FCHouse

It won’t be soon before long: do I like it?

Posted by Carlo - 31/05/07 at 07:05:56 am

In these days I’m listening to the latest Maroon 5 album, It won’t be soon before long, but I still don’t know if I like it or not.

Some of the songs have quite a good rhythm, some others have gorgeous lyrics, but in the end it is not conquering my heart as “Songs About Jane” did. The fact that I’m not sure that I like it or not is already telling me that this album has failed to reach my expectations.

I have to admit that I would have expected something better, not a list of songs that resembles old melodies, not a list of songs that does not grab you as Songs About Jane did! So, have I created a flame and you love this album or do you share my skeptical approach to the new Maaron 5 job?

Photo Gallery online again!

Posted by Carlo - 30/05/07 at 09:05:23 pm

After some months of… being busy (?) I’ve finally resolved the software issues behind our photo gallery! Now it’s online again and I hope we will upload some new shots as soon as possible! On the sidebar of this blog you can see two random images… If you want you can take a look at the galleries!

Take a look at our shots and let us know if you like them!

PS: I’ve also added some shots taken at the Star Wars Exhibition in London!

My Mac’s Back!

Posted by Carlo - 30/05/07 at 11:05:40 am

Ten days after the big crash, my MacBook is with me again! I went to collect it this morning at the Apple Store in Regent Street! I am SO happy to have it back! Maybe Apple is not to have me as a customer, because to solve this “little problem” they substituted the motherboard, the RAM and the video of my white jewel!

Not bad, isn’t it?

If my laptop were out of the warranty period I would have had to pay more than 800£! A new laptop would have cost less than these repairs!  Definitely I have to get used to the fact that every computer I have, sooner or later will die of a painful death, maybe to be resurrected by some techno-cleric once or twice before I decide to change it.

PS: In these first minutes of work on it, I am continuously searching the “end” and the “home” buttons present in my old IBM thinkpad t42p I have used these days with Ubuntu… I fear that I will have to get used to the lack of those keys again! :P

Books Underground: The Children of Húrin?

Posted by Carlo - 29/05/07 at 10:05:06 am

In these days my love for the books is coming out again, and I would spend the entire day reading. I have planned to read in english some books I have already read in italian, and I would like to read some others I never read.

In the category “already read” I have set The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, some books by Tom Clancy (I love his writing style) while in the “never read” I have listed some books, but I’m not sure of their quality. Apart from some Science Fiction books (like the one I’m reading now, Keeping it Real, from Justina Robson) I am quite curious about “The Children of Húrin” by JRR Tolkien. I’ve always loved his story, but I’ve always been skeptical on the volumes edited by his son, Christopher. Did anyone of you read it?

I have been most impressed by The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion (edited by Christopher Tolkien), but Unfinished Tales, also not completed by Tolkien itself, was not a great book. Now, from a certain perspective I’m quite interested by this latest book, from another I’m scared that this could be just another way to make the “monetary empire” live a little longer.

I think I will try to find a cheap edition on ebay, even if the leatherbound version is impressive and quite interesting… maybe I will find a cheap version of that one…

Books Underground: Royal Assassin

Posted by Carlo - 28/05/07 at 06:05:43 pm

Bank Holiday means more time to relax, more time for the family and more time to read. In my hand, in these days, I had “Royal Assassin”, the second volume of the Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb.

In the cover there is a quote from Janny Wurtz: “Refreshingly Original“… well I haven’t found all this originality in the book. As the first one, also Royal Assassin was quite nice to read, and its 750 pages went away quite fast, but there has been a lot of parts were I found myself bored by the story. Being bored by a book is definitely not a good thing!

In the end the book was again interesting, but I can’t think to have to wait 700 pages to get some good writing with good story and ideas.Royal Assassin - The Farseer Trilogy Volume 2

For a long part (maybe the longest part) the book is a birtright history, where there is the firstborn ready to become King and the secondborn (in this case thirdborn, but being the second book of the saga there had been more things going on) doing everything to get possession of the throne.

Well, as always I have been quite hard with my judgements, but it means that this book was good for the underground travels… but nothing more! I will read the third book of the trilogy, hoping for something better, but I fear that the quality will remain the same of the first books!

Ain’t no sunshine

Posted by Carlo - 25/05/07 at 04:05:45 pm

Since yesterday night, when I watched a film on the tv, I got one song in my mind, that goes without a single break.

Some months ago, Fabiana and I were walking, in a sunny Sunday Morning, in Covent Garden. Someone was playing this song, and I think I will never forget that moment.

I took a look at youtube and I found it, just to listen it sometimes more. I’d love to buy the album on iTunes, but my Mac is still away and in the replacement PC I have ubuntu, where iTunes don’t run… I think I will go and get a copy after work, for now the only thing I can do is to click play, from time to time, to listen it once more!

