Follow My Way

Brand New Colony.

2009-03-14T22:24:00.002+02:00

Well well well... You check the scores right? Shava´s first goal for Arsenal. A real piece of a master´s work. I can´t remember the last time I saw someone (on our team) give such a beautiful solo performance. A weird match all in all, if I´d started to bet, Eboue on scoring sheet twice wouldn´t have been the first thing in my mind. He has scored three times for us this season (league only) and I can think of a couple of assists. So, in a way I can see why Wenger trusts him. Still not my favourite though. Bendtner was having the worst off day a striker can have. He must have missed five or six scoring opportunities. And I think the crowd booed to him when he was subbed. Again. I feel sorry for him, he´s still young and he can be good, but everyone has a bad day. It was nice to see Theo again, he seems to work very well with Arshavin. (I keep thinking of this midfield/forwards with Theo and Vela on wings, Cesc and Nasri in the middle and Eduardo up front, Arshavin just behind him. And that sounds dirty if you want to think it that way... It could work really well. No need to get more strikers or midfielders. Maybe not even a DMF since Denilson seems to be doing quite good. He and Song were having a terrific match and frankly, can´t remember the last time. Maybe spring brings out the best of them all. This is horrible, but I haven´t even missed Adebayor. I remembered him when someone asked when he´s going to be back. Strange. The pressure is on Aston Villa now, let´s see how they entertain the neighbours tomorrow. First time I want Spurs to win...

I finished Stieg Larsson´s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. You should definitely read it, I enjoyed it very much. Might seem like a boring story in the beginning, but I like the way it works the weak parts. I went to our local bookstore today, for the first time in four years, to see if they had the second book so I could read it. But no. So I keep doing like before and buy my books online. It´s easy. Too easy, judging by the looks of my bookshelf which is full and I have no idea where to shove the next pieces I´ll get. Just like with my DVDs. Right now I´m piling them on my player, but eventually I have to come up with a better place.

I saw some guys I used to go to school with. By seeing I mean I saw them when Mum was getting the lottery ticket, but didn´t speak to them. I just know the other lost his money because he was putting his money on the wins of Swansea and Hoffenheim. (Swansea lost and Hoffenheim drew.) And then I saw this one guy on the grocery store and he sure did look different from the last time I saw him. Well, people change. In a way it was gun to see them, but I haven´t really missed them. At all.

More when I´m up to it. Take care!

Listening to: Modwheelmood - Thursday

Such Great Heights.

2009-03-12T16:14:00.003+02:00

I know, I promised this a bit earlier, but do not kill me for stalling once again :) Frankly, I cannot remember the last time I wrote something, but let´s see what I´ve been doing.

First. Arsenal. After that 0-0 four times in a row they managed to beat WBA last week and then Burnley on Sunday. I loved Sunday´s match. For many reasons, strating with Eduardo as captain and scoring an unbelievable goal. You really wouldn´t think the man was out from the pitch almost a year. Someone on BBC chat said: "100% international, 100% genius - great to have you back Eddie" and I could not agree more. Really, you do not even realise how much you miss someone until he´s back. (Dudu played last night too, but that in a bit.) Sunday was great. Vela´s chip to the goal was sweet for a guy of my age and I think we all can give Eboue a rest for a while.

So, last night. If you obsessively check UCL results like I do, you know already it was torture. 1-0 to Roma after full time and extra time meaning penalties. I cannot stand penalties. I´m not going to list all the emotions I went throught last night, but it included everything from wanting to throw up to euphoric crying. I can´t even tell if they played well or not, I have kind of forgotten the little details. Nor do I really remember the penalties. I was once thinking myself who I´d let take Arsenal penalties (given all of them were fit to play) and the list was something like RVP, Ade, Dudu, Shava, Cesc, Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott. Four of them did take a penalty last night (Dudu missing his, but he had the honour of being first with all the pressure), but when the likes of Denilson, Sagna, Diaby and Toure net in penalties for us... What can I say, they are good at it. I never doubt we have good penalty takers. We´d win Spurs anyday. (I mean, who managed for them... Corluka?) Crocked stars are getting fit (Dudu and Theo already are :D) and I am feeling optimistic. We won´t win the league, but won´t end up on the relegation zone either. Now if only Pompey would manage to drag themselves out of the bottom...

Then then. Movies. I have watched a huge bunch of them. And all good too, I do not watch bad movies. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, V for Vendetta, Gomorra, Benny & Joon, Children of Men... All fabulous movies and very different too. Well, okay, V for Vendetta and Children of Men have the same kind of idea, got from a different perspective and it´s not the same at all. And Gomorra is great, even if it resembles more a documentary than a movie. I can recommend all of them. Jesse James has music by Nick Cave, so it´s even more great.

I haven´t been reading that much lately, but I did start Stieg Larsson´s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (?) the other day. I´m not sure if that is the English title, but I remember seeing that one somewhere. Literal translation of the name would be "Men Who Hate Women". 100 pages in and nothing has really happened, but the build up seems really good and I´m convinced I have read it in a couple of weeks. Swedish crime novels are always good. I´m also reading a book for the university entrance exams and so far I have liked it. Yes, liked. It´s weird since I didn´t really care about that topic bac in high school, but I guess it´s the different way the writers approach it this time that makes me like it. At least I´m not suffering when reading it :)

And. I did mention I was in Tallinn. A quick weekend trip with my Mum, nothing special, but it was nice. A small break to the every day routine. It still looked the same it did the last time I was in town, but now I found a nice park that had this snow park for kids. I don´t really know what to tell about Tallinn, since I´ve been there so many times that it´s almost like some sort of second home. The food was still excellent though.

Don´t know what else I should write about. Ask me, I´ll answer. Until next time, take care!

Listening to: Foo Fighters - Everlong

2009-03-07T00:37:00.002+02:00

Ok, I´m sorry all. Football has been so fucking boring lately (0-0, 0-0, 0-0... you know) I haven´t felt like posting. But, since I travelled last weekend I think you deserve to know something about that. BUT. Forgive me for being a tease, I´ll post a nice proper post later since it´s way past midnight here and I have been up more than I should.

Endlessly, She Said.

2009-02-17T16:16:00.002+02:00

By now I think I´m over my huge emotional rollercoaster and can write something comprehensive. And I promise to try a long post, since it has been a while. Too long.

So, emotional rollercoaster. People who know shouldn´t need an explanation, but it all sums up in one name: Eduardo. He made his comeback at Grove last night when Arsenal beat Cardiff 4-0 and it was one of the most awesome matches this season. I literally screamed out loud when I turned on the channel and saw him coming out of the tunnel (and most likely woke up my parents too, but I don´t care) and then I cried. The first time. I have only good things to say about the men on the pitch last night, but I can tell it was probably the most emotional game I have ever watched. I had a big romantic wish to see Dud make his comeback at home in front of the people who love him and his hard work back to the opening and thank god Wenger made it true.

So, yeah. I think it was Times that started their article with the words "some storylines are just meant to be" and I couldn´t agree more. No one in the entire team would have deserved the first goal more then Eduardo. Then I cried the second time. And I cried long. But so did he. I have to say, it was a magnificent goal and the way he plays together with Vela is sweet. That cross the Mexican gave him... One of the reason´s why I love Arsenal. And can I just say that after the penalty Dudu netted (like he´d miss it), I loved it how he went to hug the fitness coach. Can a 25-year-old man be adorable? It truly was Dudu´s night. There might have been 22 players on the pitch, but there was only one star. Not understating Bendtner´s or Van Persie´s goals by any means, but they have been around. RVP is getting good with his right foot too, I am looking forward wether professor will play Dudu and RVP as forwards with Vela and Nasri on the wings, because if it works all together as it works in pieces, there shouldn´t be any problems. Midfield, um yeah, there were Denilson and Song in the middle. Denilson is really growing to the role he is given and improves by every match. Not such a helpless case he seemed at some point. Song on the other hand, well, let´s just say I hope Arshavin is there soon.

Bendter played a good match, 1+1 isn´t bad at all. Could have scored twice, but I think that would have been too much hoped for. Defense, well. Let´s just say that about six months ago, I wouldn´t have believed I´m almost praising Gallas. Ever since he lost the band he has been almost every time been playing absolutely well. He and Toure aren´t the best central midfield duo Gunners have, but yesterday they made it work. And Toure seemed to be on a really nice attacking mood too. Sagna is always awesome, that being said I am glad Kieran Gibbs got to play. He is still young (which one of them isn´t...), but he seems to have a special eye to the game and I like it. Not once did I miss Clichy. And Fabianski, he had an easy night, but the little he had to do, he did good. Very calm and steady performance. The entire team seemed to be enjoying themselves and I liked it. It was the Arsenal-football that made them famous. For a change it was lovely to see them do like this, score and play beautifully after the hard times. We´ll see what happens on Saturday.

Enough with emotion filled football and other things too.

I wasn´t having such a good day yesterday (that was before the kick off) and I don´t know why. You know, kind of back to how I felt in January. And I didn´t like it. It passed quite fast, which I´m glad of and I don´t want the feeling to come back. I still do have trouble falling asleep, but I don´t know if there is anything I can do about.

I have been reading quite a lot. Finally finished The Basque History of the World and I liked it a lot, so thanks to John for recommending it. Funny thing is, when I finally got to the part where it was about founding ETA, I had forgotten the entire organization. Really changed my views on Basques. Then I finished the Arturo Perez-Reverte book I was writing about earlier. A typical novel of his, unexpected ending and a clever plot. Not to mention now I want to go to Prado even more I did before. Seriously, if you haven´t read his works before, I suggest you take a look at them. Of course, what I like and what others find good are two completely different things. The n I read this book called Sarah´s Key over the weekend. Set in France during WWII and modern day, it´s a story about France´s participation of the Holocaust. Even with the subject, it´s very easy to read and gives a new perspective. I have read so many novels about Poland and Germany and Czechoslovakia and others during the war, that I found this refreshing. I am always open to new recommended reading, though I have a few books I need to read. The entrance exam books for starters.

Nothing else much. I probably write more on weekend if I don´t come up with something that I absolutely have to share. Until that, take care!

Listening to: Pearl Jam - Betterman

Light On.

2009-02-08T17:53:00.003+02:00

Oh my God, what a derby it was. I cannot believe I am actually kind of happy with a draw, a 0-0 draw on top of it. Then again, I would have been extremely miserable if Spurs had won. Okay. Eboue got sent off on the first half and I´m not even surprised. When he got his first yellow I knew he´d take another one too. I hate being right on this kind of things. And Ade is injured. Looked like a hamstring injury, which is never ever good. Fine, we have forwards, but one more wouldn´t hurt that much. No idea yet how long until he´s back, but we´re playing Roma in two weeks... Scary. I also hate how those Spurs fans were gloating when Ade was down. Fuck you, it could have been a lot worse. They couldn´t keep their mouths shut either when Clichy was bleeding from his head. That isn´t football culture, that is just being evil. All the more reasons to hate Spurs and everything that goes with them. Two injured players, but thankfully Gibbs covered the last minutes for Clichy really well. I might have said it before, but the lad has talent and I really like watching him on the pitch.

