On the tube today I was standing between seats, reading a book, minding my own business when the gentleman sitting in front of me looked up. The following exchange occurred:

Him: Would you like to sit?
Me: No thank you, I’m getting of at the next one so I’m fine.
Him: Sorry, I didn’t realise earlier.
Me: ….

He thought I was pregnant. I know my posture is a bit crap when I’m standing on the tube so my gut kinda gets pushed out a bit, but I’m starting to consider getting a t-shirt that says “Not pregnant – just snacks too much.”

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

The sad thing is that it starts off so well. But when you say that the big bang is just a philosophy and can never be proven, then you really need to sit your arse down and read something like A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

And recognise that even though scientific theories evolve over time as better methods, calculations and equipment are found, and we might not now (or ever) have the whole truth and nothing but the truth, this doesn’t mean that scientific theories are solely based on faith.

As for string theory? No one has proven it. Everyone are aware of this. That’s not an earth-shattering revelation, dude. Question what you see and hear, I’m all for that. But dismissing science because we can’t physically travel back to the big bang and see it happening ourselves? That’s at best a crap joke and at worst encouraging ignorance in favour of religion. I get that this is popular with a lot of people, but no. Just no.

It makes me really sad to see that for all that we’ve grown and learn as a species, there’s a strong wave of wanting us to go back to being stupid and full of fear of the unknown. We’re supposed to have evolved past this sort of crap now. But oh, of course. Evolution? Just a theory. My mistake.

I have about as much respect for this guy as I do for the AIDS denialists. Although to be fair, the AIDS denialists trigger a much stronger wave of COME OVER HERE AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE sort of reaction, because I got to know people in Africa who have since died of AIDS. You know why they died? Because they couldn’t get medication. So fuck you, AIDS denialists. And fuck you, WhatYouOughtToKnow guy. You seem like a smart guy in general, your piracy video is especially well thought out and accurate, so you can do better than this. Educate yourself, and criticize bad science, and be part of the solution instead of encouraging people to criticize science without the proper tools. “It doesn’t matter if they’re smarter than you” – my ass it does. If you want to be part of the discussion, you have to learn how to speak the language. Don’t encourage people to respond to science they don’t understand with gut reactions. That’s not helping anyone.

Wait. Hang on. I just saw your video on Prop 8. I take back everything I said about you being smart. I’m right back at Fuck You, you condescending ass.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

You already know I’m a musical nut, and probably guessed that I really like Sound of Music, but this version is completely adorable and I’m kinda in love with it. If that doesn’t take your fancy, check out their version of Single Ladies by Beyonce.

Genius.

Edit: Download their cover versions for free on their myspace page.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

This is probably an ill-advised post, seeing as I’ve been sick since Sunday and I feel a bit dizzy, who knows what may blurt out through my fingers!

Hi internets, I am near death, clearly. I am too weak to work or even watch movies on my computer or read. I am bored. Bored bored bored. I don’t have a fever, so I probably don’t have the dreaded hamthrax. But there are some lumps in the back of my throat so I’m going to go see the doctor tomorrow. If I manage to get out of bed before 4pm tomorrow, that is. I didn’t manage that today.

I’m quite weak and feeling really sorry for myself, especially as I was supposed to go see The Pixies at Brixton Academy tonight, and instead I was sat at home in my pyjamas. Lame! I am also not studying, because I don’t have a brain for that right now, so I’m now behind already on my  three courses. Sweet! To make matters worse, there’s a box of goodies and things at my workplace that I sent myself from Norway a week ago, and I can’t get to it. There’s Norwegian crisps in there, and that sure would’ve cheered me up a great deal. But no, here I am.

You may now comment with your nicest versions of “I pity you, darling Jo”.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

Remember that post I wrote about Pixar’s Up coming out so late in the UK (October)?

I was idly browsing the cinema listings for my home town in Norway as I’m popping over two weeks from now, and noticed something. This something was a listing for Gake no ue no Ponyo, the new film by Hayao Miyazaki, the man behind Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and so on. I instantly went “hang on a minute!” because hey, I haven’t seen it listed here. And I pay attention, or at least I’d like to think that I wouldn’t miss something as important as that.

I checked IMDB, because surely this can’t be right. And there it is, the UK release date: 5 February 2010.

