Track #5: Marit Larsen - If a song could get me you
Listen to it on MySpace!

I am finally home in my apartment again after a wonderful summer. In just 4 weeks I have been to the Norwegian mountains, a music festival, my parents summer house in Sweden, travelling around Italy by train and then a week in Bergen with my colleagues.

During these weeks I have been home to unpack and then pack again a few times. When heading home one time, sitting at the metro with my huge backpack, my heart nearly skipped a beat of pure joy when I discovered the posters telling me that they are reducing the price for public transportation in Oslo severely. Finally they send a clear message to the citizens of Oslo - that they really appreciate their regular customers (and the environment) by lowering the prices for all periodic tickets.

Ruter (the public transportation company in Oslo), I think I love you! And I promise I will be faithful for a very long time. If someone were to give me a Fiat 500 or a Vespa, I might have to reconsider, though.

I think Marit Larsen loves Ruter too. She has released her new single today - and has just made some YouTube videos available where she performs the song ad hoc on the Oslo underground. Cute!

Listen to the official single “If a song could get me you” at Marit Larsen’s MySpace site.

Track #4: Kitty - The Presidents of the United States of America
Listen to it on my mixtape!

When I was 10 years old, I bought my first CD. I listened to it a lot for some months, until I had enough. I have tried to keep the album as far away from my CD-shelves ever since. Celine Dion is just not my favourite artist anymore…

The second album I bought in my life, however, is an album I have listened to a lot. The Presidents of the United States of America’s first album was amazingly cool, absurd and definitely something quite different than Celine. The summer I bought the album (in 1995, I think?) I was at our family’s summer house in Bergen. And we all had fun singing about millions of peaches, blue dune buggies, and kitties that had to spend the night outside. Me included - without really knowing what it all meant.

It still is a fantastic album. Tomorrow my parents(!) and I are going to their concert together here in Oslo. I know the band has made some albums over the years. I still hope they know that their first album still is the best one - and will squeeze in at least Dune Buggy and Boll Weevil for me and my parents. And preferably Stranger, Peaches and Feather Pluckn too. If they throw in Body, Kitty, and Back Porch, the night will be just perfect. Ooooh, it’ll be fun!

Download three of the songs from the album for free at Last.fm
Or just buy the album right now :)

VG (Norway’s largest newspaper) tries to teach the Norwegians how to listen to personalized web radios like Last.fm in today’s paper. Me, my apartment and my lovely MacBook Pro do our best to help. “Kristin stopped downloading” says the headline to the right - and it’s true. Organizing, copying and syncronizing files from computer to computer, to external hard drives and iPods became a bit too demanding in the long run. I don’t want to mainly organize my music. I want to listen to it!

I have never been a fan of the traditional radios where they might play me songs I hate - without the possibility to skip it. I end up changing radio stations all the time. With Last.fm I can even ban the songs with the button that says “Don’t ever play me this song again”. Perfect!

However, it’s not that often Last.fm tries to play me really bad tracks. I guess the service “knows” me by now. It has eventually become quite good at recommending new music to me too. Because it keeps track of what I am listening to, I can easily check the history to find information about the songs I have been listening to lately. I still end up buying the whole album when I discover music I really like, though. But when having friends over, I might just as easily let Last.fm be my DJ, than being bothered with changing the CDs all night.

Check out my Last.fm profile
Listen to my forever expanding playlist
Make your own profile

Track #3: The Quiz - Hello Saferide
Listen to it on MySpace!

I am very happy these days. I just love summertime, my wonderful friends, my smart and eager colleagues, my caring family, and …my precious appartment. I really enjoy being alone in it, just reading, drinking tea, dancing in the living room. And I can take care of myself - most of the time.

As of today, I can even cut the grass in my garden all on my own! My dad finally gave in. He drove by my flat and swapped the scary, gas-powered lawn mower he once insisted was perfect for me, with a small, manual one.

Before dad was willing to do the switch, he had to prove to me that the gas-powered lawn mower actually works. It took him 10 minutes, and a huge amount of wrestling to “prove” his point… In the meantime I was halfway finished mowing the lawn with the cutie in the background.

So. Point being: I don’t really need a guy for anything. I can manage on my own (now that I have a manual lawn mower, anyway ;). I miss the feelings that the song ‘The Quiz’ portrays, though:

The Quiz
by Hello Saferide

You look nice alright
and I like the way you nod after everything I say
like it actually means something
to you

And I like your record collection
Townes and Jens with a hint of Rickie Lee
And you’ve cleaned up the bathroom, made a really nice soup
but a bit too much sci-fi in your shelf with DVDs

But there’s some things you need to know about me:
I’m weak right now, real weak right now
I need proof before I dare to open this heart
so I prepared a quiz for you:

Would you freak out if I said I liked you?
Do you walk the line?
Is your IQ higher than your neighbour’s?
And is it very much higher than mine?

Can you sleep when I grind my teeth?
Do you look away if I slob when I eat?
Will you let me be myself?
Can you at all times wear socks?
because I’m still scared of feet

Do you talk in the middle of Seinfeld?
Do you read more than two books a month?
Do you get racist or sexist when you’ve had a few?
Is it fine if I make more money than you?

Have you slept with any people I work with?
Is there anyone you’d rather wish I’d be?
Do you still keep pictures of old girlfriends?
Are they prettier than me?

