Leftovers from Chicago

As I haven't been shooting much recently and my last photo-post was a long time ago, I dug out some of the older street shots from one of the first days with my brand new camera.

These kids were playing improvised drums in front of the Art gallery. They were surprisingly good, although not best of friends all the time. :-)

Moving on towards the Millenium Park and the Bean, I spent most of the time shooting people who were taking pictures themselves. Nothing spectacular, but it was interesting at times...

I especially appreciate the geometry on the last one. While on this shoot, I met a pro photographer who earns his living by shooting movie crews in Hollywood. He had the very same camera and lens as me, so we chatted for a while and among other things he said it truly was an excellent choice to hone one's skills. Made me happy. :-)

A note, all the photos seen today were digitally manipulated. Mostly contrast/brightness and color level tools were used, as the originals were rather misty and boring for my taste. The weather sucked that day. I was pleasantly surprised about how easily a major improvement could be made. And as a cherry, a mighty schoolbus on the way back...

Spying on the poikilotherms

This post is overdue for a month or so, but finally here, as promised.

One of Chicago's major attractions is the Shedd Aquarium, reportedly the largest indoor aquarium in the world, with more than 8000 exotic animals, several special exhibits, and, of course, Guinness. ;-)
Perhaps the most famous guy everywhere is a fat lizard who goes by the title dragon king of Komodo, has charming eyes, and skin so soft and smooth it makes gravel look like silk.
The lizards were my favourite exhibit, I like the lazy, cold blooded creatures. They are almost as cool as frogs, and pose well for portraits.
Baby beluga, probably the most famous if his kind, born right here at Shedd. Needless to say, he is a great face for marketing, and his posters are all over the town.
More lizards. Am I the only one who finds his majesty's eyes creepy? Stare that down, Juliecorn!
The fish were a royal pain to photograph. Dark room, lot of movement, glass to focus through... never before had I so many pictures that were of unacceptable quality. Worse yet, it's very difficult to judge on the small LCD display, which makes me wish I had waited for Nikon 300D. ;-) However, I was extremely pleased the performance, especially how well the noise was managed even at high sensitivity.
Here, it's pretty clear that the glass is not as transparent as it should be, but still - it could have been much worse, so overall I was happy. Thanks to Satyam and Larisa for joining me, it was a nice trip. One last panorama shot as we were coming back home. Hooray for the light smog!

Cityscape climbing

Very likely the most disappointing thing about photography in a big, flat city, is the lack of good views for landscape shots. Even though you can sometimes get to a high building, only very rarely are you able to open a window enough to get a good, clear shot of what you want. Even windows in high floors of dorms have metal grates on them, because people in the wrong places are "worried about our safety".

There was a person, though, who, following a suggestion by one of his friends, decided that too significant concerns for our safety can be twisted and abused for actions unintended by the building administration. After gearing up with warm clothes, a backpack with a bottle of Gatorade and equipment, and of course the trusty black camera with its short lens mounted, he got past the maintenance workers to the designated place.

Campus floor belonging to musicians was the perfect place with deserted corridors, and two ways to get to the roof. With all the astonishing grace of a well-fed hippo, he sneaked outside through a fire escape window. The rusty iron bars, weary with age, moaned under his majestic weight, but seemed sturdy enough to be trusted. The wind was strong, as expected, and air blown from the lakeside much fresher, than that of the street level.

He wasn't sure whether he was allowed to be there at all, and slightly worried that in the country of such freedom, presence of a man on the roof could be easily considered a terrorist attack, but pushed forward nonetheless. After passing several windows with office workers who couldn't care less, and a room with several girls who noticed him and squealed, he finally got to his vantage point.

Fear of heights was never one of his problems. Quite a few times he has been hiking in an alpine terrain where a gruesome fate hundreds of meters below was just a slip away. Though in reality this was much safer, being able to see right through the thin bars didn't really add to the overall feeling of comfort. Just for comparison, the street down there is around 16 regular floors below the white roof.

Maybe it was the open space all around, after living in a downtown area for a few months, the height with the wind, the possibility of violating quite a few regulations, mischievous and slightly dangerous nature of his little adventure, the interesting view, someone greedy and powerful inside his brain having bought stock in adrenaline production, or very probably the combination of these elements, he felt very excited and alive.

Chicago is called the Windy City for a good reason - the city is situated on a plain by the lake, so there is nothing except the buildings to brake the air currents. Perhaps also for this reason, his fingers were really uncomfortably freezing. Cold and wind are much more pronounced when one's unprotected fingers are holding a cold metal object for a long time. At the end of the shoot it got rather difficult to use the control buttons. Oh, and he found it rather curious to see two flags, so close to each other, indicate wind blowing from two opposite directions.

