Archive for November, 2010

Allegations Tarnish Sweden’s ‘Perfect Monarch’

Books, Design, Film, History, Marketing, Media, Miscellaneous, National, Offbeat, Politics, Society, Sweden abroad, Tourism: November 15th, 2010 by VT

Taiwan’s Next Media Animation, which shot to fame late last year for its animated news clip of Elin Nordegren’s alleged attack against then-husband Tiger Woods, has turned its focus again to Sweden.

This time, it has targeted Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf following the publication of controversial biography “Carl XVI Gustaf – the reluctant monarch,” which details rumours of the king’s affairs.Just in case you missed it the first time around, here’s the Tiger video.

One Swede’s story of converting to Islam

Miscellaneous: November 4th, 2010 by DL

How does a 34-year-old Swedish music teacher become the focus of recent post on a blog connected to the Los Angeles Times newspaper focusing on “observations from Iraq, Iran, Israel, the Arab world, and beyond”?

By telling a story–referred to in the blog as “intriguing, and perhaps a bit puzzling”–about how an unassuming Swede named Malcolm found his spiritual home with Islam.

“I feel very comfortable as a Muslim…. We’re social creatures and we want to feel a sense of belonging,” he said. “If it’s not a clan it’s a nation or a soccer team. For me it’s nice to have a belonging which is not a nation or a football team.”

He explains that the day he “officially” became a Muslim at the Mosque in Stockholm:

The room became quiet as the blond-haired, blue-eyed Swede got up from his seat and started to read out the text alongside the imam in Arabic. From a stand above in the women’s section, his Muslim wife was watching him.

Malcolm summed up the occasion thusly: ” It felt big”.