(o^^)o Worufu » linz

Goodbye privacy

worufu — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 19:05:46 +0000

“Goodbye privacy” is the motto of this year’s Ars Electronica Festival. The festival is held by the Ars Electronica Center which is the most famous technology institute in Austria with many young programmers and artists who collaborate with programmers and artists from all around the world. The main goal seems to be to explore new ways of how to use modern technologies and often artistic usage.
This year the size of the festival is incredible. There is a street where all the empty buildings are occupied with special exhibitions. The main theme seems to be second life as you can see many connections to the virtual world. For me “Goodbye privacy” affects me somehow twice as hard as other visitors as the whole Pfarrplatz (the big place in front of our flat) is rebuilt within Second Life and re-connected to the real life. If you have a conversation in second life you can hear it from speakers within the real world. On the other hand you can watch the virtual world on several screens around the Pfarrplatz beach area.
Today I’ve quickly walked through “Marienstraße” and I will be back tomorrow to see all the cool exhibitions. It really is worth seeing. The festival will end on Sept. 11th. So there is still some time left. I’ve also been to both Pfarrplätze (in the virtual and the real world) and here are the images. Maybe we’ll meet in the next days…

This and that

worufu — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 19:25:23 +0000

So what is keeping me busy? Basically it is our new company. Now legal things are almost through and we expect to get our commercial register entry within the next weeks. Of course pulpmedia is not new but it’s legal form will be brandnew soon. Expect to see our new webpage (which will replace the placeholder page) online within the next four weeks.
The most recent project was the Car Jet Calculator of Alpha Airways which brought us into local television too. Hooray… we are famous.
Besides the private stuff many things happened. Dr.Hu built a DataMatrix J2ME application which works like the qrcode application but with the DataMatrix.
And guess what: Adobe managed to release their Flash Player 9 for Linux.
Linux community in general is very vivid at the moment. Probably you want to read on the homepage of my favourite distribution about some new eyecandy for graphical desktops.

PS: Did I mention that we are going to Paris next wednesday. Expect some gallery update within the next two weeks.

PPS: Is it just me or did you too realize that I keep announcing things within designated time ranges too often?

Japan was great

worufu — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:33:45 +0000

Short update: obviously I am back from Japan. We stayed more than twice as long as last year and it was fun from the first until the last second. We saw so many fascinating places and got to know many people; natives… not tourists V(^_^)V
In the next days I am trying to reduce the images we took (about 2000) to an amount which is web-presentable. Come again in two weeks or so to get a visual impression of our trip. Sorry… it will take that long because our company is keeping me busy since the first day of our return. But it is so good at work. Just a bit less time to hang out on my blog.

film festival, conclusion

worufu — Mon, 01 May 2006 12:39:46 +0000

Yesterday we enjoyed our last movie of the Crossing Europe film festival 2006. It was Kontakt, a Macedonian/German production. A very funny and entertaining movie which won the “Ray” audience award of the festival. The audience was glad to hear some statements of the main actress of the movie (who revealed the major secret of the main actor of the movie).

The festival was quite successful and very very interesting and entertaining for the audience. We are already looking forward to the next festival, taking place from 24th to 29th of April 2007.

Kontakt movie, imdb.com

European animation highlights, On the outskirts.

worufu — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 22:12:54 +0000

Right back from my second day at the Crossing Europe film festival. Today I joined two marvellous screenings: the “European animation highlights” and “On the outskirts (Am Rande der Städte)”.

The “European animation highlights” are a compilation of short films which gives a good overview of European animation works of the last year. The DVD should be available around June (hopefully, the initiators of the DVD said). The range of different styles was amazing. From light, entertaining trick films to really deep and heavy animations. I have to admit that one or two masterpieces were too abstract for my taste but it was good to see all the different types of contributions. One of my favourites was Fallen Arts which was an award winning computer animation. Just take a look at the incredible awards list. But the compilation also contained works of yet unknown students who delivered high quality animations too. The first work was “Maestro” which you can download here (44MB MPG). Sadly I did not find any other works online.

