It's time to update my favorite TV programmes at the moment. Let's see how many of them I can come up with.
1. The Shield - a great series. I like the total dispare it puts on display. I don't watch it now, however, because for some reason I have seen them all already.
2. CSI - one of the best ever. I watched the episodes shown in Finland already in Sweden, so I'm basically putting all CSI's on hold while I get new stuff to watch. I don't care for seeing the same episodes twice.
3. CSI - Miami - Caruso's legendary performance keeps amazing. He moves at the speed of light, hell, he's everywhere. We should have more bosses like him, LOL!
4. CSI - NY - the same thing as with the other CSI's: waiting for unseen episodes to watch. Sinise's role is perhaps the most credible of all. He's the most sympathetic anyway.
5. 2½ men - This series is shown in the afternoon. Bad time for a working class hero to watch. The first comedy in the list, and the fifth favorite show I'm not even watching!
6. Cold Case - I discussed this in my previous post. The storylines and the characters are fine. There's a certain type of coldness in the lead character, which only needs to be accepted.
7. NCIS - not that far from CSI naturally. This has much more humour in it. Great characters, great bitching. The PC-nerd maid is hot. Nice awkward situations in every episode. David McCallum has had a role in a popular series every decade since the 60's!
8. Bones - this is maybe the greatest show I'm watching this Fall. The lead, and even side characters are just perfect. Small humour thrown between the lines.
9. Law & Order - ok, with it's spin-offs, although the UK version hasn't really convinced me. It's a classic with carefully written stories. The theme, especially in its original form, is one of the most fantastic ever implemented.
10. The Mentalist - in Finnish: Mentalist. LMAO! I'm not sure whether this should be included here, because I have seen only two episodes of it. I will give it another go still.
The series I miss: Millennium, especially the 2nd season, a classic. X-files, in its heyday. Star Trek stuff, all of it. Not much good comedy in sight, most of them are movies. Married with children was good, so was The third stone from the Sun. 4400 was also good sci-fi, but I lost it when moving to Sweden. Expecting this list to be updated, let's see if I will post it then.
It's yesterday once more
I have some theories why days in the past seem often so attractive and "better". I don't have exclusive rights to all of these, but no matter. Just let me entertain you (a Queen quote, not by Robbie Williams).
One of my oldest observations is about the movies. Yes, if a film describes a certain year in the past, there are old cars in the pictures. To be exact, they are all of that precise vintage: if you have a "backflash" in a movie from e.g. 1955, every goddamn character has a new car from that year. And they are always pretty clean and waxed, all the time. Hell, if I looked out the window (if I had one with such a view), I'd see quite few car models of 2009. And the standard of living has risen since the 50's. Take a look at film footage from 1955, there's a lot of cars from the 30's in it. Probably the actual owner of the car, who has lent his/her pride and joy to the movie production, wouldn't have allowed them to be smutched, not to mention scratched. That's a fake picture of the past, and of course more beautiful than in reality.
The same goes for cellular phones for example. It's pretty rare to see a brand new phone in use immediately after its release, unless it's a company phone. Well, in The Dark Knight movie Batman used a Nokia model which hadn't even been released yet. But that is fiction and Tube isn't actually state-of-the-art tech anymore. In one episode of X-files there was a tongue-in-cheek flashback, with Mulder carrying a huge mobile phone with him. Old technology means fun sometimes, especially with phones. I had my first cellular in 2001, because I was strongly against it for years. I had to have it because of my work. It didn't fit in my philosophy then; now I can hardly live without it. Things change.
Also TV's fall into the same cathegory. Right now, I don't possess an HD-TV, and it was not until late 70's when we had our first colour TV. Naturally without a remote control, although they were already in constant use in the US by then. Even in some Finnish series they like to "remember" everyone having a colour TV in the 60's. Hell, there wasn't even that much production in available in colour. In the mid-70's, all the TV presentations were still in black-and-white.
Maybe the worst generalizer of all is the TV series Cold Case which I otherwise dig. Basically everything is vintage about the year in question. For instance, I didn't listen to the hits of the day at home in 1998. I don't even know what the hits were then. I was so concentrated on my own music that I couldn't care less about others'. And the music in Cold Case etc. filming plays in stereo, sometimes even in 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 (how far can they go with the speaker system? 1000000.1? LOL!). Mono players were very popular still in the 60's. There are no scratches in the records, remember vinyls and 78s? (shellac, savikiekko, stenkaka) I bet that the next time they set up a sixties scene in a movie, they will use the fresh out of print re-mastered versions of The Beatles songs in it. Why not? Authenticity is for the freaks like me (another good title: freaks like me. LMAO!).
About the beauty of the past. When we take a look at old photos or video shots, it's usually sunny and beautiful. Well, those days photography was heavily dependent on light and shooting in the rain was out of the question. We usually smile for the camera, rather than cry. All of this moulds our minds later when we browse old pictures. Even in the movie industry they need light and sunshine to film outside the studios. Rain has often been arranged with artificial showers.
Naturally our own personal memories are alike. When we were young and healthy, without worries of adult age, everything may easily seem to have been lovely in the past. It affects whether we like it or not. People tend to remember only the good things in the past, leaving the bad stuff under the carpet. That may be wise for humans to survive (this one's for Darwin). Looking at old pictures may bring back bad memories as well, but mostly people skip those pictures, or move on quickly to the next picture with more pleasurable memories.
Like a legendary Finn, Matti Nykänen, has once said: "Elämä on ihmisen parasta aikaa" (Life is the best time for man). He should know. Carpe diem, seize the day, and remember that we're living now those wonderful memories of the future! Smile :)
One of my oldest observations is about the movies. Yes, if a film describes a certain year in the past, there are old cars in the pictures. To be exact, they are all of that precise vintage: if you have a "backflash" in a movie from e.g. 1955, every goddamn character has a new car from that year. And they are always pretty clean and waxed, all the time. Hell, if I looked out the window (if I had one with such a view), I'd see quite few car models of 2009. And the standard of living has risen since the 50's. Take a look at film footage from 1955, there's a lot of cars from the 30's in it. Probably the actual owner of the car, who has lent his/her pride and joy to the movie production, wouldn't have allowed them to be smutched, not to mention scratched. That's a fake picture of the past, and of course more beautiful than in reality.
The same goes for cellular phones for example. It's pretty rare to see a brand new phone in use immediately after its release, unless it's a company phone. Well, in The Dark Knight movie Batman used a Nokia model which hadn't even been released yet. But that is fiction and Tube isn't actually state-of-the-art tech anymore. In one episode of X-files there was a tongue-in-cheek flashback, with Mulder carrying a huge mobile phone with him. Old technology means fun sometimes, especially with phones. I had my first cellular in 2001, because I was strongly against it for years. I had to have it because of my work. It didn't fit in my philosophy then; now I can hardly live without it. Things change.
Also TV's fall into the same cathegory. Right now, I don't possess an HD-TV, and it was not until late 70's when we had our first colour TV. Naturally without a remote control, although they were already in constant use in the US by then. Even in some Finnish series they like to "remember" everyone having a colour TV in the 60's. Hell, there wasn't even that much production in available in colour. In the mid-70's, all the TV presentations were still in black-and-white.
