Als Gäb's Kein Morgen Mehr...

This blog has reached the end of cake.
Catch you on the flipside!

Size Does Matter After All

Seen the new Rammstein video? What to say, what to do?

You've got a pussy,
I've got a dick.
So what's the problem?
Let's do it quick.
Rammstein - Pussy (Liebe Ist Für Alle Da, 2009)

Unfinished Business

The obsession of this summer has been White Lies, no doubt. I ignored them for months and months, even though all kinds of people (even Miia!) has been trying to push them on me. I guess I figured that they were yet another band that kind of sounded like Interpol and people thought I should like.

Well, shame on me. They're great. And thankfully for me, Dave offered to get me a ticket for the Flow Festival where they were playing in Helsinki a couple of weeks back. So I've even seen them live. The sound was a bit poor to start with, and it was a bit too easy to notice that they haven't got good live versions down of their studio tracks yet, so it was a bit like watching the CD being performed on stage. However, with vocals like that combined with a small festival where you get really close to the stage, I can hardly complain. It was brilliant :)

Deb and David are about to become proud parents in just a matter of days, and although that means that the date of their moving to Turku is also drawing near, I can not wait to meet their little addition to the expatriate community. It is positively fascinating to have a pregnancy happening this close to my daily life, usually my friends have dropped sprogs in Norway while I've been here in Finland and hence I've missed it all!

IKEA have decided to discontinue my brand of Billy - beech. Makes perfect sense, when you look at it. I bet that's where the karma gods are balancing it all out. Have to figure out what to do about this, but there's a pirate company producing IKEA lookalike gadgets that might have something to contribute with in my time of distress. As if this was not upsetting enough, Bar 9 has changed the recipe of my favorite dish. Discontinuations all over the place!

"You whispered "Where are you?",
I questioned your doubt,
but soon realised, you were talking to God now."
White Lies - Unfinished Business (To Lose My Life, 2009)

You Get Me Closer To God

Another long overdue blog post coming up. The first weekend of July was spent in Arvika, as during the last seven years, with good friends and the Arvika music festival. Originally I had planned on not going this year, but the line-up had me sold quite early on, and even Richard had to break his festival virginity to catch what was to be three days of music madness in the Swedish forest.

As I am, as mentioned, a bit overdue with this post, some things have been forgotten and I will focus on the highlights. First of all, the company was excellent. In fact, the company was so good the music hardly would have mattered, but of course it didn't make things worse either :D

First up was Mars Volta, an act I never managed to like on record and they did not exactly get me much more convinced on stage. Quite on the contrary. However, good company got even better as we located Ståle and Makrellbekken (who no longer lives there and hence hardly earns the name, but still) in the beer area.

First up of the good stuff, however, was Röyksopp. They played in the tent, where temperatures got _very_ warm and clammy after a couple of songs. Hence, when the notes of the-nemesis-of-that-which-is-good-music Eple started penetrating my ears, I figured it was time to leave. Unfortunately this lead to me missing out on most of the tracks I actually love by the band, alongside several guest appearances on stage I'd have loved to catch. I did manage to get a NIN T-shirt before they sold out, however :)

Next up was Nine Inch Nails. I've been a die hard fan of Reznor's since 1998, when Eivind took my music taste under his wing and transformed it into something unrecognizeable. Trent... ok, I'll not let this post become a rant about the loveliness of this man, but let me just say that where he stood, looking like he was head-on challenging the whole world to just _dare_ to try to fuck things up even more, he was as much enough justification for me loving music as he has ever been.

I ended the night by watching some of Elegant Machinery, but they didn't exactly kick much ass after NIN, and they seemed to be painfully aware of it. Hence the night was cut a little short, but I fell asleep with a huge grin on my face!

Friday's music program started out with me hooking up with an old pop quiz buddy in the beer tent and jumping around to De/Vision. Not bad, not bad at all. It hardly got worse when Depeche Mode kicked off their concert on the main stage half an hour later. Oooh, Gahan is so the man, and if it weren't for Trent the night before this concert would have made the festival. Went home after, very tired.

