pictures from the past week part I

I moved into my new place and I am now an official Swedish resident again. I must say, it feels pretty damn good to be in a country where shit actually functions properly. I now have a wash mashine, a balcony, furniture and a proper bathroom. Such luxuries are completely new to me. Also, I'm going to London on January 6th, and I still don't have a place to stay, so if you know anyone that might be willing to house a nice Swedish-Sri Lankan boy for a couple of days, feel free to holler. Anyway, here are some pictures from the past week or so. I'll post some more in a couple of days. Happy New Year, homies.

pics: throbbin robbin

Horrific but still amazing.

beyond ace.

For some demented reason, Joey Jordison has been one of my biggest idols for many years now. What a relentless badass.

Awesome facts.

The following are awesome facts that I found recently:

-Picasso's full name is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno de los Remedios Crispin Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso.
-During 2009, Iceland spent an impressive zero dollars on homeland security and defense.
-In Canada, they have a landing strip, that can only be used by UFOs.
-Over 2 million people worldwide masturbated to the Victoria's Secret show in 2000. The show earned 2 million dollars for charity. That's about 1 dollar per online-ejaculation.
-In 2004, the Ferrari F1 team managed to cheat their way to winning 15 out of 18 races. Millions of people saw this happen, but no questions were asked. Everyone just thought they were that much better than everyone else at driving a car.
-The American Donald Hayes is confirmed to be the worlds loneliest person, after having gotten a stunning 55 160 points playing Space Invaders. His points appear to be significantly higher on his birthday.
-Australia has a grand total of 21 million losers within its borders.
-My dog Caesar, a Mastiff, was part of a breed where the average male dog weighs between 70-90 kilos.
-The North Korean currency of Won, used to have a set relation of 2.16 to the American dollar, because Kim Jong Il's birthday is February 16th.

Merry christmas, my friends. I will be posting loads of pictures fairly soon.

the band with the best album covers ever.

10 favourite albums of the 2000's

My friend just wrote a post about the fact that an actual decade is coming to an end. I hadn't thought about it before, but I think it might be true. She then proceeded to list her 10 favourite albums of this past decade, and you all know what I think about lists. They're pretty much the best thing ever, so I figured I'd do the same.

It wasn't until after I had started considering my options, that I realized how few great albums there are from this past decade? I realized how much the 2000's have been about great songs, rather than great albums. Some people might be offended because there's only one hip-hop album, but what exactly makes you think there should be more? Party hip-hop is stupid and conscious hip-hop is beyond boring. So, this is my top 10:

10. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar (2005)
I can't work and listen to music at the same time. I really wish I could. I can't even retouch or edit while listening to music. With the exception of a few, of course. Zach Condon's miserable wailing is one of the few things I can endure when I have to focus on something else. As such, I've listened to this album more than a few times since it came out.

9. N.E.R.D - In Search of... (2001)
The only hip-hop album on this list. I like it because it's actually funny, but to be honest, I've mainly included it for one reason: It might be the only hip-hop album that I can listen to in its entity, without thinking half-way through: "My God, this is so monotonous and and every second spent listening to this album is a second I will never get back." In short, this album is witty, original and amazing.

8. The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious (2000)
I actually didn't listen to this album when it came out, but I've listened to it every week for a long time now. This album actually makes me feel cooler, just from listening to it. Even though nothing could be further from the truth.

7. The Streets - Original Pirate Material (2002)
The beats are awkward, you can't really relate to or understand what they're talking about, but for a while, I couldn't stop listening. Again, albums that are witty always make a strong impression on me.

6. AIR - Talkie Walkie (2004)
One of my favourite bands ever. Alone in Kyoto, Cherry Blossom Girl, Surfing On A Rocket, Alpha Beta Gaga. The list of great songs can be made very long. Maybe not very long, since the album only has 10 songs, but you know what I mean.

5. The Strokes - Is This It? (2001)
It might be a bit outdated at this point, but this is still the album that made this kind of music okay in my book. Whereas you can't do anything to music such as Drum N Bass, you can do everything to this album; study, party, make out, kill yourself etc etc.

