I usually stream live sports using a software called SopCast, combined with resources from http://www.wiziwig.tv/. It is so far the best way I can find to stream sports online. The problem is: Sopcast is not available for Mac. Well, I find some solution but couldn’t make it work. Until today! And now I want to spread the workarounds (it’s free btw)

What do you need?

1. A Mac machine, of course
2. Winebottler. Download: http://winebottler.kronenberg.org/
3. X11. From my research, you can get X11 from your disc. If you are using Snow Leopard, you don’t need to install X11 since it is pre-installed.
4. Mozilla Firefox for Windows. Download: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/
5. Sopcast. Download: http://www.sopcast.com/download/
6. VLC Media Player for Windows. Download: http://vlc-media-player.en.softonic.com/

Steps:

1. First, you need to install WineBottler in your Mac. Simply drag the WineBottler icon to your Application folder

   

2. Install Mozilla Firefox using WineBottler. Do not install it as a stand alone application. Choose “Run directly in …” and click “Go”. Run the installer just like a normal Windows installer.

   

3. Similar to step #2, install Sopcast and VLC Media Player using WineBottler.
4. Now configure your Sopcast. Click “Options”. Change the external player to “Use your own external player”, and find VLC.exe in your fakeC drive.

   

   

DONE! Now, you can test-drive your Sopcast. Here is steps how to watch live sports using Wiziwig.tv:

1. Use your Windows Firefox to open http://www.wiziwig.tv/ website.
2. Find match you want to stream.
3. Check the station. If the software name is “Sopcast”, click the “play” link.

   

4. Your Sopcast application will run, but with a black screen. Click the left most icon to play in external player.
5. VLC will run, but stops after few seconds. To solve this, you have to ensure that your stream is being looped by simply toggle the “Loop All” button.

   

Other workaround
This workaround might work for those who can’t make the VLC in Windows opens after clicking the Sopcast link. You need to have VLC for Mac installed in your Mac OS X.

1. After clicking the Sopcast link, open your VLC for Mac. Do not close Sopcast that is running in your Wine.
2. Open File > Open Network. In the URL textfield, type: http://localhost:8902/tv.asf or http://127.0.0.1:8902/. Click Open. The stream should be started.

   

Happy streaming. Hope it helps Mac users who haven’t found a workaround for online streaming

And now, I am working in a new workspace, my brother’s iMac. I actually prefer my sister’s MacPro, but these days she often uses her MacPro and brings it to school. I actually don’t really like working in iMac. Its screen is just too big. Then the rest is Mac’s uncomfortableness: MacMessenger is not as comfortable as Windows Live Messenger, and I have to minimize my window to actually get notifications if something occurs (like during chatting).

But I think I’ll get used to it in no time. I think I can hold working in iMac, rather than having to deal with my laptop’s flickering screen.

Updated – 1 September 2011:
It turns out the new version of MacMessenger is fine. Though there is one feature I miss from the Windows Live Messenger: when one person writes a lot of lines, his/her name will only be displayed once. The notification appears although I didn’t minimize the screen. I’m getting used to iMac’s big screen as well. It’s been 1 month and I enjoy working in this new workspace

Left-Right: Albiol, Mourinho, Messi, Ronaldo

All the comic strips are taken from: http://www.phdcomics.com

Thanks to Indonesian government, no Hollywood, Bollywood, or Asian movies will ever be released in all Indonesia screen from now. And the theaters will all be filled with mostly low-quality Indonesian movies. Well, I’m not saying that all Indonesian movies are sucks, but most of them are.

What will I do? Simply I’ll just download the film I want to watch 6 months later (to ensure the quality is good) . And I believe other people will also opted to buy pirated DVDs or download the film from the Internet.

Spent the Chinese New Year eve with sleeping nearly the whole time. Thanks to triple combo final exam: File & Database Systems, Object Technology, and Multimedia Systems 3 days in a row. I barely slept during the study period and I am really tired. So be it, sleeping like a cow

My brother then woke me up, and I did some pray. And took some photos of the incense and candles.

During the shooting, I found that my EF-S 18-55mm really sucks, I stuck again doing some research to buy new lens. I want to replace my kit lens with something sharper and cooler.

Then I spent the time from midnight to morning researching about lens. Seems lens are quite cheap right now. I want to buy Canon EF-S 10-22mm to cover the needs of wide-angle lens. The problem is now, what lens do I need to buy to replace my 18-55mm.

I weigh the pros and cons of 17-40mm f/4.0 L and 17-55mm f/2.8. Both are nice lens. 17-40mm is a L series lens, and pretty cheap (around Rp 6 million), and 17-55 comes at larger aperture which appeals me and costs Rp 9 million. I really want 24-70mm to be honest, but the weight will break my shoulders. High-quality lens but I never want to bring it for shooting… What for?? So I opted to search decent lens with lighter weight.

I nearly decide to buy 17-55mm, but during my research I found another decent lens which is a lot cheaper but still comparable to Canon’s 17-55mm, which is…. Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 non-VC. It only costs Rp 3.3 million. Around 1/3 of Canon’s. It is lighter as well, I would love this lens soooo much! Some review said that the performance/price is really worth. The only drawback is about the IS. But I don’t think that’d be a problem since the aperture is quite large.

