Friday, July 29, 2011

Sunglasses

Lots of pictures show us Frida and Agnetha's passion for sunglasses. Yes, I really think ABBA girls - especially Agnetha - had a kind of passion for that accessories and, sometimes, their sunglasses really made them even more beautiful than they already were. 

 Frida is stunningly gorgeous here with these ones - plus the scarf!

Agnetha and her big sunglasses

 Stunning!

An absent-minded air is giving a charming look for Anna here...

Monday, July 25, 2011

She only thinks about it

I've noticed Agnetha was really obsessed with makeup when she was younger - maybe she is even nowadays, I don't know. She liked wearing lipstick and blush, and had a special taste for (light blue) eye shadows. No wonder Björn said on ABBA - The Movie that his wife was wearing five pounds of makeup before a concert...

A little of face powder before some performance...

... and a little of eye shadow maybe before a TV show

Well, I guess it wasn't only Agnetha's makeup box, but also Frida's!

"It is not perfect yet!"

Before a performance on a TV show in the 1980s

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

ABBA girls in Germany

The pictures below were taken at a very sad time. It was November 1982, so ABBA was about to break up. Frida and Agnetha were trying to look joyful for the photographers on their visit to Saarbrücken, Germany, though, and the photos came out to be quite good. They certainly lack the spontainety of ABBA good old days, but the pictures really worth a look.







Monday, July 18, 2011

And now the mystery is solved

Here is the answer for the post Who is it?.

 Well, the ABBA kid about whom I wrote is the one in the detail, near Henny, his kindergarten teacher...

... and it is Björn!
He's really different here, isn't he?

Friday, July 15, 2011

Who is it?

Can you say which ABBA member was pictured below? This is harder than trying to find Wally, don't you think? Well, if you have any idea about it, feel free to leave a comment. I'm going to give the answer for the mystery in my next post on July 18th.   

An ABBA member was a kindergarten child at that time

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Drawing ABBA

You can do nice works with some computer programs. Yesterday, I used one of them and turned some nice pictures into drawings. I think the results were pretty good, so I've decided to post these drawings here, as well as the original pictures from which I did the works.  

















It looks more like an old picture than a drawing...











Saturday, July 9, 2011

Getting exercises

ABBA goes sports! - article originally published in Dutch magazine Joepie, in November 1978


For several days, Benny had not been feeling especially well when he went to see a befriended doctor in Stockholm. Had he simply been working too hard or was there really something wrong? That question had already caused Benny several sleepless nights and it still took quite some time before he finally gathered his courage and went to see his friend.

The diagnosis relieved all Benny’s fears. “What you need, is some more exercise,” his friend told him. “You are a bit stressed, that’s all...”. Benny: “I have never felt this relieved in my entire life. But this little incident still got me thinking: aren’t we all working way too hard and aren’t we asking too much of ourselves? During a meeting, we discussed this subject and everyone was convinced right away: we should get more exercise!”

And he kept his word: barely one day later, he became a member of a tennis club in Stockholm. Benny: “I had been playing tennis before with Frida, but at the club I got genuine champions as my opponents. I sweated like a horse and the next day my muscles were completely stiff. But I’m feeling much better now. I go there at least once a week, if I’m home that is...”.

Lovely wife Frida chose a more relaxing kind of sports: jazz dancing. She became a student at the Stockholm Ballet Academy where she gets two hours of tuition every other week. Frida: “I’ve always been interested in jazz ballet, but I never had the time for it. Now that we are taking the time to do some sports, I decided to sign myself up. The plan is that I will be demonstrating some of these dance moves next year on our upcoming tour.   

Björn even went as far that he signed himself up for the Lidingö, a marathon of thirty kilometres. Björn didn’t finish first, but he still ran the entire track. “And I think that’s quite an accomplishment for me,” according to Björn. “I have been in training for two weeks for that competition and during that period I have forced up the amount of kilometres. But thirty kilometres is still a lot, believe me. I have to admit that I have walked a couple of kilometres, but I wasn’t the only one. I’m not planning to join these kinds of competitions regularly. I actually did this one more to please the organizer. But these days I do run four or five kilometres every day”.

Anna is now regularly getting into her jogging gear as well to loosen up her legs. “But I would never consider to join in a competition,” she says. “I’d rather determine my own pace...”.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

ABBA pratica esportes! - artigo originalmente publicado na revista holandesa Joepie, em novembro de 1978

Durante vários dias, Benny não se sentiu muito bem. Por isso, decidiu consultar-se com um médico amigo seu. Estaria ele simplesmente trabalhando demais? Ou haveria, de fato, algo sério? Essa dúvida o levou a uma série de noites maldormidas, tomando-lhe boa parte do tempo, até que ele tivesse coragem suficiente para procurar seu amigo.

Contudo, o diagnóstico apazigou todos os seus temores. "Você precisa praticar mais exercícios físicos", disse-lhe o médico. "Seu problema é apenas o estresse, nada mais". "Nunca me senti tão aliviado em toda a minha vida. Esse pequeno incidente, porém, me fez pensar: afinal, não estaríamos todos nós trabalhando e cobrando-nos demais? Discutimos esse assunto num encontro e nos convencemos de que deveríamos praticar mais exercícios", declara Benny.

E, de fato, ele manteve sua palavra: apenas um dia após a discussão, tornou-se membro de um clube de tênis de Estocolmo. "Eu costumava jogar tênis com Frida, mas, no clube, pude realizar jogadas com verdadeiros campeões. Suava feito um cavalo e, no dia seguinte, meus músculos estavam completamente rígidos. Agora, contudo, estou me sentindo bem melhor. Ao menos uma vez por semana, quando possível, frequento o clube", diz Benny.

Frida, sua adorável esposa, por sua vez, escolheu um tipo mais relaxante de esporte: dança jazz. Ela se tornou aluna da Academia de Balé de Estocolmo, onde faz duas horas de aula a cada duas semanas. "Eu sempre me interessei por balé jazz, mas nunca tinha tempo para praticá-lo. Já que resolvemos dedicar algum tempo aos esportes, porém, decidi me matricular. Meu plano é exibir alguns dos movimentos dessa dança em nossa próxima turnê, no ano que vem", comenta.

Björn, por outro lado, foi tão longe no assunto que se inscreveu na maratona de trinta quilômetros de Lidingö, na qual, embora não tenha terminado em primeiro, conseguiu percorrer toda a pista. "E eu considero esta uma grande conquista", ele diz. "Treinei por duas semanas para a competição e, nesse período, cheguei a aumentar a quilometragem. Pode estar certo, porém, de que trinta quilômetros já é muito. Tenho que admitir que consegui correr apenas alguns, apesar de não ter sido o único. Mas não planejo participar regularmente dessas competições; só ingressei nesta, para agradar seu organizador. Ainda assim, atualmente corro quatro ou cinco quilômetros por dia".

Já Anna regularmente veste sua roupa de cooper, a fim de movimentar mais as pernas. "Mas eu jamais pensaria em me envolver numa competição", ela diz. "Prefiro poder estabeler meu próprio ritmo...".


Text in English from ABBA The Articles Blog

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Say cheese!

Benny and Frida really had many tastes in common. Besides music, books and boating, for example, it seems that the couple also enjoyed taking pictures. And, of course, there's nothing better to prove that than... pictures!

There were hundreds of photographers taking pictures of ABBA that day, but Benny also had his camera!



Frida followed the steps of her beloved one...

:-)