On Saturday I was very lazy, and hence I missed Fleet Foxes (never liked them on record anyway, so probably not a big loss), and half of Thåström. I did arrive at the festival area just when he played my favorite, FanFanFan, though, so all was ok. Time was spent in the beer area, and I skipped most of DAF as I'd seen them before, but Korn turned out to be a very pleasant surprise on the main stage, and provided myself and Hanne with more than enough material for hours of drunken conversation on the balcony of our cabin back at the camping grounds.

All in all, a brilliant festival spent in the company of good people. I was in a very good mood throughout the weekend, and almost have a feeling of having been on speed when I look back on it... which would probably explain the extreme tempo of everything that happened. I think the arrangers will be hard pressed to follow this line-up with anything even remotely as good, but I'm looking forward to see what they come up with for next summer.

"You let me violate you.
You let me desecrate you.
You let me penetrate you.
You let me complicate you."
Nine Inch Nails - Closer (Downward Spiral, 1994)

Everlasting Love

I love this song. I mean it, I love it to bits. It makes me happy no matter how trodden down my general mood might be, and makes me want to dance around naked with flowers in my hair. Uhm. Well. It makes me happy, ok? :)

One of the things I love the most about this track is how many times it has been covered, and how, no matter how lousy the cover is, the song still never fails to put a smile on my face. So, now I want you to spend some time discovering why, by looking through a couple of the very, very smile-inducing videos I've linked to in the below. Wait until the very end to listen to the quote version. And then come back and tell me it didn't make you want to sing your heart out! I'll never believe it :D

The song was written by Cason/Gayden in the mid-sixties, and debuted by Robert Knight in -67. One of my most cherished tracks is the Love Affair version from -68, however. After that, artists like Carl Carlton, Rex Smith, Sandra, Gloria Estefan and U2 have covered it, and on the Bridget Jones Edge of Reason soundtrack there's an artsy-fartsy version by Jamie Cullum, which kinda makes me smile even broader because he tries to be so different and the song still owns his ass when he kicks off the choruses.

If the below version should, for all intents and purposes, fail to put a smile on your lovely face, find the U2 version. And while you're at it, remember to give this life we're leading some credit, because it's pretty darn beautiful!

"Where life's river flow, no one really knows
'till someone's there to show the way to lasting love.
Like the sun that shines, endlessly it shines.
You always will be mine, it's eternal love.
When other loves are gone, ours will still be strong.
We have our very own everlasting love."
Love Affair - Everlasting Love, 1968
Ah, and turn up the volume, damn it! :-)

Dream A Little Dream Of Me

Why are the things that should be easy sometimes so difficult? And, at the same time, why do the peaks that at first seem insurmountable sometimes turn out to be the easiest to climb? I guess if I did have that roadmap it would all make sense, but at least without one you never get bored, right?

Next week I'll be going to Paris again. It's been more than a year since the last time I set foot in that lovely place, so I'm looking forward to roaming french streets again, with a slightly different mindset this time around. There shall be wine, there shall be flowers and there shall be fun. Hopefully also light, but sometimes when even God asks for that it seems nature is unwilling to comply. Finland has returned to the gloomy grey of late winter over the last week, with temperatures lingering around 5-7 degrees C. A bit too chilly for my liking, but I guess it'll pass.

My mind lingers on Iran. It seems everyone's going there now, except me. Not that I am complaining, I should be more than resourceful enough to get a move on myself, but it'll have to wait. For now. My mind is infected with travel bugs, and the multitude of possible locations is almost making me dizzy. How lovely would it not be to be a travel writer, or just simply unafraid enough to get up and leave? If my roots are not set, why am I so wary of pushing off and floating free? Ah, well, it'll come.

You know the version of Dream A Little Dream Of Me by The Mamas & the Papas (1968)? Well, the song was, of course, not theirs. It was written in '31 by a German called Gus Kahn who also wrote songs like It Had To Be You, My Baby Just Cares For Me and I'll See You In My Dreams. Although I love the wonders of the modern world (well, at least some of them), I cannot shake the romantic notion of an American Colonial porch in New Orleans with an old, scratchy record player transmitting the husky voice of Louis Armstrong. Perhaps we lived other lives in other times and that is why we have such unexplained affinities for certain phenomenon.

