anil Agarwal, l'indiano che aveva creato una fortuna con le miniere, ha lasciato sul campo 3,7 miliardi di euro, la metà del valore della sua Vedanta Resources.

Disintegrato anche l'impero di Mike Ashley, proprietario di Sports Direct, del notissimo negozio Lillywhites di Piccadilly Circus e della squadra del Newcastle: un anno fa valeva
1,5 miliardi di euro, ora gli sono rimasti 218 milioni.

Secondo l'«Evening Standard», Alexander Lebedev, uno dei proprietari di Aeroflot, ha ammesso di avere perso due terzi della sua fortuna di 2,21 miliardi di euro e si dice che Oleg Deripaska (alluminio), il quale vive a Belgravia in una casa da 26 milioni di euro, abbia licenziato tutto il personale della sua proprietà di Mosca.

Wall Street

Il premier inglese Gordon Brown ha chiesto le teste dei banchieri che con il loro comportamento irresponsabile hanno creato l'attuale situazione e sicuramente le avrà. Alla fine dell'anno, invece di ricevere i bonus abituali, molti manager dovranno cercarsi un altro lavoro.

Si calcola che nella City quest'anno ci saranno 5 miliardi di sterline (6,5 miliardi di euro) in meno di premi ai dirigenti. Meritata punizione, ma anche gravissimi danni per negozi, ristoranti, concessionari d'auto, agenzie immobiliari che contavano di essere ancora una volta i destinatari finali di quei soldi e che invece, in molti casi, dovranno chiudere bottega. Il fiume di denaro facile che aveva arricchito negli ultimi anni l'Inghilterra non scorre più, e bisognerà trovare presto una alternativa.

Must be chasing a peerage while Gordo still has the power to dish one out. BTW David do you still own those shares in DNA Bioscience, you remember it was the firm that was being awarded a contract to carry out paternity tests for the CSA which was part of the Dept. for Work and Pensions the office you used to be Secretary of State of,,, before you had to resign AGAIN.

What a farce, and what's worse we pay for it. Shame on you Labour.

Gordon has played a blinder(I read that somewhere earlier) it's not called a blinder guys, it's called pissing in the wind facing the wrong way wearing beige colour trousers. Muppets.

The album is a sampling of splendid noise, with Gordon, Moore, Ranaldo and Shelley wrenching, purring, and distorting their way through 15 songs. It is the album that turned me on to noise-rock, and the collision of hard and soft, rough and gentle is masterful. Produced by Butch Vig, more than a little of the same approach can be detected in Garbage albums later on.

The album is at its best when listened to as a whole, rather than in parts. However, "100%", "Créme Brûlèe", "Youth Against Fascism", "Sugar Kane", and "Drunken Butterfly" are some of my personal favorites. The contrast from song to song is what makes this album great, so spring for the whole package if you can.

You can get Dirty here (at amazon for those with filthy minds in need of a postscript)

Situated in industrial hinterlands and run down suburbs, none of these temporary installations exist today, his photographic presentations remain their only record. As strange as it was to see work so similar to my own, I was obviously drawn to the inspirations for Matta-Clark's ideas.

Clearly influenced by the Situationists, it could also be argued that his works takes Situationist ideas a step further. By physically reordering the buildings, he implemented a seemingly anarchic view of architecture that he coined 'Anarchitecture'. He would buy up pieces of land that were overlooked and ignored by town planners for not fitting into their designs (officially described as curb or gutter property) - 'the waste products of the architectural process'. The destruction of each and everyone of these artworks highlights the continuous cycle of commercial architecture, demolishing old buildings and replacing them with new ones.

In relation to my own work, I struggled to see myself replicating anything like the large scale physical art of Matta-Clark, although it's certainly food for thought. I'm inspired however to look at structures in the virtual world and approach them in the same way that Matta-Clark looked architecture. In turn, I'm interested in drawing parallels between urban spaces and so called networked or computerised environments.

