Dieses Mal was ganz Anderes.
Posts mit dem Label review werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Posts mit dem Label review werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Messie-Bekämpfung
Hallo, mein Name ist Beatritsche und ich bin ein Messie.
Jeder, dem ich von meinem kleinen Problem erzähle, reißt zuerst einmal verblüfft die Augen auf, da die charakteristischen Berge von Müll und/oder Sachen-Wirr-Warr fehlen. Ich empfinde mich aber trotzdem als einer ... meinetwegen ein kleiner.
Ich hab immer schon Dinge gehortet - zB hatte ich nach 14 Jahren Schulausbildung noch ALLE Schulbücher und Hefte, hab nie halb-zerstörtes Spielzeug weggeworfen und hab sooooooo viele neugekaufte Dinge aufgehoben, damit ich sie irgendwann benutze.
Mich wundert es eher, dass in der 2. Generation nach dem Krieg nicht noch mehr Messies herumstreunen ;).
Vor einiger Zeit hab ich mir dieses Buch aus der Bücherei ausgeborgt:
Mich persönlich hat es total motiviert, mein Heim auszusortieren. Ich weiß eigentlich nicht warum ;D.
Nun ist es schon einige Zeit her und ich hab nicht mehr alles im Kopf, was in dem Buch stand. Aber einige einprägende Gedanken hab ich noch parat:
#1
Wenn du ein Ding hast - zB ein Geschirrtuch aus Baumwolle - und du merkst im Gebrauch, dass du es nicht magst oder dir schwer tust, es zu gebrauchen ... DANN SCHMEIß ES WEG. Dann nimm dir die Geschirrtücher aus Mikrofaser und hab Spaß an deiner Arbeit - denn dann machst du sie auch regelmäßig.
Ich muss sagen, der Gedanke ist für einen Messie befreiend. Wir Messies wollen ja nichts wegschmeißen, vor allem, wenns ja noch in Ordnung ist. Also haben wir uns darauf geeinigt, dass wir versuchen, die Dinge übers Internet zu verscherbeln und alles, was übrig bleibt, geht zum Mistflohmarkt. So hat man das Gefühl, dass es nicht weggeschmissen wird, ist es aber los.
(Mir ist es eben mit den Geschirrtüchern so ergangen).
#2
Man sollte die Wege minimieren zwischen Standort und Benutzungsort von den Dingen. Manchmal benutzt man die Dinge einfach ganz wo anders - und das immer wieder - als dort, wo man sie lagert. Dann muss man eben anfangen, umzuräumen. Wenn man das eine Ding an zwei verschiedenen Orten nützt (Die Autorin lebt offensichtlich in einem Haus ;D), dann sollte man auch zwei Stück davon haben. Mein Beispiel hierzu war das Druckerpapier. Wir haben den Drucker, der gleichzeitig auch das Fax ist, natürlich bei der Telefondose im Wohnzimmer stehn. Das Papier lag aber bisher immer beim Schreibtisch im hintersten Zimmer. Also hab ichs umgeräumt, dass das Papier im Kasterl unterm Drucker liegt.
#3
Man sollte sein Chaos immer wieder mal fotografieren und analysieren, was schief läuft. Und natürlich dann an einer Lösung arbeiten.
Ehrlich gesagt hab ich das noch nicht gemacht, aber ich find das eine gute Idee.
#4
Man sollte immer Arbeitsstationen einrichten. Also immer Sachen, die gemeinsam benutzt werden auch gemeinsam lagern.
Wenn ich das hier so schreibe fällt mir auch ein Video ein, das ich einmal gesehn habe. Da wurde empfohlen, die Post immer mit dem Handy in der Nähe aufzumachen, damit man - wenn eine Frist zu wahren ist - immer auch gleich den Termin im Handy einspeichert. Das fand ich auch einen super Tipp. Messies ham ja auch Probleme, Termine einzuhalten.
Meine Zettelwirtschaft hab ich etwas in den Griff bekommen mit einem Pultordner. Jedes Fach entspricht einem passenden Ordner. So werden die Zettel vorsortiert und wenn genug Zetteln in einem Fach liegen, zahlt es sich aus, sie alle abzulegen. Andererseits findet man die Zettel auch leichter, wenn sie noch nicht abgelegt sind.
Soweit mal eine kleine Review von dem Buch und einige Gedanken zum Thema Ordnung. Vielleicht werd ich das Thema mal wieder weiterverfolgen.
The Tipping Point - A Book by Malcolm Gladwell - From Austria For The World #9
Dieses Mal eine Buchempfehlung in Episode 9 von unserem Videoblog.
Aliens: Colonial Marines - From Austria For The World #8
Nachdem das neue Alien-Game massiv kritisiert wurde gibt es hier nun die möglicherweise einzige positive Review des Spiels im gesamten Internet.
Talking about Cobra Verde - This time for real
Beim zweiten Anlauf haben wir es dann auch geschafft mehr über den Film zu sprechen. Da die Stimmung hier aber deutlich ernster und düsterer ist habe ich mich dazu entschlossen diesem Teil eine eigene Episode zuzuweisen.
Attemtping to talk about Cobra Verde - From Austria For The World #6
Dieses Mal geht es wieder um einen Kinski/Werner Herzog Film - Cobra Verde. Zumindest war das der Plan aber dann sind wir doch hauptsächlich vom Thema abgekommen, aber seht selbst.
Beim nächsten Mal schaffen wirs dann wirklich mehr über diesen Film zu sprechen...
Beim nächsten Mal schaffen wirs dann wirklich mehr über diesen Film zu sprechen...
Shutter Island - Episode 5 von From Austria For The World
Diesmal sprechen wir - unter anderem - über Shutter Island.
From Austria For The World - Episode 1
Nachdem es in den letzten Wochen sehr still war möchte ich hiermit bekanntmachen, dass ich keineswegs untätig war, sondern ich gemeinsam mit einem Freund fleissig an einem neuen Videoblog gebastelt habe. Hier nun unsere erste Episode in zwei Teilen.
Teil 1:
Teil 2:
Essen wie in Amerika ... oder der Verfall unserer Geschmacksnerven
Diesmal versuche ich meinen Blogeintrag rauszubringen bevor mein erster Ärger über ein von mir konsumiertes Produkt wieder gänzlich verflogen ist. Heute Morgen habe ich mir im Vorbeigehen für die Nachspeise zu Mittag im Büro ein Lockangebot einer neuen Milka-Schokolade mitgenommen.
Im Allgemeinen sind die Milkaprodukte ja nicht schlecht sondern haben einen konstanten Standard, auch wenn einem nicht immer alles gleich gut schmeckt.
Ohne groß nachzusehen griff ich nach der Schokolade, die, wie das Bild mich aus dem Augenwinkel heraus informierte, mit Keksen bestückt war.
Nichts Böses ahnend öffnete ich die Schokolade nach meinem Mittagssandwich und nach dem ersten Bissen kam die schockierende Erkenntnis....
Das sind keine Kekse.
Das sind Cracker.
Mit SALZ!
Auf einer SCHOKOLADE!!
Wo sind wir? In Amerika, wo man Twinkies mit Hot-Dog-Würstchen oder gesalzene Butter mit Marmelade isst?
Es is ja absolut untragbar in einem kulinarischen Hochland wie Österreich eine Süßigkeit im Regal zu finden, welche mit Salzkristallen verziert ist. Ich bin ja für viele Experimente offen, sehe auch den Benefit von Pfeffer und Schokolade (auch wenn es mir nicht unbedingt immer schmeckt), aber Salz und Süßes, das passt für mich nicht in den selben Satz, geschweige denn in das selbe Produkt.
Zusätzlich negativ aufgefallen ist die Mogelpackungsgröße von 87g zum Preis einer herkömmlichen 100g Tafel.
Natürlich können da die Stimmen laut werden, dass sich dass durch das leichtere Gewicht der Cracker ergibt und nicht mehr Platz in der Packung war für mehr Schokolade, aber ich denke wenn man sich den Querschnitt ansieht, wo der obere und untere Cracker in die Schokolade gedrückt wurde, dann ist da sicherlich noch genug Raum dazwischen um verteilt über eine ganze Tafel 13g mehr Schokolade unterzubringen. Wenn man dies wollte.
Andererseits ist's vermutlich auch besser so, denn so findet das Übel wenigstens schneller ein Ende.
Gedanken zu ... E-Books
Anlässlich der Vorstellung der neuen Geräte im Kindle-Sortiment von Amazon stolperte ich über den oben angeführten Artikel über die soziologischen Auswirkungen von Ebooks auf unsere mediale Welt.
Bei Filmen mag es ja schon seit längerem so scheinen, als ob die großen Filmfirmen mit ihren angeschlossenen Kinoketten mehr und mehr Filme für einen Massenmarkt produzieren, wobei diese nur mehr gut gestylte Optik, reißerischen Sound und eine möglichst immer schnellere und hektischere Schnittfolge aufweisen, während andere Merkmale, die nicht so verkäuflich sind in den Hintergrund treten. In mehreren Genres, wie Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action, Comicverfilmungen und dergleichen hat sich ein gewisser Michael Bay geprägter Stil durchgesetzt, wobei man bald kaum noch einen Film vom anderen unterscheiden kann. Die heutigen Medien bieten unzählige Analyse- und Feedbackmöglichkeiten für das Publikum, wodurch die Produzenten effektiv reagieren können, um den Profit zu maximieren und die Produkte auf ein entsprechend breit aufgestelltes Zielpublikum zuzuschneidern.
Es findet eine Art Hyperevolution statt, wo rasant binnen weniger Jahre für einen Großteil der Kassenschlager nicht mehr eine künstlerische Vision im Vordergrund steht, sondern lediglich das perfekt angepasste Vehikel für einen maximalen Erfolg bei möglichst allen demographischen Gruppen zu finden. Dabei möchte ich hier auch gar nicht sagen, dass dies schlecht ist oder die Produkte weniger Wert haben, denn immerhin zeigen sie ja auch, wenn auch indirekt durch das Destilat aus ihrer Gesamtheit, was die notwendigen Faktoren sind, um eine Mehrheit von Menschen anzusprechen. Auch glaube ich nicht, dass durch diese Entwicklung der Markt für individuelle unabhängige Kunst gefährdeter ist als bisher. Die einzelnen Ausreißer, die auf der Suche nach etwas Anderem sind werden weiterhin auch ihr Publikum finden. Jene Menschen, die vom Einheitsbrei übersättigt sind, wird es immer geben und daher sehe ich diese Nischen auch nicht als gefährdet an.
Zurückkommend auf die E-books scheint es nun auch hier zu einer ähnlichen Entwicklung wie im Kino zu kommen. Durch das Teilen, Rezensieren und Rückmelden von Datenströmen aus den E-Books (Die großen Vertreiber wie Amazon oder Google lesen Daten aus über Lesegwohnheiten wie Geschwindigkeit, Häufigkeit, wo man bei einem Buch abbricht oder welche Stellen man markiert) bekommen die Vertreiber und in Folge auch die Verlage klare Informationen darüber, was bei den Leuten ankommt oder nicht. Bisher konnte man das nur aufgrund von Verkaufszahlen sowie weniger Rezenssionen erfassen. Dadurch wurden vielleicht manche Genres gefördert oder einzelne Autoren, aber der eigentliche Inhalt, die innere Struktur eines Buches blieb relativ unangetastet. Durch die Fülle an genauer Information wird es nun möglich werden, Bücher in ihrer ganz eigenen Struktur umzugestalten und dadurch massentauglicher zu verkaufen.
Ich denke dies wird vieles was Bücher bisher ausgemacht hat grundlegend verändern. Beispielsweise könnte sich die Länge eines durchschnittlichen Buches drastisch verändern. Bisher war die große Freiheit bei Büchern, dass die Länge lediglich der Geschichte angepasst wurde, es gab keine so festgefahrenen Normen, wie bei Filmen etwa, wo der Durchschnitt zwischen 90 und 120 Minuten lang ist. Wenn nun aber das Publikum der Youtube-Generation kaum noch die Aufmerksamkeitsspanne für einen 5 Minuten Videoclip aufbringen kann, dann mag es sein, dass in 10 Jahren die durchschnittlichen Romane vielleicht auch nur mehr auf 100 Seiten beschränkt sein werden. Möglicherweise entfallen auch bei Büchern ruhige Szenen, ein langer Aufbau, lange Mono- oder Dialoge und es muss nach jeweils 5 Seiten mindestens einen Szenenwechsel geben.
Vielleicht sehen wir so eine ganz neue Form der Bücher auf uns zu kommen. Ist das schlecht? Ich denke nicht das sich dies so einfach beurteilen lässt, denn Dinge die sich entwickeln haben ja irgendwo einen ursächlichen Antrieb, der sich irgendwo äußern muss. Auch wird es das klassische Buch für ein klassisches Publikum weiterhin geben, aber es ist spannend zu sehen, wie auch in diesem bisher eher trägen und konservativen Bereich der Bücher, die Technik nun ihren Tribut fordert und auch hier gesellschaftliche Veränderungen nicht nur am Inhalt sondern auch an der Form deutlich sichtbar werden. Möglicherweise ist das geschriebene Wort ja doch nicht tot sondern ersteht nur in einer neuen „konsumierbareren“ Form wieder neu.
Plans
Although there seems to be nothing going on on my blog I have already a lot of plans for the future. At the moment I excitedly await the arrival of my first child. Therefore I admittedly spend very little time managing my blog.
One of the next things I plan to do is to change my review section. I like to read and watch reviews but I think that I do not have it in me to do the necessary research in order to put out a full review of a movie that would be complete and good enough so I could justify it. Nevertheless I would like to share my thoughts on some movies or books that moved me in some way good or bad.
After watching several trailers for upcoming films I noticed that there were quite a few at which I tend to roll my eyes at. But thinking about it, many of these movies are just aimed a quite different target group than the one I fall into and therefore I have no real right to judge these movies.
