Wimbledon and Bob(Halo 2)(ouch)

Posted on July 4, 2005 by David

WIMBLEDON:
Did you know I play tennis? Well I do. Now you know.

Today was the Wimbledon finals. Roddick vs my main man Roger Federer. Roddick kicks some large butt, but Roger kicks more. That why he is numero uno.

Anyways. I haven’t been able to play much tennis lately. But me and Billy used to play lots. But with our crazy schedules we haven’t. Anways check out how tennis makes you cool: halfway down this page…

So play tennis. It is cool.

BOB:
aka Halo 2. Ouch…I still twinge a bit when I hear that. But anyways. Cole has been slowly pulling me towards it. I’ve always been the one in the group to totally deny Halo 2 any respect…but a few things are changing my mind:
a) The Update – They put out an update to make Halo 2 more fair blah blah blah. Certain weapons aren’t as powerful. Some other settings are tweaked. This, overall, makes Halo 2 a lot more like Halo 1 and I like that.
b) The Maps – They also put out…well not yet…a map pack. It is a few maps that are similar to Halo 1 maps in structure, but different in looks and stuff. So I like this, becuase it’s more Halo 1ish.
c) The Tirednessishy – Yes, I’m getting a bit tired of Halo 1. But HEY, I can play a game that’s almost the same, and not feel like I’m playing the same game! How cool is that?

So Bob is ok, I guess. But Halo 1 will always be classic for me. Halo 2 may get better with every new map or update, but it will never be as good as Halo 1.

I give Halo 1 a 10 out of 10…and Halo 2 an 8 out of 10. Maybe it’ll be 9 after I play some more…

Curtain.

Posted in Personal, Technology | 1 Comment

free iPods

Posted on July 2, 2005 by David

Alright guys. Here is the deal. I’m doing this thing…where I can get a free iPod. Thats right. Completely free. Totally legit. Here is some proof:

Wired News

BBC News

Since I’m going for the iPodPhoto, I need 10 referrals, instead of 5.

Soo if you guys want, I’ll do something for you. Sell something of yours on eBay, complete an offer for you, give you some free hosting for photos (sigs, eBay picutres, etc), give you some drum instruction, or give you $5. Even if I give 10 people $5 to do this, I’d only be paying $50 dollars for an iPod!!!

So here is my referral link:
http://www.freephotoiPods.com/default.aspx?r=19907437.

It would be sooo awesome if I could get one of these… I’d use it with my stereo, while playing the drums, while in my car, while mowing, etc, etc. And I’ll do something for you, if you help me out!

Please and THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!

Any questions? Posted in Technology | 2 Comments

New Drum Heads

Posted on June 30, 2005 by David

Ahh yes. I’m basking.

Tuesday night I got a new set of drum heads. Evans g2 for the batter heads and Evan g1 for the resonant heads. I still had the original Pearl resos…and they are worthless.

So now my drums are sounding tizzite. I’m going to work on another recording. Maybe I’ll do some guitar too. With Mixcraft I can record a guitar riff, and then listen to it, play the drums to it, and record the drums…all at the same time. I could add keyboard, vocals, anything!

Anyways…I get to work on it. Expect it in a few days….

till next time…

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NSV Streams List

Posted on June 28, 2005 by David

Here is a list of streaming video that will continue to grow…

NSV Streams

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NSV Streams

Posted on June 27, 2005 by David

NSV streams are a new way to watch video online. You can find a lot of sites where you can basically watch TV online. I’ve found shows like Family Guy, South Park, Celebrity Deathmatch, Friends, The Chappelle Show, and many others. Here is how to watch ’em… Continue reading →

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iTunes vs …

Posted on June 27, 2005 by David

I was over to a friends house last night, and we were working on this laptop I have, trying to speed it up. We spotted my favorite media player of all time, iTunes, sucking away resources. 30,000K of memory, which is a buttload. To compare: Most internet browsers, like Internet Explorer and Firefox, use up about 15,000K. Other programs like AVG, or other security programs, sit in the background, using about 8,000K. So, if you can read numbers and think about them, you should’ve determined by now that iTunes is a major resource hog.

