BREAKING NEWS!!

THIS JUST IN: http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=111996 Norwegian article, basically it describes how the sale of champagne has "shoot thru the roof" particulary in december.

Well, duuuuh! Good work, VG!

Be prepared!

I don't know if I am cursed with experiencing weird stuff, or if it is just that I have a tendency to notice these things.

Anywho... I was waiting at the airport the other day and in front of me there was this weird character: he looked like he might be in his 60's, scrubby-looking fellow with crisp grey pretty long hair with curls (imagine a evil scientist from a Disney flick). Now, the thing that caught my attention was that he was wearing short marineblue wellingtons (rain-boots). This was in the middle of winter, it had not rained for a long time because of the temperature and all. What was he thinking that morning as he had finished his coffee, was getting ready to leave for the airport? "Hmmm, looks like it might rain, better be prepared!". There was absolutely no indication that there might be rain that day, or any day before spring at all!

And here is the other thing that really got me wondering: he had no luggage - except from a white plastic bag (which I later realized contained two candybars and two diet-cokes) and, now get this, TWO IDENTICAL UMBRELLAS!!

So he had wellingtons and two identical umbrellas, but he was wearing a 80's "bubble-jacket" that can't possibly resist any water.

Violent Femmes

This just cracked me up; http://www.violentfemmes.net/sounds.htm Got by VF by Richard Cheese (more on him later) but try to get a hold on his latest album Aperitif for Destruction if you can!

Add it up

I have at least two nice bright shirts that have been ruined by stains of red wine. At the same time it is not crazy to estimate there has been spilled red wine in my apartement at least as many times. Those times I have resolved the problem by cleaning up the mess with a cloth. Here is the point: I have no cloths that are stained by red wine! What is going on? I am this close to querying Myth Busters to see if a shirt made up of cloth-material will actually sustain and fully recover from a spill of the dark, liquidized grape!

After running the story by a few friends, a co-worker and S's sister both claimed drenching a unfortunate shirt in white wine would be the solution. I love this kind of cartoon-logic! Nothing has made me laugh more than this in a long time - this is Karl Pilkington-material! It's like "what's the opposite of red wine .. white wine!". So what would rosé wine do - only partially clean it? This is a theory you would find scribbled in a diary of a madman, next to drawings of women with knives in their faces, found on the corpse after he commited suicide trying to hold up a stamp-collectors shop just after it changed ownership with a travel agency!

Blondie

I noticed I have not yet mentioned this, but I am a really big fan of Blondie. I am not quite shure how I started listening to them, my first memory is that I was home from college one summer, laying on the porch listening to a compilation of "the best of Blondie" on my MP3-player, half dozing off when I heared Rapture! From that day on I tried to get my dirty hands on any thing related to Blondie and I am still doing so. With my history of jazz and all it was a really surprising turn to make, but the discovery of Jazz Passengers with Deborah Harry rested me assured that I had not completely left my roots ;-) Chris Stein's blog is a pretty good read if you are not faint hearted and that. More on Chris, TV-Party (can anyone help me get hold of the dvd - I am having problems getting it shipped outside US/Canada), Blondie and related topics to follow...

Game quiz!

Enno over at Funcom posted a few really enjoyable quiz' of ancient gaming-history. He posted a link to this one, and made this and this. I found the first quiz and the 3rd the most enjoyable and they awoke a lot of nostalgic memories. I can't believe Dune was that crappy i graphics! The first quiz was pretty easy, so was the last linked, the first Enno-quiz was really tough! With the help from J we got about 18 correct answers, I know I have played or seen a good handfull of the others, but the rest baffled me :-D

Me and J actually did our bachelors degree assignment with Funcom doing some research on speech-recognition for use in narration in computer games. As I have a special interest in computer games and graphics programming it was a really good experience. I would absolutely want to look into that line of work later in my career, but what I gathered was that 1)the technology is way too old for my liking (I am not holding my breath to see a AAA-title in .Net!), 2) it is not all fun and games, it is business like everything else 3) the pay suXXX0rz at entry-level.

Man overboard

I have a list of 3 things I would want to experience in my life, and here it is:

1. Find an actual authentic treasure. We are talking gold, diamonds, scepters and the whole shabang! Some myrra (or whatever it is called in english, you know, like the 3 wise men supposedly brought for the baby-shower) would be cool, just to be able to say I have some of it laying around.

2. Get advice from a dying man.

3. Either a) get a pet monkey that could do various mundane tasks for me or b) get a coat that has a prop-parakeet on the right-hand shoulder so I look like a pirate.

Do you have a list?

The roof is on fire..

Was preparing a meal when I noticed a scent of burned plastic - smoke was pooring out of the socket of the stove! I managed to switch it off before I yanked the wire out of the socket, it was burned and melted :-O I am just glad I noticed it before something really bad happened! I got money for a new oven for xmas so I guess I should get my lazy ass out to buy a new one soon.

Pizza is on it's way from Dolly's as we speak :D

Man on Fire

Just finished watching Man on Fire, the ending was so sad I don't quite know what to do.. "Gripping" is probably a better description.. anywho, I'll recomend it to anyone.

Going home for christmas!

Leaving for the south to spend the christmas with my family. Gotta get up at 5:30 to catch the plane, that is in 4 hours, and I am finding it hard to switch off 24... Merry christmas!

Friday I'm in love...

Ok, so I realize it's not friday, but I'm still in love.. I haven't had that old feeling in a loooong, long time, the old realist I am. I have had the rational, thought-through, single-kinda groove going on for a while now, but I fear it might have got a crack this weekend. We'll see... On an other note, please check out Ricky Gervais' outter most madness on his podcast. Especially if you like Douglas Adams you will be laughing to tears like me.. give me a note.

I'm not drinking any !"#¤%& merlot

Vår Gud han er så fast en borg,han er vårt skjold og verge, Hei-faderi-og-faderullandei.Han frir oss ut av nød og sorg og vet oss vel å berge, Hei-faderi-og-faderullandei. Vår gamle fiende hård til strid imot oss står.Stor makt og arge listhan bruker mot oss visst.På jord er ei hans like.
Vår egen makt er intet verd, snart fikk vi banesåret. Men én går frem i denne ferd, som Herren selv har kåret. Vil du hans navn få visst?Han heter Jesus, Krist-faderi-og-faderullandei!,den høvding for Guds hær,i ham kun frelse er.Han marken skal beholde!
Om verden full av djevler varsom ville oss oppsluke,vi frykter ei, vi med oss harden som Guds sverd kan bruke, bruke-faderi-og-faderullandei, bruke-faderi-og-faderullandei!

Språket forfaller

Språket forfaller

Cingular-branded Sony Ericsson W600i

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000723067035/

Are you fucking kidding me?! Whoever made this must have been a colorblind intern who just got sacked or something. This has got to be the single most nauseating combination of colors since Andy Warhol..

Wing

Just got introduced to Wing - fantastic!
Maxim interview:

Any rap songs?Just talking—that kind of song? I haven’t come across it yet.
I don’t know whether I can sing it well. But I would very much to try if I got a
chance.

Gonna try and get hold of more than the few samples!

Full Throttle

What a great game - just redicovered it through a "movie" called Lucas Arts' Full Throttle The Movie, and Anders reminded me of the excellent band called The Gone Jackals that gave the great soundtrack.

Singstar

I have really been working hard the past .. months I guess so not a lot of updates here lately. I got Singstar a while back and I can only say it has rocked my world! Countless parties and nachspiels have been a total blast when I pack up my ps2 mini and rig it all up! Next up is Singstar 80-ties, how can it fail?!

Weekend: Kaizers and more..

Looks like a good weekend is coming up; I'll start the evening with at company sponsored dinner for the project I'm working at a local sushi-restaurant. Its a pretty good bunch, so it'll be a nice way to recouperate after a pretty intense couple of months.

Later tonight I'll pop by an event for the members in the local jazz club I am on the board of. We'll play some old records, chat, eat and drink.

Then later there is a jazz concert which I don't know too much of, but I bet it'll be good!

Tomorrom is the big day: I got massive response when I asked if anyone wanted to join me and some friends on a Kaizers Orchestra concert Saturday - so we are like 12-13 ppl just from work and many more ppl either of my friends or some of the others. We'll do a quick vorspiel at Rasmus' place to get in the mood and then venture out at about 23:00.

Looking forward to it! (Guess I'll have to record Beat for Beat/Lyrics board

Kaizers lyrics.

Some pics for last time I saw Kaizers at a MSDN Live kickoff:
(will fix this later on)

Update1: Leaving in 10 minutes, here is the last setlists: http://www.drmowinckel.com/setlister.php?tid=24&vis=
This is gonna rock!

Letterman Show getting a bit too serious?

(Sorry, norwegian only)
Jeg skulle se hvem som var gjester på Letterman Show ikveld og fant denne fiffige beskrivelsen:

(Late Show with David Letterman) Amerikansk talkshow med David Letterman og gjester fra studio i New York. De mest ettertraktede stjernene innen film, TV, teater, musikk, politikk og sport lar seg intervjue av den populære talkshow-verten. Det arbeides for fullt i FN for å unngå at den kritiske situasjonen i Kongo skal utvikle seg til en ny Rwanda-katastrofe. Vi følger prosessen i de innerste kretsene, og i felten med FNs fredsbevarende styrker.

Jeg foretrekker det gamle formatet ;-)

Update:
Det viste seg å være Madonna og to hester - bra episode!

Visual Studio 2005 & .Net Framework 2.0 released!

