It’s written in a plethora of metaphors from beginning to end, which you’ll have to appreciate if you want to enjoy Tomas. Although I can’t credibly interpret even half of them, I find them quite clever, sophisticated, and funny.

The novel takes place in France, where Tomas is on a mission to save the world from all things superficial. The world is exaggerated to the extreme superficial — the “wear sunglasses at night” and “breasts too heavy to carry yourself” kind of world — where TV is so poor that the global channel is called Shit TV and broadcasts nothing but reality shows in variants you wouldn’t even dream of. This richness of superfluousness (and superficiality) in reality stems from Russia as part of the “Great Russian Bear’s” secret plan.

Needless to say, Tomas is the go-to-guy to fight back against the Bear, while also dealing with all things superficial. This may make it sound like a war novel, but it is far from. It actually is much more a story on life, moral, and love — with remarkable and memorable perspectives from Napoleon, a “half-corrupt” judge, and a prostitute. You will have to read it to believe it.

Many of the passages and cool metaphors run over a number of paragraphs and are too long to be quoted here. Suffice it to say, getting invited to a party requires mastering three magic words: “I’m a producer”. Be sure to practise well, to avoid ending up saying “you’re a peanut” instead when the heat is really on.

It took some time to sink in. Thursday late night (European time), I read about Michael being rushed to the hospital on Twitter. My rational self told me, this is it. But the news didn’t break before I fell asleep. At about 2.00 am my sister called me from Paris and yelled that Michael Jackson had died. My long time friend, Morten, was with her in Paris and he was shocked; my sister told me that he was sitting on the pavement, almost frozen. It didn’t really sink in to me.

I have been a long time Michael Jackson fan. I was introduced to his music in the fourth or fifth grade at a party. Michael had just released the HIStory album, and I was immediately captivated. It was about the same time I met my childhood friend — also called Michael, and also with the initials MJ. In some ways, he was the closest I ever got to Michael Jackson. My friend was a real fan; he knew all the songs and he could do all the dance steps. He taught me how to do a decent moon walk. I was drawn into the world of Michael Jackson, and my friend and I would often practice songs and dance moves together. I listened to his music almost non-stop.

As time passed, this faded away. I got older — some would argue more mature — and discovered that there was more to music than just Michael. Earlier this Spring, I realized that years must had passed by since I put a Michael Jackson record on purposefully. Songs often jumped up during random iTunes play, put I hadn’t really played a record for a long time as you’d do with any other record. I started playing Bad. What a great album.

Now, Michael is gone. As I wrote earlier, it didn’t really sink in the first day or two. I think I rationally understood that the world has lost one of the greatest entertainers we have had. But what I really didn’t understand until yesterday when I saw the memorial service on TV, was that his children lost their father. The children have never really been exposed to the public — Michael has protected them from it; critics would say something different, surely.

I was moved when Paris, his daughter, took the microphone. That was what was really tough for me. I realize that people lose their loved ones all the time across the globe — and it is just as sad, I know. I just can’t help being moved when I’m exposed to it, in the way I was yesterday.

Michael was a great entertainer. I love his music — always have.

Verse from Gone Too Soon, the Dangerous album:

Born to amuse, to inspire, to delight
Here one day
Gone one night

I’m boarding the glider for my first flight ever. You can see the parachute on my back.

Since I was little, my father has talked about gliders. In his young days, he was a glider pilot, and he has always allured me with his many great stories from back then. When I met my good friend Simon Schock about three years ago, we quickly found out that we had a mutual interest in flying. After waiting for more than two years (I just checked my record, Simon sent the first request for being put on a wait list in December 2006), we got accepted to a local Copenhagen gliding club, Flyvestation Værløse Svæveflyveklub.

Yesterday was our first day at the air field (see it on Google Maps), a sunny, blue sky day. We met with our instructor — a super cool guy — slowly getting introduced to many of the basics, among others how to perform a daily check of the aircraft you are going to fly. Already very early in the morning, we had to prepare for the first flight. It suddenly became very real when putting the parachute on, and repeating the instructions for what to do in case of something goes wrong (which is extremely rare, by the way).

