maya deren

Swedish television were kind enough to send "In the Mirror of Maya Deren". A documentary about Maya Deren, the U.S. avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist of the 1940's and 1950's. She made many interesting and beautiful movies. Exploring the motion of the human body, dance, voodoo, martial arts, the beauty of nature and many other things that were not common subjects for moviemaking during the 40's.
If you can't get your hands of a copy of this exellent documentary, "In the Mirror of Maya Deren", then you can always try one of these interesting sites.
Maya Deren Forum
Maya Deren
Maya Deren at wikipedia
Don't miss this exciting and fantastic artist. She was way ahead of her time and her movies are pieces of true art.

the death of journalism 2.4

The pain! The pain! Did all swedish journalists leave their brains and hearts at home? Don't know, but they sure do act like that. For instance, one of all these wannabe journalist standing in front of one of the devestated Thai beaches asked why Germany could send 20 something forensics to help identify their deceased tourists in Thailand when Sweden only had sent 4 or 5. Well I think that would be pretty damn obvious. There actually live about 82,5 million people in Germany, almost ten times as many as Swedens 9 million. They should have one or two more forensics to spare, don't you think? There are more Swedes missing than Germans so it ought to be quite obvious that it's easier for the German government to find the necessary rescue resources than it is for tiny Sweden. Same goes for the comparison with Italy. Italy has a population of 58 million and they have 14 dead and 600 missing in the region. About 5000 italian tourists and 3500 italian residents were in the region according to the Italian FM. Approximately 10,000 German tourists were in the region. Compare that to Swedens 20 000 - 30 000.
The fact is that it would be very hard for the Swedish government to find a way to help 1500 - 4000 missing, hurt and maybe killed Swedes in an accident in Sweden. Why should it be any easier for them to do the same thing in Thailand?
It really pains me to defend the Swedish government, I don't like them. But I think the Swedish journalists should criticize them for their lousy politics, not for not being able to gather the same amount of rescue resources as Germany or Italy.
It's interesting to see that you'll find just the same sort of accusations in our neighbouring countries Denmark and Norway.
I hope that our dear journalists are just as eager to investigate their own actions during this horrible catastrophy. It annoys me to see how often journalists use people in shock, people who are looking for their kids or their parents as interview or photo objects just to be able to deliver a selling and tearful story. They should be able to report all the horrors of this tsunami and still treat its victims with some respect.

More facts about the catastrophy here and here

Interesting comments from the world:
"Thus, currently nearly penniless, passport-less, travel insurance-less etc. at the moment. But at the hospital everything is free including email access. Unfortunately, the US embassy has not been very helpful in contrast to other embassies and we don't know much logistically in terms of loans, passports, retreiving our stuff, etc. The ambassador to Sweden personally visited all the Swedes (several were on our boat trip)." Read more here.

"An unknown number of Swedish independent travellers are also missing. The Swedish Foreign Minister, Laila Freivalds, told journalists in Stockholm she feared many of them would never be found. She is travelling to Thailand with relief workers to assess the situation and help in efforts to get Swedish nationals home.The Swedish government has sent text messages to everyone who has a Swedish telephone in Thailand, hoping to gain some answers as to the whereabouts of some of the missing. The Swedish government has responded by chartering three large passenger planes, which will make 20 flights to Thailand in order to get all Swedish citizens back by next Tuesday." Read more here.
It's obvious that there are different views about the performance of the Swedish government if you go outside the Swedish borders.

And more to read from Denmark and Norway.
Aftenposten
Aftenposten
Jyllands Posten

iris

Iris is here in Stockholm visiting all her weird orkut friends. I'm one of them. So where do you take a friend from a faraway place like Mexico? Well, to Stockholms greatest place of course - Carmen! The place for cheap beer and interesting conversations about the mysteries of fungi, international politics and the Mexican and Swedish way of life. I had a great time!

