According to Julie

March 10, 2008

These past couple weeks (an update halfway through spring break)

For spring break, my friends in Paris all wanted to travel the world, but I could only think of one place I wanted to go: home. And home is definitely Oslo. I wasn't sure it was - until I left it. Don't get me wrong: I love Paris, I'm very glad I decided to stay here, and I'm happy. But I think I really needed a week in my own city. And it was a great week. Halfway through, I was annoyed at myself for not staying for longer than a week, but on the other hand, the fact that my time was limited made me very efficient. There are a few people I unfortunately didn't get to see, but for the most part, I think my time was spent in the best way possible. I was never alone, and never bored. I visited most of my favorite places, including Café Sara, Bare Jazz, Åpent Bakeri, Underwater Pub, the university, and many of my friends' apartments. I hosted a party, made a mess in my kitchen, studied in the social studies building, stayed up all night when I shouldn't have (over and over again) - all the things I usually do. The week was like a condensed version of what my life in Oslo is like. And leaving was easier this time - not just because I knew what to expect when I landed in Paris, but because I knew that Oslo and my life there was doing ok without me, and that it will all be there when I get back.

For the next week, I will be more or less alone in Paris, with a lot of deadlines. So there will probably be some blogging. In the meantime, some recommendations:

These past two weeks... 

I listened to

• Interpol
  
• The Arcade Fire
• Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, from the soundtrack to Once
  

I read

• Time Out of Mind
  
• Glamour in French, Vogue in English and Costume in Norwegian
• Draped in despair but keeping up appearances and the author's blog, The Thoughtful Dresser
  

I watched

• Once - Fantastic, not that I'm really able to tell you why. Remember Music and Lyrics? Imagine a realistic version with music you like.
  
• Atonement - Yes, it's clichéed, but that kind of story always is. And yes, Keira Knightley is just so annoyingly Keira Knightley that she isn't really believable as anyone else. However, the most interesting character in the story is played by three actresses who all do a good job, the music makes everything more interesting, and I want Keira's green dress. So I really, really enjoyed it.
• The first episode of the second Skins season. This season is definitely darker, but I'm looking forward to the rest of it.
• Selected scenes from Funny Face, to remind myself how great Paris is.
  

Posted by Julie at 06:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

February 24, 2008

This week

What? "This week" posts again? Does this mean that I will be posting nothing but lists of what I'm doing and reading, instead of actually writing anything? I hope not. But there is so much out there I want to recommend to you or warn you about. For example, this week...

I read 

• "Steal this Wi-Fi" If only Bruce Schneier were my neighbor. If only someone in my building read his blog.
• Too many articles on the presidential primaries to actually link to, because I'm taking a course where that kind of stuff gives me actual credits (yes, I love my life)
• The Painted Veil (finished this week after reading it off and on, in Norwegian, for the past couple months). Not as romantic as the movie, but I don't know which I like better - or which is sadder. And I still don't really get the title, although there is a lot of talk of nuns.
• Stuff White People Like Number 67 describes me pretty accurately, including liking Belle & Sebastian and actually deciding on what my soundtrack is for different months. Yes, there is a "Soundtrack of Paris" playlist on my iTunes. I admit it.
  

I listened to

• Radiohead
• Jimmy Eat World
• Godspeed you! Black emperor

... because Julie Balise decided that having the same first name, writing World News articles on elections for The Planet, drinking Guinness, studying the American presidential elections and having grown up in Massachusetts didn't make us similar enough; we should also be compatible on Last.fm.

• and the aforementioned Soundtrack of course, and of course a lot of Belle & Sebastian 

I ate

• tofu. I can't remember the last time I did that. It was actually a good experience.
  

Posted by Julie at 10:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 30, 2007

This week

I read...

• Fra jakt til flukt En artig liten historie, men samtidig en advarsel. Jeg kjenner ingen som har opplevd dette, men at det skjer med noen som jeg leser bloggen til, er en påminnelse om at det kan skje meg.
  
• "Lord Reith, founder of the BBC, legendarily fired off an angry memo to his staff after a broadcast in which someone or other was described as “the famous lawyer”. The memo went like this: ‘The word FAMOUS. If a person is famous it is superfluous to point out the fact, if they are not then it is a lie. The word is not to be used within the BBC.’ Way to tell them, Scottish guy." Stephen Fry's second blog post or "blessay" as he calls it, is all about everything he associates with the word "fame". And I love the way he writes about "Leonard's Code by Dan Whatsit".
• "Lunefull Legende" av Fredrik Drevon, om bokhandleren George Whitman som driver fantastiske Shakespeare&Co. Et absolutt pluss med å flytte til Paris er at jeg kan tilbringe tid her. 
• Rare norske navn fra 1801
  
• En avhengighetsskapende stat? og kronikken den linker til Vil dere den totale stat?

These past few weeks, I have watched

• Stardust, an absolutely GREAT movie. After seeing this, I was so happy I wanted to skip down the streets. This is not really something I do that much. However, I was with a friend who can't walk at the moment, so I was skipping for the both of us. I loved every single moment of this movie, really.
• Veronica Mars
  
• Ally McBeal
• Skins
  

Posted by Julie at 09:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 23, 2007

This week

Tom Friedman quoted my father in the new and updated version of The World is Flat. Congratulations, Dad.

I listened to...

• Seahorse by Devendra Banhart
• Lifehouse
• Switchfoot
• Holly Brook
• Missy Higgins
• ... and Marit Larsen, because the company I work for, gave me her album and concert tickets

I read what I've been reading for a while (The Polysyllabic Spree) and I added the following to my Bloglines:

• The Glamorous Librarian
  
• Undreverset
• Forever Amber
• Princess Poochie
  
• Stephen Fry's brand new blog
  

I revisited an old favorite, Sahara Beduin,and I mourned the fact that LaSosta will soon be coffee place history. 

Posted by Julie at 04:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 26, 2007

This week

• Cooking by numbers which gives you possible recipes after you've given them a list of what's in your kitchen. I could at least make "an apple on its own" using the following recipe: 1. Take apple and examine for signs of wear and tear. 2. Put your coat on and go down the local shop or supermarket. 3. Whilst walking chew on your apple. Stop eating when you get to the pips and stalk. Throw the stalk in the bin and get some food.
• "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." and other Einstein quotes
  
• Why Can't I Own Canadians?
  
• Info bare for de sterke "Paradoksalt nok finner Google frem til relevant informasjon på norge.no mye raskere og enklere enn dersom brukeren selv skal navigere seg frem på norge.no," skriver informasjonsrådgiver Knut Natvig. Statens nettsider er for dårlige.
• Hasj er farlig Så det så. Men det forbindes fortsatt med "politisk motkultur og høy utdanning" og nesten halve Oslo prøver det innen de fyller 30.
• The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby. It makes me very happy. So much so that I don't want to pick just a few things to say about it. I'll either have to give it its own blog post, or just tell you to read it for yourself. You can read the introduction here.
  

I watched

• Middle East History I can't help but think while watching this: The area we call the Middle East (and maybe especially Isreal) has been controlled by so many different empires that if having once controlled a territory sometime in history gives you rights to controlling it now, then ANYONE can claim these areas. Shouldn't this be obvious to anyone using that kind of argumentation? It can apparantly be explained in 90 seconds.
• Olsenbanden Fordi jeg ikke fikk lov til å gå glipp av denne viktige siden av norsk kultur (etter et dansk konsept riktig nok).
• Pan's Labyrinth According to Kermode: "If you're only going to see one movie this year, first of all what's wrong with you? And secondly, it should be Pan's Labyrinth." And I loved it. After all, it's Narnia for grown-ups, with history, fantasy, seriously scary monsters, and a lead actress who does a great job.
  

I listened to

• Kermode. Well, actually I always do, but I haven't written about him yet. He is fantastic, especially when he really dislikes a movie and rants. I wish he would do that for more than just movies. I wish there were Kermode podcasts for books, politicians, newspaper articles, buses, exam grades, friends, family members, random acquantances and shoe prices. 

Posted by Julie at 10:38 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

August 19, 2007

This week

I read

• Tilbake til fruetiden "på 70-tallet (...) En del av studinene var sogar helt klare i sin tale: Det var ikke viktig å få eksamen. De ville bare lære nok til å kunne konversere sine kommende ektemenn på et høyt nivå! Den gang trodde jeg knapt det jeg hørte. Nå hører jeg det igjen! Jeg har kunnet leve godt med min 90-årige svigermor som omtalte sin gode venninne som fru Overingeniør Thorkilsen, men å se unge, velstående kvinner bære videre det samme rollemønsteret i 2007 er forstemmende." Dette skriver Grete Faremo, direktør i Microsoft
• Vi er i den lange halens tid Både medieforsker Petter Bae Brandtzæg, redaktør Chris Anderson og blogger Jeff Jarvis hevder at "small is the new big" når det gjelder media. Jeg er enig. Men begrepet "den lange halen" er ikke kjent i Norge.
• How to tell that you're in a good coffee house According to this list, I have found plenty of coffee heavens.
• Bjørn Stærk comes off the fence on global warming, writing: "It is irrelevant that you think capitalism is evil, that you see a beauty and a harmony in nature that is superior to anything humans can create, and that you think technology takes us away from who we are. It is just irrelevant that you think capitalism is good, that you see beauty and harmony in an unregulated economy, and that you think technology gives us the freedom to be ourselves. And it is irrelevant that some people who disagree with you believe some of these things. It has nothing to do with climate science. (...) There's only one thing that matters, and that is the science of global warming. Not the people who debate it, not your beliefs or esthetics, just the science. That science has a life seperate from the public sphere."
• The Sartorialist a fashion photo blog, and the newest edition to my Bloglines.
• A history of fashion photo book that a friend of a friend let me spend about an hour looking through. Why, oh why was I not alive when stuff like this or this or this were acceptable everyday outfits?
  
• Lady Chatterley's Lover Or at any rate, I started, thinking I should read the book before seeing the movie. Free books online... It's stuff like this that makes me glad to be alive in 2007, even though the clothes used to be better.
  

I listened to...

• NPR's "All Things Considered" and more from what used to be my local radio station
  
• The Weepies. When Heidi told me she wanted to introduce me to this music, I said: "The Weepies? Sounds like a parody version of the kind of band who write really sweet, but tragic lyrics about being lonely and depressed. Is that what they are? Cause then I'd probably like them." And when they sang: "No amount of coffee (...) No, nothing else will do. I've gotta have you." I realised I did. Can't wait for that cd, Heidi.

I watched

• Lady Chatterley The French language version of the story. I'm still not sure what I think, except that it was weird that it was in  French.
  

Posted by Julie at 10:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 12, 2007

This week

Actually, some of these are from the last couple of weeks. 

I read...

• 101 Simple Meals
  
• The Kiterunner by Khaled Hosseini. I didn't think I would like it as much as I did, just because it was one of those books that everyone got for Christmas. But it made me cry. Literally. While I was at work. Dad liked it too.
  
• The Bloggosphere is real Just like Steven J. Dubner, I have had people tell me: "This is off the record. You don't have to quote me on this in your blog." Makes me feel much more important than I probably am; I must admit that.
• Apparently, radio listeners buy less music, and this got me thinking about Pandora again (sigh...). I have bought more music since I discovered internet radio. Granted, I still don't buy a lot of music. I never did. Music has never been as important to me as written words (insert defence against more musically interested friends who will now accuse me of just not appreciating the beauty of music. OK, so sue me; I like music, but if forced to choose, I would rather read.) Of course radio can substitue other forms of listening, but it also serves as advertising. That's the problem with selling information; the minute you start telling people about it, you're already giving it away for free. But if you don't give people free, legal music radio, they will download illegally. Not to threaten you or anything...
• Tips for enjoying Oslo without spending too much money. In his tips to tourists, Bruce Bawer has basically described my free time, including Underwater Pub where I more or less live, at least on Thursdays.
  

