JetBlue Now Flies SEA to LGB

This is sweet! While searching for flights to fly home for my brother’s graduation, I found out that JetBlue now has a direct flight from Seattle to Long Beach (equidistant as LAX to my house, minus the horrible traffic). I typically fly Alaska Airlines since they’re usually the cheapest (~$300) non-stop flight from SEA to LAX and had consistent quality. I’ve always liked JetBlue with the personal LCD and the quality of service, but was sad when I found out that they didn’t have any flights from Seattle to LA. I even emailed them awhile back voicing my sadness.

Anyway, I just booked a flight back for 4 days in mid-June to attend my brother’s graduation and it came out to only $243! For comparison sake, the cheapest Alaska Airline to LAX was $303. However, Alaska Airlines does have more daily flights between Seattle and LA than JetBlue does.

I think JetBlue and I are going to become much better friends now. 🙂

Six Flags Discount (One-Day Adult Admission at Child’s Price)

Thanks to kattails2 for this deal. Since people have being coming to my site looking for Six Flags Discount, I decided to have a 2008 post.

Six Flags
One-Day Adult Admission at Childs Price.
use promo code- located in the upper right corner
COLDSTONE

Instructions:

  1. Go to Six Flags Tickets
  2. Select your park of choice in the combo box.
  3. A new window should open and on the upper right hand corner, it says ENTER PROMO HERE
  4. Enter the following promotion code: COLDSTONE or PJKID

According to the description provided, the deal expires on 9/28/2008.

One-Day Ticket – Everybody Pays Kids Price

One-Day admission to Six Flags _____ valid regular operating days during the 2008 season through December 31. The discounted ticket cannot be combined with any other offer. Visit sixflags.com for specific operating schedule. Children 2 and under FREE!

Everyone Pays the Kid’s Price!
Ticket valid through 9/28/2008.

Apparently if you’re planning to go either today or tomorrow, Six Flags Magic Mountain has a Memorial Day discount for $26.99/person.

Enjoy!

Update: Promo code PJKID also works (expires 7/31/2008)

Weezer – Pork and Beans Music Video

So I got this music video from Digg: Weezer – Pork and Beans. Besides the fact it’s quite a catchy song and I’ve had it on loop for the past 8 hours, the music video was awesome. It has tons of internet memes and I’m curious if all them are the real thing.

Here’s the list of videos reference (collected from Digg comments and other sites):

The ones I quite haven’t figured out are:

rainbow socks
Rainbow Socks?

unknown internet memesspaceshipdancing gorillas and duck
So there’s a spaceship, a trio of dancing cg animation of what I assume to be gorillas and a duck with a purple hat, a panda, and some naruto like guy?

Update: Jon commented that the panda was from the Sneezing Panda video.

Update #2: While going through YouTube’s All Time Most Viewed videos, I landed on kicesie’s videos, and her icon is a girl with rainbow socks on the couch. I’m going to assume that’s what Weezer was going after with the rainbow socks girl in this video: Best Sex Ever!!!

Update #3: While searching for most viewed videos with “sword” or “ninja”, I landed on this: Urban Ninja, which featured a guy wearing a black shirt with a red 天 (sky) on his back:

urban ninja

But he doesn’t wield a sword, so I don’t think he’s the one featured in the video. The only video game/anime character I can think of that has a 天 on his back is Akuma (Gouki) from Street Fighters:

akuma - hd remix

However, Tera agrees with me that the guy looks more like he’s from Naruto.

Update #4: Thanks to chloe for pointing out they also referenced the video clip of where several guys throw and catch rayban sunglasses with their face, as shown in the video where the Mentos “scientists” throws a goggle and the GI Joe character catches it.

Update #5: Thanks to Schmuel for pointing out that the Donald duck and the dancing gorillas were from a serious of 3D rendered Disney character videos made with motion capture: Worst. MoCap. Ever.. You can see more of these videos on doctorlegua’s YouTube Channel. Apparently these were made with some software called iClone.

