Crumb By Crumb.

Everyone reading this must have heard/read of Ruben De la Red collapsing last night. Marca assures he is fine, but the video of him just looks really scary. I mean, whose first thought was not Antonio Puerta? I am extremely glad to hear De la Red just scared the hell out of everyone, as I like him, eventhough he plays in Madrid. I was also very sad when I read of the Greek footballer who took his own life after he found out he wasn´t part of the team. I can´t rememeber his name, but this is a really sad incident indeed. To add a bit more sadness, the boss of Boca Juniors has also perished. Seriously, what is happening?

Yesterday I was ready to teach to you my dear readers every single Finnish swear word there is. Yes, I have cooled down a bit after that, but apparently the Arsenal dressing room was boiling after the game. No wonder, I bet I wasn´t the only one who noticed Wenger throwing his water bottle after Spurs´ first goal. Conviniently, Gallas who got most of the blame on the draw, has now a hamstring injury and will be out tomorrow. Shouting and blaming, but at least they are trying to solve their problems. Or that is what I sincerely hope. The only one who I really feel sorry for is Gael Clichy, who was reported to be in tears after slipping and letting the Spurs to score the 4-3 goal. Dear Clichy, it was a human error, it could have happened to anyone. I understand you feel bad and so do I, but I know you can get over it and be stellar. I have very mixed feelings and i don´t know what to expect to see on Saturday.

More news from the football front. It is now official, David Beckham will be spending some time with AC Milan. Frankly, I couldn´t care less, but Becks is a fine player and someone must be excited. Also, I don´t know what to think now that it looks like Maradona actually gets to coach to Argentina national team. I mean, he coaches Kun Agüero, the father of his yet unborn grandchild. To me that seems a bit, well, unfair in a way.

Managers are the big hit of this week, as Harry "Judas" Redknapp (have a very unsafe trip to the lowest hell) left to Pompey to try to help the team that still hold sthe last place on the Premier League table, Tony Adams was appointed the new Pompey manager. Huge respect for Adams.

In addition to the German national football team saga, the Euro 2012 saga also continues. Now it has been reported that Ukraine is struggling to build the required stadiums. Like it wasn´t enough with the Polish trying to solve their problems that still remain somewhat unsolved. I have a propostion. Should they not get their problems solved in a way that UEFA wants them, couls Finland get to host the Euro? Joint with Sweden or something? Not because I´d want to see our team play, but more because I´d like to see all the good teams play.

One more thing. If you like EPL, here is a survey you might want to participate. I did, as the prizes are pretty sweet.

Other things. I think I am more into red things I have ever realised. I saw an ad for this pretty new Canon Ixus that was bright red and thought how wonderful it would be to have one. And I do think it was just because of the colour, not because the camera would be somehow special. Is there a place where I can do some kind of colour analyzing, to get to know what this fondness of red of mine means.

Today is the All Saints Day and since we do not have Halloween in the US style here, it will just be a day when you can´t do anything because most of the places are closed. I´m thinking of watching a movie or do, it has been a while since I last put The Crow DVD on the player and I haven´t watched Interview with the Vampire for ages either. Too bad The Dark Knight isn´t on DVD yet, it would have been fairly good pick. Or maybe I should let these vampires to rest as I have already been watching True Blood. It´s not as bad as I feared, but based on two episodes it´s hard to say wether it is any good either. But I´m waiting for Alexander Skarsgård to make his first appearance. At least the show is entertaining, to a point. Some parts of it are, well, almost porn. Like I have said, never a prime time show.

It has been raining all day and now the sun is shining. How pretty that looks like. I´m going to end with this happy moment. More to follow. Stay tuned and take care.

IWFT

Four Minutes.

There aren´t words to describe how fucked and disappointed I feel. How the hell does Arsenal manage to fuck up a clear victory? 4-4 against Spurs. I seriously wish I had never watched this derby, I might feel slightly better. Feels like a defeat. I did have something good to say about Silvestre, Gallas, even about Denilson, but now I won´t bother because they just had to give Spurs two goals - no, hand them on a silver platter. Eight goals is great, but not when half of them go behind the back of our goalkeeper. Time for a change. Wenger, in January, sell, buy, do whatever it takes. Get us Akinfeev. And I don´t care if CSKA Moscow isn´t willing to sell him, get them enough money and they will. Almunia was one of the reasons every Gooner is feeling a defeat today. No further analyzing. Arsenal needs to bounce back and start winning. Looking for the silver lining, we still secured one point and are third on the table six points behind Liverpool and three points behind Chelsea.

Oh, one thing is for sure too. I never want to see the north London derby on a stadium, because it would be more than likely that I´d get a heart attack. Last night was one of those living with every cell matches. My hands were shaking, my body was shaking, I was curled up in ball on the corner of our couch and no, I really don´t remember half of the match. I just remember it was insane. I really should stop caring about Arsenal this much.

That fucking match actually invaded my dreams last night. Vedran Corluka of Tottenham got his head ripped off in my dream. And I mean that literally. His head was separeted from his body. Why Corluka? Well, I have no idea, maybe I was still annoyed of the way the commentator said his name. And yes, it was by far the oddest, craziest, sickest and most violent dream I have ever had. I want to erase yesterday from my memory. Ok, not the first half of HSV-Stuttgart match I saw. Crazy-Jens... And Mario Gomez is useless.

Um. Paying to see EPL and getting to movie channels to go with results in to strange things. I watched Blades of Glory. Yes, the movie of two male ice skaters teaming up to skate in the pair competition. It wasn´t bad. But it wasn´t good either. It had some funny moments and it was short enough. As a comedy it works well, as a sports movie not so well. But it isn´t a complete waste of time and it would get the average three stars. But then I also watched something so close to perfect.

Control. Anton Corbijn´s movie of Ian Curtis. I have wanted to see it ever since it premiered and now have finally done it. I don´t know what to say, it was so awesome. I like Joy Division very much, so of course it brings an added boost to it. But it will be an experience for everyone to watch it even if you don´t like the band. What can I say... Sam Riley did an excellent job, as did Samantha Morton. And the actors playing the JD songs, they did it so well. I love Corbijn´s style, so the black and white style of the movie was great. The overall athmosphere in the movie, it cannot be described. You have to see it yourself. It is sad to know how the story ends and when the last line of the movie appeared on the screen, I was almost crying and had goosebumps on my arms. And I don´t even know how many times I had chills going down my spine during the two hours. If you haven´t seen it yet, do something about it. There must be something wrong about you if you don´t like the movie. Or if it doesn´t affect you in a way. I would love to moralize Curtis´ actions, how he treats his wife and cheats her, as I think that kind of action is horrible, but will leave it to this.

I have to say something about my latest readings too. I just finished William Gibson´s Pattern Recognition and liked it very much. It is written by the same guy who wrote Neuromancer. I won´t spoil the plot, but it is interesting, dealing with Internet, movies and what made me pick it up, because of the travelling in it. Next I´m going to take a read of the Spanish civil war, in a novel form and the book seems to be interesting. I was also recommended a book about the Basques, I have check wether I can get it. Academic Bookstore has it, I might have to put an order in. Going to do some Spanish studying today and I should get back to reading my history books soon.

More posts probably during the weekend, depending on how pissed off I am. Until that, have fun and take care.

IWFT

A Rush Of Blood To The Head.

I haven´t had such a laugh while watching football than I had last night. Real Madrid - Athletic Bilbao isn´t something I desire to watch before hitting the sack on Sunday night, but now it was probably the best one this weekend. Oh, the drive and the heat. I wasn´t supporting either of the teams, so it was just entertainment for me. A great match, though where on Earth was Raul, I would have forgotten he was on the pitch if he name wouldn´t have been mentioned every once in a while. I also think that during the first half I saw more of Sergio Ramos on the bench than the game itself. And I already almost worship the Urheilukanava commentator, but yesterday he topped himself. I couldn´t stop laughing. La Liga is awesome. Just one request, if they have to have one of the big teams on TV, could we get Barca next time? I equally dislike Real and Barca, but I rather watch Guardiola than Schuster.

I watched four matches yesterday. Ok, split my time between Veikkausliiga and EPL top match, which wasn´t that marvellous, though I´m more happy to see Liverpool win than Chelsea. Should have picked the Spurs match, as they managed to win, which frightens me a lot... But no, I was watching Inter Turku to win the Finnish Veikkausliiga. The conditions were horrible. Remember the Euro 2008 match between Turkey and Switzerland? It was like that, with half of the pitch just mud. A deserved win for Inter and YLE gets some credit for actually airing the match.

Gunners beating Hammers in London 2-0 could have been better. Yes, a win and I´m happy with it. Some of the Gunners were stellar, some not so great. Almunia was keeping his goal clear in a way I haven´t seen him perform for a while and I´ve found my faith in him again. Gallas wasn´t as horrible as I thought he might be, actually he did a fairly good job. The midfield wasn´t on its´ best, expect Theo. The West Ham keeper was really good, got to admit that. Also, I don´t know what Clichy has been up to lately, but he is being constantly good. Nicky Bendtner not so good, but he had his moments. Van Persie was one of the stellar men yesterday. His free kick should he gotten in, the post was in the wrong place as always. My Man of the Match would still be Ade, who came off the bench and scored the 2-0. He was involved in the first goal too. I have been very spectical about him, but now he is the real deal. Not the best match, never, but a good one, a lot of pace. Wednesday match against Spurs should be interesting.

Oh yeah, I promised some kind of top songs listing for today. Let´s see. What has my iPod been currently playing?
Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. The entire album actually, but this song just gets to me every single time. It´s so beautiful. Is there a person who does not love this piece of art?
Bang & Blame by R.E.M.. I like R.E.M. and this song is great. I think I am fond of the repetition in the lyrics.
Dancing Choose and Halfway Home by TV on the Radio. Their new album is excellent, but these two songs stand out to me. I get the feeling I should be out running. And if I could get a sunny day and listen to these two, it would be amazing.
24/365 and Beacon by Disco Ensemble. Miikka Koivisto isn´t a genius when it comes to lyrics, but this pair has words that strike me. I can listen to them on repeat and not get tired after ten times. I love this band for a reason.
Crumble by Modwheelmood. It´s Alessandro Cortini and his voice. Fits the dull Finnish autumn weather and mood perfect.
Spökstad by Kent. My new favourite of the band. I still can´t tell why I one evening had the feeling I need to hear this, but after that I just can´t get enough of this song. Once again, it´s the lyrics. And I have always had a huge thing for Jocke Berg´s voice. I will be very sad on the day this band announces their quitting. My first true music love.

I have been listening a lot of Manboy, Damn Seagulls and Zen Cafe lately too. A lot of Finnish music, which I usually don´t do. And NIN is a regular on my playlist, no matter what time of the year or day, it´s always fitting.

I got to ask, why the hell was there a several hours long result show for the municipal elections last night? Municipal elections people, the idea basically is you vote for a candidate you think can help sort out the mess your town has gotten itself into. I couldn´t care less how gets most of the votes in the capital or what the biggest party is. All the parties seem to act like the same, nothing improves or if it does, then the prgoress is extremely long. And it scares the hell out of me that True Finns got what, over 5 % of the votes. I do not want back the days without EU and not being able to move freely from place A to B. I´m odd, but I´m happy with Finland being in the EU, most of the time at least.

I haven´t been very prolific lately, haven´t done anything I could be proud of. Ok, the exam. But haven´t gotten the books for the next one, haven´t taken any pictures, haven´t even read any books. Have started with the Spanish, but that´s probably the only one. I should come up with something. I have that one picture from Turku taken with my cell phone, but that´s all. I am going through my image files, renaming them. I can´t believe the stuff I have there. It just raises the quetion of why I have all the pictures there.

I´ll be posting again this week, probably football related things as always, but maybe something else too. Until that, take care.

IWFT

The Weight Of The World

This is going to be an annoying rant, but I feel like I need to get this of my system and what better way to do it than writing a public blog post.

I am starting to hate this Finnish university system. Yes, I´d love to study in a university, but it seems somehow impossible. I mean, fuck these entry exams. It´s something only we seem to have. I understand it´s important to check wether the person wanting to study the subject really is fit to do it, but why make it so incredibly hard? In best cases you have up to five books you need to know inside out and based on them answer to questions at the exam. It´s not enough that you´ve done well in upper secondary school or in vocotional school, no, you need to assure these people at the university that you also have all the time in the world to study books and understand them completely. Of course you can take a course where they go through the things probably asked in the exam, but it costs. Depending on the subject, thousands of euros. Money well spent, I doubt.

Applying to a university would be the only case when I´d actually know how to write about myself. I could go on and on why it would be great to study the subject I´ve chosen and why I would be good candidate for it. But none of these institutions ask it, they just want to see how well you can write about a small section of a book you´ve read for months. I call this unfair. And even if you study in an open university like I am forced to do, it doesn´t actually do any good. Of course it´ll give you a feeling of wether you want to study the subject, but when applying, you have to take the excatly same exam everyone else is taking. Thank you for nothing?

Then there are these government officials wondering why people are at least 25 years old when they graduate. You can call yourself fucking lucky if you get in before your 21st birthday. Or a genius, if you walk into a university without a sabbathical year. These same officials also encourage people to study faster and graduate sooner. Well, unfortunately they have done it so hard, only a minority can actually make it. I would love to graduate before in in my mid-20s, but right now it seemd it´s just a dream. Yes, I will be sending applications this spring and attending probably more than five entry exams just to wait to get some letters in late July. And seriously, if I travel abroad in the summer, I´m not getting a plane ticket home until I have something to do in the fall if I don´t get in. I don´t want to come back here to sit home and try to figure out a plan F... Might piss off my parents, but it´s their problem. I know they´d love to brag that their daughter is highly educated and has a good job (If I´d get a euro every time my mom says "you just study so you don´t have to work in places we do", I´d have money for a plane ticket to New York. ).

Of course I could study abroad. Estonia would be a marvellous option, if they had something else to offer than engineering or medicine, both subjects that I couldn´t care less. Sweden would be nice too, not too different from Finland. Seriously, I´m considering it. I´ve always had some odd symphaties towards the country anyway. Britain would be a heaven, but then there are these fucking tuition fees. I´ll offer you two guesses on wether I could aford them... Well, barely and KELAs support isn´t excatly great. How about bringing the system to the 21st century from the 1980s? And these British schoold require me to prove I can English. Which means IELTS. I fucking got a Laudatur in English in the matriculation exam, I write this in English, but that´s not always enough. Why oh why didn´t I win in the lottery last night? I don´t even want to talk about the career opportunities...

These Finnish officials also encourage people to have kids when they are young. Well, I have a hint for them. How about not cutting their financial support when they have a child and are still studying. Because then they have to get a job and can´t study efficiently full time. See some kind of vicious circle? I´d love to graduate when I´m still reasonably young, get married and have kids and a nice job to top that. (No, not a Volvo and a beach holiday at the Canary Islands once a year. And certainly not a summer cottage in the middle of nowhere.) Probably not going to happen any time soon. Which makes me sad.

I feel better now. I´m still going to hate applying and exams and waiting. But I´ve said what I wanted. Sorry for all the swearing (eventhough I´ve been said it´s fine), but I´m just so fucking frustrated. If not give us a change to study, at least give us a job. But there is nothing here, damn you recession. Mom keeps saying I´ve got plenty of time to work, but I´m getting more and more bored and frustrated at home and that isn´t good for anyone. That´s my two cents.


I´m waiting for the storm forecast for today. Just hoping it won´t take out the power, I am going to spend hours watching football today. After all, it´s Sunday and you don´t really need to do anything. And I voted beforehand, so that is covered too. Speaking of football, everyone must know by now Spurs sacked Juande Ramos and are replacing him with Harry Redknapp, the manager oh so loyal to Pompey-not. We´ll see what happens, I´m waiting for the North London derby that takes place on Wednesday. Wouldn´t be the first derby I´ve seen this season, ended up watching Juventus and Torino play last night. It was quite boring, but better than nothing.

I´m going to do a "best songs at the moment" listing for the next post, the laptop battery is too low for that at the moment, but I have to say, listen to Jeff Buckley. Grace is such a great album, and his voice... Gives me chills. A great album to listen while you´re listening to the rain outside sitting by the fire (this is odd, the fact that we now actually have a fireplace). Mix in a good book and your dull fall day might be just perfect.

More of that when I return to posting, until that, take care.

IWFT

One Of These Things First.

Hello girls and boys! Did any of you happen to be enjoying the UEFA Champions League round 3, also known as the goal feast of all times? Ok, not such a feast yesterday, but on Tuesday. 36 goals in 8 matches. Who spiked the European water? And just to warn some people, this is going to be a bit more fangirlish as before, as I am actually posting a picture os shirtless men. Yes, I apologixe that beforehand.

