Ground control to major tom

Continue the song

So I want to change the subject.

I want opinions on my new sig (resized user page sig below), it wasn't a long job but I think I did better than my expectations. I was listening to David Bowie's Space Oddity and Life on Mars? and I love the lyrics. Originally it was just going to be the text on a transparent background which is an incredibly simple task but I like how text with transparent background looks on these forums.

So I did the whole space thing which I learnt from numerous tutorials, past experiences and just looking them up.

I know the text is bland, boring even but the background just looks pretty good. Started off with a star field, then a faint nebula, going onto making a planet (with an infamous lens flare) and finally some stunning nebula I added later which fits in well with a late 60s song lyric.

Whilst I'm here, anyone know where I can get photoshop 7? I used up my trial period on 7 and started on CS3 which is another trial. Even though photoshop is a great bit of software, it's incredibly expensive. £500 for the basic when all I want is 7 which had everything there for me and I'm used to it.

NG is being gay and half the day I get time outs exclusively from this site.

It stays up for about 2 hours, then goes off for about 6 ish hours.

Plus I have real life stuff going on.

So yeah to make this short, I'm not going on newgrounds for very long until issues have been fixed.

NG seems to be working again.

and I'm not leaving BTW, I just have stuff happening that may make me appear not so often.

I have DanAbnormal syndrome.

I'll explain. DanAbnormal was the greatest Newgrounds poster ever, he was a regular like our current popular posters. He was funny and he made great posts. I looked up to him although he wasn't a 00 or 01 user. I honestly thought he would still be posting today.

Before Dan stopped posting, he posted more often in C&C. Or maybe less in general. Eventually he pretty much got a life. Or he died, I have no idea where he is now.

Then I noticed it, I'm slowly moving to C&C and not posting in general.

But let us drink a toast of milk.
Liljimming
shame you didn't die.

To Dan.

So I've (almost) completed building my new computer.

I am currently on my new PC which I built over the past week. It's nothing spectacular, just a full on upgrade from what I was on. All that needs to be done is installing all the old programs I used and the games I had, plus all my music and pictures. But that's not what I mean by almost completed, my genuine copy of windows needs to be activated. Getting a real copy has always been awkward for me, so I got a real copy and lo and behold I get shat on.

So I go through the activation screens, confident, and I find my product key has been used too many times. Considering I'm on a completely different computer and the amount of times I change it, it's not surprising that activating would be awkward. So tomorrow I'll have to call customer service which I despise so much and they can give me a code to activate it. No doubt they'll ask a lot of questions to ensure I'm not pirating.

After that I'll need to get around to putting another stick of RAM in, can't do it now as everyone is in bed. It only takes a couple of seconds to put in RAM but I don't want to risk waking everyone up.

But other than that, I've decided to quit smoking. Well until Tuesday to see if I can continue going smoke free. I quit on Tuesday of this week as I had my last cigarette. But I failed a bit as I borrowed a cigarette off someone today. Better having one cigarette instead of 8.

I'm thinking if I could quit alcohol than I could do it with cigarettes, seeing as I was becoming alcoholic. But I have not touched anything with alcohol since summer last year. Now I have two major health goals and other than smoking, I want to lose weight. Now when you quit smoking you put on weight as cigarettes cause you feel less hungry. But if I keep off the fags I could go jogging or some shit without getting out of breath.

Other than telling me the risks of smoking to try and get me off the ciggies, anyone got any tips? As far as smoking goes, it's a routine for me like other smokers so I need to start a new one. I am told older smokers who try to quite light up a cigarette without even knowing it, some put their fingers in a position where you hold a cigarette.

So yeah I'm back but I still have to do some stuff like restoring my bookmarks.

I really need to sort out my task bar it's dreadful

For those who give one, I won't be on the internet at all for some time.

This could be a few days or even a month. Today I bought some computer parts and for it to work I need some more. So I put it all together and was struggling as I had a dual core processor which I have never built a computer with one. So before I went ahead on putting in the final cables I called up my uncle who is extremely good at computers. So it turned out that even if I turned it on, I would blow the board.

We came to the conclusion that I need.

A new power supply as the one I had was designed for P4, plus the block cable was not suitable for the board.

Matching ram as I had bought 1 stick of 2GB ram which I learned that it would work with one of the processors in the dual core. So I will have to return that for 2 matching 1GB ram. Should cost the same but I'll probably be fleeced of an extra few pounds. It's quite important it's matching as they run at the same "clock speeds". Something along those lines.

Also I need to make sure that all the bronze spacers are there in the case and they are in every screw. Any spares or missing I will have to attend to if I don't want to blow the board.

