The Abandoned Dolls

Every Sunday a few flea markets operate in Oslo.


Here are some photos from the one near our flat in Grunnerlokka (which became part of Oslo in 1858). So I suppose this particular market I visited is part of an old tradition.

It is messy but equally colorful. It is pleasant to the eye.

I still can't decide whether I like the sight of abandoned dolls staring at potential buyers...

These ones are not for sale...

Some coffee from you know where...

I am off to Thailand for work. So I will not be able to write about Oslo for a few days.

Mesmerized, again, by Vigeland's Park

Understanding Ingmar Bergman

I found this very appealling BBC documentary about the work of Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish director.

I am now very intrigued by the movies "Persona" and "The Silence".

As mentioned in the previous entry, a movie about him and his muse (or one of his muses) Liv Ullman is coming out next month.

I read that Woody Allen referred to Bergman as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera. Here is the article from TIME magazine.

Liv Ullman 101

I just read that the film "Liv and Ingmar" will be out in September.

Much to my embarrassment I didn't know that Liv Ullman is Norwegian (not Swedish!).   I did some homework to make up for it.  Now I've read a bit more about this versatile actress, film and theater director.

I am fascinated by stories such as hers.  Female actresses -- especially those who have been muses to famous men - who move on with their lives, not letting their aging stop them from evolving into more colorful versions of themselves.  This is in contrast with the sad tales of forgotten actresses in Hollywood who once the looks are gone they fade away because the studios won't even talk to them even if they still have talent. 

From Zimbio.com

I like that in Scandinavia I don't see the toxic attitute toward aging (where signs of aging are treated as a disease rather than as natural part of life and death) that I see in other cultures, including mine.  Much of the obsession with impossibly youthful ideas comes from Hollywood itself, spreading fast everywhere one looks. 

Here is an interview from Charlie Rose where Liv Ullman and Cate Blanchett, one of my favorite actress, discuss their collaboration for the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" which Ullman directed and Blanchett. Interestingly, that play (and the famous movie) also deals with the tragic fate of an aging beauty.

Blanchett gave a fantastic performance. I saw acting live, in London, earlier this year. (blog entry).

From the New York Times

Other facts about Liv Ullman is of course her story as partner and muse in 12 films of the late Ingmar Bergman, the legendary Swedish filmmaker, about whom I will write a separate entry.

I am writing about the subject of muses in my novel and clearly reading about Liv has been a tremendous boost to my imagination.  It is good to discover that not all muses ended up in trouble!

A Brit telling the Norwegian story...

I love Google.

It helped me track a BBC series The Real Heroes of Telemark and the good news is that it is available on YouTube.  This story relates to my previous entry where I talk about this weekend´s casual discovery of an extraordinary wartime story.

The rest of the episodes are here.

That story deserved a fantastic storyteller and apparently it found one.

The BBC documentary is in fact based on a book by Ray Mears. A Brit TV presenter who knows a thing or two about survival techniques.

Taken from www.amazon.co.uk

This is the book's blurb:

"Sixty years ago, four men parachuted onto a Norwegian glacier, carrying only the most basic equipment. Their mission was to prevent the Nazi regime from building an atomic bomb. Now wilderness expert Ray Mears tells the true story of this gruelling campaign, showing how these men's ability to survive in extreme conditions influenced the outcome of the Second World War. The Norwegians transformed a military disaster into a triumph. This book tells the full story for the first time."

Now my non-norwegian observation about Norwegians.

The discovery of this book and a BBC documentary makes me ask, once again, why Norway is so silent, or shy, or passive about their own accomplishments and heroes?

Locals will tell you the answser is called "Norwegian understatement." And I think there is part of that: Norwegians are uncomfortable bragging about themeselves. 

But I am not persuaded that "understatement" fully explains Norwegian inability or unwillingess to tell the world in grander terms about their own heroes (e.g. right now the hottest international exhibit about the Norwegian painter Edward Munch is in London´s Tate Museum and I ask why not is it taking place at Oslo´s Munch Museum instead?)

To me it boils down to the power of a story.  And ultimately great storytelling means mastering the power of seduction.

A country, an artist, anyone wanting to make something or someone universal -  a story, a painting, a play - must create a story the world will not want to forget.

