As many of you know from my past blog posts here over the years, due largely to my own wide-ranging pursuits, interests and inclinations, I've been watching Sky News andFrance 24'sEnglish and French language service for many, many years and have been watching them again since
this terror attack happened in Paris yesterday.
(And SVT,SVT Play, TV4 and TV4 Play in Sweden, too, of course. Especailly the morning news shows like SVT's Gomorron Sverigeand TV4's Nyhetsmorgonboth of which I watch when I can and whose daily newsletters I receive, just as I receive Channel 4 News' daily Snowmail. I'll even admit to a bit of a crush on TV4 presenter Tilde de Paula Eby! Then again, over the past five years or so, I've gotten VERY frustrated with BBC America's mediocre programming lineup that for so long has featured StarTrek-TNG episodes instead of the sorts of engaging and compelling news shows and documentaries that have recently aired back in Great Britain, which I'd much rather be watching.)
The news coverage of yesterday's Paris terror attack at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo remindsus of what we've complained about for years: inferior news coverage of foreign news on U.S. TV networks. Save yourself the aggravation of watching PC MSM newscasts in USA that sanitize news and start watching Sky News and France 24's English service if you really want to know what's going on in France right now
I strongly encourage you to check these tow news outlets out so you can see and hear the facts
for yourself and not be forced to wonder, as so many do, why the highly-edited and highly-sanitized
versions of reality seen on US. network evening newscasts, especially important news in foreign countries, seem to leave out so many important and salient facts after they are edited out in London:
http://www.svt.se/nationaldagen/ Above, the promo for today's SVT1 telecast of the National Day celebrations atSkansen in Stockholm, with the royal family in attendance, hosted by Anne Lundberg, starting at 20:00, 2 p.m. Eastern U.S./Canada. It will be telecast around the world via SVT Play at http://www.svtplay.se/video/1272214/6-6-20-00 and via Mobile with the SVT app.
Tonight's musical performances tonight will be by Mando Diao, Malena Ernman & Åsa Jinder, Jump the Gun, Pauline, Edith Backlund and Lina Hedlund.
One of the reasons that Sweden has its national day today is that it's the date of the coronation of the king Gustav Vasa, 1523. — @sweden / Linnea (@sweden) June 6, 2013
Gearing up for Saturday's wedding telecast via SVT Play between Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill. http://www.svtplay.se/video/1253415/prinsessbrollopetthat will be at 3 p.m. Miami time. Can't even imagine how beautiful this breathtakingly beautiful woman will look in her Valentino bridal dress come Saturday.
To almost everyone's amusement or consternation, depending upon your personality, less than four days from her wedding, PrincessMadeleine got stopped by attentive Stockholm Police in central Stockholm for driving a vehicle in the prohibited Bus Lane. (If you didn't know, downtown Stockholm also has a congestion tax.)
Expressen TV YouTube Channel: Prinsessan Madeleine i nya trafiksynder. Körde bil på bussfil i centrala Stockholm. Uploaded June 6, 2013. http://youtu.be/b7d7mAmEUPU She claimed to the police -and a Royal Court spokesman later claimed as well- that she had a special permit that allowed her to do so. http://tv.aftonbladet.se/webbtv/nyheter/live/article13428.ab Further investigation by the news media determined fairly conclusively that while she had the permit, it specifically allows vehicles to use that restricted lane only in connection with state purposes, i.e. rolling motorcades for visiting heads of state and diplomats to get them from Point A to point B, NOT for running pre-wedding errands. In my opinion, she'd be foolish to continue to press the matter and should simply pay the fine. Last October's much-discussed and imitated engagement/förlovning announcement by Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill Förlovning / Engagement from Kungahuset on Vimeo. has now turned into golden opportunities for some, including very successful low-fare airline Norwegian Air and its founder and CEO, Bjørn Kjos, in one of their newest videos As regular readers of this blog know by now, Norwegian begins non-stop flights between Fort Lauderdale and Oslo in late November, and between Fort Lauderdale and Stockholm the first week of December, the latter of which may very well include me on-board that first week, as I was busy checking-out some some possible plans over this past weekend for being there for a while before Christmas.
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!
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.
