Digitalian is eating breakfast

Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Lately I have been looking at upgrading to a camera giving a bit better quality and low-light performance than my aging SX100, and naturally the obvious choice would be going the DSLR route.

I have mostly been looking at two models, the Canon 450D versus Nikon's new D5000. The Nikon has a lot going for it over the Canon: very good high-ISO performance, viewfinder grid, and 11 autofocus points versus the 450D's 9.

The Canon on the other hand can autofocus with all lenses, EF and EF-S, while not all Nikon lenses have the autofocus motor in the lens that the D5000 needs.
Besides that, the Canon uses the same GUI as my SX100, possibly making for an easier transition. At the moment I'm aiming at the 450D, since it's about 100 euros cheaper than the D5000. Of course I've also looked at the Canon 1000D, but with my ambitions of getting faster lenses the extra autofocus sensitivity at f2.8 on the 450D comes into play. (That and it's basically become impossible to find any 1000D kits with the IS lens; having heard bad things about the standard 18-55 kit lens has made the prospect of going up a notch to the 450D IS kit an overall better prospect.)

A list of things that I would not mind getting for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:39:00 +0000

As the days to christmas decreases, so do buying-options. Perhaps something locally?
At Fantoy they have a cool series of small models showing the build-up of organs. Head is cool.
At Sisustus-In they have some cool masks.

List of things I won't get:
[Hardware] ADAM HALL SKS-22 XB keyboard stand.
[Hardware] Toslink-S/PDIF coaxial to optical converter (eg. Cypress DCT-2 or this).
[DVD] Yuki Kajiura LIVE 2008.07.31.
Canon EOS 1000D/450D.

More probable alternatives:
[DS game] Professor Layton and the Curious Village.
Pants.
THE SSSNAKE YPK2030 (or equivalent cable, 2x 1/4" mono male <-> 1/8" stereo male).

More to come???

Korg x 2

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:55:00 +0000

As predicted, now I have two boards. Though both are Korg, the difference in the keybeds is quite big. The keys on the M50 have much larger travelling distance with very little resistance; the K49 have stiffer keys that bottom out fast. It could be just the lower price I paid for the K49, but it feels a bit safer doing stuff like glissandos on that, rather than the M50.

Now all I need is a stand...

Gear

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:02:00 +0000

About as long as I've been playing keyboard I've thought about getting a two-board setup. Not really because I need it, but because it looks fucking cool on-stage.Can't be bothered to get out the DVD for a better pic.
The original plan was to get my old M-Audio Keystation back (since I had lent it out) and use that, but as it turns out some of the Keystations have an issue with MIDI out. Mine was one of them. So I had to think of something else...With the help of a friend, I will hopefully have this little thing in my possession before long. It's white, which makes it contrast nicely with the M50, and it's Korg, matching the M50.

Then all that's left is the stand...

Composing

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Something I noticed.

As we are aiming to get at least a couple of original songs made this year with the band, I have gone into construction-mode. This in turn got me really eager to get ideas out, just tossing down chords and melodies, then quickly building them up to include the standard fare, bass, drums etc., inevitably at 4 AM. As it turns out, you can make some really bad decisions at 4 AM, which I realized at the latest band-meet where we listened through the material gathered so far.

So for the draft I'm polishing at the moment, I decided to take some time before sending it out, listen through it and try to hear what needs to be done. So far it seems to have paid off since I almost think it's one of the best of this bunch, even though I'm sort of growing tired of the melody...

Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:15:00 +0000

Recently I reenacted an experiment I had done for midsummer, where I soaked gummybears in alcohol. That time the results weren't so drastic, as I had not let them soak for long.

This time I was determined to change a couple of important factors, namely the kind of alcohol used and the time for soaking. Last time I used a type of brännvin (for which I am unsure of the English name), but this time I used Vodka, albeit a cheap brand.
This time I also chose to use gummyworms!
Filled up the jars and into the fridge!
I put them into the fridge on Sunday (if I remember correctly), and let them stay there until Thursday, while taking a taste of a worm on Wednesday. Even when I tasted on wednesday I could feel it was quite strong, so I could very well have taken them out then, but I was a bit busy...

So the extraction was left until Thursday.
On the left are the ones soaked in Vodka, on the right control samples soaked in plain water. The ones soaked in water are clearly larger, though that might be due to me not measuring the liquid exactly even for each group.

