Gogol Bordello, Voxhall

Wednesday evening. Place just about full. A very mixed audience - possibly because of the "NYC Live Band of the Year" predicate on the Voxhall flyer. Inspiring and energetic support band. Great DJ warm-up of house- and indie-coated gypsy music. Enter Gogol Bordello. People dancing, jumping, clapping all the way to the bar. Madman Hütz doing his thing - beating the crap out of his acoustic guitar. Manu Chao extra. 10+ crowd surfing youngsters during the show. An incredible 10, maybe 15 minute extra, most of it repeating one single verse - yet the crowd loves it and is determined to keep up.

All of this on Wednesday evening. I think I'll just skip Thursday and head straight into weekend mode.

Digestive masochism

Why is it that women have an obsessive craving for full-grain bread products?

I'm sure varied food is good and all, but I don't really care for mother-in-law's full-grain oatmeal buns, when they've been frozen to death and then re-heated for consumption in the early hours of what was supposed to be a good day. It's like eating dehydrated compost. Your tongue feels all swollen when the blood vessels succumb to oral osmosis. The coffee you desperately need to process it with turns back into its instant form and gets crunchy. The density is like that of pulverized lead.

I prefer my buns to be white, fluffy, crispy, and not craving more energy to consume than they provide.

When greedy execs claim the field

I can't say I'm crazy about this.

When you acquire a mobile phone and you enter into a customer relationship with Telia, you need to text them to get a password for the self service section of their homepage. There's something beautifully arrogant about that concept. I'm not even a customer but still pissed off at the sheer greed of such a demand.

In order to help yourself so we can save money, you must pay us.

It reminds me of the banking shams that are getting common, at least here in Denmark. Customers pay fees for services that have always been an inherent part of the banking trade, such as having a lending offer put together. It's like a grocer charging money for putting groceries on his own shelves.

St. Stephen mimes the point

Seems Colbert has caught on to the same detail =)

We can only hope that the Democrats notice the trap before they stumble into it...or, rather, before they build it themselves and then dive into it.

Pulling an Arnold?

This morning I read a short transcipt of Dubya's statement following the complete pummelling the Republicans received in yesterday's election. He apparently emphasized bi-partizanship and nationwide collaboration as a desire expressed by the American public.

It reminded me, strongly, of a short documentary I saw on TV the other day which focused on Schwarzenegger and his efforts (past and present) in California. Arnie has been really sly and after receiving immense criticism and public outcries, he's made a complete policy U-turn the past 6 months or so. From being a hawkish rightwinger that wanted more powers and lower taxes, he's now described as more democrat than the Democrats themselves. He's made real efforts on educational, environmental and social issues - often sidelining parts of his own party.

The funny thing is, everyone loves him for it. As a piece of political strategy, it's a brilliant move when aiming for election day. And lo and behold, he got re-elected - basically because he stole and, more importantly, effected parts of the Democrat agenda. No doubt, he might have estranged several core Republicans in California. However, because he has attended the best interests of his own power, he now has 4 more years to appease them. I'm strangely fascinated and repulsed at the same time. It goes to show how shallow the political discourse and pride really is. It seems that when you have money enough, the next big prize is raw power. Regardless of actual policies.

I suspect that during the next two years we might see Bush try the same stunt. Certainly, Arnie has provided a very enticing template for it. Go along with the midfielders, do symbolic (and some practical) actions of collaboration, win back those 20% or more that always fluctuate between the wings. And do it all in time for the next presidential election when it really counts. In the meantime, the Democrats will have shot themselves in the foot trying to market themselves as the solution to the Iraq idiocy. Iraq is, at the very most, an acceptable failure. No solution will generate political favour by now.

The democrats are in danger of swapping their role as wartime realists in favour of a saviour-like rhetoric. If they do, the next Republican presidential candidate might have a field day pointing the finger at "the weaklings that thought they could fly".

On another but perhaps sadly related note, I went to see Borat yesterday with a bunch of friends. Cannot remember having laughed so hard and for so long. It is completely outrageous and a must see. I actually built up a mild headache and neck strain during the film because of my inability to stay calm. I won't put out spoilers already, but Borat's fat sidekick is involved in a scene that just blew me away in its mindblowing extremity. I'm chuckling right now, as I recall it. This film will get you through the winter, folks...

Americans, beware this man! Jagshemash!

Leading an interesting life

Here I am. It's now November and overnight the weather changed from crap to bollocks. And I still have not found a job. I haven't even been asked to an interview, save 1 which turned out to be a recruitment agency and didn't really count.

Although I have heard stories on how this is oh-so-perfectly normal it's beginning to bug me a little.

A few days ago I was turned down for a position that was so me. I reacted immediately (almost surprised myself) and called the HR consultant. He told me that it was a typical academic's application. That very instance, I knew he was right. He then proceeded to tell me about all the "errors" that I had made. Afterwards, I was hugely relieved...and quite angry at myself for having written at least 10 applications without ever calling back to get feedback.

You need a real person to comment your stuff later on. Reckon it must take 2-3 hours of designing and writing your resume and c.v. and then you're completely blind. Incapable of acknowledging structural mistakes. I've experienced the same thing when writing project proposals or lectures. So, although it still bugs me, at least now I know what to do for the next applications.

Apart from this, our big 3-family housing project suddenly came back on track yesterday, much to everyone's surprise. 3-4 weeks ago the seller basically told us to fuck off. I don't really see the sense in that insofar as the seller has now wasted loads of time (his and triple ours), and from now on he's not getting any easy discounts, the cunt.

Also, we had more or less trashed the idea of that house and had moved on. So, now we have to get used to it all over again. Dig up all the documents. Get ready for mortgage talks and sodomizingly mean banks. It's good, but it's also annoying. I had a plan going with a job posting in Bangladesh. Have to shelf that one now.

Ah well, it's ok - this project is really cool...and as the title of this post implies, it's all about leading an interesting life. Be that in the far east of just outside town in a cool house with fun people and comeradely activities. It's all good....I think. The past 2 years I've made (or postponed) more decisions than the entire 28 years before that. It's interesting but, dammit, sometimes you get so weary of being a grown-up. Think I'll go spin a bottle.