Friends: Svenne

The first to appear in my series of friend portraits is Sven-Erik, more commonly referred to as Svenne. Svenne was born and raised in Gävle (100 kms north of Uppsala), where he continues to live. He is a connoisseur of film, fine drinks and oriental faith. A devoted graphical artist that expresses himself in photography, computer art or programming code. More specifically, he works as a Flash developer. He is also a really nice guy.
One of his qualities is taking a joke he just heard and give it an additional twist, which may or may not be suitable for sensitive listeners. It´s a really good "ice breaker" at parties when the conversation gets stuck on an unexciting level. When applied, we laugh at first and then conclude we mustn´t elaborate any further.

We got to know each other when attending the same program at the university of Gävle, namely Creative Programming. There, we joined forces on several student projects. Also, Svenne and I were cast in a short film by some fellow classmates, "X-Team: The Legend of the Indian Scrolls". The third protagonist was our mutual friend Hannah, which I will cover in an upcoming episode.

Svenne came down to visit this weekend for a much needed mini-vacation and we strolled around Uppsala in a disorderly fashion. On Saturday night, we joined Gunilla´s 25th birthday party and had a lot of fun chatting with her nice friends.
Svenne is really nice to be around, not hard to please and never with a picky sense of humour.

Links of interest

• Svenne´s portfolio: The Collected
• Svenne´s blog: Cg and general loathing

A protest march in central Uppsala in support of Kurdistan and the imprisoned leader Öcalan. I was strolling by and captured a glimpse. Also took some other pictures.

New Section

On the right hand side, I will be posting the dates and locations of upcoming concerts where I participate. This way, you´ll always know where to look for it.
Right now we are finalizing the rehearsals of Buxtehude´s largest work, Membra Jesu Nostri. This year marks the 300th since his death, and this particular piece will be performed in several cities in Sweden to celebrate this.
Membra Jesu Nostri is divided into various sections that deal with each part, or member, of the body of Christ as he hangs on the cross. Beginning with the feet - "Behold, the evangelic feet over the mountains", then his knees - "I will carry you on my lap", to the dramatic and intriguing "Quid sunt plagae istae, in medio manuum tuarum" - "What wounds are these, in the palm of your hands?". The last part is devoted to his face.
It is wonderful music, so come and listen!

Hello Mr Sunshine

Spring is here! Set loose the energy you´ve stored inside during the dark, cold months!

Small things that give you pleasure this week: Feeling the bike handles without gloves, the smell of old, murky grass, ducks with one thing on their mind and optimistic people who dress way to moderately and will probably get a cold.

Piano Music

I´ve always enjoyed playing piano and composing my own little tunes. When I was younger I used to play quite a lot, since we had a piano at home. At school, I managed to get a key so I could sneak in and play on the Steinway vertical piano in the auditorium. It was really nice to flee from the loud hallways now and then.

One day I asked Martin to help me record a cassette with my songs. I then sold it (!) to my friends at school.

Since then, 10 years have passed, and a lot of things have changed. But not these songs, thanks to Martin and this cassette:

1. En stillsam stund (2:58)
   
2. Tangenter av ljus (4:18)
   
3. Segling (1:40)
   
4. I skogen
5. Hösten (3:35)
   
6. Svallvågor (4:44)
   

This time, they are free of charge ;)