Tweet?

This is just a small test. Apparently WordPress offers a feature to let you connect your blog to your Twitter account and automatically tweet updates about new posts. Since I don’t update quite as often as I used to, I thought this would be a good way of letting people know whenever new posts are available.

Nothing much to see here, please disregard. More real updates shortly.

As if Eddie Izzard wasn’t crazy enough to begin with!

Eddie Iz Running For Sport Relief

Apparently, my favorite comedian and now personal hero got the crazy idea that he’d run the 1,100 odd miles around the United Kingdom “London to Cardiff to Belfast to Edinburgh and back to London”.. Not only that, but he’d try to do it in six weeks, running 30 miles a day, six days a week.. All in the name of charity: http://www.comicrelief.com/donate/eddie

Are you kidding me?! All I can say, aside from this being absolutely fucking crazy, is go for it mate! This is beyond awe-inspiring!

You can follow Eddie’s efforts on his blog or via Twitter – That, and I’m sure he’d be happy if you used the link above to donate to the cause.

The Ghost of Michael Jackson and the Youtube generation

Wait, what? Yeah, so.. I saw this silly piece of footage on Youtube earlier today:

It’s supposedly a clip from Larry King Live on CNN showing an anormality spotted on camera at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. Umm, okay.. Yeah.. So, anyways, clips like these aren’t new on Youtube, but unlike most others, apparently this one got a fuck of a lot of attention.. And a lot of comments to boot!

Now, the obvious downside to social media and user-generated content is that everybody and their mother can offer their two cents on the issues. And apparently with this surfacing now everybody and their mother and/or dog is an expert on the paranormal.. Which wouldn’t actually be that bad, if it weren’t for the fact that there are a hell of a lot of idiots out there!

I don’t know about you, but I can think of a lot of reasons for an unidentified shadow caught on tape, not many of which are very paranormal. Heck, if that there is the ghost of the King of Pop, then the King of Pop makes several daily manifestations in my living room! Though, these usually coincide with people walking past my windows or the sun reflecting off something and casting a shadow.

Still, I spent some time looking at comments and was kinda confused by what I saw. Most people spent no time in sweeping away rational arguments with comments such as “Oh, that there is no reflection/shadow/trick of light!” with no reasoning whatsoever.. While proudly stating their reputation on it “definitively being paranormal” with such good reasoning as “because it looks like Michael Jackson” or “it just can’t possibly be a shadow” .. Really, let’s jump to conclusions, shall we? It’s a three second event on a piece of live footage that has not been examined by experts, and with no way of knowing who or what may have been in the vicinity when this was shot, info on lighting or anything.. Surely it can’t be a shadow or reflection of a person or something passing by outside.. That’s silly talk!

Now, now, I’ve had my share of “paranormal” experiences, but I call them that because they defied every logic explanation I’ve thrown at them and have usually been experienced or confirmed by others, not because “They’re paranormal.. Coz yeah!” – When did we become so inclined to believe that we’ll not even try to listen to reasoning before making up our minds?

But wait, that’s not all.. No, there’s more! See, the paranormal explanation isn’t the only one.. No-no, the conspiracy theorists are at it, too.. And what they want us to believe is that the footage has been doctored! “Since there is no natural explanation,” they conclude, “the film must have been tampered with!” Again, I fail to see how they rule out a natural explanation, but let’s leave it at that, turn the board on them and go “Why?” – So far the most entertaining answer I’ve heard to this question has been that of: “CNN did it to boost ratings!” .. Again.. Wait? What? First off, I hardly think Larry King Live needs better ratings, certainly not on a day where the topic at hand is the death of Michael Jackson.. Secondly: Wait? What? CNN, the biggest news network in the world, choses to boost their ratings and increase their number of views by airing bogus footage of a ghostly encounter at Neverland? With no further mention of the incident what-so-ever? Guys, sorry, but I don’t think you’ll be seeing CNN airing a “Ghosts are real, and you saw it first on Larry King Live!” story any time soon.. It’s all about a few small things called “keeping it serious” and “credibility in the media world.”

Incidentally this revolutionary theory were set forth by a couple of Danes in a comment threat where they, not five minutes earlier had entertained themselves with comments about Americans being stupid and gullible.. Kinda ironic, isn’t it?

Either way, since we’re apparently at a place now where we don’t need to provide reasoning or backing for our arguments and opinions, I’ll pass my judgement on the footage now: “There is most certainly a natural explanation for this footage because, yeah!”

Now with search option..

Tina pointed out today that she was trying to find a post about a particular event on my blog and had found it a reasonably confusing experience. With almost 800 posts over the years and no public search feature, I realized that she may just be right.. So I went and changed that.

Should you ever need to, you can now search my ramblings using the search widget on the right.. And uhh, my apologies to anyone who might have missed this feature in the three odd years I’ve been running this blog.. I somehow never realized it wasn’t there.

The Day The (Pop) Music Died

Michael Jackson, the famed, eccentric, celebrated, hated and hugely talented “King of Pop” is no more.. And I feel strangely moved and gutted by this fact.

I never was a huge fan, but every genre has its heroes, its icons and its huge influences. For pop music, Michael Jackson definitely personified all of the above, and there’s no denying the influence and quality of his work.

So this metalhead raises his glass to you, mr King of Pop. Godspeed and thank you for all your contributions. May you rest in peace!

