Lisa Swahn

The Mist

2010-10-07T07:44:00.000+02:00

My expectations weren't high on this one, since we've been buying some bad cheap movies lately - but I shouldn't have doubted Stephen King's ability to deliver!

Amazon summarizes the plot with simply "a mysterious mist, thick with blood-thirsty creatures, descends on a small town, where a group of people holes up in a grocery store to fight for their lives", and I'm not gonna go more into it than that either, cause that would spoil the surprise.

There was a few times, especially during the first half, where the dialogue was a bit slow and you figured "right, it's that kind of movie, doesn't seem too interesting". However, I'm glad we didn't give up on it, because there was always a new turn with new horrors to be brought.

If you've read my reviews you know I love nothing better than an excellent ending, happy or heart-breaking, as long as it's surprising. Even if you've read the Stephen King novella, this movie adaptation ends dramatically different, so it would be worth watching it just for that. Click the picture to find the DVD on Amazon.com or click here (The Mist) for the novella on paperback.

City of Roses

2010-09-10T23:54:00.002+02:00

Rose, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

University has begun in the city of roses - Visby!

I'm keeping busy and it's awesome. Summer is fading and we're catching the very last warmth of the sun, but the cold autumn winds are already threatening. I do like the autumn, it usually means a fresh start and a new chapter in life, a time when you get back to business after the summer. And also, you get to count down to Xmas, right?

Dragonfly

2010-08-25T05:35:00.004+02:00

Dragonfly 4, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Check out the awesome dragonfly photos by Allen! There's been tons of these little bugs around lately, and on one of our walks he decided if he was patient enough, he could get a good picture. Creds! <3

Brucebo nature reserve

2010-08-11T10:26:00.002+02:00

Fence ladder, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

I finally took the time to upload some more pictures from my nature sessions in June, this time from Brucebo nature reserve. See the full set here.

In other news, I've passed my drivers licence, and tomorrow we're picking up a rental car to enjoy a few days off with relaxing drives. Hoping to bring back lots of pictures from that!

The Z Word

2010-07-18T09:43:00.000+02:00

I don't know how many times I've seen this movie now - it's still the funniest thing ever!

Ed: Are there any zombies out there?
Shaun: Don't say that!
Ed: What?
Shaun: That. The 'Z' word. Don't say it.
Ed: Why not?
Shaun: Because it's ridiculous!
Ed: Alright... Are there any out there, though?
Shaun: Don't see any... Maybe it's not as bad as all that. Oh! Nope, there they are.

--------------

Ed: Ain't you gonna thank me, then?
Shaun: For what?
Ed: Tidyin' up.
Shaun: It doesn't look that tidy.
Ed: Well, I had a few beers when I finished. Do you want your messages?
Shaun: What?
Ed: Well, your mum rang about you going around tomorrow night, and then Liz rang about the two of you eating out tonight, and then your mum rang back to see if I wanted to eat her out tonight.

Fall into the sky

2010-07-17T22:39:00.002+02:00

Fall into the sky, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Photo Allen took of my reflection in a puddle, from a walk in April.

The Summer Life

2010-07-09T20:49:00.002+02:00

Gotlandssippa, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

It's just too hot right now. Too hot to eat, move or blog much.

So all I do is work enough to pay for orange juice, strawberries, cider and ice cream. Then I can lie down watching Big Brother and Skins the rest of the time, with a fan pointed at my face. That's the summer life. :)

Feed the birds

2010-07-05T08:46:00.000+02:00

I had the strangest dream. I think I'm gonna write them down from now on, because they slip out of your mind so quickly, don't they?

In my dream, me and Allen were alone at a place I didn't recognize. We were looking out at a beautiful view and it was all very sad, even if I couldn't put my finger on why. It felt like when we used to be in a long-distance relationship, like one of those times I'd been there for maybe two weeks and it was now time to go home, for another looong three months of being apart. Except, it kinda felt even worse, like we were going apart forever and there was nothing we could do about it. Very sad. For some reason we started taking pictures of the view, to not forget that moment, like it was important.

I think all of this dream happened while I was oversleeping, my alarm had gone of at 7am but I fell back asleep. Finally at about 7.20am, a bird popped up in my dream. He sang to me, "feed the birds, save the pokemon, feed the birds, save the pokemon", and it was as if I figured out the purpose of life in that moment (you know how things feel in dreams). So I opened my eyes and woke up, with the clear thought in my mind, "that's right, I can't oversleep, I need to wake up and feed the bird-pokemon!!"

So yeah... wtf? LOL.

Spiderman Trilogy

2010-06-25T23:12:00.000+02:00

Been rewatching the Spiderman trilogy since yesterday, and remembering how good the first movie was. Number two and three don't quite live up to it, even if the third was an improvement.

It just felt like they were trying really hard to be funny in the sequels. Especially in the second one, where there was so much personal problems for Peter Parker that there was barely any room for the super hero action. In the third film there's a scene with a planned proposal, and everything just seems to go wrong. If that scene had gone on one second longer it would have turned into a bad american rom com disaster.

