Swedishness and IKEA

November 5, 2011 By 5 Comments
Korv and Senap at IKEA

As you arrive at the new IKEA at Tempe in Sydney, one of the first things you notice are the flags out the front. There's a NSW flag, an Australian flag, and a Swedish flag all flying high. When it comes to "Swedishness", however, that's pretty much where it ends. One of the things I used to love about IKEA was the food section. I loved the way you could go to IKEA and purchase some iconic Swedish brands. By that I mean things like Marabou Chocolate, Bilar (another popular Swedish sweet), … [Read more...]

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I Made The Headlines

September 5, 2011 By 2 Comments
IMG_2492

Newspapers can be a wonderful reminder of the place you have been, as they can include both the major news events happening at the time, as well as the smaller details, such as the weather and what's on television. I've still got a copy of The London Times from when I first visited Europe in 1983, which holds a special place in my heart. But as I've scaled down my baggage needs when travelling - I actually did my last trip to Sweden with carry-on luggage only - I'm trying not to bring back … [Read more...]

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Men Who Swim

May 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Opening scene from Men Who Swim documentary

After tonight's Swedish class, and then catching up mates at the pub, I came HOME and watched documentary on ABC2 called, "Men Who Swim", about a Swedish male synchronised swimming team. Or as the Swedes call it, "konstsim" (art swimming) which I think I prefer to the English-language phrase. One sounds very perfunctory, very organised, whereas the other sounds far more exotic, far more experimental. I'd already seen the film, Allt Flyter a fictional account of this group just over twelve … [Read more...]

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Easter Sunday

April 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Scene from classic Swedish film, The Emigrants

As we have a six year old in the house, and as it was Easter Sunday (read easter eggs) no one had much of a chance to sleep in this morning. For a six year old, Easter lacks the excitement of Christmas Day, but the idea of an Easter Egg Hunt is still enough to get him up early. For the rest of us, it's been a day of doing nothing much at all, though we did watch a couple of movies together, includng Bran Nue Dae which emerged as a family favourite. Although I've been "wanting" to see it for … [Read more...]

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Så mycket bättre

April 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Performing on Så mycket bättre is Barbro aka Lill-Babs Svensson

For the last few months I've been watching bits and pieces on Youtube of a Swedish TV show called "Så mycket bättre" (literally, "So Much Better"), a television program where famous Swedish musicians perform the songs of other Swedish musicians. My attention was first brought to the show by the performance and hit song, "Mikrofonkåt" by September. It was a dance cover version of a rap song by Swedish performer, Petter. The song became a number one hit for several weeks in Sweden. The song … [Read more...]

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Why I Love P3-Svea

March 3, 2011 By 13 Comments
P3 Svea

It was a so-so day at work, and so the first thing I did when I walked in the door - actually, the second thing I did, since the first was grab a glass of wine - was tune in to P3 - Svea. P3 - Svea is an internet only radio station that only plays "ung svensk musik" (literally "young" but really they mean "new Swedish music"). It's a reasonably eclectic - and therefore unpretentious - mix within the pop music genre, so you're likely to hear everything from folk-inspired indie pop to rap and … [Read more...]

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