The Dude

This weekend I found a good little cafe/bar hidden away in Grunnerlokka called Cafe Mir. It is hidden away off the street, occupying two floors of a building covered with some pretty rad art. Downstairs has two foos tables. It is always good to find new places while exploring that I can dig on. I spent a few hours on Saturday early evening exploring. Much of the city center is lit up with Christmas decorations, and it makes the darkness bearable, really.

I also finally went back to the Munch Museum for the first time since SUST 05. I picked up some postcards too. I like Munch alright, he is a good artistic counterpart to Knut Hamsun's early work. They both capture the inner turmoil and dread of early-modernism with its existential crises. I think anyway. And Munch does a great job portraying the dark side of Norwegian society.

This is walking down Karl Johans Gate.

I've been pretty busy the last week updating the reading compendium for Divided States of Europe. Because the program hadn't been run before it needed to be filled out a bit. It needed to be spiced up with easier and less academic readings. The more interesting additions are part of Vaclav Havel's Disturbing the Peace, bits from Darkulic's Cafe Europa that I was reading earlier this semester, Lech Walesa's Nobel acceptance speech, and the chapter on Solidarity in A Force More Powerful. That's the less academic stuff, anyway. There was some heavier additions like Habermas as well as some research from a few Scandinavian NGO's. When the syllabus is complete I'll make it available.

We still haven't gotten the compiled evaluations back from HECUA, though we've been told this week. I'm just glad I've been able to sink my teeth in the syllabus project instead of stressing about the evals and feeling lonely with folks gone or leaving.

I do have a couple friends sticking around for the spring, but no one I am close to right now. Charloette, formerly a SUSTer, will be around. Tim, the German I hung out with a couple times early in the semester, has extended into the Spring. Knut Erik, Martin's friend, will be here of course. I've also met another German I got coffee with last week and we've made similar plans this week. She leaves this weekend but will be back in February.

There is also the small matter of visitors! Cate will be here in less than two weeks! We're staying in Oslo for Christmas, but will go for a week trip to Copenhagen, including New Years, and then to Stockholm. AND, I've got friends coming! That's right, Amanda and Neal ponied up the cash to make the trip: Jan 2-12. I've known Amanda for a couple years, first peripherally through Jane Addams School, then as a roommate of a friend's, then as Youth Farm West Side Program Director. Neal was in Americorps with me this last year, working on the West Side at Guadalupe Alternative Program. He also lived on my block, which led to many unplanned and excellent beers, guitar, and chillin sessions. We all hung out a lot over the spring and summer, and they became good friends of mine.

So things are looking good here overall. The wolf abides.

The National

Here are a couple goodies. They are a couple music videos from the band I went to see last Sunday, The National. They were really good, the best show I've seen since TV on the Radio. I've been digging on their last album, Boxer, this fall so it was a pleasure to actually see a band I liked live. Most of the show was excellent, the music was on, the band energetic, and even funny stage banter. They missed the mark on two songs, and sadly one of those was my favorite: "Fake Empire."

And the audience was pretty lame of course. If you've been to a show with me you know I don't usually move around too much. I'll sway back and forth, rock my head and bounce a bit on my right leg. Moving a bit but not dancing. Folks here are usually such passive listeners, that I'm in the top 5% rocking out. That is shameful.

Anyway, I like this band. Their songs could be accused of sounding too much alike, but I don't care. I like the sound. Most songs start a bit quieter then build into a bit of a jamming crescendo. They keep their songs short so they don't get too indulgent or experimental. Oh and it doesn't hurt that their lyrics are strong and fit my psyche here.





Here is that fave song of mine overlaid on a homevideo of a French family's trip to the USA. Yes, it is kinda strange. They can't do a good live version, from what youtube indicates.

I dream of better weather.

Skate Geekout: Marc Johnson

Oh yes. A few years ago I got a skate video called Modus Operandi. There was a part in there by Marc Johnson that straight up blew me away. You don't have to watch all the videos I'm going to post, but the first minute of this video is definitely worth your time.



This video also introduced me to Built to Spill. I still love this song! Marc's parts have solid music, which is definitely important to building a quality vid part.

Marc skates with an incredibly smooth style while being truly innovative. When this part came out, just about everyone was skating big handrails and jumping down stairs. Marc did a little bit of this, but it was everything else that impressed me. Just a huge bag of tricks that he made look good.
Personality matters a lot when in skateboarding. I liked Marc, not just his skating. He is a bit of a flamboyant goofball at times, yet is shy to fame and seems fairly intelligent.


And then there were my Marc Johnson Emericas. These were probably my favorite skate shoes ever. They lasted a hell of a long time and had ridiculously good feel.