So my decision comes to… I want to buy Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 non-VC!!!

Hopefully, I’ll buy it soon. But first, let me get the wide-angle lens first

Nadal’s previous two matches was held in the evening session: “not before 08.00PM” which means the match will start at 3.00AM at my timezone (GMT+7). Plus extra several minutes for players to warm up, the match usually starts at 3.30AM.

It is really annoying when you know the fact that tomorrow you’ll get exam in the morning, or you have to attend class at 7.30AM. But tomorrow, I don’t have to worry anymore. I also don’t have any class on Saturday. Hip-hip-hooray *Hope it will be a good match*

There are some ways to get books for free (or at least cheaper). First, is to buy from seniors. The problem is I do not know a lot of seniors. Most of them won’t sell their computer-related books too. They think that they would need them sooner or later, so it’s better not to sell them. Second, is to borrow from the library. The problem is each students can only borrow up to 2 books at the same time and the number of books is limited. The last one is, to download the e-book (it’s illegal though). My college uses English-language books, so it’s relatively easy to get the e-books.

The only problem with e-book is it’s not really convenient when being read from laptop, which makes me so lazy to study. My iTouch is too small for an e-book. In result, I have to keep scrolling to read the whole content. An iPad or other e-book readers would probably the best way to read e-books. But hey, I found a great way to enjoy reading e-books on a laptop!

I changed my laptop display into portrait (flipped). Portrait has the same effect, but I find it more convenient to use portrait (flipped) since I was leaning on my right side while using my laptop.

So be it!

I still have one mouse to operate the e-book. An external keyboard would make it more awweee-some

This is how the screen looks like. All the pages are loaded without having to scroll down. That’s why it is more convenient. The text can be read easily too without having to zoom in.

It is more convenient to see portrait images as well.

With this kind of settings, my experience of reading e-books would greatly improved. And hopefully it will help me in studying with e-books (though I’m not sure of it)

My orchestra asked candidates to play their own choice of song (any kind of songs), a mandatory piece (part from an overture or a symphony), scale, and sight reading. What are judged from their play includes tone, articulation, intonation, and style. Tempo, dynamics are also considered as well.

• Tone.
  Tone is about how your tone production. Since I am playing flute, it is easier for me to give an example about it. IMO, a good sound production in flute is when you’re able to produce a rich “rounded” sound with no airy sound. The tone quality can determine the person’s experience with the instruments as well. A good tone is also about how you make a violin sounds like a violin, a flute sounds like a flute, and other kind of instruments sound like how they’re supposed to be.
• Articulation.
  Articulation is how you read and play notes in a different style. A note can be played long, or short, or really short (staccato), or with pressure (accent), etc. More than one notes can be played in a slur, or one-by-one. Candidates must pay attention to these kind of things since articulation is important especially in an orchestra.
• Intonation.
  Intonation is about your pitch. Different from piano, most of all orchestral instruments (except percussions, or other that I may have missed) do not have fix pitch. In piano, if you press G correctly, it must be sounded as a correct G (assuming the piano is correctly tuned). But in wind instruments such as flute, oboe, trumpet, even a slight change in your embouchure could affect your pitch though you have a correct fingering. In string instruments, the way you press your string could also affect the pitch (not only where to press your string). Because of this you must always open your ears, especially playing in an orchestra where there is no absolute correct pitch.
• Style.
  Style is how you play your pieces. You must carefully pay attention to the era the pieces are made. Each era have distinction in style of play. The way staccato is played differs from one era to the other. How much vibrato you should put in differs as well. Style of play could be learned by hearing recordings of several reputable orchestra playing the piece, or by asking your teachers how to interpret specified pieces.
• Tempo.
  Tempo is being considered as well. It is about how you hold the temptation to get slower and slower, or the opposite, to go faster and faster? In an orchestra, it is important to keep in the correct tempo. There is no help from drums (like in a common pop band) in an orchestra to help you keeping in tempo. Therefore, you must keep your tempo on your own. The tempo itself is sometimes more important than the notes.
• Dynamics.
  Dynamics are also important. You must play louder or softer according to what is written in the pieces. You are also not a soloist in an orchestra. Therefore, you have to know when to show off your skills (playing louder) and when to let other instruments shine (playing softer). Dynamics can bring great effects to the music as well.

Being a good player does not guarantee you to be an orchestra member too if you cannot work in team. In an orchestra, player who can cooperate is preferred though lower skills rather than a player who has high skills but cannot cooperate. “Cooperate” here does not mean how well you can cope with your orchestra members, but more to how can you control your emotions to not play the way you like it but according to the orchestra. Inability to cooperate does not mean you are a failure or something like that, but may be you are not suitable for joining an orchestra. You may opted as a soloist.

If you want to play in an orchestra so badly. My suggestion is just to try reviewing your play again and again, never give up, and try an audition again.

Hope these knowledge helps you to pass an audition.

Extra notes: IMO, first impression is really important! A phenomenon that I’ve experienced, I can tick a candidate right away only after 5 seconds of playing. Judges are more likely to remember your play in the beginning compare to the end as well. Make sure you use your chances well.