D A L I F . C O M

Yeah, I dunno what the hell. I wanted to update serendipity because I got some trouble in the admin section. Of course it interspersed with the usual mixup between me and the guy in charge. And later on, I had some problems with the permissions. You know, the usual stuff. But we got it sorted in the end, and now I can proceed to type out all the stuff I've been saving up over the past 4 days. So... first tho, I'll eat some lasagna and drink a coke. Then perhaps I'll have time to write you a note or two. 

As you'll probably know, I was riffling through boxes today, trying to tidy up in some of the crap I've got around. Well I did manage to sort 5 years worth of opened and unopened mail. Bank letters, all kinds of official letters, letters from various agencies... that sort of stuff. Boring, but I'd rather keep it sorted in case I needed a specific letter one day, I'd be able to find it, instead of, as usual, having no idea where stuff is. Anyway, in the box with the mail, I also found a bag of misc stuff. Some gamepads, old receipts, a few manuals for different electronic gadgets, a small piggy bank with foreign coins... I also found a pair of handcuffs. That costs me nearly 3 hours of productive time spent in agony.

I used to have two pairs. They are essentially playthings, but whereas one of them has a small mechanism for unlocking the cuffs, the other pair does not. That pair was always the most fun, seing as getting out of them actually constituted a challenge. I spent many an hour picking the cuffs in all kinds of scenarios. Locked to a chair or a table or whav have we. I managed to pick the locks of both cuffs behind my back in 11 seconds flat, with just a paper clip. Cool, I thought back then. I had the same thought for a while today. But I knew just tossing the cuffs on willy nilly would probably be a mistake. So I found a paper clip, and picked the lock of one side of the cuffs. Was easy. Cool, thought I. I must still have my mad skillz of yesteryear. So I toss the cuffs on, and start picking. But they aren't coming off as easily as I had imagined. In fact, they aren't coming off at all. I pick away, but can't seem to get the technique down properly. An hour passes where I'm focused on getting the cuffs open, without success. I consider briefly looking for a key that's bound to be around somewhere. But it'd take me forever to find one, provided I even have one still.

Another hour passes, and I'm still not getting them open. My paperclip is worn thin at this point. Has already broken once, and I'm not sure where to find another. I start prowling the apartment for items that can be used. But I come up empty. Not gonna say I panicked at any point, but.. it was starting to get pretty annoying. Also, my wrists were turning red. Finally, the left side popped open, and I went to town on the right side with renewed vigor. My dad was supposed to visit during the evening, and I slowly realized I probably wouldn't be able to get the cuffs all the way off before he came around.

And I wasn't. So I presented the problem to him, and he tried to pick the lock for a bit. But he had less understanding of the locking mechanism than I had, so I decided I'd just keep trying idly, while chatting to him. So I did. 30 minutes later, they popped off, and I could rub my burning right wrist and once more smell the clean brisk air of freedom. The cuffs are now on the kitchen table, and while I think it'll be a while before I give them a go again, I can't help but admit it was fun with a bit of a challenge. I'll need more paperclips first tho :)

Back to work and normal life after a week of unabridged relaxation and gaming. Yep yep. Found out the painter, who's going to paint most of my apartment won't be able to make it here til October. At first I was a little miffed, but then I figured, what the hell. I mean, besides one or two walls where it looks a little scruffy due to shelves and stuff being taken down, everything is pretty much as it has been for years. So no skin off my nose for waiting another 6-8 weeks. Only real problem is, I don't have a lot of space to put stuff yet. Still have about 5 boxes of stuff just idling on the floor. Today, however, I decided to finish some of them off. I figured, if I could boil the contents down to like.. one or two boxes, I could stowe them in a different room, and they wouldn't take up space in my living room. So that's what I decided to do. And boy, all kinds of stuff turned up.

