Are you GEEK?

I Hate The Toyota Avanza

2010-09-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

It has to be said. I just can't shut up. The Avanza is officially the worst car I have ever driven.
When I first saw it being driven around by a local security company, it was hate at first site. It was too tall, too narrow and and I really just did not like anything about it. After speaking to someone who was driving one as a company vehicle, I began too hate it even more.
Some of the worst cars in the world will be defended by those that drive them. Not the Avanza. Most people I know that drive them wish they didn't.
I was maybe being a bit unfair as I had never driven one. I had been a passenger though.
My first experience of the Avanza was when a colleague had received one from the rental agency. It had a little bit over 20 000km on the clock and as soon as it hit 40km/h the plastic bits started rattling. I also thought it was a perfect example of how too make an interior look as cheap as possible.

Up until today, I had never actually driven one. I then got given one to drive from one of our branches back to our main office. Total distance: +/-350km
The first thing that I noticed was the lack of a radio... that's right: Toyota can't afford to put a radio in a vehicle that costs R130 000?? But they will throw in 4 electric windows.
I then realised that at speeds over 100km/h wind was leaking through a steady rate. This was even more noticeable due to the lack of radio. There was also that damn plastic rattling all over the place.
I tend to use my rear-view mirror quite often while driving and by the time I had reached halfway, I had a headache. Confused? You see besides the plastic rattling, so does the mirror. And anything further 20m behind me looked like a blur.
I could carry on all day about all the things that suck about the Avanza... but that would just be a waste of my time. It sucks, that's all there is to it.

Screw you Toyota, for thinking we're retarded enough to like the Avanza!

(Photo courtesy of www.dispatch.co.za)

Are You Still Here???

2010-09-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a while *hangs head in shame*...

But honestly life happens, whether we want it to or not. If you haven't realised that by now in your life, go back under your rock, clearly you're not needed. You have got to grab life by the reigns and get the piece of sh** to go the way you want it to.

That's what I've been trying to do. Except I think I chose the horse that you get in the cartoons, you know the one that will suddenly stop and refuse to move, no matter how hard you pull, and then gallops off when don't want it to...

I've joined a writing club to get my creative juices flowing. The fact that it's called the Tequila Thursday Writing Club should tell you something... Last night I got inspired to start planning my novel for NaNoWriMo. Not the actual writing but getting my research done & sorting out my characters, which is allowed. So far it's a sci-fi story based around a world ravaged by a zombie war & civil wars, centred around a malfunctioning cyborg & an insane female assassin who once saved the cyborg's life and now he just won't leave her alone. (It's a work in progress.)

Then more importantly I've been planning a trip to Thailand for the end of the year (me love you long time... five dollah *grin*.) If it goes well, I may become a regular visitor bacause it's seriously cheap for a South Efrican to travel to Thailand.

But this is just a hello, and as a goodbye I leave you with this, because I'm helpful like that :)

PS: Before I forget, I want to wish my Mom a very special heppy berfday :)

Big up Dad

2010-02-24T12:27:00.001-08:00

I never appreciated my dad as much as I should have when he was alive and there are times I regret it! I think most of us that have lost a parent feel this way and there is no way to avoid feeling like this! The trick is to have someone tell you about the good stuff.

Recently I went with my mom to Sacramento restaurant at Schoenmakerskop to have a meal and remember my dad, since we threw his ashes into the ocean there.

But that isn’t the point here, instead I want to think about the good things.

The thing is that I never realised how much I really did learn from him and how much I enjoyed the times I did spend with him.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I remember sitting and watching rugby with him which was really awesome. He even got me into supporting my favourite team, the Sharks! This is probably one of the reasons why I will never support any other team above them!

However, that isn’t what my dad was all about, far from it actually. No matter what I say in this post, unless you knew my dad, it will never do him justice.

My dad was the ultimate DIY guy. That comes from being in the building industry from his teens. He even had his own company at one stage, but that was way before I was born. In his time he built hotels, schools and plenty more. This was kind of awesome when it came to picking up little tips & tricks, here and there. It wasn’t until he passed away that I realised I should’ve tried to learn more from him, but I’m a geek and I never really appreciated that while he was still around.

The funny thing is I sometimes come across a problem around the house and I then remember a time way back and see my dad doing it and voila, I’m doing it. Maybe not to his strict standards but hey I still am doing it!

The other thing I remember about him is his kind and generous soul. At times he seemed a real bastard if he felt like it, but deep down those close to him really knew the truth. He was always willing to help if he could and sometimes even if he couldn’t he would try. He gave up his own time and would come help out to the best of his ability.

He was also very good husband to my mom for 30 years despite the age difference. He would spoil her rotten and loved her unconditionally. I also learnt a lot from him in this regard. It basically comes down to: What would Dad do? One day when i get married I just hope I can be the kind of man he was to my wife, and even the kind of father he was to me.

I was lucky compared to my half-brothers and half-sisters because I had the pleasure of having him around most of my life. But the best times were when we moved to Port Elizabeth and was no longer in boarding school. It was then that I really started appreciating him.

I also got my love of cooking from him. He was an amazing cook and could cook anything he put his mind to; he would take a recipe from somewhere and make it his own.

I could go on and on about the things that I admired about him, but the most important one to me was his sick sense of humour. He would drive everyone mad and was the master of sarcasm and wit. If you didn’t know him though and met him for the first time, this would be the one thing that you remember.

