• the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man: Very good picture about growing up Jewish in 1960s suburbia.
• Where The Wild Things Are: Well made.  I think it helps to be a Sendak fan to really get wild and crazy over this.  I wasn't.
• Surrogates:  Fun and exciting, spooky too.  Thought provoking.  Good effects.
• Julie and Julia:  Meryl Streep was excellent as Julia, captivating.  Enjoyed especially the historical sequences and the relationship between Julia and Paul (Stanley Tucci).  The contemporary sequences were less enthralling.
• Law Abiding Citizen:  Exciting and action-packed psychological thriller.  At times really bloody, but not enough to make me turn away (and I am squeamish). 
• Capitalism: A Love Story:  Michael Moore turns this interesting, but potentially dry sbuject, into an entertaining film.
• An Education: Very enjoyable drama with strong Danish connections- -- director Lone Scherfig and actor Peter Sarsgaard. Lead female Carey Mulligan, who got an alternative education, was beautiful and reminiscent of 1960s Audrey Hepburn.  Good music, bought soundtrack.  Liked Beth Rowley's torchy "Sunday Kind of Love" and other 60s music.
• Amelia:  Big beautiful cinematography, and some good music.  The story is supposed to be inspiring, but I found it schmaltzy.  Nice sets and costumes-- a visual delight.
• Coco Before Chanel:  Charming French-language film with subtitles.  Liked Chanel's characterisation.
  

• Bistro 110: Just off the Magnificant Mile at the old Water Tower, it was as good as I remember it from 20-some years ago.  Roasted elephant garlic to smear on fresh-baked crusty bread, extra crispy pizzette topped with soft onions, kalmata olives and anchovies served with spring greens, trout almondine on a bed of swiss chard and celery with oven-roasted potatoes, and creme brulée with seasonal fruits.  Wines were luscious, service was excellent and friendly, surroundings were beautiful.
  
• Terzo Piano at the Art Institute of Chicago: An expansive, open modern and classic space overlooking Millenium Park and the skyline of Chicago, very Scandinavian, very white.  A trio of small burgers (sliders) featuring 1) Piemontese beef with Wisconsin Colby cheese, 2) lamb with goat cheese, and 3) shrimp with calabrian pepper spread, pomme frites and home-made ketchup with a glass of Chardonnay, followed by panna cotta and cappuccino.  Small faux pas-- no dessert wines.  Shame shame skam skam.

• Historic Downtown (south): Rise of the Skyscraper-- An architectural walking tour sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation
• A visit to the Art Institute of Chicago's new Modern Wing
• A visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art
• Shopping

I have recently read and enjoyed Andy McDermott’s action-packed fourth novel  The Covenant of Genesis (my review) so I ordered his first three books in the Dr. Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase series from bibliotek.dk, the Danish public library system. McDermott referred to their previous adventures throughout the novel, and my curiosity was piqued. I was not disappointed by The Tomb of Hercules, his second novel.



Recurring main characters archaeologist Nina Wilde, her boyfriend, former British SAS soldier, Eddie Chase, and Eddie’s former wife, the murderous Lady Sophie Blackwell travel around the globe leaving a trail of humour, destruction and chaos in their wake—from the high-seas to the tunnels of the New York train system, from a nuclear bomb facility in the Swiss Alps to a perilous traffic chase in downtown Shanghai. Clues to the location of The Tomb of Hercules are found written in invisible ink on the back side of a 2,000 year-old manuscript of Plato’s dialogues. The novel concludes with an attempted nuclear attack on New York City. Phew! That’s plenty of action.

The cliff-hangers are many, including both an actual cliff and a waterfall in Botswana. One wonders how McDermott can squeeze in quite so many of them into one novel. But that’s no complaint— I love it. It’s fast and furious, like Indiana Jones on steroids. A scene I particularly enjoyed was one where Eddie and ex-wife Sophia’s escape down the side of a skyscraper in Shanghai on a sheet of metal. It was thrilling.

Nina and Eddie are very likeable with a repartee reminiscent of Dashiell Hammet’s Nick and Nora Charles. They struggle with their relationship and with their new jobs. The threat of break-up hangs over them at times, especially when Nina becomes jealous of Sophie, Eddie’s cunning and vicious ex-wife. Eddie has a heart of gold. He is sweet and stubborn, and doesn’t know how to express his feelings except in anger and rage—but he is loyal to his friends and those he loves. And Sophie will stop at nothing to get what she wants. No one stands in her way and survives.

Some warnings for the faint at heart. At times the action becomes a bit gory, but it is always handled with devilish humour. For example the corridors leading up to the Tomb of Heracles are fraught with imaginatives traps and pitfalls, some of which were put to work; and Sophie makes brutal use of her stilettos in escaping pursuers from the Shanghai Opera Building. Also Eddie’s language can be quite salty, and there are frequent references to sex. So if you’re offended by any of these, perhaps you might want to look elsewhere. 

McDermott makes frequent, charming and amusingly pointed comparisons between his characters and plotlines to those in other works such as by Dan Brown, Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. 

McDermott’s light-hearted, exciting and easy-to-read novels entertain with techno-action, archeological adventures, fantastic locations and evil-doers you wish you could fight yourself. The library is already holding McDermott’s first book in the series, The Hunt for Atlantis for me. I look forward to seeing how their adventures begin.

