Redirections

Yeah, as you can see nothing's happening here anymore. I recommend you'll go to the drifter and Fredrik on Film instead, where I actually write stuff...

Changes and Changeling

I just saw Changeling and it was the scariest film I've ever seen directed by Clint Eastwood. And I cried as well. It was maybe a bit too obvious sometimes, and I missed the typical sardonic humour which Eastwood is so good at, but on the whole it was a good film, and beautiful to look at.

It was set in Los Angeles in the late 20s, and it was not a pretty picture it painted of the city. "How could people be so cruel back then" you wondered. And then you read a story in the International Herald Tribune about a Palestinian mother who watched her children burn to death after being bombarded with white phosphorous and you realize that people are just as cruel today.

In Washington Post today, ex-president Bush's speechwriter Marc A. Thiessen wrote a column where he bragged about the fact that Bush could say that on his watch no terrorist attack occurred on American soil since 9/11, and he wondered (or rather questioned) if Obama would be able to say the same. That's a bit of a thin argument, since it's equally true that on Bush's watch the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil took place. But never mind, I understand if the team around Bush are upset and maybe even scared. 

Me, I'm tired after a very long and varied day. Good night.

Island weekends and inaugurations

I spent the weekend in Visby, at the island of Gotland, and it was heavenly. So quiet and relaxed it was almost unreal. I've been there many times, every time with someone different, and every time I've felt I must buy a house there. Not to live there permanently, but to have as a retreat, a haven. I think I need that since I seem to be incapable of relaxing at home. But would I be able to relax, even if I had my own house there? Wasn't the fact that I visited my best friend in her home there, and the fact that our relationship is so very relaxed and comfortable, why I felt so good and so at ease? If I had been there all alone I would probably not have felt the same kind of wellbeing.

I saw Obama's inauguration speech and it was the first speech of his I've seen in full. It was about time, and now that I've got a taste for it I want more. It was a sometimes beautiful speech, surprisingly critical of Bush, who sat next to him, but also full of the humble self-confidence that has all along been Obama's greatest asset. If he stays on message and watches his back he might actually be able to (almost) live up to the ridiculously high expectations everybody has.

It was very nifty by the way how the gas war between Russia and Ukraine broke out the day after France handed over the EU presidency to the Czech Republic and ended the day before the inauguration of Obama, as did the war in Gaza.

Cold days and no gas

The fact that most of the EU is currently without gas is of course totally unacceptable. A liberalization of the energy market and the building of a more flexible supply system between EU Member States must now get priority once and for all. It'll make the EU more secure and more solidary, and maybe even keep gas prices down. The EU also needs to move ahead with getting more gas from other countries and sources than Russia and Ukraine. But that's easier said than done of course.

The EU must also improve their crisis management and work closer together. When Russia or Ukraine, or any other country, causes trouble the EU should answer in one voice. Various countries shouldn't send their own missions to Moscow. That's perhaps understandable, but it's still objectionable.

But it's the same old story. When trouble brews, the EU splinters. I think that that is what annoys me most.

Political blogging (on Gaza and other conflicts)

Two things are all too common when it comes to blog posts on the war between Hamas and Israel, and indeed postings on most of the various conflicts around the world. The first thing is that the blogger is saying that whatever story he or she is telling, mainstream media is either not aware of it or deliberately keeping quiet about it. The other thing is that the blogger complains about how biased and unbalanced the mainstream media coverage of the conflict is. 

Well, the first these statement is almost never true. The story is usually out there. As for the unbiased and unbalanced reporting, this is almost always much much worse in the blog posts and the comments to them. My mainstream sources such as The Guardian, BBC, The Economist, International Herald Tribune or Svenska Dagbladet are handling the Israel/Hamas conflict very well, with the occasional blunder. (I will return with a list of recommened reading.)

It sometimes seems that to be a political blogger you have to be self delusional. Which obviously isn't true either (as this blog is a living proof of...) but is so depressingly often the case. I will not give any specific examples now, but just look at any random blog and chances are you'll see a good example of my point.

The conflict is much to complicated to get right in a few short lines in a blogpost, that goes without saying, but maybe if the bloggers (or facebook group instigators for that matter) spent more time actually trying to understand the conflict instead of raving about their own high moral standing and/or raging against mainstream media, it would make the world a slightly better place.

Books I've read lately

I've started the year by reading After Dark by Haruki Murakami and L'Africain by J.M.G. Le Clézio. Haruki I've read before, he's a favourite of mine, and After Dark didn't disappoint. It's short, precise and to the point, whilst also dreamy and horrorlike. The writing is, as always, wonderful, this time translated by Jay Rubin. It does benefit from being read from cover to cover, preferably at night of course. It takes place during one night, involving a young man playing jazz, a young woman reading, a Chinese prostitute in trouble and the violent man who beat her up and stole all her possessions. There's no reason why these four people's lives should be interconnected, except that they are.