Hia80 YouTube Channel video: The Ark - Calleth You Cometh I (LIVE at Allsång på Skansen 2003, Stockholm) Uploaded May 28, 2008. http://youtu.be/u5PNmHCvZg8
In my music-oriented post of this past Monday, titled, Sweet, sweet music to our ears: the 'Nashville' soundtrack album; 'Nashville' star Hayden Panettiere (Juliette Barnes) sings "Fame" and "Consider Me"; Clare Bowen (Scarlett O'Connor) and Sam Palladio (Gunnar Scott) sing "If I Didn't Know Better," and cause a ripple to turn into a wave; #ABCNashville, @haydenpanettier http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/sweet-sweet-music-to-our-ears-nashville.html I mentioned that I'd spent a good part of Saturday listening to the sweet sounds of the "Nashville" soundtrack album from the ABC-TV show, but that in between, around two o'clock, I hopped onto my computer and rode the Internet to Sweden and our friends at SVT Play. Then, from thousands of miles away, I watched LIVE the fourth heat of this year's Melodifestivalenin Mälmo to send Sweden's representative to the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/malmo-2013
Since Sweden won last year in Azerbaijan with Loreen, Sweden will be hosting this year's competition in May. In fact, in the very arena where last Saturday's competition was held. I also mentioned that it was probably the worst individual heat I'd seen in years, and that I even felt obliged at times to mute the volume because I was so NOT feeling it! :-( What I didn't mention then was that the only time where I actually stood up and paid attention was when they introduced teen singer Ulrik Munther. And that's only because the music intro they used to fire-up the crowd as he walked across the catwalk and onto the stage -at 0:45:33 here, http://www.svt.se/melodifestivalen/se-program/23-2-20-00?autostart=true was The Ark's "Calleth You Cometh I," only one of the most melodic and punchy pop song of the past 25 years, and one of my Swedish favorites. Literally, a song I have hummed to myself while stuck in traffic more times than I can count. Which is why I have two versions of the song above today for you to see. The second video was uploaded by Hia80, known here on the blog as "Sofia from Umeå," who was the savvy person we all have to thank for recording those four simply amazing videos of Robyn performing LIVE in concert in Skellefteå back on July 1, 2011, which I posted here a week later on July 9th, a post which received a ton of hits from all around the world: Wow! Sofia in Umeå -a.k.a. Hia80- has four must-see home videos of Robyn performing at Skellefteå 2011 last Friday http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/wow-sofia-in-umea-aka-hia80-has-four.html Sofia's YouTubeChannel is at http://www.youtube.com/user/Hia80 Check it out and subscribe!
sannasonja's YouTube Channel video: Benny Andersson on piano, Olle Moraeus on violin - "En skrift i snön" on SVT's Luciamorgon telecast from Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden. Recorded December 7, 2012 for broadcast on Dec. 12th. Uploaded December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/cTatkGocfCY
Sweet & sublime as always! SVT's 2012 St. Lucia telecast from Uppsala Cathedral -with Astrid Cederlöf as Lucia- was loaded with Swedish goodness, including ABBA's Benny Andersson on piano and Helen Sjöholm singing; There's no substitute for such sheer genius & talent!
The sweetness and the utter simplicity never disappoints.
Church choirs singing traditional Lucia and Christmas carols, the reading of the Lucia text, and as always, all done with no self-conscious showboating or self-congratulatory displays -and no distracting applause from the audience.
All done in one hour.
Above and below, my screenshots of 14-year old Astrid Cederlöfas Lucia.
By now, after a few years of watching this, and having gotten into the swing of how things go, there are certain songs that are always performed that are now so familiar to me that I can already hear the upcoming refrain, chorus or key musical notes even before the chyron disappears from the TV screen.
Correct, like hearing the first few notes of an ABBA or Beatles song. To me, this year's telecast seemed much more subdued than the previous two Luciamorgon telecasts.
Whether that was the plan or just the way it all worked out, I can't say, but it did seem like there was noticeably less energy in the room, maybe almost too subdued. Was it because I already knew that this year's telecast was NOT LIVE as the last two had been, where anything done LIVE always offers up the possibility of something interesting and unexpected happening?
