Another Kahvi Collective release has found it's way to my favourites. =) I came across the album "Glass Marble" by Frederik Behr last week, and I've been listening to it quite a lot. [Makes a nice mix with 4mat's "Decades" somehow!] The very first track called "Alleyways" is my favourite. Check it out!

Labels: Art, Electronic Music, Music

... on a loop! =D

Few days ago I finally received my copy of 4mat's new album called "Decades" from Amazon. Yes, physical copy! =)

For the past so many [I don't even know exactly how long] years I've been enjoying 4mat's music, so when I found out that for the first time he's releasing physical copies of his album, I figured I absolutely had to have one. =) Amazon.ca doesn't carry the CD, so as usual it was back to the .com, hence the long wait.

Decadeds Cover. And my current desktop wallpaper.

For the past few days I've been looping the album, sometimes on it's own and sometimes mixed with various Kahvi releases. And I just can't get enough of it! As the album name suggests, the compilation is such that it really gives you the feeling of listening to the essence of 4mat's evolving music during the past decades. And as I expected, the tracks are just fabulous! So if you're a fan of chiptunes, electronic music or generally great music, you're sure to enjoy this.

If you haven't already, go get yourself the album. Now. Preferably physical copy. ;)

Decades CD on Amazon.com

Decades on Bandcamp

Decades on iTunes

Labels: Amazing, Chiptune, Demoscene, Electronic Music, Music

I guess for anyone who's into both robots and J.J. Abrams, this is definitely big news. And it's not all that new, so I don't even know how I didn't know about it already! =P A good friend of mine just sent me the link to an article, about J.J. Abrams latest movie project, called "Boilerplate". 

Supposedly, this movie is based on a graphic novel which is the story of world's first robot, and his adventures along side some interesting characters and mixing with certain historical events. Here's the article, check it out!

So now I'm very much looking forwards to seeing the movie. =) I think it will probably turn out to be pretty darn fantastic! Can't wait... can't wait.... =D

Labels: Books, Comics, Entertainment, Literature, Motion Picture, Movies, Robotics, Sci-Fi, Weeee =D

Yes, I HAVE seen Inception! =D I just didn't want to write about it because given the sophisticated plot of this movie, it's so easy to cause spoilers, and it would be an unforgivable crime to do that to such incredibly brilliant scenario.

A couple of weeks ago [thanks to xo's persistence! ;) ] we went to see Inception, and the only thing I'm going to tell you about it is that it's one of the most ingenious, unique movies that I have ever seen. I have every intention of getting me the Blu-ray once it's out, as this movie is worth watching numerous times.

I'd also like to mention that if you enjoyed the Matrix trilogy, chances are you'll enjoy inception too. In a way, I see Inception as Matrix inverse. ;)

Oh, and here's the proof I did go to see it... =))

Labels: Amazing, Entertainment, Motion Picture, Movies, Sci-Fi

I would imagine most of you have already heard this song since it was composed for the 2008 "Where the hell is Matt" clip. But I also think that the clip's sheer amusement, causes the music not to shine as much as it might, if you're listening to it with closed eyes. So yes, I recently re-discovered "Praan" by "Garry Schyman", featuring the beautiful voice of "Palbasha Siddique". The music takes my breath away, and the lyrics that are in fact from a poem by "Rabindranath Tagore", are truly divine.

Lyrics & Translation:

Praan [Bangali]

Bhulbona ar shohojete
Shei praan e mon uthbe mete
Mrittu majhe dhaka ache
je ontohin praan

Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami

Shei jhor jeno shoi anonde
Chittobinar taare
Shotto-shundu dosh digonto
Nachao je jhonkare!

Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami

Stream of Life [English]

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Labels: Beautiful, Lyrics, Music, Poems

Time for another ASM2010 favourite! =) I was previously informed that Satori was going to have a new demo for ASM, and I was waiting in anticipation to see it. When finally the demo showed up on the ASM TV stream, me and a bunch of friend, as expected, went "Whooohooohooow.... haaaaaaa..... aaaaaaaa.... woooooooo .... wooooohooooooooowwwwww .... hoooooo ..... waaaaaaaaa...." =D

I'm not going to say anything more. In fact I can't, even if I want to. It's completely impossible to describe something like this in words. So if you haven't had a chance to see this super fantastic awesome demo yet, here it is. Check it out! =)

Labels: Amazing, Art, Demoscene, Digital Art, Kool, Music, Satori, Weeee =D

Oh yes, it certainly is! =)

It's been yet another silent period due to my extreme lack of time, and what better reason to break this silence than to... well, LETS TALK ASD! =D The new ASD demo by the name "Happiness is Around the Bend" was released yesterday at the Assembly 2010 demo party. And early this morning I got the happy news that the demo has in fact won 1st place! =D YAAAAAAAAAAY!

