Kaiba Review

In the end, no words were necessary to bring this thoughtful, emotionally resonant work of art to a close. So much was resolved not with words, but with gestures, looks, and the thoughts that have no need to be said aloud. Kaiba, though embelished with an elementary art style, has successfully proven that it is still possible to find rich adventures in a mainstream culture plagued by dated story designs and piss poor direction. It almost makes me feel like I've stumbled on a gem - one full of human truths, human feelings, and art style done so creatively with exaggeration and eloquence that I often fall asleep thinking about the characters late at night. Great series - will watch again. 9.1/10. [F-B Ureshii] Kaiba 01-12[AAC-H264-720p]

Sketchin' & Doodlin'

What's the point of a moleskin when it's not televised? That's right, no reasons at all. Art rules in every way though, regardless of medium.

Pomelo Home Is A Post-Modern Fantasy

Then again, with all those name brand furniture pieces in one place, it's hard not to want to sneak into a closet and just live there at night. Like a raccooon or something. I know I speak like I've done it before, but I swear I haven't.

What's The Point of Waiting Anymore?

This has got to be one of my favorite covers of Justin's "My Love" ever. It's so eclectic. So fantastic. Have a listen.

Your Daily Dose of Bianchi Porn

Oh, you lucious 1981's hottie, I like how your wheels spin. Hmm.. you don't want to spin for me? Bad girl. Bad!

How To: Prep Your Bike For A Paint Job

Removal: Use Aircraft Stripper or sand down with 180grit wet/dry sandpaper. Rinse with water when clogged with old paint.

Coverage: Block off all the holes and trim the excess with an exacto knife. Stick a roll of newspaper in the seat hole.

Painting: Use two coats Rustoleum Painter’s Touch primer and generally two coats of paint for each color. Do light sanding between coats of color with 600grit wet/dry paper. Follow with a couple light coats of clear coat and let them dry in between.

The Greatest Decal Ever Made

Oh, Pedobear. Your fuzzy eyes and cute smile never grows old. Now, where shall we go visit next, buddy ol' pal? By the way, this decal's going on my new Macbook. It's going to be awesome.

Check Out My Rear, Sincerely Yours - Audi

Still, at 21 MPG city, it simply cannot do. Install that TwinDrive system to and get 50 MPG and up, and boy, have you got a immediate contender for car of the year. C'mon A3 engineers, you've got to capitalize on this!

Tilt Shifting with Monster Trucks

Oh, how I absolutely adore this style of photography. Enjoy some toy monster truck action courtesy of Keith Loutit.

Star Trek Review

If you're like my girlfriend, you've probably grown up watching a few episodes of Next Generation, let alone the original Star Trek series. Surely, the name 'Spock' might've come up in a few conversational references, but it's difficult for one to jump into the Star Trek universe without knowing where to start. This is where JJ Abrams comes in. With a vibrant cast and crew, stunning visuals that are both iconic and breath-taking, and a mind-blowing execution that's so precise, it makes Edward Scissorhands looks like a circus chump. It's a powerful exercise in taking an idea you love to the very next level, and achieving it as a true victory over all odds and skeptism. A must-see no matter who you are. 9.0/10.

Acne Meets Bianchi In A Sexified Racefest

Fashion brand Acne links up with Bianchi to produce a race inspired bicycle. If only they didn't tag on that high-end fashion pricing, I'd be all over this like a fat boy on toffee peanuts.

Planning It All Out

My next biggest tech project involves setting up a file server. Not sure if I should invest in WHS just yet, despite Jess' very convincing walkthrough featured a few days earlier. The main reason for hesitation - I still want to game it up! Steam don't run on WHS, yo.

Swedish House Stalking

Man, gotta blog bout this house, yo. It's like so white and colorful. Like a tie-die shirt on a nude manikin. Sexy, sexy.

Yeah, Why Are There So Many Songs About Rainbows?

Though to be honest, I can only think of two right now. One of them happens to be nothing about rainbows at all. 'In Rainbows' by Radiohead, that is.

Jessica Cambensy Sexily Compares RAID 5 and Windows Home Server

Hey, Jessica here. Blogging in for Anthony for this week's daily dose of technical heaven. Today, I'm going to run across WHS (Windows Home Server) and its perks against the ever elusive topic of going RAID5 in a consumer's home tech environment. First off, let's talk about the Drive Extender feature used on WHS.

Windows Home Server Driver Extender basically gives you 3 big perks. First, it functions with multi-disk redundancy so that if any given disk fails, data is not lost - it's already be duplicated somewhere else. Secondly, it has arbitrary storage expansion by supporting any type of hard disk drive (Serial ATA, USB, FireWire etc.) in any mixture and capacity. Finally, you get a single folder namespace (no drive letters). This is big on minimalist technophiles, I've heard.

So, lets compare the two a little more thoroughly, shall we? I'm going to run through a couple of questions I've heard through my hundreds of hours scavenging the internet. Here's a few sample ones I'll be answering in due time: Isn't RAID better than Drive Extender? Why should I use Drive Extender instead of RAID? Which RAID card should I buy? How good is software RAID5?

First off, I would strongly suggest against going for any software-based RAID 5 solution. There's a gap as wide as the Grand Canyon between software RAID5 and hardware RAID5. Software RAID5 is slow. Damn Slow. Meanwhile, hardware RAID 5 runs fast. Zippity fast. So fast, that if two drives fail, you'll be losing your data faster than you can say, "Hey baby, I like that dress on you."

My selfish arrogance aside, it's clear that RAID5 is geared towards performance and availability. It's not about data integrity. If you want your data to be safe, replicate it. Back it up. Put it in a jar. A jar far away from your main personal computer. Keep in mind this - even if you use RAID5, you're still going to need to back it up. RAID5 is designed so that an event of a single drive failing, it will preserve your data and make it available (but slower) until you get another drive in place, when it will rebuild the missing volume.

So what happens exactly when one drive fails in RAID5? If you're not there, the system will try to rebuild itself. This causes all of the drives to get real busy and when it does this, the chances chances of losing a second drive go through the roof. When that happens in RAID5, you're completely screwed. I'd also like to add that a contributing factor is the fact that people tend to use the same brand of drives when setting up the initial array. This means a higher possibility of a faulty batch, since they were purchased at the same time.

My personal experience with RAID5 goes a little something like this. I had a server running RAID5 at home, it ran perfect for over a year (actually, close to two). One night after I went to bed, a drive failed. 3 minutes later another failed. This was a 2 terabyte RAID array.

I came down in the morning to my worst nightmare. Every bit of "valuable data" I had in the world was now gone. In desperation I scoured the internet, and finally found a piece of software that (for $40!) could recreate every file that I still had data for, if not a little slowly. I rushed out and bought 3 750gb drives, and started to restore everything I had lost. The restore process took a ridiculously long 3 1/2 months, running full time, around the clock. The good news is that I was able to get one of the failed drives spinning again, and I lost a total of one file.

What did I learn? I learned RAID5 doesn't back up my data. Sadly, I thought it was safer. Worse than that, it was actually less safe. A single drive failure would have meant nothing. Add another drive, and keep chugging. Potentially, it may have taken a few hours to rebuild the lost volume, but I could have been using it while it did.

A second drive failure would have meant I was offline for a little while for it took to restore - if I actually had a backup. Still, not bad, considering that would have been less than the 3.5 months. But a two drive failure (which is fairly likely given all the variables) - without a backup - is a nightmare.

If you value your data, replicate it. I'm now using WHS with 6 250gb drives and 3 750gb drives, and the data that I value (pictures of myself, etc) is replicated as per specific settings set in the OS. The really important stuff (photos of Anthony, etc) is foldershare'd to a friend’s house and vice versa, giving us both off-site backups. While not very 'space efficient,' I can at least deal with a drive failure.

Now let's go over the other two popular options: RAID1 (mirroring) is the only RAID where a failure doesn't increase drive activity drastically since reads just going to one drive now, instead of one. For RAID0, the focus is purely speed. For example, if I were to walk down an alley by myself at night in one of my low-cut miniskirts in order to get to my flat faster, I'll be sacrificing safety in order to reach my destination at twice the speed. I would only use this for my PC desktop at home, where I want it fast and with nothing except my OS is running on it. All of my important data, of course, goes to my WHS.

My final bit of advice is to know this: If you're using hard drives, you will eventually experience a drive failure. Not 'might,' but will. How badly you are affected depends on your choices. So, determine how valuable your data is. At the price you pay per GB these days, it's stupid (and a turn-off for me) to try and and play it cheap when it comes to hard drives. Disk space is cheap. The stuff you store is not.

I think the victor is clear in this little essay of mine, but feel free to add your own two cents in the comments. I'd love to hear from you. And maybe, if you're tech-savvy enough (like me), you'll get a little invite from me to take a trip to my local Fry's Electronics.

When You Can't Pick, Go Floral

There's nothing wrong with adding some floral art around a bachelor bad. Especially if you can't seem to settle on a particular art style, flowers are a sexy complement to any type of decor you may have or will likely purchase in the near future. Design by Damian Russel.

It's A Hyori, Err... Hyolee Weekend

Looks like things are finally starting to come together. Gonna miss my Novo buddies. Boy, they sure know a good time. Proof as solidified by this past Friday night. No pictures will come.

Hello, Hipster TV Coming At'chu Live!

Today, you can check out the first trailer of the upcoming video series by Evil Monito, entitled The Process. Developed by Rickey Kim and Levi Maestro, The Process tells stories of creative people in the slick jeans, kicks, and hype industry. The trailer shows us upcoming episodes featuring Eddie Cruz, Pete from Cassette, as well as stories surrounding the creatives behind Hellz Bellz, Giant Robot and more. Definitely something I'm gonna keep an eye out for!

Lin Ketong Is Ready For Summer

Uhm. Yeah. She really is. Further proof: temperatures be risin', skinny jeans are being replaced by shorter, skinnier jeans, and I find myself unable to focus for more than an hour on a single task.

Screw The Messenger, Rucksacks Are Where It's At

After dragging my Mao messenger bag for about a year now, I'm starting to notice my shoulders hurting and my neck aching. You must pity the fool who figured that look would ever be an ergonomic one - and I do speak for myself, yes - but it's also important that the fool moves on to better things.

So, in comes the rucksack, the modified backpack monstrosity. This particular one you see above is from Rowgage, a Japanese hipster brand, and runs you about $220. Now, that's what I call a "man-pack."

Crispy Whole Red Snapper with Charred Jalapeno-Basil Vinaigrette Recipe

Ah, that smokey Jalapeno spice! How I love it so. Here's a recipe I just tried out tonight and man, was it bomb-diggity! Try it yourself - it tastes like a million bucks, but can be had for about $15!

Charred Jalapeno-Basil Vinaigrette:

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced
  
• 2 tablespoons diced red onion
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil added later
  
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoons basil chiffonade
• 1/2 tablespoon ancho chile powder
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Red Snapper:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 2 whole red snappers (about 1 pound each) cleaned and scaled
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Make the vinaigrette first. Heat oil in a small saute pan until smoking. Add the jalapeno and cook until charred on all sides. Let the pepper cool and slice thinly. Place the pepper and the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until blended.

As for the fish, make sure you cook it naturally. In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the oil until it begins to smoke and then add the butter. Season the fillets on both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, starting with the skin-side down. Remove the cooked fillets to a warm plate and serve immediately with the vinaigrette.

This Is How You Shoot a Promo Video

And yes, you can bet the Sisters are coming. I can hardly wait. Video made by the creative minds of Thomas Lelu and Caleb Krivoshey.

Cue The Fire Starters

What's a day without that Kitsune French electro-pop blowing out your eardrums and eyes? It's like a day without light, warmth, or fire. So, grab your free MP3 fix from yours truly and warm yourself up with some Hey Today! Just leave your sweaters at the door, please.

