Folclore imaginari

The best thing about Livejournal is that people can have their own space to write about the things they find interesting. The worst thing about Livejournal is that people that get same open place to write about things that should not be written in a public space.

We still believe in blogging, and therefore we have transformed Johan's domain to our own blog central.

Nicolette's can be found at:
http://www.marabous.se/nicolette

And Johan's at:
http://www.marabous.se/johan

31MAY - WEDNESDAY
LV LOS ANGELES 6:05 PM 136 AMERICAN AIRLINES
AR LONDON HEATHROW 12:25 PM ECONOMY
DINNER/BREAKFAST

01JUN - THURSDAY
LV LONDON HEATHROW 2:25 PM 6547 AMERICAN AIRLINES
AR COPENHAGEN 5:15 PM ECONOMY
OPERATED BY BRITISH AIRWAYS

I'm going home again. But if only for a fortnight, it'll be so nice. I can't believe I have not been home in a year and a half. I have never been away for this long before. So much to do. Nicolette is coming with, but she only managed to get one week off work. Can't wait.

(Old picture I found in my mailbox, by David Rager).

Music: Bobb Trimble / 'Glass Menagerie Fantasies' _Iron Curtain Innocence_ '80

Dita von Teese and Nicolette.

Yeah so, Dita von Teese, aka Heather Sweet, aka Mrs. Marilyn Manson , came by work friday for a signing. She was actually a lot more normal than I expected. She didn't even object when me and Charles told her she had to use the public restrooms at Nordstrom. And her gothic followers were polite, even all the creepy middle aged men who wanted their copies of the Playboy issue with her on the cover signed were well behaved . Or maybe it just seemed that way because we all got drunk.

The Bill Clinton event at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion didn't quite turn out as I hoped. I kind of dreamed of chillaxing in the back with Bill and talking the future of the EU. That didn't happen. The highlight was actually Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's introduction speech - "I remember a time when we had a president who still believed in science". Well that got most roars and cheers. Then we all got drunk.

Saturday, Nicolette and I went to see the Belgian movie L'Enfant (that I believe won at Cannes last year) with Charles and Philip. It wasn't that great, and not what I'd consider Palm-material, but they do make some weird picks. Afterwards we all went to our house and Elizabeth came over and we all got trashed and played drunk-dominos. I think Charles cheated, but then again, he was the only one who fully knew the rules. Philip and Charles ended up staying for the night. Good times.

Sunday we finally found out what the "Weasel" is at the locally worldfamous Chuck's breakfast dinner. It wasn't quite what we expected (the Weasel that is), but the food was great. We'll be coming back.

Music: Kazuhiko Katoh / 'Arther's Boutique' _Come To My Bedside_ '70

Believe it or not, it's our one year wedding anniversary today.

We both took work off for a relaxing day. In the morning we took our bikes for a spin and biked towards downtown and went to our favorite breakfast place in Long Beach, the Coffee Cup on 4th and Grand. Afterwards we went home to relax, only to later get the bikes out again and went for a ride long the beach. There is some great bike passages in Long Beach, especially around the beach and the harbor. We both intend to map them out and figure out how we can bike all the way up to Los Angeles without having to bike on heavily trafficated streets. This time we didn't go that far and we stopped to have drinks at a small brewery on the beach. Right now we are getting ready to go drive down to Laguna Beach and go to the fabulous resturant French 75 for a nice dinner. Good times indeed.

Music: Nicolai Dunger / 'Lyckokatt' _Nicolai Dunger Sjunger Edith Södergran_ '06

Wall of cottons, Los Angeles.

Yesterday Lymaris and I went to L.A. to fabric shop. Her for a couture class, me for the Chloe knock-offs I am planning to fashion. Our first stop, (pictured above) was this really nice store, too many rooms of the most beautiful fabrics. Some were so intricately hand beaded, feathered and whatnot that they cost $650 a yard! I left with some gorgeous dupioni silk. Its a nice change from the garment district where you really have to root around for a good thing. After that we ventured over to a wherehouse full of designer remnants, nice things also, but more like downtown with some digging for the real treaures. There I picked up a really interesting silk (I think) with the texture of a grosgrain ribbon. Too bad there was only a little left, so I'll have to be creative and figure out something to make with it.

While I was in L.A., Johan took my bicycle to the shop for a tune up (finally!) then went for a nice ride. We were actually supposed to go for a night ride in downtown L.A. but the cold and windy weather stopped us. Instead we had a disappointing and expensive meal at the tapas place around the corner and went to see "The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada". Johan thought it was one of his favorite movies of last year, and I think I agree!

On the job front, I had two more interviews this week, and I am SO sick of interviewing. I feel really beaten down by it all. But the last one went the best so I am keeping my fingers crossed. It will be so great for us if I get the job (even though I will be embarrassed to tell anyone where it is).

Fingers Crossed!


Music: Anthony Pateras & Robin Fox / '$2.50' _Flux Compendium_ '06

Hello from rainy London, and the other Nicolette!

So, Johan spent most of last week layed out on the couch with a mysterious illness. With no heath insurance, I just gave him the leftover amoxicillan I had from some other time I was sick. He started to get better slowly but I awoke on Monday feeling like hell myself. Since I have insurance I quickly went to the doctor to find out I have bronchitis. Luckily I had two days off work planned, to see Laetitia and Co. so I spent one day resting and visited with her on Wenesday. Since it was a sunny day we sat around the pool at the Travelodge in Costa Mesa and talked about life and love and Shiatsu massage. At five I picked up Johan, after dropping of Laetitia at the venue, and he and I scooted home for some dinner and rest then went back to Detroit Bar for the show. It was a good night but I payed for it yesterday and woke up feeling even worse.

Still, I had to go to work because the VP and our "visual" person were coming for a visit. I use that term loosely since all he seems to do is insult everyone, talk loudly on the phone about his celebrity friends, and go off for expensive lunches and smoking breaks. At one point he said something to me in such a way that it brought tears to my eyes. He later made up for the comment by giving me Donatella Versace's credit card and a $3000 sale. Thank god they leave today, so I only have to suffer one more afternoon with them. And thank you Donatella for the commission!

I also had a job interview yesterday, with another chi chi clothing store in the mall that has tried to recruit me a couple of times. The pay scale is truly terrifying though, straight commission! Its not at all my style so if I do get an offer I think I will have to decline. But on the bright side, 30 minutes after I got to work a friend from another expensive store (also not my style at all) called to tell me about an opening with more secure, and higher, pay. It might be good for a while, some extra money so we can go on vacation this year and I can concentrate on finding something that really makes me happy. We'll see!

Music: Clogs / 'Kapsburger' _Lantern_ '06

Nicolette's bicycle. That's right, she got a stylish Peugeot. And it wasn't even me who got it for her, it was a (belated) Christmas present from our great great friend Liam. It came in a box today, and now I am trying to put it together (that's right, in the kitchen, it's dark - not to mention cold - outside!). Unfortunately, I don't really have a thumb for this bike business. My father once bought a motorcycle in a box (missing most things) and managed to get it together. I am afraid I didn't inherit that side of him. I kind of gave it up for the evening (hence why I am on the computer now). But hopefully I will get it up and running in the morning - because oh yeah, we're both off work tomorrow. I smell a bike trip!

I just finished a killer (seriously!) mix cd for Conrad. It's probably the best damn mix cd I have ever done. I'll publish the tracklisting once he's received it. Not that anyone would care, but I'm just proud of it.

