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 Stieg Larsson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stieg Larsson. Show all posts

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Selected tweets of note re #Sweden via my perch in South Florida, Summer-Winter 2014, from the striking beauty of Stockholm, the cool hipness of Södermalm, the discerning insight of Fredrik Strage and First Aid Kit, the suave coolness of Henrik Lundqvist, the business acumen of Blondinbella and the amazing Swedish contribution to music that makes the whole world rock






































































































showcase their products by furnishing an apartment and renting it cheaply on https://twitter.com/Airbnb">@airbnb http://t.co/phA1vdUiE7">http://t.co/phA1vdUiE7— Michael Kazarnowicz (@kazarnowicz) https://twitter.com/kazarnowicz/status/525181602352340992">October 23, 2014


























































Södermalm rated as one of World's Five Coolest Neighborhoods by @voguemagazine













http://t.co/OG1NqZKpbw">pic.twitter.com/OG1NqZKpbw— Creative Review (@CreativeReview) https://twitter.com/CreativeReview/status/509306510250610688">September 9, 2014


























shows https://twitter.com/hashtag/STHLM?src=hash">#STHLM's beauty! http://t.co/YBBfktDe3M">http://t.co/YBBfktDe3M http://t.co/Xw1drxUvle">http://t.co/Xw1drxUvle— HallandaleBeachBlog (@hbbtruth) https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/520642235202043905">October 10, 2014

As seen on my August 14, 2013 blog post, 

Heavenly! A month before her film 'Monica Z' opens in Sweden on September 13th, Edda Magnason sings "Sakta vi gå hem genom stan” (Slowly we walk through town) LIVE on SVT's Allsång på Skansen, Stockholm, August 13, 2013, on the last show of 2013. With lyrics! Now THAT'S how you promote a film featuring great music!; #monicaz, #eddamagnason, @manszelmerlow, @svtallsang, @PeterBirro</blockquote>










— Ami (@karamelfru) https://twitter.com/karamelfru/status/481862358164602881">June 25, 2014
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Thursday, December 20, 2012

Today, Stockholm is T minus 21 days -and yes I'm counting!; Some Swedish homework of mine to make my trip go well includes reviewing grammar and re-watching the original films in Swedish based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium crime fiction trilogy, starring Noomi Rapace & Michael Nyqvist

CBS News YouTube Chanel video: CBS News Sunday Morning correspondent Erin Moriarty travels to Stockholm, Sweden to discover the story and the truth behind the success of the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, whose Millennium crime fiction trilogy has swept the world of book publishing: Stieg Larsson: Behind "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Uploaded October 10, 2010. http://youtu.be/X-WJ6BlLw2s


Above, at Panera Bread in Hallandale Beach last month, a few hours after three elements of my "Swedish homework" were finally delivered via Amazon.com.  I wanted a few weeks to brush-up and remind myself of some things that I just might've forgotten the past few years, while toiling away for clean, effective and transparent government here in Hallandale Beach and Broward County, THE most-corrupt county in all of Florida. November 19, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

 Here are my three handy study tools to help me make more sense of things in Sverige in a few weeks when I'm doing my thing in Södermalm and Norrmalm.
Essentials of Swedish Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Swedish
By Ake Viberg, Kerstin Ballardini and Sune Stjarnlof 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0844285390/
Because it never hurts to go over some things...

 201 Swedish Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses (201 Verbs Series) 
By Richard P. Auletta
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812005287
Because there's always those verb tenses that seem slightly different than the way you remember them, and because I hate to make mistakes...


 Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Edition (2011)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JTLTI4/
A four-DCD collection that includes the three original Swedish language films from Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, starring Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist, plus a bonus CD.


Trailer: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009); original title in Swedish: Män som hatar kvinnor
Trailer: The Girl Who Played with Fire (September 2009); original title in Swedish:  Flickan som lekte med elden
The much-scarier teaser
Trailer: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (2010); original title in Swedish: Luftslottet som sprängdes

 I saw the original Swedish films but wanted to review them again before my trip so that:
a.) it would be fresh in my head once again once I get there, and, b.) so that I could take some notes on certain places where action takes place in and around Södermalm, since I'll be staying there for half of my trip. http://youtu.be/mJzQ_0XHJ58

 The Millennium Tour
http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Regions--Cities/Stockholm/Culture-in-Stockholm/The-Millennium-Tour/

 Bellmansgatan 1, Södermalm, the fictional home of crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist.
View Larger Map

 Photos of the free Millennium tour in Stockholm at: http://www.losapos.com/millennium%20locations%20in%20stockholm

 Of the various versions of the trilogy collection you could buy, I wanted to get the one that was in Swedish and that included lots of the footage that was cut from the original shorter theatrical release, so nearly every one of the three is three hours in length.
It does come with English subtitles, of course, since I'm not fluent in Swedish, just know what I know -and it even has an English dub track I won't use- but not one that's all dubbed, since that isn't what I saw the first time.

 That's one of the other things that Sweden has in common with the U.S. -real hardcore film fans prefer their films in the original language, with subtitles, NOT dubbed, as is so common in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries.
On top of all the dozens of other things i will be doing during my stay there, I'll avail myself of some opportunities to check out other aspects of Swedish film culture and history while there.

 After all, as I mentioned here in my blog post of April 25, 2012, titled, Beautiful, just like the original! Greta Garbo will be featured on the new Swedish 100 Kronor note, with Ingmar Bergman on the 200 SEK note, all designed by Göran Österlund, starting in 2015
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/beautiful-just-like-original-greta.html
Sweden doesn't just talk the talk, they actually put their larger-than-life film personalities on their currency, in the case of the two giants below, starting in 2015. 



Designed by Göran Österlund

 Many years ago, when I was still living in the Washington, D.C. area, and despite a busy schedule, usually managing to see a foreign film a week, one night while leaving the theater, completely out-of-the-blue, I came to the sudden realization that unless Uma Thurman 
or Cate Blanchett agreed to portray her in a well-written biopic, there was almost no chance we were ever going to see a top-tier actress play Garbo in a believable way.

 Queen Christina trailer (1933): The One and Only Garbo!
I think I've probably seen Queen Christina about a dozen times over the past 30 years.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/385/Queen-Christina/

Ingmar Bergman is on the new 200 Kronor note, replacing Selma Lagerlöf, who was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Designed by Göran Österlund

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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

After Stieg Larsson, whom? April 2012 LA Times Magazine features stories on amazing Stockholm and some prominent Swedish crime novelists -and explains why you should be reading them!



Sweden.se video: Swedish Midsummer for Dummies. March 28, 2012.
http://youtu.be/u8ZLpGOOA1Q

 Please take a peek when you can at these two pieces that appeared Sunday in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, a newspaper that for all of its problems -some chronicled here- unlike the Miami Herald, still runs a Sunday supplement that pleasantly surprises readers.

 A magazine supplement that unlike others I could name, isn't larded with fashion photo shoots of B-list actors, stilted charity photos or all the entertainment and celeb stories that didn't make it into the paper during the week, which you promptly zip thru in three minutes.
That's not what advertisers want so there's almost always 3-4 things there worth checking out. 

Everything else being equal, for the popular Swedish crime novel authors mentioned so favorably below in the essay -who are, to be honest, mostly unknown to the average fiction reader in the United States- this positive PR in a major American newspaper definitely beats being just another name thrown on a long list of suggested "Summer Reading" in next month's issue in a newspaper somewhere across the country, since as we all know, "Summer Reading" sections are still one of the things that cause publishing houses to spend some coin in promotion, and not just the annual N.Y. Times issue.

(I've been reading that particular issue consistently since I was about 12 or 13 years-old. I even took a copy with me the last of the three years I attended the Bob Griese-Karl Noonan sports summer camp in Boca Raton, which was from 1971-'74.)

Of course, the most important question, actually, I suppose, more of a two-parter, is 
a.) what sort of distribution will these authors get in the U.S. to build on their existing popularity and the positive media buzz, and,
b.) how clever will their agents be at seizing (creating) the sorts of clever promotional opportunities they need to cut thru the clutter and build upon this buzz to show open-minded American book consumers that the Swedish crime novel genre is more than one very curious and talented man named Stieg Larsson.

Or at least so it seems to me from my perch here in South Florida, far from Södermalm 

Hotel J, Nacka Strand, Stockholm, Sweden
Hotel J, Nacka Strand, Stockholm, Sweden.
I'd absolutely love to be able to stay here for a day or two while I'm visiting this summer, but it might not work out with my schedule. 
Update: It didn't and I went on my trip in January of 2013, when being near water didn't seem so important as it would have in the summer!
But I did walk by and around it and it's really something

 Eat, drink, shop, stay and stare—a tip sheet to the stunning little big city of Stockholm  

(FYI: Since it isn't mentioned for some reason, the main photo for the article is one taken of ice floes in the water looking towards Gamla Stan and the Palace.)