Are there similarities involved? What are the differences? Has the computerisation of society affected the way we perceive and use physical space and does our familiarity with this space affect our approaches to computerisation?

Een blik in de hitlijsten: Single Top 100
Volkshelden Frans Bauer en Marianne Weber zijn terug aan de top. Met veel geweld verslaan ze Bløf en Ilse DeLange, die vorige week nog hoog de top 10 binnenkwamen en nu hopeloos naar beneden duikelen (#11 en #12).

"Als ik met jou op wolken zweef" is voor Frans zijn derde #1-hit na "de Regenboog", met Marianne, in 1995 en "Heb je even voor mij" in 2003. Voor Marianne is het pas haar tweede #1-hit.

Een opmerkelijke sprong van Bert ter Brugge brengt "Rood hart" deze week naar #5. De held van voetbalclub FC Twente kwam drie weken geleden binnen op #15, bleef daar vervolgens staan en donderde daarna naar #97. Deze week maakt de beste man een enorme sprong en scoort alsnog zijn eerste top 10 hit.

De hoogste nieuwe binnenkomer is voor Robin S. en "Show me love 2008". De clubplaat komt op het randje van de top 10 (#13) binnen. Verder is er onder andere nieuw materiaal van Gordon (#23), Nikki (#29) en Danny de Munk (#50).

De top 10:
01. (04) Frans Bauer & Marianne Weber - Als ik met jou op wolken zweef 1x#1
02. (02) Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet about me 2x#1
03. (06) Guru Josh Project - Infinity 2008
04. (13) Gerard Joling - Ik hou d'r zo van
05. (97) Bert ter Brugge - Rood hart
06. (08) Nick & Simon - Hoe lang? 1x#1
07. (03) Marco Borsato - Stop de tijd 3x#1
08. (07) Amy MacDonald - Mr. rock & roll
09. (14) Jason Mraz - I'm yours
10. (09) Coldplay - Viva la vida

Although Labour was behind by 15-20 points during the summer, this gap would still translate into a Conservative majority in parliament if replicated in a general election, just not as huge a gap Labour enjoyed when it came to power in 97. It seems Cameron has enjoyed a small post-conference 'bounce', but strangely the economic crisis is actually benefiting the government. Although Gordon Brown has presided over 'light-touch' regulation and kept the casino in The City rolling over the past decade, people seem to trust the PM and Chancellor more than Cameron and Osborne. It seems Brown's 'No time for a novice' quip struck a chord at the Labour conference last week. However, it's clear the Conservatives will form the next government, it's all just a matter of damage limitation at the moment.

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/03/polls.labour

"The large Tory lead is a reminder that Labour's underlying political weakness has not gone away, despite the financial crisis. The poll also shows a further decline in Liberal Democrat support, down one point to 17. Backing for other smaller parties has climbed one point to 11.

Overall, Labour has closed the gap on the Conservatives since the start of the summer, when it regularly polled below 30%. In August the Tory lead in the Guardian/ICM poll was 15 points, and in June it was 20. Today it is 12.

Backing for the Conservatives has fallen slightly. Labour's recovery has been more marked.

Labour support today is five points higher than the 25% low point hit in June while Conservative support is three points down on the ICM high of 45, last recorded in August.

Some of the Labour recovery has come at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, whose support is now five points down on the peak of 22 hit in May."

It seems all Labour has to fear is Labour itself... people don't really like the government anymore, but they're not ready to jump into the Tories' arms either. If only the internal party splits could be negated for a while, voters may be less turned off by the government. I remember thinking during the conference that the media was creating this continuous questioning over Brown's hold on the Labour Party and possible plots against him etc and that if they just stopped talking about it, it'd actually become less of a concern to the electorate. This seems to be borne out by the fact that the news media has been fixated on the economic situation in the past week, with attention away from Bown and the gov and seemingly translating into positive poll movement.

