Alarm für Cobra 11 changes direction again, with Daniel Roesner as Paul Renner

Poor Vinzenz Kiefer. The co-star of Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, which commemorates its 20th anniversary next year, will be written out of the show, and not by his choice.    Since the departure of Tom Beck as Ben Jäger a few years ago, the producers of the long-running German action series decided to […]

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A year of random thoughts: 2014 in review

For the last few years, I’ve looked back at the events of the year in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. (In fact, in 2009, I looked back at the decade.) Tumblr’s the place I look at these days for these summaries, since it tends to have my random thoughts, ones complemented by very little critical thinking. They […]

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Monica Z now out on DVD and Blu-ray

Monica Z, the bio-pic about the late Swedish jazz singer starring Edda Magnason, is now out on Blu-ray and DVD, as of earlier this week.    I learned about the movie not through my Swedish contacts—they were messaging me only when the film was in the cinemas—but when Edda appeared at Allsång på Skansen in […]

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Explaining one of Dynamo’s card tricks, possibly

An interesting video from our friends at ITN, featuring magician Dynamo, who releases the third season of his Magician Impossible series on DVD.    Other than the sleight of hand, I’m guessing that there are two jacks with his signature, because he can duplicate that. The journalist is never given her own card to bite: […]

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This is not your Granddad’s Myspace

The new Myspace from Myspace on Vimeo Justin Timberlake may have played Sean Parker in The Social Network, but he’s had a real-life social networking role to play as an investor as Myspace (sans intercapitalized S) showed off its new look yesterday.    And I like it.    After being frustrated with another attempt at […]

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The minutiæ of 2011

As some of you know, I have been using Tumblr since 2007, and when Vox died (at least for me) in 2009, I began using Tumblr more. It was good to record brief thoughts of little consequence, but as I hunted through the archive for 2011, I realized it was quite a good way to […]

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Panos Emporio: dare to be human

We weren’t responsible for the layout or photography, but our contribution here is in the tagline, ‘Dare to be human’.    In my 12-year friendship with Panos Papadopoulos, the designer behind Swedish swimwear (and now clothing) label Panos Emporio, we’ve often worked on marketing tasks. The most recent one: come up with a tagline that […]

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I wanted to grow up and be the Dean Martin version of Matt Helm

As a child growing up in Wellington, there were a few TV series that shaped my beliefs about being grown-up in the occident. The first I’ve written about before: The Persuaders, which is in part where this blog gets its name. I’ve probably mentioned Return of the Saint elsewhere, not to mention the plethora of […]

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Alarm für Cobra 11: a 15th birthday celebration

Today marks the 15th anniversary of Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, a German show I have followed for just over a half of its run.    I’ve watched it through budget cuts and some naff storylines of late. It’s of some interest to chart the course of the show over these many years.   […]

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Chrysler is Detroit-thug tough

Chrysler, Eminem: Imported from Detroit (2011) To take a leaf from Adland, where this is hosted, Chrysler’s message is: buy this ugly car or Eminem will beat you up.    To be fair, the cinematographer has picked some good angles for the 200 so it doesn’t look like a rehashed Sebring. Shooting it at night […]

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