How was your trip

Welcome back Astin min

 

xxxxx

Happy Birthday Meike

Happy Birthday to my friend Meike

The other side of the door

I am still playing with my new camera. I have been trying to take this picture for three days. I had to wait till morning, when the light was right

 

The picture of my friends and I, while we we queued for tickets, for a basketball game, in 1998

A football match Ticket

My UNC-CH id.

The Church of the Holy Blood, a postcard, from my friend Valya

A beer mat from Hooters Hawaii

A budvar  beer mat from Praha

A sticker from the Brooklyn brewery

A picture of my friends, at a graduation

Happily ever after

 

 

 

This caught my eye at work.

They let you wipe your sleeve :)

Noticas

This is my notice board. It is according to experts in the carpentry trade about to fall, down at any moment.

It contains, bits of pieces, from my travels.

Postcards from : Reno, Las Vegas, Holland, Texas,

New York City, Hawaii, Koln

Picture of the Dukes of Hazard.

Flyer, for an Irish bar, in Praha

Picture of me, smoking outside work.

Photograph of the Dean Dome

The insignia of the German colonial service

Ticket for the Empire State Building

My glasses prescription

My dentist appointment card

Hilary Clinton, and Rudy Gulliani for president badges

A drawing of the Santa Maria.

My Locker

My locker, as of 23-June-2008

1 Top postcard is from Brasil

2 Postcard, is an Italian resort

3 Postcard below that is from Hanover

4 Saginaw Public Library USA.

5: famous hill, Germany

6: Idaho

On the lower part of the locker, under the close hanger, you can see a picture of Paris Hilton.

On the upper part,

A pencil case.

A jar, of Instant tea.

Spoons, disposable

DVD of the series, ashes to ashes, in it's Amazon.com wrapper.

PS

I have changed the colour scheme on my Fotolog account. To make it more readable. Red and Green, did not mix well. I should not have been surprised there.

Shelf Life

Today I went to the supermarket, and I bought a digital camera.

I actually got a different camera then the one I'd planned to buy. I picked up a  Sony Cybershot: DSC-S650

It is  7.2 megapixels. Much smaller then I had thought

I ended up spending most of my money for the month. However after my last trip to Iceland. I wanted to get something better, then just my mobile phones camera. (Icelandic landscape deserves something more. To say nothing of the cityscapes of the Americas)

This is the shelves to the left of my computer.

The biggest improvement, over my mobile phone, is the colour. I am very pleased by this, the royal blue, in the Icelandic flag, and the pink of the pig are well, easy on the eye.

Yes, I know, I said, I would not get a digital camera. I have already been gently reminded,

Til hamingju með afmælið

Well done Sahara

My friend the blogger Sahara. Who has had a pretty awful week. Passed her exam. I am very pleased and proud, Well done.

The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk

I have the Ang Lee Hulk on DVD. I suppose I will pick this up, but I did not enjoy it as much as Iron Man.
My best moment of the film, was the Tony Stark Cameo.
Nice to see S.H.E.I.L.D name checked again
Blonksy's first fight with the Hulk, was cool. It was a real wow, moment for me. I thought Tim Roth is going to get hurt.
Stan Lee, did his Cameo, having a bad reaction to Brasilian pop
I liked Hulk, like I liked Thor, As they could actually fight. One of my criticisms with Marvel, Is that the bad guys, are cooler. This is a little unfair. Spiderman and Hulk, were created a generation ago. People have had years to think of their weakness.
Nice to see Stark Industries, get mentioned. Marvel seems to be making a universe.
The racing pulse, scenes was fun.Though it had been done before on Lost, with Sawyer and Kate.
Funny that Brasil, seemed comfortable with the US violating it's borders. The Favelas were pretty quiet, with armed men running arround them. It takes a few battalions, to guard the carnival
Débora Nascimento plays Banner's love interest in Brasil. She is truly beautiful. Way to pretty to be bottling soda, in Brasil.
The scenes with Roth, and John Hurt were memorable. Roth, coming to the end of his career, as a combat soldier. Knows his experience, will be wasted. Hurt, is called General rather then Father, by his daughter. Hurt, is surprised, when Roth does not get his head kicked, off in his first confrontation with the Hulk.
The Hulk's battle on Campus, does not escape the eyes of the You Tube generation.
I would give this film a B-. Its a means to an end, Roth's performance, the Brasilan setting, and the Universe building I all enjoyed. Mr Blue too. That said, I found the rest of the film rather bloodless.
______________

I caught the trailer, for the Dark Knight, and Journey to the center of the Earth

Part two-Plan B begins in 20160 minutes.
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Íslenski þjóðhátíðardagurinn, Iceland

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I will have to buy another dvd.

Shia La Bouef, Mutt, steals from Marlon Brando's wardrobe.Is his leather jacket just a little to large?
The world has moved on, since we last met Dr Jones. There has been a war, a world war. The Nazi's have been defeated. The Soviet Union, has risen. Sputnik, circles the globe.
How did the USSR, get a large expedition into Peru, under the eyes of the CIA, and the RC church?

There is even a fight, and pretty vicious, from the look of it, between the greasers, and the college boys.
There is a mess of 50's tropes. The hot rod, racing the Army car. The TV dinners, the Atom tests. Indiana when challenged for last words, by our Russian friends, opines. ``I like Ike''
http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/likeIke.jpg
Alan dale, makes a cameo as an American General. More pleasingly, Neil Flynn, the janitor, from Scrubs, shows up as an FBI agent.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0283568/
There are allusion's to the work of Senator McCarthy. This sets up two handed scene between Harrison Ford, and Jim Broadbent. Which is one of the best in the film.
Later, when Dr Jones, travels south. His plane refuels, in Havana. They don't do that anymore.
There has been loss. Dr Henry Jones, senior. Marcus Broody, will not return for this film. Denholm Elliot has passed on. His statue graces
This film does remember Dr Jones, is a teacher. It name  checks V.Gordon Childe. The man who first divided pre history into the stone-bronze-iron.
There are flashes, to a family of Gophers, at the begining and later a troop of monkey. Lucas, can't let the Ewoks go.
The Ark, is seen in passing, in the government warehouse.  There is possibly a reference to the Indiana Jones TV series. Indy mentions riding with Paco Villa
Its a fun movie. You may have to suspend disbelief a bit more these days, the hero is looking greyer around the gill's
Its still worth keeping up with the Jones.

The famous Timosha. Who will return to the Far East, soon. His Mistress having been called to Washington on business. (Funny thing is that's all the true, and sounds the most dramatic) Anyway Timosha, learns, he can never go back.

Good luck

I know this has been a hard day for my friend the blogger Sahara. I hope she feels better soon. Good luck to her, in her upcoming exam

Thoughts of Winter

Today it is sunny, I was too warm, in my little cardigan, and I had my fan on. However I was reminded of the more unfortunate among us, who, while warm now, when the days shorten shall be abandoned to the mercies of the winter

 

 

 

Tell the world

Jeremy Clarkson

I think Richard Hammond. Should just say that to Mr Clarkson's face

My Cars

The Day before yesterday, I shown a collection of wonderful Cars. There was a Gold car, and another very fast and cool car.

I no longer, collect cars, in the same way, I did.

I still have this little number. It is a 1997, 50th anniversary of NASCAR, die cast copy of the ``Warrior princess''. The car driven by the driver, Patty Moise, and sponsored by Universal pictures.

I have still kept the original packaging .

It was a present to me, on my friends Wedding.

It is a lot of fun. A lot like, my friends, cars must be too

Nice weather for Ducks

I got my back pay. I spent two days, afraid to put my hand in my pocket. Checking out the price of laptops, and other gee gaws.

So yesterday, I went to the shops. I bought two pairs of black converse, two cardigans, and jeans.

I then worked on a project.

Today, I was called into work early, to attend a course. The course however was cancelled. I enjoyed a more leisurely day then I would normally have. I was home in time for the Simpsons

 

I went to the shops, after work. I had to pick up spoons, and jelly.

While I walked across the park, in the rain. I noticed, a family of ducks who were enjoying a stroll. They were quite some way from the closest open water.

Alas, my feet and coat do not stand up to the rain so well

Age of Empires

My friend Miss Misery challenged, one and all, to a game of MarioKart, on the Wii the other, day. I have a co worker who will take a week off, to immerse himself in the ``World of Warcraft''

My favourite computer game. Or video game, whatever the cool kids, are calling them now, are the age of empires, series
I first discovered the game, in a demo disk, one of my brothers had picked up. I downloaded the demo, on the old Hewlett Packard. It may have been on a 2.5 disk.
I played the demos day and night. I was hooked.
I should explain the premise. Of Age of empires. its a real time strategy game. You basically try to dominate the world. You start of with a stone age tribe, and by collecting resources, you build up your military and industrial base, to a point, where you can beat your neighbours in combat, or surpass them in public worlds, wealth or points.
So, you tribe, starts off, gathering fruit from bushes, and hunting animals, and later learns how to farm , build fishing ships, and trade
The demo version. I obtained, had a series of games, set during the Punic wars. It gave me the chance to play Hannibal. I had always had an interest in Ancient Carthage.
I resolved to buy the series. I went to the shops, and picked up Age of empires, the rise of Rome. Expansion pack. For 30.00. Only to discover to my horror, I needed to by Age of Empires. I had to wait a week, before I can return and exchange the product. I was temping at the time. I earned the money to buy the game. Working at a race track. Washing plates.
I picked up the rest of the series later. Finally I got my hands on the expansion pack, and then. The Age of Titans spin off. Which deals with Greek mythology. I did not like that so much.
As well as the follow ups. The Age of kings, The Age of Kings, the Conquerors expansion. I even have it on my sorely neglected Nintendo DS. I was some times seduced by the rival Cossacks franchise.
So why do I love this game.
1: Its pretty good history. A High school student, wishing to pick up something about the ancient world. Would do far worse, then to simply play the game, and read the manuals. The help, feature. Was tired to a database, with pretty good overview of the Roman legion. The Balista, or the Galley.
Playing the game, you see the different that the wheel barrow, and handcart made, in productivity. You learn the importance of logistics and finance. You often run out of gold. You can only support 50 piece, Villagers, fishing boats, catapults and soldiers.
In the later editions, the villagers, have gender. They also speak in their native tongue's
2 I get to be Hannibal, or Alexander. Or in the later games, Brian Boru, or Cortez. The Age of kings, expansion, features maps based on the real world. So one can invade Iceland, or liberate Mexica.
3. There is a map editor, built into the game. I get to design my own worlds. I get to loose myself.
The game is nearly 10 years old. I reinstalled it onto my PC today. It was an argument of an age of empires game. That was the last straw with a girl. I used to know.
I was playing Age of empires, when I got the first message from my friend Tan.  I once tried to play the game online, and got beaten horribly by a load of 8 year olds.
For most of the time, Its there on my hardrive, overlooked by e-mails, and MP3 but its always there, ready to take me somewhere else. Which is what makes a good book, and a decent computer game