So in the future I will try to take a more balanced few on things and will call this segment no longer „my review“ but rather „thoughts on…“. Of course there are still movies that I think are great and some that make me really really angry, but both kinds seem to struck some chord inside myself even if it might be a disharmonic one. Even bad movies are in some way justified if they cause me to think or get angry or if I try to analyze what exactly I hate about them. I guess what I try to say is that there is no bad movie, book or art in general. It just either touches me in some way or I don’t care about it because I am not the right audience.
Other plans are also in the making but at the moment I cannot give you any clear schedule because of the great and exciting changes that take place within my growing family.
My Reviews: Kindle 3 - The Kindle Odyssey
Since the release of the Kindle touch in Europe is only less than a month away I will finally take the time to review the Kindle 3 or at least give you an account of my experiences so far.
As soon as the amazon Kindle became available in Europe I had to get one even though it costs the same in euros as in dollars (which is not a good deal given the current change rates). Still it is rather affordable and even in the lower price segment compared to the other e-readers available here in Europe.
Before starting on my personal account I have to make it clear that I will not make any comparisons between tablets and e-readers since I don’t see the point of that. A lot of people on the internet bitch about why the iPad is far superior than the Kindle or vice versa. In my opinion they have completely different applications so any comparison would be completely useless.
So the Kindle I got (the first one I have to say) was the wifi only version. the 3g version is considerable more expensive for little benefit for my kind of use, because during the time it takes to read one book, it is very likely that at least once you will get near a wifi to download a new book. Maybe this is different if you spend most of the time in some hut in the woods far from human civilization but otherwise I do fine with the wifi only version.
By far the best feature is the display which is brilliant for reading books. Pictures in black and white are also quite good. Too complex graphics or scanned text is sometimes a bit fuzzy. Otherwise I like the no backlight paper look and feel of the display. Sometimes there is a little ghosting of the previous pages but you really need to look very close to see that and it doesn’t appear all the time. The turning of the pages is fast enough to keep reading fluently.
The battery life is awesome due to the great display and the fact that most of the time you will probably have the wifi turned of as well. The battery is said to last a month. I have read about 3 books with one battery load so that is absolutely ok even if you take the kindle with you on a weeks vacation to a secluded location with no electricity.
If you use the Kindle without any cover, which you probably won’t, it is really really slim and the plastic is rather slippery and smooth. I had a bit of a problem holding it while reading without a cover. You have either no good grip at the back or you touch one of the turn page buttons. When you hold it in one hand you have only one reasonable spot to rest your thumb if you don’t want to put it on the keyboard or on the display.
One of my fears while considering to buy an e-reader were that I would not have the same feeling as actually holding a real book. Usually when I read a book I always have an instant subconscious feedback of were I am within the book because of the thickness of the stack of pages I have already read in one hand compared to the stack in my other hand. After reaching the middle of the book I usually have the impression that reading gets easier and faster. It is like climbing a mountain and running down the other side. So one of my fears was, that I will no longer get that sensation from my Kindle. Most Kindle ebooks i have don’t have page locations but only the rather ominous location numbers. They don’t help to get more oriented at all.
While reading my first ebook on the Kindle i was actually totally satisfied with the percentage bar at the bottom. This even allows me to see my progress in a book even better, knowing now when i reach a quarter or a third of the book which are things that you don’t feel that distinctively with a real book.
Another point to consider of course was the price, which isn’t too expensive but which is still rather high compared to a book. I wouldn’t take the Kindle to the beach because of the fear of it getting stolen. But on the other hand I read most books on my way to work or at home so the few times a year when I actually read at the pool or at the beach I can still take some cheap paperback.
One of the benefits of the Kindle for reading on the way to work is definitely the weight of the device and the possibility to have more than one book with you. I usually read more than one book simultaneously and i usually switch between them according to my mood. Being able to have that flexibility everyday and not having to carry 3 or 4 books is actually quite nice. Big books like e.g. „Les Miserable“ belong to those books I always wanted to read but which I never take with me because of the weight. On the subway to work I can read about 10 to 20 pages and I don’t want to carry 1000 pages with me just for that. Therefore such big books usually collect dust on the shelf. Because the Kindle is so small and lightweight I have it with me at most times and can use every free minute to read a few pages.
Other advantages of the Kindle are the integrated dictionary and the fact that you can access the internet if you really want to look something up or check your emails when needed. Although the internet feature is for emergency use only (surfing on a regular basis is rather awkward and slow) it is nice to have this option available.
So what are the downsides? The pdf-viewing could be better. The only option to zoom pdf with to small print is to flip the device to the side or to zoom in on the page. But in both cases some lines will be cut off and you cannot move around the page freely so you just jump around and the same line might stay cut off. There is definitely room for improvement here. Also if you have rather big pdf documents with graphics and all, the page turning gets really slow when you want to skip through the pages. If you are not patient enough the Kindle might actually crash and then takes minutes to reboot. So if you plan to read pdf for the most part you probably won’t be too happy with this device.
Another negative aspect for me is the fact that amazon ebooks are rather expensive. Sure you can get a lot of old books for free and also some new ones pretty cheap (if they are from rather unknown authors) but most books are really expensive. They only cut about 1 to 2 euros of the hardcover price. Often the ebook has the same price as the paperback. I think that this is not just, given that you don’t get a real book and that you are limited in it’s use since you cannot lend it to friends of give it away as a gift once you read it. I think it would be fair to cut at least half the price of the hardcover.
Problem is you can get tons of books on an illegal basis which is more attractive the more expensive and limited in use the original books are. With two torrent downloads you have a dvd full of books which is pretty much the amount of a small bookshop. Amazon has at least started to make the „deal of the day“ and letting you download some books for free on a special day. I’m also hoping for an Amazon Prime subscription for more valuable legal content here in Europe but at the moment this option seems to be out of reach.
Charging the earnest customer with a high price and then not even giving them the option to share the book with friends is rather hard and will either lead to people not buying ebooks and e-readers or to a higher consumption of illegal content.
My personal history with the Kindle has so far prevented me from buying a second one. The first device I had got stuck one day before going on vacation to Italy. I was rather pissed because I was looking forward to reading some books and due to the fact that there is no real hard reset (you cannot disconnect the batterie completely) there are little options left when the „hold-the-power-switch-for-30-seconds“ reset doesn’t work. Comparing this to a regular book which can basically not fail to function it was very upsetting and made me rather angry. But my anger was soothed quickly due to the excellent customer service from Amazon. They immediately sent me a new device. Returning the broken one was no trouble at all and it didn’t cost me anything.
Only problem was. The second device I got crashed on a regular basis about 2 to 3 times a week. The page turning got slow and then it stuck completely. I tried everything I could from clearing all content, restoring factory defaults and any other possible way to make it work but the crashing continued. Again I had to contact customer support. And again they sent me a new one.
My third device so far seems to work fine and until now hasn’t crashed once. But my experience has somehow tinted my view on the quality of the device itself. It seemed to me that Amazon throws out a cheap device which will function at least in some cases and hopes to solve any arising problems with a good customer service. This is fine by me for now and for the one device I have but I will cautiously wait any further developments before I will buy my next e-reader.
As soon as the amazon Kindle became available in Europe I had to get one even though it costs the same in euros as in dollars (which is not a good deal given the current change rates). Still it is rather affordable and even in the lower price segment compared to the other e-readers available here in Europe.
Before starting on my personal account I have to make it clear that I will not make any comparisons between tablets and e-readers since I don’t see the point of that. A lot of people on the internet bitch about why the iPad is far superior than the Kindle or vice versa. In my opinion they have completely different applications so any comparison would be completely useless.
So the Kindle I got (the first one I have to say) was the wifi only version. the 3g version is considerable more expensive for little benefit for my kind of use, because during the time it takes to read one book, it is very likely that at least once you will get near a wifi to download a new book. Maybe this is different if you spend most of the time in some hut in the woods far from human civilization but otherwise I do fine with the wifi only version.
By far the best feature is the display which is brilliant for reading books. Pictures in black and white are also quite good. Too complex graphics or scanned text is sometimes a bit fuzzy. Otherwise I like the no backlight paper look and feel of the display. Sometimes there is a little ghosting of the previous pages but you really need to look very close to see that and it doesn’t appear all the time. The turning of the pages is fast enough to keep reading fluently.
The battery life is awesome due to the great display and the fact that most of the time you will probably have the wifi turned of as well. The battery is said to last a month. I have read about 3 books with one battery load so that is absolutely ok even if you take the kindle with you on a weeks vacation to a secluded location with no electricity.
If you use the Kindle without any cover, which you probably won’t, it is really really slim and the plastic is rather slippery and smooth. I had a bit of a problem holding it while reading without a cover. You have either no good grip at the back or you touch one of the turn page buttons. When you hold it in one hand you have only one reasonable spot to rest your thumb if you don’t want to put it on the keyboard or on the display.
One of my fears while considering to buy an e-reader were that I would not have the same feeling as actually holding a real book. Usually when I read a book I always have an instant subconscious feedback of were I am within the book because of the thickness of the stack of pages I have already read in one hand compared to the stack in my other hand. After reaching the middle of the book I usually have the impression that reading gets easier and faster. It is like climbing a mountain and running down the other side. So one of my fears was, that I will no longer get that sensation from my Kindle. Most Kindle ebooks i have don’t have page locations but only the rather ominous location numbers. They don’t help to get more oriented at all.
While reading my first ebook on the Kindle i was actually totally satisfied with the percentage bar at the bottom. This even allows me to see my progress in a book even better, knowing now when i reach a quarter or a third of the book which are things that you don’t feel that distinctively with a real book.
