Lunch with the poet

They always say you should never meet your heroes, but when you have the opportunity to have lunch with William Blake (1757- 1827) (of Tyger-fame) and his wife Catherine Sophia (1762-1831) in London, how can you say no? 
They had by their side a wonderful tree with inviting seat-shaped roots, and off to the left the attention-seeking Daniel deFoe (1660-1731).

A silent crowd

Sometimes you can only sort out your thoughts in a crowd of strangers, today was like that. I'm thankful to Alfred (1839 - 1930) and Alma Sandwall (1846 - 1915), for providing a free bench for me. Even though they had gathered quite a crowd around themselves there was a welcoming calmness where I sat, at the edge of the group, and drank my coffee in silence.

Hidden beauty

Today was another gray day., so shelter from the sun wasn't a priority. This is good, because otherwise I might not have notices Johanna Maria Alsin (née Uggla) (1793-1886). She seemed quite shy, but instantly noticeable. I sat down close to her and ate in silence, as I didn't want to seem a bother. Still, I think she enjoyed the company.

No lunch today

As the more astute of my non-excistant regular readers will have noticed, There was no quiet lunch update today this was because of a fairly successful exam-dinner that lasted most of the night.


This is mostly a filler post to make sure I keep the updating schedule up, but your reward for reading it is this picture of a semi-wild bunny eating grass I took while bringing my hangover pizza home.

Shelter from the rain

Today threatened rain in Borås. It was a good thing Algot Hegnander (1838 - 1904) had found a spot for us under a large tree with thick branches too keep us dry. Luckily the rain never came and we even enjoyed a few patches of sunshine, and quite a few bird serenades. It was quite enjoyable, and I left him a small lavender flower I found next to us.

Focault and coffee

It seems I chose an inopportune time for my lunch today. When I got to the park there were hardly any comfortable spots in the shade. Luckily I found Björn Johansson (1915-1969) resting under a birch tree in the lower end of the park, I joined him there with my coffee and "The Order of Things". Sadly, neither of us had anything new to offer on Focault, though obviously for different reasons.

Following a Rabbit

Today, while walking in the park looking for company, I saw a small rabbit on the path. I decided to follow it until it disappeared into a small hedge. On the other side I found the entrance to small enclosure, and within I found Algot Reis (No dates given), but no rabbit. I joined him there within his small leafy fortress, and had my lunch. Sadly, the absence of grass and abundance of ants made our interlude a regrettably short one. I suppose there's a lesson here about trusting rabbits to guide you...

A rude nap

Lunchdate today: C.G. Åhgren (1788-1846). Stood up all the way through, making me feel rude for laying down for a nap afterward.

The quietest park...

Today I had lunch in the quietest park in Borås. I spent it with Anna Netterblad (1823-1911). She didn't eat much, but didn't mind if I did.

Revival 3.0!

So, I'm going to give this blogging thing a final go, and hopefully keep i alive for a few weeks this time.

To keep myself motivated I decided that I'd prepare a few backdated entries (this one included) and try to get a theme going. Over the past week I've been having lunch in what I described as "the quietest park in Borås" (where I live) and posting short, hopefully amusing, Facebook updates about it. My updates the past few days have run a bit long, and I've wanted to add pictures to them, so here we are.

As often as I feel like it I'll present my lunch anecdotes, and maybe even do some propper blogging in between, but I'll try to keep the Noise (Aka. Rants, and fluff like this) to a minimum

-Duma

Invisible Pipes

I've been reading a lot of existentialist comics lately, more specifically DC Vertigo comics from the mid-late 90's. It you haven't read Grant Morrisons the Invisibles or the early runs of Hellblazer I highly recommend you do. Then I recommend you read them again. I read the Invisibles for the first time around 5 years ago, and I wasn't a fan, at all. The second time around I was amazed. One of the dominating ideas of the Invisibles can me summed up in the old Magritte painting, "La trahison des images":

The Image on the canvass is -of - a pipe, but it is not -a- pipe. This is something obvious to everyone, but the part I find more fascinating is the other question the image poses. "Even if the image of the pipe is obviously false, is the word? Is the word "pipe" in itself the same as the essence of the idea "Pipe"? The Invisibles presents drug called "Key 23" which causes the user to see, as if real, anything they see in text.

