All it takes is a little snow and all of a sudden it's a lot more like Christmas here. It's not like there's a lot of snow here now, but even the thinnest layer of white stuff makes all the difference in the world. Until last night it might as well have been October as far as I was concerned. But after picking up my sister, who's home for the holidays, and having a small surprise party for her, while it was snowing outside, made it feel a lot more like December.

On our way home last night we walked by the skating rink I mentioned last year. Once again there were lights, people skating, and all in all it was pretty cool. Obviously, I hadn't brought my camera, so I had to walk all the way down there tonight again to shoot some pictures, so you'll have an idea of what I've been talking about.

It was really dark out, so the pictures aren't that great. But you can see the pretty lights and stuff, so you get the idea. After having walked all the way downtown I figured I might as well get some more shots, so I went over to the walking street, which is what we call the area with all the shops. They've put up this veil of lights all the way from the railroad station all the way down the the cathedral at the other end, so even down it was pitch black out the street was completely lit. Maybe it's a bit much, but I think it's okay.

So that's Christmas in Aarhus for you. There were a lot more decorations and lights I could've taken pictures of, but I don't have a winter coat, so after a while it was just too damn cold to stand around taking pictures.

I'm going to be out of town for a while, so this is probably the last entry I'll write this year. I should be back for the playoffs though, so if the Ravens make it this year I'll be sure to be around for that. So if I don't see you I hope you have a nice Christmas and a happy New Year.

I went out both Thursday and Friday night and brought my camera along. I still suck at taking pictures, but I've picked out the best shots and put them in a gallery. And in an attempt to spruce up the ol' weblog a bit I've added a few to this entry as well.

Both events were part of the Label Night series, which will continue in the new year. It's a pretty good idea to have local labels showcase their bands at these events, and especially Thursday night was really cool. Local heroes Tiger Tunes came out and played a cool show, but the other bands were interesting as well. And it was cool to see so many people come out for an event like this. It wasn't just the live music, which was cool. It's been years since I've seen so many people get down to Rock Steady Crew's Hey You and Break Machine's Break Dance Party (don't hate) not to mention Batdance (what'd I just tell you).

Although I'd been drinking fairly responsibly I was pretty beat Friday, so we didn't quite get into the same party gear as we had been in the night before. Also, the bands were a lot more melancholic and a lot less noisy Friday night, so people did a lot more talking and a lot less dancing Friday night.

But both nights were fun and it'll be interesting to see how many more of these events they'll have. So far one more has been set up in January, but I have no idea how many more labels exist around here. But hopefully there are some and when they run out of local labels maybe they can convince labels from around the country to come over and present their bands.

Writing job applications is a weird experience. Writing an application for a job you're not really that interested in is strange, because as much as you need a job you kinda wish you won't get called for an interview. But writing an application for a job you'd love to get is even stranger. You try to think of ways to impress your future employer without sounding too pompous and impressed by yourself, while desperately hoping you've shown just how much you'd love this job.

I applied for a dream of a job today, so until I hear from them I'll have all the limbs on my body crossed just hoping I'll land this puppy. I know I'd be perfect for the job, not just because of my own confidence in my abilities, but also because I have experience within all the areas they had mentioned in their ad. I won't mention the job again until I hear from them, so hopefully the next you'll hear is good news.

Hopefully, this'll end months of exceptionally crummy luck. The last couple of months have sucked beyond belief to the point where my weight has dropped about 30 pounds just because I never felt like eating (or doing) anything (which is kinda a problem, because I wasn't exactly fat to begin with). But like a drunk who has hit rock bottom and has a moment of clarity I too have bottomed out and decided to get my life back together. My first priority will be to get a job most likely in Copenhagen and then try to build a new life (and eat more stuff). I'm still stuck in this student life without the perks of actually hanging out at school and meeting interesting people, so I think it's time for a change. It might take a few months, but it has to happen eventually.

But before everything falls into place there's fun to be had here in Aarhus. Tomorrow, we're going to Label Night where local record label Bird Hits Plane will present a couple of their acts (including Tiger Tunes) and have their employees spin tunes and get down. It sounds like as good a deal as anything you'll be able to russle up anywhere on a Thursday night.
Friday night it's the same thing, but with Morningside Records, which also could be pretty amazing. Hopefully, pictures and stories will follow later.

I still don't take a lot of pictures, but I did take this one today:

The text says "There are owls in the ass", which is a play on the Danish saying "There are owls in the moor", which means something like "Something not quite right here". This is fairly low brow I know, but that's what you get for catching me on a day, when I'm not Johnny Downer anymore.

I had several unusual experiences today, but I'll just mention two which made me think. Tonight, I decided on going to McDonald's to pick up some food, which isn't something I do that often. The girl behind the counter had one of those "In Training" badges on, so I immediately expected everything to get completely messed up (to her credit she did a fine job) and maybe that's why it took me a while to notice the scarf she was wearing to cover her hair. I'm not sure what the proper word is for the type of scarf Muslim women use, so I'm just going to call it a scarf.

I see plenty of women wearing scarfs all the time, so I barely noticed it. But while waiting I realized she wasn't wearing a regular scarf. She was wearing a dark blue scarf with golden arches on it. She was wearing an official McDonald's scarf made especially for Muslim women. Is it just me or is that a bit weird?
I think it's great the McD's have an open policy for everyone regardless of race and religion, but I think it's a little odd that they would make their employees wear (or at least supply them with) corporate logo scarfs.

Is this a Danish thing by the way or is it like this in restaurants all over the world? I didn't feel like asking the girl what the story was with the McD scarfs (like she doesn't have anything better to do than discuss corporate vs religious issues with me), but I must say it really peaked my curiosity. Could you imagine having people wear little crucifixes with Ronald McDonald on them? Or maybe that's not exactly the same.

This summer there was a huge scandal here, because a company had made sandals with pictures of the Virgin Mary on them. Some people didn't like the idea of people sticking their smelly feet on sacred imagery, so a group of Catholics actually went nuts in a store and destroyed the sandals. There was a lot of fuss in the media about this and I think the sandals were recalled from the stores. But again maybe that's not the same. I just made me think is all.

The other thing happened when I was out riding my bike in the rain (as we depressed, sentimental, Nick Drake wannabies like to do). I was almost home when a guy, who's running across the street, whistles at me and motions me to follow him. Usually, it'll take at least a few drinks before I'll follow someone who's whistling at me. But when I saw he was running towards a guy, who was lying in the gutter I followed him. Turns out the guy had been looking out his kitchen window and seen a man warble a bit and then collapse dropping his two grocery bags. When I got up there the guy had put his gloves and a scarf underneath the man's head and was trying to talk to him. The man was just lying there looking up blankly without saying anything. He was conscious, but maybe he was in shock or something, because he couldn't do anything.

The guy called for an ambulance and while we waited for it to come we told the man not to move and just relax. The man tried to speak after a few minutes, but unable to do so he just grabbed the guy's hand and held it. After a few more minutes a man, who lived nearby came out to see what was going on and as it turned out he knew the man lying in the street. From what I could figure out the collapsed man lived nearby and whenever the two men would pass each other they would chat a bit. And through that he knew the name of the collapsed man and that he had epilepsia. The collapsed man seemed to come to and started talking a bit and when the paramedics arrived he was able to tell them where he was hurting. Then a car with doctors arrived and we decided that the situation was under control. They'd be taking him in for a check-up and since there wasn't anything we could do we left.

There's not really a point to this story, but it is a strange experience being torn out of your thoughts like that and stand face to face with a person, who is just lying there staring blankly at you. The only CPR I know is Bad Moon Rising, so I was about as helpful as an umpire at a cockfight. But at the same time I was glad I tried to help if nothing else so the first guy didn't have to stand there by himself trying to figure out what to do.

I have way too much time on my hands these days. I'm completely restless, so I can't concentrate on reading or doing other sensible things, so I've watched a lot of movies lately. Recently, I've felt underwhelmed by pretty much anything I've seen, but the last couple of movies I've watched have impressed me.

I liked The Quiet American a lot, because of Michael Caine and the structure of the movie. I like the way the story builds and in some ways it reminded me of The Killing Fields. I also liked White Oleander, where I was blown away by Michelle Pfeiffer's performance. I don't think she's ever been better in anything and she was absolutely captivating especially in the final part of the movie. I've also watched Far From Heaven, which I found interesting, but not riveting. The problems portrayed in the movie are interesting, but I wasn't completely satified with the way they were dealt with and I especially thought Dennis Quaid's character's "problem" was solved too easily.

But the best movie I've seen lately was The Hours. Although it had received rave reviews I didn't expect to really like it, but I did. The narrative structure was fascinating and the whole thing was just well-acted and it was a good idea turned into a great movie. I don't know how other people watch movies, but I catch myself not being swept away by the movie, but instead looking for aspects of the characters' life and behaviour, which remind me of myself. And unfortunately I could relate to a lot of the things, which happened in the movie.

I prefer it, when I can relate to things in art, music, literature, and movies. I think that's why I've never gotten into say Lord of the Rings (all LoTR had was a bunch of muppets) or Sci-Fi. One might ask what's so directly relatable about the movies of Woody Allen or Kevin Smith, but that's just the way it works for me.

I've listened to the Elefant record, Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid, all day (which I finally bought along with Death Cab for Cutie's Transatlanticism and Change by The Dismemberment Plan) and I like it a lot. I've listened to Now That I Miss Her a lot lately and it's one of the best songs I've heard this year (I really like the video as well). There's something about Diego Garcia that reminds me of a young Bryan Ferry, so it's no wonder he's making the girls crazy.

I also hope to go to a few concerts this month seeing as I have so much free time. Wednesday, I'll go see Jay Farrar, which I'm pretty excited about. I thought Sebastopol was one of 2001's best albums and I also quite like Son Volt. It looks like he's only on tour with an extra guitar player, so it'll probably be a fairly stripped down affair, but it's bound to be good. I haven't had a chance to listen to Terroir Blues a lot, because you can't buy it anywhere here. But the whole thing is streamed at jayfarrar.net, so I've listened to it a bit.

Friday, I'll probably go see The Wannadies as they have a lot of cool songs and put on a great show last they were in town. I'm considering going to Copenhagen next week to see The Strokes and Har Mar Superstar, but so far I haven't decided one way or the other. And there are a couple of showcases I might check out later this month, which could be interesting, so there are a couple of things on the horizon, which could be cool.

In an odd coincidence earlier today I read an article about how poker was becoming a popular television event in the states and now I've just finished watching a program, where a Danish television crew followed a guy, who was mentioned in the article, to Las Vegas, where he was competing in the poker world series.
The guy's name is Gustav (or Gus) Hansen and he's a professional gambler, but unfortunately he didn't do so well in the competition, so the beginning of the show was a lot more interesting than the last bit. But there's something fascinating about gambling and the life of gamblers, so the first bit was pretty entertaining.

Speaking of television I saw half of the first episode of The Surreal Life yesterday, and obviously it's pretty stupid. But the thing that freaked me a bit was Emmanuel Lewis. What happened to the poor guy? He looks really weird now. I also thought it was funny that they were insulted to get lumped in with the Survivor contestant - even Vince Neil was kinda pissy about the Survivor girl arriving. Like Corey Feldman and Brande Roderick are better celebrities than reality show scum.

I've been unemployed for a week now and it's getting weird not having anything to do. Obviously, I have a couple of projects I'm working on, but getting up at nine and just sitting round the house all day is odd. So I started playing an online football manager game, which is bound to suck hours out of my schedule. It's like regular football manager games, but it's online and using flash and I know others who play it, so it's a lot cooler than the regular games (which I couldn't install anyway, because my CD drive is busted). The only problem is that it's played almost in real time, so it takes for ages between games.

For the record I have actually been looking for jobs, but there isn't really anything worth applying for. And there were a couple of segments on television this week about how 50% or 75% of all university graduates are currently unemployed, which was fairly depressing. So I think the plan is to send out applications to places I'd love to work who don't know they need someone like me yet, and then hope for the best. So hopefully I'll be able to get around to writing a killer application this week, so I can send it out to a couple of cool companies before Christmas.

I was supposed to have gone to Copenhagen this weekend for the Blogforum event and the Kings of Leon show. But because of a lot of things which went wrong on top of each other I stayed home and worked instead. So that kinda sucked.

I did find time to go to the AGF game Sunday and learned two things. Don't let a winning streak fool you - AGF are mediocre at best and sometimes they're just downright terrible (they lost 1-3 btw). And I learned that I'm a horrible photographer. Muhammad Ali has a steadier hand than I do, so all the shots I took at the game were beyond blurry. Obviously, I haven't read the manual yet, so maybe the autofocus or something is screwing with me. But most likely I just suck at taking pictures. But hopefully I'll get better.

After the game I went down the pub and hooked up with my brother and Kristian, who had watched the Arsenal game and stayed for the Chelsea/ManU game. There I managed to document how Danish football fans are able to watch games together peacefully.

Most people seemed to be in a fairly good mood down there (maybe not the United fans, but who cares about that), because Arsenal got a point and Liverpool won, so it was fun hanging out down there.

I picked up Jack Johnson's "On and On" this weekend although I haven't heard his first record, which supposedly is pretty great. The new one is good, but it lacks outstanding tracks. But it's very lowkey and mellow, which I think is pretty cool.
I also picked up the Ryan Adams EP "Love is Hell pt .1", which has two bonus tracks on it, so with ten songs it's actually like a regular album. I'll have to buy "llornkcor" eventually, but for now I'm very happy listening to "Love is Hell", which is a lot closer to Adams' other stuff than the T-Rex inspired album he released simultaneously with this release.
I'm just such a huge fan of the unfortunately named singer/songwriter so even though this isn't exactly his finest hour I've still listened to "Love is Hell" a lot this weekend. It's depressing as hell, but that's the charm and exactly what you want from a Ryan Adams release.