Christmas - all about traditions.

We celebrate Christmas Eve more that Christmas Day.
At Christmas Eve we have a family dinner, consisting of roast duck with boiled potatoes, caramelled potatoes, red cabbage and gravy. For dessert we have rice pudding with a cherry sauce and in the pudding an almond is hidden. The lucky finder of this almond gets a small gift. After dinner we gather around the Christmas tree to sing Christmas carols and dance hand in hand around the tree - well I suppose it's more a very, very slow walk than a dance due to all the food. And then we open presents.

Christmas Day we use to gather strength. And relax in general.

And then there is the Julefrokost on Boxing Day. More eating - a lot of fish dishes. Most of them cold. Like pickled herring. But we also have hot dishes like kale stew and cabbage stew with ham and/or meatballs (frikadeller). We also have spiced meat roll and leverpostej and finish the meal of with a lot of different cheeses. More singing - although this is highly connected to the drinking. We sing drinking songs like: "We toast with our friends and those we know. And those we do not know, we'll toast with them as well!" (Okay it rhymes a bit better in Danish...)
It's not all just eating, singing and drinking. We also make room for a walk - which is as needed as the 'dance' around the Christmas tree.

After Boxing Day we may or may not have a few more Julefrokoster before New Year. But otherwise we just relax. And make sure to exercise plenty!


Happy holidays.
Merry Christmas.
Glædelig jul.

Winter solstice

Tomorrow is Winter solstice.
For us - way up North...;-) - it means that it's the shortest day of the year. So after tomorrow we can look forward to more sunlight during the day. Which would be nice.

In the paradox that is Global Warming we have had some pretty chilly nights here in Denmark. At the island of Bornholm they experienced the coldest night temperature in December since before 1874 (and in general not since 1987) so it's been rather cold.
But that also means that the snow we had a couple days ago still is here. And it looks like it will still be here for Christmas Day.
I for one am still dreaming of a White Christmas ;-)

Winter Wonderland

Finally the snow came...





It's not really December - or winter - without it.
Childhood memories of me and my sister playing in the snow, making snowmen, sledding, engaging in snowball fights... Good times :-)

Nowadays it's more about candle lights, fires in the wooden stove, coffee (although in December a little gløgg might probably be consumed as well... ☺) - and of course shoveling the sidewalks and winter tires ☺.

No no... I'm still here....

...just still busy with life :-)

But I will return. Next time with more...content. I promise ;-)

I've been busy...

..which means I haven't had time to post anything here...but I guess you've already figured that one out.

Well I suppose the truth is that I haven't been able to concentrate on much else than what's going on in my own life, so I haven't really been paying attention to what's out there in the world - whether it's the online or the 'real' one.

For starters I've had my exams. Which for the most part went okay. But were pretty time consuming.


But futhermore - and more importantly - I've been busy with cleaning up my life. Litterally.

See the thing is that I'm a collector. And I collect a lot of things. Some more valueable than others. Like for instance my books, my music intruments, my CD's or my DVD's (and a few cassete and VHS tapes - I might actually have a BETA tape too...not sure why I kept that one. It's not like I can play it....)

But I've also kept a lot of other stuff that's not really valueable. Like my sketches or magazines that I wanted to re-read but never got around to it or papers I should have gotten rid of ages ago or... Well the list goes on and on.

But I think I never had a good enough reason to actually get the things thrown out.
And with me being a procrastinator....well let's just say that that's not something that goes well with being a collector. At least not for me... :-)

But when you've only got yourself to worry about it doesn't matter if the office is untidy. You just close the door so no one can see it. Although I have to say that even if I am untidy I do know where my things are...sometimes it's the tidying up that messes things up for me...it ruins my system ;-)

But from tomorrow I'm sharing my house with someone and that means that I needed to get rid of a lot of things. So that's what I've been busy with lately.
It's the first time in my life I've been happy about throwing things out.



But I will get back on track with this blog.

Until then...
Have fun.

Memory Monday:

Recently there was an interview on Danish television with Sannie Carlson.

In 1994 she was the first artist ever to be number 1 in the UK singles chart with a debut single. That achievement gave her a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

Most of you probably know her better under the name Whigfield.

