Wednesday 18 September 2013
Sunday 15 September 2013
Movie: Robbie Williams - Take The Crown Tour
I only found out about this movie at about 2AM this morning (I'm a night owl), so I don't know if this movie has been playing for long, or if it was a special screening for today only. Anyway, I booked a seat and went along to see it.
This latest tour is a comeback tour of sorts. He doesn't done a major tour since 2006. In the meantime he released a couple of successful albums (sales-wise that is. A lot of critics were unimpressed, but what would they know?). I liked Rudebox. I thought it was great that he would try something daring instead of doing more of the same. I also liked the next album, Reality Killed the Video Star, although it was less experimental than Rudebox.
The current tour is in support of his latest album, Take the Crown, which I haven't got yet, but look forward to hearing. He presented some of the songs in the movie I saw today.
The concert was spectacular. He's really gone all out with his staging. He had some great Robbie Williams "Heads", made out of steel and other materials:
And his band is first rate (I think I'm in love with one his backup singers!). He plays all his big hits, and I'm sure he could have gone on for much longer. The only downer was that Williams was performing with a bad back, which restricted his movement, so his usual high energy running around was curtailed a fair bit. No matter though. He sounds as good as ever, and he has a real easy rapport with his audience. That's made more remarkable by the fact that this concert takes place in Estonia. I wouldn't have thought that too many people would understand English, but I'm probably wrong.
There are quite a few clips from this show, in Tallinn, on YouTube, including some from the concert that weren't in the movie:
"Strong", from Tallinn concert
And I found this backstage video as well:
Preparing for Tallinn
This latest tour is a comeback tour of sorts. He doesn't done a major tour since 2006. In the meantime he released a couple of successful albums (sales-wise that is. A lot of critics were unimpressed, but what would they know?). I liked Rudebox. I thought it was great that he would try something daring instead of doing more of the same. I also liked the next album, Reality Killed the Video Star, although it was less experimental than Rudebox.
The current tour is in support of his latest album, Take the Crown, which I haven't got yet, but look forward to hearing. He presented some of the songs in the movie I saw today.
The concert was spectacular. He's really gone all out with his staging. He had some great Robbie Williams "Heads", made out of steel and other materials:
And his band is first rate (I think I'm in love with one his backup singers!). He plays all his big hits, and I'm sure he could have gone on for much longer. The only downer was that Williams was performing with a bad back, which restricted his movement, so his usual high energy running around was curtailed a fair bit. No matter though. He sounds as good as ever, and he has a real easy rapport with his audience. That's made more remarkable by the fact that this concert takes place in Estonia. I wouldn't have thought that too many people would understand English, but I'm probably wrong.
There are quite a few clips from this show, in Tallinn, on YouTube, including some from the concert that weren't in the movie:
"Strong", from Tallinn concert
And I found this backstage video as well:
Preparing for Tallinn
Movie: Jobs
First of all I want it to be known that I am a techie, and that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are two of my idols.
I really like this movie, and to think that because I believed what some of the supposed respected film critics said, I was going to give it a miss. I am coming to the movie from a different angle than most film critics would. I work in the tech industry, and have been involved in technology for the last thirty years. This is my area. I've read a few of the insider books about Apple and I've read a couple on Steve Jobs. The movie is necessarily compressed, otherwise it would go on for 10 hours, and even then, some landmark points are only given a few seconds screen time. It's like a Steve Jobs highlights movie. Fortunately, having read the books, I was able to fill in the gaps, so I knew what everything was and where everything fit. His relationships with his various women was given very little screen time, and the story of the development of the Macintosh, which I admit could fill a movie on it's own, came and went very quickly, but at least it was given a little bit of time.
