| Anyone who knows me will know that I have worked in this image just a tad for dramatic effect. Nonetheless it was looking pretty black just a few minutes ago but now it has returned to what I think can best be described as North Sea grey – a sky we are all too familiar with at home.
However, it doesn’t really matter as we have brought wet weather gear so for’ard for’ard. Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad |
Finally, someone who appears to understand the greater picture…iterate or die….
iOS 7: Apple is still building brilliant products for ‘the crazy ones’
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/micwright/100010579/ios-7-apple-is-still-building-brilliant-products-for-the-crazy-ones/
—
Sent from Zite, available for free in the App Store.
Simon Marchini
www.simonmarchini.co.uk
| In the main hall of the Rijks Museum there are alcoves set aside just for one Dutch painter of the 17th century. This was made in the Vermeer alcove.
Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad |
| The Night Watchman by Rembrandt is the star turn at the Rijks museum but I think the crowds are missing a trick. Buried nearby in the labyrinth of rooms is the wonderfully titled Banquet of the Crossbowman’s guild in celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Munster by van der Helst. I really don’t think I’ve seen a funnier and more human painting in my life. Whilst the more famous Rembrandt had people standing six deep the van der Helst is poorly attended to with most people just passing by. This is a real shame because if it is a true representation of the guild of crossbow men then they were a real bunch of characters – all of life was present in that one painting and it didn’t matter that this depicted a group of men from 400 years ago they were as a live now as they had been when they sat for the painting.
Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad |
A new and wonderful photo app Tiny Plants allowed me to make this image
Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk
What a wonderful place the Rijks Museum is ….the staff are even better… We’ve just spent the morning wondering through Dutch art of the 17th century and now it is time for a cool drink and a nice piece if cake. As the waitress asked…”do you want whipped cream with that?…
I laughed….I didn’t get to where I am today without whipped cream.
Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk
| The hotel is great, the place is great but the thing that is really getting my goat is the new update to Photoshop express app. It is useless. The old one you felt that you had some control over what you were doing – this one has been dumbed down to almost ridicules proportions. I’m not impressed.
So today we can really start to explore Amsterdam…let the fun begin. Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad |
iPhone 5S: has Apple given up on innovation?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/16/iphone5s-apple-given-up-innovation
I’m really not sure I agree with this article. When I look around the smartphone market I don’t see any real innovation at all but rather consolidation. But this misses the point. The innovation on the modern smart phone doesn’t come from the machine but rather the software. Yes it is nice to have a chip that runs just a bit quicker and a bit more memory etc but it is the cutting edge apps that make all the difference.
I’m really not sure the many critics of Apple think innovation looks like. We hear about Jobs and the iPod/phone/pad great leap forward and yes they broke the mould of what came before. I feel that to break the mould again would destroy much of what the Apple system has become. This is the same for the Android system.
Perhaps in time we will see some radical change but not in the near future…and that would have been the same if Jobs was head…although he wouldn’t have let you think that.
—
Sent from Zite, available for free in the App Store.
Simon Marchini
www.simonmarchini.co.uk
| Well we’ve arrived and decided to walk to the hotel which was a great way to get your bearings in Amsterdam which, it turns out, is really very compact. We got to the hotel a bit early so left our bags and went a walk around the area which again was very useful. We also waded through part of the red light district so that at least we can we did it. The overriding effect the area had on me was more of a meat market than anything sexual. However, Im sure it does some thing for a lot of people and I do hope the girls make a good living – I’m sure there may be many boys plying their trade but they are not on immediate display.
So we’ve done the touristy bit and so can settle down to some serious exploration of Amsterdam tomorrow hopefully as far away from the honeypots as possible. Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad |
Simon's Blog 