Read Some Stewf

Curried Lamb Stewf

EGOSURFING REPORT: I'm pretty pleased with the top 10 Google results for “stewf”. My monicker (developed by a corporate naming think tank in San Jose) is proving to be search engine optimized. The only result that doesn't have anything to do with me is for a Curried Lamb recipe from Iowa’s KWWL Channel 7. Hot. Can’t complain.

Come with Me to the Magical Land of Orkut

Friendster was a great idea, but it's outgrown its little body. The website was built on the notion that people meet new people through their friends. While that’s certainly true, and Friendster often brings people together, the system is limited to that single type of networking. It ignores the fact that even more friends are made in groups of folk with a similar interest. Followers of Noam Chomsky are likely to dig other Chomskites, Howard Zinners, and Gore Vidalies. Terry Gross listeners might hang with other Grossers, Ira Glassheads, Garrisons. Scorpion fans and White Snake fans often find common ground. And so on.

Enter Orkut, a new online community concept created by Google engineer Orkut Buyukkokten (hence the ill-advised name). Instead of merely listing people with a similar interest, Orkut offers communities, each with its own discussion forum, in which to meet and gab with your kindred spirits.

Orkut = Friendster + LiveJournal-style communities + a goopy layer of cheesy design

(Don’t gag too much on the cheese bit yet — we’re feeding the developers a good dose of aesthetic advise, so hopefully the bad graphics will soon be replaced with simple functionality.) Joining requires an invitation from a current member, so if you’re not Orkutized yet, let me know and I’ll hook you up. Anyone who still endures my stewf.com ramblings deserves at least that in return.

Seriously, Orkut is good. Just today I got some good nightclub and hostel tips from my Stockholm group, soaked in fans’ favorite lines from the canceled-but-not-forgotten “Home Movies”, and even joined a “John McLaughlin Group” community. Yes, John freaking McLaughlin. If that’s not proof of Orkut’s goodness I don’t know what is.

Thanks to Dave for the tip.

Feather

Found today among some old files is this movie. Some pigeon down got stuck to our skylight at work. Music: Calexico.

Hello Sun

Suddenly, someone switched on the light. The short, gray days of the last 6 months are no more. This latitude is wacky — within a few weeks the average hours of light per day has jumped from 8 to 15. We went to the water to celebrate. Photos are provided. BONUS MOVIES: Birds! (from yesterday) and Orange Bike (from the same area a few days ago, featuring an episode in which I nearly run over a duck).

The Tiny Heart

Caution. This entry opens with straight up musings but descends into gushing weepery. You have been warned.

I get 3 TV channels at home. All are free, state-funded Swedish entities and they’re not bad. Fortunately, unlike their German neighbors, Sweden never dubs. I get to see all the English programming (and there is plenty, from Oprah to feature films) with Swedish subtitles. I’ve actually learned a lot of Swedish this way. I’m not a big TV chump, but I do turn it on from time to time to see if one of these American imports is on.

Last week I caught Up North, MTV’s Scandinavian showcase of chart-topping music videos. Among the usual alt-rock and neo-soul rubbish was a video for “Closer”, by The Tiny. I only got 30 seconds, but I could tell it was something important. A voice akin to Stina Nordenstam, one of my svensk favorites, sangwhispered with deep feeling over the spare backing of cello and piano. The imagery was equally subtle and strong.

I forgot about The Tiny until today when my dear ex-Stockholmer Mya pointed me to their site. There you can see the video. It’s not a revolutionary work, but no piece of art or writing more accurately encapsulates my emotions of last month. This is what it’s like to lose your heart. Finding love is fast. Losing moves in slow motion. The world stops, loses importance. I recount every event in detail. Past mistakes are pronounced. Regret pulses. After rehearsing everything until I’m out of energy and breath, I sit silent on empty curb under dark sky. All that remains is a whisper and some notes, both sweet and sour.

Thank you, Deanne. Your letter was a catalyst.

Happy Easter

My cousiniece Olivia, Easter Egg Hunt, 2003.

That’s my dad behind, pointing to an egg hidden in the pine. So why a photo from last year? I don’t know. There just isn’t a lot of Easter decor around here. (Except for these really lame arm-length twigs they sell in stores. Each has a fake, colored feather attached to the end. No one can tell me what they mean. They bother me.)

Two of My Favorite Things

Very bad news: Cartoon Network cancelled my favorite TV show Home Movies. (Sign the futile petition.)

Potentially bad news: My favorite pop band Rilo Kiley is leaving the indie Saddle Creek label for one of the EMI big boys.

It’s Quiz Time, Kids!

Brave the obnoxious blinky web ads for ten minutes and take the Know You Stewf? test which will prove, definitively, if you have been paying attention or merely coasting through our friendship. Hahah! Yes.