MY ENEMY NOW HAS A FACE!!! So anyways, some girl I liked from a couple years past finally posted up a pic of her and her boyfriend on her MySpace profile. WOOHOO!! So I now have a face to go with my rage, hatred and anger (rage and anger are the same thing, no? Whatever) from the past, um, 5 years...

And I thought I screwed myself over by checking out that girl's profile once again (she's on my buddy list, by the way)...considering I've been trying NOT to visit her page for the past two months (and failed twice during the attempt. This counts as the second time, haha). I know, I know— Why did I add her in the first place? I have no idea. Her name and face are pretty much POISON in my thoughts now (cue in that old school song by Bel Biv Devoe), I'm sorry to say...not to sound overdramatic or anything... Ya think seeing that bastard's face (I'm talking about her BF) will bring closure—and more rage—to me? Hmm... We'll see. For those of you who read my blogs since I started them in October 2000, you should know who I'm talking about. I constantly referred to her as "Denise".


One more thing: I don't know the meaning of the term "having issues"...


And I'm still pissed at them for beating the Angels, but whatever:



Go Sox.

First and foremost, today marks the 5-year anniversary of this Blogspot!


Since Halloween is a week away, I just felt like sharing some supposedly-haunting pictures that were taken in Thailand around the time of last December’s Asian tsunami disaster. My sister was e-mailed these pics, and she in turn showed them to me...and while they’re pretty spooky (at least, err, three of them), a few of these pics can be described as textbook Photoshopped images. Whether or not all of them are remains to be seen. I’ll leave it up to you to decide for yourself. With the exception of adding auto contrast and re-sizing the pics for clarity, I did NOT in any other manner alter these images. And my apologies to those who feel like I'm trivializing that catastrophe with these photos. If any or all of these pics are fake, blame those who got the sick idea of using that disaster to come up with these hoaxes.



This monk is praying over the body of a tsunami victim, and that wavy beam of light in front of him is supposedly that of the spirit leaving the room. Either Industrial Light & Magic had a hand in this photo (I'm not being serious), or some supernatural brouhaha is indeed taking place in this photo. I remember seeing these wavy beams of light in the two Ghostbusters films, haha. Sorry- Anyways...



Faces in the fire... Is this a case of people seeing what they want to see? What an opportune time that the flames would form faces right when this person was taking a picture. Actually, the one all the way to the right looks pretty, um, authentic. I'll admit that.



Mist forming on the camera lens? Notice that there aren’t any water drops obstructing the view of the wrapped bodies on the ground. Could these orbs be spirits who are leaving from this tragic scene? My sister thinks so, but I’m obviously skeptical. Err, who wouldn't be?



More of those misty bubbly things... Being that this photo is taken near water, I think this one can be logically explained. These people sure are superstitious about those orbs...or clever in that they're testing to see just how far people are willing to believe that something out of the ordinary is occurring in these pics.



Wow- that spirit even has the blank, comic book superhero eyes going... If this one’s a hoax, nice cut and paste job! And in case you're wondering, you have to reduce the opacity level through Photoshop so the guy in the middle will become transparent in the image. But that’s only if this pic is a hoax.

EDIT: Upon closer inspection, it seems like someone copied the head of the guy to the left, moved it to the middle of the photo, and then made it transparent to make it look like a ghost. That, and the eyes were altered to give them that blank look. Oh, and Photoshop's film grain option was used to make the image look more convincing. BOOOO!



This paranormal event is taking place on the famous bridge over the River Kwai. My sister should know... She went to Thailand for a film shoot 2 years ago and visited this historic site. More spirits in the form of those wavy light beams. In case you’re wondering, River Kwai was the site of an Allied attempt to blow up the bridge in World War II, despite the fact British soldiers were building it for their Japanese captors. Haven’t you seen the 1957 movie with Sir Alec Guinness in it? I didn’t.



This is a Photoshopped pic assuming someone e-mailed this image to this dude’s cell phone. If not, then how convenient that the ghost is smiling for the camera too! Verizon LG should follow Samsung’s lead... They’d both be making billions if they could build camera phones that can photograph dead people! Anyways, this photo actually appeared in a Thai newspaper.



All you need to do with this pic is conduct a nice cut-and-paste job, reduce the opacity level like in the fourth image above, and blur the “ghost” so he’ll appear the way he does in this image. Other than that, this pic is SCARY!!! ‘Cause those guys sure are posing pretty damn close to each other... Hey fanboys, GET A ROOM!



