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Buying Bergman: Death requires no passport

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

You too can bid on Ingmar Bergman’s canceled passport at Bukowski’s Market (formerly Auktionskomaniet.) I’m tempted. Ingmar Bergman passport Link to auction.

Of late I am a bit addicted to the on-line auctions. (We need a lot furniture and things -like art- after moving from a little 1-bedroom apartment to a house.)

That leaves me vulnerable to buying things I plainly just don’t need but am oh, so intrigued by. The estimated value of the passport is 5000kr but currently bidding is at 6700 with 10 days left, so I have a feeling we’re going to see this take a run and pass 10,000. Thankfully, that financial reality leaves me out –especially considering there’s a 20% commission to pay.

But it leaves me mulling about what it would be like to have that kind of memorabilia in my possession and what it could be worth in 30 years. Bergman has only been dead since 2007. Retirement fund?

I think I’ll have to stick to traditional saving vehicles for my retirement, but I am still romanticizing the idea of owning a tiny bit of something so personal of someone so culturally influential, all the while within my niche all things Swedish.

Ain’t gonna happen for me, I’m afraid.

(for those who aren’t familiar…)
Ingmar Berman is world renowned for the iconic direction of The Seventh Seal döden

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Tags: auktionkompaniet, bukowskis, ingmar bergman, Ingmar bergman passport, seventh seal
Posted in Swedish culture, Swedish products, stockholm | 3 comments »

Chako Paul, The Local and P3: “Blond Swedish lesbians running around in the woods”

Monday, October 19th, 2009

The Local’s article, an attempt to debunk a myth about a female-only city in northern Sweden published and spread throughout China, has given life to a new myth in the West that Chinese men are swamping Swedish tourism bodies to book their trips to Sweden in a spurt of bizarre sex tourism.

And if you’ve gotten a bright idea to try to capitalize on it, you’re slow out of the blocks. The .com, .se, .org, and .net domains for chakopaul are already snapped up. (Though as of this publishing the .co.uk and .eu were still available and if you throw in a hyphen only the .com has been spoken for –act quick!.) Heck, merchandise (a very cheesy t-shirt and cap) is already for sale for the low, low price of $29.95 plus shipping for this limited edition (that was hard to write with a straight face.)

This isn’t Chaka Paul merchandise. Well, not yet.

I think The Local’s journalist, David Landes, said it best when interviewed on P3 radio about the Swedish mythical women-only city, Chako Paul,

“Anytime you’re talking about lesbians running around in the Swedish woods, it’s going to raise some eyebrows, true or not true…” Sveriges Radio P3, Oct. 18, 2009 -download the program here -it starts at minute 39 but most of it is in Swedish.

I wrote about this in Blond babes, bikes and Blatte when it first came out. No surprises here that the world goes gaga when you start talking about Swedish women especially when you tie in the tag lesbians.

Now we just need to come up with some Swedish-influenced souvenirs to sell. Wouldn’t that be a twist to find a DalaLesbian in China marked, “Made in Sweden.”

I was thinking of a sculpture where the woman is painted in the darlacarlian tradition, but this will have to do to spark your imagination

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Posted in Swedish culture, Swedish products | 5 comments »

Bad sport motion: When words say more than pictures.

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Sometimes the a few words caught in a picture are worth more than a thousand words. (Not sure how a picture stacks up in the valuing system on this one, sorry.) My local swimming pool complex recently reminded me of this worn-down-though-never-quite-worn-out giggle over Swedish words and signs which read funny for English-language eyes.

Fart hinder–speed bump

Gotta wonder why they use boobie images to reduce speed.

Infart and Exfart–entrance and exit

The sign is cautionary. Yes, we should warn people about them.

And…

Slut–the end. So plastered over retail windows is Slut Rea or final sale.
Sluts for sale?...nah, just final clearance

Personally, my favorite Swedish sign has no funny words

Seems car diving is allowed though you should take care

And so the trigger for this review of funny words and signs in English belongs to the place I just spent Friday afternoon into the evening :

Not the most appealing signs to get new members signed up

It just seems to counter the effort to attract members to come and work out or get fit. But then again, instead of advertising, perhaps they’re reminding me, the passer-by, of my own condition.