"Sweet dreams 'til sunbeams find you.
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
dream a little dream of me."
Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald - Dream A Little Dream Of Me (1950)

I Want You To Trouble Me

I did a lot of this and that over the last week and a half, shortly summarized it pretty much comes down to music, beer, laughter, travelling, training (and bruising of the brain), working, swimming, sun worshipping, eating, more laughter, friends, love and warm(er) air (than usual).

I have a couple of basic issues to report:
- 30 degrees C in Finland does not mean that the water is warm.
- Peacocks (even Brittish ones) make a hell of a spectacle when they start screaming at night.
- People who work in factories think that the creativeness of Sales&Marketing people is bizarre.
- I'm cancelling my summer holiday trip to South America as there's been a change of plans.
- There are no Shell stations in Romania.

I watched Constantine for the fourth time on Sunday. Although Tilda Swinton's rendition of Gabriel is worth the watch, the movie is _not_ all that good. Anyway, this was the first time I noticed that APC's Passive is on the soundtrack, and it made me a little confused as it doesn't really fit in there. Oh, and Gavin Rossdale plays one of the demons. I've never reflected on that before either. Cute, that one, and I especially like the sleeziness with which he delivers his "finger-licking good".

Matchbox 20 made a brief re-appearance in my life this weekend as I listened to their More Than You Think You Are over a couple of days. I had a massive crush on Unwell back when it came out, and Downfall is also worth a listen. It's a pity Rob Thomas doesn't quite live up to his potential solo.

Fundamental question:
When faced with something scary, do you stay and face it, or do you turn your back and run as fast as you can? Lamb for slaughter or cowardly lion?

Oh, and I can't believe they just _lost_ a plane. How does that happen?

"Be my savior,
and I'll be your downfall."
Matchbox 20 - Downfall (More Than You Think You Are, 2002)

The Next Plane Out

Some days back, whilst having a cigarette in our lovely smoking room at work, someone said something about loneliness. True to form, Miia picked up a word and started singing. To my gargantuan surprise, what came out this time around was a Celine Dion tune! And not just any tune, a rather random one from The Colour of My Love, and of course I also know it by heart. I think Kjersti almost had a brain bleed right there and then, and I do feel a little uncomfortable quoting it at the end of this post. Anyway, nice to know I'm not the only one hauling around song lyrics I have little use for in my head.

My Swiss friend left Finland on Thursday, taking a substantial part of my equilibrium with him across the Baltic Sea to Rostock. All evening and most of the day on Friday I was one hundred percent sure I would never ever take the chance of letting a couchsurfer into my life again if they would keep on leaving with fragments of my soul, but quite unexpectedly I already Saturday morning headed into town to pick up Bianca and Emilie, two German girls who needed adopting. As I was not really prepared to host this weekend, both mentally and timewise, they were left to their own devices most of the time, but I think they managed well. I took them to Bar 9, of course, and then onto an unofficial CS event at Olutkellari where Rock Delusion did a bunch of covers and loads of smiles were to be seen. Good times!

I'm starting to wonder if the invasion of German speakers into my life over the last couple of months should be telling me something. My understanding of the language is getting better by the day, but with the speaking I am still too impatient to pick it up again. It frustrates me to have to search for the words and to know I'm not getting the grammar right. Maybe it's time to sign up for a refreshment course.

I am so restless!

"I listen to the sound of the rain falling down my window,
praying for a gentle wind to bring my baby back again.
Trying to be strong, but I'm not getting any stronger,
loneliness is tearing apart this heart of mine."
Celine Dion - Next Plane Out (The Colour Of My Love, 1993)

Someone Like You

I spent Monday attending our yearly dealer award event in Copenhagen. 23 degrees C in the sun, loads of happy dealers, and good food. Even the hours spent in aiports going there and back home could do little to dampen the mood of the day. Emilia was kind enough to lend me her copy of Eskobar's A Thousand Last Chances (2004) on Sunday, a record that went missing from my collection in April 06. The influence Love Strikes has on the splendidness of things cannot even be put into words. :D

Speaking of splendidness, I finally got around to actually buying a copy of Kings of Leon's Only By The Night (2008), and have just spent a full working day working on Terms of Sales documents with Use Somebody in my ears. If I could make everyone listen to this and Love Strikes, I think world peace might just be the result. In the very least the world would be a better place.

