Is It Snowing In Space?

I spent last Saturday in Tampere. Now, that place is a waste of space if I ever saw one! No, that's unfair. The weather was bad, and the "cathedral" was a piece of modernistic shit with naked men running around painted on the balcony. Not my taste, not my taste at all. Crazy Days in Stockmann saved it a bit, though, and once again I returned to my apartment with a bag full of records.

I've decided to go for the "listen to all the albums I never listen to" idea, and have started in alphabetical order. 2 Unlimited I skipped (am being adventurous, not masochistic), but Bryan Adams reminded me that I like his Inside Out (from On A Day Like Today, 1998), and ABBA got me dancing with When I Kissed The Teacher (from Arrival, 1976). Ryan Adams, however, has me parked for now. I drove to Tampere with nothing but six of his albums, and although during the day I got to Cold Roses (2005) disc 1 I returned to Love is Hell (2004) in the evening and is still there.

Ryan Adams stepped into my existence with So Alive from Rock N Roll (2003), one of my favorite songs to date. He quickly became one of my dreaded "completion artists" (look up The Byrds or Tom Waits in my shelves and you'll know what I mean), and as with many of those I haven't given most of his records much listening time - including Love Is Hell. Those days are over, my friends, and I'd definitely recommend this album. Cold Roses is also a great double album, and I expect that'll keep me busy for a couple of weeks after I move on from this one. His cover of Wonderwall is gorgeous.

This weekend I'm travelling to Oslo, and must say I'm looking forward to it. Haven't been there for ages, and it'll be good to see some old friends again.

Recipes for Disaster was a very entertaining documentary. It made me laugh out loud several times, and as I read Swedish I wasn't bothered by the occassional Finnish outburst in the dialogue. Definitely recommendable, although I left the movie theatre with a somewhat guilty conscience because of my line of work.