music: the oustide agency (thank you, my other half)
drink: cranberry tea
mood: happy (wait.. what?)

yes, i'm still alive and kicking.

starting with somewhat stale news as always.
a month ago i finished yet another collaboration with a really cool french writer/digital artist nihil (i know, i know, i have a little crush on french artists, it seems). i am mightily satisfied with the result of our work and hope there will be more to come. for those of you who master french i would highly recommend to check out nihil's book in progress - the english translation of some extracts from it totally blew me away.

i've also managed to complete my little european trip and it was nothing but amazing.

i started with cologne in germany where i was invited by my friend and the writer of the verses to my images Steffen aka Starkall. we visited the famous dragon castle, had a sushi overdose in bonn (that's what happens when you pay 12 EUR for "all you can eat"), spent a good chunk of time at the koln role play convention (by far the greatest gathering of geeks and freaks i've ever seen) and i tasted some really good german good, topped with drinking and dancing in one of the local cyber-goth clubs. so yes, lots of fun and impressions for one weekend - special thanks to Steffen for everything, it was great.

next stop - belgium, where i was harboured by another good friend of mine Hans VR. we drove to the coast (of course i had to dip my feet in the sea although the water was still cold for a substantial swim), payed a visit to antwerpen and gent (my love forever), was kindly introduced to some really nice local restaurants and generally we had a very pleasant relaxing time. the most curious place we visited was the red lights district in antwerpen - i've seen this phenomenon before in amsterdam during the light of day, so the impression was not that strong. in twilight the place is totally freaky, unreal and somewhat magical. huge gratitude to Hans for all the care and entertainment, i hope to come back again soon *wink*

and last but not least - paris. i know it will sound very cheesy and cliche but it is indeed the most romantic city i've ever been to (or well, maybe the circumstances made me feel this way, not sure). i was lucky to crash at Delphyne's, the girl i love and admire a lot - it was fun staying at her place and keeping her company with wine, chocolate and girls talk. later on i relocated to montgeron (20 min from paris) to abuse the kindness of my colleague and co-creator nihil. the whole week was quite intense, including all the famous sightseeings, a kickass gig of atari teenage riot (special thanks to nihil for taking me there), my first tripping (sue me but that was a mindblowing experience), a shoot together with my dear hosts (the result coming soon!), a birthday party of Trez (yet another cool artist that i was really looking forward to meet in person), numerous restaurants with exceptionally good food and lots of other small things that completely knocked me off my feet. i don't have enough words to thank everyone responsible for these 6 days of magic, and saying that i would like to go back there would be a mere understatement.

i got a lot more pictures but i thought i'd keep this post relatively "light" - i'll probably reveal the rest of the tourist captures and backstage fooling around on facebook.

returning to cold rainy norway was rather painful. the next fun event is going to happen in june - i'm doing a workshop together with Peter Kemp in hemnesberget, it promises to be quite entertaining. otherwise i'll have to deal with the boring reality and keep looking for a job, which at this point has become rather crucial *sigh*

oh, i've also won a gold medal at the famous trierenberg supercircuit and am invited to the official gala in linz (austria) to collect my reward. since the event is going to happen in september, i don't know yet if i will be able to go, but of course it could be a nice venture. *a litte proud of myself*

i got several projects on hold and a new idea riping in my mind, so i hope i will have time to get started on some/all of them in the nearest future.

stay tuned :)