L'Heure d'été

Aurore had won two tickets to the film L'Heure d'été by Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours).
We went, we saw and we liked it. Not particularly innovating but a nice story with good actors.

The sixth barrel

Again we visited the Sixth Barrel (Sjätte tunnan) in the Old Town, a restaurant I can recommend for those of you interested in real medieval ambience combined with good food.
The food is also of medieval character of course.

There are at least on vegetarian alternative.

We enjoyed the evening very much, Aurore and I!

Medieval music both live and through speaker units.

(Photo from the entrance and bar copied from: http://whatsupsthlm.se/images/content/blog/12/fotobloggen_20091029040036.jpg)
(Photo tables and wall with painting copied from: http://content.expressen.se/blog/51/49/62/tuff-tuff/images/bild1_72ppi.jpg)
(Photo table against the inner part of the restaurant copied dfrom: http://whatsupsthlm.se/images/content/location/1130/sjatte_tunnan%286%29.jpg)

Extra in The Millenium trilogy: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest

I samarbete med Filmtrailer.se
I was called to work as an extra today: The Millenium trilogy, written by Stieg Larsson.

This was the third part: Luftslottet som sprängdes (The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest/La Reine dans le palais des courants d'air).
Stieg Larsson is also related to my family as he grew up in or near Bjursele (Norsjö municipality) from where my family and my name emanates. Our family-name was originally Larsson-Knip.
My great grandfather (born in 1843) changed it, using the name of the village as he thought that Larsson was to common a name in Sweden.
The relation to Stieg Larsson is another story and for the details I have to ask my aunt Elvy, having worked with genealogical research... (To be contined...).

Vattenspeglar

It had been a while since we visited Millesgården.
For the vernissage of this exhibition, the gallery hall was overcrowded.
Works of some prestigious names (Liljefors...) hang on the walls, but unfortunately the quality of these water reflections was very unequal.
We had been fooled.

Where were they, these water mirrors? In the remote fountain of this landscape? Half painted in the harbour of this or that one?

I guess we are too picky, but when we go to see Water paintings, we expect something more poetic and more skilled than what we experienced this time.
We hope that the next vernissage will surprise us in a more positive way.

(Photo of painting of boats copied from: http://lidingosidan.se/images/1016.jpg)
(Photo of painting of a mill copied from: http://lidingosidan.se/images/1018.jpg)
(Photo of painting depicting the 'Näcken' playing his harp copied from: http://lidingosidan.se/images/1019.jpg)

Lura Ögat /Tromp l'oeil

Once again we are perplex.

The poster was great, the subject was interesting, but the exhibition... less.
Or more.
This was the problem: there were far too many works, and not all of them were worth their place in the National Museum.
With less artworks the exhibition had been a curatorial success: Tight, clever, interesting.
With this third extra, it became a cake with too much sugar and too much mediocre chocolate; very difficult to eat.

(Photo boy through a frame copied from: http://www.lakartidningen.se/store/images/7/7545/large/Lura_ogat_1.jpg)
(Photo man with the head in a bucket copied from: http://www.onculture.eu/thumbnails%5C425-4.gif)
(Photo of woman undressing her skin copied from: http://www.onculture.eu/thumbnails%5C425-2.gif)
(Photo papers on a wall copied from: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5kGdRUvnfho/SWDkZ10tl3I/AAAAAAAABoA/QEIFfoA-P8c/s800/lura_ogat_6764.jpg)

The Swedish Film Archive. 75th Anniversary

The Swedish Film Archive - one of the oldest film archives in the world - celebrates its 75th anniversary.
The celebration started the 26th of October and ends 2nd of November.
For a full schedule take a look through this link: Länge leve filmen!

As so often in this country we find that the overall information is in Swedish.
Too many Swedes obviously believe that Swedish is a lingua franca, but - helas! - it's not!

(Photo copied from: http://www.wift.se/aktuellt/filmarkivet-firar-75-ar/)

Henric Aryee

Aurore and I were invited to a vernissage at the Drakens gallery in the Old Town in Stockholm tonight. Of course we went there.

Henric Aryee was the artist displaying some of his oeuvres - Aurore and Henric have worked together in a company for some time.
He has a substantial educational background from the USA among other countries.
In his works he uses different techniques even though his main interest lies in drawing.
In this exhibition we saw prints, oil and other techniques and it was really a very varied display of his art.
We were fascinated and so were many others. The vernissage was visited by many people and we enjoyed it very much!

Take a look at other pieces of art by clicking on his name above!

(Picture of 'hand sitting by the table' /not the name of this piece of art though/ copied from: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/2593579756_b5844ea724.jpg?v=0)
(Picture of the back of a painting man copied from: http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles5/117775/projects/278620/1177751249346907.jpg)
(Picture of pen with a female head copied from: http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles5/117775/projects/279263/1177751249429640.jpg)

Jakten mot Nollpunkten

There are artists that cannot talk about their art.

