Almost all make up and ideas was by Anja, click here for her blog, but we all helped. Urša joined us as Pippi Longstocking, she later on became our midnight snack, because Mr. Chicken’s chicken was overdone and I couldn’t go all night without blood.

When we all dressed up we went to a near by shopping center/night club to a party. We ordered a big bowl of cuba libre but got whiskey cola instead and semi-partied till 2 o’clock in the morning.

There were a lot rumors and (probably very thoughtfully planed) leaks over the last year so the expectations were quite high. My initial thoughts were, that I do not need a device like this since I have a macbook, iPod and hopefully soon an iPhone. I didn’t see a reason for it (except that it would probably look really great and since it would come from the hands of my dear Stevie it would also be great). What I wouldn’t like is the fact that it would be flat, and you should hold it in your hands or put it down on a table and look at the screen down. Imagine constantly looking at the keyboard and your neck pains? I have problems with my back and my neck even with normal computers and can’t imagine what would happen with the usage of a “tablet”. My second doubt would be greasy fingers and consequently a very dirty screen. That would be very irritating. I don’t like cleaning my screens and should do it more often, but it does bother me, a lot.

And then came the-day the 27th January and the apple event in San Francisco, and like many mac fans I set the auto refresh at Engadged, but couldn’t wait that 30 seconds and refreshed the page every 5-15 seconds. I had mixed feeling throughout the whole event and at the end of it I wasn’t convinced. To be honest I expected more. To start with the OS. I expected a lighter version of the OS X, and not a modified iPhone OS. And a camera. And a GPS. And multitasking. And making phone calls in the 3G model. And USB. And SIM input not micro SIM – that’s a weird one.

On the 27th I went to bed not-that-thrilled, or rather semi-thrilled. I wanted to try it, but not buy it. That was weird it’s apple for f***’s sake. But all that changed in the morning. I watched the keynote video and my attitude towards it instantly changed. The interface is amazing, it looks very natural a lot like an iPhone but better. When I got used to the trackpad on my macbook I never needed to use a mouse, I don’t even have one (although I do want the magic mouse but not for constant use). The multitouch gestures feel very natural and very easy to use, so I believe that using the iPad could be very easy and likable. I like the iBooks and the iBooks store, it was a matter of time for apple to release an app and a store for books, but I don’t believe it’s very comfortable for the eyes to read a book from a led screen. I think e-ink still have this advantage here. The biggest surprise was the iPad version of iWork, that would be very useful.

The 10-hour battery is remarkable but it could be longer, the price is lower than I expected and actually quite affordable (for the basic model), but if you want a 3G model and a bigger memory the price quickly rises. And since 16GB is quite small I would consider 32 or 64GB, and in additon if it would be able to insert a SIM from my carrier I would also consider the 3G verison since I have 1GB of data for free in my month-plan. But that last one is a bit to optimistic.

Just came to my mind, I wonder if there will be an option for onscreen keyboard in different languages?

To conclude advantages:

• best touch screen ever made with multitouch
• big screen and very thin
• great for browsing, mail, videos, music, photos,…
• ability to run all iPhone apps
• iWork
• iBooks
• battery life
• price
• iPad case (looks great)…

and disadvantages:

• no GPS, camera, usb, flash
• no multitasking
• micro SIM
• iPhone OS…

Although it’s far from perfect it is revolutionary, and you know why? Because it is something new, a new approach and it has a huge potential. And I’m very happy to see apple use it’s potential in the future (with all that features that we all expected).

My attitude towards the iPad has changed from good to bad to confused to very good to ecstatic and than back to good. Now I quite like it, I might even buy it (depend on my account status when it comes out. And it’s gorgeous.

Stevie could sell me anything.

TeaCup

A tea cup on the table is not doing much good for him, it disturbers him as it just sits there and does nothing. He desires that something would change, that the wind would break the soft surface of the golden brown liquid in the cup or that something would shake the table and just stop this ridicules stillness and quietness. But there is no one to shake the table nor an earthquake to move the floor. He has left the window open so the wind could disturb the stillness of the interior, but there is not any wind outside either. Which on its own is very strange, because winds are usually very strong in this part of the year. Today was obviously different.

And there he sat at the table observing the tea in its disturbing stillness and silentness. Nothing seemed to change. Today was just the same.

(S. Kert, 2009)

I’m not going to tell you how they sound like, because it’s something really special and I can guarantee you never heard anything like them. Mix together African rhythm, indie rock, quick guitar licks, violin, bells, great vocals with four enthusiastic boys and you get Vampire Weekend. My favorite songs include A Punk, M79, Campus, I Stay Corrected, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa… (I had to stop before I write down all of their songs).

In September they announced a new album named Contra that will be out in January 2010 at XL Recordings (XL recordings also cover Friendly Fires, Radiohead, The White Stripes…). On October 5th they released their first single from their second album for free download, the name of the son is Horchata and you can get it here (it’s my new favorite winter holiday song). Just over a week ago they released music video for a song from Contra titled Cousins, you can watch it on their official website or on youtube.

Contra is most likely one of the most anticipated albums for 2010, I know I’m really looking forward to hearing it. Of course if you like the music, buy it and let the band know they’re doing a great job. And let me know what you think of them!

P.S. They are rockin’ Futura typeface like no one else :)

Inspired by bands like The Clash and the Smits, the band A Broken Robot delivers poppy indie rock music, that I liked immediately especially All Here. Two guitars, keyboards, quick drums, a trumpet and even cowbells with a great vocals make a great combo and easy to fall in love with. For now they offer us three songs on their single and a couple more demos, but hopefully we can expect a full length album from them soon.

They have released a CD Single – Towns, Cities and Cities and Towns – with Small Town Records, you can get it here. If you like the music, support the artists buy their record.