Dunno. But I signed up for a 3-month training pass. I wonder if I am diligent if they’re update the sign to “Good Sport Motion”.

I’d be happy with Good Sport.

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Tags: bad sport motion, farthinder, ferry berth, infart, sign, utfart
Posted in Swedish products, Uncategorized, stockholm | No comments »

Anna Anka: Stirring debate? What debate?

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

It seems Paul Anka exploits illegal immigrant labor. He might be well advised to inform his wife, Sweden’s neo-numero-uno woman-most-loved-to-be-hated, Anna Anka, that she should probably keep that under wraps.

kajsa anka

I had actually tried to not blog about Mrs. Duck (Anka means duck in Swedish and Donald Duck’s name in Sweden is Kalle Anka and Daisy Duck is Kajsa Anka.)

But with all the attention she’s getting from her outspoken views published in an article on Newsmill (in Swedish only sorry) and her role on the reality TV show Swedish Hollywood Wives (also only in Swedish) there’s too much talk on the town to ignore her totally.

So what’s the hype? Yeah, that’s my question too. Here’s a few of her controversial statements:

“[In the US] it’s the illegal Mexicans who do the work. They do the dishes, clean the house, take care of the garden. I have an enormous garden and four gardeners.”

“Swedish dads are tragic with all their nappy-changing and equality. A real American man panics if he is alone with a child for more than 20 minutes. American dads do not prepare dinner and do not iron, they work and provide for their families.”

“Sexually it is the woman’s responsibility to ensure that the man is satisfied, if she does not then she only has herself to blame if he is unfaithful,”

“[In the US] mothers don’t nag their daughters about education and going to college, but instead that [the daughters] should find an athlete or a celebrity. Isn’t that wonderful?”

I can’t fathom how people can take any of that seriously. This is entertainment and comedy, but not debate.

And amazingly, for some inexplicable reason, it’s somehow become part of a political debate here in Sweden. But I am still wondering…HOW? What is the debate to debate?

There was a talk segment on the radio yesterday (My lovely SAAB suffers from that all-too-common malady of a busted digital display so I have no clue which station it was) about Anna Anka and the “Debate around her” and I had to agree with 2 of the 3 guests that there ISN’T anything to debate here.

And so the debate (whatever there is to debate, and I love a good debate so please tell me what to debate) goes on.

I wonder if anyone is checking on her employees for their papers now? Imagine, they might just have to pay minimum wage soon.

Which is 8 bucks per hour in California. I hope they can afford it. illegal mexican

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Tags: anna anka, california, hollywood, hollywoodfruar, illegal immigration, newsmill, paul anka, svenska hollywood fruar, sweden
Posted in Swedish culture, Swedish politics, Swedish products | 16 comments »

The smell of Moonshine is in the air: Literally.

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

There’s a scent of moonshine wafting in the autumn air this morning. Unceremoniously, it’s not from a band of bootleggers, but the wind blowing southwesterly from the yeast factory, Jästbolaget where they produces all of Sweden’s yeast.

yeast

The reference makes for colorful morning small talk since the act of illegal alcohol distilling (aka moonshine, better known as hembränt in Sweden) falls into that limbo land of civil disobedience and culture heritage preservation.

Popular misinformation scares people into thinking that moonshine can make you blind or otherwise harm you. While it might give you a hangover to compete with the mother of all hangovers, the worst moonshine can only impair your vision while under its spell –a phenomenon better known as beer-goggles.

And while in reality there isn’t any hembränt being brewed in the neighborhood (well, that I know of) I am pretty sure we’d find a number of stills still in the basements of the local folk.

With the yeast production reminder still in the air, I’m thinking today could be a baking day.

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Posted in Swedish culture, Swedish products, stockholm | No comments »

Driving home Swedish. The prodigal saab returns.

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

My SAAB 9-5 just became Swedish and something inside me stirred. In case you missed the news today, Koenigsegg Group is set to buy SAAB from GM. What stirred? I don’t know exactly, but I’d liken it to patriotism or national pride.

True that I’m an American born and bred, but after more than 15 years in Sweden I’ve found a fondness for my host country and I have been quietly rooting for SAAB through the doom and gloom of the fall of GM.

