New tennis rules

I was thinking (I actually do that sometimes, even though I find it exhausting), and I think I have come up with something that would improve the game of tennis: First of all, make the sets 20 minutes long (or maybe 15 for five set games), which then are played by each player serving three times before the turn goes to the other. If the number of serves is uneven when the time is up, extra balls are played to even it out. The player who then has won most balls wins the set.

So, how would this improve my tennis experience? Well, mostly it would mean that I – and others who have failed to grasp the supposed excitement of the sport – don’t have to turn on the tv only to find out that what I wanted to watch has been cancelled because the tennis game lasted longer than expected, which seems to be the case with about half of them.

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October 30, 2005 at 6:10 pm · Filed under Random ramblings & reflections

Rammstein - Rosenrot

Only about a year after their last studio effort, Reise, Reise, German electro-rockers Rammstein return with new album Rosenrot, and in my opinion this is their best since 1997 release Sehnsucht.

I have enjoyed Rammstein since I first heard them, and I think that their whole concept of pyrotechnically spectacular stage shows and lyrics where homosexuality and sadomasochism often are among the least deviant subjects goes beyond simple “shock-rock” and takes a few steps into deeper artistic territories. There is what feels like a deliberate mix between subtlety and crudeness that indicates that it is more than a striving for effect that drives the band.

Anyway, back to the new album: I think Rosenrot is a large improvement over Reise, Reise – the album gives a more complete and powerful impression, which is kind of strange since both albums (from what I have gathered) were recorded at the same time. Overall it is the trademark Rammstein blend of hard, masculine parts blended with more moody and melancholic electronic bits, but there is also something that makes it feel heavier than before – the guitar riffs are fatter and have more metal to them, Till Lindemann’s vocals sound more throaty. This is most prominent in “Spring”, a foreboding, slowly chugging track that has become one of my favorites.

Other highlights include “Mann gegen Mann”, a track that according to bassist Oliver Riedel showcases and confronts German attitudes towards homosexuality; “Zerstören”, which has a few great riffs and raw, somewhat punk-inspired drumming; and the gloomy “Wo bist Du”. In the department of “unexpected and creative” we find “Te Quiero Puta!”, which besides Spanish lyrics also features a mariachi band, and “Stirb nicht vor mir”, a duet with Sharleen Spiteri, the vocalist of Scottish band Texas.

So, in conclusion, I think Rosenrot is a very good album, and I don’t think anyone who has enjoyed the bands previous releases will be disappointed by it. Except perhaps fans in the U.S. who seem to have to rely on import availability for now, unless the lack of a U.S. release date is a mistake.

Rosenrot album info (includes player with samples)
amazon.co.uk: Rosenrot | Rosenrot [+DVD]
amazon.com: Rosenrot [import] | Rosenrot [+DVD][import]

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October 29, 2005 at 12:33 pm · Filed under Entertainment & Culture, Music

Balls and other links

A quarter of a million balls
To illustrate the concept “Colour like.no.other”, a shot including 250,000 superballs and a San Francisco hill was set up. The resulting Sony commercial, with music by José Gonzales, is simply mesmerizing.

Another big ad
On the subject of massive concepts for TV commercials, I think you should watch the Carlton Draught Big Ad if you havn’t seen it before.

Wax on, wax Hoff!
This game just makes me wonder… how did people ever manage to have fun before the Web was invented?

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October 29, 2005 at 3:35 am · Filed under Internet

Avian bird flu?

I have a tendency to get a bit hung up on certain things relating to words and language, and it seems the last “coming of the death-disease” craze has also infected language with a new, somewhat stupid word use*, namely “avian bird flu”.

I have seen this term a few times, a combination of avian influenza and the more mundane bird flu, and the thing that’s bugging me about this is the redundancy – the adjective avian is defined as “of, relating to, or resembling a bird (from latin avis bird).” So while people seem to think the addition of avian makes it sound more technical or something, they are actually saying “bird-related bird flu”, which sounds kind of stupid to me. But maybe I’m the only one?

* I think there is a linguistic term for “stacking” words with similar meanings, other examples could be “a large giant” or “very idiotic stupidity”, but I seem to have forgotten it. Feel free to re-enlighten me.

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October 27, 2005 at 4:37 pm · Filed under Random ramblings & reflections

Saddam’s Patkai Bum

I havn’t followed the events concerning the trial of Saddam Hussein that much, last I heard it was postponed beacuse the Saddam refused to acknowladge the court as legal, or something to that effect. So, what’s next? How about a convenient affliction:

Patkai Bum (n.)
Mysterious illness afflicting recently deposed heads of state which means they aren’t well enough to stand trial.

If I was a bookmaker I wouldn’t give that option any higher odds, it has been proven efficient in the past and is probably a fun game worth trying for any ex-dictator in need some sort of pasttime after having been deprived the daily diversions of running a nation.

Oh, and The Deeper Meaning of Liff (or A dictionary of things that there aren’t any words for yet) is full of things that, when you think about it, really need words. I’m thankful that authors Douglas Adams and John Lloyd also noticed that the world is full of words that don’t have anything better to do than sit around on signs all day long. Here are a few more examples:

Happas(n.)
The amusement caused by passport photos.

Ely (n.)
The first, tiniest inkling that something, somewhere, had gone terribly wrong.

Kent (adj.)
Politely determined not to help despite a violent urge to the contrary.
Kent expressions are seen on on the faces of people who are good at something watching someone else who can’t do it at all.

In short, a book no-one should have to be without, as well as one of the few dictionaries that are fun to read from cover to cover.

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October 26, 2005 at 3:42 am · Filed under Books, Entertainment & Culture

The Choirboys

Each Monday ZTV (a Swedish music/entertainment channel) shows an hour of newly released videos. I watch it sometimes, mostly because sometimes there’s videos that won’t be shown again, but in some cases that’s a good thing. Today there was a video with The Choirboys. I think there’s an Australian hard rock band with the same name, this wasn’t them, but three actual choirboys performing Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” in their piping boy-soprano voices.

The whole thing was just… creepy. Who decides that something like that should be recorded and promoted through popular media? Can’t be much of a market, can it? There’s grandmothers, the six related to the boys plus some elderly women who didn’t get to have any grandchildren of their own, but what else – mood music for catholic priests? Or maybe it is some sort of ill-concieved plot to make choirs cool after the priests have scared all boys away…

I also hope those boys have strong psyches, image when the time comes and they ask when the next album is going to be recorded, and the producer asks “have you ever heard about puberty?”. Or if their future high school classmates make the connection.

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October 24, 2005 at 8:15 pm · Filed under Entertainment & Culture, Music, Random ramblings & reflections

Liver stew

I witnessed a peculiar scene outside the supermarket a while ago: A father with three children was asked what the night’s dinner would be, replied that it was liver stew, and all three children went “Yay!”

That must have been a practised act. Or maybe the effect of a severely twisted upbringing – I mean, it’s a fact of nature that children don’t like foods like liver, isn’t it? They may reluctantly eat it, but no healthy child will cheer at the mention of it. Noone I knew did, neither could I stand it, and, according to my vow to never fully grow up, still don’t (except in heavily processed forms like some varieties of liver sausage or Swedish liver paste, but that’s as much liver as Fanta is an orange drink.)

But now I must admit I have omitted something, namely the french fries. To me that sounds like an odd combination with any stew, but could it really be that the effect of such a fat-saturated, high-carb side is enough to get youngsters to eat anything? Would an experimental combination of aquired tastes like “olives baked with Gorgonzola and Stilton cheese” result in the same response if served with crispy, deep-fried potato sticks? Could you soothe a not too rare family tragedy by explaining that “we all know how much you loved Fido, but now he is in a much better place: on a dish with tasty, golden fries!”

I can’t handle this mystery – In fact I think I should pay the University a visit on Monday, to convince someone that this area requires in-depth research.

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October 23, 2005 at 12:53 am · Filed under Random ramblings & reflections

Music: Ane Brun

I think I have to say that Norwegian singer/songwriter Ane Brun is the best music discovery I have made this year. It started with seeing the video for “My Lover will Go”, first single off second album A Temporary Dive, late one night on a music channel, and I was hooked at once. I got the album a few days later, and it has been on my playlist constantly for more than six months now, and has been joined by first album Spending Time with Morgan.

Putting a label on the music is something that feels really tricky to me. I really recommend getting a first-hand impression at her website’s audio section. I guess a description could start with “singer/songwriter girl with acoustic guitar”, and then add “flavoured with dashes of blues, country and soul” – and it’s still far from a good description, it feels like music written more with the heart than the mind, not caring about genres. There’s a somewhat melancholic feel to it – the tender, comfortable kind of melancholy you may feel while taking a walk on a fresh autumn afternoon.

The overall sound has a less-is-more feel – the songs are clean and soulful, and the production is mostly focused on the guitar (which supposedly is the Morgan referred to in the title of the first album) and the vocals. I have always had an impression that producers have a fear that acoustic music will sound hollow and overdo the production to “fill the blanks”, but here the subtle strings, keys, light percussion and everything else works wonderfully to emphazise the guitar and Ane’s voice. Oh, and that voice, I havn’t mentioned it before, becuase that marks the point where all objectivity goes out the window. I think I’m in almost love with that voice. It’s a voice that reaches out and grips me, sending comfort-shivers down my spine. I think it’s so full of character, sweet and bit coarse at the same time – maybe, if you allow me an attempt at a poetic description, like honey mixed with crispy cereal.

The lyrics are mostly reflections about life and love, but they are cleverly written and feel personal enough to not fall into the swamp of cliché life-and-love songs.

The announced tourdated takes Ane to New York City for four shows next week, then a number of appearances in Norway followed by three dates in the Netherlands at the end of November. The next release is “Duets”, a compilation of ten duets recorded during the last year – something I’m really looking forward to.

International distribution still seems to be a bit scarce, but albums can be ordered in the shop at the homepage, and here’s what Amazon has listed:
amazon.com: A Temporary Dive [Import] | Spending Time with Morgan | Duets
amazon.co.uk: A Temporary Dive

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October 22, 2005 at 4:23 am · Filed under Entertainment & Culture, Music

Playing around with design

Trying to come up with a more interesting design for the site, something a bit more clean. This all seems a bit too grim, or something. And quite heavy. Must have been “inspired” by the fall weather. Anyway, I’m trying do it the old-fashioned way, by making something like a visual profile before going on to the actual design. Here’s one I’m going to discard:

That’s probably what something that started with a concept like “vivid, modern, showing our creative edge” would end up like after having been passed back and forth five times between the ad agency and a board of middle-aged managers. It was after that realization I added the squares…

Back to the drawing board.

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October 21, 2005 at 2:36 am · Filed under General

Dilbert blog

According to an e-mail update from Comics.com Scott Adams will soon start a blog at Dilbert.com, where we will be able to “get a peak into the mind of Scott Adam’s and his opinions on Weasels (the human kind), induhviduals, and oh-so-much more.”

I’ve always thought Scott Adams to be a man with interesting opinions, so I’m interested in seeing how this initiative turns out.

Oh, and if you visit Comics.com, make sure to check out Mike Belkin’s strip Unfit, in my opinion one of the better new(ish) big-syndicate strips.

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October 20, 2005 at 5:33 pm · Filed under Entertainment & Culture, Internet