Published on
March 22, 2004 in
Music.
I just got back from a concert at the Metro Theatre for The Cat Empire… It was unbelievable! It has to be THE BEST concert I've been to… ever. I thought they were good by listening to the CD, but they went beyond my wildest expectations! They're just so much better live, and so energetic. I didn't get much sleep last night, but I found myself jumping around and dancing the hardest I've ever done! They played a lot of the songs from their CD, including "Manifesto", "Beannie", "One Four Five", "Lost Song", "The Rhythm" (which was incredible), "The Wine Song", "Hello" and "Nothing" and "The Chariot" as the encore. I managed to snap 150 photos on the camera, and they're being copied over as I, er… type. I'll put them up into the photo album when they're done.
There's supposed to be a secret concert tomorrow night, but they wouldn't say where it was, as only 200 people are allowed in. I'll have to look for it at work tomorrow.
To anyone out there: If you get a chance to see The Cat Empire live, make sure you don't pass it up!
[Edit: Did I mention I was in the front row of the concert? Right in the centre, too!!!]
Published on
March 12, 2004 in
Geek.
Paul Thurrott has posted another entry to his website lauding the graphics subsystem of Longhorn, 'Avalon', and bashing 'Quartz', the current graphics subsystem on Mac OS X. He says "O'Reilly's Ian Griffiths discusses the Avalon rendering engine in Longhorn in detail, proving as I've been saying for months that Longhorn's graphics subsystem is infinitely more powerful than anything available in Mac OS X." Thurrott fails to realise that Longhorn, nor Avalon, have been released as a shipping product yet, while MacOS X and Quartz have been shipping for close to three years now.
The author of the article clarifies some concerns in the comments where he says "I can't offer a comparison between Avalon and the Mac equivalent (i.e., whatever the Mac graphics technology will be in 2006) because as far as I know, Apple haven't announced what it will be." and "If Apple were telling us what their plans for the next generation of their graphics architecture was, then it would obviously be a different story – then there would be something useful to make comparisons with. If this information had been available to me, I would have included it in the article. But as far as I am aware, Apple haven't released any such information." I can certainly see where the author is coming from here, as Avalon is a technology that will (potentially) be shipping in 2 years, while Quartz was shipping three years ago. Of course it's going to be better and more advanced than it! Paul Thurrott seems to have conveniently brushed over this small, insignificant fact. Now, we don't know what Apple will have by the time 2006 comes around. They may want to leave Quartz as it is, or extend it a bit more, or come up with a brand-spanking new graphics subsystem, I have no idea. However, claiming that Avalon trumps a technology widely available and shipping today is a bit rich…
Blah, blah blah…
Published on
March 5, 2004 in
Music.
I was lucky enough to see Pnau last night at Manning Bar at Sydney Uni. It was great! I've never seen Pnau live before, and while some of the songs wre so-so, "Sambanova", "We Love The Fresh Kills" and "Follow Me" went off!
The guys from Pnau looked like they were off their nuts, though… Oh well, can't hold it against them!