Maybe the worst generalizer of all is the TV series Cold Case which I otherwise dig. Basically everything is vintage about the year in question. For instance, I didn't listen to the hits of the day at home in 1998. I don't even know what the hits were then. I was so concentrated on my own music that I couldn't care less about others'. And the music in Cold Case etc. filming plays in stereo, sometimes even in 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 (how far can they go with the speaker system? 1000000.1? LOL!). Mono players were very popular still in the 60's. There are no scratches in the records, remember vinyls and 78s? (shellac, savikiekko, stenkaka) I bet that the next time they set up a sixties scene in a movie, they will use the fresh out of print re-mastered versions of The Beatles songs in it. Why not? Authenticity is for the freaks like me (another good title: freaks like me. LMAO!).
About the beauty of the past. When we take a look at old photos or video shots, it's usually sunny and beautiful. Well, those days photography was heavily dependent on light and shooting in the rain was out of the question. We usually smile for the camera, rather than cry. All of this moulds our minds later when we browse old pictures. Even in the movie industry they need light and sunshine to film outside the studios. Rain has often been arranged with artificial showers.
Naturally our own personal memories are alike. When we were young and healthy, without worries of adult age, everything may easily seem to have been lovely in the past. It affects whether we like it or not. People tend to remember only the good things in the past, leaving the bad stuff under the carpet. That may be wise for humans to survive (this one's for Darwin). Looking at old pictures may bring back bad memories as well, but mostly people skip those pictures, or move on quickly to the next picture with more pleasurable memories.
Like a legendary Finn, Matti Nykänen, has once said: "Elämä on ihmisen parasta aikaa" (Life is the best time for man). He should know. Carpe diem, seize the day, and remember that we're living now those wonderful memories of the future! Smile :)
Johnny, remember Winter
As they promised, the weather turned cold today. It was barely above zero degrees (Celsius) this morning. The wind shields of my car were covered by thin freeze. Even yesterday evening we saw a pair of hail showers, and somewhere in Lapland genuine snow had fallen down. The signs of Winter are here alright.
As for me, I'm not yet ready to welcome Winter. I'd like to have a long warmish Autumn first. We have had some foretaste of it already, but I want more. The leaves of trees are magnificent at the moment. The insects are mostly gone. There was not that many butterflies this Summer, but the crickets were still there. Let's make a note: in the year of 2009 I did hear crickets chirp. What a thriller it will be for the next Summer, LOL!
As for me, I'm not yet ready to welcome Winter. I'd like to have a long warmish Autumn first. We have had some foretaste of it already, but I want more. The leaves of trees are magnificent at the moment. The insects are mostly gone. There was not that many butterflies this Summer, but the crickets were still there. Let's make a note: in the year of 2009 I did hear crickets chirp. What a thriller it will be for the next Summer, LOL!
Chauvin's Etude in matter minor
The reason behind this post is to check if I still have female readers left. After reading this I'm sure I won't have any, LOL! Well, joking aside for a moment, this is basically serious stuff.
At least in Finland I keep hearing several women protest: "The same-sized salary for the same work." Yes, that's familiar stuff indeed. Women are getting paid less for working in the same position as men. In principle I agree with them: everyone should get the same reward for the same job. Regardless of sex.
But, as far as I have seen it happen, women don't do the same amount of work. Exceptions exist of course, but at the jobs I have had there has always been a woman who does 95% of the talking. It's humanly impossible for her to manage with the same work load than the rest. And usually those even interfere others work, sometimes massively. They use their womanliness to lure poor men to do some of their work. Am I right?
To prove my point, let's take a look at the sports. 100-meter sprint, for example. Women do the same work as men, only slower. If they want the same fee for it, why don't they race in the same competition then? Side by side. Unisex sports are rare, what does that tell you?
Admitted, I'm deliberately trying to raise some eyebrows. It's only because I'm sick and tired of hearing that 'same salary for same work' slogan. I agree, as long as it really is the same work. And, in places where I come from, it is not.
At least in Finland I keep hearing several women protest: "The same-sized salary for the same work." Yes, that's familiar stuff indeed. Women are getting paid less for working in the same position as men. In principle I agree with them: everyone should get the same reward for the same job. Regardless of sex.
But, as far as I have seen it happen, women don't do the same amount of work. Exceptions exist of course, but at the jobs I have had there has always been a woman who does 95% of the talking. It's humanly impossible for her to manage with the same work load than the rest. And usually those even interfere others work, sometimes massively. They use their womanliness to lure poor men to do some of their work. Am I right?
To prove my point, let's take a look at the sports. 100-meter sprint, for example. Women do the same work as men, only slower. If they want the same fee for it, why don't they race in the same competition then? Side by side. Unisex sports are rare, what does that tell you?
Admitted, I'm deliberately trying to raise some eyebrows. It's only because I'm sick and tired of hearing that 'same salary for same work' slogan. I agree, as long as it really is the same work. And, in places where I come from, it is not.
Cleanup time
We have a personal cleaning lady in our premises in Tampere. She probably has more places to clean than ours, but she seems to spend her time here. She's quite a personality.
I have no knowledge about what rights she has been granted, when she moves around our working site, but she seems to have them a lot. She drinks our coffee in our coffee space, reads our magazines or newspapers on our tables, heats her lunch in our microwave oven, puts her dishes in our dish machine etc. I don't mind that, but it feels weird. In a way, she's one of the 'guys' here, which is extraordinary. Normally cleaning ladies are hardly even treated as persons in this sector.
She's the boss when it comes to cleaning toilets. There's no interrupting her. Unless there is a lunch break. Then the toilet cleaning is put on hold and no-one is allowed to enter before her lunchtime has ended. We need more people like her, I suppose. Self-respective. I usually greet cleaning staff. That's not what everybody does. She is not shy to have a word with our 'prez' either. Indeed, she IS one of us.
I have no knowledge about what rights she has been granted, when she moves around our working site, but she seems to have them a lot. She drinks our coffee in our coffee space, reads our magazines or newspapers on our tables, heats her lunch in our microwave oven, puts her dishes in our dish machine etc. I don't mind that, but it feels weird. In a way, she's one of the 'guys' here, which is extraordinary. Normally cleaning ladies are hardly even treated as persons in this sector.
She's the boss when it comes to cleaning toilets. There's no interrupting her. Unless there is a lunch break. Then the toilet cleaning is put on hold and no-one is allowed to enter before her lunchtime has ended. We need more people like her, I suppose. Self-respective. I usually greet cleaning staff. That's not what everybody does. She is not shy to have a word with our 'prez' either. Indeed, she IS one of us.
Get Smart - TIC of the month?
Way, way, way back in 1985 - a good year for me by the way - I made up the following thesis:
If you educate someone, you'll get dumber yourself!
It means that when sharing a piece of your information with someone, the average wisdom in the world grows - while yours stays the same. Simple. The meaning of this post was not to brag about ancient wisdom I used to possess, but the following news I read today game me the reason to use my anthiques, LOL!
According to an article I just read, physical violence against children makes them dumber. Their IQ can reduce even by 5 points. That's much. Hell, I could have been a colleague of Mogli with those points, LOL! Or his boss.
Well, back to the thesis. Now it can be moulded into this form:
If you punish your child physically, you'll get smarter!
The same logic: while your child gets dumber and thus lowers the average wisdom in the world, yours stays the same. Sad but true. Personally I think that people who see violence as a solution, are stupid, but maybe I have been wrong all along?
If you educate someone, you'll get dumber yourself!