Three years of drunken rants.. And still going strong!

Today is exactly three years ago, to the date, that I started this blog. Back then I had no idea if it would even catch on and if I’d even still be blogging after three weeks, let alone three months.. Or a year, two.. even three for that matter.. But hey, here we are.. Three years later, and apparently I still have more or less coherent, relevant or sane commentary to provide on my life, every day events, recent happenings and the world of all things related to good food, good drink and random acts of self-destruction.

It always amazes and humbles me whenever I stop and look back like this.. I mean, I started out with two regular readers and no real sense of direction and purpose.. Three years down the road, I still have no sense of direction or purpose, but I dare say I have a little more than two regular readers. Of course, people have come and gone over the years, but still, in the long run, an average of 70 or so of you drop by on a daily basis.. Which is just plain cool! And with my 710 posts in 1095 days, I’ve almost fulfilled my intention of giving you a reason to drop by every day.. It’s still 0.64 posts per day, after all.

Apparently research shows that the average personal blogger is female and in her early to mid twenties. My long hair and the fact that I relate well to women aside, I think I’m failing pretty miserably at fitting into this stereotype. A lot of my readers do, however, so maybe that makes it all okay..

Another thing that makes me a misfit is my above mentioned lack of sense and direction. Apparently to gain success and long-time following in blogging, you have to narrow your scope, pick a single topic and a sense of direction in your blogging. I never really found out about this until about six months ago and in true Johan FTW (Fuck The World) fashion, I’ve chosen to blatantly ignore those directions in the six months or so I’ve know about it.. Apparently I’ll never have success.. I don’t know.. 70 readers a day, fans on four continents and a peak record of 1450 visitors in a single day.. I’d say I’m doing pretty well! And I, of course, thank every single one of you for making the whole ignoring the rules thing  still worth doing.. It’s mad for some pretty.. Ahem.. Interesting posts over the years and some quite interesting experiences..

I sometimes wonder why I’m still doing this after all these years, and then I’m like.. Oh right.. Coz it’s a hell of a lot of fun.. And because people bitch if I ever stop updating for too long.. I guess I’m a bit of an eccentric exhibitionist.

The Hills of Los Angeles Are Burning

.. Again!

Hmm.. So, yea, apparently it’s that time of year again. I just got a couple of really worried messages from my SoCal native friend, Myrriah, stating that apparently once again much of the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas (amongst others) are once again suffering under out of control wildfires..

Blah, this brings back a lot of unpleasant memories from my own trip down there in 2003, and this time it’s hitting even closer to home as apparently Corona is hit as well.. Which is just one town over from Riverside where I spent some happy weeks living with some really lovely people. So while I feel terrible for people losing their homes to stuff like this, here’s to hoping that the wind won’t change and that Barb, Mark and Grandma Dallner will go unharmed in all of this.. Fingers crossed, you guys.

You guys rock!

Blog stats:

Total Views: 33,745

Best Day Ever: 452 — Sunday, May 18, 2008

Views today: 162

This is just a small note to say thanks for helping me set a new daily best yesterdays.. You kids sure dig that Rock ‘n’ Roll music!

Well, this is pretty sad.. Arthur C. Clarke is dead.

“Author Arthur C. Clarke, whose science fiction and non-fiction works ranged from the script for “2001: A Space Odyssey” to an early proposal for communications satellites, has died at age 90, associates have said.” (full story)

And to think I was just thinking about this guy two days ago, amazed that he was still alive and well after 90 years.. Obviously, the world has lost yet another brilliant thinker.

NEW GOVERNMENT NOW!

Election day in Denmark. I’m excited. Hopeful. Fearful, too, at times. Fearful that we will end up with a simple mirror of our current government. Hopeful that the incredible progress shown by the socialists over the last couple of weeks will be showing in the results.. And oh so very hopeful that we will see a change of government within the next couple of days.  So what’s so bad about the old one? Well, I think Zeb says it pretty well:

But what is so wrong with the current government? I hear you ask.
-They haven’t done jack for the environment, and won’t in the future.
-They are backed by the National Socialists Nationalist Peoples’ Party (DF), who are basically Nazi-wannabes.
-They don’t care about human rights, and have an insanely harsh immigration view.
-They are a US lapdog.
-They joined the US in a war that wasn’t approved by the UN (Sure Saddam was a bad person, but you have to let the UN do their work!)
-They are giving more to those who have, and piss on those who don’t have much.

Then what are the key features to guide ones vote?
-Environment. We have to live up to the guidelines given by the EU, they are there for a reason. Only the social liberals (Radikale Venstre) have enough ambition in this area, sure others have this on the agenda too, but not enough imo.
-Human Rights. Denmark have agreed to follow this ideology. So please remove the 24year rule etc.
-Getting a more critical view on the US.
-Getting rid of the Nazi-wannabes (DF).
-Get a government who won’t ignore the UN.

Well, I can’t say I fully agree with the point about only the Social Liberals caring enough about the environment. The Unity List and the Socialist Peoples’ Party have quite a few ambitions on this level as well.. And being more of a socialist than a liberal, I know where my vote is going.. Red is such a beautiful color anyways.

I can’t claim to know everything about politics, and I have a hard time believing what politicians say during campaign season anyways. I suppose what it boils down to is a basic feeling about what is right and what is wrong and in my mind things are not right at the moment.. So, New government now! Please!