April 2005

bigfoot-cookie-barbie
Originally uploaded by Taoski.

Bigfootcookie says:

“Hey everyone, here’s my new bike.

Its pink and its got a bell and its got a bag and i look really cool. Got me a helmet too.

Let’s all go for a ride on the Aston Express Way!”

“Wheeeeeee!!!”

Dring dring!

fractal
Originally uploaded by Taoski.

Just “shopped” this pic i took when on holiday in the Lake District in 2003.

Total factal madness man!

At the bequest (not final!!) of DJ Scratch-Master Rob “the winnebago on the wheels of steel” Smith i am making a posting about my current P2P situation, whats hot, whats not and whats a pile of… er… snot! Enough about iPods… cut to the chase:

Not much has changed really since i made my last posting about what i use. Sites have come and gone faster than i can remember and only the brave have stood the test of the MPAA and their vulture legal teams. Major players have fallen and new ones have stepped in to take their place. Still the torrent sites go on strong as before and the signs are that it is not slowing down. After all - if you featured something like torrents on places like the BBC news website - would you not expect more people to start using it? Duh!
In my world, P2P apps have pretty much died a death and i only use them for obtaining an odd track now and again (obviously ones i already legally own). Sites like Suprnova paved the way for torrents to take over and this is now seen as (one of) the best methods of obtaining “stuff”.

Here is my current A-list of sites and software.

Torrent Sites:

• Demonoid
• Oink
• Mininova
• Boxtorrent (xbox stuff only)

These are the only torrent sites i use now. All the others like Torrentspy and Sharelive seem to have gone a bit “odd”. Plus, using sites that you have to register for and enforce an upload/download ratio means you get more people sharing and therefore get a faster download! Oink is a great music only site which uses an invite only entry system and this can only be done by “Power Users”. I got an invite - not sure how you would go about getting one! Mininova is registration free and is fast to load which i why i like it, just like the good old days of Suprnova. Demonoid is the best though and has a good community feel to it.

P2P:

• Soulseek
• Warez

Soulseek is a music only sharing app which benefits from allowing you to find a song and download the “containing folder” which means you could in theory get a whole album in 1 click! You can browse and download from other peoples shares too. Soulseek has a chat facility where you can make requests plus an excellent watchlist tool which pops up and tells you when people sign on with matching criteria. Looking for the Drum and Bass version of Button Moon? It’ll tell you when it’s available!
Warez is your typical run-of-the-mill P2P application like Kazaa, Limewire, MinMX and a host of others. The only thing that keeps me using this is that it does seem very fast! Not too many users though and its probably monitored by someone. I have had a few fakes from there too which was annoying. I might switch back to WinMX soon but i use it so infrequently that it hardly seems worth it. Browsing the candy store of torrent sites makes more sense to me - unless you know exactly what you are looking for.

Essential Software:

• Symantec Antivirus Corporate Version 10
• Giant Anti-spyware
• Registry Mechanic
• Firefox

Symantec anti-virus - nuff said. Corp version does not expire - need i say any more? Does what it says on the tin. Giant Antispyware has since been bought by our matey big bad Bill Gates - so it must be good! It runs all the time and pops up to tell you when dodgy things are happenning. Another essential is Reg mechanic which will clear out the rubbish from your registry - maybe making your machine faster and more stable.
Ditch Internet Explorer and use Firefox. Since i made the switch i have had alot less spyware on my PC. Its fast and free! Get it now!

In conclusion, P2P is out, Torrents are on the up and i still have’nt got an iPod! Oops! Sorry!

So, I am Easy Rider for my Classic Film… but what fruit am i?

Take the What Fruit Are You? test by Ellen!

Just got round to watching the Star Wars Revelations “film-ette” which i grabbed off the Torrents a few weeks back. Basically the film has been made by Star Wars fans and contains their own characters and plotlines within the Star Wars universe. Our chum Lord Vader makes an appearance too and manages to choke a man using the force (never seen that done before!) and there are plenty of Stormtroopers and Jedi thrown in too.

You might expect that this would be total crap. But it is’nt! Even the special effects are good! A space battle between the Jedi and some Tie Fighters is excellently done and would looks better than the effects in the early series of Babylon 5! Lightsaber battles galore between “the baddies and the goodies” are also well done, if a little choreographed.

All in all - very impressive. Although fat, beared or goatee wearing Jedi so look a little out of place.

Download the full film from the Star Wars Revelations Website.

Saw this over at b3ta.com. Just had to share it!

Just spent the last 3 hours perusing the wares over at the MP3Blogs Aggregator. If you are prepared to wade through the list of sites on the right you will find an enourmous wealth of MP3 tracks to download.

I have just discovered that i am into Downtempo and Electronic Folk! Blissed out smooth guitars and crisp synth lines blended with breakbeat love. Yum.

Give it a try - there is loads of stuff there! All from bands you probably won’t of heard of. But that’s the fun of it all! I would post some links to the stuff i found - but that would spoil it for you! (and i can’t remember!)

Kinda makes me want to revamp The Music Club blog into something a little “more”.
Then again i am not so into Music that i could do a whole site based on it!
Podcasting anyone?

Dearly beloved,

The Roman Catholic Church appears to have elected a interweb friendly techno-pope (software release XVI) who has already started to Blog his way to heaven. See him preachin’ and teachin’ over at The Pope Lives.

Amen.

Just got back from my first Gym Session for 2 months (and 1 day).
I already feel a little sore in the stomach area after doing 20 sit-ups of death. Its gonna be the kind of pain that throbs like a Jack Daniels enflamed ulcer. I hope that by the *real* summer i will have buns of steel and will look *buff* enough to remove my top in between the rain showers.

I decided to ease slowly back into the routine and only ran 1.5 miles (in about 15 mins), 5 mins of cycling and a serious bash on the Multigym equipment. As of next week i will increase my running distance and perhaps even get out round the lake a few times as running on the treadmill is no real indication of how far you can run, just how long you can keep your legs moving.

I was in there on my own for the whole time - which was nice. I had to endure the local radio station though which was as shite as usual.

“Crap Hits from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and today!… but first… an advert for the local carpet showroom”.

If i had my 20gb iPod with me, some pumping trance would have made it all alot easier (i hope). But no doubt it would have shuffled onto something else and i would have been running to “Christmas in the stars” from the Star Wars Xmas Album.

“What do you mean Artoo? reindeers can’t fly!”