Miks ma ei maga?

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:06:18 GMT

I have the most important job interview (well, the first proper one, for more than a summer job) of my life, so far, tomorrow at 7 PM GMT / 8 PM my time. Well, not really that important. I could survive without this job, and I'm amazed I came this far in the hiring process. I'm more nervous due to fear of failure than due to me needing this job.

For once, I'm actually studying/working for an exam I need to be prepared for.

If I see any more Java code this very second, me brain will explode.

Nicked from camillo1978

1. Pick 10-20 your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Fill in the film title once it's guessed.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.

1. Stand tall, boy. Have some *respect* for yourself. Don't you know if you let people walk over you now, they'll be walking over you for the rest of your life! Look at me. You think I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in *this* slop house?

2. ~~Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking.~~ elen_ancalima

3. I thought Tommy Tammisimo sucked big time.

4. ~~I changed the conditions of the test. I got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose.~~ dickgloucester

5. ~~Sir, the pool is for decoration, and your friends do not have swimwear.~~ elen_ancalima

6. Nicko! Don't play with the food! When I was your age, we didn't have food!

7. ~~P.I Staker? Right! "Piss Taker!" Come on!~~ camillo1978

8. ~~I realize that when I met you at the turkey curry buffet, I was unforgivably rude, and wearing a reindeer jumper.~~ kribu

9. ~~Hail Caesar! And if it's not done by sunrise, I'll cut your balls off.~~ dickgloucester

10. ~~These go to eleven.~~ kribu

11. Random thoughts for Valentine's day, 2004. Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

12. ~~He doesn't want us to cut through our chains. He wants us to cut through our feet!~~ camillo1978

13. ~~Would anyone like... a peanut?~~ elen_ancalima

14. You wouldn't come to work with a hangover unless you were an alcoholic. Dude, you got a disease!

15. ~~I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I... Think... I... Can... I Thought I could. I thought I could. I thought I could. Woo-hoo!~~ elen_ancalima

16. ~~We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode!~~ elen_ancalima

17. Another one of them new worlds. No beer, no women, no pool parlors, nothin'. Nothin' to do but throw rocks at tin cans, and we gotta bring our own tin cans.

18. That's what's wrong with the present day horrorfilms. There's no realism. Not like the old ones, the great ones. Frankenstein. Phantom of the Opera. Dracula - the one with Bela Lugosi of course, not this new fellow. kribu

19. But it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine. You think of women as disposable pleasures, rather than meaningful pursuits. So as charming as you are, Mr. Bond, I will be keeping my eye on our government's money - and off your perfectly-formed arse. dickgloucester

20. ~~It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.~~ camillo1978

Photo meme

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:25:19 GMT

snagged from .. bloody everyone!

I hate doing "favourites", as I have a hard time saying if I prefer New York City to Bratislava Castle - I love both, but how could one be "better" than the other? Ack. So all my choices are (a) ambiguous (b) often picked to avoid something someone else has already taken.

1. What is your first name?

2. What month were you born in?

(and thus, I am a scary rapist dude. God I love astrology)

3. What car do you drive?

4. Favourite hobby?

5. Favourite TV Show?

6. Favourite colour?

7. Favourite celebrity crush?

8. Favourite Place?

or

9. Favourite Movie?

10. Favourite Disney Princess?

Hard to say favourite, as I never was too into disney. Last disney movie I saw, though, and I had fond memories of her breasts.

11. Name of Pets?

12. Favourite vacation spot?

13. Favourite song?

(most ambiguous of them all)

14. Favourite dessert?

15. Favourite food?

(there is a difference between dessert and food? :-P)

16. What are you afraid of?

17. Favourite time of day?

18. What do you love most in life?

20. Favourite beverage?

(could not not mime ayerf here, as I found nothing under the Austrian name, and I refuse to use the German name. It's just too fucking Piefke, for those that know that term.)

21. One word that describes you:

127.0.0.1 - Part 1 of .. 1? 2? X? Up to you!

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:09:50 GMT

Well this is certainly new for me.

I've been working on this story, in one form or another, for some time. Mostly in another form, but I recently started writing it out as a "proper" story. I haven't written, properly creatively, for almost a decade ... and there are some very good reasons for this.

