millsdavid

Wow. Amazing time-lapse photography of Ottawa by Ryan Emond.

3 beautiful Gazelles in Canberra.

Koko Black’s winter spoil

RSS feed for ABC News for the ACT but with all the sport news stripped out.

I like to follow local news but I really don’t care what the Raiders and Brumbies are up to.

Impressions of Isla Dorada

I have been looking forward to playing Bruno Faidutti’s magnum opus for quite some time. There were six of us recently to play a board game, and it just so happens that Isla Dorada is one of the rare games in my collection that manages six players; it had to be the game we played.

Bruno goes into the history of the game in detail on his website, but the short history is that it’s a sort of major redevelopment of Alan Moon’s Elfenland, a game I’ve played and enjoyed it but found that is lacked excitement. The two games share many similar mechanics, but the biggest difference is that in Isla Dorada the players share a single pawn and must bid each round to decide which way to explore the island. It’s a huge difference and turns what was a race game into a bidding and bluffing game (a Faidutti speciality).

The game rules are really quite simple - each turn everyone bids, and then we all draw a card (or possibly two cards) - but everyone struggled with them. Perhaps it was just my explanations but everyone seemed overwhelmed. Part of the problem I think is that there are quite a few different cards and rather than print explanations on the cards everybody gets a player guide; it makes everything seem much more complicated than it needs to be.

Nobody wanted to take the more vicious cards like the Panda and Samedi. We’re obviously too friendly a group to be interested in using such confrontational cards (or possibly nobody wanted to create an excuse for others to use these cards on them). By playing like that we probably missed some of the intended interaction in the game.

Those minor quibbles aside, I found the game to be engaging to play through the entire 16 turns (which fly by very quickly once everybody understood what was going on). It will no doubt be even more enjoyable in a group where there is some more experience of the game, and I look forward to trying it again soon.

Incendies

“You’re looking for your father, but you don’t even know who your mother is.”

Incendies was a tough film to watch, but it was definitely worth it. The film begins with the reading of a mother’s will in Québec, in which she asks her son and daughter to deliver letters to their father (who they believed was dead) and their brother (who they didn’t know existed). To fulfil her wishes they travel back to their mother’s homeland in the middle-east, where they discover their mother’s story and where they came from.

As the mother’s story in this film is set in war there’s a lot of brutality, physical and emotional - horrifying scenes. I was moved by the thought of a woman protecting her children from their history for their entire lives. They had no idea of what she went through, her son thought she was crazy or absent. Discovering who they are is a tough burden.

It’s currently on in Manuka and I recommend seeing it while it’s on.

Dog on the canal

Surprisingly, Omnifocus is one of my favourite apps on the iPad. It’s so useful on the desktop and on the iPhone it was pretty much a given that I would buy the iPad version too. The surprise is how much of a pleasure it is to use. After watching this video and seeing how much thought has gone into the Omnigroup’s apps I’m no longer surprised.

Incidentally, another of my favourite apps is a French dictionary called Antidote Ardoise. You can use their iPhone dictionary on your iPad which does what all the other dictionary apps I’ve seen in any language do: Pretty much just fill up the rest of the space as though it was a big iPhone. Their ‘Ardoise’ (tablet) version re-imagines what is possible and rethinks the layout completely. Again, it’s another app that’s a pleasure to use.

(Via inessential)

If you’ve never played this brilliant game, treat yourself for just a dollar today.

Best patisseries in Paris

[Vous trouverez la version française de ce courriel en bas.]

Perhaps because I’m known for my rather sweet tooth, or perhaps because I’ve also been able to spend a bit of time in Paris, but for whatever reason I’ve been asked a few times over the last few months what my favourite spots are for trying the best of French pâtisserie in Paris.

My friend Jon leaves for Europe today, and to commemorate the occasion I’m putting my list online - enjoy!

• There are other Pierre Hermé stores, but this one is the biggest (185 rue de Vaugirard, 15^th arrondissement, metro Pasteur – lines 6 and 12). Don’t miss the Ispahan (rose macaron, rose petal cream with raspberry and litchi - pictured), the tarte infiniment vaille (white chocolate vanilla ganache with vanilla mascarpone cream) and any of the great macarons. If you crave some PH macarons after hours there is a Pierre Hermé outlet at Publicisdrugstore on the Champs-Élysées open to 2am.
• Also at metro Pasteur is a bakery-patisserie from one of Pierre Hermé’s disciples (still very rare to find a female pâtissière in Paris), Des gâteux et du pain (63 boulevard Pasteur, 15th) . Great viennoiseries: The croissants and pains aux amandes are supposed to be the best in Paris.
• I’ve never been to Sadaharu Aoki, but I’ve visited several times the outlet at Galeries Lafayette. He’s a French-Japanese pâtissier and he blends the two styles. I recommend the black sesame éclair.

If you find others, let me know!

[fr] Voilà ma liste :

Près de métro Pasteur (lignes 6 et 12), il y a 2 des meilleures pâtisseries à Paris : Pierre Hermé et Des gâteux et du pain.

• Il y a d’autres boutiques Pierre Hermé, mais celle-ci est la plus grande (185 rue de Vaugirard, 15e). Ne rate pas l’Ispahan (biscuit macaron à la rose, crème aux pétales de rose, framboises entières, letchis), la tarte infiniment vanille pâte sablée, ganache au chocolat blanc à la vanille, crème de mascarpone à la vanille)  et les bons macarons (n’importe lesquels).  (Et si nécessaire il y a une concession Pierre Hèrme à Publicisdrugstore aux Champs-Élysées qui est ouverte jusqu’à 2 h chaque soir !)
• Des gâteux et du pain (63 boulevard Pasteur, 15e) est une boulangerie-pâtisserie de l’un des disciples de Pierre et une pâtissière (encore très rare pour les femmes). Je n’y ai pas essayé de la pâtisserie, mais les viennoiseries sont tellement bonnes (croissants, pain aux amandes).
• Je ne suis jamais allé chez Sadaharu Aoki, mais j’ai visité sa concession aux Galeries Lafayette. Il est un pâtissier franco-japonais — je te conseille l’éclair au sésame noir. La prochaine fois, je vais visiter sa propre boutique.

Surtout, dis-moi les bonnes adresses que tu trouves. Sans doute il y a des pâtisseries que je ne connais pas encore !