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When forced to live where my heart do not nest,
I do what my ancestors did best.
I release a little bird to freedom and I do this in spring.
It gives me such joy to do such a thing.

This is my own English adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s original Russian poem “Птичка”.

Adapted by Rune Kinnerød, after Alexander Pushkin.

This is a small poem I created by lifting phrases from Wikipedia. I felt there was poetic potential in the text exactly as it appeared – as if the poetry was already hidden inside the dry facts. You can find poetry in everyday life, in the neutral and the technical. Books also help us see that, speaking of World Book Day.

If you have a website or blog and want to display a beautiful, random photo taken by Rune Kinnerød, you can easily embed a small widget that pulls an image directly from https://myimg.no/. The image updates automatically every time the page loads and includes a built‑in watermark.

<div id="myimg-widget" style="position:relative; display:inline-block;">
<a href="https://myimg.no/" target="_blank">
<img id="myimg-photo" src="https://myimg.no/randomimg.php" style="max-width:100%; display:block;">
</a>
</div>

This code displays a random photo from myimg.no, complete with watermark, and the image links back to the website.

As part of my studies in Digital Media Production at Østfold University College, I wrote an article where I interviewed journalist and author Øyvind Holen. The topic was Groruddalen, Oslo’s suburban districts, and how places can develop reputations that don’t always reflect reality.

In the 1969 Ammerud Report, the area was described as “hostile to children, psychologically destructive and lifeless,” and in 1984 Dag Solstad wrote about the “paralyzing sadness” he felt at Romsås. Strong words that shaped public perception for years.

When I interviewed Holen, he explained that he wanted to nuance this narrative. He felt that important stories about youth culture, hip-hop and graffiti in Groruddalen weren’t being told. That’s why he wrote about them – and why the graphic novel was created together with illustrator Mikael Noguchi. Holen said he began writing about hip-hop and graffiti “because so few others did,” and that the comics medium allowed them to show environments that wouldn’t work as well in a traditional novel.

It was a fascinating conversation back then, and the themes remain relevant today: Who gets to tell the story of a place, and who is being told about?

This blogpost builds on an article I wrote as a student, you can find the AI-translated version of the original article here:

April 22nd is Earth Day. I felt like writing a few words about this important UN day based on my own experience. It all started with a simple message from Microsoft Rewards: “Turn Earth Day art into points – Create feel-good images and pick up 20 points.”

An invitation to use AI to create Earth Day-themed images. And it is a bit ironic. AI image generation uses a fair amount of resources. Electricity. Computing power. Cooling. All the things that don’t exactly scream “environmentally friendly celebration.”

At the same time, I use AI myself, including to build this website. So I’m not against the technology. Far from it. But today, a week before Earth Day, I felt a small pang of conscience. When you get those little pangs, the solution isn’t to be angry at yourself, but to think about what you do — and maybe do a bit more, if possible.

One contribution I’ve made is planting trees through . There are many ways to contribute: recycling, taking the bus instead of driving, buying second-hand, or repairing instead of replacing. As the saying goes, the only limit is your imagination.

I’ll end with a slightly different way to “contribute to a greener and more just world”: . Cultura Bank is part of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. Check for more information, and if you want to find a bank outside Norway with the same values.

We don’t tolerate pure randomness. We don’t tolerate chaos. So we fill the empty spaces with patterns, stories, and connections — even when they aren’t really there. We see Jesus in a piece of toast; is that madness, or a deep human need to feel part of something larger than ourselves? Our brains are so skilled at recognizing faces that we find them even where none exist — in burnt bread, in clouds, on the surface of the moon.

But our search for meaning doesn’t stop at faces; we see significance in numbers and in nature. We look for patterns. You think of someone, and they call you. You find a coin on the ground at the exact moment you needed a sign. We want the world to make sense. We want things to matter. We want life to be a story, not a random stream of events.

There’s a joke that goes: “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not following me.” We can overinterpret — but does that mean it can’t be true? The fact that humans are sometimes a little too good at finding meaning doesn’t prove that meaning doesn’t exist. Does it?

We are meaning‑making beings. We see connections, we build narratives, we tie threads between things that were never meant to be linked. Sometimes we miss the mark. But sometimes we touch something true. If something feels meaningful to you, then it has meaning. Maybe that’s what makes us human: not that we find meaning in everything, but that we’re capable of creating it ourselves.