I've been experiencing a bit of a mental struggle over which one of the ASD demos is my favourite, and it's a tie between Life Force and Happiness. I finally decided to leave it at that. It's just a tie. I can't like either one of the 2 more than the other, and that's just the way it's going to be. =D Where Life Force made my heart explode out of my chest and brought tears to my eyes, Happiness made me jump around and throw my fists in the air. On one hand I think the 2 demos are too different to be able to make a comparison, on the other hand they're too connected to make a comparison! It's like they're the 2 sides of the same coin... So, watch the new demo and decide for yourself.

Oh, and... ehmmm.... well.... I just have got to say this since Soren mentioned something to me... [fair warning: brash opinionated remark following], in case you've been reading Pouet threads... don't let certain comments about the music bias your opinion. aMUSiC and Leviathan have done an otherworldly beautiful job with the music. Big Kudos to them both. <3 <3 =)

Of course there were a few more demos in ASM this year that really took my breath away. I will post about them next.....

Labels: Amazing, Art, ASD, Beautiful, Coding, Demoscene, Digital Art, Graphics, Music, Weeee =D

Well this is somewhat funny. It's been 2 weeks since a 5.5 magnitude [5.0 according to some sources] quake shook Toronto and a number of other cities, and I'm still receiving messages saying things like "Oh... uh... wait... what? But I thought you were joking!! Since when does it quake in Toronto?". Or "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD are you alive? Are you ok? I just figured out that there REALLY was a pretty serious quake in Toronto!!!!". =P

Yes. There really was a quake in Toronto on June 23rd. Neither me, nor any of those major news agencies that wrote about it, made the whole 5.5 magnitude of it up. I was at home at the time of the quake, having lunch, or trying to. As I'm sure you all already know, I live on the 23rd [top] floor of a not terribly new building, and I can assure you that you wouldn't possibly doubt the reality of the quake, would you have been here with me, enjoying the very very real swings of this giant rollercoaster. ;) And even if that wouldn't convince you, I'm sure when stuff on the walls and shelves started dropping down on your head, you'd be sold.

I could hear the walls cracking and see small particles coming off the ceiling. I was about to move the coffee table to the balcony... My neighbours were completely freaked. Shouting, screaming, crying.... High-rise buildings are still being inspected for structural damage. Apparently the quake shook Toronto, Quebec [worst damage apparently], and parts of the USA. This wasn't the 1st quake I've experienced in my life, but it was the 1st in Canada and it was definitely one of the scarier ones. But anyway, I'm alive! =P

P.S.: Yes, if it would have come down to it, I would have jumped off the balcony.

Labels: Aasemoon, Canada, Life

Here's a couple of really nice wallpapers that a good German friend of mine recently sent me. Like them so much, decided to share! Thanks René! =)

 
Love this! Made it my WLM theme too! =D <3 <3

I don't think I need to tell you which team we're cheering for! ;)

Labels: Football, Graphics, Sports, Wallpapers, World Cup

Here it is again, not being able to get any work done [at least in any decent manner!], due to "The Beautiful Game" being OOON. Gosh I luv the World Cup. =D It seems like everyone loses a big piece of their logic and sanity, and give themselves away to the frenzy that takes over the entire globe for an unfortunately not very long period of time. Everyone's talking about the same thing... everyone's screaming... everyone's cheering... everyone's looking for ways to get out of work/class to watch the games. =D So here's my confession, that even when I'm working / studying, I have the games running on my notebook / iPAQ screen, and at least half of my mind is there. And I'm not ashamed to say that I feel that so far, it's been worth it. =P I mean look at this... the year of miracles so far! I'm totally loving it! =D And here's my favourite games so far. [Oh ummm... yes, please keep in mind that this is the football opinions of a fencer, so don't ever make the terrible mistake of taking them seriously. ;D]

- The Switzerland - Spain match. God I loved that! =D Switzerland simply managed to create a miracle. They came to the field with a certain game plan, and they did a perfect job executing it. Spain made the mistake of not taking Switzerland seriously, and they paid for it. And hey, it looks to me like Switzerland quite possibly has the best goal keeper in the world at the moment. ;)

- The Germany - Australia match. Wow, this was a beautiful game, specially on the German side. I've always liked the German team, but this is the first time I REALLY REALLY liked them! Everyone says Germany plays too calculated and too boring. Well, in this game Germany was anything but boring. They were a ball of fire, and even though Australia also played very well, but they simply couldn't do anything against the kind of game Germans were playing! [Makes it even a bigger shame that Germany messed up their 2nd game... =/]

- The France - Mexico game. Go Mexico! Surprise surprise! They managed to beat France 2-0! =D Loved Mexico's performance and hope to see them keeping it up!

