Network status: Online.
Technology Work
Life
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 Yeah, that's right. A screen in my desk. Dedicated to IRC. It's actually my new screen for my EeePC, with synergy running for desktop sharing. I'll put brackets in to hold the screen securely tonight after work. |
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Hooray? |
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I just made my 100th scrap song that will most likely never be finished. It's the first "Official" 100th scrap, as there are countless more that are sitting there that I've given names rather than numbers, but it still serves to make a point that I should probably be less lazy when it comes to songwriting. So, uh.. party at.. somewhere.  |
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Knowing |
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Last night, I went to the set for "Knowing", a film starring Nicolas Cage. Took a some photos of the set and such, and I'm going back again tonight to take more shots. Apparently, Cage will be on set tonight, so I'm hoping to get some shots of the man himself. I've posted what I shot last night, and I'll add a few more tonight when I get back. The set is actually the "Foodies" service station off the old Calder Highway in Macedon. Though, it looks very dressed up in these shots         You may also notice above, Aussie actress Rose Byrne. It will be interesting to see the completed movie once it's finished, just to see where the servo fits into the film, and why they came all the way to Macedon to film this scene. |
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Understanding Ourselves |
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There is one thing that has slowly been eating away at me. It's such a simple thing, but people tend to have such a hard time with it. Perspective. I can't begin to stress how important something like this can be in life, whether it be: trying to understand why your boss has given you a paycut with no obvious reason, to why you can't seem to come to a compromise with someone close to you. Humans are very self obsessed creatures, this is the first problem. We always have to be right, nobody else's opinion matters. We can't seem to see past our own ideas, and being right comes before understanding a situation. However, not all people are like this. I can name several people who aren't, but I can name many more who are. It is a problem that I am trying to overcome at the moment, however it is proving a little difficult to do by myself  Time will pass, and things will change, but for the moment all I can do is wait.. |
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Real Mercy |
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When I was so delusional, she turned around and offered me her help. How could I not trust that? Tomorrow will be a new day. I'm more ready than I have ever been. |
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If we could look around corners.. |
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I've never been able to trust people. I guess it comes from many things; poor self esteem as a child, being betrayed so many times by the people I care about, and maybe even the fact that I seem to just blend into the crowd and stay unnoticed. However, my biggest issue at the moment is that I have such little trust in people, that I accuse them of things without knowing the full story. There is always a simple explanation for things, but that mix of no trust or self esteem really screws with your head, and you begin to make up complex stories as to why someone didn't have the time, or even why they had to cancel on plans. Maybe even why they didn't happen to reply to an SMS. Over the years, I have become a fairly cynical person on the inside, and I wish I could reverse it, though the problem remains that I have no trust in people, and I don't know where to begin on the road to recovery.. Just a month ago, I thought that I was changing. I thought that my paranoia was disappearing. But then I went and wrongly mentally accused one of the most important people in my life not once, twice, but three times for something they never did. Now I might lose them. And only because I made stupid assumptions. Hopefully you read this, and you might come to have a better understanding of my position, although we will probably need to make a fresh start. I lose you, I lose that chance. No comments please. I only want this solace from one person. |
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Think OH&S is lame? |
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Well, check out this photo:  (C) Box Hill Institute 1998 - Although, I'm not sure why someone would want to copyright such a cheesy photo.. I'm not sure, but I have the strangest feeling he's trying to mock us all. This was a page from the OH&S manual we had to study, portraying a man receiving an electric shock. It's a little blurry, but he actually has his eyes wide open, and he's kinda smiling too.. Well, back to work. |
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Let's begin now. |
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So, I start uni in 3 days, I'm looking forward to it. It's a course in Electrotechnology, so things like microchip programming, etc.. Although, I didn't get into the course I wanted to do (Music Industry, Technical Production), I'm not too disappointed. I can re-apply next year, and hopefully get into it. In the meantime, I'll get a qualification that will get me a pretty cool job. Things are turning around  Also, I've started more work on my secret project, should be a lot of fun once I organise resources and time to actually get the ball rolling. The project will be released on YouTube, so keep an eye out. Just have to find the power adapter for my camera.. There are some good changes this year I have a new job, I've met some new people, started some new friendships, and I'm feeling much healthier than I have in a while. The new series of Torchwood has also started airing, so that's been interesting. I've also been playing my way through Crysis. Lots of fun  . I got some new software for my DS, some nice tracker software, so I can compose on the fly. Though it's still missing effects and instruments.And hopefully I'll be able to make it to syntaxparty this year I'll blog more later, when I don't have to be in bed. |
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Downtime |