And all though she made a lot of music back in the 90s I have to say I only remember two of her songs:

Whigfield – Saturday Night (1994)


Whigfield – Think of You (1995)


Now there’s been a lot of remixes of her songs lately, and in the interview I mentioned earlier she said that she was working on some songs that she will perform herself. She’s been living in Italy for quite a lot of years where she’s writing and composing music for others.

Sannie Carlson anno 2009:

Photo from her MySpace page

But I need to honest. I’m not equally as thrilled about her (possible) upcoming album as I was to hear that The Cranberries are reuniting :-)

Have a great Monday!

Sapphic Sunday:

If you find yourself not knowing what to do on a cold and rainy Sunday (or any other day of the week…) then watching movies or television series and/or web series is an excellent choice – unless of course you want to take care of the dishes or do some cleaning or maybe the laundry….

Right… So back to the entertainment :-)

What do you do when you figure out that you don’t want to see another mainstream movie or series because you haven’t had time to catch up on all the stories you wanted to that have lesbian content?
If you realize that you’ve not watched the latest in the development of the Otalia storyline or maybe haven’t watched the entire Pepsi storyline or haven’t even started on the Starla storyline yet, then there’s hope my friend.
The same goes if there are certain movies you might have heard of, but are not sure if you actually want to see them.
Or if you just want to see some fan made tribute videos to the above mentioned stories.
Or vlogs or commercials or...

Well obviously it takes time to search the Internet for all that information. So it’s a really good thing that someone already came up with the idea to gather all these videos at one place:

One More Lesbian

So if you didn’t already know about this website then you really need to go and check it out.
And enjoy your Sunday :-)

Thunderbolts of lightning...

...very very frightning... :-)

So last night there was yet again another thunderstorm.

There have been a lot of those this summer - which really is unusual.

I don't mind thunderstorms. In fact I love them. But when some of the trees next to (or actually in) my hedge shows evidence of being struck by lightning (not last night’s storm though) I tend to get a bit...nervous. Mostly because I live in a wooden house :-)

And last night there was a lot of lightning going on. It was beautiful. But when the thunder is so loud it even makes your house tremble and the lightning appears at the same time...you know it’s close :-)

Still there's something very soothing about sitting in the dark listening to the thunder and the heavy rain and just watch how the lightnings are racing across the sky.

Not my picture.

The only downside to the thunderstorms is that they appear to be the cause of some of my headaches.



On a side note Denmark will get a visit from what's left of hurricane Bill on Thursday, but so far it's not gonna do much other than maybe increase the wind a bit and give us perhaps a bit extra rain... :-)

And earlier this month there was a tornado* that hit a city about 40 kilometers from where I live. It damaged a few houses, cars and trees.

This is not a picture of the actual tornado* forming - but it's a picture of another one forming the same day about 5 kilometers from where I live. Again not my picture.

So the weather has been acting up this summer. But now that summer is almost gone (at least that's what the calender says...) next we have autumn...and winter.
Which means I can't help wondering if I should purchase a pair of skis...just in case :-)



* = We do get tornados on a regular basis but on the Fujita scale they barely hit F0. They usually form over the ocean which means they never really touch ground. This particularly tornado was a F1. It's only happened once before in Denmark. In 1962.

Memory Monday:

Like I told you last Monday I blamed myself for my grandmothers death. Which was silly. But that didn't change the fact that I did.

But why did I?

Now here is where it stops making sense (well...)

My one year younger cousin (the one I mentioned racing prior to my accidental swim in the pond...) was at my house. (She and her younger sister were staying with us for the weekend.) Now we were 11 and 10 so we figured that we could easily ride our bicycles to our grandparent’s house. Cause it wasn't more than 15 kilometers. So what would be the problem in that? Well according to my parents the problem was that we would have to drive along a road with a lot of cars. And I do mean a lot of cars. And trucks. So they told us no.

After making up an incredible fool proof plan (we were just 11 and 10....) we decided to go anyway.
So we told my sister (who is 3 years younger than I and therefore definitely not old enough to join us on our adventure....and we remembered to tell her exactly that...HUGE mistake...) that she was to give our parents a note after we left. (How very responsible of us). But not immediately after we left. She should count to 100 at least 50 times.

