
How does a swedish refinary sound? And why should sugar in any way
be connected to a science fiction-forum? Well, recently I read this:
"This is a conceptalbum and also the example of a new music-genre, Industrial Cool.
The images reveal large factory- and machinecomplex and the music
is 100% made of sampled industry- and factorysound (one artist per track).
Very, very different; very, very suggestive; very, very machineindustrial; very, very futuristic..."
A link was also offered: pleazure.org/ic1/ and there I read:
"C1 - The birth of Industrial Cool, an international compilation of tracks
based around the given theme of sounds from a Swedish sugar refinery."
The site also offered lots of samples,
and as I was in the mood for something new, I gave it a try.
Indeed, very strange, and also "very, very futuristic". Try listen...
Yesterday one of my friends suggested an art expeditition,
to an exibition with the promising theme: the real and the fantastic.
I wasn't sure what to think or say most of the time,
but then I turned around a corner and was really impressed:
A wall? A fall? It was called "The Valley" I discovered, but I have never seen a valley like this;
a paper installation, many meters high, many meters wide, and incredible etherical...
"The Valley" was created by Marianne Therese Grønnow in 2006.

This is how they look. But why..?

How much is a trillion?
Opinions may differ and political discussions may run forever, unresolved. |
1 1.000 1.000.000 1.000.000.000 1.000.000.000.000 |
Yesterday it finally happened. Broadband arrived...
Originally I imagined that the new broadband box could coexist with the old modem, but no. The old had to go. Of course I won't miss the (much) higher rates of dial-up every time. Yet I felt strangely nostalgic about it.
The first phase of the internet is now behind me: from now on I'm always on. The net is no longer 'a new world', an exotic place, an exception. Instead it's just another facet of modern life, a thing in the background. One more anonymous box.
One aspect I don't mind at all: the economy is reversed. Before it was expensive, and the more you wanted the more you payed. Now I pay a small monthly sum, and the more time I spend the cheaper it gets. Flat rate is also quite predictable, which is also quite nice.
I noticed the same reversion when I acquired the digital camera in 2002. From then on photography was free (except for the occasional print). A month ago I finally took the time to create a second, external backup of all digital photographs:
I was amazed at the number: in a few years I had taken more than 17000 photos, probably more than I ever made with the old analog camera.
Still, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic, looking at the now (and forever) unemployed modem. I know it was expensive. And noisy too. I never discovered how sound could be turned off. But the screeching sounds the neíghbours heard, were sweet music to me. They signalled: here we go, to far and exotic places. Let's see it all...
Before I'm overwhelmed with nostalgia, I could compare this with my first computer (not a pc). Sure it was fantastic, but also had serious limitations. The speed: 0,004 Ghz. Memory: 0,000032 Gb. I wouldn't be surprised if a common refrigerator could outrun it today. And I dare not even think of the toaster...