This is chiefly because I have possible future plans with those two blogs. Although I’m not abandoning this one, it is not my main priority.

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That is why parts of the recent news about TV2 Radio in Denmark amuses me. 

Because of low numbers, they’ve fired most of their staff (ok, not amusing) and are now operating on a low-manned schedule - playing just music, until the time comes to close the station. 

The amusing part, though, is that their low listener numbers have actually increased since they got rid of their hosts - by roughly 300,000 listeners. 

Business.dk speculates in that the reason for this is, of course, that since the decision to close the radio station has been out in the media, people want to know what they’re missing. … probably, but maybe also as they theorize - people might be happy to be rid of the hosts…

  Article in Danish

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Let me start out by saying that I was initially skeptical of this movie.     

Sure, the trailer looked like fun – but I’ve been burnt too often by trailers where the trailer contains the only fun moments of the film, and the rest of the film is horribly boring.

Katherine Heigl, similarly, is a hit or miss with me. I wasn’t too crazy about her in Knocked Up, but she’s fairly decent in Grey’s Anatomy – or the episodes I’ve seen.      

I went in with two girlfriends, (who thought that the Danish subtitles were hilarious, by the way.) The audience was mostly females, with a couple of guys thrown in here and there for boyfriend-measure, and then there were the four guys sitting in front of us. I have no idea what the four of them did there, but they laughed at the same places as the rest of us, so presumably they enjoyed it.      

Make no mistake – it is a fluffy film. But that being said, I definitely think that it is an enjoyable fluffy kind of film. It’s funny in places, it’s cute and it has its moments that make you go aww… It’s definitely a chick flick.      

Katherine Heigl plays Jane – the eternal Bridesmaid. She organizes everything for her boss (the Executive Personal Assistant), who she’s in love with, and she organizes everything for the brides, because she loves weddings. The point of why she isn’t a professional wedding organizer, then, was something I wondered about, but I expect it would’ve ruined the storyline…      

Jane’s younger sister arrives in town, and by ways of finangling, falls in love with Jane’s boss, and makes him fall in love with her by stretching the truth… quite a bit.   Naturally, it’s up to Jane to organize things for their wedding.     

Enter Kevin (?) played by ever adorable James Marsden – a wedding journalist who doesn’t believe in the happily ever after, but needs a big story to get out of the wedding circuit.      

It’s a movie about falling in love, and about family. Two sisters, where the youngest one has been coddled her entire life by the older one. Not unlike the Cameron Diaz flick, In Her Shoes.      

With all of the typical twists and turns of the romantic comedy, there are also some unexpected ones involved. We loved the singing (er… not the quality of it, but the fun aspects of it.)

All in all, we went out of the theatre, happy and still giggling over some of the things from the film.   As one of my friends said: “What I like, is that there’s no real good/bad characters. They all have their flaws and perfections.”

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What I realized as I was researching… most cookbooks and recipes feature recipes for families of four and above. This is a tad impractical when living on your own - freezing, and eating leftovers only work for so long of the same dish, unless it is mouthwatering delicious. What I discovered was that there are indeed cookbooks made for one or two people.

Even better - I also found cookbooks designed especially for students. One of my favourites, as evidenced by the wear and tear from frequent use is The Classic 1000 Student recipes by Carolyn Humphries.

There is a wide range of recipes in the book, and they’re - practically enough sorted according to the meal-type, first and foremost. Secondly, they’re also sorted by how many “big” kitchen things you’ll need. As long as I live in student accommodation without dishwasher, I like the fact that I can find a recipe where I know I’ll only have to wash one pan afterwards.

Covering both healthy and more traditional options, I find that there are many things I want to try out amongst the 1,000 recipes.

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The last fact became abundantly clear, as I was contemplating buying a V-neck sweater when I was home for Christmas, but came back and discovered that I had the exact same sweater in my closet - with the tag still on…

Some pieces in my wardrobe has been there for ages, literally. I’ve got a t-shirt that was picked up in a mall in NJ in 1996. It’s so oversized that it still fits 11 years later, but as I’ve been using it as a gym t-shirt for the past eight years, it’s looking decidedly ratty.

Other pieces are the result of impulse-buying, or them being on sale. I’ll be the first to admit that a few of my fave pieces, that suited me, were the result of such shopping - but most of them really aren’t all that suitable.

With a wardrobe filled to the max, it is difficult to calculate what to wear, and I often end up in jeans and sweater/t-shirts.

