2008-05-06 14:58:25 - 0 comments
If you aren't Norwegian impaired, you can hear one of my best friends fool me with a prank call that was broadcast on the local radio station. The same station that he is the DJ on the breakfast show for, and which I frequently work for.
The lead up to this was that my surround amp caught fire last summer and had to be sent in for repairs. The workshop claimed I was to blame for the fire, and the less than experienced clerk at the store told me this. After long talks and discussions the clerk's boss told that the shop would cover the cost and that I had nothing to worry about.
Then, about a month later I got a call that you can listen to here.
For those who don't understand Norwegian, I will explain what's going on, after the jump. More -->
2008-05-05 15:37:56 - 0 comments
In Norway most teenagers do the ritual of confirmation at the age of 15. You can do a Christian confirmation or have a civil confirmation. Up until 40 years ago, this was considered as the day you entered the world of grown ups, and it's still a pretty big deal with dinner with the whole family. Including grand parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors and other people it is expected that you invite.
Part of the whole shebang is that you also take a confirmation portrait that will be used on the greeting cards sent to everyone who came and who gave presents (usually money).
This Saturday at work I took a series of portraits of a young girl who will have her civil confirmation later this spring. I really liked this shoot, because she was so different from a lot of the other young people who come to take their confirmation photos. Most boys come in suits and a tie and most girls come in nice dresses or a so called national costume (bunad) for their region. But this girl, who her mother referred to as a "rock chick" came in a t-shirt from her favorite band, pants with holes and a really cool attitude. We had a great hour of shooting.
2008-04-23 05:00:23 - 0 comments
I'm not the only one who is a victim of DRM. Now it turns out that Mickey$oft can't be bothered to keep the MSN Music licensing servers running anymore.
So, if you've ever bought music at the MSN music store, you have to continue using the same computer for the rest of your life if you want to keep listening to the music you've paid for. You can't even upgrade to another Windows OS or do a reinstall. Then it's bye, bye music license.
Lasse and I had a discussion last week about what sort of executives are making these decisions. What sort of business school did they go to where they learned how to alienate your customer base and rip them off? And they wonder why people download for free
2008-04-18 04:23:39 - 6 comments
I don't hate Microsoft. I just really dislike their business practices, and that they totally disregard standards and instead try to force their own "standards" on you. I resent that they repeatedly have tried to limit the users choices. And I really hate how all their products are proprietary.
But hating Mickey$oft suddenly became so much easier. Apparently, this is a genuine internal video used at Microsoft to motivate their staff:
Oh, the horror!
2008-04-17 06:03:06 - 3 comments
If you have ever worked with Lotus Notes, or you're using it on a daily basis, I'm sure you workspace looks something like this:
Pretty boring, eh? Thanks to "FREE MarvelClient Skinning Edition for IBM Lotus Notes" this can now cease to be. Today I made my desktop look like this:
The fireman is the mascot for my employer's safety guidance homepage I've also included the company logo, and of course the life preserver. Pretty neat, eh?
2008-04-14 14:20:47 - 0 comments
Hi, I'm back. I remembered that I had to work for a living. I came across some videos from the event, maybe some of you would appreciate them. This is Jarre performing Oxygene 2, which was the moment where I was really, really moved:
And here Jarre is at the very end of the concert, after performing the encore solo. Check out towards the end of the movie. Is this guy cool or what?
2008-04-13 13:26:18 - 0 comments
This is the web-goblin crew that runs elfworld.org on behalf of Elf. The reason for our intrusion in the blog, is that Elf is missing, and we're wondering if anyone of you have seen him. Please let him know that he should return home. The last sign of life he gave us was an email, sent from an unknown hotmail-address (when the hell did he start using hotmail?!?!) and this is what it said:
I saw Jarre perform Oxygene in Oslo konserthus tonight. It took some time for me to get used to being at a concert for the purpose of enjoying myself in stead of working. All through Oxygene 1 I was thinking photo opportunities while writing ideas for a newspaper review in my head, but slowly I managed to relax and started to really get in to things.
When Oxygene 2 was building up, I was moved to tears. Not only because I find that particular piece of music to be Jarre's second best (Arpegiator is one notch above), but because at that moment it really hit me: This is the soundtrack to my life. His music has been with me since I was ten years old, and seeing it all unfold in front of me in such an intimate, at least by Jarre's standards, setting was beautiful.
The four musicians on stage were all behind these wonderful old analogue synthesizers, and the mirror that came down from the ceiling gave us a fantastic view of their playing. The rest of the lightshow, while sparsely scattered through the concert, was tasteful and not by any means overdone.
Jarre was like a kid in a candy store. He was jumping up and down, pounding on his keyboards, moving his hands in the air while going berserk with the Theremin, waving and encouraging people to clap and he even did the rock star pose when doing the solo with the classic portable Moog strapped over his shoulders like a guitar. He ain't much of a soloist, though...
Jarre seemed a bit overwhelmed with the reaction from the audience. And I truly and really enjoyed this concert. It was just great and... so bloody nice. I've got a new purpose in life. To make sure Jarre's next album will be done in the style of the four new pieces of variations that were played between the original Oxygene tracks. I will not return until my mission is done. I might be drunk right now, but this is a sober decision. Farewell.
There will be no reward for any information that will lead to Elf's return home, but we really would like him back so that... oh crap! Just let him roam around the world. See if we care! He never pays us anyway. Good riddance. – The web goblins
2008-04-01 14:42:19 - 1 comments
A couple of weeks ago, in my fevered state, I did a huge mistake. I bought two albums from cdon.com, and I didn't realise that I had bought WMA-files until I unzipped the files after downloading. "Ok," I thought. "I can always convert them to mp3s later." I then loaded the first album in to my player, and after working for ages, the player told me that I under no terms was allowed to play the files. So I tried the other album, and the result was exactly the same.
Ok, it happens that zip-archives are corrupted, so I downloaded the zip-files again. After all, cdon.com gives you three downloads. However, I was given the same error messages after unzipping the archives. I fired off an email to customer support and the next day I was told that the problem was that I didn't have the correct DRM license. I had to read the sentence several times before it dawned on me that I had sold my soul to the devil, and had actually bought music files infested with DRM.
I replied and said that I wanted my money back since I had bought files that were faulty, but this didn't faze customer support. I was told to fix my Windows Media Player as it was corrupted, and then I had to download an updated version of Mickey$oft's DRM license. Now, fixing Windows Media Player means that you have to do the following:
a) Uninstall Windows Media Player 11
b) Then remove the Windows Component called Windows Media Player 10, as it pops up automatically after uninstalling v.11.
I replied back and told them that I didn't use Windows Media Player, and that the files failed on all my players. I then got an email telling me that for Windoze, that doesn't matter. No matter what player you use, the operating system checks with Windows Media Player's DRM license files first to see if everything is in order.
I started to feel more trapped than an iTunes user, but I did reinstall Windows Media Player 11, after removing both v10 and v11. It only took me four reboots of my laptop to do so. But when I tried to download an updated DRM license, I was told by the web page (which only let itself be opened with Internet Exploder, of course) that I wasn't allowed to perform that operation.
I now emailed customer support, where I told them that I'd had enough and that I wanted my money back, but no dice. I was now given a long winded description on where to go in Windows to make important and hidden system folders visible. I then had to delete the DRM-directory that suddenly appeared. Now it was time to try the web address again and this time I was allowed to update my DRM license. Of course, this meant that I had to do yet another reboot.
Finally I could actually play the files, but it takes the player several seconds to check the license every time I want to start playing them. And remember my idea of converting the files to mp3? Well, I can't! If you've got any ideas on how I can convert them and get rid of the DRM shit, please let me know.
I think I will email customer support and tell them that I still want my money back. Limiting my choices on when and how to play music I've bought is a violation of Norwegian consumers' rights. And what if I want to play the file on Ubuntu? Or a Mac? DRM sucks!But you knew that already, didn't you?
2008-03-23 16:01:44 - 1 comments
Jean-Michel Jarre has been in a dispute with his former record company, Disques Dreyfus, for the past five years. In the months after Xmas, Dreyfus has been doing raids against youtube, with the result that a lot of fan made videos where Jarre's music is used have been removed. This, despite the fact that they legally only can ask for music with Jarre's original recordings to be removed, because that's the only thing they have the rights to. If I make a cover tune, they really can't ask for it to be removed, but still they have done just this. And upsetting a lot of fans in the process.
Here is Jarre's reaction to the whole thing:
Is it any wonder he's still a hero of mine 25 years after discovering his music?
2008-03-18 17:33:48 - 2 comments
One of my favorite ongoing comics of all time, Elfquest, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. As part of this celebration, and also because at this time, Elfquest TPBs are going rapidly out of print and there are currently no plans for reprints, WaRP graphics are publishing the entire Elfqust series at their web site.
This is a unique opportunity to read one of the really great fantasy comics out there. Not only were they among the first independent self published comics. They were, in addition to making girls read comics and selling millions of TPBs, also publishing in a genre that wouldn't go mainstream until the late 90s and early 00s.
No matter who you talk to in the comics field, Elfquest and its creators are highly respected, and the series is often quoted in other works.
I especially remember this scene from Fantastic Four by John Byrne. I was at a soccer tournament in Trondheim, and my friend and I swapped comics one evening. He borrowed my issue #3 of Elfquest, and I borrowed his Fantastic Four. These two issues came out with years between them in the US, but by chance they happened to be published at the same time in Norway in 1985. My friend was flabbergasted that I noticed these things...
Anyway, take a step in to the free world of two moons. You won't regret it.
PS! While the Elfquest universe is by no means as complicated as the DC or Marvel Universes, following the timeline can be a good idea. Or just start with the very first issue and enjoy.