I find this idea amazingly fascinating, and that's the reason I'm writing this blog-post, which I suspect someone else wrote 13 or so years ago. The real reflection I dwell on after this is "How real is written experience"? A typical example in text-as reality is the common web-come-back "Pics or it never happened".

I'm not really sure where I'm headed with this, mostly spontaneous, ramble. I'm currently on a buss from Gothenburg to Oslo and I'm trying desperately to ignore the chattering people who insisted on placing themselves right in front of me on the nearly empty bus.

The point I think I'm trying to raise is that we rarely reflect on what is really real and what we can only perceive because we accept that it exists, in the nature of its name. The understanding of language as defining of our possibility to perceive reality has its own theoretical nickname, by the way, "The Conquering Meme". The most amusing factor in this regard, proposed in the Invisibles, is the existence of letters in our language, which can be utilized to create the names for concepts we have forgotten.

But enough rambling for now, I feel a strong need to reread Foucault and ponder why i felt so hopelessly lost for about half an hour earlier today, when I realized I'd left my phone at home and I wasn't able to find out what the time was.

Revival due to Boredom

So... this summer's been, and will be, a bit weird. Not weirder then most summers but definitely different. Considering I live in an other country these days, I guess spending my vacation i Oslo wasn't really the most natural transition.

Suffice it to say it's not what I was hoping it would be.
First of all I have to get up at 06:00 every morning, and I'm never home before 17:30. I don't really mind having an 8 hour workday, it's not something I'm used to but I accept it as a necessity. The 3,5 hour transit period is what's really getting to me.
The rest of my problems are RPG related. What I was hoping to do, getting a quick Scion campaign run, over the summer, seems to be slowly collapsing on me, like most of my campaigns do. This is mostly due to my recently acquired "Early to bed so you don't die"-policy, and one of the players' equally busy work schedule.

It seems I'm going to have to keep this schedule until August 8. which, sadly means it'll last for as long as I get to share an apartment with DrLabowsky (whose blog is far more interesting, though in Norwegian) which is time I was planning on using for other *things*.

Oh well... Enough complaining for one post, at least my long hours mean I get plenty of reading done... I'm on my 4th novel this week, but more on that in a later post I think. For now suffice it to say that the Blog is back due to boredom, let's see how long I can keep it up this time.

Retro-time!

Sitting on the side off a building logging for general entertainment. I'm currently sittin inside a niche in the wall leachig net from the builing above me, sunglasses perched on my nose and a black leather-jacket on. Beside me are a gang of skaters doing flips down a staircase. In front of me an empty playground... I couldn't feel more like the 90's if I tried...

Speaking of the 90's I was talked into picking up an old laptop when I was at an antique-store the other day, more specifically a TRS-80 Model 100.  An amazing little gizmo I'm using for a prop in a few months, and right now I'm using it to revive my old BASIC skills, Highlights include a built-in 300baud Modem, but my favorite part about it is that it runs on 4 AA batteries. I've named it "Zigfried"

I was fiddling around on various sites dedicated to the M-100 (apparently it has quite a fan following, and I stumbled across an FAQ published by the japanese producers of the same machine (it was known as Kyocera in Japan). In it I found what must be the best question I've ever seen in a hardware FAQ, ever...
Wedged between the fairly innocent questions :

"Q. My Kyocera used to remember files when I turned it off. Now it doesn't. What can I do?"
and
"Q. What's the good of a print formatter if I can't hook up a printer?"

was the question:

"Q. How can I run my Kyocera for six weeks in the desert without all those AA batteries?"

