Happy birthday miss Kitty

Hello Kitty - my childhood hero - turns 35 this year. It kind of made me think about how she has evolved over the years. This iconic cat that reeks cuteness and fluffiness has after 35 years really become a woman with a lot of odd things made in her name.

As a young girl I wanted all the Hello Kitty merchandise I could get my

hands on. Of course back then I didn't know it was called 'merchandise' and never considered the huge organisation's advertising schemes was targeted especially at little girls like me with a love of all things pink and a soft spot for cute cats.

Many years have passed since I cherished a Hello Kitty toothbrush and the merchandise has equally developed. For some reason it feels a bit like Hello Kitty and I have grown up together since I've always been just the right age to appreciate the newest Kitty-items, such as the Hello Kitty-MAC make up a few years back. So in connection with her 35^th birthday I started to really explore what else this lovely Kitty has her face on - and as it turns out our favorite cat has been pretty busy over the years.

As a 35 year old the cute cat is no longer only about small girls. The pleasures of Kitty have crossed over to a very adult world. In fact the life style of a grown up Hello Kitty now includes sex, alcohol and rock'n'roll - but still all in pink of course...

Dyrehaven in autumn colours

I like nature as much as the next person and sure the colours of autumn leaves can be breathtaking. One popular place for Copenhageners to go and enjoy the loveliness of the trees this season is Dyrehaven, a large wood just north of the city. It is a great place to go and get away from the city and breathe in some clean air.

However when the autumn weather really shows its worst side, which is the case at the moment, I prefer to enjoy the light brown colours of coffee, tea or beer sitting inside. Therefore I go to a different Dyrehave – the really cosy cafe at Vesterbro and place of the month in October.

At Dyrehaven the interior from the old school 1970s bodega is almost intact, set in orange and wooden colours you can enjoy a traditional Danish lunch of smørrebrød and other Danish dishes. This place is so down to earth, warm and friendly that you could easily stay there all afternoon, while the rain hits the window and the darkness slowly creeps in.

Find yourself in my blood stream

A new Danish band recently caught my attention. It is the group Giana Factory who recently supported Glasvegas on their European tour and also played this year’s Roskilde festival.

On Saturday they played a release gig at Vega here in Copenhagen to promote their debut EP ‘Bloody Game’ and must admit I was smitten.

The light female vocals and the electronic backdrop in the songs totally got under my skin. The three girls looked so cool on stage, and even though I know they have a male drummer, they just made me think of a modern version of a 1960s girl group – totally in control and really enjoying what they were doing. Nerd girl will definately keep her eyes on them in the future.

Inspiration - at last

I apologise for the lack of posting here lately. To be honest I’ve been short of inspiration both in fashion and art. I guess sometimes you just need a little time to really feel a new boost again. And oh do I feel it now!

I found Victor & Rolf’s SS10 collection online and I must say that this really gave me a rush of blood to the head. So far the works of Victor & Rolf haven’t really hit me as something striking, but with this collection Nerd Girl comes out of the shadows and is deeply impressed.
I guess it’s the whole fairytale imagery with the huge tulle dresses mixed with a sharp edge well worth of Edward Scissorhands that’s really tickles my fancy.
But I also really like the boudoir and Japanese kimono style. It seems like such a fresh and really optimistic approach to summer style. How this ends up being delicate and punk at the same time is beyond me, but it does and I want it in my closet!

You can see all of the amasing dresses here

Sweat and saliva – Shakespeare at his best: on stage

Last night I witnessed an amazing performance of Richard III at the Royal Danish Theatre. It really convinced me that Shakesperare belongs on stage. Here we can smell the sweat and almost taste the bitter tears as the drama unfold in front of us.

The setting is minimal: the walls are made out of giant blackboards, and chairs are lined up along them. The stage basically looks like a classroom waiting for a lesson to start and like bunch of young students the actors enter the stage singing and settling down in the chairs. On the blackboards written in white chalk with elegant letters are the names of all the characters in Shakespeare’s Richard III. They are organised neatly in family trees to give an idea of the different clans and family ties within the English royal blood line.

But one by one the names are crossed out as Richard kills off each rival on the way to the throne. In the center of the stage strangulation becomes an art form. Every killing is performed with the bare hands, just flesh on flesh. No blood or firearms, but pure human muscle.

Richard is played by Søren Sætter Lassen, one of my favourite actors. He can look small and insignificant, ridiculous even, and then suddenly the lines in his face changes and a schizophrenic power monster reveals itself. In general the story is played out with extreme intimacy. It becomes a raw and naked experience as every actor gives their sweat, spit and tears in this gruesome story.

Hamlet - and a mint

Late summer in Copenhagen usually means a least one performance of Hamlet at either at the Elsinore castle or somewhere else in the city. And this year we had a very special guest Hamlet at Elsinore castle in the form of the very lovely Jude Law. Tickets of course were sold out in a blink of an eye, so I didn’t get to see it. And according to the reviews I didn't really miss any ground shaking experience.
–So to get my annual Hamlet fix I went else where, to see quite a different sort of Hamlet: A silent, female one: Asta Nielsen as Hamlet in the 1921 silent film version of the classical play. It was my first experience with Shakespeare as a silent film and I’m not sure I would recommend it. As much as I love Shakespeare’s plays in different versions and performances, it just doesn’t seem right when we don’t hear the words. The piano playing that accompanied it almost made it hard to stay awake for this 2 hour film.

The idea of Hamlet as a woman seemed in this film seems a bit of an excuse to get the great Asta Nielsen to play such a famous role. It wasn’t really used to explore any other aspects of the play or the characters, which I think was too bad. Asta, I should emphasise, really delivered a stunning performance and was not as accidentally funny as the rest of the cast was. The extremely exaggerated death scenes of both Gertrude and Claudius become really funny and comic relief-like.

So after such a heavy Shakespearian experience, Nerd Girl needed something to pick her up. So what could be better than an ‘After Shakespeare mint’? I’m sure they were invented especially for such an evening.

Macaron vs. Luxenburgerli

Like so many bloggers before me I'm very fond of the lovely French Macaron. When I was in Paris the last time I also visited Ladurée for a cup of tea and a taste of their ever so famous macarons. And I was not disappointed , apart from looking divine, they taste amazing. So of course I brought back a box. But very recently a friend of mine brought home a Swiss' delicacy that resembles the Macarons but are a wee bit smaller. They are called Luxenburgerli and are as far as I can taste almost the same, but just the little sister of the macaron. They are equally as tasty and with different types of flavours.

All though the small ones are really cute, I think I prefer the French macarons. The flavors come across much better in them as they are bigger. The biscuit is also more crunchy in the larger macarons.