Found out today that a man was found murdered in the next building two days ago. Not only that; he had been lying there for nearly two weeks. Kinda creepy. It’s weird also how the neighbours have received no information whatsoever. Somebody living right above the victim only found out when enquiring about the gate being locked in the afternoon. Personally, I heard about it on the news.
Swedes can read about it here, and the rest of you can just ‘enjoy’ the included picture of my neighbourhood. By the way, a man in Gothenburg has apparently turned himself in for the murder, so that’s good at least.
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Finally some good news from across the pond. Well done, Dems!
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From newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, October 30 (loosely translated):
The Stockholm area will have to wait for the snow another few weeks. Some snow might fall tonight, but most likely it will be gone by tomorrow morning, according to the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute … it is still way too warm for the snow to stay on the ground.
Oh, really? This is what I saw when I got out of bed this morning:
Whenever the first snow of the season falls over Stockholm, everything comes to a grinding halt. This time was no exception. All trains going in and out of the central station were cancelled last night. Same thing with a number of bus lines. Surely the subway could run normally? Nope, not even that. Every single year it’s the same thing, and this in a city where winter is by far the longest season and ought to have the highest priority in terms of traffic arrangements and such. But no. When the first snow arrives in Stockholm, everybody’s caught by surprise. Chaos every time. Luckily, I didn’t have to go anywhere myself.
I probably would have been able to get a better picture if I hadn’t slept till 11, when the fresh coat had already been ruined by footsteps and - by the look of it - ski tracks. Now this is the part that bugs me: who the hell is such a winter freak that they actually go and dig up their old skis as soon as they see there’s a little bit of snow outside? I guess this is another one of those Swedish things, similar to how everybody always brings out their grills on the first moderately warm day in the spring. There’s a whole lot of this kind of obsessive compulsive behaviour among Swedes in general, and it deeply fascinates me. I share some of it myself, I’m sure, but it’s obviously much more fun to look at the things I can’t understand or relate to (such as the aforementioned obsession with barbecues). This is a topic I’m likely to get back to in the future, as I’m fascinated by these kinds of cultural traits/oddities.
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Ok, so the summer hiatus turned out to be a little longer than I intended. I’ve been postponing my return because I wanted to make sure that once I started blogging again, it wouldn’t be another half-assed effort with random posts every few weeks or so. Truth be told, I can be rather lazy, and procrastination is an art I know very well. My perfectionist nature often gets in the way of my creativity, and this is one of the things I was hoping to remedy with this blog in the first place.
Anyway, in honour of the new season, I’ve given the site a bit of an overhaul. Hope you like the new look. Aside from a few minor modifications, it’s all Beccary’s work. It’s a bit on the dark side, sure, but since I’ll be living in more or less constant darkness over the next few months, I think it’s only fitting. As you might know, we don’t get a lot of sunlight up here in the Subarctic this time of year.
As for what’s been going on while I’ve been away, we’ll get there eventually. I’ll be posting more soon as things come to me.
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Well, spring is here, finally, which should be a great thing. For some reason, though, this always seems to be the most hectic time of the year for me. It’s the middle of the semester and a bunch of exams and essays for various courses all need to be written at the same time. That probably isn’t entirely true, but since I don’t know how to plan my time, that’s what it ends up feeling like. Today I handed in a take-home exam I’ve been working on all week, and next week I have an oral presentation I’ve barely started working on yet. That’s all for gender studies. I also need to hand in another Slovene translation sometime soon, as well as finish that political science thesis…
Chances are this site won’t be updated very often this spring. Since it hasn’t really got going anyway, and I haven’t informed everybody of its existence yet (I kinda wanted to get into a habit of posting regularly first), that’s probably all for the good. I’ll make sure to regather some strength in the summer (going to Slovenia as usual) and come back here with new energy. I’ll check in here once in a while, though, whenever I have something I just have to get off my chest. As for right now, I have to go and translate some Slovene poems into Swedish. Oh joy.
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Just because the Oscar race is over doesn’t mean I have stopped watching films. Here are some short reviews of a few of the films I’ve seen over the past couple of weeks. I have also set up a Film Review Archive, where you can see what I thought of some this year’s Oscar winners and nominees. Mostly only ratings there so far, but that should change as I add reviews for the new films I see.
Paradise Now
This film deals with the topic of suicide bombings without asking you to sympathise with one particular side. Yes, it humanizes suicide bombers, but the feeling it evokes towards the main characters is not sympathy, but pity, and it delivers a fair share of criticisism to everyone involved in the ongoing conflict. A surprisingly intriguing story which had me captivated all the way to the end.