• Flight 1: Winch start. 10 minutes flying time. Getting (more) comfortable with flying.

Flying is not only flying; it’s also everything that surrounds it. So after the flight, we spent time learning some basic ground handling procedures, for instance coupling the aircraft to the winch, signalling to the winch operator, etc.

Around lunch we spent time in the simulator as well as getting further theory introduction from our instructor.

Take-off: My instructor behind me with the radio. At the far end tip, you can see a guy signalling ready.

In the early afternoon, we were ready for the second flight. My second flight was amazing. We were towed after a motor plane to 3,000 ft, and then released. We found a lot of thermal activity, and bounced back and forth between 2,000 and about 3,500 ft. I had plenty of opportunity to to practise some of the very basic manoeuvres: Turning, speed control, and flying on course. (I may not have got all the English wordings right; bear with me). We also got the chance to do a little sightseeing as we flew over Frederiksborg Castle — an amazing sight from above.

• Flight 2: Plane tow start. 50 minutes net flying time (net of the towing time). Getting turning and speed control right. Starting to fly on course.

After flight 2, I spent the rest of the day with ground handling and speaking to some of the other guys at the club, while Simon was flying. We ended with cleaning up and a little theory.

It was an amazing day. The guys at the club are great, very welcoming and open, helpful and willing to teach — they were a large part in making this a good experience, and I can’t wait to get up to the air field again. I love it.

It’s about achieving your childhood dreams, which through my glasses is a metaphor for achieving any dreams you may have. The lecture is more than an hour long, so I will just pick up some of the smaller topics (but still bricks to achieving your dreams) that he brings up:

• Drive: “Brick walls are there for a reason; they let us prove how badly we want things”
  I like this metaphor a lot. If everything was easy to get, we would have no good way of prioritising our resources, but more importantly our own time, attention, and devotion. Brick walls make us reflect upon what we want and makes us prioritise. Most importantly, however, is that once established what you do want, do not let brick walls stop you — let your drive and passion climb it. (from about 5 minutes and 20 secs, and perhaps an even better example from about 17 minutes in and forward)
• Patience: Give people time and they will impress you. About 23 minutes in, Randy tells us about one of the lessons he learned from one of his role models, almost in a subordinate clause. I like this, because it is something I often forget — many of us do. Our believing in other people’s ability declines drastically with time. Patience is becoming a more and more precious commodity; and lack of patience stops us from achieving our own potential, but also experiencing that of others. Sit back and give people time; they will impress you.
• Motivation: While patience is sometimes required for people to impress you, some people will blow you away in seconds. What do you do to motivate people when they are outstanding and impress the pants off of you? Well, one way, Randy talks about, is to say: “Guys that was pretty good, but I know you can do better.” They will keep blowing you away, and they will do better and better. (34 minutes in and forward)
• Feedback: Several times throughout the talk, Randy stresses the importance of feedback, and, almost more importantly, the way you give it. I think this is one of the single most important levers in our personal development and how we help others to develop. I think it takes skill to become good a giving useful and non-offensive feedback, and it takes equal, if not even more skill to receive feedback, use it constructively and not neglect or reject it. If someone has taken the time and effort to give you feedback, you should take it as a great compliment (that someone cares for your personal development) and as a real development area. (fun, but good example about 58 minutes in and a couple of minutes forward)
• The head fake: “The best way to teach somebody something, is to have them think they’re learning something else.” The concept of indirect learning — or what Randy calls a head fake — is a theme throughout his presentation. The first example, about 11 minutes 40 seconds in, is about all the indirect learning children get, when they start to go to team sports like soccer. While it serves a functional purposes to learn to tackle, make passes, etc., perhaps the greatest learning of all is the indirect learning that you go through, e.g., team spirit, social and emotional intelligence training, and being fair. The best head fake he describes is 1 hour and 15 minutes in, and I won’t spoil the plot here, but I can say it works best if you have seen the entire lecture before you get to here.

Watch the lecture; it’s time well spent. Beyond a fun ride, you will also feel the seriousness of his situation and the emotions between him and his wife and children towards the end of the lecture — at least I felt a choke towards the end.

And finally: Did you figure out the head fake of this blog post — or my blog in general?

It was also my very first time skiing. I had had a few moments of cross-country skiing before, but very little — and never downhill. But after New Year’s, we drove to Killington in Vermont for a prolonged weekend of downhill skiing. I believe in challenging the boundaries, which meant a lot of falling in the beginning, but nothing serious.

I think it went well, and on day three I was running the black slopes. Admittedly, they are not the same as the Austrian black slopes, but still. I’m as hooked on this, as I am on water skiing, and have already booked a trip to go to Davos with some friends later this year.

The rest of my vacation was spent on Manhattan, with a couple of detours to Long Island and New Jersey to test drive cars (and my first ever visit to Wal-Mart). As I’ve said before, writing page up and down about New York doesn’t make too much sense to me. Instead, here is a couple of the take-aways:

• Breakfast keeps getting better and better. Delicatessen on Prince st makes my favourite french toast, and the Moroccan on Mott st is great for low key, with a twist (can’t find it online, but it’s on Mott between Houston and Prince)
• Shopping went overboard. Odin is one of my top new fashion stores, but for some very strange reason I didn’t buy anything there. Big mistake. Marc Jacobs keeps ruling the Village and continues to open new stores (now an extra men’s store on W 4 st and Bank). And, Jack Spade now has an extra store on Bleecker. It’s bigger than their other store, well worth a visit.
• Freemans was one of the best dining experiences I have had in New York. It is a hidden treasure — and it really is hidden. You walk up a relatively narrow alley, pass a barber shop in order to get to it. They make great food — and also great Manhattans.

It was cold, but it was great to spend time with Jesper and Mia, who again seized the opportunity to play personal shopper for a day.

Back in Copenhagen, I’m now listening to the new A Camp (Nina Persson’s side kick next to the Cardigans) album, Colonia, which was released yesterday (in Scandinavia, other countries to follow). I loved their first album, and am also very keen on this one.

So far my favourite tracks are Bear on the Beach, Love Has Left the Room, Golden Teeth and Silver Medals, It’s Not Easy to be Human, The Weed Had Got There First. Go listen on MySpace.

And they play in Vega on March 31. Spring is looking great already.

More photos here.

We headed down Friday and arrived late at night at our hotel in Berlin Mitte. We chilled the entire Saturday — picked up our start number and running accessories at various locations and, of course, tried to eat as much as possible.

On Sunday morning, the sky was clear from the very beginning. After breakfast and getting ready, we headed for the start zones.

Everywhere you looked, there were people and a lot of them. About 40,000 runners and a million people as spectators in the street. Unfortunately, Christoffer and I had to part ways from the start, as we were to take off from different start zones.

It was a strange feeling to stand among all these people before the start. You could feel so much energy below the surface — waiting to burst and to be released. It only grew more intense as the first start of three went off. (I was in start three of three). And as the second start went, it almost felt like the ground was shaking. People were excited and full of adrenalin. Finally my start went off, and the entire group of people started moving slowly forward. The closer we got to the start, the faster we were able to go. The group was a jumbo jet taking off with a slow and tense acceleration.

I was headed out for the longest run of my life — and about twice the length of my longest one so far.

My first 10-15 kilometers went great — on track to a four hour target time. After that, I had severe problems with my stomach after having eaten some very energy-dense gel. I had never tried it before, and clearly a lesson learned: Never experiment on race day.

The mood on the route was out of this world. Almost all over the place were spectators, cheering your name, cheering “Denmark, Denmark”, bands playing jazz, cheer leaders, random people high-fiving with you — and I could go on. You flew through city on endorphins, high on people. Wow.

