doubtful comforts.

I saw this video last night and just couldn't stop thinking about it. The song is so sad and beautiful and weird and spooky at the same time, performed by Blue Roses. The video was made from millions of photos, taken from two directions which creates a 3D effect. Done by A Nice Idea Every Day (hip Berlin studio) - these guys, they must have been editing this thing day and night! What made me remember this video was not just the cool effect, but how well it fit with the song. It really creates a mysterious freaky world outside the music - and inside your head, literally shaking you. I love how it's so dark and clean and with that graphical shape, so obviously worthy of worshipping. This is such a video for graphic designers. So please tell me that the era of the effing triangle is over. And here comes the diamond-shaped rectangle - yey!

street art.

Melbourne is awesome if you like street art. Turns out, even one of the best cities in the world for it. (Is there anything this city isn't ass-kicking at?) There will be more photos of this later, but as you can see it was raining when I went for grafitti sightseeing.

old bodies, young souls.

Today I met two charming ladies while waiting for the tram. They were German and on their way to a flower exhibition. They just couldn't stop talking, praising Melbourne and beaming with excitement, literally jumping up and down. They were like little kids in old peoples' bodies. Just amazing. When the burgundy city circle tram arrived to take them to their destination, I laughed to myself to see their childish enthusiasm. They barely had time to wave good bye. Old people can be so awesome. And beautiful too, with wrinkles and all, when having such cool personalities. Fuck botox.
(The photo is taken by awesome photographer Carl Kleiner).

angus and julia stone.

Seriously, is everything awesome from Australia? Guess where this brother-sister duo comes from... I just listened to Angus & Julia Stone's new album Down The Way, and I must say they're growing on me. They started out as my casual background music when going through the hardship of 3rd year at uni, now they are slowly working their way up to the position as creative muses, ever so softly. (Hippie dancing in music videos sure helps too).

neon hart.

No H&M in Australia. And need of t-shirts and stuff. What to do? Well, for a fashion lazy-ass like myself it means going out and find new places to shop clothes. Turns out Aussie fashion isn't too bad. There are actually a couple of really decent shops, equallent to places like H&M and Urban Outfitters. By accident I stumbled across a collection called Neon Hart, by Aussie model Jessica Hart, and later her blog which is bombarded with amazing photography from her life as a world-travelling model. Definitely worth checking out, whether you're into fashion or not.

outer parts of awesometown.

With a playlist's distance from the city, plenty of parks, excersise-hills and photographic joys, I find myself in a place that's my hood. I can sense the smell of ocean in a far distance in the evening and wake up to the sounds of dino-sounding birds in the morning. Am I home or am I home?

shop 'til you drop, batman.

Went to the State Library of Victoria the other day and saw a pretty nice (and free) exhibition about shopping in Melbourne through the centuries. It sounds pretty dull, but it was the perfect thing for a newcommer like me to see. It was more or less a story of Melbourne, with yummie graphic design stuff from all times (I'm such a softy for vintage logos). I learned a lot of things about my new home that I had no idea about. For instance there's an area called "Paris End" and it was named by someone who had never even been to Paris, but that was how she imagined it. And the coolest of all things; Melbourne was founded by John Pascoe Fawkner - and Batman! Oh, and I liked the leaflets for the exhibition as well. It was naturally easy to carry.

my street.

The sun was setting and I figured it was a shame to not go for a quick photography walk. These are some shots from details on my street. I especially like the way that some trees look here. The wood look like skin and it's like they have too big skins and actual muscles underneath. It's like they're really humans in disguise, holding branches. Or maybe it's just me, looking at things with childish imagination...

the men who stare at goats.

Just remembered I went for my first Aussie-movie experience the other day and saw The Men Who Stare At Goats. It was great! Jeff Bridges as a hippie peace maker and George Clooney as a jedi warrior in the middle of the Iraqi desert. Doesn't that sound like an awesome combo or what!

sia.

Here's another Aussie-chill for you. I've adored Sia ever since "Breathe Me" and am now completely in love with this song. She's a little wacky and weird, but has a really sweet sense of humour - and of course an amazing voice. Damn, she's awesome...

video blog 3: melbourne zoo

Last Saturday I went to the Melbourne Zoo with an old friend. It was a really lovely day and a beuatiful park filled with all the animals you wanna see (and some that you don't wanna see, like effing snakes). My favourites were the gigantic bird with killer claws (oh, dinosaur-chills) and the platypus. The last one also came with an awesome 11-year old girl, rapping facts about the animal as if she was reading a book; "When Europeans first came to Australia and discovered the platypus, they thought it was a freak of nature. But it's actually perfectly adapted to the river environment. They have a tale like a beaver, legs like an otter, a bill like a duck, they lay eggs but breast-feed their young, and the males have venumous spurs on their hind legs that can kill a human". Impressed as I was I asked if perhaps the platypus was her favourite animal. "No, I have plenty of favourite animals, such as raptiles and birds". "Oh, really, that's cool. Did you know that birds are actually the decendants of dinosaurs?", I tried in hopes of impressing her right back. "Actually, the closest now living relative to the dinosaurs are the turkey", she replied. Snap! Oh, well... I guess you learn something new everyday. For sure, that girl should work at the Melbourne Zoo. She would make an excellent tour guide.

hot chip.