And some who can, and who even WRITE.
Carl Johan De Geer is among those.
As his self biography was about to be released, he animated a monologue at Hedengrens.
Though we arrived rather early, the bookstore was overcrowded with whisky people between 70 years of age and death.
We had to sit on the last row and do our best to hear everything that was told (forgetting our senile neighbours who talked for themselves, and so on...).
The meeting with de Geer was entertaining and intellectually stimulating, something quite rare in this city.
Even though we sometimes have different opinions concerning people, Gunnar and I respect Carl Johan De Geer since he gives us this rare jewell of the human mind: reflection.

Chocolate festival

This day was in part dedicated to the Chocolate Festival in Stockholm at the Nordiska museet.

Aurore went there in the morning and I came in later in the afternoon after finishing my lectures at the University.

As usual there where many exhibitors but fewer visitors this year we felt.

I talked with the founder and the managing director of Amedei, one of the more well-known Italian brands.
We discussed the differences between Swedes and other people concerning food, chocolat and wine i.g. and there are great differences!

In Sweden most Swedes are raised with Marabou and other 'Swedish' brands. It's only lately that people in general have discovered other forms of chocolate with different flavours and different percentage of chocolate. Earlier chocolat from other countries was something very exclusive and more for the connoisseurs and with the Jante law implemented by the Church and not least the Social Democratic Party, eating something exclusive is/was regarded as 'elitistic' (it's very easy to be regarded as elitistic in Sweden!).

Last year we bought a small box with chocolat at Amedei, this year we contented ourselves with some pieces of chocolates from 'the Italians'.

We also bought chocolat from Kanolds, Beriksson, Dolfin, Bonnat and another brand from Italy - Mascao(?) - where they worked in accordance with the ideas within the slow food movement.

Onkel Vanja... Well, well, well... We still wonder if Thomas Pontén is Gunnar Björnstrand's hidden son.

The play was unequal.

It started well, and then lost rhythm.
The music destroyed a part of the acting, and it was quite weird to hear Metallica in such a play.
Sometimes, it felt like eveything had been tried during the rehearsals and that actors did not know how to embody their characters anymore.
The mise en scène was a disapointment the actors could not save. What a pity!

Our friend Siw-Marie participated as an extra, an old peasant woman (below).

(Photo enxemble copied from: http://www.scenocad.se/img/onv_press14.png)
(Photo Tomas Pontén and Elin Klinga copied from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhll_zjK3AlRDoiaITVlzuqfxsphXZQFJ8akSvZ9gK9dbGVB3Giaf6aux6PAJsukBgeOzQT51SyjIye_w7syAJidY2MkfNu9hMPhx9xZCh5glDCk19NR_6uOjrInczy82d5qJiiNw/s400/Bild+1.png)
(Photo Siw-Marie Andersson as a peasant woman copied from: http://www.siw-marie.se/images/Onkel_Vanja_foto.gif)

Max Ernst

Nice exhibition at the Moderna museet (The Museum of Modern Art). We learned a lot for a change. Will perhaps summarize more later on.

The Max Ernst exhibition displayed his different periods in Germany, France, America and Europe as the exhibitors have written.
I don't know if Germany and France wasn't a part of Europe in those days?
Anyway, the exhibition not only displayed his different whereabouts but first and foremost different aspects of Ernst and his artistic work.

Usually we see similar works of art by Ernst (or other artists) when being displayed but in this exhibition also less known works by the artist had been exhibited.
I might add: Less known to me (Gunnar).

If you would like a more substantial look at the art by Ernst, I recommend a visit to the Museum of Modern Art (in Stockholm).
I hardly think you will be disappointed.


(Photo Max Ernst copied from; http://tothewire.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/12049-004-fcdd9cb8.jpg)
(Photo 'Fireside Angel' copied from: http://culturvista.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/maxernstthefiresideangel.jpg)

Iskyss

We spent a very intense day in Oslo in order to see Iskyss, the latest film by Knut Erik Jensen.
I (Aurore) hadn't met him since 2002. He had invited us to see it, first at the screening in the northern parts of Norway but since this wasn't possible, he asked us to come to Oslo and so we did.

Too short and too rainy stay, but nice though...

After the film, we listened to a conversation between the director Knut Erik Jensen and the screenwriter Alf R. Jacobsen.

Two profiles within the cultural sector in Norway, both with a clear vision of what they believe in when it comes to film and writing.
They also indirectly discussed culture policies and did so with emphasis and pathos! Interesting.

Stortinget. The Norwegian Parliament.
(Rain on the lens of the camera. Of course(!),we're in Norway)

Nationaltheatret. The National Theatre.

This is the building where the Nobel Peace Prize cerermony is being held.

Det Kongelige Slottet. The Royal Castle.

