In Paper We Trust

Paper rules, big time. True that. End of story. More: http://images.google.no/imgres?imgurl=http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2008-02/origamic-architecture-willem.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.neatorama.com/2008/02/24/origamic-architecture-stunning-sculptures-cut-out-of-paper/&usg=__WQ9yz5xItu7PAbRnmULQrxi16gU=&h=436&w=500&sz=50&hl=no&start=4&tbnid=7ii4b6c3JmzWHM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Darchitecture%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Dno

Haha, short link for you my friend. (OK. Need to get a life, soon). Soundtrack of today: "Cat People" - David Bowie. (Me and Ms. T is listening to "Inglourious Basterds" (the movie, not soundtrack) on loop through nighttime hours. We do prefer James Bond movies, but we don`t have any).

2009 -

From Russia With Love

After receiving my first blog inquiry ever, I decided to be nice and do as requested (even though being extremely busy and borderline stressed). I know that the person asking is a geek when it comes to wooden stuctures and Japanese joints, and inspiration was needed. Easy solution: google wooden architecture. This Funky Shit goes out to all the wood(en) geeks out there. Don`t know much about this architecture, except that the building is Russian. But as we all know, Russia is rather huge. Rather. I guess the brief is ghosts, Ms. E.

18 GigaPixels

Geek News: 18-Gigapixel Panorama Offers Breathtaking View of Prague. This image is the largest spherical panorama in the world as of Dec. 2009. To you from the GadgetLab section in Wired. Hohoho, Merry Christmas.

So Called Life

Don`t you just Love (with capital L) AutoCAD? Graphics from above. I`m spending my days in school, together with; some members of Making Real, my computer, a steal ruler, the book "Small Images" by Ishigami san (this man is obsessed with plants. Great), card, glue, several portions of "yum-yum" and my Ipod. The cardboard glasses are part of my procrastination program, and the purpose of production is: Focus. Framing. And Fun. If you see me wearing these within the radius of 100 cm. from my computer, don`t ask for my attention. It`s business.

Dubaii

4th of January 2010, the Burj Dubai will be spick and span and ready for visitors. Or so they say. The evidence of clever engineering and smooth craftsmanship has reached the summit, at 818 m. above sea level. Well done. Good news: For those who would like to take a little trip down there and see all the Dubai wonders with their own eyes and cameras; the whole emirate is pretty much on 25% discount these hardcore financial days. Tickets.

M:I 5 - Hunting Creativity

Once there was a wise man, this wise man once said: Every creative process will sooner or later hit a dry spot. I`ve hit a dry spot, no juice as far as the eye can see. But I came across a webpage that gives you advice on how to proceed when the horizon is looking dark and cloudy. For free! Here.

For some reason, the advice: Take a break, came up 3 out of 6 times. Yes, I couldn`t settle for only one.

Post Script: It doesn`t always work (in your favour).

Flashback

Skagen was visited earlier this semester. We rented a car, on the basis of speed abilities it was probably a scooter in disguise, and set off to the very north of Denmark where two oceans meet. The day was/is one to remember. And all the blue sky you could ask for. Go or not to go, that is not the question. Go.

New(s)

President Barack Obama is left handed. Didn`t know. Now I do. He`s carrying all his accessorize on one hand only; his watch, his ring and his pen. Asymmetric indeed.

Make A Wish

Every year I wish for a sail boat (or a helicopter) for Christmas. After approximately 14 years of wishing, the boat criteria is slowly decreasing. It started out as: Sail boat. Nowadays the claim has dropped to: Small sail boat, not too fancy. But slightly cooler than a "VG-jolle" (Hybrid between rowing boat and a really small sail boat). Cross fingers.

Sail boats are pure magic. And the fact that you can control the "vehicle" from one small area on the boat, transforms it into a tool-of-techtonics, rather than just a floating hang-out. If you`re ever in London, visit an old man`s store. He got all the sail boat equipment you can imagine and more. It`s located on 194 Shaftebury Avenue, called: Arthur Beale LTD. Heaven on earth. I`m telling you.

By Night

Yo, NA to the SA is down with light at night. This picture is a mapping of all that`s bright, on a permanent basis. Cities, roads, coasts and transportation routes creates an alternative world map of glow.

Soon To Be

Christmas is not far away, only 20 days to be precise. This is a Christmas Tree made of car tracks in the snow. 2 in 1 as they like to say. I was kind of hoping a car would come in the opposite direction, to supply the tree with a star. But, didn`t happened, google-image-reality sucks sometimes.

Paranoia Result

Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester (WWW!) was a rather eccentric woman. When her husband died, she became convinced that the house was haunted by all the people being killed by a Winchester rifle. Probably not a minor number. But she decided not to give up without a proper fight, and the process of building construction began. It lasted for 38 years, non stop. Around the clock, until the day she died. The reason for all the work was to build a maze of corridors, rooms and stairs, so that the ghosts would get lost and/or not find her. There are many examples of stairs ending in walls/open air, doors leading to nothing, rooms without windows, etc. The mansion was/is well known for its size and lack of master plan. Mrs. Winchester was a wealthy madam, so the effect of construction work on her wallet is not worth mentioning. In the end there were about 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms and two ballrooms, one completed and one under construction. The house also had 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys and three elevators. Painting the house was a work-to-eternity-machine, finally finished with all the sections, they had to repaint again. Today the house is a museum. 525 South Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California.

Imagine To The Rescue

Friday today, but since I`m working through the weekend it`s basically Wednesday. I`m planning to have fun, real project fun. That means; Imaginary Worlds Creation Deluxe. Just like when I made this drawing. It`s a plant-and-cleanse-water-production-world hanging on one of the water pipes on school ground. To the left, all the different kinds of greenery are grown. Everything from Lotus flowers to moss. To the right, the system of cleaning water for industrial purposes are produced. Bottom left is living facilities, bottom right: distribution and shipping. As already mentioned, it`s my imagination talking. Not much sense going on in that department.

La Musica

Todays soundtrack: David Bowie: "Heroes" and blue grass christmas carols, here represented by Bob Couchenour:
"GodRestYeMerryGentlemen". Splendid combination.

Mystery Solved

Bought a book (yes..yet another one. I`m addicted. At least it`s more healthy and enlightening than other types of drugs) the other day. The 21st issue of Volume, called "The Block". This book deals with the topic (among others); Microrayon, transformation of the Soviet City under Capitalism. A Microrayon is a little "city" of its own, featuring everything you need to survive everyday life. Your home in a block, school, kindergarden, a store etc. The idea was to localise people, and prevent the need for private or public transportation. But after the fall of communism, people changed their pattern of living, and the system broke down. People moved away from the apartments/areas they had been allocated. They bought cars to get to work. And they built temporary garages, like these. On every vacant plot. This explains where the 3 million excess cars hang out.

Moscow Way

In Moscow there are many cars (currently 4 millions, and the number is rapidly increasing) and not enough land for them to occupy. This leads to creative solutions, like this one, a floating car park in the Moscow River.

Today the city is equipped with one million parking lots, where the 3 millions excess cars hang out, is a mystery.

Fantastic Fram

During my daily session of heavy procrastination, I did a little researching on the topic: Fram. I must say, I`m a fan. I just never realized it before. While reading about the ship, you obviously read about Mr. Nansen as well. What a man! Many slightly crazy people would come up with the idea to freeze a ship into the Arctic ice, but not many slightly crazy people would do it. Mr. Nansen did, he collected a team, build a boat and set off on a voyage that turned out to last for three years. Stuck in solid massive cold ice. The purpose of the journey was to prove that the Arctic was not land, but a huge piece of thick ice, that moved with currents in the ocean. The documented route shows a trip of unexpected turns, lets just say, it`s not a straight line.

About two years into the expedition, Mr. Nansen got tired of the monotonous life on board. He decided to go for a walk, a walk to the north pole. 600 km away. He and the fortunate Mr. Johansen, 27 dogs and 3 sleighs went off. They soon realized that the Arctic summer was too short. The decision to continue or turn back, ended with an unanimous vote in turn backs favour. But the 180 degrees action was carried out late, and the two gentlemen had only one option. To "hibernate" in a selfmade shelter, somewhere on the endless blanket of white. They spent the entire winter together in a 3,4 x 2 m. "room", surviving on walrus blubber, polar bear meat and whale oil. Jolly times. When spring and light returned, the two of them continued the walk towards south, it turned out to be an adventurous journey. One time the selfmade kayaks drifted off shore during a short rest on an ice flake, Mr. Nansen took off his watch, performed a graceful dive and swam to the rescue in the far from warm water. Another event, was an attack by a polar bear. The fortunate Mr. Johansen ended up in the embracement of this rather violent animal, and Mr. Nansen didn`t have his rifle close. (Amateur). But in the end they both survived and made it back to Norway, with the helping hands of a British, Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Nansen was not only an outdoor man, he also showed great commitment in politics and victims of war after WW1, he got the World Peace Prize in 1922, and the list of other first-class honours is long.

Park Car

This is how it`s done. Four easy steps to make a perfect P in any cityscape across the world. 1. Find an unoccupied parking lot, slow down. 2 a) Stop parallel to the car in "front" of the lot, b) gear: reverse, c) begin the backing, d) when you as a person are on the same line as the rear wheel of the car in "front", turn the steering wheel. A lot. In this case: clockwise, e) when the front of your car have reached the back of the other car, turn the steering wheel in the other direction. 3. Stop the car before hitting the one behind you. We don`t want scratches. 4. To finalise the procedure and straighten the car, turn the wheel a little (clockwise) and close up on the car in front. Done! Congratulations!

Los Mundos

Breaking news: If you zoom really far out in GoogleMaps, the world multiplies, and you`ll find yourself in the situation where you can choose which one to zoom in on. You can also use the little hand to scroll horisontally, and new worlds appear. The Endless World Buffét. Oh my.

LjåbuStan

This is the holiday hangout place of my childhood. Also known as "Ljåbu". It`s a collection of three professional cabins (old photos) and approximately 2,5 made by non-professionals aka. my siblings and me. Not that they don`t have certain architectural qualities, they`re just not made for living. Especially during winter season. The cabin to the left is the main building, as you can see it`s huge, almost 50 sq.m., the other one is the guesthouse, "Buret" (the Cage). Not so big, only 16 sq.m. but you`re more than welcome. None of them have installed water, in the summer that`s not such a big deal. Winter is more hardcore, then you (my Dad) actually have to walk to the creek, smash a hole in the ice, use a "liter measure" to fill a 25 l. can. You (Dad) carry the can back to the cabin. On skis. Down hill. Rule nr. 1: Don`t fall.

This water is precious, and only for drinking. The remaining necessity for a 18th century household like Ljåbu, is covered by melted snow. Melting snow takes a while. Getting water from the creek takes a while. So all in all, winter holidays are all about water. Can`t live without it. (If you for some reason want to wash your hair, the effort and energy of collecting and melting enough snow - water, adds up to 5 hours-ish. Bonus info).

I posted this to say: What a view. Jotunheimen for you.

C For Africa

Number 3 in the line of "hooked-on-Illustrator-mapping-of-Africa". C.

CloudScape

This could be Antarctica, but since I`ve never been there, it`s not. It`s just clouds seen from Flight 998 to London. The good thing when travelling on rainy days, is that you get scenery like this at 30 000 feet. I like how the ultra thin cloud in the back there, cast a shadow and sort of frames the cloudscape...OK, enough photo analysis for today. Not my cup of tea.

Echo One

This is an edition from N.A.S.A.`s Echo satellites. They were the first passive communications satellite experiment, carried out in the 1960`s. The way they work is simple, signals from the Earth bounce off this structure from one point to another. Just like playing one-man-Tennis against a wall.

The "ball" was 30,5 m. in diameter and made of 0.127 mm thick metalized Mylar polyester film (whatever that is). The simple concept actually worked, redirecting telephone, radio and TV signals. Both transcontinental and intercontinental.

"As its shiny surface was also reflective in the range of visible light, Echo 1 was visible to the unaided eye over most of the Earth. Brighter than most stars, it was probably seen by more people than any other man-made object in space"....Wikipedia poetry.

Ka Ra O Ke

For no particular reason, karaoke came up during lunchtime conversation. And first of all, let me just state that, karaoke is totally different from home entertainment "games" like Singstar. It`s so different really, you can`t even compare it. Not that I ever tested Singstar. Details.

Karaoke is not a game, it`s hardcore business/workout. And all you need is: A ticket to Japan, yen, a karaoke establishment, a room in the suitable size for you (and your company, many people do karaoke alone), two microphones, a tired TV screen, bad sound system, some beer and a phone connected to reception desk to order more beer (room service deluxe). With these ingredients present, it can`t go wrong.

As an extra bonus to the experience, most Karaoke places decorate with eyes closed. I guess. This often creates psychedelic interior design with astonishing solutions regarding furnishing, patterns and color combinations. Basically one of those moments where the phrase "words can`t describe it" actually describes it.