summer blonde

I’m sorry, very lazy today, and I have lists of genes coming out of my ears. At least they pay me to be that way.

Summer Blonde by Adrian Tomine was my most recent comic book recommendation. The four stories contained within each encapsulate a little slice of California Gen X life in all its urban loneliness. In fact, what I liked most about them was that there weren’t tidy endings to any of the stories. Additionally, anyone who is at all Chinese or knows anything about (migrant) Chinese culture may identify very much with Hillary in ‘Hawaiian Getaway’.

I found a surprisingly good review of the book by Time magazine’s Andrew D. Arnold, so I’ll leave you in his good hands for this one.

Adrian Tomine’s ‘Summer Blonde’

Some people hate Adrian Tomine’s work. All they see are cute girls and angsty-guys in short, enigmatic portraits of the West Coast’s slowly-aging Generation X. But they don’t get it. Eleven years ago Tomine (pronounced TOE-mean-ay) began self-publishing his comic, “Optic Nerve” when he was just sixteen, stunning the comixcenti with his mature style. It was soon picked up by the classy Canadian publisher Drawn and Quarterly, and the company has just collected the last four issues into a gorgeous hardcover, “Summer Blonde” (132 pp.; $24.95). The dust jacket, with its cut-out circle that lets a pretty girl peek through, should clue you in on how to read these stories: look underneath.

mishare

I know this is all highly illegal, but surely the Mishare is what we have all been waiting for? Plug in two ipods and share your music. What’s not to like?

nordmarka

Sunday a week ago dawned bright and sunny, like it had every day the previous week. The difference today – no work to go to and no errands to run! We set off for the metro, attracting odd stares from people in shorts on their bikes. Why? Because we were fully kitted out in ski clothes and were each carrying a pair of skis.

The anomaly arises from Oslo’s location, stretching northwards from the Oslo Fjord’s water’s edge and climbing 500 m vertically to the city forest, Nordmarka. So skiing – even in 15C – can be just a metro ride away.

Even so, as the train slowly wound its way up to Frognerseteren, the absolute lack of any white skiable stuff was slightly worrying. Special K was quite prepared for a walking tour with skis on our shoulders. Oh we of little faith! Three stations from the top patches of snow started to appear and once at Frognerseter it literally abounded. Needless to say, Mr. Snow was bouncing with happiness!

A short walk down the path led us to a whole network of paths, and a good dollop of klister each later, we were off. It felt good to get those skiing muscles going on nice gentle paths.. until the steep climb up to Skjennungstua. There, we were handsomely rewarded with home-made rolls stuffed with ham, cheese, crisp salad leaves, and pickles, coffee all round and a slice of cake each: lemon with icing for me, prinsessekake for Mr. Snow and a muffin stuffed with blueberries for Special K.

All that sugar propelled us further to Ullevålseter before turning for home. Once down in the city, even more shorts were being paraded and the smell of barbeque was in the air. A perfect day for skiing.

More pictures of our day here.

water balloon

Ever wondered what really happens when you pop a water balloon with a pin? This video, taken with a super high resolution camera with 2000 frames a second, shows you. It’s beautiful!

palestine by joe sacco

Every time I visit the comic book library, there is someone different at the check-out counter. That works well as each person has their own favourites there, so I have been introduced to a host of fantastic books. My last recommendation was Joe Sacco’s ‘Palestine‘, an illustrated collection recounting his two month trip to the area between 1991 and 1992. Sacco travels to various refugee camps and interviews many of its residents, detailing their stories and grieviances in painful detail.

I have to say the book made for uncomfortable reading to start with, with its stark images and severe telling of the Palestinians’ every day lives and troubles, including graphic descriptions of torture and imprisonment by Israelis. At first, I felt overwhelmed by his drawings, similar to reading the news on the latest in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but more confronting. Also, his position as an observing Western outsider made it difficult initially to get a feel for his stance.

Possibly as his own alliances developed, and as he got to know people better, the stories grew more subtle and gentle, making it much easier on the mind to read. In one of the chapters many Palestinian women give their different answers as to why they do or do not wear headscarves. Towards the end of the book, an Israeli woman in the book expresses anger that Sacco presents only one side of the conflict, however this is as good a version as any of that side as you will ever read.

Several of the people Sacco encounters confront him and demand to know what good his reporting and drawing will do. He doesn’t have a good answer for them, and neither do I for you. But I certainly felt I learnt a lot from it, and it continues to play on my mind now, weeks afterwards.

1000 giant party balloons and the lost priest

I’m really not sure what to say about today’s post. I first heard the story on the radio last night while drifting off to sleep and put it down to my semi-concious state. This morning’s news confirmed it was all sadly true, and not at all a joke… unless someone cares to enlighten me?

Brazilian priest missing after balloon lift-off

Reuters in Brasilia

The Guardian, Wednesday April 23 2008

A Brazilian priest is missing after drifting out to sea while trying to set a record for a flight using helium-filled party balloons, authorities said yesterday.

