Örebro's Got Talent

Last evening it was the final of the tv-show Britain's Got Talent. I don't really care about competitions like this, but a lot of people do and the bar was packed when the winner was gonna be announced. It seemed like most people wanted one of the dance groups to win, which they also did, even though I liked these guys better. Poor Susan Boyle looked so nervous she looked like she would mess herself, so maybe better that she just got the silver medal.Of course there's not only talent in Britain, but lots of "talent" also in Sweden, and especially in my great home town of Örebro. This guy is a doorman at small pub where you go to start off a night with some cheap pints. He really likes the "power" his badge gives him and always asks you how much you had to drink when you get there to see if you're too drunk, even if you are totally sober, and then says "hmm, ok....but take it easy tonight!" He also always used to ask for ID from one of my friends (who at the time were 23) to let him in, even though he used to go down there a couple of times a week, and they also lived in the same building across the street from the place. You would think he would remember him and his age, but well he gotta do his job, right.
Judging from his participation in the tv-show he does some stuff on the side, when he's not keeping everything under control in the pub. But I think there's no need to say he didn't make it through to the next round. Enjoy his performance!

Gangstas just wanna have fun

Just read that Ice Cube will fill the void after Cyndi Lauper, who had to cancel her show, at this summer's Hultsfreds Festival in Sweden. This is the most funny replacement since David Bowie cancelled his gig at the Roskilde Festival in 2004 just two days before he was gonna perform, and most people were already there camping, and got replaced in the last minute by Slipknot. There were a lot of confused 50-year-olds hanging around then I can tell you! Now I can see in front of me a bunch of girls in crazy coloured hair and neon 80s clothes waiting in front of the stage, and Cube comes out and ask "where mah muthafuckin gangstas at??!". Priceless. Well, this gives me a reason to get my gangsta out and pump some ol' Ice Cube, before he was doing shitty films. Chickity-check yo self before you wreck yo self!!

Ice Cube - "It Was A Good Day / Check Yo Self"

Ice Cute, in a girlie bandana

In the backstreets of Dirrty Durham

Durhamdales

My mate Felix put together this amazing video! This is how it gets down on weekend nights in Dirrty Durham!

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The Stockholm Syndrome

From The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, about how the USA may turn into Sweden:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Note: There is no IKEA furniture called "Flurven" (can't even type that 'u'-letter, doesn't exist!) or "Gimmelböp", it's not even Swedish words that mean anything! Also, Social Democratic politician Leif Pagrotsky's beard used to be much bigger!

Tjuvlyssnat

Idag på eftermiddagen satt jag någon timme på Örebro universitets biblioteket och fick äntligen lite studier gjorda. Har ju tidigare uttryckt vad jag tycker om universitetet, och blev inte mer imponerad idag. Visst, en öppen, ljus och vacker byggnad, men (utan att låta elitistisk eller så) det var verkligen ingen ordning på folk som satt där. Folk satt och hade högljudda diskussioner inte långt ifrån läsbåsen, och flera pratade högt i mobiltelefon utan att gå därifrån, väldigt störande. Det sistnämnda gjorde dock att jag fick ett litet skratt mitt i det tunga läsandet. En tjej svarade i sin telefon och sa bland annat detta:

- Vet du vad jag gjorde imorrse då? Cyklade till skolan, och blev då stoppad av en polis, för att jag cyklade mot rött. Fick böter på 1500 kronor ... Visste inte ens att man fick böter om man gjorde det! Och då fick jag ändå 500 kronor i rabatt för att jag var så snäll.

Får man inte cykla mot

The Roots 'slow jam' the news

Last night it was the premiere of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which he took over from my favourite late night show host Conan O'Brien. Jimmy Fallon has been really funny in Saturday Night Live for years now so I was happy to see that he was chosen to host the show. But I was even more excited, although with mixed feelings at first, when it was announced that my absolute favourite group and probably one of the world's greatest live act, The Roots, was gonna be the house band. This means though that they are not gonna tour as much as before (which was a lot), especially not Europe. They always did a stop in Stockholm, and fortunately I had the luck to see them once. I've seen a short clip from the first show, and I must say it passed the test. Especially the 'slow jam the news' bit, where Black Thought aka Tariq shows again that he not only can turn a mic on fire but also sing really great! I hope it starts to show really soon in Sweden so I get to see more of it.

Wacko Joaqo

Joaquin Phoenix has said he's gonna quit acting and focus fully on a rap career. For a bit more than a week ago he was on David Letterman supposed to promote his new (and perhaps last) film "Two Lovers". You can easily say he wasn't up for a nice funny chat.



Last night at the Academy Awards, where "Slumdog Millionaire" very well-deserved won a statue for best film, Ben Stiller did a very funny parody of him:

Utan å, ä, ö

...så kan det bli ganska roligt. Skickade ett mail igår från universitetsbiblioteket till min institution i Uppsala och avslutade med "Vänliga hälsningar", vilket jag först i efter hand kom att tänka på blir "Vanliga halsningar". Blir ju lite fel, men dock så sant. Halsningarna är ju rätt vanliga som student.

