Category — Historic

Yes, it’s the Chinese New Year, otherwise known as the Lunar New Year to the rest of the world and World of WarCraft. I got to see the lion dance on TV and eat chai choy just now, so that’s probably the only time in the entire year that I’ll ever feel like I’m Chinese.

After an entire weekend full of grief and frustration over why my local Apache/PHP/MySQL configuration wouldn’t cooperate with me, I finally gave up and decided that it was because I wasn’t running a Linux web server instead. Windows sucks for server use, period.

So, I needed another way to test the guild website, and I found it. Fitting that it’s CNY, because it’s now the first day that I moved my web host to a new company. You probably didn’t notice unless you were browsing my blog at noon today and got nothing but errors. I had a downtime of about 30 minutes, which is amazing, compared to the ridiculous 2 days I had before when I first moved to Ace of Space several years ago (wasn’t their fault either, it was the delays of transferring a domain name back in the day). I specifically chose this new company, Ace-Host.net, because they offered several things that appealed to me – Linux server, 5 GB of space, 100 GB of bandwidth, and tons of PHP/MySQL apps! So, since I wanted to use PHP-Nuke for the guild site, I installed that and had no problems. Linux servers rock. I also noticed that WordPress is included in the list, so I might be moving my blog to that new format in the near future.

Did a VC/DM run two nights ago. We got up to VC himself with only one casualty, but we got toasted by his adds due to a mistake on my part of wittling VC’s HP down too low (I was the tank for that particular part). No matter, I didn’t even have the quests at the time. Tonight, though, since I have to stay up late for my parents’ sake (silly CNY tradition), I’m going to get all my quests completed before making another run.

Shower, do a bit more configuration on the site, and then off to WoW. I definitely need it.

以上。。。であります！

I have to admit… World of WarCraft is one addictive game. James H joined the Shadow Raiders guild on the new Runetotem server, so I abandoned my rogue for now and created Lain, a Night Elf Druid. After getting to know some of my fellow guild members, I somehow found myself in charge of developing the guild’s official website. Seeing as how we’ll need some major organization, I wanted to go with a PHP/MySQL based site that had forums and blogging all integrated. After much research and testing, I decided to go with XOOPS as a front end portal for the site. Why waste hours coding when I can spend it better by administrating, moderating, and designing? I spent a good two days upgrading Apache, PHP, and MySQL to the latest versions, only to get stumped on why neither PHP-Nuke or XOOPS didn’t want to install properly. I finally found out that PHP 5.0 no longer had built-in extension support for MySQL, so I had to download and enable the extension separately. However, PHP-Nuke lost out, since the installation still errored out, so XOOPS it is. I’ll be officially testing and designing on this web server, but the site will eventually end up on its own server and domain.

Madonna – Confessions On A Dance Floor
Album CD

Believe it or not, my most favorite listen right now is western music – Madonna’s latest album. Love her or hate her, Madonna paved the road for many pop princesses since the ’80’s, and continues to deliver her great music as a bona fide diva in the new century. Although I was not completely satisfied with her last two albums, I was blown away by this new album, which brings back a nostalgic sound. If you heard her single, Hung Up, and enjoyed it, you won’t be disappointed by the rest of the album, as it rarely deviates from this type of sound.

Hamasaki Ayumi – (miss)understood
Album CD

Ayu strikes again! Her seventh album (has it already been that long?!) brings her closer and closer to a decade of music. In this one, she continues to bring strong songwriting with catchy melodies that are distinctly Ayu. Unfortunately, I really dislike the damn “soul choir” in Bold & Delicious. Other than that, the rest of the album is great. Not as a great as Madonna’s album, sadly. Although a good album, it does not surpass last year’s awesome MY STORY, and falls into the bottom of the ladder with RAINBOW. We need another Duty!! Anyway, the album, although not the best from Ayu, is still great.

Nakashima Mika – LOVE
Album CD

I also got in Nakashima Mika’s sophomore album, which I heard a lot when it first came out, but I never got around to buying – but that’s changed now. This was such a breakthrough album for Nakashima-san, as it totally changed her musical style to her trademark jazzy blues (with the exception of marionette, which is still a good track in its own right). Yuki No Hana still remains one of my most favorite songs.