I has actively following two matches, had TV on for the Juventus-Real Madrid and online stream for Fenerbahce-Arsenal. Let´s travel to Turin first. I was neutral on that match, not a big fan of either of the teams. And besides, Juventus looks like most of the players are still living the 1980s. Maybe it is their hair... Anyway, Del Pieros goal was awesome. Truly awesome. And Amauri scoaring wasn´t that bad either, Nedved´s pass was perfect. I just have to point out. Is San Iker Casillas extremely rusty this season or is it still Euro Championship hang-over? 10 balls behind him in La Liga. And here I was, thinking Almunias 6 was terrible... Casillas just hasn´t impressed me, eventhough he should be the best goalkeeper in the world. I wish YLE would have shown all the goals, not just few of them. Fortunately, we have 101 Great Goals and their videos.

Also, I noticed Barcelona players seemed to have black bands on their arms last night. Anyone know why? I know Juventus fans were killed in an accident on Tuesday, but that has nothing to do with it...

Moving on to Istanbul. First of all, at best times the stream I was watching had over 42,000 viewers (usually I watch matches with 12,000 people or so), so it wasn´t functioning perfectly all the time. That is why I thought they were still replaying Ade´s goal when Theo had scored. How was I supposed to know the net the ball twice within a minute? Anyway, those were sweet goals, Cesc giving perfect passes and Ade and Theo finishing like they always should. That is what their game should look like every time.

Poor Fener really didn´t stand a chance, with Diaby and Song scoring for Gunners. Which, quite frankly is good, because the Arsenal defence is still not doing what they should, just check what happens when the opponent gets a corner. Makes my heart race, and not in a good way. I hope Gunners manage to keep their feet on the ground and remember they are facing West Ham on Sunday, not get too self-confident because of this win. No matter how much we all loved it. I´m also really happy Wenger had the guts to bench Van Persie and let Diaby play, as he is my Man of the Match. Just back from the physio´s table and doing more than well. Maybe he is what Arsenal desperately needs. Also, more good news came when it was told that Eduardo is likely to be back in action in three weeks. Yippee!

Oh, and Aaron Ramsey. Remember, the 17-year-old enormously talented boy from Cardiff? The next big thing? Scoring in UCL match, bringing the icing on the cake. I was screaming of joy. He needs to get minutes, I want to see him on Sunday. Really do. Keep him in mind.

And the fangirl-part and the picture. Well, I didn´t know I had a thing for Dani Güiza (currently playing for Fener), but apparently I do. This really made my night:

Cesc and Dani shirtless, leaving the pitch. I aaaawww´ed. It would be even better if it was a gif, but this´ll do. Don´t judge me, I´m a girl and sometimes things like these just get to me. Thanks to whoever it was on posting it to ONTD Football. More playing like this in the future and I´m happy.

Oh, news from the Germany NT. Why am I not surprised at all that Ballack is at loggerheads with Löw? Is this an interesting sequel to the case Kevin Kuranyi? We have to stay tuned.

Ok, done with the beautiful game for a while. I am done with my history exam, I hope it went well as it has been a while since I´ve taken an exam. I did answer to both of the questions I had. We´ll see how it went. In the evening I jotted down some thoughts I had during the day and of course I´m just complled to share them with others. These won´t be in any particular order.

Why on Earth has someone put a pack of Pringles in the minibar? It was a cold one, but I guess no one likes their chips icy. And the minibar prices. 4 euros for a bottle of mineral water. In your dreams.

The hotel room was fine. 63 euros of a night is a bit much if you ask me, but then again I´m usually a budget traveller. The beds in the rooms weren´t separate, unless you call the 1 centimeter between them a separation. Didn´t bother me, I had all the space to myself. Just when does someone manage to get the bathroom floor in a state that when you take a shower the entire bathroom doesn´t flood? It is annoying.

At times I had the feeling I was back in Budapest. I had a view to a street with quite heavy traffic, just like in BP. Then again, at times it felt like Tallinn. Both being good things. On the same street were my absolute favourite record store Levykauppa Äx, a pizzeria called Milan (yes, I laughed), two travel agents and and at least three bars that would have had Viasat and where I could have taken a look of the UCL matches, but I was too tired for that.

In the evening Turku was very pretty. Especially around the riverbanks, the lights reflecting from the water... Pretty indeed. I´m not very familiar with the city yet, but I like it.
Oh, can someone explain me, why an Italian restaurant was playing Spanish music? It was so out of place. Yes, I had Italian and I think it was better than in Italy. (And I got Fabri Fibras In Italia playing in my head. Damn you Italian MTV.)

I was stunned when I realised TV2 is using a Lapko song on and ad for their upcoming TV show. Maybe it´s just me, but it didn´t fit. Or maybe I´ve just heard the song too many times. One song that fit perfectly was Quality People by Damn Seagulls when it was playing on my iPod after I´d been forced to listen to some suit guy´s phone conversation for half an hour. Why can´t we have separate compartments in trains too? Pretty please VR?

I have to keep thinking about my future studies. I think it is truly unfair that I don´t get to study the way I´d want to. Stupid country with entrance exams. I do not like them at all. For now, I´m having a short break from studying history and getting into the fascinating world of Spanish language instead.

More posts will appear when I have something to say. Or even if I don´t. Until that, have fun and take care!

IWFT

Seven Nation Army.

Everyone should know by now what I´ve been doing yesterday and what I´m going to write about first. Yes.

Home win. Oh how sweet that was. I almost have forgotten how magnificent it is when Arsenal gets the three points. Fine, the first half was horrible. The Gunners pack was even more messed I thought it might be. An injury list too long resulted to the fact that Wenger had chosen Gibbs and Hoyte - reserves - on the bench. And the list just got longer yesterday with Toure hurting his shoulder. And I truly hope Nasri recovers from his knock soon. Wasn´t actually missing Gallas, but I was happy to see Silvestre play for the first time. And he improved. But some of the guys playing positions that aren´t anyhow natural to them... Sagna, Bentdner and Djurou need to be back soon. It should be less than a month for Eduardo´s comeback and that must be one of the biggest silver linings.

The match. Like said, the first half should have never happened. Everton managed to score a way too easy goal, but thankfully just one. Van Persie once again missed too often, but they were trying. The second half was much, much better. They had the drive, a new gear, the need to win. And it paid off. Ok, the Gunners defence was in the woods every once in a while, but nothing crucial didn´t happen. I have to say, Clichy was playing probably the best match I´ve ever seen him play, his master save at the goal line only topped it. If I´d have to choose, I´d given him the man of the match title. Nasri´s goal showed why he is worth the money and in the end Van Persie netted too. It just took too long.

And I have never been a big fan of Theo "Trio" Walcott, don´t know why actually, but now I am starting to appreciate him. The 3-1 goal of his... Even my mum agreed it was smashing. Walcott needs to improve, but his pace is unbelievable. And I didn´t check the Liverpool-Wigan on the other channel, but apparently a commentator there had said Fabregas was a "a dogged man" to play even with a broken nose. Sometimes Keith Armstrong just is so... I seriously understand why everyone keeps saying the referees don´t know what they are doing, this one didn´t either. No penalty when it was clear it should have been given and just a yellow card when Hibbert (if I remember correctly) was on Clichy´s throat... Anyway, a win is a win and it wasn´t that terrible in the end. I´m fairly happy. Canal+ could have gotten commentation in Finnish, because I stopped listening to the English one. Pool-Wigan had commentation and a three man studio...

For some weird reason I end up watch these matches with my mum and nearly give her a heart atteck when I cheer. Yesterday she wanted to know why Arsenal. A rational reason. I don´t have one, no one chooses a team with ration but with heart. I couldn´t give her one. I remember a few years back reading a negative comment made by Mikael "I think I´m good, but I´m average" Forssell and partly because of that picked the team. I don´t like Forssell, if you didn´t understand that. Fine, there are other teams too, but ManU I have always resented, how they are always on top and everubody seems to like them. And with Chelsea it´s the same. I tried to like Liverpool for several years, but never got a real connection. They are fine and I don´t hate them, but that´s all. People call it Samipool here, as Hyypiä is somehow so special. Not to me. So, I couldn´t give a good reason, and mum´s next question was, "Is there anyone good looking?". Quite honestly, not particularly. I might be shallow, but not that shallow. Or not always... *cough*. I really have to stop watching football with her.

