In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
....this is a little more than a hard drive that you'd use to back up on to................it's a back up box that you'd back your data up on to *that plugs straight into the telly* so subtly different.
It just makes gettings the stuff off it, easier :)
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
We have taken the opposite 'tack' to tuscanhills.
We decided that our 'place in the hills' was for "rest and relaxation"- so there is no TV there at all.
I had been toying with the idea of taking some type of satellite system over from the UK, so I could get English TV, but my Anglo-Italian friends persuaded me that a holiday home didn't need one - and how right they were!
The result is that we read lots of [very varied] paperbacks and listen to CDs - total 'chill out' is achieved regularly.
Friends who visit/stay bring their own books, and usually leave them behind when they go - they also take unfinished books, from my supply, away with them. hence there is a change in reading material as time goes on.
Sources of books? - School Fetes/Church bazaars give plenty of scope [I took plenty of 10p and 20p books over when I drove down].
The only exception that does occur is when friends with young children stay, they often bring a DVD player with some favourite films.
Oh, and I forgot, an Italian friend [24 years old], who borrowed the place for a weekend away with his girlfriend, apparently arrived with her and a 24" TV - so he could watch the Moto GP. [They are still together 2 yrs on! ........... Him and the TV that is - not sure about the girl]
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In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I think thats a bit unfair. I personally agree with alan h (in that I haven't got a TV in italy) but I carry a laptop back & forward with my whole cd collection on it and about 10 DVD Rips of newish movies, and I keep a little projector in Italy so that I can project the DVD's onto a wall when the mood takes me.
I do chill out while in Italy, and don't miss TV at all - but for me, watching the occasional good DVD with a cold beer (after a busy days touring around, DIY or whatever) [B]is[/B] chilling out ... just as much as if I light some candles, put on a Massive Attack CD and settle down with a nice glass of wine and a book.
I don't think it's an either/or thing (of the 10 DVD's I take, I may watch one or two max over the course of a 10 day trip), and I doubt TuscanHills has stuffed his gizmo full of old eastenders episodes or whatever to watch while abroad ...
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=pigro;88204]......stuffed his gizmo full of old eastenders episodes or whatever to watch while abroad ...[/quote]
Bah, rumbled! Actually it's episodes of Edorado, but you're almost there :laughs:
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=pigro;88204] chilling out ... just as much as if I light some candles, put on a Massive Attack CD and settle down with a nice glass of wine and a book.
[/quote]
Massive Attack? Shame on you Pigro. :bigergrin:
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
one mans pesce is another mans veleno :-) maybe Morcheeba or Nitin Sawhney then? Failing that, what does one "chill out" to these days?
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
If you enjoy trippy trance then check out The Beloved. Cant get more hip than kicking back and chilling to some classy old skool. :bigergrin:
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
had forgotten they even existed ... now that you jog my memory, I vaguely recall a couple of their singles from late 80's (hello/sun rising) ...quite atmospheric but a bit pretentiou$ if I recall correctly .... I reckon Massive Attack (circa blue lines/protection) would have frozen 'em to the bone in a chill-off :-)
Actually, if we're going to talk seriously relaxed soundtracks (albeit without the street cred), my favourite would probably be Brian Eno's ambient stuff (eg, music for airports) - quite soporific but deeply delicious, don't leave home without it!
partcularly if transiting Heathrow T5!
[EDIT - and the soundtrack of the film "The Big Blue" ... I was deeply in love with Rosanna Arquette, Jean Reno and Luc Besson already, but the music was also fantastic (Note to self: rip TBB onto laptop before next trip to Umbria) However, that leads inevitibly to Blade Runner, and thence to the land of cliche ...]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
(rambling again) does anyone else love The Big Blue, and if so, do they have the poxy "collectors edition" with the extra stuff in the middle? Haven't watched it for about a decade now, but still remember being intensely annoyed that they'd messed with a pefect film ...
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=pigro;88259]Actually, if we're going to talk seriously relaxed soundtracks (albeit without the street cred), my favourite would probably be Brian Eno's ambient stuff (eg, music for airports) - quite soporific but deeply delicious, don't leave home without it!
