Log> Thoughts> Planning around the world

This is starting to look like a likely itinerary - at least directional. Want to join me? I'm not sure about the beginning bit, because I've got this weird idea of riding my motorbike to Dubai (or somewhere maybe a tiny bit closer), selling it there and starting flying then. For flights, the best deal for me seems to be the onWorld Global Explorer. I've a good tier status with them and tons of miles, if I feel like I need to upgrade or get to a lounge or something...

Leaving late March or early April from London, to:

EDIT: Most likely going to Mauritius first to purchase the oneWorld RTW ticket. The price differences are massive, especially in First Class. But it's still very affordable, and the miles you score make up for the proce difference to an Economy (shudder) ticket.

(5 weeks)
Cape Town
Harare
Johannesburg

(6 weeks)
Hong Kong
Tokyo

(8 weeks)
Hanoi (ground to) Singapore

(6 weeks):
Delhi (ground to) Mumbai

(8 weeks)
Melbourne
Cairns (ground to) Sydney

(3 weeks)
Fiji (Voro Voro island!)

(5 weeks)
Auckland & rest of NZ

(5 weeks)
Easter Island
Santiago
Caracas

(5 weeks)
Buenos Aires (ground to) Rio de Janeiro
Miami

(6 weeks)
Panama (ground to) Belize
Havana

(4 weeks)
Dallas or Chicago (ground to) Boston
...and then back home, where ever that will be after this trip.


61 weeks... Ahem. It's a big world. I'll need to make the motorcycle idea happen, maybe that way I can drop the flight segment time needed to 12 months (a round the world ticket must be used within 12 months), although it might push the total duration up.

I'm starting off by myself, I think, but would love to find travel companions on the way, if for nothing else, sharing accommodation in the destinations where I'll stay longer. Lone traveling gets expensive if nothing else. I'll post and peruse these travel companion notice boards and sites, but some of them seem a bit dodgy. If you read this and feel like sharing the road at some point in the itinerary, let me know.

Sounds> Wintersun kicks viking ass

He-heey folks! Another metal post! It's a great season for the darkest tunes of musical mayhem, and my ears are still numb from yesterday's Wintersun and Amon Amarth.

Wintersun is Finland's pride in the metal scene right now. Pure, distilled talent and catchy powerful tunes layered on top extremely fast drums. Jari Mäenpää and Kai Hahto are both absolutely stellar - Jari's vocal range and supernatural guitar skills are almost eclipsed by Kai's world-class drumming. Speed, accuracy and innovativeness create the extreme edge that Wintersun cuts with. I was a bit too excited to take a lot of photos, but let's see if I get this video up... I also had the pleasure of a quick chat with the guys in the foyer before they took off to Belgium.

Amon Amarth was solid as well, filled with tunes that have you standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the enemy with your sword by your side. Yeah, viking metal :). They took their audience like a headliner should, but didn't quite hold a candle against Wintersun. And it's not just a Finland - Sweden thing, I've been to plenty of gigs where our western neighbours have beat us easily. Not this time.

Log> I am Tupau

This tribewanted.com is getting more and more interesting. I just received my wonderful tribal pack which included a tag with my tribal number on it: 1024 out of 5000. I got 2 to the power of 10?! It's a sign (yes, I'm a nerd). So I decided to create a tribal name around this (it's a thing that you do, you can still call me whatever you've called me in until now): Tupau, an adaptation of 'two power ten'. It sounds appropriate - hope it doesn't mean anything funny in Fijian. That'll be my nickname, at least. I'm not going to tell you my full true name, or else you'd have power over me.

Thoughts> Going out your front door is dangerous business

The die is cast, a decision is made. I just took the first step in determining my course for the next year and joined the Tribe at tribewanted.com. I opted for the Hunter-level, which most importantly entitles me to 14 nights at the Fijian island of Vorovoro. There's a lot more about the tribe and the concept on the website. I like the idea a lot - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the whole concept attracts an agreeable, fun bunch of people. Take a look and join us if you can!

So that means I'll be going to Fiji? You bet. Among many other places I've always wanted to go to. The question of 'when?' is still open, but most likely sometime next year. That also means I'm dropping the grad school application plans I still tried to uphold a couple of weeks back. I think it's natural - I've never had a real gap year, I did a degree in no time, did a full year in the army, I'm (only?) 26 and a product marketing manager at one of the world's best companies. My soul needs some space, soon. I'm betting that space may be discovered in South Africa, Tanzania, Bhutan, Japan, New Zealand, the Easter Island, Brazil, Jamaica or any place in between, close or far.

