biking with vikings

Lanterne Lanterne

Malcolm's kindergarten has a nice Christmas/Winter tradition where the children all carry colored lanterns through the night woods and sing traditional songs about Winter and Christmastime.  It was raining a bit (bother!) but still fun for the children and very touching to see all of them singing and walking along with their little torches!

In the woods they met up with Stjerneman (star man - a guy in a wizard hat and costume with starts all over - ?) who gave them cookies and talked to them about the Jul holiday and so forth - very cute!

So while I didn't totally understand the custom it was rather endearing to see... sorry for the dark, jerky video but it was just the little quicktime video from my camera.

a few snaps are here

Tivoli Sunday

no sign of Julemanden (Father Christmas) at Tivoli Gardens today, but lots of pretty lights and some really nice n’ hyggelig Jul decorations including a cool Nissehus (elf/pixie house) display

Malcolm had his usual round of rides on car-type rides,

 

he was fine until we visited Steve, Sarah and Zoe on the way home.  When it was time to leave their house, he had a complete melt-down.  Ugh.  Very embarrassing.

Kate Bush and the return of Prog Rock

 … just listening the the new Kate Bush album (actually a double album, itself unusual these days).  It is weird to even say “a new Kate Bush album” as she is notorious for very, very infrequent releases.  This one took years – the last album (The Red Shoes) was 1993!

Aerial is like a time capsule, as if it were still 1978 and ‘ProgRock’ still a possibility and Kate Bush delivers another concept piece to the world.  It’s not quite the same as listening, stoned, to my older brother’s Yes albums with headphones, but it does take you back .

None of which is intended as a slur.  Rather it is a charming period piece, and it made me nostalgic for that period in the early 80’s when artists like Kate Bush seemed ascendant, like some proto-Björk, who would take the muse in more experimental and electronic directions, and almost anything seemed possible.

But really, it is not of a piece with current pop music, not at all, and that is a very good thing.  Who else could recite digits of Pi as a chorus and get the label to publish it?  This is an artist in firm control of her destiny.  I wish there were more like her.

and as I mentioned a few posts ago, it is autumn, and it is a good time for beautiful, slightly melancholy music.  It goes with the foliage.  And few can create such music as beautifully as she can.

 

the dance floor project

in the “How Cool is That?” dep’t: Wash. U/St. Louis students building a computer-controlled dance floor as a project… excellent!  ‘Course they nicked the idea from MIT but still cool.

links: make:blog  source

 

første film

Our first movie date with Malcolm, and his first real time at the cinema!

He sat through Curse of the Were-Rabbit this evening and only loudly exclaimed a few times.  He was frightened – a little – in a few parts where the “bad dog” was threatening Gromit or Wallace was in trouble.  Have to remember that this stuff all seems real to a three-year old.

He was especially well-behaved though and whispered to us most of the time when he had to say something or ask a question.  We’ll definitely take him again soon.

Interesting to watch the Danes carefully pick up their popcorn boxes, plastic bottles etc. in the theater and hand them to the usher who is dutifully waiting at the exit with a trash bag.  Such sensible people.

efter-aural

Autumn (efterars) is traditionally a time for me to (re)discover music.  It seems like most people I know turn to the muse at this time of year, don’t know why:  Susan has been baking and learning new breads and pastries, people are reading books and generally hunkering down for winter. 

The clear skies and brown/orange leaves tend to put me in the mood for reflective, slightly melancholy (but pretty) music. It was Nick Drake for a while, then recently Van Morrisson’s Astral Weeks.  But I’m really, really turned on to San Francico’s Rogue Wave and the sweeter side of Sub Pop right now: Descended Like Vultures is brilliant.  They sound variously like The Shins, Simon and Garfunkel and god knows what else, all beautiful, energetic and smart in an earnest, Northwest way (rather than a smart-assed, English way).  I would say the first album rocks harder (at least ‘Endless Shovel’ does) and is a tad superior, but quality stuff.  Either stands alone as fine work. 

In general all this good SubPop stuff makes me seriously homesick!