Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Bill Gates and his sudden charity inch

Obviously people think Bill Gates has sudden and unexplainable urge to give money away to people. Yeah, just like that. Well, to be more exact - to give 245 EUR to everyone who forwards certain spam email to others and they forward it too.

It might sound unbelievable probably because it is but many people obviously think: What the heck, it can't hurt if I try, right? My mailbox says too many...

There should be a new word for describing chain letters since annoying doesn't quite fit anymore. Please stop it.

Bill Gates is rich for a reason. Sending emails is not the reason.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Friday, October 26, 2007

Thursday, October 25, 2007

iCook

Forget Facebook, there's Tastebook, Valley's another interesting startup. This one is for everyone who likes cooking or know someone who likes it. The concept of Tastebook reminds me a little bit on Coolinarika's system, but then again Coolinarika is not only about cooking.











Unlike Coolinarika's offer to print the recipes in a book format and order a book cover from them, Tastebook offers you the whole book for about 25 EURO's. Not so bad and the design is quite catchy too.

I think I'm willing to try it. If nothing else, I can add some of my mom's recipes and give it to her in a book-form as x-mas present. Priceless.

P.S: Two drawbacks: Website is in flash & they don't send Tastebooks outside US :(

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Non-existance

There are at least two weeks per year, when I disappear for most of my friends and family. No hanging around, no partying, no coffee chitchatting or occasional wasting of time. All my every day activities are cut down to minimum and so is my answering the phone. No, it's not preparation for a concert of my life, it's Liffe. During these two weeks I'm hiding from the world in the cinema. And what a lovely place to be indeed.

Today they start selling the tickets and I have a really hard job of careful planning how to include everything I'd like to see. Naturally I want to see all or at least most of them. Especially all Danish films and most of the Extravagance section. Then of course Perspectives, Against the wind and Focus. Avant Premiers can wait till few weeks later, when they come to regular cinema. Unless of course they're showing any of the Lars candies (gimme gimme).

Movie a day keeps the doctor away? I'll take three then!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Dating

It's funny how dating gets more complicated as you grow older. When you are a teenager things are quite simple - it's enough if the person is cute and likes you. Sometimes it's enough even that you're both drunk and there. Not much of getting to know each other and long exhausting talks about meaning of life or your expectations. Of course most of these "relationships" ended up just as quickly as they begun. Well, at least that was my experience.

As you have a couple of "the wrong ones" you eventually become more careful about who you're getting involved with. Especially when you want to avoid meaningless relationships. You are now ready for an upgraded version of the dating game.

Now it's not enough anymore for the person to be cute. No, you want them to be smart, easygoing and fun. Possibly with similar music taste to yours. Somehow I can't imagine myself with anyone who prefers turbo folk, slovenian pop, r'n'b or Britney Spears kinda things. But it doesn't stop there, oh no. Political beliefs matter too. No conservativeness, no anti - ecological or anti-artistic behavior and most of all no obsessions with money, appearance or fanciness.

So what's the deal? Does it get any easier after 30 or do you eventually stop fussing about it? Maybe I'm just too demanding, having too much fun with "the wrong ones" or maybe I just like being single a bit too much :)

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Depeche mode moment

I'm having one. Severely.

The cold is in and so is the time for my winter music.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Blog action day

I have a thing for plants. Being able to produce everything they need (apart from water and soil) they really are self-sufficient. Our romance started on one of those spontaneous and wild student getaways that finish at the seaside around 3 a.m. Sitting on a beach with my friends, finishing a bottle of cheap wine I got one of my unexplainable urges - to hug a tree. So I did. She knows how good that feels and yes, I still do it.

My first "serious" ecological encounters were somehow connected to moving to new apartments, a genuine nightmare of every person who has to rent. It is only then when I noticed how much stuff I managed to accumulate in a year or so. Not to mention most of it was useless decoration and things you keep for the memories sake. So I started to fight my nesting habit by trying to reuse the garbage I couldn't give up. Turbo-ecology full time. My next encounter will include a make over of an old closet. Simply irresistible.

