I'm back...

So another wednesday is slowly giving in, a day I have wasted huge parts of blogjumping(reading blogs and jumping to new ones throug linkage) while drinking an unsound amount of tea. I have moved to a new appartment and apparently a couch and a coffeetable is not an ideal workstation so my back is absolutly killing me, and I strongly assume this post will be my last performance infront of the computer today. But still, at least I have read the full transcript of Bush'es speach, gotten nervously updated (beeing to plugged into the state of the world more than a little unnerving...) on the world news, and picked up a lot of movieoriented gossip(So pointless, so sothing, so...numming? Hmmm, well, I feel better at least). And I have been playing some online poker, fun fun fun. I need to get out for air, right now.... Well, what's another hour, I'm meeting a friend for coffee and maybe some wine in the city tonight, it will no doubt do me good, earlier I actually considered waching "Dude where's my car?" sober and by my lonesome, that's a little to close to the "silent cry for help" category for my comfort...
I have been a bad girl and slacked off my beloved blog lately, I promise to improve, it's that whole boyfriend thingy, combined with stress and annoyence connected to moving(hate it, hate it, hate it soooo much, next time I'm moving to a cave and never ever leaving again... Now if I could only find a caven within my pricerange...), and the fack tha my holidayvacation kind off bled into January... Well, enough excuses, I'm back, and I will be blogging pretty regulary from now on. About life, the universe, and everything. (I might not tell you 42 is the answer though, that takes a writer far superior to me. ) Didn't get that last one? Read my earlier post on bookrecomandations.

Miramuffin says: Happy newyears folks, better late than never. Hope you have had a smashing holiday and that noone is to depressed about that whole "back to work and normalcythingy", it will pass eventually, usually around the start of next holiday.
Have fun, love life, and get yourself some laughs. Now go frolic in the snow will you;)

From the diary, and ponderings over ambition

So, it's monday again, they always seem to sneek up on me nowadays, my weekends have gotten shorter somehow. This morning I woke up feeling melancolic, and the feeling never really subsided. Guess it's the christmas spirit. The power was out, and the silence, the void usually filled by electronic humming, was enough to make me wake startled, hart pounding and with a feeling that something was wrong with the world. That strange feeling when you know something is missing, but you can't seem to get a grasp of what's not there, not a great feeling to start ones day. Then I did some stumbeling around in the dark(it's dark nearly all day now, strange living north of everything), realized I would have no coffee to start my day, and escaped to the city, where the lights were working(and the grizly match made in hell between marketing and christmas has made the city sparkle with a combitation of lights and agressive advertisement) and the coffee was hidious but blessedly warm and caffeinfilled. Just another ordinary day, so much like any other that it scares me a little. Been mailing a friend of mine, just the mundane everyday stuff and some recommendations on reading material, still it is nice to know I'm not the only one feeling a little disconnected in theese times, and it's cosy talking about movies and why sunday is not the day for deep and painful dramaoriented films.
Nice things for conversation.

I have been thinking a bit on the concept of ambition, and the possible lack of them lately. So many of us are just going through the motions, we know what we like to do, but we know the odds are stacked against us, so we make some choices. Some opts for a career, not out of want, but because we are suposed to want it, something with a resonable to decent pay and good chances of employment, something we can live with, and try to bury the dreams we had by deeming them to have been born by youth and naivety rather than some drive to reach our potential in a difficult and ungreatful field. Some opt to go for the dream, the one shot possibility, the all your eggs in a fragile, poorly made basket way to go. And some of them make it, some of them even make it big, neccessity and desperation can be a good motivation on it's own. But for most of the driven crowd, most of us with difficult dreams, dreams without a fasttrack to a solid paycheck, we end up inbetween things. We work, because we have to live, in mundane dayjobs, jobs that never pay very well, jobs we in time might come to hate, hoping for, and hopefully, working towards, our maybe far fetched dreams, kept up at night by the fear that we might never make it, the fear that we might have to stick with our marginally interesting jobs forever. And we envy the others. The majority, the kids whom grew up and went for the money, never looking back, we know our dreams have always been diffrent, and we sometimes curse ourselves for it.
So this is for all of you out there, the struggeling writers, the unemployed actors, the artist failing to be understood or appreciated, the musicians once again faced with the question of "when they are going to get a real job?", this is for everyone who took a look at conventional life, career, stationwagon, house in constant remodeling, a labrador barking in the backyard and said "Is that all there is? I think I'll go find something else."
Grab a hold of your dream, find a way towards it, take the job that gets you by on the way to bigger better things, maybe you'll make it, maybe you won't. But you will at least know that you tried, bechause ambition is no one thing. It's not what the people at the office are trying to make you belive, it's not getting a parking space with your name on it where you work, it's not the dream of having a slightly more expencive car than your next door neighbour. Ambition is simply put what you wan't to do with your life, what you want, where you want to be.
Ambition is realizing the choice is yours.