Another point to consider of course was the price, which isn’t too expensive but which is still rather high compared to a book. I wouldn’t take the Kindle to the beach because of the fear of it getting stolen. But on the other hand I read most books on my way to work or at home so the few times a year when I actually read at the pool or at the beach I can still take some cheap paperback.
One of the benefits of the Kindle for reading on the way to work is definitely the weight of the device and the possibility to have more than one book with you. I usually read more than one book simultaneously and i usually switch between them according to my mood. Being able to have that flexibility everyday and not having to carry 3 or 4 books is actually quite nice. Big books like e.g. „Les Miserable“ belong to those books I always wanted to read but which I never take with me because of the weight. On the subway to work I can read about 10 to 20 pages and I don’t want to carry 1000 pages with me just for that. Therefore such big books usually collect dust on the shelf. Because the Kindle is so small and lightweight I have it with me at most times and can use every free minute to read a few pages.
Other advantages of the Kindle are the integrated dictionary and the fact that you can access the internet if you really want to look something up or check your emails when needed. Although the internet feature is for emergency use only (surfing on a regular basis is rather awkward and slow) it is nice to have this option available.
So what are the downsides? The pdf-viewing could be better. The only option to zoom pdf with to small print is to flip the device to the side or to zoom in on the page. But in both cases some lines will be cut off and you cannot move around the page freely so you just jump around and the same line might stay cut off. There is definitely room for improvement here. Also if you have rather big pdf documents with graphics and all, the page turning gets really slow when you want to skip through the pages. If you are not patient enough the Kindle might actually crash and then takes minutes to reboot. So if you plan to read pdf for the most part you probably won’t be too happy with this device.
Another negative aspect for me is the fact that amazon ebooks are rather expensive. Sure you can get a lot of old books for free and also some new ones pretty cheap (if they are from rather unknown authors) but most books are really expensive. They only cut about 1 to 2 euros of the hardcover price. Often the ebook has the same price as the paperback. I think that this is not just, given that you don’t get a real book and that you are limited in it’s use since you cannot lend it to friends of give it away as a gift once you read it. I think it would be fair to cut at least half the price of the hardcover.
Problem is you can get tons of books on an illegal basis which is more attractive the more expensive and limited in use the original books are. With two torrent downloads you have a dvd full of books which is pretty much the amount of a small bookshop. Amazon has at least started to make the „deal of the day“ and letting you download some books for free on a special day. I’m also hoping for an Amazon Prime subscription for more valuable legal content here in Europe but at the moment this option seems to be out of reach.
Charging the earnest customer with a high price and then not even giving them the option to share the book with friends is rather hard and will either lead to people not buying ebooks and e-readers or to a higher consumption of illegal content.
My personal history with the Kindle has so far prevented me from buying a second one. The first device I had got stuck one day before going on vacation to Italy. I was rather pissed because I was looking forward to reading some books and due to the fact that there is no real hard reset (you cannot disconnect the batterie completely) there are little options left when the „hold-the-power-switch-for-30-seconds“ reset doesn’t work. Comparing this to a regular book which can basically not fail to function it was very upsetting and made me rather angry. But my anger was soothed quickly due to the excellent customer service from Amazon. They immediately sent me a new device. Returning the broken one was no trouble at all and it didn’t cost me anything.
Only problem was. The second device I got crashed on a regular basis about 2 to 3 times a week. The page turning got slow and then it stuck completely. I tried everything I could from clearing all content, restoring factory defaults and any other possible way to make it work but the crashing continued. Again I had to contact customer support. And again they sent me a new one.
My third device so far seems to work fine and until now hasn’t crashed once. But my experience has somehow tinted my view on the quality of the device itself. It seemed to me that Amazon throws out a cheap device which will function at least in some cases and hopes to solve any arising problems with a good customer service. This is fine by me for now and for the one device I have but I will cautiously wait any further developments before I will buy my next e-reader.
100 kleine Häkelideen
In einem Handarbeitsgeschäft hab ich dieses Buch gefunden:
... und ich liiiiiieeeebe es!
Gekauft hab ich es, weil viele Obst und Gemüse-Anleitungen dabei sind.
