FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'

Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
Showing posts with label Norway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Norway. Show all posts

Saturday, July 22, 2017

#22juli - Trying hard not to think too much about today being the 6th Anniversary of the #Utøya Massacre and the #Oslo bombing. But still... 😢 #Norway #Norge #mittlilleland

#22juli - Trying hard not to think too much about today being the 6th Anniversary of the Massacre and the bombing. But still... 😢 
🇳🇴 #Norway #Norge


The message to reporters in the outside world: ”Du behöver komma till Utöya. Det är döda barn överallt.” Den meningen glömmer jag aldrig. 😢
( "You need to come to Utöya. There are dead children everywhere." I never forget that sentence.)
- SVT's Carina Bergfeldt last year, on the Fifth Anniversary



On July 22nd, 2011, even before the TV news cameras and helicopters of the world arrived, there was already an idea in Stockholm at Aftonbladet of how terrible it truly was. 
And they printed it. And I copied it because it was one of the few things I could share with friends about how bad everything was, when rumors were flying abut how many people might've been behind the twin attacks.
Six years later, the words linger in my mind:

”Ring inte ön"”

En varningstweet spreds om att låta bli att ringa de som gömde sig på Utøya, eftersom gärningsmannen fortsatte skjuta under lång tid.
"RING INTE FOLK PÅ UTØYA. De gömmer sig för gärningsmannen. Kopiera statusen! (Ambulansen kommer inte fram ertersom det fortfarande är skottlossning)."

Do not call the island on your mobile as fake cop re-loading gun in search of children to shoot, is listening for rings from phones. 

(Ambulances won't arrive if shooting is happening.)

from http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article13364079.ab






The Roar Hagen drawing in Verdens Gang (VG) that hit Jens Stoltenberg so hard...





This film is honest and heartbreaking in so many ways that few films you've ever seen in your life can be, because you know as you watch it and get a sense of what daily life was like at this idyllic Norwegian island camp during the summer, that so many of the very bright and politically-ambitious teenagers and twenty-somethings you will see here, smiling and laughing, never got off the island alive.
This film proves a level of understanding that simply reading endless news stories and analyses can't hope to provide.
"Terror Island" Documentary about the attacks on Oslo and Utoya 22/7 (eng sub) from Tommy Gulliksen on Vimeo.

"Terror Island" - Documentary about the attacks on Oslo and Utoya 22/7 (English subtitles) https://vimeo.com/27616588


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Sissel Kyrkjebø - Til ungdommen (Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011)



Bjørn Eidsvåg - Eg ser (Live Minnesceremoni Oslo 2011)

Wow!
Karpe Diem m/ Kork - "Tusen Tegninger" fra Nasjonal minneseremoni 22.07.2011

I wrote many contemporaneous blog posts on the horrors of the #Utøya Massacre and the #Oslo bombing, as well as the subsequent nationally-televised memorial ceremonies one month later and in the years since. 
Please check the blog's archives for those posts, being sure to use the search terms Utøya, Oslo and minneseremoni

 Dave 

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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Yes, so VERY, VERY infectious! :-) The newest song that's stuck in my head: "Cut Your Teeth" by Kygo @KygoMusic & Kyla LaGrange @kylalagrange, via @ultrarecords




Yes, so VERY, VERY infectious! :-) The newest song stuck in my head: "Cut Your Teeth" by Kygo @KygoMusic & Kyla LaGrange @kylalagrange, via @ultrarecords










Wish I could B there! Kyla LaGrange @kylalagrange sings at @debasersthlm Debaser Ballroom, , Thursday November 20th :-) debaser.se/kalender/14733/
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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The Northern Lights are ALWAYS Trending here at Hallandale Beach Blog, whether high above Sweden, Iceland, Norway or Finland. We don't discriminate when it comes to our awe-inspiring friend, Aurora Borealis!; #chadblakley, #graemerichardson

























Though far from us, the Northern Lights are ALWAYS Trending here at Hallandale Beach Blog, whether high above Sweden, Iceland, Norway or Finland. We don't discriminate when it comes to our awe-inspiring friend, Aurora Borealis!; #chadblakley, #graemerichardson 
Real Time Tweets re Northern Lights are here:





