Alfreido's Blog

So, my name is Ben, and apparently I run a blog that hasn’t seen an update since July 2009. My bad. Well, considering my Macbook Pro is in the service centre being fixed (a story for another time), I’m using the little netbook and it can’t do much except browse internet and write a blog. So, for lack of a better subject for now, I present to you a brief summary of what has been happening in the last 6 months:

• My first-ever produced album, Emcee Red – State to State EP was finished and released in late November 2009. To the right, you can see me holding the very second copy (Emcee Red got the first). We had a huge night at the Rosemount on the 27th November to promote the EP, and we managed to sell a few T-Shirts and copies of the EP. We still have plans for a WA tour to promote the EP some more some time early this year. You can check out a couple of tracks on our Triple J Unearthed page, and we would appreciate if you take the time to listen and review the tracks.
• I have become a shareholder of the company I work for, Bam Creative, along with many of my colleagues. We completed an employee buyout in late 2009 and it has made for a very interesting start of this year, and there’s definitely a sense of new direction and a fresh start within the company. It’s created a new-found sense of excitement throughout the staff, which will only make for a much more happy and productive staff.
• I don’t know if you already know, but apparently the arbitrary year count has clocked another year and it’s 2010 now. Just making sure you knew.
• I have started a musical side project for tracks with a more electronic, dance, trance or chillout sound – Cold Presence. My latest track, Marathon, is freely available to listen to (not use in your own productions unless you wish to contact me and organise a deal ). Listen to Cold Presence – Marathon now.

Alright, that’s all I have to share for now. I will definitely strive to have a more substantial post, and more frequent posting, soon.

Oh, and another update, I have decided to retire Grand Theft Alfreido. It, ultimately, turned out to be an experiment which failed, as shortly after I started, I began to lose my love for gaming. I’m a shell of my former gamer. These days, I occasionally play a little Wii (nothing suss) every now and again, and will occasionally jump on the PC to play some multiplayer if friends are playing, but more often than not, I’m working these days, either on web work or music, and the rest of the time is spent on life.

Any gaming related posts will now be back on this site again, if they ever appear again.

On the plus side, it means I don’t have to pay to renew the domain again either.

Well, I haven’t updated this blog in a disgustingly long time, and I apologize, so let’s update the sitrep…

Alfreido.com is now on a new server! I have recently purchased a VPN server and have been learning the ropes of system administration. It’s been a rather long and tough road, don’t get me wrong, but the pay-off is now when something works – like say, this website – I feel like I’ve actually achieved something. Also, I can appreciate the effort system admins put in to make sure all this shit works, cos there’s a lot that can fuck up on a server and any one thing can bring the whole thing right down. Scary, but very interesting. Hell, if you didn’t realise I was a nerd, you should now

I have a couple of posts on timed release coming up, so check in occasionally, I’m hoping to turn a new leaf.

I’ve generally been a quite vocal fan of iTunes, the music management software provided our Microsoft-emulating friends at Apple, but I’ve never been a fan of their DRM-encoded (digital rights management) music library available on iTunes Store. I’ve begrudgingly put up with it as iTunes went hand-in-hand with my iPhone before I lost it, and I want to support my favourite artists. Although I understand the “record companies get most money, artists get none” excuse most people make when downloading music, I don’t subscribe to it. You either support the artist and give them a little money, or you download their material illegaly and give them nothing.

So I’m quite delighted by the latest news that Apple has finally agreed with those 3 big record companies with gold-plated walls in their HQs to release their music DRM-free. I truthfully believe this is a step in the right direction, and might be a factor in getting people back into paying for music again. Songs in iTunes are hardly expensive these days, less than a 600ml of Coke each ($1.69) and whole albums cost less than a ticket to the movies ($16.99). Of course, there’ll still be cheap-skates, but there’s not a lot you can do about them.

The main gripe I have with iTunes at the moment is its insistence at using AAC format for the music and the cost of TV shows for download. Technically, the AAC format is more advanced than MP3, so why don’t I like it? Just simply because it isn’t as supported yet. Some of my music players refuse to play AAC, so I’m forced to use a converter to make it MP3. In terms of the TV shows, $90 for LOST? You’re kidding.

By the way, I’m not an Apple sales person, as much as some of my work buddies would like me to be. I’ll use anything if its easy and cheap enough, and at the moment, iTunes is. Get on board!

Well, hope everyone had a great New Years, I know I did… I lost my iPhone and got way too drunk. The moments of reminiscence on New Years Eve just helps to remind you of all the things in life that really shit you, so now… here in all their shitty glory, are the latest things that really shit me..

Suprise Endings - They were good back in the days when Saw came out, now every movie producer thinks the movie isn’t complete unless there’s a suprise ending, like say… the man and the women finally kiss, but OH LOOK, there’s a truck that’s just come out of nowhere and flattened them both. Wow… suprise ending! Interestingly, the suprise ending of Slumdog Millionaire is that there was no suprise ending. They lived happily ever after.

PETA - Obviously these morons forgot the memo that humans are animals as well. Every time I hear something about these violent vegos, I just think to myself how these people class themselves as ethical when all they do is bag out celebrities and famous pieces. Last I heard, a jaguar will still attack any human – PETA member or not.

Bundaburg Red - It isn’t that smooth…

AustDomains - Do you have to make it so hard for someone to register themselves as a name server?

An article I wrote for the Australian Web Industry Association’s Web Mixed Grill, a blog publishing 1 article about making websites per day up until Christmas, has just gone online. Have a read of it here, if you are interested in web development and open-source software.

Hey Subway, when I order a Meatball Sub, I’ll let you know if I want bones included. Until then, would you mind keeping bones out of the meat?

Having dealt with many different markup lanugages used in user-submitted content over the years as both a web user and a web developer, and currently working on a project or two which will require a markup language in their forum posts and comments, I think it might be a good whinge discussion to find out which of the major markup code systems is best for your users and also for your developers.

But wait, there’s more…