Flight of the Conchords

Händer ganska ofta att jag missar något, eller hör talas om det men orkar inte kolla upp, t ex en skiva eller tv-serie. "Flight of the Conchords" är ett exempel. Hade hört talats om serien och även blivit tipsad om den av andra, men blev aldrig att jag tog mig tid att kolla in det. Hade även sett en av skådespelarna i den riktigt sköna filmen "Eagle vs Shark". Bättre sent än aldrig så laddade jag hem hela första säsongen innan jul, men blev fortfarande inte att jag såg något på det. Men idag när jag satt på tåget hem till Örebro och hade drygt en timme att fördriva så tittade jag på de två första avsnitten. Förstår i efterhand inte hur jag kunnat undgå att titta på serien, för den är sjukt jävla kul! Jag var tvungen att hålla handen för munnen flera gånger för att inte börja garva högt rakt ut, så satt och småfnissade hela tiden istället. Sångerna är riktigt sköna med helt fantastiskt roliga texter. Blir att klämma ett avsnitt nu innan jag somnar. Andra säsongen är färdig och kommer sändas på BBC under våren, givet att bänka sig då! Kommer även sändas på SVT, men vet inte när.

"The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)"

"I'm Not Crying"

Music For Life

I normally don't answer any chain letters sent to my e-mail or have hundreds of applications of facebook etc. Some quiz and stuff like that are fun though, like this that I got from Karro. You're supposed to put on some kind of music player with a 'random' function, like iTunes, and then answer some questions with the titles of the songs that come up (without skipping to the next song to get a good answer of course). With a bit more than 4 500 songs in my music library there are a lot of possible answers, and some of them can be quite weird and funny. This is what I got:

• How are you today? Ut I Kylan ("Out In The Cold") (Nationalteatern)
• Will you go far in life? Die, Allright!! (The Hives)
• What do your friends think about you? Stuck Here For Days (The Datsuns)
• Will you get married? Coming Of Age (Jay-Z)
• What's the themesong of your life? To Be Determined (Evidence)
• What's the story of your life? Starman (David Bowie)
• How is school for you? Mic Control (Soul Position)
• How will tomorrow be? Dedicated (Das EFX)
• How can you progress in life? You Don't Want To Fuck With Me (Ol' Dirty Bastard)
• What's the best about your friends? Inversion (Mark Ronson)
• What's up for next week? Jersey Yo (Redman)
• What song describes you best? Rich Kid Blues (The Raconteurs)
• How is your life? Time And Time Again (Counting Crows)
• What song will be played at your funeral? Truckloads Of Nothin' (The Hellacopters)
• How to the world look at you? Thousand-mile-stare (Caesars Palace)
• Will you live a happy life? Lost! (Coldplay)
• Do you have a dark and deep secret? User Friendly (Marilyn Manson)
• Do people secretely fantasise about you? I'll Be Waiting (The Pigeon Detectives)
• How can I make myself happy? Sabotage (Gang Starr)
• Will I ever have children? Can I See You (Sunz Of Man)
• What song best describes the person you are attracted to? Player's Ball (Outkast)
• What would you like to say to the next generation? The Ownerz (Gang Starr)
• Any tips for me? Black Dog (Led Zeppelin)
• How will I be remembered? Memory Lane (O.C.)
• What's my dance tune? Shiver (Coldplay)

Comments: I'm definetely Out In The Cold today, it's really chilly! To be a Starman would be really cool, if not as an austronaut it would be cool to be a rock star like Bowie! And I wouldn't mind to leave the building to the sound of The Hellacopters (even though I already know what song I would like, sung by my three kids in an emotional acapella version) !

Different approaches

This morning I had a lecture in my Geographies of Health and Health Care module. It was about infectious diseases, for example HIV/AIDS. There are a lot of problems related to AIDS, and many different views on how you should approach them (as a health geographer). There is the social-spatial approach, that takes on a positivism perspective and study where the disease is on the map. A very scientific approach, more about curing the disease than prevent it, not interested in emotional values. Then there is the ethnographic approach where you look more at the humans themselves and tries to prevent a spread through education and such. One I like myself, even though I think there is not often one perfect approach but instead a mix is the best, is the social interactionist approach. It is a quite new and modern view on all this, and it also looks more at the people themselves, more considering and studies everyday interactions and culture among those affected. For example this study I've read about gay men in North America, in where the author is very critical about how these men are just portrayed as dots on a map and how their bodies is seen as mere vectors for illness and carriers of the disease, in stead of considering their own views and feelings and how they interact socially rather than just sexually. I think it is a better and more human approach in order to prevent a further spread.
Then last but not least we also have the more humorous view on the origin of AIDS, here represented and presented by Dave Chappelle: