They did it again. Both Expressen and Aftonbladet (two of the biggest newspapers in sweden) were, once again, running stories on their first page about… “The Farm”… a bullshit docusoap tv show here in sweden that, as far as I know, noone watches. Is there really nothing more important than that? No big exposé about politicians or power abuse somewhere? No good story about people doing heroic things? They are in so sad a state that I’m worried for them and us.
I really dislike being amateur psychoanalyzed! It’s totally annoying, and it puts you in a “only an addicted person would deny he/she is addicted” position in which the more you deny it the more the amateur psychologist thinks she/he is correct. It’s annoying as hell.
I thought I was pretty hip, up to date and hi tech. But I had no idea what “toothing” was until I read this CNN story. I shouldn’t be surprised at the different ways people use technology, some totally against the original intent. It kinda reminds me about the prostitutions story I’ve read about in “The Sims Online”. People are weird. But so am I so I shouldn’t be complaining.
Politics is getting boring now. Repetetive stuff like the Israel vs Palestine just isn’t interesting to follow anymore. And Bush still never admits to making a single mistake but keeps on making new ones. And in brittain there’s the talk about referendum about the EU constitution, same talk as in sweden. Why can’t something new and interesting happen? It’s getting boring. Is the old saying “no news is good news” really that true? Why can’t there be some reports¨ or interviews that are just fun? Whenever I turn on CNN nowadays, all I get is Bush this, attacks in Iraq that and so on…
One of my nicer qualities is that I’m pretty nice to people working at whatever store/restaurant or whatever I’m at. I go out of my way not to be one of those troublesome customers. If a waitress brings me the wrong food, that’s ok, no biggy – it’s just food. If the customer service is so overloaded they can barely think straight, that’s ok, I’ll call back later. I’m a very Mr Nice. But now I have to ask – just how damn stupid do you have to be to work at a customer service joint? Seriously, is it like “people who can’t get any real jobs” that they place there or what? I’ve always wondered that because I’m surprised at just how stupid they are sometimes. Like the most hilarious “is guatemala a real country?”-girlS (plural!) I got when calling the three biggest mobile phone operators in sweden to check for coverage in Guatemala. But now Turkish Airlines really hit the jackpot of stupidity – when I was recently in Turkey they lost my luggage. And I’m all like “ok, that happens, no biggy I’ll just have to wear these clothes an extra day”. And no clothes day after that, no problem, I’ll just go out and buy the necessities and send them the bill. And now, four weeks later, I got a letter from Turkish Airlines telling me that… well, I wish I knew BECAUSE IT’S ALL IN TURKISH!. Seriously, I made it clear that I was swedish, I was there temporarily and it should be handled by their swedish office, but oh no. I just hope someone at their swedish office can understand it. It’s not a lot of money we’re talking about, like $60, but now it’s just the principal of “how stupid can you get!?”.
I saw “The Butterfly Effect” last night. And loved it! I wasn’t expecting much, and I’m no fan of Ashton Kutcher, but I was happily surprised. The butterfly effect is basically the chaos theory of one butterfly in africa spreading it’s wings and starts a chain of events that could create a typhoon in asia. And this movie is about a guy going back to his childhood to create a perfect future for himself but everytime it has some side-effect that he didn’t see coming. And I like stories like that. The “change one little detail”-thinking that kinda proves just how little in life we are actually in control of. Real life example ; When I was in Buenos Aires with a friend we were bored one saturday evening and we just went out to a random bar and after some drinks he, being the opposite of me, went up to some girls just to ask them what else there is to do in town. And now one of those girls is moving up here to Sweden to live happily ever after with him. How many random events lead to them meeting and getting something going? Just change one thing, the taxi driver could have taken a right and we would have ended up somewhere else and they’d never meet. Unless it was really meant to be ofcourse. Think about that for an hour or two, what major event in your life would never have happened with one tiny itsy bitsy teeny detail was changed? Bet you can come up with a few, withouth really giving it much thought I came up with two.
Here’s the story ; We were on another one of these cruises right. There are, as I see it, four reasons to be on a cruise like this. The drinking, the gambling, the tax free and the hooking up. Everyone in their upper teens-twenties are there to hook up, if only for one night. It’s an hilarious meat-market to watch. So anyway, I’m standing at the bar in the disco (yeah, yeah!) waiting for my turn to order when my friend starts talking to this woman (who’s not his wife!), and I can’t hear what they’re talking about. And then she turns over to me and starts talking how he’s trying to sell me off “’cause I need a girl”. Can’t really argue with him there. And after that opener, we start talking about… stuff, normal prelude talk. Then I order my drinks and leave her right there. Yeah, I KNOW! Now she seemed like a really nice person, and she was funny and most of all, she took the initiative. I’d usually go for that. So why didn’t I? I’ve been beating myself in the head trying to figure it out, and the only thing I can think of is that I didn’t find her physically attractive. Personality wise – yes. But not physically. Ain’t that something? I didn’t think I’d react that way in that given situation, but I guess I proved it. And I’m not really one to talk about not being physically attractive because I’ve looked myself in the mirror, I’ve seen the triple digits on the scale. So how can I justify this? I wasn’t that drunk ’cause I hadn’t started with the strong stuff yet. My spontaneous thought was “why should I settle for something less than a hottie”. Which brings me full circle to “I’m a superficial asshole”. I just hope I didn’t offend her, I don’t really remember how I ended the conversation, I do remember not buying her a drink after just having discussed the financially difficult life of a college student. Usually they don’t even have to hint at that for me to pick up the tab. I guess my judgement may have been impaired by the consumption of alcholic beverages after all. Or perhaps I just suck at this “one night stand” thing?
Now I’m a bit closer to defining a good april fools joke. I did two yesterday. One that was slightly believable but I didn’t put that much energy into it and it worked pretty fine. But on NP.com we went all the way with a faked CNN page about Natalie Portman getting engaged to her boyfriend. And we really did go all the way but threw some humor into it (just look at the “Related story”). And this one was believable right up to the point when you just stop to think about it. And that’s when you’d noticed those small things like the address to the site being “cnn.dnsalias.org” and everything being a link to the same page. And that one worked – flawlessly! So now I know. And now I’m off on another Finland-cruise.
I don’t know if movies are getting weirder or if I’m getting shallower (if that’s even a word?!), but lately I’ve hard trouble … “getting” some movies that have gotten great reviews for being creative, different, deep, artistic and whatnot. Like “Lost in Translation”, I so didn’t get that movie. And as a globetrotter the only parts I enjoyed were those usual problems when you’re in a new country for a week or two. But most recently it was “Adaptation” which has gotten great reviews everywhere. I saw it and I so didn’t get it. I mean, I get that it’s a screenwriter who wrote a movie about himself trying to write a screenplay that included himself and a story about orchids. And Nicholas Cage was damn good in it, no complaints about Mery Streep either, and I like Chris Cooper too. But it was just soooo boring. You kinda wondered where it’d end up, and it sure as hell didn’t end up anyway I could imagine it. And then I see “Rundown” (no-brains testosterone movie featuring The Rock), and I loved it! Is there something wrong with me for preferring a no-brainer action flic like that before a movie that’s so deep I don’t get it, if there was something to get?
Now I’m almost fit for fight again. Still got a little problem lung-capacity wise so I haven’t done much excercising in the past few days, don’t wanna spoil it now that I actually feel pretty good. And you really do appreciate feeling well after being sick or “not completely healthy” for as long as I have. Fortunately, we’ve got a corporate medical plan kicking in soon so I’ll go in for a complete check up. And how will that end I wonder? “You’re cholesterol is through the roof, what’s your diet like!?” … “uh, diet?… a liter coca cola per day, atleast one big bag of chrisps per week, a couple of burgers, some pizzas, the usual…”. And I kinda wish I was kidding.
I’m so sick of being sick! It’s been going on for so long that I actually don’t remember the last time I woke up and said “I feeeeeeeeeel good!” Over the past 5 months my health has gone from bad to bad (I’m just hoping it doesn’t go to “worse”!). No huge problems to complain about, but there’s always something wrong. Right now I’ve got deminished lung capacity which makes walking up stairs feel like a marathon, headaches that comes and goes and a slight fever. Nothing to go to the hospital or anything for (yet!), but I just want to wake up and feel good for once.
Oh crap, here comes my asthma again! I can’t remember the last time I had a problem with my asthma, but it was really long ago. But it’s back. Fortunately I’ve still got the meds to combat it, but it’s another sign that my health is being fedexed to hell. But I am pretty thankful that I’ve got this little genetic screw-up because that’s what I used to not do the military service here in Sweden!
Did you see the “re-elect Bush” video they’ve got going over there? I particulary like the part when they say Bush is a stabilizing force in a rapidly changing society. Riiiiight… “oh my god, gay people who want to do something we all take for granted and get married, let’s make that unconstitutional!”, call that stability? And they also play on the “September 11th”-factor to “emphasize how Bush rose to the occasion and dealt with the biggest crisis in american history”. If sinking the economy and invading two countries is “rising to the occasion”, I’m a little bit scared. It kinda reminds me about this animation.
Please don’t re-elect him.
Well this has been fun. Once more, a weekend only dedicated to entertaining me, myself and I. Not really doing anything, no obligations to anyone or being anywhere. I like that a little know and then. And so I got to catch up on movie-watching ; “Schindler’s List” again. Damn that’s an awesome movie. One of those movies I can see over and over and still end up crying. I wonder if it’s a part of modern schooling to see that movie? It should be. “Scary Movie 3” ; hilarious movie, way better than I thought. The first one was hilarious, but second one was a little too much. But this one redeemed it. But they still do play alot on internal movie-jokes, and having Denise Richards as Sheen’s wife – nice! And then there was “Underworld”. I’ve never been a fan of either the warewolf or vampire genre, and this was all about that. But I enjoyed it alot anyway, pretty good action flic. And Kate as Selena is probably the sexiest thing on film since Elisabeth as the Devil in “Bedazzled”. And she did it all without smiling – once. Then there was “Duplex”. Nothing special really, “neighbor from hell” concept without any real surprises. No, I take that back. It was an unexpected use of music! But still pretty disappointing.
