From perusing the visitor statistics of the christmas season, noted that "fingerpori widget" appeared often.

No such beast exists right now, and to scratch someone's itch, I put together a simple web-scraper for just that purpose yesterday evening. The javascript-exercise is simply called "fingerpori" and able to show the current strip from Helsingin Sanomat.

While primitive, it does what is needed, and did not keel over during the night. But I'm seriously doubtful about the application logic (conveniently nicked from another widget), and will take a somewhat serious look at the basics before release 1.0 becomes reality. Also, have to figure out whether xcode packs a version control system, or does Lynch need to pick up subversion or something like that.

(A Yahoo! widget and a facebook application to follow. Don't hold your breaths...)

Image: Why they play the game
by jpeepz (CC)

Like Peyton Manning much earlier this year, I'm now a winner of a bowl game. A virtual one only, but a winner nonetheless.

No single player was consistently successful all season long. Despite three players (Brian Westbrook, Drew Brees and Derek Anderson) ending the campaign in the top ten overall, the season was by no means plain sailing - each and everyone of the top trio had awful games (and the RB/WR Westbrook even missed an entire game). I'll put together a proper draft analysis. In january.

The keys to victory in the bowl game were Giants' defense (with TWO picks returned for a touchdown) and Roddy White's 140+ yard game to follow up on his terrible 4 yard effort the previous week. Marques Colston, the #1 receiver for Hakkapeliitat was hurt and produced a round zero in this game.

In other news: Niners won, as did the Patriots. It would've been too much to expect the 1 for 14 Dolphins to dethrone the New Englad juggernaut, but I sure have hope that the enlightened Giants can put up a good game next week. After all, if the Pats win, the amount of gloating from a perfect season never dies down (unless the team gets sent packing before the bowl, of course).

Browns and Saints both lost, and neither team featured any serious QB heroics this week. In the former case, the performance was quite contrary to that, as the previously very reliable Derek Anderson threw four interceptions.

One more week of regular season, and then the sudden death games begin.

This week's fiver concerns itself with ending.

1. Have you noticed that you keep running out of a particular product at home? What is it, and why do you reckon it's just that single product?

Beer and toothpaste. No specific reason.

2. Have you been impressed by the ending of some book, movie or play?

Certainly... Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch, the final episodes of the fifth seasons of Buffy and Angel. Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island.

3. List all songs where "ending" is part of the name

Meh... Doors' The End, Anthrax's Be All, End All, Bullet for my Valentine's The End. Sentenced has multiple "End"-derivatives, but cannot recall any exactly. Sabbat has End of the Beginning.

That's a pretty lame catch.

4. What do you think ought to end as soon as possible?

The ongoing waiting for any snow in Helsinki.

Or the whole winter, if the previous wish cannot be accommodated.

5. Are you going to finish anything in the forthcoming days? Does this mean the beginning of something new?

Nope, nothing such planned.

Three days of glorious vacationing done, all traditional, all too brief.

Black. Or greenish gray to be fully exact.

Plentiful. Ate a lot.

Literary. Read a lot.

Peaceful. Slept a lot. And pet cats many times.

While planning world domination on the side, of course.

Restful and jolly holiday season for all.

Someone at Apple seems to have had a very bad december thus far:

Exhibit A: first thinksecret shuts down following a settlement.

Exhibit B: then Fake Steve Jobs is hit with a second suit, the company hoping to silence another voice with money. And in a truly Kafka-esque moment, the plaintiff is threatened with loss of assets unless three bad entries in the blog are retracted, each one of them being more or less obvious (the "just a single button in the iPhone" hovering even near a real issue).

I'm betting on zealous lawyers, not company policy.

Lawyers whose bumbling actions will probably end up in the doghouse on account of massive amounts of bad publicity.

Meh.

Traditional chrismas movie with high school buddies vs. Barça-Real live on television.

It'll be Golden Compass, with the game recorded, to be watched on a later date.

Executive summary for Dreamworks / Aardman collaborative effort: quite good indeed, but not Ratatouille-caliber.

Pro: decisively anti-french, singing slugs, nicely realized sewer-world, not overly saccharine or morals-equipped, brimming with intertextuality.

Con: not much, though the some of the jokes do feel painted on. The lack of extras on the dvd is no fault of the movie, but is a wasted opportunity nonetheless.

Today was officially the shortest day in Helsinki.

Snowless, it's been pretty dark lately. But the weather's been mostly on the collaborative side, and it's been less miserable than it could have been.

