Archives for "TV"

Posted by venlala on 16th April 2009

The Federation of Planets FTW!

In the latest South Park episode Pinewood Derby, the world leaders are concerned Finland is going to squeal and nuke it off the map.

Here’s a spoiler:

This species failed. No s**t, Sherlock.

Viacom is currently taking all-too-familiar action removing all the clips from Youtube quoting their usual copyright issues. And more cold water to the Finns – I tried link to the full episode in South Park website, but got this message instead:

sorry_scandinavia4

Fingers crossed South Park manages to get rid of those pre-existing contractual oblication jerks asap.

The recent promise about the full movies and TV shows to be made available in Youtube sounded great, but don’t believe it, wrote Mark Hachman yesterday in PCMag:

Partners like Crackle, CBS, MGM, Lionsgate and Starz made thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies available on Youtube for consumers to watch for free beginning on Thursday, in a bid to challenge Hulu for dominance in the online video space.

Don’t believe it. Google has amassed a TV lineup only a sick old retiree could love, with movies that belong in the dollar VHS bin. At this point, the shocking lack of content only highlights how competitors like Hulu can and will succeed in a cutthroat market where content is king. Quite frankly, it’s a little embarrassing.

The full episode isn’t available in Hulu either, so it looks like Viacom is simply trying to prevent earthlings from watching online how Finland gets nuked. Luckily, all Scandinavians are taught in elementary school where to search for the full South Park episodes. ;)

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Posted by venlala on 22nd September 2008

Humanity, tolerance and the beautiful unnecessity

All the apples have been picked and processed, the real life harvest moon is over and Kaija’s cauldron is back in the box. Bet the dark matter would have been solved already, had Newton chosen to have his nap under this tree.

Nap under this tree could lead anywhere.

Information overload.

Picking apples is a child’s play compared to ensiharvennus, directly translated first thinning of the forest. These pines below were planted by Risto (dad) and Kalle (bro) in 1995 and the time has come to cut down all the surrounding trees and bushes to maximise the growth of the trees. Many Finns own a bit of forest for added income. The trees are cut down and replanted every 80 years or so and the forests are carefully looked after. In Southern Finland it is very difficult to find authentic ikimetsä, natural forest untouched by people.
Forest

A view to the young pine forest

Kalle opts for a brand new Stihl 1D10 bush saw for maximum damage.

Timber!

Everything but the pines must go.

I was given the noob’s harmless 1D4 1-H brush axe described by the manufacturer the following way:
I am considering of dual wielding it for added dps.
Time is money has lately meant to me having money but no time to use it :) This autumn I have finally had plenty of time instead of money and can do things I haven’t done before. Picking mushrooms is great fun – no joke. Whilst Chef Kalle prepares our daily 1000+ kcal lunch in his Trangia, I run around looking for mushrooms Mario style.
Tonight we dine in forest.

Chef Kalle

Look at the size of that thing

Look at the size of that thing!

The evenings I have burned a vainovalkea by the lake. Remember the scene in Return of the King, where Pippin lights up the Minas Tirith beacon? Similar signal fire system used to exist in Finland / Scandinavia warning people about the approaching invader fleets. Those were the times, my signal fire only burns for enjoyment.

Fire by the lake

The beacons of Amon Din are lit! :)

Pyromaani palaa rikospaikalle.

Let me stand next to your fire.

This year celebrates the 100th year from Finnish novelist Mika Waltari’s birth (1908-1979). Waltari is the internationally best-known Finnish writer with over two hundred translations in more than twenty languages. When my mum Kaija was a kid, Waltari spent his summers in a nearby cottage, where he wrote several of his books. So, I join her to the main celebration in the Kuusisto youth club in Pornainen on 21th September.
Kuusisto, Pornainen

Kuusisto, Pornainen

In his time Waltari was not much of a party animal and did not like being famous and celebrated. Some signaling systems (beacons? :P ) were familiar to him, too: According to the locals, he had a secret signal system warning him about approaching reporters that gave him enough time to sneak out to the nearby forest before they were able to get to his house.
Waltari’s capturing historical stories and fluent writing is still beyond comparison. His first and most successful historical novel, beloved The Egyptian was published in 1945 and immediately became an international bestseller. It gets repeatedly voted as the nation’s favorite novel. Waltari was a quick and productive writer completing at least 29 novels, 15 novellas, 6 collections of stories or fairy-tales, 6 collections of poetry and 26 plays, as well as screenplays, radioplays, non-fiction, translations, and hundreds of reviews and articles – even poems for Kieku ja Kaiku comics I loved as a kid.
Kieku ja Kaiku

Kieku & Kaiku comics colored by kids in Pornainen

In the book Ihmisen ääni (1978), Waltari names three most important personal values to him: suvaitsevaisuus, inhimillisyys ja kaunis turhuus. The first two translate easily to tolerance and humanity, but the third one is harder to translate. Is it beautiful vanity? Beautiful uselessness? Beautiful unnecessity? So, I crawl through the book to find out what he means:
Tässä maailmassa on paljon loistavia näyteikkunoita ja vaaditaan huomattavaa kasvamista yksinäisyyteen ennen kun voi kohtalaisen vilpittömästi huokaista itselleen: Noin paljon on sellaista mitä en tarvitse. Tällä en tietenkään tarkoita vain esineitä. On olemassa muunkinlaisia turhuuden markkinoita. Itse annan suuren arvon kauniille turhuudelle. Se helpottaa ja tekee elämän siedettäväksi. Mutta se ei koskaan saa kädä itse tarkoituksekseen. Tällaisenkin kiusauksen voittaminen, jos sen pystyy voittamaan, on suojelevan yksinäisyyden ansiota.
This world has plenty of bright display windows and it takes a lot of personal growth to loneliness, before one can say without any hesitation: There are so many things I do not need. With this I do not mean only objects. There are also other kind of markets for unnecessities. Personally, I give credit to the beautiful unnecessity that releases the pressure and makes life bearable. But it must never become the reason. Winning the temptation, if one can do it, happens through protective loneliness.
Kids from local schools perform a song about Waltari where they have written their own lyrics. That piece alone is worth coming to the celebration.
Laukkoski and Jokimäki kids

Laukkoski and Jokimäki schools combine forces

Brelo performed several pieces for four kanteles. Kantele is the national instrument of Finland, but bands like this are more of a curiosity. Kids still play metal more often :)
Brelo plays kantele

Brelo live.

I googled if anyone has done kantele metala and turns out that a Finnish luthiery, Koistinen[1], has developed an electric kantele [2], which employs pick-ups similar as those on electric guitars and that has gained popularity amongst Finnish heavy metal composers. I only found Kalevala melody by Finnish folk metal band Ensiferum and a traditional Finnish song My Kantele by the legendary Amorphis – kantele is only present in the lyrics, though. So, kantele is definately not mainstream.
Bit more about Kantele: in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, the Finnish superhero Väinämöinen – and Gandalf-lookalike – owns a kantele made of huge pike’s jaw. He has got a handy special skill being able to kill people by singing and playing his kantele. Death metal dirge? :)
Wikipedia: There can be found some similarities between Väinämöinen and wizards in fantasy literature, first and foremost among them Gandalf in J. R. R. Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings. Both are unearthly sages of divine origins, both in possession of unearthly knowledge. Another wizard of Tolkien’s, Saruman the White, possessed a great power of voice and persuasion, which also somewhat mirrors Väinämöinen’s (who was able to charm all manner of woodland creatures with his song and kantele). Tolkien indicated that his stories of Túrin Turambar were a retelling of the Kullervo myth from Kalevala so it is possible that similarities between Gandalf and Väinämöinen were intentional or unconscious rather than coincidental.
Crackling fire in my room

A view to my room

The fire is crackling in the fireplace. I will go and enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

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Posted by venlala on 6th September 2008

Cheap Gatwick – Helsinki Flights and other stories

Great News: In the beginning of November Easyjet starts to fly between Gatwick and Helsinki and the prices are cheap. A return flight costs around fifty quid, when booked in advance. If you’ve ever thought about a trip to Finland, this autumn is good time to do that. You might even get a native guide to show you around ;)

Nintendo DS bought from Bangkok has turned to a huge hit with my four-year-old nephew Oiva. Hours pass by and the little guy just can’t get enough of Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and Lego Indiana Jones, The Original Adventures. The strength of both games is that these cute Lego characters have unlimited lives in their puzzle adventures. Once a story (level) has been played through, it gets unlocked and can be accessed again and again. Nimble auntie is still needed to unlock the stories the first time, but it looks like she won’t be needed much longer… I watch in awe how quickly a kid learns; Legos, Star Wars and gaming combined, I support this hobby full heartedly.

Learning the basics of Nintendo DS

Learning the basics of Nintendo DS

Sudoku and Spanish language games on DS will be tested with my 60-year old mum Kaija some time soon.

Talking about mum, all the apple trees in Laukkoski are bursting and she has become proper hardcore in the neverending process of juice making. When passing the kitchen and her bubbling cauldron, I witnessed these labeled bottles and couldn’t stop laughing:

Liian makea omppumehu

Liian makea omppumehu

Liian makea omppumehu, ‘Too sweet apple juice’. I pointed out her peculiar labeling, but she didn’t find it funny at all. Instead, she informed that

When I mix the content of these bottles with the previous set of liian hapan omppumehu ‘too bitter apple juice’, the resulted combination will be just perfect.

(Yes, she did a degree in chemistry in the University. One of her wisdoms is: “Everything is chemistry”, which seems to answer pretty much every question I’ve ever asked her.)

Another wise Finnish woman, a priest and journalist Hilkka Olkinuora was recently interviewed in Teema for her new book Elä Ihmeessä! Her revolutionary idea of “On OK olla tavis“, ‘it’s ok to be average’ is refreshing; Western culture emphasises people’s uniqueness and individuality and even though it is encouraging to think that everyone is special, it also increases the pressure to succeed and the fear of failing. Olkinuora’s viewpoint is both comforting and merciful.

Less comforting are the results of a research by Professor Adrian North of Heriot-Watt University that link music tastes to personality. “The aim of this survey is to investigate the importance of musical preference in different aspects of everyday life. We also would like to see if it can have an influence on one’s significant relationships.” Go here to participate in the online survey.

Roi recently defined my favourite music genre as nynnymetalli, ‘wimp/loser metal’. The research defines metal fans (rather accurately to Roi’s definition) as:

Low self-esteem, creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, at ease

No one has ever called me ‘not hard working’, ‘not outgoing’ ‘gentle’ or ‘at ease’. I am very much the opposite of all those attributes. I go through the results looking for a more suitable music genre for the hard working and outgoing people and the result is – country and western! Curse and damnation! :P

P.S. The task took couple of years to complete, but I finally finished watching the whole seven seasons of Deep Space Nine: 176 episodes, 45 minutes each adds up to 132 hours or five and half days of Star Trek. Time well spent – I might not qualify as a Trekkie, but you can call me Niner anytime:

Star Trek fans who believe Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the best series of the franchise adopted the title of Niner following the episode “Take Me Out to the Holosuite“, in which Captain Benjamin Sisko formed a baseball team “The Niners”. (Wikipedia)

Nerdy and nice. Wonder where I should proceed next? Captain Picard beware…

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Posted by venlala on 3rd September 2008

A rogue night-elf

I finished watching all of The Big Bang Theory tonight. Brilliant show. How I would love to game with these guys.
Sheldon loots The Sword of Azeroth

WOOT! The Sword of Azeroth!

Sheldon: I’ve got The Sword of Azeroth!
Leonard: Get the sword, Sheldon! Help Rajesh!
Sheldon: There is no more Sheldon – I am The Swordmaster.
Howard: Leonard, look out!
Leonard: Dammit, we’re dying here!
Sheldon: Goodbye, peasants.
Leonard: The bastard teleported.
Rajesh: He is selling The Sword of Azeroth on eBay.
Leonard: You betrayed us for money! Who are you?
Sheldon: I am a rogue night-elf. Don’t you people read character descriptions?

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