smart, useful junks

Digital: A Love Story Walkthrough

2010-08-13T04:09:00.001-07:00

I've been playing a great game: Digital: A Love Story, which is available for free on the Internet. You should really try it sometime.

Digital: A Love Story Walkthrough

By fuser

Digital is created by Christine Love for Windows, OSX and Linux, and is based
on the BBS scene around 1988, around the same time the Morris worm spread out. This
game is based upon that, but with an unexpected twist that you never saw coming.

Let's begin, shall we?

At the Title Screen, choose RUN to begin a new game

Enter your screen name, First and Last names when prompted.

Check your messages, which is represented by the mail envelope on the desktop.

There are two e-mails here, one from your computer manufacturer on using
your system and the second one is from Mr.Wong, (who you bought the computer from)
who's kind enough to supply you with a dialer application along with a bbs
number and a reminder for you not to make any long distance calls.

Download the 'dialer.exe' application attached with Mr. Wong's email.

The dialer application will now show on the bottom-right corner of your screen, and is
represented by a telephone icon.

Using this application is simple:

Click on Dialer, and enter the telephone number when prompted, and then press Dial.

The number is 698-5519 (Just type in 6985519, the game will add the -).
Wait for your call to finish.

At the BBS screen, choose Log in. Since you're obviously new, type in "new" to create and account, followed by a password.

After registering, check out the Messages section. There are three messages, one from 0rph3o,
another one is a poem from Emilia, and an article on Computer Viruses by Blue Sky (foreshadowing). Note that both Emilia and Blue Sky has asterisks in front of their usernames.

Read all messages, reply to them and download them as well. Now close the BBS dialer, and re-dial the BBS. You'll now have a alert box that informs you that the your latest PMs have been downloaded into your computer, press ok and close the dialer and check your Messages.

There are three new PMs, one is from System, which informs you that you have successfully registered into the BBS, another is a reply from Blue Sky, who explains a bit about the
ARPANET, as well as a PM from Emilia on your feedback about her poem. Reply to the PM's from both Emilia and Blue Sky, and re-dial the BBS.

Login as usual, and you'll get an alert box on your latest PMs. Check out the Messages section of the BBS, there should be three new messages, one is from Blue Sky, which is a continuation of his previous article on viruses, another one is from Figaro, who supplies us with a new BBS number, The Matrix. The third article is the second part of his article on The BBS FAQ.

Close the dialer, and check your messages. You should receive one from Emilia, reply to her PM.

Remember the BBS number Figaro gave us? It's 220-7683, where there are more interesting stuff going on there. Let's call it, shall we?

Like the first board, create a new account and login.

As usual, go to the messages section of the BBS. There are three new messages, two from Rocky, the first explaining about the "PC LOAD LETTER" Now how was anyone supposed to know that meant put in more paper, dammit?

Back on topic, a second article is on VRAM overflow, a much more important post concerning a bug in the Amie's memory management, which a poorly coded application can turn your computer into a paperweight. Reply to this message.

The final message is from Figaro, who is complaining about a bug in the Amie's C compiler. Reply to this as well. Exit the BBS, and dial back into Lane City Local. You should receive some new PM's, and check out the messages section to find a post from Tiberius about The Next Generation. Reply to his post if you want, it's hilarious.

Exit the BBS dialer, and check your messages, you should receive a message by The Matrix BBS about your registration, as well as another letter from Emilia. Reply to Emilia's PM.

Now..who do you want to call first?

I would suggest visiting The Matrix first, as Rocky will send you a PM concerning his post titled 'VRAM overflow'. You will receive an attachment for the latest version of the Amie Workbench, download the attachment and you should be safe now. If it appears that nothing has happened, the Workbench upgrade has basically been installed, there's no need to literally
restart the game like the message suggests.

Now redial the Lane City Local BBS, where you will receive new PM's. Check the Messages section, there's a new post by 0rph3o which is the third installment on the BBS FAQ. Read the message, and note that he mentions that the SysOP (admins of the BBS era) can read any message sent in his system, esp. PM's.

Exit the BBS, and check your messages. There are two new PM's, one is from Emilia, who seems to enjoy you messaging her, and another one from Tiberius, who clearly shows wit, eloquence,
maturity and intelligence in his PM. Reply back to Emilia's PM, you can reply back to Tiberius if you want, but that's his only message.

