“It was in midsummer, when the alchemy of nature transmutes the sylvan landscape to one vivid and almost homogenous mass of green; when the senses are well-nigh intoxicated with the surging seas of moist verdure and the subtly indefinable odors of the soil and the vegetation. In such surroundings the mind loses its perspective; time [...]
Posts filed in Art
A subjective thing, i.e. something each and every person experiences in a different way, and thus it is impossible to define objectively. For me, however, it is something that offers an interesting perspective on life, be it a new one, an old but soothing one, one that challenges, one that inspires, or just about anything. If it is artificial (i.e. man made), and makes you feel something, then it’s art. Simple as that. At least in my book. Admittedly, this definition might be so broad as to lose all content and meaning, but who cares, eh?
Today’s Youth…
Yesterday evening, i.e. Friday November 9, some friends and I (as well as a total stranger) spent about an hour pelting Trondheim’s statue of the Norwegian national hero Tordenskjold (just about the only militarily inclined of the lot) with snowballs.
None of us were drunk, and one of us is even a rather conservative Christian (although [...]
Love In Rainbows
It’s been over four years. There have been times when I’ve almost given up hope. But on Monday, all my prayers (well, at least some of them) were answered.
Too bad I won’t get my hands on the physical record before some time late in December, but at least the digital version’ll be avaliable in five [...]
Ullr, the onion of war!
From Wikipedia’s kenning article:
Bárum Ullr, of alla
ímunlauks, á hauka
fjöllum Fyrisvalla
fræ Hákonar ævi;
nú hefr fólkstríðir Fróða
fáglýjaðra þýja
meldr í móður holdi
mellu dolgs of folginn
Simply based on meaning, i.e. without kennings, the passage runs: “Accursed King Harald! We carried gold in our arms during all of Hakon’s life; now the enemy of the people has hidden gold in [...]
Gudenes Fall
Gudenes Fall, by Cornelius Jakhelln.
2007, 428 pages.
Now, this might be a little weird. Gudenes Fall (The Fall of the Gods) is a book that most likely never will be translated into English, and yet, I choose to review it in English. But hey, my English is still worse than my Norwegian.
In the year 1000 AD, [...]
Movies Galore: A Summary
It’s nearly two months since my last movie review — a review, I might add, where I was unreasonably hard on the reviewed movie, as the fact that I’m in a foul mood shouldn’t really count against it. Anyway, since then I’ve watched a lot of movies: excellent movies, great movies, good movies, mediocre movies, [...]
Issue 5 — The Chain
My immediate reaction to this issue, is that it is the best one this far.
Because while it lacks those “OMIGAWD!1 IT’S HER/HIM/IT/THEM!!!1″ moments, it was a beautiful and sad story, with elegant pathos and an endearing main character whose name we never even learn.
Quite a treat; if all the “short ones” they intend to stick [...]
Romeo + Juliet
For long periods of my life, I’ve nurtured a completely irrational dislike for the actor Leonardo di Caprio, a dislike probably rooted in my background as a male kid in the late 90s, when “Leo” was the dream boy of every girl, and the envy of every boy. And, as is so very often the [...]
Tigana
Tigana
by Guy Gavriel Kay.
1990, 692 pages (ppb, with Kay’s afterword).
Twenty years ago, the two rival Sorcerer-Tyrants Alberico of Barbadior and Brandin of Ygrath invaded and conquered the Peninsula of the Palm, a collection of city-states reminiscent of those of Italy. The city-states were unable to cooperate in face of the invasion, and thus fell without [...]
Scrooge McD Nostalgia
I bought the first volume of the Norwegian “Walt Disney’s Hall of Fame” today, a book that collects some of Don Rosa’s first and best Scrooge McDuck comics. I haven’t started on the comics themselves yet, as it had some snacks in the beginning that I have to read. One of these tasty little morsels [...]
Seeing Red: A Case in the Study of Joss Whedon, Sadistic Genious
This has got to be one of the best worst minutes of television I have ever seen. Observe, if you will, these four moments:
1. Bliss, as Buffy and Xander make up and embrace.
2. Dread, as Warren appears, toting a gun.
3. Grief, and/or anguish, as a stray bullet from Warren’s gun penetrates Tara’s chest, and her [...]
Ghost Dog — The Way of the Samurai
“Ghost Dog” is, now that I’ve reduced my estimations of “Full Metal Jacket” and “The Merchant of Venice”, the best movie I’ve seen since I watched “Trainspotting” a month and a half ago.
Ghost Dog is a hitman working for the Italian mafia, and he’s a perfect professional. And also kinda quirky, as he follows the [...]
The Merchant of Venice
The backside of almost having filled these six months’ quota in only five months? I’m really beginning to tiring of writing film reviews, especially as I don’t seem to get any better at it.
Anyway. We watched “The Merchant of Venice” last… Sunday, I believe it was, an 2004 adaption of William Shakespeare’s classic play. I’ve [...]
“Reaper’s Gale” — about 150 pages in…
I’ve decided (uh…) to take it more easy with this book than I have done with some of its prequels. I finished “Bonehunters” in about three days, for example, and while it was quite fun while it lasted, it didn’t last for very long.
Naturally, how much I have to do with this decision is open [...]
Ironic distance to “Buffy”? I think not…
Usually, when I’m watching a movie, a television show, or anything like that, I’m keep something of an ironic distance. I tend to laugh at things, to make fun, and to generally not take things seriously. Or, at least this applies when I’m watching something with others.
However, for a couple of nights now, I’ve been [...]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home, part III
Whoa.
And when I was done, Queen’s “You Take My Breath Away” was next in line in my WMP playlist. How’s that for a coincidence?
Half-way evil Willow.
A Angel-Buffy(in-nurse-costume)-Spike dream landscape with barbed wire.
Fi fa fucking fum.
“Ladies and other ladies… the indescribable Rosenberg.” - Xander.
“Well, this is really unimpressive. One attack by the undead and Renee has [...]
Babylon 5, season 2
Season two of “Babylon 5” opened with something of an outrage, as they replaced one of the main characters. At first this annoyed me, even though I didn’t think I liked the replaced character much, and the replacement seemed even duller than the original one. However, as time progressed, I realised that both replaced and [...]
28 Days Later
I usually abhor horror movies. I think they’re shallow — in that they don’t have any purpose beyond giving their viewers a light scare, and thus, essentially, is little more than escapism — and I don’t really like being afraid.
But “28 Days Later“… this is something else than your ordinary American slasher. There’s no psychotic [...]
Trainspotting
“Trainspotting” is a movie with many deeply disturbing scenes. Its theme is drug abuse and the consequences this has on a person’s life. It’s set in what must be the ugliest parts of Edinburgh, a city I’ve never heard praised for its beauty. There’s truly meaningless, accidental death; HIV; overdoses; the nastiest toilet in Scotland; [...]
Withnail & I
I’ve heard a lot of people praising “Withnail & I” movie as one of the funniest movies ever made, and although I wouldn’t necessarily be inclined to agree with that, I have to admit that it at least is a very good movie, and that it’s quite witty.
“Withnail & I” doesn’t really have much of [...]
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