Michael Jackson RIP

Well, he was not my number 1, but man, the guy was Elvis-sized.
Interesting fact I just came across: Reading Guns'N'Roses bio "Watch You Bleed" there is some background about MTV:s early years, when MTV did not want to show Michael Jackson videos, since it was "black music" and MTV did not have any broadcasting in black rural areas, and therefore no incitament to show his videos. MJ's record company had to go to court to make MTV show them, and when they finally complied, MJ went "into orbit" in popularity. So, this could have been why MJ decided he needed to become "whiter" (?). MTV killed Michael Jackson... well... hrmf, I had to find a punchy ending...

RIP Farrah

Farrah Fawcett is gone. Remember the 70's? This poster was just about everywhere.

Elvises of Emo

Placebo are back with a new album, and they are kind of okay. I've always had something of a guilty pleasure thing for this band. I usually don't like this type of introvert "Oh I'm too sensitive for this harsh world" music, with that winey little godfather of emo's Brian Molko as a singer. But I do, and the answer might be just simply because they rock a little, and kick out some catchy tunes.

Not really worth it tha day after

Watched The Hangover, an average movie, if there is such a thing. Quite funny, a bit smart, some thrills, a few surprises. But all in all, it is just...okay.
Zach Galifianakis is, according to some sources, the next comedy sensation. Maybe, I don't fully get his schtick yet, but I might. I mean, if one can consider a winey old goat like Larry David the most fun thing on TV, who knows what's next?

Superdude art project

Larry David Woody Allen Mashup

Upcoming movie by Woody Allen starring Larry David:

Superdude with color

Superdude strikes a pose - Iranian Style

A green hero...

Swedish Midsummer...

This spoof is not all wrong, Swedish midsummer is a crazy holiday...

Stuff Swedish People Like: Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal used to be equal to the end of civilisation back in the 70's when most Swedes were unisex jump suits and nature colored clogs. Today metal has become something of a folk music movement, with middle aged bands returning yearly for summer gigs. Sweden Rock is Sweden's largest rock festival, jam-packed with forgotten spandex-and-leather clad guitar heroes with receiding hair lines.



Sweden Rock is probably a top venue for ageing metal bands. The crowd treats any forgotten metal act like it is still selling millions of CD's and is the hottest thing just off of Sunset Strip. The audience will gladly start head banging and waving the sign of the devil at the simplest of riffs. A typical visitor is a male in his forties, with longish hair or a bald shave, some kind of chin beard, tattoos and a metal band logo-tee. The atmosphere is beer fuelled but friendly, everybody united in the love for hard rock.



Bands like Iron Maiden are almost as popular as Bruce Springsteen, and can boost their retirement accounts by playing for + 100 000 of metal loving Swedes every summer. If God and Satan had a standoff in Sweden, Satan would probably win, since most Swedes already have chosen the path to metallic badness. We have chosen tight spandex pants, exposed chest hair, howling men with headbands, cowboy boots, flying V-guitars and lighter-waving ballads as our favourite kind of music, second only to Springsteen, of course!

If you want to get to know a Swede, who might look the least bit like they might be into metal, you can say something like: "Did you know that Kiss had their first breakthrough outside of USA in Sweden". The Swedish person will say of course, and soon start dropping quotes from the Ozzy Osbourne reality Show. If it's a female Swede in her upper 30's or 40's, you can just mention Whitesnake, and you'll soon be discussing David Coverdale's hair products.

Superdude with boots

Stuff Swedish People Like: Bruce Springsteen

Swedish people do not believe in god, but they do bellive in Bruce. And every summer (at least) he returns to play in front of his believers, who will gladly pay a large chunk of their paycheck to be saved by The Boss. He usually plays in venues that harbour around 40 000 people or more, and if we had a 100 000 people venue in Sweden, he could probably fill such a stadium 5 nights or more every summer.

Bruce is a great performer who will do long shows. He has a huge catalogue of songs from a career that started in the early 70's, full of tunes about cars, closed down factories, teen queens from yore and unjustified wars. In short, he is a good guy with a huge heart, who will stand up for the underdog. How can you not like that? Especially Sweden, with it's long tradition of Social Democratic rule, who's politics used to be somewhat in Bruce's direction.



There are also several Bruce-clones in Sweden, the most notorious is Ulf Lundell, who is also an author, a fine artist and play writer. Lundell used to sound a bit like Dylan initially, but when Bruce broke through, there was no turning back. And if Bruce is God to many Swedes, than Lundell is Jesus, and Dylan is his uncle. Lundell usually writes adoringly about Springsteen in his books, read by many Swedes who will worship anything Lundell does. There is another Swedish older guy guitar wielder named Thomas Ledin, who's tour manager has told Springsteen that Ledin is the Swedish Springsteen. Which has led to that they hang out when Bruce is in Sweden, and Bruce usually stays in Ledin's apartment and so forth. Ledin however, is more of a Michael Bolton type, but the Boss cannot know that.



Anyhow, why do Swedes love Bruce like no other artist? There are several possible answers, the first being that Swedes are very USA-friendly, with something like 3 million emmigrating to the US in the 19th century, and there are few artists who are so all-American in a positive way as Springsteen. Another is that Bruce is a very safe and in the middle of the road-kind of artist, a little bit like a Volvo, a favourite Swedish car. Bruce is Also very "lagom". Lagom is a Swedish word, that is difficult to translate, but means something like: Not too much, nor too little, just good, right in the middle.

Superdude with claws

Stuff Swedish People Like: The sunken boat

Swedes, and especially those in the capital, Stockholm, are so fond of a sunken ship, that it boarders on worship. The Stockholmers will hold this sunken old scooner as their top pride and joy of the city, and recommend all visitors to travel to the museum in which the wreck has been put up for display.

The actor Zach Braff, was interviewed about his recent visit to Stockholm, and told the interviewers how baffled he was over the fact that what all Stockholmers recommended him to see, was just one thing: "The boat". Zach also commented he was not so impressed, since the "boat sank after half an hour" and was a "tribute to failing engineering".



Now, why do we Stockholmers feel so insanley proud over this old royal ship? The fact alone that we found the wreck where it sank in the middle of Stockholm (Stockholm is based on five islands, where a huge lake, Mälaren, meets the Baltic Sea), and that it is almost 400 years old is part of the explanation. But we have many buildings in town that are much older that this, as well as regalia, sculptures, books, weaponry, and so forth.

The logic behind the worship of "the boat" goes beyond our grasp. An explanation might be that back in the day of its rediscovery, 1956, there wasn't much media, so Vasa and its salvage became a serial in the newspapers and the only TV-channel.

The capital Stockholm and its inhabitants are not aware of that the fact that Vasa sank after only a few hundred meters, makes up for some ridicule by the more media-savvy tourists of today. Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg, has a huge little brother-complex, and has of course built a fully working replica of an old ship from their city, called Goteborg. This ship has sailed to China and back, and is a huge PR success. So why the Stockholmers cling to their sunken wreck, and don't build an operable replica of Vasa, is something of an enigma. Gothenburg: One point. Stockholm: Zero points.

3D Superdude progress

New 3D work: A superdude

Have just started a new 3D-project, will try to make a fun superhero character, a bit Jack Kirby-inspired, hopefully. Here's a first study:

MSTRKRFT - LTMT HPSTR MSC

They are from Canada. One of the guys is from great rock-duo Death From Above 1979. They sound like Daft Punk, but they are clubbier, housier, more of a party band. Excellent music for jogging, bicycling, moving to, in the summer of '09. The ultimate hipster party band? If I was a young hipster, I would listen to MSTRKRFT instead of all that twangly indie.