Against Real Life


We made our Dove spoof as a playful homage to the original. A wise man – it may have been Ross Kemp – once said that you can only spoof something you love. If you’re indifferent to something, you ignore it. How very true, Ross, how very true.

Simply a SL


Once every two or three years I suffer the irresistible dotage symptoms. After I made quite a good soap opera with a few versions of The Sims, now I live my Second Life.

For those who are in your senses: Second Life is virtual world. Users create avatar-like almost human creatures...blah, blah, blah. Actually is there anyone who hasn’t heard of SL?

On a side notes and curious facts:
+ many international companies and brands created their own avatars in order to approach the target audience even in its Second life (eg. IBM SL @ Reuters)
+ the first SL millionaire (Anshe Chung @ Money.Cnn.Com)
+ Reality on SL (BigBrother @ SecondLife)

Well, the focus of this posting was that I am desperately unhappy because my electricity installation at home exploded this morning, so now I can't play SL and now I'm in a stupid office but the computer sux that much so I can't launch the game and tonight I'm leaving to another city where I'll be too busy with some boring things... as a result, I won't play SL in the next 5 or 6 days, oh sh*t.

Live! Start your SecondLife.

Kitten Cannon

YES. I know it's inhuman, brutal and frankly disgusting. You see, I love cats too. But this kind of timesheet killers* always makes me smile. In addition, I like to see the mewing kitten flying.

* I call them timesheet killers, because you spend one or two hours playing and at the end of the day this really affects your highly crucial daily tasks and totally important timesheet reports.

Updated 36 minutes later: My record is 818 ft 1108 ft. Awesome, eh?
Updated 54 minutes later: I really hate its sound...

Crossing the Bridge


Watched: yesterday
Genre: Music, a lot of music. Documentary.
Website: www.crossingthebridge.de
There is something deeply enigmatic and attracting in Istanbul. Crossing the Bridge (The Sound of Istanbul) is a fantastic curtsy to music in the megapolis and Turkey in general. You will hear Turkish vibes from jazz to traditional performances.

The Director, Fatih Akin, was born in Germany but is Turkish parentage. Somehow he managed to catch the spirit of the city and to present it in a highly melodic way.

To me, top-good are the Orient Expressions part (described as ethno techno) and the Ceza's Holocaust hiphop performance. The father of one of the Ceza boys made great comment on the modern music and the hiphop.

In short: Don't miss it!

HelloCreative

Hellomoto is fancy once again. The website allows you to create your own graphic world of objects and colors. In addition you can export your artwork as screensaver and wallpaper (both desktop + mobile versions of the service are available) or send it to a friend.

Misicovery

Misicovery is something similar to Pandora (and the equivalent music stations) but it’s more French and Flashy.
This means that the music is cool, but the design is better. :)

What makes me really upset with these services is the fact that they don’t have the forward option. You can never jump backwards or forward, to skip the next 15 seconds or to listen again the previous 10 seconds from the song. No, no, no, you should listen to the whole song all over again or just to skip it all. Dummy.

In addition these play in your browser, which means that just a random click and the show is over (I did this twice in the last 30 minutes with Musicovery).

PS: I will put an image or at least a logo later. Or at least I will try.

By the way, tonight is party time with Timo Maas live! See ya, :)

Yelp!

Okay. The situation is the following:
:: I work on three different computers in three different places
:: I work on a number of projects in totally different areas
:: Often I need a file or a document that is not on the computer on which I am
:: More often I should share one document with other people involved in the project or clients

Last but not least, I hate laptops. To me their screens sux, their keyboards are awful, their touch pads are useless. My notebook recharger is way much heavier than the computer itself, but it doesn’t matter as I should bring them both.

Along with the stupid computer usually I should bring along a number of printed materials, CDs, digital cameras and all that (excuse me!) sh*t. My bag is as big as a camel hump and I hate that.