Honeymoon (week) Prague, September 2008

It took us a long time to pick up 30 pictures and find the right computer in order to upload an album. If you press Here you will find the chosen ones!

Prague a short story about our Honey-Week

We are back from Prague where we spent our 'honey-week' from the 9th of September til the 18th!

We lived in a private home with our own apartment, two rooms, a dining-room, a kitchen, a bathroom and a toilette.
Our nice hostess - mrs Hana Seflova - served us a lovely breakfast every morning!
She was very kind and offered us good service in every way!
We can recommend her if and when you visit Praha (Prague/Prag): Hana's B&B.
Pragues is a fantastic city with a plentitude of culture and history making the nine days far from sufficient in order to discover all the interesting sites.
We display some photos in the next post on the blog (see above).
To say something:
We visited the Prague 'burg' area - Hradcany - with all the medieval buildings, The Royal castle, Stary krlovsky palac; the dome, The S:t Veit Cathedral and the Golden lane where the alchemists worked.

The 'burg' was constructed some thousand years ago. Today the president of the Czech Republic resides there.
You can also find the Arch bishop Palace here - Arcibiskupsky' palac.
Franz Kafka lived in this area for a while, at the 'alchemists road' . He wrote A country doctor (Ein Landarzt) in house number 22 .

In connection to these buildings you also find Loreto, a copy of Santa Casa di Loreto in Italy where S:t Mary is said to have staid after giving birth to Jesus Christ. It's the most important pilgrimsite in the Czech Republic.

The old town is completely marvellous and in comparison with the Old Town in Stockholm makes the latter look rather bleak.
In the Old Town we saw the Minute House where Kafka lived as a young boy, the town hall with the clock and its classical 'performance' every hour, making hundreds of hundres of people stop and gaze at the clock.


Another interesting building is of course the magnificent Tyr church and the monument over the Christian martyr Jan Hus, burned at the stakes on the square.

We climed the Petrin hill where we looked at the small
-Eiffel tower (60 meters), built by Gustave Eiffel in the 1890's (1893 perhaps),
-the monastery (where we saw a ping-pong table and two tennis courts destroying my picture of monks only praying, making beer, wine and cheese),
-the so called 'Hunger Wall', built by Karl IV to give work and food to the poor in Praha,
-the observatory and
-the rose garden.
We had a marvellous view over the city from here and we strongly recommend a visit.
If you don't want to use your legs there is a funicular.


We crossed the Charles Bridge - Karluv most - of course, looking at all the wonderful statues and ornaments on each side of the bridge.

A visit to the Kakfa museum and the Alfons Mucha museum was also included.
The ambience at the Kafka museum was terrific, frankly speaking somewhat 'Kafkauesque'.

We would also like to recommend the Mucha museum because even if you think you know the art created by Alfons Mucha, you will find a number of works, not so commonly known, that is if you're not an expert in the field.
Finally we bought a card that gave us the possibility to visit all six synagogues in the Jewish Quarters and the exhibitions connected to these synagogues.
We had the chance to see and read about one of Aurore's favourite 'objects' namely the Golem and its creator rabbi Judah Loew!
The history concerning the life of the Jewish community in Praha is very interesting and the exhibitions extremely fine.
Funny enough there was a female employee in one of the synagogues who spoke Swedish!
She told us she had lived in Sweden for only three years during the 1960's but could still speak the language extremely well!
We also saw the National Theatre - a beautiful building - and visited the State Opera House for a performance of Die Fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner.

A look at the Lennon Wall of course and nearby an interesting art exhibition with giant animals made of concrete in different sparking colours.

There are much more to be told and many more photos to display but we stop here for now as the space and time - yours and ours - are limited.

La Zona

A 'security-freaked', paranoid community chases a teenager they believe is responsible for the killing of an old lady.
They're wrong but their fury make them blind to the truth.

This film is interesting in many ways.
It reminds somewhat of the fate of the children in Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados and of Sin Destino.
La Zona is also an interesting film from a sociologic point of view.
As a manifestation of the daily concern about security and architecture, it reminds of Arkitekturmuseet's (Museum of Architecture in Stockholm) exhibition On Cities, where a video about Rio De Janeiro showed how "safe" helicopter rides had become in comparison to car rides, where car-jacking is a daily threat.
The solution is disproportionate.
Welcome to La Zona.

Unleash the fucking fury

Berns, the 17th July.
For the first time, Gunnar and I get to see Yngwie Fucking Malmsteen live.
One knows what one pays for, even if the light, the drummer and some technical parts didn't work that well.
It was a furiously positive experience though.

(Photo Berns copied from: http://psl.svt.se/psl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/berns.jpg)

Kurdish evening

Invited again!
This time, it was a Kurdish evening with our friend Golala and Gunnar had to sin (= eat flesh).
It was very good (as usual).
The wine was a Malbec (the name of the grape and the wine) and our hostess perfect.