Can you be techy without the tech?

The other night, a friend of mine brought up something that was quite interesting. She said, "... I am surprised how you know so much about technology yet I don't see you with a blackberry or iPad?"

Which brings the question, "Can you be a techy/geek without the technology?"

In my own opinion, Yes, someone can be technology savvy without the technology devices. How is that possible? Well nowadays, nothing is almost impossible especially with the World Wide Web at our fingertips. We can easily learn about a device without even having one by just scouring the Net for product information. 

When I have time, I would usually read articles in Wired or Gizmondo about the latest devices that are coming out on the market almost every other week. And once the device has been 'leaked', multiple website are created for a single purpose - to provide information on the device. These websites contain the devices benefits, drawbacks, how-tos, owner opinions and even how to hack to these devices.

You can also learn from other people who have the devices because of their hands-on experience with those devices. Most of my friends have the latest smartphones - Blackberry, iPhones, Androids - yet I have a flip phone that is worn out that the faceplate are cracked and scratched. Yet most people would asked me questions about their smartphones because they have perceived me as a tech guy. And if I don't have an answer for them during that time, they know that I will have an answer for them after a day or so.

So I guess you can be a techy without the tech. What do you think?

Cosmic Gate

Cosmic Gate, the German duo of Nic Chagall (Claus Terhoeven) and DJ Bossi (Stefan Bossems), visited New York City last Friday, January 21, and definitely got the crowd dancing throughout their three and a half hour set.  The duo played at the legendary Pacha Nightclub and the dance floor was just packed from the start.

Nic and Bossi aka Cosmic Gate at Pacha

Cosmic Gate played a good mixture of house, vocal and progressive trance tunes. They open their set with Aruna with Mark Eteson's Let Go (Nic Chagall's Remix) and sure got the crowd pumped. They also played tunes from the current album "Back 2 the Future - the classics from 1999-2003 remixed" such as Back To Earth (Jochen Miller Remix), Fire Wire (Back 2 The Future Remix), Melt To The Ocean (John O'Callaghan Main Room Remix) and Exploration of Space. They also played some tunes such as Oceanlab's On a Good Day, Ilo's Rapture, Vincent de Moor's Fly Away (Cosmic Gate Remix), Susana's Frozen (Nic Chagall Remix), Ferry Corsten's Made of Love as well as their own tunes such as F.A.V, Analog Feel and Barra. For the grand finale, the duo drop Oceanlab's Sirens Of The Sea (Cosmic Gate Vocal Mix).

Cosmic Gate at Pacha

This surely is one of the best sets that I have attended. The place wasn't as packed which allows me to enjoy their set all night long.

Cosmic Gate: website | Myspace | Facebook
Twitter: @RealCosmicGate

Golden Globes

The 68th Golden Globes was held last night at Beverly Hills Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA. Ricky Gervais came back this year as the host and he was just at it from the beginning until the end. He started off with "It's goinf to be a night of heavy drinking,... Or as Charlie Sheen calls it breakfast...He picked up a porn star, paid her to have dinner with him, introduced her to his ex wife – as you do – went to a hotel, got drunk, got naked, trashed the place while she was locked in a cupboard ... and that was a Monday! What did he do New Year's Eve?"

He sure got the crowd laughing and some "not so" with his "no holding back" jokes mocking everyone from Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp to Bruce Willis and Tim Burton to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Phillip Berk. I really hope he comes back next year because he is the reason why you can watch an awards night that last 3 hours. If you want to see his Opening Monologue, click here.

Anyway, the biggest winner of the night was The Social Network. The movie about Facebook won Best Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin), Best Original Score (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross), Best Director (David Fincher) and Best Picture. Now I don't know how they beat Hans Zimmer (Inception) for Best Score though.  The other big winner was Glee which won Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical beating out 30 Rock, Modern Family and Nurse Jackie. Glee stars raked in two awards - Best Supporting Actor and Actress in Series, Mini-Series or Made for TV for Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch. My surprise winners were Jim Parsons for Best Actor in a TV Series - Comedy or Musical beating out Alec Baldwin and Steve Carell; And Paul Giamatti for Best Actor - Comedy or Musical besting Johnny Depp, Jake Gyllenhaal and Kevin Spacey.

