Japandroids at the Relentless Garage

Patrick Entertainment, Music, UK Life

I’d read about the Japandroids a while back and since then have been listening to their music for a while and was pretty excited to hear about them coming to London. Their music is edgy, part punk, part rock and absolutely full of energy. Every review that I’d read about these Vancouverites definitely spoke of the great show they put on.

It was last Thursday I went to go see them perform at Islington’s Relentless Garage was a great place for them as well, with a forgettable support act and a pretty happy crowd buzzing around them. What impressed me so much about them was the fact that they put on an amazing sound considering there was just the two of them. They had a laugh, obviously enjoyed performing and the music simply flowed from their. They played all the tracks from their first released album and a number of songs from a number of their earlier EPs.

Kick Ass

Patrick Movies, UK Life

Over this Easter holiday period, I ventured down to Brixton (I’ve forgotten what it looks like during the day) to the very nice Ritzy cinema. Tickets are a bargain at this place charging only £7 for a ticket, and you can even pre-book allocated seats. Just like band venues like the Brixton Academy, and The Forum, the Ritzy still has it’s traditional theatrical decorations, making it a much more enjoyable experience watching the movie in such a great atmosphere. Anyway, back to the movie…

I had little expectations about this movie, other than what someone told me over a birthday bash at the start of the Easter break – be warned… it’s violent! Indeed. However, it’s almost violent in a black comedy sort of way. The story is simple, following the life of a high school kid who dares to dress up as a super hero without the lack of special powers. His act triggers a set of consequences that makes for a very laughable story. I’m amazed at hearing (post-movie) that this film was made with British money as well, apparently turned down by Hollywood – it certainly felt a lot more like an American movie than anything else. What an amazing production.

This movie won’t win any acting awards, but it’s a fun movie that has lots of laughs, enough squeamish parts and plenty of action. Great for the bank holiday weekend.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Patrick UK Life

I haven’t posted an update for quite some time. Life’s just been very busy. I’ve been between several different projects at work, ran a number of presentations including a very last minute notice to present at invite-only QCon London all whilst battling a cold that seems to have lasted a number of weeks.

Fortunately I’ve been able to enjoy the weather with a few small days in the office and at least one weekend where I wasn’t deathly ill (sorry Nathan for missing your engagement party!) or preparing for the next conference/presentation. I did manage to see the premier of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 3D Imax although it was a pretty disappointing film. I think the reviews that talked about Burton and Disney fighting it out with Disney coming out on top definitely rang true, and even the 3D did little to make it any better.

I did see another movie, and The Blind Side which was an underrated movie released in the US last year about the opportunity given to an underprivileged kid whose natural protective nature makes him a football star. I also saw several weeks back now, the very entertaining 39 Steps at the Criterion theatre that I would definitely recommend and was a huge laugh with only four actors playing an entire cast.

Despite being very under the weather for the longest I’ve been, I’m still around and kicking at least 🙂

Spoon at the Electric Ballroom

Patrick Entertainment, Music, UK Life

Tuesday proved to be a very wet evening but that didn’t stop me from heading out to Camden’s Electric Ballroom to watch American Indie band, Spoon. They’ve got plenty of albums and although they never really hit the mainstream, they certainly had enough fans to fill out the Electric Ballroom. When listening to some of their albums, I recognised a few of their songs, although by far probably the most popular is, The Way We Get By off their Kill The Moonlight album.

They were supported by New York band, White Rabbits who also put on a really amazing set. I noticed that they had their own gig at the ICA next week, so I’d definitely recommend checking them out if you happen to be free.

Spoon were here promoting their new album, Transference, which definitely takes a much more experimental take on their style of music, full of songs lacking choruses. Still pretty decent performance. A great night out and a perfect way to beat the poor weather.

Samsung N210 Weeks Later

Patrick General, UK Life

It’s been at least two weeks since I’ve had the Samsung N210, so I thought I’d continue with the review that I previously wrote. I’ve been using this as my primary commuting device – as it’s both lighter and smaller. On the upside, the weight has relieved the strain on my back, particularly useful if you’re wearing a courier-like side satchel. The smaller size has a number of advantages as well, such as being able to comfortably use in in a commuter train without being in the more spacious four person seat. I can comfortably prop this up on the bag and then type away whilst sitting on one of the smaller two-person seats on an East Coast Rail Train, and still be able to see the screen at a comfortable distance without craning my neck.

I’ve continued to tweak with most of the system settings, expunging as much of the start up services as I think I can get away with. The biggest contributor (it seems) so far was to disable the microsoft indexing/searching service as it seemed to cause typing to be jittery whenever running. I also managed to play some other video formats using VLC player (MP4) and the machine seems to be able to handle it fine.

I also did my first backup of the system, using the in built Samsung Recovery Manager. I figured this would be quite important seeing as I don’t have a reinstaller CD for it. Using a little portable hard drive, it took about an hour to backup the 20GB of installed programs so far.