Because I have already started building this computer from my existing computer I have no internet. I'm posting this from my PS3 browser which like any console browser, slow. Plus seeing as Newgrounds is a chunky site with flash it takes longer to get to A to B.

I need to get these parts quite soon, considering a relative bought these parts I have now. I do need to pay her back so maybe tomorrow I will have to call her and talk to her about returning the RAM. Then I will have to look for the required parts either with her or later.

So I could be a while, not too long. So if you're wondering where I've gone next week, which is unlikely, then I have COMPOOTA TRUBULS.

Posting is a bitch when not on a computer
EDIT: I may post often on this PS3 but not as often as usual. Having to select no to plugins at nearly every page on newgrounds is tedious. So basically I'm posting less rather than not at all. Or I could use the family computer but that shit is so old it takes 5 minutes to boot up and 5 more to start up. I am denied to formatting that computer which I want to do in the last two years.

EDIT 2: I'm almost done. I got a new power supply which fits, I'm wondering why there is a spare 6 pin block cable though. I got that on Friday. I've moved the brass spacers to they're alligned with the screws on the board. All I need now is matching RAM and connect the connectors like the power switch connector. I could do it now but it would be better to wait until I get the RAM and some advice from my uncle before I switch it on. Whilst I got the power supply, I asked for static resistance bags and they gave me shed loads.

EDIT 3: went to the shop today I bought the RAM from, returned it and asked for a matching pair. I have to pick it up later this week when they get it in. Plus I have to bring about £5 as it costs a little more. Like I said, they'd try to fleece you for a little more. I also had a missing plastic connector part which I needed. All needed to do is ask them for one and I'll cut all the wires. So I could be back sometime this week assuming I get it all right.

TL;DR SHORT VERSION AT BOTTOM IN BOLD

Because Section 1 of this operation is going to take a while I'd thought I'd have a blog break. But do feel free to check it all out, the operation is going well.

So I'm wondering whether to change my newgrounds name, my alias. Let me tell you how I chose BlueFlameSkulls. Now when I started on the internet I chose my first name and a series of numbers, I later learnt that numbers in your name is a faux pas. Keep in mind I hadn't made a newgrounds account yet as this is going back to dial up days.

I made a geocities website of Halloween gifs which I pretty much stole off some website. I saw a gif of a skull on fire, specifically blue fire. This is where I chose the name "BlueFlameSkulls". I was on newgrounds before then but not made an account. I wanted to make my own flash so I made some really poor immature flash which was made in windows movie maker and imported into flash (30 day trial).

I had to make an account so I decided now would be the best time to use my new name. It was "blueflameskulls", lower case. The flash was blammed, and this amuses me but someone then had criticized my name. This was the flash and although the reviews haven't saved for some reason there were some. Looking back I have changed a lot, I'm still crap with flash but the way I wrote was way different. I'm quite surprised I managed to find the obituary for that flash.

ONWARD. I kept the name and when I realised I could change my name freely I made the name with upper case for each word. Hence "BlueFlameSkulls". Later I changed my name to "ShitOnMyChest whilst keeping my BFS alias on an alt. It fit me well that name when I started writing shock stories.

It came to a point where we would have a username lockdown and had to choose a name we wanted to keep. So I changed it back to BFS after people telling me I should change it back and here we are now.

I look at this alias and I use it everywhere except certain places where I want to use a more mature alias. I go on gamefaqs rarely but I use a different name. Some of you may know my other aliases on the net anyway. I say 'some' a little strongly.

I use this name on PSN and 360 Live (ish, my alias was took by someone so I had to miss out the 's' on the end). Now imagine you have never heard me and see some guy called "BlueFlameSkulls" on CoD4. You would think it was a 12 year old kid with a D&D or other fantasy world fetish. Considering people who are adults and have names like "N00bUberPwner" and "Killah345" there isn't a lot of difference. At least 'ShitOnMyChest' has charm.

Now I was thinking I should ask to get this name changed and put BFS on an alt so I don't lose it. I was thinking of changing it to my first name as that seems to be a trend nowadays, plus it's easier to remember. The amount of times people have got my alias wrong is understandable but it's getting tedious. Or I could chose a completely new and unique name but I don't sound like a fag. I mean one of the reasons I chose BFS is that is was unique in the sense that nobody would choose it. I would also want it to be memorable.

