D A L I F . C O M

Why so serious?

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:28:00 +0200

Ok, it wasn't a subtle title for this post, but hell.. it's a nice and fitting title nonethesame. As you will have guessed, I've seen The Dark Knight at the movie theater. Actually, as of today, I've seen it twice. And I'm not sure I can say I've seen it for the last time during it's theater run. You see, I find that the movie pretty much rules everything I can think of. And there are numerous reasons for this. But it wasn't until I emerged from the theater today, that I realized just how to explain what made the movie so good to me. In short, it's the paradox of the tagline (why so serious) vs. how serious the movie actually is. Because it deals with issues that I can relate very closely to. Not great personal issues, for once, but issues I have with views of the world. I saw someplace, somebody wrote: there is a little joker in all of us. And rarely are truer words spoken. You see, that's exactly the point I've been trying to formulate in my head for years. And finally, Heath Ledger and Chris Nolan visualises it so supremely for me. Because that was exactly what made the movie so good for me.

The Joker represents the insanity in all of us. The wish for anarchy and the wish to see just how far you can push people before they snap. The movie is a sociological study in my eyes. I've always thought that every living person on this earth was a psychopath in the clinical sense of the word, and the degree of manifestation was relative to how far they were pushed by society or other people. The movie does explore into this, and concludes that people are, when push comes to shove, inherently good. I'm not sure if I agree or not. I don't fully disagree, let me say that much at least. But that's besides the point. I enjoyed this movie, if for nothing else, then the fact that the joker was so spot on the purified version of every human being. Besides this, of course, the movie just simply kicks ass. Heath Ledger. Well, he shouldn't get sole credit, but he does an amazing job with the Joker. I've always been a big fan of the original Batman movie, with Jack Nicholson as the Joker. But whereas Jack did a spiffing job, his Joker was goofy. Not a negative Disney kind of goofy, but he was light hearted, and while he was a murderer and so on and so forth, he had a controlled madness about him. Heath Ledger on the other hand, takes that, and adds a whole new layer. The layer of uncontrolled chaos. He takes the wish for chaos to another level, by really inciting anarchy at every chance he gets. Pitting people against people, and turning honest men against their peers is his sport, and the character study is interesting, and cool. He's cool as the Joker, plain and simply. His uncontrolled chaos and mannerisms makes for smiles and breathtaking excitement at the same time. He has you wanting more. Wanting him to come up with new schemes and plans, so you can spend more time in his company. He appeals to the person in us who'd like to shout at people who annoy us in our day to day lives.

Ok, I won't go deeper into it all for now, since some of you might not have seen the movie, and don't want too much ruined. I will say briefly, that another really interesting character study is Harvey Dent. He's played very well in my opinion, and the turn in his persona is excellent. Very impressed by Aaron. I didn't like Maggie Gyllenhaal too much, but then again, I didn't like Katie Holmes too much either. Rachel Dawes wasn't an appealing character to me, so who plays her doesn't upset me too much. And finally, of course, Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne, and he's doing with the role what you could expect of him. Solid performance, that doesn't disappoint. Mostly though, the overall feeling of the movie is that while the Joker makes you smile, and Batman inspires awe in you, you can't help but feel the movie creep up under your skin. And I felt that was extremely different from what you'd expect from a superhero movie. It had a message other than Good vs. Evil. Other than evil scientist vs. human race or similar plots. It was very down to earth in a sense. That made a huge impact on me. And it made me take it very seriously. You should too.

Execuz me, Miiister. What means diz

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:39:00 +0200

You get asked all kinds of questions from all kinds of people working in the hotelling business. 90% of the questions have obvious answers that people could figure out in less time than it took them to ask it in the first place. If only they actually realized that just because you pay for a hotel room, doesn't mean you automatically have people doing ALL your thinking. 9% of the questions are the same as each other, and are what you can expect from people staying at a hotel. Tell me how to find my way to this and that, how much is your currency exchange rates and can I exchange here, is it possible, can I, would you etc. etc. It's standard, and you just set your brain on standby and let the conversation unfold by itself when these bright stars roll around.

But once in a blue moon you get that rare breed of guests. That diamond in the ro... no not really a diamond. Just.. a rock in the rough. A guest that takes you by surprise by asking a question you hadn't anticipated in a million years. Today, one such guest visited my hotel, and I just so happened to be the lucky guy she asked. The question? Steady on now, friend. Let me give you some more back story first. Do read on!

Continue reading "Execuz me, Miiister. What means diz"

Even shorter break

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:12:54 +0200

Got this bad boy running for about 30 minutes, managed to make a new entry, and change one thing in the admin section before the database decided it had just about had enough. It cut me off, and closed down dalif.com effectively. Again, I contacted my old sysadmin, and once again we were able to restore the page to it's full glory.

