His very first....Ramones album!!
I was in the Beehive in Löttorp and I found a Ramones compilation going for a mere 10SEK and I couldn't resist buying it for Kai.
Did he like it? Oh yes! So much so that he insisted on playing it all the way through (twice!) on our long drive from Öland yesterday.
Very amusing to hear a little voice piping up from the back seat: Hey Ho! Let's Go!
I hadn't played any Ramones for a while so it was great to hear all those old favourites again and wallow in a little nostalgia for that extraordinary New Year's Eve gig at the Rainbow Thetatre.
Kai is not someone who likes something because I tell him he ought to - more's the pity! It's a great tribute to the four moptops that their music can still appeal so strongly to a new generation.
Yinkies though! It's 30 years old!
Sheena? She's a punk grandma by now!
söndag 28 februari 2010
fredag 26 februari 2010
Frightened Rabbit
Quite ridiculous how many fine bands come out of Scotland.
Ian and I saw this lot at Roskilde last year and they've now put out a cracking new album.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/25/frightened-rabbit-winter-mixed-drinks
Scott Hutchinson has a Scottish accent you could cut with a knife!
Sarah Jarosz
Swedish Radio's Klingan can consistently be relied upon to discover interesting new acts. Here's bluegrass prodigy Sarah Jarosz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d4PZgK3MZc
Should appeal to fans of the mighty Crooked Still, I suspect.
Vedborm calling to the faraway towns!
I've been introducing Grandma Stina to the wonders of the internet. We were pleased and surprised to see that her home hamlet of Vedborm is actually mentioned on Wikipedia.
Population: 63 . Local feature of interest: a large bog.
So the arrival of four Oscarsson-Farrows has made a significant impact on the population density!
I'm sure I've seen more than 63 blue tits coming to eat at Stina's bird table.
There used to be a shop in walking distance that the infant Ulrika would be sent to to buy eggs and flour. Now it's a 20 minute drive to the ICA supermarket in Löttorp. In February it is not exactly heaving. In the summer, you can't move for rowdy holidaymakers from Stockholm. The local slang for people from the 08 area is seagulls: we make a lot of noise and leave shit everywhere!
Vedborm is not a place to bring some of my sophisticated, streetwise urban friends.
I'm reminded of celebrating Midsummer once with my good friend, Londoner John Chappell, in the heart of the Swedish countryside. Such was his shock at being exposed to the vasteness and purity of the Nordic region, that we were forced to put all the cars together in a ring and, turn on the motors and expose him to a large dose of exhaust fumes before he felt himself again.
Kai and Zoe mercifully find the transition a lot easier !
torsdag 25 februari 2010
Lost tribes of pop
A fine piece from The Grauniad on pop tribes:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/25/emo-pop-tribes-mods-punks
I'm sure I must belong to a tribe but I'm not sure which one it is. Roskilde is certainly a great gathering of the tribes. I constantly discover enormous new sub-cultures the existnce of which I had no idea.
I have a fond memory of going to see Desmond Dexter in Stockholm with Danne many years ago. On arrival I began to feel nervous. Half the audience were skinheads, the other half rastas. This has got to turn nasty I thought. How wrong can you be?
Desmond did his thing and everyone had a great party.
White man in the Hammersmith Palais indeed!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/25/emo-pop-tribes-mods-punks
I'm sure I must belong to a tribe but I'm not sure which one it is. Roskilde is certainly a great gathering of the tribes. I constantly discover enormous new sub-cultures the existnce of which I had no idea.
I have a fond memory of going to see Desmond Dexter in Stockholm with Danne many years ago. On arrival I began to feel nervous. Half the audience were skinheads, the other half rastas. This has got to turn nasty I thought. How wrong can you be?
Desmond did his thing and everyone had a great party.
White man in the Hammersmith Palais indeed!
Archivist's vacation? A bit of a busman's holiday!
What does an archivist do when she's on holiday?
Look through lots of papers and make sure they are properly stored if I'm to judge by Ulrika's behaviour!
I'm of course being grotesquely unfair. After Uncle Lage's funeral yesterday, it was quite a natural thing to look through some family albums and reminisce about the past.
And actually there were some quite fascinating things to look through, such as postcards that had been sent by family members to each other over 90 years ago.
Nowadays a child can scarcely throw a snowball without its loving parents recording the moment for posterity. Back in the old days a camera was quite a prized possesion and one would be photographed only a few times in one's life and this would often take place at a studio. Fascinating to see pictures of Ulrika as a tot.
Equally interesting was to see those old postcards. How ornate they were! Some of the writers were very cryptic and managed one short sentence: We have arrived in Liverpool Others wrote greetings in verse.
It was quite common in the middle of the twentieth century for the men folk from Öland to go and spend a few years in the USA, working in the fisheries or in forestry. They would leave their wives and kids at home in the old country and send back money. Both Ulrika's grandfathers went on at least one occasion.
There's one wonderful photo of a very serious looking chap, who turned out to be Grandma Stina's dad, standing next to some ridiculous plinth-like object which had been taken at a studio in the Mid West and doubtless sent to impress everyone at home.
Six haircuts in search of a plotline
On Sunday, Tycho, Tor, Kai and myself braved the horrors of public transport to go into town to see the new Miyazaki, Ponyo (on the cliffs´by the sea). And well worth the trip it was too! It struck me that it's the great attention to the realistic detail of everyday life at a nursery and a service home for the elderly in the first part of the film, that makes it easier to accept it when everything gets weird and wonderful later on.
One thing that did surprise me though was that even the great Miyazaki is not immune to the use of a seriously wacky haircut. The magician, Ponyo's dad,had a real cracker.
Anyone who watches any quantity of anime knows that they are full of the most extraordinary of coiffeurs. It's no secret that the kind of TV progammes that Kai watches, Pokemon, Dragonball, Yu-Gi-Oh, Bakugan etc are made with the merchandising possibilities for toys and gaming cards constantly in mind. I can't help wondering whether there isn't a similar deal with the producers of shampoos, hair products and wigs. I can imagine the planning meetings for these shows: hours are spent thinking up the most outlandish hairstyles under the sun and then at the eleventh hour some bright spark suggests that it might also be a good idea if there was a plot!
If I was a serious Nipponophile rather than a mere dilettante, I'm sure I could provide some profound cultural reason to explain the delight of Japanese cartoonists in serious hairstyles.
All will perhaps become clearer with the fullness of time?
One thing that did surprise me though was that even the great Miyazaki is not immune to the use of a seriously wacky haircut. The magician, Ponyo's dad,had a real cracker.
Anyone who watches any quantity of anime knows that they are full of the most extraordinary of coiffeurs. It's no secret that the kind of TV progammes that Kai watches, Pokemon, Dragonball, Yu-Gi-Oh, Bakugan etc are made with the merchandising possibilities for toys and gaming cards constantly in mind. I can't help wondering whether there isn't a similar deal with the producers of shampoos, hair products and wigs. I can imagine the planning meetings for these shows: hours are spent thinking up the most outlandish hairstyles under the sun and then at the eleventh hour some bright spark suggests that it might also be a good idea if there was a plot!
If I was a serious Nipponophile rather than a mere dilettante, I'm sure I could provide some profound cultural reason to explain the delight of Japanese cartoonists in serious hairstyles.
All will perhaps become clearer with the fullness of time?
Swahili in The Beehive
There is a Red Cross charity shop, The Beehive, in Löttorp and I always make a point of popping in there to stock up with the latest fashion togs. It's only open a few half days at this time of year and I was almost alone in the shop. There was a couple there, a Swedish guy and a black girl, buying children's clothes for their little boy and, being the nosy sod that I am, I eavesdropped when the dad was talking to his son. I couldn't place the language at all, it certainly wasn't Nordic and it didn't sound like Finnish or one of the Baltic languages. So of course, I asked.