It means that when sharing a piece of your information with someone, the average wisdom in the world grows - while yours stays the same. Simple. The meaning of this post was not to brag about ancient wisdom I used to possess, but the following news I read today game me the reason to use my anthiques, LOL!
According to an article I just read, physical violence against children makes them dumber. Their IQ can reduce even by 5 points. That's much. Hell, I could have been a colleague of Mogli with those points, LOL! Or his boss.
Well, back to the thesis. Now it can be moulded into this form:
If you punish your child physically, you'll get smarter!
The same logic: while your child gets dumber and thus lowers the average wisdom in the world, yours stays the same. Sad but true. Personally I think that people who see violence as a solution, are stupid, but maybe I have been wrong all along?
Van Hanen goes heavy?
It would be interestig to know how much about this piece of news has been released around the world. You be my guinea-pigs, please!
In Finland, we have had a storming year with the funding behind the politicians and parties. Some of them admit knowing where the money has come from while most of them act ignorant. In principle, no-one has done anything illegal, but the cover-ups and denials make the politicians look dirty. It's all about the credibility in the end.
Our not-anymore-so-beloved prime minister Mr. Vanhanen is in the middle of it. He has been connected to RAY, which is a Finnish money games owning company. All left-handed robbers (or fruit-games, as we called them today) for instance belong to them in Finland. RAY is a sacred institution for us, and therefore should be non-political.
Vanhanen and his party, the Center party, are involved in another mess too. Along with most of the congressmen in Finland. There is a company called Nova group which is now bankrupt. It was revealed that several parties and politicians had received vast amounts of money from them when the company was in economical trouble. Now they are forced to pay back the easy money they had received. It hasn't gone without objections naturally. The 100k-euros-plus the Center party now owes to Nova group isn't actually chicken feed.
Because of the innuendo that these gifts and contributions might have affected the result in the previous election, many congressmen, especially on the opposition side of course, demand a new election. Immediately. Prime minister says no, and the debate continues.
I must admit that Mr. Vanhanen really has balls. Like a true heavy rock star. He's in deep shit, so to speak, and yet he acts like nothing had happened. Quite like Berlusconi, I could imagine. Maybe that's the only way to stay in power. Denial gets you far. Into my blog too, LOL!
In fact, I'm not that excited about the new election. Let's face it, some faces might change, but the composition in the parliament wouldn't. People are so slow when it comes to change their mind about political orientation. After all, it's the parties that "guide" their representatives in the parliament. It would be gullible to think otherwise. And, frankly, I think Matti Vanhanen has done a great job so far. His non-political moves are only a good sidekick to his otherwise boring persona. Who said that politics mustn't be funny too? Not me.
In Finland, we have had a storming year with the funding behind the politicians and parties. Some of them admit knowing where the money has come from while most of them act ignorant. In principle, no-one has done anything illegal, but the cover-ups and denials make the politicians look dirty. It's all about the credibility in the end.
Our not-anymore-so-beloved prime minister Mr. Vanhanen is in the middle of it. He has been connected to RAY, which is a Finnish money games owning company. All left-handed robbers (or fruit-games, as we called them today) for instance belong to them in Finland. RAY is a sacred institution for us, and therefore should be non-political.
Vanhanen and his party, the Center party, are involved in another mess too. Along with most of the congressmen in Finland. There is a company called Nova group which is now bankrupt. It was revealed that several parties and politicians had received vast amounts of money from them when the company was in economical trouble. Now they are forced to pay back the easy money they had received. It hasn't gone without objections naturally. The 100k-euros-plus the Center party now owes to Nova group isn't actually chicken feed.
Because of the innuendo that these gifts and contributions might have affected the result in the previous election, many congressmen, especially on the opposition side of course, demand a new election. Immediately. Prime minister says no, and the debate continues.
I must admit that Mr. Vanhanen really has balls. Like a true heavy rock star. He's in deep shit, so to speak, and yet he acts like nothing had happened. Quite like Berlusconi, I could imagine. Maybe that's the only way to stay in power. Denial gets you far. Into my blog too, LOL!
In fact, I'm not that excited about the new election. Let's face it, some faces might change, but the composition in the parliament wouldn't. People are so slow when it comes to change their mind about political orientation. After all, it's the parties that "guide" their representatives in the parliament. It would be gullible to think otherwise. And, frankly, I think Matti Vanhanen has done a great job so far. His non-political moves are only a good sidekick to his otherwise boring persona. Who said that politics mustn't be funny too? Not me.
Flea market brain?
I have normally avoided such places as flea markets (kirppis/loppis). It's basically junk they try to sell there, with few exceptions of course. Well, these days I think differently.
My wife has hired a table in a flea market in Nokia several times. She has been selling old baby clothes mostly. They are very handy stuff because they seldom get so worn out. Children grow so fast when they are babies. That's why it's almost stupid to buy new stuff for them. And - yes, the green values ahoy - it's ecologically wise to recycle.
Well, my interest didn't reach the baby stuff selling, although I was glad to hear that we got some money back. The table costs 25 euros per week, which seems quite expensive to me. Since the stuff you sell can't be price-tagged with several digits, you have to sell a lot only to cover the table rent.
There's another angle to it: you get rid of old stuff and get room for new stuff. What would we need old baby clothes for? We're not planning to increase the family number of ours. Surely we have received and given plenty of material to our friends and relatives, but that's just a tip of an iceberg.
This time I got interested. I had a load of vinyls I didn't care for, some of them bought in Stockholm. Yes, I make mistakes too. Plus I had bought some collectors' items just to sell them later in my life. Now's the time, it seems. Records are much cheaper and in better condition in Stockholm compared to Finland. Well, based mostly on my Tampere area experience. Thus it's not a crime to sell them at a higher price. The travelling costs are not non-existent, you know. The sad thing of it is that the Finns, and the Nokia people in particular, are such a cheap people who'd buy nothing that isn't free. I have closed some deals there anyway, hoping to cover the rent for four weeks. Actually, the table is joint with my brother, but I'm in charge of everything this time.
Yes, you have a chance to join this flea market hype and visit my stand in Nokia! I'm not expecting anyone really to be there, but hypothetically it's possible now. You won't see me there either, because the owner of the market takes care of the charging. I only put my things on display (no laughing here). I have some CD's, DVD's, books and magazines there as well. Even some VHS's, for old-fashioned. They kind of fit to be close to vinyls, don't you think?
My wife has hired a table in a flea market in Nokia several times. She has been selling old baby clothes mostly. They are very handy stuff because they seldom get so worn out. Children grow so fast when they are babies. That's why it's almost stupid to buy new stuff for them. And - yes, the green values ahoy - it's ecologically wise to recycle.
Well, my interest didn't reach the baby stuff selling, although I was glad to hear that we got some money back. The table costs 25 euros per week, which seems quite expensive to me. Since the stuff you sell can't be price-tagged with several digits, you have to sell a lot only to cover the table rent.
There's another angle to it: you get rid of old stuff and get room for new stuff. What would we need old baby clothes for? We're not planning to increase the family number of ours. Surely we have received and given plenty of material to our friends and relatives, but that's just a tip of an iceberg.
This time I got interested. I had a load of vinyls I didn't care for, some of them bought in Stockholm. Yes, I make mistakes too. Plus I had bought some collectors' items just to sell them later in my life. Now's the time, it seems. Records are much cheaper and in better condition in Stockholm compared to Finland. Well, based mostly on my Tampere area experience. Thus it's not a crime to sell them at a higher price. The travelling costs are not non-existent, you know. The sad thing of it is that the Finns, and the Nokia people in particular, are such a cheap people who'd buy nothing that isn't free. I have closed some deals there anyway, hoping to cover the rent for four weeks. Actually, the table is joint with my brother, but I'm in charge of everything this time.