As for the liquid remaining, the ones in water had soaked up virtually everything, while there was just over half a decilitre of Vodka remaining.It looks almost like urine, but it really isn't.

Unfortunately I forgot to measure the candies before I started the experiment, which makes the following image somewhat moot, but checking out the length of a bear in store, it was about 2cm long. (Measurement here in inches, 1in ≈ 2.5cm.)A growth of about 0.5cm in length and quite a lot in width for the bear. The worms were nicely fattened.

The resulting candies have quite a strong taste and smell of alcohol, though. If/when I do it again I will shorten the soaking period, or use a larger bear-to-alcohol ratio.

Again

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:35:00 +0000

It's sort of unfortunate that I've come to only post whenever I felt the need to unload psychologically. As it is, I've been feeling pretty good lately, therefore not having the same need to expunge my inner waste onto the internets.

I notice that the last post was from last year, and I guess some things have happened since then.

One of the more unexpected things is that I have started playing a 2D shooter series generally known as Touhou. This interest was originally sparked by a medley video on the Japanese video-site Niconico video (crappier Youtube version here); in this video there were, among other songs, many songs from the Touhou games series. The song that really got stuck in my head was 千年幻想郷 (Sennenn gensoukyou) ～ History of the Moon. After hearing it I felt a strong urge to find the source of it, and came across Touhou.

Since I'm playing the games mostly for the music, I'm sticking to easy mode for now, which might be for the best, since the higher difficulty levels can get quite intense...

Another list

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:24:00 +0000

A small list of products suitable for the upcoming holiday.

(DS game) Korg DS-10
(DS game) Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Tripod for my camera, about 140cm, for example Velbon DF-40/F or Velbon CX-440
(CD) Piana - Snow Bird
(CD) Piana - Eternal Castle
(CD) Yellow Magic Orchestra - Yellow Magic Orchestra
(CD) Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
(DVD) Leon
(Book) Slavoj Zizek - The Ticklish Subject
(Book) Slavoj Zizek - The Parallax View

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 02:01:00 +0000

So I decided a new look was in order.

That is all.

Down

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0000

One of the hazards of insomnia is that I tend to blow things out of proportion as I lie sleepless in bed.
But there's still an amount of truth in it; I have hit a pretty deep hole at the moment. I guess part of it comes from that this will most probably be my last year studying Japanology. No real courses after this year, and if I get the Bachelor's thesis done, then that's that.

The other, more significant part, is a feeling of loneliness. Being at the age I am with no experience with relationships; many that I started school with have already moved on to other things, be it work, other education or exchange studies, or otherwise busy working on their own thesis. New students coming in each year, and with me usually taking at least a year before I really warm up to new people, and on top of that not having the same native language as most of them, I experience a certain sense of alienation.

At the bottom of this, I believe, lies an incident that happened roughly six months ago.

I had once again found myself in the position where I was interested in a girl, but this time I thought there were signs that the interest was actually mutual. But maybe my feelings clouded my vision, for when I finally mustered up the courage to ask her out, I got a very strange response. Not a 'yes' nor a 'no', but simply... nothing. She acted like she literally couldn't get away from me soon enough.

After that followed a couple of days of very odd situations where I would try to greet her only to be met with silence. It didn't take long before I got the hint and just stopped even trying. I was apparently such a perverted being for following my feelings rather than the rational side that tells me I'm useless that she could risk treating me like a person.

A couple of months pass, and suddenly I hear I'm invited to a party she's having. So she was at least acknowledging my existence again, though it wasn't much more than that. Having gone there it felt like I had been invited only as a formality. And ever since then I've had this feeling, whenever we're in the same location, that I'm not really wanted there; that it would be best if I wasn't there at all.

要らない人間。

Edit: This is probably the most personal thing I've written here, and I know I've stated in the past that I didn't want it to turn into one of those blogs where the writer just nags about his life, but I want to stress that it felt like my head was literally falling apart. I did it more for my own sanity's sake than anything else.

My life is a Makoto Shinkai movie

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:05:00 +0000

Or to be more precise, the second part of 5 Centimeters per Second.

It's not very often that I come across a movie that I can identify with to the degree that I could with this. "Identify" might also be the wrong word, since we can pretty much identify with anything, even with a small waste-collecting robot. This was more like looking what a screenplay of my own life might look like.

