MSN Messengar: Quickening@live.com

Friday, February 1, 2008

I Got Tagged but I Need a Fourth Wheel!

My Thursdays, as some of you might remember, is always my Spend-Night-At-School. Not that I actually sleep at school but it’s a great opportunity to get some work done in a very quiet time. Gives me an opportunity to visit blogs of blogger’s friends.


So I had my dinner of Ayamas’s Pepper Chicken Rice.


And I suddenly remember that the toosuperheroes had just got an influx of Sarawak pepper. I don’t know if Ayamas is using the same Sarawak pepper or some Western species because I say RM$5.80 for one box of quarter chicken with rice is ridiculously expensive.

Anyway, since I don’t want to go home yet (late pm as it was) so instead I waited long enough so the surrounding mamak stalls would be too full of late night TV people for snatch thieves to risk striking lone walkers. Yeah, my headscarf just screams female.


Dessert. It’s something Mak packed for me from the fridge. It’s got a sponge cake base, clear grape jelly centre and a thick condensed milk on top. It’s delicious; one of few of Mak’s cooking experiments that are more than just edible.


So as I was chomping on my dessert and surfing to their site and gosh, what did I find?

I’ve been tagged.

What? Did you expect one of them had puked (again) or something?

This is great because I’ve never been tagged before, considering my baby is barely 2 months old. Now whom the heck do I tag for the next 4 people? I immediately thought of 3 fellows that might appreciate getting tagged but who will be my fourth wheel?

Hmmm...

Looks like a trip through PetalingStreet.org then!


All this eating and blogging and I damn hell forgot to do my homework! Gimme a day or two to find my fourth tag, guys!

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Old Posts, Knick-knack, Bits and Pieces and Whatever Things

Inspiration for this Blog

The Scarlet Pimpernel.

This heroic romance story was my inspiration for the creation of this blog. At its heart, it chronicles the plight of a young English girl and the rescue of the broken French nobility during the country's bloody Revolution.

I named this blog Shadow Pimpernel because I rescue my innermost thoughts and feelings to protect them from the harsh, jaded reality. This way, when times and people change, places shifted, the core part of who I am is still preserved.

Here.
Read me.



Tutorial for Newbies

How to Build a phpBB3 Forum Community (Part One)



Games Reviews

Games Review: Cate West - The Vanishing Files by Gamenaut
Download for Trial Version: http://www.reflexive.com/MagicMatchAdventures.html

Games Review: Cate West - The Vanishing Files by Gamenaut
Download for Trial Version: http://www.reflexive.com/CateWestTheVanishingFiles.html

Games Review: Dream Chronicles 2: The Eternal Maze
Download for Trial Version : Reflexive... not yet!

Games Review: Fatal Hearts by Hanako Games
Download for Trial Version: http://www.reflexive.com/FatalHearts.html
Download for Fatal Hearts’ Walkthrough can be found here, or better yet, you can visit the designer’s website at http://hanako.informe.com/

Games Review: Spirit of Wandering - The Legend
Download for Trial Version: http://www.reflexive.com/SpiritofWandering-TheLegend.html

Games Review: KingMania by 300AD.com
Download for Trial Version: http://www.reflexive.com/KingMania.html

Flash Game: Hapland Series Walkthrough
Link(s) to Play...
Hapland 1: http://www.foon.co.uk/farcade/hapland/
Hapland 2: http://www.foon.co.uk/farcade/hapland2
Hapland 3: http://www.foon.co.uk/farcade/hapland3

Games Review: Ara Fell, The Legend of Dirisetsu Hollow
Download for Full Version: http://www.arafell.com

Games Review: The Great Tree
Download for Trial Version: http://www.reflexive.com/TheGreatTree.html

Games Review: Dream Chronicles
Download for Trial Version: http://www.reflexive.com/DreamChronicles.html

Games Review: Fairy Godmother Tycoon
Download for Trial Version: http://www.reflexive.com/FairyGodmotherTycoon.html

Flash Game: Other Age by Zeiva
Link to Play: http://zeiva.deviantart.com/art/Other-Age-39931316

Flash Game: Grow Island
Link to Play: http://www.gamegecko.com/growisland.php



Recipes

Taco Bake with Corn Chips

Click here


Southern Chicken with Onions

Click here


Breakfast Pepper Mix

Click here


Chicken Tartlets

Click here


Brutally Honest



Really, you can just read my Blogger Profile if you’re the curious sort. I have 105 views on it and growing so another unique hit is nothing... well, unique.

