þriðjudagur, júní 21, 2005
Ok people, little miss cutie-pie, our smokey black gerbil finally has a name that Darri has agreed to. After going through Sóffý Sóldögg, Cleopatra, Esmiralda, Rökkva, Snúlla, Mist, Clemetine, not to mention all the “interesting” suggestions from all of YOU.....she is now officially Dimmamlim, Dimma for short. She has been with us for 12 days and is still very skittish. I think she needs a friend, but there weren’t any other female gerbils available when we bought her. However there was a litter in the back that would be ready to come out front in about a month and they thought a couple of those might be females....so in another 2 weeks I’ll check again. Meanwhile, she sleeps a lot and makes scrabbling noises in her little red house as she adjusts her nest—we took a look inside the house today when we cleaned the cage and it really was a perfect round nest made out of the green dried grass we put in her cage.
Svanur, Freysi’s friend, has a black gerbil named Kollur (I always want to call him Hlunkur) who has free run of Svanur’s room and is all over his desk and computer etc. He did get his leg caught in his wheel(?)(Freysi, you can tell this) and broke it, so to the vet they went where the leg was splinted. But Kollur didn’t like that and managed to pull it off very quickly....three times in a row!! So, guess what! the vet put a plastic collar on him! Just like Snúlli when he was always pulling off his bandages!! Can you imagine!? A gerbil with a collar and a splint!! Haha!!
Ok, today is the LOOOONGest day....and tomorrow the days begin to shorten. We’ve had very good weather, though sometimes muggy (even in Iceland). Tomorrow will also be the 7th day since Darri started delivering Morgunblaðið to Skeifun area right across the main highway from us. And so we, he and I, get up at 5:30 AM and are off at 6 so that he can finish by 7. I drive to one spot, drop him off, drive to the “end” of that area, pick him up and then off to the next place. Because this is a business area, it’s not like walking just from one house to another. It’s more spread out. What’s neat is being in this place so early where no one is around and seeing it all in such a different light as usually it’s jammed with cars and people. Plus early morning skies are rather dramatic this time of year. We’re waiting for a bike bag from them so he can just ride over there.
And it’s been weeks and weeks since the fire and aftermath, and Freyr is finally getting everything back into its place. Would you believe that my almost 30-year old Hoover was in his apt. at the time and they threw it away!! But I actually got 6000 kr. for it!!! (that’s about $80 at that time).
And then yes I did get an award for being a dugnaðarforkur, i.e. a busy lil doobie. It was for doing volunteer “teaching” in English in that I would come in once a week to Tjarnarskóli and do fun things with those kids who wanted to take part....things like word games, scrabble, Mad Libs, word puzzles, riddles, jokes, etc. And most of this was last year, when it seemed to have such a good effect on the 10th grade that their average grade on the end-of-the-year samræmdapróf (that all 10th graders take) in English was an 8 (out of 10), the highest ever for that school and probably all over the country....(though just over 7 is getting to be pretty common as the kids are getting better and better in English, thanks to tv, dvds and the net). So, I was nominated and I got an award, one of 5, and then I was interviewed on the radio, which was fun, but rather awful(later) to suddenly REALLY hear myself speak Icelandic! Omygawd!! I will never allow myself to be interviewed again unless I speak only English. At least I did manage to mention Tjarnarskóli about 6 times or so.
Ok, there is more news, like Darri’s graduation, but that will have to be next time....my arm hurts from typing!! There is still too much to do around the new house, but it’s all worth it. Toodle-loo!! for now. (now THAT’s a good gerbil name: Toodle-loo!)
blæblæ and it’s Bugðulækur, whatever that means. (Karen is a very funny person.....she should never be made to play on a monochromatic stage...)...and sorry for all the delay. If anyone wants stuff posted, just send me emails.
ps: I will be teaching again next winter....yes I am Tjarnarskóli’s new English teacher. Now I can really torture them! HAHA! bless, mammagvc
Svanur, Freysi’s friend, has a black gerbil named Kollur (I always want to call him Hlunkur) who has free run of Svanur’s room and is all over his desk and computer etc. He did get his leg caught in his wheel(?)(Freysi, you can tell this) and broke it, so to the vet they went where the leg was splinted. But Kollur didn’t like that and managed to pull it off very quickly....three times in a row!! So, guess what! the vet put a plastic collar on him! Just like Snúlli when he was always pulling off his bandages!! Can you imagine!? A gerbil with a collar and a splint!! Haha!!
Ok, today is the LOOOONGest day....and tomorrow the days begin to shorten. We’ve had very good weather, though sometimes muggy (even in Iceland). Tomorrow will also be the 7th day since Darri started delivering Morgunblaðið to Skeifun area right across the main highway from us. And so we, he and I, get up at 5:30 AM and are off at 6 so that he can finish by 7. I drive to one spot, drop him off, drive to the “end” of that area, pick him up and then off to the next place. Because this is a business area, it’s not like walking just from one house to another. It’s more spread out. What’s neat is being in this place so early where no one is around and seeing it all in such a different light as usually it’s jammed with cars and people. Plus early morning skies are rather dramatic this time of year. We’re waiting for a bike bag from them so he can just ride over there.
And it’s been weeks and weeks since the fire and aftermath, and Freyr is finally getting everything back into its place. Would you believe that my almost 30-year old Hoover was in his apt. at the time and they threw it away!! But I actually got 6000 kr. for it!!! (that’s about $80 at that time).
And then yes I did get an award for being a dugnaðarforkur, i.e. a busy lil doobie. It was for doing volunteer “teaching” in English in that I would come in once a week to Tjarnarskóli and do fun things with those kids who wanted to take part....things like word games, scrabble, Mad Libs, word puzzles, riddles, jokes, etc. And most of this was last year, when it seemed to have such a good effect on the 10th grade that their average grade on the end-of-the-year samræmdapróf (that all 10th graders take) in English was an 8 (out of 10), the highest ever for that school and probably all over the country....(though just over 7 is getting to be pretty common as the kids are getting better and better in English, thanks to tv, dvds and the net). So, I was nominated and I got an award, one of 5, and then I was interviewed on the radio, which was fun, but rather awful(later) to suddenly REALLY hear myself speak Icelandic! Omygawd!! I will never allow myself to be interviewed again unless I speak only English. At least I did manage to mention Tjarnarskóli about 6 times or so.
Ok, there is more news, like Darri’s graduation, but that will have to be next time....my arm hurts from typing!! There is still too much to do around the new house, but it’s all worth it. Toodle-loo!! for now. (now THAT’s a good gerbil name: Toodle-loo!)
blæblæ and it’s Bugðulækur, whatever that means. (Karen is a very funny person.....she should never be made to play on a monochromatic stage...)...and sorry for all the delay. If anyone wants stuff posted, just send me emails.
ps: I will be teaching again next winter....yes I am Tjarnarskóli’s new English teacher. Now I can really torture them! HAHA! bless, mammagvc
föstudagur, júní 10, 2005
Los Otros
Music was the magic.
Music is wonderful, is it not? I like to enjoy it in many different ways but mostly as a consumer, a passive recipient of endorphin stimulating sound waves. The lyrics are less important to me, and the visual aspect is not necessary either. Music videos are especially tiresome, even distracting, most of the time. However, the experience of a live concert is something different. We went to two of those recently. Both were very interesting and even exciting. I enjoyed both immensely, but there were no real similarities between them. The first one was in a church in Reykjavík (Langholtskirkja), Ragga was the composer and singer, Sjón did the lyrics, and Stomu Yamash´ta was a guest artist on percussion. There was an organist also and a sizeable children´s choire. Lastly, Sigtryggur played on drums and all kinds of things. This concert was very unusual in many ways. The music was a blend of pop, gospel, church, jazz, musical and traditional Japanese. I will now tell a little about the artists.
