Manet, Munch and my Photos on the web

Sometimes, when surfing the net, I am being surprised of the possible links that may occur. Tonight I was looking at details in Edouard Manet´s painting Picnic on Grass when my blogpost from June 4th 2008 came up among many others. I had called the photo Breakfast in the Garden, and Google found the link. Another expression of Manet´s original painting from 1863 is one of Picasso´s versions. You are free to choose what you like best.
An interesting link can also be found between images of Edvard Munch´s The Scream and my wife when preparing salad for our Summer dinner.
I have got her permission to present the photo without further comments.
However, the reason for my searching for details in "Picnic on the Grass", was the above painting "If not Summer no.3" which I found in this article in WIRED Underwire.
The excerpt below can be found in the image above created by two artists Simmons & Burke, who googled the web, scoured fan forums and browsed Flickr accounts to round up 5,000 images for a single collage.
If you find the detail (should not be difficult) return to the first image and try to find the frog in the painting by Manet.
Learn to love art.

Jens Bjørneboe in English

As previously posted in this blog on September 13th I am reading Tore Rem s Biography (in Norwegian) about the Norwegian novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist Jens Bjørneboe (1920-1976). He is still one of Norway's most cosmopolitan and controversial writers.

In January 1963 the then 42 years old J.B. published the Manifest expressed through a poem called: "Ti bud til en ung mann som vil frem i verden" (Ten Commandments for a Young Man With Ambitions).
I have (with strong support from my daughter Trine in Wales) rewritten the poem:

I
Commandment One is clear and straight,
the majority is always right
II
Predict what people will confide,
And take the stronger party’s side
III
When in doubt, deign to pause,
until you see who gets applause
IV
Choose your statements when you talk.
Count the costs from group to walk.
V
Don´t put forward too free rein.
But stick to what will bring you gain
VI
Give everyone what they adore,
go quiet through your boss´s door
(For truth brings sorrow, need and dread,
while daily lies bring daily bread)
VII
Curl your back, creep along,
in every home you will belong
VIII
A man is never praised too much.
Do all to get him in your clutch
(and with the shield of brotherhood,
your future will be long and good)
IX
Store every gossip word you hear.
It can be used when you are there.
(But no discreet and tactful guy
will talk to him that curse apply !)
X
If these commandments are your Lead,
your future life is guaranteed
Boldness always gains temptation,
but with prudent moderation!
Stride bravely to your chosen Quest, one step ahead of all the rest

After I had made the interpretation I searched the web and found Esther Greenleaf Murer´s site with this and other of Bjørneboe´s texts in English. If any, I will recommend the essay "How Arne Næss and I Conquered NATO"Have a nice time with Jens Bjørnebo in English by courtesy of Ester G.Murer.

Sunday here and there

This morning before we started to climb up the road from Sognsvann to Ullevålseter (as I did last sunday too), I first read an article about Rune Gerhardsen and his word "Snillisme" .
Then I received the above photo from my sister on her terrace at Fjøra between Valldal and Tafjord, Sunnmøre, and thought about the danger they live under at these fjords and steep mountains.

In the early hours of 7th April 1934 the mountainside of Langhammaren tumbled into the sea below. Around 7 million cubic tons of rock went hurling and caused tidal waves of up to 64 metres in height. The waves caused destruction particularly in the hamlets of Fjørå and Tafjord. Altogether 40 lives were lost.

The dangerous Åkernes crack is another challenge in my sister´s neighborhood.

The word "Snillisme" (extreme kindness) was made public 19 years ago, but R.G. confirms that he still would say the same today.
13. June 1991 the Labor Party politician Rune Gerhardsen sent shock-waves through Norway, by arguing about parts of the Norwegian welfare state - including service towards immigrants who received tumblers by the Social Services for free.