Yeah baby!
http://okcomp.blogspot.com/2005/10/vs2005.html

Post-it tatoo

One of the reasons I started writing on this blog was that I have a tendency to write down scribblings on anything and anywhere I happen to find suitable. That includes my body.

One thing that I don't to, however, is get tatoos - no particular reason, I just don't.

If I ever would have a tatoo, it would be an empty post-it note so that I would know what place of my body I wrote my last "remember" note!

On this issue, check out:

http://www.interactivetools.com/staff/dave/damons_office/

k750i emulating w800i

(photo: Jaran)

Check it out, Jaran successfully managed to convert his k750i to a w800i by replacing the firmware. Now maybe we can even convince him to write up a tutorial.. ;-)

Don't want to sound like a partypooper, but I still think the w800i looks über-sweeter than the dull k750i.. :-D

Multiplayer GTA: Liberty City Stories for PSP

Is it freakin' possible?! Multiplayer GTA finally?? Seems so according to this VG-blog.. For old GTA fans Liberty City Survivor is quite funny ;-)

The news is (norwegian):

Rockstar annonserte nemlig i dag at det vil bli multiplayer i spillet via
WiFi. Det blir syv forskjellige moduser,som opptil 6 spillere kan delta i, med 60 forskjellige karakterer å velge mellom (man starter med 9, og får flere etter hvert) . Les mer for info rundt de tre kjente modusene.

Get Stretch - En modus som fungerer som capture the flag, bare at flagget er en stretch limo, kjent fra GTA-spillene. Det er to lag, og hvert lag skal prøve å stjele det andre lagets stretch, og kjøre den tilbake til sin egen base uten at motstanderene stjeler deres.

Protection Racket - To lag mot hverandre, det ene laget skal forsvare en base, mens det andre skal angripe basen. Angriperene skal ødelegge fire strecher før tiden går ut. Når de har klart det, byttes rollene, og de nye angriperene skal prøve å slå den gamle tiden.

Liberty City Survivor - God gammel deathmatch. Alle mot alle eller et lag mot et annet, om å gjøre å drepe mest.

Xbox 360 Launch Lineup Announced

Here's the lineup for the launch of Xbox 360:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051004/sftu018.html

I've picked out a few items I think look good:

• "Saint's Row" (THQ Inc.). Under threat from rival gangs and corrupt officials, the 3rd Street Saints must conquer the city of Stilwater or face destruction. From the spectacular opening battle to regain control of the local hood, "Saint's Row" offers an unparallel level of freedom to explore this living, breathing city. Players are free to engage in the multitude of different activates at their leisure, all while building up respect in a gameplay-rich world. Build enough respect and the 3rd Street Saint's lieutenants will trust the player with more dangerous missions.Mass Effect Crackdown
• "Gears of War" (MGS-Epic Games Inc.). Blending the best of tactical action games with the best of survival horror titles, "Gears of War" is the first game developed by Epic Games exclusively for Microsoft Game Studios and Xbox 360. "Gears of War" thrusts gamers into a deep and harrowing story of humankind's epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet.
• "Mass Effect" (MGS-BioWare Corp.). Set 200 years in the future in an epic universe, "Mass Effect" places gamers in a vast galactic community in danger of being conquered by a legendary agent gone rogue. A spectacular new vision from legendary developers BioWare, "Mass Effect" challenges players to lead a squad of freedom fighters as they struggle against threatening armies to restore peace in the land. "Mass Effect" is the first in a trilogy of games with an overarching story, where the real conflict between organic beings and artificial intelligence comes to life in startling clarity.
• "Crackdown" (MGS-Real Time Worlds). "Crackdown" pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the introduction of the first truly 3-D persistent playground, highly innovative cooperative gameplay, and an extensive prop interaction system all while taking place in a massive and highly stylized urban center. All strategies and tactics are acceptable provided players clean up the streets. Players roam a virtual city built to encourage and allow the full width, depth and height of the space to be explored and exploited. "Crackdown" will offer free-form gameplay, over-the-top action, and, for the first time in this genre, online cooperative play.
• "Castle Wolfenstein" (id Software). id Software's newest chapter in the legendary "Wolfenstein" series will deliver players deep behind the enemy lines of a war-torn Germany, where Nazi experiments with technology and the supernatural threaten to turn the tide of World War II. Utilizing a revolutionary new graphics technology targeted specifically at next-generation hardware, this new "Wolfenstein" experience will draw players into a world of unmatched exploration, action and espionage.
• "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 4" (Ubisoft Entertainment). "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 4" will thrust players into a new breed of gameplay that promises to innovate and revolutionize the "Splinter Cell" franchise. Ubisoft is taking the saga of Sam Fisher into entirely new territory, expanding the story and depth of his character.
• "Quake 4" (Activision, id Software and Raven Software Corp.) is the sequel to the award-winning and historic "Quake II." In a war for Earth's survival, against an unrelenting enemy, the only way to defeat them is to become one of them. Built on id Software's revolutionary "Doom 3" technology, "Quake 4" also features fast- paced multiplayer competition modeled after the speed, feel and style of "Quake III Arena."