Why is it out in Norway already, and dubbed at that, and it won’t be coming out in the UK for another six months. Why! Are they after me specifically and know which films I adore the most? First Up, now this? What gives, English distributors? What is your justification for keeping good movies away from me? Surely there must be a reason. I really need to know if there’s any sort of twisted logic behind this, or if someone went “meh. It can wait until next year”.

It makes me sad that I have to either download or leave the country to see films I want to pay to watch here in the UK. Who is dragging their heels about understanding that entertainment is a global market now? Someone out there need to get fired.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

It’s as if he’s been reading my mind – or my blog. Or maybe times really are changing in this country.

Gordon Brown is expected to announce mothers will be entitled to divide some of their year’s leave with their husbands after a period of six months.

The scheme is due to come into force in April 2010.

Mothers are presently allowed 12 months’ maternity leave, with guaranteed pay for nine of them.

But business groups said the plan will place a greater burden on already-stuggling employers.

They fear administration difficulties if husbands claim up to three month’s free pay.

The Daily Mail’s economics correspondent Sam Fleming told Sky News: “This plan makes sense in terms of lifestyle flexibility, but will be of little benefit to the economy.”

The policy is likely to be cheered rather than jeered by the unions though.

Fathers can currently claim up to two weeks of paternity leave.

Source

This made my morning. I hope it happens – it’s about time. Go Paternity leave!!

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

A study “revealing” that Britain is a ‘culturally sexist’ country that has failed to accept that women are equal to men is making the rounds in the news today. This is not shocking news to say the least, especially when it comes to City workers. If you’re a woman in the city, you make less money in salary, and in bonus. And no wonder, because this is not a culture that’s at all geared towards the family.
Here, have a sample comment from the daily mail article.

I don’t see any evidnce in this article that the report quoted actually compared like with like. I.e. men & women in the same jobs with the same level of experience.
If anyone (man or woman) chooses to take a career break of 1 – 5 years, (whether it’s to have a child or sail round the world) they cannot expect to return to work on the same standing as their colleague who worked all that time.

If you go on maternity leave in Norway – you can. You are expected to come back, and jobs are frequently offered as short term to cover maternity leave. As far as I am aware (Norwegian friends with kids may correct me) – this is not considered a problem. Norway is geared more towards the family – people go to work early in the morning and leave before 5pm.

I grew up with a single mother who had to work really hard to care for two small kids and make a living. And yet we managed to have dinner at 5pm most days when I grew up. Me? I usually have dinner closer to 8pm these days as both the taller half and myself tend to come home after 6 or 7. That’s just how it is over here, it’s geared towards work, and it’s geared towards men – or rather, men who do not care to be an equal part of the family. What if the father could take a few months of paternity leave and the mother goes back to work? That is not only a good idea in Norway, it actually happens very frequently. Here in the UK, the idea in itself is just silly.

My friend pc put it really well recently. He works for a Norwegian company in the UK, and a conference call was planned between his company and the CFO at a large Norwegian group of some sort. It was scheduled for 4pm, but got cancelled at the last minute because the CFO had to go pick up his kids at day care. Can you even imagine this happening in the UK, with a CFO for a large business? I sure can’t. The wife would have to go, of course.

I resent that it’s expected of me to at one point be fine with having my career slip away from me, just because I’m a woman. If we want to have children, that’s how it’ll be. No matter how we decide to try to make it work, having kids will more drastically affect my life than the life of my boyfriend, whose life will not be expected to change that much, especially not when it comes to work.

I’ve heard companies boast about their work/life flexibility here in the UK, but it won’t help until society itself is friendly towards family and accept not only that women want to work, but that both the man and the woman are parents. I am offended on the behalf of the men I know who have kids and aren’t able to take a more active role in the lives of their kids due to work demands.

I know, I know. “You choose to work there”.  It’s a piss-poor excuse in my opinion. It’s too easy to say “that’s just the way it is”, when it’s been proven in other countries that it doesn’t have to be that way. I may not want to move back to Norway, but I can’t lie – life is better in Norway. Yes, it’s taxed to hell, but there’s a different attitude towards work and family. If I could change one thing in the UK to be more like Norway, this would be it. I want a society that is more flexible towards families with small children. I want a society where being a woman is fine. I want a society where I don’t have to wear a skirt and high heels in order to be seen as a professional.

