Logga in   
Swedish

dyi

28 July 2010

#209 Make your own mayonnaise

Required time: 
An hour or less.
Cost: 
Less than €10.
Cons: 
The mixer might make your ears ring.
Pros: 
You unravel the mystery that is mayonnaise. You learn a new skill. And mixing things is fun.
Taggar: mayonnaise, how to, dyi
7 June 2010

#158 Make memorials in your town

The first time I moved to Gothenburg, I was five years old. I had nightmares about fireworks and shelters. My first kindergarten in Lövgärdet burned down and my parents went to Hisingen and bought an expensive condominium, five floors above the ground, for me to avoid my nocturnal monsters. I grew up with skateboards and had my first mohawk at fifteen. Mom cried for two days. A few years later I moved to Skåne to become a poet. 

The second time I moved to Gothenburg, I was 20 years old. It was a completely different city. I was in love with a woman whose father had just passed away. She was a snowstorm and a pouring rain. I never knew which day was which. I remember when we kissed for the first time backstage at the Hultsfred festival. Then I waited for her for two years. It's worth remembering. It is my city. I have to put up labels on everything I've done. 

Bonus - Find inspiration for the monuments here. http://sweetart.blogg.se/ 

Required time: 
It does not take more than 30 minutes.
Cost: 
Tape, colored paper and matches. For €3-4, you get quite a few options.
Cons: 
The flags and memorials may rain or blow away.
Pros: 
People are reminded of the lives of other people in the city. One feels as they’re a part of their city.
Taggar: town, memorials, dyi
26 May 2010

#146 Breath life into clay

Everyone I know has begun to suffer from a symptom which I would like to call digital fatigue. We are tired of e-mail, cell phones and you're tired of digital effects in video and photography. Many photographers have begun to produce images in the darkroom again and there is a demand for craft, real things and authenticity. All this longing makes me long as well, for my dad's old VHS camera. 

When I was ten, me and my sister sat on the floor in the living room, five floors above the Göta River and twenty thousand stories below the teapot floating in the cosmos. We had bought clay and made small clay figurines. Pigs, humans and aliens. Dads VHS camera was about as big as a sink, and stood ready on the floor. It was all about pressing REC and PAUSE simultaneously. Then came the hard part fiddling with the characters. Press PAUSE and film a second. Press the PAUSE button again. Change part of a clay hand, clay foot or clay face. Press PAUSE again. Shoot a second. We could go on like this for hours until we had recorded over an old Kevin Costner movie with a one minute clay animation consisting of a pig and an alien that were dancing bug. The films always tended to end with a big hand coming from above crushing every living thing on earth and so it became a colorful ball of clay. 

Bonus - Aardman Animations are the creators of Wallace and Gromit. Now they have created a new series which immediately become one of my favorites. Its name is Shaun the Sheep. 

Required time: 
Four hours.
Cost: 
€10 for the clay. Borrow someone's old VHS camera or film with your computer's webcam.
Cons: 
It can get a bit messy on the floor.
Pros: 
All great directors have old do-it-yourself stories behind them.
Taggar: dyi, claymation
21 April 2010

#111 Start your own religion

 

I wouldn't call myself a religious person. Never have been. Quite the opposite. My family left their homeland because of religion. My mothers sister killed herself because of religious mechanisms. I have more stories than I can muster the strength to talk about. Simply put, I'm not Gods biggest fan. Not the Christian, the Jewish or the Muslim one. But I am not without faith. I have faith.

In the same way Apple doesn't have a monopoly on making music players, major religions don't have a monopoly on faith, morals or goodness. I have faith in people. Me and my non-religious friends have a very high sense of morals and an incredibly strong sense of right and wrong. That is why I would like to suggest the following.

· Take all the things you like about your faith of choice. Right them down on, make a list.

· Take all the things you like from all the religions you feel have something to say. There might be something from Christianity,  something from Buddhism and something from Islam that you can relate to. Make another list.

· Now write down all the things you believe in that aren't part of any religion. Make a third list.

· Decide that there can only be one follower. Meaning you. No more people can join.

· Put all the lists together. If something doesn't fit, cross it off. If something's missing, add it.

There. You've started your very own belief system. If you feel that the god of your religion is superfluous, take her him or it out of it. If you feel like it you can burn the manifesto to ashes and not have a religion at all. Or have it just sometimes. You decide.