Update #6: Thanks to Bryan for pointing out the UFO/spacecraft video: UFO Haiti

Bi-Weekly Top Posts (5/11/2008 to 5/24/2008)

Just noticed I forgot to post last week’s top posts. Here’s the top posts for the past 2 weeks:

  1. How to download HD Trailers from Apple.com
  2. Six Flags Discount (~50% Off)
  3. 4 Free Xbox Live Arcade Games
  4. Windows Update Error: 80070490
  5. Last Week: #7 Free AutoCheck Report (Similar to Carfax)
  6. Last Week: #5 Reindexing Media Center Library
  7. Last Week: #8 Haloid
  8. Last Week: #6 Missing Codecs in Firefox to Play Video in Gallery2
  9. LeekSpin
  10. New Print USPS First Class, Media Mail, Parcel Mail Postage for FREE!

2 weeks ago…

Nothing too interesting to note here. All have been consistent winners in the past.

Moccona Quest (Cinderella Ad)

So Tera showed me this ad: Moccona coffee: Quest Cendrillon Cinderella. I don’t usually blog about advertisements (well, unless they’re on my site), but this ad was just too good that I wanted to share. The music was just so amazing and I spent hours trying to find it but only to hit a dead end. The story the commercial tells is also really sweet. If you don’t want the commercial to be ruined, skip to the next paragraph. Or else read on and be spoiled! [Begin Spoilers] It’s similar to the Cinderella glass slipper story, where this guy goes around town with a glass cap trying to find the coffee jar which the cap fits in. One by one, he rejects woman after woman, but ultimately finding the one and only girl. I guess one can only imagine how awesome the party must’ve been if someone dropped their coffee cap. ;p [End Spoilers]

There’s actually a longer version (80 seconds vs 60 seconds) on their homepage: Moccona Coffee – Never settle for less than special. At first I didn’t notice any differences, but as I watched them side by side, I realize that it showed more of the women’s responses.

While searching for the music, I found this page: Moccona Coffee in Quest for Romance

The Quest was developed at M&C Saatchi, Sydney, by creative director Ben Welsh, art director Michael Jones, copywriter Lizzie O’Hara-Boyce, agency producer Rod James.

Filming was shot on location in Montevideo, Uruguay, by Noah Marshall via The Sweet Shop, with director of photography Ian McCarroll, and producer Tony Whyman.

Post production was done at Digipost and Fin Design in New Zealand.

Moccona is a brand of coffee produced by the Dutch corporation Douwe Egberts and popular in Australia and New Zealand. The coffee is regarded as one of the superior brands in the market. In my household Moccona jars are kept to store nuts and confectionery. The lid does look as though as it could have been formed by the sea.

Inside the comment area, M&C Saatchi posted:

Thanks for the comments guys. The music was created for us by composer Elliott Wheeler through Nylon Studios in Sydney. We’re soon going to post an mp4 on the moccona.com.au website that you’ll be able to download. For a ltd time there’s also a longer (80sec) version up there.

In the posted YouTube video, Mocconateam posted:

Thanks for all the positive feedback – we’re glad you like the work.
The commercial was filmed in Montevideo, by a director called Noah Marshal from The Sweetshop (Aukland). We cast all the actors locally except for the hero and the blonde woman who came from Argentina. The music was by a composer called Elliott Wheeler who we commissioned specially for the job through Nylon Studios here in Sydney, Australia.

Since the music was “specially commissioned” for this advertisement, that means it’s no where to be found besides ripping it from the ad. I also wasn’t able to find the .mp4 file that they mention would be posted on their homepage.

Update: Thanks to Chriszam for letting me know that Moccona has released the mp3 for the track on their homepage. The mp3 is zipped up into a 1.2MB file: Download

Enjoy!

Update #2: blufindr pointed out the cute girl in the ad is Caitlin Stasey (an Australian actress that played Rachel Kinski in Neighbours).

