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Bombs explode in London, Copenhagen gets the jitters...
2005-07-08 13:51:00
My apologies in advance for this one, I am trying too avoid bothering with too many purely political issues on this blog, as I think there are a lot more meaningful and productive ways to spend ones time and (mental) energy. But sometimes certain things just need to be said for the sake of one's own sanity!As soon as the news came out that several explosions had rocked London , one could sense a palpable level rising tension in Copenhagen . For example, the day after the London attacks, a reported bomb threat (which proved to be false) shut down the Copenhagen metro as the bomb squad moved in to remove a suspicious looking package. Thankfully, there was no bomb. Since then, the police have been a frequent presense all over the metro, highly visible above and below ground at the various stations. (Okay, this is not a great picture, but that is a police van to the right of the Christianshavn metro entrance in Copenhagen, with two police officers standing by). It's not really surprisin...
More About: Open , Ondo , Gets

Square boxes, then and now...
2005-07-07 09:30:00
by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)As irrelevant an issue as it may seem, I simply can’t resist offering my opinion regarding a classic discussion, the SAS Hotel in central Copenhagen designed by the legendary (and deceased) designer/architect Arne Jacobsen, source of much debate in Copenhagen over the years.In Denmark, Arne Jacobsen is about as mainstream cult as one can possibly be. Even if his penchant for wearing bow ties created an aura of stiffness surrounding the man himself during his lifetime, most of his building and furniture designs pushed the boundaries of the time. There is no question that his influence lives on today in Denmark, particularly in Copenhagen - perhaps to a much greater extent than it should, some have suggested (after all, the man did most of his great work back in the 50’s and 60’s!).Jacobsen never feared being provocative; just consider the classic SAS Hotel in downtown Copenhagen that was entirely designed by the great man – the b...
More About: Square , Then

Carlsberg Strikes Back – The Remarkable Danish Beer Market, Part 2
2005-06-09 17:02:00
by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)Apparently invigorated by the influx of foreign beers into Denmark over the last four years that has seen consumption of quality (generally foreign) beers skyrocket over the past years, Carl sberg has taken its first steps in response. Virtually at the same moment I hit the ’publish’ button for the last article I wrote regarding the Danish beer market (The Remarkable Danish Beer Market ), Carlsberg announced the introduction of a new line of exclusive, upmarket beers, to be brewed under the name ‘Jacobsen’ (after J.C. Jacobsen, who founded Carlsberg in 1847) in a microbrewery located beside Carlsberg’s Copenhagen headquarters. The Jacobsen line of beers consists of Bramley Wit, Brown Ale, Dark Lager and Saaz Blonde.This is an excellent sign, from my perspective. The trend towards quality, upmarket beers entering the Danish market is apparently more than a ‘blip’ on the radar screen. Unlike four years ago, when Carlsberg’s ...
More About: Back , Part

The Remarkable Danish Beer Market (Part 1)
2005-05-16 15:47:00
by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)Change can be dramatic and fast, and so it has been across the Danish beer market where a quiet revolution has been occurring over the past years. Though the mainstream beers of Carlberg/Tuborg remain dominant, foreign beer consumption in Denmark has skyrocketed from 0.7 million litres consumed in 2000, to 8.7 million litres in 2004.The humble beginnings of this revolution started in 2001 with the introduction of a very limited selection of premium quality foreign beers displayed on small wooden racks in a couple the national supermarket chains. These small wooden racks remain, however they now bookend an entire row of premium foreign beers in the stores of every major supermarket chain. The total space they are now allocated is comparable to that of Carlsberg and (Carlsberg-owned) Tuborg and the other low-quality Danish beers on offer.An slowly expanding selection...These foreign beers are sold at a price that is between double to trip...
More About: Market , Beer , Part , Marka , Mark

A truly unpretentious man of the people?
2005-04-21 10:11:00
Pictures can be telling. In few countries would you find the Prime Minister carrying around an unstylish 10 kr (1.5 Euro) notebook such as the one Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is pictured with here (a cheap notepad available in countless discount stores all over Denmark) during his first official meeting with the new leader of the Social Democrat party Helle Thorning Schmidt (the main opposition party). Try to find a picture of Jacques Chiraq or Tony Blair taking notes in such a thing...But what about it's contents? With regards to Denmarks continuing support and participation in the Iraq war, did Anders remember to pen a reminder note to himself to stop acting like the American puppet he has been and get Denmark out of Iraq and start raising questions such as just how many non-military human casualties ('collateral damage') there have been? Perhaps somewhere he penned an even more pressing reminder to himself to start (re-)humanising Denmark's "xenophobic immigra...
More About: People , Rete , The People , Tent