Almunia was probably playing the best match of the season, his saves were just amazing. I know I have said bad things about him in the past, but right now he is doing exactly what he needs to do. Gallas was great and I´m glad we didn´t sell him. I don´t care if he is a prick, he can play well enough to be in the opening XI. Bendtner is improving, better match after match. Van Persie and Nasri weren´t that awesome today, but it might have something to do with thw fact that it was 11 vs 10 men. A lot of defending since Spurs were the more attacking team this time around. That said, midfield did good in my opinion. Arsenal is still unbeaten in 11 matches, but if we keep getting just one point every match, it won´t get us back in top 4. Unless Chelsea keeps fucking it up too, because at the moment we are fighting with them of the 4th place. This season is far from boring. Better next time guys. I´m happy and proud of you, you didn´t let that biggest matter of a joke Keane score :D (And now I´m watching this match on rerun. Canal+ has logic. It just ended like 15 minutes ago. Not complaining that much. And for once it was over fast, usually Arsenal matches seem to last for ages.)

That was about it. I have nothing more to say today, this was all I could concentrate on today. You have no idea how many times i glanced the clock in a pizzeria while I was waiting to get my pizza just to make sure I wouldn´t miss the start. Many times and I didn´t miss. Mum did call me like two minutes before the kick off to ask if I had eaten anything and then she remembered "Oh, isn´t the match starting about now?" Me: "Yeah, it is so I´m just gonna hang up on you see you later okay bye." They are doing a family friends tour with Dad today, I have no idea when they´ll be home, but I guess I get to watch this match again :P

More when I have something to say. Take care!

Listening to: Kent - Spökstad

Walk This Way.

2009-02-04T17:44:00.003+02:00

Hmm, I seem to have neglegted this one a bit lately. Apologies. I just haven´t had anything intelligent to say I guess. Not that I have that much now either, but I feel like writing.

For no apparent reason I have been really happy for three days now. Yesterday of course because it was really sunny and the day was lovely. Monday, I don´t know and today mostly because Arsenal makes me happy :). A nice change after all the moodiness last month. Spring is getting closer and makes miracles. I am hoping for a nice sunny day for tomorrow too, I love waking up watching the sun shine through my window. Damn, I am not this happy :D

I did some baking again. I like it, since I can´t properly cook. I have to be good at something. And making pizza doesn´t count as cooking in my books.

I have been reading a book by Arturo Perez-Reverte, I have no idea what it is in English as I am too lazy to check the title... It´s about a Flamish painting and a chess match on the painting and as usual it becomes a murder story. I like it. A lot. He writes well and makes me get into things I know very little about. Fine, I have played chess, but haven´t learned any of those fancy moves and hardly know the difference between check and mate. Actually, I could take my chess board out from the closet and see if Dad is up for a game. Mum doesn´t play it, too mathematical for her. But the book. It´s an old one, but a good read. And I have really good movies waiting to be watched. Maybe I´ll use Saturday afternoon to watch them since I have nothing better to do.

And I need to write a bit about Andrei Arshavin. Or Andrey, as they chose to write it at Arsenal. Either way, welcome to the Gunner family, you Russian cult player. I know it will take some time for him to get used to the English playing style and to the fact that he isn´t the biggest star of the team. But I want to believe he actually ads some creativity to the game and helps us. Not to mention, we´ll have a total killer midfield when everyone is fit. Arshavin, Fabregas, Eduardo, Nasri, Walcott, Rosicky, Vela, Ramsey, Wilshire... And since some of them play as forwards too... Attacking style maybe? I can´t wait. Just the shere fact that Wenger agree to buy someone who is ready to play, in his prime is amazing. Does he do that? Shame we won´t see him on Sunday againts Spurs since he´s back in Russia to tie some loose ends. Maybe the FA Cup replay with Cardiff. A home match, sweet. Kind of would have loved to see him this weekend, as now we have the again Spur-man Keane there. I´m not happy about that. Thank God the derby is only twice a season.

More when I have something to gush about. Enjoy the winter, it´s going to be over soon! Take care!

Listening to: Carpark North - Transparent & Glasslike

Come Alive.

2009-01-29T17:00:00.003+02:00

What can I say about last night´s match? Well, the last time I was this happy about one point was back in October. It´s one point, could have lost all three. Actully, it was so close Arsenal didn´t lose them all. If we didn´t have this super-fit flamin´ Van Persie, Gunners would be screwed. Big time. I´m not saying they are awesome now, because they really are not. Last night was awful (I hate weekday matches). Diaby and Song in the midfield?! Seriously, Wenger must have lost his mind. Diaby shouldn´t be in the opening XI and Song isn´t much better. Why do we have Ramsey, Vela, Wilshire if they never get to play. I don´t know how a midfield of Ramsey-Denilson-Nasri-Vela would work (mostly because I haven´t paid attention to wether Ramsey is rightie or leftie...), but Nasri needs to be in the middle when we don´t have Cesc and Denilson is no winger. Far from it. I cannot believe I´m not concerned about the defence so much anymore, it works if they all have a good day, if not... Well, in that case Tim Cahill gets to score his 100th goal. Bendtner as a supersub is ok, but Ade needs to work on something, his attitude maybe. Hello, you are supposed to be a striker! Van Persie gets all the credit he deserves, once again he was the best man of the team on the pitch and did what he was supposed to. I´m just worried that when it´s his turn to rest (because he needs to, eventually) or he gets injured again... Not good. 1-1 is a fair result and it´s a point. Could have been better though. West Ham on Saturday.

Also, I watched the rerun on Wigan-Liverpool today (yes, I do that, I´m lame) and I got to say, Mido´s penalty was clever. That´s all.

I haven´t done anything, so I have nothing else to write about. More later. Take care!

Listening to: MGMT - Kids

It Takes A Fool To Remain Sane.

2009-01-28T12:55:00.004+02:00

I shouldn´t watch In Treatment. It made me feel strange. Maybe it has something to do with a conco I had with Mum earlier the day. How they had a pshychologist visiting their workplace and how she had a colourful history with different jobs and Mum was wondering if all shrinks are a bit weird themselves. And all I could think was how much it sounded like me. I know I have joked about studying psychology and I don´t know, maybe I will someday. Just think I should get my head sorted before that. And yeah, Mum went on and on about how maybe my folks are so used to regularity and stability that they don´t get how someone can work short jobs and not know what they want to do "when they grow up". Funny thing is they always said to me I´m so young that I have time to think about what I want to do and that I´ll probably change my field after I have graduated (whenever that will be...). It´s just... They haven´t said that in a while and in a way it´s freaking me out. So now I should know what I want? Because, I´m still not sure if I do. I did apply and am going to apply some more and there seems to be some kind of track in my life right now, I can sleep and it doesn´t take hours to fall asleep (maybe just an hour) and I can get up pretty early but there is still something that makes me freak out every once in a while and keep my mouth shut. I am good at analyzing others, but myself... Perhaps I wasn´t in the right mood to watch In Treatment.

I am not going to analyze my Mum, I just checked my calendar and the date of our departure to Budapest. And well, it´s pretty much a year after my Grandpa passed away, five or six days later. I don´t know if she just randomly picked it, it could be possible, but then again.

And I finally have a time for the driving phase two or whatever the fucking thing is called. in April. A bit full. And then the woman also said she has no idea when we are going to leave so I need to reserve the entire day for it and call, say, late March to check with the time. Yeah, what, I`m just going to call from Hungary and get a huge bill? Don´t think so. Probably do it before we leave. I still cannot believe we are going. It´s not the going, it´s the five days abroad with my Mum and not with someone who totally gets all the odds things. I really hope everything goes well.

Football, football... Well, Sunday´s FA Cup match was boring and like I said, I was mostly annoyed by the score. I mean, Gunners could do without a rematch, but noooo... I don´t know why, but I was really nervous during the entire match (just slightly less nervous than during the Spurs match in fall and that´s a lot) and kept thinking that we can´t be out, not yet. Well, we are not, just have so prove that Arsenal can actully score. Positive about the match, um, for the first time in I don´t know how long I wasn´t actually concerned about the defense. *shock* I mean, Sagan is always great and Gibbs. I was like, wait, why haven´t I seen you more, because obviously you can do this damn well. Definitely want to see Gibbs more. Midfield... Oh dear, I seriously missed Denilson and you guys surely know I´m not always his biggest fan. I don´t know what was with all of them, maybe it was Cardiff. Ade once again missed the goal of his life and Bendtner works so much better as a sub. And I kept wondering where Vela was since he isn´t injured and shouldn´t be out for any reason. More than just three minutes of Wilshere would be nice too, you know how good he is. Hopefully they beat the Welsh at Emirates. Today they play Everton and I can´t accept anything else than a win since Aston Villa beat Pompey yesterday. (Have I told how much I hate Aston Villa? A lot at this point.) Everton has to do without their free kick specialist Arteta who according to Physioroom has a rib injury, but I´m not still all that assured. We´ll see how it goes and judge after that.

Also, Rosicky is back in training and Wenger is being a huge optimist once again saying he could be back in two months. I can´t say I´d love that more than anything, because Cesc back would be even more awesome, but hell, I have missed Rosicky so much and if he now really is making a comeback then that makes me smile big time.

Oh, also, someone hit me hard. Don´t ask why, just hit me. I would do it myself, but it doesn´t work.

More probably tomorrow, if my boys can make me happy tonight. Until that, take care.

Listening to: Auf Der Maur - Taste You

Gravity.

2009-01-22T18:02:00.002+02:00

Shouldn´t be posting anything, but here I am. I have complained about Sevilla´s performance yesterday, so I´m just going to not do it here. Instead, I have a few words about Arsenal Reserves. Fine, they had a draw with Stoke Reserves last night, but there are some thing that make it more. First. Eduardo played 90 minutes, which is great and just a couple more matches under his belt and he could make it back to the first team. That then would be one of the best things this season. Besides, the little I could see from the video I´m going to post for another reason shows he is fine, better than fine. Like a new signing, hmm.

The reason I am actually posting a video of Arsenal Reserves match is Jack Wilshere. It might only be a reserves match, but keep in mind the boy just turned 17 and after that be stunned by the goal he scores. I have watched it like ten times already and can´t get past the fact that it must be one of the greatest goals I have seen in a while. One day, this young man will be the absolute star of the Arsenal first team and wear the #10 jersey (unless he prefers some other number himself). There are times when being an Arsenal fan doesn´t feel so miserable :D. Though, this is the first and last time I want Man United to win anything, but I´ll hand the Carling Cup to them in a heartbeat. I can´t take it if Spurs win it and it looks like Gunners get nothing. So, Man Utd, make me happy.

The Academy Awards nominees were announced today and no big surprises there. Heath Ledger is nominated and yeah, he did a fantastic job but still... Would he be on the list if he were still alive? Just asking... I haven´t seen any of the movies that are nominated, but Milk and Curious Case of Benjamin Button are the one´s that I´d like to see. As for best actor, well, I have always liked Sean Penn, so I might call him my favourite. Can´t say anything about actress, but I like seeing Anne Hathaway on the nominees list.

