Review: the Constant Gardener

For most types of businesses, there are certain important films you should see... stockbrokers should watch "Wall Street", geneticists should watch "Gattaca", teachers should watch "Circle of Dead Poets", etc. Not necessarily because they are always amazing movies (though that is a bonus!), but because they portray the glories and pitfalls of the profession and allow someone outside your field to have a basic understanding of your work - even though it can be quite caricatural.

For the work I do, "The Constant Gardener" is as close as I've seen. It's a dark movie about how a big pharmaceutical company exploits Kenyan patients in risky medical experiments. It's cynical, understated (not least because of one of the true masters of the understated, Ralph Fiennes). It's not always a clear-cut issue who the big bad guy is, which is one of the strengths of the movie: indeed, it paints a picture of huge companies or governments where the blame is shared by a lot of individuals who in small ways contribute to the big picture of the problem.

As a clinical research associate, my job is to prevent this type of abuse on innocent patients. It is our job to make sure that they are informed of the research, aware of what treatment they are receiving, well taken care of by their doctor - even if they don't want to participate in research. In Sweden I might not be on the frontlines of preventing the events in "Constant Gardener", but in my small way, I feel I'm contributing to the solution.

The film itself is good, well acted, beautifully directed. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz are great in the leads, and my favourite "creepy Brit" Bill Nighy as always steals the show in whatever scene he's in. And the plot is intriguing and exciting as any thriller should be.

Grade: 4/5
Better than: Mission Impossible 2
Not as good as: Last King of Scotland

Review: Margot at the Wedding

I loved Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale", a tragi-comic story about a family breaking apart, and how both parents and both sons try to cope, try to pick sides and try to go on with their lives. It's very funny, very sad and very twisted - all at the same time. Laura Linney, one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood, is fabulous in it (despite never wearing make up!)

Now it was time for a second of my laminated top 5 actresses to star in a Baumbach movie, namely Nicole Kidman. The film is every bit as twisted, funny, sad and nonsensical as the Squid, and once again portrays two families in the full-blown process of disintegration and reconciliation. And Nicole is wonderful in every sense of the word.

Grade: 4/5
Better than: Fried Green Tomatoes
As good as: The Squid and the Whale
Not (quite) as good as: Juno

Facebook is so 2007...

I was at a party when the following comment was made: "Facebook is SO 2007!"

General laughter ensued at this comment. But it stuck with me, and after mulling it over for a few days, I started agreeing... Facebook felt new, fresh, exciting and trendy, and now I can hardly be bothered to log in anymore.

Is it my natural tendency to not feel the initial excitement of having a friendlist of 100+, or does Facebook occupy a social niche which I'm starting to outgrow, that of having as big a network as possible, no matter how anonymous?

At any rate, the end result is the same: unless someone urges me, I rarely log onto Facebook by my own.

Review: Morgan Pålsson

"Hipp hipp" is the finest Swedish group of comedians. They hail from Skåne, south of Sweden, and originate from the same sort of university entertainment groups as Monty Python. Though not as good as the Pythons (who is or can ever hope to be?), they're in the Swedish elite - not that hard considering the competition ;)

As a film, "Morgan Pålsson" takes one of the sketch characters, a self-absorbed and completely incompetent journalist (Morgan Pålsson) and turns into a feature-length sketch. It's funny at times, but it's hard to make a collage of skits work as a movie, which is my main critique of the film. It worked, made me laugh more than a few times, but there were a few moments where you expect the joke from a mile off and had to wait till it got fresh again.

Grade: 3 stars

Better than: [insert Swedish comedy film here]

Not as good as: Hipp Hipp TV episodes (the "blind Nazi" sketch really had me crying/laughing)

Time to go to the movies...

Since Biotider shut down, I've experienced a bit of a drought on the cinematic side: I simply don't know what movies are hot and what movies are not anymore! But here are the movies I'm super-syked about:

• The Dark Knight
• Indiana Jones IV

It's gonna be a good movie summer I think!

My TOP 5 laminated!

