Busy, busy, busy. So much going on now, most of it fun.
So I was called as an expert in sci-fi movies and later Star Trek during the sci-fi convent here. And a very interesting thing happened. During the first discussion, “100 years of sci-fi” the conclusion we all reached was that sci-fi movies were alot better in the old days because they went more for good story than eye-candy (space battles, effects and whatnot). Back when they were deep and explored mankind instead of exploring the bounderies of CGI. Kinda frightening how close that conclusion is to my recent bashing of the music industry :).
The general consensus was that it all started going to hell after “Alien” and “Star Wars”. But there is hope now that sci-fi is once again going deep and making you think – A.I and Minority Report are two recent examples. (although I didn’t really like A.I)
In the second debate we were suppose to have a little battle over which sci-fi universe (Star Trek, Babylon 5, Star Wars, Alien…) was the best one. I was the voice for Star Trek. And I believe I was the moral victor because my initial statement was “Since I’m a trekker I shouldn’t be here, because the point of Star Trek is learning to respect other people and their opinions so I can’t really tell anyone that they’re wrong since in the Star Trek spirit no opinion can be wrong”. Hehe, tell that to any Babylon 5 freak who always sends in his navy of Whitestars…
I’m writing this at 2:10 am on Saturday morning. I just got home from a preview screening of “Minority Report”. I’m not that big a fan of Spielbergs. He is too much up and down, great movies like “Schindler’s List” and then rock bottom movies like “Hook”. Same goes for Tom Crooze. And I had read a couple of reviews, most critics didn’t like. But what do they know – it rocked! One of Spielbergs greatest movies, right up there with “E.T” and “Schindler’s List”. It made one think in so many levels, and a future society I’m not sure I’d be willing to be apart of. And of course, our swedish actor Peter Stormare who actually got to speak swedish and his assistant sang the swedish folk song about the small frogs – unbelievable! 🙂
One thing I liked was that Spielberg is going a little ‘DePalma’ with shooting sequences way more complicated than they need to be. Like the one whith the spiders crawling and you see everything from above in a cut-out sort of way – so inspired from “Snake Eyes”, and really nicely done. But what was down right beautifully filmed was the scene when Tom hugs the girl in the lobby and he’s facing one way and she the other while they have a conversation… that was just beautifully filmed and the lighting was excellent!!
You should definitely go and see it! Credit goes to swedish Fox for fixing the preview. And I usually don’t like Fox for all the trouble they’re giving us at NP.com!
Btw, if you’re in Stockholm you should check out the sci-fi congress in Kulturhuset. I’m gonna be in the panel of experts for two sessions, one on Saturday at 13:00 (“100 Years of Sci-fi”) then one on Sunday at 12:00 (“Sci-fi Wars”).
Ok, everybody grab onto something because what I’m about to admit will send shockwaves all over the world : I saw the video to the Spears cover of “I Love Rock and Roll”. And liked it. Seriously, the video was OK. Although it was zooming in on her belly abit much, it was still a step in the right direction! And she definitely knew how to mount that bike 🙂 The song I still have a problem with though. They’ve toned down the volume to the music too much. In the original you could feel the drumbeats and feel the guitar ripping away. But in this you can barely hear it. So music-wise I still prefer the original, but video-wise the new is better. Which is the point I’ve been making all along – music is getting worse and worse because they are going further and further away from making good music to putting on a good show.
Do you know what we’ve never seen? James Bond having problems parking his car or getting a ticket! Seriously, I was driving out to a customer to install an internet router, and my biggest worry was where to park the car. That’s when it hit me that we’ve never seen James Bond have that kind of trouble. I’ve never seen him pay for parking or anything! And that proves just how much I think about the little practical things that become big problems if I hadn’t been one step ahead.
You must be thinking “you are one lazy dude, only updating twice during a 8 day vacation!”. Not true! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much to do during a vacation as I did last week! The time just flew past me like Marilyn Manson from a Britney Spears concert! And every little minute of free time I could find went into studying for my Novell 5.1 Administration certification exam I had this morning. So I hardly feel relaxed and re-energized after this vacation. But I only have myself to blame I guess.
And speaking of Britney Spears – I heard she “loves rock’n’roll”. Then why is she in the pop-genre? The difference is huge, and I don’t think she’d cut it in rock’n’roll. Although that song may be one of her best ones. Too bad it’s a cover.
Oh yeah, I passed that test by the way. So what does that mean? It means that I have a paper that says “this guy passed a test so he should kinda know Novell Netware 5.1”. I don’t know any more, or less, about Novell than I did two weeks ago though.
Last saturday we had a little party here at my parents house. They’re away for a week and I’m in charge, so naturally there’ll be a party! Anyway, it was going to be a normal BBQ with the usual crew (AC, her hubby Paul and my “brother” Jocke) but on this special occasion, two women I’ve known since I was five came – Lina and Helena. Lina I’ve seen and talked to a little now and then, but Helena have been living a little all over so I haven’t really talked to her for over 10 years (not counting the occasional “hello”s). And it was good catching up a little with her.
See, I live my life after my own set of “Rules of Conduct” to ensure that if I’d die, noone will have anything bad to say about me. And I can count the people who may have something bad to say about me on one hand. And now there is one less! Because the last time we “talked” it was during my teens when I had done some really stupid things, so I’ve always felt that when we lost contact it was on a bad note. But now I think I’m redeemed.
And on a very, very happy note – Helena’s boyfriend (yeap, all good ones are still taken) name is Timothy, but called Tim or… TIMMYYYY!… and I started laughing when I heard her say that and I had to explain that I’m a South Park-fan and that’s why TIMMYYY is pretty funny, and guess what she counters with? She was one of the dancers performing the “BLAME CANADA!” number during the 2000 Oscars! DUDE!
Eminem is also one of those artists who’s music I don’t like and who’s opinions I don’t agree with, but still have respect for because how he’s doing his thing no matter what anybody says. He also shares my dislike for the product named Britney Spears.
But then he goes and gay-bashed MOBY!?
Moby, you can get stomped by Obie, you 36 year old bald headed fag, blow me. You don’t know me, you’re too old, let go, its over, nobody listens to techno.
I don’t know for a fact Moby isn’t gay (although he did make out with Natalie Portman so I guess not). And Moby makes great music and preaches “peace, love and understanding” (he kinda proved that with his response in own journal) so what’s Eminem’s problem? So now I don’t like his music, his opinions or him.
So yesterday I re-discovered what may very well have been the best musical duo ever – Bill Drummond and Jimi Cauty, aka “Kopyright Liberation Front”. Most known as the KLF, or JAMS. Actually they have alot of aka’s. Back in the early 90’s they were extremely popular and I loved them, but the other day I heard “3 am Eternal” again and it’s still damn good. So I downloaded all the good old songs (love it when Whitney Houston joins the JAMS!). They pretty much invented illegal sampling/ripping 🙂
Their music is still pretty awesome, very creative videos as well, and the only thing I have against them is the fact that they don’t make any new music and haven’t since May 5th ’92 and won’t release any more “until peace reigned around the world”. Great goal ofcourse, but they made too good music just to quit like that 🙁
Did you see the MTV Movie Awards? Natalie was presenting an award so more or less had to see it. This is one of the few award shows I still have a little bit of respect for! Anyway, Seann William Scott won an award (for best kiss with Jason Biggs… don’t ask!), and in his acceptance speech he said something like “five years ago, I was working in a zoo, now look at me!”.
And that got me thinking – just how much in life is left to chance. Everything from having the good parents, the right genetic makeup/DNA, sibblings, teachers in school, job oppurtunities, meeting the right one and to not be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Just how much of that can you actually control yourself? Not a lot….
