“Concerts in Oslo” App Updated

I took a short holiday to sit in the garden and update the Concerts in Oslo app.  I mainly wanted to make navigation more intuitive by having the “back” button do what you’d expect it to do, but I also wanted to play with the Google Map API and see whether that’s any fun.
And it is.  Results to the right.  I’ve also added a method to list concerts in descending proximity.  You know.  For those days when you’re thinking “I want to go to a concert; I don’t care which one, but it has to be close.  Because I’m too tired to walk far.”
THIS MAKES SENSE!
The Android version is out now; the IOS version will follow once I’ve tested it on the phone I forgot to bring with me.  So a couple of days plus the nine weeks Apple will use to approve the update.
But one can’t post a blog post like this without bitching about Google, can one?  I don’t think so.  First of all, the Google Play Console defaults to the dominant language of the IP address you’re connecting from, which relegates all developers from non-English-speaking countries to third class status: We’re presented with awkwardly translated tech speak that barely made sense in English in the first place.  And it’s impossible to google for any of these messages and errors you’re inevitably presented with to find out what they mean, because all those questions and answers are in English.
And there’s no way to switch to English…  until you notice that the URL itself has a parameter that says “hl=no”, and you can edit that to “hl=en”, and then the interface will behave and become marginally more understandable.
Not very, though: I seem to have pushed an API version of 23, which excludes all pre-version-5 Android users from using the app.  And there seems to be no way to go back to API version 14, SDK 23, which I was using.  Play Console gives me errors, at least, when I try.
*sigh*
I’ll just leave you all with this unrelated screen that Android displays when I plug my phone into the laptop:
If you press “Cancel” here…  is it going to cancel the charging?  Or not?  I’ll leave that as an exercise for the class.

WFC Antigua and Barbuda: The Church

This short can be found on Youtube. I’m not sure whether it’s a prank or what, but it’s certainly… different. I am amused.

[Edit: Apparently this has even less to do with Antigua and/or Barbuda than I thought.  Marco Romano (who seems to have cornered the market for films from San Marino) does not seem to be from that part of the world,  so perhaps he’s just marked the film as being from there on IMDB for giggles.]

The Church. Marco Romano. 2016. Antigua and Barbuda.

Antiguan Smile Cocktail

  • 1 part crème de banane
  • 2 parts white rum
  • 4 parts pineapple juice

Shake with and and strain into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with an orange wedge and a cherry.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC Micronesia: Who I Am

This documentary short is on Youtube.

It’s more of an American film than a Micronesian film, but it’s about a “student missionary” (?) who’s stationed in Micronesia. (He wanted to go to South Korea or China or basically anywhere in that area, but (surprise surprise) those places were too racist to accept him, so he ended up in Pohnpei.)

I suspect that this may have been produced as an inspirational video for other “missionaries”, and as such I think it’s probably successful? It’s shot pretty well, and the editing is mostly fine, but there are some really awkward bits, too.

So, I dunno. It’s a kinda pointless thing to watch.

Who I Am. Andrew Lloren. 2015. Micronesia.

Flaming Coconut

  • a whole fresh drinking coconut
  • pineapple juice
  • dark rum

Chop the top off the chilled coconut. Pour some of the coconut juice out and pour pineapple juice and dark rum into it. Dry the top of the coconut and dab some rum over it. Light the rum on fire. Douse the fire and then serve with a straw.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC Nauru: Nauru 1973

Nauru has the

.

Bizarrely enough, when I looked it up on the tablet (to do the balcony die shot shown below), Youtube claims that the film is unavailable, but it shows it just fine on Linux…

Anyway, it’s a home movie? What can I say?

Nauru 1973. Unknown. 1973. Nauru.

Nauru Iced Coffee

  • ground coffee
  • water
  • milk
  • sugar
  • rum

Pour the coffee and the cold water into a container and stir. Let sit at room temperature for eight hours. Filter the coffee. Pour into an ice-filled glass, about half-way up. Add sugar, milk and rum to taste.

I added the rum to the recipe.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

WFC South Sudan: Ten Minutes is Two Hours

I found this on Vimeo. Finding films from South Sudan isn’t easy, and this is more of an American experimental/documentary short than South Sudanese (that’s a word, right?) film. But it’s shot in South Sodan, so

I liked the film: It’s inventive and affecting, but I also wonder what the people who appeared in it would think about it. It seems like they might be assuming that they’re appearing in a straight-up documentary, and instead it’s a … I’m not sure what. Exploitative experiment? A personal psycho-drama? Just farting around?

The film-maker is talented, though.

Ten Minutes is Two Hours. Patrick Kennelly. 2013. South Sudan.

Kerkede

  • hibuscus flowers
  • sugar
  • rum

Soak 1 part of hibiscus flowers in 2 parts of room temperature water for three hours. Add six more parts of water and 1 part sugar (or according to taste). Pour into an ice-filled glass and add rum to taste. Stir until cold.

I added the rum to the recipe.

The cold-brewed hibiscus certainly gives it a smoother taste than the other hibiscus drinks I’ve been concocting from this region.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.