I've(n't) had enough of crushing digits

It's running late but here they are; my top 10 albums of 2008:

10. The Magnetic Fields: Distortion

9. Sune Rose Wagner: Sune Rose Wagner.

8. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

7. Diefenbach: Dark Spinner

6. Virak: Threads

5. Munich: Those Who Dare

4. Mike Sheridan: I syv sind

3. Glasvegas: Glasvegas

2. The Last Shadow Puppets: The Age of Understatement

1. Veto: Crushing Digits

A Sort of Homecoming

Roskilde Festival er i gang! Lejren er oppe! Det gik ganske glat i år; der var langt færre mennesker kl. 5 end tidligere år. Mange er tydeligvis blevet afskrækket af sidste års ankeldybe mudderpøl, og så er musikprogrammet noget svagt i år. Vi stod i armbåndskøen ca. to en halv time og kunne derefter gå ind på campingarealet da hegnet var blevet væltet allerede før kl. 4. Det er en klar fordel at gå ind fra camping vest, som man også kan se af nyheden på festivalens hjemmeside.

Ca. 7:30: rekognoseringsholdet har sikret en plads i C68 og afventer de øvrige teltopslagere.

Det første problem vi løb ind i var at den ene pavillon var fejlpakket fra fabrikken: for mange af pind nummer 2 og for få af pind nummer 4. Heldigvis havde vi allerede observeret flere tilfælde af pavillonvraggods, og vi fik scoret de manglende reservedele. Derefter forløb alt ganske glat: jorden var perfekt til at slå pløkker i efter de seneste dages regn, og vi var et dejligt stort opslagningshold i år; 14 personer til godt 20 telte og 2 pavilloner. Vejret var super: ingen blæst, ikke for varmt, ikke for koldt. Kl. 9 var lejren rejst.


Det næste problem var mere alvorligt idet ølsalget igen i år ikke var klar til at åbne kl. 8 som ellers lovet. Det viste sig heldigvis at yigmobilen indeholdt adskillige øl. Og så var der jo traditionen tro champagne efter at lejren var blevet rejst.


Lejren set fra arealet ved banen. Det forventes at de mageligt henslængte campingvagter er udskiftet med en fin række af iglo-telte inden for kort tid, men mon ikke lejren stadig kan kendes på de to hvide pavilloner og det lange grå telt med Skanderborg-logo.

Wicked Game

There's been a lot of talk about cancelling participation of official country representatives at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, especially in Europe I suppose. What's that all about, suddenly closely connecting sports and politics? An aggressive campaign from Amnesty International, an organization that I otherwise respect and once was a member of , claims that China have promised to improve human rights in order to become this year's Olympic host. No documentation of such promises have been presented though, and the IOC spokesperson says that IOC is a non-political organization. The only promise made by China regards the freedom of foreign press to operate in China during the Olympics, and a decree to that effect has been made by the Chinese government. The effectiveness of the decree remains to be seen, of course, but I think we can rely on the 20,000 accredited press people to let us know if any unreasonable hindrances should be present.

While there are unarguably problems with human rights issues in China, there's no doubt China has seen immense improvements on many fronts since 2001 (where Beijing as 2008 Olympic city was announced), such as improvements for migrant workers, combating of corruption and improvements in the judiciary system. China is on the right track, and China is rightfully proud to host this year's Olympic games. The campaigning by AI to connect the issues of human rights and the Olympic games is completely untimely. There is absolutely no reason to induce neither athletes nor country officials with bad conscience about participating. Did AI try to boycott previous Olympic games in US cities because of US violations of human rights (executions is one of AI's main criticism of China)? Should 2016 candidate Madrid face questions about Basque independence?

The way to encourage further improvements of human rights in China is to support and to maintain a dialogue with the Chinese that work to improve the conditions within China as well as with the Chinese authorities. A boycott of the Olympic opening ceremony will only serve to further nationalism and xenophobic views, as can to some extent be seen after the very negative coverage in western media regarding human rights in Tibet. It would be tragic and counter-productive if the Western world in misunderstood or disinformed concern for human rights in China would nourish Chinese nationalism and isolationism by solely focussing on the negative stories about China.

The way that the Chinese authorities have handled the devastating Sichuan earthquake may have shifted sympathies in a more favourable direction for China. Hopefully the folly and shrill voices of a few months back of the likes of French president Sarkozy and the Danish Conservative People's Party will be unheeded. At least the Danish Parliament on May 22nd voted against a governmental boycot of the opening ceremony.

Another Brick in the Wall (part 2)

I acquired my second mahjong set in San Francisco's China Town for USD 20. It's a travel set with quite small plastic tiles, 17 x 23 x 13 mm. I believe I bought in December 2001, but it might have been the year before. (I was at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union for three years in a row, 1999-2001).


The set has served me faithfully while travelling to tournaments and has been inspected by various airport security staff. It's important, of course, to carry it in the hand luggage for when the plane gets delayed. The plastic case turned out to be not very durable for travelling, and has been repaired thoroughly with duct tape, and the trays I made myself with cardboard and a stapler.


Mostly the set has been used in trains, going to tournaments. Trains to Århus and trains to Germany. For trains, it is recommended to bring racks for the tiles (we don't usually use racks, but in trains they are convenient). The coming months has two long train rides coming: for the MCR tournament in Edewecht in May and the European Riichi Championship in Hannover in June, and my Chinatown travel set will surely come along.

Wandering Star

Portishead er tilbage – med stil. Fantastisk koncert; eller i hvert fald så god som nu KB Hallen tillader det. Beth Gibbons er af en anden verden. Geoff Barrow er for cool. Han må have tilbragt store dele af pausen siden det seneste album med at spille japanske trommebaserede arkadespil.
Opvarmningsbandet Kling Klang spillede til gengæld den elendigste koncert jeg har overværet nogensinde. Jeg kan kun på det kraftigste advare mod deres blanding af wanna-be Jean Michel Jarre og firser-heavy.

Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved // The blackness of darkness forever
Wandering star, Dummy, Portishead, 1994

And Justice For All

Don't kiss me or smile for me,
Don't tell me that you'll wait for me,
The CIA will never let me go.
Cause I'm leaving on a jetplane,
Don't think I'll ever be back again,
Oh babe, I hate to go.

Leaving On A Jetplane, alt. version by ATS // Politiken

It should be so easy but music is a sensitive art

Hear this, I can't deny the truth
[...]
Tear this touchy town apart
Tear this posh party in parts
Wear this itchy shirt of limits
Hear this tiny voice of truth
Clear this for you
I will blast the truth

Tillykke, Dúné, årets band 2007, med P3-prisen. Velfortjent!

Der er award shows, og så er der P3 guld som i den grad forstår at hæve sig over niveauet med fem i den grad værdige vindere og et underholdende show der ikke er bange for at komme med aktuelle og politiske kommentarer. Jeres indslag med fan-taler til vinderen af lytterhittet er fantastisk. Og hyldesten til Natasja var smuk som nattens stjerner. Tak, DR, jeg håber I formår at opretholde niveauet fremover selv med bæltet spændt langt ind under det nederste ribben. Lige pt er jeg lidt bekymret for Radium Rock der ikke længere synes at være programsat. Forhåbentlig er det ikke et endeligt farvel til DR's stolte tradition for rock-magasinprogrammer. Jeg er naiv nok til at mit håb endnu lever, for det er da ikke til at holde ud hvis traditionen fra Rockaften på P3, Rockland og Beat skal dø helt. Men okay, Musikprogrammet på DR2 har de jo allerede skåret væk. Måske må jeg bare se sandheden i øjnene, men våde det er de.

Would you die // oh, would you die // oh, would you die in 80 years with me

Men de der Storm, de ku' da være i et glas vand, ku' de ikke?

Robot Beat , We are in there you are out here, Dúné, 2007
A Blast Beat, We are in there you are out here, Dúné, 2007
80 Years, We are in there you are out here, Dúné, 2007