The Death of a Voice

Posted on May 14, 2013 by hds

ConstantinoRomeroHomenaje

Last Sunday Constantino Romero died. He was a reporter, presenter, actor, but most importantly a dubbing artist.

This is something that people in the English speaking world are generally not aware of, but the voice actors who dub well known hollywood hold a certain degree of prestige in many countries where dubbed foreign films are as popular as local language films.

So, last Sunday the voice of Clint Eastwood, James Earl Jones, Sean Connery, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many other famous parts including the replicant Roy Batty from Bladerunner.

It’s interesting how the dominance of one country’s culture, in this case the strength of the Hollywood film industry, creates important and popular roles in other countries.

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Spanish Exile

Posted on May 13, 2013 by hds

This is a teaser trailer for a documentary about young Spaniards who are practically forced to leave Spain and live in “exile” in other countries because there is no work here.

Españoles en el Exilio teaser from Rubén Hornillo on Vimeo.

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Dry ink

Posted on May 2, 2013 by hds

Today I signed a contract with the university. I now officially have a scholarship to continue by PhD!

Really, it’s more like a fellowship, there is a teaching obligation (which I’ll start after the northern summer) and what I’ve signed is a work contract.

In any event, I’m obviously really happy about this. I’ve been doing the PhD for two and a half years already, so I probably won’t keep going for the possible four years of the contract, but it’s going to make a big difference.

Tomorrow, when Andrea gets back from Wisconsin, I think we’ll have a little celebration.

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Insight into the state of the spanish economy

Posted on May 1, 2013 by hds

For those of you in other countries, here’s an insight into the state of the spanish economy in the form of a joke (translated):

Jose: You’ll never believe what happened to me today, when I left work today I ran into a unicorn!

Pepe: I don’t believe it! You have a job?!?!

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Thirty

Posted on April 27, 2013 by hds

So, today I turn 30.

Some time ago (when I was much closer to 20), I decided I had two goals that I wanted to achieve before I turned 30.

  1. Gain european citizenship.
  2. Get a PhD.

I sneakily added a third one a few years later.

  1. Speak a second language.

Sneakily, because by that time I was living in Barcelona and it seemed pretty much a sure thing. Although I always wanted to speak another language, so if I’d thought of it earlier it certainly would have been in the original list.

So, today I turn 30 and the only item from the list that I’ve managed is the last one.

I am in the process of getting a PhD, I’m three years in and should finish by the middle of next year.

As for the european citizenship… I have to live with a working visa (or something that allows me to work) for 10 years before being able to apply for citizenship. So far I have zero years, my student visa doesn’t count.

While this post may seem a little moros given that it’s my birthday, it’s not. The truth is, I don’t really mind at all.

I’ve spent the past eight and a bit years living overseas.

I’ve been studying things that I really enjoy for the last five years (plus the three years of university in Australia before that).

I’m living with a girl I love more every day.

I’ve lived in London, Barcelona, as well as four months in Paderborn.

I speak pretty much fluent (Castilian) Spanish, and my German and Catalan aren’t bad (I’ve taken maths classes in both those languages and can get by in a conversation).

So, the truth is, I’m absolutely thrilled with the way that everything has turned out.

P.S. I was going to come up with a clever title for this post, then decided against it.

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An Ending

Posted on March 6, 2013 by hds

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Today I finished the final book of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. I started reading it over 10 years ago. Jordan starting writing the series in 1982, before I was born, and didn’t live to see it’s ending, having died of cancer in 2007.

Brandon Sanderson finished the final 3 books of the series with Jordan’s notes, and said so very well.

It’s always sad finishing a series, but especially such a long series, one with so many characters who I’ve been following for so many years.

Now it’s over and I’m grateful that Robert Jordan created this wonderful world and that his legacy was finished, despite his untimely death. It has been a wonderful journey.

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Seminari de Teoria de Nombres de Barcelona

Posted on January 28, 2013 by hds

STNB 2013

This week is the annual Barcelona Number Theory Seminar (STNB from the catalan name). This year I helped organise the seminar, although my involvement was mainly technical. I built a web site to host the details about this year’s talks and programme. It will also include information from previous years and hopefully future years as well.

Without further ado, I present the new Seminari de Teoria de Nombres de Barcelona web site. I need to do a bit of SEO so it shows up first on Google

The design is Bruce’s, with input from the other members of Caffeine Concepts and I implemented the entire thing in Django (the python framework, not the new Tarantino film). It’s all multi-lingual and while a lot of the forms to add new content haven’t been completed, this is probably still one of the biggest web projects I’ve written entirely by myself.

Teoria de Nombres circle logo

Evan also came up with a clever adaption of the original Teoria de Nombres group logo in a circle, but unfortunately it got shot down. I’ve included a copy in the post, because I think it’s fantastic.

Older logos aside, I’m really happy with how the site has come together. I’m also pretty confident that it will hold up to the rush if all 35 people who make up its intended audience visit it at once.

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We must not allow a mine shaft gap

Posted on January 15, 2013 by hds

Scene from Dr. Strangelove, copyrighted by the original owner.

I went to see Dr. Strangelove in the cinema last night. It appears that someone at the university organised to have it shown at one of the cinemas in Paderborn.

The film was dubbed in German, so I didn’t understand all the dialogue, but the characters were all as hilarious as the first time I saw it. In fact I think that I’d forgotten how brilliant a lot of the facial expressions are.

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The End of 2012

Posted on December 31, 2012 by hds

In Brugge

Well, 2012 is almost over and so I figured that I should post something short, rather than nothing at all (edit: it turned into something not so short).

This year has been pretty full, but here’s the round up in more or less chronological order.

Andrea and I visited Brugge (and Brussels), unfortunately the Belfry was closed.

I finally moved in with Andrea, so I’m back living in Cerdanyola and very, very happy there.

I spent half a month trying to post every day in March.

I wrote The Dambusters iOS game for Pete Schooling in collaboration with Matt Scully. I don’t think the game has had the success that was hoped for, but it turned out pretty well and was one of the biggest iOS projects I’ve worked on.

Pepe meets Lenore (and Roman Dirge)

I was luck enough to go to the 10th Algorithmic Number Theory Symposium (ANTS-X) in San Diego. I met some great people in my research field there.

I was doubly lucky that San Diego Comic-Con was on while I was there and I got in with Titan. Pepe met cosplayers and famous people while we were there.

Then Andrea and I headed off to Croatia to meet up with Thea and Bruce, about half way through their year-long trip.

Bruce taking photos at the Alhambra

I then spent lots of time with “the ‘rents” travelling back to Barcelona by car and then down to Granada to see Andrea while Thea and Bruce continued to travel.

Then it was time for weddings and Germany.

Andrea started a three month stay in Munich at the beginning of September and I went with her for a week to help get some things there and also to go together to Rebecca and Felix’s wedding in Stuttgart.

After less than three weeks for me in Barcelona, Andrea and I next met in London for Ben and Michelle’s wedding there.

From London I travelled straight to Paderborn, where I started my own four month long stay.

Pepe and Paco at Neuschwanstein

While Andrea and I were both in Germany we did a bit of travelling, including Neuschwanstein the famous fairy-tale castle of the mad king Ludwig II.

I’ve met some great people in Paderborn, and still have another 4 weeks there after Christmas. I’ve seen lots more snow on the ground than is usual for me and even been out running in -7 degrees (centigrade).

I’m now in Granada with Andrea’s family to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. While here I caught up with Thea and Bruce for the last time on this trip – but I have a feeling it won’t be long before we catch up again.

The Christmas market in Paderborn

So that’s 2012, it’s been an absolutely fantastic year.

I’ve got some more good news that’s not yet confirmed, but I’m leaving that for next year.

Happy New Years everyone.

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No new posts means

Posted on December 9, 2012 by hds

I’ve discovered over the years that there are two reasons why I go a long time between posts on my web site.

The first is that nothing interesting is happening.

The second is that too many interesting things are happening.

Recently, it’s been the second. That coupled with me being so low on disc space that I can’t update my iPhone library and therefore don’t have proper access to my photos.

So, to quickly recap.

I’m still in Paderborn. There’s not a lot in the way of social life, but I’m thoroughly enjoying the academic atmosphere of being part of a research group.

I’m attending a class on Number Theory here, which has been really interesting, but difficult, both for the content and for the language.

My German is getting better, I’m attending classes 4 times a week and doing my best to only speak German at the university.

Andrea and I saw Muse live in Munich and they were fantastic. Andrea had been waiting years to see them after the concert she was going to see in Barcelona got moved and she couldn’t attend. I’d heard good things about Muse live, but they really were spectacular.

We met in Würzburg the following week. It was a really lovely (small) city that seems to have a disproportionately large number of good restaurants. One of the highlights was drinking wine on the old bridge over the Main River.

I went to the Christmas market in Paderborn last weekend with some people from uni, it was really nice, lots of food and Glühwein, which was great.

In between all of that I’ve been doing a bit of freelance work and am also putting together a website for the Seminari de Teoria de Nombres Barcelona (Barcelona Number Theory Seminar).

It’s also been snowing a bit recently. This caused some problems this afternoon when I went for a run and had to be careful not to slip and fall over. My FiveFingers held up well though.

That’s it for now. Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I promise I’ll try to do better.

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