Calling in sick

Sick today - sucks! After drenching the bed in sweat I finally got up at 20:00 to grab some food and watch some tv. I have installed VS 2005 RC1 and might be checking it out later on. At the moment I have a headache of global porpotions after loosing a lot of fluids so I intend on doing nothing that being lightly entertained for the rest of the night ;-)

Singstar!

I finally got my ass around to getting Singstar - I have no idea why it has taken this long!

I got the Norwegian one with the mic's, but I am awaiting Singstar 80's later this year!

Slow day..

This has to be the first Saturday night in ages I am not out, except from the weekends I have been working.. I have spent the day preparing a consert for tomorrow, tidying up the apartement, downloading some tv-shows and such.

I also bought a new wireless PCI-card for my "main computer". I have used a 3Com wireless USB adapter (hey, doesn't that sound cool: "wireless USB"..) that is utterly complete crap! I have to believe there is a production error on it, or else my repect for 3Com will plumit!
The new card is, as mentioned, a PCI-card made by Linksys. I didn't realize they were a sub-division of Cisco untill today. Well, it rocks and after some minor trouble it seems to be stable with powerfull signal. Me like!



Overall I have been a big 3Com fan, but I have had so much trouble with their OfficeConnect products I don't know what to think.. Actually I just discovered an old MSPaint.Net drawing I did a while back, so you can imagine I have had 3Com-trouble for a while now..

Next project is de-wireing the xbox, and possibly the ps2.

One step closer..

iTunes Music Store

Recently I woke up after a rather heavy bender at my favorite drinking spot and discovered 7 - seven - reciets for albums bought at iTunes Music Store at around 4 am ..

Confirmation box - why did you abandon me?!

The music was Sleater-Kinney and a live album of Rage Against The Machine, so it wasn't that bad after all..

Come rain, come shine

September in my part of the country has had the 4th most amount of rain since the measurements started 100 years ago! Only two days in September have been rainfree..

As the past month has consisted mostly of work for my part, I don't really complaign, and I must say it at some points has been my only reason for keeping at it for a couple of more hours on late night programming sessions at work.

Local newspaper

44 ppl busted in Bodø drug raid

Wow.. I knew my hometown Arendal had a pretty bad drug problem, but not like that up here :O

Local newspaper
Norwegian newspaper

Office pranks: Birthday

My dear project manager Rasmus had his 35th birthday yesterday and of course we had to do something to mess with his head!

Tone and I decided to enter an advert (picture on its way) in the local paper. It read something like this: "20 'units' of firewood and 15 (some kind of) birds for free if you pick it up yourself. Call ... any time of day." I have to add that firewood is a pretty popular commodity here in Norway as winter is closing in.

He was reluctant in admitting that he had got any calls, but by lunch it turned out:

• He had got a 3-digit number of calls and messages.
• Some of the messages left no doubt that the interest was pretty high!
• The first batch of calls startet at 6AM!
• Rasmus had been at work till 12PM the night before.
• He switched his cellphone off and, of course, overslept because he uses it as an alarmclock.
• By the end of the day the phone was pretty much out of power eventhough he stopped answering it..

He did get his revenge though; he told us that he had instructed a bunch of the callers to show up at my place and at Tones place after work! He managed to convince me to drive with him to my place after work "to observe at a distance". At this time my greatest concern was my neighbours firewood supply at the other end of the house :-O. As we got closer he did not stop, but drove straight by a car parked outside my house (that I have never seen there before) and as he stoped and started rolling down his window he told me it was all a joke! :-D

He got me good, I must admit, but that didn't stop us from keeping up the joke with Tone who was in Trondheim at the time :-) It turned out she had called home to warn her husband and the people that rents a flat under their house (who had just bought a load of firewood!).

All-in-all a pretty good prank, and today people have continued calling for the firewood...

iTunes Agent

iTunes Agent is up! This is Jarans new project as he describes it:

iTunes Agent enables many non-iPod MP3 players to be used with iTunes. The project enables you to synchronize your MP3 player with an iTunes playlist automatically, or with two small mouse-clicks.

Looks cool, and I can't begin to describe how jealous I am of him having time to work on side-projects - it's been too long :-(

Finally...

I finally got around to making my own blog ... and now that I am here I can't think of a thing to write!
Anywho, I haven't decided yet if this will be a strict professional blog or a personal one - probably something in-between.

As for audience, this is mostly a relief for countless scriblings on napkins, tv-guides, my coffee table, but maybe you'll find something funny here or even something usefull about programming etc.

Welcome, and please wipe your shoes!