But let’s look away from equality, or feminism, or whatever you want to call it and see this from another side, one that might work better for those who see maternity leave as a bad thing. As a society, we want children, don’t we? We want smart, professional and capable people to have children so that future generations can benefit from their good genes. We need to maintain the population. I don’t think punishing people for having children is the right way to go. Why not encourage people to have children, keep in touch during the maternity and paternity leave, and welcome them back with open arms at the end of the leave rather than not expect them to come back? Give both men and women the same amount of leave when a child is born. That’s not feminism – that’s equality. That’s what I want.

Forgive my ranting ways, but I am so frustrated with this particular issue because I am who I am – a 31 year old woman who wants a solid and long career more than anything but also might want to have children one day. And I do so resent that I might have to choose between the two, just because I’m born with the appropriate bits for carrying a growing seed. I didn’t ask to be born a woman, but here I am.

I welcome discussion on this issue but please keep comments civil and think before you press the comment button. This is an issue it’s easy to have strong gut reactions to, but I don’t find that sort of comment very useful or interesting.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

I’ve seen some good movies lately and read some good books, and I’m obsessed with the vampire show True Blood, but the big thing in life right now is that after living here 10 months, Mr Pharmacist and I have finally begun the process of getting this place into shape.

A new shower + everything else required has been picked out, tiles are on order and in two weeks a guy will come in, rip out our bathroom and put a new in. I honestly can’t wait. We’re being really clever about it and are going off to Disneyland Paris while the work is done, so when we come back I will not be seeing this:

and it shall be a blessing, seriously. That’s our shower. It’s old, it’s moldy, it can’t adjust the temperature, the holder is broken so I have to hold the shower head myself and it of course leaks water onto the floor (hence the Thomas the Tank Engine towel in front of it). I hate the shower. And the tiles are ugly. When I come back from four days in Disney heaven, we will have a functional and beautiful bathroom, hopefully.

Today, we made a visit to B&Q to get some paint samples for the living room, and seeing as Odeon was next doors we also spontaneously went to see District 9, which has got to be addressed in its own post once I’ve come down from the DUDE HOW AWESOME trip I’m still on. My mind was thoroughly blown.

Anyway, paint. So I dabbed nine paint samples onto our wall.

You can see them all here. So far I think I prefer the bottom middle one for our lounge, the Pale Gold, which did not at all come out well in the picture.

The goal is to paint all the rooms before Christmas, then have the kitchen redecorated in the new year, followed by having all the wooden floors polished and fixed. Then finally change the carpet in the hallway and make it somewhat pretty outside the door, too. Expect before/after pictures for all rooms!

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

I saw something quite wonderful on the tube today. We were stuck between stations and we were all bored and tired, when the guy next to me noticed he had a tiny caterpillar on his t-shirt. Most people would flick the bug away, but he transferred it to his hand instead, where it wriggled around his thumb nail. I don’t know much about caterpillars, but it looked quite distressed to me! I am not a bug fan, but it was really cute and little, for a caterpillar.

The guy kept it there the entire trip, and like me he got off at Waterloo. I saw him on the escalator watching his hand, making sure the little guy was there and coming out with him safely. I bet he found him a nice bush or a tree to take rest in, to continue his natural life. No sad ending at the tube for the little guy, and the care this guy showed to this little distressed creature made me smile. This may not be a life-changing story, but it sure made my morning.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

I would like to introduce to you all Magicka – a band I was in for about three years before I left Norway. The video below is one of our demos, I believe from about 2003. It is also the last song we performed as a band in November 2005, as the band split up when I moved to the UK.

YouTube – Magicka – Los Ojos Del Dragon.

I’m guitar and the second vocals on this, and it also includes background vocals by Maniac, formerly of Mayhem. Incidentally I don’t think I’ve ever met him! I wasn’t present when his part was recorded.

I miss being in Magicka. I had the best time with this band! When I’m old and grey and the grand kids ask me what I remember the most about Oslo, it will probably be Gotham Nights (the club I was part of running) and Magicka.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

I went to see Moon today, which was a very interesting movie. I just had a peak at the Wikipedia page and saw the following line:

The director took steps to minimise production costs, such as keeping the cast small and filming in a studio, as opposed to location shoots

Source: Moon (film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The movie is set on the moon. Imagine the press if they’d actually filmed on location.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

Hey there internet. When I started thisspaceblank, my main purpose was to write about the stuff that matters to me in the range of music, entertainment, technology and internet culture – you know, fun stuff! But there’s a conversation I need to have with you, internet. It’s about depression.