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Yes, I've had some recent downtime. I know. The reason being, my hosting provider recently upgraded my server to a DELL PowerEdge 1950 server Other sites that I host will come back online in alphabetical order. At the time of writing this, they had just finished migrating every cPanel account beginning with D, so hopefully my company site will be back online too. Anyway, this is just a notification, nothing else. |
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2008 |
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Another year, another chapter, and another generation of problems. Bill Vaughan once wrote "An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." I'd like to think that I'm optimistic about the new year, but instead I find myself dreading the unknown. 2007 was a bit of bad luck and a half. Although the year seemed to go fairly fast, nothing interesting happened, and I didn't see any forward progress in my professional life. And although, I've had worse "overall" years before, this one in particular has left me feeling a little receded. The term "dead end", when used in a metaphoric, analogous way, really means what it implies. My current situation is like a box. No visible way out, and I couldn't feel more dead. Any time I try to involve myself in a creative group activity, the only response I get is either silence, or "I've got work". Well, I know what it's like to have work. I work full time hours, this week I worked 43 hours. And I'm tired, tired and sore, and just wanting to go to bed and sleep for a week, but if one of my friends needed something, I'd be right there by their side. It's happened before. My point is, I still have time for my friends. I've actually had an idea for a short film/net series for quite a while now, and I'd love to see it realised, but there is no motivation from those around me, to want to actually go out and do anything. It's frustrating, and a bit hopeless. But I'll end that rant before I go writing anything offensive. I know that If I want something done, if I want to acheive something, I have to motivate myself, I'm fully aware of that, the problem is, I don't have any good ideas for my life. I don't have a plan, because every plan I come up with ends up failing due to either lack of funds or lack of real-world experience. Am I in a rut? Am I sprialling into a self sense of ineptitude? Maybe this year will be the spark, the ignition to a brighter future? Or maybe this glimmer of hope is just my sanity failing. I am unable to reset. |
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I must be popular |
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Either that, or he must be very lonely  |
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Buy your software in Singapore! |
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Well, my Mum just got back from Singapore, and she bought me a copy of BioShock, cos I was raving on about how the demo was really awesome for so long.. turns out she paid much less than half the Australian price for it, which was really cool. And it's the Australian version too, it has the ratings and everything. And although I wouldn't have paid $120 for the game, I can't complain that it's really bad at all I've been hooked to it for the last couple of days since I got it, and I think I've almost finished it. It's an incredibly violent, twisted, greusome game, but the story is fantastic, the AI is wonderful, it's still fairly linear (so it doesn't live up to the scale that 2K said it would for being extremely open ended) and the graphics are so fantastic that I'm thinking of overclocking my video cards, as I could get them much faster (it sometimes lags on full quality ). It really is the game that's gotten me back into more than playing geometry wars occasionally.Methinks I'll go grab that free copy of Crysis that comes with all new Geforce 8 Cards |
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I live in a giant bucket. |
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Don't you hate it, when you think you know someone, then they go and do/say something that you never thought they would ever say?? Or when you feel like you are so close to acheiving something, but then you discover that you were never in reach.. People are strange things, and regardless of the fact that I have been one for 20 years, I still don't understand how they work.. I need some time to think things over.. |
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A little ironic |
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I spend countless hours trying to prevent spam on my website, when all along, I should have been searching for a site based solution, not a blog comment based solution. Thanks to Homeland Stupidity, spammers can no longer even access my site. It took 5 minutes to set up, and is flawless from what I can tell. Registration is no longer mandatory, so you can now post comments as you wish. Update: Damn. Minutes after I post this blog entry, a spam comment got posted. I may have to use the database feature, though I'll have to figure out how to set it up first.. |
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Samsung Pro815 Digital Camera |
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This is a Pro815. It is a very nice camera. However, it isn't SLR, it boasts many features most SLR cameras don't. It also has a 3CCD lens. It also has 15x (420mm) optical zoom. Check out these photos.    Oh, did I mention, this is MY camera? PS, sorry for the crappy quality images, it was 4:00 AM, and I had to use my old L50 to take the pictures, as my teen sister was asleep and probably wouldn't appreciate me stealing her DSLR, as she only just got it. I photoshopped out most of the anomalies, but the stupid L50 wouldn't focus properly  I also didn't have the best lighting conditions to use, as I didn't want to spend more than 2 mins preparing the set.Oh how I can ramble.. You may commence drooling, unless your camera is better. |
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Huh.. |