First snow, and actual albedo. Then longer days. Sounds like an easy enough plan to follow.

Encountered my very first truly broken dvd today.

The disc containing the last two episodes of the final season of Deadwood refused to co-operate at all in the Sony's aging player and exhibited a scary majority of dropped frames when played on the Mac.

Mr. Swearengen and his cohorts have quite a few expressions that are appropriate in situations like this.

HBO's customer support answered within the hour and acknowledged that a replacement disc will indeed be supplied free of charge. Which was nice. But not really useful right now, as the current disc is pretty much constrained to slideshow mode (with clippy audio and captions the only way to follow the story).

The year is drawing to a close, and the "... of 2007"-lists are ubiquitous in the media.

The grandfather of any such lists is a meta-list collcted by Rex Sorgatz.

Some of the worthwhilest lists seen thus far are:

• Foreign Policy's missed news stories.
• Bad Astronomy's selection of astronomical pictures.
• MTV's Stephen Totilo's top gaming moments.
• Prospect magazine's very long list of over/underrated entities.
• Time magazine's list of top 10 graphic novels includes the 2.5th installment of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which seems to be still stuck in copyright limbo.

Finished Dennis Lehane's short story collection Coronado yesterday and was rather disappointed in it.

Instead of sticking to the familiar Bostonian environment, the author has branched out to the deep south. Definitely an odd choice, considering well-crafted the environs have been in preceding output.

But it's not the shift in location that's problematic. Quite the opposite - occasionally Lehane manages to instill enough southern pathos (especially in the Running out of Dog that kickstarts the collection) into the proceedings to be comfortable.

No. It's the quality of the included stories that is to matter. While some of the plots are almost digestable as-is, the twin inclusion of the titular tale (as a two-act play and plain prose) consumes a significant chunk of the book, and adds next to nothing.

This has severe shades of James Ellroy's rapid descent - though no murdered parents are around this time. But I'm not that sure that pretensions of being a playwright are that a decent trade.

Having been very impressed by the Gennaro/McKenzie-saga and the subsequent independent novels, this was a grave disappointment.

Hopefully working on multiple movies has a positive effect on forthcoming novels. Worrisomely enough it would appear that the author is aiming for a "multi-part" historical novel, again drawing comparisons to Ellroy (to whose defense it must be said that the LA Quartet is top-notch).

Ben Affleck's directorial debuttackles Gone, Baby Gone, but a far more interesting adaptation is Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, once again with Leonardo diCaprio in the lead role.

More targets for the insatiably curious amongst the readers:

• Internet Explorer's not yet exactly reeling from the blows from superior browsers, so a few needles into a convenient voodoo doll would be appreciated.
• A group blog by science fiction authors has tens of authors, but not much content yet. It features Charles Stross and Jeff VanderMeer, so it bears keeping an eye out for.
• The Foja mountains in Papua yielded new discovered critters once again, this time a really big rat.
Yet another blog devoted on publicizing worthy advertisements cannot hurt.
• According to the Forbes Fictional Fifteen, Scrooge McDuck is the richest individual. Too bad the image used of the bird in question is of very low quality. Simpsons' Mr. Burns clocks in at #6, and Lucius Malfoy at #14. On the company side, it's extremely pleasing to see Infocom's Frobozz Magic Company featured - especially after a decades long dry spell of new games set in the Empire.
• A long bet is settled, with blogs ranked higher than New York Times in search results in the top stories of the year.
• Practice safe surfing: use two browsers.

My old alma mater capped their season with a bowl victory.

Admittedly the Poinsettia Bowl is not exactly a top flight bowl, and the game ended with a questionable call, but a victory is a victory no matter what.

The Utes had a shaky season to say the least, ranging from downing a top-25 team to getting beat by lesser schools. And this season the famed Utah - BYU rivalry was generous to the Cougars from Provo.

Following Juha's lead, here's my take on the meme.

1. What was your most popular subject in 2007? Did you concentrate on anything in particular or just snapped everything interesting?

No single subject stands out. Which means that I was pretty much snap-happy, and did not pursue something specific.

2. Did you participate in photo thursday or other photographic challenges?

Yes. Photo thursday (grand total of forty-one times) and photo friday (eight) times.

3. What is your favorite photograph of 2007?

The one shown to the right, Brooklyn Bridge on a rainy morning.

4. What did you learn about photography during 2007?

That the worst pictures are those you never take.

