nuzzaci - an online journal

My new threadless t-shirt submission is up. It’s a present for someone, so click the link and give it your best vote. And if you’re so inclined, pass it on to your friends too.

Follow this link to vote on Willow’s nice t-shirt.

Last week Willow bought me a new helmet. As seen in the photo above; it’s very nice. The model is called Trace and it’s made by R.E.D Protection.

Trace is to replace my vintage Brancale leather helmet (photo). With it’s optional ear pads, Trace is much warmer and suitable for the winter period. I’m also quite sure that it will protects my head a bit better than the vintage leather helmet.

When i was younger i had a belief that in one of my previous lives i was a successful business women in New York. I thought once i go to New York i will feel familiar with the city, it’s people and it’s roads. I believed New York and I had some previous life history together; almost family blood band. Once i go there i wouldn’t want to come back to wherever i came from. As i have grown older this belief has faded, but going there for the first time brought the memories of the belief back. It turned out NY and I didn’t have that much in common. Maybe my belief was wrong — there is no pre-life, maybe NY has changed since i lived there as a business women. Most probably, i just had a romantic view of the Big Apple.

With great beard comes great responsibility

Last year i saved a beard for christmas (photo), and this year i’m doing the same. As a joke people said that i wouldn’t get past the US custom with my beard. Sadly, it seems like the perceived ideas that a man with a beard has something to hide (or is a terrorist) is true. Quite a racist belief if you ask me. Whenever they had a random security check; they checked me. I got asked question while standing in queues. They went through my hand luggage. Metal detector beeped even if i had nothing on me, which resulted in a head too toe frisk. The US custom guy, when talking to Willow, referred to me as “so, who’s the felon standing next to you?”. So all bearded people, remember: with great beard comes great responsibility.

New York. New York is OK

It is probably a combination of my high expectations and the fact that we only were present between Friday evening to Monday morning, but after round one New York hadn’t knocked me of my feet. The cultural step from London to New York is tiny. The biggest cultural hurdle is probably understanding how to tip — when and how much. You get a bigger cultural different if you go 2 hours on the train outside London.

A few thing i found positive are the availability of goods (gadgets, clothes), good food and groceries (and all that in combination with the week dollar). It’s almost a bit like we here in Europe still can’t escape the after math of the second world war. Or, we simply aren’t as creed and feel we need to overindulge us in an literally a sea of options and endless possibilities. Or, what do i know, maybe our foreign trade laws are different. Maybe our economy is set up differently. I don’t know.

I’m sure if you live in New York for a while (or elsewhere in the United States i guess), you start taking all this overindulgent for granted and see it almost as a basic need and civil right. “What was the life before we all had mobile phones?” or “How would i survive without my pastrami sandwich!” kind of question.

Since we were aware of the fact that the dollar is weak, we had agreed that we would focus a bit more on shopping than we normally do when we are abroad. But neither Willow or i really got in the mood. I’m not really the kind of person who can just switch a switch and be in über shopping mode. I did manage to stumble over a few things. The only one worth mentioning is the enormous (47-54mm from 9 to 6 o’clock position) but yet so gorgeous 51-30 PU from Nixon (photo below).

I don’t think i will return to New York in a hurry, or phrased another way; don’t think i will invest any of the coming years holidays on New York. I’m quite sure though that our paths will cross sooner than later anyway.

Having said all that; before i moved to London 4 and a half year ago — i hated this city, and my encounter with it had been very limited. So, basically, my opinions and thought on New York are currently worth as much as a piece of toilet paper — after it’s been wiped and flushed away.

Not long ago Willow and I had serious thoughts of moving to New York.
So never say never.

A new way to document a holiday

I don’t like the common concept of a digital camera — snap snap snap snap snap snap snap it’s all free so let’s snap snap snap snap — almost like a chorus of a 120bpm radio hit song (rubbish). I don’t own a camera, i once did but i gave it away, and i can’t really see myself buying one soon. At the moment Willow fills all my digital photography needs with her camera.

Before we left for New York, Willow brought some film for her Polaroid camera and a Moleskine City Notebook for New York. I didn’t think much about it, but as we left our brilliant accommodation on Avenue C, Bed and Coffee, on Saturday morning it just felt so natural to start taking snapshots with the Polaroid and file them in the Molskine notebook. On the back of that, i also saved a few receipts a long the way and slowly i started collection business cards from stores and other small things that crossed my path. Very natural. Not force feeding the idea or the concept.

The line between the concept described in the above paragraph and digital photos is very thin. Maybe most of you can’t even see what i’m getting at. But for me it’s a big difference. It’s a but like advertising vs spam or singing vs talking. Small different but still not the same. And i rather look back on a holiday through a mixture of collected items wrapped in a book filled with small notes than only composed digital photography.