Suburbs to the south-west of the Loop are home of many people, and spread as far as the eye can see. From here they don't look too glossy, it is somewhat better when you actually get there. Imagine a typical outdoor city scene from an American movie, and you have a perfect idea. It is also said about Chicago, that there are only two seasons - winter and a construction season. Looking at those cranes, I keep wondering when, and if, the winter is going to come.

Hooray, I can finally present a clear picture of the two main landmarks, from almost the same angle as I see them, when I look out of my window. This view is undoubtedly the best Roosevelt housing can provide, and can easily hold its own against million dollar apartments you see in the movies, especially at night with all the pretty lights on. But back to the story. :-)

The clouds looked rather promising, so he decided to wait for the sunset. It wasn't very comfortable, but certainly worth it. Leaning over the railing to get a good angle and unobscured shot probably wasn't the safest thing to do, but with his attention to the camera, it was doable. He decided to stop experimenting with picture settings, and set the picture style to landscape. Whole time he was shooting on manual settings, though, because he wasn't satisfied with how camera handled the light metering automatically. He would look at the advanced settings later, but this was not the right time.

This one is my personal favourite. I can imagine that the strongly tilted horison may be too avantgarde for some people, so I've also uploaded an earlier shot with significantly different, high contrast image setting, and one more conventional, with a plane passing.

In the end, drained but happy, he climbed back down to the window, where the office workers were still busy beating their personal high-score in Solitaire, and with legendary stealth only comparable to a medieval knight in full plate armour, he stomped back into the corridor. Grateful to the camera for motivating him to spend an afternoon in such a satisfying way, and eager to browse the photos on a larger screen, he rushed to his room.

This is the last picture taken in the shoot, and probably my most favourite one. I just like the colours, lights, and especially the train. :-) It only keeps me wishing for more dynamic range, because it was impossible to make the highlights in the top right corner lower, without sacrificing light in the darker parts of the photo.

The skating ring

Trying to figure out how to spend a free Friday, I went to check out the freshly set-up open air ice-skating ring at the Millennium park. Needless to say, my heavy artillery couldn't be left behind. I have shot a lot of pictures, some of which will be presented later, under a more appropriate topic.
Quite a few people were enjoying themselves over there, but not enough for the ring to be crowded. Unfortunately, it was slowly getting dark, and I had to maintain decent shutter speeds, the only thing left to do was to increase the sensor sensitivity - therefore some of the shots are a little grainy. Of course, ladies showed up, too. These two were my favourite:
Millennium park is the area with probably the most photos in Chicago, and some cameras that can be seen there make mine look like a harmless toy. :-) Of course, paying five grand for a body is quite outside of my league for the years to come. As an upside, people didn't get upset when staring into my dark tube with diameter of 77 mm.
People of all skills could be found over there, ranging from ones fully focused on maintaining upright position, to ones zooming through the ring with skills I haven't seen live before.
Oh, and this girl reminded me of my dear Bobor for some reason. It's not that look so much alike, but the general posture and feel was just very close. :-)
That's it for tonight, coming up under the "photo" label are city shots and photos of other photographs. Thanks for clicking your way here, and stay tuned! :-)

I love my camera! :-D (A shout of pure, childish joy.)

--
PS: This is how it looks when the noise gets as bad as possible, at ISO boosted to 3200, with all noise reduction turned off, and after dark. (Much darker than it would seem from the photo, simply winter light at five in the afternoon, plus some lousy city lights.) Still, I am amazed that it is possible to get a shot at 1/125 of a second, even though the quality suffers dearly. Reducing the noise would even improve it a lot.

Good jazz and picture-taking...

...at the same time? What more could a guy wish for? (I will leave the few inappropriate suggestions to myself. :-P)

Few places in the world have better jazz clubs, than Chicago. Around a week ago, we've decided to give one of them a try. It wasn't the first one and definitely not the last one, but it was the most enjoyable so far. The musicians were very skilled and played nice jazz with a distinct Hispanic flavour.
The food was good, but pitifully, they were out of Guinness, and as no other substance can take you so close to understanding the very fabric of the Multiverse, we were simply out of luck. :-P

My thanks for organising this event belong to Brian, (on the photo below,) the mastermind who came up with the idea, and arranged it flawlessly for all of us. Also to him belong the thanks for keeping me company on the walk home, so that I wasn't the only one to prefer the lakeside over a bus.
Although it doesn't seem so, the light in the restaurant was rather low, so in order to maintain high enough shutter speed, compromises with high ISO had to be made. These photos can thus serve as an idea of real-life sensitivity and noise on various high ISO settings on Canon EOS 40D. I was shooting wide open most of the time, and some photos may lack sharpness, because it's rather difficult to hold a lens with such focal lengths in low light perfectly still. As, for obvious reasons, I can't supply the sound, my focus will be instead on photography. :-)
It's the only band I know that have a bass player for their front-man. He is extraordinarily skilled, has no noticeable difficulties playing complicated riffs and singing at the same time, and makes a very enjoyable show.
These two guys at the percussions worked together smoothly, and the overall feeling of the music was very relaxed and pleasant. Shame on me for forgetting their name, because I would gladly come and listen to them again.
The trumpet player was the most difficult to photograph, because I just couldn't get the right angle... also, he was only playing once in a while, so this is the best and least obstructed shot I could get.
There goes another one, and that's it for tonight - because of the frecking fire-drill, last night I've only slept for under three hours, so I really need to get to bed. (Don't get me started.)

PS: I hope especially Pigi finds these more appealing, than the portrait practice.
Oh, and here's a quick snapshot of a crazy fountain outside, on the way back:

Portrait test run

It's been ten days since the last time my dearest readers had a chance to bask in the fresh glow of my amazing posts, and as this weekend is mostly free, save compulsory events such as Nightwish concert, I have decided to spam around a little. ;-)

Precisely two weeks ago, with one of the people I know here, a Tibetan student of international law, we have decided to try and shoot a few outdoor portraits. My longer lens seems to be very nicely up to this job, although I am still a far cry from achieving perfection with it. On the lighter note, I learn something new every time I take it out for a shoot.
The bokeh of this lens is worth dying for. Wonderful, dreamy, unmatched by anything except better prime lenses. (Bokeh is basically what the out-of-focus area looks like, it helps you isolate the subject from the background.)
Even wide open, at impressive f/2.8, the sharpness is quite decent. Along with image stabilisation, it helps to avoid ruined shots in less-than-perfect light on the long end of the lens. Body with this lens is rather heavy, and at 320 mm equiv. focal length it takes some time getting used to, in order to avoid blurring your shots. A tripod would go a long way to help.
Sharpness, exposure, and other setting of the images vary, because I've been experimenting with them on purpose. Which of the photos you think looks the best in technical terms?

While running after Tsatan with the long lens, I managed to pull of a coupe of snapshots that I kinda like. :-)
It is said that the longer the distance from the subject, the more flattering the photo looks. This is especially true for people who are conscious about the size of their noses. ;-)
Before you get to the park, a nice friendly warning like this strikes you. Something tells me that this wouldn't be the right place for our favourite wine-sessions. :-)
I didn't particularly like the weather on that day. The light was too soft, and some of the photos seem to lack on crisp colours. Oh well. There is obviously more to professional portraits than click and shoot. I'm making this a rather important task on my photography to-do list. I might even get a wise book or two on this topic, because this is the kind of photography I am rather fond of.

In case anyone back home is interested, I would be delighted to take them out for a portrait shoot such as this one. It can never hurt to have a few more decent pictures of yourself, without them looking completely unnatural with studio lights and plenty of make-up.

Amerika ist Wunderbar! ;-)

You know you haven't been in the USA long enough, when you...

• still answer, when someone asks "How're you doing?"
  
• can't get used to not knowing how much you are going to pay, "thanks" to all the taxes and fees applied at the counter, or checkout.
• passionately hate being charged for incoming calls and messages on your phone.
  
• frown at wannabe security guards everywhere.
• wonder why you received a platinum card with your bank account, when you didn't ask for one.
• mentally cheer whenever you buy something that would cost you triple the price at home. The import from China to Europe must be dreadfully expensive.
  
• try to figure out where the catch is, if you are allowed to return the goods you purchased in 30 days for money back, no questions asked.

• develop conversations such as "So you are an Italian, right? Hmm, you've never been to Italy and can't speak Italian at all? Oh, I see."
• aren't yet used to how low the taxes are.
  
• inquire how cash-backs work and what they are good for.
• don't really enjoy baseball and American football, and keep correcting people that football isn't what they think it is.
  
• have difficulties understanding why are there people around you in a graduate level class, who can't grasp the stuff you handled in high school.
• are regularly amazed by the quality of customer service.
• consider utterly ridiculous those lawyer ads that tell people to sue, because Maggie from Texas got $25000 when she did.
  
• drink soda with ice, instead of ice with soda.
  

Handheld hunting in the darkness

, (My dearest Obu is advised not to read this one. ;-))

