catscratch

Absu - Tara. Fffffffffuuuuuuuuuu...........!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, so there probably won't be any takers here for this. It's about as fast, mean, heavy, and vicious as metal gets. One reviewer likened this band to Wolverine: "they're the best at what they do, but what they do isn't very nice." Another likened them to Slayer being played at double speed. I don't know how to describe what's going on here, but the drumming is simply amazing, the riffs are actually quite catchy at times, there are bagpipes for some reason, and the whole thing feels like a very meticulously crafted slab of extreme metal madness that I've quite enjoyed lately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjPRKFi_oeQ Only for the brave.

I'll echo the general sentiment of the thread in echoing the general sentiment of the article even if the execution could be better. At least it's an attempt at critical thinking by the community. Maybe success at critical thinking will come next, and who knows, maybe overpriced underengineered shit won't sell half as well in the future.

AFAIK (I could be wrong)... The problem is impending fuel and emissions regulations, and developing the tech that meets those regulations. The regulations themselves are largely unrealistic, and every manufacturer is terrified at the amount of money they'll lose trying to meet them. That's why BMW is betting it all on the i3/i8, and that's why a lot of high-end manufacturers are trying to make exciting hybrids - you need to sell the idea of high-performance hybrids to the public and get people to start buying these cars, and of course pure electrics, or the requirements will never be met. Never mind that the actual mileage estimates for a lot of these cars are bollocks, that's not what this is about. It's about being able to fudge your numbers just enough, and making cars that are a bit more impractical an easier sell to the public, and about building up high-end lustre for something that a lot of the market doesn't want. There is one advantage to a performance hybrid - you don't need to worry about low-end torque. You can have an extremely oversquare high-revving engine optimized purely for high-end torque and make up for low-end deficiencies with the electric motor. This actually sounds a bit appealing, to be honest. Of course, the weight, cost, and complexity doesn't sound appealing at all. As far as PW. This sucks. His acting was questionable, but it seems like he was generally a good guy. Bummer. And, they were in a Carrera GT, so let's dispel any illusions of "safe speed" right off the bat. They probably were going bonkers and lost control, and the Carrera GT is notorious as a car that's very twitchy and very hard to control even in professional hands. Also, given that it's a carbon fiber tub, you'd have to be going pretty bloody fast to get killed in it in the first place.

Either that's a comment on how US international pricing often equates the dollar with the euro/pound and screws the UK over, or that's just Top Gear being horrible to America again. That's ok, we fat, stupid Americans weren't going to pay for it anyway. Incidentally, it's a pretty good special.

The headphone that interests me, although it's not closed, is the Oppo PM-1, mainly because Oppo strikes me as a no-nonsense company that can make a polished product at a good price, which these days is something of an exception. Tyll, if I may ask, have you heard the prototype?

HD600 is one of my absolute favorites and is the real entry into hi-fi. As more and more mediocre headphones flood the market the HD600 only becomes a more obvious recommendation. It's even better balanced and it scales well too.

To necro-reply to a slightly earlier post... Basically, this. Why on earth would you want a reputation system in a forum where the noise massively outweighs the signal? That just means the noise is going to get more reputation, and the signal less. And all those dipshits that milk the peanut gallery for so-called respect as reviewers are only going to be legitimized with a massive rep. For once - and I really can't believe I'm saying this - I agree with Jude. HF is fucked. It would be nice to ignore it, except that it is a driving force in the industry, scary as that sounds. That means blind leading the blind, and all sorts of shady MOTs rubbing their hands with glee. I wouldn't have a clue as to how to fix it now, that should have been done in 2007. Best we can do is keep on doing what we're doing already - well, what YOU are doing already. Just, uh, politely. Because when you criticize something with vitriol the content gets ignored because of the tone, and it doesn't help anybody.