Once again, went through some old papers today and it´s fun to find old tests and other papers. Oh dear, are my German papers full of red or something. I can read the language, listen to it, speak it myself, but when it comes to writing I just fail. I can´t get the forms right. But then again, isn´t the speaking part always the most important? Old history notes were fun. I remember that stuff. And one of the exams, I have apparently written a perfect answer to a question about the times from Gustaf Vasa to Gustaf III (or whatever their names are in English, I just know the Finnish ones). I remember the teacher made us write these long notes about them and I memorised them all for the exam and goped he´d ask something about it, because it was the most boring course ever. And he did. Also, there are two topics I won´t be wanting to write about in a while. The Korean War and Karl Marx. I have studied those two so much I could remember most it of even when sleeping.

Should have cleaned up a bit today with my folks, but I think I am going to do it next week. And now this sounds really bad, me saying I´ll do everything next week... But I can´t do it tomorrow, I´m going to the cinema for god´s sake and I know from experience it will take the entire day :D. Nothing bad about it. And I am going to do some applications during the weekend, I just need to count myself how much work experience I have. So I guess that´s what I´ll spend part of my Saturday. On Sunday I´m too busy with all the matches. Oh gosh, could this sound anymore lame... Going to read that book I have been reading for a week now, I hope I actually get through it. It´s a novel after all, and not even very complicated to get.

More will come during the weekend or at the start of next week, depending once again how the matches go and how I feel about them. Until that, take care!

Listening to: Incubus - Drive

Flowers And Football Tops.

2009-01-18T13:14:00.003+02:00

Gosh, what a match yesterday. More about in a bit, right now I´m way too interested in a discussion on AA about renaming the Emirates stands. Of course they should be renamed, they are dead boring right now. These people just have way too many good ideas for the names. Highbury, Woolwich, Clock End bringing the old times back, and then there are managers and players too. Personally, I would not name anything after Thierry Henry, even if he was the greatest Gunner of all time according to the poll on the website, but Dennis Bergkamp needs to be there. I love the idea of naming the orange part after him. Like I love the idea that he might be back at club someday... And naming something after Wenger when he still is there would be kind of tacky, but then again, he absolutely needs a stand. Tricky. I really hope the renaming is possible even if I never get to the stadium. And now that I keep reading this then fuck, Pat Rice needs to get a part named after himself too. Not that this will happen, because apparently the stadium is a FIFA neutral stadium and therefore there can´t be official names to the stands and all, but it could be unofficial, right?

Now, about the match. Ugh. I really hated the first 70 minutes of it. Fine, we had the lead when going to half time, but then Hull came and netted the equaliser and at that point I really considered switching it to the previous channel to watch some utterly boring Serie A match, because gosh, had we lost that... Thank god we didn´t. The defense was so lost when Cousin got through. Not the first time and I think it must be said that it won´t be the last time either. Um, Diaby and Denilson were having a rubbish day and I seriously spent the first 10 minutes thinking who was missing from the usual bench gang as there was Merida this weekend. (It was Wilshere, and I assume it was because he played FA Youth Cup match this week. Which Arsenal won 3-1.) Adebayor always looks like he´s the laziest guy on the pitch, but when the time comes, he does what he has to. The header was great. I can repeat myself and say Nasri and Van Persie are starting to work like an absolute dream together. Robin´s cross to Samir´s goal yesterday... Oh, more of that please. And really, Robin is really stepping up this season. He has been finally showing the brilliance he has. Absolutely one of the best players of the team at the moment. Apparently I should have given up on liking Nick Bendtner a bit more earlier, because now he come soff the bench and scores. Second time in a row. Maybe he will be good after all. They need to keep it up like this and we just have to hope Aston Villa finally loses at some point. FA Cup again next week, should be interesting. Oh, we get the match live on TV. Even better.

Mom just decided this morning that we are going to make a trip abroad. Who am I to say no when she pays? I just have to wait until March.

Oh and the little narcisist in me insisted on having a new profile photo, so I have. Mainly to show off my shorter haircut. Got to keep the pic updated so you know who is behind all of this :P

More to come at some point. Take care!

Listening to: Jeff Buckley - Eternal Life

The Mark Has Been Made.

2009-01-16T18:54:00.003+02:00

Went to the Travel Expo ´09 today. A really, really bad idea... Asking if I fell in love with any place today is useless, better would be asking me if there is a place I didn´t fall in love today. Well, there is one or two of those. I´ve never been tempted by Greece in any way and my Mum is pissed because she wants to see some Greek island and no one really wants to do that with her :D. And Madeira or the other Portuguese islands have never been interesting. I´m not a island person apparently. But yeah, did I fall in love with ten countries or what. It´s just that I´ve been to so many countries I like or then the ones I want to see are so far away. Like I´d have the money to take off to Australia or Brazil. Wish I had. My folks want to travel to Germany and I am not that thrilled about it since I´ve seen Berlin and none of the other cities fascinate me enough to want to travel there. Fine, Munich might be nice. But. If I ever start to long after Germany I´m not well, remember that. Mum and I did find one place that might be worth a visit, Lithuania. We´ve seen Estonia and Latvia, so Lithuania is the only one of the Baltic states left. Now I kind of want to see, like this year or something. We´ll see. At least I have enough broschures to make a trip around the world at home.

The rest of this post will be shameless admiration of Nine Inch Nails. I have a phase again apparently. Listening to them. Oh, how wonderful it sounds, the older material especially. Not that I don´t find The Slip or Ghosts awesome, because they are really good, but right now the older stuff hits me. I listened to And All That Could Have Been last night and well, kept singing along. I still know all the lyrics by heart, I mean like all of the lyrics to the songs. Which is quite a lot. Head Like A Hole is probably the only song I can sing even if I don´t have any music. Well, national anthem too, but that doesn´t count. And HLAH is still one of Trent´s best songs. Everytime I hear it I remember the flat palms pointed to the stage during the chorus and all the manouverism that goes with it. Gosh, could they come to Finland this year? I don´t even know if they have a new keyboard player because the last time I checked, Cortini was leaving and they were dealing with it. (Yeah, a good fan I am...) And I remember sometimes thinking what has been going through Trent´s head when he has written all the lyrics, but right now I kind of can understand him. Which, I think isn´t the best thing in the world. The lyrics aren´t really all happy and flowers, you know what I mean. Hurt sounded amazing when I listened to it, haven´t really paid attention to it for a while and that is a huge mistake. There still isn´t any other song that would have made me cry in public, when the song is actually played in a concert. Fuck, I can´t even today understand why I reacted like that. It might have not been like that if the fireworks hadn´t been set off too early. (You have no idea what I´m talking about? Youtube Nine Inch Nails, Ankkarock, Hurt and fireworks and you prolly get your answer.) Listening to NIN before going to sleep was maybe the best idea I have had in a long time. The angrier Trent gets on the record, the more it soothes me. Which I guess isn´t the purpose of the album, but I didn´t have a punching bag to take my anger out...

And why did I start to listen to them again? All because of this book I started to read. Joe Hill´s The Heart-Shaped Box. One of the members on nin.com read it and told it mentions Trent and at that instant it basically became a mandatory reading for all NIN fans. Can´t say yet wether I like the book or not, haven´t read it enough, but the idea is fine. I think it will get more interesting. And it makes me think odd things, so it takes a while to read it.

Ah, you´ll probably get a new post tomorrow, depending on how well Arsenal plays (they better play damn well). Until that, take care!

Listenint to: Nine Inch Nails - The Wretched

Stress.

2009-01-14T16:27:00.003+02:00

So, what have I been doing lately? Um, nothing really. Fine, Sunday was a really shite day. Probably because of the lack of sleep and spending too much time online. But when you combine exhaustion with sore neck and back and a killer headache it´s far from funny. The positive side though was that the following night I had the best sleep in weeks. Wouldn´t want to feel like that again though.

Monday, I have no idea what I did except what Sportsgala and thought it was ridiculous. Oh no, I did read. I´m slowly approaching the final pages of The Basque History of the World. Still a bit left, but it´s too good a book not to be finished. Yesterday I went to the library, just to get some albums and new music. And chatting and writing and all that basic stuff I do. And commenting TV shows while wacthing them.

Today I watched a movie. The Devil´s Backbone I think was the title in English. A film by Guillermo del Toro. I assume it is labeled as a horror movie and I usually don´t like those at all, but this one was fine. Maybe because it wasn´t American. Visually absolutely amazing, it was surprising to see warm colours, because I assumed it would have a lot of blue and grey and white, but no. Orange and yellow. I liked it. Can´t really say much about the actors since I knew two of them and most of them were kids anyway. Set during the Spanish Civil War in an orphanage where a boy sees a ghost. Thrilling story, I was thinking about Lord of the Flies at some point although it really has nothing to do with the story, but I think there was some similarity as it came to my mind. And I loved one of the characters as he kept saying poems to the "boss" of the orphanage. Seems like I have a thing for poems. At least it´s something new.

Have I been studying? Well, no. I did open the book I´m supposed to be reading and actully read a page, but it just is so fucking boring. And because it´s old I don´t know the philosophers or whatever researchers they are. I haven´t studied British society men of the 19th century. So it makes the reading even more harder. I have been thinking about my studies though. About applications. I could send the first ones already, but as I was reading about them I kind of found one new that interests me too and now I´m even more confused than I might have been earlier. And to put them in order... Everyone knows I´m not very good at that. I just have to keep reading about them and try to figure out which one sounds the best and send the applications and hope for the best after that.

Nothing interesting when it comes to football unless you care about some voting/budget scandal Real Madrid is going through, I don´t. No new exciting transfers, Man City is still after everyone, Kaka being their latest target. I don´t think he´ll leave Milan, but I´ve been wrong before. Andrei Arshavin and his transfer to somewhere from Russia is still open, I don´t know if Arsenal`ll get him or not. Most say they have the feeling he´ll end up in London, but I´m not thinking about it. Just thinking about that Arsenal are playing Hull this weekend... It better not be the same kind of disaster it was last time... Oh and I was pissed when I woke up this morning and checked the FA Cup matches and saw QPR lost. Thanks John, I haven´t cared about Championship teams before :P.

I´m going to go read a bit more about what I might want to study. Until next time, take care!

Listening to: Katie Melua - Ghost Town

Poses.

2009-01-10T19:47:00.010+02:00

I do this every time. Every single time Wenger decides it´s a good idea to bring Nicklas Bendtner in around the 80th minute I curse him. I did just that today. And most of the times I do that, the Dane actually manages to show he can play football. Just like today. Netting the only goal and securing the important 3 points. I couldn´t believe it. Well, maybe Nicky isn´t a complete disaster most of the time. As for the game, boring boring boring Arsenal once again. Ade lost the goal of his life once again and RVP hit the motherfucking post. Once again. I don´t understand why Wenger stubbornly makes Vela and Ramsey sit on the bench. When Vela can in today and took the wing allowing Nasri to play in the center, the game flowed immediately better than it had until that substitution. And Ramsey fights for every ball, doesn´t give up the second the might not get it. I do have to admit that I was slightly afraid to see Denilson back on the pitch, but he wasn´t as bad as I feared. Actually, he is improving.

Also, I wasn´t going to watch any other football today, but then I read Teemu Pukki is once again travelling with Sevilla and I just have to watch Sevilla hopefully beat Deportivo. And I guess when I´m at it, I might as well watch if Valencia can keep their fit from last weekend and beat Villarreal. I just hope my laptop doens´t get all locked like it did last weekend in the middle of the Real Madrid-Villarreal match. Not nice at all.