5. Did you buy any new equipment? Are you happy with your purchase if you did?

Didn't buy anything, but got a new phone from work.

The n95 is a decent enough camera, if not pushed very hard. Which is to say that indoor pictures in non-optimal light are just not very good.

6. Any photographic plans for 2008?

Take way more photographs altogether.

Consider buying a digital SLR.

Experiment more with the likes of macro photography, HDR-post processing and such.

Managed to see just six out of Empire's top 25 (not online, it would appear), which is the lowest score in years.

Pretty sad.

At least four more belong to the "should definitely have seen, but didn't"-category. Which means that have to be more active movies-wise next year. The traditional "one movie in theatre each month" new year's resolution takes only so far, especially when a good chunk of those are summer bubblegum.

Woo, beginning right after new year, entry to museums owned by the city of Helsinki will be free of charge.

Nice. Should lower the barrier of entry somewhat. And probably bring huge crowds to the forthcoming Pixar exhibit in Tennispalatsi.

Peter Jackson will direct Hobbit, after all.

And not only the Hobbit.

The Lord of the Rings predecessor will be followed by an as-of-yet unnamed sequel.

The two movies will be released LoTR-style, back to back, in 2010 and 2011.

No word yet whether Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf. Ian Holm as Bilbo would be pushing it, after all, this story is supposed to happen to a youthful hobbit.

I'll keep my eyes on the newly minted official blog. And so should you.

EDIT 19.12: OK, so Peter Jackson will be the executive producer, not the director...

Image: Superbowl XL by ifmuth (CC)

After a sound victory in the sole round of playoffs, the Hakkapeliitat team is bound for the League 635848 bowl game this week. A welcome return after the disappointing finish last season - and the fourth time in five years.

Last week's game was against the same opponent as on the last week of the regular season. The previous game was tight. This wasn't.

The opponent's quarterback, Patriots' Tom Brady, had a horrible night, and finished with a meager 140 yards, no scores and an uncharacteristic pick. The Patriots came close to losing to the New York Jets, but stayed undefeated, and are frighteningly close to a perfect season. But even odder was the fact that no-one in the opposing team scored a touchdown, not a single one. Hence the ugly margin.

The surging Saints' duo: Drew Brees and Marques Colston had a great night, and hopefully the New Orleans team actually reaches playoffs after a rocky start of the season. Eagles' Brian Westbrook had a 100+ yard night once again, and took a surprise turn by not scoring against Dallas on an open run - he opted to run out the clock instead of giving the ball to the Cowboys. Roddy White had a terrible game against the Buccaeers - a single catch for four yards was not what was expected from a regular visitor to the redzone.

The regular season winner got ousted in the other playoff game. Hakkapeliitat split the two games with the opponent, first by being exposed to a total beatdown on the first week, and then returning the favor in the middle of the victory streak. So past performance is no giveaway what's going to happen.

Bring on week sixteen.

As has been established multiple times already, I'm a big fan of Pertti Jarla's Fingerpori, featured daily in Hesari (and with the Mutts and Viivi& Wagner, pretty much the only worthwhile strip therein).

Weird though the comic may be, articistically it pales in comparison with Nicholas Gurewitch's Perry Bible Fellowship. The odd selection of events are depicted in very variable art, the style takes odd twists inbetween individual strips.

Even though the website is a treasure trove of absurdist comedy, the first collected edition is a must-buy book. Haven't seen it locally yet, but that's trivially corrected on the next visit to Amazon.

Image: Neil Young Nov 2005 by
Flidais (CC)

Back in the late nineties I missed a Santana gig in Copenhagen, a concert I had a ticket and almost everything else apart from a plane ticket when a mandatory event came up and abolished any thought of a trip to Denmark.

Briefy entertained the idea of going to go see Neil Young on his Continental Tour in the very same city next spring. Until I forgot to line up for tickets, and subsequently noticed that said shows were sold out in fifteen minutes.

So unless a convenient miracle happens (or an unlikely trip to a location with both a concert and tickets occurs), the only way to grab an earful of Mr. Young in february/march timeframe is off a record.

This week's fiver continues the web-theme begun last week.

1. Would Google News be of any real use in Finland? What's your insight into why it isn't here yet?

Not really. There aren't that many news sources that such an aggregator would make that much sense.

Small audience is my number one guess for the lack of the service locally.

2. Is the web missing some essential service (or should something that already exists be translated into finnish)?

Well, at least I'm not aware of a game or movie ownership service like librarything.

No idea of a site in need of translation.