I love programme billings. I love reading about shows I’ll never see. Like that mysterious late-night import, — I haven’t seen a single episode, but I love the listings. I like to imagine it’s Katie Price as the lead. “Jordan cracks an international spy ring.” Go for it, girl!

Sometimes, reading about something you haven’t seen can be just as inspiring as the real thing. For example, I love reading about episodes of . I think it’s wonderful — the ideas are so fascinating I’ve actively avoided seeing them, just to keep imagining them forever.

The episode is called “Darmok,” and the synopsis says simply that Captain Picard is trapped on a planet with an alien who can only speak in metaphors. Wow. That sounds brilliant. What happens? How does it end? I’ve no idea — I’ve never seen it! But the idea keeps resonating with me. I looked up its TX date, and it’s almost 20 years old, yet I’m still thinking about that story and its potential.

I often wonder what it would have been like if I’d seen it on BBC2 back in 1991. The mystery would be gone. Here I am, still wondering, right now. The concept lives on.

And I can see how the idea bled into my own work. In 2008, I wrote a episode called “Midnight.” It’s not a copy of “Darmok” — it’s distilled down to its essentials: a story about communication, and what happens when it breaks down. That’s practically the same theme.

I know for a fact that all those years of wondering about “Darmok” led me to write that script. The process goes on. Right now, there’s a fascinating horror film called . The infection spreads by words. Brilliant. I’m so looking forward to not seeing it.

The Israel–Palestine conflict is one of the most enduring and complex conflicts in modern history.

The conflict’s roots reach back to the late 19th century with Zionism and Arab nationalism. After World War I, Palestine became a British Mandate. In 1947, the UN adopted a partition plan dividing the land into Jewish and Arab states. Jews accepted the plan, while Arab states and Palestinian leaders rejected it. When Israel declared independence in 1948, war broke out with neighboring Arab countries.
(Read more on )

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. Controversial settlements have expanded in these territories. The conflict has seen multiple wars and uprisings (Intifadas), especially in 1987–1993 and 2000–2005.
(Read more on and )

Numerous peace processes have been attempted, including the Oslo Accords (1993), Camp David (2000), and later negotiations. Major obstacles include the status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, settlements, and security.
(Read more on )

Today, the West Bank is divided between areas under Palestinian authority and Israeli control. Gaza is governed by Hamas and faces blockade and recurring conflict. Humanitarian challenges are severe, with limited access to water, electricity, healthcare, and freedom of movement.
(Read more on and )

Outsider art refers to artists working outside established institutions – often self-taught, without formal training, and with a deeply personal voice. I’m drawn to how these works can feel raw, unfiltered, and inventive, without needing to fit into any particular system.

Many associate outsider art with marginalized perspectives: mental health, life outside the norm, or entirely different ways of seeing. To me, it’s a reminder that art doesn’t need approval to be true – and that powerful expressions often emerge where rules and expectations don’t dominate.

World Mental Health Day is observed every year on October 10 to promote openness, understanding, and solidarity. The theme changes each year, but the message is always the same: mental health concerns all of us. Art, music, and film have often been tools to express the unspoken – and for me, this day is about creating space for vulnerability.

When we dare to talk about mental health, we grow stronger as a community. Recognizing pain and uncertainty is not a weakness, but a form of strength – and a reminder that no one stands alone.

During the Trump administration, several non-profit organizations and public programs were proposed for reduction or elimination in federal budget drafts. Many of these worked in areas such as culture, education, the environment, health, and community services. This post is not a complete overview, but a starting point for exploring the topic further.

The budget proposals included cuts to a range of programs that had previously supported community initiatives and the non-profit sector. The impact of such changes varies widely depending on the type of organization and the funding sources they rely on.

If you want to learn more about which programs were proposed for cuts, several sources provide summaries of the budget drafts and the sectors that could have been affected. These do not represent a full picture, but they offer a useful entry point:

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This is a broad and complex subject, and the sources above can help provide context for how changes in federal priorities influence the non-profit landscape in the United States.

I had to take an MRI scan of my head. As I lay there, surrounded by the metallic, rhythmic sounds of the machine, I started hearing it as music — as a landscape of tones. I thought: these sounds could be used. These could be ambient.

Ambient music has always held a special place in my life. It doesn’t demand, it invites. It lets me be present without having to perform. I listen to the sounds of the forest, the wind, airplanes far above — everything becomes part of a larger sound painting.

For me, ambient is a way of understanding the world. It gives space for stillness, emotion, and reflection. My life is better because of ambient. It brings calm — and a sense of connection between the inner and outer, between the human and the sound itself.