Michael Carøe Andersen

Category: Living in London

Justice or peace?

Last night we went to a screening of the movie Storm (DK: Hannahs Valg) which tells the fictional story of a trial at the tribunal in The Hague and how the prosecutors struggle to ensure evidence, witnesses and at the same time make political bargains with the local government of the Balkans.

The conflict of the Balkans is not easy to understand – yet I think it is important that we try. This is a war that happened in our lifetime, right in the middle of Europe and with horrible war crimes of ethnic cleansing, genocide and rape camps.

I found the movie very interesting and it displays some of the dilemmas of trying to achieve justice for the atrocities while trying to rebuild the stability of the region and what one persons sacrifice mean in a bigger political game.

After the movie there was a panel debate with the former diplomat Charles Crawford, journalist Rajeshree Sisodia, Elena Wasylem from a rape victim help group and Lisa Gormley from Amnesty International. They all had some interesting inputs to the different themes of the film and put it into context. One of the things that they mentioned in the debate afterwards was that the bargaining and some of the actions of the barristers were quite unrealistic.

The film is a great example of European collaboration as it was created with funding from three countries and cast from at least eight.

Check out Ann’s blog post about the night as well 🙂

Update March 29th 2010: Charles Crawford wrote a nice piece on the film and the debate afterwards.

March 26, 2010
St Patrick's Parade in Willesden Green

We live in the borough of Brent which is the most ethnic diverse in England and also the place with most Irish people in London. Wednesday last week was the real St. Patrick’s day which meant they put on a parade right down the street from us.

Around 6000 people came out and celebrated everything Green, Guinness and Irish and it was quite a show. It was great to see not just the Irish but everyone celebrating. Like these kids which looks anything but Irish playing the BodhrÃ¡n.

I also enjoyed the fact that the lineup before the actual parade was in front of the local mosque. Here with a truck with the title of an Irish rebel song called “Follow me up to Carlow” which is a celebration of an Irish victory over a 3000 men English army.

Peter Marshall the photographer was also in Willesden Green and as a lot more photos from the event.

March 25, 2010
Chalk Farm Tube Station

The tube station at Chalk Farm is my favorite of the ones I have come across in London. It’s a big red triangular building on the corner of Adelaide Rd and Haverstock Hill.

It was opened on June 22nd 1907 and like a number of other stations built at that time it has ox-blood red glazed terracotta blocks on the front to provide it’s very bold unique look.

Have a look at other people’s pictures of the station on Flickr.

March 16, 2010
St. Patrick's Day in London

Spring has arrived in London and so have the green people of the St. Patrick’s Parade.

Yesterday the sun was out and the bagpipers where filling the streets of central London with Irish tunes.

Not all of it was particular Irish. For instance the most cheerful act was Hare Krishna worshippers playing, singing and dancing down the street.

Other than that it was a parade of big hats, green cars and white legs.

Ann had four Maltese friends staying over this weekend and the parade was the Sunday out event before they all went back home.

March 15, 2010
How to pour an ale

One of the things I love about being here in UK is the hand pumped beers or cask ales as they are also called. These are unfiltered and unpasteurised beer that are not drawn from the kegs or containers by carbon dioxide but instead by hand pump or gravity. In UK you just have to look for the Cask Marque sign and you know the pub serves some good, traditional cask ale.

If you go to the north of England you will get your pint like the one on the left, smooth and creamy. If you ask for a pint in the south you will get one like the one on the right, clean and crisp. The two pints shown are the same beer but poured in two different ways that produces slight differences in taste. There is more of an explanation here.

Thursday Ann and I went to the February edition of London Bloggers Meetup. The meeting was sponsored by Greene King brewery who wanted to show of their new beer engine that could produce both Northern and Southern style pints. The head brewer John Bexon was there with another guy to tell about the beers and explained how to taste a beer.

I enjoyed speaking to other bloggers and having a night out. The beer was very good I enjoyed both versions – and it was free which makes it even better. We had a great evening where we got away with goody bags filled with interesting beers from the brewery and tickets for a rugby game but more on that some other time.