Nothing much is new. I started reading Adam Arnold’s Aoi House web manga last week. Shiei’s art is kawaii and clean, which is a style I enjoy most. One thing to note is Adam’s bedroom – kami-sama, I thought I had a lot of stuff, but this guy makes collecting look like an art in itself!! One of these days, though, I should showcase my room and show just how much stuff I actually own – it’s not as much as his, but my Japanese media is more diverse than his, that’s for sure.

Although my career move is moving in a different direction than I originally intended to, I still yearn for the dream of creating manga. Who knows… if I can find an artist like Shiei, maybe I might pursue it, but for now, I’ll be working towards server/web administration. I’m already having some fun doing the guild website, so I know that I will have fun doing that kind of thing. For now, I’ll continue to write, since it’s the only thing I have time to do. I haven’t practiced drawing in such a long time, so I’m sure that my skills have waned instead of improved. It’s funny how things have worked out.

Kami-sama, there’s MySQL certification?!

以上。。。であります！

Kadena Reon – Hadaka No Reon
Shashinshuu

I got in a few orders the last couple of days. The first was Kadena Reon’s Hadaka No Reon shashinshuu. Shinoyama Kishin took the beautiful Reon-chan and photographed a gravure nude in his usual, artful manner.

e-onna – August 2005
Zasshi

e-onna – September 2005
Zasshi

In the same order, I also got two select issues of e-onna, as well as an issue of urecco. e-onna is an interesting zasshi that features several gravure and bikini models, as well as AV models with nude pictures hidden in specially folded paper that requires taking apart the magazine, starting with the staples (which I have no desire to do). Just by slightly bending the pages open, you can see all the photos inside without damaging the zasshi.

urecco – July 2005
Zasshi

I honestly don’t like the way they design the latest urecco covers now, placing the featured model on the back cover instead of the front. Despite that, the pictorials inside remain top-notch with the beautiful hair nudes and amusing Engrish.

Hitoto You – Hito Omoi Special Edition
J-Pop CD

Today, I got in my order from Amazon, which included the volume 2 of GIRLS BRAVO and Hitoto You’s Hito Omoi Special Edition. Yes, that’s right! I got in the rare version of Hito Omoi, which I am so happy to have found. I mentioned this before in an earlier blog entry, but this special edition is OOP, but Amazon apparently carried it. I ordered it last month, crossing my fingers, and as usual, they delivered as promised! Good job, Amazon! Unfortunately, by offering you the link, I get no commission because only the American site offers it.

sabra – January 26, 2006
Zasshi

The other order I got in was the latest sabra. I subscribe to this magazine on a bi-weekly basis, but by the time I receive it, it’s usually almost two weeks behind, but I don’t mind. The latest issue is special – there are two covers. One on the front and another on the back (which usually has an ad). Several girls are always a delight.

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve resolved to scanning in my printed goods, as opposed to setting up the digicam and overhead lighting. I actually cheat a bit with the lighting there – I hold up a fluorescent tube light to provide ample lighting. Someday, when I upgrade to digital SLR, I’ll be getting a backdrop with proper lights and discs.

I finally got my car back today… CT said it was the car battery, rather than something else connecting to the starter like I had originally thought. Anyway, a new battery apparently did the trick, as the car started right away. I’ll listen for any other weird sounds from the starter, but I earnestly hope this does the trick. The battery comes with a 5-year warranty, so that rocks. Next fix – my clutch/flywheel.

以上。。。であります！

While waiting for the next episodes of Fate/stay night, Kashimashi ~GIRL MEETS GIRL~, and MAGIKANO, I decided to take a look at NOEIN Mou Hitori No Kimi He. The first episode introduced the characters and had the makings of a decent storyline, however, the character designs were horrible – they looked like an American attempt at manga gone wrong. However, the CG was excellent – so excellent that it was offsetting the cel animation in some parts. I thought to myself that this was awful – nobody can enjoy this crap.

Six episodes later, and I am hooked on the series like SCRAPPED PRINCESS. So far, there hasn’t been any major plot twists, but the way they present the story and the cool sci-fi-meets-magic/ki elements had me coming back for more. The only odd thing I noticed was that in episode 2, the art form was more refined and the character designs were a lot better – then they plunged back into crap from episode 3 and onwards. However, don’t let that deter you from this series – it’s not like the rest of the animation quality is bad. Do watch this series and don’t worry about the char designs – I stopped caring after episode 4.

Well, the car is back in CT – bad starter again. They ordered one in for today from their usual supplier, but they’re also ordering one internally, just in case we run into another dud.

Got my rogue up to level 27. I finished collecting all the quests for BFD, I hope, so I’ll be heading there soon today. James H finally got Jordan, his roommate, to get back on WoW. As a result, Esmond and I created new chars on their server so we can all play together. In the meantime, I’m also going to be leveling up my rogue until they reopen server transfers.

以上。。。であります！

It’s the year of Capcom so far, and they’re leading the way with two hot titles for PS2.

Shin Onimusha – DAWN OF DREAMS
PlayStation 2 Game (NTSC J)

A new villain, a new hero, a new allies system, this game looks like the game Onimusha 2 would have been proud of. This time around, they went with Hamasaki Ayumi to provide the OP and ED themes. ETA – 2006.01.26.

DEVIL MAY CRY 3 Special Edition
PlayStation 2 Game (NTSC J)

YOU GET TO PLAY AS VIRGIL!!! I’m sorry, did I come off as an uber geek? Anyway, the inclusion of Virgil as a playable character along with his own storyline makes this game almost like an expansion pack, but with the full original game included. I almost cried when I saw this title. ETA – 2006.02.23.

Now that my Japanese PS2 is in my room, I can easily play my NTSC J games in the comfort of my own room. I’m such a geek! Speaking of geekness, here’s a taste of some. This new anime series, Kashimashi ~GIRL MEETS GIRL~, is good. I know the whole gender bending twist has been used a lot, but this time, it’s more of a Tenshi Na Konamaiki meets X-Change with some aliens and genetic reconstruction thrown in for good measure. All in all, it looks like an anime school-life drama with some yuri and sci-fi elements thrown in. Scouring for the manga? Oh, yeah.

Dad had a spare battery for me to try out – we installed it, tested it, and found out it was dead. Hooked up a battery charger to it, so it’s charging right now. I’m gonna try it out in a couple of hours.

When my car was in the parking lot last night, part of the driver’s side door handle was broken and hanging loose. Now, it’s gone (must have fallen off on the way home last night). Some jerk or drunk must have tried to pull real hard on it, causing it to snap. That pisses me off, now I have to go order a new door handle for no reason. Why can’t people respect each other’s property? Playing pranks is okay with me (stealing Lee’s garbage cans or tossing them up on his roof – priceless), but to go so far as to cause damage is a load of bull. I say these people are no better than Canada Customs (cheap shot).

I need to hit TS today after the hobby store, I need a 3 foot long audio composite extension cable to get my PC to reach the receiver from its new position. I was gonna buy a switch too, but I don’t need one now that a quick reset of all the devices worked like a charm. Oh yeah, I was hooking up my spare router-turned-switch to my laptop, and I kept getting an IP address conflict. So, I swapped ports on the router-turned-switch, and that fixed it. Once I logged on to WoW and joined the perfect group for the Stockades, I got disconnected. Fine, I logged back in, joined back up with the party, and got disconnected again! So, finally, I gave up, unplugged the network cable, and just connected wirelessly. Worked like a charm. This morning, I troubleshot the damn problem – resetted the router and the router/switch, as well as the DSL modem. Everything worked like a charm, every computer got a different IP. Esmond’s been playing WoW for the past 30 minutes without fail, I pinged all the PCs in the house – easy money.

Almost got a full level last night – finished the series of SW quests after the Stockades too, with the help of Bernie (a dwarf priest), who I haven’t fully shown appreciation for, even after the multiple thanks. Now I have to collect any quests for BFD, if there are any. If anybody is interested in playing, I play on the Elune server, and my character is Mikura, Night Elf Rogue. I probably won’t start playing until after I run my afternoon errands, though.

Have an idea to build a server coming up, since we have so many PCs in the house. Check back later if interested.