He was speaking Swahili, not a language that one hears every day even in a cosmopolitan metropolis like Kärrtorp. Exotic I thought. The dad pointed out to me that it is fact spoken by several million on the African continent, in contrast to the 9 or 10 million people globally who speak Swedish.(Having Wikied my facts here 5 - 10 million have it as a native language but 50 million have it as a lingua franca in teh southern countries of Africa).
I wonder how many words there are for snow in Swahili. They are certainly going to need all of them now!
The snow, incidentally,is a great help for seeing the local wildlife.On the drive back I saw a deer and a pheasant.
Öland! Exotic is the word!
He was speaking Swahili, not a language that one hears every day even in a cosmopolitan metropolis like Kärrtorp. Exotic I thought. The dad pointed out to me that it is fact spoken by several million on the African continent, in contrast to the 9 or 10 million people globally who speak Swedish.(Having Wikied my facts here 5 - 10 million have it as a native language but 50 million have it as a lingua franca in teh southern countries of Africa).
I wonder how many words there are for snow in Swahili. They are certainly going to need all of them now!
The snow, incidentally,is a great help for seeing the local wildlife.On the drive back I saw a deer and a pheasant.
Öland! Exotic is the word!
Inspector Farrow Investigates
As a parent, one becomes very gifted at multi-tasking: cooking supper, changing a nappy and solving a problem on Play Station simultaneously.
This morning I was reminded that there's also a lot ot multi-rolling as I put on my detective hat. Yesterday, Ulrika went to her Uncle Lage's funeral leaving me to take care not only of Kai and Zoe but also Douglas, her cousin's son who is the same age as Kai. During the course of the day, Zoe's (extremely expensive) glasses mysteriously disappeared.
The first suspect was Zoe. She is a world master at hiding things in places they shouldn't be. Recently I found the cinnamon tucked away amidst a gaggle of cuddlies under her bed. Toilet rolls turn up in the bookcase, CDs in the pantry, keys in the cornflake packet: she's imaginative.
However having searched high and low for several hours in usual and unusual places, the glasses were nowhere to be found.
Having eliminated the first suspect, my enquiries turned elsewhere. I started questioning Kai if he had any idea where they might be. Eventually he suggested that they might be out in the garden, a nightmarish prospect as it's half a metre deep in snow. I went out to search, he joined me and in seconds returned with the glasses. He and Douglas had hidden them in the snow to wind up Zoe.
I was livid and hanging, drawing and quartering would have been too mild a punishment in my book.
Mercifully, on the multi-rolling front, it was Ulrika who had the role of judge.The miscreant got off with a reprimand.
The Noughties may be over. The naughtiness is just starting. Even little Zo is well aware of what she shouldn't do and takes great delight in doing it.
This morning I was reminded that there's also a lot ot multi-rolling as I put on my detective hat. Yesterday, Ulrika went to her Uncle Lage's funeral leaving me to take care not only of Kai and Zoe but also Douglas, her cousin's son who is the same age as Kai. During the course of the day, Zoe's (extremely expensive) glasses mysteriously disappeared.
The first suspect was Zoe. She is a world master at hiding things in places they shouldn't be. Recently I found the cinnamon tucked away amidst a gaggle of cuddlies under her bed. Toilet rolls turn up in the bookcase, CDs in the pantry, keys in the cornflake packet: she's imaginative.
However having searched high and low for several hours in usual and unusual places, the glasses were nowhere to be found.
Having eliminated the first suspect, my enquiries turned elsewhere. I started questioning Kai if he had any idea where they might be. Eventually he suggested that they might be out in the garden, a nightmarish prospect as it's half a metre deep in snow. I went out to search, he joined me and in seconds returned with the glasses. He and Douglas had hidden them in the snow to wind up Zoe.
I was livid and hanging, drawing and quartering would have been too mild a punishment in my book.
Mercifully, on the multi-rolling front, it was Ulrika who had the role of judge.The miscreant got off with a reprimand.
The Noughties may be over. The naughtiness is just starting. Even little Zo is well aware of what she shouldn't do and takes great delight in doing it.
onsdag 24 februari 2010
Erin Bode
In the latest edition of The Word Danny Baker raves about Erin Bode, an American singer-songwriter. Having listened to a few tracks as we drove through the snow-clad Öland landscape, I must say I share his enthusiasm. Well-written songs, immaculately delivered to the accompaniment of a jazz trio. Classy!
No coincidence that she covers Paul Simon's Gracelands. Easy to believe that she has him a role model.
Listen! Enjoy!
www.erinbode.com
No coincidence that she covers Paul Simon's Gracelands. Easy to believe that she has him a role model.
Listen! Enjoy!
www.erinbode.com
Frozen bovine parenthood and frozen toes
I must dash! I've got to get home as there's a woman coming with some frozen sperm to impregnate my cows.
Now there's something you don't hear often in Stockholm!
Life here on Öland is different!
Kai, his mate Douglas and I went to an invigorating forest walk this afternoon. Walk is probably the wrong word as we were trudging through virgin snow that was 3 feet deep. Eventually we came to a clearing where the locals had laid out some forage for the forest animals. There were lots of intersting footprints and Kai decided to follow what appeared to be those of a deer. The going got even tougher and we all returned thoroughly drenched. Invigorating in an icy kind of way!
tisdag 23 februari 2010
Invasion of the Bodycake Snatchers?
Öland is looking very beautiful covered in a thick layer of snow. Very silent. Very deserted. You don't see many other cars.
It suddenly struck me today that this would be the perfect setting for a zombie movie. The local delicacy (a kind of Swedish dumpling) are called bodycakes, which in itself sounds pretty spooky. And then one of the nearby villages is called Dödevi which roughly translated means: We are all dead here! Now there's a cheery adress!
There is something intrinsically eery about a holiday resort in the off-season. In the summer the camping sites are crowded and the roads are heaving with German cars pulling caravans. Just now there are just empty fields with the occasional horse, a few crows in the trees and once a day an enormous tractor that is struggling with the fairly impossible task of keeping the roads free from snow.
Enter zombies!!!
It suddenly struck me today that this would be the perfect setting for a zombie movie. The local delicacy (a kind of Swedish dumpling) are called bodycakes, which in itself sounds pretty spooky. And then one of the nearby villages is called Dödevi which roughly translated means: We are all dead here! Now there's a cheery adress!
There is something intrinsically eery about a holiday resort in the off-season. In the summer the camping sites are crowded and the roads are heaving with German cars pulling caravans. Just now there are just empty fields with the occasional horse, a few crows in the trees and once a day an enormous tractor that is struggling with the fairly impossible task of keeping the roads free from snow.
Enter zombies!!!
Walk out to winter!
Our jouney to Öland was brightened up by some compilation CDs of songs about winter. Very noticeably most of them were gloomy.
The only really happy song was Aztec Camera's Walk out to winter that actually makes you want to take a walk in the snow.
The only really happy song was Aztec Camera's Walk out to winter that actually makes you want to take a walk in the snow.
Chaos on White Monday
Forget Black Friday, Red Tuesday and Gray Tuesday. Yesterday we suffered from White Monday.
I always tend to boast to friends in England about how wonderfully efficient Sweden is and how well-prepared the country is for winter weather. Well, yesterday the frozen shit hit the fan and half the country ground to a painful halt. Long queues of frozen travellers stood at the roadside in Kärrtorp waiting for the bus service that was replacing the non-functioning Metro. When they finally arrived the busses of course were far too small. I spoke to Astrid yesterday and it had taken her two hours to get too work.
Misery loves icicles!
We spent our day driving to Grandma Stina on Öland. The journey took 11 hours and some bits were hard work as we drove through a snowstorm.
