War of the Worlds

Saw Spielberg's War of the Worlds in the Sony Cinestar at Potsdamer Platz. Took the early show at 5 to be back home to bring the children to bed.

I had always hoped that Spielberg would make another "serious" film on extraterrestrial life visiting planet Earth, the "unserious" film being E.T. (which I never got around to seeing, surprisingly). I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind when I was a kid in Burbank (just looked it up, it was 1977), that was quite a demanding film for a 13-year old.

This time around the aliens were here with a vengeance. Similar to "Ecounters of..." they do not really appear very often in the film, maybe 10 minutes in total. Acutally I thought their appearance was one of the less appealing parts of the movie, I dunno, from their looks they just looked too much the steroptype: dark, slimy, long limbs, and big goblets of eyes. In my opionion the film derived most of its suspense from their furtiveness, being behind in the background while havoc erupts all around. Special effects were really brilliant and the story line made sense, most of the time. The ending and resolution of the film (was anyone surprised that humanity was saved), was a teeny bit too simplisitic. An ambitious director would have maybe chosen a lesser happy end.

By the way, for those not acquainted with German cinemas: the "OV" on the ticket stub stands for Originalversion, original version, i.e. not dubbed. All foreign language films are almost without exception synchronized into German, very few are shown with sub-titles. I personally would always prefer the original, but that's the market, and you can't fight the masses. Living in Berlin it's no problem, since you have Cinestar, a multiplex cinema. But go to a city in Germany with less than a population of 100 thousand and you will be hard pressed to find the film in its original language version.

Technorati Tags: movies

Apple Store Germany Down

backsoon
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

Well, rumors have been flying against the walls for a long time now and there seems to be something brewing behind that Apple Store facade.You don't have to be a fortune-teller to assume that new iBooks are on the menu.

But Apple, why do you introduce new products always on Tuesdays, that makes it all so predictable. Why don't you surprise us on Thursdays, that would be much more exciting :)


UPDATE:My timing was impeccable: shortly after this post (and the thousands of other posts worldwide), Apple pulled out new iBooks and Mac minis from their hat. Just minor updates, really. Nothing to keep those thousands of people from getting to sleep. But I may be in the market for an iBook, great design and fully-featured. I'm especially fond of the 12"-iBook.

Cats and dogs

It's raining those proverbial cats and dogs here in the Southwest corner of Berlin. And I don't think it's gonna just be a brief encounter. Against the platter of rain against my window panes I'm listening to:


Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing from the album "Standards In Norway" by Keith Jarrett Trio

Ahhh, Jarrett, DeJohnette and Peacock - my favorites!

Technorati Tags: jazz

Google maps blows my mind

Having a freakin' good time with the beta service of Google Maps. If you haven't tried it out yet then by all means do. I especially like the way you can switch from map view to the satellite view with one click - amazing. And I was totally impressed by the very high detail of the satellite photos - I was even able to find the blue roof and parking lot of IHOP (International House of Pancakes - man, I loved their French toast). For Mac users there is also a very nice widget.

So I have been flying over Burbank, my "lost" city where I spent some time as a child and teenager. Names of streets, parks and other attractions that were dormant in my head for years became so real again, even though I never "flew" across the San Fernando Valley. Here's a list: MacCambridge Park, Brace Canyon Park, Glenoaks Blvd., Golden State Freeway, North Myers St., Mesa Verde Dr., John Muir Junior High School, and on and on and on...

Problems with my scanner

Until now my scanner (a CanonScan LiDE 50) has been one of those peripherals that have always worked when I wanted it to work. That changed since I installed Tiger. For some reason I keep getting this message when I try to start the scanner: "Cannot communicate with scanner. Cable may be disconnected. Check status. Scanner driver will be closed." Reinstalled the latest plug-ins, switched USB cables, closed all other apps, but no response.

The funny thing is that it worked just a few days ago - under Tiger. And now I just can't get it to go. I will try to get it working with my PC. If it doesn't react there, then I can only surmise that it is on the blink. Good thing that scanners are rock-bottom cheap nowadays.

UPDATE (7-20-2005) A week on and I finally solved the problem, relying on my old Windows lore - it's the driver, stupid! The solution involved deleting the old "drivers" with an application called deldrv which I culled from the US Canon Support site (strangely this app is not available on the European site). So I unplugged the USB connection from the scanner, started deldrv, and reinstalled the Scangear software (ver. 7.134). Restarted the computer and...it works again.

Technorati Tags: scanner, hardware, canon

How to change EXIF Info

My first batch of photos taken with the D70 are absolutely fantastic. But unfortunately the first 58 I took (DSC0001 to DSC0058) had the wrong date attached. I noticed this in the humid afternoon of July 2 whilst in Hann. Münden, while I was fiddling with the controls of the camera. June 29 was the date I took my first photo; July 29 was the date set in the camera. The reason was that on setting the camera for the first time I screwed up on the date (time was OK). Thus all photos taken had the wrong date imprinted in the EXIF data. For an archiving freak like me, this was not nice.

I was certain that there must be a simple way to change the data. I found a nifty tool called PhotoToolCM from Pixture studio (it is actually a contextual menu plug-in) that can modify the EXIF data (it can do much more than that). The following changes were made in the EXIF Info using the PhotoToolCM:

July 29 -> June 29 (DSC_0001 to DSC_0006)
July 30 -> June 30 (DSC_0007 to DSC_0037)
July 31 -> July 1 (DSC_0038 to DSC_0045)
August 1 -> July 2 (DSC_0046 to DSC_0058)

So now all the photos from DSC_0059 onwards have the correct date. Whew!

London

While I was uselessly fiddling with the controls of my iPod the world outside was, unbeknownst to me, in turmoil after the ghastly attacks in London - and I was using the subway here, too.

What a gruesome juxtaposition.

iPod Shuffle on the Blink

I have an annoying problem with my iPod Shuffle which I noticed just a few days ago. The "title skip forward"-button doesn't always register when I press down on it. Sometimes I have to press it quite a few times until it skips to the next title. I've had the Shuffle since March and it really hasn't been in that much use. I assume that it's a mechanical problem.

So I went to the store I bought it at, Gravis on Ku'Damm. The "store" is actually floorspace provided by Hugendubel, one of the big booksellers here in Berlin (and elswhere in Germany). I reported the problem to one of the salesman there (the only one), she checked the iPod and said, yeah there seems to be a problem. The funny thing was that the more she probed, the less times the iPod showed this erratic behavior. In Germany we say this is the "Vorführeffekt" (demonstration effect), i.e. it always does exactly what its supposed to only when you want to prove the opposite. Oh well. She did tell me that I would have to bring it to their main store on Franklin Strasse so that a technician could loo into the problem.

On the way back in the U-Bahn the I had to press the button 5 times to skip to the next title. I guess the "Vorführeffekt" must have worn off...

Movies: Batman Begins (2005)

[i am beginning to write this entry with my 3 month old daughter nestled on my left shoulder. meaning that i can only use three fingers to type - bear with me...ok gotta go emergency will write later...] This evening I did something quite unexpected, some would even say quite stupid. I had three tickets for the "Berlin Alexanderplatz", a theater piece directed by Frank Castorf. What made this especially enticing was the fact that it was to be performed in the run-down, asbest-free confines of the Palast der Republik, also referred to as Erichs Lampenladen in the venacular of East Berlin. The performances had been sold out for at least 3 weeks. But then, just two days ago Olaf and Magda said they couldn't make it and I was left with two tickets. Decided to sell 2 tickets on eBay, which worked out fine, got the money I paid for. I was still resolved to go with the remaining ticket.

But when I stood before that imposing monolith my resolved crumbled like the GDR regime whose phony parliament convened within those very same walls. I must add that the thought of exposing myself and sitting through 4 1/2 hours of theater in uncomfortable chairs and cold air was not enticing. It was raining and on the spur of the moment I sold my remaining ticket to a little old lady who was probably stoked that she outfoxed the young-folk standing in line waiting in vain for tickets that would never materialize. It was quarter to 7 the evening was still young and I thought, what the heck, since I am in the city I might as well make something of it and decided to go to the movies. They usually start at 8. Went to the Crumpler store in the Münzstr. (looking for a camera bag for my D70, arrogant salesman). Then headed for Potsdamer Platz, had the special in the Asia Pavillion, crossed the street to the Sony Center and bought a ticket for Batman Begins in the Cinestar theater.

This is where some comments about the film should be made, but I am just to damm tired for a lengthy crtique, sorry folks. Let it suffice to say that the plot, though simple, was executed grandly, intense atmosphere, the best comic-adapted movie I have ever seen.

Jackenburger Küche

DSC_0050
Originally uploaded by iMaculate.

While we were visiting my parents-in-law in Hann. Münden we happened to step into this boat festival on the waterside. I didn't taste the food, but having an outdoor kitchen was kinda neat.