Month: June 2004

Progress of the progress

Olga on the beachIt is surprising how rarely people take a minute to think about the technological progress of recent years. The more technology there is around us, the less we think about it. All sorts of technological wonders are so deeply integrated into our lives that I bet it will be difficult to think even about one day and try to remember and appreciate all the comfort that we have these days.

Here is my attempt. I woke up roughly about 10am on the bed and with air conditioning on. Switched AC off with the remote control. Olga was already up, drinking tea and watching television. Teethbrushing, soapwashing and other morning procedures. Used cooker to warm up some food from the fridge. Had a couple of phone calls with people on the move. Jumped into a car and went to a beach some 20 kilometers away just for a quick swim. While on the sunbathing on the beach, made a picture of Olga, connected to the Internet from my mobile via GPRS and uploaded it to my home server…

I feel that I am missing a lot and it gets pretty boring. There was nothing special technology-wise today. And I cannot even remember all of it. :)

Looking at this from a longer time span things get more obvious. When my grandfather was a kid he didn’t know what a radio was. My father didn’t have a television set while he was growing up. I didn’t have a phone until I was about 18. Today’s kids will have problems imagining a life without a computer with Internet connection and a small mobile with a battery that can work for a week or so.

Lovely. And there is no sign of things slowing down. :)

Taxi Driver

Having nothing better to do, watched “Taxi Driver” on DVD. This film is considered a classic by now and it is surprising how I managed to not see it until now.

With all the hype around it and all the excellent ratings at IMDB, I didn’t like it. Probably it was something very strong and needed in 1976, but it does stand very well where I am now. It’s too slow and boring. There are not enough thoughts and feeling to make philosophical drama. There is not enough actions to make it an action. There are not enough jokes to make it a comedy.

But it was nice to see young Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, and Harvey Keitel.

Tribute to Led Zeppelin

Lev, Hazard, and I went to Nicosia today to see a concert called ‘Tribute to Led Zeppelin’. The club was in the middle of nowhere so it would be impossible to find without the help of locals. The place itself was pretty cool. The biggest no-go for me was the situation with beer. All you could get there was a small bottle of Amstel, Heiniken, or Keo. And it would cost you 3 CYP (more then 5 bucks). We, of course, had to correct this with few Carlsberg cans bought from the nearest kiosk.

From then on I was pretty much OK. Lev and Hazard though had the problem with sound. They heard something that I didn’t. In times like this, I am happy I don’t have the perfect hearing. :)

The band (“Snake Charmers” or something like that) played very good. The vocalist didn’t know the words for most of the songs, so he had to pick into the papers, which was kind of strange, but he was very singing pretty well and his dancing and other general behavior was reminding me of “Led Zeppelin” videos. There were couple of guitar solos and an excellent drum bit for like 5 minutes or so.

Overall I was very pleased with the trip. If there will be anything else similar, I will go again.