Dial The Matrix BBS, with two new messages, one from Rainbreeze, whose post, Nihao, bitches! is a clear indicator of his mastery with foreign culture, international affairs, and economics. Reply to his post.

Another post is from Ward, who has a uploaded a new program, a Notepad application, but unlike the Notepad we normally see, this one is mainly for storing BBS phone numbers, telephone codes as well as passwords. Download the application and reply to his post.

The notepad application should be at the bottom-left corner of your screen now, and is represented by the Notepad icon (duh).

Check the program out: The program has three tabs, which I had listed earlier. The numbers we have so far are Lake City Local BBS and The Matrix BBS, and the passwords section only has passwords for the BBS's that we have accounts on.

Now dial back into Lake City, and you should receive some new PM's. Close the BBS and check your PM's. Ooh, a new PM by Emilia. Reply her message. Dial into The Matrix, you should receive some new PM's. And check the Messages section of the BBS, which a user, POSEIDON, posts a rebuttal on Rainbreeze's earlier post. Close the BBS and check your messages.

The first one is from Ward, concerning the program he uploaded earlier. Hmm, he found it posted anonymously? Interesting. The second one is from Raintree, who replies back to you about your opinion on his post. Close Messages and re-dial Lane City Local.

You should receive a new PM from Emilia, reply back to her PM. Now call The Matrix. Ok, there's nothing much, just another rebuttal on Raintree's post by Sean Smith. Exit the BBS and re-dial Lane City Local. You should get a new PM by Emilia, reply back to her PM.

Call back Lane City, receive a new PM from Emilia, and reply to her. I've to admit I feel pretty close to her at this point. Now let's call The Matrix, there's two new posts, one is from #42 (an obvious reference) about a new game he uploaded "Super Roberto Bros", which, unfortunately, is for another Operating System, so you cannot download it.

There's another post, by RobFugitive, with the title "New c0dez". Reply and download this message. Exit, and re-dial the BBS.

You should receive some new PM's. Check your messages, it's a reply from RobFugitive on what c0dez are, how to use them, as well as a new BBS number, GibsonBBS.

From here, you should receive two new numbers, the first one is the local calling card number, 915-3347, and GibsonBBS, (714) 402-5691. Reply back to his message if you like.

Call Lane City first, you should receive a new PM from Emilia, who asks us about running away from home..ok, this is scary. Dial into The Matrix, and you should receive a new message, and the Messages section has a post by Five which is about a Password Cracker, which unfortunately is for DOS. Reply to his post and exit the BBS and read through the messages you have downloaded.

It's a new PM from Rob, he seems kinda nice about your reply. Let's give the GibsonBBS a shot, shall we? Open up the Notepad application, and it should show the two latest entries, which is the Long distance calling card and the GibsonBBS number. Start the Dialer, and enter the Long Distance calling card number first.

It will then ask you for your calling card access number, which the Notepad will automatically switch to the c0dez tab of the application. Enter any number you like. You can now call GibsonBBS, which you can type in as 7144025691, as the program will then place (714)
in brackets, and the numbers 402 and 5691 are separated by a (-)

Great. The BBS in invitation only, which means that you cannot register just to use the site. Exit the BBS. Dial the Lane City BBS, and you should receive a new PM from Emilia who seems to be pretty lonely. Reply back to her PM. Now dial The Matrix, and again you will receive some new PM's.

It's from Five, and it seems that maybe he couldn't work on an Amie version of his Password Cracker. Dial back into Lane City, it seems that Emilia is determined to run away from wherever she is from. Reply back to her PM. Call The Matrix and send a PM to Figaro. Exit the BBS and dial Lane City, you should receive another PM from Emilia, and send a PM to Blue Sky. Reply back to her PM, and Re-Dial Lane City to receive new PM's from BlueSky and Emilia.

Blue Sky seems to be collecting information for a book on online computer use, and reply back to his message, read Emilia's and reply to her PM as well. Re-dial into Lane City, and you'll receive two new PM's from Emilia...Oh My God. Reply back to her PM.

Now dial into the Matrix. Check out the messages section, where there's four new posts, one is from Akuma, who I have no idea what he won. The second post is from Rob, who points out Akuma's intelligence. The third is from J.Rook, the admin of Lane City...apparently the Lane City Local BBS is thrashed.

The final post is from Figaro, who has written an Amie version of the Password Cracker, and is available for download. Download the Password Cracker, and reply to both Figaro and Rook's post.

