Grand Teatret, ChiliMili & some casual shopping

Saturday was my day off from studying - I went shopping with my little sister in the day and went to see a movie at Grand Teatret with a friend at night, finishing off with late dinner at Chilimili :)

I love going shopping for other people; just as I spend ages picking out the perfect gifts for friends and family, I like to help in finding clothes which both look good on that specific person, fit their style and are fashionable at the same time - especially when it is a challenge. I think no one appreciates that more than my sister; saturday she exclaimed that she would have to limit her aquiring of new clothes the next years to when I'll be home on Christmas and summer break (but - I'm not sure she'll keep that promise until she's 15). 

Deena & Ozzy oxfords, copper and silver nail varnish from Urban Outfitters
and a bow hairclip from Monki

As it often is, when shopping with other people you happen upon things which you feel are must-haves - or at least would be really really nice to have (must-have is such an overused term). And so did I this saturday - in Urban outfitters I found two kinds of metallic nail varnish at 70 dkkr each (been wearing the silver one, it's really pretty) plus a pair of oxford shoes which were just too cool not to buy. They're in black suede, clear pvc and silverish-gold on the tips, by a brand I'm unfamiliar with, Deena & Ozzy; they're practically customizable since you can change their appearance so much based on which socks you wear ^^ The brand seems quite cool too - I googled it, and I liked many of the shoes which popped up. Lastly, I bought a dark pink/purple triple bow hairclip from Monki - put it in my hair as soon as I'd paid for it :)

After having dropped off the shopping bags (mine and my sisters's) at home, I met up with a friend to go watch "The King's Speech" at Grand Teatret (yes, it has taken me long enough). Grand is without doubt my favourite cinema in Copenhagen; they stick to grown-up movies, and often ones which appeal to a narrower audience (they have 'French movie monday' for example) - in other words, don't go if you want to see "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Tangled" or "Meet the Fockers". But I watched "The Black Swan" there not too long ago with some of the actors from our play, and I can't wait to see "Mao's Last Dancer" there. It seems much less commercial than most of the other cinemas, and especially the main theatre is a beautiful old room (Sal 1), just as a movie theatre ought to be. They sell coffee, small bags of candy and cake, soda is available only in the old-fashioned glass bottles - no super-size me as most other places, where a medium soda is 3/4(!) litres. Sorry, this isn't to nag about the moral delapidation of modern cinemas - Grand Teatret is just something special :) 

(The King's Speech is a great movie by the way - but you don't need me to tell you that.)

After the movie, we went to Chilimili by Rådhuspladsen for a late dinner. They have really yummy, healthy food, and between 9 and 10 p.m. they have half price on all food and beverages (not sure if that's a permanent thing; anyway, otherwise there's the 20% discount for students). Their concept is that you take your pick of a couple different dishes between all the stuff they have lined up such as pasta salads, humus etc (lots of vegetarian food too), have it in a wrap or sandwich, or you buy either their 'soup of the day' or 'hot dish of the day'. Very good value for money (although the space is very attempted-hip cafeteria-ish; but never mind that) especially with the half price offer; otherwise, you can eat a small portion for 35 dkkr (without student discount), and e.g. the hot dish is 69 dkkr. In Denmark, it doesn't get much cheaper if you want to avoid junk food :)

Grand Teatret

Mikkel Bryggers Gade 8 (a side street to Strøget at the City Hall Square-end)

1460 København K

Chili Mili Rådhuspladsen

H. C. Andersens Boulevard 12

1553 København

Open: mon-sun 10-22

Grass & Cherry blossoms, Glass & Steel

I have decided that I would like to write about some of my favourite places in Copenhagen - as inspiration to natives and visitors alike :) I had the idea yesterday when I was spending the afternoon with my family, going around to different places in the city as the thoughts occured to us.

Kongens Have yesterday

The cherry trees are blossoming now

The first place we went was Kongens Have, 'The King's Garden', which is a big park in central Copenhagen situated around Rosenborg Castle. When the weather's nice there are always lots of people relaxing on the grass, going for walk, playing football or petanque or taking their kids to the playground. Denmark might not have the nicest weather in the world, but that just means that whenever the sun comes out, Copenhageners flock to parks and plazas to drink cold beer and get some sun - even if it after most people's standards is still freakin cold. 

One thing which makes Kongens Have particularly nice right now is that the cherry trees are blossoming -- and since the weather ought to hold for the duration of the easter break, everybody who can should take a trip to the park. If you're studying for exams, you can always take your books with you :)

After we'd been in the park and had gotten a bit to eat, we went to Amager to see one of my favourite buildings in the Copenhagen area (one of the few new buildings I really like), 8-tallet (≈ "The number 8"). As you can see to the right, they aren't quite done yet, but already it is an astonishing building. Seen from above, it is constructed as an 8 - a far more interesting shape than the usual glass-and-steel boxes. They have done a lot to create life in and around the building, with shops and a (quite good) café in one corner; I read in an interview with the architect that he'd wanted to make the building resemble a mountain village - this has resulted in multi-level apartments, small 'gardens' for many of them, and an invitation for people to hike to the top, up the many stairs. I did so already last summer, and the view is beautiful on both 'sides' of the building, both the one looking out over 'Fælleden' and the one looking into the inner side of the 8. 

