A Word From the President

Gudrun Giddings

Alfred Nobel

The story behind Alfred Nobel's will and the Nobel Prize

On Monday, the 2014 Nobel Prizes kicks off. In today’s society we think of the Nobel prize as something that for sure happens every year, although, this was not the case from the start. The Swedish inventor and scholar Alfred Nobel’s will was what got the prestigious awards to take flight.

Alfred Nobel was the Swede who made a vast fortune from his invention of dynamite in 1866 and ordered the creation of the famous Nobel prizes in his will. In 1895, Alfred Nobel willed his fortune to a fund that was made to honor "those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind”. One year later, Alfred Nobel past away in San Remo, Italy.

By then his fortune was 31.5 million Swedish kronor, the equivalent today of about 1.7 billion Swedish kronor ($268 millions) and this money was used to create what we call the Nobel Foundation. 

In his will, Nobel had specified that the prizes should be divided into five equal parts for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace:

"One part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most 

outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Nobel had no children and when he died, his his family and many others were very surprised to hear what his will had to say. Two nephews challenged it and tried to declare it null and void. Even King Oscar II of Sweden opposed Nobel's wishes, he claimed that they were not "patriotic minded”.

There were many confusions regarding the will, Nobel had not appointed an executor for it, nor had he consulted the different institutions he had assigned to award the prizes to ensure that they were willing to undertake the task. But after more than three years of bargaining, the Nobel Foundation was created to manage the capital in the inventor's estate and the five institutions agreed to award the prizes as Nobel had wished. In 1901, the first Nobel prizes were awarded and since then the Foundation has funded the prestigious awards created by their namesake. 

Now, we have an additional award, The Nobel Prize for Economics. It the only award that was not included in Nobel's will, but it was funded by the Swedish Central Bank, which created the prize at its tercentenary in 1968. It was first awarded in 1969.

Reported from the article ”The story behind the will of Alfred Nobel” by: AFP, published in the Local 10-03-2014

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Join Us at Oktoberfest

GABA SoCal Oktoberfest Stammtisch with SACC-LA at Luxe Hotel

Oktoberfest held in Munich, Germany, attracts millions of people annually. Source: Reuters

It is already October and therefore the scent of Oktoberfest is in the air, and this year we are planning to celebrate together with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles (SACC-LA)! We have been waiting a long time for a joint event since the Swedes as well as the Germans share the love for great company while drinking refreshing beers and enjoying delicious food at a beautiful venue. Therefore, we are pleased to invite you to GABA’s and SACC-LA’s Oktoberfest Stammtisch. We are planning to gather at the Rooftop of the Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel located on world-famous Rodeo Drive in the heart of Beverly Hills. Our GABA and SACC-LA guests are also offered a custom created Oktoberfest menu this evening. This is a Stammtisch you do not want to miss!

Please note that GABA or SACC-LA membership is required in order to attend this event. Please find registration details below.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Enjoy mingling and networking with friends or colleagues who are interested in fostering the Californian-German-Swedish connection as we continue our monthly tradition at this exciting locale. 

For more information regarding this Stammtisch or future ones, please contact Daniela Treptow by mail and for more information about SACC-LA or to RSVP please mail: info@sacc-la.org.

Thursday, Oct 23, 2014, 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM 
At The Rooftop on Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel, 360 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Parking: Onsite valet parking is available for a special discounted rate of $11. Street parking, in addition to public parking facilities that offer two hours free parking are also available within walking distance.

Efva Attling

Swedish Jewelry Designer was in LA for SWEA event

This Thuesday our Marketing Managers Sofie and PetroNella were invited by SWEA to a preview of the leading Swedish jewelry designer Efva Attling's new collection "Beauty with a thought". 

Efva's specialty is playing around with words and expressions. This gives another dimension to the jewelry, 'As I used to write lyrics I still want to move people with words. I call my design "Beauty with a Thought", she says.

"We opened the first Efva Attling boutique in New York October 2011. We are continuously establishing the U.S business with retailers across the country. Now we have been in LA for press days to introduce Efva Attling to California based editors and stylists. We are also here to 

visit our latest retailer traditional jewelers in Newport Beach fashion island where we are just launching. The brand is also sold at Fred Segal and Moondance in Santa Monica as well as at Swedish design store, Huset in venice” says Karin Boman, US Country Manager at Efva Attling.

It was a great night in the beautiful Beverly Hills. All guests were inspired and impressed by the talented designer, the speech she gave, and her drive that has made her the leading jewelry designer in Sweden. Two hours of mingle, small bits and some sparkling drove by fast. Thank you Efva Attling and SWEA for this great night.

For more information about SWEA and their events, please visit their website.

