After the recent interest from FOX and Philips about the stuff we are doing, we have decided to bring it up a notch. We have decided to force our friend Henrik Oja to be the USD on our videos, which stands for Unpaid Sound Designer.
We are really excited, and the result of this new addition to the Lunki and Sika Family can be heard next week.
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Here is a picture of Henrik Oja. And I know what you all are thinking; really? Another bearded guy? Are you serious?
Yes. He has a beard. And he’s also wearing glasses. Why? Because it’s the cool, new look of the 21st Century. Get on board people. Get on board.
It’s my birthday today, and I got to spend half of it in the presence of beautiful and talented TV-personality Doreen Månsson, who was doing a lecture on the diversities of racism in Sweden.
A couple of days ago I calculated the chance of her falling head over heels in love with me, and gave the forecast 80-90 percent of that happening. I was also hoping to get a chance to ask her if she wanted to be in one of our episodes.
I didn’t really get a chance to speak to her face to face, because in my attempt I was stopped by a man who called himself “The Consultant”, which actually was codename for bodyguard. But he was a really nice guy, telling me about his education and stuff, as he held me pinned down to the floor. I cant wait to get super famous, because it really looks cool having a bodyguard. Er, I mean consultant.
To read this review in Swedish, head over to Kulturbloggen.
Review: Michael Bublé – Crazy Love
After listening to this album I get the feeling somewhere deep inside that I ought to like this. Ought to. Ought to. Ought to.
And I do. Kind of. I’m not completely there, because something about Michael Bublé rubs me the wrong way. And I can’t pin-point it.
I mean, he has a lovely voice, he’s handsome and seems to be a nice, charming Canadian. He’s every mother-in-law’s dream. And as a huge American Idol fan I loved his song Home, that was played every time some poor loser was sent home and had to watch “his/her time on American Idol”.
I also love his new single Haven’t Met You Yet, a pop song about love-to-be. But instead of putting more songs like that on his new album Crazy Love, we have to, just like his previous albums, listen to a bunch of covers. Seriously, does the world really need another version of Georgia on my Mind?
Michael Bublé seems to think so. It also seems like he wants to be a cover artist. And the fact that the album is named after Van Morrison’s Crazy Love, another cover song on the album, proves it. Because I have a hard time believing there aren’t a bunch of song writers out there that couldn’t write him a fantastic album. It has to be his own choice not to do that. And I think that’s what’s rubbing me the wrong way.
Instead of making a modern, contemporary album he hides behind shooting-fish-in-a-barrel covers like Cry Me a River, All of Me, Your Nobody Till Somebody Loves You and At This Moment. It’s nice. It’s safe. And perhaps most important; a cash cow.
I know the millions of Michael Bublé fans out there in the world are going to get everything they want and expect with this album. Me, I would rather buy the single and in the meantime pick up My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra. But hey, that’s me.
Seems like the unpaid pilot for Swedish Television is back on again, since we didn’t get picked by FOX to become one of the five finalists in the FOX/Aniboom Holiday Animation Competition. Nevertheless, our next step is to track down the intern at the FOX Network that saw our potential, book a meeting and fly over to the states to meet him and pitch our pilot idea.
While we’re over there, we also plan to have meetings with other network people. And we definitely gonna need an agent. Anyone have the number for Ari by any chance? I hear he’s the best.
Oh, and here are the five picks.
We are having an office party tonight. Lunki has stocked up on beer and wine. Johnny the Intern has made some kind of weird looking punch. I think I heard him say it’s moonshine and blueberry yogurt mixed together. I hope I misheard him.
Janne the Director is on his way. Since he is married with kids, he’s basically invited to keep us in check. We don’t want it to end up like last year’s office party where Lunki and me woke up the morning after on someone’s lawn back in my hometown 20 miles away from where we started the party. Not knowing how we got there.
And this year with the addition of Johnny the Intern, there’s no way of knowing what will happen. Janne the Director might have his task cut out for him.
