It’s a Tuesday, and I don’t have a car, so I’m reduced to sitting here trolling the Internet and flipping channels. (OK, the thing about me not having a car is probably just an excuse cuz I don’t have money anyway, but let’s pretend that’s not the case).

The next hot destination?

The New York Times Travel Section did a piece on Ethopia this weekend — ironic, given that the piece of hooey that I’m watching on the National Geographic Channel right now is about the Ark of the Covenant and they’re in Ethiopia looking for the Ark. It might be plausible, except that they’re using Graham Hancock (one of the world’s most pre-eminent pseudo-scientists) as their resident expert.

Above: One of the churches of Lalibela, carved by hand out of solid rock

The country has a sad recent history, which belies its status as one of the longest-lived countries in Africa. It traces its origins back to Biblical times — the Ethiopians themselves claim the Queen of Sheba as one of their own, although Yemen (across the Red Sea) has an equally strong claim on that. They claim that Judaism came to Ethiopia from a starry-eyed legendary encounter between the Queen of Sheba and no less a personage than King Solomon. The Coptic Church of Ethiopia is one of the oldest in the world. There are even some theories that the Knights Templar had a hand in the construction of the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. Of course, those might be fueled by some of those racist theories that suggest that any wonder in Africa must have been undertaken by white folks because black Africans couldn’t have thought of them all by themselves. (Gotta love revisionist history).

I think that Ethiopia looks beautiful in all of the photos I’ve seen, and I haven’t met anyone who’s been there who had anything bad to say about it. I’d love the chance to go there, especially before it becomes the new ‘it’ destination (Dubai or Cambodia, anyone?) and suddenly every schmoe with dreads who works in a coffeebar has an opinion on where to get the best doro wat in Addis Ababa.

Of course, I don’t quite have the money for that Abercrombie and Kent tour of Ethiopia, so unless we manage to squeeze Ethiopia into the Middle East and I can wheedle some compelling reason for a business trip, it looks like I’m going to have to content myself with National Geographic specials and Graham Hancock books and the occasional visit to Ethiopian restaurants whenever I find myself in a town that has them…

It Might Be Time to Say Goodbye

From mystical Ethiopia to my penchant for bad Swedish pop music, my ever-embarrassing guilty pleasure (for the record, I’m far less self-conscious about telling people that I’m gay than I am about telling them that I like Swedish power-pop bands).

Anyway, Roxette premiered their new music video One Wish on TV4 this morning (I don’t get Swedish television in Texas, natch). The single hit radio a few days ago in Sweden, but I’m not such a big devotee that I listen to Sveriges Webb-Radio nonstop on the off chance that they’ll play the single while I’m tuned in.

My love affair with Roxette has been waning for a while. They haven’t released a decent album since Have a Nice Day! in the late 1990s. Their 2001 release Room Service was a bit of a disappointment.

This is a band whose lyrical quality has always left something to be desired — who else could pull off lyrics like:

No changing in the weather
No Elvis in the leather
I got a crush, got a crush on you

– but they usually made up for it with guitar hooks so sharp you could cut through a tin can with them, harmonious vocals, and melodies that could get stuck in your head for days.

Room Service lacked something – real instruments, perhaps? Aside from the lyrically inane hit single The Centre of the Heart (is a suburb to the brain) [see what I mean?], most of the album’s songs sounded like they were written because the band was under contract and had to come up with something.

It’s not that Per and Marie have lost their touch. Per’s 2004 solo album Mazarin was light and catchy and poppy and stayed in my car for months – and it’s in Swedish, for heaven’s sake. His Son of a Plumber project from earlier this year is a retro-playground. Granted, it’s not all lyrically deep (let’s be honest: Double Headed Elvis?), but Per’s never been about being deep: he’s all about having fun. Similarly, Marie’s Min bäste vän, released earlier this year, covers everything from jazz to soul.

So what, pray tell, is the impetus for One Wish? See for yourself:

In the meantime, maybe Per and Marie should agree to call it a day… Their hearts clearly aren’t in it anymore — and my money sure ain’t, either.