I haven’t had any problems browsing the internet or using it for normal writing use, however I want to see what it’s like with upgraded RAM, so I’ve ordered a 2GB stick off crucial. I’m hoping programs load a bit faster if I have other things running. I think installers will probably run faster but seeing as they are a once-off affair, it’s not really going to bother me in the long term. I can’t really complain about the startup/shutdown speed. It’s plenty faster than I remember on my last PC box.

The keyboard has been the biggest win so far. I’m a touch typist, absolutely hate using the mouse if I don’t have to, and the chiclet keyboard has been a lifesaver as I don’t feel like I am modifying the way that I type to type normally. When I do use the mouse, I do appreciate the gestures they’ve built in – something that my work laptop (a Mac) has been training me in use and would be frustrating to return to without it working. I’m pleased that it continues to work although I’m happy for that right click button.

Not everything has been perfectly plain sailing though. In use, I’ve found the opening latch, that plays dual role of power switch) a bit fiddly. As a right hander, I want to use my right hand to flick the switch, but the “stickiness” of the lid means that I have to use both hands to carefully open the laptop. I can’t honestly say I’ve gotten used to it but definitely not a show stopper.

I’ve also noticed that the default setting lets you switch resolution modes (from its default 1028 x 600 to a pixelated/stretched 1028 x 768) that I triggered by pressing SHIFT+FN+LEFT or SHIFT+FN+RIGHT keys. Being a touch typist, it took me a while to work out which combination of keys triggered this (you can use their Easy Resolution Manager application to change this just as you can use their Easy Resolution Manager Options application to disable this shortcut).

The only other thing that has been slightly annoying is the mouse buttons that you have to depress slightly forcefully – something that isn’t really a problem if you prefer the keyboard, but I could see potentially affecting those who like the mouse. On the flipside, you would probably bring a travel mouse or something like that.

Given that the issues I’ve had are very minor, everything else has been true to form. The screen is lovely and bright, and the battery life seems to work very well.

Kinetica Art Fair

Patrick UK Life

This weekend saw the return of Kinetica Art Fair, an exhibition dedicated to Kinetic Art. Put simply, it is art involving some sort of motion or movement. It moved to a different location this year, to P3 a cool, underground exhibition space, although very inaccessible due to the number of staircases involved.

The art fair really surprised me with amazing interpretations of kinetic art. The idea of movement can be the art itself, or through the person watching it, or through a combination of both makes for a wide variety of visually stunning art. Combined with simple mechanics, modern lighting technology and sometimes more complex computing displays, much of the art ended up being interactive, and therefore, much more exciting to be around.

This display above was a simple spinning loop, yet combined with mixtures of lights ends up as a fascinating display looking for repeating patterns and occurrences. They even had performance art scheduled throughout the day, although you need to pay additional for that and I didn’t hang around long enough to see any of them.

The great thing about something like this is that the exhibit puts the creators completely accessible to you at each of the display. This means if you’re interested to know more about what they do, or how they put the exhibit together and what inspired them and what message they’re trying to convey you get a first hand view – something you don’t tend to get in any of the museum around London. It was definitely worth the £8 entrance fee and I can’t wait to see what they have for next year.

Goose Island in London

Patrick Food, UK Life

One of my favourite beers whilst in Chicago were the Goose Island brewskies, particularly the Summertime beers. I’ve been searching for a place that sold them for sometime in London, with my first encounter at Fulham’s White Horse pub.

Fortunately Borough Market helped me find another source of these wonderful beers. I stopped by the beer stall nearest to Brindisa and The Ginger Pig, which had a huge selection of beers from around the world. As I walked up to the counter to ask the assistant about Goose Island beers, the wide assortment of six packs sitting under the counter caught my eyes. Success! They only sell it here on weekends although it’s always available in their pub, The Rake just minutes away. The six packs vary between £10-£12.

Samsung N210 Review

Patrick Shopping, UK Life

I’ve been researching netbooks for about a month and now that I booked a flight to return to Australian in April/May, I was thinking of buying one pretty soon. I had been considering either one of the Acer, Asus or Samsung netbooks since they seemed to have the best value and the best reviews. I even took a trip to Tottenham Court Road (electronics road) so that I had a chance to test run them. I realised that trying the keyboard and trying to type was going to be one of the biggest influencing factors, with most of the hardware specifications pretty close.

Since I wanted something that I felt could last one of the long airplane legs on the way to Australia, I decided up the N140 with its 5900mAh battery apparently lasting for up to 9 hours (of course I imagine realistically it to be a couple of hours less).

I then stumbled across this, announcing the Samsung N210 upgraded model. I also noticed UK Amazon had some in stock. I debated buying it thinking about all the different dimensions I wanted. It qualified for my budget (sub £300) at £297.05 and I figured the extra hard drive space, and the latest processor meant that its 5900mAh battery life would be somewhat extended (purportedly 11-12 hours) as a result. I made the plunge Wednesday night (almost midnight in fact) and it surprisingly arrived before the weekend just by standard delivery. Brilliant. Thanks Amazon.

