Continuing to Undermine Democratic Society

There have been so many campaigns of various sorts from pro-copyright organisations seeking to stop unauthorized copying of games, music, movies, books and so on. One of their arguments is that it is illegal. That one, I can understand and empathize with. These organisations represent people who profit from consumers paying for the information that they have created, and thus have an interest in keeping consumers paying instead of acquiring the same information for free. It is thus completely reasonable, although I have no idea whether it is actually profitable, that these organisations use education, scare tactics or whatever you want to call it.

What makes me angry is when they use moral arguments. Like the rather outlandish sweeping claims that surface now and then that piracy supports terrorism and organised crime. Sure, if you buy a counterfeit DVD in Hong Kong the triads might earn a few eurocents, but "piracy" as in file sharing of copyrighted materials has a different set of beneficiaries – ISPs, hard drive manufacturers (these guys must make billions thanks to file sharing) and, I believe, computer manufacturers in general since those who pirate games generally spend some money on new computer parts which they would otherwise spend on games if they could not acquire them for free.

No, on the contrary, it is buying music that supports terrorism and organised crime. While I have no hard data on the exact consumption of drugs by musicians signed to a record label, I would say, based on lyrics, the musicians’ own testaments, their many arrests and subsequent releases, and my personal experience, that they consume fucking truckloads of illegal substances. Had it been pot that they were growing in their own wardrobes, fine, I could not care less, but there are lots of musicians that purchase cocaine, speed and all the other nice things that terrorism and organised crime profits from. What is more, the labels generally make no attempts to stop them from continuing to undermine democratic society. Did Pete Doherty lose his record contract for using drugs? Rolling Stones? Nick Cave?

Swedish artist Kleerup was high on cocaine during some sort of music industry narcissism event in January this year and got busted by the police. He was so angry, poor guy, and believed the police had no right to interfere with his life like that. He, however, apparently has a right to support drug wars, social unrest, the killing of police officers and so on in the Americas. Despite this, his records were still stocked by Swedish record stores last time I checked, even though their purchase quite openly supports terrorism. Meanwhile, people named Ahmad and Mohammad have a hard time just sending money back to their families in Somalia, because, you know, terrorism.

So, hey, next time you buy a record, remember a police officer in Tijuana died for it.

Old Remix of Mine

In the absence of any irritating formalities I might have missed, I am officially finished with school, forever! Now I just have to wait a bit for the school to check that everything is in order and award me my master's degree. Yay!

In other news, I have a new job. Instead of working with budgets and invoicing and graphic design I will start out as a regression monkey within health consulting. I get to play around in Stata and Excel all day and maybe publish some papers.

And if you have Spotify, I just found an old remix of mine there. Give it a listen.

Cash is King

I have not been able to stop myself completely from rummaging around various vintage stores. Below are two of my best finds during recent weeks.


This is a suit from Peter von Holland, whom I have not heard of previously. I found it at the Myrorna (mostly used crap but some used non-crap and some non-used brilliant stuff) store by Adolf Fredriks Kyrka, for those of you who are interested. They had lots and lots of clothes that must be from some sort of deadstock. The price tags were in Dutch, so I wonder how all the stuff ended up here. Anyway, this was the best piece I could find, note the buttons!


I love this knitted Johnny Cash sweater. It is actually knitted that way, not just coloured or some other simple process. Also, I am trying to re-learn my long lost guitar skills, and I thought the new sweater made it fitting to start with the Johnny Cash version of Hurt. Though dead simple, the fingers on my left hand still hurt like hell.

Speaking of Music

In some small way, music is like drugs to me. We have all heard that comparison before, I guess (or any combination X is like Y where X and Y could represent love, religion, music, drugs and a number of other things dear to some people), but it was not until I stopped using my iPod (or any other portable music device) on a daily basis that I realized how much it has generally been clouding my thinking.

I am not talking about listening to music in the background at home here, but rather listening to music in the foreground while walking or commuting. Suddenly, I think a lot more, and I think way better while walking than while staring at a computer screen. And most importantly, I come up with new (and actually listenable) music myself, something which I find impossible to do indoors unless I have had at least a bottle of wine and in the latter case the music in question is not listenable when I have sobered up.

So, this evening I will be sitting on a cold and possibly somewhat damp bench in a park close to my home, composing a new song.




In other news, I scanned some of the other old pictures I found. They are as interesting as the others - especially the profile with the purple lipstick. I cannot for the life of me understand what the crew were thinking, but it certainly is a great memento to show the grandchildren.

I was pretty upset today by a debate article in Svenska Dagbladet, one of the largest "real" (as in not only concerned with tv-shows and insane and/or nude celebrities) newspapers in Sweden. Not only was it written by Jan Myrdal, one of the Swedish left's least likable people in my humble opinion, due to his love for dictators and massacres worldwide, but it was also the single worst argument for not allowing same-sex marriages. Disregarding the classic "Think of the children" argument which I can actually see myself sympathizing with to some extent (as long as there is scientific proof to back it up), it was all a rambling tirade of gibberish which only serves to affirm my animosity towards Mr Myrdal. Nowhere did he manage to convey a good reason that homosexuals should not be allowed to marry.

