National Novel Writing Month begins now!
(A bit of a misnomer, for it's decidedly international by now.)
It's a yearly online workshop where people set themselves the goal of writing a full novel during November. (If you think that's hard, let it be known that some guys do the same, only in 24-hour workshops.)
Monday, October 31, 2011
Japan, six months after earth quake
[Thanks to Bert]
One thing you can't get around re the Japanese: dang, these fokkers can WORK! Like Bert said: "The Japanese certainly earned more of my respect and admiration."Six months after, photo essay.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Rule(d) by fear
I've noticed how fear is a virus, it wants to spread itself to others once it has one organism really under control.
Our friend and reader Laurie wrote:
We have in school what we call "lockdown drills." Like Firedrills, but practice hiding deep in the classroom in case a terrorist or madman with gun (ala Columbine, whatever) comes into the school and starts shooting. Anyway, we all get into one corner of the room, and lock the door from the inside until further notice.
Well, we were doing that, the teacher was reading the kids a story so as not to scare them, and about 20 minutes later there was a knock at the classroom door. I got up and looked through the glass window and saw it was the Principal and a rather huge policeman standing there. I thought, "Oh, this is how they must signal the end of lockdown." I opened the door and smiled.
The policeman said to me in a strange tone of voice, "Are there children in here?" I said, uh, yeah..... He then turned to the principal and said, "Do you want to tell her?" and then he went into our classroom. The Principal said to me, "You could have just killed them all." I said, "huh???" And she repeated, You could have just killed them all. I said, What do you mean???? She said, "You should have known NEVER to open the door to ANYONE. This was a test, and you didn't pass."
The policeman had gone into our room and said to the 23 huddled kids, pointing to me, "THAT was what shouldn't have happened. Help save kids!." The kids wondered what the heck he was talking about.
I was horrified by how this was handled. Mortified. Not that I made a mistake and didn't know our policy, I admitted that I should have known the policy of not opening doors.... but by the attitude of fear and intimidation in the whole thing. My principal's outrageous comment to me (I used my judgement and saw my Principal and a police officer standing there, how was it I "could have killed them all."?) and the behavior and words of the police officer to the kids, all of whom felt they had done something wrong themselves.
Our friend and reader Laurie wrote:
We have in school what we call "lockdown drills." Like Firedrills, but practice hiding deep in the classroom in case a terrorist or madman with gun (ala Columbine, whatever) comes into the school and starts shooting. Anyway, we all get into one corner of the room, and lock the door from the inside until further notice.
Well, we were doing that, the teacher was reading the kids a story so as not to scare them, and about 20 minutes later there was a knock at the classroom door. I got up and looked through the glass window and saw it was the Principal and a rather huge policeman standing there. I thought, "Oh, this is how they must signal the end of lockdown." I opened the door and smiled.
The policeman said to me in a strange tone of voice, "Are there children in here?" I said, uh, yeah..... He then turned to the principal and said, "Do you want to tell her?" and then he went into our classroom. The Principal said to me, "You could have just killed them all." I said, "huh???" And she repeated, You could have just killed them all. I said, What do you mean???? She said, "You should have known NEVER to open the door to ANYONE. This was a test, and you didn't pass."
The policeman had gone into our room and said to the 23 huddled kids, pointing to me, "THAT was what shouldn't have happened. Help save kids!." The kids wondered what the heck he was talking about.
I was horrified by how this was handled. Mortified. Not that I made a mistake and didn't know our policy, I admitted that I should have known the policy of not opening doors.... but by the attitude of fear and intimidation in the whole thing. My principal's outrageous comment to me (I used my judgement and saw my Principal and a police officer standing there, how was it I "could have killed them all."?) and the behavior and words of the police officer to the kids, all of whom felt they had done something wrong themselves.
Stephen Colbert coins and explains "Truthiness"
Laura Hazard Owen of PaidContent coins a term, mathiness, to describe how Jeff Bezos report results on Kindle sales. They tell it in mathematical terms relating to past sales, but we have never actually gotten a single solid number of those sales! I wonder why, surely sales can't be that bad that they have to hide the numbers?