More from my mum. Em and I went to buy some books on Friday in Helsinki and it was a longer trip than expected, I guess. Fine, put us two in the biggest bookstore in the country and let us flip through books it will take a while... Anyway, mum of course had to know what I bought and when I told her they were Spanish books, she was fine, you´re learning a new language. And next: "Are you planning on moving to Spain?". What? Seriously, what? No, not at the moment I am not. But I had to hint her that I might want to travel there and she got the opportunity to go on about how I can´t spend all my money on travelling and what if I get into some school, I´ll be needing money then right. Right, but I´m not bone broke yet. I know what I can afford and what not. Sometimes she just annoys me. Like when she realised Emirates Stadium is the place where I want to see the match of my life she just stated: "You don´t have to experience everything under 20." I know I don´t but does she think that if I get into some school and study that I have time or money to do what I really want?

Enough of that. I finished The Road yesterday. It is great, I almost loved it. The novel is worth all the hype around it. I have a couple of books waiting at the moment, trying to get them read. I´m reading a Jeff Lindsay book now, a Dexter one. Differs from the TV series, but seems to be ok.

I hate prioritizing. I know I have to do it, but I hate it. So, I give up on concerts, go to movies when someone else pays and not buy new music or clothes. Simple, but excruciatingly painful. Then again, I have a goal in my mind why I´m doing all this. And this time I´m doing research. Some places sell themselves much better than others. Just, why is everything so expensive?

I think I´ll go vote tomorrow. Yes, municipal elections aren´t the most interesting, but they are ones that matter. Dad still says I should vote on the day and not beforehand, but I´m keeping my head. Doesn´t make a difference when I do it, does it? I should run a couple of errands before I head to Turku on Wednesday. I´m not thrilled about that trip, but it must be done.

I´ll start doing some research and write when I think I have something to say. Until that, have fun and take care!

IWFT

Grey Gardens.

I know I am going to sound so preachy today, but quite frankly, I do not care.

There are places where people should keep their mouths shut. Church is one of those places. I am not a religious person, but do want to respect those who are and not yell at the places they find important. To me, the place where you just shut the fuck up is a library. But at least here it seems to be so hard to understand.

I made a visit to our local library yesterday and when leaving they building I was ready to strangle a person or two. There were these two teen groups. The other ones were keeping really weird noises and I can tell, when you are trying to concetrate on a magazine you´re reading and there isn´t a moment of silence, it starts to bug. But they weren´t the ones I was ready to hurt.

It was a teen boy and two girls sitting and reading an imaginatively named sports magazine Urheilulehti (Sportsmagazine would be the literal translation. See what I mean...?). They kept talking about what to do in the weekend and every second word was fuck. I do use the word sometimes, but when there are less other words than that one particular curse word, well, it annoys a lot. And no, they couldn´t keep their voices low like everyone else there would have done, they kept talking like they would have been at some loud event. Maybe it is just me, but I was raised with some kind of manners and not talking loudly at the library was one of those things I learned when I was old enough to understand.

But the thing that really made me see red, was a comment one of the girls did. I don´t know which athlete it was at the mag, but all of a sudden the girl says (loudly, of course):"Fuck, that man is disgusting. I can´t stand those and the girls that like those sweaty black guys." I was like, it is the year 2008 and there this girl sits, saying a horrible racists comment on a pro athlete. Seriously, how can anyone say something like that? So prejudiced, so racist. I think no one should be treated badly, to thought they are inferior to us just because of their colour, that when you are white you are somehow a better person. Because you are not. No matter what. I mean, some of the greatest people on sports, popular culture, politics aren´t white. I should have asked that girl what she thinks of Barack Obama... I could never be so prejudiced that girl was. I don´t say I don´t have biases againts people I don´t know. But I am willing to get over them. Any day. I mean, for god´s sake, I would lose heaps of things that are important to me if I suddenly started to think some people are better than others. Haven´t people learned anything from the 19th and 20th century? Then again, these teens seemed the kind of people who don´t pay much attention at the history class... Remember, no matter how you are ranked you are never better or worse than other people unless you think so yourself. Drop the racism and maybe the world will be a little better place. Right honeys?

This is just like the thing with religion. Everyone seems to think muslims are bad, but I happened to take a look at a document at FST5 yesterday where three completely normal Finns were talking about how thay had converted to islam. Emphasis on the word normal. Maybe it´s the media...

The last thing I heard from the girl in the library was when she said she´ll travel to another town for the weekend to get drunk, because everyone here is a teetotaller. And here I was, thinking it was only me and two or three others. Seems like I was wrong. Pardon, you annoying loud racist girl at the library, my bad.

And something a bit less preachy. I happened to see the video of Another Way To Die today. It´s fine, I´m actually starting to like the song. But why on Earth is Alicia Keys credited before Jack White when it is obvious White has done most of the work on the song? It is unfair if you ask me. The song is catchy, I´ve had it playing in my head for a while now.

I picked up one of the best books I´ve come across this year so far. The novel is The Road by Cormac McCarthy and it is amazing. I´ve read half of it and I´m totally hooked. It is a story about a man and his son in a post-apocalyptic world, trying so survive while making their way to the southren states of US. The world has met some kind of disaster and most of the life is gone, everthing is covered in ash and people are desperate. The story is great and the way McCarthy writes has really impressed me. His languege is so plain and and he descibes things in a laconic way. I had heard so much good about this novel around ETS and nin.com that when I saw it in the shelf I had to pick it. And I´m not disappointed. I really like it. The movie adaption is premiering in US in late November and I can´t wait to get to see it here. It will be so depressing and agonizing, but no doubt good. Viggo Mortensen is playing the main character.

And as it is the last international match day until next year, I´m going to torture you guys with football a bit. Finland lost to Russia 3-0, two of those goals were own goals, which is shamefull. Russia was good, just as good as I expected and Arshavin is just as great everyone say he is. And the goalkeeper of Russia is pure gold. He is what, 22 and absolutely faboulous. The Russian really deserved the win, Finland was doing awful job. But there are great things about Finnish football.

Those of us who were watching the u21-team play last night witnessed history being made. Finland u21 beat the unbeaten Austria making their way to the European Championship played in Sweden next summer. It was a thrilling match. I didn´t watch all of it, but the extra time made me so nervous and the penalties. Well, Finland ruled and Maanoja was a real hero saving two of Austrias penalties. Great times indeed, I admit I had tears in my eyes when I saw the jubilant team. And I loved the sight of an Austrian player being hugged and supported by some of the crew because the young man was so disappointed he was crying. For a moment I thought of freezing the picture, it is so lovely to see a man cry.

I´m going to spend the rest of the evening with Seleccion Espanola and update the results when the matches are over.

//Fine, all the matches aren´t over yet, but I ain´t staying up for the result of Portugal-Albania...
Greece was beaten by the Swiss and Northern Ireland won San Marino 4-0. Darling Czech Republic managed to score once against Slovenia, enough for a win. Poland lost against Slovakia, something I didn´t see coming. And German-Wales 1-0, apparently not a very good match, heard Löw was having a constructive talk with the fourth official, again...

A non-goal draw between Estonia and Turkey is quite a shock, as our southern neighbour has been without points this far. Croatia and England beat Andorra and Belarus respectively and Italy seems to have found the way to win again, Montenegro went 2-1 down. The Netherlands and poor Island both scored once and thus beat Norway and Macedonia. Austria-Serbia ended with the result 1-3.

And the Belgium-Spain. Seleccion Espanola leaves Brussels with three points, the result being 1-2. The conditions went from bad to worse to worst as it was raining extremely heavy in the end. The men just kept falling down because the grass was so slippery. The match started bad as Belgium scored at the 6th minute. Bad news for every El Nino fan too, Torres was injured and left the pitch straight to the dressing room at the 12th minute, he didn´t even wait to see the substitution being made. He had tears in his eyes as he pulled a muscle on his leg. Right now Marca is saying he´ll be off at least ten days, so he´ll miss the UCL game againts Atletico Madrid. I´d be crying too if I were him.

But there was a lot of good too. At one point Puyol had one of the greatest saves in a long time. I still think Villa was having a bit off day, eventhough he put the winner in. Spain was showing some truly great passes and Fabregas (the substitution for Torres) gave Iniesta a dream cross to score the first goal. I know I´ll sound partial, but Fab was having a fine match, he played truly well and seemed to enjoy. Oh, in case you are bored tomorrow, try to find a video of San Iker Casillas dancing after the goals. It looks hilarious.

This is all for now. I´ll get to bed and hopefully sleep without odd dreams. The "I´ll write just a little and end uo with a Russian novel" -saga will continue later this week, provided that I have something to say. Until that, have fun and take care!

IWFT

Hall Of Fame.

I just witnessed one of the cutest situations today. Neighbour´s cat was stalking a squirrel that was jumping in our apple tree. It was so sweet. Not that the cat would have had any chance to attack as it is on a leash, but still. This coming from a more of dog than a cat person.