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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Even while here in warm & rainy South Florida, I'm already thinking cool thoughts about our talented U.S. Olympic teams competing in Sochi, Russia in February, as these great WSJ vids shows how the Moguls, Bobsled and Biathlon teams practice without snow or ice up at Lake Placid. Plus, a classic iJustine video of our favorite vlogger in Norway climbing a glacier. Cool thoughts, indeed!: @USOlympic, #GoTeamUSA, @JeremyCota, @eamslider24, @tb_burke, @Lowellcbailey, @ijustine, @NBCOlympics


Even while here in warm & rainy South Florida, I'm already thinking cool thoughts about our talented U.S. Olympic team competing in Sochi, Russia in February, as these great WSJ vids shows us all how the Moguls, Bobsled and Biathlon teams practice without snow or ice at Lake Placid. Plus, a classic iJustine video of our favorite vlogger in Norway climbing a glacier. Cool thoughts, indeed!: @USOlympic, #GoTeamUSA, @JeremyCota, @eamslider24, @tb_burke, @Lowellcbailey, @ijustine, @NBCOlympics

WSJDigitalNetwork YouTube Channel video: Winter Olympics Training Without Snow: Moguls. "For Olympics-bound freestyle skiers, snow-free summer months don't mean a break from training. WSJ visited the Olympic Training Facility in Lake Placid, New York, where skiers utilized three ramps and a deep swimming pool to prep for Sochi. Freestyle moguls skier Jeremy Cota explains how the water training works." Uploaded October 7, 2013. http://youtu.be/aIVyxtpH_Kg


YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/cota3090/


WSJDigitalNetwork YouTube Channel video: Winter Olympics Training Without Snow: Bobsled. U.S. bronze medalist Elana Meyers explains how the dry bobsled training works at the Olympic Training Facility in Lake Placid. Uploaded October 7, 2013. 
http://youtu.be/Ex-U79MX5PA























Elana's blog: http://www.elanameyers.blogspot.com/


WSJDigitalNetwork YouTube Channel video: Winter Olympics Training Without Snow: Biathlon. "The biathlon combines long-distance cross country skiing with precise .22 caliber target shooting. But for the U.S. Biathlon Team, Olympic training can't stop for the summer. WSJ video spent time with biathletes Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey to learn how they train for the Olympics when there is no snow in sight."
Uploaded October 3, 2013. http://youtu.be/5nFeYC0neT4



































Meanwhile, over in Germany, they've got some major fashion issues to deal with for the next four months...




 Not even a German figure skater who looked like Elisha Cuthbert could look good wearing this gear, even with a Gold Medal around her neck.

 And as everyone has seen for themselves the past few months, the paranoid, delusional and dis-connected people that run the Russian government these days are totally playing to old stereotypes and outsider's worst fears about the New Russian by seeming to do everything in their power to create a negative vibe around the Winter Olympics months in advance for athletes, officials, spectators and TV viewers.
Teaser Alert: NOT too many Americans are going to Sochi in February.



The Olympic Flame going out twice this past week is just part of the wave of bad karma for the Russians in Sochi. Plus, we're getting all their hard workers:
Ahead of Sochi, Former Russian Olympians become US citizens 
Michele Richinick, @mrich1201 10:47 PM on 08/16/2013
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/16/months-before-winter-games-fmr-russian-olympians-become-us-citizens/

The Guardian
Russia to monitor 'all communications' at Winter Olympics in Sochi 
Exclusive: Investigation uncovers FSB surveillance system – branded 'Prism on steroids' – to listen to all athletes and visitors 
Shaun Walker in Moscow The Guardian, 
Sunday 6 October 2013 10.31 EDT
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/06/russia-monitor-communications-sochi-winter-olympics

Speaking of cool thoughts and cool doings far from the sub-tropical heat and humidity of South Florida, with three more weeks to go in the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane season, here's a classic video set in Norway featuring iJustine, Justine Ezarik, cited and featured in so many blog posts here over the past six years, as well as lots of permanent 'anchors' on the blog for years, including this video.

iJustine YouTube Channel video: EPIC GLACIER HIKE! (In Norway). Uploaded October 27, 2011. http://youtu.be/pD0xXf9-_lI
Clips that didn't make final cut but worth seeing are at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5JAIrd8IFI and a good photo, too: http://followgram.me/i/276131095


Of all of her MANY videos, the ones she filmed in Norway in 2011 are my favorite, with this one being the best of them. 
While I realize that these sort of opportunities don't present themselves every week or month, compared to the tech exhibits/forums she's so frequently at, I wish that Justine could make more vids like this one showing her willing to go outside of her own comfort zone, because to me, she never seems more honest & appealing than when she's in these sorts of situations. #Norge

 And why-oh-why isn't she and one of her sisters participating on CBS' The Amazing Race?
I'm convinced she'd be great and become a real breakout media star if she went more than a 4-5 weeks without being eliminated. 
Just saying... 
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

"Which European country has the most attractive citizens?" Sweden won in a landslide with almost four times as many votes as second-place France, with Spain third and Norway fourth. Yes, seeing is believing!; Norwegian.com's non-stop flights from Fort Lauderdale to Oslo start in 4 months! :)



A Boredpanda.com poll of Europeans asked, "Which European country has the most attractive citizens?"

