Sir Rushdie

Well this little bit of news is bound to become a firestorm of protest and violence in various places around the world. Salman Rushdie, 'Controversial' writer, has been knighted by the English monarchy. Considering that he is one of the most loathed people of all time in the Muslim world, this is a very interesting turn of events in the world at large.

The man is an incredible writer and his books are absolutely amazing. Why the hatred then? 'The Satanic Verses' which was published in 1988 was banned in many countries after it was accused of mocking Muhammed('The Prophet'). Rushdie was then forced to go into hiding after a bounty was placed on his head by various groups and he is wanted dead by the Iranian government.

Its wonderful to know how very tolerant of free speech these people are that call for his death. It was also nice to see England do its own thing despite it not being so popular with certain areas. Then finally what kind of religion/culture can call themselves righteous and then want to kill someone for writing a book that they didn't agree with? How many of the protestors/clerics have read the book?

Jens Lekman(or how swedish indie was saved)

I don't know how many of you have heard of him. His name is Jens Lekman. You can buy the albums on Itunes as far as I know. Do it if you like good music with clever lyrics. I know we're known for Abba and other such schlager acts but this is absolutely amazing and I am hooked so bad that I am sitting up at 1:30 in the morning listening to the songs that some people have posted on MySpace. Jens Lekman is Amazing.

Stockholm Derby

For those of you who read this blog you know that I've been to a few of the Hammarby(A Stockholm Football club) matches this last year. It turns out that this coming tuesday is the Stockholm Derby between Djurgården IF and Hammarby IF. For anyone who understands a European rivalry, they will understand that this kind of match can deteriorate into madness and bloodshed. Hopefully that won't happen where I'm sitting on the 19 of June at Råsunda. To make matters worse Djurgården is number one in All-Svenskan and that makes this even more of an important match. Hammarby(Vi är Söder!) is going to demolish Djurgården.

Berlin, Berlin, what can I say?

I think that when travelling you can only plan so much. No matter how much you plan however, the best parts are still the random things that happen when you least expect it. An example would be the Kennedy Museum in Berlin. Its located next to the Brandenburg gate(in Pariser Platz). It turns out that the day I was there it was also JFK's ninetieth birthday. That meant free entrance and free champaigne(never one to turn down a free drink).

I think its always hard for me to travel and be around other tourists. The smiling faces at Checkpoint Charlie were hard to swallow. That people have made a conscientous decision to make money off a tragedy is a bit rough(of course this is opinion and not straight fact). But to be honest of all the cities that I've been to I would have to say that the tone and attitude in Berlin was the most amazing so far. I just wish I could speak German. Where I stayed in Kreuzberg was also incredible. The cafe's and bars. Drinking beer in the parks. A lot of memories. I will be back.