I have called it Snillism.
I've used the word as a term for the phenomenon that we as a society, in the intention of The Good, has stretched the system to the extreme and misguided goodwill.
The Good ideals are drawn to parodies.
All requirements shall be met, all problems shall be solved and all human difficulties shall be taken care of.
The Snillist meets all requirements with benevolence.
The Snillist is always responsive to a requirement, a need or interest.
The Snillist takes no confrontations.
The consequence is that responsibility is undermined and requirements towards the individual no longer is presented.

A translation by me of Rune Gerhardsen about the word ”snillism” in his book ”Snillisme på norsk” (1991)

From the NRK-mentioned article I copy.
The welfare society is built on the rights and duties. Immigrants got a lot of rights without any demands on duties. That creates reactions and builds the foundation for conflict - strong conflict, "said Gerhardsen.
There is a difference between compliance and idiotic kindness, says Gerhardsen.
I am concerned that you have to distinguish between natural anxiety and turmoil and racism and xenophobia.
The "snillism" creats a turmoil and anxiety, although it has traditionally been a strong anti-racist attitudes in Norway. But in public it was a norm making it not allowed to think that this was disconcerting - even if it were completely natural, "said Gerhardsen.
I like R.G.´s attitude, but his party is not always marching along with him.At Ullevålseter I remembered another Labour politican. Today´s Party Secretary: Raymond Johansen, who was head of shoveling snow in Rune Gerhardsen Oslo city council before the voters gave him a kick back and farewell in 1995. Maybe he tried not to be the "Snillist fellow" when he met Oslo citizens irritation and pain over poor municipal services, paid through taxes with this statement to the people at Oslo West : ”Folk kan Måke sjøl”(people should shovel by themselves) His attitude will be remembered not only by me. And next fall we have another election for the political city council here in Oslo. Maybe we need an Ed Milliband in Oslo too.

Yes you can

During the 2008 US presidential campaign following the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, then-Senator (now President) Barack Obama, used the similar English translation of the slogan of United Farm Workers (UFW) – "Sí, se puede" (Spanish for "Yes, it can be done") in his speech.
The slogan dates back to 1972 when Cesar Chavez and the UFW's co-founder, Dolores Huerta, came up with the slogan during Chavez's 24-day fast in Phoenix, Arizona.Helene is now campaigning for a seat in her School Council and on the photo she works out a poster for this.
Helene, maybe you can ask your mother to make a video with Bob the Builder theme making the promotion even better.
Yes you can!!

Grandma COBOL, some others and I

Yesterday, through Twitter, I became aware of Sherweb.com and the article about "The People Behind the Code: Famous Programmers Who Have Influenced Computer Programming".
In the overview I did not find one of my heroes: Grace Hopper who conceptualized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages. I wrote my first Data-program in Machine Code during my military service in 1967 and touched upon the basics of BASIC and FORTRAN IV, but it was through COBOL I developed my computer skills in the 1970s. Some of my best and most important COBOL programs were still in operation late 80s.
G.Hopper is also credited with popularizing the term "debugging" for fixing computer glitches (motivated by an actual moth removed from the computer or in a program).Debugging became one of my main activities from 1973 to 1976 when I acted as an Oracle or support consultant / help-desk for customers using our computers like Univac 1108.For those of you not interested in nostalgic memories from a "minor pioneer" in the computing business in Norway, maybe the photo above (from the Sherweb article) is more relevant.

Tim Berners-Lee (left) invented what we know as the World Wide Web with the help of Robert Cailliau (right) and others at the nuclear physics laboratory Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucleaire (CERN). Berners-Lee first proposed the “WorldWideWeb” project in 1989. He and his team are credited with inventing the original HTTP protocol along with the HTML and other associated technology for a web server and a text-based web browser. On December 25, 1990, with the help of Cailliau, they implemented the first successful communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet. Merry Christmas!

My family and I started to use the Web in 1994 when we stayed in Singapore, and have been active out there ever since.
Sir Arthur C. Clarke ( famous for the novel 2001: A space Odyssey) predicted in Popular Science in May 1970 that satellites would one day "bring the accumulated knowledge of the world to our fingertips" using an office console that would combine the functionality of the xerox, telephone, TV and a small computer so as to allow both data transfer and video conferencing around the globe."
Some of us were working with the term TeleData in mid 80s.
Today I am using iPhone 4.

Followers on Twitter

Thursday April 12, 2007 I published a post regarding Twitter:

It's probably not the last time you hear about Twitter. this morning an email arrived from the person responsible for this product, and as you can read:
Twitter is the hottest IT product for the future:We Won Some Stuff
While we were in Texas, Twitter won the SxSW Web Award. We were excited when we went on stage but Jack kept our speech short,
"We'd like to thank you all in 140 characters or less--and we just did!" After SxSW, Twitter-fever started to spread. This morning, we were informed that Twitter has been selected as an Official Honoree in The 11th Annual Webby Awards. Now we feel kinda fancy but a lot of this attention is because you guys keep Twittering and inviting friends to Twitter. You rock!

This post was a follow-up of another post published some days earlier. Twitter and Twittervision.
Although I have had no influence of their Royal Highnesses twittering, I wonder if they also are following the global tweets on Twittervision. My ending of the post from April was (in Norwegian):

Det medførte at jeg raskt overvåket om mine egne Twittermeldinger kunne oppdages, og plutselig i ca. 2 sekunder kom jeg frem på verdenkartet (se bildet).

Jeg vet jo at noen er redd for å synliggjøre seg og sin lokalisering, og syns man bør begrense "Storebrors" muligheter til å spore våre liv. Det er ok. Jeg etterlater meg elektroniske spor overalt allerede. For noen år siden het det "Jeg vil se mappa mi", og nå bør det kanskje hete "Jeg vil kjenne mine fotavtrykk". Desverre tror jeg den kampen er tapt for lengst. Bli med på den moderne verdens gleder og bli en Twitter du også.

My recommendation from 2007 is still valid, See you on Twitter.

New blog at Myramar Hotels

I normally only act as a "PR-consultant" for Blogs and Web-sites that I have tested out for a while, and only for blogs in English and / or Norwegian that have confirmed its existence over time.
Therefore I have no doubt in recommending my son-in-law David´s David M. Berry Daily. Here you may find current and interesting information about and references to Sites, Media, Education, Art and Entertainment, Stories, Photos and Technology. Try it out.

However, today I act differently.
Director Carlos Cana at Hotel Myramar Fuengirola has tried to start (unfortunately preliminary only in Spanish) a blog about the life at the hotel. Because I have personal experiences about the apartment hotel and the in- and out-door facilities:I use this opportunity to tell you about a nice place in Andalusia, Southern Spain, and what is going on at the Mediterranean Costa del Sol this autumn. My own experiences from last winter and summer 2010 can be found in my Blog Archive for February-March 2010 and June-July 2010. You are always welcome to visit my present and historical blog-posts.

Ullevålseter, goal and turning point

This morning after breakfast (egg-bacon and cereals with blueberry yoghurt) I decided that instead of performing a workout at the S.A.T.S fitness center, I went for a walk in the natural surroundings of Oslo. The walking distance from Sognsvann to Ullevålseter is 5.3 km, and details can be found at Skiforeningens sites. The description is in Norvegian:

Tar du T-banen, sykler/går du først fra stasjonen og rett fram, langs venstre side av parkeringsplassen. Rett etter bommen er det slutt på asfalten, og her tar du til høyre, inn på skogsbilveien som ligger et stykke inne i skogen på østsiden av Sognsvann. Vær OBS på at det ofte er mange gående i dette området.

Etter knapt 900 meter får du Svartkulp på høyre side. I dette området ligger det geografiske midtpunktet i Oslo. I krysset ved demningen holder du til venstre, mens Ankerveien går opp bakken til høyre (rute 254 mot Hammeren).

Etter hvert byr veien på visse store utfordringer i bakkene innover mot Store Åklungen. Strekningen med stigning er på ca 1,7 kilometer (fra ca 200 til 300 moh.). Like før vannet flater veien ut, og det er stort sett flatt og behagelig inn til Ullevålseter. Før siste kneika opp til stua, kommer du til krysset der rute 124 tar av til høyre mot Bjørnholt og Kikut, og rute 119 går ned til Hammeren i Maridalen.

