Winona Vail Review

I had written before about using a not so permanent hack on the PSP to allow for homebrew gaming. Well, considering that my PSP has been collecting dust since I bought Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (which was definitely a worth while game, probably the only one for the PSP), which upgraded my firmware to a not so homebrew friendly version, I decided to make the hack more permanent to make the dang thing useful again. I will give you fair warning. If you value your PSP, are or are not technical, do not attempt this. You run a serious chance of ruining your PSP, that is you can make it a 200 dollar paperweight. I am not an expert on the PSP, so if you ruin it, don’t ask me how to fix it.
I wont provide a step by step tutorial on how to do this since the below links do a fine job at describing the task at hand. A few things are required before you can attempt this. You will need: 1. A Sony PSP 2. A older copy of Grand Theft Auto, Liberty City Stories 3. A USB connection 4. A whole lot of guts. Follow the directions on this page to get to firmware version 1.5. Next, follow download and follow the direction in the readme to update to 3.03 OE-C. While its still not as cool as my Nintendo DS, it is nice to be able to play Chess on the go, and export my games to PGN and download to my PC with no effort. If I get really bored, I can always try my hand at writing some apps for it. It’s a shame really, homebrew makes the PSP actually an interesting device, yet Sony is so hostile towards the homebrew community.

New remote? Check. New headphones? Check. New socks? Seriously… They sell socks to put on your Ipod… Check.
A Vibrator???? Check.
A whole new way to plug ‘n play!
Simply plug OhMiBod into your iPod® or any music player and it automatically vibrates to the rhythm and intensity of the music. Let your body feel the vibrations as you get down with your favorite tunes. The combination of listening and feeling your music quickly transports you to a place where music, mind and body come together to create an unbeatable sexual experience.

Sorry for the lateness, ladies. I was totally wiped yesterday and had to spend some time in bed–but I did manage to catch Top Model. After all, what would a week be without some modelicious bitchy behavior? Here’s the recap:

Name Change

The episode began with Twiggy talking about her name change. Apparently, she used to go by Lesley Hornby (make jokes…now). She talks to the girls about the importance of having a memorable name and brings out Melrose (from last season) as an example. (BTW, was it just me or did Melrose look totally busted?). They play the clip from last season where Melrose talks about how she got rid of the “issa” from “Melissa Rose.” LOL. Then the girls are asked to come up with their own original nicknames.

The best name by far was Dionne’s choice: Wholahay. WTF? Did anyone understand that logic? Then the girls are told they will be attending a major party where they will have to use their new nicknames to make an impression. Melrose and Twiggy give the girls three rules: 1. be eloquent 2. don’t monopolize a conversation 3. be humorous. Already, I could tell these girls were going to take a nosedive.

Bitch Alert

On the way back to the house, Renee makes the comment that she can’t wait to go to the party so she can have “stimulating conversation.” Luckily, Jael calls her on it and those two almost get in a rumble at the house. Personally, I wouldn’t want to mess with Jael. She talks crazy–imagine what she fights like!

A Surprise Pool Party

The girls arrive at the party, which is being held on a roof with a pool. Everyone seems to be there, including Paris and Nicole. But the main attraction for these girls seems to be 50 Cent. Jael quickly gets in his face and manages to piss him off multiple times. After several warnings, 50 finally pushes her into the pool–along with Natasha.

Meanwhile, the girls are being interviewed one-on-one by Benny Madeina, Tyra’s bff and model powerhouse. Dionne comes off as poised, while Jael and Natasha emerge from their pool adventure only to be called a “mess.”

More drama ensues at the party when Renee tells Nicole Richie that Jael is a bitch. This only leads to Nicole going back to Jael and tattling on Renee. Woah.

Four Faces

The next photo shoot has the girls picking four words to describe themselves. They then have to style themselves–hair, makeup, wardrobe–to represent those four looks. Now, some of the words that the girls picked were definitely strange. For example, Jaslene chose “drag queen.” Hmmm…

We also learn that Benny has picked a challenge winner, Dionne, and she will model in a Keds campaign. Dionne picks Jaslene and Whitney to celebrate with her.

Tyra’s Heart-to-Heart

By now everyone knows that Tyra desperately wants to be the new Oprah. She magically appears at the house and decides that everyone should talk about what is bothering them. A lot of it is nothing new. Brittany cries about her hair. Dionne talks about missing her kid. Jael brings up her dead friend. FINALLY, we get to Renee who doesn’t understand why nobody likes her. The girls all get to say their piece and Renee claims that her bitchy attitude is a “defense mechanism.” She apologizes. (Let’s see how long this lasts…)

The Elimination

For some reason, I really hope Brittany wins. She is so great in her photos. Look at how cute her first photo was.

As for the bad photos, I would have to agree that Whitney, Jaslene and Sarah are the worst.

In the end, it’s no surprise that Sarah gets sent home. But seriously, Whitney, you need to step it up or your ass will be next.

So what did you make of the show? Who do you think should have been sent home? Do you buy Renee’s act? Let me know what you think!

Cabot, Meg. Pants on Fire. YA/ F/ CAB/ CD BOOK
Having become a proficient liar in order to keep everyone happy, rising high school senior Katie Ellison is stunned when her old middle school friend and local pariah Tommy Sullivan returns to town, and suddenly things start looking a lot different to her.

Cabot, Meg. Princess on the Brink (The Princess Diaries, Vol. 8). YA/ F/ CAB/ CD BOOK
Princess Mia finds herself facing life as a junior in high school, taking precalculus, and dealing with a long-distance romance.

Horowitz, Anthony. Nightrise (The Gatekeepers, Book 3). YA/ F/ HOR/ CD BOOK
As fourteen-year-old telepathic twins struggle to escape the clutches of the Nightrise Corporation, one of them travels through dreams to a time when the evil Old Ones ruled and learns the role that he, his brother, and three other Gatekeepers must play to keep the world safe from the Old Ones’ return.

Horowitz, Anthony. Raven’s Gate (The Gatekeepers, Book 1). YA/ F/ HOR/ CD BOOK
Sent to live in a foster home in a remote Yorkshire village, Matt, a troubled fourteen-year-old English boy, uncovers an evil plot involving witchcraft and the site of an ancient stone circle.

Lockhart, E. Fly on the Wall. YA/ F/ LOC/ CD BOOK
When Gretchen Yee, a student at the Manhattan School for Art and Music, wishes she were a fly on the wall of the boys’ locker room, she never expects her wish to come true in such a dramatic way.

Nix, Garth. Lady Friday (The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 5). YA/ F/ NIX/ CD BOOK
Four of the seven keys have been recovered, but Arthurs’s friends are captive and Superior Saturday is still causing trouble, and Arthur is racing to find the secret of Middle House.

Patterson, James. Maximum Ride: Saving the world and other extreme sports (Book 3). YA/ F/ PAT/ CD BOOK
Forced to work apart, the team faces their ultimate challenge as they fight the evil science experiment, “Re-evolution”, designed to engineer a superior, master race.

Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life As We Knew It. YA/ F/ PFE/ CD BOOK
Through journal entries, 16-year-old Miranda describes her family’s struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

Rennison, Louise. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging (Book 1). YA/ F/ REN/ CD BOOK
This humorous journal depicts a year in the life of a fourteen-year-old British girl who tries to reduce the size of her nose, stop her mad cat from terrorizing the neighborhood, and win the love of handsome hunk Robbie.

Rennison, Louise. Away Laughing on a Fast Camel (Book 5). YA/ F/ REN/ CD BOOK
Georgia worries that her snogging skills will suffer since her boyfriend moved away. Her worries do not last long, though, because she meets a snoggable young man who is the lead singer of a band. This is the fifth title featuring Georgia.

Rennison, Louise. On the Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God (Book 2). YA/ F/ REN/ CD BOOK
Fourteen-year-old Georgia continues her diary in which she records her misadventures trying to reclaim the attention of seventeen-year-old Robbie, while coping with her friends, family, and dog-like cat Angus at the same time.

Rennison, Louise. Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers (Book 6). YA/ F/ REN/ CD BOOK
In this sixth story about Georgia, she heads across the ocean to America to search for her love the Italian-American dreamboat.

Rennison, Louise. Startled By His Furry Shorts (Book 7). YA/ F/ REN/ CD BOOK
It can be hard to manage one boyfriend, but Georgia Nicolson manages three in this latest adventure.

Werlin, Nancy. The Rules of Survival. YA/ F/ WER/ CD BOOK
Seventeen-year-old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.

Bibliographic Information ©2007 BWI

Mark On Socratic

Well, not exactly contributing… but Mark Hoppus will be producing Socratic’s forthcoming full length:

[after we get back from this tour, i’m heading into the studio to produce the next socratic album. we’ve been talking about it for a while, and they sent me their new demos. their songs are really rad. i’m looking forward to recording the album. also been talking to a few other bands, and hopefully will have time between the upcoming +44 tours to record a few other things as well. that’s what’s up.]