And what I learned during my time in London is that Brits are the ultimate storytellers.  They create stories that hunt you. Words that never leave you. Biographies that you want to hear again and again.  That the BBC is British is no accident.

So back to Telemark, I am not entirely surprised that what is an amazing Made-in-Norway event  became a Made-in-UK book plus documentary. And consistently with British fashion, both book and BBC video will try to hook you right with the get go "The Real Heroes of Telemark: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Stop Hitler's Atomic Bomb."

Now, that is how you turn something that happened once in a small village into a grand story of courage and survival!
 

Tales of heroic Norwegian sabotages

This weekend the plan was to look for some greenery, a forest to walk into. We ended up in a place called Vermork and I ended up learning about a fascinating tale of courage.

It happened during World War II.

The town used to have the world largest hydro power plant and after the Germans occupied Norway in 1940 they took control of the plant.

This is how the engine room looks today. Their size make you feel minuscule.

Norwegian resistence made the Allies aware of a dangerous prospect: the Nazis were using the plant to source heavy-water which could be in turn used to produce an atomic bomb.

This is a photograph from the museum showing the Germans as they arrived in the town

So between 1940 and 1944 the Norwegian resistance movement—as well as Allies—engaged in several sabotage operations.
The geography of the place worked in favor of the Nazis: the plant was difficult to reach (up in the mountains) and therefore easy to protect. For example, they monitored for 24 hours a day the only  walking bridge that connected the town to the Plant.

 I took this photo is from the bridge which was (back in the war) monitored by the Nazis 24 hours a day. Making it almost impossible for the Resistance to reach the plant.

When you arrive at the place you do feel you feel oppresed by its size, the machines, its architecture.  It is probably the first time I entered a building that had been used by the Nazis.

I did not take this photo is from here. I just wanted to show how remote the place is.

Inside the building, they now have a museum which shows video interviews with some survivors of the several mission to spoil the Nazi plans.  My heart was beating hard as one hears these old men tell their stories.

They worked in collaboration with the British intelligence. Despite some catastrophic starts and terrible weather conditions, they fighters managed to enter the plant at night without being caught allowing them to put bombs inside and get out unharmed.

I read that about 3,000 German soldiers were dispatched to look for the commandos but all of them escaped; five of them skied 400 kilometres to Sweden, two went to Oslo, and four stayed in the region for further work with the resistance.

Recreacion de los eventos en el museo

Six months after, however, the Nazis had repaired the plant and were back with the operation...

The Americans and the Brits decided to bomb the place in collaboration with the Norwegian resistence.  Sadly,  the planes missed the target killing innocent villagers instead.  Moreover, one of the airplanes crashed and the Nazis captured and killed the British soldiers.

As a result, the Germans moved the project out of Norway.  But they needed to ship the heavy water to Germany. Aware of this, the Norwegian fighters worked with the Brits on a plan to sink the ship.

This time it worked.

A hollywood movie "The Heroes of Telemark" was made in 1965. with  Kirk Douglas and Robert Harries One of the actual Norwegian fighters featuring in the movie.

Having been to the place, I am now keen to borrow it from the Oslo library.


As we walked to the parking lot and I looked back at the place I took this picture. I could not help to stop and reflect on the healing power of time. One looks at this location, on the 12th of August 2012,  the air so clean and the tones so green, the mountains fresh and forgiving.  You notice a grandmother eating ice cream for her grandchild.  And my mind could hardly reconcile the peaceful view with its violent past.  Did war really happen here?  And I looked around and it gave me hope. Hope that things can get better, hope that time does heal our wounds. But it also reminded me that things hardly "get better" unless courage - like these men showed - defeats our greatest fear.

Cuando calienta el sol...

When Oslo gets sunny all Oslovians get out of their homes, they go everywhere, anywhere, as long as it is outdoors and their skins feel the warmth and sunshine cover their skin.

It seems as if staying out is a crime.

I dont commit crimes so off I went.

Destination? Vigelands park. Norway's best kept secret. (Admit it: you never heard of it and you have no idea what you are missing...)

It must be one of the world's most beautiful parks not only because of its lush greenery but especially because of beauty of Gustav Vigeland's hundreds of sculptures which adorn the park.

