Procrastination

Something I've turned into an art form, if not a way of life... here's an interesting article on the subject.

My cat is a slut

I rest my case.

Updates? You want updates?

Here's your stinkin' update, biatches! To make a potentially long and gruesome story short: I've had troubles with the old leg for a few months. Key words are bandages, antibiotics, surgery and pain, not necessarily in that order. Anyhow, I'm doing much better now, although I spend entirely too much of my spare time sitting on my ass with my leg up on a chair. Come to think of it... apart from the chair, not much has changed.

Here are a few pics from my trip to Berlin in early April (the bad leg meant I had to skip the tank driving, and I could go on at length about how effin painful it was to limp around down there, but I'll spare you the details). Berlin is a brilliant city, and I'm definitely going back there some day, when my leg has healed.


From the Egyptian section at Alte Museum, the cat goddess Bastet. Ya'll knows ah lubs kitties, doncha?




A watchtower and sections of the Berlin Wall not far from Potsdammer Platz.

Sauerkraut, here I come

Off to Berlin Thursday-Sunday, together with about 20 colleagues. We'll be visiting a German school Friday morning (hoping to pick up some tips on how to maintain order in the class room... the Germans have a reputation for discipline... let's not go into details...) but the rest of the weekend is purely social.

Saturday a handful of us are booked to drive an old Russian T-55 armored tank, which to me sounds like pure therapy. Maybe we'll just hijack the thing and head for the Polish border and surprise the fuck outta those guys... woo hoo!

Not giving up my daytime job

Powered By Adult Toy Shop

Best documentary

THIS should be the natural winner of an Oscar for best documentary. Unlike the so-called documentaries by previous winners Al Gore and Michael Moore, this one at least doesn't contain outright lies. Also, the threat it presents is vastly more dangerous and immediate.




UPDATE: The cowardly bastards at LiveLeak have pulled the video, but it's still available at google.

Yet another conspiracy

'tis happening again... just as I am getting ready for my Easter holiday and my trip to London, I'm hit with a cold. As usual I blame the universe, which has always had it in for me. Ugh!

Still in need of a life

How much do I neeed a life? Well, last Friday I bought all 3 Jurassic Park movies, and proceeded to watch them in a row during the afternoon/evening. If that doesn't qualify as desperate, I don't know what would.

Saturday I started watching the X-files, since I'd bought the full 9-season dvd box, and I'm midway throught the 3rd season now... my excuse is that I'm on some heavy antibiotics, so I don't really feel like leaving the house 'cept for work. Though I strongly suspect I'd be sitting on my lard ass in front of the screen anyway...

Tut

In the mailbox today: My ticket to the Tut-Ankh-Amun exhibition in London in March. Oh, how I would love to place my grubby, little hands on those golden treasures... it's good to be the king.

No surprise there

My "deadly sin" is sloth. What's yours?

I wish me a merry Christmas...

I've made many brilliant decisions in my life, but I do believe the shmartest of them all was when I stopped celebrating Christmas, back in '92. I've had stress free Decembers for 15 years now, and I ain't goin' back. On the other hand, every day is pamper myself day, so this morning I bought the complete Seinfeld DVD box and the Twin Peaks Gold Box Edition AND Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl to top it off. Earlier this month I got me a signed copy of Absolute Sandman, volume two plus new books by Stephen Donaldson and Terry Pratchett. Life is good, people. Life is good.

Mea MAXIMA culpa

I know, I know... things have been very slow here these past few weeks... what with work and the upcoming US primary elections, I've been so, so busy dear readers. I haven't even managed to complete my travel story from Ukraine in August. I pwomise to make amends during the holidays, mmmok?

Mea culpa

Okokokok... I know I've been tardy with my posts lately... I've actually been busy with work and shit, so there. Anyways, I know for a fact that most of you guys, especially the Norwegians who read this blog, are supportive of the US armed forces. So AGAIN, I'm pimping this webpage: anysoldier.com, where you can donate money or send care packages to US troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you support what they're doing, put your money where your mouth is. With the dollar being so cheap, your Norwegian krone will buy a whole lotta love for the guys and gals in uniform. 'tis the giving season, so spend your cash on something meaningful this year!

How to spend Halloween

1. Buy a small mountain of chocolate.

2. Dim the lights, bolt the door and draw the curtains.

3. Put on a DVD from the 3rd season of The Simpsons.

4. Shove said mountain of chocolate in your face until ready to puke.

5. Crank up the volume on the DVD as much as necessary to drown out the noise from the weeping, sugar-deprived neighborhood children on your doorstep.

Office party

I've said it before - the main reason I'm still teaching is my colleagues. They're a thoroughly fun bunch of people, and it seems the newcomers this year are great too. Friday we had our annual faculty party - ostensibly a "getting to know you" gig for the newly hireds, it is now the social highlight of the fall season. We were almost 30 people this year, and we ate & drank & laughed for hours. There was also the annual raffle, in which the possibly most clinically insane of us (no, that honor is not mine...yet) raffles out not only the bought and given prizes, but also personal effects he's stolen from our work desks earlier in the day, together with every piece of furniture the host hasn't nailed down or hidden. Later, as the sissies and the drunkards started to melt away, we turned on some music and in the end there was just half a dozen of us left. Around 2:30 yours truly started to sing... a little Simon & Garfunkel, a little Italian... I'm tellin' ya, I had the newbies swooning... it was 4:30 before I finally got home; tired but happy.

Mooooovies

It's been way too long since I've bored ya'll with my highly subjective and loudly voiced movie reviews. So here goes.

Stardust. Ah. Hmm. Uhm. *sigh* Absofuckinlutely great movie... IF - and only if - you haven't already read and fallen completely in love with the book. Good acting, plenty of fun, humor, action and adventure, all wrapped in the customary romantic light. Which is part of the problem. The book has lots of romance, indeed it depends on it. But not the kind of soppy happy-ever-after commercial blockbuster romance that the movie revels in. There are some pretty fundamental pieces missing in this film version, and it takes away most of the sense of mystery that added so much to the adventure and the melancholy that added so much to the romance in the book. (You'll be horrified at what they've done to the ending, which is possibly one of the saddest but also most beautiful texts ever put to paper.)

Gaiman's work of genius is more complex, more subtle, more sad and infinitely more poetic. By all means, if you don't know the book, go watch the movie; it deserves a fair, unbiased viewing. You'll likely love it, for it is still a good story well told, indeed it is one of the best movies I've seen in ages. But please, please, please go read the book afterwards and allow yourself to fall in love with the masterpiece of the planet's greatest living author - Neil Gaiman.


Planet Terror - Robert Rodriguez' half of the two-piece Grindhouse project he did together with Quentin Tarantino is a true joyride. It's got all the insane, hilarious gore one expects from a good zombie flick and it'll keep you laughing throughout. Good, unpretentious fun for the kids (meaning me)!


The Bourne Ultimatum - I've never cared much for Robert Ludlum (a stuffy Jack Higgins), nor Matt Daemon (a slightly retarded Leonardo DeCaprio), but this movie will rock you. The Bourne franchise has already given James Bond much needed competition and this is so far the best in the series, I think. High paced, full of action and excitement. Also, a journalist with The Guardian gets a bullet in the head, which is always a good thing.


Rush hour 3 - You've seen it all before, but it's still ever so slightly amusing (yes, I'm easy). The personal chemistry between Chan and Tucker creates a good atmosphere, and though the script is ridiculous and the punchlines are worn it still provided for 90 minutes of escape from reality.

Finally

Stardust finally premieres here in Norway Friday 21st! Woo hoo! The book is my absolute all time favorite work of fiction, and I can only hope that the movie is able to convey the humor, warmth, excitement and adventure that is Neil Gaiman's fairyland. If you haven't already read the book, buy it asap. If there's a smidgeon of poetry in your soul you'll love it!