i've tried. i really have. but i haven't found anything i thought would be worth to write about. i don't have much now either. i'm writing this post to declare that "woke up new" by the mountain goats is arguably the best song i have ever heard, but i've mentioned it before so i don't think it really qualifies as "news". anyway, there's this line in the song.
an astronaut could have seen the hunger in my eyes from space.
and i've heard the song before and i've noticed the line and not really thought much of it, but now it's just stuck in my mind. i've listened to the song at least ten times today and that line is the biggest reason. (there are other reasons too, the main one being that the song is AWESOME). just thinking about it gave me goosebumps earlier today, and i don't think that's ever happened before. i know i've posted a link to the video on youtube before, but i'm going to do it again just because i can. the mountain goats - woke up new. maybe the line fits my life better now. it's open for interpretation, it's got a dualistic touch like most of the lines in the song. instead of the "she left me and now everything sucks"-theme that is ever so common, woke up new has lines such as "i felt free and i felt lonely and i felt scared" and i know all of those feelings and i know the ambiguity and confusion and i know that song and i like how it doesn't simplify anything. i like how it sees both sides in a very calm way. i think i'm like that, i try to see both sides way too much. it's a good thing in moderation, but if you do it too much you're never able to draw any conclusions or take a firm stand on anything. this can be frustrating for both you and people around you. but since the song is like that and i'm like that, i like the song a little extra.
in other news, my thesis is just not coming along very well. i can't seem to get working on it. and i don't really understand why. i'm not feeling very good about it and i'm not very proud of myself, but nothing seems to help. i'm not sure what to do about it. i've tried. i really have.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
concert invite #2
some of canada's finest, great lake swimmers, will be playing at inkonst in malmö tomorrow (thursday) evening. i think they've made some pretty rad stuff so i encourage you to come along. it's slow, folkish music not entirely different from acts such as nick drake and bonnie 'prince' billy. one need not venture too far from the truth to compare them to damien rice either. check things out here and let me know if you want to come with me. perhaps you'd like to hear some of their tunes before agreeing to dish out a whopping 85:- to go see a band in the middle of the week? no need to cut and paste their name into google, for i provide you here with their myspace page. pitchfork has reviewed their first album here; they were also generous enough to provide a free song!
to completely fit the blog description, here's a link to the only dinosaur comic that mentions lakes. it's also about canada day, and ryan north is from toronto, the same place as the great lake swimmers. i'm really getting into full circle-mode here.
to completely fit the blog description, here's a link to the only dinosaur comic that mentions lakes. it's also about canada day, and ryan north is from toronto, the same place as the great lake swimmers. i'm really getting into full circle-mode here.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
jag vill alltid, alltid gå med dig
helvete. förra inlägget är ju bara pinsamt. all min musik-cred åt skogen, kom kom är ju en imperiet-cover. varför visste jag inte det? jag har inte hört originalet och jag är tveksam till att det låter särskilt mycket som broder daniel. inte för att det måste göra det egentligen, jag bara känner att jag borde ha droppat att det var en cover lite snyggt i en bisats, eller åtminstone antytt att alla självklart känner till att det är en cover och att jag därför inte behöver bemöda mig med att berätta vem som gjort originalet. men icke. jag visste inte, och nu är det korskrypardags.
vagt relaterat så skriver mattias alkberg i sitt senaste blogginlägg att han äntligen hört säkerts skiva och mitt inlägg får därmed en snygg full circle-känsla. kanske kan det balansera historielösheten lite.
vagt relaterat så skriver mattias alkberg i sitt senaste blogginlägg att han äntligen hört säkerts skiva och mitt inlägg får därmed en snygg full circle-känsla. kanske kan det balansera historielösheten lite.