—

Paramore Update

Head over to read Hayley’s update on the band’s Livejournal. Highlights of the update includes the story behind “Misery Business” and an address on her faith.

Total respect.

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Live Audio Is The New Thing

Less Than Jake have made five live shows available for purchase on their myspace; all songs are DRM-free and encoded at a bitrate of 320kbps in MP3 format, which means you get to download and share with a friend if you want to.

[I think one of the best things about Less Than Jake is our live show. It has an energy that I don’t think we could ever duplicate recording in a studio. Here’s a collection of shows from our personal collections. These shows aren’t remixed or touched-up like most “live” recordings. This is raw off the board recordings; these are time capsules of the past captured in the moment. These are songs played with passion and conviction across the globe or in your backyard to a few hundred people or to forty-plus thousand. Sometimes drunk, profane and sloppy with missed chords and forgotten words, and sometimes perfectly played, every beat and note aligned together with great inspirational moments in between three-chords. This is Less Than Jake, in every way possible.]

Get it now!

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Blur’s Update

Alex James promoted his autobiography ‘A Bit of a Blur’ at Waterstones in Oxford, England on June 19th. Check out pictures from RexFeatures.

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I-Empire: Single #1

Angels and Airwaves will release their new single “Cosmonaut” on September 11th. The track is taken from their new album ‘I-Empire’ which is due out in the fall. On September 1st, the band will apparently launch a web portal that will “change the face of music”.

World Domination with an ascension to heaven???

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One Member Sits Out

Kittie bassist Trish Doan will sit out the bands upcoming tour due to “pressing personal health matters”. Jeff Phillips from Thine Eyes Bleed will fill in.

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Tracklistings of The Day

Check out the tracklisting to Madden NFL ‘08 soundtrack:

Airbourne - Runnin’ Wild”
Atreyu - “Becoming the Bull”
The Bravery - “Believe”
Brother Ali - “Whatcha Got”
Daddy Yankee - “Impacto”
Datarock - “The New Song”
Earl Greyhound - “S.O.S.”
Enter Shikari - “OK, Time for Plan B”
From Autumn to Ashes - “Daylight Slaving”
Hellyeah - “You Wouldn’t Know”
The Hives - “Tick Tick Boom”
Jupiter One - “Countdown”
MIMS - “Cop It”Murs - “Dreadlocks”
O-Solo - “Monsta”
Operator - “Soulcrusher”
Ozzy Osbourne - “I Don’t Wanna Stop”
Pharoahe Monch (featuring Showtyme) - “Desire”
Pitbull (featuring Don Omar) - “Fuego” (remix)
Queens Of The Stone Age - “3’s & 7’s”
Red1 (featuring Afu-Ra) - “Dem No Worry We”
Shadows Fall - “Redemption”
Swizz Beatz - “It’s Me Snitches”
Sum 41 - “Underclass Hero”
Team Shadetek (featuring 77Klash & Jahdan) - “Brooklyn Anthem”
The Used - “The Ripper”
Timbaland (featuring Justin Timberlake) - “Release”
Yellowcard - “Fighting”
Zion I & the Grouch - “Hit ‘Em”

Also, check out the tracklisting to the new album by The Weakerthans, titled Reunion Tour, which will hit stores come September 25th:

01. Civil Twilight
02. Hymn For The Medical Oddity
03. Relative Surplus Value
04. Tournament Of Hearts
05. Virtue The Cat Explains Her Departure
06. Elegy For Gump Worsley
07. Sun In An Empty Room
08. Night Windows
09. Bigfoot!
10. Reunion Tour
11. Utilities

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No! Say It Isn’t True

Vaux has called it a day and will be playing their final show ever on July 28th in Denver, CO:

[Yes it is true. Saturday July 28th, 2007 in Denver, Colorado, United States of America at the Bluebird Theater will be the last VAUX show ever. Ryder will be re-joining us for the finale. Don’t miss this show. We will be releasing a final 5 song EP in the months to come. It is over 30 minutes long. We truly appreciate the support from our fans, friends, and families over the last 9 years.

Sincerely.

Chris, Greg, Adam, Joe, Ryder, Quentin]

I am absolutely gutted. I love this band so much =’(

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Pete Wentz The Producer

According to Forbes, Pete Wentz is currently producing a reality show for Decaydance’s newest signing, The Cab.

