International Housing Offenders

I was reading an article in one of the local Lund newspapers and came across an article that noted that of the 2000 exchange students for this semester, only about half of them were able to get university accomodation. The others apparently had to go look for private rooms. The article also noted that they had talked to the people at the IHO and they had said that they couldn't put students in the St. Lars buildings which were used last year because of a lack of quality. The IHO people seemed almost sad about this.

Let me say something. I visited the St. Lars dormitory only once and that was around this time last year. I have to honestly say that I did not know that it was possible for a Swedish housing office to rent rooms in a building like that. The buildings were used for some sort of hospital care, but that doesn't go half the way in describing what it felt like to be in those rooms. It felt like you were living in a mental institution. To my knowledge there were no Swede's that were forced to live there only international students. The Lund IHO is one of the most foul things I have come across in my travels.

Do your pants hang low?

The time has come to speak of many things...as Lewis Carrol would say and perhaps it isn't pure coincidence that he is quoted in this post.

I was reading CNN the other day, I know its odd but bare with me, and I came across another article about a county banning the wearing of pants in such a way that a person's underwear is showing. I find this extremely disturbing on several fronts.

1. How is it possible in a free country for a government to tell an individual how to dress. I understand a ban on nudity but boxers are still a long way from nudity. This smells of fascism and ignorance.

2. Why is a city going to waste money on controlling how people are dressing? Isn't there better things to do like stop speeding cars and fight against drugs.

3. Depending on where there is a ban on not showing your underpants, if you are caught doing so and taken to court, you may have to register as a sex offender. This is playing with people's lives over a fashion statement.

All of these laws depend on the local council's assesment of what is and what isn't decent. I can imagine a group of old conservative white people sitting in a circle somewhere discussing how they can make life difficult for young people. I wish I was wrong but that is what I suspect is taking place. If I was living in these places I would cut myself a pair of minishorts and run around town. No officer they aren't boxers but please tell me how do you define what is and what isn't underwear. Fascism, fascism, in the form of decency.

Final Thoughts: Sweden vs. Greece Euro 2008

I've always been out of Europe for the major tournaments. In 2006 I was stuck working while Sweden got knocked around by Germany and of course there is no real place for fans to go in the US to watch the games on big screens. Thats why being in Europe for a tournament has been amazing so far. Everyone is watching the games and there are flags out on every street. So that brings me to Sweden vs. Greece.

Folkets Park in Malmo was showing the game, so I decided to go there to watch it. I invited everyone I knew and one person showed up. I find this strange but I've accepted it. I got to the park halfway through the Russia Spain game and found that it was already starting to fill up. Then by kick-off, it was packed and people were standing on all sides. So what were the chances we would win? I felt that it could go either way but that Greece probably had it in the bag. Sixty-six minutes later the guy guarding Ibrahimovic disappeared for a second and without even hesitating Zlatan fired the goal of the tournament so far past the Greeks. Everyone in the park were on their feet chanting his name and screaming. Malmo is incidentally his home town as well. Then came the second goal which though not pretty, took all the air out of the Greeks.

For the Swedish national team which was struggling the last few weeks and had many assuming we couldn't win a game, this came at just the right moment. I've finally been in Europe for a tournament, I've tasted the fruits so to speak, and its amazing, beyond words really.

Enchantress of Florence; Not his best

Its hard to really jump on Rushdie for anything that he's written. However with his latest offering I find myself a bit confused and wondering what he was getting at. True the story is not terrible by any means but it has the feeling that he tried to run through it without really exploring certain themes as deeply as he could have. So I have to say it makes a good case for being an airport bookshop bestseller. More Satanic Verses please.

Afghanistan is a bad joke

When he leaves office, a certain someone will probably point to a country in South-Central Asia and claim that this is where he made a difference and that things are getting better all the time and so on and so etc, etc, etc.

What he will ignore is that right now someone is on death row for speaking out against Islam. While Freedom of Opinion is part of the constitution, apparently you just can't say certain things. So the moral of the story is...nothing has really changed except the names of the people running the place. How many millions have been wasted?

Movie Review: Goodbye Lenin!

I guess I sort of already knew what the movie was about through hearsay as well as having heard about it on the radio. Simple story, boy in East Germany has a single mom and a sister. Mom ends up in the hospital with a coma and when she wakes up she wakes up in a united Germany. Of course the shock of her finding out would be too much for her and so he has to convince her that she is still living in the East.

Its funny, its sad, and even say a bit romantic. I think to understand some of the humor, you have to have lived in an eastern European country or have visited one soon after the end of the Soviet Union. Daniel Bruhl is excellent as usual and so are the rest of the characters. I think I was almost crying at some parts. Is that enough? Go watch it.

A neo-liberal solution of sorts...

Since the World Bank and IMF not to mention the WTO have such amazing ideas I thought I would apply them to United States Armed Forces. The US military is a government entity and therefore grossly missmanaged (many generals would agree with this, war is to important to let politicians make decisions). The budget is gigantic and the results meagre at best. Two countries have proved this point; Afghanistan and Iraq. Here the US military has invaded and tried to 'liberate' two people groups. The cost of the operations has been immense and neither one has by any means reached a point where they could be labeled as a success of any sort (after all the primary goal was to defeat Al Qaida, not nation-build).

So here is the neo-liberal solution; allow the army to act as a private security force. It already does this in many ways with Nato and other organizations, but it would be better run if it went where the invisible hand of the market directed it. This means that countries with a strong economy would remain protected and that their armies would be free to seek the best markets. It might even be possible after a time to stop using tax money to finance the military. Technology would only benefit, as the market forces would encourage further innovation as the alternative would be losing the market to other actors. Anyway it might save americans a lot of money that could be spent on other things.

Moving Backwards; an American Tale in two parts

Part I

Bush is comparing the 'terrorists' to Nazis. It is impossible to compare the two groups of people. One was intent on genocide while the other has never expressed such ideals. Honestly the Nazis had quite a bit more power than the terrorists have had up to this time, and there were quite a few sympathizers in the US (Lindbergh to name one). The only way that the two could be compared is that the US has at times contributed to the forming of these two different types of problems (German debt and third world intervention).

Part II

Hillary and John have this idea that removing the gas tax will somehow be good for people. The only the gas tax will really accomplish is to make more profit for the oil companies and lead to an increase in pollution. Plus there goes all the money that is meant to keep roads drivable. This is a move that is nothing more than 'populism' and a way to get voters, not something that is actually feasible. When the dust settles the joke is on the American people.

Norwegian Wood

I finished Murakami's Norwegian Wood last wednesday. The more I read Murakami the more I am impressed with his writing. Of course I am sure that if I were to be reading them in Japaneese I would be getting more out of them and would likely find them twice as amazing. However, I do not have the luxury of reading them in Japaneese for the simple reason that I have never studied that language and probably never will. Not that it wouldn't be good, I simply haven't the time.

The story is sad and romantic all at the same time. Its about loss and growing up and this review is starting to sound like all the other reviews you read in other newspapers around the world. Basically I found that the story was not so much unique in the way it dealt with death, suicide, and love but more just that I found it too hard to put down and couldn't help but relating to the characters. Plus it makes you laugh.

Moving Backwards: a Russian tale...

They had nuclear missiles in Moscow rolling down the streets for a parade a few days back. They were celebrating. Odd that some celebrations feel more like threats but then again that is Russia. While many of us look back on the Cold War as a time of insanity for both sides (for who builds that many nuclear weapons and remains sane), it appears that Russia is going back to embracing that period as a golden age. Must be the same loonies who are in favor of reconstructing the Berlin Wall.

I want to live in a world where parades don't consist of tanks and nuclear weapons please. A world where loonies are required to take counseling sessions. So here is my recommendation. Bush and Putin need to voluntarily step down and do volunteer work in Afghanistan for two years.

Currently Reading Norwegian Wood

Well so I'm hard at work on this paper on Orcas but I managed to pick up a copy of Murakami's Norwegian Wood which I've had on reserve at the library for about a month now. Apparently its so good there were originally fourteen people in front of me in the line. I have to say for being a small town Lund has an amazing library.

I'm heading to Germany by buss again tonight. That means I have eight hours to just sit and read as much as I like. Hopefully I can finish Murakami by the time I get to Berlin and be halfway through the books for the next course. Next stop sunshine and german beer plus a girl I love more everyday.

Haruki Murakami, Bill Bryson, and Champagne

I finished a travel memoir about Australia today by Bill Bryson and I have to say it was hilarious. I would heartily recommend it to anyone who would enjoy such a work of non-fiction and I must say I think I have a better understanding of the land down under now.

Then I went to the library today to drop off a book and decided to look at the shelf with new books. I picked up a book about Champagne and then in the older fiction section I found a copy of Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart. So I am looking forward to sawing my way through them.

The exam went fine and now all I have to do is a paper on how polluted Orcas are (its horrible actually) and get a seven minute presentation whipped up and ready for Monday.

Question of the Day

If three American Mercenaries shoot an old Iraqi man in a city somewhere in Iraq and no one is around to see it, does the old man even exist?

