Author: Patrick

New York City kid, aspiring graphic artist and soon to be photography hobbyist. Former Android user, heavy critic of iPhones and Apple in general.

Earworm: “Pyramids” by Frank Ocean

If you’ve been following my Earworm posts, I have an array of musical tastes. Impossible to decide what my favorite genre is, endless possibilities as to what I’ll listen to next. I’ve been following Frank Ocean and the rest of Odd Future for a little bit now, and Frank just performed on SNL.

He recently took a ride on the fame train and skyrocketed to fame as a solo artist with the release of his debut album, Channel Orange (and the ridiculous controversy that surrounded it. Who cares about his sexual orientation. He’s still a human). He was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2012 MTV VMA’s, but was snubbed by British boy band One Direction. Where was Kanye when you needed him?!

I never though I’d truly get into the whole R&B, rap, hip-hop, smooth type music again, but I’m finding bits and pieces to be really good. I don’t regret anything.

What I’m getting at here is that you never know what you might like listening to. My ears enjoy a lot of different sounds! And this song is one of the best songs out there, in my opinion. One of the best songs off of Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, in fact.

(WARNING: NSFW. SKIP THIS ONE AND LISTEN TO THE SECOND EMBEDDED VIDEO ON THIS PAGE IF YOU ARE IN A WORK OR SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT!)

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/49497576″>frank ocean [pyramids]</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/frankocean”>christopher francis ocean</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

(Lyric video, SFW, but better to not have the lyrics showing. Just listen to it with headphones, too.)

Earworm: “Young Folks” by Peter, Bjorn & John

Oh, lord. I thought I’d gotten this song out of my head AGES ago. But it’s back with a vengeance. Of course, I don’t think this is a bad song at all. It’s just incessant.

I heard it when I was watching a video by John Elerick on YouTube, and it was stuck from there.

WHISTLE IF YOU DARE!

Time to Catch Up, Apple.

iPhone 5. I hope people out there are disappointed by this lackluster device, because I am.

I’m not an Apple guy by any means, but I was actually hoping for a well spec’d phone from them this time. Not to say that the specs of the new iPhone 5 aren’t good, I’m just saying that it’s nothing new or impressive.

The two biggest upgrades to the iPhone are 4G LTE and the 4 inch screen. Apple will probably go as far to say that they are the pioneers of 4G technology, when they aren’t. Of course, now many more people will know about 4G LTE, considering that the technology is now on an Apple iPhone. Then there will be the people (especially those on AT&T) questioning how it is different from HSPA+, called 4G on the AT&T iPhone 4S. On Android devices running HSPA+ it is titled as such, or H+.

The 4 inch screen is lacking as well, and it isn’t even HD. It’s a 4 inch screen! Most phones are of 4.5 inches to 5.2 inches, with 4.8 being the average “sweet spot.” This iteration is a 16:9, a widescreen Retina Display. Of course, the pixel density is stellar, something I actually can complement an iPhone about. But it still isn’t HD. Apple is going to continue with its Retina display.

They added Facebook sync in iOS 6, so now all Facebook contacts will be on the phone if desired. Guess what? Android did that. From the start. Another thing Apple has blatantly stolen from Android is the notification pull down from iOS 5. Catch up, Apple.

They’ve used the same camera as the iPhone 4S, just with a newer, thinner, more durable cover. Improvement, but won’t change the fact that the iPhone will produce blurry images and pretty much work like a brick in low light situations. Even so, this overshadowed the brilliant Nokia PureView Camera on the Nokia Lumia 920, a gorgeously designed phone with a simple and clean user interface on Windows 8.

The processor it’s running is the Apple A6 chip. A dual core CPU with quad core graphics, essentially making the media experience smooth. But internationally, there are Android phones running quad core CPU’s along with quad core GPU’s. Apple is behind a bit on this one.

Apple decided to get rid of Google Maps in favor of their own native Maps. The native Maps app has a fly-over feature, essentially mimicking Google’s Street View and Building View. Oh, and the biggest thing improved for the iPhone’s maps? It now has turn-by-turn navigation! Isn’t that a surprise, the Maps application has features that Google Maps and Google Earth have had nearly from the get-go! Oh, Apple, catching up.

Siri has also had some updating, and now it copies the Google Now, Android 4.1’s native voice actions app. Siri can now tell sports scores and allow you to make reservations on the go.

But perhaps one of the most talked about things is the new dock connector, misleadingly called the Lightning dock connector. For one, the Lightning cable is only a USB 3.0 cable. Most iMacs are at USB 4.0, making for insanely fast data transfers. Also, people with all the speaker accessories will now need to buy special adapters so their new iPhone 5’s will be able to fit on the dock! A question asked moreover about this new dock is why didn’t Apple just go with the industry standard MicroUSB? The world may never know.

With all the similarities to Android phones, why isn’t Apple the company getting sued?

Point is, Apple is merely evolving the iPhone brand, but in the process making it less innovative, and less… Different.

Exciting, isn’t it? Apple is the one having to play catch up in the technology world.

Will you be waiting in line to buy the iPhone 5? Or will you wait for it to cool down to get it? Maybe you’ll wait for the inevitable launch of the iPhone 5S? How about switching to an Android 4.0 device or a Windows 8 device?

Time for a laugh.