It feels a bit like driving to the end of the world. It's one hour's drive from the Öland Bridge and the further one goes, the fewer cars one sees. Not so much Tierra del Fuego, moer Tierra Del Nieve!
Ulrika's brother Thomas has just driven in with his tractor to grab a cup of coffee. The poor sod has been up all night clearing snow from the roads and it's still snowing. He listen to the Winter Olympics to keep awake.
Grandma's birdtable is getting a lot of visits this morning and the winter has been so hard that the locals have even laid out food in the forest for the elks and deer. They are all so hungry that they gather and eat without any squabbles.
I always tend to boast to friends in England about how wonderfully efficient Sweden is and how well-prepared the country is for winter weather. Well, yesterday the frozen shit hit the fan and half the country ground to a painful halt. Long queues of frozen travellers stood at the roadside in Kärrtorp waiting for the bus service that was replacing the non-functioning Metro. When they finally arrived the busses of course were far too small. I spoke to Astrid yesterday and it had taken her two hours to get too work.
Misery loves icicles!
We spent our day driving to Grandma Stina on Öland. The journey took 11 hours and some bits were hard work as we drove through a snowstorm.
It feels a bit like driving to the end of the world. It's one hour's drive from the Öland Bridge and the further one goes, the fewer cars one sees. Not so much Tierra del Fuego, moer Tierra Del Nieve!
Ulrika's brother Thomas has just driven in with his tractor to grab a cup of coffee. The poor sod has been up all night clearing snow from the roads and it's still snowing. He listen to the Winter Olympics to keep awake.
Grandma's birdtable is getting a lot of visits this morning and the winter has been so hard that the locals have even laid out food in the forest for the elks and deer. They are all so hungry that they gather and eat without any squabbles.
måndag 22 februari 2010
Nowhere fast
It was 20 degrees below zero this morning when I walked to Globen to collect our hire car for the trip to Öland. I drove through Kärrtorp where there was a long queue of frozen people waiting for the busses that are covering the currently non-operative Green Line.
Got home to find Kai has an upset tummy so we are sitting put for the moment. Major puke out in the car? No thankyou!
Got home to find Kai has an upset tummy so we are sitting put for the moment. Major puke out in the car? No thankyou!
söndag 21 februari 2010
Driving down to Löttorp with a dongle in my hand!
We leave for Öland tomorrow morning. With all of Sweden covered in deep snow, it's going to to be an interesting journey.
But now, armed with Gary's dongle, I feel ready for anything.Two days ago I didn't know what a dongle was. If you'd ask me what dongling was I would have guessed it was some kind of dubious sexual activity that one engaged in in a municipal car park with a seriously dodgy young lady that you'd met on the internet.
Not I know that a dongle is a little gizmo that you plug into your laptop which functions as modem and allows you to surf the net and receive your email wherever there is a mobile network.
I feel very modern!
But now, armed with Gary's dongle, I feel ready for anything.Two days ago I didn't know what a dongle was. If you'd ask me what dongling was I would have guessed it was some kind of dubious sexual activity that one engaged in in a municipal car park with a seriously dodgy young lady that you'd met on the internet.
Not I know that a dongle is a little gizmo that you plug into your laptop which functions as modem and allows you to surf the net and receive your email wherever there is a mobile network.
I feel very modern!
lördag 20 februari 2010
Going to the movies with Roald Amundsen!
Today is Kai's big outing to the cinema with his pals. Straightforward eh?
Well not quite as it's been snowing heavily all night and to call the landscape white would be something of understatement.
Weather conditions are such that even that renowned Norwegian explorer, Amundsen, would probably say: Ok lads, let's give it a miss! We´'ll stay in the tent and watch the Winter Olympics.
Good job that I've got the phone number to Hire a Husky. With some dog sleighs, rope and a large bottle of brandy we will achieve our goal!
fredag 19 februari 2010
Surfing glue!
Snowed in? waiting for the metro? Bored?
Remember those old rock family trees that were so lovingly drawn in ZigZag magazine?
Of course you don't! You probably weren't even born then!
But now here is the ultimate internet plaything for us music nerds to make our own.
http://audiomap.tuneglue.net
An even bigger time waster than Bacefook and lots more fun!
Remember those old rock family trees that were so lovingly drawn in ZigZag magazine?
Of course you don't! You probably weren't even born then!
But now here is the ultimate internet plaything for us music nerds to make our own.
http://audiomap.tuneglue.net
An even bigger time waster than Bacefook and lots more fun!
Party hearty
To celebrate Kai's birthday we are taking him and seven of his pals to the cinema tomorrow: Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. This will be quite an intersting experiment and the first time we've dared offer an outing rather than a party.
Kai has certainly had a few interesting theme parties in previous years:the Thomas the Tank Engine party, the Pokemon Party and last year, together with his friend Frida, the Star Wars Disco Party. A bit of a misnomer that one. There was very little dancing and an awful lot of combat. All the boys and girls arrived tooled up with light sabres and other weapons of intergalactic destruction and just went for it. The dance floor looked like a combat scene from Clone Wars. Mercifully no one was hurt and a good time was had by all.
Doing the preparations for these dos, I found some amazing websites about preparing kids parties. Most of these were written by mums in the USA and the amount of work and preparation they would put into parties for their offspring left me gobsmacked. Kids parties over there are clearly a highly competitive activity. Mums spend weeks making costumes and preparing astonishingly elaborate activites. It's whole thriving subculture.
We would just buy a large tub of ice cream and some plates and let them get on with it!
Kai has certainly had a few interesting theme parties in previous years:the Thomas the Tank Engine party, the Pokemon Party and last year, together with his friend Frida, the Star Wars Disco Party. A bit of a misnomer that one. There was very little dancing and an awful lot of combat. All the boys and girls arrived tooled up with light sabres and other weapons of intergalactic destruction and just went for it. The dance floor looked like a combat scene from Clone Wars. Mercifully no one was hurt and a good time was had by all.
Doing the preparations for these dos, I found some amazing websites about preparing kids parties. Most of these were written by mums in the USA and the amount of work and preparation they would put into parties for their offspring left me gobsmacked. Kids parties over there are clearly a highly competitive activity. Mums spend weeks making costumes and preparing astonishingly elaborate activites. It's whole thriving subculture.
We would just buy a large tub of ice cream and some plates and let them get on with it!
The wrong kind of snow falls in Stockholm!
You would have thought that Stockholm had quite enough snow for one winter! The weather gods thought otherwise and we've now had a fresh delivery. Inches of it!
It must have been English snow as the normally reliable Green Line ground to a complete standstill for about an hour this morning thus leaving me and Zo waiting at Bkörkhagen station for Susan, her wonderful resource person, to arrive to take her to her music group.
It was brass monkeys and Zo was not in a good mood.
Our girl will be more than delighted when Jack Frost makes tracks.
It must have been English snow as the normally reliable Green Line ground to a complete standstill for about an hour this morning thus leaving me and Zo waiting at Bkörkhagen station for Susan, her wonderful resource person, to arrive to take her to her music group.
It was brass monkeys and Zo was not in a good mood.
Our girl will be more than delighted when Jack Frost makes tracks.
torsdag 18 februari 2010
Chip off the old block
Today we had out meeting with Kai and his teacher and there can be no doubt in mymind that he is my son. Prior to the meeting she had done a questionaire with him to find out what he thought about school.
What did he like about school?
Meeting his mates, having fun in the playground, playing computer games,chilling out.
What didn't he like?
Lessons, the morning assembly, learning things and having to do anything ressembling work.
The verdict?
Charming, lazy, workshy with the attention span of a mosquito and an inability to sit still for more than a few seconds.Also he tends to mumble incoherently so no one knows what he's rabbiting on about.
Sound like anyone you know? Well,we won't need to do a DNA test to prove my paternity, that's for certain!
What did he like about school?
Meeting his mates, having fun in the playground, playing computer games,chilling out.