Or maybe it was just because yours truly was already pretty tired and stayed-up all night thru to watch the telecast, which was 1 a.m. Eastern my time that Thursday morning, 7 o'clock in Uppsala. When that opening framing scene outside Uppsala Cathedral came onscreen, it looked SO very dark and very cold! I practically shivered vicariously when it came on and I thought about how mornings like that can make you exhausted even before the day begins. Thoughts of warm tomato soup and soup crackers went thru my head.
This is what it looked like outside the Cathedral in Uppsala an hour later, at 8 a.m., looking more like 6 p.m. in Bloomington, Indiana, about mid-January.
sannasonja's YouTube Channel video: Helen Sjöholm & Benny Andersson - "Vinterhamn" on SVT's Luciamorgon telecast from Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden. Recorded December 7, 2012 for broadcast on the 12th. Uploaded December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/Xqtr219lt40
sannasonja's YouTube Channel video: Helen Sjöholm & Benny Andersson: "Nu tändas tusen juleljus" on SVT's Luciamorgoon telecast from Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden. Recorded December 7, 2012 for broadcast on the 12th. Uploaded December 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/fsnbicyYNcU
The above was short and sweet, but still my favorite from that day!
The video of the entire telecast is on SVT Play's website for another 28 days, as of today, then will be permanently deleted. http://www.svtplay.se/video/907512/lucia/?tab=undefined&sida=1 As usual, the SVT audio and video quality is amazing, so be sure to click the opposing arrows in the far right corner of the video and hit fullskärm to enable the full screen, And be sure to watch for Olle Moraeus on the violin.
Sweden.se's Vimeo video: SwedishLuciafor Dummies. Lucia Day - a feast of candlelit processions, saffron buns, mulled wine and talking animals. Here’s how to make the most of it. http://vimeo.com/55253944
As a bit of a Lucia bonus, here's a short video of some kids in a Lucia procession who made their way out to the glass cage in the Great Square in Malmö, Gustav Adolf Square, where this year's Musikhjälpen took place two weeks ago, and where Robyn famously performed in 2010, as I wrote at the time. Robyn rocks Malmö at Musikhjälpen 2010 as amazed fans watch her like a goldfish in a glass bowl at Gustaf Adolfs Square http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/robyn-rocks-malmo-at-musikhjalpen-2010.html
Below, Kodjo and Gina interact with the kids inside their glass cage studio:
IkoIko video: A 2006 Fox News Channel segment by reporter Steve Harrigan on immigration strife in Sweden and ethnic violence caused in the Rosengård area of Målmo by Muslim immigrants. Uploaded April 17, 2006. http://youtu.be/whWgCOE56K8 Despite all the changes that have taken place since it first came out, Prof. Fouad Ajami's 1982 book, The Arab Predicament, which I first read in school, still remains a go-to
book for those who need to make sense of the current Mid-East reality and how we got to this point, for better and worse, as well as an insightful look at Arab sensitivities and sensibilities (and ultra-sensitivities) to being seen as the outlier. My comments follow the essay.
The Washington Post
Why is the Muslim world so easily offended?
By Fouad Ajami
Published: September 14, 2012
Modernity requires the willingness to be offended. And as anti-American violence across the Middle East and beyond shows, that willingness is something the Arab world, the heartland of Islam, still lacks.
Time and again in recent years, as the outside world has battered the walls of Muslim lands and as Muslims have left their places of birth in search of greater opportunities in the Western world, modernity — with its sometimes distasteful but ultimately benign criticism of Islam — has sparked fatal protests. To understand why violence keeps erupting and to seek to prevent it, we must discern what fuels this sense of grievance.
Responses to the Ajami essay, which I sent out via email early on Saturday evening, consisted largely of "Maybe because the lunatic religious fanatics are running the show?" and even a link to Google Maps of the Middle East and questions about where are those Moderate Muslims that the Mainstream Media so adores, anyway?
