Andrew Saladino Blog

Monthly Archives: January 2013

What I’m Watching: Luther

Jan 30

Name your top five favorite TV shows right now? GO! If Luther wasn’t on that list, you are missing out. This show is absolutely amazing! It has everything that I look for: British Accents? CHECK! Awesome Bad A$# Main Character? Insane Interrogation Scenes? CHECK! Crazy Psychological Battles? CHECK! Insert Thing You Want In A TV Show? CHECK! It really is unlike any show that I’ve ever seen before. Still not completely sold on how great of a show Luther is? Watch the first two minutes of the below YouTube video and then decide for yourself:

How IMDB Describes Luther:

“Luther” follows the cases of a troubled yet brilliant English police detective, DCI John Luther (Idris Elba). Separated from his wife, whom he loves passionately, he is torn between an unrelenting approach to solving serial killings and his attempts to rekindle his marriage. Luther is a highly charged emotional man who is not above stretching the law to solve a case or save a life. In episode one, Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) proves she is equally brilliant by committing the perfect murder of her parents, which challenges Luther as never before. Alice develops a strange fascination for Luther and their continued exchanges and interplay serve as a backdrop for the rest of the season. Luther’s edgy police tactics make him a serious concern to his superiors, who feel that he is a threat to their reputations and that of the Police force. From the opening credits to the end of season one, “Luther” is a fast paced mystery presented with many plot twists and insights into the human psyche.

Where to Watch?

Luther is on Netflix! I’m sure that most of you either have your own Netflix account or have a friend’s account that you can borrow to watch it. If you have neither, I will gladly let you watch it at my apartment whenever you want (please call 24 hours in advance).

Disclaimer:

I have been told by many people that I like and watch really bad television shows and movies all the time. I really do think that if you’re a fan of those criminal drama shows like Law & Order, that you will not be disappointed.

Want To Sleep Better? Use f.lux

Jan 25

Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Do you use your computer before bed? f.lux might be exactly what the doctor ordered! This program made my List of Applications That Everyone Should Have on Their Computer so if you already have it, good job! To those of you who didn’t go through every single application in that list, WHY NOT??? I personally think it is amazing so read this post to learn more about it.

What is f.lux?

f.lux is a computer application that changes the color temperature of your computer’s display depending on the time of day. It produces warm colors at night and bright vivid colors during the day. f.lux makes the colors on your computer screen look like the room you’re in, all the time. At nighttime, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights (using color temperature that is easy on the eyes). During the morning and daytime, your screen is much brighter as it would normally be and you probably won’t even notice a difference. f.lux is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and jailbroken iPhone / iPad devices.

How do I configure f.lux?

Configuring f.lux takes less than 5 minutes. Download it via one of these download links: Windows, Mac, Linux, and jailbroken iOS and run the installer. When you start it for the first time, the settings page will appear. Enter your location and the type of lighting that you have in your room and you’re done! It does the rest.

I don’t like this! Why does my screen look pink / orange?

When you first use f.lux, you’re going to hate it. The colors are really weird and your eyes will be so used to seeing the normal blue light from your computer screen that it’s going to look horrible. Your eyes will slowly adjust to the colors (about an hour) and you won’t even realize it afterwards. You need to get through this initial phase! Once you do, you’ll wonder how you lived without it.

Why does this help me sleep?

There’s a lot of research that was done by the f.lux team and you can read all about it on their website. To summarize: Blue light affects sleep. Night-time exposure to blue light keeps people up late. f.lux adjusts colors in a way that greatly reduces the stimulating effects of blue light at night. If my summary wasn’t good enough, read the official research on the f.lux website.

Final thoughts

You really have nothing to lose by trying this application (and so much great sleep to gain). Leave me a message below in the comments if you tried it and hate it / love it / want to say hi. Download links one last time: Windows, Mac, Linux, and jailbroken iPhone / iPad devices.

Spotify & Songkick: The Perfect Combination Of Music Awesomeness

Jan 16

Do you use Spotify for your music? Do you like going to shows of your favorite artists? If you answered yes to both of these questions, you need to install the Songkick application right now for Spotify. If you answered no to the first question, you need to go download Spotify now and start! If you answered no to both questions, then you should probably stop reading this post because it’s useless to you.

What Does Songkick Do?

Songkick’s slogan is, ‘be the first to know about concerts‘ and this application will make sure that you never miss your favorite artists show ever again. What exactly does Songkick do? In tech speak, they index different ticket vendors, venue websites, and local newspapers to create a database of upcoming concerts for artists happening around the world. In normal speak, you tell Songkick where you live and your favorite artists and they send you a personalized concert alert when an artist’s show is announced in your city.

How Does Spotify Help?

When you install the Spotify application for Songkick, it will scan your Spotify music and automatically add all of your favorite artists to the tracking list. Using Spotify’s interface, you can click ‘Songkick Concerts’ on the left side and see a complete list of concerts that are coming up with your tracked artists without doing nearly any work at all.

Sounds Good, How Do I Do It?

Depending on how fast you type, setup probably takes less than 5 minutes. First step is to create a Songkick account. Here’s a link directly to their signup page where you can create an account using Facebook with one click or the traditional way by entering in a username and password. Once you’re all signed up, open the application installation page on Spotify for Songkick, agree to their terms of service, and enter your login that you just created. After you’ve put in your information, you’re all set! You’ll never miss a show again.

Closing Thoughts

In addition to Spotify, Songkick also lets you track artists from Pandora, Last.fm, Facebook, and iTunes so there’s no excuse NOT to use it. I’d like to send a quick shout-out to Matt Ramos for originally showing me this application and yelling at me to download it. If it were not for him, this post might not exist. If you have any problems setting it up, send me a message and I’ll help you (it’s pretty darn easy and I hope I really don’t need to help you with this). If you need someone to go to a show with, let me know! I’ll probably come.

What I’m Drinking: Yame Kyushu Gyokuro

Jan 09

As many of you know (or may not know?), I’m a huge tea drinker and have probably 20 different types of tea in my apartment (tea is addicting). I wanted to let everyone know about my new favorite tea, the Yama Kushu Gyokuro (or Yame Kyushu Gyokuro as it says on my bag) from Wellness Tea Dynasty. Take a look:

The Bag

The first thing you’ll notice is that the instructions are written CLEARLY on the packaging which helps create the perfect cup of tea (I </3 tea that has been steeped too long). Did you know that depending on what type of tea you’re making, you’re supposed to steep it at a different temperature and time? Pro Tip: Don’t order tea from Starbucks — the water they use is way too hot and by the time you figure out how long to steep it for, it is probably too late.

Pre-steep Leaves

These are some great looking leaves! They are a nice long size and a great dark shade of green. They also smell incredible (if it were a cologne, I’d wear it).

Post-steep Leaves

The first thing you’ll notice is that they expanded and are now overflowing from the tray! I wonder if I could’ve used less leaves when making it and still had the same taste? When it comes to tea, I don’t question the tea masters so I don’t think I’m going to attempt it.

The Final Product

The tea has a very light color and I was afraid that it wasn’t going to taste like anything — I was wrong! This tea has a complex flavor that isn’t overly strong (like cheap teas), great mild flavors, and a refreshing aftertaste. What I’m trying to say is this tea will make your tastebuds happy.

In Summary

If you like green tea, I highly recommend trying the Yama Kushu Gyokuro from Wellness Tea Dynasty. It’s one of the most expensive teas on the website but this high quality tea is definitely worth every penny. This post took a long time to write and I think it’s time for me to make another cup.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional tea drinker nor do I know everything about teas. The only thing I truly know is that I like this one 😀

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