What do you think of my brand new Jango jukebox? I'm beta testing the social music service Jango and they just launched this new jukebox widget which lets you embed a player with your favorite tunes on your blog. And it works nicely here on Vox. Click any picture to play the artist pictured:
I'm testing Pictobrowser, a cool tool that lets me add photos from flickr to my Vox blog (the flickr badges don't work on accord of a CSS conflict). Here are more of my best Berlin photos:
I visited Berlin during the last days of November. The weather was cold and clear and even though I was there to attend a conference, I had the chance to take a day off and see some of Berlin's sites.
Some of the highlights were lunch in the cool new dome of the Reichstag, people watching in Prenzlauer Berg and strolling in the Christmas market in the Gedänknis Kirche square at night
Today, when I was out for my Saturday walk, there was ice on the fjord for the first time this year. That means it's time to brace for winter by delighting in summer memories.
This summer we visited Thailand for the first time. It was one of my best holidays ever:
- Thai people are friendly and mostly laidback and cool.
- The culture isvery much influenced by Buddhism and there are fantastic temples virtually everywhere.
- Thai history is interesting: Thailand is the only country in the region that never was colonized. In fact, Thailand was quite an empire at one time.
- And of course the food! Thai food isn't just spicy -- you can have ti any way you want: Flaming hot curries or mild and gentle noodle dishes like pad thai, crispy salads and some great soups.
Here are some highlights in a short yet colorful video:
I have more photos online here.
A friend sent me the link to some fantastic photos: Two lads, Paul and Kian from Australia, have been touring Afghanistan with a camera.
The web site has 40 photos: Amasing landscapes, burkhas, mosques and more. But most of all faces -- the rugged face of an old farmer, the shy smile of a young girl... Some of them have the same intensity and relevance as the famous National Geographic cover photo of a young Afghan girl from the days of the Soviet invasion.
These portraits provide a much needed alterantive source of information about Afghanistan. Even though it is clear fron the photos that this is a country severely marked by war, it is not all about tanks, bombs and evil mullahs. These are real people, not unlike me and you, trying to live ordinary lives under extraordinary circumstances. Have a look for yourself!
These days I find myself spending a lot of time on Fanpop, a network of user-generated fansites for different topics of interest created and maintained by the community of fans. Fanpop is a charming community and I find the interaction on the fan spots and between the fans truly addictive.
The first fan spot I created -- way back in the summer of 2006, is dedicated to heavy metal. The poll below is part of that spot.
As a teenager in the 80's I was a fan of the British synth pop band Japan. I even bought the two first solo albums of Japan's lead figure, David Sylvian. As the years went by, I forgot about him and when a friend invited be to his concert here in Oslo, I was quite surprised to hear that he is still touring and recording.
Sylvian is still very much a synth artist although now he is definitely a jazz artist and not in the pop or rock genre. Some of the songs were more than a little experimental. Not being much of a jazz fan myself, I still enjoyed the concert a lot. Here's why:
The mesmerizing voice
David Sylvian has an absolutely wonderful voice. It is like dark velvet -- soft and smooth and brilliant. I could
The mood
David Sylvian is melancholic. This is no secret, no surprise. Most of his songs are blue. He carries this mood without apology or ironiy and without self pity. He lyrics are mostly meditative, introspective, and he performs them with a lot of heart. I repect that and I cherished the pensive, tender mood that I brought with me from the concert.
This potentially embarrassing question was posed to me by a waiter at our hotel on Chaweng Beach on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand this summer. She was not being rude or saucy ;) She was worried about my western palate and afraid that the food I had just ordered would be too hot for me.
And in case you are wondering: Yes, I am. Spicy. I like all things hot and savoury and I enjoyed every single meal in Thailand -- 3 weeks of steaming curries in red, green and yellow, noodles, soups and all kinds of crisy exotic vegetables.