However, I shouldn't be too harsch, because on the whole I think it's three pretty excellent movies who don't get enough credit for good story-telling. It's just the fact that the original was so perfect, which makes the other two seem bleek in comparison.

Summer feeling

2010-06-23T13:14:00.000+02:00

This is my entry to a photo contest over at Michellez, on the theme "summer feeling". Because what's more summer than this little guy? Curious young lamb remind me of being a child and enjoying the summer more than anything in the world.

Canon Pixma MP560

2010-06-23T07:35:00.000+02:00

With some of my birthday money, we decided to invest in a good combo printer / scanner / copying machine. Now that I can't rely on my school to supply me with anything I need anymore, I'm gonna need to get these things for myself.

So far it seems good and easy to use. Had some trouble setting the wireless network up, but that's only what you expect - printers are always trouble! It's definitely a plus to have it all wireless, so you can just lie in bed with your laptop and press print, ahh.

We haven't tried printing on proper photo paper yet, you only got three small sheets for free with it, so we're saving them for when we want to print a really nice photo. Cool to have that function though, for the price we paid we got quite a bit for it! This is a complete luxury to me, anything that makes the little organising geek in me jump for joy.

Now I can scan articles for my blogs, print recipies, make copies of course literature...
*geek overload*

Perasmena ksehasmena

2010-06-22T07:31:00.000+02:00

It's fun to sing eurovision songs in foreign languages! Especially the ones you can barely, or not at all understand.

I've been doing quite good with my French (I did study it for a while after all)...
Allez Allez Allez Allez Allez, Il faut danser
Tout le monde, danser, tout le monde, danser collé serré!

...surprisingly good with my Serbian (I think I'm a natural)...
Ljubiš me k'o balavica, nije te sram
Beograd, Beograd, ja bezobrazan
Ne jednom, ne dvaput, tri puta me
Beograd, Beograd, tri puta po naški je.

...but the Greek is a tough one!
Ola tha t' allakso - OPA!
Kai tha to fonakso - OPA!
Perasmena ksehasmena ki ola ap' tin archi ksana

Only by the Night

2010-06-21T08:21:00.003+02:00

So hey, check out one of the things Allen got me for my birthday, Only by the Night by Kings of Leon. I've been thinking about getting it myself so it was a great present. He always knows me so well. I already knew about four of the eleven songs and the rest were great too, we've been listening to it when going to sleep and it's got a real nice sound to it.

It was such a coincidence the day he ordered it. I was away on a gala at Gotland Game Awards, and about an hour after he'd made the order online, he's sitting there wondering if his presents were any good, and I send him a text saying something like "you'll never guess what break music they have on, it's Kings of Leon! it's the full album, with all the less famous songs too! someone's got good taste."

Sheep

2010-06-19T08:09:00.002+02:00

DSC_0374, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

I've been slowly uploading hundreds of photos I took while my family was here and we were out and about a lot. By now, the school camera is returned and we're limited to a compact. I've really been considering if I should buy my own Nikon D3000 but can't make up my mind. I just don't know how much time I will have for photography, once autumn comes and the real studies start.

19 years old

2010-06-16T22:24:00.000+02:00

Today is my 19th birthday yaay!

Been taking it easy, made sure not to book any work shifts or driving lessons for today. Instead, we've taken our time to sleep in, open presents, have long showers, hang laundry outside in the sunshine, shop and cook anything we wanted. The evening brings football, a movie and a few drinks, not too much though cause I have an important driving course tomorrow.

It's been a wonderful day, lots of people have taken their time to send their congrats through facebook, cards and calls. Thank you all so much. Love you!

Music from graduate farce

2010-06-14T09:19:00.001+02:00

The graduate farce at Donner in Klintehamn the 8th of June featured alot of music. I made sure to make a few notes on my phone to not forget the epic playlist!

Bad Romance - Lady GaGa
Crazy Cool (?)
Det börjar verka kärlek, banne mig - Claes Göran Hederström
Son of a Preacher Man - Aretha Franklin
Proud Mary - Creedence Clearwater Revival
With A Little Help From My Friends - The Beatles
Don't Worry Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
Inget stoppar oss nu (Inatt inatt) - Blackjack
Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
Håll Om Mig - Nanne Grönvall
(I've Had) The Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing

and, as a bonus:
Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

Find most songs via this Spotify soundtrack wooo!

Final Destination

2010-06-13T10:15:00.000+02:00

Rewatched the first of the Final Destination movies yesterday.

Even if the theory the storyline rests on is a bit cheesy, it still makes for quite an original horror if you ignore asking too many questions. Basically, an american school class are bording a plane to go on a school trip when one of the students have a very realistic vision. He experiences a massive air accident, and is then brought back to the present and manages to get off the plane before it takes off, taking a few people with him. All the passengers who stayed on the plane are killed in the accident, and the survivors are in shock. But then, the survivors start dying in strange accidents of their own...