Tell you what, let's perform an experiment:
If you never take the time to follow the links in my lyric endings, please at least click this one, turn up the volume (I mean it, and if you have headphones where you are, put them on!), close your eyes (don't care about the visuals) and just _feel_ that urge to be alive and to love. Let me know how it made you feel. And then do it again! :)

Now, dinner with Kjersti (and, as it turned out, Emilia and Miia)!

"You know that I could use somebody,
someone like you and all you know and how you speak."
Kings of Leon - Use Somebody (Only By The Night, 2008)
(Link updated to their Brit Award performance, should now work in all countries.)

Maybe You're Better Off This Way

My CD collection has a big, gaping Tool-shaped hole in it according to a lot of people, but Maynard's main project never really got me going. A Perfect Circle, on the other hand, got under my skin back in 2001 when 3 Libras was released on single, and I ended up buying Mer De Noms (2000). At some point I have also acquired a copy of their 2004 album, Emotive, although I do not think I've listened to it more than a couple of times.

Four days with Hanne got me through a good amount of records, including Emotive, and ohmygod, how have I not picked up the Maynard/Trent connection? How? It is actually a shame to put an actual blog text in a post dedicated to this song as it should speak for itself, so I might have to run it again with only the lyrics. Because sometimes, the world still burns, and songs like this makes me want to burn with it, to erase all traces of passiveness, complacency and cowardliness that rub off from others.

Every so often everyone needs someone to tell them to get a grip and remember who they are. I've slept through every one of the last five nights without my insomnia rearing its ugly head.
Enough said.

"Wake up and face me,
don't play dead, cause maybe
someday I will walk away and say;
"You fucking disappoint me!"
Maybe you're better off this way."
A Perfect Circle - Passive (eMOTIVe - 2004)

When You'd Hide, Your Songs Would Die

I am still a little out of sorts, but I watched Garden State, and have had some nice hours of music therapy on the floor in front of my CD shelves. When I was a child my mother would sometimes turn off all the lights, light candles, lie down on the floor and listen to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. I don't think I ever reflected on why she would feel a need to do that back then, but I will try to remember to tell her that I loved it and that it's a great way to regain composure.

After a couple of beers with friends this afternoon I have to admit to having a slight buzz going, which is good. I'll give myself another couple of days to wallow in this misplaced autumnal feeling before Hanne's arrival to Helsinki, but then we're back to spring. It'll be fascinating to attempt a merger of my old Oslo self and the Helsinki C. Then again, maybe the two are not all that different, one just knows more about cause and consequence.

"So what if you catch me,
where would we land?"
Remy Zero - Fair (Villa Elaine, 1998)

Let Me In Your Window

Another busy week is drawing to an end, and Finland has finally caught up with the summer time adjustment. That means I have one hour less to get through the sh*tload of stuff I have to do today, but I guess that could easily be remedied by me not writing blog posts, so there shall be no more moaning about that.

I went to Oslo on business on Friday, and had agreed with Hanne that I'd spend a night at her place. We had a very nice evening with wine, thai food, bad tv and catching up, and I'm really looking forward to having her over for Easter. (Many Finns seem to think the name of this holiday is Eastern, not sure why or if they think it has anything to do with the direction.)

Last night Sebastian's birthday party was celebrated with a lot of noise and little sense. Because I value the way my head is attached to my neck, I'll refrain from posting many pictures, but this one of a headbanging Miia kind of sums up the general splendor of it all.

Yesterday I finished reading Wuthering Heights. I don't know why I thought this book would be along the lines of Austen's romantic works, because it's not at all. I knew little about this book apart from the fact that Kate Bush wrote her first hit based on it, with one of the world's most misheard lyrics. I have to say that although getting through it takes a lot of alone time, it is worth the effort. Some books are classics because someone decided they should be, but this one is a good book. Am going to work my way through Jane Eyre next, I might as well do the Brontë sisters properly while I'm at it.

