three amigas

Many of my neighbours were there. It was fun.

beach premiere 2007

I also jumped into the water. It was really nice.

lundsjön

I went to Lundsjön. Loads of people there and it must have been at least 15° centigrade in the water. That's not bad - here in Sweden.

sunshine!

It's June 6 and I didn't have to work today because it's the National holiday of Sweden. It's a stupid nationalist holiday that the government forced upon us in 2005. Why do we have to celebrate the despot Gustav Vasa? It's just stupid. But it has been a great day. Lot's of sunshine.

yellow iris

There are probably ten more pictures of yellow irises on my blog. But who cares. I like them.

my flowers

It grows pretty well on my balcony.

stkhlm subway

A detail from Rådhusets subway station.

the golden compass

Finally the first trailer from the Golden Compass has arrived. Since I'm a Sci-Fi & Fantasy nerd I care for things like these. I really enjoyed Philip Pullmans trilogy of books called His Dark Materials. They added something new and interesting to the Fantasy genre. Mixed it with a typical Sci-Fi theme like a multiverse of parallel worlds that you can travel between. One of those worlds is ours. The book also brings up a very dark view of organized religion. In a parallel world to ours the Church is very powerful. It's a world where magic, witches, talking animals and dæmons exist. In this world the girl Lyra Belacqua grows up at Jordan College, Oxford not knowing who her parents are. The world outside Jordan College is like a steampunk version of the Victorian era England. In this world the Church and the scientists have discovered the existence of something they call Dust. The Church believes that Dust is a manifestation of Original Sin and that there's a relation between Dust, a persons dæmon and sin. Because of that they start a series of horrific experiments on childrens dæmons. At the same time Lord Asriel, a highly respected member of the Brytish aristocracy and an explorer and a experimental theologist, has done his own research about Dust. He attempts to overthrow the Authority's divine monarchy and replace it with a Republic of Heaven. Quite a heavy theme for a book targeted at "young adults" and it made the Christian Right shit their pants. First Harry Potter and then this!

So, what about the trailer? It looks pretty nice. I like the look of the panserbjørn Iorek Byrnison, at least in the close ups. The running scene at the end was a bit to much Coke commercial. But what the hell. Daniel Craig looks great as Lord Asriel. The same goes for Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter, Sam Elliott as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby and Eva Green as the witch Serafina Pekkala. But I'm a bit doubtful when it comes to Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacqua. I really hope she can act otherwise the movie will be hard to watch. The look of the Gyptians also worries me a bit. I hope they won't look and sound like a bad stage version of Oliver Twist.

Here you'll find better versions of the trailer - The Golden Compass.

yelle - je veux te voir

One more great party tune from France. Here's Yelle with her simple but very effective electro pop. Love the video too - very tasteful!

paprika

Satoshi Kon, the creator of classic animes like Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress and the strangely beautiful series Paranoia Agent has released a new movie called Paprika. It explores similar themes as his earlier movies. The subconscious, dreams, myths, movies and their influence on our lives. The animation is beautiful and the script is well written and thought provoking. Sometimes I think about Jeff Noons books about the drug Vurt. In those books dreams, myths and peoples subconscious seems to invade reality in the same way as in this movie. This is intelligent grown-up anime that's light years ahead of most western animated movies.

i, videogame

Discovery Channel has produced a series about the history of video games called "I, Videogame". So far I've seen three episodes and my feelings are mixed. They have interviewed almost all the major players in the video game history - Steve Russell, Ralph Baer, Nolan Bushnell, Toru Iwatani, Shigeru Miyamoto, Alexey Pajitnov, Sid Meier, John Romero etc etc. But Discovery Channel doesn't let them speak. They cut the interviews to pieces and turn the material into simple catch phrases. Personally I don't believe that everybody who's interested in video games are speed addicts. I'm sure that most of us would actually manage to watch a programme that doesn't have cuts and sound effects every second. It would be nice if they had raised the bar a bit higher. A "serious" programme doesn't have to be boring. Here they have interviewed loads of interesting people involved in the video game industry but reduce the series to something they seem to believe will interest 14 year old kids addicted to Red Bull and Jolt Cola. I think that's a mistake and I'm still waiting for the definitive history of video games.

italians do it better

chromatics - in the city (2006)


If you haven't checked out Chromatics, Glass Candy, Mirage and Farah then it's time to do so. They are all on the New Jersey based label Italians Do It Better. Minimalistic chilly music inspired by Disco, Italo disco and old John Carpenter/Claudio Simonetti/Goblin soundtracks. Unit Black Flight and datA are kind of in the same area. Especially Unit Black Flight who sound a lot like John Carpenters Assault on Precinct 13 soundtrack. Perfect music for the commuter. Now it sounds like I'm on my way on some dark adventure. Pretty damn cool.

claudio simonetti - phenomena (1985)

path

I like small secretive paths through tree branches and bushes. Feels like I'm in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or The Wind in the Willows.

information fungus

Some kids were playing among the satellite dishes.

a bench

I still find new places here in Fiskis. I don't think I've ever seen this bench before. It's hidden behind the trees.

bicycle

A couple of kids were cycling in Braxenparken (the Carp bream park) close to the festival area.

international festival

As usual there were a couple of local hip hop acts at the International Festival.

saturday, 2 june

It's 2 June and the International Festival today.

who's the real me?

My class had a show last week for their parents. Simpy dressed up as me with a red beard and everything! Can you see who's the original?

pac-man

My body has turned into a Pac-Man game. Every morning I take a little Pac-Man (Doxyferm, an antibiotic) and hope that he will eat all the little evil bacterias that have invaded my body. I'm tired of being sick. Go Pac-Man, go! Eat all the little bastards!