Bad news for all of us Tomas Rosicky fans. (I am starting to doubt there aren´t many of us anymore.) News tell his recovery has taken a setback and he most likely will be ruled out until next year. Sad sad sad. Should he ever get over this strange injury he´s suffering from, how likely is it he´ll be back in the pitch? After this stint to the hospital he´ll need to start recovery again and around that time I´d say he´s been out of the field for a year. I am no expert, but I´d guess getting back fit to play this season is so very unlikely. Or, like Em once said (jokingly) is this knee injury story something they came up with to cover up a bigger problem? Hope not, but Rosicly being able to be as good as he once was... I hate to even think it, but the end of his career might be closer than any of us want to believe.

And other news today. British Bloc Party will be playing at Helsinki´s Ice hall on February 26th 2009. I am going provided that I manage to get a ticket. The price is a bit salty 44 €, so I hope they´ll have a flaming good support. Ticket sales start next week, check Tiketti or Lippupalvelu for the date as I can´t remember it right now.

I have completely to write about the Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei movie. The English title is The Edukators, but I prefer the original. I am trying to find as much use to my mediocre German as possible. Anyway, it was fairly good. The idea was good, not the most original, but good. Not too much characters, so the main three or four stood out. The plot had some very clever points. I´m not a huge fan of the Bavarian counrtyside, but it looked fine. I really hoped in the end that one of the characters would keep his promise, but like the movie stated, "some people never change" and it ended in a way traditionally. I wish they had aired the longer version with one more scene after the credits, as it would have lighted what happens later, but no. Ths soundtrack was nice, I admit, I am a sucker for Buckley´s Hallelujah.

And the most vital thing about this movie. The guy who plays Peter, a Croat named Stipe Erceg. Seriously, where has he been hiding? If we were making the playing cards now, he´d have to featured. I know my taste of men sometimes clashes with others big time, but I hope someone agrees with me on this one. He is also acting at the much discussed Der Baader Meinhof Komplex movie premiering here in a forthnight. I want to see that movie, not because of this guy, but because of the theme. Yes, the German history is one of my biggest interests.

Actually I came here to write about live music today. I was listening to The Sounds last night and remembering their set at Provinssirock last summer. One of the most intnse gigs I´ve ever been to. There must have been thousands of people in the tent. Mari and I were closer to the front than the back and the spirit of happening was insane. Everyone was jumping and it was so crowded. A bit too crowded, but at the same so cool. The Sounds is always great live and this time when we finally got out of the tent there were fireworks to crown the evening. Magnificent.

Finland´s bet live band has to be Disco Ensemble. They absolutely rock. And Miikka talks the funniest things between songs. They have such energy. And they aren´t too big yet. Lapko might be the second best. I have seen too many bands to decide, since Apulanta, not my favourite by any means, is always a good ans solid live band.

I have seen some strange bands. I usually don´t listen to Children of Bodom, Hanoi Rocks, Diablo, Uniklubi, Strapping Young Lad, In Flames, Soulfly, Familjen or Linkin Park, but I´ve seen them all. Hanoi Rocks twice actually.

Best gigs ever. Well, Disco Ensemble at Ankkarock 2007 should be one of them. Foo Fighters at Provinssirock 2008 definitely, after years of wanting to see them, I was ecstatic. Billy Talent and Justice at the same festival were great, though I don´t get much support for this Justice. Unless you count all the music mags blazing it. Rufus Wainwright at the Culture House in April 2008 was fun. He wasn´t at his best I´m sure, but still pulled off a good set. He would make a decent stand up comedian also. Seeing Kent at second row in January 2008 was effin amazing. The athmosphere was undescribable.

One of the biggest disappointements was Placebo at Ice hall in May 2007. Maybe it was the seat, maybe it was the set or maybe it was the fact that Molko lacked contact with the audience, but is was only a fine concert. Down in the pit it must have been great. Von Hertzen Brothers have managed to disappoint me too, sometimes they just don´t nail it. They play well, are very talented, but every once in a while the songs just are too long and I loose my focus.

I remember so much funny things from gigs. Danko Jones (the guy himself) hitting his head at the microphone at Ankkarock 2006, Jarkko Martikainen not getting a water bottle uncapped at Provinssirock 2006 (very intimate gig by the way, it was great), the singer of The Flaming Sideburns walking on his hands at Heinolassa Jyrää 2006, pretty much all the lines said between songs (Miikka of DE, Ville of Lapko and Ola of The Ark are masters on this one).

But the best concert experience ever? Nine Inch Nails at Ankkarock 2007. Still. I loved the set, the layout of the stage. They played damn well, The Great Destroyer and Sin were absolutely highlights, and after all this time, I have to say Head Like A Hole still manages to nail the set. The band was in a good mood. It is still the most hot gig I´ve been to, because it was a bit hard to get jeans off when going to bed as they were so sweaty. Not to mention the shirt. And most of us remember this special because of the fireworks that were kicked off too early and interrupted Hurt. Even Reznor was baffled, but finished the song and lost his temper after the festival had ended. So, until I get to see NIN again, this will be number one.

I´d love to hear about other people´s great concert moments, but the disappointements are also welcome. While waiting for that, I´m off to read the news of today and after that do a bit more revision today before I spend an hour with Anthony Bourdain No Reservations. Yes, I like the show. See you, have fun and take care!

IWFT

Ghost Town.

This is the time of the year I always fall in love with the Swedish band Kent again. This year is no different. I was reading last night and suddenly out of the blue I got the feeling I have to listen to Spökstad by Kent. What is strange in this one, I have never listened to that song with particular thought or liked it more than some other songs. Now it happens to be my favourite of their songs. I have no idea why I like it so much, but I do. I have to give this band a credit for making me like Swedish so much and eventually getting an L on the matriculation exam. Like I´ve written before, it´s great to discover old favourites again. And doing that while lying on bed staring at the dark sky was even better. I can´t explain why.

Funny thing is, there is no way in hell I can say I grew up in a ghost town. This place, for some reason I do not understand, appeals to young couples that want to give their kids a non-city environment for growing up. I am bored here, nothing ever happens. Probably the reason why I always want to travel and get away from here. Only when I´ve been over four weeks abroad I miss this place. Briefly.

I read this stupid comic strip at some magazine that suggesteg no one would sleep their surtains open in a big city, because the light would be disturbing. I have to disagree. I would, I do sleep with my blinds open no, I love to stare at the street light before falling asleep. And I miss all the noises big cities have. When I got home last summer the first night was so strange. I kept waiting for the sound of an ambulance, but it never came. I got so used to it. Like my mum said, I´m a city-person.

I have made a slight change on my Flickr. Or to be more accurate, separated the travel photos from the rest to make more room. All the festival/nature -stuff can still be found by clicking the My Flickr -link on the sidepanel. Thr travelphotos on the other hand are on display at the My Flickr v. Travel. It is now a bit more organized I hope. As always, take a look and tell me what you think. I have put almost all the travelphotos on the map, so it´ll help you out a bit if your geography isn´t in such a great shape.

Rest will be football. Sorry. Finland´s Eagle Owls (damn, the nickname is catchy) had a boring 1-0 win over Azerbaidzhan. The only goal scored from a penalty. I don´t even quite get why Finland got it, but... Three points. They really need to improve against Russia. And not play Litmanen, please. I might be the only Finn who does not like to see him on pitch, but still. He isn´t the fresh new blood the team needs.

England beat Kazakhstan 5-1 with Rooney scoring (almost) a hat trick. The one goal he was a part of was credited to the Kazakhstan player whose name is impossible to remember. A kind of entertaining match, but the outcome was pretty much expected. I am pissed they had a different commentator than was earlier told... Speaking of English football, all you Finns longing for it, I have good news. Urheilukanava will be showing FA Cup matches this season as well as all of the Three Lions´ home games, including friendlies and U21-matches. Good times indeed. For all of those who aren´t willing to pay to get the Premier League like I do. Some people are always welcome to watch matches though. (Em, I believe we both have marked December 20th on our calendars. :D Feel free to come over to keep me company when my loalty gets tested.)

Right now I´m fighting to to get a stream of Sweden-Portugal, it´s on and off. I am a heretic, but my symphathy lies with Sweden. You know, I do hate Portugal. The captain bands do baffle me. If my eyes don´t play tricks on me, then C. Ronaldo has a band on his arm, which I am not surprised at. But that Zlatan "the great ballerina" Ibrahimovic is skippering Sweden? And don´t get me wrong, the heel-goal by Zlatan was cool, I am not mocking him. Yep, Zlatan does have the band. I don´t know if he´d be my first or second pick, but I understand our darling neighbour has quite a lot of crocked stars at the moment when it comes to their national team. As has Italy. Too bad Buffon is missing the UCL match against Real Madrid. I was looking forward to the two goalies to meet again.