Not only I had a lot of fun making new things out of old ones, it also saved me money for presents, boosted my imagination and reduced the Ikea moment. That's the moment when you realize half of your your friends have exactly the same furniture/clothes/shoes/... as you. Just lovely isn't it?.

I'm not sure when it happened, but today I strangely drawn towards sustainable development. I even changed my mind about wanting SUV as my dream car. I admit seeing lovely Greenpeace commercial bellow helped a lot. I need nature and its goods to relax and enjoy myself so I guess it's fair to give something back. Respect is a good way to start.

Reading about eco towns actually got me thinking about living in some kind of ecological house. After all natural resources offer plenty of opportunities for creative minds, the most eager ones can even turn food into fuel. The pleasure of having your own ecological energy source and growing organic food is not only sustainable, but also means paying less to the System. Now that's a skill for life ;)

I'm glad Blog action day is about environment, even if only for the hype reasons. It is the thought that counts.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Fever

Lately I've been hearing a lot of coughing and sneezing around me but was still kinda hoping it would pass me by without any consequences. Well, think again. For the past two days my throat is sore, my head feels funny (i.e. more than usual) and my nose is running (luckily not in the Kafka kinda of way).

So this song is dedicated to all of you virus providers out there. Special thanks to Black Betty and her generous distribution of bacterias to other bloggers. Luv u too honey :P

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Muse-ic

I just couldn't resist. Today is the day for the Muse fans. Jotaeater is coming and so are Andy D-mashine, Black Betty and many others, including myself.

I've never gone to a rock concert with a sprained ankle before. Will that stop me from jumping around? I doubt it. After all, it's Muse we're talking about ;)

Monday, October 8, 2007

Misheard lyrics

Did it every happen to you that you misunderstood the lyrics of a song? It's quite usual phenomenon with metal or hard rock tracks, where singers scream, mumble or moan to the microphone. For some songs it's even hard to figure out which language they sing in. However it can also happen with totally random songs. Like Status Quo's "In the army now". For some weird reason I thought they were singing "oooooooooooh you're in Miami now" when they actually sung "Oh, oh, you're in the army now". I know it makes no sense at all, but I guess senses sometimes play tricks with our brains (or is it the other way around).

Anyway, funniest misheard lyrics I heard came from my friends. Instead of Relight my fire they heard "We like Papaya". Untill I recently discovered Misheard lyrics. Plenty of fun guaranteed. I chose only few pearls and leave you to discover some more...

The Police: Every Breath You Take

Original Lyrics:
I'll be watching you.

Misheard Lyrics:
I'll be washing you.

Original Lyrics:
How my poor heart aches

Misheard Lyrics:
How my poo hole aches

Original Lyrics:
Every night you stay.

Misheard Lyrics:
Every nacho's dead.

System Of A Down: Aerials

Original Lyrics:
Aerials in the sky
When you lose small mind, you free your life.

Misheard Lyrics:
Aerials in disguise
When you lose your life, you fell alright.
&
Aerials, in the sky
When you lose your mind, you freakin' die.

Madonna: Who's That Girl?

Original Lyrics:
Senorita, mas fina

Misheard Lyrics:
Senorita, must feed her

Madonna: Vogue
Original Lyrics:
Strike a pose.

Misheard Lyrics:
Strike a pony.

U2: One
Original Lyrics:
It's too late tonight to bring the past out into the light.

Misheard Lyrics:
It's too late, tonight, to bring the pasta into the light.

Original Lyrics:
Love is a temple.

Misheard Lyrics:
Love is a tampon.

REM: Shiny Happy People

Original Lyrics:
Shiny happy people laughing

Misheard Lyrics:
Chinese happy people laughing
&
Shiny crappy people laughing.

Original Lyrics:
Shiny happy people holding hands

Misheard Lyrics:
Shiny happy people, holy cow.
&
Shiny, happy ceilings holdings pans

Friday, October 5, 2007

Oldies goldies

Štrudl successfully managed to awaken my grunge nostalgia and once the door was already open... well I just couldn't resist not to dig into my teen favorites. I love them either because of the music, lyrics or fabulously crazy videos.

