On the road – slight disruption to service

I’ve had an update on this story, the previous post about a really lovely piece of Norwegian design, to give it a bit more depth than just a charming reference and Internet links.

First, my apologies for a slight break in the New Year’s resolution to keep the blogging daily, but a trip to London has taken focus, and part of the plan is to switch over to the ‘London. Laughing.’ blog when I am over here. If I am very good I will try to update both, as regularly as possible. Depends if anyone is paying attention…

Something completely different

After days of reasonably bad-tempered news to report, time to relax and just serve up something to enjoy. One of my very favorite places on the ‘net is Boing Boing – link in the collection to the right. This is a daily treasure trove of wonderful and unexpected things that you have to rush to share. One of yesterday’s surprises was Norwegian.

Most wanted

Norwegians Google like everyone else, but for things particularly Norwegian, they often Kvasir.  Search engine Kvasir revealed one of the favorite lists for Internet users, the most ‘sought after’ people in Norway. Unsurprisingly, the list is dominated by attractive young women who have gained fame or notoriety in a variety of ways.

Tone Damli Aaberge. Photographer: Ernst Vikne

Pop culture is a quick route to getting to know a place, so this list is a crash course in pop Norway. The winner, Tone Damli Aaberge,

You are what you eat

In order to understand bits of this blog fully, you have to have a sense of daily life in Norway. And there are few ways to get a real feel for a culture than to eat their food. And I have mentioned before, not only is Norway renowned for its most frightening dishes, Norwegians revel in trumping their wobbling jelly-like lutefisk with a grinning smoked sheep’s head.

But dishes like those

A little piece of Norway

Today’s news brought the shocking end of a unique bit of everyday Norwegian life, in a manner of speaking. Newspaper Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen reported the bankruptcy of a national institution, the firm of Thor Bjørklund & Sons, the inventors of the ostehøvel, literally ‘cheese planer’.

RIP - the original Bjørklund ostehøvel

Excuses, excuses

Just when I thought I was ready to show some disciplined blogging, I neglect them again. Starting two blogs was asking for trouble. I will write yet another entry here that apparently forces me to follow up quickly, and see if it works now.

The only real explanation is a lack of aforementioned discipline, but instead I will indulge in a range of excuses. This is after all an election year, and soon, thankfully, we will be put out of our misery and a vote will take place. Anything to put an end to months of evasion, excuses, lying and bickering. Norwegian politics never used to be like this, it has clearly learned from more experienced countries – this is not just my opinion, but one based on a rigorous sampling of friends and neighbors.

Speak of the devil

No sooner have I mentioned the intention of tackling the hopefully provocative subject of ‘maddening Norway‘ than a perfect example pops up in the media. Much to my surprise and delight, the latest illustration of the theme came over the radio in the form of NRK’s ‘Morgenkåseri’ – a short bit of morning musing by someone who is supposed to deal with a random topic, preferably with insight and wit.

This morning an immigrant, English I believe, but I have not yet tracked down more info about him, filled the slot with part one of his observations about a long life in Norway. His series shows great promise as the first installment

Recycled cucumbers

Back after my annual week-long summer break with no technology. Now, sunburnt, I can resume my deskbound, keyboard pounding ways.

As recent posts indicate, Norway’s silly news season (cucumber news) is in full swing, and today not only provides a great example of the state of the national newspapers, it also marks the last time I use my hard-earned kroner on one for the foreseeable future.

While I may debate and lament the state of old media,

Silly season

Or ‘cucumber news’ (agurknytt) as they call it here. The time of year when you don’t have to feel a twinge of guilt for putting something odd out on the ‘net or in your newspaper.

So police and and the local doctor are dispatched when a fisherman in Sand in Western Norway lands what appears to be a human penis. Perhaps the scariest part of that story

It is the heat

Just a quick update, to counterbalance the effects of summer laziness and sweltering heat – Oslo has been hotter than Mumbai in recent days.

News has been thin on the ground lately, the death of Michael Jackson pushing everything off the map. Leading tabloid/Norway’s bestselling newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) had an amazing concentration of stories on their web site; at one point it was difficult to find anything else to read about,