Cecilie's Journal

Friday, August 25, 2006

Season changes...

The autumn seams to be coming around the corner.. this morning when I woke up, it was foggy outside and the air was much colder. The muchroom season is soon here too and then you definitely know the summer is over. The trees will start to change color on their leaves.. I think that is a beautiful autumn sign. I've also noticed that the days with hours of light has shorten for every week passing. It feels like the summer has gone by too quickly, but I kind of like all the seasons in their own typical ways.. they have all both good and bad sides. Right now the rain is pooring down heavily...

Wentworth Miller

You can also see in the TV guide that summer is over, because so many series are or are due to be back on screen again after their summer break. Several popular TV series that can be seen by devoted watchers are Desperate housewives, CSI, OC, Gilmore Girls and a few others. The one I'm waiting for to begin airing is Lost and the rumours say that it will be a double episode, but I'm not sure if that's accurate.. wouldn't mind if it was though. I do not watch much TV, but the past few weeks during the end of summer I've started to follow Ellen Muth's TV serie Dead like me. It's a sweet and a watchable serie.. and I like the actress, she uses her body language and face expressen very well. I haven't seen her in other things before.. it's refreshing to see new faces and talents on the screen, once in a while. I missed on Monday the first episode of second season of Prison break with Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Robert Kepper and the rest of the cast. I have to confess that I'm not a regular follower of Prison break.. As I said.. I'm not a sitting infront of the TV kind of person. The DVD release of the first season was two or three months back, here in Sweden. I've been thinking about buying it, but it was quite expensive and I thought I might as well wait and see if there will be a box release later on.. when we know if the TV serie will continue with a third or perhaps even a fourth season or not. As I understand, the TV serie was more popular than the network airing it thought it would be and got a bunch of viewers. But the story arc can't be stretched out to cover several seasons more. Eventually they will escape from the prison or get executed. Anyway, when the serie ends I hope to see Wentworth Miller in something else.. Do I need to mention that I think this guy got all the features a handsome man in my opinion should have. If I should be really picky.. I guess I could 'complain' about that his nose is a bit to big for my liking, but he's still 'eye candy'... Hm, this entry took another turn than I intended when I started out ;)

Posted at 6:15:42 pm by Sophie Cecilie
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Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Crayfish.. the feast of August...

Crayfish have been eaten in Sweden since the 16th century. Originally, crayfish meat was used for sausage, ragout, patties or puddings. In the mid-19th century, people started eating crayfish as they are eaten today. The crayfish feast or crayfish supper in the month of August spread through the middle classes. A crayfish party is a summertime eating and drinking celebration in Sweden (where it is known as a kräftskiva). The parties are generally held during August, a tradition which started because Swedish crayfish harvesting was for most of the 20th century legally limited to late summer. It became a national delicacy and people in all sectors of society began celebrating the occasion. Today, the kräftpremiär date in early August has no legal significance and Sweden actually imports most of its crayfish, in large part from Louisiana, Turkey and from China. The locally available crayfish is often clearly more expensive than the frozen and imported ones.

The crayfish feast, at which people gather to eat, drink and be merry, is a typically Swedish festivity marking the end of the summer. The crayfish are boiled in salted water and seasoned with fresh dill, preferably crown dill, harvested after the plant has flowered. Then served cold and eaten with the fingers. Akvavit and other snaps are normal accompaniments, as is beer, bread, strong cheese, mushroom pies, and salads. Some say tradition demands 'one drink for every claw', but in practice few keep up that pace. Dining is theoretically outdoors, though in practice commonly driven inside by inclement weather or aggressive mosquitoes. Usual accessories are paper tablecloths, bibs, comical paper hats, and paper lanterns, often depicting the Man in the Moon. A rowdy atmosphere complete with noisy eating and traditional drinking songs is the norm. It is culturally correct to suck the juice out of the crayfish with a loud slurping sound before shelling it.

Many Swedes think this is a great tradition to keep up with even though there are those who doesn't like eating crayfish. I myself don't eat crayfish, but I think the social atmosphere at a crayfish feast is fun and is also needed before a long rainy, dark autumn comes. So for those who like crayfish.. slurp away...

Posted at 6:40:08 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Thursday, August 17, 2006

Dead Man's Chest.. neither bad or good...

I missed the live peformance by The Ark on Saturday at a local stage in their hometown. It's been several years since I saw one of their concerts. Perhaps next time.. rumours say they are working on a new album and is also trying to hit it big in the US. I hope they succed.. cause they are a really great band and is not doing mainstream music like so many other bands do.