Caitlin Stasey Cute Girl from Moccona Quest Ad (Cinderella)

I will admit they do look very similar and Moccona is an Australian coffee, though I still have my doubts. I did a search on Caitlin Stasey and Maccona and found nothing that linked them together. Also, the director noted: We cast all the actors locally except for the hero and the blonde woman who came from Argentina. The heroine isn’t blonde, so I would’ve assumed she was cast locally, meaning she would’ve been from Montevideo (largest city, the capital and chief port of Uruguay). Caitlin Stasey on the other hand was born in Melbourne, Australia.

Update #3: Thanks to marcus6 for identifying the mystery girl as Uruguayan actress Ana Lia Badani:

Ana Lia Badani

You can see more pictures of her on her official site.

Update #4: Looks like the removed the mp3 from their servers. Here’s a mirror: 01-Moccona-Quest.mp3. Enjoy!

Project Wonderful

You may have noticed that I have rearranged my ads once again. I test drove Project Wonderful on HD-Trailers.net and had great results so far. I’m pleased with the system and just how simple it works. At first I wasn’t clear on what “bids” actually meant, but apparently bids are the amount they’re willing to pay for the entire day of showing their ad. So if someone bids $0.24 and the ad is displayed on your site for an hour, you’ll get $0.01 minus the commission. Once you hit $10, you can withdraw to your PayPal account, or you can immediately use the funds to place ads on other sites.

The selection of sites they have is still pretty limited and I don’t want to bother going over the things I went over already on HD-Trailers.net: Project Wonderful.

AdBrite’s system just didn’t work that well as I was just getting random ads. Text Link Ads was pretty awesome while it lasted, but they have a black box approval process which I don’t quite understand and for some reason HD-Trailers.net still hasn’t been approved yet. And when people stopped purchasing ads on my site, I had an empty area for months, at which point I decided to return to AdBrite since they added a new text-only ad feature.

The Gallery has also been updated to use Project Wonderful.

Valerie’s Potluck Dinner Party

Why is it so freaking hot?!?! Last week we were still in the high 60s low 70s. Last night I went to bed at 6:30am and guess what, I woke up at 11am because I was sweating. I guess I can’t really complain:

krunk4ever: it’s so freaking hot
ungsunghero: )(#*%()#*$()*!(#@$*())(!$*!)(!*!!!
ungsunghero: DIE
ungsunghero: NOW
krunk4ever: haha
ungsunghero: it is ONE HUNDRED AND THREE FREAKING DEGREES HERE
krunk4ever: good thing i didnt tell you our temp
ungsunghero: let me guess
ungsunghero: 83?
krunk4ever: close, 82
ungsunghero: DIE
ungsunghero: you are banned from IMing me
krunk4ever: haha
ungsunghero: for the next three minutes

I did my biweekly (that’s every 2 weeks) Costco run today and there was a section where there were fans and air conditioners and that area was crazy! I swear practically every 1 in 3 shopping carts had either a fan or a/c unit. The drink area was crazy too. I guess if Costco had anticipated this heat wave, they wouldn’t have discounted their Snapple and Gatorade. I also picked up so Lipton iced tea and Sobe Orange Carrot Elixir (both were 10 for $10 at QFC). I also picked up some Dibs ice cream since my sister recommended it to me. It wasn’t on sale, but I needed ice cream and those darn bite-size ice cream is awesome!

So back to the main to topic. Valerie had invited us to a potluck dinner party over at her place and I was contemplating to go or not since I had to put a couple more hours at work this weekend. I decided since I had to do my Costco run and do my laundry this weekend, I would try to complete the work on Sunday.

On my way over there, the 520 floating bridge came to a complete halt. Apparently there was some motorcycle accident in front and given that the bridge doesn’t really have shoulder space, a lady came and told use to move as close edge as possible so emergency vehicles can get through. We literally sat around for 15 minutes enjoying the beautiful setting sun and lake. People were taking pictures so I thought why not:

IMG_1184IMG_1185

When I passed the accident, both parties seem to be okay. The guy in the leather suit (I assume is the motorcyclist) was standing there was some young Caucasian guy, which looked very scared (presumably he was the one who crashed into the motorcycle).