Dial Lane City Local, and Rook was right, and there's this weird "ACCESS ERROR 0xAA" that keeps on showing at all times.

The Password Cracker, called dict hacker, is located just next to Notepad. How does this application work? Remember that GibsonBBS is invitation only, so that means the BBS most likely chose passwords based on dictionary letters. So, let's start another long distance call. Remember to run Notepad first, so that it will show you the numbers and c0dez needed.

After the Dialer shows the GibsonBBS front screen, close Notepad and run the cracker. It should be able to find a password, where it will then save it into Notepad and immediately log you into the BBS. Read, download and reply to all the Messages on the BBS. Now exit the BBS and dial into The Matrix.

You'll receive some PM's, and the messages section has two new ones: One from J.Rook, who seems to be looking for you, and 0rph3o, who mentions that you now post on his BBS. Reply to 0rph3o's and Rook's messages and download it. Exit the BBS, and read through the Messages.

Oh, it's from Akuma, who, like Tiberium, shows a high level of maturity. Call back The Matrix, and you'll receive two new PM's from Rook. Read through the two messages: what the..Emilia? What's going on here?

Reply back to Rook's PMs and call back The Matrix to receive a new PM from Rook. Well, that's bloody nice of him. Let's call Gibson, shall we?

After one call using the "borrowed" c0dez, login using the "borrowed" password. Read through the posts on the Messages section, there'll be three new posts, two from Hollinger, which is basically around Neuromancer (I guess) and one from Fritz, who has has a new number for a FidoNet BBS. Reply to both parties if you like. Hollinger seems to appreciate it though.
Download the messages, especially Fritz's.

Now let's call Sector 001. Another long-distance call. Luckily, you can make a new account on this system. There are 6 posts, Sean Smith's "Illegal access" on which he was impressed that you had "HACKED THE GIBSON!!". The second post is just nonsense, but the CoreBBS RNG exploit from NOMAD is important. Read through it, and download it. Reply if you want to. The next two posts are from #42 about some game of fanfic, god knows. The final post, from RobStewart is important, as he includes a C compiler for your Amie C along with the compiler. Download the compiler.

The compiler doesn't appear anywhere on the desktop, but don't worry, it'll play a role later on in the game. Now let's call The Matrix, and you should notice that there's a new section in the BBS, labelled LCL Archives. You can read it if you want. Now read the messages, and there are three new posts, one is from The Finn, who is kind enough to host the files supplied by Blue Sky.

Read the next post, which is from Nauseahare on "Dead AIs" In here, you'll find a number for a new BBS, THE UNDERGROUND LIBRARY and a list of AIs that have been murdered. You'll notice a familiar name in there. Reply to Nausea's post, and download it.

The final post, from Rocky, has a fix for the Amie C compiler. Download the fix. REturn back home, and it will alert you that you have new PMs. Exit the BBS. Check the Messages you received, one is from Sector 001, and another is from Nausea, who does think it is a bit weird. Reply to his PM, and note the password given, which is for the Underground Library. Dial back into The Matrix to receive another PM by Nausea.

Open Notepad, and in the Passwords tab now includes the password given by Nausea.Now connect to The Underground Library BBS. When you reach the title page, try using the password. Damn, it didn't work..wait, this BBS apparently uses CoreBBS. If you remember the post at Sector 001 converning on how to exploit it, so you can just guess the password yourself.

It should work, and the password will then be updated automatically in Notepad as well. Check the messages section, and download all the posts there first. Now open a new message, you will receive an Alert Box, which informs that you have downloaded a new message and have been disconnected.

Go through your messages, you'll receive a warning from Delphi about accessing his system. Weird..Delphi apparently made the original post on the Dead AI's. Reply to both PM's, and go through Montjoy's Nomenclatures and AI Interaction, Blue Sky's History of ARPANET, and Delphi's Traversing networks. Montjoy's articles concern on how AIs will use forms of verbal interaction, as well as some AIs which are given Shakespearian names. The most prominent feature of all these articles is concerning "Mother", which could be the original self-aware AI, and that the later generation began escaping out of the ARPANET, again giving us another clue about what is going on. Reply to Montjoy's, Delphi's and Blue Sky's messages.

Now call back The Underground Library, and you'll need a new password this time. Disconnect, and re-dial. You'll need a new set of c0dez, so dial back into The Matrix to get new ones, read and download the latest c0dez posted by Rob.

Re-dial the BBS with the latest c0dez, and read select any of the posts in the Messages section, and you'll be kicked out with a warning by Delphi. Reply back to him, and call back the Library.

This time, send PM's to Delphi and Montjoy, now you can either go to the Messages or the Title Screen of the BBS, and you'll get an alert box to inform you that you're received new PM's.

The first message is from Delphi, who carries not-so-pleasant news. Blue Sky's message explains the truth about The Creeper virus. Now make a long-distance call, all c0dez are now invalid, so you have to get new ones from The Matrix. Remember to download the message.

Using those c0dez, call The Gibson and PM Hollinger and Wintermoot, Hollinger about academia not taking sci-fi seriously, and Wintermoot who is confused on how you got access into his BBS. Now, dial The Library, you should get two new PM's from Delphi and Blue Sky.
Blue Sky is incapable of answering your queries concerning The Reaper as it is a historian foremost, but notify him if any disoveries are made for book-keeping.

Delhpi's post is is still unhelpful, unfortunately. Reply to both messages. Now call Sector 001, and check the messages section; there is now four new posts, the ones from #42 and Nero are practically useless, so just disregard it. Read the one from Figaro concerning the CoreBBS exploit, but it doesn't seem to work for him. Weird. Exit the BBS.

Now dial The Gibson BBS, and there are four new messages. The one from Victoria is particularly useful, as it gives us the number for the crown jewel: The ARPANET. Funny that a BBS that could be bruteforced holds the number to the ARPANET. Download the message.

Any c0dez are invalid now, so dial into The Matrix for new ones. The new one doesn't work now, so it looks like you have to re-dial into The Matrix for a new set of c0dez.
Call The Library to receive a new PM from Delphi who explains about Paris.Reply to him.

Now dial into The ARPANET, (805) 524-4742.

Try logging in, and it seems that only authorized people can access it. The number on the screen is apparently not connected to a modem, so use the Dict Hacker to get a password.

Using the new password, now go through the "Send Email" section of the BBS, and note two interesting names there: firstly, Paris, who has an asterisk in front of his name, indicating that he's an AI, as well as an interesting name, Robert Morris. Send a message to Paris, and go back to the title screen, where it will inform you that you have a new PM.

Go through the e-mail, and it seems that unlike his brothers and sister, Paris can not reply in a human way, and replies in syntax. Reply to his message.

Now we need more c0dez, as usual. Get some more at the usual place. Now dial into the ARPANET to receive a new message from Paris about our old friend, in source code format. Download the source code, and exit the Messages program. A build.bat should be on the desktop, directly above the Dialer program. Compile it, and check back your messages.

Welcome back, Emilia. Keep on replying to her messages in the program.

Now run the Dialer application, and it notes that there is a glitch in the telephone system, so you can use any c0dez you have right now. Now dial into The Library, and there are four new messages by Delphi. The first one is a warning for other AIs to go to ARPANET as it is becoming dangerous, as well as a weakness in the Reaper, discovered by another AI program.

The last two messages, is concernig the Anti-Reaper payload. The first one is the payload, and the second one is on how it works, as well as informing users that both he and Blue Sky are now in the ARPANET. Leave the BBS.

Now go through your messages, and Emilia will try to defeat Reaper at a cost. She also provides us with a recompiled version of the payload. Download the payload.

The payload, payload.bat, should be directly about the Messages shortcut. Run the payload. Now check your messaging program, Emilia will provide you with the final steps.

Dial the ARPANET, even the ARPANET is apparently affected now. Check your messages,
it'll be Emilia's final message to you.

Goodbye, Emilia.

You've now finished the game. There are messages by Blue Sky, Paris and some guy called
Kiros and a poem by an AI on the fight against Reaper and the personal tragedy of you and
Emilia. In a related note, it didn't take long for the authorities to blame the worm attack on a user named Robert Morris.

In case you were wondering why I decided to post it here instead of GameFaqs or NeoSeeker, it's because those sites are mostly devoted to block buster games, and there's no way I could make a new profile with my limited membership.

I've been waiting for NeoSeeker to accept Digital: A Love Story profile as well, but it's been taking too long.

2010-08-13T04:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't wrote much lately, too busy with life. Will update later on what's happening with my life.

Some things have been going on:

I got employed by IBM as tech support.

Learning to play guitar, mostly concentrating on old school hardcore punk and pop-punk.

Still haven't got around to driving.

That's about it, I guess.

Stupidity on Youtube

2009-10-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

I like the Internet, I really do. Otherwise I wouldn't be spending a significant amount of my time on Facebook, MSN and this blog, and the various forums I go to.

The thing is, sometimes there's way too many people who refuse to bow down to other people, while other people are just as sensitive as a rock on what they say on the Internet.

Take for example, this mature exchange on Youtube:

usjta (1 month ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

i like this and shit. but i got into the skinhead/punk shit like a year ago not from this. and your right fuck the jonas brothers and lady gaga shitty nigger music and preppy fucking shit

heavytransit (1 month ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

you dont have any opinion about music youre a stupid nazi nothing more ridiculous than that go away.

usjta (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

dude fuck this..... fuckyou.. who gives a shit about you.

heavytransit (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

people who arent stupid give a shit about me.
now who gives a shit about you?

And the video itself?

And if that wasn't retarded enough for you:

Raptor015 (3 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Okay, this sort of culture really pisses me off. I mean, locking up your kids? You sir, are and idiot, and should be raped by a rabid dog.

crazyjj18 (3 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Um,..Excuse me? You're here commenting, if you had any sense at all (Since you are a inbred, only child) you'd know not to say anything if you have nothing nice to say.

Raptor015 (3 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

No, the reason I was actually here was because I was looking for a song off LCHC (Grand Theft Auto IV). This certainly wasn't the song I was looking for. This bullshit is actually painful to listen to.

crazyjj18 (1 month ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Sometimes I wonder what happens to common sense. It seems dead in Youtube, I guess.

If that wasn't good enough, I read the comments while I was watching this vid:

ok, so I like this song. Anyway...

barret50calm107 (1 hour ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

rot in hell mother fucker randy was a beast he worked his ass off 4 every fan of ozzy and deservs credit 4 it so stop dissin him and get off his and our music bitch

Orbit91 (2 hours ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Successful troll is successful

MrGuitar124 (4 hours ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

haha thats great man but someone who thinks FALLOUT BOY are "metal gods" can't say anything about anyone being a fag coz if anyone is man its you go take a look at yourself your disgusting

FALLOUTboyMETALgods (5 hours ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Wow Randy was a FAG! I hear he used to suck the turds straight from Ozzy's asshole. He wrap his lips around a log and suck out its essential TURD OILS! He would drain all bacterial life from the feces until the stool was like a white dog turd. God he was a sick mother fucker. At the time of his death he was also dabbling in eating three day old used tampons taken out of public women's restrooms! What a sick FREAK...just like his FAGGOT FANS...YES YOU with the MULLET!

Again, why does civility and politeness disappear on YouTube?

I have no idea. I could've posted more, but I decided that if I do that my own faith in humanity will disappear.

bloody hell

2009-10-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

Today's post shall be a bit emo since I need an outlet to vent my frustration.

Sometimes I just wish people would simply leave me alone so that I can do whatever I want, but apparently that's too much of a luxury to ask for. It began yesterday when I was simply getting online and my dad told me to go out with my uncle to his club house, and then follow him and his family back to his home, all the while he kept on telling me I should get a life and even talked about marriage, something which I am just not interested in.

And then everyone kept on bugging me how they wanted a burger at 10 pm in the night, and I simply ignored them since all I want to do is to watch TV at the time.

And today, I have to go with my parents just to see my cousin get home. Apparently I assumed that we were going to drop him off at the railway station, but no. Instead we have to go to the bus station, before going off to buy some groceries - something not mentioned in the original plan.

Did I also mention that today was the last day Asus offers their laptops at a good price? Apparently I can't get the money today since they're too busy with a relative going off to Mecca, and a wedding and a class for today. So instead, I have to deposit the money later this evening and retrieve the damned thing tomorrow. And I already told my dad that they don't accept checks: Yet he kept on saying me to call them back and ask them whether he accepts them if it clears. Sometimes my dad can be absurdly thick.

And now I have to go and see my aunt taking off to Mecca. There's no one else available, not even my brother who is sitting all day in front of the TV.

NUFAN gig 18/10/09

2009-10-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

I went to see No Use For A Name yesterday, and I must say that it's probably one of the best gigs I've ever been to.

Too bad my partner in crime, Azri Rotten (owner of Brainystuffs and his other blog which name eludes me atm) had blown his money on his debut EP, otherwise we'd have such a good time together, since nothing beats having a friend to join you

And the gig was widely anticipated by many punk rock fans, and I heard that people from Singapore, Indonesia and even Australia showed up mainly to watch NUFAN play.