Like the Kindle Chronicles comment, it's related to Colbert's term "truthiness", for a Truth coming from your gut rather than fact. Incidentally, I'm a big fan of those, but I admit they can be dangerous in the wrong hands, for example certain politicians who shall go unnamed (I'll certainly not mention George W. Bush).
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Who gets registrar money?
I sometimes wonder who gets the billions of dollars which are paid in to buy domains. Does anybody know? It must be the closest thing to a licence to print money.
And of course then they just "create more land", as in the new .xxx scheme. Basically anybody with any important domain has to pay the (obviously!) exorbitant fees (over a hundred bucks per year per domain, plus a one time reg fee of $130, otherwise you would soon see avatar.xxx, disney.xxx, lindsaylohan.xxx, etc etc. I get dizzy just trying to imagine how much low-hanging lucre has been whipped up and plucked from thin air in this caper.
I guess it was even worse back in the nineties, when for years Network Solutions had an artificial monopoly on selling domains. After it was democratized, at least the general prices dropped dramatically.
And of course then they just "create more land", as in the new .xxx scheme. Basically anybody with any important domain has to pay the (obviously!) exorbitant fees (over a hundred bucks per year per domain, plus a one time reg fee of $130, otherwise you would soon see avatar.xxx, disney.xxx, lindsaylohan.xxx, etc etc. I get dizzy just trying to imagine how much low-hanging lucre has been whipped up and plucked from thin air in this caper.
I guess it was even worse back in the nineties, when for years Network Solutions had an artificial monopoly on selling domains. After it was democratized, at least the general prices dropped dramatically.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
50 street photos.
By the way, a few years ago I was a member of a street photography email discussion group, and I got shouted out of the room for suggesting that tele lenses were perfectly usable for street photography. Some of the less shy hardcore members held very strongly that only a wide-angle and getting right in people's faces was real street photography. Me, I don't see why one should limit oneself to certain technology just because Cartier-Bresson was limited to it in his heyday (a Leica is not practical with telelenses because the picture gets very small in the viewfinder).
By the way, a few years ago I was a member of a street photography email discussion group, and I got shouted out of the room for suggesting that tele lenses were perfectly usable for street photography. Some of the less shy hardcore members held very strongly that only a wide-angle and getting right in people's faces was real street photography. Me, I don't see why one should limit oneself to certain technology just because Cartier-Bresson was limited to it in his heyday (a Leica is not practical with telelenses because the picture gets very small in the viewfinder).
Friday, October 21, 2011
Quantum... magnet... something...
Don't know what the heck it is, but is' kewl.
Tel-Aviv University demos quantum superconductors locked in a magnetic field (www.quantumlevitation.com). For an explanation of the physics behind this demonstration, visit here.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Lytro’s Camera Shoots First, Focuses Later
Lytro's non-focus camera is for sale now, delivery after new year. (Only delivered to US, and until further notice, it needs a Mac to process the images.)
Focus-free street shooting, might be kewl, if the quality is indeed up to other quality compacts.
Update: there are indications that the resolution is quite low on this camera. Caveat emptor.
Update:
Bruce said...
This could be the beginning of a major change in still photography, perhaps bigger than the switch to digital from film.
Of course it won't be perfect to begin with, but this is definitely something I'm keeping an eye on.
Was the very first cart with wheels all that much better than the good old, dependable sledge? Maybe not.
Eolake Stobblehouse said...
Interesting point.
The dependance of cameras and lenses to have all the light hitting in exactly the same spot exactly in the film plane has been a big technical bottle neck all along. It's spectacularly difficult to make a lens which does it well, and even then the bulk of the subject will be out of focus normally.
Focus-free street shooting, might be kewl, if the quality is indeed up to other quality compacts.
Update: there are indications that the resolution is quite low on this camera. Caveat emptor.
Update:
Bruce said...
This could be the beginning of a major change in still photography, perhaps bigger than the switch to digital from film.
Of course it won't be perfect to begin with, but this is definitely something I'm keeping an eye on.
Was the very first cart with wheels all that much better than the good old, dependable sledge? Maybe not.
Eolake Stobblehouse said...
Interesting point.