So many good matches going on at the same time, I am forced to prioritize. I will be spending the rest of the evening with the Seleccion of Spain. Updates will become after all the matches are over. Until that, have fun.

//Update time. Streams were fucked tonight as so often before. I didn´t miss anything vital though.
Denmark keeps doing good, while Sweden and Portugal had a draw. Poor Czech Republic got run over by Poland. Czech´s are struggling big time. Germany-Russia 2-1 must have been a fine match, I still can´t believe Canal+ opted not to broadcast this when last time they had such thriller as Germany-Liechtenstein live...

Ukraine-Croatia was a non-goal draw, while Rumania and France had a 2-2 draw. France was 2-0 down, but managed to pull it together.
Bulgaria-Italy, a draw with no goals, sounds odd. The Netherlands won Iceland, but one of the craziest results must be Faroe Islands-Austria 1-1. No it was not an own goal. Bizarre.

Spain beat Estonia 3-0. Nowhere near a thiller that match was, but how often does one see Puyol score a goal? Actually it was only because he had the greatest position to push the ball in after Torres had hit the post. Del Bosque made some interesting substitutions, I guess he´s testing different variations. And substituting Ramos must have been because of his muscular injury, I can´t see any other explanation. Like one Estonian viewer said: "Guys, our position in the world is 137, what do you want-to see magic or what?". I´d say that pretty much sums it all up.

Next round is on Wednesday and then there will be a longer international break, thankfully. If I´d placed a bet tonight, I would have gotten my money back. Guessing the winner isn´t that hard after all.

I am going to go catch some Z´s now. I think I´ll have to do something tomorrow, not just slack like today. A bit of revision for the upcoming exam might be good. I have to see what I come up with. More posts will appear next week. While waiting for that, take care and remember to have fun.

IWFT

Many Shades Of Black.

Some news that´ll make people very happy and some news that´ll make people very sad. Me at least. Starting with the sad ones. All of us who were hoping to see Josh Freese behind the drums at the possible Nine Inch Nails European tour next year (confirm that already, please, don´t just hint), I am sorry to tell you, that isn´t happening. Josh "the machine" Freese will be leaving the band at the end of this year. Yes, we are all really sad. Because he might be the best drummer the band has ever had. Sad but true.

The happy piece of news is to everyone looking for the World Cup qualifications this upcoming weekend. After you have watched Finland (hopefully) smash the Azerbaidzhan team on Saturday on Canal+/TV Viisi, be sure to turn to Urheilukanava as they are airing the England-Kazakhstan match live. With everyone´s favourite commentator of course. Wonderful. I am not a fan of these international breaks, but if one has the chance to see those and our boys (yeah, boys, old men more likely) meeting the Russians on Wednesday it can´t be that bad. Finally having the possibility to see Arshavin on action, not just hear about it.

Another happy thing is that my favourite Finnish band Disco Ensemble is giving out an EP early next year. Magic Recoveries is great and I bet the leftovers can´t be bad, so something to look for while waiting for Lapko´s new album. Whenever that comes out.

As I´m on roll to write about music why stop now? The USA Republican president candidate John McCain has managed to piss off the Foo Fighters (or Grohl at least) by playing the song My Hero on his campaign. I am sorry, but how stupid can the Republicans be? Haven´t they learned anything from the last election campaign? When Bush used the Foo song Times Like These without specific permission from the band? When the band (if I remember correctly) filed a lawsuit because of that? People, you do not use music written by mr. Grohl without asking him, especially not if you are not a Democrat. Seriously, I wouldn´t want to piss that man off. We´ll see what happens next. Maybe they´ll sue someone again.

This last one considering music will be a surprising one. It was to me. The other night I happened to turn the YLE Teema on when channel surfing and got stuck to listening something very cool. It was the Venezuelan Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. I have read about it many times before, but have never heard them. Which is a huge loss, as they were amazing. And this coming from a person who is not that fond of classical music. Here, and with Mozart, I am willing to make an exception. The joy and thrill they have when they play, it´s stunning. This will be on rerun on Saturday at 12.55 on Teema. This clip won´t do them justice, but it gives a hint of why I´m excited. This should be all of music right now...

Actually the reason why I´m posting today is that I have confess my love for YLE´s great, um, talk show Popkult. I have missed episodes, but the ones I have been around to watch, have been great. Basically the idea is they have one topic like war, men, women, violence and they discuss it with guests and have a few inserts here and there. I remember watchig the War-episode where a Finnish hip hop -artist (one of the best if you ask me), a kind of regular member to the show, Palaface got so upset about the stupid "thank you, our veterans" -shirts he fell of his chair. Last night they had a discussion about sport and you can guess I was more than thrilled. So many good points on sports on popular culture, on why sportmovies generally suck and so on. I am willing to bet far too few people watch this, because it is aired at 10.15 PM or around that time. Seriously, YLE, you have this fabolous show, respect it, give it a better airing slot and make it longer than 45 minutes. This is one of the few things our national broadcasting company does for young people. Actually, now that I start to think about what I watch on YLE, I have to say, Teema pretty much wins this one. People, it ain´t just a channel with elite culture, there are many undiscovered pearls. Like tonight. Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei, a German movie that sounds interesting. And it has Daniel Brühl.

Not only was my love declaration to Popkult my primary reason of posting today but also the topic they discussed yesterday, sport in popular culture. I can say, I can´t think of a single movie about sport that I do not find at least a bit boring. Ok, Match Point has it´s share of tennis, but it is´t a tennis movie, so as it is a fine piece it cannot be counted. Usually movies are about American football teams that in the end win everything possible or a American boxer beats the evil Russian opponent. Isn´t that what they really are all about? Or books for that matter. Name a single book about sport that is well written and isn´t a biography, but purely fictional story. Yep, I can´t think of any either. TV shows are probably the worst on this. The equation sport+popular culture seems to be nearly impossible. I think that was they conclusion last night too. Oh no, sorry, I can think of one half-decent sport movie. Bend it like Beckham.

I would like to see a completely new kind of sport movie that does not end with a victory. Either it should be a story about an athlete and his/hers childhood and youth, showing how this person becomes what he/she one day is. And end it when the athlete enters the first competition ever or something like that. Not the glory days, it´s normal, it´s usually rather boring. Or. A movie/TV show that follows, say, a team that prepares for the biggest competition of the sport. They make it fine, get until the final and then... The fuck it up. The opponent wins and this followed team comes out with nothing. Imagine the tension when you have fallen to like the team followed as that is what usually happens when you watch a movie, you symphatize with the protagonist. So when there is no happy ending and it seems like everything has been in vain. Why nobody makes a movie like that? A bit of originality. And why is there always a big rivalry between the main character and the person against him? It can´t be like that in the real sport life. But then again, no one would like to see a movie of Tero Pitkämäki and Andreas Thorkildsen throwing a javelin, I have understood they are friends on some level. It would be boring, never a blockbuster.

Still, a movie can never beat the thrill of the real sport. There is no way the feeling can be depicted. When the sure-winner team loses dramatically, when the match goes on and on without goals and ends with free kick or when someone steps over the line on javelin throw when the new world record would have been few centimeters away. When an athlete doesn´t make it to the second round, when people get disqualified because of doping use. Let´s take a walk down the memory lane. Which of these would have been written in to a movie: Zidane head butting Materrazzi at the World Cup final in 2006, Nadal winning Federer at Wimbledon 2008, Ayrton Senna crashing his car and dying at San Marino grand prix 1994, Jesse Owen ruling the Berlin Olympics 1936, Lasse Viren falling in Munich Olympics 1972 and still winning, the USA teams fucking up the relays at this years Olympics? None of these, because there is no way someone could have foreseen any pf these. Everyone has those moments that make sport so special to them. I remember rally driver Tommi Mäkinen crashing his car at Corsica and the car hanging of a cliff. There are millions of these unexpected moments that make sport one of the greatest things on Earth. Until it´s over, anything can happen. For me, the Zizou incident is one of the most memorable moment in sport, as is that aforementioned Mäkinen incident (that was when rally was shown on TV without extra costs and when my dad was really into it). If I was abit older my number one moment would be Finland winning the ice hockey championship in 1995, but as I was like 5 years old at tha time, I really can´t say it. I only remember the celebrations. I´d love to hear other people´s most memorable moments in sports. I have to refresh my memory before I can list more of mine. But please, do share.