The theory the teens come up with about "cheating death's plan" is kind of annoying, I find it hard to buy into it. Apart from that, there's some pretty cool gruesome death scenes, which is basically what makes this any good. There are three more movies sequelling this, with different people reliving similar events. Out of them, I think the second movie had the best deaths. So if you're into all that, this is right for you.

Saw some movies on sale that I've bought as well, so we're soon gonna be watching The Mist, Chapter 27 and Death of a President.

Graduation 2010

2010-06-10T16:57:00.000+02:00

I haven't been online much cause I've been busy graduating from upper secondary school.

Allen thinks our Swedish traditions are crazy. You know, all the white outfits, the hats, signs, flowers around the neck, running out on the school stairs class by class, embarassing the graduates with odd ways of transport - basically all the making a big deal.

I didn't think much of it either but it's been fantastic, lots of fun. I feel completely spoilt rotten with presents and congrats from loving relatives and friends. (Then again, I was probably the only graduate to get up next morning and go to work at 8.30, so I'm trying to make up for the spoiltness.)

I'm so glad my family came all this way to share this week with me. It's been wonderful to spend proper time with my grandparents, parents and younger brother.
Thank you so much! <3

Arrivals

2010-06-03T10:43:00.002+02:00

Menu, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Today begins the arrival of relatives who are visiting to celebrate my graduation with me. This afternoon I'll meet up with my dad and his parents, and then my mum and brother will join up on saturday. Since everyone lives quite a while away and you need to come here by boat and everything, it's always a bit of a hassle to arrange these events. Sounded like my grandparents had some plans for what they wanted to do during their stay anyway, so I'm hoping we'll have some fun even before the celebrations start on monday-tuesday.

Dinner party

2010-06-02T09:41:00.002+02:00

Welcome drink, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Last night was a farewell dinner party at my school, with students, current and past teachers and parents. My family haven't arrived for graduation yet, so I spent less time mingling and more time attempting to take some pictures. People were so shy though! At least the the welcome drink stood still while I aimed.

My Oxford English

2010-06-01T18:42:00.001+02:00

My sold photo has now gone online at myoxfordenglish.es! I think it looks pretty great, they've done a good job with the website.

The Contrasts

2010-06-01T09:58:00.002+02:00

Never So Close To You - The Contrasts, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Fictional album cover, just an idea I had while editing silhouette photo.
Models: Emelie Persson and Elin Askänge.

Smoke

2010-05-31T09:37:00.002+02:00

Smoke skull, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

This is my entry for a photo contest at the blogg DinÅsikt.

Reqirement: A photo that expresses an opinion.

This photoshop project of mine is what came to mind. It's definitely not my best photoshop job, it's far from perfect aesthetically... but I just wanted to contribute to the contest! Wish me luck!

Diamond

2010-05-30T08:58:00.004+02:00

This is my entry to a photo competition over at Fannyelina,
in cooperation with Bloglovin and Guldfynd.

The requirements are, it needs to be an emotional picture featuring jewellery.

This one is very emotional to me because of the memories. The necklace is my favourite, a simple wooden one that my love gave me the first time we met, topped off with the engagement ring that eventually followed. <3

Strange dreams

2010-05-28T09:33:00.000+02:00

I keep having really weird, unreal dreams. Tonight the scene was England, where me and Allen were living in some apartment. Suddenly we heard a noise at the door, and I went to make sure it was still locked and secure. It wasn't, there was some sort of security block attached to the door that made it impossible to lock. I freaked, and then spotted a big police team outside, ready to arrest me. I freaked more. They said I was suspected of cheating at an exam, which gave me my grade in Maths B and allowed me into university (as if that was a massive crime, requiring about five police officers). I was very upset cause I knew I hadn't cheated, but they said I had been allowed to use a laptop during the test, and there was no way I could have scored so high without getting help from somewhere.

Wtf! It's not like I scored that high in maths anyway. Is this my alter ego dreaming for me? Anyway, I had to prove I could get the same score without cheating, so I had to do the test again. And then it turned into them dreams where it's like you want to run from something but can't get anywhere, you know? Except I had to do the test, but things kept stopping me. The pen broke, there was people around talking really loud so I couldn't concentrate. When I had finished about three assignments, I realised I had completely misunderstood them and had to restart.

Luckily I woke up before the police got to throw me in jail or anything.

Paper birds

2010-05-27T13:41:00.002+02:00

More birds, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Low quality cell phone picture, just to document some paper birds I made today. Cut out with scissors from folded white A4 sheets.

Semi finals

2010-05-26T10:43:00.004+02:00

Silent street, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Last night we watched the first semi final for Eurovision Song Contest, where 10 countries moved on to the final. It was more fun than I thought, there was some decent songs and the right ones got through. It would have been nice if Finland had made it, but the awesomeness of Greece made up for it. :)

Teeth

2010-05-25T10:12:00.000+02:00

We had this movie recommended to us, but Teeth mostly freaked me out. Here's yet another example of what happens to young people if they don't get proper sexual education. Well, I mean, the awkwardness is. Hopefully lack of education doesn't cause people to mutate and develop teeth in their genitals, but if that ever did happen then open education could hopefully have been resolved the problem a bit better...