After Modus Marc became my favorite skater. He released a couple bro videos, Tilt Mode and Man Down, and then helped start Enjoi Skateboards with most of that crew. Enjoi has ridiculously absurd ads that are not about skateboarding at all. Good company.




Not long after helping to start Enjoi, Marc left to join the Chocolate Skateboards. Chocolate is sister company to the Girl Skateboarding Co. The two companies and their teams are widely considered among the best in the world. Their videos have rocked my world. Marc had a part in Girl's 2003 video Yeah Right.



More recently Marc has been working on his video part for his new shoe sponsor, Lakai Footwear. Lakai has been working on the Fully Flared video for the last four years, and it is the most highly anticipated skate video in years. Among a number of skate legends, including Eric Koston, Mike Carroll, and the return of Guy Mariano, Marc got the coveted last video part. The video premiered less than two weeks ago and hasn't been released to stores yet.

Even so, everyone in the skate community is talking about Marc's part. And today it was announced that he was awarded Thrasher Magazine's Skater of the Year award. Thrasher's SOTY is skateboarding's ultimate recognition.

The State of Scandinavia

From the centre-right Norwegian daily Aftenposten: "Norway's New Underclass"

"Thousands of people, most of them immigrants with no legal right to be in Norway, are believed to be working in the country under conditions that some experts describe as modern-day slavery.

Newspaper Aftenposten has been running a series of stories describing the lives of many members of the country's new underclass of illegal immigrants. The vast majority sought asylum in Norway, were turned down, but have avoided deportation.

Most are hiding out all over the country, in friends' homes, basements, churches or makeshift shelter. With no legal right to work, and lacking the state tax card necessary to obtain legitimate employment, members of this new underclass are vulnerable to exploitation.

That's because there's a pressing need for labour in Norway, and work abounds. Some employers are as willing to "hire" illegal immigrants at wages well below scale as the immigrants are willing to work.

Among them is "Ziad," a 32-year-old Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon. He's been living underground in Norway for seven years, ever since his appeal for asylum in Norway was turned down. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor of an Oslo cellar along with six other illegal immigrants in Oslo, and is in constant fear of being seized and deported.

Ziad worked long days for a vegetable dealer in Oslo, also from the Middle East, who regularly abused him and paid him small change. But even that helped Ziad eat, since he's constantly desperate for money. The job ended abruptly when the vegetable dealer replaced him with a family member.

Such stories of desperation are repeated from Kristiansand to Tromsø, and have included a couple who even had a baby girl while hiding out. They're constantly worried her crying will attract attention and reveal their location in a small mountain town."


On a somewhat related note, Norway has slipped from number one to number two in the United Nation's Human Development Index. The HDI ranks nations on the basis of life expectancy, literacy, standard of living, and education.


Amnesty International has accused the government of Denmark of direct discrimination against recent immigrants. Here is the story from the Copenhagen Post: "Amnesty Accuses State of Discrimination

"The human rights watchdog has criticised the government for giving lower social benefits to new immigrants

Amnesty International published a report today labelling the government's controversial Start Help benefit, discriminative and causing poverty and blaming it for marginalizing immigrants.

The benefit, paid instead of the regular state income support, is for unemployed people who have not resided in Denmark for seven out of the previous eight years.

The amount is DKK 11,968 monthly before tax for a family of two adults and two children - an amount lower than the EU margin for poverty.

The start benefit is significantly lower than that of the normal state income support, which amounts to a monthly minimum of DKK 21,672 before tax for the same sized family.

Amnesty finds the benefit directly discriminative as it is primarily given to immigrants and refugees. In 2006, 94 percent of recipients were people with non-Danish backgrounds.

Stinne Lyager Bech, author of the report, emphasised: 'Even if the Start Help benefit was intended for all, in practice, it affects foreigners, and that is illegal.'

She also stated that the legislation was not in accordance with international human rights standards.

'Start Help is an example of discrimination that the Danish state is directly responsible for,' she continued. 'It must therefore be abolished.'

Ida Elisabeth Koch, senior researcher at the Institute of Human Rights, reiterated that the benefit affected Danes and foreigners differently.

Similar cases had been taken to the European Court of Human Rights where it was possible for Start Help recipients to sue national states on charges of discrimination.

The newly appointed integration minister, Birthe Rønn Hornbech, did not wish to comment on the outcome of the report.

However, Karen Elleman the integration spokesperson for the prime minister's Liberal Party, said: 'Start Help is a loving push in the right direction - results show that recipients are more motivated to look for work or enter a study programme.'

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.

prince

Dave Chappelle Show. Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories. Prince.

Its old and everyone has seen it. But I'm betting its been a while since you have. Do enjoy. It is good to laugh.




Between pancakes and waffles I seem to be on a breakfast theme this week.