Just wanted to wish everyone a great New Years Eve. I'm on my way over to a friends house for dinner and later we're invited to a party, so I should be in for a good night out (if that is possible).

I've been home for a couple of days, but since I've just hung out at home there hasn't really been that much interesting going on to blog about. However, I did find it interesting that people are buying Segway scooters online. You can get yours here if you have $4950 lying around (and you have any idea where you could use a Segway scooter). I also enjoyed the article 2002 in review according to Dave Barry and Top 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2002.
And I checked out Pitchfork Media's Top 50 Records of the Year, but I'm not going to get as many of those as I am of the ones on the Rolling Stones list.

Okay, it's almost party time, so I'm off. Take care and have a fun night!

The last week has been a bit crazy with Christmas parties, gift shopping, and getting a ton of little things done before heading out to visit the parental units for Christmas. But I'm all set now for a couple of days of eating too much and just generally doing nothing.

But before I head in to partake in the traditional Danish Christmas lunch I thought I'd wish everyone who's visited my weblog the last year a Merry Christmas. I hope you have a nice holiday no matter how you celebrate these next days and hopefully you might even get nice presents, good food, and a few days with people you love.

So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

Man, is Nick Barat getting his Christmas on or what? It's all about Christmas over at Catchdubs these days and after recommending truckloads of Christmas albums and Christmas specials and explaining why Kwanzaa is some made up shit Nick went into his studio and recorded a bunch of Christmas songs. Some of them even have a Fountains of Wayne vibe, which is always appreciated. You can find two tracks here and two other tracks here. Now, would someone give this kid a record deal already!

You know how there are some bands' CDs you just buy without checking them out first? They might not even be bands you follow in a teenybobber sort of way. It's just that you have all their other CDs and you kinda always know what you get, when you pick up one of their CDs. So even though you don't necessarily think their last couple of CDs were that great you'd still feel weird about consciously just boycotting them from now on. Especially since you haven't even heard their latest. That's how I feel about Pearl Jam.

I have all their records and have bought them when they came out. Although there are great songs on all of their last four CDs (from Vitalogy to Binaural) none of the albums stand out like the first two. And as the band got more and more conscious about not becoming Nirvana their albums got weirder and more experimental. This is probably why they're still around, but it also meant that (at least to me) these albums aren't as memorable as their first two.
But just like always I picked up the new Pearl Jam album, Riot Act, and this time around it sounds a lot more like a real album than the previous ones did. There aren't any weird little tracks in-between the real songs and there aren't any pointless noisy pseudo-punk tracks on there, either. It's just a bunch of songs, which together make the album sound a lot more homogenic than the previous ones did.

I still think Eddie Vedder has one of the most interesting voices in rock and therefore a track like Bushleaguer especially stands out, because he mixes singing with talking in that deep voice he has.
Someone asked me awhile back, who I thought were rebellious musicians these days. It's hard to find any, because I think when it comes to pushing the boundaries of noise they've already been pushed pretty much as far as they can go. When it comes to sex nothing seems to be taboo any more and when it comes to piercings, tattoos, drugs, drinking, and breaking stuff it's all been done to the point where it almost seems pointless now. So to me it seems like the only rebellion there is left in the music industry is trying to maintain artistic integrity and getting your music heard by millions at the same time.
I think Pearl Jam are a good example of someone who tries to remove the things from their career, which they feel are superfluous (interviews, videos, singles) and concentrates on putting out albums and touring. One of the reasons they have such a solid fanbase, is because they put forth an extra effort to let the fans know they appreciate them. And their work against the high ticket prices was another way of sticking it to The Man that a lot of people thought of as fairly rebellious. They're involved in politics and environmental issues, but in a more discreet way than say U2, which I think most people can appreciate.

People like Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, and Rammstein might shock more people than Pearl Jam does, but shocking uptight, self-righteous people is about as hard as getting wet in the rain, so where's the fun in that? So that kind of rebellion doesn't really impress me. But trying to stick to your guns and put out decent music even though you have a major label hounding you to get on MTV impresses me a lot more.

The lack of entries the last couple of days was caused by my staying in bed trying to get better. I did actually go to work Friday, but I was so off my game it wasn't even funny. So I cancelled my plans and instead of staying here and blog about being ill I decided to head out to my parents' house and relax for a few days.

