Empty Chairs and Empty Tables – Les Misérables (A cappella cover)

Marius and Enjolras are cool. Also, this took a lot of takes because I am pretty bad at memorizing But I’ve been wanting to try recording some of these songs because I love singing them wherever I am (but I never remember the words, lol).

Trespass Turned to Transformation

Can you imagine Jesus saying/singing this to you?

“But remember this, my brother
See in this some higher plan
You must use this precious silver
To become an honest man
By the witness of the martyrs
By the Passion and the Blood
God has raised you out of darkness
I have bought your soul for God!”
- Bishop Myriel in Les Misérables

(Where “precious silver” = forgiveness giving you a new start, plus God’s Spirit dwelling with & in you;
“the Passion” = what they used to call Jesus’ trial & crucifixion)

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables_(musical)#Valjean_Arrested.2C_Valjean_Forgiven

“Red” album by Taylor Swift

So, Taylor Swift just released her latest album, “Red” (iTunes: US, CAN), sometime around this past midnight. On iTunes, the “Complete this album” feature finally started working for me, which means that I got a discount on the full album because I had purchased two of the earlier singles that were released ahead of time.

It’s pretty good so far It’s interesting how some of the songs that I didn’t quite like during the 1:30 long previews that iTunes gives you sounded better once I was able to listen from the beginning.

But anyways, the point of this post was to mention that, apparently, Taylor Swift likes to embed messages in the liner notes / printed version of her lyrics (I read it in a forum while trying to figure out why my iTunes “Complete this album” feature wasn’t working). It’s a very simple encoding scheme – she just capitalizes certain letters in the printed lyrics while all other letters are lower case, and so you simply form the message by stringing all the capital letters together in a row.

I tried a Google query to find out what the encoded messages were in this new album, but I couldn’t find anything on my first try. So, I had the RIDICULOUS idea of trying to decode the message myself instead of letting the Internet do the thinking for me (what is this, 1999?!).

I did it for the first song, State of Grace, and here’s what I got. To try and provide some context, though, the key line in this song (or arguably, the entire album) is:

Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right.

And here’s the capital-letters code in the printed lyrics for State of Grace:

LOVEYOUDOESNTCOUNTAFTERGOODBYE

Ok, to be honest the reason I made myself write this blog post is because I wanted to see how many Google hits it would get, ha ha.

Oh, the travails of trying to be an Internet pioneer

William Wilberforce, or “Why I keep my tripod in my car”

So, I was driving back home from Saturday night service at my Church, and I drove past this street (which I’ve done before). But this time, I was like, “oh, that would make such a cool photo”. And since I had nothing better to do, I decided to pull a U-turn and, voila, here’s what we got. On a scale of “Ugh, that didn’t turn out” to “Wow, those photos turned out amazing!”, I’d have to rate this a, “Hmm, not bad”, in my assessment.

William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was an English M.P. who became a Christian at the age of 25/26, sparking “major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform” (as Wikipedia.org puts it). He was a leading figure in the (eventually successful) fight to abolish the slave trade across the British Empire, and also founded such causes as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

“If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”

- William Wiberforce (1759-1833), English MP and pioneer in abolishing the slave trade across the British Empire

Watching “End of the Spear” with the Thursday group

Just watched End of the Spear with the Thurs Bible study group. In 1956, five young men risked & lost their lives so that an Ecuadorian tribe (with whom very few had ever had contact; a tribe known for their violence and killing) could *perhaps* get a chance hear and understand a message that Jesus wanted them to know. They placed themselves in an imprudent, vulnerable situation with wives and young children who needed them – why? Because of their conviction that the reconciliation and cessation of hostilities between the Waodani people and God was assuredly more important than keeping themselves (and their families’ interests) protected and safe.

When contrasted against my life now in 2012, it makes me wonder what I am convicted of and whether I am risking anything for things that are assuredly worthwhile. Like something even as small taking several minutes to even talk to and hear from God – or maybe I’m too busy for that…? :O

Screencap from End of the Spear (2005)
(Credit: Every Tribe Entertainment, Bearing Fruit Entertainment)

My journey to the NASL S3 Grand Finals (in photos)

(this blog post was originally written and posted on TeamLiquid.net - many of the photos will be cut off or the links won’t work, so it’s recommended that you view the original post here: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=355307)

Hi everyone! This is my first TL blog post, and it’s a week “late”, but I’d like to share my journey and photos from the NASL Season 3 Grand Finals near Toronto, Canada.

I ended posting a LOT more photos here than I’d thought I would, but I hope you enjoy them!

The full gallery is viewable here: Link <= there are a few more photos there, so feel free to browse the album!

