Blog Readability Test: Yours And Mine

Recently, my friend who happens to lurk around my blog sent me the results of an application that measures the level of education that is required to read a blog or a website (Phew! That was a mouthful). Apparently, all you have to do is input the URL of that specific blog or website, and then it gives you the results instantly. My friend took the test for me, and the result was shocking at first. It seems in order to understand my blog you must have a high school level of reading education or up.

I was bumped!

However, my friend eased my worries by pointing out the fact that having a lower level means more accessibility to a wider range of audience, and that made me quite happy to be honest.

So, I took the initiative and did the test for several of my favorite blogs. Now, if you feel that I have crossed the line in exposing your blog with such kind of information, please feel free to notify me and I’ll remove it as fast as possible. And please note that the credibility of this application is still undetermined; so don’t take the results too seriously. Otherwise, take a look at what I got so far:

• 2:48AM – Junior High
• Anything Goes – Genius
• Bojacob’s Den – Elementary School (WTF!)
• Couch Avenue – Junior High
• Erzulie: Seeing Red – High School
• Here, There, And Everywhere – Junior High
• Jewaira’s Boudoir – Junior High (Seriously, WTF!)
• Over-Egg The Pudding – High School
• The M Code – College (Post Grad)
• Z District – Junior High

So congratulations to 3baid, I guess, for having a Genius level that outmatches most blogs I can think of. It seems he is deeper than I originally thought, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since he comes up with his own quotes and personal sayings that are brimming with wisdom and intellectuality.

But still, that doesn’t hide the fact that the application is a little iffy…

New Blog: Gamer Quest

I finally did it!

I always wanted to have my own gaming blog but I always thought it’s a quite hassle to manage two blogs at the same time. But I finally got the urge and the guts to do it. You can say I was motivated by my fellow friend and blogger, Mohammed who has his own gaming blog, which I find it very interesting and nicely focused (not to mention his other game-related responsibilities). I know it’s going to be hard but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be exciting as well. Of course, I will not abandon Final Haven. I’m still going to update it as I always do, but if you crave for more gaming-centric posts, then Gamer Quest is your destination; although, I’ll still keep posting reviews about videogames in this blog as well. So, don’t worry, nothing will be changed in terms of format.

I hope you have a wonderful time there.

SFW Porn Ad [Or Is It?]

This is has got to be one of the funniest viral videos I’ve ever seen. The video claims to be SFW, but it is so NOT in my opinion. Watch it only if you are over 18 and/or have an incredible sense of humor. Otherwise, avert your eyes and go read something else. Hey, there’s always Archive.

My Weekend Pick-Ups

Another weekend, another show-off.  Since my Eid sucked ass, I decided to indulge myself with some purchases (and the idea that I have a limitless credit card access), so I bought some stuff that are bound to elevate my heart from the Eid blues. I wouldn’t lie to you, that actually worked and I feel much better thank you very much. Of course, it really helped that your family didn’t forget about you and the fact they transfer some dough to your bank account as an Eid surprise, or an Eideyah if you prefer. So, here goes:

• iPod Nano (8GB): Even though my iPod Touch serves me very well in the time of need, I always felt the need for a smaller MP3 player, and I thought the new iPod Nano would fill that void quite perfectly. Initially, I wanted to pick up a funkier color (i.e. orange, yellow, green) but the silver was the one that resonated with my senses strongly; it looked sleek, sexy, and cool. Plus, now that I have Nano, I can finally get the Nano + Nike Sport Kit.

• Men’s Health Magazine: Now that’s Ramadan is over, I can finally quit slacking off and hit the gym once again. And in order to get motivated, a Men’s Health magazine would do just that, but with Gerard Butler‘s excessive manliness and chiseled body on the cover, it seems I got intimated than motivated.

• Edge Magazine: Another great issue with great articles. The Heavy Rain article looks promising and appealing, and the special report of “How Nintendo fell out of love with the hardcore gamers” should provide an interesting read.