But should I? When we could change our aliases as much as we want it would get annoying when you would wonder who that new guy was with 7000 posts. Plus it seems too much a bother to ask wade to change it. That man is hard to get to, PMing/emailing him is out the question, he has a rep to take time with those. I could go on paltalk and ask him there as that's how most people change their aliases now. But to be honest I hate using paltak, even if he's on he's usually AFK. But when he is on, people start spamming "OMG WAID".

So wut?

TL;DR SHORT VERSION: Should I change my alias? If so/not discuss.

So everyone is saying that the PS3 is too expensive and Xbox 360 is cheaper. This is true if you get the most basic package. However if you wanted to take advantage of all the features of your system it would appear the Xbox 360 would cost significantly more.

So let's say you want to get a games system where you want to go online and chat to your friends and maybe you want to play two player games with your friends this is how is would work out. You also can choose to go wireless online with you router in case it's too far for the Ethernet cable to reach. You have a HD TV too.

All prices are what play.com or amazon.co.uk usually sell them for and just averages.

XBOX 360

Xbox 360 Premium
with
20GB Hard Drive
1 Wireless Controller (batteries)
Wired Head Set
Ethernet cable for wired online access
HD AV Cable (with SCART adapter)
£249.99
You get quite a lot with the premium package even a headset and HD cable.

Official Xbox 360 Wireless controller (batteries)
£29.99
So you want your friend to join in the fun while he/she is round at your house. You'll need another controller.

Official Xbox 360 wireless adapter/bridge
£54.99
There is no WiFi with the Xbox 360 so if you want wireless online access then you'll need this.

Xbox live 12 month gold subscription(average price)
£40.00
For full use of the online features such as playing online games.

Xbox 360 quick charge kit (comes with 1 rechargable battery pack)
£17.99
The wireless controllers need batteries and getting batteries all the time can get tedious. Plus you could run out at midnight during a Halo 3 tournament. You can't play unless....You get a quick charge kit. It comes with a rechargeable battery pack that you can recharge in this charging hub.

1 Xbox 360 rechargable battery pack (to go with the extra controller)
£9.99
You have two controllers and one rechargeable battery pack. Do the math

Messenger kit (keyboard for messenger)
£24.99
The Xbox 360 like all consoles where you have to type to chat to someone over the internet via console has poor typing facillities. So you get the messenger kit which is essentially a small keyboard you plug into your controller which works much better than using your controller's directional pad.

Xbox live points (4200)
£32.99
To buy games, themes etc you go to the Marketplace, everything costs something so you need to buy points.

Live vision camera (xbox 360)
£34.99
I've not used the camera myself as I've not seen a game that uses the camera. I hear Rainbow 6: Vegas uses it but I don't have it for Xbox 360.

2 Xbox 360 games (brand new standard priced)
£39.99
Just the prices for a game that is new but nothing special like limited edition versions.

PLAYSTATION 3

Playstation 3 60GB
with
60GB Hard drive
1 wireless SIXAXIS controller with usb recharging cable
Ethernet cable
SCART cable
£349.99
You get slightly less with the PS3's own premium package but you get what you need.

Official PS3 SIXAXIS Controller
£29.99
Like the Xbox 360 you might want an extra controller for the PS3. Unlike the 360 you don't need batteries because it recharges by usb cable.

USB keyboard (prices vary as you can use any old USB keyboard)
£9.99(average price for a standard one)
You don't need an official keyboard so you can use a regular USB keyboard.

Playstation camera
£24.99
I tried to use a regular USB webcam but it doesn't work so the PS3 needs the official Playstation camera.

Bluetooth wireless headset
£24.99
Any bluetooth headset can be used it is claimed but I got mine bundled with a game. You could do this or use a Playstation camera as it doubles as a microphone as well as a camera. Best to go with a headset as the camera constantly records everything where as the headset requires you to speak into it. Much like the Xbox 360 headset.

HDMI cable
£12.99
The PS3 cable doesn't come with a HDMI cable so you have to buy one. They could of included one with the system but the SCART lead has to do until you get a HDMI cable.

2 PS3 games (brand new standard priced)
£39.99
Just the prices for a game that is new but nothing special like limited edition versions.

So what is the final totals with the systems and the peripherals?

Xbox 360
Total
£575.90

PS3
Total
£507.93

Okay maybe it isn't a huge amount of money but £67. 97 is still large enough to say that Playstation 3 isn't more expensive. However if you were to buy a Nintendo Wii with all the peripherals and online stuff it would cost the same as just a PS3 60GB package on it's own. So get a Wii if you can't afford either a 360 or a PS3

: Also there is a lot of games on PS3.

: Why do they call it the Xbox 360? You take one look it and turn 360 degrees and walk away. (I love how fail that joke is)