They call me a lot of shorter names but my passport says Niclaz Morph Allan Erlingmark. I know how odd it sounds and I'm afraid most of it was my idea. Some years ago, I looked like that trying-to-be-cool-guy below and got away with such a name, but now when I've turned 112 years old it feels quite silly. Most of it does. So to compensate for this and some other misfortunes I've started flashing my credit card while raising my eyebrows very, very high.

e v o l u t i o n          
gangster  --->  mother's dream          

Usually trying to be an open, friendly and polite bloke that jokes and curiously listens, I use a trick called "irony" to, when I feel appropriate, keep people at distance. To be honest with you, it's all just a big scam to try to avoid showing that I'm a normal guy with two eyes and two shockingly handsome legs who struggles like most people. I've considered world domination, I've been positively surprised about how many damn hot dogs (18!), candy and ice cream my stomach can handle and I've had a girlfriend who liked that I was loving but rather would have wanted me to be a feared criminal like Scarface. I also have two ears, one mouth and wasn't born in a submarine, like most men. Everything means something you know, and, sometimes, something means everything. It's true!

Hard to believe now when I've made myself seem stranger than a stranger, but I spend most of my days trying to make things understandable through film, text, design or by communicating. If there's something I've learned from all this, it's that I can only try my best to be understood when I really want to, and hope the viewer or reader I want to reach isn't too uninterested, hungry, tired, biased, stupid or anything alike I have no influence over. Whatever you love someone else will hate, whether it being a film, song or a political leader with a big heart. I think you have to create because you want to, just as you love because you want to. If your aim is to get something back, you'll often be disappointed.

I understand that the reigning idea in this tweeting society is to try to be as visible as possible without taking too many risks, not choosing side or sharing inner thoughts or feelings more than necessary. Brag and look flawless to gain influence, let people fill in the blanks to render better results. Driven by my curiosity and constant will to understand I'm thankful to anyone who tries to give it a little more substance than that. It would be a boring world if all films were strategically planned to make money by having more boobs and less depth, if all artists saw themselves as magicians unwilling to share their tricks, or if someone like Ann Heberlein only thought about the consequences while writing my recent favorite novel Jag vill inte dö, jag vill bara inte leva. I felt very affected by it, our differences aside, and I most likely wouldn't have if it didn't feel as honest and true. Without similar courageous, unselfish people who share thoughts and experiences from their heart as well as brain without excessive aligning or filtering, it wouldn't be possible for us curious ones to learn as much. Whatever medium. Thank you.

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