Have uploaded a few things to my flickr account. You can find it on http://www.flickr.com/photos/nuzzaci/tags/newyorknovember2007/. Most of the stuff is accommodated with a description.

Last time Ani Difranco visited the UK, Willow and I had tickets to the concert in Edinburgh but couldn’t go. So this time around i decided early on that only illness or death would be valid scenarios to prevent me from attending this concert. My character was put to the test when i realised that the F1 season finale in Brazil would collide with the concert. The question was never Ani DiFranco or the Formula One, the question was whether or not I would be able to watch the F1 first and then rush over to Shepherd’s Bush Empire for the concert. I decided it was too much of a gamble — even if it might be possible. I also decided that i didn’t want the outcome of the F1 to have an impact on how i would enjoy the concert.

Since i didn’t watch the race live, i knew i had to be careful with reading any text messages or answering any incoming calls to my mobile phone. So i only read text messages that arrived from people i knew weren’t interested in F1 or didn’t know i’m totally addicted to it. So when i got a text message from a Swedish mobile number that i hadn’t stored in my addressbook came through i thought it was safe. It read:

Vilken härlig tävling

Which means; What a wonderful competition

I didn’t know if i was being paranoid or not. A Formula One Grand Prix is not a competition — it’s a race. No, i thought, this must mean something else or it’s meant for someone else…. Then it hit me: Kari Kontro! I suspected (and later it turned out that i was right) that the text message from my ex girlfriend’s dad.

Kari and i had quite a few nice races together between the years 1999-2002. We were a bit like ying and yang when it came to Formula One; he being from Finland obviously liked McLaren with Mika Häkkinen from 1993 to 2001 and 2002 to 2006 with Kimi Räikkönen, me being half italian obviously loves Ferrari.

Anyone who knows people from Finland (or have seen press conferences with Mika or Kimi) now understand that the text message he sent to me has so much more weight and meaning than if it was sent from somebody with any other european cultural background. It could mean “YES!!!! KIMI WON!!!!“, it could mean, “It was really exiting. Kimi came close once again.“, it could mean, “Alonso and Hamilton were wheel to wheel during the end of the race.“. It’s now been a month and we all know what it meant (KIMI WON!!), but that’s now. A month ago i was sitting on the second balcony on Shepherd’s Bush Empire waiting for Ani Difranco to go on stage.

© Steve Asenjo 2007

Ani is special. A bit like special needs but without needs. Rather the opposite. She’s an extremely talented independent feminist solo artist measuring 157cm (5′ 2″) operating in a male dominated industry that focuses mainly on marketing female artists for their look and sex appeal; not their talent.

If you’ve read a few of my post (or know me in person) you might already know that i despise the modern music industry and am extremely pleased that they are down on their knees and covered in shit. Ani, to me, represents what music should be all about. I’m not tying it to the genre of music or that she has a political view or even that she is an extremely talented guitarist, lyricist and songwriter; she does what she does for the right reasons, and i adore her for it. Honesty before greed. Love and passion.

This was my first Ani concert, so i can’t compare it to any other Ani concert, but as far as concerts go — it was amazing. I went to the concert with Willow and Karl Ringman, and we all loved it.

I managed to capture a bit of footage with my mobile phone. It’s maybe not the best set up - a mobile phone on the second balcony - but small things can achieve great stuff. What i captured was Ani preforming a poem and a new song.

I’ve been a few places now, flown through vast empty spaces with stewardists who’s hands look much older than their faces.

My new mission is to write happy songs. Yeah i know — good luck — yeah i don’t know. Its like a fucking muscle i never used.

What doesn’t show in the footage (and that i haven’t mention yet) is how amazing the drummer was. Her name is Allison Miller and she was perfect.

Willow, wrote:

Leaving an Ani gig, you want to fill in the blanks of a conversation you started with her in your mind.

and i totally agree. I think Willow and I have to invite Ani over for bruschetta and a plate of freshly homemade spaghetti.

About 14 years ago I got a stereo from my uncle in Italy. It was a top-of-the-line stereo, and one, at the time, quite unusual feature it had was a wake up function.

So from then on (for a few years) I always woke up to the the Forrest Gump Suite by Alan Silvestri from the Forrest Gump soundtrack. It’s a very soft and pleasant wake up. Then when I did my military service the song changed, and for an unknown reason, it ended up being Rattlesnake by Live from Secret Samadhi. Rattlesnake is a very bad song to wake up to. So not by any means a recommendation. Just a fact.

After my military service ended, the habit of waking up to music ceased and got replaced by the mobile-phone alarm clock. Very romantic.

It isn’t until earlier this year, when Willow and I bought an alarm clock with an iPod dock, that I again began each day to the sound of music.