Fra Ullevålseter kan du velge vei videre mot bl.a. Vestre Aurtjern (rute 123), som har forbindelse videre til Nordmarkskapellet og til Kobberhaughytta og Kikut (over Glåmene), og mot Skjennungen og Tryvannstua (rute 120).

Ullevålseter (altitude 335m) is originally a mountain farm and part of the Ullevål mansion that once was located where Ullevål Hospital is today. Ullevålseter has been part of Oslo municipally since 1900, and has since 1927 been run as a serving place by the same family.
Gerd and Otto Reidar Ullevålseter as superintendents have run it since 1958. Reidar Otto was born and raised in Ullevålseter.
At this time of the year, and particularly when the weather is as today, many citizens of Oslo has Ullevålseter as their goal and turning point, and with the 5.3km up and 5.3km down I was indeed satisfied with my Sunday exercise.

Demonstration, Show and Lunch

A Saturday Down Town in Oslo is full of activities. The main attraction this weekend was probably the Oslo Book Festival, but demonstration in the front of the Parliament is always interesting to watch.
This Saturday the focus was on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and her destiny.
At "Spikersenen" the Graff Wars made their performance with music from Star Wars
And of course the Fish Soup at Cafe Christiania can be recommended. Moving from Aker Brygge to the center of Karl Johan is another sign that autumn is coming closer every day.

Happy birthday Henrik

Henrik Isak, The Lion King is 3 years old today.
Happy Birthday!

55 years ago

Yesterday I discovered an old image hidden in a book. I am not quite sure of the dating for this photo, but it must be around 1955, showing my childhood family gathered at my grandparents apartment. Because of the table cloth and the cigar, I believe it must be Christmas time at "Kippervikgata 24, Ålesund."
UPDATE:
According to my elder sister the photo is taken on NewYear Eve mid 50s in the house of my parent´s friends in Einervikgt 11 (?), Ålesund

Season over, but lawn cutting still a must

Yesterday I wrote about Crop Circles. Today I am writing about Lines..
Skipped the fitness studio this morning and took a trip to the cottageReturning from my spiritual summer place after an hour´s hard work with the lawn cutter due to the morning dew in the grass, I saw an opportunity for a link between yesterday and this morning´s blogposts. My parallel lines give not any direct connection to the Angel debate, but if special interested in Pairs of Angles, see here

If you are newcomer in the mowing process look here for advices.

Do you believe in Angles and/or Aliens

This week´s celebrity debate in Norway has been if or if not a member of the Royal family can say that she believes she can talk to dead persons. She herself believes, according to many interpretations of her statements to media, that it IS possible to talk to persons "on the other side".
But she is not allowed to help others and at least not make money based upon her believes because she theoretically could be head of our nation and thus head of the public church in this country. She is presently number 4 in the royal line.
A person that really is marketing and selling communication with the other side is Steve Godfrey "He has helped hundreds of individuals and families establish a loving connection with their relatives in heaven. You could be next. " according to his website.

Our Princess says she can talk to Horses and Angles. This video may well fit into the "Princess´s" marketing for her school of angles or whatsoever. Angles can be visualized by the help of a Foam printer.

Or do you rather believe that Aliens make visit to our planet and document their visits through Crop Circles?If skeptical please look at this video to be convinced.
It shows a crop circle fanatic dreams come through. She (a strong supporter of the princess ability to talk to the dead) actually gets taken to a fresh crop circle to experience the mystic energies emanating from it. It's going to change her life, she says.
In case you don't recognize the mysterious symbol flattened into the grass, all is revealed here.

Thanks to Trine and David for tipping me off these intriguing videos.

A Grass Widower Dinner

I am not a bachelor, but when my wife is away visiting our family in Swansea Wales, I can be more creative when making dinner than normal. Of course we experiment with food when we are a couple too, but making dinner for only one person is according to singles a challenge.
Therefore, this blogpost.

