The worlds most (involuntarily) popular 15-year old, Ghyslain Raza from Quebec, Canada, is in the middle of a CAD225.000(1.17 million NOK, £100.000)-lawsuit his parents have filed. It seems to have started with the young boy pretending to be a jedi-knight infront of a borrowed camera. But unfortunately he forgot to erase the tape before returning it to his friend. When the tape was discovered the friend (with friends like this...) put the clip on Kazaa and within a short period of time the clip became on of the nets most downloaded files.
Go here to find it and some of the 40-something other versions of it.
Cranial intruder: Carl Douglas - "Kung Fu Fighting"
Those nice people at Dribbleglass have put toghether a nice collection of saints for modern living.
Click here to find your special saint.
* Follower of St. Vitus *
I haven't seen a lot of these in ages. But here they are (thanks to Nettavisen):
Humour mainly from the world of technology, including such classics as the chemical analysis of men and women.
Summer is upon us and as usual we are run over with tourists. Not that I mind, since they keep to the main streets and tourists attractions, places I stay clear of. That's why it's nice that the pubs and other places I frequent (well, except for Ikea yesterday) is pretty much spared for tourists. A few days ago I and a couple of others were at The Dubliner to grab a bite to eat (and, yes, a few pints), and upon arriving we had the place to ourselves.
Not that I dislike tourists. It's the hordes that I've got a problem with.
Cranial intruder: Ulf Lundell - "Öppna Landskap"
Monday Mission reaches thirty-something and has somethin gof a "mid-life crisis". Something that goes great with the fact that it's my first contribution.
1. Have you ever had, or known someone who has had, a "Mid-Life Crisis?" What happened? Is there such a thing or is it just an excuse?
Haven't reached the mid-life point yet (I hope). My belief that it's mostly an excuse by people who belive they haven't accomplished enough in life.
2. Have you ever had a dream so vivid, that you woke up with certain emotions towards a person for what happened in your dream, even though they didn't do a thing to deserve it in real life? What did you feel and and what was the dream?
Nope, can't say I have.
3. I think everyone is creative in some way or other. Some people draw, some play music, some write, some cook, some build or sew. How do you express your creativity? Have you ever made money from it?
I have made some webpages sometimes, but not for money. Otherwise I have given a few speeches for money, and I'm quite adept at telling stories. Even without a manuscript or major preperations.
4. Speaking of creativity, I display some of my artwork on my website. It is there for everyone to view, but if I learned it was stolen and used commercially without my permission or being paid, I would be furious. Has anything you created ever been stolen? How did you handle it?
Nope. But if it did I would have demanded compensation from the commercial party. Especially if I had a paragraph mentioning that any use of my artwork would require my approval.
5. I imagine the question above is similar to what the music industry is going through with file sharing. Do you think downloading music via file sharing is "stealing?" Is taking songs without paying for them any different than someone taking your work without your permission?
There is a difference since in the other question someone is making a profit on my work, while file-sharing is totally non-profit.
6. How do you feel about the RIAA targeting everyone (parents, teenagers, grandparents) who share songs over the Internet with expensive lawsuits? Should they be selective in who they subpoena, or should all who violate copyrights be treated equally? Or are they going too far? Should the music be free?
Of course music shouldn't be free. But as it stands today downloading is not a crime by Norwegian law. Instead of going after fans for downloading the RIAA should rather try to give people what they want: Music at an affordable price. There is very little sense in paying 180NOK (£15, $25) for a CD that includes one good song, and to top it all off you can't even play it wherever you want.
7. On the same thought, what do you think pay-per-song concepts such as iMusic and BuyMusic.com? Will they succeed? Is this the solution? If not, what is?
I think the several pay-per-song concepts will to a certain degree become a success. But it all comes down to the availability of songs to the customer. If a large enough group of record-companies and/or artists refuse to allow their songs to be distributed through these concepts, it will be more diffucult.
BONUS: Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday?
Everything was better before, right? Ignorance is bliss; we always forget the bad parts and choose to remember the happy moments. So it will always seem that thing were better yesteryear.
