Simon Lund Larsen

This weblog is now officially closed down.

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Just in time for the 2009 Script Frenzy I’ve updated the Report Card. It’s more or less the same version as the one from last year, with just the dates adjusted.

This is an modified version of some of the report cards from NaNoWriMo to suit the needs for Script Frenzy.

• Script Frenzy Report Card 2009 (Microsoft Excel 2003).

I did not create this. I merely modified it for Script Frenzy. All credit for creation and idea goes to the original creators.

And like that he was gone. Underground. Nobody has ever seen him since. He becomes a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night. #

I’ve said it before and now I’m gonna say it again; my work here is done.

Last time I said that I not gonna write any more on this weblog at all. I’m not gonna be so absolute in this time around. Just don’t expect any new posts anytime soon. All the smaller updates will be on my Tumblr page.

My new job at 1508 is not just great. It’s superb. So far it might very well be the best job I’ve ever had. Really nice colleagues, great projects, superb office, and just a heck of fun time.

I’ve been thinking about restarting with an entirely new weblog focused solely on screenwriting (a la the Story Tricks series). That might or might not happen anytime soon, but don’t keep your breath, because as the time is right now I’ve rather spend time with my wife and son and actually write screenplays and write about them. And there are only so many hours a day, so I have to prioritize.

And if any of you are up to it, I’m gonna participate in the Script Frenzy again this year. Feel free to add me as a writing partner. Although I’m gonna “cheat” a little this year, by writing a complete rewrite of my script from last year. The story structure is more or less unchanged, but the story itself is getting a major overhaul.

And don’t forget that you can track my movie watching adventures on the Movies page.

Big changes are coming.

First of all, I quit my job at NNIT. This Friday is the last day at work.

This upcoming Monday I’m starting as a Project Manager at the design company 1508 A/S, which I’m looking forward to as a little kid is waiting for Santa to swing by on Christmas Eve.

1508 is located smack in the middle of central Copenhagen, which also means that my commuting time will be cut in half (NNIT is located around 14 km north of Copenhagen).

The last 6 months or so, I’ve been longing more and more to work in a creative environment again. And I think I can claim without hurting anyone’s feelings that there are very few creative people employed at NNIT. This is a good thing for them and their services. However, it just wouldn’t cut it for me. I need people with crazy ideas and urge to draw and create and try out new approaches. Even as a project manager I’m much more comfortable in these kinds of environments.

It’s also a direct extension of the topics covered in my master thesis, and the kind of roles I’ve previously held in the entertainment business (movies and games).

In a time of financial crisis and the entire world collapsing around us, the sensible thing to do would be to stay with one of the larger IT companies in Denmark with solid profits and growth, but my parents always thought me to follow my heart in all matters in life. Lately my heart has not been with me when I was working at NNIT.
Nevertheless, I’ve liked working there, now was just the time to move on and try something new (or something old, depending on your view).

On another note of change, we have also sold our 3 room apartment, and will April 1 be moving into a huge 5 room rented flat that seriously defines description. Even if you look at the images on their website, you really do not get a full understanding of how nice these flats are.

Things are changing indeed.

It just makes me smile.

I’m writing this entry on a brand new installing of Windows 7 beta, and even though it’s hard to admit it, especially after I’ve been using Microsoft’s last train wreck of a OS, Vista, Windows 7 rocks.

It’s fast (as in really fucking fast), good looking and from the little time I’ve spent with it, all the things Vista was suppose to have been.

Download the beta and take it for a spin and tell me what you think. Lifehacker has a easy and brief guide on how to make a dual boot setup with your current OS and Windows 7.

As the year is coming to an natural end, it’s time to look back at the books I’ve read, the movies I’ve seen, the music I’ve heard and the games I’ve played and sort out the weed and look at what really rocked my boat in 2008.

Bear in mind that these are just what I read, saw, heard and played in 2008, not necessarily what came out in 2008.

Books

I’ve keept tap of all the books I’ve read in 2008 on my LibraryThing account and have up until now read 60 books in 2008. That might sound like a lot but some of these where movie screenplays and graphic novels and they read a lot faster than regular books. But still 60 books is quite a number.

Best book of 2008: Hands down it gotta be Michael Chabon‘s perfect (and I mean perfect) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It’s been a long time since I’ve laughed so much, cried so hard and became so angry from reading a book. A true masterpiece.

Best comic of 2008: Again, a no-brainer for me; Brian Vaughan’s intelligent take on politics and superheroes Ex Machina.

Biggest waste of time in 2008: Lee Child’s Killing Floor came recommended to me from a bookstore clerk. Remind me never to take advice from him again. What a waste of good paper.

