Monday, December 15, 2008

Widgets galore

Looking for widgets to add to your site? Look no further! Widget box is here!



Widgetbox.com the world's largest widget marketplace, with widgets for Facebook, Blogger, TypePad, MySpace, Bebo, WordPress, Piczo, Xanga, Freewebs, Netvibes, Pageflakes, iGoogle, and all blogs and web pages. In short, if you want widgets, this is the first place to go. They have tons of free widgets that includes Christmas countdowns, Christmas trees, even games like Mario! Most of them are compatible with any type of blog or website.

You need to be a bit careful with browsing this site though. Because some of the widgets don't work at all. Some have issues. Make sure to check first if the widget is applicable to your blog or website before adding to avoid any issues. :)

Time to pimp your blogs right now!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Christmas Tree

Since Christmas is just around the corner, I will start the month right by posting Christmas-themed stuff... Starting with this Christmas Tree! :)


Decorate Your Own Christmas Tree


You can go ahead and decorate the tree however you want it. Happy Holidays!

*Credits to Her Maldita-ness for this wonderful widget. ;)

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Teh Road to Plurk Nirvana~

Nirvana (noun)*
A term used in Hinduism, the native religion of India and third largest religion in the world behind Christianity and Islam. Hinduists believe that a person reincarnates until they achieve an understanding of the relationship between God(known by Bhrama or Atman) and man. The state at which this is achieved is known as nirvana, and person who has achieved this is known as a guru. It is believed that once nirvana is achieved, a person will achieve the aftelife, rather than reincarnating. (credits to Urban Dictionary for this definition)

But for those who had been using Plurk.com, Nirvana means a different thing entirely.


The Plurk environment, courtesy of the default friend, Plurk Buddy.

Plurk.com is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (otherwise known as plurks) through short messages or links, which can be up to 140 text characters in length.

Updates are then shown on the user's home page using a timeline which lists all the updates received in chronological order, and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Users can respond to other users' updates from their timeline through the Plurk.com website, by instant messaging, or by text messaging. (Credits to my beloved, Wikipedia.org for this definition)


Basically, Plurk is Social Networking and Instant Messaging combined. Kinda like an open chatroom where anyone can pop in and give their two cents. A plurk post starts with a single random topic that any users think of, and others can give their opinion about it or not. It could be a simple "Good Morning" or as short as a simple smiley or emoticon.

What you need to remember is that Plurk is ruled by the Rule of karma. No, not the religious type of Karma principle that all the things you do will haunt you in your next life. But another kind of karma. Here at Plurk, if you remain active in posts, keep your profile updated, or just plain keep your account alive, Plurk gives you a number of points called karma. The higher the karma, the more perks you get. For example, reaching 10+ karma points enables you to change your Page title. When you get to 25+, you get additional smileys. And so on.

Registration is free and easy, and you get additional points for inviting a friend over. You can add up people to be your friend or just a plain fan, and you can also gain awards for the number of friends you've invited and the number of fans you have on the list.

Pros: You can easily earn plurk karma just by remaining active in the site. I've been in Plurk for two months already, and I'm already reaching 60+. When you reach an 81+ up to 100 karma, that's when you reach the desired Plurk Nirvana. The template can also be easily changed, and bookmarking of each entry is easy since you just have to remember a certain date and browse it.

Cons: Hmmm... a lot actually...
First issue, privacy. Though you can turn your whole Plurk account to private, there is still a possibility that the whole world can see your plurks if you haven't set that plurk to private. Which leads to the second issue...

Second issue, random friends/fans. Since your plurk is public, EVERYONE IN PLURK, even those without plurk accounts, can see your plurk. This also means that EVERYONE has the option to add you as their friend. I was able to randomly add myself as a fan to some plurkers, which is similar to "bookmarking" that certain user. Therefore, I get regular feeds of their public plurks. Sounds like a stalker, right? But that's just the fan mode. If you become a friend, you can get access to the private plurks as well (if the user permits it).

Third issue, the Plurk timeline. This horizontal moving timeline shows you everything, including the feeds from the plurks you subscribed as a fan. So what's the bad deal with that? There are no indications (color, tab, etc.) that differentiates between the plurk of your friends and those you've subscribed to. Hence, the confusion. Everyday, I have the problem of sorting out through various plurk entries trying to figure out which one is my fan subscription and which are from my friends. Seriously, if you have a short term memory like me, the ever changing usernames and avatar doesn't really help. Maybe if the usernames were italicized or colored, just to differentiate one from the other, I will not make the same mistake again of replying to a stranger's plurk (I'm so sorry for those people who thinks of me as rude!).

Lastly, Plurk is boring without friends. Randomly putting up pieces of your life there without anyone responding is like talking to a wall. If you want to enjoy Plurk, gather up your friends. Without them, you'll end up lurking other random plurkers who may get pissed when you suddenly butt in their conversations.

So why do I still log-in every single day and keep my karma up? I don't know. Perhaps to remain connected with those around me. Or perhaps I want to reach nirvana. But frankly, plurk is addicting for those who want to keep in touch. So if you want to get updated, get yourself plurking.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Convenience Store

Summary: A wonderful short story of a young man who fell in love at first sight with a convenience store girl. But instead of impressing the girl, he ends up humiliating himself in front of her. Will he ever manage to get her attention?


Friday, October 17, 2008

The Kokoro Series

Another entry from Lin and Rin Kagamine. Don't I just love these two Vocaloids? heh.
I highly suggest that you view the vids separately before watching the last (combo) vid.

Summary: A lonely scientist creates a robotic companion named Kiseki (Miracle). Everything is perfect, except for one thing: the robot doesn't have a Kokoro (soul). Will he give up his dream of perfecting Kiseki?

*Same disclaimer to previous Vocaloid vids apply.



The Scientist's Point of View~ a lonely scientist succeeds in creating the perfect robot, but finds himself at a loss at why a certain program won't work on her.



The Robot's Point of View ~ occured many years after the scientist dies. Now alone, Kiseki finds the Kokoro Program and downloads it into her system, resulting in an unbelievable surprise.




Kokoro counter point ~ a combination of the two vids above. See how both the messages of the Scientist and his Robot interact with each other through Counterpointing. *credits to Tala-chan for explaining the term Counterpointing.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Welcoming October with Vocaloid

Since October is my birth month, I've decided to celebrate it by posting my favorite Vocaloid vids. And to welcome my favorite month of the year, here is a cheerful dance from the Vocaloid family.

*Same disclaimer applies here.


Monday, September 22, 2008

Vocaloid Collection Part 1 - The Evil Series

Disclaimer: Videos posted here are not my own, but those I found over YouTube. There are more than one video made for the same song, and these are the ones that I truly found noteworthy. I would definitely credit the original owners of the said videos, just give me a PM so I can place them here.

Summary: A princess from a certain country rules by evil. See how everything turns out when her servant changes her point of view.



The Daughter of Evil ~ a princess's jealousy creates her own downfall. Sung by Hatsune Miku.



The Servant of Evil ~ The princess's servant who looked insignificant turns out to be the most important person for her after all. Sung by Rin Kagamine.



Translated Version of the Servant of Evil



The Message of Regret* ~ The princess is eaten up with the regret for losing her most cherished servant. Sung by Len Kagamine. *Sadly, I found only one version of the Message of Regret. This song needs a lot more lovin!!

Enjoy!