8-tallet as it will end up looking. At the bottom here is Café 8-tallet; I've walked to the top on the 'hill' to the right.

You really don't have to be an architecture-enthusiast to appreciate the beauty of this building. And it makes for a good afternoon trip; just take the metro to Vestamager station, take a walk up and and around 8-tallet, and finish up with a nice cup of coffee or brunch/lunch/dinner in Café 8-tallet. 

EDIT: The left staircase is closed for non-residents; I am not certain whether the right staircase will be closed when all the apartments adjacent to it are sold. So if you want to go, it might be a good idea to do so rather soon. Otherwise, there are details on how to arrange a guided tour on the 8-tallet homepage.


Extra: Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG showing some of the group's other buildings on CNN:

Kongens Have

Øster Voldgade 4B (not too far from Nørreport station)

1350 København K

Open: January 07-17; February 07-18; March 07-19; April 07-21; May-August 07-22; September 07-21; October 07-19; November 07-18; December 07-17.

8-tallet

Richard Mortensens Vej (by Vestamager metro station)

2300 København S

Open: Always, but Café: mon-fri 11-21; sat-sun 10-21 (these are kitchen opening hours; the actual café is open a few hours longer for you to finish your food or just have a beer or coffee. Kitchen is closed every day 16.30-17.30) 

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):

Ta too or not ta too

A while ago, I got this thought into my head: Wouldn't it be kind of nice to get a tattoo? They've always sort of fascinated me, especially the old-school pin-up ones etc - there's this makeup artist in MAC in Magasin du Nord with fantastic red hair and sailor-ish sleeves; her I kind of admire (I saw her often in the period where I worked there). But those wouldn't really fit me I think...

          There are also those very 90s/gang member type ones, which are abstract but in all black with lots of pointy corners and stuff, which makes you look very agressive or at least as if you'd like to come off that way - not really my style either.

No, what entered my mind was what I've tried to make a collage of to the left; three strands of pearls with some kind of 'clasp' on each shoulder. I came up with some years ago, and I've actually done quite a bit of research to try and find someone with something similar - but so far without success. I've only found pearls as a part of a pirate-themed tattoo or the temporary Chanel tattoos as on the picture to the right (I by the way think I came up with the idea before I saw those - but I'm honestly not 100% sure). But what I think I want is still different - I don't want it quite so stylized as the Chanel ones, I want it to look more realistic. 

But then comes the ever present questions: What if I don't like it? Won't it look stupid when I'm old and wrinkly?

Well, the last part doesn't worry me too much - I sure would think it was cool to have a tattooed grandma. But the first part sort of does; because it is permanent I need to be sure that I'll want to keep it - and judging by how dramatically I fell I (and my tastes) have changed in the past few years, I don't feel certain. It is a quite big tattoo, so even though covering it up with clothes wouldn't be too difficult, it's still different from a dolphin on the ankle. 

Decisions, decisions. I want the tattoo, but I'm afraid I'll regret it in a couple of years - on the other hand I've thought about it for a while.. how long do I need?

(P.S.: Going to see Wicked at Det Ny Teater tonight - so expect a review within the next couple of days ^^)

Growing up is hard to do...

Codie Young by Nicole Bentley for
Vogue Australia April 2011
(from fashiongonerogue.com)

I've always felt quite old of heart - at 12, I was sure I was as mature as I ever needed to be. And sure, I read newspapers every day when I was 11, went to Thailand for a month on a summercamp without my parents, and in many ways felt more at ease when talking to adults than people my own age - but of course, I was still a child. And once in a while the last couple of years, I've noticed just how much I've grown since last I checked; not measured by my political interest, my independence, since that's really always been there - no, by how much more comfortable I feel in my own skin.

Last week, I read through my personal statement from last autumn, when I was applying to British universities - realising how much I've grown. I wrote about aesthetics in business management, and even though the essence of what I wrote still holds, I would probably have expressed myself a bit differently if I'd written it now. Having received a bit more experience with the actual experience of 'management' when we did the play was a very important part of me growing since last fall - and if I'd written my PS now, I would probably have been able to write thing which were slightly less commonplace ..

I've never really idolised neither childhood nor youth - rather, I've always been busy growing up, annoyed whenever there was something I couldn't do because I was too young, unappreciative of the advantages that comes with the rest of the world regarding you as somewhat of a child. I spoke to a friend about this, and she told me her ideal age was 17 - old enough for people to respect your opinion, too young to have to deal with the full responsibilities of adulthood. For me, it was in a way opposite; ever since I was 5 or something, my ideal age was 19 years old; old enough to not be limited by age in any way (at least by the laws of Denmark), young enough to, well, still be young. 

