Matthew Jackson

Better late than never!

I am sitting here half tipsy, a little bit under the influence, just a tiny bit drunk. I have been told twice today by two people I respect a lot that I don’t update my blog. I must start out saying that all the times when I have written an entry for my blog it has been for me, I never write anything to “the people”, but it is often that it can be used like that. I find myself in my writing and when I write, I also travel around my soul and mind.
The last month has been a month of visits. Mette and Liv came; afterwards Klaus came and slept in my room for a week; then Malou came and just after she left, my parents came. All in all a busy month, but very good. Right now I am listing to the election in Denmark that is taking place today, unfortunately it seems like the right-wing will win – again.
So, you are thinking how my course is doing? Thanks for asking. I must admit that the journalism part is a bit different than I expected and the history course is very good. Nevertheless, I like the combination between “history writing” and “journalism writing” which is probably the two most different ways of writing in the world.
All my “blog related” thoughts has been about journalism and I realized that I don’t have the reader audience for that, so I haven’t written for a long time. However, I will start publishing some of my many articles that I am writing for class, not that they will make sense for you, but I will still publishing them. Another note, this might be a surprise to all of you, but I have gotten a reputation as “the geek” at my course. At UWC I was the drinker and the one who skipped classes, here it is different.
I don’t like Mondays and Tuesdays.
I have talked a bit with all of you, but if you want a complete update with good and bad news, then add me to skype: madsqf.
Au revoir!

First Day

It is 5 am and I am sitting in the car ready to leave for London. I had spent the night before try to figure out how to pack for the next 3 years in one suitcase (and trying to forget that I have to bring it all home at some point). The tactic was to fill up my winter jacket with heavy stuff and then have my father to hide my second piece of heavy hand luggage before check-in.
I got off well and after two hours cramped together in an airplane I landed in Gatwick, there I went to buy my train ticket to Victoria. When I asked about the Oyster cards the man at he counter asked me where I was from, I sad Denmark and then he came back with a brochure in Dutch. Welcome to England.
I decided to be a bastard and take a taxi from Victoria to Mile End, I simply couldn’t transport my 10k of luggage that I had with me. The taxi driver was really nice talking with and gave me some advices, for example, never walk around with your mobile, camera or computer in the Mile End area. Later that day I read that the place where I live is the same area that Jack the Ripper did his killings.
Arriving on campus was a bit weird, all these happy Student Union people guiding me around and then all these small 17 years old boys and girls walking around with their parents. I think I was the only one without a parent there. My room is nice, apart from the wardrobe can’t close properly, it is on ground floor, the heater is turned on "sauna" temperature and the light is bad. The shower and toilet is nice (and I don’t have to clean it myself), the kitchen is fairly big and my neighbour, Haiko from Germany, is also very nice. A nice guy.
I have a fridge in my room and it is now stored with a cucumber, two packs of Philadelphia, some ham, water and six beers. Then I have bread, apples, oranges and pesto. What more do I need?
I am still a little confused about the whole university thing, however tonight is party time (like the rest of freshers week) and that means that I will get to meet new people. I actually have a "date" with this Norwegian/Danish/something girl who went to UWC Singapore tonight in one hour. So, au revoir!

Roskilde 2007

100 mm of rain in 35 hours – that is a lot. How do I know? Because I was sleeping in a tent, on a giant field, together with 100.000 other people while it happened.

This was my fifth festival, my fifth time being in a whole different world for a week, my fifth time on the Roskilde Festival.

While it is on, Roskilde Festival is the 5^th largest town in Denmark and the average age is 24 and thousands of beers are being drunk and more than 4, 7 million sms’s are being sent.

This year I had three nice camps that I could go and chill in, the UWC camp were their were 42 people from more than 10 countries, the “death” camp were my childhood friend, Martin, was punishing the liver daily and then the last camp were I stayed with a bunch of finno-swedes and some Norwegians (that left on Friday morning due to the horrible weather).

I was sleeping the whole week a my newly purchased tent with Malou, the tent was our saving doing most of the rainy days, because it was possible to sit inside and listen to the rain and get really wasted in vodka/juice, red wine/coke or just beers (the practical thing was that it was built in a way and size that made it possible to do what you have to do after been drinking a crate of beers…….)

What I like about Roskilde is this great “pathos” feeling, everyone seems somehow to be in love all the time and with everybody and it seemed like the extreme rain this year just boned people together even better. It was wonderful for me to walk around in the mud with my lightsword and “mini trumpet” and play the Star Wars theme and sometimes just stopping up at random girls (or boys) and then tell them: “When I look into your eyes your are the most beautiful girl I have seen on this whole festival” and then just continue walking again, leaving behind the person with a big smile on their lips; or even better when I asked people to wish a song and then played Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” no matter the music request. To see a person smile when they have been walking in mud until their knees and have no dry clothes left is an amazing feeling.

I love Roskilde because impressions becomes expressions very easily, it seems to me that everyone just “is” on Roskide, there is no right or wrong (apart from hard drugs and violence). My beer is your beer. Mi casa/tent es su casa/tent”. I love how no one finds it weird that every year there is a “Naked Run” where 20 girls or boys run naked in the mud, I love how people donate their refund to NGO’s. I love how girls decides to mud wrestle and guys decides to cry over a fantastic movie.

I love how I can be totally wasted to the movie 300, scream “THIS IS SPARTA, PUSH, PUSH, PUSH” in the cinema, just to pass out, fumble out of the cinema, and then fall in the mud, be pissed off and wet for 5 min., later to wake up in my tent wanting a new beer. I love to go and discover new bands, to see Björk and how the rains falls in accordance with her music, I love to get disappointed over Red Hot Chili Peppers and experience the old band The Who play like they did on Woodstock ’69. I love to wake up in the morning, participate in a “shot competition” just to drink 10 shots and win – and that was my breakfast that day.