Unlike before, this time I have a playlist and not just one song to wake up to. Every morning that “alarm” picks up where the previous morning ended. We didn’t strategically choose what songs to go in the playlist. We just quickly browsed through our iTunes and picked a few that passed our mouse pointer.

So that’s why I’m writing this post, really. I’m so surprised that the playlist we literally just threw together is an extremely good wake up playlist. So good that I like to share it with you.

In alphabetic order (by track name), Volume 1 of the 2007 wake up playlist:

1. Be Good or Be Gone by Fionn Regan, from The End of History
2. Carolina by Ben Gibbard, from Home: Volume V
3. Comfort of Strangers by Beth Orton, from Comfort of Strangers
4. Fly by Nick Drake, from Bryter Layter
5. Half Acre by Hem, from Rabbit Songs
6. Hand in My Pocket by Alanis Morissette, from Jagged Little Pill Acoustic
7. I Was Just Thinking by Teitur, from Poetry & Aeroplanes
8. My Tiger My Heart by The Boy Least Likely To, from The Best Party Ever
9. Naked As We Came by Iron and Wine, from Our Endless Numbered Days
10. Twilight by Elliott Smith, from From A Basement On The Hill
11. You and I Both by Jason Mraz, from an unknown live album

On Monday, as a bank holiday Monday surprise, Willow brought home a kitten!!! She’s a black 8 week old little cutie! I got the privilege to pick a name for her, and her name is Imola.

The name Imola is of Roman origin and means “over there, down there”. In Choctaw american indian, the word Imola means “good luck”. Most people know the name Imola as the former San Marino Grand Prix Circuit.

The wonderful photo is taken by my dear friend Karl Thyselius, who at the moment is visiting us here in London.

During Topshop’s London Fashion Week, a theft occured. Two black apple macbooks went missing from the venue at Covent Garden. Both these macbooks were set up to automatically upload photos taken using Photobooth to Topshop’s flickr account and the Topshop London Fashion Week website.

Now imagine our enjoyment when yesterday we noticed some new faces on our flickr account.

If you happen to have any information on the possible perpetrators, leave a comment here or here (Flickr) .

view all the evidence here

from vvillovv’s blog

Yeah… I know; Italy, United States, New Zealand, Scotland and now Switzerland… and it’s only March. Guess I can’t complain (since I actually have a choice), but when I left for Switzerland there was nothing I wanted more then to just stay at home in our flat, doing nothing… well, ok, to do be totally honest, it was the same weekend as the first race of the 2007 Formula One Season.

The reason for this trip was snow. I have never been a person that goes on skiing or snowboarding holidays, mainly since I was born and raised in Skelleftea, where snow, most years, ends up being more of a burden than a bonus.
Willow on the other hand tries to get one snowboarding holiday or weekend a year, and this was it. Besides Willow and I, Willow’s little brother Sam and our flat-mate Annelie Widergren came along.

Like most places in 2007 - there wasn’t that much snow. So I didn’t really get into the mood of being on the slopes. So instead of renting gear and re-learning what I had learnt from 2006’s Lake Tahoe experience, I lingered with the locals.

I loved it.
Switzerland is very nice.
And I don’t regret that I had to watch the first Formula One GP on a TV with no sound.

So the weekend after we came back from our two weeks holiday in New Zealand, Willow and I went up to Edinburgh, Scotland, to pick up the Aga cooker we “won” on eBay. The coocker was brand new — still in the box and everything — so the trip was definitely worth the time, effort and the money.

This was my first visit to Edinburgh. Sadly it lasted about 90 minutes (dinner). We had to get Agatha (the cooker) down to Willow’s parents in Newcastle (where she will stay until we have made room for her in the flat) and get back to London the following morning.

Edinburgh seemed lovely though, so I will definitely go back.

A holiday is no longer about the journey. 9 times out of 10 it’s all about the destination. The journey works more as a reminder and indicator that we are actually going somewhere; telling our body and mind that we have gone somewhere else; that things are now different and we can now look upon people with an objective mind, like if we were visiting animals at the zoo.

A flight from London, UK, to Christchurch, New Zealand takes about 25 hours in travel time, and has a time difference of 13 hours plus. Now that’s a bit more than just a “small reminder to prepare for a difference in culture”.

A UK - NZ flight sticks with you for a while.
And gives you stories to tell.

It all ran smoothly up until Melbourne. The guy at customs almost tore my passport apart. I told him to be careful since I had noticed that the photo page in my passport had started to tear a bit, which led to him “inspecting” (e.g ripping) it even further. When I handed it over it was “as good as new”, when I got it back it was “almost invalid”.

Then, they (customs) didn’t even want to let us through to collect our bags. A transit visa apparently cost them money. They said, “The people in London should have sent your bags all the way to Christchurch”. They said, “We can make sure your bags get on the plane, so that you don’t have to go through customs (e.g cost us money). Come this way, and go directly to your gate.”