The main character is a popular, attractive girl who for some reason is very frigid and determined to not have sex before marriage. It turns out that living close to a nuclear power plant has caused a mutation in her holiest of regions, but she hasn't noticed anything is abnormal about this, she just goes on with her life. As the story develops and she becomes interested in this guy, she wants to stick to her promise of purity. The guy however, turns out to be a bit pushy, and his attempts to seduce her end in tragedy.

Toward the end, it just got a bit much. I just felt disgusting watching it. I'm not usually prude there's a limit to what a person can endure. I mean... gross, lol. Give it a try and watch it if you're intrigued though, it's definitely... an experience.

Theme spring

2010-05-24T11:05:00.003+02:00

Ladybird, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Entering a competition over at jpic.se with this photo, for a chance to win a wireless camera trigger. It's a long shot, but wish me luck. :)

Build a tent and say the world is dry

2010-05-24T09:09:00.002+02:00

Lol, this is how I feel talking to certain people sometimes. You know who you are! *cough*

Found the cartoon on this excellent blog. It's lucky some people still take initiative about environmental issues, I feel a bit bad about "giving up" on the subject lately. I'm a selfish, self-centered person! I could use someone villing to poke me when I'm too lazy to recycle.

Dexter

2010-05-23T13:34:00.000+02:00

Not even to mention how good the actual series is, I just love the intro. There is something so simple and intense about it. It's just a guy getting up the morning, having breakfast, getting ready and leaving, but it's like art. I don't know if it's the extreme slow-mo close ups or the music or what. When he's squeezing that orange, I can almost feel the little sprays hitting my eyes.

It really reflects what Dexter is like as a person. Innocent and proper, a clean perfectionist but with that hint of something violent, the references to blood and strength, the contained calm.

Video beauty at it's best anyway, so give it a watch if you haven't seen it. Watch the Dexter series intro here.

Lost in html

2010-05-21T10:56:00.000+02:00

Spent all morning arranging my teacher blog, adding link squares to info sections at the top. Think it looks pretty nice now, and hopefully all the links are leading to the right places. Phew.

It's in Swedish only, but if anyone wants to check it out, click here. Does it look okay in your browsers? Always hard to know what it will look like for someone with a different sized screen.

Bumblebee series

2010-05-20T12:11:00.002+02:00

Bumblebee series, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

General knowledge

2010-05-19T10:22:00.000+02:00

I made a quiz, yay! No cheating if you wanna try to answer it. Write your answers down and then check the correct ones by clicking here. How many did you get right?

1. In New York, it is Tuesday afternoon at 4 pm. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, it's 8 am. What day is it there?
a) Monday
b) Tuesday
c) Wednesday
d) Thursday

2. When driving 40km/h, it takes a car 15 meters to stop after hitting the breaks. How long would the braking distance be when driving 80km/h?
a) 30 meters
b) 40 meters
c) 50 meters
d) 60 meters

3. Which of the following was not an invention related to Thomas Alva Edison?
a) Light bulb
b) Dynamo
c) Phonograph
d) Motion picture camera

4. Which of the following statements about Charles Darwin are false?
a) He discovered the equation of mass-energy equivalence.
b) He published a theory in his book "On the Origin of Species".
c) He believed in "survival of the fittest".
d) He was on the HMS Beagle travelling a complete lap around the globe.

5. Who has not released a cover of the song "I Fought The Law", originally by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets?
a) The Clash
b) The Hollies
c) Roy Orbison
d) Green Day

6. Who is currently the richest woman in the world, according to measures in early 2010?
a) Liliane Bettencourt, inherited cosmetics giant L'Orial
b) Christy Walton, shareholder of Walmart
c) Susanne Klatten, inherited stake in BMW
d) Anne Cox Chambers, primary owner of Cox Enterprises

7. Which is the longest river in Europe?
a) Danube
b) Nile
c) Seine
d) Volga

8. Which of these is the most populous city proper?
a) Tokyo
b) New York City
c) Mumbai
d) Beijing

9. What does "ambidextrous" mean?
a) A word that can be interpreted in more than one way
b) To be equally adept using your right or left hand/foot
c) It is a description of animals such as frogs, toads and newts
d) A building technique to build amphitheatres

10. Which is the brightest star in the night sky?
a) Vega
b) Polaris
c) Sirius
d) Arcturus

The Human Centipede

2010-05-18T21:55:00.003+02:00

If there is ever a movie you'll regret you ever started watching...
it's this one. In fact, The Human Centipede is not much like any other "normal" horror movie. With no soundtrack at all, just the cries and screams, this is nothing but someone's sick, sick fantasy.

According to Wikipedia, the creator of this movie didn't even tell the financiers about certain aspects of the plot until it was finished. He probably didn't think they'd give him the money if he did, so that tells you a bit about what we're dealing with. To be honest, I don't even want to talk about the plot. Why don't you read Wiki, it's all covered there lol.