Where are they hiding, exactly? Well, actually, they're not hiding, per se, rather it's just that a disproportionate number of them live far from the field of battle and the negotiating table, living as so many of them do in New York, London, Paris and Berlin among many other places, which is why reporters there have no problem finding them - THERE. This, of course, is a self-fulfilling prophecy in a sense in that having so many educated "moderates" in Western cities -a problem the MSM never sees or brings up- means that there's less actual resistance to tenets of radicalism in those countries. Radicalism fills the vacuum, not reasonableness. As for the rest of his essay, I do have an important correction for those of you who will perhaps not see it yourselves, and it actually touches on a subject that I've been wanting to write about and update since my last post on it, which netted me many interesting emails, though not all positive, since there's always someone who prefers butt-kissing to honesty. In the middle of his essay, Prof. Ajami says something that with just a slight bit of word substitution could just as easily be said is true of large swaths of current-day Miami, "You can live in Stockholm and be sustained by a diet of al-Jazeera television."
While that is factually true about Stockholm as much as it is true of dozens of other large and dynamic Western cities, as I've stated previously here on the blog, a better yet more troubling example of what he speaks about is in Målmo, on Sweden's west coast, opposite Denmark's capital, Copenhagen. See my January 6, 2011 post titled, Uh-oh! Upcoming BBC World Service 'Open Eyes' segment on racial tensions in Malmö. Hmm-m...; Swedish immigration policy costs borne by local residents
Unfortunately for Målmo, owing to both past immigration patterns, geography, and familial ties, it's now home to not only an area that soon will be 50% Muslim, but also home to a large percentage of Muslim immigrants in the Rosengård area who, in many cases, make little effort to even try to assimilate Swedish values and norms.
No, Malmö, despite an avalanche of internal and external Political Correctness regularly sprinkled on the city and its inhabitants by a very PC and often patronizing national and European news media, is also the home to what all reasonable parties acknowledge is a very big long-term problem: a large percentage of all the Muslim immigrants in Sweden who fail to fully appreciate Sweden's freedoms, liberties and culture and incorporate that into their daily lives, people who actively fight assimilation, live right there. And many of the people who don't feel they should need to change are cocky and uncivil and don't care what you think about them being so publicly ungrateful. And they aren't afraid of using violence, either, as the video at the top makes clear. When you attack firemen trying to put out a fire in YOUR neighborhood... you DON'T get the benefit of the doubt.
But it's a lot more than just a PR problem to be solved, since the things that have happened there the past ten years have ranged from very negative to extremely dangerous and even deadly, and have been well-documented by the Swedish news media. Everyone knows what has happened there. Because of this extensive coverage, the rest of the country has largely started to develop negative feelings about Målmo as a whole because of what they view, essentially, as a policy of appeasement. No, even worse from the point of view of Swedes who don't like what they see with a small but not insignificant number of immigrants taking advantage of their good nature and willingness to help, they see far too many people who won't even pretend that they're trying to assimilate, which, if you didn't know, is the one thing that educated Swedes of all political persuasions DO rather INSIST upon -immigrants actually trying to assimilate. And that includes learning enough Swedish to at least get by, not consciously going out of your way to cause offense by intentionally NOT speaking Swedish in public or govt. interactions, just to make others uncomfortable.
That tension and anger felt by a majority of Swedes is largely due to not only the natural resentment of knowing that you're being taken advantage of by others, but also, frankly, knowing for a fact that there are many more would-be immigrants in other countries who would only be too happy to do what little is expected of them if they could legally move to Sweden. People who'd be happy to try their best to fit in without having to be asked or reminded, and who would contribute something positive to society. That's who they want more of!
There are some positive things going on in Rosengård, thanks to the hard work of some very dedicated people who want to show Sweden and the rest of the world that there are lots of immigrants who are, indeed, grateful for their new lives in Sweden, and the myriad opportunities that they and their families now have. No, not every immigrant has a chip on their shoulder -or a rock in their hand. Some DO take pride in their area, and are well-adjusted, including the kids shown in this mittomrade video, which got posted to YouTube last week.
mittomrade video: Sophästen på Rosengård. Ivan Varga of "Ivan's Wagon Trail" and his horse, Bango, paid a trip recently to the Rosengård area of Malmö and proved an instant hit.Uploaded September 14, 2012. http://youtu.be/gAw1r4DJ_6Y
I didn't mention it before but among the many aspects of the failed immigration policy that causes people heartburn is the not-insignificant matter of all that taxpayer money being spent on all these social programs and activities, which contrary to what you may think in the U.S., actually comes more from local government, not from the national government. Which means that something locally that might've done some good, was not funded because something for immigrants was. A majority of people in Sweden feel that thru not only their words and actions but also thru their willingness to put their money where their mouths are, and bankroll a humanitarian process that makes it easy for newcomers to become part of the dynamic modern world that is Team Sweden, they don't think it's unreasonable for the newcomers to act more civilized and think before acting, not throw-down at the smallest sign of a slight, like where they came from. Taxpayers feel like they've shown their good intentions, and think it's not unreasonable for more immigrants to show more effort and gratitude, NOT act like they're still living in their old Mid-East country, and act publicly and privately in ways that are contrary to Sweden's customs and culture.