3. If you had the power and possibility, which web service would you change? How?

Google, in a way that the first hit would contain all the needed data about the search term.

Seriously, though, no real opinion on something gravely broken right now.

4. Has blogging become so commonplace that interest in begins to wane? Both among writers and readers?

Not yet. But a backlash certainly looms.

5. What's the next big thing in the web?

Aggregator of a decent subset of the biggest social networks (hopefully with a decent API that it can be extended to the less popular sites as well).

Got the long-awaited Delta Green: Eyes Only book the other day.

The book had a print run of 1000 copies, and the store seems to have run out very recently.

Eyes Only collects the three Delta Green chapbooks published late last millennium, and expands the content with two new scenarios. Which bodes well for the more conspiracy-ridden sessions of the Wednesday Emperors.

There's been no indication whether this book ends up on the web as a free pdf (like the recent ransom-method publications by the main culprit, Dennis Detwiller) or starts turning up on eBay priced sky high like the original trio of booklets.

Something to check out instead of fumbling in the photon-deprived outdoors, struggling in downtown filled with christmas-crazed shoppers or just being generally bored.

• A deck of Fatpack cards sure would come in handy when playing the originally imaginary Cripple Mr Onion from Discworld.
• In RIAA's "enlightened" opinion, no-one is authorized to rip any cds they've legally bought.
• As the Mitchell report sheds light on the unsavoury doping practices of the MLB, a call goes out to add further typograhical notation into the record books beyond the inevitable asterisk to be glued onto the likes of Bonds and Clemens.
• For those awkward "got to design a new gadget"-moments Buglabs has revealed a modular solution.
• Ruby on Rails hit 2.0 a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully all the existing documentation is still more of less valid.
• Finally finished Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End the other day, and liked it far less than originally anticipated. Last week boingboing noted that the novel has officially been released gratis on the web.
• Considering the season, the non-sequitur humor offered by the lolcats (and other critters) at icanhascheezburger.com is much appreciated.

Yeah. Been a bad writer lately.

On account of both being busy, lazy and the combination of the two.

The darkest season is obviously having some kind of subliminal effect, as my energy levels are at their nadir right now.

An intravenous caffeine-supplement wouldn't hurt.

Missed yet another Helsinki blogger meet, this time the annual christmas party.

Though this time the root cause for absence was none of the usuals: neither an inconveniently placed concert, a badly timed bout of flu nor travel.

Nope. This time the reason for skipping the festivities was even better: another party. The annual Keskiviikon Keisarit Gala had a South African theme this year. Musically the country was pretty much absent, but food-wise well-represented: the meal consisting of two kinds of antilopes and a GNU tournedos definitely ranks among the best lately.

This week's photo thursday challenge subject is rush.

My take on the subject is the attached image, a picture of a tunnel ceiling racing by below the streets of 's-Hertogenbosch in Holland. The speed of the canal boat is not great, but the exposure time certainly is a bit longer than expected, hence the blurred image.

I'm pretty sure the challenge will attract dozens of traffic-related images. Not having taken one in the only real Stau experienced on the Autobahn, a finnish rush hour doesn't really do justice to the subject.

(As usual, the full-size photograph is available by clicking the attached image. And the previous photo thursday pictures are all available through the gallery page.)

This week's fiver is about social networking and related phenomena.

1. Which social networks can you be found in? Why? And what on earth are you doing there?

Facebook. LinkedIn. Flickr. LibraryThing. Coastr. And probably a few others.

Facebook is for keeping in touch, Linkedin likewise - the audiences intersect only partially. The rest are purely interest-related.

2. What's the reason for facebook being so popular in the media recently?

Mass effect. Columnists ability to play the "holier than thou"-card for dissing the addicts. Expected market cap when the inevitable IPO happens.

3. Does your network self differ from your real self, and what would happen if the differences were revealed?

Not much. Though this blog (don't they all) supposedly presents an idealized image of the author.

4. What do you think about the increasingly numerous people-centered search engines (such as Spock, PeekYou, WikiYou and Wink)?

Haven't really been even aware of them. And will now probably spend the next fifteen minutes cresting the wave, looking for tidbits about myself.

5. What would you do if your identity was stolen?

I don't know. Probably start by cancelling all credit cards in panic.

Image: Badgers by Jibby7 (CC)

All good things come to an end. Including the eight game victory spree. Hakkapeliitat suffered a six point defeat in a high scoring game.

