Friday 26 February 2010

Danmarks sang til VM i Sydafrika

…kommer Nephew til at stå for ifølge gruppens e-nyhedsbrev i dag.
Jeg forestiller mig, at det kommer til at se ud cirka sådan hér:

Pretoria ligger i Cape Town
Som en ugly duckling
Bli'r vi red and white on countdown
En wannabe Darth Vader
Morten O. er glad
Og vi' Superliiiiiga
Med et South African World Cup smile
I rød og white står dit navn
Da-dam-da-da-da-dam DAAANMARK…


af Bjørn Clasen, 26/2-10
inspireret af »Re-Sepp-Ten« og forskellige Nephew-sange

Tuesday 23 February 2010

What an...

‘Some people do not know how to abbreviate 'assistant.' You really should not be abbreviating titles (or much else) on your résumé. To me, it indicates laziness in that you don't want to spend the time typing the extra letters.’
Abby Kohut, president and staffing consultant at Staffing Symphony, LLC
‘Weird things written on résumés’ by Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com

Thursday 11 February 2010

The Sin City Brewing Comapany's great logo

This is an example of a great logo. It's fun, it's catchy — notice the devil's tail; the Sin City bar chairs have them too, incorporated in metal as part of the chairs' structure (unfortunately, I don't have any photos of one).

More about the brewery here. The stout tastes decent by the way.

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Real-life Forrest Gump

Review of the book One In A Hundred Million by Marion Urichich

Marion Urichich has a story to tell. In fact he has a lot of them. No wonder, as he suffers from ADHD — which makes it even more impressive that he has actually taken on the task (and finished it!) to write his memoirs and publish them.

And that's pretty much what this book is. A mix of stories and thoughts, without any structure or obvious order whatsoever. Sometimes entertaining, and always with wit. You can somehow sense that eternal grin on his face lurking behind every story, every sentence. Marion Urichich just loves to share.

The question is with whom. Urichich does not care, as long as somebody reads it. Somebody. In the very (very!) best case, this kind of book finds an audience with those who love to read about the U.S.American Dream (including the political points of view, which unfortunately confirm some of the prejudice that Europeans may have on untravelled U.S.Americans). Fair enough. That was the very best case.

More likely though, the book's audience is a limited private circle (often too private, as it is doubtful whether anybody really wants to hear about Mr Urichich's body functions and malfunctions). A circle that includes family members, and people who have come across him maybe. These seem to be quite a few, fortunately mainly for good and only a handful for worse — 'cause he has experienced quite a bit in his lively life.

This makes him a bit of a real-life Forrest Gump, a label that is emphasized by his writing which is by all means not very professional. The 'style' and 'structure', or rather lack of both, add to the authenticity and the charm of Urichich's book though. And, like Forrest Gump, there is one thing one cannot take away from him: He had the courage to tell his story, or rather stories, not giving a rat's ass (those would be his words) about what others may think.


review by Bjørn Clasen, on the author’s own request

Tuesday 9 February 2010

The Freedom To Be Free — La liberté d'être libre

‘Freedom has become a duty, not just a possibility.
But by becoming a constraint, it empties itself from its sense!’

Michela Marzano, philosopher
in Psychologies #292 (January 2010) — «Pourquoi nous hésitons?» (‘Why do we hesitate?’)
by Valérie Peronnet
quotation translated by Bjørn Clasen


« La liberté est devenue un devoir, pas seulement une possibilité.
Mais en devenant une contrainte, elle se vide de son sens! »

Michela Marzano, philosopher
in Psychologies Nº 292 (janvier) — «Pourquoi nous hésitons?» par Valérie Peronnet

Friday 5 February 2010

We've Got M@il


In Bratislava you don't just get a mailbox.
You get a mailbox
and a sculpture!

© 2008 Bjørn Clasen. Use only with explicit permission.

Thursday 4 February 2010

Animal Magic


In Luxembourg, pharmacies tend to be named after a lion. Which is already weird.
In Bratislava, it becomes surrealistic, as there is a pharmacy named after …a lobster!

Somewhere in between is probably the best choice. They say that dolphins provide the best cure one can imagine.


© 2008 Bjørn Clasen. Use only with explicit permission.

Wednesday 3 February 2010

A buckle is not just a buckle


Isn't it fascinating how many aspects are considered when designing a buckle to securely fasten a backpack?
And even more so the effort Duraflex goes through to actually inform the buyer about these aspects. More buckle for the buck...

Tuesday 2 February 2010

A Man with a Ball



I wonder what this sign means…

Maybe that men with hats playing football on the street will be injured and bandaged?

Bratislava

© 2008 Bjørn Clasen. Use only with explicit permission.

Monday 1 February 2010

Am Skandalspiel in 1982 war die FIFA selbst Schuld

»Okay, da war das Spiel gegen Österreich. Aber daran war die FIFA selbst schuld. Algerien hatte am Vortag gespielt und so wussten beide Mannschaften, dass ihnen das Ergebnis genügt. Wenn sie dann noch die gleiche Sprache sprechen, kommt halt so was dabei heraus.«
Klaus Fischer

(beiden Teams genügte im abschließenden Gruppenspiel ein knapper Sieg des deutschen Teams, um in die Zwischenrunde zu kommen. Nach dem 1:0 von Horst Hrubesch in der elften Minute begnügten sich Deutschland und Österreich damit, den Ball im Mittelfeld hin und her zu spielen. Die Partie ging als Nichtangriffspakt von Gijon in die Annalen ein; d.-Red. NFV).