Couch potato

This week’s Monday Madness:

1. What was your favorite TV show as a child?
I used to really love a slightly surrealistic cartoon called Balthazaar (quite Yellow Submarine-ish)

2. What show did you hate?
I didn’t much like the Norwegian cult childrens show Pompel & Pilt – I thought it was scary.

3. What show did your family gather around the TV to watch?
I can’t really remember us gathering round the TV much. We probably did to some extent, though. I know we all loved the “classic cartoons” randomly interspersed in the general programming – La Lina, Pink Panther, Tom & Jerry etc.

4. What show is currently your favorite?
Beat for Beat (except the season’s ended) and Nytt p? nytt (Norwegian version of Have I Got News for You). And Parkinson. Always Parkinson.

5. What show do you hate now?
Most of the reality shows, but the new Norwegian show “Bill. mrk. Bryllup” is probably the worst one – even managing to top Temptation Island in speculative voyeurism and general debasement of human values.

Note to self

Things to remember for Easter:

phone guy who owns cottage-thingy to sort out details (check)
– organise transport
phone Tone to check attendance (check-ish, don’t need to phone to check attendance – see comments – but might just phone anyway)
– buy single-use cameras for general use
– purchase champagne
– plan dinners and make sure to bring relevant recipes

Bring:

– clothes and stuff (incl. bathing suit)
– cameras
– champagne (+ other alchohol?)
– duvet covers, towels etc.
– TP and/or Passport
– “cleaning-stuff”
– stereo (lap-top and speakers? Test.) and CDs
– chocolate eggs and other goodies

Hjelpe meg

Idol er begredelig i år. Sandra, for eksempel, hadde vært fantastisk hvis hun bare kunne synge. Det kan hun jo desverre ikke*, men så er det på en måte ingen av de andre som kan det heller. Trung har av og til gitt inntrykk av å kunne synge, til gjengjeld har jeg problemer med å ta ham alvorlig, og det blir ikke bedre etter kveldens begrunnelse av låtvalget. Han valgte “Ville fugla flyg” – i følge ham selv – fordi det er en bra sang som “handler om å kjempe mot frihet og alt man skal tro på”. Det ville bare blitt marginalt bedre om han hadde klart å stokke “mot” og “for” riktig. Alt man skal tro på? Er det bare meg som får assosiasjoner til Miss World konkurrenten som mente det var så viktig med krig og fred og religion og sånt? Enda godt han ikke er blond i tillegg.

At folk ikke kan snakke norsk er jo forsåvidt ikke noe nytt, og deltagerne er jo tross alt ikke verre enn programlederne. “Masse lykke til!” sier de til alle. Masse lykke til?

Skjerpe seg.

——-
* Problemet er vel kanskje helst at stemmen hennes ikke er sterk nok – jeg sitter på en måte og venter på at hun skal synge falskt, men det gjør hun jo stort sett ikke. Kanskje hun vokser på seg sterkere stemme? Prepple har jo kommentert at han mener deltagerne er alt for unge – riktignok ikke fordi de ikke har ferdig utviklet stemme, men fordi han ikke tror det er særlig sunt å få så mye oppmerksomhet, og det er jeg helt enig i. Alle andre land jeg har sett slike konkurranser fra har 18-års grense. Hvorfor 16 i Norge? Hvor mange voksne takler “instant fame” på en god måte? Hva venter de egentlig av disse ungene?

Morning

I’ve been receiving the weekly challenges from Photo Friday for about a year without actually getting any further than thinking “I suppose a picture of… Ok, I’ll deal with that later.” But it ought to be possible to get a shot with the phone each week to fit the challenge, oughtn’t it?

Hence, morning:

Morning.jpg

If

If you…

1. …owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
A bit of all sorts, but if I had to settle for one thing it would probably be Italian – proper pizza and pasta.

2. …owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
Books, of course. The other option would be papercrafty things.

3. …wrote a book, what genre would it be?
A novel, definitely. Possibly fantasy.

4. …ran a school, what would you teach?
Uhm. Reading?

5. …recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
Folksy pop/rock. Is that a genre?

Springy, pretty much

Why is it that I never seem to do Monday Madness on a Monday?

1. What is your solution for cabin fever – you know that feeling of being penned in the house all winter?
Read a good book. Or go for a walk, even if it’s cold out. But reading helps keep that feeling at bay, mostly, so I don’t have that problem very often.

2. Who are the people in your neighbourhood…in your neighbourhood, in your neighbourhood…..?
Huh? Am I missing something? Why the repetition?

Moving on, my neighbours seem to be something of a mixed lot. We’ve got old-age pensioneers of the “we built the country” type. We’ve got twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings and forty-somethings and probably fifty-somethings, single and married and everything in between, with kids and without. We’ve got kids. We’ve got immigrants of pretty much every colour (don’t know enough about them to say the same about religion etc.). We’ve got the old, retired janitor whos spends his days hanging out his kitchen window, smoking and chatting to people and watching what little action there is on the street. It’s pretty laidback. It’s all good.

3. What’s the best thing about spring?
Light. Light. Light. And not having to put on oodles of clothes every time you want to put your nose outside.

4. Any Easter traditions?
Reading whodunnits. Going to the cabin. Eating eggs – from poultry or chocolate.

5. How old were you believing in the Easter bunny?
I never did. It’s not so much a tradition in Norway, anyway, and my parents never told me about the Easter Bunny – nor about Santa Claus. Just as well, I think.

Nårsk. Eller ikke.

Du kjenner kaffemaskinene til Narvesen, sant? På de aller fleste har det i lang tid stått “Drikkestyrke” ved pilknappene der du kan regulere – nettopp – drikkestyrken på kaffen din. Men her om dagen da jeg kjøpte kaffe på Narvesen ved nasjonalteateret t-bane sto det plutselig

narvesen.jpg

i stedet.

At det var?