Author Archive

Review: Taylor Swift – Speak Now

Taylor Swift by David Shankbone 2010 NYC

Taylor Swift

Ok, so apparently, I like Country now (although if I did not know better, I would simply call it Pop). Anyway, I really liked her hit “Love Story” a couple of years back, so I tried out Taylor Swift’s new album “Speak Now” (in what generally appears to be a “back-to-the-mainstream”-year for me, a trend started by the shutdown of my favorite indie music blog). And Ms. Swift does not disappoint. “Speak Now” features several up-tempo songs that made it high on my play-lists the lasts months, highlighted by my two favorites “Long Live” and “Story of Us”. Among the ballads, “Dear John” and “Back To December” stand out, the first one apparently the musical reckoning of her relationship with musician John Mayer – some juicy stuff, if I may add. What really surprised me about the album is that Swift did not only get down the musical part – diversified, yet distinct in style, generally up-beat, never boring – but that she also produced lyrics that are clever, honest and believable. It may not always be high poetry, but the lyrics go much deeper than you might expect from your typical Country song. To me (and my surprise), one of the best albums I listened to in years. 4.5 stars! (Review Ratings)

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30 Sports in 30 Days

Sure, it’s an advertisement, but it’s still a fun idea and there is actually very little promoting going on. A really nice tour through all kinds of sports. 🙂
[youtube]DblIBHMSaSA[/youtube]
Here is the website.

The League

The League is about five friends in a fantasy football league and if you don’t believe you can run a whole show on just that, you will stand corrected just like me. The show is completely inappropriate, sometimes even vulgar, often absurd and most of all, incredibly funny!
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Firefox 4 vs. Opera 11

Opera Browser: Já experimentou?

I like Opera’s user
interface more.

Opera 11 came out recently and Firebox 4 is currently in a very advanced beta state, so it was time for a little browser competition.

Opera:
+ Save bookmarks directly to folder
+ Select search engine directly typing search phrase
+ Private tabs instead of private mode
+ Design slightly better
– Search in site feature a bit strange

Mozilla Firefox black pins (wallpaper)

But thanks to ICC
color profiles, FF is
better for photos
By flod,
used under cc license


Firefox:

+ Many more extensions!
+ Easier to customize
+ ICC color profiles
– No status bar any more

In the end, I like Opera more, it feels more finished and overall is easier to use, but not having color profiles is pretty much a deal breaker for me. I just hope I will be able to re-create most of Opera’s killer features with Firefox extensions.