Always looking for something beyond my reach... sometimes it feels like that's what I've been doing my whole life.

Happenings

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:59:00 +0000

It was my 26th birthday roughly one month ago, and with my birthday being positioned where it is in the calendar, it was pretty close to the Night of Arts. Me and a couple of friends went out on town and had a look at the various people and happenings. Amongst other things we visited Vaasa Water Tower, which wasn't as horrifying as I had thought. But what really caught my eye was the the DSLR camera that one of the company had. I've always liked taking pictures, even having a Flickr account despite not having a camera of my own.

This having to do with the birthday that followed a couple of days later which brought with it a slight economic boost. With the lure of the camera fresh in mind, I set out to find a suitable prospect. Enter the Canon SX100.

Armed with my new toy, I've hesitantly sought my way out on town and snapped a couple of shots. Here's one I like.
Unfortunately I got it a bit too late to take any good summer pictures, but maybe I will have learned to use its full potential by next summer. So far so good, the only real annoyance being with the supplied Canon software. Luckily there's iPhoto...

Oh! And I cleaned the toilet in the apartment, which was an interesting experience. Now it doesn't smell and look quite as much as a truck-stop urinal.

A list

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:50:00 +0000

So I was asked what I would want as present for my upcoming birthday, and thought I would make a small list.

(CD) Piana - Snow Bird
(CD) Piana - Eternal Castle
(CD) Yellow Magic Orchestra - Yellow Magic Orchestra
(CD) Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
(DVD) Leon
(Book) Slavoj Zizek - The Ticklish Subject
(Book) Slavoj Zizek - The Parallax View
(Xbox game) Psi-Ops
(Xbox game) Burnout 3
(DS game) Professor Layton and the Curious Village (which isn't out yet in Europe, it seems)
(DVD) Paranoia Agent 1 (or more)
(DVD) The Pianist (and other movies by Polanski could also be received)
(DVD) Kieslowki's 3 Colours

Etc.

Live pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:19:00 +0000

Some pictures from the live performance we did in the band. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, have a look at some clips from the live here: Jidouhanbaiki - Kasa ga nai and Jidouhanbaiki - Ramen tabetai.)

New Excite Email Sucks

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:21:00 +0000

I don't usually do this, but I really need to blow off some steam.

I remember I got a notice about the new Excite Email some time ago, offering loads of things, though having just gotten acquainted with Gmail, the only thing I noticed was the 1GB storage. So it was with horror that I logged on to my email account on the big day of the switch only to find a bloated, non-intuitive piece of big, stinking, interweb faeces!

Gone was the clean, easy HTML, replaced by yet another failed attempt to make a web-based service look more like a desktop application. Logging in, I wasn't shown the email page, but instead a portal with 90% empty space because of all features that I don't need that I hadn't taken use of. And in a small, small box in the top-right corner, I could, after waiting for the whole behemoth to load, see that I had "New emails (wait for it while it loads...) 0". (That's right, it still says "new emails" even though you don't have any.)

Opening the email treats you to another little loading screen, after which you're free to read your email. Too bad that the default behaviour has been changed, so where before simply clicking on the email opened it, now it merely displays it in a tiny preview below the inbox. If you want it in a window of reasonable size, you have to double-click it. Pardon me, but I was under the impression that double-clicking was generally reserved for desktop applications and internet links required only one click.

And that's just for reading. Want to flag a message as spam? Choose "Junk" from the "Flag as" menu, two clicks where previously it only took one click.

But the most odd addition is that of a contextual menu. Accessed in the regular way, by the secondary button on the mouse, it displays a load of redundant options, the most mind-boggling of which is "Read", which does nothing at all, as it doesn't open any new window with the message, and it is already displayed in the preview window once the mail is clicked on. This is all of course if you can actually see the contextual menu, since the designers seem to have completely missed the possibility of browsers having their own contextual menues also accessible via the secondary mouse-button.

All in all, it is a complete mess, and the main decider for me switching to Gmail as my main account. If only there was a way to migrate all of the mail on Excite to Gmail, but with no batch-forwarding, it would take excruciatingly long, so I fear I must keep it around for the time being.

Edit: I'm not sure if it will have any effect, but here's the link to the feedback page that was mentioned in the mail from Excite about the new system if you want to try contact them via that. If they would only add the option of a "classic" GUI then I'd be satisfied myself.

