I will updated it someday in the future, when things are more normal.

Thank you, very much everyone.

Love, Jon.

First off…

• Game Reviews – I plan on reviewing several new, and older games for this generation of consoles and PC. Keep your eyes peeled for the first one, soon! Also, guides, tips, and hints for games will become available for some games, one should be hitting here very soon.
• Next album review soon – Next album will be reviewed very shortly! I’ll be keeping it a surprise till then, keep checking back for it. It’ll be here before this month is out.

Check back often for updates!

Chrome 5 Developer Build

As being a fan of the bleeding edge, I also occasionally use Opera. Opera 10.5 beta to be exact. Touted as the current champ in javascript rendering (large portion of speed, in browser sense) it sometimes loads pages extremely quick even when I’m on a very weak connection, compared to other browsers. Also, it has an amazingly beautiful UI integration with Windows 7.

Opera 10.5 Beta

Prior to the Chrome buzz, I used Firefox nearly exclusively. Then after Chrome was released and put Firefox to shame speed-wise, I changed over to Chrome (and for a while, Chromium). However, Mozilla hasn’t been sitting back entirely, they recently released an alpha of Firefox 3.7. It already seems much more improved over 3.5. I am testing out the Minefield (Mozilla’s name for betas, and alphas of their browser) to prep it for reentry into the speed ring.

Firefox 3.7

So, I decided to do my own little test to see just who comes out on top at what. I am using Futuremark’s Peacekeeper browser benchmark tool. Which you can use yourself here. http://service.futuremark.com/peacekeeper/index.action

Here are the scores, the higher the better*

*Chrome and Minefield (Firefox) both have no extensions installed/enabled during this scan. The machine the test is run on is a:

Toshiba Satellite w/4GB DDR2 @ 800MHz, Windows 7 Ultimate x64, with an AMD Althon II Dual-Core @ 2.00GHz

So it appears that, for now, Chrome 5 has passed up Opera 10.5 for the crown of fastest browser. It’ll be interesting to see how this war goes on now that Opera also has it’s Carakan engine working full speed. When it gets out of beta expect things to heat up, as well as the constant upgrades Chrome seems to get. I have my eyes set to see how Firefox 4 will end up performing, come later this year.

Thank you for reading everyone

Filed under: Computers, Forums Tagged: browser, chrome, firefox, opera, speed test ]]> http://vicophine.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/browser-speed-tests/feed/ 0 vicophine Chrome 5 Opera 10.5 Firefox 3.7 Speed Scores http://vicophine.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/top-10-best-unknown-bands-out-there/ http://vicophine.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/top-10-best-unknown-bands-out-there/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:34:57 +0000 vicophine http://vicophine.wordpress.com/?p=196 ]]> I tend to listen to a lot of “obscure” music. What that means is, lots of “out there” bands that are not mainstream, are vastly different from one particular genre, or are just criminally underrated. Here I will list off the top 10 best bands you’ve probably never heard of!

10. Light This City

Light This City was an American melodic death metal band from the Bay Area of San Francisco that formed in 2002. They released one independent album and three albums with Prosthetic Records before disbanding in 2008. Tyler Gamien and Ben Murray were the co-founders of Reflections of Ruin Records, where they released The Hero Cycle which was the band’s first official release. They are notable for being one of the few aggressive metal bands having a female lead vocalist.

9. Genghis Tron

Genghis Tron is a three-piece experimental metal band formed in Poughkeepsie, New York and currently based out of Brooklyn, New York, signed toRelapse Records. The band is noted for their creative combination of various types of metal and electronic music. Although they were often classified as cybergrind early in their career, Genghis Tron has since developed a more diverse sound, which includes elements of IDM, noise, doom metal, electronic, and ambient, in addition to their core style of synth-laden metal/grindcore.

Forgoing both a drummer and a bassist, the band utilizes computer-based drum machines such as FL Studio and Ableton Live as well as multiplesynthesizers (Moog, Alesis, and Novation) to execute their distinct sound. Genghis Tron has toured with such bands as Behold… The Arctopus, Converge,Kylesa, Gaza, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and The Faint.

8. Dead Man In Reno

Dead Man In Reno formed together under the name Silent Fall in 2003 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The five-piece played shows locally for years until they felt the need to change their name to Dead Man in Reno. They later signed a three-album deal with Candlelight Records in May 2006. Dead Man in Reno recorded their self-titled debut (the only album released in stores and the only album with the original lineup) with Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, Through the Eyes of the Dead’s Producer) and toured throughout the summer preceding to their album’s September release. The band toured Scotland, England, and Whales with headlining band Sikth, also returning to the United States to do many tours. Candlelight Records went under leaving the band on their own. With no luck finding a new label the band put money together to record a never released record in January 2008 in Oakland, California with producer Zack Oran, (All Shall Perish). Months after the record was done due to financial reasons and the band members growing in separate directions Dead Man in Reno broke up in mid 2008, then have gotten back together in late september 2009 with some old familiar faces. George Edmondson (drums/vox) and Sam Conyers (vox) once again have joined the ranks of the Dead Men. Not sure what lies ahead for DMIR, but more changes will take place before it’s finally over.

