Did You Come Here To Play Jesus?

I am coaching my best friend through his process of finding a new job after ten years in more or less the same business. An interesting exercise, especially the part where someone you know very well is selling themselves based on qualities you are not really familiar with. I'm sure we'll land him with a kickass job, though :)

On my side I'm having a weird week at work, and as the end of the month, which this time around is also the end of the quarter, is drawing near, my stress levels are off course increasing rapidly. Am very much looking forward to the weekend, with the Pride parade and time to relax before closing up the quarter and going to Arvika with Lotta next week.

Went to see Dogville in the SEA movie archive theatre yesterday, and it was still very good. I like the rawness of it, how von Trier has picked up on what he perceives to be parts of every single human being that we can not escape from. With Tom, you all the way through feel he's a bit off in the head, but Chuck... coming off as the rough, but basically good, could be-hero who in the end also gives in to the same impulses and disgusting animal behaviours he so hates the other inhabitants for. And I love the end. I think that's what it all comes down to, we are what we are, and in the end it surfaces to the world no matter how well we manage to hide it from ourselves. There is beauty in everything, but once people start messing each other up we all have the same capacity for ugliness.

I finished Chuck Palahniuk's Lullaby on my Oslo trip last week. I was not totally blown away by the author's genious, but I rather liked the story. It has been praised for the ridiculous amount of story ideas he manages to squeeze out throughout the pages, but to me this rather seems a bit unfocused. It's like he's trying to cover up for lacking something by showing off his enormous imagination. That said, this is a good book. I love the turn it takes towards the end, although it didn't manage to take me completely by surprise. Recommendable.

In Gardermoen I realized Lullaby was coming to an end, and proceeded to go on a massive shopping spree in the airport bookstore. Ended up with a total of 9 titles (taking my to read-list to 50+ titles), one of which I started reading on the flight. After Dark by Haruki Murakami is my attempt to familiarize myself with an author I've been dodging for quite some years, although friends have recommended Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore. It is a little bit too artsy for my taste - but on the plus side the similarities to Auster's style in Travels in the Scriptorium are strong. I'm only half way through, and if it picks up a bit I will revise my verdict at a later stage. Last minute turns seem to be the trend with everything I touch at the moment, so you never know :)

Today I am going to do zip. Nada. When I get home I will open a beer, sit on my balcony and enjoy the silence.