Impressions of "The Hobbit"

Just came from the cinema, where we watched "The Hobbit: Unexpected Journey". My expectations which were high from the very beginning, were greatly exceeded by this movie! I loved every minute of this movie and wanted it to last much longer than it did. First of all, what a nice adaptation of the story, it really stays through to it. In the beginning I could recall every single word of the book, so precise the scenes were. The song "Over The Misty Mountains Cold" gave me shivers. Even remembering the sound of it, does.

Perfect choice of actors - Martin Freeman (a big discovery for me) was funny and pompous as Bilbo; Thorin Oakenshield, played by Richard Ermitage, was simply epic. Good to see old'n'witty Gandalf, played by Ian McKellen, though time is not going to this actor's advantage. Hope they will make it to shoot all the scenes with him, until he feels like retiring! I would not imagine anyone else take his role as Gandalf. Smeagol looks creepily realistic, and... almost cute at times.

 The scenery and narrative is breath taking. I wasn't even able to absorb all the beauty. Talking about the visuals, it might be hard to get used to 48 per second frame rate - felt too sharp in the beginning, but later I didn't feel any discomfort as I got used to it. The pace of the movie is also very satisfying, despite the criticism, for me nothing felt too rushy.      
Glad they decided to brake the story down to a trilogy. It's impossible to put all the majesty of the story into a movie, but this was a great job.

    

The Weirdo's Dossier?

Want to get to know something new about yourself?
Or maybe find out things you always knew, but never thought about? Try this dossier, or - how I like to call it - the Weirdo's Dossier.
You thought you're a normal person? Nope! You're a weirdo. And that's how I like you! :P


The most soothing sound (non musical): The sound grasshoppers make in the night
The most irritating sound:  Snoring
Favorite smell (non perfume): Smell of air after raining in summer
Worst smell: Rotting things
Most delicious flavor(not a dish): Melon
Most insipid flavor: Licorice
Your peculiar habit: Walking back and forward in a room, while thinking
Your favorite body part: Eyes
Cozy moment (describe): Sitting under the blanket with a cup of tea, while there's a snow storm outside
Embarrassing moment: Lying about something, then the truth coming out for everyone to know
Awkward moment: Being involved in other people's argument while having nothing with them to do
Unachievable dream: Making a discovery that would be a turning point in human history
Favorite historical period: Industrial Revolution, Renaissance 
Historical figure you would like to become for 1 day: Marie Curie
Thing you wouldn't like to exist: Cruelty
Thing you can't wait for in the future: Organ cloning
What new things did you learn/got to know recently?: Learned some object oriented programming in Java
Things you don't dare to do: Be myself with someone I just met
Something you consider yourself to be too old for: Hoping that someone else will solve my problems
Something you consider yourself to be too young for: Whining about how everything was better "back then"
Most beautiful landscape: Mountains and lakes
Most beautiful place you've seen with your own eyes: Meteora Monasteries, Greece
Childhood memory: Dancing and singing "Erasure" songs
You, in 20 years(how you imagine yourself): Humorous snob who appreciates everything of high quality
If you wrote a book, what would it be about?: Fantasy saga
If you had a band, how would it sound/look?: The most awesome symphonic metal band
If you could solve one of the world's problem, what would it be?: Find cure for incurable and deadly diseases, stop animal cruelty
Thing you should do instead of answering these questions: Damn, I should be programming instead of this...

Stay cool everybody!

Capturing a moment

Just wanted to share some of my best photographs, where I succeeded to capture that magical moment and imprison it into a digital image. I'm not a good photographer yet; there's a lot to learn and a lot of failed pictures to take until I become better, but here come those that I really like.

This one's from Palanga, Lithuania, taken in 2010. It looks almost like a painting




























Still Palanga, Lithuania. The horizon is not visible in this picture, the water is so still that it reflects the color of the sky.  

 This picture was taken in Kalambaka, Greece. I always loved taking pictures of... building roofs.



                                                                     

Stockholm, Sweden. The pretty area of Hagalund in autumn 2012






























Stockholm, Sweden. Haga park. First meeting with geese

Lisboa, Portugal. 2012

Porto, Portugal. 2012
I loved those typical boats, called 'rabelo', for transporting portwine. The wine itself was also magnificent ^^


























Alducia Beach, Mallorca. Peaceful serenity. 2012

 Still Alcudia! Someone's seriously into photography 






























Sailing somewhere around Nynäshamn, Sweden, 2011

Why I don't need an iPhone

Everytime I take a metro to school and look around me, I see people mindlessly staring at all different sorts of fancy devices - tablets, smartphones, kindles, ultrabooks etc. I don't really mind this obsession, there's not much you can do on a train anyway, besides watching the tunnel lamps blink before your eyes. So go on, scroll down those shiny touch-screens, pass the time checking your Facebook, or listening to some crappy  music through your headphones so loud that I can hear it clearly and that kinda forces me to listen to it too...But wait a minute. There's one sort of gadget that occurs way too often and it's kind of freaking me out. I try to count how many people around me have iPhone 4s and iPhone 5. One of the most expensive and overrated phones on the market. And I can tell that every second person (cannot guarantee the accuracy of my counting though!) has it. There are so many good smartphones out there, but they JUST.HAVE.TO.HAVE.IT. Are they so rich, or just the victims or good marketing?

Why I will never buy an iPhone?
Here's my reasons:
- There are many good and cheaper smartphones, like Android.
- People think it's so trendy. By having an iPhone you will belong to the society of trendy people, yay.   
- It's expensive. What's so special with Apple's design and technology to make them so overrated?
- Apple products are so linked together and that's limiting.
- I don't want to be yet another brainless user who chose to have something they don't really need.


Buy yourself some quality time instead. You don't need an iPhone to check your Facebook or take a selfie-pic in the bathroom. *moralistic voice, muahahaha.*