Another thing about me that I’m also pretty proud over is the fact that for the past 6 years or so I’ve been able to plan my economy so good that on the 25th (payday) of every month I’ve had between 0 to $10 in my bank account! No matter how much expenses, or incomes, I have that month, I’ve always ended up with basically nothing exactly when it’s time for the salary. Then I bought a car, and somehow I was actually able to equal that out as well. That is until this month… and this is why I hate our capitalistic society so much – I actually lost sleep trying to make my budget go together in my head! And if I get so out of wack thinking about it, what about people who have a family to support? Like all those single moms you read about!? It actually got so bad in my planning that I was thinking about not going to my friends 30th birthday this weekend because I couldn’t afford anything, and that felt awful! And who do I have to blame (except the company I work for who won’t give me a raise)? Noone but myself! With a little bit of planning last month I should’ve been able to balance it out this month, and with alot of planning I should by now have been able to put some money away for that rainy day! So I guess I’m no better than the people who I constantly harass for doing things they know are bad for them!
Fortunately I have great (supportive) parents, but that sucks having to ask them for a loan!
Oh yeah, and happy halloween to everyone in the states!
I happened to catch 60 minutes today. One of the stories was, appropriately, about something I’ve talked about on this page in the past week – TV shows. And not in a good way. The story was about how different TV networks in the states market themselves and their shows – some target the usual “age 18-49”-group, and some don’t. The actual point of the entire story almost got by me because I was so upset at hearing how 2 network execs, 2 researchers in the field as well as a PR firm exec sat and debated, without any emotion, about how shows are created to appeal certain demographics, and how “strong” these demographics where when it comes to sales and advertisement. Like “people at 55 may watch more TV than a 24 year old, but the 24 year old spends more money so we’re gonna go after him/her instead”. Am I being too naive in thinking that TV-making wasn’t as capitalistic as movie-making is? Listening to these people it actually seemed worse! One of them actually mentioned “Ed” as a show they created to target the more intelligent 30 something white viewer with a deep wallet. I was quite offended at hearing that, not that I fall into that category (although I hope to one day), but at how pathetic it sounds. I used to think of TV making as a form of art, but after seeing this, I’m having my doubts.
But that’s just one more point in my “evidence that human values are being replaced with $-signs”-list that is getting quite long now. Remember people – in Starfleet there is no such thing as currency!
(I wish I could say “Star Trek”, but after the Ferengis it’s all gone to hell)
How about Ed? Totally the opposite of CSI! Not the least bit exciting, no action, no suspense. Just a good hearted show about good character, with alot of humor and something that CSI lacks – extraordinary well written, funny and great delivered dialogue!
Do I spend too much time in front of the TV? Probably, but considering I payed $1500 for it, you bet!
On another note – I’m attending a course this week , Advanced Novell Administration. One thing never siezes to amaze me and that is how totally different Microsoft and Novell are in the way they do things, but the weird thing is that their server operating systems (Windows 2000 and Netware 5.1) appear to be doing the EXACT same things! Almost all services and stuff you get in Windows 2000 you also get in Netware 5.1. Netware is just ten times more difficult than Windows 2000!
But I shouldn’t really be complaining since this just gives me extra work…
Do you watch “C.S.I” ? That US show about some forensic experts in Las Vegas. I’m still trying to learn how to like that show. I mean, it’s a pretty good show, good stories, good science, acceptable acting and, of course, Marg Helgenberger. But there is one thing that I don’t like about it. One thing so important and so bad about it… the dialogue. I really don’t like the dialogue! Half of it is written to make Grissom sound like Yoda (seriously, when someone says something he always fills in with something philosophic) and the rest is just a set up for some good one liner. I don’t like that, but they are getting better at it. And now they have a spin-off as well, “C.S.I Miami”. Gee wiz, I shouldn’t be surprised at the length some people go to to exploit a good idea as much as they can. But this did.
One of the hardest things to define about me is my taste in music! To give you an example of how diverse my taste is you can download my 2 favorite songs at the moment – 1) The theme from “Red Planet”, really good techno & ambient feeling there and 2) Norah Jones “Don’t Know why”, really nice and soft song. After listening to these two, try and put me into a genre…
Speaking of music, the other day I flipped over on VH1 and saw the video to Leann Rimes’ “Life Goes On”… I remember her in the video to “Coyote Ugly”, didn’t react that much, but DAMN is she beautiful in this video! Simply amazing… damn I love women…
But to switch topic and talk guy-music – also just saw the video to Jimmy Fallon’s “Idiot Boyfriend”… DUDE, I was laughing so hard I missed half of it and had to download it and laugh at it again! I absolutely LOVE his clothes, coreography and… well, you just gotta see it yourself!