以上。。。であります！

You know who your real friends are when you’re the one who needs help. My car couldn’t start after work today. Judging from the 12:00 flasher on my dash, it was most likely my battery not having enough of a charge to start the car. That’s too bad. All around me, people were getting into their cars and taking off. There was even a guy helping somebody else boost their non-starting car. Well… what about me? Nobody comes to my aid, nobody comes to even ask if I’m having problems. Oh, no. I guess nobody heard my engine trying its hardest to crank, but failing like a broken record. It just goes to show – I do many favors for these government bastards, yet nobody will come to lend a hand in my own time of need. I guess that means I have no friends in the government (not counting Candace, who left early today).

I could have called one of my friends, but they’re all somehow related to TS, and I don’t work there anymore, so it’d be weird to call up a favor like that. Besides, I only fix their PCs for free. It’s not like it warrants a boost from their car, if they had one.

I didn’t buy or order anything today. I didn’t receive any orders today. It’s one of those days, I guess. I did, however, manage to get two more levels in WoW. I hadn’t played for almost a week, so I’m really behind. It’s all thanks to watching Firefly and no thanks to watching CSI (which Esmond puts on the TV, I’m just forced to watch out of curiosity).

After work (I walked home, by the way), I rearranged all the gaming consoles in the living room – that is, I moved them all upstairs to my room to connect them to my LCD TV. Then, I moved the PC that was downstairs to the side, where it wouldn’t be in the way. After re-sorting all the console games, I took the PS2 for a test drive on the TV – awesome. Much better looking than on the HDTV downstairs. So far, this LCD TV, albeit smaller than the HDTV, is blowing my mind.

Gonna hit the hobby store tomorrow with Esmond and pick me up some new manga.

以上。。。であります！

Ugetsu Hakua – flamboyant
Artbook

Ugetsu Hakua’s flamboyant artbook is amazing. I can’t even begin to describe the quality of the pictures (nor do I want to scan them, I hate breaking or bending book spines). I mentioned earlier that I ordered this artbook, and I finally got it in yesterday. I would have posted this yesterday too, but my digicam wasn’t focusing properly. I really need a digital SLR.

Anyway, the character designs are incredible – a mix of cute and sexy all rolled up into a sci-fi/fantasy element. Ugetsu-san is the character designer for the popular Bakuretsu Tenshi anime, and the first half of the artbook showcases those characters.

Aoi Sora – LovexRABU
AV Idol DVD

Sora-chan did something rare that piqued my interest – she starred in a Bauhaus DVD! Since this fell into the idol category, I just had to get it. I have almost all of her shashinshuu, and now that she has an AV Idol DVD, I snatched it up quick. As you can see, I included some screenshots (no nudity) of the DVD footage itself.

Hagiwara Mai – b*LIVE
AV Idol DVD

I bought the b*LIVE shashinshuu when it first came out, but I never had the money to buy the DVD at that time. Maichy as a softcore model was a dream come true – amidst all the hardcore AV coming out of Japan, there was this gem shining through, determined to do her own thing. Now, time has passed and Maichy is making hardcore AV, which saddens me very much – it’s almost as if she sold out. When I saw this DVD up for grabs, I… well, grabbed it. It’s a vintage nod off to the girl she used to be, and the girl I have always admired her for being.

Not much going on in my world. Watching the first season of Firefly whenever I get the chance. That show is hilarious and intriguing at the same time. I hope another network picks this show up for future seasons, now that the success of the movie sucked in even more fans.

以上。。。であります！

It was a really bad day at work – a series of unfortunate events kept happening as if all the universe was out to get me. However, I wasn’t upset about it, really. In fact, I was in a rather lighthearted mood today. As a result, all these things that happened to me, I just took them in stride. First, I found out that somebody broke into my office and stole my mail room key for the building. It was strange, but I wasn’t upset.

Then, Mom called and wanted me to take her to Sears to pick up the latest catalog. Although I was reluctant to do that, I still went anyway. However, when I went to start my car, my key wouldn’t go into the lock on the door.

Fast rewind. To explain why the key wouldn’t go into the door, I have to explain what happened yesterday. After lunch, I got a page for a call in Island Lake. Of course, that’s a depot site, which means that the user would have to ship the PC to me, so I had to go to the office to commit the call and contact the user. I did all that, and he would be sending the PC on Thursday, since that’s the only flight out this week. Looking at my queue, I saw that I really had nothing to do for the rest of the day, so I decided to run some errands. I had Colin and Pete’s paystubs, so I drove to the trailer and dropped them off to them. Then, I drove to Shell and filled up my gas tank. On a whim, I decided to wash my car, since it’s winter and I had to keep my car clean to avoid rusting and staining. I had visited the auto wash when James H had his van, so I decided to try them out, since I didn’t really feel like breaking a sweat. The wash did a good job, although the drying time could have been longer. Anyway, I drove straight home and parked the car in the garage to dry. Fast forward.

