Music was my first love

Music

Today it's all about music... Manage your collection, rip music, play music online, find new stuff, etcetera.

So... Spotify, Jango, Youtube, Gnosic, Music Map, MP3Tag, SQB, and Discog... What else?

Heroes

Review.

With Heroes and Heroes Reborn finished it is time to look back.

What did I think of Heroes when it surfaced, back in 2007?

(Comments taken from older installments of Dapper...)

Jake Bible - Flipside

Review.

In Flipside a group of people travel back in time through a kind of 'time bubble'. The actual flipping mechanism is interesting, and is (of course) abused by (of course) the Russians, who go on to (almost) destroy the world.

Alex Hughes - Mindspace Investigations 1 - Clean

Review.

Now here's a pleasant surprise. I've always been partial to detective stories, and SF or Fantasy 'noir', and this is one of those. On top of that the main character has some special powers (he's a telepath) and is seriously flawed (a former drug addict).

Glynn Stewart - Interstellar Mage

Review.

There are actually two series of books staged in the same universe. Thus far I've only read book one of the second (spin-off) series.

An interstellar mage gets picked up by a freighter captain with history, and the two of them become unwillingly involved in interplanetary conspiracy and piracy.

Craig Alanson - Aces

Review.

The cover blurb says it all: kids are not supposed to rescue their parents. Well, in this case they do.

This is a YA but it's also perfectly suitable for younger kids as well as adults. Entertaining.

Glynn Stewart - Space Carrier Avalon / Stellar Fox / ...

Review.

It’s military space opera, small federation fighting big evil commonwealth, hotshot pilot becomes captain after an accident.

It isn’t bad, but we’ve seen all of this before. (David Weber, anyone?) Fortunately Stewart’s writing and plots are better than, for example, Nuttall’s.

John Scalzi - Old Man's War / The Ghost Brigades

Review.

Turn retirees into cannon-fodder. It's some kind of pension, I guess...

Alan Wake (XBox360 / XBox One)

Gaming. Review.

Remember Alan Wake? In 2010 Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft Studios released Alan Wake for XBox and PC.

That's almost 10 years ago... So... why revisit it?

SqueezeBox - SQB v0.22x

SQB has been updated to 0.22x. It now can launch multiple instances of Sox, vastly improving conversion speed (3 to 4 times faster in typical use scenarios on a Ryzen 12 core processor).

Christoper Nuttall - Fists of Justice / The Gordian Knot / ...

Review.

Nuttall continues.

The guy is productive, I'll give him that. He either makes a lot of money, or needs to write to just come by. I suspect the latter 😊 because we all cannot be like Stephen King 😌

Armageddon

Review.

I did watch The X-Files - Fight The Future a the second time. (The first time back in 1999.) It was disappointing then, and it was still disappointing, 20 years later.

I had better memories of Armageddon and decided to give that one another try as well. The same 20 years later and less disappointing 😊

State of (Remote) Play - PS4 / XBox / Steam

Question...

Assume your console sits in in the living room... and your mother in law has a Tupperware party... and there's this brand new game you smuggled into the house, still hiding in your backpack... then what do you do?

Cary Caffrey - The Girls from Alcyone / The Machines of Bellatrix / Codename: Night Witch

Review.

Cary Caffrey isn't a household name. Not surprising being an indie, self published author, and since 2011 a mere 3 books in his name. (Still that's 3 more than I did! 😇)

3D printing a LED driver enclosure - 1 - What

3D Printing + Domotics + DIY

I always found 3D printing fascinating, but with too many hobbies I just never found the time to delve a bit deeper into yet another timewaster...

Then, a year ago or so, I ran into a heavily discounted Dremel 3D20, and without knowing anything about this printer (or about 3D printing in general) I bought it...

John DeChancie - The Kruton Interface

Review.

DeChancie wrote a spoof on Star Trek, featuring the starship 'Repuls(iv)e' with its not so very capable captain, poor crew, and many references to Star Trek and lawyers...

X-Files - Fight the Future

Review.

In 1999 (wow, that long ago?) I saw the first X-Files movie called Fight the Future.

I wasn't that impressed. I recently re-watched it. I'm still not that impressed. To me it looked like an extra long special episode of the regular TV series.

Time Travel Shows

Time travel will put everyone's brain in a knot...

Here's a list of all shows I know of and / or have watched in which time travel is a major repeating plot element.

Netflix - Travelers Redeemed - Travelers Season 3

Review.

Can a single episode redeem a show? Yes. It can.

Travelers was discontinued on regular television, but it survived on Netflix, and a third (and probably final) season was added.

Game of Thrones - Season 2

Review.

Sorry. I wasn't very impressed with the second season, and would have given up if I did not hear such great things about this series.

So there must be something I'm missing...

Productivity 'on the cheap'

Non-games... or software that helps me to create documents, images, 2D and 3D models, preferably free... Hey, I'm even willing to pay for some of it 😎

This post has been replaced by an updated and dedicated page to the (best) software

E. William Brown - A Perilous Waif / Fimbul Winter

Book Review

I read two different, very different books by the same author. At first I wasn't even sure if it was the same author as these appear to be intended for very different audiences. Why he choose to publish both under the same pen name is a mystery to me.

Because Perilous Waif is fantastic, whilst Fimbulwinter is a piece of shite.

Kodi v18 'Leia'

The new Kodi is here! Keep in mind that, although Kodi looks and works mostly the same, there are some differences between the different platforms, and these may throw you a curve-ball when trying to play movies stored on a local (Windows) server.

Sol Bianca - The Legacy (anime and OST)

Review.

In 2003 I watched the anime series Sol Bianca - The Legacy. I never saw the 90's series it was a sequel to (couldn't find it anywhere) but I remember the sequel itself. Mostly because of the intro song, which was great.

PS3 & PS4 opslagruimte (Dutch)

Gaming + PS4 + Dutch

Ik ben de trotse bezitter van een originele PS4, een eerste generatie model welke me trouw gediend heeft de laatste 3 jaar. Er zijn zijn twee zaken waar ik niet zo'n fan van ben: het geluid en de opslagruimte.

Het geluid heb ik nog niet gefixed (schoonmaken helpt waarschijnlijk) maar het opslag probleem heb ik opgelost, ook al was het soms moeilijk om de juiste informatie te vinden.

How many nukes do we need to destroy the world?

Column.

How many nukes do we need to destroy the world?

That depends…

PS3 & PS4 storage space

Gaming + PS4

I'm the proud owner of an original PS4, a first generation model, which has served me fine for the last 3 years. There were two things I didn't like much though: disk space and noise.

I couldn't fix the noise (cleaning will help probably) but I did fix the storage issue, though it was sometimes hard to find clear information.

Jim Butcher - Storm Front / Fool Moon / Grave Peril

Review.

These are the first three books of The Dresden Files. Wizzard PI battles wolves and vampires and the IRS, all for a mere 50 bucks an hour.

Sluipverbruik ronde 3: de WHR 950 (Dutch)

DIY + Domotics + Dutch

Hmmm. In mijn vorige post rond sluipverbruik had ik niet de juiste waarde voor de WTW. Ik heb op zolder een Stork / Zehnder WHR950B WTW unit. Dit ding gebruikt in stand twee geen 60 maar 120 W. Ouch!

Ik verbruik dan weinig warmte, maar dit kost me wel 260 euro per jaar aan stroom...

Helen Harper - Box of Frogs / Quiver of Cobras / Skulk of Foxes

Review

What do you do when you find yourself next to a beheaded corpse? And discover you're actually a fairy, in love, and somehow blamed for all bad things happening?

Wakiewakie v1.44 - a more comfortable WOL tool for Windows

I've updated Wakiewakie to v1.44. On some laptops Windows was reporting a successful ping even before a network connection was properly established. The new 'all' parameter fixes that.

If you need a comfortable WOL tool for Windows, Wakiewakie might just be it.

Audio Infuser 4700

Completely useless... but beautiful in its own way.

It looks like the creator's website is down, but if you simply google for Audio Infuser 4700 you'll find more images and videos.

Audio Infuser 4700 on Google
Audio Infuser 4700 on Vimeo
 

Look Ma' what I found! Or... the Sony Vaio PCG-SR1K

Call it an early spring cleaning...

And here's what I found: a Sony Vaio PCG-SR1K. Also known as the PCG-SR33K (I never was able to figure out the difference between the two).
1999 if I recall correctly. A 20 year old laptop... and still working!

Size matters... (the world is getting bigger)

Column.

It does! (And Ant Man and the Wasp proved it 😅)

The world is getting smaller, or so I always thought. I (we) have been living in a world with ever increasing possibilities. Distances are still the same, but travel times have decreased greatly.

2018

Wrapping up 2018, and Welcome to 2019!

The image to the left takes you to the home screen which lists all major topics.

To search this blog you have to use the desktop version of this blog.

This link will show all 2018 posts.

Now and then, here and there

Review.

Someone called this Now and then, here and there 'a harsh show', and boy oh boy, is it 'harsh' indeed.

What plays Atmos?

Now that I have a Dolby Atmos capable setup, I need a. material to play, and b. a way to play that same material.

I thought I had a decent home cinema setup and was well versed in players and codecs and other stuff, but it turns out not all combinations of hard- and software work...

Bob Shaw - Orbitsville (Het Stalen Paradijs)

Review.

Starts as a space opera, turns into an exploration story, to end up with a bleak view of a bleak future. Hmm...

Parts are good, as usual Shawn brings a surprising concept and adds some twists. I like the story, but I do not fully agree with his conclusion.

Ikea quality - The Oven's Tail

DIY + Ikea

Ikea is well known for their affordable furniture. You may dislike the style or wonder about the quality, but in general Ikea is considered value for money.

Yet...? Let's tell a tale about an Ikea oven and its tail...

Batman Gotham Knights

Anime Review

It is a bit confusing, but there is a comic series Gotham Knights, a home video release Gotham Knight, and The New Batman Adventures which is also known as Batman Gotham Knights.

Clear as the inside of his cape, I guess. Superheroes and their confusing timelines and naming schemes, sigh...

Night of the Proms

Review.

You may have heard of the Night of The Proms?

In spite of some blemishes I still enjoyed myself. Just John Miles' rendering of Wreckingball was worth it all.

Secomber

RPG

Someone asked me about the old Secomber file I created 10 (20?) years ago. In answer I restored a few pages from the old website. If you're interested in a (very small) part of the Forgotten Realms setting then have a peek.

It's here in the archive and includes a large map by yours truly.

Terry Pratchett / Stephen Briggs - The Discworld Companion

Review.

A book of facts about a fictive world. Some parts are lifted from the stories, many are new. And they're all funny.

If you would expect a 'compendium' to be a dry summary of facts, well, you're damn right about the facts part. But even facts are funny on the Discworld. This is good stuff, and a must have for avid Discworld fans.

Microsoft giveth and Microsoft taketh... or: the death of Office 2010

Column.

I was the proud owner (user? licenseholder?) of Microsoft Office 2010. And now it is no more...

Sluipverbruik 2e ronde (Dutch)

Dutch + Domotics

Ben je een nerd, heb je wel een slimme meter maar nog geen BeeClear? Gelijk eentje aanschaffen! (En nee, daar verdien ik niets aan 😄)

Met behulp van de BeeClear en een power meter heb ik mijn sluipverbruik in kaart gebracht. Helaas zie ik niet veel ruimte om er iets aan te doen... 😞 Zal nog wat puzzelen en uitzoeken, maar ja...

Escaflowne

Anime Review.

Ah, romance, romance, a little bit medieval mecha, and more romance... And those weird, weird noses (gotta' watch it to see what I mean).

It's a bit too sweet in spite of the overall story and the... Guymelefs? (Well, the local magical equivalent of mecha, anyway.)

SqueezeBox - New version of SQB featuring 'quirck' particles

A new version of SQB and this time we are proud to announce the new and awesome mix function based upon 'quirck' particles!

The era of mix tapes has returned!

L. Ron Hubbard - The Invaders Plan / Black Genesis / ...

Book Review

10 books or so (a decalogy?) by L. Ron Hubbard (mister Scientology himself). These books are somewhat 'okayish' but only if you like this kind of humor. To be totally honest I think they are little more than empty filler (an oxymoron, I know). On top of that these did not age well.

Solid Monitor speakers and ceiling mount safety

DIY

The Solid Monitor is a speaker manufactured early 90's, which makes them over 20 years old by now. They are (not that) small, solid monitor / bookshelf speakers, with decent high and mid and (for their size) quite acceptable bass.

These speakers are literally quite heavy, so you have to take some care when mounting these against the ceiling.

Bob Shaw - The Ceres Solution (De Ceres Dreiging)

Review.

I'm a bit on a Shaw run lately. This one I read in dutch.

Disabled man saves the world from overly powerful extra-terrestrials, who are disturbingly similar to us. During the plot the moon gets destroyed...

I like Shaw. He brings a certain 'weirdness' which appeals to me.