29
Sep
2009
Last weekend I had some time to take some photos of my home town Regensburg; unfortunately I had forgotten my camera, so a mobile phone camera had to do the job. The sunny weather motivated me to take a walk along the Danube. The old town with the cathedral (just called “Dom”) reside above the river which is crossed by an old stone bridge. The other pictures were taken near the train station at Ernst-Reuter-Platz and in front of the Arkaden, a commercial centre with a bridge connecting it to the station.
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23
Sep
2009
![Santa Inferno - [2009] Desert Music](http://www.ojdo.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/santa_inferno-desert_music_cover_large-150x150.jpg "Santa Inferno - [2009] Desert Music")
This is the first review I write in which my opinion about the music is ambiguous. Santa Inferno has released this very intense rock album, yet in a – probably artistically justified – horrible sound quality. While I find this style fitting for their more aggressive tracks it spoils my listening experience. Let me show you what I mean by two representative tracks which well cover the scope of the whole album.
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17
Sep
2009
5 more photos of the Technical University Munich. (The first can be found in this post.) This time I visited empty lecture rooms and tried to capture their… erm… special atmosphere. The university’s rooftop has turned into a construction site which will last until 2010.
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16
Sep
2009
![Diablo Swing Orchestra – [2009] The Butcher's Ballroom](http://www.ojdo.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/folder-150x150.jpg "Diablo Swing Orchestra – [2009] The Butcher's Ballroom")
Take Nightwish’s voice, add a Cello played like Apocalyptica and mix it with a skilled hard rock band and – voilà – you can imagine how the Diablo Swing Orchestra sounds. Their music is a wild mixture of (partially Symphonic) Metal, Rock, Jazz, Swing and Blues; sometimes they make me think of Mr. Bungle (another great Band, by the way), yet they always stay within the limits of melodic music.
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13
Sep
2009
Yesterday I visited the Streetlife Festival in Munich which takes place since the year 2000 and is located prominently right on Leopolstraße between Münchner Freiheit and Odeonsplatz. Its main idea is to inform people about means of transportation which can replace use of cars in cities. In addition to that, other non-profit organisations present themselves and their work. Artists perform music, theatre or dance and make it fun to just walk along the whole area which is about 1.5 km long.
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24
Aug
2009
I usually don’t post plain links to stuff I found on the internet. But this is an exception. This web comic on the right is just so true. The author of this (and 626 other) comic strip(s) is Randall Munroe. On his homepage xkcd he publishes new comics three times a week.
Other episodes I find worth to be mentioned are: Geohashing because of its originality and the idea of creating this “random adventure generator”. Height, a logarithmic overview from the border of the observable universe down to us. Random number: simplistic and funny. Other motives are quite romantic with a mathematical flavour, like in Useless. A final hint: read the tooltips which appear when you place the mouse over the comic image. The tooltip for the comic I included here says:
‘Hey Megan, it’s your father. How do I print out a flowchart?’
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07
Aug
2009
This album popped up at Jamendo when I was searching for free Breakbeat music. This genre is most prominently occupied by artists like The Chemical Brothers or The Crystal Method. While there are some similarities, the obviously German artist of this release has his own characteristic style. The essentials are all there: punching drums, ultra-cool bass riffs, synthetic sound effects. But as I said, something is different:
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29
Jul
2009
Recently I visited the Museum Brandhorst which had opened on 21 May 2009. It features modern paintings, sculptures and video installations. These works are presented in an astonishing building which not only looks good but is also built with respect to energy efficiency. Sadly I can only show you pictures from the outside here.
Read on for more details and links to spectacular panoramic views of the interior.
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22
Jul
2009
This week’s release comes from the netlabel Sutemos. It features experimental ambient electronic music. This remix album features several versions of some very good songs; the general sound is a calm soundscape blended with instrument samples whose appearance structures the songs. Well produced vocals with whispered voices are the label’s distinct feature. Read on to see which tracks I like most.—A technical novelty in this review is an integrated flash player for quick previewlisten of two tracks without the need to leave the page.—(Artwork by Leon Somov)
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15
Jul
2009
Fossil resources, i.e. coal, oil and gas, are finite. This fact is not surprising, but is worth to be mentioned. Its direct consequence is that in near future we will have to be able to generate (more precisely: convert) all energy we consume from renewable sources. This need is independent from any consequences that arise from the combustion of fossil fuels (i.e. greenhouse effect). The climate change just adds another “incentive” to realise that necessary shift more quickly. This article tries to give a non-exhaustive overview over the current dependency on fossil fuels and scenarios of possible replacements.
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![Santa Inferno - [2009] Desert Music](http://www.ojdo.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/santa_inferno-desert_music_cover_large.jpg "Santa Inferno - [2009] Desert Music")
![Diablo Swing Orchestra – [2009] The Butcher's Ballroom](http://www.ojdo.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/folder.jpg "Diablo Swing Orchestra – [2009] The Butcher's Ballroom")
