Brief smiles help

I suddenly got an itch to write English. I don't have much of value to write about, but I'll just dish out what I've been doing lately.

I've been quite sick for three days straight, the worst day being yesterday. I was aching all over and I didn't want to leave my sanctuary (the corner of the sofa) for anything. But today I'm much better, maybe as much as 80% restored to my usual awesomeness. What's good about being this sick is it's perfect for doing a whole lot of nothing without having too much of a bad conscience for it. Here are some of the things I've done:


I finished the 1st season of True Blood. It was probably one of the weirdest TV-shows I've ever experienced. I sat through every episode thinking "do I really like this?", but I couldn't bring myself to exit an episode when I'd first started watching. I still haven't made my mind up on what I thought about it. My favorite thing was finding out Ryan Kwanten used to be on Home and Away.

I'm currently reading H.P. Lovecraft's OMNIBUS 2: Dagon and Other Macabre Tales, and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World. The Eye of the World is the first book of the Wheel of Time-series. I started reading them when I was in 10th grade or something, but I only got to book number four. I found my old paperback, sitting on a bookshelf at home, very entising, and I said to myself "Alright, book. I accept your challenge. This year I will read and finish the series you are a part of" I think this is the first time ever I'm reading two books at the same time. I'm halfway through OMNIBUS 2, and two chapters into Eye of the World. And I think it's going to go just fine. For my in depth ("lol") analysis of these books, sign up at GoodReads and be my friend. BE MY FRIEND! PLEASE! PLEAAASE!

I've also started to play Assassin's Creed for the XBox 360, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney for the Nintendo DS. Technically I've played Ace Attorney before, but I made it up to the last case or something and quit. I don't really get why I hadn't played it till the very end, but it certainly irked me. So now I'm through the first case, and it's just as fun and quirky as I remember it to be. I also see that Play has the sequel up for £13.99. *Drool*. Assassin's Creed isn't as enganging as I hoped it to be. But it's fun enough that I think I'll manage to play it to the end credits.

I think that's a good enough start for 2009. I'll see ya'll later.

THURSDAY: The day of big eyes of wonder, big smiles, and silly dance moves

I think my expectations for Thursday at Öya were significantly lowered thanks to Wednesday's fail to deliver teh awesome. Which certainly wasn't a bad thing because my expectations for Thursday were sky-high. Lukestar, The National, Okkervil River, Diplo, Sonic Youth, Turbonegro performing Apocalypse Dudes... it looks good, but managed to be so much better. Exceeding things! Pushing boundaries! Good times!

LUKESTAR
These guys got the opening job for this day. I think me and my friends arrived just before they went on. I'm talking seconds here. But we got really awesome spots, with a full view of everything going on onstage. Since the release of their second album, Lake Toba, which came earlier this year, I've wanted to see them live. Just to hear the newfound voice of Truls Heggerö in person. zOMG @ suddenly sounding like that guy in Mew, but not RLY! What a talented bunch of hunks all of them turned out to be. It's too far back to remember the nuances of the show, but Lukestar were having fun with it, smiling and laughing, cracking jokes, and the crowd seemed pretty receptive as well. Basically a recipe for a good start. I bought Lake Toba shortly after.

Next up was a band that I probably wouldn’t have watched if it hadn’t been for my older brother. I knew he was at the festival for a reason! Or perhaps he was there for a raisin? I can never tell with that guy.

GRAND ISLAND
Here’s the four-one-one: They’re lads. They’re Norwegian. One of the lads plays a banjo. They’re Norwegian lads, rocking out on, among other instruments, the ban-flippin’-jo. End of four-one-one. They have two songs that I love, but because of something peculiar, I’ve yet to invest in one of their two albums. FOR SHAME. They did a splendid show (bustin’ rhymes), generally smiling and having a good time on stage. I found myself smiling admiringly without noticing it many a time. My favorite part was their backing choir of pretty lasses. Another favorite part was my brother shouting ”EEEEEE-HAW!” right at the end of a banjo solo. The dude in front of us looking skeptically over his shoulder, after my brother did his shout, was probably a bit of a douche.

