Ricordatevi: fino a mercoledì 15/03! ;-)
Saturday 10 March 2007
per gli italiani
E per gli italiani arrivati qui: benvenuti! Questo è il collegamento da seguire:
Ricordatevi: fino a mercoledì 15/03! ;-)
Ricordatevi: fino a mercoledì 15/03! ;-)
Of photos and Belgian expatriates
After my trip to Rome to visit a friend there recently, I was talking to him about the fun we had (Don't ask about Japanese flags...).
Despite having lived in the Eternal City for a number of years, he still takes photos of everything he sees: the Fontana di Trevi, the Basilica of St. Paul, a shop selling ice-cream, Italian traffic jams, his meal in a restaurant, even road signs… if he agrees, I might post a couple on this blog when I write about Rome.
I once asked him what he did with all his photos, apart from filling his friends’ Inboxes when he emails them. The answer is, not much - which is a shame, as some of his photos are actually quite good.
Photos are supposed to be printed. Like a caterpillar metamorphosising into a butterfly, binary code stored on a memory card can be turned into a print of your favourite photo. It’s the natural order of things. You can keep them on a CD, store them on your hard-drive, even view them on your mp3 player… but that’s like leaving the Cabbage White trapped in its cocoon in the nettle patch. Unnatural, and cruel. If you brew beer you don't leave it in the barrel, you drink it. As the Germans say, "Ordnung muß sein." ;-)
Some people print their own photos at home, but by the time you’ve paid for the printer, the paper, the ink, and the two or three attempts at getting it right, the time, cost and stress of this means you won’t want to print more photos than necessary. Instead, it makes far more sense to get them printed professionally.
There are a few good companies out there which will print them: I personally recommend Snapfish, formerly known as Pixaco. And for my Belgian friend who lives in Rome, I recommend visiting the company through this link which, at the time of writing, gives you 50 free prints with your first order in Belgium. ;-)
Happy printing....
Despite having lived in the Eternal City for a number of years, he still takes photos of everything he sees: the Fontana di Trevi, the Basilica of St. Paul, a shop selling ice-cream, Italian traffic jams, his meal in a restaurant, even road signs… if he agrees, I might post a couple on this blog when I write about Rome.
I once asked him what he did with all his photos, apart from filling his friends’ Inboxes when he emails them. The answer is, not much - which is a shame, as some of his photos are actually quite good.
Photos are supposed to be printed. Like a caterpillar metamorphosising into a butterfly, binary code stored on a memory card can be turned into a print of your favourite photo. It’s the natural order of things. You can keep them on a CD, store them on your hard-drive, even view them on your mp3 player… but that’s like leaving the Cabbage White trapped in its cocoon in the nettle patch. Unnatural, and cruel. If you brew beer you don't leave it in the barrel, you drink it. As the Germans say, "Ordnung muß sein." ;-)
Some people print their own photos at home, but by the time you’ve paid for the printer, the paper, the ink, and the two or three attempts at getting it right, the time, cost and stress of this means you won’t want to print more photos than necessary. Instead, it makes far more sense to get them printed professionally.
There are a few good companies out there which will print them: I personally recommend Snapfish, formerly known as Pixaco. And for my Belgian friend who lives in Rome, I recommend visiting the company through this link which, at the time of writing, gives you 50 free prints with your first order in Belgium. ;-)
Happy printing....
Blogging, blogging.... back
It’s time to resurrect the blog.
It’s going to be a little different from the last one; and written from a different place in a different time zone.
Exactly what I’m going to write about, I haven’t decided yet. Nor even where I'm going to write it: I did set up a blog with a different provider, and much more user-friendly so long as you didn't try to do anything too innovative.... like providing links to sites they disapprove of. And they disapprove of linking to any sites owned by commercial companies, except big ones like Amazon who presumably have paid a nice fat fee forthat privilege. For anything else, you have to upgrade your service, at cost of about £130 per month (more if the dollar gets stronger.) Which is a shame, because apart from that they provided a much cleaner, crisper service. :-( So, I'm back on Blogger now... but having tasted briefly a better blogging experience, I'll be keeping my eye out for something than Blogger.
The last blog had the advantage that it was about my life in a country and culture that was completely new to me and to the people reading this. Now I’m living in a city which most people have heard of…
I’ve got a few ideas of what could go on this blog. I’ll try them out and if you think they’re crap, tell me and I’ll get rid of them. Or maybe not; it’s my blog, after all. ;-) This one won’t be as chronological as the last, but it means I can write about what I want, when I want, rather than needing to describe the fate of Little Miss Sunshine before coming on to the joys of dog fat.
Anyway, the first post is written, and I’ll try and update this blog at least a couple of times a week. Feel free to spread the word to other people. ;-)
It’s going to be a little different from the last one; and written from a different place in a different time zone.
Exactly what I’m going to write about, I haven’t decided yet. Nor even where I'm going to write it: I did set up a blog with a different provider, and much more user-friendly so long as you didn't try to do anything too innovative.... like providing links to sites they disapprove of. And they disapprove of linking to any sites owned by commercial companies, except big ones like Amazon who presumably have paid a nice fat fee forthat privilege. For anything else, you have to upgrade your service, at cost of about £130 per month (more if the dollar gets stronger.) Which is a shame, because apart from that they provided a much cleaner, crisper service. :-( So, I'm back on Blogger now... but having tasted briefly a better blogging experience, I'll be keeping my eye out for something than Blogger.
The last blog had the advantage that it was about my life in a country and culture that was completely new to me and to the people reading this. Now I’m living in a city which most people have heard of…
I’ve got a few ideas of what could go on this blog. I’ll try them out and if you think they’re crap, tell me and I’ll get rid of them. Or maybe not; it’s my blog, after all. ;-) This one won’t be as chronological as the last, but it means I can write about what I want, when I want, rather than needing to describe the fate of Little Miss Sunshine before coming on to the joys of dog fat.
Anyway, the first post is written, and I’ll try and update this blog at least a couple of times a week. Feel free to spread the word to other people. ;-)
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