Christmas came 2 weeks early this year. They say you can’t beat the feel of a brand new computer. In a lot of ways, the opening of the box, the techno beats of the welcome screen, and the never-opened manuals are sort of magical, but otherwise, it’s a lot like getting a used computer. The important thing is that it’s new to me.

What’s more gratifying in the long term, though, are the specs that you can’t get from a used computer. This will be my first that has 1) over a GHz clockspeed, 2) a gig of RAM, 3) over 1024×768 resolution, 4) USB 2.0, and 5) sweet dual latches. It closes more tightly than the iBook G3 did, but you kind of have to wiggle the button to release. Nothing major. The keyboard isn’t detachable, but it feels a lot sturdier than the iBook’s flimsy one. The trackpad is wider and a bit taller than the iBook’s, making it easier to work unplugged, and the CD slot is on the front, which would be good if I worked in a cramped workspace.

Booting it up beside the iBook to transfer files, the higher PPI of the Macbook made the iBook’s screen look dim and fuzzy by comparison. I had wanted the glossy screen, but it came with free AppleCare, and it seems customization (even free options) isn’t allowed with bundles. Bah. The matte screen shows sort of a speckled pattern, but it’s barely noticeable.

The backlit keyboard is a nice feature too for typing in the dark. I spent a few minutes covering up various parts of the computer looking for the sensor, until I figured out that it has sensors on both sides of the keyboard. Tricky! But while this is a nice feature, I did expect it to be fully automatic: three of the F-keys are used for controlling the keyboard brightness - F-keys that I would like to use for Exposé. Instead, I have to use command-F11 and command-F12 for the two that don’t fit on the free F-keys. It’s not too big a deal at the desk since the mouse takes care of the functions, but it gets irritating unplugged.

As for the more minor things - USB 2.0 is handy; now I can sync my iPod at full speed again, FrontRow is nice to have back again (10.4.8 borked FrontRow installation on non-supported Macs), I’m enjoying having a working ethernet port again, Magsafe takes some getting used to, the internal speakers are leaps and bounds better than the iBook’s pebbles (though not nearly as good as the external set), and PhotoBooth is still amazingly fun to play with.

Speedwise, I’m not noticing as gigantic of a difference as I’d hoped. Certainly things are faster, but bootup takes about the same. I was impressed, however, with Rosetta: It ran each of the most intensive apps I threw at it even faster than the iBook did. Things like Photoshop, MarbleBlast (a 3D game), N64 emulators - they all work without a hitch. Considering how different the two architectures are, and the abysmal performance of VPC on PPC, I’m impressed at how efficiently they were able to make it run.

I generally yawn at compilation albums, but when I heard that In Extremo’s new album Kein Blick Zurück (No Looking Back - an appropriately sappy title for a compilation album) was going to feature rerecordings of some of their own songs and a second full disc of covers, I was pretty excited. I finally got a listen yesterday, and it’s somewhat of a mixed bag.

The album starts out with Wind - Nothing to see here, move along. It’s disappointingly the same version they used on Sünder ohne Zügel. The first actual cover comes in with Ai Vis Lo Lop, from the era when In Extremo’s vocals were still sketchier than on their more recent albums (though it was one of the better of that particular album). The new version is a nice, though not entirely dissimilar, reprise. The subdued chanting back and forth near the end is a nice touch.

Vollmond in its original form is one of my favorite In Extremo songs, so I was looking forward to hearing what they would do with it. But my hopes were crushed: what a terrible cover! The tempo is faster so the whole thing sounds rushed, the instruments for some reason don’t blend nearly as well, and he tries (unsuccessfully) to add a melody to the verses. Bleh.

I also liked the original Herr Mannelig a lot, and after the last song, I was a bit worried - but they did pleasantly surprise me. The stereo drum effect is a nice addition to the song, and as a whole, it seems more cohesively structured than the original. He does pronounce some of the words differently - I’m not sure if the new pronunciation is better Swedish or not, but it’s just as well. I’m not familiar with the original Kein Sturm Hält Uns Auf, but it’s certainly not a bad song. It’s a decent bagpipe/harp juxtaposition like many IE songs.

Pavane was also one of my favorite originals. The vocals on the cover were a bit rough - he seemed to struggle pitchwise in a few of the lower points in the song - but the bagpipe was more prominent, and it was overall a worthy cover. Rotes Haar wasn’t exactly a great song to begin with, but they were able to refine it enough to make it an enjoyable song. Heavier guitars and deeper drums are (almost) always a plus in cases like this. Still not amazing, but you can only improve a song so much.

Omnia Sol Temperat and Küss Mich are more straight cuts from their respective original albums, and aside from a bit cleaner guitar work and the chorus sung in a lower octave, Spielmannsfluch was not much different from the original (not to say that it’s a bad song). I’m again not familiar with the original Alte Liebe or Hiemali Tempore, but I like both of them a lot. The former has a calm atmosphere to it without being boring [like Rotes Haar was], while the second is upbeat in more classical In Extremo fashion. It may not even be a cover at all.

Disc 1 ends rather anticlimactically with Rasend Herz, Liam, and Erdbeermund all being prior recordings. The new recordings overall were a strong piece of work, despite shaky vocals in some places and an abominable Vollmond - but there’s also a whole second disc to cover (don’t worry, it’s shorter)!

Seeing as disc 2 is full of In Extremo covers by different bands, I expected from the start a shocking departure from In Extremo’s style. bLiNd’s Ave Maria certainly didn’t let me down in that regard: It’s in English (!), but once you get past that fact and the punk rock-esque arrangement, In Extremo’s masterpiece becomes a catchy, upbeat, Anglicized piece that one almost feels guilty enjoying.

Singapur as a mellow jazz piece? Excuse me while I puke over Götz Alsmann.

The English returns in Grave Digger’s power metal cover of Der Rattenfänger. The vocals are very similar to In Extremo’s in that they’re rough and moist, but the bagpipe has been replaced with an electric guitar - which works surprisingly well. Though they can’t beat In Extremo’s chorus, I find the verses of this cover easier on the ears than the original.

Ougenweide’s choral arrangement of Merseburger Zaubersprüche is a break from the heavy guitars of the ablum (not counting Singapur, since I couldn’t bring myself to listen all the way through that one). The drums are a bit quaint and poppish, but the vocals more than make up for that.

Randalica’s Nur ihr Allein is almost a nice cover, but the singer has more trouble than In Extremo on their bad days hitting the right notes. Silbermond’s cover of Die Gier is less mellow than In Extremo’s version - the verses give off roughly the same vibe (though with female vocals), but the chorus rises energetically above the rest of the song. I almost like it better than In Extremo’s just for that. Almost.

Killing Joke’s remix of Rasend Herz is actually the first real remix - though unfortunately of a song which wasn’t great in the first place. The remix doesn’t do much to help it - the vocals are muffled, the bagpipes are gone, and the harp is replaced with something electronic. Meh.

Finally, the lead singer of In Extremo himself, Das Letzte Einhorn (The Last Unicorn - a tacky nickname if I ever heard one), ends the album with the poignant piano piece Spielmann. It’s a nice song, and an appropriate end for the second disc.

Kein Blick Zurück is overall a strong compilation. Though the second disc, while interesting, doesn’t add much to it, if you have the other albums, the rerecordings are worth it, and if you don’t, then it’s a good introduction to In Extremo.