Today's Comment Question: What is one thing you absolutely will never do? (no restrictions, say anything you want)
Can't really say, since I'm not very good at predicting the future. I can mention several things I will try extremely hard never to do, or stop doing as it might be.
Cranial intruder: Nik Kershaw - "The Riddle"
Spent last night assisting Robin on her Blogathon 2003-attempt (which she completed with flying colours). Got tossed out around 2-3 am (about halfway through) on the grounds I was distracting her...
Was I? Well, you could say I did my best.
It's Sunday...it's raining...what to do? Actually I think I'm off for a quick pint or two. I'll bring along Alain de Botton's "The art of travel", and see how it goes.
Cranial intruder: Jan Eggum - "En natt forbi"
Well, I'm off to act as the supporting team at the Little Voices-blog for this years edition of the Blogathon.
Starting at 15.00 local time and ending 24 hours later. It's going to be hard, but considering the comapny I hope it will quite fun to.
Ta for now.
That was some Thursday night. For the first time among friends my girlfriend Robin and me made an official appearance.
It started out with us participating in a pub-quiz at the Belfry (team name: "The Carrot Crunchers"). After knocking down a few pints and not winning anything we went to Bar & Cigar for a few whiskies (OK! We went for one, but stayed for three).
We did try to restrain ourselves, didn't work though.
Can't wait to see her again.
Cranial intruder: Big Mountain - "Baby, I love your way" (Reality Bites Soundtrack)
Ok, ok! I know it's out of season for this but I wasn't aware of it's existence before today. It's Swedish webcaster that plays Eurovision Song Contest-entries all day. If yuo go to theire pages you can click on a son gto put it on the playlist.
Cranial Intruder: Sandra Kim - "J'aime la vie" (Belgium 1986)
From 15pm (local time) on July 26th and for 24 hours many people across the world are taking part in a Blogathon to raise money for charity. I am not up to this (not this year anyway) so I've done the next best thing, sponsored a participant. I also call on everybody out there to do the same. I've chosen to sponsor the Little Voices-blog (English version - click her for the Norwegian Blog).
Thanks to the kind people over at BBspot:
A new map which is free for tourists in the Norwegian town of Trondheim, has been discovered to include a minor flaw or two. Namely two of the towns bridges seem to have gone missing!
På Turistinformasjonen på Torvet deler de ivrig ut bykart, flere hver dag. Hele 150.000 til sammen. Men på kartet mangler både Gangbrua og Nidareid gangbru. Så for en ukjent stemmer slett ikke kartet med terrenget, når det ikke ser ut som det er mulig å komme seg tørrskodd fra Nidarø til verken Kalvskinnet eller Ila.
At the touristinformation at Trondheim City Square they distribute the townmap, several a day. A total of 150.000 copies all together so far. But om the map both the "Footbridge" and "Nidareid pedestrian bridge" are missing. So for someone who's not acquainted with the town, the map doesn't math the terrain, when it doesn't seem possible to get from Nidarø to either Kalvskinnet or Ila without getting your feet wet.
It's done by many others before, bt now it's my turn. To refer to some of the laws on sex that used to exist (and in some strange cases still exist):
* In Minnesota, it is illegal for any man to have sexual intercourse with a live fish.
* In Ventura County, California cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit.
* In London, it's illegal to have sex on a parked motorcycle.
* The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation.
* In Florida, having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal.
For the full list: click here. (Thanks to DribbleGlass)
well, I guess I have to join some of these daily question-rounds myself. So here we go with my first Tuesday This-or-That.
1) DVD or VHS?
DVD, no doubt about it.
2) Best Literary/Movie Villan: Voldemort (Harry Potter) or Sauron (LoTR)?
Oh, hard one. but I think I have to go with Sauron. But Voldemort still got two books to get up to speed.
3) Meat: rare or well-done?
Depends. If I trust the origin of the meat I like on occation to have it rare. Otherwise I have it well-done, or pick something else off the menu.
4) High Speed Internet-Cable or DSL?
Got to be Internet-Cable. Since thats the only possibillity that's open for me aat my flat.
5) Women: 1-piece bathing suit or Bikini?
I guess being a bloke I'm not supposed to answer this. So I won't.
6) To be fair--Men: Boxers or briefs?