Ashton Kutcher certainly looks a lot like Steve Jobs. He does this funny walk which started to annoy me a little. I don't even know if the real Steve Jobs actually walked like that. Otherwise I think he did a good job. He won't win an Oscar or anything. Some of the other characters were a little underdeveloped, but in a movie as compressed as this, something had to be sacrificed to fit in the time line I suppose. The only other performance I liked was Dermot Mulroney, as Mike Markkula, who got the money for Apple to get going in the first place. All the other actors, including James Woods, who got about twenty seconds on screen, were there just to move the story along.
I can't help thinking that the story of Steve Jobs and Apple probably needs a TV mini series type of treatment, because a lot of things were left out of the movie, such as the iPhone and the iPad. The film didn't even mention that Steve Jobs died, so there could well be many people who see the movie about the iPhone guy, and not know he is no longer with us (I can't imagine there would be too many of those around).
Well, that's all. I'm glad I actually did go and see it. I think I'll go an re-read Walter Isaacson's book again.
And if you're interested, here are a few books I've found about Steve Jobs and Apple:
"Leading Apple With Steve Jobs" by Jay Elliot at Amazon.com
"Icon Steve Jobs" by Jeffery S. Young and William L. Simon at Amazon.com
"Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson at Amazon.com
And one of my favourites, "Revolution in the Valley" by Macintosh pioneer Andy Hertzfeld, although it may be hard to get now.
I really like this movie, and to think that because I believed what some of the supposed respected film critics said, I was going to give it a miss. I am coming to the movie from a different angle than most film critics would. I work in the tech industry, and have been involved in technology for the last thirty years. This is my area. I've read a few of the insider books about Apple and I've read a couple on Steve Jobs. The movie is necessarily compressed, otherwise it would go on for 10 hours, and even then, some landmark points are only given a few seconds screen time. It's like a Steve Jobs highlights movie. Fortunately, having read the books, I was able to fill in the gaps, so I knew what everything was and where everything fit. His relationships with his various women was given very little screen time, and the story of the development of the Macintosh, which I admit could fill a movie on it's own, came and went very quickly, but at least it was given a little bit of time.
Ashton Kutcher certainly looks a lot like Steve Jobs. He does this funny walk which started to annoy me a little. I don't even know if the real Steve Jobs actually walked like that. Otherwise I think he did a good job. He won't win an Oscar or anything. Some of the other characters were a little underdeveloped, but in a movie as compressed as this, something had to be sacrificed to fit in the time line I suppose. The only other performance I liked was Dermot Mulroney, as Mike Markkula, who got the money for Apple to get going in the first place. All the other actors, including James Woods, who got about twenty seconds on screen, were there just to move the story along.
I can't help thinking that the story of Steve Jobs and Apple probably needs a TV mini series type of treatment, because a lot of things were left out of the movie, such as the iPhone and the iPad. The film didn't even mention that Steve Jobs died, so there could well be many people who see the movie about the iPhone guy, and not know he is no longer with us (I can't imagine there would be too many of those around).
Well, that's all. I'm glad I actually did go and see it. I think I'll go an re-read Walter Isaacson's book again.
And if you're interested, here are a few books I've found about Steve Jobs and Apple:
"Leading Apple With Steve Jobs" by Jay Elliot at Amazon.com
"Icon Steve Jobs" by Jeffery S. Young and William L. Simon at Amazon.com
"Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson at Amazon.com
And one of my favourites, "Revolution in the Valley" by Macintosh pioneer Andy Hertzfeld, although it may be hard to get now.
Friday 13 September 2013
More Orchids, and Other Flowers...
Donkey Orchid:
Spider Orchid:
Another flower, name unknown to me:
Spider Orchid:
Another flower, name unknown to me:
Wednesday 11 September 2013
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Monday 9 September 2013
Flowers
Here are a few pictures of flowers I took in the park today. I rushed them a little bit so I don't think they are as good as I could get. I was experimenting with a technique to reduce the brightness of the flash, so that the brighter flowers are not so washed out.
