… and the other two books. I enjoyed these books, I really did. I tried to get into the Swedish version of the movie and I made it like, 20 minutes… I’m aware it got great reviews, I do fully intend to try again. Hopefully the English version coming out next year will be more engaging! After reading all three books, I’m pretty much an expert on life up there, here’s what I learned.

1. Swedish people LOVE coffee. Everyone drinks coffee all the time… bedtime? Coffee. Meeting? Coffee. Lunch? Coffee. Reading files on an old murder? Coffee. Going for a walk? Bring your thermos! I’m surprised they sleep.

2. They also love sandwiches. I don’t know if Mr. Larsson was just hungry all the time, but these characters are living in sandwich paradise. Every kind, every size, every meal. I’m super jealous.

3. The title in Swedish is: Män som hatar kvinnor – “Men Who Hate Women.” What the hell, translators, that title makes about a gazillion times more sense! I just looked that up and the first thing I thought was “OH! I get it!” Like, I get the ENTIRE series all of a sudden! I knew it was about gender… but it’s ABOUT gender. Oh. Point taken: gender violence is a serious social issue in Sweden and needs to be addressed.

4. All the violence is just probably because it’s so cold. [note: I'm not going back and citing, these are from memory] Everyone is always bundling up. It’s always dark, there are long johns and scarves and sweaters and foot stomping and hand rubbing togethers. Although! The cold probably saves a lot of people from bleeding out, I imagine that it’s sort of like a preserver for those who get beat up during the books (no scientific basis, just imagining).

The Police aren’t so aggressive, here are some examples.

5. So they think they have the apartment of a murderer (I won’t spoil any plots). They get there, nobody is home… soooo what did they do? They called a LOCKSMITH! The murderer could be INSIDE and not answering, because that would be the smart thing to do since they’re going to have like an hour to kill while they wait for the police to get inside. They could be doing all sorts of things, like, leaving out a back door. Or, sitting there with a gun waiting for you to open the door! Kick it down!

6. THEN one of the police people pulls out their gun and it’s like the emotional travesty of the freaking century. On NCIS they kill people all the time… in these books they get really nervous and look around and wonder what to do. Not that I think police should be shooting like cray cray but if you have someone shooting at you, you do realize you also have a gun? There are 9358437657843 acts of violence in these books and hardly a one committed by the police.

7. They have sex a lot. Maybe it’s the cold? Maybe it’s just that the main character is irresistible. I guess if you’re single and going to meetings with people, or have a trainer at the gym, or know another person in any capacity at all and you have nothing better to do that would make sense… Side note, I was worried that they were going to make Erika Berger a not-older woman. She’s supposed to be 40s and I would be annoyed if it were like, Nicole Kidman. For reference the Swedish movie used Lena Endre, the US version is rumored to be asking Robin Wright Penn. I’m totally ok with that.

8. 1 Swedish krona = 0.1485 US dollars / 1 US dollar = 6.7335 Swedish kronor
(Are you reading the books now? You’re welcome)

9. Unsurprisingly, even more loved than the coffee are the coffee cups. Over and over they’re described in detail. My favorite is how the cups at the Millennium office all have union symbols or symbols from the democratic party line. We get it, they’re the liberal mag, I see what you did there.

10. Standing up for yourself is hard. The main character is a ward of the state even though she’s in her early 20s. Every time a woman tries to do something she’s shot down. Very few women work in the government, and the one that does is freakishly muscular (they also say “pump iron” makes me giggle, every time). All of this of course makes more sense now that I know the original title!

Here you go Lisbeth:

Have you read them? What did you learn? I’m waiting patiently for Popten’s resident Swede to chime in! Hi Jiun!!!

The best 2.0′d comic strip since Garfield Minus Garfield.  I love me some Bukowski, and I can’t think of a better mash-up for his talents.

Peanuts by Charles Bukowski.

This opens up a whole world of comic mash-ups I’d like to see.  Cartoonists take note!  (And please add some in the comments, folks…)

Big Nate by JD Salinger

Blondie by Raymond Carver

Family Circus by HP Lovecraft (oh, wait…)

Beetle Bailey by Stanley Kubrick

Garfield by James Frey

For Better Or For Worse by Dostoevsky

Prince Valiant by Marquis de Sade….

Fantasy Freaks & Gaming Geeks is a thoughtful discourse on lifelong gamers, and the appeal of these worlds they reside in. A life of Dungeons & Dragons from a young age leads Ethan on a journey around the world to meet others with similar (if not more impressive) passions, and find out why they do what they do. Revelatory and balanced Ethan shares his impressions while allowing the people he meets to share theirs. The book quickly becomes about more than just gaming as the discussion leads to larger questions about our escapist society as a whole.