So, I need software that is open-sourced and that could be installed on a server solving the problem with the file access and the project management process.

Any ideas?

Call Center


Watch it
Browse it
Comment it

PS: This movie came just in time. The company I'm working for is making a new call center. When I went back to my desk after another half-day arrangement of workstations, computers and telephones, I simply wanted to kill someone. Call Center the Movie got back my good mood and belief that oh, my, there is always someone worse than our organization.

Vincent Malloy

This was intended to be shared for Helloween. However, suddenly I had to leave the city for a while and when I was back, the tasks-roller coaster grabbed me.
I haven't stopped thinking that I want to publish Vincent and now when the Thanksgiving is so close, I decided "its really high time to do it!" Here it is:

Vincent Malloy is seven years old,
He’s always polite and does what he’s told.

For a boy his age he’s considerate and nice,
But he wants to be just like Vincent Price.

He doesn’t mind living with his sister, dog and cat,
Though he’d rather share a home with spiders and bats.

There he could reflect on the horrors he’s invented,
And wander dark hallways alone and tormented.

Vincent is nice when his aunt comes to see him,
But imagines dipping her in wax for his wax museum.

He likes to experiment on his dog Abacrombie,
In the hopes of creating a horrible zombie.

So he and his horrible zombie dog,
Could go searching for victims in the London fog.

His thoughts aren’t only of ghoulish crime,
He likes to paint and read to pass the time.

While other kids read books like Go Jane Go,
Vincent’s favorite author is Edgar Allen Poe.

One night while reading a gruesome tale,
He read a passage that made him turn pale.

Such horrible news he could not survive,
For his beautiful wife had been buried alive.

He dug out her grave to make sure she was dead,
Unaware that her grave was his mother’s flower bed.

His mother sent Vincent off to his room,
He knew he’d been banished to the tower of doom.

Where he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life,
Alone with a portrait of his beautiful wife.

While alone and insane, encased in his tomb,
Vincent’s mother suddenly burst into the room.

“If you want to you can go outside and play.
It’s sunny outside and a beautiful day.”

Vincent tried to talk, but he just couldn’t speak,
The years of isolation had made him quite weak.

So he took out some paper, and scrawled with a pen,
“I am possessed by this house, and can never leave it again.”

His mother said, “You’re not possessed, and you’re not almost dead.
These games that you play are all in your head.

You’re not Vincent Price, you’re Vincent Malloy.
You’re not tormented, you’re just a young boy.”

“You’re seven years old, and you’re my son,
I want you to get outside and have some real fun.”

Her anger now spent, she walked out through the hall,
While Vincent backed slowly against the wall.

The room started to sway, to shiver and creak.
His horrid insanity had reached its peak.

He saw Abacrombie his zombie slave,
And heard his wife call from beyond the grave.

She spoke from her coffin, and made ghoulish demands.
While through cracking walls reached skeleton hands.

Every horror in his life that had crept through his dreams,
Swept his mad laugh to terrified screams.
To escape the madness, he reached for the door,

So he and his horrible zombie dog,
But fell limp and lifeless down on the floor.

His voice was soft and very slow,
As he quoted The Raven from Edgar Allen Poe,

"And my soul from out that shadow floating on the floor,
Shall be lifted –Nevermore!"

Exercise in style

I had an assignment at the Academy this week, and the task was to observe and then to describe the street where I live.

I already know that my street will be quite a vertical one and that I am going to describe the apartments block where I live, because you see, there are more blocks than streets in my district. The Street is just the message. Or the media. Or… well whatever, it’s more important to have a good story than just a boring explanation.

Meanwhile I shared this with my mother. She mentioned the Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas and that this play could help me figure out my story. Thanks, mom! :)

Here you can listen the play

Yes. Rabbits.

Yet another aggressive bunny game is onto its way to your computer.

Please, meet Rayman Raving Rabbits brought to you by Ubisoft.

To get idea what the hell I am talking about, check the video section or the concept art.