Lastly I just want to bring up the one memory of him that is stuck in my head the entire time I was writing this blog.

My dad never appreciated my taste in music and there was very few bands that could endure me listening to. The one that he really never understood was Nirvana. One day I was playing their album Bleach and he walked into my room and said that it was really horrible and how could they make music like that. I said to him that it doesn’t matter because their lead singer, Kurt Cobain, had committed suicide.

I will never forget his reply: “Well from the sound of things, he was dying for a very long time”

We miss you Dad and will never forget you! Now stop giving those angels a hard time!

Durex Ads Over The Years

2010-02-22T05:10:00.000-08:00

I came across the latest Durex advert campaign via Twitter and it made me think of some of the brilliant adverts they have had over the years.
So I started looking up some of the better ones that they have had and thought I might as well share them with all you folk! So here they are…
I’ll start with the video adverts that they have had and I chose some of my favourites.

Have a look at the Outtakes of the Get it on advert here

But besides the awesome videos above, they have also had plenty of print adverts that are pretty damn good. Click to see the full image

Super what?

2010-02-18T12:09:00.001-08:00

First off, I realise that rugby may not be very geek, but I enjoy the game and look back fondly on the days sitting in front of the tube watching it with my dad.

He was one of those people who would moan before, after and during the game but I still used to love watching games with him. He had a knowledge of the game and it’s history that to this day no-one I know could match.

I miss those days but I still love the game. We are a rugby loving nation and I hope this will never change. There is nothing like going down to a pub donning you teams jersey and watching the games on a big screen with a ice cold draught in front of you or going around to a mates house and having a braai. Luckily for us South Africans, there are plenty of opportunities for this! From February until the end of May there is Super 14, which for those who don’t know is an interprovincial tournament between 14 South African, Australian and New Zealand teams. Then there is the Tri-Nations, again involving SA, Australia and New Zealand, but involving the national teams, between July and September. The last of the big ones is the ABSA Currie Cup between July and October which is a tournament between several local provincial teams.

My favourite is the Super 14 for a lot of reasons. All bets are off when it comes to the Super 14. Even if you are the biggest Springbok supporter no-one will think twice if you do support a non-South African team. Personally I support the Sharks and secondly the Bulls. I have both jerseys hanging proudly in my cupboard.

But this year I did something I have never done before. I signed up for the Sports Illustrated Super 14 Fantasy League. I then roped two good friends to create the own fantasy team and we created a league with the 3 of us competing. The Fantasy League involves choosing your team of 15 players, which can comprise of any player from any team. Your players then get points based on whether the appear in the match, whether their team wins the match, whether they score a try and several other criteria. You add up all your players scores and then you get ranked. If you aren’t happy with one of your players you can transfer them for other players each week, but these transfers are limited.

What this has done though is make me want to watch more games than I ordinarily would have, so that I can see how “my players” are doing. So for the next 4 months, I plan on watching a LOT of rugby.

GO SHARKS!!

I Have Become Addicted! (plus my blog has a new look)

2010-02-18T01:07:00.001-08:00

Addicted to what you may ask? Quite simply, I have become a blogging addict. I signed up for my blog about a year ago and after a few posts, I lost interest. I now know why that happened: I was using it as a place to share links.
Then last month I thought about starting it off again. This time I also used it to share links and gave my blog the name "Don Charlie V's Links Worthy of Mention" which was quite a mouthful. Then it started evolving; I was no longer just posting links, every now and again I would actually write detailed blogs about the links and sometimes there weren't even links to start with. I looked for links to suit my blog! So I changed the name of my blog as mentioned in previous post at the beginning of the month.
It didn't stop there, I started adding all sorts of fun stuff like the AddThis bookmarking & sharing button & live Twitter feed. I also started joining blog lists like Amatomu, Networked Blogs & Technorati.
Lately I have been contemplating changing the look of my blog and over the last couple of days, I went about designing a proper logo but this left me with a problem. It didn't suit the crappy Blogger template. So I started prowling the interweb looking for a suitable template. Eventually I found one which would suit my logo (with minor changes like transparency). It is a template called Red Light which I found on www.btemplates.com.
In less than a month my blog has transformed so much an I am loving it. I spend nights that i am not out, watching movies & series on one screen and blogging on my other screen. I may even take up to 3 days perfecting a blog post before actually publishing it... not always but sometimes.
Alright I probably don't have that many regular readers yet but who knows, that may change over time and I may even get a proper domain name if it comes down to that.

Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief

2010-02-17T02:17:00.000-08:00

I cant seem to decide whether I like this movie or not!
It looks like an entertaining movie but I'm just worried its gonna be a bit too much like Harry Potter, which I did not like BTW!

It almost made it into my top list except as I said, i just can't decide, but on that note, I thought i deserved a mention anyway...
Check out the trailer anyway...

Win Stuff in free online competitions

2010-02-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

I came across this website via their Facebook fan page

Check it out by clicking the following link:
Win Stuff in free online competitions

There are plenty of prizes to win and they are FREE to enter!

25 movies to watch in 2010

2010-02-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

For those movie fanatics out there, 2010 is going to be an awesome year!
There are a lot of really good movies coming out, so to make it easier to decide, I sifted through a lot of sites and came up with a list of my top 25.