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Looks like I'm some sort of music making machine at the moment. Only a little over a month ago, I wrote (and finished) a song, still working title. Although the song is complete. Just needs to have the lyrics recorded and layered into the song. My point is though, I just started writing what seems to be a very promising song, although I'm experimenting with a new quirky style. It's quirkier than Danny Elfman. I'm somehow merging major and minor scales together to create the song. It's proving to be a little tricky, but what I have so far is really refreshing And it completely goes against everything I've ever written, as you might notice that my songs are very particular with what scales and chords I use. This song is kinda "Going back to square one, and rolling a different number" for me, although It's still heavily electronic. I want to experiment with other kinds of chord structures, make sounds that you would normally never hear. You may like it, you may not.Below is a preview of my last song. Newset development: Also, I've removed image verification for comments (finally), so feel free to register for comments. Registration link is above the last fm parser to the right. I've fiddled around with how it works, and made my own custom interface so that spambots can't automatically register. Also, check out site.gravatar.com for a cool way of globally identifying yourself I'll be adding a gravatar feature to my site for comments, so if you have an account, your gravatar will be displayed. |
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Update |
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I'm thinking of looking for another job. To be honest, I've worked there for over a year now, and I'm just getting sick of it. It's always the same, drunk, high idiots who harass me day in, day out. Just tonight, I had to call the Police about 3 drunk guys who were trying to break into the store after close, who had the impression that they worked there. And for the kind of pay I'm getting, it's just not worth having to deal with people like this, not when I had half a thousand dollars in front of me that I was counting up in earnings from deliveries that night. This was AFTER one of our managers quit on the spot, leaving us with a stack of deliveries to do that were already quite late due to being understaffed, and a whole lot of customers waiting to be serverd at the counter. I was the ONLY person who was actually capable of doing any deliveries without the store owner having to go on delivery. Also, I'm just sick to death of the store owner's blatant disregard for his employees' mental wellbeing. I was very upset tonight, after having to deal with all the stuff mentioned above, he insults me, without even letting me finish my sentence. Not to mention, having to deal with his constant moaning and whining, all the other bull that he comes up with. He even had the nerve to bring his kids into an argument he was having at me. Well, I'm sorry that you made the stupid decision of having kids out of wedlock with a whore who is now with some 16 year old. That's not my problem. People make mistakes all the time dude, so if you're reading this, sum up all the mistakes you've made in your own life before trying to compare to the mistakes that I've made. Your list is MUCH longer. Don't give me shit without thinking about what you're saying, because before you know it, I could be working at encore. I only took that Sunday shift out of sympathy, not because of guilt. I didn't quit, because I'm a sympathetic person. I could have walked out that door, you saw how pissed off I was, but I didn't, because I know what it could have meant for the business. I don't feel guilty about anything that happened. I know that I could have prevented it, but that doesn't mean that it's entirely my fault. There are measures you could have taken to resolve it. I'm a naturally sympathetic person, and you should probably learn to be too. And don't ever put me in that position again. I may be sympathetic, but I am also vindictive. It used to be fun to come to work.. |
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Oh Crap |
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I haven't slept in 36 hours, and it's only 10:20AM and I have to work today, and I won't be sleeping until probably midnight tonight I think I may have insomnia.. |
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Mr Awesome |
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I am now 20. 20 and Lanning It's fun. Also thought it might be a good idea to change my surname to Awesome. Cos then I'd be Mr. Awesome. |
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I'm too sick to come up with a title |
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Making new song. Sounds incredible. Will post preview soon. I will finish this song. I promise .I got my hairs cut too. No more long hair. Reverse piano is exhilarating. Enough random incomplete sentences for now, goodnight. |
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Final Decision. |
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As I have mentioned many times in my private blog, I am planning a major PC upgrade. And over time, my plans for my new machine's specifications have constantly been changing. Although, I have now done a complete revision of the machine, and I have worked out an approximate price that I am happy with (I won't publicly go into details). I am quite pleased with this now, as the original design was far more expensive, and with lower specifications, this new one is about $1k cheaper. Here are the new machine's specifications: Intel CORE 2 DUO/ 2.33GHz/ 1333FSB/ 4mb cache Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus motherboard Kingston DDR2 2GB (2x1GB) 667Mhz 2x ASUS EN8600GT-HTDP-512 cards 2x Western Digital 500Gb 7200RPM 16Mb SATA 2 Thermaltake Kandalf LCS/ Black 500w Coolermaster iGreen PSU Although the CPU I am getting is rather slow, I plan on upgrading as soon as a Quad core that supports 1333MHz fsb is available at a reasonable price (hence why I am going for the 667MHz RAM). Just to make a comparisson, my old design used only 533MHz RAM, and only had 1 GeForce 7 card. This one utilises 2 GeForce 8s. And the awesome thing about this upgrade is, that once I have bought all the parts, I am also ready for future upgrades too , as I am adopting all the new standards. The main reason I wanted this machine was to work more in After Effects, and I would also like to get Premiere Pro 2 running, as it doesn't like my current CPU (dodgy athlons and their lack of hardware features). And my current setup has an amazing top FSB speed of 333MHz!! WOOO, SLOW!!Well, at least now, I'm only a few weeks off affording this new beast. I'm also looking at getting a new screen (22" Widescreen LCD) which should be a major relief on my eyes, as I'm still using my 19" CRT.. |
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Mad songs |
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necros.gibdon.com just came back online, go download all the live @ red fez tracks! There are some freakin awesome songs in that set. |
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Spam Protection that works |
