reviews

A crude Awakening, the oil crash

What makes a good documentary is the quality of the interviews and how they are put together to inform and educate us on the topic they are tackling. A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash is a perfect example of this. Using a great wealth of interviews and archive material it illustrates why the current consumption of oil is unsustainable. It is well constructed and has a strong message. Basil Gelpke, born in 1962, in Basel, Switzerland has had an interesting career.

Travel with an ipod touch

Travel with an i pod touch is great because of what it can do. I was able to test the usability of the device on two flights between Geneva and London and found the experience to be good. Whilst I was travelling on the tube I prefered to keep it hidden so I listened to podcasts but once I got to the airport I changed tact. It’s at this point that I started to watch video programs.

What I'm reading - Kadaré's L'Hiver de la grande Solitude

From friendships and the people we meet so our knowledge of authors increases. It is through English literature classes that I learned to appreciate Milan Kundera. I read all his books over a period of years. Following a conversation with an Albanian friend I heard of Ismail Kadare. He originally wrote in Albanian and French, living in Paris for many years. The two books I have read so far are Spiritus and Les Tambours de L’automne.

France leads the way with Freebox HD

For those who are interested in community video French operator Free is providing one of the most interesting services around at the moment. They are offering you a user generated television channel and the technology to broadcast content live from the comfort of you own home. All you need is a subscription to ADSL 2 and the Freebox HD box. The idea behind this service is to bring community video straight to the user.

Operator 11, Your Own Television Show

Operator 11 has taken video sharing and webcasting to the next level. Whereas websites such as youtube, google video, myspace, and Facebook all allow you to upload and share videos this one allows you two additional features. The first difference can be spotted when you sign up and arrive at the profile page. Rather than have text dialogue boxes you are offered a set of questions. You are expected to respond to these with a video message.

The Cult of the Amateur - thoughts on the book

When I heard with what hate one podcaster talked about the Cult Of The Amateur I told myself that I should read this book because it addresses a question that is at least two hundred years old, mainly the difference between high culture and low culture. High culture is seen as everything that has taken research and thought to create whilst popular culture is anything else. High culture might be a painting displayed in a museum whilst popular culture is something that most people could succeed in doing themselves.

The Now Habit

At the moment quite a few of the podcasts I listen to have been speaking about audiobooks and how practical they are for people who communicate and I decided that I would try this out for myself. Since I am not always the most effective person at getting things done I decided that I would get The Now habit. The book, written by Neil A. Fiore takes a look at how we spend our time and how to avoid procrastinating as much as we do.

Good Food at La Laguna

If you’re looking for an interesting food experience then you should drop by Laguna, a tropical restaurant a few minutes out of Geneva. There’s a meal there that’s really good called la plancha. The concept is simple. Food is laid out buffet style so you chose the ingredients you want and chose from onions, lettuce, coriander before selecting the types of meat. The meat on offer when I went to was lamb, beef, horse, pork, and chicken.

Idlewild

After having spent the whole night without sleep yesterday my energy levels were low and I decided that I would rest. In doing so I’ve spent quite a bit of time online but I’ve also conclued my reading of Idlewild. I was with a friend and he was looking for post apolaptyic books and was struggling to find anything. I was looking around at random books without any particular goal. After asking for help and getting some books suggested by the staff I decided to take a look at the books in the same section as he had been looking.