Music: Judy Henske & Jerry Yester / 'Rapture' _Farewell Aldebaran_ '69

Valentine's Day started out rather dramatic. Soon after we woke up, I realized the power was out in the entire house. We called the electric company and it turned out entire nothern Bellmont Shore was suffering from the same problem. Our biggest concern was that all the food we had recently purchased at an expensive trip to Cost Co the other day was going to go bad. Luckily enough, we didn't have to wait the estimated four hours for the power to come back on, and everything made it okay.

Foolishly I decided to check my email before we left. My dad had scanned a letter from the Danish IRS, not only demanding alot of money, but within the next eight days. To add to the troubles, the eight days had already passed in the time it took the letter to arrive at my parent's house. Although Nicolette and I's economy is the best now since I arrived here a year ago, this will be extremely hard for us to pay back (because of the large amount). I realized in the last few years I have inherited alot of my father's socialistic morals, especially regarding the respect of working hard and paying your taxes. But considering its been such a long time since I worked in Denmark, this is a really annoying bite in the ass.

This was mentally a rough start to a day we had been looking forward to for a while. We planned to resume our tradition of spending Valentine's day in a villa at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, so we decided to try and shake the bad news off and make the best of it. Our first stop was our favorite breakfast place, Toast. From there we went to Little Tokyo where Nicolette wanted to buy some tabi socks and a short kimono, but she didn't find either. So off we went to Chinatown to find some one dollar shoes for me, that my friend Rikki had bought a couple of years back, but again no luck. So the only thing purchased before we reached the hotel was last year's excellent LP by the Silver Jews, picked up at Amoeba.

The Avalon was just as lovely as we remembered it, and we really had a great evening. Just like last year, we picked up takeout from Real Food Daily to eat in our cozy room. Then we went down to Blue On Blue and had drinks by the pool. I'm really glad that we managed to brush off our worries and have a successful Valentine's. I have to say though, after all the problems we have had in the last year, and now this, we deserve a medal for getting through things relatively unscathed.

Oh, and here is a super cute gallery of pictures of Liv on Valentine's Day!

Music: Haruomi Hosono / 'Chatanooga Choo-Choo' _Tropical Dandy_ '75

My haul from the farmer's market this morning. Look at the prehistoric cauliflower!

Last night after work, Johan went down to San Diego with Patrick and Charles to see Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche at the Spreckles Theater. Apparently Jeff was in rare form and being quite the smartass comedian. As for me, I went over to Lymaris' house to get some drawing done and visit with her and my favorite dog friend, Fiona. We didn't get much work done though, just talking and eating and watching 'The Motorcycle Diaries'. It was nice to have some girl time, I almost forgot what that was like. Funnily enough, Johan said the same thing about his boy time when he got home from the show, with an empty 32 of High Life in his hand, no less! Pleasant evening for the both of us.

Music: Håkan Hellström / 'Kom Igen Lena' _Det Är Så Jag Säger Det_ '02

Nicolette and I went to see Maja Ratkje at the Red Cat (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater), which is located in the back of the Disney Hall in downtown L.A. This was the first time I've ever seen a solo set of hers, perviously I have only seen her with Fe-Mail and other groups. I thought it'd be less "crazy" and intense solo, but half of it was blood dripping rough. Not that I minded. Ratkje to me is one of the few people in modern music that deals with electronics based music that I still find interesting. Together with Efzeg and a few others. Her music just stands out, and it's not because of her incredible voice, she's just simply interesting. Keeps my attention, which is hard to do these days. The set was great, and it included one "real" song, which I think was sung in German, but it could've been a made up language too. I for sure concluded that it was not in her native Norwegian tongue. I am hopeful about a new album. Her band Spunk put out an album (En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom) that came out in November which is amazing, probably top 3 of 2005. Definitely. The crowd at the Red Cat was slightly odd. Seemed like a bunch of CalArts students, I guess they get discounts and got nothing better to do on a friday evening. I was browsing Ratkje's records at the merch table when a man asked what the Fe-Mail album (Syklubb Fra Haelvete) sounds like - the merch guy had no idea. I thought about putting in my two cents and saying that's it sounds like Merzbow, if Merzbow was two girls from Norway. But quickly figured that wouldn't help him at all.

I realize that I am a music snob, just like Nicolette is a food snob. So I thought about starting a music snob blog. Unfortunately the host for my domain marabous.se doesn't support the needs for using WordPress. I guess I should change hosting company, but we don't really have the money right now. Or maybe I should just settle for using Blogspot. Or maybe I shouldn't start a blog at all, after all, it's so ridiculously hip right now. But I think Nicolette is secretly considering making a food blog...

I hate my camera, I badly want a new one. As shown above, it doesn't work at all in the dark. It looks like me and Nicolette will get some money back from the IRS though. So maybe, finally, we'll be able to get a Digital Rebel XT. The rest of the money will have to go towards out trip to Europe this summer. It looks like Landskrona and Paris, but maybe a couple of other stops too?

Sunday Leah and Conrad came by for dinner which was lovely. I hope they'll join us again real soon.

Music: Jackie O'Motherfucker / 'Rockaway' _Flags Of The Sacred Harp_ '05

Another day lacking motivation but I plan to remedy that with a couple of things. Rosemary and black pepper soda bread, round two (as seen here with last weeks wild mushroom soup). Also, a neglected drawing to once again be resumed, and for a good cause... our embarassingly belated wedding thank you's. Gabrielle came up last week and spent the night while Anthony was camping alone in Mexico, scary! She and I did some wandering around in L.A., ate lunch at the Pho Cafe and treated ourselves to new perfume. Johan also treated himself to a rare and expensive record from Japan so we all had a successful shopping day. In the evening the three of us went to dinner at Fora, a fancy place Johan and I had been eyeing. It lived up to the expectation and we all enjoyed our food. We planned to take Gabrielle to our secret "speakeasy" afterwards, a snobbish hidden wine bar, but they were closed. We opted instead for wine and dark chocolate at home.

On another note, I know I'm a capable chef and baker, but I am continually defeated by rice of all things! Even Johan can cook it better than me, and thats saying alot. He put it absolutely right last night when, after tasting dinner, he said "I think rice is your kryptonite". Does anyone know the secret to perfect rice?

Music: Neil Young / 'Ambulance Blues' _On The Beach_ '74

Yes, I didn't do a whole lot today, but I managed to finally try this bread with happy results.
Toasted with a piece of sharp cheddar, its heaven!

Music: Tortoise & Bonnie "Prince" Billy / 'Daniel' _The Brave And The Bold_ '06

Last night we celebrated Gabrielle's 25th birthday at French 75 (of course, eating there was my idea)! The food, wine, company, AND chocolate souflee were all amazing.

My mind is lately a mess of clouds and confusion although, interestingly enough, the anxiety and heart flutters I've been plagued with seem to have disappeared in the last few weeks. The new year has set me thinking, and I guess I've got a goal in mind. Not so much a resolution but more of a feeling that this is the right time to figure out what to do with myself. Seems late, at age 28, but I've always been a late bloomer. Last year was so crazy for me, so much going on that the year flew by before I could blink. So I hope this year will be more settled, and I can spend some serious time on myself. This simple goal leads me to many other thoughts (and fears), and this is what accounts for my foggy mind these days. Of course, there is the fear of choosing something big, and just one thing to focus on for a good long while. What if I choose the wrong thing? I could go back to school, but what if I waste alot of money on something I don't want? And I feel like I don't even know what I want, other than to get the hell out of my dead end retail job. But for as much as I hate it, I've fallen into some level of comfort, and its hard to get out.