Hey Today! - Wonderman (Radio Edit) (MP3)

Fear and Loathing In San Diego

Poor Jack lost her iPhone. Can't imagine the anguish she must be going through right now. So I sent her a poster saying what she could not fathom in a mere Flickr comment, "good luck."

Into The Wild Review

Real American beauty, that's what this is. Balancing the triple wielded swords masked in the most subtle, organic direction possible, you get to see every single side of the main character's story, including his flaws. I feel this is important in every story with a hero, and it is a great credit to the film that this attribute is tagged onto the character throughout the film. I'll admit there are some awkward scenes that dampen the immersible experience, but the story is honest, good-willed, and truly an accomplishment on its own. Watch it with a loved one as I'm sure it'll leave plenty of room for heartfelt discussion. 8.3/10.

Yooouuutuuube On LSD

Thought this was kinda cool. Basically, it's a web app that lets you mash and string together YouTube videos into a trippy sequence of instant digital psychedelia. Don't believe me? Check out Alice's trip over here.

Powder Blue Review

While Powder Blue strives to combine some kind of eclectic cinematic mix of religion, broken pieces of the human soul, "discovering oneself" - the poorly written script and direction plague it so much that it almost becomes unwatchable. No characters are truly felt, while stringing along supposely "intertwined" stories, but inevitably killing them off one by one in a moronic order that makes completely no sense whatsoever. However, for those who thoroughly enjoyed Crash might actually find something I missed here, as for me, I truly wish I'd spent my Sunday afternoon playing Street Fighter IV instead. 6.4/10.

Sackboy Is... The Law!

Coming later this month on the 28th, Sackboy will be getting a ton of new DLC for Judge Dredd and others from the 2000 AD comic universe. Watching the video, while completely silly in itself, makes it feel like a perfect complement to the Sackboy universe. I can't wait!

Skinny Wheel Love Continues

From San Francisco, with love. Man, someone please stop me from this bike obsession of mine before it gets out of hand...

And Then He Said, "Let There Be Light!"

Not just any type of light either. I'm talking blinding, fill your bedroom up so you can't sleep past 7:00 AM sort of light.

Do You Fancy Hipsterism Much?

Really diggin' the latest film work done by Gregor Toerzs in his latest Russian set of voyeuristic metrosexualism. Tweed apparently is coming back.

Iro Jamie Roy x Bianchi Pista Concept Fork

Yep, I'm eyeballin' it. Eyeballin' it hard. Hopefully this doesn't fall through like my Macbook on eBay.

Dan Funderburgh Styles

Big man sportin' two fixies in your living room, aren't you, Dan? Greedy bastard...

My Mid-Century Addiction

Combining the Eames lounger and some IKEA goodness, you get a gorgeous pop of color that complements stark white walls so well it's like butter and popcorn. Well, kettle corn probably is more like it. Yeah, gotta have that kettle corn, baby.

Kitchen Muxing, Silver with Glass and Color

The Wolf range is crowned by a Vent-A-Hood exhaust; the glass tiles are from Ann Sacks. Sweet stuff, no?

Staircase Aesop Design

More under the staircase desk computing spaces and sawhorse table legs. Good ol' Studioilse doing what they do best.

The 24" LCD Monitor Hunt of 2009

New grad program. New laptop. Looks like I'm going to need to upgrade into the 24-inch domain, just to complete the whole ordeal. So far, the best monitor I've come across the Dell 2408WFP, which comes with a gazillion ports - DisplayPort, HDMI, 2 DVI-D's, VGA, component, an audio out, and a bunch of USB ports and card reader on the side. It's nuts. Heck, maybe I won't even need a TV anymore.

Ong Bak 2 Review

While Ong Bak may have been the one hit that Tony Jaa needed to get into the martial arts movie scene, any hope of him actually becoming a great actor has been washed away by this pointless "follow-up" - I say this in quotes because in actuality the story has completely nothing to do with the first one. Then again, I might be wrong and this whole random story of vengance and warlords may somehow tie together in a third sequel. Though, after seeing how pointless and ridiculously dry this one was, someone better pay me to put myself through a third. 6.1/10.

Envy The Creator

Ah, if my future living situation in Indiana could look just like this....