Film Club and Exam time

Tonight is the first official meeting of the LUMES film club. The idea behind the club is that the movies watched will in some ways be relevant to what we are studying and also as a way of learning about the world as a whole i.e. not just watching hollywoodizations.

Its also time for an exam tomorrow and then a paper and presentation are due on Monday which make it an exceptionally fun little weekend. Its not all bad though, travel plans are waiting in the wings plus the sun is shinning.

Oh yeah.... tonight's movie.... The Constant Gardener

based of course on the Le Carre novel of the same name.

Absolut Idiot: Or how Americans portray themselves.

Last week there was a mention in the Swedish news that an ad by Absolut Vodka had offended some Americans. Then in Sweden it wasn't reported about again. Now I've scoured the internet for a bit and found that the add was quite a hot topic. I have to say I find it amusing. The only thing the add is trying to say is that in an absolut world (i.e. a perfect world) from a Mexican perspective, a good portion of what is currently the USA would still be Mexican. Then people get offended and pour their expensive vodka down the drain and threaten boycotts.

That says a lot about some people. If you pour out a bottle of vodka over a piece of ancient history instead of having a laugh then there is something wrong with you. Most Americans are not very familiar with that bit of history. Many know Texas broke away from Mexico, but most fail to understand that it was because slavery and owning weapons were illegal, two things that southerners were quite fond of at the time. After the war the US forced Mexico to 'sell' territory at half the price offered before the war so that it would no look like they were taking it. There was nothing honorable or heroic about that war from the American side. Pure Greed. Absolute Idiot: a person who becomes offended over advertisements.

Ezra Pound and Paul Auster

Well I tore my way through Rushdie and managed to finish it off at around three in the morning on Sunday. I have to say that I think this was his best novel since the Satanic Verses. Tomorrow I am going on a field trip to a toxic waste site in Teckomatorp, Skane. That sounds like loads of fun.

On Sunday I also went to the library and thankfully they are open on that day which is somewhat odd for Sweden, but I am not complaining. I picked up the Cantos of Ezra Pound and Leviathan by Paul Auster. Of course I don't believe its possible to go wrong with Auster but I'll keep it updated and I'll also let everyone know my thoughts about Mr. Pound.

sex-obssesed Republicans and the war in Iraq.

We all know that Bill Clinton dropped his droors in the oval office and let a certain Lewinsky blow Dixie on his magic troll flute. This brought about a shitstorm and led to succession of scandals. But what was it really all about? A blowjob and a lie? Pretty sorry stuff actually. The French especially must find this absolutely ridiculous stuff, of course right now they can't get enough of Mrs. Bruni but there was a time of legends that included Mitterand and Felix Faure (Famous for dying in the middle of a blowjob). Seriously this is too good to be fiction.

So what does all this have to do with everything currently going on now. The Republicans were absolutely sex-obsessed with the Clinton Affair and did all that they could to have him kicked out of the White House for a blow job and a denial. Seems awfully funny that they would be so silent about these massive amounts of weapons of mass destruction that are all over Iraq. I guess it just depends on who is doing the lying, or perhaps WMD's just aren't sexy enough.

Salman Rushdie and the "Ground Beneath Her Feet"

Its been a while since I felt ready to plunge myself into one of Rushdie's bizarre worlds of tragedy and magical realism. Of course everytime I've done so, the end result has been an amazing story that is hard to put down despite all the other things I probably should be doing. Fear not dear reader, for this time I am actually ahead in my readings for LUMES which is the first time in history. Not the last though I guarantee.

In "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" Rushdie takes into a love triangle that consists of two rock and roll stars and a photographer. In his usual excellent and extremely sharp prose style he takes us through their somewhat humble beginnings in Bombay (Pre-Mumbai). If the reader is interested I would recommend starting on Rushdie's masterpiece "The Satanic Verses" which he will never be able to beat no matter what magic tangle of words he is able to produce in the remainder of his life.

Spring Time at Berlin Zoo

Islands in the Stream

Another Hemingway novel that someone found in a used bookstore in London. This is always the best way to find books. When you least expect it something pops up out of nowhere. I'm a third of the way into the book so far and I have to say that unfortunately I do not consider it to be in the same class as "The sun also rises" or "For whom the bell tolls" but its still ok so far.

Before this book I read "The passion of New Eve" by Angela Carter. If you haven't heard of her, she was a writer who was mainly active in the sixties and seventies and wrote a good deal of post-feminist literature. I'm not going to give away the plot by any means except to say that it was surrealist and magical realist at the same time. It also made me really uncomfortable. Worth a read.