http://www.rotafixa.it/?p=542

Mi piace, aderisco, che altro posso fare adesso? Leggetevi qui sopra la proposta, e guardate come alcuni originali vanno in giro a Milano per evitare tristi conseguenze.

Ho scoperto un sito fantastico, di quelli che ti fanno riscoprire quanto Internet possa ancora essere fonte di meraviglie.

Si chiama Brain Pickings ed è come se fossero i ritagli di giornale che vorresti mettere da parte; parla di creatività, di scienza, di filosofia, di psicologia; parla di qualsiasi argomento interessi la sua creatrice Maria Popova, di qualsiasi cosa che stimoli la sua curiosità. Come dice il sito stesso, Brain Pickings è “uno scrigno del tesoro fatto di mattoncini LEGO”.

Ammetto che non mi ha un po’ scocciato questa cosa.

Intendo i risultati avuti su mtb-forum. Il fatto che né l’episodio 1 né il 2 abbiano vinto il titolo di video della settimana. E che siano stati premiati video che riprendono riding banale o che mostrano sciatteria nelle riprese o nell’editing.

Dovrei essere contento dei risultati visto che il primo episodio, messo online su mtb-forum il 19 dicembre 2011, aveva dopo circa un mese (13 gennaio 2012) 6608 views e 51 “mi piace”. Sicuramente aiutato dalla pubblicazione in prima pagina sul magazine di mtb-forum.it.

Ero in ricognizione a Montevecchia per studiare i percorsi da riprendere nel terzo episodio di “Winter Riding Milano”¹. Avevo con me la Panasonic GF1 e il treppiede Gorillapod, cosicché ho deciso di fare qualche autoripresa.

Ero con la bici leggera, il percorso era tipicamente cross-country, il rider nulla di che; tutto suggerisce NOIA ma ho provato a tirarci fuori comunque un piccolo filmatino che condensa l’esperienza di un normale giro in bici, quel divertimento e senso di compiutezza che si prova quando si chiude il giro, quando le gambe spingono bene in salita, quando ti godi anche il freddo e la fatica. La colonna sonora di Trent Reznor mi ha dato una mano perché conferisce la giusta atmosfera a questo pomeriggio di riding un po’ cupo, un po’ freddo.

As promised before, here’s episode 2 of the miniseries “Winter Riding Milano”.

It was shot with Masatomo on Monte Canto, another beatiful riding spot close to Milan with lots of natural trails. What is shown here is a classic one: starting from Sotto il Monte we cycled up to the top and then down on the Kompressor trail.

Again it was such great fun (and again we were incredibly lucky with the weather, doesn’t really look like it’s winter!) that at the end we cycled back up and then came down again – but this time with no stops for shooting video, only a clean and fun ride down the mountains!

Last October I’ve spent a great weekend riding and racing (and eating!) in Finale Ligure with Phil, Will and Fiona. I’ve collected all photos on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aadm/sets/72157629004495851/with/6751815233/

Burj Khalifa in Dubai, tallest building in the world (828m!).

And this is a little video shot between Milano, Munich and Dubai, 5x5 vimeo-style (i.e., 5 sec clips put together with no background musico or other editing; the original project was called 5x5 because at the end you get a 25 secs movie, but what I did here is something slightly longer, around the minute mark).

I moved my tumblr log to calepin.

The reasons for doing it ? I like the idea of having finally all my posts under control and not having to resort to a web interface. It’s faster and cleaner. I might do the same with my other blog, aadm.wordpress.com, where I keep longer and more articulated posts.

I also like the interface, simple and pure; you can’t mess with so little nor you have the tentation to do so. You are kind of forced to stick to words and photos. What I don’t like: that all Calepin blogs look the same (but hey, also books look the same, all black words on white paper); that there’s no possibility to put photos into the abstracts; that there’s no next/previous buttons to navigate between posts.

So I’ve been busy shooting some videos with a friend and what I discovered is this: it’s a lot of work to ride hunting for location and constantly stop to shoot a five seconds clip !

Anyway, the idea was to show in 3 episodes the kind of riding you can do around Milano; it’s not Liguria, it’s not mediterranean rocky trails, but it’s close and it’s fun.

There’s lots to improve, like for example the shaky camera; I’ve used for 90% of the shots a monopod which is light and easy to setup, but doesn’t give you steady shots – and this has some impact on the final perceived quality of the video.

“Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in 12 years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted “present” (instead of “yea” or “nay”) 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues.”

“The codex is built for nonlinear reading — not the way a Web surfer does it, aimlessly questing from document to document, but the way a deep reader does it, navigating the network of internal connections that exists within a single rich document like a novel.”

– The Mechanic Muse — From Scroll to Screen - NYTimes.com

“I was out running errands today, walking through the city. I remembered, a mile away from home, that a screw had fallen out of my wife’s favorite eyeglasses over the weekend, and that she was waiting for me to fix them. Walking down a city street, I said, “Remind me to fix Amy’s glasses when I get home.” Half an hour later, within a few doors of our house, the reminder went off.”

“Excuse me, sir, would you mind taking our photo?”

– http://blog.pluckytree.org/2011/10/last-time-i-saw-steve-jobs.html

NPR’s top 100 science fiction books

And if you prefer a flowchart to guide you through this list:

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/09/flowchart-for-navigating-nprs-top-100-sff-books/

Anche se non sembra, questo è il mio tributo a Steve Jobs.