I just added the new ABC show FlashForward, to my must-see-TV list. The list is already crammed with House, Dexter, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, 30Rock, Fringe, Criminal Minds, Family Guy, How I met your mother, It’s always Sunny in Philadelphia, True Blood, Californication, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Simpsons, South Park and Breaking Bad. Too many? Yeah. And I’m pretty sure I may have left someone out.
I have nevertheless promised myself to not even glance toward Mad Men or Bones, because I’m sure I’ll get hooked. And I have to keep a spot open for the return of 24.
Oh, and Nip/Tuck. See, I did leave someone out. Damn it.
Yes, I fell off the no-carb diet wagon this weekend. Candy is a devilish seductress. But fear not, after the momentarily relapse I’m back on the wagon again. And I don’t even think I was completely off anyway, maybe I touched the ground with one foot, but that’s it. Anyway, I’m back to full focus now.
One reason to focus is the beautiful visitor we are getting later this week. TV-personality Doreen Månsson is visiting our home town here in the north of Sweden and I have to look my best. I’m not saying it’s certain she’s gonna fall head over heels in love with me, but the forecast looks good. Somewhere around 80-90 percent.
Man, the scariest mask ever worked, I got sooo much candy yesterday Trick or Treating. It also seems like a lot of the neighborhood kids came by the office, because all of the candy we had at the office were gone. I’m glad Sika was there to pass it out.
I’m going out again tonight, because my motto is; more candy is better than some candy.
It’s Halloween and Lunki is excited about going out and scaring people to get candy. Sika however is on a diet. Here’s a new video to watch, so go ahead, press the play thingy.
A lot of people have contacted us, wanting to get tips on how to make the Michael Jackson Thriller makeup. And because I am such a crowd pleaser, here it is:
I have been checking out the stats report for our blog and it has been fun to see where our visitors originates from. Drumroll please. The top five countries are:
- The United States
- Sweden
- The United Kingdom
- Pakistan
- India
And the top visiting cities are as follows:
- Islamabad, Pakistan
- Umeå, Sweden (our Home town)
- Singapore, Singapore
- Eugene, OR, USA
- Auckland, New Zealand
I’m happy to see that so many wonderful people from all over the world is following our Quest for Stardom. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook. We’d love to see you there as well.
Now I have to get my Halloween costume ready. I have finally decided what to wear, it’s going to be great. I’ll show you later.
Yesterday’s Monopoly game lasted into the wee hours, with Janne the Director as the final winner. I hate seeing him doing the Happy Dance. I just hate it.
And because of the delayed game, my review of Michael Bublé’s new album isn’t finished yet. I am also a tad regretful, because I was a little hard on him a couple of days ago in my preview review. Sorry about that Michael. Friends?
Today’s a good day. The free movie streaming library Voddler opens up and releases 500, 000 new user accounts. Sorry Lunki, no need for you to feel exclusive anymore.
Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers release a brand-new single, and that’s about time.
But that’s not all; today’s also the World Animation Day. All over the world people are celebrating, and we are doing our part here at the office by having a battle of the Simpsons Monopoly game. Johnny the Intern was defeated after two rounds; don’t ask me to explain how that’s even possible, because I can’t.
Lunki, Janne the Director and me are still power struggling to become Mr. Burns wealthy, while Johnny the Intern is baking a cake; which we of course will not eat, because if you have had his coffee, you never dare to “go pastry”.
Just finished listening to Michael Bublé’s latest album, Crazy Love.
Man, if Frank Sinatra were alive he would have had Michael Bublé killed for trying to sound like him. And I’m not saying that he would use his alleged mob connections, this one he would take care of himself.
I just had to get that off my chest. Check back tomorrow for the full review.
Yes, it’s true. I love Halloween. And I love candy. This is perhaps the best time of the year for me.
And since Sika went on his no-carb diet it has turned out even better. Because even though I love candy, it tastes even better when I know I’m tormenting Sika at the same time. It’s all fun and and games here at the office. Well, for me anyway.
I can’t wait to go trick or treating. But I haven’t decided what costume to wear. Maybe I’ll dress up as a Zombie again, like when Sika and me tried to be a part of the upcoming movie Björkpollen of the Dead. Remember?
The interest for Zombies totally exploded after we posted that clip on the Internet. Or maybe I’ll go as a Vampire. Maybe Lunki and Sika can start a buzz about them as well? We’ll see.
For a Swedish version of this review go to Kulturbloggen. 
Man, I’m really not part of the Twilight Saga movement, you know the millions worldwide who buys all the novels, the posters, the toys, the whatevers, and who thinks beauty is synonymous with Robert Pattinson. In that area, I’m more a fan of the Elvis Costello movement. But maybe I’m partial.
I have however seen the first installment in the series and liked it very much. But it didn’t blow me off my feet. But despite my rather aloof attitude towards the Twilight phenomenon, something was awoken inside me after listening to something as unusual as a well thought-out, excellent and fitting album. Because the music and songs on the New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack makes me want to run to the store and buy a vampire costume, white make-up in bulk, and most importantly, it makes me want to see the movie. Badly.
I haven’t heard such a complete and fitting soundtrack where I want to listen to every single track on the album since Pulp Fiction back in 1994. Because what this album succeeds at is hard to do. Remember back in the days, when your mix tapes and mix CD’s always seemed to end up with at least one track that you damned yourself for including? That is certainly not the case here, because from the first track with Death Cab for Cutie to the last track of the album, the instrumental score New Moon (The Meadow), I’m enjoying every second and starts longing for the New Moon premiere.
Vampires Rule!
There’s happiness in the air here at the office. When it comes to Johnny the Interns smiling face, my guess is that the football team Liverpool finally has won a match in Premiere League. If that’s the case, I’m happy for him. But even more happier for Lunki and me, because it means that everything Johnny the Intern does around the office is a little less bad. Especially the coffee. It’s almost drinkable.
Lunki’s giddiness is all about Halloween. He loves it. He adores it. I don’t know if it’s the makeup, the candy, or the different costumes, Halloween just makes him happy. Well, happier anyway.
I also love Halloween, but with me being on a diet, this year it means no candy for Sika. But I’m okay with that, because the diet is going great, and I know that if I would be munching on some delicious sugary candy all weekend, my Skinny Jeans Era would have to be postponed.
I am trying to make a webcam video, but Johnny the Intern needs the computer for something much, much more important.
To read my review in Swedish, then head over to Kulturbloggen.
As soon as I read the track listing on Man From Another Time I know I’m going to find this album interesting. Sure, I have never heard Seasick Steve before and know nothing about him, but with songs called Diddley Bo, Happy (to have a job), The Banjo Song, and Seasick Boogie, it has to be something out of the ordinary.
I am immediately drawn in to the storytelling world of Seasick Steve. He sings with conviction and with a great voice. It’s that kind of voice you won’t get tired of hearing in the first place. There are moments where it’s obvious that he is greatly influenced by John Lee Hooker, but manages to create a mixture of old and new blues, which in the end feels modern.
Seasick Steve, or Steve Wold which is his real name, left his home in California at the age of fourteen and became a hobo, traveling the world for fifty years. He finally ended up in Norway where he released his debut album Cheap back in 2004.
His latest album has the suiting title; Man From Another Time. The synergy between old and new blues, his unusual custom-made stringed instruments, lyrics about hope and despair, which are performed by a man in his sixties with a voice that sounds thirty-five, equals fifty-five minutes and thirty-three seconds of enjoyment. And add the fact that Seasick Steve is rocking a cool white beard and you have yourself the ingredients for a great blues album.
As you know, Lunki has tried to become a judge on American Idol since the rumor of Simon Cowell’s departure from the show came last spring. Without success. He was given a second chance a couple of months ago when the news of Paula Abdul’s leaving hit the news world. Again without success. He seems a little irritated about that, I guess because he thinks he was born to judge.
Imagine the reaction when he heard that I had been chosen to judge a contest on Swedish Television. Fine, it’s not prime-time FOX, but it’s “Mitt i Naturen” (In the Middle of Nature), Sweden’s biggest nature show! Lunki has now left the office and I don’t think he’s coming back today.
It’s true, tomorrow I will be watching a couple of nature documentaries sent in by viewers to decide which is the best one. With me on the judges panel is a bird watcher, a TV host, and a biology student. So, why me as the fourth one? Well, I guess they needed a celebrity judge.
And thankfully that almost makes up for my placement in the Philips ad. Wish me luck!
Here’s a new video for you. Sika has made changes to his side of the office because he has become The Chosen One.
I mentioned in an earlier post that Johnny the Intern tried to help out by suggesting ideas for our unpaid Swedish pilot. This hasn’t stopped since he heard we might have a chance of getting a show in America. I also mentioned that I have started compiling them, as I plan to post them here on the blog. But it takes time. There are quite a few.
Johnny the Intern
In addition to these, he has also made up a few rules here at the office. Most recently, he put up a sign which said “No Fruits or Vegetables Allowed” because he is convinced they make you fat.
Now you get the idea of what to expect from the upcoming compilation. Funny stuff. But in the meantime, a little sad.
And by the way, my no carb (and since yesterday no fruit/vegetables) diet is going great. Thanks for caring.
Today we have signed a Development Contract with FOX, giving them the rights to a “first look” option for “Lunki and Sika” during a period of three months starting the beginning of November. There’s still a long road ahead of us before getting our own show on FOX, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
By signing this contract, we unfortunately have to put our unpaid pilot for Swedish Television on hold for a while. We feel bad, considering how eagerly they wanted to have us. But in the equation no money vs some money; some money usually wins.
After a hacker attack Voddler closed down for a while but are now back up with a new beta version.
To start with, the menus are better than in the first version. But they are still a bit slow and not very functionally designed, and it is very hard to get an overview of the movies. And I am still missing the possibility to use the mouse and free text search material.
I’m sure this will be fixed until the public version.
Click image to enlarge
Among the positive stuff is that the picture quality is good, at least DVD quality and even HD for a few movies.
I also think that it’s great that like in Spotify there’s a mix between old and new movies. I found old classic like Hard Boiled, Bad Lieutenant or Day of the Dead that I haven’t seen in years. Another great thing is the fact that it’s a streaming service. You don’t have to wait for files to download and you don’t have to store the film on your computer.
So overall, as soon as I manage to get my way through the menus, I am happy with Voddler. I urge all major and independent studios to sign up with Voddler immediately! We need a film service that is worthy of the 21 century now! Join now or die like the dinosaurs!
If you have any questions about Voddler just ask in the commentary and I’ll do my best to answer!
Yippee! We just got a mail from Aniboom telling us that we have been chosen by FOX among hundreds of submissions to get to the next step in the Fox/Aniboom Holiday Animation competition, for our submission “The Elk Day“. It seems we now a significant chance at becoming one of the five finalists yearning for the Grand Prize; a development deal with FOX.
And it seems that getting to this step gives us the opportunity to have an audience with FOX, and show our work to them for potential development as a “first look” option, which sounds like a really big opportunity. The five prize winning finalists are announced during the first week of November. Keep your fingers crossed.
Yes, I’m starting on a diet. A no carb one. Goodbye potatoes!
But just to clarify, it has nothing to do with the comments made by Johnny the Intern in our latest video. I mean, he thinks that Iron Maiden is a Christian Rock Band, so what does he know?
Actually, I just want to loose a couple of pounds because I think thinness would better suit the struggling, poor artist image that I try to uphold. And quite successfully I might add.
I will keep you posted of my progress. Wish me luck!
Lunki is out of town with his girlfriend which means that Sika is left at the office with Johnny the Intern.
Here’s a Lunki and Sika update for you, straight from our 32 square foot office in northern Sweden.