Why are people (including me) in such a hurry as soon as they get into a car? One of the first things you learn here in drivers ed. is that your greatest two foes are lack of time and sleep deprivation. I’ve been trying to start 5 minutes earlier when I go to work recently and I somehow arrive at work 10 minutes earlier… anyway, usually I’m queuing all the way into the central parts of Stockholm and in those queues you see som really fun behaviour, most of which are caused by everyones desire to go faster. The funniest example was last month : I come to a roundabout and was going to do a 270, i.e go off on the left exit. Problem was that it was jammed so I stopped halfway through to let the people coming from the other way through. Very nice, right? Well, the woman in the space wagon behind me didn’t think so! She backed up and drove around me and filled the gap in front of me, effectively stopping a pretty heavy roundabout (Gullmarsplan, if you happen to live in stockholm). What was the point of that? She gaines like 3 meters!? People should really take more time when they are out driving!
Right now everyone who’s even been in a car which I’m driving are saying “kris, you’re pretty good at driving fast too!”… true I am, when it’s all clear an no jams, yes I do. Like to feel the small g-forces my car can generate. But I’m not cursing or anything in traffic jams!
Let’s talk about Moby! I’ve been a Moby fan for a couple of years now. Hell, if I had a theme playing when I entered a building it’d be “Everloving”! First time I heard of him was when he did the techno cover of the Bond theme. The video for that was shot in Stockholm btw. And I love the Play album! What I also like about the dude, besides his music, is his personality. And his journal on his website that he updates, even when he’s out touring the world! And I love how he bashes the political establishment in the US of A! I bough his 18 album the day it was released (I did not even download anything before that!) and loved it too. Although it was much more… calmer, smoother, subtle than his previous work. Anyways, I’ve somehow never seen the dude live, not even when he was here for the MTV EMA’s in 2000, so I had to make due with the live part of the DVD. So when it was announced that he was gonna give a concert here in Stockholm I got excited, but that turned to disappointment as I didn’t find anyone that wanted to pay $33 do go with me. I just accepted the loss, but then Henke (the old friend from my school daze) asked me a couple of weeks ago and wondered if I wanted to go! I hadn’t even thought about asking him, because he’s more into… the techno part, high BPS and stuff like that than I am, and since this concert was gonna mostly be with the new 18 songs I didn’t think he’d be interested. But he was, and he got us ticket and yesterday was the M-day! The opening act was “Röyksopp”, that Norwegian duo who makes OK music but really freaky videos. They opened with a bang and never stopped. And I mean that, loud bang that never stopped. At first I digged it but after 30 minutes it got a bit old. So they went off, the stage was rearranged, and then the dude came running in like he was on fire! Seriously, every thing I’ve ever seen with this guy he’s always been calm and collected, even the live shows. But in those he’s just had a few square meteres do work with, here he had the entire stage and he was everywhere! He mostly played songs from the Play and 18 album, but he also played the Bond theme and something totally unexpected… HEY , HO… LET’S GO!… Didn’t see that coming! Add to that a hilarious DJ battle, a nice guitarr solo and ofcourse the usual Bush-bashing and it turned out to be a hell of a show!
In fact, I just have one little thing to compain about… they never played “Everloving” 🙁 I really missed that, but the tempo of the evening, which more suited Henke than it did me, kinda made hard to play it.
Twelve hours later and my right ears is still ringing! Trust me, use ear protectors when going to concerts like this! I though “nah, it’s not gonna be that loud, and I almost never go to concerts so my ears can take it”… yeah, right!
But to quote the great man himself – that was some noble shit!
May I make a suggestion to a social study in human behavior? Why are certain people fans of certain teams!? I’m not sure why I’m a supporter of Djurgården hockey, but I think it was that at that time I thought they were the best, and for the past 15 years I’ve been a supporter of theirs, although the past season was sucky (and the current seems to go even worse). And I’m a fan of Ferrari’s since -97, when they were just getting good and now they are undeniably the best, to my great delight. But how comes a person becomes a fan/supporter of a team? It’s not genetics, if it was my sister wouldn’t be a fan of Ferrari’s competitors McLaren! It doesn’t have with upbringing either, becuase why would my upbringing lead to me favoring an Italian team? And how comes certain people just can’t be converted, and when they’ve made up their minds, everything else is ‘wrong’. In the F1 community there is a debate right now as to what really went on during that last corner of the race in Indy, and a lot of people are just too serious about some stuff. Like a column written on a swedish motorsport website, Forza-Motorsport, a site I’ve come to respect and posted alot in their forums. But now they had a column that basically said “Michael Schumacher is an asshole”. How can he say that, it’s not like he knows him or anything, he just drives for the competition? I can understand Finns or Columbians being fans of “their drivers!”, but we swedes can’t really say that… This is a pretty interesting side of human behaviour for me…