A blueberry or not a blueberry?

This debate seems to come up every so often when North Americans hang around in Sweden long enough. Swedes call these small berries that grow in shrubs along the ground blueberries and this drives the North American visitors insane and they can't understand this concept at all. I will hereby clear the whole mater entirely so that there will never be any confusion again.

Blueberries (Vaccinium Cyanococcous) grow only in North America. What we have in Sweden and call Blåbär, which is often translated literally into English as Blueberry, is in fact properly called a Bilberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus). If the two species were put side by side it would be obvious that they are not the same and once a person has tasted them it will be even clearer.

In Medias Res: I'm not Stiller (Max Frisch)

Frisch comes recommended to me by a beautiful German who tends to recommend really good books from her culture. Of course Herr Frisch was Swiss but that is beside the point. So "Stiller" so far has been quite interesting.

It begins on a train in Switzerland where a man is detained and accused of travelling under a false passport. He is then accused of abandoning his family and having lived on the run for over six years. He denies all this and further denies that he is in fact this hunted man named Stiller. How does one prove identity?

Well I'm not done with the novel yet, nor am I half way through, I do however recommend the book and am enjoying it.

Here is a link to a page on Max Frisch (The author).

Introducing: The Frankfurt School....

No bloggerism today no sir. Read this link and think think think about it.

and... Props to Adorno.

Frankfurt School

Book Review: Tender is the Night

I admit first off that the last time I touched a book by Fitzgerald was junior year of high school and that at that time I could probably not understand a lot of what was going on. However as a whole I did not appreciate his stories or his prose style....then I was twenty three and decided to give this American favorite another try.

All I can say is that I was impressed and depressed all at the same time. The amount of pain and heartache in the book is enough to make anyone shudder. Then take into account that the novel may as well be a portrait of Fitzgerald's European experience it makes it even worse. I have to say that I recommend it even though its a painful read.

Book Review: The Invention of Morel

I use wikipedia a lot. Whether searching for books or just exploring various topics such as Foucault's philosophy, its my tool for gaining a background understanding on a topic. Of course it helps that everything has to be read carefully and further investigated before trusting whatever source was used. Still its a nice place for references.

With all that said, I have to admit that when it comes to genres of fiction my favorite has to be magical realism. The most common authors in this genre have to be Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende (House of Spirits, as recently she seems to have sold out for airport pop fiction), and Salman Rushdie (Satanic Verses). A name that many may not have heard about is Adolfo Bioy Casares. His most famous work is a short novella titled The Invention of Morel.

The story deals with a condemned man who has escaped his imprisonment and while on the run from the law has learned of an island that is cursed with a pest. He chooses to go to the island anyway as if he doesn't die, then at least no one else will follow him there out of fear. Once he reaches the island he finds out that there is more at work than just a pest. He discovers that a scientist invented a machine that records people and projects their images. The machine works on tide and wind power and thus the recordings are played over and over. The man also discovers that once you have been recorded, you will die and your essence will have been transferred to the film. So what does he do when he learns of this and falls in love with one of the early victims? He adds himself to the mix.

An excellent novel if you can get your hands on it.

A Film Review: Life is a Miracle

This blog hasn't been responsible for much recently besides introducing the blog from last post. So I thought I'd try something new. I've been a fan of movies now for a long time and also I do a lot of reading. So at least once a week this blog is going to have a book or film review.

For those unfamiliar with European film (as the hollywood hegemony continues in its notoriety) I introduce Emir Kusturica and his masterpiece "Life is a Miracle." The story deals with the ethnic conflicts that ripped the former Yugoslavia apart. It is two things at once, a romance and a sort of comedic tragedy. I believe black comedy is the way they would put it in swedish. One interesting aspect is how he deals with the war itself, never showing any battles but just letting the audience view it through the eyes of the protagonist Luka. Kusturica is somewhat of a genius and I would have to recommend his other movies as well as this one. If you like "Life is a Miracle" then check out "Black Cat, White Cat" and "Underground."

The amount of politics that is on display is also quite interesting to follow in the film as well, but I am not going to give away too much.

A shout out...

I don't usually send links to other blogs very often but I read this one at least once a week so I thought I'd pass it on.

http://www.monbiot.com/

Hope anyone reading gets as much out of it as I do.

Can you hear it... The silence of disappearing Freedom

Its in the news. A certain sly someone is trying to listen to conversations. It leaves me feeling sick. Did anyone ever offer these people a copy of 1984 or do they just believe that what they are doing is really for the 'people's best'? It's for your own protection they say. Yes, every time they take away your freedoms, they are really storing them up for you in a freedom bank on the other side of the mountain where once this 'terrorism nuisance' has been dealt with, we'll all get back to our lives. Keep listening Sir, listen to the sound of time running out on your sad spell in the oval office.

You probably won't read this...

But I'll say it anyway. I love you more every day and my heart aches to be with you.

A hero of our time...or why the Soviets suck.

I present to you Raoul Wallenberg. A man responsible for saving thousands of jews during the Second World War in Nazi occupied Hungary. He set up a system that allowed jews to become Swedish citizens and then be moved to Sweden. To do this he set up buildings all around Budapest that were supposedly "embassy" territory and thus could not be searched. A true hero of our time. So what happened to the good man...
Well the Soviets came rumbling into town and you know they were allies with the good old boys as in the USA and the UK and what did they do? They arrested Mr. Wallenberg and held him in the Soviet Union until he died from a heart attack. Another reason the Soviet Union should be mocked.

An ode to Tricky Dick....

"You better watch out for those crazy enviros..., They're a bunch of commie pinko queers!"
-Richard Nixon, 1972

Well that pretty much sums the man up.

