"Song of the week" #1 + #2

As I wrote on my "I'm back!" post (click), from now on, every week, I'll share with you a "Song of the week"; usually not-so-recent ones, based on my personal tastes. Since this is the first entry, I'm gonna post two songs! Here we go...

"Follow" by Crystal Fighters
From the album: "Star of love", 2010
Note: I discovered this song thanks to Sony Xperia T's commercial (this one), and now I'm totally addicted!

"New York, I love you but you're bringing me down" by LCD Soundsystem
From the album: "Sound of silver", 2007
Note: I've found this thanks to a video (click) linked by Nokia on Twitter

Hope you liked them! ;)

Nokia FB contest: win a Lumia 920

"Upload you best Angry Birds fan art pictures or just download the Angry Birds Roost app for you Nokia Lumia phone on the Windows Phone Store and create your own Angry Birds pics with the Angry Cam ;-) The winners will be the funniest! Go and have fun!". Do you want a Nokia Lumia 920? If you're at least 15, then try to win one by entering this new Nokia contest on Facebook: click here, you have time till December 17. Good luck!

Nokia Lumia 920 is a Windows Phone 8 smartphone with 8.7 mp PureView camera, PureMotionHD+ super sensitive 4.5" display, built-in wireless charging and more: click here for all the details.

2 years on Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 + A Realm Reborn videos

October 31 was the last "real" day for Final Fantasy XIV 1.0. While from Nov 1 to Nov 11 there were some live events and, after a little break, now the game is again playable, the last save manteinance was performed November 1, with every progress made after that by players not carrying over Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (FFXIV 2.0).

Last two weeks of October have been almost exhausting for me: I was able to get Stardust Rod -Black Mage's relic weapon- with my usual EU static and, at the same time, I was trying to beat The Raven, Nevermore -Nael Deus Darnus hard mode- with a NA static I joined after "hearing" a shout in Ul'dah. We made it (yay!); the following days I had to do more runs to help my EU static, tho... and won it again! :) I want to share here some of the screenshots I took during my 2 years on FFXIV 1.0 as Moiren Houl, first on Bodhum then on Excalibur server. Click here to check them.

In case you've missed it, here's the amazing "End of an Era" trailer, which was made available right after the FFXIV servers went offline on November 11... enjoy!

Today, I started playing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn alpha version. I'm not allowed to post personal opinions / informations / screenshots, however you can watch some official videos released by Square Enix so far on this playlist:

Nun Attack: cool game for Android and iOS

Nuns. Weapons. Monsters. Fun. I'm playing Nun Attack by Frima Studio on my tablet, and I'm sooo loving it! Click here to get it on your device -it's free on Android.

"In a world where Evil is taking over and prayers are no longer answered, there is only one type of divine intervention left, and it’s armed to death. Join the battle of light against darkness. Lead your squad to defeat the Fallen Nun and restore balance to the World in this epic tactical action game."

Learning Dutch (and... some days in the Netherlands)

I'm learning Dutch. I've begun studying it in August. Why? I'm planning to transfer to Amsterdam in less than 1 year. Ik wil in Amsterdam wonen! :D Actually, the language is proving to be less hard than expected, so far. Knowing already English (I'm Italian!) helps too, in some cases.

That's what I've used / I'm using:

• "Dutch in a month" by Learn Like Kids: first-approach-app I bought on my Android tablet. Sometimes it's not 100% accurate but, still, it proved to be very nice introductory material. Check it here;
• Italian-Dutch dictionary by Zanichelli: self-explanatory (click);
• "Grammatica neerlandese di base", basic grammar book by Hoepli (click);
• "Complete Dutch" book with audio CDs by Teach Yourself (click);
• Some other stuff I still have to use, like the "Hello Hello" app (click), a Lonely Planet phrasebook (click) and some websites.

I went to the Netherlands for the first time this month. I've been there for 5~ days (not a single regenachtige dag, yay!) and was able to visit Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, Haarlem. They were all amazing. Well, I did not like Utrecht at first (the area near the Central Station), but exploring it revealed its beauty. On my Flickr account, you can have a look at some of the photos I took. I've used my mobile phone, a Nokia X6. Click here! Here's a preview:

Madonna's MDNA Tour & PSY: Gangnam Style

Yeah, I know, this is 2 weeks old video... but hey! I've started to update again this blog only today! :x So, in case you haven't seen it yet, PSY joined Madonna on her MDNA Tour in New York to perform a Give It 2 Me / Gangnam Style mashup, followed by a snippet of Music. Here we go:

Nokia Lumia 920, Lumia "830" or Sony Xperia P?

Ok, so... I want to buy a new phone soon. The three contestants are Nokia Lumia 920, rumored Nokia Lumia "830" and Sony Xperia P. Well, I lied: actually I'd totally buy a Lumia 920 (THE smartphone right now, imho), but I want to spend way less money, so the real options are only two.

Nokia Lumia 920 (click), powered by Windows Phone 8, boasts a 8.7 mp Carl Zeiss PureView camera with OIS (image stabilization for stills and videos -works great!) and BSI for optimal low light photography. The display is 4.5" and comes PureMotion HD+ technology and super sensitive touch: it can be used even with common gloves on or with other objects. Lumia 920 has wireless charging capability built-in, dual core fast CPU, 100% offline Nokia Maps & Nokia Drive and more.

Option A: Nokia Lumia 830. Actually, its name hasn't been confirmed yet and its specs are still unknown. Lumia 830 made its appearance in some pics and is rumored to be a mid-level WP8 smartphone -Lumia 710's successor? Who knows. I'd actually like a Windows Phone 8, so I'm waiting for some official infos to surface first, one of them being its price tag.

Option B: Sony Xperia P (click). For me it's one of the most beautiful smartphones right now, especially the silver model. Nice camera, ok CPU and RAM, very good 4" display and more. It's getting Jelly Bean in the next months, too. I like Android and I'm already enjoying it on my Asus Transformer tablet. Unless the Lumia 830 will have a very low price and interesting features, I'm probably going for Xperia P. Silver one!

Sony FB contest: win a 24k gold Sony Xperia P

Click here, choose the right answer and you could win a 24k gold Sony Xperia P Android smartphone.

Good luck! Click here for detailed info about Sony Xperia P.

I'm back!

Sama's Potion is now back, with a slightly new direction!

While I'll keep posting news about what I like the most, from now on I'll give this blog a more personal touch, for example talking about my adventures and achieved goals on the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn MMORPG.

Expect more random quick stuff (pics et similia); also, almost every week, I'll choose a "Song of the week", based mainly on my personal tastes, and I'll share it with you. They won't be necessarily recent songs; actually, expect mainly older ones: after all, I will still post news about new songs and music videos I like :)

That's all!~