         But recently, I've begun realising some stuff about childhood that I will miss - or at least that I'm perhaps not as busy growing up as I used to be. Today, I have a total of 10 school days left at Nørre G - then exams start, and then we'll be done. Although being finished is an exciting thought, it is also terrifying to move away from something you know is good - for what if what comes next somehow isn't as good? I guess this worries me especially since I'm hoping to move to St Andrews where I most likely won't know anyone - it wouldn't be as rapid a change if I stayed in Copenhagen. I also realised Monday that I've never actually contemplated not moving away from home - a classmate asked me a question about accomodation if you went to Copenhagen University, and I helped her figure it out. In the process, I saw some different student housing, and started looking them through, comparing location, prices etc - realising after 10 minutes that I could actually just keep living at home. Which scared me - that it hadn't entered my mind before. And suddenly, I felt like the whole process of growing up was happening just a bit too fast.

Fashion Gone Rogue

Nimue Smit by Sebastian Kim for Numéro #122
(from fashiongonerogue.com)

One of my favourite places on the web is the blog Fashion Gone Rogue. There is posted mainly editorials from fashion magazines from all over the world, USA to China to Russia. I do read some magazines as well, but having found this blog means I don't have to buy Italian Vogue to see their amazing pictures - at 120 dkkr (≈$24), it feels like a bit of a waste to buy it when I don't understand any of the other contents of the magazine. 

          I like the idea, not only of accessing many of these pictures for free, but accessing them at all. I am not limited by my magazine-budget or by what they choose to sell in the Magasin du Nord magazine-department; and I gain access to the international fashion world, rather than merely what Western editors choose to show me. There is for example always a marked difference between Asian editorials (which again vary between countries) and e.g. Danish; even if the photographers might be the same, and the model European, the influence from the Japanese or Korean magazine makes the final result entirely different. And just as I enjoy the cultural diversity of my IB class, getting to either confirm or affirm prejudices on my own, I like to be able to get a truly international sense of fashion :)

And speaking of international - I shall now be off to my job interview at SOS International, which is a travel insurance company I will hopefully be working at this summer. Which means, if any of you get hurt while you're on holiday, I might just be the one arranging your flight home ^^

Art, Poetry, Spring shopping

Last night, I had a long discussion about different kinds of creativity - and the different kinds of art produced by it. I really admire people who need nothing more than their own imagination to create beautiful and thought-provoking pieces - paintings, sculptures, music, litterature etc. I find, however, that I myself work better within some kind of 'frame'; as for example creating the costumes for A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play and characters are already there, and the creative process has the set task of somehow enhancing the audience's understanding of both - this I did by using different colour schemes in the different 'worlds' (fairies, lovers, mechanicals), and make variations within that to show the personality and function of the individual characters. It did once in a while lead to some silly situations, where I could hear myself forbid someone to wear red shoes or whatever, exclaiming "NO! You can't, that's Titania's colour!"- luckily, in the end, it worked out. But I'm not sure if I would be any good at designing clothes as haute couture designers etc do - because that you make completely from scratch, coming up with a vision, deciding what you'll be inspired by, all beginning with a blank piece of paper.

We also talked about poetry in this context - I've never written any just for myself, but my discussion partner seem to write a lot, and the ones I heard were beautiful. We did however not so long ago receive a task in our English class, where we were to write a poem based somehow on the movie Whale Rider; a task I actually ended up enjoying, although I wasn't completely crazy about the movie. I like to read poems with a rather complex structure and with a set rhythm, so I tried to create that. The title ended up simply being "Whale Rider":

          Whale Rider

                     Waves breaking

                     Worlds shaking

                     Silently.

                     But tide life, tide death,

                     the tide rolls in most

                     Piously.

                     Silent weaping

                     Habit's reaping

                     Fruits of sons.

                     But the un-dead half

                     is greeted by the 

                     Olden Ones.

It was fun to do, and there is some of the same litterature-puzzle to writing a poem like this as there is to reading Shakespeare, only reversed. Starting out with a couple of lines, then trying to build a structure and rhyme scheme around them, making sure you end up with something which actually makes sense can be a bit complicated - and fun. Not sure how easy the poem is to understand if you haven't watched the movie, though ^^

Spring has finally come to Denmark! And even if it's still a bit below 20 degrees celcius and quite windy, I have stubbornly (and once in a while shakingly) been sunbathing in my garden for the majority of the afternoon. But aside from the steadily improving weather, spring also means lots of new summer clothes to buy everywhere! So far, I have limited myself to a cottoncoat and a dress from H&M - plus a Rossi leather bag I found in Time's Up Vintage in Krystalgade yesterday (I have been searching for one I liked in which my computer could fit for 2 years now - have only found the Mulberry Bayswater, which for the moment is sadly a bit out of my price range). Finally, I bought the DVD of Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky to save for some day when the Danish spring/summer does not show itself from its best side, and I need a break from studying :)

Buying beautiful things makes me happy :)