I have just returned from a fun-filled square dance weekend in Stockholm, where I attended Motiv8’s annual Oktober Festivalen. This year Vic Cedar was caller. Multi-levels sessions began on Thursday evening with C4 dancing, and on Friday evening with A2.   But I didn't arrive in Stockholm until Friday evening.

I arrived by train 9:30 PM at Stockholm Central Train Station.  After taking care of business at the station (buying my 3-day transportation card, using an ATM and checking the book store for my current must-have's) I went across the street from the station's main entrance to the Best Western Terminus Hotel, where I have previously stayed a few times, and checked in. 

My dance weekend began in all seriousness Saturday morning 10:00 AM with 3 hours each of C3A, C1 and C2. On Sunday we danced 11:00 AM-6:00 PM with 3 hours each of C2 and C3B, and on Monday we concluded with a full day of C3B 09:30 AM – 4:00 PM. I partnered up with local square dance friend Anne-Lise for most of the sessions, and danced C3A with English expatriate-now-living-in-Sweden Rosie. 

There was a good turnout of dancers, and it’s always great to see travellers who join us from England, Germany and the United States. There were a number of Danes in attendance besides myself—locals Jan, Åse the half-Dane and Jarl, and the Jutland group, Mona, Michael, Britta and Arne. If I had forgotten any Danes, I hope that I will either be excused or corrected (and not chastised).

It was especially great to see friend Steffan from Germany who does so much to organize dance opportunities for advanced and challenge dancers in northern Europe. He is active with Percolator’s Square Dance club and their arrangements in Plön throughout the year and at the bi-annual iPAC convention in Barmstedt. Steffan gave me a nice video CD as a souvenir from this summer’s iPAC convention in Barmstedt. I am sure that I will enjoy it. Note that there is no iPAC this coming summer, you will have to wait until 2011—plan for it now! 

On Saturday evening after the dance was over I took a small break from square dancing. Not meaning to be anti-social, I declined however the dinner tour to the Greek restaurant in nearby Fruängen Center  where a large group met. I was dead on my feet, my body ached and my brain was beyond over-stimulated, so I went back to my hotel and had a nice meal at Kaspar, the hotel bar and restaurant. I enjoyed a traditional Swedish open-face sandwich (räkor smörgås) with a large mound of shrimp and sufficient white wine to help them find their way to the bottom of my ocean. Dessert was fresh fruit and berries with mascarpone cream.


From l to r, Kasper Bar and Restaurant at the Best Western Terminus in Stockholm,  räkor smörgås (open-face shrimp sandwich)

Anne-Lise, Jan and I took the same train back to Copenhagen. We were delayed in Malmö by about 25 minutes, so we arrived at the main station rather late. Luckily there was train leaving for our home stations very quickly afterwards.

Call to remember from this weekend: From a beginning double pass-thru formation, Half Crazy  Reflected  Double Pass Thru.

Gospel Truths (1992) is popular novelist J.G. Sandom’s third novel, and is the first Sandom novel I have read.  It is a gripping religious conspiracy thriller ala Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code, only published 11 years earlier and not nearly so gripping. 



In the novel London Police reopens the suspicious suicide case of a notorious banker, who had previously been caught in a financial scandal involving the Vatican Bank. Hard-on-his-luck London detective Nigel Lyman is given the assignment to investigate. He stands the chance to redeem himself professionally. Or is he being set up to fail miserably in order to conceal a secret that must remain under wraps. The trail leads to France where clues in the architecture of Notre Dame cathedrals in Amiens and Chartres lead to treasure, murderous secrets and a long buried gospel that threatens the religious basis for the Catholic Church.

Sound familiar? Religious conspiracies, long lost gospel texts, symbology, sensational architecture, international escapades and threats to world religion are common fare for thrillers nowadays. But as a reader they strike a chord for me, and I can’t seem to get enough of them. However, I try to stave off overload by moderating how many of these types of thrillers I read one after the other.

The atmosphere in Gospel Truths is dark and moody. Sandom is a creative wordsmith and his characters are compelling and likeable. Although it lacks the cinematic fast-edit cliff-hangers that Dan Brown creates so masterfully, it delivers a well crafted story with surprising twists. During the otherwise thrilling conclusion the dialogue becomes a bit awkward, I feel, but nevertheless I enjoyed the book.

Sandom has written a number of books since this one. But now after seventeen years he has published a sequel to this novel called The God Machine. One could surmise he is taking advantage of the wave of popularity for religious thrillers caused by DaVinci Code, in the same manner as this re-release of the novel was well-timed. Although I had some misgivings about the book’s conclusive pages l am looking forward to reading the sequel.

In the meantime I’ll be reading the first three of Andy McDermott’s humorous Nina Wilde-Eddie Chase thrillers. I recently posted my thoughts about his fourth novel The Covenant of Genesis (my review). Have you read any of Sandom’s novels? What did you think of them?
 

I had a super time this weekend at the annual The Diamond Challenge dance in Aalborg, Denmark. Callers were Ross Howell, Dave Wilson and Bjørn Andersson. Dance levels were C1-C3B. There was a lot of enthusiasm in the three dance rooms. It was great to see so many familiar faces.

My dance partner Lis and I took the train on Friday early afternoon to Aalborg center. We arrived ca. 6:00 PM. We stayed at bed-and-breakfast Hotel Krogen, ca. 1 kilometer from center with good public transportation both to downtown and to the dance. The hotel is situated in a large renovated palae in a beautiful quiet residential neighborhood near the art museum.

