Sans Katana

Der Update

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 14:23:14 GMT

Like the Rice-man said: "And so it is..."

The big 3-0 was reached in the company of good friends, last Saturday night where the booze flowed, the food was plentiful (thanks to the best mother-in law in the world!) and the good boys in Hraun(!) showed up to serenade the assembled crowd with delicious melodies and etheral voices. Dollars, in all manner of denominations, were the most popular birthday gift and thanks to a number of friends and family members, I'll have loads of flash money in NYC.

Below, pics from the party.

And in addition, the photographich bonanza of last month:

King Psycho cat, a funky feline I met one foggy Sunday morning

A black and white Sunday, pictures from a foggy Reykjavík morning.

80's galore! A glorious 80's party at Bragi and Kristjana's place

And finally a trip to Geysir and Gullfoss with Heiða, Jennifer and Eric.

And as a special bonus, here's the margarine update (chronicling the weight-loss since the new year in 500 bricks of margarine)

a familiar place......one year later

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 21:18:44 GMT

On a foggy sunday morning....

A little late but....

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 23:03:36 GMT

A belated Valentine for you romantics out there, photographed with my Sony Ericsson W800 camphone ;)

And the butter melts still...

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 18:17:50 GMT

The journey to a two digit weight (in kilograms mind you ;) goes on and so far everything is going splendidly. Hopefully I will have to have my suit altered a bit before the big Iceland Telecom annual employee ball in March.

As before, measured in 500 gram bricks uf margarine, the weight loss so far:

not dead, just resting my eyes a bit

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:02:59 GMT

WTF? January is soon drawing to a close and my how the time passes. To bring everybody up to speed:

Stil in school, taking 2 courses now instead of 5, gives me a bit more time on the side to get fit.

Setting my sights on a trip to New York in May, been a long time since I was there last and I want to take Heiða there, stay in a good hotel, chilling in Central Park and walking up and down Manhattan.

As the snow melts, the bike will get it's workout as I attempt to break the speed record from my home to the office. The record stands at 11 minutes 45 seconds. Barring unfortunate encounters with buses and policecars, I will crack the record come spring.

I am currently watching the highly enjoyable season 5 adventures of the modern day incarnation of Job. I swear, the man does not get a break. Ever. Godspeed mr. Bauer, hope you get to experience at least one dull day :)

PS: ever wonder why they call it Iceland?

My balcony, a few days ago:

PPS: Here's the weight I've lost so far in January, measured in 500g bricks of margarine.

Practical info for the juvenile psychopath.

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 16:22:20 GMT

So here I am, channel hopping on a dim January day when to my amazed eyes, a police officer is appearing on the 6 o'clock children's program. More amazingly, he seems to have brought a straitjacket with him.

Disturbed but strangely interested, I watch as the policeman proceeds to fit the straitjacket unto a rather creepy looking young man.

And the next few minutes feature the creepy young man trying to rid himself of the straitjacket.

Weird!

New Year's Eve 2005 - bum clouds, party and the closing of the year

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 23:47:53 GMT

So how wild was the New Year's Eve party?

Click above for more pics and remember this pearl of wisdom for the year that has just begun:

"The man who always keeps both feet on the ground will never go anywhere."

A very happy new year to everyone and anyone :)

On the pond on Christmas

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:25:42 GMT

As the late and often great Peter Sellers once said: Birdie Num Num!

Christmas eve and all is still....

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 17:19:56 GMT

Straight from 105 Reykjavík, the creepiest Christmas decoration ever:

The snowman in a bubble......*shudder*

Anyways. Just over a year ago, I made a journal entry about the 13 Icelandic Yule-Lads, strange and somewhat frightening fellows out of Icelandic folklore. This year, my Christmas card project consisted of essaying these characters in photographs. Time and laziness intervened and cut the lads down to only 8, but here they are in all their twisted glory.

From the fifth floor on the rock in the N-Atlantic, I wish you all a peaceful holiday and the grooviest of new years.

Stefán

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 18:46:00 GMT

And there it was, all green and shiny.

At first we were like two peas in a pod.

but then we drifted apart......Polly wanted a cracker.

Good lord, the memories were true!!

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 16:24:52 GMT

Late night cleaning of the hard drives. Feverishly deleting duplicated mp3 files, scrounging up any available free disk space. And then I find this old friend.

