Thursday, April 26, 2007

Striking resemblance

[Spoiler Warning, for those of you who haven't read these books and are planning to, are advised to read this afterward]

I've been wanting to write about this ever since I finished reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress. I'm not sure whether other readers notice it or not, I've tried googling but no one seems to share the same thoughts. I've read all four of his books and I like them. Well, not sure how to say it (I'm not a reviewer :-), I enjoy reading his novel, the story goes how I want it to. The good guys always wins and the bad guys got it bad (which probably the standard plot formula of all times for both movies and novel he he..). However, there's this characterization similarity that I began to notice after I read three books. The first one I read was The Da Vinci Code, which I have to admit, it was because all the hip and hype about it (pretty much based on the controversy of the book). Then I read Angels and Demons, which actually Langdon's first adventure. Do you see the similarity between these two books?
The antagonist in The Da Vinci Code, Leigh Teabing a.k.a The Teacher, Langdon obviously trusted this guy since he decided to come to Leigh's château when the police were on their tails, but later in the story as the plot advanced, Leigh was behind Aringarosa and Silas. He was the one who controlled them.
In Angels and Demons, Carlo Ventresca a.k.a Camerlengo a.k.a Janus, he seemed to be the good guy at the beginning of the story, he assisted Langdon in their search. But in the end, he turned out to be the evil mind.
So, come to the next two books. Deception Point and Digital Fortress.
In Deception Point, William Pickering, Director of NRA, a.k.a The Controller, one person that Rachel Sexton really believes, he actually was the one behind all the killings and as a matter of fact, was the one who finally ordered to have Rachel eliminated.
And finally in Digital Fortress, Commander Trevor Strathmore: Deputy Director of the NSA, head of Crypto, who was secretly in love with Susan Fletcher, and the one who seemed to be the hero, was the one behind all the manipulation and fiasco.
And you know what, all main antagonists, all of them had means or accomplice. In Angels and Demon there was the Hassassin. The Da Vinci Code was Silas, Deception Point has the Delta Force team, and Digital Fortress has Hulohot as the assassin.
I'm currently waiting for Dan Brown's fifth book, The Solomon Key. I am wondering, how the plot would end up.
Mmm, what do you think guys?

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

In the verge of giving up

Damn (sorry..), I'm just few breath away from giving up. After 10 days, I'm still stuck in 8th line of Cavatina. Remember my previous post about barre chords? I still can't make them sound even after I pressed my index finger as hard as I could against the fretboard. What's wrong with my finger? I can't remember when was the last time I face obstacle this hard in learning a song. My mind begin telling me that perhaps it's not my level yet. Maybe five years later...of maybe never..pfh..

Monday, April 23, 2007

Browser

Long time ago, after I got frustrated with Internet Explorer, before Opera becomes free. There was a browser that I always used, Firefox by Mozilla. I was really amazed by it's capability, user-friendly, reliable and free :-). Tabbed browsing was my favorite feature. I was a crazy browser and downloader, opening many downloads in many windows is not uncommon. Browsing up to 10-15 pages at a time. You know, “right-click, open in new window and save target as” has become a routine for me. I remember when I was downloading Garfield comic strip (Yeah, Gotta love that cat), imagine opening 1 month comic in 30 windows, waiting for the page to fully loaded. It's just some Internet activities that IE can't handle (IMHO).

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Microsoft, I always use Windows as my OS, never try anything else. I worked with Microsoft Office all the time, except for now, where I chose not to buy Office 2003 and use Open Office instead (it's free :-). But for best browsing experience Firefox is way better than IE (probably until now).

There was one thing that made me curious at that time, everytime I read some reviews for browser in computer magazine, Firefox was only the number one browser for free category. While Opera was best all round browser (around 2004-2005). So I download and installed Opera shareware (with the advertisement and all) and found it even better than Firefox. And I've been using Opera since then. The feature that I really like is mouse gesture, I practically cannot live without it. I use it all the time and this feature really helps me, it makes easier to navigate between pages, going back and forth, scrolling through endless windows.
However, I'm still installing newer versions of other browsers (Firefox and IE) only for comparison and compatibility issues that sometimes come up.

Well, nothing is perfect, still looking for the best browser out there...

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Some changes

After two days of editing, tweaking, headache, looking for help here and there (thanks to bizwhiz), I finally made it. This blog now has three columns and graphic header, with just a brief introduction to basic HTML, something that I never pay attention before. Blog editing turned out to be as fun as blogging. Well, now a new label for post related to blog editing.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

little about labels..

Last week I started giving labels to my posts, even to my older posts. Up till now, there are 4 labels. Oh Life, Photography, Poem and Games.
Oh Life is about my life, is about my daily experience and sometimes about my thoughts. Photography is picture post, basically contains pictures that I've taken, added with EXIF data. Poem (which become more and more rare :-) is my poem. I have some more poems that I'm planning to upload later.
And last, Games. I'm not sure why I have this labels. It was about unfinished post on video games that I wrote weeks ago. I lost interest in finishing it and ended up uploading my console collection picture.