As you can see in the picture below, the box itself isn’t very large. Amazon sent it in another box and although they didn’t really use a lot of scrunched up paper to cushion it, it still arrived intact though you could feel this box inside the Amazon one moving if you shook it. Its initial size looked really promising (remembering I haven’t had a netbook before). There’s basically two parts inside the box, the laptop sitting in padded cushions on top of another small box containing the packaged cables and manuals.

Here are all the accessories that come along with the netbook. When I first picked up the netbook, I was particularly surprised at how light it felt. Admittedly it didn’t have the battery attached, but even with that now, I haven’t had any trouble carrying it around town in a shoulder-sling bag. I’d even consider carrying the charger around as it, too, is fairly light.

Samsung thought ahead and included a Samsung-branded neoprene laptop sleeve as part of the package. It’s a great thought though it’s a shame it’s so cheap because I now plan on replacing it with a much stronger, tougher-feeling sleeve. I would have kept it, even with its branding, had it been a quality make. I’ll probably find a Crumpler Gimp that will fit it. Having said that, it’s still a great thought and I’ll definitely use it until I can replace it (hopefully it won’t be too soon).

I’d mentioned before it’s important to test the keyboard, and from most of the various reviews, Samsung keyboards all tend to be pretty well respected. I like the fact the keys are full sized. I read about horror stories of netbooks with tiny keys, making it impossible to type properly. I’d also read about the keyboard on a similarly new N150 that failed to impress with its keyboard. Fortunately, the chiclet-style keyboard, works like a charm for typing normally. Just like any netbook, you need to get used to the placement of much less used keys but it’s bearable. You can also see the tiny trackpad visible in this shot. I haven’t had too many problems with it, although you need to press the mouse buttons with some force as they need to really recess into the body to activate. I think you get used to this after a while. I’m not really a trackpad sort of person, preferring the pointing stick style, but it does the job reasonably well. The trackpad’s not large but then you’d expect that of a netbook.

Here’s a picture of the back (before the battery clips on). Note that you need a screwdriver to replaces its harddrive or memory.

The external ports for this machine should be unsurprising for a netbook. On this side, you can see two USB ports, a VGA out and a place to hook a security line.

On this side, you can see the power outlet, a 100/10 network port and a “chargeable” USB port including headphone/microphone outlets. The great thing about the “chargeable” USB port is that you can have the laptop off, and with the right setting configured, charge any USB powered devices without having the entire machine on. A nice touch.

So I’ve had it over the weekend and what do I think? Setting it up was fairly easy with pretty much automated prompts taking me through installation of everything. It has Windows 7 starter, and it’s less of a Samsung thing than it is a Microsoft thing but it still took about four or five various restarts to install itself properly. A whole lot of Samsung software gets installed automatically. I doubt I’m going to use a lot of it although there are a few nice pieces for configuring some system settings.

Once charged (I noticed it took between an hour and two hours to fully charge), I detached it and had it connected to my local wi-fi, downloading various freeware components to install. I wasn’t too bothered it took a long time to install various bits and pieces, after all it is a netbook optimised for lightweight applications, not for processing intensive pieces of software. It all ran rather smoothly.

I think I’ve managed to run it for about eight or so hours downloading, installing and tweaking various components over the course of this weekend and it still didn’t yet need a charge. An impressive feat indeed. I haven’t tried getting it to play back video although I’m guessing it will probably struggle with only 1GB of RAM. I’ll see how I use it before considering the upgrade. Here’s all the software that I set up:

  • Launchy – Kick start applciations, and add various macros for doing simple things. I’m not yet used to the Windows 7 interface so this helps me be productive without it. It’s also great without needing too much screen real estate.
  • IrfanView – I use this all the time for quick viewing all files. The netbook suffers a bit trying to load up high quality/size pictures from my digital SLR (4MB each).
  • Paint.Net – A great photoshop substitute thats freeware.
  • Firefox – Who wants to really use IE8?
  • Chrome – It’s great to have another alternative than IE8.
  • Notepad++ – A much better file editor than the one built into windows.
  • Skype – For making calls over the internet.
  • Freemind – A mind mapping tool
  • TweetDeck – Twitter client
  • AVG – Free antivirus
  • Spybot Search and Destory – As it says on the tin
  • Open Office – Office suite equivalent
  • VLC – Multimedia player
  • 7-Zip – Lightweight archiving/unarchiving software

The Samsung N210 has impressed, doing all it says on the tin. I’m interested to see how long the battery life lasts as long as it does, but the comfortable full-sized keyboard and its battery performance will be useful if you just want to do notetaking/writing as much as I tend to do. I can imagine disabling the bluetooth & wi-fi you might even be able to push it even further. I’ll also be looking for ways that makes Windows 7 run faster so if you have tips let me know. I’ve already pruned the startup list of services (both in services.msc and msconfig) and turned the theming optimised for performance instead of presentation.

Read the review of the N210 two weeks later