I watched...

• Octane Sure, Jonathan Rhys Meyers cutting up his tongue is scary, but mainly it's just annoying when the script writers decide to never tell you why he's doing it.
• Coupling. Warning!!! DO NOT READ THE TEXT THAT WORD LINKS TO! SPOILERS! An addictive British comedy series. And I mean addictive. It's been less then a week, and I've watched nearly every episode.
  
• Ghost World
  

I listened to...

• Avenue Q. This musical includes song titles like "What do you do with a BA in English?", "I wish I could go back to college", "Schadenfreude" and "There is life outside your apartment"
  
• The Dresden Dolls
  
• Regina Spector again, because I seem to have a neighbor who is a fan. Who is this person who plays my favorite songs? I can't tell which apartment the music is coming from.
• Placebo
• Mika again, because I am going to the concert
  
• The Phantom of the Opera The first musical I saw live. I was ten at the time, and I became more or less obsessed, learning the entire thing (including spoken lines) by heart. I mean, opera, murder, fantastic lacy clothes, tragic fates (the poor phantom was just misunderstood!); it was perfect for my ten-year-old self. Rediscovered the music recently. (And NO! Not the movie version.)
  

Posted by Julie at 10:13 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 10, 2007

This week

I read

• The Blindfold by Siri Hustvedt
• Topp 10 Amsterdam
  

And other then that I basically enjoyed my vacation. I spent hours wandering around Oslo with a novel, going from park bench to park bench and watching my skin go from ghostly white to pale beige (which is all that is going to happen to it this summer, as usual). I dropped by friends' workplaces and kept them from doing stuff. I had a party, and before doing that I tried on everything I own and made pesto things using a champagne bottle as a rolling pin.

And I took a trip to Amsterdam. I was going to blog about the coffee places (and by that I mean the places that actually serve coffee), but based on what I really did there, a guide to the shopping districts would be better, paying special attention to shoe stores and lingerie shops. However, if you want to read about shoes and lingerie, I suggest you go here and here. Meanwhile, the weather is so nice and this is my last day off before I have to wear wool and cook over an open fire.

Posted by Julie at 01:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 01, 2007

This week

I read

• "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams
• "On Flirting, part 1" by Sjokoladepiken
  
• The blogs of the American Doll Posse (well, I tried to, but when a blog is as cryptic as the lyrics of a Tori Amos song, but lacks the piano melody, I give up. I guess I don't have what it takes to be a truly devoted fan.)

I watched

• Singin' in the Rain
• A Very Long Engagement
  

This week (May 31st to be exact) was also the first annual "Take Your Friend to Work Day" or if you want "Show Up Randomly at Your Friend's Work and Stop Them From Doing Anything Productive Day" or "Go to a Party and Eat Expensive Food Paid for by a Company You Technically Don't Work For Anymore Day". It was my first real day off in ages, and I felt the need to rub it in.*

Yes, this week's This Week is early. The reasons for this are as follows:

• I feel like it's Sunday, because it's the second day in a row I haven't done anything school related.
• I am going to Amsterdam tomorrow, so I won't be blogging (much?) next week.
  

*Take Your Daughters (and sons and dogs) to Work Day is already a tradition, so why not one of these?

