Last night Anos and I went out with Jesper, Stephan and Magnus, a friend of Anos. We first went to Kellys, where Anos gave Madonna's "shiny and new-expression" a new twist. We drank a lot and went to Dancing Dingo, a place where a friend of Marie's would play with her band. Jesper assured me she wasn't part of the awful country combo that played kungsträdgården last summer, said the beer was cheap and that we wouldn't have to pay any wardrobe cost. Well, was he wrong. It was that band! They're called "The Ozarks", which, before I first heard them, rang a nice tone; it reminded me of the last frame of Maddox's review of "Signs" but they weren't funny. Or interesting. Sure, they're people who can play their instruments and sing fairly decent, on key, but who have nothing behind their facade. They started their gig sounding exactly like they did last time, and probably the time before that, and...it all reminded me of Morrissey's "Get Off The Stage":

But the song that you just sang It sounds exactly like the last one And the next one I bet you it will sound Like this one

Downstage, and offstage Don't you feel all run in ? And do you wonder when they will take it away ? This is your final fling

But then applause ran high But for the patience of the ones behind you As a verse drags on like a month drags on It's very short, but it seems very long

Magnus and I had an interesting discussion about blogging. He believes "bloggers make news watered-down" [his words]. I couldn't follow that bit, really, especially after what some bloggers have done with the media. Check this streaming QuickTime-film from The Daily Show on the matter and you'll understand exactly what I mean. Sweden needs more strong news bloggers that report on our national media circus, just as Media Matters and News Hounds cover the US media, especially as our evening news, i.e. Aftonbladet and Expressen, are basically village idiots in the world of news, doing their work equivalent of trying to commit suicide by paper cutting themselves to death. Despite this, and their horrid headlines which I've written of before, people buy their pap en masse. That's why they need to be exposed as the clowns they are. Anyway, adding bloggers to this potent brew of gossip news cannot be bad. How can it? When Aftonbladet or Expressen touts "HIV-CHOCK" (="HIV-shock") on their daily front-cover (and you know they use that kind of sensationalism throughout their papers in every way), you quickly realise bloggers can't skew the truth or pimp crap in that way even if they tried. So check out that QT film I tipped you of.

We left Dingo for Carmen, a place that's pretty run-down, despite their recent renovations after having been fire-bombed. Somebody threw a molotov cocktail through a window. The place probably looked better when fire-bombed. Anyway, Carmen sucked, and we went home fairly early. Anos was intent on scarring Kalle mentally though, which was mighty fun, especially when I posted Kalle pictures of Anos' terrorist activities from the evening.

Today I've mostly been hung-over. Jaysis, have I. Water, coffee and food did not help. My boss made the entire department waffles, which we devoured with an assortment of jams, ice-cream and whipped cream. Yummy! Blue-berry jam is my favourite, all hands down. I covered the waffle with a thin layer of whipped cream and then applied a nice layer of jam...mmm. It didn't help, despite being fat! I think my body craves fat right now. A pizza would probably kill me, or at least force (...) me to spend the rest of the evening in the sofa, in front of the TV.

It seems spring is upon us! It's 11 degrees outside, and I'm loving it. Breezes are moving outside and we're listening to Bert Jansch. I first heard of him during an interview with Bernard Butler, former guitarist of Suede. He strongly recommended him. Then I heard Johnny Marr say the very same thing, no surprise; you could say Butler is Marr's protegé, both hailing from super-lauded groups which they disbanded (in different ways; Marr's demise from The Smiths shattered the group, while Butler's leaving (or being kicked out of) Suede turned them into semi-crap), both wonderful song-writers and yeah, both of them should leave their singing to others. Anyway, Jansch is also a guitar virtuoso, yet he has a very soothing voce. To get a taste of his style, download and listen to this track [MP3, 3,6MB, VBR 128Kbps], "Chambertin", off his "L.A. Turnaround" album from 1974. Do tell me what you think of it!

Butler has teamed up with Brett Anderson again, as The Tears. I've heard a couple of live shows they've done, the first and second, audience recordings that were dodgy to say the least, so it's with happy ears I receive their single, "Refugees". Sure, after Anderson hopped on the proverbial wagon and got rid of his nasty drug habit, he started writing real crap lyrics, such as "Positivity":

and the morning is for you and the air is free and the birds sing for you and your positivity

and the car crash for you and the sunshine is free and the sirens call you

yes the morning is for you yes the air is free and yes the world spins for you and your positivity

That's since he's clean, which is why it's good to see Bernard Butler's post at The Tears' web site:

heyeverybody,ivebeenlisteningtoantony&thejohnsons,boom bip,phantom buffalo,fourtet,meridian1970,savages box of tricks 1966,smithsdvds,mark'snewordertvsgigglingallthewaythroughsideways,trying tokeepupwithdesperatehousewives,boredbynathanbarleyandjusthowmanynathanb arley'sworkonthatprogrammeandhangoutwithchrismorrisandwhatkindofashitdoe sthatmakehim? like,movehouse,mate?......sawthethingatthewhitecube,founditcoldanduninte restinguntilireadaboutitafterwardswhichiswhyilikemusicbecausereadingabou titislikedoingthegardeningontheinternet..........iwantoseethecaravaggiot hingbecauseithinkthereslotsofmusicinthere........oneofmyboyssangyouaremy sisterdownthephonetoantony,canitgetmuchsweeter? ifistartreadingbooksillhavetotakemyeyesoffofyouandicanttakemyeyesoffofyo u......justwhowasthatstudentshittakingpicturesofmeatthequizlastnightandh owdegradeddidifeelbyhim......youareawankerandimgladitoldyouso....stillwh o'scruisingtoasecondleaguechampionshippal? lovemynudiejeansandcanihavesomemoreplease?whoremembersmodernenglish? ifigetthatrecordoutafteralltheseyearswillitbeabigletdown? howcomesitsonlymeandantonythatknowmarc&themambas? everseenmywifemakingtoast? andthatswhayiamleavingthecountry......verysoon.......happybirthdaynathan

Bernard, give me some of that resin you've been chewing. Your guitar-playing is great as usual. All the best for the coming album, which is set to drop 2005-05-02. The single is out 2005-04-18.

I see Reggie Miller has become the 13th NBA player ever, to make over 25000 points in his career. From the page:

With 2:08 left in the period, the 39-year-old Miller sank two free throws to give him eight points in the game and 25,000 in his career. When the achievement was announced a minute later, he received a standing ovation.

"Well, it's just as important," Miller said. "You kind of want to do everything the same way, throughout the game. Free throws, 3-pointers ... it just so happened that it came at the line."

"Reggie is somebody that every player in this league could learn from, especially from how he prepares and how he plays the game," Popovich said. "He's one of the all-time greats."

Gotta love Reggie, the man, the myth, the ruler of Spike Lee.