Shopping for Japan

When disaster strikes, we all want to help - and the earthquake, tsunami and still developing nuclear issue in Japan made quite an impact on me. In general, I feel like we're seeing more and more natural disasters, but this one was somehow different; perhaps it is because it struck in what we consider a highly developed society, which has available to it all precautionary measures so far invented by human kind. Of course, the fact that at least the tsunami made for such good TV, unlike an earthquake (as in Haiti) where you can only show the impact it has had on buildings etc., probably made a difference too; and there is always the Biblical references to The Flood to people in Western societies.

Aid poster from des!gn think!ng*

As always, all kinds of relief efforts are going on around the world - you can either give money directly, or buy products which 'donate all profits to aid Japan' (now, as I am planning to study economics I am tempted to ask: Including normal profits?, but that is besides the point). I know it is (aside from actually helping the Japanese) a PR stunt by the companies, and that it is meant to make me want to buy their products more because I can rationalise my way into it ("Well, the money's for a good cause!") - still... Win-Win situation?

AMBUSH Koppel pendant watch in red 
limited edition (500) from Georg Jensen

Today I got a newsletter from Danish silverware- and jewellery brand Georg Jensen, saying they had made a limited edition of one of their watch pendants. And I want it soooo bad!! Isn't it pretty? I hate being on a student budget at times like this - it costs €630.

"For Them" by Technique Indiscréte

One thing which is perhaps slightly more affordable is a limited edition perfume from Parisian 'Technique Indiscréte', made with notes of lavender. It is also a limited edition, but with 1000 available bottles - and is sold at €35 plus shipping (=€45 to Denmark). Another thing I wouldn't mind owning.

It occurs to me that a lot of the aid-products I've seen in relation to Japan have been these quite expensive, exclusive kinds of products. Perhaps it is a result of Japan being a more developed country - we have other connotations to it? Or perhaps the Japanese flag simply invites to those kinds of products.. the red circle is very easy to incorporate in a simplistic way, without it screaming "I HAVE DONATED FOR JAPAN!" - the Georg Jensen watch for example would be beautiful also without one knowing the money went to a good cause. Finally, the companies which can make these kinds of products as believable PR-stunts are probably the ones which have some kind of affiliation with Japan, if only through aesthetic principles - and simplisticness is often a high-end thing.

So... I know I'm being manipulated, and that I ought to just donate without there having to be something in it for me. Still, as I wrote above - win-win situation?

Post-IB plans (now with macarons)

My friend Em has a post-IB reading list on her blog; it is probably a good idea to have some idea of what to.. otherwise the shock of free time might become too much ;) Anyway, I've been thinking more generally of what I'll do when exams are over and done with; I'm thinking it's a good way to stay sane with exam-nerves and what not (the best I've found so far aside from driving through sunny Copenhagen in my driving instructor's convertible ^^ ).

Some of the stuff I'll do is of the practical kind; I'll hopefully get the job at SOS (I'm going for an interview sometime within the next couple of weeks btw), so I'll be working. I'll also be preparing to leave Copenhagen for University of St. Andrews, Scotland, with all the practicalities that entails - stressing over exam results in the process, as I won't have those (and so not be 100% sure that I'm going) before 6th July. Already, though, I'm crazy excited to be going (and crazy scared) -- it even looks like a friend will be going there with me, so I won't be a complete loner ^^

Hopefully, Denmark will stay as nice and sunny as it is now - then beaches and reading in the garden is a tempting option. If not, I have a long standing plan to have a Harry Potter movie marathon with some good friends - and when summer holiday is upon us, those friends who live abroad will (hopefully) also be able to participate <3

Today, I remembered one more thing I plan to spend time on. I visited Jessica January's blog (thanks for the comment btw), and there found a video full of delicious french cakes (below) - which reminded me of my ambition to learn how to make macarons. I've tried once, and they tasted fine, but were not quite as sturdy as I'd liked them to have been. Hence, when I was in Oxford in the fall and found a recipe book on macarons it didn't take me long to buy it. I will probably have to work quite a bit to perfect the craft - people are welcome to visit and help get rid of failed attempts ;)

Poetry and then some thoughts on Religion

Today, I've stayed home from school with a headache and throat pain. That shall not keep me from studying for exams, however - which are coming up in around two weeks. I might lay off the chemistry until sunday, though, and keep to English; getting on with the task of learning 12 poems of by heart so I can quote them in my paper. 

