V-Energy has a humorous campaign breaking today that blends our wired, social media-savvy culture with the real worldāand not necessarily with the right consequences.
Itās very well timed. The campaign breaks soon after Facebook announced it would begin supporting hashtags, the six-year-old invention that began on Twitter that purported to categorize messages. The hashtag has since been misused, almost to indicate oneās inner thoughts.
V-Energyās campaign takes that to a new level, with people venting with hashtags, internet slang (the word pwned is uttered), and trollingāthe behaviour of netizens, usually with anonymity, to provoke disagreement. The comments have come from real-life references, including online gaming, Twitter, and YouTubeāwhere plenty of trolling can be found.
The actors in the new commercial troll, as online behaviours seep in to the real world. V-Energyās pitch is to āsilence the trollsā, with the shush-kitten, an online troll antithesis.
Users are invited to check in to V-Hab, a new website where there are ātreatmentsā for trolling, in the hope that that dark energy can turn into something brighter in real life. V-Hab is what the company describes as an āonline troll rehabilitation clinic ⦠to diagnose and treat different kinds of online trollisms.ā
The site is actually quite sophisticated: thereās a comment converter built around the film, which can convert negative trolling comments into positive statements. Programmers used Python to build the converter over six weeks and V-Energy believes it could contain āthe largest database of profanity known to mankindā. It could be an interesting test for all those who have gone to swear words first when receiving a foreign-language dictionary.
Thereās a ādiagnostic roomā to analyse what kind of troll one is dealing with, while V-Hab also offers a De-troll Your Life browser extension, which uses the comment converter and applies them to other parts of the internet, āto help avoid a relapse.ā V-Habās ātroll interventionā features a Facebook app on which netizens can silence their trolling friends.
Check out V-Energyās humorous video below, and check into V-Hab here.
The honeymoon destination for HRH Princess Madeleine and her new husband, Anglo-American financier Chris O’Neill, remains a mystery.
The royal couple, who were married in Stockholm on Saturday in a very public, televised ceremony, held a reception that went into the small hours of Sunday, according to sources.
HM King Carl XVI Gustaf, HRH Crown Princess Victoria, HRH Prince Carl Philip, and the groom gave speeches during the reception.
Reports indicate the reception continued till 5 a.m. and that the couple left in secrecy from Drottningholm for the airport.
It is believed that the first stop was the UK, but no one knows where they have gone since. The Royal Court has refused to comment, but one royal-watcher believes they have gone to the Caribbean for their honeymoon.
Both Princess Madeleine and Mr O’Neill are well connected, and could have been lent a home for their use.
Ewa-Marie Rundquist/Kungl. Hovstaterna/the Royal Court
Official photographs (above and below) from the Royal Wedding have been posted by the Swedish Royal Court. Lucire followed yesterday’s nuptials between HRH Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill with photos and videos as they happened, along with details of the bride’s Valentino gown.
The Swedish state broadcaster, SVT, now has the entire five-hour programme available (linked below), though if you prefer quick clips, yesterday’s article has a series, from the arrival of the guests at the Royal Chapel, to the final arrival of the couple after their post-wedding cruise around Stockholm.
Princess Madeleine wore a Valentino off-the-shoulder lace-detailed gown. The dress was designed by Valentino Garavani, with a long train. It is made of pleated silk organza, with ivory Chantilly lace. The train, connected to her tiara, is 4 m long. The tiara has sprigs of orange flowers.
The Palace has also released images of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta’s crown from 1778, which stood to the left of the altar during the wedding ceremony, and the NordstjƤrneorden, the Order of the Polar Star, of which Mr O’Neill has been made a commander by HM King Carl XVI Gustaf on June 6.
The wedding also saw a magnificent rainbow appear over Stockholmāan extra-romantic touchāafter the couple returned from their cruise around the harbour to Drottningholm, for the royal banquet.
The honeymoon destination remains a secret, but the couple will return to New York, where Princess Madeleine works for a non-profit, the World Childhood Foundation, and Mr O’Neill has his own business.
The full video
Ewa-Marie Rundquist/Kungl. Hovstaterna/the Royal Court
Lucire, along with other media, are following the royal wedding today in Stockholm. HRH Princess Madeleine is marrying financier Chris O’Neill at the Royal Chapel in Stockholm, in a more colourful, less formal affair than the 2010 wedding of her older sister, HRH Crown Princess Victoria to Daniel Westling.
Princess Madeleine wore a Valentino off-the-shoulder lace-detailed gown. The dress has been designed by Valentino Garavani, with a long train. It is made of pleated silk organza, with ivory Chantilly lace. The train, connected to her tiara, is 4 m long. The tiara has sprigs of orange flowers.
