Farewell, Tigana

If you have happened to get curious at what stuff I read or books I recommend, then visit my Books page. There, under the category of ‘Fiction‘, is a curious title ‘Tigana’, a novel by Guy Gavriel Kay (GGK). By now, you will have come to realize that I dabble and enjoy works of fantasy and science fiction. That’s my genre, I guess – that of the other-worldly; an escape of sorts, to worlds imagined, worlds that reflect likeness to our own; strange yet strangely familiar, and of stories about the human journey and of the human heart.

It is sad when the journey has to end. And when you realize that the trip was more enjoyable than the destination. Tigana has been my travel book ever since I bought it for my second trip outside the country. That was way back in 2004. I know it took an unbelievable amount of time for me to finish the book. I had to reserve the reading to when I was away from my family. But surprisingly enough, even though my trips were several months spaced away, Tigana was a familiar land to come to and its characters were like old time friends.

Tigana is a work of high fantasy by Canadian fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay. The story is set in a world with two moons, in a peninsula called the”Peninsula of the Palm“, divided into seven provinces (including the island-province of Chiara), and conquered by two powerful wizards from beyond the sea. These two conquerors have divided the peninsula between themselves and have since ruled each three provinces, with the last province being independent, delicately balancing the powers on the Palm. Tigana is one of those conquered provinces, but because it has resisted so much to the point of killing one of the conqueror’s beloved son, its name is never spoken… nor even heard… except those who came from that land before the magic was cast.

Thus begins the story of the remnants of Tigana, of their prince, and of those who have held back and prepared for a time to banish the conquerors from their lands. Along this journey, love will bloom, decisions that weigh as heavy as another man’s life will be made, and old links to the past must be re-forged into a weapon for the future. It touches on themes such as the burden of the past, true identity, and the struggle of love and this tormented identity.

Characters are vividly portrayed: Alessan, prince of Tigana; Dionara, a woman torn between her sworn duty and the growing love for the man he vowed to kill; Devin, a young man awakened to his true identity and of the events that would lead to the freedom of his home; Catriana, a young woman thrown into the same situation as Devin, who plays a catalyst to the final act that would free Tigana.

The rich world GGK weaves is spectacular from the depths of its mythos to the history and politics of the land. He masterfully creates a world in parallel to Europe in the middle ages, where the sword ruled. His artful use of magic – sparsely at that – is a good tool to keep the story believable and rational.

The story itself is a complex weave, with many unforgettable scenes and twists. And its conclusion is one that I was caught off-guard, but was ultimately enjoyable. This novel comes highly recommended. At a little less than 700 pages, it’s a very good one-shot read to immerse yourself in the struggles of identity and freedom (a very apt reading for the Filipino today who is still searching for identity and recognition).

BLUE Radon W310 – A User’s Review (Part 1 of 2)

Finally, I now have the time to buckle down and start my user’s review for Gizmo, my first ever laptop. I must agree that a laptop is a big investment, and one has to be sure about whether they are getting their money’s worth. Needless to say I poured a lot of time doing research about the subject and scouting on what available brands/units/specs are out there in the Philippine market.

In the end, I took home a 13.3″ Core Duo notebook in shiny silver Al-Mg alloy casing, with enhanced video power from its ATI X1300 Mobility Radeon chip. It’s from BLUE, a Filipino brand from Axis Global, Inc., though further research on the notebook PC revealed it’s original manufacturer to be Arima Corp. of Taiwan (who produced laptops for one of the bigger Amaerican brands). Its model name is Radon [W310], and I have christened it MyToy Gizmo (well, if you’ve read this article, it originally was named as ‘MyToy’ – this will give you the reason why I renamed it to Gizmo).

Gizmo on a laptop riser I bought from Octagon. If you look hard enough and recognize it – it’s the intro sequence of Rome:Total War

A quick rundown of Gizmo’s specs:

• 13.3″ WXGA Display 1280 x 800
• Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83 GHz processor
• 1 GB DDR2 RAM
• ATI X1300 Video Card with HyperMemory (256 MB max.)
• 60 GB SATA Hitachi Harddisk
• Built-n Intel Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0
• SD / MC / MMC Card reader
• PCI-E Mini slot
• DVD +/- RW

It runs WindowsXP SP2, but is fully Vista-capable. I won’t be upgrading to the new Windows OS yet unitl I get confident that it will run all games I’d like to load up in it.