Monday, May 07, 2007
svenska ljud
det blir ett inlägg på gästspråket svenska den här gången. mest för att jag lyssnar på säkert! och därför har en massa svenska ord i huvudet för en gångs skull. när jag läser på engelska byter tankarna snabbt språk. tänk om man hade det så med lite fler språk. jag undrar hur många man kan lära sig innan hjärnan blir alldeles förvirrad? två går bra. förutom en eller annan gång, som t.ex. när jag pratar med rachel samtidigt som jag chattar med någon vän. då blir det för mycket för stackars hjärnan ibland.
anledningen till att jag skriver det här inlägget är just att säkert! (formerly known as hello saferide) är så fantastiskt bra och att jag behöver få ur mig lite åsikter om musik och det är inte så många i min bekantskapskrets som är så intresserade eller besatta av musik som jag är, så ämnet "den här skivan är sjukt bra!" kommer inte upp så ofta som det skulle kunna göra. men tillbaka till säkert!: det var bra på engelska, men det är klart bättre på svenska. varför är det så bra och varför är det ännu bättre nu? för mig är det ungefär så här: annika norlin (som är säkert!:s/hs:s riktiga namn. och hur bildar man egentligen genitiv av ett ord som slutar med utropstecken?) gör ofta trallvänlig popmusik med klatschiga refränger. en bra egenskap. texterna handlar mycket om känslor, då och då om att vara ledsen och då och då om att vara glad. det gillar jag. ibland handlar de om tunga saker, som t.ex. "allt som är ditt", som handlar om våldtäkt. den gillar jag också. för att försäkra mig om att jag inte hade missförstått något i texten så gjorde jag en snabbgoogling och upptäckte då att det finns en blogg. den innehåller meningar såsom "Jag blev så stressad av människans tydliga inneboende godhet att jag var tvungen att gå in på Unicef och hetsskänka 300 kr" och hamnar därför på min bevakningslista. en annan anledning till att säkert (jag orkar inte skriva utropstecknet mer, det blir bara fult) är så bra är att texterna oftast är väldigt välskrivna och ibland har fantastiska rim som "hydman-vallien" på "dricka vin".
för någon månad sen lyssnade jag på emil jensen nästan hela tiden. 2007 har alla en blogg och det har han förstås också. emil. på den står det att han ska göra en cykelturné genom sverige i sommar och mycket bättre än så kan det inte bli. hoppas han orkar ända till skåne, tänkte jag först, men sen kom jag ihåg att han ju trots allt sjunger på ganska bred skånska. hoppas att han spelar någon dag då jag kan komma, tänker jag nu istället. han är väldigt lurig med orden han med och anledningen till att jag tar upp honom här inte någon av hans låtar (men många är väldigt, väldigt bra) utan bara titeln på hans skiva: orka då. jag tänker det väldigt ofta. orka då. det kan betyda både att jag orkar och att jag inte orkar. tanken är nog att det ska förmedla att man inte orkar, men jag känner att det kan betyda båda sakerna. kanske att jag kommer på att jag faktiskt orkar när jag säger "orka då" till mig själv. första låten på skivan innehåller även raden "finns det något mer deprimerande än en läggmatch i pingis på psyket?" och redan då var jag fast.
sedan så hyser jag något slags kärlek till mattias alkberg bd. de är ojämna, men ibland får de till det helt, t.ex. tycker jag att fyllskalle var en grym låt trots att sällan dricker och inte kan relatera till den över huvud taget. nu har jag fastnat för kom kom från deras förra skiva, "ditt hjärta är en stjärna". (jag känner att jag velar mellan att använda citationstecken här och inte alls är konsekvent, ibland känns det bättre med och ibland känns det bättre utan och jag känner att jag borde hålla mig till en standardmall, men det här är trots allt bara en blogg.) kom kom har ett intro som låter mer broder daniel än vad broder daniel någonsin gjort och första gången jag hörde det så funderade jag på om man fick göra ett sådant intro om man inte var broder daniel. nu har jag kommit fram till att man får det, och då särskilt om resten av låten inte låter så mycket broder daniel. nu sökte jag snabbt på nätet för att se om den gick att ladda hem lagligt och vad hittade jag? inte låten, men en blogg. ja, det är klart att de har en blogg. vad inbillade jag mig? jag känner ett framtida, post-ironiskt inlägg om hur alla har en blogg forma sig i mitt huvud.
anledningen till att jag skriver det här inlägget är just att säkert! (formerly known as hello saferide) är så fantastiskt bra och att jag behöver få ur mig lite åsikter om musik och det är inte så många i min bekantskapskrets som är så intresserade eller besatta av musik som jag är, så ämnet "den här skivan är sjukt bra!" kommer inte upp så ofta som det skulle kunna göra. men tillbaka till säkert!: det var bra på engelska, men det är klart bättre på svenska. varför är det så bra och varför är det ännu bättre nu? för mig är det ungefär så här: annika norlin (som är säkert!:s/hs:s riktiga namn. och hur bildar man egentligen genitiv av ett ord som slutar med utropstecken?) gör ofta trallvänlig popmusik med klatschiga refränger. en bra egenskap. texterna handlar mycket om känslor, då och då om att vara ledsen och då och då om att vara glad. det gillar jag. ibland handlar de om tunga saker, som t.ex. "allt som är ditt", som handlar om våldtäkt. den gillar jag också. för att försäkra mig om att jag inte hade missförstått något i texten så gjorde jag en snabbgoogling och upptäckte då att det finns en blogg. den innehåller meningar såsom "Jag blev så stressad av människans tydliga inneboende godhet att jag var tvungen att gå in på Unicef och hetsskänka 300 kr" och hamnar därför på min bevakningslista. en annan anledning till att säkert (jag orkar inte skriva utropstecknet mer, det blir bara fult) är så bra är att texterna oftast är väldigt välskrivna och ibland har fantastiska rim som "hydman-vallien" på "dricka vin".
för någon månad sen lyssnade jag på emil jensen nästan hela tiden. 2007 har alla en blogg och det har han förstås också. emil. på den står det att han ska göra en cykelturné genom sverige i sommar och mycket bättre än så kan det inte bli. hoppas han orkar ända till skåne, tänkte jag först, men sen kom jag ihåg att han ju trots allt sjunger på ganska bred skånska. hoppas att han spelar någon dag då jag kan komma, tänker jag nu istället. han är väldigt lurig med orden han med och anledningen till att jag tar upp honom här inte någon av hans låtar (men många är väldigt, väldigt bra) utan bara titeln på hans skiva: orka då. jag tänker det väldigt ofta. orka då. det kan betyda både att jag orkar och att jag inte orkar. tanken är nog att det ska förmedla att man inte orkar, men jag känner att det kan betyda båda sakerna. kanske att jag kommer på att jag faktiskt orkar när jag säger "orka då" till mig själv. första låten på skivan innehåller även raden "finns det något mer deprimerande än en läggmatch i pingis på psyket?" och redan då var jag fast.
sedan så hyser jag något slags kärlek till mattias alkberg bd. de är ojämna, men ibland får de till det helt, t.ex. tycker jag att fyllskalle var en grym låt trots att sällan dricker och inte kan relatera till den över huvud taget. nu har jag fastnat för kom kom från deras förra skiva, "ditt hjärta är en stjärna". (jag känner att jag velar mellan att använda citationstecken här och inte alls är konsekvent, ibland känns det bättre med och ibland känns det bättre utan och jag känner att jag borde hålla mig till en standardmall, men det här är trots allt bara en blogg.) kom kom har ett intro som låter mer broder daniel än vad broder daniel någonsin gjort och första gången jag hörde det så funderade jag på om man fick göra ett sådant intro om man inte var broder daniel. nu har jag kommit fram till att man får det, och då särskilt om resten av låten inte låter så mycket broder daniel. nu sökte jag snabbt på nätet för att se om den gick att ladda hem lagligt och vad hittade jag? inte låten, men en blogg. ja, det är klart att de har en blogg. vad inbillade jag mig? jag känner ett framtida, post-ironiskt inlägg om hur alla har en blogg forma sig i mitt huvud.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
mäüd ölöfssön
it's time for a language-related rant.
