Monthly Archives: May 2009

40′s movies marathon – part 8

The Mark of Zorro (1940, USA) – A perfect Zorro, far better than any swashbuckler Errol Flynn ever made. But why nobody connects the voice of the masked bandit with the recently arrived gentleman from Spain, and why Zorro thinks he can be a hero of both the people and the nobility of California, is beyond me. Watched it all.

The Torrid Zone (1940, USA) – I’m fascinated by Hollywood’s use of banana republics as an oasis of dirty bars, loose women and gentlemen rogues. Not enough to watch this, though. Watched: 8 minutes.

Arizona (1940, USA) – Civil War era Tucson is a place of folksy, enterprising American men, and one folksy, enterprising American woman, all trying to carve out a living while the threat of war, bandits and injuns hangs over their heads. Most Westerns deal with the breakdown of law and order, but here there’s a sense of there being no society at all except what individuals build for themselves, giving the movie the feel of a political manifesto. You almost expect Lazarus Long to show up. Watched it all.

Down Argentine Way (1940, USA) – From this failed government attempt at courting Latin American opinion (true!), we learn that Argentina is both exotic, friendly and safe. Why, the aristocrats are so friendly and safe that they only speak English, and require translators when they talk to the stereotypical commoners who serve them. Watched: 8 minutes.

Not at all times have been so bold

In the brown book in my sabretache there was the tale of an angel who, coming to Urth on some petty mission or other, was struck by a child’s arrow and died. With her gleaming robes all dyed by her heart’s blood even as the boulevards were stained by the expiring life of the sun, she encountered Gabriel himself. His sword blazed in one hand, his great two-headed ax swung in the other, and across his back, suspended on the rainbow, hung the very battle horn of Heaven. “Where wend you, little one,” asked Gabriel, “with your breast more scarlet than the robin’s?” “I am killed,” the angel said, “and I return to merge my substance once more with the Pancreator. “Do not be absurd. You are an angel, a pure spirit, and cannot die.” “But I am dead,” said the angel, “nevertheless.” You have observed the wasting of my blood – do you not observe also that it no longer issues in straining spurtings, but only seeps sluggishly? Note the pallor of my countenance. Is not the touch of an angel warm and bright? Take my hand and you will imagine you hold a horror new dragged from some stagnant pool. Taste my breath – is it not fetid, foul, and nidorous?” Gabriel answered nothing, and at last the angel said, “Brother and better, even if I have not convinced you with all my proofs, I pray you stand aside. I would rid the universe of my presence.” “I am convinced indeed,” Gabriel said, stepping from the other’s way. “It is only that I was thinking that had I known we might perish, I would not at all times have been so bold.”

- Gene Wolfe, The Shadow of the Torturer

Never believe anything you read about Norway or Scandinavia

Here’s some advice for my foreign readers.

Every once in a while pundits bring up Scandinavia as an example of why one should or should not walk down some political or cultural road. In American politics, Sweden in particular is the archetype of socialism and cultural liberalism, but Norway may be used instead if that better proves the point one is making.

Never believe any of it.

Here’s why: We’re small countries. People don’t care what happens here, except when they’re out to make a point. There’s no reason why they should. Which means there are basically two sources of information available about Scandinavian countries: Statistics and myth.

Statistics are reliable, but difficult to interpret correctly, especially without the right context, a role that is often then filled by myth.

So don’t believe anything you read. If you must believe something, choose the alternative that is the most boring. As in:

“Does Norway prove that socialism works?” No, because we’ve abandoned so much of it.

“Does Norway prove that all socialist ideas are bad?” No, because we’ve kept several of them, and we’re doing okay.

“Should everybody copy Norway?” That would probably be difficult.

The same applies to anything Norwegians tell you about their country, which falls into three categories: People who boast about it because it’s the only place they know, people who complain about it because it’s the only place they know, and English-writing bloggers with marginal viewpoints.

You can, of course, believe everything I’ve written here. Or can you?!

40′s movies marathon – part 7

Boom Town (1940, USA) – Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable are oil prospectors (and occasional thieves) who strike big, go bust, fall out, make up, etc. etc. This goes on for about 20 years. There Will Be Free Market Ideology, (a little bit, at the end – yay!) Watched it all.

The Bank Dick (1940, USA) – I’ve been disappointed by the comedies of this period. Even including the occasional funny screwball comedy, the first to hold up to even a lesser Marx Brothers is this W. C. Fields movie. The plot .. ah, who cares? I laughed. Watched it all.

Seven Sinners (1940, USA) – Marlene Dietrich has fallen since her earlier movies, which this feels like a regurgitation of. Watched: 15 minutes.

Die Rothschilds – Aktien auf Waterloo (1940, Germany) – When I watched The House of Rothschild, a pro-Jewish movie about the rise of the Rothschild bank, I had no idea how influential it had been on anti-semitic German movies. Die Ewige Jude used a distorting sample from it to prove Jewish greed, and this movies refutes it, retelling the same events from an anti-semitic and anti-capitalist perspective. Watched: 25 minutes.

The Ghost Breakers (1940, USA) – It was a dark and stormy night. The lights went out, and Bob Hope told a joke about painting his stupid black servant white, so he could see him in the dark. Watched: 8 minutes.

Og debatten går i sirkler som en nattsvermer rundt flammen

Det blir litt smålig å skulle sitte og prikke i Det Norske Selvbildet hele tiden. Joda, det er mye å ha moro med, men det er et lite land, så hvor viktig er det? Hvorfor ikke like gjerne dra til en norsk småby, og skrive harmdirrende og satirisk om lokale småkonger? Eller gå på jakt etter Narvestadene i nabolaget ditt? Selvsagt er vi noen fjols, hvem er ikke det?