The Laughing Gnome, a half-forgotten late 60's curio from one David Robert Jones, later to be known to the world as Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie and Jareth the Goblin King With The Awkward Package in Labyrinth.

Meet the new phone, same as the old phone...almost

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 21:14:24 GMT

We likess our new phone, it's precioussss

it be a walkman, it be shiny and orange

All right, I admit it, I'm a phone-addict......but I can keep it under control. Finally I've found a phone that will make me happy and wi-oooh, what's that? A Nokia-N Series phone? mmmmmmm

A creepy supermarket episode

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 12:32:56 GMT

So there I am in Hagkaup, a typical Icelandic supermarket. Having purchased what I need for the evening's dinner, I'm wandering aimlessly about, looking for more stuff to buy out of habit rather than necessity. Suddenly I hear a wailing, grating sound, the whining noise of a small child begging her mother for a treat. In this case it was a rather horribly tasteless Barbie Chocolate Advent Calendar. Mom would not relent so the kid took the whining to a higher and more annoying level, hanging on to her coattails, crying like Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice.

I couldn't bear to watch more of this hilarious tragedy so I wandered down another aisle, browsing through a wide variety of Scandinavian crackers. But when I exited that aisle, I saw the aforementioned little girl, as calm as Buddha on morphine. How odd, I thought, she must have gotten her way. I filled my cart with a few useless necessities and made ready to find a register. To my great surprise, I ran into the harried mother again and her little brat except now the wee princess was again throwing the shit fit to end all other shit fits, crying her little eyes out, evidently still being denied her Barbie Christmas. By this time I was wondering if the kid was a few chapters short of a novel when all of a sudden I spot the EXACT same girl a few meters away, happily helping herself to some giveaway cakes. The mystery was solved my dear Watson, twins!

Note to parents: What the fuck is up with you dressing your twins in the exact same clothes? Ain't you ever seen any movies??

One of them always turns out evil and when that happens, it pays to be able to tell them apart!

Harry Potter and 10:00 am Reykjavík.

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 14:31:28 GMT

Hooyah! Went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on sunday and if you'll pardon the pun, I was Gob-smacked! Hahahaha, eh....*holds sides to keep them from splitting*

Anyway, the movie is pretty fucking awesome and the best of the bunch so far (just like Goblet was the best book IMHO), forsaking the (neccessary) cuteness of the first two installments and even surpassing the gritty Mexi-Noir feel of the 3rd movie, as great as that one was. I think the chief reason for the accomplished feel of the Goblet Of Fire is the fact that for the first time, an Englishman is directing and no other than Mike Newell of Four Weddings and a Funeral fame. As a result, the comdedic touches feel unforced and the drama feels real and tangible.

The only fault I could find with the film is that to whittle the running time down to a 153 minutes much of the 734 page tome has been cut and characters like Sirius Black and Professor Snape are reduced to walk-ons (in Sirius' case, fireplace-on) with only a handful of lines. Indeed, Harry's rivals in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour only have two lines apiece. But who cares, I quite liked the film and for me, the Harry Potter train has yet to derail.

By the way, this is what Reykjavík looks like at 10:00 am. Enjoy.

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:51:52 GMT

I call this one: The Big Mitsubishi that could

Taken on Higway 1 about 30 kilometers from Akureyri.

Bigger version here

Been a long time yeah

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 08:52:04 GMT

...but hell, I've been muy busy. When work or school isn't intruding, I try to squeeze in a resemblance of a life. Not always easy mind you but the fact that I'm seeing someone makes it much more bearable. I always figured I was way to selfish for a relationship but I just might be proving myself wrong. Doesn't hurt that she's incredibly patient (evidently I talk a LOT in my sleep :)

So work + school + relationship = not much time for LJ updates.

But in an effort to disprove the rumours of my demise, here's some random thingies:

The latest photogallery, featuring a walk down hill of Þingholt and colorful houses as well as the requisite suspicious ducks (and swans).

A few recent Photoshop assignments for school by yours truly:

Tower Of Terror

Goodbye Pearl

Me on the cover of World Photography (a made-up magazine)

The Legendary German Disco-Cat

Eyes in the sink

Someone seems to have inserted a house in my back yard (this one's true, not a PS assignment, they moved it under the cover of night)

I shit you not, the upper pic was taken last summer, the lower pic was taken a week ago. Someone added a freaking house!!

