Mayhem-Online

Archive for June, 2007

It’s amazing what a minor tweak can do to your download speed.

I’ve been having problems for a while in relation to the line quality and the frequent dropouts. It got to a point where it drove me up the wall. I knew that on my account there was a possibility to mess around with the line itself in order to get the best out of it. There were a number of options before but I never knew which one to pick. This time when I had a look, they’ve renamed the options and given a description of what each one does, which makes it easier for me to decipher and understand (being stupid and all about such things). I was set on the ‘ADSL2++ Standard’ setting, which is the normal setting for anyone on the ADSL2++ plan. However there was an option that I could switch too for specifically the problems I was experiencing, that is it was a Standard + extras type of setting to help stabilise the line so I wouldn’t lose the connection that often. The turn around after picking the setting was probably about a couple of hours before it set in. My line dropped out (again) and then once it picked up again, I suddenly found I was receiving incredible speeds! Now previously the highest speed I recorded was around 90kbps and on one or two occasions it did pop up over the 100kbps mark, but that was about it. And that was downloading 4 torrents at the same time. Right now I’m downloading 4 torrents and my top speed is 385kbps. A SIGNIFICANT increase in speed compared to what I previously got! The other day I managed to download approximately 25 anime episodes in the space of 1hour, which amazed the hell out of me.

It might seem rather boring and mundane to some who experience high speed internet all the time, but in all the different plans and ISPs and modems that I’ve used, I’ve NEVER reached a speed as high as this before. Never has it ever gone over the 120kbps (which is probably the maximum I’ve ever gone before) so I’m pretty excited. The only downside now is that its eating up my download allowance a lot quicker!

Since the Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend, I’ve had the flu, but getting in to see my Doctor was pretty much impossible. And I’m not keen on just going to a local clinic as they seem to treat you like cattle, in and out with very little kind words or consideration. Anyway, I had a couple of days off but returned to work (I may have mentioned this in an earlier post), only because nobody could do part of my job. It didn’t help my health much, I went back to work for a full day and then again the following day for half a day only just to clear up a few things. I took the Friday off before the weekend in the hopes that it would clear up. It didn’t, the coughing got worse and I started to get back aches which is often a sign of bronchitis setting in. I came into work last Monday, but had an awful day with several coughing fits during the day and again that night (which left me without much sleep). I went into work the next day though I was intending to ring up my Doctor and make an appointment. Unfortunately she was still booked out, not only for that day but for the rest of the week. Since there are other Doctors there I managed to get an appointment with one of the other Doctors to see me that day. She wasn’t terribly nice, but I can understand that it being flu season and all they would be extremely busy and under a bit of stress themselves. She determined that I definitely had bronchitis and sent me home. I ended up taking the entire week off – it just seemed stupid to go back to work only to make things worse again. On top of that the air conditioning at the office is terrible at the moment. We are on the lower floors of the building and yet we are the coldest floors in the building. Of course with me having a fever, I couldn’t feel the cold like everyone else lol. They were all in coats and scarves inside for the whole day! Anyway, thanks to some antibiotics I seem to have gotten over the worst of it now. I still have a slight cough and my nose runs a bit but I don’t have the mass coughing fits anymore so it’ll be back to work tomorrow…. *sigh* -_-

On another note, I watched the movie “Pan’s Labyrinth”. It was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro and its about a young girl who is fascinated by fairy tales and tends to spend most of her time reading fairy tale books. It seems to be her only escape from such a ruthless situation she finds herself in. With her father dead in the war, her mother ends up marrying a Captain, who is not a terribly nice fellow at all. Her mother is carrying his child and he is positive that it will be a son. After moving to their new house in amongst a forest, she meets up with a ‘fairy’ (its an insect at first that transforms itself into what she sees as a fairy shape after showing it her fairy-tale book) who then guides her into a labyrinth where she meets this faun. To be honest, if I met a faun like that when I was a kid I’d be running the other way! The faun tells her that she is the Princess of their Kingdom who has been resurrected but cannot return until she completes three tasks. If she doesn’t complete them by the next full moon she will forever remain in the human world. In the ‘real world’, her father is part of a military group who are at the brink of civil war (this is set in Spain around 1944). In the household is a maid who is working with the resistance as her brother is their leader. I can tell you one thing about this movie and that is its full of a lot of violence, its definitely no kiddies movie. The Captain is brutal especially in his ways of dealing with people such as suspected criminals and rebels he’s taken hostage. The tasks that the young girl undertakes aren’t exactly light and fluffy either, especially when she meets up with a devilish creature who has eyes in the palms of its hands and eats babies and children (as depicted by the diagrams on the wall of the room she visits). The movie itself is amazing in its detail and dealing with the real and fantastical in blending them together. As one person put it, this movie shows how a child deals with such a frightening situation, by using their imagination to help see them through it all. If you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend renting a copy on DVD.

My favourite Visual Kei band The GazettE have released a new PV for an older song. Their album is also due out soon which I’d love to get my hands on but may have to rely on some of the online j-music sites first before I can afford to buy my own copy.

Their song is called “Chizuru” and its the b-side to their last release “Hyena”. The song itself is on the soundtrack for a Japanese horror movie called “The Apartment”, and we get to see bits of the movie throughout the PV. The boys look great in straight out black outfits with a touch of white, and the music itself is awesome, but then again I’m biased lol.  Ruki looks gorgeous as always and sounds beautiful. I love his voice! The clips we see from the movie are enough to give you an idea of what you’re in for should you see it. Lots of dead people, weird things happening, dark rooms, scary people and the leading character seems to be a woman (though it looks like her tormentor is a woman too). It looks like one freaky movie. It was released last month I believe, and the official site is here www.apartment-movie.com. Gazette’s newest album “Stacked Rubbish” is released on 4th July. The special edition version has a DVD included in it which has a couple of music videos. There’s also some special booklet and a nice limited edition sleeve.

Devil May Cry the new anime series based on the game of the same name was aired last week. The episode itself was aired earlier in the month as a promo, but was officially aired on the 14th June. One group has subbed it (they subbed the promo and then they released a version 2 after the official ep had been aired), though they seemed to have done a rush job so I can’t say it was a great copy. The animation isn’t too bad, its quite enjoyable actually. Lots of demon monsters and blood splattering about the place and Dante doing his famous poses with his gun Ebony & Ivory and his sword Rebellion. I can’t really say too much about the show just yet, one episode is not enough to give a true opinion, though I’ve heard a couple of people complaining saying its a load of rubbish, though the animation itself is quite good. The first episode introduces us to Dante and his co-worker Morrison. Their first mission is to protect a young girl named Patty who is to inherit a great fortune. Along the way they are attacked by multiple demons but all destroyed fairly easily by Dante. That’s pretty much it in terms of the story – there’s not a lot involved in it, but its supposed to be an introduction to Dante’s agency called Devil May Cry, and the young girl who ends up joining them. I thought the episode was okay, pretty cool in terms of action, and I don’t mind all the blood gushing all over the place lol. Will have to see how this series develops.