April 2005 Archives

So I have spent some time recently making sense of my little collection of songs.

4214 songs. 11.3 days. All paid and accounted for :) ...  and always listening to the same 2 or 3 static playlists. Something had to change.

I picked up some great advices from Smart Playlists.com and came up with the following tips to help organize better my library of songs. You can find more tips about iTunes on the Apple support site for windows, including an iTunes Tip of the Week and a list of  Keyboard shortcuts.

I am slowly migrating all of my static lists into Smart Playlists so that they will remain up-to-date automatically.

I discovered it is now possible to make playlists of playlists ! This opens the door to complex queries in the iTunes database. And if you are running the windows version of iTunes, you can easily create new Smart PlayLists by using SHIFT when clicking on the 'New Playlist' button at the bottom of the window.

Finally, I am ordering my playlists using symbols to group them together:

I made the mistake to keep my iPod for a few weeks in a jacket, with keys and coins... and no protection... while I was waiting to receive a Vajacases leather case. Needless to say, the scratches that ensued were as nagging as grain of sand under an eyelid.

It took me a while to find a good solution. Unfortunately, the local Apple Store was less than helpful. The generic product they recommended turned out to not be all that good at removing the scratches.

It took a little bit of search to finally come across the right product by accident. I tried a clean up kit from iCleaner and the results were immediate.

Instant new ipod :)

Standard disclaimer: Yes - I really bought this product and tried it. No - I do not have any relationship with them.

I watched Sin City last night and its 'film noir' atmosphere followed me for the rest of the week-end.

For those who spent the last month under a stone, "Sin City" is a direct translation to screen of Frank Miller's graphic novels.

I am not saying 'comics' as well because the original work is far from the empty pages of most of what is accepted as comic books. Under brutal and sometimes shallow apearances, the world of Sin City is rich with a web of tormented characters and interconnected story-lines.

I am not saying 'adaptation' because this is one of the most literal and successful translation of a graphic novel into a motion picture that I know of. 99% of what you see on screen has an equivalent frame somewhere in the books. And 99% of the dialogs come directly from the text in print, including the dreaded voice overs (which unconventional use take a little to get used to). This is arguably the most faithul adaptation to date, and a wonderful confirmation that respect of the original material is not only possible for a movie, but  it is also paramount to a succesful movie. What was already demonstrated by movies such as Hellboy, Constantine or The Lord of the Rings  culminates here with a literal translation down to the graphic style.

The visual style nurtured by Frank Miller is a character in its own right. His use of saturated lights, pitch black shadows, plain black and white details or a touch of color are doing much more than giving a 'drawn' look to the pictures of Sin City. They draw your attention, guide you through a labyrinth of details that would be lost in any attempt at realism.

If you can get past the brutality of its story (and the controversial reviews), Sin City is a real visual experience that has to be seen at least once. For me, that will be at least twice...