Big Brother

Its a perception that Sweden has more of a Big brother relationship with the government then the USA. I don't buy this. Why else do I have to file a tax report with the USA when I don't live there. Keep your bomb building fingers out of my wallet.

Pre-Election Blues #32

Skeptical is one word to describe my attitude. Change is the word that everyone seems to be talking about. I'm not buying it. The United States is locked in an election battle and it looks like its going to be more of the old trench warfare. In the last two elections the nation has been split down the middle. Its basically a fifty-fifty situation. That gives me the feeling that change isn't going to be very possible. One reason is comfort. The middle class is quite comfortable. As long as they aren't terminally ill, they enjoy a consumer lifestyle with few consequences. Sure they have to have a job to get healthcare and they end up paying a substantial amount for this. Most families have two cars and drive everywhere they go. Obesity is growing like a tumor and there doesn't seem to be any chemo therapy that can cure this phenomenon which is a combination of a stressful lifestyle (imagine rush hour), bad eating habits, as well as a general distaste for sweating (remember everywhere you go you have air conditioning). Comfort is the key word. This is where the voting comes in. Americans are going to vote in the way that keeps the comfort most attainable.

Another way to look at it is the fortress mentality that is growing in the United States suburbs. Everyone builds their castle and when its complete, they don't need to go out and see the world. With internet and cable tv widely available, the world comes to them. The war in Iraq is something that only exists at the touch of a remote, as all American wars have been in the last century (though some were closer to the radio). Gruesome pictures and reality are airbrushed so that it looks like a UN peacekeeping operation in Sweden. No one really knows why the war was started any more. From the beginning it was argued that something had to be done and that consequences would stem from doing nothing. War is the easiest thing for a country with a military the size of the United States's. Hell according to some its even good for the economy. Who's next? There is no denying that 9/11 was a horrible and despicable act. However U.S. military intervention around the world is an equally horrible and despicable act.

So when the candidates are on tv asking for votes they promise more comfort. More prosperity because that leads to happiness and satisfaction. Change is just another step towards comfort. No one really wants or is able to make big changes. Business is good so why move the ship in another heading? Until the ship is leaking it doesn't need to be renovated. Until its sinking there will be no rescue attempt.

Somewhere in Europe...

Early Friday morning a man was spotted at the train station in Lund. He was dressed in a black jacket and was carrying a duffel bag. He looked as if he were about to begin an adventure. The cold november air surrounded him as he shuffled up and down the platform trying to keep warm. When the Oresund train finally put in five minutes late as usual, this man borded it and wasn't seen in Lund again for the remainder of the weekend. I suppose he is off visiting someone he loves and having that adventure. Hope he's got a pipe to smoke and a nice book to read on the buss.

Women and Men

Imagine you are a woman(for some of you this won't be so hard). You are gang raped 14 times by a group of seven men. When your situation comes up in court, you are not viewed as a victim but instead as a perpetrator. Your sentence is six months imprisonment and 200 lashes. The men's sentences range from one year to five years. Seems far out and completely strange, at least from a scandinavian perspective doesn't it. Then the truth comes out. This just happened in Saudi Arabia. The glorious allies of a certain oil addicted nation in the northern hemisphere with a little white hut in a town designed by the French when they were friends. With friends like these who needs enemies?

Mr. Brown, Anti-American, and the little island that could...

Gordon Brown has now announced that he is not anti-american. This from an article at the BBC homepage. Good for him. Its nice to know that he is willing to be friends with a country that is much like his own in some ways. They are both interested in ruling the planet(in an economic sense not in a traditional colonial sense although Irag, Afghanistan, and Puerto Rico would likely have a problem with this theory). Both countries' governments don't seem to have that big of a problem with pollution or the rabid consumerism that plagues western culture(not that the mainland has done much better). They are also in bed together on the Iraq war(spooning is more correct) and it would look quite bad if these two life partners suddenly had a break up and one decided to favor the EU(which would give it a better economical chance considering it is the biggest market in the world and the US may very well be fading off into the sunset of history). Both countries have had hard times getting used to the fact that indeed the whole world is 1. not envious of their success 2. most of the world would prefer their own language as oppossed to the cultural hegemony that persists from these two and 3. would like an apology from them for their military and economical bullying for the last couple of centuries. If Mr. Brown likes to stay in bed with Bush and the Yanks that is fine, but the rest of us should be warned that they aren't exactly going to pass their next physical either.

Just an update thats all.

Call the fire trucks, call the media, tell everyone but don't tell your mother. The beast is awake and breathing. There are sightings all over the map. The North! The North! It came from the North! It twisted and our earth shook. Trees were uprooted and the lakes became rivers and reached their slender fingers to the boiling, salted drink that is the sea. Call the riot squads and tell Nato.

The hero is alive though he is bogged down in the beauracracy that is education. C'est la vie. Three courses in and counting....

Hmm.

Everything goes down better with a glass of postmodernism.
-Unknown

Oh the things you just might be doing...

I support dictators around the world as long as my Nikes are those extra couple of dollars cheaper. I whine about vegetable prices and then purchase Avocados from South Africa. I want to be rid of petroleum issues but continue to have to rely on it to get around. By keeping my reliance on petroleum, I keep the world economy going which allows for disparities in wealth that are as clear as night and day. Your neo-liberal leaders would tell you this is good. It gives them something to work for. What the hell do they know about working? The western way of life is a fantasy that capitalism has shaped by raping the rest of the world. Thats strong? Yes the truth generally is.

On a happier note more good swedish music...

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names

The Hero Shot