Extremely subtle, one of the most real takes on human existence during horrific conditions that I have seen, Army of Darkness succeeds where many war-films have failed by capturing the human spirit while encapsulated by a mission, forcing the individual to forsake her/his own self for the sake of others, and telling how far one can bear existence before transforming completely. Direction, colours, acting, photography, script, soundtrack and plot all adds up. Brilliant. And you must pick up the Criterion edition of this film.

Hilary Swank stars in this real life-story based film, playing Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena, a girl who lives as a boy, causing broken hearts, confusion, dual existance and anger in those who feel “men are men, women are women” (a.k.a. idiots), which sadly is what killed her.

Brilliant direction, acting and very good photography. Very recommendable.

The track “Credit Card Mail Order” is a nice marriage between Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys.

I live in Sweden, a country that’s hailed by George W. Bush as the forefront of success when it comes to privatising social security. The country in question is also hailed by Osama Bin Laden for its dedication to neutrality.

We have what in the USA is known as universal health-care, i.e. we pay for our health-care merely by paying taxes. Medicines cost a bit, but not very much (except for specials).

This might change, though. Our current government would love to be able to sell every single hospital to private companies, corporations and consortiums.

In the USA, everybody willing to seek health-care needs to fend for her or his self by paying – lots. Michael Moore shows a bit of the reality that more than 50 million Americans face: living without health insurance.

A guy lops off two tips of his fingers and needs to have them put back, but one costs $12,000 and the other a lot more [I can’t remember the exact number, but something like $30,000 isn’t improbable]. He chose the one that cost less, and ended up having to pay that obscene amount of money.

And so the stories go, throughout the film. Detainees in Guàntanamo Bay get universal health-care, but not Americans. So Moore takes three people who helped out in New York during 2001-09-11 to Cuba, where they’re instantly helped. They’re diagnosed, get help and medication; where one person pays $120 for a bottle of medicine at home, she pays 5 cents (!) for it in Cuba. Think about it.

And we’re shown basically the same thing in France and England. And in Canada, we’re shown that Americans who need health-care at times end up marrying Canadians just to get universal health-care. Radiant.

The health-insurance companies are slammed as the money-grubbing, corporate )&€’s that they are.

All in all, this is much needed film that shows us what happens when a small elite earn a LOT of money from doing something they can do when they abuse their power, and the rest – i.e. the people – suffer.

I really like the fact that The Dap-Kings have been making the sweet music here. Their work with Sharon Jones is brilliant as well, though more funky, much in the same vein as the work of Marva Whitney and James Brown!

I don’t get it. He should be bad, but this is good, akin to the album before this one. Yikes!

I believe the entire album is available for listening at Fehlmann’s MySpace-site: http://www.myspace.com/thomasfehlmann

I’m very into The Chemical Brothers.

Ever since experiencing their debut album I’ve been infatuated with them, but this is the first real let-down. I mean, it’s not like they’ve become bad, but they’re transforming into something else. It’s more like a friendship you’re growing away from rather than disliking the person.

In my opinion they’re better off without trance, with more grooves and less vocalists – except I miss Beth Orton.

It’s available in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2emHj3qTX9k

From my blog:

It’s in Swedish. I’m pretty sure Malmsten has Asperger syndrome while/yet maintaining a highly emotive sense of writing. She seems too obsessive and off-the-beaten-path not to have asperger; the bits in her book where she writes about getting hold of a new passport and her unwillingness to give up her old car, respectively, speaks a lot of this. Her integrity rings true, only to be matched by her exact sense of commenting on bad/mediocre/good/great art. She calls herself a sociopath, which is not true and merely serves as a vehicle for her to drive a stake through her own heart before anybody else; that’s my amateur psychological reasoning on the matter, anyway. How convenient, blah. I don’t know if I’m mad with her because she’s so good at writing or because her (lack of) reasoning at times reminds me of my own, and hence easily brings my own short-comings to mind. Still, she writes a fuck lot better than I. Sherlock Holmes once “said” that identifying one’s short-comings should be on par with identifying one’s strengths. Anyway, her written tidbits of the moles in her garden, of how she says yes to every author-gig imaginable (incessantly hating herself for it), of her love for The Shield, and of how older women shouldn’t be ashamed of desiring young men are just a few of the pieces that make this book very recommendable. Get it!