I was just watching part one of Stephen Fry’s documentary regarding his own depression, and as I sit here and think about how brave he is to be honest about something so personal, I feel the urge to take a leaf out of his book and be honest about what’s actually something that matters so much in my life that it tends to make me forget a lot of other stuff – like that life is generally good and I’m not an awful person.

You see, internets, when a person thinks too much, sometimes they think of the wrong stuff and it becomes a downward spiral that seem to move faster and faster the more you think about it. This situation can be improved by the consumption of a pill that we refer to as an anti-depressant, which in Norwegian is hilariously nicknamed the ‘happy pill’. The nickname is so outrageously wrong that to me, only people who have never been on them can truthfully describe them as so, as they’re not magic, they don’t fix your problems, and they don’t make you happy.

In me, what the anti-depps (as I like to call them) mostly cancel out the noise of my own brain. It stops all the thoughts floating to the surface and generally lets me get on with my life, with fever days ruined by the ‘I can’t get out of bed’ syndrome which is often followed by the ‘I can’t talk to people’ effect, which today had me arriving at work 30 minutes late, and blowing off someone’s party. These last two weeks old symptoms have been coming to the surface again as I am trying to reduce the dosage of my anti-depps, with the support of my doctor. Turns out I probably wasn’t as ready to reduce as I thought.

What does this mean? Mostly that the noise is back. I feel like the same person completely, but with an added layer of “these are the many reasons why you suck” from my brain, between me and reality. It makes me question everything and everyone – my friends, my relationships with people, my skills, what people say, what I hear, you name it.

Depression is not about being sad all the time. In fact, I am more often angry than sad when I’m depressed. Or I lose all will to do anything. It’s not all crying in a corner holding your knees (although that does happen), my particular depression – which is coupled with anxiety – is more hyper-sensitivity and over-reacting to any sort of confrontation than it is despairing. In fact, I get so angry it really upsets me and I start crying, which makes me even more frustrated, because I don’t even manage to get angry like a normal person. Depression can be fatigue, not wanting to go to sleep because dreams can be haunting, feeling hungry all the time but not wanting food, compulsively shopping to feel a bit better for a few seconds, and so on and so forth. It manifests differently in different people.

My depression isn’t really a secret. Most people in my life are already informed, as are my closest colleagues and my manager. If it weren’t for the support I have around me, today would’ve been much, much worse. At the end of the day, that I’ve struggled with depression for most of my life does colour how I write in my blog, and when I’m sitting here not posting because I’m too wrapped up in my own brain to focus my thoughts properly, then it’s like I’m not addressing the elephant in the room. So here goes.

Hi, elephant! I know, this brain isn’t really big enough for the two of us, but we’re just going to have to get along somehow. You’re fairly large right now, but I’m hoping to shrink you to a manageable size so I can stove you away in a box. Until then, I am not going to feel ashamed about you appearing in the room to bug me again.

..if you guessed that this post was mostly for brain-dump effect so that I can get some sleep tonight, then a winner is you! The monster wasn’t going to let off until I dealt with it. Heh, monster. My depression is like Harry Potter’s chest monster, only it’s in my head, and I don’t fancy Ginny.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

Not one but TWO emails from the bookmoocher who complained about the book quality today.

I totally believe that all of that is true and I’m sorry you lost points on it – but the one has nothing to do with the other.  If you were happy to accept the book in that condition that’s up to you – and I don’t know if it had been described as that when you mooched it. It still does not exempt you from the fact that you should properly describe it when you relist it because there are some people – actually quite a lot of people in my experience – who do care about the state of their books to some extent. For me, they don’t need to be pristine (if I wanted that you are right, I would order them from Amazon) but I don’t want them tatty and about to fall apart… I’m sorry if that disagrees with you.
Also I have to say that there was nothing rude in my first message. I simply stated the fact and the state of the book and SUGGESTED you give me the point back. That’s quite a polite way of saying things!

Err. If this is you being polite, I wouldn’t want to be around you rude, lady.

Thanks for the points. THat’s very generous of you.
But you are wrong in what you say about condition of books – there is a feature on Bookmooch to state the condition exactly for this reason, and if nothing appears there, the book is considered in reasonably good condition. I myself have received complaints about books not being good enough for that standard which is why I now very carefully state the exact condition of every book in my inventory. So my request/reaction is not as mean or out of this world as you make it seem but quite standard for Bookmooch!