 Brown also seems to have picked up some support after accepting some criticisms in his speech last week, making a well aimed jab at Cameron's competence as a possible leader and seemingly taking a little more of a grip over the party. There are marked echoes of the early 90s in which The Conservatives were expected to lose the 1997 election under John Major, who was having to follow Thatcher (like Blair, ousted by the party and not the electorate) and managed to pick up a win last minute against all the odds. In the very unlikely event that Brown could steady the ship in terms of the gov/Labour Party, as well as coming across as authoritative and decisive during the worsening economic nose-dive he could pull a surprise win out of the bag. It would have to follow 18 months of competent leadership and united party, which considering everything that's happened since summer 07, again, it seems unlikely.

For those of us on the left there's a difficult decision to make... would we rather see a massive Labour loss, and the end of New Labour for good OR a Labour 4th term with a small majority, or coalition with the Lib Dems that at least sees less cuts in public services than the Tories would wield (no matter what shit Cameron comes out with to the contrary)? The latter is probably a more realistic and desirable outcome in that a move to the left on the party of the Labour Party is unlikely in the short to medium term and there would be the possibility of arch-Blairites taking hold of the party for another generation. More important is the creation of a party that acts as an umbrella for left wing parties, as Respect was until it's eventual split. If it weren't for Galloway's hubris, and the control freakery of the Socialist Workers Party, the party could have been a real platform for change considering Galloway's election to parliament and success at the local level. As ever though, the left would prefer to bicker on the sidelines than get into power and enact it's policies. It's something to respect in a way, that they wont tell the electorate anything they want to hear just to be elected, but it seems politically naive.

woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  started late with everything kulasito-related, and when i sat down to work, security alert balloon popped up saying my antivirus program was not up to date.  so i looked for avg updates, but avg told me that my antivirus program was updated.  wtf!!!  so googled for solutions for this security alert problem, and apparently, it can sometimes happen.  but being the OC that i am (well, kinda...hehehe), couldn't really work knowing that something's amiss, so i uninstalled avg and installed avast instead but was given a trial period of only 60 days (i think).  thought avast was a freeware, but it was asking me for a license key.  so where in heaven's name (or should i say hell 'coz that's what am feeling that day) am i going to get that freaking license key?  buy avast???  but stupid me palan 'coz bhenki told me i had to give them my email add first so they can send me the license key for the freeware.  stupid, stupid, stupid jinx!

so gave them my email add and waited for my license key...waited...waited...waited...waited...finally!!!  but before i could type it in and download the avast updates, i had to close lappytappy ta lunch time na daa, and we (lappytappy and i) were occupying the table, so they had to kick us out.  but that's okay, have my license key na.  yipeee!!!

waited...waited...waited...

waited for them to finish lunch.  whew!  long wait!  but they finally finished lunch and cleared my working area, so i set lappytappy on the table and plugged her into the socket when...zzzzttttt!!!! (insert some electrical sparks coming out of the socket here)...wtf!!!...no currency!  that means, good people, mayong kuryente.  hehehe.  excuse the use of a completely inappropriate word, but that's what one friend of my sister's said (shouted actually) when there was an electrical system power blackout one time nung college.  dolly (yep, an airhead name for a complete airhead) said, "ay syet, there is no currency!"  but am rambling.

anyhoo, after the quick zzzzttttt!!!!...gloria be damned!!!...but there is no currency (see?  the word sticks in your mind like a bad song)!!!  then heard tia caring said in a loud voice (loud enough to get everyone's attention...and by everyone, i meant everyone!), "ay!!! may nag-spark!!!"  so i came running to bo's room 'coz that's where she was with kulasito and asked her where exactly did she see the spark.  my heart was thudding loudly by this time 'coz, lordy-lord-lord, am scairty-scairt of this old house catching fire!

"dyan, o, dyan," she said, pointing with her jutted lips.

"sain?!"

