Olympics: we're #6!

Okay, the last posting was a bit depressive. Just to see the way statistics may be worked on to show things in different lights, I chose to make a list of the number of medals. Of course, being #6 is not very impressive (even though we're only 4,5 million people), but Sweden is #7 (and they are 8 million)...

Germany 29
Canada 25
US 25
Austria 23
Russia 22
Norway 19
Sweden 14
Switzerland 13
Italy 11
China 11
South Korea 11
Netherlands 9
France 9
Finland 9
Czech Republic 4
Estonia 3
Croatia 3
Ukraine 2
Poland 2
Australia 2
Great Britain 1
Slovakia 1
Bulgaria 1
Japan 1
Belarus 1
Latvia 1

Olympics: finally over

I started watching the 2006 Olympics with big expectations, but they fell during the games, and the frequency of my postings also fell...

In the end, Norway ended up with 2 gold medals, 8 silver medals and 9 bronze medals, which is something like 13 gold medals behind expectations. This is - by far - the most disappointing result of any nation in these olympics (although Germany ended up 6 gold medals behind and the Czech Republic 4 gold medals behind).

For Norwegians, things get even worse when considering that Sweden (our arch rival and good neighbours) got 4 MORE golds than expected, ending up with 7 gold medals, 3 silver and 4 bronzes. Russia and US also ended up four ahead of expectations.

Estonia should be mentioned: not expected to win anything (not even a silver or a bronze), they ended up with 3 gold medals.

So how did Sports Illustrated do? They ended up guessing the right winner (I'm talking about nations here, not individuals) in 31 of the 84 events. They guessed only 20 of 84 silver medals right and 22 of the 84 bronzes. And when it came to Norway, they did particularly badly: Norway didn't win a single of the 15 gold medals SI predicted - however, we did win two that they did not predict...

At the moment, I'm trying to forget the olympics, and am looking forward to the World Cup in soccer - even without a single Norwegian team to disappoint me...

Blog highlights

Talking about blogs, I would like to give a few more highlights from the blogs I read:

Shigeki at Somewhere in this world has rented a hotel room to watch the Olympics, and been rewarded with a Japanese gold medal.

Casual in Istanbul is interested in Norwegian/Swedish Big Brother!



...but is also interested in Lego (a Danish product - this time with a Western twist...)



At Beautiful, there is a cute guy washing a car. Worth a look.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

la2
Originally uploaded by BjørnS.

I have too much work to do. I am taking a course in qualitative research methods which are supposed to take 50% of my time, at the same time as I'm working 100%. It's not strange that I daydream of travelling again.

Looking through my travel photos on Flickr, I came across this from Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It reminds me of my other daydream - taking a year off to study the history of art. Being a real student, spending a lot of time enjoying reading about art. And maybe travelling to art galleries all around Europe...

Well - LACMA was good, anyway...

Cute blog

There aren't too many Norwegian, gay blogs around, so I was pleased to find Bend It Like A Banana the other day. (Or rather, he found me and left a note.) While I tend to write on anything else than my own life, he tends to give some more private detail, which I guess most people find a bit more interesting...


Pic from Bend It Like A Banana. Aren't they cute?

almost swimming in croatia

almost swimming in croatia
Originally uploaded by booskovski2000.

"Almost swimming in Croatia" is the title of this picture I found at flicr.

This gives me an excuse to tell you that I'm going on holiday in Croatia in June - to Rovinj, to be more exact. Being stuck in the snow in Norway, I feel that the thought of swimming in Croatia is quite welcome...

What is sex good for?

Dagbladet has a slightly ridiculous article today, titled "Does sex reduce your capacity?", discussing the very interesting dilemma: Should I have sex before competing or not?

For me, the solution is simple: I just stay away from competing. Dagbladet, on the other hand, quotes several studies, and concludes that "It seems clear that more research is needed to be able to answer yes or no to the question of whether sex affects your capacity in sports."

The answer to the question in my title ("What is sex good for?"), however, is quite simple: Sex sells more newspapers, and is a good excuse to print pictures of naked athletes.

(The people in the photos are Australian water polo stars and an Australian pole vault star - neither of whom have any connection with this story.)

Olympics day four: Great, but behind expectations

It's strange to follow many Norwegians' mood these days. Norway is the nation with most medals so far, with 11 (at the time of writing). But that is 1 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze, which is something like five gold behind expectations. Therefore, people are in a tense mood. When even Sweden (who, with double Norway's population, do not normally do very well in winter sports) got two gold medals today, things are tough for a patriotic Norwegian.

However, it may be a consolation to look at an updated table of SI's predictions. Here, I have put in the real winners in the events that have already finished, and the predicted winners in the rest:

Germany	17	9	9
Norway	11	8	8
US	6	11	11
Russia	6	7	9
Austria	5	9	5
China	5	5	4
South Korea	5	2	3
Canada	4	9	7
Switzerland	4	3	3
Sweden	4	2	5
Czech Republic	4	2	0
France	3	3	4
Italy	2	5	3
Netherlands	2	4	2
Croatia	2	1	1
Finland	1	3	7
Australia	1	0	0
Belarus	1	0	0
Estonia	1	0	0
Bulgaria	0	1	0
Japan	0	0	1
Ukraine	0	0	1
Latvia	0	0	1

Which means there's still hope...

One of the good things today was Frode Andresen's bronze in biathlon - and of course Halvard Hanevold's second medal in the games, this time a silver.


Frode Andresen

Olympic athletes nude

...and talking about olympics - a lot would probably like the Original Olympics page by Ewoud Broeksma, featuring athletes in the way the olympics would originally have them...


Ivan Cvetkov


Michiel Lochtenberg

Olympics day two: Great expectations

According to SI's predictions, Norway will win one gold medal and one bronze today. The gold will go to Marit Bjørgen in 15K Pursuit, but she is reported to having been ill for a while, so maybe that gold is up for grabs. The bronze is predicted for Roar Ljøkelsøy, but Lars Bystøl did a lot better than Roar in the qualification yesterday.


Roar Ljøkelsøy

According to the same predictions, these are the medals (gold-silver-bronze) Norway will get for each of the days of the olympics:

12/2: 1-0-1
14/2: 2-2-0
15/2: 0-0-1
16/2: 2-0-1
17/2: 0-1-0
18/2: 1-1-0
19/2: 1-0-0
20/2: 1-0-0
22/2: 2-0-0
24/2: 2-1-1
25/2: 1-0-0

Olympics day one: not all the way there...

The first day in the Olympics were a good day for Norway, with two silver medals and two bronze medals. However, the predictions were two gold medals, one silver and one bronze on the first day.

The medalists were:

Ole Einar Bjørndalen, silver (biathlon men, 20K individual)


Halvard Hanevold, bronze (biathlon men, 20K individual)


Magnus Moan, bronze (nordic combined)


Kari Traa, silver (freestyle women, moguls)


Petter Tande should also be mentioned, as he was only a few centimetres away from snatching Magnus Moan's bronze medal.

Olympics: Who will win?

Sports Illustrated has guessed who will win the medals in all the events of the 2006 Olympics in Turin (Torino). Their guesses give the following nation table:

(country - gold - silver - bronze)

Germany	17	11	13
Norway	15	6	5
Austria	6	7	6
US	5	12	13
China	5	4	3
Czech Republic	5	1	0
Canada	4	10	7
Switzerland	4	3	2
Russia	4	7	10
South Korea	4	2	3
Sweden	3	3	6
Italy	2	6	1
Finland	2	4	5
France	2	4	3
Netherlands	2	2	3
Croatia	2	1	1
Australia	1	0	0
Belarus	1	0	0
Bulgaria	0	1	0
Ukraine	0	0	1
Japan	0	0	2

At the time of writing, both Germany and Norway is ahead of expectations, but much will have to go their way if they are to be as successful as SI assumes...

Drawing of Muhammad

Here's a drawing of Muhammad - as a contribution to the discussion:



(Taken from Better World Heroes.)

Oslo street

helikopter
Originally uploaded by emil.hogset.

I keep looking for good photos from Oslo on flickr, and this one is quite good at capturing the strange light that you may experience in winter time...

Nude guys

A series of nude guys can be seen at zobs.org. A few of them are even cute...

Bareback Mountain

Blikk writes about the new movie "Bareback Mountain", the last of a series of gay porn movies taking inspiration from Hollywood movies ("Brokeback Mountain" this time, of course...)