…fuck this shit. I closed my account. I thought books were for reading, not to sit pretty on a shelf. And if you’re so concerned about your collection, then I don’t know what to tell ya.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

I have been a happy user of BookMooch for the last several months. I’ve given away twice as many books as I have requested and I’ve happily spent quite a lot of money on the postage, to get books to people who really want them. I recently stopped mooching  as I am moving over to digital books as much as possible, and re-listed several books that I’d just received, most of which where picked up quickly. I got quite the surly email from someone who received a book today:

Thanks for sending me the book. I’m a bit disappointed about the state of the book, though. It is really rather bad which I do not remember in your condition description. The covers are stained, creased, yellowed and dog-eared; the spine is badly broken falling open on a particular page with that section about to come loose; and the whole book is yellowed with a large water stain at the top extending through about half of it.

I suggest that you donate my point back to me as this book is meant for permanent collection and I would like to get a better copy than this.

…..you suggest what now? Your free book wasn’t good enough for you, so you want your point back? For the uninitiated, you “pay” for books with points and get a point for each book you send out.

I gave the person 5 points with the following message:

Here, have five. Now you have enough to get however many more books you want. Word of advice – if you care so much about the condition, ask the people you mooch from. Or buy the book second hand on Amazon, rather than complaining about free books.

Honestly, some people. It’s a book exchange site, not a shop. You get what you pay for, and that book was free. It was actually in the same condition when I received it, and I had no problem with it whatsoever.

I think I’m going to start giving my books to charity shops again instead, especially as bookmooch is only an expense for me now – I’m not requesting any books as I am trying to de-clutter.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

I’m not the most romantic person. Okay, I’m a fan of the big romantic gesture, I really am. But weddings? I’m a bit meh about the whole thing, and think Las Vegas sounds like the best way of sorting it out. It’s probably because weddings in our culture has become more important than the marriage, and that weirds me out like no tomorrow. To me, weddings come across as stiff, conservative events that I can’t imagine putting myself as the centre piece of, because it just doesn’t correspond with my reality.

And then these guys come along and make it look cool.

Well played, happy couple. Well played.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

I happily accept this offering from hip-hop to the nerdy girls of the world. Awesome.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

Dear (Me)

As you haven’t received your tickets for NINE INCH NAILS at The O2 Arena, London on 15/07/2009, we’ve arranged for a duplicate set of tickets to be held at the venue box office at The O2 Arena on the day of the performance. These will be available from 1830hrs. Your allocation is (My seats) Please take a copy of this e-mail with you and quote referenc e(….) You’ll need to provide the credit/debit card used to buy the tickets, for identification purposes. Yours sincerely See Tickets Customer Services

It took another phone call and forwarding to them the email from O2 to get this sorted out. Apparently their agreement with the event organiser was that tickets sent by special delivery aren’t replaced. I am proud of myself for persisting and getting what was mine! Thank you all for the encouragement and advice.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

Dear Johanne

Thank you for your email.

Please do not worry as you can have your tickets printed from the Box Office at the O2 on the day of the event. The Box Office shares the same system as Seetickets and Ticketmaster as they are recognised reputable sellers, therefore duplicate tickets can be printed off on the night.

You will have to bring proof of I.D, the card that you used for initial payment and you reference number as proof of your purchase.

I am unsure of why you were offered a refund form Seetickets and not given the option to have the tickets re-printed at the Box Office. I would advise that you call Seetickets to confirm your options.

I hope this helps.

Kind Regards

Customer Services

The O2

\o/
They got back to me in less than an hour. I still haven’t heard from Seetickets customer service. Guess who I won’t be using to buy my tickets ever again?? If you guessed Seetickets, you can have a cookie.

Mirrored from This Space Blank Comment here or there.

Royal Mail have lost my tickets for Nine Inch Nails and O2 might not be able to issue replacements. SO gutted. Cried openly at work.#
It's with customer services now but they can't promise new tickets. I'll get a refund of course if they can't get me new tickets but still.#
I was looking forward to this gig so much that I took that day off work to make sure I don't miss the support. Which is Mew. Who I adore.#
Already talked to seetickets, and they'll start the claim process. Customer services will call me back by end of tomorrow to update me.#
I hope, hope, hope they'll be able to get me replacement tickets. I'm never having stuff shipped to my house again, royal mail loses so much#