3 things before you start:
1) The movies are arranged in order of release date - from current to last & the release dates are for South Africa.
2) If you get playlist errors with the videos, just click "Continue" and the movie will still play
3) I may not have included a movie that you think is better, but I'm just recommending, you can watch whatever you want. I won't judge...much...

Halloween II
This is definitely one for the fans of horror movies only! Also you have to see the first one before you watch this one... If the two criteria are not met you will be in the same situation as my friend Alex, who really did not enjoy it!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1311067
Official Site - www.halloween2-movie.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=45601
Release Date - Out Now!

The Wolfman
It has Benicio Del Toro & Anthony Hopkins in it. But if that doesn't convince you, have a look at the trailer.

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0780653
Official Site - www.thewolfmanmovie.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=18844
Release Date - 12 February

The Book Of Eli
This is one of those movies that have not received great reviews, but still looks damn good and you still wanna see it...

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705
Official Site - thebookofeli.warnerbros.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=48563
Release Date - 26 February

From Paris With Love
I was halfway through the trailer and wondering where John Travolta was and then I realised. Looks like a kick ass movie though!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1179034
Official Site - frompariswithlovefilm.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=59398
Release Date - 26 February

Daybreakers
This is just to restore my faith in the fact that vampires on not sparkly and are actually mean bastards who are not interested in high school girls and romance...

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0433362
Official Site - www.daybreakersmovie.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=21566
Release Date - 5 March

Alice in Wonderland
I just love how weird this movie looks. Tim Burton is a genius as well

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1014759
Official Site - disney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=39384
Release Date - 5 March

Shutter Island
After Titanic I lost a bit of faith in Leonardo De Caprio, but recently he has had some awesome appearances, especially Body of Lies. So when he is gonna appear in a Scorcese movie, you gotta want in on it!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884
Official Site - www.shutterisland.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=41300
Release Date - 12 March

Clash Of The Titans
Awesome battle scenes...thats all I'm gonna say

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0800320
Official Site - clash-of-the-titans.warnerbros.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=40223
Release Date - 2 April

The Losers
Based on a comic about a bunch of CIA black ops guys who get betrayed. Trust me, this one should rock if it's anything like the comic!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0480255
Official Site - www.the-losers.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=50350
Release Date - 9 April (unconfirmed)

Machete
If you've seen the Planet Terror DVD, you should know this one, for the rest, just watch the trailer!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0985694
Official Site - None (see Wikipedia entry - wikipedia.org/wiki/Machete_(film) )
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=54801
Release Date - 16 April (Unconfirmed)

Kick Ass
There are no words to describe how cool this movie should be! We all dream we could be superheroes; some of us actually try it out...

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1250777
Official Site - www.kickass-themovie.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=43515
Release Date - April 23

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Can they pull of what Wes Craven did in the original? I certainly hope so!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1179056/
Official site - www.nightmareonelmstreet.com/
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=47103
Release Date - April 30 (Unconfirmed)

Iron Man 2
I'll say it now...this is my MOVIE OF THE YEAR

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1228705
Official Site - ironmanmovie.marvel.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=44655
Release Date - 30 April

Edge of Darkness
I hope the aging Mr Gibson doesn't let me down with this one. The trailer looks pretty good though. *hold thumbs*

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1226273
Official Site - http://edge-of-darkness.warnerbros.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=44503
Release Date - 7 May

Robin Hood
Well, this duo pulled off Gladiator, so lets hope they can do the same here. If the trailer is anything to go by, I like!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0955308
Official Site - www.robinhoodthemovie.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=20816
Release Date - 14 May

Prince Of Persia
Game to movie conversions have always been a let down. But I'm optimistic that this will be an exception to that rule...

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0473075
Official Site - disney.go.com/Disneypictures/princeofpersia
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=20447
Release Date - 21 May

Youth In Revolt
To be honest, this is one that I'm not sure about. The idea seems to be good, but can they translate it into something worthwhile? I'm optimistic!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0403702
Official Site - www.youthinrevolt-themovie.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=41254
Release Date - 18 June

The A-Team
dum dadum dum dumdumdum dum dadum dum dum dadum dum... makes me feel like a kid again!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0429493
Official Site - www.ateam-movie.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=40213
Release Date - 30 July

Inception
This movie is directed by Christopher Nolan, the director of the Dark Knight and starring Leonardo De Caprio. I have high hopes for this one. It kinda reminds me of Dark City though...

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666
Official Site - inceptionmovie.warnerbros.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=52815
Release Date - 30 July

Predators
Admittedly I know very little about this movie, except that it was written by Robert Rodriguez years ago, and that it is only coming out this year. I couldn't find any trailers, or even behind the scenes clips, for this one... sorry!
IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1424381
Official Site - None (but see Wikipedia post - wikipedia.org/wiki/Predators)
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=54800
Release Date - 20 August

The Expendables
All my favourite action heroes frrom the 90's except way older...awesome! There are rumours even the Governator is in on this one! Only ones missing are Chuck Norris & Jean Claude van Damme...

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1320253
Official Site - None (www.theexpendablesmovie.net is an awesome fan site though)
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=50319
Release Date - 13 August (Unconfirmed)

Resident Evil: Afterlife
I know i said that game to movie conversions suck, but i think the Resident evil series is the exception. And no it's not because of Milla Jovovich!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1220634
Official Site - None (see Wikipedia entry - wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_4_(film) )
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=52423
Release Date - 10 September

The Last Airbender
I'm giving M Night Shyamalan one last chance to make a decent film. Lets hope he can convince me with this one. So far so good with the trailer

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt0938283
Official Site - www.thelastairbendermovie.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=44129
Release Date - 10 September

Tron: Legacy
I'm not gonna commit myself, but if the effects test below is any indication this will be one awesome movie!

