Olmert moves wall of shame five km east into palestinian territories.

Link

I'm speechless.

The clammy touch of the establishment feels rather nice, thank you.

I was just contacted by the Norwegian National Library. They want to buy a page of mine for their collection. I can just imagine the mystified researchers hundred years from now on:

Here's stuff from 2007, what in god's name were they thinking?

Anyhow, I am extremely honoured, grateful, glad and a bit mystified.

In other news, Hufvudsstadsbladet will start running 'I Fremtiden', starting from next month. That is the biggest newspaper for swedish speaking people within Finland.
Pakkoruotsi on jees!

(Reminder for Norwegian readers)

Stem I Fremtiden videre i Aftenposten!

Enkelt og greit: Send SMS <AF FREM> til 1985

Da har du har fjernet fem minutter ifra din tid i skjærsilden.

Du vil med fem stemmer komme på et så høyt karmisk nivå at du unnslipper det karmiske hjulet, eller du blir gjenfødt som en ku!

Ved ti stemmer vil L. Ron Hubbard stå opp fra de døde og skrive deg en fet sjekk.

Moussa is right

Amr Moussa, General Secretary of the Arabian League speaks of American plans of attacking Iran:

"If there were to be a war, other genies will get out of the bottle. You cannot imagine the impact on the Gulf countries, on the Mediterranean," Moussa said.

In other words, flick a match in Iran and watch the whole Middle East go ablaze. Now that will make us up here in Europe so much safer too. Imagine religious, sectarian war, with NUKES.
Can some of you yanks please repeat what you did with Nixon? Bush obviously belongs in a cell, not in the Oval Office.

Purple & Brown

Harbingers of Doom II

On february 7th, 1987, a black goat was born with two heads, it rained blood for thirteen days and locust filled the land. On that day this video was recorded.

Stray thought

The image should convey an idea.
It's not about being good or clever. And definetely not about lush photorealist rendering.

Review # 7

Norwegian comix portal tegneserier.no has just reviewed my book.

Tor Arne Hegna presents a riveting analysis of my work, which for the sake of having something to myself, I refuse to comment on. Pulling away the curtain and explaining the mechanics is not really my job. Still, if you wish to delve into the mysteries of the norwegian language, I can think of no better place to start than here.

It's an interesting analysis and worthy read. A quote that my made my monday brighter:

Volle's comic is so unique in itself, he shows in this collection and the previous one that the concept stands the test of time, it should be obligatory in any representative comics collection and should also reach out to a bigger audience who likes to be amazed at how the world turns.

I'm starting to feel that the intense period of putting the book together was worth it.

I bow and tip my imaginary cartoonist hat in the general direction of tegneserier.no. I really appreciate the support.

Reading list

I decided to steal an idea from the ever brilliant Mika Mesq.

Joe Boyd - White Bicycles
Boyd was the stage manager when Dylan went electric, he started the UFO club, which more or less kickstarted UK psychedelia, he produced See Emily Play and Arnold Layne with Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, as well as three albums with Nick Drake, before he started producing soundtracks for movies like Deliverance and A Clockwork Orange. He also produced one of my favourite R.E.M albums: Fables of the Reconstruction. My only complaint is that it should have been twice as long.

John Fante - Ask the Dust
My pal Börge plus icon Charles Bukowski have been raving about this book for years. Finally I see what they were on about. Dense, authentic observations with no excess fat. Sad, on the verge of resignation, but still not giving up, simply because he doesn't really give a shit. Why did I wait ten years with this one?

Edward Muybridge - The Human Figure in Motion
If you are serious about working within visual arts this one is a must. Nuff said. Go read.

Davy Rothbart - Found II
A book compiled of random notes random people have found in random places. More fascinating than you would imagine.

Hunter S Thompson - Kingdom of Fear
Hunter's last book released while he was alive. He never recovered after the success of Fear and Loathing, which is a shame. There's a bunch of brilliant ideas and storylines lost in a mess of mannerisms and stylistic jumps. Maybe I have to read it again or maybe I just have to contend with that the man was losing it.

The harbingers of doom

I present you this. REPENT!



Celine Dion and Anastacia covering AC/DC's You shook me all night long. I managed 1:04 and then I had to go out for some fresh air...

New year, No hair

Shaved my head last week. Check out my new passport photo.

Raining dead birds over George W Bush's home state



If you believe in omens, knock yourself out on this one.

A message in Norwegian to the readers of my strip, concerning this sunday's strip.

Hvis du ikke synes denne ukens vits var morsom i det hele tatt, men kun en provokasjon og nok et eksempel på at jeg er en terroristhyllendekommunistsatan som ville bli overlykkelig om Bin Laden hadde tatt over i Norge.

