Sunday 19 April 2009

Photoshop

God, I love Photoshop (even though I suck at it—art's not really my thing). I was just experimenting with a few brushes I downloaded off Deviantart (they're not mine—I give all the credit to the makers of the brushes) and I created this really weird image. I think it's kinda pretty, in a strange sort of way. A mixture of pink and blue... what could I do with this?
Anyway, it was just an experiment—one that sucked really badly, but whatever.
One of my favourite images that I made is this one (my siggy! :P):

But you don't have to say anything *wink*. Isn't it pretty, with all the stars and stuff... and faded corners? I really like the flourish to the left of the text. I think it was a nice touch, not what I usually do. I usually overdo it, but this time I tried to keep it simple. Maybe I went a little overboard with the stars, but whatever (and the stars and flourish are brushes I downloaded—not mine).

So, here it is. A beginner like me can even make random stuff like these with the help of photoshop. It's really a lot of fun. I'm not proclaiming to be an artist or anything, it's just that, with the help of a few brushes, filters, and fonts, you can practically make anything on photoshop.

Saturday 18 April 2009

Starcraft 2!!

I just went back to the Starcraft 2 site today, and I found the April Fools Joke Blizzard had put up. The Terra-Tron, who sounds a lot like Megatron. My favourite quotes that the Terra-Tron says is "We are more than meets the eye," or "Terratron, Terrorize!" Love that one.

Anyway, Starcraft is one of my most favourite video games ever! I've been playing it a lot since I was young. My favourite character is the villain in Starcraft: Brood War, Sarah Kerrigan. She used to be a psychic human who was taken in by the confederates (the government for the humans in the game) to be trained as an assasin, but she escaped and joined the rebel group The Sons of Korhol. Anyway, in one of the missions in the original Starcraft, Arcturus Mengsk, the leader of the rebel group, betrayed her and left her for dead as the evil alien Zerg creatures surrounded the planet. But, instead of killing her, they experimented on her and made her into one of them, an evil vengeance-driven zerg. After the Overmind (The leader of the Zerg) was destroyed, she used the rest of the heroes in the game to destroy the reincarnated baby Overmind and make her the leader of the zerg, making them unlikely allies. Then she turned back on them and killed half of the heroes in the game, and left the others to survive as a warning. She is who they made her into. That just goes to show... what goes around comes around.
Some of my favourite quotes are:
"Kerrigan:
Oh, come on, Arcturus. Did you really think that I would allow you to come into power again? You practically fed me to the Zerg on Tarsonis. You're directly responsible for the hell I've been through. Did you honestly think that I would let you get away with that?
Arcturus Mengsk:
But you said revenge was secondary to defeating the UED!
Kerrigan:
I lied. I liberated this planet because it was the UED's primary staging point, not because I was under any obligation to you. I used you to destroy the Psi Disrupter and now that I've got my broods back, you're no longer necessary for my plans. I think I'll leave you here, Arcturus, among the ashes of your precious Dominion. I want you to live to see me rise to power and I want you to always remember, in your most private moments, that it was you who let me loose in the first place."
And...

"Kerrigan:
You know, Admiral, I think I'll just massacre your remaining troops and watch you die in agony. How would that be?
Admiral DuGalle:
You vastly underestimate me, my dear.
Kerrigan:
I don't think so, Admiral. You see, at this point, I'm pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe. And not all of your little soldiers or space ships will stand in my way again."
And, also,

"Kerrigan:
Once again I stand atop the broken bodies of my enemies... Victorious but not unscarred. The Earth-borne Directorate has been destroyed. And the Overmind lies dead and trampled beneath the ashes of Char. As for my unlikely allies, I think that I shall allow them a reprieve. For in time I will seek to test their resolve, and their strengths. They will all be mine in the end, for I am the Queen of Blades. None shall ever dispute my rule again."
Starcraft is one of the best video games ever! My second favourite would probably be Prince of Persia, even though the fourth one is a little too easy, since there's barely any combinations for different attacks.

Friday 17 April 2009

Hello Again

Okay, so maybe I didn't keep my promise about the whole "months" thing, but school had started again, and exams... and all that shit, so I didn't really have the time, but since this is like an online diary with vague references about me (since this is online—safety matters, even though everyone pretends to ignore the adults that come in every month for "internet safety" assemblies, with their laptops and powerpoint presentations), but more about my interests, I'm sure no one would mind (ha—not that there is anyone to mind).
So, now I'm starting up again, and I'm probably going to disappear for months again... it's like a pattern. Write a few posts in a matter of hours or days, and then disappear for months.
Anyway, guess what I'm here to talk about? That's right: Books!! Don't you
love books? I know I do *grin*.

So, I finally got the next book in the Cassie Palmer Series—trampling over people isn't that bad a crime is it?—and now I'm here to share what I read with the world—without spoiling all of it, of course. So think of this as an enlightened experience (even though it really is just a typical review, but whatever).
In the beginning, we read about Cassie going back in time to get some help from the former Pythia, Agnes. But all Agnes says is to "trust her clairvoyant abilities," so that she doesn't mess up the future, by being able to see how the future would be if she changed it. Anyway, Cassie is assigned a body guard by the delectable Mircea, Marco, who I think isn't all that bad for a new character. Throughout the book she keeps getting these apocalyptic visions given to her by her power, but she doesn't know what's going to happen. Also, for part of the book, Pritkin and Cassie experience how it's like to be in each other's bodies :P. And that's all the spoilers I'm going to give you.
As usual with Karen Chance, and what I'm beginning to love about her, the book is a complete action-packed adventure. Cassie goes from one problem to the next with barely any rest in between, if any at all.