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1104001
Official Site - disney.go.com/tron
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=47155
Release Date - 31 December

Paul
If you watched Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and loved them, I don't need to tell you any more... If you haven't you better be phoning your video store to rent them tonight! Not sure of a release date though....

IMDB - www.imdb.com/title/tt1092026
Official Site - www.whatispaul.com
ComingSoon.net - www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=48063
Release Date - TBA

5 Awesome Videos

2010-02-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

There are plenty of videos out there on the interwebs, but very few of them are worth the time or bandwidth!
I thought i would help out and post some of the better ones I've found recently...

1) The Transforminators (by Black20 Studios)

This mashup trailer is absolutely brilliant!

2) The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon (by Richard Gale)

There are no words to describe this video - don't know what it is about it!

3) Phobias (taken from The Sketch Show)

Brilliant clip about phobias taken from a TV series called The Sketch Show

4) Surprised Kitty

Awesome short clip involving a kitten

5) The Burj Birdmen

This is for fans of base jumping. This is the world record base jump from the Burj Khalifa (formerly known as the Burj Dubai which was recently officially opened)

The Burj Birdmen from Jan-Paul Bednarz on Vimeo.

farmville sucks...

2010-02-05T02:44:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing I absolutely loath about Facebook it is Farmville... I don't like most of the other games on Facebook, but not near as much as I hate Farmville
I would rather give up my left testicle if there were a choice between it and playing Farmville again.
Just one quick confession on that note though: I did play Farmville for about a month, but all that this means is that my hate is even more justified.

My name is Charlie & I was an addict. I played Farmville and MobWars and it took over my life. I would spend up 5 hours a day playing these games and would be upset if i missed out on my daily fix. Fortunately I came to my senses one day and deleted every crap game I was playing on Facebook. I blocked every notification from these apps and am better off for it.

I came across an article on Forbes.com about Farmville's expansion to their own website and to MSN. In the article, it mentions that Farmville has over 76 million monthly users! If Farmville users had a country they would be the 17th largest in the world. It would also have a $100 million income. That is how much the developers, Zynga, made last year. Admittedly they have other games, but none nearing the success of Farmville. And companies such as Kwedit which help you get virtual money on games without a credit card.

Even worse is the fact that legit news sites are even reporting when Farmville adds new features. I did a search and came up with a couple of examples to illustrate the point.
- Showbiz Gossips
- Times Asia

I also know that I am not the only one who hates it; a couple of my Facebook friends have made that pretty obvious:

- Dear Facebook Apps Addict, Let me tell you something you already know..... I HATE Facebook Apps. you can EFF right off with your GAWD DAMN INVITES! Kind retards. Pete

- Eddible will start playing Farmville when I can clone sheep, raise velociraptors and grow Triffids.

When I asked for peoples opinions, the one that stood out was:

I get the obsession with FV though I don't play it myself. It's annoying as all hell for those who don't!!! But there's something relaxing about it I guess. It could probably be considered an "artist brain activity" (google julia cameron's "the artists way" to understand what I mean). I do however think it's kind of dangerous to spend that much ... See more time on something like that, next thing you look and two hours have passed!! (although I get into conversations sometimes that result in the same thing...so possibly there's no difference....)

It's kinda true, but I still don't think it justifies it. The next couple of links are possibly extreme but who is to say you won't get that way. The links show way Farmville affects our real life relationships.

- FML.com
- Farmvillians (Lamebook.com)
- Framedville (Lamebook.com)

But my opinion is just that, an opinion. All I ask is that you seriously look at your "farm" in the big picture and ask yourself: "What am I gaining out of this?" Other that pissing us off with all the flipping notifications!

For those of you who are with me on this already, consider joining this group on Facebook. Maybe your Farmville-ing friends will get the message at least

geeks are l33t

2010-02-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

We all have heard the word Geek by now, we all use it on occasion, but what is the actual definition? Is Geek the same as nerd? ARE YOU GEEK?
If we google the word Geek, and look at some of the definitions, it does not help matters much...

According to Wikipedia, "the word Geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc."

Dictionary.com has 3 definitions... 1) a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp. one who is perceived to be overly intellectual. 2) a computer expert or enthusiast (a term of pride as self-reference, but often considered offensive when used by outsiders.) 3) a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.

If we look at Urban Dictionary, geeks are "the people you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an adult," or "not to be confused with Nerd. A geek does not have to be smart, a Geek is someone who is generaly not athletic, and enjoys Video Games; Comic Books; being on the internet, and etc."

If we truly want to define a Geek, we do not want to look at a strict definition of the word, but look at the cultural definition of a Geek. If you're going "huh" now, then let me explain.

While researching this blog post, I came across paper, Geek Culture: The 3rd Counter Culture, written by Lars Konzack, who has a blog on ludology and game research.
While I may not agree with everything mentioned in the paper, it gave me a lot of different ideas to present you with.

