Lars is probably the one of my friends I've seen taking the biggest leaps forward the past two year. From being a anime and video game loving nerd he's turned into a play writing enviromental conscious ladies man. Not bad I must say. He inspires me. Right now he's working his ass of, trying to write and assemble all the missing pieces for his first stage play - "Ett Evigt Liv" - which is set to go off in Gothenburg this summer. So when Lars asked me to design the logotype for his theatre group - Teater Alvar - I gladly accepted the challange. He wanted something reflecting the deserted feeling of alvaret (the bare limestone soil) and the feeling of reaching for something on "the other side". After a couple of rounds with different logo prototypes and some feedback sessions this is what we ended up with:

This industry. Advertising. Why am I in it? The answer to that question, and what I set out with when I started to walk this road, is probably that I want to use my creativity and my aesthetic qualities. Back then I didn't really know for what purpose, just that it was something I considered fun. During the Hyper Island I tried to find the purpose. I tried different roads - video, animation, graphic design and web design - but I must say I mostly felt kinda lost. But in the middle of last year the goal at the horizon somewhat became clearer. I started to feel that I wanted to contribute, I wanted to do something that made some difference. Not just make people buy the next car or dishwasher.

The month of May must be the best concert month I've ever witnessed. Almost better than Coachellas line up this year. This is one of the reasons I love living in San Francisco.

5. Popcorn & Coke


4. Cinnamon Bun & Milk



3. Swedish crispbread with cheese & Hot Chocolate



2. Cake & Coffee



1. Pizza & Coke

The animation me and my partner Jessica did last week for Fast Company's article about Mekanism is now online.

Coachella 2010.

Some people from Mekanism are going to Coachella to promote a new app, and since I'm going there they're using me as a test subject. So, I've gotten a completely new Nokia N85 just so I can tweet about everything I see and do at the festival.

You can follow me @ http://twitter.com/blomborg

Over and out.

It's been a busy busy week. I havn't even had time for this blog. BUT, after some late nights in the bat cave with Cola and Snickers the animation me and my partner Jessica have been working on is done, and it turned out really great.


Maybe I should try a career as a accordion player? Or at least try to grow a mexican moustache. What do you think?

AND tomorow me, Maja & Johan are taking a flight down to Los Angeles where we're gonna meet up with our classmates Sebastian and Sean. On Friday morning the car leaves for COACHELLA FESTIVAL!!! Three days in the burning sun, filled with mud & dirt, alcohol, hash brownies and of course - lots of great bands. This must be the first festival where I'm gonna be able to see exactly every act I wish to see, except The XX and The Dirty Projectors.

In reality it's never that easy.

But anyway, here's my super packed schedule:

Every friday people usually stop working around 4. After that it's all just fun & games & booze. Today we tried something new - BADMINTON, office style. FUCK YEAH! My good ol' swing were still there and me and my partner Ryan (The Super Smash Bros Deluxe) managed to smash and drink (whiskey) our way to the final, where we unfortunately lost with 15-13. Ayways - Fun fun fun!

...there's not a plastic tree, but definitely some amazing views.

Last year I really stated to question gaming as one of my biggest hobbies, after being kinda addicted for most of my life. I started to feel I didn't get that much in return, started to feel that I wasted my time with nonsense.  As a matter of fact I did barely play any video games at all during my time at Hyper Island. When I flew to the states I left my Xbox 360 back in Sweden, of course, and I haven't been playing video games ever since (some Rock Band sessions doesn't really count).

But now, the urge and hunger has returned. I'm finding my self browsing tons and tons of different video game sites every day. There's SO many good games being released and so many anticipated ones arriving later this year. Stories and experiences that simply look to good to miss.

Here's my top 3:

3. Alan Wake



One of the most delayed and pushed back games of all time is finally about to be released this May. Remedy, who's famous for their excellent Max Payne games, was more than halfway through the production of Alan Wake when they decided to get rid of what they had and start over. Alan Wake has gone from being a open world horror adventure to a more straight forward and episode based action horror experience. Hopefully it's for the better. The story of the writer Alan Wake who's getting haunted by his worst nightmares when trying to settle down in a small Twin Peaks looking village is still - by the latest video to judge - looking more thrilling and more graphically advanced than almost every game out there.