So off we went. And we did get as far as almost to the next town which was 7 kilometers away when my dad showed up in the car with the trailer. But since we didn't exactly look like we were exhausted we had to drive home on the bicycles ourselves while he followed us in the car. (Not sure that would work today. A man following two young girls on bicycles...).
But we were very exhausted when we got home. And although we didn't admit it (at least not at first) there were a lot of times on the way out where the cars didn't care about the two of us on bicycles so we had to drive off the road.

So we did learn a lesson.
Well two actually.

- Listen to your parents when they inform you about the dangers of riding a bicycle in the countryside.

- And don't tell your little sister that she can't join you because she's not old enough - she will rat you out! ;-)


But the short story long...

Because we never made it to our grandparents house - and because my grandmother had the stroke not long after our adventure - I blamed myself for years. Had I only made it to their house then maybe she would have lived. Or even better. She would never have had the stroke in the first place. As if my visit days prior to the stroke would have made a difference.

As I grew older I figured out that nothing could have changed the outcome of my grandmother’s stroke. I'm not even sure that it would have made a difference if it had happened today.

Sapphic Sunday:

Since I've been really idle lately (okay maybe not idle anywhere else except for this blog) I haven't had time to really think about what I wanted to post for this Sunday.

I haven't been spending a whole lot of time on the websites I usually spent my time before; like YouTube or AfterEllen.

Instead I go through kind of a schedule while I'm online. And besides websites like Twitter (which I usually read just not at the same time as everybody else...or so it seems at times), icanhascheezburger and Cake Wrecks (more about that one later...) I go to a specific website:

eurOut.


Let me give you a few quotes:

"eurOut: Visibility of lesbian and bisexual women in Europe".

"Whether with humour or seriousness, Europe’s only website of its kind, is not afraid to pay attention to injustice and to openly criticize it, but it doesn’t forget the fun of being gay either."

“Europe is very gay!” the eurOut team says, “It’s time for people to realize that.”

So what I'm aiming at is that if you aren't already paying attention to this website...then you need to go and check it out!

Happy Sunday.

Release Me by Agnes

One of my current obsessions favorite tunes.

One down...two to go...

Just finished one exam, which means I have two more to go. Both for next week.

I wrote the papers a while ago for the final two exams, but I still need to study for my presentation. Which basically means that I'll be busy for the next couple of weeks, but hopefully I'll still have time to post something here...and I know I haven't done a very good job at that lately...

But I'll try :-)

Memory Monday:

I hope you all had a great weekend!

And I'm giving you more – if only a few – song from the 80s.

The first song is special to me in a way that’s difficult to explain, but I’m gonna give it a try…
After my paternal grandmother died (when I was about 11) my dad told me that it was her favorite song. Or at least one of them. I liked it before she died but that piece of information just made me like it even more. I don’t know why but I got the idea that it probably meant that my grandmother was my guardian angel! In my young mind that made totally sense at the time :-) (Well considering I thought that it was my fault she died (which it wasn’t - she died from a stroke – but that’s a totally different story) then maybe it’s not that weird at all….and then again…) Anyway. The song.

Guardian Angel – Masquerade (1984):




Back when lyrics were easy to remember…

Words Don’t Come Easy – F.R. David (1987):





This is one of those songs I remember but I don’t really remember the lyrics after all… At least not all of them.

Don’t You Want Me – Human League (1982):





I still like this one.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Tears For Fears (1985):

And they are still going strong :-)




And finally a song where the lyrics makes no sense at all :-)
This one is made by a Swedish band.

Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot – Caramba (1981):


In case you want to know the actual lyrics to this one… :-)
Hubba hubba zoot-zoot
Nam!
Ebba obba zat-zat
Nam!
Pa huvee, pa huvee. paa
Pahab huvee paa
A nam nam?
A nam!

Have a great Monday :-)

Sapphic Sunday

This Just Out with Liz Feldman.

Funny. Adorable. And very very gay :-).

A lot of guests have visited Liz Feldman in ‘her’ kitchen. Like:

Emily Deschanel Season 1, episode 5:

More Lesbian Entertainment & Video

Clementine Ford Season 2, episode 4:

More Lesbian Entertainment & Video

Bridget McManus Season 2, episode 5 (season finale):

More Lesbian Entertainment & Video

Tegan and Sara Part 1. Season 3, episode 4:

More Lesbian Entertainment & Video

Part 2


See I was gonna say that Tegan made the most appearances in TJO (one by herself, and two with Sara), but that only makes 3.

Someone else made 4.

Kate Moennig:
The very first episode, the 6th episode of the first season, the 1st episode of the third season and the grand finale - the final episode of TJO.

But also Clea Duvall, Erin Daniels, Rose Rollins, Uh Huh Her (anybody see a patern here...?), Erin Foley and Rachel Cantu…..and a few others….have visited the kitchen.


For more Liz Feldman you could always watch Shack Talk.


Happy Sunday.

Holy Grail!

Just for fun.

Monty Python:

(These are from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail")

The Annoying Peasant:



French Taunting:



If you have a lot of time on your hands and you don't know what to do about it, you could go visit Monty Python's Completely Useless Web Site...

Did someone say sleep...?

Sometimes you do need more sleep than other times...

...and if all else fails...





From icanhascheezburger.com.

Memory Monday:

Memory Monday:

Growing up I watched A LOT of Eddie Murphy movies.

The Golden Child (1986):

Trailer:



One of my favorite scenes from the movie:

The Dancing Can:



The bowl of oatmeal with blood in it and the scary looking guy (that never spoke a word, but wore some kind of a shade hat I think… Fu maybe? ) those were some of the things that were the worst of the movie when I saw it the first time)

Coming to America (1988):

Trailer:



Eddie Murphy playing multiple roles:



(This was actually on the television Friday or Saturday evening. I didn’t see it though.)


Beverly Hills Cop (1984):

Trailer:



I’ve always preferred the second movie. When I was younger it was mainly because Brigitte Nielsen played the ‘bad guys sidekick’ – and she’s Danish… - but today it’s because I like the whole dynamics between the characters.



(I found a “Behind the Scenes” video too…)


And then there’s Shrek (2001):



I’m not sure that Shrek would be as funny if the characters had been any different. I mean the voices of Eddie Murphy as Donkey, Mike Myers as Shrek, Cameron Diaz as Fiona and last but not least (even though it’s not before the second movie) Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots. They are just a funny bunch.

(Btw. Shrek 2 also has the voice of Julie Andrews as Queen. I'd say that it doesn't get any better than that, but now I'm sidetracking myself from what I really intended to write about. I might have to address the issue of Shrek - and other animated movies - in a later blog post...)

As far as Eddie Murphy’s newer movies go…I haven’t really watched any of them (except for the Shrek movies and Dr. Doolittle…) or maybe it’s more true to say that I haven’t attempted to watch any of them. Perhaps I will some day.

Sapphic Sunday:

Dara & Karman’s Hitlist

I used to spend a lot of time at AfterEllen but lately I’ve been a bit more preoccupied and as a result of that I don’t have time to watch more than a few vlog’s at the site.

One of them is Dara & Karman’s Hitlist.

I love the chemistry that’s between these two and my sense of humor is a lot like theirs, so I enjoy watching the vlog.

Here’s their take on “Lesbian Hangouts” (eps. 15)

More Lesbian Entertainment & Video

“Lesbian Sterotypes” (eps. 11)

More Lesbian Entertainment & Video

You can also watch Things Every Lesbian Should Know or how about Girls With Guns or Characters We Wish Were Real or a lot of other episodes (currrently it's 28 episodes).

Enjoy your Sunday.

Sorry for the lack of content lately...

...but I've been a little preoccupied. Among other things (some way more fun than others… ;-) ) I’ve been studying for exams. And they are not done yet, but at least I get the time to breathe a little before I have to finish them. So hopefully I get time to be a bit more on schedule with my blog posts.

Memory Monday:

Television that made me laugh:

ALF.
What do you call a creature from outer space? You know - an Alien Life Form...

I thought this guy was hilarious.

He always had an appetite for the cat… ;-)





Dining


More hilarious moments.


And then the song:



Also: Intro for season 1 - 2 and Intro for season 3 - 4.

Isn’t it funny that sometimes when you hear a tune you know exactly what show it was from? Even if you haven’t heard it in ages.

Brødrene Bisp – Voldsom Volvo



This song is one of the songs I still know the lyrics for - even though I may not have heard it in more than 15 years. It was part of a show. I couldn't tell you what that show was about if my life depended on it but I do remember the song...

Sapphic Sunday:

Nikki and Nora.

Starring Liz Vassey and Christina Cox


Nikki and Nora part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4



It’s one of those shows I would have loved to see more of. Unfortunately it never got past the pilot.

In 3way there was a little spoof of the show-that-was-nearly-there called LadyCops. Spoofs are often funny, but when the actors that do the spoof are the ones that did the original show it’s hilarious. And both actresses do a very good job. But it was a part of the ongoing storyline in 3way and never a standalone episode, so I was pleased when I saw this tweet:



And here’s the full episode (of course it’s divided in two….)

LadyCops part 1


LadyCops part 2

(But it's still part of 3way ;-) )

Vacation...

Back home from vacation (I stayed in Denmark) and eventhough the weather for the most part consisted of rain, rain, a bit of thunder - and rain ;-) there were a few moments where it didn't rain. And where the weather was beautiful.







When I get the time to go through all my pictures I'll probably post a few pictures of the more cloudy skies. :-)

Harry Potter is back...

And there's no end to what people would do to get other people to notice their 'investment' in the Potter-mania.

I saw this while I was on vacation at my parents holiday home.

Not sure who made this...

But it's made in LEGO©. That had to take some time...

I haven't watched the movie yet. But I will. Eventually. :-)

Memory Monday:

More movies I watched in the 80s....

Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)



Dirty Dancing (1987)



Nine to Five (1980)

This trailer is WAY better. I thought the scenes like the ones from 1.51 were hilarious...


Private Benjamin (1980)


Crocodile Dundee (1986)


Blue Lagoon (1980)



Der Alte

Okay technically it's not a movie. It's a series. But I'm pretty sure that this series is the reason why I love crime series today...

Sapphic Sunday:

Jill Bennett



She was in a vlog with Karman Kregloe at AfterEllen called We’re Getting Nowhere that began as re-caps of South of Nowhere. The first episode was without Dara Nai (I think Jill Bennett initially filled in for Dara Nai), but she joined them for the next episode. But they also re-capped The L Word, ANT and vlogged about some other things. They had guest appearances by different people like Sarah Warn, Bridget McManus, Liz Feldman, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Keener and others



She played Andrea in 3way - the hottest lesbian comedy NOT on TV. 3way also stars Maeve Quinlan, Cathy Shim and Maile Flanagan.





She also writes and makes video blogs for SheWired.

If you want more information go to her webpage where you also can see episodes of the webseries We Have To Stop Now with Jill Bennett and Cathy DeBuono or read about the movie And Then Came Lola

And Then Came Lola

And Then Came Lola-Trailer from fastgirlfilms on Vimeo.

Gay or Straight?

Stockholm Pride made a Twitter Quiz. By entering your Twitter account name it will sort out how hetero you are.

My score...




How about you?
See for yourself.

Drama Queen:

Okay. So I'm having a bit of a ESC moment again...

Danish entry for the ESC 2007. But we never made it past the semi-finals...

DQ - Drama Queen

The happiest place on Earth...

How do you measure happiness?





Although I like their interpretation of The Jante Law, it's not quite what it states. However most Danes live by the reverse - or positive - Jante Law.

Come on over

A song that entered the Danish ESC but didn't win (2008)

Hassing & Hassing - Come on over



Here’s a link to their performance. There is sound. You just have to turn the volume way up...

Photos

I always hope that whenever I take a picture of somthing I can capture the beauty I see. It never really happens...