The dependance of cameras and lenses to have all the light hitting in exactly the same spot exactly in the film plane has been a big technical bottle neck all along. It's spectacularly difficult to make a lens which does it well, and even then the bulk of the subject will be out of focus normally.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
I, Partridge
In the new UK Google ebook store, "I, Partridge", told by a fictional character, is labelled as non-fiction. That's hilarious. And according to reviews, so's the book, so I bought it.
It's funny too that Alan Partridge is the archetypical example of a character so successful that the actor Steve Coogan just can't get away from it no matter how hard he tries. What's funny is that for people like that it seems to be highly frustrating, while millions of media hopefuls would sell an eye to get that kind of success.
It's funny too that Alan Partridge is the archetypical example of a character so successful that the actor Steve Coogan just can't get away from it no matter how hard he tries. What's funny is that for people like that it seems to be highly frustrating, while millions of media hopefuls would sell an eye to get that kind of success.
iPhone 4S photo samples
iPhone 4S photo samples. (Well down on the page, full-sized samples available.)
Since the predecessor already had an excellent camera, it's not surprising that this one is even better (higher resolution and supposedly better low-light capacity).
I'd say it can easily replace compact cameras for most people's use. Especially now that with iOS 5 you don't have to log into you phone to take a picture.
By the way, TidBITS has a great summary article of various reviews of the iPhone 4S.
Since the predecessor already had an excellent camera, it's not surprising that this one is even better (higher resolution and supposedly better low-light capacity).
I'd say it can easily replace compact cameras for most people's use. Especially now that with iOS 5 you don't have to log into you phone to take a picture.
By the way, TidBITS has a great summary article of various reviews of the iPhone 4S.
In the other end of the scale, Canon has announced a new flagship camera, the 1DX. What's amazing is that they actually listened to my prayers (sort of), and kept it to 18MP! Well done Canon. I'll bet it can shoot black grizzly bears fight in a cellar at night.
... Now to see what the 5D mark III will be like.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Pills for chills
When I was little, sometimes when I couldn't sleep, I'd go out to my parents and say "I can't sleep, can I have a sleeping pill?"
They'd say OK, kiddo, and give me a little mineral pill, and say "now don't forget, it works better if you relax". And I'd go to bed and sleep.
They'd say OK, kiddo, and give me a little mineral pill, and say "now don't forget, it works better if you relax". And I'd go to bed and sleep.
A better jock?
I'm not a nerd, I'm a jock who's too cool for sports. - Bart Simpson
=========
Btw, I like the Simpsons' Harry Potter parody, Angelica Button.
=========
Btw, I like the Simpsons' Harry Potter parody, Angelica Button.
- Angelica Button and The Deadly Denouement
- Angelica Button and The Dragon King's Trundle Bed
- Angelica Button and the Teacup of Terror
Amazon's long memory
I came across an article I had posted in 1997, where I recommended the novel Hard Drive by David Pogue. I checked the link, and what do you know, you could still get the book! Not only that, but the site informed me that I had bought it on Sep 11, 1997!
Useful service. Before they got that, I occasionally bought something twice.
Useful service. Before they got that, I occasionally bought something twice.
Social network invitations
As if I was not irritated enough about social networks, they have now also become the source, directly or indirectly, of a big percentage of the spam we see. Invitations, always from people I don't know, from Facebook, LinkedIn, and many sites I haven't heard of, coming in, in a steady stream. It's like these parasites (para sites) simply won't stop until they have infected every living organism on earth.
Deep Forest - Walk Like An Egyptian
I think this is an exceptionally good cover, and not something you'd have expected from Deep Forest. (And oddly, it's found at the very end of an Asterix movie (Cleopatra, obviously).)
And you probably know Matt's adventures.
And you probably know Matt's adventures.
Family first?
I have noticed that even people who clearly spend enormous amounts of time on their work, like Tom Hanks and Steve Jobs, always say: "family is the most important thing in my life". Everybody says that.
It may be true for them. Or it may not, but they really believe it anyway. I think it's a social acceptance necessity for people to say it and believe it though. It's universally believed, and very strongly, that personal relationships are the most important thing in the world and in anybody's life, and that family is the most important one of those. Anybody who acts or says different is seen by most people to be antisocial to a suspicious degree and to have something wrong with them inside.