But if you really want to know more about me, be forewarned; I tend to give too much information.

My physical traits
At the risk of how digital pictures can be stolen and misused, it’s my policy not to post individual photos of my friends or my families and identifying their characteristics online. Not unless I have their permission. After all, their faces, their identities, make my photos of them as their photos too.

Same goes for me so you’ll just have to imagine what I look like. And I’m not going to Photoshop my description either.

I’M FAT.

Well, that’s taken care of. I’m actually about 55-60kg and exactly 157cm at the time of writing. So I’m pretty tall for a female Malay girl in her mid-twenties; I can look over the heads of Malay girls and most men. Much of the weight is in the bones, I’m quite broad shouldered and long-legged. My tailor said I have a high-waist, whatever that means.

But I’m not slender build - did I mentioned I was fat? - kind of plump in all the woman’s places and sadly, my stomach is a bit round as well. I have a waist, but it’s not as visible as I liked. To put it in TV fashion terms, I have ruler shaped body.

Other than the gene pool, I was quite a tomboy growing up; Teakwondo and running sports. I figured out early in childhood that I’ll never be as pretty as my elder sister and my big family shall always compare me to her and all my female cousins.

So I even today I forgo cosmetics; hardly even wear make-up, hardly have a reason to anyway. Doesn’t really help my round face and my round nose, of course. I have only one skirt - real skirt - and one pair of pumps amidst a multitude of pants, shirts and sneakers. I do have some vanity though. Like laced and beaded ‘kebaya’ dresses and subtle coloured ‘kurung’ dresses. All dresses are formal wear, yeah.

I guess my best physical asset would be my hair. I grew up having really short hair, like a motorbike helmet. Now it’s hell of a length, reaching to my hips. This reason why I kept long hair is that I hadn’t bothered to go to a hairdresser in 6 years and I flatly refuse to let my mother near me with scissors (really bad experience).

Kind of redundant to have long hair because I prefer to wear headscraves anyway.


A few of my favourite things
Favourite books, favourite music, favourite food - you can just read these in my Blogger Profile so don’t let me go Sound of Music on you. Instead, I just describe why I like these things. Really a description of my personality of sort.

Let’s start with I’M A HOPELESS ROMANTIC.

Pathetic isn’t it? All those tomboyish-ness had rendered me to a sensitive pile of ooze when it comes to fantasy and romance. Or fantastic romance. Or romantic fantasy. Whichever way, if you look for me in a bookstore I can spend hours in two places; Romance and Fantasy.

When it comes to movies though, I hate romance. That’s because movies tend to overdo things with all that slow kissing and orchestral music and (God forbid!) sarcastic humour. But there are some exceptional romantic movie I like, like Pride and Prejudice (truthful to the book, yay!).

What I really like in movies are fantasy (of course!), sci-fi, action and mystery, like the Bourne series or Lord of the Rings movies or my new love, Transformers. Horror, comedy and animation... err, not so much. Particularly horror. I’m kind of sensitive to fear, I get scared easily.

One time, on Astro’s Hallmark channel, I watched both movies of Stephen King’s Rose Red. It’s about a haunted house with roaming white mists that makes people have unexplained accidents or disappears completely. After that, I hadn’t been able to walk into a dark room at night for two weeks. In my own house.

Music has no particular preference in me, as long as it’s got a good beat and I can play it in my car and computer. I don’t have a particularly favourite music artist because I prefer the music itself than to be enamoured about the artist making it. Little bit of rock, a little bit of R&B, a little bit of soul, a dash of rap, a pinch of hip-hop; that’s me.

But if I were to make a choice on a person or a group, it’s a tie between Linkin Park and Bon Jovi. Go figure.