          I used to not be very fond of poetry; I'd grown sick of the 70's poems we read in Danish in my previous schools, and although I had seen a few I liked by the 1980's Danish poet Michael Strunge, flipping through his collected poems I wasn't convinced that the genre was for me. But, if you're lucky, that is one of the things school might help you overcome - and as with drama and prose, poetry in English seemed a whole new world for me. We read Sylvia Plath, Carol Ann Duffy, Pablo Neruda (translated, of course) and William Blake; I like the first two the best, I like Neruda's political poems, and a few of Blake's such as "The Garden of Love". The task I have set myself for today is to learn Carol Ann Duffy's "Confession" by heart:

Confession
          Come away into this dark cell and tell 

          your sins to a hidden man your guardian angel

       .          works your conscience like a glove puppet It

          smells in here doesn't it does it smell 

          like a coffin how would you know C'mon

          out with them sins those little maggoty things

          that wriggle in the soul... Bless me Father...

          Just how bad have you been there's no water

          in hell merely to think of a wrong's as evil

          as doing it... For I have sinned... Penance

          will cleanse you like a bar of good soap so

          say the words into the musty gloom aye 

          on your knees let's hear that wee voice 

          recite transgression in the manner approved... Forgive me...

          You do well to stammer A proper respect

          for eternal damnation see the flicker 

          of your white hands clasping each other like

          Hansel and Gretel in the big black wood 

          cross yourself Remember the vinegar and sponge

          there's light on the other side of the door... Mother

          of God... if you can only reach it Jesus loves you.

I like the feel of this poem, how the lack of punctuation gives the poem a very overwhelming, oppressive feeling, as if multiple voices are speaking at once.
  
I am atheist myself, so I don't have any experience of my own with the Catholic confession - but aside from being atheist because I don't believe in a God, I also dislike the set rules of many religions. My parents are Christian to some extent, pretty relaxed about it as most Danes are; but they have a picture in their room stating "God is Love" - and if you do believe in some sort of God, I think it makes sense to find him/her in the beautiful things in our lives, rather than in rules and rites. Otherwise, you might end up in a "thou shalt not"-religion, with the threatening feel portrayed in the poem. Without being a theologist, I have read parts of the Bible, and oppressiveness does not strike me to be the purpose of at least the New Testament. For really, shouldn't it be whether you actually repent your wrongdoings, rather than whether you can "recite transgression in the manner approved", that counts?

Décor

Last week, I bought two AMAZING things in my favourite vintage shop, Décor. Sadly, I can't really post pictures or tell about them, as both are gifts. Still - they were amazing, just saying.

I first discovered this shop when I went to Zahles school from 7th to 9th grade, just across the plaza. I have spent many a recess treasure hunting in this fantastic little place - and it bears the main responsibility for my discovering the joys of vintage fashion. Recently, I have read about Décor several places, as on Cover.dk, and I have heard it referred to as the place every stylist considers her little secret. And indeed, I have often been there while the owner, Lone, was lending out some of her pieces for a shoot - such as a giant lace collar from the 1890s, which sadly is not for sale (some of the finest things she keeps herself, hanging them as decoration in the shop). 

  

The clothes, jewellery, hats, shoes, perfumes in the shop is mainly from the end of the 19th century until the 1960s, with a few newer things. Some of my favourite items from Décor include a 1950s pearl necklace and a black hat from the same period - and at some point I'm gonna buy a top hat. As the pieces are mostly one of a kind, it of course often happens that something you find doesn't fit - but that just means you're that much happier when some gorgeous dress/hat/skirt actually fits nicely :) 

Beautiful satin shoes from circa 1950

When I was there last week, I found 3 things I wished fit me and several things I wished I could afford; the satin shoes above are probably sz 37ish, which is a tad to small for me. I also found some amazing white full-length gloves (as in almost to your shoulder) in what I think was increadibly fine, soft leather - unfortunately, as most vintage gloves, they were way too small.. Finally, a 1890s cotton lace blouse in sz 34 I almost bought just to own it.

One thing I can always spend time drooling over is the several fur stolas in the shop; but I also found a gorgeous little wallet in hand-knit lace also from the end of the 19th century, which looked almost as good as new. But at 850 dkkr, it wouldn't leave much money for me to spend the rest of April - and it would mean my ambition to become better at saving would, at least for April, not come to much. 

Décor Vintage

Rømersgade 9 (by Israels Plads, Nørreport station)

1362 Cph K

Open: tue-fri 12-18; sat 10-16; sun-mon closed.

Wicked

The musical 'Wicked' has been the best selling musical worldwide since The Phantom of the Opera - this Friday, I watched it at Det Ny Teater in Copenhagen. The theatre had as the first theatre been allowed to make their own production, i.e. do costume- and set design themselves rather than have it dictated by the copyright owners (something which has so far not been allowed with Phantom of the Opera). It has received very good reviews in the Danish papers, around 5 out of 6 stars mostly - and it is a good musical. 

Opening scene, Glinda greeting the people of Oz.

The opening scene had us worried about the vocal performances; Glinda (Anette Heick) starts of with a rather high-pitched number (picture above), and the actress had evidently not done her vocal warm-up thoroughly enough, as she missed a lot of the high notes and sounded generally very strained. Not the best start to a musical. Luckily, she steadily improved through the course of the story, and by the second act she did a decent job. The other main character Elphaba, played by Maria Lucia Heiberg Rosenberg, was a better singer by far, which also helped us to move on from the bad start. But none of the singers ever really managed to reach the level I've experienced in London - although they were quite good singers, a lot of the songs seem quite challenging, and it mostly sounded as if they just barely got there, a tinge of strain in their voices. I've posted some links to recordings of the Danish production and the Broadway production below - judge for yourselves :) Reading this through, it all sounds very negative - but my point is that it's a pity we don't really have any really good musical actors in Denmark, perhaps except Maria Lucia - and they are kind of a must for a musical like this one. 

The Wizard of Oz and the history teacher Doctor
Dillamond (who happens to be a goat)

But a few things we do have: Brilliant musicians and set- and costume designers (or at least... we're good at importing them - Paul Farnsworth, an Englishman, was responsible for the two latter). As I haven't seen the original, I can't say how costumes and sets were compared to that, but I thought they were marvellous. The Ozzian costumes on the picture above I particularly liked - and in general, Farnsworth had managed to hit just the right combination of oddity and recognizable signals with his costumes. One of my favourites was the costume (and acting) of Doctor Dillamond, Elphaba and Glinda's goat university history professor (played by Kristian Boland), on the picture to the right. 

You can see some of the costume drawings here.

One of the interesting things about the musical is that it turns the traditional "Wizard of Oz" story completely around - but in a way which fits into the original. The Wicked Witch of the West is in reality the good one, the only one who stands up for the animals which are made into scapegoats by the Wizard - banned from speaking, kept in cages. The wizard is turning Oz into an increasingly totalitarian society, and he wants Elphabas help to do it - which she refuses. Similarly, Glinda is a spoiled, selfish brat who only learns magic because Elphaba insists on it - because she thinks Glinda has helped her sister (when she in reality has simply used her to get rid of an unwanted admirer). The musical opened with a crowd cheering over the death of the Wicked Witch, singing "Alle hader ondskab" (translates to "Everybody hates evil"), which is what "no one mourns the wicked" has been translated to in Danish. This recurring phrase of course takes on another meaning as the 'true' story is unfolded, and it is one of the many criticisms of the use of scapegoats and fear of the unknown, utilised by those in power, which extends beyond Oz to our everyday lives. 

Elphaba and Glinda singing  "Jeg har forandret
mig" ("For Good" in English)

As always, I was slightly bothered by the English to Danish translation; and listening to the original songs here afterwards they are clearly better. But it was not as much as when I watched My Fair Lady - I haven't had the chance to watch Wicked in English. There were a couple of things I picked up on, but I think generally the translation seemed okay.

          

I guess when it comes to musical-music, I have my favourites: The soundtracks of Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Cabaret, West Side Story and My Fair Lady are all on the 'most played' list on my iPod. But I'm not sure the Wicked music will be - at least not the Danish. The songs were good, but they seemed to land somewhere in between The Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story - they had the ambition of becoming goose-bump-evoking songs, but few of them really made it; on the other side they were neither the kind of musical songs that you walk around singing for ages afterwards like those from West Side Story or Chicago, simply because they're too difficult. Too many canons were fired to begin with, and there is a limit to how many 'grand' songs you can cope with. I know I'm comparing this musical with some of the greatest classics of the genre, which is perhaps not fair - but on the other hand, that must be the aspiration. That said, Defying Gravity and For Good were really good songs (if a little too Disney-ish for my taste in musicals) - and I might even end up downloading the soundtrack at some point ^^

As I said in the beginning, Wicked at Det Ny Teater was a good musical. Alltogether I wouldn't say it was brilliant though - 4 out of 6 stars perhaps. Costumes and set design, along with the music was great - but I was a bit dissapointed with the singing, mainly in the beginning. I know Copenhagen is not London, and that we don't have as many good musical actors - but then we'll just have to make an effort to find them wherever they're hiding.

Jeg har forandret mig (Elphaba & Glinda) - and in English (For Good):


Mine vinger bær' (Elphaba) - English (Defying Gravity):


Populær (Glinda) - English (Popular):