Have you been following the women's European Handball Championship? Yeah, me neither, but my parents still don't have cable (What do we need it for?), so women's handball was the only halfway decent thing on. And on the plus side they actually won and became European Champions, so that made it a bit more interesting.
Turns out one of the players attended the school my Dad teaches at, another attended my school (she transferred in after I graduated, but my sister knew her), and a third looks like Linda Evangelista.
If you're not from around here you might not be aware of how huge women's handball is here. I'm hardly an expert on this subject, but it's my impression that the men's team started sucking in the late 80s and around the same time the women's team got really good and their team is now probably almost as popular as the men's national football team. The women won Olympic Gold in 1996 and 2000 and have in the last ten years been European Champs twice, World Champs once, and won three other medals at the World Championships. So I guess it's not so strange that people like them.

Not a lot going on here as I woke up a 5am with a massive cold, which has been bugging me all day. I've been trying to keep warm all day and drink hot coffee for my sore throat (is that even what you're supposed to do?).
But I thought I'd mention that Wired has picked up the Kazaa story and published an article yesterday called Denmark Bills Users for Downloads. As Doc Searls correctly points out this is somewhat of a misnomer, but it's nice to see that the foreign press is picking up on this scandalous case.

The only laughs I've gotten today comes courtesy of Catherine's Pita, who links to an article at The Onion (I don't usually like The Onion, but this is funny) and mentions that she wants her CD back (I am offering a reward of my fist in your face for its return). Nice one.

The big story here in Denmark today is that the Danish Parliament has finished a bill, which will make it illegal to make copies of copy protected CDs, DVDs, and computer games and to parallel import (import not using the Danish branch of a company) these items from non EU countries. According to the article passing the bill will be a formality meaning that we should expect that making a copy of a CD for the car stereo or the iPod will be illegal in the future.
I'm not an expert on EU politics, but from what I've been able to find out the bill is "our" way of implementing the infosoc directive, which is designed to make copyright laws the same all over Europe.

I can understand why people would support legislation, which tries to help the entertainment industry fight "pirates" (I wouldn't have supported it, but I can understand why others would). But why they would support legislation making it illegal to parallel import CDs, DVDs, and computer games is beyond me. Obviously, it is hurting the Danish branch of Warner Bros that you can buy a copy of Analyze That on DVD in parallel import shops before it opens in cinemas here, but how is that a problem for the Danish government? Isn't that just one of the joys of free trade? It's apparently not enough that there's a region system making it impossible to screen American or Asian DVDs on a regular European DVD player. Now there will be laws against importing the DVDs as well.
This means that people, who want CDs, DVDs, and computer games, which haven't been released here will have to start ordering them themselves through Amazon or other companies. This sucks, because of shipping expenses, the taxes added on by the Danish postal service, and having to wait ages for your order to arrive. But people will do it anyway, because the DVDs sold by the Danish companies are released months later than the American ones and usually don't have all the bonus material the American ones does. So all this will mean is that a bunch of stores will close and people will have to start buying their movies and music online.

And if it's illegal to make copies of CDs it'll be hard for internet radio stations to stay in business. Right now it's legal to make copies for personal use and you can apply for a license to make copies for work related use. But with the latest initiative from IFPI saying that they won't give out any more special digitalizing permits it's hard to see how internet stations can stay in business.

If anyone has any insight into how the copyright laws have been changed around Europe I'd be curious to hear more about it. I have no idea if people living in European countries that dub movies buy a lot of original languaged movies. But even if they don't they're probably as affected by the law against copying copyright protected material as we are here in Denmark. So if you have any insights on this please leave a comment.

Since I wrote yesterday's entry about Danes getting billed for sharing files via Kazaa I've published it over at Blogcritics. But I've added a paragraph over there, because I found an article about a newsletter, which was sent out by the web portal Jubii encouraging people to ignore the bills [update 12/12: I've added the paragraph here as well]. I'll probably write more about this as things unfold, but so far the entry at Blogcritics has the latest news.