I'm not an expert on gay porn, but must say I find the titles a little amusing:
1. Good Will Humping
2. 28 Gays Later
3. Lord of the Rims
4. Independence Gay
5. Men In Back
6. Schindler's Fist
7. Shaving Ryan's Privates
8. Dr. Jerkoff and Mr. Hard
9. Dirty Hairy
10. Forest Rump


Bareback Mountain


Brokeback Mountain

Embassies torched in cartoon fury

CNN, among others, writes about extremist Muslims that think violence is the right answer to (ab)use of free speech.

The world will never be peaceful until people realize that whatever is holy to me, may not be holy to others.

It's a bit worrying to see Norwegian (and Danish) embassies being looted, but the main point must stay firm: In Norway we have freedom of speech, and we will not prosecute the Christian extremists that printed the cartoons featuring Mohammed. Maybe it is a consolation for Muslims that these Christian extremists have themselves endured parody and comedy concerning their own religion.

MySpace

So now I've gotten a MySpace page as well... You are all welcome to visit me there - and call me your friend if you feel I am...

Vigeland, Oslo

Oslo
Originally uploaded by Ciarán.

Again, I have checked for new Oslo photos on flickr, and I found this picture from the Vigeland park. Although the park is most pleasant in summer, when sunbathing on the grass between the statues is wonderful, it's also worth a look in winter...

Cute Kiwis

On Gareth Watkins' page there are lots of photographs of cute kiwis, as the owe above. He is a professional photographer who has a book to sell and is also in search for new models. Check it out!

100 sexiest men

The New Woman magazine has had a poll to choose the world's 100 sexiest men, according to several sources, for instance Manchester Online.

As usual, the list is ridiculously western-focused and showbiz-oriented (which means my boyfriend is not on the list, for instance), but at least it is a chance that some good-looking guys may be found on it:

The Top 100:

1. Brad Pitt



2. Jake Gyllenhaal
3. Orlando Bloom



4. Johnny Depp



5. Clive Owen
6. Jose Mourinho
7. Shayne Ward
8. Daniel Craig
9. Simon Jones
10. Olivier Martinez
11. George Clooney



12. Thierry Henry
13. Robbie Williams



14. David Beckham



15. Jude Law



16. Josh Holloway
17. Adam Brody
18. Pete Doherty
19. Alex Zane
20. David Tennant
21. Gavin Henson
22. Heath Ledger



23. Leonardo DiCaprio



24. Joaquin Phoenix



25. Prince William



26. Preston
27. Matthew Fox
28. Jonny Wilkinson
29. Jamie Foxx
30. Vince Vaughn
31. Hugh Grant
32. Freddie Ljungberg



33. Vernon Kaye
34. Colin Farrell



35. Dermot O'Leary
36. Justin Timberlake



37. Ewan McGregor



38. Fabrizio Moretti
39. Ashton Kutcher



40. Usher
41. Jason Statham
42. Eminem
43. Keanu Reeves



44. Matthew McConaughey
45. Owen Wilson
46. Viggo Mortensen
47. Matt LeBlanc
48. James Cracknell
49. Antonio Banderas



50. Calum Best
51. Tom Cruise
52. Ralph Fiennes
53. Goran Visnjic
54. Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff
55. Will Smith
56. Prince Harry
57. Naveen Andrews
58. Sean Penn
59. Brandon Flowers
60. Colin Firth
61. Simon Webbe
62. Pierce Brosnan
63. Jean Christoph Novelli
64. Michael Owen



65. Gael Garcia Bernal



66. Carl Barat
67. Mick Jagger
68. Steve Jones
69. Jason Lee
70. Cillian Murphy
71. Max Beesley
72. Paul Bettany
73. Matt James
74. Nigel Harman
75. Jonathan Ross
76. Lee Ryan
77. Richard Fleeshman
78. Jamie Oliver
79. Steven Gerrard



80. Damian Lewis
81. Anthony Head
82. Jason Orange
83. Andrew Lincoln
84. Jody Latham
85. James McAvoy
86. Daniel Radcliffe



87. Patrick Dempsey
88. Robert Webb
89. Adrien Brody
90. Johnny Knoxville
91. Paul Walker
92. David Cameron
93. James Blunt
94. Russell Crowe
95. Ashley Cole
96. Colin Murray
97. Ben Shephard
98. Will Young
99. Gordon Ramsay
100. Alex Turner

We're #1!

According to The Economist Intelligence Unit, Oslo is now the most expensive city in the world, after leaping ahead of Tokyo.

Still, it's perfectly possible to get a bed for something like $20 a night and a dinner for $7 - if you know where to go...