Back To Life

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Stockholm Guides

"The Lord is having little joke with me", I thought to myself as I walked past the travel shop on Crown Street last night. I was on my way to dinner with friends, and was walking past a shop not far from Oxford Street which sells "travel goods". The shop is full of "passport covers", "toiletry bags" and so on; the kind of things you think you would need for travel, but don't actually. As a result, I've never actually bought anything from the shop, though I do enjoy window shopping. As I looked … [Read more...]

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Eurovision 2013

May 20, 2013 By 3 Comments
Petra Mede hosts Eurovision

"So do you think all the Eurovision Parties in Sydney will always be shit, or do you think they'll ever get better?", a friend of mine asked me as we shared a drink last night. She's from England, she's attended Eurovision, and for the last few years she's been living in Sydney. That's how we met, actually. "I think the problem is that in Australia we've fallen for the UK-mindset about Eurovision. That it's camp, it's trashy, it's tragic, and it's terrible", I told her. In many respects, I … [Read more...]

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Lycka till Sverige!

May 18, 2013 By 3 Comments
Robin Stjernberg, Martin Rolinski, Shirley Clamp and others at the opening of The ABBA Museum in Stockholm

It's no wonder Sweden won last year. Loreen had a great song in "Euphoria" which she performed very, very well. In ten or twenty years time, I'm pretty sure it will be regarded as one of the "great moments" of Eurovision. Even though "You" by Robin Stjernberg isn't in the same league, of course I'll be supporting Sweden in this year's contest. I figure following Eurovision is like following a footy team - you choose your team and you stick with them through good and bad. It's not that … [Read more...]

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My Staycation

May 17, 2013 By 2 Comments
Sydney Opera House

"It's all too easy to take a nice photograph in Sydney", I thought to myself as I walked around Circular Quay yesterday. A minute or so earlier I'd been stopped by a tourist who asked if I'd take a photograph of him with the Opera House in the background. Too easy. And as I made my way towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I looked over at the Opera House, and there it was, with a stunning cloudy sky in the background, and a woman wearing a head-scarf, sitting by herself, chatting on a mobile … [Read more...]

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Agnetha Fältskog – A

May 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment
agnetha-faltskog-a

Three songs have emerged as favourites for me, as I've listened "properly" to the new album by Agnetha Fältskog over the last couple of weeks. The first single, "When you really loved someone" is one of those great pop ballads about love gone wrong. The video tells the story of an older, wiser woman offering advice to a younger woman who is going through the traumas of a relationship break-up. As the video features a 70's/Swedish looking couple, you can't help but think it's a song for … [Read more...]

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Eurovision Song Contest & Sweden

May 15, 2013 By 4 Comments
Army Of Lovers at Melodifestivalen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RkzsUIoEz0 As we count down to this weekend's Eurovision Song Contest, I'm still a little disappointed Sweden didn't have the guts to choose Army Of Lovers as their entrant. The song is only three minutes long, but so much happens in that time: blatant lip-syncing, lewd gestures, overly padded crotches, Lion King costumes, a same-sex kiss, a bizarre bit of spoken word lyric, and more. The song is also very catchy. Now the contest is dominated by "Idol" and … [Read more...]

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