It almost slipped my mind. But only almost. Yesterday was pretty hectic so I didn’t have much time to stop and think. But when I finally went to bed at 11 and did my “think about the day” I realised what day it was. 2 years… 2 years ago that I lost my best friend. 2 years ago that I was taught the real meaning of “you don’t know what you’ve got until you lose it”. 2 years ago that my world was turned upside down. 2 years… it feels like an eternity.
Have you heard all the fuzz about Gibson’s latest movie, “The Suffering”? If you haven’t – it’s a long movie about the last days of Jesus Christ as told by four gospels in the new testament. And I’ve been laughing quite hard at the reaction from both the christian and jewish camps! I haven’t seen the movie, and neither have most of them, so I can’t really say if it’s good or not, but I have read the Bible so I know a little about the story behind it. But that’s not what I’m laughing about. The christians are all jolly about this movie since it will englighten millions of people and everyone will start streaming back to the good old Churches looking for salvation and forgiveness. The jews are all worried about how the jews are portrayed as bad guys in the movie. And I’m not one to take religion that very seriously so I hope all christians and jews will forgive this ; havn’t they been saying the same thing for the past thousand years? Christians have gone all over the planet looking to christianify (I love making up words!) people, even with guns and cannons. And the jews have gone “feel sorry for us, it’s us against the world” for as far as I’ve known it. But with Schindler’s List (which btw is one of my all time favorite movies) coming to DVD next week they’ll get some payback, ’cause those people I really felt sorry for.
Personally I’ll just quote the Guru Kevin Smith:
“Tell a person that you’re the Metatron and they stare at you blankly. Mention something out of a Charlton Heston movie and suddenly everybody is a theology scholar.”
– The Metatron in “Dogma“.
… or how about “Stigmata“:
“Jesus said…the Kingdom of God is inside you, and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood…and I am there, lift a stone…and you will find me.”
I could go on all day…
And today the ever so enlightened, wise and open minded president of the land of the free decided to make same sex marriages unconstitutional. Why? Well, it seems the marital bond between a man and a woman is sacred and a basis for society to function. Meaning that if you’d allow people of the same sex to marry each other everyone else will feel their marriage means less and that would pose a threat to society.
Two words : Britney Spears. She wasn’t even married for 100 hours, but what she did should pose more of a threat to “normal” marriages meaning less than two people who actually love eachother. But their short “getting married while drunk”-marriage seems to be worth more than the thousands of gay people who’s gotten married in San Fransisco over the past week. I’m not married, so I can’t really say what that bond would be like. And I’m not gay, so I don’t know what that bond is like. So I can’t really say which one Shouldn’t the 50% (or whatever the number is nowadays!) divorce rate pose more of a threat? I’m pretty sure gay’s would divorce as well, but I guess we won’t find out. And besides, saying “gay people can’t get married because it would make my marriage feel less important to me” is to me like saying “women can’t vote since that would make me feel less important”, which they were saying hundred years ago. And that changed, so hopefully this will as well.
And I wish I could say Sweden was better, but we’re not. Here, gay’s can become a so called “registered couple”, which is as close to marriage you can get and offers some of the same benefits and assuarances, without actually being married.
Think what you want about the gay marriage thing happening over in San Fransisco, but this mayor is my new favorite politician. I was hoping that Arnie might make a good politician, most of all because he’s suppose to be financially independant (not even Bush can say that) and coming from Hollywood one would hope he had a more open liberal mind. But I guess I was wrong.
As I said, I’ve spent a few days in Finland (which is so close to Sweden it doesn’t even count as being abroad!). Anyway, I can really recommend this place called “Storyville”. If you just wanna hang around in a nice quiet bar and play some BJ, it’s perfect. But if you wanna hang around in an overcrowded bar with live blues & jazz music you just go downstairs and you’ve got that too. Really nice place and atmosphere, and the band on the night we were there was damn good as well. And it’s the only bar I’ve been able to order a “jägermesiter in red bull” without argument!
Did you hear Colin Powell’s speach at Princeton? I particularly liked how he used what happened to Iraq as an example to what would happen to any other countries (Iran, North Korea and Libya that is) that tried to acquire WMD and how this event has made some countries reconsider. Wait.. did Iraq really have any WMD… nope, bad intelligence. And I don’t only mean Bush’s intelligence, or lack there of. Then he also mentioned how allies of the US needn’t worry about going into an arms race with anyone or trying to buil any WMD since US would protect them. So I guess Blair can just start dismantling their nukes? And “they” are still downplaying the importance of the fact that they were totally wrong about Iraq having any WMD when one year ago it was the reason to invade another country and overrule the UN, go against their oldest ally and getting the world opinion against them. But I guess it wasn’t that important.