So, there must have been some water left in the keyhole that didn’t dry up overnight, which caused it to freeze in the cold weather outside today. I spoke to maintenance, and they suggested applying a lubricant they had in their workshop. I did, but it only created a mess when it ran down the door (however, on the upside, my key is now easier to slip into the keyhole). After that, they lent me an industrial dryer, which pretty much cooked my keyhole, but did the job. I was on my way once again.

I picked up Mom and helped her run her errands (as well as put more money into my Visa ^_^), then we went for lunch at A&W. Their chicken is really delicious! Anyway, after that, we got into the car, which was already covered in snow. By habit, I turned on the windshield wipers to clean away the snow, but that only resulted in popping them off the mechanism under the hood (which has happened to me many times before, so I’m quite familiar with that). So… no wipers.

So, that’s my story today. Otherwise, it was a rather boring day. I got kicked off WoW while playing, so I played Heartful Party instead, which is a doujin ma-jon PC game based on To Heart 2. I was actually playing the damn game last night until 1:00, which is pretty late for me (I’m supposed to be asleep between 22:00-23:00).

I got in the latest issue of sabra today. Kawamura Yukie is on the cover, and is the featured gravure model. They also included a clear file with her picture on it. After flipping through the magazine for a bit, it looks as though Natsukawa Jun has a new sabra mook coming out, so I’ll have to look for that.

KOS-MOS
PVC/Resin Statue

Yesasia was fast with this one – I only ordered it 6 days ago. I always order using the fastest shipping available. I may spend a lot more money, but I get my stuff in a timely manner. Anyway, the detail put into this KOS-MOS was pretty good… this model comes from the company, Alter. I really like the pose and the hair, but the stand is kind of plain, as you can see from the photos above. I can’t wait to see the figure from Mon-Sieur BOME – although the pose is very simple, she’ll be standing on a Zohar – talk about cool.

以上。。。であります！

Current Music: Hitoto You – Yubikiri
Album: & (Limited Edition or Normal Edition)

I really loved Hito Omoi, so I immediately snatched this one up before the Limited Edition could go OOP, which happened to me with Hito Omoi (I’m still looking for the Limited Edition of that album). Although Hito Omoi was easy to get into, this was not the case with & – it took several listens before I could get into this one, but once I did, I really found myself enjoying the songs. The album opens with the upbeat Banana millefeuille, and follows with the extremely cute HOTCH Kiss. All her newest singles are on this one, but I especially liked Yubikiri – the melody was very good. I’m a melody kind of person, and I’ll go for melody before lyrics or musical arrangement, which is why I enjoy Joe Satriani more than Steve Vai. Satch is very melody oriented while Vai is just weird, although his classic album, Passion & Warfare, was pretty good. Most of his latest offerings have been very strange and experimental at best, though I did enjoy his song, Building The Church, from his latest album, Real Illusions: Reflections. Wait… how did I get off-topic like that?

I just got a letter from Shaw telling me that I’m exceeding my bandwidth usage limit, and that I should reduce it. Or else what? So, they suggested that I upgrade to their business internet plans.

I checked with their competitor, MTS. As much as I hate to say it, MTS’ business plans are far superior to Shaw’s, price wise. Half the price, same statistics, no bandwidth cap. I sent off an e-mail back to Shaw to see what they think of that. Their response will determine my next course of action.

I’m actually pretty excited. MTS’ package will provide me with two static IPs, which will be equivalent to running two ISPs anyway! Rock on!

以上。。。であります！

Well, due to the eventual advent of the new H.264/AVC codec standard, everybody is all afuss about jumping on the bandwagon to use it in their containers (most popular being AVI, MKV, and MP4). As a result (and a challenge) I’ve decided to do some research and compile a guide that will ensure you can watch these new formats while still being able to maintain the older, but more prominent DivX/XviD codecs. Note: this guide is geared towards Media Player Classic as a player. I’ll also assume that you know how to install/uninstall programs, and know how to enter commands in the Command Prompt.