7.  Sirenia

Sirenia is a gothic metal band from Stavanger, Norway which incorporates a mixture of gothic metal and symphonic metal, as well as extreme metal anddeath metal elements. The lyrics, written by Morten Veland, tell a loose conceptual story that began at Widow’s Weeds, while he was still a member ofTristania.

The band uses melodic instrumentals, synthesizers, and distorted guitars with female vocals, male death vocals, clean male vocals, a choir and violins. The lyrics are concerned with human existence, emotion, and mental states.

6. The Birthday Massacre

The Birthday Massacre is a synthrock band, based in Toronto, Canada. The band was officially formed in 1999, known at that time as Imagica, a name taken from a novel by Clive Barker. The group originated in London, Ontario under the name Imagica. The group’s original line-up formed when childhood friends Rainbow (guitars and programming) and M. Falcore (guitars) met Chibi (vocals) and Aslan (bass) in college. In mid 2000, Dank, a long time friend of Chibi’s, joined to play live keyboards. After months of rehearsals and writing songs, they played their first gig on October 28, 2000 at Diversity night club in London. The band released a seven-song limited edition demo CD at the show. There were 40 hand numbered copies of the demo which included the first recorded version of the song “The Birthday Massacre” (later renamed “Happy Birthday”). The following month, in answering an ad posted at the college, O.E. was added to play live drums. During this time, the band also met Rhim and Owen at the same college who would later join as drummer and keyboardist, respectively.

5. Agraceful

Agraceful (pronounced a-GREYS-full) are a Christian metalcore four piece from Dayton, Ohio. They are signed to Sumerian Records. Initially, the band started as a side-project for ex-Emarosa vocalist Chris Roetter, but was embraced fully upon his departure from Emarosa. In mid 2008, Kasey Smith and Rick Griffith joined Agraceful after their band, Here I Come Falling, split-up. Their debut album, The Great I Am, was released on August 19, 2008. Chris Roetter is currently making a new band called Like Moths To Flames.

4. Odd Project

Odd Project was a metal band from Orange County, California, which originally formed in 2000 and has recorded a few demos which resulted in a multi-album deal with Indianola Records. Odd Project then entered the recording studio at Zing Studio’s (Killswitch Engage, From Autumn to Ashes, The Agony Scene) and recorded “The Second Hand Stopped” in just less than 2 weeks. With this release, they toured for over a month and a half and managed to win a spot on the main stage at Hellfest 2004.

The band was voted the “#1 Metal Band” on the now defunct MP3.com. The band has played with national acts such as Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu,Killswitch Engage, and Norma Jean. The band has also appeared in magazines, such as Alternative Press, Metal Hammer, Revolver, and Amp. On December 17 it was announced via their official myspace page they would be changing their name, because of extensive member changes.

Lead vocalist, Michael “Jag” Jagmin, has officially left Odd Project to front A Skylit Drive.

3. Factory 81

Factory 81 was an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan. Formed in 1997. They released their only album, Mankind in 1999 on Medea Records. It was reissued through Mojo Records,Uptown/Universal Records the following year. It did not chart. Factory 81 also appeared on the compilation Take a Bite Outta Rhyme: A Rock Tribute to Rap, contributing a cover of Cypress Hill’s “Insane in the Brain”. The compilation peaked at #195 on the Billboard 200. In November 2000, Factory 81 toured alongside Mudvayne, Kittie and Apartment 26. In 2003, bassist Kevin Lewis and drummer Andy Cyrulnik left the group, prompting Factory 81 to disband.

2. My Bitter End

My Bitter End is a progressive–deathcore band hailing from Middletown, New York. They are known for their heavy breakdowns, “off time chord progressions, technical precision and melodic undertones.” They contain “elements of straight-up metal, more death-inspired stuff, classic rock, huge guitar-driven melodies and a great line in scorching technicality.”

Their latest album, The Renovation, was recorded by Jamie King, who has also recorded albums for Between the Buried and Me, Whitechapel, Through the Eyes of the Dead and The Classic Struggle.

My Bitter End never broke up, they were on a hiatus because of all their different side projects. Guida is now a part of Dr. Acula, Todd Ranne is a part of the local band The Huntress. Mike Ranne is now the full time drummer for Through the Eyes of the Dead and a part of the NYC techmetal act We are the Romans. AJ has moved to Florida and Shawn has moved to Texas to pursue their own careers.

1. Glassjaw

Glassjaw (sometimes stylized glassJAw or GlassJAw) is a four-piece post-hardcore/experimental/screamo band from Long Island, New York. The band is fronted by vocalist Daryl Palumbo and guitarist Justin Beck, and have undergone numerous line-up changes since their inception. The band has been influential in the progression of the underground music scene in the eastern United State and United Kingdom and on the post-hardcore genre, and are known for their intense live shows and constant line-up changes.

That’s my opinion, of some of the most underrated, and unknown bands out there today. Some honorable mentions include:

Akissforjersey, Upon Beauty Rests, Gwen Stacy, and SiKth

Expect more posts in the future from me. Big update incoming.

