The Hobbit

Yesterday the Silva's went to The Hobbit, and it was amazing. First of all the cinematography was stunning. I really loved the 48 frames per second filming. This film made you feel like you were there. Not like any other, this is 3D at it's best!

Be prepared, this thing is long. Real long. But what an adventure. The scenes with Golem were just brilliant. I laughed, feared and basically was there with Bilbo as he dealt with this unexpected character. Golem's psychosis was clearly prevalent but also painful to see. In the end, Bilbo felt pity for him as did all the viewers.

If you haven't seen this one, do. This is by far the best film I have seen in 2012, if not in many years.

No spoilers here but there is so much to talk about !

Cheers to, The Queen of Mysteries

I just finished, The Grand Tour, today. What an interesting read. I truly enjoyed it. Not only the insight into the great Agatha Christie. But also the historical aspect. This book offers a real look into the way things were right after WW1. I especially liked the old photographs.

If you were thinking of picking this one up after reading my first post, I can confirm. It's a winner!

I just wish I'd had a slower week, I would have finished it much faster.

Read A Good Book Lately?

Like most of you, I am an avid reader. And many years ago I fell in love with mystery novels. The phase was brief but memorable. One of my favorite suspense and mystery authors is Agatha Christie. Not only do I love her stories, but I was impressed with her as a pre-World War Two female writer. I know, much of her popular work was published much later, but she was actively writing in the early 1920’s. 

Luckily, I stumbled upon a book released Agatha Christies’ grandson, Mathew Prichard: The Grand Tour; Around the World with the Queen of Mystery.

This book is the travel diary, letters and photos from a world tour that Agatha Christie and her husband took in 1922. They set off from London with The British Empire Exhibition in January of 1922, and traveled the globe.

Reading this gives one a real insight into a great author. How she thinks and feels. Interestingly, it also lets us peek into an era. Just coming out of World War One, the world was a much different place than it is now. This was the beginnings of prosperity and start of what was called the “Roaring Twenties.”

I am in the middle of this book and am in love. The photos are great and the letters are wonderful to read. Once finished, I’ll write more, my opinions, feeling and thoughts about this one. But for now, I am enjoying the ride.

The Book:

The Grand Tour

Agatha Christie, by her grandson- Mathew Prichard

What to see at the movies

You all know that I love movies. I enjoy going as a family, and when traveling for my job, I'll even go alone. So what have I seen recently and what can I recommend?

Last weekend we went to see, Here Comes The Boom. This was one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. Kevin James was great and Henry Winkler was amazing. Even Selma Hayek was good. I don't want to ruin the film for you, so I won't go into details but this is a great family movie. There are some scenes of violence where Kevin James fights in the ring but nothing overly bloody.

I was surprised how loudly the audience laughed. We all just loved this movie.

Get out to the movies and enjoy, Here Comes The Boom. German title, Schwergewicht

Finished for the day

Yep, today is coming to an end. Worked pretty hard and published a couple of pieces in the international Android blog, Androidpit.

It's fun to write. Even at work, when I have a moment free I tend to throw down on my iPad. The tablet has really enabled me in terms of writing. I have it with me in meetings and just about everywhere. When in meetings, if they get a bit boring, I'll just start to write. And of course everyone thinks I'm taking notes. It is not really the iPad that is special, it is having a great medium for writing in a small package. If it was an Android tablet or a Microsoft one, it really wouldn't matter. Something light, thin and extremely portable is all you need as a writer.

So I'm going to eat something, have a drink with my colleagues and head home for the day. Life is good. With thanksgiving coming up I feel good about being in Germany. No turkey stress.

Got to run. Time to relax a bit. Have a nice night and a great turkey day tomorrow.

Another great film

The wife and I watched, Lawless last night. This was a very good movie. Shia Laboeuf is great in it and I loved the setting. A quick prep: the film is set in prohibition Virgina where moonshine is flowing and the gangs of Chicago are killing each other over the profits. A small family of moonshiners, the Bondurants' are doing fine. They have an honest but tough reputation and are not interested in the gangs or their corrupt politicians. Especially not the police coming in setting up moonshine networks. As a consequence they are confronted with the corrupt police and have to respond accordingly.

This movie is based on a true story and a great book called, The Wettest County In The World. I recommend two things, one, read the book. Two, enjoy the movie, we did.

The Book

Samsung has released a hot new update for their Galaxy S2

If, like me you are a happy Galaxy S owner then you are about to get more happy, eh- or happier…
A pre-release of Samsung’s new JellyBean firmware 4.1.2 has just hit the net and it is smooth, real smooth. If you have a Galaxy S2 get out and test this Rom. I have been running it for a few days now and I love it. Google’s project Butter really shines here. This thing is fast, smooth as silk and has some really nice functionality built in. And most of all, it is nice to see that the S2 still has some fight left in him, and can be competitive on the market. With 4.1.2 installed my device feels like a new smooth handset. It is easily as smooth and the new quad core Tegra devices I have played with. The best is still yet to come. This is a pre-release, and is so smooth I just can’t imagine what the full release will bring. This is easily good enough as a daily driver- so read the instructions below, install it and have fun. Oh, and when the final comes, I’ll make sure you know. Below is news and details from Sammobile.
———————————————————————————————————-
We of SamMobile would like to give you the latest I9300XXLSJ Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Test firmware for the Galaxy S II. I9100XXLSJ is the first ever Jelly Bean leak for the Galaxy S II and surprisingly it’s really stable as well. This TEST Firmware was leaked by Forum Member izap of XDA-Developers.
This build is very much near perfect so we believe that Samsung will actually start rolling out the Official Jelly Bean update for the Samsung Galaxy S II very soon. The day Samsung starts to roll out the official update you will be able to install the latest update through Kies or OTA update.
Some of the Enhancements in the new Jelly Bean Update:
- Buttery Smooth Performance & Great Stability (Thanks to Project Butter)
- New TouchWiz Nature UX (Same UI as of the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II)
- Samsung’s Cloud services
- Direct Call, Smart Stay and Pop-up Play Features
- New Widgets From the Galaxy S III
- 2 Home screen modes
- New Notifications bar
- Google Now

This is a PRE-RELEASE version so not official from KIES.
As this is a PRE-RELEASE firmware so expect some minor bugs.

Firmware Details: 
Android Version: 4.1.2 – JZO54K (Jelly Bean)
PDA: I9100XXLSJ
CSC: I9100OXXLS1
MODEM: I9100XXLS6
Changelist: 462349
Build Date: 6th November 2012

Download: http://www.sammobile.com/2012/11/15/i9100xxlsj-%E2%80%93-galaxy-s-ii-android-4-1-2-jelly-bean-test-firmware/

Yes, that's one of the reasons I'm back.

I travel and work a lot, so most of my blogging has to be done on the road. Actually, mostly on my iPad.

Google finally released a clean version of Blogger for iOS. I tried the older version but it was not worth the effort.

Don't get me wrong, this is no where near where Wordpress is in functionality. At least I can blog. It works and most of the bugs are gone. So I am back!

I hope you all get back on board with me.

Chris

Loving' the movies right now!

With Christmas coming soon all the great movies of 2012 are starting to come out on disc. Susi and I had a great couple of evenings just sitting back and enjoying great flicks.

We had a great time watching, Skyfall, the new Bond movie, The Dark Knight Rises and Savages. All three were good.

Savages let me down a bit, and I was surprised by some of the choices made by Oliver Stone. He seemed bent on a new style (Tarantino). This is sad because he is a damn good director and has his own flair. Where it during the filming of Savages I'll never know.

Skyfall, was a solid Bond movie and I'm pleased to see this franchise back on track. Bond was right where he needed to be, drunk and tormented. This is how he is in the books and this is how he should be. The last movie, Quantum- whatever left me dissatisfied. So thumbs up for Skyfall.

Best of all, The Dark Night Rises, came in on top. I truly enjoyed this film. Oldman was great as usual, and Bane was simply an awesome nemesis. The twist at the end (not going to give it away) was a super surprise and fit in just right. It's the, "How in the hell could I have missed that,"moment. As Robin materialized in the end I simply nodded, good movie.

Wow, where have I been?

Dear all, sorry that I have been away for so long. I committed myself to my my other blog, An IT Evangelist Abroad.

I have had a bit of success with my other blog, and some great followers. Sadly, this blog has paid dearly for this commitment.

So it's time. Time to get this, my first blog, up and running again. I'll try and post daily now, and even if it's just my thoughts.

So stay tuned.

Chris