You'll Laugh. You'll Cry. You'll Curl.

I just love this photo from the Sochi curling competition.  From the hilariously dressed fan to Team Norway's famous trousers to the exuberance on both sides as Team Norway's skip responds to the cheers, this photo is brilliant and one of my favorite images yet to come out of Sochi.

LOLympics: Trouser Trouble

Honestly, I love these guys with their crazy outfits.  I think it's wonderfully fun. So do a lot of other folks, and the colorful patterned outfits of the Norwegian men's curling team have become celebrities in their own right.  See, for instance, a daily tracker of the different patterns!

So fugly it's fabulous.

So, inevitably, there will be haters.  Apparently now the haters are squeaking complaints demanding to know if the pants are legal to wear under the terms of the IOC and the World Curling Federation.  Neither organization has really responded, but the Norwegians did, and this made me laugh out loud.  The team, in response to the kerfuffle about their pants, posted this photo:

Don't like our colorful trousers?  Fine, we won't wear them.

Kudos, guys!  That's world-class sass right there, especially the fellow at the far right.  

The only way this could be better is if the undies had the same loud, colorful patterns as the actual competition outfits, but I don't think the guys had enough time to arrange custom undies.  Hey! How about this for an idea: make a Norwegian Men's Curling Team CALENDAR?

PS: I found the pants in a form I would wear in warmer weather.  Cute, no?

Mynd You, Møøse Bites Kan Be Pretty Nasti

So use quadcopter videocameras if you want to spy on your local moose in Norway!

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream For Edvard Munch

Dude needs a better museum?

What Do Real Swedes Think of the Muppets' Swedish Chef?

Slate is busy asking the important questions of our age.

The Great Norwegian Butter Shortage of 2011

OH NOES!   And right during Christmas baking season too!  I can't resist quoting from the story:

Last Friday, customs officers stopped a Russian at the Norwegian-Swedish border and seized 90 kilos (198 pounds) of butter stashed in his car. 

Food safety authorities then warned people not to buy butter from strangers, Norway's TV2 reported.

Northern Lightweights: Finland and Norway Squabble Over the Aurora Borealis

The short version:

The Norwegian tourist board is unhappy about an attempt by its counterpart in Finland to market the country using a video of the northern lights. The Norwegians claim the Finns are trying to "steal" the celestial phenomenon from them.

My advice to the Aurora Borealis: start a bidding war and then agree to work for the winner. Oh, and here is the offending (but very cool) Finnish tourism video ad:

A Few Thoughts on Norway

Tim Blair's post contains, among other things, this piquant quote:

Apologists for Islamic terrorists are still crowing because someone besides an Islamic terrorist has behaved like an Islamic terrorist. In their world, this counts as a win.

The media "analysis" has been, in some circles, abysmally bad.  UPDATE: Read this too.

Quirky Euro Files: Ghost Towns

For something different to do on your next trip across the pond!

Video of the Day: The Aurora Borealis Explained

Check out this lovely educational video by the Department of Physics at the University of Oslo:

The Aurora Borealis from Per Byhring on Vimeo.

Quirky Euro Files: Norwegian Diplomats to be Trained in Black Metal

ROCK ON.

Awesome Photography: Arctic Light in Norway

Spectacular scenery filmed in Norway!

The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Awesome: Time-Lapse Aurora Borealis in Norway

Utterly breathtaking.  Bonus: soundtrack from "Gladiator."  How I love that flick!  Anyway, feast your eyes on this:

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Awesome: the Aurora Borealis in Norway

Here is just a taste.  Go feast your eyes on more amazing photos here.

Forgotten History: Viking Navigation

Cool!  OK, I just have to add that reading the references is in itself a wee bit amusing.  See for instance: "Gábor Horváth, an optics researcher at Eötvös University in Budapest, and Susanne Åkesson, a migration ecologist from Lund University, Sweden ..."

Now I can't help myself:

Wik
Alsø wik
Alsø alsø wik
Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yer?
See the løveli lakes
The wonderful telephøne system
And mani interesting furry animals
Including the majestic møøse
A Møøse once bit my sister ...
Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti

Awesome Photography: Gorgeous Norway

WOW!

What Fresh Hell Is This? -- The Most Horrifying Nostalgia Ever

The Norwegian TV show "Glyne Tider" has a 6-minute-long promo that seems more like 6 years.  6 years of having rabid cats eat your intestines ... from the inside out.  It's a bunch of (largely faded) celebrities singing -- or attempting to sing -- "Let It Be."  This thing is a toxic combination of misplaced 1980s nostalgia and utter horror.  On top of it all, time has clearly not been too kind to some of these people.  Anyway, Boing Boing inflicted this madness on me, and I must share it.  It is weapons-grade insanity.

Friday Fun Video: Beethoven's Fifth Salsa

Depending on your mood, you may find this hilarious or horrifying.  I kind of liked it myself because it's just so darn insane.  The music was arranged by Norwegian musician Sverre Indris Joner.   Have a listen, gentle reader, to this mashup of Beethoven and salsa!

PS:  I do have to say, though, that I though the salsa "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" worked a little better?

Barking Mad At 10,000 Feet: Meet This Austrian Special Forces Paratrooper

Check out the awesome photo at the news link.

Here's a hilarious blurb from the news story:

The explosives sniffing pooch - a member of Austria's version of the SAS - took part in Operation Cold Response in Norway along with British special forces and Royal Marines assault teams.

. . . "It's something he does a lot and he's very comfortable with. He has a much cooler head then most recruits," said one operation trooper.

GOOD BOY!

Well, I see canine heroics have kicked it up a notch since Lassie found Timmy in the well.

Satire Alert: Weird Winter Olympic Sports

The British wags at the Daily Mash take aim at all those wonderfully weird winter Olympic sports and the Nordic athletes who love them.

(Be careful out there when you're trying all this, folks. Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti!)