Finland was again seized by winter and cold yesterday, but now it seems the badness is melting away quickly. I can't wait for it to be warm enough for long Sundays on a blanket in the park with a great book and music in my ears. The indoors life is getting to me this year, I feel restless and kind of like I'm in danger of wasting precious time. My limbs need a good stretch, my skin some warmth, and my mind a bit of sun :)

Oh, and I need blinder curtains and a volunteer to hang them for me!

"Out on the winding, windy moors,
we'd roll and fall in green.
You had a temper like my jealousy,
too hot, too greedy.
How could you leave me
when I needed to possess you?
I hated you, but loved you, too."
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights (The Kick Inside, 1978)

Music For The Masses

The ridiculous amounts of good synthpop/electronic acts turning up in the Nordics over the coming months deserves some attention, rounding it off with the headline-heaviest Arvika there ever was.

Thursday 9th April @ Gloria - I am joining Dave and taking Hanne with me to go see Combichrist.

Wednesday 13th May @ Tavastia - I missed Client the two last times they were in town, so I guess it's about time I got going :)

Friday 15th May @ Nosturi - Bjørn & Co are playing Nosturi. Heaven knows I've seen Gothminister enough times to have served my friendly duty, but I guess I've never seen'em play in Finland.

Friday 22nd May @ Nosturi - I am going to try to get through IAMX without going all obsessed without Kiss & Swallow again.

Friday 12th-Sunday 14th June @ Seinäjoki - Provinssirock hosts Placebo, Editors and Nick Cave, and is a must for this summer. I have housing for this festival, so if it sounds interesting and you want to tag along, let me know!

Thursday 2nd-Saturday 4th July @ Arvika - Just when I had decided to miss this festival for the first time in seven years, they added NiN to their already very attractive line-up (Depeche Mode, amongst others), and I can not in any way defend not going. Project Pitchfork are playing the Lumous Gothic Festival in Tampere that same weekend, so I'm hoping they'll sweep down to Arvika as well.

Big names playing in Finland I'll be missing out on:
Metallica (sold out, but I've seen'em)
Korn (HAHA, THEY WERE JUST ANNOUNCED FOR ARVIKA :D)
Madonna (oh, I'll definitely survive. I would've loved to have seen her back in her Vogue days, though)
Kraftwerk (I'll be in South America)

"Will you take the pain I will give to you, again and again,
and will you return it?"
Depeche Mode - Strangelove (Music for the Masses - 1987)

I'll Show You The Boom?

Had I written this post two days ago, it would be set to the tones of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now. Today it is accompanied by Rihanna's Push Up On Me. The lyrics are infantile, but what can I say... it's stuck! I'm sorry about the extensive quoting at the end of this text, but just _look_ at it! :D

I know now why I needed a week of holiday. It must have been destiny's way to tell me there was no other way to survive the week I've just been through ;p Ok, it has actually been a great one, but if my manager ever goes on sick leave again I swear I will demand that the world stops for a while!

The Tuesday before my trip I had the pleasure of housing an old friend from Oslo, which was very nice. I haven't had visitors from Norway in... a very long time, but now Hanne has also booked her Easter holiday here, so it looks like it's picking up! I also went to a Friday night pub meeting of Norwegians in Helsinki, which was nice as it's not very often I get spoiled with sitting around a table all night and only speaking my native language. I can't say that means I actually want to very often, but for a change it was nice :)

This week I've been out for dinner with Kjersti on Tuesday, and tricked both us and Miia into thinking that it would be a good idea to go to the Weekly Welcome on Wednesday. So, again Thursday was somewhat challenging, but of course it was worth it as always. I'm spending my Friday with the CD's I bought in Seattle, a beer and a couple of movies.