Movies

This was the year when I took my son to the movies for the first time, so in more than one way it was a very special year. He picked the movie; the new feature length Lucky Luke and it was such a success that the following four weekends afterwards we went to the cinema again to watch Lucky Luke again and Carsten & Gittes Filmbalade.

But all in all, I watched 99 movies either in the cinema or on DVD… and the award goes to… (couldn’t help it, sorry).

Best movie of 2008: Paul Thomas Anderson’s tour-de-force There Will Be Blood. It was grotesquely overlooked at the Oscars this year, even though Daniel Day-Lewis managed to grab the Best Actor award, I seriously think that in the years and decades to come we’ll look back a Anderson’s movie and give it the masterpiece status it deserves.

Biggest “What the fuck?!?”-moment of 2008: Halfway through the semi-funny Hancock, the movie completely changes into something it wasn’t suppose to be. Avoid this movie like the plague. All the funny scenes are in the trailer and that is only a couple of minutes long, so watch that instead.

Music

According to Last.fm my music taste didn’t change so much this year. But there are a couple of albums that I want to single out nonetheless.

Best album of 2008: Ryan Adams’ Gold. Barebones, simple melodic classic rock that just kicks ass. I can listen to this all day and still find nuances in it that I’ve somehow missed before.

Best jazz albums of 2008 that just keeps getting better: Also know as the BJAO08TJKGB Award. Ballads by John Coltrane and Kind of Blue by Miles David have, again, been on heavy rotation this year. Timeless albums that just keeps on giving.

Games

This was also the year when I finally shelled out for a Xbox 360 and I must say that I’m more than impressed with the system. The New Xbox Experience also added a modern and very nice interface.

Most fun game of 2008: That got to be Fable II. Extreme freedom, fun side quests, lush world to explore and nice rewards for being evil. What’s not to like?

Most awesome game of 2008: Grand Theft Auto 4. That game is just huge. HUGE I tell you. And the characters a great, the story is superb and very mature of a game. The size of this game and the content within it is just mindboggling. Kudos to Rockstar for setting the bar high again.

Biggest disappointment of 2008: Halo 3. What the fuck was all the hype about? I mean the game is extremely linear, the FPS aspect are “classic” (and that is not a compliment) and the story is just terrible and seems like it’s written by a 10-year old. The multiplayer is alright, but the singleplayer portion of the game was a huge disappointment.

The End

So there you have it, 2008 in review. What a year it’s been and I seriously hope that 2009 will offer just as many fine moments as this one did.

Here’s looking at you 2008.

No, seriously, I hate ‘em. I’ve said it before elsewhere, I think they are fundamentally flawed.

They are slow, expensive, confining and proves overall a huge hinderers for how the human mind works.

Mind you, this is not a Windows vs. Macs vs. Linux kind of argument. I hate ‘em all equally.

There really is something wrong with the way computers are designed. The basic premise of computers is that they’re meant as a way of assisting you in your work. But compared to other objects, computers are very sensitive and extremely dumb. Further more you need quite a level of knowledge to operate them properly.

They offer very little in the way of real assistance. You have to learn their language and their way of seeing the world. And even though that multi-touch interfaces are a huge step in the right direction I still feel that computers are designed wrong.

Remember this is coming from a guy with a master degree in computers. Not to flaunt my feathers, but I’ve been dealing with computers for the better part of 20+ years and even make my living by consulting others about their organizations and IT systems.

Compared to (paper) notebooks, there is very little knowledge required in order to use them. Heck even my three year old son have been using pen and paper for most of his life.

The very notion that computer can “crash” is just wrong. My pen and paper don’t crash. I can ruin them by spilling water all over them, but then it’s my own fault and I would expect that spilling a cup of coffee all over my notebook would render it unreadable. That’s “My bad”.

But computers crash and even have the audacity of sometimes tell me that “An Unexpected Error Occurred”. Fuck yeah, it was unexpected! I paid $2.000 for this piece of crap and I was actually working on something important, so yeah, it was fucking unexpected.

If my computer crashed because I spilled coffee in it, so be it. That would be expected. But just crash, because you fell like it, or because I did “An Illegal Action” that is not fucking okay. Okay?

I think it’s truly sad that the modern world is so assimilated by computers, when they’re working so badly. Any other tool we use in our everyday life would never survive two days if they worked as bad as computers. But for some unexpected reason computers have.

I’m ranting and rambling here. Nobody will properly listen anyway, but I just had to get if off my chest. There.

… although I’m not really feeling any better. So I’ll just sing along with Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie; Every OS Sucks.

Amen, brother, amen.