Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.

Finally had a chance to start watching Battlestar Galactica after having only seen the miniseries and I have to say it is some of the best TV and Sci-fi I have ever seen.  The character depth, the plot and the number and seriousness of the issues tackled are simply astounding, and production is also very glossy and visually appealing.

Without spoiling much of the plot, one of the many themes tackled throughout the series is the desire of artificial constructs to become human (and acting “more Catholic than the Pope” in the process) so they can assimilate into human communities.  There’s a link to the relationship between immigrants and their host societies there somewhere…

You’ve probably seen the ads if you watch the Beeb or CNN: a dreary-postindustrialised world in CGI that is thoroughly transformed into a tree-hugger paradise when Sean Connery pronounces the magic words “Back to common sense, it’s time for green banking” in that lovely Scottish accent of his.

I’m terribly sorry to say this but if you don’t explain to me properly why would I believe you as a bank stand for sustainable development and a reduced carbon footprint, even if I have no chance of becoming your retail customer I’d say you’re full of it (and quite some people agree).  These are the kinds of campaigns that give marketing a bad name, really.

Found this Salitos pseudo-Mexican beer in the shelves of my local supermarket.  After a little bit of googling found out it is produced in Germany by a company that has nothing to do with Latin America at all.  This is the kind of marketing that I absolutely abhor: when companies find a market niche they try to fill by being something they’re not.  This kind of misleading advertising worked before people had access to information, now with the net everybody can see if the emperor has no clothes.

Spent a few days in Turkey for work so didn’t have that much time to visit the city.  I was able to take a couple of good shots, though.

The basketball World Championships will take place there in the summer

The Bosphorus and Ortaköy by day

Same spot by night

It's steamy in the kitchen when they prepare köfte

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

The video above (via alt1040) explains Chatroulette better than I would.  My experience with it has been mixed, but it reminds me a lot of the old BBS/ICQ free-for-all 10 years ago.  I’ve read metaphors comparing it to TV zapping with people, but I think it’s more akin a people player in shuffle mode.  Some of the nice people I’ve found (after nexting all the flying male body parts) included:

• A bored Filipina (at 3 a.m. her time) asking what music was I playing (Nortec Collective, of course).
• A Dutch law student with a great sense of humour.
• A German dude interested in banking for development (we were chatting about Muhammad Yunus)
• Random male stranger asking questions on existential philosophy (my conclusion is he had watched The Matrix too many times).
• A Texan in his 50’s very interested to know my views on the Mexican drug violence situation.
• A French literature student just interested in a chat, also with a really nice sense of humour.
• A young Indian female doctor waiting for her night shift to start who gave me a couple of nice suggestions of Indian indie after I mentioned I collect “local rock” from all over the place.

Serendipituous, yes. Extreme, sometimes (but you can also next them or even better report them, jerks!). An interesting study of the human condition, absolutely.

Continuing with the theme of the previous post, RTVE published a documentary where they interviewed 12 Spanish families resident in Germany, Poland and Finland and asked them of their experiences in what has been described as the coldest winter in northern Europe in years.  Funnily enough, one of the families they chose are good friends of mine.

You can watch it (in Spanish) in their website here.

The current winter in Finland is the continuously coldest, snowiest I have ever experienced after 9 years here.  With temperatures averaging -10 (but reaching -27, without the windchill) and an amount of snowfall that is reaching a metre, the place looks and feels decidedly wintry.  I mean, there’s more snow here than in Lapland!

Cross-country skiing is possible in almost any sidewalk now, even after they clean them.

There's a car somewhere under that pile of snow

Icicles in a cave

Snowboarding slope in downtown

Ski tracks on the snow over a frozen bay.

Panorama of the bay between snowstorms

Colours of dusk in winter

The same spot as before, but in a snowstorm

A very controversial Brazilian film following the very violent exploits of Rio de Janeiro military police special forces, it reminded me a lot of situations I’m familiar with as a fellow Latin American.

Apologies for embedding the Brazilian Portuguese trailer to those of you who might not understand the language, but the English one is ridiculous, corny, and gives you completely the wrong idea about the pace, style and atmosphere of the movie.

Was in a lightning business trip to Geneva.  Nice little city with quite a big airport (obvious if you think of the amount of international organisations there.  The few pictures I was able to take are here.

Oh, Maemo, the promises you bring to nerds like me…

Mobile programmable computers have a new meaning now.