Bajadera

Keeping the sweet trend from last week, today it is time to present you Bajadera by Kras

These chocolates have been around for some time, but today the last three have been eaten.

Viva Hrvatsko ;)

Ein, zwei, Marzipan

That's the greatest menace for my diet. And I will die for it. :)

A have eaten almost a whole box of Niederegger Lübeck marzipans (see the picture) for less than 24 hours and if I had another box, I would have eaten it too.

Truly awesome!
______________
Note: I have many German-language contacts lately and more are coming, do you know a good German language teacher?

Downshifting

The weather is rainy and dull. I feel sleepy approximately 24 hours, 7 days per week.

Of course, this doesn't mean that I feel lazy. No. I'm doing nothing quite effectively.

Try to relax and understand that doing nothing does not mean that you're being unproductive or irresponsible. Keep in mind that you are doing this in order to clear your mind and ultimately extend your life so that you will have even more time.
That's slowly becoming me dream job... See you on Christmas (just for the presents).

+ Download a Fall Season Bonus Wallpaper (1600x1200 256 Kb pleasure)

1. Click on the link
2. Wait the file to load in your browser
3. Set as wallpeper (right mouse button)
4. Learn more how to Do Nothing

Red October.

October (the 10th month of 2006) is the time for red revolution in your kitchen.

Better make it in a big salad bowl. Add:
+ cut tomatoes
+ red peppers
+ sliced onions
+ dark red vinegar
And before it is too late and the red wine conquers your dinners and cozy nights spent on the sofa, don’t waste your time and see off the last summer rays for this year with a last Mojito in the park.

Other items that might be included are: cheap cigars from Cuba (if you find, please tell me where!) and a thematic sentimental lighter.

Lavish Festival for Hihi


His name is Hihi. He became honorable member of our family approximately one year ago. I love him. We all love him (though my mother sometimes threatens him with a recipe for stew).

Initially it was she, as the shop assistant was saying that it is a female bunny, but one day my brother found out that She is He. It was a great shock for me and I would never forget the phone-call we had that night. Wow. After a long dispute we kept the name Hihi, because... you see... Hihi is a Smiling Bunny.

This weekend I visited my family. Hihi looks perfect, some 600 gr. overweight maybe, but he is so lovely and lively tiny animal that he deserved the carrot cookies.

That's Karpa

Irena Karpa comes from Ukraine. She is 26 years old but already has a few good books behind her. In addition, she plays in her own band. Her books are considered provocative and like her music, are avoiding the mainstream roads.

I just bought her book Pearl Porn and the music CD that came along with it is spinning in my cd-rom right now. Her writing style is compared to Irvine Welsh and Viktor Pelevin but I am still on page 10, so it is early to give opinion.

The novel starts with: "...The huge pink Mercedes, shining and powerful, each morning collected the garbage of our block." Let's see how it ends...

Keep Travelling

In the onboard magazine of one of the flights I saw an amazing collection of travel guides by Phaidon.
The whole collection will include 60 guides and 20 of them are already available.
With recognition to Wallpaper*:

Spanglish

The other day I had a flight to catch in Madrid, while hanging around the airport I enjoyed my last Spanglish words in this environment.

I was thinking what would happen if I start blogging in Spanish too. Yes, I know that bilingual blogs are not easy to read and actually at the end one loses the point, but sometimes there, deep inside me, is this necessity to say something like

"Holas, estaba buscando información sobre los melocotones, pero aquí encontré una publicidad que invita al Prado, así que me puse por alla y fue maravilloso".
You got it, right? ;-)

Back to home, I will have more work, more travel around, and I hope more projects to deal with.

Asking yourself what the heck does it mean? Spanglish in Wikipedia:

That's totally uncute!

I like cute animals. I like small cute cars that most of the people consider unacceptable and pink often judged as unserious. So this Car, this huge ugly vehicle... seems made for someone that is not me. :) Enjoy the spot!

