The Candy Machine

Last week I read The Candy Machine : How Cocaine Took Over the World by Tom Feiling. Very good read on how the world of Cocaine works and operates. How the US government with their War on Drugs appears to make things worse rather than better, always preferring to focus on the Supply rather than the Demand side of things; rather spending 1 billion USD to bomb the coca fields than a tenth of that on social efforts in the USA to reduce consumption. Anyway, there's always a market for politicians offering simple solutions to complex issues. Lots of parallels to the time of prohibition of alcohol in the USA in the 1930ies: a policy which lead to the rise of widespread smuggling of alcohol, black bars, ultra-rich gangsters, and lots of violent crime.

A chapter in the book which really caught my attention dealt with the history of Cocaine (and to an extent even Heroin) consumption. Apparently these drugs once upon a time (like a century ago) were a relatively common and legal phenomenon in our western societies. Interesting.

Found some interesting pictures on this subject. How do you like this bottle of Heroin by Bayer, or the ad where Bayer on the one hand advertises Aspirin, and on the other advertises Heroin, as The Sedative for Coughs?

The Magnetic Fields

Last Thursday we went to see The Magnetic Fields who played at Philadelphia Kyrka in Stockholm. Nice indie band. Nice music. Funny lyrics at times. Still I cannot really escape from the impression that the social dynamics of the band have the nature of a student band. Stephin Merritt's deep dark Leoard Cohen-y voice is great, as is his ukele play. My favorite songs: I Thought You Were My Boyfriend, You Must Be Out of Your Mind and All My Little Words

Breaking Bad is Back!

Breaking Bad - one of my absolutely favorite TV-series is back!

Season 3 Episode 1.

And a great return it is! Back to the dusty but beautiful drug world of Albuquerque and the increasing complex life of meth manufacturing high school teacher Walter White a.k.a Heisenberg

Get the Season Pass at iTunes ... that is ... if you have a US credit card ... (-:

A Must See!

Brough Superior

The Brough Superior. Lawrence of Arabia used to have one of these very very cool motorcycles. Actually since he died in a motorcycle accident, he may have flown off one of these. Still, and anyway, very beautiful bike.

Revisiting my Alma Mater

Yesterday afternoon my good old friend Hossein was ceremoniously installed as Professor at Lund University.

Lund University is also my Alma Mater and it was good being back. The ceremony was beautiful. Held in the Auditorium of the main University building in Lundagård, it was steeped in tradition, with plenty of pomp and cirumstance, flags and uniforms, in the presence of the Archbishop of Lund, the Rector Magnificus of Lund University, and Swedish Secretary of Education, my old friend (dressed for the occasion in a beautiful black professor's robe) was installed as a Professor of Economics. A proud moment for him and for his family, and a privilege for me to be allowed to attend.

Very nice speeches by Rector Magnificus Prof. Per Eriksson, and particularly by the Chairmen of the Student Corps, Christian Ståhlman. Given the fact that Lund University has given Sweden many of its Prime Ministers, and that those often were Chairmen of the Student Corps in their student youth, and judging from this excellent speech, I would not be one bit surprised if yesterday I heard a future Prime Minister of Sweden speak.

Also learned that Lund University according to The Times is now ranked nr.67 in the world. This makes it the best university in Sweden and Scandinavia, and puts it on par with the University of Leuven in Belgium, and London School of Economics. Not too bad. Top 3 is held by Harvard, Cambridge and Yale.

Trololololo etc

A fabulous piece of Soviet entertainment: Eduard Khil's song Trolololo, which originally had a text which Soviet censorship disallowed (something about there being too much of an American Western atmosphere to it) so the song was launched with only Trolololo etc. as lyrics. You just have to love t: the whole Soviet censorship ridiculed in one genius blow.

custom-made Converse

Could not help myself from helping myself to this pair of made-by-me Converse.

You can make your own on www.converse.com

Mount Everest 1924

Look at this picture from a British 1924 Mount Everest expedition.

Quite stylish lads, wouldn't you agree?

All-Female UN Peacekeeping Units in Liberia

A very interesting and apparently very successful new UN peacekeeping formula: all-women units from Nigeria and India, here seen serving in Liberia.

Female UN peacekeepers are said to be more efficient because they defuse tense situations more smoothly and naturally than their ego- and testosterone-burdened male colleagues. Cool sisters!

Michael Bastian & CFDA - Four Times Lucky!

My favorite designer Michael Bastian has been nominated for CFDA Menswear Designer 2010. He's now been nominated four years in a row, so it is very much his time! Still, he's up against Tom Ford and Rag&Bone's David and Marcus....

Rodriguez

Just the other day I got the song Cause by Rodriguez from a friend. I immediately loved the song, but had never heard of the artist. So I did some research, yielding some surprising information:

"Another serious contester for the title of "artist least likely to enjoy a major career re-estimation," the story of cult enigma Rodriguez is nonetheless characterized by recurring moments of renaissance, sprawled over four decades and as many continents. Hopelessly obscure in the United States during his formative years as Detroit's answer to Dylan via Motown and Bacharach, in South Africa the artist notoriously remains a nostalgic reminder of apartheid. As Dutch national newspaper NRC Handelsblad discovered in 2005, young white South Africans who had been enlisted with the national service had embraced Rodriguez as their own counterculture Hendrix. However politically incorrect this must seem, their longing for the Vietnam era — when smoking grass and listening to Rodriguez' thought-provoking lyrics was viewed as a means of rebelling against their own ultra-conservative government — comes across as perfectly imaginable. As a consequence, much of his repertoire remains a big favorite of singalongs at an average "Braai", or barbecue party".

source: www.allmusic.com

a dinner with a view in Cape Town

Chan Marshall a.k.a Cat Power

Cat Power has made two songs that I've listened to a million times: The Greatest and Metal Heart. I think she's absolutely fantastic. Saw these pictures of her on A Continuous Lean.

Up in the Air

Interesting movie. Saw it on the plane down to Cape Town. George Clooney plays a professional downsizer; a consultant hired by companies to fire staff, when, in his words "the manager is too much of a coward to do it himself". The movie takes us on a cold journey through desolate office landscapes in the fly-over states; Omaha, Des Moines, places like that. The harshness of the American workplace is laid bare in all its upbeat desperation. This movie is depressing in the same way as Glengarry Glen Ross was.

The main character Ryan Bingham (Clooney) makes a journey from glorified (in his own eyes) alienation and isolation, to slowly finding human warmth and connection once more. When finally he joins the very exclusive American Airline 10 Million Miles Club (a great scene with Sam Elliott as a philosophical airline captain strongly reminiscent of his cowboy stranger in the Big Lebowski) he really couldn't care less any more.

Recommended. A must see for every frequent flyer who is very very fed up with being away from home (such as I). 3 stars out of 5

a view from a room in Cape Town

Nice building on Buitengracht, Cape Town

Cape Town

Arrived in Cape Town from Stockholm last night; woke up to a grand blue sky and a 40°C temp diff. Nice!

Took a long walk from the Waterfront up through the Company Park to Oranjezicht. Watched the clouds slowly drop over the side of Table Mountain.

Had tea at Mount Nelson Hotel, and walked down again by Buitengracht street, a kind of South African version of Bangkok's Kao San rd.