"White and Nerdy"

Not much to write about, but a few pictures.

Today while we were feeding the ducks, swans, seagulls, coots, and terns (equal billing, no pun intended) a segway tour cruised by (photo). It might be a good way to see the city, but I couldn't help but think of the Weird Al parody video "White and Nerdy" (1:20). There are also of cycle tours of Copenhagen which are a little more discrete.

As you can see in the photos, the weather here is decidedly autumn and quickly descending into what passes for winter. With today's end of daylight savings time I'll be turning on the bicycle lights for my ride home from work. I have a couple more weeks before I'll need them in the morning (small comfort).

Also today, we encountered (for the second time this year) men dressed in US civil war uniforms (at least they were the same vintage, blue with "US" on the belt buckles). This time I got a decent picture. They were speaking Danish. Not sure what they're doing in Copenhagen, but by the time I got the nerve to ask they had marched off in search of some rebels. Next time I see them, I'll ask them what their story is.

Another season of Denmark's TV talent show ended on Friday. Our favorites were third-place finishers Camilla and Jonas, a brother-sister duo (12 and 14 years old). They are adorable, but they can also play. The winner was Kalle Pimp, a rapper, who was also good (if rap is your thing) and we could even understand some of the words!

I'll leave it there.

The Robot Boys and Old-Time Baseball

A couple of weeks ago we watched the finale of Denmark's "Talent 2008" program, another in the continuing series of reality shows and "Idol" spinoffs that have swamped the world. The thing about doing these in Denmark is that it's such a small country that there's a good chance that the people on these programs are only 2-3 degrees of separation away from most people in the country. Given that Danes are generally modest, I'm surprised that they got as many volunteers as they did. Anyway, the winners "Robert Drengene" (The Robot Boys) put on a good show and came away with 250,000 kroner. This clip is worth watching (from their semifinal performance). This clip is from their first performance in the competition. I like watching the judges' and audience's reactions. Another participant who didn't make it past the semifinals is pretty amazing with the hand flute (starting at 1'15").

Today I listened to game 5 of the World Series. I'll tell you who won... it was the Yankees taking the series by winning the final game 10-6. Oh, did I forget to mention this is the 1949 world series? Since we can't watch the games from 2008 here, I've had to satisfy myself with some baseball history which I came across on the internet. The full game is online complete with Gillette razor ads and every pitch from start to finish. I was struck by how evenly matched the teams were: Berra/Campanella, DiMaggio/Snider, Rizutto/Reese, not to mention Jackie Robinson at the height of his career. Also, it was a treat to hear Mel Allen and Red Barber call the game, bringing it to life over the radio and even a device that they would never have imagined in their day (my iPod). It was also the first World Series game played under lights (turned on late in the game which runs just over 3 hours).

Anya is having fun playing the "Uh-Oh" game where we give her something and she drops it to the sound of Mommy saying "Uh-Oh". This is good for 15-20 minutes of good fun. She's also sitting up in her new Norwegian high chair to eat her meals.