And yet many of the people who have made great accomplishments up through history didn't even have a family, or children of their own at least. (Including Jesus and Buddha.)
I'm not saying that friends and family are not important, clearly they are very important to anybody's emotional health. I'm just saying that the universal insistence that they must be the the single most important thing to every person in the world is just ideologically narrow-minded and draconian. For people for whom this may not be true, it often makes them feel that something must be wrong with them.
It may be true for them. Or it may not, but they really believe it anyway. I think it's a social acceptance necessity for people to say it and believe it though. It's universally believed, and very strongly, that personal relationships are the most important thing in the world and in anybody's life, and that family is the most important one of those. Anybody who acts or says different is seen by most people to be antisocial to a suspicious degree and to have something wrong with them inside.
And yet many of the people who have made great accomplishments up through history didn't even have a family, or children of their own at least. (Including Jesus and Buddha.)
I'm not saying that friends and family are not important, clearly they are very important to anybody's emotional health. I'm just saying that the universal insistence that they must be the the single most important thing to every person in the world is just ideologically narrow-minded and draconian. For people for whom this may not be true, it often makes them feel that something must be wrong with them.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Art Of Noise
I think these are outstanding and seminal bits of music.
I was a bit slow to find AoN, I only found them a few years ago via an interview my pal Gail Worley did.
I was a bit slow to find AoN, I only found them a few years ago via an interview my pal Gail Worley did.
A Song of Games and Design
My old friend Italian artist Andrea was interviewed (PDF file) by BattleSpace magazine, about his successful one-man business (he is writer, artist, and publisher) of role-playing books.
By the way, readers of this blog and eReaderJoy will know him as commerter Ganesha Games.
I've also been a fan of his art since the nineties, I've bought watercolors for myself, and illustrations for my sites.
It seems that his gaming business, like my own biz, came about "accidentally", when something he made for fun became successful. I think that's a grand ol' way to get a business.
By the way, readers of this blog and eReaderJoy will know him as commerter Ganesha Games.
I've also been a fan of his art since the nineties, I've bought watercolors for myself, and illustrations for my sites.
It seems that his gaming business, like my own biz, came about "accidentally", when something he made for fun became successful. I think that's a grand ol' way to get a business.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Bette thought
I was thought to be 'stuck up.' I wasn't. I was just sure of myself. This is and always has been an unforgivable quality to the unsure.
-- Bette Davis
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Bike-powered strip
[Thanks to Henry]
It's interesting, when men watch strip, we are absorbed, quietly drooling, when women watch male strip, they cheer and whistle. It must say a lot about the effect it has on the respective gender, I don't think anybody understands the sheer impact nude gals has on men, it's insane.Wednesday, October 12, 2011
My last day?
"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."
- Steve Jobs
It's an old philosophy, zen buddhist perhaps. And I do agree with it on some level.
But I wonder if it applies to all lives and situations. Many tasks worth doing takes a lot longer than 24 hours. Say you just started a five-year education. And now you know you have only 24 hours left to live. Why go sit in stuffy classrooms that day, why not invite a nice girl or guy out for icecream and dancing? And yet surely that doesn't mean that it's not worthwhile to take an education?
Or say you'd be spending the day packing and preparing for a long travel the day after. Well, you're not going on the trip now, why spend the day packing?
- Steve Jobs
It's an old philosophy, zen buddhist perhaps. And I do agree with it on some level.
But I wonder if it applies to all lives and situations. Many tasks worth doing takes a lot longer than 24 hours. Say you just started a five-year education. And now you know you have only 24 hours left to live. Why go sit in stuffy classrooms that day, why not invite a nice girl or guy out for icecream and dancing? And yet surely that doesn't mean that it's not worthwhile to take an education?
Or say you'd be spending the day packing and preparing for a long travel the day after. Well, you're not going on the trip now, why spend the day packing?
Photoshop Image Deblurring sneak preview
[Thanks to Tommy]
It seems Adobe are about to blow our minds again. It looks very cool, but I just hope it works better in practice than their last mind-blower, the one which automatically remove unwanted objects in images, because I find that in four out of five photos, it just puts random bits of the environment into the place where the object was. It only works if there's a lot of sky or sea or such around the object.Monday, October 10, 2011
What should we do about our naked neighbour?
