Northern Nomad

The adventures of A Canadian abroad in Norway

Information Age Prayer is a site that charges you a monthly fee to say prayers for you. A typical charge is $4.95 per month to say three prayers specified by you each day.

“We use state of the art text to speech synthesizers to voice each prayer at a volume and speed equivalent to typical person praying,” the company states. “Each prayer is voiced individually, with the name of the subscriber displayed on screen.”

everydayfrustone:

Nihilistic Optimistic: New Shadow Sculptures built from Discarded Wood

Earlier this week London-based duo Tim Noble and Sue Webster opened their first solo show since 2006 at Blain|Southern in London. Titled Nihilistic Optimistic, the exhibition includes six large-scale sculptures built from what appear to be haphazard clumps of discarded wood but when illuminated by a light projector create uncannily accurate self-portraits of the artists. Via their artist statment:

Tim Noble and Sue Webster take ordinary things including rubbish, to make assemblages and then point light to create projected shadows which show a great likeness to something identifiable including self-portraits. The art of projection is emblematic of transformative art. The process of transformation, from discarded waste, scrap metal or even taxidermy creatures to a recognizable image, echoes the idea of ‘perceptual psychology’ a form of evaluation used for psychological patients. Noble and Webster are familiar with this process and how people evaluate abstract forms. Throughout their careers they have played with the idea of how humans perceive abstract images and define them with meaning. The result is surprising and powerful as it redefines how abstract forms can transform into figurative ones.

source. Colossal

My roommates Einard and Harlem share a birthday! Such fun.

My roommates Einard and Harlem share a birthday! Such fun.

Change is always good.

Can you spot the strange element in this photo?

Can you spot the strange element in this photo?

Aquavit is dangerous.

I’ve had my first drunken night out in Oslo. I can honestly say that once you’ve began to drink Aquavit at a bar you’ve reached the tipping point between buzzed and DRUNK.

At least drinking is prohibitively expensive here (although Norwegians get annihilated on a very regular basis). Three beer will cost you around 50,- CAD. Ouch.

I’ve also found that eating out is very very very expensive. A lunch (drinking only water and coffee) ended up costing 600,- NOK (103,- CAD).

On the brighter side, hope everyone enjoys the video linked above. The genre is called ELECTRO SWING and is a beacon of hope on an ocean of bad music.

Grey days in Oslo. C’mon sunshine!

Grey days in Oslo. C’mon sunshine!

Edvard Munch’s - The Scream I’ve been extremely busy with work this past week getting ready for the spring menu. Once things settle down over the next few days, I’ll post some pics of the food!

Edvard Munch’s - The Scream

I’ve been extremely busy with work this past week getting ready for the spring menu. Once things settle down over the next few days, I’ll post some pics of the food!

Pan seared cod w chestnut purée, capers, asparagus tips, pickled onions pea shoots and demi.

Pan seared cod w chestnut purée, capers, asparagus tips, pickled onions pea shoots and demi.

God Påske! (goo poe-sk) Easter weekend has arrived! The streets are oddly vacant and EVERYTHING is closed. Pretty much the only thing open is restaurants. Banks, clothing stores, grocery stores; everyone shuts down this weekend. Norwegians take five days for Easter, which is good for me (hello, double time holiday pay!). To all my friends in North America, have an excellent and nourishing Zombie Jesus day.

God Påske! (goo poe-sk)

Easter weekend has arrived! The streets are oddly vacant and EVERYTHING is closed. Pretty much the only thing open is restaurants. Banks, clothing stores, grocery stores; everyone shuts down this weekend. Norwegians take five days for Easter, which is good for me (hello, double time holiday pay!).

To all my friends in North America, have an excellent and nourishing Zombie Jesus day.

This is officially the best view i’ve had from a kitchen yet. A year of working nights in northern BC was totally worth scoring a fine dining gig that has a front and center view of the Oslo fjord harbour. It’s become extremely important to me to live in a beautiful setting and have a good view. It makes life so much more pleasant to look out into something that makes you feel grateful for, and connected to, your landscape. When I was in the pastry shop at JPL, I relished the fact that we were the only department in the kitchen that had windows (small windows near the ceiling, but at least we had natural light) and in the winter were able to watch the sunrise over Pyramid Mt. every day. In BC, I lived on a massive lake surrounded by an overgrown landscape. The sunrises and sunsets were among the most intense and vividly bright pink and blue skies I have ever witnessed. No matter how frustrated I may have been that day, seeing a dynamic sky set against serene wilderness made me feel lucky to be there. And now I’m in Oslo. I don’t expect to have everything fall into my lap (even though it sort of has so far…), I know there will be times that I hate my job, times that I REALLY miss my amazing friends and family, and times when I want to run away in search of something more; but for the time being I have a cool home, a great job and an un-fucking-believable view into the harbour of the Nordic city I travelled 6,493.7 kilometers to live in. My adventure is starting to feel real.

This is officially the best view i’ve had from a kitchen yet. A year of working nights in northern BC was totally worth scoring a fine dining gig that has a front and center view of the Oslo fjord harbour.

It’s become extremely important to me to live in a beautiful setting and have a good view. It makes life so much more pleasant to look out into something that makes you feel grateful for, and connected to, your landscape.

When I was in the pastry shop at JPL, I relished the fact that we were the only department in the kitchen that had windows (small windows near the ceiling, but at least we had natural light) and in the winter were able to watch the sunrise over Pyramid Mt. every day.

In BC, I lived on a massive lake surrounded by an overgrown landscape. The sunrises and sunsets were among the most intense and vividly bright pink and blue skies I have ever witnessed. No matter how frustrated I may have been that day, seeing a dynamic sky set against serene wilderness made me feel lucky to be there.

And now I’m in Oslo. I don’t expect to have everything fall into my lap (even though it sort of has so far…), I know there will be times that I hate my job, times that I REALLY miss my amazing friends and family, and times when I want to run away in search of something more; but for the time being I have a cool home, a great job and an un-fucking-believable view into the harbour of the Nordic city I travelled 6,493.7 kilometers to live in.

My adventure is starting to feel real.

Seen on Hausmansgate.

Seen on Hausmansgate.