Fans of "Friends" will remember an episode where Ross has trouble deciding which 5 celebrities he would add to his list of beautiful women he would never turn down. The trouble is, as always, that there are more than 5 celebrities you can imagine, so the challenge is to laminate the list - make it final! Here's my personal take on the "top 5", with 2 brunettes, 2 redheads and 1 blonde:

My top 5 laminated ladies

Salma Hayek

Monica Bellucci

Nicole Kidman

Laura Linney

Tuva Novotny

I would also like to thank those who did not make it to the final five but made the selection a lot more difficult than it should have been:

Close but no cigar*

Naomi Watts

Kirsten Dunst
Jessica Alba
Kate Beckinsale
Elisha Cuthbert

(* Sigmund Freud would love my double entendre there, I'm sure)

Headline News: the tiniest dictatorship in Europe falls

On the wikipedia homepage, the following headline item drew my eye: "The Channel Island Sark abolishes the last remaining feudal system in Europe. "

I laughed out loud several times while reading about this island. If we were any earlier in april I would strongly suspect an elaborate April Fools hoax, but this seems legitimate. Try finding the parts of the article referring to the "One Man Invasion" and "Clameur de Haro" for extra kicks. I used to think people living on small islands inevitably became crazy: I now know this for a fact!

Hard at work or hardly working?

["New game for civil servants:

the first one to move loses]

Since I've started working at my new job in february, my workload has been rather uneven. Some days I'm swamped and working on so many different projects my head starts to spin (full 360 degrees, Exorcist-style), and some days I'm so starved for useful tasks and projects that I start abusing the work facilites for less, shall we say productive, pastimes? Examples:

• writing useless blogposts (much like the one you're reading)
• checking my email and/or Facebook every 10 minutes
• brushing up on my non-existing knowledge of Tibet on wikipedia (might be an upcoming blogpost btw!)
• googling origami folding procedures, then folding the said origami figure (I started out easy with a "sampan")
• continuing my long-going project to learn Spanish via song lyrics only (currently printed out a spanish/english version of Shakira's "La Tortura")
• booking tickets to cinemas (Morgan Pålsson), concerts (Where the Action is, festival featuring Foo Fighters among others), theatre (Mästaren och Margarita)
• managing my parents' finances and day-to-day menial administrative tasks
• selecting new pictures from my travels in South-East Asia for my wallpaper background

Who said work doesn't allow you to evolve? ;)

[feel free to post your comments! what useless things do you do in office down-times?]

Instant Karma

Karma is a faster (and more fashionable) way of saying "what goes around comes around" (replacing the impopular acronym WGACA). It is also a concept I encountered this weekend, while I was out partying with my two main wingmen, Nicolas and Victor. We were reminiscing about the old times and some us (ed: me) were feeling more freespoken than other while we discussed the long lost acquaintances that we would rather remained long lost.

Well, being uncharitable towards my fellow men delivered me into instant karma: they added me on Facebook.

Sometimes you gotta take chances...

...on your blogging lifestyle. My rule of thumb is: if you don't expect a lot of comments, you shouldn't enable comments. Because View Comments (0) looks a bit sad, sort of like entering "Single" on a lifestyle questionnaire or People Attending Event: 1.

But since I've gotten some feedback on some of my posts, I'm prepared to reconsider my overcautious policy and allow people to enter comments. To all my dedicated fans (yes, all two of you): don't let me down and go nuts on the comments!

To all you blog spammers: bring it on! I will delete your "V14gr4" posts so fast your head will spin.

Snuff vs Fags

For those of us still caught in the nicotine-lifestyle, it can be strategic to consider both options: snuff vs cigarettes. Here's a pros and cons list for both:

Snuff (or "snus" in Swedish"), also referred to as moist dipping tobacco, ressembles a tiny teabag satchel containing tobacco. It is inserted into the gum and enables you to draw nicotine into your bloodstream while in place.

PRO:

• user does not reek of cigarette smoke (easier to mask if need be)
• does not require user to go outdoors or find a specific location in which to do it
• less noticeable than a cigarette
• gives several hours worth of nicotine delivery without requiring use of your hands
• reduced risk of lung cancer

CONS:

• you can still tell it's there by the bulge on user's face
• can "run", causing a dark brown liquid streak to stain your teeth
• can cause lisping, especially when on the phone (the three above put together can make you look quite the mental retard)
• dulls your sense of taste
• not as bad breath as cigarettes, but can still annoy person standing close
• increased risk of oral cancer

As for cigarettes,

PROS

• smoking a cigarette is (for me) synonymous to taking a break
• just like Humphrey Bogart, makes you look cool (this is highly subjective, of course!)
• commanding the element of fire!
• short and intense burst of nicotine
• a useful tool in specific social circumstances ("Got a light?")

CONS

• cigarette smoke REEKS; annoys non-smokers, easily identified
• dulls your sense of smell
• passive smoking!
• requires you to leave room
• ever tried kissing a non-smoker? Don't.
• flicking away a cigarette butt, while showy, is a major factor in littering
• increased risk of lungcancer, lung disease and a lot of other health

I do a little bit of both. During office hours I tend to gravitate towards snus in order to cut down on necessary breaks and maintain a (more) neutral smell, whereas cigarettes are better for out-of-office hours, pubbing/clubbing etc.

