Checked out the Finnish photography show that opened yesterday at Scandinavia House. Beautifully curated & hung.
Super Swedish finds today at Strand #septembersmarts (Taken with Instagram at Strand Book Store)
48 cents for the Strindberg!
on my virtual bookshelf
(Source: flytande)
The conventional wisdom on globalisation is that it produces a flat world in which everybody consumes the same bland products in the same bland settings: a universal airport lounge. But the Nordic crime writers understand that the more interconnected the world is, the more people crave a sense of place—the more distinctive and unusual the better. Mr Nesbo provides us with maps of Oslo and obscure details of Norwegian history. Mr Indridason entertains us with descriptions of Icelandic delicacies such as sheep’s head and pickled haggis. That Wallander copes with horrific crimes in small-town Ystad rather than a big nowhere like Los Angeles is essential to his appeal […] The Scandinavians are in general more interested in the sociology of crime than in the goriness of it.
—
Schumpeter, “Those bloody Scandinavians: What the Nordic crime-writing boom says about globalisation”
(Source: economist.com)
Pictures from my midsummer in the Swedish countryside. Martha Stewart eat your heart out.
Ragnar Kjartansson, Scandinavian Pain, at The Armory Show 2012
Reportedly purchased by Moderna Museet for $55,000. (See also.)
Never Finland
- Out Magazine: As Swedes abroad, both working in the entertainment industry, you must feel like the go-to spokespeople for Sweden.
- Alexander Skarsgård: I love my country. I always love talking about it, especially as an expat. When you live there you bitch about everything, but when you move away, all you remember is how amazing and wonderful it is. You remember all the sunny days and forget the rainy days.
- Jonas Åkerlund: It was very rare to hear about Sweden, period, when I moved to Los Angeles in 1996. You were still mixed up with Switzerland. Now there’s Swedish music everywhere, actors and directors, everything, everywhere. And it didn’t used to be like that. You were very happy and proud when you heard Ace of Base on the radio.
- Skarsgård: Not to mention all the songwriters and producers, as well as the musicians. Every other song on Billboard seems to be produced or written by a Swede.
- [...]
- Åkerlund: But it becomes a trend -- everyone wants a Swede now. Getting that opportunity is one thing, but living up to it or holding onto it is another thing.
- Skarsgård: Exactly, we’re like the flavor of the month. Next month it will be Finland.
- Åkerlund: Oh, never say that. Never Finland. It's interesting, though, Alex. I met you at the Chateau Marmont. We looked around and there were, like, 10 Swedes around us, and not one Finn, no Danes. Wherever you go there are Swedes. But I rarely meet other Scandinavians.
In fact, Stockholm is so attractive and so user-friendly that your feelings about it will toggle between admiration and jealousy. It’s like the neighbor with the groomed yard, the successful career and the loving family. Part of you aspires to be her. Another part wants to start negative rumors about her and tear up her yard by doing donuts on it in your unwashed Toyota Camry.
Sophisticated Modern Playhouses Inspired by Danish Design (via Modern Urban Living)
