W-end M-ovie: Shade

A great con movie with an exceptional cast (Stallone, Griffith,Byrne, Thandie Newton, Stuart Townsend and Jamie Foxx among others) this is definetely worthwhile.
Makes you wonder how I have missed it all this time.

Cool New Musical Finding - Bowery Electric

Bowery Electric is a Manhattan-based dreampop duo. Their music started as droning guitar-based noise rock and became more turntable-based toward the end of their career. (wiki). The "Lush Life" LP is great. "Beat" seems in the same lines. Hard to think of these guys as early progressive rockers. For more on their bio follow the link.

Weekly Movies - Grindhouse

Another Rodriguez/Tarantino double feature which I have been trying to watch for a couple of months now. Finally, I forced myself into doing that just tonight. and the results are awfull; could barely stay interested in it for the first 15 minutes. after that just blood shed and violence but stupid one too. really dissapointing. a half parody after "the return of the living dead", half black humor, Grindhouse didn't do it for me at all.

My 100th Post on Photoblog

I have uploadez 20 of my best photos over the last year or so with this special occasion of my 100th post on Photoblog.
Enjoy and leave comments!
Arrigatou.

Laptop critical Upgrades

After I decided to skip the purchase of a Mac for some (perhaps) much needed currency in my future germanic endeavor, I had, however, to upgrade my existing IBM laptop and make it more versatile, and thus, capable to do the job he's supposed to do.
for this purpose I bought the following:

1. a new 80GB harddrive from Seagate (the Seagate Momentus 5400.2 ST96812A 60GB 5400 RPM 8MB) with 60 bucks (now it went down to 55$ shipping included). It's asmoothy..no problem so far. Plus I have a 5 year guarantee. At least that's what newegg.com says. hopefully I will not use it.

2. a combo drive (DVD/CDRW) since I am not sure if I will have acces to a drive that easy over there..and I do not want to buy a new one.

3. RAM. the memory is a tough one. so so so expensive and hard to find for these old bastards. I had to pay 73 bucks for two dimms of 256mb and wrestle with a bunch of other ebayers looking for the same thing. :((. At least I hope to sell my two 128 DIMMs for 35$ and cut down the losses.

4. A SATA/IDE external enclosure to take advantage of big and fast SATA drives. Pretty expensive ($20) but at least I was sure that it can manage the EU standard voltage (240 V) which was crucial. Besides that, just two cables and upss, people are making real money with these things.

5. PCMCIA USB 2 port. A deal for just $10..but I couldn't make it work.:((. NO USB pen, mouse or other device did work in it. But the enclosure did however and the SATA drive is great, I could feel the USB2.0 pumping unlike the old 1.1 that any T22 has in the back..:))

6. a bigger USB pen (1gb); just a perk; nothing about it since I do not keep huge files, or do "backup" as some do on such fragile and no-name things. It's just good to have one. I had a viking before (256mb) who did the job spendidly.

well, that's about it. there goes my post and my money.
worthwhile, i hope.

To Mac or Not To Mac...

I have been thinking now for a while whether to get a new laptop or not with my leave for Europe for one year. I am especially keen on the new updated Mac. at 2.0 Ghz, 1 gb of RAM and 80GB HDD the lowest price you can get is 999 $, which is quite decent taking into account the features of the Mac, sleek look and the fact you can run windows on them now. Unfortunately, since money is low this time of year, I had to give it up a settle myself with an upgrade to my old old buddy, the T22.

Amazing 3D Pavement Chalk Drawings

Check the link above.
Julian Beever is an English chalk artist who has been creating chalk drawings on pavement since the mid-1990s that create the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from the right location. These trompe-l'œil drawings are created using a projection called anamorphosis and appear to defy the laws of perspective.

New Things to Try

Today it was a good day for experiments. foods and drinks were on the menu. thus I have started with a pork Lo-Mein with plenty of vegetables, fresh thin cut pork rib meat and naturally noodles. It is quite easy to prepare (as most of the Chinese dishes) and delicious. Two things are vital: a big big pan and plenty of soy sauce.
The second things I have experimented today was a drink blending with orange juice, some Japanese gin and good old Coke. Cheezzy.
Cheers

Self Cross-Advertising..:)

New cool stuff posted on my photoblog. Follow the link in the bar above. Cheers.

End of the Week Movies

Today: 21grams and Apocalypto.