• Silent Hill 5: Homecoming: I’ve always been a huge fan of Silent Hill games, and I still am. With the American based ‘s “Double Helix” taken charger of developing the game instead of the original Japanese team, I was tempted, and hopefully the new direction of the game won’t fail my expectations or ruin the series for me. Expect a review anytime soon.

• Tomb Raider Legends (Used): I missed this game when it released on the PS2 two years ago, and now, I wanted to play it before I move to the much improved Anniversary, and gets my hype up for the new iteration of the series. The game cost me a measly $15. It should be good.

• Xbox360 Play & Charge: Now, that’s a purchase I won’t regret investing my money in. For the last month, the Xbox360 controller has been draining my supply of batteries, and this device should put an end to that.

• Post Office (Charles Bukowski): Fellow blogger Purg published an inviting review regarding this novel last summer and I’ve been keening on purchasing one for quite some time now, but I’ve always put if off for unapparent reason. With a new bargain price tag placed on the novel, I couldn’t resist and I had to buy one. I’ll probably read if after I’m done with City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.

Death Note: If Only It Happened Like That…

We would have been spared from all the drama. Although, I really love drama, and drama loves me.

Mechanical Spiders Are The Signs Of The Future

It seems that the future is, indeed, now and that the inevitable War of the Machines has come to pass. Sometime in June of this year, sixty foot arachnid appeared on a derelict building near Liverpool’s Lime Street station. The mechanical spider is the work of art collaborative La Machine, who’s previous work includes the Sultan’s Elephant, which captivated London in 2006. The £1.8 million robot was commissioned for the 2008 Capital of Culture celebrations, and is being billed as the highlights of the event.

Expected to “wake up” some day, the eight-legged monstrosity will descend on your House on Thursday night and begin exploring your neighborhood the day after, ending with a “spectacular finish”. I encouraged you to arm yourselves accordingly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going down into my concrete bunker.

• Click HERE to check out the Flickr set
• Click HERE for the BBC News script

Can You Feel The Poke Power?

I’ve been meaning in purchasing a new Nintendo DS Lite for quite some time now, and kinda ditch the old one I have that almost was running out of battery power, but I was waiting for the right “limited edition” bundle to pop up so I can grab one.

Not until today when I was strolling over at Gamestop where my “Poke-Instinct” detected the fearsome power of legendary species of time and space. I swiftly asked the lovely lady behind the counter on what kind of hidden legendary power they have in the storage room. She knew what I meant, because she shared my passion for “Poke-Love”. After a few seconds, she came back with Pokemon DSLite bundle that has both Dialga and Palkia beautifully engraved on the led cover. I resisted but I finally succumbed to this powerful “Poke-Pressure” that weakened my body and soul, and seemed to quickly regain all my powers (and some) when I purchased it. Of course, I had to buy Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen and Final Fantasy IV to properly compliment the impressive power I have in my hands.

And finally, this is where kids we get to recap on the new vocabulary that we learned today:

• Poke-Power
• Poke-Instinct
• Poke-Love
• Poke-Pressure

If I Were A Manga

• Inspired by Laialy_q8

The iTunes Shuffle Tag

• Tagged by Vixen

I consider blog tags as one of the best and worst inventions in the blogosphere ever created. If you are lucky, you might get a tag that shows off your coolness to the world, and if you are jinxed like me, you get a tag that can completely devastate your entire readership in one post. This tag however, can be a little bit of both (i.e. a double edge sword). But In the end, I think my list has a whole “WTF” vibe going on if you asked me.

The premise of this tag is to simply answer the following questions by setting your MP3 player/iTunes (probably your iPod) to shuffle and then pressing next on each question. You have to jot down the name of the song for each question no matter how embarrassing or humiliating that song is. The tag also required the blogger to tag another 5 people, but I’m going to simply skip it because I’m a lazy bum.

It begins!

Q1: If someone says, “is this okay”, you say?

• Song Title: The Battle For Everyone’s Soul
• Album: Persona 3 Original Soundtrack
• Artist: Shoji Meguro
• Genre: Videogame

Q2: What Would best describes your personality?

• Song Title: Candyman
• Album: Back To Basics
• Artist: Christina Aguilera
• Genre: Pop

Q3: What do you like in a guy/girl?

• Song Title: Legend of Zelda – Main Theme
• Album: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Original Soundtrack
• Artist: Super Smash Bros. Brawl Sound Team
• Genre: Videogame

Q4: How do you feel today?

• Song Title: Rise & Fall
• Album: Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace
• Artist: The Offspring
• Genre: Rock

Q5: What is your life’s purpose?

• Song Title: Kad Albi Ma’ah (She Took My Heart With Her)
• Album: Lealy Nahary (My Night, My Day)
• Artist: Amro Diab
• Genre: Arabic

Q6: What do your friends think of you?

• Song Title: Say Goodbye
• Album: .hack//sign Original Sound & Song Track 2
• Artist: Yuki Kajiura
• Genre: Anime

Q7: What do you think of your parents?

• Song Title: Kiss Me Goodbye
• Album: Final Fantasy XII (Original Soundtrack)
• Artist: Angela Aki
• Genre: Videogame

Q8: What do you think about very often?

• Song Title: Heavenly Star
• Album: Heavenly Star – Single
• Artist: Genki Rockets
• Genre: Pop

Q9: What do you think of your best friend?

• Song Title: Everybody’s Changing
• Album: Hope And Fears
• Artist: Keane
• Genre: Alternative

Q10: What do you think of the person you like?

• Song Title: Bosne Wa Salehni (Kiss Me & Forgive Me)
• Album: Allah We’Allam (God Knows Better)
• Artist: Fadl Shaker
• Genre: Arabic

Q11: What is your life story?

• Song Title: Free From Fear
• Album: Biohazard 3 Last Escape Original Soundtrack
• Artist: Masami Ueda
• Genre: Videogame

Q12: What do you think when you see the person you like?

• Song Title: Eyes On Me
• Album: Final Fantasy VIII – Piano Collection
• Artist: Nobuo Uematsu
• Genre: Videogame

Q13: What do your parents think of you?

• Song Title: The Tragic Prince
• Album: Castlevania: Symphony of The Night Original Soundtrack
• Artist: Michiru Yamane
• Genre: Videogame

Q14: What will you dance to at your wedding?

• Song Title: Feeling Good
• Album: It’s Time
• Artist: Michael Buble
• Genre: Vocal

Q15: What will they play at your funeral?

• Song Title: No Air
• Album: Jordin Sparks
• Artist: Jordin Sparks (Feat. Chris Brown)
• Genre: Pop

Q16: What is your hobby/interest?

• Song Title: With My Own Eyes
• Album: Atonement (Music From The Motion Picture)
• Artist: Dario Marianelli
• Genre: Soundtrack

Q17: What is your biggest secret?

• Song Title: Mareed El Mahabah (Patient of Love)
• Album: Hind 2008
• Artist: Hind
• Genre: Arabic

Q18: What do you think of your friends?

• Song Title: Distant Memories
• Album: Eureka Seven Original Soundtrack Vol. 1
• Artist: Naoki Sato
• Genre: Anime

Q19: What should you post this as?

• Song Title: Jayi (I’m Coming)
• Album: Inta Menni (You Are From Me)
• Artist: Yara
• Genre: Arabic

Q20: What do you think of yourself?

• Song Title: Give It To Me
• Album: 3 Doors Down
• Artist: 3 Doors Down
• Genre: Rock

My Top 10 Free iPod Touch/iPhone Applications (So Far)

Are you a cheap bastard? Of course you are. I mean my God look at you: the clothes that you got from Ross two years ago are practically worn out and dire from the constant washing with cheap laundry detergent, your hair is god-damn awful from that hair gel you got from a Canadian store (no offense), and that fragrance you are wearing is so stale that it smells like cat pee merged with rotten milk. But with all that, you are still a happy person, because above that half-broken table you got from Craigslist is a sparkly iPod Touch that is USB-attached to an ever-glossy white MacBook. But now, you want to use that iPod that probably cost you a fortune, and desperately in need to add some neat applications to brag to your other cheap bastards friends.

