3DLeif

Going back to WordPress.

2009-07-03T22:10:00.002+02:00

I decided to go back to WordPress.
New blog here: http://fredheim.wordpress.com/

I'm going to Russia soon!

2009-06-22T19:36:00.004+02:00

Sooo, I finally got my visa today! It's in my passport. Everything is ready! Yay! Come 4th of July, I'm off to Moscow for four weeks to study Russian. Going to be... Interesting. I'll keep a photoblog while I'm there (and still alive) so stay tuned!

The new bamboo futes are here!

2009-06-17T21:20:00.003+02:00

The new flutes and bamboo sax from Erik arrived today and totally -blew- me away! Exceeded all expectations, which were very high in the first place. Honestly, I'm short of words to describe the sound and quality of these instruments... I almost feel like I robbed the man now! All I can say is that, sometimes, you can really tell when someone puts their heart and soul into their work. It's inspirational.

Vector Portraits

2009-06-13T16:51:00.008+02:00

Some new vector illustrations of my good friend, Kira and some of my friends from Japani. These were created with InkScape and Paint.NET from some of my portfolio photography. A special thanks to Peter Selinger for the wonderful InkScape plug-in.

Vector Illustrations

2009-06-13T14:04:00.006+02:00

I've been playing around with this Open Source vector graphics editor called InkScape for a few days now. It's an amazing free alternative to expensive commercial vector editors, such as Adobe Illustrator. This is simply the best Open Source vector graphics editor available, in my opinion. I highly recommend trying it out! Oh, and here are some of my first InkScape illustrations.

"Kake Treff" in Vigelandsparken!

2009-05-24T21:31:00.019+02:00

Yet a beautiful Sunday in Vigelandsparken with a gang of colorful people from Japani and Kreativia! This was the second annual "kake treff." I guess you can translate that to "cake gathering," or something like that... Gather as many friends as possible. Every attendee has to bring his/her own cake. Then, we share! Obviously, there will be a lot of left over cake but that's part of the fun! When everyone is done eating, we trail the park and give random people cake! For free! Everyone loooves free cake, right?!

It's all about relaxing, sharing, eating cake, maybe playing some music and enjoying each others company. 74 people signed up this time, but I don't know how many showed up in the end. We might even have been more than that. Oh, and I found out that giving away free cake isn't that easy if you carry a Ukulele and look like a hippie. Anyways, without further ado, here are some of my pictures from the event!

New Engagements

2009-05-11T22:39:00.005+02:00

I recently had an "awakening experience" which resulted in me teeing off what I believe will be a turning point in my life. I have to become more active and spend my spare time on something worthwhile. I feel the need to stir things up a bit. It's time to try something new and become a part of my community. Basically, I registered with The Red Cross and I'm really motivated to do some volunteer work in and around Oslo. I also registered with a political pary. Wish me luck!

Hind Musical Instruments

2009-05-10T16:27:00.009+02:00

For a while now, I have been looking for a high quality, hand-crafted wooden Ocarina. The other day I got a tip from a friend of mine through one of my regular forums. Charlie Hind (of Hind Musical Instruments.) The most amazing Ocarina craftsman I have ever seen! His "Sweet Potato" Ocarina is exactly what I have been looking for! I ordered one yesterday and now I'm on his 8 week waiting list with my custom Tenor Sweet Potato in Honduras Rosewood. I will write a review and post some pictures when it arrives!

Erik the Flutemaker

2009-05-09T15:24:00.008+02:00

Occasionally, while in an amenable state of mind, you cross paths with someone so inspiring and beautiful, it alters the way you view the world. Somehow, it directly modifies your fundamentals. The steadfast stem of your person shoots new sprouts, which bring to life a new kind of consciousness.

I had one of those "epiphanies" today. Erik Sampson (aka "Erik the Flutemaker") has a rich story to tell. His immense passion for people, music and drama shines through the work he is doing for the children in Nicaragua, not to mention his amazing handcrafted musical instruments!

People like Erik make the world a better place. This genuine and humble soul deserves a greater level recognition. Please check out the Flutemaker Ministries website, read his story and give a donation to his foundation if you can afford it.

Related links:
Flutemaker Ministries
Eriks Online Store
Erik the Flutemaker @ YouTube

My first date with Windows 7!

2009-05-08T14:07:00.007+02:00

Casual smalltalk and eavesdropping on the train, which we all know is the only reliable source of information these days, has informed me that Windows 7 will be Microsofts new knight in shiny armour. Here to slay the dragon Vistarix, spank the jester and save the burning village. With the exeption of Visual C++ Express, I have not been a great fan of Microsofts post-XP endeavors. Hence, I remained an iniquitous sceptic.

As much as I hate admitting that I am of the sort, we humans are curios by nature. One thing leads to another, until one morning when the birds chirp, you wake up next to a perfect stranger. (That has never happened to me of course, for obvious reasons.) Anywhos, I'm now running Windows 7 (64-bit) on my workstation and it seems to be the first reasonable replacement for Windows XP.