But I still try and I just wanted to share these with you:

Memory Monday:

Some songs from the 90s:


Army of Lovers - Crucified



Army of Lovers - Obsession





And some ‘crazy’ Danes making cover versions of different songs :-)

Diskofil – Da Jonny Ble’ til Conni


Diskofil – Dinge Dong





Aqua – Medley of songs – and they had a little help from Safri Duo too (Live at the Eurovision in Denmark 2001)



And one of the songs from their new album

Aqua – Back to the 80s

Memory Monday:

One show I loved when I was younger, was ’Allo ‘Allo! The story takes place during WWII, but the show’s premise was not to make fun of the war. It was meant to spoof war-based film and TV dramas.

I still sometimes say Listen very carefully. I shall say this only once… and Good Moaning.
And I also refer to The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies from time to time.

3.41 – 3.56 and 5.56 (or 6.35) – 7.00

And I love how they play with the words






If you want to watch episodes from the 9 seasons, you should check out this channel.

And if you want the complete (fan made) guide to the show you should go here.

Sapphic Sunday:

Law & Order:

Yes I'm sticking to my crime shows.

The only series of Law & Order that actually airs in Denmark is Law & Order: Criminal Intent. But although I like Goren and Eames as a team none of them are Detective Olivia Benson. Alright it's a totally different series of Law & Order. Law & Order: SVU - or Special Victims Unit.

Olivia Benson is portrayed by Mariska Hargitay:











I've currently only seen most of season 1, which means so far no Alex Cabot, but I've had the pleasure of watching Angie Harmon (who I told you about a few Sundays ago). She played ADA Abbie Carmichael.

Happy 4th of July

It’s Independence Day in the United States of America and although it’s celebrated mostly in America other countries celebrate it too.

Like Denmark.

Not far from where I live an annual celebration takes place. In the Rebild Hills – or Rebild Bakker (in the Danish version
they boldly claim it to be ‘the world’s largest 4th of July celebration outside the United States of America…')

And a lot of people do participate in this celebration that has taken place since 1912





The day is among other things celebrated with speeches from both Danes and Americans. This year’s main speakers are Niels Arden Oplev (best known outside Denmark for being the director of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Janet Borge Crowle (daughter of Victor Borge).

There are a lot of activities through out the day. Both for kids and grown ups. And in the days prior to July 4th the surrounding cities celebrate 'American Days'.

Happy 4th of July

Memory Monday:

Fishing, ponds and streams.

Where my paternal grandmother and her husband lived there was a small stream in the backyard. And across the street there was a fairly large pond, and there were a lot of ducks and swans living there. Also there were a lot of fish. So my cousins, my sister and I spend a lot of time fishing. Or running around in the stream. The only time I recall us ever catching anything in the stream it wasn’t even on purpose. My sister was just fetching some water in a bucket and she caught an eel.




But there were a lot of fish in the pond. Unfortunately they weren’t that easy to catch. But we tried. Every now and then we would bring our fishing poles and stand around the pond, each at our favorite spot, and wait for the fish to bite. I don’t remember ever catching any fish, but I do remember that one of my cousins won a fishing contest that was held at the pond once. And my sister won second or third place.





Another thing I remember was the time I fell in the pond.

And I’m pretty sure it was right after the fishing contest. My dad and my uncles and all of us children were on our way home to my grandparent’s house. I was racing my cousin and she said something to me, so naturally I turned and looked at her. Unfortunately that was when the pond took a turn too, so I ran into it instead of around it. It wasn’t very deep. But I was embarrassed and the water was cold, and the ducks and the swans were swimming towards me (I guess they thought I brought bread by special delivery…), so I really didn’t feel like swimming around in there. And the swans were pretty big to a 10 year old.




After that it took a while before I ran my way around the pond again. I preferred walking :-)

Sapphic Sunday:

She has played a number of roles. Like Gwen DeMarco, Dana Barrett, Ripley...

I am talking about Sigourney Weaver.








Need I say more?

Aliens (the second movie)



Galaxy Quest

____________________________________


Last night Ghostbusters was on television. I always liked Ghostbusters 2 the best. But that was mostly because of this scene:

Ghostbusters II (Statue of Liberty scene)


Enjoy your Sunday :-)