After checking in to our rooms we returned downtown and ate at Restaurant Layalina near the harbour, which rather misleadingly describes itself as an Oriental restaurant. Hardly! The restaurant was informally elegant, and good use of white paint, mirrors and lattice gave it an airy pleasant atmosphere. I ate shrimp in philo dough packets on saffron sauce for an appetizer, roast duck for a main dish and tiramisu for dessert accompanied by house white wine. The prices were reasonable and the food was tasty.

The square dance was Saturday 1:00-9:00 PM and Sunday 10:00 AM-4:00 PM. Although I had heard that attendance was a bit down this year, there were attendees from all over Denmark, Sweden, Germany, England and USA. Besides the dancing itself, which was a lot of fun, a highlight of the weekend was spending time with a pair of Americans I had danced with six months ago at IAGSDC convention in Washington D.C.

This annual dance in Aalborg has for years been a sign to me that the square dance season is now running at full speed again. It may not be the first dance at the conclusion of summer, but now autumn is upon us, and there’s no denying winter is looming up ahead. With good friends on the dance floor and good callers at the microphone I look forward to a winter that will be burning with square dance fun.

Next on the square dance itinerary is Stockholm's Oktober Festivalen with caller Vic Cedar.

I was looking for a little bit of light reading and excitement on my bookshelf, and found The Covenant of Genesis by Andy McDermott (author's home page).  I hadn’t read a good action book for some time. This book looked like it would fit the bill. It seemed to promise techno-action, plenty of excitement, archeological adventures and a religious conspiracy set on the world stage.



I was not disappointed by the young English writer’s fourth novel. Andy McDermott has cranked out.four action-packed novels in the past two years—and there are two more set to come during the next year. That’s quite a writing schedule!

Recurring characters archaeologist Nina Wilde and her boyfriend, former British SAS soldier, Eddie Chase uncover the secret that threatens the three Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Judaism and Islam— the discovery of the actual Garden of Eden and its residents. Their adventure takes them to Indonesia, Australia, Antarctica and Somalia, and from the deep-seas to deep-ice to desert to underground caverns. Along the way the way they contend with Eddie’s former wife, the presumedly-dead terrorist, the murderous Sophie Blackwell and her current amour, the ambitious Professor Gabriel Ribbsley, both of whom are in cahoots with the Covenant of Genesis, a supersecret alliance between the Catholic Church, Judaism and Islam. The cliff-hanger story features high-pitched action with rich cinematic possibilities (I am sure this book could be spun off into a blockbuster movie or a video game). Nina and Eddie’s snappy wisecracks during the most difficult of situations remind me of Nick and Nora Charles’ retorts in Dashiell Hammet’s The Thin Man (my review)— only more modern and less intoxicated.

I suspect that McDermott’s other books follow a similar formula. The titles, as well as Nina’s profession, infer archaeological themes, which include sites connected to mythical Atlantis, Hercules, Excalibur, and in planned releases to Osiris and Shiva. I am intrigued, mostly because I am interested in legends and mythology. But also because of the references McDermott made throughout this book to these earlier novels. It was a good marketing ploy to pique the reader’s interest in the background stories. I enjoy reading serial adventure novels, and have enjoyed the following especially— Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series, Preston and Childs’ Pendergrast novels, and James Rollins’ Sigma Force novels.

I was certainly entertained by this easy-to-read novel, and would recommend this to those interested in this type of story. I would rush out right now and purchase his other books, if I wasn’t trying to cut back on purchases of “paper” book, in the hope that an e-Reader will come out relatively soon that meets my needs. Therefore I did the only sensible thing! I ordered them from bibliotek.dk, the Danish public library system. I look forward to reading them.

Have you already made the jump to an e-Reader? Which one? What do you think of it?
 

Vil du hellere læse denne på dansk?  Klik her for maskinoversættelse.

I have recently read a couple of enterntaining books by Ben Elton, English all-around comic and author— both of these are set against the background of reality television programming. Chart Throb (2006) is a satire about the making of mega-popular star search “talent show” programs such as X-Factor and that ilk; Dead Famous (2001) is a whodunit about a murder that takes place in “House Arrest”, a Big Brother-type “survivor” program.



Chart Throb’s complicated storyline weaves together both tales of the programmers and the talent fodder featured in the programme. On the programmers side are three judges— the charismatic head of the programme Calvin Simms, “everyone’s favourite” transsexual rock mama Beryl Blenheim, and washed up rock talent manager Rodney Root. In addition there are a host of programme researchers and assistants who make the show happen.

On the other side are the corps of misfits and losers who succumb to the lure of the programme’s celebrity-making machinery—the people that Calvin Simms describes as the Mingers (the naively malleable), the Blingers (the audaciously egoistical) and the Clingers (the emotionally vulnerable): Each one pathetic. Each one groomed to endure public humiliation and failure.

Everyone gets their due—disappointment, heartbreak and misfortune, with hilarious twists in the plot along the way.

Dead Famous is a classic detective novel ala Sherlock Holmes set against a contemporary situation— reality broadcasting in a claustrophobic environment— a social experiment waiting to explode. The novel’s tagline notes— One house. Ten contestants. 30 cameras. 40 microphones. One survivor. Unscrupulous greed after fame and money lurk just under the surface of the show participants. After weeks of poring over televised reality, the hardworking team under Chief Inspector Coleridge reveal the murderer who committed the dramatic outrage that really took place against the house’s assorted “inmates”. 

