Monthly Archives: November 2014

Up-coming show and calf raises

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It is a busy time of the year, with an up-coming show in Gothenburg next weekend, i.e. Luciapokalen, and also many tasks to complete with regard to my language studies (Korean). Nevertheless I, together with a friend, have started to collect some material for an up-coming promotional video.

In the clip below you can see a few calf raises, an exercise which showcase a relatively strong side of my physique. Generally I do train calves through and by the means of many exercises, sets and repetitions, but it is not wrong to go somewhat heavier from time to time.

Det är en hektisk tidpunkt på året, med en kommande tävling nästa helg, det vill säga Luciapokalen, och även mycket att göra beträffande språkstudier (koreanska). Trots det har jag, tillsammans med en vän, börjat samla in material för en kommande promotionvideo.

I klippet nedan går det att se när jag gör några stående repetitioner vadpress och därmed visas också en relativt stark sida av min fysik. Generellt tränar jag vader genom många övningar, set och repetitioner, men det är inte fel att ha lite mer tyngd emellanåt.

Calf raises

Playlist

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Like for most other people, music plays a vital role in my everyday life. Since I unfortunately do not have any skills and talents with regard to neither singing nor playing, in my case it is all related to listening and to lesser extent writing.

However, I actually produced a couple of rap songs in the early 2000s, and might very well compose some more in the future, since I do have both beats and the ability to create pretty decent lyrics in English and Swedish.

I started to write about music in 2005, and up until 2013 I wrote for Scandinavia’s most long-lived metal and alternative magazine, Close-up, which was from time to time very constructive. I think that my best memory in this respect is from the itinerant emo/punk festival Vans Warped tour in New York City in August of 2005. I have also reviewed live shows in for instance Hollywood, Paris, Stockholm and at Hultsfredsfestivalen.

Music is both trivial and deeply important, which makes it – at least momentarily – pretty interesting to share preferences and ideas with other people. As a consequence of modernity and globalization, the consumption of music in the ‘public sphere’ is generally more individualized than before, a phenomenon that manifests itself not the least when people do listen to particular material which they like in earphones. However, live concerts and music in other contexts of the ‘public sphere’ (I write this with quote marks since the differences between private and public sphere tend to be blurry, and the general distinction in itself is largely a social construct of liberal thought) do also make it into an actual or potentially shared and group-related phenomenon.

For me personally, as a promoter of a particular ideal, I do consequently listen to both classic ‘high culture’ music and late-modern genres such as metal, punk, K-pop, J-rock, hip hop and a lot of hard-to-classify alternative and more of less hybridized styles such as ambient, electronica, house, dubstep, crust, progressive rock and music from various films.

And what do I listen when I hit weights in the gym? What makes me motivated inside my individual shell? Generally, I do listen to the same things in the gym as in other contexts and locations, but some of my favorite groups of all time, such as Neurosis, Rush and Dead Can Dance, do actually not fit very well within this setting.

Whether if it is metal, hardcore, pop, hip hop or electronic dance music, it has to be more or less energetic and not too slow in regard to structure and pace. Hence, that kind of preferences will reflect upon my regular playlist (i.e. the songs and albums that I listen to most in the particular time-space which constitutes to lift weights and have a rather high pulse for about 90 minutes.)

Below are some of the things that I listen to. In order to avoid misunderstandings, I have emphasized if it is a song or an album in brackets. As one may notice, the contents of the playlist is quite diverse with some extraordinary contrasts, but I do of course have periods during which I listen to more alternative stuff, or the other way around.

Liksom för många andra människor utgör musik en viktig del i mitt vardagsliv. Eftersom jag dessvärre inte har några färdigheter i det avseendet, och följaktligen inte kan spela något som helst instrument eller sjunga särskilt bra, är det dock enbart relaterat till lyssnande och i mindre utsträckning skrivande.

Dock har jag faktiskt gjort ett antal raplåtar under början av 2000-talet och funderar på att göra fler någon gång i framtiden, då jag både har en del bra beats och förmågan att skriva relativt bra texter på både engelska och svenska.