the death of journalism 1.5

The news reports from the earthquake in south asia make me sick. Are all journalists imbecils, smart asses or entertainers nowadays? Why do they only aspire to kill time and produce emoporn? They base everything on fear, sadness, anger, desperation or who to blame. They repeat the same stupid questions over and over again: How do you feel? What do you see? How do you feel? How's the mood? How do you feel? What do people say? Can you describe the mood?
How the fuck do they think people feel when they've been throwned around by a big fuckin' tsunami and lost their loved ones? Tap dancin' happy? They walk over corpses and stick their cameras and microphones in the face of people who are in an obvious state of shock and use their defencelessness. Just to get some good dramatic photage of tears and despair. They call in every quasi scientist in the country and gather them in their studio sofas, show them pictures of crying children and then ask them clever questions like "How do children react to death?" Then they accuse the travel agencies and the Swedish government for not being prepared for this kind of giant catastrophe. More clever questions like:
Journalist: "Why can't you say how many dead there are?"
Gov. rep.: "We don't know that yet."
Journalist: "But why?"
Gov. rep.: "As I said, we don't know yet. No one does."
Journalist: "But why?"
Journalist: "Why haven't you sent the airforce Herkules planes?"
Gov. rep.: "Well they'll have to land at least four times to refuel. So it's not such a good idea."
Journalist: "But why?"
Gov. rep.: "As I said, they'll have to land and refuel at least four times."
Journalist: "But why?"
Journalist: "Why were all your guides so young?"
Journalist: "Why weren't they prepared?"
Journalist: "Why don't we have rescue planes constantly circulating the earth ready for gigantic catastrophies like meteor strikes, tsunamis, earth quakes, a new ice age or a visit by Godzilla?"
They pretend to actually care. But they just want to look smart on TV. Why didn't smart journalists like them point these problems out before the catastrophy? Why two days later if the problems were so obvious?
Todays "journalism" suck. I don't even think it's right to call it journalism, it's some kind of post-journalism, infotainment freak shows presented by Ricki Lake or Barbie & Ken clones. I don't want my news transformed into that. I want relevant information, nothing else. Just the facts, Jack.

hälsning från anna

Hej Alla!
jag lever och mar bra ar dock lite chockad av allting som har hant, jag har sett mycket som jag onskar att jag sluppit se. Jag vaknade av jordskalvet i gar morse och nar vi en stund senare gick ut for att se vad som hade hant var det full panik och folk flydde upp i bergen. Gardagen tillbringade vi pa en bar uppe i bergen dar vi hade utsikt over havet. Telefonerna gick varma for att kolla att alla vi kanner hade klarat sig. An sa lange har ingen vi kanner omkommit. Kata beach har klarat sig hyfsat, det ar varre med Karon och Patong. Vattnet har dragit sig tillbaka men det ligger solstolar, jetskis, batar mm langt uppe i stan, kroppar flyter upp pa stranden och dom har evakuerat turister hela natten. Just nu ar det lugnt men dom varnar for efterskalv sa nu vantar vi bara och ser vad som hander. Dykshoppen har vi stangt i dag, mandag, och vi har nu samlat ihop dykare fran hela Kata for att ga ner pa stranden och borja stada. Sa det ar bra med mej, lite omskakad men som sagt ok! Tack for att ni tanker pa mej, jag tanker pa er alla.

Kramar, Anna

kata beach

At least 120 000 dead (10th update), many are missing and thousands are homeless. As many other Swedes I have friends and relatives in the area. Today they say that about 3500 Swedes are missing. Luckily my sister Anna survived the waves and her home is still standing. Her work is at Kata Beach. Fortunately it seems like all her work mates and their diving boat survived the waves, but my sister is not a 100% sure. The place is in chaos so many rumours and misunderstandings circulate.
Please donate some money to The Red Cross and help them help the people in need.

I Sverige kan man sätta in pengar på Röda Korsets pg. 900 800-4. Märk talongen "Flodvågornas offer" eller så kan ni använda deras hemsida.

winter day

A nice winter day.

miffy

This cool little Miffy doll was my gift to Malte. I hope he'll like it.

malte

Malte was sleep playing a really nice tune on his lips. Sleep was the big theme this weekend. It's my all time favourite theme.

my house

Yule night in my little cottage. Slept like a zombie for 14 beautiful hours. Beat that!

phuket - anna is okay!

I'm happy to tell all our friends that my sister Anna is okay. Or at least as okay as you can be after a disaster like this. Thousands of people are dead and many more homeless. You can help these people by donating money to the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations who are active in the area.

greetings!!

