My name is Aleksander Skjæveland Larsen. I am a masters student in Information Science at the University of Bergen. I enjoy coffee, music, old computers, programming and hacking around in general. Both me and my wife are left handed. I prefer the keyboard over the mouse any day.
You are likely to be pretty stessed out by the season at this point in time. If you don’t feel any Christmas spirit, only stress, I am sure you are not feeling to happy about that. If you haven’t started buying or making presents yet, it would be a miracle if there is any Christmas spirit in you this year. No matter how grim the situation might feel, there is hope. Christmas music!
There are two albums in particular I want to share with you. They have proven to be rather special to me, and boosted my Christmas spirit many times. One is free, one is not.
8-bit Jesus by Doctor Octarock
8-Bit Jesus: Classic Christmas Songs in the Style of Classic NES Games. Make use of the nostalgic feeling, in order to boost your Christmas spirit. It can be downloaded for free if you click on the picture.
Kasio Kristmas
Kasio Kristmas is those old Christmas songs played by a bunch of Casio keyboards. It is very good, but if you don’t want to buy it, check out this video.
If this doesnt make you feel the seasons, it is likely nothing will. Or perhaps you have other songs or albums to recomend? Please say so in the comments.
This happened to me some days ago. I was going to bake some cinnamon buns, because I had to use up some milk and butter before I traveled home for Christmas. It was then I noticed. The foods, they where trying to tell me something. First there was the milk.
I thought it was a nice thing to say to me, that I was 1337. This made me feel good about myself, knowing that the milk thought I was elite. When it was time to pour the flour into the bowl, I just emptied the entire package. There wasn’t much left. I looked at the scale, and was met by the following message.
It said 360. I didn’t even notice this before I was going to pour more flour in the bowl, from a fresh package. This made me feel even more awesome. The flour talked to me, through the scale, about my Xbox 360. It seemed the milk and flour was telling me that I was 1337 on my Xbox 360!
After a train of happy thoughts, I started to think about the implications of this message. Was this a message of irony, seeing that I had neglected the Xbox 360 in light of my recent examinations? Perhaps this was some sort of twisted joke, intended to pump up my self esteem, only to break it down once I play the Xbox 360 again? Mabye the milk and flour told me I sucked at it? This I might never know, because I am now terrified to ever bake cinnamon buns or play Xbox 360 ever again. At least for the rest of the year.
This worm thingy is something I drew up quite recently. It was made with an old Wacom drawing pad, which I found in the trash. It was working fine, but the pen was missing. The person that threw it away might thought it was useless, or had bought a new one. I had been thinking about buying a Wacom pad for a while, and was thrilled about the find. I bought the pen for a fraction of the cost for a new Wacom pad, and have enjoyed it ever since. This happened some years ago, and it is still working fine.
The picture was made with ArtRage 2.5, which is a nifty little painting application. It emulates real paints very successfully, and is much lighter and easier to use than Photoshop. Regarding the price tag, it is very friendly at $25. The Photoshop to ArtRage ratio is almost 1:40, with Norwegian pricing on Photoshop. I’m not saying Photoshop isn’t worth the money, but ArtRage is much simpler and cheaper for doing digital painting. As for the moral of this post I might say, pick up the stuff you find in the trash?
While walking home from my girlfriend one night, I caught a glimpse of this character. He looked like he could be something like 25, but he radiated the impression of an elderly man. He wore a sixpence (the right way, not backwards which I remember was very cool some years ago), had a large coat and was walking with a cane. Additionally, he carried a bag from “Deli de Luca” somewhat in a strange manner. I guess there was some sort of food in the bag, he didn’t want to spill or wave around, but it still looked rather special.
I only looked at this person for a split second, but the impression was so strong. When I got home, I drew this drawing on my computer. Most of the things I draw these days are on the computer. I like painting the most, because of the colors and brushes. Drawing on the computer can be much like painting, if you got a tablet like the Wacom. Compared to the real deal, it’s not the same, but it has other qualities weighing up for the differences. It is faster, simpler and less messy than real paints, but still very flexible.
Have you seen any strange characters lately? If so, you could draw and share them. Then you’ll be able to remember them for times to come.
This is something I made some time ago. I was thinking about liberal gun laws in the USA versus the restrictive alcohol law. I found it somewhat strange to trust guns to people as young as 18, when they don’t allow serving you alcohol before you are 21. I guess some people even get to handle a gun at a much younger age than 18, if the parents allow it. I think the world could use a little less of each, but why not start with the guns? They are intended for killing, and most people don’t need to kill other people.
You are now looking at my brand new website. I have previously blogged in Norwegian, but have suffered from a lack of interest to keep it up. One of the reasons for this is that I have had trouble finding my format. I didn’t know what to write about, even though I have lots of interests. Some of which include painting pictures, making music, drinking coffee, design, old consoles and computers, and technology in general.
I have officially quit my Norwegian blog, and I want to focus solely on this site now. As you probably can see from the menu, I intend to share the stuff I create. For my own creations, I am using a Creative Commons license, so you can remix and share, as long as it’s not for commercial purposes, and you also share alike. Sharing is caring, as the pirates like to say. As for my website, I want it to be a place you can come for content you can use on your own, like images, music and thoughts. I still have a blog section set up, even though I believed I failed at it earlier. The reason I’m hoping it will work out this time, is because of you. I want to be able to share interesting content that I find, as well as thoughts I might have. The things that get posted in the blog are not necessarily licensed with a Creative Commons license, as I might link to other websites and post pictures that are not mine. In these cases, I always try to give proper credit.
I hope that you won’t be afraid to comment on any of the posts here, because that is what the internet’s interactivity is all about. It’s that you are able to respond, and voice your thoughts on what you read. You can’t do that with printed media. Please give me feedback on any of the posts, and other things you might have on your mind. I am particularly fond of feedback on the design. I’m no guru on web design, so I am thankful for all the feedback I can get on that. That was all for now. I hope I am able to maintain the site, and that you might find it slightly interesting.
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