Random Flickr Photo of the Day, Cheesecake Edition, Septemer 15, 2012!
Jaws by This Guy Patrick
Jaws, a photo by This Guy Patrick on Flickr.

So, The Big Cheese is out celebrating his best friend’s wedding and I will be the one taking over the RFPD today!

So, let’s get started.

I like pictures. I like travelling. I like taking pictures when I travel. I also like art. And especially graffiti. Or wall murals. See where this is going?

I saw this bad boy in New Hampshire on a small side trip coming home from Maine. It was a really cool mural, and I had nothing but a cell phone to take a picture with. My Droid Incredible 2, needless to say, did a good job with this one.

Moving on with the world.

Technology runs rampant, but schools refuse to accept it for the pure old-school opinion that electronic devices are distractors.

However, think about it. You can do your homework on Microsoft Word or maybe Google Docs and have it immediately ready on your smartphone.

Music assists many with concentration. Artists are an example of students that really rely on music for the inspiration.

I see how people can be distracted, but completely removing them from the environment? That’s just wrong!

The world is advancing, and schools need to get with the times. Let kids have their fun.

Earworm: God Bless… We Will Never Forget 9/11/01

Today is a day of remembrance.

Take the time out of your day to realize how lucky you are to still be here today.

Those men and women who fell victim on that tragic day will never be forgotten. Remember them.

Remember the proud men and women who risked and lost their lives to attempt to save the victims. They, too, were victims in their own right. But they were heroes. Remember the heroes.

Now, this is tonight’s first Earworm post of a 3 parter from me.

First off, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”

 

Wow, do I feel stupid.

Forgetting something that you reminded yourself about 2 minutes earlier. One of the worst feelings, ever.

I’m in high school. I try to keep my locker organized. Being 6 feet tall, I keep the books I need to take home at the top shelf of my locker, eye-level. I throw all the useless binders and folders on the bottom.

But, I’m in high school. I have the memory (and attention span) of a lifeless twig.

I told myself that I’d take my Spanish textbook home after Spanish class, which is the first class I have in the morning. Then, once again, I told myself to take my Spanish book home after AP World History class, around noon. And so the end of the school day comes around at 2:20.

I get to my locker. I unlock it. I throw the lock under the Spanish textbook on the top shelf, as usual. I’m conversing with my buddy, who for the sake of anonymity shall be called Bush, and I zone out from the conversation to make a mental list of the things I need to take home.

  • Spanish textbook
  • Homework folder
  • Agenda

Bush keeps blabbering on and on about the awkward stare down he had with the “hot girl in our English class” whilst I rummaged for my skateboard and proper folders.

I get everything I need.

I grab the lock from under the textbook. Lock the locker. Walk away.

A couple of hours later, on the way home from a little after school skateboard session with my buddy, I realize something. I FORGOT MY TEXTBOOK. Panic races through me, for I have the most strict Spanish teacher in the school. “Goddamn it, my fucking luck…” I continually repeat to myself. I frantically search through my phone’s contact list. I blank out on whose numbers I do and do not have.

Thank Mark Zuckerberg (and his underlings) for Facebook. One friend, who shall be called Shelly, whose number I did not have, shares the same teacher. She was able to send me pictures of the textbook pages that I needed to copy and translate.

There was no point to this story. All I was getting at was that I’m an insanely forgetful person, and I need to work on my short term memory. What a waste of your time.

Hopefully you’re still reading. I just made you lose the game.

Back to school. Ugh.

It’s that time of year again here in good ole NY State. Probably most of the US, but… Well… Yeah. So.
Back to school time. Really not my favorite time of the year. It’s stressful. All the parents are rushing to Staples to grab the supplies, clogging the highways to finally rid their houses of their college-bound sons and/or daughters. Meanwhile, the non-veteran students are frantically jogging to class, trying to make a good first impression.
What shocks me about this time of year is that many high school freshmen don’t realize that it is a chance to reinvent themselves. Change your image for the better. Forget the peer pressure and be you. And high school is the perfect place to express yourself! There are bound to be at least tens of kids with the same interest. If you don’t mix in well with a group of kids, who cares? Be that universal guy. Attack all sides of life, people.
I’ve never been a normal kid. I’ve always been weirder and more unusual than most. I’m one of those universal guys. I can mix in with the likes of anyone. There’s no reason to be afraid of tackling new horizons.
Oh, you’re not afraid of making friends? You’re terrified of the workload? Trust me, everyone is. I’m taking a college level course this year. It hasn’t even been a whole week of school yet, and I’m already feeling overwhelmed by the curriculum. But it isn’t a reason to not accept the challenge. It’s a way to better yourself.
Do you have your own thoughts on back to school season? Do you have any advice for the incoming freshies and new students? Leave some comments down below and make sure to like this post!

SourceFed. My favorite news conglomerate. Oh, and Howard Cooper.

Hopefully, when I finally land a job, I can work for a man as generous as Howard Cooper. We need more people like him.

Earworm: “Math Suks” by Jimmy Buffett

Okay, I’ll admit. This song isn’t actually stuck in my head because of the tune. Quite frankly, I hate this song. It sucks just as badly as math does. My trigonometry teacher has a sign on her desk that says, “Math suks,” and at least 9 people asked about it. She had to explain it so many times that it has been implanted in my head. What a great memory for the first day of school.

 

[Big Cheese]-added video…kinda