Posted by Julie at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 27, 2007

This week

I read

• The Wired and the Dead about Myspace and Facebook profiles that stay "alive" after the person is dead. While the whole "afterlife on the Internet" and "what if the dead answer that message?" is a bit much, I found the idea of writing to dead friends through the internet touching, not morbid. People talk out loud to gravestones, but I think if I suddenly lost a close friend I would feel the need to write, not talk. And since e-mails and mailed letters would only bounce back to me, having a profile to go to might actually be comforting.
• Tyler Cowen's favorite Norwegian things
  

I watched

• A Fair(y) Use Tale
• Breakfast at Tiffany's which made me want to eat croissants and drink take-away coffee (lunch in the park with a book on development economics is apparently my version of breakfast at Tiffany's) and have a party (sometime in June, I think. Should be like the party in Breakfast, but no smoking indoors, and no police)
  

I listened to

• Montt Mardié
• Aimee Mann
• Loney, Dear
  
• The newest Tori Amos album (because I'm going to Norwegian Wood)
  

Ok, so there was a This Week this week. But I promise, almost all of this happened after my economics exam on Friday. And the next one isn't until Wednesday.

Posted by Julie at 10:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 20, 2007

This week

I read

• "Among the Euro-Weenies", "Thirty-Six Hours in Managua - an in-depth report", "Through Darkest America Part 2 - The 1987 Reagan/Gorbachev summit", "Mexican Border Idyll", "The Holyland - God's monkey house" and the epilogue from Holidays in Hell by P.J. O'Rourke
  
• The First Decrees of the Dictatotor of Writing
  

I listened to

• Imogen Heap and Frou Frou

And other than that I basically just did school stuff. Next week I have an exam every single day (actually just three exams, but one of them lasts for days), so if there is a "This week" next Sunday, you'll know I haven't been working hard enough.

Posted by Julie at 09:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 12, 2007

This week

I read

• Ut med subbet, inn med folket,  om redaktører, nettaviser, blogger og wikier
  
• What Mihoe did this weekend, which made me realize I really don't have a lot of free time, even compared to people who seem smart
• Morgenbladet, especially the article about import restrictions
• "The Innocents Abroad", "Seoul Brothers", "Panama Banal", "Third World Driving Hints and Tips", "What do they do for fun in Warsaw?", "The Post-Marcos Phillipines - life in the archipelago after one year of justice, democracy and things like that", "Christmas in El Salvador", "In Whitest Africa" and "Through Darkest America: Epcot Center" in Holidays in Hell by P. J. O'Rourke
  

I listened to

• Jem
  
• more Mika, after my little sister discovered how much fun he is ("He's weird! Just like your friends... Julie, everyone you know is so weird!") and he become the default soundtrack in our kitchen
  
• Well, why don't you check out my profile on Last.fm? They know all my secrets now.
  

I watched/listened to

• Paulo Nutini trying to convince us that he's not going to rehab. Not that I don't like his version of the song, but when Amy Winehouse says "No! No! No!" I believe her, and when Paulo Nutini says "No! No! No!" I think: "Nice try. Stop whining; you're going."
  
• Regina Spector over and over again. I don't know why I got so addicted to this video. Maybe it's the look of the video: black and white, her shoes, her nail polish, the coffee. Maybe the rhythm just got stuck in my head (and when that happens, the only cure is to hear the original of the song, rather than the constant playback in my mind). Or maybe it's the lyrics.
  

This was also the second Sunday in a row that included episodes of Gilmore Girls and eggs with basil. I think I like these new traditions.

Posted by Julie at 09:51 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

May 06, 2007

This week

I read

• "The Yellow Wallpaper", a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and also why she wrote it.
  
• Ingar's new blog, he was my favorite teacher in high school, and I should have known it was only a matter of time before he started blogging
  
• The Others, about the kids at school you never get to know, but everyone talks about.
  
• The long awaited return of Sjokoladepiken
• Norwegians should read more
• Interrobang
• "A ramble through Lebanon", "Weekend getaway: Heritage USA", "At sea with America's Cup" and "Intellectual wilderness, ho! - A visit to Harvard's 350th anniversary celebration" from Holidays in Hell by P.J. O'Rourke.
  
• ... and I finished Dorian Gray. I wanted to post a list of good quotes from the book, but Elisabeth pointed out: "It's Oscar Wilde, Julie! You would end up posting the entire book."

I watched

• Gilmore Girls
• Party Monster
  

I listened to

• "Overdosing with you" by Billie the Vision and the Dancers , it's a song about watching episodes of tv shows on DvD all night
• Kings of Convenience
• William Hut
• (I am not adding links to the artists above because I am still heartbroken over losing Pandora and can't bring myself to link to another music site. It's just too soon. I am experienting with Last.fm however, but only time will tell if that is just a rebound.)
• ... and I got my ticket to see Tori Amos in June!
  

I ate

• chocolate and coffee cookies with macadamia nuts, and other wonderful things from Elisabeth's kitchen
  

Posted by Julie at 09:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 29, 2007

This week

I read

• Hjelpeløs Eksamensavvikling
  
• Angsten for det amerikanske by Knut Olav Åmås (I think he deserved that journalist award)
• A Reluctant Note on the Virginia Tech Shooting from the Freakonomics Blog, and the thoughts of one of Seung-Hui Cho's teachers - after the shooting, but before she knew who the shooter was.
  

I watched

• Sex and the City
• Wallander
• Mona Lisa Smile
• Peter's Friends
  

I listened to

• The soundtrack to Mona Lisa Smile 

Posted by Julie at 09:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 22, 2007

This week

I read

• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• New Economist, recently added to my Bloglines
• What Sex is Sam Berlant? Sometimes authors don't know everything about their own characters.
• Forsyningsdepartementet. It's a shame this is only funny to Norwegians, because it explains Norway very well. Who but the Norwegians would quarrel about language when there's a world war to worry about?
  
• Iskwew's thoughts, because she has a sister with ME too
• Gjennom Vinduet is still wonderful
  

I listened to

• Amon Tobin, supposedly "a dense, plunderphonic kaleidoscope of an album with giant, noisy jazz breaks and groovy electronic synthwork" which I mainly used to drown out background noise in the university corridor
  
• Mika, I hadn't thought I would enjoy the whole album as much as I enjoy the first song, but I did. You wouldn't think that he could get away with some of his lyrics and still be able to stay mainstream, but the music in itself is just so sweet.
  

I watched

• Mean Girls, sometimes the most over-the-top, stupid teen movies are really the most believable. Unfortunately. (Oh, and a quote which I might one day use to insult someone: "Her clothes look like they were picked out by a blind Sunday school teacher." It's kind of like the one from Peter's Friends (which is a great movie, one of those that my parents have watched so many times that I knew most of the lines by heart long before I knew what they meant): "You make Mother Theresa look like a hooker.")  

Posted by Julie at 09:54 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

April 15, 2007

This week

I read:

• "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami, I can't explain the plot, but it's a new favorite
  
• Gjennom Vinduet  poignant, well-written (in Norwegian) diary blog by a young man in Oslo, about living in a room with a view, writing on an antique typewriter, working in a bookstore, taking care of his little sister, being in love with his best friend and coming out to his parents.
• INeedCoffee.com no explanation necessary
• a website written by hand
• John Meyer's brilliant theory
• How to get things done Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.
• On e-mail Saving your e-mails is not a difficult thing to do
  

I listened to

• Amy Winehouse I had concert tickets, but she didn't show
  
• Rosie Thomas yet another thing Heidi and I found out we had in common
• 4Hero not really "my type of music", but some of the tracks are beautiful, and being allowed to borrow the cd from Michael was an honor
• The Magic Numbers rediscovered on car trips in Lillehammer
• Nina Simone who knew she was the one singing during my favorite scene in The Thomas Crowne Affair?
  
• The soundtrack to Forrest Gump

I watched

• Den Brysomme Mannen kind of like Brave New World meets 1984, except it's a Norwegian movie shot in areas of Oslo where I spend a lot of time. OK, but a little too obvious to be scary, and the movie should have ended earlier in the story.
  
• La Vie en Rose seen impulsively. Surprisingly long, but I enjoyed every minute.
  

Posted by Julie at 09:36 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack