Today, we follow artist Morten Traavik to Pyongyang to see a group of North Korea's best accordionists performing the 80s Euro-hit standard "Take On Me" by A-Ha. more ›

As part of the 2012 Barents Spektakel festival, Norwegian artist Morten Traavik collaborated with North Korean instructors to teach locals how to do the card stunt that is so ubiquitous in North Korea's Mass Games. more ›

Here's another entry into what's turned into the Summer of Saison, from the best (only?) craft brewery in Norway. Nøgne Ø Saison is a bottle conditioned saison that pours a cloudy golden, with a lot of sediment at the bottom of a 22-ounce bottle; you've been warned. The decanting emits a pleasant grassy aroma, with esters that tickle the nose. more ›

If beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, as Benjamin Franklin once surmised, then the Norwegians behind Nøgne Ø are the equivalent of missionaries luring bloodthirsty Vikings away from the halls of Asgard with the allure of satiny ales. Brewmaster Kjetil Jikiun came to craft brewing like nearly every other successful brewer we've met: he started out as a homebrewer. Jikiun is also a commercial airline pilot, was able to expand his knowledge of beer while flying around the globe and became a fan of the quality of beers being produced by American craft and microbreweries. more ›

It seems there are a lot of Norwegians coming to town or there are lots of public transit enthusiasts. It seems Norway ranks first in total hits from foreign countries for the CTA's website, having registered 15,395 hits on the CTA's bus tracker website from the country over the last year. But why? Tourism plans, sure. Maybe they're researching the home city of President-Elect Barack Obama, who's considered a "celebrity" in Eruope. Or, perhaps, they're trying to steal our secrets. Whatever the case, it seems the visits are intentional.

But it doesn't appear that most of those 15,000-plus Norwegian folks happened along to the Bus Tracker site by accident because 75 percent of them clicked through to visit other pages on the CTA Web site and spent more than 18 minutes there before moving on, officials said. "Many people just like to watch buses on their computer, even if they are not planning a trip," CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said.