As the above map on the tweet above shows, Sweden won in a landslide, with almost four times as many votes as second-place France, with Spain third and Norway fourth. 
Yes, seeing is believing!

 But trust me, Norway is a very, very competitive fourth!
Even the armed female Customs officers at Oslo Airport Gardermoen are very, very attractive, which at 6:45 a.m., in the middle of January, after a LONG overnight flight from Newark, was not something I was expecting.
But adapt I did!

 I really like the Oslo Airport, too, since it's very clean and tidy, and if you didn't know any better, you would think it opened last year.

Remember, too, as I've written about here previously, four months from now, low-fare carrier Norwegian Airlines starts non-stop flights from Fort Lauderdale to Oslo on November 30th.
With flights to Stockholm and Copenhagen days later.
No more need for pointless flights first to Newark, Chicago, Detroit or Dulles just to fly to Scandinavia.

APRIL 20, 2013
Scandinavian Delight! Starting November 30th, fly nonstop cheaply between Ft Lauderdale and Oslo or Copenhagen on Norwegian.com, and starting December 1st, fly from FLL to Stockholm Arlanda; @Oslo, @norway, @stockholm, @sweden, @copenhagen, @denmark

APRIL 22, 2013
Tourism game-changer for South Florida travelers & Fort Lauderdale-area businesses -but only if they're smart and start planning now. Ruminations on the upcoming Norwegian.com flights b/w Ft. Lauderdale and Oslo, Stockholm & Copenhagen, and the need for Broward's hospitality industry to take full-advantage of the opportunity; @Oslo, @norway, @stockholm, @sweden, @copenhagen, @denmark


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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Eurovision Song Contest finals are tonight in Mälmo, the Christmas Morning of Europop! Anticipation is in the air and the smart money says that the title will be a battle between Norway's Margaret Berger and Demark's Emmelie De Forest; Anouk's 'Birds' has a powerful ending; #Eurovision2013


SVT video: Norway's representative at Eurovision 2013 is 27-year old Margaret Berger shown singing "I Feed You My Love" during Thursday's Semifinal Heat.
http://www.svt.se/melodifestivalen/norge-i-eurovision-2013-margaret-berger-i-feed-you-my-love
Eurovision Song Contest finals are tonight in Mälmo, the Christmas Morning of Europop! Anticipation is in the air and the smart money says that the title will be a battle between Norway's Margaret Berger and Demark's Emmelie De Forest; Anouk's 'Birds' has a powerful ending;
#Eurovision2013
Margaret will be singing her ballad ‘I Feed You My Love’ while I'm feeding myself some cheddar-flavored popcorn and watching the show LIVE from Sweden around 3 p.m. Miami time on my desktop, via SVT Play, wondering if anyone will pull an upset. http://www.svtplay.se/

 Who wants to be a star? (Som vill vara en stjärna?)
We'll know in a few hours.


Video: All the Scandinavian nations are represented in the finals: Iceland, Norway, Senmark, Sweden and Finland. Above, left-to-right: Denmark's Emmelie De Forest, Sweden's Robin Stjernberg and Norway's Margaret Berger.
Article: Vilken fest – Nordiska superfemman i final, Träffa de nordiska artisterna – som alla gör upp om segern i lördagens final av Eurovision Song Contest 2013.
(What a party - Nordic super fifth in final, Meet the Nordic artists - all of which makes up the victory in Saturday's final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013)
17 May 2013 19:49; Reporter: Mirja Bokholm 

 Backstage look at a rehearsal, as it happens, Margaret's.




SVT video: Denmark's entry, twenty-year old Emmelie De Forest was the fans' and critics' pre-competition favorite and sings the very catchy tune, "Only Teardrops."


Sweden's entry is 22-year old Robin Stjernberg singing "You," as seen here at the 2013 Melodifestivalen in Stockholm in March.