Miramuffins says: Feeling better now. Have a great day out in the strange and befuddling world we live in, have fun, learn new things and don't let anyone take you for granted. Speak your minds and don't let your curiosity die, questioning can get you anywhere, and thanks to the blessed web knowledge is now a mere keystroke away. Have fun, go wild, be kind, and live your life, that's what it's for.

Casione Royale, no spoilers included...

So, caught the last Bond adventure yesterday, "Casino Royale".
I liked it, liked Craig Daniel as Bond too, the blond hair doesn't bother me at all, Bond is not about the hair, it's all about the attitude. Sure, the movie wasn't perfect, sligthly marred by timing issue(seems like a beginners error, strange for such a longlived concept with a wellseasoned director) and a weak female lead(it's a fifty fifty issue when it comes to Bondmovies). But hey, I was in stitches when it became clear they were looking for a new Bond, not so much bechause I liked the last one(he was ok but a little...spent), but bechause it's easy picking the wrong one. Ok, for a while I felt strongly that anyone but Clive Owen was the wrong one, but Daniel worked out surprisingly well. The new Bond might come off as a bit of a sociopath but I think that might be becoming for a character, wich after all is a glorified hitman. I love that new Bond(and it is a new Bond indeed) is directed at an adult audience, with a harder edge and a more defined personality.
The actionsequences vere great(and that, along with some british arrogance, is what I'm in it for), and the opening scene was glorious, really, beautiful to wach, high adrenaline, and spotlessly performed. Too bad the movie slows down to a halt for a while and have to hurry to get back on some form of track towards the end. Love the texas hold'em sequences, though I wished they had flowed a bit better, the movie became very cut and paste around this point.
For the next venture; keep the stunt crew(so gifted indeed) and the effects people, Daniel Craig, and the lovely coldharted M(Judi Dench), get a new director(yes, I know, this one did "Goldeneye" a good bond film, but then he went off and did Zorromovies, and the far from flawless, stumbeling with timeissues; "Beyond Borders"), find some new Bondgirl with a bit more flare(Eva Geen has pretty eyes, and that's about it, boooooring!) and use a lot of time on the script.
So should you catch this one? Yes. Yes indeed, and do it at the cinema, the bigscreen really makes the most of the spectaculare actionsequences, and I might add that the cartoonlike aspect of former Bond actionscenes is all but gone, replaced by a more up to date realistic, but no less dramatic touch. Pretty and exilerating, just what I want on a late tuesday night. So run along and get yourself some tickets will you.

Borat!

So I guess I have to wite this one now... Oki, I should be cleaning my room and some stuff, but hey, I don't want to. So Borat it is. The movie could be described as a "mockumentary" I guess, and it is best enjoyed if you get into a "just for laughs" state of mind. Otherwise you will find yourself, like me, constantly wondering what's staged and what is not. But the movie really is funny, albeit not worth the insane hype that surrounds it. Sasha Cohen really must have good karma ore something, for this movie has gotten way more than it's share of the worlds attention. So I'm an going to ignore the hype and any of the fuzzy political discusssion, like how the Kazacstani(and I doubt that's the way it's spelled...) government responds to the movie and so forth. So what's good about "Borat" then? Quite a lot infact. My favourite sequense would be at the car dealership, "What kind of car would attract a woman with a shaved vagina?" (I think that's how the line went. The cardealer(whom is not in on the plot or possibly; the film) responds quicly. "That would be the Corvette. Or a hummer." It's funny bechause it's true, smirk. And don't do that feminist thingy about me (and the movie) beeing condescending towards women, there are women out there who has a corvette on their "things I need in a man" list, and that's not my fault, I choose not to identefy myself with that brand of women and I am free to make fun of it all I want, hah! And the movie is condescending towards women, in a "this is what we think people in backyard part of the world is like" kind of roundabout way. I don't care, it's comedy, so much infact that any kind of "message" the movie might be trying to deliver get's lost in the laughing. After all, there's naked wrestling, crazy americans, a lot of desillution, and Pamela stuffed in a marrigesack. "Complience not necceseary" became my Lawyerboys favourite tagline from the movie, my own would be "That would be the Corvette. Or the Hummer", not so much the sentence, but the way it's said in the movie, it's like it's a standard part of the salespitch(chills down my spine, while I'm laughing, strange indeed)... And there are many more, this is one of those whom comes with a prefabricated set of inside jokes, great fun if you're in on it, not so much if you're not. Should you go see Borat? Sure, allthoug you might as well wait for the dvd, get some friends together, buy some beers(or whatever's your preferance for comedyincreasing substances), and have a lot of laughs, and I do mean rolling on the couch until you fall off it kind of laughs. I recomend it for fun, but if you want cinematic history, ignore the hype and get yourself some "The Departed". I promise you will not regret it, that one you should be lining up for my little minions. Yes, I know I promised not to use that word again... Haha, my blog, my constantly changing set of rules! Queen in my realm...