- Journey to Toronto, Canada

The first part of my journey began with a flight from Vancouver, British Columbia all the way to Toronto, Ontario. That’s #YVR to #YYZ if you know the airport codes. From there, it was a quick airport shuttle ride (which I missed, at first) from Pearson International Airport to the Four Points Sheraton hotel where the NASL people would be staying.

Flying Air Canada to #YYZ

An airborne iPhoto

- Waiting for NASL to start

Line-em up!

Morning line-up for Day 1 of NASL Grand Finals

 
Entering the venue (International Centre – located in Mississauga, Ontario (next to Toronto))

As I was walking around before the festivities began, I came across some computers that they were using either for WCS Canada or the CSL Nationals 

 
GoSu.Ostojiy // Quantic’s DdoRo

Clutch started amping up the crowd, and Mr. Bitter and Rotterdam took their seats at the casting desk. It was almost time to begin!

Mr. Bitter getting a camera photo of the crowd 

But first, some Day[9] crowd control 

Day[9] wants YOU.

- Day 1 NASL quarter-finals and WCS Canada

The first match up was SK.MC vs EG.Puma

MC coming down the red carpet for the first time

Awaiting the President Protoss // MC, the boss Toss, coming down the red carpet

And then I whipped out my camera just in time for a random iNcontrol & IdrA sighting 

Leaders – n. Visionaries who go against the crowd for the greater good (of #esports)

And then it was time to hear the iNdrA (IdrA / iNcontrol) casting duo. I thought they were on a roll that weekend. I remember thinking to myself, “Man, IdrA is totally in the casting groove right now”. Good stuff!

iNcontrol and IdrA getting ready to get their casting on

NASL had matches from WCS Canada (and maybe CSL Nationals) in the back of the venue up on a big stage so that people could watch them there.

Root (Slush?) vs… someone? Man, I only know DdoRo, Ostojiy, Huk, and Scarlett (and DdoRo has his name on his back)

What they DIDN’T show you on stream was the hot dog guy with his food stand in front of the entrance. There was a concession area inside the venue, but I’m sure this guy made lots of money as well. I went outside and snapped that pic, and then when I came back in it was time for… LIQUID’HERO  Since I came from the outside, I decided to wait from the back instead of returning to my seat up front. In the end, I got to get REALLY close to him (almost right next to him, if I remember correctly)!

NASL hot dog guy // Liquid’Hero getting ready to walk the red carpet

Liquid’Hero fighting!

But Stephano ended up taking out Liquid.Hero 

Dat guy…

SlayerS.Puzzle vs Liquid.Ret was up next. Here’s Liquid.Ret coming down the red carpet.

And then it was time for what all of Canada had been waiting for…

We’re waiting for him!

…but first, SlayerS.Alicia 

He’s so cute and cuddly 

Not the ‘Hero we deserved, but the one we needed?…

/cuemusic Here he comes, to save the day!

Magnificent in triumph…

But sadly, SlayerS.Alicia is a PvP monster and HuK’s aggressive style failed to find any cracks in his armor  And thus, our beloved Monsieur Loranger went out 0-3 to Alicia.

Devestated in defeat  - you’ll get ‘em next time, HuK!

- Day 1 NASL semi-final matches
And with that, we had our top 4 NASL semi-finalists. First up, SK.MC vs Mill.Stephano *shivers*

Stephano and the Boss Toss

In the midst of the carnage and destruction that is MC vs Stephano, I found a brief spot of peace

We found love in a hopeless place…

When I found this photo yesterday, I found it extra hilarious (after reading about all the complaints from stream viewers after the event) and I knew exactly what to caption it:

NASL sound guy? :O

The other semi-finals match was SlayerS.Alicia vs Liquid’Ret. SlayerS.Alicia ended up taking the PvZ match.

SlayerS.Alicia trying to give MC a run for the title of “Boss Toss”

Oh, and look who decided to show up in front of me? Soe and Day[9]  I tweeted this picture last night and Soe retweeted me! *swoons*

Soe + Day[9] = Doe 

After the event finished ~10:30PM, Day[9] told the crowd to not crowd around inside but to wait for him outside the venue. And lo and behold, after a short wait, a wild Day[9] appeared!

Day[9] with some random fans

That guy looks SO scared, lol // There’s one more photo, but I don’t think we need to see where this leads…

Day[9] signing my friend’s phone and making a drawing of his favorite Starcraft unit for my other friend

I bought some $1 store Canada flags and wrote on them for various people. Here, Day[9] is holding one I made for him and one I made for Megumixbear (who wasn’t able to make it to the NASL Grand Finals). He also signed my Canada flag that I was waving on both days in front of the casters’ desk.

