Is This Art ?

The time has come. The time to make a statement. To take an action against greed and put the searchlight on the weakness that lies in our nature. I have made an installation. Or is it? Can you make art out of anything as long as you present it with a thought behind? Well I tried, here goes:

Sunday, January 27th 21:45

Picture is taken at the time of installing it. I will follow it closely and monitor any action takens on it. The ultimate thing would have been to place a webcam watching it. The place is my information pin board at the entrance.

I have a formulae in it as well - the question is whether

The sum of 3 NOK >> The risk of beeing "caught" ?

Hence I have already prepared three five-kronor pieces. If this first try should fail to attract a thief. It must be taken into consideration the time of day as well though. If someone where to enter at a time when people are supposed to be sleeping this formulae isn't really working out.

Stay tuned for more drama - more greed!

World of Wonders

Hello, I’m William Shatner... and I’m a Shaman.
I’m a conduit of the ancient forces of nature.
You’re no doubt wondering, ‘Hey, Shatner, how do I hurl bolts of lightning?
Simple! Get World of Warcraft, dawg. You can be anyone you want.
I'm William Shatner and I'm a Shaman.
What’s your game?

I'm Adam and I'm a Druid.

---

Well the topic is set to World of Warcraft today. A little write up of what it has brought and rewarded me with. And if it has taken something, if I missed out on something because of it.

Why? Well - for the first time it isn't really attracting me, wanting to embrace me with its warmth. There is just not much to do, not many people to talk to. Most of them left. And the ones who didn't - well I can see them other places.

So the breaking news is that I've cancelled my subscription, well noteworthy that the characters are still there and play time is payed until April 4th. But still. It is a step along a new path.


What did these 3 (!) years bring me then. Well 100+ days of played time would equal an average played time per day - every day - of some 2.5h. And needless to say, some days held more like 25h per day of playing.

The reward is the people you meet. Sure the average age is a bit lower than mine - sure there are weirdos and kiddos. But to make it short -

Redwolf - MsBodill - Myfanway - Kazamx - Raphner - Southpaw - Team Västerås - Bison - Wrathlock - The Welsh Kids - Tony - The Marsh Brothers - The Crazy Danes
... and more ...

People who I have met or would love to meet in real life.
I've attended three LAN's in Gävle and they were surely fun.

And if not for anything else the hours speaking over the net has sure improved my spoken English. Not the grammar though :)

There isn't really much to say on the game itself, that is just a platform. It is built in an addictive way with the basics beeing - get more purples or be considered a slacker. And to get them purples you need to spend some hourse to get the blues and to get them ... and so on and so forth. And when you thought you could just sit back and relax - *bam* patch day comes and new dungeons or some new faction to grind. (Exalted with eight or so in TBC only :) )

The rewards on a different level was just plain and straight forward therapy. Started playing very casual six years in in a relationship and after that one I needed somewhere to go and get away from it all. Well I'm still standing now so some way it helped out.


The downsides - sure there are some - would be the lack of sleep, the things I missed out on. But I am not to sure I missed out on very much - not like I skipped other things to play, sure I could have done this and that for those hours but what the heck. It ain't more than what a heavy TV-junkie spends in front of the Dumbinator.


Life post-WoW. Well I can't really see myself staying and playing WoW very casual - that just ain't me. 8h sessions or none. And getting myself in to a new MMO would just be the same story all over. No instead I installed a good old friend that has been standing in the bookcase for some months now - NWN2 - and with it the familiar world of paus-able gameing. And sure I still might drop by Azeroth for some time to check it out but that would just sporadic ones, purely for research.

The man himself - Dinuan. Dressed all in purples for the occasion
-Quite handsome if I may say so myself

Falling off the Ledge

1979.04.04-2008.01.22

Heathcliff Andrew Ledger - the actor - has yesterday been found dead. I would exaggarate if I said it affected me deep in person. But I am touched and puzzled by the man's faith. And the timing - he was peaking his career with some recent blockbusters and a new one coming up, and of course this happening one month after my post on him, is quite weird.

