If I hadn’t written today, in two days I would’ve been one year absent.

Heh. People might think I’ve completely abandoned this blog now. Strange that this week I’ve been waking up at 6 am for 4 days in a row. People who know me personally deem that feat as humanly impossible for someone like yours truly- since technically I’m not a morning person. Okay, at least not the 5 am to 12 pm type. I think I’m in 10pm to 4 am range…

So abruptly awakened, this day looms long and uncertain- not that I don’t have anything to do, since I still have to post a review for my No Point Articulation blog,  clean the goddamn MOLD that actually grew in my bookcase (thankfully it didn’t go that far in and ruined any books yet), and of course try to write a novel (Been at it again for a month or two now-  around 50 pages worth of incoherent rambling that supposed to be spread across two books- that’s progress considering that a few years ago back when I was in Junior high, I scrawled a crude comic book of the same story I’m writing now, and I still don’t have anything human readable).

Funny that weekends seem to be a precious commodity when you actually have work. I  judiciously try to divide the free time across my diversified interests instead of trying to relax… the thought of doing something productive (other than office work) constantly spurs me to do so…

Hah. Another post of random thoughts. Must be this fever I’m coming up with, and the fact that the first thing I did when I woke up is to fire up the dsl and started downloading anti-virus updates rather than having breakfast.

Here’s to a productive weekend…

Whoopsie!

I’ve been gone for a month. A lot of things happened so I wasn’t able to use the computer at home. First of all, I finally landed a job as a trainee in a company I cannot mention due to professional etiquette reasons. That kinda sucked out all of my time since I work from 9 to 6, and the killer traffic in the Philippines can suck the life out of anybody, so my brains too exhausted to write.

Another reason is that I’ve been preparing my action figure website for launch, but found working with HTML too time consuming given my limited free time. So I went the Blog approach and ported over one of the figure reviews I made here and updated it a little. If you’re interested, the site is at

nopointarticulation.wordpress.com

but since I just started it, it’s still empty. I hope to have it filled as the weeks pass.

Well, this is it for my little quickie post! Got to go!

Ah, the excuses we do to justify getting the things we want…

As usual, I mooched cash again from parents (a shameless act, indeed) for a return trip to the university to pick up some important documents (my diploma), and it happens that I have some spare change afterwards ( all of the money), so I was somehow, loaded…relatively speaking.

Waking up the next day, I wondered if I should go out and check the malls if any new figures are out. Since, hey, the toy companies have been so helpful with their accurate release dates. Of course, I was always in doubt, since I usually leave to check the stores on saturdays.

So while wandering around in the house, I stopped by my dad’s room, and ended up watching a show on HBO- you know what it is….? Missing in Action 2, starring Chuck Norris.

I always joked around with the Gi Joe character Rock N Roll, calling him Chuck Norris. Given though, he doesn’t look anywhere near Chuck Norris. (View the Figure at YoJoe- Click Here!) Sure he has the full beard on his mug and he’s blonde, but of a brighter shade of yellow.

What the heck, I thought to my self. “This must be a sign! This must be Chuck Norris day! I think I’ll buy the Rock and Roll fig before it runs out.” Well, it is true. Some evil bugger must be hoarding the figures or every collector must be on a buying spree since new figures don’t last a week. Rock N Roll wasn’t even that popular locally (and been sitting in the pegs for months), but now even that’s starting to disappear. I ran to a few stores where the figures were well stocked and then bamf! nothing’s left a few days later. I even tossed my lucky coin three times- they all came out heads which in my book meant yes,yes and yes.

So yeah, I think that was reason enough. Out I went…

…scoring a bad case of motion sickness, almost throwing up in the rickety jeepney, and until now, my head feels like it’s splitting in two. But, sure enough, I got the rock n roll figure- one of the last 9 available in the malls. Yes, I’m that obsessed. I keep count of the stocks left each time I check it out. So with a bad headache reminiscent of a hangover and a new figure in my mini army roster, I end my celebration of “Chuck Norris Missing in Action 2″ day.

I’m planning for the “Rocketeer” day next…

*clears throat*

Last time, I said that Destro had a “wicked Barry Manilow thing with his voice going on”.

Damn it. That was the wrong guy! I thought he was the guy with the deep voice. Blame my musical stupidity on that one.

So, to clarify. Destro DOES NOT SOUND, I repeat, DOES NOT SOUND like Barry Manilow.

But I had you thinking for a second, right? RIGHT? Here’s another one.

I think he sounds a lot more like… Isaac Hayes.

Uh-oh. DUCK AND COVER!!!

For many G.I.Joe kids, Destro was THE man.