4. Kings Of Convenience - Riot On An Empty Street (2004)
Me and Linus spent our entire high-school period listening to this album, along with the one listed at number two. It's one of those albums where I know all the lyrics, but I have no idea how.

3. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
If there is one person in the world who's better than Zac Condon or Anthony Hegarty at impersonating a dying whale , it's Thom Yorke. OK Computer is better, but since that came out in '97, I had to choose the next best thing. And this album is still a 10/10. OK Computer is a 24/10.

2. The Knife - Deep Cuts (2003)
This album is probably the one that made the strongest impression on me during the 2000's, and it could just as well have been number one. Every single song is amazing. I wanted to have "Silent Shout" on this list as well, but I felt that might be a bit excessive.

1. Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
Probably the best album of electronic music ever? Future ones included?

I swear, if ONE person mentions Da Carter III, I'm moving to Mongolia and I'm never coming back. EVER.

Random Still That I Like Part IX

Daniel Craig's letter to the Bond people.

"Dear James Bond-chooser people, my name is Daniel and I'm a 38-year old boy from Chester! My mums name is Olivia and my daddy's name is Timothy, but mum always calls him Tim-Tim. Mum can be such a loony sometimes. One time, on my birthday, she pretended that she actually thought it was my sister Lea's birthday. She pretended really well, sometimes I actually think she didn't know it was my birthday. But that would just be too silly of mum.

I read in my daddy's newspaper that you are currently looking for someone to play the character of James Bond in your new film, that's why I'm writing to you. I have always thought James Bond is the coolest! My favourite scene is when Bond kills that guy and the guy dies. It's so good! In fact, one of my dreams is to write a book about James Bond sometime. When all the other kids at my job are working, I sometimes sneak into a closet space and pretend like I'm James Bond in hiding. Sometimes, I stay in there for three hours or so, just hiding! One time, I forgot to eat for a long time and fainted, though. That was not so much fun...

I don't really know how to fire a gun or drive a car, but I learn really fast, I promise! Plus, I have many other skills! I can play guitar hero really well, I can imitate a dolphin really well, and my ears are super flexible. Anyway, if you're interested in letting me play James Bond, just give me a call at my house any time. If mum picks up the phone, just ask for Danny or Dandelion. I'm attaching a picture I made on mums computer, just to show you what a great James Bond I would be!"

x Daniel Wroughton Craig

Seriously, he doesn't even look like James Bond. Terrible choice.

I look like an idiot. Not just that one time.

This is me looking like an idiot at a shoot I did for Nylon over a year ago. And I'm not that small, the perspective is distorted, okay? Good. Some of the pictures from that shoot turned out pretty cool, actually. I'm going back to Sweden on Friday, then to London from January 6-12th, and then I'll be back in Berlin for a shoot a week or so after that. I'm excited about that one, it's going to be pretty sweet. And pretty cold, probably.

pics: theoneandonlyrobmonzter

methods of payment.

It should come as no secret to you people, that there are various forms of payment out there today. Cash, check, Paypal, Visa, Mastercard. The possibilities are endless. But what happened to all that old-school stuff? You know, when people traded goods for labour or favours. That was more my thing. I guess I just have a certain respect for people who like to keep it simple when it comes to payment. Like my homie Ghazal.

new picturrres

I have some new fashion pictures coming out before Christmas, but I'm not sure exactly when and where you can buy the magazine yet. I'll keep you posted, though.

pics: Charles Zeber

Why would you do that?

I never understood people that buy small, ugly, insignificant dogs. The thing that bothers me about small dogs, is that they're jumpy. All things that are jumpy are annoying. People hate jumpy people, so why would you get a jumpy dog? I understand that small dogs are less work, but if you want less work, why don't you get a cat instead? At least they're aesthetically pleasing, something that partially makes up for their total lack of personality. Obviously, fashion people buy small dogs or cats, for the exact reason I just mentioned. When you choose a pet, based on the fact that you both lack personality, it might be time to re-evaluate and make some form of change. It makes sense to me.

