Obelisk: A Monitor Review

I’ve had the same monitor in my stereo control system for many years. It’s a 20″ Dell that’s OK.

It’s got an appropriate size for the living room. But lately it’s started having a high-pitched whine. If I play only punk music I can’t hear it at all, but otherwise it’s slightly annoying.

So I went looking for a new monitor. I thought it might be nice to have a rotated monitor this time: Higher than wide so that I can display the name of the currently playing artist un-sideways.

Practical as always.

So my specs here were: No logos, and no bezels wider on any sides, and as small as possible. The logo/bezel thing because inevitably that looks weird when rotated, and this is in the living room. Looking pretty is nice.

Behold! After searching for hours, there was one (1) monitor that fit the specs, and it’s this 24″ NEC EX241UN. It’s got very narrow bezels and no logos and nothing ugly. So it’s just like a matte obelisk.

But my stereo computer machine is oooold. It’s based on a 2GHz Pentium M 32-bit CPU. I think I bought it in 2005, possibly? You can see it underneath the cassette player up there… It’s in a Hush enclosure.

And it managed to connect to the screen! I wasn’t quite sure whether it was going to be able to do that, because it’s also a Pentium M motherboard and the video routing is not very well supported by Linux by default. But I managed to route the DVI signal out instead of the LVDS and VGA, and there’s … the Matrix?

Er. X isn’t quite sure….

OK, “Option rotate left” in xorg.conf instead.

Now I have to rearrange all the display data… Hm… Does that look nice?

The monitor itself is pretty nice.  Quite wide viewing angle, but when I standing there at the screen looking for something to play, I do get a slight sheen at the bottom of the screen, so it’s not perfect.  But it’s completely silent, as far as I can tell over my tinnitus.

Perhaps I should have a clock and a load monitor there. Just so that not 100% of the screen is Emacs. I don’t want to appear fanatical or anything.

Or perhaps the sleeve on top?

Hm… Perhaps I should make that font smaller. I’m nearsighted, but not actually blind.

The un-nerdiness of this setup cannot be misunderstimated.

Of course not.  Not.

WFC Great Britain: Ex Machina

Look! Now we can save money on the special effects budget!

I thought I was going to enjoy this one, despite the many positive reviews it’s gotten. But it’s totally snoozeville with most plot developments signalled several hours before the movie even starts.

The ending was fun, though.

Ex Machina. Alex Garland. 2015. Great Britain.

White Lady

  • 5 parts gin
  • 2 parts Cointreau
  • 1 part lemon juice
  • 1 part egg white

Shake vigorously with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of lemon.

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

WFC Thailand: สุดเสน่หา

Long takes with a mostly distant, mostly stationary camera. It’s kinda hypnotic. Nothing much happens for minutes on end, just people talking about inconsequential things. Very stylish in its non-stylishness.

Plot-wise, nothing is explained, and all the people seem to be telling half-truths to each other, and doing very odd things. But gradually things come into focus and you kinda piece things together. Brilliant.

I laughed out loud when the titles came in at the 45 minute mark along with a jaunty tune.

Blissfully Yours. Apichatpong Weerasethakul. 2002. Thailand.

Coco

  • 5 parts cocounut rum
  • 3 parts lemongrass syrup
  • 2 parts lime juice

Sharky with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with lime and lemongrass.

Lemongrass syrup:

2 stalks of lemongrass, chopped 2 parts water 1 part sugar

Bring to a boil and them simmer for 15 minutes. Chill. Dude.

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

WFC Georgia: გრძელი ნათელი დღეები

Very lively camera without being actually shakycam.

It’s a fascinating film, although it becomes very apparent early on (in a Chekhovian sense) what’s going to happen.

I had a hard time telling the characters apart. It would have helped if one of the girls had an eye patch or a wooden leg or something.

In Bloom. Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Groß. 2013. Georgia.

Kiwi & cucumber

  • 1 part citrus vodka
  • 1 part elderflower syrup
  • 1 part water
  • kiwi
  • cucumber

Muddle kiwi and cucumber in a shaker. Add the other ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a glass and garnish with cucumber and kiwi slices.

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