The storyline follows the show’s progress as dated flashbacks during the police murder investigation. The characters and situations are well–handled, combining sick humour, biting satire and scathing critique of the society that produces and rewards such desperation for fleeting fame. 

Elton has written twelve novels to date, as well as television shows, plays, and his own comic material. I have previously read and reviewed novel Blind Faith (2007) (my review), a send-up of contemporary western religious fervor and cultism, which I had thoroughly enjoyed.  Blind Faith also satirises the cult of televised reality. In that novel everyone’s life was public— a 24/7/365 reality show. Privacy was a crime.

Uncle Vagn’s birthday party this past weekend was a multi-day affair.  

We left home Thursday afternoon.  We took the train to Hørning´, where we spent the night at the Larsen Family home. 

Friday morning Aksel and I, along with brother Niels and sister-in-law Gitti, leisurely began the car trip to Thy, Denmark’s north-west coastal region, with stops and sightseeing along the way. The weather was perfect—sunny and mild. 


Ready to hit the road
 
First, we checked out niece Tine’s future home in Auning. We were all thrilled with what we saw—a huge, well-maintained, established garden surrounding a large one-story home. We didn’t get a chance to look inside, but nevertheless- we’re thrilled about this opportunity for her and Michel.

After crossing Randers Fjord we drove to Mariager, a quaint town.on Mariager Fjord. We took a little walk around the cobblestoned center of town and then ate lunch on the terrace of beautifully-renovated, half-timbered Postgaarden Mariager, with a view overlooking a sweet little square with a fountain. I ate a delicious stjerneskud (a traditional Danish open-face sandwich topped with pan-fried breaded fish, a mound of shrimp, a piece of smoked lox and roe). After lunch we visited Denmark’s Salt Center, also in Mariager, which featured a restored salt mine, a salt oven, and other displays about salt production and the history of salt in Denmark. And most fun-- a virtual audio-visual ride through salt mines. 


From l to r, Postgaarden Mariager Restaurant and Hotel, the square across from the restaurant.

Leaving Mariager we drove directly up to Aalborg where we had reserved rooms at bed-and-breakfast Villa Rosa, a lovingly restored building in the center of town. We were met by owner Ellis at the door, checked-in and unpacked a bit. Niels and Gitti stayed in the safari-themed Hunting Lounge on the first floor, and we stayed in the top-floor English Lounge, a large beamed two room apartment decorated in typical English-style (do I hear chintz and Chesterfield chairs anyone?) with kitchenette and bathroom. Mid-afternoon we went out for a walk in the center of town and to have afternoon tea at Café Stygge on Vesterå just off Bispengade, one of Aalborg’s main walking streets.


From l to r, Cafe Stygge, Simonis Gaard where Hos Boldt restaurant is located.

In the evening we had a delightfully surprising dinner at elegant Hos Boldt, a restaurant inconspicuously tucked away in courtyard Simonis Gaard, across from the harbour area. We had no idea of what to expect, other than a quick peek at a selection from their menu posted outside. We were most pleasantly surprised. First we were greeted in the small lounge area of the restaurant and offered comfy Chesterfield chairs and sofa in which to enjoy a pre-dinner drink and hors'doervres, peruse the menu and place our orders. Afterwards we were guided to out beautifully appointed table where we were served multi-course meals. I ate parma ham with salad as appetizer, lamb culotte as a main dish, and two types of cheese as dessert. Throughout the evening there was elegant and friendly service, helpful advice and explanations, beautiful presentation and top-notch cooking. This restaurant has become one of my top favorites in Denmark. Bon appétit! 


From l to r, Aalborg's new harbor area, Jomfru Ane Gade aka The Street

After dinner we took a walk along the harbour promenade, which has been undergoing renovation for a number of years, with continuing projects well into the future. We finished off the evening with Irish Coffee at Cox Orange on infamous Jomfru Ane Gade with its half-timbered buildings housing bars from one end of the street to the other, outdoor seating areas in front of each one—young partiers raucously singing drinking songs, disco beats wafting out the open doors, sightseers checking out the excitement on the street, and the occasional biker causing mayhem.

The next day we took off for the west coast driving on the north side of Lim Fjord to our destination, Krik Vig Camping. Uncle Vagn and friends and family were already gathered in front of the first house by the entrance and in a festive mood when we drove up. We joined them briefly and then went to set up our cabin, along with niece Tine and nephew Udo.


From l to r, Uncle Vagn at his 60th Birthday Party, the Hørning part of the family (Tine, Udo, Aksel, Gitti and Niels)

The party officially began around 3:00 PM with welcome drinks and a chance to meet everyone. There were close to 50 people there, most of whom I had never met before. Around 6:00 PM we went into the party room for dinner, drinking and conversation. Later that evening I got caught up playing Maya (aka Mia), a dice game (well technically a drinking game, but my little sips of wine hardly counted for much) with my nephew, niece and sister-in-law. I finally gave up the ghost around 11:30 PM and went to bed.

Next morning we had breakfast in the main party room with family and friends that were still around. We then took a drive to Agger on the seacoast, and paid a courtesy call on the ocean. On the way back to Hørning we stopped for a lovely lunch at Ny Hattenæs Hotel and Restaurant in Silkeborg. We took a mid-evening train home.