[Thanks to Pascal]
What should we do about our naked neighbour?, article.
This question tickled my funny bone because it was signed by both husband and wife, but was clearly written by the wife.
And I felt I could picture hubby's faux “indignation” in the kitchen (pounding on the table: “You're right, honey, we should do something!”).
Solar system graphic
This is a very impressive graphic showing the solar system. It's a big download for an image (20MB), and very, very long horizontally (30,000 pixels!), so it looks odd in the browser until you zoom in on it.
Here's a detail:
Here's a detail:
Wildlife photos
Wildlife photos.
(I wonder a little about this one actually, I think a striking snake moves like lightning on espresso, you'd think it would be blurred.)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Nightclub in day time
I took this is a street not far away. I liked the pattern, and I was interested that the blue outdoors lights not only were on, but that they could be seen even against a white-washed wall in bright sunlight.
"The Demo"
[Thanks to Stephen]
The Demo, article and video.
On December 9, 1968, Douglas C. Engelbart [...] the mouse was only one of many innovations demonstrated that day, including hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, as well as shared-screen collaboration involving two persons at different sites communicating over a network with audio and video interface.
Talk about being ahead of your time.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Danica Patrick
What an amazingly beautiful face she has.
"Race car driver" wouldn't have been my first guess!
"Race car driver" wouldn't have been my first guess!
Twinings commercial
This is just exceptional animation, you could pull at least eight paintings from these 60 seconds.
(HD here.)
(HD here.)
Tutorial: Painting Realistic Eyes
Tutorial: Painting Realistic Eyes, article.I remember when I was young and learning to draw and paint, eyes took a lot of time, because for all that most people probably think of them as dots in circles, they are actually quite stunningly complex.
A great invention for fighting
I have an invention which would have ensured many, many more fight victories for the Jedi Knights and for the wizards in Harry Potter's world:
A wrist-strap for their light sabres and their wands.
I can believe that a guy can fly on a broom, teleport, and lift objects with his mind. But it really pushes my suspense of disbelief to the breaking point that nobody ever thought to put wrist-straps on those things. They drop them in every dang battle they are in!
A wrist-strap for their light sabres and their wands.
I can believe that a guy can fly on a broom, teleport, and lift objects with his mind. But it really pushes my suspense of disbelief to the breaking point that nobody ever thought to put wrist-straps on those things. They drop them in every dang battle they are in!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Drunk and happy
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
-- George Bernard Shaw
It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled sea of thought.
-- John Kenneth Galbraith
I'm actually not sure if Galbraith was being sarcastic. But it's interesting to see it in counterpoint with the Shaw quote.
The funny thing is that many people in this world would in earnestness argue that being happier when drunk is actually the whole point, and that alcohol is a great thing. If one has markedly less intelligence and control while drunk, gets hangovers and ruins the liver, that's a minor price to pay.
Well, it's all just beliefs in a subjective world. Uhm, which actually is closer to the points of the two quotes...
I wonder, can you have a "firm anchor" in nonsense, if you are aware that it is nonsense?
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Rate on 30-year mortgage falls to record 3.94 pct.
Rate on 30-year mortgage falls to record 3.94 pct, article.
Good lawd, that may be less than the current inflation!
Ooooh, these are very strange times indeed. From some observers it sounds like what we may experience is not so much a "double dip" as it's a stumble and then a fall like Wile E. Coyte off a cliff. British magazine Money Week has a new ad which strongly warns against any investment positions in: 1: most stocks, 2: The Euro, 3: real estate, 4: government bonds. That's practically everything normally considered safe as houses! (Ooops, houses, not safe now! Not as investment anyway.)
Good lawd, that may be less than the current inflation!