Being neither a homosexual (because of laziness, I use the term here to describe all the various forms of non-heteresexual people who are sexually attracted to consenting adults), nor a hater of homosexuals, I have not had the energy necessary to get a deeper understanding the whole gay debate or the mechanics behind it. My main problem is understanding what the problem is. As long as we disregard the question of having children and discuss only consenting adults (as well as assinine ideas such as trying to force religious institutions to marry homosexuals even though it is against their tenets!), I have never seen a good reason to not allow homosexuals to do the same thing heterosexuals do. Well, gay men usually have abysmal taste in music, but apart from that, they are generally like everybody else. The previous sentence might be illegal under Swedish law.

Speaking of music! I have started digging classical music again. It has been ages. I used to love Dvorak, Prokofiev, Debussy, Bach and many others, but I realized when I accidentally put a (J.S.) Bach mp3 on my phone that I have hardly listened to any in... five years or so. No more of that bereavement, though!

The Damage Done

Today brought with it the quintessential The Sisters of Mercy-experience. I finally got my The Damage Done / Watch record! I spent far too much money on it, and my only consolation is that I can probably sell it for around the same price, should I later on understand the mind-boggling stupidity of paying a week's wage on a 7" vinyl that will never be touched by the needle. It must be those collector genes activated, much like love can make almost anything seem like a good idea.


There it is, the first single by The Sisters of Mercy, about as old as me and a fairly crappy recording. However, the lyrics were really very good, compared to those of most other bands in general, and for a first single in particular. What irritates me with a lot of bands is the "angsty fifteen year-old" syndrome and/or just plain bad lyrics. In some cases, it is so bad that I cannot even stand listening, even if the singing and music is good. Never with the Sisters, though, especially from Alice onward.

I also went shopping for cheap book sale stuff and came home with a Lena Ackebo book, a story about Jean Paul Gaultier's career and some odd little book about various political factions in Iran.


Lena Ackebo is one of my favourite female cartoonists and, perhaps not surprisingly, one of my favourite cartoonists in general. For some reason, there are either very few women (notable exception: Chynna Clugston) who manage to release good comics to the general public, or I just have a problem appreciating them. Maybe there is a male hegemony in the comics industry, or society brings up boys to be more interested in comics, hence a smaller population of female cartoonists? Anyway, I have no problem at all enjoying Ackebo's comics, much more for her storytelling and structuring than for the art, admittedly. Actually, the art put me off a bit at first, but I have come to appreciate it with time.


This is a picture from the Jean Paul Gaultier book by Colin McDowell. Some of the stuff in it is totally insane, which is really what I like about Gaultier. There were books about most other fancy designers, but apart from the one about Roberto Cavalli, I found none I really wanted.

Oh, and before I forget. I just read the first 22 out of 24 issues of Girls by the Luna brothers, and I have no idea how I have managed to miss it until now. It is a fantastic comic, if you are not put off by rather graphic violence and nudity. These, however are definitely not what makes the comic interesting. Like any good zombie comic (which it is not, but closely resembles) such as The Walking Dead it is all about what people do together and to each other in a time of crisis. Anyway, I really, really suggest you get it now. It is that good.

Another recommendation while I am at it: The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster. Quite strange and not really exciting as such, but I am almost finished with it, and hitherto, I really like it.

The background at present is a modified version of some William Morris design I found on the web. Morris was a 19th century British artist (chiefly within tapestries and textile) whose designs I really love. Google Image Search is great for finding his art, and it is available in numerous museums. He was a poet and a very early socialist writer, too, but I cannot say that I know much about either of those careers.

Glaciers

On my way home from work, the unusually rapid thawing created very nice glacial ice looking things on the rock by the side of the road. Had I the energy, I would have learned how to publish stuff to my blog from my cellphone, but since I am rather lethargic, the presentation of the ice photos will have to wait until such a time I can be bothered to put that wee memory stick into the card reader.

Right now, I am listening to the Pulsedriver cover of that old Kim Wilde song Cambodia, which is pretty nice even though it is a bit too much of a dance floor anthem for my taste. The Apoptygma Berzerk cover is a tad better.

On the whole, I am a bit afraid for my music taste, since it consists of just a select few bands, and I hardly bother to listen to anything new. I am scared that I might be growing old. On the other hand, the bands I do listen to are at least somewhat diverse. From Velvet Underground and The Sisters of Mercy to Robotiko Rejekto, John B, Tony Joe White, Black Sabbath, Instant Remedy, Future Sound of London, Current 93 and Master Blaster. Then there are the bands that I love but that I for some reason never listen to, such as Einstürzende Neubauten and Legendary Pink Dots.

Overall most played on the iPod right now are Mao Tse Tung Experience and Madrugada, though. Regarding the latter, I spent half a day walking through London listening mainly to Madrugada's The Kids are on High Street, which is probably one of the best songs ever. Pity they are on one of the big labels.