a rant about something that i'm sure you've all come across. it concerns the difference between swedish and english in the area of vowels. as most of you are no doubt aware, there are more vowels in swedish than there are in english, more specifically the notorious triumvirate of åäö. also, in swedish we consider y to be a vowel whereas those english dudes consider it a half-vowel at best. it's a puzzling letter to be sure, but the point of this rant is å, ä and ö. you see, even though they look remarkably similar to some other vowels that exist in english (a and o, i'm looking in your general direction), they are in fact different vowels. different letters, different pronunciations, different pretty much everything. yes yes, i know that historically the å is an a with an o on it and pronounced somewhere in between, and i know that an ä is considered an a with an umlaut. but i'd still like to claim that they are separate vowels. people here don't mistake å's for a's. this is because they are different vowels. not that hard, is it? even dudes in metal bands should be able to figure this one out, right? well, i'm sure you've all heard of motörhead and mötley crüe and rolled your eyes, but this aspect of the issue seems like it's been done to death already. just check out this for some serious dot-related humour. i tried to find a picture of the tour t-shirt, but didn't in five seconds and then gave up. whilst looking, i came across a wikipedia article with the name "heavy metal umlaut", which indicates that this topic has been adequately covered already, and so i shall waste no more space on it.
in the above paragraph i hinted that dudes in metal bands were of low intelligence; i apologize for this and as we shall soon see, people in other areas do not seem to be smarter. i turn you now to a picture i took in a design store in sydney.
perhaps it is not clear on the small version of the picture, but click on it and enjoy all the glory of a "Stockhölm" teapot. to indicate that it is from scandinavia you have to put dots on at least on of the vowels, right? otherwise people might not understand that we are selling authentic scandinavian design here! because people have no idea what or where stockholm is. now, i'm not swedocentric enough to expect everyone in the world to obviously know that stockholm is the swedish capital city, but i do think it's a name strong enough to hold its own without the help of dots to indicate its scandinavian-ness. also, what is up with only putting dots on one of the o's? if you put them on one, you've already established that you don't care that they are different vowels altogether, so why not go all out with your foreign branding strategy and leave nothing to ambiguity when you name your product? with the name "Stockhölm", most people will think it's scandinavian, some people will think you are an idiot for putting dots where they don't belong and some people will be completely oblivious to all the mighty viking-ness allusions you are trying to convey in your teapot. if you instead name it "Stöckhölm" (or perhaps "STÖCKHÖLM" for slightly more viking-ness) some of the oblivious people might get the hint whereas no one would think you were even more of an idiot - a definite win-win situation.
when i buy shampoo, deodorant, soap and similar products, there are at least twenty different options that will do the job. they all look remarkably similar. they have names like "arctic", "cool", "sport" and so on, and i usually choose depending on what kind of image i want to convey for the day. if i feel sporty the day i happen to be buying shower gel, i will buy the one that says "sport" (as long as it's also cheap); if i feel arcticy, i will buy the "arctic" one. i don't want to waste my time on inconsequential things like picking a shower gel, i just want to get it over with, so i'm using this method just to have something to base a quick decision on. but once, again in sydney, the decision was easier than normal. a picture is enclosed below, enjoy the spectacular setting.
yes, it is a deodorant called "Norscä" and it has the scent "forest fresh". i don't think i have much to add, the picture pretty much speaks for itself. in a kumadude-esque manner i'd like to close off this post with yet another picture, this time of a coffee shop that also sells ice cream, also in sydney. on a side note, the coffee shop was named "coffee t", which inspired an endless number of mr. t jokes between me and rachel. anyway, picture:
a rant about something that i'm sure you've all come across. it concerns the difference between swedish and english in the area of vowels. as most of you are no doubt aware, there are more vowels in swedish than there are in english, more specifically the notorious triumvirate of åäö. also, in swedish we consider y to be a vowel whereas those english dudes consider it a half-vowel at best. it's a puzzling letter to be sure, but the point of this rant is å, ä and ö. you see, even though they look remarkably similar to some other vowels that exist in english (a and o, i'm looking in your general direction), they are in fact different vowels. different letters, different pronunciations, different pretty much everything. yes yes, i know that historically the å is an a with an o on it and pronounced somewhere in between, and i know that an ä is considered an a with an umlaut. but i'd still like to claim that they are separate vowels. people here don't mistake å's for a's. this is because they are different vowels. not that hard, is it? even dudes in metal bands should be able to figure this one out, right? well, i'm sure you've all heard of motörhead and mötley crüe and rolled your eyes, but this aspect of the issue seems like it's been done to death already. just check out this for some serious dot-related humour. i tried to find a picture of the tour t-shirt, but didn't in five seconds and then gave up. whilst looking, i came across a wikipedia article with the name "heavy metal umlaut", which indicates that this topic has been adequately covered already, and so i shall waste no more space on it.