21 grams (2003)
They say we all loose 21 grams when we die. All of us. But how much is gained?
21 grams, the weight of a humming bird, a chocolate bar...
This dark movie was shot in chronological order, but is edited in a non-linear arrangement where the lives of the characters are depicted before and after the accident. The three main characters each have 'past' 'present' and 'future' story threads, which are shown as non-linear fragments which punctuate elements of the overall story, all imminently coming toward each other and coalescing as the story progresses. Great acting by Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro on top of the supporting cast.


Apocalypto (2006)
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations. On top of Braveheart's hero directing it. I was expecting something totally different...bloodier and harder. Instead what I got from it was a similar sensation as from the Last of the Mohicans, a great movie with Daniel Day Lewis back in 1992, where a silent type of hero does the job. Indeed some cruelty was shown but, again, those were the days (1) and not too heavy (less than "Saving Private Ryan" for example, in my opion). In essence a good movie and a great representation of the Mayan civilisation.

Great Music: Pelican City

I just came across their two releases and I was truly mesmerized by their music.


LP: Rhode Island
Pelican City are from Athens GA. This cd has been in the works for about 2 years.
his whole project is an Experiment of blending different types of music together.
BAND_MEMBERS: (Brian Burton - Producer/Composer, Programmer/Keyboards/Guitars) (Todd Monfalcone - Guitars) (Josh Perry - Horns) (Scott Patton - Guitars). A dark, moody, instrumental trip hop, with heavy downtempo hip hop beats, lush strings, and guitars that is perfect for listening anytime and type of day you have.

LP: The Chilling Effect OST
The music on the soundtrack almost sounds as if it is being played from an old record. It is a very moody and sad soundtrack and can be very intense at times. The are lots of layers to each song and each listen can bring you closer to a full understanding of the music.

LISTEN & ENJOY!

Assateague Island

10 miles south of Ocean City you reach the Assateague Island and its National and State Park. Here people and wildlife live in harmony, the former within their camping facilities while the letter enjoy a perfect climate of freedom and respect. Two herds of wild horses have their home here.

They are separated by the boundary between the states of Maryland and Virginia. In the summer the refuge's freshwater pools and marshes host a large variety of birds like herons, egrets and other wading birds. On top of this, clamming is at its best in the island's MD end. A great place to relax and enjoy the nature (less the mosquitoes and ticks).
Somehow, it is hard to believe how untouched and beautiful this place is, only 10 miles away from Ocean City, a popular resort where building and crowding is something quite casual and accepted. Two different worlds!

Remembering the short OC Getaway

The main street in Ocean City is called "Ocean Gateway" and it's a couple of feet away from the real deal, the ocean. For some reason or other, I always (and not solely me) call it Ocean Getaway.:)) Seemed more naturally and straightforward.
This post is just a short memento for the wonderful days spent there in, what was, my only vacation for a few years now.

Crustation - some mellow great trip-hop

Crustation is formed by Ian Dark, Stig Manley and Mark Taylerthe, three producers from Bristol. Aren't they all from there?:) In the 80s they played in bands with Adrian Utley of Portishead. For their late Crustation songs they used the collaboration of female vocalist Bronagh Slevin (great voice!!). In 1994 they released two EPs under Cup of Tea Records (label of Monk & Canatella, Statik Sound System and Purple Penguin). Released their only album Bloom in 1997, under the name of Crustation with Bronagh Slevin. They do a mellow and dreamy trip hop.
I got Bloom and it's amaizingly beautiful. Try it if you can get your hands on that one!

Din nou in Troy

Back again in Troy,NY. Not the best to spend your summer but again, I haven't done that yet. Heat and moist..two things that I don't enjoy about this place (and USA) in general, in the summer. On top of that, some serious T-storms paved my way back home from Albany International and I was seriously afraid that I could not make it soon enough. Finally got there around 8 and without a drop of rain on me after several waves of big hail and awful rampages of rain crossed Colonie, Albany and the whole capital region. The next day (with temps around 96 F and high humidity) the Grid decided to leave Troy (and other cities up north) without power throughout the day. Couldn't work, couldn't stay in the house, it was strange. But I (we) made it. the institute was closed. It's amazing to realize how much we depend on electricity. Felt amost like in Jericho.lol.

The lost vacation

After all the traveling and things to do that I have on the back of my mind, finally, I took a break, which is nice. Although I have some serious trouble staying still in the sun or enjoying a full day at the pool, I am learning to get use to it. Man, it's been a while..:)