Yes, you have a chance to join this flea market hype and visit my stand in Nokia! I'm not expecting anyone really to be there, but hypothetically it's possible now. You won't see me there either, because the owner of the market takes care of the charging. I only put my things on display (no laughing here). I have some CD's, DVD's, books and magazines there as well. Even some VHS's, for old-fashioned. They kind of fit to be close to vinyls, don't you think?
Swedish chopper in the news
Yesterday, in broad day light, a group of people robbed a huge amount of money in the Stockholm centre. The group didn't get caught while the Swedish police watched it happen with the front row tickets. Yes, it's possible, but only in Sweden. It might have been too 'jobbigt' (troublesome) or 'farligt' (dangerous) for the policemen to try stopping them, I suppose. There was a bag close to the choppers which presumably could have included explosives. Were ALL of the police helicopters in one place, surrounding the bag? Can one bag make the Swedish police force powerless?
How difficult it is to follow a helicopter these days? The police told the press that the chopper landed in Arninge, near Täby. Why wasn't an army of policemen (and policewomen) waiting for them? Didn't the information get through to Täby? Was there a 'fikapaus' (coffee break) going on? LOL! Last year I was marvelling at the robbery in Kista, Stockholm, when the thief escaped by a moped and got uncaught. Now the getaway vehicle was even more striking.
By now it's clear that the rest of the world enjoy reading about the Swedish police. It really makes me wonder, why they didn't try shooting the chopper down. That should have been an easy task. When it was flying above the forest or other uninhabited area, to prevent from getting unnecessary casualties. Was the money in the chopper the reason? What WAS the reason?
The thieves must have had inside information to carry out a project of this scale succesfully. The police have arrested two persons which may have had something to do with the robbery. If the story continues as with those multiple robberies before this, nothing will be solved. And this piece of news will fall into oblivion, at latest when the next, perhaps even bolder attempt steals the column space all around the world.
How difficult it is to follow a helicopter these days? The police told the press that the chopper landed in Arninge, near Täby. Why wasn't an army of policemen (and policewomen) waiting for them? Didn't the information get through to Täby? Was there a 'fikapaus' (coffee break) going on? LOL! Last year I was marvelling at the robbery in Kista, Stockholm, when the thief escaped by a moped and got uncaught. Now the getaway vehicle was even more striking.
By now it's clear that the rest of the world enjoy reading about the Swedish police. It really makes me wonder, why they didn't try shooting the chopper down. That should have been an easy task. When it was flying above the forest or other uninhabited area, to prevent from getting unnecessary casualties. Was the money in the chopper the reason? What WAS the reason?
The thieves must have had inside information to carry out a project of this scale succesfully. The police have arrested two persons which may have had something to do with the robbery. If the story continues as with those multiple robberies before this, nothing will be solved. And this piece of news will fall into oblivion, at latest when the next, perhaps even bolder attempt steals the column space all around the world.
Je m'appelle Smek
Bonjour, everyone! It finally happened. I'm studying French! I have three lessons behind myself and who knows how many ahead.
It has been almost legendary with my French studies. More than 15 years ago I wanted to learn some French. The French night school courses in Tampere where I lived were always sold-out. Those days the Internet wasn't really in use as we know it, so I had to walk to the door of a high school to find it out. I didn't give up, so I borrowed a book in library and started to study myself. It didn't lead far from zero of course.
Years later I tried to join a night college or something, but I didn't find the right door in a strange place. I had recently moved to Nokia and the city was almost totally unknown to me. I was unemployed at the time, so I could have easily taught myself a new language.
This Autumn I felt like learning again. It's still not clear whether the course will go on any further, because the minimum amount of participants is eight, and there are only six of us. It's been great so far, although as the only male in the class I get too much unwanted attention. I wouldn't want to get to answer the teacher's questions as often as I have to. Somehow along the line I have got used to accept that I won't get any French education, so this feels quite weird at the moment. It's been clear from the start that this language is difficult. For me at least. This learning is more like pastime to me than a serious hobby. It never hurts to get more educated. Well, sometimes it does.
It has been almost legendary with my French studies. More than 15 years ago I wanted to learn some French. The French night school courses in Tampere where I lived were always sold-out. Those days the Internet wasn't really in use as we know it, so I had to walk to the door of a high school to find it out. I didn't give up, so I borrowed a book in library and started to study myself. It didn't lead far from zero of course.
Years later I tried to join a night college or something, but I didn't find the right door in a strange place. I had recently moved to Nokia and the city was almost totally unknown to me. I was unemployed at the time, so I could have easily taught myself a new language.
This Autumn I felt like learning again. It's still not clear whether the course will go on any further, because the minimum amount of participants is eight, and there are only six of us. It's been great so far, although as the only male in the class I get too much unwanted attention. I wouldn't want to get to answer the teacher's questions as often as I have to. Somehow along the line I have got used to accept that I won't get any French education, so this feels quite weird at the moment. It's been clear from the start that this language is difficult. For me at least. This learning is more like pastime to me than a serious hobby. It never hurts to get more educated. Well, sometimes it does.
Greedence Revival
It's frustrating and annoying to read the news sometimes. Now the price of gasoline is going to get close to 2 euros per litre in Finland. That's a lot. This way, the oil companies will harm themselves, by giving room for bio-gas. That serves them right! The greed knows no boundaries.
The electricity companies are legendary, especially Fortum which is led by the state. They lifted up the price when there was not enough rainy days in Norway where the electricity was coming from. The next year it rained a lot there, but it didn't lower the prices. They went up again instead. Many times when electricity consumption has increased, they have pumped up the price, because it's so damn expensive to cover the peak consumption. This Summer the news from Fortum was no different - only the grounds were new. The Finnish electricity consuming had dropped 10%, so they will have to increase the price by 11%! Boy, did I get angry to read that! I have tried to save energy - only to get my electricity bill stay the same? Normally, when consumption goes down, the prices follow. But not in this case. And they are even increasing their income by 1% on top of everything. Greed is the word.
This Autumn the tax (GST, ALV, MOMS, whatever the tax is called) of the groceries will be lowered. They have set up some officials in a group to watch that the prices wouldn't go up right before the tax lowering, thus bringing the profit into the sellers' pockets instead of customers'. Like it did when we changed our currency to euro in 2002. Now they have already detected the face-lift of the prices in several places. I must point out that the food costs in Finland more than in any other country in EU. The poor people must suffer always, it seems. Nonetheless, the people get screwed in the end. The greedy rich get greedier when they get richer.
The electricity companies are legendary, especially Fortum which is led by the state. They lifted up the price when there was not enough rainy days in Norway where the electricity was coming from. The next year it rained a lot there, but it didn't lower the prices. They went up again instead. Many times when electricity consumption has increased, they have pumped up the price, because it's so damn expensive to cover the peak consumption. This Summer the news from Fortum was no different - only the grounds were new. The Finnish electricity consuming had dropped 10%, so they will have to increase the price by 11%! Boy, did I get angry to read that! I have tried to save energy - only to get my electricity bill stay the same? Normally, when consumption goes down, the prices follow. But not in this case. And they are even increasing their income by 1% on top of everything. Greed is the word.