I also have to mention that I was extremely disappointed at Italy's performance in the game against Paraguay. They simply didn't play. =P I hope they're going to do a MUCH better job tomorrow. Another disappointment was of course Germany's 2nd game against Serbia. I don't know how or why this happened, but they seemed like they were extremely nervous the entire time and losing 1 player really left a hole in their wall. Ah well, I hope they can fixe whatever's wrong for the next game. =P

On another note, is it just me thinking this or is something severely wrong with at least half of the referees of this world cup?? I mean, red card for the South African goal keeper? Or the USA goal that was dismissed for no reason? Or another unjustified red card to the German player? There seem to be too many questionable decisions being made at this world cup. Anybody has any ideas why??

Labels: Football, Fun, Sports

For about a month now, I've been playing this online multiplayer game called Lord of  Ultima. And I think I really like it, so I'm going to recommend it for any of you who like me, 1 - Like games, 2 - Like to play with your friends, 3 - Like civilization style games, 4 - Hardly ever find the time to play anything at all. =)

Lord of Ultima is a strategy / civilization style game that's fully browser based, and runs quite smoothly on most any browser / system. So it requires no installation of any kind. You sign up for an account, choose a server, and start building cities and armies. You can choose to go to war with other players, or focus on building your empire. You can invite your friends to join in an alliance with you, and you can support each other. And the nicest part of all of this from the point of view of someone like me, is that it "can" take very small amount of time to play. Even though people do get obsessed and spend hours just staring at their monitors as stuff get built [or so I'm told], but that's not something you have to do. ;) Personally I play this game for 30 seconds each time, in between working or studying... and just that.

I currently play on Server 6 EU, where me and friends have an alliance called Ariadne. If you're by any chance tempted to join the game and play with us, you can check out a brief profile of our alliance @ Ariadne.Aasemoon.com. Feel free to drop me a line if you like to join. =)

Labels: Friends, Fun, Games, Internet

Today a friend said to me "you should really see the Robin Hood movie, it's right up your alley!". And I said, "oh it totally is, and I've already seen it!". And he said "but... but... but... but... but there's nothing about it on your bloooooooooggggg!!!!". Well, you can imagine the utter SHAME I felt at that moment! =P Oh my GOD, how did I manage to not write anything about my all time favourite version of Robin Hood?? So let me fix that now...

Yes, a couple of weeks a go we went to see Robin Hood. And I'm glad that despite a few discouraging comments that I heard / read about the movie here and there, I did go to see it. I have to say I don't understand what's not to like! In fact I enjoyed watching the movie IMMENSELY! =) The small but important modifications made to the plot felt like they were exactly what Robin Hood always needed to turn into a most interesting story. Since I know many of you haven't seen it yet, I'm not going to say much more... but I just have to say that everything about this movie was very impressive. The cast were the best possible, and the the whole mood and feel of the movie really worked for me. So don't listen to anyone who says otherwise.... and go see the movie for yourself. =)

Labels: Entertainment, Kool, Motion Picture, Movies

Hmmmmmm. Nope. I'm not very happy. =/

Lost was one of my favourite series. Aside from the fact that I'm going to miss it, I also feel that it didn't quite... well.... finish! And I think the main reasons I feel this way is because the season finale did not do such a fine job of closing the circle. It simply wasn't enough. I was expecting something much more fascinating! I get the feeling that the story got sooo big, that the producers sort of lost control of the complexity of it and as a result they just cut things off. So many unanswered questions, so much unfinished business!

Also, it seems like a lot of people aren't quite sure about what happened. For instance, there's a common confusion about whether the characters of the story were dead the entire time. Nope, they weren't! Everything that happened actually did happen... The after death "limbo" universe which was introduced in season 6, is the only part of the story line in which they're dead, as Christian Sheppard clarifies. Also, I'm as much disappointed as everyone else that they didn't bring back Michael and Walt into the story, but hey, it makes sense! I mean Walt didn't exactly spend so much time with the team for him to show up in their made up universe, and Kevin... well Kevin would not be able to "move on". He killed a couple of people, and turned into some sort of a stuck spirit on the island.

And, YES, Hurley could be in the limbo even though he wasn't dead when the series was finished. Because he would eventually die, right? And there's no real concept of time in the limbo universe. As you may have noticed he said to Ben "you were a great number 2". So it could be that they were number 1 and number 2 for thousands of years before they died and went to the limbo. But eventually, they would show up.

I guess what was most disappointing for me about the finale, was that I was hoping for a completely different  ending for the "Man in Black". I mean come to think of it, when he was alive, he was a much better person than Jacob. He was intelligent, courageous and in fact much more honest and interested in the facts than Jacob. But he was betrayed... by pretty much everyone. Can you blame him for turning into some vengeful spirit thang? Jacob was the real b****d in all of this. Unfair ending for the "Man in Black".... how reality like!

Anyhow, I think that so many questions about the nature of the island and other things remained unanswered... and as I said, I don't find limbo a very convincing ending for such an amazing story. I wonder if the series writers might do something like Joss Whedon did with Buffy... continuing the story as comic books. Well, I don't really think that's going to happen... but it would be nice to have Lost comics, eh? ;)

Labels: Entertainment, Motion Picture, Sci-Fi, TV

Happy anniversary Pacman, and thanks for all the fun! =D I have to say, I totally love Google's interactive Pacman doodle. Way to go, very cute! =) I also like this embeddable flash Pacman.... =P

Check out the official Pacman 30th anniversary website here.

Labels: Fun, Games

This has to have a blog post. =) I've been listening to this album for the past couple of days more or less non-stop... and I love it. Very nice collection of "bass-driven sounds from all over the world". Totally recommended. Check it out! =)

Labels: Art, Electronic Music, Kool, Music, Netlabels

This, I came across last week, on the FB items of one of my favourite musicians. It's a lovely short film, with a beautiful message. I've been showing it to everyone so I decided I may as well post it here. =)

Labels: Amazing, Art, Cartoons, Motion Picture

I just saw this on IEEE Spectrum. It's a nice one, see for yourself!

"Dennis Hong, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of Virginia Tech's Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory, or RoMeLa, has created robots with the most unusual shapes and sizes -- from strange multi-legged robots to amoeba-like robots with no legs at all. Now he's unveiling a new robot with a more conventional shape: a full-sized humanoid robot called CHARLI, or Cognitive Humanoid Autonomous Robot with Learning Intelligence. The robot is 5-foot tall (1.52 meter), untethered and autonomous, capable of walking and gesturing. But its biggest innovation is that it does not use rotational joints."

Labels: Artificial Intelligence, Electronics, Engineering, Mechanics, Mechatronics, Robotics, Technology

Last week, a Swedish friend of mine who is well aware of exactly how culture-curious I am, did me the huge favour of directing me to the deviantART gallery of a brilliant Danish comic artist. This artist has created a fictional character for each Scandinavian country, through which she depicts the popular stereotypical characteristics of the people and the culture of each of these countries. It's of course quite satirical, and extremely funny.

In the past few days I've been going through this artist's gallery, reading through all her comic strips, and I've had a great deal of laugh doing so. I highly recommend that you do the same. Here's a more sophisticated version of her main characters:

From left to right: Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Don't you just love the look on Sweden's face? =)) And apparently Finland's character has quite a fan-club [and I totally want his hat!].=D Iceland has a parachute, that makes me jealous. Norway has cute hair and a huge fish. =)) Somehow the first thing I did, was sharing this with a Danish friend [xo] who's apparently been sharing it with just about everyone in Scandinavia.... =D

Labels: Amazing, Art, Comics, Culture, Funny, Graphics

Oh wow, would you look at this? Yesterday I came across the coolest news here in this article. Apparently the first robotic amusement park of Europe is being built in Neuchatel [I've actually been there! ;)]. Check out the article for more info.

So you can imagine how excited I was to read about this. I feel like a million box... I'm actually going to be there! =D I now have to go see where I can find more information about this. This is absolutely AWESOME, WOOOOOHOOOOOOOWWW! =D

Labels: Fun, Robotics, Switzerland, Technology, Weeee =D

So I decided to create myself an "Ask Box" too [or whatever you like to call it! ;)]. Simple, ask me anything you like and I'll answer it if I can. =) If you have an account on the website, you can choose to include your user info, or just ask anonymously. Otherwise, it's basically anonymous unless you decide to include a name. Oh and apparently it's also possible to add / follow people. So, here's mine!

Labels: Aasemoon, BlaBla, Web