People are getting sued for internet related things left and right in this country right now. In October several people were charged by the police for hacking into servers belonging to Valus (a micro payment company). The "hacking" consisted of clicking on a link posted in the debate forum at computerworld.dk. That case is still unresolved to my knowledge.
The trial date in the Newsbooster Case has been pushed to January 8th. Here, a Danish news portal has been sued for copyright infringements, because they "deep link" to news stories. The trial date has been pushed, because Newsbooster can no longer afford their lawyers and now have to rely on the representation of their Editor in Chief.
And last week the Danish branch of IFPI notified the national Danish Radio station that they will no longer allow digital copies to be made of their music making it impossible for Denmark's Radio to broadcast over the internet. Add to that the existing lawsuit concerning an artist's right to decided whether or not his/her song can be used in a television show, series, or movie and I think you'll agree that everything seems to be going to Hell in a hand basket.

Leave it to internet newbies to ruin all the fun. Don't they know the reason Al Gore invented the internet was so we could link to funny articles and share copyrighted music? What's next? No more downloading copyrighted porn?
Frankly, I find the whole thing embarrassing. But it'll be a lot worse, when people outside of Denmark decide to follow our example and start suing people left and right all over the world. Then we might as well go back to writing pamphlets.

And in other news Michele over at A Small Victory started compiling a list (and checking it twice) of alternative Christmas songs about the same time as I did. And she gets a lot more alternative than I did.

My recent posting about ice skating kids inspired Peter to write about Don DeLillo and the way people look at things they've seen a million times in movies, on TV, and in pictures. His entry is in Danish, so this'll be a good excuse to start learning our language.

And tonight we'll be watching Arsenal play Valencia and hoping for the best. But just remember whatever happens don't blame the ref.

Once again something is rotten in the state of Denmark. A couple of weeks ago it was revealed that something called The Anti Pirate Group had sent out bills to 150 Kazaa users, who had shared copyrighted material. The group is, according to this article, nothing more than lawyer "(Morten) Lindegaard, 29, and his helpers--four Danish university students-- (who have) developed a software program that monitored Danish file swappers on the two perr-to-peer (sic) networks, honing down to the users' Internet Protocol, or IP, address to confirm they were logged on from Denmark".
The APG represents record companies and others who believe file sharing makes them lose money (I checked APG's website for more information, but that part of the site is being "updated"). And looking through their website (which, unfortunately, is only available in Danish) makes you like them even less than you already did when you just thought they were logging your traffic. They have a news page, where they write about who they've busted and they even have a little map with red dots marking where they've been (in the Sager section). Above the map it says "Map of Denmark - Have we been near you?... Watch out...". So as you can see they're a real class operation.

Personally, I think this whole thing stinks. Obviously, there is a good chance that the people, who have received bills, have broken copyright laws. But the practice of sending out a bill saying that nothing more will happen if the culprit deletes the copyrighted material and pays up does seem to be close to blackmail. Especially when you're told that if you don't pay up you'll be sued and the claim will be doubled.
In the previously mentioned article a professor mentions a couple of ways that shared files don't violate copyright claims. Others have questioned the way APG have calculated the copyright holders' loses and some are calling the whole thing an invasion of privacy. According to this article about half the people, who have received a bill have either paid up or contacted the APG (and according to this article, published five days before, around 80% have already paid up). But hopefully someone will refuse to pay and have this thing settled in court, so we can have a judge decided whether all this is legal or not.

The latest on this situation is that Danish web portal Jubii has sent out a newsletter (written by a guy, who has been threatened with lawsuits over a DVD website he ran) encouraging people not to pay the bills they've been sent. Based on rulings in cases, where people have been sent huge phone bills for calls to phone sex lines they claim they haven't made the author of the newsletter advocates denying everything and let the APG prove that you used the computer and you made files available for sharing.
The newsletter is written in a humorous tone and explains how the APG found the culprits, it points out helpful laws and rulings, and notices that all the APG's prior cases have been against people living in the sticks, who "are used to getting pushed around by suits" and who are easily intimidated by lawyers and their fancy jargon. It's also mentioned that the APG doesn't have the manpower to sue 150 individuals and that people, who in the past have ignored bills from the APG, haven't been pulled into court. So the author of the newsletter suggests that the bills have been sent out to random Kazaa users hoping that some of them would be stupid enough to pay up.
So far the APG hasn't responded to the newsletter, but it'll be interesting to see if this will encourage people to either ignore the bills or attempt to have this thing settled in court.

On a related note a brilliant investigative journalist recently found out that copyrighted material was also being distributed on Usenet. Yeah, what a shocker! A part of Jan's job is to deal with the pirate company's news servers, so he has written this entry about the article.

Oh, and people from Denmark aren't Dutch you moron.

As previously mentioned I wrote an article for Blogcritics about Christmas songs and I've now finally gotten around to post it here as well. I've been getting a lot of positive feedback because of it and the latest is a mention in yesterday's Hip Clicks column over at the USA Today website. I thought that was pretty cool. So in case you didn't make it over to Blogcritics this week here is the article (you'll have to go there to read the comments).

Ten Christmas Songs That Won't Make Me Want To Turn My Radio Off:

I'm not the kind of person who goes nuts around Christmas and spends a lot of time decorating, baking and trying to get everyone in the Christmas spirit. So I usually get quite annoyed when the airwaves fill up with saccharine sweet Christmas songs, so therefore I've made a list of ten songs that won't drive me nuts in the month of December. They may not all be Christmas songs in the conventional sense, but they all mention Christmas in one way or another and every one of them should be a nice break from Last Christmas and Silent Night.

01) The Pogues: Fairytale of New York
Shane MacGowan and the late Kirsty MacColl duet about being a pair of bums in New York at Christmas time in a song, which is both absolutely beautiful and funny. Not surprisingly the song was The Pogues' biggest hit and it still stands as the best Christmas song ever written.
Best line: You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse, I pray God it's our last

02) Fountains of Wayne: The Man in the Santa Suit
This song is only available on the I Want an Alien for Christmas single (which features The Man..., Alien..., and Haunakah under the Stars). It tells the story of a guy, who has to suffer the humiliation of having to work as a department store Santa, so he can make a few bucks around Christmas. It's a classic Fountains of Wayne song, which blends melancholy and humour with a catchy tune.
Best line: And he's a big red cherry, but it's hard to be merry
When the kids are all laughing saying hey it's Jerry Garcia

03) D-A-D: Sad, Sad Christmas
Danish rockers D-A-D (formerly Disneyland After Dark) released this corny Christmas single about a single Dad, who has trouble getting into the spirit of things after his wife left with the car, the credit cards, and the furs. It's not exactly a brilliant song, but it is quite funny and the chip monks singing back-up really takes the song over the top. The song is available on the record D-A-D Special, which features the best songs from their first two records. The album was released to pave the way for the album No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims, which was supposed to have been their big break in the US.
Best line: Well, now we can't afford to celebrate The Lord
Daddy, what a Lord? He made Mother take the Ford

04) Nada Surf: 80 Windows
Probably not meant so much as a Christmas song as a song about whining about being alone at Christmas time. Taken from the overlooked follow-up album to High/Low this is actually a cool indie track with nice harmonies that'll make you forget that the lyrics strictly speaking don't make sense.
Best line: I feel far away from you, so what else is new
The moon is closer to the sun than I am to anyone

05) Everclear: Hating You for Christmas
This is the bonus track on the So Much for the Afterglow record in which Art Alexakis rips into his ex, who's left him and has gone on to better things. Getting dumped right before Christmas seems to a theme here.
Best line: I just want to sit in our apartment and hate you
Yes, I will be hating you for Christmas

06) John Prine: Christmas in Prison
An incarcerated John Prine leaves the whining to the indie kids on this beautiful country track. It's a great love song, where love isn't exactly lost, but just put on hold by the American Penal System. The song is both available on Sweet Revenge and the album John Prine Christmas.
Best line: It was Christmas in prison and the food was real good
We had turkeys and pistols carved out of wood

07) Mew: She Came Home for Christmas
Danish indie band Mew released this song as a single a couple of years ago (and will release it in England next week) and it's as beautiful as it is sad. It's a bit difficult to decipher the lyrics, but they could definitely deal with someone being sexually assaulted. So again not exactly a cheery Christmas tune, but definitely on of the most haunting ones I've ever heard.
Best line: Don't touch her there. He watched her. She knew his look.

08) Ben Folds Five: Brick
When is the most depressing time for you and your girlfriend to have an abortion? Well, 6 am day after Christmas has to be up there. Brick was a surprise hit for Ben Folds Five especially considering the seriousness of the song's subject matter. But as a Christmas song I'll take it over Mariah Carey's version of All I Want For Christmas Is You any day of the week.
Best line: I pace around the parking lot
Then I walk down to buy her flowers and sell some gifts that I got

09) Badly Drawn Boy: Donna and Blitzen
The Badly Drawn Brit ended of his About a Boy soundtrack with this optimistic song about returning reindeer. Thankfully, there isn’t a version of Santa's Super Sleigh on the album, so this is the only Christmas song on the record.
Best line: Maybe tomorrow we're gonna see
Things we’d never believe

10) Pearl Jam: Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time)
Pearl Jam has since 1991 released a single at Christmas time, which is only available to members of their fan club. Let Me Sleep was the first of these singles (since then it has been mainly cover versions) and it's basically a song about longing for the joy you felt as a kid at Christmas time.
Best line: Oh, when I was a kid… Oh, how magic it seemed.
Oh, please let me sleep, it's Christmas time

Honourable mentions go to: The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack, Ben Folds', Eels', and Barenaked Ladies' contributions to the How the Grinch Stole Christmas Soundtrack, and the song Just Like Christmas from the Low album Christmas.

So this is my list of decent Christmas songs. Which ones did I miss?

I'd made plans to meet a friend of mine for dinner tonight, so I took the bus and got of near the City Hall building, so I could walk to his hotel. I was walking thinking about one of the many blogging articles I re-read today, when suddenly I noticed trees with Christmas lights in them. This is hardly an unusual sight seeing as it's December and all, but these trees were standing around a skating rink I didn't notice at first. Someone had set this thing up with a white fence around it and a little house next to it. And they had put up Christmas lights in all the trees, so kids could go ice skating with their parents right there in the middle of the city.

Now, I know I sometimes come of as a bitter. Some might even say sardonic or just downright cynical, but there was something about parents watching their children ice skate that was really nice. Because lights are nice, and families are nice, and somehow it just seemed like one of those perfect moments that you sometimes see on a postcard or in a movie. But this was extra nice, because it was real.
My initial response was a vague memory of a movie scene, where people are ice skating in front of Rockefeller Center. That was my frame of reference for some reason. That then reminded me of the book Corpsing, where the main character keeps questioning his gut reactions, because he feels they're clichéed, because he's seen people react that way in movies (like falling to your knees in a cemetary). I can relate to that, because more often than not my response while discussing something is a reference from TV instead of from real life (Oh yeah, that's just like the episode where Joey and Chandler get free porn!). And when I see something like skating kids I'll reference it to a movie before even thinking about other ice skating kids I've seen or perhaps an anecdote someone has told me about ice skating.

But even though the image of ice skating children smiling at their parents might be as big a cliché as a picture of children building a snowman or perhaps drinking hot cocoa in front of a fireplace doesn't mean that those things aren't nice. And for some reason it made me smile even though it was freezing outside, so I've decided to put the Christmas cynicism on hold for as long as possible. I'm not complete sold on the holiday just yet, but for now I'll try to enjoy as much of it as I can.

I’ve delayed this quite a bit, but now I’m finally ready to write about my recent trip to Copenhagen, where I saw Ryan Adams, Coldplay, and their respective support acts. We drove from Aarhus Wednesday afternoon (this is two weeks ago) and by the time we were halfway there it had already begun to get dark. It was actually pretty cool to drive with a group of friends listening to The Flaming Lips as dusk was approaching. I still get amazed by their latest album every time I put it on and it works really well with dark skies and heavy clouds.

We made it to Copenhagen in time for take-out and after about two hours we left for Vega and the Ryan Adams show. We were there really early, because we wanted good seats, which meant we had to sit around for an hour before Jesse Malin went onstage. I’d actually heard good things about him (and Ryan produced his record), but I didn’t like his stuff at all. It sounded like a bunch of bad Replacements tracks and for some reason his accent is completely different when he sings from when he talks. He told some funny stories between songs and threw a free copy of his CD out, which was caught by the guy next to me, but that doesn’t really cut it. Everyone else liked him, though, so maybe it’s just me.

After a long wait Ryan finally came onstage. The show was billed as a solo performance, but he had brought along two women, who played strings and his roadie played guitar on a couple of songs as well. The show started with three very quiet and sad songs and it seemed like Ryan was in a weird mood. He was smoking and drinking a lot and didn’t say anything even though a couple of audience members shouted stuff to him. But as he sat down to play the fourth song a woman in the back started coughing rather violently and it was like that snapped him out of whatever weird state he was in. He asked if the woman was alright and from then on the show was like watching stand-up at the Apollo, but with country music. He told stories about Eminem, The Dead, Britney and Christina Aguilera, and he made up a long story about playing in front of 45.000 people who had all been handed razorblades, because his music is so depressing. He talked how Ozzy got sued because there are backward messages on Suicide Solution saying “Get the gun. Shoot! Shoot!” (“Mine says that when you play them forwards”, was Ryan’s reply). He also noticed that the Exit signs in the venue had been replaced by signs to the bar (he thought they should’ve done that on the Titanic. “The boat is sinking! Fuck it, let’s go to the bar).

For me it was just such an experience seeing him and the fact that he was in a great mood made me really happy. Ryan has a reputation as someone who sometimes plays shitty shows, when he’s in a bad mood or too drunk. So I had tried to lower my expectations before the show, but because he was so amazing I was on such a high through the entire show. He played one song from Demolition and the rest came from Gold and Heartbreaker. He played a couple of new songs (the best was called Twice as Bad as Love) and three covers. He played Like a Virgin and Last Nite using the same country arrangement (Check it out. Julian must really like Madonna. As a matter of fact I know he does, because I have the box set and he comes over a lot) and he ended the regular set with a slow version on piano of Brown Sugar.

Before he got to the encores he decided he needed to sit down and be entertained for a bit, so he asked a guy in the front row to get on stage and play a couple of songs. The guy played two songs, while Ryan sat in the front row and watched. The audience could’ve done with just one song, but Ryan insisted he play a second song, so the guy got to have a pretty special moment there.
For me the highlight was Ryan’s version of To Be Young on Dobro. The arrangement was very cool and as he stood there playing (he sat down for most of the songs) he looked like a young Elvis. He has so much charisma and presence like I’ve never seen in a performer before, so that blew my mind. He played a lot of slow, sad songs, so a couple of my friends thought the show was a bit dull at times. I would have liked more rocking songs (he didn’t play Come Pick Me Up), but that is such a small complaint about an otherwise truly amazing show. I’ve been a huge fan since I first heard Stranger’s Almanac four or five years ago and it was just such a rush seeing him for the first time. He seemed like he really enjoyed himself on stage, so hopefully he’ll come back again real soon.

The next day we went out to see Coldplay and Idlewild. Originally, the concert had been booked for the same venue as the Ryan Adams show, but because so many people wanted to see Coldplay they moved it to a bigger venue. First off that’s annoying, because seeing them in a small venue was part of the charm. And secondly the venue they moved it to is one of the crappiest venues I’ve ever been in. I saw Soundgarden play there with bands like Kyuss and White Zombie years ago and it’s just not a place that’s fit for concerts. But we wanted to see Coldplay, so what can you do? Idlewild didn’t seem too enthused about playing in front of a bunch of teenagers waiting to see Coldplay, so they didn’t exactly put on a great show. But they did play the best songs from The Remote Part and some other decent tracks, so it was alright and if they ever play a solo show around here I’ll definitely go check them out.

I saw Coldplay, when they were supporting their first record and it was a decent show. The songs were good, but they weren’t a captivating act at the time. I saw them this summer, where they put on a good show, but I didn’t know their new material. So now this was finally a chance to see them after they’d grown up as a band playing songs that everyone knew. And they’ve certainly grown up as a band. Chris Martin is almost Bono-like on stage now (that’s meant as a compliment) and they’ve got a much larger sound now. They’d incorporated four split screens into the show, which looked cool and all of a sudden it was like seeing a real stadium rock band up there.

I like their new album, so I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Chris had learned a couple of sentences in Danish (which is the biggest rock ‘n’ roll cliché since: Helloooo..... Springfield!) and he seemed really comfortable on the big stage. They played a snippet of Barbie Girl as I mentioned and they ended the show with a new song (Chris actually came out and played it after the real encores), so the show didn’t have the formulaic feel some shows have. I wasn't blown away by the concert, but it was definitely a good rock show.

