Tag Archive for 'HP'

Shanghai adventures, part IV: Show, friends and the end of this journey.

Published on October 12, 2009 in food culture and travel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The end of this adventure is here. Tomorrow, I set point my nose to Europe and home. The last days have been spent mostly in the theatre, working on our performance. We did two shows, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Both went very well, and with a 90% audience attendance of maximum cpacity, I think we are all happy with the result. I would also like to commend Arkadi Zaidi for his piece, that complemented ours very well, and made for a nice and diverse evening.

Today, my new Israeli friends and myself went walking in the old town. A beautiful, but not so well tendered, example of old and ancient Chinese architecture. – Almost the cliche we think of when we think about Chinese houses. Some of the places are quite commercialized, with lots of markets for tourists and shops that sells classic Chinese souvenirs I guess. We went of the beaten track and wandered into the slum area of Shanghai, a completely different feel, much more lively in a way, food and animals everywhere. Shops that sells fake brands all over, and lots of people trying to lure westerners like us into their shop. We found a back alley with a small restaurant, and we managed somehow to order some food, and it was really good. It was a simple soup with homemade noodles (we saw the lady in the back making them) and coriander. Tasty and plentiful. Just the way it should be.

I was quite happy today, as I didn’t wander Shanghai alone – I spent the day with my new Israeli friends (the choreographer, dancer and manager of the Israeli company that shared our stage) and we really had a good time together. Making friends is not always easy in strange countries, but we found some common ground and interests, and I am sure we shall at least stay in touch. The blessings of modern technology is sometimes invaluable.

Tomorrow I get up early for the flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, before I transfer to my plane back home to Oslo. It has been a wonderful trip, with sights and experiences worth every hour and penny spent on it. However, it is always nice to come home again. Hopefully, Shanghai is a city I will come back to at some point, and see how the development of this megapolis is changing the life here, and where it will go in the next years.

See you wherever you are.

Hans out.

Shanghai adventures, part I: they have sparrows in China too.

Published on October 8, 2009 in in real life, travel and work. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

What a wonderous and amazing place this is. Here, I am the stranger – the foreigner. I couldn’t blend in here even if I wanted to, it’s a feeling I’ve never had before and yet it feels good. I feel like an explorer, discovering something truly amazing for the first time.

Shanghai is a wonder of the ages, the mix and mash of old Chinese culture and the new, western style business life is evident everywhere. From huge corporate complexes and skyscrapers to housing areas with tens of thousands of flats and condos. The first thing however, that you really notice as you are going from the airport to the city, is how badly they drive. I think I was glad I survived three times in the 1 hour it took to reach the hotel… really no respect for other drivers; or the law. Second thing you notice is the size. With 17 million people and a higher population density than New York city makes for an enormous entity of a city, a complete mess of modern glass and steel next to ancient bricks and stone. Speaking of mess; the third thing you really notice is the architecture of the modern buildings. It feels like every architect it China saw Bladerunner or Star Wars and thought “I want to build that” – and did. It looks brilliantly futuristic no matter which way you turn your head. And more are popping up all the time. Shanghai is growing by roughly 40.000 inhabitants each month at the moment, so you can imagine the construction works needed to keep up. And with the enormous area for the 2010 World Expo under construction as well – it comes as no surprise that 5% of all cranes in the world are currently in Shanghai. (roughly 50% in Dubai / UAE and the rest is spread all around the world)

But, the weary and tired traveler has to eat. So he did. I went in to the first local shop I found and ordered something that looked good with Jasmin Tea. On first attempt, I got the best tea I have ever had! This country really knows it’s tea! And for the food? Believe me when I say that if you haven’t been to China then you never had chinese. The bland stuff we call chinese food at home is so far from the reality that you might as well have something else. The food here is fantastic, so much flavour, so many spices, tastes and smell I have never crossed before – a true feast for eyes and nose.

This shall be all for now. I will try and write some more every day as my adventure unfolds. Keep watching in.

Strange and foreign as it is, when I had breakfast this morning I saw a little sparrow hopping around looking for a crumble or two it could eat. :)

Wind.

Published on September 19, 2009 in in real life. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

You are not here tonight. We are separated by the physical world, by chance and by the real life. We are together still though. In thoughts and in feelings. And in feelings, there are actions. And in actions, there is destiny. Dangerous word destiny is, the brother of death eventually. I however, fear not the future anymore, because I have you.

I have flown. I have felt and I have seen. The world is mine to hold tonight. I know how it ends. Perfect moments in the sun. The golden rays over you hair, a light breeze that rustles it. The clear stary sky at night, thousands of millions of stars looking down on us, as we two, lovers, hold hands and walk into whatever awaits us. I know how it ends. Because I have you. My one, my last, my love.

Yours.

Summertime

Published on July 19, 2009 in work. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Summer’s here. It’s been here a while actually, and so far it has been very good. Lots of good weather, lots of good times. We spent the first parts of it moving place (previous post) and then we ventured to the fair city of Trondheim for a week of fun, BBQ’ing and good friends. We returned to Oslo this week and are heading to Ireland tomorrow for a weeks visit to our dear friend Sheena. After that it’s a few days home before we go to Valderøy and my grandmother, then I am going to Zurich for 4 days before returning to Oslo and Øyafestivalen on the 10th of august. In September I am off to Scotland to design the latest X-factor piece which we will take to Shanghai, China (!) in October!

All in all, pretty busy. In between this I have plans to finish building my gallery. Updating the BLS blog theme, installing WP on a another website I took over and finish the graphics for Sjetneskolekorps.no. Doing some work with Livenation on Coldplay and Madonna at the end of August as well, will be fun!

catcH you at some Point

the days go by…

Published on May 31, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

And quickly they pass. Today I finally finished last years financial reports and my incomme tax return. Wohoo! Now I’m here at night, Signhild is out of town, so I’m spending my time catching up on all the boring parts of work, as well as doing some thinking and sketching out some new ideas.

Been thinking, perhaps I could go back into politics? I mean, It’s somewhere where I kinda always have been heading, just never did anything out of it. And with this years election and the current state of the world, perhaps it’s time to pitch in and try to help out making it a better place. I’m not saying I have all the solutions, or that my ideas are better than anyone elses, but we could talk about it, discuss it properly and see if we might just come up with something useful together?

In other news, started some work on my gallery page, I have the idea now, so when I find time to build it it will be back up and running. Should proboably fix the problems with the galleries on lighting as well… and update the projets page, the services page and some other stuff.. and get cracking with the history section as well.. see, lot’s off things to do. And that’s just outside of work.

Anyhow, a rather pointless update today as you can see. Catch me some other day or in the real life.

Eurovision Song contest, national finals, the party.

Published on February 22, 2009 in work. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I will not comment on the people, the place, what happened and what I think about the music. Simply because I shouldn’t.

However, it is on these jobs, these silly silly small jobs bereft of all class and elegance, with no artistic goal whatsoever, that I realize how lucky I am. I have the luxury of not having to do this jobs if I don’t really want to… well, I don’t want to, but sometimes I feel compelled to step in and help out when someone calls and asks for help. I guess that is how it works really… wanting to help out a bit too much sometimes. Sad part is that I never realize it before halfway through the job what shit this really is. Still, I feel privileged to be able to do it, and then not to do it should I choose to. I guess that’s something.

There will be some talk about food culture tomorrow I hope. Now I shall go de-rig some Desisti softlights. Two of them.

H.

in the real life.

Published on February 19, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

For now. This is the universe as I see it. For now, you can not read anything from the past. Content and design is being reworked.

One important thing is to mention that this site will no longer be multi lingual. I will stick to English in the future. It makes updating the site much easier. HP logg will still be in norwegian though.

See you soon.