Jag började skriva om musik i början av 2005, och fram till 2013 skrev jag för Skandinaviens mest långlivade metal- och alternativtidskrift, Close-up Magazine. En av höjdpunkterna var då jag skrev om den ambulerande emo/punkfestivalen Vans warped tour i New York City 2005, men jag har även recenserat spelningar i L.A., Paris, Stockholm och Hultsfredsfestivalen.

Musik är både trivialt och djupsinnigt, vilket gör det tämligen intressant att dela med andra. Som en konsekvens av moderniteten och globalisering, har musikkonsumtionen i den ”offentliga sfären” generellt sett blivit mer individualiserad än tidigare, vilket tar sig uttryck i att människor lyssnar på sådant stoff som de som individer gillar i hörlurar. Inom livesituationer och i vissa andra särskilda offentliga sammanhang blir det dock en mer kollektiv upplevelse.

För mig personligen, som förespråkare av ett särskilt ideal, lyssnar jag bade på musik som är mer “högkulturell” (klassiskt) men även en mängd senmoderna genrer och subgenrer som metal, punk, hiphop, K-pop, J-rock och en mängd svårkategoriserade och hybridiserade stilar som ambient, electronica, dubstep, house, progressiv rock och diverse filmmusik.

Och vad lyssnar jag då på när jag lyfter vikter i gymmet? Vad är det som gör mig motiverad inuti mitt individuella skal? Generellt lyssnar jag på samma musik som i andra sammanhang, men några av mina absoluta favoritgrupper, som Neurosis, Dead can dance och Rush passar inte riktigt i det avseendet.

Oavsett om det är metal, hardcore, pop, hiphop eller elektronisk dansmusik, bör innehållet vara energiskt och inte för långsamt. Därför påverkar det i sin tur min gym-playlist.

Nedan följer en del exempel på artister och grupper och deras respektive låtar och/eller album som jag tenderar att avnjuta under ett pass. Som kan noteras är innehållet väldigt varierat, med några rejäla ytterligheter, men självfallet förekommer perioder med mer alternativ musik eller det omvända.

21NE1 – I am the best (song)
Big business – Head for the swallow (album)
BoA – Eat you up (song)
BoA – Energetic (song)
Converge – Petitioning the empty sky (album)
Converge – You fail me (album)
Datsik – Game over (song)
Desire – Under your spell (song from Drive original soundtrack)
Dj Honda feat. Mos Def – Travellin’ man (song)
Dj Shadow – Building steam with a grain of salt (song)
Dj Shadow – Stem (long version, song)
Dissection – Reinkaos (album)
Dissection – Storm of the light’s bane (album)
Exo-K – Growl (song)
Exo-K – Heart attack (song)
Exo-K – Mama (song)
Exo-K – Wolf (song)
F(x) – Nu ABO (song)
F(x) – Rainbow (song)
F(x) – Red light (song)
Girls’ generation – Bad girl (song)
Girls’ generation – I got a boy (song)
Girls’ generation – Mr. Mr. (song)
Girls’ generation – Reflection (song)
Girls’ generation – T.O.P. (song)
Girls’ generation – XYZ (song)
Hatebreed – The rise of brutality (album)
Kottonmouth Kings – Mile high (album)
Lana Del Rey – Born to die (Gemini remix, song)
Mars volta – De-loused in the comatorium (album)
Meg & Dia – Monsters (DOT Exe remix, song)
My favorite – Homeless club kids (Alexander Perls remix, song)
Nero – Solid air (song)
Nine inch nails – The perfect drug (song)
Nine inch nails – Somewhat damaged (song)
Shinee – Lucifer (song)
Shinee – Ring ding dong (song)
Super Junior – Bonamana (song)
Super Junior – Mr. simple (song)
Super Junior – Sexy, free and single (song)
Today is the day – In the eyes of god (album)
TVXQ – Catch me (song)
TVXQ – Keep your head down (song)
Will Haven – Ego’s game (song)

Perfect health

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An acquaintance at Delta gym tipped me off with a book that he thinks that I should read, and courteously he did also lend it to me. It is called Perfekt hälsa (1990), translated from English into Swedish. You could find it quite easy I guess, since it is one of those works which are read by a broad audience. It is written by the Indian-American Deepak Chopra (1946-), a doctor and New Age thinker.

