5 desktop applications I can’t do without

I love free software. :P I have a large amount of it installed to my computer, so I’m sharing a few of it with you guys. Here are five applications which I don’t think I’d survive without.

  • Tweetdeck – I’m always on Twitter. It’s one of my favorite web apps and I’m more active there than on Plurk (which is evident, by the looks of my Plurk karma – that was 95 about a couple months ago – don’t care anymore). If I didn’t have Tweetdeck, I probably wouldn’t tweet that often, since I’m lazy with regards to logging into my accounts.
  • Blogdesk – I have about three WordPress blogs, so it’s a bit of a hassle to log into my accounts one by one just to blog. Blogdesk helps me post to all my blogs using just one application. I don’t have to log in, and it comes with a few nifty tools.
  • Combined Community Codec Pack – I don’t like the media player bundled with XP, and it’s a pain looking for the codecs that I need one by one, so this codec pack is very convenient. It has all the codecs I need, plus Media Player Classic. :)
  • Filezilla – A few months ago, my Firefox installation started working really slowly because of the amount of addons I use. I was very dependent on FireFTP. So after reformatting my computer, I went on a search for a nice, free FTP client and found this.
  • Fotosizer – I’m usually rather active on Flickr (not right now, because I haven’t had time to process my film). So this batch resizer is pretty useful, because uploading high-res images takes so long, especially if you consider my ISP.

I could go on and on about the other applications I regularly use, such as foobar and Foxit, but I only said I’d list five. :D

Diventare turned a year old two days ago. :P I should probably consider Orlando vacations to celebrate it. I intended to blog, but it slipped my mind. :)

Star Trek

Star Trek poster

I finally saw Star Trek a couple of days ago. My friend Jem and a couple of others went to see it this past Thursday. I think we were four of the fifteen people in the theater.

At first, I was rather skeptical, especially about the casting since I found out that Chris Pine had been given the role of Captain Kirk. In this generation where movie remakes usually suck, I really wasn’t expecting much.

It was okay. Although I have to admit the most convincing character in the movie was Spock. Zachary Quinto was a good Spock – probably because he was able to work alongside Leonard Nimoy. I had a bit of a problem with Hikaru Sulu because I kept thinking of Harold & Kumar whenever I saw John Cho on screen. Chris Pine was an okay Kirk – I’m happy he didn’t imitate William Shatner’s speech pattern (the frequent pauses).

Overall, I was happy with the film. The script was pretty good. There were a lot of funny parts, and it was decent for a movie remake. The film isn’t bad, but it isn’t spectacular either. I’m not sure if the hardcore purist Trekkies would appreciate it, though. :D

Now I’m going to see if any of these area rugs catch my fancy.

Audiosurfing

It’s 11PM and I’ve spent most of the night playing Audiosurf.

Audiosurf

Last night, my older brother introduced me to the game, Audiosurf. Audiosurf is a rhythm puzzle racer game. The player chooses music, and navigates the “car” through the track, hitting colored blocks which appear in sync with the music. There are 14 available characters, divided into three difficulties. Each character has its own unique ability. I’ve only been able to play the Mono character for each difficulty level, and the Pointman in the Easy level. The car in the image above is the Pointman.

It’s actually rather interesting, because instead of being totally dependent on the difficulty levels that the engine provides, it will still always depend on the beat of the song you’ve chosen. I’ve played songs which I found somewhat difficult because the track appeared to hopping up and down (because of the drum beats) while I was navigating through it.

Audio-Surf.com is offering a free demo for users who want to try it, and you can buy the game from Steam for about $10. :D

It can get boring if you keep playing it for hours without stopping, but it’s good when you have nothing better to do.

I’m off to learn how to build gazebos in The Sims 2 now. :D

Back on Tumblr

I’m currently blogging using my mom’s MacBook while my little brother is playing The Sims 2 on my desktop computer. I recently installed FreeTime – we’re missing just two expansion packs now – and he’s trying it out. He’s having fun, so I don’t dare disturb him.

After abandoning my Tumblr for a few months (I’ve forgotten my login details), I’ve given in and created a new one. Follow me and I’ll surely follow you back – just leave your Tumblr URLs at the comments.

To be honest, I only created a Tumblr to follow tumblelogs like ffffound, lookbook.nu and artpixie. Just today, Aja showed me gluttonyisabliss, which almost ruined my diet. :)

Anyway, I’m going off to watch TMZ. Anyone interested in microdermabrasion?

The weather is being bipolar.

It’s been raining on and off for the past couple of days. It was pretty cool yesterday, but today’s heat is annoying, even though it’s rather cloudy. When is the weather going to be just perfect?

I’ve gotten re-addicted to The Sims 2. I reinstalled the game a couple of days ago and I’ve been having fun with it. My Sim has graduated from University and has reached the top of the Show Business career track, haha.

