Bücher

Mini Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Some years ago, I came across Neil Gaiman. A lot of people seemed to like his works and his books also seemed right up my alley. So I read Neverwhere - and wasn't too impressed.

Sure, it's nicely written. It's also a bit of a page-turner, in that you want to know how it ends. So I guess in a way, that's all you can expect from a book? That it makes you want to read it, and read it to the end. However, it left me without the desire to read it again or even read anything else from that author.

Fast-forward a few years. I've become a loyal follower of Amanda Palmer, who happens to be married to that same Neil Gaiman. So, inevitably, there's some crossover. I still don't follow @neilhimself on Twitter, but @amandapalmer often retweets some of his stuff and his Tumblr ended up in my list of RSS feeds, since I like his thoughtful replies to fans about what it takes to be an author.

So I felt it was time to give him another chance. I've read his latest book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I try not to post spoilers.

    Lifelogging

Experiments in Lifelogging, Part 1: First Steps

I like the idea of lifelogging. There are so many moments and events that mean a lot to us when they happen but that we soon forget and we can only wish that we've recorded them when they happened.

I remember seeing photos, years ago, of this guy who had mounted a video camera on himself so that he could record all those precious moments. Of course, it looked ridiculous but secretly I admired him for doing it.

Fast-forward to 2013 and there's Google Glass. And there's this Kickstarter project that promises a camera in a tiny and discreet format that you could wear all the time. Technology has finally reached a point where being able to record those moments automatically and discreetly becomes possible. So I decided to back the project.

After a 10-month delay (during which we were kept informed of all the reasons for the delays), and after a name change, my camera finally arrived.

    Bücher

Lesestoff Overload

In unserer Familie schenkt man sich tatsächlich noch Dinge zu Geburtstagen und zu Weihnachten. Also nicht so "wir schenken uns nix" und dann gibt's doch was, sondern so richtig traditionell mit Wunschzettel und allem.

    Musik

The Bulgarian Voices im Theaterhaus

Irgendwo müsste hier noch die CD "Das Geheimnis der Bulgarischen Stimmen" herumfliegen. Eine Doppel-CD, wenn ich mich recht entsinne. Wahrscheinlich sogar zwei davon (Volume 1 und 2). Gehört habe ich die aber schon sehr lange nicht mehr.

Es war also ein Anflug von Nostalgie und ein bisschen "irgendwie passt das doch zur Weihnachtszeit, oder?", das mich an diesem Sonntag Abend ins Theaterhaus brachte, um mir den Chor "The Bulgarian Voices" anzuhören.

    Unsortiert

Babylon 5 revisited

In den letzten Monaten habe ich mir noch einmal die komplette Fernsehserie Babylon 5 angesehen, dieses Mal auch komplett mit allen Filmen und Ablegern.