While I know I have some people on my f-list interested in ... amateur fiction ... in one way or another, I have no idea if anyone on my f-list is interested in fiction of this sort, especially when its quality is severly lacking. Though English is my native tongue, my education with it has been pathetic, and I got to spend all that time "normal" anglophones spend reading Shakespeare ... reading Goethe. Also, while I am trying to write international English (neither clearly American, British, or Jamaican) .. it might be more American than it should at times.

I will just be seeing if I can find a "market" for it here or not. If not, no big deal :-D

If anyone is *really* interested, I would be extremely thankful to have an "editor" - ergo, a person that hits my fingers with a big pointy stick and says "DON'T DO THAT!" whenever I commit Austro-American crimes on the English language.

Anyways .. the story. Don't want to say too much about the genre, as it would give away things yet to come.

I

The first rays of sunlight coming through the room’s solitary window illuminated his silent companion’s face, finally enabling him to identify his unexpected visitor. It took him a few seconds to fully process it before he managed to talk again.

‘Well that’s certainly a surprise’, he noted. ‘I mean, I half expected that they’d be so foolhardy as to completely disregard my warning. And to be honest, as sincere as my plea was at the time, as much as I knew deep down that death was my only clean way out of here … a part of me was hoping that they’d prove me right on my belief that they’d never learn.’

Taking a few heavy breaths, he noticed just how out of shape his vocal cords were. When, exactly, had the last time been that he had got a chance to actually talk? He had stopped keeping track of time a very long time ago. At first, he had stopped counting the days. By now, he had long stopped counting the winters passing before the room’s solitary window, his only access point to the outside world.

‘It certainly is good to see a friendly face again. But I will admit … even when I let myself hope that I’d get to see a, shall we say … moderately non-hostile face again in my life … I was not expecting it to be yours.’ His companion chuckled for a moment. So he had not actually gone deaf or stupid since they had last met.

‘I still don’t know, though, how you actually got in here. Or who sent you.’ He was hoping that this would tempt his companion to say something, now that he had proven himself capable of giving some sorts of signs of life aside from sitting there, in the corner, staring. When exactly his visitor had arrived, he could not say, having slept through his arrival. He prided himself about the fact that he still slept at nights, and still was generally awake during the day. It felt like the only spark of his human dignity that was left to him. Though he had forgotten how long he had been here, what year it was, what time of the year it was, he still knew when it was day, and when it was night. He still could pretend that it, in any way, mattered when he slept and when he was awake. Now, however, this spark of humanity of his had for once been a horrible nuisance. Had he been up at night, he might have noticed his companion’s arrival. He certainly wasn’t going to have any luck finding out how he had got here by asking him...

‘Well, I assume it wasn’t General Chatchaniva that sent you then, was it? Surely I can’t have been here long enough to give him time to grow a sense of humour, without which he surely wouldn’t have sent you. From what I can tell, my hair still has some streaks of brown.’ His partner’s snug expression seemed to fade a bit. “Confusion” was too strong a word for the emotion his new expression seemed to spell out – his personal dignity would never have permitted that kind of facial expression. ‘What the blazes are you on about, man?’ was definitely a better expression. ‘General Chatchaniva. Surely, you must have at least heard of him?’ His partner shrugged his shoulders. Though getting the hang of conversation again, he took a few moments again to catch his breath. ‘Have you actually been in contact with any of my people?’ Again, his conversation partner shrugged.

‘I guess I have credited you with too much knowledge of my situation. As you came for me, personally, I assumed that they had contacted you after I … became hard to trace. Who else but the council of elders would have had the means to both locate me, and to actually get to me? I seem to have underestimated your own resources and your determination.’ For the first time since the start of their conversation, his companion broke something almost resembling a smile. And for the first time since his mysterious arrival in the dark corner of this dark room, he opened his mouth to speak, if only for three words. ‘Errare humanum est.’
He chuckled. It didn’t seem like he would be getting anything out of his companion but platitudes he could have learned off those good old Earth beer mats of days gone by that he had read of. Yet, as tedious as the conversation was, and as unable as he was to figure out why they had yet to leave if his visitor, obviously, knew of a way in and out … he still appreciated the company.

‘Tell me. Why are we still here? If you could get in, surely, you must have a way out.’ His companion fell silent once again. ‘Surely, you cannot stay here. You’d starve. I barely manage to stay alive myself on the food I can get my fingers on here. And for another, as little attention as I am given here, sooner or later, they will notice you.’ His companion’s facial expression did not show any sign of fear. Not surprising, considering the things he had faced. But considering the life he had lead, it was not conceivable that he would be so daft as to just sit there, in the corner, tranquillity personified, if he did not have one hell of an ace up his sleeve. If he was not waiting for something. Anything. It just wasn’t him.

