PF whatever

Originally, I only wanted to post this, to prove that I really don't care about your luck in 2006:



But today I took this photo of Albert which reminded me that the world needs more love:

Videogame memories

I dare you to click here and read five guys ranting about their all-time top 20 games (i.e. 100 games in total, with some repetitions).



If you can still appreciate the beauty of Final Fantasy VII, 8-bit Zelda or the original Warlords, this is not only the ultimate nostalgia trip but also informative article about other gems you might have missed during the course of the years.

When less is more!

This is the season of giving. That's why I give you this link to photo gallery. Although some of the photos contain NSFW material, the point really is what is NOT in them.

Shame on you, Nintendo

After MarioKart DS, I am now proud owner of another online-compatible Nintendo DS game, Animal Crossing: Wild World.

Although the game is great (better than the Gamecube version), there is a slight problem with Nintendo being scared shitless that someone might use the online features to promote nazism, child rape etc. That's probably the reason why you cannot easily visit other players' towns and first have to register "Friend Codes" which you have to exchange by other means. The game also tries to censor dirty words, but as with any such measures, it can be circumvented rather easily...

Coincidence? I think not!

Get organized with JBROUT

If you are looking for SOMETHING to organize your digital photographs and if you hate non-compatible databases and destructive changes, you can have a look at jBrout.

It works on Windows and Linux (and probably elsewhere where you can install Python) and stores almost all its data right inside the JPG files. If you upload them to Flickr, for example, the title, description and tags are then already automagically pre-filled.

Amsterdam: The Basics

OK, first of all some basic tips before going to Amsterdam:

I wholeheartedly recommend booking your hotel online at Bookings.nl. In some cases, it offers 50% cheaper rates than I got from three different Czech travel agencies! Also, when we arrived and the hotel desk, they checked if we really want non-smoking room (without asking what stuff specifically we will not smoke) and when we confirmed this fact, we got a free room upgrade. In the end, for 500 Euro, we got five nights in rather excellent room which normally costs 290 - 350 Euros per night.

Unfortunately, if you fly to Amsterdam, no matter how cheap your air tickets will be, you'll have to pay airport tax which is extremely high (around $100) for Schiphol airport! Fortunately, Schiphol airport (about 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam, train leaves every 5-10 minutes and costs 3.40 Euro) is rather great. You can really spend at least 4 hours here, just looking through all the shops, restaurants and art museum. You can check you baggage in 24 hours before departure (and you can do it at one of the ubiquitous terminals, without waiting in queue).

As for the location, it's probably best to stay in a hotel near the "Dam Square". From our five-day experience, this neighborhood is the only public place that feels both alive and safe even late in the evening. It's rather weird but even shops in the heart of the city open rather late (after noon!) and close rather soon (at 6 PM!), even two weeks before Christmas! Of course, if you'd rather spend the evening in the pub or night clubs, you can fulfill your desires in almost any part of the city.

But the most important tip (unless you insist on candlelit dinners) is: Albert Heijn! This is a chain of food supermarkets (akin to UK's Tesco, for example) that has really nice prices, good quality and large sortiment of goods. While the standalone hot meal (without soup, drink etc.) costs from 10 to 15 Euros in Amsterdam restaurants, in Albert Heijn you can get buy great dinner for two for around 15 Euros (there is super-sized Albert Heijn just a few meters to the west from the Dam Square). The problem with the restaurants is obvious: The ones that have menus in English often exist only to rip off the tourists. Also, they are usually full of drunk English tourists. However, we visited great Chinese restaurant in the Chinese quarter (the key here is to look for restaurants that accept credit cards - that usually means the food is not poisonous, there is no smell and the staff understands English).

Back again

Yes, I am back. However, I have lots of things to catch up with and Flickr has problems letting me upload about 500 photos from Amsterdam. A preview of things to come:



As you can see, it was pretty hard to actually deduce which entertainment was for gays and which was simple straight porn:

We're off to see the wizard...

OK, we are leaving for Amsterdam tomorrow. It seems Kryspin wants to go, too. Tough luck, Kryspin!



And a word to all Japanese readers: Hahahahahahaha!

Art of war

I absolutely adore these paintings by Nigel Ayers, from his series "The War Against Terror" and "The War on Drugs".