Have a great Yule Holiday friends!
God Jul kompisar!!

not on the guest list

It's official - I'm not on the guest list!

twilight & the beehive

The Twilight Samurai,Tasogare Seibei, is a beautiful, well written and slightly melancholic chambara movie made by Yoji Yamada. Hiroyuki Sanada (known from Ring and The Last Samurai) and Rie Miyazawa are both excellent in their leading roles as the samurai widower taking care of his two daughters and his childhood love who has divorced her violent and drunken husband after years of abuse. This low key drama is set in the mid 19th century, a time when the Japanese society went through dramatic changes. It's very different from its Chinese counterparts, Hero and Crouching Tiger. Not as spectacular. This movie is more like the great drama movies that came out of Europe and the US during the 70s. More realism than spectacular escapism. This doesn't mean that I don't love spectacular escapism, it just means that I think that more realistic movies also can be good. This one sure is. It's yet another example that shows that Japanese cinema is the most interesting in the world right now.
Back in 1987 David Sylvian released his third solo album, Secrets of the Beehive. Not much to say about it. It's one of the most perfect albums ever created. Very elegant string and brass arrangements, often made by long time collaborator Ryuichi Sakamoto and haunting melodies with great lyrics. The songs are slow with a melancholic atmosphere and a very cool jazzy groove. A masterpiece.

snow

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! The snow is back in Fiskis. Me and my red plastic sledge will have plenty of fun!!

skeppsbron

I'm not really sure if I'm having a nightmare here or if it's just a slight case of bad taste... Scary!!!

kungsan

Walked through good old Kungsan on my way home from death race 2004. Kind of beautiful...

aceed!

Nader, Fred, Albion & Me went out after work. Celebrating the success of our new socialist way to do our work at the restaurant. Like four f*ckin' musketeers. Socialism is so much more fun! Sadly Fred & Albion passed out and only Me and Nader managed to stay awake. We went to Isolee and Berns. Loads of free booze. It's a miracle that I'm still alive... Hasta Siempre!

lights

New christmas decorations in the restaurant. Tasteful... I can actually feel the christmas spirit just by looking at them.

night lights

Fisksätra by night - including big metal piece of art.

house

I don't know if it's haunted or not, but it probably is...

lundsjön

This is the cold autumn version of Lundsjön. No ice so far.

idioten 1.1

Janne Björklund... hehe... Nämn aldrig hans namn i min närhet. I alla fall inte om du vill slippa höra mig gnälla, muttra och skrika i minst en halvtimme om alla hans idiotiska uttalanden och idéer. För det första, har Janne "Disziplin" Björklund någonsin arbetat på en skola? Jag har jävligt svårt att tro det. Hans populistiska skitsnack kan kanske lura skrämda nyhetsknarkare, men jag blir bara förbannad. Vilken jävla idiot! Han bara snackar om disciplin, ordning & reda och betyg. Har aldrig hört honom nämna ordet pedagogik, knappt ens ordet utbildning. Det säger en hel del om Volkpartiets skolpolitik. För dem är skolans primära uppgift inte att lära ut, den är att sortera ut A, B & C barn. Precis som på den gamla goda tiden. Då visste ju folk sin plats. Skomakare bliv vid din läst! Istället för att anpassa utbildningen efter de enskilda elevernas behov och förutsättningar ska vi gå tillbaka till allmän & särskild kurs. Vissa barn är ju korkade. Det är bara att acceptera. Andra saknar motivation och det är ju inte skolans sak att inspirera och motivera. Så är det bara. I alla fall i Folkpartiets Sverige. De vill ha en skola som producerar fler lågutbildade som sedan kan förvandlas till lågavlönade. Jannes & hans vänners barn är särskilda, de är framtidens elit, framtidens ledare! Andras snorungar får nöja sig med att vara allmänna. Det behövs ju en massa hembiträden nu. Då är en hög utbildning bara ivägen. Sånt kan ju få arbetarna att börja ställa krav och ställa till med bråk. Usch!
Janne snackar om att Sverige satsar mest på utbildning i världen. Ändå är resultatet dåligt. Enligt Janne beror detta på bristen av disciplin och avsaknaden av betyg i den Svenska skolan. Men hur mycket av dessa pengar går egentligen till just utbildning? Vi får aldrig reda på hur mycket av skolans pengar som går direkt tillbaka till kommun och stat i form av lokalhyror. Skolorna måste ju betala marknadsmässiga lokalhyror. Det brukar bli ganska stora belopp. Frågan är ju vart skolans pengar tar vägen? De går inte till lärarna, det vet jag. Deras löner suger. De går inte till nya läromedel, sådana ser jag alltmer sällan. Så vart tar då pengarna vägen? Jag vet inte. Men det skulle vara väldigt intressant att få ett svar. Någon där ute som har en idé?

