http://www.taddmencer.com Artist. Author. Musician. Husband. Father. Christian. All round good guy. Sat, 10 May 2008 12:00:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [singlepic=33,,,,left]"ZipGenius is the absolutely free software for Windows® that lets you compress files to almost any kind of archive. ZipGenius supports more than 20 compressed archive formats, including CD/DVD-ROM image files in ISO9660 standard. This is the file compression suite you were searching for: it is free and easy to ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/05/10/zipgeniusit-free-zip-utility-for-windows/ I never really was one for using tools to help me manage my site. It always felt like cheating for some unknown reason. However, hindsight, it's probably a good idea to use some soft of 3rd party tool to get me rolling. Weblob Tools Collection has a few links in Top ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/05/09/blogging-tools/ A few years ago there was a band called 'Three Years Chasing'. They where my friends and they released an EP of their music. I offered to do the cover art for it for free - since they are my friends. This is the culmination of that release. While the band ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/05/07/three-years-chasing-free-desktop-wallpaper/ That's right! By the grace of God my new computer is now running nice, smoothly and HOLY SNOT FAST! It's amazing what a really good (yet girly looking) fan and heatsink will do for an overheating computer. My system is now staying at a 28 degree Celsius even while gaming ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/05/07/its-alive/ They screw over the little guy in hopes no one will notice that they're stark, raving mad (and possibly mentally retarded - no offense to mentally retarded people). As of August 2008 they're shutting down their music service which will effectively screw over anyone who bought music via their PlayForSure ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/05/06/microsoft-does-it-again/ Ok, so I bought a new computer. Well, let me clarify - I bought several pieces that when put together will make a computer. I'm no stranger to building computers. I've done it for years and I've generally enjoyed it. However, this system is presenting me with continual problems. Let's start with ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/05/04/computer-problems/ Ok, out of all the posts I was going to post I decided this was the one I wanted to roll with this morning. As you all know (well, probably not but I'll pretend that I have regular readers) I'm in the middle of writing some stuff. One of which is ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/05/01/this-final-earth/ Third installment of this lovely feature called 'free desktop wallpaper' *play theme music* Ok, I need some theme music. I'll get right on that. This weeks installment is an older design. It was originally called 'TV is the Devil' and was made just as an expression piece. But I resized and pushed ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/30/the-lost-free-desktop-wallpaper/ Description: The life of a simple family man named Farmer (Jason Statham) is changed forever when a horrifying army of animal-like warriors known as Krugs who are controlled by the evil Gallian (Ray Liotta) invade his village, murder his son and kidnap his wife. Farmer sets out on a momentous journey ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/29/in-the-name-of-the-king-a-movie-review/ Let's start by linking you to the official CNN report HERE. Now, since most of you won't go read what was said there, let me recap. They really are sending out stimulus checks. Yes, I know - it sounds amazing. And we can use the money! Bills don't pay themselves! However, my largest ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/28/stimulus-checks-they-really-are-coming/ You may not know this about me, but I'm a pretty bitter person. Not to the point that all I do is dwell on wrong-doings or something. But to the point that I get angry about certain things and senarios. For instance, I spend about five years of my life trying ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/28/bitterness/ Well, here is a new piece I created for my imaging class. I love dark art, and I think this piece is a nice .. happy .. dark piece of artwork. It really kind of strikes me ... this is how I feel at times. Like dreams are something for ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/26/there-is-no-room-for-dreams/ I have a lot of pet peeves. If you don't believe me, just as my wife who gets to hear every single one of them nearly on a daily basis. They all seem to revolve around idiot, self-absorbed people. You know the type, they think that either they're God's gift ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/25/the-opinions-that-matter/ [singlepic=29,320,240,,left]Description: "Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal horrifying event ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/24/cloverfield-movie-review/ This is the second installment of my "free desktop wallpaper" feature I'm not going to do on my site here. I'll try and do a new one every .. oh, let's say Wednesday. This new desktop wallpaper was actually a printed picture I made for my wife for Christmas. It was ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/23/dark-days-free-desktop-wallpaper/ So, 8 years ago I was the proud man who got married. Now I am the proud man who is still married! In 8 years we: Had a son Bought two cars Bought a house Got a cat Have had 7 jobs Moved 6 hours from family And so many other things that are less than milestones ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/22/anniversary/ I'm a fan of Photoshop, and therefore I'm a great fan for tutorials! They're an easy way to learn tricks that will help you transform your designs from 'eh' to 'ah!' in no time! Smashing Magazine is probably a great place for me to find quality tutorials. Of course, you could ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/22/so-many-photoshop-tutorials/ I do a fair bit of reading. Nothing like some people would do - such as reading Biblical commentaries for recreation - but I do read a lot. I sift through articles on line, read 'Daily Bread' (devotional from RBC Ministries) as well as random things from around the internet. ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/21/am-i-really-that-serious/ You may remember a few of my posts that had a lot to do with Blender, the free 3D rendering system. This program not only kicks a lot of butt, it has a very active community. I found a slew of sites that have turorials on how to use this. So ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/20/blender-tutorial-sites/ This website I like, Henry Jones, has an article here that says the following: As a web designer, it is important to have resources that help you stay on top of the latest trends and technologies. Below is a list of sites that will help you do just that. BittBox BittBox has a ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/19/web-design-resources/ Wow! Did you know I started this WordPress site over 9 months ago? I'm pretty amazed by that fact! I love blogging! Much better than those social network clowns like MySpace. Though I admit, I have a MySpace account, Xanga account and a Facebook account. But I only use them to ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/18/this-place-is-gettin-huge/ Ok, my buddy Todd suggested that I take some of the graphics I've done and turn them into desktop wallpapers. So, I thought "Dag good idea!" Here is the first wallpaper. I'll probably release one a week, so check back a LOT!. [download#1#size#nohits] [download#2#size#nohits] If you like what you see, please link back to ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/17/lorithian-free-wallpaper/ So, this is my 100th post on this website. And I have to say, I'm surprised I got this far this quickly. I'm not that brainy of a guy, and I don't really think I have that much to say in general but somehow I managed to get this far, ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/15/100th-post/ This was a weekend for nightmares. Which is actually strange since I feel quite rested today. Saturday started with two, yes two, in a row. The first was the worse feeling. I was in a garage and I was being attacked by some evil spirit of some sort. It was pretty ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/14/the-nightmare-realms/ Colton James, my new nephew, was born today (Sunday, April 13) at around 7:30pm. His mum's water broke around 2am in the morning, went to the hospital around 7:30am (why wait so long? no idea) and he decided to show up twelve hours later. I have no pictures yet (curse of ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/13/colton-james-has-arrived/ I love working on this stuff. It was fun making this - I actually worked on it last night for my schooling (University of Phoenix). It's pretty fun stuff ... nothing new in my class thus far - but I'm having a good time anyway. So yeah, they wanted something that ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/12/flight-of-the-dead/ I know, I know. What the crap are ads doing on Tadd's website?! Well, I was just kind of experimenting. See, hosting costs money - money which I really don't have. So, I though - "Ya know, I get several thousand hits a month, I should throw some ads on ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/11/google-ads/ This is pure insanity if you ask me. [singlepic=27,250,177,,left]A London department store has started selling coffee for $100 a shot. If the price sounds unappealing, then shoppers also have to overcome the unusual method of cultivation, which sees the coffee beans harvested from the faeces of an Indonesian jungle cat. ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/10/100-a-shot-for-cat-dung-coffee/ [singlepic=26,220,140,web20,left]I have mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, Iron Man is a pretty cool Batman-esque character. What I mean is he had no real powers, just a lot of money and gadgets galore. Of course I don't believe that Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) was an orphan ... ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/10/iron-man-the-movie/ I like to 'review' older movies that I enjoy. I decided to drop a line for the great Mel Gibson classics based on his character 'Mad Max'. Mad Max Setting Mel Gibson on a sure path to superstardom, this highly acclaimed "crazy collide-o-scope"(Newsweek) of highway mayhem "cinematically defined the postapocalyptic landscape" (TV ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/09/mad-max-the-road-warrior-and-mad-max-beyond-thunderdome/ I read the news from time to time and this article I came to (actually was a link in my Hotmail) talked ab out how over 80,000 people lost their jobs in March. [Article Link] It honestly makes me laugh ... not a mirthful laugh, such as "Haha you have no ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/08/us-employers-cut-80000-jobs-in-march/ I love Tim Burton movies. They have this dark charm to them that just really appeals to me. Even Blockbuster wanna-be movies like 'Planet of the Apes' had a nice feel. However, whilst reading around on Needcoffee.com a mention was made about Burton's films: "Burton's films are never, ever hard to ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/08/tim-burton/ For those of you who are WordPress/Blog buffs, there is a video from WordCamp Dallas by John Pozadzides. It was titled 45 Ways to Power Up Your Blog. Check it out here. Good stuff. http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/07/quick-wordpress-post/ Ok, while this sounds like a Korn tribute post, it very much is not. It has nothing to do with any member or said band or the mock 'value' tour they have. This is about actual family. As mentioned previously - I traveled to my Grandmother's memorial service this weekend. I got ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/07/the-family-values-tour/ My grandmother died on the 25th of March. I knew she was going to go. We had gone to visit her the previous weekend and she never opened her eyes (except to glare at my older sister who's face was cold when she gave a kiss). It was sad, really, ... http://www.taddmencer.com/2008/04/05/death-the-final-frontier/