Anyway, here is the list of winners:
Best Film, Drama - The Social Network
 - Seems like it was a given since it won Best Screenplay and Best Director as well
Best Director - David Fincher for The Social Network
 - Upset? Maybe especially if you are beating the likes of Christopher Nolan (Inception) and Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
Best Actress, Drama - Natalie Portman for Black Swan
 - Truly deserving, Natalie gave a stunning performance in Black Swan. And I like her speech especially the line "Mila 'Sweet Lips' Kunis" in reference to a scene in Black Swan. Also Natalie and Mila look stunning in pink and green dresses respectively.
Best Actor, Drama - Colin Firth for The King's Speech
 - I think Colin Firth truly deserved this award even though James Franco (127 Hours) and Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter) gave great performances in their respective film.
Best Supporting Actress, Drama - Melissa Leo for The Fighter
 - I really didn't have a favorite for this category except that I know Mila Kunis gave a great performance in the Black Swan.
Best Supporting Actor, Drama - Christian Bale for The Fighter
 - Truly deserving especially with the way he portrayed his character by losing all those weight to get into it.
Best Film, Comedy or Musical - The Kids Are All Right
 - I didn't really see any of the films in this category but beating out Alice in Wonderland must be an upset.
Best Actress, Comedy or Musical - Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right
 - The veteran actress beat her co-star and other actresses included in this category. And Robert Downey Jr.'s presentation speech was funny. (See it here)
Best Actor, Comedy or Musical - Paul Giamatti for Barney's Version
 - This was truly an upset as he bested out Johnny Depp (Alice in Wonderland), Jake Gyllenhaal (Love & Other Drugs), Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack) and Johnny Depp (The Tourist). Yup, thats not an error, Johnny Depp was nominated for Alice in Wonderland and The Tourist.
Best Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
 - Aaron Sorkin did an amazing job with this film even though I thought Christopher Nolan (Inception) would have won this category.
Best Original Score - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Social Network
 - This was also a stunning upset. I really thought Inception's score was much better and work will with the film.
Best Original Song - You Haven't Seen The Last Of Me, Burleque
 - Pretty interesting tune
Best Animated Featured Film - Toy Story 3
 - Toy Story 3 was my favorite to win this category besting Despicable Me, How To Train Your Dragon, The Illusionist and Tangled.
Best Foreign Language Film - In A Better World (Denmark)
 - Nothing to say here, I really don't know much about the films in this category.
Best Television Series, Drama - Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
 - It was between Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire and Atlantic City beat Madison Ave. Boardwalk deserves the award though because the series is truly fantastic.
Best Actress in a Television Series, Drama - Katey Sagal for Sons Of Anarchy
 - Beating Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) and Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) must be an upset as well.
Best Actor in a Television Series, Drama - Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire
 - Steve finally got recognized playing a major character after playing supporting roles in the past. He played his role really well and truly deserving of this award.
Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical - Glee (FOX)
 - Wasn't surprise here as it was a Glee year last year.
Best Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical - Laura Linney for The Big C
 - Beating Toni Collette (United States of Tara), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) and Tina Fey (30 Rock) must be something.
Best Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical - Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory
 - This was really quite a surprise with Jim Parsons besting out Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) and Steve Carell (The Office). All I could say are "Geek Rules" and "Nerd Power"
Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV - Carlos (Sundance C)
 - I would have thought The Pacific (HBO) would run away with this award but sadly not.
Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV - Claire Danes for Temple Grandin
 - Claire Danes as always give a great performance.
Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV - Al Pacino for You Don't Know Jack
 - Al Pacino is an amazing actor and truly deserve this award. And he even got a standing ovation for this award.
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV - Jane Lynch for Glee
 - I think it was really between her and Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) but it was the year of the Glee last year and Jane or coach Sue was just phenomenal.
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV - Chris Colfer for Glee
 - Amazing win for Glee again and Chris Colfer deserve this award. He also had a great speech.
Cecil D. DeMille Award - Robert De Niro
 - versatile actor, I didn't know he was in 70 movies. Speech was awesome

So thats most of the major awards. For best dressed, I would say Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Olivia Wilde, January Jones, Julia Stiles, Megan Fox, Leighton Meester, Dianna Argon, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sofia Vergara, Johnny Depp, David Strathairn, Chris Colfer, Christian Bale

Golden Globes website

Laidback Luke at Pacha

Laidback Luke at Pacha

Last weekend, I headed to my first gig of 2011. The act - Laidback Luke. The location - Pacha NYC.

Because of the snowstorm the previous day, I was afraid that Laidback Luke will not be able to make it to the gig but luckily the storm didn't cause a lot of delays and cancellations and he arrived in New York with plenty of time to spare.  

Junior Sanchez at Pacha

So I got to Pacha and it was already getting crowded. Junior Sanchez opened for Laidback Luke (LBL) and he played a mix of house, hip hop and pop tunes and got the crowd pump for LBL. The only problem with Pacha is that it gets really too crowded especially if they have a DJ who plays mostly House and Electro. 

Laidback Luke at Pacha

As the night progress, I got separated from my friends but was still in the middle of the dance floor head bopping and fist pumping to Junior Sanchez's set. Then it was Laidback Luke's time and his started off really strong as the crowd converged into the dance floor making it really hard to move and do anything other than going with the flow of the crowd. There will be instant when you the crowd tapers off only to be squeeze back again. But this didn't deter me again from enjoying LBL's set. I think he really played into the crowd with his set compose of house, techno, electro, hip hop and pop. One of his tune was a mashup of Nirvana's Smell Like A Teen Spirit and Fedde Le Grand's Back n Forth (see it here). He ended his set around 3 in the morning and Junior Sanchez came back to close out the night. Me and my friend did leave early because Pacha was over crowded that they wont even let us go down during the time we want to leave to get our coats because, according to the bouncers, "it was too packed." I really had the feeling that they oversold tickets for this event. 

First Snowstorm of the Year

Last January 7, New York experience its first snowstorm of 2011. New York did not really get as much as the one we experienced during the holiday season, which dump almost 20 inches. Anyway, here are some pictures after the snowstorm.

We got another snowstorm today (Jan 12), hopefully its the last one (which I doubt it)...