Also, a comment tipped about the feedback system they have for Excite. "Give specific examples of what needs to be fixed. Don't rant, and keep your response polite and professional."

Live

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:10:00 +0000

So after having done hours upon hours of band practice, we now possibly stand at the threshold of our very first live performance. It hit me for real just now as I was laying in bed, and now it's 5 AM and I'm not the least tired due to excitement. Or maybe that should be nervousness. There's so many emotions at play: fear, excitement, anxiety, joy...

In any case, this, for me, is one of the biggest things in my life so far. Maybe it's due to the long build-up leading up to it, but damn this feels cool!

If it feels like this now, I wonder what it will feel like when we finally get to do it.

Why racism is so dangerous

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:37:00 +0000

I read this comment on Slashdot, and it was just too good to not reiterate.

If you let the balance of power fall too far to the state, it's grossly naive to think it wont lead to use of that power over you, your friends and your children.
The question is, is this really true.

Consider for a moment. Do the supporters of oppressive regimes actually suffer under them? Is it not the case that those who tacitly or overtly support this kind of power imbalance actually benefit? Certainly a minority of top supporters do, but what about the silent and not so silent majority that prop up the regime? Does their support not in fact, pay off?

Are registered Republican voters who attend church every sunday, protest against abortion, call for lower taxes and "family values" really going to suffer under these DHS policies? I invoke Godwin because it is inevitable. Look at 1930's Germany. If you weren't communist or jewish, then you, as a german, probably did rather well under the Nazi's. Why wouldn't you support them? It's not like you valued abstract concepts like "freedom" and "democracy" now did you?

Most americans, no, most people in the western world, do not value these concepts. They support internment, executions, secret trials. I'm not being rhetorical here. As long as you mention the right groups; terrorists, pedophiles, minorities, lower classes, etc, the average joe will not see their freedoms as something worth valuing anymore. People do not believe in universal rights for all, only in rights for the right people, which of course includes themselves. It's sad, but that's the way it is.
-ObsessiveMathsFreak

Which is why it's so easy to fall in the "think of the children"-trap. You always think it will only affect the "bad guys".

Translations

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:32:00 +0000

Lately I finished up something I had had laying around for a while: a translation/subtitle for one of the sketches from the old Swedish comedy-series Nilecity 105,6. I had originally started on it about half a year ago, but didn't upload it because I wanted to see if I could somehow make a bigger version that wouldn't lose so much quality in the transition to Youtube. That proved a bit difficult (due to various computer issues), but as I was looking through my old stuff the other day I found it again and just thought I'd at least try it and see how it looked. Turns out it retained enough quality to be "good enough".

So, without further ado, here's Greger at the venereal diseases department.

And while I was on a roll, I also decided to subtitle a clip from a Finnish news-show called Uutismixi, about the growing interest in Japan.

Marco's Pasta

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:23:00 +0000

Here's an interesting package of pasta I found...

Bearing a slight resemblance to a certain plumber..?

Sick

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:37:00 +0000

I almost thought that I would manage the winter without getting sick, but then it came over me quite suddenly on Monday. A walk to school and back again in vain yesterday (it wasn't until I was there that I conveniently remembered that we didn't have a lesson that day) didn't seem to help either, as I spent the night unable to sleep from having my nose clogged up.

With that in mind, it wasn't easy to decide whether I should go to band practice today. Eventually I decided I would go and see how it felt, and it went alright, considering the circumstances. I still decided to skip the evening lesson since I didn't feel too motivated to make the trip again in the state I'm in.

I also picked up some drugs from the pharmacy to ease the flu-symptoms: some Ibumax pain pills that I got Tuesday, and today some Toncils lozenges (used for disinfection of mouth and throat), and some Finrexin (a powder you mix with hot water and drink for "temporary relief of cold symptoms").

Musics

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:52:00 +0000

Going back a couple of weeks... Seeing Kent live was nice, maybe I didn't really get the full-blown concert experience when I was using earplugs, but I don't want to get full-blown tinnitus either. I really liked the faster, more electronic-sounding, version they did of Dom Andra. I came away from it with a strong feeling of wanting to do it again.

Here's a random image I found on the web.
But that isn't all the musicizing I've done lately.