11-09-2006 Update
This here is a slightly different version of the same ad.
It will make you wet your pants. Honestly.

A recipe that cures everything

When you feel quite ill in early September and somehow you’re not a big meat fan (yes, I consider the chicken very meaty), the best thing is to cook your favourite soup. The White Soup.

Starring: strictly cut, slightly fright (no mass oil, please, just to keep them firm when boiled) potatoes, a liter or so milk, stirred to foam eggs, dressed with lemon peel shavings, fresh lemon juice and topped with yogurt.

As Tita’s aunt said, there is no illness that the chicken soup couldn’t cure. As I (my mother and grandmother too..) would say, there is no malady that the white soup couldn’t cure.

Historical Note: Long long ago one of my grandparents was living in the insecure outline between two countries. One day her family moved out to new place and almost everything else is forgotten by the kin. What was kept is the cuisine. The things she coked are still around the family.

Gourmet Note: Yes, definitely you could know another recipe for another white soup. Share it, I would try it next time when I cook. (I don’t cook very often:-)

On a side note: This post got far too personal.

Simply Beautiful


I'm going to Simply Red concert! This friday!

Meet the Cats


Meet the Record Store Cats proudly presented by Hnldesign.nl.

PS: No, it's not because they're on Yahoo9. It's just because I love cats. I do, I do, I do...

Paperworked

Danke, danke...

Well, it is something that is circling around for the last week or two and probably many people have already seen it, heard it or just spoken about it. It doesn't matter.

I put it here for two reasons: The first one is that I got it from a number of people and I want to return the gesture. The second is that because there are many people to whom I would like to say "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou...".

Here we go:PS: I just calculated that it will take more than 27 hours until these two hit the million. Keep patience, stay tuned.

Set me flying


"People are one winged angels and to fly they need to embrace each other"

But not always there is a one-winged angel around. Here come Elke Munkert's silver winged earrings.

Old, Gold and Sentimental


Going Postal

A trip like a postcard is coming in less than 29 days. I'm going to Tenerife for a few days. Unfortunately not for pleasure, but business. (I will do my best to combine them.) This will be an awfully big adventure.

After I got my airplane ticket the first thing was to check where I land and where I should go after this. I found out that no matter the fact that Tenerife is a small island, the distance is too big. Or at least it seems too big on the map and promising to be ripped off if I take a taxi.

I found the Guaguas website and it is giving good information, but I still have no idea how to reach Adeje without spending these five days in the public transport.

If someone reading this blog is having an idea or already experienced that and would give advise or... Well, whatever will help, really.

Lift Me Up

This blog is getting boring because the blogger of this blog became highly addicted to the offline and offroad lifestyle.

Reality happens.

Soon we will turn two years old but no recapitulation of the past posts here can be made except for a few personal highlights.

The truth is that the entertainment industry made me more focused on business than visual design and funny observations on the net. For a while it might be good.

Stay tuned.

The music is in you, baby

Let me introduce you to the hottest compilation on the net -- the Cartoon Network's Cartoon Medley.

Including the fantastic chart busters "Cartoon, Cartoon", "Ed, Edd N Eddy" and "Scooby-Doo, where are you" it became my one and only favorite album.

Play it on your iPod, launch it on the WinAmp, rock your colleagues and family relatives, spread the word!

Environment evaluation

melosittacus undulatus
Melopsittacus undulatus means parrot but According to certain zoos it means brown bear.


System-is-a-Down

Dew to changes in my hosting providers temporary the images on this blog will not be available.

I will do my best to rearrange everything as soon as possible in order to have them up again.

As lately I am quite busy and mobili in mobilis, I am unable to tell you the exact date. (Most probably this will be done by the end of this week or absolutely never:)

Stay tuned. And thanks for all the fish.