Jennifer gave me an inflatable sheep

I call her Baaaarbara

And finally, my Moses-like beard (soon to be trimmed :)

Let my people gooooo!

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 17:38:40 GMT

A little update:

Work: Busy
School: Busy
Life: Busy

As a part of a school assignment I went up into the tower of Hallgrímskirkja, the tallest (accessible to the general public that is)building in Iceland. To think I have lived in this city for almost 20 years without doing that, for shame! Pics below.

Also, I think I was in Copenhagen.

Forever autumn

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 08:24:31 GMT

One of the few benefits of autumn in Reykjavík is the sheer explosive beauty of the colors. Last week I wandered around the city, trying to capture the fleeting beauty of the fall. Also, I met a cat. Pictures below.

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 02:09:56 GMT

Wild skies over Selfoss, August 05th 2005.

People in stucco houses shouldn't throw quiche.

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 13:36:11 GMT

So, in a case of nostalgia, me orders this :)

Wed, 07 Sep 2005 01:20:13 GMT

All I want for christmas is this cool helicopter, wrapped in a festive blue cloth....the blades are probably sold seperately.

Ah screw it, I want the yacht too!

Sat, 03 Sep 2005 09:47:21 GMT

Here's a couple of other versions of that pic: both high contrast high contrast, on b&w and one in color.

The Right-Wing DVD Player

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:21:55 GMT

Recently I bought a cheap-ass Roadstar DVD player for just under 5000 ISK ( 76 USD/65 EUR) and while it has served me rather well, there is one feature which is pissing me off to no end: The Parental Control! In my fiddling around with the player, I have somehow managed to turn on some sort of code-protected Parental Lock feature which prohibits me from playing some DVD's. Here's a sample of what the player will and will not play.

The player has no problem showing me these titles:

Marathon Man: An uplifting tale of murders and espionage, featuring a particularly gruesome dental torture scene in which Laurence Olivier drills holes in Dustin Hoffman's teeth.

Rambo III: Arguably the most violent of the Rambo films, with Sylvester Stallone killing half of the Soviet Union as he takes on the Red Army in Afghanistan and kicks some righteous ass.

Gladiator: The cheerful, über-violent tale of General Maximus Decimus Meridius' quest for vengeance in ancient Roman times, complete with dismemberments, beheadings and general mayhem.

These flicks however, are on the no-no list:

Jesus Christ Superstar: An preposterous, blasphemous work which dares tell the story of the last days of Jesus from Judas' point of view and makes Judas into a sympathetic character. Also, it has rock music which we know is the devil's work!

Rocky Horror Picture Show: A sickening freakfest of transsexual proportions which prominently features men in fishnet stockings and women of loose morals cavorting with glistening bodybuilders!

Notting Hill: A particularly insidious piece of work featuring Hugh Grant, a person of low moral standing, lecherously pursuing America's Sweetheart, Julia Roberts. In addition, Grant's roomate in the film is a Welshman!

Ice in the (late) summer

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:29:25 GMT

No, this is not the Arctic Circle but rather a charming little place, just 90 minutes away from Reykjavik.

Yesterday was my first time on top of a glacier (Langjökull), along with some Iceland Telecom co-workers and wouldn't you know it, visibility was just around zero. But what the hell, it was a blast anyway, I got to drive a snowsled for the first time (most likely in an endless circle due to not being able to see anything), we made some snow angels and my beard froze. And to cap a good day off, when we came down from the icy plains a barbecue awaited us. Pics from the day can be seen by clicking the pic above, featuring some happy Iceland Telecomers.

Ah, the culture of it all!

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 17:24:32 GMT

So last night was the 10th annual Reykjavík Culture Night. On this night, the city center blossoms with all manner of cultural happenings: Poetry readings, concerts, art exhibitions and the like. Around 11 o'clock, every Reykvikian's eyes are turned to the sky as the traditional firework display lights up the bay.

Following the fireworks, the dazzled denizens stroll around the center and perhaps favour a house of spirits with their patronage, all in the name of glorious culture.

Then, after midnight, someone's car gets rolled over.