The beautiful photo essays are divided into four categories:
Mysterious Sweden
Turns out LISBETH SALANDER is far from alone when it comes to compelling plots and intriguing characters in Nordic crime fiction  
By John-Henri Holmberg

 Authors mentioned include  Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö, Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, Leif G.W. Persson, Anders Roslund, Börge Hellström, Lars Kepler, Liza Marklund, Åsa Larsson, Håkan Nesser, Kristina Ohlsson, John-Henri Holmberg, Katarina Wennstam and Karin Alfredsson

 http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2012/04/mysterious-sweden.html

 Jonna Dagliden, Stockholm, Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, Leif G.W. Persson, Anders Roslund, Börge Hellström, Lars Kepler, Liza Marklund, Åsa Larsson, Håkan Nesser, Kristina Ohlsson, John-Henri Holmberg, Sweden, Los Angeles Times, 
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Friday, September 23, 2011

New theatrical trailer for David Fincher's 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is out, and it reveals lots of intriguing clues about his approach


Columbia Pictures/MGM video: 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' Theatrical Trailer. Starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Plummer, Joely Richardson and Robin Wright, directed by David Fincher, screenplay by Steven Zaillian, opening December 21st in the U.S.
http://youtu.be/yOdKmpjqks8

This new theatrical trailer is certainly very good news for those of us who have been closely following the latest news and developments with the new English-language film adaption of Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, slated to open December 21st.

I say that because while it was very effective, the previous trailer, which I have posted here previously and below, was more atmosphere and question marks than hints for those out there who've never read the book or who seen the Swedish version of the first of the trilogy, Män som hatar kvinnor, ("Men who Hate Women") that starred Noomi Rapace as enigmatic Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Nyqvist as savvy journalist Mikael Blomkvist, the roles to be assumed by Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig under director David Fincher.


Over the next three months, I'll be posting things I see, read or hear here or overseas about the film to keep you apprised of what's what.

My last post on the film and the trilogy, with lots of videos and some Swedish material you probably haven't seen, was on June 2nd, titled, Trailer & news re David Fincher's version of Stieg Larsson's 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,' starring Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara; opens Dec. 21st.


CBS News Sunday Morning video: Erin Moriarity on the "Millennium" phenomena, inc. the Millennium tour in the Södermalm part of Stockholm. Stieg Larsson: Behind "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". October 10, 2010.


-----
from that previous post:

DiscJunkie's video: David Fincher at Cinemateket, at the Swedish Film Institute, SFI, answering questions from Roger Wilson.

See Oskar's YouTubeChannel at http://www.youtube.com/user/discjunkietv and his website at http://www.discjunkie.se/


For more information, also check out:

Trilogy Website From Knopf: http://stieglarsson.net/

for more details on the upcoming film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568346/
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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Trailer & news re David Fincher's version of Stieg Larsson's 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,' starring Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara; opens Dec. 21st


Teaser trailer for David Fincher's version of Stieg Larsson's 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'
Starring Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Plummer, Joely Richardson and Robin Wright, directed by David Fincher, screenplay by Steven Zaillian, opening December 21st in the U.S.

Yes, the one with the lesbian kiss, unlike the fake bootleg of last week.
In case you missed it, it's at 0:31.

-----------


I was going to write about the film a week ago but I'm now glad that I was patient and waited.

It's time to get to the heart of the nagging question hanging over this upcoming film, once you've FINALLY accepted the idea that it was inevitable that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo would be remade for American/English-speaking audiences worldwide.

I know a LOT of holdouts who don't like the idea of the remake one little bit, largely because they're concerned -rightly so in their eyes- that remaking a film/series that Noomi Rapace was positively mesmerizing in as Lisbeth Salander, is insulting to her personally, and the general notion of its uniquely Swedish aspects and pride of place.

I completely understand that line of argument(s) and am not completely unsympathetic to it, but,
a.) the reality is that the second part of show biz is, of course, bu$ine$$, and,
b.) there simply were NOT and are NOT enough people around -like me- who went to see the original films in Swedish directed by, respectively, Niels Arden Oplev and Daniel Alfredson, and,
c.) Director David Fincher has allayed at least some of those concerns by filming a lot in Sweden, starting last September in Stockholm.

He was quoted as saying in Svenska Dagbladet, SvD, that he wants to "find an atmosphere reminiscent of 'Chinatown.'"

I loved the originals, but they were not Gone With The Wind or Casablanca, consequently, I'm not going to be ridiculous about this remake, though I will say that I hope it's ten times better than any recent American remake of any of a number of good French films turned-out.
Talk about something to cry about...



SVT had this video of journalist Mikael Blomqvist (Daniel Craig) at the train station in Sollefteå last week; may be the least interesting video ever posted here!

Check-out this interesting video by Oskar at discjunkietv who was up in Uppsala a few months ago when the cast and crew were doing a 1960's flashback sequence involving a parade thru downtown. He was very determined to get an eye on what was doing.


Hanging out at the David Fincher set in Uppsala


See Oskar's YouTubeChannel at http://www.youtube.com/user/discjunkietv
and his website at http://www.discjunkie.se/

Once you're past that temporary roadblock about the philosophical question of the remake, you confront the large double-edged sword hanging above this production and how it's received by theater-goers, something a well-read person like you no doubt already realizes and understands, is the question of 25-year old Rooney Mara's performance on screen.
(Or as a female friend of mine with lots of style has emailed me from Sverige, "WTF's the deal with that hairdo she's wearing?)

It's the consensus opinion of everyone on both sides of the Atlantic that I trust who had already seen the Swedish language versions of the trilogy that this David Fincher adaption will succeed or falter based almost entirely on Mara's performance as Lisbeth Salander, regardless of how great everyone and everything else in the film may be, including the menacing music.
Anything too heavy-handed will detract from a story that was serious and stark in tone.

As I mentioned in several emails to friends around the country trying to persuade them to seek out the first film in the series in early 2009, Oplev's Män som hatar kvinnor ("Men who hate women"), which is known here as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I loved the scary trailer.


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -Swedish release with Danish subtitles, 2009


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -U.S. release with English subtitles, 2010


Here's the latest news from SVT on Monday about director David Fincher's first public words about the film while appearing last Friday at the Swedish Film Institute, SFI, answering questions from Roger Wilson.
It's well-worth reading.
http://blogg.svt.se/film/2011/05/fincher-rapport-och-dragon-tattoo-trailer/


By the way, speaking of the film remake, has any current actor you can think of ever transformed more successfully from almost always playing articulate and thoughtful film characters you rooted for, to consistently playing evil, malevolent bad-asses quite like Christopher Plummer, who here in the remale, will play someone both curious and afraid about the answer to a mystery? (And Joely's Richardson's....)

Ever since Plummer's performance as Chang in Star Trek VI twenty years ago, he's really gone over to the dark side and played one oleaginous and creepy character after another
And been completely believable.
Auf Wiedersehen, Captain von Trapp!

Ironically, Swedish actor Mikael Nyqvist, someone whom I first came to appreciate in 2004's Oscar-nominated Så som i himmelen (As It Is in Heaven), a film that I previously mentioned here on July 2, 2009 in a post titled ABBA Geniuses At It Again: Story Of A Heart, featuring Helen Sjöholm, Words & Music by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
and who was so excellent in the three Swedish-language versions of the Millennium trilogy as hard-working reporter Mikael Blomkvist, will now be playing a villain opposite Tom Cruise in the next Mission Impossible release, which is nummer fyra -number four- Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, coming out December 16th

That post of mine also mentioned Gabriella's Song, the great song from the film, and two versions of it as sung by two super-talented singers, Helen Sjöholm in the film and Molly Sandén on the popular SVT singing TV show, Så ska det låta, back when Molly was sixteen -three years ago!

As some of you know, that film, with Nyqvist cast as a man of the world who unexpectedly finds love in a small Swedish town -his childhood hometown- while trying to get away from it all, is one that Swedish women of every age group absolutely love to death.
They positively start tearing-up when they hear the first few bars of it...
Really.


As it is in Heaven (Så Som I Himmelen) - Gabriellas Sång

Molly Sandén - Gabriellas Sång (on SVT's 'Så ska det låta,' 2008)

For more information, also check out:
http://www.stieglarsson.com/ and for more details on the upcoming film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568346/

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