I finally get there and there’s tons of delicious stuff! I also met some new friends. Monique made these fried yucca and fried bananas and they were delicious. Valerie also baked some bread which was yummy. There was awesome fried battered corn which was actually really good. Now I have new ideas to try with my deep fryer. I discussed this over with Ungsunghero and here’s a set of new things I might try:

  • yucca
  • banana/plantain
  • taro
  • chicken wings, drumsticks, thighs

After dinner, Stanman got around teaching some people how to play BANG, a card game which is similar to Mafia in some way, but not really. We played several rounds of it and I was surprised how sneaky Anja was on her initial game. I was completely stumped.

Afterwards, Sathana insisted on playing this drinking game called Bitches Bitches (which appears to be a combination of Tap Tap and The F*ck Game). The rhythm was tap tap clap clap. While you’re tapping, you say your assigned name (which could be Bitches Bitches, Fuck Me Fuck Me, On The Table, Doggy Style, etc.), basically a naughty 4 syllable phrase. When you’re clapping, you say anyone else’s name and they have to continue. Whoever breaks the flow or screws up has to drink. It was rather hilarious to watch. I declined to play since I had to drive home and don’t exactly like to drink, but they said I could play with ice tea, but I felt a drinking game isn’t really fun unless you’re drinking (sort of like playing poker for “fun”).

And therefore my night ended there.

Here are some pictures from the photo album:

Explaining Bang's Rules (___, Felix, Anja, Joe, Sathana, Perry)Explaining Bang's Rules (Perry, Sathana, Pita, Philipp)Sathana scooping vanilla ice creamMaking vanilla ice cream with taro balls (Valerie, Sathana)Valerie's vanilla ice cream + taro ballsPlaying Bang (Felix, Anja)Playing Bang (Philipp, Joe)Sticking tongue out (Saran, Pita)Chatting (Carolynn, Monique, Valerie)(Sathana, ___)Felix drinking soda(Perry)

Comcast Blast Speed Tier

So Tekman IMs me today about this new Comcast Blast Tier (16Mbps down / 2Mbps up) and says that the D-Link DCM-202 cable modem (which I recommended) wasn’t compatible with it and it maxed out at ~8Mbps.

So I started digging around the internet for this and apparently many users were having problems getting the higher speeds from Comcast with this D-Link cable modem. Some people claimed that Comcast uses some proprietary “Burst” technology which wasn’t compatible with all cable modems. According to their FAQ, if you’re renting a modem from them, you can always ask for an upgrade to a newer model which is compatible. Others were saying that even though the Burst technology required DOCSIS 1.1 and the D-Link cable modem was DOCSIS 2.0 compatible, there was some header configuration screw up, where Comcast would only detect the cable modem as DOCSIS 1.0, which capped the transfer speeds to 8Mbps/768Kbps. Apparently if you call in and keep on escalating to a knowledgeable tech support, they would be able to manually set your DOCSIS to 1.1 and you’ll be able to get the higher speeds.

So first thing I go check is what tier I am on. Apparently I’m on the 8Mbps/768Kbps tier and Tekman said he was able to get the 16/2 Burst Tier for $42/mo. A bit bummed, I decided I could live with 8/768 for $30/mo.

However when I got home today, I received a letter from Comcast stating:

RE: 16 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload High-Speed Internet for no additional charge

I didn’t even bother reading the rest of the letter till later and went ahead decided to try flashing my modem. Apparently there’s a Comcast specific firmware you’re suppose to use. You can find the firmware on D-Link’s website: Product Support Resources for DCM-202. I thought it was a bit weird that the Comcast firmware was 2004 while the newest one was 2007, but I decided to go with the 2.0.1 Comcast firmware anyway.

The included PDF documentation was pretty straight forward, though they only included instructions for Windows XP. There was one missing instruction and that was the fact you should connect your computer directly to the cable modem’s ethernet port. When I was first trying to connect over the switch, it wouldn’t see the cable modem. Once I was able to ping it, the flashing was pretty painless. They did screw up the login information. The web login information remains dlink/dlink and not admin/hitron.