Tomorrow I will go to my first ever hockey game. Hockey is not a very big thing in Norway, and not many people I know have ever been to a game. Here, it is _the_ national sport if there ever was one, and it's actually weird to have been here three years without having been to a game. I'm hoping the things I've heard about violent fans are just designed to scare small, fragile blondes and that all will be sunshine. Should I come out of it all broken and bruised, I'm blaming Miia :)

Catch you on the flipside!

"I know many guys just like ya, extremely confident.
Got so much flavour with you like you're the perfect man.
You wanna make me chase ya like it's a compliment,
but let's get right down to it;
I can be the girl that'll break you down.

The way that you stare starts a fire in me,
come up to my room, you sexy little thing.
Now let's play a game, I won't be a tease.
I'll show you the boom, my sexy little thing."
Rihanna - Push Up On Me (Good Girl Gone Bad, 2007)

All The Black Is Really White

"Watch the sun, as it crawls across a final time
and it feels like, like it was a friend.
It is watching us, and the world we set on fire.
Do you wonder if it feels the same?

And the sky is filled with light, can you see it?
All the black is really white if you believe it.
As your time is running out,
let me take away your doubt.
You can find a better a place in this twilight."
Nine Inch Nails - In This Twilight (Year Zero, 2007)

Hold Your Breath And Count To Ten

Not only are Placebo and Editors both releasing new albums this year, they are playing in Finland on Provinssirock! I almost fell off my chair just now :D

"Hold your breath and count to ten,
and fall apart and start again."
Placebo - English Summer Rain (Sleeping With Ghosts, 2003)

Do You Need A Woman To Look After You?

I'm on a roll, blog production wise. In a few minutes I will head out the door to go to an international second hand bookstore in the city. I've not been there before, but this evening they have a session on the English translation of Tove Jansson's material. Now, I'm no big fan of the Moomin mythos, but it seems like an excellent way to get to know a new bookstore. I've lately been nurturing a poorly hidden, but up until now secret desire to come across some more of Sartre's works, or possibly a good-looking hardback edition of Masoch's Venus in Furs. (In the end the evening didn't really turn out like that, but somewhere out there there's a shiny, new powerpoint presentation on a memory stick!)

Last night, as I was trying my damndest to finish one more knitting project before laziness comes back to seize me, I had Tori Amos' music video collection Fade To Red playing on the tv. I am a selective fan of Tori Amos, meaning I do not believe everything she has touched to be gold, but part of her repertoire is bliss (pun intended, if you didn't get it never mind). It was the first time I watched the dvd, as all of her videos are already on my computer and I prefer to put on a record when I just want to listen. I put on the commentary audio track to see if she had any interesting trivia for me to connect with any of the songs.

A couple of pieces of interesting information I did get out of last night's hearing.
1) she's no stranger to over indulgence. Good for her!
2) the video for Spark is heavily influenced by Twin Peaks (can't believe I haven't caught that before, she practically _is_ Laura Palmer in those woods).
3) the shaving of the legs in God is meant to be understood as a ritual of cleansing. Huh.
4) Tori Amos is an off-the-charts feminist. Seriously, you should hear this commentary! If you've seen the Friends episode where the girls go on about how men steal their wind, you will get a good laugh from the Caught A Lite Sneeze video comments, where Tori (or Myra Ellen, as her real name is) goes on about how she felt a need to steal fire from the men and find her voice and oh my God, I am so not that kind of feminist and have huge difficulties relating to it!

All that said, I still love the songs I loved before, and she is so pretty I can easily forgive a bit of new age feminist empowerment mumbo jumbo. Don't get me wrong, I am _all_ for equal rights and standing up for one self, but I think it can be done using a language all women can relate to without wanting to chop mens' private parts off with rusty knives.

Now, a little trivia she did not embroider in her commentary, to my vast disappointment:
a) her friendship with Neil Gaiman (there's shitloads of stuff on her friendship with various hairdressers and make-up artists, however).
b) the fact that Reznor contributes with backing vocals on Past The Mission was not even mentioned, she only ranted on about how the women on the set recognized the deep, inner strength her mother possesses.
c) in general her issues with Reznor. She's been quoted to say that what Trent really needs is a blanky and hot chocolate with marshmallows, which I find hilarious. She has also done a cover of Hurt where she goes on about how he's this little boy who hurt himself to get attention. (My friend Vidar in Oslo will no doubt agree with her on that, he pretty much thinks Trent's a whining bitch.) She put the phrase "made my own pretty hate machine" (reference to a NiN album) into the lyrics of the above mentioned Caught a Lite Sneeze.