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Since most people can't actually use my new image verification hack for some reason, I'm going to be removing it, and i'll just moderate all the comments again by myself. I'm not too sure why it's not working, but I've tested it on 5 different computers, and on 3 out of 5 PCs, it didn't work. Although I would still like a more convenient way of filtering spam.. Maybe I could use one of those "What does 1 + 1 equal?" things.. Ideas?? Email me, or comment once I remove the image verification. |
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Retroport |
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I just got my brand new retroport Here's a quick review: Upon recieving this product, I was quite suprised, and pleased when I found out it had come in not just some plastic freezer bag, but a professionally designed and made package, complete with Retrousb branding. I immediately noticed that it was designed to look like it was associated with the USA version of the SNES, although it matches my controller quite niceley, and still looks very SNES-ish.  Once I got the packaging open, I inspected the quality of the retroport itself. It was incredibly strong, I'm guessing the manufacturing process uses solid plastic moulds, and that the circuitry is safely housed inside. This device would not break if jumped on. The USB cable is also reinforced with a flexible rubber join, so if it gets pulled on, it won't just pull out. The USB cable is also of highest quality.  Upon inspection of the port itself, I could see that the pins had been created using a very high quality metal, and were very well held in place.  Once I actually found one of my SNES controllers and I plugged it in, I noticed that it was a very snug fit, and the shape of the retroport matched the controller plug very nicely.  The device was also Plug & Play, as it installed as a standard HID. This should mean that my controller will be very responsive when playing Super Mario World or Metroid or something, and it should also work seamlessly with my Zelda Clone. I'm also looking forward to see if it will work with UT or CS If you are interested in buying a SNES retroport, or any other Console controller adapter, just head over to retrousb.com and have a look around. They accept PayPal, and most major credit cards, so payment should be a breeze for anyone Please note, they do occasionally run out of stock, and at this point, they will put you on a list for preorder. The prices here are also the best I've been able to find, and they have a very large range of Nintendo related products, Including NES carts that can utilise CF cards .Postage was also very fast, even by standard USPS mail. Well, I'm off to play Earthbound, or something.. |
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Something new |
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I have started work on a new project, this is something I haven't done in years. I'm using my dormant videogame design skills to make a Zelda clone. This won't be your standard crappy Zelda clone, but it will be a very nice port/revamp of the original NES version, plus a new, separate storyline (maybe). I have created zelda.dust11.com, and I have put a VERY early version of the game there. Sprite and music work isn't mine, but the game engine was coded entirely by myself. I will make a proper dev site once I have some free time, so stay tuned on that issue. Though I say again, this game is currently in it's very early stages. The program is stable, but it is unfinished. |
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Over the top |
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I was shocked when I saw this. Normally, we need less than half as many bases than shown here. This was between 10 - 12 batches of dough. We sold over 2 boxes of garlic bread, and had very high sales all night. I'm not sure our coolroom could hold much more  |
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Update: 25/5/07 |
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Due to the alarming rate of spam I keep getting on my site, I'm going to be implementing image verification very soon. I tried this once before, but the hack was quite difficult, and required me to pull apart cutenews entirely. I am going to attempt it again, but use my local server instead of my remote one (my business hosting). So from now on, you'll have to enter a sequence of numbers/letters at the bottom of the page. UPDATE: Take THAT spammers!! Ahahahahaha!! Hahahaha! HAH!! New image verification is working great |
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Somewhat cool |
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Since I don't watch much TV, I don't see many ads, but I do get a glimpse into the advertising world when I see the ad roadtest on The Chaser. This week however, I saw the new ad for Melbourne where people take giant balls of yarn around with them. But as I was listening to the music in the background, I was quite suprised when I heard that it was actually Joanna Newsom, who is an independant artist who writes a unique hybrid of folk and classical music, using a harp. She also has a strange vocal style which resembles something halfway between a child and an old woman.. Quite strange, but then again most music that is seperated from the mainstream "Cookie Cutter" sound, tends to be very open to new sounds and ideas. Anyway, I just thought it was kinda cool when I heard "Sprout and the Bean" playing in an ad for Melbourne But don't let this take your attention off my previous post, as it is much more interesting. |
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TV from the 90's |
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Who remembers Alex Mack? I remember the first time it was aired in Australia on the ABC, it was 1996 (although the show first appeared in 94) and I had just gotten home from school. I sat down in my normal routine of 3 hours in front of the TV (thankfully, I only watch TV to see "The Chaser" now, so I don't watch much TV anymore), and after watching all the normal shows that I enjoyed somewhat, This new TV Show came on that I had never seen before. I was a little upset, as it had replaced Rugrats, and I almost switched channels until I thankfully saw the accident scene. Being the long time Sci-fi nut that I am, I immediately became glued to the set, and watched the show right until it finished 25 minutes later. I was hooked. I HAD to watch this series every week, and it eventually became a priority over homework, because I just couldn't concentrate unless I'd seen that episode. I was so disappointed when the show finished 2 years later, and ever since it's complete run-through on the ABC, I don't believe they ever showed it again.. Until this day, I have been looking for some way to watch this show again, and just recently, I found 4 episodes of the first season on eMule. Among these was the first episode in the series (The Accident), and man did it bring back memories. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a viable source for the rest of the series, as it is not a popular torrent, and finding somebody with the episodes can prove to be hell. Although I did find a guy called Mario Alvares who claimed to have all the episodes in high quality, but the download links were invalid as they were hosted at rapidshare and the files had been removed from the server due to too large a gap between download requests. I am still looking for these episodes, and unfortunately, Nickelodeon never released this wonderful show on DVD for some reason (I am still to find out why). They are a huge company owned by Viacom International (owners of Paramount Pictures), and wouldn't really be a financial risk for them to release it on DVD. It would also keep the old fans REALLY happy. Seems that the only classic Nickelodeon show that is still recognised is Rugrats, as Nick seem to have dropped all their old shows, and don't even have traces of them on their official website.. Unfortunate, but reality is a bitch. Maybe I should start a campaign aimed at Nickelodeon, to bring out a Classic set of DVDs of their original TV Shows. Haha, they could call it Nickstalgia EDIT: I just got an email from Mario, and Seasons 3 and 4 are available for download from his server, they aren't on rapidshare. The only episode that isn't available on his server is season 4 episode 11. So go get these episodes! 11/June/06: Episode 4x11 is now available for download. Still waiting on the rest of the series. |
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My brain does things. |
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I really hope that wasn't the end of the spiderman trillogy Yes, I just saw Spiderman 3. It was awesome. Although, I think I like Spiderman 2 better, that was my favourite.. Well worth seeing, I recommend, but I'm too tired to write up my full review. Although, I had an idea to set up a page where you can submit questions for me to ask the Scientologists at the next Sunbury Fair. I have an idea in mind (about the "Fair Game Policy" from the 1960's), but I really need more material to work with. Oh, and I just thought of something cool to do, I figured that I could wrap some green plastic around the middle of my arms and legs, then I'd be like Rayman (post chroma key).I need sleep, as it's 1:20 AM and I have much to do tomorrow. |
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Torrents |
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Torrents are great. I love them. They are one of the best things around. They also suck. Well, not the torrents themselves, but the idiots who just install their torrent client and don't bother configuring them. This is why we get idiots with unlimited upload slots who can only spare on average, around 30 bytes a second. Oh sure, if you get enough connections, you'll get a high enough speed. Wrong. Idle connections take up bandwidth. In fact, connections averaging such little bandwidth per connection, use more resources on the actual connection than what they actually share. LIMIT YOUR UPLOAD SLOTS!!!!!!!!!!! If everyone limited their uploads to a value capable of sharing a few kb/s to only a few users, then everyone can benefit, because everyone would be getting good speeds, and there would be less queue time!! Same goes for how many torrents you actually seed. Seed at least 2/3 of the file you downloaded, so the torrent can stay alive! Then remove the torrent from your seed queue. Also, try not to have more than 2 torrents in your seed queue, as this screws up your peering. Why are people so stupid? I feel like I might have to write a damn manual on Azureus! Oh wait, people don't read them. That's why I made this rant! At least people read these for the entertainment value. All instruction manuals should resemble a rant, not a helpful guide. Then at the end of the rant, there should be an FAQ. None of this stupid "Glossary" crap. It's not a freakin' dictionary! Gyaaarrgghhh!! (like a pirate) |
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Green Screen with Photography |
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I was experimenting with photography on green screen with my friend Mark, looks pretty good I'll make an extended version in the near future, as we took a LOT of photos. |
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Hehe |
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This is what I want for Christmas |
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Hmm |
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Gonna write some electro Been listening to a lot of Kingbastard |
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More Green Screen fun |
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Well, since we started playing with chroma keying, we have been using a cheap, $4 sheet of plastic for a backdrop. Now, this worked quite well for what it was, but yesterday, we got a roll of REAL green screen. using this, we were able to create a much larger set to work with, and a much more versatile green backdrop that was easier to light. Oh, and did I mention, we got this green screen absolutely FREE?         So, as you can see, we have much more flexibility as far as area is concerned. Although, this won't even remotely resemble a problem soon, as I am going to paint my walls Chroma Green which is the green used in chromatography. I will hopefully have some footage up soon, and possibly, even some sort of motion tracking, and 3D scenery Anyway, this is a massive leap forward in terms of production quality, and it's giving us all something interesting to do in our spare time .I'll post another entry once I have some decent footage. |
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Stupid Downtime |
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ARGH!!! My entire company's server went down today, and only just came back online a few minutes ago. All sites that were hosted by me went down (including client sites), and all friends' sites too. Here is a list: - agardenoftears.com - nothingimportanthappenedtoday.com - superchocflip.com - monstersreborn.com - liandri.net - t00kie.com - lady-blackwater.com Luckily, none of the data was lost, so the sites are intact, as they were when the server went offline. I really hope that never happens again, as my email is hosted on the same server, so if anyone sent me anything, I will only be recieving it just now. |
