Showing posts with label Amazon.com. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon.com. Show all posts

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Today, Stockholm is T minus 21 days -and yes I'm counting!; Some Swedish homework of mine to make my trip go well includes reviewing grammar and re-watching the original films in Swedish based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium crime fiction trilogy, starring Noomi Rapace & Michael Nyqvist

CBS News YouTube Chanel video: CBS News Sunday Morning correspondent Erin Moriarty travels to Stockholm, Sweden to discover the story and the truth behind the success of the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, whose Millennium crime fiction trilogy has swept the world of book publishing: Stieg Larsson: Behind "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Uploaded October 10, 2010. http://youtu.be/X-WJ6BlLw2s


Above, at Panera Bread in Hallandale Beach last month, a few hours after three elements of my "Swedish homework" were finally delivered via Amazon.com.  I wanted a few weeks to brush-up and remind myself of some things that I just might've forgotten the past few years, while toiling away for clean, effective and transparent government here in Hallandale Beach and Broward County, THE most-corrupt county in all of Florida. November 19, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved

Here are my three handy study tools to help me make more sense of things in Sverige in a few weeks when I'm doing my thing in Södermalm and Norrmalm.


Essentials of Swedish Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Swedish
By Ake Viberg, Kerstin Ballardini and Sune Stjarnlof 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0844285390/
Because it never hurts to go over some things...

201 Swedish Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses (201 Verbs Series) 
By Richard P. Auletta
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812005287
Because there's always those verb tenses that seem slightly different than the way you remember them, and because I hate to make mistakes...


Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Edition (2011)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JTLTI4/
A four-DCD collection that includes the three original Swedish language films from Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, starring Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist, plus a bonus CD.


Trailer: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009); original title in Swedish: Män som hatar kvinnor


Trailer: The Girl Who Played with Fire (September 2009); original title in Swedish:  Flickan som lekte med elden


The much-scarier teaser


Trailer: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (2010); original title in Swedish: Luftslottet som sprängdes

I saw the original Swedish films but wanted to review them again before my trip so that:
a.) it would be fresh in my head once again once I get there, and, b.) so that I could take some notes on certain places where action takes place in and around Södermalm, since I'll be staying there for half of my trip. http://youtu.be/mJzQ_0XHJ58

The Millennium Tour
http://www.visitsweden.com/sweden/Regions--Cities/Stockholm/Culture-in-Stockholm/The-Millennium-Tour/

Bellmansgatan 1, Södermalm, the fictional home of crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist.


View Larger Map


Photos of the free Millennium tour in Stockholm at: http://www.losapos.com/millennium%20locations%20in%20stockholm

Of the various versions of the trilogy collection you could buy, I wanted to get the one that was in Swedish and that included lots of the footage that was cut from the original shorter theatrical release, so nearly every one of the three is three hours in length.
It does come with English subtitles, of course, since I'm not fluent in Swedish, just know what I know -and it even has an English dub track I won't use- but not one that's all dubbed, since that isn't what I saw the first time.

That's one of the other things that Sweden has in common with the U.S. -real hardcore film fans prefer their films in the original language, with subtitles, NOT dubbed, as is so common in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries.
On top of all the dozens of other things i will be doing during my stay there, I'll avail myself of some opportunities to check out other aspects of Swedish film culture and history while there.

After all, as I mentioned here in my blog post of April 25, 2012, titled, Beautiful, just like the original! Greta Garbo will be featured on the new Swedish 100 Kronor note, with Ingmar Bergman on the 200 SEK note, all designed by Göran Österlund, starting in 2015
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/beautiful-just-like-original-greta.html
Sweden doesn't just talk the talk, they actually put their larger-than-life film personalities on their currency, in the case of the two giants below, starting in 2015. 



Designed by Göran Österlund

Many years ago, when I was still living in the Washington, D.C. area, and despite a busy schedule, usually managing to see a foreign film a week, one night while leaving the theater, completely out-of-the-blue, I came to the sudden realization that unless Uma Thurman 
or Cate Blanchett agreed to portray her in a well-written biopic, there was almost no chance we were ever going to see a top-tier actress play Garbo in a believable way.

Queen Christina trailer (1933): The One and Only Garbo!
I think I've probably seen Queen Christina about a dozen times over the past 30 years.


http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/385/Queen-Christina/

Ingmar Bergman is on the new 200 Kronor note, replacing Selma Lagerlöf, who was the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.


Designed by Göran Österlund

Monday, September 19, 2011

Brilliant! Mary-Jess - Did I Make The Most of Loving You? ("Downton Abbey" theme); Mary-Jess Leaverland


Mary-Jess - Did I Make The Most of Loving You? ("Downton Abbey" theme) 2011.

Owing to the fact that my last post here had so many Downton Abbey-related videos, and my desire to make sure that this performance by English singer Mary-Jess got the amount of attention it deserved, I'm repeating some of the relevant parts of it so that it's on its own and you can hear this amazing talent, whose personal and professional back-story is pretty damn amazing, if largely unknown outside of England and... China.
Especially for a 21-year old!

-----

Thanks to my observant friends, loyal confidantes and trend-spotting spies around the world, I got tipped-off to this video and can tell you that TODAY, Sept. 19th, is the first day that you can pre-order the new CD containing the soundtrack of Season 2 of Downton Abbey produced by John Lunn via Amazon.co.uk.

In the U.S., you can also now pre-order it thru the American office of Amazon.com but it comes as an Import and runs $28.68 plus shipping.
The CD will be released September 27th, 2011.
See the British link above to see and hear the selection of songs.

If you can, please click the YouTube link at the bottom of each of these videos and watch it there instead of on the blog, so that you can also see the other songs Mary-Jess has done in the right-hand column.
Plus, we can send those viewing numbers up!

Right now, as of 6:23 p.m. Eastern U.S., the total number of views for the first video is 1,727.


Decca Music video: Theme to "Downton Abbey" (Mary-Jess). September 2011.
http://youtu.be/uCa-Bxl1s1c
(In my opinion, in this still-shot of the video above, Mary-Jess looks a bit like delightful actress Shiri Appleby, whom we last saw in a guest-starring role last month on USA Network's "Royal Pains," which I always watch.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downton_Abbey




Reminder: In the U.S., the first year of Downton Abbey re-airs on PBS beginning Sunday, December 18th at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific.
The second season of Downton Abbey starts on PBS on Sunday January 8th!