S E S S I O N 9

Most “horror” films nowadays try to increase the level of fright and anxiety among their audience by including copious amounts of blood, gore, and the cliche use of things such as weapons that would inflict odd or obscure wounds on people.

I am pleased to report, that a underrated movie by the name of Session 9 does not incorporate any of these overused and failed tactics.

First, a bit about this unique movie:

Session 9 follows Gordon Fleming, Mike, Phil (played by David Caruso of CSI: Miami fame), Hank, and Jeff. The team is charged with clearing an abandoned mental hospital of asbestos in one weeks time. As they are cleaning up the building, Mike finds a box of tapes from a patient known as 444, her real name is found out to be Mary Hobbes. In between his time working, he listens to the interviews one by one, increasingly becoming engrossed as time goes by. He manages to expunge that the patient has severe multiple personality disorder. Most of the subjects personalities are child-like and completely harmless, however, they all seem to not want to talk about the personality of Simon. Throughout the tapes, Mike learns that something terrible happened involving a knife, and a china doll on Christmas.

While all this is occuring, Hank ventures on his own and finds a stash of old, rare coins. He returns to the hospital late at  night to retrieve the stash, which he is unaware is coming out of the crematory room. Upon leaving the hospital, he finds an empty peanut butter jar that Gordon had earlier. As he is leaving the hospital, he is by an unknown assailant and vanishes.

With Hank missing, Gordon begins to suspect that Phil, who holds a grudge on Hank for stealing his girlfriend, was behind it. Hank, however, is soon found by Jeff and is only able to mutter the phrase “What are you doing here?”. Jeff runs to retrieve the others but as they return to the spot Hank was seen, Hank vanishes. The team is sceptical that Jeff really saw Hank, however, Gordon believes Jeff because there is a mysterious coin in the spot where Hank was standing, one that Gordon has been mysteriously seeing all over the hospital.

The team anxiously runs off to search the hospital to look for Hank, and one by one, they are ambushed and come into contact with an unseen attacker. Alone, Gordon finds a room in the asylum with pictures of his wife and child affixed to the wall with the red substance used earlier in the film to mark asbestos, some possibly covered with blood.

And this is where I will leave you. I do not want to spoil this movie anymore for my audience, I highly suggest this movie if you like psychological thrillers like I do

I give the movie an 9.5/10.

PROS:

Amazing atmosphere is created.

Great use of sound.

Great ending.

CONS:

Can be viewed as “low budget” but sometimes this makes it better.

Confusing plot, but it makes me think.

I highly recommend this movie in general Thank you for reading this

Final Fantasy Forums is a large, very friendly, gaming, anime related, Final Fantasy topic based and themed forum. It has a very active community, competitions, teams, RPing, and is controlled very well. The administrators are very talented and know what is important on a forum, community.

I highly advise anyone who is interested in any of the things FFF (their abbreviation) covers to sign-up and participate in their awesome community.

Oh, and tell them Vicophine sent you

From Wikipedia: CrunchBang Linux (often referred to simply as “#!” because of its logo) is a lightweight Ubuntu based Linux distribution created by Philip Newborough. It uses the Openbox window manager and is especially suitable for low-end hardware with limited resources. (e.g. the ASUS Eee PC). It is provided as an installable Live CD.

I am running it on a Core 2 Duo laptop with 4GB of RAM, so resources are not an issue for me, but I wanted something barebones and with a very snappy response time.

Some features of Crunchbang Linux:

CrunchBang Linux is designed to offer a good balance of speed and functionality. It has been reported to boot faster than Ubuntu by Softpedia, but also includes a larger number of applications by default than a standard Ubuntu installation. It operates better under low resources than Ubuntu and is faster than a normal Ubuntu distribution. CrunchBang Linux has been developed completely from Ubuntu sources with the exception of few packages.

Unlike Ubuntu, CrunchBang includes several non-free or patent encumbered applications and libraries such as out-of-the-box support for severalmultimedia formats including MP3, Adobe Flash as well as DVD playback. CrunchBang also replaces some applications that are included with default Ubuntu, such as:

• Openbox Window Manager instead of the GNOME Desktop Environment
• ROX-Filer and Thunar (replaced by PCMan File Manager in CrunchBang 8.10.02) are used as file managers instead of Nautilus
• AbiWord and other GNOME Office components instead of OpenOffice.org
• Skype VoIP client instead of Ekiga
• CrunchBang also uses a different GTK theme, icon set and default wallpapers.

Crunchbang comes in 2 different flavors: Crunchbang Linux, and Crunchbang Lite, which the latter is made for PC’s/Laptops with low RAM and especially low HDD space.

If you want to learn a bit about Linux, but still want a stable and usable Linux desktop OS, I can’t recommend Crunchbang (or #! as we call it) enough. Their forums are very helpful and filled with friendly people.

PROS:

Lightweight

Fast

Infinitely customizeable

Surprisingly stable

CONS:

Such heavy reliance on Ubuntu repo’s can be a negative.

Lack of OpenOffice by default my be a negative to some.

Review Score: 9.75/10.

I’m not positive about when this will be added, but I’m aiming for, at the latest, February 2010.

I’ll keep you updated.