Not that it seems to have much of a chance to win, but one song I wanted to bring to your attention is a song sung by 38-year old Anouk Teeuwe -a.k.a. Anouk- from The Netherlands, called simply enough, 'Birds.'
The lyrics are okay, though I'm really NOT so crazy about the phrasing, but I just love the music and the orchestration!
The last minute of this song is sweeping and awesome!

 THIS is what an adult female singer who knows what she's doing sounds like, not some dopey twenty-something who wants to be a carbon copy of any of a dozen iconic female singers we can all think of and name who are so copied to death, with the same mannerisms -and desire to hit high notes for no reason other than to show off- that it's positively draining the life and originality out of popular music in the U.S. and why so much of today's pop music is SO awful and dull.
And why so many so-called stars of today can't sing LIVE, only lip-sync and we can all name THEM!


MrHaagsesjonny1 YouTube Channel video: Anouk singing 'BIRDS'  (The Netherlands]- From first Semifinal heat of 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, Malmö, Sweden. Uploaded May 14, 2013. http://youtu.be/jAe9b-9xA7c
I selected this particular video since it shows the lyrics. 
Starting at 2:05 thru the end, this song is wow! 

This song makes me think of a really memorable song from a good 1970's film that comes up when a female character is thinking long-and-hard about what she will do to change the course of what's been happening thus far.
That, or a song you'd hear in a Broadway show where you wish the whole play was as good as that one song that you are humming the next day at work
Of course, that's the oldest story on Broadway -a musical with one good song or one good act in search of others!
What do you think of it?



Is it just me or does Anouk's face somewhat resemble actress Peggy Lipton, circa mid-1980's? http://www.spokeo.com/Peggy+Lipton+1/Feb+26+1984+Other+Photos#4887941:28568541

I wish I was smart enough to know how to describe it here on the blog in the precise and cogent musical terms and phrases I need to make myself understood, but the first time I heard the last minute of this song, and every time since, it immediately made me think of parts of the orchestration for the version of Cole Porter's "Night & Day" as played in the fictionalized 1946 film of the same name with Cary Grant playing the life of the Hoosier-born Porter, one of my all-time favorite bio-pics, even with some of the artifice.
That orchestration is like honey to me, so whenever that's playing on TCM, no matter how many dozens of times I've seen it, I can't help myself and watch it again. Always.
I just wish I could explain it!

 Last-minute addition at 2:55 p.m.






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@MargaretBerger https://twitter.com/MargaretBerger
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Monday, April 22, 2013

Tourism game-changer for South Florida travelers & Fort Lauderdale-area businesses -but only if they're smart and start planning now. Ruminations on the upcoming Norwegian.com flights b/w Ft. Lauderdale and Oslo, Stockholm & Copenhagen, and the need for Broward's hospitality industry to take full-advantage of the opportunity; @Oslo, @norway, @stockholm, @sweden, @copenhagen, @denmark



Above, the State of Florida's classic 1970's national TV tourism ad that I've posted on the blog many times before. This spot ad was hugely-popular and successful, especially in the Midwest and East Coast, and was by far THE best tourism TV ad the state has ever produced. To this day, it still makes people smile when they see it or hear that catchy jingle, "When You Need It Bad We've Got It Good."

But in a much-more competitive travel marketplace than existed over thirty years ago, with so many disparate consumer markets, and different ways of reaching out to  prospective travelers, it seems to me that we need to see the state come up with something new that's just as compelling as this was. http://www.youtube.com/embed/OxB0kjqO6SI

Today I wanted to follow-up with some specificity on my blog post of this past Saturday, April 20th, which had some great news that some of you readers of the blog might want to take full-advantage of in the near-future -just like me- regarding a game-changing marketing move 

A move that will simultaneously make travel to a dynamic part of the world more convenient and cheaper, while also offering local Broward County-area hotels, restaurants and hospitality-related businesses an entrée to an affluent English-speaking tourism market -esp. families- that they have barely even begun to scratch: Scandinavia: 
Scandinavian Delight! Starting November 30th, fly nonstop between Ft Lauderdale and Oslo on Norwegian.com for as low as $238, or fly from FLL to Stockholm Arlanda for only $269, plus taxes and luggage charges; @Oslo, @norway, @stockholm, @sweden

A comparable round-trip flight on SAS to Oslo or Stockholm, even in Economy and made weeks in advance, is well over $1,000, as I know from experience in January.
Compare that to what Norwegian.com will offer starting in late November, with a direct flight to Oslo from FLL.