It is only on Roskilde that a giant crowd that pressure can be a giant group of friends with plessure.

I love the feeling of one person controlling a whole crowd and at the same time get scared that a person says clap or jump and 80.000 people follow the command (even myself).

I love my Wellingtons and how they saved my feet when mud turned into lakes. I love to feel like Jesus and turn wine into water….

It is a fantastic feeling to be one big organism that is going to one big party that lasts for 8 days. Four days of warm-up, four days of Music.

I think it is fantastic that for one week the police walk by the sweet smell of marijuana.

I think it is fantastic how many people that say “see you next year”, even after the wettest Roskilde ever in history.

Therefore I am proud to write here today, I SURVIVED ROSKILDE 2007.

G8, Globus, Makeovers and Death

Some say 85.000 people, other say 25.000, but one thing is sure, more than 500 people were wounded. We are talking about the demonstrations that take place in Rostock (Germany) these days

It is sad how a very undemocratic organization like G8 has been fought with even more undemocratic ways by the “Black Block” who demonstrated there.

Burning cars, stones, fire works, Molotov cocktails, potatoes with razor blades, were used against the police, who responded with tear gas, water cannons and batons.

These young men are doing the most stupid thing that anyone who wants to change the world can do, they use violence. First of all they loose all support from viewers around the world, furthermore they make it seems like “peaceful NGO’s” that are also there are violent as well.

I think it is only a matter of time before the next person gets killed in Germany during the next few days because of the G8 meeting.

Everyone is talking about the “Third World” these days, if you want to see how to mix politics and art in a perfect way, then check out this Germany artist living in NY: http://www.worldprocessor.com/ or http://worldprocessor.com/catalog/world/ (I like the population one)

And now for a little secret of mine. I guess I shouldn’t share this with anyone, but have you ever watched “Extreme House makeover”? If this cannot give you the creeps or a bit wet eyes, then nothing can. Damn, this is the only American TV show where I actually feel something while watching it….scary!

One of my parents’ friends called today. He told us that he had just been at the hospital and they had discovered a brain tumour and that he would only have three more months back to live in. That is a week ago and he can already feel that some parts of his body doesn’t act the way he wants them to. That made me thinks… What would I do if I was told I only had three months left? I could impossibly read all the books I wanted to, so I had to select some few good once. I could not see all the countries I wanted to, so I would have to select some few. I could not talk and meet enough with the people I care about….yes, again I would have to do the impossibly and select.

I would also spend a lot of the time planning my funeral, buying the right tombstone, the right psalms, the right flowers.... What would you do? Three months is not really a lot of time.

I hate Sweden

Today it is 350 years ago that the Swedish King Karl Gustav started an ethnical cleaning in Denmark and later taking over Skåne, Halland and Blekinge. Today he is celebrated as a hero in Sweden and there is even a statue of him in Malmö. It was Magnus Stenbock who commited the crimes, hence he is known as “The Swedish Milosevics”, but it was Karl Gustav who was the commander.
Next week, there is a big Swedish military exercise in southern part of Sweden, close to the Danish border. They are actually practising how to use tanks in the area around the Oresunds bridge going to Denmark.
Furthermore, tomorrow it is the Day of Destiny for the Danish national soccer team, when we will play against, yes, correctly guessed Sweden. Do you see a pattern?
If we loose this match, there is no way that Denmark will qualify for the European Championship, it is Zlatan against Jon.

Sweden has their “svenskjävlar” Systembolaget, which is the closes one get to a dictatorship in the Nordic region. They have ABBA that they still today talk about, like if they won the ESC last year. No, the only good thing about Sweden is Barsebäck – and they are even closing that down now.
IKEA, crackers and Volvo that is what they are proud of. Swedish design my ---.

In Denmark we have Roskilde Festival, one of the biggest music festivals in the world, in Sweden they have Hultsfred that no one knows about. And talking about soccer, we have Peter Schmeichel (that most people should know), Sweden is most proud of Thomas Ravelli… The “brand” Absolut is, yes, just a brand. The crappy vodka will never beat a Gammel Dansk snaps.
And talking about alcohol, who the f*** will ever drink a “Pripps Blue”? (even though it is owned by Danish Carlsberg).

In Sweden they agree on agreeing, look at how politics works there, it is almost like they feel uncomfortable with disagreements. And still they kill their politicians, Anna and Olof.
There are two people on this earth that think that they live in paradise, North Koreans and Swedes.
I am tired of their long hair and their tight pants.
And then they even stole our flag, they just changed the colours a bit!!!

I am tired of Tommy and Annika, realize it, you are siblings, it is not good! And then a strong red hair girl comes to the town and suddenly you run over to her. Get your own Life; don’t lean on the strong people, what about helping the weak once instead?
AND DON’T LOOK AT THE HORSE THAT WAY, IT IS AN ANIMAL FOR GOD SAKE!

98,99,100%

Today is a yet another big day in the name of democracy; an election in Syria will decide the next president. The interesting aspect is that there is only one single person running and that is the president who is already there (Bashar Assad). Now it will only be exciting to see if he will get 98%, 99% or maybe even 100%, a vote not for him is a direct ticket in jail.
I remember when I visited Syria and Damascus that everyone was very scared of talking, not even negative about the president, but just scared of talking about politics. At some point I saw a very silly statue where the president looked like a big Mickey Mouse balloon next to him and I was laughing, suddenly people just disappeared from the area I was.
Nevertheless, the West needs him to have a stabile area to send all the Iraqi refugees to, so I think he can keep his seat as president for quite a while, even though he will be guilty on the charges against him for the assassination of Rafik Hariri.
Tomorrow we will know, 98,99 or 100.