So it turns out it was coincidence after all, cause she’s getting married in the near future. Good for her! And I really mean that. And as far as the guy goes… I can’t tell you how many sunday mornings that guy has been responsible for waking me up 🙂
So yesterday was my birthday. And I didn’t really enjoy it because I found another “signs that you’re getting old” – hangovers! They’re getting worse and worse! I remember when hangovers only last a couple of hours and took a gallon of water to cure. No more, I was feeling terrible all day yesterday. Which wasn’t nice since we had a nice bbq planned with my family and stuff, I wasn’t too… happy 🙁 But always look on the bright side – saturday evening was hilarious.
And do you remember that radio-chick I was talking about a year back? The babe that disappeared to finland but returned out of the blue on the radio the day before the most sacred days for me – Christmas? That was a nice surprise, but guess who was in charge of the night shift on the radio yesterday when I went to bed? Coinsidence that she comes on the radio on the two most important days for me? Hehehe 🙂
Let’s talk about an ever increasing problem in our society – DVD IMPORTS! The production and distribution studios like DVDs. The format gives them one more chance to make money on old movies and another format to distribute new movies. They also like that they now have some place to store all those documentaries that are made during production of a movie. A DVD disc today costs around $20, so that’s more than twice what it costs to see a movie in the cinema. So you’d think that they would like everyone to buy DVD’s everywhere?… yea, you’d think!
To prevent a movie from being available on DVD before it’s available in the cinema (which sometimes is the case here in sweden, I bought “Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back” 3 months before the swedish premiere!), they have decided to region code DVD’s. When I started buying DVD’s there weren’t that many places to buy from. DVDExpress was one of the first Internet ordering places, but the shipment cost was pretty high. Then I found a DVD supplier here in sweden selling imported region ones (i.e american) at a pretty cheap price so I stuck to that place for two years. Then the distribution studios in sweden decided to get “tough on imports” and started suing places that sold imported DVD’s. So I had to switch. That’s when I found Play247, an internet business selling region ones over the internet, free of shipping and delivery within a week. Not ideal, but great. Until last week when all of a sudden, the swedish customs wanted $20 extra, PER DISC! Just $5 of that went to the actual customs, the rest was just tax, shipment and all other kinds of stuff you can only charge people in sweden for since we never say no.
So what now? I’m gonna try with this Canadian place called DVD Box office, that place sounds good although they can sometimes take up to 2 weeks to deliver them. But if I can just get rid of this customs-charge I’d be pretty happy.
They could all solve this problem with region coding easily – have premieres at the same time worldwide, like Star Wars Episode II! It doesn’t make sense for a movie to get here 6 months after the states, it’s just rediculous! Anyway’s, I’ve started playing around with PHP so I might convert this entire thing into a database or something…
Do you know what Eurovisian Song Contest is? If you don’t, here’s the short point: Each country in Europe has a song contest, including a live performance, and the winner is sent as a representative for that country to the Euro-wide finals.
It’s an annual TV event and tradition, and I grew up watching it. In recent years I’ve kinda missed it, but this year when I was flipping through the channels and didn’t find anything else, I put it on the TV and went about other business. Until Greece’s contributions came on, and I got one of my infamous laugh-attacks when I just can’t stop laughing, it was so hilarious. And it never got better, other contributions was almost as bad, like the three guys dressed up as flight attendants! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much to such a serious event! It’s watched by atleast a billion people, and is Euro-wide, but I couldn’t stop laughing! Unfortunately, politics comes into play at this event, but I mean, who didn’t expect Cyprus to give max points to Greece and Greece to give max points to Cyprus!
The real pathetic part was the bimbo calling from the Israel capital of Jerusalem… like, hello?!
And once more I’ve proven I’m more reliable than the experts! Sweden was a favorite, ranked very high at the bookmakers and some even expected them to win. They ended up fighting to even stay in the contest for next year! (as you may know, there are more than 22 countries in Europe, so you have to meassure up to be able to compete in the next one!)
Cars. They are a very stupid invention! The only good thing about cars, as I see it, is that they give alot of people alot of work! Come on, think about it; think about the raw materials required to build one. Think of the actual construction and all waste it produces. Then the fuel, oil-rigs aren’t environment friendly either, and then the gases produced by the motors and all that that does to the greenhouse effect. Then think about all people & other living things killed or injured by cars every year. Don’t forget all the space and wonderful nature we’d have if it wasn’t for all the roads (the construction of roads isn’t environment friendly either!). And then when it has outlived its usefulness, it’s dumped to just corrode away. So why are we using cars so much? Same with smoking – people know it’s bad for them, they know their lungs are taking damage, they know their stinking up the place, themselves and their clothes. Still they do it.
People really are stupid
I’m one of those people who doesn’t care much for religion. I’m an agnostic. And the other day I found out why I don’t like religion: I got into a discussion with a guy from Israel about Natalie Portman’s religion. My first response was very nasty, almost rude. I realised that before sending it, so I deleted it and waited a few days to write a new reply to him, this one based on facts. But it worries me that I, a person who doesn’t care that much about it, got upset and almost lost my manners when talking about it.
So how many reacted to me saying it’s been six months? That’s right, I got to counting, it’s only been five months! Stupid me 🙂
Anyways, so I’ve really gotten used to driving now. I think it’s kinda fun, even sitting in queues in to Stockholm. But there are three huge drawbacks to driving compared to commuting. 1) Money! It’s so expensive driving here, most of all because of the gas! 2) I’ve eliminated the little exercise I used to get, which was walking to the trainstation! c) I hate to sound repetitive, but there’s not that many women to sit and admire. Sure, there’s a couple of them but that’s when you’re reminded that “HEY, you’re DRIVING!”.
(I’m purposly avoiding mentioning anything that happened in the F1 race in Austria)
So summer is here. With a bang! You know what that means, right? Sleepless nights for Kris (don’t know why I have a problem sleeping when it’s warm, I just do), but more importantly, the women are dressing less. I work in the central part of Stockholm this week so I decided to take a stroll around the blocks the other day (I was actually on a mission, more on that in another update) and lets just say I’m glad I wasn’t driving! Some say people who are overly checking out women are insecure about their sexuality… well, I’m not and it’s good to get a confirmation about that a little now and then, considering it’s been… shit, almost six months…
SW Ep. II premieres tomorrow (at midnight actually, 00:01), but I’ve already seen it but just have to go anyway. If not to compensate for the fact I saw the pirate version off the internet, then for the huge bangs duing the asteroid hunt sequence! I’ll be going to the 18.20 showing on thursday at FS Sergel, so if you’re there, please say “hi” 🙂
So I just saw “Spiderman”… I can summon that movie up in one word – ripoff! This movie steals stuff from Grease to Star Wars. But it’s stylish. And when Spiderman saved his damsel in distress I got one more “signs you’re getting old!” – “when those little girls you saw in movies a while back starts playing the babe in today’s movies”.
Let me ellaborate:
The two most talked-about movies right now is “Spiderman” and “Star Wars Episode II”. The first ones has a babe who needs to be saved by her hero. That babe is played by Kirsten Dunst. “Star Wars Episode II” also has a babe who needs to be saved by her hero. That girl is played by Natalie Portman.
FLASHBACK back to 1994, Kirsten Dunst won an MTV award for her part in “Interview with a Vampire” and Natalie was just awesome in “Léon”. So having seen these girls grow up through their movies and now all of a sudden their playing the babes? DUDE, I was seriously checking out Kirsten Dunst’s contribution to the “Best Wet T-shirt”-contest when this thought hit me. Not a pleasent one…
Is it OK or irresponsible not to answer your phone? I asked myself that question yesterday. Yesterday I had bought a new CD player, a toy for my car, a new 80 Gig harddrive and a new 19″ monitor and I was totally busy playing around with everything when my phone rings. And I just say to my self “nah, let it ring”. Is it OK to do that, or is it considered rude not to answer your phone? I don’t have any number display or anything so I have no idea who’s calling, so it’s not personal. It’s just that sometimes I feel like not answering.