The main idea is that modern medicine and Vedic philosophy – which constitutes a main part of which many call and associate with ‘Hinduism’ – complement each other, and that people should strive to find their particular balance between body and mind. According to Chopra, people are born with innate body types, or dokshas – vata, pitta or kapha. Or actually, everyone is constituted by all of these three, of which one might be (too) dominating: vata (movement), pitta (metabolism), and kapha (innate structure).

The reader can make a self-test at an early stage of the book and then decide which one that conforms most to he or she’s general disposition and behavioral patterns. I myself am a combination of a vata and a pitta, even though some of its characteristics are somewhat out of line and one could easily discern traits which are linked to kapha as well. The idea is indeed interesting, even if for instance the Big Five Personality Factors may pinpoint similar dimensions with more accuracy and scientific credibility.

Overall, Chopra discusses different scientific facts and link them to his world-view and life stance, which at least in this case is largely influenced by Ayurveda (which is the category of Vedic texts which treats medicine and physical well-being to the largest extent and today is often connected to so called alternative medicine in general).

As anyone who is familiar with many New Age discourses, that is both a weakness and a strength. It is true that natural science has confirmed a number of ideas which were previously regarded as ‘alternative medicine’ in the pejorative sense. But it is still a philosophy which is integrated into science (and vice versa), which makes many things perspectives on nature, body and life, rather than unquestionable findings. And the reader cannot always be certain of it is just a viewpoint or a fact.

I have not read any other of Chopra’s works, and he has probably revised some of his ideas during the last more than twenty years since this piece was written, but it is nevertheless definitely not without flaws. Consequently, the author has been criticized for some of his contentions, such as his outlook on quant mechanics and their interrelationships with his particular philosophical world-view.

Chopra seems to be one of those authors that belong in the forefront of the making of potentially fruitful syntheses between natural science and New Age philosophy. For some this book might be very useful, while for others, it is probably superfluous information which at this point has been asserted many times before. (Such as to listen to relaxing music and to do breathing exercises.) Still it does undeniably have its strengths and to many it will offer a quite large portion of relevant information and stimulating perspectives on life and health in general. Perhaps not in order to get a ‘perfect health’, but at least to improve it in some key respects.

En bekant på Delta gym tipsade mig om boken Perfekt hälsa  (1990) för ett tag sedan, och lånade ut sitt exemplar av boken till mig.

Detta verk är skrivet av den indisk-amerikanske läkaren och new age-tänkaren Deepak Chopra, som har författat en rad böcker av den här typen (detta är dock den enda som jag har läst). Grundidén är att naturvetenskap kan kombineras med vedisk filosofi, som är en viktig beståndsdel inom det som med en paraplybeteckning kallas hinduism. Framför allt den kategori av vedatexter som kallas ayurveda, och över huvud taget förknippas med modern “alternativmedicin”.

Enligt Chopra bör vi sträva efter att hitta en balans mellan kropp och skäl, vilket i sin tur till stor del sker genom att hitta en jämvikt mellan olika dimensioner av kroppen eller kroppstyper, dokshas. Människor tenderar att ha en dragning åt någon av dessa tre – vata (rörelse), pitta (metabolism), and kapha (inre struktur). I ett tidigt skede av boken kan läsaren med hjälp av ett självtest på egen hand avgöra om vederbörande antingen är en närmast renodlad typ eller en kombination av i huvudsak två av dessa. Själv är jag en vata-pitta, om än med smärre inslag av kapha. Definitivt intressant.

Chopra har kritiserats under årens lopp – och troligen reviderat en del av sina tidigare ståndpunkter – och det är stundtals inte helt enkelt att urskilja vad som å ena sidan endast är ett perspektiv eller en diskurs, och vad å andra sidan är att betrakta som pålitliga faktauppgifter. Dessutom är många av idéerna välkända vid det här laget, inklusive musikterapi, yoga och andningsövningar, vilket förstås har att göra med att boken har en del år på nacken. Men den innehåller utan tvekan intressanta infallsvinklar som åtminstone kan hjälpa en att få, om än inte perfekt, så åtminstone bättre hälsa.