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www.somethingrotten.dk

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Where I am

After almost two years in Denmark, have I learnt anything?

Difficult to say, but I’ll give it a go:

• Cycling to work, instead of suppurating in a criminally overcrowded and festering train carriage, is infinitely preferable.

• ‘Going out’ doesn’t necessarily mean drinking yourself into a stupor. But I still do it anyway.

• Creativity is a key element of happiness.

• Laughter is always the best medicine. Closely followed by Fisherman’s.

• Love comes and goes, and life is complicated wherever you are.

• But there is something which goes beyond love, and usually lasts longer. When you find it, don’t let it go. It’s unique to you.

• Autumn walks with people you love and/or cherish should be savoured. Especially when followed by tea and cakes and cuddling up on sofas in candlelit rooms.

• Trying to understand all of this, or striving too hard to reach goals that are usually artificially concocted, won’t get you anywhere.

•  If you can be light, and still easily carry the weight of your past, and yet shed it at your leisure, you will be closer to wherever you’re headed.

• Believe in yourself.

• Always build snowmen, run through piles of leaves, roll down hills, and also try and climb trees.

• Sitting outside a cafe with a blanket over your knees doesn’t mean you’re old. Or gay. But it might be a little bit twee.

• Thinking you’ve arrived is usually a sure sign of the opposite.

• Drinking champagne in the afternoon probably isn’t a good idea when you have access to a keyboard and a blog.

Leica

I came across this wonderful article about the cult of Leica today, which reminded me of my dad’s obsession with the German camera manufacturer.

He took up photography a few years back to the extent that he turned the cupboard under our stairs into a dark room.

Books about Henri Cartier-Bresson and the history of Leica started appearing in the house, as did some admittedly excellent shots that he had taken and had had blown up.

I remember coming home from university one year with my new girlfriend for the first time only to be confronted by my dad wielding a new camera and snapping away like David Bailey. The poor girl was a bit bemused at first but one of the shots my dad got of us ended up framed and on our wall for the next few years.

My trusty Panasonic DMC-FZ10 has a 12x Leica lens and, while the camera is as old as the hills and is only 4 mega-pixels, I doubt I could find a better lens now for less than a few hundred pounds.

Anyway, anyone who has more than a passing interest in photography will get a lot out of the article. Some famous Leica enthusiasts? Cartier-Bresson, Lee Friedlander, Queen Elizabeth II, Diane Arbus, Spike Jonze, Albert Korda, Nan Goldin.

Availabot

 

Availabot is a customizable model that plugs into your computer through USB. You can sync it with a friend of your choice on your Instant Messenging client and when that person logs on, the model stands up. When they log off, the model collapses in a heap.

Availabot is the brainchild of Schulze and Webb, a London-based design consultancy. It’s still in development though, so you can’t get your grubby little mitts on it just yet.

(Found at It’s Nice That)

John Maus

John Maus is the keyboardist in Panda Bear, and seemingly a fairly tortured individual.

Last year he released an album called Songs which Vice magazine described thusly:

‘Apparently Maus spent five years working on this album, which is a shame because, frankly, it’s awful.’

I haven’t heard any of the songs from that album but I have heard a new track, Do your Best, which is beautiful.

It’s dark, and obviously inspired by early 80s synth like Giorgio Moroder, Flock of Seagulls, and Blue Nile, and it’s just lovely.

I’ve loaded it up into the Box on the right. Alternatively, you can hear it on his MySpace page. Read more about John Maus here.

Sigur Ros film coming to Copenhagen

UPDATE: My Danish translator just told me that the band are playing a 30 minute acoustic set after the film.

Fans of Sigur Ros can catch their tour film, Heima, (Icelandic for ‘At Home’) at Vega later this month.

Judging by the trailer, it looks like a stunning piece of work.

Ticket info here.

 

 

Teaching the Machine

This amazing video is a powerful visualisation of how the web democratises information. Watch this.

Found at Native Edge.