I have some photos today. And they are all old :D. No, I was watching a documentary about Annie Leibovitz and she was, I don´t know, choosing pictures for her book I guess and then I decided to go through all the photos I´ve taken (which is almost 3000 during the last 2 and a half years) and pick up my favourites. And there are just a handful of pics I´m actually happy with. Okay, some of them are the kind of pictures that the quality can be absolutely horrible, but the feeling on the photo is amazing. But I´m not posting those. These are the ones I liked enough to post here:

Taken in Berlin on April 2007. I have "photoshopped" it slightly, I made it look antique because I think it suits this one. I love it how there are people but you can´t actually see them and how there is nothing on the front.

Also taken in Berlin on April 2007. I think I have one other photo of the Siegessäule, but I didn´t photo it much and even this one is from behind. I remeber it was closer to the evening when we went there and like the sky in this one very much. And I usually am a huge fan of details, but with this one, I love it how you really can´t see any other detail but the angel.

Taken on the graveyeard of this town, but I can´t date this one right now. Photoshopped too, i wanted it to look like the photo was really old. And I happen to think it quite works. I find the sky somehow metaphorical on this picture, but you can jugde it yourself.

This one here was taken in Tallinn December 2007. This is also my favourite picture of all the photos I have taken. It isn´t anyhow special and it doesn´t have a building or sight one should see when travelling in Tallinn, but once again it´s the people and maybe the composition. For a person who hates picturing people, I seem to like them quite lot on my pics. Hmm.

Simply the best concert photo I´ve managed to snatch. Just the band´s name and drums and keyboard visible and it´s awfully dark to be a great photo, but I think it gives something of the feeling of waiting. And the little colour it has is amazing, I think.

Funny how one of my favourite photos is from Italy, a country I didn´t like that much. This is from Florence, July 2008. A plaza where we sat and ate more than once. Funny thing is also, I can´t even tell why I like this so much. It has nothing special and you couldn´t even tell the city just by looking at it, but I like it.

More photos can be found on my Flickr´s, links to both of them are on the side panel. The travel version is a lot better organized and has better pictures, but I remember the "normal" one has some good shots too. Feel free to take a look and you know I would love to hear some feedback and maybe tips on how to take more interesting and better photos.

Until I finish, I have to share a couple of my favourite tracks right now. I just fell in love with Muse again. Thoughts of a dying atheist is the song that I´ve been listening to like a mad person. I can´t explain why I like it so much, maybe it has something to do with the music and not with the lyrics for once. Of course, Matt Bellamy is an awesome singer... And another. Light On by David Cook. Yes, the American Idol winner David Cook that I happened to like when watching the competition. The song is pure basic-American-radio-rock with listener friendly lyrics, but I like it more than I probably should. I still think Cook is an excellent singer and have been listening to this tune for a while. Also, I´m thinking of purchasing the new Kanye West album. I have none of his previous records, but Love lockdown is such a great song. What have you been into lately?

I´m off to get prepared for the Deportivo-Sevilla match. Can´t wait for Serie A tomorrow. I´m so watching Juventus-Siena anxioulsy waiting to see wether Buffon makes a full return and in the evening Roma clashes with AC Milan. Maybe a certain soccer star actually gets some time on the pitch. The other option for tomorrow night would be to watch Barcelona smash poor Osasuna. Until I have something interesting to write about. Take care!

// Aww, Sevilla, thank you for making my night awesome. 1-3 at Riazor. With 10 men. I call that magnicifent playing, you? Also, Jesus Navas was so great today. Is it wrong for me to want Valencia lose today? Because I quite like them, hmm. Also, could Real Madrid get back on the losing form, because that would keep the Andalucians second. But then again, tomorrow is Raúl´s 500th match at La Liga and it would be kind of cool to see him score. Damn, why can´t I just like one team and hate the rest of them?

Listening to: the news on TV

This Is My Head Exploding.

2009-01-09T12:18:00.002+02:00

I really should stop listening to that song. Every Disco Ensemble song actually.

Apparently I´ve decided to throw away the elaborate facade I spent years building. Done it once, might as well do it again. Just here, never in "real life". My favourite ficwriter has an icon that says "I wrote down what I couldn´t say." I guess that´s what I´ll be doing.

I am the upper secondary school graduate that is having a sabbathical year, thinking about what I might want to do this year, exploring different options, trying to get new expreriences. I am the insecure, un-social girl that doesn´t know if she even has the faintest clue what she wants to do and is way too old to feel like this without any apparent reason.

I usually make it until it´s time to get to sleep. Or in my case, roll around in the bed for two hours and wait for the sleep to come. I don´t believe in pills, but it would be nice to have something that knocks me out when I feel like it instead of waiting and hoping it wouldn´t take hours tonight. Yesterday I didn´t even make it to that. YleX had a Disco Ensemble live and I was all excited to hear it. Would have been better off. I thought it might make me feel like I´d want to vent out my, well not anger, maybe frustration. It didn´t. Black Euro made me cry. It is a rather pointless song with a stupid chorus that I don´t even associate with anything special. And then there was Bad Luck Charm with the chorus and We Might Fall Apart. And then I was listening to my iPod later and This Is My Head Exploding started playing and all I could do was lay on the floor and wipe the tears away and listen. I started to hate it. The song, Miikka for being such a good bad textwriter, coming up with lyrics I don´t want to hear if I pay attention to them.

And when you cannot sleep, you start playing with not-so-nice thoughts. I kept thinking what it would be like to have a drink. Get up and go to the bar and have some of the liquid inside one of those numerous bottles in the there. What it would taste like, feel like, what it would be like after that. I don´t do it, I never do it. I have spend 19 years dedicating my life to sobriety, a thing that isn´t really a part of the Finnish society unless you´re an alcoholic and a thing that has always been one of those things that has made a bit more misfit. Not to mention the bogey called alcoholism that has terrorised my Dad´s side of the family. I don´t do it, because I think I wouldn´t be strong enough. Mentally, not physically.

I can´t even remember all the thoughts racing through my head, but I just remeber I had them all in English. I could never do this in Finnish, not at the blog I spam about non-important stuff that really doesn´t matter. Oh, I did think about the typical Finnish dream of having a house by the lake five minutes from city centre and a spouse and a boy and a girl and a family Volvo and a golden retriever, a nine to five job and a two-week holiday in Thailand when you aren´t spendding your time at the summer cottage. I don´t want that. A family yes, but not the rest. It bores me.

I did find something we did at the confirmation camp. I don´t know what to call it, I guess the book-like thing has a name. There was this paper where other people describe me. Happy. Smart. Thoughtful. Laughs a lot. Conscientious. Quiet. Matter-of-fact. Smiling. Nice. What kind of words are those describing a person?

How do people get over disappointements? What kind of coping skills there are? Because I seem to have lost all of mine. And god knows I could do with some.

***

And because I have to be pissed about two things, then I am. Why the fuck did Freddie Kanoute get booked for the Palestine t-shirt? I know there is a rule that you get booked if you take your shirt off on pitch (and for some weird reason I think this rule hasn´t been around for that long...), but he didn´t. He just expressed his opinion. That is against the rules now? Or it is againts the rules just because he is supporting the people in Gaza? Would he have gotten booked if he had had an Israel-supporting shirt? Why cannot people that are expected to give money to charity and support good causes and all that stuff not voice their political opinion? (And I´m not taking sides, I just wish Israel and Palestina would get some sort of peace before it´s too late.) It is okay to tell everyone on your shirt that you love God, but not tell you support innocent people? The rules should be clear on any personal statement, if politics isn´t allowed, then crossing yourself or "God this God that" statement shirts shouldn´t be either. I knew Kanoute would flash that shirt if he scored and I support him.

And my Dad. He is soon going to be laid off for weeks and they were thinking what to do with Mom. They were thinking of maybe getting a cabin from Lapland and going there and I was stupid enough to ask why no one has a cabin in the Alps or something like that. Mom of course had to ask if I´d go along with them. "As long as it´s out of the borders of Finland, then I can think about it." And then they go on about how nice Budapest or maybe Berlin would be. And since they were having some odd B-city discussion, I just had to ask why not Barcelona. "It´s a summer city. And besides, what´s with the Barcelona thing anyway?" Before I could answer Mom, Dad just had to say: "Football, of course, what else?" It was *this* close I didn´t scream at him. Never because of football. What do I have to do, get a t-shirt that says "I can like the style of their game, but I will never like FC Barcelona." And of course it was about Barca, I am willing to bet Dad has never heard of Espanyol. I would have answered the architechture, all the churches, how I´d love to see if Las Ramblas can be alive during the winter months, what the city looks like forom Montjuïc when it´s dark, how I´d love to explore all the different parts of the city. And I don´t even have a Barcelona-thing. If I could visit only one city in Spain it wouldn´t be the Catalan capital. It wouldn´t be any of the Basque cities either, but I´d just would like to know how he´d react when I say I really want to see Bilbao and San Sebastian before every single Finn has been to them. If I could visit just one city it would be the one that is somewhat impossible to reach from here, unless you fly to Madrid and sit hours in a bus or in a train. Or wait till spring when Finnair starts flying to Jerez, of all places. Little do my parents really know me.

Now, if you´ll excuse me, I´ll go read Wikipedia in languages that I have no knowledge of, because I want to prove something. Take care!

Listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Suck

Untitled.

2009-01-05T15:32:00.002+02:00

This is what I wrote the other night. I tag this as a fic, but I can´t say it isn´t true. God, I wish it wasn´t true.

Isolation

She never opened her mouth, only if she was asked a question. Even then, she tried to avoid answering and if that wasn´t possible, she did it as quiet as she could. She didn´t want to make herself seen or heard, she didn´t want to be there.

She spend her time alone, even when she wasn´t there. She didn´t want to be with any of them and they never wanted to be her. She tried to socialize, every once in a while she really did. It never worked, she always did something wrong and they pushed her aside, turned against her.

She knew things and had opinions, but she always kept them all to herself. She knew the wrong things, the ones that were harmful when it came to loyalty. She was never rewarded for keeping her mouth shut, not if you don´t count the constant ignoring. She had opinions, strong ones, but they were all too different from those of the others, so she never voiced them. She didn´t want them to have more on her than they already had.

She was the kid who always got picked last, only because someone had to pick her to their team. None of them really wanted to have her, she didn´t know what to do or how to function in order to make them happy. And they never told her. She was the burden who under-achieved, didn´t even try in the end, because she knew she would eventually do something wrong. If it was possible, they just paired her with the other quiet, weird kid she hated. Hated, because he was so much like her.

The adults just thought she was too shy to participate. That she did best when she was allowed to mind her own business. To them she was this quiet, thoughtful, hard-working kid they would have liked everyone to be. A kid that did her best to be good at everything and tried to please all of them. Maybe a bit too hard. And because of that she wasn´t particularly popular.

She was all of that. A part of her still is. She might have left the hell a long time ago, but the scars never disappear. They might fade, but then something happens and she remembers them again. It might get better with time, but the scars are there, the memories of the hell will live forever.

