Tag: norway

Faded Restrung

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This is the big EDM hit of the moment, penned by Northampton-born, Bergen-based music producer Alan Walker.
If you feel the need (and I did), you can venture onto Soundcloud and explore literally several different remixes of this tune – try this one and this one, for example.

This Restrung version is acoustic with piano and pizzicato strings blooming into that soaring, catchy melody.

That breathy vocal is courtesy of Norwegian folk/pop chick Iselin Sondheim, whose pseudo-Celtic 2013 single The Wizard Of Us has a video which showcases wild Norway in the same way that Tove Lo showcased wild Sweden here.

I mentioned back then that female vocalists wandering through woods in Scandinavia seems like a very good way of showing off your country. I stand by that assertion.

I will wait, I will wait for you

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And I will wait, I will wait for you…

So sang banjo enthusiasts and all round folk rockers, Mumford and Sons.

Now, I’m no fan of Marcus Mumford and his merry band of men, but they hit the proverbial on the proverbial with this one. As did I in this post, because my Lily drone is now overdue.

This isn’t a surprise to me. They let me know, in a characteristically transparent email [I’ve PDF’d it here] which they sent before Christmas. My Lily is now due sometime in Summer 2016 (the Northern Hemisphere version thereof, of course).

We’re still ironing out logistics for our new shipping timeline. We expect to fulfil all of our pre-orders in the Summer 2016. Details will be shared as soon as they are available. We promise 🙂

The open-ended nature of that “Summer 2016” promise is mildly concerning, but hey, we’ll get there.

What is disappointing is that between the previously promised shipping date and this new one, I’m doing two overseas trips – one a once-in-a-lifetime one, including some prime Lily-playing territory – and I’m rather sad to be missing that opportunity.

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The crew at Lily continue to stay in touch just about weekly, informing me of latest developments, test results and new staff. I still believe that this is going to happen (although some on Facebook are more dubious) – I just wish it had happened already.

Norway

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I once came ever so close to getting there. But until I do (and I will), stuff like this incredible timelapse will just have to suffice:

Wowzers. And yes, you do need to look at it on the best possible screen, best possible youtube settings and with the best possible speakers, for the best possible experience.

This is a time-lapse video resulting from a 15,000 km (almost 10,000 miles) long road trip and tens of thousands of images taken along the way over the last 5 months. The journey has covered all of Norway’s 19 counties, from the far south to the Russian border in the Northeast.
The aim of this 5 minute short film is to show the variety of Norway, everything from the deep fjords in the Southwest, to the moon landscape in the North, the Aurora Borealis (Nothern Lights) and the settlements and cities around the country, both in summer and wintertime. The video shows some of the most scenic places in Norway, such as Lofoten, Senja, Helgelandskysten, Geirangerfjorden, Nærøyfjorden and Preikestolen.

There is a map to follow here, should you want the full details of where, when and how.

Music by this guy.

I like this archipelago and this water tower

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Firstly, this image of Værøy in Norway. It looks like somewhere I’d like to go.

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It turns out that Værøy is the last island in the Lofoten archipelago in Nordland, Norway.
It has a lighthouse and a whirlpool. Yes, really:

The Moskstraumen (whirlpool) is located between the Lofoten Point of Moskenesøya (Moskenes municipality) and Værøy, at the small island of Mosken. It involves strong tidal currents flowing through the shallows between these islands and the Atlantic Ocean and the deep Vestfjorden, creating eddies and whirlpools, the largest one having a diameter of some 40–50 meters (130–160 ft) and inducing surface water ripples up to 1 meter (3 ft 3 in) in amplitude.

And then (in old news for people in the UK), this converted water tower in Kennington, featured on the 100th episode of Grand Designs – which was screened yesterday in South Africa. And I fell in love with it. Just wow.

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I know it’s been up for sale for a while, so I don’t know if it’s still available. But the longer it stays on the market, the better, because if I’m honest, I’m struggling with the last little bit of the R75,717,850.00 asking price. *weeps*

Another amazing lighthouse pic

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This (with gracious permission – thanks) from Richard Larssen on flickr:

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This isn’t a blog about lighthouses, but I do like them. Especially when they’re ‘togged this well.

Wikipedia tells us:

Eigerøy Lighthouse (Norwegian: Eigerøy fyr) is a coastal lighthouse located at the small island Midbrød outside Eigerøya in Eigersund, Norway. It was established in 1854, and automated in 1989.

It’s made of metal (cast iron), much like the Slangkop light in Kommetjie (steel) and stands 32.9m high (coincidentally just 10cm shorter than Slangkop).

Richard has captured some other amazing pics of Eigerøy fyr, most notably here and [breathtakingly] here.

UPDATE: He’s just showing off (here and here) now…