http://monkeyfist.com/

For that other political perspective.

I have been anticipating the release of Neverwinter Nights 2 for...well, a long time. Since it was released. So I was excited when I discovered that it was released today in stores. Picked up my copy, went home, installed it, downloaded the patches (how about that, multiple patches available for you before the game has even been on the market for 24 hours?) and clicked the executable. It chugged along for a moment, before a message pops up: "Emulator discovered. Turn off all virtual players and other emulators" (or something to that effect). Well, I had both Nero and Daemon tools installed and running, so I turned them off. Started NWN2 again. Same message. This time I go into the tool management and turn off every non-vital process. Start NWN2 again. The.Same.Freaking.Message.Again.

The new rage in copy protection is apparently something called Securom. It's great, because hackers, leechers and software pirates can't use the game, at least for a while. The drawback is that innocent people who have bought the game the legal way frequently can't use it either.

In a couple of days, a no-cd patch will no doubt appear at gamecopyworld.com, and maybe then I can play the game. No thanks to Atari or Securom.

I totally have the manlove for Peter Forsberg. Like so.

The World Series of Poker main event is in full swing, and a whole bunch of Swedes are participating, and giving the bookies nightmares. Or what do you say about these three players that qualified for the second day of play?

• Peter Hedlund $53,550
• Peter Hedlund $45,475
• Peter Hedlund $47,900

I thought I had stopped doing these "song of the day" thing, but then Röyksopp jumps at me with their What Else Is There? and it must be the song of the day because I can't stop listening to it.

Fuck this website.

I posted this (in a slightly different version) on a message board where nobody read it. I guess I should take the clue, but I'll post it here too.

With Youtube, Google video and countless other services, you can find pretty much any music video you can think of. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Swedish artists, slightly amazed at how good it is. A few of them:

Timo Räisänen

Fear no Darkness, Promised Child - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gmgZ2t0LaE

The Knife

Heartbeats - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZatCZ1YWQeI
Marble House - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAu8HYtoFAQ

Hello Saferide

Long Lost Penpal (feat Firefox AK) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZOiZ6bZ_KM
My Best Friend - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJU1bbBC3g8

Firefox AK

Love to Run - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEbA32RK7Ts

The Concretes

The Chosen One - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq4SsH5375E

Mando Diao

Sheepdog - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeNu2GdQz9M
Mr. Moon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hUnTTkBCfc
Down in the Past - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCdQzSOcFQA
Paralyzed - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKgKSh3UNbs
The Band - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5_DhKzQPEg

A good friend of mine, an old classmate from elementary school organizes a music festival in my hometown every year under the name Peace & Love. It's been a great event right from the start with a lot of nationally well known artists appearing, and a few smaller international artists as well.

Despite that, I almost died from a cough attack during the coffee break when I read in the national newspaper that my friend had been in touch with Patti Smith and explained what the festival was all about, and she had immediately agreed to appear.

I don't know who I love more right now, Patti Smith who I have admired for like, forever, or my friend for having the good taste and the initiative to bring her to our little podunk hometown.

I already knew it's going to be a good summer and a good festival, but apparently it can get better.

Song of the day has turned into song of the month, or something like that. Today it's Hot Chip - Over and Over. Good stuff.

Slowly, slowly is the Swedish summer approaching, mostly with frequent rain showers in store. For me, summers consists of memories attached to pieces of music, and odds are, these two festivals will contain much of that music. Bolded some groups I'm particularly looking forward to. Popaganda is especially nice, since it's all free... ;-)  Peace & Love has a much bigger selection of good bands, but then again, they actually charge their visitors... Plus it's a good reason to go back to my hometown and visit the folks and some old friends too.

Popaganda, Stockholm May 25-27




Peace & Love Festival, Borlänge July 7-8

 

Tickets to Hamburg ordered, vacation time requested (and granted). I'll be in Germany for six days during the football World Cup, the vacation as a whole will be four weeks (I think - I might take another week if I find a good reason to). Lars has promised a guided tour of the old hanseatic town of Lübeck as well as a bed to sleep in. It will be good.

I'll go back home to my parents for the first and last week of the vacation - the midsummer party with friends is traditional by now, and the music festival (with the lovely name Peace & Love) has a number of bands playing I want to see, including The Cardigans and New York Dolls.

I can't wait. Can not wait.

The song of the day is The White Stripes, My Doorbell.

I was going to write a full review, but I really have better things to do, plus I don't really know what to say. It's a brilliant film that I thoroughly enjoyed, go see it.

I don't feel much reason to comment on the world of sports often even though I would classify myself as almost fanatically interested. I simply feel that performances on the ice/field/whatever can speak for themselves, and anything I write about it will just be flat and pathetic in comparison.

But politics, that I can write about if I feel like it, and when politics meet sports, it gets fun. Or tragicomic.

Latvia is a budding ice hockey nation with small resources but surprisingly good players for their limited opportunities (I think they have a total of five hockey rinks with ice aggregates or something like that). For some reason, political dealings within the International Ice Hockey Federation went back and fourth until enough member countries felt they owed Latvia something, and so they were given this years World Hockey Championships, a second-rate tournament taking place in the backwater of the Olympic Games and at the same time as the NHL play offs.

Imagine those five ice hockey barns for a moment. Built during the Soviet era, so the Russian soldiers would have somewhere to skate in their off time. Certainly not to hold any World Championships. Those were played in Moscow.

And now they're trying to make it work. It's like playing the Super Bowl in... I don't know, South Dakota?

The Swedish team will play their opening game tonight. That is, if the ice holds, which most people down there seems to think that it won't, since they currently (seven hours or so before the puck drops) can see the concrete floor down the cracks in the ice. Cracks that appear because their old equipment can't get the temperature down enough. I would laugh, if I wasn't actually interested in watching some ice hockey, dammit. So I'll rant instead.

And no, I can't watch the NHL play offs. I don't have those channels... Grrr...

Put your music player on shuffle.
Press forward for each question.
Use the song title as the answer to the question even if they don't make sense. You'll be surprised though.
NO CHEATING!!!

A fairly good summary of what I believe in, in case you ever wondered (as if!). From here.

I can't recall when I started going (I could search back for the original post, but I can't be bothered), but I'm happy to say that the gym visits keep being a regular event - twice a week seems the average, mixed up with a session of badminton or squash now and then (I like squash better, it offers more intense exercise).

I haven't stepped on the scales in forever so I can't really say if I've lost any weight (I'm taking small steps toward eating healthier too, with an emphasis on "small"). It's not about that anyway - if I gained twenty pounds and felt better, I'd take those twenty pounds in a heartbeat. I feel energized, like every day tasks has become just that little beat easier to deal with. It's a very nice feeling that I absolutely didn't anticipate.

The song of the day is The Cure - Friday I'm in Love.

About time for a song of the day. The Hives - The Stomp it is.

So I suddenly and unexpectedly and impulsively sent a reply to some guys looking for another player for their D&D game, and I'm meeting them tonight for a first "try out" game session. I thought I had quit roleplaying, but apparently not. Sometimes I wonder if I'm in control of any of my faculties, and I think the answer to that is "No". I have no idea who they are, other than that they are about my age, and pretty exclusively into D&D as far as gaming goes. We'll see what happens. At least I'll get out and meet some new people...