Literally killdead argument is an argument that is a sure win in any discussion. I used it the other day in a video about strikes in Iceland (I'm becoming an internet star, something I will talk about in a later post). In Iceland inflation is the argument to end all arguments, if you are against any policy all you have to do is show that it will lead to inflation and the policy will be rejected, no matter how sensible it is otherwise (another Totschlagargument in Iceland is independence. In Germany, where we are less afraid of hyperinflation (because we do not try to maintain a currency with a population of 350.000) the Totschlagargument is "it will lose (or create) jobs", an argument that was used for all the new labour measures introduced in the 90s and any other kind of business friendly (and anti worker) policy. In both countries these arguments are regularly used to explain why the minimum wage cannot be a living wage.

Ægir is a microbrewery, which also was founded in summer 2018. They specialize in brewing beer for others. If you are a hobby brewer and developed a recipe you think is really good, they will work with you to perfect it, brew it and market it.

They have four different Christmas beers and I did not really like any of them.


The first one I tried was Heilög Eilífð Barrel Aged Pastry Stout. An imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. The bourbon taste is really strong and I am neither a bourbon, nor a whiskey person (it is rum or tequila for me). I cannot give an objective review of this beer, I could only drink one or two sips before I gave up. The beer was made in cooperation with Kex brewing (a hostel with it's own brewery) and some others.
The next I tried was the Jóli Bæjó, a session IPA made for Mói, a brewing club in Garðabær. I still do not like IPAs, nor do I think they are christmassy and I´m really skeptical of throwing oats into your beer, but it tasted like a not to hoppy, light and pleasant IPA. And I think it is really cool that Ægir gives small brewing clubs the opportunity to produce their own beer for the general public (home brewing is legal as long as it is for your own consumption and not sold).
Next up was Hóhóhó, a brown ale with orange and cocoa husks. Quite christmassy, one can say, basically orange chocolate beer. I did not find the brown ale anything special and the dominating flavours were the orange and cocoa.I don't like orange chocolate, so I did not like the beer (this is what happened if you add a lot of extra flavours to your beer, just stick with water, malt, barley and hops, people!)
Last was Ekkert sérstaklega jólaleg jól (not a very christmassy Christmas). True to name, it is basically a summer beer a light IPA with lime juice. And for whatever reason oats again. This is beer, not porridge, keep the oats out of it! I know I complained about adding flavours to beer just to sentences above, but the lime juice overpowering the IPA here made it better to me. On the can it says to drink it on the beach and yes, I would (as long as it is not an Icelandic beach).

Ægir's business model of cooperating with other brewers lead to a lot of different and experimental beers, not to everyone's liking. If you have a beer idea, give them a call, maybe your beer can be the next big thing in Iceland!

When I was in JianShui, I took a picture of a red flower in the rain in front of a traditional building:


Even though I liked the composition, the picture felt a bit pedestrian. I tried converting it to black and white, using the channel mixer to get the red flower almost white, which I liked much more immediately:


Then I got the bright idea to open both pictures as layers and go wild with layer modes. The lighten / darken modes (lighten only, screen / darken only, burn) didn't really do anything interesting, but HSL colour (colour picture upper layer) ended up with a much nicer colour picture than the original (I like how you can see the rain drops clearly). This makes sense, HSL colour takes the colour and saturation from the top layer and applies it to the lightness of the bottom layer. I had previously used the channel mixer to lighten up the red from the flower. That is a really interesting option, I will keep in mind for future pictures.


Now for really experimental: Difference mode calculates the RGB values from the top layers minus the ones from the bottom layer. In case there is a negative number in converts it to positive. For example most of the red flower has values around (180 red, 5 green, 0 blue) and (180 red, 180 green, 180 blue) in the black and white image. The outcome image then had a teal flower with (0 red, 175 green and 180 blue). Any similar colour on both pictures (such as the white sky) would turn to black (0,0,0). It's a cool effect:


Now divide has even more complicated calculations it takes the RGB values from the upper layer * 256 and divides it with the RGB value of the lower layer + 1. The result is that similar colours go white and thanks to the channel mixing I did with the black and white picture only the red flowers and green leaves were left. I really like this one:

Segull 67 is a small family brewery in Siglufjörður, in the north of Iceland, which was founded in 2015. They brew their beer in a repurposed fish factory and sound like a cool place to visit when in the north. Here is their homepage.



They have two Christmas beers, an amber ale and a mandarin session IPA. The amber ale is a solid beer, the malted barley gives it a warmer taste, as you would expect from a winter beer. The IPA tastes a sweet from the added mandarins and light, more like a summer beer. I do not particularly like IPAs, so I definitely prefer the amber ale, but I think if IPAs are your thing, it is worth checking out. The mandarins and hoppy taste of the IPA go well together.