He managed to finish his work on Batman - the Dark Knight, a movie now carrying the same sort of veil that the Crow-movie did upon Brandon Lee's tragical death. But of course, in Hollywood that will just mean more people to the white screen.

Having burried the hatchet and come to an end with my own feud for him, I actually feel quite sad to see the man go away. I am more touched and feel more closer to him now after our little beef*

I'll let Julia sum it up with what at least got me in contact with the man, her poem in 10 Thing I Hate About You

I hate the way you talk to me.
And the way you cut your hair.
I hate the way you drive my car.
I hate it when you stare
I hate your big dumb combat boots.
And the way you read my mind.
I hate you so much it makes me sick - it even makes me rhyme.
I hate the way you're always right.
I hate it when you lie.
I hate it when you make me laugh - even worse when you make me cry.
I hate it that you're not around.
And the fact that you didnt call.
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you - not even close,
not even a little bit, not any at all.

Beef* - to have beef with someone is wanting a fight with them. A person having something against someone else or wanting an argument or a fight

Urban Dictionary

/Peace

The Games People Play

All the games people play now
Every night and every day now

The Games People Play - Inner Circle

-Oh indeed we do, this weekend saw me going through the whole arsenal. With focus on social gaming and quite rewarding such as well. Managed to get the ass shakin' on the dance mat, the guitar rocking on GH3 and ... ehum ... some tries on the mic on the Singstar.

This whole new take on gaming has introduced a lot of new people to the scene. And it has made it very much more availible and accepted as well I think. Gaming isn't running around headshoting people in CS in your cellar, nor is it plain flat 2D-arcade platform action á la Super Mario. And I am quite sure I didn't see my mother play any thing else than Solitaire on PC but she has indeed tried the dance mat.

This is without even having tried the new Wii platform, based solely (?) on motion with it's new motion sensitive controller. That will have to be tried within short.

To promote this new take on gaming I cancelled my subscription to WoW (still have my characters and play time until April 4th. But still - it might be a small step for man ... but a giant leap for Dinuan) The game just isn't rewarding in any way no longer - worthy of it's own post in short. To keep the level of addiction on an even level I of course had to install my NeverWinterNights2 - Collector's Edition to not seem all too healthy.

Dietary Diary - Coninuous Updates

Disclaimer: this thread should contain very little of interest to anyone not on a diet or anyone who likes to torture and push yourself through some limits.
Enjoy your reading:



My daily menu is setup as follows:
5 shakes (40g protein+ 30g flax), vitamin/nutritional supplements - vitamin c, "daily vitamin", Omega 3 capsules and Calcium. Will allow any amount of black coffee or tea, and on training days 2-3 bananas, Gainomax or a Powerade or two (250 kcal)
This will give me the intended 1300-1550 kcal depending on exercise.
(Start date 2008.01.16 )

Day 1: 4 shakes, 3 of them with flax. No reaction whatsoever on body or system, 3h thai and two Gatorades for some 250 kcal of carbo during workout. Should sum up to some 1150 kcal
Morning weigh in: 78.5 kg (average weight this winter ~80 kg)

Day 2: 5 shakes all with the flax, passive day exercisewise - 1h dancing
A slight headache could be felt over the course of the evening but nothing that worries.
5 shakes á 40g + 5 servings of flax seeds = 750+550 kcal = 1300 kcal.
Morning weigh in: 76.2 kg (slightly dehydrated)

Day 3: first shake down, and today will be a challenge. Plan to attend a birthday party in the evening and not sure how the reception will be of me neither boozing nor eating. But I have some tricks - Coke light and Göteborgs Rapè No2 - Lingonberry. Party Party!
The body and mind are all fine, slight sensation of headache and a light dizziness but the mind is still set and I don't really have an urge yet to sink my teeths in a beef or just grab a snack.
Morning weigh in: 75.4 kg

Day 4: will have my eating day - the diet don't have one to start with, but recommendations from the gym and logic from my side will see it. The recommendations would be based on the fact that eating one day, preferably unsound with chocolate and other stuff, would boost the absorption on the other days and prevent starvation mode. The logic is even more down to earth - going to both grandma's and mother's place and I can't really see myself n o t eat there.
Summing up day 4 it wasn't anything extraordinary for a saturday - sandwiches + two hot dogs (~650 kcal?), two semlor (some 700 kcal), mum's great autumn stew with potatoe and cauliflower (600 kcal?), some 250g of chocolate (1250 kcal) and an ale (200 kcal)
Summing up to some 3500 kcal.

