This blog has moved, please update your bookmarks / feeds

This blog has moved to its own domain: www.chivacongelado.com , the new RSS feed being at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/chivacongelado . Why?

After starting in MySpace (of all places) almost 3 years ago, I moved the blog to Blogger to take advantage of better blogging functionality. In March 2007 it was migrated again to Vox so that I could use the more user-friendly interface available there besides being able to post from my mobile device at the time (or so I said at the time).

In reality, I found a pretty user interface, that made very simple to import and display content, but didn't allow for unregistered comments, trackbacks, statistics, widgets, counters, etc., so the conversation didn't grow the way I would have expected. To make matters worse, even though their import utilities are excellent their export tools don't exist, so my content was literally trapped. This, as you can imagine, made me a very frustrated user, especially since their customer service just ignored me.

With the help of a couple of friends I was finally able to free my content, and am now hosting in BlueHost (GoDaddy was out of the question after the cvander debacle). Installing Wordpress was very, very easy and you are now privy to the results. The old blog will remain in its old place, but will not be updated from now on. There might still be a couple of tweaks to be done, but pretty much everything is in place now.

Welcome to my home in the web. Mi casa es su casa. ;-)

Public Service Announcement

To all my dear readers:

This blog has moved over to Vox at http://chivacongelado.vox.com. Why? For a number of reasons.

1. The interface is more user-friendly to post certain things such as video.
2. It does look funkier (genkier a good friend would say).
3. I am able to post straight from my N93. No small matter given that most of the ideas that come here I write down to my mobile device anyway, as I don't always carry my PC.

Please update your bookmarks and RSS feeds.

I'll leave all the previous posts in this blog, but it will no longer be updated. Thanks for the ride so far, I hope you come along to the next adventure!

The Fountain

We saw this movie today. Rather interesting, but if you don't like abstract films with a big dosis of reincarnation, death and sci-fi you might not enjoy it.

Belgian Beer Review: Bon Secours

This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.


Belgian Beer Review: Bon Secours, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

Interesting foamy dark beer. Slightly bitter, very complex taste, including hints of salt licorice (salmiakki for the initiated). A very pleasant aroma of pine woods was also found.

Belgian Beer Review: Ciney Brune/Bruin

This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.


Belgian Beer Review: Ciney Brune/Bruin, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

Nice aroma. Great, slightly sweet taste. Not very bitter, a very comfortable beer if one is not at ease with darker brews.

Belgian Beer Review: Mort Subite Gueuze

This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.


Belgian Beer Review: Mort Subite Gueuze, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

Very sweete gueuze beer. Bitter end but rather unremarkable. As gueuzes go, my least favourite of them all.

Belgian Beer Review: St. Feuillien Brune

This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.


Belgian Beer Review: St. Feuillien Brune, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

Surprisingly fruity abbe beer. Strong colour and cereals present in aftertaste.

Belgian Beer Review: Trappistes Rochefort

This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.


Belgian Beer Review: Trappistes Rochefort, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

A beer with an interesting colour, dark but not transparent, and very clean aroma. High alcoholic content, but an excellent soft taste with hints of Gouda cheese, full grain bread and chocolate.

Ever wondered about the speed of human progress?

I've talked about the singularity before (here and here), but I guess this video explains it much better than I ever could. The most important thing I guess is learning to learn.



Via Alt1040.

Finnish Parliamentary Elections (Eduskuntavaalit)

It seems to be the case that what happens in Sweden usually ends up happening in Finland as well. Six months ago, Swedish voters opted for a switch to the right, and in Finland the same happened yesterday, with Keskusta (Centre Party) clinging to its lead, but with big gains by Kokoomus (National Coalition), and big losses for the Social Democrats. The Greens had marginal gains as well. Frankly, not much will change, which in Finland's case I guess is OK.