"dyan!" still pointing with her lips.

was about to turn away when i did see bo's light flicker on and off quickly and then finally heard this awful noise - zzzzttttt!!!! zzzzttttt!!!! zzzzttttt!!!! - coming from the terrace.  sure enough, i saw an electric cable sparked.  fucking, fuckity, fuck, fuck!!!  called bo to turn off the main switch, which he immediately did, thank god.  then mama called casureco to send somebody to come fix it up, but the man who answered the phone gave ma another number to call for cases such as this.  breathed a big sigh of relief when the man on the new line took our address and important landmarks to locate us quickly.

"we'll be sending you our man in a jiffy," was what he said, so we waited.

...and we waited...

...and we waited...

...and we waited...

but during the time we waited for "our savior," you can hear the ominous zzzzttttt!!!!

...zzzzttttt!!!!...

...zzzzttttt!!!!...

...zzzzttttt!!!!...

on the terrace with some sparks flying here and there, and our hearts jumping up our throats and then plunging down our stomachs with each zzzzttttt!!!!, but still we waited patiently.

...and we waited patiently...

...and we waited patiently...

...and we waited impatiently...

couldn't stand the sound any longer, so told tia caring to follow up.  she called casureco and was directed again to the new number ma called, so call the new number she did.  but lo and behold, tia caring swears by the hair on her chinny-chin-chin that the man who answered her was the same man she talked to on the old number!  hahaha!

...and we waited impatiently...

...and we waited impatiently...

...and we waited impatiently...

i went to the terrace again, and pa and ma were there in the living room, staring at the same electric cable.  and every zzzzttttt!!!! and spark that comes out of it, we all flinch and jump.

fortunately, i saw the casureco vehicle parked across the street.  the driver was looking at the electric post and was shrugging and shaking his head, which i interpreted to mean as, "mayo man baga."  braving the zzzzttttt!!!! and the sparks, i went out the terrace, waved my arms wildly, and shouted excitedly, "digdi po!!!  digdi po sa taas mi!!!"  finally, they looked up.  ma told pa then to go back to their room to rest while they were fixing the damned thing.

two of them came up, and one of them said to the other to switch on the main switch and then told ma to turn on a light.  more zzzzttttt!!!!...more sparks...a big jump from a pale mama (with her hand to her chest)...and a bigger "ay, buray!!!" from me.  then ma and i both run from the sala.  hahaha!!!

down came the main switch for the second time, a twist here and a twist there on the electric cable, an "iyo na po" from big casureco guy, up came the main switch once more, and god said, "let there be light!"

...and there was light...

dark ages was finally over that lickity-split, and we're back into the civilized world again...hoorah!!!

the professional verdict from big casureco guy - corrosion caused the electric cable connection to become slack.

so, lappytappy, here we go again...and on you go.  logged into my account when damned balloon popped up again telling me that avast was not up to date.  gaaahhhh!!!  oh yeah, i forgot, license key.  hehehe.  so i registered my license key and updated avast.  wtf!!!  security center still can't detect the update!

i googled for info about the security alert problem and was directed to a forum that tells you how to "reset" your security center.  followed all the steps necessary to reset it, but was kinda hesitant to delete the repository folder.  but what the hell, i needed my security center to tell me that everything's fucking a-okay, so deleted the damned folder then rebooted lappytappy twice as per the forum instructions.

...same!!!...same!!!...same!!!...doom!!!...doom!!!...doom!!!...avast not updated, says security center again.

why?!?!?!

hoping my luck with system restore will do the trick once more, i did another system restore.  waited for a few minutes while restoring system and another reboot but only to be told that it was not restored to the date i have chosen.  syet ni ina nya!  so i created another restore point and hoped that it will work this time.  system restore (again)...reboot (again)...hoorah!...system restored!!!  but the problem was still freaking there, and avast was still not updated as per security alert pop-up balloon.  compared the version of avast that i have downloaded with what security center was asking, and it was the same version, so why the hell can't security center detect that i have an updated avast?!

then i noticed something that was just not right.  the date and time of lappytappy was off by a month.  (eh?  how'd that happen?)  so, i corrected the date and time and wished that it was going to be the end of my pc problem this time, but security center was still not detecting avast.  *sigh*  so thought of updating avast one more time, and...