1. The script for the unpaid Pilot is coming along great. However the last couple of days we have been busy with other things. Lunki is on a vacation 480 miles away, in Stockholm. What he’s doing? Drinking and partying I guess, while I have been busy listening to and reviewing KISS for Kulturbloggen. And I know you all are eagerly awaiting my next one, so let me just tell you it’s a review of Asha Ali’s album Hurricane and it will be posted some time tomorrow.
2. Janne the Director keeps sending me e-mails wondering when the audition for who’s gonna be directing the Pilot will take place. The answer is, soon. We’ll let you know.
3. Johnny the Intern will also be attending the audition. But I can tell you right now. He is not going to get it. We just try to humor him. And speaking of humor, Johnny the Intern tried helping out with the script earlier this week by suggesting one bad idea after another. I’m currently compiling some of them and will post them later.
4. And finally an open request to all you Japanese reporters that has been calling me recently. I think the calls has something to do with the news article that was published in a Swedish Newspaper about Chako Paul City, or Shakebao, the Lesbian City that we have here in the north of Sweden. A City that was founded in 1820 by a men-loathing widow, and is located in the deepest, and darkest woods somewhere here in northern Sweden.
So, to all you reporters, stop calling! I don’t know where the city is. I have never been. I don’t have access to it. And even if I had access why would I go? I’m also a bit scared of the guards, the two blonde women who keep men away from the city’s medieval castle. They are armed and mean.
When I reviewed KISS new album Sonic Boom I started thinking; isn’t it weird that the “new” members of KISS, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, have to dress up like Ace Frehley and Peter Criss’ old characters Spaceman and Catman, when Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr got their own characters back in the days?
I read on Wikipedia that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have copyright on the characters and I know they make every KISS-decision, but still? Do you really have to make them wear those horrible crappy wigs?
I’m doing a guest appearance on Kulturbloggen, reviewing a couple of new albums. First out is KISS new album, Sonic Boom. To read this review in Swedish, click here to get to Kulturbloggen.
KISS – Sonic Boom
It’s been eleven years since KISS latest studio album Psycho Circus. The KISS Army, including myself, have endured a long wait just praying and hoping for a new album instead of all those live and compilation CD’s that has been released since then. Not even the somewhat mediocre solo albums from front men Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons could satisfy our hunger.
It was total happiness when the news arrived that KISS was planning a new studio album. Paul Stanley made a promise that the new album would sound like the classic sound from the mid-seventies when albums like Destroyer, Rock and Roll All Over, and Love Gun was released.
And finally, on October 5th Sonic Boom came out in stores.
After multiple listens I can’t say that Paul Stanley’s promise wasn’t kept ‘cause there are moments when I’m brought back to another time, but back to that classic mid-seventies sound? No, I don’t think so. KISS manages to bring me along on a rollercoaster ride through two decades of sounds and styles, from 1980 to 1998, from Unmasked to Psycho Circus, which gives a wobbly and uneven feeling when I’m done listening.
That feeling brings the grade down, but there are thankfully highlights that bring it way back up. Gene Simmons has never sounded better and delivers his songs with classic attitude and feeling, especially in the tracks Russian Roulette and (Yes I Know) Nobody’s Perfect. Paul Stanley sounds the same, balancing on a thin line between being the lead singer of KISS and a member of that kid group in Jack Black’s Blockbuster School of Rock. Especially on the track Danger Us, where I think he crosses that line. Does that track belong on a new KISS album that promises to deliver the heavy, dirty, classic KISS sound? No, I don’t think so.
But even if the album is uneven and partly sounds like More Hits from School of Rock, I really liked Sonic Boom. It’s addictive and I find myself pushing the repeat button on my player. I’m really looking forward to the new Tour, but suggest they name it after what it is. KISS Sonic Boom – The Time Machine Rollercoaster Tour. Too long (e.g. expensive) to print on the Tour Tee? Well, go with Rollercoaster then, for short.
Sika
Lunki