He’s got everything: he’s rich, he’s nobility, he’s got the wicked (Barry Manilow….oops, I meant) Isaac Hayes thing with his voice going on, and the cute, evil glasses girl loves him. Tsk. Some men have all the luck.

Since I was still a baby when the sunbow series started, and I really can’t remember if I even watched an episode of GIJoe, I mostly remember Destro to be the guy with the shiny helmet.

When this figure was released, I was skeptical on buying it. Not knowing much on GIJoe lore yet, I wondered if this costume change was even canonical (it is), and I really had my eyes on the single carded regular destro. Good thing, I still bought it. It’s worth it.

click pic to enlarge

Like most 25th anniv. figures, IG Destro receives a sculpt update. For the most part, the proportion issue is fixed, the uber-large head of the original is resized in the new one.

The figure is predominantly black, and there’s not much paint application (The spots being, his neck, the insignia on his chest, the spikes on his shoulder,and the buttons on his high cuffed boots). But pay close attention and you’ll see a lot of detail. He looks like he’s decked out in leather. Must be hot in there.

Another feature they carried over from the original is the inclusion of cloth capes. Hasbro likes using cloth for their figures- I have a handful of Star Wars figures (4 actually) and 3 of them have cloth parts fused or draped over the figures. So not a total surprise there. The difference in the 25thA version however, is that the cape now covers one arm- the old one just hangs from the back. Some people may find it to be obstructing, but it gives Destro more of a “laird”-like ambiance.

As for his noggin, Destro is again vac-metallized, resulting in a friggin’-shiny golden helmet. While a lot of fans prefer the vac-metallized heads, I’m for the painted version. I just had a bad experience with vac-metallized toys, especially my old Steel (from the old Superman Line) which is completely covered with it. But it is hard not to like the shining head, despite the fact it might wear off someday.

His weapons received anniversary treatment too. The old one had to content himself holding a sheathed saber, maybe smashing a head or two with it. But this time, the sword and sheath are two different elements, with the former cast in gold plastic and painted gray on the blade, while the latter is now attached to him by his belt (it’s removable). The sheath is fully working too, you could slip the sword in there if you want. (But don’t do it just yet! Read on first).

Another bonus item is a new weapon for the figure, which is a gold revolver. (I know some of you are already thinking of The Man with the Golden Gun. Haha. Funny.) Destro much be pretty damn rich to have his weapons in gold. I’m not 100% positive, but this gun is similar to Snow Job’s side arm.

I complained with the Crimson Guard’s holster earlier on, saying that it didn’t look like much of a holster. While the original looked actually like that, they could’ve least updated the design just a little. (See the crimson guard review!) In Destro’s case,now this is what I’m talking about, a fully detailed, yet working holster! So far, this is one of the best I’ve seen yet in the line, and if Hasbro keeps their releases up to speed with this one, I’m a happy guy.

Complaints? There are a few, actually. Despite its greatness, the figure is marred by a few production problems. First of all, my figure’s head won’t move, and it’s permanently tilted to the left. I’m not saying that this would happen to your figure too, but it’s just a warning. I solved the problem by tilting the midtorso a little in the opposite direction, resulting in a more dynamic pose. Another problem, which I’m sure will probably be present in your sample too, is that the sheath is bent. The figure was forced to fit in the small blister packaging, while wearing the belt. So when you pull it out, the sheath looks a little out of shape. So don’t go sheathing in the sword just yet. When I let it stand for a while, the sheath seems to straighten out a little. But I still won’t put the sword in. He looks better holding it anyway.

Final Word? If you’re one of the guys who spent hundreds of bucks to get the exclusive Pimp Destro, you’d probably see this one as a worthwhile addition. Even if you didn’t, this is still a figure I’d recommend, because this shows hasbro in their best game. Better yet, if you have an armored Cobra Commander, and you’re looking to recreate the Cobra civil war. then this is the destro for you. Great figure. Just great.

Right from the start, I know I’m not the studious type.
I was reviewing PHP for my upcoming website project, and things were really getting droll.
It didn’t help that it was already 1:36 in the morning when I was reading my books.

So my mind was (sort of) working this way:

“A good dynamic website needs three components: a server, a database and a….”
“…Need Sleep.”
“So, when a client (in this case, the browser) requests from the server….”
“…Want Porn.”
“To implement a for loop, all I have to do is…”
“…Hungry.”
“To call a function…. ah, screw this.”

In short, my mind was wandering around and my eyes were shutting down very, very slowly.
I thought of ways to get me back in the groove of studying. I slapped the overly large and worn out headset to my ears and played
ELO’s Mr. Blue Sky in full blast. In seconds, I was completely awake. But I found myself singing out loud, in notes so high my vocal chords strained:

“…MisterBlueSky…PleaseTellUsWhy…YouHadToHideAwayForSoLong…
SOoooo..LONG!..WhereDidWeWrong?“

Which was sung with my head shaking wildly along to the beat, with my shoulders shifting from side to side, like I was dancing some weird voodoo
dance.