Ragga was a singer with Grýlurnar, the first Icelandic all female rock band. Soon after starting the band she made the movie with Stuðmenn (“með allt á hreinu”) and later joined them, and has been singing with them until this year. (Stuðmenn are still around, just did a concert in the Royal Albert Hall in London, many of its members came from Spilverk Þjóðanna). Sjón is a poet and a writer who did lyrics for the Sugarcubes and later for Björk. (Björk sang for the Sugarcubes, for those of you who don´t know). Sigtryggur played drums for the Sugarcubes and later with Bogomil Font. Sjón just got the Scandinavian literary award for a recent novel. Stomu is á Japanese musician who studied in the States (Berkelee and others), was some kind of a prodigy in his field of percussion, played with everybody, all kinds of music, got soon tired of the States, moved to England and played and recorded all over Europe for some years. I picked up one of his recorde in the early seventies, one that he made with Stevie Winwood (of Traffic fame) and others. A really nice and unusual album, called Go. Anyway, he disappeared, apparently he joined a Buddha monastery or some such, locked himself away from the rest of the world for some years, but later came back and has been doing interesting stuff again. Or so I´m told, I had lost track of him. When I saw that he would be playing I decided to go check him out. He was playing instruments that he created himself, a collection of rocks, that had been modified so that their vibrations could be transmitted as sounds. This was obviously done partly by sawing into them many grooves or canals. Also each was equipped with its own microphone and amplifier. This was great! Very powerful experience, the ancient sounding vibrations of Japanese stones, combined with the organ and the angelic voices of children and the “Grýlu” voice of Ragga, and Sigtryggur´s percussion, playing on a more traditional set than Stomu.
I might tell more later, lyrics were kind of interesting even. But the piece was called Echoes and was about children, how they are abused, misused and exploited. About their fears and fancies and foes. At least that´s how I perceived it.
The next concert was an opera singer singing “Lieder”, “ljóð” in Icelandic I guess. This was the wonderful mezzosopran from Sweden, Anne Sofie von Otter, a 50 year old who is not afaid of singing what she wants, although she was fairly traditional here. Half of the music was Scandinavian, then she did some traditional Schubert, Mahler, Kurt Weil and a little known Irish composer named Howard Ferguson. Bengt Forsberg played the piano, apparently she has worked exclusively with him for more than 2 decades, that is for this kind of music. He is also Swedish of course and played some solos, I guess when the singer needed to rest her voice. And he is excellent! Apparently he plays all kinds of music in addition to classical, and is very interested in performing (discovering) little known artists. He played two pieces by Erwin Schulhoff (1892-1942) which was very interesting. A blend of jazz and classical I think.
This was a wonderful concert, even if the sound quality in Háskólabíó is not very good. This woman has a wonderful voice and she makes something great out of each and every song she sings. I first heard her sing when I picked up the album For the Stars she did with Elvis Costello, which is absolutely fabulous by the way. Now I await her next “crossover” venture, where she sings the songs of Benny Anderson of ABBA fame. She is trying to convince the publisher not to call the album “von Otter does ABBA”.
I think I might go to more concerts if the quality of the concerts halls in Iceland was better. And Gerður would go more often if wasn´t for all those smelly people.
Yes, music is the magic. Probably always has been, always will be.... I heard this first said on the Woodstock album I believe. Always stuck in my head ever since for some reason, just like the music itself, music itself....
Darri´s birthday is tomorrow, yes, he is turning sixteen! He gor an early gift from his parents today, a beautiful Gerbil! It´s a girl we´re told and we search for a name.
And now I´m being called to the screen by the Desperate Housewives. More, much more on music, later And always.
Music was the magic.
Music is wonderful, is it not? I like to enjoy it in many different ways but mostly as a consumer, a passive recipient of endorphin stimulating sound waves. The lyrics are less important to me, and the visual aspect is not necessary either. Music videos are especially tiresome, even distracting, most of the time. However, the experience of a live concert is something different. We went to two of those recently. Both were very interesting and even exciting. I enjoyed both immensely, but there were no real similarities between them. The first one was in a church in Reykjavík (Langholtskirkja), Ragga was the composer and singer, Sjón did the lyrics, and Stomu Yamash´ta was a guest artist on percussion. There was an organist also and a sizeable children´s choire. Lastly, Sigtryggur played on drums and all kinds of things. This concert was very unusual in many ways. The music was a blend of pop, gospel, church, jazz, musical and traditional Japanese. I will now tell a little about the artists.