Photography. Greek for the words "light" and "write". Thus, it comes as a little surprise, that it gets rather tough at night, since there generally is so little light to "write". This becomes especially difficult if you do not have a tripod, and have to shoot those atrociously long shutter times hand-held. Still being at the honeymoon stage, I took my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 for a walk. It did not particularly surprise me, that the cannon made it possible to shoot decent pictures at night as well.
At 17 mm focal length, it is possible to take a photo at shutter speed of 1/8 sec, and have it come out nice and sharp. Also note, that although this picture is shot at a rather high sensitivity of ISO 800, the noise is very well managed, barely noticeable. When it gets darker, picture with the same settings will have worse noise, especially on the sky. (Note the following photo.) This can be somewhat improved by post-processing.
The Bean. Famous and often visited, it was a real pain to get this shot off without people standing all around the place. :-) Sometimes the picture itself doesn't look blurred, but merely soft. Alas, there is no recipe for sharp pictures with long shutter times, other than tedious trial-and-error, or a tripod. This shot would have been much nicer if it was sharper:
Also, shutter speed often affects how the picture looks in the end. This is especially true if there is something moving in the scene, which is often the case with water. To achieve a pleasant, flowing effect, you have to keep the shutter open for quite some time. The problem occurs when there is a stage such as this, and there is nothing to support your camera against. It took me around fifteen tries to get this photo, and it still isn't quite sharp. Oh well, not even holding your breath can help to keep perfectly still for two seconds.
On the other hand, sometimes you might want to snap the shutter real fast to freeze action. If you do so at night with ordinary settings, all you get is a black picture. The only way to go around this is to open your aperture wide, and boost the sensitivity as much as possible. The trade-off will be unpleasant noise, but sometimes that's better than nothing. I was surprised that it was possible at all to shoot at night at 1/100 sec. The noise in the sky is manageable.
The exposure can be set to abnormal lengths to achieve impressions otherwise impossible. I'm sure everyone has seen those nice urban pictures of car trails. Well, basically all it takes is a good spot and a something convenient to stabilise your camera. I didn't have neither, so mine are kind of lame. However, I will be definitely be exploring this kind of photography further. :)

Who needs a star filter, anyway? :-)

I am quite satisfied with overall low-light performance, although I can't wait to get a tripod, anyway. This is the kind of photography, where the approximately ten times larger sensor of an APS-C DSLR over a compact really shines. Thanks for viewing, and I'll let you off with a few more shots.

The people of Chicago love their young. ;-)
I only wish this one was sharper. :-/

Photographing kids

Yesterday at the ZOO, I was also able to shoot a few children as well. Those little folks make for quite cute pictures, whether it's their playing and action, observing something, or just generally doing whatever they do. Some of these shots are not very sharp, but I like them anyway. Unfortunately, with kids, all you get is snapshots. There is no time to set stuff up properly, and think much about the picture, so luck matters, too. Kids are at their best when they don't know about the observer, and are occupied somehow.



Or these two guys playing wildly at the drinking water fountain:

This type of photos has a wonderful acceptance rate, too. These are five of seven kids photos I shot yesterday, and all are of at least decent quality. This may be luck, but I feel like it's just easier to capture this kind of photos.

Honeymoon with Canon

For the time being, me and my Canon are an inseparable couple. We are fond of each other very much. I go out with her regularly, touch her body everywhere, and by now know fairly well where her controls are. No need to worry, though, I didn't get married. However, after several months of deciding and choosing, I finally ordered a digital SLR camera.
Canon EOS 40D won me in the end. I like the brand, and this camera is advanced enough to satisfy a much more experienced photographer, than myself. Although, on paper, some of its specs pale in comparison to the new Nikon D300 powerhouse, I don't want to wait for four months to get it, and pay half more for features I don't really need. Along with it, I've bought a bunch of accessories and two lenses, a great value standard zoom Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8, a lens with a scary name suffix: Di II LD Aspherical IF SP AF. The other lens I've bought is the ridiculously expensive and in all aspects brilliant Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. I hope that this one will survive for many, many years to come and serve on several bodies.
The body is large and ergonomic enough to feel comfortable in my not so small, (and reportedly silky smooth, ;-)) hands, although using the rather bulky long lens would be more comfortable with a battery grip attached. Some people say that it's difficult for them to shoot this way for a longer time period, but I have been able to shoot for four hours straight without feeling any strain. Image stabilization handled most of the shakes rather nicely. There are still some holes in this setup, especially macro shooting. Minimum focusing distance of this lens is 1.4 m, which means I can't shoot any more detail than this Grant Park resident:
I am going to try out Canon 500D, which should solve this problem. So far, I was out shooting for several hours and appreciated the sharpness and detail this lens can provide, even wide open at 200 mm. The crop factor of my APS-C sensor is 1.6x, which turns 200 mm into a 320 mm equivalent, long enough to shoot people without being too intrusive.
For wildlife, I would like to have a longer lens, preferably reaching somewhere around 500 mm focal length. Nonetheless, with enough luck, it is possible even to shoot birds with a nice amount of detail. This one was just sitting on the beach, yawning at me. :-)

Or this squirrel, obviously too occupied with its nut to care about a clumsy giant approaching.
Yesterday, for the first time in years, I went to the ZOO. As I've complained before, my dear Canon makes me do things I wouldn't have done before... while I was going there, a pretty nice panorama presented itself, and I didn't hesitate to change the lens for this shot.
Anyway, speaking of squirrels, one of the first I've seen over at the ZOO was incredibly cheeky and daring!
Shooting animals over at the ZOO was a pain. Mostly because they were in cages, or behind glass. Cages are just ugly, and glass was often stained and dirty, as well as difficult to focus through properly. Nonetheless, I was able to shoot a few decent ones. Here's a thought, how about I start collecting photos of animals with their tongues out? :-)



Oh, and I couldn't believe how cutely a polar bear can smile. :-)
I greatly appreciated the maximum aperture of the long zoom. Not only it makes a wonderful creamy bokeh, it is also very handy to "see through," (although more appropriate expression would be see around,) cage bars, in certain circumstances. This cat is in a cage similar to the one with squirrel inside it, above. In this picture, you can see the bars in the foreground merely as very soft blurs.
The flamingos were so glad to see me that they started kissing. :-)

(This one is quite soft, because I had to crop it a lot.)

