Rolling beats

Yesterday, I did two things: I delivered my washing machine for repair, and I bought the new CD of Norwegian group Ralph Myers and The Jack Herren Band--the latter caused by the former.

Driving to work after delivering the machine (because of an awful beating sound it made when spinning up) I heard a review of RM&JHB's latest record on the radio. The reviewer wasn't all that enthusiastic, but his characterization of it as mix of "punk, soul, funk, disco and dub" made me curious enough to buy the record after work. Having listened through it, track number eight "Boombox Breakdown" stands out as extraordinary (independent of what the review says) with it's Norwegian rap lyrics and rolling beat--far better than the rumbling that came from my washing machine. So; by delivering the washing machine at the workshop, it's rhythmic noise was replaced with a rhythmic sound. At great pleasure for me, but maybe not my neighbours...

New version of Picasa adds geotagging!

Recently, I discovered that you can "geotag" pictures on Flickr, i.e. show on a map where they were taken. When I started Picasa today for uploading the pictures from yesterday's bicycling trip, a new version was available for download. I installed it, and among a few other new features it now supports geotagging in Google Earth. I haven't had the time to investigate this to any depth yet, but combined with the new Picasa Web Albums this may turn out powerful...

Going off road

Strangely enough (or maybe not, considering that I've finally got an offroad bike after my previous one was stolen in Strasbourg last year), I've spent quite some time bicycling on gravel roads in Nordmarka north of Oslo lately. However, yesterday was maybe the most fun so far: although bicycling with colleagues turned out a tough experience (I am not in as good shape as I thought...), it was also very fun when we left the gravel road in favour of footpaths. The others pulled up speed here too, but I managed to hang on and discovered the excitement of going fast on rough ground and even climbing away from them at times. Very fun indeed!

Eased by Uro

I just saw the Norwegian movie Uro ("unease" in English). It portrays the turbulent life of an undercover police inspector, following a lead that takes him out on deep water and involves both his mother and a girl from college in a drug investigation not authorised by his superiors.

Magnificent performance by all scriptwriter, actors and director come to life in a movie that got my full attention, and I left the movie theatre as if my brain was put in the washer and spinned gently--totally blank yet with a minor fuss. It even made me get off the metro a couple of stops early so that I could wander home at slow pace.

Without doubt one of the best movies I've ever seen. Not all accidental that it was rewarded "un certain regard" at this year's film festival in Cannes, I guess...

Latenight holiday in Sweden

Kyhls Strand

Saturday one week ago, I returned to Oslo after one week at Kyhls Strand in the southmost part of Sweden. As in 2003, Bjørg and Karl-Inge arranged the trip for their friends and family. And with the option of bringing other friends, I invited Stefanie who most courageously came all the way from Strasbourg via Berlin to join me and seven other Norwegians from the very northest part of Norway.

As a meeting of people from the northern and central Europe, the holiday gave some interesting perspectives on habits--most noticeably around the breakfast and dinner table where conversations were modest and calm, at least when held in more than one language. But although interesting to observe from the far end of the table, the meals were nice social gatherings. In particular the dinners, comprising multiple dishes of exquisite taste and quantity--at times in excessive amounts...

With everyone having a digital camera, photografying became a major pastime and almost every activity were thouroughly documented in visual forms. Well, everyone except me, that is; after going through all my things twice without success it turned out that I had forgotten my camera in Oslo. Very clever.

But the lack of a camera was no problem. First of all because there were multiples around all the time, resulting in pictures of people taking pictures... Secondly, as the southmost area of Sweden is very flat, I and spent time rolling along the country roads on my road bike from village to village, with the highlight being a three-hour ride north to Kristianstad encompassing a session of excellent drive-by-shooting by Karl-Inge (as well as a soaking rainfall).

Stefanie's stay almost ended in me having to drive her a bit further than to the bus-terminal in Malmö, but gave me the opportunity to have a closer look at the awesome high-rise building Turning Torso and its sourroundings. And while I enjoyed modern architecture in peaceful solitude, the others were racing around on a go-cart track near Tomelilla. The following day I joined them to put things straight, winning all three rounds.

If there is one thing I missed during this wonderful week, it would be sunbathing on the beach. And experiencing local cuisine in a restaurant. Maybe next time...?