Oh, and I’d like to calrify that this review is from a user’s perspective. I’m a typical engineering worker in need of a mobile computing device which the office has not given out yet. So I decided to get one. I’m a newbie techie now engrossed in the world of computers since one of my passions is all about computers and graphics and performance – no, not software programming – gaming! hehehe… I’m a PC gamer since my Mom sent me an IBM PS2 when I was in highschool. I’ve had one more PC to use before I bought a desktop in 2005. It has always been my dream to have a laptop and, thank God for the graces, now that I have one, I’d like to share my experience with it to those who would want to have it for themselves as well. <As a disclaimer, I don’t work for the company who sells this PC nor do I intend to sell this kind of laptop. I’m just a user.>

Size Does Matter

As a gamer, I wanted a bigscreen laptop – the bigger the better! so when I checked out the available stuff @ www.laptopking.com.ph, I filtered out all the small stuff. I thought I’d go for the ASUS S96J Whitebook – since it’s a 15.4″ Core Duo wonder with an ATI X1600 Mobility Radeon chip that’s just perfect for the highend games of today (and half of tomorrow).

When I got to see how big it really was, I couldn’t imagine myself lugging it around to meetings. It’s just too big! <sigh>. I browsed over to the otehr 14.1″ laptops available at the store. But I still found the size too big. Finally, they showed me the Radon, and I knew it was the perfect size.

The 13.3″ WXGA latchless screen is just perfect – a bit smaller than a regular 14.1″ and not too small as a 12.1″. It gives you the right resolution and clarity for work-related activities, or for gaming. It’s maximum resolution is 1280 x 800 pixels. For games, widescreen support is growing these days although there are still those that gives a setting of 1280 x 768, instead of x 800, which, when selected makes no difference.

To give an illustration about its size, the laptop is as big as an 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper, and a little less than an inch thick. It’s lightweight and very portable.

Pentium M or Dual Core?

When I bought it last December, Intel has just introduced their Core 2 Duo processor. I knew it was time to buy me a dual core processor. But the proces for the Pentium M laptops are still attractive and it may be enough for me. But realizing the benefits of a Core Duo system, especially during multiple applications operations, I went with teh Core Duo. My office PC is now choking whenever I use it for work coz of all the apps I run on it simultaneously.

And the Radon just had that. As far as I know, it doesn’t come with any options. So that’s another check on my list.

One side effect of having a dual core processor for gaming is this – the AI gets smarter. Honest! Aside from quicker loading times, I feel the difference on how the AI reacts to my gameplay when I’m using the desktop and when i’m using Gizmo.

First Impressions

When I examined the design of the laptop, I thought it to be logical and well-thought-of. It has 2 USB ports on the left, adequately spaced for those fatter-thatn-usual flash disks, and one on the right side. The USB on the right is usually used for the mouse.

LH Side – shown here with a USB DirectLink cable I use to hookup my desktop and Gizmo

RH Side shows the optical mouse and the power cord plugged

The exhaust vent is on the left, while the optical drive is on the right. I find this logical since it’s easier to operate the optical drive with my right hand (being the right-handed guy that I am). The left side has the Card readers, Mini PCI-E Card Slot, the Firewire port, and the S-Video Out. On the right, aside form the drive and USB port, the jacks for the headphones and mike are located forward of the drive, and the power socket at the far end.

The LAN and modem connections are at the back, as well as the VGA output socket.

It’s cool design features include:

• Latchless
• Touch-sensitive keys

The touch-sensitive keys are located at the upper left part of the keyboard area:

It’s for turning on the bluetooth and wi-fi, instant Internet Explorer launch, and instant E-mail launch.

There is a down side to he Radon’s overall design. It’s how it handles the heat. The left side of the touchpad gets really hot, especially if you’re running some graphics heavy stuff. That’s where the processor and hardrive is. But even with this flaw, the Radon’s design copes with it aptly – it’s on the left side. Most right-handed persons would use their right hand navigating via touchpad and the adverse heat will not affect them that much. That’s how I’ve been using it and the heat on that part of the notebook PC is not a problem.