Now for a quick run-down:

Like all gigs, it is somehow impossible for them to start on time, which was planned to begin at 1 PM (I arrived there at 1.35), the gig began at 3.30 pm, and the first act was Dosound, an Indonesian punk rock act, which I'm unable to determine the sound, although I think they're pretty good.

The next act was Toxictoy, a punk rock band from Pahang, sounds nice, although I'm still incapable of determining the influences. I am pretty tone-deaf, I guess.

The following act was Always Last, another local punk act from KL, which I liked a lot, and they sound like Good Riddance and Bad Religion, and I bought their album as well. People slam danced and formed circle pits to their songs, which was quite something.

This was soon followed by Plague Of Happiness, which is a local ska-punk act, and it was so pleasing that you couldn't help but wanting to dance along to the tunes. They were so popular, that everyone requested them to play "Viva La Punk", which originally was a song by The Bollocks (I think), which they covered into a much more superior version and proved to be a hit among punk rock fans.

The next act was another favorite of mine, Second Combat. Contrary to my perception, despite the number of SC fans in attendance, there was a surprising lack of moshing and slam-dancing, although they put up an excellent show, and I even caught their song list which the vocalist threw at the end of their performance. It might have some value in the near future, who knows. It's sad to know that this legendary band will disband later this year, I really think they're under-appreciated here in Malaysia, and the only respectable media outlet that covered them was ROTTW, while other media outlets are more interested in pop-rock acts which I'm getting sick of. I've had people from Europe and America telling me how great they are and comparing them with other widely acclaimed acts.

After that it's Abhorrence, a hardcore band from Slovakia. Now I don't know much about hardcore from East Europe, but I think they put up quite a performance, and they basically made everyone go wild, and they were so good that everyone asked for one more song after they played only four songs due to time constraints, which they honored.

Under-18, an Indonesian hardcore band followed next, and U18 and Abhorrence are actually touring together, and KL was their last stop before moving on to Bandung. I felt that they were pretty good, with their warzone-inspired sounds was pretty cool, although their fashion clearly showed their influences, with almost all of them dressed like Hardcore-style skinheads, with only the guitarist sporting a more Oi! look.

And the final act, NUFAN began at 6.45 / 6.50 ( I can't remember it precisely) after a 30-minute soundcheck, and even during sound check the venue was almost full, and packed with eager fans wanting to see the band in action, even during the sound checking stage. And when it finally started, it was pretty wild, with people slam-dancing and crowd-surfing. I had a shoe print on my face from some girl whose shoe hit my face, and I almost got crushed from the slam dancers, and I think it was quite an intense performance, overall.

I sure hope these international bands will make another stop here again soon. I'd kill someone innocent and unrelated to me just to get his money so that I can see them live.

Now let's wait for the Buzzcocks to get here. I don't hope any wild antics, but I do hope on having a good time.

Overall...I'd give it a 10/10. Thanks to all those who made it happen.

Now for pics, I've uploaded it to my facebook profile, so just click here instead:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8356&id=100000097217701&l=a8832ee939

And check out all the bands I mentioned above, you'll lose nothing but your hearing.

Have You Ever Heard Of...

2009-10-19T01:25:00.000-07:00

Flipper?

Flipper is a Californian Hardcore punk band that was formed in 1979 and split up at 1987. What sets Flipper apart from other Californian HC punk bands at the time was that they played at a slower pace, with an emphasis on playing noisily, and very badly.

The reason why Flipper was so successful was because they are able to upset their audience, and at the same time gain their undivided attention and curiosity at the same time.

Their debut single, "Love Canal"/"Ha Ha Ha", was widely derided, not only for its offensive cover art, but its bizarre sound, and yet sold many copies in the underground, thus the Flipper ethos was laid down: to be bad in ways no band had ever been bad before, that they were so good at it they even failed in failing out from music, but rather due to drugs.

Their first proper album, Generic Flipper, was widely received and became a hit in the underground hardcore punk scene, and this was soon followed Gone Fishin, which had a darker sound.

Their third album, Public Flipper Ltd was famous as retaliation on John Lyndon (aka Johnny Rotten) who was alleged to have stolen the cover art and concept of Flipper's Generic album for his band, Public Image Ltd.

How influential are they?