See? I fit under his chin 

Day[9] is one intense Starcraft personality. The event ended around 10:30PM and he stayed past 1AM I think to sign things for fans. He was really interactive, too, and would chat and be really friendly with EACH fan. He’s definitely good to his fans  And then he retweeted me after the weekend, too *swoons again*

- Day 2 at the NASL Grand Finals

WHEW! Ok, that does it for Day 1. Day 2 was actually quite a bit lighter in terms of NASL content. At least, my photo count went down quite a bit for that day (and I made more signs to hold up for the stream viewers)!

There was the Tribes: Ascend Grand Finals match, cast by HiRez.Bart and Fishstix. I actually quite like Tribes: Ascend and play it a bit, too. You can check out the main gallery link for those pics, though.

First up was Liquid’Ret vs. SK.MC, cast by Soe and Day[9], I think?

Fusion core dance

Frodan and Day[9] // Camera phone pic of Soe, Day[9], and the flag he signed for me 

Liquid’Ret, the people’s champion

neobowman sitting on the red carpet

MC is good at vortices. GG!

I know what you’ve all been wondering - “What does the NASL hotdog guy like? They never showed him on stream!” Well, never fear, I’ve got you covered:

NASL hotdog guy, up close and personal

And then it was time for the Grand Finals match! Here comes SlayerS.Alicia…

Refueling the BitterDam

And in between a break, here came one of the most memorable moments for me this NASL. I was already sitting in the front row (SO thankful for those seats!), and while I was standing up I asked Rotterdam if I could get a quick picture. He happily obliged, which resulted in the following:

Rotterdam and Mr. Bitter – not just really, really, ridiculously, good-looking #Zoolanderquote

Maybe they SHOULD quit their day jobs…

And then it was time for Stephano to come down!

Clutch & Lauren // Comment allez vous, Stephano?

And as quickly as that, it was over. 4-0 Stephano over Alicia. Protoss’, cover your eyes!

Stephano right after shaking SlayerS.Alicia’s hand (as Stephano wins NASL Season 3)

And thus commenced the first inaugural NASL post-finals on-stage DANCE PART-AY :O

Let the champagne flow (I got hit by champagne in the front row, heh heh)!

Stephano after winning NASL Season 3 and $30,000

Champagne, champagne everywhere…

…and not a drop to drink.

I also have a photo of one of the NASL organizers scrambling to throw a black cloth over the caster computers to save it from the champagne, lol  (you can check my gallery link for that one)

The infamous on-stage dance party…

I don’t know if this was shown on stream, but a little bit into the “dance party”, Stephano actually crouched down and had to stay down for I think at least half a minute because he was so overcome with emotion. I managed to snag this shot during that moment:

Stephano overcome with emotion (he had to stay crouched down for maybe half a minute to regain his composure)

He likes to move it, move it… (from Madagascar 1 & 2, which my 2-year old niece here in Ontario has recently educated me on)

Gretorp and NASL <3 Canada

NASL <3′s NASL

Yup.

- Some extra stuff from behind the scenes

I wasn’t allowed onto the top level of the stage after the event was over, so I had to reach up high and get the best shot I could of inside the stage booth. This is the one Stephano was in.

A sneak peek inside the NASL stage booth

Look who I found in the normal spectator area! It’s Mr. Bitter! There weren’t too many fans around at this point, and only myself and another guy seemed to be interested in getting his autograph, so this was a great time for me to give him my custom $1 store Canada flags I made for him and Rotterdam (which he passed along for me  ).

Mr. Bitter! With my custom Canada flags for him and Rotti!

I found Liquid’Hero just outside the curtains to the back stage area, so I asked him for a photo before I lost my nerve!

Who’s photobombing me and Liquid’Hero in the back? :O

And my fellow Canadian, Chris Ostojic! From the University of Western Ontario (I’ve visited their campus, before) 

GoSu.Ostojiy – go Western! (UWO)

THE END

Epilogue: So, since I was staying at the NASL featured hotel (and since @JawesomeArt was telling me that he had drinks with IdrA and iNcontrol at the hotel bar for a few hours before the first day of the event), I decided to stop by the hotel bar and see who I could “run into”. Well, I was able to run into (a somewhat tipsy) Rotterdam and Quantic.DdoRo while I was there. And then I found IdrA and iNcontrol at a back table and gave them the Canada flags I made for them! They were chilling with Scarlett and Liquid’Ret  Oh yeah, and x6.MaximusBlack was there, too.

