Jacob Christensen

Courtesy of fellow tweep Søren Sommerglæde (a suitable name in the dead of winter), I joined an “Artist Walk and Talk” at the local exhibition building Filosoffen – it is located at Filosofgangen, hence the name – where Søren discussed the some of the works with Carsten Rudolfsen and Poul Weile, two members of the association Grünhorse whose works are on display until next weekend. It was a refreshing approach with an interested member of the public rather than an art expert – hope you are not bothered by the description, Søren – as discussant.

The photograph shows the exhibition of no less than 120 small paintings by German artist Runhild Wirth who followed the demolition of the Palast der Republik on site between 2006 and 2008. Just for fun, here are two photographs I took at the same site in November 2004 and November 2011:

First 2004

And then 2011

PS: Look closely, and you will find me on one of the photos from the event here.

We need something to distract us from the storm and the rain today. How about veteran jazz pianist Herbie Hancock accompanying Brazilian singer CéU?

Despite alle the doom and gloom in previous posts, it is still time to celebrate Christmas

It is perhaps worth remembering that November 11 is the anniversary of the 1918 armistice which ended World War I. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse which I photographed in Bruges this summer were not displayed as a memorial for the War and the dead but as it was Flanders and as those living at the time may very well have feared that some kind of apocalypse had come, they may still serve of a fitting reminder of a truly terrible war.

Just a thought which hit me watching the Danish/Swedish TV crime series “The Bridge”/”Broen“/”Bron“:

Many would probably see the main characters Saga Norén and Martin Rohde as national stereotypes with Norén as the formalistic, rule-oriented Swede and Rohde as the laid-back Dane, but if you have worked in both countries things are a bit more complicated. In fact, Norén (minus the sex bit) looks very much as the embodiment of the traditional Danish public bureaucracy which was excessively rule-oriented while Swedish public administration (just like Rohde) has a tradition of being oriented towards negotiations, consensus and the logic of appropriateness.

Of course, one shouldn’t make too much of a dramaturgical tool but the contrast between stereotypes and reality is fascinating.

We haven’t had any music videos here lately. So – without further ado – here is Maria Apetri aka Fallulah bothering an ordinary Joe who is just trying to read an article about Lars Løkke Rasmussen

If you want something slightly less whacky, try this version with Gorillaz’ “Kids with Guns” thrown in for good measure:

Meanwhile, the real-life bridges are giving us some major problems.

Anybody travelling on Zealand or between Copenhagen and Ã…rhus will know that DSB is desperately short of trains in general and modern trains in particular. Regional services on Zealand are run with worn-out class ME locomotives while inter-city services suffer from a lack of seats.

The good news is that DSB has ordered a fleet of modern train-sets (MG/IC4) due to enter service in 2006.

Uhm… Okay. They haven’t entered regular service yet, actually.

DSB has also ordered a fleet of train-sets designed for regional lines on Funen and in Jutland. MP/IC2 are a version of MG/IC4 and due to enter service in … oh, never mind.

So, today DSB ran a test with an MG-set on the Svendborg line and announced that the 200 km/h train is too slow for the service: The doors take ages to open and close and the starting procedure is slow and cumbersome.

Class MP uses Class MG technology so … you do the math.

In case anybody still wonders: Mogens Lykketoft IS in fact an egghead:

For those of you not on Tumblr.

Update: The jokers are really on a roll today. Here’s Lars and Helle debating.

PS: No, I’m not the person behind the Tumblr-blog. But I know who it is

If I remember correctly, the street looked like this the last time I visited Brussels. Which was in … AAAAARGH … 1998.

And this concludes the blocation blogging.