å for awesome!

Denmark Introduces Harrowing New Tourism Ads Directed By Lars Von Trier
When you put genius minds of The Onion and Lars Von Trier together, you get a Danish Tourism Board promotion that is horrifically close to proving why the Danes are the happiest people on earth.
I'm not sure whether Lee Tamahori Meets The Feebles would do the same trick for New Zealand though.

Can you imagine our Queen doing that?

From AFP:

Denmark's Queen Margrethe has created the costumes and sets for a film adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's 1838 fairytale "The Wild Swans," she told reporters on Friday.
The 68-year-old monarch has in recent years designed costumes and decor for several ballets inspired by the famed Danish author, and has since the 1980s delved into painting, drawing and book illustrations, as well as scenography for theatre and television production.
This is the first time she has worked on a film.

Why can't we have a creative queen like that?

Roskilde Festival nude run

The Danes apparently are the happiest people in the world. It's not surprising to see why. Happy as pigs in shit!

A slide show from this year's run here. Why can't out local newspaper run a photo essay like that, instead of endless pictures of wife beaters?

Århus: coming in from the cold

Århus is Denmark's second city in population and a very pleasant merchant city it is. Nicely laid out with its pedestrianised city centre spanning most of the inner city, and also features a lovely bridge over the little river that flows through the town.
It was full of young people today as it was some kind of day off for them after they were "confirmed" in their (I presume Lutheran) church yesterday, Sunday. They were wearing the international teenager uniform with a predominance of black clothes and, rather girlishly, white belts on their black sagging pants. A rather ridiculous look, but it is a prerogative of youth to look as silly as possible in their fashions.
To escape the relentless twink on the streets we headed for lunch at an eaterie which specializes in ethnic fast foods such as pizzas and hamburgers. Charles was most upset when the waitress told him firmly NO! to a request for cutlery to eat his pizza with. Apparently it's a major promotional gimmick of the restaurant to oblige punters to eat pizza without knives and forks. Eating with your bare hands is a radical thought in Denmark!

Copenhagen: when in Denmark...

A truly magnificent weekend in Copenhagen with our friends and former Waiheke Islanders Charles and Brent, with the glorious Spring weather following us from the Low Countries via London to Denmark. The rapeseed fields are in full fluorescent yellow bloom with temperatures in a summery high 20s range and no rain since late March.
I have been to Denmark twice before, in the mid-1970s, and I was keen to be in Scandinavia again. Denmark seems to me a country extremely at ease with itself and its place in the world. People here are quite laid back, although our friends said they are sticklers for rules and don't hesitate to tell you so - or even report you to the authorities if you infract them. They know who they are: no national identity crisis in a globalising world here. Hence their stroppiness in adopting "foreign rule", be it European Union constitutional changes or the Euro.
We did a walking city tour to all the places to see, from Amalienborg Palace (the Tasmanian dog princess wasn't home) to the Little Mermaid, from Nyhavn to Christiania, a squatters paradise where former army barracks and ramparts have been transformed into a hippie haven, complete with drug problems and consumerism which has seen it being simultaneously transformed into a political eyesore and a tourist attraction.
Finally a short detour to Roskilde, the Danish ancient capital, where a magnificent collection of unearthed Viking ships and artifacts are on display. You can take a ride on a replica Viking longboat and you even have to pay for the privilege of manning the oars. No rape or pillage is included in the charge, unfortunately.