Father Adelir Antonio de Carli began his flight suspended in a harness-like seat from 1,000 balloons on Sunday in the southern port of Paranaguá.

He had intended to fly west for 20 hours – the record is 19 hours – but unexpected winds carried the 42-year-old Roman Catholic priest out over the south Atlantic on a south-easterly course.

Denise Gallas, the coordinator of the parish where De Carli works, said he was last heard from on Sunday evening, when he used his mobile phone to give his coordinates. “He was already over the ocean then,” she said.

De Carli, who flew about 55 miles before losing contact, had wanted to draw attention to the work of his parish in Paranaguá, which is largely aimed at lorry drivers who transport goods to and from the port.

Rescue workers in helicopters and fishing boats searched the coast south of Paranaguá, in Santa Catarina state. “We found bits of balloons all along the coast,” said João dos Santos, deputy fire commander in the coastal town of São Francisco do Sul.

De Carli’s seat was lined with airtight pockets that can be pumped up and there are several islands in the region that he could have washed up on, Dos Santos said. “The search will continue for some time,” he said.

The chaplain, who had reached an altitude of more than 5,000 metres (16,400ft), carried water, cereal bars and energy capsules. During a test flight in January, he was blown across the border into Argentina.

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UPDATE: Sadly, Brazilian authorities said yesterday that DNA tests on a body found off the coast confirm that it is that of Father Adelir. RIP to a man with a dream of flying.

sisters festival

From The Guardian’s ‘24 hours in pictures’ yesterday, taken by Lu Di in Taijiang county in Guizhou, Southwest China. The caption read:

‘Ethnic Miao girls in their best dresses walk across a river to visit relatives to celebrate the Sisters Festival. Miao people visit their friends and relatives during the festival in which young men and women have an opportunity to get to know one another. It is known as Miao’s Valentine’s Day.’

I would LOVE to have a head dress in the shape of a giant palm. Do you think there’s a cool way to make it wave hello and goodbye?

surf’s up

Is there place in the world for another penguin film? When it’s as much fun as Surf’s Up, there certainly is! Riding the tail end of a penguin craze, this well-made film combines everyone’s favourite animal with that singularly cool sport, surfing. The animation is mockumentary in style, ‘interviewing’ penguins around the Penguin World Surfing Championship, its hottest new contestant, Cody Maverick, and his friends, family and fans.

All the usual suspects are there: the baddie champ (with baddie penguin tattoos), the hot lady lifegyuard, Cody as the young upstart, his rooster sidekick, the old surfer guru and all the baby wannabe surfer penguin chicks. Happily, the movie adds up to be more than the sum of its parts – all in all, a perfectly good way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

new kid on the block

There’s a new kid on the opera house block in Oslo these days. The New Opera House in Oslo had its gala opening last Saturday, a glittery affair with royals and local celebrities topped off with a spectacular fireworks display that lit up the sky from our bedroom window.

The opera has not been without the usual scandals that seem to dog any large-scale public project these days, including the necessity of building one at all, the resulting 4 billion kroner (500 million euro, or 800 million dollar) price tag, the yellowing of the Italian marble used in its construction, which in turn lead to questioning of why Norwegian marble wasn’t used instead, and the low-brow programme for the opening night. The normally conservatively dressed visiting Chancellor Merkel even provided a mini-scandal of her own by appearing in an impossibly low scoop-necked dress for the occasion.

From what I have seen of it, the building itself is surprisingly angular in given today’s preference for organic curved forms. Norwegian architects Snøhetta (who previously designed the new Library in Alexandria) have however used the opera’s setting in the Oslo Fjord to stunning effect, creating a roof that slopes right into the water. Go to their website for more beautiful pictures. Fingers crossed that this will help give Oslo’s pretty shoreline back to its residents, instead of being cut off from the rest of the city by eight lanes of traffic as it sadly is today.

Now that the sun seems to have returned to Oslo with a vengeance, I for one am very looking forward to a picnic on that roof and paddling at the water’s edge!

Latest link: The Guardian’s visit to the Opera house.

the orphanage

A trail of coincidences led us to this film last night, with an impromptu but delicious homemade dinner on the way. I had read this review previously and looking at the cinema programme on Sunday night the title rang a bell. Before we knew it our little party of five was tucking into a comfort meal of a cheesy french dish, with chocolate ice cream with a kumquat sauce and port wine for afters. All conjured almost out of thin air!

The review I had read didn’t quite square with the film poster or trailers we saw online. As it turned out the film was proper jump-out-of-your-skin scary to rival Hitchcock, in staging, suspense, cinematography and music. The plot: Laura decides to move back to and bring to life again the abandoned orphanage she herself grew up in, with her own adopted son and husband. To say anything more would already be too much, but the story is well written, with a good twist at the end (and a couple in the middle too).

If I weren’t such a chicken when it comes to horror movies I would have said I’d enjoyed it. I’m just glad I managed to get to sleep last night, and I’m still glad I saw it. Which means, if you’re a fan of thrillers, definitely go!