Eurogoogle is bollocks

The other day I noticed that in my Gmail, what would normally be called the trash folder is called the BIN. As in, "This conversation has been moved to the bin". WEIRD. I guess they think that since I'm using Google in Europe I must be British. Wrong, Google.

Actually, I enjoy British slang and the fact that most Danes sound somewhat British whilst speaking English. Maybe by the time I come home I will have picked up a British accent -- I can be the next Britney Spears!

I also just got home from like the worst bike ride of my life. Sleet and "gale-force winds" make for an unpleasant ride, and in this case a longer than usual one as I was forced against my will down H. C. Andersen Boulevard, being unable to continue straight through the intersection during a particularly strong gust. But I am home unscathed, so no worries! Bedtime now.

Copenhagen vanity

In Copenhagen, all of the electrical wires are buried, instead of running overhead like in American cities. It's an aesthetic issue, and I guess overhead wires are somewhat unsightly, although I don't really tend to notice them personally. However, this means that whenever they need to do anything to the wires they have to dig up the whole street, which seems like a lot of work and inconvenience just to shield people from the eyesore of exposed wiring. It also apparently takes forever for them to fix these things, so the road will remain partially blocked off for months -- probably because unemployment is so low that they can't find anybody to do this kind of work. There's a place I ride by whenever I go to Danish where one lane of the road is all dug up and blocked off; it's been this way since I got here but I've never seen anybody actually working on it. Granted, that may be because I only go by after work and on Saturdays, so maybe it's just that they're not there when I go by -- but there also never appear to be any changes, so who knows. There has also been construction going on on the street outside my work ever since I first got here, which means that people driving by get stuck behind parked trucks, etc, and deal with it by honking nonstop on their horns for minutes on end. Which is annoying, since it's right outside my window. But what can you do. At least it's not quite as loud now as in the summer when I kept my window open.

Danish Dynomite

"Den her er for mine boys, og for mine ladies, aiight?
Det her er Nik og Jay, det er Danish dynomite"
-Nik og Jay, "Det Vi Gør"

The amazing hiphop duo Nik and Jay is my new obsession. They're one of those bands whose music is so ridiculous and terrible that it's actually enjoyable. They think they're gangstas (see pic), but apparently don't realize that it's just not possible to be a gangsta if you're also Danish and white. It's also hard to rap in Danish, because the pronunciation isn't precise enough for good rhymes -- or maybe that makes it easier?? I guess in a sense you could say everything in Danish rhymes with everything else, since all the words have the same kind of in-the-throat vowel and swallowed consonants at the end -- at least it sounds that way to me. Their videos (for example, this one for the song "Boing") look like SNL spoofs of hip hop videos, but apparently they're made in all seriousness.

Their lyrics are pretty much all really stupid, (ie, their biggest hit from when I was a student here, Lækker, consists mainly of the word "delicious" repeated. They also make a clever double entendre using the number 6 (seks) and the word sex. Nicely done, boys.) However, I do like that in a lot of their songs they use the phrase "f*** Janteloven" -- Janteloven being, as you may know (but definitely would if you were Danish), the philosophical doctrine that nobody is better than anyone else, and which can be summarized in the following 10 rules:

1. Don't think that you are special.
2. Don't think that you are of the same standing as us.
3. Don't think that you are smarter than us.
4. Don't fancy yourself as being better than us.
5. Don't think that you know more than us.
6. Don't think that you are more important than us.
7. Don't think that you are good at anything.
8. Don't laugh at us.
9. Don't think that anyone cares about you.
10. Don't think that you can teach us anything.
(Thanks, Wikipedia)

While egalitarianism is good, I suppose, this is a kind of disheartening way of phrasing it. I don't think it's really stressed that much to kids anymore, but I can imagine it would have been a rather bleak paradigm to grow up with. Kind of opposite to the "everyone is special, everyone is valuable" messages that American kids are given all the time.

Anyway, so the general idea behind "fuck Janteloven" is that yes, Nik and Jay are better than the rest of us, which is a common enough theme in certain music genres -- but I think it's cute that they reference an relatively obscure (to most of the world) philosophical concept to make this point.

Hopefully they'll play in Tivoli or something this summer so I can see them live -- actually, it's entirely possible I've passed them in the street; I probably wouldn't recognize them in normal clothes...

Footnote: To be fair to the Danes, nobody really likes Nik and Jay -- they're generally the subject of mockery. Nevertheless, when one of their songs comes on in a bar, everyone seems to mysteriously know all the words...

World Flavours

I just bought a pack of "World Flavours" Mentos at Netto, featuring flavors that are only available in certain countries (Denmark's contribution being, of course, licorice). The Japanese grape ones are pretty terrible, as are the eucalyptus menthol. Anyway, this got me thinking about how weird it is that different countries have their own preferred flavors at all -- how does that get started? In Denmark, the two huge staples that most Americans can't stand are leverpostej (liver paté) and salt lakrids (salty licorice). Liver paté is like the equivalent of peanut butter in the US: eaten by every little kid in their school lunches, and also enjoyed but less prevalent in adult lunches. I suppose in this case it's just a matter of what you're exposed to at an early age -- liver paté, once you get past the aversion to the idea of liver, is not that different from peanut butter: salty paste to add flavor to a sandwich. BUT this doesn't account for the salt licorice -- kids don't eat salt licorice; one popular brand (right, although I think it's too small to read the warning) even says on the label "adult licorice, not children's licorice". So, if this isn't a question of what one grows up with, how can it be that Danes love this stuff, while a taste of it sends an American running for a glass of water to rinse out their mouth? There has to be a first time Danes try salt licorice, and if their reaction was as strong as that of all Americans I've seen trying it, why would they ever try again? Is there some genetic difference that makes them love it at first taste? Or does it have to do with building up to the adult stuff by eating a lot of children's licorice? (Non-salt licorice is eaten by children, and very very different from the salted variety -- even I am growing to kind of like certain brands). Still, the huge difference between salt- and non-salt licorice makes me skeptical of the "build-up" hypothesis. It's a mystery -- someone should do a study and figure it out. Maybe one day my claim to fame will be the discovery of the salt lakrids gene. Until then, I'll just have to wonder about it.

I can't afford to live in this city

Last night I was at a bar where a long island costs the equivalent of $35. Oh my god.

"Few were hit by fireworks"

was this morning's front page headline in Politiken. Here is a link to a photo slideshow with pictures from the city. It was crazy -- at midnight, everyone from all of the New Year's parties in the city runs out into the street and shoots off a bunch of fireworks. The men smoke big Cuban cigars and run around lighting the fireworks, which are just like the "professional" ones we have for the Fourth of July. Sounds pretty dangerous, but apparently Falck (the ambulance company) was pleasantly surprised with the low number of injuries. Good job, Denmark!

On my way home I had to go out of my way, to the next bridge, because the Ungdomshuset kids were rioting again and the police had blockaded the bridge nearest to my apartment. Annoying. They're already getting a new Ungdomshuset, but apparently they want it right away, and at the same address it was before, and some money for their pain and suffering, etc. etc. It's silly. You've won, guys -- give it a rest with the riots! But it's nothing dangerous or anything -- they're peaceful protests, and they're always announced ahead of time, so the police are already on the scene when the riot starts. Denmark = pre-announced riots. So orderly!