Jeg er derfor i utgangspunktet skeptisk til bøker med titler som Verdens beste land, men jeg velger å gi Nina Witoszek en sjanse. Jeg er i humør for litt nasjonal navlebeskuing. Deler av resultatet er som forventet. Witoszek dekonstruerer Det Norske Selvbildet, og får med seg både sekstiåtterne og Rehmans mullahløft på turen. De vanlige holdeplassene.

Har hun rett? Ja, jo. Sikkert. Jeg tenker: Herregud da, sikt høyere. Skru av medievirkeligheten. Lytt og se rundt deg, og fortell meg så hva du ser. Det blir for mye ord på ord i høytsvevende idéhistoriske luftslott, for lite konkret.

De historiske trådene her er mer interessante. Det er også perspektivene fra utlendinger som har flyttet hit, og pamfletten avslutter langt sterkere enn den begynner, med noe som nærmer seg en skarp analyse av Norge og dets plass i Europa. Resultatet stiger allikevel aldri høyere enn solid intellektuell kulturkritikk, et felt hvor Norge er så vant til middelmådige bidrag at vi kanskje bør være takknemlige, men som iallefall jeg er lunken til.

Om en atomkrig brøt løs, skulle vi iallefall ha nok av kjøtt og egg, smør og melk

Det er en del av meg som godter seg over at Fremskrittspartiet i dag er et reelt regjeringsalternativ. Det er den delen som husker hvor skammelig det var å sympatisere med disse Gærne Rasistene for noen år siden, og selv i dag er jeg ikke fremmed for å gi dem en sjanse, eller iallefall smile skadefro om de kommer til makten. Såpass svir hånlatteren fremdeles.

FrP-landet – Norge etter valget i 2009? er derfor et naturlig bokvalg. Skribenter med ulike (stort sett kritiske) ståsted har kikket på FrP’s partiprogram, for å tenke seg hvordan et FrP-Norge vil kunne se ut. Har vi lyst til å bo der?

Her er det mye rart. Norsklærer Thomas Hylland Eriksen retter kommafeil i utdanningsplanen deres. Steinar Lem tør ikke mer enn forsiktig antyde at han selv overgår FrP i muslimfrykt, og trekker heller en lydig paralell mellom miljøprogrammet deres og Mein Kampf.

Jostein Gripsrud snakker fint om at det ikke er finkultur som sådan vi bør subsidiere, men selve kulturbredden. Jeg fritar ham hyklerstemplet den dagen han går i spissen for anime-kvote på NRK. Ikke bredde på den måten? Neivel.

I det hele tatt blir dette litt flaut. Skribentene famler etter å finne noe å sette fingeren på, og avslører mer seg selv enn FrP – med Paul Chaffey, Janne Haaland Matlary, Martine Aurdal og Hege Storhaug som saklige unntak. Nå er jo også et partiprogram ment å være svulstig og vanskelig å gripe tak i, men så langt er dette en god start på valgkampen for Fremskrittspartiet.

17. mai i Norge? Kjedelig!

På jobben holder vi på å bygge opp et utviklerteam i India, noe som så langt har gått forbausende bra. Dyktige folk, og god stemning på begge sider. Alle utviklerne jobber først et par måneder i Norge for å bli kjent med oss og produktene våre, og så jobber de videre fra Bangalore, med hyppig bruk av videokonferanser. Ideen er ikke å sette ut arbeid til en gjeng langt borte, og få noe ferdig tilbake en stund senere, men at de skal være en aktiv del av utviklerteamene våre.

Vi har tatt et par grep for å introdusere dem til Norge, et land de før bare såvidt hadde hørt om. De har vært på busstur på Vestlandet, vi har (ubevisst, tror jeg) gjenskapt en episode av Ut i vår hage ved å forsøke å lære dem å gå på ski, (noe som faktisk er ufattelig morsomt å se på), og når de reiser hjem får de hvert sitt teite turisttroll. Og nå før helgen insisterte jeg på at de måtte dra inn til Oslo sentrum på 17. mai. “It’s the biggest event in Norway”, sa jeg. “You have to be there.”

Så, i dag: Hvordan var det? “Boring.”

Åja. Vel, jo, det er det jo. Om jeg var der? Nei .. det er noen år siden. Det er jo egentlig mest for barn og foreldre. Når jeg tenker meg om er det faktisk litt kjedelig. Barnemarsjering og flagg. Men det er litt søtt da.

40′s movies marathon – part 6



Fantasia (1940, USA) – Oh. My. God. Yes. This is the second movie in this marathon to make me cry. The .. the vision of it. I’m stunned. We’re watching an old culture give birth to a new. Absorbed it all.

Rebecca (1940, USA) – Laurence Olivier’s wife dies, and the timid woman he marries on the rebound fails to live up to her predecessor, in whose shadow she now lives. In a way she’s even outacted by the memory of this character we never meet. Fantastic Hitchcock. Watched it all.

The Long Voyage Home (1940, USA) – Follows a crew of sailors from a night of alcohol and prostitutes in the West Indies, through dangerous waters in the Atlantic, to another night of alcohol and prostitutes in England. Excellent wartime drama, with little plot, much atmosphere. Watched it all.

My Favorite Wife (1940, USA) – Sometimes Cary Grant goofing around is exactly what a movie needs. Other times it isn’t. Grant thinks his wife is dead, so he marries a second, but then his first wife returns. Farce ensues. Watched: 17 minutes.

Dark Command (1940, USA) – John Wayne plays George W. Bush, an illiterate Texan who runs for election as Marshal in a Kansas town against Al Gore, a book learned snob. Bush wins, pushing Gore over the edge to a career of criminal PowerPoint presentations. Fine movie on the border between Civil War drama and Western. Watched it all.