J Spade. No Other Words For It.

Rock Band Wii Drums in GarageBand

2009-07-23T17:12:00.006-04:00

Using the GamePad Companion Plugin for Mac OS 10.5, I was able to use my drum set that came with Rock Band for the Wii a few years ago in GarageBand. All you need to do is map the pads to keys on the keyboard and then use the "Musical Typing" window in GarageBand. It's a cheap alternative to an expensive midi drum set.

Lyrics Re-DO: MCR

2009-01-19T16:29:00.003-05:00

When I was
a young boy
my mother
took me into the forest
to see the Deku Tree.
He said, "Son, when
you grow up,
would you be
the savior of the kingdom
of Hyrule, and of me?"
He said, "Will you
defeat them-
the demons
and all the evil doers,
the plans that they have made?
Because one day
I'll leave you
a phantom
will kill me in the summer,
the land cast into shade."

Olimar's Logs- Pt 1

2008-11-11T16:27:00.007-05:00

Captain's Log: Delivery #207, Day 4

All systems are functioning well. The route to the delivery site should be completed in about 6 days.

Captain's Log: Delivery #207, Day 5

Today has brought the worst of luck. i awoke this morning to find that the navigation system of the Dolphin was broken. Unable to override the malfunctioning ship, I crash-landed on a foreign planet. The dolphin suffered critical damage, with crucial components being jettisoned over the terrain of the alien landscape. Much to my dismay, the sensors in my suit detected that the atmosphere contains a significant poisonous oxygen level. My systems will support me for only 30 days before I either suffocate in my suit or die from oxygen poisoning...

I decided to look around and assess my situation further, when I came across a small red creature that had characteristics resembling at the same time both plant and animal. I blew my whistle at it, and it ran to me, following behind me wherever I went until I disbanded it again with the whistle. Near my crash site, I found nine more of these creatures, and the all behaved in the same way, as little men awaiting my every order. They resemble Pikpik brand carrots from home, so I have decided to call them "Pikmin". Experimenting further, I determined that they originate from a large, red, machine-like object which I have given the name "Onion". I led the Pikmin near a large flower, and to my surprise, I they all attacked it, and carried the remains back to the Onion, which absorbed it, then produced, and planted, Pikmin seeds. The Onion seems to use the energy in the remains of deceased creatures to produce more Pikmin seeds. It is a remarkable system!

As the sun began to set, the Pikmin began to grow uneasy. Large, dangerous creatures began approaching the crash site, and so I disbanded the Pikmin, who immediately ran into the Onion. I escaped the surface's nocturnal predators by flying the Dolphin's emergency systems into a low orbit- the most the poor ship could still muster. The Onion followed the Dolphin into the air, remaining with me in orbit. With the help of the Pikmin, I may yet be able to return home safely.

MarioFreakingKart

2008-09-13T12:15:00.002-04:00

I put this comic together yesterday. Click for a larger resolution.

Still Alive Sheet Music

2008-09-09T15:38:00.003-04:00

For the trumpet, anyway. Ask me nicely, and I'll transpose it to another instrument.

Rock Band, here I come

2008-08-25T19:16:00.002-04:00

Well, just as school is about to start, my sister finally has enough money to chip in her half of Rock Band for the Wii. Once I get it, I can buy the disc for Rock Band 2, and then if the drum set works (and maybe even if it doesn't), I will pick up the disc for Guitar Hero World Tour. It should be good, especially without 50 plastic instruments everywhere.

MarioKart DS, all done

2008-08-25T19:12:00.002-04:00

I have now achieved everything there is to achieve in MarioKart DS. That means all missions and Grand Prix races have 3 starts, and I have beaten out all of the staff ghosts in Time Trials mode. And now I feel as though there MUST be something else to achieve in this game. I didn't even get a 4th star for beating all the ghosts... Oh well.

Bookmarks Validator

2008-07-31T19:48:00.004-04:00

I made an application in Java that checks all of the URLs in the bookmarks.html file that FireFox generates, and lists which ones work and which ones don't. You can also manually enter a URL for it to check, and it has the option to create a nice text file with the results in it, as well as only displaying either only valid URLs, invalid URLs, or both. It works nicely.

The .zip file in the list on the right is the folder with the .jar files in it. Just run the bookmarksvalidator.jar file (it's executable) and up comes the application.

Golden Ratio poetry

2008-06-30T18:33:00.001-04:00

Try
to
write some
poetry
with the ratio.
I am sure that you can do it
just give it a try
it's kind of
haiku
like.
Go.

Mario Freaking Kart

2008-06-27T15:53:00.003-04:00

Hey, internet. I got Mariokart for the Wii the other day, and I've already won gold on every cup for each class, and I'm now working toward a three-star record as I did with MKDS. I love this game, and the fact that the WFC matches are all but perfect. I must go now- Yoshi is calling me back to the wheel.

School's Out!