The bride held a bouquet of white roses, lilies of the valley and myrtle from Sofiero Castle.
Other brides who have worn Valentino include Jacqueline Onassis, in 1968, and the current Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, in 2002.
The event’s floral arrangements have been created by florist Claes Carlsson, with 50 florists finishing their work last night.
Mr O’Neill, originally nervous while at the altar, beamed as he saw her escorted down the aisle by HM King Carl XVI Gustav.
Even though Lucire said that it would be hard for the bride to be upstaged, her niece, Princess Estelle, caught plenty of attention, and made noises while her mother, Crown Princess Victoria, read the first scripture.
The service, led Bishop Lars-Gƶran Lƶnnermark in English and Swedish, saw a performance from Roxette’s Marie Frederiksson, singing ‘Ćnnu doftar kƤrlek’.
The marriage itself was conducted in English and Swedish by the Bishop. The groom read his vows in English, while the bride read hers in Swedish.
After the couple were proclaimed married by the Bishop, Peter Jƶback performed ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’.
After the service, the couple appeared to cheers from the crowd gathered outside the Royal Chapel, and had their first public kiss before the cannons delivered the royal salute.
Guests included Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and Princess Martha Louise and her husband Ari Behn, representing Norway. Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie attended from Denmark, the Earl and Countess of Wessex represented the UK, and Princess Takamado attended from Japan. Princess Charlene of Monaco was present in the front row, sitting with the Danish royals.
SVT now has full video coverage (ļ¬ve hours) available: scroll down to the last of the videos below to watch.
Updated with videos on June 8, 2013, at 6.24 a.m. GMT
This weekend’s Royal Wedding in Stockholm, of HRH Princess Madeleine to Anglo-American financier Chris O’Neill, is expected to be a more casual, lower-key affair than the 2010 wedding of her sister, HRH Crown Princess Victoria.
The fashionable Princess Madeleine, fourth in line to the throne, will wear Valentino, according to sources, which had also been chosen by the present Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. It is a departure from her sister’s choice of a Swedish designer, PƤr Engsheden, though Princess Madeleine has worn Engsheden on many formal occasions before.
It is expected that, in line with her tastes, Princess Madeleine has chosen a design that is more “fairy-tale” and flamboyant.
It is unclear whether Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani, 81-year-old founder of the label, has had a part to play in the design, or whether it has been left to Maria Grazia Chiuri or Pier Paolo Piccioli.
The partying begins tonight in the Grand Hotel Winter Garden. It is a tradition of the Royal Family, and the same thing occurred prior to Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling’s wedding, and that of HM King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath (who had chosen Christian Dior when she married the King).
However, the do is more youthful, with many of the monarchs not attending. Representing Norway are Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and Princess Martha Louise and her husband Ari Behn. Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie attend from Denmark, the Earl and Countess of Wessex are representing the UK, and Princess Takamado will attend from Japan.
Guests to the ceremony include Caroline Winberg, Anders Bagge, and Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt. Swedish state television (SVT) will carry the ceremony live, though when we asked some expatriate Swedes whether they will tune in, the reception was not as positive as in 2010. However, Lucire will be following the Royal Wedding, and we like to think that we’ll cast an even closer eye, since Princess Madeleine has been a style icon in Sweden for years.
SVT’s coverage commences at 3 p.m. local time, with the wedding at 4 p.m. The ceremony will end at 4.45 p.m., after which the couple will be presented to the public. The cannons at Skeppsholmen will fire a royal salute.
The route the 350 m cortège will take heads along toward Strömbron bridge, down Strömgatan, and into Gamla Stan via the Norrbro bridge. It will then head to Myntgatan, then the couple will head to Drottningholm by boat.
Above, from top Alena Å eredovĆ”. Max Laudadio. Below Massimiliano Rosolino. Anna Valle.
Basta!, a passionate photo exhibition by Livio Moiana, is a compelling cry for all the victims of violence in Italy. One hundred famous actors, TV personalities, art critics and commentators take action by āscreamingā in portraits pleading for a ‘Stop!’ to the lingering Italian legislative vacuum. The portraits were created in solidarity with those who have suffered violence: girls, women, boys and entire families. Itās still a utopian dream, since Italy and Greece are the only two remaining nations in Europe demonstrating a complete indifference towards the victims of violence. Moianaās exhibition can be viewed through September in Vicenza at TheArtsBox, a private exhibition space, Contraā San Paolo, 23, 36100 Vicenza, Italy. Visit www.theartsbox.org.āStanley Moss, Travel Editor
Literature that’s long been ripe for the picking (or picking-on) is harvested in earnest for the PEN Center, a literary organization advocating the freedom of expression around the world.