Tuesday 01 December 2009 at 12:42 pm
Every day I travel between Malmö and Copenhagen by the Öresund train. The view from the bridge is quite nice, but not spectacular enough to have hold my attention after the first couple of passes. So, I have spent my time (about two hours each day, unless the trains are late) by reading. First I went through our bookshelves and read most of those novels that I always hoped I'd have the time for, and then started ordering books from the net (mainly from
play.com, and recently also from
AdLibris).
Covering three of the five Nordic countries, I figured it would be a good idea to find something to read from each country. I was surprised to find out that one major characteristic that Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and Norway all share is a heavy, social depression; misery, ill luck, poverty, and general unhappiness run amok in the melancholic literature of each country. Sweden is an exception, as for some reason I'm yet to find a Swedish book that would carry the same sense of depression.
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Thursday 08 January 2009 at 10:50 am
Some time ago
I wrote about a rare sequel to the legendary Afrikan Tähti board game that we scored from an online auction. However, it's not the only game we have bought lately.
This time I will write about two great Viking board games that we have enjoyed a lot;
Walhalla and
Fjords.
The Vikings are coming!
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Tuesday 16 December 2008 at 12:39 pm
Cute, isn't he?
The Church Foreign Aid will transport him to those that need his help in surviving poverty. Maybe in Ruanda, maybe in Nepal, maybe in Afghanistan.
We think this kind of campaigns are a great way to share wealth. There are dozens of similar organizations all around the world; find the one nearest to you for example from
here.
(Note: Of course our money doesn't go directly into purchasing a specific goat. It goes into a charity fund that is then used for purchasing livestock to poor families. More about it
over here, for instance.)
Monday 24 November 2008 at 10:53 am
Afrikan tähti (Star of Africa) is a legendary game, one that nearly every Finn knows. Designed by late Kari Mannerla in 1949 (at the age of 19), it has thus far sold 3,5 million copies (1,7 million outside Finland!) and is cherished in childhood memories all over the country. It has also been translated to 16 languages, and is still available in nearly all Finnish supermarkets and bookstores.
Why am I writing about this? Well, browsing an auction site, looking for a fun board game to play, we found a rare sequel!
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Wednesday 17 September 2008 at 1:02 pm
When I was going to Poland for exchange studies, I had with myself an ancient, bone-crushingly heavy laptop for typing essays and whatnot. That relic of a computer featured a black%white screen, a highly unresponsive keyboard, and a disturbingly slow 386 processor that barely ran DOS and Windows 3.11 (and looked like
this). Before the trip I downloaded a few games for it, to keep me entertained in that strange country I knew next to nothing about.
The time in Poland was awesome (in fact so awesome that I went back there a year later!), but I did find some time to try out the games, too. I was happing to find that I had made some excellent choices - and one of them turned out to be The Very Best Computer Game Ever Made!
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Wednesday 10 September 2008 at 10:44 am
Hurrah! The 3rd season of the the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational TV series ever made has finally reached us! Judging from the first 4 episodes we've watched already, this is certainly the most hyper-active and bizarre season so far!
The region 2 DVD release is high-class, just like the previous seasons. The only grudge we have is the lack of Finnish subtitles (even though according to the box they should be in there!), but that's hardly a surprise, as the season 2 was never imported to Finland.
Tuesday 09 September 2008 at 1:38 pm
"The CIA has been encouraging the Hungarian people to rebel against their Soviet masters for over six years. They have also been supplying the freedom fighters with cash and weapons. It's October 23, 1956 and it's time to fight."
In
Budapest Defenders your task is to defend the Hungarian headquarters from the invading Soviet forces. The highly limited resources need to be divided to build barricades and arm rebels, carefully constructing a defence network that the 30 increasingly massive waves of Russian troops cannot penetrate.
The plot of this actually fun and challenging game is set on historical context; the Hungarians did rebel against Soviet Union on October 23rd, 1956. However, less than two weeks later the rebellion was crushed.
Saturday 06 September 2008 at 10:34 pm
Free Rice lets you play for food. It's essentially a simple quiz, but for every correct answer the United Nations World Food Program donates 20 grains of rice to the poor of the world. So far over 2 million people have been fed through the program.
This is a highly recommendable way to kill some time - but please keep in mind that it does not mean that you should stop giving real donations!