This Autumn the tax (GST, ALV, MOMS, whatever the tax is called) of the groceries will be lowered. They have set up some officials in a group to watch that the prices wouldn't go up right before the tax lowering, thus bringing the profit into the sellers' pockets instead of customers'. Like it did when we changed our currency to euro in 2002. Now they have already detected the face-lift of the prices in several places. I must point out that the food costs in Finland more than in any other country in EU. The poor people must suffer always, it seems. Nonetheless, the people get screwed in the end. The greedy rich get greedier when they get richer.
This note's for me
This is the first day for me at work after the lay-off. It feels like my watch had suddenly emptied its batteries. Time is running too slow right now and I'm sleepy at all hours. My personal projects naturally suffer from being at work, but the money is needed anyway so... Ok, the first day, it's always like this. I have some topics to blog about still. Let's see how they'll materialize in near future. I have put some ideas on hold. Actually, I'm waiting for replies. Maybe that's why the time goes on so slowly today. And tomorrow, etc. Let's not blame the work I have hardly started yet.
Stockholmian vinyl logic with mustard
This post couldn't have come in a better time. Today my Finnish readers (or to be exact: readers in Finland) overtook the Swedes. They have been neck and neck for a while now, but I guess the Swedish crowd has lost its interest in me after I stopped writing about them. Beautiful! I also have noticed that while the smiley amount has gone down in my blogging, the more and more pictures have started appearing here. Whether this has or hasn't anything to do with the decrease of Swedish followers, I don't know. But relax, foreign readers, it seems that the Finnish reader amount has stayed pretty much the same, while the other countries have replaced some of Swedish following.
However, the reason for me taking a trip to Stockholm wasn't my Swedish readers. It was the second-hand record stores, of course. I had to postpone my trip, because I got laid-off. I simply had no extra money to spend. Right after I got an envelope from the Swedish tax company saying that I'll get a few thousand euros back in tax return and when they had materialized in my bank account (thus verifying that I had understood what the Swedish text was all about), I bought tickets for me and my wife. As the schools had started in mid-August, the prices had gone down. With 'red prices' or 'last-moment trips' in mind, I managed to get them at 22 €. Back and forth for the two of us! Huge thanks to dear lady Jane, who tipped me off about the tax reducements! I wish you well!
We had to wake up very early to leave the ship in Stockholm. It was something like 6:30 a.m. local time. There was no hope of any shop being open at that hour. So we took it calm and walked all the way from Vikingterminal to the T-Centralen, via Slussen and Gamla stan. The weather was lovely and we had the time.
I had accidentally found out that there was a tunnel in the center, stan, which was basically a round tube. I read about it. It had cost a little to use the tube in the early days, but people would rather walk the other way than to pay for it, so nowadays it's a free ride. As you can see in the pictures, there's not much to see. Now we know that too. The street leading to the tunnel was according to my source the place where Olof Palme was murdered back in 1986. There were several memorial plaques for some other important persons, probably for those who planned the tunnel, but no sign about Palme. Maybe I didn't look carefully enough. Granted, the street carrying his name is nearby.
In Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, there were concrete dickless lions which served as show stoppers for the cars. Some may remember my post in my Swedish blog, Moved to Sweden. I wrote about the Sweden's decision to remove dicks in all military uniforms. Just to increase equality between sexes. It should not take an animal expert to know that the long hair is also a sign of a male lion. Females don't have the hair. Another case of hermaphrodism perhaps? LOL!
One of the targets was also to find a magnet sign for our dish-washing machine. We had seen one in a shop at Sergelstorg area, right next to Kulturhuset. I'm so poor at noticing when the dishes are dirty in the machine. My wife does some pre-cleaning up before putting the plates etc. into the machine. Many times I can't tell whether they should be taken into use already. I didn't like to have that machine in the first place, but I kept my mouth shut. There are occasions when the washing up hasn't removed all dirt in the dishes. Then you have to wash afterwards as well. I'm the person who usually takes care of manual washing up, but my wife controls the automatic cleaning. From now on, when I see the sign "DIRTY" (Swedes pronounce it in a funny way, like 'dirr-thea'), I know to add dishes there. And when the sign is turned around, saying "CLEAN", I know that it's my time to gather the dishes from the machine and put them in their correct places. Simple but efficient!
The mission I was on, the search of old vinyl rarities, was somewhat satisfying. There's not enough time in the world for me to look at each and every LP there is in Stockholm area. I have to skip something, this time I didn't go to Solna at all, although there are four very professional and, if you must, less expensive, record-stores. I concentrated on Södermalm and St. Eriksplan area. Man, I was tired in the end. I spent about 50-60 euros on vinyls. There was a couple of gems I came across. Some of them I bought, some I had to leave there because of the price. Man, I should have got more tax return, LOL!
My wife did some shopping on her own in the meantime. She didn't find much, but was obviously pleased with window-browsing and visiting small antique shops in Vasastan and Kungsholmen. She was looking for small sushi plates for soy, but didn't find any to her liking.
It was a rare experience for me to stand in Slussen in a warm and sunny day. It usually rains, blows or both. Preferably hard even. We bought by now an almost obligatory skåning from a booth at the square. That is basically a fish burger, or a Danish sandwich if you will. There is a fillet of fried herring on a dark toast with sweet mustard, red onion and miscellaneous spices. It's worth every 35 crown it costs. Me and my wife recommend it warmly.
We had a little extra time on our hands, so we decided to have a drink at a terrace in Drottninggatan. There was a plenty of cafés around, but not that many bars. It was surprising to realize that. In the end we sat down in a terrace of a Mongolian restaurant. It was crowded because of the fine weather. The service was poor and when we had told them that we were there only to drink, they totally ignored us. It was almost humiliating, but everything turned out nicely. We left the place to watch the booths around the Sergelstorg square. Maybe it was because Sweden is the chairman in the EU at the moment, but there were booths from separate nationalities, serving food, handicraft and such. So we stopped at the Austrian/German stand and bought a few pretzels. There was no logic behind that decision, but they tasted alright.
There was also a protest going on, which we skipped. They demanded that USA should leave Iraq or Afghanistan or whatever. It's quite easy to demonstrate here in Stockholm. You sing a couple of songs, stand among the crowd and go to your well-equipped home. Pleased with yourself. With a 100-meg broadband. I may sound a bit ironic here, but let's face it, how much good did that demonstration do? Did the US leave any country?
Finally we hopped on a Silja line ship near Gärdet. The subway was working as before. There was not many evident changes in sight. The Kista Galleria was still under construction. The sushi was great there. The old SL magnet tickets were still in use, although the new ones which could be loaded with any tickets I suppose had arrived. Again we were damn too tired to exploit the tax free shopping in the ship. Unlike for so many, our goal wasn't there, it had been in the city.
I bought a can of cola with a new label. Limited edition and all. I had to take pictures of it. Two reasons. The first: It was the first time ever I had had a cabin with a real window! I had already forgotten that they exist. It was a nice view to the harbour, and I wanted to use it in the background of another picture collage of mine. The second: I don't know how readable it is, but the can says '0 calories'. When you take a closer look at the list of contents, you can see that the calory amount is 1. What..? Why do they lie to us? Or rather: why do they let themselves get caught? I both hate and love this kind of so-called informative lapses.