Day 5: back on the shakes again. starting the day with some 2h timberjacking, continuing with some 4h walking/photographing. 4 shakes, 1 bar. Weighing in at 76.2 kg despite yesterday's eating. And neither getting back to eating or back again on to the shakes was any problems for the system.
Summing upto some 1200 kcal

Day 6: monday, back at work. 4 shakes, 1 Powerade, 1 Gainomax. 0.75h of weightlifting and 2h thai. Summing upto some 1350 kcalWeighing in at 76.1 kg

Day 6: 4 shakes ( 3 with flax), a bar, a slight detour to RealFood for a Scampi-Coriander-Bulgur meal, a delicious one as well, and a sidestep to Netto for a 100 g chocolate
Summing upto some ~2250 kcal. Weighing in at. 75.9 kg. Training was limited to walking to the office and back and an hour'a'half of dancing.

Day 7: Weighing in at 74.9 kg after a coffee and a morning run.
5 shakes and a bar + powerade & gainomax during 3 h thai. Some 1800 kcal - anything less woulda killed me.

Day 8: *today* planning shakes + thai. Weighting in at 75.0 kg
Day 9: *friday* shakes+thai
Day 10: *saturday* back to eating - at least lunch + squash/thai
Day 11: *sunday* back to eating - at least dinner + superhealthybreakfast + a day in the woods

Day 12-18: Thai-prep, protein heavy mon-wed. Carbo heavy thur-sat. Fight fight
Day 20: should weigh in less than 78 kg, hopefully closer to 76.

Downsides:

• slight headache that comes with the low level of energy
• all sorts of exercise gives a lot more pulse and rush

Positives:

• stomach hasn't reacted at all as I feared
• hunger isn't an issue
• fantasizing on eating isn't either ...
  

Full Speed Ahead!

Warning: The diet outlined is experimental. If you're looking to lose fat slowly but surely in a comfortable manner, there are several proven plans available in the T-Nation Diet Program section. If, however, you're looking for a way to quickly rip fat off your body, regardless of difficulty, the Velocity Diet may be for you. It's certainly not for everybody

Extract from the webpage

- Well I ain't everybody :)

The diet in short is to skip all else and go for a low-cal, high protein diet with some additional healthy fats from the flax seeds (linfrö). The original one is setup for 28 days but I'll settle for 12. This should eventually result in the loss of 1.5 kg and hopefully not f. the stomach up.
I need to keep a little reservation in mind for the coming saturday, there might be normal eating coming up then - can't see myself explaining to grandma' why I can't taste her cookies.
(but on the other hand I've been told that an eating day is great as well since it helps boost the absorption of fat)

The formulaes:

Min: (22 x bodyweight + 879) x .50 = X kcal
Max: (22 x bodyweight + 879) x .60 = X kcal

So, 1300-1560 kcal depending on whether the day is heavy on training or not

The deal then is to get 2 times your weight in grams of protein = 160g
5 shakes á 40 g gives me 180 g protein and all in all 720 kcal
The rest should be added by the flax: 150 g ~ 2.3 dl

On training days I add the final 250 kcal by either a Gainomax, 2-3 bananas or 2 gatorades. They all equal roughly 250 kcal


So how's the progress then after one day...
Well as I never tend to do anything halfway I emptied the fridge and freezer yesterday and shut them off - just to prevent momentary weakness.