Today I made my dinner consisting of fried rough pollock cakes, simpel ratatouille and cold potato salad.

My homemade Pollock cakes are made of fish, chopped small leek, butter, milk, starch of potatoes, salt, nutmeg and black pepper. Put everything in a food processor. Let it run for a minute or two, form cakes and fry them in a pan with Colza oil and some butter.
My simple Ratatouille (if I may call it that) consist of chopped sweet pepper or Paprika mixed with thin slices of squash and roasted onion heated soft with a touch of ketchup, salt and pepper in the frying pan together with the fish cakes.
Potato salad? I used Denja Godt & Lett
Easy!
I only regret the scar on the plate. But that visualizes that this post was created when eating my Wednesday Grass Widower Dinner.

Do you want to be famous, a celebrity or just yourself

I published in march 2009 a blogpost covering Kate Moss in Oslo.
The web is full of images about this 36 years old English Model and her notorious high-profile relationships and party lifestyle.Kate Moss is a person that lives by being seen more or less in every situation,

BUT

this morning I became aware of a video from hollywoodtv covering the chaos when Kate Moss arrives at LAX. (Los Angeles)
Watching this video with the swarm of people taking pictures of Kate Moss with child as they go out in public, convinced me: there must be a clear line, verge or extreme limit between profesional and private sphere even for celebrities.
I am glad I am only myself.

Born to be free, Jens Bjørneboe

I have just opened my last acquired book "Born to be Free" (Født til Frihet, en biografi om Jens Bjørneboe) written in Norwegian by Tore Rem. It is a huge brick of 685 pages, and I am looking forward to start reading.
I bought my first Jens Bjørneboe book in 1970 when the essay collection "Vi som elsket Amerika" (We who loved America) was published.
The book covers essays about U.S. war crimes, the problems of socialism, freedom of expression, persecution of dissidents in the Soviet Union, prison service, youth and the labor movement.

I do not lie when I say that this book opened my eyes to the political situation in Norway and the world after the May 1968 protest, and was a major contribution (in addition to Cohn-Bendit (Danny the Red)´s book Obsolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative (1968) to my personal development in the early 70s.
The next book I bought from the writer Bjørneboe was "Frihetens Øyeblikk" (Moment of Freedom).
'Moment of Freedom' is the first novel in this great Norwegian novelist’s “History of Bestiality” trilogy. Upon its first publication in 1966, Moment of Freedom was widely acclaimed in Europe as a masterpiece, and a major work of Norwegian post-war literature.
Today my bookshelf covers all of Bjørneboe´s work:

Novels

• Duke Hans (Hertug Hans, 1972)
• Ere the Cock Crows (Før hanen galer, 1952)
• Jonas (1955)
• Under a Harsher Sky (Under en hårdere himmel, 1957)
• Winter in Bellapalma (Vinter i Bellapalma, 1958)
• Little Boy Blue (Blåmann, 1959)
• The Evil Shepherd (Den onde hyrde, 1960)
• The Dream and the Wheel (Drømmen og hjulet, 1964), about author Ragnhild Jølsen
• Moment of Freedom (Frihetens øyeblikk, 1966) (translated by Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Norvik Press / Dufour, 1999)
• Without a Stitch (Uten en tråd, 1966)
• Powderhouse (Kruttårnet, 1969) (translated by Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Norvik Press / Dufour, 2000)
• The Silence (Stillheten, 1973) (translated by Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Norvik Press / Dufour, 2000)
• The Sharks (Haiene, 1974) (translated by Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Norvik Press / Dufour, 1992)

Plays

• Many Happy Returns (Til lykke med dagen, 1965)
• The Bird Lovers (Fugleelskerne, 1966) (translated by Frederick Wasser, Sun&Moon Press, 1994)
• Semmelweis (1968) (translated by Joe Martin, Sun&Moon Press, 1999)
• Amputation (Amputasjon, 1970). Reprinted as: Amputations: Texts for an Extraordinary Spectacle (translated by Solrun Hoaas & Esther Greenleaf Mürer, Xenos Books, 2002)
• The Torgersen Case (Tilfellet Torgersen, 1972)
• Blue Jeans (Dongery, 1976)

Poem collections

• Poems (Dikt, 1951)
• Ariadne (1953)
• The Great City (Den store by, 1958)
• Happy Birthday (Til lykke med dagen, 1965)

Essay collections

• Norway, my Norway (Norge, mitt Norge, 1968)
• We Who Loved America (Vi som elsket Amerika, 1970)
• Police and Anarchy (Politi og anarki, 1972)

The writer of his Biography, Tore Rem, is trying to give some answers of the question: Who was Jens Bjørneboe?
I am looking forward to some extended learning about a man which was a frequent guest (as I) at restaurant Casino (now closed) in Stortingsgaten, Oslo. The photo was produced by Henrik Ørsted in 1971.

A pub is a pub is a pub

But "fru Burum´s" is our local.

Maja and water

The nordic summer is more or less over. Children have to go indoor to continue bathing and swimming. Maja is one of those happy to move around in warm water and safe conditions.
Thinking of how many empty pools (if any at all) we have around the country due to wear, wrong budgeting and poor maintenance, Maja is fortunate to have parents that prioritizes her development in the wet element. And she is happy when playing or swimming (if you prefer that verb). A coming female Alexander Dale Oen??

My first Art Poster and it´s Consequence

35 years ago my financial situation was not too good. At least not at a level where art and paintings could be included in the budget. An alternative was to decorate the walls of my apartment with posters.
My first poster from 1975 was the one above which I got from the owner of the gallery for free. At that time the posters was seen as an advertising tool and spread around in shop windows.8 years later the galleries were selling the posters, and this cost 50 nok in 1983. However, it was numbered (2/100) and signed by the painter.

Kai Fjell was one of the important artists in the Modernism in Norway (also called The New Impressionism).
In the 1930's a number of young artists adopted new influences through exhibitions of German Expressionist art and of Surrealism. This subjective and expressive approach to painting was for most painters a temporary phenomenon, not at least due to strong public opposition. Such individual expression broke at that time with the generally accepted conventions and rules in Norwegian art.
For a few artists elements of expressionism and surrealism, however, became more durable components of their artistic expression. Kai Fjell was one of these.A major work by Kai Fjell from this time is " The calf stands up"(1937), a motif from a farm where the white newborn calf tries to stand on wobbly legs beside the cow right in the picture, etc.

Arne Ekeland was another important painter from the same period who challenged the national mainstream represented by the academy. Expressionism and Surrealism also influenced his art. In addition, he received the impression from both cubism, Byzantine mosaic art and from Florence paintings, especially Botticelli."The last shots" (1940) is an almost surreal apocalyptic vision conveyed by the vague shape in the middle of the picture. On an island in the lake the representatives of the old power-structure was captured, - church, capital and military power. In the background suggests the ruins of a society of their devastating impact, etc.
More of Arne Ekeland´s paintings from Høvikodden some years ago can be found at My Gallery

It is a long way from my first poster by Rune J. Andersson to these spectacular paintings not obtainable for me even on an improved budget situation. However, their paintings have influenced my interest for art and been a tutorial tool for developing my humble paintings.

iPhone 4 CarKit Fix

When driving to Copenhagen last week I noticed some difficulties (or wrong behavior) when using my TomTom CarKit for iPhone. I have swapped from iPhone 3Gs to iPhone 4 lately and because the new design of the iPhone 4 (Thinner than 3Gs) it did not recharge battery through the CarKit.
At the Norwegian TomTom Forum I became aware of the easy velcro (Borrelås) fix.Off I went to a shop for zip, ties and other accessories (Tjorven at Majorstuen, Oslo) and bought 10cm of velcro for 5 nok.
I only needed one cm and cut the velcro in two, making it doble and placed it at the place recommended in the video by engadget.com.

IT IS Working.