Okay, here's another music inspiration for ya. Not because I'm particularily fond of this group or even this song, but this video just has to be seen. I think it's an awesome idea to erase boybands with alien lazors, but it actually scares the crap out of me at the same time. It's so darn freaky!

eskimo joe.

When the days get really hot here in Melbourne and I don't have water or ice cream nearby, I've found a good, quick and cheap way to get chilled; I play this song (or any song for that matter) by Eskimo Joe, and the goose bumps provide a cool, comfy antidote to the heat. They are an Australian band from East Fremantle, perhaps made for this kind of weather, and I must say that their name is most suitable for the service they provide.

a story from the beach.

Okay, everyone. I think it's time for all you people at home in Europe to hear a funny (and true) story from down under. Let me remind you it can be a little too much for the weak-hearted. You may not want small children to hear this story for instance. Here we go;
So I was walking down the beach, along the shore, when a man was asking me for the time. He was sitting on the wall that divided the beach from the pavement and was wearing a helmet and bicycle shorts. We started a casual conversation about weather, jellyfish and world-travel. He informed me he was from Queensland and had travelled down to Melbourne with some friends, and was now going around the area on his mountain bike. It all seemed very normal. But wait for it. Seconds later he switched position where he sat; from having both legs hanging off the wall to raising one knee close to his body, and (imagine panic music from Jaws) his whole package fell out through one of the legs of his too loose shorts. I mean, his whole package, banana and double plum, his family pride, his... yeah, you get the picture. The funny thing was he didn't seem to notice. But I sure did. I was really glad to be wearing such dark glasses, he probably couldn't read the expression in my eyes. Awkwardly as humanly possible I excused myself and walked very fast from the man, exactly two seconds later.

l'oréal melbourne fashion festival.

A lot of things are happening in Melbourne at the moment. A Wine & Food festival is ongoing, Comedy Festival starts next week and right now it's the Melbourne fashion week. I walked by Federation Square today and had the opportunity to see a runway show for KOOKAÏ (see the whole show, streamed, by clicking the link). There were some cool stuff in it that inspired me. I totally dig a crown-looking head piece that one of the girls wore to a really simple cool dress (not the picture). Sorry if I didn't get the whole Parisian theme, to me it was all very Where The Wild Things Are. Totally "Let the wild rumbus start!". Read more about the fashion week here.

video blog 2: st kilda

Yes, this is part of the city I now live in. And no, that is not a dangerous jellyfish. A shark of 1,4 meters were spot in the bay this day though, but nobody was hurt. It's a pretty sweet life in St Kilda and Melbourne!

a thousand steps.

Yesterday my housemates took me for a walk up a mountain. The path was called A Thousand Steps, and was litterally a thousand steps. They had been built to honour the soldiers who fought in Papua New Guinea during WW2, and demonstrated the hard walk they had to walk every day, surrounded by joungle and enemies. Halfway though I thought I was gonna pass out. I'm just saying one thing; morning jogs for Stingo!

sandcastles in the sand.

Going to the beach reminded me about this. So rad!

square one.

So, I've been away from home for over a week now. But not really away from home, I guess, just establishing a new home somewhere else. Over here. Down under. I went to the beach today in St Kilda. Walked barefoot by the shore. Watching out for irukandji of course. The sun was shining but the wind blew pretty hard and a little cold. My hair flew all over the place. My mind too. I cannot believe this is the city I live in now. A city of palm trees, kite surfers, board walks and endless beaches. A city where I can smell the salty ocean and have to wear sunglasses with extra strong UV protection. Is all this really for me? Don't you have to be top of the class, vice president in a club, coming from a rich family or sharing some common friends with Oprah Winfrey to live like this? I suppose not. I'm just effing fortunate.
The rest of my walk was composed by Fever Ray, which somehow fit in perfectly, even though she sings about snow a lot. The first track on my playlist, "Coconut", reminded me about old history documentaries about the stone age, where the narrator talks about the early, primitive human race in caves. I saw stones and rocks, fire and fur, a bird flying in the sky before my eyes. I thought about how early humans started somewhere with nothing and throughout time developed into what we are now. It's sort of what I'm doing now, equipped with a Mac of course, but still starting from square one. And it's a pretty awesome square.

the award for funniest actress goes to...

Two days ago Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for Best Actress in the movie The Blindside, three days ago she won a Razzie for Worst Actress in the movie All About Steve. Talk about an uneven year... I saw this movie on my flight to Australia and must agree it was pretty aweful. But she sure is funny and with a lot of self-distance. Way to go, Sandra!

video blog 1: the flood

Scenes from last Saturday's craziness here in Melbourne. Only half an hour earlier the sun was shining and it was bright and hot weather.

hello new world.