And if I’d fall, would you pick me up?
If I fall, will you pick me up?

The very beginning of something new. Curiousity, vulnerability and hope.

Check out the song on YouTube.

A new version of the website for Norsk Folkemuseum (The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History) was launched yesterday. My company, Logica, was hired to design and develop the site in co-operation with the museum. As a part of Logica’s design department, UX, I have been involved in developing the concept and the information architecture for the site.

I might deliver a “final” information architecture (IA) to the client at the end of my department’s process. Still the IA will often evolve after a site is launched to meet new needs. Even though we always try to continue the dialogue with the client after a project is over, it is important that the client understands the principles of the information architecture. They have to deal with suggestions and complaints on a regular basis from within the organization…

When some colleagues and I went to the launch party for norskfolkemuseum.no yesterday, I was intrigued to hear that the people from the project group of Norsk Folkemuseum still could list the principles for the IA - over 6 months after my department was involved in the project. Yay!

What do you think of the site? Check it out in Norwegian or in English.

What to wear?

For now, I am only lurking around even though I found some beautiful dresses. I am too busy converting inches to centimeters in my head, and measuring my waist over and over - whishing that some inches will be lost in mentioned area just in time for the final bidding round… Or should I just keep eating my daily dose of delicious gorgonzola cheese, and rather make the dress myself out of a pattern like this one?

Lots of beautiful patterns are available for sale on eBay. I guess sewing machine skills aren’t, though…

The weather has been incredible the last month here in Bergen. I have been wearing my 20 DKK over-sized sunglasses a lot lately, even though I actually hate wearing sunglasses. I have even been using them at night to keep the bugs away when biking. But a moth with cruel intentions made me realise that sunglasses for bug protection is a very bad idea…

While I was biking home recently, a moth flew in behind the glass. Trapped inside the glass, it attacked my eye over and over. I was so shocked and distracted that I just fell over!

Yes, I completely see the irony in this event and my oh so clever bug protection theory. I try to laugh of the whole episode. But I also try to sit straight, and it kind of hurts. I am so badly bruised that I probably should avoid wearing a bikini for a month or so. Good thing that I am leaving this casual student/BBQ/park/swim life style any minute now to go back to work at the Logica office - all covered up in appropriate office outfits. No bikes or sunglasses are needed there :)

Are there any characteristics that newsgames often have in common? Do such games demand to be played and experienced by the public in another way than the games that exist just for entertainment purpose? How are these games received by the public - considering that the public generally have been raised learning that games equal fun? I want to look into the background and the debate around newsgaming in general, and take a closer look at the game September 12th and its context, to try to find answers to the questions I have raised here.

This was a small excerpt from the paper I have written about newsgames called Games Combatting the Dictatorship of Entertainment. A Study of the Newsgaming Phenomenon. Read the whole thing if you like!

In the meantime I’m off to my family’s summer house just outside of Bergen. No vacation, though. I will bring with me a huge pile of exciting books about information systems. But in a week my days as a student are over. For now, anyway :)

I have never really been a fan of the show Sex and the City. I find the four female characters to be somewhat annoying - too exaggerated in a way. Lately, however, it seems all my friends are consuming the fancy shoe box of DVDs containing the whole series 24/7. This is required to be prepared for the big premiere of Sex and the city: The Movie the 6th of June.

Since my girlfriends and the TV-channels invite the sex addicted quartet to the screen quite frequently nowadays, I have watched a large amount of episodes myself the last weeks. Actually, I am starting to like the characters in the show now! Still, I don’t think I ever will become as shoe-obsessed.

There’s probably something wrong with me, but I think most shoes in the shops are ugly. Often disproportioned. And since it is so difficult to find nice shoes, I have decided to be obsessed with clothes instead. And then I just need my shoes to go with anything. And preferably be somewhat practical. The last pair of shoes I bought are definitely in that latter category. And they are actually a replacement for the pair I bought 4 years ago. The exact same model. Black. Leather. Suit both my baggy pants and my chic black skirts. Sun or snow. A perfect fit. Just brilliant.

Ecco Soft II. My brand new (and my very old) kicks.

Every time I see another lady with these fabulous shoes on, however, she’s at least three times my age. Last year I came to realize that I needed an alternative. I ended up buying a pair of shoes that would add some centimeters to my height. Though still; Black. Leather. Suit both my baggy pants and my chic black skirts. Maybe not my first choice in the snow, but still definitely a perfect fit. Just brilliant.

Sixtyseven. 60’s style. Lovely. And 8 centimeters added.

If I don’t have an endless supply of these exact shoes for the rest of my life, I don’t know what I’ll do. I actually think I should buy a new pair right now. Just in case.

Yikes. I sound really old.

Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Horrible. Just horrible. Probably as horrible as any other year - but I can’t say I have watched the show for years, so I wouldn’t really know… There was this one song that caught my attention, though. It definitely did not win - but my personal vote goes to Le France. Douze points! [Twelve points!]

Sebastien Tellier sings the song Divine with this quirky, laid-back performance while embracing a big plastic ball of the world filled with helium. Helium which he inhales during the song of course. Watch the performance:

…or the official video for the song Divine:

Other Tellier songs:
La Ritournelle
L’Amour et la Violence
La Dolce Vita

I guess I have to learn French now.