Shuffle this post: in imitation of a music blog

I read so many posts by so many people which are given musical themes, songs of the day, favorite lyrics. And I always wonder if it is something I should be doing. And then I dismiss that thought; my musical tastes are mine, and no one else's. They're eclectic, a bit dated, sometimes obscure, or just random...and did I mention they're mine? Why would anyone else want or need them? On the other hand, I am determined to blog more while I have the time, and have nothing much to blog about. But, I have music. So, it's logical really. Added to that the fact that commenters are for the most part mysteriously absent at the weekends, and well, this is ideal. By the time anyone comes by, there'll be something more interesting to comment on. You can hope, at least.

So, I've done the obvious; I set Phiggy, my beloved iPod, to shuffle, and wrote down the first twenty results...I meant to do ten, but this is kind of addicting. I give them to you here, with some minor commentary, quoted lines, and so on. Feel free to shake your head in misbelief. You'll notice I'll be shaking my head too, on occasion...I've managed to accumulate a lot of stuff, from a variety of sources, and some of it's a bit odd. It's listed artist, song, album.

1) Pedro Abrunhosa & Os Bandemónio, Se Eu Fosse um Dia o Teu Olhar, Tempo - I once gravely offended a Portuguese acquaintance by referring to Pedro Abrunhosa as Portugal's answer to Vanilla Ice. That being said, I have far too much by him. It's a legacy of going to the Feira da Ladra often when I lived in Lisbon, and, well, buying lot of cd's, for the most part much poppier stuff than I would ever put up with in English. This song is quite catchy though, I think, but I am still shaking my head.

2) Jorge Palma, Viagem na Palma da Mão, Dá-me Lume-O Melhor de Jorge Palma - I've stopped shaking my head. He's the coolest, and I get very annoyed that I don't know anyone else who is at all impressed, or even interested. Perhaps because this is lyrics-driven music, and no one around me understands what he's singing. I've gone for months on end listening to just him. Because he's that good.

3) Toy Dolls, Blue Suede Shoes, Dig that Groove Baby - I am not sure why I have this, and suspect that it was put there by someone else (Thor uses my iPod sometimes, and he's added his own playlist). I do like the Dolls, but they're a bit tedious after a while, by which I mean about mid-song (except I've Got Asthma, which is just classic).

4) Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Alison (Live), Armed Forces (Bonus Tracks) - I have a habit of not liking the big, big hit by any given artist that I otherwise like a lot. But this works live, even though it's not my favorite studio song. I am clearly in the house alone, as Thor would request a song change after about a note of Elvis. Actually, when I am given the 'honor' of chosing the music, it's with the mandate of 'no 80's, and no Portuguese music'. Which puts a bit of a damper on things...well, my formative musical years were the 80's, and I bought a lot of cd's when I was in Portugal. It's not my fault.

5) Woody Allen, Mechanical Objects, Standup Comic - this is a recent acquisition. He makes being messed about by an technologically advanced elevator in retaliation for having beaten up a disrespectful television a perfectly natural occurence. You can simply not top it. He is master of the absurd.

6) They Might Be Giants, Ana Ng, Lincoln - I can't say I know the lyrics to many songs, but to this one I do. 'I don't want the world, I just want your half'. And I've spent more time than I should admit forming a mental picture of the opening lines ('make a hole with a gun perpendicular/ to the name of this town in a desktop globe/exit wound in a foreign nation/shows us the home of the one this was written for'...don't tell me you haven't thought about this one, too...no really, don't tell me).

7) Giuseppe Verdi, Alfredo, Alfredo, di questo cuore, La Traviata - yes, it's true. I don't make playlists. I just play it all together in a big jumbled heap. I've been told that in this way, I destroy the pleasure of listening to opera. To which I respond with a very well-thought out, 'Tough. It's how I like it.' I know nothing about opera, really, other than the ones I've actually seen. I've seen this one more than once, but I couldn't at all tell you what's happening in this part.

8) Monty Python, Sit on my Face, The Final Rip-Off - no words need be said. A classic song by icons of comedy.

9) Richard Wagner, Wie hehr erkenn ich unsrer Liebe Wesen!, Lohengrin - I've never seen it, know nothing about it, and the soprano is a bit weak. I'm slowly shaking my head.

10) Moloko, Sing it Back, Chillout Mix - the concept of 'chillout music' is palpably boring. That being said, this compilation is often background music when we have people over for dinner, and there's some very listenable stuff on it. Like this.

