Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Xanga 2.0 is a Go!

http://thexangateam.xanga.com/774812086/xanga-20-is-almost-here/


Here's a summary:
  • John released a video showing what Xanga 2.0 looks like.
  • All Xanga usernames have been migrated to Xanga 2.0.
  • All blog content from current Lifetime/Premium Xangans have been fully migrated (that includes comments on people's pages).
  • They are currently importing blogs of those who contributed to the fundraiser.
  • They are also migrating every single photo that Xangans have uploaded to the new server.
  • John is donating $10K to the fundraiser, therefore, lowering the goal to $50K.
  • John convinced their network facilities to extend the lease.
  • Fundraiser extended to end of August to allow more non-Premium/Lifetime Xangans to contribute and have their blog migrated.
  • Fundraiser still needs to reach $50K by end of August.
  • Current count as of 7:04AM Eastern Time today: $47,941. Needs $2059 to reach $50K.
https://xanga.crowdhoster.com/relaunch-xanga

After John finally released that video of what Xanga 2.0 would be like and some more info on buying additional servers, everything clicked. Xanga 2.0 will not, I repeat, NOT have the same upgrade plans as WordPress.com.

Using the WordPress software, the XangaTeam (since they are not answering) may have enabled Multisite. WordPress.com, itself, is a WordPress Multisite. WordPress Multisite allows you to build your own blogging community. That’s where Xanga 2.0 comes in the picture. Building a new and improved Xanga software would have taken years. So they use the open-source alternative and beautify it. It’s cheaper and faster to build.

We get all the functionality that premium WordPress.com users get for half the price. And, since they are customizing the software for Xanga, they might as well add all the Xanga functions we’ve come to enjoy for years. This fundraiser is really for all the initial migration and start-up costs, upkeep and paying the web developers and network admins.

There are times when you get proven wrong and you slap yourself upside the head. This, for me, is one of those times. Then again, I can’t blame all the dissenters for the past two months. Maybe it’s the fact that I work in the same field that I’m starting to see the full picture, but the Xanga Team badly needed someone to properly convey this info from the get-go.

I’m done.

Monday, July 29, 2013

SHAAAAAUUUN!!! (A Heavy Rain Review)

Quantic Dream released two games prior to Heavy Rain. Their first title was an action-adventure game called Omikron: The Nomad Soul. Little did they know that the gameplay mechanics they explored for their second game, Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy), would be a commercial success. Dubbed "Interactive Drama" by game designer David Cage, Quantic Dream updated the winning formula for the company's third game and first outing for the PS3.

Heavy Rain is probably one of the most ambitious games to be released that blur the lines on what defines any medium as a game or an art. The game has a huge emphasis on story. It's not like the developers made the game and wrapped a pretty little story around it. The story itself is what drives the game.

"How far would you go to save someone you love?"

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Tekken Revolution Review

Tekken Revolution? More like Tekkenville.

Tekken is a fighting game franchise created and developed by Namco (now Namco Bandai Games). It was one of the first 3D fighting games to compete with the Street Fighter series, Mortal Kombat, Art of Fighting and other 2D fighting game counterparts. Other 3D fighting games first on the scene were Virtual Fighter and Battle Arena Toshinden. The Tekken franchise has seen more success and continues to wow their fans with this new installment.

Namco Bandai Games released Tekken Revolution for PS3 and Xbox 360 earlier this June. It's a free version of a watered-down Tekken Tag Tournament 2 that allows you to play arcade mode or other players online and level up the available characters. So far there are six hidden players which you can unlock with the amount of gift points you have accumulated while playing. Two more characters will be unlocked at a later update.

Like most Facebook games, there's a counter that increments how many times you can play each mode in the game. For Tekken Revolution, One arcade coin is added after an hour with a maximum of two coins. One premium coin is added every thirty minutes with a maximum of five coins. If you don't want to wait for the counter, you can buy premium tickets and use them to play arcade mode or online mode (ranked and player matches).

Diary of a Gamer #10

I've been dreading to write this post only for the fact that I'll have to follow it up in the next few weeks with dedicated reviews and first impressions of all the games I've played over the last several months. One thing is for sure, though: I'm not making reviews for Candy Crush Saga and Bubble Witch Saga. I'll start with the basics of what's up in the gaming front.

