Thursday, December 19, 2013

The Men Who Made Us Fat by Jacques Peretti

I've watched the documentary by Jacques Peretti and I find it disturbing that it all boil down to politics and greed. I don't think that the food industry doesn't know or understand the effect of sugar and glucose syrup on the population. Just as the tobacco industry knew the dangers of tobacco, but denied it.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Breastfeeding

This beautiful photo is two years old but this is the first time that I see it and I just have to share it.

Two years ago, the image of a mom breastfeeding while practicing yoga naked went viral. Now, the subject of that photo, Amy, has chosen to address some commonly asked questions she's heard since.
In an exclusive interview with BabyCenter, Amy declared once and for all that the photo was not staged, like many thought it was. "The truth is we were living on a small community in Hawaii where our land was clothing optional and yoga was/is a necessity! I was just doin’ my daily flow when the little sweet pea came to sneak a suckle," she wrote in an email.
Source


Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Swapping sides

Two students, Johanna Rosberg and Therese Thomasdotter, decided to exchange the female models on some Elle magazines for male models instead. Kinda cute eh? (More images in the source.)

I often find the way men and women are portrayed differently ridiculous and these images really point it out well.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Jennie Runk models for H&M

I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. Though one model is not enough it's still a beginning. As a Swede I do think she's got an unfortunate last name though. (Runk = male masturbation.)


H&M also claims that they want to see raises in the minimum wages for the seamstresses in Bangladesh. As it is now the seamstresses can't live on what they make, 3000 takas (that's US$ 38 or 29.5 €) a month. I hope that it's more than words.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Spring is in the air...

"Jänkarna", that's the old american cars, are rolling again after the winter and I'm all sentimental. I spent much time cruising when I was young and so did my husband. I never owned a car, I don't even have a drivers licence, but he had a couple of "jänkare" before he met me. Did the car matter when I went on a date? Well...let's put it like this ... I dated the car and the chauffeur was part of the deal. ;o)
Jerry Willams and rockabilly music was also part of the deal and I've been to many concerts with him over the years. He's been rocking it since 1962 and went on tour with a little, hardly known band, named The Beatles in 1963. Now he's 71 years old and he's still rocking it as if he owns it.


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Poco - Keep on Trying

I found this on YouTube (gotta love it), it's the guys in Poco when they are all grown up and stuff. =) The song starts at 0.59 just scroll ahead...


Saturday, May 4, 2013

Working on a new MOD

I'm a Legend of Grimrock fan. It's my kind of game. World of Warcraft and such games just doesn't have "it". Perhaps because my first favourite game was Dungeon Master. My husband and I had just moved together, we didn't have a desk so the amiga stood on the kitchen table in the tiny apartment that we rented. I played through the game so many times that I still can walk through it and find the secrets without having to think twice.

I've played fan made Dungeon Master maps for a couple of years now. I've loved it and I've wished that I could do it myself. I never figured it out, but the Legend of Grimrock editor has taken me to my dream. My first MOD, Master Arrak's Treasure, was never mean to go public. My plan was to learn how to do it and have some fun, but my son sort of expected me to publish it and on that way it all went.

I'm now working on a new MOD with the work name "underworld". That will change though since I think it should have a better and more descriptive name.

Some of the things I've been working on:
 A custom door for a shrine I've made.
 Moved walls and ceiling for some old narrow sewers.
And a bunch of mini critters such as the ceiling crawling scavenger.

Friday, May 3, 2013

"Restaurateur defends half-naked woman"

Strandvägen 1
I have to admit that the headline pulled me in. "Restaurateur defends half-naked woman." My imagination had taken me several steps ahead before I started reading the facts. Did a woman undress at his restaurant? Did it happen somewhere else? Why were people up set at her nakedness.

The facts were far less fantastic. It's simply another case of someone defending a piece of art.

Restaurateur Pelle Lydmar has shown art at his businesses since the 90's. Some of it, according to him, much more upsetting than the half nude woman in the photo. The photo that's taken by photographer Oskar Christophersen arrived just in time for the opening of the new restaurant Strandvägen 1. Lydmar liked it and put it in the restaurant as well as on the homepage.

That's when half the "blogosphere" got their collective knickers in a knot and the news paper got their story. Lydmar has taken the photo down and put up a photo of his dog instead, but only on the web page, the original art still hangs on the wall in his restaurant.

If I were to critique the photo then I'd point to the ribs of the woman showing, but, this is not an ad it's art and the ribs doesn't matter as much then. There is a huge difference between selling clothes with too skinny models and making a piece of art.

Now I'm more interested in the food I found on the menu. How about this mouth watering dish:

Rotisseri grilled pork belly with carrots, 
broad beans, brown butter jus, 
roasted garlic- and potato purée

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

H&M again.

H&M Homepage
The seamstress at the Cambodian textile factories - where H & M makes purchases, has gotten worse conditions. Despite the action program, the working conditions remain poor. A new report reveals child labour and lower wages. - It is written, how long we can visit the toilet. If it takes more than five minutes, we get a warning, saying a seamstress to TV4. (Source)
The seamstress real wage has been lowered by 16% since year 2000 and is expected to drop by 30% by next year. H&M does not answer questions about why the workers are getting worse conditions rather than better though H&M knows it's an issue and refers to their homage.

The article also says that H&M is not alone in the import of clothes from Cambodia, though they are the largest importer (in Sweden). I'd like to know who the others are. It's not OK no matter who does it.

As for H&M, a pretty homepage with good looking claims does not change the reality that the workers in Cambodia is treated terribly. They claim that they as a company is "Councious" and that "our vision is that all business operations shall be run in a way that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable". To know about a problem and not doing something to fix it does not fit in that picture.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Rehtaeh Parsons

Rehtaeh Parsons
I've been reading about Rehtaeh Parsons and I find it very upsetting. What should never happen has happened again. A teenager was driven to suicide because of internet harassment. Once again it's not as much the act of the idiots that first hurt her that's driven her to suicide but the way others have harassed her because of it.

Being raped is bad enough. That the rapists took photos is even worse. Still it's what came after that that is really sick. They posted photos online and was not stopped. People should have hated them for what they did, but they hated her. 

What's wrong with people?

Any sane person would have told the rapists just what kind of idiots they are and then sent the photos and other information to the police. Instead they harassed Rehtaeh until she had to go to another school, and then they harassed her there too. It's sick!

There are many like her out there. Youths that are being bullied and harassed for something that's not their fault. I wish that people who know about the harassment will grow some backbone and stand up for what's right. It will not heal the wounds already made but it will prevent the making of deadly wounds in the future. 

It's snowing again

This winter seems so endless, every time it feels as if it's finally over it just starts all over again. Just like the leak in the garage roof. A couple of warm days showed that it's not over either. After all the work (and money) we spent on fixing it last year, it's still leaking.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Dennis Wilson - River Song

I love this song. Animal Planet is using part of it in their commercial for Wild Hawaii.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Of course H&M denies using "fuller-bodied" mannequins

Two "plus-sized" mannequins from Sweden has gone viral and the initial claim was that they stand in a H&M store. Something that H&M denies, and rightly so. H&M don't deal with normal body images or natural looks.

This makes some call the mannequins a hoax. However, it's not a hoax, the mannequins are real and they stand in a store, in Sweden, but it's not a H&M store.

These mannequins can be found in a Åhléns store in Malmö. Monica Hultgren is the company informant and she says:

"Our customers look different and that's why we use mannequins in different sizes. We sell much better with these mannequins in the store."

Source:DN.se
Photo  Emma Carlsson / Åhlens
Metro 2007
That Åhléns use mannequins that reflect normal bodies is nothing new. The mannequins reached the news back in 2007.

Åhléns sells clothes in all sizes and they needed mannequins that could carry the clothes.



Tina Rellos is proud of the curvy dolls.
- It is important to have mannequins that reflect all women. Every person looks different, and that is something you have the right to do.
Source: Metro

H&M could learn from Åhléns but I doubt they will. They are simply too detached from reality.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Danseurs Citoyens

This video touches my heart. Mainly because I'm a pacifist that likes art. Both are beautifully balanced in the message that these persons want to spread.

The Jasmine Revolution started in Tunis 2010, but the situation has slowly turned back again since then and many fear the Islamic fundamentalist extremists that is gaining for political power. The idea for Danseurs Citoyens came to be after Islamists stopped the dance project "Art Solution" from preforming at Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis.

"We were told that the streets no longer belong to us. And I realized that we have to fight to give us artists a public place." Says Ben Yahmed. "Our dance is a way to show opposition to the social and religious dogmatism. We remind Tunisians that only they themselves can decide over their own bodies. We dance instead of using weapons."



Friday, February 22, 2013

Shane Koyczan - To This Day Project




we are graduating members from the class of fuck off we made it not the faded echoes of voices crying out names will never hurt me

of course they did

but our lives will only ever always continue to be a balancing act that has less to do with pain and more to do with beauty.



Sunday, January 20, 2013

Pain

Street light and snow cowered branches.
My aches and pains are driving me crazy right now. There is no rest from it and I can't sleep at night. I'm still very thankful for being born in a socialistic nation and having the security I have around me. I can't even imagine where I would have been without free healthcare and medications as well as sickness compensation. Things are though as they are and I feel sorry for those who have to live on less than I.

It's a strange world we live in. Where and when you are born really do matter when it comes to quality of life.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

The Tutu Project

The Tutu Project’s mission is to support the fund raising efforts of The Carey Foundation for women with breast cancer.
Homepage: The Tutu Project

There is so much "information noise" around us today, and it's hard to stand out in the crowd and get attention. A man in a pink tutu gets attention. I love the photos and the idea.