PS: Do you know what film am I talking about? It’s strange that I had mentioned that film twice in this blog, but maybe there is more than something really deep in it…

Cutty Sark on fire!

Posted by Carlo - 21/05/07 at 12:05:55 pm

This morning the BBC, turned on while eating our breakfast, reported the sad news that during the night the Cutty Sark, “thought to be the world’sonly surviving 19th century tea clipper and a prime relic of the golden age of sailing“, was on fire in its waterless dock in Greenwich.

I had seen the ship no more than some weeks ago, and when these things happens I’m never happy! The ship was really beautiful and 25m £ had been set for a complete restoration of it.

The BBC reports that the police is suspicious on the fire that has wrecked the ship. Thy are currently checking some CCTV images of the moments before the fire.

It is the second time in this month we wake up with fire not so far from home (last time was in Deptford) with a lot of people evacuated from their houses, but this time to become burnt is not a small car deposit, but a piece of history.

PS: I’ve noticed that someone has already updated the Cutty Sark information on wikipedia,with the information about today’s fire:

It has already been stated that the ship can be restored, the damage being less than originally thought. Up to 50% of the original material is currently being stored offsite during restoration.

It has also been officially stated that once restored the ship will still predominantly be the original Cutty Sark although it is obvious that hardware lost in the blaze will have to be re-created. In this instance due to the fact that 50% of the ship was not involved in the fire, and of the remaining half that was on site, the bow was predominatly undamaged, the stern appears fairly intact, and the rest whilst damaged should at least in part be repairable. As such the ship will still have a majority of the original parts and will still be the “Cutty Sark”.

Books Underground: Making History

Posted by Carlo - 19/05/07 at 02:05:05 pm

The first Stephen Fry book has been quite interesting. The first pages has been quite hard to read, because he uses a quite strange way of describing actions and things, just like he does when he speaks. In the end “Making History” has been a nice book, very funny in some parts, but maybe it lacked something to be a “bestseller”.

I know I am never completely satisfied by any of the books I’ve read lately, but my taste is particular and I need to be really satisfied to give any book an “A” grade.

This doesn’t absolutely mean that I wouldn’t read this book again, even if I would have known my judments in advance. If I would describe the whole book in few words I would say:

Only Stephen Fry would have been able to write a book about a contemporary Englishman capable of killing Adolf Hitler. A Genius!

Well, I hope I would have given you some interest. A book to read!

Burn Baby Burn

Posted by Carlo - 19/05/07 at 02:05:51 pm

Yesterday has been a dull day… I was just restructuring a huge part of a web application, with the music in my ears when my screen went black and the mp3 suddenly stops.

For some seconds I was puzzled, because I thought that my MacBook had gone to sleep with no logic reason. I closed the white lid and opened it again, prepared to insert my password again… but nothing happened.

It is known that S**t Happens, so even if it is a Mac, something could have gone wrong. Bad thing to do, but a shutdown is what was required. At least I saved all the modifications before the crash…  I kept the power button for five seconds and finalli the small white light went off. Then power button again and… and… ok, the white light is there, but all the rest? Where is the typical “Boing” every Mac do while switched on? Where is the apple in the grey background?

I tried to switch on my MacBook in any way, but I fear that what happened is pretty simple: I’ve burnt the motherboard or some other vital part… I mean, what else could have crippled it to prevent it to made its normal sound?

Today I’m going to bring it to a Mac Genius, in Regent Street… I’m trying to take it in the positive way: at least I will be able to make a comparison between the Apple Support for the MacBook to IBM (my t42p received four new motherboards and a new DVD Rom), Compaq (My EVO n800c had two new monitors, one new case, two new CD Drives, one new processor ). I know that like Mida transformed in gold everything he touched, I am able to cripple every computer I use… do you think this is funny? :(

Star Wars Exhibition

Posted by Carlo - 09/05/07 at 09:05:13 am

Living in London has its own advantages… expecially if you are a fan of Star Wars and you can spend some time at the Star Wars Exhibition!

Waiting for some other events this summer, this exhibition is a good starter for the lover of Darth Vader, Joda and company. The exposition contains some of the original items using during the filming. A fan like ma has remained hit by the models of the ships, the dresses of the main characters and more.

It’s really hard to pick the best item, maybe Han Solo in the bakelite is a good example… just to remain in the same film you can pick Leia with her slave bikini (yes, it is there) or Darth Vader, is all his might! I have to admit that being there has been really good, even if I would have appreciated something “more”, expecially from the store; someone like Lucas, that in the beginning made his fortune on the gadgets, I would have expected something more than a little van with few t-shirt and some mugs… Yes I bought a t-shirt with the writing “May the Force be with you!“, but the merchandise was really not enough for an exhibition that in other countries has called more than a million visitors in few months.

If you have 16 pound to invest and you really love the films, this exhibition is for you!

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Carlo Nicora is at home in London.