September 2007

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This autumn has been amazingly busy, with 3 big productions drawing to an end. One of the fruits of our hard work was that last week we had the premiere of our second documentary in the Norwegian Film Institute in Olso. The same day “Z for Zaitzow” went on sale, yours for only 159 kroners.

Produced on 16:9 DVcam, I was amazed at the quality of the projection on a HD projector. Skin tones looked slightly weird, but other than that there was an impressive amount of detail dreived from the SD picture.

We got some very good comments on the film, and the “grand old daddy” of Norwegian film critics wrote a very favourable comment about the documentary, stating that it was “better than many [drama] films”.

Directed and written by Kaare Stang, edited by Tali Weiss, filmed by yours truly. English subtitled and NTSC version available for international buyers.

Over the years I have tried a couple of different hosts. Last year I briefly gave one.com a try, but found their services too restrictive and moved the one web site I had with them (they only allow one) to my favourite host. So I was surprised when I received an invoice for my upcoming renewal for my hosting plan at one.com. I sent a friendly e-mail explaining that I have stopped using their services a long time ago, and that I had moved the domain name as well. One.com replied that I had to pay anyway, even though my account was now closed - because you have to terminate your account 45 friggin’ days before the renewal date. That’s like half a digital year. Obviously that clause is there for the sole purpose of extracting money from disgruntled customers.

Well, it served its purpose. I paid the bill, and I am now an (annoyed, bad-tempered, beefing, bellyaching, cranky, critical, disappointed, discontent, discontented, displeased, dissatisfied, griping, grouchy, grousing, grumpy, irritable, irritated, kicking, kvetching, malcontent, malcontented, peeved, peevish, petulant, put out, sulky, sullen, testy, uncontent, ungratified, vexed) ex-customer. Now effectively I had to pay 24 months for a service I used maybe two of.

One.com is neither the cheapest, the fastest, the friendliest, the most open, most flexible hosting provider out there. I for one (sorry for the cheap pun) recommend Media Temple.

For Norwegian google users: Ikke bruk one.com; one.com suger.

When I was a kid, I loved making flipbooks. They could have between 2 and 100 pictures. Flipbook.info is a great site that has many videos of antique flipbooks.

I was delighted to find out that there is software to print out your films, and make a thumb-able movie. For the Mac there is the free DYI flipbooks, and if you are on Windows, you can start your search here.

A US sandwich chain is taking the concept further and made a human flipbook: And a fun how-did-they-make-it film:

“Everyone” seems to be talking about the iPhone. “Everyone” seems to want one. Truth is, most people don’t really care. And the truth is also, of all the people who really do want one, most simply can not get one:There is still no word as to when (or even if) the iPhone will come to Norway and Scandinavia.

And as to all the buzz around the $200 rebate, here is a link to Steve Jobs’ First Letter of Apology.

So long I resisted “monetizing” my blog. But today I received an offer that proved hard to resist. (And no horses were involved.) The makers of text-link-ads now also offer Auction Ads, which places eBay auctions on your blog. If your blog’s visitor wins an auction, you get a share. You have control over the layout, but most importantly over the key-words. Which means that you can chose ads that fit your blog. And the best part: if you sign up in September, you get an instant $25 credit to your account.

I’m currently in Berlin, where I studied some 10 years ago. And boy, has this city changed. And boy, how it has not changed. Lots of energy, creativity, space for alternative thinking. And many new, huge, amazing buildings.

The only problem that Berlin faces, is that it is not part of Norway

More posts once I return. I might even post some pictures from the world chapionate (sic) in fireworks, which is the reason I am in this awesome town. (Oh, and our sweet brother Sweden won.)