We had beautiful weather this past weekend, and few obligations, so I enjoyed being a little bit extra lazy and sleeping in a lot. I am sure that it also helped me in getting over the cold I have been nursing recently.

Saturday late afternoon we went into central Copenhagen’s Inner Nørrebro area where we ate dinner with friends Niels and Michael at their lovely apartment. Sunday mid-afternoon friends Anne and Jørgen came over for coffee and cake. And Monday after work we met up with friends Michael and Finn for dinner in Tivoli followed by an open-air concert of Danish pop-diva Birthe Kjær. It was a great turn out!

Here's a nice medley of tunes recorded by the Queen of Danish Pop Music who will be celebrating 50 years on the stage in Denmark next year.

It’s been a few weeks already, but we had taken a “lo-o-o-ng” weekend in England. Unfortunately I brought back an unwanted souvenir—a “bloody” cold. Drat! It started, however, quite well enough. On Friday, Aug. 28 Aksel and I split up at the airport, each flying off in our own direction-- I to Manchester and he to London.

Square dancing in Cheshire
The purpose for my trip to Manchester was a C3A square dance weekend in Byley, a little town in the Cheshire countryside, which is organised annually by caller Tony Collingwood.  I was retrieved from Manchester Airport by Anne and Trevor, fellow square dancers and airport shuttle angels for foreign visitors. They whisked me off to beautiful Cranage Hall, a grand facility that is a Grade II listed building, where those of us who travelled to the dance stayed at. 



My dance partner Sue arrived a few hours later and we spent part of the rainy afternoon checking out Middlewich, a small town in the area. We exhausted the town’s possibilities, which were not many, and then had dinner at local pub Old Red Lion Ember Inn in Holmes Chapel, where we had also eaten last year. Just as we were finishing up and getting ready to head back to the hotel fellow square dancers Jan, another Dane, and his partner Liz showed up for dinner.

The dance began at 8:00 PM that evening, and continued the next two days Saturday and Sunday. It was a fun weekend, and this was my second year in attendance. Tony’s calling was smooth, fast paced (lots of wind in the hair), and quite challenging at times. It was a great way to start off the season again, like being thrown into a bracing pool of cold water.   There were three-four squares throughout the dance, and Tony’s wife Chris arranged for the catering on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. It was great seeing friends, a number of whom I see at dances in other lands. 


L to R, dance partner Sue in Byley; square dance friends Liz and Jan discussing definitions during a break.

At dinner time on Saturday Sue and I joined friends Jan and Liz at historic Bear’s Head Inn in Brereton.

After the dance on Sunday afternoon Sue drove me to Crewe station, where I caught a 17:30 train to London. Unfortunately, due to its being a holiday weekend (Summer Bank Holiday weekend), and there being construction on the tracks, the trip took almost four hours instead of the usual two. I had to make two transfers on the way to my destination—one at Birmingham, where I had to walk from New Street Station to Moor Street Station to catch my connection, and the other at Marylebone Station in London, where I had to walk a few blocks to catch the Underground line at Baker Street.  Lucky for me the rain stopped whenever I had to walk between stations.

9:45 PM I arrived at our hotel Premier Inn at the former London County Hall on the Thames at Westminster, next door to the London Eye. Aksel and I celebrated my arrival at nearby pub The Slug and Lettuce County Hall.

London town
Monday, after traditional English breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Notting Hill, for the annual Notting Hill Carnaval, the second largest street festival in the world. 


Montage of pictures from Notting Hill Carnaval, September 2009

We had lunch near Oxford Street at the Bond Street Station, and then took a quick peek in Selfridges & Co., the tony department store. We walked a bit on Oxford and then through Soho, until we were beat—thank God for the London Underground. What a joy!  That evening we ate al fresco in front of Ristorante Cappuccetto, a delightful Italian restaurant on Moor Street near the Palace Theatre, where we saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert - The Musical.


Priscilla's stiletto on top of The Palace Theatre marquee.

The show was a treat for the eyes, with hundreds of outrageous costumes and spectacular technical effects. Although essentially a jukebox musical, the story was great fun, the performances were top-notch and the characters were engaging.   See for yourself!  Can you smell the disco?!

Tuesday we took a trip to The Broadway commercial district in Southall where there is a concentration of Indians (mainly Sikhs). After perusing the shops we had lunch at the Glassy Junction, a distinctive Indian-style pub that served Punjabi food. Afterwards we checked out Paddington Station in London, before heading back to the hotel for our afternoon break. That evening, our final one in London, we visited friends Jerome and Ray in Acton, London for dinner 

But all good trips must come to end (as well as all retellings of them), and on Wednesday we returned to Copenhagen. Our flight was around 1:00 PM, and we were back home in the later afternoon.

Summerland (2002) is a novel by Michael Chabon, one of my favourite authors, which Wikipedia describes as being a “fantasy young adult” novel. I have a bit of trouble with this basic attempt at categorising the book— although not the “fantasy” part, that’s fair enough. To me young adults are in the 18-25 year bracket, which this book is certainly not aimed at.  Wikipedia has an entire article that informs me this category is actually comprised of 13-20 years of age. My goodness adulthood starts might early nowadays. Since when did teenagers become adults? Who’s kidding who? Go figure.