Ok, that's it for now.
Man, my geekiness is really getting the best of me these days. I guess I should have taken the philosophy class I was planning on this spring, as it seems I have more than enough time to ponder various connections on my free time :)

"God, sometimes you just don't come through."
Tori Amos - God (Under The Pink, 1994)

That's The Long And That's The Short Of It

Placebo is to release a new album in June this year. They have a new drummer onboard after Hewitt left them a couple of years back, but I doubt that'll have much impact on the sound. As I had Once More With A Feeling on in the background while ironing shirts last night, I unexpectedly rediscovered my love for one of their lesser known tracks - Twenty Years. It was the only new song on their 2004 Best of release, and is rathar similar to Protect Me From What I Want, my favorite song by the band (alongside their brilliant cover of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill).

Another of Placebo's truly great songs, Without You I'm Nothing, was improved vastly when David Bowie wrote a harmony for it and requested that the band release a coop single. Which brings us onto The Thin White Duke's brilliance in artist collaborations in general. 1985 track Dancing In The Street (w/Mick Jagger) and 1992 track Under Pressure (w/Annie Lennox) excluded, I love it when he mixes it up with other artists. Especially the Pet Shop Boys remix of Hello Spaceboy and I'm Afraid of Americans (the Reznor remix) are amongst my favorites, and if you haven't heard his live performance with Arcade Fire of the latters' Wake Up it is definitely worth checking out. To make this paragraph EVEN MORE interesting (as if that was even possible, and I'm not kidding when I say that) Bowie also did backing vocals on the on several occassions previously mentioned Scarlett Johansson cover of Tom Waits' Falling Down.

With a few sentences I have drawn a line from David Bowie via Mick Jagger and Annie Lennox (who did Love Song For A Vampire for Bram Stoker's Dracula, the movie in which Tom Waits plays Renfield), through Pet Shop Boys (also releasing a new album this year, in March), Nine Inch Nails and Arcade Fire down to Scarlett Johansson and by that tied it all back up with Tom Waits and David Bowie.

Without planning to I just now let this blog into what is more or less the core of my music related geekiness. Add a couple of connections, tie up some red strings, and you have my undivided attention. If all artists were better at collaborating and sharing projects, I would have no free time what so ever. I am a geek. Whoddathunk?

"You're the truth, not I."
Placebo - Twenty Years (Once More With A Feeling, 2004)

Make Me A Pretty Person

The music disorder continues. After Mayer I had a brief flirt with The Corrs' 2000 album In Blue, followed by days of Tom Waits collection The Asylum Years, and then last night my eyes fell on Garbage's Version 2.0 (1998). This record was one of two (the other one was NiN's Downward Spiral) that in -98 broke me out of my Celine Dion era and into what developed into my taste in music. I was introduced to both by my high school sweetheart Eivind, so I guess I owe him one or two(alternatively he owes me the thousands of Euros I have standing around in the form of records ;)).

The main reason for loving Version 2.0 was, of course, the lyrics. I like Garbage in general, but this was my introduction to them. When I Grow Up, Push It, The Trick Is To Keep Breathing, Sleep Together and You Look So Fine were regular parts of my soundtrack for years, and I guess I'd still throw The Trick Is To Keep Breathing and Sleep Together in there for good old times' sake. I also had a minor thing for Shirley Manson at some point. Not sure why - in the video for Push It she shoves her entire fist into her mouth, and that's really not very sexy. Apparently she is now acting in a TV series called Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (a bit disturbing), and she's done a duet with previously mentioned Gavin Rossdale as well as an unreleased Human League cover with Marilyn Manson. Interesting trivia indeed!