Next up was most likely the band I looked forward to the most, albeit I wasn’t so sure as to how their dark, dark songs would hold up outside, where sunshine loomed behind thin clouds, threatening to break through at any given moment; and not in a dark lit bar playing on a stage in the corner under broken spotlights, casting long shadows.

THE NATIONAL
After Grand Island me and my posse, or rather me and the posse that I was a part of, headed straight to the main stage. My wish to stand right in the middle of the stage and to have some meters between me and the front rail was granted. I wanted to have a perfect view of everything that happened on stage and I had it. The National came out from the side of the stage, some of them smiling, and some of them were looking far too gloomy for my liking. As I’ve previously stated: I don’t really get people that are dark and brooding on stage. It turned out I had nothing to worry about. It was pure win from the first note of music. Matt Berninger meant every word that escaped his lips. The guitarists, who I mistook for being gloomy and ungrateful, played with such intensity and concentration, that I was pretty blown away right from the get-go. I’m starting to kick myself for taking so long with writing this up. Much because the strong emotions I felt after watching the concert, is just a far-away memory now, and I can’t really tap into just how good it made me feel to have been at that very show, on that very day. The National also had very funny banter. Both intentional and unintentional. My favorite part of the concert was when I failed at getting my song request played. SO EMBARRASSED!

Another thing that sucks when you’re a stupid procrastinating douche (hiyar!), and don’t write down your summary straight away, is that you forget the fun things that happen in between shows. So much fail I don’t know where to begin.

Next up was another “FUCK! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE ONE FAVORITE CONCERT OUT OF ALL THESE MIND BLOWING PERFORMANCES?!”-kind of show.

OKKERVIL RIVER
The rumor goes as follows: Okkervil River SLAY live. But the thing was that even though I’d heard this from many a person, I just couldn’t picture it in my mind hole. My expectations were high, and I knew in my heart that it was going to be a good show, but somehow the butterflies just wouldn’t hatch in my belly. Will Shef and the gang changed all that from the first song. Will – yeah, we’re on those kind of terms – sang with such clarity that I got a little bout of black envy, I mean why couldn’t I have been born with a voice like that? But envy hardly ever envelopes me, so I managed to shake it and get back to enjoying the shit out of the splendid showmanship happening on stage. Favorite thing: I actually believed ol' Shefster when he announced “Lost Coastlines” as a song they’d never played live before, just because he and the band looked so damn grateful for the reception they got from the audience. I was just surprised we were all alive because Okkervil River really slay live.

SONIC YOUTH
DA YOOF! I’ll admit it; I just wanted to see this concert to be able to say “Yeah, I saw them live. Big deal. Who wants to touch me? You, in the back”. But it was so much fun! They were AWESOME. And so tight. NOISY. Gawd. I was pleasantly surprised that they played a lot of songs that were familiar to me, and I haven’t really dived deep into their back catalogue yet either. But to be honest (TBH!) I don’t think it would’ve made much difference if they only played songs I hadn’t heard before, because the most fun was watching them do their thing on stage. Having fun, dancing, raping their guitars… y’know the usual spiel. When the concert was coming to it’s end, my brother nudged my side and asked if I wanted to go secure good spots for Diplo. I hesitated for a moment, but decided that I really wanted to be up front for the primo dancing that would coincide with Diplo dropping those beats he’s so famous for. Besides, I could always blame my brother for prying me away from DA YOOF! if it turned out Diplo was totally gay. Win-win!

