Guide for the "new poor"

"Catharsis" or "emotional cleansing", this is what I felt when I came out from the cinema today after watching The Good Life by Eva Mulvad, in the Nordisk Panorama film festival.

This tragicomic documentary shows the everyday life of two Danish women, mother and daughter, living in the beautiful Portuguese town of Cascais. They used to be rich but they are "the new poors" now, unable to adapt themselves to their new reality and living stuck in the sweet memories from a lost past that will never come back...

"Work is still a taboo word for me", says Anne Mette to her mother, when they are unable to pay the rent because they only have 20 € to spend the rest of the month.
Later on she tells us that "the new poors are doing worse than the new richs", complaining all the time about their bad fate and blaming on her parents because they never told her how to survive on her own in real world...

Anyway, Anne Mette still shows a good sense of humor, being social and able to enjoy the small things of life from time to time.

That's why I've decided to write this small guide for the "new poors":

1. Walk on the sunny side of the street

2. If it's rainy and you prefer to stay at home, read that book that you never finished, with a cup of your favorite tea / coffee.

3. Open the window, breath deep and smile.

4. Talk to that stranger that smiled at you in the street the other day

5. Drop fast food and buy something new in the market, for the price of cheap street food, you can cook something special at home

6. Call to that friend that always makes you laugh

And remember: The best things in life are for free!

Bald men are sexy in Århus...

... At least in Nordisk Panorama Film Festival!!
I know several men that would be very happy to hear this assertion about their sex appeal, and Maria Bock, the director of this crazy Norwegian short musical, was able to persuade us last night in a very unusual and funny way, when the Nordisk Panorama showed several experimental short films in Klostertorv

The night was cold and a bit rainy, but you don't have the chance to enjoy these kind of movies everyday, specially outdoors and for free, just around the corner.

Imagine that Fritz Lang could shoot the society he showed us in "Metropolis" again, but in the XXI century and in the wild nature Faroe Islands instead of big cities and fabrics...

The result could be something like "Magma" by the film tandem Rammatik (M. Mørkøre and R. Kárádóttir)

This unique festival takes place every year in one of this Scandinavian cities: Oulu (Finland), Bergen (Norway), Reykjavik (Iceland), Malmö (Sweden) and Århus. 

So I have the chance to enjoy it "at home" once every 5 years. If you live in Århus, don't think twice and take the opportunity of experiencing the work of new Nordic film talents in your own city and for free!! 

The short films will be screened in Klostertorv again on Friday from 21h to 23h. Enjoy!

At the end of summer

Will you think of me at the end of summer...

...when nights are so clean

they beat you like a hammer

so blue, blue, blue

Liquid boy, you know all the stories

it's been there since the first cold morning

No more bitter cherry juice,

give me something that I can't lose

Text by Christina Rosenvinge, Glue (Cerrado, Warner 1997)

All pictures by A. Reino on Moesgård strand & Risskov

Faces

I like walking alone on the streets when the evening falls. Sometimes after a rainy day, when people prefer to stay at home and watch tv, leaving the roads and squares clean and lonely, I can feel like someone is watching me. It's then when the miracle occurs...

Faces from old times, from the most dark periods of the human history, appear suddenly at any corner. They've been there all the time, smiling to us, no one knows if they want to be friendly or if they're just trying to express a silent menace...

Giant angel faces observing generations of aarhusians and foreigners passing by during hundreds of years, being witnesses of their joy and their tears too...

They appear normally indifferent to the human beings, but sometimes they can be shameless or even cruel, laughing at us

Most of them are human faces, but some of them can be monstruous and scary

You may think that you're alone, but you're never on your own... At least in the old Århus!

"Pølse. Danish for happiness"

Did you know that Århus has got a new slogan in English?

"Aarhus, Danish for progress"

But living in Denmark, I'd suggest a better motto : 

"Pølse, Danish for happiness"

 "Pølse" means sausage in Danish, and it's also the main ingredient of the Danish national dish: The hotdog.

When I moved to Denmark, a street artist had decorated the wall outside my apartment with these lovely flying "pølser"

Of course, that vision made me run to the closest hotdog stand every single day.

Fortunately, in Århus it's quite easy to find a "pølsevogn", the traditional Danish hotdog stand.

There are plenty of them in the city center, and I prefer the "Børnenes kontor" ("the Children's offices"), that support charity for kids with their incomes

The local "pølsevogns" try to suit the Aarhusians' new tastes. 

One of the last trends is the bratwurst, a genuine German sausage, often served with curry sauce like in Berlin

But it you're not into pork, don't worry. On the pedestrian street you'll find also shawarma stands...

...or even sushi stands! Healthy and tasty...

If you're a gourmet type, I'd recommend the popular "bistro" café Lecoq  in the Latin Quarter that offers its delicious "lecoqdog" in special occasions, with North African sausage, harissa mayo and special salat...

The passion for hotdogs goes so far that great cooks show their most bizarre creations at Denmark Masters every year. Last week I could taste the surrealistic "black dog", the aRos museum's entry to the contest this year, made of deer sausage, pancake, swamps, squid ink and wild herbs

And of course, after visiting all these "pølsevogns" taking pictures for my blog, I couldn't resist the temptation of buying a couple of "fransk hotdogs" at my favourite "pølsevogn" in Lilletorv... Velbekomme!! :-P

Let's move!

The people from Århus can be quite original and they express their personality even when choosing their modes of transport. Look at the following pictures, I'm sure you'll find something to your taste too.

For the rockabilly...

For the francophile...

For the Barbie girl...

For the gentleman...

For the Mediterranean...

For Popeye...

For the cowboy...

For the green mind...

For the dreamer...

And for the free spirit...

Animal life

When I moved back to Århus, I noticed that the locals like to take care of their appearance.

But later on I could observe the same kind of behaviour in animals... 

On the pedestrian street dogs become  fashion victims and they obviously love denim...

They even fall asleep in front of the computer after being shopping online all night!

Everyone with a bathtub at home knows that ducks like rubber, but this one from the Dyrehave goes too far...

Sometimes animals get romantic after a shopping tour in town, like these big rabbits last Easter...

But dogs, ducks and rabbits aren't the only animals concerned with their appearance: I saw this pig walking on one of the most exclusive streets of Århus, Strandvejen, with delicate elegance and finesse...