Mofeta & Jerre

Who is this Sweden based duo? It was the name that captured the interest. I introduce you Jens Siverstedt, a member of a band, which every fan of good music should know. Enjoy.

Julija: I don't understand Swedish language, but I like the sound of your songs, Mofeta & Jerre seems to be a positive band. What do you sing about?

Jens: Haha, Swedish must sound really weird when you don't understand it! We try to sing about different topics, lately we've try to write more serious lyrics, more about love, politics and deeper stories. But when people think about us, they often think that we just write about party and easy-going things. I think that they should listen to our albums!

Mofeta & Jerre

Julija: I know your band collaborates with a Swedish rapper Promoe. Could you elaborate?

Jens: Sure, we went on a big tour during 2009-2010 with Promoe, we were his backing liveband. It was a really good time, he's a good friend of mine. I'm working with Promoe in the studio with some tracks that I've produced.

Julija: Do you play with other musicians?

Jens: Yeah sure! With my liveband "Spiderdogs" we've made a lot gigs with other artist, mainly hip hop artists. We've played with Adam Tensta, Chords, Timbuktu, Looptroop Rockers and many more.

Julija: Do you need special occasions or inspirations to create? If yes, what inspires you?

Jens: Hm, that's hard to answer. I often get the best results when I don't expect anything. When my mind is clean and don't have to bother of anyting else. But during the nightime I always get into a better mood for making good music.

Julija: What is the feeling when you hear your songs on the radio or see videos on MTV?

Jens: That's great! That's a big part of being a musician, to get the audience to hear your music, that's like the final stage of making music.

Band's latest videos:  



Julija: What are you listening to at the moment?

Jens: I'm listening to a lot of different music, At the moment I discovered "Frank Ocean" he's really great. And if you like good hip hop music you should listen to "Fashawn - Boy Meets World.

I thank Jens for the interview!

CCSVI Clinical Trials

 A break from my alphabet posts because of an important announcement. The Federal government is going ahead with funding for CCSVI clinical trials. Read about it here http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1016906--ottawa-to-fund-trials-of-controversial-ms-treatment?bn=1

Yay!!! It's a step in the right direction.

T: Trails

Another rainy day here.  Ever since the tree incident I'm nervous during a thunderstorm, as the tree that is now only half a tree, is very threatening. A city inspector is supposed to drop by to have a look at it and it will be cut down if it is deemed to be unsafe. I think it is and so does my neighbour. She has more to worry about than me since her house is tiny and has the most exposure to this half  tree. You would have to see it to realize what a huge thing it is and far too big for the tiny property it's on. If I don't hear anything by next week, I guess I'll have to start nagging my city Councillor

I'm waiting for the results of my  thyroid biopsy. I should know the good/bad news by the end of the week.

My legs are killing me and I'm walking very stiffly at times. Still I manage to get out on the trails walking. I'm a wreck afterwards but I don't care. I'm a wreck anyways, so may as well keep walking. If it means I spend the rest of the evening lying on the couch so be it.

The only other news is the federal government has introduced legislation to privatize the growing and sale of medical marijuana. Health Canada and regular folks like me will no longer be permitted to grow the stuff. I don't have a problem with that except once again; will the weed be of poor quality and expensive like the health Canada product is ?

There's no point in me even saying that marijuana should be legalized. Our prime minister has made it clear that no way will that ever happen while he is in office and he has a majority in parliament . An international panel has declared the war on drugs to be a total failure, and recommends marijuana be legalized, but do the politician listen ? No they and the enforcement community are stuck in  the 1950's ideology of " Reefer Madness".

For some reason a person has decided that the Sassafras trail, is the LSD trail, as you can see from the pictures below.Why anyone would get stoned and attempt to navigate this trail I think is very foolish. There are no lights, and if you veer off the trail even slightly there's tons of poison ivy. You could also easily fall down the embankment and end up in the harbour.  Otherwise it's very pretty and soul restoring to walk there.

S: Subculture

 On June 3rd I went to the "Treating Yourself Expo" in Toronto. Everything and anything, you need to know about medical marijuana. Not to long now until I get my license to legally smoke and grow my own weed. The only thing holding it up is the mail strike. In the meantime, if I get hassled I have a temporary card to legally smoke it, and the name of a good lawyer too. A young man in a wheelchair told me he was arrested even though he had his license on him. The charges were thrown out of court, but still he went through a year of stress. 

What an interesting show. The people at all the booths were so kind and had lots of useful information. The common theme  seemed to me to be about compassion, although it's amazing to see how companies are cashing in. All the things you need to start your own grow op, whether indoors or out; including a
self contained unit with lights, tables, fans, and security cameras starting at $80,000 and up, depending on how you want it customized.  They had a small unit for $1200 called the "Spinner" which holds about a dozen plants and only uses about $20 per month of electricity. If things go well, I'm considering buying one for myself. 