Have I considered quitting these vile practices? More than once, but I only seriously tried when I was dating a girl who didn't smoke. It worked for three weeks, and then I spent the rest of the relationship trying to (successfully, I might add) hide the fact that I still smoked...

Two sides to every story

I received a link from Tobias, a good friend despite his suspicious political affiliations (liberal, supports McCain in the US and Moderaterna in Sweden), perhaps because we share a passion for calling each other out for being the reason the world is an imperfect place, and sometimes rarely agreeing on certain things. A good argument can really raise your pulse and get you thinking - or can cause headache and loss of happiness - and sometimes all at once.



Our current disagreement revolves around the war on Iraq. I have gone from carefully optimistic to profoundly skeptical about the Iraqi war and have few illusions that anything good will happen to Iraq in the next 10 years or so. Tobias is more optimistic and points to current signs of improvement in the security situation. I know that skepticism for the future don't earn you points because something bad is ALWAYS likely to happen, I'm pretty sure that Iraq is currently too traumatised and fractured to pick itself up - in one piece at least.

Two articles, one sent in by Tobias and one by me, regarding the current strategy of US soldiers to create a new branch of security (Al Sahwa) mostly composed of Sunnis. The two perspectives are quite different, and I encourage you to read both; it's always a good idea to read an article you agree with and one you don't - you'll be more confused but probably a better person for it.

Perspective 1:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120787343563306609.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Perspective 2:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/18722376/the_myth_of_the_surge/print

The Great and Secret Traffic School Conspiracy

It has begun to dawn on me that while I may not be the best driver in the world I should have passed that last exam by most standards. I've begun considering whether there is a more sinsiter reason to me flunking out of the third exam... I give you my take on


The Great and Secret Traffic School Conspiracy





Money is the key issue here. By putting insanely high standards for passing exams, they make sure that all my money is being slowly bled dry, by the traffic schools and Vägverket. They've conspired to squeeze out every last precious krona out of the citizens. When push comes to shove (and I'm in the mood to shove), you are only encouraged to do the right thing when the surrounding society gives you reason to hope that doing the right thing is not a poetic struggle against all odds. I'll give it another go, but if I don't get the driver's license soon through the system, I'm gonna have to start considering how to go around it...



(You can of course choose to interpret this as the rambled denial of a self-deluded traffic hazard. But I'm right - whether you know it or not)

If the third time's the charm, what is the fourth?

I'm so sick and tired of the driver's license. Am I ever getting it? As you can deduce, I failed at my third attempt to grab the pink plastic. How many more attempts will it take? And not a completely irrelevant question: how much more time and money is this gonna cost me?

*sigh*

Guess I'll just have to restart the process. I really tried hard this time, but obviously I'll need to try again... Not that fond of the idea of going back to the driving school and ask for more driving hours, but what the bloody hell am I suppose to do otherwise?

Back to the drawing board!

Ramble on

I'm a bit nervous. Tomorrow is the culmination of my efforts to take the driver's license once and for all. Even though I've prepared, I still feel hesitant; like it could go either way. I feel I shouldn't be learning new things every time I sit behind the steering wheel, yet I do - shouldn't I feel ready, confident and willing+able? Maybe because I have so much riding on this, and am feeling the pressure before my peers; maybe because I feel that my driving instructors this past week aren't as optimistic as I'd have hoped they would be. Well, nevermind that - all that counts is how I drive tomorrow, not how I've driven before.

If I get my hopes up too high, I might crash and burn; if I don't get my hopes up high enough, I might not drive as well as I'm supposed to. There's a balance here, a very delicate balance, one I hope to find the answer to by the time I drive.

Staying the whole weekend in this appartment may not have been the best idea, but then again, I am like a tree, who likes to spread roots wherever I go. I brought books, work and my computer with me and done as much as I could expect to, though never as much as I could have done. After I eat dinner tonight I have to clean the appartment and erase all evidence of my existence here this past week; a load I wish I didn't have to bear. Though sometimes, chores are the best way to clear your head of thoughts and get on with living your life.

Whenever I travel, I expect to fulfill my potential, desires and become the person I would like to be; too often, I remain the same. Maybe there is solace in knowing that there is a centered self, my soul if you will, that I can return to without losing all sense of direction. But I sometimes wish there were more to it.

Enough rambling.

Game Review: Portal (PS3)

Valve, the creators of the Half-Life series, have developed what could have simply been a small-time component of a goodiebag. Instead, they have crafted one of the strangest, most thought-warping and mind-bending action puzzles I've ever had the sheer addictive joy of playing: Portal.

