...And I'll Become The Sea

I have watched a couple of great movies over the last couple of days. Atonement (I know I shouldn't have watched it before reading the book, but the colors lured me in) and Stardust (again). Have also watched a bunch of films I am more ambivalent about; Sex & Death (Winona Ryder definitely peaked in Bram Stoker's Dracula), Abandon (Katie Holmes ventures out of her Dawson's Creek persona), Number 23 (don't really like Jim Carrey in anything other than Eternal Sunshine...), Southland Tales (trying a little too hard to be Lynch here, are we?) and Cherry Crush (has a couple of good scenes, but the story's been done a million times before).

I want to be a lighthouse keeper. Just for a week, to be in the middle of the sea and to be away from the smell of society. I never write about the ocean. I should, more, because it's important to me. But then again, I rarely write about what is important to me except music, now do I? Let's leave it at stating that I adore the sea.

It was surprisingly easy to unwind this time around. I suppose it's all in the timing - we closed May ahead of target and hence there is nothing really weighing me down workwise. Left my voice in Finland, but after four days of sounding strung out on whiskey and bad cigarettes I am now back to normal. Have finished a knitting project and shopped my heart out. The weather is quite nice, with temperatures between 20-35, only glimpses of thunder storms so far.

Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs lives up to my expectations. It has spent some time with me on the subway, and does possess at least a piece of my heart. Editors and The National are also, as always, with me on my China travel.

Funny how some records become so linked with not only certain states of mind, but physical locations. The National - Boxer is for me very China, as the fundaments of my love for it were laid somewhere between Beijing and Shanghai. I off course love the record in general, but it is linked to China. The Magic Numbers wonderful record Those The Brokes and David Gray's White Ladder are Laos all the way through, and The Fray's (single) How to Save a Life is the bus trip from Botene to the Laos border. Bruce Springsteen's Secret Garden is Amsterdam and Placebo's cover of Kate Bush's Running up that hill is South Korea. And a thousand songs are off course Oslo, like Autopulver's Sunroseblackhole or Stroke's Internal Call.

Am now venturing out to find a shop I only vaguely know the directions to. Will be a good test of my taxi Chinese to try to convince some poor taxi driver to take me there. This evening we are pre-celebrating Atle's upcoming 30th birthday, and I swear I will stay away from the goddamned baiju. Bing ping Tsingtao, xie xie. There's no formaldehyde in Tsingtao. I checked, we're in the green. (Tsingtao is the Chinese equivalent of Koff or Ringnes popularity wise, but good nevertheless.)