I tried this amazing marijuana pain relief cream. It wasn't for sale at the show but the had samples. I rubbed some on my neck which was so stiff and sore, I didn't think I would survive the trip on the bus to Toronto.
At first I thought it wasn't working; then after about half an hour Wow! It removed all the pain and stiffness.
I'll let you know the name of it as soon as I sort through all the information I picked up at the show and I have a ton of it.

Then I purchased a marijuana cookie; cranberry and white chocolate. During a break, I had a cup of tea and half of the cookie. Same thing as the cream; at first I didn't think it was doing anything and then Boom! Did I ever feel good and mellow. The cookies range in price from $8 to $10 each which is expensive, but you could easily break it up in pieces and still get a decent buzz.  What a nice relaxing trip home on the bus!!

So here we are with  this weed  subculture. It seems like everybody is doing it, yet the stuff is still illegal!

The only other news is that a tree fell on my house during a real nasty thunderstorm. The guys are outside right now cleaning up the mess.

Azin Ashourvan

Cool people go to San Francisco. Yes, they really do! Azin Ashourvan is as creative as he is enthusiastic about his work and life on the hills of San Francisco. Originally from Sweden, he has already spent one year in California working as an Art Director at the creative agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. He intends to keep on working and enjoying northern California life style in San Francisco for another year or more.
Despite time differences between USA and Europe, we had a nice conversation.

Azin Ashourvan, self portrait

Julija: Azin, you experienced Hyper Island. How was it and what did you get from it?
Azin: Yes, I went to Hyper Island in Stockholm. It was an intense year – you have to work a lot there! But, of course, it was a fun experience with lots of people from different countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, USA, UK, Norway and Denmark. We had to make plenty of projects. You get divided into groups and everyone has their own ideas!
Julija: And how did you choose to move to California?
Azin: Well, I was not planning to go there at all. I wanted to go to London. But I’ve met two guys from the agency, at Hyper Island, who were interested in having me and my creative partner for an internship in the U.S. And it happened so that I applied for that and seized the opportunity to go to the U.S. I spent over a year here already and I am planning to stay here for at least one more year.
Julija: So how does your typical day look like?
Azin: It depends. We are working with production companies, therefore we juggling a lot of projects. When we start new projects, we go through the brainstorming sessions and generating ideas. Then we are presenting our concepts to Creative Directors and so on... It means: lots of meetings!
Julija: Let‘s talk about photography. Your photos are so bright and inspiring, some of them even enchanting. How did you get into photography?
Azin: I was always interested in photography, but got into it more seriously in 2004. I went to India and was taking a lot of photos there... I like shooting people. I like portraits.

From Azin's photo exhibition, photo by Sima Korenivski

Julija: What cameras do you use?
Azin: Nikon D700 and Panasonic GF2.
Julija: Talking about other arts, what music, books and films currently interest you?
Azin: Basically, I like various styles of music. But, perhaps mostly indie pop and electro pop. I’m currently listening to James Blake and Panda Bear. I always like to listen to new tunes. I keep checking what’s new in the music world. Well, in summary: I like different stuff.
About books... I like rock biographies. Motley Crue, Marilyn Manson, etc... Very interesting.
Films... I recently saw RIO! In general I don‘t like action, but prefer indie drama comedies.
Julija: Favorite San Francisco hangout?
Azin: Dolores Park! Every weekend is like a music festival, where people come to meet each other, play music and drink beer.

Azin in Dolores park, photo by Hanna Wittmark

R: Retirement

R:Retirement

Retirement is the big topic of conversation at work. Seems like every week another Baby Boomer says goodbye to the work place. I still need to decided whether to take early retirement or try and hang in there another 3 years. Seriously though, I don't think I can. I've had a serious decline in my health the past few months; the most recent thing being my legs, especially my right one. I can still walk good but I'm having some trouble going up and down stairs; going up is much worse. Ahhh! the only way I can cope is to take it one day at a time. The future is this scary place and I can't handle it.

Here's a few shots from another recent walk. Strange to find two street  memorials in the neighbourhood.  The cycle of life: creation, preservation, destruction.

 

Q: Questions

Q: Questions

OK  now I have some growths on my thyroid and am waiting for the biopsy results. So looks like it's going be another round of questions What? Why? What to do  about it? 

In the meantime I went to the Global Marijuana March, on May 7th in Toronto. Here's a few snaps of that day. You can see it's a large, diverse crowd. Will Weed be legalized in Canada?

No way, not with our current "We want to be just like America" Conservative government. People forget that the last few years we had a minority government; but now with a majority, the Conservatives will be able to push their much loved hobby horses: Increase in military spending, mandatory sentences for drug possession, free hand for big business to do as they please, dismantling of the healthcare system etc. etc.  Think it won't happen? Just give them a few months to settle in and then you'll see.  

Not that it matters much, according to these guys.