There is virtually no background to the game. You are given a "portal gun", a handheld device that can create a portal on any surface. You can create an entry portal and an exit portal, and you have to navigate a series of increasingly complex ways to use the portals and using every shred of physics, intelligence and rapid fire problemsolving you can. Challenge yourself and your friends: play Portal!

(warning: prolonged playing may cause some really bizarre nightmares!)

Colbert Report

Many may remember having seen this remarkable man do what millions dream of doing but only a handful of people on the entire planet would dare to if it came down to it: mocking George W Bush, to his face. Watch Stephen Colbert in action at the White House Correspondent's dinner:



I've since discovered that the source of the genius can be enjoyed on his very own show, the Colbert Report (pronounced Cole-bear Ree-pore). His style, a caricaturized heavy-handed right-wing ultra-nationalist is the best way to batter in his message; but regardless of your political stance, I think there are laughs enough to go around!

For full access to the Colbert Report, check out the website:
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/

(Note: all videos of the show are available, with a liberal dose of ads between segments)

InspireChange: Water Cleanser

Nicolas and I are both strong proponents of technology and philanthropy (well, to be fair, Nicolas is more technological and I am more of a (very humble) philanthropist) We've often discussed all the cool ideas people get and then successfully implement that make the world a little better! We even discussed building a website around it, rating different projects based on the following criteria:

- is it innovative? (solving old problems in a new way?)
- does it actually change anything? (protest lists and "awareness raisers" are not inherently mechanisms of change)
- is it inspiring? (do you feel excited when you hear about it?)

A great example is the Water Vaporizer, a great invention featured on the Colbert Report. Click the link http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?episodeId=164042
and scroll to the interview with Dean Kamen!

The Banquet (less philosophy, more filling)

A couple of weeks I hosted a small get-together for some of my former classmates from biomedicine at Karolinska Institute. As I was setting the table, I decided to take pictures of it to provide incontrovertible (wow! is that really a word?) evidence of my l33t cooking skillz:

The menu: salmon hors d'oeuvres, tabboulé, potato salad, chicken/meat pasties, tomato pie, chicken pie, meatpie, broccoli and danablue pie, chocolate cake AND cheesecake: scrumtious!

A time of Exile: Övik

Here at last! I love travelling by train, but the last of leg of the journey was by bus, which is far less of a state of "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind", so to speak. The bus ride was followed by a gruelling walk almost constantly uphill to my appartment in the student residential area of Övik.



I settled in easily in a comfy two-room appartment with most amenities available, including a microwave-oven, a coffee percolator, two(!) toilets, a tiny fridge and an even tinier oven. Good enough for me and my basic needs. The sign above, "maximum 30 people in this locale", is setting the bar quite high for my social skills ;)

So during the day I take about 4 hours of driving lessons, requiring me walking up and down the snowy streets of Övik, and in my off time I entertain myself with the books, films and work I brought with me, not to mention updating my blog.

It's cold up here, and the appartment is a bit chillier than I would have liked, but I brought a comprehensive winter wardrobe to ward off the worst of the weather. And now, all I can do is drive like I belong at the wheel!

Confusion rules

I recently received several emails from an acquaintance of mine. The content was heavy with generic, fundamental islamic moral, baked into several school-level poems. I was a bit upset by all the heavy-handed fingerpointing, but the good thing is that it gave me a creative spark.

It doesn't rime, and is probably longer than it could have been, but sometimes you have to accept that your first draft will be your best draft, so here it is:

The Trade

I own a compass,
though I'll glady confess
it's more a gyroscope
and not really a compass at all

It turns north, rotates south
It skips and jumps; what good
Is such a useless device
If you can't trust it to give you straight answers?

I wish someone could pin it down,
tie the needle into a knot -
or if all else fails, hammer
it down so it cannot budge

I wish it would tell me the
same thing on Wednesday
as it would on Monday
regardless of what happened on Tuesday

I wish it would tell me the truth
never waiver in its certainty
Even if it is not entirely sure,
I would feel more cerain if it was.

I wish my father always had an answer.
Instead he always had a reply,
which often was, "You need
to look for your answer".
(Damn, I really hated him for saying that)

Give me a brochure with all the correct answers
I'll trade you my broken compass
Because mine can't even make up its own mind
Can't even make up my mind.

Yours can tell me what I want to hear
Yours can promise me that something is certain
Yours can tell me everything
I never knew I wanted to know
or ever needed to know I wanted

What do you mean, trade them?

You mean, that if I want to know everything
Never have to reason, to doubt, or fear,
or stay up all night with a head
full of questions I can't make heads or tails of,

All I have to do is trade my compass
away, and exchange it for your book?
An easy decision, I
should think.

You'll really like it; did you know
it was a gift from my parents? Granted,
they never taught me how to use it,
or what good it could be

But just so you know,
It holds some sentimental value
to me; of course, though it would
hold more if it worked, right?

A few times, it tried warning me
of dangers, but not as often as I'd have liked;
And very seldom, when I held it

upside down
held my breath
before a mirror
looked from the corner of my eye

I caught a fleeting glimpse
of something rare,
glorious,
wonderful!

Still, I prefer something solid,
something I can look up. I mean,
wouldn't you trade away
all the uncertainy
all the confusion
all the clockwork
for truth inscribed in stone?

Hold on.

I'll tell you what;
maybe I'll hold on to it,
juste a little bit longer,
until I'm sure, dead sure,
that I can't make it work.

There's a certain appeal to it,
a je-ne-sais-quoi, that I'd like
to tinker a bit more with.
I think I'll settle for my uncertainty,
my confusion, my useless clockwork
and leave you to your book.

Maybe I'll change my mind;
maybe I'll return and ask to browse your book;
but don't count on me
trading my compass away.

Northward bound - the exile begins

As I write these words, our train is parked at the station in Gävle. The final destination for me is Örnsköldsvik (Övik for short), where I shall remain in self-imposed exile. The purpose is acquiring a small piece of pink plastic I have long coveted: the driver's license.

Ok, we just started rolling. Thanks to mobile broadband, I have the luxury of remaining connected to the Net by the means of with robust bandwidth - indispensible for me as I'll require internet access in the coming week. I can ill afford remaining long off the grid; part, because I'll need access to my work and regular email, and part because I need something to pass the long hours between driving lessons.




So, why Övik? As fans of the "Omar show" will know, I have twice in the past attempted to best the gruelling driving test required in Sweden to gain the license to no avail. I have finally
implemented a plan I've long harboured. Different locations in Sweden have different success rates for passing driver's exams irrespective of other factors. Örnsköldsvik has the highest success rates of passing driver's tests. Also, the opportunity to (relatively) cheaply drive a large amount of times in a limited time (17 hours in 1 week), the relative isolation from distractions and cheap accomodations all tipped in Övik's favour. And I am quite curious to see how life is lived in a small town in Norrland.


The snowcovered landscapes we're passing are farily typical of Sweden: snow-covered fields, dense forests of pines and spruces. Sunlight on snow is nearly blinding in its intensity in the stark northern landscapes. The Swedish winter was abysmally mild this year, but it seems that the easter holidays are making up for the snowfall by laying a thick white blanket.

I'm hoping the snow won't hamper my driving too much or increase the relative difficulty of the driving test. As Bob Marley would sing, "Time alone will tell". In the meantime, I will continue enjoying my trainride, munching on my coffee and sandwiches, looking out the window at the vast white expanses...

...and blog when that gets boring ;)

March in 100 words or less

Well, long time no blog, so here goes for the highlights of March so far:

Biomedical People Party: I hosted a nice little party for my fellow graduates from the biomedicine programme at Karolinska. I made way too much food, and I spent the whole party and subsequent week trying to get rid of all of the food without wasting any of it - no easy feat! But I've rediscovered the joy of cooking, which is awesome (for me and for you!)



Work was business as usual. I guess that when it will rain, it will pour; but would it be wrong of me to ask for a drizzle?

I spent most of Easter Holiday crashing at my friends Victor and Melissa. In the process, I not only had a great time - I was bullied/sweet-talked by Victor into buying a brand new Playstation 3! We found a great bargain and sealed the deal. Of course, easy come, easy go: the unit won't read any discs, so back to the shop it went.



Also in March: it snowed like crazy for the first time this winter!

Don't miss my upcoming trip to the north. Stay posted!

Know-it-alls will claim I exceeded my self-proclaimed 100 word limit. To paraphrase Tina Charles, "It's my blog, and I'll blab if I want to!"

What's on the big and little screen?

It hasn't escaped anyone that movies is a passion for me, but I can also surrender to the addiction of really good television shows. Stuff I'm currently excited about:

Good TV shows

Californication
Excellent TV show, courtesy of "Showtime". David Duchovny is actually very funny and irreverent as a cynical writer trying to piece his life and family together. Really moving and really amusing at times, and both at the same time at it's very best. Quote: "Rehab is for quitters!"