[/quote]
You may want to try a brilliant album called Voices by Roger Eno. Excellent ambient stuff that should have got more recognition.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hey, thanks for the tip - thats the best thing about rambling off-topic, you discover stuff that would otherwise have passed you by entirely - I never knew Brian had a bro' far less that he was a musician too! Having just had a wee listen to some of "voices" it appears that Roger is the influence that made Brian put away the spandex and get into ambient ... I googled Roger and 'lost in translation' came up as one of his albums ... OK, so it's nothing to do with the film of the same name, but a nicely circular end to my ramble (as I'm madly in love with scarlet Johansen, bill murray and Sofia Coppola too, and Ithought the film soundtrack was pretty spot on)!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=pigro;88297]Hey, thanks for the tip - thats the best thing about rambling off-topic, you discover stuff that would otherwise have passed you by entirely - I never knew Brian had a bro' far less that he was a musician too! Having just had a wee listen to some of "voices" it appears that Roger is the influence that made Brian put away the spandex and get into ambient ... I googled Roger and 'lost in translation' came up as one of his albums ... OK, so it's nothing to do with the film of the same name, but a nicely circular end to my ramble (as I'm madly in love with scarlet Johansen, bill murray and Sofia Coppola too, and Ithought the film soundtrack was pretty spot on)![/quote]
If tuscanhills will forgive the further hijack, also check out a compilation called [SIZE=2]Buddha Bar Vol.3. Excellent chilled out stuff[/SIZE]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Cheers, I think I've heard that one a few times in pubs etc. I was going to give you a reccomendation for something I thought was quite left field but in the same vein - an album called "La Revancha del Tango" by Gotan Project - but I just saw that there is a track by them on the Bhudda compilation, so you may be way ahead of me!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
i personally enjoy early Enigma stuff to chill out to.
Back on topic, where did Tuscanhills buy this gadget, how much and what size hard-drive is inside.
Looks like quite a cool gadget that also doubles up as removable data storage too (or does it?)
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
The gadget is from Iomega & available in many places (I got mine from PC World) - try a search under "multimedia hard drive" and you should see others.....the main brands I found were Iomega & LaCie.
The one I bought was Iomega's 500mb drive; they claim that you can store 40,000 photos, or 90 hours of DVD-quality video, or 1,110 hours of music. I have actually found it too small so might move to the LaCie @ 1TB.
It's also possible to use it as a data/back-up drive too
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=pigro;88518]Cheers, I think I've heard that one a few times in pubs etc. I was going to give you a reccomendation for something I thought was quite left field but in the same vein - an album called "La Revancha del Tango" by Gotan Project - but I just saw that there is a track by them on the Bhudda compilation, so you may be way ahead of me![/quote]
I discovered Gotan Project two years ago quite by chance through a complimentary CD in the French version of Vogue Magazine and I am now an addict..... Ooooops, sorry David, this is really hijacking.:yes:
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Back to the original topic, we are going to Italy next week and we haven't got the telephone or the TV connections in place as yet (enough with electricity and gas at the moment, providing the geometra has done the right thing....) so we are taking with us our mobile phone, my laptop which has a large screen, a sort of a portable bubble with CD player and radio all in one that my hubby got himself (he loves listening to radio and music while he paints.... the walls) and a collection of DVD movies. I think that this will be enough for now and that we will not miss the TV. I will also buy locally books and magazines.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Apple similarly do the mac mini - [url=http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=MTE3MDM&node=home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini]Apple Store - U.K. - Mac mini[/url]
Curious to know if I can have a flat screen wall mounted monitor and just a DVD player.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
OK, there are to separate things.....one is a hard drive (as per Sal`s link) the one I posted means you can plug the holie thing into (just) the telly & you`re up & running, no PC.
Sally, Apple have one similar call iTV or something, but like the iPod, I can only play certain file types......the Iomega one I posted can hold all the usual formats.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Getting back to the off topic romp......here's me current fave, Pink Martini....and Hey Eugene is the best of a wondeful bunch of tracks on the HE album.
[center][ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vf4X6WKPtk]YouTube - Pink Martini - Hey Eugene[/ame][/center]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Thanks. You've just reminded me that I meant to look out their album. It's all good stuff, then?
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=Licciana;89100]Thanks. You've just reminded me that I meant to look out their album. It's all good stuff, then?[/quote]
Well I'd say it's ecelectic; songs in Portugueses, Hebrew & Japanese(!) make it a challenging listen at times, but some of the smooth jazz numbers are just tops......keep an eye on your (uk) post-box :winki:
Well the IT Boss is out cutting grass, but that looks very much like what we back up the data of our 2 computers on to. There have been so many burglaries here in Umbria, we dread losing the data on our PC's and all our photographs too. Sadly this has happened to friends. So when we go away we hide that black box and if the computers are stolen we still have the data. Would suggest others follow suit as not expensive to buy this box and not difficult to copy data.