Following the Lion

The wheels start rolling

johnvinnymarquez — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:12:42 +0000

Last weekend I started work on my DIY shock mount and pop filter project. Haven’t been able to acquire materials for the pop filter yet but I’m done cutting up some pvc pipes, drilling holes and putting hooks on them. Contemplating on getting a larger sized PVC pipe for the outer ring of the shockmount though, there’s not enough clearance between the inner and outer sections to I’m affraid of them hitting each other while bearing the load of the mic. Will post a step by step article about my build once I’m done with the project.

Also, my website/MVC 3 practice/Portfolio took another turn last night. I decided I’d go lean for this project and planning to integrate it with my current wordpress blog. Started a proof of concept for and successfully queried posts from my blog. Now the real work starts: I’ll be tearing down the current design which communicates to my database. Oh well , I’m still waiting for my friend BunnyKid to finish my mascot/character illustration so I can’t release it just yet. I’ve been planning to release the said page and upgrade it with small iterations, gradually completing features one at a time.

Didn’t have the time to go to the gym today though and it’s already been almost a week since my last workout session. Boo. Midhshift really isn’t as ideal as regular shift when it comes with accomplishing a lot of things with my life. Lol.

Got a new mic, made some progress

johnvinnymarquez — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:27:23 +0000

Yey! Thank you Lord! Finally got my Audio Technica AT2020 from Alvin Austral (hapijoey) and made a new friend by purchasing some equipment and turns out we have common friends (Nimbus Crowd, Fidel De Jesus). Whats left are the Samson SP01 Shockmount and some cheapo boom mic stand and I’m all set.

Audio Technica AT2020

On the recording side, I’ve been playing around with Garageband and got some progress on my song entitled “Sun”. Actually its almost done (well, just for reference) except for the vocal track.

Recording equipment and other stuff

johnvinnymarquez — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:31:22 +0000

After months of waiting, the Lord has blessed me with provisions to finally go through with buying my own recording equipment. I now have a new workstation (c/o Ian & Raniel), a M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Rode M1(c/o Mawie) and an Ovation Ae148(c/o Mawie). I’m just waiting for the new Audio Technica AT2020, shock mount, stand and I’m all set for recording my songs.

I am also thankful to the Lord for repairing old relationships: I’ve been blessed to be reconnected to an old friend and find out we have the same passion for recording. Truly excited for the future.

Looking forward to finishing my songs as well as my Mawie’s song! Weee

Future upgrades in-line would be an ART Tube MP (with upgraded Tube), HQ Cables and Behringer MS16 Studio Monitors or if possible Rokit 5 G2 Monitors! Wooohoooo. Can’t wait to get started!

A refreshing and honest view on design

johnvinnymarquez — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:55:49 +0000

I’m reading this book by Nathan Shedroff entitled “Design is the Problem: The future of Design must be Sustainable” and wow, I am really impressed.

He talks about sustainability and how design is current in a great transition from one being too focused on looks. Here are a few excerpts:

In truth, design has never been merely about appearance, although that’s been the most prominent phenomenon throughout its history. In addition, other disciplines use the word “design” to describe other functions,
such as structuring databases, systems, services, or organizations (further confusing its use and meaning). But there have been moments in design’s past where truly great designers showed us that design was also concerned with
performance, understanding, communication, emotion, desire, meaning, and humanity itself, even though these haven’t been the most lasting movements.

On Makeup and Stilettos:

Consider the mainstays of women’s fashions. Seasons and trends come and go but two constants sold to women as the foundation of beauty are makeup and stiletto heels. For
centuries, women have been told that they are at their most beautiful when they cover their skin with a patina of pore-clogging, often toxic, substances. Ironically and sadly, these very
materials often ruin their skin years before the natural effects of age occur, making for worse complexions and requiring (seemingly) even more of the stuff that caused the problem in the
first place. Foundation and heavy makeup has, thankfully, fallen out of fashion in the past few decades, yielding to a desire for more “natural” beauty, but many women are still taught that the
first step to looking pretty is to cover up their skin and start with a blank canvas. Yet, when we think of authentic beauty, the examples mostly offered are those of youthful and athletic people.
Advertisements would have you believe that the most beautiful people in the world rely on makeup, diets, and questionable home exercise equipment when these same models themselves
don’t use what they promote. Stilettos and most other “high” heels are the same. They exist to fool women that they will be more attractive by buying products that actually ruin their feet, posture, and backs over
time. While they sometimes serve functions other than fashion (such as giving women a bit more height), this could be accomplished by fashionably thick-soled shoes instead. That women regularly torture and destroy their bodies in the name of fashion, not to mention often
flirting with accidents from tripping, speaks to how deeply this false view of beauty is rooted in our culture.

Sure, it can be fun to “dress up” in costumes once in a while, using makeup and clothing to temporarily play a role. I have no issue with this. However, those who habitually trade their health
and natural beauty in for fashion solutions that actually harm both are playing a sad game. And those who promote this behavior are fooling themselves if they think they’re making people more beautiful.

Great read. Can’t wait to learn a ton of stuff from this!

Naruto 540, Bleach 449, blog consolidation and new stuff to learn!

johnvinnymarquez — Thu, 26 May 2011 08:17:19 +0000

Naruto 540 and Bleach 449 are out at Mangastream!

Finally done importing old posts from my old blog “Following the Lion” (yeah, just consolidated the old one with my new one). I just changed URLs actually

On the tech side, I know I’m a bit boxed up in my presentation layer world: only dealing with things that happen strictly on the Presentation Layer side. So I’m reading up on RIA Services and Entity Framework.

Also, my GF’s travel has been secured thanks to the Lord!

One Piece 626 is out!

johnvinnymarquez — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:49:31 +0000

One Piece 626 (The Three Neptune Brothers) is out at Mangastream: http://mangastream.com/read/one_piece/88732753/1.

Still waiting for Naruto and Bleach Releases.

Hello World-press!

johnvinnymarquez — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:46:35 +0000

I’m back to WordPress! After playing with Tumblr, I decided to comeback to wp after finding out that live.com actually reserved my name during the so-called migration.

I would like to start a development blog, but would like to include some other stuff too so let see how this all plays out.

Post

johnvinnymarquez — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:02:18 +0000

So many things to do, so little time…

Me and France we’re gonna watch eclipse tomorrow night. I’m kinda sad coz whenever I see Jacob I am reminded of the time that I was frequently in the gym. It was about the time when the last twilight movie that I stopped working out and almost a year after I got scrawny again plus flabs. Rawr. I’m happy that we get to watch it together though, I know she’s looking forward to watching it I know she’s gonna enjoy it. Not an Edward fan though, I still don’t like glowing gay looking vampires. I am all for the Shaper mistakingly called “warewolf” named Jacob. \m/ (-_-) \m/

I finally got my driver’s license again. After losing it for the 3rd time and letting it expire for 3 years I was forced to take the exam again and go through long lines and scorching heat. I do not want to elaborate anymore, the important thing is I can drive again. Yey! Though I’d want to forget that because I spent too much in getting that license that I won’t be able to by my dog a new cage. Oh well, next cutoff.

I am trying out XNA (XNA is Not Acronymed), Microsoft’s game development platform for Windows and Xbox 360. It all started when I got this book from booksale: Professional XNA Programming for 350Php. I am currently having frequent nosebleeds from all the math involved. I do not know how far I can go with this thing but I am having fun with it.

Cake, I am eating cake.

Ooooh and that Schecter Hellraiser C-1! I’ve been drooling over it for weeks. But I’m afraid that I can’t even afford the Schecter Omen 6. Lord, can I have this guitar please?

I am sooooo tired and sleepy. This blogpost feels like its emotionless. What a statement. Is this classified as ironic?

Anyway… good night everyone! God bless!

The show must go on

johnvinnymarquez — Mon, 31 May 2010 01:05:26 +0000

May 31st 2010: I’m back at the office at 7:23am. It’s been more than 2 weeks since my father was assassinated, most of the things that I’ve seen in the movies aren’t as cool as I thought they were. Someone dying in the family has a big impact on a family, how much more if the cause is unnatural or unjust? I gritted my teeth, I cried, felt down and sometimes thought of things that I know I shouldn’t think of. But you know what? The Lord has been faithful to his promises even in the midst of our trials. He is truly a just and loving God. I remember my cousin telling me to read James 1 & 2, this was the verse that struck me the most.

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. – James 1:2-8

God is telling me that even though we are troubled, we should not be. Instead we should have faith and lift everything up to Him. Who can add another day in his life by worrying? No one. So why worry?

So here I am waiting for my teammates to come so that I can start working and be the best I can be. Hoping that my actions will someday bear fruit.

The show must go on. \m/ (-_-) \m/

Here we go again

johnvinnymarquez — Tue, 11 May 2010 00:27:31 +0000

It’s a sad sad thing thats happening to our country. Our country is like one big circus and we are the clowns. We expect that our leaders have the disposition and strength to rule this country when we ourselves do not have character. The stuff happening around us are not only because of our leaders but also because of us either doing the wrong things or worse: doing nothing at all. The Filipino has been reduced to performers on a global stage.

from Facebook

We have been crying out for change for a long time but we still don’t see that change starts from an individual. Take for example “kotong cops”, everyone hates them (some even call them “Buwaya” or Crocodile). They linger at street corners waiting for prey and when someone gets caught most of the time they’ll just pay up to avoid the hassle of having a ticket. Out of convenience we condone these wrong doings and through repeated practice these things became norms in our society. We see all of these things happen right before our eyes and we pay no heed to it. Able bodied men refusing to work cleanly resort to illegal activities, corrupt government officials, “talanka mentality” in everywhere, taking advantage of poor people just to give the masses a good show and blinding them that “easy money” is the way out, taking advantage of the revolution. On a personal note, sometimes I am ashamed to be a Filipino.

from Facebook

Bayanihan in our culture? Are you joking? We are a divided country. It’s like an unseen civil war. Dog eat dog. And people say they are patriotic? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I have no hope in my people but I am really disappointed. We are repeating the same mistakes over and over again and we don’t see it. I wanted to believe that this election will be different from the past ones but I was wrong. IT’S NOT AN ELECTION, IT’S A POPULARITY CONTEST. It’s not about the candidate, its about how and why we chose them.

If we want change, lets start with ourselves and hopefully others follow suit.. and maybe then our country can change.

Now enough ranting for me. Whatever the result of this election will be we will have to suck it up for 6 years. May the Lord look favorably on this nation and reveal His plans to us. For even if we do not like the our leaders we must be respectful to them for they have been allowed by the Lord to be in a place of power and we in turn must be good followers.

God bless!