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3.31.2008

I demand a refund!

Last weekend was tainted. How can you sell a tainted weekend, I ask? I have been robbed - one precious hour of genuine weekend, due to the change over to summertime - and I won't get it back untill october. And do I get interrest? No. Lending out one hour for half a year, should at least produce half an hour of interrest.

Seriously though - what is the point? Is it worth the extra light in the evenings? It's still too cold for outdoor activities, so many people are still curled up in the luminous glow from a tv or a computer monitor. And we'll have cought up in 3-4 weeks or so anyways. So why bother? It's gonna take me a week to adjust my bio-clock. In the meantime I can't fall asleep on time, and in return I'll be more wasted in the morning, where there is now also less light. It's a loose/loose situation...

3.29.2008

[CD] Meshuggah - ObZen



So I was on my way home from work - on foot for a change - and happened to stop by a music store. I thought I'd just go browse for some good bargain deals and special offers. I didn't get any bargain deals, because the first thing that caught my eye in the metal section, was a new release from swedish "jazz-metal" GODS, Meshuggah. What a nice surprise, but I guess that's what you get for not staying up-to-date with the scene.

I've always been a big fan of meshuggah - ever since the demo I once had (yes, I'm that old - I actually owned a Meshuggah demo tape). Meshuggah's music is extremely technical and as such appeals a lot to musicians. Still, they manage to keep it at a level where "regular" listeners can enjoy it too - a very subtle balance that they only overstep once in a while.
They're one of those bands that just seem to get better and better, so naturally the expectations to this album was high. And I must confess, that right from the first track, it seemed like they had found a recipy that really worked. Maybe it's because it's faster and more brutal than the predecessor, "Catch33" which was good, but definetely a bit more on the strange side than usual. It was to me a bit too close to Frederik Thorendahl's Special Defects - which was a nice solo project, but it wasn't Meshuggah.
- but that's all forgiven with ObZen. It's a brilliant and rather up-beat album with a great production and sound. I am so envious of that "hollow" and rich, distorted yet clean crunch, tube-amp, guitar sound (so someone PLEASE cook up a ObZen preset for Guitar Port/POD...).

It's not like they've reinvented themselves on this album but they have made an already great formula just a tad better. Nothing wrong with spicing up yesterdays casserole. Especially if the alternative is... well a little too alternative.
But ObZen is just right. It's filled with the (un)usual off-beat riffs and almost mechanical drums. Whenever the guitars play fairly straight, the drums don't and whenever the drums play fairly straight, the guitars don't - or neither of them play anything straight, but rather some insanely crooked and twisted rythm and riff. It's just brilliant.
- favourite track must be the title track - mainly because of the guitar break about 3.03 minutes into the song. OMG I wan't to hear that part so loud that my ears start bleeding and people in the other end of town call the police...

Go check out the tracks "Bleed" and "ObZen" at Meshuggah's myspace.

Rating:


*Album Cover Image courtesy of Nuclear Blast*

3.27.2008

I love my bread machine...

... in a functional and not emotionally or sexual way - sheesh! But if you asked me: "What kitchen appliance would you bring to a deserted island", it would be my bread baking machine.
It's just fantastic that you can just pour ingredients into a specially designed bucket, put the bucket in the machine, press two buttons, and 3 hours later, there's wheat bread with walnuts. Hot, tasty and ready for butter and cheesy goodness.

Only kitchen appliance that would be even cooler, is an ice cream machine. But then I'd have to steal the Ben & Jerry's recipy for Fossil Fuel or Chunky Monkey...rrraaahhh.

3.25.2008

A collection of new and exciting links...

Abandoned space city
www.technouveau.net - Danish matte painter - nice!
www.willmurai.com - Another great "painter".
Splume - addictive web-game.
Pixila Artist Portfolios - go publish your ´folio - now!
Little lost poly - some nice 3D.
Ben Mathis - More nice 3D (love the domain name)
Fotostart.dk - Danish photography community

Power of the greedy press

What's wrong with reporters and journalists today? Is it possible for press and media to sink any lower? Where's the ethics? What about doing the proper research before airing/publishing news? Apparently money is everything, and the methods used to get the bigger ratings are frankly astonishing.

Today I read a little news nugget about an astronaut who, if you believe the (sub)header, managed to defy physical laws of space. It states that an astronaut threw a boomerang into space (yes subzero-temperature, no-air, no-gravity space) and it came back to him. Obviously this is impossible, because stuff thrown in space will just continue in that very direction, untill influenced by other forces (like the gravity of another planet or a black hole, or the tractor beam on Enterprise or whatever). But the article states that the astronaut hurled the boomerang into space, and with the article is a picture of a standard, wooden boomerang.
After googling just a little bit, it becomes clear that it was a tiny paper-boomerang, and he threw it INSIDE the ISS, where there's air and thus something for the boomerang to actually work with.
- granted this is not what you would call very important information, but if you bring news, make sure you got it right.