Miramuffin says: Have a fun tuesday, if that's even possible, tonight I'm catching the new Bondflick. And I do love me some Bond every once in a while, even if my Bond will always and forever be Sean Connery, the man's man himself. I'll give Daniel Craig a fair shot, like I have given them all, exept George Lazenby, a talented realestate agent and the worst Bond of all time, the man whom almost killed the series. Go out and be free, have some fun, you know you deserve it, and even if you don't, making up excuses to have fun anyway can be fun in itself... Hugzes:)

Goodbye sunshine

So, it's that time of the year again, in the northern part of Norway we have a couple of months without sun each winter. We have just entered into them and it sucks bigtime, I like sun, eternal dusk and darkness can be very depressing and it messes up my already dodgy sleepingpatterns.
Otherwise I'm pretty happy, still going strong with my darling Lawyerboy, started playing poker again(texas hold'em, the cocaine of cardgames...), loving it bigtime, work is going fine, nothing new under the perpetually dark skies. My twentyfifth birthday is creeping up on me, and I've made plans already, plans involving tequila and headonism, and a sweet alcoholinduced fog covering the memory of my age, swell. Playing lot's of chess theese days to, and I'm getting better, lawyerboy is a pretty decent player but I have become a serious challange for his skills lately(I'm winning quite a few games in fact, fun...). So what to write about, well, I've got a few plans, I'm writing a rewiew of "Borat" and "The Departed", I have a halfway done column about dreams, and some funnier stuff I have barely started on, so keep dropping bye. I also know it's been a while, I have been cut of from the web for a while, and been a little lazy;)

Miramuffin says: Go out and be naughty boys and girls, have some fun, do something diffrent, and listen to some rock and roll while you are at it. Remember, we're the future of the world, so grab onto you're place in it and push the envelope, you deserve fun, so go get some of it;)
Life is loving it, so get to it folks.

Movies!(a column written while eating popcorn, no less)

Movies and me

Movies was always totally magic for me as a child. Movies was a luxury, something symbolizing a special occation. I grew up in a tiny little community, just out in the grasp of an enourmous ocean, far away from sivilization(it felt like, we had sivilization, just a very isolated slow and frightend form of it), we had one gas station where they rented out videos, and it was a fifteen minute drive away, so my parents we're always present at the rental moment. Also, renting a video was not a ordinary event, it happend very seldom, usually just for mine and my brothers birthday. Lassiemovies became the exeption. We we're on a fleemarked(I must have been six years old i think) and mom "went a little crazy" and bought four lassie movies. We literally watched one of them to death, "Lassie and the puma(cougar?)". I think this is when my love for movies with a lot of clear colours, blue skies and beautiful landscapes were first born(wich explains why I'm still watching CSI Miami I guess, it must be the colours, cause the shows gone down the drain lately...). Then, as we grew older(my brother is two years younger, which incidentally caused me to be labeled the bad one I guess...) we started getting videos for christmas. Every christmas morning(In Norway we celibrate the 24. of desember, opening our gifts in the evening) we were allowed to open one gift each(I still do this, I'm twentyfour...), and since the time before church, dinner and then more presents tended to be a little grueling, we always rummaged through the gift for the charactheristic videoshaped ones and spent the morning watching the Disney variety, Beauty and the Beast beeing my personal favourite till this day.
But videos are one thing, going to the movies something else entirely. Aspecially where I'm from, fifty kilometers(yes, I know you yanks still go by miles, you're practically alone and it's a very strange thing to hold on to, so I don't care, go metric...) to the closest real movie theathre, going to the movies was quite the expedition, but this of course made it all the more exiting. We had some sort of cinema at home but that was for a short period of time when I was very young. There was the "community movienights", held in a public building close to my house. The floor was flat, the chairs plastic and unplesant, the place smelled of a million cigarettes, bingo nights were ususlly held there, the equipment only worked on good days and I just have one memory of a movie experience from this "theatre". But it's a big one. I can almost guarantee you have not heard of it neighter. "Chataran and Posky", a slovakian(or another easternblock country) movie about a dog and a cat, their unlikely friendship and a long travel from something bad to somewhere safe. Sounds pretty cosy? Yeah, I think everyone in the theathre thought so also, until Chataran leaves Posky(the dog). And the entire crowd is crying, kids and adults alike, that moment really stuck with me, and we still sometimes talk about that movie when I'm home. My first realization of the power of cinema.