This week has been a mess. Tuesday and Wednesday I was supposed to spend the days in Financial Awareness training, which I was looking forward to as it presented a welcomed break from business planning. Tuesday was great, but on Wednesday morning I had to excuse myself to make a phone call, and after taking ten steps all hell broke loose. The planet was spinning, I couldn't breathe, and suddenly I was on the second floor and just plain ill. Spent the rest of the day and Thursday at home.

Thursday evening I braved the exhaustedness to take a 13 people Movie Night to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and boy am I glad I did. I expected it to be an ok movie, I like Brad Pitt and have no problems with Cate Blanchett, but this I just did not see coming. The movie is beautiful! Some of the scenes are so gorgeous they will break your heart and mend it all at once. Definitely recommendable, both men and women will like the film (not only because of the lead actors and how beautifully they have been airbrushed, but because it's a really good story).

I've finished four knitting projects this week (I shit you not, ladies and gentlemen), including two pairs of socks that have been laying around since spring. I've also finished reading The Keep by Jennifer Egan, a book that really did not live up to expectations. An inmate at state prison starts taking a writing class, and falls in love with the teacher. He has a weird cell mate who listens to dead people in a carton he believes to be a spiritual radio. Or is the book actually about an ancient castle somewhere in Europe where a bunch of Americans are disturbing the peace by attempting to turn it into a hotel? I did not find it boring, don't get me wrong, it's just not... very memorable.

As mentioned, some weeks ago I also finished Breaking Dawn, a copy of which I finally secured after dragging Deb a bit around Akademiska. The disapproving of its twists and turns sounds a bit hypocritical of me - I claim to like fiction, but do not approve of books taking twists and turns outside my liking? Well, that might be so, but there you have it. I do not approve.

This morning I will gather together some material for a new knitting project and set course to Vantaa to hook up with Deb. Am still quite exhausted from the week, so I have a feeling that will be about it from me this weekend. Next week is business plan hearing and I think there'll be some late nights. Might ditch Movie Night to have an evening for myself, but then again that might change as there are many critically acclaimed movies on at the moment.

"Darling,
how would it feel?"
Garbage - Sleep Together (Version 2.0, 1998)

Split Screen Sadness

The Spirit was not very good. Although visually quite interesting, the story, the dialogue and the characters were mostly horrible. I'll not say the actors did a poor job, because I seriously doubt anyone could've lifted this film from the deepest sinkholes of misery.

Last night Movie Night went to see Valkyrie, Tom Cruise's take on German resistance during WWII. I'm not a big fan of war related movies as they usually make me cry, and although for a different reason this movie didn't do much to win me over. First of all, it's extremely Hollywood'y, and the British/American/Australian accents of the German soldiers made that studio production feel stronger. Most of my dislike comes from my imagination, however. I like not knowing how things will end. Both books and movies only really grip me when they speak to my "could've been". This one did, of course, not. Fiction, not facts, is where I get my kicks :)

It again seems to me I'm living from weekend to weekend, the workdays flying by in a grainy mist. During the course of this week I've finally managed to get my March trip to Seattle ok'd by my manager, and can't wait to see Quinn again. I've also made a request for a full month of vacation during summer, as I want to go to South America and want to do it properly.

I've started using the gym downstairs at work (ok, me and Kjersti have only been once so far, but my muscles are really sore and we're going back tomorrow), and finished reading Breaking Dawn. The story took some weird twists and turns and ended up in something I don't really approve of, and hence I am pleased to say I am for now cured of my Twilight saga obsession. Wouldn't mind getting me a bit of Carlisle, but I guess I'll have to stick with real-life people instead.

Music wise I am still not moving in any sort of alphabetical direction. The other day my eyes fell upon John Mayer's Heavier Things (2003) in my shelves. Can't remember where or when I bought it, but I know I never listened to it. Although I can't say I see what women like Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston see in this man as far as his looks are concerned, this record is quite good. Split Screen Sadness has me on a massive repeat roll that I expect to last for another couple of days.

Be nice to each other, you guys. If there's an afterlife you don't want to spend it paying for all the bad karma you've accumulated by making other people feel sad.

"I'll check the weather wherever you are
'cause I want to know if you can see the stars tonight."
John Mayer - Split Screen Sadness (Heavier Things, 2003)