DIPLO
Turns out I owe my brother big time for wanting to head to this in time to get the best dancing spots. BECAUSE IT WAS THE MOST FUN EVER. For srs. I danced nonstop. I used everything out of my movecabulary, searched through all my knowledge of danceistics to make up some sweet steps right then and there, and I did all this with the biggest grin on my face. I got so SWEATY. I didn’t care about anything. I did the robot followed by ‘brushing that dirt of my shoulder’, I’m pretty sure I walked like an Egyptian, I did my illest b-boy stance, I handed out tickets, I pumped the wheel of my bike, I picked apples from a tree and put them in my bag, I milked the cow, I milked the ox, shit was ENDLESS. Until I found myself back at the awkward moves I started out with, finding myself completing a full circle. But then I just smiled and went with it one more time. Diplo is insanely talented. I think I saw him look up from his turntables about two times. Fucking steak sauce.

TRBNGR
I had the choice between Sigur Ros and TRBNGR to end this far too awesome day, and almost everyone hated on the fact that I chose the latter. But it wasn't just any TRBNGR concert, it was the one where they played Apocalypse Dudes from start to finish. Pardon my french while I say 'Fuck yeaaah!' to that. The concert wasn't fantastic by any means. It was like putting on the album only with some banter in between songs, Nick Oliveri singing Back to Dungaree High; and middle-aged Turbojugends all dressed up in their denim gear and sailor hats, singing along to the words they knew, trying not to spill any of the beer from the amazing five-beers-in-one-handy-carrier-device. I also sang along, because it added to the experience. Adding to the experience was so pertinent.

And that ended the best day of the festival. It was... the greatest day.

I'm tired and hungry, and not very satisfied with this text. Critical.

WEDNESDAY: The day of 'Okay'

I was pretty psyched about the first day. The bands/artists I had planned to see were as follows: Mogwai, Los Campesinos!, José Gonzalez, Kung Fu Girls (the Norwegian lads, not that God awful American band), Iron & Wine, Girl Talk and then cap it off with Grinderman (zOMG NICK CAVES INNA FLESH!11!). Looks pretty damn good on paper, non? I thought so too.

MOGWAI
LoL at underwhelming. I think I could seriously have loved their show, but I wasn't prepared for it. The only song I would've been able to identify was some song from Mr. Beast. So if they'd played it I could've said "Hey, I think this is a song from Mr. Beast! ...not 100% certain, though". I left after two songs. I heard that the super fans ate it up. Plus I didn't really feel the SERIOUS FACE-vibe. It's cool to look cool, but if you don't look like you're enjoying what you play, then you lose this guy pretty fast.

LINK: Live performance of a song from their forthcoming album. I think they ended the concert at Öya with it. Shame I didn't stay for it. Sounds good and loud. And I do love loud.

LOS CAMPESINOS!
Saddest show of the festival D: x10. Big win for starting with "Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats" and doing the count-up in Norwegian, but they looked miserable. Or maybe it was just the singer. I just wanted to go up there, take away his mic, side-hug him backstage and ask him if there was something wrong. I assosciate LC! with big smiles and awkward dancing. The dancing was present, but the smiles weren't there. My superb analysis for why this concert failed: the sound was way too heavy on the bass, and probably bad overall for all I know, and they should've been one one of the smaller stages. I left early to get to Jose Gonzalez in good time. I was a bit bummed because I had such high expectations for this lot. Ah, well. We all have our bad days.

YT: Da girls in da band r hawt.

JOSÉ GONZALEZ
Also one of the people I expected a lot from. He delivered the goods in some ways, but I had a feeling throughout the concert that something was amiss. I love the way José plays guitar. It fascinates me as a guitar player myself. Especially when he plays the darker sounding strings (I said I play the guitar, that doesn't mean I know all the technical mumbo-jumbo) for punctuation in his songs. When he does that, I feel it to my very core, and I can't help but whisper "wow" under my breath. Some people like it when the musicians shuts up and just plays music. I'm not one of those people. I crave banter! Even awkward banter is better than no banter. All José muttered through the entire show was "Hello", and that was midway through the show when his rythm section were setting up. Albeit his "Hello" was followed by a stare that looked INTO THE VERY SOULS OF EVERYONE THERE, it just wasn't enough. I got my first share of goosebumps though, and I do love goosebumps.