Friday 6 September 2013
My New Favourite Springsteen Song
I've just discovered a long lost Springsteen song that is rapidly becoming my favourite Springsteen song of all time.
A few weeks ago I took the plunge and decided to splash out a few bucks and buy a few CDs. One was "Wrecking Ball", one was the "String Quartet Tribute To Springsteen", and one was called "The Promise".
Back in the mid to late seventies, Springsteen released the "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" album. It was his first album in three years, the delay was mainly because of a law suit that kept him out of the studio for a long time. For the project, Springsteen recorded a LOT of songs, about 70 or 80. Some made it onto the Darkness album, but the rest were left in the vaults. Some songs escaped and were released on bootlegs (some of which I have). A couple were gifted to other people, and became big hits (Because the Night was given to Patti Smith and Fire was given to the Pointer Sisters).
Many years later, some more tracks, this time cleaned up, were released on the box set "Tracks". But it wasn't until 2010 that a whole bunch more were polished up and released on a two CD compilation called "The Promise" (There was also a DVD released about the making of the Darkness album, which I bought about a week and a half ago. It's excellent). It was on "The Promise" that I discovered the song "Save My Love"
I didn't actually pick up on this song immediately. I sort of fast forwarded through the tracks initially, just to see what was there. It was only later that I got stuck on Save My Love. Now of course I can't stop listening to it. I play a little bit of guitar, so I even learned how to play it (luckily the chords are easy to play). Of course, I can't really sing....
I actually found a nice audience video of the song on YouTube. Here it is:
"Save My Love" on YouTube
A few weeks ago I took the plunge and decided to splash out a few bucks and buy a few CDs. One was "Wrecking Ball", one was the "String Quartet Tribute To Springsteen", and one was called "The Promise".
Back in the mid to late seventies, Springsteen released the "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" album. It was his first album in three years, the delay was mainly because of a law suit that kept him out of the studio for a long time. For the project, Springsteen recorded a LOT of songs, about 70 or 80. Some made it onto the Darkness album, but the rest were left in the vaults. Some songs escaped and were released on bootlegs (some of which I have). A couple were gifted to other people, and became big hits (Because the Night was given to Patti Smith and Fire was given to the Pointer Sisters).
Many years later, some more tracks, this time cleaned up, were released on the box set "Tracks". But it wasn't until 2010 that a whole bunch more were polished up and released on a two CD compilation called "The Promise" (There was also a DVD released about the making of the Darkness album, which I bought about a week and a half ago. It's excellent). It was on "The Promise" that I discovered the song "Save My Love"
I actually found a nice audience video of the song on YouTube. Here it is:
"Save My Love" on YouTube
Tuesday 3 September 2013
Black and White Orchid
I have a great love of the art of black and white photography I think a black and white photo conveys something that you see only when your eye is not distracted by bright colours. With black and white it's all about shape, light, shadow and mood.
I've tried previously to convert colourful wildflowers to black and white, but unfortunately it just hasn't worked out. Wildflower photos are spectacular precisely because of their rich and vivid colours. You take away the colour and you have a dull picture.
Well, I think I finally have a picture that works well in black and white. It's not as spectacular as the colour version, but I think this is quite a dramatic looking picture. It has a lot of dark and light contrast, and I think I was fortunate to have captured just the right angle.
I've tried previously to convert colourful wildflowers to black and white, but unfortunately it just hasn't worked out. Wildflower photos are spectacular precisely because of their rich and vivid colours. You take away the colour and you have a dull picture.
Well, I think I finally have a picture that works well in black and white. It's not as spectacular as the colour version, but I think this is quite a dramatic looking picture. It has a lot of dark and light contrast, and I think I was fortunate to have captured just the right angle.
Orchid Oil Painting
A photo I took a few days ago caught my eye again. I thought it would make an interesting subject for an oil painting, so I once again fired up Paintshop Pro, pushed a few buttons, and turned the photo into something resembling an oil painting.
Monday 2 September 2013
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