With LAN over, all we had left to do was drive home, deliver our belgian friend to the authorities at the airport, then turn back the car to the rental folks. Had an interesting time renting the car, being quoted lots of different prices. We ended up on a semi-ok price, with included 700km roadtime. We were glad to find that we could make it all the way there and back again on 3/4 of a tank. Economic car for sure. But we did exceed the km amount with about 30 due to the airport run. But what the hell. It was like 2 kroner per extra anyway, and I wanted to give the foreigner a ride out there. 

Anyway, having turned in the car, and no LAN to attend, Bense and I were standing outside the rental place, eyes glaring at the busy street life we had been removed from, for a full week. 'Now what', was the question that presented itself most urgently. And the reply: why the hell not just catch a movie. We're in town anyway. It's sunday and neither one of us have anything to do. It was 10:45 in the am, and most movie theaters had their matinees about to start. We went in, and after a bit decided upon Hulk. I've heard decent things about it, and while the 2004 version by Ang Lee absolutely sucked, I had confidence that not only would Edward Norton to a better job than Eric Bana, but the makers of the new one would have learned from the disaster run of the older version. Before the movie we had a good 45 minutes to kill, and since it was early, and neither one of us had had breakfast, we decided we'd grab a bite. McD is usually the only choice in town unless you wanna go to a sit down restaurant and order from a menu. So McD it was.

And then, the movie. And it didn't suck. I was well impressed with it actually. While the first movie spent a lot of time with how the hell Bruce Banner got himself into the Hulk predicament, this new movie got that whole deal over with before the beginning credits had finished rolling. At first I was a little bewildered. "Is this it for the pre-story" I found myself wondering. But when the next 5-10 minutes didn't present itself with further explanation, I figured it was. And I was pleased. Because, to be honest, it's pretty boring. Bruce Banner isn't an interesting enough character to carry a lot of movietime without Hulk backing him up. Not like Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne can anyway. But here, it did get interesting. Even though it took a fair amount of time before we got a look at the Hulk himself, the movie had a good drive and a fair amount of suspense.

I guess you could say that this movie, as opposed to the 2004 one, does require the viewer to have a certain knowledge of the story. As I mentioned, the whole prelude explaining how Bruce Banner got himself into trouble, is dealt with in images only, during credits. Granted, some more explanation can be gathered during the movie itself, from dialogue, but even so. Didn't bother me tho, and as I had expected, Edward Norton was pretty friggin good. Also, I enjoyed how they dealt with the inevitable lovescene between him and Liv Tyler (who is as stunning as ever). William Hurt lived up to his usual standard as the war mongering general, and of course... the Stark cameo in the final moment of the movie. Gives you the feeling that something big is being cooked up for us down at Marvel Studios.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie a whole lot, and I doubt I'm alone on that front. I never understood why they'd want Ang Lee to make a Hulk movie (he did the 2004). I mean, if you look at his resume, he is well out of his usual genre. For that matter, I dunno why he'd even wanna do it. I guess he wanted to try something different. He does good movies usually, so I don't doubt his abilities as a director. I'm just saying, sometimes it's best to stick with what you know. But of course, if everybody did that, where would we be. Kudos for trying, Ang. You did get bested though.

What can be more fitting for a guy at his wits end, than a week of non-stop gaming and geeking? I don't know either. So that's what I'm going. Tearing a week out of my not really busy schedule to play some Quake and some CS and some whatever other game I can get my hands on with a bunch of friends. 

A friend flew in from Belgium, to drive with me and Bense. We rented a car from Hertz, and on Monday we drove the 300 odd kilometers from Copenhagen to the house of our friend. It's small time, but what the hell. We only need computers and stuff. And of course we brought our own anyway.

So, lots of soda, and frozen food, the warmth of the comps and a few hours of sleep. That's what this week is all about. It's 4:30 in the am, and my eyes are starting to fog up a bit, so I think I'll head out, but just wanted to drop a few words. Trying to keep myself at the bat with this website thing. I did enjoy writing, but just had a lot of crap going on, what with medication and doctors and psychiatrists and stuff. Oh, and work. Anyway, sleepytime, and I'll be back shortly.