I liked Thai cooking so much that I enrolled in an evening class at the Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Arts (SITCA). If you are ever in Thailand, I recommend a cooking class. Some of the larger hotels in Bangkok have them too. I have blogged about my experience over at Enjoy Food & Travel.
I am amused and confused: I have been laughing and cheering my way through all 21 episodes of the first season of Gilmore Girls in one week. Yes, I know I am seven years late. All these years, I have seen the little teasers for new episodes and never been the least curious. I was sure these skinny, smug, smiling small-town girls were not for me.
Boy was I wrong! The other night I watched 5 episodes in one stretch and I came away feeling a strange kinship to these Girls. They are exactly as pretty, perky and provincial as I expected, so what's the attraction?
Here are the reasons why I never even considered watching Gilmore Girls all these years:
- My entertainment of choice is usually science fiction, fantasy or thrillers.
- I consider myself an urban girl -- I grew up in a small village that resembles Stars Hollow in many ways and I moved away as soon as I had a chance.
- The majority of my friends are men. Giggling, glamorous girls used to scare me.
Then a friend I really trust told me she was addicted to the Gilmore Girls. She has season two and three on DVD and watches them over and over again. So I decided I would get her season one for her birthday, which is next week. At the store, they had removed the plastic box so they could display the box and keep the DVDs save behind the counter. There was nothing to stop me from taking a peak. And here's what I found:
- Even though I fled the village I grew up in, I am still a country girl in many ways and I can relate to the inhabitants of Stars Hollow (although they are a little stereotyped).
- My mother was a single mom and even though she is more akin to Emily Gilmore than to Lorelai, I recognize so many of the joys and sorrows of the Gilmore Girls.
- From my busy big-city perspective it is soothing to follow the life in Stars Hollow where -- in spite of all the activity -- nothing much happens.
- The script writers know all there is to know about popular culture and all the references they cram into the dialog makes it both hilarious and interesting to follow. I brought my iBook with me in front of the TV to check them on IMDB or Wikipedia. Great fun!
Luckily for me, my friend has the next two seasons lined up for me and then there are four more.
Are you a Gilmore Girl too? Then you might want to check out these Stars Hollow souvenirs.
You may not know this about me, but I'm a real rock chick -- and I like it heavy! This is a passion I share with my sister. We have a special devotion to Ozzy Osbourne and early Black Sabbath. So we were really thrilled when we got tickets to his Black Rain Tour at Oslo's Spectrum Arena June 10 2007.
To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. The man's pushing 60 and he's had a hard life -- a very hard life. Would he be weak? Should he have stayed at home? I decided that I wanted to see him no matter what. It would be a kind of pilgrimage to pay homage to what I consider a living legend.
Anyway, it turned out to be academic. Yes, Ozzy isn't young anymore. And yes, he had more energy in his youth. But he still has a lot of it and he has that wild, intense presence which he is famous for.
We heard his voice before he entered the scene and from that moment on we were on a rock 'n' roll roller coaster! He captured the audience and kept us captivated through the concert, all with his unique presence. There was no fancy show: No costumes, no smoke, no choreography, just Ozzy and his band.
This is what Ozzy sang for us:
- Bark At The Moon
- Mr. Crowley
- Not Going Away
- War Pigs
- Believer
- Road To Nowhere
- Suicide Solution
- I Don't Know
- Here For You
- I Don't Wanna Change The World
Extras:
- Mama I'm Coming Home
- Crazy Train
- Paranoid
In other words, the set included most of my favorites from Ozzy's solo years (Mr. Crowley, Suicide Solution, I Don't Know, and Crazy Train, but not Perry Mason, which has a strange and whimsical text but is still a great tune). I had hoped for more Sabbath material, but the two we got were great.
Not Going Away and Here For You are both from Ozzy's latest album Black Rain. Not Going Away is by far the strongest track and I was glad we got to hear it. Here For You is a ballad. Old rockers can be really soft and this tune is really sentimental. That's OK, though. I can be sentimental too, sometimes.
