Blog

Album of 2011

Calexico - Carried To Dust


According to Windows I downloaded this album on the 2nd of November 2011, but I picked it as my album of 2011 because it reminds the wonderful music on it, particularly tracks such Two Slilver Trees remind me of the autumn leaves falling and the happy memories I had around that time. I highly recommend the album.

I want THESE kicks.



http://store.nike.com/gb/en_gb/#l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-300/pid-342046/pgid-342116

List of films for me to download and watch over the Xmas period:

A cross out means I've watched it since compiling this list.

Taking Lives
Phone Booth
Chapter 27
The Silence of the Lambs
Mirrors
American Psycho
Mean Girls
Shutter Island
North Country
The Skeleton Key
Event Horizon

Album of 2009

For the album of 2009, I couldn't decide between two amazing ones from two different artists, so i decided that since 2009 also marks the end of a decade I would submit two albums for 2009. They are:

Cobra Starship - Hot Mess

Album info | Band website

The Sounds - Crossing the Rubicon

Album info | Band website

I first heard both these albums in the fall of 2009 and although immediately loved them both, they didn't gain special significance until December. These albums have special signifiance to me for personal reasons that have to do with my moving house, and the exciting jurney home to my old house just before Xmas. However, they were both already highly regarded by me by the time I loaded them onto my BlackBerry for my journy home.

Album of 2008

Gipsy Kings - The Very Best Of


I first heard this album in late June, 2008, just before I went to California. I left on the 2nd of July, but one of the tracks that reminds me the most of my California trip is the track Hotel California (not because of the name) but the great sound of the song. We actually went on a cruise down to Cabo Can Lucas, Mexico as well. After this we spent some time in San Diego and then in LA before flying home.
I think this time round I really got to experience more of the Hispanic culture and the Spanish music. This album was quite fitting for the time and place, and it reminds me of the America holiday, and all the great memories of last summer.

The Gypsy Kings make some of the finest Spanish music I've heard... a lot of it is upbeat, jolly and just thoroughly great.

Since 2005, I've been blogging albums of the year, once a year at the end of that year. An album that I made album of the year doesn't necessarily mean it's the one with the highest play count or is the one I listen to the most, although for previous years, this has generally been the case. When I listen to an album of the year, I can recall certain (happy) events that happened in my life around the time I first listened to the album.
In 2005 this album was Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue and I first listened to it in the Summer of 2005. In 2006 it was Cartel's Chroma and I first heard it before I went on holiday to America. Whenever I listen to it, it just reminds me of my holiday in California, as well as various other events that took place during the summer. Obviously I feel the music is above and beyond excellence in terms of musical quality too.


Album of 2007

Anberlin - Cities


Album info
Ban website link

I first heard Cities in November of 2007, and it was instantly one of the best albums I had heard that year. I highly recommended it to anyone who likes the Alternative Rock genre.

So I was listening to this one track and thinking hey I really love this. The track is actually from a game but I'm sure someone makes music like this and has releases out in shops or something. It's basically a soundscape of nature, and in the case of this particular track, a soundscape of the Jungle. But there are melodies and sounds outside of what you'd really hear in the jungle e.g. added in sounds of panpipes. This type of music, although wasn't really intended to be the case in the game, is really relaxation music... chill out or something.

Here is a link to the particular track I am talking about: Link

What I'd really like is if anyone knows of any similar music, that they could recommend it via a comment, PM or whatever. I've obviously been looking myself, but unfortunately haven't really found any similar material.

Last week I spent most of my spare time assembling the various parts of my new computer. I installed the OS yesterday but had the thing all setup by Friday. Before the purchase of this thing my only computer was a weak and somewhat slow laptop. I used to get about 17-23fps in CSS at 800x600, and aside from this it would regularly freeze - roughly three times per day!

Well all that is over now and here are the specs of my new machine.

OS: Windows XP Home SP2
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (Conroe) E6400 2.13GHz
RAM: 2GB Corsair DDR2 667MHz
HDD1: 250GB WD Caviar SE16 Serial ATA II 16MB 7200RPM
HDD2: 250GB WD Caviar SE16 Serial ATA II 16MB 7200RPM
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon X1950Pro 256MB DDR3, 36 pixel shaders
Mother Board: ABIT IL9 Pro
Cooling: Intel & ATI stock coolers + HDD & Rear 120mm case fans
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 205BW 6ms (Native res - 1680x1050)
Sound: Realtek 7.1 High Definition Audio
PSU: Xclio Greatpower Modular 550watt
Case: APLUS Case 188A

The cost of all the parts minus delivery was:
£804
$1,570 (USD) - $1,840 (CAD) - €1,210

Having previously only seen or worked with a maximum resolution of 1280x1024, and having come off of a 3 year stretch on 1024x768, my new monitor resolution was absolutely phenomenal! Everything is so huge, and thank god on the web I hardly see any more horizontal scroll bars appear.

My processor basically rapes everything I run, Core 2 Duo owns, and it really makes such a significant difference to everything! My Idle temperatures for the CPU, HDD and video card are roughly low 30’s (degrees) and low 40’s; on load, they shift to high 30’s and high 40’s. I am really impressed with the fast loading and overall smooth operation that I get now, even though I basically run anything and everything at the same time!

Yesterday I was running DW, Photoshop and had a bunch of Fire Fox windows open, felt like a game, and so I just fired up Counter-Strike: Source and began playing without any noticeable slowdowns. When in CSS, I play at my monitors’ native resolution (1680x1050) with all settings up high 'n' AAx2 and I average 115-125fps, this usually drops to about 90 when I get into a fire fight. My card apparently scored 165.03fps in the video stress test though.

Pics: