The Nemesis of iTunes?

This is probably the first media player I've come a cross that could potentially pose a threat to iTunes. I personally love iTunes, but since the 7.x versions, less convincingly so. But there is hope: SongBird. SongBird is a media player based around Firefox and VLC. It is currently early days but, with promised iPod support, direct links to music blogs, eMusic etc, who knows. At the moment I run it as a complement, but if iTunes gets any heavier and less stable than it already is, I might turne OpenSource on this issue too.



Blessed be,

/|\ Taran MacDuir

For those Gaiman fans out there!

Neil Gaimans book Stardust is coming to the silver screen. Personally I've not read this one, but judging by what I have read, it bodes well. The movies set to come out some time between August and October depending on country. The movie stars such prominent actors as Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Peter O'Tool, and the voice of Sir Ian McKellen. Click on the title of the post for the homepage, or have a look at the entries on Wikipedia or IMDb.

For your enjoyment, here's the trailer:




Check out other books by Neil Gaiman at Amazon.co.uk, Wikipedia. One of my personal favourites is Good Omens, even though that isn't a Gaiman only book. Be sure to check out the link list to this entry!

Blessed spring!

/|\ Taran MacDuir

Ostara came and went

Hi out there, I'm sorry it's been a while, but exams… Anyway, Ostara didn't turn out the way I thought it would, but a small informal gathering in a stone circle (and a new one at that!) out in the forest with Ann Jönsson (Naturhälsan), wasn't that bad either! It was cold, it was dark, but the response from "the others" was immediate and loving. I just need to meditate on my purpous for being, where am I going, why and what do I want to do until I get there?

Spring is here!

/ | \ Taran MacDuir

Happy Spring Equinox!

Happy Spring Equinox everyone, and may the spring rush to our aide in these cold hours before the sun realy starts to shine. I and my wife are meeting up with some other pagans to have a small informal celebration. It will be wicked! (Pun intended…) Well, have a great Equinox!

May your spring be blessed,

/|\ Taran MacDuir

P.S. If you're having trouble keeping track of all the different dates, all the imortant moon and sun positions etc., go to this page pagancalendar.co.uk, you can use it on-line or download the calendar for iCal (for English version, here) if you use Mac (for English, here) or at least it should work with SunBird for Windows/Linux/Mac. Does it work with anything else? Well, try it. I'm sorry I don't know enough about Amiga/Morph calendars. Feel free to inform me if you find what works.

New Worlds

By the way, there is a new issue of Llewellyn Publishing's formidable magazine/catalogue New Worlds. Just download it as a PDF.

Blessed reading,

/|\ Taran MacDuir

This is the Country Side, yeah!

I found this funny animation at YouTube. It's a little bit funny.

/|\ Taran MacDuir

Movie time!

Well, well, well. Finally I've found out why we haven't seen more Miyazaki movies in Swedish cinema. The company Triangel Film, who owns the rights for Sweden are planing on releasing one movie a year. So I suppose that's all right. Anyway the third movie for Sweden is coming up on the 30th March this year, and it Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro/Min granne Totoro). I'm really looking forward to that. May be I'll use the ticket I've gotten from partaking in a memory test at the psych department in Lund?

Another Triangel Film release you must pick up is Pan's Labyrinth. Possibly one of the best ever "pagan themed" movies made. That said, most other religions feel that it's the best movie ever for their faith as well… It did, at any rate, deserve the three Academy Awards it won. Check out the trailers over at Apple. See it, dream it, live it…

I would also recommend you check out the latest Sandra Bullock movie, Premonition. It seems very interesting questioning time continuum, what reality is etc. In a kind of thriller way, but still… Seems all right too me.

To close this post I would also like to mention The Prestige. This is possibly the best movie I've seen in a very long while. And the cast list… Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Cane, David Bowie and the wonderful Scarlet Johansson… It received two Academy Award nominations and numerous others. Have a look at the trailers over at Apple, or check out the DVD release homepage. It's magic as it has never been seen before…

Enjoy,

/|\ Taran MacDuir

Hihi, geek fun

Well so we all know aabout the cheeky but funny Apple Get a Mac adds. But I for one had missed that they have special UK versions. In many ways the comedic timing is better, or maybe it's just those Euroaccents?

/|\ Taran MacDuir

HokusPokus gruppen

Just thought I should say that I and Neina did our small bit to further peoples' knowledge on paganism yesterday. We informed a group of people about good internet sites and some of the missconceptions about paganism. It was kind of fun actually. Well anyhow, if you want to read the slides they can be found here (Neina), and here (Taran). Unfortunatley they are both in Swedish, but you can see the fab images in Neinas and use the links in Tarans slides all the same.

May you road rise up to meet you,

/|\ Taran MacDuir

Life, biology and Wired

I found this interessting article over at wired.com, well to be honest the video is what you want. You should really check out this video. It shows the inner workings of cells. It's amazing, it's fantastic, …it's pretty… In the face of the "awsomnity" of this, why is it?

The Inner Life of the Cell, enjoy!



Bless,

/|\ Taran MacDuir

P.S. The full length 8,5 min movie can be found here.

OK, so some resources

I just thought I should let you in on some good sites, whether you're a pagan or not really.

First of we have Plato, an excellent Encyclopedia of Philosophy maintained by Stanford University. Used by professional philosophers no less…

This one you probably know, but if you've managed to miss Wikipedia, then you should head on over to it right now. Supports many languages, containes many topics.

AriadneSpider is a searchengine for pagan, esotheric, occult etc. themes. Users can rate links and sort them into categories as well.

Tolerance is important these days, therefor Religious Tolerance is a very good place to start when researching other religions, as well as your own. It's always a good idea to see what others think you believe in…

The last recomendation this time is Beliefnet, a site promoting interfaith discussions and dialogue. Try their Belief-O-Matic test, it's really fun!

Well, c u soon.
May your path be blessed,

/|\ Taran MacDuir

Hmm…!?!

Are we alone in the multiverse? Maybe its more important to ask: is there anything but the multiverse?

In a word: Tired!

The cirkus concerning Apple, iTunes, DRM and the music industry is in full swing, and I'm lamenting the imminent demise of the record labels. Because they will go under if they don't do something, and soon.

Recently there was a conference in New York for the music industry, where they apparently spent a lot of time lashing out at Apples' CEO Steve Jobs for his "anti-DRM" sympathies. According to them, he is not sincere in his demands:

At the opening of the conference, some of the panel members lashed out at Jobs. Members said Jobs' call three weeks ago for DRM-free music was "insincere" and a "red herring".

Well be that as it may, I still agree with Steve. DRM will not solve anything. And opening up FairPlay to others is not an option. Microsofts' PlaysForSure is going the way of the Dodo, since it is extremly difficult to maintain a system comprising so many different companies.

And now the EU is looking in to trying to force Apple into opening iTunes purchased music to other players than their own iPod. Is this a good thing? Well, no, not if the music industry continues to push for DRM. And if they order Apple to open up, they should go after Sony and Microsoft as well, and all the other as well. Noone should be aloud proprietary technology if that's the case. Ie the Zune should be opened up, downloads in WMA and ATRAC 3 shouldn't be aloud, since they only play on certain players, and not all.

I personaly don't see the problem with iTunes. Sure it only works on iPods without converting the music, but you know what. There are other stores on the net! Why can't non-iPodders use them in stead? This is nothing like the Windows/Explorer monopoly. There you have practicaly no choice in the main stream. Anyway, I digress. Forcing Apple to open iTunes isn't going to help anyone, least of all the other on-line music stores such as Napster.

DRM then? Well, as Jobs has pointed out, the situation as it is can't go on. But the record companies are hell bent on sticking to the traditional theories. The need a new angle if they want to survive. A perfect example is that music and movies usually cost about the same when you download it as when you buy it on discs… Anyone else see the problem here?

Well, those are just some initial thoughts on this iTunes/DRM issue. Is this pagan in any way, I hear you ask! Well, yes. As pagans we need to see to that the world doesn't go too much wrong, especialy not when it comes to something as important as music. Everywhere they try to crack down on "free" listening, in the US they are trying to stop internet radio aswell! Shudder at the thought, no Pagan Radio!

Well, bless for now!

/|\ Taran MacDuir

The rantings of a mad psych student…

Is there a Box?
It is important to think outside the box. You need to think outside it to survive tomorrow, but you need to think inside it to survive in the now. You need to invent the new box. What will the new box be like, what will our future be like, what will your life be like?

So what do we know? We don't know anything about religion, we believe, no matter what. In science we did know, but we learned to much, so we ended up not knowing anything again… The only sure thing seems to be logics, but it on the other hand, says very little indeed about life and reality. If it was up to logics we probably wouldn't be here!

How do we handle existance in a universe mostly made up from nothing, where matter never realy touch, where an unproven theory, the one about our conscious, tries to bring order into what it percieves as more real than its very own existance?

Beliefe seems to be the single most important aspect of conscious life, allowing us to trust in something, be it the gods, our selfs (like the gods, also an unproven theory), science (likewise in most respects…) or what ever. The only demand, I think, is this: your belief has to be your own!

While on the subject of psychology, check out Unconscious, a Spanish independent movie, that seems realy funny. This link is for the iTunes trailer, if you don't use iTunes or have an unsupported platform like Amiga, Morph, Linux etc., head on over to this page instead.

Blessed be,

/ | \

Taran MacDuir

Ok, that didn't work

But I'll figure out a way to post images later. In the mean time, check this out! One of the greatest pagan movies ever made! If this works…

Well, who'd 've guessed it?

Here we are, my own blog. I would certainly not have thought it. Why have I decided to do this? Well, the reasons are several, but here are the main ones:

1. Due to this Google deal at Blogger, I can for the moment not use the Hyllebær blog, so I decided to get my own.
2. The other main reason is that I feel that the Hyllebær blog is perhaps a little to narrow for me personally. This blog will be dedicated not only to paganism, but also to other interests of mine like technology, philosophy, psychology, movies and more.

Also this blog will, mainly, be written in English. Why? Because I want what I write to reach as many as possible. But even so, there probably will be the odd post in Swedish anyway…

So well, that's it for this intro. I hope you will come back to enjoy more stuff, here at Taran's Duirstep!


Please head over to Oh My Gods! for to enjoy this fantastic pagan strip!