So we set out to find a media player equal to or greater than iTunes, in the following areas (with examples):
1)Ease of use (Was it easy to customize EQ settings?)
2)Compatibility (Does it support all the filetypes I need?)
3)Features (Does it have all the features I’m looking for?)
4)Athstetics (Is it ugly or absolutely gorgeous?)
5)Other (Are there any miscellaneous things that I really like?)

There were a few options. Keep iTunes, and deal with the resource hogging; Try Windows Media Player; try Winamp. I’ve used iTunes a TON, Windows Media Player occasionally, and Winamp never…until 24 hours ago. I narrowed it down to iTunes and Winamp, just becuase I had heard very good things about Winamp (and if I reviewed Windows Media Player this post would be unbearably long with all my complaints…). Continue reading →

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RECORDING yeah!

Posted on June 23, 2005 by David

Today has been a busy one for David.

I’ve been working hard on my drum recording today. My dad finally got his recording mic sorted out, so I got to use it finally. Yes!

Usually, for professional drum recording, every individual drum is has its own mic, and can be independantly adjusted. The drumset is put in a room with sound proof walls, carpeted floors, and foam covered walls. Now, I, plain, David, don’t have a set of mics, a sound board, or $500 worth of recording software at hand.

I took the homebrew route. Continue reading →

Posted in Percussion | 2 Comments

Uxtheme Multi-patcher 4.0

Posted on June 21, 2005 by David

Ok. So you own an xp computer right? Have you ever wanted it to look cooler than just your normal XP Silver or XP Blue theme. Ya know? Silver start menu and all? Well there are ways to get through windows and use special themes. You can make your computer look any way you want. Its quite easy for the most part.

There are a few ways to go about this. The simplest route, that costs a bit of money, is using StyleXP…although I hear there are ways that you can make it free. Just download this and install it. Then follow the simple interface to apply visual styles, logon screens, icons, cursors and more. There are other programs like StyleXP but its my favorite. Do a google search for theming xp or something.

The other way to do this is with a program a hacks the Windows XP theme file. It can be downloaded here. Once it is installed you can get themes or msstyles online and place them in C:\Windows\Resources\themes. You can find instructions by googling for adding themes or adding msstyles. Once you have placed these in the themes folder, go to your display properties. Check the themes tab and appearance tab to find what you added. Preview them and apply them!

So thats it. If you want any help with theming Windows XP, email me.

Posted in Technology | 2 Comments

First real post. Lets talk drums.

Posted on June 21, 2005 by David

Well well. Today is my first real update to da blog. So I’ll tell you about the art of drumming!

I love percussion because its possibilities are endless. Think about it. Tons of things we hear everyday are really percussion. Hitting the alarm clock, falling out of bed, slamming a door, the rain. The first heartbeat of the first multicellular organism was percussion. It always been around, and will always be. Its unavoidable, so why not join?

Now I bet some think: “Oh, drummers are those trashy looking long haired guys with no personal hygiene” or “He is just a drummer because he is stupid and couldn’t read the notes of the piano or trumpet” or “But I’m a girl, there aren’t any girl drummers out there!” The first, is just a stereotype. Yes there are some drummers that look, act and think like trash…but there are 10 fold that number that aren’t. The second is just plain ignorance of the person thinking. A percussionist has to read just as complex music, with combinations of note values, accents, dynamic and other technical modifiers (more about that later). Also, did I mention percussion includes the marimba, xylophone, and vibraphone. These are instuments just like a piano, except you tap the keys like mallets, instead of pushing them with your fingers. These instruments require are great deal of reading music, thinking and coordination…which can be very hard the “dummers.” 🙂 And lastly, about the girls. Yes, there are girls that drum. Yes, some are reeeeeaaalllllly good. Yes, some suck. Yes, some play drumset, others play marimba, others play auxillary percussion. Good or bad, they’re all just like the guy drummers.

Sooo, percussion is huge. It covers piano (hammers hit strings), drumset, mallets (vibraphone, etc.), marching percussion, timpani (kettle drums), african drums (bongo, djembe), cowbells and anything else that hits together to make sound. Its for anyone. And its just totally awesome.

More next time!!

Posted in Percussion | 3 Comments