So Opera9 has been out for while and I’ve been giving it a try. Why on earth they have a little flash animated “release party” on their site, I don’t know. It seems kind of silly to me, but that’s besides the point. I’ll just take this time to give my mini-review of the three biggest features Opera9 has been touting–without mentioning other browsers, because at the moment, I’m sick of reading comparisons. You can compare them yourself if you’d really like and I’m sure your thoughts on it would be better than anything I can rake up.

Widgets
This feature seemed kind of silly and kind of cool at the same time. Silly in the fact that there are dozens of other widget-providing programs out there, so why Opera too? Since the feature is still new, there isn’t a huge selection so I’ll give it some time. There is one widget however, that I found to be very handy. It’s the “Colors of the Rainbow” (cool name -_-) widget. It pretty much opens up a small little color palette like the one in photoshop.

Very cool for those times i need a hexadecimal number and I don’t want to open up photoshop. I know there are a few sites out there that will do the same thing for you, but this nice to have. The one thing that would make this cooler is an eyedropper. That would be awesome.

Content Blocker
This is a pretty cool new feature. For the most part, ads on sites don’t bother me too much unless they cover content I’m trying to read, or they have audio that freak the crap outta me when I least expect it. Usually I just have the refresh the page and hope I get an audioless ad this time around.

All you do is right click, select “Block Content,” shift+click anything you want off. It works fine for the mininova site, but when I tried it on animenewsnetwork.com, it did nothing. I haven’t testing it extensively aside from those, but it seems it has a bit more tweaking to do.

Bittorrent
Now this one surprised me the most. I was curious about how they would implement it. I tried it out by dling Naruto from bakaupdates.org. Pretty much, whenever you click on a .torrent link, Opera will open and download it like anyother download. It does give you a few options though:

That seems to be the extent of the options though. Here is how it keeps track of the dl:

As you can see, it’s pretty basic. For those of you like me, who are used to full-out programs like Azureus which lets you select which files you want to dl, who you want to upload to, prioritize, and all that goodness and much more, this will seem to be a bit… lacking. The worst part is Opera is slower when torrents are open. An aboslute no no. For now I will stick to a seperate program for torrents.Overall, the three biggest features did not impress me much, but the small little changes they have made through the browser are great, and I’m liking it very much. I’m still discovering small tricks and treats everyday. The only thing I wish they updated is the RSS manager/reader. It’s not very suave and could use some more options and additions.

Other than that, Opera, “You’re still my #1!” *does the BoA stance*

There are lots of reasons why I don’t like myspace. I rather not go into them, but I must say my main complaint is it’s sheer ugliness. For those rare times I’ve bothered to check up on (and even sign up for an account just to see certain content! x_X) or stumble onto someone’s myspace, I have been horrified to find the most awful conglomeration of badly photoshopped photos, random blurbs, facts, pointless comments, and music. I understand the need for customization freedoms, but really, they need to put some restraints or structure on those sites. o.O So gaudy!

I especially like how half the comments on every page go something like, “Hey why haven’t you added me yet?” -_- Some friend system, yes?

But for those who still feel adding people like paris hilton to your “friend” list just for the sake of adding someone, is not enough, Vy and Kim have compiled a most useful how to:

The Art of myspacing
The secret ancient techniques of how to get more friends/comments on myspace.

I must say, according to my observations, they seem to hit it spot on. A fun read for myspace nonfans. hehe

My apologies to the few of you who actually myspace responsibly. You probably make of the 2% of myspace users who do.

So cute! I couldn’t help myself after seeing meomi.com in all it’s cuteness.

Anyhow, Dai Hoi is just around the corner (dai hoi についてちょっと不安です。x.X) so our band practice sessions are becoming more frequent. Today was especially cool since Thay Diap brought his buddy Bret(sp?) from Northwood to help out with music mechanics and whatnot. And of course reminding us of the more important spiritual aspect of praise. Very cool. Although I wished he had more tips for vocals, but I suppose that just means its alright. I’m looking forward to it though. I hope everyone can come!

Don’t mind the Japanese blurbs (or squares for some of you). It’s just for my practice and not really necessary to the post. Hopefully I can look back one day and blench at my grammar.

Mosaik – Loell Some song I found somewhere, but I kind of liked it. Makes nice background music. If you like it too, visit the mosaik site and get more free songs.

こにちわみんあ！このpost日本語でいいですか。日本語をれんしゅしただけど。。。はい。。。

Anyhow, there goes my bad attempt at writting in my broken Japanese. *sigh. One day I shall be fluent! Just you wait…

I added a few more games and whatnot to my games page, so check them out if you’re bored. And while I’m in the mood…

Would you go in?

Oh yes. Music on my site. I’ve been updating my wordpress and checking out plugins and whatnot, so I thought I’d add a nifty little player to play whatever I’ve been listening to. If you ever hear anything you like, let me know and I’ll send you the not so compressed version.

	Shimokawa Mikuni – All the Way OP to Kino’s Journey. Very cute song with some cool piano towards the beginning.
	Sakamoto Maaya – Pepper Strech Very cool instrumental song from her 23ji no Ongaku (Music for the 23rd Hour) album with Yoko Kanno. It’s very Kanno-esque and very cool.
	Suga Shikao – August Serenade I think this is from the xxxHOLiC movie. The title is very fitting, it really does sound like an August Serenade.
	Ally Kerr – The Sore Feet Song OP to Mushishi. Yes, it’s in english. Very relaxing and calming. The lyrics however, are rather extreem and don’t match if you listen carefully. Quite amusing.
	Rie Tanaka – Fields of Hope Insert song from Gundam SEED Destiny. Very pretty, and I love her voice. Kim calls it Japanese Enya. I see where she’s getting it.

Last saturday Kim’s cousin, Be, got married and I got a chance to go. It was pretty neat seeing as I’ve never actually got to participate in any asian weddings before. Luckily I only had to carry in some grapes hehe. I thought I’d post up some pics. Some turned out better than others. I was too lazy to do thumbnails so you’ll have to bear with it.

The happy bride, groom, and company. This pic was taken at the bride’s house in Garland. It was super hot that day so no one wanted to be outside much. The groom lived all the way in Arlington so that was a fun drive. Although I swear we took the longest route possible to get there. The limo carrying the wedding party was extreemly slow on the inner roads.

Deanna, Be, and Kim!

Me and Dee.

Deanna, Kim’s brother, and Kim looking at something…

Here’s our little crew at the reception: (frm L-R) Kim, Vy, Deanna, Tina, and Me. Some people stole our tables while we were passing out the party favors and so we ended up getting booted to some table in the back corner. The reception consisted of the usual loud asian music, creepy old guys, and funny dancing. I’m sure you can imagine it.

My future roommates! Minus 1. We were running a bit late, but Vy still managed to do all our hairs within half an hour. Mad props Vy. She gave me a fun little Marilyn Monroe style that I liked very much.

Vy really liked it too.

Kim and Vy being silly. That cop seemed weirded out. Can’t blame him.

Kim and Be, in her party dress. ow ow! And Vy’s finger. x.X

And that was our night. A few little setbacks here and there, but overall, a fun night. Congrats to Be and her husband!