Well, I got finally to see Dead Man's Chest (Pirates of the Caribbean) a few days back. I was a little disappointed, but it's always difficult to do sequels. I still think Gore Verbinski did good with this second movie. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley were worse in their acting talent in this one than in the first. Johnny Depp showed his talent, even though many of his lines could be foreseen before he even opened his mouth to fire away a witty remark.. and of course his snipp, snipp line didn't pass the audience by without notice. One third from the end of the film.. everyone got it was coming another sequel, very obvious... perhaps too obvious. Otherwise it would have been a really boring end.. at least I think so. Some of the scenes were way too long and lost its humour when it was exaggerated too far. The total length of the film was two and a half hour. To sum up.. I don't regret watching the movie and I'm giving it three out of five points.

At the moment there aren't many other movie releases the coming months, but there are still a few films I could consider to see and they are United 93 (about the fourth plane 9/11), V for Vendetta (with the very talented actress Natalie Portman) and M Night Shyamalan's Lady in the water (with two great actors, Bryce Dallas Howard and Paul Giamatti). I've said it before.. it's outrages how expensive it is to buy a ticket to a film. The two latest movie cost me about 14USD each. I guess I have to see if I can afford to go and watch any of the films I've just mentioned.

I haven't been up to much lately.. I've done a couple of jewellery since last week, but my inspiration is at the moment not very productive. Yesterday I sent one of the last necklaces I've made to my sister and I hope she'll like it.. and wears it often. I have begun designing a new necklace for my mother.. something that will fit her to wear when she is at the bridge club.

Currently listening to:
We Are the Ark

Posted at 5:38:52 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Monday, August 14, 2006

Passive smoking.. health risk...

Passive smoking dramatically increases the risk that a pregnant woman will have a miscarriage, according to a new study by researchers. Some 25 percent of women who miscarried had been exposed to tobacco, they found. The study, which surveyed 463 women, said second hand smoke increases the risk of miscarriage by 67 percent, while active smoking doubles the risk. The study did not say what it is in tobacco that causes the miscarriages, however.

The results say that pregnant women should avoid as much as possible staying in environments where they can be exposed to tobacco smoke. The study measured the amount of cotinine in the blood. The substance builds up when the body breaks down nicotine and appears in large amounts in active smokers. For those who do not smoke the amount is very low. This was the first Swedish study to measure the amount of cotinine in the blood and is clear evidence that passive smoke increases the risk of miscarriage.

The study didn't say anything new that not most people already know about. It's bad for ones health in many ways and also for the surrounding of smokers. So those who are smokers.. think twice and take into consideration that those around will also get effected by your decision to light a smoke... even though they have chosen active not to smoke.

Posted at 7:29:44 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Thursday, August 10, 2006

Watch out.. wild boars on the loose...

Elk warning signs on Sweden's roads have become an unofficial national emblem, but now another species is threatening Swedish drivers.. the wild boar. Sweden is home to between 40 000 and 80 000 wild boar and the number is increasing by an estimated 13 percent a year. Experts are warning that the risk of crashing with one of the creatures is highest at this time of year. Most accidents happen on summer evenings, which is when the animals tend to move around in small flocks. Drivers should watch out, particularly in wetland areas, where wild boars are particularly at home, said the head of the SES Group, which monitors wildlife road accidents in Sweden. Last year, a total of 987 car accidents were caused by wild boar. Of these, 278 happened in Skåne. Ecologist Truvé, says that there are some 15 000 wild boar in Sweden's densely populated southerly province.

As wild boar have short legs, they rarely go through car windshields as elks often do. The major danger when crashing with a boar is that the driver loses control. Wild boar sows weigh 80-90 kilos, while the male boars can weigh twice as much. The number of accidents involving the creatures is likely to keep on rising as the wild boar population increases. Wild boar became extinct in Sweden in the 1600s, but became popular among aristocrats in the 1800s. Today's wild boar are descended from animals that escaped from a pen in Trosa, near Stockholm, in the 1970s. Since the early nineties the population has increased by 13 percent a year.

Posted at 6:17:32 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Sunday, August 06, 2006

Internet snoop laws.. Big Brother is watching you...

New laws proposed by Sweden's government would require internet service providers to snoop on all of us. Swedish government minister Rosengren once described Norway as 'the last Soviet republic'. But new laws being introduced by Rosengren's party colleagues in the Social Democrats, giving the state an unprecendented right to snoop on its citizens, mean that Sweden is now perhaps more deserving of this epithet. The government wants to introduce a system which would require all internet service provides to record and save all e-mails you send and receive, all websites you visit and other such personal information. Even if you're not suspected of having committed any crime.

The government says that the police only will have access to this database after a court order has been issued. But what guarantees are given that a hacker could not abuse the system and get all sorts of information stored in it about anyone? There's no guarantees that the system cannot be used by the Security Service and what guarantees are there that saying something negative about our PM while chatting online might be misinterpreted... Justice minister Bodström says that the changes will make crime prevention easier, but how given that this is not simply a cover for some kind of indexing of people.. There are no guarantees.

It may sound far-fetched, but if the police cannot use the register until after a crime has been committed, what good is the system for crime prevention? By the time the police start checking your personal data, you have already committed a crime and you are already a prime suspect. Global supervision is not the solution to organized crime. I and many others would rather see the money this system would cost to create and run being used to fund more police officers or to improve the quality of our schools and hospitals. I would rather see this money being used to do good, rather than create a Big Brother society.

Posted at 3:16:49 pm by Sophie Cecilie
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Tuesday, August 01, 2006

More pictures in the jewellery album...

I've added more photos with the latest jewellery I've done in my album. Check them out.. click here. They are up for sale if anyone is interested in buying...

Posted at 6:53:17 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Monday, July 31, 2006

Increasing dog smuggling.. into Sweden...

About 150 puppies have been confiscated by Swedish customs during the past two years, while at the same time the Swedish Board of Agriculture says the number of sick dogs suspected to have been smuggled into the country is up. The increase in smuggling of small dogs has gone up since it has become popular and the trend started with party princess Paris Hilton's pet chihuahua Tinkerbell. In order to prevent smuggled dogs from spreading rabies and other diseases, the Board of Agriculture and the Swedish Customs Service started project Puppy. With additional personnel on the borders, a telephone tip line and tip website, Sweden hopes to crack down on the importation of illegal animals.

Three men were caught in April smuggling four Doberman puppies into Sweden while crossing into Sweden from Denmark. One of the men is now suspected to have smuggled in some 25 dogs which he eventually sold on his website. A pair was sentenced to one year in jail for importing 55 dogs from Poland. This commercial treatment of dogs is sicken me. I think the messures with the new project Puppy is great and smugglers should really get higher sentences. A few months ago I wrote an entry about how small dogs is used like accessoares.. like any other fashion trends. When it's not in style anymore you just toss the dog out or what..? Because people that get small dogs to be trendy, usually don't think ahead.. what will become of the puppy then..? Animal crualty that's what it is...

Posted at 6:49:56 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Sunday, July 30, 2006

Ice-cream shortage.. due to hot weather...

Swedish ice cream suppliers reported shortages of their best-selling brands as Swedes upped their ice-cream consumption in the unusually warm summer weather. Hemglass this week drafted in alternative products from parent company Nestle, and hoped to satisfy demand further with supplies from its Finnish sister firm Valio. The notoriously sweet-toothed Swedes consume 12.5 liters of ice cream each every year and have boosted their demand of frozen treats in the face of abnormally high temperatures. Other suppliers are fighting to satisfy the market as demand outstrips supply.

GB Glace, which accounts for over half the ice cream sold in Sweden, confirmed sales were significantly higher than last year, but said the company could meet demand. Employees were working extra shifts and weekends to keep up with demand. While avoiding the heatwaves that have hit much of Europe, Sweden is basking in an unusually warm summer, with much of the country enjoying above-average temperatures.

Yesterday when I met Ida, we were lucky to have nice weather until we were going home later in the afternoon.. when we got thunder and rain. In one way it was good that we both missed our busses home. Ida's father came and picked her up.. and was kind to drive me all the way home too. We got some jewellery made and took a few pictures too. Will be posting them in my photo album later. This morning when I woke up it was foggy outside, but I think we will get pretty nice weather today. At least the air is fresher after yesterday's rain. My mother is coming home later this day. She has been visiting my sister and her family in Gothenburg for a few days now, while I've been trying to get some study done. I'm still struggling with my essay. It's been very hard during these warm weeks. I'll try to get something written today...

Listening to the amazing:
Michael Bublé

Posted at 7:38:26 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Friday, July 28, 2006

Photo album.. with jewellery...

Last evening I took some time to make an online photo album with the pictures Ida took with her digital camera last week, on the jewellery I've made so far. It's not many yet. I've made three more since then and will do a few more tomorrow, which I'll be putting up soon too. Take a look and tell me what you think.. either here or in the album, where comments are very welcomed. Enjoy... click here. Wish you all a great weekend!

Posted at 6:23:18 am by Sophie Cecilie
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