I saw a great show last night at extrapool and later at molenpoort, the top floor of a huge indoor shopping center of all places for a show or to squat. No pictures but I bought a Yellow Swans CD as proof. There were some really nice films and artwork and loud music that got even louder as the night went on. During set up the Yellow Swans asked the soundman to make it "PHYSICALLY LOUDER" (then they had some trouble with the tape machine but finally played an awesome set) It was a lot of fun and practically free for three and half euros.

Went to Amsterdam last weekend on a mission to see some NFL playoffs (panthers were boo boo) and just get out of Nijmegen for a spell and I'd finished my exams, its a short cheap train ride away, more than enough reasons. I stayed at the Flying Pig near the Van Gogh museum, because I stayed at the other one closer to the train station before and met some interesting people. I got booked in an english speaking room I guess we had a few Aussies, a Brit, a Canadian and another American. Immediately I was offered a beer and absorbed by the group, but I didn't go out with them because they were trying to blow lots of cash. Well I blew some cash too but cooked a few meals and mostly just wandered around the city. Amsterdam, like the rest of the Netherlands, is dead on Sunday. The FOAM was open so I wandered in and saw a retrospective of Henri Cartier Bresson. The exhibit took up the whole museum and included vintage prints that he had made shortly after taking the picture. There was a crowd, but otherwise it was great. All and all it was nice excursion.

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Originally uploaded by leni2250.

the cream of the educational computing crop

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Originally uploaded by leni2250.

I used to love this game

Last weekend I was at a party and got lured into singing Spanish pop songs on a playstation 2 karaoke game. Man it was f-u-n! There is this new guitar playing game that supposedly mimics the real thing quite well. I think this year is going to be pretty big for videogames, its a huge business now. But what about the educational roots? What are videogames teaching us today? I downloaded an Apple II emulator and some of educational games (Oregon Trail, Crosscountry USA) that I used to play at the school library. BORING by today's standard (probably even 1990's) but you did learn some applicable knowledge. The games today are much richer and do require some serious problem solving skills, but you left with little new knowledge to apply to real world. I think videogames are good for your brain, and they could even better if the game companies tried, they're certainly clever enough to disguise an educational game as fun and cool.