monochrome

Winter Comes to Humleg�rden

03 Feb 2012 18:36:22 +0100

Finally winter is here and we're getting some snow! This is Humlegården, a park in the posh Östermalm district of Stockholm, during the blue hour.

Post-Jungle Laundry

31 Jan 2012 15:37:48 +0100

The trip to the Amazon was something I'll never forget; and neither will one poor washing machine. This is what I suspect it was like.

Essingeleden

30 Jan 2012 01:59:17 +0100

Looking south over Essingeleden from Fredhäll, just where the tunnel ends and the bridge begins.

One Winter's Night at Kungsholms Strand

29 Jan 2012 00:31:35 +0100

Panoramic view of Karlbergssjön, taken during a nighttime walk.

Ace of Diamonds

27 Jan 2012 15:31:37 +0100

A playing card I found, thrown by the road, in the Peruvian mountains near the entrance to Manu National Park. Card was photographed at home, as the camera had run out of battery when the card was found. Apparently the diamonds suite stands for "wealth and health".

Happy Surveillance Camera

26 Jan 2012 21:27:19 +0100

A happy surveillance camera, looking out over Sergel's Square.

Fotoshop by Adob�

26 Jan 2012 16:29:14 +0100

This is a cute video, but I think it misses the point. Whether models are 'shopped or not doesn't matter as far as driving female beauty ideals are concerned. Pin-up paintings are entirely artificial, everyone knows that, but yet they promulgate a message of "look like this to be successful". This is why I think that warning labels, like "this photo has been altered", ultimately miss the point.

As long as "being beautiful" is a major opportunity for success for women, beauty ideals will matter, and the method of communicating them will not.

Men have beauty ideals, too, but also many other opportunities to gain wealth. Think about it, how many men see "being a supermodel" as a road to success? More likely, they see "being a CEO". Beauty, therefore, is much less of an opportunity for a man, merely by having to compete with other opportunities.

The only solution I can see is to keep widening the options for women to be successful in society. The more options a woman has, the less risk they will lock on to beauty as their weapon of choice. Education, access to the informal men-only networks on the same terms as men, and telling women about these possibilities will do more than any cutesy "Photoshop is fake" cliché.

Los Perros

23 Jan 2012 10:50:20 +0100

This Australian couch bar has some great concepts and great food, but fumbles much of it away with poor service. Forgotten orders and waitresses busy with Facebook instead of their guests takes their toll on the enjoyment.

Los Perros

Tecsecocha 436
Cusco
Peru
Great concepts and great food, but fumbles much of it away with poor service.

Batman, Patron Saint of Taxis

23 Jan 2012 01:06:42 +0100

You can get the regular taxi, or you can get the Batman taxi. Taxi drivers - especially mototaxi drivers - decorate their vehicles with pop-culture logos: Batman, Thundercats... you name it.

Above Urubamba

23 Jan 2012 00:21:08 +0100

View of the mountains and red soil on the way to Urubamba.

Chicha por Gast�n Acurio

22 Jan 2012 20:04:05 +0100

You may not have heard about Gastón Acurio. That's fine - he hasn't heard about you either. However, if you are into food in Peru, you probably will end up hearing about him. He is the person who ignited the Peruvian food revolution.

Chicha por Gastón Acurio

Plaza Regocijo 261, 2do. nivel
Cusco
Peru
A great restaurant by the person who ignited the Peruvian food revolution.
Chicha

So what about this restaurant, that gives his name more letters than the name of the restaurant itself? Well, it is good. Really good. I had a hamburger that was just fantastic. But I also tried a bit of pasta, and... well, it tasted pasta. As in "dough". And that was that. Which is why I give the restaurant a 4 and not a 5. Everything else was great, though - the appetizer, the bread, the drink.

Do go here, because the food is really worthy of the name, but stay away from the pasta. For that, go to Cicciolina.

Cicciolina

22 Jan 2012 19:44:19 +0100

I didn't think much of Cusco when I got there - a small mountain town, heavily geared for tourism.

Cicciolina

Calle Triunfo 393 2nd floor
Cusco
Peru
A fantastic Italian restaurant with great food and wonderful atmosphere.
Cicciolina

Cicciolina changed that. Maybe it is the amount of tourists that pass through the town that make it possible, but what saved Cusco from being a boring town that happens to be surrounded by Inca ruins was one fantastic Italian restaurant with great food and wonderful atmosphere - Cicciolina. It is impossible to list anything wrong with the restaurant: The food is great, the service is great, the atmosphere is great, even without a booking you get a table within minutes, etc.

Just go there. The prices are great, too.

A Hill With a Cross

22 Jan 2012 01:44:15 +0100

A cross carved into a hillside above Chivay.

Pampa de Arrieros

22 Jan 2012 01:42:47 +0100

View of the smooth hills from Highway 34A.

Yura

22 Jan 2012 01:10:55 +0100

When entering Arequipa from the north, at day or night, the road takes you past this cement plant. At night is it lit up like some kind of industrial city, and at day it towers above the surroundings.

Madrigal Terraces

22 Jan 2012 01:09:40 +0100

A view of the terraces.