And coming back this way, with these flights, Broward is now much-cheaper airfare-wise, than flying from Stockholm or Oslo to The Maldives, a very popular vacation spot for Swedish families that's heavily-promoted, along with, of course, Thailand.
The latter is a holiday travel location that many Swedish families have been to so many times before that at least some of their kids are actually blah towards going there again. (Really.)

And since I neglected to mention it in Saturday's post, or so far today, you should know that Norwegian.com is the fastest-growing airline in Europe and has already placed orders for 200 new airplanes.

 More at:
Norwegian airline prepares for global expansion
By Jorn Madslien, Business reporter, BBC News
1 April 2013 Last updated at 20:24 ET

Here are two photos from my blog of some travel-related advertising I snapped while I in Stockholm in January, and trust me, these display ads are everywhere you look. 
You literally can not escape them.
And that's in part because they work so well.
Especially when it's 17 degrees Fahrenheit and sundown is at 3:45 p.m.


"SOLREA - SVERIGES BÄSTA RESESÖK"
The colder and snowier it got in Stockholm, the more this simple ad seemed like genius. Sometimes, you don't have to reinvent the advertising wheel. When you're a travel agency and it's cold and snowing, make your target audience think of summers and traveling to an inviting warm beach. Above, one of the many Sistaminuten.se display ads I saw on the side of pay phones throughout Stockholm. This one was located on Ringvägen, across the street from the Åhléns Dept. store (with the Hemköp grocery store in the basement that I visited frequently) west of busy Götgatan and the Skanstull T-bana, the southern commercial heart of trendy and fun Södermalm. January 11, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier.© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
*There was recently a controversy with this ad campaign that I will be blogging about quite soon.  


Pictured: A Mom and her two kids sitting on the beach staring out at the waves. Only two blocks from the B&B I stayed at in the Södermalm area of Stockholm on my recent trip, the #1 B&B in the city, also located on Ringvägen were two other display ads promoting travel. The one in the distance is for SAS, which I flew on to Stockholm, and the one in the foreground, on a public telephone booth, is the "Holiday is where the Heart is" ad campaign for VING which started the week before Christmas. January 12, 2013 photo by South Beach Hoosier.© 2013 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved. 
Here's VING's very-popular "Holiday is where the heart is" TV spot: http://www.dagensmedia.se/webbtv/reklamfilm/article3607242.ece
Not surprisingly, this ad was in heavy rotation during morning TV news shows, so much so that I started hearing this jingle in my head by my 3rd day in Stockholm.

Here's more of VING's smart and attractive display ads: http://www.dagensmedia.se/taggar/?tag=Ving

As a friend who's a travel professional in Sweden explained to me, since I didn't know myself, flights from Oslo or Stockholm to The Maldives or to FLL are roughly the same time-wise.
But if you compare the costs of airfare using Norwegian.com, NOW flying to FLL from Scandinavia is a ridiculous bargain, by hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and is a bargain that is multiplied by each person who flies here.

After being over there and getting a small sense of how things are done, my own opinion is that the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) needs to really increase their advertising and marketing dollars in Scandinavia and start working on some compelling co-op advertising with Norwegian.com that they can start running this Fall, before the twice-weekly flights start.  http://www.sunny.org/

It seems to me that we need to do this to make sure that the airline's strategy (gamble) works to everyone's satisfaction, and then at some point, they can increase the number of flights or days they fly between FLL and Oslo, whose still-new-looking airport is, in a word, sweet.

Since HB's beach is so woefully unattractive and poorly-maintained, the local postcards that I gave to some business people I met -and the new friends that I made- in Stockholm were entirely of Hollywood Beach and The Broadwalk.

Trust me, people I spoke to there in all sort sof places around Stockholm were very intrigued by what I told them about the area, esp. after hearing them relate some of the daily hassles they deal with when they go to Thailand and other tropical places.
They're looking for new places to visit, so why not our part of the world?

Savvy and enterprising individuals, companies and firms from South Florida to Sweden can now finally reach the affluent, well-informed and influential decision-makers in South Florida and beyond who regularly read Hallandale Beach Blog and its Twitter feed for the facts, nuanced insight and original analysis they can't get elsewhere, and do so via VERY REASONABLE advertising on the blog, at prices starting at just $85 a month. 
Contact me today for more details at hallandalebeachblog@gmail.com
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