Was down by 75 points before the Monday Night Football game between Falcons and Saints, and almost caught up, but came up one touchdown short. Or a mis-selected defensive team. This week Dallas narrowly escaped defeat by the Detroit Lions, and their defense was weak indeed, a single sack did not produce the necessary points.

Opting for the New York Giants' defense would've guaranteen victory, but that wouldn't have changed the end result. Hakkapeliitat placed second in the league, and will face the same opponent next week in the playoffs-game. It goes without saying that an excellent effort will be needed, as the opponent fields the likes of Patriots' Tom Brady and Chargers' Antonio Gates.

Bring on week fifteen.

Meh.

Missed the pretend to be a time traveler day on saturday.

Recent discoveries in the world of speculative fiction, fantasy and the like:

• Tim Burton will direct Alice in Wonderland next year. Hopefully bits and pieces of the imaginatively disturbing scenery from American McGee's version make it in.
• A definitive guide to changes in the Blade Runner's final cut may prove useful, or it may not.
• While the first Firefly comic was by no means as good as the movie and especially the television show, it was all right (though badly drawn). All right enough to warrant interest in the upcoming second installment of said franchise in the same form.
• The third book of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Black Dossier was published in mid-november, got stuck in a copright debacle (out of European reach seemingly indefinitely) and is now "not in stock" in Amazon. Perhaps it's easier to wait for the almost imminent Absolute Edition (which will, oddly enough, include an LP as additional content).
• Frak. For a pretty believable reason, the release of the third season of Battlestar Galactica has been delayed. The R1 version is out in UK, obviously, but devoid of extras.

Spent a long weekend in Brussels, Belgium.

And endured the most heart-rending bits before the SAS plane took off from Helsinki. Last wednesday turned out to be a Really Busy Day for the Helsinki cabs, weather being bad, and the day the eve before the independence day (and thus a good day for a christmas party). I was thus unable to get a cab. And the tram journey downtown took absolutely ages. Fortunately two things happened: the Finnair bus to Seutula was just leaving when I hit Elielinaukio (with a taxi queue stretching to the borders of eternity) and the SAS checkin crew was willing to let me board the plane even after the official check-in time had been gone for a long time. After that it was plain sailing to Brussels. But the two hours spent in traffic (and calling for a cab in vain) certainly rank among the worst this year.

The hotel, a Thon near the North Station, turned out to be big, faceless and surprisingly inefficient. Managed to break no less than three keycards and fought the odd heating/cooling system without no clear improvement in temperature for two nights. Sleeping with a window open is not really advisable next to a busy street - the traffic noises tend to be carried up to the 24th floor rather well. Adding insult to injury was the internet connectivity pricing - 10€ for an hour is robbery, pure and simple. And with 3G seemingly out of order (at least my trusty n95 was unable to open any connections), the weekend was spent without even booting Gromit.

Weather was wet and windy to say the least. A proper jacket helped, but it was by no means a perfect solution. The amount of broken umbrellas on the streets was testament to the force of the weather.

Missed out on Brügge on account of a "spontaneous railway strike" on saturday. Which just goes to show that there's too much french in the badly divided country (still without a government, clocking in over six months as we speak).

Comics Museum was filled with pages from the Belgian authors, but being in french (with an occasional smattering of dutch), it was less of a time-consuming place than expected. The museum store, on the other hand, was packed to the brim with interesting albums and comics paraphernalia. Got off quite easy - the genuine Tintin statuettes might have cloven a big chunk off the wallet of an unwary visitor. The official Boutique Tintin next to the Grote Markt was interesting as well, though the selection of t-shirts was rather on the subdued side.

In addition to images of the best-known Belgian journalist, the city was packed with stores specializing in beer, chocolate and lace. The first was obviously out of reach transport-wise in the era of War on Moisture, the second attractive indeed (a chocolate fountain is just the thing for a livingroom) and the third variable enough to hold interest for more than two minutes.

Food was expectedly good. Mussels and flemish fries were actually the last meal in the city - the previous feeding times having been spent in various restaurants looking for less traditional offerings. By far the best meal was in Villette, on St. Catherine's square. The best steak of the year (and doesn't likely get beaten in the remaining two weeks), in sauce spiced with gueuze and local cheeses. Definitely a worthwhile place to visit, and heavily recommended to all but most steadfast vegans.

The trip out was uneventful, travelled out to the airport well in time and had a blast shopping for delicacies. The best deal of the day was a quartet of interesting beers coupled with late Michael Jackson's guide on Belgian brews.