February 21, 2010
Ursula Martinez' stories and emails

It’s been a while since we have really taken advantage of living in this cultural hub but now we are getting into a stream of events again and hopefully I’ll get around to blog about them.

This weekend started off with a visit to a black box. Not just any box however it was Miroslaw Balka’s Box of Darkness at Tate Modern. A huge steel box that as you entered it completely covered you in darkness. It is 30 meters deep and as you walk in you can’t see anything – until you hit the back wall. A quite eerie sensation produced by simple means.

Last night we went to a sold out Pit at the Barbican to see Ursula Martinez. If that name doesn’t ring a bell you might remember the video of her doing a magic striptease trick that made it’s rounds on the interweb around 2006. She never intended for her act to be film but it did and eventually ended up online which caused a torrent of attention and fan mail.

Now she has turned this unsought celebrity status into a new show called My Stories, Your Emails which we saw last night and it was hilarious. First part was her telling embarrassing and funny stories from her life unrelated to the video. Then she showed the infamous clip and second part was her reading emails she received as response to the video. She did this while showing pictures sent along by the emailers and she impersonated the different accents of the people who have written her. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and so did Ann and who knows when I can watch striptease with her again without complaints 😉

We didn’t really know anything about the show before we went but it has been interesting to read up on the reviews and criticism of the ethics – or lack thereof of the show.

February 14, 2010
Bloggers in London and Twitterers in West Hampstead

When I move to a new city I try to find local bloggers – and this time round people on Twitter – as a way to explore my new hometown.

In Copenhagen I joined a bloggers dinner and learned about BarCamp through bloggers and in Prague I made a couple of Danish friends that I found through their blogs. I also met Empty Nested Karen and Minnesotan Al in Prague.

I’m trying to do the same in London but in London everything is so much bigger which is both good and bad. Good because you can find literally everything and all sorts of people, groups and activities. Bad because it easily becomes overwhelming and places and people are far apart. Nevertheless I’ve embarked on the London blogosphere and twittersphere.

Ann and I went to the Christmas gathering of a group called London Bloggers Meetup (#LBM) that organizes a monthly event for people who blog to meetup and chat.

The group was started two years ago by Andy and has gone from having a handful participants to having upwards of 100 now with the events getting booked out days or weeks before they take place. Here Andy is presenting one of the nights three speakers.

First speaker was a security expert from Symantec (who sponsored the bar tab), then followed one of the girls of Domestic Sluttery (they brought cookies!) talked about tips for bloggers and last was Arvind talking about Kiva – a microfinance project.

A great night and I got round to speak to a couple of bloggers like Jorgen, The Undercover Recruiter and Too Geeky Chris (and a couple I forgot, ups).

A few weeks later I went to West Hampstead a neighborhood 30 min walk away from here. There is an active and growing online community in West Hampstead that mainly engage on Twitter. Jonathan is the man behind the blog West Hampstead Life and he is also very active on Twitter where he has been the anchorman for a lot of events. I went to a meetup called a #WHampGather at Alice House a very cool pub/restaurant.

There were loads of people who turned up for the event, our corner was completely packed and the group was very divers. Again I met a lot of interesting people and had a good evening.

At both events there were prizes and gifts so from the bloggers meetup I came away with a copy of Symantics new anti virus program and the day after I won a lampshade and from the twitter event I won a cool Dot To Date calendar.

December 21, 2009
Snow in London and Willesden Green

London usually dont get much snow during the winter since it is in its own weather pocket that is up to 5 degrees warmer than the surrounding areas. But yesterday the flakes started to fall just as Ann and I was heading home from meeting one of her friends.

This morning I went up to the local Gladstone Park to try out my new camera and see out if I could figure out how to take snow shots.

Nice day!

December 18, 2009
London, Denmark and things in between

A blog post from me has been long overdue, I know. It’s been a month and a half so I’ll give you a quick rundown of the highlights. (For more reliable updates check my twitter or Ann’s blog)

In London
5th of November the Brits celebrate the Guy Fawkes failed attempt to blow up Parliament. We went to the local Roundwood Park to see a the fireworks. Before the show we grabbed some hotdogs and looked at all the kids fighting with light swords.

Trips to Denmark
In November I went on a round trip in Denmark partly for business but also to see friends and family. In Copenhagen I stayed with Mikkel who loves to cook (and I love to eat his food).

In Aalborg I visited Peter, Maria and little Oscar and met Martin for a beer or two at my favorite classy and trashy bars.

In Odder I had a playdate with my nephew and ended up at my parents place for a couple of days.

This Denmark trip ended with a big Christmas celebration in the barn of my aunt Solveig where the three cousins were celebrating Christmas big style. Always a big, fun party and this year cousin Rasmus was home on leave from his soldier duties in Afghanistan. Here are the three brothers Rasmus, Mogens and Christian.

Three weeks later I was back in Denmark again – this time with Ann. Since Ann and I are spending Christmas in Malta we went to exchange gifts and celebrate a mini-Christmas with my family with a nice dinner, gifts unwrapping, Lego building with Magnus and cookie making with my dad.

After the family stuff we went for a trip to Ã…rhus to see Christian, his wife and 6 month old son. Before that we went to The Old Town an open air museum where they have old buildings from all over Denmark that has been disassembled in their original spot and rebuilt in the museum.

Visits in London
Ann’s mum and sister came to visit us in London at the end of November. With them we went to see the musical Blood Brother with Melanie C. One of the other days we walked along Regent’s Canal to Camden Market.

My cousin Rasmus the soldier and his friend Daniel was passing through London so I spend a day walking around London with them and catching up.

A friend from high school Jan and his girlfriend Kristi came to London this weekend and I had a great time playing guide/discovering London with them as we walked through town on a nice winter Sunday.

With Jan and Kristi we made it to an evensong at Westminister Abbey. For the first Sunday of Advent, Ann and I had gone to St. Paul Cathedral (pictured above).

Getting out of London
We went to Canterbury in Kent for a Sunday to meet a friend of Ann. The weather was not the best but we got to see the medieval town and huge cathedral where the Archbishop of Canterbury resides.

With Ann’s family in London we took a trip to Oxford where we did Ashmolean Museum, Museum of Natural History, Museum of History of Science and Pitt Rivers Museum.

That was it for the highlights. As mentioned Malta is coming up for Christmas and I’m really looking forward to that 🙂 Hopefully I’ll get around to writing another update or two before – if not – Merry Christmas!

December 15, 2009
Bloody Church Night

It is the weekend of All Saints the time of remembering the dead. In a lighter spirit it’s also Halloween and time to scare and be scared. Thursday night Ann and I went to Union Chapel in Islington for a quite extraordinary service.

Union Chapel is a church built in Victorian Gothic style back in late 19th century. It is a working church with sermons every Sunday but it is also the host of other events. In order to pay for the restoration and upkeep of the building as well as increase access the church opened up for performing arts to use the place in 1991.

Union Chapel has hosted names like David Byrne, Noel Gallager, Damian Rice and even U2 made a surprise session there (click the links to get an idea of the atmosphere). Thursday night the church was taken over by Dracula!

Jameson the whiskey was hosting a Cult Film Club in the church so we got tickets and drinks for free – not a bad deal 🙂

The film they were showing was the Dracula of 1958 and as you can imagine the church was perfect for a Dracula setting.

Before the show started while people were getting drinks and popcorn a Dracula was on stage hanging and standing from a metal frame sometimes jumping off stage and sneaking around the back to scare people.
To top it all off an organ player was setting the right mood on the original Father Willies organ in the church – Spooky – in a very cool way!

See the official photos here. Yet again the blog/twitter of IanVisits was the one to alert me to an event, cheers!

October 31, 2009