I know this primarily is only a thing of mine, but does someone else think the president of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, resembles a footballer? I think it´s something on his facial features that makes me ask this. And don´t worry if you don´t think the same way, this is my speciality. I should collect these "spitting images of each other" -things. Kind of like a hobby of mine. A wierd one, I admit. I just see these resemblances.

I will be posting on Saturday, I promise that. But tomorrow I am thinking of doing something completely different than writing posts that are as short as Russian classic novels. Until that again, take care!

IWFT

Stop Me If You Think You´ve Heard This One Before.

Apparently, I´ve picked a habit of hurting myself unintentionally. Or maybe it´s just that out kitchen chair is placed in a wrong place. Either way, I´m pretty sure I´ve broken a toe on my left foot after hitting it on a leg of a chair yesterday. It hurts like hell and walking is sheer pain. The painkiller is finally kicking in, after three hours of suffering. Good thing I don´t have to get anywhere, because for some reason it feels like my entire body is in pain. Maybe I should start wearing safety boots at home. I am using this as an excuse to slack today, but to be honest, my concentration skills aren´t very high at the moment.

Sepp Blatter has been very talkative to the press lately. Criticising the UEFA Cup being transformed to the European League and now he has a word on foreign ownership of Premier League teams. Sure, I understand his concern, but as a non-English supporter I am a bit unqualified to say anything. Three out of the big four is owned by foreigners and everyone must know the thing with Man City. All I can say is money can´t buy you love. Remember that.

And yes, I am waiting for the transfer window to open in January, but some of the rumours are out already. Arshavin is yet again one of the most wanted and I could guess Man City are after him, just like they are after Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas, Ronaldo and probably tens of others. The Brazilian Ronaldo is on his way there, at least was when I last read about it and I wouldn´t be surprised if his Portuguese namesake would make a minor move inside Manchester. Though I do not know wether the Madrid saga has still seen the last of it, so... Liverpool manager Benitez has said Torres isn´t on the market and quite frankly I understand why. He is doing well. Better than well. And as for Fabregas, well he has himself said he´d like to return to Barcelona. I don´t blame him, who wouldn´t want to be coached by one´s idol? It would be a huge loss to Arsenal though, as the Gunners midfield really revolves around him. I mean, even at arsenal.com he is called "the maestro". I am willing to bet Wenger is holding on to him as long as he can. I know many people would be extremely sad if he left, I would, especially because his destination would be Barca, a team I most of the time can´t stand. I do have to admit that Barca is having a strong team this season. All this is just speculation, so we have to wait until January to see what happens, if something happens.

It is funny how one discovers old music again. I had a long bout during which I was fed up with Muse, but right now the sound wonderful. And I had the same thing with Lapko, but that was prolly because I know the Young Desire album by heart. Breaks pay off, old stuff starts to sound very fresh and I don´t have to spend my imaginary money on music. Oh, course library is sometimes very helpful on this one. I am even starting to like the Bond theme. Still not "big" enough, but it isn´t bad. I´m even ok with Alicia Keys singing on it. I can´t wait for the movie to premiere. I think I´ll need to get my mum as my company when I go check it out, as my dad (quite a Bond fan) almost hated Casino Royale. I can´t understand why, since I truly think it is very entertaining a movie.

I post few photos, again. All of them were taken yesterday, except the first one which I took on Friday. And I got to say, I love how it is dark and unsharp, since I haven´t Photoshopped it or done anything for that matter. Also, it´s funny how the last one looks like something is burning. It is just a sunset. It is very unsharp though, as I took it through a window.

Enjoy, comment. I will be posting more when I stumble upon interesting news or when I am not suffering because of the toe anymore. Take care!

IWFT

Brave New World.

I heard about something very interesting today. Meet the Featured Artists Coalition. This is just starting its´action and is all-British right now (as far as I can tell, I do not know all the artists). But seriously, why has it taken this long for artists to fight for their rights? Of course they should have the rights of their own material, they have created it for god´s sake. I am really looking forward to the dat something similar happens at the US. The big record companies should be made think about their actions and how they treat their artists. Bands and artists publishing music on the Internet, straight to the listener are an increasing number. It is probably the best way nowadays. And if it´s free, it´s even better, but I totally understand those "pay 5 bucks or whatever you want to support us" campaigns when releasing new material too. They are trying to make a living of it after all. Anyway, this is extremely interesting.

And I just want to make sure no one gets me wrong. I like to support small, possibly indie labels that don´t have a huge promotional machinery helping them, but they all or most of their stuff themselves. Actually care about their artists and think music is the most important thing, not the money the sales bring. If I recall correctly this quote is by Chris Cornell: "Music driven by money deserves to fail."

I do watch Idols, but just for the fun of it. I cannot believe the people there are after the record deal with Sony BMG. I am willing to bet whoever the winner is, does not make original or revolutionary music, but stuff that gets a lot of air play but says nothing. I´d love the winner to say, "thanks, but no thanks, I do not want your deals". That would bring a great twist to the show. Until that happens, I just keep checking if there is even one or two people that can actually sing and wait for their first album to top the charts and sell ridiculously much. Because that is what is going to happen.

I have already gotten the things that really made my day strange yesterday out of my system elsewhere (in my own language, which I haven´t done for a while), so I am not repeating them here. I do repeat the fact that I will be sad if Poland loses the football Euro 2012. I believe they have some sort of deadline concerning the issue today and according to BBC they are close to settling things. It´s really good to hear that, because I´d be more than willing to make a visit to Poland during those games. I can only guess what kind of athmospere they´d create. But it might be too soon to say anything, so I´m just keeping my fingers crossed.

Until more, take care!

IWFT

Stockholm Syndrome.

//I am just updating. Holy Fabregas! Thank him for saving Gunners from hidious loss tonight. 1-0 down until he hit. I can´t believe how much their game resembles a rollercoaster. Tuesday a perfect game and today *this* close to a second defeat in a row. Thank god it didn´t happen. It should have been 1-2 to Gunners as RVP`s hit should have stood. The ball never went out before the goal. But it was flagged. Just a draw before the international break, way better than a humiliating loss. I have to say I love how my parents reacted when I was cheering the divine goal. They were: "You react strongly. Like it´s a matter of life and death." Well, no, but not far from it. How can you explain the feeling you have when your team is losing and then manages to net the ball? You can´t. Fortunately, Fab saved us from a disaster. Internationals next weekend, I´m curious to see how Spain beats Estonia. And wether Finland is still unbelievable good. Oh, in case you´ve missed: Joe Kinnear curses "a little".

First, I got to ask if Milan is some new big hit city. Recently more than one magazine has done an article about it, I remember reading at least three. Next week´s Volt is running a story of 24 hours in the city. Seriously, why? It ain´t that interesting a place. Is it going to be the next Budapest or whatever city we Finns have travelled way too often lately? A bit like Thailand is the new Canary Isles. Never been to either of them and not intending. I am not a beach person. I´m sure Thailand has great cultural things to offer, but I lack the passion for Asia. Of course, I´d love to travel to China or to Japan, but I think that is quite another thing.

I was once again having the "if you could choose any place on Earth, where would you travel" -conversation with my folks. I don´t get why they are so unoriginal. Seriously, every single time we do this, my dad answers Germany, especially some wine area in the south or Austria ad the Alps. My dad, who has seen most of central Europe, even USA for god´s sake. I don´t understand why that particular area fascinates him so much. He´s been to Germany, we spent two weeks in Austria a few years back and he has no knowledge of the German language.

Do not get me wrong, I love Austria. One of the countries I´ve travelled most. Fine, I´d really like to visit Vienna so that there aren´t what, about 100 000 football tourists at the same time. It is a wonderful city, one of the most peaceful places in Europe I´ve stayed. I mean, I can´t think of any other country where I´d spend a night at the capital´s railway station. Now I can just say it has to be one of the most odd and fun experiences I´ve ever had. And the countryside is beautiful, but as my mum put it, I´m a city-person. So I can´t get why dad wants to travel there time and time again.

My mum is a bit more original on her answers as she usually says a place she hasn´t been to, like Hungary and Germany. I also know she has a dream of travelling to some Greek island, even to Australia and to New Zealand, both of which are places I´d be more than thrilled to visit myself. Just not with my savings. Not yet, at least. Wonder when Kilroy is having a sale on those around the world trips they sometimes have... Oh, back to the topic. I do know that mum would love to go to Mauritius, which if I´ve understood correctly is also an island. Nothing bad about that.