V for Vendetta
Think Nineteen Eighty-Four with a hint of The Phantom of the Opera and The Scarlet Pimpernel and you should have a pretty good idea of what this film is about. I sincerely hope that the Wachowski-haters out there don’t write this off as another The Matrix, because V for Vendetta is very different from that franchise. There are no overly long fight scenes here, and on top of being a visual masterpiece it also has a skilfully told story and a highly relevant political message. The film’s anarchic undertones may be uncomfortable to some, but it brings up some difficult issues in a thoughtful and provocative way. I’m not at all familiar with the graphic novel by Alan Moore, but as a fan of dystopian fiction à la Orwell and Huxley, I loved every minute of this film.
Keane
The best portrayal of mental illness I’ve seen in a long time. Even though we are never told what the protagonist, a man named William Keane, suffers from, it seems to me that he’s a paranoid schizophrenic. The story follows Keane as he desperately tries to function in the world, and as he searches for his missing daughter. Whether or not she is real, we don’t know. Damian Lewis does an excellent job in the leading role. His face is on camera most of the time throughout the film, and since there is no music present, the suspense relies entirely on the viewer being able to read Lewis’ gestures and facial expressions. Writer and director Lodge Kerrigan seems to like this type of story-telling, as his previous two films, Clean, Shaven (which also deals with schizophrenia) and Claire Dolan, also feature characters who won’t let us know what they’re thinking, forcing us to pay attention and decide for ourselves. It’s a style probably not appreciated by everybody, but I like it.
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Things have been a little slow here lately, I know. I seem to find it more convenient to pester other people’s blogs with my comments than to write a post of my own. Old habits die hard, I guess. One of the reasons for the lack of posts is that I’ve had trouble deciding what to write about. Not that there isn’t anything interesting going on in the world, but since I just set this thing up, I haven’t quite figured out who it is I’m writing for. There’s lots of stuff going on in Sweden at the moment, but I figure there isn’t much point in writing about it in English. Unless the point is to explain Swedish affairs to a foreign audience, of course, but I reckon that would require including more background information to each topic, which would probably get tiresome after a while. This site is obviously not meant to be a news source, but a place where I can get some things off my mind.
So why am I writing in English at all then, you may wonder. Well, there are plenty of reasons for that, one being the fact that this is the language I speak at home. If you know me in person, you already know this, of course. I also have friends in other countries, as well as some foreign friends living in Sweden, with whom I hope to communicate through this weblog.
Anyway, I’ve started to think that perhaps I should keep one blog in English, for more universal topics, and one blog in Swedish, which would focus more on Sweden-related topics. I do read quite a few Swedish blogs regularly, and it would probably be a good idea to stop bothering them as much with my annoying comments and write some posts of my own on similar topics instead. I think I’ll give it a shot, and then I can evaluate later on whether to stick with both or to focus on one or the other. I don’t think it would be that good an idea to have a bilingual blog. I’ve seen a few out there, but it seems kind of annoying for some not to be able to understand all the posts. I’d rather do some occasional paralel posting instead.
So, you can expect some more regular posting here in the near future. And stay tuned for a link to my new Swedish blog!
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Well, no big surprises this year. I was right in 10 out of 13 predictions, and I didn’t make any very bold picks. I didn’t expect Clooney to win the supporting actor award, but it did make sense when he got up there. I should have expected that they wouldn’t let him leave empty-handed after being nominated in several categories, and that was the one he was most likely to win. I know, I’m being somewhat cynical, but I was right about Ang Lee and Crash, wasn’t I?
Jon Stewart was a good host. As a fan of The Daily Show I had no doubts about his ability, but I didn’t trust the audience to respond that well to his comedy. Sure, he may have been a little too ‘nice’ and he could probably have challenged them (and us) a little more, but I still think he was as funny as one could expect from an Oscar host.
Kudos to Kanal 5 for realising that most Swedes have no idea who Jon Stewart is. The decision to air an episode of The Daily Show (the one from Feb 23 with Roger Ebert; a good choice in itself) right before the awards show was a smart one. The channel deserves credit just for picking up the Oscars in a year when the public service network decided they couldn’t afford it because “this is such a big sports year”.
Robert Altman received some special honours, and deservedly so, but when did the Lifetime Achievement Award become “Honorary Oscar”? Or is that something else entirely?
All in all, it was quite an entertaining show. Probably the best one in years. I especially enjoyed the fact that no film got to dominate by winning several big awards. Four acting awards spread out over four films, and the best picture didn’t also win best directing. Now, we can only hope that this year’s unusual lot of low-grossing winners and nominees will inspire the big Hollywood studios to make more quality films in the future.
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Tonight’s Academy Awards show is special for two reasons. First, it is being hosted by Jon Stewart, who I’m sure will do a terrific job but may not be appreciated by everyone at an event such as this (just look at David Letterman; I thought he was fine, but it seems that most people thought he sucked). The other reason is that this year, for the first time, I’ve actually made an effort to see as many of the nominated films as possible before the awards are given out. I got nowhere close to seeing all of them of course, but at least I got to see plenty more than I usually do. Many of the films haven’t even reached Sweden yet, and some of them probably won’t ever get a theatrical release here unless they win something big tonight.
