Amit Schreiber's Blog | הבלוג של עמית שרייבר
Muse’s new album, The Resistance, is about to be out on sale. For now you can listen to it online (site registration required to hear full tracks.)
While Muse are still very good, The Resistance sounds the same as the previous two albums. Not necessarily a bad thing but I was hoping for something different than what I’ve already heard. Some of the songs sound like pop to me, but I guess my own preference has also changed over time. Right now I’m not even sure I’ll buy the new album.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been programming for fun. I haven’t done this in a very long time and I’m very happy to find a worthy purpose for my free time. I started implementing my call-again-if-urgent cellphone mode, called Dindy now (DND… Dindy… get it? oh well) on the Android platform provided by Google.
Google provides an SDK and documentation that make it very easy to start working with Android – basically a very helpful Eclipse plugin with an emulator that actually runs the phone’s code, so you can test your application immediately. As for the specifics of my application – at first I had to find out the APIs for getting an incoming call’s state and how to realize a call was missed. Once I had that, the basic functionality was done after a few days.
However, I find myself agonizing over the creation of the preferences GUI. GUI programming has so many patterns for separating logic from presentation that it becomes a steeper curve to learn how to program for it than it is for the “low level” stuff. Preference objects, database helpers, view adapters, numerous factories – all needed just to let the user modify a not-so-large set of options. Granted, there is one complexity in Dindy’s preferences – the existence of dynamic profiles for which I had to create a small database. But still… it’s just too complicated.
I already demoed the basic implementation I currently have to a few people and got some positive and negative feedback. Once I have something complete with a polished UI I might post some screenshots here. I still don’t know if I want to charge money for it and whether I want to open the source (the two don’t contradict.) I might try charging a small amount at first (up to 2$ a pop) just to see what happens.
Oh… and eventually I’ll have to get myself an Android-based phone and see how the application works. It’s all nice and cosy in the emulator, but in real life things may get tough :)
Today I witnessed a pretty big road accident moments after it happened. One car crashed into the rear side of another in an intersection. I got there right when the drivers came out of their cars, the offending car’s driver stunned, the offended car’s driver shouting in anger and later on crying for help as he noticed his backseat passenger was apparently out-of-conscience.
I was “first in line” to watch this horror. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go around the accident – to drive away meant I had to drive right through the place where everything was happening. But I couldn’t do anything to help them either – other drivers were already assisting and calling emergency services. Helplessness is one of the feelings I hate most, right up there with anger and being cheated. I usually try to avoid news and current events, partly because I have nothing to do about them anyway.
After about a minute or two it became obvious that I had to continue driving so I did. I drove very slowly between the cars and went on my way. Later on in that same drive on the way home I nearly reared into another car myself as the driver in front of me illegally tried to continue straight ahead from a left-only lane and had to stop immediately when he nearly crashed himself into someone who was legally turning left.
I drove to the closest coffee shop I could find and stopped to relax (and write this post.) I don’t think I was ever happier to get out of my death trap car.
I’m shamelessly stealing from Joel Spolsky now:
If you’ve ever heard Seth [Godin] speak, you’ve had your mind blown. Which is why, on the rare occasion, when he runs a one-day seminar, he charges $1650 to attend, and it sells out in seconds.
A while ago I said I was going to blog more personally, but this is truly the most fascinating talk about marketing I’ve ever seen. Watch the first few minutes and if you’re bored forget about it. But give it a chance. Seth Godin truly understands why people buy products and how you can get a (or your) product to succeed.
(if you can’t see the video, try its page on blip.tv)
Omar Rodriguez Lopez is the mastermind behind one of my favorite bands, The Mars Volta. He also has a side project, currently called “El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez” (the new group of Omar Rodriguez Lopez), which already has over 5 LPs under its belt. You can listen to all of them free of charge here. These albums are very diverse in sound but definitely have all the great elements you can expect from a The Mars Volta album along with very hard-to-digest parts that take a few listens to get used to.
I’m currently listening to the last album, Cryptomnesia (player embedded below), and I love it. I’ll probably get the earlier ones as well as soon as I move to my new apartment. I like owning CDs even when there’s a digital download option.
The Prodigy released the fourth video from their latest album. “Take Me To The Hospital” is one of my favorite tracks on the album and a smash live hit.