I said thanks.

In Christchurch customs told me Swedish passports are shit. They told me to “follow me” and “please sit” and “please wait” and “we will let you through with this passport, but be careful so it doesn’t rip all the way”.

I said thanks.

Then, the conveyor belt at the baggage claim told me, “Your bags were not on the plane”, followed by “the people in Melbourne seem to have f***ed it all up”.

I said thanks.

I left UK on Saturday the 18th of February and landed in Christchurch on the following Monday lunch time with an invalid passport and no luggage.

I said thanks.

The main reason for us flying out was to visit Willow’s best friend Elspeth Richardson. Elspeth moved to New Zealand in August 2006, with the prospect of it being better for her career as a doctor — ie she had lost faith in the NHS.

Not that many people seem to fly out from Europe to New Zealand for a two week holiday. Most visitors stop by during their “Around The World Trip”, just after they have been to Thailand or Singapore and do the whole country during a month or so. I do think that’s the best way to do it. We had two weeks and two weeks was not enough. Not even close - and we were only on the south island. Two weeks might be OK if you’re going with only one thing in mind; you’ve narrowed it down — e.g. doing amazing walks like Queen Charlotte Track or Milford Sounds — but not if you’re going to get a good bite of what New Zealand has to offer.

Before we went I didn’t know much about New Zealand. I knew it was a country the size of the United Kingdom, with nice scenery, low population and a lot of sheep.

It all as been proven correct. Except that ‘nice scenery’ should probably be ‘amazing scenery’.

Can I see myself moving out there?

No (but I did like this house).

At first I was totally blown of my feet by the amazing and untouched scenery (flying in from grey February London to hit a late New Zealand summer probably added fuel to that fire), but as the time passed a bitter aftertaste started to appear. It wasn’t that much behind the huge mountain but another huge mountain. On the other side of the beautiful peninsula was yet another beautiful peninsula.

I think being raised in a country like Sweden and its vain women has taught me to look beyond the facade.

It is a very very young country (read: since Europeans start occupying). The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840. The treaty is regarded as New Zealand’s foundation as a nation. That’s only 167 years ago. I’m not 100% sure, but I do think that it’s the young age that makes New Zealand feel a bit hollow and “amusement-park” like.

But, having said all that - I do want to go back for another visit.

1. Christchurch

   About 24 hours after we landed in Christchurch our luggage arrived, and we started our drive around the island.

2. Dunedin

   A nice little student town with a lot of Scottish inherits. Here we took the Taieri Gorge Railway (photo). I can also recommend the peninsula (photo).

3. Te Anau

   We stayed here to go Kayaking at Milford Sounds. We had a very nice accommodation(photo, photo).

4. Milford Sounds

   With an annual rainfall of 6813 mm on 182 days, we were very lucky to have wonderful weather during our day Kayaking in the sound. It was a beautiful day.

5. Fox Glacier

   From Milford Sound we drove to Fox Glacier, via Queenstown and Wakawa (photo). This is the part I wished we had scooped a bit more time for. It was lovely around these parts. A tip is to get off state highway #6 at Queenstown and drive the Crown Range Road via Cardrona to Wanaka(map). Crown Range Road is the highest part of New Zealand’s highways and a very scenic route (photo).

   The same day as we arrived to Fox Glacier we had a helicopter ride over the glacier (photo).

6. Franz Josef

   Bad weather (photo). Here we finally meet up with Hanky and Isak! Was very nice to see them, but I do think it will be even nicer to see them when they come past London on their way back to Sweden; in a more relaxed environment.

7. Christchurch

   Via Arthur’s Pass (photo) we drove back to Christchurch to pick up Elpeths parents.

8. Kaikora

   Swimming with dolphins. When I was told we were supposed to swim with dolphins I pictured a dolphin in a pool. Not 400 wild dolphins in the sea.

9. Picton

   We just stayed in Picton over night. If we had more time, I would have loved to go on the Queen Charlotte Track walk.

10. d’Urville Island

    To get to d’Urville Island, you first have to drive to French Pass, which is an amazing drive (photo), and then take a boat taxi (photo) out to the island. We had a first class bedroom view on the island (photo), but unfortunately, for me, the stay on this lovely island wasn’t as good as it could have been due to a huge abscess that appeared on my left butt cheek.

11. Nelson

    Beaches.

12. Blenheim

    On the way back from Nelson to Christchurch we did some wine tasting. I’m afraid most of the vineyards were a bit to commercialised for my taste. One that I did like was Fromm. They were Swiss and made wine “the European way”, and were actually one of the few places to use corks instead of screw caps.

13. Christchurch

    And home went.