YizzleTeeVee: My favourite José Gonzalez song.

KUNG FU GIRLS
Norwegian legends. Reformed for the festival to play one show. They looked old, but when they started to play I gradually forgot all about their sagging skin. They played with heart, and you could see that they were having a blast performing again. And that's all it takes to sway me! It got a little samey towards the end, but still the first show that made me smile for realz.

Link: Not these Kung Fu Girls. Give me a b-b-bag to throw up in, baby! *vomits*

IRON & WINE
Really looked forward to this. I haven't delved much into the back catalogue of the band, but whenever I've put on a CD of theirs I've always felt good, so I thought this concert would be a sure thing for pleasent and awesome times. The band entered the stage looking like the teacher's lounge of some high school, which was endearing. Little did I know that they would take the otherwise beautiful songs and prog them THE FUCK OUT. Sam Beam barely even sang! Now, don't get me wrong. I admire bands who try to do something different live than what they do on record, but turning mesmerizing four minute songs into 13 minutes of guitar-wankery complete with guitar effects that screamed of "NO! NO! NOOOO!" just doesn't equal awesome in this guy's ears. I had big hopes, and they were crushed... like they were dry twigs. To end on a positive note: Whenever Sam Beam actually sang, I had a wonderful time. Too bad he only sang for like ten minutes of the 40+ minutes show.

Linkage: One of the fantastic songs that were ruined.

Man, I'm getting tired... just one more now.

GIRL TALK
Now this is were it started to get fun. Greg came out, unshaven, looking like he was ready for a game of basketball, or possibly tennis. Turns out, he was ready to PUMP SHIT UP! I wasn't completely with the program, but I did a little dance. And I smiled. Greg looked like he was a hobo off the street sent in to praise Mayhem and make some people move what their mother's gave them. It was kind of weird. I'm certain that he could've gotten the crowd to go ballistic if he'd interacted a little more with us. A simple "For this next song... I want ya'll to go fucking crazy... I mean NO ONE can stand still... wait for my word... one... two... three... BREAK!" *drops phat beat* would've sufficed. But it was a pretty sweet way to end the day of 'Okay'.

I did not stay for Grinderman. SHOCKER.

The Best(est) Festival

OK, gang.

Last week I spent six days in Oslo [oz-roh], the capital of the land in which my mother was born, namely Norway. The reason for my visit was to attend this year's Öya-festival. This was my second visit to Öya, the first one being when I was 17 years young (scroll down a bit if you seriously want to read what I had to say about it). The first time I went with my older brother. He was the only person I knew there, so naturally we went to all the concerts together, not really talking that much with anyone else. But this time was completely different. I, once again, went with my older brother, but I also had a bunch of friends from work, friends of friends, friends from uni, friends I hadn't seen in years, just a lot of awesome people EVERYWHERE. It had a completely different feel. I'm trying to juxtapose the two times I've been at Öya and thinking back makes me feel how much I've grown since then (especially reading my sum-up from way-back-when... cot damn), which is pretty neat. And reading my old blog helped me to get in the state of mind I was in, four years ago. So keep a blog/journal/whatever, people. And be surprised at what you were like at this point in your life when you read it many years from now.

BUT! This is so not why we're here. We're here to discuss a festival, and all the awesome experiences had!

My sum-up of the the first day will come later. At the mo' I'm pretty swamped with other bid-ness.

[Written while listening to Bon Iver's humming]

yes, I would really rush out

Wanna know how I got these scars?

Fuck.

The Dark Knight delivered more than I thought it would. And because I know at least one person that hasn't seen it yet, I won't spoil anything. I'll just say what everyone are saying: Heath Ledger FTO(scar).

My movie of the year. I'm almost very certain of it.

Now I need some painkillers for my mole, now removed. OMG I MIGHT HAVE MOLE CANCER! Jokes. Kidding. It's probably benign as a baby. I'm just hoping it's not Rosemary's.