There's also been a case recently, where a danish journalist who was stationed in the middle east came home with some footage, and ended up editing in some older footage, taking it out of it's original footage, and with his presentation putting it into another, and very wrong, context.

And last night I heard a teaser for a local tv-network where they introduced some of their top presenters, and especially one of them caught my attention. He said that his utmost important task, was to make the news exiting for the viewers. Make the news exciting? No - you're supposed to depict the events as they happened. There's no need to add whizz and bang to the news. You're performing a public service - and it is NOT up to you, to faff about with facts, fiction and speculation! Just bring the damn news. News are not meant to be exciting - they're meant to be informative, and they're meant for people to base their oppinions on and make decissions from. So don't fucking twist the facts about!

Finally - when there's an election nearing and all the media circus start rolling, why the hell can't the hosts of political debate shows keep their damned oppinions to themselves? What is the point of asking one party all the "right" questions making them look good, and the other party gets all the wrong questions, and even if they answer them, the host just asks the same question over and over again, formulated in different ways, in order to get the answer he/she wants? Where the hell is the journalism in that? Those people should be fired. Instantly. They're abusing a powerfull position, and should not be trusted with responsabilities like that. Ever again.
You must understand, that even in civilized societies, there are people who don't possess the ability to question the info they're presented with. People who believe almost everything they hear. And these people still have the right to vote, and they have to base other important decissions on the info they're subjected to.

I realise that it costs money to run a tv network, and money is nice - but lots of great things can be said about integrity, honesty, reliability and being impartial. Especially when you have such a big option to influence so many people.


- So here's a raised finger at the dubious journalists of today: you can HAVE to do better. Live up to your responsabilities. Pullitzers don't go to liars!

3.17.2008

Smagen af sport?

Ja vi har nok alle smagt det - på spejderlejr blev vi sågar bildt ind, at det gav overnaturlige kræfter, når vi efterfølgende skulle ud at jagte varulve og vampyrer på natløbet...
- jeg taler om sportsvand.
Hvis vi kigger lidt på den betegnelse, der vel et eller andet sted klinger af præstationsforbedringer, burde man så ikke i realiteten bag "sportsvand" finde koldt kildevand, evt. tilsat mineraler og vitaminer?

Det sker også at man finder en annonce der lokker med billigt saftevand i flere forskellige smagsvarianter - jordbær, ananas, pære, appelsin... og sport. Allright. Definér lige den smag. Og tillad mig evt. at hjælpe fantasien lidt på vej. Her er nogle forslag til hvad en sådan flaske saftevand af mærket "sport" kunne kilde dine smagsløg med :

Flækket underlæbe, med et strejf af knust tand (favorit blandt boksere)
Carl Lewis' armhule, efter 800-meter sprint
Græs, jord og kalk (populært kaldet en glidende takling på fodboldsprog)
Klor og børnetis (Mette Jacobsen ka' li' det)
Benzin, gummi og Niki Lauda's manglende øre (for de fartglade)
Sumoble
Våd hest

- hvilken er DIN favorit?

*sorry to my english-speaking/reading visitors - but this makes more sense in danish...*

3.16.2008

What is it?


- apart from some 3D stuff I'm working on...

Porcupine Tree - "Normal" music video

A few months back I did some work for Lasse, who's behind the latest Porcupine Tree video, "Normal". Basically I did the opening shots of the various items through the broken glass. Models we're bought since the deadline and budget didn't allow for custom made solutions. The breaking glass and other animation is mine though.
Initially I wanted to try out Reactor in 3dsMAX, but soon gave up due to instability and other issues, and so I ended up creating the 700-something pieces manually as well as animating them manually. Call me control freak, but I just don't like nasty surprises combined with a tight deadline...
- obviously Lasse did pretty much everything else.
I really like the grading it ended up with.

3.09.2008

Anti dandruff AND kangaroo shampoo

Have a kangaroo problem? Well fret no more! The solution is right at hand, in the form of an effective shampoo, which also rids you of dandruff.



I'm sure if someone tried to sell a similar product in ye olden days, they would've been labelled quacks, dipped in tar and rolled in feathers, and driven from the town by an angry mob with rashes in weird places.

(- skæl means dandruff in danish.)

3.04.2008