The funny part is always when I answer the question. My folks don´t roll their eyes, but it´s not far. If I remember right, this time my answer included the countries of Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Japan and Morocco. I wouldn´t travel to the first two until I´ve brushed up my Spanish which isn´t at its best right now. Of course I also want to see Spain and Portugal, but I refuse to dream of them. Just because my parents don´t know that I´m going to travel there, doesn´t mean I´m not going to do it. Because you can be sure that I will. And rather sooner than later. Also, as I have to admit I´ve never been to Norway I´d love to make a visit there. It´s just so damn expensive a country, so I´d need someone to finance that trip.

If I´d have to make a list of the corner´s of the world I want to see before I kick the bucket, on top would be USA and Canada. Southern parts of the grand US, like the state of Louisiana and then again the forgotten state of Washington. It is still a bit like a joke with my friends, to travel to the rainy state to see Seattle. Which my dad has done... I have to wait until I´m 21, at least, for that since you can do nothing in that country unless you´re of age and have a credit card.

If I´d have to re-travel one of the places I´ve already been to, I couldn´t name just one. Krakow, for the park and the hostel (seriously, I refuse to sleep anywhere else than at Greg-Tom´s if I ever get there again). The atmosphere there is wonderful too. And there are still places to see as reading a map until the last night wasn´t a part of our great plan and missing some key sights due to that fact was inevitable. A good reason to get back there, I guess.

I might do Budapest again too, to get a proper look at the Buda side. The city is big, so I know I haven´t seen everything yet. Prague, one of the cities I´m not fond of. Still, I wouldn´t travel there for a while, since I´ve seen most of it. Unless I get some different-Prague tour. But if there is someone who hasn´t been to the capital of the Czech Republic, I highly recommend it. It is one of my favourites. Of Croatia I´d like to see Dubrovnik, but otherwise I am done with that country for a long time. Actually, Riga might be my first pick. I´ve had a long weekend in Latvia when I was maybe twelwe, so my memories aren´t very bright. I recall the city has a nice park and the river flowing through. There are Zeppelin halls operating as market places. And the food there is ridiculously tasty. And damn cheap, at least back then.

So much for travelling, which I´m currently doing by sitting in an armchair reading. I finished Mankell last night, it was great. Created a nice "what if" -scenario. Mankell at his best no doubt. I moved on to read Anne Rice´s The Vampire Armand. If you are familiar with Rice, you know what it is like. If you aren´t start with her first novel. Can´t say if I like it yet, but I have some expectations.

To top my things yet to be done list, I should write a short piece for my dad. I´m thinking of doing it tomorrow, as I haven´t planned it at all. Shouldn´t be too hard. And I have no particular plans for tomorrow (expect to remember to watch the rerun of Cuantame como paso I missed on Monday) so I´ll try to get it done. As noted many times earlier, I have tens of movies to watch, so I think I´ll have a way or two to spend few days.

By the way, is it just me or is it very strange to remember a birthday of some Czech more correctly than one´s own goodmother´s? Because that is what I do. Anyway, have fun and take care.

IWFT

In Bloom.

A sport day today. Federer is taking a break from tennis to be fit to chase back his spot on top of the ATP list. He can try. I´m looking forward for the Davis Cup, it should be interesting.

Andreas Thorkildsen was chosen the European male athlete of the year, no surprise there. Elena Isinbajeva was the pick on women´s. Quite an obvious choice too.

One of the most interesting pieces of news is about the UEFA Cup. Russian criminals have bragged they bought the Cup won by Zenit St. Petersburg. I found one article about it. Of course, Zenit says this didn´t happen and Bayern Munich is just as oblivious. UEFA is going to take a look at it. Really interesting. I am not saying this happened, but I understand Zenit´s team hasn´t been much altered after the win and yet they are last on their group at the Champions League. Wouldn´t be the first time someone buys a win though. Interesting indeed.

UCL didn´t have big surprises, if you don´t count the Cluj-Chelsea draw. I noticed I´m actually hoping Honka to win today and make it to the UEFA Cup. If so, I might start thinking of going to match for the first time in my life. If their group doesn´t infernally suck of course. Shame it isn´t televised.

I had a good plan yesterday to hit the sack early, but then I happened to pick up The Chinaman by Henning Mankell and couldn´t stop reading it. It was around 1 AM I finally had to put it down. It is amazing. I totally understand why some say it is his best novel yet. I was hooked from page one. I´ve read one third of it now and can´t wait to read what happens next. A real page-turner. If you have a chance, read it. You shouldn´t be disappointed. Won´t tell much of the plot, but a small Swedish town is slaughtered and a judge starts to look into things. Part of the story is told in the 19th century China. This might be the best book I´ve read this year. Seriously.

I noticed yesterday I´ve started to like Coldplay again. Actually just their second album, but anyway. I haven´t heard the 3rd, but I recall the singles were not that good. Viva La Vida, the song, is fine, not as bad as some of theirs. It might be on top of the list of year´s best songs. I am still hesitating wether to spend my money on the album, since Violet Hill didn´t impess me. Or maybe I´ve just seen the horrible video one time too many.

I have dozens of movies piling up waiting to be watched, so I´m thinking of spending my weekend with them. And a couple of top matches too. Canal seemed to be having some premieres that might be worth checking. It is also lovely hos they are showing all the movies I got as a birthday present. But my inner teen might want to see them more than once.

I´m gonna get back to my Mankell. And I should do some studying too as my first exam is drawing closer. Plenty of time until that, but still. Oh I love it how they ask who is going to do the exam for me. How the hell am I supposed to know? I study home, I haven´t met a single person conserning my studies. I wish I had, it is getting kind of boring just to sit home and read the book. I´d love to get out, but the never ending rain... I know, I could just pick up an umbrella and put my wellies on, but what would I do? My camera isn´t very fond of rain. So at least today I´m staying inside reading.

Until later. Take care!

IWFT

Pure Morning.

I had fun yesterday. And I guess I´ll be having a lot more of it with all the really good movies. It seems She´s the Man actually is about the right football, so it might not be a disaster. I´m looking forward finding my inner teen during weekend :).

I´m still a bitter. YLE picked such a terrible UCL match. Why did the have to choose it? They were all like, well this is a bit slow. It was. And you can see both teams on Finnish TV if you know when to watch. Reading a TV guide ain´t that hard, so that it the worst excuse ever.
I know I´m totally biased, but Arsenal-Porto would have been a lot better. Four goals, four. Besides, how often do you see a Portuguese team on TV here? Yeah, never. Loved one comment on a discussion over at BBC. "Porto gave him lot of space , they might as well greeted him with a bow and a red carpet." Apparently it is about Fab, who wasn´t even doing his best if you believe AA, but according to everyone else he was phenomenal. I would have loved to see that. YLE better show the Liverpool-Atletico match or I´m going to be very pissed. I know, I could have looked for an online stream o the game, but first, I was on sugar high and second, I had spent too many hours online searching all the captains and vice captains. If someone knows how to make a website for such a little guide for all the important info, let me know. You know you´re doomed when Wikipedia is down. Em and I were almost freaking out :D.

Apple has the fastest 8 days I´ve ever experienced. I ordered my sweet little Nano on Monday and got it yesterday. It´s lovely. I mean, I thought my cell phone is thin, but this baby makes it look like it´s gigantic. I knew it is slim, but that slim... Oh, boy. I tried to demonstrate that on the pictires, but as my camera refuses to work well indoors they aren´t that sharp. Oh, I got the Red Nano. Find about more here.




I finally got around to check the photos taken on Saturday and some of them turned out quite well. I have to sort them, but maybe I´ll post some of the best here too. Not promising anything.

It is raining again. I got so used to the sunshine and warmth of last week this feels dull again. But this is the normal fall. I don´t have to go anywhere, except to the library, but I can wait till mom gets home and I get the car. Honka is hosting Racing Santander tomorrow at the UEFA Cup qualifying. There are still tickets available and almost because of that I´d want to purchase couple of them. No, just kidding. I´m not that into either of the teams.

One thing about Italy. The only time I get back to that country when someone takes me to Venice. We were supposed to visit the city in the summer, but it is impossible to find a decent hostel, so we travelled to Florence instead. And because of the heat we never made a trip to Venice eventhough we had planned that. We went to Monaco instead. Which was cool, I do not complain. how could I, there is a place in Europe my dad hasn´t been to and I have. Ok, there are more than one place, but it is highly unlikely he´ll ever gets there.

I´m posting more when I actually have a topic. Until that, take care!

IWFT