There is no finer form of transportation than the train. Forgetting bacterial reports on BART and the stench of commuters on the subway, traveling across a country by train is a luxury that can’t be imitated. There is an elegance, an easy straightforwardness, as well as an incredible perspective afforded Read More…
I’m not exactly sure how to introduce Goodiepal. He has been cropping up in various incarnations and wigs in Denmark, the Faroe Islands, England, Scotland and the United States, holding lectures at universities and releasing a handful of LPs in the early 2000s. Without having received any formal academic qualifications Read More…
My feeble yet ongoing attempts to learn Danish have been retarded by, as far as I can tell, two basic character flaws: poor hearing and excessive reliance on non-verbal cues. Perhaps it’s an attempt to save money by foregoing things like Q-tips, or deep cochlear damage thanks to that one Read More…
Recently I was scanning through an Old World geography book, a lap-sized cardboard thing published for children in the early 1990s. The world was split not into continents or nations but mid-sized regions, apparently dependent on the richness of their tourist iconography. Each giant illustrated map was a combination of Read More…
The “Spanish slug,” also known by the name “killer snail” for its tendency to eat lesser members of its own species, is a highly invasive and pesty breed of slug found all over the European continent. Identification: The front half is pretty standard brownish (sometimes orange) color, but the second Read More…
Copenhagen is designed for cycling. A strong national emphasis on sustainability and self-sufficiency encourages bicycle cultural while municipal attention to such values expresses them elegantly. With specialized lanes and traffic signals, the most basic elements of the urban infrastructure incorporate cyclists, enabling over 40% of commuters to reach their destination Read More…
The Danish brewing company Carlsberg introduced earlier this year a new beer called “Copenhagen 56°N.” The beer is a German pilsner, with a light yellow hue and a taste like champagne from a rotting juice box. The beer has been marketed as relentlessly hip ― an alcoholic accessory to a Read More…
When I left Berkeley for a summer in Copenhagen, I was living a comfortable vegan lifestyle. Cared for by my co-op’s walk in refrigerator and larder of magical vegetable proteins, I had become both spoiled and complacent within a food paradise. Diversity of choice and accessibility were what gave me Read More…
In 2009, Heathrow airport in London instated a “writer in residence”. Alain de Botton, a writer of philosophically-flavored texts on the everyday including “The Art of Travel” (2002), was allowed total access to all crannies of the airport, and encouraged to speak to anyone he encountered. It is an incredible Read More…
In the recent summer months, in between the gratuitous shots of vampire and werewolves (now, faeries?!) on “True Blood” and science-fiction frenzy of “Doctor Who,” a curious thought trickled through my hazy brain: these shows are better than movies. Perhaps not better, but at least on par, and this struck Read More…