Stross' Merchant Prince Series

Finished "Hidden Family" and "Clan Corporate". The story is definitely picking-up. I was thinking about more then one worlds; voila second locket. Then about actually transferring inventions and manufacturing those locally; checked. It is actually quite amazing how much time and effort those simple everyday things took to invent. The now ubiquitous zipper; it took 20 years from the initial clumsy idea to perfection. Or the paper clip; or electricity and light bulbs and etc, etc.

Also there were plenty of surprises and nice plot twists. It is pleasure to read.

The Family Trade

Just finished The Family Trade. It is interesting to see the culture-shock, when faced with feudal society and inequality associated with it. Also quite predictably the technological innovation in such society is quite low. It would be interesting to see how Miriam (the main character) would remedy it.

I really like how Stross explores different ideas.

Alice 3D

Watched Tim Burton's Alice it is quite nice. It is re-using the original Lewis Carroll work; although is done like a sequel and it is visually quite interesting.

Hunter Mountain

Went skiing with friends at Hunter Mountain. It was quite crowded; still it was quite nice. I guess everybody wanted to take advantage of the 6 feet snowfall :)

New Camera

I finally got a new camera. After my 5 year old one started playing tricks on me during the summer heat (yeah yeah... I know that it is winter now; I tried to wish it away, but it was getting from worse to worst and I finally got to terms with it). It is Canon again and I really like how they managed to keep their camera control design consistent over the years. I didn't even have to look in the user's manual.

I went on a stroll and took some pictures; let me say I am definitely pleased with the results.

Olympian Gods

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was ok. Quite teen movie; nothing special... still enjoyable.

Cirque du Soleil

I just watched Quidam on DVD. It was absolutely amazing.
I don't have words to properly describe the sheer mastery that those guys showed; nor my deepest and absolute respect for it!

My only regret is that I can't watch this show live!