As for food...

Fooooooooooooooooooooooood...

If it’s on my plate, I’ll try eating it. Besides that, I prefer bread or potatoes over rice or pasta and prefer beef as meat of choice. I rather like spicy food and I can really go for any kind of soups and stews. Cakes and pastries are okay to snack on but fruits are my preferred snacks. If there is chocolate, stay the hell out of my way.


What I want.
Get degree.
Get job.
Get out of house.

Nuff’ said.

Favourite Images and Chosen of the Month




For the slideshow’s direct link, click here.

These pictures are property of their respective artists and have no affiliations with this blog. I liked them, I collect them and I share them with readers. Kind of like collecting stamps. Please support these artists by visiting CGSociety, Deviant Art and 3D Artists.

*****

For the FEBRUARY 2008 Slideshow’s direct link, click here.

Links to Images from February 2008’s Slideshow...
A Water Faerie
Chinese Battle Ladies
Virgo Angel
Sky Port: Rural
Sky Port: Mountainous
Silent Cathedral
Mosque at Golden Light
Crafted Silver Flower
Lords of the Elements
Castle of White
The Snow Wolf
The Knight Lady

*****

APRIL'S ASCENSION

Copyright HOTgraFX

Sometimes, I find one really, really awesome picture and kept it in my Secret Stash. What makes these pictures beautiful is that I find an imaginary connection to it with a life project of mine, a fantasy series so to speak. The landscape picture by Artist No.1 is what I thought magical woodlands would be or that sci-fi spaceship by Artist No.2 is the battle-craft for a war I had been detailing about.

To keep my writing skill from getting rusty before I find a columnist-type job, I choose a picture from my Stash every month and share it with readers for a whole month as I write a short story of what I had imagined the picture was about.

Here, updated on a regular basis, are the previous pictures by such amazing artists and my inspired stories for them.

COPYRIGHT JOEY B

March’s Magic Image Story: The Sleeping Geyser

COPYRIGHT GREG TATUM

February's Flight (2008): A Slave's Memory

COPYRIGHT RAPHAEL LACOSTE

January's Journey (2008): The Stone Necropolis

COPYRIGHT CGSOCIETY

December's Dream (2007): Follow the Mouse

I have a pretty big Stash. You can help me choose what I can use for the following month by voting in the poll on the right-hand side of the blog.

Growing Blooms

Unlocking Pandora is a simplistic game project I’m working on for some time now. Most recently, I’ve managed to get it to be approved as my final Project Paper in Multimedia. The links here direct to the blog entries of my project updates.

The game will be given for free once it’s completed. It’ll be churlish of me to actually sell it for profit, considering how I got the authoring tool and its resources.

Due date for Project Paper report: April 2008
Due date for Unlocking Pandora Act 1 release: December 2008
Due date for complete 4 Acts of game: Not sure yet but it can’t be more than Spring of 2009

Updates:

Game Project Update: About RPG Maker 2003 System

Game Project Update: Emotions Run High

Game Project Update: Animating and Spriting

Game Project Update: The Storyline

Game Project: Unlocking Pandora



Other than the game project, I also have two book projects I'm working on that's mostly just for private use. I won't publish either one of them unless I'm more sure of the local market OR I find an overseas publisher that's willing.

Book Project: Myths of Suvon

Book Project: Marigold's Masquerade

Unlimited Free Image and File Hosting at MediaFire
Reynold’s Map of Modern London (1859) by James Reynold

A JPEG file of Victorian London. Original link is here.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Games Review: Ara Fell, The Legend of Dirisetsu Hollow

Either you’re a regular reader or a newbie; I usually take some time to play around with Reflexive Arcade games I’ve downloaded and cracked to full version. It’ll be a hypocrite of me to say that I don’t enjoy free full versions (and I rather be an ass than a hypocrite) but I do try to give reviews.

Unfortunately for Flex, that’s not today’s review. I’ve played a couple of games recently, thinking they might be a nice-to-try; Oberon Media’s Home Sweet Home and Big Fish Games’s Azada.