In two-month's time, I will be visiting Stockholm again. And you can read about it in my blog naturally. That piece of information hardly keeps the remaining Swedish readers online for me, but just in case a bit of advertising. One thing that I was expecting was to meet my old (or ever so young, LOL) colleague Jaime in Stockholm. My another friend Amig-J had met him there twice, without setting a date! I failed to meet Jaime by accident, which led me to thinking that maybe he had moved away from the city. Just kidding, I know he lurks there somewhere. With or without an instrument in his hand, LOL!
However, the reason for me taking a trip to Stockholm wasn't my Swedish readers. It was the second-hand record stores, of course. I had to postpone my trip, because I got laid-off. I simply had no extra money to spend. Right after I got an envelope from the Swedish tax company saying that I'll get a few thousand euros back in tax return and when they had materialized in my bank account (thus verifying that I had understood what the Swedish text was all about), I bought tickets for me and my wife. As the schools had started in mid-August, the prices had gone down. With 'red prices' or 'last-moment trips' in mind, I managed to get them at 22 €. Back and forth for the two of us! Huge thanks to dear lady Jane, who tipped me off about the tax reducements! I wish you well!
We had to wake up very early to leave the ship in Stockholm. It was something like 6:30 a.m. local time. There was no hope of any shop being open at that hour. So we took it calm and walked all the way from Vikingterminal to the T-Centralen, via Slussen and Gamla stan. The weather was lovely and we had the time.
I had accidentally found out that there was a tunnel in the center, stan, which was basically a round tube. I read about it. It had cost a little to use the tube in the early days, but people would rather walk the other way than to pay for it, so nowadays it's a free ride. As you can see in the pictures, there's not much to see. Now we know that too. The street leading to the tunnel was according to my source the place where Olof Palme was murdered back in 1986. There were several memorial plaques for some other important persons, probably for those who planned the tunnel, but no sign about Palme. Maybe I didn't look carefully enough. Granted, the street carrying his name is nearby.
In Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, there were concrete dickless lions which served as show stoppers for the cars. Some may remember my post in my Swedish blog, Moved to Sweden. I wrote about the Sweden's decision to remove dicks in all military uniforms. Just to increase equality between sexes. It should not take an animal expert to know that the long hair is also a sign of a male lion. Females don't have the hair. Another case of hermaphrodism perhaps? LOL!
One of the targets was also to find a magnet sign for our dish-washing machine. We had seen one in a shop at Sergelstorg area, right next to Kulturhuset. I'm so poor at noticing when the dishes are dirty in the machine. My wife does some pre-cleaning up before putting the plates etc. into the machine. Many times I can't tell whether they should be taken into use already. I didn't like to have that machine in the first place, but I kept my mouth shut. There are occasions when the washing up hasn't removed all dirt in the dishes. Then you have to wash afterwards as well. I'm the person who usually takes care of manual washing up, but my wife controls the automatic cleaning. From now on, when I see the sign "DIRTY" (Swedes pronounce it in a funny way, like 'dirr-thea'), I know to add dishes there. And when the sign is turned around, saying "CLEAN", I know that it's my time to gather the dishes from the machine and put them in their correct places. Simple but efficient!
The mission I was on, the search of old vinyl rarities, was somewhat satisfying. There's not enough time in the world for me to look at each and every LP there is in Stockholm area. I have to skip something, this time I didn't go to Solna at all, although there are four very professional and, if you must, less expensive, record-stores. I concentrated on Södermalm and St. Eriksplan area. Man, I was tired in the end. I spent about 50-60 euros on vinyls. There was a couple of gems I came across. Some of them I bought, some I had to leave there because of the price. Man, I should have got more tax return, LOL!
My wife did some shopping on her own in the meantime. She didn't find much, but was obviously pleased with window-browsing and visiting small antique shops in Vasastan and Kungsholmen. She was looking for small sushi plates for soy, but didn't find any to her liking.
It was a rare experience for me to stand in Slussen in a warm and sunny day. It usually rains, blows or both. Preferably hard even. We bought by now an almost obligatory skåning from a booth at the square. That is basically a fish burger, or a Danish sandwich if you will. There is a fillet of fried herring on a dark toast with sweet mustard, red onion and miscellaneous spices. It's worth every 35 crown it costs. Me and my wife recommend it warmly.
We had a little extra time on our hands, so we decided to have a drink at a terrace in Drottninggatan. There was a plenty of cafés around, but not that many bars. It was surprising to realize that. In the end we sat down in a terrace of a Mongolian restaurant. It was crowded because of the fine weather. The service was poor and when we had told them that we were there only to drink, they totally ignored us. It was almost humiliating, but everything turned out nicely. We left the place to watch the booths around the Sergelstorg square. Maybe it was because Sweden is the chairman in the EU at the moment, but there were booths from separate nationalities, serving food, handicraft and such. So we stopped at the Austrian/German stand and bought a few pretzels. There was no logic behind that decision, but they tasted alright.
There was also a protest going on, which we skipped. They demanded that USA should leave Iraq or Afghanistan or whatever. It's quite easy to demonstrate here in Stockholm. You sing a couple of songs, stand among the crowd and go to your well-equipped home. Pleased with yourself. With a 100-meg broadband. I may sound a bit ironic here, but let's face it, how much good did that demonstration do? Did the US leave any country?
Finally we hopped on a Silja line ship near Gärdet. The subway was working as before. There was not many evident changes in sight. The Kista Galleria was still under construction. The sushi was great there. The old SL magnet tickets were still in use, although the new ones which could be loaded with any tickets I suppose had arrived. Again we were damn too tired to exploit the tax free shopping in the ship. Unlike for so many, our goal wasn't there, it had been in the city.
I bought a can of cola with a new label. Limited edition and all. I had to take pictures of it. Two reasons. The first: It was the first time ever I had had a cabin with a real window! I had already forgotten that they exist. It was a nice view to the harbour, and I wanted to use it in the background of another picture collage of mine. The second: I don't know how readable it is, but the can says '0 calories'. When you take a closer look at the list of contents, you can see that the calory amount is 1. What..? Why do they lie to us? Or rather: why do they let themselves get caught? I both hate and love this kind of so-called informative lapses.
In two-month's time, I will be visiting Stockholm again. And you can read about it in my blog naturally. That piece of information hardly keeps the remaining Swedish readers online for me, but just in case a bit of advertising. One thing that I was expecting was to meet my old (or ever so young, LOL) colleague Jaime in Stockholm. My another friend Amig-J had met him there twice, without setting a date! I failed to meet Jaime by accident, which led me to thinking that maybe he had moved away from the city. Just kidding, I know he lurks there somewhere. With or without an instrument in his hand, LOL!
September in Smekland
It's so like me to start up more ideas than I can chew. I almost forgot my brand new monthly Smekland comic strip series. I have a rule that I won't use more than 30 minutes in finishing the picture. Unfortunately it shows, but as you can see, the pun if there ever is one, is quite lame as well. This time I used MS Paint to do it. Maybe I'll get back to GIMP next time. At least it's in colour this time. Enjoy, if you can, LOL!
Stayed up for crabs
Last Saturday I entered the first crawfish party ever for me. It was fun. It was... an experience. Funny that I had to come back to Nokia from Stockholm to do it. But I guess things happen that way.
We were invited to a buddying family of ours to spend an evening at their house. They had fished crabs in a river nearby, Nokianvirta. That's the main stream (pun intended) that runs through the city of Nokia, being the main reason for the birth of the city as a matter of fact. The huge paper and gum factories still lie by the river. Well, they have put some baby crabs in the river years ago and now they are up for grabs.
