Paul Feig - a tribute

Paul Feig is a wonderful director and author with a refreshingly honest view about how it is to grow up being a self conscious geek with little or no luck with women.

He has given us the books "Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence" and "Superstud: Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin", both biographical tales about growing up as a somewhat of an outsider and unable to deal with the opposite sex.

He's also an accomplished film- and TV-director and writer, and has worked a lot with Judd Apatow, director of the films "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up".


WHY I WRITE THIS
I'm telling you about him because tonight I just finished reading his "Superstud: Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin", and it's lovely to read his tale of being a Christian kid in the 70's, struggling with meeting a girl and when he finally finds one, how he struggles to not sleep with her because sex should wait until marriage.

The humour is spot on, the stories very direct and he's so honest about shortcomings that most writers would never dare to write about in their diaries - certainly not publish them in bookform.

I was geeky myself when I grew up. I always had a sense of being a different from the typical "jocks", tough guys, fashionable people and pretty girls I didn't dare to talk to - essentially the same kind of people we see in the media, the "norm".

Paul Feig never belonged to this norm, and with his writings, TV-series and films, he gives us a much-needed different perspective that makes a lot of geeky people feel that they are OK too.

WHAT PAUL HAS DONE

Paul Feig's body of work includes creating and writing the TV-series "Freaks and Geeks" (2000), and writing and directing the films "Life Sold Separately" (1997), "I Am David" (2003) and "Unaccompanied Minors" (2006).

He wrote the books "Kick Me: Adventures in Adolescence" and "Superstud: Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin"

And he directed TV episodes of "The Office US", "Weeds", "Mad Men", "30 Rock", "Arrested Development" and Judd Apatow's excellent "Undeclared".

MORE OF PAUL
If you want to check out some of his writings and read some interesting interviews, check these links:

* His first webpage, very funny and featuring a very interesting tour journal of when he travelled around showing his first movie, "Life Sold Separately".

* A new article in USA Today about the making of "Life Sold Separately" and how it might be released if Paul ever gets around to it.

* An NPR radio interview about the TV show "Freaks and Geeks"

* A long interview about "Freaks and Geeks" on the SuicideGirls website - check out the girls there if you wanna see unconventional and interesting girls (probably just the kind of 'freaky' girls a slightly older Paul would like?)

* Another long interview about "Freaks and Geeks", for IGN.com:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

* A long interview about the DVD-release of "Freaks and Geeks":
Part 1, Part 2

* An eight part "Director's Diary" on IGN.com of the making of his film "I Am David":
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

* A blog he had in 2005 in the Huffington Post, covering very varied topics

* A long radio interview he did about "Superstud", on the show "Drinks with Tony", hosted by Tony DuShane

* An interview about "Superstud" in Washington Post

* A clip on YouTube with Paul speaking on Arrested Development and the Office at UNC Chapel Hill

* A clip on YouTube with Paul being interviewed on G4's "Attack of the Show"

* A clip on YouTube with some rare unaired footage from "Freaks and Geeks"

Anne Marie Almedal (from Velvet Belly) live at Frogner Kino (Oslo, Norway) 1/12-2007

On the first of December 2007, Anne Marie Almedal (the lead singer from Velvet Belly) had a concert at Frogner Kino in Oslo, Norway. The songs were mostly from her album "The Siren & the Sage" (Warner Music, 2007).

Pictures and video clips of full songs are below. This was a very intimate gig in a former cinema and done in surround sound - for a select audience of music lovers.

The album "The Siren & the Sage" is produced by her husband, Nicholas Sillitoe, who's also working as a film composer and half of Illumination/Chilluminati (with Per Martinsen).

The band:
- Anne Marie Almedal (voice)
- Nicholas Sillitoe (piano/acoustic guitar/backing vocals)
- Sigrun Tara Øverland (lyre/autoharp/glockenspiel/backing vocals)
- Rolf Kristensen (acoustic guitars)
- Nemanja Markovic (cello)

Also:
- Asle Karstad (live sound engineer)
- Peter Podworski (visuals)


Video clips on YouTube (full songs):
(remember to click the "HQ" icon to see and hear the clips in high quality - big difference in sound and picture)

Anne Marie Almedal - Trouble (live at Frogner Kino 1/12-2007)


Anne Marie Almedal - Monterosso (live at Frogner Kino 1/12-2007)


Anne Marie Almedal - Trick (live at Frogner Kino 1/12-2007)


Anne Marie Almedal - The key (live at Frogner Kino 1/12-2007)


Anne Marie Almedal - Safe from harm (live at Frogner Kino 1/12-2007)


Anne Marie Almedal - Joy (live at Frogner Kino 1/12-2007)


Anne Marie Almedal - Paisley Park (live at Frogner Kino 1/12-2007)




Pictures on FlickR:

Bash quote #829034

CaptainMoonpie2: Working on a report
CaptainMoonpie2: Tell me why welfare is bad
CaptainMoonpie2: But in a really, really long explanation that is easy to copy and paste
IMADV82: Because people like me end up paying for people like your mom to raise people like you.

To do it - or never to do it at all?

Soooo I have Mio, my reeeally cute cat who's about six months, and unfortunately an indoor cat since we live on the fourth floor. (The alternative would be for him to keep living on the street, since that's where I found him.)

Now, he's probably starting to think about doing something with the girls. At least judging from his sounds and the way he runs around restlessly, seemingly looking for something I can't offer him. :) Normally, neutering indoor cats is what you would do, and I'll have that done soon.

The big question is - before the chop-chop, should I hook him up with some cute pussycats first and let him be a little playa? Or, if he never gets to use his reproductive organ - will he miss them less? Tough decision!

Here's the teenager in question:

(little Misha in the background is dead cute, but I think a little too young for Mio)

You're Going to Die!

On YouTube I found this very good short film about life and death, "You're Going to Die".

All our lives will just end. That's just how it is. And the truth hurts – but this little film inspires us to really live while we can.

Incidentally, I just talked to a friend who lost her dad from a brain hemorrhage - he was only 45. And another friend lost both her parents (both around 50) in two months. So yeah, death is not an exclusive club, I keep trying to remind myself of that.

Directed by Dennis Palazzolo. Narrated by Vito Acconci. From the book "You're going to die", written by Timothy Furstnau.

Canadians seen from a satirical point of view

Funny clip from Saturday Night Live s33e02, about Canadians. This one is for you, Viv!

MTV "Inhuman Traffic" - documentary about human traficking

"Inhuman Traffic" is an 30-minute MTV-documentary about human traficking, narrated by Angelina Jolie. It features interviews with real traficking victims from various parts of the world.

Please give a link to this blogpost to anyone you think should see this!

And go here for the whole campaign by MTV.

Clip 1/6:


Clip 2/6:


Clip 3/6:


Clip 4/6:


Clip 5/6:


Clip 6/6:

Madonna CD-single covers - part of defining the 80's

I found a collection of covers for Madonna's 40 CD-single collection (which you can buy here), and it's so much pop music history in those images...

Here's the cover for "Cherish", and you can click here to see 39 more.

My new cat - Mio, my Mio.

I have a cat! And he's adorable and soooo cuddly. He always wants to sleep in my lap, no matter what. I think it's because I found him on the street, and he's in need of some love and affection.

The veterinary says he's about 5-6 months old, so I'll decide right now that his birthday is... the 17th of May! (Norway's Constitution Day.)

He needed a name, so I asked around. And Roxana came up with Mio. Great name! So now I have a Mio. Mio, my Mio. Thanks and kisses, Roxana.

How to get beat down on the street

Before you read further, let me at first state this:

Generally I feel safer in Bucuresti than I do in Oslo. In Oslo guys (and girls) drink more, and all the clubs close at 03.30, so around that time there are tons of drunk people on the streets. So there are more random acts of violence. But while living in Bucuresti for the last year I haven't heard of anyone getting into any kind of violence here. It just seems safer in general here.

***

OK. So my friend Bryan and I are leaving the club "Embryo" here in Bucuresti, close to the the center. It's 03.30 on a Saturday night, and we have walked 50-60 meters when we meet a group of people, about 4-5 guys and 3-4 girls. Bryan and I are speaking English together, maybe they hear that.

Suddenly - completely out of the blue - one of them hits me really hard on my forehead. I had noticed the guy half a second before and thought he looked kinda drunk and/or dangerous, but there was no eye contact, no spoken words, nothing.

I fall down to the ground, shaken and confused, at first not realizing what happened. After a moment of confusion I say half-loud "what the fuck?" so they hear me, but none in the group seem to care. They're just walking away, slowly towards the club.

The guy doesn't come back for more, no one in the group says anything to me. My friend Bryan valiantly follows them, calling the police at the same time. They stay outside the club for 5 minutes, but then disappear before the police arrives, probably because they see Bryan being on the phone and staying close by them.

After the police disappears, because we don't really have any description, I'm feeling better. My head is still hurting, but not so much. The only thing I'm afraid of is that I might have a concussion, but it seems I'm OK.

So I guess I'm lucky. If the guy had hit three centimeters below, he could have crushed the glass in my glasses and blinded me. Six centimeters below - broken nose. Nine centimeters - broken teeth. So I'm not complaining.

***

Ironically, the same thing happened to my younger brother while he was studying in the small town Grimstad, on the south side of Norway. He was also just struck down for no reason, except he didn't even see the guy, and he was hit on the nose and mouth so he was bleeding like crazy.

Anyway. Am I going to be more scared of people after this? Not go out that much? Look over my neck? I hope not. And as I said, it seems there are less drunk people here that in Oslo, so the chances of this happening are very slim.

Quote of the day, from "Californication"

So I'm following "Californication" (Showtime), a new drama TV-series starring David Duchovny. He's a writer who doesn't write, a divorced womanizer who doesn't care about the women he seduces, and he's more than full of wit and pointy sarcasms - yet empty inside.

The tagline is "Trying to get over the one that got away... has never been so much fun."

It's a very good series, and in episode 3 our friend uttered the following line while fantasizing about being with his family again:

"My family goes on without me, while I drown in a sea of pointless pussy."

A promo clip here:



Another promo here:

New pictures

My friend Sara came to visit me here in Romania, and we went on a little holiday around Romania and Moldova. We saw live bears eating garbage near blocks of flats, beautiful small cities, met nice people and ate lots of good food - cool little trip.

You can see all the pictures here.

Yes, it's a bear just 10 meters from us

Let it all out, man

Cool short clip from "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie". I can really recommend this movie! It's a companion/sequel to "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy", and both are hilarious. In a good way.

What most psychologists dream of doing at least once in their lifetime

Cool short clip from "Analyze This". I bet most psychologists dream of doing at least ONCE...

I met Carl Craig

Carl Craig was DJ'ing here in Bucuresti yesterday at Arenele Romane, and though only about 200 people came, it was still very good music wise.

Here are some pictures and videos:

As you can see, not so many people, but people were really into it.

Carl DJ'ing (with Final Scratch?)

Alexandra, Michelle and Tom Wilson.

Me and Carl.

Videos on YouTube:

Logan warming up.


Logan warming up.


Carl Craig at the intro of his set.

Taxes

As a freelancer I have to do my tax return by 31th of May. That means I have to get ALL my shit together and I've just four weeks to do it. It's so boring! :)

Sometimes I just think "ah, screw it".

Here's a short and funny video clip from "Just Shoot Me" to illustrate what I mean: