The Cabbage Patch

Hooray for onomatopoeia

Hello World.

Some comic book themed desktop wallpaper thingies, made by yours truly:

These use a font called Badaboom, which is a free download from Blambot.

Tags: Downloads

‘coz it’s red.

Hello World.

I made another desktop wallpaper thingy.  Not fancy, nor particularly creative, but definitely, positively red.

Tags: Downloads

Celebrating my Geekdom

Hello World.

The Buffy Season 8 comic is due out in a few weeks, and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about anything.  For those who don’t know, Buffy the Vampire Slayer lasted seven seasons as a television show, ending in 2003.  Four years later Joss Whedon, the show’s creator, has decided to write and release an official eighth season to the story, using the medium of comic books.

To celebrate this fact, I created a desktop wallpaper using the cover art from the first issue.

Feel free to download and enjoy, if you’re as big a geek as me.

Tags: Downloads, Geekin' It Up

What kind of Wanksta? A Bohemian Wanksta!

Hello World.

Anyone who knows me (or who listened to the live broadcasts of our SURG shows) will know that I have a… how should I put it?… bizarre taste in music.  Throw any song at me and I will probably like it (and most likely already have it), however make it funny, strange or unusual and I will be praising your name.

This week I have discovered an album that is funny, strange and unusual all at once - and it also happens to be an incredibly impressive musical feat.

What am I talking about?  Why, Q-Unit of course!

This is an entire mash-up album bringing together the most unlikely duet in modern music - rapper 50 Cent and glam-rockers Queen.  It’s been put together by DJs The Silence Xperiment and is available for free download.

Now, I know by posting this I am probably going to receive some nasty comments, but please consider this before you yell at me:  I am about as big of a Queen fan as there is, and I hate 50 Cent.  This “album”, however, is so hilariously funny that these things seem irrelevant.  After a few minutes, these songs feel like they were meant to be this way.  Even if you dislike one or both of these artists (as I have said - I do), have a listen anyway simply for the sheer brilliance in how it has been put together.  These guys are genii (yes, the plural of genius is genii).

The site is also worth a visit for this picture alone.

A word of warning though - as 50 Cent’s lyrics feature prominently on this album, there is a definite bad language warning.  If you are offended by the implication that you may be fornicating with someone’s maternal parent, perhaps you should skip this one.

Tags: Downloads

Download: The Filter

Hello World.

I don’t often feature program downloads on Da Patch, but I have found this one so interesting I just had to mention it.

The Filter is a program / plugin for iTunes (Windows only for now, Mac coming soon) which, according to the website, “creates perfect playlists from your iTunes library”.  I don’t know if I’d say perfect, but I will say pretty damn good.

Simply select a track (or a few tracks), and press the big black “F” button, and The Filter will create a playlist from songs in your library based around your selections.  The result is a diverse selection of songs that actually seem to go well together much better than iTunes’ built-in shuffle mode.  It also learns about your taste as you use it, remembering which tracks you skipped over compared to which you played through, and builds future playlists accordingly.

It’s very useful for making “mood playlists” - for example a playlist for doing work to, or (as I have) one for waking up to.

And no, if you feed Maroon 5 or Panic! At the Disco into it, it will not suddenly make them good.

Read more about The Filter here, or download it here.

Tags: Downloads

Just like a black and white rainbow

Hello World.

Mono is a fast-paced shooter style game which seems to defy description. The game’s website sums it up best: Mono is part Asteroids, part Robotron and part Paint Shop Pro.

You control a ship, or weapon, of some sort and must paint the level white (or black, depending on what colour it started as) using the colours which remain after the various floating, shooting, coloured circles are destroyed.

Truly a bizarre game, but very fun.

Tags: Downloads

Frets on Fire

Hello World.

There is a game for PS2 called Guitar Hero, which is a sort of "guitar simulator".  The player, wielding a faux-guitar, must press the right "fret" and "pick" as coloured lines march across the screen.

Frets on Fire is a free, computer-based rip-off of this popular game.  It is essentially the same, only the computer keyboard is used in place of the guitar controller.  It is a very fun and addictive game, despite only coming with three songs.  The different difficulty levels each offer a different challenge, so the songs do not get boring.

An industrious fan has also converted the Brad Sucks song Bad Attraction for use in the game, if interested.  You can download it from here.

Update: I just found Keyboards on Fire, a site with extra songs for the game.

Tags: Downloads

Four desktops are better than one.

Hello World.

Here’s a little download-able utility I’ve been using for a little while - Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager (MSVDM).

As I have mentioned before, I have made a few little forays into the world of Linux in the past few months, and there have been a few things I have seen in that strange world that I never knew I was missing in Windowsland. One of those things is the concept of Virtual Desktops.

“Virtual Desktops” are (usually three) extra desktops which run in parallel to the primary one and act much like a second (and third, and fourth) monitor attached to the computer. They can be extremely useful when using a computer with only one monitor, or a particularly small monitor (such as, say a laptop). I often find myself dreading having to make a trip down to the desktop by minimising the multitude of windows I have open at any one time (or worse, having to restore all of the windows again after minimising to try to find where I was before). With virtual desktops, I can keep a couple of programs open full screen at the same time, and keep a clean desktop for those times I might need it, and simply switch instantly between them.

Microsoft Virtual Desktop Manager provides Windows XP with this missing functionality for free. It allows you to switch between the desktops, or look at all of them side by side. The program is part of the Microsoft Windows XP Powertoys collection, which can be found here. Once installed, you will need to right-click on the task-bar at the bottom of the screen and select Toolbars>Desktop Manager. You can customise each desktop background by right-clicking on any of the MSVDM buttons and selecting Configure Desktop Images. Also in this right-click menu you may toggle the Shared Desktop option. This allows you to either see all open windows on all desktops (on) or windows unique to each desktop (off).

Tags: Downloads

New Messenger

Hello World.

It's not the usual type of stuff I do here, but I thought I'd just give all of you a little heads up regarding a new (beta) version of MSN Messenger.

It has changed its name to Windows Live Messenger, but in reality it is just MSN Messenger 8.

I've been playing with it for a little while and it seems to be almost exactly like the current MSN Messenger (7.5?), except for a few aesthetic changes. The best improvement I've seen is the ability to remove some of the more annoying elements via the options menu (such as those stupid tabs down the side). There are a few other things also such as Folder Sharing and offline messages (messages that will be received the next time the recipient logs on).

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know, because I know many of you use it.

Related links:

* DownloadSquad

* Techcrunch

Tags: Downloads, News Articles, Web Sites