For starters, grunge icon Kurt Cobain was a big fan of Flipper, and he often wore self-made Flipper T-shirts, and can be seen in the In Utero's booklet pictures as well as on the band's first performance on Saturday Night Live in 1992.

Secondly, the early sounds for Jane's Addiction are actually influenced by Flipper's rolling rythms and repetitive lyrics.

And the fact that two of its former members became musical legends in their own way:

One of them is Moby. Yeah, that same guy who we all know as a electronic musician.

Another one of them is Krist Novoselic, also known as the bassist for Nirvana.

Now listen to some of their songs, and you'll see why I like them.

This is "Way Of The World", which is my fave Flipper song:

This is "Sacrifice"

and this is my other favorite, "Ha Ha Ha"

These guys are plain legends.

To quote Henry Rollins:

"They were just heavy. Heavier than you. Heavier than anything...When they played they were amazing."

And that's from one of the most intense singers in the history of hardcore punk.

Things I hate about Facebook.

2009-10-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

I, like almost any living human being, possess a facebook account, and I do enjoy it much more than my MySpace account as there is much more things to do.

I like most of my friends. They're smart, driven and know their stuff. It's these strange foibles in facebook that sometimes make me mutter silently about how easy the internet has made us looking for self-gratification without putting much work into it.

Some of the things I hate:

a) How Well Do You Know Me? quizzes. This pisses me off since I don't know everything about my friends, even after being friends with them for more than 10 years. Do I even care about your favorite band of all time, since the last year you said was Fallout Boy, two years ago it was MCR, six years ago it was Linkin Park and 10 years ago it was Limp Bizkit. And really, if a friend knows about you 100%, wouldn't it worry you a bit?

b) The minute details of your life. Sure, getting a tattoo doesn't count, but do I want to know where you are, and what are you eating? If I were, I would have just called you and asked where the hell are you.This also includes those that post random strings of text as their status. No, I don't care if you do it for the LOL's.

c) Gifts. I don't know about most of you people, but I always felt that those gifts are just plain useless, since there is absolutely no value whatsoever, other than the fact to remind the receiver the trouble you took on facebook to find it, and then sending it. Not to mention that some of it is plain weird; I once got a butt plug. I decided not to find out who sent it to me, even if it might have been done in jest.

d) Invitation to games. This goes to all that want me to be their in Rock Band, Mafia Wars or even Farmville. Sure it's fun. But when I want to use facebook, I want to meet people, not to play games.

e) Invitation to groups or fan pages. You have to remember just because I'm your friend doesn't mean I like everything you like. For example, your fave band may be FoB, mine happens to be Fugazi, and I respect that. But somehow people forgot the "respect" part. This includes those that want me to join this and that group as well the Guiness fan club. I did mention to you people I don't drink, right? I don't go around and smash beer glasses and torch stores selling beer, so don't try and tell me how awesome beer is.

That's all I would like to write on for now. Have a good day.

Things I hate about GTA

2009-10-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong. I love GTA. It's probably the game that allows me to be a criminal and make me laugh about it while I was doing it, and I loved the open-world structure, since I usually like to see around before I get to my destination.

It's just the some stuff in GTA that makes my blood boil.

Firstly, driving. I'm not talking about my own driving, I'm talking about OTHER drivers in the game, who for some reason range from stupid to homicidal. I lost count on how many times I got hit by a car, even while I was clearly in the driver's line of sight, or sometimes even while driving on a green light, and they somehow missed the point of waiting and decided to smash their cars. Another thing is how homicidal some people are; hit their cars accidentally and all of a sudden they want to trash your car until it explodes.

Secondly, the NPCs. Some of them are just plain stupid or useless or even a bane. Take GTA:SA, on the "Robbing Uncle Sam" mission. You have to occasionally assist Ryder in shooting down those national guards, or he'll be killed by them. This, in my opinion, does not help with the fact that he's been a gang banger since he was a kid, and I don't care if he was still high at the time.

My other beef concerns how people interact with cars. When I stop next a friend , I want him to get in the car, damn it, not to wait for him to ponder the matters that concern the cosmos for two straight hours before getting in the car, and this pisses me off if the mission is time-critical. Some people, they do get in the car, but they are obliged to make a complete tour of the car before they even enter the car.

And the cops. Why is it that when I shoot someone down, even in self-defense, (and this happens a lot) they always shoot at you, not at the person who is still shooting at you? Or even when I somehow hit them by accident, it's as if I made a major offense and I need to either be killed or arrested for them to be happy. I know they're the law, but that's just being a dick.

