I DIYed me some wind-noise reducers using a sock and a bit of velcro. With my new bike, I started riding a bit faster and one thing that bothered me was all that wind noise. So I looked for possible solutions and came across these catears. But before ordering something pre-made so seemingly simple, I wanted to try making something like this myself. So, I cut a sock, glued on a bit of velcro and wrapped the whole thing around my helmet strap. Et voilà. And it indeed works and reduces the wind noise significantly. And it does not look too strange IMO.

In December we watched this as Zoe’s first feature-length movie. It wasa good choice: the “bad guys” weren’t all that bad, the action wasmoderate and it was just 70 minutes long or so.

We all enjoyed this and Zoe got a first taste at paying attention to astoryline for more than the 15-20 mins she’s normally accustomed to.

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Hm… I liked the characters and dialogues for the most part. But the build-up was way too long, leaving me questioning if this indeed is a crime/mystery movie. Meh. The house is very cool, though!

As I hoped, this was a good fit for my slightly hungover self. A simpleplot, no surprises and some good old-school special effects.

But it was very obvious and (because of that) a bit unintentionallyfunny: I thought a lot “say what!” during the dialogues. And the actingwas all so keen, over the top, and the characters were all so damninvolved in their quest and full of clichés, putting a smile on my face.But the smile was only short-lived, because you know it’s really seriousand you want them to succeed.

A great movie! I love a good dialogue and this has plenty of that. Plus,well thought-out characters, very well played. And it has Steve Carellin it!

Maybe the ending could have had more bite to it (I don’t even know whatI mean exactly), but other than that, this is very much recommended!

This was quite clever. And funny. I enjoy a good time travel movie. Notthe best of its kind probably, but definitely an enjoyable watch!

Persuaded Nicole to (re-)watch this with me. I still found thisentertaining. And it brought nostalgic feelings back.

I watched this for the first time in English. And I must wonder why –why??? – they didn’t put in just a little effort into making the Germandialogue realistic.

Everyone is so damn cool in this. But overall, a solid movie, althoughthis is not the kind of (action) film I enjoy all that much anymore.

I generally enjoy a good “Kammerspiel”. But I found this to be ratherboring. I’m sorry.

This was a remarkably written movie. Very sensitive and probably quiteaccurate to be honest. And I noticed I wasn’t quite used to seeing gaycontent. Good movie overall. Would have been better, if I didn’t findmost main characters so unlikeable.

I managed to create an entry in the photo journal. The first set of film photos from this year.

Life and death, sun and snow, at home and on the go.

A good book overall and a fascinating – or shall I say “shocking” – glimpse into how many people are convinced they have bullshit jobs that do not contribute to society or are even harmful. I read this in German, but since I already finished this in late summer, I don’...

Riding through Düsseldorf Bilk to and from the doctor where I got my Covid booster. Since it was during daylight hours, I thought I’d record another one of these POV cycling videos. And this time I did my little commentary in English. And it’s only half as long with 16 minutes.

For this recording “Sharpening” was set to “Low” on the GoPro. And I think that is too low. I think I’ll prefer a little “too sharp” over “not sharp enough and then needing to do that in post”. I also only uploaded a HD 1080p version this time. And I might just record in that resolution in camera. 4K results in such big files. And I’m again figuring out encoding settings and formats. And that seems like a science to me; maybe I should just use YouTube.

Just got my booster shot. It’s only been a little over four months since my second Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination dose. But they say to not wait any longer. And I figured being protected for winter makes more sense than being ready in spring.

Join me in cycling half an hour around the Rhine. I start pretty much at home in Flehe, go through Volmerswerth, over the “Südbrücke” towards Neuss, then south, and over the “Fleher Brücke” back to Düsseldorf. And I even do talk a little. Santa brought me a GoPro Hero 10 for...

That was alright! Mostly I think because I generally seem to enjoy movies about bands. And to my relief, how the actors played their instruments was pretty good (because when they don’t, it usually ruins a film for me). It was all well done in general, but a little too mainstream-y for me I guess. That chicken-“Gallileo”-cut was brilliant. Solid movie!

I did listen to this a lot a few years back. And currently I’m doing so again. All-around great musicianship!

This is giving me some nostalgia of splatter-movie samples and solid death metal. Just like a lot of bands did 20 years ago. How “Palms by the Cemetery” starts for example is exactly my kind of groove.

Bandcamp

This video was recommended to me tonight. Good choice! Thanks, algorithm! This is some extremely skilful cycling – and filming! Plus it’s in black and white and the dude is carrying an analogue Leica.

I looked him up, too, and of course there’s more of this. Oh my. Another rabbit hole.

Some old and some never seen clips of Cooper riding a fixed gear in NYC. I hope you enjoy. Looking to shoot some more in this style. Who should I film? Beco...

I can totally relate to this guy being so excited about film photography. And it was great to get a tour of a professional film lab.

This was emotional. Since becoming a father, movies including “something bad or sad with children” hit me way harder than before.

Anyhow, this was still a good one. Although a bit conventional. But acting and dialogues and all the subtle interpersonal relationships and emotions as well as the dealing-with-grief topic were really well done. The setting in the winter was great, too. And the real-life cases this story is based on is commendable – and is something I wasn’t aware of to this degree.

That one was unique. One of those unique things was the many different characters and stories. And then they die or you don’t really know what happened or will happen to them. The humour is unique, too – and I liked it, although I found this unfitting at first. The combat-scenes were a bit over-the-top for me. It is also pretty cruel at times. It includes plenty of social criticism. It’s a bit of a trip this one. The more I think about it now, the more I want to watch it again (which is often a good sign). And it somehow reminded me of one or more other film(s), but I can’t put my finger on which one(s).

Started learning Dissection’s “A Land Forlorn” from “The Somberlain”. But it has too many riffs to learn quickly. But this ending riff and melody is fun to play using a looper. And I thought I’d just record that for now.

Recorded directly into the iPhone with the headphone mic in front of the Katana Mini.

Fiona Oakes’ running achievements are incredible. But her personality might be even more inspiring. Quote from the movie’s official website:

With overcoming her own adversity, Fiona’s true drive to achieve incredible feats of speed and human endurance are motivated by a deep desire to raise awareness for the plight of animals. Her achievements help fund a 450+ animal sanctuary that she takes care of every day.

Ordered some 300+ prints the other day. It’s always something different holding physical photographs in your hand. Even when it’s relatively cheap ones, like these.

I usually use ALDI Fotos and I have been very satisfied with their service so far. The main argument for them is that they can print on matte paper with a white border. And it turned out they can even print my panoramic images with only little cropping.

I should really make more of a routine of ordering prints. The more photos I get out of my computer and into the physical world the better. Gotta feed the archive!

Their new album came out today. Will surely be listening to this quite a bit the coming weeks.

Bandcamp

Their debut is also fantastic. Everything’s a bit less refined on this one. But I think this is actually adding character and makes the album more interesting.

I’m listening to Dissection a lot currently. This was an important album in my teenage years. And it still holds up! It’s killer front to back and absolutely deserves its status as “a classic”.

Interesting that this sequel starts immediately where part one ended and continues the very same night. And I think this was good. It’s a bit much with Michael Myers’ invincibility, and not as good as the first part, but other than that, solid slasher territory.

This is quite a trip! As usual for Wes Anderson, this has lovingly made sets and scenes, is funny, fast-paced and has an all-star cast. I definitely enjoyed it – but it was a little too much on the first watch. There’s just so much detail and complexity in the individual episodes – and even single shots – that my concentration was draining rather quickly. I probably want to watch this a few more times. And in slow-motion. And I don’t know if that’s good or bad – or what my final verdict would be. Talking about this movie afterwards was definitely a lot of fun. I say: go watch it!

A series of uninspired kills and full of clichés. If you’re into (classic) horror movies (like me) this might still be an enjoyable watch. But it’s certainly not as good as the first part, and there are certainly better horror movies out there in general.