Yeah that's why I'm looking forward to it too. Though thinking twice about it and setting the new toy itch aside for a second - when you're dealing with 36mp, no aa, and a ff sensor, those vintage primes will probably start to show their age, especially in the corners. And having recently done some field comparisons between the Mk3 and D800e, I'm not sure that it's a night and day difference in the final image. Now, I think the D800e has a thinner aa filter instead of no aa filter, and it's an upgraded version of the sensor - but I also can't shake the thought that the smart money may be to stick with what I've got and get more fast glass instead. Regardless - Sony is keeping the market interesting. Canon sure isn't. I can't want to know more.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if it's an E mount, can't you use pretty much any Canon, Nikon, or what have you lens with an adapter on it? I would think that the advantage of this is the same as the Nex - infinite lens compatibility - except that this time, you don't have a crop factor to deal with. Either way, unless I'm very much mistaken, I'll get this and use all my existing Canon lenses with it, plus the nice array of vintage lenses we've been slowly building up. The plan is to compare it against the 5d Mk3 and see what I can live with, and keep what wins... or both.

I did notice the honk with the SZ2 007, and I compared it side by side with the 71xxx 007. It's what killed the SZ2 for me, which otherwise was a capable headphone. If that honk is also present in the 009, then I'm pretty sure I'd prefer the 71xxx 007 too. On the other hand, I also feel that 007 is too polite and laid-back for its own good. So far I'm compensating for that with a very punchy source, but even with a BH the 007 is still not involving enough when paired with a lot of otherwise great sources. So I can kinda see both sides of the argument. Ideally, I'd want a phone that's more forward than the 007, but one that retains the warm mids and general sense of fluidity. Maybe the SR-Omega would be perfect, but given the current prices and the reliability issues, I'll hold off and stick with what I've got.

Well if they wanted a bike, they probably could have used something like this (boring steampunk technogeekery warning): Though to be fair, in 1903, this may have been a little old school.

Entheogenic - Anthropomorphic. It's nice to see Entheogenic return to form. They were one of the main psychill stalwarts back in the day and their first album is an absolute gem, but after two albums they stagnated and the inspiration seemed to run dry. Now, over a decade later, they're back with a darker, more focused sound, more energy, more intensity, and a lot more inspiration all-around. Of course, with DR6 the sound quality could be better, but considering what passes for electronic music production these days, even this is not bad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDFwKVv3qW4

Dunno, but in his more recent solo shows he rather likes some of the 911s. Like anything Top Gear it's probably faked for laughs. Electric steering is awful in new BMWs, and if the 911 is anything like that, I can totally understand the hate. Driving the E90 335 back to back with the X3 is a pretty good demonstration on how to go nearly perfect steering - and then how to totally fuck it up. But then BMW has kinda been losing its marbles lately.

Motor Trend also puts out some pretty good videos these days. Not everything they have is good, and I don't entirely trust their reviews - or their numbers - but Ignition is a pretty good review series and, of course, you also have Roadkill. That's a show with two super charismatic hosts and is basically what US Top Gear should have been. It's probably the best Top Gear-ish car show on the internet for car related around-dickery. Then you have Jay Leno's Garage. If you want to see a true temple to automotive worship, Leno's the man. Whatever you may think about his comedy, his car videos are a totally different animal. Leno has an incredible collection, is a knowledgeable automotive historian, and really lets his passion show forth. Again, it's mostly vintage cars and grey-haired old-guy stuff, and, well, I love all that. There are definitely quality car shows on the internet these days. And if you know any more, I'm all ears.

Good episode and overall very good season. Even the nationalistic circle-jerk at the end wasn't too bad either. Also, Chris Harris is a legend and his videos are epic. As far as Top Gear faking stuff, it's pretty well known that even its lap times are often outright fabrications. Look up the whole Hawk Stratos debacle where the Stig was instructed to spin the car and recover on the test to make sure it finished last, and where the car was portrayed as breaking down all the time whereas in fact it was quite reliable. Top Gear has a very clear bias and an equally clear agenda. They're so popular that they haven't even bothered hiding it in years. I've said this before - I treat Top Gear like I would an old dog. It shits on your carpet and doesn't even remember its own name anymore, but somehow you've been with it so long that you can't quite bring yourself to kick it.

Ok, I'll be honest... this episode was fucking brilliant. One of the best they've ever done. Normally, I don't like it when they go this far into the ridiculous, but hovervan was hilarious, and the Hugh Jackman interview was quite good too.