For my fellow Geeks out there, many of us has strange and maybe difficult childhoods - right up to high school even. I embraced my inner-Geek quite late in life (sometime in high-school) as many Geeks do; growing up, Geek was definitely not cool. I am now quite proud to be a Geek.
With that in mind, I don't think I was afraid of admitting it; I was just in denial. Sometimes I wish I had just faced the facts earlier...

Earlier I asked the question; is a Geek the same thing as a nerd and quite simply I think that the answer is no. I think the confusion comes in as there are several overlapping characteristics. Nerds tend to be intellectuals who excel at things academic (especially technological and scientific) and they generally have horrible social skills because they are studious people. They may have similar interests as Geeks but that is where it ends as far as I am concerned.

So what makes a Geek? There is no simple answer really. Is it the (almost) obsession with gadgets? Is it the love of fantasy worlds? Is it their knack with PCs? Are they more introverted than extroverted? Is it their love of gaming? The thing is I could list all sorts of possible characteristics and it still might not be right!
You could also say to me, but lots of people like those things these days or lots of people are like that these days and you would be right, but also oh so wrong!
Think back to the 90's and tell me how many people were on the interwebs? How many had a Geocities page that they called there own? How many people were regularly gaming? How many of them were excited about the Sci-Fi channel on DSTV and were sad to see it go a while ago? Before the movie came out, how many people had read the Lord of the Rings, or many other fantasy series novels? How many could fix their own PCs and knew their way around MS-DOS? A lot less than today I can tell you that much!
If you knew people like that, you probably called them a Geek and ignored them until needed. Unless you were one yourself.
But in our world today with gadgets surrounding us, PC's in our homes, consoles in our lounges, fantasy movies such as Avatar making close to $2 billion already, the Geek has become king.
You may have many of the things that a Geek loves, but that does not make you Geek. It actually just shows that Geeks have managed to affect an entire world culture through his weapon of choice - The Internet.
Thats right the kids you picked on in school are the ones you now silently respect to some degree or another. You might deny it publicly but you can't lie to youself!
What it boils down to is that you know whether you are a Geek or not, but nobody or no-one will ever be able to truly describe it...

0n 7h47 n073 1 54y g00d8y3 4nd w15h 70 54y 0n3 l457 7h1ng...
01000111 01100101 01100101 01101011 01110011 00100000 01110010 01110101 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100110 01110101 01100011 01101011 01100101 01110010

(Image fom here)

intermission

2010-02-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

I know my next blog was going to be the one about geeks, but this was just to good to pass up and I have not finished it yet.
I came across this on popurls and it just made me wanna say "hallelujah!"

change is good

2010-02-04T02:33:00.000-08:00

When I originally started this blog, i had intended it to be some sort of place to share links, but then it became something else. I still share links, but it has also become a sort of outlet to share my views on the links I find.
So the name was no longer suitable... and for a few days I toyed around with a few ideas and by talking to some people, I decided to drop the name in it's entirety and come up with something all together new.
Then it hit me while I was looking at my recent posts and their content... Are you GEEK?... which is actually pretty accurate!
What do you think?
While on the topic of geeks, I will be doing my next post on the very topic as a lot of people misunderstand the entire concept...

how to waste at least a hour of your life!

2010-02-03T04:09:00.000-08:00

Now and then, you get a link to a site and end up wondering what the hell happened to the last few hours of your life?
That happened to me! I follow @popurls on twitter which posts the most popular links of the hour from their website. They are normally a quick visit kind of site such as news articles or pictures, but today they doomed me with a tweet which said: "Wave goodbye to the next 3 hours of your life http://pop.is/1has"
I thought that they were joking!! Guess not... The game is called Chain Reaction

But that is all that I will say, as you need to discover it for yourself...I will say that there are two versions - Simple and Advanced. Try out the simple version but the real fun lies in the advanced one

Diablo III

2010-02-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

When I think of the game Diablo, and especially Diablo II, it brings back many memories. Several months (and possibly an entire year now thinking about it) gone by, playing my way through Normal, Nightmare and Hell difficulty and several occasions having to fork out my hard-earned cash on telephone bills for my 56k dial up, to be able to play on Battle.net... good times! By the time I eventually started playing, the Lords of Destruction expansion pack had just come out (my PC at the time was not good enough to play the game when Diablo II was originally released)

So when I heard about Diablo III in 2008, I was seriously excited about it. Almost two years later there is still no official release date and I am getting very anxious... but my excitement is still there!

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of playing the Diablo series, which is developed by Blizzard Entertainment, who are also responsible for the Warcraft series & Starcraft, it is a fantasy action RPG. The first game was released in 1997, and saw you taking the role of the hero and working your way through 16 levels, eventually finishing up in hell to face Diablo, the Lord of Terror, where you "kill" him with a soulstone. The game received many near perfect scores on several reviews and by 2001 had sold 2.5 million copies. You had the choice of three charcters: Barbarian, Rogue or Sorcerer.

Diablo II was released in 2000, with the expansion, Lords of Destruction, being released a year later, in 2001. The story continues from the first game, but when your adventurer "kills" Diablo in the first game, it actually only made him stronger and he releases his brothers Mephisto (Lord of Hatred) & Baal (Lord of Destruction) from their soulstones.
You take the role of a adventurer, who arrives in the wake of the destruction caused from the first game. You work you way through four acts by defeating the three prime evils, Diablo, Mephisto and Baal. The game recieved several game of the year awards and for a while held the Guinness Book of World records title of the fastest selling game! By 2001 it had sold over four million copies... Your choice of characters increased from the first game; you could play as Barbarian, Sorceress, Necromancer, Amazon & Paladin and with the expansion pack the Druid and Assassin were added.