Yes, unfortunately for the people of Malmö,many Muslim immigrants in their part of the country have really mastered the art of bending-over-backwards to be seen publicly as the sullen "other," the outlier, and to get media attention for that. The foreigner who publicly takes advantage of Swedish hospitality and who won't get with the program. Is it because that's how they really feel, or because they thought they could get away with it and know that it gets them more attention? Probably both, but then the outlier never tells, do they? The thing is, despite all their democratic freedoms, Sweden, like Japan, is a consensus-driven and still-largely homogeneous country, and one that does NOT like people trying to consciously go against the grain and undermine Swedish society or customs simply for the sake of doing so; as opposed to doing so because of some larger, well-intentioned principle or policy. You can be a thirty-SOMETHING college-educated female that thinks that teenage girls in Sweden vying to be selected as the Lucia in their hometown, school or church is pretty silly in the 21st Century, and write about it on your too-cool-for-school political or fashion blog. But that's very different than verbally attacking the teenage girls in public, or you publicly saying that the tradition should stop merely because you and your hip pals are not enthusiastic about it.
Nobody is forcing you or your hung-over pals to get up early on December 13th and watch the national TV broadcast of the candlelight and music ceremony from some well-known church, while you all sit on your sofa thinking and saying disparaging thoughts about people you don't even know, while eating hot crossed buns or cold pizza pulled from the fridge. Sleep-in, it's all the same to everyone else It's freedom of choice. But denying others the choice to make their own personal decisions, well, that's the problem in a nutshell isn't it for the Muslim in Muslim-dominated countries today? He or she is part of a religious culture that continues to deny personal choices and freedoms and micro-manage all aspects of someone's life.
That sort of attitude is anathema to most Swedes, who, thanks to several well-chronicled exploits of several Muslim troublemakers, have in many cases largely given up on the idea that most future Muslim immigrants will do the right thing and assimilate. Which, logically, is why some ask, Why not just turn off the faucet to the Middle East? ----- Meanwhile, over at Romesnsko.com... NEWSWEEK’S #MUSLIMRAGE = BIG #FAIL http://jimromenesko.com/2012/09/17/newsweeks-muslimrage-big-fail/
Sissel Kyrkjebø - Til ungdommen (To Youth) - LIVE, National Day of Remembrance for Oslo & Utøya; Minnesceremoni, Spektrum, Oslo, Norway, August 21, 2011, http://youtu.be/gKZa6hNFouw
Sissel followed Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's heartfelt speech with this great performamce of "To Youth," which concluded the afternoon's memorial program that was full of heartache and tears. My August 23, 2011 blog post on her that day was titled simply,Amazing Sissel leaves them proud! Sissel Kyrkjebø - Til ungdommen, National Day of Remembrance for Oslo & Utøya; Minnesceremoni http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/amazing-sissel-leaves-them-proud-sissel.html It was one of several posts I wrote about that very moving ceremony that I watched online LIVE as it happened.
The Memorial concert from Oslo's Town Hall, hosted by Haddy N'jie, who ably hosted last August's memorial from the Oslo Spektrum, will also be shown via SVT Play from 2:00-3:30 p.n. Eastern U.S./Canada and 7:00-8:30 p.m. BST at: http://www.svtplay.se/live/193696/minneskonsert-for-offren-i-oslo-och-utoya
Ett år sedan terrordåden på Utöya... One year since the 22/7 terror attacks in Oslo and Utöya that left 77 murdered and massacred, there's still so much pain amd anger that won't go away...
The five-judge panel that presided over the ten-week trial of Anders Behring Breivik is expected to announce their verdict one month from this week
