Steve's Story

  It's 2 hours until the deadline and Steve , just another typical worker in an office of a huge-a** company , still has all these tasks to do in order to carry out that damned monthly report for his much hated boss. Soon after ,Steve began inevitably questioning himself , asking the same thing over and over again : why on Earth couldn't he buckle up and finish those tasks earlier ? It's no big deal for him, since Steve is still a skilled asset to his firm . But, doing something from which one derives sheer enjoyment is quite tempting (nobody denies that). As a matter of fact, Steve decided he'd let it slide this time too and ignore all those sheets of paper filled to the brink with boring monthly data (the most obnoxious thing in the world , seriously ) , until he'd be feeling in his element to get to work. 

  The catch is: he did it the next time , and then again and than another time . Long story short , Steve had lost himself completely in the vicious battle against routine and boredom , while being unaware he wasn't meeting the time requirements set to him . How lazy of him . As a side note , all that he became now is nothing short of a heavily problematic worker with more shortcoming rather than achievements, with no sense of responsibility whatsoever and with a mess of a schedule to cap it all off.

  After taking a huge glance at all this s*** Steve is currently knee-deep in , he came to the over-arching conclusion : it all could've really been avoided , if not for the PROCRASTINATION he was into . 
  Don't look at the capped word like that . I'll explain everything in due time . 
 Basically , Procrastination is a psychological act of replacing high-priority tasks with lower-priority ones or postponing them to a later period of time in order to engage in a more joyful and pleasant activity . 

  It's time for the morale of the story: Don't be Steve. Don't procrastinate. Get your stuff done in time, than you're free to do whatever you desire.

Why I despise Apple

Hello World !

 Bold statement incoming ! I hate Apple for two things : the fanboys and the policy . Now let's get our facts straight.

The Buyers

 There is this notion of an Apple Evangelist.Long story short ,these are individuals known for over-promoting Apple products (You know,all the "i" stuff) with sheer exaggeration.What I'm trying to tell you is that there is certain cult formed over the years among the ranks of these groups.They like to call it The Cult of Mac.The members of that cult's idiosyncratic loyalty to the company in cause has been widely described as having religious traits with a somewhat atheist behaviour towards common religions.The Cult of Mac is believed to be an entire system that helps worship technology in the world by praising and nearly sanctifying Apple's now deceased renown founder -Steve Jobs.He is often compared to God and called a saviour, his life being woven into different ancient religious myths.A martyr, even. And perhaps most importantly, Apple fanboys simply don't bother of knowing of the existence of other tech-based companies besides Apple Inc. believing their products are absolutely the best they can possibly find while ignoring Apple's utterly horrendous policy.I surely don't want to become of the freaks.

Mac cultist, rear shot.

The Policy

 Here's where stuff gets really muddy. In my book, Apple's way of treating it's costumers is one of the most self-righteous, pathetic and arrogant I've ever seen in my time of existence. If you do the simple action of googling "Why people hate Apple" you'd be amazed at the myriads of articles, public opinions regarding people dissing Apple's way of doing business.I will point out some of the most prominent examples to you:

• iTunes . Speaking of online sales , customers are free to choose where they wish the purchase their content from , whereas in the case of i-products , consumers are forced to use the application in cause , whether they like it or not . Consequently , iTunes restricts purchases to the country from which the customer's payment details originated . This creates a monopoly within the market . 
• The First-Party Connectors. Only Apple certified accessories can be connected to an Apple device . Are you serious ???
• Banned or blocked apps. You can't download Google apps on an iOS device . Also , better Wi-Fi detectors that Apple's woeful variant are prohibited. 
• Little to no customization . Apple want us to use their devices the way they would like to. Why would I bother being thought dumb by the company that provides me with such handhelds ? It is a freaking smartphone. It is meant to provide freedom of use .
• A lot of more stuff you can feel free to read :
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Apple_Inc.
  http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/26-reasons-apple-fanboys-have-got-it-all-wrong-689379
  
  One of my close relatives owns an Iphone 4S and to be honest, for that price it is a disaster mainly because of Apple trying to combat piracy or who knows what with their crappy polic .I bought an app for 1$ with a pre-paid virtual Visa card and now I'm not able to either update any app or buy a new one because "the payment was not confirmed" somehow.Why did it allow me to download that app,then? And this is the best-selling smartphone in the world ? Nah :<

For now, I'll stick to my trusty Android device.There's hope that the guys running Apple will learn the notion of being true to their costumers.Might feel like a rant article but that is just how I see things : )

Have a nice day !

My humble opinion on the Ouya console ...

Hi for the fourth time today.Feels great having a blog,you know.It's like a canvas for all the thoughts that are being given birth up there in my brilliant head . 