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Hit The Lights Lose Vocalist

Colin has decided to leave Hit The Lights. Read the messages by the band and Colin here.

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Stream, Stream

The final, album version of Hidden In Plain View’s “Bendy” has been posted on Drive-Thru Records’ myspace.

Shining Through have posted a new song on myspace.

Jeff DaRosa (ex-The Exit) has posted some new solo songs on his myspace.

Listen to clips of each song on the Transformers Official Soundtrack here.

This handsome star of such films as “Beyond Borders”, “Sin City”, and “Closer” is featured the featured cover model and story for the latest issue of the British edition of GQ.

Owen who is to be featured in the soon to be released sequel to the award winning film, “Elizabeth” entitled, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” as well as the soon to film, “Sin City 2″. Enjoy!

Fall 1999

Download the complete issue

Special Issue on the 500th anniversary of Rennyo Shonin’s Death

Editorial Note [download]

On Rennyo Shonin:

Rennyo: His Historical Significance and Contemporary Relevance by Alfred BLOOM [download]

Rennyo’s Letter on Kengyoku-ni introduced and translated by David MATSUMOTO [download]

The Idea of Impermanence in Rennyo’s Letters by Tomoyasu HAYASHI [download]

The Idea of Tamashii in Buddhism: What is the “Self”? by Akira OMINE [download]

Rennyo and His Daughter, Kengyoku by Jitsuen KAKEHASHI [download]

Articles and Trnaslations:

Shan-tao’s Exposition of the Method of Contemplation on Amida Buddha, Part 1 translated by Hisao INAGAKI [download]

Pure Land Buddhism in China: A Doctrinal History, Author’s Preface and Chapter One: A General Survey by Shinko MOCHIZUKI translated by Leo M. PRUDEN [download]

Book Reviews: [download complete reviews]

Sexuality and Paradox: A Panel Review of Bernard Faure’s The Red Thread: Buddhist Approaches to Sexuality
The Absence of Models for Female Buddhists by Jennifer DUMPERT
Context and Perspective by Bruce WILLIAMS
The Red Thread: Conceptualizing Buddhist Sexuality Across Time and Place by Greg PETROPOULOS
Buddhist Sexualities: Discipline and Transgression by John M. THOMPSON
Methodological Reflections on Bernard Faure’s The Red Thread by Joseph THOMETZ
Lopez, Donald S., Jr., Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sutra by Kristin J. SUTTON

Notes and News: [download complete news]

IBS Programs and Activities 1998-1999
BDK English Tripitaka: A Progress Report

A new study by Wainhouse Research, sponsored by Citrix, shows
significant adoption of Web conferencing by small and medium-sized
businesses (SMBs) to meet with clients and increase revenue.

The resulting whitepaper, The Vital Role of Web Conferencing in Small and Media Enterprises,
is based on a Web survey that targeted a portion of the Citrix
GoToMeeting corporate customers. The survey results show that SMBs are
using Web conferencing as the medium of choice for product demos and
meetings with both clients and prospective clients. Of course, that’s
hardly a scientific sample, but the results do tally with our views.

Web
conferencing is enabling SMBs to reach more people — it saves travel
costs, and a hosted solution doesn’t consume scarce IT resources. The
survey also indicates that ease of use, reliability, good customer
support, and competitive pricing and security are the most important
factors when choosing a Web conferencing vendor.

The following are some highlights from the survey:

“Outbound” Web conferencing applications that involve customers and prospects are most important to SMBs.

75%
of SMB respondents believe the ability to involve/reach more people and
save travel costs and time are major reasons to use Web conferencing;
59% say it makes meetings more productive.

55% of SMBs (and 44%
of large enterprise respondents) say that in addition to the more
predictable improvements in business practices, Web conferencing
enables users to solve problems they could not solve before.

69%
of all respondents use Web conferencing to enable new meetings that
could not be held in any other way due to cost constraints, timing, and
several other issues.

Once again, don’t forget that these statistics are based on a sample of respondents who are already using Web conferencing, so are probably not representative of the market as a whole.

SMBs
are generally faster to adopt new cost-saving technologies that can
impact revenue, but expect to see Web conferencing usage continue to
grow as the collaborative benefits become better understood and the
technology becomes easier to operate.

… Colin R. Bush and Richi Jennings

I’ve had this experience so many times now, it can’t be a coincidence. I’ll sell a book about religion, for example, (a book about how to be a better person, more forgiving, etc.) and invariably the buyer is the customer from hell.