What didn't he like?
Lessons, the morning assembly, learning things and having to do anything ressembling work.
The verdict?
Charming, lazy, workshy with the attention span of a mosquito and an inability to sit still for more than a few seconds.Also he tends to mumble incoherently so no one knows what he's rabbiting on about.
Sound like anyone you know? Well,we won't need to do a DNA test to prove my paternity, that's for certain!
Vulpes vulpes
One of the delights of living here in Kärrtorp is our close proximity to the forest.
I think I must have gone a bit native living in Sweden as nowadays it's very iomportant to my well-being to have lots of trees in the near proximity so that I can go and hug them.
Today I was making my way over from school to pick up Zoe from the nursery when suddenly there at the top of the stairs was a fox staring at me. It's one of the very few occasions in my life that I've seen a wild fox, the other memorable one being on a mountainside in County Galway.
He took a quick look at me and then legged it off into the snow. Magic!
Certainly an improvement of the day that I was leaving our flat with the kids and found a large rat sitting on the doorstep!
I think I must have gone a bit native living in Sweden as nowadays it's very iomportant to my well-being to have lots of trees in the near proximity so that I can go and hug them.
Today I was making my way over from school to pick up Zoe from the nursery when suddenly there at the top of the stairs was a fox staring at me. It's one of the very few occasions in my life that I've seen a wild fox, the other memorable one being on a mountainside in County Galway.
He took a quick look at me and then legged it off into the snow. Magic!
Certainly an improvement of the day that I was leaving our flat with the kids and found a large rat sitting on the doorstep!
Rufus sings for Kate
Here, from the Guardian website, is Rufus Wainwright singing a song about his mother Kate McGarrigle who died recently of cancer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2010/feb/16/rufus-wainwright-zebulon
The modern newspaper is an extraordinary beast. So much more than some sheets of paper.
Also,I wonder what the Guardian's on-line readership is compared to those who enjoy the actual newspaper. Tens of thousands of ex-pats like myself,getting their daily fix of British culture inthe four corners of the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2010/feb/16/rufus-wainwright-zebulon
The modern newspaper is an extraordinary beast. So much more than some sheets of paper.
Also,I wonder what the Guardian's on-line readership is compared to those who enjoy the actual newspaper. Tens of thousands of ex-pats like myself,getting their daily fix of British culture inthe four corners of the world.
Hong Kong calling! The End is Nigh!
Earlier this week, I received the following mail from my pal Neil in Hong Kong. He knows that I have a perverse fascination for strange stuff out there in cyberspace.
Thank you Mr Runcieman!
He describes it so well,I'm going to just quote him verbatim:
Attracted by an article in the Telegraph on biblical iPhone applications, I was led first to the fascinating 'magazine of Christian unrest' Ship of Fools (http://www.ship-of-fools.com/), and thence to the wonderful 'Rapture Index', which you should consult at http://www.raptureready.com/rap2.html.
Since the site is clunky, I'll spare you the few minutes I wasted looking for its underlying basis of calculation.
Firstly, well down the index page itself is:
'
The Purpose For This Index
The Rapture Index has two functions: one is to factor together a number of related end time components into a cohesive indicator, and the other is to standardize those components to eliminate the wide variance that currently exists with prophecy reporting.
The Rapture Index is by no means meant to predict the rapture, however, the index is designed to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture.
You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture.
Rapture Index of 100 and Below: Slow prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 100 to 130: Moderate prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 130 to 160: Heavy prophetic activity
Rapture Index above 160: Fasten your seat belts '
And then you should definitely take a look at: http://www.raptureready.com/rap7.html, where the individual criteria are explained, including such gems as the juxtaposition of:
18. Ecumenism
The movement to join all religions into one. This has been a goal of
the Devil for sometime. By having all religions unified, he could more
easily control their leadership.
19. Globalism
The breaking down of barriers increases the number of alliances, and
it making the world more integrated.
And since we are currently, according to the index, in a state of 'Fasten your seatbelts' prophecy activity, we must assume that the Second Coming is at an advanced stage of preparation and that the recent launch of the iPad was not so much as a faith-breaking disappointment as a dummy-run for rapture.
Thank you Mr Runcieman!
He describes it so well,I'm going to just quote him verbatim:
Attracted by an article in the Telegraph on biblical iPhone applications, I was led first to the fascinating 'magazine of Christian unrest' Ship of Fools (http://www.ship-of-fools.com/), and thence to the wonderful 'Rapture Index', which you should consult at http://www.raptureready.com/rap2.html.
Since the site is clunky, I'll spare you the few minutes I wasted looking for its underlying basis of calculation.
Firstly, well down the index page itself is:
'
The Purpose For This Index
The Rapture Index has two functions: one is to factor together a number of related end time components into a cohesive indicator, and the other is to standardize those components to eliminate the wide variance that currently exists with prophecy reporting.
The Rapture Index is by no means meant to predict the rapture, however, the index is designed to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture.
You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture.
Rapture Index of 100 and Below: Slow prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 100 to 130: Moderate prophetic activity
Rapture Index of 130 to 160: Heavy prophetic activity
Rapture Index above 160: Fasten your seat belts '
And then you should definitely take a look at: http://www.raptureready.com/rap7.html, where the individual criteria are explained, including such gems as the juxtaposition of:
18. Ecumenism
The movement to join all religions into one. This has been a goal of
the Devil for sometime. By having all religions unified, he could more
easily control their leadership.
19. Globalism
The breaking down of barriers increases the number of alliances, and
it making the world more integrated.
And since we are currently, according to the index, in a state of 'Fasten your seatbelts' prophecy activity, we must assume that the Second Coming is at an advanced stage of preparation and that the recent launch of the iPad was not so much as a faith-breaking disappointment as a dummy-run for rapture.
onsdag 17 februari 2010
Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider
One artist that I've discovered thanks to the excellent Klingan, Swedish radio's world music programme, is Kayhan Kalhor.
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-oaGzyL8Mo
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-oaGzyL8Mo
Kai's performance review and goal-setting session
Today I am nervous! Ulrika and I are going to have a meeting with Anita, Kai's teacher. I asked my colleague,translation whizz Gary Watson, how he would translate the Swedish name for this meeting, utvecklingsamtal. He came up with: performance review and goal-setting session. Which makes me even more nervous!
Anita's old school:an excellent pedagogue who can keep 28 unruly kids under control with just one word. She tolerates no bullshit, somewhat in contrast to myself. I'm more full of bullshit than a large Corrida de Toros!
The worse thing is that Kai will be present for part of the meeting and get a chance to comment on our parenting skills. Oh dear!
The truth will out.I fear I may get a 100 lines!
D is for dad and for dunce!
Anita's old school:an excellent pedagogue who can keep 28 unruly kids under control with just one word. She tolerates no bullshit, somewhat in contrast to myself. I'm more full of bullshit than a large Corrida de Toros!
The worse thing is that Kai will be present for part of the meeting and get a chance to comment on our parenting skills. Oh dear!
The truth will out.I fear I may get a 100 lines!
D is for dad and for dunce!
Cobham salutes Osamu Tezuka!
Kai received an an enormous birthday packet from the DeSousa family in Cobham which he ripped open while scoffing strawberry pancake cake in bed this morning. It contained all kinds of wonderful goodies to appeal to a seven-year old boy, but pride of place went to a Nintendo DS game featuring Astro Boy. Wow!
The good burghers of Cobham clearly have their finger firmly on the pulse of Japanese culture! The Astro Boy manga and anime are to Japan what Mickey Mouse was to the USA and their creator, Osamu Tezuka, is revered as the founding father of the genre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro_Boy
I was well impressed and Kai was over the moon!
Cobham! Cred-capital of the home counties!