Ragga was a singer with Grýlurnar, the first Icelandic all female rock band. Soon after starting the band she made the movie with Stuðmenn (“með allt á hreinu”) and later joined them, and has been singing with them until this year. (Stuðmenn are still around, just did a concert in the Royal Albert Hall in London, many of its members came from Spilverk Þjóðanna). Sjón is a poet and a writer who did lyrics for the Sugarcubes and later for Björk. (Björk sang for the Sugarcubes, for those of you who don´t know). Sigtryggur played drums for the Sugarcubes and later with Bogomil Font. Sjón just got the Scandinavian literary award for a recent novel. Stomu is á Japanese musician who studied in the States (Berkelee and others), was some kind of a prodigy in his field of percussion, played with everybody, all kinds of music, got soon tired of the States, moved to England and played and recorded all over Europe for some years. I picked up one of his recorde in the early seventies, one that he made with Stevie Winwood (of Traffic fame) and others. A really nice and unusual album, called Go. Anyway, he disappeared, apparently he joined a Buddha monastery or some such, locked himself away from the rest of the world for some years, but later came back and has been doing interesting stuff again. Or so I´m told, I had lost track of him. When I saw that he would be playing I decided to go check him out. He was playing instruments that he created himself, a collection of rocks, that had been modified so that their vibrations could be transmitted as sounds. This was obviously done partly by sawing into them many grooves or canals. Also each was equipped with its own microphone and amplifier. This was great! Very powerful experience, the ancient sounding vibrations of Japanese stones, combined with the organ and the angelic voices of children and the “Grýlu” voice of Ragga, and Sigtryggur´s percussion, playing on a more traditional set than Stomu.
I might tell more later, lyrics were kind of interesting even. But the piece was called Echoes and was about children, how they are abused, misused and exploited. About their fears and fancies and foes. At least that´s how I perceived it.
The next concert was an opera singer singing “Lieder”, “ljóð” in Icelandic I guess. This was the wonderful mezzosopran from Sweden, Anne Sofie von Otter, a 50 year old who is not afaid of singing what she wants, although she was fairly traditional here. Half of the music was Scandinavian, then she did some traditional Schubert, Mahler, Kurt Weil and a little known Irish composer named Howard Ferguson. Bengt Forsberg played the piano, apparently she has worked exclusively with him for more than 2 decades, that is for this kind of music. He is also Swedish of course and played some solos, I guess when the singer needed to rest her voice. And he is excellent! Apparently he plays all kinds of music in addition to classical, and is very interested in performing (discovering) little known artists. He played two pieces by Erwin Schulhoff (1892-1942) which was very interesting. A blend of jazz and classical I think.
This was a wonderful concert, even if the sound quality in Háskólabíó is not very good. This woman has a wonderful voice and she makes something great out of each and every song she sings. I first heard her sing when I picked up the album For the Stars she did with Elvis Costello, which is absolutely fabulous by the way. Now I await her next “crossover” venture, where she sings the songs of Benny Anderson of ABBA fame. She is trying to convince the publisher not to call the album “von Otter does ABBA”.
I think I might go to more concerts if the quality of the concerts halls in Iceland was better. And Gerður would go more often if wasn´t for all those smelly people.
Yes, music is the magic. Probably always has been, always will be.... I heard this first said on the Woodstock album I believe. Always stuck in my head ever since for some reason, just like the music itself, music itself....
Darri´s birthday is tomorrow, yes, he is turning sixteen! He gor an early gift from his parents today, a beautiful Gerbil! It´s a girl we´re told and we search for a name.
And now I´m being called to the screen by the Desperate Housewives. More, much more on music, later And always.