“On the outskirts” is a documentary film which deals with new communities which have evolved on the Turkish coastal areas. Large buildings where the Turkish people who worked hard in foreign countries (especially Germany) spend their retirement. The director itself explained to the audience that she wanted to focus on the problem the children of those workers face. They are forced to go “back” to a country which language they barely speak and to which they hardly have any connection anymore. It was very informative to listen to the directors stories. I am glad that I could see the film as it shows me a different Turkey than that I had in my mind.

The images of the festival officials are not published yet at the Crossing Europe gallery homepage. I am quite sure that I must be on one of the photos they took today Will check it out tomorrow…

Crossing Europe, film festival

worufu — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:54:55 +0000

From 25th to 30th of April the Crossing Europe film festival is taking place in Linz. It is held the third time and for us it is the second time to have the chance to see movies there. This year 160 films from 27 countries are shown. If you ever have a chance to go to a film festival take advantage of the opportunity. It is so great. You see many good non-mainstream films and the best of all some persons involved (producer, director, actors, etc.) will show up right before/after the movie and give you the opportunity to give some feedback on the movie and to ask all the questions you have.

This year I am going to see four movies and I am coming right back from the first of them: The Slovenian film “Odgrobadogroba” (Gravehopping)”. Starting as a really funny movie it focuses on a topic which is tabu in most countries, suicide, and gets quite tough and touching in some scenes. The plot focuses around the main actor, a man whose profession is to hold speeches at burials, his family and his neighbours. My favourite character was the father of the main role… the poor old man whose wife had died 6 years ago and who tries to escape his loneliness constantly. His expression is great and his person is just so likeable.

My favourite quote:

“Not everyone is born, but everyone is going to die.”

I am still very sorry that the audience (us included) did not ask any questions after the movie. I think we were just so moved by the film and would have needed some time to get ready for conversation. Sorry again about not being that talkative but thank you very much for this great movie.

Check back tomorrow for my comments on “European Animation Highlights” and “On the outskirts”.

Gravehopping movie homepage
Producer (left) and Director (right) of the film, talking to the audience

Crossing Europe film festival homepage

The city of Anton Bruckner

worufu — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 18:01:20 +0000

More than a year ago we went from warm and sunny Barcelona back home to cold and cloudy Austria. Due to our jobs we decided to stay in Linz which we begin to know better every day now. We even are starting to figure out who the famous people of Linz were and what the sights are. You have to know that in comparison to the big cities in this world Linz is pretty small and you don’t recognize the sights immediately. But today I am proud to be able to present to you the most famous musician who was living in Linz and to whome some places in Linz are still connected with today.

Anton Bruckner that is. He was living from 1824 to 1896 (the first half of his life near and in Linz) and developed his musical genius in the second half of his life. He was born in Anselden, a small Town near Linz and this article is linked to this town. By clicking on the location map link you can see where it is. You can read more info about the person by following the links posted below. There is only one anecdote from wikipedia which I want to add

Bruckner was a very simple man, and numerous anecdotes abound as to his dogged pursuit of his chosen craft and his humble acceptance of the fame that eventually came his way. Once, after a rehearsal of his Fourth Symphony, the well-meaning Bruckner tipped the conductor Hans Richter: “When the symphony was over,” Richter related, “Bruckner came to me, his face beaming with enthusiasm and joy. I felt him press a coin into my hand. ‘Take this’ he said, ‘and drink a glass of beer to my health.’” Richter, of course, accepted the coin, a Maria Theresa thaler, and wore it on his watch-chain ever after.

Anton Bruckner Links

I took some photos of buildings in Linz which are related to Bruckner. The bakery exists since 1570 and was officially allowed to deliver the royal family in 1903. That means during Bruckners lifetime it was not delivering bread and sweets to the royal family but it existed already. There is also a little cafe inside where you can see lots of old photographs. Probably even Bruckner himself was there buying his favourite bread.