But enough about the old games, lets get into the juicy details about Diablo III.

According to the official website, the story goes as follows:
Two decades have passed since the demonic lords, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, set out across the world of Sanctuary on a vicious rampage, twisting humanity to their unholy will. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils, the memory fades slowly.
When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram Cathedral seeking clues to defeat new stirrings of evil, a fiery harbinger of doom falls from the heavens, striking the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. This fire from the sky reawakens ancient evils and calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells once again.

I have lost count of the number of times i have watched the cinematic teaser and the gameplay preview and i am seriously impressed. I think I know the teaser by heart now!

There are some changes to how the game works. Firstly there will be five classes initially, but with the big change being that you can choose the gender of your character. Four of the classes have been revealed to date, namely:

- The Barbarian

I couldn't find a video of the barbarian, but if you watch the gameplay trailer on their website, most of it is about the barbarian.
This is also the only character to be in all three games...strength and brute force is what it's all about

- The Wizard
Watch the Wizard trailer
Total opposite of the Barbarian, while not strong, this character relies on magic to annihilate it's enemies.

- The Witch Doctor
No video for this one either, but once again, it is featured in the gameplay video
Reminds me of the Necromancer. Has "pets" and other spells to kill its enemies

- The Monk
Watch the Monk trailer
I love this character and there is a 90% chance that I will play this character!

Besides the new character line-up there are some changes that i can really appreciate. The health pickups as you kill enemies, the specialization characters & the destructible environments. There is also talk of some net Battle.net features.

Basically i think that there is a lot that we have to look forward to with the new Diablo and I wait patiently!

demotivate u!

2010-02-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

I just love demotivational posters...

the 7 deadly (facebook) sins

2010-02-01T12:34:00.000-08:00

The other day I came across CNN's 12 most annoying types of facebookers and it made me think of the seven deadly sins for some reason. I wondered if they could apply to types of facebook users & over a couple of days, I jotted some ideas down and this is what I came up with...

While I will be the first to admit I probably annoy the hell out of some people on facebook & also admit that I have in the past, probably committed some of these deadly sins, I try learn from my mistakes. If anything i may fall into the "pride" category to a small degree.

To make it easier to remember I will classify them as close as possible to the original deadly sins as follows:

Pride

Original: Excessive belief in one's own abilities. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as vanity.
Facebook: This is the kind of facebooker who overcompensates by trying to make themselves seem better. This can be a profile picture pose or trying to sound impressive in their updates or on their info page. They end up just making a fool of themselves though.
Into this category, I will also include those of you who have kids and think we need to know every little detail of their post-larvae stage. I honestly do not care about your kids! Send an email to those that you think will care...

Envy

Original: The desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.
Facebook: They are copycats. They will imitate their facebook friends in every aspect; this can be by joining the same groups, posting similar statuses and even trying to befriend people they barely know just so they can have mutual friends.

Gluttony

Original: An inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.
Facebook: In facebook terms this is the almost reversed. This sin is committed when the facebooker posts way too much information.
"I just took a dump" is the kind of posts to be expected by these people. They are feeding the rest of us more than we need to know. TMI...

Lust

Original: An inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.
Facebook: These facebookers are the douchebags & douchettes of the world. They will most likely have hundreds of photos or albums of their bronzed bodies or in are wearing their ed hardy shirts with other douchebags & douchettes. Fortunately these types of people will flock together and leave the rest of us alone.
Unfortunately they are spamming our news feeds as well as tainting the gene pool with their breeding.

Wrath

Original: Manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as anger.
Facebook: They tend to air all their dirty secrets on facebook to spite someone. These are extremely malicious people and are to be avoided at all costs. They will attack you everytime you post something.
Deep down they are just unhappy people

Greed

Original: The desire for material wealth or gain. It is also called avarice or covetousness.
Facebook: This type of person can never join enough groups or have enough friends. never mind that they only spoke to the person 5 yrs ago at some party, they are a friend.
They are social whores, plain and simple!

Sloth

Original: The avoidance of work

Facebook: These people are those who spend way too much time on farmville, mafia wars or any other facebook game and take it beyond funny. You join thousands of groups to try make the game better once it reaches a certain level and it just ends up spamming our news feed.

Since you spend so much time on these games, you obviously don't do any actual work.

I have probably missed out on some annoying people but that was never the point. Look at CNN's 12 most annoying types of facebookers or Oatmeal's comic on how to suck at facebook if you want some more.

webcomics

2010-02-01T06:20:00.000-08:00

For quite a while I have been following about 5 webcomics on a daily/weekly basis.
Some of them are quite well know, others not so much but the one thing they all have in common: their followers are very loyal and can get upset if they miss their regular dose.
Webcomics have been around since about 1985, starting with an unauthorized wizard of oz comic "witches and stitches" on compuserve (see the wikipedia article on it's author)
The difference between these and traditional print cartoons (most of which also have web versions) is that any kid can open up ms paint and start a comic which is sometimes way better. Also they are not limited to the number of panels or even panels themselves, basically the possibilities are endless. They can be animated or partly animated, interactive or basically anything their creators want them to be
To get a better idea of the sheer amount of webcomics out there, you need to look at either the wikipedia list of webcomics or a website such as the webcomic list (which monitors over 15000 webcomics)
I can tell you this - there are a load of really horrible ones out there, but for each of those there are plenty of really good ones.
Much like blogs, webcomics are not out there to make their creators rich and famous, which is not to say that there aren't some successful ones, but rather because its their passion to create the webcomics.
I have noticed a trend of these webcomics starting their own online stores where they have webcomic-related merchandise.

