that is a wrap

Its been a while since I really updated about whats going on over here.

SUST 07 is done. Last night our group went on an overnight cabin trip in Nordmarka. We are home and the semester is officially over. It was a good trip, with a couple nice hikes through snowy forested hills. Tim made a reindeer stew last night and this morning we had a good American style breakfast. We had a cozy fire inside and a toasty bonfire outside. A few drinks, some cards, some stories.

I am very glad it is over. This semester has been very difficult, and I am really looking forward to a new semester of TAing now that I have more experience. For the next couple of weeks we will have semester wrap-up work and some prep for the spring, and then I have about a month off for vacation. Cate arrives on the 23rd of Dec for two and a half weeks. yes.

We won't receive student evals for a couple weeks yet, until they've been compiled at HECUA and sent back. I am VERY much looking forward to reading them, though I know it will be a stressful and difficult process.

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. I've been enjoying more of the cultural life of Oslo and further developing friendships. I made it to a couple films during the Oslo International Film Festival: Bomb It and I Love Hip-Hop in Morocco. I especially recommend Bomb It, which is a great documentary about graffiti. It looks at its development, its different styles including culture jamming, and also covers several continents. Trailer here.

I made it to another show at the John Dee. This time a Norwegian bluegrass band, Ila Auto, that was surprisingly excellent. Folks were dancing and singing along, which is rare here. Listen to them on Myspace here.

On Sunday I went to a jazz show at Blå that was free and quite good. Free music here is rare and while the band was a bit rough and less than first rate, it was a lot of fun and I ran into several friends there. The Frank Znort Quartet is kinda a house band at Blå and they play free just about every Sunday. Their definition of jazz is pretty open, including some bluesy and rocky numbers and even a cover of the Dead Kennedy's "Too Drunk to Fuck!" I will definitely be making return visits. Website, including videos, here

I also managed to read Henrik Ibsen's verse epic Peer Gynt which combines Norwegian folk tales with some skewering of Enlightenment ideals of the self. I've also been slowly reading Naomi Klein's No Logo. This book has been really quite good, though it is slightly dated. It details the convergence of corporate branding, mergers/synergy, and the changed nature of the job market in the mid 1990's than describes some of the new types of activism popping up, especially grounded in anti-corporatism and culture jamming. It is very connected with some of the things I've been interested in lately.