Harry Potter Half Blood Prince Soundtrack OST

Still on the topic of high wailing content movie soundtracks, we have Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince's soundtrack composed by Nicholas Hooper, whose name is a new entry into the Hollywood soundtrack community (as far as I'm concerned). Interestingly, this is the same guy who did the soundtrack to Order of the Phoenix, but since a lot of people like to imagine that movie never existed, I'll just say this is his first album.


Speaking of Harry Potter soundtracks, is it just me or are the soundtracks for these movie series getting more and more grandiose? If my estimations serve me right, by the end of the Deathly Hallows, we'd be listening to just pure wailing with full stringed orchestra, kinda like the Angels and Demons OST I mentioned yesterday.

Oh and in case you're wondering why I've been tinkering with OSTs lately, it's that I like listening to them while doing chores. It makes things more lively. If you don't believe me, try taking a dump while listening to Rocky's theme music.

It won't help the constipation, but sure as hell you'll be trying harder.

p.s. (that was a hypothetical example, I'm not constipated)

Direct download here
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Angels and Demons OST by Hans Zimmer

One of the things I really liked with the Angels and Demons movie is that sometimes, even if a scene is drop dead boring, like a car starting, or a car doing a U-Turn or even the camera just zooming out of the Vatican, it simply becomes epic because of the powerful soundtrack that it uses. Hans Zimmer really outdid the "Screaming banshee choir" stereotype on this one. Not that I have any objections.

Full download available after the jump.


Rapidshare/Megaupload Download here
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Notable Notes: 4 Years of College

Here's a brief summary of what happens in college (particularly La Salle), minus all the BS things they call "wholistic development" and "technical learning".

First Year - First year is just an extension of highschool in terms of subjects, with briefer courses, ROTC, which is like CAT/ACP but done on Saturdays. A sprinkle of basic major subjects can be found here and there, just to make sure people in your course didn't accidentally tick the wrong box in the application form. Classmates usually have a strong sense of affinity with each other, still working with the Highschool "we're the funnest section in school" dynamic, to the point that a Class president may even exist. A cold-war style arms race exists between students in terms of being able to "make pasikat" with the girls. Lunch in very large groups that for some reason, takes forever to decide where it needs to eat.


Second Year - Reality begins to sink in. In terms of subjects, the majors have taken the front act in terms of raping you academically. You'll probably notice that some of your classmates have unnoticeably just vanished from your building, while others have already been displaced by the failures they've incurred. Fun-loving block dynamic has also been replaced by the "hold on to the nearest bouyant classmate, we're in for a storm" mentality. The class president from the previous year forgets about ever having a class representative. From the looks of things, it's only a matter of time before there is no "class" left. The attitude of showing off fades. People who can't bow down and work in a group are usually wiped out fairly quickly in the game. Lunch in selected niches at a much more normal pace.

Third Year - The major subjects have taken their toll and it's not unusual to see blocks being too small to exist on their own. Blocks merge with each other, the way servers are merged when MMORPG players are starting to go extinct in a game. Your classes are basically comprised of a dozen or so people who are familiar to you and several faces who seem to appear in just that subject due to the high irregularity of their schedules. A general motif of "we will prevail" exists for those who are still in the block. The core "performers" in class are isolated and grouped with less capable ones to maximize the number of people who survive the semesters. At this point, people become too efficient with how they deal with problems as a group, capable of many unusual things like hive mentality, and "murder the nonperformer" acts. Lunch is already an optionally solitary activity. Also, practicum.

Fourth year - Major subjects have started to die down, to be replaced by minor subjects and a tentacled rape-monster we call Thesis. Blocks are practically irrelevant, as each student's social circle is reduced to two things: His barkada/thesisgroup, and the pyschiatrist/thesis adviser. Classes are usually attended only for formality's sake so very little unnecessary interaction exists between classmates. Very few of the original blockmembers exist, and people are starting to have a hard time who dropped out when. Other more stalwart individuals persist in existing, despite an assload of setbacks. Lunch is... lunch? what lunch?
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Old Things

I gotta be honest with you.

I'm not really into changing my stuff every N years so that I can keep up with the fashion trend. Like if you need a guy who can tell you that the only thing a real man needs is three pairs of footwear (formal shoes, rubber shoes, slippers/sandals), I am that man. I'm not being preachy about it. I'm just saying anybody who comes to me saying he's flat broke and he's got more pairs of shoes than me, his plight's justifiable

(yeah, screw you and your Nikes bro).

Anyway, so yeah. The going thought is, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it's broke but manageable, don't replace it. If you're going to buy, buy sturdy. If you can apply that for everything, you'd be surprised how far your money can go without having to spend them on personal upkeep.

Here's a list of really old things that I still use on a daily basis:

The bag that I used to go to work today is a black Lacoste backpack I got during my last trip to the US. Around that time, the average American wouldn't even know who Osama Bin Laden was - at least not for another six months. Starting service in early 2001, I've been using this bag daily for school and work for the last 8 years and from the looks of it, it might as well hold up for another 8. Runner up is my Eastpack backpack which my mom got for me, which I got around the same time as the Lacoste backpack. I just don't use it as often because it's pretty big, but I can tell you it's got a lot of mileage as well.

My wristwatch is a DW-9000 Casio G-Shock. The first time I wore it, Fidel Ramos was still president, I was still in puberty, and people still generally believed Gloria Arroyo is just a harmless wallflower senator. 1998 was a pretty messed up year, I tell you. Anyway, since then, this watch has gone into countless pools, under the sea, inside showers. The paints have long since chipped off and the protective body has about a dozen scars and countless scratches, making this the Spartan King Leonidas of watches. I guess when Casio says it's a tough product, they fucking mean it.

The monitor I'm using at home is a Hewlett Packard monitor we got as a package with our computer back in 1999. The computer it came with is a 400mhz Pentium 3 workstation that's long since broken down due to power supply problems. The monitor's endured, however, first being used by my younger sister in our home and later on by me at our flat in Manila. There are sign's of aging, with the monitor having some brightness adjustment issues, but it's nothing the videocard can't compensate with. The outside casing looks horribly dirty too, but it's not bad, considering nowadays the lifespan of a monitor is no longer than that of a hamster left to the care of an ADHD kid. An average CRT will last 3 years. Mine's 10 years old and still working strong.

The keyboard I used to type half of this article is an NEC keyboard. To make you understand how old the keyboard is, it came with a computer package boasting 122MHz, 128MB ram, and 1 Gig of hard disk space. You read that right. HARD. DISK. SPACE. It included a 28.8kbps modem too, the first modem to ever take me to the net. When I first started using the keyboard, I didn't even hit puberty yet. April 1996. 80% of the stuff I put on my blog were written using that keyboard, along with just as many of my long stories. Best part of it is the keyboard is still in almost perfect condition despite the abuse and the filth that has accumulated under the keys through the years. Only the 'A' key has faded. Meanwhile they keyboard I'm using now's starting to breakdown already after using it for five months. New isn't necessarily better.

The bag I use for out-of-towners is an Orlando Magic varsity sports bag, and it's even older than the NEC keyboard albeit if only by a few months. I was grade six when I first got the bag. GRADE 6. I think 1995 was the last time Magic got into the finals, until this year. I'm just thinking, if I hold on to this a bit longer, there'd come a time this bag will be a championship bag or something. And even then, I'd probably still not wash it.

Do you guys have old stuff that you still use?
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Thank You, Apple

When asked about what I look for in the ultimate phone, I answer without a second thought: "I want it to be able to make toast." (see my 2006 article)

Of course, being the design genius that I am, nobody in this era's still figured that it's what all of us want, we just don't know it yet. That said, nobody's gotten even remotely close to developing a prototype yet.