In dem Buch gibts Anleitungen für:
In dem Buch gibts Anleitungen für:
- Topfpflanzen (Blumen, Kakteen)
- Duftherzen (für den Kleiderschrank)
- Eierwärmer in Hutform
- Teelichter
- Weihnachtsdekoration
- Serviettenringe
- Traumfänger
- Frösche
- Applikationen (Totenkopf, Feuerwehr, Rennauto, Smiley, Riesen-Knöpfe, Lebkuchenherz, Rosen/Blumen, Kinderwagen, Rotes Kreuz, Kleeblatt, Marinkäfer)
- Sonne, Mond und Stern
- Trommel(-täschchen)
- Spielfiguren und Würfel
- Kinderwagenkette
- Kugeldrache
- Fingerpuppen
- Fahrzeuge (Auto, Flugzeug, Schiff, Segelboot)
- Blumen-Greifring
- Kugelfisch
- Nahrung (Spiegelei, Erdbeeren, Bananen, Äpfel, Birnen, Kirschen, Orangen, Zitronen, Pilze, Fliegenpilz, Salat, Karotten, Lauch, Torte, Pralinen)
- Anhänger (Schlüsselanhänger: Knochen, Spielfigur; Adressanhänger: Blume)
- Blumenringe
- Palmen mit Hängematte
- Bunter Stift
- Marmeladenglas-Häubchen
- Glückwunschzahlen 0-9
- Haarreif
- Schlafbrille (mit Gurkenscheiben ;D)
- Bonbon-Haargummi
- Handy-Sitzsack
- Mini-Handtaschen (hier als Adventkalender)
- ... und nicht zu vergessen eine Grundanleitung
Für mich war es anfangs etwas schwierig, ins Rundhäkeln reinzukommen, da ich bisher nur Flächen gehäkelt habe. Aber das geht eigentlich ganz schnell. Das gute bei diesem Buch ist, dass fast jedes rundgehäkelte Stück gleich anfängt. Dh, man hat ziemlich schnell eine Routine.
Ein Tipp für Anfänger: Mit einem Maschenmarkierer tut man sich leichter.
Jedes Stück im Buch hat einen bestimmten Schwierigkeitsgrad angegeben. Wobei man keine Angst vor den sehr schwierigen Stücken haben braucht, da die Anleitungen sehr verständlich gehalten wurden. Es dauert meistens nur länger ;).
Natürlich sind auch Wolle und Häkelnadel-Stärke angegeben. Ich persönlich halte mich nie dran und es funktioniert trotzdem sehr gut.
Bevor mans mit dem Buch angeht, sollte man sich waschbare Füllwatte besorgen. Wir haben uns für den Anfang 300g gekauft und es ist noch immer gut die Hälfte da.
Wer ein paar Stücke aus dem Buch sehen will, der googelt "100 kleine Häkelideen" oder schaut hier:
... Fortsetzung folgt!
My Reviews: Aninite 2011
For my september review I wanted to review the Kindle 3 from amazon but I postpone that for next month and rather share my experience at the Aninite 2011 convention in Vienna.
This year I visited the Aninite 2011, which is basically a convention for anime fans. First of all I have to say that I am no anime fan nor do I even recognize 99% of the characters or know anything related to this genre.
Well, why did I go there then? Basically because Doug Walker from ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com was there and I am a huge fan of his work. As a bonus Noah Antwiler aka Spoony was at the convention too, so I decided that it might be worth going there. Since I live in Austria and it isn’t very likely that I will see these guys any time soon, it was an opportunity not to be missed.
So what were my impressions? Well, at the beginning of my visit I was rather bored, because I came to the convention on saturday afternoon right when Doug and Spoony left for lunch. So I wandered about the different rooms with merchant booths, artists selling their pictures and stuff, looking at an enormous amount of merchandise I’m not really interested in and seeing dozens of cosplay people. The cosplay seemed to be the major part of the whole convention because everywhere people were posing and taking pictures of each other.
I’m not so much into that stuff but I had to admit that the whole atmosphere was rather relaxed and friendly. People were having fun, the whole convention crew was extremely friendly and helpful and so it was a rather enjoyable afternoon. The prices for food and drink were also more than reasonable for such an event so all in all I must say that I didn’t feel in the least bit cheated, even though I didn’t care for the main theme of the convention.
Another observation I made was that this whole anime and cosplay thing is a rather clever thing for nerds to get to see some half naked girls. In my youth I was more of the Star Trek nerd and if you look at Trek-related conventions they are packed with overweight guys and if you get to see an occasional girl there you are rather lucky. But this whole anime thing with its art, costumes, glittery stuff and so on seems to attract quite a lot of girls, many of them even very pretty. And best of all many of the costumes leave very little to the imagination or rather they are directly derived from somebody’s wet dreams. Many classic anime costumes are centered around school-girl outfits, french maids, nurses and wearing stuff that you would usually only find in an adult store. So looking back I must say maybe I should have gotten more into anime than into Star Trek.
In the late afternoon a Q&A was appointed for the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses crew and I had to stand in line for over an hour to get a good seat (or rather a good place on the floor in front of the stage). I have to tell you that I really hate to stand in line and usually avoid it whenever possible, so halfway through the waiting process I seriously considered if all this was worth the effort. But in retrospect the hour long Q&A was very enjoyable and after another standing in line for about half an hour I also got my autograph, dvds and picture from Doug and Spoony. This was definitely a highlight for me.