I sold my Nintendo DS Lite along with all my DS games. I bought in college, back when it was on sale and many of my college friends were playing them. The last time I played any of my DS games were in 2011. I had 5 games unfinished. I was fine parting ways with it. I received a lot of store credit for the trade, which I used to reserve Beyond: Two Souls back in May. I wasn't sure if I wanted to play The Last of Us. It came out last month in June and many were blown away. I saw the first 20 minutes of game and that was not fun (read as sad). I'll probably get around to playing that game eventually. That and Beyond: Two Souls are the last exclusive PS3 games in 2013, if not ever.

E3 happened last month, as well. Words spoken. Shots fired. Internet exploded. Consoles ignored. Biggest backtracking in gaming history. Bigwig resigning.


Long version: Microsoft fully unveiled their plans for XBONE (Xbox One). Many reviled their DRM plans for physical copies of games and used games. Later that night, Sony fully unveiled their plans for PlayStation 4 and one-upped Microsoft's plans with a more delicious console and gaming infrastructure. The Internet goes wild. Fanboys caused so much mortar damage on gaming sites, some had to retool how they moderate site comments. Meanwhile, Nintendo's Wii U was wildly ignored. Ouya was left out and tried to crash E3. A week after that infamous slugfest, Microsoft backtracked their DRM and used games policies for XBONE. Around two weeks later, XBOX Chief resigns from Microsoft and becomes CEO of Xynga, of Farmville fame (Good to see two-weeks notice is still in practice). Both PS4 and XBONE are set to come out this holiday season. Competition is always good for innovation. Here's to gaming later this year and to the next.

I recently finished inFAMOUS. This brings me to all the games I've completed since my last major gaming post.
  • Brutal Legend (PS3)
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 3 (PS3)
  • Datura (PS3)
  • Final Fantasy All the Bravest (iPhone/iPad)
  • flOw (PS3)
  • Flower (PS3)
  • Heavy Rain (PS3)
  • inFAMOUS (PS3)
  • Machinarium (PS3)
  • The Walking Dead: 400 Days (PS3)
Luckily, inFAMOUS 2 was available for free on PlayStation Network Plus. They offer highly-discounted games and full-games for free. I've downloaded Machinarium, Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey  LittleBigPlanet Karting, and inFAMOUS 2. Other than these, Namco released Tekken Revolution. It's a free version of a watered-down Tekken Tag Tournament 2. I'll get more into that in another review.

I think I'll get around to reviewing most of the games I've completed. As for the free games I recently downloaded I'm not sure if I have time to finish them. inFAMOUS 2 is a definite improvement over the last game, but I'm not that invested with the story of the entire series. It's the same deal with Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey. If the story is not captivating enough for me, gameplay mechanics better be great and worthwhile. inFAMOUS 2 is just the same as the first game. Munch's Odyssey is a cross between Pac-Man and a platformer: you're left collecting green eggs the entire game. The platformer side is not that good. Wonky game mechanics or bad camera angles left up to the player to maneuver is the bane of many games. This managed to have both. I'll probably just play it for the trophies.

I'm done.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Xangan Experiments with WordPress

Acclimation


I'm refreshing my memory with WordPress. I installed the WordPress application to our server at my former job last year to replace the temporary Wix site, which temporarily covered for the accidentally deleted site. There are too many features to be knee-deep in. As a blogging platform, WordPress is jacked. The application is robust enough to power any website at the corporate level. Not sure if it changes with the theme you have activated, but WordPress has most of the general posting formats covered:
  • Standard - it's the default format (can be changed) for anyone to blog away. Same thing with Xanga, Blogger, Tumblr and Facebook Notes before everyone realized that people went to Facebook to stop blogging.
  • Aside - It's similar to a Facebook status update. A Twitter update. Xanga Pulse.
  • Image - Self-explanatory. I think Tumblr is more well-known for it, besides reblogs (which WordPress.com also have)
  • Video - Uploaded into the site or from external sources (YouTube, Vimeo, etc).
  • Quote - I always found this to be redundant and can be replicated using Standard format. Tumblr has the same format, but it's nice to have.
  • Link - Self-explanatory.

You also get the Zemanta plugin, which scours all of WordPress sites that contains keywords from the content of your post. It serves two things: (1) Exposes you to other blogs and posts that you have the option of relating to the current post you are editing. (2) It exposes your blogs and posts to other readers and potential subscribers. You can also put your posts into categories. On Xanga, I had this custom module which I manually scripted to include links of specific posts I've done. With Categories, if you or a reader wanted to revisit or read an old post, they can just search through the categories. Of course, that's not going to stop you from creating a specific static page with any content of your choosing. That's where Pages come into play.