I prefer to think that this book is aimed at “children of all ages”. It is a delightful fantasy adventure about a group of children who live on a small island off the coast of Washington state, and get transported into other connecting worlds in order to save the whole thing from destruction. Along the way they make friends with assorted fantastic folk and creatures, learn to be better baseball players (team players), beat the cunning Coyote, the mastermind of all evil, against all odds, and return home with a better appreciation of their lives-- who they are and where they live. Everybody click your ruby red slippers three times and repeat after me, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”

In spite of its all-too familiar premise, Chabon is excellent at developing a fun fantasy world, interesting and quirky characters, and crazy situations for the adventurers.  It was a bit Harry Potter-like, without the dark magic that might put off some religious traditionalists. There was, however, plenty of “magic” of a lighter vein—more mystical and rooted in Native American sensibilities. I enjoyed very much a section of the book which featured fun American tall tale legend types, reminiscent of Paul Bunyan and his ilk.

The book was good summertime reading. It felt very comfortable to read, very much like I was reading a book from my childhood. I had a bit of the same sensation when reading Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road (2007) (my review), another adventure yarn— although this time an historic, swashbuckling yarn featuring adults set in exotic Middle Ages central Asia, and with a decidedly more adult perspective than Summerland. If childlike adventure and fantasy appeals to you, pick it up and give it a read. There’s still a bit of summer left. 

Next book I am reading is Chris Anderson’s recently published Free: The Future of a Radical Price, which I did get for free (I borrowed it from the library). 

Have you read either of these books?  What'd you think of them?
 

This past weekend we were visited by friends Horst and Markko from Hamburg, Germany. They arrived late Friday evening. We hung out together at home, chatted, drank red wine and snacked on cheese and meat cubes and crackers until after midnight.

Saturday late morning we went into Copenhagen where we had lunch out-of-doors at Vesuvio across from City Hall, our favourite downtown Italian restaurant. It was a perfect day for sitting out and watching both people and car traffic—a little bit cloudy to shade the sun, and a little breezy. 


Lunch al fresco at Vesuvio in downtown Copenhagen

Next we walked to Copenhagen’s City Museum (København Bymuseum) on lively Vesterbrogade where we saw special exhibition Som Jeg Er/As I Am, an historic overview of life for LGBT people in Copenhagen (machine translated exhibition site). Its opening corresponded not only to the coming of visitors and participants to the 2009 Copenhagen Out Games that took place in late July, but also to the annual arrival of the gay Scandinavian/Baltic Sea cruise line and the annual Copenhagen Pride Parade.


At Copenhagen City Museum (from left to right): rainbow flag, merman hanging from chandelier, friends Horst and Markko

The exhibition in the large central room on the second floor was well thought-out and captivating with its wealth of history and display items—from a “Dykes on Bikes” motorcycle and sweatshirt to fantastic drag costumes to the wall of leatherman posters to stories and pictures of times long gone by. It as a fascinating view of LGBT life in Copenhagen’s past and present, and with a look at how the future is shaping up. Additionally special signage throughout the rest of the museum brought out the LGBT perspective on regular exhibition items. We especially enjoyed the timeline room on the top floor which showed typical rooms from various time periods, inclusive commentary about LGBT events that took place during those years.

Afterwards we took a train trip north of Copenhagen to Bakken (http://www.bakken.dk/english.html), the oldest amusement park in the world. We walked around the large forested park, had an afternoon beer, listened to the concert by Johnny Deluxe on the main stage (which was not to be avoided no matter where one found themselves in the park), and had dinner at Skovly (http://www.restaurantskovly.dk/), a lovely restaurant near the main stage (luckily the concert was finished by the time we had dinner). We took advantage of their grill buffet, which gave us lots to choose from. Towards the end of the meal, evening entertainment began on the main stage—a company of clowns and comics, including musical entertainment and playful sea lions.

The next morning I was picked up by square dance buddy Lis from Roskilde at 9:15 for a day of C3B square dancing training at Ingvar Jönsson’s group in Kristianstad, Sweden. We met up with Åse at her house, and drove up together in Åse’s car. It’s been a few years since I have danced with these people, and it was a lot of fun getting together with them again. Ingvar is terribly patient with us— I have just learned C3B a month ago, and I need a lot of practice. Luckily, I was in company with others of the same ilk. We got plenty of practice and I feel confident that I can handle my first C3B “real” dance floor time at the end of September with Sandie Bryant and Dave Wilson in Aalborg.


Square dance caller Ingvar in Kristianstad, Sweden

Last weekend Aksel and I took an old fashioned car trip on Jutland (Jylland), the Danish mainland. 

We arrived in Hørning at his parents on Thursday August 13 in time for dinner. We took off early the next morning for the car tour armed with bottles of water, a full gas tank, and our new GPS unit (who has now been officially dubbed Mathilde Amalie von Snakkehoved)


In front of the house with car.

Our first stop was Flensburg, the German border town that also has been historically connected to Denmark. We parked at the site of Museumsberg, at the top of the hill overlooking downtown, also the site of the old cemetery and two historic buildings housing exhibitions of local artistic and cultural heritage in a park-like setting. We enjoyed a special exhibition entitled “Longing for Arcadia. Schleswig-Holstein Artists in Italy”, which featured many late 1700s-early 1900’s plein air artists, as well as the museum’s fine display of restored rooms, costumes and household items typical of the area.. Especially fun were several contemporary art pieces created by local artists that were placed in surprising locations throughout the buildings.