Listening to: Justice - We Are Your Friends (Reprise) Live

Time To Pretend.

2009-01-05T14:21:00.002+02:00

This will be somewhat bipolar post, but I kind of want to get the football stuff out of the way too. First of all. Arsenal, for fuck´s sake, a new deal with Walcott. We cannot afford losing him, and certainly not with a price tag of 400 000. Second. We are facing Cardiff at the FA Cup 4th round. Ramsey against his old team, how about that. Third. FA Cup 4th round also gives us Liverpool-Everton. I am with Toffees on this one, just because everyone loves the Reds. Fourth. Sevilla. How on Earth can you draw with the League jumbo Osasuna? Unbelievable, and not in a good way. Fifth. I miss Serie A.

***

And then. I had the worst night of my life last night. Or at least one of the worst. For starters, I didn´t go to bed until closer to 3 AM (before which I was in a conversation about the beautiful nature of football and somehow decided to support Boca Juniors...). And then I couldn´t sleep. I checked the clock at 4.20 and I seriously think it was something like 5 AM before I fell asleep. And before that... I am writing all the thoughts running through my head and they weren´t pretty. I just don´t know how many times during the last five months or so have I ended up crying myself to sleep, but this was one of the worst.

First of all. My Mum. Of course I love her and all that. I really wish she can keep her job until summer, because she´d like that and because if she doesn´t, I know I´ll flip. She has had this long Christmas/winter break and I am this close to jumping to the walls, just because she is home all the time. I need my four to five hours a day alone, or I´ll go insane. She also keeps bitching about things. Work, co-workers, which I´m not even remotely interested in. Lately, she has also picked a habit of badmouthing my sister-in-law. Nothing bad, but just pointing out little things she does not like about her. And I´m always the one that has to listen.

Dad. Oh. Not that I don´t love him too, but all the little things that irritate me. I won´t list them or I´ll sound like I can´t stand him, which isn´t true. It´s just that he needs me to do things I do not want to do and won´t agree on anything.

Friends. Or friends I used to have. "For a while they will work under the pretense of remaining friends. They will talk on instant messengers. When university starts they will email occasionally, because there isn't time for anything else. They will forget to tell each other the little things that make the day important, and they will forget to care about them, too. They will be reduced to short messages every few months. It will be "how are you" over and over again for the rest of the year, until nothing." (Taken from werepope´s fic Gitano.) This is what it is. One of my friends moved to north and I haven´t heard of her ever since. Not even a SMS, so I don´t have the faintest idea what she is doing or how she is. One of my friends moved to a city 20 minutes from here. I have had two very short instant messenger talks with her, in the style of how are you? - fine- you? - fine. One of my friends moved a another city over three years ago and that short paragraph tells you what happened. I see her maybe twice a year, but I don´t know what she does or what kind of life she lives. One of my friends still live here, but I can´t remember the last time I talked to her. I never have had many friends to begin with and when the few I have start becoming my ex-friends against my will...

And then this one friend that I am in contact more than I probably should sometimes. She is great, she really is. But then... I´m happy she knows what she wants to study, where to study, what to do in order to make that possible. I am flattered that she wants to share the information with me, but at the same time it hurts so much I can´t put it into words. I´m not the one comparing different areas where to live, not trying to learn how the public transport works or what courses would be nice to take. When she tells me these things, all ecxited about them, it just makes me feel like I am the huge loser I sometimes think I am. Not knowing what to do, what I want to be. I don´t say any of this to her because I don´t want to upset her, but I´d be better off without the information. It wouldn´t hurt so much.

I don´t know what I want to do. I should figure out a place where to study and actually get in. The aforementioned friend tries to encourage me, telling me what schools somewhere else have to offer and really, there is nothing I´d love more than to be actually able to apply to them. But I don´t have the money (and I know about the loans too, but explaining that to my parents...), I don´t have a single person writing me references (old school yes, but I don´t look back to it in that much awe) and if I even tried talking about it to my parents... I am still amazed I have been allowed to to roam concerts alone, because they wouldn´t let me travel to fucking Sweden alone. And I know, I´m a major and I can do whatever I want, but it would be nice to have someone support me. I do not want to burn all the bridges behind me. So I just settle with browsing the Finnish universities and other schools and being disappointed they don´t offer a single combination that would make me scream of joy and say that is what I want to study. I was reading HS this morning and there was a column about studies, about how a relative girl of the wirter doesn´t know what to do after high school and how she likes everything, but not enough to specialize. She described me. If I had been alone eating my breakfast I probably would have burst into tears.

I don´t know what to do. I guess there would be someone to help me with problems about studies, but who and where, I seriously don´t know. So I just keep it all to myself and out it when I cannot stand it anymore. Every morning I get up and put a smile on my face, eventhough I don´t know what´s the point of doing that. I feel like I´m trapped and can´t do anything about it. I think I haven´t been out since the night between 2008/2009, why would have I´ve been. I know my parents would love to help, but I know they don´t know how to do it right. So to them I just pretend I ´m fairly happy even if inside me there is the biggest mess I have ever faced.

I just do not know.

Listening to: INXS - Suicide Blonde

All I Need.

2009-01-04T16:00:00.004+02:00

I apologize for the bad title, but I was too lazy to go through the entire track list of my iPod and just picked one of the firsts. And I´m listening to music, writing this entry, having a instant messenger convo and watching the Four Hills Tournament on TV at the same time. They are jumping in Innsbruck today. A nice city, not that I can say I have seen much of it. Went through it sitting on a bus, but I´ve seen the hill they are jumping. And I remember the landing at the airport was great, the Alps surrounding. Yeah, I like Austria. Probably seen more of the country than any other. Not counting Finland of course.

Football. FA Cup third round. Arsenal 3-1 Plymouth. I´m pissed they got the one goal, but Gunners once again forgot how to defend. And it wasn´t such a walk in the park it sounds like. They actually had to work for the win. But once again, Van Persie proved he is great when fit and Nasri seems to be getting better and better every game. And those two together. Something just seems to click, but yesterday they worked like a dream. Nasri playing on the centre of the midfield might have something to do with it. It´s a bit sad it took Cesc´s injury to make Wenger realise Nasri shouldn´t be on the wing. Vela, on the other hand, makes a pretty good winger. Ramsey and Wilshere will be stars, the little I could see from the awful stream I had told me that. I still want a new signing, defensive midfielder anyone?

One more funny thing about the match. Van Persie was our captain, because Cesc won´t be there for ages and Fabianski is our Cup keeper (Almunia, vice-captain on the bench). I just found it so great, the Dutchman leading them all, including Gallas. If it is true Gallas was aiming his critic against RVP, you get it why I find this somewhat awesome. On to the fourth round and against Bolton next weekend.

I have nothing new, though I did write something last night. I just haven´t gotten it on my laptop yet. Yes, I handwrite my stuff, I like it that way. I don´t know if I´ll post any of it, it went ended up being quite personal... We´ll see.

Oh my, I just love iTunes Store right now. They finally have more INXS here, which means I just got Suicide Blonde I´ve been looking for ages. Now, if I could get Elegantly Wasted too, I´d be more than delighted. But they don´t have it. I´ll settle with this. Who knows what other little goodies they have when you start looking for more... I don´t really money to buy everything I want. A job would be nice.

Nah, I really didn´t have anything special today, so i´m just going to leave it to this and go do something else. Until next time, take care!

Listening to: Damn Seagulls - Quality People

Golden Years.

2009-01-03T13:12:00.006+02:00

Happy New Year 2009 everyone. I know, I´m a bit late. But I don´t think that is a reason not to wish all of you all the best for this year. I know I want this year to be magnificent, gosh, I want it so bad. I didn´t do any resolutions, I gave up on that about ten years ago. Though I did say I´m trying to read a book, well, three books to be accurate. And I´ll try to do that. It shouldn´t be that hard.

As promised, the infamous rings.

The quality of the pictures is horrible, but as I said, it´s really hard to picture your own hands and my camera does not function well indoors. It weird, but I can take stunning pictures with it outdoors, but when I try to get something decent indoors... Impossible. And just to point out one thing, both photos are of my left hand, but the ring on the picture on right is worn in right hand.

I like very different kinds of music, usually. I mean I have everything from ABBA to Ministry and from flamenco to Stam1na on my iPod. (I want to know how many had the "what, flamenco? You?" -question popping in their heads, because, apparently, it is somewhat surprising.) But now I have this band that I can´t stand. Paramore. I will scream if I have to hear Decode once more. It has nothing to do with the fact that it´s on Twilight. I just can´t stand it anymore. It´s like listening to this Finnish artist Jippu. She is so, well, I would say fake. I try to like all music, but sometimes it´s just so bad I can´t. And as it is new year, I´m all in for new (even old music that I haven´t listened to) music. Like, I´d want all my favourite bands to make the best albums ever and then find about five new bands to love. Suggestions are very much welcome :D.

I know I should do something about my studies. Think about what I´d want to study to begin with. I always think I know what I want but when I start to think about things more throroughly I am not so sure anymore. Facts: I love history, but studying about researching history is dead- boring. I want to write, but the books I need to read in order to take the entrance exam for journalism don´t make any sense. I know I can write well without the theory. I love photography, but I know I´m not skilled enough to make it my profession. Or then I´m going to need practice and someone telling me how I should take my photos. Travelling is my absolute passion, but I never want to become a guide. I´d rather work in a hotel or advertise places people should visit. Gosh, see why I don´t know what I want to do when I grow up?

I was thinking of doing a list of things I might want to do this year last night, but I ended up doing a list of places I want to visit. Apparently, I have develop a huge thing for South America. I was staring at the map and thinking I´d go to all the countries if I had the chance. Also, I still think I want to go to Czech Republic fot the fourth time, I want to see Karlovy Vary. Not to mention the one country where I probably could spend a year just visiting all the great places. I blame the Tottenham-Wigan match fot doing this. I should have never watched it. Damn Spurs for winning it. Also, damn Hull for scoring an own goal and giving Aston Villa three points.

I don´t know what to write about, so people, ask me questions or give me topics. I can write about my favourite food or car or about the global warming if you want to. I just don´t have a hot topic right now, but I want to write about something. See you some time soon, now I´m off to write an email. Take care!

Listening to: Modwheelmood - Problem Me

Thank You.

2008-12-30T16:12:00.002+02:00

This is probably the last post of year 2008, so I am indeed thanking a massive amount of people and places and stuff. And before anyone asks, I haven´t forgotten that I promised a picture of my new rings, I just need to figure out the best way to take a picture. Picturing your own hands isn´t excatly a piece of cake.

Before thank you´s, I have something else. Ok, I was thinking that I won´t do any best of 2008 lists and I´m not going to, in the traditional way. First of all, music. No, not a list of best albums or songs, it would take me hours to complete it. I´m just saying that if you have the chance, get your hands on Dear Science by TV On the Radio. I have praised them multiple times and I´m doing it again, but I seriously think that was maybe the best album of the year. Also, the Nine Inch Nails frrebie The Slip is well worth a few spins, even if you don´t get it on CD like we somewhat hardcore fans did. For Finns, if you have missed Magic Recoveries by Disco Ensemble, do something about it. Best Finnish album of the year, by far. Right now I´d recommend you listen to Lightweight Giants. The song has charmed me. Totally. What else can I say... Tons of good music this year, new music (MGMT is fantastic) and old favourites found again. I enjoyed great live music this year. Kent at second row in January was absolutely fabulous and Rufus Wainwright at April Fool´s Day with all his jokes was more than enjoyable. Finally seeing Foo Fighters at Provinssirock in June was a dream-come-true, but Justice at the same festival was so great. Not to mention how intense the gigs of Stam1na and The Sounds were.