Back in the day... The infamous 9/11 hoax pic. Overlooking the fact the lighting on the plane doesn't mix with the actual lighting in the photo, notice how well it was cut and pasted into this picture. Don't know 'bout the Pot Baby, though. Whoever added him is a disgrace to Photoshop pranksters everywhere. Haha.



One more for the road... The Coronado Hotel, which is one of the most well-known haunted sites here in this country. I took this picture when a few of my friends and I hung out in San Diego on Saturday.

(Click here to read about ghosts and their place in Buddhism and Thai culture.)

(Click here to see some of the most famous photos ever taken during ghost sightings.)

CARDINALS: 5, ASTROS: 4... I'd laugh at Houston pitcher Brad Lidge for choking at the last minute, but at least his team is still playing. We'll see if they win tomorrow or pull a 2004 Yankees and lose the next two games to St. Louis (though in case you've already forgotten, New York won the first three games in last year's ALCS and lost the next four to the Red Sox. That's EVEN worse). Damn the Angels! And Jose Contreras... And Doug Eddings... Definitely Doug Eddings.

Okay, this entry oughta offset the nerd posts of the past week or so. And don't forget to buy the Batman Begins DVD today!

It was either plugging in another shameless advertisement about a film in my journal entry or posting a long-ass blog about how much I hate MySpace and Friendster.com (speaking of which, I think I'll log into them after I finish typing this. NOT! And I'm well aware that I posted a link to my MySpace profile in my Favorites section above), so I chose making the shameless plug instead. Don't forget to pick up the Batman Begins DVD when it gets released in stores next Tuesday. The film made over $205 million in the domestic box office so far, so there has to be a sequel (as long as it's still directed by Chris Nolan, that is). Warner Bros made Scooby Doo 2, for cryin' out loud. Of course— it went straight to DVD.

PARMAN'S PAGE HAS MOVED... To a new server, that is! I'm still on Crosswinds.net, but I signed up for a different account where I get more storage space and a lot more bandwidth. So now my page won't become unavailable right when you're about to find those hidden links I have on making pipe-bombs and better porno videos. JUST KIDDING! That joke may bite me in the ass in the future. Oh well. But seriously, though... You now have unlimited access to all those pics of me with import models that will no doubt ruin my chances with any gal I want to get with in the future who stumbles upon my site. I'd remove those model pics, but you know... I don't wanna. Oh, and as of today, I have 132,793 hits since I've been keeping track of all the visits to my homepage since early 2004 (and I've had this website since 2000, so God knows what my real count is, haha). Thank you, Statcounter!

On November 1st, Star Wars: Battlefront II, the sequel to last year's Star Wars: Battlefront—which is the most successful of all the Star Wars video games so far—will be released in stores...along with the DVD for Revenge of the Sith. Woohoo, can't wait!! I've posted up images of the game and DVD covers, plus some screenshots from the DVD's deleted scenes feature below. And no, I wasn't paid by Lucasfilm or LucasArts for this bit of advertising. In fact, I just might get in trouble for posting the screenshots below. It's Dagobah!












Images courtesy of Fi-Sci.Net

Just when I thought I wouldn’t be turning my journal page into a mini-version of Space.com, I read an interesting (err, to me at least...but then that's why I'm posting an entry about this on my very own websi— Ahh, forget it) article about engineers being one step closer towards preparing the first-ever spacecraft to fly towards the ninth planet in the solar system: Mustafar. Just kidding... I meant Pluto. Mustafar is that volcanic world in Revenge of the Sith (Just felt like nerding up this entry even more, haha). For more info on the New Horizons spacecraft, click on the link I posted above. Other than that, have a nice day. Or evening. Wherever you live.


For additional info, go to the New Horizons website

EDIT: WARNING: A GEEK RANT... Well son-of-a-b****!!! I just found out on the New Horizons website that people could've submitted their names to be put on a compact disc that will be installed on the spacecraft. And the contest is already over (it ended on September 15)!! Darn!! My name could've went to Mustafar--err, Pluto!! That definitely beats having my name vaporized by some comet!! I also submitted my name to be put on the Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn, but I don't know if my name was indeed placed on a CD that was attached to that probe (since the Cassini contest took place in 1992-93, and you couldn't download an online certificate confirming that your name was submitted during that time, which you could now do with the Deep Impact and New Horizons missions), and it's inevitable that Cassini will eventually be destroyed by crashing into one of Saturn's moons in the future, or if NASA deliberately sends the probe into the planet's atmosphere to burn up and be destroyed a la Galileo at Jupiter and Magellan at Venus. At least New Horizons will fly on forever like the distant Pioneer or Voyager spacecraft...assuming it doesn't fly into a star millions of years from now. Again, darn!! For those of you who actually submitted your names to the New Horizons contest, click here to look them up. DARN!! I'm a lot more disappointed than I sound.