Yours,

Spam::The 60's Style


Except for the font selected, there is something really sentimental in this spam image received earlier today. At least three hundred thousand people got it in their inboxes (I bet on this). Visuals like this will never leave the 60's to be forgotten. Taken alone, that sounds fair.

However, what always makes me confused when I get a spam letter are the totally nonsense words like "asdffgjd XlRVXVZUclJXQVhEVkdaUltWQEwfXUFT" in candid texts promising everlasting sexual excitement. "Asdffgjd XlRV..." sounds like a modern "Abracadabra", a magic spell against the evil lack of satisfaction.

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

GriboGribo
If I should point out one thing that makes me happy, calm or cheerful then this will be a cat. Any cat. It might be a real street-fighter cat in front of me, a cute little home-cat on a picture or just the idea about a cat. However, some cats look better than others.

On the pictures above you see Gribo. To see him on a better and bigger image, just go to his owner's website and keep in mind that this cat in person is simply bewitching.

Meow Mix

Tell me that you love cats.

I do.

I do love cats and the new show on Animal Planet makes me totally focused on what's going on the version of the feline big brother. Basically, the show is purrfect for all of you who can adopt a cat. Do it. Love the little fluffy angel.

If the distance doesn't allow you to do so, then at least you can peep into their day by watching the webcams.

I will share a secret: I read my spam.

It started when I was working for an online casino company. Some 3 or so years later I still monitor my inbox for new approaches to my bank balance and I am always amused by the creativity people invest in their spam messages.

image spam

text spam
This month I have two favorites: the yellow iPod like panacea ad for health and sexual problems and the "huge overwhelmingly important letter".

While the viagra ad is relatively clear, the second letter is a total intellectual riddle featuring popular sayings and urban legends like: "If you're too open-minded, your brains will fall out." and "After dark all cats are leopards".

The list is approximately 50 aphorisms long, hidden in a cascade form with the "alt" tag. The image itself is a boring offer for stock shares (yuck!).

Mary-goes-round-Mary-goes-angry

I applied for a job as a freelance researcher but I got a job offer for a position higher than that and at a full-time occupancy. I didn't want it. They didn't want me as a freelancer.

I did a tiny illustration on this while drinking Coke and thinking on the situation. Cases like this make me frustrated because basically I prefer to work as a freelancer or for my own projects rather than for some greasy cool boys. On the other hand the perspectives promised are quite good.

The Snail career option: My current job gives me a lot of communication with real people, some of them quite interesting (like any other crazy showbusiness crew). Though not well paid, it gives me freedom, imagination and cool contacts. No matter what we do, at the end of the day we are heros, losers or just someone in our own somehow geographically limited world.

The Lousy career option: The proposed position will give me financial security, good training, entry into a well known international company and eventually a good career. At the same time the communication with clients will be mainly online and on the phone, closed in an office (like any other sad freaked outsourcing junk).

I promised to think it over until Tuesday. I feel as nervous as bifurcated cacti...

A Puzzle to Desire

The legend says that this set includes six wooden puzzles:

  • Serpent Puzzle
  • Stellar Puzzle
  • Pharaoh’s Puzzle
  • Quantum Puzzle
  • Newton’s Cross Puzzle
  • Soma Cube Puzzle
I found it in online shop that ships to my local area, but the tricky problem was that they put just the image there and not the gadget details and pricing. It's such a lousy situation.

Let the music play


For those who were forced to visit piano lessons in the first years of their life, The Flea Waltz, (also known as Cat March) would sound familiar. Meaw meaw.

This night I got totally crazy and this let me directly to the midi keyboard. Here comes the result: listen and download the Flea Waltz in .wav (873 kb) or .mp3 (120 kb). Put it on your mobile phone, give it to your friends.

You could even try to play it, the score is right here:

Elephants Dream


Before you download the Elephants Dream maybe you'll be curios to know that actually it is an open movie. This means that you could download it for free and that it was made with open source graphics software.

Learn more about the project while you listen the soundtrack