...gaaaahhhhh!!!  can this day get any fucking worse?!

i swear i could hear god chortling as he answers my question in a big, booming voice "YES!"  and, yep, apparently, it can get a whole lot worse.  can imagine god's shoulders now shaking in mirth and, of course, laughing hysterically with tears running down his eyes, pointing at me and saying in a wheezy-kind of voice, "that's for not going to church and for all the priests you've bashed, you heretic!"

now, not only can security center not detect an updated avast, but avast, itself, can no longer be updated 'coz of my license key being temporarily disabled due to a change in the date and time.  googled again for solutions to new problem and found one forum saying to type in the license key again and avast update will be good to go.  so, i did what was discussed in the forum, but (yep, there's another but after too many buts already), it doesn't matter how many times i've registered using the same license key again and again 'coz it'll always say that i've successfully registered, but when i tried to update, same new problem crops up...license key has been temporarily disabled due to blah, blah, blah...

have read more new sets of instructions on how to solve the avast problem from more forums than i could ever care to count, but i no longer want to do them 'coz of how i fucked up the last time with the cool usep scandal and with the repository folder.  so i did the only thing that i could think of to, once and for all, solve the damned problem.  no, not throw lappytappy out of the window or throw her against the wall or anything like that (although was itching to do some serious damage to her!).  no more system restore this time, but uninstall avast, delete all files and folders related to it, download it one more time, and reinstall the damned freeware again.

with my patience running out, did all this.  when was asked to reboot, reboot i did.  when avast scanned lappytappy before completely rebooting, i opted to let the damned thing finish scanning all the folders and all the files and all the programs instead of going straight to my account.  trust me, with all the things that i have stored here, it was taking too fucking long, especially for a patience that was as thin as hair na that time.

and jejojar (that's jesusjosephmary, my good folks), the holy family has finally taken pity on the suffering me, and i can finally see three green ons on my security center, which means that the firewall, automatic updates, AND virus protection is up and working.  yipee!!!  security center detects avast!!!

now that the security center is a-freaking-okay, the question then is - can i use my license key again so i can search for and download avast updates?

yep, my friends, i can finally do both.  finally!...finally!...finally!  that's the end of my pc problems.  and now, i can safely say that everything's a-okay, everything's good, everything's fine, everything's peachy.  the OC in me finally smiled and said, "you did good, jinx.  for someone who's computer illiterate, you really did good."  *am patting my back here*  hehehe.

but (yep, more buts *head nodding in defeat*), i soon found out that these were just the layers of my cake for the day.

and now...for the icing on my sour cake...

i usually give kulasito a warm sponge bath before he goes to sleep para fresh.  but before i do this, i give him muna his nightly cerelac.  last night, he was extra fussy, maybe 'coz it took me so long to fix my pc problem and he was getting sleepy na or maybe 'coz his cold is making him very cranky.  but as we were nearly finishing up with his cerelac, the baby started to cough, then he turned red in the face from all the coughing he was doing.  so i picked him up from my best friend and sat him on my knee, but the baby coughed and burped loudly at the same time.  then he promptly puked all over himself and my arm!  out came all the cerelac he's eaten, and the last thread of my patience snapped off.  i wasn't in the mood to wash him myself that night 'coz i was feeling really tired and really cranky and really bitchy, so i gave him to gords.  i washed instead the things kulasito vomited on and then prepared his sponge bath which i left with gords, while i went upstairs again and smoked to keep myself calm.

now, anybody could've guessed at what i wanted him to do, right?  wrong!

and now...for the candle on top of the icing of my sour cake...

gords was still freaking waiting for me to wash kulasito!  he has the baby with him, he has the warm water, he has the baby's towel, he has everything kulasito needs within reach, and it's obvious to see that he has to wash the baby himself, right?  wrong!

tia caring said gords waited for me to return, and when i didn't come back down, he sent her up to go look for me.  when tia caring told him i was smoking a cig, he got really pissed off at me.  so now, he has no choice but to wash kulasito himself.

have already smoked one whole cig when i decided to return to our room to finally start working.  but what do you know?  gords still hasn't finished, and he has to ask for my help to finish washing the baby up.  and all that he has to do left was to apply powder and put clothes on the baby!  can't he do all these by himself?!  ha?!  can somebody please tell me if washing a baby is that hard to do?

gaaaahhhhhh!!!!

and now, god, you've won.  i admit defeat.  a very ruined day is enough to make one think of the importance of religion and how major a part it plays in one's life.  'coz, really, a string of bad luck is just too damned much, even for a semi-heretic like me.

Verwachtingen: Volgens Gordon hebben de platenwinkels direct 40.000 albums in de voorbestelling geplaatst. De verwachtingen zijn dus hooggeplaatst, geen enkele reden om te denken dat dit geen hit kan worden.

Beoordeling: ****

Kopen? http://www.zazell.nl/browse_bundle.aspx?bundle_id=147205

My name is Gordon and I'm from Montreal, Canada. I enjoy photography, cars, drifting, and the sort. Look for some eye candy soon on this blog.

Vuurwerk, scheurende jetski's en drie lachzakken gehuld in paars met goude pakken. De Toppers arriveerden vanmiddag, geheel over de top maar op een spectaculaire wijze, bij het Amstel Hotel voor een persconferentie. Het trio maakte daar hun 'glitter & glamourplannen' bekend over hoe zij Europa gaan veroveren op het Songfestival in het Russische Moskou.

De drie mogen zich nu al de meest besproken Nederlandse Songfestivaldeelnemers noemen. En terecht, ik heb het gevoel alsof het dit keer eindelijk weer een keer gaat lukken. De afgelopen jaren heeft Nederland te weinig laten zien met inzendingen als Hind, Treble en Glennis Grace. Geen slechte liedjes, maar te nietszeggend voor zo'n groot festival.

Vanmiddag lieten de Toppers weten dat het publiek en een jury uiteindelijk kiezen welk nummer Nederland in mei gaat vertegenwoordigen. Ook kiest het publiek de outfits van de heren uit. Last but not least zendt de TROS vanaf 5 februari de docusoap 'De Toppers Op Weg Naar Moskou' uit.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="alignright" width="241" caption="Geer, Rene en Goor. (Foto's: ANP)"][/caption]
Ik hoop dat 'Geer', 'Goor' en Rene eindelijk die Nederlandse malaise doorbreken. Het laatste succes is immers alweer uit 1998, toen Edsilia Rombley de vierde plaats behaalde met "Hemel en aarde". Met deze drie hilarische gasten en een schat aan mogelijkheden zie ik hun kansen erg groot.

A remake of an old classic. I love it.

I am very pleased with this picture, especially the clothes look exactly how I imagined them... A-

"Lehman Brothers is a great company today that can both look backwards with pride and look forwards with hope. And in wishing Lehman Brothers the success it deserves for its future, let me thank you for the privilege of being here and formally declare this new building open."

                - Gordon Brown, opening Lehman's flashy new European HQ, Canary Wharf, 5 April 2004*

This hardly needs commenting on bar Brown's mention of how Lehman Brothers 'deserves' their success... is that due to taking on toxic debt and gambling with investor and savers cash Gordon? It's also quite funny hearing senior cabinet members such as Ed Balls attacking the 'Spivs' of The City and Wall Str for getting rich on the back of ordinary workers, when these were the people implementing 'light touch' regulation. Brown has decided that its perfectly sane to take credit for the positive financial situation of the past decade (more down to global conditions, not that of his own Chancellorship), while starting to blame the current dire situation on the global financial situation!

