Cthulhu & I

Ban Against Flag-ban Ban

New longer report in swedish here.

A Day At The Zoo

Mr. Cthulhu is in a fould mood today. Yesterday we went to the Billabong Sanctuary to look at the australian animals. First he was told that he couldn't eat the koalas. Then, when he sat down to sleep for a while, he was attacked by an Emu that wanted to eat HIM! And the final indignity came when the sanctuary keepers wanted to feed him to the crocodiles. So today he stays at home, refusing to go anywhere else.

Myself, I've been more lucky. In a store, recently, I found some norwegian Jarlsberg to eat and actually some real swedish caviar, but under the suspect name "cod cream" (they have some strange definitions of stuff here). Outside its raining, so no diving for me today. A bit irritating as the worlds third best dive site is just by the coast. Instead, I will spend the evening looking at the nice Tom Sellect movie Folks.

Must See Movies

Pan's Labyrinth. Saw this in Brisbane and it is a fantastic movie, one of the best I've seen in years:

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello. Cool movie, reminding me of the strange czech movies that TV used to show when I was a kid. Add in some Lovecraft type of story and a great setting and you've got a fantastic film. For you guys in sweden, the DVD is on its way back in a package now:

Don't miss them. Someone has put all of Japer Morello up on youtube, so if you are low on budget, that's a way to see it, but I recommend to rent it instead to really enjoy it.

Burn The Flag

Was national day here in Australia yesterday and all australians were waving flags like hell. Personally, I thought it would be more fitting to burn the flag, as the country is still helping to occupy iraq, but as there are steep fines for desecrating the flag, I hade to try to ignore the flags as best as I could.

Instead, I went to the cockroack-races. There, the nice little creatures with names like Sir Roach-a-lot, tried to compete on who could escape from a playing mat as fast as possible, prefereably up under the skirt of some screaming bystander. Also, I managed to find a place where they made corkscrews out of kangaroo scrotums. Felt good to know that even when the animal was dead, it was good for a last screw. Bought a real dead frog too, was to ugly to skip. Right now I'm in Rockhampton, near the river Styx. Haven't heard anything of a ferryman though, but I'll ask around.

Longer reports in swedish here and here.

White House Press Dinner

In case you missed this classic. It is from last years press dinner at the white house. Please observe how no one in the audience new what Stephen Colbert was going to say - that includes George Bush! Take a look at him during the speech and look at the audience that doesn't know if they dare to laugh.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Bushs reaction:

G'day Mates

Mr. Cthulhu & I managed to escape from New Zealand in the nick of time. We had been warned before of the dangerous killer sheep, known as black sheep, that were roaming the country. Just before we left, there were big posters saying that they were "coming soon" to Wellington.

Australia is kind of hot right now, around 40C in Mellbourne, which led to great power cuts when the airconditioners went in to overload. We managed to track down AC/DC lane, a small seedy street which seems strangely fitting for australias greatest band ever. Also, they seem to have a fondness for naming streets and parks after Batman. A funny thing is the ambulances and firetrucks were the texts are spellt backwards on the front of the vehicles, to be easier to read in the rear-view mirrors.

Recently I have been reading the Tintin-album Breaking Free where Tintin grows tired of drinking in the pubs and stealing to survive and instead starts to strike for better working conditions and a socialist revolution. Kind of a nice book. Also read about how China has their own Tintin comics with tintin as a member of the communist party. Supposed to be rarities which can be bought on the internet.

Time to finish off with a nice picture of our favourite band!

The Bravest Little Hobbit of them All

Mr. Spock in an extremely weird video.

The Fog

Right now I'm stuck in Wellington after THE FOG invaded the Wellington airport. Fearing for my sanity, I escaped from the airport, seeking refugee at my hostel. Mr. Cthulhu took it all in good stride, being more wary of the sheep by the roadside (thanks Mats, for the Violence of the Lambs trailer).

Yesterday, we went on a Lord of the Ring-tour, visiting the places where Frodo and the Hobbits hid from the blackrider, where Rivendell was placed, and some other stuff. We also took a look at the ship that brought King Kong to New York in the Peter Jackson remake. Most important, we went to the Botanic Garden and located the playground. This might not be known to all, but the playground in the Botanic Garden is where the baby-scene for Braindead was made. The equipment in the playground had been exchanged, so it was kind of hard to recognize the scene. Some scenes of Bad Taste was filmed by Makara Beach by Wellington, if the weather lets up I might visit there.

And here's where Frodo and Sam first met the elfs in LOTR.

Monkey Business

Today, I and Mr. Cthulhu went to the Wellington Zoo to look at the Kiwis. The Kiwis, however, were none-shows, preferring to hiding in the dark. Instead we had a great time looking at the showmanship of the otters, seeing the Cheetahs being taken out for a walk among the children, laughing at the stupid wallabys and Merkaats. After that, I went back to finish the book The Clash: Return of the Last Gang In Town. Tomorrow, I'll go on a tour of all filming locations around Wellington of Lord of The Rings. Otherwise, my reading quest goes on. I've finished the following books recently:

• In the Drift (read the brilliant Vacuum Flowers instead)
• The Return of Merlin (good book with confusing ending)
• Dawn of the Downs-Lord (boring)
• Question Quest (ok)
• Being a Green Mother (acceptable for a fifth part)
• For Love of Evil (good!)
• Battle Circle (ok)
• His Majestys Dragon (a MUST for all Dragon lovers!!)
• Is it Good for The Jews (not good for anyone)

New longer report in swedish here.

Cthulhu + Sauron = True

Last week, Mr. Cthulhu & I left the Shire for a visit to Mordor. It's a shame that Gandalf and the others didn't ask me, because I found a far easier way with just a few hours on bus. The idiot fellowship made a detour through the south island before going back to the north!

Mordor and the Mountain of Doom was didn't look as ugly as in the movie, but the stench of sulphur around gave it a nice touch. I give my respect to Frodo & Sam, just climbing to the start of the mountain made me tired and climbing to the top was just too much. I didn't have any ring either, just my studded bracelett, but having lost two of them this trip, I didn't want to throw away my latest buy. True to it's image, the rivers and lakes in mordor contains acid like water that is poisonous to drink.

Before going to Mordor, I made a short detour to the Waitomo caves where I spent 4 hours underground, jumping on cliffs and climbing waterfalls after a 100 meter long abseil to the cave system. I also did a skydive from 3 500 meter in Taipou, something I recommend everyone to try. Pictures will be added later (no possibility to upload pictures from this evil computer). M. Cthulhu has been a bit grumpy as he wasn't allowed to come for both the skydive and cave trip, but he felt better in Mordor where did some flying by himself on the harsh Mordor winds. He sneaked away for awhile, and it is my belief that he's trying to come to some kind of agreement with Sauron on how to rule the world best.

Tomorrow I'll go to Wellington, but right now I'm stuck in the "Art Deco" town in Napier, which means that the town has some ugly buildings that it is proud of.