The good burghers of Cobham clearly have their finger firmly on the pulse of Japanese culture! The Astro Boy manga and anime are to Japan what Mickey Mouse was to the USA and their creator, Osamu Tezuka, is revered as the founding father of the genre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro_Boy
I was well impressed and Kai was over the moon!
Cobham! Cred-capital of the home counties!
tisdag 16 februari 2010
Happy Birthday Kai!
He's seven years old today. Unbelievable! His day will start with birthday cake in bed. He feels he should take the day off school in honour of this momentous occasion. In his dreams!
måndag 15 februari 2010
Richmond Fontaine - Not a beard in sight!
Ian was put off coming along to yesterday's fine gig by Richmond Fontaine by the fact that they were described as alt-country. Labels? I hate them! Other than the fact that their songs all have a story to tell and deal with people whose lives are often tough, there was scarcely any country element in their music.The only alt-country thing about the gig was the audience: a sea of men in checked, flannel shirts. In my bright yellow T shirt I was definitely not following the dress code!
The band were a delight. Tight, subtle, well-arranged, precise rock songs which never outstayed their welcome. The singer, Willy Vlautin,has a parallel career as a writer and it shows.Each song is like a short story. I kept thinking of John Steinbeck and Raymond Carver. I must read one of his novels.
But if I was the promoter I'd have certainly have had some complaints about his appearance. Willy was clean-shaven! Surely that must be breach on contract? There has to be a clause that demands that sensitive alt-rock singer-songwriters have a big bushy beard? Whatever next? Metal artists with no tattoos and sensible haircuts?
What is the world coming to?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Fontaine
http://blog.richmondfontaine.com/
The band were a delight. Tight, subtle, well-arranged, precise rock songs which never outstayed their welcome. The singer, Willy Vlautin,has a parallel career as a writer and it shows.Each song is like a short story. I kept thinking of John Steinbeck and Raymond Carver. I must read one of his novels.
But if I was the promoter I'd have certainly have had some complaints about his appearance. Willy was clean-shaven! Surely that must be breach on contract? There has to be a clause that demands that sensitive alt-rock singer-songwriters have a big bushy beard? Whatever next? Metal artists with no tattoos and sensible haircuts?
What is the world coming to?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Fontaine
http://blog.richmondfontaine.com/
The mountains of Björkhagen
One rather bizarre consequence of the current cold weather is that enormous, mountains of bulldozed snow have popped up all over the place, radically altering the suburban landscape.Kai is very keen about this development and climbs all over them pretending to be Super-Mario.
söndag 14 februari 2010
Cajun from the Canons?
CD of the week on last week's Klingan was Black Robert by Mama Rosin, which is that rare beast, a cajun record from Switzerland.
http://www.sr.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2347&artikel=3422277
And great rolicking stuff it is too!
And why not?
Yodelling certainly has certainly spread worldwide, something that we can all be grateful for!
http://www.sr.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2347&artikel=3422277
And great rolicking stuff it is too!
And why not?
Yodelling certainly has certainly spread worldwide, something that we can all be grateful for!
Carol De Sousa v. The Guns of Brixton
Our friend Carol is a very good influence on our kids and heaven knows they need a few of those!
For Xmas she bought Zoe a Tweenies Sing-a-long DVD. The look on Zo's face when watching it is of even more rapt attention than her dad when he's watching some bearded weirdo plucking his banjo and mumbling into his facial hair.
And surprise surprise! it's even got to Kai. Yesterday he spontaneosly broke into song:I am the music man and I come from down your way.
That makes a change from his normal repertoire: Anarchy in the UK, The Guns of Brixton and Too Drunk to Fuck.
For Xmas she bought Zoe a Tweenies Sing-a-long DVD. The look on Zo's face when watching it is of even more rapt attention than her dad when he's watching some bearded weirdo plucking his banjo and mumbling into his facial hair.
And surprise surprise! it's even got to Kai. Yesterday he spontaneosly broke into song:I am the music man and I come from down your way.
That makes a change from his normal repertoire: Anarchy in the UK, The Guns of Brixton and Too Drunk to Fuck.
The blog formerly known as ......
Only a week has gone, and I've already changed the name of this blog. Zombies are so last week's thing!
Hey you living dead! Get a life!
You really have no place on children's jimjams and Bolibompa.
Come on guys! Back to the graveyards and morgues where you belong.And get scary again!
Kai is about as frightened of you lot as he is of Pinky and Perky!
Hey you living dead! Get a life!
You really have no place on children's jimjams and Bolibompa.
Come on guys! Back to the graveyards and morgues where you belong.And get scary again!
Kai is about as frightened of you lot as he is of Pinky and Perky!
Glada Huvid theatre on Eurovision
I am less than ecstatic about spending the next 500 Saturday evenings watching the Swedish Eurovision heats.
But credit where credit is due. Yesterday evening the guest artists were the Glada Huvid theatre group, an ensemble of mentally-handicapped from Hudiksvall who have enjoyed enormous success singing Sverige by Kent. And very good they were too!
http://www.gladahudikteatern.se/en-start.asp
Great for Zoe to have such positive role models!
If either she or Kai sung as well as Glad Huvik, I would be delighted.
But credit where credit is due. Yesterday evening the guest artists were the Glada Huvid theatre group, an ensemble of mentally-handicapped from Hudiksvall who have enjoyed enormous success singing Sverige by Kent. And very good they were too!
http://www.gladahudikteatern.se/en-start.asp
Great for Zoe to have such positive role models!
If either she or Kai sung as well as Glad Huvik, I would be delighted.
Lovely weather?
Yesterday it was minus 5 degrees, an arctic wind was blowing and it was snowing heavily. Ulrika commented: What a lovely day!
Was this a language problem or was I just meterologically challenged?
I just hope she doesn't say that I'm a lovely bloke.
Then I would get seriously worried!
Was this a language problem or was I just meterologically challenged?
I just hope she doesn't say that I'm a lovely bloke.
Then I would get seriously worried!
fredag 12 februari 2010
The Long Road to Oslo
Be grateful if you don't live in Sweden! Every Saturday evening for the next few months we have to endure the selection heats for the Eurovision Song Contest. (That is of course when we are not watching the Winter Olympics.)
Eurovision is enormous here and (if we are to believe the hype) greatly loved by the Swedish people. Crap songs, apalling costumes: what's not to like? Certainly, if you don't like it, you are considered as some kind of social misfit by the Euro Cosy Nostra.
Kai has got wise to this and has made it very clear that we would be depriving him of a basic human right if we did not allow him to stay up to midnight every Saturday evening and consume vaste quantities of crisps. Zoe loves any music with a good beat she can dance to, so he's get her full support on this one.
There was an amusing article about this in this morning's Dagens Nyheter by Fredrik Strage who compares it all to The Blob in the horror film of the same name.
This week's talking point is that there is a singer-songwriter, Anna Maria Espinosa, who is actually quite talented and is liked by the In Crowd. She's had a lot of stick from The Talibans of Cred for actually being involved in the whole thing.
She argues that she's a songwriter and would like a lot of people to hear her songs.You don't get a bigger audience here. And if I have to sit through it all, it's a mercy that there's a least one good song.
Kai and Zoe and thousands of other kids are being deluded into thinking that this is what good music sounds like.
Shame really! there are so many wonderful Swedish artists. Here are some candidates for a great Swedish Eurovision show:
Fever Ray
Jens Lekman
Philemon Arthur and the Dung
Ale Möller & Lena Willemark
Suburban Kids with Biblical Names
Jenny Wilson
Doctor Alban
Taxi! Taxi!
Lykke Li
The Field
A Camp
Wilmer X
Adam Tensta
Dungen
Thåström
Backyard babies
Peps Persson
Teddybears Stockholm
Laakso
Eurovision is enormous here and (if we are to believe the hype) greatly loved by the Swedish people. Crap songs, apalling costumes: what's not to like? Certainly, if you don't like it, you are considered as some kind of social misfit by the Euro Cosy Nostra.