2. The Last Guardian



When Ico was released on Playstation 2 in 2001 something happened. Critics and especially those who hadn't seen video games as something profound started to talk about video games as something bigger, something almost more philosophical, something that deserved to have its own columns in the most fashionable magazines. With Ico video games finally got accepted as an own art form. I had been moved and touched by video games before (I cried during the ending scene of Final Fantasy X for example) but there was definitely something very touching about Ico, maybe because of the relationship created between me (a banished boy with horns) and the trapped and weak girl Yorda. We couldn't understand each others languages, but we both understood we needed to collaborate to be able to escape from the fortress that held us prisoners. I grabbed her by hand and led her because she was to weak to walk by herself. I defended her, swung my wooden stick against dark shadow creatures trying to pull Yorda down into their dark portals. She was able to open up locked gates with some magic powers I didn't have. In the end I got so emotionally overwhelmed that I couldn't hold back my tears.


Ico


Shadow of the Colossus

Team Ico then released Shadow of the Colossus, a game where you needed to climb and defeat giant creatures in order to bring the girl you loved back to life. A truly amazing and epic game, which also focused on collaboration. Only this time around you had your horse Agro by your side, Without him you wouldn't had a chance defeating the giants.

In their upcoming game The Last Guardian, you once again have a partner -  some weird giant creature that looks like a cross breed between a rat and a bird. Something tells me that the bound between the boy and the creature will result in one of the most emotional games this world has ever seen, and it looks like t's combining the best parts from both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.


1. Red Dead Redemption



Rockstar have everything that comes with the term "rockstar". Ever since they released Gran Theft Auto 3 in 2001 they've been giving everyone the finger, always doing whatever they felt like doing, no mather how controversial the subjects they're building their games upon may be. The key to their success, accept their boldness, is their great understanding of American popculture and the American society.

Red Dead Redemption may not have as many automatic machine guns to shoot, radio stations to listen to or shiny cars to steal as in Grand Theft Auto 4. Of course not, since the clock is turned back to the wild wild west. Instead it has lasso's to swing, wild animals to hunt and dirty horses to ride. It's said to be Rockstar's most ambitious game yet, with a massive open world to explore, an immersive story and tons of western stuff to do.
I haven't been longing for a game this hard since Grand Theft Auto 4. Give it to me - NOW!!!    

5. Snapple Peach - Filled with sugar, of course (this is America), but the best ice tea I've ever had, especially when it's ice cold. Yummy, straight down my throat!



4. Cliff Energy Bar - Maybe this one is to healthy to earn this spot, or at least it should be. But since this is Amerca it's probably filled with unhealthy stuff. I remember my dad eating energy bars while biking (today he's done about 12 Swedish Classics and three Iron Man thanks to them). I didn't like them back then. I guess they tasted to "healthy". I don't know if it's because I've aged, or if it's just that Cliff's Energy Bar's are more unhealthy than swedish energy bar's, but I find them VERY delicious, especially the Chocolate Chip flavor which tastes like my mom's old chocolate balls.


3. San Pellegrino Limonata - Okay, it's from Italy, but I've never had it before coming here to the states. At first I thought this lemon soda was to sour, but when I started to drink it while eating the almost stinging mix of sour and sweet made perfect sense, forcing down Coke from the throne of sodas.


2. Oreos - It's pretty incredible how something so simple as two thin chocolate crackers (do they taste like burned chocolate crackers?) with some white creme filling in between can be so very delicious. Maybe it's the simplicity that's Oreo's key to my taste buds. Once I start to eat them I CANT STOP! Swallow them with some milk and they become flawless.


1. Snickers - When I was a kid I never liked Snickers. The evil peanuts destroyed all the fun! I don't know when it happened, but some day during 2008 I took a bite of a Snickers bar and went straight to heaven. Since then I've been eating Snickers more than any other snack out there, and I'm still munching it like a hamster a couple day's a week. It's the perfect mix of softness and crispness, sugar and salt that creates a temptation Johan Blomborg can't resist.  

Is there anything better than green lights bowing to your will in the morning rush, like the Red Sea waves did when Moses rose his staff into the sky.

Today's gonna be a good day!