My Soundtrack - Another Plinky Post

I get these prompts into my inbox every day, in an attempt to jolt myself into blogging. Every so often I'll find one that I actually like. The question this time was

"What three songs are on your summer soundtrack?"

My answer:

A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill by Jens Lekman

This song just sounds like a Scandinavian summer night, sitting outside in a field with your friends, drinking beers and laughing. I love that the artist brought his friends into the studio to give it the right ambiance.

Slow Hands by Interpol

This song is an amazing, high-octane song that I'd love to dance to live.. Like at one of the hundreds of summer festivals?

Between the Bars by Madeleine Peyroux

It's evocative of sitting on a stone terrace somewhere, with gorgeous red wine in a carafe, and enjoying the last bit of the sunset.

How about you? What's on your summer soundtrack?
Cheers,
Gitte

The Theme Song From Pingu Is Running Through My Head

Hey three people who read my blog!

Since my academic musings aren’t particularly popular, here’s some silliness for a Thursday morning for you:

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, my blog now has penguins. You can’t spot them? Look over to the left. The left of the monitor, not the girl sitting next to you at the coffee shop. (should that be coffeeshop since I’m in Holland?) Anyway, back to penguins. Cute, waddling, clueless little penguins that will follow your mouse around. Minions, you might say.
And I think these minions –two adults, three kids- need names. So suggest a name or two in the comments and a few days from now I’ll announce the winning names. First prize will be a pair of wooden clogs, and the four runners-up will be tulip seeds that can be grown in small flowerpots. If no one enters (or I don’t like your submission) I’ll take the money and go drinking with it. So please, suggest a name and save a liver.

Get creative!
Cheers,
Gitte

My Latest Addiction - With Some Musing to Boot

If you haven't seen this on my facebook yet, you must must must check out Radio Free Europe's The Week In Facebook.

Basically they lay out the past week's events, from big stuff like the Iranian protests (check the archives) to silly news like Michael Jackson's death which gets snuck in. It's an interesting combination of deadly serious news and a supposedly unserious time-waster.

In my opinion the combination is very clever, as bringing together these two things illuminates facets of both.
On the one side is the comparison of world politics to human drama, intrigue and frivolity. This falls in easily with the state-human comparison which is so common in PoliSci, as well as the projection of a human personality on states. We all do thing unconsciously - Russia is being belligerent, Iran is playing a dangerous game, etc.. It's connected to the realist line of thinking that black-boxes the state, that is to assume that a state is a unitary actor rather than an amalgamation of decision-makers, but instead of ignoring the evident differences in approaches, we imbue this imaginary actor with a personality to explain its idiosyncrasies. It's an anthropomorphism that has become a commonly accepted way of thinking about world politics, and can even be found in some scholarly research.

The other thing that is demonstrated here is how our methods of communication have changed to the extent that formerly frivolous channels have become a medium for serious communication. Recently on a message board I frequent, someone lamented missing out on a friend's wedding because they had failed to check their facebook and had thus missed the invite. Many people were horrified that such an 'informal' medium be used for such a formal event, but as our reliance on internet communication increases, so does the importance we attach to those communications. Not answering an email is now almost, if not just as bad as not answering a letter, and amongst people of my generation (and probably even more so for those even younger) facebook is becoming the main way we stay in touch with our closest friends. As with every new technology, what starts out as a novelty evolves into a fully legitimate communication tool with its own etiquette and norms. Facebook is still relatively new, and it remains to be seen what staying power it has, but it is increasingly becoming indispensable for the management of communication amongst younger people.

And let's face it, a status update is much easier to parse than a long-winded speech.

Buzzing Around From Talk to Talk

The best thing about working in The Hague is the huge amount of conferences, events, protests and such that happen every day. The best part about working at an NGO is that we're encouraged to go to them.

Already I've attended a debate (held at the Peace Palace!) called "The End of Impunity", which had the Deputy Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, the former Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY, Richard Goldstone and Chief Prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Stephen Rapp as their panel. I also went to an Iranian Solidarity rally as a representative of our Iranian minorities, and so on.

Today we've got two more events to attend. The first is a demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy opposing the crackdown on protestors in Xinjian. The group being oppressed are the Uyghurs, an ethnic group from East Turkestan who is a member.
The second event is a talk by Jan de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary-General of NATO, entitled "NATO: Securing Our Future". I love that just being in this city gives me the opportunity to go and hear influential people speak.

Also, I've got a poll running over there ---->
to see what you all would like me to write about in future. Do you want to see more fun, lighthearted stuff like the Plinky posts (see post before this one)? More day-to-day reporting on what I'm up to, or more analysis and thoughts on the issues I encounter at work? Please do comment and let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Gitte

If I were invisible, I'd so geek out.

I'd head off to the G8 summit in Italy. What were you expecting, locker rooms?

I would love to see how the current world leaders interact - both in the formal meeting rooms and late at night over some drinks. We all know that the decisions announced at the G8 summits are actually prepared way in advance, and that the summit itself is little more than a photo op, but how awesome would it be to see Merkel and Sarkozy or Obama and Brown just shoot the breeze?

Echo! Echo..echo..ech..e...

*Cough cough*

So. Yes. I have been shamed (shamed I tell you!) into giving my blog a bit of CPR and see if I can get this thing kicking again. I have to say I'm kind of amazed people took the time to get annoyed about my lack of writing - this goes hand in hand with my assumption that no one looks at my facebook profile either. Then again, a disproportionate number of the people shaming me don't have facebook profiles (hi Dad!).

Here's a picture of a hamster eating fancy pasta to say I'm sorry.

I was definitely much more prolific last summer, but thank goodness I actually have useful tasks this go around around, so I spend less time surfing and obsessively refreshing my facebook.

I'll write more about my current life etc later, but for now let me introduce you to someone who has become very special to me.

Pioneer Woman.
Also known as Ree or PDub. More specifically, I've fallen in love with her cooking page. Pioneer Woman lives out on a ranch somewhere and spends her time cooking and taking amazing pictures. She also takes amazing pictures of what she is cooking. My favourite thing about her recipes is that she posts pictures of the process at each step (beautiful, beautiful pictures) which makes not only for fabulous food porn but for a very comforting walkthrough of the recipe. Add the way she talks directly to you in a Peg-Bracken-but-happy-and-likes-cooking-way, and you've got hours of surfing pleasure.
I made her awesome Olive Cheese Bread for a Murder Mystery dinner party I was invited to, and became the most popular person on the spot. Plus I may or may not have used the provision of the recipe to bribe my way into a few extra clues ;)
Do yourself a favour and make something of hers. You'll die fat and happy, I promise.

This weekend I'm headed up to Denmark (for the first time in ten months! How have I survived!) for my Brother's Dimission, or Graduation. It's a very big deal in Denmark, which translates into around fancy outfits, a hundred people, a beach and an open bar. Sounds like my kind of scene?
You are so right.

Cheers,
Gitte