in the above paragraph i hinted that dudes in metal bands were of low intelligence; i apologize for this and as we shall soon see, people in other areas do not seem to be smarter. i turn you now to a picture i took in a design store in sydney.
perhaps it is not clear on the small version of the picture, but click on it and enjoy all the glory of a "Stockhölm" teapot. to indicate that it is from scandinavia you have to put dots on at least on of the vowels, right? otherwise people might not understand that we are selling authentic scandinavian design here! because people have no idea what or where stockholm is. now, i'm not swedocentric enough to expect everyone in the world to obviously know that stockholm is the swedish capital city, but i do think it's a name strong enough to hold its own without the help of dots to indicate its scandinavian-ness. also, what is up with only putting dots on one of the o's? if you put them on one, you've already established that you don't care that they are different vowels altogether, so why not go all out with your foreign branding strategy and leave nothing to ambiguity when you name your product? with the name "Stockhölm", most people will think it's scandinavian, some people will think you are an idiot for putting dots where they don't belong and some people will be completely oblivious to all the mighty viking-ness allusions you are trying to convey in your teapot. if you instead name it "Stöckhölm" (or perhaps "STÖCKHÖLM" for slightly more viking-ness) some of the oblivious people might get the hint whereas no one would think you were even more of an idiot - a definite win-win situation.
when i buy shampoo, deodorant, soap and similar products, there are at least twenty different options that will do the job. they all look remarkably similar. they have names like "arctic", "cool", "sport" and so on, and i usually choose depending on what kind of image i want to convey for the day. if i feel sporty the day i happen to be buying shower gel, i will buy the one that says "sport" (as long as it's also cheap); if i feel arcticy, i will buy the "arctic" one. i don't want to waste my time on inconsequential things like picking a shower gel, i just want to get it over with, so i'm using this method just to have something to base a quick decision on. but once, again in sydney, the decision was easier than normal. a picture is enclosed below, enjoy the spectacular setting.
yes, it is a deodorant called "Norscä" and it has the scent "forest fresh". i don't think i have much to add, the picture pretty much speaks for itself. in a kumadude-esque manner i'd like to close off this post with yet another picture, this time of a coffee shop that also sells ice cream, also in sydney. on a side note, the coffee shop was named "coffee t", which inspired an endless number of mr. t jokes between me and rachel. anyway, picture:
Monday, April 09, 2007
are you an archetype? i'm an archetype.
