Events

The Gipsy Kings in concert at Wolf Trap

We just got back from the Gipsy Kings concert at Wolf Trap. It was as fun as we expected it to be, and more! I’d never seen them in concert before, and neither had my wife, so nothing prepared us for the ebullient barrage of seven guitars playing in unison. It’s a unique experience, one that you must see to understand. You just don’t get the same effect when you listen to them on a CD. Trust me on this.

The weather was perfect and the venue was great. If you have a chance to see the Gipsy Kings at Wolf Trap, go, today (as I write this, it’s just past midnight). They’re having another concert this evening (Friday), and if you can get seats, go. These are some of the most inexpensive tickets you can buy to go see them on their US tour this summer. While tickets sell for up to $2,000 at other venues, we were able to get orchestra seats for $40 per person at Wolf Trap. That’s a bargain!

I recorded video sequences of the concert, only to have my camera play games with me. First it kept telling me that my freshly charged battery was empty, then it corrupted a few of the video clips I recorded… At least I managed to salvage enough video clips to put together the video you see below. Trust me, the video doesn’t do them justice. They had us dancing on our feet most of the time. People were yelling and whistling and dancing and clapping like there was no tomorrow. My palms are still sore from all that clapping.

➡ Download Gipsy Kings in Concert (M4V, 720×540, 1:28) or view at YouTube or Vimeo

I apologize for not being able to keep the video camera steady. It’s hard to do it while dancing. Enjoy! 🙂

Thoughts

Lobotomized for shopping pleasure

A statuette resembling Aphrodite or Athena, with the top of the head lopped off. Quite common these days, possibly signifying the loss of judgment that is needed when one is to enjoy all that the world has to offer.

Lists

Condensed knowledge for 2008-03-05

Bourne Energy’s RiverStar: a fresh approach to hydropower http://tinyurl.com/34j39h #
Analysts see ‘ringback tones’ becoming an $800 billion industry http://tinyurl.com/2nbd6x #
Ringback tones are one more way for fiscally dumb people to spend their money. Completely pointless ways to show off. #
Nokia Trips the Silverlight Fantastic http://tinyurl.com/3cftxs #
New colors, button-shift and accelerated market expansion for 3-wheel Can?Am Spyder roadster http://tinyurl.com/367mf2 #
The good, the bad, and how to make me cry http://tinyurl.com/3dxp2c #
Creating and Entrapping Terrorists http://tinyurl.com/22x6pk #
The way infants and adults see color is processed in… http://tinyurl.com/33t9ud #
How to Inoculate Your Children Against Advertising http://tinyurl.com/37w87u #
Creating Sidebars That Work http://tinyurl.com/34mhx9 #
Secrets: Another Way to Manage Secret Prefs in your Mac http://tinyurl.com/3543eq #
Airship Dreams http://tinyurl.com/37kkjz #
Daylight savings is found to waste energy http://tinyurl.com/3br78v #
Economical dual-fuel TSI concept from Volkswagen http://tinyurl.com/3agevd #
A new type of car door – the dragonfly wing http://tinyurl.com/3dfum4 #
Illustration: Mabel Lucie Attwell’s Peter Pan and Wendy http://tinyurl.com/32lgdx #
AOL swings doors to its IM service wide open http://tinyurl.com/2zu5ck #
Brace yourselves for a possible actors strike http://tinyurl.com/2ly4qy #
14 Awfully Simple Things to Be Grateful for in Your Daily Life http://tinyurl.com/3y8kg7 #
Are we actually ready for the multicore and virtualization era? http://tinyurl.com/2rul7w #
Prospects for Flash on iPhone dim with Jobs comment http://tinyurl.com/25z7wn #
Tiny Ferris: 1914 http://tinyurl.com/2j2mqg #
All (Baby) Bottled Up in Montmartre http://tinyurl.com/2knaxx #
AT&T to invest 1 Billion worldwide for expansion http://redir.internet.com/rss/click/www.internetnews.com/breakingnews/article.php/3732261 #
Apparently the Google Reader + Twitter Greasemonkey script has a problem with ampersands in the article title. #
8 Lessons Bloggers Can Learn From Sony http://tinyurl.com/2lhnj5 #
Set a Blank Password in Windows XP To Protect the Computer from Internet Attacks http://tinyurl.com/2fwevp #

Reviews

The Beatrix Potter Collection (2008)

The Beatrix Potter Collection (3 DVD set) was just released for sale on 2/12. Ligia and I bought the set just a few days ago, and we’re very happy that we did it. The series was done very well by the BBC. Each DVD contains three animated stories, and each story has a live action introduction filmed in an idyllic English country setting. Some of the live action introductions do repeat, and we found that to be a bit annoying. It would have been ideal if a different intro was filmed for each cartoon, or if only intro was present per DVD, to keep things different.

We love the animation because it looks just like watercolor book drawings that have come to life. The lines are well defined, the colors are wonderfully chosen, and the sound effects almost too real. The movement of the characters is a bit awkward, but I like it because it reminds me once again of their book drawing origin. I can’t say it enough, so I’ll say it again: watching the DVDs is just like seeing the book drawings come to life.

The stories are wonderfully plotted and contain great lessons for the little ones. It’s a pleasure to watch and follow along with the characters. The story-telling is relaxing but won’t put you to sleep. It’s just the right tempo. Some of the stories are a little scary, like that of Pigling Bland or Samuel Whiskers, but the scary scenes are only alluded to, not shown. Still, it’s effective enough to send chills down your spine, so you might want to pick and choose which stories you show to your children based on their age and level of understanding.

Here is what’s included in the set (images of each DVD cover are included below):

The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends
1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny
2. The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies and Mrs. Tittlemouse
3. The Tale of Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddle-Duck
The Tale of Pigling Bland and Other Stories
1. The Tale of Pigling Bland
2. The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or the Roly-Poly Pudding
3. The Tailor of Gloucester
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher and Other Stories
1. The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Mr. Jeremy Fisher
2. The Tale of Mr. Tod: The Further Adventures of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny
3. The Tale of Two Bad Mice and Johnny Town-Mouse

I’m trying to think what other cartoons I can compare them to, and their closest “relative” is probably Little Bear, which is a series about a bear family living in an American forest. The drawing style and movement of the characters is similar, thought the colors aren’t pastels in Little Bear.

I definitely recommend these cartoons. They’re great for children, but you don’t need to be of that age to enjoy them. Ligia and I both found them enjoyable.

Buy The Beatrix Potter Collection

Thoughts

A bouquet of fresh tulips

The following photos are from a recent still life session with a bouquet of tulips, at home. The fresh green and yellow colors floor me every time I look at tulips. I love those colors!

I liked these photos best out of all the ones I took that evening, and decided to publish all of them here. I realize the norm is to pick only a few from each session, but sometimes I have to buck the norm (yes, I said bucking, not the other word). Let me know what you think in the comments.