Boxers. need the room to breath.
7) Beer or Liquor/Wine?
Scottish Single Malt Whisky!
8) Coke or Mountain Dew?
Never had any Mountain Dew, so by default Coke wins.
9) In honor of my 10/18/03 nuptials: Morning or Afternoon/Night Wedding?
Never could be trusted in the mornings, so it would have to be in the Afternoon/Night.
10) Carpet or Hardwood Floors
I always love the way a warm carpet feels under my toes, especially on a cold winter morning, so I'm going for that.
11) American cars or foreign?
Don't have any preference there. For me all cars would be foreign anyway.
12) Cutest TV Twin: Mary-Kate or Ashley Olsen?
Is this an acceptable answer: none?
13) Coffee: Caffeinated or Decaf?
Now this is something I've never understood. What's the point with decaffinated coffee. The whole point of coffee is the caffein, isn't it? I need my caffein!
14) Thought-Provoking Question of the Week: Computers: Do they make life better or worse? Why?
As whit most things I would have to say a little of both. Computers have made our society more efficient in many ways. This is both a blessing and a curse. Things are getting so advanced and userfriendly that most people never stop to think about how things work, and when something breaks down very few know how to fix it. But on the whole I would have to go for better.
Cranial intruder: Simon & Garfunkel - "The Boxer"
Just 66 days, 11 hours, 45 minutes and 13 seconds to the start of the Autumn Speyside Whisky Festival (66d, 20h, 15m, 13s to the opening party).
Looking forward to it....who me?
Autumn Speyside Whisky Festival Program
What a day. Not only wasn't the delivery we got at work on Friday still scattered around the office (well, since I didn't clear it away on Saturday this should really not come as a surprise on me), we also got two new ones. That totals about 1000 kilos of goods stacked to the ceiling.
In additions to this the was a rush of customers who wanted to give us their money, so I really shouldn't complain - but I reserve my right to do so at a later date.
Well now to get some dinner, and start working on the rest of these pages - and of course look forward to a tomorrow.
Cranial intruder: Sting - Fields of gold
Why is it so that all of a sudden I've got energy on a Sunday morning. Normally I drag my self out of bed at noonish an move to that couch. Later I usually go for an hour or two long walk, before retireing to the couch with a book and some food. But today I've got up berfor 10am, did the dishes, ran two full machines of laundry, packed away my luggage from last weekend (when I was in London) etc. etc. - and beeing happy about it.
Strange...........
Cranial intruder: Pretenders - "Don't get me wrong"
This is my new blogchalk:
Norway, Oslo, Bislet, Norwegian, English, Male, 26-30, Books, Music. :)
Since we got installed an ADSL-line at work I've been using webcast-radio more than I did. The place I use most is the site minradio.com. Now one of the stations available there is called "Luna Zoo" with the subtitle "Urban Club". Now this would maybe give a hint that this station will play club-hits and other urban music, right? Wrong! Everytime I turn it on it plays country-music!
Maybe it's just me but that combination has never occured to me before. Or perhaps it's been too long since I've been out clubbing?
Cranial intruder: Jonas Fjeld - "Engler i sneen" (switched to a CD)
I can't say it's a pleasure beeing up at this time of day. Ok I must admit that may have something to do with the fact that I didn't get to bed until quite late. I attended the traditional summer-cencert with Lillebjørn Nilsen at Rockefeller last night, and it was absolutely fabulous (and it's only a year until next time).
Now what is it with concert-halls that have to put all the good shows so close together? When we got there last night we saw a poster for a Pretenders-concert on the 29th. Now as long as Crissie Hynde doesn't get arrested again, it's something to look forward to.
In the latest of scientific breakthroughs is some good news for every guy who's worried about prostate-cancer. The aussies have found that a good way to prevent this form of cancer is...well ejaculation.
A research team led by Professor Graham Giles, Director of the Cancer Council's Cancer Epidemiology Centre, has found that there is evidence that the more frequently men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer.
This could be the beginning of something wonderful.
My first proper entry in my brand new weblog.
Things are going wonderful for me at the time.
Cranial intruder: Blue Swede - "Hooked on a feeling"