Xanga.

Xanga.

Xanga.

The FAQ section of the official site states that Xanga staff pronounce it "ZANG-uh". Why do so many x-words sound like z-words? Xebra, Zanga, Xylophone, Xanax, Let's go visit the Xoo! The English language is quite quirky. Xanga, the weblog service was launched in 1998--this also coincidentally is the year I graduated from high school and when MP3's were still the relatively new file format(remember WAVS and MIDIs?) and there was no such thing as MySpace or Friendster. I joined Xanga in 2003 and it's been nearly a decade that I've owned a weblog... or now commonly known as a "blog". Prince is now currently known as Prince and not a symbol anymore. A good portion of those years were dedicated to randomly posting the on-goings of life: what I ate that day, who I met, where I went, what happened, what happened to who, or if beyonce had the best videos of all time etc. Mostly, it was to vent how bored I was to my friends on Xanga. 

A few years back I heard that Xanga laid-off a big portion of their workforce due to being an ineffective source of revenue. Like many tech companies that have risen and fallen... Xanga has fallen on the Internet spectrum. Blogger and now, the dominant player, Facebook all have to compete for people's attention and ways of connecting. The blog is an evolving form of expression and in a way--more one-sided and egotistical... now, people want increased social networking and a conversation in 140 characters or less and most importantly, however big or small a thought--they want to share. Since 1998. the world in a way has grown closer and smaller yet more distant at the same time. And we have seen all that change in less than a decade! Amazing times, rly.  

Every time I do think of visiting here I am tempted to shut down my blog since I don't do any upkeep or able to keep up with reading subscriptions. So why am I deciding to write in here again? Just for nostalgia's sake... and well, its Memorial Day weekend I do what I damn want. Where have I been instead of blogging on ZANG-uh? I moved into other channels... A defunct food blog, two twitter pages, a few tumblr sites and yes, of course, Facebook. 

Blog you later... maybe.

Looks incredible! Go see it when it comes out!

I'm having issues with the version of Ponyo I got... therefore, no review(for now).

But for now... check out this cute commercial I'm hooked on by Baskin Robbins. It's also kind of annoying.

In the last couple years, a recent Asian phenomenon called the "Ulzzang" which roughly translates from Korean as "Best face" has been popular on the internet. You've probably seen them on asianposes.com as well.


What is an Ulzzang?

from Wikipedia:
The word Ulzzang (얼짱) came from Korea. Ulzzang or Uhljjang means "best face" in Korean. The Ulzzang Fashion started in South Korea. Many Ulzzang wannabes post up their pictures on various websites, voting and chatting can be done on many of them. Contests sites, both internet and in real life, are often used to pick the best Ulzzangs, but you do not necessarily need to enter or win. Some Ulzzangs, however, have not relied solely on the internet. For example, some have gained popularity at school for being attractive. Most Ulzzangs, however, use the internet to share their photos, and that is how many become popular.


At first, I just thought... cute. They look like anime characters.

On closer inspection, their irises look HUGE and peculiar! For a while, I just thought they looked like that due to the camera angle being shot from above or I thought it might be a fish eye lens effect. It wasn't until I had read this blog, that I realized the existence of these special contact lenses called the "Circle lens", that gives the illusion of larger irises.



These contact lenses originated from Korea about 6 years ago and became very popular when introduced in Japan. Even western markets are beginning to sell them and they are becoming more and more well-known.


Wow she looks more awake with those circle lenses. Wearers note that in the beginning there is a bit of discomfort. I'm not sure how different these are from regular contact lenses.

from Wikipedia:
Many Ulzzangs use web camera program, such as Haduri, are popular among teens in Korea, China, Japan. People also take normal or digicam pictures. Some people even use Photoshop to edit themselves. Once Ulzzang, who photoshop themselves, there normal looks maybe change . From before and after looks. Ulzzang who use photoshop, often edit there eyes to make them look bigger, and covering their flaws. So you can say that most ulzzangs are fake.

To become an Ulzzang, young teens, girls often buy products for their face. This includes fake eyelashes, circle lens, for eyes "contacts", makeup, foundations, eyelid tape, and etc.

The most famous Ulzzangs may earn celebrity status. Some Ulzzangs may even become real celebrities by going into acting, singing, or modeling careers. Two examples of former Ulzzangs are Goo Hye Sun and Park Han Byul.

from Urban Dictionary:
Superficial, terrifying Asians who go through mountains of eyelid glue, circle lenses, makeup, trick camera angles, and
photoshop to look like blank-faced aliens.

---

The most interesting story to me... was of this beast turned beaulzzang...


What do you think? Yay or Nay?

Now that I have the iPhone 3G S... I must say... it's a substantial upgrade from the 1st gen iPhone. If you're oscillating about upgrading from the 3G to 3GS, I would say to hold off and wait longer for a more considerate metamorphosis(in another year--might be June 2010).

So far, no problems and crashes. *knocks on wood*
I've heard there have been problems for others with the new iPhone...
so we'll see what happens with mine.

Compared to the last iPhone 1st gen I had, this noticeably faster and the graphics rendering is even more beautiful from what my naked eye can tell. With the 1st gen, I used to crash and freeze once in a while especially when I was playing larger games, but so far that hasn't occured yet. I'm also digging the video + video editing feature, the tap + focus feature, compass and voice memo. I'm not sure why there are still iPhone haters out there--it's a great phone at the consumer level. It may not rule forever, but right now it's all sorts of awesome. The new OS3.0 features are pretty kewl too, but I heard there are some bugs they are working out for the next update.

Some recent games/apps I've been getting are(thanks to an iTunes gift cert I got from Chris, Nishita and Charity and last but not least, Tami):

• Sims 3 for iPhone ($9.99): Wow they really didn't skimp on this one. Good job EA
• Cooking Mama Lite (FREE): Not worth buying the full version for a meager 15 dishes. It also puts to use the motion detecting/tilting feature/accelerometer that is unique to the iPhone. I still like the DS version more. I still feel like its buggy.
• Pocket God ($2.99): Can this game get any cuter? You get to play God to an island of cute pygmies.
  
• Twitterfon vs. Tweetdeck (FREE): Even though Tweetdeck has a better organizational system, I still like Twitterfon for its ease of use on the iPhone and it's also been around longer--hence, more stable. Tweetdeck just came out but has alot of potential to do better.
  
• Papertoss (FREE): Fun, simple game. However, the one thing I keep asking myself in the game is, "Why does paper make a hard metallic sound when it hits the trash can?".
• DDR for iPhone ($6.99): Wow, this is fantastic too. They didn't skimp on this either. Feels like the arcade game and makes your fingers skinnier at the same time. haha. 

iPhone Wallpapers

While I've been trying to adorn my iPhone with new decorations, I've run across these lovely wallpaper sites to share with you iPhone owners. They're pretty awesome if you actually bother to check them out.  iPhone wallpapers are 320x480px...  The same dimensions also fit for the Palm pre if you got one.