David Platt saying….I paraphrase loosely…
“Lampard didn’t dive, he was just expecting the challenge.”
The man tries so hard and doesn’t get the recognition he deserves! Now, if only only he wore earrings and was voted a gay magazine icon…..
Month: March 2007
First the adoption….NOW THIS?!
NO, JUST SAY NO.
P.S: That expression on Wayne’s face…
There’s a reason Dick Grayson and Barbara got out of Dodge…
Goodbye Sygate, Hello Comodo
 It was finally time for my beloved Sygate Personal Firewall to go.
As the pipes I have access to got fatter, Sygate’s CPU utilisation was getting unacceptable, up to 15% sometimes.
It was also getting long in the tooth (Symantec stopped development after taking over. Damn you Symantec!). Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but being a closed source application, the possibility of unpatched vulnerabilities is a concern.
And so, off on my quest. My criteria were simple.
- Cheap, free is even better
- Simple, as in “stop trying to do everything”
- Perhaps most importantly, effective
Unfortunately effectiveness can only be judged by reviews and tests as I have neither the means nor the desire to see for myself.
The popular candidate would be Kerio, but I do not like that it does web filtering, or that it nags you to register when the full version trial is over.
Happily, I decided to give Comodo Personal Firewall another go.
I have tried it before, maybe a year ago. Back then it had the obnoxious “Comodo LaunchPad”, and was bloody “chatty” with the warnings. Glad to see the LaunchPad is gone, and the sensitivity maybe tuned down somewhat.
Very nice, Comodo. Thanks.
Jimi Hendrix – Little Wing
This is the song that made me want to master the guitar. The video quality is atrocious, so just close your eyes, listen to the music and fly away.
Surely Jimi must have been channeling the music from somewhere not of this earth. That bit about me mastering the guitar? Still working on it.
Brad Delp 1951 – 2007
There is really only one thing I can quote:
I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away
R.I.P. Brad, and thanks.
Update: It was a suicide. Damned shame.
CONSPIRACY! BRIT TEAMS KEPT APART! (or not)
The draw for the quarters and semis of the Champions League is out. The first legs of the QFs are on the 3rd/4th of April, the second a week later. The semis are on for the week of the 24th/25th of April, with the reverse tie a week later. Teams listed first play the first leg at home.
Quarter-finals
AC Milan v Bayern Munich
PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool
AS Roma v Manchester United
Chelsea v Valencia
Semi-finals
AS Roma or Manchester v AC Milan or Bayern Munich
Chelsea or Valencia v PSV Eindhoven or Liverpool
Very accomodating of UEFA to give us all the dull grinders on one branch of the draw to the finals, and all the attacking sides on the other. The neutrals should be pleased.
Kuniaki Haishima – Grain
“Grain” is dark, atmospheric, chilling, surreal. It reaches for the sacred while wallowing in the profane. It is like nothing else I have heard. It is perfection.
Monster OST 1 - GRAIN (opening theme)
It is also the opening theme for Monster, one of the best fictional work I have ever experienced, in any medium. Highly recommend, even for, to use a cliché, people who hate cartoons.
Kyon – Hare Hare Yukai
On one sunny day
She, who is endlessly wishing for
The fun beyond magic, is a problem
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (涼宮ãƒãƒ«ãƒ’ã®æ†‚鬱) or The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi was one of the better anime of 2006. Not the best, mind you, but definitely one of my top 5. The ending theme Hare Hare Yukai (Sunny Sunny Fun) is generic J-pop fluff (i.e. not my idea of art or a good time), but the ending animation is strangely addictive, a guilty pleasure.
Just found out recently that the voice actors each recorded a version of Hare Hare Yukai in character. Thanks to YouTube, I managed to listen to a few. Mostly rather mediocre (as I expected) but there is one gem, the Kyon version.
ハレ晴レユカイ～Ver.キョン～
It has a bluesy, “unplugged” feel, and Kyon (Tomokazu Sugita) has a fine singing voice. Plus, the lyrics are hilarious for anybody who’s seen the show, or read the manga or novels.
Jim Carrey – I Am The Walrus
There! I did it! I defiled a timeless work of art!
Sir George Martin’s “In My Life”, meant to be his farewell album, gathered some unlikely personalities covering Beatles songs, with Sir George producing, of course. Having Jim Carrey do a cover may seem like a joke, much less something iconic like I Am The Walrus, but… well listen for yourself.
I Am The Walrus (sung by JIM CARREY)
I guess Jim proves on this track his performance of the Might Mouse theme in the Man On The Moon was no fluke. A great set of pipes, and the progression from just plain crazy to totally deranged is perfect for the song.