I've been addicted lately to the blog of an american girl living in Malmö. And in all likelyhood, not far from Johan's old apartment. So I read about her daily routines and experiences and learning the language and dealing with a life that could have easily been mine. And I am wondering all the time if we didn't make the right descision, for Johan to sell his apartment and move here instead of the other way around. Because the idea of moving to a foreign country and learning a new language and foraging a new life seems so appealing, and exactly the kind of push I think I need to get things done. I feel so stagnant here and I don't know how to begin to get out of it. Of course I don't regret the path we took to get to where we are now, I just think about how it would have been if I had moved to Sweden. I hope soon to come to some resolve, to get some insight into things, and maybe I'll begin to feel more motivated. Its so hard to get a move on though!

I ventured over to Fashion Island the other day, dropped off our rings to be polished up, and saw a friend at Nieman Marcus. The plus side to friends in retail is the super extra discounts. The minus? When even that is still too much for my poor self to afford! Still reeling from trying on lots of beautiful and expensive things, I stumbled into Teuscher's and spent an obscene amount on three pieces of chocolate.

But the champagne truffle was worth it!

Music: Mick Softley / 'I'm So Confused' _Any Mother Doesn't Grumble_ '72

Liv is now finally walking (and wearing our christmas gift).

Happy New Years friends!

Music: Alan Hull / 'One More Bottle Of Wine' _Squire_ '75

Gabrielle and Nicolette, with ghost-Anthony in the back.

Christmas at the Amette's was really nice. Very different from a Christmas at home, but lovely nonetheless. The intimacy with having the presents given in the morning was very nice. But I still missed my family and my parent's house a lot. I also miss not having the days between Christmas and New Years off. I definitely feel like those two days wasn't enough. Luckily we're both off on Saturday and Sunday.

There is a small hidden Italian restaurant a couple of blocks away from our house. It's tapped away on a backstreet and you could pass it by daily without ever noticing it, and it's so small the actual seating area is smaller than our living room. Our plans for Saturday is simply to try to get a table and have lovely and quiet New Years, just the two of us. I use the word try because we don't know if we will be able to, they don't take reservations. But hopefully it'll go our way. Then champagne at home and a midnight walk.

Last, with much sadness for the both of us; a farewell to my favorite guitar player of all time, Derek Bailey. Bailey passed away on Christmas day at the age of 74 at his home in London.

Music: Spunk / 'Marbles' _En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom_ '05

The Drag City-syndrome (and how I hate Pitchfork Media).

Drag City is a label with an incredible roster, some of the most important and outstanding artists of American indie music for the past 15 or so years. But for some odd reason, the major names on the label suffer from their own past. Even though Will Oldham is very much beloved by his fans, there is still some kind of state of mind that his best works are behind him. It doesn't matter how good Master & Everyone was, no one would ever say that it was good as I See A Darkness. Most people would probably even claim that no music is and will never be as the music he did when he was still calling himself Palace Music. And it's a syndrome that has reach pretty much all of the big names on Drag City. David Berman will never make an album as good as American Water, and David Grubbs will never make a solo album as good as any of the Gastr del Sol titles. Jennifer Herrema and the Royal Trux, Weird War and Make Up, I could go on and on. I don't even want to mention Jim O'Rourke. Even Joanna Newsom will most likely soon be hit by this. Unless the album she's currently recording becomes an incredible masterpiece, people will always say, "but oh, it's not as good as The Milk-Eyed Mender", to every record she will ever make.

But the person who has this syndrome the most, is Mr. Bill Callahan. People's opinion about Smog always stops at the debate if Knock Knock is as good as Red Apple Falls or not. Whenever anyone reviews a new Smog album, people always compare it to those two titles. It reaches such a point where there isn't even a comparison, it's sacred, like a first love. And even when a record like A River Ain't Too Much To Love is released, the attention is barely noticable. It's not Red Apple Falls. I'll agree with that. It's much, much better. I'd even go out on a limb and say that it's probably the best American record the past 20 years. Maybe even more. If any artist would have released it as a debut, it'd have ended up on everyones top of 2005. Now it can't be spoted anywhere. At home with the idiots at Pitchfork it doesn't even reach the top 50. Sick. Sufjan Stevens? Please, has anyone ever even made it through that album?

