i admit, like the raptors i got weak first drafts.

Rewind to early 2006, at the Kool Haus. First real concert for myself – and I’m proud to say it was for a Common show. It was also the first I learned about the heavy weed smoking done at concerts (particularly of the hip hop variety) – as well as the tendency for them to [...]

"silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone" – g.b. stern

Much of the focus on volunteers in these past Beijing Olympics have been on those taught how to approach Westerners, and on those infamous Chinese seat fillers – but little of the attention was placed on the more unassuming philanthropists.
So to the volunteers who sat still, expressionless, and usually alone throughout competitions, thank you. Your [...]

dear olympics,

Thank you for disrupting my sleeping routine with incredible displays of sport, in the water, on the track, and even in Government offices. You’ve made a two weeks in which I’ve done little to nothing, quite memorable and ultimately fulfilling. You’ve reunited me with old friends, and have even helped me overcome the disappointment in [...]

shock and awe. (at the dentist)

So today I woke up at around the time I would normally go to sleep (7AM) for my biannual dentist check-up/cleaning. I’m not the biggest fan of dentist visits, not because of a fear of pain, but primarily because of a fear of awkwardness (which God knows I should be accustomed to by now).
At the [...]

one stop shop for all the codecs you will ever need (probably)

I really had no intention of writing up another software recommendation so soon, but given the nature of video playback/conversion, codecs are a necessary thing – I’ll leave it to Wikipedia to explain. There’s always been a great debate to whether you should install codecs individually, or download and install them in packages. Those arguing [...]

one click voodoo – convert dvds to xvid/divx/h.264

Out of all the tools I’ve recommended in this series of entries, Fairusewizard is probably the program that I couldn’t do without. It basically allows you to convert a physical DVD, or even a DVD image (.ISO/.IMG) into either XviD/DivX/H.264 formats. There are even some presets for conversions specific to devices, from Zunes to PS3s. [...]

Day 2 Night: Roppongi, don’t hassle me.

Hey Julian back again this time with the aftermath post for Day 2.
Day 2, Tokyo, Nightfall.
Well after the travels we went through in the morning, we slept the afternoon away. Literally. We got home from our “trip” at around 1 pm local time, and I “napped” until about 7 pm that night. Yes, naps are [...]

hot of the presses – ioc calls for investigation into the actual ages of the chinese women’s gymnastics team

http://www.smh.com.au/news/off-the-field/ioc-calls-for-probe-into-china-star/2008/08/22/1219262483864.html
The age of 3 of the Chinese women girls on the Olympic gymnastic team has been heavily disputed all throughout their competition. It seems that the IOC has succumbed to all the media pressure. And part of me hopes it has more to do with following the actual rules – it’s just surprising how this [...]

an entry that (almost) isn’t about the olympics.

It is possible. Though fittingly, the idea for this entry originated from my obsession with Olympic TV coverage. But let that be the last time I mention the “O” word, at least in this post anyway.
Sports themes. The anthems for the sporting events we all love. If we’re ever forced to define a sport by [...]

a post about how i post my post… (3x post ftw!)

As easy as WordPress makes it to make new entries, Microsoft, yes Microsoft provides an easier way.
Windows Live Writer, though still in it’s beta stages, provides arguably the most convenient and fully featured blogging client. I’ve been putting it through its paces since the outset of the creation of this blog, and I’ve had [...]