HOWEVER.

Props to the guys at Apple. While the new IPhone 3GS isn't exactly the first and ultimate in voice calls and pastry toasting, it's getting us closer to that reality.

Article: IPhone 3GS keeps you warm by overheating.

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Oneliner Digest

Just another roundup of oneliners. Some of these came from my status in facebook.

Okay, by some, I mean all of them, but what the hell right?

Never hit a man with glasses, specially if it's your drink that he's holding for you.

(more after jump)

You don't treat love like a 7/11. Never enter one expecting convenience. Or free Slurpies.

Being the best in life is a lot like being the best in typing maniac. Either get good enough to best all of your friends or hang out only with friends you're sure you can beat.

Any programmer can say "Hello World". A really good programmer can make the world answer back.

Every time lightning strikes, I wonder if God also goes "*&#*(& static!" too?

And so the wolf huffed and puffed, but still couldn't blow the house of bricks down. Finally, he said, I give up, and called Super Mario...

There are three types of happy people in the world. The ignorant, the contented, and the drugged out. The ignorant are the happiest, the contented stay happiest longest, but those drugged out get the funkiest happy moments.

Whoever said TGIF was probably never into project-based work.

Kapag nadapa at sumubsob sa lupa, wag magdamdam. Isipin mo na lang, magandang pagkakataon yun para mamboso.

Dear IBM, Please do not design your Rational IDE in such a way that it does many things automatically without our explicit instructions. It complicates things, specially for the lot of us who still believe in demonic possession. Thanks and Regards, Java Developer

I bet workers at the ribbon factory complain about having to go through lots of red tape too.

It's not pride that oft kills a man, but the itch to act on it.

Some people are born to create. Others are born to consume. Painters create. Critics consume. Dancers create. Watchers consume. The lovers, how beautifully do they create. And the lot of us, left to consume what they leave in their wake.

Dapat kapag may nais kang sabihin na mabuti sa isang tao, hindi ka nagaalinlangan. Huwag kang umasa sa bukas, dahil ang bukas ay isang tusong kaibigan na maaaring mawala na lang ng biglaan, kasama ang pagkakataon na hindi na darating muli. Wag mo na hantayin pa ang habambuhay na pagsisisi. Umamin ka na. Gwapo talaga ako.

Pilipino United Kontra Ilegal Na Gagagwing Immediate National Assembly!

Having to chose between Eclipse and NetBeans is just like choosing which type of car you'd want to run over your foot.

Minsan sa umaga, gusto ko na lang matulog ng matulog, kaso, palagi na lang ako sinisigawan pag ginagawa ko yun. "HOY NAGMAMANEHO KA!"

FACEBOOK as a word isn't new to me. 20 years ago FACEBOOK is what our teachers would tell us when we were too distracted in class.

Sometimes I put on my earphones even when there's no music playing because I'm not trying to keep noise out, I'm trying to keep my thoughts from leaking.

A framework server walks into a bar. The bartender asks, "Why so down?"

Knock knock. Who's there? AEON. AEON who? "Somewhere AEON the road, our roads are gonna cross again, doesn't matter when~

Bakit sweet pag naguusap ang dalawang programming IDE? Kasi baka nagkakadevelopan na sila.

Geek joke moment ulit. Ano daw ang kinakain ng developer bago maglunch? Ano pa? Eh di SOFT LUNCH!
Restaurant city diet: Water, banana, apple, slave labor. What are you waiting for?! Start losing those pounds!


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Dear Dark Lord

One of my more successful non-prose attempts at fiction in Ragnaboards is back for a limited time. It's about an enemy boss in Ragnarok Online giving advice to both fictional and user-submitted mail seeking his rather blunt advices. To those who still remember, I did a similar thread like this about four years ago. (yes, damn it, it's been that long)

Those not familiar in RO may read it too since I tried to make things as easy to understand as possible.

You can find the storythread here.


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