I am not going to say much about movies, because I saw a grand total of three new movies this year, but The Dark Knight was amazing. I just watched The Blade Runner last night and liked it. Movies at theatre are usually great, but who says you can´t enjoy them at home as much as you´d enjoy them with 200 people?

Books. Oh, I have to see what I´ve read this year. Fine, Robert Harris and Henning Mankell if you like thrillers, they really know how to make it work. The Chinaman by the latter is still one of the most impressive novels I´ve read during this year. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, great and I´ll know I´ll reread sometime soon, and Arturo Perez-Reverte has become one of my favourite writers. I won´t be saying another word of Ildefonso Falcones again, I have done my fair share and if you don´t read his masterpiece, well, shame on you then. If I´d have to say, the most impressive book I´ve read this year has to be The Road by Cormac McCarthy. So plain and simple and complicated and amazing and everything at the same time. I need to get my own copy.

I have watched way too much TV, but some favourites: Lost, as the fourth season was the best of the series so far and The Constant is still my favourite episode of them all. Criminal Minds and House that air at the same time will both always be watched. Mad Men had been impressive so far, as has been True Blood. Pushing Daisies and the bright colours made my grey and dull winter. Cuentame como paso, the lovely Spanish series has got me hooked and I think I got my Mom hooked on it too. There are probably tens of other shows I´ve watched this year and liked a lot, but I can´t remember them all.

But now, the thank you´s before this gets out of hand. Because of the Interrail, most of the thanks will be connected to it, but not all of them. Here we go:

VR, Finnair, PKP, Greg-Tom Hostel Krakow and the best staff I´ve ever met, Ubytovna pod mostem Ostrava and the lady in the kitchen - the match would have never been the same without her, CD, Downtown Backpackers Hostel Bratislava and the guys in our room for the entertainment, ZSSK, Leanback Hostel Budapest and the American boys, Eurosport, MAV, Vienna Fanzone and all the people there, Wien Westbahnhof, ÖBB, Fulir Hostel Zagreb and the Aussie/New Zealander and the Londoner, HZ, Vila Veselova Ljubljana, SZ, Villach Hauptbahnhof and the patient man working at the info, Plus Hostel Firenze and the Aussie guy and the Asian girl, Trenitalia, Hotel Monopole Milan, every single railroad worker and ticket salesperson met during that one month, all the people met and talked with, all the fast food chains for the food (special thanks to Burger King at Baross Ter and McDonald´s at Mariahilfer Strasse), everyone who thinks have somehow made that month special.

Parents, relatives, acquintances, friends; Mari, Jenni, Sini, Elina especially, bloggers, writers, commentators, John, photographers, journalists, teachers, co-workers, neighbours, fangirls, male forumists, Gunners & Gooners, other forumists, athletes, musicians, everyone who has made my year what it has been.

Emmi - for the brainwash and the rest. You know.

Everyone have a very happy and safe NEW YEAR and I hope I´ll see you in 2009! Until that, have fun and take care!

Listening to: Disco Ensemble - Lightweight Giants and TV On The Radio - Red Dress

Both Sides.

2008-12-28T18:09:00.002+02:00

Three points. Feels pretty good right now. Arsenal 1-0 Portsmouth. Funny thing is, I had to actully think what Pompey officially is when my Mom asked it. And that I haven´t watched a single match of them since Community Shield. And I think they are a fine team, I don´t hate them or anything like that. But yeah, it took Gunners 80 minutes to score one goal and I think even that one was a bit lucky. No complains though, a win for the first time since ages feels absolutely brilliant. I had the English commentators once again and one of them pointed out pretty well: "Being such a defensive mastermind Tony Adams is, it´s funny they´ve conceded so much." I thought that too, but then again, I was looking for more goals than just one.

Arsenal were doing fine. Well, as fine as they can with the material they have. I was a bit surprised to see Van Persie on the bench, but he did play on Friday and we have other forwards too, so... Ade wasn´t doing that much, except not scoring from perfect spots. Once again, Sagna was awesome and yes, William Gallas might be a huge prick and cause troubles within the team, but he is a valuable prick (scoring the only one, doing quite well on the defence). Ramsey and Carlos Vela were nice to see, they keep trying and Vela is really fine with the ball. Just more games under the belt and a little time and wh knows what he´ll be (well, Arsene probably knows...). I still think that my Man of the Match would be Samir Nasri. It seemed to me he was working his ass off and fighting like everyone should have been. Still, January 1st can´t be here soon enough and I really hope we get someone we really need. I wouldn´t mind Arteta (scored twice today). Addict made a wishlist for Christmas and I agree with it. We´ll see what happens.

My back is once again killing me. Sleeping five nights on this matress is as good as sleeping five nights on the floor. Thankfully I get my bed back soon, it´s such a small luxury but I am loving it at the moment. Little luxuries are the best. Sleeping late, good food, warm weather which we don´t have... And I seriously hope our neighbours won´t spend the entire New Year blowing their money up in the air. They did that last year, nice trying to sleep...

I´ve got all the days mixed up. Too much being home with relatives. And too much football on days it normally isn´t played. Today is Sunday right? Which obviously means tomorrow is Monday and that I have to go to the library and renew the loan of two books as I kind of am intending on reading them. And I might as well check if I can find more poetry.

Yeah, I really didn´t have anything today, just wanted to post. Mostly because of the win. Which, when it comes to this blog, is reason enough. Arsenal is always a great reason for a post. I promise you something better next time, I think I´m thanking some people on the next post... Until that, enjoy and take care!

Listening to: Editors - An End Has A Start

Bring Em Back Alive.

2008-12-27T15:54:00.005+02:00

Everyone had a merry Christmas? Good, so did I. The Christmas Eve was pretty much as planned, though seeing few kittens at Elina´s made it more fuzzy and lovely. (There is no way you can say no when someone asks wether you want to see kittens, no way.) Loads of good food as always, though the conversation we had while eating was kind of interesting... I have no idea how Dad and I ended talking politics, but we do that quite often. Like on the Eve. Dad is massively against stripping the President off his/hers rights whereas I´m more for the Italian/German kind of way where Prime Minister and Government do the actual deciding and the President just is. But yeah, that was one of our topics... Dad was Santa, did fine I guess and we took some candles to the cemetery. All the gifts were nice, it seems my Godmother´s are imlplying I should move out because they once again gave me stuff for "my own home". The calendar of 2009 is epic and I did eat some damn expensive Belgian chocolate. Done with all the candies for a year now thank you.

I have been reading and watching some good and not so good movies and reading a bit more and sleeping. I did watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix again and I still do not like it. They dropped off all the pieces I liked in the book. But if there is a chance of getting Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman on Christmas Day I´m not skipping it. I also watched The Devil wears Prada and liked it much more than I thought I would. I´ve read the book and didn´t think it was that great, but the movie was fine, nice light watching after eating too much chocolate and ham. I still have Arn-Tempelriddaren recorded but I think it´ll be next week before I get around to watch it.

I had some retail therapy today. In other words, I went to the sales. Got two cardigans, a grey one and a purple one. Mom wanted to know why I want the grey one, but when I was looking for a white button-down shirt, she didn´t even think it was odd. The last time I was looking for a button-down was when I absolutely needed it, now I just wanted it. And got it. But yeah, I´ve seen so many white button-down+grey cardigan outfits I needed to get one too. I think it looks great. I also bought the movie Alexander, but I don´t know when I´ll watch it.

I am reading the lovely Cathedral of the Sea (La catedral del mar) by Ildefonso Falcones and am totally in love with the story. Usually all that medieval stuff just bores me, but this one... No wonder it is a bestseller. I am about half way through the book by now and can´t wait to read what happens next. The novel is also making me fall in love with Barcelona, a city I have never visited. The first time I started to love the city was when I read Carlos Ruiz Zafon´s The Shadow of the Wind. I have a good amount of books to make me love Spain, a country I´ve never been to. Lorca has gotten me in love with Andalucia again (I never ceased to like the area, the feeling just mildened), The Basque History of the World has gotten me to like the entire Basqueland... You get the idea. Travelling at home.

Of course I have also been watching football. Last night´s match of the death. Or Aston Villa-Arsenal as some might call it. 2-2 is a miserable result when you have a two-goal lead. Then again, I spent most of the match in a fetal position in our couch because I thought Arsenal was dreadful. At least during the first half. I mean, I don´t think they should have been called footballers. And I couldn´t believe my eyes when Denilson scored. Villa had totally controlled the game as it wanted and suddenly we have the lead? Bizarre. And then Diaby and Eboue go and create the second goal. When has that happened last time? I can´t remember... In all fairness, as miserable as the result is, Villa deserved the point and it can be counted as a minor miracle we had one too, because we sure as hell weren´t the favourites of that match. The title still is impossible to get, but maybe there is some slight hope with the fourth place... And our team would have been an absolute mess hadn´t it been Bacary Sagna. When the time comes, I am in favour of giving him the title of the Arsenal Player of the Year. He constantly kept saving us, and the save from the goal line must have been one of the greatest I have ever seen. I have said several times when watching Real Madrid this season that Gonzalo Higuain is single-handedly trying to save his team, with Arsenal it really is Sagna who does the work and I really adore him for that. Almunia was having a fine game too, if you don´t count the penalty which he so badly missed (Blame Gallas for handing Villa the penalty, I won´t, because I think Gallas was doing fine on the defence. He might be the biggest cunt of the team, but sometimes we really need him.). Aaron Ramsey was finally given a bigger chance than last five minutes (Happy 18th Birthday Aaron! It must have been a pretty nice B-Day gift.) and he has what it takes to become a star player. But yes, he just turned 18 yesterday, so you can´t expect him to be it just yet. But he was trying, maybe sometimes too hard, but he was trying and that is what matters. The rest of the team... Well, I want to see them give their 100% against Pompey tomorrow at home. The match should be interesting. Okay, Pompey hasn´t been that great and we get Ade back, but Tony "Mr. Arsenal" Adams makes his return to home. More when the match is played. RIght now, I´m trying to be happy with the one point from yesterday.

Transfer rumours go wild as January first draws closer. I don´t know who I want to sign for Arsenal (I just want Cesc and Tomas and Theo back in form), but Arseblog has suggested we should get Mikel Arteta of Everton. I wouldn´t mind, he is a fine player and might fill the void we have in the midfield. He would also adapt in quite easily, unlike, say, Arshavin I think. I have no idea wether Liverpool might sell Xabi Alonso or not, but I think it´s more of the not since they are playing for the title. I would like to see him... I like him as a player and he has talent and I´m getting over the fact that it was his (completely fair) tackle that ruined Cesc´s season. I don´t think anyone else is showing their card yet either. Well, Real Madrid got Huntelaar, but that is so old news. Lassana Diarra is replacing the other Diarra of the team and I still can´t believe the back of his shirt. "LASS". Seriously. You might get away with that in Spain, but everyone speaking English will make jokes of it. I have.