This movie is not yet available on DVD, but you can sign up to be notified when it's released on amazon.com.

Also worth a read is the article British newspaper The Sun wrote about the movie, entitled "Is this sickest film ever made?"

ID practice

2010-05-18T10:29:00.002+02:00

Practicing to take correct ID photos in class, like for driving licences and passports etc. Thanks to Alexandra, Emma, Jenny and Joel.

Going once, going twice...

2010-05-18T08:21:00.000+02:00

I sold my first photo! I was contacted by Oxford University Press in Madrid last week, since they had seen photos on my Flickr account that they were interested in purchasing. And now, all the transfers and agreements are final. Very flattered that someone is willing to pay for my work, and glad it's gonna come to some good use. Thanks again to my wonderful model who agreed to do this shot with me. :)

Model: Elin Askänge

[ This photograph has been purchased by Oxford University Press España S.A. for online and offline use. It may not be used for any purpose by anyone else and has therefore been waterstamped. ]

Description by Fabio Fanni from OUP: "I personally find this simply amazing, it shows an excellent level of execution and a really strong character. We do love this picture, it’s fresh, lively, and it has got quite of a unreal twist and it fits perfectly the message we want to deliver in terms of image for our product."

Spotify

2010-05-17T09:10:00.001+02:00

By the way, I'm very impressed with the new Spotify features. :)

Now we can all add our local files to the spotify library, meaning importing the entire iTunes library so there's no need to jump between the two applications looking for that specific song. Mix playlists of Spotify tracks and your own mp3s all you want!

Also, you can now connect with all your friends on Facebook and see what playlists they recommend. Very handy, easy to connect. Usually I'm pissed off when sites make major changes but this is a good one.

With the new "starred" function I made a playlist of some favourite songs. I decided I wouldn't be allowed to include more than one song from the same artist, so that it would be more diverse. View my playlist here.

If I remember correctly

2010-05-14T10:39:00.004+02:00

I wouldn't usually just link to a random youtube-video for no reason, but this is seriously one of my all time favourites in the genre of hilarious musical live performances.

Flight of the Conchords are a musical duo from New Zealand, they also have a tv-series featuring their music. It's the most awesome thing ever. I haven't seen the show, but all the music is on youtube.

The below video is my favourite song, Jenny, performed live. I can't stop laughing at this, it's such an awkward moment. If you would like to see more, some other of their songs are If You're Into It,
Bret You've Got It Going On and Albi the Racist Dragon.

Colours

2010-05-13T09:54:00.002+02:00

Colours, originally uploaded by Lisa Swahn.

Today is Ascension Day, one of them random holidays I always forget about and therefore get a couple of unexpected days off school. Not complaining. :)

Behind the headlines

2010-05-12T10:12:00.000+02:00

When you've studied media like me, and is constantly reminded to be critical about everything, it's like you can't read headlines normally anymore. That's my career damage.

If I see a headline saying "where to find hot weather this weekend - up to 20 degrees!" I can't help thinking it's probably a scam and when I buy the paper it will tell me "the nice weather iiiiiis iiiiiin lovely SPAIN! book your tickets here".

Or, if it says "this is why he's leaving the princess" the rest of the sentence is probably "all alone over the weekend when he goes to a conference in Brussels". Just saying.

Excited Swedes

2010-05-11T09:03:00.009+02:00

This is slightly related to what I said about Americans being drama queens, except Swedish people just get excited about the most random little things. They're not too interested in Halloween or prom night, but when it's that time of the year... when it's time for Eurovision, that's a different story, they all go CRAZY!

The big talker right now is our crown princess is getting married this summer. Whoop-di-doo. I swear, if I see another ad to buy the official wedding chocolate or wedding china or coffee mugs with the happy couple in little love hearts, I don't know what I will do. Have people got no life? It's like they got no one in their own lifes to pay attention to and to shower with best wishes and love, they all have to love the same person.

I'm never gonna understand the whole celebrity phenomenon. I mean yeah, I'm gonna watch Eurovision too, but that doesn't mean that's all I'm gonna talk about for three weeks.

I know I sound like I'm no fun, but... yeah maybe I'm basically no fun. At school everyone goes on about graduation parties but I'm not interested. I like to enjoy the little things in life instead.

Less is more

2010-05-10T09:10:00.000+02:00

Yeah... after this, I think we're done with horror movies for a while. With The Haunting in Conneticut, it's as if no one ever realised that adding more and more slamming doors at one point goes past scary and into plain ridiculous.

At the start, I thought it seemed to be a pretty good movie. Classic story, family has a son with cancer and since they need to live closer to the hospital, they rent a cheap house which turns out to have a history as a morgue. I love those little moments when the unknowing victims wander around the house and you catch a glimpse of someone moving in the background, or a dead face in a mirror, and you jump in fright and think "phew, that was a good scary one". There was plenty of those, straight to the point, getting started with the freaky images long before the inhabitants realise what's going on.