It started pretty innocently during a conversation with my classmate Aino about maybe trying to play some songs from Bonnie Pink's latest album ourselves; it came up in discussions with other people from school, a couple of more jumped on, and now it seems we have inadvertedly started a band! First practice was last Friday, and having previously only played by myself, it was really exciting to get to play with other people. After the first couple of hesitating steps it started going smoother and smoother, and by the end of the first session I felt we had at least one song down pretty well! (Which was Ramen tabetai, original by Akiko Yano, but our version is based more on Tamio Okuda's cover.

Incredibly fun, and now I'm just looking for the next opportunity that fits everyones schedules...

Concert

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:05:00 +0000

When I was a teenager, I was a big fan of swedish rock-band Kent. It was a time in my life when their music felt very relevant to what I was going through. Around the time of Vapen & Ammunition (Guns & Ammunition), however, they fell of my radar. I still liked the music, but there was the other, more electronic, music genres that had started to grab my interest.

Then some time ago I was visiting my sister's and her boyfriend's place and saw that they had the (at the time) new album. Having heard quite a lot about it, and due to the slightly Bergman-esque title of Du & Jag Döden (You & me death), I was a bit interested in hearing what it sounded like. Over the time I've actually come to like it a lot, thinking it's perhaps their best album.

And now, just a couple of days ago, I heard that they would be doing a live show here in the vicinity, and my sister and her boyfriend were going. What's more, they asked if I would like to come along; a very interesting suggestion! So, after taking care of the financial issues involved for a poor student like myself, we agreed that they would get in touch if there were tickets left.

And it seems there were, and I'm going to see Kent this Friday! It feels a bit strange... My favourite band from my teenage years, that I dreamt so often about seeing live, and I'll finally be able do go...

The Place

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:48:00 +0000

Well, having finally gotten the new computer set up and hooked up to the internet, I borrowed my mother's digital camera and got a couple of pictures snapped of the apartment.First is the view from the entrance: CD-shelf on the left, some box left from the moving process, and then the desk, with various stuff on it. The new Mac mini is practically invisible in that pic, barely visible on the right next to the 19" CTR screen I got for cheap from a school-mate. I'm also going to get a retractable shelf to mount under the desk to keep the keyboard on, freeing up some space, and allowing me to have the MIDI-keyboard more centered. I've also got a poster coming that I'll put up on the wall behind the desk. (The desktop pic is Nagato Yuki from The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, for those who are interested; vectored by yours truly.)
Here's the view from the corner opposing the door. Unmade bed on the left, a poster of a woman in kimono with a red umbrella on the wall, bookshelf on the right. Next to the bookshelf is a closet, which isn't that interesting. (The big shiny sphere is the lamp which is hanging a bit too low; I've lost count of how many times I've bumped my head into it.)

I must say that I'm really pleased with my new setup; the Mac mini is performing nicely thus far, though the real test will be when I start fooling around with Garageband. I haven't really felt inspired to do anything with it lately, but I'm guessing it's a side-effect of just having moved, getting used to the new surroundings. I'm also going to order a new piece of gear soon, a pair of headphones, the AKG K240S, which will hopefully allow me to get a better idea of how my tracks sound in the low end, and which also might come in handy for late-night music making/listening.

So far, living on my own has worked out splendidly.

Moving

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:48:00 +0000

Long time, no post.

After 25 years of living in the same place, I've finally moved out. In hindsight, I probably could have done it earlier, but better late than never. It's been quite an interesting experience so far, even though I've only "lived" here for a couple of days. I'm still lacking some small details, like curtains, umbrella and computer, but I've got all the essentials like clothing and food.

Spending the days without a computer has been... boring. You only really realise how much you depend on it when it's gone. But luckily, I've been offered economic assistance from my parents with it, so hopefully, I should be in the possession of a new Mac mini sometime in the near future. (Having no computer of my own yet, I'm posting this from my flatmate's box.)

It's an interesting location in that I have my classmate Aino next-door, a couple of other Japanology-students a stone-throw away, and yet another couple across the street in another building.

Pictures will be posted after I've borrowed a camera to take them with.

Edited

noreply@blogger.com (Jacke) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:11:00 +0000

Well! I've just had the experience of having my text edited and put in print, and I would certainly want to meet the person who thought it appropriate to edit my text using a chainsaw and duct-tape.

Now, I don't mind editors as long as they know more than yourself, but if they don't, it's like letting a dog perform open-heart surgery.