There you go..
little about labels..


Tuesday, April 17, 2007



This afternoon, while I was browsing, looking for information about the release of Canon 1D Mark III, I came upon an interesting site owned by a photographer. One thing that interests me the most is Panoramic Photograph but not Panoramix the druid from Asterix series :-). Panoramic photography is about joining (stitching) multiple images that cannot be covered only by one shot. In his site he displayed many great panoramic photographs that even cannot be covered by the wide angle of human eyes. So, interested, intrigued,inspired, I jumped off the couch, grabbed my camera and tripod, off I go to make my own panoramic shot.

My apartment's living room was my first object. I located the tripod in a point that I think is the center of my apartment. Locked the tilt handle and start taking picture. After about 10 shots, I transferred to my laptop and start stitching. To my surprise, all shots have different exposure, different focus and at different angle. I couldn't possibly stitch them perfectly. I guess Panoramic Photography is not as simple as I thought,

Then I began to look for some answers in Internet. It turn out that even the professionals are using special software for stitching, for joining the pictures together. So they can join those pictures seamlessly. Still one question though, how do they locked the exposure, the angle and focus distance. I'm afraid the problem lies in my camera. My camera is auto focus only, no manual focusing, no custom white balance, all are set automatically. Well, so much for my new career in Panoramic Photography, I'll just settle with macro and ultra zoom for now..:-)

Mmmm, can anybody give me Canon 1D Mark III please.. I won't be able to use it to its fullest, but I think I can learn..he he he...

My favorite bookstore




If you ask people, which bookstore is the best in US, most likely the answer you get will be BORDER or Barnes and Noble or Amazon. They have a wide variety of books, vast collections and cozy atmosphere. I enjoy occasional visits to the nearest Border store in my neighbourhood. But if you ask me which bookstore is the best in US, I will surely answer, Goodwill. Why? Well, you can't beat the prices there. Books are sold very cheap there. The inventory is not as grand as other book store, but I can live with that. I have all Dan Brown's books from there, not new but in good conditions. I bought The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, including The Hobbit, all four of them just less than 4 dollars. I consider myself as shelves hunter (my own term ^_^). Hunting for good and cheap books. I can scan all bookshelves in Goodwill in less than 30 minutes, that's the only time I usually have, before going to work. A little stiffness in my neck is just a small price to pay after six or seven shelves..:-). Anyway, I believe a lot of people also buy books there, especially during the 50% off day. Once I saw this one lady with a trolley full of used books.
Now, the problem is what am I going to do with my growing book collections, I have to take them all back to Indonesia eventually. How much should I pay for the shipping. I could end up paying a lot of money to send those books to Indonesia.
That's another thing, I still have one year here. In the mean time, I just keep building my own library by coming to Goodwill every 50% off day..:-)


Sunday, April 15, 2007

Froggie



Camera make: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Camera model: KODAK Z740 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA
Date/Time: 2006:01:10 16:32:31
Resolution: 800 x 615
Flash used: Yes (auto)
Focal length: 13.7mm (35mm equivalent: 82mm)
Exposure time: 0.011 s (1/90)
Aperture: f/3.2
ISO equiv.: 80
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: program (auto)

Those nasty barre chords

It's almost 2 AM, I'm still awake, accompanied by cold pizza, my guitar, and 6 size font-prints of Cavatina tabs. Stuck in the fourth line out of 32 lines. My fingers and wrist hurt because of bending and twisting in an inhuman position :-). Those barre chords, I just can't get them to sound. Other people seem to crunch easily like potato chips. I checked in Youtube, and found out that at least half a dozen people are playing this piece like a piece of cake. Damn those barre chords
But I will not give up,I will climb that 32 line..Hopefully..:-)

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Bee and Lotus



Camera make: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Camera model: KODAK Z740 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA
Date/Time: 2005:12:17 11:24:59
Resolution: 800 x 625
Flash used: No (auto)
Focal length: 6.3mm (35mm equivalent: 38mm)
Exposure time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO equiv.: 80
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure: program (auto)







Funny things about me and guitar. I just can't get enough of them. I have more guitar than I ever need. I'm not guitar maestro, not even a good player but I just love 'em. they're so sexy, sleek and slender.. :-). 
Being away from home, means being away from my guitars. 
Right now, they're sleeping peacefully in carton boxes, tens of thousands of mile away from me. 
Finally, on my birthday, I gave myself a present.  I bought a guitar. My sleepy fingers, I awake them, slap them, bend them. I play again and this time, Cavatina by Stanley Myers accompany me..

Friday, April 13, 2007