It is yet too early to form any kind of objective opinion so let the last few words reverberate. I highly recommend checking it out for yourself! You can sign up and download the Release Candidate of Windows 7 here.

First of May!

2009-05-01T22:35:00.013+02:00

Today was the first of May, and what a beautiful day it was! Labour Day conveniently dawned at the right moment. What better way to spend it than gathering some friends and having a casual BBQ in Frognerparken? Perfect! There were a lot of other people there as well, enjoying the nice weather. Kick-starting the summer of 2009!

Simplistic 3D Work

2009-04-20T22:18:00.006+02:00

A small sample of my more simplistic 3D work. Most of it was created with 3D Studio Max and rendered with VRay or Mental Ray. There's not a lot of thought behind any of these as they were mostly done as a means to relax and focus on something else than everyday life. An hour or so a piece. Come to think of it, that's true for most of the stuff I do in my spare time. For some weird reason it's the "visionless" things like this people tend to favour. Why?

Apophysis Fractals

2009-04-20T21:46:00.011+02:00

Fractal art! Another little hobby of mine. These pictures were created and rendered with the wonderful (GPL) fractal flame editor and renderer, Apophysis. I highly recommend checking it out if you like what you see! It's sooo fun and addicting! Note that this hobby is probably not for the impatient. Try it out, and you will learn to know why!

After many requests, I have made these renders available as prints. Click here to visit my store/print gallery. They are available in a lot of different finishes and sizes :)

"Apophysis has many features for creating and editing fractal flames, including an editor which allows one to directly edit the transforms that comprise the fractal flame, a mutations window, which applies random edits to the triangles, an adjust window, which allows the adjustment of coloring and location of the image, and even a scripting language with direct access to most of the components of the fractal, which allows for effects such as the animations seen in Electric Sheep, which are also fractal flames. Users can export fractal flames to other fractal flame rendering programs, such as FLAM3. Apophysis has also recently been modified to create 3D fractals, opening up whole new dimensions to experiment with. ~Answers.com"

A few of my digital paintings

2009-04-20T20:11:00.012+02:00

I like to draw/paint and have done quite a few illustrations throughout the years. I'm inspired a lot by the emotions in colors. Well, colors in general really. I also work a lot with shapes and surfaces. Most of my work is nonfigurative. I'll start by posting some of my personal favorites.

Lenovo ThinkPad SL300

2009-04-18T15:46:00.010+02:00

I've been wanting to purchase a new laptop for a while now but choosing what to get wasn't easy. After narrowing it down to the Lenovo ThinkPad SL300, Dell XPS (the old edition) and MacBook Pro, I eventually decided to go for a "beefed up" version of the Lenovo ThinkPad SL300. In short, it's the new generation of the old R-series notebooks from the "IBM era." These computers are known for their durability, excellent build quality and great keyboards. Since I'll mostly be using the laptop for writing, a comfortable keyboard is of the essence. It is very reasonably priced and comes with a lot of extra hardware features the alternatived don't have. Also, I decided that 13.3" is the way to go. Hence, Lenovo wins!

Oslo - Miscellaneous #1

2009-04-16T00:28:00.001+02:00

Oslo - City Life #1

2009-04-16T00:22:00.001+02:00

Sunset at Akerbrygge

2009-04-16T00:11:00.001+02:00

Aker and Vigelandsparken

2009-04-16T00:03:00.003+02:00

Central Oslo and Aker Brygge

2009-04-16T00:01:00.005+02:00

Forest in Fredrikstad

2009-04-15T23:45:00.004+02:00

Miscellaneous Portraits #2

2009-04-15T23:28:00.001+02:00

Miscellaneous Portraits #1

2009-04-15T22:58:00.005+02:00

Portraits - Tanita

2009-04-15T22:36:00.010+02:00

Portraits - Kira and Soli

2009-04-15T21:53:00.025+02:00

Moscow's calling!

2009-04-15T20:30:00.010+02:00

The last few years have pushed an ever escalating interest in Russian language, literature and music. Hence, I have now applied to the Pushkin State Language Institute in Moscow. Mainly to study the language but also to visit the country, see the sights and drink an inhuman amount vodka. Wish me luck if I get accepted!

Hello world!

2009-04-14T20:43:00.011+02:00

I have a blog. Yes, again, for the third time. The obvious difference this time is that it is a lot simpler and hosted by Blogspot, the marvelous. I finally gave up on maintaining my own server and found out that paying for something as silly as this is equally silly. As before, my blog will still be a haven for literal desultory, reviews, random thoughts and other blatant brainfarts. An aesthetic explosion. Kick back and enjoy!

PS: If you want out, just click your heels together three times and whisper "there's no place like home …"