I’m planning to figure out how to recolor hair and create meshes so I can finally stop downloading stuff and actually create my own custom content. I’ll probably figure it out over the weekend.

Going off-topic, because I’m proud of my dad, watch his Jazz Improv videos on Pelicola.tv. This has been around for a while, and I’ve only gotten around to actually blogging about it. :) My dad is a successful musician in the Philippine jazz scene. While he’s not known in the mainstream music industry, I like to think that he’s pretty much respected in the jazz industry. I’m very proud of him. :)

Anyway, I’m going to go play The Sims and maybe build the Stratosphere hotel.

I want a home theater.

I want a home theater. Ever since I started collecting DVDs, I’ve been itching to build my own HT. I’ve been planning mine for a long time now, right down to the carpeting, seating, and soundproofing. I’ve been looking at price tag of every LCD TV I see.

I don’t think my plan will come into fruition any time soon, but I think I may be able to build a mini home theater when we move to our new house. No carpeting, no seating, but I plan to put a up a wall-mount TV right in front of my bed, so I can lay on my bed while watching movies. I plan to close off that area of my bedroom with a few shoji screens, which would also suit the modern Japanese theme that my mom is going after.

Wish me luck!

Lexie, the gamer.

Today, I’m taking the geekery to another level and will be blogging about the first-person shooter (FPS) games that I frequently play. I have two brothers, and no sister, so my brothers thought it was essential for me to learn how to play FPS so they’d have someone to play with if the other was away. :P

I only play first-person shooters, perhaps with the special exception of Icewind Dale.

A few of my favorite games are:

  • Half-Life 2
    When my brother first showed me a photo of Gordon Freeman, my initial remark was, “Look at me, I’m a cool geek. I wear horn-rimmed glasses, an uber cool suit, and my trademark weapon is… a crowbar?!” My brother’s response? “Don’t hate on the crowbar. You see a man killing aliens using a crowbar, you know he’s not afraid of anything.” He was right. I find it a little strange that Gordon Freeman doesn’t talk, though.

    Half-Life 2

  • Left 4 Dead
    Left 4 Dead is a first-person shooter, survival horror game. My brother and I like to think of it as a mix of Resident Evil and CounterStrike. That sounds dull, yes. But what makes it interesting are the characters. You can play a four-player cooperative game, or go on a single player mode with three AI (personally, I wouldn’t recommend this because the AI suck). You choose among four players: Francis, the biker; Bill, the Vietnam Veteran; Louis, the I.T. guy; and Zoey, the college student/horror movie enthusiast. My personal favorites are Zoey and Francis. The game is also very easy to play.

    Left 4 Dead

  • No One Lives Forever 2
    This is really just your typical FPS, only with a female protagonist. You play as Cate Archer, a spy, and complete her missions. You can complete missions through action, stealth, or using gadgets. There’s also a cooperative mode, where you play as Cate’s backup and assist her on certain missions.

    NOLF2

Among all three games, my most favorite game would have to be Left 4 Dead. Only because it’s easier, and the cooperative mode is so much fun. :)

Going offline now to look for Victorinox Swiss Army watches. :P

A change of scenery and games.

New layout, if you haven’t noticed yet. It’s a lot brighter, and a little more colorful and bright compared to the former layout. But it still has our friend, the ladybug, up there. I hope you like it. I just felt like a change, and the old layout stayed on for a long time anyway. :D

I’ve gotten re-addicted to Frets on Fire lately. I’ve upped my abysmal high score of 150000 to 215000+ (it’s that low, because I never venture into the Medium and Amazing levels – I’m too much of a chicken). I’ve gone on a song downloading spree lately, downloading songs by Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, Prodigy, and AC/DC. It’s fun.

Aside from that, I’ve been playing a bit of Top Spin, and a few games on my brother’s Nintendo DS Lite. Top Spin is really nice, although I’m a little disappointed that the version my friend is letting me play doesn’t have Novak Djokovic or Ana Ivanovic. Although, it does have Hingis and Dementieva. I’m turning into a gaming geek. I can seriously go on playing these games for hours and not notice the time. Perhaps I need one of these Festina watches.

Speaking of the time, it’s late and I need to get some rest. :D

Nintendo DSi

Nintendo has announced the Nintendo DSi, a revised model of the Nintendo DS Lite. I don’t know whether to be disappointed or happy.

It certainly looks interesting, but doesn’t seem to be that much different from the DS Lite (well aside from the built-in cameras and the built-in web browser.

But now, I’m facing a rather tough decision: should I get a DS Lite (which I’ve been planning to do for a couple of months now) or should I wait until the DSi is released and get that instead?

I mean, I couldn’t care less about the larger screens, and the two cameras (what use do I have for a 0.3 megapixel camera anyway?).

This is confusing.

If anyone needs blackhead treatment, here ya go.