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Posts Tagged ‘Norway’

Wherever You Go, There You Are

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

So there we were, about to turn off the television when Mr Man and I realized that the actor on screen was David Elsendoorn, who played rude Dutch player Jan Maas in Ted Lasso. Upon closer inspection, we realized that the movie was a moderately well disguised promo for the lovely Unesco World Heritage city of Bergen in Norway. 

Having just discussed the clever and funny (and sadly not real) movie Dundee from Tourism Australia, we felt that this was an excellent use of a Hallmark-style movie. 

A moment later, a shot of the Bergen sign at the city’s airport popped up on screen. By Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, the sign has letters that are 5.5 meters high and weigh 2.5 tons, and is meant to be “existentialist and poetic.” Competition judges apparently had a healthy dose of Scandinavian wit, because the sign reads “Bergen?” 

Everyone can put what they want in the question mark, and there are no wrong answers

It certainly gave me ideas, the shortest of which is this six-word story:

Stupid unpredictable teleportation. Welcome to Bergen?

* * *

Photo by Carlos Torres on Unsplash

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First Snowfall

Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged , , , , , , , on November 24, 2015| 3 Comments »

FirstSnow

This is the first real snowfall of the season and it’s still coming down. Yesterday I could pretend that winter was a thing that happened to other people but, alas, no longer!

I say alas but I’m actually coming around on the subject of winter. I ran across an article at Fast Company featuring Kari Leibowitz, a Stanford Ph.D. student who asked a fundamental question: Why don’t people in far northern Norway, a place where the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon between late November and late January, have more seasonal depression? So she went up there and asked.

The answer might surprise you. I know it surprised me, and got me thinking about winter from a different perspective.

“Why would we?”

They see winter as an opportunity, not just to take part in the snowy sports I generally don’t do, but to enjoy the indoor and outdoor beauty of the season. It’s strikingly pretty in the land of practically eternal sunset, but they also focus on what I think of as all the good bits of cold weather. Warm fires, hot chocolate, a good book, good company, cozy blankets. In fact:

Norwegians also have a word, koselig, that means a sense of coziness. It’s like the best parts of Christmas, without all the stress. People light candles, light fires, drink warm beverages, and sit under fuzzy blankets.

That sounds pretty good to me. So sure, winter is coming. Welcome!*
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* My Canadian overlords are happy to report that my brainwashing appears to be complete;)

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