So back in black. Or orange as it were. Made a few changes to the page, as you probably won't notice. The footer (bottom part of the page) was updated with the Terms of Service. I also removed the syndication sidebar plugin and put an RSS link in the bottom line. Removed a few other plugins too, and, the largest change, finally I fixed it so only one entry will be displayed on the frontpage. Admittingly, I'm not a big fan of this, but I've been annoyed for quite some time with the way the sidebar was a lot shorter than the entries section. Granted, it is like that with most pages. But I just like it neat and clean looking. So for now, I'll have a minimum of sidebar plugins, and just one entry on the front page. It removes the pesky scrollbar in the side of the browser window too, which I enjoy immensely. Can't stand that bastard.

Ok. I think that's it for now. I'll try and do more work in the skin itself. I like the layout of this, but I'm not too happy about the colors. So I'll be customizing it. Since I'm only semi-adequate when it comes to css and php stuff, I can't guarantee anything. But at least the system is up to date, and looking somewhat swell atm, so with that as my basecamp, I'll work my way up. Oh, and also, I'll try to add entries once in a while. Mostly, I suspect, rants about the hotel life. But hey... can't get enough of those, now can we?

After a short break...

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:25:13 +0200

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.

Lock, cuff and two burning wrists

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:08:41 +0200

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 :)

Sorting the past

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:13:51 +0200

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.

Continue reading "Sorting the past"

Hogan?

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:07:24 +0200

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.

@ LAN

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:20:49 +0200

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.

Let's groove tonight?

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:41:04 +0200

It's been a while since I've posted anything but wtf can you do. Sometimes I jist really can't be arsed.

So why now, you might think. And you'd be right in thinking so. Why now indeed. Well I got my Wii hooked up to the web and bought the Opera extension for it. In layman's terms, this means I'm able to surf the web from the comfort of my couch, using a wiimote and my tv.

I just ordered food from the web using my wii, so I figured I might as well try to login here and post. Cutting this short tho, as typing every letter by itself not only takes forever, it also hurts my hand.

Couch Sleepers

nospam@example.com (Dalif) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:59:31 +0200

Right... I've just about had it. It seems to me that just about every other shift I'm working at that hotel, I find some moron sleeping on a couch in the bar or some other place. What the hell is it with me and that hotel. Are we random people magnets? Does the hotel scream: it's ok... you can sleep in a couch in here without getting disturbed, as long as you don't mind cleaning staff about you.

So this morning, it's a swedish 50 or so year old guy with plenty tattoos on hos hands and arms. The guy has even taken off his shoes for more comfort. It's about 6 in the am, and the cleaning fuckers are just loafing about. It's the second time I've experienced them not telling me when somebody's sleeping in the bar. I try to explain to them that it's important they let me know. But for some reason, they don't. Anyway, I wake him up with a shake of his leg. Not much for touching these weirdos tbh, but I gotta get him up. He's come to life, and I tell him it's go-time. He's looks a little bewildered, but acknowledges the request. My colleague tells him it's now. Not in 5 minutes. He gets up and starts putting on his shoes, while I walk towards the reception area.

I start messing around with a computer, when my colleague approaches me with the guy's credit card in hand. "Do we have any rooms.. He'd like a room", he asks me. I'm momentarily baffled. Does the guy actually have the nerve to ask for a room? I grab the card, and tell my colleague, that no, amazingly enough, we don't have any rooms for this guy. I walk over to the couch sleeper, and ask him if he understands me (seeing as I speak danish, and he speaks drunken swedish). He nods. So I tell him, either you get out of here now, or I will charge the hours you've slept on our couch, to your card. He accepts his card, and starts to walk towards the entrance. Half way there, he turns and mumbles that he's sorry. I disregard him and walk away.

So... go to a hotel and sleep on a couch for free. When you are thrown out, you ask if you can rent a room. Is it just me, or does that sound like a thief stealing a car, and when stopped by police, he says: Oh, I wanted to buy this car.. did I not mention that to the salesman? I know I was being a bit rough with this guy, but seriously. It's disrespectful to a degree where I don't understand how the hell they even think of doing it. And how do they get in? Do they have a masters degree in sneaking about? And it's all kinds of people. Had a bum sleeping in the conference rooms the other day... an elderly chap with a backpack sleeping on the couches.. two chinese girls, no more than 25-26 sleeping on a couch one night. Where do they come from? Does this happen to all hotels?

I shake my head in disbelief... it's amazing really.