Paint.net: What Paint Should Be!

If there's one Photoshop alternative I'll download (save for GIMP), I'd download Paint.NET.

It's really easy to use, and the transparent floating windows are welcome, but mostly visual touch. And because it's a big step up from the real Paint, maybe Microsoft should learn what real drawing tools are from this free model.

Ironically (wait I think I'll be using this incorrectly), it's Microsoft's own .Net framework that supports it, so if you haven't downloaded it yet, you should for this thing to work.

Anyway, it offers the typical set of Photoshop-tier features such as layers, effects (blurs, etc.), the magic wand and more. Of course, it doesn't match Photoshop in every little way, but it is definitely one of the best alternatives I've come across.
                                                       CAPTION: Magic wand works like a charm!

Oh, and did I mention it was free?

Want a Band name? Do it the Alex Navarro way!

You most probably don't know this, but Alex Navarro is quite the celebrity to the gaming journalism world as he is a regular contributor to Gamespot. However, he is also an outgoing contributor there due to the fact that Gamespot's other editors and reviewers Jeff Gerstmann and Frank Provo, left. But no, this post is not about that issue, but it's about a blog post from Alex Navarro's blog that I want to share with everyone. It's quite a stupid but addicting timewaster that everyone'll probably appreciate, especially if you aspire to get a band.

(For the original post, though, click here.)

1) Go to the Wikipedia random article page. Whatever title the article is, you got your band name!

Me? I got CA, Inc....

2) Next, you can check out a site called "Random Quotations". The last four words of the last quote (este, scroll down to the lowest part of the page) are your album title.

Well, I got "Death as an Inevitability". Nice.

3) Then go to Flickr's "interesting photos from the last seven days" section. The third picture on your page, no matter what it is, is your cover!

Here's what I got:


















4) Now, go Photoshopping with it to make it look coherent. For me, I used GIMP instead.

Ta-dah! LOLOL. I'm getting addicted now!

Google Earth rox!

Google has wowed many with its 3-dimensional view of the world and the solar system. Now you can be an armchair traveler.

CAPTION: Where the heck are we?!

You may not be a fan of flight simulator games nor maybe even a bit fanatic about sci-fi movies. But this "easter egg" that can be activated via Ctrl-Alt-A in said program will activate "Flight mode" which gives a magnificent, dynamic three-dimensional view of major countries and cities across the globe. Philippines excluded I guess.

Photoshop Replacements
Many people have resorted to buying pirated versions of Adobe's premier photo editing suite. But if we are not wanting to be charged of piracy (though we know we won't even set foot in court), there are lots of alternatives out there. So if you're photo-editing-savvy, you better try these...

Paint.NET- Though the program needs additional download of .NET framework by Microsoft, it works well.

CAPTION: Another way to pimp your ride...

GIMPshop- Maybe Paint.NET's not so Photoshop. Why not use the concept of The GIMP (the "granddaddy of free photo editors) and put a Photoshop feel in it?

Hopefully, this feature will make you see that you can Photoshop without pirating it in the form of a free alternative app. Both of these can be found in Download.com. Happy (Photo)shopping!


Biology.... you're getting a bit harder
OK, so I admit. The fill-in-the-chart test we had was quite easy. But what's gonna make this quarter's Biology a bit harder is the constricted time we all have (due to all those heavy rains... especially Egay). Everything's gonna get faster and more pressure will build up. And yet, we still haven't reached Kingdom Plantae and Animalia (but we're almost gettin' there) which are units of their own.

Here's what both units consist of:
Kingdom Plantae
A. Bryophytes
B. Tracheophytes (Ferns)
1) Gymnosperms
2) Angiosperms
C. Structural Organization of Plants
D. Photosynthesis, C3, C4, CAM
-> Respiration and Obtaining energy from food
Kingdom Animalia
-> Poriferans
-> Coelenterates
-> Platyhelminthes
-> Nematodes
-> Amnetids
-> Mollusca
-> Echinodermata
-> Arthropoda
-> Chordata
1) Fishes 2) Amphibians 3) Reptiles 4) Aves/Birds 5) Mammals

As you can see, we still got a looong way to go. Oh well. 18 charts and some chemical formulas left, I guess... And there's even Human Evolution! Why can't we have this in the fourth quarter instead?! (Someone answers, "Because we have GENETICS, dumbass!") LOL.

England was sick...
It seems that she's lost her vigor and energy today. Zonghe wasn't as "feisty" with her being stuck with fashao or the flu (I think).

Boogie... now in the PS2 and the DS
People who own the Wii version (and hates it) will probably say "Not again!" as the EA flop gets translated (and hopefully not ported) for the PS2 and the Wii. Gamespot has tried the DS version and they seem re-interested in this title... Will this be the simplistic, blow-on-the-mic-to-cheat-singing-parts, 'Fergalicious'-infused rhythm game prosper? The video makes it seem so but you won't really know. Plus, there'll also be included 3D goggles... but those red and blue shades somehow make me wonder if you'll see anything at all with those relatively tiny twin screens and everything...

Damned show's here....

And I thought only Fleur's dad bought an advanced bootleg copy.

It's a hellish, gory ride for a certain audience... but a fairy tale for children below 12 (or so they say). It's a bad B-movie that's practically so bad, it's good. No, it's not the B-movie parody Grindhouse (I want to watch that), it's High. School. Musical. 2.

It's not that my dad actually bought a copy, my brother rented it. But I'll sit through it anyway to give you a review as I promised. (The song "Fabulous" by Ashley Tisdale is hellish... sobra)

HSM2 Survival Guide
DISCLAIMER: Most of the stuff I'm going to mention here are gonna be found in Quiapo. Promise.

OK. So you've gone out of the room infuriated because the family wants to watch High School Musical 2. Well there are lots of other things you can do and here's some recommended stuff:
1.) Watch another movie! And if you want, make it horror. 1408 is a great watch, as well as Disturbia. Or if you want to complement the B-movie qualities of HSM2, maybe you better watch Grindhouse which consists of Planet Terror by Robert Rodriguez and Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino.

2.) Play a First Person Shooter! OK, let's say that you're not much of a fan of the so-called FPS games... If you've got Half-Life 2 or Bioshock just lying around, load it into your computer and imagine the heads of those monsters as, let's say, Ashley Tisdale singing Fabulous. You'll definitely be a hardcore addict after this!

3.) Create your own HSM2 cast in The Sims 2... and fry them because of their inferior cooking skills, drown them in the swimming pool and disable their free will in the process or just type a certain boolProp cheat to make them die!

4.) Photoshop. Ruin an image of Zac "FREAKIN" Efron and put it in your Photobucket gallery. Though it's kinda immature (as well as the Sims 2 and FPS parts), you are a HSM2 hater, right? So why not?

5.) Read a book or sumthin'! Suspense thrillers, fantasy, whatever you want! At this point, I guess you'd do anything to escape HSM2!

If you don't like the first five, I don't think you'd like this last one either:

6.) Look at the stock market and see if Disney's (Stock quote: DIS) stocks are lower. This one is just something you should do if you're an expert in staring at the computer and you've nothing to do at all.

PHOTO CREDIT: Disney Co., Gamespot.com, Yahoo! Finance
SEPTEMBER: Another month of movie reviewing fun
Now we've bought a lot of DVDs with yet-to-be-released-but-it's-already-DVD-quality movies, it's gonna be another heck of a movie month! I've got The Last Legion, 1408, and lots more. Plus, I'll get to finish Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy (via LimeWire downloads), Heroes and House. Stay tuned.

*If you're reading this in my Multiply page, I don't know why "Subscribe ka na. LOL." keeps appearing in every post. Sorry. Hindi ako ganun ka desperate na magkareader. For the real blog, eto ung URL: http://spillaglassofwater.blogspot.com