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Keylight |
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I now have the Keylight plugin. Soooo much better than standard crap stuff. Colour Key is ok, but it's so fiddly, and you can never get the right results. Keylight is a very intelligent plugin, and it works soo well with the matte choker. All my future chromatography work will be much clearer, and much more professional looking. I am also building a Green Screen set, with a rather unlimited budget Hooray! |
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Something very cool |
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Me and a few friends decided it would be a good idea to build a green screen Here we have the whole perfected setup in my Bungalo, looking very nice.      This has been a learning experience for us all, and it's all been improvised to get the best lighting possible with only 2 floodlights. If anybody would like to know how it was done, feel free to leave a comment here, and one of us will answer your question to the fullest of our knowledge  And if anyone knows a better way of doing this or has any tips, feel free to share your knowledge it would be greatly appreciated.Here is a clip of what we managed to achieve in just a few hours But this was a very fun experiment, and if you already have a camera capable of pc input, there are some great open source programs available (eg: Jahshaka) which are capable of colour keying (chromatography) and motion tracking. Also, green screens are very easy to make, all it requires is a bit of matte plastic that you can pick up from a party store for under $20, and large rolls of gaffer tape are just fantastic. Ladies and Gentlemen, please try this at home |
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Another Website |
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Well, I've almost completed another website for my dear friend Sally. The address is nothingimportanthappenedtoday.com, go check it out I'm also planning a *slight* redesign of my site layout, since it looks so much the same as everyone else's (not because I'm out of ideas, but because they all wanted my awesome layout ).It will be far more complex than my current layout. And it will be like no website you have ever seen!! I'll keep my current colour and image scheme though, as I quite like it. |
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Rant about my Nemesis |
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SPAM. Good on your plate, not in your inbox. It's ugly, it's boring, it's primitive (somehow, don't ask me why), it is usually a grammatical train wreck, and it's only purpose is to sell a "Product". Last time I checked, the best way to sell a product was with annoying jingles and an overuse of the primary colours. Not on unrelated websites in pathetic looking comments that only interrupt what the viewer is trying to read (not to mention that the spam usually consists of a few hundred pages of the same comment posted repeatedly). Nobody reads it. Well, at least nobody intelligent. I have blocked and deleted spam comments on my Flash Player 9 Download section from over 52 different IP addresses, all advertising pretty much the same thing from the same company. I don't know how I can keep this up.. I need image verification |
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Oh how I hate chain email.. |
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Not only are they a fantastic way for your email address to end up on the mailing lists of spammers worldwide, but they are in general, a nuisance. Click HERE to read my opinion on the waste of time and bandwidth that has become the Superstition of the 21st Century. |
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Water Cheat |
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An example of how to avoid hefty fines, but ensure that your garden doesn't die because the government doesn't know anything about "Recycled Water"  Image hotlinked from chaser.com.au |
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Samsung GX-1L DSLR Camera |
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I have, in my possession, a DSLR camera. Thanks to Jinks, I can now take fantastic photos in widescreen, with adjustable exposure, aperture, iso, and manual zoom and manual/automatic focus I'm gonna be having a lot of fun with this camera, and hopefully I won't have to return it any time soon  |
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Experimenting |
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I've decided to do some experimenting with different music styles, so I need some ideas! I've already done a small House track, and it sounds pretty good. Download What would you like to hear? UPDATE: As per request, I have created a vocal trance song for Clarky3429 Download |
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New Crap. |
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Well, I finally set up a myspace music account for dust11. So now instead of going to www.myspace.com/dust11, use www.myspace.com/dust11music for my music thing. |
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20 Dollars |
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The joys and hardships of trying to borrow $20 all rolled up into one 3 minute audio clip. In other words, crappy phone codecs and annoying little sisters can make life hard. This actually happened the day of StickLAN 7 when I was trying to organise for Clarky to get into StickLAN, but he was short of the $20 that he needed to get in. He ended up getting in, but as the rule is $20 per computer, he just brought his 40GB external drive and did some leeching, and all was good Download |
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New Project |
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I have a friend named Kate who has a home studio, but isn't quite tech savvy, so she bought her studio equipment to my house and we did some recording. I now have another project! Although, her music will probably be released on cd so you'll have to buy it to hear it. What Kate brought over: - Soundcraft Mixer - Professional Condenser Mic - EDIROL PCR-1 MIDI Controller/Audio Interface She left the PCR-1 here, so I will be having a bit of fun with that. This is the first professional set of audio equipment I have used with my setup, so it was interesting to see what it could do. 20 sec preview!! |
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Meez |
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I was bored.  It's me. Kinda.. meez.com |
