During the Summer, Underwood Ink opened — a book café in Nørrebro (the “West Village” part of Nørrebro), Copenhagen — but it only got to my attention now reading this article (in Danish).

I haven’t been there yet — I just learned about it — but judging from the article and their website it looks like the place to go to find new, long tail authors and enjoy the NYC Village feel of Copenhagen. Let me know if you’ve been; I will give it a go during one of the next couple of weekends.

Camp X seems to have an interesting programme lined up for the fall. What especially has caught my eye are the posters, with a cool underground/street feel to them, that they have put up around the city. I saw these two behind the church of Saint Nicholas in central Copenhagen.

I like the reference to Dynasty and the satirical tone in the posters. There are more than just these two; check both Camp X’s website and this photo grabbed in the wild.

Camp X has two Maersk plays this Fall; the first one starting early October. The brother to a friend of mine has a major role in one of the plays. I can’t wait to see the plays in the Fall.

A loyal and avid reader since issue 06, it is about time that I make room for a few lines on my blog for Monocle — one of the best magazines in print today.

Founded by Tyler Brûlé, who also started Wallpaper magazine, Monocle is a global affairs magazine comprising niche stories, anecdotes essays, photo montages, and more in affairs, business, culture, and design. It is a cosmopolitan mix-and-match, and its sweet layout and structuring makes it great for reading on the flight, in the bathtub or on the couch.

What continues to amaze me about Monocle is that, although highly globally oriented, Denmark somehow finds its way into each and every issue (at least how I recall it) — the peak was, as some of you may remember (correctly), when Monocle placed Copenhagen as the second most livable city in the world last summer. If nothing else, Denmark at least has a place in the Kita Koga manga series at the back of each issue where Niels Watanabe goes through life as a new James Bond.

If this sounds anything like something you like, pick it up. You won’t look back.

I am on a four hour train ride. It is the trip between where my parents live and where I live. I don’t know how many times I have taken this trip, but these train rides are among the most reflective and emotional moments that I have. These train rides. This state of mind.

I need a good book and a good record. Right now I’m holding Naja Marie Aidt’s Poetry Book (Poesibog) and I’m listening to Azure Ray’s Sleep. This is my opium right now. What is yours?

One or two of you may have heard “Fly or die” fly out of my mouth. I stole it — along with the headline — from Paul Arden, the author of these two books:

   

I read them a couple of years ago after which they ended up as shelf material in my apartment. On a lucky strike, I rediscovered them after a friend of mine returned them after having lent them for a while. I picked them up and read them again. And they are even better the second time around.

They are both easy and quick reads with Paul Arden’s input for how you can approach life. When reading, you may find that many of his ideas are self-evident, but give me, him, and yourself a break. Many of us need a push once in a while, and these books do it, so it’s fun to read. (Paul is a former advertising executive, so he has flair for good copy writing.)

Let me bring up just a few great passages, which are not only well-written, but also touches on important topics. Firstly, about our tendency to neglect to assume responsibility when things go wrong:

If you are involved in something that goes wrong, never blame others. Blame no one but yourself. If you have touched something, accept total responsibility for that piece of work. If you accept responsibility, you are in a position to do something about it. There are no excuses.

Secondly, about sharing ideas and how we tend to “sit on” ideas and knowledge instead of sharing. Remember, sharing is caring :-):

Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish.

And lastly, about problem solving leadership and taking chances:

If you can’t solve a problem, it’s because you’re playing by the rules.

(…)

But you must show no fear. It must be what you think, not what the client may think or your boss will think. This is your job. Don’t refer back to those in authority, they will play for safety. You’re on your own. Fly or die.

[All bolds in quotes my formatting]

If you have to choose the one over the other, I think the first one (It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be) is by far the best. But I’d pick up both any day.

Paul Arden has also written a new book (new and new — end of last year) — God explained in a taxi ride. Has any of you read it? If so, let me know if it is worth picking up.

Below is the stock price development of Bombardier, the company behind the infamous DHC-8 Q400, the past 3 months. The first serious SAS incident with this aircraft type, was on September 9 this year. Can you spot the trend?

I wonder what this will look like tomorrow morning when the stock exchange in Toronto opens. And I also wonder how other airlines will behave following SAS’s complete abandonment of the Dash 8. A move, which–by the way–in my mind was the only plausible course of action to maintain/restore long-term customer confidence and thus SAS itself.

So many things are happening right now. One of the leitmotifs of my life, “It’s always showtime” is more true than ever.

• Just over a month ago, I handed in my thesis, and two weeks ago I had the oral defense. WUHUU! Read more about my thesis here.
• Also, just over a month ago, I started my new job. I love it — the people are great, they are extremely impressive and they carry so much empathy it is unbelievable. There are so many challenges and so much stuff I don’t know how to do — it’s incredible, but enormously rewarding.
• Next week is CBS Case Competition – I wrote the case with Thomas, one of my best friends and one of the greatest guys to have ever walked the face of the earth. Read about the programme, which is open for everyone to attend, here.
• The Organizing Committee behind CBS Case Competition is one of the most impressive groups of people that I have ever been part of. Thank you.
• Christoffer, also one of my best friends, returned from New York City. It is inconceivable how I could get through the fall without him. He is not a Mr Anybody. He is also in the Case Group of the CBS Case Competition now.
• Much more is happening, but the time is not for writing a novel :-).

Okay, maybe I went over board in this post, but I feel like the guy in picture, that’s the name of the game. Fly or die.

Happy New Year! And what better way to start off the New Year by taking a personality test (I introduced you to one here)–but this is not your standard personality test–this is the “Which Super Villain Are You?” test (seen at Jason’s blog).

Let me know which one you are in the comments. Below is my result. (I don’t know Dr. Doom, I’d better do some research.)

You are Dr. Doom, blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test

My brother keeps sending me links to funny videos (like the M5 video). This one is well filmed and has the “play” theme over it, which every Christmas should have. The guys who made the film are really talented, and I keep wondering how on earth they got the time to do it and how many times they redid it. I won’t reveal too much — but let me know what you think in the comments.

I treat this blog and website as my hobby. Therefore, I feel very flattered by all the visitors stopping by on their way on the web. But where do they come from? Where do you come from?
I took at look at the traffic on my website for the past 14 days, and here is what I got out of it:

So about a third of my visits are from Denmark — that’s not so difficult to explain :-). What’s also very interesting is the “Other” category, which accounted for 15 pct of my traffic in the past 14 days. In fact, visits from 40 different countries (!) compose the “Other” category in the chart above. Wow!