Unfortunately they don't make them like this anymore and I'll be more than happy if you remind me of anything similar.

Presenting the nostalgic threesome:

Men at work: Land down under


Paul Simon: Call me Al


Prefab Sprout: The King Of Rock 'N' Roll

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Bloger's SIOL soap opera

Finally we got one! And it's all about who was picked for "house bloger" - allegedly blogers who'd get payed for providing content. I'm not gonna repeat the whole story since others have done that for me a couple of times. However I can't help noticing how much fuss the whole thing brought to Slovenian blogosphere.

People are now wondering whether SIOL secretly "infiltrates" its employees in the blogosphere, whether the whole voting thing was fair and whether there will be more "blog deleting" protests to demonstrate one's opinion. What can I think about all of this?
Not much really.

It's just another on-line soap opera to enjoy and will probably soon be forgotten like the ones before. I could care less about who's getting payed for writing (as long as it's not me) or what SIOL does, as I was never too fond of the company anyway. Fame is overrated so I wish only the best to the ones who dare to flirt with it. And the rest I leave to Mudhoney and his Generation Spokesmodel.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

The one and only

Or should I say the one and lonely. Today I read an article about The 10 Rarest Animals in the World. We all know some animals are being extinct so it's not shocking big news and some might even call it the natural cycle of life. However there is something very touching about the whole story. Curious?

Lonesome George, the only existing Pinta Island tortoise. When he dies, his species will extinct. The Charles Darwin Research Station offered an award of $10,000 for a Pinta female. No luck so far. George has never seen any tortoise of his kind or ever mated. He's been living an involuntarily celibacy his whole life.

Now I don't know how George feels (if he feels anything at all) having no company of his own species, but only thinking about it makes me really sad. Even though I hate crowds and would prefer to move someplace less populated (possibly not populated at all) I know I couldn't be completely by myself for the rest of my life. Luckily I have a choice.

This song is for George, the lonesome turtle in the Galapagos.

Beth Gibbons: Mysteries

Monday, October 1, 2007

Happy pizza

One of the essential ingredients of every successful meal is good mood. Anyone who ever tried cooking know dishes taste better if you're not cranky or in a hurry when cooking. Since we don't have any good mood button (which would be handy indeed), the buttons on your recorder will do the trick. For starters pick something romantic and easy going or just put your favorite song on repeat, turn up the volume and you're ready for cooking.

Step 1: Dough
Put flour in a bowl and make a hole in the middle. Usually I take some plain and some wholewheat flour or mix few types together. Warm up 1/2 deciliters of milk (warm not hot), put a teaspoon of sugar in it and half of fresh yeast. Stir it up with spoon until the yeast melts and pour it into the flour. Cover with napkin and leave for 15 minutes (possibly on a warm place).

After 15 minutes it's time to change your record as you will need a song with explicitly positive vibrations. If you're having hard time to choose, I recommend some reggae music - you can never go wrong with that.

Add half teaspoon of salt and 2 spoons of olive oil, some warm water and stir the batter until you get dough. If necessary add more flour and leave to rinse for another 15-30 minutes. Then make dough gently with your hands and add flour/warm water if necessary. Pizza will be much more fluffy, yummy and soft if you don't use the machine for making dough. Roll out the dough into pizza shape. You can use rolling pin for that or drag the dough using your hands (for those more experienced).














Step 2: Pizza making

Put some ketchup or tomato sauce on top of the dough and add vegetables. This time I used corn, fresh mushrooms and zucchini. However also tomatoes, peppers or aubergines are quite delicious. When you've decorated your pizza, add cheese (mozzarella, gauda, other) and spices (oregano, basilica).














Step 3: Baking

Bake pizza for 15 minutes at 200oC. Yup, as simple as that. I assure you your happy pizza will be the most delicious pizza you've tried. Bon apetit!