Monday 07 July 2008 at 11:25 am
I guess everyone has at some point of their life seen a movie that they'veloved so much they would have wanted to share it with the rest of the world. For me that happened with
Christiane F, and I ended up forcing various friends to watch it. However, I never came up with anything as ingenious as
Ingrid who saw
The Girl in the Cafe, fell in love with it, and sent the DVD on a tour around the world, hoping to gain the film as many viewers as possible. The concept is so awesome that it makes me kick myself for not thinking of it. The rules of the project are simple; you sign up, and when you recive the DVD you watch it, review it on your blog, and send it off to the next person. I went and signed up for it a couple of months ago, and the Girl did finally reach me last week.
The Girl in the Cafe is a romantic comedy with a serious message; every three seconds someone, somewhere dies due to extreme poverty, and it is possible to change it all by making a definite decision and committing to it. The romance is that of between a disillusioned, middle-aged civil servant Lawrence (Bill Nighy), and a young Gina (Kelly Macdonald) whom by chance he happens to meet at a cafeteria, and much of the film takes place at a G8 meeting location in Iceland.
It would be easy to blame the movie for oversimplifying the serious issue of extreme poverty; the film states that the choice to do so is down to 8 men - the leaders of the 8 wealthiest world nations. However, the major point in this film is that hiding behind the web of excuses and standard, inflexible processes is simply not enough. I am keen to agree on this; by cutting through the red tape it is possible to achieve more than going by the routine, accepting defeat and inefficiency. A better life may not be as simple to achieve as the film portrays, but it isn't as impossible as we are led to believe, either.
While agreeing with the issue raised in
The Girl in the Cafe, I also enjoyed it as a film. The characters and dialogue were interesting and perfectly executed by the talented cast; especially Bill Nighy gives a great performance. The atmosphere in the movie can certainly perceived as cold by some, but personally I found it expressive and realistic, not entirely unlike the style of Finland's beloved Aki Kaurismäki. The camera catches emotion expressed in gestures, looks, and the scarce, yet witty dialogue. The only disturbing issue I have is with the long speeches towards the end of the movie, which unnecessarily feel rehearsed, but I respect their necessity in delivering the principal message of the film.
The Girl in the Cafe doesn't show what happens in the end, but it leaves the viewer wishing all the best for Lawrence and Gina, and for the poor of the world.
More about the project over at
thegirlinthecafe.com.
Thursday 03 July 2008 at 09:03 am
Ingrid posted a list of
new classic movies, as chosen by Entertainment Weekly. Discussion ensued, and of course the list was found inaccurate and hopelessly American-centric. The movies chosen seem to be almost exclusively Hollywood blockbusters.
Anyhow, this prompted me into choosing my list of brilliant, celebrated movies that are - for a reason or another - usually overlooked when creating top-100 lists.
1. Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo
A touching story of teenage heroinists in the '70s Berlin. Brilliant acting, direction, cinematography, music, everything. This is also possibly the scariest movie I've seen - and they say the book is even more so.
2. Down by Law
Probably the best movie by Jim Jarmusch. A story of three men escaping a prison, filmed with vision, precision, and flawless grace. Minimalistic in execution, enormous in impact. Perfect.
3. 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Set in the '80s Romania, "4, 3, 2" tells a gripping tale of two student girls and an illegal abortion. Strong acting and direction create impression that stays for good.
4. Człowiek z Marmuru & Człowiek z Żelaza (Man of Marble & Man of Steel)
Two movies by Andrzej Wajda set in the socialist era of Poland. The first film portrays the control the state had over human lives, and how nobody could be trusted. The second takes place during the Gdansk uprising, led by Lech Wałęsa. These two powerful movies are important historically, politically and cinematically.
5. La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher)
A story of a perversely strict piano teacher and her romantic student becomes a research of the meaning of love, and how it can be perceived so wrong. Vivid and strong.
6. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
An excellent adaptation of a superb novel. A story of hopeless love, romance and romanticism, and disconnection to life.
7. Pelísky (Cosy Dens)
A comedy of two neighbouring families living a socialist Czechoslovakian apartment block. A splendid, humorous take on life back then.
8. Salmer fra kjøkkenet (Kitchen Stories)
A deadpan comedy of a Swedish research of the kitchen routines of Norwegian single men, which grows into a warm story of friendship and the causes of loneliness.
9. Kauas pilvet karkaavat (Drifting Clouds)
A story of unemployment, love, and hope by Aki Kaurismäki. Dramatic, dry-witty, and positive film, in which less is more.
10. Die Große Stille (Into Great Silence)
Wow. An almost four hours long film about life of monks in the Grande Chartreuse, the head monastery of the reclusive Carthusian Order in France. Hardly anything happens; the monks go on with their daily lives in perfect silence. Spiritual, meditative, interesting, and extremely beautiful-- like a prayer.