Anyway, here are my predictions. The films I’ve seen are written in bold letters.
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Terrence Howard - Hustle and Flow
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line
David Strathairn - Good Night and Good Luck
As much as I’d love Joaquin Phoenix to win, I can’t see this Oscar going to anybody but Philip Seymour Hoffman. He’s the one everybody’s talking about. Heath Ledger might have a chance, but only if Brokeback Mountain is having one of those nights.
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Judi Dench - Mrs Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
Keira Knightley - Pride and Prejudice
Charlize Theron - North Country
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line
Reese Witherspoon really nailed her role as June Carter, and she’s riding on a wave of success right now. Charlize Theron was good in the otherwise quite lame and occasionally pathetic North Country, but the only real competition to Reese should be Felicity Huffman.
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
George Clooney - Syriana
Matt Dillon - Crash
Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain
William Hurt - A History of Violence
Jake Gyllenhaal can win only if Heath Ledger wins also. William Hurt’s performance cannot have been longer than ten minutes and left no impression on me whatsoever, so I’m going with Matt Dillon. He made an excellent racist asshole. Paul Giamatti is the outsider here, since he was overlooked for Sideways last year, but I’ve never even heard of Cinderella Man.
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Amy Adams - Junebug
Cathrine Keener - Capote
Frances McDormand - North Country
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain
Again, Michelle Williams could win if the academy has decided for Brokeback Mountain to have one of those nights. I’m rooting for Rachel Weisz, who finally took a role in a decent film and proved she’s a good actress. Frances McDormand obviously got nominated on old merits, as she was hardly noticeable in North Country.
BEST DIRECTING:
Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee
Capote - Bennett Miller
Crash - Paul Haggis
Good Night and Good Luck - George Clooney
Munich - Steven Spielberg
Ang Lee should win this one. Paul Haggis would definitely be a worthy winner, but he’s a newcomer (and old TV writer) not many people have heard of before. Clooney is an outsider. Spielberg has made a Scorsese and has no chance of winning. I’m sure that doesn’t make any sense to anybody but myself, but nevermind.
BEST PICTURE:
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night and Good Luck
Munich
This is definitely a battle between Brokeback Mountain and Crash. The latter really deserves some recognition, so I’m hoping that Ang Lee’s directing Oscar (assuming my prediction holds) will open up for Crash to win this one.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Brokeback Mountain - Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
Capote - Dan Futterman
The Constant Gardener - Jeffrey Caine
A History of Violence - Josh Olson
Munich - Tony Kushner and Eric Roth
Brokeback Mountain, hands down.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Crash - Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco
Good Night and Good Luck - George Clooney and Grant Heslov
Match Point - Woody Allen
The squid and the Whale - Noah Baumbach
Syriana - Stephen Gaghan
Tough call as I’ve only seen two, but no matter what a great comeback they say Woody Allen has made, I think Crash just has to win this.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
Howl’s Moving Castle
Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace & Gromit should be a sure bet here. I have yet to see it, but everybody else loved it. Hayao Miyazaki was awarded for Spirited Away a couple of years ago, but Howl’s Moving Castle is said to not be as good. The Corpse Bride was a charming little film, but little more than that.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Darwin’s Nightmare
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
March of the Penguins
Murderball
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin
The penguin film seems to be loved by the public, but Murderball has received rave reviews. Since I haven’t seen any of these, I couldn’t care less who wins this one.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Don’t Tell (Italy)
Joyeux Noel (France)
Paradise Now (Palestina)
Sophie Scholl - The Final Days (Germany)
Tsotsi (South Africa)
Paradise Now could win because of the controversy it has caused, but if the voters have actually bothered to see any of these films, I think the Oscar will go to Tsotsi. It’s a great film deserving of a bigger audience, and an Oscar would help it get a wider distribution.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Batman Begins - Wally Pfister
Brokeback Mountain - Rodrigo Prieto
Good Night and Good Luck - Robert Elswit
Memoirs of a Geisha - Dion Beebe
The New World - Emmanuel Lubezki
Probably Brokeback Mountain, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Good Night and Good Luck getting its only Oscar in this category. The photography was probably what I enjoyed the most in that film.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
King Kong
War of the Worlds
This is one of those categories where it really doesn’t matter. The effects look great in all of them. So I’ll ‘vote’ with my heart and go with King Kong, since that’s the best film of the bunch.
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Yep, that’s right. Yet another blog! As if there weren’t enough of them out there already. Well, here it is anyway, my own little place for posting thoughts on current events, music, film and whatever else that comes to mind. We’ll see how it turns out.
Feel free to comment on the design. I myself can’t decide whether or not I like the colours of the sidebar, so any constructive criticism is warmly welcome.
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