Then there was Jurrasic Park. It's 1993, I was eleven, by this point I have already started my career as a moviebuff, my two best frieds both had much older brothers, that gains you access to a lot of movies your parents probably woud not appreciate you watching. Those lovely unsupervised afternoons eating chocolate frosting watcing violent actionflics, priceless...
And so then it came, the first movie I had waited for, I had been reading, I had found out about the project and finally it came. We drove the fifty kilometers to the theathre in the nearest town(whom was not even classified as a town in those days), mom was with us, my brother was too young to get in on this one alone and I had hyped the movie to such a level that he would never forgive our parents if he was denied the experience. The theather was totally stuffed, there were people sitting in the ailes(in the sweet times before firesafety became an issue..), and then it started, and it was amazeing. It whas THE defining movie of my childhood, and I will forever stand by it, it's a fucking glorious movie, sure, the script is surreal at times, the plotholes might fit a midsized tyrannosaurus but it does in no way matter. The scene with the glass of water in the car, the darkness, the rain, the dissapeared goat, and then... Tyrannosaurus rex, in all it's mighty glory, standing still in a flash of lightening, before tilting its head and gobling down the unfortunate goat. Sure all hell breaks loose afterwards but this is the moment that stuck with me. The timing is perfect, we know what's coming, and we are scared, but Spielberg does not fall to the temptation of just scaring us, he wants us to gasp in awe of his creation, and he makes it big time. That dinousaur still looks real today, the best special effects seen to date.
Chills down my spine. Of course I probably have severan hundred moments like that now, but there's something about that first one you know...


Movies and people

Movies are one of those social things that can tie us together or tear us a part, at least thats whats it's like for us filmbuffs, we all have those strange filmmoments, the movie we love that everyone else hated or was indiffret towards(A.I.,Vanilla Sky, Any given Sunday, The Shipping News), and we never manage to see why, the critically acclaimed movie we just don't see the appeal of(hidden dragon croaching tiger, Miami Vice, the (three)last star wars flick). Theese are, of course, the exeptions, what matters more are the movies we(ehem, most of us at least) know are universally great, which we, shallow as we are, really really hope that our friends and special someones like. The movies that might end a starting relationship if not understood or appreciated. Sin City, Reservoir Dogs, Office Space, The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, Shaun of the Dead, Scarface, Once upon a time in wherever, Casablanca, Godfellas, and so on and so forth... The movies that can make or break a friendship, the reasons we talk about movies when we have just met someone, usually some common ground is found. "Wow, you loved Anchorman to!" that kinda thing, then you have the more seldom events, like "You got Adaptation!? How cool..." The scary ones "What do you mean you don't understand Pulp Fiction? And you have watched it four times?!" And the ones which can induce a "take me now" moment... The ones where you meet someone, you talk, you realized you have seen all the same movies, obscure and commercial by some strange coincedence, and this person loves the strange stuff you love. Someone besides you whom has not only seen "The Shipping news", but likes it and realizes what makes it so great. Oh, the magic of that feeling. Yes, I'm very serios about my movies. I think it's a normal thing, like that strange feeling when you're actually at the movies. Before you go in, standing in an uneasy crowd, a little stressed by all the people milling about around you. After the movie, the people around you don't totally feel like stangers anymore, there is a comfort, instilled in us by our collective experience, and everyone seems more at ease.
Now how's that for the magic of cinema?


