A Cat

I just found this too...I just couldn't not post it

By richius at 2009-12-29

XBMC 9.11

Well, it was another boring day in the old homestead so I did what I usually do when I'm bored out of my mind and browsed over to lifehacker.com

Now lifehacker has been a particularly favorite pit-stop of mine since my days as an intern at BDO. There's always at least one decent post to read and expand from.

So when I saw the post about the XBMC update, I didn't hestiate to head on over and download it for my home media Center

(which I am proud to say now includes a 37" Full-HD Samsung LCD TV connected via HDMI to my PS3 for all that 1080p HD glory!!)

Ahem...too many acronyms in that sentence...

anyway, so yeah...I downloaded the thing and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL...


since they apparently switched directX it is faster, sweeter and all around better than anything I expected to get out of that old computer of mine, but...and thats a big BUT


...It didn't play video...I KNOWWWWWWWW!!!

I mean that's the point of the whole exercise, isn't it?? What good is a media center that doesn't play video...

So I check the forums and apparently this bug has been around since November! and there is no fix!

So I try my best, update drivers, play around with directX..nothing works

So I give in and try to reinstall the old version, but wait...there's a catch

The new install effed up my library, It can't display movies and shows properly with thumbs and synopses and fanart...

By this time I'm sacred out of my mind...I remember how long it took me to compile that stupid library in the first place...but no matter what I do it doesnt work...and I have to uninstall my previous profile, install the old version of xbmc (AGAIN) and compile the library from scratch...which is what I have been doing for the last 5-6 hours

So the moral of the story boys and girls...is always backup your crap!

had I exported my library before I made the update I would not have been in this position...


C'est la vie

MM

Darkly dreaming dexter

So I just finished reading this novel, the first novel of the dexter series by jeff lindsay which is the basis of the popular TV series of the same name.

In fact, the fourth season just ended two days ago and I have to say, it was fan-freaking-tastic. I don't usually like to quote other bloggers out there in the blogsphere, but i really DO love how the show "operates outside my comfort zone".

I have to say though that when this season started I thought it was the worst season yet, but it really started to pick up in the last few episodes. I can even tell you the exact moment it miraculously transformed, for me, it was the instant you find out about Arthur's connection to Christine hill, the reporter, it was a classic Dexter twist that put everything up to that point in a new light.

And how about that ending folks, I truly did not see that one coming, and although I'm usually all for killing off main characters if it benefits the storyline, I can't help but feel a little sad to see that particular character die...


Anyway, back to what I was saying, I just finished reading the novel and I have to say...I didn't like it!!!

It kind of ... well ... it sucked!

I didn't care at all for any of the two dimensional characters portrayed in the novel. There was barely any character development, heck there was hardly any plot development.

But that could be coming from the fact that I already watched the show before reading the book.

Characters that seemed alive and entertaining in the show suddenly became dead and uninteresting, Angel Batista - sad, lonely, looking for love after his wife left with his daughter became Batista-no relation which means less than squat to me since I have zero knowledge of Cuban history.

FYI: Fulgencio Batista was the Cuban president and dictator before the whole Fidel Castro and the Cuban revelation thingy...hey don't look at me...I barely know my own country's history!

back to the subject at hand...and what the F is with all the stupid fart jokes Dexter keeps making?

I mean once was funny, twice was ok, but he just keeps repeating them with a new line every few chapters...not funny.

The only character I enjoyed in the book was captain Mathews which was a surprise since I never really cared for him in the series. I loved his straightforwardness and Dexter's funny comments about him like how he has such a diverse vocabulary due to writing police reports for many years.

and the book did explain some of the quirks the detective LaGuerta character - she wasn't a lieutenant in the book- displayed in the first season.

Her mannerisms always felt a little weird for me in that first season and didn't really make a lot of sense given how the story turned out. Its like they started out by trying to make her closer to her book counterpart, but then they suddenly changed their minds. So now I know.

Overall I'm glad I didn't pay the BD 6.800 for this book at "the bookstore" or is it the "bookshelf"? anyway its that place in Budaya or the BD 5.400 in Jashenmal for this piece of crap writing.

I may just read the other books of the series out of respect to the show and also I want to see how the dark passenger turns out to be the spirit of some diety. Yes, that was a spoiler and I read it in the reviews on amazon so you get to read it too!!!

Most people seemed to think that he just turned the genre around last minute, but knowing that I think he made it pretty clear in the first book where he was heading with this dark passenger crap.

Anyway, this was my rant for the day...hopefully someone will read it and benefit from it somewhere.

Later

~MM