They’ll accuse you of all sorts of things — padding your shipping charges, lying about the shipping date, stealing their money, misrepresenting the book’s condition. And when it becomes obvious they’re wrong, do they apologize or forgive? Noooo.

Why do so many buyers of heavenly books treat other people so viciously — the exact opposite of what the book is about? I guess they just want the book on their coffee table to make it look like they’re a great person. Meanwhile, the way they act violates the principles of every religion on earth.

Here’s another way many buyers are unlike the books they buy: People who buy comedy books often don’t have a sense of humor.

Recently I sold a copy of “America: The Book” by Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s Daily Show. The book is a parody of an American history textbook, and even includes a fake school stamp inside the front cover, “This book is the property of…” It’s mildly funny, but any moron would know the stamp isn’t real because … because, well, I don’t have enough fingers to count the reasons.

Well, wouldn’t you know, the buyer was outraged and left negative feedback because I “hadn’t mentioned the school stamp in my description.”

I wrote to the customer and assured her that the stamp was a joke and was meant to be funny.

Like most customers with bogus complaints, she couldn’t bring herself to admit she was wrong, saying: “I haven’t seen the book before, so I didn’t know the textbook stamp was part of the design. I have gotten other “like new” books before from eBay with a similar stamp, and those stamps were real.”

Hey, thanks, you should be a comedian.

Have you ever had a customer who wasn’t like the book they bought?

Pole dance elmo

That's right people… this fat ass did not one, but TWO, S Factor classes today - back to back. I worked out, HARD, from 2 to 6 pm. And it's totally hitting me. The main reason I'm still on Vox is because I know how much it's going to hurt to stand up again - so I keep putting it off.
At my instructor's suggestion, I bought a pair of batting gloves yesterday - hoping they'd help me stick to the pole since the heat is making me sweat too much (even with “Dry Hands” on). WOW… the difference was AMAZING. I still royally sucked on most of the pole tricks - which I realized is an issue of my complete lack of ab strength - but I was MUCH better than in the past. I think my fav moment was in the 2nd class, doing the routine, when I twirled around the pole for a turn or two, ran out of spin while about a foot from the ground, and dead-dropped onto my ass (full butt cheek plant) with ZERO grace. Totally made me laugh - but I “worked it” anyway… treating it like it was intentional.
My instructor was out today (partying in Palm Springs) so it was fun to try two new instructors. I didn't care for Lin too much (strange flow and didn't like her music) - except that she was great about giving positive feedback to the routine. Crystal was way fun - LOTS of energy and has taught her L2 students so much “flair” and individuality that they could easily drop into L3.

Opi “Ink” with flowers

After class (which scrapes most of the polish off my toes), I decided to try getting a pedi - even though I knew my salon closes at 5:30. Lo & behold - they were open and took me in. So now I have pretty new toes for gay pride (next weekend). I'm still waiting for a response on whether or not I'll be walking in the parade. Also waiting to hear if Cezar is going to the Tribe party with me - I guess there's some man drama in the background that he has to sort out before he'll know.
I didn't go to Miss Kitty's on Friday. I had fully planned to go there, especially since I got off work early, but I ended up getting tired during the drive home and opted, instead, to stop at a mall, buy a bunch of MAC makeup, go home, and drink for freeeee. I was asleep by 1:30a. I got a suhweeeet booty call - at 3:30am - which I had not expected, as evidence by 1 wk of hair growth on my legs!! EMBARRASSING - but, hey, he's the one who didn't call first! But I thoroughly enjoyed the visit!! Damn, “C” has SKILL (and near freakish stamina)!! My policy of never calling him - in order to keep me in reality about our situation - actually seems to be working very well for me. I'm sure he's loving it too - all the perks with none of the work! I have a great time while he's here - but NO fantasies of being anything more to him than an easy lay. I know some people think I should end it - or make him work more to “deserve” me - but, frankly, being difficult would hurt me more than him cause the sex is INCREDIBLE and, for me, that is an amazing (and surprisingly important) find!! I have NO desire to let it go. And I actually enjoy the unpredictability of our situation. I see no point in messing with something that works when there's nothing else, let alone something better, pending. So long as I don't limit my options - don't turn down other tempting offers because I (falsely) think there's some “future” with him - I don't see the harm (and definitely do see the benefit). But I welcome opposing opinions.
And on that note, I'm going to attempt to stand up, find my darvocet, and crash out for the night. I'm probably starting 12 hr days tomorrow (no pay perk - I'm salaried) and am dreading it just as much as any sane person would.