Here my history with REM ends. Not because I disliked Reveal, quite the opposite, I was very surprised to find out that a lot of fans rank this album as one of their worst, especially as my sister (who had given up on REM after Monster) liked Reveal. Reveal came out in May 2001, shortly before my Abitur and the summer before I left home to go to Iceland. I spent most summer enjoying the absolute freedom of school out forever and hanging out with my childhood friends, appreciating it even more, because I knew we would all be going our separate ways soon. REM did a few free concerts in order to promote this album and as luck would have it, one was in Cologne, just one hour away from my home. Me, my sister and friends went. We did not bother even trying to get anywhere near the stage, but found a nice sunny spot, sat down with snacks and relaxed. Then my live changed, I went to Iceland and after to university. I went on concerts in small venues and listened to the music of the bands I saw there with REM fading into the background.

Reveal
They recorded a lot of Reveal in the Caribbean. You can hear this. It is a relaxing summer record and it feels very light. The lyrics are very summary too, there are songs called Summer Turns Too High and Beachball, in The Lifting Stipe sings "the weather's fine, the sky is blue", he also mentions butterflies and dragonflies twice. Of course there is also a song called I'll take the Rain, because he just loves his rain metaphors. They still use the drum machines and electronic toys from Up, but more playfully, like the "blub blub blub!" in All the Way to Reno. They work really well on this album, they create a light and playful, especially on I've Been High, All the Way to Reno, Beachball, Let's just say someone had listened a lot to Moon Safari by Air and gotten inspired. The production is pretty slick, to me it adds to the soft and light feel of the album, but some critics found it lifeless.

The album is more guitar heavy, there is some nice fingerstyle guitar on She Just Wants To Be, Buck's typical jangly guitar on Imitation of Life and Disappear, even some Monster like guitar effects on Chorus and the Ring. Mills's bass is somewhat subdued, mixed in the background and softer sounding than on other records. His background vocals, which were already few on Up have been reduced to a minimum, except in Imitation of Life. He is still busy, almost all songs have Organ, Keyboard or Piano parts. (I just have to say again, REM know how to use an organ). Additional to the drum machines and electronics there are string arrangements, mostly high lofty violins and some really well placed brass arrangements.

Some songs are all the way out there in the new experimental style, like Saturn Return, Summer Turns Too High or the electronic rumba rhythm and brass section of Beachball. Others combine the folksy old style, best known from Automatic for the People with the new elements, like Beat a Drum, I'll take the Rain and Chorus and the Ring (the best songs on the album other than I've Been High). Imitation of Life is the song sounding most like a typical REM song and was the first single (I don't know if chosen by the band or requested by the studio). However, it is a mediocre REM song, still better than Daysleeper though. The strings remind me of the arrangements on Out of Time, especially Shiny Happy People. Stop having one of these cop out songs on your album, guys, just boldly go to the new sound!
Just like Up, Reveal sounds different than previous REM albums, some key elements (Mills's bass and background vocals being prominent, the crisp production from Scott Litt) have vanished and been replaced with keyboards, drum machines and electronics. It is my main reason for liking it, and also the main reason for others disliking it.

Shout outs:

I've Been High is the reason these blog posts exist. I was really stressed in March (as everyone) and sitting alone at work (it was closed for my clients), so I thought to listen to some music. It was still winter and dark outside and I wanted something relaxing that would remind me of summer, so I though "I haven't listen to Reveal in years, let's see if it still holds up". After The Lifting the drum machines and keyboard of I've Been High started and I could feel myself relaxing. It's is such a relaxing song and has such a pretty melody. I love the several drum machines, keyboards, high violins and lazy guitar of the album version, though the minimalist live version with only keyboard and acoustic guitar is lovely as well. The small piano part in the bridge is wonderful. I remembered how much I loved this song in particular and REM in general and with several weeks of alone in front of my computer ahead of me, the idea of checking out ALL their albums was born.

Beat a Drum and I'll take the Rain all have a lot of things going on. I like how the brass and drum machines in Beat a Drum come together with the more traditionally REM guitar, piano, organ and background vocals. I think the harmonica sounding instrument is a keyboard on I'll take the Rain, then there is another keyboard and a piano in the background (I think Mills just went a bit wild adding parts there). This song is the one truly melancholic song, but cozy, like a rainy day on your summer holiday. I love the bridge, with the high arpeggios by the violins and the guitar riff.

I don't know if this actually is a melodica on Chorus and the Ring, but it does remind me of Automatic for the People, while the guitar effects seem inspired by Monster. It's like they deconstructed their own music to reassemble it to something new.

Closing thoughts:
I still like Reveal, I think it holds up. Of course a lot of it comes down to taste, but I enjoyed my three weeks of listening to it on repeat. Why three weeks instead of one? Because I really was trying to delay listening to Around the Sun. I listened to it once and hated it. The next blog post will be short.