2008-06-07T13:43:00.001-04:00

YEASH!
3 months of summer commences NOW!

I plan to... do stuff.

Me screwing with GIMP

2008-05-16T22:19:00.002-04:00

Murphy's Law is Alive and Kicking

2008-05-06T09:59:00.007-04:00

This is going to be a fairly long-winded blog post, so take a deep breath as I get it going.

I shall be doing this in order of events as brought attention to me.

Way back in March, my file on the school server for my use in my Photography class went missing. My teacher instructed me to look for it in all the other files in the class' partition of the drive. Instead of manually clicking on every folder and subfolder on the drive, I made a shortcut to the command prompt, allowing me to use it when I needed to create the tree diagram of the drive to more easily find my stuff. I never found it. One thing I hate about my school's tech administrator is his paranoia. You can't even right click on the clock in the bottom corner to see what day it even is. And for some stupid reason, the C:\ drive is blocked from the main My Computer window on all the computers. Well, that would be fine, if the default download or save location was not the C:\ drive. So I made a shortcut to that, too, for when my crap gets saved to the wrong spot and I just want to move it over to my flash drive, and clean up my junk off the computer. Now we're going to fast forward a bit.

Last Thursday, my high school's marching band went on a field trip to Myrtle Beach. It was pretty awesome, and we all had a lot of fun. When I got back, the iMac, that I use for just about everything computer related, will not start up. Ok, fine. We take it to the apple store, they replace the main logic board, an it works fine while we're at the store. But when we get it home, the graphics are all out of whack, and the system isn't booting up properly. Well, we send it in to apple, and they will have a new system sent out to us eventually. Well, no word on that yet, but I'm getting fairly impatient. That was just the prologue to the whole deal.

Three days after my return from the marching band trip, I am called from my 4th period AP Euro class to go to the office. I figured it was about a big fight I witnessed at lunch earlier that day. My administrator goes on to explain that I have been referred to the office by the tech guy for 'malicious modification of the school's server'. What? Apparently access to the command prompt means malicious activity to out paranoid tech guy, and I was being given a preemptive strike: 6 days' suspension. I was dumbfounded. I've seen people get their face bashed in, while the other guy gets 3 days for it! I get 6 for making life easier for myself on the school's sucky computer system? The BS flag waved in my head, but what can I do? I'm just a student in the 10th grade. Fortunately for me, my parents sided with me on this one. They talked to my administrator, which didn't help. Then they talked to the principal, which got me a 'more than generous' reduction of the suspension to 4 days. Yeah, sure, whatever. My mom has also sent a letter to the school board superintendent, because the only thing we've been able to get out of the high school administration is the rule book shoved in our faces. And really, based on the rule book, I still did nothing wrong. Do they care? No. I'm good with computers, and so they fear me. But whatever. My problem with them is that they apparently had written down 'strikes one and two' with my other shortcuts. Remember the ones in March? The first shortcut to the C;\ drive was their reasoning for removing my whole folder from the server. That's fine, if not a bit overkill, but they never told me. All they really did was recreate the problem which caused me to make the shortcut in the first place: a missing folder.

In the end, the whole thing has been pointless. I've been getting my schoolwork from my teachers, doing it at home (in much less time that it would take to do at school), and playing video games. My parents have been getting the administrators to stop playing word games with the word 'malicious', and my permanent record now says 'computer misuse'. Fair enough, aside from the ludicrous suspension length.

I must say, though, if your parents are on your side, being suspended is definitely not bad. I've got more done this week than I have in the previous month, and I've made real progress in my trumpet playing, as well as in most of my videogames. Even most of the teachers and students at the high school (and even the middle school I used to go to, somehow) have been astounded at the level of punishment used in my case. In my mind, I came out of this one the victor: Josh-1, Administration-0.

Lux Aeterna

2008-04-18T17:07:00.002-04:00

This post is dedicated to the inspiring, chilling, powerful sound that is Lux Aeterna. The G minor key and use of orchestra and piano create the song that is now the most awesome song I can think of.

The problem was really imaginary.

2008-03-26T16:38:00.004-04:00

Control of iTunes Through Java

2008-03-25T21:37:00.002-04:00

My new project entails being able to control iTunes through an interface, in Java. Specifically, I want to be lazy and control it with my IRC bot just by typing a message to it. First however, I need to be able to code a simple play/pause button. I have been using this page as a reference in creating a simple application, but I still have a bit to go.

Is there a Java package already put together to do such a thing? I have not found one yet, but if you see one, let me know. I'd be interested in seeing what exactly it does and basing my code off of it.

Making Music in Majora's Mask

2008-03-21T18:39:00.003-04:00

As a friend of the blog proprietor, I will occasionally be making guest posts.