If you want to try a few i would suggest one of the following:

The Oatmeal by Matthew Inman
- If you know me, you will know that I regularly post links to the oatmeal. I just can't get enough, especially the grammar lessons

Amazing Super Powers by Wes & Tony
- I love this webcomic not just because it makes my day twice a week, but because of the "easter eggs". The first is the caption that pops up when you hover your cursor over the comic. But the best of all is the hidden comic: if you move your cursor next to the top right hand corner of the comic a question mark appears. If you click on this, it opens up the hidden comic relating to the main comic.

BlankIt by Lemmo Pew and Aric Mckeown
- This is a sequential comic that has been running since June 2008, so if you feel inclined to read this one, you have some serious catching up to do. It is a story about 2 guys that wake up in a blank world and as they go on their adventures weird and wacky things start appearing out of nowhere, including the cookie king and his cookies, walking palaces, ethereal people that appear when given names...

Cyanide & Happiness by Matt, Dave, Rob & Kris
- If you haven't heard of it you must be under a rock somewhere. Over a million daily visitors and in the top 2000 most visited sites according to alexa.com.

Orneryboy by Michael Lalonde
This is one of my favourites about a boy (Orneryboy), a girl (Dirtygirl), their pet zombie (Brian) and their 2 cats.
Its a sequential comic that's been going since 2006 and consists of 393 strips to date.

But if none of these are your cup of tea, go along to the webcomic list and browse through their database until you find something you like. but do yourself a favour, read at least one; we all need laughter

apology

2010-02-01T02:29:00.000-08:00

I have to apologise to everyone that has visited my blog over the last few days and had to put up with the ads across the top of the screen... I have been using a link service called linkbee that pays per link that I create. Unfortunately I was choosing the wrong option and it created a stupid banner across each page at the top.
I have now fixed it and it now displays the link intended without ads

If u had to put up with that...

While I am talking about linkbee though, if you have a website or blog and would like to make some cash out of the links that you post on your website/blog, check it out by clicking here

foursquare

2010-01-31T08:03:00.001-08:00

For the past week I have been passively checking out something I found while stumbling the interwebs: it is a location based social service called "foursquare"

After looking through a couple of blogs and sites talking about the service I have to admit I love the idea! That was until I started trying to find people in my area that use it... I then hit a brick wall as while it is huge in the States and even the UK, in South Africa and specifically Port Elizabeth, it is basically non-existent.
But I am not going to let that get me down - up until now I was using it passively (read: not at all)
I have come to the decision that until it does reach us properly here, I am going all out and checking in wherever I go. my goal: when businesses in PE start offering "mayor" specials, I'll be the king!! Only kidding, but I am going to try my best to promote it to people I know

To give you a short description of what it is all about, foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, and game. users "check-in" at venues using text messaging or a device specific application. They are then awarded points and sometimes "badges." (Taken from Wikipedia)

In other words, say for example you are going to Balizza nightclub tonight, you either "create" the venue on foursquare if it doesn't exist or "check in" at the venue and your friends will be able to see that you are there. Besides this, lets say Balizza has decided to award foursquare users, they will offer a mayors special (a mayor is someone who has the most "check ins" at a specific venue) of a free drink or entrance etc.
Also if you are traveling around a city that you don't know, you want to know which are the hot venues to go to, you can check for these on foursquare. Businesses who are awarding foursquare users can also possibly offer specials to foursquare users

Honestly I think the possibilities are quite endless for the average user and for businesses awarding foursquare users, as they will bring in clients that might have just gone by to the next spot.

Am i being too optimistic? Hopefully not, but I am going to definitely try to promote this!

HOW TO SIGN UP AND USE FOURSQARE
- Go to their website: foursquare
- Sign up and choose your username
- If u have an iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone, this is very easy
- Go to the shop/market/app store and download the app
- Otherwise, for all other phones just use the mobile site (http://foursquare.com/mobile/)

internet vices

2010-01-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

patrick moberg's interpretation of the internet vices... pretty true actually

haha

Internet Vices - Patrick Moberg

ninja assassin

2010-01-30T13:52:00.000-08:00

today i went and watched a movie which i knew very little about (which is good as i had no expectations) called ninja assassin

in short, the plot sucks, but honestly, this doesn't even matter that much! if you are looking for a movie that involves some awesome fight scenes and is pure entertainment, this is the one to go watch! the movie is bloody, although it is cgi blood, and is pumped out of the bodies (of which there a LOT) at about 200 psi.
i still don't know why they decided to include the whole crappy EUROPOL angle, because in my opinion this is what screwed it over...
it got some seriously mixed reviews but in short it is a great ninja movie and a bad movie otherwise.