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WTF? |
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OK? I have no idea what the hell this is about, but it's weird.. http://www.isitfridgeday.net/ Kinda reminds me of this: http://www.something.com/ You've probably seen that before though.. Oh, and theres this too: http://www.leekspin.com/ If you can think of a good, legitimate reason as to why these pages exist, or a funny reason, I'll make my own pointless page. By the way, Thursday is NOT FridgeDay. Update: I found this page just now, http://www.ethanwiner.com/funnames.html |
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Change |
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For all those who don't know, my girlfriend is moving interstate this friday. Her and I have been together for over a year, and we've been through a lot, she's a really integral part of my life. Just today though, it REALLY sunk in, and my current feelings of happiness in general, quickly turned around.. No, this isn't a blog entry, but just a notification that my songwriting (however slow at the moment) will probably pick right back up once she's gone, and I'll be expending my emotion into that. This means that my Music page will probably see a few more additions, as this great change in emotion will probably spark new ideas for songs that will help me through this period. I'll probably write up a personal blog about this for my closer friends to read, but this is generally how things are going down for me. I suppose though, there hasn't actually been a BIG change in my life recently, so this might be this year's BIG event (apart from the death of a young relative, but I won't go into that). It hurts, but what doesn't kill me will only make me stronger. On another note, I was kinda annoyed when spam showed up on my site  I need image verification... |
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New Layout! |
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Well, I've been working hard these past 2 hours, and have created a completely NEW site layout, which I am VERY proud of. This new layout is compatible with resolutions as low as 640x480, and as high as 1600x1200, so if you're somwhere in between, never fear! It will look great This site is no longer compatible with IE6 and under!! If you're viewing this site with IE6 or a previous version, I know what you are seeing. The site will look slighty better in IE7, but I don't recommend using this browser, as it is full of security holes, as with all versions of IE. Use Firefox for crying out loud!! It's a more than decent browser!! Please leave your feedback on the new layout, let me know what you think And no, I haven't bothered to correct the colour problems of the smilies. Maybe one day when I'm bored. If you prefer the old layout, it can still be used HERE |
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Dreaded Downtime |
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OK, that downtime shouldn't have happened. Couldn't help it though, it was cos I switched to reseller hosting from business hosting, so now I can have as many domains a I like, and donna now has a .com !!!!! Her new name is agardenoftears.com, although her old redirect domain will still point there for a bit. I also get access to the cPanel WHM which is very cool.It's like $20 a month, and I get a stack of features, although I'm on a US server now, instead of an australian one.. I also got my new firestaff today, so expect to see plenty of firetwirling pics on photography.dust11.com |
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What happens when you're sleeping. |
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It's 3:50 AM, and I have a new sneak preview of idea75. It is mastered better, has more riffs in it, and even incorporates some glitchy hip-hop style beats If I were you, I'd be very excited. DOWNLOAD |
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Activity |
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New layout under construction... |
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Time Capsule |
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I just found this: timecapsule.yahoo.com They are only taking contributions for another day and 22 hours from now (1:54 AM November 7th 2006), so hurry up and get yourself included!! This is one of those cool things you generally don't find unless you are stumbling. I only wish I could be alive to witness the reception from people 100 years from now.. "Just Hold On..." is my contribution. Another perspective some may have on this is just another way for big companies like Yahoo to harvest media created by normal people to release under their own branding (if you read the terms and conditions, that's pretty much what it says). "Just Hold On..." is a song that I don't really mind what happens to, just as long as people are able to appreciate it. |
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life.dust11.com |
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OK, I added a new part to the site, mainly cos people keep complaining that they have a million different bookmarks to different areas of my site. "But why didn't I know about this?" Because I only shared it with closer friends. My Blog is password protected, mainly because certain people aren't priveliged enough gain access to it. Henceforth, I have isolated it from the public. I might make a public blog, but it would just be boring stuff about crap. I have also created a "Forwarded Email" section, because I am sick to death of the damn things. I have a rant about it, but I am still finishing it. I have also created a Photography section where I can show off my photography skills, or just put photos up of events that happen with friends. This is more of a personal section of the site, so I have dubbed it "life.dust11.com". Well, I'd better go, as I have to get ready for work. Stay tuned.. |
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Important |
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This is rather important. I was informed of the following site, and I think that everyone will agree that we are being conspired against by the American Record companies! If you want to know what I'm on about, please visit www.iownmymusic.org for a far better explanation of the situation than I can give you. It's your right to listen to music you aquired (legally) And to clear things up, all MY (dust11) intellectual property is protected by a ShareAlike Creative Commons license. Get as many signatures as the laws of physics can allow! |
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New Blog |
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This is my latest video blog, I don't know if you can see it, as It's over 10 minutes, and I'm still waiting for my Director's Account to be activated. Just a little director's commentary on "Fast Harmony". |
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Good News |
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Hey all, I've got some good news for you all. No more DOWNTIME!!! As I have moved the site to my paid hosting. Hopefully shouldn't chew through too much of my bandwidth, as I was only using a few hundred mb max before, so that should be good. I've also started a video blog about my music, it's being hosted on youtube, and I'm gonna be linking every new blog into a news entry on the site :wink: Thats all the news I have for now, so sit back and enjoy this introductory video, and try not to think I'm too crazy. -dust11 |
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IRIS |
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Hey all, I got Awakening, by IRIS. I know, I know, you all thought I had it from how much I raved about how good IRIS is, but I'd only ever heard previews until now, and this latest album totally blows my previous assumptions out of the water. I have Wrath, but I pales in comparison to Awakening. I'm still waiting to find out about mail forwarders and subdomains, I'm not sure if Andre (webhost) is going to enable them due to system resources. Will have more news on this soon. I'm haven't got any new ideas for my latest song, but I've been having new ideas for some less hip-hop stuff, more pop oriented style. More to come. |
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Welcome Back |
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Welcome back to my site. cPanel has been installed, and I am now using dust11.com as a domain name Ideas seem to come and go, they never want to stay .. I've only added another 8 bars to my latest project.. Ahwell, I'll think of something new soon enough. |
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September 15th |
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Happy Birthday to Me  |
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Planned Downtime |
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My site will be down over the course of the 16th till the 18th, but when it comes back it will hopefully be at dust11.com Just thought I'd let you all know  |
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Ideas have come at last |
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Well, I guess my patient waiting has paid off, or maybe It's just because I feel motivated to write for the site, but I'm working on what should be a very promising song!! Nice open melodies with soft pianos, soothing strings, diverse drum sequences and smooth vocals  I think this will be my first fully vocalised song.Think open meadows, autumn leaves, mild breeze, and a portrait sky (hmm, I've already got ideas for lyrics ).Might even have room for guest vocals . Leave a comment if you're interested. |
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Progress |
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Thanks to Jinks, Donna's gallery works beautifully. Now we just have to figure out how to get it to work smoothly with my site, then I might get around to adding my forum  I'm gonna be adding some content by an old friend of mine (Sean AKA "Spadge") to the gallery under the album spadgeART. He does a lot of stuff in TerraGen, and some photoshop stuff too. Most of his stuff is terrain, but it's very good. That's all for now. |
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Irritating |
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I think that only programmers know my frustration.. This reminds me of when I was trying to make a flexible media player that would rival winamp. I got sooo close, but then this one function stopped working and the whole thing collapsed. I've been running through the code of Donna's gallery like a madman, and I still cannot figure out why it won't list subdirectories!  Also have a problem with a table that won't hide it's border, but thats probably just the curse of HTML being too forgiving.. If you don't write clean code, it compensates; therefore making it very difficult for others to interperate what has been done! I'll figure it out, I might just have to ask Jinks how he got it to work. |
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Problems/Solved |
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The name of a very good release from Kilowatts Turns out the reason I've been experiencing so much downtime is because the server had insufficient RAM. Staff will be upgrading within the next few days. |
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Downtime |
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Hmm 110mb have been having a lot of sporadic downtime. Not happy !! I'm going to contact the staff to find out why, until then I guess I just have to hope that it's over for now..Writing songs is becoming increasingly difficult, I just haven't got any ideas.. The motivation is there, but I just can't think of anything  ah well, I'll think of something..Been working on Donna's site, and thanks to Jinks I think she'll finally have a gallery. Should make her happy. Well, thats all the news from me for now.. I'm off to write an email to the webhost. |
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Donna |
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Since I set up this website, my girlfriend has wanted her own site, so I set up a little thing for her. It will have book reviews, movie reviews, fav music things, and a photo gallery in the near future, but I just thought I'd say that the first version is online at www.taen.co.nr. I'll blog later |
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New site!! |
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Hey all, Since the unfortunate demise of my old site (due to my webhost mysteriously vanishing) I've been trawling the web in search of a new one. I've found one, and from the looks of things, they're reliable. No more downtime!! I've got new music on the music page for you all to see, so enjoy Also, please leave your comments on what you think of the layout. If there's anything that seems to be missing, just say so |
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dust11 is listening to: |
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Protect your freedom!
All material contained on this site is property of dust11 (unless stated otherwise). Please, don't plagiarise!!