Jacob Christensen

The life and times of a student journalist in … Århus?!? And her boyfriend who is kindly helping his friends.

Knowledge of Scandinavian is probably necessary but it is still a nice cartoon.

I must admit that I’m not a passionate reader of crime novels, but it has been noted that Scandinavian writers are curiously homicidal: Mankell, Larsson, etc, etc. I once saw a documentary on Swedish television about a group of female Swedish crime writers who met regularly to exchange murder plans.

Anyway, how do we explain the success of the Scandinavian Crime Novel? Literary innovations? Hardly.

Nathaniel Rich of Slate suspects the juxaposition of easygoing Scandinavian lifestyle (Scandinavians easygoing? Huh?) and blood-dripping crimes forms the basis.

And we Scandinavians? We’re hooked on homicidal Brits from the countryside as we meet them in Midsomer Murders.

Via Facebook I received an anguished call for help from my colleague Gissur Erlingsson who seems to have a troubled relationship with railways in general and the Gnesta – Norrköping line in particular.

This time he was stuck in Katrineholm. And we all know what that means.

Anyway, two of the greatest Danish poets have been stuck at railway stations at various times with the foreseeable consequences.

So, for Scandinavian-readers: Here are two of the high points in early 20th Century Danish poetry:

Sophus Claussen “Rejseminder” (Skanderborg Station)

Johannes V. Jensen “Paa Memphis Station”

I suspect that there are no sphinxes in Katrineholm either.

Roger Ebert:

Like knife-throwing, joke-telling should never be practiced except by experts.

There is no end to the suffering:

1. “Ultimately, their Tiffany china went to the country house, as did the dining room table for 12, a large kitchen cabinet and much of their cooking gear.” (NY Times)
2. “The chauffeur-driven BMW had to be exchanged for a Toyota Avensis”. (Berlingske Tidende)

The horror! The horror!

HT (US Story): Edge of the American West.

Edo Reents of the Frankfurter Allgemeine drives an old (as in: 1974) Opel Rekord. Pure nostalgia – my Dad used to drive a 1973 Rekord back in those days.

Later, in the 1990s, he switched loyalties to Peugeot. Times change.

When you’re a professor, the “dream” is “Did I have a lecture later today?”.

Now, which one to spend a quiet evening with?

• Dich, Jørgen S, 1939: Arbejdsløshedsproblemet i Danmark 1930-1938 : Betænkning afgivet af Socialministeriets statsvidenskabelige Konsulent. Copenhagen: Socialministeriet.
• Enquist, Per Olov, 2008: Ett annat liv. Stockholm: Norstedts
• Rauchway, Eric, 2008: The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

I must admit that I, too, was a bit stunned to read this headline in Die Zeit. And for the record, this Kim Larsen is a woman. I wonder how many copies the book would sell in Denmark.

PS: They say (as in: they say) that Kim Larsen is often seen shopping in SuperBrugsen on Vestergade here in Odense. But I have never seen him there. Perhaps he has disappeared as well?

An Angela™ doll. Come on Mattel: Surely every girl in Germany would want one. (HT: Bjarne Tveskov’s twitter)

Okay. So, the doll is younger-looking and slimmer than the real Merkel¹, but remember: None of the Israeli political leaders are one day older than 27. At least if the posters are to be believed.

1. Actually, it reminds me more of Ursula von der Leyen [↩]