Oh, and being a Sunday my laziness leads me to lift even more from Private Eye, this time from the 'Number Crunching' section;

"$6.6bn - Losses by Lehman Brothers in 2008 up to the point it went bankrupt

$8.7bn - staff bonuses paid out by Lehman Bros in 2006"*

Ahh, the wonders of the 'free' market!

* Private Eye No.1219 19 Sep-2 Oct 2008  

Esce, edito da PLANETA DeAGOSTINI, in edizione assoluta, il bellissimo BATMAN ANNO 100. Duecentoquaranta pagine a colori, al costo di 16,95 €, dimensioni 16,8x25,7 (brossurato). Il volume, disponibile nelle fumetterie dal 19 Settembre, contiene la miniserie BATMAN YEAR 100, scritta e illustrata dal grande artista indipendente Paul Pope (Liquido Pesante, 100%) e colorata da José Villarrubia. La prima pubblicazione, in U.S.A., era organizzata in 4 uscite mensili edite tra il Febbraio e il Maggio 2006. Il fumetto ha vinto nel 2007 due Eisner Awards come "Best Limited Series" e "Best Writer/Artist". La storia non è ambientata nei giorni nostri, ma nel 2039, in un mondo dittatoriale contradistinto da cospirazioni, polizia psichica e mancanza assoluta di libertà. Le identità segrete sono bandite, tutto è controllato, ma nessuno può controllare Batman! Ecco la trama:

Un agente federale assassinato. Un contingente dei migliori uomini da Washington sulle tracce del sospetto. in mezzo al caos, il detective del GCPD Gordon, nipote del famoso commissario, inizia la sua indagine e scopre che l’uomo che stanno braccando in realtà non dovrebbe esistere.

NOI VE LO CONSIGLIAMO!

In the evening we went to a friend's house to help them celebrate 20 yrs of marriage.  Given the rate of divorce these days, 20 yrs is really something to celebrate.

The happy couple

Unfortunately, I wasn't so happy the next day, too much wine meant a sleepless night with really bad heartburn and stomach cramps.  However, I enjoyed myself at the time which is the main thing. 

Gordon caught me out the next day, as I was watching a really good soppy film "Iris" with Judie Dench as the main character Iris Murdoch.  I was trying desperately not to sob my heart out whilst watching it and Gordon came in after talking to his Dad.  So he did his usual brief summary of his conversation (as I am interested in what is going on) and out the blue he said, its our 25th wedding anniversary in 2 yrs, let plan a trip to Australia to see Debs (my sister) and Brian (his brother).  I just broke down and cried, its probably the most romantic thing he has said, ever!  Oh God, do I love that man of mine!

PS never did watch the end of the film, it had another 20 mins to go and I think I would be drinking copious amounts of liquid if I got the end of it.

Title page.

Page 168.

Page 169.

Page 170.

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Taken from the book "A Balkan Freebooter" by Jan Gordon written in 1916.

About a few months earlier, I had just ended it with Gordon. Everyone knew how much of a jerk he was to me. He also frequented Mellow. Which was fine. I stayed on my side of the place and he stayed on his. 

But for some reason, while he was on his side of the place, he decided to phone me. Probably because I looked cute...and was sitting next to a handsome guitar player/singer. For some ungodly reason, Ski takes my phone out of my purse, looks at the caller i.d. and says, "Gordon! I thought you said you hated Gordon. Why is he calling you?"

Which would have been fine for him to say. Had Gordon's best friend not walked up at the same time as Ski was saying this.

Ski got the look of death. And then had to still perform his open mic set.

Gordon and his friends boo-ed Ski the whole time. Loudly. Boys can be so cruel. As we were leaving, Gordon whistled at me, so I turned around, looked him dead in the eye, raised my right fist and flipped him off. Dramatically of course. Because you should never expect anything less.