Hung Truong: The Blog!

Firefox 2 RC1 Impressions

So today, Firefox 2.0 RC1 got released! Sick of seeing Firefox take 500Mb of ram, I upgraded. I figured that if it’s good enough to be a candidate for release, it’s good enough for me.

So far, things are going okay. The browser’s been open for a few hours now and it’s only (!?) taking up 100Mb of ram. I’ve got 6 tabs open. If this were the older version, I’m pretty sure we’d be at around 500. No joke.

Firefox seems to be less sluggish, which is good. The visual theme has also been updated to look more shiny and glossy. I’ve also discovered that there’s an integrated spellchecker that works its magic on any textarea. Pretty awesome. I can’t wait for Firefox 2.0 to officially be released. Then, and only then, can I get a Firefox 2.0 t-shirt to commemorate the occasion.

Joe Mathlete Explains Today’s Marmaduke

Every once in a while, a blog comes along that changes the course of human history. That blog is Joe Mathlete Explains Today’s Marmaduke. In it, Joe Mathlete (is he some kind of math athelete?) explains today’s Marmaduke.

Apparently Marmaduke is a fairly unfunny one panel comic. Think Garfield or Family Circus, but perhaps even less funny. Joe Mathlete explains what is happening in the comic, and usually ends up being multitudes of infinity funnier than the actual comic.

Unfortunately, Joe hotlinks to some kind of comic repository for the images, and the older ones are missing actual comic. I may have to add this blog to my RSS feed.

MyPostItSecret – Really Lame Marketing

So while browsing myspace (yeah, I know…), I found some kind of link to a viral marketing site. In it, you take a look into the room of a college bound girl who tells all of her darkest secrets. Unfortunately, they all have to do with Post-It products.

Yes, post-it is trying to get teenagers to use their products. They’re using a model who sounds waaayyy too into post it notes:

“I have a rating system for friends. I put my friends’ phone numbers up on the wall with post-it specialty notes. The arrows point up or down depending on who’s on my list of favorites.”

Wait. This girl has friends!!??

This is probably the worst ad campaign I have ever witnessed. Does Post-it think they’re fooling anyone? Maybe their plan is to get publicity by having snarky bloggers write about how bad this is…

Jazz Song Currently Stuck In My Head: My Romance

So every once in a while, a jazz standard just gets stuck in my head and I have to listen to every version of it ever. Right now, that song is “My Romance” by those Rodgers and Hart guys. Some background:

So after hearing of the death of Maynard Ferguson, I decided to listen to some of his music. Y’know, like pay tribute or something (even though I downloaded the music! Sorry Maynard!). I put “Swingin’ For Schuur” in my car, and when I got to “My Romance” I was like, “yeah!”

I’d heard the song before, but sometimes these things need words for the whole package to click. I like memorizing words to standards for phrasing issues as well as trivia issues. One of the things I like about the song is that it’s totally self aware. Like it’s referencing other love songs that have sappy stuff in ‘em. Check out the lyrics:

My Romance

Rodgers & Hart

My romance doesn’t have to have a moon in the sky

My romance doesn’t need a blue lagoon standing by

No month of may No twinkling stars

No hideaway No soft guitar

My romance doesn’t need a castle rising in Spain

Nor a dance to a constantly surprising refrain

Wide awake, I can make my most fantastic dreams come true

My romance doesn’t need a thing but you

If I ever sing this song in a karaoke setting or something, I want to replace “soft guitar” with “girl from mars.” That’ll be so awesome!

The Maynard version is actually a pretty cool arrangement. The Bill Evans one is also really good.

Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories First Impressions

So I got my Disgaea 2 preorder in the mail a few days ago, and I’ve already played about 8+ hours. Yeah, my semester is really going to hell. Anyway, I thought I’d write about my impressions of the sequel to probably the best game ever.

So far, this game is pretty much like the original Disgaea. That’s a good thing. The story is different, but almost everything is the same as the original. For example, the grid based movement system is back. The lifting and throwing system is still there. The geo panel stuff is also still present. Basically the only thing that has changed are the characters and the setting.

As for the story, it’s ok. It centers around a human, Adell, trying to summon a powerful demon overlord into changing his family back into humans. They were turned into demons a few years back. He ends up summoning the overlord’s hot daughter, Rozalin instead. The story can get a little heavy sometimes with Adell being emo, but for the most part it’s pretty funny.

The only new feature I’ve noticed so far is the felony system. I didn’t really look into it that much, but commiting crimes basically means that your demon has certain advantages in the game. The crimes I commited so far are “Geo Vandalism” and “High RES.” They seem kind of random.

I might write about Disgaea 2 some more once I’ve gotten more into it. For now, I think I better regulate my playing, or this might not turn out to be my last semester of college after all!