The former game bored me to death. It’s just a continuous repetition of nothing but furniture arrangements, like a shrunken version of the designers’ same damn The Sims’s homeowner. Fish tank here, couch there, include hardwood floor. Then command minions to work and feed them steroid-filled coffee. Repeat until nauseous. Sad to say, I never bothered to finish it.

The other game was far nicer, both visually and in its gameplay. I would have been more enthusiastic and very much made a real game review if I hadn’t been Dream Chronicles’ corrupted. Dream Chronicles had a better storyline (which is not really saying anything) but Azada’s storyline is might as well been written from book. Literally, if you get what I mean.

Still, I really recommend Azada if you love visually stimulating imagery and a variety of puzzle-solving (as usually, ask me nicely if you want crack versions).

Since I couldn’t find a new game on the market that’s inspiring enough, I’ve decided to look the Old PC Folder of mine and bring out the old game that had knocked the love of RPG Makers software in me.


Ara Fell: The Legend of Dirisetsu Hollow


Hah! Man, is this game old. As in two years old. Hey, it’s still kind of old. Sort of.

Back in the days when Windows Vista was still a byword, Ara Fell ruled the GamingW.net forums, grabbing Misao Awards like... well, like misao take-outs at a midnight Asian restaurant. I was a wee IT student, much less a programmer, looking for excuses not to play homework with Photoshop 5.0. It wasn’t just the sprite artwork that caught my eye (though that did cross my mind) but it was more of a combination of art, gameplay, audio, the whole nine yards in cheap games.


The game uses 99% REFMAP sprites.
Image by Badluck


The author, Badluck, had taken a new level of graphic effects, map design and storyboarding. Thanks to him and his editing, REFMAP sets had been elevated from the ‘cliché’ status and back to ‘stylish’. And sad to say, I’ve been spoiled into REFMAP sprites as well (hehehehe!).


What if I take off my shoes and wipe my feet first?
Image by Badluck


The story follows in the adventures of Lita LeCotta, a simple village girl going for her big chance at the archery contest. But then a friend’s discovery of a cursed ring and secret emissaries from a holy church come into play. Suddenly, Lita found herself as the only person on her floating homeland who could help save two races of people against vampires... and an even greater threat.


Can’t I just call the police or something?
Image by Badluck


Just as in many console style RPG-games, the gameplay allows your main character to bring along some fighters of various battle classes. You gain experience points and monetary rewards by battle map monsters (which are visible on the terrain so you are able to avoid them if you’re not ready or too weak for combat).

Your trick is to solve the quests by exploring the world and follow clues of the story. Such as, if ghost’s necklace is giving you trouble, you have to rescue the ghost himself in order to take it off. If you need to proceed beyond the gates, answer the Earth Spirit’s riddles.


Stupid bird...
Image by Badluck


Of course, then there’s the basic combat stance which you have to confront since these monster have no sense of negotiations. Field monsters can be avoided but occasionally you get guardians, enemies, vengeful spirits, etc, etc and so your tactical thinking get to have some exercise. My tip here is to better power-up with your upgrade and defensive spells before going offense and some of the monsters are tough!

A game like this does leave a pretty good impression on an intuitive but lacklustre kid. I got me my own set of RM2K3 and REFMAP sprites and got started on my first game.

But that didn’t work out so I restarted and made a better project called Unlocking Pandora, which is still an ongoing process.

The best part about Ara Fell is because it’s free to play. Like various members of GamingW.net, the only reward is fame and inspiration. As compared to Reflexive Arcade games and other newer, more high-tech RPG games, Ara Fell ranks pretty low and simplistic. But hey, you get what you pay for.

Unless you know how to crack.

PS: Free downloads for this full game can be found in Ara Fell Website. If you want the god-mode cheating version, ask me nicely.

More Weeds...

Add to Technorati Favorites Blogroll.net Bloggapedia, Blog Directory - Find It! Blog Flux Directory blog directory Blog Directory & Search engine Show off your blog Blogarama - The Blog Directory BlogGod Webloogle Blog Directory Blogging Fusion Blog Directory All Malaysian Bloggers Project