30 Rock
Comedy show, behind the scenes of a comedy TV show. And while the TV show inside the show is like SNL (a type of humor I don't really get), 30 Rock is full of an intelligent, quirky sense of humor. Quote: "DId you know that the inner state schools have lower literacy rates than the Sudan? - That doesn't sound right. -Hm, maybe it was Sweden? Or was it teen pregnancy? (sighs) I need to read more."




Currently, good movies

Juno
Adorable film that will leave you all warm and fuzzy inside, but with enough bite and well written dialogue that it won't initiate your gag reflex. Ellen Paige as Juno is awesome and well deserving of the Oscar nomination. My biggest beef is that Micheal Cera and Jason Bateman (two of the stars of the awesome TV show "Arrested Development") while both in the film, have no common scene :(

WAZ
It starts off with Stellan Skarsgård trying to play a hardboiled cynical cop named "Eddie" (yes, it's about as unintentionally funny as it sounds), which lowered my expectations for the rest of the film. But then the plot and script crank it up a notch, Eddie becomes fleshed out, Selma Blair (black-haired girl in Cruel Intentions, Hellboy and In good company) has the best role of her carreer. Warning: some scenes make Seven look like a picknick and bring Saw to mind.

Stockholm, fine dining

Now that I actually have an income, food's on the menu! I've had the privilege of never having been hungry due to lack of funds, which puts me in the upper percentiles of the planet - but still, fine dining is a joy forever! I've been trying to mentally compile a list of the better restaurants I've had the pleasure of eating at in Stockholm:

• Underbar - lebanese cuisine, Drottninggatan
• Sonjas Grek - greek cuisine, Södermalm
• Hard Rock Café - american cuisine, Odenplan
• Happy India - indian cuisine, Mariatorget
• Underbara bar - swedish cuisine, Medis
• 4 Knop - crêperie, Medis
• Sushi Bar Sandai-Me Kato - Sushi, Medis/Mariatorget

I hope to add more to the list, in particular the very hyped "Restaurangen".

As long as it's a Democrat, I don't care

Obama or Clinton? is the question a lot of people have on their lips. The two candidates have been surrounded with large media attention due to their unusual demographics; woman vs African American. Both are underdogs, and are getting attention and support due to their underdog positions.

If either is better than the other is difficult for me to discern, mainly because during the campaigning session a lot of focus is on the progression of the votes in the primaries, and not on the facts about what the candidates represent. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to find out?

But honestly, I don't give a damn who wins. Both candidates have a good shot at the White House, and probably, neither will be a disaster of Bush-proportions. Because at this point, I'm mostly interested in getting that Republican fool out of office, and not having him replaced by another bloodthirsty Republican (fool or otherwise). I want a U.S. president that will heal the wounds caused by the Bush administration. I mean, the amount of goodwill the world had towards the US on account of 9-11 has been completely squandered.

I've often privately suggested that the entire world's population should be allowed to vote for the US president. But that just wouldn't be faire to the Republicans. So I guess it's up to the good people of US to do the right thing and elect the Democrat, Obama or Clinton!

Freedom of press: the right to oppress?

The controvery surrounding the publication and republication of pictures of the prophet Mohamed is typically the kind to induce heavy headaches. To me, it is a moral, political, religious and ethical grey area which dumbfounds. On the one hand, reading about the frightening surges of violent or dramatic protests rocking through the muslim countries make you curse out religious fanatics; on the other, you wonder what is achieved by pissing them off.

Because, have no doubt about it: while the initial publication may have been a desire to create a buzz and unintenionally led to a bizarrely overstated response, the republication of the pictures serves no additional purpose. Except of riling people up. It seems the Danish press had discovered a button labelled "Piss off muslims worldwide". While the creation of a debate may be a healthy alibi, the immediate consequence is that you portray your opposition as mindless fanatics and effectively alienate them all as a group. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" indeed. The purpose, in my opinion, is to enforce the wave of xenophobia coursing through the country and isolate muslims, instead of encouraging a real conversation between the immigrant muslim minority and the Danish society.

I, for myself, am not that upset about the publications. I still believe in the freedom of the press, but I also wish that the press had higher ambitions than to create confrontation between two groups who already have some serious communication problems.

C.R.A. Confidential

As I'll be working for a Contract Research Organization, my services will be provided to a number of different pharmaceutical companies on a project basis. A lot in this business is hush-hush, as the potential value of a patent pending new drug can be numbered in the high billions.

I find myself frequently using the phrase "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you". The problem of Internet communications is that if I tell you, I can't directly kill you, but I'll have to rely on your goodwill to carry it out.

Maybe a modified "Paypal donations" button, something like this?

If you enjoyed this website, please kill yourself!

To blog or not to blog

The basic paradox of any form of journalkeeping, whether diary or blog, is the following:

"You either have the time to blog, or the time to do something worth blogging about"

And in the tiny wriggle room there within, I will pursue my mission.

Clinical Research ahoy!

Last week I was employed and began working right off the bat!

The position I now hold is called Clinical Research Associate (CRA for short), or rather, a CRA trainee. What the heck is that? you might wonder. Well, here's a brief explanation:

Clinical trials are studies to test the safety and effect of new medication on human subjects. Once a new drug has been tested throughly in the lab and on animals, it's time to move on to humans. The experiments are performed by medical doctors. Participation in a clinical trial is, in the interest of the study subjects, completely anonymous, but the pharmaceutical company still we need to make sure that the studies 1) are safe for the patient and 2) follow the scientific protocol. Enter the CRA. A CRA monitors the study and makes sure that everything is going according to plan. And since things rarely do, they also make sure that problems get fixed asap.

Biotider: going out with a Bang!

Source:SvD

Previously on "Inside the Mind of Mr O.", I asked the question: if an enterprising business falls in a near-total monopoly, does it make a sound?

The answer is hell yes! After SF decided to discontinue our server access to them, we decided to send out a carefully crafted press release to our associates and friends in the business, as well as several newspapers. The response was overwhelming; twice we made the frontpage of the online edition of Svenska Dagbladet, the #2 newspaper in Sweden, with a total of three articles and one blog; an editorial by Peter Wolodarski in the print edition of Dagens Nyheter (#1 newspaper in Sweden); plenty of blogs, chief among which was our good friend Daniel at Bloggywood, and many, many emails that really cheered for us and admonished us to continue the good fight.

So yes, we made a resounding impact, generating a lot of support and encouragement for us and bombarding SF with badwill. That is a comfort I suppose - but the fact remains, that as long as SF holds a monopoly, they can afford not to care. They can wait out this storm of bad press until it blows over and continue on with their backwards business practice.

And no matter how hard we work(ed) on it, Biotider was still a side project by three highly motivated guys with other (real) careers to consider. How much time and effort can we keep sinking into a project that cannot work as long as SF remain stubborn in being the sole proprietors of their marketing information?

Religion Day

Sunday last week I had an interesting experience. Fans of the show will know that I have a tendency to either do something in overdrive, or not at all. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this applies to religion as well!

A good friend of mine, Olle Ideström, was recently anointed as a minister (not sure about the title, prästadjunkt in Swedish at any rate), and was giving mass for the very first time on his own. My mentor and friend, formerly my Swedish teacher, Ulf Lindgren, and I attended.

Now this was my first mass that wasn't a funeral or confirmation mass, so I didn't know what to expect. Psalms, sermon, holy communion, it was all new and strange to me. Even though I do not share with Christians the central tenet of their belief (JC being the son of God), I have great respect for their faith. (I did not partake in the communion, I instead opted for a blessing. Having an old classmate of mine blessing me was unusual, but did not feel weird in a bad way).

I walked out of the church in a state of blissful confusion. I have always felt spiritual and religious, though I've never in my heart of hearts devoted myself to any one religion nor committed to its practices. But on the way home I did pass the mosque, where I went inside and prayed. I felt more at ease and at home, if truth be told. Perhaps I am a muslim after all, despite all my previous reticence?

Blood and Mardi Gras

Blood. It's good for you! Donating blood can be very self-gratifying; you will get a warm fuzzy feeling inside, especially if you try to stand up too fast. Be warned though: your IQ may drop significantly while your body recovers.

After my donation of "precious bodily fluids", I ate the Swedish decadence known as the "semla", which is basically dough with a ginormous amount of whipped cream bulging through the middle. My opinion of the semla is somewhat like the French opinion of the USA; powerful, nauseating but they have their moment every century or so.

The jury is in. And the verdict is...

...really hard to interpret. SF's response is a disappointment, in the sense that it is neither a positive go-get-em-tiger! (not that we expected that), nor a situation where negotiation is welcome, nor a clear-cut refusal. It's simply a very vague, very Swedish "njaaääääeeeej", non-confrontationalist "cover your bases" sort of answer.

It's sad to see a monopoly reach to the point where even positive forces are brushed aside on a whim. We're not going out peacefully.

On the next episode: if an enterprising business falls in a near-total monopoly, does it make a sound?

Biotider: Do or Die

We've worked long and hard on building the best Swedish website for films and cinema: Biotider.se. During strenuous two years we've managed to build an increasingly popular website - high visitor counts, many cooperations with other websites and cinemas across Sweden and increasing ad revenues. Cinemas sorely need all the help they can get, because it is a decreasing form of distribution for films, losing ground to peer-to-peer and home cinema systems.