For my first MixTape I would like to show you this new band from south west London, England THE XX. They’ve released their first album named xx in August 09 with indie label Young Turks. I bought the album in Rough Trade shop in east London about a week ago, but have heard about them and their music before that. I first read about them from Sara’s or Tegan’s (from my ultimate fav band Tegan and Sara)  tweet in August. First off it was my favorite “go to sleep” music but later the more I listened the more I liked it. Here’s photo of the album, nice clean design and you can’t miss it in a music store.

The record sounds very minimalistic, calm and tender, with a great mixture of guitar and keyboards. But the thing that I find the most addictive and amazing is the contrast between girl/boy vocals. Both Romy and Oliver have very tender and soothing voices that works very good in duets as well as in solos. They recorded the album in a small garage that was part of the XL studios, mostly at night, which is probably why the whole thing sounds very gentle. I read somewhere it’s the best make out music,  so try it out and let me know what you think:)

It’s hard to believe that four 20 yrs-olds produced such a well rounded and accomplished album that is also their first. They started out in 05 as four teenagers that meet in school and after they released xx in 09 they become a huge success. Unfortunately one member (keyboardist Baria Qureshi) left them about ten days ago after missing some shows, but the band is said to carry on without her as a trio and not replacing her. Single Crystalised was featured on iTunes (UK) as Single of the Week in August, songs from the album were featured in some TV shows including VCR on last weeks episode of Lie to me. Now they are touring and selling out venues all across UK, Europe and America.

If you like their music, support them and buy the album here or on iTunes.

Comment are more than welcome!

The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight-hers and the one by the empty chair opposite. On the sideboard behind her, two tall glasses, soda water, whiskey. Fresh ice cubes in the Thermos bucket.

Mary Maloney was waiting for her husband to come him from work… (R. Dahl: Lamb to the Sloughter, 1954)

You can find the rest of it here. If you’re lazy you could read a summary but I don’t recommend it, it’s really not the same.

Anyway after I’ve read the story and have discussed it in my English class we had to write how we think the story continues. And what I ended up with I’m quite proud of :). I know it’s not even near the quality of the original story, but I like it and it’s one of the first things I wrote (fiction of course). Please read and comment.

Meanwhile Mary was thinking how could he marry her in the first place and how could he let her get pregnant. This things don’t come over night, he must have known this for a long time. Maybe she was just a test, an experiment if he could love women and it looks like he can’t. She would understand him if he told this to her before they got married and especially before she got pregnant, but now it was unacceptable. He had to die, she couldn’t bare him leaving her. She was always the most desirable girl and later the best wife a man could even dream of. And she loved him, she really did and now she couldn’t understand how could he betray her like that.

»And with him, who is sitting there behind the table, chewing his last peace of lamb,«Mary was muttering to herself, »I always knew that there was something between them, always hanging out together and all that “late work” I bet he wasn’t even on duty…«

»Did you say something, Mary?« Jack asked her.

»No, nothing darling,« answered Mary in a sweet but forced voice, »you slimy bastard…« she said quietly, » he will pay…« and she giggled again.

When everyone accept Jack had left the house, he and Mary sat down in the living room. She poured him another glass of whisky, the last one, since they drank the whole bottle, and she poured herself a glass of vodka that her husband brought to her from a what he called a “business trip”.

»Oh, I remember when he bought this, he stood in the middle of a liquor store for half an hour, choosing the right gift for you,…« he paused, » he couldn’t make up his mind…« Jack looked down at his lap, his eyes were wet and he got that look on his face, when he tried to hide his emotions, but the alcohol was softening him.

»I bet he was feeling guilty,« said Mary in a serious voice and finished her drink. After that Jack looked up at her and saw the truth in her eyes, which were glowing in hate and revenge.

There were some seconds of silence and than Jack quietly mumbled, »he told you, didn’t he?…« again some silent seconds, »how could you…« he cried out and covered his face whit his hands and bent over his leap. At that moment Mary got up from her chair, grabbed the full bottle of vodka and swung it up in the air and back down on Jack’s head. The clear liquid splashed all over the room, and gently mixed with the blood. Mary picked up a big piece of glass and stabbed Jack with it in the neck. A big splash of blood covered the wall beside them and Mary’s face as well. She wiped it of with her hand and for a moment looked at it. She had never imagined that she is capable of something like this, but now it was all over so it didn’t matter.

She washed her hands and her face in the bathroom, leaving bloody traces all over the sink, changed in her nice clothes, took the car keys and all the money from the safe, put on her favorite red kerchief and the big glasses and went outside. She got in her red convertible car, lowered the roof and drove off to Vegas. (S. Kert, 2007)

I’m not a native speaker but I’ve been involved with English language since I can remember, first with Cartoon Network and then English courses through kinder garden, primary and secondary school and now mostly through English books, movies and TV series.

For now I’m not setting a definite subject of my blog posts, but you can expect posts about music, books, movies, TV series, graphic design and anything with a shiny apple on it. I’m kind of a tech junkie (I have to have new shiny electronic devices, and yes preferably with apples on it) but beside that I am obsessed with music, trying to find new bands with new sounds and new ideas. My other obsession that I’m not that proud of are TV series, which take a lot of my time.

Just some things about me: studying graphic and interactive communications, practice climbing (4-5 times a week) for 11 years now, work: climbing coach, technical editor of a student magazine Zapik…

And finally why delusional? Because I like to day dream, night dream, morning dream, evening dream etc. Dreams are important and so is imagination, but sometimes that gets me high in the clouds which is not that great at least not always. But that is not really important, it’s only a title…

Enough introducing, as for the blog like it, hate it, hate to like it, like to hate it, give me a chance and read it:)

Comments are ALWAYS welcome!