Movies and dating

This is a serious one, and I have to admit, it's been done far better by the good people over at Pajiba, so my headline is linking to that column, it might be sawing off the branch I'm sitting on but hey, credits given where they are earned, and theese people know smart and funny. But I will of course write something anyway. Movies enter the dating pattern early on, it's not that common of a first date phenomenon, more like second or third, but it's mandatory in those weeks spent together on one of the parties coach, talking and laughing. The first movie watched together is important, it's scary, and always difficult to choose. There's the option of something scary, often made with certain inentions, and never that wise an option to begin with, not a good sign so to speak. Neighter is the very serious european tearjerking drama a good way to go, stay away from Natural Born Killers, and other slaughterfest choices also. Choose somehing you like, don't make out to be someone you're not, and it's often a good thing to find something watched and ejoyed before. Go for fun, exiting and special, dont fall into bland variety, after all sleeping with someone to stop yourself from beeing bored silly is a strange experience at best, so just don't go in that direction. And yes, it's normal to have a affection for eightees actionflics, great for hung over sunday mornings, not the best dating flics. Also, go for something feelgoody, rather than some brutal "life is hard, here, let us show you just how hard" thing. I love "Requriem for a dream", even though it always make me cry and feel a little sick, but I would never dream of putting it on in the early stages of a relationship, aim to entertain, not traumatize. Of course, don't go to far in the other direction neighter, Jim Carrey is fun, and I have a slight hang up on his works, it's effortless fun, but not the best for dating, now "Office Space" and "Casablanca" on the other hand... (Yes, I'm speaking from experience here), are pretty much perfect. Of course "Office Space" is by far the risky of the two, it's a little strange but it fits my humor very well, and if I like someone, well, I like a certain strange kind of humor, and I really like my special someone to posess it at some degree. And yes, I know it's a little bad, but most of us might be tempted to use movies to "test" a little, you can learn a lot from someones respons to a movie, and it's acceptable in my book. Probability is that all parties will be enjoying the prosess anyway. So, I seem to be suffering a little from a slight complex, Pajibas guide to third date movies leaves little to be said, so link away, you will not regret it.


Movies and language

When it comes to this point let me just say one thing. "My preccious." Yes, movies affect the way we talk, as individuals, as groups, and some cases as a huge segment of population. My personal favourite is those innside jokes we develop as groups and couples, "Mine?" from "Nemo" being my personal litany for a while. And there's the ones you smile when you remember. The sound of someone close to me muttering, in his darkest, most buff version of Bogart, "Her's looking at you kid", a line I've since had stuck in my head. There's the times where everyone used the beformentioned "My preccious" about absolutly everything, the "Luke, I am your father!" era, the fact that I have lately developed a relationship to "It wasn't me, it was the one armed man!" all the things that tie us together. You also have the more obscure ones "Cows are gonna kill me. Bisexuals are gonna kill me. Let's get out of here, where's the elevator?" If you don't know, well then I guess you're gonna have to google off to find out now aren't you? And of course, my personal favourite: "You met me at a very strange time in my life." Said in the hoarse voice of Edward Norton, in the end scene that stuck with me forever. Just before "Where is my mind" by the Pixies starts, and the scyescrapers come tumbeling down. Fight Club, no more needs to be said.
The magic of cinema.

Miramuffin says: It's a tuesday morning, I finished the column started yesterday, I'm going to make myself a big cup of coffe and relax for a while now. Listen to female blues singers for a couple of hours, surf a little, look up some of my favourite blogs and do some light reading, sweet joys of life indeed. Today I'm leaving you a little less philosophical, I'll just tell you one thing, go see some movies will you. "The Departed" seem to be a must see, so you know what you have to do, and take someone with you, good movies loves good company.

Adaptation(not the movie)

It's a monday, they always seem to sneek up on me, I overslept quite badly, but it's a welcome change from hardly getting any sleep at all. The insomnia seems to be letting go, for now. Twelve hours of dark almost dream free sleep, I'm rested for once. Today I have some stuff to do, besides the usual writing of course. I'm helping a girlfriend dye her hair, I'll probably bake something, bread, and maybe some brownies. Just another ordinary day.