11) Dan Turèll & Halfdan E., untitled, Åbningstiden - Dan Turèll was a hippie author/poet/I don't know what else. I have this cd and another, each one being spoken word with a band backing. His Danish is very clear, and I really should listen to it more. What I understand of it, it's so funny. But there's a lot I don't get. Like this one, for instance. Could he be...talking on the phone? Your guess is as good as mine.

12) Rob Wasserman (with Edie Brickell and Jerry Garcia), Zillionaire, Trios - Jerry Garcia died the month before I moved to Portugal. I was very sad, not because I was especially a deadhead (although I liked the idea of it), but because I harbored a desire to see the Dead in Europe. Edie Brickell I'm fairly ambivalent about, but I like her voice. This is an otherwise nothing special album, but Zillionaire just works somehow.

13) Tracy Chapman, Why?, Tracy Chapman - Yes, why, exactly? I'm not sure I should admit to this, but I am shaking my head. I truly liked this album when it came out, but I don't feel it as I used to. Well, I should reword that. I still like it musically, but the lyrics just sound overstated.

14) Cat Stevens, Maybe You're Right, Mona Bone Jackon - this may be the artist I've liked for the most time, ever since seeing Harold and Maude (my early favorite film, with Cat Stevens soundtrack) when I was about 12. It may hold the record for the artist whom I've sung along with the most while driving (back in my California driving days). I'm in awe by the fact that he spent so much time searching for faith...and then actually found what he was looking for. It's not the answer I would have chosen, but I'm impressed anyway.

15) Bob Dylan, I'll Keep it with Mine, Biograph - 'How long can you search for what is not lost?' You can always count on Bob to come up with the important questions. 'I can't help it if you think I'm odd.' Yes, that's about right. Hey, nice harmonica there, Bob. I had pictures of him in my school locker in high school.

16) John Lennon, Instant Karma!, The John Lennon Collection - I can't explain John Lennon. He spouts platitudes. 'We all shine on, everyone.' What does that mean anyway? And yet, I like it. It's pleasant. And, sad as I am to admit it, pleasant is not bad. I'm clearly getting very, very old.

17) David Bowie, We are the Dead, Diamond Dogs - My teenage goal was to have all of his albums. I started buying them when they started being released on cd by Ryko disk, and then lost interest, or maybe ran out of funds, I don't remember which, after this one. 'You're dancing where the dogs decay, defecating ecstacy', not as pleasant as John Lennon. And that's not bad, either. But I'm still getting old.

18) The Prodigy, One Love, Hackers Soundtrack - I haven't seen this film, and don't have anything else by any of the bands on the cd, but it's a cool cd. I'd classify it as chillout, and play it during dinner. Otherwise, it's listenable, if a bit repetitive.

19) Fleetwood Mac, Sara, Greatest Hits - there's a (no-longer) secret part of me that likes old mellow classic rock. More proof of how old I really am. It's not my fault, it's Stevie's voice. She's addictive. I have an Eagles album, too...how's that for too much information?

20) Handel, Affetuoso, Watermusic Suite #3 - and it's all capped off by 46 sublime seconds.

I'm impressed you've made it this far, and I thank you. Now, I'm off to hear what comes next, and next, and even next, and to curse Phiggy for all the cool stuff that she didn't play in the first 20 (like the Rammstein song she's playing now).

Pre-road trip road trip

In June, Thor will be driving to Le Mans, a trip which inspired him to get his driver's license. In order to break in this new license, he's borrowed a friend's car. Which means, pre-road trip road trips for us. Which is an odd idea really. I don't think I've been in cars more than a dozen times since moving to Denmark. But it's a good odd, I think.


Our first full day with car was a holiday (Kristi Himmelfartsdag, Ascension in English), and we took advantage of this by exploring a bit of North Zealand (Zealand is the largest of the hundreds of Danish islands, and where Copenhagen is located). Our first stop, Fredensborg Palace, the Danish royal family's spring and autumn residence.


The palace itself and some of the gardens are only open in July, but other parts are open year round. We walked along immaculately groomed pathways under tunnels of trees. Everything is green in Denmark this time of year. The weather was indecisive, sunny then windy then sunny then a bit misty, but it let us enjoy the palace fully before turning to rain.


After that, we drove along the North coast, and then moved downward back towards Copenhagen, using the rain as an excuse to keep the camera put away. Highlights were a working fishing village (Gilleleje) a touristy fishing village (Hornbæk), and the coastal road (Strandvejen) home, through some of the priciest real estate in Denmark, with views of the sound and, on a clear day, Sweden. The big question now is, where are we going next?

Life in the bike lane

Hi, my name is Pia, and I'll be the most annoying cyclist on your commute this morning.

My specialty is biking just a teeny bit slower than you do, so that you'll get stuck behind me, determined to pass me regardless of the physical consequences.

Added to that is my mysterious talent for timing the lights so that while you're stopped at the next red, I will arrive just in time for the green, and glide right by you while you're just getting started, so that you can again be behind me determined to pass me at any cost, and the whole thing can repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Maybe 8 or 9 times.

Until you refuse to pass me anymore just on principle, at which point I'll start going much, much slower.

I've heard that you like to talk to your fellow bikers sometimes, under your breath, and that's o.k. I wouldn't notice your repeated, 'What are you doing? Don't you realize I'm just gonna have to pass you...again?!' even if I knew you existed.

And in order to prove my loyalty, I promise to accompany you all the way to Nørreport Station. I wouldn't want you to get lonely on the way.

Perverse thinking?

All right. My project includes a small case study, enabling me to compare free text searching and tag searching in terms of retrieval of alternative views. The case I have chosen is the debate surrounding mercury in vaccines, in relation to causes of childhood autism.

I don't have to study the issue per se, but I do need to look at the sites I retrieve in order to look for viewpoints, communities represented, that kind of thing.

I find that as I read about vaccines, thimerosal, chelation, amalgam fillings, symptoms of mercury poisoning, symptoms of autism, clinical evidence, parental experience, I am slowly filled with a deep craving for a really big tunafish sandwich.

I wonder what that says about me. Probably that I should go back to my project and get some more work done.

Happy Mom's Day!

As you can see, I've sent my Mom on a holiday to the seaside. But Mom...doesn't that red lightsaber mean you've gone over...to the dark side?!

Click here to send your Mom on holiday!

This post brought to you by the letter 'G'

Here are the rules:

Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. Write 10 words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

I requested a letter from the lovely Socialpest, and she kindly chose 'G'. I have managed to avoid using the words 'good' or 'great' to complete this meme...because being able to list good food, good music, and so on wouldn't have been nearly as challenging.

1) Genre. Yes, I may not be doing my project (well, I have gotten some good work done on it today), but I'm sure as hell thinking about it! I'm definitely setting my view of blogging (and by extension, tagging) from the perspective of genre theory. So, that comes first.

2) Grammar. I love grammar, by which I mean syntax. It's like a gigantic puzzle. I like teaching it, I like knowing how it works in my foreign languages, I like it on a more theoretical level. I know, I'm a mutant.

3) Guernica. It started when a teacher in a James Joyce seminar in my undergraduate days gave out a photocopy of it to the class. Then to see the real thing, in the Reina Sofia, words cannot express. I cannot go to Madrid without spending a long time just staring at it from various angles. I have a small canvas poster of it, lovingly known as mini-Guernica, as the centerpiece in the room where I study (and blog), and stare at it a lot, too.

4) Grey. I'm not sure if this is my favorite color anymore, but it's one of them anyway. It was the undisputed king of colors for much of my teenage and post-teenage years. All shades of it, but preferably a bit darker.

5) Growing up. I'm still waiting to feel that I'm a grown up, though I probably am. But I feel keenly that the things I go through, and put myself through, put me in a pretty much continual state of growing up.

6) Getting out. I do tend to stay in the same place on the couch, doing stuff on my computer, rather than being out enjoying things. So, I should be getting out. All the same, it's a very comfortable couch.

7) Glottal Stop. Danish has a reputation for being difficult to pronounce. Half of this at least, or at least talking about the Copenhagen/Zealand dialect, is that there are glottal stops (in Danish, stød) in what at first appears to be really odd places. At my language school, which is pronunciation obsessed in general, students have been known to fail early levels for not pronouncing the stød, even though there are regional variations of Danish which don't have this feature. I got quite good at glottal stopping on demand, until I didn't need it anymore, and now I apparently speak without using a single stød.

8) Ginger. Or maybe Garlic. Along with vanilla, my personal holy trinity of food flavors. I will consider any recipe or menu item that features these ingredients prominently. And all three make good ice cream flavors. No, really.

9) Geek. Well, nerd is probably more appropriate...more academic, and not necessarily as deeply focused on one small area. But it doesn't start with 'G'. I have referred to myself as a grammar goddess, but maybe grammar geek? How about blogging geek?

10) Giants. I tend to ignore most of the baseball season, mainly because there is nothing in Europe to remind me of it, but it is (along with football...by which I mean soccer) my favorite team sport. And well, this is my favorite team. Root, root, root for the home team, right?

Image from http://history.sandiego.edu/cdr2/WW2Pics/55010.jpg

Information in this post may change your perception of the world

But then again, it probably won't.

The other day, I found out an amazing fact. Did you know that if the tires on your bike have enough air in them, then the bike actually goes faster? This may be old news to you, but it was a revelation to me. I had attributed my slow speed in recent times to being out of shape from a few months of not so much riding, and when I then also noticed my tires were a bit low, I didn't really see a connection. But then, I got the tire levels back to where they should be, and...

My trip to school, before taking around an hour and 25 minutes, now takes just over an hour and 5 minutes.

The class I teach way out in a far distant suburb, before an hour and 30 minute ride from from my apartment, is now an hour and 10 minutes away.

Going in to town, before taking somewhat over an hour, now takes somewhat under an hour.

So the formula is, the more air in the tires, the faster the bike. This logically means that if I put enough air in my tires, I should end up with a kind of teleporter almost. The trip to work, maybe 30 seconds. I shouldn't need to buy plane tickets to go to Lisbon in July or Chengdu in August, but just put lots and lots of air in my bicycle tires, and then ride there in an hour or two. If I could find a way to bicycle over water, I could bike to see my family in California at the weekends, or meet friends in London for a quick coffee. I could go have dinner at all of your houses, wherever you are.

So, now I'm just patiently waiting for someone to invent a bicycle tire that can handle that much air.

My week in review: a post with no constant theme

Well, it's been some time since my last post, as things in my life have started to pile up. But that doesn't mean that my life has been boring. No, there have been several events worth noting. To add an educational component, I'll title each event in Danish.

1) Mavepine. Yes, I have discovered an amazing secret. If you have a small health issue, and think, 'I'll get that checked, when I have time', and then you don't get around to it, but it's o.k., because the issue has gone...well, it might come back with extra symptoms. Like, in my case, stomach pain (mavepine). I don't recommend this to any of you, it's really no fun. On the other hand, it did give me an excuse to lie in bed for a whole afternoon in the fetal position instead of working on my project. I personally don't think it counts as procrastination if there is genuine pain...does it?

2) Dejlige gaver. I recovered from my sorry state with help from a few kindly folk...or rather, like a modern Blanche DuBois, 'I have always depended on the kindness of bloggers'. I listened to an eclectic, beautiful cd sent to me by Devil Mood, and pondered the accompanying Frida Kahlo card (Frida is always good to have around when one's mind is on the topic of physical suffering). When I was feeling a bit better, I continued writing in questions and ideas in a small notebook sent to me by Maddy, shared the wonderful accompanying chocolate with Thor (hence only the wrappers making it into the photo), and looked longingly at the rest of that amazing package which I will be enjoying later. In addition, I was able to get a glimpse of Detroit, sent by DayByDay4-2Day. They were all, in short, very lovely gifts (dejlige gaver). Tusind tak!


3) Lommetyveri. This last Friday, I decided to accompany Thor home on the train instead of biking. As I was boarding the train, there were suddenly four or five men helping me to put my bike on the train. It was very odd and somewhat disconcerting...Danes do not help people with bikes, you're expected to be able to get your bike on the train yourself. I didn't know what to make of it. Until the next day, when I realize that I had been the unknowing victim of pickpocketing (lommetyveri). So, I've been cancelling cards, and ordering new ones. Of course, the first thing the pickpockets did was go and take a fairly substantial amount of money from my bank account, which is interesting seeing as I had a negative balance in my account at the time. Lesson learned: I should be more discreet when entering my code, and not keep my cards in such an accessible place. The chocolate being gone, I drowned my sorrows in tea and buns with lemon curd.

4) En blog tilbage fra de døde. Yes, that's right, a blog, back from the dead. A good event to counterbalance some of the negative stuff was the news that my friend James has restarted his blog, which had been on hold for a few months now. James is the person who inspired me to start this blog, and is sort of my blogging mentor. Unlike me, he does cool things like keeping up-to-date on current events, and writing about his opinions on the real world. I highly recommend that everyone visit. Now. Or after you've read the rest of this post anyway. And maybe commented. He's also taken part in today's Blogging against Disablism, which I highly recommend looking into. Go visit the Goldfish to see what others have done.

5) Min projekt. I'm assuming no translation is needed for that one. Is this item good news or bad news? Pretty good, I think, but I'll know more in a week or so. Now, I'm off to continue pulling conceptual threads together; the genre set of blogging, speech act theory in blogging, broad and narrow folksonomies and their implications for uncovering alternative viewpoints. Vi ses om lidt! (See you soon!)