A Stroke of Pure Promotional Genius? Or Maybe Just Good Fun? What is Volksw
2005-04-18 11:15:00
by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)Club Volkswagen in Copenhagen...I mean, Club Fox.An odd series of events took place in Copenhagen over the past three of weeks. Under the name ’Project Fox’ (project-fox.org), the events centred around a series of consecutive club evenings (20 of them!) in Østerbro (‘Club Fox’), an event hall in Christianshavn (‘Studio Fox’), and a Hotel (formerly known as Park Hotel, now ‘Fox Hotel’) in the centre of the city. Ostensibly the project, initiated by Volkswagen, has a commercial backbone, the launch of a new car model, the Volkswagen Fox. In truth, it is not Volkswagen that has fleshed the project into reality, rather a bunch of street artists, event promoters, performers, and a weekly internet newsletter read by those supposedly in the know (that has surely had a significant role in bringing out the crowds (humanmail@humanwebsite.com to get on this list – I highly recommend it if you live in Copenhagen).With Volkswagenâ...
More About: Fun , Promotion , Just , What , Prom

Courting controversy, Danish army style
2005-03-01 16:37:00
by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)Recently a number of advertisements for the Danish army have quietly appeared all over Copenhagen. They show a young, normal-looking man below the caption, ’there’s war in the world’. On the flip side is the same young man in a tank - he has obviously decided to join the army and fight the (good) fight. A few days after these ads appeared, I noticed that the street artists had not allowed this one to slip by them. ‘Kill4Maersk’ and ‘Kill4Bush’ stickers were quickly being pasted onto some of these ads. To gratuitously slip in a bit of pop-culture, we may not have started the fire, but we sure know how to keep it burning.To the questions: should the army be recruiting in this manner? And is a response in the manner of the ad-hackers constructive in any way to the wider discussion?All of this has proven to be a provocative subject for discussion amongst my friends, people who position themselves politically slightly left-of-c...
More About: Style , Army , Controversy , Over , Court

Getting the Christiania Vibe...or not
2005-02-07 16:09:00
by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)Chris t ian s havn including Christiania - A bit of Copenhagen.The vibe of Christiania - the 60’s hippy ghetto/cultural experiment located in the heart of Copenhagen now in its 4th decade of peaceful existence - is as strong as ever, I am delighted to be able to report, in spite of the political challenges it is currently facing (more on those shortly).As a resident of Christianshavn (the area of Copenhagen where Christiania can be found), I have the good fortune of being able to regularly enjoy numerous aspects of the place without actually living there. From it’s restaurants, clubs, walking paths and even the sauna, I have spent a fair amount of time in Christiania over the years, so I do feel capable of voicing a reasonably informed opinion on the subject.Christiania rarely disappoints. What is perhaps most astonishing is the enduring popularity of the various events Christiania hosts. Some of my most enjoyable moments in Copenhagen ...
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Forgiving the American right-wing through satire
2004-11-06 11:42:00
by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)The Danes for Bush characters...The genre of serious satire, of which Danes For Bush is a part, is a growing genre. It is satire that is lightly, if not cleverly, disguised - a part of pop culture found at some indefinite point where art, journalism and politics meet. If Michael Moore is the current king, Danes for Bush is an original derivative.Danes for Bush hit the pavement in August 2004; just as the America n Presidential campaign was beginning to heat up. The tour was timed to hit New York at the end of August at the same time as the Republican convention that would confirm George W. Bush as the Republican presidential candidate in 2004.The two-man Danish road show of Jakob Boeskov and Mads Brugger plow their way across the United States in a camper van for a series of appointments with the right-wing grassroots of the American heartland during the weeks leading up to the Republican convention. With an air of determination they mak...
More About: Satire , Right Wing , Giving

A New Turn on Playing Live Electronic Music
2004-10-16 16:46:00
Many who witnessed Groove Armada playing live in Copenhagen last night (Oct. 14) would be surprised to discover that what they were seeing was not precisely as it seemed.Indeed, it was a fantastic and memorable performance, so much so that I have trouble recalling a live performance in Copenhagen that was filled with that much energy – and the audience responded appropriately. Most bands simply don’t have the repertoire Groove Armada has to call upon to get an audience jumping and dancing - and the band made liberal use of that last night.The sound was pretty good, though not great. The primary complaint: the bass wasn’t particularly clear in the mix, a typical problem for less-experienced bands, though most bands with a bit of road experience manage to improve upon this over time. One might have expected a little more from an act with the road experience of Groove Armada and whose albums have always featured hallmark sound production clarity.Or perhaps it was a consequence of...
More About: Music , Electronic , Play , Electro , Live