Given that I’ll be moving into the working world full time after graduating in a year, it is definitely time to move away from the high school-college-grad school line I’ve been sticking to these past years. The beginning is cleaning out clothes that don’t fit, don’t look good, or I never wear because of some reason or another. If I can imagine myself wearing them, they’ll stay, I think.

Of course, still being a lowly grad student, I don’t have the oodles of cash supporting a top-line new wardrobe, but it should be entirely possible to find suitable choices both in the low and middle price-range. I hope.

Anyway, this is the first step (admitting I have a problem). We’ll see how well the following steps go.

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 But there is also something in the anticipation that all female democrats would vote/caucus for Hillary and all African-Americans would vote/caucus for Obama… Men don’t necessarily vote the same way because they’re men, and people of European descent don’t vote the same way because they come from the same place - so why would women, African-Americans, or Latin-Americans do it?

Certainly, there might be candidates who appeal to the majority in any group - but probably not to the degree that the media like to portray. Discussing the results is another thing altogether. Then you might come dragging with the actual percentages of who voted what.

Is there something about voters’ expectation involved in it somehow, that the media has to tell people how they should vote based on gender, race or religion?

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With Christmas come jolly things - such as decorations, Christmas lunches/dinners, going home for the holidays - and Christmas food.

With Christmas also comes the negative things - such as deadlines for term paper, exams after Christmas, or too little things to do everything you want to do.  

I suppose it is merely a matter of bad planning that I find myself wanting to do hundreds of things, but instead of doing them all, I procrastinate by doing other things, and, in the end, am not really satisfied by any of the things I’ve done.

At least the term paper writing is going the right way. I’ve got just about 13 pages out of 25 - and hope to make about 12 more by Thursday morning, before Christmas holiday.

I got some feedback from the supervisor yesterday, which motivated me greatly, even if he had some issues with the amount of test results I would have to go through… 

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But, biking is trés cheap. Unfortunately, when it is snowing - biking is ill-advised. Then again, so is pretty much any other mode of transportation you’re likely to find running in the snow here.

Another time when biking isn’t the smartest thing you can do, is when there’s something oddly resembling a hurricane, or a bit of wind according to the Stavanger standards, going on outside. Pedalling to the max, and not getting anywhere… that’s when you realize that you’d be better off walking. 

Other than that - as long as you remember the gloves in the winter - you’re pretty much set for a cheap way to get around Copenhagen. And - barring hurricanes and snow - it’s definitely quicker than walking. Just remember to bring lights for the bike if you plan on biking in the evenings. The police might be busy with Ungdomshuset and Christiania, but they also hand out tickets for bikers…

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by Tim Heald

Published 1991. 263 p.

I’ve been interested in reading more about Prince Philip for quite some time now - and while I thought Gyles Brandreth’s book Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a marriage was very interesting - I wanted something more in depth. I’m not sure if this book by Tim Heald was what I was looking for, but after reading it I feel satisfied with what I’ve read, with a few minor exceptions.

I think that it is interesting that Heald have chosen to bring along sources that he personally find to be dubious, such as Crawford’s accounting of events, or Philip’s cousin Alexandra of Yugoslavia. He states that [paraphrased] while these sources have been decorated on, they still may contain some grain of truth from time to time. I also thought it amusing how the Duke countered a lot of the statements he was asked to comment on, and told the author that he’d never been there, and he didn’t remember it like that… and so on.

In a way I think Hugo Vickers’ biography on Princess Andrew of Greece, Prince Philip’s mother, is a more interesting read - both in the fluency in which it is written, and the fact that the author writes more objectively. What I do find admirable in this book is the fact that the author has tried to take up both negative and positive sides of his subject.

What I find surprising, is that the only one of Philip’s children who contributed was the Princess Royal. Certainly, it is rumoured that she has the closest relationship with him of the children, but I can’t help but feel that the picture would be a bit more nuanced with the others chiming in as well. As for the grandchildren - aside from a picture at the end, they’re hardly mentioned at all. Heald has focused on the Duke with his work, and less on the personal family life.

A conflict with Brandreth’s book, as far as I can recall, is that it was mentioned there as well as in this book by Philip’s friends that he never had a home growing up - which Philip himself disputes in this book, which was published before Brandreth’s. (Heald has a kick in Brandreth’s direction once or twice, by the way.)

Last tidbit that I found interesting: One of the enemy ships that he faced early in WWII was called Zara. Approx. 40 years later, his granddaughter would have the same name.

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