Fear not then, in this post I’ve compiled my top 10 favorite and most-used iPod Applications that might strike your fancy in case you haven’t downloaded or heard about them yet. So go ahead, read, search, and download, and don’t even bother commenting that you are not a cheap bastard, because deep inside (maybe very deep deep) you are. In no particular order, I present thee:

Aurora Feint: The Beginning

• Category: Game
• Size: 24.1 MB

Hands down my favorite game ever graced on my iPod Touch. It’s a crossover between an RPG and a puzzle game. It’s intuitive, polished, and has a great musical score considered for a free App. If you like puzzle games, than this is the game you should get.

Now Playing

• Category: Entertainment
• Size: 0.5 MB

This nifty application not only displays updated showtimes, local theaters, and distance from where you live, but also shows you the ratings and reviews from Rotten tomatoes and Metacritic so you can know if that movie sucks ass or not. Which means, even if you don’t live in the States, this handy application can be turned into a mini review guide for movies. You can also check out trailers and book tickets, making it more convenient than ever. Get it!

Twitterrific

• Category: Social Networking
• Size: 1.0 MB

Now you can twitte anytime anywhere and constantly bother your followers with this App. It’s user friendly with a nice interface and completely does what is supposed to do. It’s Twitterific!

Shakespeare

• Category: Entertainment
• Size: 2.8 MB

Don’t tell me you hate Shakespeare! Or maybe you hate him because you have never read his plays before. Well, now it is a good time to do that. This awesome application lets you view and read all Shakespeare plays and sonnets with a push of a button. Now, I can enjoy Othello (my favorite play) as many times as I want and wherever I go. Extremely handy for those who are taking Shakespeare classes this upcoming semester.

“For I am nothing, if not critical”.

IGN Game Reviews

• Category: Entertainment
• Size: 0.1 MB

Hate them or love them, but now you can read your IGN reviews at the palm of your hands anytime and anywhere you go. This is extremely handy if you want to read about a game that you are slightly hesitant to invest both your money and time with. You can even watch reviews which is more practical for those who don’t want to read big walls of text. For gamers only.

Tris

• Category: Games
• Size: 0.4 MB

It’s a freaking Tetris game (sorta). You know gotta have it. You can even keep track of your scores and submit them to the global scoreboard to compete with your pals. Very handy when you are on a bus or waiting for one. Get it!

Restaurant Nutrition

• Category: Healthcare and Fitness
• Size: 0.8

On a diet? Want to know how many calories that Chocolate Chip Paradise contains (it’s 1600 fucking calories)? Then you gotta add this application to your iPod. It neatly allows you to view and track calories, carbs, proteins, and fats in every menu in the most popular restaurant chains across North America. It has a modest list for now but they promised to add more restaurants via upcoming updates. Which reminds me, we need someone to franchise Chick-Fil-A in Kuwait. I really love that place.

Units

• Category: Utilities
• Size: 0.2 MB

I suck so bad in unit conversions. Hell, they might be the reason that I didn’t do well in Physics, but then again, who does? It has a very simple interface to input numbers and units. And for a bonus, this application comes with a built-in-ruler for doing small, quick measurements, and I’m not taking about the male penis. Very dexterous for those who work in chemistry and physics labs.

WordPress

• Category: Social Networking
• Size: 0.3MB

For the blogger on the go, this application is a must. You can publish, edit, and preview your posts in a very robust but simple interface where everything can be managed with a touch of a finger. Those who equipped themselves with an iPhone can upload their camera pics more easily, but for those of us who have an iPod Touch need to settle with their modest library photos. Still, this is a great applications and I recommend it to anyone who owns a WordPress blog and an iPhone/iPod Touch.

BookSearch

• Category: Lifestyle
• Size: 0.1MB

This is a great application for those who want to find and buy books online without spending too much time in google or in bookstores. It will even display the price of your book of interest and the version (i.e. mass market, hardcover) within a single page. It’s a must for university students and great for book lovers. Download it now.

Also consider

• Balance
• CheckWord
• Diggerific
• Flashlight
• NY times
• Sudoku (Free)
• Facebook