Before we went to the Coldplay show we hung out in Copenhagen for a few hours. We walked around, had lunch, and bought records. There’s this chain of used record stores in Copenhagen called Accord and they moved some of their stores around not long ago. So we went to the one, where the clerk who used to work in the downtown Accord now works. She has pale skin, long black hair, silver jewellery, and usually has some kind of metal blaring, when she’s working. She knows her customers and knows a lot about music and she’s always willing to give you a good deal on something. We were five guys, who went to the record store and basically just took over the place, since there were only one or two other people there. We joked about crappy records and called each other over whenever we found something cool. After a while we’d been through all the shelves, so we started going through the stacks of new CDs on the counter. The clerk didn’t mind and laughed to herself whenever we made stupid cracks about Roxette or Vanessa Carlton albums (they made fun of me, because there were a couple of limited edition versions of Pop Trash in one of the stacks and I claimed that these would be picked up in no time by fanatical Copenhagen Duranies). I love shopping for CDs, so this was almost as much fun for me as going to the concerts. And I found some CDs I been wanting to pick up for a while (Hawksley, Idlewild, Ash, and S.F.A.), so that was just a fantastic bonus.

It hasn't been a particularly blogworthy day today, but I did finish my Christmas song article for Blogcritics, so I thought I'd better link to it from here as well. It's called Ten Christmas Songs That Won't Make Me Want To Turn My Radio Off and I'll probably publish it here tomorrow or the next day, but for now it's only available over there.

The weather here is absolutely dismal. It's cold, windy, grey, cloudy, and it's been raining all day. It's not like I'd be out jumping rope if the weather was nice, but I had to walk to a couple of different offices today while at work and it's just not as much fun when you're cold and wet.

I started checking out the Guardian website every day and it's really cool. I had noticed that a lot of the British blogs I read link to articles from the Guardian on a regular basis, so I finally looked through the site the other day and there are some really great articles there. Obviously, I didn't read their articles on foreign policy or finance, but went straight for the arts section, where I found a cool article about Conor Oberst and one on Bill Hicks. And I'll definitely be reading Colin Paterson's columns from now on.

And the award for most annoyingly infectious single of the moment goes to Liam Lynch: United States of Whatever!

Just a quick entry to mention that I finally made the jump from Blogger to Movable Type today. It wasn't easy and it would never have happened without the expert advice I received from Jan, so mad props go out to him.
There are a couple of things I haven't gotten around to fixing yet, so there might be a couple of glitches, but I'll get it fixed soon.

I'm working on reviews of the Coldplay and the Ryan Adams concerts, but I haven't finished them yet. But until then I'll just mention that Laura was right about Coldplay playing "Barbie Girl", but it's not like they played the full song. Chris sang the first verse, but fumbled the lyrics and was ready to stop just before the chorus. But then Jon ran across stage to sing René Dif's immortal line "Come on Barbie, let's go party", which cracked Chris up and then they stopped playing the song.
I'm also working on an entry about Christmas music for Blogcritics, which I hope to have ready as soon as possible.

I was watching the Reality TV channel last night (yes, I was that bored) and I was both disgusted and fascinated at the same time. No, I wasn't watching Cheaters, which they like to show a lot. A show which is hosted by Tommy "Sleazebag" Habeeb, who distinguishes himself by being a bigger creep than the people he is exposing on television. No, I was watching The Glutton Bowl. This is the only contest I know of where the main objective is to violate one of the seven deadly sins. In this contest the "athletes" (I swear to God the two commentators referred to them as such) have to pig out on such delicacies as mayonnaise, beef tongues, and Rocky Mountains Oysters. It was pretty gross, but when I saw that Takeru Kobayashi was a part of the contest I had to watch. And he did win, so that was fun seeing a pint-sized Japanese kid out-eat those huge American guys. I can't find an official Glutton Bowl website, so I can't link to the co-commentator, who was the president of the Professional Eating Association (or whatever it was called), but I think you'll believe me, when I say he was quite a character.

And I also watched Paper Moon last night, which is a pretty great movie. It's set in a O, Brother Where Art Thou/Mudhoney setting with Tatum and Ryan O'Neal as a pair hustlers. I hadn't seen it in ages and I was very impressed by Tatum O'Neal's Academy Award winning performance. It's weird that she never became a big Hollywood star. I guess her marriage to McEnroe got in the way of that.

This week I participated in the Album Cover Quiz over at Swish Cottage and came in second, because I didn't recognize the cover for Felix Da House Cat's Kittenz and Thee Glitz album.

And if you want to see what the webloggers are doing on World AIDS Day check out the Link and Think website.