...

In the desert... 

for 6 weeks...

Anyway, my favorite part of the answer is 

"For emergencies, take along a couple of wires with alligator clips and run it off the 6 volt battery in your camp lantern"

The things people used their computers for in the old days... Oh well, at least I know what I can do now, if I ever need to bring a laptop with a storage capacity of 11 pages of text with me for desert-blogging...
I'm still considering wether I should mod it, or keep it in vintage casing, I'll post pics if I do any interesting modding though.

Lastly I want to tell everyone to go see Dr. Horrible's Sing-along-Blog.
... Seriously, go, now. Blog is over, what are you waiting for? Also, buy the DVD when it comes out.

Arcon, and a side of Listlessness

I'm stuck in Limbo these days, struggling in a sort of void, looking for something to latch onto. 

I just can't seem to get passionate about anything, probably because a lot of my anchors seem to be slipping on the firmament. All my commitments for the summer are over, the one LARP I was attending has passed, and ARCON has just ended... My girlfriend is still on vacation and my exames are long-since over. I guess this sudden lack of commitment has me lost in a funk. 

Oh well, something will come along soon enough, I just have to wait it out. 

ARCON, The annual Oslo gaming convention is just over and in my opinion it was the best one in years, not only did I, and a lot of the old-timers, have a lot of fun, but it's been ages since last time I saw so many fresh faces. I've already been quoted as having stated that the balacne between traditional and independent games was better then it has been for a long tome, and I stand by that. For a few years now Arcon has been gaining a profile as a testing ground for a lot of the fresh Norwegian PRGs, mostly produced within the Norwegian society of game-creators (sounds more pretentious in english :p) a group created in Oslo for exchange of ideas and to help people get their games tuned and tested. Don't get me wrong I like the thought that independent games get exposure and I can understand perfectly well that the "old-timers" of the gaming community want to host new games that interest them, but that is in no way going to stop me from complaining about it. Another amazing thing about the con was the theme, namely the new norwegian RPG "Itras By" (City of Itra) (the page is only in Norwegian sadly...) which is a ready wonderful read, and I can't recommend it enough. I may write more on it later, now though I'll focus on some of my personal High-points during the con. 

Friday: 

Kita and I arrived early friday morning in full Futurist get-up (Futurists are a from of radical scientists and followers in Itras By, performing acts of terror against the Machine-god and his followers, the symbol of the old technology and conservatism) to much amusement for the crowd waiting in line to register. very few recognized us, with good reason, as you can see in the picture below. The Con kicked off for us with me GM'ing a game of classic, 1st ed. Dungeons and dragons. It was full of zombies, orcs, traps, polished stone tunnels and 20x20ft square rooms. It's the probably the most fun i've had with an RPG in quite a while, and it brought back a lot of fond memories for everyone involved. The end of the first day was spent in the pub, chatting with old friends, and poking a few new people who fell in at our table. Needless to say there was quite a bit of alcohol involved, and in a fit of passion, and inebriation I convinced 11 other amers to come with me to the "After-hours" gaming hut, for a late night game of Old-school Vampire. In retrospect keeping the game going unti 8:30 the second day may not have been the best idea i've had. Especially since I overslept for the Con-Larp the next day and didn't get up to the convention-halls until 14:00'ish. 

Saturday: 

After a few hours stretching in bed, and getting sober and awake, I finally got to try Itras By and it really gripped me, I played in a session GM'ed by one of the authors of the game, Martin Bull-Gudmundsen, and I was amazed at the innovative storytelling style the game presented, as well as a unique way of splitting up the storytelling perspectives and surrendering GM-control to the players. The Last session of the second day was a bit awkward for me, I was supposed to be in charge of the hosting of "The Amazing adventures of Baron Munchhausen" In my eyes the best storyteller game available. The problem for me was that I waas supposed to host it in the Pub. This was problematic for several reasons, 1) THe noise-level in the pub was fairly unbearable. 2) the pub was a lot smaller then anticipated, due to reconstruction of the proper basement-pub, making it impossible to find free tables for the game, and 3) The fact that someone had switched the room without informing me, and the only reason the game got hosted at all was the fact that one of the players who had signed up knows my habits, and knew to search for me in the Pub. After this bumpy start we actually did manage to get the game going, over two tables, and I'm fairly sure everyone enjoyed it, though I was hoping to be drinking during the hosting <.<>.> On the other hand i guess the three participants under 18 appreciated getting to play... 

Sunday:

In many ways, this was the best day for me, I arrived too late to participate in Kobolds ate my baby like I had planned, instead getting to spend the entire day in the sun in an outfit that was perfect for it. During the day I got to do a lot of things I genuinely enjoy, but rarely get to do. For instance i managed to grab a girl I know and take her for a walk around the park areas of the Campus ( the con was hosted at Oslo University) I had sandwiches on a bench in the sun, and we even had a point where I read to a few other people form the fictional Con-newspaper. The Con culminated in an award-session, where the winners of the various board-game tournaments and other competitions where announced and prizes were handed out. and extra bonus was ofcource Kita and I winning the "Composite" category in the costuming competition (it was actually hosted the day before but the winners we purposefully not announced until the end of the con). We left with ha coffe cup each as well as yet another signed copy of Itras By, we each had one from the release party a few days before, though we greatly appreciated being described as "The two most well-dressed gentlemen of ARCON". I even managed to dodge the "post-con-blues" by having a great dinner with Kita at a friends house before going home to crash. 

That was the play-by play... I'm going to try to squeeze out a proper assessment and a few personal opinions on the con later, as well as a few more pictures... Right now I just want to get something up, so here you are:

 

Me (right) and Kita (left) in our award-winning outfits, photo by Zatharee, Final edit by Kita...

On Blogging and summer

So.. the blog...

I like to belive there is one, and after 4 failed attempts to write an apology-post for not updating, I've decided to say "Frack that" and pretend nothing happened. To that effect i've started writing backdated posts which i'll upload in a single batch when they're done, ad just pretend they've always been there... 

The days seem to be melting into each other this month, for some unknown reason, probably because I've somehow ended up in a state of balance, where i worry less about things. This offcource makes reading my blog even less amusing then me stumbling into a relationship. I'll try to find a way to amuse my readers regardless, all 4 of you.

I recently made a terrible discovery, there is a place in Oslo, where I can buy beer in buckets. What's worse is that the buckets reduce the price of beer to roughly 40% of the normal pub price. I made this startling discovery a few weeks ago, after a series of events landed me a free luncheon consisting of Lobster and Champagne (due to family circumstances, I'll elaborate later) Anyway this, combined with the warmness, and sunniness of the day made me hunger for more alcohol, and I swiftly gathered a group for this purpose. 

We made our way up to Cheteu Neuf, the place I had heard served these "beerbuckets" to test the rumours. Now, I feel I have to clarify that the beer is not, to some slight dissapointment, pooured directly into the buckets and sett on the table, rather what you get is a bucket wih 5 bottles of chilled beer in a bucket filled with ice-cubes. An amazing innovation, which gives me new faith in mankinds struggle to better himself and his lot.

After a few hours of this, and about 5 bottles each, one of my comrades recieved word that a freind of hours hed recently (that very day) Come into a bit of money, seven figures of money to be excact. Naturally it seemed natural to invite him to share his wealth with us, less fortunate and share in the glorious discovery we had made. About half an hour later he showed up with the money for ludicrous amounts of beer and allso, to much jeering and public entertainment his ounger sister, and the sport of the evening turned to propositioning her, to his great dissmay... It has to be mentioned theat this sister is 16 and that this adds massive amounts of entertainment to the propositioning.

Eventiuly she left the table for greener, and possibly younger, pastures and we were left, 4 rowdy young men and a woman "of our aquaintance" who is on her way to Svalbard at the time of writing (more on that later as well).

This story has no real morale, other then large quantities of beer makes onee popular with bartenders. Also that quiet summerdays can still hold new discoveries. 

Drinking habits

Now, the first world shattering post out of the way i can move on to interesting weirdness in the world of academics. No! Don't run of yet! I have Jokes!

Lately it seems that my academic sources have been conspiring to make my world confusing, and giving me an incredible supply of interesting anecdotes, which, due to low monetary funds, I cannot take with me to the pub.

The latest in this long series of events assaulted me while I was reading an article on the Informants of Moltke Moe. Now A bit of backstory is needed here to avoid peoples head exploding... Moltke Moe was the son of Jørgen Moe. Those of you of the scandinavian persuasion will have goten some sense of what this means, for any foreigner in the audience I can add that Jørgen Moe along with Peder Christian Asbjørnsen published folktales. Imagine them as the Norwegian brothers Grimm, only with longer walks.

Now, Moltke Moe followed in the footsteps of his father and gathered tales from a little far-away land of make-believe called Bø, somewhere around the middle of Norway, and the Informants in question were the people wh told hm the stories he later published.

There, that wasn't so painful, now was it?

Now, on to the funny bit. In the 1970s Bjarne Hodne (noted norwegian folklorist) Published an article about these informants, where he gives a bit of Backstory to each of them, as far as he was able to find any at all, there were dung-eating peasants in a small town in Norway, and that's about as small as towns get.

One of these entries stands out from the rest. It's about a woman called Liv Bratterud and in it is quoted from a book published in 1918, an entry about how she got control of her farm from he husband Einar Slaatedalen, who is the real star of this narrative.

The entry reads thusly:

"[Han] fekk ho [og] Kaupte 800 pottur brennevin med ein gång og drakk upp. Han skaut etter svogeren sin og kom paa tukthuse. So stal han etter han o m ut att, og so skaate han på huse eingong til. so var han blitalande og velverd, og daa han kom og møtte arrestforvararen, sa'n "eg æ liksom dei som ikkje skjens fe aa komma igjen dær eg har våre før" sa'n[...]"

Now for the translation, this man, Einar apparently right after he got married went out and bought 800 pottur of Spirits,which he then consumed. Now what a pottur is I've yet to find out, whatever they are, and my historian-friends a have suggested anything from 3 deciliters to almost a Liter, this man managed to drink 800 of them. Seemingly in one sitting. He then goes on to shoot his father in law. Now I might now be the most rugged drinker, though I can hold my own, but somewhere between 240 and 800 liters of Spirits?? I can't even imagine you could drink that much water and survive... much less shoot your father-in-law.

Of cource he was arrested for this and thrown in jail. after which he went on to get caught stealing and being arrested and thrown in jail again, with the words "Well, I'm not the kind on man who minds going back somewhere I've already been..."

Clearly the Norwegians of the 1870s were made of something very different from what their made of now.

Huh, this ended up a lot longer then intended, oh well, I leave you now to pretend to be working, also, check out the "google-search of the day" in the sidebar, suffice it to say, your god-given-grant to have sex with a hamburger might be at stake...

A New Dawn

I find myself everyday now with an irrepressible urge to share the absurdities I find with the world at large or at least with any unsuspecting passer-by I can find (So far my professors seem to have suffered the brunt of it).

In my mind this can only mean one thing, time to jump, both legs first, back into the blogesphere.

It's been a while since my last one died doe to computer troubles in wales after a rather daring feat of bingeing and sitting on a beach in a storm last February.

This Time though I hope to be able to keep it up for a while, and I cheated and got into blogspot to save on hosting.

Thus I give you: the Sound of Silence v2.5 (or something)

Synthetic Silence//White Noise

((Non-eyebruning-design coming soon))