That's all I can say for now. I can't remember what else to write on.

oh.my.god.

2009-10-12T01:01:00.000-07:00

So, for me to get my diploma, I am required to make some kind of project which looks at existing problems and find a solution for it (obviously), which commences next semester.

The only problem is that I haven't even got around to writing the proposal. The last proposal I wrote was for Computer Networking where I had to make a proposal on the best system for a company of 20 people, which was quite challenging and interesting at the same time, and I did have fun writing it, even though it amounted to 24-25 pages.

And then there was another proposal which my friend wrote for both of us since we were both doing the same project, and it amounted to around 18-20 pages I think, and since finals were approaching, we didn't put much thought into it.

So, after receiving my guideline for my proposal, I was so stunned that I had to leave and go to the bathroom several times. It was 40 freaking pages long. Sure, the magazines and books I read have more pages, but 40 pages on how to write a proposal made me feel ill on all levels.

I'll tackle it, though. I have to. Otherwise I won't get anything done.

Some games you should try out

2009-10-10T23:35:00.000-07:00

GAMES YOU SHOULD PLAY

These games have a retro twist in them, and I know almost everyone loves retro, and since these games are also free, you should really give them a shot.

Cave Story:

I really love this game. It has a healthy mixture of arcade, action and rpg mixed into one game. It's
also made to look like an old NES side-scroller, and it has a good story along with a great soundtrack.

Get it at:http://www.cavestory.org/index.php , and make sure you get the deluxe version.

A Time To Warp:

I really couldn't classify this game as a racer, since the only controls assigned to your car are left, right, and shoot. What I like about this game is that if you complete the game at a different level, it'll unlock the years and shows you the significant events that happened which helped shape gaming.

You will go through several phases in the 1st game, starting from 1977, to 1982, 1987, 1992 and finally 1997.

This is the 1982 era.

Get it at: http://www.scotttown.com/games/acoders2004/

8bit Killer:

This game is an FPS which is made to look like an 8bit NES game (hence the name).

There is no save game feature, but since it's a short game anyway, you should give it a try.

On a side note, you need to read the instruction manual before playing it to avoid confusion

Get it at: http://www.locomalito.com/juegos_8bit_killer.php

Chicken Invaders:

It's just like Space Invaders, only instead of aliens invading the earth, this time it's the chickens doing so,

probably in retaliation of what humanity (and other meat-eating animals) have done to chickens on planet earth.

Get it at: http://www.interactionstudios.com/chickeninvaders.php

That's all the games I care to list down for now, and if there are anymore I would like to mention, I'd post a new one.

Have you ever heard of...

2009-10-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

SIEGE?

I'm not surprised if you haven't heard of them, they're not too well-known,
except for dedicated fans of hardcore punk and grindcore.

Basic Facts:

Founded in 1983 in Weymouth, Mass.
Original line-up consists of Kevin Mahoney (vocals), Kurt Habelt (guitar) , Hank McNamee(bass), and Rob Williams (drummer)
Although close to Boston, they don't fit into the Straight Edge Boston Crew gang since they normally performed at Western Mass, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
They did, however, performed at Greenfield, along with DYS, The Freeze, Outpatients and Deep Wound.
Temporarily broke up in 1985, before reformed with Anal Cunt vocalist Seth Putnam in 1991, which lasted about a year.

How good were they?

These guys listened to American hardcore punk albums at the time such as Black Flag, Minor Threat, Void, etc while listening to British bands such as Discharge and Motorhead.

So, their goal was to play faster than traditional hardcore punk, and at the same time heavier than British punk and metal.

The Result ?

That's just the first song.

This one is so intense, that three of them couldn't wear shirts due to the intensity of the song.

Seriously, these guys make D.R.I., Suicidal Tendencies and S.O.D. lame by comparison.

Even though short-lived, they were influential, with bands such as Napalm Death and Dropdead (taken from Siege's demo tape) said that the band had a profound influence on them.

That's quite an achievement for a band that lasted 2 years in the first time and 1 year the second.

Hello World!

2009-10-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this is my blog, where I'll be talking on the random junk that I shall dispense to the world for my own amusement.

Some of the things I shall be posting on concerns computers
(whatever takes my fancy), music (the genres, albums and acts that I love a lot, no worries,
I won't post all those top-40 artists, I'm sure there are thousands of blog posts on that already) and other random stuff I will write on.