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Oceansize, Flex, 09

Oceansize
It’s not that long ago that I wrote on here about one of the best concerts I’d ever been to. It was Oceansize’s gig at Vienna’s Flex, about two years ago.

I was quite ecstatic, and for solid reasons. First of all, I was in the fortunate position to interview lead-singer Mike Vennart, which in itself is always a nice way to start a night. And second they simply played a fantastic set, seemed to be really into it and, last but not least, the audience seemed to be too.

Last Monday, they played again in Vienna, again at the same venue. The vivid memories from their last gig still fresh in my mind, I went there with great expectations, sky-high I’d like to think in retrospect. Can you guess what happened next? In case my powers of dramatic storytelling have failed me once again, I’ll tell you. It was disappointing.

First of all, they didn’t seem to be too taken with their audience, and the audience didn’t either. I think it didn’t help that lead-singer Mike Vennart repeatedly told them that he’d appreciate if people went outside or to the back to smoke. While I do understand that it must be tough to sing in a smoke-filled club, it’s never a good idea to tell people to do one of the two things that people do at clubs, namely smoke and drink. Especially in Vienna.

Apart from those rather unhealthy dynamics, they also played a set-list with many either very new or yet unreleased songs. They didn’t play a single song off Frames, their latest LP, which I think is their best (which is of course no reason for them to think so too, but fuck, I’d have loved to hear “Trail of Fire”. Or at least “Only Twin”). And after a rather short concert, they played just that one encore. Which actually was quite awesome, I must say.

Didn’t help, though. In the end, it was a great band’s disappointing concert. Which I think is somehow worse than the other way round.

Martinigansl at DBM

Martinigansl IV

The more loyal of my readers will know that I’ve had yet another blog for a while now. Called “Death by Martini“, it celebrates the greatness that is food and drink.

My latest entry, written mere minutes before this one, is sporting scrumptious pictures of the traditional goose served up on or around St. Martin’s day. Click here to see it with yer own eyes.

Barcamp Vienna 09

Modul University
Last weekend saw the 2009 edition of another Barcamp here in Vienna. As always since the inception of two-day barcamps, I only managed to attend one of the two days.

The location was amazing, not only because private Modul University is allowing you a fantastic view all over Vienna but because it somehow manages to motivate some of their student so far as to spend their spare time working at a Barcamp. And even though I’m always a bit spooked out by that sort of efficiency, I must admit that the organisation was absolutely flawless. Hell, they even had a name tag printed out for me!

The sessions were quite mixed but I managed to find a couple that turned out to be rather entertaining. Especially the last session on Saturday about the venerable Austrian “Internetrat” was both enlightening and madly amusing.

And I also managed to be a bit social, expanding the list of Twitter followers I’ve met in real life by, among others, @liechentecker, @sueholzer and @leyrer, not to mention all the new people now showing up in my Twitter stream.

Thanks again to the organizers and all those people who prepared sessions, you did a very fine job.

Here’s a couple more pictures, for the more graphically inclined.

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In Aerobie I trust

It’s not even been a week and my new Aerobie Flying Ring is here! While to some a week may sound ridiculously short, for me it felt like a year. AT LEAST!

Anyway, since this is the Intarwebs where unboxing is not a term used for ex-boxers trying to make amends for all the broken noses and shattered brains they caused but rather for the act of removing a gadget or any other fantastic item from its paper or plastic confines and documenting the process, I will do the same here now with said Arobie (if you’ve ever wondered whether I’ll grow tired of huge sentences, here’s your answer).

Well, let’s get started:

Aerobie Unboxing
The wrapping. I’m not familiar with any other Frisbees sent by mail so I can’t say a whole lot about the quality of that packaging. But it’s sleek and fulfills its purpose. If Linux wasn’t just an operating system but also a computer manufacturer, I guess this is what their packaging would look like.

Aerobie Unboxing
Ha, removed the adhesive tape that held together package body and flap. Yes, that is a piece of the Aerobie peaking out! Aren’t you excited? I know I am!

Aerobie Unboxing

Yes, here it is. Please note the ingenious paper inlay, creating the illusion of an ACTUAL HAND holding the ring. Those package designers are genius!

Aerobie Unboxing
The backside holds not only a very handy guide on how to use the Aerobie, it also shows what other genius devices Aerobie has produced. Like the Orbiter, a superfantastic Boomerang! (disclaimer: Orbiter not shown on above picture. Just imagine what it would look like if Aerobie produced a Boomerang and – tadaaa – there’s your Orbiter)

But now on the actual Flying Ring!

Aerobie Unboxing
The material surrounding the super carbon ring is soft and will probably not cut off my fingers when trying to catch it. That’s a definite plus in my eyes!

Aerobie Unboxing
Please note the elegant yet fierce curve of that ring. If you’ve ever seen a throwing device as perfect, drop me a note in the comments. Even though I won’t believe a single word.

And finally:

Aerobie Unboxing
The Aerobie Flying Ring in all its glory. I’m sorry, but I need to stop writing now and go weep with joy. Oh, and Thursday will see me throwing that piece of art at Augarten park. In case you wanna join.

Atheist Bus Campaign in Vienna – or not

After starting in London and then spreading to various other European Cities, the Atheist Bus Campaign is a private-sponsor funded project created to make people aware of the rather high probability that there is indeed no god:

Atheist Bus Photo by benteka/Flickr

The campaign created quite a stir and currently the organizers are raising more money to fund similar projects. Which leads me to the point of this very entry. In Vienna it was planned to have an adapted German message cruising the city on buses of the “Wiener Linien“, the municipal transportation service.

Only turns out it won’t be so, according to the website of the Austrian bus-campaign [DE]. Seems like Wiener Linien, usually not so shy about ads on their vehicles, refused the banners. There’s no official statement yet as to why they did, but according to organizer Niko Alm a written statement is expected later today.

I’m not terribly surprised, really, but I’m looking forward to the ensuing hilarity.




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