Things I have read

Over time I actually read quite a lot; quite a lot of what I read contains some very good points, and common to most of it is that later, I can experience difficulties remembering, where I found specific topics of interest. Something that can annoy me quite a lot, as I like to be able to give credit where it is due.
That in turn made me consider: what if I actually have a possibility to do something that more people can benefit from? What if I started collecting information about some of the memorable things I read - started writing it up on a blog somewhere, thereby getting the opportunity to both remember it myself and make it available to other people?
The more I consider the idea, the more I actually find it too good not to realize.
(Translated from Turèll-blogmanifest nummer 22, eller: Ting, jeg har læst)

Architecture, music and pleasure

As always, I have the common problem; the problem I always get when I do manage to write things down in time - I end up with a disconnected phrase for which I can never remember the origin.
I think I saw it in a newspaper, but I do not remember it exactly, I do not remember which paper, and not who was credited for the quote - but it went as follows:

Good architecture is to the eye what music is to the ear.

- and I remembered it so precisely, because it was so obvious to me. Taste and pleasure can be discussed: some enjoy gothic cathedrals and organ music, while others appreciate electronic music and large glass facades, but in the end, the eye can delight in a beautiful building, just like the ear can find pleasure in a beautiful piece of music - or at least in particularly beautiful details of it. And in the end, it's the brain that feels good in both cases.
(Translated from Arkitektur, musik og behag, originally published January 11th, 2009)

In slow motion

In the book "Naar man mailer" (which literally could be translating to "When you're mailing", but that would alter the pun), the Danish author Svend Aage Madsen and the Danish journalist Flemming Chr. Nielsen publish a number of mails, they have exchanged over time. Here Madsen describes how inspiration can be a mischievous phenomenon (in my translation):

I have experienced getting a first-rate idea while watching a movie on the television. Such a clear and obvious one that there was no reason to write it down. And then afterwards ... alas. Then I get the urge to look through the movie again, if it's a recording, hoping that the idea will appear again in the same place. Which it of course won't, because you are now seeking it.

I know the problem. And not only when I get a good idea, and not just in front of the television; it can be anything that flies through the brain at any point in time, just to have disappeared, when I need to use it. A classic is when at home, I stumble upon something, I want to say to someone else in the house; then I become distracted and the thought is gone. Hereafter, I can force myself to meticulously go through the same routines that occupied me when the idea arose, right down to the tiniest details, meandering through the rooms in the same as I went before, and still I simply cannot succeed rediscovering the inspiration. Possibly because it's been a combination of things, and it is not that easy to restore all the prerequisites; possibly something as trivial as because I just noticed that there was something on the radio at the time that I simply did not see as important, eventhough it was.
There is only one thing to say: write it down, write it down, write it down. And in sufficient details to afterwards remove all doubt as to what the notes mean.
(Translated from I langsom gengivelse, originally published August 3rd, 2010)

Beyond the borders of the comfort zone

I have taken on a new fancy, so to speak; I have recently seen a lot of excellent examples of what is known as "sketchnoting" - that is, to note stuff in the form of sketches just as much as in the form of notes. There's supposed to be many positive traits to it:
It should be possible to better remember stuff, if the brain is put to work by drawing rather than just noting - and if one draws rather than just notes, it should engage both hemispheres.
I often sit around doodling on paper while listening, and why not doodle something productive?
And finally, I feel excellent to challenge myself to a point, where I am painfully aware of my own limitations - I do not, to say the least, draw very well. But I would be extremely happy to become better at it, and I have recently made the point that we should move outside our comfort zones to become better at doing things.
So all in all - there is no reason to think twice. Well, maybe one should think twice before announcing anything, but on the other side it is probably also very good to start off immortalising the state at rock bottom.
So be it - here it is; currently only in Danish. Whether there will ever be more? Well, time will tell.
(Translated from Hinsides kanten af komfortzonen)