So,the Ouya (pronounced like "ooya")...
 The strangely named Ouya is a recently announced video game console powered by Android 4.0 which will cost 99$ at launch.If you want to get more familiar with the details feel free to visit the console's Kickstarter page or watch the video below:

Kickstarter :  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console



Kickstarter :  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

Just look at that controller!

Box design ?

  Now look,a cheap console,build essentially for free-to-play model based games,running on a highly customizable operating system? This kinda looks like the right console for low-budget gamers who are not shy to try their strengths at hardware modding.That is great! Assuming this thing sports a quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and other great stuff like an ethernet port, built in wi-fi, bluetooth, 1080p HDMI connection, the Ouya could be quite the treat for modders to squeeze everything out of this device. I'm not talking about only games. It also boasts a solid potential to be used as a full-fledged media box of sorts, but with a ton of awesome free games on it .The controller, with its metallic finish also looks dope and positively futuristic and utopian. Though, I'm a little bit skeptical concerning the form factor of the console itself. I would really like to know whether the unique box-like form factor will offer some other commodities besides saving up some extra space in the living room.With all that being said, I'm almost sold !But..there's always the but in the end.One thing I can't get over.I'm 80% certain that when people will buy this thing (and they will),they'll expect an abundance of AAA game titles on it, that is for sure.And in my opinion, disappointed will be they. As far as I understand, not every huge dev will want to port his best selling title to an Android device. And not everyone will incorporate the infamous Free-to-play model to their game (I'm looking at you Call of Duty ). I might be mistaken, but time will show. For me personally, it's a safe bet that I'll end up buying this Ouya to satisfy my and my little brother's casual gaming needs. I already have an Xbox 360 so I'm not looking for another place to play my big budget titles. If you do, than Ouya isn't for you.
P.S: Another thing I wonder about.Will the internet services like multiplayer gaming be free of charge or not ?

Discuss !
FireWalker out .

Chrono Mirages

Hello World Again! 

  Weird , strange , miraculous things can happen in this world , no doubt . As far as I'm quite interested and intrigued by such anomalies , I've recently watched a TV documentary about a very dazzling type of anomaly . It's called a Chronomirage . Basically it is a mirage , or an optical phenomenon , that can be observed in real time containing images , persons , entire events that happened in the past or would eventually happen in the future . As bizzare as it sounds , these were confirmed sighted by people all around the world who were horrendously fascinated and at the same time frightened to experience them . There is literally a ton of these chronomirages reported , some of them even do repeat with shocking consistency . Moreover, the shift in time can be gigantic . We're talking about hundreds of years here .

  There is a common hypothesis regarding the fact that the notion of time is nowadays one of the most mysterious properties of the physical world , capable of having a profound effect on things like space as an infinite term .
  While trying to explain the nature of the chronomirages , scientists have come up with the notion of psychic energy that saves itself within space . After years it is capable of releasing itself back in , thus recreating the events of the past . Many ufologists do note that "alien spacecraft" sightings can probably be chronomirages as well , possibly representing human aircraft from the future . Yikes!

Some of the most famous encountered chronomirages :

-1815, Battle of Waterloo . Napoleon's forces were defeated . Some weeks afterwards, the battle was being observed once again by the inhabitants of a nearby belgian town .
-Pskov region , Russia . Reported sightings of monarchs walking in the distance that do not resemble contemporary priests . Attempts to take pictures of the figures always fail ( there is always a huge spot of lights instead of the figure of a man on the pictures)
-Moscow suburbs . A young pair camping in the forest has reportedly heard gun shots and german banter at night . The man eventually got out of the camp and saw an injured man in a Nazi uniform . Days after , he found out that 60 years ago , a World War II battle was fought in these woods .
-Different places around the Globe . People are barely seeing again old towns or cities that were destroyed either by fire or in battle centuries ago .

Weird stuff , ins't it ? That's why I dig it .

If you know russian , I have a video for you right here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jJaWqsa_qKc

ARTISTIC VISION or ARTIST VS AUDIENCE

Hello World!

  Here is one of my first articles ever written and I heard enjoyed it . It is something that popped into my mind after experiencing the uproar caused by the ending(s) of Mass Effect 3 (great game , btw ).  Hope you liked it . If u come across bugs , report in and we'll try to troubleshoot ))

  Say you‘ve just walked out from a movie . You enjoyed the script , the acting , the camera work and the action sequences but the feeling that the ending was somewhat lacking just can’t creep out of your head. It just didn’t quite deliver. As a result, you feel somewhat disappointed, even your most blurry expectations being betrayed, leaving you pondering everything it could have been, yet sadly never will be.

