Drop it

Freak the beat

Mexico baby

No more habanero.

Photos. Loads. And loads.

Vacation 2005

I got big James up here. On a friday night, we had a cup of tea and a glass of fläderblomssaft. Check ut out!

Compressed without compromises - 10 days of vacation in 6 minutes and 31 seconds

Film: Semester2005

Photoalbum will be posted later.

We are back in Sweden. I already miss heat and sweat, tears and hate, food and wine.

Howling Howth!

Been spending the day in Howth. Little villain village by the sea not far from Dublin. Having cider and fishy fish stuff to make this day complete.
Tomorrow going back to swedeland, not feeling up for that at all. Could easily stay on this god-forgotten island for another month or two.

More photos from the vacation soon!

Gayish football and hurling

Sitting in Dublin with a glass of wine in my hand. Kids trying to get to bed, parents doing parent stuff, I am left with the telly and a bottle of wine. Irish television shows hurling and gailis football. I don't get it at all.

Spanish trip was terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrific. Will post photos when we are back on swedish ground.

Big ups to spain and all the guiris i love down there. See you all soon again!

Me, lender

No, this is not a play on the surname "Melinder", despite it being truly great to see all three of them all together, all happy and very smiley (Blenda) and the fact that this blog wouldn't have survived this long with Tomas' near-fervent blogging of life and times in Malmö. The "lenders" in question are the bastards, sorry, "friends", who borrow shit and never return it. I have lots (perhaps) hundreds of CDs and books over the years. Well, okay, maybe not THAT many, but quite a few anyway. I am probably guilty of a few "loan crimes" myself over the years (that was until I developed the habit of separating other people's stuff I'd borrowed from my own collection). Thankfully, I never lost any LPs as I don't lend out vinyl, they get scrathed too easily. Anyway, the point (or one of the points) of this blog is to say that I just ordered a new copy of Bill Drummond's "45". Nice new cover too, so I don't feel so bad about "losing" the last one (except for the fact that one of my best friends bought it for me from Bill Drummond himself after a reading in Liverpool). Actually, the porblem seems to arise only when a thrid party is introduced in the "loan equation". I don't lend things I've borrowed to a third party as the stream of respect is instantly lost and the third person already thinks of him/herself as guilt-free should anyting happen to the borrowed item as they may not know the owner personally or if they do they were not the ones who borrowed it from the owner. Also, they (the third party) have got absolutely no fear of who lent it to them as they know they are not the real owners of the item anyway. Then, when you add a third or a fourth party, the whole thing gets really complicated and things (CDs, books, magazines), as a result, almost inevitably get "lost". Then again, after having reflected on this point for a few moments (perhaps longer, perhaps my whole adult life), it is sometimes nice to lose books. I know it's a strange thing to say (write) after moaning about people losing my books, but it's true. A friend of mine lent a book to a friend, who in turn lent it to another friend and so on and the book never made it back to him. Not only did my friend (we'll call him "Stephen") not get annoyed over the fact his book was seemingly lost and, to some extent, somewhat irretrievable, he was actually comforted by the fact that he might not get it back. His Zen-like reasoning was that this book was now being enjoyed by someone else. His brilliant judgement came to him slowly (over a matter of weeks) but it was as simple as that. The fact that it was a good book that he'd enjoyed a lot made this thought ever-more comforting to him. He took this a step further when he went travelling (to Thailand, I think it was) and actually gave away the books that'd he'd read on the trip to people he met. He told them they could have the book as long as they passed it on when they read it. I got given a book once, when I was on holiday, under the same pretext, that I'd read it and pass it on. I like that idea. I know another friend (who we shall call "Miss X" - because I can't remember who it was who told me) who doesn't believe in owning books. She believes that literature, fiction, whatever should be in the public domain as much as possible and that owning a book and keeping on a shelf for years is a crime of culture. They weren't her exact words, but I think that's what she meant.

There is a first time for everything.And a last.