BELOW: A DVD bearing 616,420 digitized signatures of people from nations around the world that was attached to the Cassini spacecraft. My signature is among them...err, hopefully.




EDIT #2: I bought the Explore the Universe 2006 Collector's Edition of Astronomy magazine on October 7 (you thought I was done talking like a nerd? I don't think so), and at the end of the "Cassini's 4-year Odyssey" article, the writer (John Shibley) also states that Cassini will be sent into Saturn's atmosphere many years from now for final destruction....so as not to contaminate any of the planet's moons should the probe crash into 'em. NOOOO!!




ABOVE: No, this pic isn't Photoshopped. The Cassini space probe actually took this image of the moon Dione with Saturn in the background. Click here for more news on the mission.



ABOVE: The Voyager spacecraft... Now these are the space probes to have your name on, considering they're both at least ten years away from entering interstellar space (Has anyone seen my pocket protector?). Image courtesy of JPL's Voyager website.



ABOVE: And don't forget about Pioneers' 10 and 11. Pioneer 10 will reach the red star Aldebaran—which forms the eye of the constellation Taurus (The Bull)—about 2 million years from now, while Pioneer 11 will reach one of the stars in the constellation Aquila (The Eagle) in about 4 million years.



ABOVE: The Dawn spacecraft...which is scheduled for launch on June 30, 2007 and will arrive at the asteroid Vesta in 2011 and then dwarf planet Ceres in 2015.

EDIT #3: The two photos below show the Send Your Name CD being installed onto Deep Impact's Impactor...but that doesn't take away from the fact that this CD no longer exists. And if it does, it's now in the forms of millions of atomized particles.




BELOW: The Deep Impact flyby spacecraft is about to be mated with the Impactor (resting on the floor).

“Apollo on steroids.” I could post up my own entry about the devastation and tragedies wrought by Hurricane Katrina (and most likely Rita), but I won’t. On a more upbeat note, if you’re a nerd, a space enthusiast or a taxpayer who just doesn’t plain give a rat’s ass about where his or her taxes are going, NASA has unveiled its new plan last Monday about how it’s gonna return to the moon…which can take place as soon as 2018. Below are pics of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that will replace the space shuttle around 2012 [though the shuttle itself will be retired in 2010 after the International Space Station is (hopefully) complete] and the heavy-lift vehicle that will ferry into orbit the lander astronauts will use to touch down on the moon, after a 46-year hiatus. Needless to say, I’m enthusiastic…though it’s gonna be another 6-7 years till the CEV even begins its test flights. HOPEFULLY, the CEV will become a reality…and not end up with the same fate as the National Aerospace Plane or the X-33 VentureStar. In other words: Not be cancelled. That is all.


Images courtesy of NASA.gov

Bob Denver: 1935-2005... Rest in peace, Little Buddy. Gilligan's Island was one of my favorite TV shows during my childhood.

Can you fly, Bobby? Yes, that line was from Robocop. Anyways, I went to San Diego last Saturday in a second attempt to go skydiving, and needless to say, things worked out this time. And it kicked ass!! One second, you're on the plane hearing nothing but the roar of the engine... The next second, you hear and feel nothing but wind as you're freefalling towards the ground at 120 MPH (ya like how I wax poetic?). Simply awesome. The pictures below would be a lot better if I wasn't strapped to a jump instructor (cool dude, by the way), but whatever. If I go back to Skydive San Diego within the next 30 days, I can either go skydiving solo (with 5 hours of ground training before that) or try tandem jumping again...with the instructor teaching me new moves like how to turn during freefall, pull and steer the parachute, and learn how to land safely. All at a discounted price (it was $278 for the tandem jump and video footage of it, on DVD, and $149 for a second jump). But I think I'll pass... Doing something like skydive only once is still enough for a lifetime.