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| From left to right: Myself, Doug Walker, Noah Antwiler |
So summarizing the event I would say that even if you are not a big anime fan it might be an experience to go to such an event once and let the whole atmosphere sink in, but probably if you don’t have any additional reasons to go there, then you probably won’t make the effort because physically it is rather exhausting pushing and shoving through hundreds of people all day long. But if Doug will be attending next year as well, then I will probably go there again.
By the way, if you are interested in the Q&A, it is already online on youtube:
My Reviews: Super 8
I saw Super 8 a few days ago and I would like to give my short review on the movie. I hope I will not give away too much of the plot, so this review will most likely only make sense to you if you already know the movie. There where several things I liked about it, but also a lot of things that could have been much better. All in all during the last half or the last third there were some missed opportunities to make this a really great movie and this is regrettable given that the first half is really good.
One thing that I liked very much beside the movie itself was the trailer (see above). The trailer uses practically no footage used in the film, or rather it uses one scene that is in the movie, but filmed from a totally different perspective. This is actually pretty clever because when you see the movie, you instantly make the connection to the trailer when the actual scene comes up. On the other hand it also is a teaser trailer aimed at an audience which will be expecting a great monster movie. Well it isn't really, so this might be misleading. I mean they tried to throw the monster movie at the audience at the end of the film but this is also the part that for me was the worst thing and made the whole movie only an average experience while it could have been great.
Best thing overall were the characters. They were well developed, had interesting stories and their own little project of making a zombie movie for a film festival with no money and at an age were they were not really taken seriously by most people. This is a really interesting set-up and the actors all do a great job so I really cared about them, their problems and their project. The whole romantic background of the suburbs in the late 70s was also very well designed and the beginning of the movie develops like a good growing up adventure movie like "The Goonies".
Then the train crash happens, where you are at once reminded of the trailer and the upcoming monster but you already have taken the perspective of the kids making their own zombie movie. So at this point the movie was really interesting because you expected that it would take the path of the monster plot but I really wanted to see the kids carry on with their project. I already cared for the characters and wanted to see more of that. Thankfully the monster plot didn't take over yet. The train crash was treated more like a little disruption of the children's project and the arrival of the army was a welcome background for their own movie scenes to heighten the "production value". That was perfect. Have a monster in a movie but don't care about it or the people dealing with it, but showing something different, showing a bunch of kids that live in their own little world on the fringes of the big adult stuff that is happening around them. This was new and exciting and I really liked that and at least for a while the movie went that path.
I have to admit that there is one thing I have to nitpick about, namely the train crash. A pickup usually wouldn't derail a freight train. In real life the pickup truck would be obliterated by the train. There might be a slight chance that it will cause the train to derail but even then it is highly unlikely that any recognizable piece of it will last, let alone that half of the pickup is still intact and the driver lives and is conscience. This has stretched the physics a bit far but I was willing to accept that weird coincidences might happen. Also, that the car the kids arrived in was parked directly next to the train station, which got blown up to smithereens, and still was up and running without a scratch, was another coincidence that I was ready to buy even if this was all stretched very far and could have been at least partially avoided (e.g. by parking the car further down the road).
Now to the things that I didn't like. After keeping the focus on the children for a while, on their project and on dealing with their own problems while the adults are dealing with the monster plot the movie suddenly takes a turn. Almost out of nowhere the children start breaking into the school, finding out about the alien, finding the alien hiding place, making contact and escaping the monster, which itself understands that the children are the nice guys and which only wants to go home. All the scenes from that sudden plot turn were forced and destroyed any kind of credibility. It was almost like a cynical comment of Abrahams and Spielberg to give the audience a good interesting movie and then right in the middle tell them "fuck you! We can make a Cloverfield meets E.T. movie anytime we want, bitch!" Nothing of the monster plot was interesting, new or remotely credible. Not even the special effects were outstanding so why go that way at all? Why ruin a really good set-up for such a weak pay off that has nothing to do with the first part of the film?
Maybe it was because they feared that after the trailer, the audience would expect a classic monster movie and would feel betrayed if they don't get it, but as it turned out it was a half-assed attempt in either direction, so why not risk it and make something new. I really regret that they didn't go with the plot of the first half. It would have been possible, since the children had practically no impact on the outcome of the monster plot anyway. the alien just built its ship and left. So nothing much had to be changed.
In the end credits they come back to the original setup and show the movie the children made for the festival. So basically this means that the characters really cared about their project. Not even a monster from outer space could change that. It is sad, that this original idea only finds its place in the end credits. It would have been a nice ending in itself to have them show their finished film at the festival and to let the whole monster plot completely on the sideline of the movie.
So for this half-good-half-bad-movie I give it 3 out of 5 Stars.
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