As Quentin Robert DeNameland stated: the eons are closing ...
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New product from Sigur Ros as I discovered in Fnac yesterday. A typically minimalist package: grey toned covers, double exposed photos, little by way of information beyond track listing (admittedly more than on ( ) ). As I type fljotavik is just starting (track 2, CD1) and there's disc 2 plus a DVD to enjoy. I gather there's no new material - it's all live recordings of concerts. No matter. Good stuff. And the kind of production that confirms why you still want to buy music as an object rather than simply download off iTunes.
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While on the topic of downloads ... the new toy has been a distraction (perhaps contributing to the sense of lost time). Naturally I'd done research on Apps - the 20 best paid, free, etc.. In case anyone is considering buying an iPad and would appreciate some advice, here's mine - based on five days' use:
- get into the habit of switching off WiFi & automated updates. Reason? Saves battery life.
- get a cover front and back (Smart Cover & Belkin seem good - but a bit pricey).
- invest in Instapaper (lets you store and read content when offline).
- be suspicious about ebooks i) why do they cost so much? ii) free ones are of questionable authenticity and accuracy - who typed them in/proof read and which editions are being used? iii) after the recent LRB article - be on your guard for 'ghost' annotations (your notes being registered by a central Server: Big Brother mutates into Big Librarian).
- try out the BBC iPlayer (Worldwide version if you're outside the UK) - there's an excellent range of programmes dating back to the 60s - and at about 7 euros for a month pretty reasonably priced.
- subscribe (free for two months - that's good) to The Guardian and see what they've done to reinvent a daily newspaper into a screen-based medium. I am - despite everything I might have said before - impressed. This is not a simple Web-to-Screen compromise. They've thought out page selection, movement from section to section, and the quality of both print and images is outstanding. If there's one thing I miss living outside of the UK it's the ability to buy and read a quality daily (even Belgian friends admit Le Soir etc. are dull beyond belief). In January I'll be asked to subscribe - ten quid each month for six issues a week. Do the Maths - I think that's very good value and (unlike the ebooks) shows a sense of what costs of production are being saved. When I heard about this App it tipped the balance on whether or not to get an iPad. Reading articles every day only convinces me the more.
- get the 10W USB-mains adapter for recharging. Unless I'm doing something wrong, the iPad seems to take a long time via the USB-computer connection.
- avoid buying Angry Birds or your kids will want to play it all the time.
- try not to bore everyone by extolling the virtues of iPad ownership or swapping lists of Apps ... just like this post. (Enough free Apple advertising, Ed.)
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Thursday night we were invited out to Le Fils de Jules a Basque restaurant off Avenue Louise. When you see cassoulet listed on the menu there's really no point debating - just order it. If you're in the vicinity and feeling hungry - go along. In a word: superb.
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More technology: over the break they sneaked into my classroom and erected an ActivBoard - I think I'm just about the last person to get one. The trusty old whiteboard is still there but shifted a couple of meters to the right. During fee periods I've meddled about with the new one and - as with the iPad - find I'm pleasantly surprised with what it can do, what it allows. It's rather like having Adobe Photoshop on the wall - and that suggests all sorts of new writing possibilities ... Hmmm ...
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More bread making this weekend and I even tried my hand at a Victoria sponge (with assistance from my sous chef). I don't do cakes - as a rule. However after hearing Ian Hislop's attempt on I've Never Seen Starwars I thought I should give it a try. And here's the result:
& it tastes good.
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