It's so strange how quickly humans adapt to changes in life, all the stuff we would never dream of happening to us, which happen anyways and become part of life and accepted in a matter of weeks. Maybe that's our real original sin, this ability to adapt to absolutly everything in a small matter of time. Good or bad dosen't make any diffrence, we will adapt to anything, and the feelings of joy or sorrow fades into our feeling of normalcy. It's probably some sort of survivalmechanism gone avry, ment to get us through periods of starvation and epidemics, but that, through evolution and generations of majore change, became part of who we are on a daily basis. And it causes everything to fade, this is what allows you to stay in a horrible place in life for a long strech of time, unable to really se the horror in it all until it's all over, the part that leaves you to ask yourself "what the hell was I thinking?" The same part that, when you look back on something really nice, makes you ask yourself the exact same question, but this time it's regarding the fact that you did not cherish what you had, you did not live each day to the fullest.
We're indeed, the strangest of mammals, so aware of who we are, and yet so unable to see what's straight infront of us. We can fight it of course, we can mirror ourself and our life towards the world around us, and see if the image fits, but of course everybody else in the world is eighter doing the same thing or probably less than clear sighted towards their life, so it can only take us so far. The better way might be looking inwards, trying to find the place inside that tells us who we are, and where we want to be, but that of course changes through time as well. Hmmm. Nobody said life was easy, guess there's about a million reasons for that. But there are some small things that can make it easier.
Learning who you are and what you wish for out of life is the first step. Learn that you decide how someone treats you, people whom are less than nice to you won't do you any good in the long run, so get some distance. You deserve better. Appreciate the small things in life right along with the big ones, stopping to smell the roses might be a worn out line but it's no less true. Take a pause, enjoy yourself, look at happy dogs playing in the park, they might have no concept of time but is concept of time such a great thing anyway? Yeah, five days a week you might have to let time be your allconsuming god but hey, when you get the chance, leave your watch at home, let time mind itself. Try and remember that the people around you, your friends and family are no given thing, not everyone is so lucky to have someone whom loves them, never forget how lucky you are. Keep in mind that there is no constant thing in life(I am repeating myself from a pervious column here, I know, but it's important ok, so just keep reading), you will never know how long something lasts, so cherish the moments.
Cause that's what life is, an uneven string of moments, good and bad, losely connected. You have a say in the whole thing, it's your life after all, but many choices will be made for you, and that's something all of us have to live with. Make the best out of it, it's given to you, free, but with a few strings attatched.

Miramuffins says: One of the philosopical ones again, just started thinking about adaptation, and that always throws me into a strange state of mind. Not a bad thing I guess. Right now I'm listening to the brilliant "Damn it feels good(to be a gangster)" from the no less brilliant "Office space". Watched it again the day before yesterday, late in the evening, with wine and company. It's one of those films you feel the need to share with someone you like, just to make them laugh(and of course you really hope they like it, otherwise you have discovered another new diffrence between them and you, and that's never plesant). My company liked it, no surprise there. I feel a new idea for a column coming on here. Ok, took a small pause to handwrite some notes for a movie oriented piece. Where was I... Yes, words to leave you with today. Live. It's all I can tell you folks, grab your life and force it into submission, nobody can do it for you. Do something new today, learn something, be kind and patient, but don't give in to much. And have lots of fun, you're allowed to.

A little something from life and a few books I would make you read if I could.

Ok, let's start of with the books. This is not a "best" list, this is four books I love because I actually changed a little bit upon reading them. Such books are rare, and I have always ment that a writers number one priority should be the act of telling a story, and worry about the world and metaphysics on their own time. There are of course exeptions to this rule, theese are some books that prove this. Books that exeede the formula, without ever leaving it.

1: Patrick Suskinds(I hope my spelling is ok here..) Perfume. It's such a dark and mezmerizing fairytale, like nothing else I have ever read. And it leaves you feeling that maybe there is some small flutter of magic in the world, maybe the exeptional and bisarre might be possible after all. It's, in very short, a story of a murder, and about growing up beeing strangely gifted and then, in the end, very, very obsessive. So dark and so beautiful, a true work of art, which will amaze and shake you upon reading. So get to it will you.

2: Douglas Couplands Girlfriend in a coma. The first time I read this one I was alone at my parents house, housesitting for a few weeks in a very short but stunningly hot summer. I was out on the porch, the sun was baking(weather that actually excuses the use of a shawl is not common in northern Norway), I was drinking coke and red wine mixed together(a drink that also needs a weather oriented excuse...), wearing shades and enjoing myself. So I read this book, and it was as if some small pieces within myself fell into place. It starts out, as so many of Couplands beautiful works, with young people, doing all the stuff young people do, while trying to find some meaning to it all. Richard, our main charachter, has sex for the first time, with his long time gilfriend Karen, it's winter, everything is seemingly normal. Then Karen falls into a coma, after confessing to having had visions of a dark future. And for seventeen years Karen stays in her coma. Life should probably have gone onwards for her friends, but it somehow dosen't, they are trapped, going nowhere slow, and the world slowly unravels for each and everyone of them. And then, Karen, along with the rest of them now in her thirthies, wakes up. So far it's a slightly tragic, very human, story, a story about not beeing at home in ones own life, but that's before Coupland upps the stakes. Because now the world ends, and as a reader you start suspecting that Coupland aims for more than recognition and humorus grief for life lost to society and boredom this time. This time he's going for the truth, straight at the core of what the world seems to be missing a bit more for everyday that passes humanity by. And it's harrowing, it's terrible, it's so much death and sorrow, and such a sacriface that must be made. But there's miracles to, and it made me laugh and cry, not many other writers can put me in that place, and none in the way Coupland does. Read it, it will scare you, and ring true, for all it's incomprehencibility. Just read it will you.

3: Xinran Xues Sky burial is one of those books that has such a captivating story that it needs nothing more to be breathtaking. But of course it's got more, beautiful scenary, mystery and desperation, a glimpse into a culture totally unknown for all but a few. In short it's the story of a chinese woman, whos husbond dissapears in Tibet in 1958. This leads her to travel to Tibet to find out what happens. She stays and searches for thirthy years. A true story, no less, written by the woman behind Voices in the night. A captivating story about love, so diffrent from other romantic writings. It will make you cry and feel wonderful in the same time. So please give it a shot, you will be better off for it.

4: Douglas Adams The hitchhaikers guide to the galaxy(the whole volume). This one should not need an explanation(please don't wach the movie and think you understand the book, I loathe you people). It's just amazeing, and it's one of those few books that shape you're humor wether you awknowlege it or not. Read it! You will have tons of fun, and who dosen't want that?
We all miss you very much Douglas Adams, you left this world far to soon, luckily you left us a lot of laughter.

So that's the books then, four good things to light a love of litterature with. What else is new then? Not much indeed, I'm still happy, going on content actually, enjoyed a pecan pastry just now, coffee on the side. Finally gaining some weight again, thanks to long nights in good company on my coach/bed(I'm a student, remember), watching movies(and my beloved show of the season, Dexter, my preccious neat monster...) and snacking, such a lovely feeling. Say what you will about skydiving and horsebackriding in the sunset, sometimes all you need is a coach, some good movies, snacks, and the perfect person to enjoy it all with. All it takes to make me very happy indeed. Yes. it's sickening, I know, and I'm thinking far less about the troubles of the world theese days to. I know it's temporary, life always catches up with us all in the end, but right now I'm happy about not caring, happy about making my own small corner of the world into a warm, locked nest, smelling faintly of incence and late night sigarettes. That feeling of having something entirely private, belonging only to you and one other person, not secret, but private, your thing, is a feeling like none other. And I have every intention of enjoying it, with no worry or regret.
Because, in the end, that's all anyone can do. We don't know what hand faith will deal us on the next turn, none of us do, all we can do is play what we're given and hope for the best. Time flies, my hair is growing long again, I'm not counting days or weeks anymore. Exept in one case. Friday the thirteenth of october a year had passed since I went out into the world on my own. One whole year has flied by, I am a year older, and maybe, with luck, a little bit wiser.

Miramuffin says: Take that chance, ask that question, face your fears. Cause life is too short, the days are to few, the moment's too soon gone and turned into memories. It's your life, and life is love, so live to love it. Pick up a kitten you meet outside and rediscover just how little emotion the eyes of a cat reveal, look into them and think about the fact that the world is big, and there's just so much we don't know. Look into the eyes of a person and rediscover how much of human language that does not involve talking, think about how small the world is getting and the enormous amount of knowlege every humanbeeing posesses. See the sun behind the rain, the stars behind the clouds, and if you're lucky and lives far north like me, watch the northern lights dance across the night sky. The world is beautiful still.