Then I remembered that I was wearing a HEADSET.

I hear a really good song, the rest of the whole sleeping world hears my voice, which sounded like I was kicked in the crotch. And I really can’t understand
what I’m reading because I’m constantly reminded of Hodges (CSI Las Vegas) and his freakingly lucky day. It’s a disturbing thought.

So scratch that from the list.

Yesterday, I told you about the mysterious lockup I’ve experienced, and I’ve told you that I’ve been only able to induce it when I was visiting the Yahoo Web Messenger.

Not anymore!

Somehow the same thing happened twice:
1.) I was running the pidgin IM and the Transmission bitorrent client on the background, and I was browsing through yahoo groups.
2.) Everytime I encountered a Coppermine photo gallery in a site, the box also freezes.

I’ve been doing some light browsing in forums, and some guys have similar problems. Looks like it has something to do with the FireFox browser. I’m using the pre-installed IceWeasel browser, which is based on FireFox, so it might be possible that I’m experiencing the same stuff. But others have noted it might have been because of too much plug-ins installed. So far, I haven’t installed any plug-ins yet. I think.

I’m not really an IM (instant messaging) guy.

I mean, not that I have a bunch of friends to IM with, and the only things I see when I log in are all “OFFLINE”.  Add that to the fact that Yahoo Messenger was so infamous as an access route for malware, and that until just recently, I was operating by the minute on a prepaid dial-up line, so there wasn’t much reason to, you know, connect. (Bleh.)

But there were times that I needed to chat with someone online. You know, for schoolwork. So I turned to the web-based alternative, meebo. That worked fine, I guess, and I eventually forgot about it. Then I switched to Linux, and about the same time, I felt the urge to chat with some of the guys for old time’s sake. That’s what unemployment and a DSL line does to you.

So I tried meebo again, but looks like web traffic is heavy there, since it takes forever to load. (In fact, I had never seen it load. Most of the time, I just got pissed off and closed the browser.) My old college buddy was using the Yahoo Web Messenger one time, so I tried using it.

It loaded, thankfully, and I was chatting again. But I found the ever-changing ads on the side to be irritating, since they load on and on and on,  and it’s really distracting.  And not only that.  Linux is famous for being stable. But when I use this site, sometimes the whole box freezes. No movement from the mouse, keyboard, screen, nothing. The whole thing just hangs, and no error messages. I really don’t know if the Yahoo WM is causing the problem, but I haven’t been able to induce the lockup in any other way. Tsk. Don’t tell me even the web messenger version is jinxed?

So any other Linux users encountered the same problem? Or has this been already addressed? Cause, I really don’t read online that much. Poor uninformed me.

Well, the pc is back in its rightful table here in the pseudo-office. Just received it yesterday afternoon. True enough, the windows installation is nixed, and now I’m using the nifty Zenwalk Linux.

I cheated on the experience, since I had someone else do the installing and configurations of the OS for me, so I really can’t comment on the ease of the installation of the system. The graphical user interface (Xfce) that Zenwalk uses is crisp and visually pleasing. The usage conventions do feel different from someone just out of windows, (such as right-clicking to access your programs menu, akin to the windows’ start button), but since I tried damn small linux for a little while (just hours, actually) before hand, I’m getting used to it. The OS is preloaded with a variety of applications, like GIMP for graphic work and AbiWord for typing documents, and they all load quickly, which is quite surprising compared to the old lumbering memory mammoths I once used.

But since I’m stuck in the windows GUI mindset, I still have a ways to go before I can feel comfortable working with a Linux system, and I still feel daunted with fiddling around with the Bash command shell. But, as they say, it never hurts to try (as long as you don’t delete anything).

If you guys are solvent readers, I guess that you already know that I’ve had problems with my big white metal box (no, not the ref, the PC), and well, as usual, I couldn’t fix it.

Well, since that aside from hunting jobs, studying new (computer) languages developing a new website and updating the blog, there isn’t much use for the PC right now. So I had it shipped off to my cousin, who, hands down, knows a way lot more in that stuff than me, but even he has troubling fixing it.

The problem was I can’t install a new windows installation due to an unknown hard error in ntdll.dll. But Linux installations seem unaffected, because my cousin’s zenwalk installation worked just fine. So if he couldn’t find a way to fix it, the PC will just have to go on with a new OS installed.

It sounds like I hate Linux, but actually, no. I just don’t have an idea on how to use it yet, because I was spoonfed with microsoft baby food since elementary school. I’m game in trying the OS for size. Just give me the manual.