I did not take many pictures because I focused on writing and also because my right shoulder has been hurting fiercely and I did not feel like walking too long with my backpack.

But here are some photographs to give you an idea. Vigeland made all the sculpures himself. They represent all the human expressions you can think of, from love and anger to sadness, erotic feelings and melancholia. I will write more about him when I return to this park and my arm gets better.

Chaplin's "Modern Times" is still very modern

I hadn't laughed so hard during a film as I did yesterday when I watched Modern Times from Charlie Chaplin.

And the best is that I was not watching the film because I wanted to laugh through comedy.

No.

I was being a nerd, wearing my glasses and doing research.

It turns out that in the novel something happens in 1936 and, as a result, I have become increasingly intrigued by this year: what was the world like then?

In 1936, Chaplin wrote, directed and performed in this film, which was received to great acclaim.  It is the story of a factory worker at a time where the US was dealing, coping, celebrating massive industralization.
It is impressive for Chaplin to remain a universal character after decades, a person who needs no language to be hilarious. And perhaps more impressive still to be able to master comedy as a means to deal with the anguish of his time.

Not many comedians can be (seriously) funny about things that aren't.  But he insisted in highlighting rather than concealing the world's hard modern realities from tragically high unemployment and desperate poverty to street riots, angry workers and broke employers...The world that was trying to recover from a massive financial heart atttack in the US while destroying the lives of so many.

(I could not help but thinking of the paradox to be watching a film that speaks of the same, same, same problems almost 80 years later).

On a lighter note, look at this video. Here he is supposed to sing (to earn some dollars) but we know he cannot.  So he improvises.  

The video also matters as it is the first time audiences could hear Chaplin's voice in a movie.  This was the last great silent movie Hollywood ever made.  So his signing also mark the transition to a new era: sound.

No credit card neded: Oslo's Public Library

I learned to love libraries in my PhD years. I remember being so impressed by the army of people working as if the most important thing in life were books, research and its users.

I remember missing the library and its services for months and months after I had graduated and left the US.

Then years later I found refuge in London's museums. It was inside those walls (the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate Modern) where I recover that feeling of being 'in the zone'; in a place where you expand your imagination, a. Place that changes you by the time the close the doors and you leave the building. I love those moments.

I also love the non-monetary aspect of it. You don't shop your way into anything. No Visa or Mastercard are needed.

So, I was terribly excited to go to one of the branches of the Oslo's Public Library.

They are there for you.

Registration and card done in less than 4 minutes.

A nice smile and a sincere, non-commerical "Can I help you?"

(Hei! Kan jeg hjelpe deg?)

And I did need help! I was trying to fibd a movie from 1936: Modern Times.

And now I got an email saying they found it! So I am getting in the tram and going to get it.

Yes, taxes are high in Norway but the there social services are outstanding.

This is a photo of the Torshov brunch and another one from the big library.

The power of less

Lately I feel overwhelmed by the amount of daily little things that must be done but steal hours from us that we will never, ever recover.

So I keep idealizing a life where I spend less and less time wasted ob distractions and focus more on what I find to be "the fundamentals" (which I would not call work either; to me is more about the creative act and investments in quality hours with your favorite books, stories and people). In my case writing the novel is a top priority even if sometimes I feel it is impossible to focus on it given the wave of new daily distractions from setting a new life, logistically, to learning Norwegian.

I know I will continue cutting distractions. Now I can even visualize the place that I will need to build somewhere where I can enjoy the power of less. Here it is. (Taken from a Photography magazine...)

Back to the Basics

Nature has special powers. That is nothing new. The question is why it is becoming so difficult to 'fit' nature in our monthly lives we know it does so much good! I adore cities and prefer urban life to life in the country side. And yet I increasingly recognise that I want more 'nature' in my life. I need more regular breaks not just from cement and transactions but also from the Internet. So that is the advantage of moving to Oslo: Nature is around the corner!

We were lucky because as a special person lent us his house in the mountains (lake included!). What a difference it makes to be disconnecred from everything, from internet to cars to shops and newspapers.

I noticed that on Monday my mind felt alert, creative. Or maybe it is my imagination. And who cares? What matters is that Nature worked its magic and that I want to be out more often.