As the tradition requires, we took a schnapps in the beginning of the meal. A small drink of hard booze down the hatch. Then we learnt how to eat crawfish. I knew already that it's pretty messy but also that it couldn't be avoided. There's not much to eat in one crab, but it tasted good. Surprisingly good actually. Along with wine and more alcohol we discussed and had a pleasant evening there. We even went for a walk to see some crabs in pots placed in the riverside. The view from there was beautiful. It was chilly, dark - only some city lights glimmering and reflecting in the river. I hadn't seen Nokia in that light before.
Luckily I didn't get too drunk. We had planned to take a taxi anyway, so there was no need to worry about it. This Swedish custom of having crawfish parties includes singing crab(by) songs, but we skipped that. In fact, it was not even mentioned. Knowing our family singing abilities, that was a wise choice. At 2:30 a.m., we were climbing from a taxi to walk home and almost straight to bed. It was a reasonably controlled drunk and the hang-over that followed the next day. Naturally. This time a fair enough price to pay.
We were invited to a buddying family of ours to spend an evening at their house. They had fished crabs in a river nearby, Nokianvirta. That's the main stream (pun intended) that runs through the city of Nokia, being the main reason for the birth of the city as a matter of fact. The huge paper and gum factories still lie by the river. Well, they have put some baby crabs in the river years ago and now they are up for grabs.
As the tradition requires, we took a schnapps in the beginning of the meal. A small drink of hard booze down the hatch. Then we learnt how to eat crawfish. I knew already that it's pretty messy but also that it couldn't be avoided. There's not much to eat in one crab, but it tasted good. Surprisingly good actually. Along with wine and more alcohol we discussed and had a pleasant evening there. We even went for a walk to see some crabs in pots placed in the riverside. The view from there was beautiful. It was chilly, dark - only some city lights glimmering and reflecting in the river. I hadn't seen Nokia in that light before.
Luckily I didn't get too drunk. We had planned to take a taxi anyway, so there was no need to worry about it. This Swedish custom of having crawfish parties includes singing crab(by) songs, but we skipped that. In fact, it was not even mentioned. Knowing our family singing abilities, that was a wise choice. At 2:30 a.m., we were climbing from a taxi to walk home and almost straight to bed. It was a reasonably controlled drunk and the hang-over that followed the next day. Naturally. This time a fair enough price to pay.
I pronounce U
I have some linguistic weirdos and mysteries to blog about. In several languages this time.
Finnish
We have a TV program called 'A-studio'. Since 'studio' is also 'studio' in Finnish, there's no tension from my part when it's pronounced in Finnish. But, then there is 'A-talk'. It should be 'A-keskustelu' but 'talk' is English and thus pronounced in English. But but, 'A' is pronounced in Finnish, more like the letter 'R'. I hate it. Also, we have 'A-zoom', which follows the idiotic two-language pronounciation path. The 'A' comes apparently from a Finnish word 'ajankohtainen' (topical). It would be nice to hear them say 'Ajankohtainen-talk' or something. Those hosts of the show look very contempting, educated and snobby. How on earth can they deal with the 'A-talk' dilemma, LOL?
One of the all-time weirdos for me is the Finnish word 'ilmeisesti'. It is translated into English 'obviously'. Somehow the meaning of 'ilmeisesti' has changed into 'probably'. The word's origin, 'ilmiselvästi', equals with 'obviously' still. I have no idea what's happened along the way. Do you? There's a similar issue with the word 'varmaan' which used to mean 'for sure' but has nowadays changed into 'I guess'. How vague can one get eventually?
In Berlin World championships this year, there was a lot of athletes with interesting names. It was somewhat titillating (kutkuttava) to watch the Finnish commentators stumble and fall with them. There was a Polish sportsman called Adam Kszczot! It wouldn't be surprising to hear if many reporters had asked him: "May I call you Adam?" LOL! That name reminds me of a certain super villain character in Superman comics antiques. Also a US sprinter Muna Lee made me laugh at the expense of the commentators. Because 'Muna' means, not only egg but balls, dick or whatever down there is called, in Finnish, and the commentators were careful not to spell it in a Finnish way. For example, "Muna otti varaslähdön" (Penis took a false start). They pronounced it like "mew-nuh" and they could be right to do it that way. I won't argue anyway.
Finland-Swedish
It's been almost relaxing to listen to the Radio Vega in Finland. It broadcasts Finland-Swedish programs only. I have been noting that they abbreviate words, not the sentences, like those in Sweden. Remember 'vasadu' and 'nudags'? Now I can hear words like 'int' (inte) and 'da' (dag).
Especially the Swedish news on the radio are of good practise for intermediate (for some reason I don't dig that word) Swedish-speakers like myself. They pronounce properly without background noise, and usually some of the news are already related to older news which makes it easier to follow.
Swedish
I was discussing with my uncle who has lived in Sweden for 40-plus years. We discovered the word 'tallrik' which means 'plate'. It also means pineful, a place with lots of pines, since 'tall' means 'pine'. Instead 'tal' means a lot of things, and 'talrik' means 'numerous'. So you have to do a damn good job in pronouncing sometimes. And, sorry Amig-O if you're on the line, it's still not always the context that tells the difference. We were BBQ'ing, having plates on the table. Surrounded by the pines.
Another oldie for me is a pair of Swedish words. 'Grönsaker' means basically 'green things', which sounds like an understatement of the year when you talk about vegetables. Yup, Hairy Swede blogged about that several posts ago, but he forgot another equivalent: 'vitvaru' - 'white stuff'. That means the kitchenware, because they all used to be white. Well, they aren't all white anymore. Yet the name is in use.
Also the Swedes have their own trouble with English words. It's not rare to hear 'John Lennon' pronounced as 'Yon Lennon'. Being a number one fan of his wife, I think he actually might have liked the Swedish way of pronouncing his name.
Danish
I missed this in my Denmark extravaganza. I was amused by two Danish words. The first I noticed that 'sönder' (actually with a Danish ö) means 'south', not 'broken' like the word is in Swedish. A lot of 'broken' streets et cetera in Denmark, he he. The other one was of course 'böger' (books). Well, it's actually 'bögar' (gays) in Swedish, but the word 'pocket-böger' sounded funny to me still.
English
When Ronald Reagan was chosen for president in 1980, there was a debate in Finland about how to pronounce his name. 'Rea' in 'Reagan' was pronounced by some like 'reel', while some knew better to advice the others to say it like 'great'. The most usual way the Finns do it is like 'ray gun', no pun intended. The same thing with Warren Beatty. I have heard many say 'beat' in 'Beatty' like 'beat' (huh?), whereas some besser-wisser has corrected and told it should be like 'bate'. The most embarrassing moment in my pronounciation-spotting was met when a host of a quiz show repeatedly called him Warren Beauty. The same person, who is an actor in fact, calls constantly Groucho Marx as 'Grue-cho', as if it were a French name. And he's not the only one to use that pronounciation. If you have ever seen or heard any of Marx Brothers' entertainment, you should know 'grou' in 'Groucho' is called like in 'crowd'.