tennis and ping pong

Tennis and Ping Pong? Am I out of my f*ckin' mind? No. Not this time. I've just read Tim Adams book Being John McEnroe and watched the Japanese movie Ping Pong. Both combines art, psychology, drama and sports in a really original and entertaining way. Tim Adam's book is such a must read for all sports and litterature fans. It's both funny, emotional and exciting. Especially the parts that describes the relation between John McEnroe and Björn Borg. I remember the Wimbledon final back in 1980. Me & my family were at my grandfathers house just north of Helsingborg. He really loved to hate Mackrrån as he used to call McEnroe. We were all screaming and shouting in front of the TV during the game. It was such an exciting game. A game that Borg finally won after 5 tough sets. Tim Adams book brings me back to those times and manage to make the life of John McEnroe to something that concerns us all. How the hell did he manage to do that?
The movie Ping Pong is based on a manga by the ultra talented artist Taiyo Matsumoto. That and the fact that the movie script was written by award-winning screenwriter Kankuro Miyafuji is probably the reason why this movie about ping pong works so well. It's so much more than sport. It's a bit like a surreal ping pong version of Rocky! Can it get any better than that? Now I only wish that VIZ would translate Matsumoto's Ping Pong books to english and publish them. Damn you VIZ!

stkhlm

This is from Stadshagen, Stkhlm.

gentlemen take poloroids

Gentlemen Take Poloroids by Japan is one of my absolute favourite albums of all time. It has been so since I bought it back in -81. The songs have a melancholic almost eerie feel to them. Mick Karn's bass play and Steve Jansens drumming give them a weird hypnotic groove that I never heard anywhere else. The album is now available with some really good bonus tracks, among them Richard Barbieri's (who now plays with Porcupine Tree) fantastic instrumental piece The Experience of Swimming. Other songs that stands out besides that and the title song, Gentlemen Take Poloroids are Swing, Methods of Dance and Nightporter. But all tracks are great. This album also gives a good hint about David Sylvian's future solo career. His unique vocal style is already perfected on this, Japans fourth, album. It is hard to exaggerate the impact this album had on me back in the early 80's. It's the soundtrack to so many of my best memories from that part of my life.

beauty moment

Maria tries her surplus soap and enters a beauty moment!

maria & me

Me & Maria took a trip out to a surplus store in the middle of nowhere. Maria bought loads of stuff and I bought tongs and a shoe brush. That's what I call professional shopping!

night train

The last train leaves Fiskis. Another tough work day is over and I'm dead tired. Zzzzzzz....

santa

Merry Smoking Christmas sucker! The Zucchero Santa takes a smoke before he falls a sleep on one of the tables. Too much beer and Fernet. Loser!

pastaman

This is pastaman Nader showing of with some of his desserts. Excellent stuff! But he's talking crazy talk all the time. Don't understand him. Just a lot of "ducks", "maxi trendy" and "pasta" in his vocabulary. Weird. But he makes great food!

gülbeden

Had an interesting cup of coffee at Skåningen. Me, Gülbeden and two of her sisters sat outdoors in the cold and Gülbeden gave me her cool face. She told me lots of stories about her adventures in Japan and Falun. I was totally impressed! She's like a female Robin Hood!

M83

M83's second album is absolutely excellent! Beautiful, melodic and dramatic electronica. Many reviews mentions My Bloody Valentine, but I don't really agree. I would say more like a combination of early AIR and Slowdive. If they ever make a movie of Douglas Couplands Microserfs or William Gibsons Mona LIsa Overdrive this would be the perfect soundtrack. Music for night drives, sundays and day dreaming. Give Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts a chance. If not, it's your loss.

rita & fia

Fia came by the restaurant with Rita. Always nice. I wish all guests were like them. Tried to entertain them with some crazy talk. Minor success... hehehe... Way to tired to be a good entertainer. Damn you life! Give me a vacation!

the pasta production units 1 & 2

This is our new chef Nader and his assistant Something French. The word you're looking for is - Pasta!

david

Me and my neighbour David took a couple of beers today. Just look at him. He's even crazier than I am! But I must confess that his new devil worshipping look really suits him. Szandor would be proud of him!

fiskis

What can I say. It's Fiskis and Fiskis rules.

adhd

So, it's finally confirmed. I'm officially insane and I've earned my right to bark at the moon! I found this site about ADHD and did their test. If the test is right, I'm almost totally ADHD. Crazy! But maybe that's the reason why I never managed to finish my university courses... hmmm... I'm sick! I need help and I want my money back!!

rummy

"If you think about it, you can have all the armor in the world on a tank and a tank can be blown up."

Secretary of Defense Donald "Rummy" Rumsfeld.

gits vs appleseed 1.1

A fight between two much talked about animes based on two classic mangas by Masamune Shirow. To begin with, I think Ghost In The Shell already has a 1 - 0 lead. It's not even fair to compare the 1995 GITS movie with the 1988 Appleseed movie. They play in totally different leagues. That's probably because the first GITS movie were made by the talented director Mamoru Oshii. He has also directed the new GITS: Innocence movie.
So how are the new movies? Well both movies have absolutely stunning visuals. But that's about all they have in common. GITS: Innocence is an intriguing mix of action, art, science and philosophy. Just that the Innocence cyborg designs were inspired by the dolls created by the, not very well known, German artist Hans Bellmer says it all. It's a fascinating, mind bending and surreal experience that you wish more movies could offer their audience. Just one small complaint. I miss the presence of the leading lady from the first GITS movie, Major Motoko Kusanagi. Innocence focus on her old partners from Section 9, Batou and Togusa. Motoko is still in the movie, but her part is much smaller.
What about Appleseed then? Well, it feels empty. It's a very beautifully animated, but a very ordinary, sci-fi action movie. It's worth a look just because of the graphics, but not much more. GITS vs Appleseed 2 - 0.
Don't miss the Ghost In The Shell anime tv series GITS Stand Alone Complex and its second season GITS Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG. An excellent anime tv series. For more info, check out InTheShell. GITS vs Appleseed 3 - 0.

awesome squirrel tattoo

This is Sofias squirrel tattoo. I think it's awesome!

don't steal my soul

This is Sofia during my lame attempt to steal her soul. It didn't really work out the way I had planned...

christmas greetings

"All kids in this school are gay"
It's like a f*ckin' poem!

hagalund

This is what's left of the old Hagalund area. I think the word you're looking for is "functional".

solna

More of the beautiful central Solna. Excellent sleeping cubes.

solna city hall

I took a short trip to Solna today. This is the notorious city hall, home of the equally notorious Solna politicians. Exciting!

khonnor

Okay, the hype has a point this time. Khonnors album Handwriting is fantastic. This american guy is 17 years old and makes really beautiful music. It sounds a bit like My Bloody Valentine, Aphex Twin, Slowdive and Fennesz. Excellent! One person had labeled the music genre as "rainy day music" in iTunes. A great description. Believe the hype!

beck & monster

BECK & Monster are two new great anime series. BECK is a patched up old dog. But this is not so much the story of Beck the dog. It's much more the story of the people living around that weird dog and, of course, music. J-rock has a big part of this anime. When the young school boy Koyuki meet Becks owner Ryuusuke, a legendary local rock star even though he's almost as young as Koyuki, Koyuki gets more and more interested in rock and less interested in his old J-pop favourites. He also has something going on with Ryuusukes kid sister Maho. Nice animation, interesting stories and loads of music and crazy dialoges in engrish. So far I've just seen six episodes but they are very promising.
Monster is something completely different. A very dark anime series set in Germany during the 90's. Almost like a crossing between Seven and the Fugative with a shade of kraut rock. The young and very talented japanese doctor Tenma works as a surgeon in a German hospital. One day he saves the life of a young boy, something that will change his life dramatically. People starts to die around him and the police suspects that he's the murderer. But he's not. Somehow it seems like it's the young boy Johan who's responsible. Dr Tenma starts to look for the truth about the kid he saved. Who is this Johan? The tracks lead back to a military orphanage in the old East Germany. Great and scary stuff, a must see. And finally a serial killer with my name!! Although the series starts a bit slow, now, 32 episodes later, I can hardly wait for the next episodes. It's so damn exciting! Another nice touch is the end theme, the beautiful David Sylvian song For the Love of Life. David Sylvian!! That's perfection.

my living room

All this beautiful crap is mine!

concrete flower

This little flower is down in one of the tunnels to my train at Slussen.

three imaginary boys

Love these guys. They are hidden under the bridge to Katarinahissen in Stklm.

mr valium & the boy wonder

Give me a crying child and I'll make it fall a sleep. My name is Mr Valium, the most laid back guy in town.