Meanwhile, in my so called “parallel reading”, I finished reading one of the most amazing, most brilliant non-fictions I’ve ever read. “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is must read for anyone who has an interest in thinking / learning about how the world functions!

I came across this book completely accidentally, and it truly took my breath away. And now I think I’m going to read the rest of what the same author has written…

Couple of weeks ago I finished reading Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol“. I’m big enough a fan of his writing I would say, and had already read everything else he had written a long time ago [before the Da Vinci Code movie was made…], but somehow never got to this one. When I heard the news that “Inferno” was finally released, I picked up “The Lost Symbol” and pretty much devoured it!

Plot-wise this was probably not my favourite Dan Brown book. That however does not mean that I didn’t enjoy the book. It just means that this book was even more of a textbook than his previous ones. Generally Dan Brown has the tendency of teaching through his books and getting many messages through. In “The Lost Symbol”, there is simply much more of that, than story telling. That being said, I really found what was being “thought” quite interesting, and in some ways very much in line with my own way of thinking. So I did in fact enjoy the book quite immensely.

Now, finally to “Inferno”. =)

Last weekend we went for a hike around Monte Generoso, partially in Switzerland and partially in Italy. On the Italian side we had the chance to have a tour around a bear cave where an excavation crew have been digging out some interesting Neanderthal relics, as well as bones of the extinct bears of the area. The cave is also somewhat of a geological wonder.

After the hike a couple of us still standing also took the chance to have a walk around Lugano, which for me was a first. All in all this was a lovely trip.

Photos.

On Saturday evening we went to Zurich’s long night of the museums 2013. It was my first time to finally manage to attend this, and I really loved it!

We started our tour from Uhrenmuseum Beyer [the clock museum], which to me was absolutely amazing, and among the best of what we saw this year. From there we went to Alterthümer-Magazin, where we looked at a large collection of old… well… everything! House appliances, tools…. Then we visited the Rathaus [town hall], which was also cool to see, and from there we headed to Kunsthaus. It was interesting to have a look at Kunsthaus’ pretty huge collection… However perhaps “everything mixed with everything”  to that extent isn’t really for me. =P

Then we went to Museum Rietberg Zürich. Their special exhibition of the month is themed “Tibet in Comics”. From Tintin to Super Girl… that was absolutely awesome. We also had a look at their general exhibition, which is a truly impressive collection of artefacts from various ancient cultures. What was very impressive to me was that they actually had a small but nice Persian collection too.

After that the museums started to close down but there was of course parties at a couple of venues ’till about morning. 😉 For me this year’s museum night was a great experience and I think I will go again in the next years to see what I didn’t get the chance to see this year.

Pictures here.

Another hike that we went to a couple of weekends ago, was the one in the vicinity of Schaffhausen. We paid a visit to the Rheinfall on the Neuhausen side and to a boat around the fall. From there we hiked to Schaffhausen and went to the Munot castle. And then we went to a wine tasting event in the city.

For me, this was the first time visiting Rheinfall, and it was quite an experience. It was simply breath taking! To me this is the most beautiful fall I’ve seen so far [and I’ve seen a few, including Niagara… which I do not at all find interesting I might add. =P].

The wine tasting in Schaffhausen was also quite a surprise. When Gian-Andrea told me it was going to be all “local produce”, I thought it was going to a table with 10 – 20 types of wine. Well, the venue turned out the be a huge square each side of which hosted some never ending line of wine stands. I’m really not a wine person I must say, but I really enjoyed this one… Especially since apparently I finally figured out that I actually really only like the Rosé wines!! 😉

Pictures here.

So, I figured I should write these here for the friends of mine who were wondering exactly where I was in the past couple of weekends [as in, where those photos came from! ;)].

A few weeks ago we went for a hike in the Winterthur vicinity. We got on the train in the Zurich main station, and went to Effretikon. From there we hiked to Kyburg, and from there to Tierpark Bruderhaus [animal park]. From there we hiked to the tower of Eschenberg, and from there back to Winterthur.

This was a great plan for the day [organized by my friend Gian-Andrea], as it basically included everything I like. A good hike, a castle visit, a tower and even an animal park.

Photos here.

A couple of weeks ago there was this years “Winterthurer Musikfestwochen”, which I attended for the first time. For some good 10 days there was fantastic open-air concerts in a couple of different venues in Winterthur, a total of 5 – 7 performances every day. I was there with friends as often as I could, and really enjoyed some truly awesome concerts. Here’s some of my favourite performances of this year. I must add it’s now easier to decide that since I’ve had time to listen to their albums… =)

Portico Quartet. Modern/Electro Jazz band from the UK. I have no idea how I had not listened to these guys before… I listen to their style/genre rather often, and I seem to know most of their “related” artists. In Wintethur I heard them for the first time, and I had my mind blown. I really truly LUVED their performance, and the guy on Contra Bass took my breath away. I’ve been listening to their albums since… far too much probably…. 😉 [More pictures here.]

Wilber Calver and his Afro Cuban Celtic orchestra. Can you imagine that? Yes, a mix of Cuban Music and Celtic bagpipes! This is definitely among the most creative fusion music that I’ve heard in my life, and I really enjoyed the performance. I’ve also been listening to their albums since. [More pictures here.]

Hathors. High energy rock band from Winthertur, Switzerland. These guys shook the venue really. =) Also a first encounter for me, and quite an enjoyable one. [More pictures here.]

Daniel Norgren. Blues/Folk band from Sweden. Great music, great performance, great talent… And then of course at some point during the performance the guy ripped a guitar string, which he actually managed to replace without even stopping the performance! The song continued, probably a little longer than it should have been [;)], with their singing and the drums and the contra bass. And by the end of it, the guitar string was replaced and tuned. =) Way to go confidence! [More pictures here]

So these were my favourites, but there were many more great performances that we attended. Moop Mama, Luca Little, Min King, and many more…..

I don’t know how it happened that I haven’t read the book yet, but now I seriously believe that I should. And I will…. once I’m done with my current Dan Brown reading.

I watched the Cloud Atlas movie last week and it blew my mind to so many little pieces. Had not enjoyed a movie this much in a long while. It lacks in absolutely no category. The plot is unbelievably good, the cast is just brilliant, the humour is priceless… And this movie actually has a message, for a change.

And the pictures of last week’s 3D printing meetup at Rote Fabrik are all there now. Oh, looks like I was there too! 😉

Well surprise surpriiiiiiiiise! =D New ASD demo it out and it just won 1st place at Euskal 2013. YES!