Ooooh, these are very strange times indeed. From some observers it sounds like what we may experience is not so much a "double dip" as it's a stumble and then a fall like Wile E. Coyte off a cliff. British magazine Money Week has a new ad which strongly warns against any investment positions in: 1: most stocks, 2: The Euro, 3: real estate, 4: government bonds. That's practically everything normally considered safe as houses! (Ooops, houses, not safe now! Not as investment anyway.)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Contigo Autoseal Travel Mug (updated)
I've been using the Thermos travel mug for a couple of years, but I was never happy with its insulation. The metal surface gets burning hot to hold, which is a sad indication of how it holds on the heat of the liquid, or rather not. Also, it's not tight (and not meant to be), if you tip it over, it'll spill somewhat.
So I got the Contigo Autoseal Travel Mug instead (on the left here). So far, way better, It's completely tight, and when you drink from it, you press a spring button on the back, which opens the smallish opening (right-sized) to drink from.
And it holds the heat much better. The Thermos mug uses "foam" insulation (don't know what the foam is made of, but I'm not impressed), the Contigo uses vacuum. And the outside of the Contigo mug hardly gets warm at all. And of course, at the end of a (really) leisurely drunk mug full of tea, it is still hot at the end, which I couldn't say about the Thermos mug.
Indeed the foam insulation takes up more space inside the mug, but it's still much less efficient.
Update:
Ray said...
Strange that Thermos would let itself be outdone by a competitor when it was Thermos that originally
made it big with glass vacuum bottles held in place inside a metal casing decades ago. They were fragile in the sense that dropping it could break the glass, which was relatively thin, but if cared for, they worked like a charm for years.
Eolake Stobblehouse said...
Yes, exactly! I thought Thermos was king.
But the Thermos one eats *so* much heat. Even after pre-heating it with boiled water for three minutes, no less, I still had to heat the milk when making tea. If I did that with the Contigo, the tea would scald me for at least an hour. Very remarkable.
So I got the Contigo Autoseal Travel Mug instead (on the left here). So far, way better, It's completely tight, and when you drink from it, you press a spring button on the back, which opens the smallish opening (right-sized) to drink from.
And it holds the heat much better. The Thermos mug uses "foam" insulation (don't know what the foam is made of, but I'm not impressed), the Contigo uses vacuum. And the outside of the Contigo mug hardly gets warm at all. And of course, at the end of a (really) leisurely drunk mug full of tea, it is still hot at the end, which I couldn't say about the Thermos mug.
I wonder how they seal the vacuum so tight that it will last for years, not air seeping in at all?
Update:
Ray said...
Strange that Thermos would let itself be outdone by a competitor when it was Thermos that originally
made it big with glass vacuum bottles held in place inside a metal casing decades ago. They were fragile in the sense that dropping it could break the glass, which was relatively thin, but if cared for, they worked like a charm for years.
Eolake Stobblehouse said...
Yes, exactly! I thought Thermos was king.
But the Thermos one eats *so* much heat. Even after pre-heating it with boiled water for three minutes, no less, I still had to heat the milk when making tea. If I did that with the Contigo, the tea would scald me for at least an hour. Very remarkable.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Olympus E-PL3 Pen Lite
Olympus E-PL3 Pen Lite with Franier grip and the brand new 45mm F:1.8 portrait lens. Beautiful.
It's the littlest portrait lens I've ever seen. The lens cap is barely larger than a 2-£ coin.
Bokeh test at full opening. Very promising, though I have yet to test it in daylight.
Top image with noise reduction in software, lower one without. ISO 1600. Good result for a M4/3 sensor, the first full frame Canon 5D didn't do it all that much better. And nice soft bokeh (background blur).
It's the littlest portrait lens I've ever seen. The lens cap is barely larger than a 2-£ coin.
Bokeh test at full opening. Very promising, though I have yet to test it in daylight.
Top image with noise reduction in software, lower one without. ISO 1600. Good result for a M4/3 sensor, the first full frame Canon 5D didn't do it all that much better. And nice soft bokeh (background blur).
Update:
By request, a comparison between Olympus 45mm F:1.8 and the great little Pentax 70mm F2.4. (For different formats, so the use is roughly the same.) Similar in bulk, the Pentax is shorter, but fatter. Slightly heavier (all metal), but in this class it hardly matters. The Pentax sits on a bigger camera (a DSLR), but also a more capable one, ultimately.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Ala-tin-gala
Cover version of an old Gasolin' fav fave.