Anyway, take Pugs, for instance. In what other instances do people want to pay a lot of money for defect goods? I thought defect goods were supposed to be free, or at least cheap? 800 dollars for something defect is not cheap. It is common knowledge that Pugs are a sad, biological failure. I'm not saying they suck, which they do, but it just seems like such a shitty deal to me. See, this is were I need your help. Can someone please explain to me why I should buy this sorry excuse for a dog:

When I could buy one of these little munchkins?

Also, the following names are currently being considered for my first dog:

Cornelius
Helmut
Bowie
Heima
Hilfe
Ray Dee O'Head

I'm out.

Great covers.

What's up with everyone doing great covers these days? Hot Chip, for instance, have been putting out great covers for a couple of years now, and the trend is hardly getting worse.

Lykke Li - "Hustlin'"

And check out my buddy Ariel

Plus, it'd be a shame not to mention:

Chromatics - I'm On Fire(Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Anya Marina - Whatever You Like(T.I Cover)

New info.

In less than two weeks, I will be relocating from Berlin, back to my home town of Gothenburg. I'm pretty excited about it, actually. I have some new fashion photography stuff coming out soon, but I have to wait until the actual magazine is out, before I post any pictures. Also, my mom sent me all my birth info from Sri Lanka yesterday, which was pretty neat. This was me, I guess:

Asitha Vithanage Premawathie
Born 19/9-86. 8:45 AM
Bed 334633 Weight 6 LBS 3 OZS
De Soysa Hospital for Women
Colombo, Sri Lanka

AKA THE ROBMONZTER

The Tough Alliance - A New Chance(Juan Maclean Remix)

best thing ever.

Me and Alex are looking at pictures of deep sea jellyfish, essentially the best thing ever.

How the story of Charles began.

I started this blog little over 2 years ago in New York. Back then, the blog was called Chasin The Banana. One year after I started the blog, I changed the name, since Chasin The Banana sounds totally gay. I wouldn't mind being labeled as a gay person, it's just that I'm not gay. So, I decided to change the name. By that time, Charles had entered my group of friends, so Chasin The Banana(C.T.B) became Charles The Bear.

To be honest, I have no idea how many readers I actually have, since I've never checked. See, if the number turned out to be more than I expected, I'd probably feel pressure to write in a certain way, and if it turned out that nobody reads this crap, I'd probably just stop posting. That being said, today I realized that I never told you guys about how the character Charles the Bear came into being, and I feel like there are inquisitive minds out there that might be curious, so here it goes:

Charles the Bear: Genesis First Blood II

Once upon a time, one whole year ago in London, two Swedish boys were sharing, not only a room, but they also had to share a very small bed. That kind of intimacy between friends is not only questionable, it's also kind of scary.

London was a strange, yet not a very complex city. Days in London did not consist of day and night, like in other cities. Days in London consisted of two other important parts of human existence. "Work" and "Being shitfaced". No other activities were socially accepted.

Since the gang living in Flat 9 Dresden House were a bit lazy, they mostly stayed at home, indulging in many different kinds of adventurous, sophisticated activities.

Some more legit than others.

The gang was getting along very well, living in a dazed, yet fun state, constantly traveling between different parts of their own apartment. And even though London seemed to have the whole package; great weather, excellent food, and decent prices, something was still missing.

And so, the boys set out on a quest to find the missing link. Kind of like in that movie Highlander, they scoured the far corners of the Earth, yet nothing really cool was found. That is actually nothing like the movie Highlander. After careful consideration, the boys did the only rational thing. They went on Ebay.

They found a world full of horrific tales and atrocities. Did you know that in China, thousands of girl bears are brutally murdered, often times by drowning, simply because they were born female? The Swedish boys were shocked. Something had to be done. They had to stand up for all the mistreated young bears out there.

A month or so later, the boys were relaxing in their couch, indulging in a furious game of Mortal Combat. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door...

And the rest, my friends, is what we like to call history.