Music: Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes / 'Un Infinie Tendress' _Libertés_ '76

My first Lussekatter!

I think I struggled a bit with making the 'S' but they came out nicely. Of course, the real test is when Johan gets home from work! He wouldn't even let me use a recipe other than his mothers, and when he emailed his dad to ask for the recipe, his dad said, "of course you want the real thing". Men! Today has been a nice relaxing day (finally!). I woke up late, grocery shopped, baked, had a glass of champagne, now I'm off for a pedicure and looking forward to Johan getting home.

I think the Christmas spirit is on its way!

Music: Paul and Linda McCartney / 'Ram On' _Ram_ '71

Time really ran away the last couple of weeks. I'm not making excuses for not following up on the Christmas calendar, it's just been busy times and extended mall hours. The other day I was looking at Nicolette's work schedule for next week and it took me several seconds to figure out why Sunday was all crossed out. Way too soon! I haven't even really gotten into the whole Christmas spirit yet. No seriously, I am all about Christmas, capitalism aside. Maybe it's the weather, or maybe I am just missing my parents house and its decorations (I am not talking Christmas lights). Hopefully the Christmas feeling will kick in tomorrow when Nicolette is baking lussekatter (lusse-cats!). Mmm, too bad Ikea ran out of Julmust.

All the Christmas shopping is pretty much done, which is good. The big package to Sweden cost 60 bucks to send. But I am happy about it, it's good - hopefully it will arrive in time. We just got Nicolette's parents left, but we know what to get them. It's a good feeling of content.

My dear mother works in retail, in a clothing store to be exact. I remember once she started working there, for Christmas, our family and friends would all get in presents in form of clothes from her store. Me and my sister thought it was slightly embarrassing due to the fact that no one (when a kid) loves a soft package. But ironically enough, for this Christmas I find myself buying quite a lot of presents from Book Soup. It's not a way of getting cheap presents though, because no matter how high your discount is, books are not exactly cheap. I spent 225 dollars on books the other day, that was with a 40% discount. It adds up quick.

Nicolette did this drawing for the flipside of Carla's mix. I am running behind on my mixes...

Music: Sachiko Kanenobu / 'Ashita Kara Tooku He' _Misora_ '72

Oh we're starting a Christmas calendar. Four days late, but whatever.

Nicole Richie and me at Book Soup.

Music: Cat Power / 'Lived In Bars' _The Greatest_ '06

"NONONO, stop messing with those cameras, you have to be in the pictures too!" says mom on Thanksgiving, to Johan and Dad, in the pursuit of a family portrait for christmas cards.

We had a good day, Johan's first Thanksgiving, though not particularly relaxing. I started one dish the night before, finished up early the next morning and then we faced terrible traffic on the drive to San Juan Capistrano. Once we got there, it calmed down a bit, my mom, sister and I finished up our dishes, then we all drank a bottle of Veuve Clicquot beofre the guests arrived. My cornbread casserole with butternut squash, wild mushrooms and ancho mole sauce came out beautifully and got rave reviews! I also made a yukon gold and sweet potato gratin. Gabrielle fixed a baked mash potato dish, sauteed brussel sprouts with canelli beans, and broccolini. Mom did the turkey and pies, pumkin and pecan. Yeah, we are food snobs! Too much food and drink, and everyone ended up playing darts after dessert. Unfortunately Johan and I both had to be to South Coast Plaza at 8 am the following morning, for work. It was busier than I ever remember the mall being on Black Friday, and Johan and I rushed out of there after we got off work.

Good news came yesterday, our INS interview went well. We got approved! Johan's greencard will be here in a couple of weeks! Now we can start planning our trip to Tokyo again!

Music: Francois Bayle / 'No. 2' _Tremblement De Terre Tres Doux_ '80