More movies I'm psyched about seeing

Tomas Alfredson: Låt den rätte komma in
This one has GOT to be good. I don't see how it can be anything other than fantastic. The book it's based on is a complete masterpiece, I love it. What a story! What an idea! So original, so fascinating, so convincing. The movie has already won some award, at the Tribeca festival. I am more than psyched about this one. :-)
Fortunately it won't be long till I do get to see it - hopefully on Sunday. :-) It doesn't open here for a while yet, but on Sunday there will be a preview screening as part of a one-day book festival that the Norwegian Book Clubs are hosting. And guess where. On the roof of the Opera. :-) First movie screening ever on the Opera roof - it'll be worth going just for the setting.
But I think the movie will be fantastic. :-)

Rønning/Sandberg: Max Manus
Everybody's psyched about this one! :-D The poster looks so incredibly cool, I don't know what it is, but it is soo striking and well designed. I've got to see the movie. I haven't read Manus' autobiography (although I have it lying around) but obviously his story has everything it needs to become a kickass movie if it's done right. And I think it has been.
I wish I could have been downtown and seen the swastika flag raised on the Parliament building, the day they shot that. :-o

Henry Selick: Coraline
Because it's Neil Gaiman, so it may be really really really good. I've read the book and liked it a lot. It has the potential to become a wonderful movie. And considering just what this director has achieved in the past, well ... my hopes are high.

Bryan Bertino: The Strangers
Just because the poster looks so totally cool. I know hardly anything about this movie other than that. I am so shallow.

Jesper W Nielsen: I et speil i en gåte
Not on the top of my list, but I still definitely want to see it. I loved the author of the book this is based on, Jostein Gaarder, in my mid-teens. This book, when I read it years ago, was rather poetic. I suspect the religious tone of the story will not appeal to me much now. But I think it may be a thought-provoking story all the same.

Uli Edel: Der Baader-Meinhof komplex
Because the topic's very interesting - and timely, unfortunately. Because the book it's based on is supposed to be fantastic. And because I've heard such good things about it. Not that I trust the reviews, generally. But all good, nothing bad ... that oughta mean something.

Scott Derrickson: The Day the Earth Stood Still
I know I already mentioned this one, but ... it's Keanu, look ...

Mmm, Keanu ...

Don't believe in global warming?

Don't think the temperature's changing much? Maybe not at all?

Think things are pretty much as they always have been? This warming stuff's just a bunch of hysterical environmentalists running around getting everyone all worked up?

OK. Take a look at this:

This is a palm tree growing on the property at 56, Glad's Road at Grefsen in Oslo, the capital of Norway. A palm tree. It is not growing in a pot. It is growing in the ground. It is a palm tree.

Yeah, sure ... there isn't less snow in winter these days than there used to be. First snowfall of the year on October 14th, and then snow on the ground till March - that would not be a totally bizarre and outlandish fluke.*

Right ...

*This really did happen the year I was born. Only a little over 30 years ago. 'Natural fluctuations' my shiny metal ass. >:-(

Things Only Idiots Believe, Part Seven.

Barack Obama is a socialist.

I seriously saw this belief expressed just now in a comment in a debate at Dagbladet online. And sad to say it's not the first time I've come across it.

I can hardly comprehend how ignorant a person would have to be to genuinely believe this. You would have to know nothing about the American political landscape, and not that much about our own either.

In actual fact, the guy is somewhere to the right of the Progress Party.

(I'm all for Obama as US president, but let's not kid ourselves that he's comparable to anyone on the Norwegian political scene. If he was running for office here, I, ahem, don't see myself voting for him any time soon.)

They should all be like this.

>:-(

Mountain vacation 2008. August 15th: Røros

Røros has an architectural uniformity that is rather unique in Norway, where not a great many old buildings are preserved. (This is because we built in wood and then it burned ... and then we rebuilt in wood and then it burned again ... etc ...) Certainly it's rare to find whole neighborhoods. In Røros, the entire center of town is comprised of wooden 17th through 19th-century structures. The town as a whole is on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites. You can get more info on that here (both in Norwegian and in English).

These are some pictures I took while walking around. :-)

A view across the town from the upper levels of the cemetery.

Some streets. :-)

Someone's idyllic back yard. With chairs that don't entirely match ... but who am I to pass judgment. They've got to put them somewhere.

My mother walking along a residential street (Elin up ahead).

A street.

A lovely house ... one among very many charming old houses.

Church Street, I presume.

Sam Harris. I luvz him.

He is so smart ... and so articulate ... and so right.

The world needs more like him.

So we're basically screwed.

:-(

Mountain vacation 2008. August 15th: Røros Church

After seeing all this artwork we had one more must-see stop on our list - Røros Church, Bergstadens Ziir.* I am soo not a 'churchy' person, but I am an historian, and unlike some I do realize that the Churches (first the Roman, then the Norwegian) and their buildings have played an essential role in the development of present-day Norwegian society. A lot of our cultural history is wrapped up in our churches. And the one at Røros is quite unique.

Now let's see what I remember about it. There was a lot of info posted in the church, and I read a lot of it, planning, of course, to remember every detail. Oy vey. But I should be able to dredge up a few bits and pieces.

The church was built by the copper works. It cost a shitload of money ... BUT in the period when it was built, they were raking in so much cash that they could have afforded to build three or four buildings as expensive every year - and that's on the sheer profits alone. :-o So ... shed no tears for them. The church replaced an older and much smaller stone church on the same site. The church is the fifth largest church in the country, seating about 1600, and it is currently the main church of Røros parish. It was consecrated in the summer of 1784, in the reign of king Christian VII, who of course was not present at the ceremony. ;-) The building is currently having some much-needed refurbishing done, so it's closed for repairs :-) ... only open for gawkers. :-)

It's quite a unique sight, but it definitely needs to be shined up some. They were working on the exterior when we were there, but it needs a lot of work on the interiors too. It was kind of sad to see it. It's so typically Norwegian to not keep up with maintenance, but instead shell out vast sums of money on major work when it's gone almost too far. >:-( I hope they'll be going over the whole thing.

Exterior views ... this first one is totally weird, I don't know why it came out all crooked like that. It must have been me, because I'm pretty sure the building is even. ;-) Or is it?? :-o King Christian's monogram above the door.

The tower. Whoa ...

Moving on to the interior ... this is the altar and what not. Minimalism obviously wasn't the thing in the 1780s.

The opposite wall, with the entrance and the royal box above it. The organ is very impressive, I don't remember details, but it has umpteen pipes and weighs a gadzillion tons. :-)

Seating on several levels ...

There's a lot of portraits hung around the walls ... some of them with quite fascinating histories behind them. :-) One of these guys was vicar in the town for like 53 years ... :-o

Elin, left, and my mother walking by the side of the church, towards the upper levels of the cemetery.

The back of the church, seen from one of the upper levels.

Bluebells growing on the steps of the cemetery stairs. :-)

The grave of the famous novelist Johan Falkberget.

Some views of the cemetery. That cairn thing is a war memorial ... I think, or was it something to do with miners who had died in the line of duty? It was in honor of some dead guys, anyway.

*Bergstadens Ziir = 'the Adornment of the Mountain Town'