to get an idea look at the reviews below:
metacritic - metascore: 34/100, user score: 6.6/10
imdb - 6.7/10 (5588 votes)
rotten tomatoes - 26%
screenrant.com
beyondhollywood.com
wikipedia

trailer

plot
Raizo is one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is... Raizo is one of the deadliest assassins in the world. Taken from the streets as a child, he was transformed into a trained killer by the Ozunu Clan, a secret society whose very existence is considered a myth. But haunted by the merciless execution of his friend by the Clan, Raizo breaks free from them…and vanishes. Now he waits, preparing to exact his revenge. In Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti has stumbled upon a money trail linking several political murders to an underground network of untraceable assassins from the Far East. Defying the orders of her superior, Ryan Maslow, Mika digs into top secret agency files to learn the truth behind the murders. Her investigation makes her a target, and the Ozunu Clan sends a team of killers, led by the lethal Takeshi, to silence her forever. Raizo saves Mika from her attackers, but he knows that the Clan will not rest until they are both eliminated. Now, entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse through the streets of Europe, Raizo and Mika must trust one another if they hope to survive…and finally bring down the elusive Ozunu Clan

directed by: james mcteigue
produced by: joel silver, wachowski brothers

in flight entertainment

2010-01-29T08:31:00.000-08:00

seen it onquite a few sites... don't even know if the site i got it was the original, but it is damn funny anyway!
originally posted on www.boreme.com

Tower: "Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!"
Delta 351: "Give us another hint! We have digital watches!"

Tower: "TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 degrees."
TWA 2341: "Center, we are at 35,000 feet. How much noise can we make up here?"
Tower: "Sir, have you ever heard the noise a 747 makes when it hits a 727?"

From an unknown aircraft waiting in a very long takeoff line: "I'm f...ing bored!"
Ground Traffic Control: "Last aircraft transmitting, identify yourself immediately!"
Unknown aircraft: "I said I was f...ing bored, not f...ing stupid!"

O'Hare Approach Control to a 747: "United 329 heavy, your traffic is a Fokker, one o'clock, three miles, Eastbound."
United 329: "Approach, I've always wanted to say this... I've got the little Fokker in sight."

A student became lost during a solo cross-country flight. While attempting to locate the aircraft on radar, ATC asked, "What was your last known position?"
Student: "When I was number one for takeoff."

A DC-10 had come in a little hot and thus had an exceedingly long roll out after touching down.
San Jose Tower Noted: "American 751, make a hard right turn at the end of the runway, if you are able. If you are not able, take the Guadeloupe exit off Highway 101, make a right at the lights and return to the airport."

A Pan Am 727 flight, waiting for start clearance in Munich , overheard the following:
Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany . Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war!"

Tower: "Eastern 702, cleared for takeoff, contact Departure on frequency 124.7"
Eastern 702: "Tower, Eastern 702 switching to Departure. By the way, after we lifted off we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of the runway."
Tower: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff behind Eastern 702, contact Departure on frequency 124.7. Did you copy that report from Eastern 702?"
Continental 635: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, roger; and yes, we copied Eastern... we've already notified our caterers."

One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the active runway while a DC-8 landed. The DC-8 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee. Some quick-witted comedian in the DC-8 crew got on the radio and said,

"What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?"
The Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came back with a real zinger: "I made it out of DC-8 parts. Another landing like yours and I'll have enough parts for another one."

The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign: Speedbird 206.

Speedbird 206: " Frankfurt , Speedbird 206! Clear of active runway."
Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven."
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now."
Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?"
Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark, -- And I didn't land."

While taxiing at London's Gatwick Airport , the crew of a US Air flight departing for Ft. Lauderdale made a wrong turn and came nose to nose with a United 727.
An irate female ground controller lashed out at the US Air crew, screaming: "US Air 2771, where the hell are you going? I told you to turn right onto Charlie taxiway! You turned right on Delta! Stop right there. I know it's difficult for you to tell the difference between C and D, but get it right!"
Continuing her rage to the embarrassed crew, she was now shouting hysterically: "God! Now you've screwed everything up! It'll take forever to sort this out! You stay right there and don't move till I tell you to! You can expect progressive taxi instructions in about half an hour, and I want you to go exactly where I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you! You got that, US Air 2771?"
"Yes, ma'am," the humbled crew responded.
Naturally, the ground control communications frequency fell terribly silent after the verbal bashing of US Air 2771. Nobody wanted to chance engaging the irate ground controller in her current state of mind. Tension in every cockpit out around Gatwick was definitely running high. Just then an unknown pilot broke the silence and keyed his microphone, asking:
"Wasn't I married to you once?"

world of tomorrow book series (in 1981)

2010-01-29T07:35:00.000-08:00

you have to wonder what kind of drugs these guys that wrote and illustrated these books were doing!

this is what they thought the future would be like in 1981...

World of Tomorrow - School, Work and Play

World of Tomorrow - Health and Medicine

demotivational posters - geography

2010-01-29T06:22:00.000-08:00

i love where south africa is ;)

Very Demotivational Posters That Demotivate Us » Geography

how to suck at facebook

2010-01-29T05:20:00.000-08:00

i just love this guy - oatmeal's take on how to suck at facebook

How to Suck at Facebook - The Oatmeal

misspelled tattoos

2010-01-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

this just cracks me up!! although i have one, this is why people should not!

Misspelled Tattoos: Permanent And Hilarious (PHOTOS)

need a name

2010-01-28T12:31:00.000-08:00

i need a better title for my blog...

please give me some idea's!!

all help will be greatly appreciated and i will give the best idea mention in my first post with the new title...