Me and SAABs go way back to my childhood home and neighbors. The guy living in the house behind us and my friend’s parents up the street both had SAABs which looked probably a lot like this. I thought they were the most horrifically ugly cars out there. Probably second only to the Volvo 240 the neighbor across the street had. Yet, somehow in the early 90s the convertible won my heart. I guess living in Sweden has helped me get over and remaining prejudices. I could even own a Volvo today, though that’s not Swedish yet.

I am not sure that Koenigsegg will be able to ever make SAAB profitable. Why would he when no one else has succeeded in most of the car’s modern history? But I am pleased that it is now in Swedish hands again. And if anyone could pull it out of the crusher it’s probably some eccentric, high performance car designer with big ambitions.

And a sense of Swedish pride.

I got me some Swedish pride.

And a Swedish car.

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Tags: koenignsegg, saab, sweden
Posted in Swedish culture, Swedish products | 2 comments »

Consumer Evangelicalism: Praising good customer service and great sausages.

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Customer service is slowing getting better in Sweden. I know many of you will scoff at that, but in the past 16 years customer service has indeed improved. At the very least, there’s now a will to pursue better service. But the burden to make things better isn’t exclusively in the hands of the service provider. It’s also in our hands, the customer.

I started saying years ago that I can just as well stop complaining about bad service if I am not prepared to do something about it. If I don’t express my dissatisfaction why would or should anyone make things better for me? They must be thinking things are just hunky-dory since no one is complaining.

So I write the occasional complaint letter.

But the letter of complaint can’t be where my responsibility as a consumer stops. In a day and age of buzz words, we must endeavor to be more pro-active in our consumer duties.

We must preach. We must praise. We must promote.

Today I realized I am a self-anointed consumer evangelist. I sing the praises where praising is due. Today I am in the pulpit promoting Taylor and Jones. These guys not only are amazing butchers and traditional English savory pie makers, but they are just the most amazing customer service providers.

I dashed in today to discuss an order I need this week. I want delivery on Friday earliest. The first guy (a very friendly bloke) broke the bad news to me.

-Sorry, we’re not delivering this Friday.

So I asked for Gareth Jones (my primary contact is in fact David Taylor, but the lazy sod is off enjoying a month holiday back in Ireland.) Gareth knows me from my years of customer devotion. Gareth says:

-We’ll deliver for you and only you this Friday.

Now, THAT’s what I wanted to hear. THAT’s what I needed to hear. Now, these guys aren’t going to special deliver to YOU just because they’ll special deliver to me *insert wink* but they’re going to make every effort they can to provide you great sausages, pies and other food products freshly made or imported from the UK (their menu is staggering and their prices are amazing.)

I’ll gladly climb a pulpit any day to promote this amazing shop, this dynamic team. Their products are outstanding and their devotion to their customers is unparalleled. At least in Sweden.

Perhaps if there were more consumer evangelists there would be better service. People would raise the bar of expectations and demand the best. Shops would have no option but to cater to the customer’s needs. So get out there and preach about your favorite shop, mechanic, supermarket cashier or crossing guard. Become the consumer evangelist.

This one is looking forward to her Friday delivery of sausages and other yummy BBQ favorites.

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Tags: customer service, sausages, taylor and jones
Posted in Swedish culture, Swedish products, stockholm | No comments »

Better customer service. It’s about time.

Thursday, May 14th, 2009

My fancy watch needs a new battery. Because it submersible to 100M (so useful in the shower) the watch needs to be pressure tested and that’s not DIY. So into the shop it went.

I had thought I would be blogging on why it should take so darn long to get a watch battery changed in Sweden since “While you wait” is not really ever an option in Sweden, at least not at the “more established” (I guess I should just call it snooty) watch retailers. But for the first time in the life history replacing demanding batteries for demanding watches, I heard the unbelievable:

“Would you like to pick it up later today or tomorrow?”

In the past I’ve waited weeks for this process and I’ve given up wondering what takes so bleeding long. That’s what it takes, this is Sweden. But times; they be-a-changing.

So tomorrow it is. I just wonder what time.

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Posted in Swedish culture, Swedish products | No comments »