First things first – clean and prepare. If you’ve been running a certain codec setup for a while, chances are that adding the H.264/AVC codec will most likely mess up your playback. Some MKV files may or may not play. I have to admit that everything seems to center around the playback of both MKV and MP4, since the AVI container is the most easiest to run. So, take all your codecs and filters, and uninstall every single one. You can go ahead and clean out the 3rd party players. Why jump to different players and associate your videos to separate players? It’s easier to manage things around a single player, in my opinion.

Once everything has been uninstalled, reboot the machine (even if some uninstalls made you reboot already). This will ensure that all the changes made to the system are updated. Heck, power cycle if you have the time. The first thing you want to install is the latest version of Media Player Classic – which is 6.4.8.7 at the time of writing. You can set MPC as the default player for all your videos, if you wish.

The first codec to install will be XviD. I usually use Koepi’s Build. You can leave all the options at default, but ensure that it decodes all the 4CC’s listed during installation. This is the most basic codec for video – it will decode most DivX compatible streams. You may also want WM9 VCM support.

Audio codecs are the most complicated, because different people like to use different audio compression algorithms. I highly recommend installing codecs for MP3, AC3, and AAC. CoreAAC needs to be installed manually, however. Just copy the CoreAAC.ax file to the System32 directory in your Windows directory, if it’s not in the default location. Once that’s completed, open a Command Prompt from the Accessories folder in the Start Menu and type in this command – “regsvr32 CoreAAC.ax” (without the quotes). Windows should pop up a dialog box that notifies of a successful registration. If not, double check that you placed the file in the correct directory, and that you didn’t rename the file.

If you want OGM support, you can install the OGG DirectShow codec, which will enable support for both video and audio.

This completes installing codecs that many popular AVI containers will use. Optionally, an Indeo codec will round out the deal, but it’s not as common. Some AVI containers will use the 3ivx codec – under no circumstances should you use this codec. There have been many problems associated with it, and the latest version is only a trial codec.

If you want to view RM, RMV, and RMVB videos from in MPC, you’ll need to install the free RealPlayer. Don’t worry, you’ll never use it – you can go ahead and delete the shortcuts it creates. After that, install Real Alternative codecs. This will enable these videos to work in MPC.

The next codec to be installed will be the new H.264/AVC codec. Believe it or not, I highly recommend ffdshow. Yes – the buggy all-in-one ffdshow is the secret weapon here. What you need to do is set all your options during installation. When ffdshow asks what you want to decode, unselect all the codecs except for H.264. Do not select any other video codecs. De-select all the audio codecs as well. Another option to disable is post processing. This option has been known to cause video delays and stuttering, so remove it with extreme prejudice. All other options can be left at default. By optimizing ffdshow this way, you ensure that it doesn’t get in the way of the other codecs, and only loads when H.264 video streams are detected – even in containers other than MP4!!

If you plan to view videos with hard subtitles, you’ll need a subtitle filter. If not, you can safely skip this step. If you plan to encode videos with subtitles using VirtualDub, it would be best to install VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 at this point. Acquire VSFilter and install it manually (just like the CoreAAC filter above, but with “VSFilter.dll” instead of “CoreAAC.ax”). If you installed VirtualDub, install VobSub, but deselect “VobSub for DirectShow” during the installation. At this point, it would be advisable to reboot the system.

The icing on the cake is the tricky Matroska Splitter. There are two to choose from – Gabest’s and Haali’s builds. I’ve tested both extensively and I only use Gabest’s – it works better than Haali’s. That, and Haali sometimes disappears from the system. Initiate another reboot.

Presto – you’re done! All that’s left is some minor configuration. Open MPC and from the menu bar, go to View, Options, Filters. Ensure that all the video and audio types are selected. This will ensure that if MPC cannot use its built-in filters, it will use the codecs we installed.

Optionally, there are a couple of tools you can use to troubleshoot playback issues. I use GSpot (for AVI containers only) and MatroskaDiag (for MKV containers only). Both are very easy to use, but MatroskaDiag can be difficult to read at times – you’re basically looking to make sure that all the pins in the streams have been assigned to the appropriate codec and filter.

Keep checking back to this blog entry – I plan to revise it as more updates are available.

以上。。。であります！