iPad conclusion

Okay, I decided to screw the iPad idea and just pick up a laptop computer instead. When it came down to it, paying a bit extra for a fully blown laptop seemed better smarts than spending a whole lot of dough on something with which I would only use a few of the features (movies, e-books).

I picked up a pretty swanky Sony down at the local electronics market in downtown Daegu, about AU$100 cheaper than other places. It should get a lot of use this July when I fly over to Perth.

Here's a link to a Korean site with info on the laptop in question. Mine's the electric blue one hahaha! If you can't read Korean just skip down to the bottom area and you'll find the specifications listed around there. ^^

No other news as yet... Enjoy your week!

~Andy.
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Board Games

I was up in Seoul on the weekend, and came back with a couple of board games. I picked up Apples To Apples Junior specifically for my LEI conversation classes (I have used the regular Party Box version of the game with success, but had to take a bunch of the cards out that I knew they just would have no idea about), and I bought Stone Age kinda for me, but also possibly for classes if the opportunity arises. Here are some more Stone Age photos, if you are interested.

Apples to Apples is great for these classes, as up to 10 people can play, which means pretty much the whole class (LEI classes are not regular credit classes, so they are smaller and more casual). Stone Age's maximum is 4 players, but I can be tricky and put students into pairs to work together as partners during the game.

We'll see how it goes! ^^

Sacheon

So, it was Children's Day on Wednesday May 5th, which is a public holiday here in South Korea. I ended up driving down to Sacheon (about 2 hours drive from Daegu) to catch up with a friend for the day. I'd never been to Sacheon or the surrounding area before, so it was great to finally get down there. Minju was a great host - I think I managed to pay for just a single thing while I was down there... The tables will be turned when you come to Daegu, girl! ^^

We mostly drove about on an impromptu guided tour of the area, and we both took a few photos while doing so. It was a great day, even if I was a bit knackered during classes on the Thursday! I left Daegu about 8:30am and didn't get back home until 12:30am that night...

I haven't processed many pics from the trip yet - here's one for now, and possibly more added later. Click the pic for a larger version:

Cat Poo Coffee!

Yeah! I stumbled on this Kopi Luwak link via TasteSpotting.

I visited a great coffee shop out in Chungju earlier this year (thanks Matt!) and noticed they had the cat poo coffee there too - at 50,000won a cup. I didn't try it, but I will have to do so one of these days... ^^

This blog entry title is extra good for me, because I have a cat whose name is Coffee, and she does poo sometimes. Not that I'd ever try home-made cat poo coffee, I'm just saying... yeah anyway.

The Valley is coming!

I just noticed that more band names have appeared on the Jisan Valley Rock Festival website. Looks like it's turning out to be a really great event! I'm heading up there for the 3 days with some good friends (Eli, Annelie, and Juntae). Initially I knew Massive Attack and Muse were gonna be playing, and that was enough to organize tickets. We got in really early, so managed to get 3-day passes for just under the price of the 2-day passes.

I also just saw that Muse has a little thing up on that website saying choose the set list: vote for your favorite tracks now - woohooooo! Off to do some voting!!

Hanging out for the end of July! ^^

Where Do My Bluebird Fly?

The Tallest Man On Earth (aka Kristian Matsson) performing his song 'Where Do My Bluebird Fly?' live for a radio program. Simply stunning...

The Night Angel Trilogy

So I just picked up Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy, and I'll hopefully get stuck into it sometime soon. From what I have read online, it seems to be a really good fantasy, and I think I don't read enough of those these days! The whole assassin thing sounds pretty interesting, even if the covers look like they've been completely ripped from Assassin's Creed haha!

Older photos

So, here are some photos I have taken over the last few years. I'll put a little bit of info under each one. Click the pics for larger versions:

One of my favorites, I think. Taken on the east coast of South Korea, around the start of sunset. I really like the way the colors came out.

Something a little different from what I usually do. Set up inside my apartment with a feather, some olive oil, and a splash of Australian red wine. ^^

A butterfly resting at the Butterfly Farm in Penang, Malaysia.

A lantern in the shape of a deer in Chungju, South Korea. One of my few attempts at HDR (High Dynamic Range).

A sunset taken at a beach in Langkawi, Malaysia. I really wanna go back there; it was an amazing place!

That will do for now - hopefully I'll add some new stuff once I dust off the camera and get out and about very soon! ^^

So, photos...

I've come to the conclusion that it has been too long since I posted some of my photos here. This will be rectified very soon, first with some examples of older stuff I have done in the last few years, and then hopefully soon with new stuff! Spring is meant to be here (although you wouldn't know it last night, as we got a little snow even now!), and that means things should get nice and green and sunny again!

iPad - some of the cons...

Yeah, so I was really thinking about getting an iPad as soon as I could find one here in Daegu, South Korea. I still really like the idea, and I don't mind the size factor at all - kinda neat when on a plane or a long trip, where you could read without squinting or watch a movie without the small screen detracting from the experience.

However, Tycho's news-post over at Penny Arcade made me stop and think a bit more about it. One of the things at the forefront of me picking one up was the eReader aspect. However, I'm quite surprised that Tycho seems to think it's not up to scratch with a 'specialized' device, such as the Kindle...

I was also a little shocked when I read elsewhere (admittedly some time back) that the iPad can't multitask. As the messenger said to King Leonidas, "This is madness!" However, I really hope Steve Jobs and Co. sort out the niggles and hassles currently associated with the iPad via the system-update feature in the OS. Once that happens, I will quite happily be kicked down the well to the shout of, "Madness? ... This is Apple!"

iPad manufacturing costs?

This is from the Korean edition of zdnet. Quite interesting to see the breakdown of parts, total manufacturing cost, and then the final retail cost. Click here to check it out.

~Andy.
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Ion Engines for space breakthrough

I was chatting to Fitharn a little earlier today, and this came up.

"The European Space Agency and the Australian National University have successfully tested a new design of spacecraft ion engine that dramatically improves performance over present thrusters and marks a major step forward in space propulsion capability."

Click here for more detail. Gogogo ANU! :)

Sambakza animations

Tonight I stumbled upon a flash animation series I had seen a while back, but forgot about. It's very well done, and although it is Korean, the message in the flash is pretty much universal. The music in the series is really good as well - a couple of songs that were popular here in Korea back when the animations were made. Click here to go straight to the page where you can choose the original "There She Is", and also "There She Is (Step 2)". The rootpage for the site is here - Sambakza. You can choose to view the site in Korean, or English.

Check it out - the two episodes so far are well worth watching, and more seems to be on the way in the future...

//March 2010 Edit: All 5 Steps have been completed for quite a while now - well worth watching! ^^

~an-nyong!
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