Culture Collide

Music Festival in Los Angeles

This year's Culture Collide is coming up and it's a great pleasure to present this years Swedish contribution to Culture Collide in Echo Park Oct 16-18!

Nina Persson, Solander, We Met Tomorrow and Nervous Nellie will all perform at a total of 8 shows during the 3 days.

Bring your Media-, Industry- and friends and come check them out! The SACC-LA team will be there too! Hope to see you at the shows and do not miss the Sweden Happy Hour at TAIX on Oct 17 at 4pm-6pm! Come as soon as possible as it is usually packed by 4pm.

Nordic Cup

Golf Tournament

On October 17th, 2014, the 21st Annual Nordic Cup Golf Tournament will be held at the Recreation Park 18 Golf Course, 5001 Deukmejian Drive in Long Beach, CA 90804. This tournament is part of a fundraising event for The Norwegian Seaman's Church in San Pedro and Nansen Field in Palos Verdes.

This is an invitation for you to play in the golf tournament. Bring your own foursome, bring a fellow golfer or come by yourself (we will place you in a group) and enjoy a fun filled day. Registration also includes lunch and dinner. 

The competition will be played as a 4 person scramble and their will be special prizes an fun things for:

• Hole in one (On all Par 3)
• Longest Drive
• Tee Gifts
• MEGA Putt
• Players’ Raffle Prizes

You can register here or the Charity Golf Tournament, and pay for the event online, or you can download the registration form as a PDF.

Caroline Ingvarsson

Young director get SWEA Los Angeles film scholarship

SWEA Los Angeles film scholarship for 2015 has been awarded director and documentary filmmaker Caroline Ingvarsson from Malmö. 

SWEA Los Angeles announces the 2015 film scholarship has been awarded director and documentary filmmaker Caroline Ingvarsson from Malmö. The scholarship consists of $ 7,500, a flight to Los Angeles and enables a young Swedish filmmakers to three months of developing their knowledge and their networks in the inspiring environment like that Angeles represents. 

The jury of SWEA Los Angeles film scholarship consists of James Koenig, founder and leader of the Scandinavian Film Festival Los Angeles; three-time Oscar winner Paul Ottosson; and Richard Ulfvengren, one of the main people behind the advertising community Traktor.

Cecilia De Rico is the head of the SWEA Film Committee and in charge of the scholarship. Together with the others in the committee, Josefina Fernström, Gudrun Giddings, Victoria Sellers and Siv Ã…berg, she does the promotion of the scholarship. Cecilia feels that SWEA Los Angeles film scholarship has become firmly established in the Swedish film industry and she is very happy about the choice of Caroline Ingvarsson. 

- We have been privileged to receive many applications from very qualified people within the film industry and it's great fun. It has been my mission to reach out with our scholarship to as many people as possible and to many different parts of the movie industry. 

- In Caroline, the jury saw a unique storyteller with great artistic talent, and with a strong drive and commitment to their work. She also has a clear plan for what she wants to do during her stay in Los Angeles. We are confident that she will benefit from and take advantage of opportunities that are available here, and we look forward to follow her current projects. 

Caroline Ingvarsson has a Master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from City University in London and a Diploma in Screen Studies from Sydney Film School, Australia. 

She has lived outside Sweden for several periods and worked on feature films, documentaries and commercials in Australia, England and Sweden. Her documentary film, ”I Met A Real Streety Once”, in 2007, has been screened at several international festivals. 

Caroline's latest film, "Hundvakten" from 2014, won the jury's 2nd prize for Best Documentary at the Palm Springs International Short Fest, one of America's largest short film festivals. With the dog watch, Caroline has also won the Audience Award Pixel and Pixel Talent Award, Sweden's third largest short film prize. Earlier this summer, Caroline got to receive the ”Efter Bergman” Scholarship 2014 for her screenplay for upcoming short film, ”Under Rymdskeppet”. 

Caroline Ingvarsson is looking forward to stay in the US and all that she is planning to do here. 

- I am absolutely overjoyed that I have been given the opportunity by SWEA Los Angeles to develop my creative expression in just Los Angeles early next year. This gives me the chance to continue my documentary "Folded Letters" and learn from others in the film industry in Los Angeles. I cannot wait to get started!

In addition to work on her film project, ”Folded Letters”, Caroline will also participate in workshops, and working with documentary filmmakers Sally Levi and Rick Charnoski to further develop her knowledge of cinematic storytelling. 

The official awards ceremony will take place during a reception at the Scandinavian Film Festival Los Angeles in Beverly Hills in mid-January. Caroline Ingvarsson's short film, "Hundvakten", will screen at the festival.

For more information about SWEA Los Angeles film scholarship, contact Cecilia De Rico 

Inspired & translated From: swecalmagazine.com 10-09-14
 

Photo from one of the committee meetings: Victoria Sellers, Cecilia De Rico, Josefina Fernstrom.

Baseball

A great season for California MLB teams

This season was a year to remember for Major League Baseball teams of California. Four out of the five teams in the state of California made the playoffs. The two teams from the San Francisco Bay Area, the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants, both landed a wild card spot in the playoffs, while the other two more local teams, the Anaheim Angels and the LA Dodgers each clinched their division. 

During most of the regular game season, many baseball fanatics would've bet on either the Anaheim Angels or Oakland A's to win the World Series, as they surpassed all other MLB teams with outstanding winning records. However, injuries, trades, and the unpredictable slump any great team can find themselves in has contributed to the early elimination of both the A's and the Angels in the postseason. 

What began as a season with so much promise for the Oakland A's, ended with them barely clinching the last wildcard slot in the playoffs, then heading home after a marathon game against the Kansas City Royals. Up until mid-August, the A's were in a constant battle with the Angels for the best record in all of Major League Baseball. Soon after, the A's found themselves in a slump, with injury and trades that led to losses against bad teams with their replacement-level players. The unfortunate combination of a shaky bullpen and less power at the plate also led the A's to trail ten games behind the Angels for much of the rest of the season.

The Anaheim Angels, on the other hand, continued to dominate most major league teams for the remainder of the regular season. However, the Angels postseason record was quite the opposite. Those same Royals that sent home the A's in an extra-inning wild card game swept the Angels in three short games during the first round of the playoffs.

Many ponder what led to the drastic fall of Anaheim, a team that had the best record in the league (98-64), the best offense (first in runs scored), a well-rounded pitching staff, and more simply put, "the best team in baseball." While injuries led to a weaker pitching staff for the post season, in short, the Angels failed to show up against the Royals, a wild card team that hasn't won a World Series Championship in nearly 30 years.

This past Tuesday night, the LA Dodgers also began their journey home to clear out their lockers and begin a longer off-season then they hoped for after losing three games to one in their first playoff series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, who is known as the best pitcher in all of MLB and is likely to be named both the National League Cy Young (an award for the best pitcher) and MVP winner, now has to head into winter knowing that the Dodger's season has ended with him on the mound for the second consecutive year. The Dodgers acquired two losses during the playoffs from games Kershaw pitched in. Additionally, their offense was limited by the Cardinals pitching staff which helped contribute to the elimination of the Dodgers, who happened to be the highest paid MLB team this year. 

Last but not least, the San Francisco Giants are the only California team that remains to make it past the first round of the playoffs. Tuesday night the Giants won their Division Series, three games to one against the Nationals to advance on into the final four- again. Many will attribute this win over the Nationals due to a bases-loaded wild pitch that occurred in the seventh inning, resulting in the Giants breaking the 2-2 tie. The San Francisco Giants, who started off as the 10th seed in this playoff tournament, now hope to beat the Cardinals in a rematch of their last NLCS in 2012, and continue on to gain their third World Series win in just five years.

Tomas Andersson Wij

"Santa Monica"

Our mission and desire is to share the Scandinavian candy culture and the amazing selection of "smågodis", which translates into little candies.

For any Scandinavian person (Swedish, Danish, Finnish or Norwegian) smÃ¥godis is part of their everyday life; and most of the Swedes grew up with the tradition of "lördagsgodis", meaning Saturday sweets. Every Saturday children are allowed to buy their favorite smÃ¥godis as a weekend treat and it is usually the highlight of the week. 

The idea of composing your own candy bag is a dream come true to everyone. Sometimes we feel like something sour and sweet at the same time... and sometimes we need chocolate but mixed with some fruity surprises...it all depends on how we feel, our mood, the weather...

you could say that each person's candy bag reflects the state of mind of that person.

We wanted to create a clean space where the center of attraction would be the sweets; their colors and shapes. Also a wide open space so people can enjoy the sweet atmosphere when you walk inside a Sockerbit store. In short we like to keep things sweet, simple and Scandinavian!

Sockerbit, literally means "sugar cube" and it is also the name of the one of our candies, a white-cubed marshmallow, which is also the original inspiration for our design.

Another trait of these tasty candies is that Scandinavian candy is made with high quality ingredients; free of transfats, colors from nature, free of genetically modified ingredients (GMO). All things combined make these candies delicious.

Are you a talented professional seeking career opportunities in the entertainment capital of the world?

Please visit SACC-LA’s exciting career site to find a job that suits you!

Are you a high-demanding company looking for new brilliant colleagues to your organization?

Please contact SACC-LA to put a work placement ad on our career site!

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