Pages can be assigned to the top menu of your blog. The feature I always wanted to mimic on Xanga were nested custom menus. Not that I have tons of content to begin with, but I could have used that feature. If I was really serious into doing a full-blown blog and possibly make money off of it (or not), I wouldn't mind paying for premium themes and customize it as much as possible. In the meantime, I'll stick to personal blogging... and comics.

Speaking of comics, I'm liking this Panel theme. I've always wanted to have a comic-based blog even on Xanga. If I had the right CSS template that could be seamlessly integrated to Xanga's new themes, it could have been doable. There's a limit to the width of the comic, but infinite length. The comic I uploaded right now is okay, but it's too large. I'll have to self-mandate a fixed length in future comics, or less (than the soon-to-be mandated fixed length).

In Comparison


There are many, many features to customize your blog with WordPress. This doesn't even include widgets/plugins and the locked functionality that comes with a fee. You can do private posts and invite as many people as you can (10 at a time). You could even add contact forms and polls for readers. Zemanta is a great tool for expanding your viewership. The Panel theme has built-in comic posting. Analytics in WordPress is more in-depth than the one used at Blogger. With all these free features available, I can see why many are turned-off by paying a required $48/yr fee for the purported WordPress powered Xanga 2.0.

On the downside, 3GB of storage is archaic. It's understandable for an open source community-driven site. It doesn't beat Facebook or Tumblr. Tumblr monitor's abuse, but as long as you post reasonable content, there's no limit. Blogger is linked to your Google account, so you get to enjoy the storage perks of that. You can buy different tier levels for additional storage for a yearly fee, though. Fully customizing free themes requires a $30/yr fee. "Because of the way WordPress.com’s technical infrastructure is designed," they are not able to support uploading of custom WordPress themes on their service.[1] That requires another fee. You could customize Blogger with your custom themes or customize the existing themes that they offer. Another downside is that the text editor is not in Rich-text format. I can see why it's not, because the themes themselves already defined the font-size. Still, I would have liked to have large or small letters for emphasis or lack thereof. Daylight Saving Time is not covered on WordPress. Many blogs have this feature built-in, even as to use your IP location to determine your date time. Sadly, you have to manually edit your time zone twice a year during the switch if you live in these time zones.

If I was serious about blogging as a hobby, either to make money or just to do networking and marketing myself to entertain people (i.e. YouTube, blogger, whatever), I can justify paying a premium for all these features and the locked-out functionality that comes with it. As a simple hobby, I have to question the Xanga higher-ups' motive and design for Xanga 2.0. $48 just can't be an arbitrary amount. At the moment, contributors of the fundraiser don't really know what they would be getting. Just looking at the upgrade packages on WordPress that match the features the Xanga Team has announced, I'm looking at no-ads and domain mapping and registration. That's $30 and $13, respectively, + $5 for domain registration. Exactly $48/yr, what the Xanga Team asked of the Xanga community.

When they said we have a choice of the available existing themes, did they mean the free themes? They also said no ads, so I'm guessing that $30 is covered with no exceptions. There's also the problem with importing all the content that contributing Xangans have amassed over the years. I don't think 3GB per person will cover Premium Xanga users with over 3GB of content. I'm sure they have a deal with WordPress on how this works. Maybe it's a combination of other upgrade packages and discounts, but I'm pretty sure you still have to pay for premium themes and the ability to fully customize free themes.

It's all speculation right now. We haven't seen any mock-ups and full-details of what we are getting. The Xanga Team did say that their vision is about simplicity, community and privacy. If the Xanga Team had posted something like this post, except more in-depth and at least up-selling their Xanga 2.0 vision, they might have a shot of pulling it off. As it stands now, they need $14K+ to reach $60K in 2 days. $48 is still a lot of money to consider if we don't know what WordPress upgrades we would be getting. I'll always have Blogger.

I'm done.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Celebrity vs Soldier Death Rhetoric

Cory Monteith, star of the show Glee as Finn Hudson, died in July 13th, 2013. They found his body at the Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver. He was alone and there was no foul play involved. Recent autopsy results showed that he died of a "mixed-drug toxicity, involving heroin and alcohol." It was known before that he battled drug addiction. He was on the road to recovery (many were hoping) and even completed a 30 day rehab. It's hard to overcome vices.