If you work with me and hear this for the first time, try not to choke on your lunch (or celebrate too much before I'm gone, either, please) - I haven't decided on the timing yet. Luckily, the STA is really close to our London office.

Sounds> Opeth and Paradise Lost

Opeth and Paradise Lost threw great gigs yesterday at the renovated, re-opened Roundhouse in Camden. I've listened to PL for 12 years soon (mostly Icon and Gothic only though), so seeing them finally live was an important event. Sorry about the bad photos, it's the Nokia N80.

Paradise Lost wasn't entirely convincing, though. The first and often-repeated quip was that they played mostly new material; I didn't hear anything from Icon, for example, but I missed the couple first songs. We did hear Shadowkings from Draconian Times (though Once Solemn would've been a clearly stronger choice), but unfortunately the boys didn't play together very well. I'm betting they just haven't rehearsed lately as much as you'd expect. Both Icon and DT were pinnacles of production genius with flawless execution, and hearing a jerky live version didn't convince me of the talents of the current lineup. The penultimate song was, surprisingly, Eternal, from the 15-year old album Gothic. This song, albeit not too well composed, holds a delicate balance of gothic tunes and death metal heaviness, and I wouldn't be surprised if it would attribute to the existence of bands such as Katatonia all by itself. Unfortunately - too many clear vocals. I hadn't followed them at all in the last 5-6 years, but it looks like only a couple of guys from the Icon-times remain. It's a shame, but such monumental beauty as that album was can't come about many times in the lifetime of a band.

But that isn't the case with the evening's headliner. Opeth came in with all the usual Mikael-driven silliness in speeches between songs (such as the random "Melinda has an ear infection." and "In general I'm a sexy beast.") and solid execution on stage. The gig was filmed for a DVD, and I think that accounted for the fact that all of the songs were played very faithfully to the album versions. I saw them in Forum last year, and that show saw some deep experimentation with some of the compositions.

We were opened with the Ghost of Perdition, aggressively but within the limits set by the album version. The gig was mostly on the heavy side and finished off with Blackwater Park - still no Black Rose Immortal, April Ethereal or Master's Apprentices, which would drive me up the wall and possibly leave broken bones scattered around the mosh pit. Well not quite. We did get In the Mist She Was Standing from the first album, Orchid, but nothing from Morningrise. In the Deliverance / Damnation DVD interview Mikael did say he sometimes hates what they did on Morningrise as the sounds it has are so typical to that era and that style of music. But they established a lot of that sound, and I - like many other fans - think that Morningrise is a genius package.

A word about the venue: bloody beautiful. Worth the visit even if you're not sure about the bands. Much cleaner and cultured than most gig digs. Paradise Lost had brilliant sounds throughout the gig - crystal clear and resonant, but Opeth, strangely didn't. Vocals were too low - at some point the background vocals came on top of the main growling. The lead guitar was also obscured at times. I got used to it, but it did deduct from the experience somewhat.

Words> Speaking in Helsinki

I'm giving the Keynote speech at the DIVIA seminar in Helsinki on November 16th. This is exciting - sounds like a really good crowd and I've got some good material for the topic too. There's more information in Finnish over here: http://www.divia.fi/?action=juttu&ID=172

Tech> Thoughts> Fanatic about a cheap laptop project

I just ran into the most defensive and quite frankly bitter myth-busting page I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately, it belongs to the Wiki of one of the most virtuous projects around, the OLPC. The separate "ask OLPC a question"-page has similar material. Why does it sound like they've placed a fanatic behind the admin computer (and one whose English isn't terribly good, to boot)? This should not be the tone of an un-biased, open, educational project. They should not let it get personal. Of course there will be envy, doubts and even ridicule. People who think their ideas would be better for a project like this (and who would yet do nothing to achieve a similarly audacious goal) form a chorus of nay-sayers that would love to see the OLPC crash and burn.

Just don't take it personally. The OLPC is a great, worthy project, especially as it is so audacious. Even if Negroponte's team won't achieve bringing the price per unit down to $100, they'll certainly get close. This would of course result in finger-pointing by the people who said that a $100 laptop can't be done - but what is a $100 other than a round number? A $150 laptop would be a massive achievement in itself. Currently the price is rumored to be around $208, and already this is encouraging berating comments. This is a weird site too - it claims to be written with 'healthy skepticism', but it also sounds like the writers have problems with Negroponte's personality, the name changes of the product (it's not even out yet, let them change the name as much as they want!) and the costs of the product - all in a healthy tone of derision.

Couldn't we just try and get along?