Swedish News

 

  • Stockholm – a movie star.
    Drugs and youth on the run. Love and romance in cobblestoned alleys. A big city like Stockholm is so much more than the sum of its houses, streets and people. It is also loaded with visions of threats and promises. What do movies like “Sommaren med Monika” and “Änglar, finns dom…” and “Låt den rätte komma in” have in common? They all take place in and around Stockholm. In different ways they add to the special spirit of the city. And if you’re on your way to our capitol, check out “I huvudrollen: Stockholm” at Stockholms stadsmuseum, an exhibition about Stockholm’s long life on the big screen. Through images from Ingmar Bergman classics and rightfully forgotten comedies we watch a city develop and change character. And Stockholm can act! It can be frightful and it can be sleezy, fun and boring. And watch lovely Harriet Andersson fall into the embrace of Lars Ekborg at some park bench. What better backdrop than Stockholm for a romance? For more info: www.stadsmuseum.stockholm.se

  • Best Restaurant in Sweden.
    According to the 2009 edition of the restaurant guide White Guide, the best restaurant in Sweden is Mathias Dahlgren - Matsalen at Grand Hotel in Stockholm. According to White Guide, Mathias Dahlgren offers his guests the best all around experience of both food and environment. “Mathias Dahlgren combines high quality of food with an amazing service experience. And he does it without a lot of technical gimmicks. “It’s very basic,” says Mikael Mölstad, one of the forces behind the yearly White Guide arrangement. And to be “basic” is one of the best things to be right now when it comes to restaurants. If, on the other hand, you’re interested in food and food alone, then the winner is Frantzén/Lindeberg, also in Stockholm.

  • Taller and richer.
    According to a new Swedish study done at the Kalmar University based of the measurements of 500,000 Swedish men, the taller the better. Or at least the richer. The study indicates that average pay increases in line with average height. “These are not small differences we have noted; on average those who are ten centimeters taller have 6% higher incomes,” says Professor Dan-Olof Rooth. The study also shows that there are income differences even among siblings of differing heights, even if those differences are somewhat smaller. "The differences are even there between one who is 173 centimeters tall and one who is 175 centimeters, and between one who is 178 centimeters tall and one who is 180 centimeters. The effects are quite consistent," Dan-Olof Rooth concluded. Rooth added that now that they know taller men make more money they want to continue the research to find out why exactly that is so.

  • Swedish at Tribeca Film Festival.
    Sweden is once again riding high at the Tribeca Film Festival. In the Discovery section we find Måns Herngren's The Swimsuit Issue and the Danish-Swedish co-production, Original, by Alexander Brøndsted and Antonio Tublén. Anna Linder's short film, densen, has been selected for the Human Landscapes section, and the Russian-Swedish Newsmakers, by Anders Banke, will screen in the Midnight section. Herngren's synchronized swimming comedy, The Swimsuit Issue (Allt flyter,) is described in the Tribeca program as a "fun, feel-good comedy about friendship and family." Original is an existential comedy about Henry, a loser who realizes that he's just a pale imitation of the man he'd like to be and decides to swap his dull everyday life for sangria and a restaurant in Spain. densen (the Japanese word for overhead cables) explores cables from Tokyo to Buenos Aires against a score of meditative electronic music by the Swedish group Tape. The action film, Newsmakers, starring Loa Falkman in one of the roles, is also taking part in the festival. The film follows police officer Smirnov, whose working life is being filmed for a reality show, in his hunt for a notorious gang leader Herman. Last year Tomas Alfredson's Let the Right One In scooped first prize at the Tribeca Festival.

  • Fossil fuel-free by 2030.
    The Swedish government is clear in their new proposition: Carbon emissions will be cut by 40% by 2020. And by 2030 cars will be fossil fuel-free. Sweden will also expand its wind power. “You won’t find a more ambitious proposal anywhere in the world today,” said minister for enterprise and energy Maud Olofsson. And environment minister Andreas Carlgren added: “What is good for the environment will get cheaper, what’s bad for the environment will get more expensive. Carrot and stick.” He also said that the government is prepared to raise carbon taxes as much as necessary to cut emissions by two million tons, but a rise is not on the agenda at the moment. The climate bill contains sufficiently tough measures as it is.