Another exception is Steven Seagal. I like some of his movies, because they are so pointless and the good guys always win. And the bad guys ALWAYS have great skills in martial arts, LOL! It seems like Steven has also used millionaire's shampoo. What that means is for old readers to know and for new readers to find out. Well, against all odds, I like to pronounce his name like 'se-gull'. Not like 'seagull', not like 'say gal' (again, no puns here). Gladly I have found that many web-writers share my opinion. What's yours?
Latin
Ok ok, this may sound a bit snobbish, but I really have something to comment about Latin as well. Not the font, LOL! I have noticed that the Ceasar's famous phrase "veni, vidi, vici" - although often used - is a mystery when it comes to pronouncing it. The letter 'c' was generally pronounced like 'k' in Latin, but there were some exceptions when it was pronounced like 's'. I'd go for the 'k'. It's interesting if no instructions how to speak original Latin fluently has survived.
My English teacher at some advanced schooling course years ago was criticizing me for the use of 'circa' in my essay. She taught me that it's Swedish and I accepted it. I learnt my lesson - until I read that Larsson's book this year. The same 'circa' was used there too and at first I thought it was just another mistake in translation. When I checked it in the Internet, I found out that it was used in English as well. Well, I haven't seen it, but I guess I can't challenge the web. The word is actually Latin, and therefore can be used in any languages. (see how the first 'c' is spelt like 's' and the second like 'k'!) I still won't use it in my English writings but at least now I know better. And hopefully you do too.
Finnish
We have a TV program called 'A-studio'. Since 'studio' is also 'studio' in Finnish, there's no tension from my part when it's pronounced in Finnish. But, then there is 'A-talk'. It should be 'A-keskustelu' but 'talk' is English and thus pronounced in English. But but, 'A' is pronounced in Finnish, more like the letter 'R'. I hate it. Also, we have 'A-zoom', which follows the idiotic two-language pronounciation path. The 'A' comes apparently from a Finnish word 'ajankohtainen' (topical). It would be nice to hear them say 'Ajankohtainen-talk' or something. Those hosts of the show look very contempting, educated and snobby. How on earth can they deal with the 'A-talk' dilemma, LOL?
One of the all-time weirdos for me is the Finnish word 'ilmeisesti'. It is translated into English 'obviously'. Somehow the meaning of 'ilmeisesti' has changed into 'probably'. The word's origin, 'ilmiselvästi', equals with 'obviously' still. I have no idea what's happened along the way. Do you? There's a similar issue with the word 'varmaan' which used to mean 'for sure' but has nowadays changed into 'I guess'. How vague can one get eventually?
In Berlin World championships this year, there was a lot of athletes with interesting names. It was somewhat titillating (kutkuttava) to watch the Finnish commentators stumble and fall with them. There was a Polish sportsman called Adam Kszczot! It wouldn't be surprising to hear if many reporters had asked him: "May I call you Adam?" LOL! That name reminds me of a certain super villain character in Superman comics antiques. Also a US sprinter Muna Lee made me laugh at the expense of the commentators. Because 'Muna' means, not only egg but balls, dick or whatever down there is called, in Finnish, and the commentators were careful not to spell it in a Finnish way. For example, "Muna otti varaslähdön" (Penis took a false start). They pronounced it like "mew-nuh" and they could be right to do it that way. I won't argue anyway.
Finland-Swedish
It's been almost relaxing to listen to the Radio Vega in Finland. It broadcasts Finland-Swedish programs only. I have been noting that they abbreviate words, not the sentences, like those in Sweden. Remember 'vasadu' and 'nudags'? Now I can hear words like 'int' (inte) and 'da' (dag).
Especially the Swedish news on the radio are of good practise for intermediate (for some reason I don't dig that word) Swedish-speakers like myself. They pronounce properly without background noise, and usually some of the news are already related to older news which makes it easier to follow.
Swedish
I was discussing with my uncle who has lived in Sweden for 40-plus years. We discovered the word 'tallrik' which means 'plate'. It also means pineful, a place with lots of pines, since 'tall' means 'pine'. Instead 'tal' means a lot of things, and 'talrik' means 'numerous'. So you have to do a damn good job in pronouncing sometimes. And, sorry Amig-O if you're on the line, it's still not always the context that tells the difference. We were BBQ'ing, having plates on the table. Surrounded by the pines.
Another oldie for me is a pair of Swedish words. 'Grönsaker' means basically 'green things', which sounds like an understatement of the year when you talk about vegetables. Yup, Hairy Swede blogged about that several posts ago, but he forgot another equivalent: 'vitvaru' - 'white stuff'. That means the kitchenware, because they all used to be white. Well, they aren't all white anymore. Yet the name is in use.
Also the Swedes have their own trouble with English words. It's not rare to hear 'John Lennon' pronounced as 'Yon Lennon'. Being a number one fan of his wife, I think he actually might have liked the Swedish way of pronouncing his name.
Danish
I missed this in my Denmark extravaganza. I was amused by two Danish words. The first I noticed that 'sönder' (actually with a Danish ö) means 'south', not 'broken' like the word is in Swedish. A lot of 'broken' streets et cetera in Denmark, he he. The other one was of course 'böger' (books). Well, it's actually 'bögar' (gays) in Swedish, but the word 'pocket-böger' sounded funny to me still.
English
When Ronald Reagan was chosen for president in 1980, there was a debate in Finland about how to pronounce his name. 'Rea' in 'Reagan' was pronounced by some like 'reel', while some knew better to advice the others to say it like 'great'. The most usual way the Finns do it is like 'ray gun', no pun intended. The same thing with Warren Beatty. I have heard many say 'beat' in 'Beatty' like 'beat' (huh?), whereas some besser-wisser has corrected and told it should be like 'bate'. The most embarrassing moment in my pronounciation-spotting was met when a host of a quiz show repeatedly called him Warren Beauty. The same person, who is an actor in fact, calls constantly Groucho Marx as 'Grue-cho', as if it were a French name. And he's not the only one to use that pronounciation. If you have ever seen or heard any of Marx Brothers' entertainment, you should know 'grou' in 'Groucho' is called like in 'crowd'.
Another exception is Steven Seagal. I like some of his movies, because they are so pointless and the good guys always win. And the bad guys ALWAYS have great skills in martial arts, LOL! It seems like Steven has also used millionaire's shampoo. What that means is for old readers to know and for new readers to find out. Well, against all odds, I like to pronounce his name like 'se-gull'. Not like 'seagull', not like 'say gal' (again, no puns here). Gladly I have found that many web-writers share my opinion. What's yours?
Latin
Ok ok, this may sound a bit snobbish, but I really have something to comment about Latin as well. Not the font, LOL! I have noticed that the Ceasar's famous phrase "veni, vidi, vici" - although often used - is a mystery when it comes to pronouncing it. The letter 'c' was generally pronounced like 'k' in Latin, but there were some exceptions when it was pronounced like 's'. I'd go for the 'k'. It's interesting if no instructions how to speak original Latin fluently has survived.
My English teacher at some advanced schooling course years ago was criticizing me for the use of 'circa' in my essay. She taught me that it's Swedish and I accepted it. I learnt my lesson - until I read that Larsson's book this year. The same 'circa' was used there too and at first I thought it was just another mistake in translation. When I checked it in the Internet, I found out that it was used in English as well. Well, I haven't seen it, but I guess I can't challenge the web. The word is actually Latin, and therefore can be used in any languages. (see how the first 'c' is spelt like 's' and the second like 'k'!) I still won't use it in my English writings but at least now I know better. And hopefully you do too.
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