The plane to Brussels was very tiny and full of businessmen with white hair. Before taking off the crew had to clear the wings from ice with some kind of pink liquid. It dripped and dropped all over the snow below, creating a bloody scene if the victim had had pink blood. As the sun rose the color palette outside my window felt very 80's; light blue, peach, pink, light green and yellow. After feeling the last of the winter cold I drifted to sleep and stayed there. I woke up in time to see a white dog run across a field and five seconds later we were in Brussels. I went straight to my connection flight. Many of the white businessmen followed. One of them, a middle aged, chubby man with back-slick cut the line before me to the check-in. I gave him a murderous look so full of hate I could have spit in his face. I was one of the last to get onboard and was even escorted to the plane by a French speaking flight attendant. I was seated next to a guy my age. I thought we had been in Holland all along, but he told me Brussels is in the Netherlands... or was it Belgium? I still can't tell the difference. Those three countries are the most confusing nations in the world. It's not that I'm bad at geography, it's just that they don't seem to get up their minds. One day Holland and Netherlands is the same country, then they are not and you're not even suppose to call it Holland. Then they speak Dutch and that's too much like Deutchland (Germany), but apparently not the same.
Anyhow, the scene turned pink again as we got in the air. The clouds looked like cotton candy. This trip went fast because I had company. For some reason we didn't introduce ourselves but I pictured in my head that his name was Stefan. At the end of the trip I found out I was right. Sometimes I think I have magical powers. In Abu Dhabi I saw Arabic men holding hands, I knew about this tradition but couldn't help myself from finding it utterly cute.
The last flight to Melbourne was all about How I Met Your Mother and then I just slept. I woke up in time for lunch, but in my time I wanted breakfast. My whole body reacted against the vegetarian lasagne, having this kind of food straight after waking up was wrong. As I looked through the window I saw Australia underneath. It looked golden brown with a bunch of sandy white holes in it. I imagined myself as a snake radar, detecting the most poisonous ones down there. I played with the thought of dropping highly accurate bombs on them, eliminating all dangerous and disgusting creatures, perhaps even turning a few species extinct. I wish.
The flight attendant told me to unplug my headphones as we prepared for landing. Sure, I said and got back to my playlist when she left. I Blame Coco featuring Robyn sang me to the ground, rebelliously. Dealing with the border police was a piece of cake. I thought it'd be harder to get into the country, but truth be told it was actually easier than entering Sweden. After a bus trip full of backpackers I finally reached my hostel. I got my room key from a 70's styled hippie guy with afro and a voice of a baby. I think he smoked a lot of weed. Then I left all my crap in the room and went for a walk in the area.
My first impressions of Melbourne felt like a mix of every place I've ever been to. The streets were wide and there were tall buildings like in New York, The architecture felt European but new, sort of like in Washington DC. The traffic runs on the wrong side of the road, just like in the UK. The streets were very clean and smooth, like in Sweden. And I swear, the food stores looks just like ICA in Sweden. The air felt dry but tropical and there were green trees, like in South America. The smell felt sweet and sort of spicy, like in Korea. And they have trams just like in Gothenburg. The city feels European, yet American, yet tropical. Kind of an awesome mix.
Next morning I woke up at 5 and couldn't go back to sleep. As I tried to drift I managed to write the beginning of a short story in my head. The shower was awesome and not full of spiders as I had prepared for. No funnel webs in Melbourne. After breakfast in front of Family Guy (a huge American guy laughed out load all the time) I went out in the city. The previous night I had got myself a massive shoe-shave on both feet, so now I limped my way to the nearest shoe store to get myself some flip flops. I crinched as I forced the word "thongs" out of my mouth, because that's what Aussies call flip flops. With aforementioned shoes I started to take the city. Halfway through it started to rain heavily, but it stopped as quickly as it had started. I found a Kikki K store, which is a Swedish stationary store. I was happy to speak some Swedish with a woman from Skåne and tried to flirt my way to a job. It didn't seem impossible. After lunch the jet-lag started to kick in and I got really dizzy. The place shook as if I was on a boat. But it only lasted for a few minutes. The rest of the day was filled with house hunting and more shoe-shave. I got back to the hostel in the afternoon feeling completely exhausted and fell asleep reading The Wild Things.

good bye winter.

I'm leaving now. Good bye, winter. Good bye city of Marie. Good bye Sweden. Good bye Europe. It feels like "good bye Earth" because Australia is so far away, like a different planet. I sure will miss everyone and everything, even the snow. Probably I will just say that for another 48 hours, and then be blown away by the opposite. But right now it's very hard to imagine a world without it... To everyone who fits in to the category of "You know who you are", I just have one thing to say to you; it starts with an "I" and ends with a "love you".

make it on my own.

Since I always seem to recommend female singers, here's one I cannot NOT recommend. I've loved Anna Ternheim for 6 years and she always finds a way to sneak into to my playlists, and my life too for that matter. This song is one of her newer ones, which I don't even think is on her latest album. I just love it and I like the fact that she's gone from a melancholic but well composed pop singer to a strong, unique sing-songwriter. I know she moved to New York a couple of years ago, I think that has a lot to do with it...