The Copenhagen Report

The Copenhagen Report is a great place to start any artistic exploration of the Danish capital. Tim Anderson is one of Denmark's most prolific bloggers, with an archive well worth flicking through - The Guardian

Episode #39 of MyDenmarkTV is up!

By Tim , in clothing , fashion , My Denmark TV , shopping , videos , web tv , 0 Comments

Episode #39 of My Denmark TV - our fashion episode - is now up. It turned out pretty well, though I think I was a little easy on my comments about Fisketorv Shopping Centre - it really isn't the best place to shop (shopping along Støget, the outdoor shopping street is much preferable)! But it served us well for this episode.

Enjoy!

Episode #39 – MyDenmarkTV.com from MyDenmarkTV on Vimeo.

Connecting people: The Denmark Sweden Bridge

By Tim , in Denmark Sweden bridge , Malmø , Øresund Bridge , 1 Comment

The Denmark Sweden bridge, better known in Copenhagen as the 'Oresund Bridge' ('Øresundsbro', in Danish) is a seriously funky piece of engineering work. In fact, it's part bridge and part tunnel.

And now for a little Q&A about the bridge.

Question: Nice shot! But tell me, why does this bridge go to a tiny island? Are there houses on it?

Nope... no houses. It's a man-made island. The 7.8 km bridge ends there and a tunnel starts that take you the rest of the way to Copenhagen. There are train tracks on the bottom of the bridge, and a 4-lane road for cars and trucks on top.

Question: I spent a few days in Copenhagen, and learned the hard way that if you board the train at the wrong side of the track at Kastrup Copenhagen airport, you end up crossing the bridge, as the next stop Malmo, Sweden!! Does this happen often?

Ha, ha! Pretty hard to collect statistics on that particular subject, but I'm pretty sure it happens a lot!

Question: So where does the bridge start and end?

The bridge starts in Skåne, Sweden (in the bottom of the picture) just south of the city of Malmo. The bridge then ends on a man-made island in the middle of Øresund, where a tunnel starts that goes the rest of the way to Sealand, Denmark where it surfaces just outside the Copenhagen Airport (in the top of the picture).

Question: Wow, so it goes underground? Sweet! When was it built?

Indeed, it's a fantastic way to get Denmark from Sweden. Construction began in 1995 and was officially opened in July 2000.

Question: How does it cost to get across?

The price is about 275 danish kroner to drive ...much cheaper if you take the train...I believe around 100 kroner. :-)

Question: Can you see the Denmark Sweden bridge from Copenhagen?

In some places, yes. If you are by the water in Amager, for example, at the delightful Amager Standparken (beach park) in the summertime, you'll be able to get a good glimpse of it. You can also see it from Charlottelund and Hellerup, again if you go to one of the beaches there. Unfortunately, you can't see it from the centre of Copenhagen - unless you climb one of the tallest buildings, such as the Church of Our Saviour (Vor Frelsers Kirke, in Danish). The Denmark Sweden bridge is also a great sight when you are taking off or landing by plane from Kastrup Airport.

Question: Has it brought Denmark and Sweden closer together?

Well, you could argue that it has - at least it has brought the Skåne region of Sweden closer. Now it takes about 20 minutes to get across the Oresund, whereas before this crossing took an hour by ferry. And more and more Danes are choosing to live in Malmø and the surrounding area - while still working in Copenhagen - for tax reasons and because the real estate is cheaper. This probably wouldn't be happening to the same extent without the bridge. If you look on both sides of the bridge, you're talking about a population of some 3.5 million inhabitants.

MyDenmarkTV update

By Tim , in clothing , fashion , My Denmark TV , shopping , web tv , 0 Comments

We finished filming episode #39 of My Denmark TV yesterday - my first complete episode as co-host - and now it's on the editing table.

I'm not quite sure why I suggested putting street interviews into the script of one of my first episodes - there are easier segments to film then this sort of thing, as it's a hell of a challenge approaching people 'cold' and asking them not only to spare a minute to answer a couple questions, but to do so on camera. We filmed at Fisketorv Shopping Center, which is hardly my favourite place to be, to put it mildly.

The filming included asking passers-by some simple fashion questions, such as where they like to shop for clothes, and I can tell you that soliciting interviewees in this way is definitely something that takes me - as it probably would most people - well out of their natural comfort zone. But it is challenging and worthwhile. As you might imagine, some people literally run the opposite direction when you approach them - even before you can even get more than a couple words out, but it feels great to eventually succeed - which we did. :-)

We kept it pretty simple and mainstream this time, but there's a bunch of useful everyday tips for where to shop for clothes in Denmark - and we'll of course include all the relevant links below the episode. Hopefully in the future we'll be able to dig into more of the independent shops, such as the ones in Vesterbro and Nørrebro.

Hope you enjoy the episode when it comes out this Wednesday on the MyDenmarkTV site - and I'll be putting it up here as well.

A new project - My Denmark TV

By Tim , in Danish TV series , entertainment , media , web tv , 3 Comments

At the beginning of the year, I received an email from the producer of a web-tv show called My Denmark TV (http://www.mydenmarktv.com) asking if I was interesting in promoting the show on my blog. This was the first I'd heard about the show, which first began in May 2009. I suggested we meet to discuss possibilities for co-operating together.

This quickly lead to me agreeing to join the team at My Denmark TV as a co-host and editor of the show. As the show is entirely self-financed with no sponsors or advertisers supporting it, this is just a 'fun' project. However, there are several facets of the show which made the decision to accept this new role an easy one for me to make.

First and foremost, I enjoy working with fascinating and inspiring people, which this team certainly is. What they have accomplished in a few short months since the show first launched, with the absolute minimum of resources, is amazing.

Secondly, the production quality of the show is superb given the resource constraints, which for me is absolutely crucial if a project like this is to be taken seriously, and ultimately have long term success. There is no question that the production and editorial quality of the show is exactly where it needs to be in this area.

Thirdly, my strengths are on the editorial and content side, something that a show of this nature can never have too much of. On top of this working with video is something I have been interested in doing more with for the past several months - so it's not at all surprising to me that an opportunity like this should come along.

And finally, to my knowledge this is the only English-language web tv show coming out of Denmark, which means the potential for future development, reaching an audience inside of Denmark and around the globe, and further developing the show and website, is enormous.

Working on camera is something brand new for me - so I face a steep learning curve. I've taped a few segments of the show already, the first of them where I am briefly introduced as a new co-host of the show is now up on the show's website ...of you can click below to watch it.

Episode #38 - MyDenmarkTV.com from MyDenmarkTV on Vimeo.

I'll be putting episodes of the show up on my blog each week, but for more info, or to sign up for a weekly email reminder when the show is released each week, click over to www.mydenmarktv.com.

And now for the news...

By Tim , in media , 1 Comment

I've complained on more than a few instances about the calibre of Danish news. Yes, the subject matter on a daily basis is limited, but that doesn't excuse the formulaic approach to reporting DR and other Danish channels insist on taking. So, have you ever wondered how to create your own professional-sounding news program, ala, DR (Danish Radio) or BBC news, and countless others. It's not all that hard. Charlie Booker, columnist at The Guardian and sometimes BBC journalist shows you how its done in this step-by-step video.