Just a few more random shots, and I'll stop. Promise. :-) But this lady definitely deserves some attention. Charming, isn't she?

Well, what can I say. The body is quite complex, and some of the shots above could have been better, were I an experienced photographer. But for the first two days out with a SLR, I am satisfied. :-) Hooray! Finally, I can shoot whatever I want, whenever I want!

Celtic Fest Chicago

In a struggle to get things done before cold fall comes, last weekend was really stuffed with things to do. Traditional German Oktoberfest, some sort of Asian celebration, fabulous Within Temptation concert I wrote about earlier, and of course the Celtic Festival, held at the Grant Park below the fancy Chicago sky line. With free entrance, of course. :-)

A quick note about pronunciation: when I pronounced Celtic as [sel-tik], people would look at me as if I came from another planet. In Chicago, it's pronounced [kel-tik], although the dictionary recognises both ways. Also, Chicago is pronounced [shi-kah-goh], not [chi-kay-go].

The most remarkable advantage when comparing such festivals over here and back at home is, that some really awesome artists show up here, who would never even contemplate going to some fest in central Europe, minor by comparison. Although I sort of missed our beloved sedlácká gotika. :-)

Chicago Celtic Festival was not all about music. Although I didn't really care, I am sure that some people would find the Art Fair, sheepherding demonstration, men-in-kilts leg contest, or Gaelic football game rather appealing. For me, it was "just" a music festival. There were so many great musicians, and I don't even know some of their names, so I'll focus on the really worthwhile stuff. Like Guinness. :-D Oh yes, that's one of the finest beers in the world, and I found it very satisfying to take care of further undisclosed amount of this heavenly beverage over the weekend. I was worried after my last experience with this beer at the inn U hodného psa, which was negative, (hello, ZZ,) that I didn't like Guinness anymore, that either me or it had changed. But fortunately, that is not true. Guinness is as great and as enjoyable as ever. Definitely a highlight of the festival, muhaha. ]:->
I have missed a lot of good music on Saturday, namely famous Dolores O'Riordan, former lead singer of the Cranberries, plus the Irish music group Lunasa and Welsh musician Jon Langford. Reportedly, they were all fantastic. Sunday, however, was not a wee bit less interesting.
Damien Dempsey, an Irish rocker, was not exactly my cup of Celtic, but the Canadian family band Searson was quite a different story. They are three pretty ladies playing fiddles, bass guitar, and grand piano, and two guys at drums and acoustic guitar, playing fast-paced, energetic Celtic music. Very, very neat. At times they would also use a ten string lute, or step dance.

Colleen, their violin player, (on the picture above,) was playing her fiddles like a little goddess. Overall, I was very pleased with their performance. If you wish, you can listen to them for a bit on their myspace profile. However, the song choice over there is poor, and they seem to have matured a lot since then. My impression on Sunday was much better than what I hear over there.
The biggest discovery, though, was the evening's last band, Salsa Celtica. As the name suggests, those folks play traditional Latin-American rhythms with classic instruments like bongo, brass, and keyboards, (they had four people at percussions only!) imbued with rather nice Celtic melodies using fiddles, various whistles, and bagpipes. Unfortunately for my taste, they are significantly more Salsa, than they are Celtica, but it was really something fresh and interesting. I strongly recommend everyone to visit their myspace and listen to all the songs over there. Except maybe Grey Gallito, that one is a little weird. Unlike the Searsons, however, their myspace tracks sound fairly well and give you a good idea of what the band is up to. It is truly innovative.
As for the conclusion, I award Chicago Celtic Festival 2007 a neat sum of 70 goshu points, and do not hesitate to label it a világos. :-) Also, I got a rather nice green t-shirt from this one. Whee!

Within Temptation Világos

Although Within Temptation are often considered mainstream and pop-metal by metalheads, I have wanted to see this band for years, so when I saw their tickets on sale for $13 in House of Blues venue, 15 minutes walking distance from where I live, there was no hesitation. I got second thoughts when I was reading the Celtic Festival programme, and realised that I would miss Dolores O'Riordan, (ex-Cranberries lead singer,) because of this... but didn't change my mind.

People at ticketmaster.com deserve to spend several eons in a torture chamber, because the tickets cost me $26.52 in the end, which is more then double of the advertised price. Of course, one has to pay various taxes, facility charges, convenience charges, online order charges, picking-your-nose fees, as well as other undisclosed general charges. Still, it was an okay price for such a show, and they promised me $25 cashback on Nightwish tickets, so they are forgiven for now.

Wow. Robert and Jeroen really look like twins. And so do Ruud and Martijn.

Before I start with the "review" itself, let me fill you in on the rating system. For the good stuff, I will be giving away goshu points. If an event gets many goshu points, it basically means that it was a világos. (Pronounced velaagosh, hence goshu. :-P Syn.: ownage.) If I present something as a világos, that means it was a fantastic and extremely worthwhile event, and those who could have come, and did not, are therefore dubbed various degrees of noobs, and possibly even criminals.

An event needs at least 60 goshu points to be a minor világos, at 100 points it is a supreme világos. Very rarely it even gets above that. An example would be Therion Goes Classic in Miskolc, which with its 1.3x metal-orchestra multiplier and 1.1x front row multiplier, recieved 125 goshu points, and thus became an utter MegaVilágos, which makes it extremely difficult to surpass. Confusing, I know, but some people get it already as an inner joke, and it will grow on the rest of you, I'm sure. ;-)

They let us wait for almost three hours since the scheduled start, filled with quite pathetic gay^Wboy wannaberock bands. They were in fact so lousy, that the friend who was there with me blacked out, so that she wouldn't have to listen to them. (It was a bit scary, I had to steer her out of the crowd, but she was alright for the rest of the night, even jumped with me a little.) Good old Astral Doors, seriously.

Most important complaint comes first: the audience sucked. I've never seen such pathetic crowd on a concert in Europe before. Not only was there no mosh-pit, but it was clearly above those people to decide when to clap, wave, jump, punch the air, or scream. Consequently, most of them did nothing, and the rest did any of the above in random fashion, but never all the same. I particularly disliked the emo kids. (Oh my, they really do exist!) Those boys wear thick makeup and dark lipstick, nail polish, have hoodies on their heads, and talk like sissies. Hateable at the first glance. Oh, and the biggest idiots were guess who? Polish!!

Sharon den Adel is a remarkably enchanting woman with fabulous voice. When she came to the stage and started singing, I froze. It was simply fascinating. She was wearing a dark dress with a corset, with cleverly sewn sleeves that would bare her entire arms when she wanted. Not only could Sharon sing incredibly well, she also made a hell of a show. I especially liked her mimics, and the kind of dance she did with her hands. She must be double-jointed, because some of her moves were just otherworldly. And mmm, so sweet, that alone was worth several goshu points. :o)

Although a few times she didn't manage to reach into the uppermost octaves and her voice came out a little flat and out of tune, the overall performance was brilliant. As were her bandmates, who played tirelessly and sounded flawless. The impression was much heavier, than their studio albums. Unlike Kamelot, who did the same and screwed up big time, these guys managed to pack a lot of punch into their songs without sacrificing the melody, or quality. I have a nagging feeling to write a couple more superlatives, because they definitely deserve it, so let's pretend that I did. ;-)
As for the tracklist, it was okay. It was really fat, I think they played 18, or 19 songs. As this was The Heart of Everything tour, most of them were, naturally, from the latest album. It is quite cool, although a wee bit more rock on expense of metal. From my favourite Mother Earth, only three songs were played. The encore was three, as usual, and the final dot was one of their most awesome pieces, Ice Queen. At that moment, any reservations I could have had regarding the choice of tracks just disappeared in a puff of smoke. :-)

Overall, I subjectively award Within Temptation 83 goshu points, which makes for a major világos, approximately on par with Blind Guardian show in Trenčín, fall 2006. :-) Thanks for the amazing experience and I'll definitely see you later when I have the chance. To my European homies I definitely recommend to attend the show in Vienna, on 3rd of October. Get your tickets ASAP. It may not be the cheapest concert in your life, but it will be well worth it.

Finally, a taste of what it was. It's világos multiplier is like 0.05x, and the sound is crappy, but at least to have an idea. By the way, the show over here was even better. And heavier. And Sharon was doing much more cool stuff. Yah, whatever.

Observing the security

After several positive posts, the time has come to write a little rant. Even before entering the US, one thing was clear to me. They appreciate security. It doesn't necessarily have to work. As long as it makes them feel safer, a security theater is all they need. At some schools, it's mandatory to have transparent backpacks in order to prevent shooting scenarios. Others want to cut loss on lives by giving the students a fair fighting chance. Bulletproof textbooks are sure to give them an edge over a gunner!

In the meanwhile, plenty of watch lists are created, to keep everyone safe. Don't worry though, the overfunded homeland security department has done its best to protect us against major threats, such as sinister blinking devices, or deadly biological warfare. Oh, and of course, dropping your iPod into the toilet will also be professionally handled by a full-scale terror alert. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think they deserve our utmost respect for keeping the country safe, though, especially now that the majority of Americans are officially homegrown terrorists. Of course, a lot of security is in place not because it really works, but because it covers the asses of those responsible. As my favourite security guru, Bruce Schneier, so eloquently advises, refuse to be terrorized!

Here on Roosevelt University, the security is also tight. There are security guards everywhere, and I'm glad that we're allowed to go to the restroom without having to identify ourselves. Last weekend, for example, I had to show my temporary meal card four (!) times before I could have my lunch. First time when entering the building, second time when entering the cafeteria, then at the counter, and then the fourth time to some overzealous security-conscious guard inside.

The irony is, though, that the temporary meal card is a simple printed business card with no photo or security measures whatsoever. The cost to make a copy of such a card is under one dollar, and literally anyone can use it. On the card it says that it was valid only for the first weekend, yet it's been used for three weeks already. Some of my friends have thrown theirs away after those two days, and couldn't get their meals until they managed to get a replacement. The security people were treating them like scum for having thrown out a worthless piece of paper that was no longer valid!

Student ID is something we use everywhere except eating at the University Center. They completely rely on it for security and identification. However, to get my student ID, I did not have to prove my identity! I just walked in and said who I was, they took a picture and I was good to go. Those people should realise that the security chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and that if you take several eyes of thick steel and pin them together with a paper clip, it isn't going to work. It's pointless to check student ID at every corner, if one can get a student photo ID just based on their claim to be a student.

Security is not only a problem at the university. For example, at the jazz festival, a simple blue shirt with the sign SECURITY gave you the right to boss everyone around as you pleased. Tell them where and when to go, what and how could they photograph, where to sit, how long to stay at a given place... and they did so with great zeal and obvious pleasure. I have never seen less professional and significant, and at the same time more annoying security.

In the Michigan lake, the lifeguard people go to great lengths to protect you. They care about your wellbeing to such an extent, that they do not let you swim further, than twenty meters from the beach, where the water is slightly below chest-level for me. I expected that there would be some sort of a barrier in the water, and people observing the swimmers from a watchtower on the beach. That was obviously not enough, because there was also a chain of lifeguard boats facing the beach approximately every thirty meters, with people yelling at you to swim back when you entered neck-deep water. Oh my. I was having a really hard time restraining myself.

It was really hot on the beach, and so it came as little surprise that later on, one woman collapsed and fainted. She was quite dehydrated, and possibly in need of an IV, so we called 911 to send an ambulance. First on the scene was a police car. They added to the overall chaos by "taking care of the situation", but that was understandable. Maybe they were around with nothing else to do, so they took the call as well. However, before the ambulance arrived, two more patrol cars came by with their sirens ablaze, and a huge firetruck! Now, I understand that the woman was in need of water, but sending a whole firetruck to the beach still seemed like a bit of an overkill to me... no wonder that those departments are eternally low on funds, if they spend their resources like this. :-( I hear sirens several dozen times per day in my room. If every call is handled in such manner, I'm no longer surprised.

Sears Tower Skydeck

Despite certain attempts at its crown, the Sears Tower is still the tallest completed habitable building in the world. Some say that it has been surpassed by the Petronas Towers, and the Taipei 101, however I consider it highly unfair that the antennae on top of the Sears tower are not considered part of its architectural height, while this is not true for the spires on top of the Petronas towers. Take a look at this height comparison and judge for yourself. :-)
With its 527.3 meters tip height, Sears Tower is definitely the most dominating jewel of the Chicago skyline, and towering next to the 311 South Wacker, it makes the view out of my window rather extraordinary. This building also has a feature that makes it very attractive to visit - the skydeck all the way up on 103rd floor. Personally, I found the view even more interesting than that from the top of Eiffel tower in Paris.
The suburbs just go on forever. I'm sure we could see at least 50 km in each directions, but the city just never ends. Also, the lake was quite gracious. If at any time you find yourself in Chicago, this place is definitely worth attention.(A note: none of the photos so far in this blog are shot by me. I do not have my camera yet, although I hope that will change soon. I try to preserve original location, and/or copyright of pictures I use here for illustration.)

Chicago Jazz Festival

What better welcome could the city of Chicago give me, than a huge, open air jazz festival with free entrance, starring top musicians of the genre? I mean, a presidential welcoming committee and plenty of purrrty strippers in those little devil costumes, as well as unlimited supply of Guinness would surely be nice, but a guy just can't have everything, right? :-P

The main stage was quite large, with nice set of speakers, and plenty of lights and flowers, set up under the impressive skyline of the city. Although the festival took three days, the schedule was really tight, and none of the performers got to play for longer than an hour, which was, in some cases, immense pity. The opening concert by Herbie Hancock must have also been fabulous, but it wasn't free, and I didn't feel like spending that much money.
Most of the musicians I haven't heard before, but they were all very good. Admittedly, some of the pieces were a little too... artistic for my taste, but other than that, I was satisfied. For those of you who ask whether it was a more supreme világos than Therion Goes Classical in Miskolc, the answer is no. But it was awesome nonetheless, you can't justly compare these events, they were completely different.

Most of the people present were of more ancient making, and the place was crowded, but I didn't mind. Being the lucky bastard as I am, I always had a fine place in the first row from the stage, which wasn't reserved for the sponsors, so the stage was close enough to reach. I found it difficult to understand why there were people translating sing lyrics to the sign language at the stage. No offense meant, but deaf people just can't enjoy a jazz concert. No more than blind people can enjoy a skydeck view, or people on a wheelchair hike through the mountains. Maybe cruel, but what's the point pretending otherwise?
Most performances were using a grand piano, an acoustic bass, drums, and various brass instruments. I always used to shun brass in favour of string instruments, but now I feel they are underrated. Even the most common trumpet is an amazing instrument when blown into by someone like Jeremy Pelt.
I will only mention my personal highlights of the festival. For Saturday, that would definitely be the performance of Ernestine Henderson and Frank Wess. Oh my, the lady can sing. Also, her songs are very colourful, with lyrics worth trying to understand, and very sophisticated melody. At her side, Frank Wess, a venerable jazz legend, and the best saxophonist I've ever heard. Those two were having such a great time on the stage, I felt my mood improve just by looking at their faces. :-)
The highlight of Sunday night were most definitely the Mingus Big Band. A bunch of very talented musicians playing ingenious compositions by Charles Mingus. Their conductor was making a hell of a show, as he turned up dressed in traditional African robes, and his performance was vaguely similar to the rituals of storm summoning. :-) You should definitely go and see those guys if you get the chance.
Also, it was the first time that I've heard the sousaphone live. It's a kind of tuba, a really huge brass instrument, which substitutes for string bass quite nicely. It has a deep, deep, sound that is rather pleasant, which was a bit of a surprise for me.
Another thing worth noting is, that some bands have been very strongly agitating against the Bush administration, which was always answered by the mass of people cheering. I think that republicans have had it in Illinois. A shining example of this is the Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra, who are also definitely worth listening to.
At last, I would like to express disappointment at all the people I've asked to come along. In the end, only one guy went to enjoy the show with me. Most of them were just ignorant of this event, which I cannot quite understand. :-( It was even held right in their backyard! Well, a proverbial saying concerning pearls and animals of the suidae family comes to mind. Also, I wouldn't hesitate to refer to them as criminals and meganoobs. ;-)
Oh well, I have to say that am most grateful for this event, and I had a fantastic experience enjoying some very fine live music after quite some time.

The land of food

Although I was well prepared to hunt for my own sustenance, this proved to be unnecessary. The nourishment-providing facilities are so far very reliable, always stocked up on plenty of fine meals and beverages, which I am free to help myself to three times per day, in quantities as heavenly high as I can consume.

Not from our cafeteria, but quite similar.

Whether I'm in for a nicely done beef steak with mashed potatoes and fine sauce, American-style pizza, a pita stuffed with tuna, cheese and vegetables, Asian food, or a great dish of tortellini, it is just a fraction of what makes for the utter tyranny of choice. So much free food, and I can't even taste it all! ;-)

(Oh yes, we actually had one of these the first day I came. :-D Mwhaha!)

Although there is a wide choice of drinks, you can't actually get water. That's a shame, because I'm used to drinking sparkling mineral water with my meals. Here I'm limited to a variety of sodas, milk, cocoa, chocolate, several types of coffee, and some ice tea.

However, one of the most joyful sections I found was the salad bar, with plenty of vegetables, fruits, olives, mushrooms, cheese, chicken, ham, dressings, or other salad ingredients readily available. Yummy! Not to mention the fruit salads, full of pineapple, grapes, melon, and mmmm, strawberries! :-D
I really feel like I'm getting the worth out of over $2500 my scholarship pays for the meal plan. It actually is like eating out in a decent restaurant three times a day. It's just that... they don't ask you to pay. ;-) Gone are the sad plates of dozen soft, nasty smelling fries, immersed in UHO, and a tiny little piece of meat they serve at my home university. I should just really take care and watch my intake, or else... :-(

I was moderately astonished to learn that at the end of every day, they just throw out what's left into the garbage. And it's not just some few insignificant remainders. They keep most of the meals in large amounts even past 7 pm, so when they suddenly close, the food trolleys are still quite full. Instead of having some sort of respect for high quality food that could easily feed thirty people, they just trash it. Such a waste. I mean, why don't they donate it? I've seen beggars on the streets, surely they would appreciate it. Or some orphanage, or whatever else comes to mind.

Excerpt from the traveler's journal:
The luxury of having access to unlimited quantities of great food comes at a price, though. Some of the natives exhibit incredibly advanced cases of spatial and logistic impairment, carrying around their bellies blobby rings composed generally of triesters of glycerol and carboxylic acids with a long