Ala-tin-gala is a nonsense word so far as I know.
Unfortunately it does not seem there's a video version of Gasolin's own famous extended version from their excellent double album Live Sådan. (Rough translation: "Live; that how you do it".) One couldn't have imagined a better Live collection, they were in absolute top form all the way through.
(iTunes UK has many Gasolin collections, but I only found this one on CD. For big fans I recommend the Black Box.)
Ala-tin-gala is a nonsense word so far as I know.
Unfortunately it does not seem there's a video version of Gasolin's own famous extended version from their excellent double album Live Sådan. (Rough translation: "Live; that how you do it".) One couldn't have imagined a better Live collection, they were in absolute top form all the way through.
(iTunes UK has many Gasolin collections, but I only found this one on CD. For big fans I recommend the Black Box.)
Tyve meter henne af en rendesten
åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala.
Der sad en lille dreng og så på dameben
åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala.
Så kom en abbedisse med portvinstud
og skældte ham ud.
En millionær og en minister gik en aftentur
åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala.
De kyssed' hinanden i et cykelskur
åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala.
De sagde hej hej jeg elsker dig
hvis du stemmer på mig.
En luder og en lommetyv, på Jammers Plads
åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala.
De spilled' boogie woogie på en Fender bas
åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala.
Så kom der en guru med det 11. Bud
men ham smed de ud.
En gammel mand med tømmermænd og stjerneskud
åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala.
Han sad på en trappesten og spotted' mig ud
åh ja, Alla-Tin-Gala.
Han sa' der' sikkert mange ting du meget bedre forstår
om mange år.
Ok, gamle dreng sagde jeg, og hva' så det?
Sunday, October 2, 2011
SF city
Thanks to Norm for sending me this wallpaper art.
Andreas found the artist via TinEye: Staszek Marek. It has different sizes (I got one for my Cinema Display, perhaps the size reads the screen size of the visitor.)
I have always been fond of SF imagery, especially urban. As an example, my favorite part of the fourth Star Wars movie (Phantom Menace) was the great city scenes, like the street view with the café.
Andreas found the artist via TinEye: Staszek Marek. It has different sizes (I got one for my Cinema Display, perhaps the size reads the screen size of the visitor.)
I have always been fond of SF imagery, especially urban. As an example, my favorite part of the fourth Star Wars movie (Phantom Menace) was the great city scenes, like the street view with the café.
Achievement poster
(From despair.com. Warning: the promotion of their merchandise is so huge and in-your-face that it almost removes any interest in seeing their actual content. Big flunk for that.)
Heart of Glass
Lord, what a stunning woman. I remember watching this video at 15 on prime time TV with the family when it was new, and I couldn't believe it. I grunted something to the effect, and my mother said: "actually I'd be curious as to what your ideal girl would be". And I said: "Well, her!"
Of course this song and album Parallel Lines were outstanding too, and I became an instant Blondie fan.
Of course this song and album Parallel Lines were outstanding too, and I became an instant Blondie fan.
Pelpina and batmanning
I love Dutch web shot hostess Pelpina. One guess why. That's right, it's because she likes technology like I do.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
A two-faced cat
Rebecca sent this story (incl. video) of cat with two faces, surviving so far to twelve years. I dunno what we can learn from this, but golly, it's not something you expect to see. It's virtually unique for such a creature to survive.
I like that his name is "Frank and Louie", very funny.
"You can look on this cat at as sort of a bad omen, or as sort of a miracle."
I like that his name is "Frank and Louie", very funny.
"You can look on this cat at as sort of a bad omen, or as sort of a miracle."
LoveFilm "does a Netflix"
[Note: can you guys tell me which other European countries presently have movie disk rental service by post? And if it includes streaming yet?]
I've just found out that the UK DVD rental service LoveFilm, which I'm already using and have for over ten years (since 2000, when they were called DVDsOnTap), now lets you stream lots of films to your iPad, included free in your subscription, like NetFlix. I honestly didn't really believe this kind of thing would come to Europe. (Update: it works on my Mac too, I didn't really think it would since last I checked they could not deliver pay-per-view to Macs.)