Kai has got wise to this and has made it very clear that we would be depriving him of a basic human right if we did not allow him to stay up to midnight every Saturday evening and consume vaste quantities of crisps. Zoe loves any music with a good beat she can dance to, so he's get her full support on this one.
There was an amusing article about this in this morning's Dagens Nyheter by Fredrik Strage who compares it all to The Blob in the horror film of the same name.
This week's talking point is that there is a singer-songwriter, Anna Maria Espinosa, who is actually quite talented and is liked by the In Crowd. She's had a lot of stick from The Talibans of Cred for actually being involved in the whole thing.
She argues that she's a songwriter and would like a lot of people to hear her songs.You don't get a bigger audience here. And if I have to sit through it all, it's a mercy that there's a least one good song.
Kai and Zoe and thousands of other kids are being deluded into thinking that this is what good music sounds like.
Shame really! there are so many wonderful Swedish artists. Here are some candidates for a great Swedish Eurovision show:
Fever Ray
Jens Lekman
Philemon Arthur and the Dung
Ale Möller & Lena Willemark
Suburban Kids with Biblical Names
Jenny Wilson
Doctor Alban
Taxi! Taxi!
Lykke Li
The Field
A Camp
Wilmer X
Adam Tensta
Dungen
Thåström
Backyard babies
Peps Persson
Teddybears Stockholm
Laakso
Don Farrow Film Project
I'm beginning to appreciate the wonders of Youtube as a research tool.
One can find out more about TV programmes, bands, anime whatever. You can also watch the trailer for my brother Don's current film project:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWq5_3kayRI
He's working on documentary about kids from one of the tougher parts of New York, where he lives, doing a Shakespeare production. (I dare not quote any of the details as I'm bound to get them wrong. Accuracy is not my strong point!)
What fascinates me most is that the headmaster at the school is wearing a Ramones T shirt. You never saw any headmaster at Harrow County Boys School wearing a rock and roll garment. Disgraceful!
Then again I wonder how cool the kids think that is. The Ramones had their heyday about 500 years ago.
I could lend him my TV on the Radio T shirt.
Or how about a Gil Scott-Heron one? Now there is a man with cred!
One can find out more about TV programmes, bands, anime whatever. You can also watch the trailer for my brother Don's current film project:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWq5_3kayRI
He's working on documentary about kids from one of the tougher parts of New York, where he lives, doing a Shakespeare production. (I dare not quote any of the details as I'm bound to get them wrong. Accuracy is not my strong point!)
What fascinates me most is that the headmaster at the school is wearing a Ramones T shirt. You never saw any headmaster at Harrow County Boys School wearing a rock and roll garment. Disgraceful!
Then again I wonder how cool the kids think that is. The Ramones had their heyday about 500 years ago.
I could lend him my TV on the Radio T shirt.
Or how about a Gil Scott-Heron one? Now there is a man with cred!
Yakiimo - Simone White
My favourite album of the week is Yakiimo, the third CD by California-based singer-songwriter, Simone White.
It's on Honest Jon's,a label that really can be relied on for quality releases. She has a wonderful delicacy of touch, writes marvelous songs and has an intimacy in her singing that gets a thumbs up from me. Time will tell whether the new album is up to the standard of I'm The Man her previous release.
Incidentally, that's a picture of her mother,a 60s folk singer, with a baby tiger on the cover of I'm The Man. And her granny was a burlesque singer! Talented family!
It's on Honest Jon's,a label that really can be relied on for quality releases. She has a wonderful delicacy of touch, writes marvelous songs and has an intimacy in her singing that gets a thumbs up from me. Time will tell whether the new album is up to the standard of I'm The Man her previous release.
Incidentally, that's a picture of her mother,a 60s folk singer, with a baby tiger on the cover of I'm The Man. And her granny was a burlesque singer! Talented family!
torsdag 11 februari 2010
Ice work if you can get it!
A frequent sight in these parts at the moment is those brave souls who clamber around on rooftops brushing off the large amounts of snow and icicles. I've never seen anyone do this in Britian but here it's essential, especially when the temperatures are fluctuating around zero. Otherwise enormous great lumps of snow and ice or icicles the size of a viking sword are likely to fall on those in the street. Walking in the Old Town, with all its narrow streets is particularly hairy at this time of year.
I just wonder: what do these intrepid rooftop heroes do for the rest of the year? The season for snow clearance is a short one.
Everyone in Stockholm complains (with some justification!) about how long it takes for the streets to be cleared of snow, but compared to the UK it all seems very efficient. The moment the snow starts falling, the gritting lorries and snow ploughs are out. In Blighty, every time snow falls people look astonished, as though they'd never seen the stuff befoe and chaos ensues.
onsdag 10 februari 2010
Eton or Understenshöjden Nursery?
One of the great mysteries to me is how an English family with children actually manages to function both practically and economically. All my worst prejudices are confirmed by an article in today's Independent that reports that a nursery place in England costs as much as sending your children to Eton or another exclusive private school.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/childcare-now-costs-more-than-top-public-school-1894547.html
I am very glad that I live in a country with such wonderful nurseries where child provision is seen as a right for all citizens.
Viva dagis! Viva Fröet!!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/childcare-now-costs-more-than-top-public-school-1894547.html
I am very glad that I live in a country with such wonderful nurseries where child provision is seen as a right for all citizens.
Viva dagis! Viva Fröet!!
Ich heisser Lyle. Ich bin von Texas. Ich lieber mitt Pferd.
I was fascinated to hear Lyle Lovett, at his concert with John Hiatt on Monday night, talking about going to Germany to study German. Laconic Lyle is not a man who tells you much about himself.
There's something strangely appealing about the mental image of him sitting there struggling with German grammar and reading Goethe and Thomas Mann.
So much for the myth that all cowboys are monoligual rednecks!
He was very chuffed that one of his old classmates from that time, Camilla ????(I didn't catch the surname), was in the audience.
She's now a professor at Stockholm University, so I intend to get Ulrika to track her down and cross examine her on her meeting with the country superstar-to-be!
There's something strangely appealing about the mental image of him sitting there struggling with German grammar and reading Goethe and Thomas Mann.
So much for the myth that all cowboys are monoligual rednecks!
He was very chuffed that one of his old classmates from that time, Camilla ????(I didn't catch the surname), was in the audience.
She's now a professor at Stockholm University, so I intend to get Ulrika to track her down and cross examine her on her meeting with the country superstar-to-be!
tisdag 9 februari 2010
Lyle Lovett Live!
In autumn 2001 Ulrika and I had tickets to see Lyle Lovett in London. That September of course was a memorable one and Lyle cancelled his tour. So it was a great pleasure last night to finally catch him live for the first time together with John Hiatt. Just two guys with their guitars and a couple of chairs and tables and as far as I could see no terribly predecided set list. Some artists, often Americans but also some Scots and Billy Bragg, do this so well. An anecdote, a song, a wry observation: everything flows so effortlessly. It felt as though one was sitting in their front room: an illusion aided by the fact that Duncan had fixed us cracking seats in the fourth row.
Hiatt and Lovett matched each other very well. The former is very volatile, exhibitionistic and in-your-face and wears his heart on his sleeve; the latter is laconic, soft-spoken and is giving very little away. They joked about it being like a psychiatrist's session and there was a lot of truth in that. If Lyle wants to retrain he'd make a great shrink. John H was opening up about his life as a teenage joyrider, drug abuser and general wild boyo. Lyle just sat and listened and asked the right questions.
Hiatt has some great songs and he put them over very well last night. But when Lovett got going I was spellbound. He's a nifty guitar player and a fabulous singer.