Yes, that had to be it. He had a way out. He had to. But it was something out of his immediate control, at the moment. Maybe he had help coming by air. Maybe it was coming from underground. Maybe it was tanks, who could know? But in any case, his companion would not have any choice but to wait for help to come, whatever form it might be in. That was the only plausible explanation for a person of his character to be so very serene in this place. He was waiting for something to happen. And telling what it was would be an unacceptable risk to the rescue operation, whatever it might have been. He did not actually know if they paid as little attention to him as it seemed. And he knew how much pride they put on the fact that no-one got out. Ever.

‘Well, I am impressed that you came for me without having been in contact with the council. And I feel honoured that you considered me important enough to deserve this kind of attention, for whatever reasons. I mean, you can’t even know how I got here in the first place if you haven’t talked with them, can you?’ Again, he shrugged.

‘Your knowledge of my story must be quite rudimentary.’ His companion gave a solitary, silent nod. ‘I guess I owe it to you to fill out the blanks. And it’s not like we have anything better to do right now.’

Life's movie meme

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 14:57:33 GMT

Stolen from kribu

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, CD Player, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.

Took my entire music folder, and eliminated anything recorded by friends and the such, to limit just how obscure my answers are ...

Opening Credits:
"Anonymous Alcoholic" - 10cc (Er .. oops. I'd better continue avoiding booze ...)

Waking Up:
"The Wasp" - The Doors

First Day At School:
"Losing my Religion" - REM (like I ever had it ...)

Falling In Love:
"Desaparecido" - Manu Chao (so I don't understand love, as it's all in Spanish...)

Fight Song:
"One Way Ticket" - The Darkness (I guess anything from the Darkness is good for a fight.)

Breaking Up:
"Baron Samedi" - 10cc ("I'll show you man who walk on fire
And don't get burned" ... "I'll show you man who tread on glass
And he don't get cut" ..."You can take a knife and slit his throat
And he won't drop dead" - okay, so I'm a stone-cold bastard. Great! :-D)

Prom:
"Trouble" - Coldplay (The closest thing my class had to a prom was most definitely trouble ...)

Life:
"Je Suis Desole" - Mark Knopfler (and my life I do not understand, because it is French.)

Mental Breakdown:
"Around the World" - Daft Punk (woo! daft!)

Driving:
"Lazy" - Deep Purple (being lazy is another good reason to not drive)

Flashback:
"Now You're Gone" - 10cc (Now THAT is good. My playlist seems a bit stuck on 10cc today though. I only have a handful of songs of theirs on my list, while groups/people with several gazillion songs have yet to come up..)

Wedding:
"Run For Your Life" - The Beatles (No comment)

Birth of Child:
"The Promise" - Michael Nyman (from the Piano soundtrack. Hmm. My life is artsy fartsy!)

Final Battle:
"Twisted Logic" - Coldplay (another act my playlist seems to be bigger on than me myself. It doesn't even fit!)

Death Scene:
"Fresh Air For My Mama" - 10cc (...)

Funeral Song:
"Bigmouth Strikes Again" - The Smiths (that would have been a way better death scene song. And my death scene song would have been a good funeral song. Pah!)

End Credit:
"One World" - Dire Straits

Eurovision game

Fri, 18 May 2007 23:27:40 GMT

After some input from "betas", here's a version of my game that should be a bit less impossible to solve. At least partially.

The links below are links to sniplets from Eurovision songs .. most of them are old. All of them in local languages - so no Latvians singing Italian or anything like that. Though there are twists on some of them.

The clips are 20 seconds each. Guess what language and what country might be responsible for the songs.

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

The "rules" are simple:
1) no looking into comments - I'm screening them so HAH, good look anyways!
2) I want to be amused. So don't be afraid to make a guess, also if it's a stupid one. I won't send the Albanian army after you if you call Basque Albanian. If you only have an inkling of a region or a language family, also good. :-D
3) If you feel like you've *ALMOST* gotten a language, but can't quite put your finger on it, I will put up alternative clips, of different songs from different years.
4) The one that doesn't sound crap is Estonian.
5) If you actually *REMEMBER* several of the songs, you're automatically more sad than I am. HAH!
6) Advertise! My sister says it's okay. If I get into trouble for copyright infringements, I'll finally have a reason to be really, really mean to her.