Afterwards we walked down the hill to the pedestrian shopping area and had lunch at Das kleine Restaurant, a typical German restaurant, and then did some quick shopping. The center of town was charming with its many inner courts, the weather was good and there were many people out enjoying the day. We bought a pair of fun twirly things for hanging out in the garden, one of them as a gift. Flensburg gets high marks as a shopping town. We must explore the area again. It is only two hours from Aksel’s parents.


Restaurant in Flensburg, Germany where we ate lunch.

Our next official stop was the Danish town of Ribe in order to see the historic cathedral. Along the way we drove through historic Tønder and nearby Møgeltønder. Møgeltønder is a charming, tiny town that lies just outside the walls of Shackenborg Castle (the castle which is home to Prince Joachim, the younger of Danish Queen Margrethe’s two sons, and his wife Marie). The town consists primarily of a cobblestoned main street lined with charming small building that house mainly restaurants, cafes, galleries, jewelry stores, and similar high-class establishments. We would have liked to stop a bit but we were behind schedule.

We arrived in Ribe at 3:30 PM to tour the impressive cathedral with its restored historic frescos in the main part of the church, as well as its modern stained glass windows and contemporary frescos in the apse. Afterwards we took a small walk outside around the church area and ate some ice cream on the central square. 


Ribe Cathedral apse decorated by Carl Henning Pedersen

From there we drove up the narrow coastal strip of land that divides the Danish west coast.from Ringkjøbing Fjord, driving by a number of small vacation towns on the way to our final destination for the day—the small beach town of Søndervig, where we stayed at Hotel Strandkroen on the promenade to the beach. The hotel, run by Ulla and Henrik Hoffman, was tidy, casual, well-decorated and had without doubt the best restaurant in town. After dinner we took a walk to the beach along the promenade. It was twilight. Young people were out playing by the water. The breeze was strong. The tall grasses swayed in the dunes, where lovely colourful summer homes lay nestled and half-visible. 

We then walked through the deserted, small shopping strip that was the commercial heart of Søndervig, and stopped for nightcaps at an English-style pub at the far-end of the strip, in a Bowling and Sports Center, the most happening place in town at that hour.

Overnight it began raining, and it was still raining heavily while we ate breakfast at the hotel dining room. We decided to find some sort of indoor activity, and drove into Herning to see their art museum complex. Luckily by the time we arrived at the museum the rain has almost ended, because much of the museum complex was out-of-doors. First we visited the only one of the museum’s open exhibition buildings; the other one is closed for renovation or repairs. 


The Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt Museum in Birk Centerpark near Herning, Denmark.

The Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum features works by the two local artists, who were married and were members of the international COBRA art group. The current special exhibit gave a great overview of the two and of their lifelong development as artists. Some of Carl-Henning Pedersen’s works are reminiscent of Chagall. He achieves an exquisite luminousity in his richly textured paintings, and he is masterful in his use of colour. He favours the colour blue, which is often brightened by contrasting spots of strong colour. He works in a number of other media including painted glass and murals (as in his decorative work at the Ribe Cathedral we had visited the day before), ceramics and mosaics. His wife Else Alfelts explored natural themes in many of her works. She had both large scale geometric abstract paintings drawn on the inspiration of forests, mountains, and the moon at night, as well as lyrical colorful works that neared an automatic atmospheric painting style. I enjoyed some later works which were based on highly complex geometric patterns, and painted in a very informal way so as to appear like mosaics or shattered glass.


Metal sculpture with bicycle and rack

We then walked around the extensive grounds that featured quite a number of architecturally interesting buildings set in a park-like setting, a giant mural by Carl-Henning Pedersen, a sculpture park, the labyrinthine geometric gardens, and at the far southern end of the complex Elia by sculptor Ingvar Cronhammar, the largest sculpture in the Nordic lands—a massive black half-dome with four sets of oversized steps at cardinal points leading to the top, which is crowned by four tall chimney-like towers. Standing at the top, the viewer looks down on a cylindrical pit containing another, smaller tower reaching part way up the viewing platform—this tower emits a large flame every 19 days.


Elia sculpture near Herning, Denmark

We had lunch at Herning Center, a large shopping mall, and then drove up to Holstebro where we visited and overnighted with Aksel’s cousin Jan, his wife Helle, and their children Jonah and Julia. Sunday morning began with brunch at a restaurant I downtown Holstebro, and then we packed up for the drive back to Aksel’s parents in Hørning, where we ate dinner before catching an 8:00 PM train back home.


Sculpture of people surrounded by people in Holstebro, Denmark

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988) is Michael Chabon’s debut novel, which was written at the age of 23 while he was attending Univeristy of California, Irvine. He submitted it as his Master’s thesis. The following is a list of Chabon books I have been reading during the past year or two. They are listed in reverse chronological order as I have been generally reading backwards through his catalog. Most of these books have been reviewed in this blog:

• Maps and Legends (2008) mini-review
• Gentlemen of the Road (2007): review
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007): review
• The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist Vol. 1-2 (2004-2005): not reviewed
• The Final Solution (2004): mini-review
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000): review
• Wonder Boys (1995): review

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a coming-of-age story set during a pivitol summer in the life of young narrator Art Blechstein, recent graduate from University of Pittsburgh (Chabon’s alma mater). Art’s current plans are to do nothing more ambitious than to enjoy his summer. He takes a new apartment (because he has just broken up with his girlfriend who keeps the old apartment), takes a job at a chain bookstore, and makes friends with Arthur Lecomte, who opens up a whole new world to him. Arthur is young like himself, beautiful and gay— a ne’er do well, a gilded bum. He has a fabulous wardrobe, lives in style (he housesits for vacationing residence owners), and has a fascinating and exotic circle of friends. 

