Goodbye Blue Sky

So it seems as if summer has left the town of Trondheim for this season. Autumn is fastly gaining ground. Goodbye blue sky.

More Michael Moore

I like Michael Moore, I still remember seeing Bowling for Columbine and being impressed by a real american that doesn’t want to hide any bad sides of USA in the name of patriotism. Sicko was his best effort by far and I still think of that movie to make my life here in Norway seem just a little bit better. As the financial crisis is starting to clear up, bog down, speed up or slow down (ask four experts on the matter and get four different answers) it will be very interesting to se what he does in his next feature film. Oh and if you didn’t se Sicko on DVD, here is the Norway clip that was removed from the theather screening.

Happy Norwegian Constitution Day!

Today I celebrate my country’s national holliday that marks the day we got our own constitution. Happy 17. of may!

The childrens parade in Trondheim Norway

The Hypercomplex Society Part Two – Trough the Looking Glass

In his book “The Hypercomplex Society” Lars Qvortrup talks about how we can create optics that we use to view the world trough. By changing and modifiying the lens wich we se the world trough we can observe and understand other aspects and fasets of our own society.

In chapter 7 he explands on how art is reflective of how mankind sees, or wants to see itself. He goes to say that we have gone from a human-centric view to a multi-faset view that is constantly redefining itself, or to simplify we have gone from Leonardo Da Vinci “The Vitruvian Man” to Picassos “Portrait of Nusch Eluard”.

Leonardo Da Vinci – Vitruvian Man – ca.1485-90

Pablo Picasso – Portrait of Nusch Eluard – 1937

Seeing these images it is easy to agree with Qvortrup, we may very well have gone from a human-centric view to a more poly-centric view, in terms of how we se ourselves. Yet I don’t completly agree. I think that different views have always existed, it’s just become more acceptable to present these views in our modern day democracy that is build upon the idea that we are all different and have a right to be so.

Qvortrup mentions the impressionist movement that went in a radical new direction in terms of artistic style and visual representation. One of my favourite paintings is from J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) that is called “Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway” from 1844. I saw it once in the National Gallery, London. What made a deep impression (pun intended) was that it looked nothing like a train, yet captured the essence and feel of the scene that resonated with the idea and concept of a train moving trough the landscape.

J.M.W. Turner – “Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway” – 1844

Even tough Turner falls under the era of romanticism, I personally feel that much of his art is impressionistic. It should be noted that he was a huge influence on Eduoard Manet, who in turn is said to be the forerunner of the impressionism. The interesting thing to notice here is that this is the presentation of how the artists sees the world. This is Turners vision of a industrial society, a roaring beast that speeds trough the landscape in a golden-dark stride. It fits with Qvortrups idea of having optics to view society, and that these ever changing optics in turn change ourselves and our society.

Nine Inch Nails to Roskilde

The Roskilde Festival is probably the greatest music festival I have and will ever attend. I have been there the last three years and I intend to go back this summer. Today they announced that Nine Inch Nails will be attending, wich is insanly awesome. Here is some NIN godness.

Technologies That Converge

So now I’m apparantly tweeting about stuff, just like the american congress! What I find more interesting then telling the world (wich as of writing is about 3 people by the way) what I’m doing, thinking or saying in 160 character updates, is how technologies are converging at a very rapid pace.

More connections in the palm of your hand

Philosophy, existensialism, nihilism and Noby Noby Boy

There is something strange about Noby Noby Boy, something I can’t quite put my finger on. Wait, what is Noby Noby Boy?

Meet BOY

Senātus Populusque Rōmānus

This spring I’m planning on visiting the city of my dreams for the third time, the city of Rome. There are several reasons for Rome being my favourite city in the world (at least currently). Here is the gist of it.

The art

In the Vatican City alone lies art in paintings, frescoes and sculpture to last a lifetime of viewing. I love religious art and there is not much in this world that compares to the last jugdement of Michelangelo. Also for renaissance art it’s hard to really beat Rome.

Raphael School of Athens 1509-1510, nuff said

The Architecture

Hand in hand with the amazing art in Rome is off course the architecture. From walking in the Roman Forum to standing outside of the Church of St. Peter, the architecture of Rome will take you’r breath away. And it’s not just the famous buildings like the Pantheon or the Colosseum, the whole city is gorgeous from nearly any angle, churches that will leave your heart pounding is almost at any corner.

Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto

The Food

Italian cooking is definitively my favourite, just siting down at  a real (albeit tourist) Italian restaurant and I’m in heaven right away. Trow in some cheap and great wine and I’m sold for life.

Carbonara, my life dish

The Atmosphere

There is something about Rome, something about it being one truly ancient city and still being alive and thriving to this very day. Something about standing outside the Pantheon or walking towards Castello Angelo in a such a real place, not like the ruins of Pompeii or museums of Vikings, Rome is more alive today then it ever was. The birthplace of modern Europe and western societ as we know it. From the ancient Rome to the modern Rome, SPQR.

Senātus Populusque Rōmānus – “The Senate and the People of Rome”

The Hypercomplex Society Part One

The first report for AVS2220 is done. It has been a deep dive into the thoughts of Lars Qvortrup and his ideas on what he calls the hypercomplex society. The basic premise is that technology is not changing our society, it is we who are changing our society and therefore make the technology we need to make it change in the direction we want it to. Sort of a reverse technodeterminism (yet still kind of deterministic). I don’t agree with mr. Qvortrup on many accounts, I will try to express all of these disagreements in turn as I read his book “The Hypercomplex Society”. This post is the perfect opportunity to start such a rant.

First of all I belive it to be ignorant and arrogant to try to predict almost any kind of development, all we can do is guess from our current standpoint and then se how it goes. What we can do is try to make observations of our current society and then compare this to what we know of other societies, that be our own society in history or other societies today. Qvortrup claims that the modern day society is polysentric in that it requires multiple views from many standpoints to understand it. I believe this to be key to understanding any society, this is not something new to our current one.

I also disagree with his ideas on a hypercomplex society. Even tough I theoreticaly can relate to 5 million people trough the magic of the internet doesn’t mean that I wan’t to or even have the capacity to (people have the biological capacity to relate to ca 120 different sosial relations, wich is of the highest and most complex in the animal kingdom). Yes our society is getting more convoluted in a certain sense, but it’s still humans living in it and humans are not evolving or changing in the same pace as the technology is (such a tought is almost frightening). Perhaps I am reading to much into Qvortrup’s statements which often seem as toughts out on a vim, but I’m retaining a sceptical view on his ideas none the less.

This is hypercomplex

This is just a little convoluted, no?

I want a 24 hour society

As I’m writing this post I’m stuck at school waiting for the return of a assignment that is either pass or fail. I need to know if it’s pass or fail today because the return deadline is in thre days. This return is physical, you get the assignment at a office at the faculty, this office has hours from 9 to 11.30, then a whoping hour long lunch to 12.30. Today my class at the Dragvoll campus ended at 12.00 meaning that I have to wait 30 minutes to get the assignment and then rush back to Gløshaugen campus to continue work on another assignment for another course. It’s not the end of the world, but living in 2008 it’s really dissapointing that we still use and depend on physical delivieries that don’t really require them.

I dream of a work future that makes virtually all services (that are practical for internet off course) to be open 24 hours 365 days a year, that way I can do my tax returns while watching night time tv sales shows and my homework assignments don’t require me to be anywhere specific in this world, I could study at NTNU and be living in Puerto Rico is what I’m saying. Or in the case of KUH1012 (From Renaissance to Neoclassism) I’d much rather be living in Rome.

For those non-metric people out there this should explain it (but not really)