Don't know about the 002, but the 003 is ridiculously good for the price, though the fit can be iffy. Get the fit wrong and it sounds muffled and dull. Get it right and it has the best midrange this side of the 007 and HE90. Maybe the best period. It's not the most resolving 'stat around, but who cares.

Much better episode, though what the point of May's race was, I don't really know. The quality of their camera work has gotten seriously epic. Well, either that, or their post-processing is really good.

I did watch Day9's playthrough of it for a bit, and forced myself to stop, because it's one of the few games that I actually do want to play. Still haven't gotten it, though. It seems like a properly made game. No nonsense, no prepubescent BS, just good story, good characters, and good design decisions all-around. It is completely linear, and I tend to favor open-world games, but for what it is it seems to be about as good as it gets. I just wish it came to PC though, keyboard + mouse > analog stick.

I thought it was quite a weak episode too. The racing segment was good, the rest was kinda meh. Bland, and forced.

You guys don't get it. These are the most expensive headphones out there, therefore they're the best. Only the SR-009 is anywhere near the price, therefore it's the 2d best. I just don't get why you don't understand it - maybe that's why people don't post here anymore? On another note, I find Guttenberg's reviews quite reliable, actually. You just take the exact opposite of what he says, and it's usually true.

Well, well, looks like the preorder numbers have spoken. It's always funny to see interviews with M$ staff where they say that the always-online component is central to the system, and then have that component taken away within days of the preorder numbers reveal. So much for positive PR. I think this is a good turn of events. It doesn't address every concern with the system, the main one of course being that it is a less powerful machine that comes bundled with technology that you don't need which has the potential for privacy violations. I just wish someone would put up as big a stink on the PC over Steam. I don't get why people aren't in more of a rut over Steam. Actually, I do get it, if you put enough sales on Steam you make people forget that they are actually not buying anything. Of course given Sony's history they very much reserve the right to fuck up everything. I think I'm still sticking mainly to PC, and maybe with a PS4 for some fighting games.

That's the attitude that lets companies like M$ win. This should not blow over. Letting it blow over is how we let DRM rule over PC and how we are losing the ability to own games. What should happen is big losses in sales over practices that you, as a consumer, do not want to see. Vote with your dollar. If you think "well... I don't like where the XB1 is heading but I'm going to buy one anyway" you're actually supporting where it is heading, and then you have no right to complain. Actually, "right" is an irrelevant concept, but letting your money speak for you isn't.

It's not quite the same thing. The use you get out of a movie is significantly limited compared to the use you get out of a game. Yes, a lot of modern single-player games are very cinematic, and usually have a short campaign that, once you're done with it, offers no real replay value. But for games that do offer a replay value, and for games that you would want to come back to, time and again, you will want the ability to play anywhere, regardless of having an online connection or being tied to an account. I've lost count of the times I couldn't play the single-player games I paid for on Steam because Steam failed to save my authentication data properly and I had to connect to re-authenticate, at a time or place where I had no connection. It has completely soured me on Steam, and I make a point to not buy something that's tied to Steam or any kind of DRM if I can. Some people will get over it. Some people will not. PC gaming is not doing as well as it could. I wonder if creating an environment that punishes paying customers with needless restrictions and abusive business models has anything to do with that, when there's a cheaper, less hassle-ridden alternative nearby. And to get back to the the original issue with the XB1, it looks like PC hassles are migrating there too, and that's what I don't want to see.

Include me out for XB1 too. I don't want to see consoles going in the direction of DRM, and I don't trust M$ to include all the sales and extra content that Steam does to make you forget that you're paying for a license to play a game on an account, not an actual copy of the game. I want to own my games, not buy a license. Plus, paying extra for Kinect, which I know I won't use and will generally hate, is a deal-breaker. Then there are security concerns with Kinect, which are probably more paranoia than actual concerns, but as someone that hates being on camera, the last thing that I want is to always be on camera. I don't know what I'll do once Google Glass comes out, heh. Probably avoid public places more than I do already. Privacy is obsolete. Besides, I play QuakeLive, which means keyboard + mouse. Playing shooters on a controller is about as fun as a dental appointment.