See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-LneYYF6TI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl04KTHzq0s
There was one fascinating moment when he mentioned that a Swedish woman, who he'd met on a German course many years ago and had just got back in touch with through a mutual friend, was in the audience. He felt very honoured that she'd come along. She's now a professor at Stockholm University
How odd! Lyle learning German! Maybe we can expect an album of Kraftverk covers some time in the future?
Hiatt and Lovett matched each other very well. The former is very volatile, exhibitionistic and in-your-face and wears his heart on his sleeve; the latter is laconic, soft-spoken and is giving very little away. They joked about it being like a psychiatrist's session and there was a lot of truth in that. If Lyle wants to retrain he'd make a great shrink. John H was opening up about his life as a teenage joyrider, drug abuser and general wild boyo. Lyle just sat and listened and asked the right questions.
Hiatt has some great songs and he put them over very well last night. But when Lovett got going I was spellbound. He's a nifty guitar player and a fabulous singer.
See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-LneYYF6TI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl04KTHzq0s
There was one fascinating moment when he mentioned that a Swedish woman, who he'd met on a German course many years ago and had just got back in touch with through a mutual friend, was in the audience. He felt very honoured that she'd come along. She's now a professor at Stockholm University
How odd! Lyle learning German! Maybe we can expect an album of Kraftverk covers some time in the future?
The hamster that shot Liberty Valance
Kai's favourite film at the moment is G Force, a typical spy thriller with lots of car chases, gadgets and explosions.It's full of all American values about being loyal through thick and thin to the guys in your team - a real buddy flick. The only thing that distinguishes it from other films in the genre is that the protagonists are all guinea pigs. The villain is a mole, who is also a mole - very John LeCarré!
Well, we all know how short Hollywood tends to be of new ideas.Find a concept and then milk it to death. I suspect we can see lots of other genres being remade with rodents and other small animals. Coming to your screens soon:
The Lemmings of Navarone
Reservoir Rats
Full Metal Hedeghog
Shrew've got mail
Well, we all know how short Hollywood tends to be of new ideas.Find a concept and then milk it to death. I suspect we can see lots of other genres being remade with rodents and other small animals. Coming to your screens soon:
The Lemmings of Navarone
Reservoir Rats
Full Metal Hedeghog
Shrew've got mail
måndag 8 februari 2010
No way to celebrate a birthday!
Poor little Zoe! She's four years old today and we should have celebrated her special day big time. First with birthday cake in bed and the family singing for her and then with all her pals at nursery and ashings of ice cream and chocolate sauce.
Things didn't work out quite as planned. We could see that she wasn't in top form when she work up. She confirmed this by simultaneouly puking up vile green liquid all over me and then filling her nappy with equally disgusting poo.
Now mercifully, she has perked up a bit and is singing along with her Tweenies DVD.
The best laid plans of mice and mums .....
Incidentally, whoever it was that wrote The Exorcist must have had experience of small children. Zo's head didn't rotate and she wasn't speaking in that Anus of Satan voice , otherwise, the details are perfect.
Things didn't work out quite as planned. We could see that she wasn't in top form when she work up. She confirmed this by simultaneouly puking up vile green liquid all over me and then filling her nappy with equally disgusting poo.
Now mercifully, she has perked up a bit and is singing along with her Tweenies DVD.
The best laid plans of mice and mums .....
Incidentally, whoever it was that wrote The Exorcist must have had experience of small children. Zo's head didn't rotate and she wasn't speaking in that Anus of Satan voice , otherwise, the details are perfect.
söndag 7 februari 2010
The hills are undead with the sound of music?
How soon will the booming zombie bubble burst? Not, I hope, before we've seen Rodgers and Hammerstein's alpine romp refilmed as a zombie flick .
We all know the the modern undead can run. Now it's time for them to sing and dance!
Ozzie would be perfectly cast as a Captain Von Trapp for the new millenium. An actress to follow Julie Andrews is far more difficult.
My personal vote goes to Björk.She would give the role of Maria a certain icelandic impishness that was lacking in Ms Andrews's interpretation.
Director? Mmmm. Lars Von Trier? Ang Lee? Or perhaps Michael Bay, the guy who's done the new Transformers films? Then we can be guaranteed lots of car chases, explosions and a very LOUD soundtrack!
I think the world has good reason to be glad that I'm live in Kärrtorp and not Hollywood. Here I'm just a harmless loony with a laptop who ought to get out a bit more. There, people would be throwing mountains of diosh at me to make the cinematic monstrosity just described!
PS
Talking of monstrosities, thanks to Neil in Hong Kong for sharing these with me.
My Diabolic Little Pony
http://www.gearfuse.com/my-little-zombie-pony-will-eat-your-brain-and-devour-your-soul/
and Zombie Barbie
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/12/09/zombie-barbie/
I notice that there's no Zombie Ken. You have to be alive before you can be undead.
We all know the the modern undead can run. Now it's time for them to sing and dance!
Ozzie would be perfectly cast as a Captain Von Trapp for the new millenium. An actress to follow Julie Andrews is far more difficult.
My personal vote goes to Björk.She would give the role of Maria a certain icelandic impishness that was lacking in Ms Andrews's interpretation.
Director? Mmmm. Lars Von Trier? Ang Lee? Or perhaps Michael Bay, the guy who's done the new Transformers films? Then we can be guaranteed lots of car chases, explosions and a very LOUD soundtrack!
I think the world has good reason to be glad that I'm live in Kärrtorp and not Hollywood. Here I'm just a harmless loony with a laptop who ought to get out a bit more. There, people would be throwing mountains of diosh at me to make the cinematic monstrosity just described!
PS
Talking of monstrosities, thanks to Neil in Hong Kong for sharing these with me.
My Diabolic Little Pony
http://www.gearfuse.com/my-little-zombie-pony-will-eat-your-brain-and-devour-your-soul/
and Zombie Barbie
http://www.neatorama.com/2008/12/09/zombie-barbie/
I notice that there's no Zombie Ken. You have to be alive before you can be undead.
lördag 6 februari 2010
Who you gonna call?
Yesterday Kai and I were discussing my latest cinematic discovery:underwater, geisha gore feast: Oh! My Zombie Mermaid.
So she's a mermaid,Daddy, and she's a zombie. So you can't kill her, cos she's already dead? Interesting.
This is a generation of kids who think that Mr Lordi and his pals are rather cuddly: it's really not too easy to scare them.
Today we all went to the Stockholm Concerthouse to see a special children's show which was a cross between Ghostbusters and A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra with a smidgeon of the Blair Witch Project. The story was of three girls who go in search of the dreaded Concerthouse Ghost. (Quite a thrill for me, who am used to gigs consisting of one solitary,mournful chap plucking his guitar and mumbling into his beard, to experience a full concert orchestra.)
There was one very amusing moment. After a scary search through the cellar, the terrifying phantom, complete with horrific white face paint and sporting a long mane of grey hair, suddenly materialises on the stage in a cloud of smoke.Spooky! I think the director's intention at this point was all the little ones would be clutching Mummy and Daddy's hand extra hard. What actually happened was that there were shouts from the audience of: Rock and Roll! Ozzy! and Sabbath!
I think they all seriously thought that the ghost was going to launch into Iron Man.
So she's a mermaid,Daddy, and she's a zombie. So you can't kill her, cos she's already dead? Interesting.
This is a generation of kids who think that Mr Lordi and his pals are rather cuddly: it's really not too easy to scare them.
Today we all went to the Stockholm Concerthouse to see a special children's show which was a cross between Ghostbusters and A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra with a smidgeon of the Blair Witch Project. The story was of three girls who go in search of the dreaded Concerthouse Ghost. (Quite a thrill for me, who am used to gigs consisting of one solitary,mournful chap plucking his guitar and mumbling into his beard, to experience a full concert orchestra.)