L'Africain hasn't been translated into English yet, but I've read the Swedish translation, (Afrikanen), and it was rather good. It's only 88 pages, about Le Clézio's childhood and in particular his father. It's a quick rewarding read, both if you want to learn more about the author and/or what it was like being the son of a white doctor working in colonized Africa.

I've also begun reading His Illegal Self by Peter Carey, but more on that when I'm through. I does seem promising.

About this blog and it's future

It's a new year, yet again, and a New Year's resolution is that I will turn this blog into a steady companion. I'll try to write regularly, on books, politics, personal stuff and other things worthwhile. I'm Swedish and living in Sweden but I'll write in English because it's fun, because it's good practise and because I have a lot of friends all over the world who will be able to keep up with my writing this way. So, in the words of Timothy Leary, turn on, tune in, drop out. (Or rather, "turn on, boot up, jack in" as he later put it, refering to the Internet.)

Back off the track

Well, when one is very busy, one might be forgiven for not writing regularly on one's blog. But now there's time and so, no excuses for not writing.

Since the war between Georgia and Russia I've been wanting to do something in Georgia, and now, after a meeting with a woman working at the Georgian ministry for culture, sports and public buildings or somethng rather, I might be able to make something happen. And maybe do something in Saudi Arabia too...

But not now, and neither will I do any more writing tonight. I just wanted to get back in the game.

The world according to The Economist (2)

Each week I will chose some interesting articles from recent issues of The Economist.

From number 8597 (september 13th 2008):

In a long briefing the huge problems facing Egypt are discussed. What will happen when the current president Hosni Mubarak steps down? He is not likely to leave voluntarily but he is 80 years old and will not hang on for much longer. The country is corrupt, authoritarian, poor and violent, and Mubarak bears a lot of responsibility for that. Even though Egypt has made some progress when it comes to the economy, hardship will continue and around 45% of the population is still poor or very poor according to the article. So what's going to happen? Will Mubarak's son Gamal take over? Will there be civil war? What will the Muslim Brotherhood do?

A short but telling article, How dukes improved diversity, is musing over the fact that New Labour's effort to make the House of Lords more representative and "less posh, less white and less male" has mostly succeeded in making it less representative due to the fact that most members are now from the London area, leaving the rest of Britain with very few voices in Westminister. Voices that were there before.

In Brazil, as in so many other developing countries where the economy has taken off, the middle class is rising. An article, Half the nation, a hundred million citizens strong, looks at what that might mean for Brazilian politics. Less people are poor, more children go to school, more people work in the "white" sector and the number of cosmetic operations done each year is increasing (it is now the second highest in the world). The growing clout of the middle class may make Brazil more stable, more conservative, more predictable. Well, more middle class.

Om litterär kanon

I en understreckare i Svenska Dagbladet förra veckan skrev Martin Lagerholm om litterär kanon, vilket han såg som något bra och positivt, i polemik med de många som under de senaste decennierna med emfas hävdat att kanon är något västerländskt, manligt, elitistiskt och förtryckande.

När folk säger att man inte kan prata om kvalitet och objektivitet när det gäller litteratur så blir det problem. Hur kommer det sig att exempelvis Shakespeare, Dickens och Austen (fortfarande) är så populära och universiellt älskade? Har det inget att göra med deras begåvning och kvaliteten på deras böcker utan är det bara en följd av att förtryckande smakdomare en gång bestämde att dessa var de bästa författarna. Även om så var fallet, varför fängslar de då fortfarande så många läsare, när smakdomarna för länge sedan dött ut? Och varför valdes just dessa författare som dessutom gick emot den rådande samhällsordningen? De mest radikala menar att det inte är någon kvalitativ skillnad på texten på en mjölkförpackning och Shakespeares samlade verk men tror de verkligen att folk kommer sitta och läsa på mjölkförpackningar om flera hundra år som man idag läser Shakespeare?

Lagerholm menar att man måste skilja på den subjektiva uppfattningen om en bok (som säger mer om läsaren än om boken) och bokens objektiva kvaliteter, och det håller jag med honom om. Jag kan ogilla en bok eller en film men samtidigt erkänna att den har många kvaliteter och är ett större konstverk än en annan film eller bok som jag verkligen gillar. Det finns olika dimensioner när man betraktar ett konstverk och exempelvis är ideologi och hantverkskicklighet två varandra oberoende faktorer. Man kan uppskatta den ena men ogilla den andra. Men det kräver att man ser verket bortom sina fördomar och övertygelser vilket kan vara nog så svårt. Ibland behöver man lite hjälp på traven och få saker är lika tillfredsställande som att övertyga någon att den film eller bok han/hon precis sågat faktiskt har många kvaliteter och är värd att upplevas igen med nya ögon.