First day of vacation. All stressed out and nervous about the trip. I am normally not a big fan or travelling, and this time it´s gonna be even more complicated. First time for Blenda, and actually first time that me and Josephine travels together. First time we got vacation together. I´ve known here for more than 9 years and been married more than a year, and still, this is our first vacation together. It could be totally fantastic and wonderful, it could also end up in chaos and teards. We´ll see where this boat is going.....

Rebecca, how could we get in to the flat tomorrow at noon? I think we´ll be in the centre around lunch time. And is it still hot as hell in Spain?

I´ve got a headache.

I hear that Andy Lewis will be in Barcelona this week as well. Is that so?

And what about Christian over in Mexico? I read in the newspaper that they got strong winds over there. Strong enough to evacuate 15000 people working at the oil companies.... Are you OK, Xrilo?


Who is this drunk spanish guy trying to steal my baby?

Yo, slackers. We are on our way.

Terror Danjah!!! Is it still hot as hiell? Should we bring clothes or not? Naked is the new cool?

Last day at the office as we know it.

Perro Feo.

Elvis built by post-its....

Is this love?

That I´m feeling.
Is this love...

This is love.

Here's a Stevie Wonder joke for ya...

Stevie Wonder is playing his first gig in Tokyo and the place is absolutely packed to the rafters. In a bid to break the ice with his new audience he asks if anyone would like him to play a request. A little old Japanese man jumps out of his seat in the first row and shouts at the top of his voice "Play a Jazz chord ! Play a jazz chord!". Amazed that this guy knows about the jazz influences in Stevie's varied career, the blind impresario starts to play an E minor scale and then goes into a difficult jazz melody for about 10 minutes. When he finishes the whole place goes wild. The little old man jumps up again and shouts "No, no, play a Jazz chord, play a Jazz chord". A bit pissed off by this, Stevie, being the professional that he is, dives straight into a jazz improvisation with his band around the B flat minor chord and really tears the place apart. The crowd goes wild with this impromptu show of his technical expertise. The little old man jumps up again. "No, no. Play a Jazz chord, play a jazz chord".

Well and truly pissed off that this little guy doesn't seem to appreciate his playing ability. Stevie says to him from the stage "OK smart ass. You get up here and do it!" The little old man climbs up onto the stage, takes hold of the microphone and starts to sing... "A jazz chord... to say... I ruv you..."

I pity you

Blenda, going down.

Yes, I pity you fools that don´t get to share your days with Blenda Loranga Melinder. She is the best.
Ok, I know, this might not be the most interesting film clip in the world. But she is mine. That girl is mine.

Time to get some sun in my face.l

Big big big

Saw a big piso yesterday, a duplex near Fontana, actually it's just around the corner from my old Spanish school. The flat was nice, although you couldn't possibly live there withouth ending up injuring your neighbours as they have the nicest terrazza in the world. And I do mean in the entire world. 4 bedrooms and a nice spacious sitting room. Radiators. 3 balconies. 2 toilets.

The flat would be very nice if it weren't for the 70-ies style that completely overtakes the whole flat. The floor tiles are nothing but horrible and the kitchen tiles, well, I can only think of words in Swedish to describe it. Fatal fatal.

In other words, the Hunt goes on.

When can we expect la familia Melindorr? This time you will get the guest room, me promise.

I.C.E.

Good morning slack-buddies, I just thought I'd share this with you after my ever frought-with-fear mother (bless 'er) forwarded me this email (spurred by the recent massacre in our nation's capital, no doubt). It is a "very good idea" (the importance of the e-mail was marked "High" with a little red flag beside the subject line, so it must be important):
Chris Carney, Chief Exec of the East Anglian Ambulance Service has launched a national "In case of Emergency ( I.C.E. ) Campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston. The idea is that you store the word "I C E " in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency". In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them. It's so simple that everyone can do it. For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.

It is a good idea, is it not? I am not really sure why the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston was actually needed, if I may be so callous, but I suppose it adds some kind of media-trusted validity to the already-good idea when you have the backing of a disfigured ex-soldier who's been on the telly a few times. For those not familar with Mr. Weston (not that I know him personally), he is/was a soldier who basically got burned somehow in some stupid war defending a stupid piece of land from stupid invading "enemy" forces (ie, the Argentineans, if I am not mistaken) so that those two flocks of sheep and the piss-pot radio station there would radio remain part of the British Empire. Excellent work! Anyway, Mr Weston sadly got injured very badly (burns all over his body), returned to the UK a hero, went on the telly and is now offically "supporting" and lending his name to campaigns for good ideas. There's a moral in the somewhere.

Birds on buzz / Ninja movezz

Morning lovers, friends and mongoloids.

Ain´t it a pretty day we´re looking at? I have a slight, slight hangover from yesterdays BBQ with big Johan and his girlfriend Anna last night. He got an ever freakier haircut than last time I saw him. He looks like a crossover of a pimp and a new age freak. Lovely.

How was the flat, Rebo & Jimbo?

We´re looking at houses, again. Hmmm... I am not totally convinced. But I know one girl that is very good at convincing me. At the end of the day my opinion is probably not the same.

Hot hot shit!

They said that Stockholm was the hottest capital of europe the other day. Don´t ask me, i pity Stockholm. Skåne is hot as hella. I love it. Spent the weekend in Månstorp, again. Really nice, just sitting in the shadow and let the little ones take care of each other.


Keep my girls safe from harm

Glasgow, Glasgow where are you.

David Hasselhof raps (!) about penguins...

Bah.

Weekend all over my face. I´m too tired to even bother.
Come sun, come summer. I´m going to bed.

Computers are difficult stuff!

You can't be in my band cause...

... I already hired this guy:

Heavy heavy metal

If I get one of these, can I play in someone´s band then? I promise I´ll practise and do good.
Gun Bass

svalbard

Anyone?
Swedish pollen summers sucks.
Where's the rain?

Sällskapsresan

Oh me, oh my. Headache and tired. Just as it is supposed to be.
Devendra Banhart rocked my world yesterday. One of the best shows I´ve seen in a very long time. Sonic Youth as well. And Smog is always good. Weather was crap, cold, windy and raining. People didn´t care at all, they sat in the grass drinking beers anyway. Maybe coz they had paid 40 euros to get in.

Nytt lågvattenmärke på löpsedlarna.
"LASSE BERGHAGEN FICK KÄNSLO BLACKOUT I ALLSÅNG PÅ SKANSEN"
Jag citerar:
"Återkomsten i "Allsång på Skansen" blev för mycket.
I direktsändning drabbades Lasse Berghagen plötsligt av en blackout.
– Jag minns inget av vad som hände. Det var svartruta, säger han."

If all goes well...

a catalan little man with baggy jeans will call me to say that we can move into this mansion

Can I can I? The balcony is big and nice. But why 2 toilets? "va muy bien si viene visitas" said the guy who showed the flat. Jahaja. What does his friends do when they visit?

Today: inspired copy sent to me from a client

Caption for a picture with some guys with post-its posted everywhere:
In a client's company, as the Workshop about Innovation goes by.

Caption for a picture with a girl with a laptop:
Laura is member of the Innovation team. In this picture, she is working on a Business Plan with her laptop .

Maybe it should be noted that the copy is written by a french woman who first writes in Spanish then translates to English.

Today: Music

Line-up:
Caribou
CocoRosie
Colleen
Devendra Banhart
Jenny Wilson
Joanna Newsom
Logh
Magnolia Electric Co
Smog
Sonic Youth
Stars
Teenage Fanclub
The Secret Machines

Blenda and I will go there after lunch, and then she´ll be picked up by her mum and I will get silly drunk in the company of Bill Callahan and a million other indiepop kids.

Yesterday I went to the movies, saw SIN CITY. Raw, dirty, disgusting and visually bombastic. Go see it.

Vague memories from Barcelona

Christian had a camera

Waiting for the cheese and all that.....

A nice summer evening.

Cabbage

Don´t be misled by the URL: http://www.cpkuk.com/

I wanna be your dawg

Dog supporting Blenda taking first step(s)


Ready for some entertainment. The Cheese are playing tonight in Malmö. Me and Blenda will try to sneak past the cue.