There was one very amusing moment. After a scary search through the cellar, the terrifying phantom, complete with horrific white face paint and sporting a long mane of grey hair, suddenly materialises on the stage in a cloud of smoke.Spooky! I think the director's intention at this point was all the little ones would be clutching Mummy and Daddy's hand extra hard. What actually happened was that there were shouts from the audience of: Rock and Roll! Ozzy! and Sabbath!
I think they all seriously thought that the ghost was going to launch into Iron Man.
fredag 5 februari 2010
Surrender parents! You are outnumbered!
Here's an extract from the first episode of one of the funniest British TV programmes in years, Outnumbered.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fBBppLsu2s
I laughed. I cried.
Totally unlike family life at the Oscarsson-Farrows, of course, which is a model of Scandinavian efficiency!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fBBppLsu2s
I laughed. I cried.
Totally unlike family life at the Oscarsson-Farrows, of course, which is a model of Scandinavian efficiency!
Mother Nature's frosty Swedish bosom
Another 9 inches of snow has fallen during the night and there are large heaps of snow everywhere here in Kärrtorp
Please don't get me wrong! I enjoy the frozen wastes and frosty embrace of Mother Nature as much as the next man. It's certainly fun taking Zoe to nursery in a toboggan - much smoother than a buggy.
But there is something about how some of the Viking folk embrace these meteorological extremes that leaves me perplexed.
On Sunday we went to an outdoor (!) children's party! Spending several hours outside in arctic temperatures in most countries would be a severe punishment. Here it's seen as fun and Kai certainly enjoyed himself rolling around in snow drifts like an excited puppy. Zoe, who has far more sense, surveyed the whole spectacle with bemused incomprehension.
A small gaggle of snow-covered children, all roped together, has just stumbled past my door. They look like some kind of Gulag chaingang of frozen dwarves.
They belong to specialist nursery whose USP is that the children spent all day outside every day. They pride themselves on the fact that their kids rarely get common colds, the flu,winter vomiting sickness or all the other childhood ailments.
Then again, the body count from frostbite and the number of children who get gobbled up by wolves is disproportionately high!
Sweden! What an exotic place!
Please don't get me wrong! I enjoy the frozen wastes and frosty embrace of Mother Nature as much as the next man. It's certainly fun taking Zoe to nursery in a toboggan - much smoother than a buggy.
But there is something about how some of the Viking folk embrace these meteorological extremes that leaves me perplexed.
On Sunday we went to an outdoor (!) children's party! Spending several hours outside in arctic temperatures in most countries would be a severe punishment. Here it's seen as fun and Kai certainly enjoyed himself rolling around in snow drifts like an excited puppy. Zoe, who has far more sense, surveyed the whole spectacle with bemused incomprehension.
A small gaggle of snow-covered children, all roped together, has just stumbled past my door. They look like some kind of Gulag chaingang of frozen dwarves.
They belong to specialist nursery whose USP is that the children spent all day outside every day. They pride themselves on the fact that their kids rarely get common colds, the flu,winter vomiting sickness or all the other childhood ailments.
Then again, the body count from frostbite and the number of children who get gobbled up by wolves is disproportionately high!
Sweden! What an exotic place!
Happy as a pancake!
Kai does really come up with some extraordinary utterances.
Just before Xmas he suddenly turned to me and, apropos nothing at all, said:
Daddy, Santa is Jesus's ghost.
Clearly he was having problems reconciling the pagan and Christian elements in the Yuletide celebrations.
Santa was, in fact, giving him some headaches. He'd twigged that the fat, jolly old chap is probably one enormous fraud being inflicted on him by adults. Then again he couldn't be too sure.
A bit nervous that if he dissed Old Beardyboots too loudly,he might well end up with an empty stocking on Xmas Morning which would be a serious bummer.
Another classic:
Daddy, if I get a Nintendo for Xmas, I'll be happy as a pancake. Pancakes are always happy!
I told him:
When I was a lad, I and Uncle Don got one carrot each for Xmas and we were happy!
Nintendo! Humbug!
Just before Xmas he suddenly turned to me and, apropos nothing at all, said:
Daddy, Santa is Jesus's ghost.
Clearly he was having problems reconciling the pagan and Christian elements in the Yuletide celebrations.
Santa was, in fact, giving him some headaches. He'd twigged that the fat, jolly old chap is probably one enormous fraud being inflicted on him by adults. Then again he couldn't be too sure.
A bit nervous that if he dissed Old Beardyboots too loudly,he might well end up with an empty stocking on Xmas Morning which would be a serious bummer.
Another classic:
Daddy, if I get a Nintendo for Xmas, I'll be happy as a pancake. Pancakes are always happy!
I told him:
When I was a lad, I and Uncle Don got one carrot each for Xmas and we were happy!
Nintendo! Humbug!
The wonderful, amazing Orchestrion
I was at Konserthuset recently buying tickets for a children's concert when I was reminded that the one of the world's greatest guitarists, Pat Metheny, is coming to town and I haven't bought a ticket.
At 50 quid a pop, I guess that's probably the reason but I'm sure he'll be interesting.
Pat is always trying to push the envelope. Never one to rest on his laurels!
This time he's bringing an extraordinary machine called the Orchestrion:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=35283
Most modern musicians are happy with a laptop, but not our Pat!
The jazz nerds are getting very hot under the collar about it all:
http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=41264
Personally, I wish he'd go truly retro.
I'd love to see the Pat Metheny Band and the wonderful, amazing Mouse Organ (feat Professor Yaffle and Bagpuss).
Then my wallet would come out like a shot!
At 50 quid a pop, I guess that's probably the reason but I'm sure he'll be interesting.
Pat is always trying to push the envelope. Never one to rest on his laurels!
This time he's bringing an extraordinary machine called the Orchestrion:
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=35283
Most modern musicians are happy with a laptop, but not our Pat!
The jazz nerds are getting very hot under the collar about it all:
http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=41264
Personally, I wish he'd go truly retro.
I'd love to see the Pat Metheny Band and the wonderful, amazing Mouse Organ (feat Professor Yaffle and Bagpuss).
Then my wallet would come out like a shot!
Tentatively tentacular
The latest edition of The Word has an article on the current boom in zombie flicks and I can't help wondering if one can have too much of a good thing!
If it wasn't enough with the complete works of Jane Austen being refilmed as gore feasts (Pride and Predator!), it seems very likely that Disney might be about to do some remakes.
They are sure to be inspired by the Japanese Oh! My Zombie mermaid! (who could resist that title?)
http://www.brns.com/japan/pages1/japan38.html
Whatever next? Snow White and the Seven Undead Dwarves?
All very logical actually. I've been really getting into anime and have discovered that there is a sub-genre called Tentacle Erotica. Basically the Land of the Rising Sun seems to have a kinky thing about the life aquatic.
Electric eels, goldfish, jellyfish - you name it! And giant squids - don't even go there!
A group of schoolgirls trapped on a submarine being hunted down by a shoal of rogue cod: that in Tokyo is their ultimate wet dream!
If it wasn't enough with the complete works of Jane Austen being refilmed as gore feasts (Pride and Predator!), it seems very likely that Disney might be about to do some remakes.
They are sure to be inspired by the Japanese Oh! My Zombie mermaid! (who could resist that title?)
http://www.brns.com/japan/pages1/japan38.html
Whatever next? Snow White and the Seven Undead Dwarves?
All very logical actually. I've been really getting into anime and have discovered that there is a sub-genre called Tentacle Erotica. Basically the Land of the Rising Sun seems to have a kinky thing about the life aquatic.
Electric eels, goldfish, jellyfish - you name it! And giant squids - don't even go there!
A group of schoolgirls trapped on a submarine being hunted down by a shoal of rogue cod: that in Tokyo is their ultimate wet dream!
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