2013 Honda CR-V vs. Subaru Forester - my driving experiences

Considering upsizing my car, I test drove both 2013 CRV and Forester during the weekend.
Both cars have been highly acclaimed in the global market and established fair bit of reputation this year. But reading others' review is quite different from driving the cars your own, so here is a bit of my view on both.

Honda CR-V VTi 2.4 4WD

Pros:

1. It's a clear winner if look and feel is the only criteria. The smooth curves make it quite attractive looking. My other half got instantaneously captivated. 
2. The interiors also wins at quite a margin. The materials Honda use looks good. The backseat leg room is spacious, the storage space is quite generous too.
3. Driving on city roads, the engine is dead quiet and smooth.

Cons:

1. The steering wheel feels a bit too agile and sensitive to my taste.
2. At sharp corner turns, the CRV is not as stable as Forester, which gave me a sort of uncertain feeling at the turning speed and a hint of unsafety. I'm not sure if its center of gravity is higher, or its automatic switching between 2WD to 4WD was not intelligent enough to detect all scenarios.
3. On motorway driving pass 90KM/H, the CRV's accelerator clearly felt soft and powerless. Especially when you carry a few passengers and the road is a bit uphill, the engine just didn't react much on your acceleration. 
4. Lastly, personally opinion, I don't like foot pedal brake.

Subaru Forester 2.5i AWD

Pros:

1. Its power never failed me, no matter on a steep slope or on motor way, the acceleration was as much as I wanted it to be.
2. I felt almost 100 percent control on road conditions, and I knew exactly how hard I need to step on the accelerator. This feeling is quite important.
3. The exterior look is definitely a step up from its previous generations.

Cons:

1. Engine is noisier, especially at starts.
2. The interior is so humdrum. The materials and accessories are very basic, and the dashboard & stereos look so old-styled.
3. Driver's left side legroom is quite limited.
4. Open the bonnet, the giant ugly plastic intake manifold is quite an eye-catcher. I did some research afterwards and found the benefits of plastic intake manifolds are actually outweigh the aluminum design. However it gave me a rather cheap feeling.

Conclusion
No wonder some people say a Subaru is "drivers' car". As driver, I do prefer the feeling of driving the new Forester, it gives me the confidence of total control, which I'm pretty sure affects safety too. So I can compromise on its look and feel.
CRV is a good car too. However it just gives me a touch feeling of uncertainty. I know there are plenty of expert reviews bragging on the enhanced safety, fuel efficiency and utility of CRV, and also cons of the Forester's less fuel efficiency and its noisy engine. But I'm pretty much decided go for Subaru. Now just wait for their financial year sale.

Mt. Grose Walk

I rarely ventured into the Blue Mountains for bush walking, mostly due to its infamous reputation of easily getting lost. Though this weekend I decided to try a track, in a part of the mountain I've never been to.
I read some good things about the Grose Valley, but I decided to take a look at the valley from high above. It's called Grose Head South, or Grose Mountain.
I drove off to Winmalee via Richmond, through Hawkesbury Rd, which prove to be a much more enjoyable drive than M4. The autumn colors were lush and vivid.
The track started with Shaw Ridge Fire Trail, which lasted for more than half of the one way distance, and it was a bit boring.
Turned right after the junction of Shaw Ridge Fire Trail and Blue Gum Swamp Trail, the track became quite steep, and my heart started pumping hard. Luckily this section was quite short, then I turned right onto final flat section of the fire trail until hit vehicle turnaround point. A large rock platform was on the left hand side, which provided an unobstructed view of the valley and undulating mountains stretching toward the horizon.
Jumping from rock to rock, I followed the foot path and reached the bottom of a very steep slop. That must be the way to the summit, I decided and pressed on.

After some tough climbing, I finally reached the summit, however the view was totally obscured by the bush. I fumbled back and forth, then eventually identified a very vague path to the left hand side, which led to a large rock platform, which provided unobstructed grand view of the Grose Valley. I didn't bring my SLR, and the photo taken with iPhone seemed to erect the Grose River to be a waterfall.

After resting on the platform and enjoying the magnificent view, totally by myself, for about an hour, I headed back. I veered right to the Blue Gum Swamp Track, which was in parallel to the Shaw Ridge Fire Trail and formed a loop back to the starting point.

Notime "living planet" and "dying planet"

Converter is Scott Sturgis, a well-known Rhythmic Noise artist, who released quite a few classic RN albums under the esteemed Ant-Zen label.
As Converter's side project, notime is mostly unknown to most.
The two releases of notime, "living planet" and "dying planet", are purely experimental joint efforts of images and sounds. They were created over the course of a few months in 2002. Jenny Sturgis (Dislocation Photo) took photos and Scott Sturgis conducted field recordings, then both audio and video materials have been compiled and treated into 2 albums, each 250 copies and each copy featuring its own cover art.
Unlike Converter's signature dark, dense and complex sound-scape, the two limited releases of notime are more experimental, haunting and "loosely arranged". Although not short of explosive rhythms, the key elements are hollowed drones and crackling ambiance.
On the back cover, the release note says "All sounds recorded with microphone and minidisc in the field, sampled and manipulated in the studio".