At kilometer 20 I was in good shape again, and I ran at a decent pace until kilometer 32 or so, where my muscles started aching as I had never been able to imagine before. I didn’t hit the wall at all, my energy level and form was fine throughout, but my muscles ached and forced me to stretch once per kilometer.

At kilometer 38 or 39 I was able to run without stretching again. The crowd in the inner city carried me. About a kilometer before the finish line was a gate, which I thought was the finish-gate. I felt like I had a little surplus energy, so I started sprinting all the way up to the gate.

Imagine the feeling, when I found out that it wasn’t the finish line, but the 1 km-left-marker.

But there were tonnes of spectators. They cheered and they cheered. If I didn’t know better, I could have thought that I were a formula 1 driver getting out of my car in the pit lane.

The entire last kilometer I was almost bursting into tears. I felt like I was part of bigger thing, a cohesive whole of positive emotions, with people carrying each other through — and not the least, an enormous physical challenge. Finally, I crossed the finish line, and in front of me was an old, grand father-like man, awarding the official medals. I went up to him and he put my medal over my neck, put his hands on my shoulders and said Herzlichen Glückwunsch with such great empathy, that I then burst into tears. And I cried on and off until I picked up my clothes.

It took me 5 hours and 21 minutes.

To all I met on the route, and to all of you who helped and supported both me before and after — thank you so much. Pictures from the weekend are on Facebook.

Both albums are calm, indie pop/rock and very melodic. If you like Munck//Johnson or Autour de Lucie — calm indie in general, try these out, I think you’ll find some new, interesting material.

Check their respective MySpace pages out to get a sample:

• N*Grandjean: Heroes and Saints, Uncuff Me, Love Rocks — all great tracks which are also on the album
• Choir of Young Believers: Hollow Talk and Next Summer are my favourites of the ones available on MySpace — much more on the album

These two albums was recommended by two friends of mine, Marie and Lars, respectively; thanks so much. My prime way of discovering music is through friends, so keep the good stuff coming.

Great September in music so far. And, of course, tomorrow Tina Dickow releases her new album — a triple EP. I can’t wait.

I haven’t been there yet — I just learned about it — but judging from the article and their website it looks like the place to go to find new, long tail authors and enjoy the NYC Village feel of Copenhagen. Let me know if you’ve been; I will give it a go during one of the next couple of weekends.

Camp X seems to have an interesting programme lined up for the fall. What especially has caught my eye are the posters, with a cool underground/street feel to them, that they have put up around the city. I saw these two behind the church of Saint Nicholas in central Copenhagen.

I like the reference to Dynasty and the satirical tone in the posters. There are more than just these two; check both Camp X’s website and this photo grabbed in the wild.

Camp X has two Maersk plays this Fall; the first one starting early October. The brother to a friend of mine has a major role in one of the plays. I can’t wait to see the plays in the Fall.

Towards the end of the trip, I found out through a comment deeply buried on a website somewhere, that the album was not due out until some time in July. I downloaded it off the iTunes store the minute it was released. (Still not in the Danish store — got it through the US store.)

Little Jackie’s debut album, The Stoop, was worth the wait and a great album. It is very up-beat; think a mix of R&B, pop, and hip-hop — maybe indie rock/pop or indie R&B is a better description. The sound of the band is street/NYC and refreshing with many nuances and peculiarities, such as the use of wood wind instruments. Even though it is probably programmed, it gives it a small jazzy touch. I like it.

My favourite songs are The Stoop, The Whole World Should Revolve Around Me, Liked You Better Before, LOL, and One Love. Two of these are available for listening on the Little Jackie MySpace page along with an additional two songs from the album. If you like this style of music and the previews, I am guessing you will like the album as much as I.

The driving forces behind it are Imani Coppola, who sings and writes the songs as far as I have understood, and Adam Pallin (DJ’ing/programming the music). Imani has a long list of releases behind her, a lot of which she has done herself. Unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to give it a good listen through, but I would be glad to hear if you have had.

In other music from the strange and weird fact file, I am looking forward to the latest album of the Verve which will hit the ground in August. Listen to their single Love is Noise here.