What hasn't so far been commented very much in the media is the proportionally huge gains made by the populist Perussuomalaiset (True Finns), who went from 3 to 5 seats, and their candidate Timo Soini was the third most voted nationwide for his district in Uusimaa (southern Finland). Why do I care about this development? Because these guys are the kind of people that wouldn't want me in Finland, as they tout a pretty strong anti-immigrant line (á la Jörg Haider, Jean-Marie Le Pen or the Vlaams Belang party here in Belgium). With phrases such as "we want Finland to select who, how and where from do people come to the country", they show both their complete ignorance of the fact that to get a residence permit you have to go through stringent procedures and their belief that foreigners in Finland are mostly refugees, which is so untrue to almost be comical.

So, to sum up, Matti Vanhanen will probably stay as prime minister, the government will shift a little bit to the right but not much, and we got three more Tony Halme clones in Parliament. Let's see how the situation develops.

11th Matchday: América 1-0 Chivas

Not the result I expected, Chivas lost the Superclásico against rivals América in Mexico City's Azteca Stadium. It is the first time in 2 years (7 matches) that the holy flock loses against our most bitter opponent. Américas goalie and NT material, Francisco Guillermo Ochoa, steered them to victory with 3 saves against Omar Bravo.

Damn! At least it's good that I don't do bets.

Concacaf Champion's Cup Semifinal: DC United 1-1 Chivas

Chivas didn't perform that well in the rain on Thursday, and they let a win slip at the last moments of the game. Let's hope that they wake up on the return leg, because we want to see them play in Japan.

Suomirokki

Suomirokki refers to rock produced in Finland, usually sung in Finnish but successful as of late in English as well.

As was the case in other countries, in the beginning in the 50's performers would sing covers or translations of international hits, but this later changed. In my experience, Finnish rock gravitates towards glam rock, blues, pop or variatos of heavy metal, which is the genre that might be most familiar to listeners abroad, with bands such as Apocalyptica, Nightwish, the 69 Eyes, Children of Bodom and others.

Currently however, the three most popular Finnish bands abroad are The Rasmus, HIM and Lordi.

I'll profile many of these bands in future posts.

The last 10 metres

Tomorrow is my last school day at the master's degree. After that, we have two weeks of examinations and three months of internship (stage) including my thesis before graduation in July. Needless to be said, I have already resigned myself to not sleeping much (if at all), especially since besides exams we need to deliver quite a few projects.

God, this year's going fast!

Al menos aún no llego al grado Mafaldesco de "Párenle al mundo que me quiero bajar"... ;-)

Consumer insights of the Chinese middle class

A very interesting article about the consumer behaviour of the middle class of the middle kingdom. Worth a read.

Belgian Beer Review: Hoegaarden Grand Cru

Sorry for the delay. This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.


Belgian Beer Review: Hoegaarden Grand Cru, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

A beer with a nice golden colour, and somewhat complex taste: slightly bitter, with overtones of tropical fruits and cherries. Its taste somehow compelled me to drink it with a slice of good bread.

I believe in miracles

Yes I do. Oh I believe in miracles.

I believe in a better world for me and you...



I just love this Ramones cover by Pearl Jam. I guess my iPod's shuffle function is starting to recognise my mood.

Belgian Beer Review: Kasteel Bruin/Brune

This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.



Belgian Beer Review: Kasteen Bruine/Brune, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

Deceptively fruity brown beer. Nice colour, great aroma, very comfortable taste, but quite a punch at 11% alcoholic volume. A very unexpected new favourite, after Chimay brune.

9th Matchday: Pumas 0-0 Chivas

My favourite team couldn't give me a better birthday gift, and tied with Pumas (the team from the National University in Mexico City) 0-0 at their stadium in Ciudad Universitaria. The match according to reports was very intense, and the goalkeepers saved the day for both teams.

Pumas used to be my second favourite team, until a fatidic day in summer 2004 when they beat Chivas at the final for that year's Clausura. The relationship between both teams had bittered considerably since, and their meetings have now being hyped by the media as a new "Clásico".

This time, however, the boards didn't warm up the game, the fans mixed without consequences in the stands and after a very good game players from both teams left the field in good spirits.

Today was a good day

Thanks to all my friends that made this a birthday to remember.

Gracias.
Dankuwel.
Obrigado.

Now, let's get all the projects and exams done. Yatta!