A Few Pre-Bali Thoughts

Tomorrow I'm taking off for two delicious weeks in Asia, sans computer, so you won't hear from me for a while... but before I go, I'll leave you with a few absurd Swedish things I discovered this week:

1) McCafe
Check out the photo at left: Scandinavian hard-wood surfaces, enticing large-scale images of frothy espresso-based beverages, appealing modern logo. Hmmm, looks like a nice enough place. But what's this, a supersize menu? Those familiar flat burgers and skinny grease-saturated fries... Holy crap, it's a McDonalds!

But you'll find no Ronald here. No Grimace and Hamburgler, no golden arches. No weird neon plastic sliding-board room that smells like little kid feet. Nope, this hoity-toity burger joint could pass for an upscale Stockholm konditori. Apparently, red and yellow plastic decor doesn't fit well with the Swedish modern design aesthetic. Fair enough, but seriously, this place is a kick in the nuts to the American McDonald's brand identity. "You (thud) are (thud) UGLY!"



2) Caloric Punch
What the hell is this stuff? Here's the description offered in shaky English by the Internet Cocktail Database: "Proprietary venerable brand of Swedish punch liqueur (which see). The least smoky of the available brands. Limited availability. Produced and sold in Sweden. Known to be distributed in parts of Europe. Export and/or distribution unreliable. Regional."





3) Swedish TV Circa 1962
Today while researching a story, Niklas came across the following schedule of Swedish TV programming for a typical weekday evening in 1962:

Sveriges Radio TV:

18.00-18.30 Lerhuset. Danish children are building a mudhouse.
19.35 News
20.00 Unnatural nature. Anders Erik Malm ask a question to television viewers.
20.20 First Division. Swedish film from 1941.
21.50 Evening News.

So to recap, from 6 to 6:30 pm, you can watch Danish children building a mud hut. Then there's static till 7:35, at which point you get a brief newscast. Following the news, there's a nature program where somebody "asks a question to television viewers." (When do we hear the answer?) If you're still awake, you can watch a 21-year-old movie, followed by the news again. And th-th-th-that's all folks!