Since the N64 Zelda games had Ocarinas that you could play a variety of notes on, I decided to see how far I could take the concept. I've taken the first steps towards playing some actual songs on the Ocarina in Majora's Mask, and here are some of the things I've noticed:

* Notes are played on the A and C-arrow buttons, henceforth denoted as A, v, ^, <, and >, meaning A button, down C arrow, up C arrow, left C arrow, and right C arrow, respectively.

* The range of notes appears limited to a low C and a high E. This would correspond to third-finger G string and open E string on the violin.

* Notes can be raised a whole step by pushing the control stick all the way up while the note is played, and raised a half step by pushing the control stick up slightly. Pushing it down will lower the note. I'll be referring to these motions as full-up, half-up, half-down, and full-down.

* The speed at which notes can be played is somewhat limited. Even switching between buttons as rapidly as possible, you're only going to get Link to play so fast.

* Holding the control stick left and right appears to produce a trill/vibrato sound. More on this when I discover all the inner workings of it. The control stick can also be tilted diagonally to simultaneously trill and raise or lower a note.

All in all, I think the Zelda Ocarina has the potential to be a viable means of producing music. Although the range of notes you can play is smaller than what you'd get on a traditional instrument, the variations created by the control stick should suffice for a wide range of pieces.

While I work out how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, here's how to play a D Major scale:

A
Full-up A
Half-up v
Full-up v
>
<
Half-down ^
^

So there you have it: an introduction to playing on the Zelda Ocarina. You're not going to have Link busting out Caprice 24 anytime soon, but with enough patience, I think the Ocarina can be coerced into playing some legitimate pieces.

Next time: more scales, and a song or two.

Cross-Atlantic Offensiveness?

2008-03-18T14:39:00.002-04:00

Upon reading the comments of this particular blog entry by Jessica Hagy, I was slightly confused at the connotation of the word 'spaz', and how it could be a completely offensive word to a person in London, but if you call a New Yorker a spaz, you'll just get a weird look for actually remembering what the word spaz means.

Are there any ideas about this one? I'd be very interested to hear from people, especially those offended by the term, and perhaps learn exactly what is interpreted when the word is used, and why it could be more offensive than the other four-letter words that we all seem exposed to.

Brawl, Python, and other things

2008-03-17T19:57:00.006-04:00

BRAWL!!!!!!!!!
IS!!!!
OUT!!!!!!

'Nuff said, but just to cover my base, I'll say this: Pit owns all, every character is awesome in a different way, adventure mode is awesome, everything is awesome!
--
Over the weekend, I picked up Python. That's how awesomely easy it is. I will eventually create something interesting using it, but for now it's just file manipulation.
--
And a new diversion for me includes The Impossible Quiz 2. I beat the first two. THIS one is even better that the other two combined, mainly because you can actually use the skips.
--
And in other news, it is St. Patrick's Day, I got invited into the National Honor Society, and I have had "Wish You Were Here" permanently stuck in my head since around 6:38 PM yesterday.

The Countdown

2008-03-07T15:55:00.001-05:00

It's 3:56 PM.

Brawl in 32 hours, 4 minutes.

Success!

2008-03-02T18:10:00.004-05:00

I survived group 7 and am now attempting to make it the whole way through Raining Blood. AARRRGH.

But no matter, I shall defeat this monster known as group 8.

In other news, with a week until Brawl is released, I'm getting pretty psyched. Of course, you all realize that I will own all with the power of Pit and the sheer awesomeness of Olimar. You stand no chance if you see me on Wi-Fi.

Until we meet again.

Cryptic message from the depths of my mind

2008-02-28T17:08:00.000-05:00

KGGY CHWLHF WLG HFWGSFGW JOQ WLHP YDMMJG. TZFNSOWDJOWHZFP. QZD BDPW CZF WLG NOUG. ZS LOIG QZD BDPW JZPW?

Group 7 = WTF?

2008-02-25T21:54:00.001-05:00

I own Guitar Hero III for the Wii. It owns all.

Except group 7. Group 7 is the group of impossible hammer-ons and evil rhythms. It also seems to be the group of occasionally-out-of-sync songs.

I can't beat "Before I Forget" without the added complication of a glitched song, let alone when the bumps are flying at me a full 2 seconds before the music track reaches that rhythm in the song! Throw me a bone, would ya?

So my ongoing struggle recently has been surviving impossibly fast triplets in "Knights of Cydonia" and figuring out how in God's name I am supposed to play the 16th notes in "Before I Forget" in a manner that the game accepts as "correct".

Don't even get me started on "Stricken"...

Portal- a limmerick.

2008-02-25T18:43:00.001-05:00

A program that I thought I would try
Promised cake, should I go and not die.
So I went through each room,
While I faced certain doom,
Just to find that the cake was a lie…

My IRC Bot

2008-02-13T15:40:00.001-05:00

At last! It is completed!!

I fixed the Unicode bug. Apparently you need to writeBytes to a file to remove the extra null characters in the text.

So now it works! :D

I'll post a transcript of a chat session later.