Image: Prone but triumphant by Colby Cosh (CC)

The victory streak continues, and is now stretched to eight games. And that clinched a playoff spot in the league, as the top two teams cannot be overtaken in a single round on account of the margin.

The game was tight, once again, and only a substandard display by the New England Patriots' Wes Welker kept the balance on my side. He was held to mere eighteen yards against the Panthers, and thus the opposition sank with him.

Derek Anderson outplayed Drew Brees despite a horrible start to the Browns game against the Cardinals. My quarterback of choice started with a pick, and followed that with a fumble on the next drive. Two lost opportunities, and the Arizona team ahead by fourteen. The Browns never recovered, which means that they have to fight for playoff spot in the last few rounds. Which is good indeed, since the top players will be fielded as opposed to the teams guaranteed to advance (who tend to field second string players in the meaningless last rounds).

Roddy White played well, as did Derrick Ward. Who, unfortunately capped his 150+ yard rushing effort with a broken tibula, and a premature end to the Giants' effective replacement to ailing Brandon Jacobs.

Bring on week fourteen.

This week's fiver dwells on the beauty that is digital versatile disc, dvd in the laymen's language.

1. Do you own a dvd-player? If so, what kind?

I do. It's an aging Sony 715, at least seven years old. Chipped to show regions 1 and 2. Thus far only one disc has proven unviewable, the second season of Black Books.

2. How often do you rent movies?

I don't rent movies. Or at least haven't, this side of the millennial change.

3. Have you used any pay-per-view service on the internet? And do enlighten us with your experiences in case you have.

Nope, haven't played with any.

4. What about internet television? Are you familiar with that concept?

Not really. Some things pulled off the Yle archives don't really count, do they?

5. Do you buy movies? Television shows? Which and where from?

Yes to both. Good movies, and good television shows. Lost, House, M.D., the Wire, Pixar movies, the new Galactica, anything by Tim Burton and Richard Linklater, West Wing. And Deadwood, because everyone needs a drama-dreched western show with a bad case of Tourette's.

I usually buy from play.com or amazon.com/co.uk. Occasionally local shops have good enough offers. But that's very occasional indeed.

The second indie pack of downloadable content for Guitar Hero II contains Dropkick Murphys' State of Massachusetts.

And there was much rejoicing. Sadly, no release date was given, and it sure wasn't out today.

This ought to be worth watching, one man's journey through the 4000 officially scored video games. Yes, that's four thousand games to play. The count is at 25 now, and the entries remain verbose and entertaining.

Obviously this is to be done in emulated fashion, rather than on the real things. After all, no arcade in the world is going to be able to offer any significant fraction of the games for prospective record-breakers.

Watched Pixar's newest CGI-cartoon, Ratatouille, and left the theatre smiling, after yet another triumph of a film.

The Pixar recipe is applied with precision: the visuals are breathtaking, the plot is positive but not overtly saccharine, and the proceedings are strewn with enough intertextual references to keep adult viewers busy as well (as if the on-screen rodential antics were not enough).

The culinary images are sumptuous, the Paris cityscapes accurate, the action scenes wild - a good reminder why Brad Bird's previous film (the Incredibles for those puzzled at home) was on top of Pixar's recent output. Ratatouille comes very close to that, even though the theme and style are completely different.

Heavily recommended, with an added bonus of Lifted, as the obligatory short film before the main feature.

Out of the recently announced New York Times' Notable Books List my score is extremely low: two out of a hundred.

#1: the seventh Harry Potter, which was not too bad. Especially considering the previous two tomes of the franchise, the ultimate part was pretty deftly executed.

#2: Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City, a journalist's account of the first years of the Iraqi occupation. The amount of nepotism and consequential wrong decisions is nothing less than amazing. But sadly true.

Google released yet another useful application. Or in this case, a significant update to an existing one.

Google Maps Mobile is now equipped with the "My Location"-ability, which derives the user's position either via GPS or via approximation of the nearest cellular base stations.

The former works well, but the latter has some issues, at least with the Telia-Sonera network. At work (in Pitäjänmäki), it persistently places me somewhere near the airport. Prescient indication of a job change? Or just a tiny bug? My money's on the latter...

So, yesterday, the international "buy nothing"-day.

Was compliant. Accidentally rather than on purpose.

This week's photo friday challenge is dead of night.

My take on the subject is the attached image, a skulking leopard taken through a comfortably thick pane of glass in the Singapore Night Safari, an attraction that is recommended to al visitors.