The little bastiches are using it in promotion, but they had not informed us subscribers about it! :-)
The picture and sound quality is really good, better than DVDs I have ripped. And the selection seems good too, not just b-movies from before 1980. Almost 6,000 titles at the moment.
(I think this will make me forgive that they have animated ads on their site. If I didn't have ad-blocking on my browser, this would test my patience a lot.)
It's really remarkable value for money. Especially since you don't have to be so durn careful and read five reviews before ordering a movie for rental, 'cuz if you don't like it, it'll only take you 20-40 seconds to find and start watching a new one, as opposed to several days with the disk delivery. I'm honestly not sure how big the percentage of the movies are which I am really interested in, it might be pretty small. But this system also allows you to experiment more, for example The Interview is a (in)famous movie which I previously had not bothered with, but now I know what it's like (nasty, but not a bad movie).
This was at the last minute I found out about it too. Between rental as well as purchased DVDs and blu-rays, web videos, and cable subscription, I never have anything to watch!!
But honestly, my purchased-disk shelf is moving rather slowly, I'm beginning to think I'll never get down to the fourth season of the Cosby Show, which I bought... at least two years ago (gawd, it might be three). Today, entertainment is an embarrassment of riches. I remember the nineties, where one might go to Blockbusters (oops, dead too now, another victim of digital delivery) and stare at the shelves until blood spurted out of the eyes.
And before you had video... one evening the only half interesting movie within range in the cinema was Indiana Jones 4, and it was so bad that even a group of teen girls were making fun of it as we left the cinema after a late-nigh showing one fine summer's eve: "seriously, that was a ridiculous movie, wasn't it?" (Come on, it it had chases on any vehicle which can move, and at one point IJ was walking in a underground passage with gasoline to over his ankles, carrying a torch which was dripping little flaming bits down into the gasoline without effect! Until the plot demanded exploding gasoline, of course.)
I've just found out that the UK DVD rental service LoveFilm, which I'm already using and have for over ten years (since 2000, when they were called DVDsOnTap), now lets you stream lots of films to your iPad, included free in your subscription, like NetFlix. I honestly didn't really believe this kind of thing would come to Europe. (Update: it works on my Mac too, I didn't really think it would since last I checked they could not deliver pay-per-view to Macs.)
The little bastiches are using it in promotion, but they had not informed us subscribers about it! :-)
The picture and sound quality is really good, better than DVDs I have ripped. And the selection seems good too, not just b-movies from before 1980. Almost 6,000 titles at the moment.
(I think this will make me forgive that they have animated ads on their site. If I didn't have ad-blocking on my browser, this would test my patience a lot.)
It's really remarkable value for money. Especially since you don't have to be so durn careful and read five reviews before ordering a movie for rental, 'cuz if you don't like it, it'll only take you 20-40 seconds to find and start watching a new one, as opposed to several days with the disk delivery. I'm honestly not sure how big the percentage of the movies are which I am really interested in, it might be pretty small. But this system also allows you to experiment more, for example The Interview is a (in)famous movie which I previously had not bothered with, but now I know what it's like (nasty, but not a bad movie).
This was at the last minute I found out about it too. Between rental as well as purchased DVDs and blu-rays, web videos, and cable subscription, I never have anything to watch!!
But honestly, my purchased-disk shelf is moving rather slowly, I'm beginning to think I'll never get down to the fourth season of the Cosby Show, which I bought... at least two years ago (gawd, it might be three). Today, entertainment is an embarrassment of riches. I remember the nineties, where one might go to Blockbusters (oops, dead too now, another victim of digital delivery) and stare at the shelves until blood spurted out of the eyes.
And before you had video... one evening the only half interesting movie within range in the cinema was Indiana Jones 4, and it was so bad that even a group of teen girls were making fun of it as we left the cinema after a late-nigh showing one fine summer's eve: "seriously, that was a ridiculous movie, wasn't it?" (Come on, it it had chases on any vehicle which can move, and at one point IJ was walking in a underground passage with gasoline to over his ankles, carrying a torch which was dripping little flaming bits down into the gasoline without effect! Until the plot demanded exploding gasoline, of course.)