My newly flashed cable modem shows:

  • Class ID: 2
  • Max Downstream Rate (bps): 17600000
  • Max Upstream Rate (bps): 2200000
  • Upstream Channel Priority: 1
  • Guaranteed Min Upstream Data Rate (bps): 0
  • Max Upstream Transmit Burst (bytes): 0
  • Privacy Enable: 1

Unfortunately, I don’t have what it showed beforehand as I was too excited to get the newer speeds.

So I went and did a speed test and the results are:
comcast burst tier speed test

Sweet! 16/2 Burst Speed Tier for $30/month! I guess that might be ending soon, since it was only a 6 month promo. At 16/2, this matches Verizon FiOS’ $52.99 plan. Did I mention how sweet this is?!

UPDATE: Apparently it wasn’t the fact that Tekman wasn’t getting the higher speeds with the D-Link DCM-202 cable modem, but they weren’t as high as when he had tested the connection with a Motorola cable modem. He was getting 12000-16000Kbps down / 1000-1500Kbps up with the D-Link DCM-202, while with the Motorola cable modem, he was consistently getting 18000-20000Kbps down / 2000Kbps up. I did notice my upload speed was a bit on the weak side for 2Mbps. Looks like the cheapest Motorola cable modem on Amazon is ~$55.

More Deep Fryer Goodies

So last weekend, I went to Costco and picked up some chicken nuggets (or as they call it, Breast Nuggets) and also some Minh egg rolls. I was thinking about picking up some Ling Ling egg rolls, but once again their box didn’t have any instructions for the deep fryer. I think Ling Ling has something against using the deep fryer. Oh well. The most shocking of all, is that apparently Costco doesn’t carry frozen french fries. The closest thing resembling frozen french fries was either the hash brown or the potato wedges. They also had some battered fish and shrimp that I’m thinking of trying out next time.

Here’s how they turned out:

Chicken NuggetsChicken NuggetsFried Eggrolls

I had also baked some cookies to put it into the penguin cookie jar that Cari had given me. Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies are just so awesome!

Chocolate Chip CookiesChocolate Chip CookiesChocolate Chip CookiesChocolate Chip Cookies

I also found it interesting that the hot oven rails get captured as magenta color.

Last bit about food. I had just started watching the 3rd season of House, M.D. and one of the earlier episodes was a case about twins. How does this relate to food. When I was about to fry some eggs for dinner tonight, I cracked open an egg found this:

Twin Fried Eggs

I guess chickens can have twins too!

Tri-Weekly Top Posts (4/20/2008 to 5/10/2008)

Here’s this past 3 weeks’ top post:

  1. How to download HD Trailers from Apple.com
  2. Six Flags Discount (~50% Off)
  3. 4 Free Xbox Live Arcade Games
  4. Last Week: #9 Windows Update Error: 80070490
  5. Last Week: #7 Reindexing Media Center Library
  6. Last Week: #5 Missing Codecs in Firefox to Play Video in Gallery2
  7. Last Week: #6 Free AutoCheck Report (Similar to Carfax)
  8. Haloid
  9. Last Week: #10 LeekSpin
  10. Last Week: #4 Spinning Dancer

3 weeks ago…

I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks since I posted a weekly top posts entry. Maybe the next time I post one, it’ll be a month. ;p

Once again, summer is approaching and it appears people are desperate for some Six flags discount. Unfortunately that deal I posted last year has already long expired.

I do want to bring up #11 (even though it’s not in the top 10): 組曲『ニコニコ動画』 – Kumikyoku [Nico Nico Douga]. Recently I saw this video from Digg: This Hands-Free Super Mario World Level Plays Sweet, Sweet Music. The music that it’s playing is nothing other than Nico Nico Douga!!! I never knew different colored Koopa Troopa shells made different noises!

Hopefully I’ll have posts queued up for you guys for the next few days. Finally finished watching House, M.D. Season Two. Not a nice way to end a season as I was desperate to see how he turned out.