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A knitted meat hat!

Just what you always wanted: a knitted breakfast!
http://www.cult45.fsbusiness.co.uk/featuresjackie.html

Add comment March 31st, 2004

Shaolin Soccer

Stupid Fun. Shaolin Soccer has all the clichés of kung-fu movies and adds all the clichés of sports movies and silly matrix-style special effects. If you like Jackie Chan films then this is another film to watch.

March 29th, 2004

CSI and Spooks rule!

I just feel a need to make note of my devotion to CSI: Crime Scene Investigations and the BBC’s most excellent Spooks. Both series are great, focus on science, not magic, and generally try to avoid the deus-ex-machina solutions that often crop up in tv dramas.

Oh and only five more weeks until the season 4 of Babylon 5 shows up… All good things come to those who wait.

March 15th, 2004

Ski Rondane!

We left Oslo on thursday for an extended ski-weekend about four hours north of Oslo. The cabin’s a stone’s throw from Rondablikk hotel.

Ras was nice enough to invite the guys back to the cabin again this year. In the end only three of us made it: Matt (all the way from Manchester), Ras and myself. I’d cooked reindeer and elk stew for six people, so we had plenty to eat.

Friday “morning” (we were up at the crack of noon) and we all set off on what we planned on being a short trip. We brought a grill, hotdogs and plenty of hot toddy.

After lunch we decided to go up the Glitter valley, across the snowy plateau, and down into the main valley at the other end. There we could rest up, buy the day’s newspaper and a beer before heading home. It didn’t sound too bad, but in the end it took us about five hours. The ski up to the plateau was nice enough, but up on the plateau it was white! The sun glistening on the mountainsides, the snow flowing uninterrupted from your skis to the tops of the mountain. Absolutely amazing, and impossible to photograph apparently.

The descent was steeper and faster than I dared - I sat my ass down on several occasions to avoid hurtling into cabins, people, fences… The track was fairly compacted and icy under the new snow, so you didn’t slow down a lot no matter how much you ploughed. My calf muscles go a nice workout though. I did mange to faceplant into a drift that was so deep I broke my pole strap while trying to get out. The ski-pole handle has a loop at the top you stick you wrist through. You don’t realize how useful this little thing is until it is gone. This is part of the reason it took us five hours to get back — the other reason is that I was exhausted by the end of the trip, and the sun was going down.

Dinner has never tasted so good. A large bowl of reindeer meat, goatsmilk, herbs and spices, cheese, cream, lots of rice and veg, a couple of beers and a few glasses of wine. Unconsciousness followed soon after. Usually we sit up and play cards and chat into the early hours. This time we all collapsed around midnight. We’re all getting old.

The next day I skipped the skiing to get some reading in (Matt had brought the latest Empire magazine with him - joy!) while Matt and Ras went on a four hour trip around the neighborhood. Again a large dinner of stew, with more beer and wine. Again everyone collapsed before midnight. I think it’s all the fresh air.

Sunday we cleaned up the cabin and drove back to Oslo. We dropped Matt off at the airport with time to spare. I collapsed at home.

Thanks for a great trip this year Rasmus!

Add comment March 15th, 2004

LLamasoft

Laser-spitting, drugged up goats and rock music. LLamasoft rocks. Well, this one does. The other one does not.

How on earth a serious supply chain management developer ends up calling itself Llamasoft I cannot figure out.

Add comment March 9th, 2004

La Cage aux Dentist

Had my yearly checkup today. At early early hour of 0730. Everything looked fine, although I had to endure a bit of drilling — he a small hole in a molar that he filled in with a new composite filling. A bit of UV light and the sucker was baked hard. My teeth feel very clean.

Saw La Cage Aux Folles tonight. An excellent production — Tove (a theatre fiend) said it was as good as the London and New York productions. The show is really tightly produced. Never a dull moment. This was my brother’s brilliant idea of a christmas present for our farmor.

March 3rd, 2004

Family Olympcs

Spent yesterday at the quadrennial extended-family get together - the 2004 Høyerfest. The extended family is all the descendandts of my great-great grandparents Sam Høyer (1866-1951) and Josefine Marie Wefring (1866-1940). About 70 people showed up in Asker. The Danish contingent sensibly deciding that the far north is best left alone when frozen solid, and stayed home. Thankfully there was little singing this year, but much food and red wine and talking. It’s great in a way — the family lines cross borders and social strata. People still have a good time, even after two decades of doing this. Several of us in the up-and-coming fifth generation were wondering if we’ll keep doing these, or if we’ll feel too remote. I hope not.

Add comment March 1st, 2004

Comics

I never got into the Crumb or American Splendor comix — I have stuck with Cerebus since issue 180 or so - I can’t believe it’s going to be completed next month. Issue 300 will be the last. I also have lots of japanese manga, and the complete Sandman.

Add comment March 1st, 2004