Ethan, a self proclaimed geek, has a couple of badges to prove his worth. He picked up his original D&D books at a young age, and didn’t wimp out on them until college. From hanging with Tolkeinites to questing with LARPers the author dives into all things geek. Early on he finds a group of ex-MMO gamers who have gone back to table top. It’s interesting to see how communities change over time and their needs differ. This group went back to D&D because they missed the camaraderie. While certainly not the norm in my experience it does give way to a running thematic question about belonging.

A group I had relatively little knowledge of was the SCA. Once a year they meet to reenact medieval times with real swords, real battles, and real maidens. Their community, as well as LARPers, are ones that I’ve had relatively little experience with. It’s the idea of collective storytelling that I find fascinating, and reminds me of childhood where stories unfolded dynamically playing action figures with my brother. The chapters on MMOs were a fun read too, especially since they involved some of our friends including Nissa Ludwig and The Syndicate.

In fact, now that I think about it, for each chapter in this book there is a documentary film too. For more about Dungeons and Dragons watch Dungeonmaster, Nerdcore watch Nerdcore Rising, Chiptunes see Reformat the Planet, LARPing check out Darkon or Monster Camp, and of course for MMORPGs check out my film Second Skin.

The best parts though were bits of trivia I haven’t thought to Wikipedia. For example: what does TSR stand for? Who was the godfather of tabletop gaming besides Gary Gygax? What does Grognard stand for? I thought the geek levels ran pretty high in my blood, but there were definitely some great eureka moments strewn along the path that caught me by surprise.

Gilsdorf takes a Kerouac meets Cliff’s notes approach to Geekdom, and while he met great people along the way it was really about the author’s journey. In his more introspective moments Ethan remembers his own troubled youth, and a love/hate relationship with his own geek hood. It’s a self branding that seems all to familiar, and it’s these moments where Ethan hits closest to home, as we all have difficulty with who we are. His problems are that of the everyman, and although his experience is with geekdom the frustration is universal. Keep your eyes open for this on bookshelves.

The Artist’s struggle is something beholden to our society. We love to hear people’s sob story of how they made something brilliant. Everyone who goes through it carries this memory as a trophy for the rest of their lives. Whether those hard knocks come ‘on the road’ in music, getting a movie off the ground, writing until you bleed, or painting in that dingy studio, it all amounts to overcoming the odds.

In Reynolds & Griffin’s most recent autobiographical art book “My Name is Jason. Mine Too.” the struggle is ever present as a backdrop to their dreams of grandeur. Reynolds’ deceivingly simple poetry is painted by Griffin’s skillful hand. The self-referential nature of the piece is not braggadocio – it reads more like an Artist’s Survival Guide. The Jason’s reiterate in paintings and words, “If you’ve never been here it’s okay. Don’t worry so much – we’ve all been here. It sucks but things get better”.

It begins, as most of our careers do, with graduation. A poem titled ‘Room to Grow’ captures the fear artist’s have when they choose to pursue “the dream”. Shiny new diplomas in hand (or not in Griffin’s case) the duo heads for Bedstuy. All they want to do is be creative and successful. The words come so easily, and yet they are going hungry. In my experience that had to be one of the hardest facts about reality. There were so many goals that I was supposed to have completed, and yet no one was handing out success when I left school. A few pages later ‘No Money’ playfully relates continuing to live with empty pockets, and ‘No Name’ describes dressing famously for the world to see. A filmmaker I know said a few years back, “Have people catch up to your delusion”. In New York City I think this faux fame culture of nobodies is ever present. People watching people trying desperately to be what others are looking at.

“My Name is Jason. Mine Too.” is really about our most recent buzz word for the post graduate blues, the Quarter-Life crisis. For some reason our generation seems to be one of the first to have it. Maybe it’s the way career paths work in modern society, or maybe it’s something we haven’t accounted for. At the moment there are a lot of overbearing self help guides that lack the simplicity to be memorable. This collection might just have the stuff young artist’s need to keep those razors at bay.

Reynold’s style is melodic, and his voice is akin to that of a wise man who does not like to waste words. The usage of alliterations in his poetry are like markers for the mind so one can easily remember these simple rhymes. Griffin’s art compliments the words as he places serious graphical elements against childlike scribbles. Sometimes words are crossed out, and things are pasted over with other more relevant drawings. The effect that is created is one of growth and energy.

One important nuance they do not shy away from is that one is black and the other white. In the poem “Brother” they discuss this discrepancy that is never voiced by them but rather their environment. It’s a refreshing take on a sensitive topic, and serves to portray the societal evolution we continue to embrace. The struggle to survive surrounds the art they create, and they’re inspired by it. Their success is a self fulfilling prophecy. Their book, their artistic endeavor, their friendship, their fame are all contingent on one another. If most of what they have already done is true than when will we catch up to their delusion?

Their New York City book signing happens at the Leo Kesting Gallery in the Meat Packing district this Friday ~ May 15th from 7 – 10pm. Facebook it here.

Check out their book at Amazon.