Das Blog des Totens!!!

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Hmmm ...

Maybe I should start writing again ... Perhaps ...

Right now there is a crazy storm outside. I even heard people whispering about there being tunder and lightning, something that happens once or twice a decade here in Iceland ... 'tis really interesting.

Well, if anyone is still reading this - watch this space, 'cos I'm not totally gone yet!

In the meantime - those of you who can understand Icelandic, check out my more-often-updated blog! :)

Fear not! I am not dead!!!

Sorry for not writing more ... I got sick about 2 weeks ago, some sort of throat infection, so I couldn't talk or eat (or sleep for that matter) and I haven't really done anything since then. And I've been busy getting back on track in school, so tonight is actually the first night I'm not too busy to do anything but study!

So the only thing I have to tell you are stories about being sick and studying ... fun fun! ;) I think I'll let you off the hook for now ...

bis später!

Cecilie and Maddie, rejoice!

I am in the choir!

And not only that, but I had my first concert yesterday. We sang "Snert hörpu mína ..." and some finnish/yugoslavian/multinational songs ... was mucho fun. I even made Züpfe for the reception at the end!

The reason for the lack of blogging has been simple: i've been completely swamped at school! consider this: i had two tests today, one from a book that I bought just yesterday, the other from a book I hadn't finished. And tomorrow I have to write an in-class essay on a book that I just finished as we speak ... and I have to hand in a two-page study of the ending of the book I was reading in my last blog, "Kaldaljós" ... fortunately, everything went well :)

But I'm in the choir, and that's cool :D

Movie of the day: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre - probably the most unrelenting, nightmarish, disturbing film ever made. Just watched it for the third time last night and I swear, I was chewing my nails even though I knew exactly what was going to happen. They don't make 'em like that anymore!
Music of the day: Anything by "Todmobile" ... love that band :D

As you may have noticed, I did not keep my promise to blog more in the past few days ... and again, I will blame my school. This time the blame lies with the annoying computer guys that were supposed to put the wireless internet thingy into my computer. Alas, they have not delivered ... so I have to blog in the comfort of my home (I am currently sitting in my lazyboy chair, listening to Kelis ... ah, the joy :D)

But the joy is not everlasting. As soon as I finish writing this, I have to finish the 450 page book I'm reading for school. I'm on page 272. And I'm supposed to be done with it for tomorrow ... yeah right! Perhaps I'll "oversleep" or something :P

I held a party yesterday and invited the new people who sit at my table as well as the old people that sit at my table. Thought that us getting all drunk together would break the ice and get us to know each other better. Surely enough, drunken hilarity ensued, along with topless dancing, messing up the living room and countless drinking games. Ahhhh, Icelandic parties :D But a word to the wise: DO NOT try Jelly-vodka ... ughhhh ...

And lastly, here's something Maddie and Cecilie will love: I went to the choir audition! They called me the next tenor of Iceland ... but I doubt they were being serious ... I'll find out next week if I get into the choir - lets just pray I will!

Music of the day: Low with Kelly Clarkson. Ok, I've become Mr. Mainstream. But who cares? I didn't even know Kelly Clarkson won the first American Idol season! I just love this song to death!
Movie of the day: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW! Well, kind of anyway. I haven't really watched, but there was a sale yesterday at "Skífan", our only big CD store, and they had Rocky Horror really cheap so I had to buy it. I'll watch it as soon as I finish the book! (that is, never ...)

Sorry for the lazy blogging lately ... I guess there is only one thing to blame (and you bet it's not me!)

SCHOOL! And also, my job ... it's not like I'm swamped or anything, just that after school and work, the only thing I want to do is just sit down in my lazyboy and watch a DVD or something. It's too much hard work for me to take my laptop upstairs to plug it into the phonecord so I can do everyday stuff like check my email or blog. That's why I had about a million new emails today ...

But then again, not much has really happened, so there's not a lot to blog about ... well, yes - Cecilie is coming to Iceland probably!!! I can't wait! And my parents are going to Jamaica in October, so if anyone knows where Ann-Merita is, you can have her contact me! :D

Tomorrow (I hope) my school will install a wireless connection into my computer, so I'll be able to be on the Internet while I'm in school! Being in my school simply rocks! So you can expect me to blog a little bit more in the future :)

Music of the day: Lüge with Plüsch! I've been listening to my Plüsch CD a lot these past few days (reminds me of Switzerland), and I really really love this song! Having some trouble learning the lyrics though ...
Movie of the day: I promised I'd talk about 28 Days Later, but of course there is another film I've seen in the meantime that I'm more excited about so I'll just save them both for a better time ... :)

Well, school has started and today was the unofficial first day of school (last Friday was the "official" start, but we didn't really do anything then ...) The good news about this is that me and my friends got like the BEST place to sit in the school. We're in a place called The North-Basement (Norðurkjallari), and we have all these comfortable sofas and stuff and three very old TV sets next to us. One of my friends is going to bring her old Nintendo computer and just leave it there for us to play with! And to think we also need to take classes with all this entertainment and comfort around us!

One bad thing about starting school in Iceland is that you have to spend a ridiculous amount of money on school books at the beginning of each year. Thankfully, I got the job at the book store before I had to buy the books, so I got 20% off everything ... and I didn't have to spend a single króna to buy the books because 1) We have an exchange market where I brought all my old books and got money for them to buy new books and 2) because my dear friend (the same one that has the Nintendo) works at a library where I have now borrowed about 5 books that I'm not planning on returning until next year - and she's going to cover me up! :D It's good to have connections :)

Not much else is happening, though. I just have to get used to the school thing again in the next few weeks ... have to start studying after a year of very little studying ;)

Music of the day: A hard choice ... I've recently discovered the absolute joy of ELO - aka Electric Light Orchestra - and have a hard time deciding whether Sweet Talking Woman or Living Thing should be song of the day ... but I think I'll go with Livin' Thing -> "It's a livin' thing / It's a terrible thing to lose ..."
Movie of the day: You see, this is what happens when you don't blog for a few days! Now I can't decide what movie should be movie of the day because there are two great possibilities - May and 28 Days Later ... But I saw May first so I'll use that one. May is, in a word, PERFECT! Everyone should see this film! It's soooooo terrifically amazingly great that I have no words to describe it! Imagine making a movie about Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas ... what would happen if Sally had grown up in the "real world", with "real kids" and "real people" ... Like somebody said: Sick and twisted, but also very beautiful ... The best black comedy/horror film of the year ... that is if you don't count 28 Days Later, but I'll talk about that one next time :)

And before I forget, lets congratulate Nicole on her 17th birthday that was last Sunday (August 17th).

Special greetings to her and Wendy in Iowa! Have fun, gals! ;)

School is about to start and I think this is the first time since I was 8 that I'm actually looking forward to it! It's also pretty cool to think that this year, I'll be one of the "final-year-kids", even though it isn't my final year, which gives you at least some respect ...

One of the things you have to do each year when the schools start is to buy books. And the books are extremely expensive here. Thankfully, we can trade in our old books and use the little money we get for them to lower the cost of the new books, but it doesn't help much. I'll probably spend around 20.000 kr. just for school books, and that doesn't include notebooks and stuff like that. I'm lucky, though, because I got the job at the bookstore, which means I get 20% off of everything I buy! So I won't go bankrupt, thank god :)

In other, more exciting news, American Documentary filmmakers saw the music video I did with my friend last year and called it "very artsy" and want to use it in their documentary about Jazz in North-Europe! Our next music video is about to be finished and after that we'll start working on our next short film which is going to be a sort of german-expressionism meets lynchian humor ... I hope :) And after that, my dear exchange student friends, I'll start watching the 10 hour of video I shot in Switzerland for the infamous Swiss-Documentary!

Music of the day: Because of my job, I haven't really listened to any music for quite a while now ... there is no music of the day!
Movie of the day: The Fog. A really creepy, atmospheric ghost story from John Carpenter about a strange glowing fog that invades a small seaside town ... except that "there's something in the fog!" Carpenter's horror films are pure brilliance.

Who would have known starting work again would be so ... tiring?! I think a year of no work and all play made Jack a lazy bastard ... But I'm coping, thank god ... And I can't really complain. I mean, today we had a "rush-hour" kind of thing because all the schools are starting and people need to buy books, but I've seen rush-hours that would kill the rushes in the bookstore. I worked at the Ice-Cream Store, remember? ;)

Talking about the ice-cream store ... I remember when I was working there, me and my friend Baldvin (who also worked there), were going to publish a book about working in the ice-cream store. It was supposed to be called Ice-Cream Stories ... say it aloud and laugh! Hahahaha ... or perhaps not ...

Tomorrow we have this thing called "Cultural Night" where we celebrate the fact that, yes, Iceland has a culture and, yes, people are interested in it. Needless to say, Cultural Night is EXTREMELY touristy ... but it's fun. And there are fireworks, and if you've ever been to Iceland, you know we're insane when it get so fireworks. You guys in Europe, if you look closely to the North - those lights in the skies, they're from us! :)

Music of the day: Rocket Man with Elton John. Quite simply the best song Elton John ever wrote (and there's a lot of good stuff to choose from). I especially like the lyrics, which (if you're a Freudian enthusiast like me) are about something completely else than Rocket Men on Mars ... :D
Movie of the day: Ed Wood, by Tim Burton. A really, really funny movie about the worst director ever. I've now upgraded my Tim Burton Collection - I only need 2 more films to have every single film he's made!

Well, I've started working at the bookstore (yeeeessss!) aaaaand it looks like I'll also start working at the biggest cinema in Iceland, which is in the same building as the bookstore! This basically means that I will get to see movies for free and get discounts off books ... finally, I'll be able to save some money!

Last weekend we had the Gay Pride festival here in Iceland. Last year's festival was absolutely brilliant! More people showed up for the parade than on our national day (17. June) and we had perfect weather and everyone had fun. This year, however, was different. It was cold and it rained and not nearly as many people showed up (because of the weather, I suppose), but it was still fun. The only thing I really missed was seeing Páll Óskar's drag-queen costume (Katharina knows who I'm talking about ;D) ...

Now, however, I have to get going - can't be late for work, now can I? :)

Music of the day: I'm still hooked on Liz Phair's latest, so today's song is my new favorite from her album: My Bionic Eyes. Really cool song. Download it if you must, or just do yourselves a favor and buy the CD!!!
Movie of the day: Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Ok, I know it might sound stupid, but this is perhaps one of the best horror films I've ever seen. At the very least it's the most intelligent one. The script and the ideas Craven puts into it are just amazing. And Heather Langenkamp is and will always be my favorite scream queen!