Although leery of unintentionally leading Arthur on, self-proclaimed heterosexual Art allows himself to enter this world and revels in it. Art is fascinated by Arthur, hangs around with Arthur’s oldest friends motorcycle madman Cleveland and his debutante girlfriend Jane, and begins sexual affairs with both Phlox, one of Arthur’s colleagues at The Library, and eventually Arthur himself, with whom he has fallen in love. 

It is a hot summer brimming with possibilities. But unfortunately fantasies burst and realities make themselves felt-- voluntarily or not.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a pleasurable debut novel by the very talented wordsmith. It is the story of youth and growing up, moving beyond shame of family and situation, making choices, and getting on with life, whatever that might bring. Just as Art in the novel grows up and embarks on his life adventure, so does Michael Chabon embark on his literary career with this gem of a story.

The novel has been adapted to film, but I have not seen it yet. I am sure that I will comment it after I have done so. Currently I am reading Chabon’s young adult fiction Summerland (2002). I am less than 50 pages into the book, but am thoroughly enjoying this so-far breezy bit of light summertime reading. 
 

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a book review (my last attempt was more like a book listing with blurbs), and even longer since I’ve written a fairly substantial one  (Its been almost a year-and-a-half! Whew!).  I would, however, feel remiss if I didn’t write one for this book-- Wonder Boys (1995), written by Michael Chabon, one of my favourite authors.

I have previously read, and in most cases reviewed, the following of his books. They are purposely listed in reverse order, since I am working my way backwards through his catalog, and filling in gaps as I go forward:

• Maps and Legends (2008): mini-review
• Gentlemen of the Road (2007): review
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007): review
• The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist Vol. 1-2 (2004-2005): comic books, not reviewed
• The Final Solution (2004): mini-review
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000): review
• The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988): not reviewed yet

Wonder Boys, Chabon’s second novel, draws inspiration from the author’s difficult experiences writing a second book after the enormous success garnered by his first one. It is the story of author and college creative writing professor Grady Tripp who has seen far better days, and is careening downwards fast. Grady works at an unnamed college in Pittsburgh. Over the course of one weekend, the college’s annual writing and literature conference WordFest, the self-destructive, once-heralded novelist hits rock bottom surrounded by colleagues, friends, families and literary admirers. He cannot hide from or ignore the chaos in his life, no matter how hard he tries. During this crazy weekend everything that can go wrong does go wrong. 

Although it had taken me about a year to get this novel off the “to read one day” bookshelf and into my hands I am happy with the experience of having read it. Wonder Boys seamlessly weaves together interesting, engagingly likeable but failing characters, beautifully wordcrafted sentences, delicious descriptions and a complicated, intelligent and accessible storyline with situations that teeter recklessly on the absurd. Chabon does this with humour, sharpness, optimism and love. The author maintains this miraculous balance effortlessly throughout what is a delightfully easy-to-digest book that ends happily-ever-after (at least for the forseeable future) where all bodes well, and in spite of the chaos encountered along the way everyone seems to find a solution to their current problems along with a glint of hope.

I must also admit that I enjoyed the movie adaptation, the impetus spurring me on to finally read the book. Both the film and the book have their good points. I thought it unfortunate that the movie glossed over Grady’s relationship to his wife’s family, and minimized what to me was a central scene in the book-- the Passover celebration. Also as a consequence of having seen the movie Michael Douglas’s voice insisted itself upon the book’s Grady Tripp character. I could never rid myself of his voice, which is not a complaint, but rather a testament to his fine portrayal. The book however provided a wealth of details and background stories that a movie can never capture—the crazy histories of the Wonder family, Grady’s personal history, and the warm-hearted satires of writers that influenced Grady, and similar. To summarise, if you’ve seen the movie and you liked it, read the book for even more enjoyment.

Currently I am reading Chabon’s young adult fiction Summerland, which I insist must be read while it is still summertime, and have just finished reading The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Chabon’s first novel, written at the age of 23, which has also been made into a film. I have resisted seeing the film until after I read the book. His next book Manhood for Amateurs, a collection of essays, is scheduled for release in October 2009-- perfectly timed for my autumn visit to the USA. 

Last night I inadvertently spammed a part of my communicationverse while registering on tripit.com, an online travel itinerary and planning service which I am investigating.  During the registration process I was offered the option to invite all my friends to keep up with my travels, and I thought I was declining and skipping that step (perhaps forever) — instead I pushed an innocuous-looking button that spammed a lot of people… friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, and virtual strangers in one of my online address books.

That’s what I get for rushing through the registration process and not reading carefully the wording on buttons and fine print.

So, if you received an invitation from me, and you are not pleased with that piece of spam, please toss it away, and forgive my slip of human judgment and my mistaken understanding of what I was doing when I pressed that button of doom!

On the good side, I have heard from old friends that I have not heard from in years. And no one has yet to write me a venomous note.

Have you had any experience with tripit? Or any another free online travel planning tool that you might recommend?  I would appreciate any suggestions or helpful tips. With the amount of square dance and other personal travel I do, I would like to find a more sensible way than scattered Google Maps, calendar items, emails and specially-tailored travel documents to consolidate the information I gather for each and every trip .