Twitter started off like a confusing but fun way to keep up with what your friends or favorite bloggers were doing. Slowly more and more people started using Twitter and with that, many applications were built to accompany it. I call them courtiers. Here’s some that I like:
More noteworthy Twitter courtiers:
source: [ link ]
After about a hour of messing with free proxies, to find one that worked, I figured I should list a couple of the proxies I tried. So below is ten free proxies and a short bit about each one. For reference I am using a Windows XP machine running the latest version of Firefox.
http://www.procks.com/
This site is good for using short time, but gets obnoxious with all of the flashing ads at the top. Works with phpBB forums, myspace, and facebook, but does not work with youtube.
Rating: B-
http://www.callforproxy.cn
The top bar is ad free, but it still takes up a good amount of screen space. It somewhat distorts phpBB forums, doesn't work very well with myspace, and works fine with facebook unfortunately does not work with youtube.
Rating: C
http://proxy.virtual-browser.com/
Good for smaller sites and forums. Almost no ads apart from a banner at the top of the page, and a very slim topbar. Does not work with myspace, facebook, bebo, youtube or ebay. You need to subscribe to access those websites. But other then that no forum or site distortion.
Rating: C-
http://ninjaproxy.com/
A great free proxy. Slim topbar and no ads on the page, unfortunately, there are popups (which can easily be blocked via firefox). It does make you wait three seconds before you start browsing. Works with phpBB forums, ebay, myspace, facebook and youtube. Fairly fast load times, and no page distortion.
Rating: A
http://www.privacyblind.info/
This site works with practically all sites (except youtube), except it doesn't load most of the images, which if you are using myspace or facebook can be quite frustrating. It has a medium sited topbar, and fairly fast browsing time.
Rating: C+
http://www.waythru.info
A decent free proxy, with a single large header ad at the top. The topbar was medium size and the browsing speed was average. It works with facebook, ebay, myspace and phpBB forums, but does not run youtube. My only complaint was it was a little bit slow loading up the images.
Rating: B-
https://proxify.com
Another proxy that locks you out of major sites unless you subscribe. Once again, good for small sites and forums, but a no-go with any of the bigger sites. Also they have a top bar with a rather annoying flashing header. Oh, and one last note, they do run of off a secure server (https) so it is more secure, and harder to block.
Rating: C-
http://www.udor.org
A cute little free proxy, that runs most sites. Unfortinatly this proxy is very slow, and takes awhile to load images. The top bar is on the small side, and contains no ads. Runs facebook, myspace, ebay, and phpbb forums. Does not run youtube.
Rating: B+
http://www.hidemyass.com/
A very well designed proxy page. Very eye catching and clean, unlike most free proxys that are littered with advertisements and flashing banners. This proxy works with almost every site except youtube, and has a medium size topbar with no annoying header ads.
Rating: B+
http://www.proxyfoxy.com
One of the few free proxy sites that work with youtube. Unfortunatly it has stupid in-window popup ads that you have to close out of whenever you change pages. Runs with most common sites, a.k.a myspace, facebook, forums, and ebay. It has a small and very smooth topbar.
Rating: B
OK, as promised on this week's saladcast, here is a review of Rob Zombie's Halloween:
The first thing you should know before reading this review is that I'm not a huge fan of the slasher genre of horror films. I feel that, for the most part, the whole genre is devoid of any real substance or anything for the viewer to empathize with. With that said, I think that Rob Zombie did a good job of making a film that is, by default, an exception to this rule.
I think that the best and most profoundly felt dynamic this film has to offer is the inclusion of something that has been absent from almost all of the slasher flicks to come out of the new millennium: use of characterization. Through use of a very long back story chronicling the early years of Michael Myer's life, Mr. Zombie has made it easy for the viewer to really get inside the head of this killer. You almost feel sorry for Michael as you watch him brutally murder his abusive stepfather, insensitive sister, and her boyfriend who is just looking for some quick "action". These characters just don't care about this troubled youth and you almost see justification in his murdering them.
Now for a brief synopsis of the plot. Michael Myers is, as stated by the psychoanalyst that was in charge of his care, the perfect combination of all the right characteristics of abuse, genetics, and circumstance to form the worst kind of sociopath. The film starts out when Michael is about 10-12 years old. He goes to school one day and is harassed by a local bully. In true psychopathic style, he exacts his revenge on said bully by killing him (by beating him to death with a giant stick none the less). Later that night, which happens to be Halloween, Michael returns home and wants to go trick or treating. His abusive father, and sister that likes torture him are less than eager to take him though, so he does what any normal prepubescent boy would do when they don't get their way, and kills them too. When his mother, who was away working at the time, comes home, she finds her son sitting outside on their porch, his baby sister unharmed in hand, and a pile of dead bodies just through the front door. After this tragic incident, young Michael is sent to spend the rest of his days in a maximum security prison, and the next 20 years brooding into a mute homicidal maniac.
Flash forward to the present year. Michael is now a much larger and more intimidating killing machine then he was before, he's developed an acute fetish for mask wearing (he makes them from his cell room out of papermache) and his mom, after finally realizing how much of a psycho her son really was, took her own life many years ago. When the opportunity finally presents itself, in one of the strangest and most bizarre scenes I've seen in a horror movie since Hostel, for Michael to escape, it's time for the real movie to begin.
Without saying much more, for fear of getting into spoiler territory, Michael's newly found freedom leads him back home to his small town of Haddonfield, Illinois on Halloween night, and straight into the lap of the only member of his family that's still alive, his baby sister Laurie (who, incidentally, is now an 18 year old beacon of beauty), and her two model hot friends.
Sounds like a good premise for a horror movie to me!
As far as content goes, Halloween has what everyone is looking for in a good slasher movie. Lots of naked bodies, graphic violence, and chicks screaming in this one. But, like I alluded to before, it also has a lot more substance, characterization and well written compelling dialogue than your average horror film does. Lately, slasher films have been replaced by the supernatural thriller as the dominating genre of horror, but if Rob Zombie's Halloween is any indication of a shift in the way murder flicks are being handled today, then we might just see a reemergence of this ever popular genre of the 90s and early 21st century.
Rating: 7/10 (Recommended)
That's it for today, I will hopefully have a review of the anime Black Lagoon's first season sometime before the end of the weekend.
Sound
The soundtrack in this game follows its predating games, with its upbeat cheery tunes. all of these tracks can be unlocked and listened to individually. The sound effects are also pretty much the same as previous games.
Verdict: subpar
Graphics
This title seriously surprised me with its graphics. For a 2-D sidescroller, the backrounds were rich and inviting, and the enemy models (for the most part) were very original and fresh. But I did get tired of the super fluffy, happy theme as the game progressed. The world names and types were very generic, and kept with the super happy theme.
Verdict: decent
Gameplay
One of the major improvements on this new installment was the evolution of the copied abilities. instead of having only one special move for each ability, you now have a arsenal of 3-8 different unique techniques available to you, plus one "special" move that can be unlocked later in the game. Another strong point is the amount of extras they've crammed in. Granted some of the unlockable extras really are quite pointless (like the jigsaw like pictures), but fun to collect never the less, and offer hours of replay time, far beyond that of a normal DS sidescroller. If i were to sum up my oppinion of this game in the next sentence, i would say that the developers are on the right track, but there is defiantly room for improvement.
Verdict: decent
Improvements