Men det finns problem även med "objektivisterna". Lagerholm menar att Shakespeare rent objektivt är en bättre författare än Dan Brown men det är att göra det lätt för sig. Varför jämföra sådana ytterligheter? Menar Lagerholm också att det objektivt går att säga att Colin Forbes är bättre än Dan Brown? Eller säg så här, finns det en lång, fallande skala, med Shakespeare på första plats och Dan Brown på sista plats och alla andra författare har en plats däremellan. Kan man tänka sig ett test, en variant av På spåret, där de tävlande får en bok uppläst för sig och den som först svarar rätt på frågan om boken är bra eller inte vinner?

Det är förvisso så att konst- och litteraturhistorien mest består av män, män och åter vita män, Dead White Males. Men det är inte kanons fel utan beror på att de som varit tongivande i debatten i vår del av världen varit just vita män. Idag när det finns debattörer av flera kön och från en mångfald av kulturer och religioner så upptäcks nya genier och historien breddas. Men det betyder inte med automatik att man måste dödförklara konceptet kanon. En kanon som lever och tillåts växa och förändras ser jag som något positivt. Den ska inte exkludera annan litteratur utan bli en utgångspunkt för en diskussion och vidare läsning. Den blir då något att förhålla sig till, en samlingspunkt såväl som ett bollplank. Sen om man vill kalla det kanon eller ej, det är en annan sak.

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Min egen kanon ser ni förresten längre ner till höger på sidan.

The world according to The Economist (1)

Each week I will chose some interesting articles from recent issues of The Economist.

From number 8596 (september 6th 2008):

Lexington (the weekly column about USA) wrote about Sarah Palin and the frustrating fact that John McCain continues the Republican habit of chosing candidates based on their views on moral issues and especially abortion, which they of course must be against, and not based on their competence.

In an article about aid, the theme was the fact that there are so many aid organisations working in poor countries that it has gone out of hand and become counterproductive. They are competing with each other and doesn't co-ordinate the ground work and the countries they are supposed to help are simply swamped. For one thing the bureaucracy is overwhelming recieving countries and the article qoutes African health workers that has to spend their days sitting in meetings with western delegates instead of doing there job, working with those that are sick.

Another article, a report from the West Bank, tells about how the Palestinians are more and more cut of from their land and their neighbours by Israel's security barrier. The reasons for building it is to stop suicide bombings in Israel, but the way it zigzags deep into Palestinian areas and not along the pre-1967 border suggests another reason. Grabbing land for settlers, which will make peace even more difficult to achive.

The Bear and the Hare

With Russia behaving like a hoodlum screaming for respect, Europe must speed up diversifying it's energy network. The EU should make gas and oil supplies flow more easily between EU-countries and so get less dependent on Russia's mood swings. If one member state should get it's supplies from Russia cut, they should be able to get the stuff from another EU-country, at the press of a button.

And why's Germany so soft with the Russians? I'm not expecting anything less from Berlusconi's Italy but Germany should be more muscular. And if they were, others would maybe follow. The EU needs to get tougher with Russia. This is no time to be vague and queasy.

Didgeridoo

Jag var en gång på en kurs i konsten att blåsa i en didgeridoo. Det var i Adelaide, S.A. 2003 och mannen som höll i den menade att bara män fick använda instrumentet. Han skyllde det på medicinska skäl, att det var skadligt för kvinnor. Jag var inte helt övertygad av argumenten och av döma av reaktionerna i Australien efter en ny bok som lär tjejer hur man ska spela hade jag tydligen rätt i mina misstankar. Det är av traditionella skäl som det är ett instrument bara för män och enligt vissa aboriginer kan kvinnor bli infertila bara av att röra vid det. Ja, eller hur!

Det är fascinerande hur män i alla tider och på alla platser envisas med att exkludera kvinnor. Hur människor över huvud taget envisas med att exkludera andra. Det är uppenbarligen en djupt liggande mänsklig egenskap.

Boken borde förbjudas av religiösa skäl hävdar nu vissa. Hade det varit i Sverige hade de förmodligen sagt att de känt sig kränkta av boken. Men om man förbjuder den är det kränkande för kvinnor. Vem kostar det minst att kränka? Se där en ständig fråga i det multikulturella samhället.

Höst

Det känns bra att det är höst för efter sommarens vila och frid kan jag nu släppa loss all uppdämd kreativitet och inspiration. Sen blir det mindre transpiration också, som en bonus, när det blir svalare ute. Kreativiteten som ska släppas fri handlar om skrivande. Kanske också om att måla, men det får vi se. Men skrivas ska det. Och jag har ju redan börjat.

Idag var jag på möte på filmform. Dom ägnar sig åt att arkivera och sprida svensk konstfilm och experimentell kortfilm. En av de två som jobbar där känner jag sen tidigare, då vi båda träffats i andra filmsammanhang. Man rör sig i sina små cirklar.

Lutande björk

Varför är jag så svag för den här bilden?