Music – Kasperian Moving Parts

The Palm Is Dead. Long Live The Palm!

Thursday May 28, 2009

I believe I am one of the last few die-hard nutjobs on the face of this earth who still use (and “use” here is a highly subjective word meaning that I have a bunch of Palm devices lying around, am currently the only semi-active (and “semi-active” means that I get probably a good 2 hours of KPilot hacking in per year =:( ) KPilot developer, and occasionally even turn some of them on) Palm PDA devices. I have successfully resisted the siren call of the iPhone for the last 2+(?) years–partly because there is no functional synchronization solution between my Linux desktop and it, partly because it’s pretty bloody expensive, partly because Cingular has atrociously high data plans compared to Read more…

KDE, KPilot, Movies, Music

Getting Excited about KDE4 All Over Again

Tuesday April 15, 2008

It started to hit me yesterday as I spent 3.5 hours in this year’s KDE Google Summer of Code mentor’s meeting (thanks again sebr!!). KDE4 just plain rocks, and it feels good to start getting excited about it again. And I don’t just mean KDE 4.0. Don’t get me wrong, KDE4.0 is a nice little release. It’s not perfect and there are some things that are irritating about it and keep me from using it as my main DE. But like Aaron has been saying over and over and over again, KDE4.0 is not KDE4. KDE4.0 is more of a preview of things to come, and what I see coming just plain kicks butt. I am finally getting excited about Read more…

Movies, Music, Video Games

Stream This!

Monday April 7, 2008

Last in our series of “when will that Jason kid shut up?!?” is this short, little ditty wherein I extol the wonders of an ancient Linux file server in my basement with a 250GB drive, my shiny (SHINY!!!) new PS3, my PSP, and the nifty little Open Source project of MediaTomb. Being out of the “being able to spend mad money on Geek toys” for a while (having a family will do that to ya), I was ill-prepared for this new-fangled UPnP thing. As I was setting up my (DANGED AWESOME!!!) PS3, I breezed by the UPnP settings (I don’t need no steenking directions!) with nary a second glance. However, after reading up on the PS3’s media streaming abilities a Read more…

Music

In-Ear Headphones and Puking Yer Guts Out?

Monday February 25, 2008

I bought $180 of in-ear headphones to try out (the Shure SE210’s and the Sennheiser CX300’s) and both of them, I think, made me feel dizzy to the point of falling over and feeling like I was going to hurl my guts out the next morning. I’ve blogged previously about motion sickness, but this is just frightening and frustrating and badness. Does this make any sense to anyone? Is it possible to be predisposed to dizziness and room-spinning-ness? Are in-ear, noise-isolating headphones known for making you feel dizzy, causing the room to spin on you, and not take effect until the next morning? I felt fine while I was listening to them. But after I took them off, went to Read more…

Movies, Music

Following The Ninth

Sunday February 17, 2008

I was going to update my previous post about the amazing movie, Copying Beethoven, with this, but I am sufficiently taken to generate a new post. Kerry Candaele commented on my last post with a link to his forthcoming movie called Following The Ninth, so I visited his site and I am very, very impressed. The short, 7-minute preview of his work in progress fully echoes my thoughts and feelings about Beethoven and his amazing Ninth Symphony. Even better, it shows the impact that the Ninth is still having in our generation today. One of my favorite quotes from the clip: “This piece enters your bloodstream and then changes who you are. The entire blueprint of everything… of society, of Read more…

Movies, Music

Beethoven: Still Imminently Magical

I just watched one of the most amazing movies that I have ever seen: the excellent Copying Beethoven. I have always been deeply fascinated with the genius that is Ludwig van Beethoven. I grew up listening to my mom playing his pieces on our piano, and have enjoyed the complexity and overwhelming emotion found both in the observation and participation of his immense talent. In particular, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has something that resonates in my soul like nothing else ever has. The second movement (Molto vivace – Presto) has such passion and raw power and ferocity and strength and beauty and peace!!! It is everything that life should have in it, and I am amazed at Beethoven’s ability to make Read more…

Life in General, Music

Return of the Singer

Wednesday January 16, 2008

One artist that I’ve always admired is Kevin Max. I always enjoyed his voice in dc Talk, and though he hasn’t enjoyed the success that TobyMac or Michael Tait, I think he’s every bit as talented. I just found a nice little interview with the man and I must say, I LOVE the new look, Kevin. =:D This is what I’m aiming for… my new look. =;) Some bits that I totally identify with: So how would you say life is different from five years ago? Max: As a 40-year-old, I think it’s a time for me to mellow. The kids keep me on my toes, but I’m really more of a family guy as opposed to a guy who’s Read more…

Music

Sun’s Search Inside the Music

Monday October 1, 2007

Man, I’m a geek! I just couldn’t bring myself to go to sleep tonight at 10:00, like a good (smart) boy, and instead of hacking on KPilot or doing something else productive, I watched an extremely cool web presentation from Sun’s JavaOne Technical Sessions. That’s right… I chose to watch a Sun web presentation instead of TV or a movie. That makes me… a geek, yep… just checking…. I was totally blown away, 4 years ago, at BorCon when I got to see Sun’s Project Looking Glass demo. Jonathon Schwartz did a fantastic job of demoing it, and he did so following an especially obnoxious and irritating Microsoft presentation. I still remember walking out of the room with my friend, Read more…

Apples, Google, KDE, Life in General, Linux, Movies, Music, Video Games

Warning: a brain dump followeth: Blockbuster has sweetened their deal by allowing in-store trade-ins of online-rented movies. This, to me, blows NetFlix out of the water, since NetFlix does not yet have a brick-and-mortar presence anywhere (?). And, because we signed up with Blockbuster a while ago, we still get to keep our 2 free movie-or-game rental coupons per month too. Pretty cool! As a result, we’ve been watching tons of movies as of late, including the Indiana Jones trilogy (forgot how good they were!!). I’ve been a busy little beaver over the last few weeks, OSS-code-wise, anyway. Adriaan and I have whipped kpilot into shape proper-like, it seems. I’ve spent a decent chunk of time twice now and merged Read more…

Music

The W’s – Fourth From the Last

Thursday August 17, 2006

the w’s – fourth from the last, originally uploaded by vanRijn. If for no other reason than the amazingly cool, self-deprecating, ska/punk album cover, you have GOT to love this one!! =;)