"Stop writing this poop and give me some relief from this pain!" Coming, back!

Geddit?

Weird and wonderful

After watching Entourage my view of the movie biz has been tainted. Or shown the truth, I can't really decide on what I'd like to say about it. I start thinking about all the factors involved in the process of making a film*. I think about how much did the money have to say when that actor chose that movie? How much did his or her image have to do about the choice? These are things that didn't even grace my subconscious before watching Entourage. But now the thoughts are there ALL THE TIME.

Tonight was the night it hit me like a ton of bricks. The film I watched... was Punch-Drunk Love.

I liked it. Angry Adam Sandler can be so fucking awesome. It was quirky. Sweet in a sad and uncomfortable sort of way. But I couldn't stop thinking about money and image through it. Usually Sandler goes for run-of-the-mill comedies that are surefire successes in the box office. This could be called a comedy, but it's a dark one at that. I'm starting to obsess about reasons for him not to do one of his usual jobs and choosing this in stead."Whywhywhy?". It's a silly thing to obsess about, and I'm writing it down here to try to purge myself of it. Because when it comes down to it, it is interesting to know, but it's irrelevant to my enjoyment of this film or any other film. And I enjoyed this film very much. Weird and wonderful. It was directed and written by the same guy that brought you the best film of last year, namely There Will Be Blood. So the final word is: Check it out.

...now that I've thought about it, I think I can just rephrase my initial thoughts to: By showing me a truth, my view of the movie biz has been tainted. Or something to that effect. It's a combo! Combination!

* The process depicted in Entourage, mind.

"You are what you love, not what loves you"

I just watched Adaptation, the movie written by Charlie Kaufman, directed by Spike Jonze, starring Nicholas Cage in the leading roles as Charlie and Donald Kaufman. I loved it. From the first voice-over to the last. It had lots of beautiful thoughts and images. I found myself smiling without noticing it, over and over again. It isn't all flowers and jokes, though. Some moments you laugh, but then, on second thought, you didn't really find that moment amusing, but heartbreaking in stead. Nicolas Cage has starred in some great movies, don't get me wrong, but he hasn't really stood out as an actor that does anything for me. When I've watched his movies I haven't really empathized with any of his characters. But I really enjoyed how he portrayed Charlie Kaufman in this film. I haven't seen a movie starring Mr. Cage in a long time, but I think my problem with him has been that when I watch him I start thinking "this guy is acting, and I am totally aware of it", in stead of letting the movie envelope me in the story and what the characters are going through. But now I had no trouble with him what so ever. (the other actors were pretty awesome, too)

Movies that make you feel and think FTW!

Now it's sleepy time.

[Written listening to Fancy Claps]

The pride overtakes me.

Hi there.

I'm starting to get a borderline psycho stalker type fascination for John Darnielle and The Mountain Goats. He inspires me to become a better writer, a better lyricist, a better musician. I'm working on the writing part. It's been a while since I went a day without writing. The crap must out.

I've only written one song so far (actually it's not 100% finished, but it will be soon) that I'd more or less willingly play for someone other than myself. In other words I still need a lot more work on the craft of song writing. But I'm not deluding myself away from the fact that I won't shit gold every time I pick up my guitar and start free-styling. The occasional nugget appears from time to time, but mostly it's feces. Which reminds me, I need to get new guitar strings. I rock... FAR TOO HARD!

Heretic Pride is a very strong contender for album of the year for me. The lyrics make my skin crawl. The music makes my skin crawl. All the details makes me tingly inside. There's always something new to love each time I put this album on. And I can't tell you how glad I am to still have NINE albums, by the far too fantastic Mountain Goats, left to explore and get completely lost in. I get dizzy just by thinking about it. But for now my residence will be their latest offering, it's a bit too cozy to give up just yet.

(I might let Bon Iver visit, though... but only if he promises to not do his "killer Dramatic Chipmunk impersonation"... that shit wasn't even funny the first time)