But soon, the tempo had to pick up. And that's when it got really bad. When you start off too early you just have to go worse and worse until I, as a viewer, didn't even care. Less is more, people! When you have no sense of reality left, why would you care about the story anymore?

By two thirds of the movie Allen had officially placed this in his "at least top 5 Worst Movies Ever". Not good. We were mostly bored waiting for it to end, if we hadn't paid good money to rent it we might not even have watched it all. Weak ending. Kind of bad acting, most of all from the mother. So yeah... not my favourite.

Spongebob!

2010-05-08T09:03:00.001+02:00

This was just too funny, Allen recorded a guitar cover of the Spongebob Squarepants theme. It was awesome, I especially like the little solo at the end, took him a while to get that right.

No brakes

2010-05-07T07:46:00.002+02:00

I remember riding these guys when I was younger... who would have thought driving a car would be harder? You'd think machines don't have a mind of their own but you'd be wrong.

Don't tell the children

2010-05-06T09:47:00.001+02:00

This recent article in the Sun got me a bit angry, but not for same reason most people got upset, I would guess. The article is about the younger sister of Scotland's youngest mum, who herself fell pregnant aged just twelve. The quote that annoyed me was the following:

"The girl is nothing more than a child herself, yet she's talking about drink, drugs and sex. She shouldn't even know about these things at her age."

And now, here's one big part of the problem. "She shouldn't even know." Adults are so scared to talk to their children about embarrassing things that they go find out things their own way. Honestly, just cause you don't tell your eleven year old what sex is yourself doesn't mean she's going to stay innocent and ignorant to all parts of the forbidden adult world forever, okay?

I know of so many girls who had their first periods quite early and no one told them it was gonna happen. Usually, they're terrified! They think they did something wrong, or have a dangerous disease, or are being punished by God, or that they're dirty and disgusting. When in fact, what happens to them is very normal and happens to every girl on the planet. Wouldn't you like them to know that? Sometimes they will hide it and not tell anyone, out of embarrassment, trying to get rid of the blood with tissues when they could just have told their mum and had all the sanitary products they needed.

Same goes for sex and drugs, you know. Children need the correct information from the right place, they do. If you don't tell them exactly how things work they will go find out for themselves. Children are curious. They will see references to sex and drugs on tv and all around them, they will ask their friends about it, they will try things for themselves.

Please don't be scared to let your children know about the world. You might think a ten year old knows nothing but they do. I'm still young enough to remember what it was like. They can take it, you're not gonna ruin their minds by letting them know about what drugs can do to a person or teaching them about safe sex. The risk of them finding out things the wrong way or getting their facts mixed up is far greater if you don't educate them.

Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is dangerous and we must fight it.

Daffodils

2010-05-05T10:16:00.004+02:00

See more flowers here.

I can't believe how quickly summer is coming along now! The long winter and slow spring has tricked me to believe there is plenty of time left, but really there's not much. There is only a few weeks left for me to finish all my courses, my exam project, and also I'm thinking I need to start taking driving lessons really soon. Like... book them NOW. And it's SCARY! What if I'm shit?

Last night was my last day at my part time telemarketing job. I've worked there since Sep08 so it feels a bit weird to leave, but I think it's a good thing. Now that I'm moving into new phases of my life I need to leave behind my old school and my old work and focus on my new things.

It'll be fun! I'm gonna be brave! I can pass my licence and do excellent at my summer jobs and it will all be great. Yaaayy.... *whimpers in fear*

A True Story

2010-05-04T09:45:00.000+02:00

Who believes a single woman whose word is against the word of the LA Police Department? Isn't it easy to claim her to be crazy? But imagine her despair when her lost son is returned to her by the police and she realises the returned boy is not her son at all. No matter what proof she has to show that there has been a mistake, officials refuse to listen.

There's nothing like a true story, that's what makes this any good to me. I was a bit worried during the eventless middle part, that there wasn't much to this story at all. But, if you get through to the second half, there are plenty of new plot lines to make this more unbelieveable and interesting by the minute.

Really enjoyed it after all, makes you think about who to trust and how our society works. This might have been a long time ago but there's no doubt in my mind that plenty of similar things have happened through history and still today.This is a great story about hope, trust and fighting for what you believe in.

Ladybird

2010-05-03T09:26:00.003+02:00

This weekend we've focused a lot on bugs and other closeups out in the forest on our photo walks. Should lend a proper macro lens for next time hopefully.
Click here for more insects or closeups.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

2010-04-30T10:43:00.001+02:00

Finished reading for my Jules Verne assignment. :)

Can't believe I haven't got around to reading anything by him before, so this was the right subject of choice for me. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed this book! The meaning of "science fiction" suddenly became clear, because that is truly what this is - a fictional story with great focus on the scientific evidence of why it could be true. Wonderful!

The fact that this was written in the 1860's baffles me. Did they know all this stuff back then? Very detailed. To me, who is not exactly educated in geology, this sounds like something that could actually have been published last year about a travel that actually did take place.