If you look carefully, you can see EG.iNcontrol & EG.IdrA (back left table) and x6.MaximusBlack (center screen) 

So, in summary, NASL was a GREAT experience for me. It was especially great for me as a Canadian, and this was my first ever esports event, so it was a bit of a dream come true to be able to break into the national anthem with my fellow Canadians spontaneously (on Day 2)  I was able to get WAY closer to the “celebrities” and SC personalities than I had hoped to be able to, and it was surprising how being here at this event in person was a bit of a springboard for me to interact with a few of them on social media after the event, too! I was able to get on Inside the Game with djWHEAT, IdrA, and iNcontrol last week and talk a bit about it (and they remembered my $1 store Canada flags *swoon*).

So I was definitely very thankful to everyone involved with putting on the NASL weekend and felt very blessed to have a good experience there 

Lecrae & 116 – “Man Up Anthem”

Ripped off from my own Facebook wall post (which was a re-post of my own retweet of @Lecrae). See why my blog is called “Total Rip-Off” now?

There’s something moving about LITERALLY seeing a MOVEMENT of men (watch till the end of the video for that). I love this song, but I still only understand like 50% of it

RT @lecrae NEW VIDEO 116 “Man Up Anthem” http://bit.ly/rsRPhg #Manup

Reach Records

reachrecords.com

Check out the new video for “Man Up Anthem” Feat. Lecrae, Trip Lee, Tedashii, PRo, KB, and Andy Mineo. “Man Up Anthem” was the lead single from the Man Up soundtrack availabel now on iTunes. For more info on the Man Up campaign visit http://www.manup116.com/

 

It’s funny how a lot of the artists in this video will move a hand back and forth according to the rapid beat as they’re rapping. I actually do something like that a lot when I’m singing/moving along to music.

Except half the time it’s to Taylor Swift (not rap) muahhahaha

Rogers drops the price to $129.99 for the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE?

Background:

Yesterday, Mobilesyrup reported that Rogers had finally dropped their 3-year contract price for the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE from $199.99 to $179.99. That made it more competitive with the other carriers such as Bell, which is offering the original Galaxy S II for $99.95 and Telus, which is offering the Galaxy S II X (which is almost identical to the Rogers’ version, sans LTE) for $99.99 on 3-year contracts.

In fact, I’ve heard of Best Buy’s “Free Phone Fridays” which have offered Bell’s Galaxy S II on a 3-year contract for $0.01 (that price is being advertised right now on BestBuy.ca).

Yesterday’s price ($179.99):

So with that knowledge, I went down to my local Rogers Plus store in Burnaby, BC last night (Nov 8) to pick up my Rogers reserved Galaxy S II LTE which had arrived that day. When it came time to ring up the price, it indeed said “$179.99″, but I had to come back the next day because I couldn’t remember the PIN for the credit card I wanted to put it on (I only use that card for my Rogers bill).

Today’s price ($129.99):

Imagine my surprise when I went down this morning (Nov 9) to purchase the phone and the price came up to only $129.99! I was surprised, and I even confirmed the price with the Rogers employee and he couldn’t explain why it was different from the price just last night.

Has Rogers decided again to lower the Galaxy S II LTE contract price to be more competitive with the other carriers?

Receipt:

Here’s a low quality picture of my receipt (taken from the borrowed iPhone 3G that I’ve been using while waiting for my Galaxy S II LTE to arrive):

Smooth Gestures (Mouse) for Chrome

This was my favorite part of Firefox-  being able to use mouse gestures as a plug-in for the browser. When I switched to Chrome, I don’t think I was able to find any extensions for it that let me use mouse gestures, but I stuck with Chrome anyways because of it’s super fluid feel (e.g. dragging tabs around feels OH so quick).

But for some reason, I decided to Google “mouse gestures for Chrome” today to see if anyone had developed anything. And voila, here’s the best one that I’ve found:

Smooth Gestures - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lfkgmnnajiljnolcgolmmgnecgldgeld

It’s free and it works pretty well!

My thoughts on the Rogers Reservation System

My (i.e. potentially mine) iPhone 4S finally shipped. It just left Mount Hope, Ontario. Who knows when it will get here… *facepalm*

I was #245 in the NATION for a pre-reserved Rogers iPhone 4S 32GB (Black) and now my phone will probably arrive almost a week later (Edit: It’s the next morning and my phone appears to have reached YVR airport) than the ppl who walked in to Future Shop this afternoon to get a (surprise) Rogers iPhone 4S…

Good thing my hope for happiness is not invested in a phone (but I AM upset about how the Rogers representative on the “Rogers Red Board” blog is deflecting all blame for their reservation system’s poor execution)

See: http://redboard.rogers.com/2011/rogers-reservation-system-iphone-4s-update/comment-page-6/#comments
(click on “Show Comments” at the bottom)