The Rawpinions Weblog

The TV in my room “died” on me yesterday afternoon.  I switched it on to watch The Amazing Race and I heart a “zzt” and then a “thud” and then it went on standby…permanently.

I think they’re starting Hannah Montana this week, and I really wanted to watch it ‘coz I want to know what it is about the show that’s making people go crazy over it.

I don’t think I should get a new TV (the school will probably get me to buy them one if I tell them the one I have broke down).  So I’m going to try to set up the TV tuner on this PC…I have to figure out how that’s done! I’m going to stick the antenna cable thingy to the CPU and see what happens…or maybe I should do some online reading about it.

Then again I can always try to charm the shifu into getting me a new TV…esp. because there’s no use in leaving this big TV in my tiny room if it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do: function!

I worked on it a bit last night, and I’ve spent about 2 hours this morning working on it again. It’s actually quite fun, but it’s frustrating when Sabz the bot doesn’t want to cooperate with me (it’s already got on of my most prominent characteristics:stubbornness! LOL). This bot could turn me into a narcissist. Finally, I get to chat with the one person I love chatting to: myself. LOL. Nah, I’m just kidding around. The bot is just for fun.

I’m already filling up topics I get asked about quite a bit:

Blogging, about me, food, greetings, definitions, Shanghai, Seychelles, entertainment, graphics, religion, and a separate file for fans and haters. LOL.

The chat bot is rated ‘E’ for now so don’t get your hopes up, I’m not into “cyber” chatting.

Current Mood: Cool

I’ll be taking a break from domaining and I’ll be working on other things this weekend (provided that I’m feeling well). I’ll be finishing off some articles, and I’ll be filling up the new Rawpinions MSN ChatBot database. It’s got barely anything on right now, so I’m going to have to look through MSN conversations I’ve had with my friends to see what sort of questions I get asked a lot.

Rawpinions Chatbot (only on MSN Messenger), add contact: sabz [at] rawpinions [dot] com

The objective is to get the bot chatting the way I would, if I were having a conversation on MSN Messenger. It’s a bot that’s mainly for the sake of conversation (whatever happened to good ol’ chatting?), and basic internet help.

Obviously, the bot promotes my blog too. :p It won’t take long for me to add quite a bit of things (I’ve already started adding conversations).

Chat logs are saved, but they will only be used to better the bot’s replies.

Current Mood: Bored

Due to the fact that I wasn’t feeling well all week & I’ve also been trying hard to stay away from the PC, I’ve been watching TV this past week…watching like never before.

I watch 2 channels: ICS & Gansu TV (甘肃). Gansu TV is actually really interesting. When they’re not playing a really interesting comedy or drama serial, they show infomercials.

These infomercials are full of crap, but it’s so funny how effective their selling methods are. So good, that if you didn’t have the internet you’d totally believe them.

Right now they’ve got this thing on for people who want to stop smoking. It’s called “Aifinke” (爱菲烟克) and all you have to do is sniff the preparation and it’s going to kill your ‘appetite’ for smoking. So basically, everytime you feel like smoking all you have to do is smell that thing. What it’s also supposed to do is clean up the smoker’s lungs.

The worst thing to do is tell a smoker that there’s actually something they can use to clean up their lungs. It’s probably going to make them feel better about smoking.

Sort of like when I have a new toilet cleaner: it kinda makes me want to let everyone use my toilet so I can test the cleaner.

The other day, I was watching another infomercial…can’t remember if it was on Gansu or Tianjin TV. They were selling “Rejoy Berry Sapphire” watches claiming it was the hottest thing in Europe right now and it was one of the most expensive watches on the market today. I Googled “Rejoy Berry” and then “RejoyBerry” and there were only Chinese results.

Ok, the comedy’s (家有儿女) starting again so I’m off.

Current Mood: Bored & Cool

Tee, hee! I just pimped my Nokia 5300 with a sparkly cover (these are not glitters). Check it out:

If you’re having problems saving your games on the N-Card because your last saved game keeps re-writing the game saved before it, you can simply do one thing to solve the problem. All you have to do is to open the DSYSTEM folder, find the ‘global.ini’ and edit it. Locate ‘writable=1′ and replace ‘1′ with ‘0′. Why ‘0 (zero)’? Because it disables rewrite.

Hope that helps, it worked for me.

I know some people might think “well these [ portable ] game consoles are for kids!” screw that, many of these games are educational and fun for adults too. In fact, many NDS / NDSL commercials show adults playing NDS / NDSL so there!

On with it now…here are some really cool (and very recommended) games:

Brain Age - Train Your Brain In Minutes A Day

This is one of my most-played games. I only have the demo version though, I couldn’t find it in the shelves. I just found out today that they have an official site, and that version 2 has been released. I probably won’t find it here in China…not sure. But I’ll try to buy the game online or figure something out. Here’s a link to Version 2’s demo: http://www.brainage.com/launch/howto.jsp

Oh yeah, and this game also taught me how to play Sudoku!

Pokemon - Diamond Version

Pokemon games are almost a must-buy for portable game console fanatics, heheh…The first pokemon game I ever played was during the blue / red / gold, etc. versions and I played it on a PC emulator. That’s what got me addicted really. Then when my little bro got his Gameboy SP I played Pokemon Sapphire. I almost finished the game but it crashed somewhere before the Pokemon League. Now with the Diamond version, the same thing happened, it crashed in some cave at the Pokemon League thing. I think the file got corrupted during the save.

Nintendogs - Labrador & Friends

Probably one of the most interesting games I’ve played on a portable console. This game really takes advantage of the NDSL’s microphone features. You get to give your dog a name and everytime you say it out loud the dog responds to it. Your objective is to train your dog, and participate in competitions for money.

New Super Mario Bros

You can’t ever go wrong with Super Mario games! This one’s just like the most popular game we’re all used to…with a touch of “new” in it. If you’re really good at the classic Super Mario Bros. you’ll no doubt be great at this one. This is a definite must-have game.

MarioKart DS

If you’re into racing games, this is a game to have. Lots of tracks, reminds me of a Playstation Game that I can’t seem to put my finger on…

GAME(S) I DIDN’T LIKE:

Sims 2

Unfortunately, I can actually say I regret buying this game. I don’t think it’s my kind of game, maybe some people really like it. Thing is, I’m a The Sims (PC game) fan. The Sims 2 was even better. So I’m pretty sure most fans jumped right into expecting a great NDSL version of the game. But the makers have fallen short of expectations in my opinion. My advice: try the game before you buy it. If the running around doesn’t make you dizzy and if it’s your kind of game then go for it.

The other day, I was fixing my bed’s mattress when I found something I completely forgot I had: a Nintendo DS Lite!

I also just found out that I didn’t write anything about my NDSL on my blog…and if I did well I can’t find it. I’ll come back later with a few recommended games.