In the story, Axel finds himself being dragged along to an adventure when his uncle, Professor Lidenbrock, makes a very special discovery. If he is to believe the rare coded document he has found, there is an underground path which can lead them all the way to the Center of the Earth! Axel doesn't know what to believe, but his uncle is obsessed with the possibility and is already packing for their incredible journey.

It's a shame I got the ending ruined (I had already accidentally seen it on Wikipedia), cause it was an excellent and unexpected ending, which is always a big plus to me. Anyone who likes adventure books and has a slight scientific interest should give Jules Verne a try. I wouldn't mind reading a few of his other books in my free time. :)

Spring clean

2010-04-29T14:16:00.003+02:00

This year it wasn't just the living room and the closet that needed spring cleaning, but my MacBook was equally full of winter dust and clutter. Allen helped me out a lot to get it all cleared. (Thank youu!)

So we cleared the desktop, deleted history and temporary files, got rid of clutter in the downloads folder, deleted unneccessary languages and fonts, ran some free cleaning software and heaven knows what else. I cleaned the screen and outside best I could, and cleared some space on the hard drive by moving 12GB worth of original size photos to our external drive.

Feels like new again! Smack me on the fingers if I let it drift and become cluttered, seriously.

Look into the light

2010-04-29T09:42:00.000+02:00

Model: Elin Askänge. More from this photo shoot here.

Some sequels are decent

2010-04-28T10:41:00.000+02:00

More horror, yay!

The Ring is a proper horror classic, and not many good movies like that get sequels that are actually well thought through, entertaining, make sense and even add to the story of the original in a natural way.

The Ring Two is a better sequel than most. I feel closer to the story with this than with the first movie, to be honest. When you're too occupied being confused with all the weird plot, there's not a lot of time left to be scared. In this second movie, we already know what the background is and can focus on what's important.

Aidan becoming "possessed" might seem a bit Exorcist-rip off at first, but it turns out very good and creepy. There's nothing more evil than when it infests the one you love, right? The mother soon gets declared crazy for her behaviour towards her son, which is excellent, very realistic and makes it more scary. Anything that brings you back to reality a little bit is a good thing for a story like this, where the plot could otherwise spiral away so far into unbelieveable that all credibility is lost.

Definitely worth a watch for anyone who ever enjoyed a horror.

Russel Brand

2010-04-27T12:35:00.000+02:00

I love Russel Brand, seriously. In this recent article on DigitalSpy entitled Russel Brand: 'I didn't break up Oasis' he comes out with this:

"He added: "I don't want to be the Oasis Yoko Ono without even getting to have sex with John Lennon!""

How is that not awesome? This reminded me and Allen how much we miss British TV, so we watched some old videos on youtube, like Russel's first appearance on the Jonathan Ross Show. I love it! There's nothing like watching a person who is obviously intelligent and has an excellent vocabulary, who is using it for nothing but making rude jokes and making people slightly uncomfortable.

More than once he mentions the Finality of Death in a tone of voice that suggests he has completely accepted that life is short and he may as well do what the hell he wants before it's over. What a character, and that's even without mentioning the outfit yet. Give me British TV back!

Elise

2010-04-27T10:00:00.003+02:00

Been editing some photos from a shoot the other week.

This is Elise Niklasson showing off her nice lion tattoo.

More pics from this shoot are in a set on Flickr here.

Chocolate Chip

2010-04-26T09:27:00.000+02:00

Been having a lot of fun baking during the weekend. One of the things we made were these awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies. Really great recipe, we only did a couple of changes. We couldn't get the finished chocolate chips here that we could in England, so we hammered regular cooking chocolate into different size pieces with a hammer. 200 grams of light chocolate and 100 grams of white chocolate - glorious!

What's my age again?

2010-04-23T08:51:00.001+02:00

Don't think I've mentioned my fiancé plays the guitar. But yeah, sometimes I help to make a video when he's recording a demo, it's fun. This Blink 182 cover is his latest one (pretty easy song but I like it all the same), you can find more videos like this on our YouTube account.

Now I need to head for school, better not be late cause we've got a major writing test in Swedish B today. Wish me luck!

Splash!

2010-04-22T13:41:00.002+02:00

Been editing pictures today. Some are on my Flickr now but I'll be uploading most overnight. Looking forward to doing some more time consuming editing next week, using pics from my recent shoot with Elin and Elise.

Above is Allen in a puddle. We had fun. :)

Americans are such drama queens

2010-04-21T08:59:00.000+02:00

Your average British tv show:
Sid is 17 and has just got together with the girl he likes when she moves to Scotland. When trying to have a video chat with her online, he accidentally sees her getting undressed by some Scottish guy. What Sid doesn't know is the guy is gay and just helping her pick out the sexiest outfit to surprise her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Sid's parents are still married but the mum has left to fuck some German guy. Sid's dad is depressed and having a smoke and a whiskey on the couch when he suddenly dies from a heart attack or something. Sid finds him. He's all alone and doesn't know what to do so he leaves him there and goes to college, no emotion on his face.

Your average American tv show:
Grace is getting ready in her bathroom. She can hear her gay roommate Will dancing around in his own, bigger bathroom. Grace is jealous and shows Will how very small and inconvenient hers is. Will buys new shelves for her. She gets very mad, saying this doesn't solve the problem. Instead, she suggests knocking down the wall to make one big bathroom. Her female friend advices strongly against this, saying they will drive each other crazy with their annoying habits. Grace goes ahead anyway and makes one bathroom. Before long, the two roommates are arguing about leaving hair in the sink and forgetting to put the toilet lid down. Oh no, this is ruining their great friendship! What should they do NOW!?!?

Just saying. Americans always cause a fuss about everything. Just, calm down. It doesn't matter what it is, Christmas, Halloween, Prom night, losing your virginity, getting a zit, it's always a big friggin deal. I couldn't live like that.

Take a chill pill! Anyone agree?

Pipes

2010-04-20T12:10:00.002+02:00

Miles and miles of pipes. This is what we spotted through the trees on a morning walk in the forest the other day. Looked pretty cool, felt weird that all these huge things have been placed right next to our little walking path. Wonder what they're making with them?

Update: Ooo we found out what it was, this is the storage for the massive pipeline they're putting down, that will carry Russian natural gas under the Baltic Sea. Everyone's been going on about it causing a fuss, and here it is. Cool.

Everyone likes a ghost story

2010-04-19T13:17:00.000+02:00

Sunday night we watched The Others. I've only been watching horrors for the past couple of years really, so I'm catching up on a lot of old movies.

I liked this one cause it's a lot like a ghost story you'd tell around a camp fire, but without the cheesiness and the bad ending. Many horrors just go too far, throw in some dead bodies and plenty of pouring blood and maggots and gore and you've got it good and scary... I say nah. This movie has no blood, nothing visually revolting and still made it good.

Instead, it's a pretty beautiful visual experience, great story with a perfect twist, and I loved the performance by Nicole Kidman and Fionnula Flanagan who made it very believeable. This one is great for the slightly squeamish type who feels sick from blood but still wants a good scare. Chick-flick horror, I guess. :)

Happiness is a warm gun

2010-04-16T10:51:00.001+02:00

I sat at the bus stop the other day, trying to ignore a loudly singing drunk passing by. Suddenly he shouted, as if declaring to the world: "Today was a good day! I successfully filed a police report about every single fucker at the Red Cross!"

I'm not quite sure what to make of that. Kinda makes me wonder about the bad days, but I don't think I should ask.

300 mm Zoom yeahh!

2010-04-15T11:29:00.005+02:00

Lent a massive 300 mm zoom lens from school to get some better bird shots, it was fun! Alot easier in one way but pretty hard all the same, ended up working with manual focus which can be a pain if you're off by just a little. Took more than 600 pics on the wednesday so some were bound to be good, right?

See more bird pics with the big zoom in my new flickr set here.

Jules Verne

2010-04-15T09:06:00.002+02:00

I'm taking literature history right now and for my latest assignment I picked Jules Verne. He's one of them authors you always hear so much about but I never took the time to read anything by him.

So I'm reading A Journey to the Center of the Earth. And I'm really liking it. And then, when I've read almost half way, and is pretty worked up about the plot, I suddenly remember that I've heard how this story ends before. Kinda ruining the surprise. Fail.

No one thinks about warning for spoilers about a book written in the 1860's I guess.

Committing to a project

2010-04-14T10:42:00.001+02:00

I love stuff like this! Found the picture above in a magazine about home savings, Hemma i HSB Nr 2.2010. The article is about an old man who has collected stamps since 1945. Finally, his wife protested when they couldn't fit the folders in the apartment anymore. So what did they do? They wallpapered the hall with them. More than 13000 stamps from 130 countries, floor to ceiling.

I envy someone who can commit to finishing a project like that. I can't even commit to one blog host, for pete's sake.

About me and contact

2010-04-13T09:42:00.005+02:00

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Now I've updated the blog with two new pages, about me and contact, for you folk who are extremely friggin interested.

In school doing Swedish class today, literature history. Gonna start an assignment on Jules Verne, gonna be kinda nice I think. Got some blogs coming up maye later or tomorrow.

Seagulls on rock

2010-04-11T23:06:00.002+02:00

Soon time to go to bed, last day of Easter Break so tomorrow it's back to school and work. We've been taking a lot of walks for bird pictures this weekend, it's been pretty fun and some turned out real nice. Now I'm tired. Night!

(see more bird pics in a set on flickr here.)

New blog!

2010-04-11T20:06:00.001+02:00

Yeah I'm bored of tumblr now, it wasn't the best blog host. Plus Allen is totally making me jealous with his new domain so... real shocker, I'm copying him. Sue me. :)

Time to start fresh, I need to keep a personal blog apart from the Swedish one I have. Sometimes things need to come out in English.

Now, time to pimp out the blog.