I only know of the actor from Glee. He was a fan favorite. It's a shame what happened and I feel sorry for his family and friends. What irks me, though, are the year-round "celebrity vs soldier death" arguments. I'm not smart enough to know what this term is, but I'm sick of it. They use it to comparing everything (i.e. athlete/celebrity vs. soldier/teacher salaries). It's a lazy (mostly unnecessary) rhetoric for things that don't need to be argued.


If I remember correctly, we are all equal in this country. Soldier's are doing a great service, protecting this country. Other than that, that don't make them more important than anybody else... unless all that equality talk is actually not true. Oh, it's not? Well, then... carry on.

But let's believe, for a minute, we are all equal. Nobody is more important than anybody else. When a person dies, the importance of their passing falls on the people close to them, people who adored them and people who knew them. That's it.

People I don't know die everyday. People I don't know. That's it.

I'm done.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

"I have been brainwashed"


"Because I think I am an interesting woman when I look at myself on screen. And I know that if I met myself at a party, I would never talk to that character because she doesn't fulfill physically the demands that we're brought up to think women have to have in order to ask them out. --- There's too many interesting women I have…not had the experience to know in this life because I have been brainwashed." - Dustin Hoffman

So much respect for Dustin Hoffman.

I'm done.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Death

I love the feeling when we lift off
Watching the world so small below
I love the dreaming when I think of
The safety in the clouds out my window
I wonder what keeps us so high up
Could there be a love beneath these wings
If we suddenly fall should I scream out
Or keep very quiet and cling to my mouth as I’m crying
So frightened of dying
Relax, yes, I’m trying
But fear's got a hold on me

Yes, this fear's got a hold on me

I love the quiet of the nighttime
When the sun is drowned in the deathly sea
I can feel my heart beating as I speed from
The sense of time catching up with me
The sky's set out like a pathway
But who decides which route we take
As people drift into a dreamworld
I close my eyes as my hands shake
And when I see a new day
Who’s driving this anyway
I picture my own grave,
'cause fear's got a hold on me

Yes, this fear's got a hold on me

Floating neither up or down
I wonder when I’ll hit the ground
Will the earth beneath my body shake
And cast your sleeping hearts awake
Could it tremble stars from moonlit skies
Could it drag a tear from your cold eyes
I live on the right side, I sleep in the left
That’s why everything’s got to be love or death

Yes, this fear's got a hold on me


I'm done.

FINAL FANTASY DANCE MODE (Final Fantasy VII & XIII Themes) by Mike Song ...



Nicely done.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Hoarding Shows


I'm not referring to the reality show or the various spin-offs and related "educational" shows from A&E or the Discovery Channel. Long before the Internet was considered normal or "common" (the thought of it still amazes me), people have been hoarding things from stamps, trading cards, books, 8-track/cassette tapes, VHS/DVDs and anything else worth collecting. Like many, I'm a hoarder.

I can't pinpoint a specific time when I started collecting things, but I started young. I collected stickers and street vendor plastic toys (Street fighter figure molds and various indiscernible cartoon characters of my youth). When I started getting allowance, I saved up my money for Christmas gifts and spent the rest on collecting other things.

I remember the girls in my elementary class collected stationary and stickers. The guys got into collecting Basketball cards and Magic: the Gathering cards. Trading cards were off my budget at that age. I didn't even bother to ask my mom to get me one of them. They were ridiculously expensive. My siblings and I did collect X-Men and Power Rangers trading cards. Both shows were on at the same time. Many companies cashed in and started selling not-so-obvious-then-as-a-child knockoff trading cards. We also collected Pogs. The local Coca-Cola company were doing promotions to exchanging bottle caps for Pogs. We had lots of them. We gave them all away to our cousins prior to moving here in the US.

That's when I started collecting Basketball cards. They were cheap here compared to the US. Currency and market value aside, I collected them in middle school. I think these were the only collections I remember hoarding solely for the fact that my classmates in elementary school had them. I think it's human nature to want to fit in, even when my classmates were already half a world away. Of course, most kids my age at the time in the US were not concerned with Basketball cards. Only die-hard fanatics and collectors were into them. I found myself getting into videogames.

