Feb 21, 2015
Full Show Script
- [intern]
- EVO: Fair warning: This episode will be all over the place. Our last week on our own in Denmark was... well, it's hard to label. I mean, how many people get to experience craft beer, innovation, random kindness of strangers, and beating a cat out of a barrel as they travel the world?
- SHE: What about you, dude.
- EVO: Even the cat and barrel thing?
- SHE: OK, that is a little random, even for you. And it's as good a place as any to start this episode. Denmark celebrates the most awesome holiday you've never heard of. It's called Fastelavn, and it's a little like Halloween mixed with Christmas mixed with a Mexican birthday party. Seriously. The kids dress up in costumes (Halloween), go door to door singing songs (Christmas) and get candy for their efforts (Halloween again). And it ends, rumor has it, when someone beats on a wooden barrel until a cat jumps out.
- EVO: We don't have first-hand knowledge of that last part. But we did witness an awards ceremony-slash-celebration of sorts, for the person who, allegedly, did the best barrel beating. That's what you're hearing under this track. A horse-drawn brass band and a few dozen girls also on horses, parading around and celebrating the achievement. Here's our buddy Alex Berger again, laying down some local knowledge on the holiday.
- [Fastelavn]
- SHE: Danes, man. Danes. As crazy as their traditions are, they make a mighty fine beer. No, I don't mean Carlsburg. And I mean more than just Mikkeller and To Øl. Hidden away, on a street with at least seven syllables, we stumbled upon this little gem.
- [best craft beer bar in Denmark]
- EVO: The name I couldn't remember was Ølsnedkaren. Which I'm probably not pronouncing right, but that goes well with my horrid attempt at deducing the meaning of the word.
- [beers with Karen]
- SHE: No, it doesn't. It means "beer carpenter", but that's a literal translation. It more like "beer crafter". And they know their craft quite well. They are also quite helpful dealing with idiot Americans who can't count change. No, not Evo this time.
- [coins]
- EVO: But in your defense, Lover, coins are a pain in the ass. The paper money is easy, with the denomination clearly marked, and the bills getting bigger as the face value gets bigger. But coins? Coins suck everywhere. Rumor has it there's a pattern to the coins in Denmark, but we couldn't figure it out in the 2 weeks we were there. It's easier to hold it all in your hand and let the cashier just take what they need.
- SHE: Copenhagen was also where Evo's business brain kickstarted once again. We had a great time hanging out with Zenia, Helena, Stephen, Yesper, and the rest of the crew at Founders House, a great coworking space for tech startups. They invited us to attend HackBeat one night, where we saw some really cool demos that blended music and technology. And they fed us, too! We're looking forward to going back.
- EVO: And it's almost assured that we are going back, as I think I'm going to get involved with the Innovation Embassy, headquartered in Copenhagen with offices in Noho, another coworking space. We spent a couple of days with Erik and Hjörtur, and it was pretty obvious to the three of us that we needed to find a way to work together on a few projects. Erik has a background in astrophysics, and Hjörtur is, well... I'll let him tell you
- [Hjörtur]
- EVO: And he's not kidding about that. Chances are, you've probably heard about the McDonalds hamburger -- Iceland's last ever -- and its hugely popular streaming webcam. It's a crazy story that went international, and it was Hjörtur's burger! Hjörtur has dozens of stories like that. I recorded about 10 minutes of audio with him that I'll link to on the website. Yes, you'll have to go to the website to get it. There's too much good stuff and I don't want to edit it down to fit within this format. And you really want to hear about naked paleontology, getting beaten in a Russian sauna, and the craziest marathon success story you've ever heard. Seriously. 10 minutes you'll want to experience.
- SHE: Finally, there was one other equally random and awesome thing that happened to us. Evo met someone on Facebook -- for the very first time -- and the very next day, as we're sightseeing, he offers to let us stay with him -- for free -- in Brussels. How does this happen?
- EVO: Hey, I'm a nice guy. And we're nice people!
- [free room]
- EVO: And that's where we're at right now, Brussels Belgium. Thanks to Sidar, our funds have been stretched even further, as that was four hotel days we didn't have to pay for. So thanks, Sidar. And yes, to those listening, we'll take any and all offers for places to stay for free. Thanks in advance to Matthew, Gillian, and John. More on them in coming shows. For this one, all the love goes to Sidar. A person I'd met one online one day before. How cool is that?
- SHE: Coupled with our housesitting assignments, we're set for lodging until the end of May. After that... we'll see. I've put our names in for lots of places -- Mexico, Thailand, Australia... It's a big world out there, and we'll probably go if they'll let us in. So let us know if you can help. Oh, and one last thing: We realized our Patreon pledge levels were kinda stupid. I mean, they were awesome and all, but the pricing was way out of line for the value received. We just tweaked them, and now anyone pledging more than five dollar gets a postcard from us every month. And for the dozen or so people who've pledged more than that already, we built in awesome new rewards for you. We think you'll like it. Patreon.com/evoterra. Or just look for the links all over Shevo.wtf.
- EVO: We'll be back next week with tales of what we've been up to in Brussels and what we'll recently have discovered in northern England. Cheers from Belgium!