Not that there was any chance of it being voted off. With the “Pirate Party”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party and “Billie the Vision and the Dancers”:http://duenos.net/article/26/billie-the-vision-and-the-dancers Stockholm is still my favorite city-I’ve-not-been-to, but here’s another reason why, the subway. In most cities, the underground transportation network is a necessary evil, a utilitarian piece of infrastructure used to get around and not much more. But in Sweden’s capital city, the subway is so much more. It’s a work of art. Here’s a “link”:http://archibase.net/archinews/14172.html to a gallery of gorgeous pictures from Archibase.net showing polished Scandinavian escalators running along rough cave walls and painted murals that could almost make you cry with envy. And it’s all so clean too…
Tag Archives: sweden
Sweden to open a Second Life embassy
This is both exciting and puzzling. It’s exciting because I love the idea of the post-national communal space online that Second Life is meant to be, but I can’t help but be puzzled at its continued success as the interface is so blocky and well, ugly.
When I first about Second Life (probably through boingboing.net) I was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who went out and downloaded the software, installed it, and then made my first and only trip into Linden world. Snow Crash is one of my all-time favorite books, so the idea of a nascent metaverse really appealed to me but when I got there it seemed stunted, awkward, and slow. And that was on a T3 line!
I’d imagine that I would really like Second Life in a few years but for now I just can’t get into it, even though it may help me get into Sweden.
An article about the move can be found “here”:http://www.thelocal.se/6219/
Does Second Life make you all tingly inside? Maybe you should try getting a “first life”:http://www.getafirstlife.com/.
Billie the Vision and the Dancers
It”s time to talk about my new favorite band, Billie the Vision and the Dancers. I discovered them while cruising around Last.fm. Since then they have jumped to the top of every chart in my mind and I couldn’t possibly be happier. Combining the sounds of English indie-pop, American folk rock, and a bit of the catchiness of European dance music, this Swedish group is truly amazing.
According to the band”s Last.fm profile page, “Billie is not a person per se, but rather represents the inherent quality the band wants to encourage their listeners to find within themselves. Billie is about not being afraid of being naive, pretentious or corny, to be proud of what you are.”
If you”re like me and afraid to lay out cash for a new album that may really suck then you”ll love the best part about Billie and the Dancers, they”re free. Their record company, Love Will Pay the Bills, offers both of their albums for direct download through Last.fm or at their website. There really is no excuse not to try them out, and when you do I can guarantee you”ll like it.
See my previous post about Last.fm: Melodic match-making on Last.fm