this post is based on a newspaper clip in swedish, from a magazine called nöjesguiden which is the hipster guide to all things happening in the world of culture, music and partying in the skåne/öresund region, much like time out in london or the drum media in sydney. the clip in question:
this might not seem to exciting at first glance, even if you understand swedish. it's an article about (then) upcoming concerts in copenhagen and the headline is "the suffering artist 2007" and if you like gloomy singer/songwriters you will undoubtedly recognize the man in the picture as the gloomiest singer/songwriter of them all, will oldham aka bonnie prince billy aka ten other nicknames. fortunately, the interesting part has been circled, but not by me. you see, i found this clip on the notice board for environmental engineering because it is mentioned in the circled part of the article. environmental engineering students tend to put up stuff related to the program on the notice board when they find it, so everyone can see that we are getting exposure all over the world and that at least someone knows that we exist. anyway, the circled part. perhaps the image is too compressed to be able to actually read what it says, so i'm going to post a zoomed-in version as well:
now, let's discuss what it actually says. it is about a concert with damien rice in copenhagen and it says "a bonnie prince billy for the environmental engineering student who longs for japan and likes table hockey". does this remind you of anyone in particular? i bet it does! in fact, there is only one person in the whole world who fits these three criteria, and it is me. i do not know the person who wrote the article, but after searching the back corners of my brain i realize that he is the boyfriend of one of my high school friends and that i met him once or twice at one or two parties about five years ago. i remember that we talked about writing, it seems to have worked out for him since he now works for an entertainment paper. however, whereas i haven't really thought much about him, apart from seeing him in the city from time to time, i seem to have made some sort of impression on him as the archetypical damien rice fan. essentially, i am an archetype to him. i look and act like the typical bonnie prince billy/damien rice fan. mind you, this is probably true, for i like both of these guys' music, but he can't know this because i last talked to him before damien rice released his first album, and i'm fairly sure i did not listen to bonnie prince billy back then. all in all, i find this immensely funny and it makes me a little bit proud to be the signature face for a group of people, even if it is only to one person.
it also made me reflect on how little it actually takes to narrow a description down to just one person. three adjectives/labels and you've got no one but me left. granted, table hockey is an unusually obscure hobby compared to soccer, for example, and i study a program that has about 50 students in every year and didn't start until 1998, but still - it probably won't take that many labels to narrow it down to just one person, no matter who it is. this a roundabout way of saying that we are all unique.
this might not seem to exciting at first glance, even if you understand swedish. it's an article about (then) upcoming concerts in copenhagen and the headline is "the suffering artist 2007" and if you like gloomy singer/songwriters you will undoubtedly recognize the man in the picture as the gloomiest singer/songwriter of them all, will oldham aka bonnie prince billy aka ten other nicknames. fortunately, the interesting part has been circled, but not by me. you see, i found this clip on the notice board for environmental engineering because it is mentioned in the circled part of the article. environmental engineering students tend to put up stuff related to the program on the notice board when they find it, so everyone can see that we are getting exposure all over the world and that at least someone knows that we exist. anyway, the circled part. perhaps the image is too compressed to be able to actually read what it says, so i'm going to post a zoomed-in version as well:
now, let's discuss what it actually says. it is about a concert with damien rice in copenhagen and it says "a bonnie prince billy for the environmental engineering student who longs for japan and likes table hockey". does this remind you of anyone in particular? i bet it does! in fact, there is only one person in the whole world who fits these three criteria, and it is me. i do not know the person who wrote the article, but after searching the back corners of my brain i realize that he is the boyfriend of one of my high school friends and that i met him once or twice at one or two parties about five years ago. i remember that we talked about writing, it seems to have worked out for him since he now works for an entertainment paper. however, whereas i haven't really thought much about him, apart from seeing him in the city from time to time, i seem to have made some sort of impression on him as the archetypical damien rice fan. essentially, i am an archetype to him. i look and act like the typical bonnie prince billy/damien rice fan. mind you, this is probably true, for i like both of these guys' music, but he can't know this because i last talked to him before damien rice released his first album, and i'm fairly sure i did not listen to bonnie prince billy back then. all in all, i find this immensely funny and it makes me a little bit proud to be the signature face for a group of people, even if it is only to one person.
it also made me reflect on how little it actually takes to narrow a description down to just one person. three adjectives/labels and you've got no one but me left. granted, table hockey is an unusually obscure hobby compared to soccer, for example, and i study a program that has about 50 students in every year and didn't start until 1998, but still - it probably won't take that many labels to narrow it down to just one person, no matter who it is. this a roundabout way of saying that we are all unique.
Friday, April 06, 2007
true to the name
i realized that i haven't mentioned webcomics in a while now, which is something that this blog claims to be about. time to make up for that: check out the perry bible fellowship for some well-drawn and really nifty stuff.
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