Today's menu:

4 shakes á 40 g protein and all in all 80 g flax
2 Gatorades
= 1 150 kcal

This should be compared to my previous 1 900 - 3 300 kcal I registered during my PT session this summer. And the first day went great, but this is probably due to the fact that all my depots are filled with what I've eaten earlier in the week. I expect this to change to the worse in the coming days...

The one thing we all have in common -
is that we all think we are different

A reflection to my: "I ain't everybody"

---

For future reference, I do realize I can't go with this diet for longer periods, here are some great points I picked up on the marvellous web we call our home.

1. Food portion control: Eat small meals of 400 to 600 Kcal depending on your body size. Overeating can cause insulin level spikes, an expanded stomach and puts a lot of unnecessary stress on your digestive system.

2. Meal Frequency: 5-6 six small meals a day, preferably spaced out every 2-3 hours. If you don’t have time to eat take a protein supplement in between meals.

3. Calm down: yes America is certainly stressful country. However life is by no means easier in Thailand and they manage to stay collected. Take a lot of deep breaths, get plenty of sleep and find healthy ways to channel stress. Remember that your work, your life and your choices are YOURS. The Thais I met don’t lose hair over trying to earn a six digit income (in US dollars of course) and you shouldn’t either.

4. Activity. I realize that not everybody has the time exercise, but almost anybody does have the means to be more active. Take a walk on your lunch break. Better yet use that hour to workout at a local gym. The ideal workout routine would involve a combination of weights/cardio. If you are strapped for time try to find an activity that combines both aerobic/anaerobic exercise. A few recommendations would be structured aerobics classes that combine both weight training/cardio (most American gyms offer some variety of this) or a martial arts program, I would personally recommend a muay thai class for almost anybody.

That's all folks!
Enjoy your own health programs,
-or at least go get a hell lotta xBox-achievments.
Make me proud!

Fuckface

I found myself skipping through pictures my friends have added the other day. When I end up looking at two year old studentish pictures of overall-dressed boys and girls on a school I never took classes in and the person fronting them isn't even someone I talk to these days ... then it strikes me, clear as a clear blue June sky:
What the f. am I doing?
Just because it is out there for everyone to see it doesn't mean it is something to see.

I could rather spend that same minute to ... well, stack matches upon each other or do something else that made more sense - watch paint dry.

And isn't it a marvel how you can pull back the ghosts you thought you had locked away in the closet. You're just a mouse click away from seeing their recent plans - dreams - housing - kids - wedding plans or whatever

It is a bit too much stalkative for my liking.
And I consider myself a quite stalkly nature to start with.

---

2007 saw the dawn of my first Muay Thai-matches
At the dawn of 2008 I have been dedicated my first cheer,
god willing it will even be realized some day:

POWER - HE'S GOT IT!
DETERMINATION AND PRIDE!
YOU THINK YOU CAN BEAT HIM?
*clap clapp clapp*
GET REAL!
*Random kicks and jumps*

---

And if this attack on Facebook worried you, and if you seek other alternative things to do.
I can suggest one of the following from my last weekend around Oslo:

Downhill skiing
Male bonding
Grab some sushi (note to self - Maki >> Sushi)
Dance your ass off
Spend time with family

Question Existing

Take off my shirt, loosen the buttons
And undo my jeans, stare at myself in the mirror
Pick me apart, piece by piece
Sorrow decrease pressure release
I put in work did more than called upon
Put more than deserved when it was over
Did I wind up exhausted? yes
But it taught me before a decision, ask this question first

Who am I living for?
Is this my limit?
Can I endure some more?
Chances I'm given, question existing
Who am i living for?
Is this my limit?
Can I endure some more?

Question Existing - slightly edited

Thursday evening - staying in the office post 2300 again,
question existing ... for who? ...why? ... can I endure some more?

And the real question is - what will be noticed.
This goes for all things we do:

. will a late night in the office change anything ?
. will my neighbours thank me for NOT throwing parties every weekend ?
. will someone care that I put my juice bottle in the recycle bin ?
. will my good intentions bee seen in my actions ?
. will you know what I feel ?
. will she know what she meant to me ?
. will he understand how much I valued him as a friend ?

Know now then that:
. you mean the world to me
. I value you more than the air I breathe
. I thought I did the right thing doing that there and then

I like to think that I'm pretty normal:
I laugh, I get mad, I hurt

Question existing - continued

---

To cheer things up, enjoy the words of Mr Wordsworth,
his tribute to nature and the importance of maintaining your youth.
To preserve the child in us - your piety.

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Hmmm not much writings on my own hand today, but do I need to?
If I were obliged to do things in one way or another would it still be my little space, would it be my home of comfort and warmth.
Would this be my writing and feelings or would it just be a rehearsed play. - No!
Keeping it real is what it's all about - in the hood as well as here.

-Peace Niggaz!

Finally!

Overheard a dialogue at work today.
Two welleducated men in their late 20's and mid 40's respectively.
Both with leading roles in projects on the sales department.
The scenario:

The time is some 16:30, late enough to go home.
Younger guy puts his coat on and turns his back and starts walking out -
Older guy directs a "Good evening" his way and this is where the climax approaches.
The twist of the story - the younger guy has to reply
"No I am actually just going out for a smoke"
His only reply was silence but in his mind he knew ...

Finally! As Gert Fylking would have screamed, smoking is now deported to a low-life non-accepted activity that is seen upon as a flaw on a character. (I might have drawn a bit to far-fetched conclusion based just on this incident, but the signs are there.)

The link above, direct you dear reader to the svt.se archives where the first installment of the Gert Fylking's "Finally"-action takes place on the 1991 Nobel Prize nominations. That year saw
the South African female writer Nadine Gordimer win.

---

Mathematician as I am humour on this level amuses me:

Source

So what will my approach be then?
Well time and 2008 will tell.
Heaven ... and Phil ... knows I can't hurry love!

---

Fan nu hade det smakat med en snus! :)

Stallone vs. Maradona

As a kid, roaming the streets of Strömtorp in the mid-80's, I remember having two idols. Depending on the occassion and what game we played - you would either want to be Rambo or Maradona. The former one in war games and well surprisingly the latter one when we played fotball.

Seeing how time has treated them, I'd say Stallone came out the winner - and with postproduction going on for Rambo IV you could even say time has stood still :)

To the left: Hand of God - To the right: Hand of Ragnaros?

From full throttle killing machine to - well the same

The most fascinating thing about this isn't the fact that two boys run around the streets playing games and imitating their idols or whatever. The thing is that I at that point hadn't seen a second of Maradona's football playing, nor had I seen Rambo - First Blood - but I knew damn well what a "Rambo knife" was. Every boy HAD to have one, preferably with compass in the hilt and a lid you could take off to store matches and fish hooks.

This was somewhere around 1986 I suppose. If the same thing were to happen today - 6 year old kids showing fascination over knifes, soft air guns, fire and arson and mayhem in general - I guess you would see involvment of social authorities, sudden removal from your home. But I came out of it without any major issues. Not that I am issue-free, but those ones have other heritage.


Today my idols range from Dave Gahan - an ex. heroin addict to my soon-to-be 4 year old niece.
(Jan 19th, congratulations in advance)

Heia Norge !

A-muse-ing

There are those who inspire just by their presence
There are person's that spark my creativity
There are those who used to call them Muses
There you are!

In Greek mythology, the Muses are a sisterhood of goddesses or spirits, their number set at nine by Classical times, who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing, traditional music, and dance
...
Not only are the Muses explicitly used in modern English to refer to an inspiration, as when one cites his/her own artistic muse, but they are also implicit in the words "amuse" or "musing upon".

I don't see Photography among those art forms but I hope I am excused by beeing inspired to rig the camera and shoot these pictures among others.

Thank you, wish you all the best!

Ready Steady Read

During these last two weeks in December I think I've read as many books as I did throughout the whole year..
I have worked my may through

Kent - A collection of texts (the Swedish Band)
Sartre's - Nausea
Camus' - The Plague
Coupland's - All families are psychotic
A Biography on Johnny Cash
Näslund's "Lär känna psykopaten" (Get to know the psychopath)
Fredrik Strage's - Fans

Quite an amazing little list there to say it myself.
Some quick response to them:

Kent - a great band, and interesting to get under their skin. Not so much through their own words but through interviews and texts published in music press. Getting to know Jocke's adore for David Bovie during his Ziggy-era and so on.

Sartre's Nausea was not a disappointment but I had expected more explosive stuff, to feel more, to think more, to get more. It is a book on existensialism but can in ways be seen as diagnosing the protagonist's depression (schizophrenia) but this is just post-production and some reading up I've done after reading the book itself.

The Plague by Camus leaves me somewhere there as well. But this is a more catching book, better reading, more interesting story. A town is locked down during a plague and the phases of it and of the persons in there has a good reading value. But it doesn't leave me with as many marks and questions and thoughts after it as The Stranger did.

Coupland's is a great novel, and I had no expectations more than to get a good story told. Perhaps this is why I perceive it as beeing more rewarding to read than the previous two which I had made up an image of what I would get on forehand.

The Johnny Cash biography is just plain great! A life I got a slight peek into with the movie "Walk the Line" 2006, a man whose music I admire and appreciate. The book fills some gaps that the movie left me with - especially of his early and last years in life. A topic in the book that is also explored to great depths is also his christianity and faith, his fascination for singing gospels - topics that seeing my own lack of faith would not interest me at all but it ain't to bad.

I didn't see the connection until now but the connection between Coupland's and Näslund's documentary book on psychopaths was pure randomness. A quite easy to read documentary and study on psychopathy, with a focus on criminality. It contained some interesting interviews and some interesting conclusions in the last chapter. The statement that:
"No, Hitler was not a psychopath. He was a necrophilian"
and some other interesting conclusions on why women continue to live with psychopathic men and how pedophilia holds some very close resemblance with psychopathy.
And nope, George Bush is not a psychopath either.

Strage's book wasn't, if honesty shall rule, finished by the end of 2007. It isn't even today. But I have read through two interesting chapters in it. It is a straight forward book based on his interviews with fans throughout the musical spectra. Ranging from Agnetha Fältskog to Morrisey with a side step out to Star Wars.
The passages I read was one on a Hisingen-based Michael Jackson-fan with focus on her trips to Neverland and to support MJ outside the Santa Barbara courtroom. The Morrisey one was wider and held thoughts from Peter Birro (P3) and Weeping Willow's frontman Magnus Carlsson - a band built on his love for Morrisey. Because that is what these men feel for their idol. And they are not prepared to share it with anyone. Morrisey was once to play the warming act for I think it was David Bowie and the elitist fans were terrified that other people, not as educated and enlighted as them, would get to see their idol.
- But luckily he cancelled.
And how can I not love the man myself. Having spend hours listening to tunes and texts like

There's a club if you'd like to go
you could meet somebody who really loves you
so you go, and you stand on your own
and you leave on your own
and you go home, and you cry

How soon is now?

The Birth of a New Year

So the good ol' 2007 just went out the front door never to come back. And it did in style and full frontal drinking, eating and discussing.
- Had a great time in Gothenburg meeting up with Madde, Hugo, Ekkie, Johanna, Alvar and the new acquantancies - Emma and Frida.

With the end of the old and coming of the new - what would be better than doing a traditional sum up of 2007.

A year that .
. saw me winning my first 4 out of 4 thai fights
. saw me running my first and only marathon
. saw me dressed as Pippi Longstocking
. held complete celibacy in stock for me
. gave birth to you, dear blog :)

And likewise list what wishes and visions there are for 2008

A year that .
. won't see me drunk
. will contain travels near and far
. surpasses the preceeding one between the sheets
. will be even more focused on having a great time with friends & family

Furthermore 2007 was a continued journey into myself and as always a struggle and fight to try improve and grow as a person. Something I hope and think I have done in some ways - still leaving lots to do for 2008 as well. It inspired with some great reading and contact with new ideas and ideologies