Bonus : - How to create your own religion in 10 easy steps

Bonus 2 : - Richard Dawkins TED-talks about militant atheism

 

Required time: 
30 minutes.
Cost: 
Pen and paper. And the cost of any accessories such as incense, veils or icons that you feel is paramount to your religion.
Cons: 
Other religious groups might get upset but so what. Some other religious group might declare war and try to get rid of you. Stand your ground.
Pros: 
You take charge and decide your own religious playing field and spiritual development. You get out of doing things you don't want do to and you don't have to be submissive to anyone else. Or if you want to be submissive and feel that is your cup of tea then you can add that to your manifesto.
Taggar: religion, dyi
9 April 2010

#99 Go clubbing with your own music

Who ever said someone was right just because they can print posters? Anyone can print posters nowadays. Question everything from peoples political convictions, choice of food, the way they treat children to the kind of music they like. Maybe it’s as easy as you wanting to go dancing at a club but you don’t like the music they play. The place is nice but the DJ grew up with a penchant for both techno and Iron Maiden and lacks the skill of telling them apart. It’s no bigger deal than you bringing your own music.

Who ever said someone was right because they can afford a pair of headphones and stand there rocking and headbanging over their turntables? Question everything but in a constructive way. Still go to the club and smile at the people you’re dancing with. But stuff your earphones deep in your ear canals and turn your music way up. Dance to the rhythm of your own playlist on the dance floor. Don’t care whether your movements are in sync with the others dancing. Smile anyway. And try to get them to smile too.

Required time: 
15 minutes to get a playlist on your MP3-player. A minute to tie your shoes, and say half an hour to find the club. Add the time it takes to stand in line and getting your stuff hung in the wardrobe and sum it all up to let’s say 3 hours, but remember you can spend that whole time listening to your playlist dancing to yourself.
Cost: 
If you have an MP3-player then the music is free. But for the love of god don’t forget to charge it or to buy batteries for it. The club’s cover charge is the only other cost.
Cons: 
The club owner, your fellow dancers and the DJ might get annoyed and see your behavior as dismissive of their taste in music.
Pros: 
You get the exact songs you want. You can practice dance moves at home so that you’re sure of your flow. You know which is the last song and when it’s time to go. It’s also an exercise in not paying attention to how people around you move and act. Or think of it like this: it’s an exercise in not caring that you’re not in sync with the group you’re in. Or it’s like this: an exercise in how it doesn’t matter.
Taggar: mp3, dyi, clubbing
17 January 2010

#17 Make a Responsibility Board

The difference between bulletin board and a Responsibility Board is you.

The difference between bulletin board and a Responsibility Board is you.

What Martin Timell and Ernst Kirchsteiger don’t know about regular bulletin boards is that they can easily be made into a Responsibility Board. Home Makeover guys don’t have a clue how to do this, but I do. As always, it began with a bored Sunday...

I’m sitting in my room, in the middle of the floor and thinking about what to do with my life. I'm nineteen, and I go to a community college in southern Sweden. I have teased hair and a plush jacket. Eyeliner under my eyes. The entire piece. All my friends will soon have bought flats, drink latte on Sundays and go to electronic clubs, but we are not quite there yet.

Right now I sit and try to deal with the windy, uninspiring weather that is typical for the south of Sweden going on outside. My problem is that I don’t know what my problem is. The door opens and Markus comes home. I live with Tommy and Markus. We are three guys who all love movies and candy. Of course we should live together.

Markus comes in my room with a regular board.
- "A bulletin board," I say.
- "No. A Responsibility Board," says Markus.
- "What is the difference," I ask.
- "I will show you," says Markus.

What you need in a situation such as this is you average bulletin board. Nail it on the wall.
You also need a regular calendar. Put it on the board.
Also,  you need white paper where you write up all the months of the year. And then you write down what you need to get done every month. Everything from paying bills to finishing a home exam, a poem or to increase the distance of your jog from 5 to 6 miles. Simply put up your goals for each month.

On a Responsibility Board you also need post-its, preferably in different colors. Color is good for the soul.
You need a pen that you attach with adhesive so that it stays put.
You need a plastic pocket where you can insert bills.
You need some paper folders. They can hang at the bottom. A folder for each project you're doing.

- "Do you see what is happening here?" asks Markus.
- "Yes," I reply.

The difference between a bulletin board and a Responsibility Board is that a bulletin board is made of cork, wood and a thin piece of masonite, while a Responsibility Board is made of what you want it to be made of. Dreams, ambitions and goals. What happens is that you structure all this stuff for yourself. You embody and clarify. It won’t always go fast. It doesn’t have to, either. For me, it took 19 years to realize that I needed a Responsibility Board. But once I started spreading my post-its and checking off things I had done from my lists and getting a grip of every day on that calendar, I realized that I had always longed for a very special Responsibility Board.

Required time: 
Approximately two hours.
Cost: 
Around €20.
Cons: 
No disadvantages to speak of.
Pros: 
A clear structure makes projects and tasks easier to manage.
Taggar: responsibility board, dyi, bulletin board