I got my ticket to the next Prodigy show. It will be held in Prague on November 27th. I bought front stage tickets again and this time it’s a dedicated Prodigy show, not a festival, so it should be even more fun. I really enjoyed the reserved front stage experience.
Some parts of my body still hurt from Saturday’s show but my voice is pretty much back to normal. I think I’m going to take it easy this weekend.
If you want to join me drop me a line. This is one experience that’s fun to share.
p.s.
I can’t figure out why sitting tickets to The Prodigy are almost as expensive as front stage tickets. Not only is the sound distorted in the balcony, but who sits in a Prodigy concert?
I decided to stay at the hotel until I left for the festival. The reason was the failed scam attempt from yesterday – it made me feel unsafe in the streets of Istanbul. I got to the festival early (9 hours before The Prodigy got on stage) to see bands I would have probably never seen otherwise: Howling Bells were pretty good but not my kind of music. Jane’s Addiction were good and Dave Navarro (their guitarist) is really amazing. Nine Inch Nails – well, I think that when it was time for them to go on stage (before The Prodigy) I was already exhausted from the long wait so I couldn’t enjoy the music which was obviously very good.
The big surprise for me was Juliette Lewis. The music and lyrics are very good but the highlight of the show is her performance: she has so much energy on stage – I don’t know how she manages to sing and move like that at the same time. She pretty much makes love with the crowd (in action and words) up to the point where she takes her shirt off and is left with a bikini top.
After the long 9 hours wait The Prodigy finally came on stage. I completely forgot about my fatigue and the backaches I experienced earlier from standing so long. I had a front stage ticket so for the first time I was in the front 2-3 rows in a Prodigy show. Since the number of people in the front stage area was limited, there was enough room to go crazy.
So how was my fifth Prodigy show this year? Right now my voice is husky and I have a little limp in my right leg so you can tell I enjoyed myself a lot. I have to find another Prodigy show to go to. I have my sights set on Madrid in December.
I can barely keep my eyes open here at Ataturk airport in Istanbul. And I still have to work today. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some shuteye.
As always, when I get to a new place, I started walking around aimlessly. I’m very close to the tourist attraction that is Taksim Square and Istiklal street so that’s where I chose to go. I walked for a few hours and enjoyed it a lot. I can’t explain what exactly I enjoy when I walk around foreign places. It’s not like I’m interested in buying anything or going to a specific attraction. I just enjoy the walking.
I feel really comfortable in Istanbul but I can’t explain this either. I wonder if it’s because of the “travelling experience” I got from the trip at the beginning of the year or if it’s something specific about this place. People here are nice, helpful and inviting and that’s all it takes to make me feel comfortable.
I went to rest for a few hours and then went out again. This time the streets were swarming with so many people walking around, sitting in the various restaurants and pubs in extreme density. Then the lights went out – a complete blackout of the entire area. Everyone went “oooohhhhh” and there was a lot of laughing, whistling and clapping. It was funny. Consequently, power generators kicked in. Apparently blackouts are expected and most businesses are ready for them. But then the street was still darker and noisier with the sound of generators.
After walking around some more I decided to go back to the hotel. Sitting alone in such commotion on a Diet Coke doesn’t appeal to me. On the way back this very friendly man tried to con me into sitting with him in a pub. Unlike that time I was scammed in Bangkok, I departed from him as soon as I realized he was after something. At least I’ve learned my lesson. Looking it up on the Internet it appears as though I managed to dodge the Turkish Single Male Scam.
Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today. Nothing exciting, but still…
I’m in Istanbul. I arrived at the hotel pretty late, so I don’t have much to report. I got here partly by Metro, which was a good thing because I got to ride it with locals and that’s always interesting. Then I got a taxi instead of a bus for the rest of the way because I was too tired to start asking around which bus I should take (also, at night things seemed a little shady.)
The three young guys manning the hotel at nights were expecting me and immediately took care of my bags and thirst. My room was upgraded, too, which leads me to think that I’m currently the sole guest currently staying in the hotel. Which I don’t mind even one bit, but we’ll see in the morning during breakfast.
Tomorrow I’m going to walk around a bit. Hopefully the kind staff here will be able to point me to some interesting places.