   You then look it up on the Internet and eventually find out that the outspoken majority also shares your point of view . You then join the movement , waiting desperately for the film makers to come up with a more satisfying closure . And here it is , you get it . An alternative ending just showed up and everyone seems to be happy , now ready to move on , speaking words of gratitude to the director/producers . But , wait , something isn’t quite all-right about all this…

    First of all , we can all agree on the notion that a movie , besides being a product is also an art form , an embodiment of someone’s visionary thoughts , a distinct way in which we , people , express our feeling or concerns upon a certain topic , problem or reality or maybe just a great pastime and an effective time-killer . The question is , what specific role do we, the audience , the criticizing source of feedback , possibly have in the process of influencing and even creating art ? Who are we to organize reckless backlashes against certain artistic visions that didn’t happen to be perceived the way we wanted to ? A dilemma , isn’t it ?

    Take ,for example ,Charles Dickens’ novel s that were used to be published in monthly or weekly installments . This convenient format allowed him to evaluate the feedback from his readers and ,basically, modify the plot keys and character developments , according to these very reactions . Hence ,, most great art forms practiced nowadays have to face peer/public review .

   There is a whole plethora of cases when relevant creations have been changed or improved upon based off of public opinion. Here is a short list of movies and books  that have certain plot moments changed due to negative reception:

        – Titanic

        – The Abyss

        – Bladerunner (about 15 times)

        – Harry Potter (book and movie )

        – Dune (book and movie )

        – Multiple James Bond movies .

   The list goes on and on…

   Who is right ,in the end,then, the artist or the audience ? Shouldn’t the author(s)be fully responsible for his ways of delivering art ? Isn’t he independent of all public opinion regarding his work ? Or should he focus his attention on receiving feedback ,whether positive or negative , in order to face the music and take action in favor of his audience? It’s a double-edged sword really.

   On one hand, art is a personal expression, it’s his own vision and he could do absolutely anything he wants with it .On the other hand, listening to public opinion and addressing their concerns is probably the only way for your art to work commercially. And that is the very problem we have to face concerning art and its place in our flawed society.

   It may sound clichéd but the thing is :the world can sometimes be a very crude place dominated by self-righteousness and arrogance . Those with power come on top of those that lack it . That happens to be the natural order of things , unfortunately .  And power usually comes with…you guessed it , money , usually,lots of it . And yet again unfortunately , a good bulk of art forms nowadays have shaped into nothing less that just “products” meant to be prioritized towards satisfying the customer base (in this case, the audience) while ultimately gaining profit . 

   The lust for money does drive people , even into assuming that art is just means of material benefit , fact that nearly killed art as we knew it . There is still hope , but nowadays ,stereotypically speaking , in the battle between the artist and the audience , it all comes down to money…

Introduction

Hello World!
 
  First things first. I'd like to tell everyone that this blog isn't and will not be self-centric in any case. I shall post here whatever I find the most interesting for the viewer/suitable for the specific moment. But before I get into posting stuff I would like you to know who's digital words are you worsening your sight because.

  Name's Alex, 17,a guy from a country you probably didn't even happen to hear about, The Republic of Moldova (yeah, quite the third world in here).I study computer science. In rest, I prefer spending the rest of my life as a mortal on doing things like dissecting all things technology, playing video games and writing about them, scouting the net for all sorts of captivating material . The artistic part generated by my gray matter (that would around 30% of it) is busy being interested in painting, writing, taking photos and masterfully editing them etc. In terms of 0's and 1's coded to produce sounds (you like to call it music), I am keen on heavy stuff, mainly heavy metal, thrash metal, hard rock, alternative metal , nu metal, funk rock . As a side note I occasionally get goosebumps from drum and bass, raggae, rock n roll and a tiny bit of electronic music. My favorite bands would be Metallica, Megadeth , AC\DC, Pantera , Iron Maiden , Black Sabbath,Led Zeppelin, Rage Against The Machine. Proud metalhead here.

Hell Yeah!

What will you find in this blog?

 Really depends on how this pitiful world flows by. As soon as I find something captivating enough to show you and express my point of view on, or as soon as something like a major product of entertainment or tech will be released I will do my best to cover it . Also, you would expect opinions on general knowledge and stuff that is relatively talked about and old , just so show you how  do I feel about them (expressing my personality fuckyes! ) . That would be all. If you don't like what I post , please tell me about it but don't flam .Keep it civil.  As closure, here's a lil' picture of me to the left . Rock on and stay tuned !






P.S.
I know there's too much sarcasm in this post , but this is how I roll . You can't do anything about it :D

P.P.S.
Here's my facebook and twitter accounts . Just in case .
https://www.facebook.com/alexfirewalker
https://twitter.com/alexfirewalker