Da vil jeg at du skal vite dette:

1. Jeg lager humor. Dette er en vits. En drøy vits, men likevel en vits. Forhåbentligvis en vits som får folk til å tenke litt over hvem vi er alliert med.

2. Tallet 650.000 tok jeg fra The Lancet. Dette tallet inkluderer også irakiske soldater, ikke som Iraqi Body Count, som kun teller sivile dødsfall. Dette tallet inkluderer IKKE liv som har gått tapt i Afghanistan, ei heller mennesker som Bush personlig sendte i døden som guvernør av Texas, ei heller unødvendige ofre for Katrina eller antall døde i de amerikanske gulag-camper som finnes rundt om i verden.

3. Teknikken jeg bruker her, kalles reversering, man bygger opp noe, for så å snu på flisa. En klassisk satireteknikk.

4. Satire betyr at man setter ting på spissen for humoristisk effekt.

5. Hvis du vil sensurere meg, er du på lag med islamistene.

6. Jeg er i mot dødsstraff. Jeg ønsker ikke George W Bush hengt, men jeg synes han burde sitte i en celle, ikke i det Hvite hus.

New O song up on Myspace

The result of my New Year visit to Halden can be heard here.

Click on 'Stanley' in the player.

Birgit Strøm R.I.P



Norwegian puppeteer Birgit Strøm died two days ago.
Strøm was famous for her kids tv characters Titten Tei and Teodor, where she did the puppeteering as well as the voice characterizations.

I met her as a little boy vacationing in Bulgaria in 1984. I remember a very friendly person and I could not believe that she was not only so approachable, but sincerely interested in talking to little guys like 10-year-old me. When we got back home, we got a signed card from Titten Tei in the mail. I still got the card.

So long, Birgit, you will be missed.

How to become a criminal in one easy step / The joys of life without a credit card / ITbutiken




Once upon a time I bought a LCD screen from a danish store called ITbutikken.
I received the package and thought the bill would show up asap. They had all my contacts (email /snail) , so who was I to worry? They would send me a bill, I would pay it and it would be out of the way.

Stupid stupid stupid.

The bill never showed up.

I got a torpedo letter this monday morning from Aktiv Kapital.

I just paid a nice amount to get this affair out of the way. I have understood that a certain bunch of companies rely on this kind of business practice. I really just want to warn you, stay away from places like ITbutikken a/s. I never met more mafia standards than this.

Yeah, I could take this through the courts and I would most propably win.

Do I have the time, resources or cash to find a good lawyer and do just that?

No, no and no.

I have gotten myself a credit card in order to avoid this thing for ever ever happening again. Thanks ITbutikken.

Now, just consider if I wouldn't have the cash available to pay these bastards off? I would be a slave to their terms until GWB would become a member of MENSA.

Being in the business of fucking people over is a lucrative one.

Oslo Synth Band



Oslo synth legends Oslo Synth Band has finally gotten themselves a myspace page.

Go here to check them out.

"Incidentally my brother Jomar is one half of this incredible duo" he said with an air of fake modesty...

Danish Seriejournalen review



Kristian at Serienett.no tipped me off about this one. It's the danish comix culture magazine Seriejournalen which dedicates some space to four Jippi publications.
Here's a quote on what they had to say about my book:

It's absurd, insanely creative and deeply political, both extremely banal and extremely intelligent, plus it's superbly beautifully made. I have to eat my words that you can't preach and be funny at the same time, because Volle actually does that.

If your danish is up for it, go here to check out the whole thing.

I thank our scandinavian brethren for the support granted this blushing comic artist. And really, the situation ain't that bad in Denmark, you got Jan Solheim, for starters.

And thanks to Kristian for the tip-off.

Activation tips



Do you find your life bland, boring and ordinary? Ever felt there's more to life than this?

Have you ever thought about taking up plastic welding?

Plastic welding is easy, cheap fun and the possibilities are endless! Don't just sit there in front of the boob tube! Join in the fun and weld some plastic bags today!

Bowie

The only singer I have featured in a comic is turning 60.
To celebrate, do a little dance while you watch this clip.

2007 - out with the old, in with the new.


The old Nazca website www.nazca.net is now history. The place to go to from now on will be:
http://www.songsfornazca.com

Not much at the moment, but expect growth, experiments, tomfoolery and yeah, a brand new Nazca record this year.

Robot fun


Just wanted to share a little pic I found on the World Wide Web

2007 looks good to me.



Sitting in Halden, Norway. Me n Freddy are halfways through a new song. Today is the premiere of my new daily strip 'In the future' in Aftenposten. In other words, life is good.