I wouldn't say I'm a videogame hoarder. I don't have the latest copy of every single game out there or any of the popular ones. My attitude towards them is a form of hoarding. Before Xbox achievements and Playstation trophies, I was beating games and obsessed with absolution: 100% completion of collecting in-game items, objectives, hi-scores, hidden extras, etc. Then again, I was in middle school going on high school. I had all the free time in the world. Middle school and high school was a breeze. I had anime, cartoons and various TV shows that I constantly watched. This was before they started selling DVDs and box sets of TV shows (unheard of at the time). Once companies figured out there's a market for box set TV shows, I almost became a box set hoarder. I already had box sets of Dragonball Z sagas in VHS form. They took up too much space. I opted out of hoarding shows, to a point. Then Napster happened.

Napster redefined how people consume entertainment. It was a conduit for sharing music as MP3 files. Not long before that, cable internet became a thing. Faster download and upload speed. Everything was pointing digital. I know a previous boss with a huge library of songs in the hundred gigabyte range. That's hoarding right there. As of now, I only have about 40GBs worth of songs in various music file formats. They are mostly songs I've heard on the radio or online, videogame music and soundtracks. Digital format took hoarding to a new level. My biggest digital collection so far are TV shows. I have collected a lot of shows. It's not as bad as some people having their own server farms with multiple terabytes of data, but it's hoarding nonetheless. Right now, I'm on the fence on one show, which is why I started this post to begin with.

I've been collecting this show since college. Right now, I have FiOS internet. There should be no reason for me to hoard these shows. I can just find some shady website streaming these shows for free. Part of me still want to keep them. It's an irrational reaction. For me at least, there are memories tied to them. Maybe it was the feeling I felt watching these shows. Maybe it was the feeling I felt why I had these shows in possession. When it comes to hoarding, my biggest collection so far are my memories. It's both a gift and a curse. So is it worth deleting 10 years of data and memories? Maybe I'm scared I'll forget.

I'm done.

Monday, July 8, 2013

L-Carnitine + Taurine + Ginseng + B Vitamins

Maybe it's cause I'm running on low batteries (haven't slept since yesterday afternoon), but I've spent the past hour weighing in on my career path and whether I'm on the right track... while at work, looking at job openings.

I'm good at my job. The thing is, I don't like it. I've tried to find at least 1 reason to like it. None. Maybe it's the environment. Maybe it's because I don't get along with anybody here. I'm good with my team project-wise, but we have nothing in common. They are married with kids. They have their own lives to deal with. The people that are my age are at the other building, but my current position demands my undivided attention.

I know these are selfish reasons. I know I don't have to make friends at work. But I don't really have anybody to go home to. I don't have friends I'd like to hang out with near me. The friends that are near don't like the things I do. I'm at the point where I'm done trying to fit in. Fuck compromises. The only reason I'm still living at home is because of the familiarity that family brings. Just being around someone you feel safe with. I have the means to live alone, but I don't think I'll be able to handle it.

There are times where I want to be surrounded by friends or people, just in general. Half the reason I still bother to go to malls and the theaters is so I can hear other people's voices besides mine. The same with clubs. I don't go alone to enjoy. Just having people around is comforting.

Then there are times where I just want to shut everyone out. Sometimes I don't like having company when I'm watching movies. I've avoid my friend Titus for almost four months. He's the one who invited me out of nowhere cause him and his coworkers need a designated driver to go clubbing. Any other time, I would have joined him. That time, I declined. I was being selfish. I didn't want the hassle.

Don't know if I'm mad at the world or myself. I can't really use the "still not over my ex" excuse. That ship sailed long time ago. It probably made me sadder when I was no longer heartbroken a few months after the break up. That probably became my drawn out heartache. I don't know. I was so broken, it probably broke me. Is that why I don't know? Was I saddened it ended or maddened I wasted my time? Were my emotions fueled by the life, I thought, un-lived?

I have a good job that's safe for the current economy with great pay. I'm single and have all the time in the world, yet I'm not happy. That's depression. I'm not sure if I am. Why do I make excuses? Is "it" really what it is? Am I at fault? I don't know anymore. I know I'm not scared of being close to people. Why do I feel like I push them away?

Friends and family are getting married and having babies left and right, forging new connections, starting anew. Why this self-burdened reflection on my life comparing others? Why this self-imposed image of what I am? Had, have or will?

I've been alone in the house for 2 weeks. Never have I felt so free and so lonely. I graduated college 5 years ago. I'm still me... Older, wiser, heavier, angry, hopeful, alone.

Maybe it's just the caffeine taking.

I'm done.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Street Spirit (Fade Out)

It's been a while. More than a year, actually. Enjoy.



Kind of what I've been feeling lately, about Xanga and outside.

I'm done.