Which brings us to our relationship to SF, which for all practical considerations holds a monopoly on cinemas in Sweden after Astoria went the way of the dodo last fall. From the beginning on, we expected them to be excited about our project and hoped they would participate, or at the very least, be carefully indifferent to it. I think we were surprised to receive the cold shoulder from them, but decided that the project was far too promising - and important - not to pursue.

By the end of 2007, we were beginning to attract a lot of attention, including receiving an award for one of the best entertainment websites in Sweden (InternetWorld's top 100 Swedish websites annual listing). Whether for that reason or for something altogether different, SF decided in december 2007 shut down our server's access to their viewing times, effectively crippling one of the mainstay features of the website: showing times for films for cinemas across Sweden.

We are currently in talks with SF. After all, we are promoting their services - so why the attitude? one may wonder. While the dice are rolling, we have to employ the age-old adage: "hope for the best, plan for the worst". And we are doing both.


Check out Nicolas' entry on the matter:
http://behind.biotider.se/2008/02/03/state-of-biotider/

Commercials I've known and loved

Yesterday a lot of good movies were on, which meant that after dinner, I sat more or less non-stop in front of the tube watching Harry Potter 3 (the best one in the series, book and film), Minority Report, Conan & Conan 2 (Aaaaarnold!) and Once upon a Time in Mexico ("Are you a Mexi-can? or a Mexi-can't?").

Apart from public service TV, if you try watching anything which lasts longer than 15 minutes, you will be exposed to vast quantities of commercials. Most are instantly forgotten once it's over or will cause you to zone out while its airing. However, some commercials are really good - when you're even considering buying Falcon, which tastes like most Swedish beers (i.e. flat pee), you know they're good!

Here's a rundown of my current top TV commercials:
1. Falcon Beer commercial - Russian version
Manly Russian men trying to decide who is the coldest. Add the Kalinka, and you have a future smash hit!

2.Coop Forum - Bäbisar
I'm not that fond of baby commercials in general, but this one is so endearing and cute I just can't help myself. Note: watch until the end, and you will know the true definition of ABA ("art by accident").

3. Peugeot 308 - Winds of Change
Beautifully composed. Even though some of the CGI could have profited from being subtler, it is an interesting thing to see.

4. Falcon Beer commercial - Irish version
Not quite as good as the Russian version but still very funny.

5. SJ - We could be Heroes
A very clever use of David Bowie. This commercials makes me want to listen to my David Bowie albums - AND take a train ride. At the same time. Now.

This is Sparta!

I hereby issue a challenge to my friends. We've all been enthralled by the movie "300", and one of the most emotionally charged scenes ever to be seen on a screen is the one where King Leonidas of Sparta screams:

"This... is... Sparta!!!"
-Gerard Butler, as King Leonidas

To review the splendid glory, watch the Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDiUG52ZyHQ

The challenge is the following: the first one to yell "This is Sparta" while having sex, preferably during orgasm, wins! Your partner must be able to corroborate your statement. While there is no cash prize, our everlasting honour, glory and respect will be yours.

Welcome to the Mind of Mr O.

I'm a terrible perfectionist, so it is not unlikely that at some point, I will edit this post to make it original, beautiful and enthralling (well, at least I didn't call it "First post" :). So keep in mind that this might no more than a placeholder post waiting to be replaced with the most terrific post ever.

There are too many meaningless blogs out there, crowding the Internet, which long held me back from starting and maintaining my own blog - who wants to be unoriginal guy #3 billion to blog about his pets? Add to that the fact that I have in fact only seldom read blog entries written by my very close friends - and not unless they begin withholding affection from me as long as I don't read it.

So why now? Probably because I feel that I am standing at a junction in my life. In the coming months, I hope to leave behind the last few years of a confusing, sedate, going-with-the-flow lifestyle and engage in a more run-of-the-mill professional life. Though I finally desire to come out of the shadows (so it seems), I realize that I will still require a creative outlet, somewhere to vent, to collect and organize my thoughts, as well as provide a suitable stage should I wish to exhibit to a select circle of friends my work - in whatever form that may take.

What will I post in the blog? I have no definite idea, but I definitely hope to cover a wide range of topics that matter to me. Which means that the blog will most likely contain posts/rants about politics, movies, music, travels, diary entries, religion - basically things that thrill, amuse or upset me.

Warning: You will not find anything about sports in this blog. Those who know me know that physical exercise is anathema for me, even though I have sufficiently good genes for it not be painfully obvious :)