I also have been having some odd dreams lately. First of all, one night I dreamt Arsenal signed David Silva from Valencia. All I can remember was that I was thinking the entire time that why the hell did we get him, we have decent wingers... And no, I hadn´t been thinking of Silva for ages (the first name of Palanca on the other hand bugged me for three days before I checked it - Miquel). Then I dreamt that I was in Budapest with a bunch of friends but the city was nothing like it is. There was a huge rollercoaster that was made of stone and some impressive fountains and all that kind of stuff, but no river or great buildings. As I said, odd dreams indeed.

One more thing. I have this lovely anonymous commentator that keeps feeding my Lorca obsession (keep doing it, it always makes me happy, like idiotic-smile-on-my-face -happy), so I think she/he at least might be able to help me with this one. I finished reading The Dialogue of Amargo or whatever it is in any other language than in Finnish and at one point the rider says something like this: "If you stay there where you are, then why do you want to be there?". I really need to know if there is a proper translation to English for that one. OR. If I can get that question in Spanish, I´d be more than extremely delighted. I need to kick my ass next year and I think that question is perfect for that purpose. (I know the rider is Death asking Amargo things, but that isn´t the point.)

I have a couple of pictures from Christmas Eve I want so share with you. They were taken at the cemetery, it is the memorial site we have. Where you can put candles if you cannot visit the grave of your beloved deceased relative/friend/other important person. I think they turned out well, given I usually don´t take pictures during dark hours and my camera isn´t a great as I´d want it to be. And I have no idea what happened when I took the second picture.

This is one of those posts that got longer than I expected, but apparently I need to tell everything I have to say at once. More when I have something. Until that, enjoy the rest of the holidays and take care!

Listening to: Tri Sestry - Stará Vec

Starman.

2008-12-23T14:28:00.004+02:00

I´m writing two things at the same time. I need to do something while I wait for the official news of Cesc´s injury. At the moment, it is said he´ll be sidelined for three months, which means a disaster for the team. But I´m not going ahead of things, I worry when it´s told. Well, I always worry, but more.

I read my first Lorca poem collection on Sunday and started the second yesterday. I loved Romanceros gitanos (Gypsy Romances or something like that in English I assume). I can´t even explain why, it just got to me so much. And my absolute favourite of all the poems was the one about Spain´s gendarmerie. I have no idea what it´s in English or Spanish. And I don´t know why I liked it so much. I just did, all of the poems were amazing. Why haven´t I read them before? Silly me. On a side note, I have to say el gitano is probably one of my favourite Spanish words. I love the way it sounds when pronounced. I had the read the part about gypsies and flamenco on the Spanish book though half of the grammar stuff was beyond me.

Sigh. It´s official, Arsenal are counting Cesc out for four months. Basically, pretty much rest of the season. If we had some thoughts of being able to fight for the title (which, quite frankly, I believe no one had) they are now out of the window, it will be a huge miracle if they get the fourth place of the league. Wenger now needs to buy in January, even more than he needed before. A defensive midfielder, maybe a defender if Gallas is heading out... Rumours are Andrei Arshavin is on his way to London, but I´ll believe when I see it. As much I kind of would like to see him, I just don´t know... Is he able to fill in Cesc´s place, since our strikers are doing pretty fine. When they don´t see red. Gah, all of this just makes me sad and I should be happy because tomorrow is Christmas Eve and all. I will not think about this until Boxing Day. Anyway. Animo Cesc, mucho animo.

I finally typed the novel I wrote in the middle of the night. 428 words. I was surprised. I never thought I could get so much out of myself, especially into a novel, but I did. I´ll post it now. I wouldn´t call it a Christmas present, far from it, but I need comments and ConCrit, I need to know what I can do better. All the mistakes and grammar errors and others are mine, I sure as hell didn´t get up at 3 AM to check how something was written and didn´t bother it with today either. It is repetetive, it is meant to be. I shortened the end from the original one, but I´m not completely happy with it. I might rewrite it third time, but here it is. Tell me what you think.

The blonde will never forget the day and it would be the day to relive over and over again if it were possible. It had been raining all week, but on that day the sun was shining from a clear sky. It was the day the blonde met the brunette.

All the blonde remembers of that day is the brunette. It was supposed to be another regular day filled with work and it probably was. But the blonde won recall it. All the blonde remembers is the brunette, the dark warm eyes, the perfect smile, the sunshine reflecting from the brown curls. That is all the blonde can think of that day.

The day the blonde fell in love with the brunette.

Even before hearing the name of the brunette, even before finding out what kind of character the brunette would be, the blonde was in love.

The blonde thinks the name fits the brunette in a way that cannot be described with words and the brunette carries it with pride. Their characters are the complete opposites and no one ever thought they'd get along for more than five minutes without starting an argument. The blonde is considered to be irresponsible, flamboyant, obstinate, always too self-assuerd. The brunette is considered to be humble, sensible, responsible, everything the blonde isn't thought to be.

The blonde still loves how their personalities are so different though they have both changed. The blonde has become more like the brunette whereas the brunette has learned to love the way the blonde is.

The blonde will never forget when the brunette the entire life the blonde has. The blonde cannot still believe the brunette has chosen to share the deepest thoughts, all the secrets and little things that make life worth living for with the blonde. All the blonde wants is the brunette to be like on the day one, dark warm eyes, the perfect smile, the sunshine reflecting from the brown curls. And to the blonde, the brunette always is. At least has tried to be.

* * *
Sometimes late at night, the brunette gets up just to watch the blonde sleep. The brunette does not understand how it is possible that the blonde still is there, after everything the brunette has said and done, after all the times the brunette has turned into the blonde and hurt the blonde unintentionally so much it seems unforgivable. But the blonde is there, because no matter what the brunette does, the blonde knows that in the end everything will be fine, just like on the first day.

No, it doesn´t have a title because I couldn´t come up with one.

I really don´t have that much today. I´m setting into the Christmas mood, doing nothing but eating and reading and watching movies and a lot of movies. And I´m looking forward to see my Dad as Santa. Should be so much fun. I´ll try to get a picture.

I am trying to cheer myself up and think of everything I should and would do next year. Some might call it day-dreaming, I call it planning. And as I want to be a nice person before I take a Christmas break from Internet and spend time with my family, have this very pretty wintery picture I found while surfing.

So, because I probably won´t be back for a few days... HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! Remember to take care of each other. And the last one to leave puts out the candles.

Listening to: Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

Negative Creep.

2008-12-21T20:03:00.003+02:00

I fucking hate every single Scouser. Every single one of them. But right now, I can´t believe it myself, I hate Xabi Alonso that I have always liked. If his tackle injured Cesc for more than two matches... I don´t know how much I´ll want him to burn in the lowest hell but I´m sure it will be much. So yeah, the extremely nerv-wrecking Arsenal-Liverpool match ended 1-1, which was fine. It could have been great, Van Persie´s goal was amazing and the lead felt so good. But then came Keane and scored and I actually asked my Mum if I could kill the Irishman (sorry all of you who support the Irish NT). I couldn´t, unfortunately. What can I say... The ref was partial, I think it was Carra who hit Van Persie on the head, pretty hard, but didn´t even get a yellow whereas Ade got one ridiculous yellow and was later sent off. I know, I´m really pissed off right now, but if Cesc´s injury is bad... I don´t want to think about it. Without Cesc and Ade with only ten man on the second half a draw is pretty fine. Of course, a win would have made everyone more happy. Now, the Gunners need to beat Aston Villa on Boxing Day if they want to fight for the UCL spot, but with this team it doesn´t seem very likely. I keep my fingers crossed, hope for the best and fear for the worst. Seeing Tomas Rosicky watch the match was lovely, I think I don´t need to say how much I miss him. The crowd was amazing on the second half, booing for the Scousers and cheering for the own boys. Perfect crowd. I do have to give the Gunners a thumb up for donating today´s salary to the Teenage Cancer Trust. No matter what, I love them doing charity. If I lived in the UK, I would have been a Giver today.

// Cesc might be out from a week to three weeks to month to six months!!! Cruel, so very cruel. Merry fucking Christmas. I feel so bad for Cesc. :( //

Oh and a little peek to the Spanish chart tells me something nice, Sevilla is vacating spot two. The table is interesting, so it seems none of these leagues this year won´t be played until the last game is over.

My day hasn´t been so great. I think I just broke another toe. The pinkie toe (or whatever it is called) of my left foot. And I just got the toe next to it fine. I can´t believe it... Thankfully it isn´t as bad as it was last time, so I might actually be able to walk tomorrow which would be nice since I was told I need to help clean up the rest of the house. Which also means I should get up earlier than at 11 AM... Like today. Mum was like, why do you stay up so late. Well, I was supposed to go to bed early but then I started talking to Emmi and when I finally hit the sack I had one line in my head and I couldn´t sleep until I got it on paper. Actually, writing that one line down resulted in me rewriting a novel entirely, at 3 AM. I need to type it on computer and it needs a bit fixing, but I´m so pleased with the story. I might post it here sometime later.

i loved it how my Mum pointed out she has seen more football this fall as I have forced her to watch it with me than she has ever seen. And she might just be right :D.

Now I´m off to cool myself down. And answer an email. I forgot to do it yesterday. Sorry.

Listening to: The best and worst of Idols 2008

Slow Hands.

2008-12-20T19:19:00.002+02:00

Thanks for the comments, really loved reading them. And yeah, you got the trade mark right, but it wasn´t that hard for some. I might post you something new later, but right now I´m all too wrapped up on this one story that has been in my head for quite some time and it needs to be written down. And the two parts I´ve already finished need to be rewritten a bit. I just came uo with a new point of view and I really want to try it out. And it´s still a horrible sappy love story.

Also, Mari, I fixed the Lapko link, it should be working now. Someone really needs to point these bugs out to me,because I don´t check them weekly, not even every month. To the lovely person who keeps leaving me Lorca poems, thank you so much, I absolutely love them. Oh and one more thing. I am open to all suggestion on what I should write about, assignments are very welcomed as are titles. I can´t always come up with proper ideas and that is when I need someone to give me something to write about. I have two titles that I´ll probably use in the future. I need to keep writing fic, I have noticed my vocabulary isn´t that innovative as it has been.

I have been somewhat productive today. I have more or less baked two cakes with Mom. We had to steal some of Dad´s cognac to bake the other, but I think he won´t mind after he´s got piece of it. The cake was so delicious. And this coming from someone who does not drink alcohol. At all.

Tomorrow will be nerv-wrecking. Arsenal has to beat Liverpool. Gunners have been doing ok lately, though no one should be happy with a draw and Scousers haven´t been that impressive without Torres (I mean, Gerrard is their best scorer at the moment and he isn´t even a striker!) so I really hope the boys will win this one. 2-1 would be my prediction, based on the other two Big Four matches. Just no own goal this time, right. Much depends on how Aston Villa does today. I want them to lose.

I also hate winter breaks. No Bundesliga for over a month, Serie A is going to take a lenghty pause. La Liga is thankfully back right after the new year and Premier never takes a break (well, FA cup, but we can still see them play, so) and that is why it is the greatest league in the world.

I haven´t been doing much today, so I´m going to spare you and go watch a huge bunch of YouTube videos instead. More later. Have fun and take care!

Listening to: Andreas Johnson - Glorious

See If I Care.

2008-12-19T12:54:00.003+02:00

I hate Blogger. But I hate RIAA even more. More than I have hated before. They fucking removed one of my posts. Fine, it had copyrighted and protected music in it, but still. Here I am, trying to get people into new music and what do these people do. Stop me. And besides, I kind of think I am allowed to give at least one of the tracks as it is licensed under Creative Commons. So yeah, if you want to know my favourite tracks of 2008 drop me an e-mail and I´ll give you links. Oh, this just proved why RIAA is so wrong and why I do not like it at all.

I wasn´t supposed to begin like that, but I was forced to. Now something else. Yesterday was a bit odd. I was cleaning my room, which isn´t the strange thing. You should have seen my desk, papers, magazines, books, pens, even cds and bills all over it - and I usually want everything to be right on the spot, some people know I can spend way too much time to get table cloths or flowers or stuff like that even. I like my desk better now. But yeah, I was cleaning and all of a sudden I found myself on our kitchen floor, wrapping flowers in paper. I don´t know what happened, my folks wanted to have a nice red foil around the flower pot which somehow meant that I was needed to freehand them and cut them - I can tell you, they were nowhere near round... And then Dad got on the phone and Mom went to watch TV and I was there all alone, wrapping those flowers. Like, I was doing something else, how the hell I´m now doing this? It was so strange. In the end, the flowers looked fine, my room is clean and everything in right order and I got all the Christmas gifts wrapped today, so I don´t think I have much to do.

Champions League draws just got posted online. I´m ripping these ones from Marca, so if some of them sound Spanish, well, it´s because they are.
Chelsea - Juventus. Oh no. I mean, oh no. I want Juve to win this. Like really bad.
Villarreal - Panathinaikos. SO, could we see a Villarreal match on the TV?
Sporting - Bayern München. Don´t care.
Atlético de Madrid - Porto. Atléti, please, win.
Olympique Lyon - Barcelona. I´ll give you two guesses which one is going to win and the first one doesn´t count.
Real Madrid - Liverpool. YES! My inner fangirl was screaming of joy. This is going to be interesting.
Arsenal - Roma. Not that easy, but Roma isn´t Barca and they can beat them. Gunners have to beat the Italians. Thank you.
Inter - Man United. I dislike Inter so much, but ManU is on my eternal hate-list, so let it be the Italians.

When I was going through my papers yesterday I found some of my writings from my English writing course I had earlier this year. After that I had some sort of writing fit and spend last night writing four pieces. I actually love one of them, though it might need a bit fixing and it´s a horrible sappy love story kind of thing, but still. So, I´m now doing something I hate and have probably never done before. I´m going to let you read the piece I wrote in January. I never ever let other people read the fiction I´ve written, while in school I think only two or three of my things were ever read a loud, because I never gave permission. So, because I´m doing this, I need comments and ConCrit more than ever to know if I should keep posting what I write or wether I just keep them to myself. This piece is as it was written, no alterations. The idea was to write a descriptive story.

Rush hour in a city

It is an early morning, but the city is already full of hustle and bustle. The traffic is getting really thick and drivers are becoming frustrated, judging by the sound of the horns. Men wearing suits are queuing in front of a coffee stand in order to get their drinks and their day started. The sky is grey and a chilly wind is twiddling people´s hair.

A young boy wearing red shoes stands up from a bench and starts walking. He passes by a group of giggling girls and gazes at them quickly. He then decides to concentrate on an old man reading the newest bestseller book. The boy stops and starts to draw him with a coloured chalk. A busy man accidentally pushes the boy and his sketch is ruined.

The red-shoed boy continues his walk, but is forced to sidestep a flock of pigeons and almost bumps into a newspaper stand. The tabloids are shrieking the news about a death of a popular actor, but the boy ignores them. He seems determined to capture the hectic morning in the city. He sketches out black taxis, people with briefcases and a man who drops his papers when he stumbles.

The boy leaves his drawing on a squalid table at a nearby cafe and heads for the underground. He gets surrounded by striding people and disappears. The picture is still on the table and everyone can see what the city looks like during the rush hour.

The story actually has one of my trade marks, but I won´t tell what it is, you need to spot it yourselves. But comments are now loved more than ever before.

Also, thanks to the person who left a Lorca poem as a comment, I really loved it. I´m still going through the plays and cannot wait to read the poems. The comment kind of made my day.

I´m off to do something else than post my writings in any form. Have fun, take care!

Listening to: Disco Ensemble - First Aid Kit

One Hundred And Rising.

2008-12-16T19:06:00.012+02:00

It is time to celebrate as according to my calculations this is my 100th post. Because of that, I´m bringing you a new lay out. I do not remember what I was searching when I stumbled on to the palm picture, but I liked it and you´ll see it as the header for a while. The lyrics are from the Chris Cornell song (Follow My Way) and I thought they might fit in quite nice. A blue lay out this time in a way it reminds me of winter but at the same time it´s the bright blue skies of summer. You decide what you see. Let me know what you think of it.

I am also dropping the four letters from the end. Not because I don´t think they are funny or stand behind what they mean or... I do, but I think it´s time to drop the inside joke. Instead of them you´ll get to know what I´m listening to as I´m writing these entries.

Like I told yesterday, I have a topic for today´s post. I was so wanting to post it earlier, but I decided to keep it to myself until I reach the 100 post mark. So now you get it too. I´m bringing you my Top 10 football icons of all time -listing. While reading it, please remember I´m 19 and haven´t been watching football that long. And when I´ve been watching I´ve had periods during which I haven´t paid that much attenttion. There won´t be Maradona or the likes on the list. And when I´m using the word icon I´m merely referring to the fact that these men (if I´d done this with women it would have had like only Marta on it...) have been the ones that represent their country or club to me or that I just remember particularly well. But some of them are legends. No one can deny that. Here we go.

Raúl.
The captain and symbol of Real Madrid, who used to captain La Seleccion too. You don´t need the family names to know who I´m talking about. I remember that for years he was the Spanish football to me. I guess it was because his name was short and thus easy to remember, maybe also because as a striker he was always in a way leading the pack. When I was younger I used to think he was amazing, scoring beautiful goals. I can not even tell when I first saw him and started to think he was brilliant but I´ve been young because Raúl is one of those footballers I have known ever since I have watched the games. I still think he is great, and respect him much.

Ronaldo.
The original Brazilian one. I remember him from the 2002 World Cup final, scoring two goals. I was at Grandmother´s, watching the match and when I saw him perfrom his magic I was sold. He became the icon of Brazilian football to me. I never was interested in which team he played or any other stuff, but when it was time for the international´s, it was Brazil that I was interested in. He might be past his prime by now, but no one can deny he wasn´t fantastic when he was on the top of his career.

Luis Figo.
One of the very few Portuguese players I have ever liked at least a bit. Once again, it must have been some World Cup or Euro tournament where I have first seen him do his fine tricks. When I was watching a Inter Milan match a weekend or two ago I saw him enter the pitch and suddenly remembered how he had been somehow "hot" (meaning the press was praising him and that kind of things) in the past years. He is still doing quite fine, which is no surprise. If you have the skills, they cannot be taken away. He might have slowed down, but is one of the greatest footballers of all time.

David Beckham.
What can I say, of course he is on the list. He was the one that made football more than just a sport. He was the one who brought it to everyone, the one that made everyone watch his every move be it his new hair style or his latest goal. I don´t know, but I´d be willing to bet he is the best known footballer in the whole world. Even to those who know nothing about the beautiful game. Of course, he is also on the list because he is one hell of a player. I started watching what he was doing when he was still playing in Manchester United and have observed his actions more or less ever since.

Michael Owen.
Maybe the odd one out on this list. Even I am not able to tell why I remember him so well. First and foremost he is an England national team player to me as Finn´s have always seemed to like that NT much. I do not remember him from any of the clubs he´s played with, I just remember him scoring for England. These are the worst reasons ever to get on a list, but I cannot come up with better ones.

Alessandro Del Piero.
Like I have stated, Juventus has a special place in my heart. It was the first Italian team I ever learned to know and of course Del Piero was the first player whose name I was told. Oh what a player he is. Amazing, simple as that. To me, Juventus is Alex. All the other players might leave the club when it´s hard, but not him. I respect him (and some of the other Juventus players for that matter too) playing the one season in Serie B instead of leaving the club in order to play in the highest levels. He isn´t that young anymore, but who needs young when you have brilliant talent that will make people admire you, when you can perform the kind of magic that makes even the opponents fan´s give you a standing ovation.

Zinedine Zidane.
Zizou was French football to me. And he is one of the best footballers of all times too, no doubt of that. I don´t even know what to say about him. As a player he was great and I am not a bit surprised when every new talent is France in compared to him, he is one of the biggest stars ever. It was a huge shame his career ended the way it did and I think people should remember all the other performances he has given, not the one unfortunate incident. I can say, the French football hasn´t been the same since he quit and I think that for a while it won´t be. It will take long to find a new Zizou.

Oliver Kahn.
We make it back to the 2002 World Cup once again. It was there when I first noticed the scary German goalkeeper. And after that, Kahn has been German football to me. I think I have never seen him perform badly, he has always made incredible saves that some of the other goalkeepers would have not stopped. If I was ever asked the best goalkeeper in the world, Kahn would be my answer. Germany has done well after he retired, but their goalkeeper hasn´t been the icon of the team. I am glad I saw his last Bundesliga match last spring and I think I really had tears in my eyes when he was substituted. I think he was one of the biggest reasons Bayern München has done so freaking well. One of the biggest indeed.

Edgar Davids.
Okay, maybe he is the odd one out on this list. I admit, it was the glasses and the hair that made me remember him. But you cannot say that he hasn´t done hard work on the Dutch NT midfield.
He was the one I kept watching whenever The Netherlands were playing because he was the colour the game needed. If it´s any consolation to anyone, Ruud Van Nistelrooy is on my bubbling under list, al the way back from his Man United days.

Jari Litmanen.
A Finn on the list. I might not be his fan, I cannot say he isn´t the best and biggest footballer Finland has ever had. He is way past his prime by now, but when he was younger he was good. In Finland, he is called "The King". That says pretty well how much appreciated he is here.

I am sorry this is heavy with pictures and might take some time to load, but I wanted to do this properly. I also hope the pictures are on the places I wanted them to be when I wrote this.

There will be a lot of post after this one, but right now I have spent so much time writing this one that I´ll need to do something else in order to be able to provide you with some quality the next time I post. I would really like to hear your thoughts about the icons listing, maybe you´d like to share your list with me and also opinions on the new lay out are more than welcomed.

Until next time, take care!

Listening to: Amigos de Iker vs. Amigos de Rafael

I Do Not Want This.

2008-12-15T17:43:00.004+02:00

For once the title actually says what I think. I really do not want this. I don´t want yet another sleepless night during which I think what I would want to do and what I won´t do. I am, for some reason, once again struggling with my studies. Or more likely the fact that I do not know what to do. I haven´t read that history book I´ve had on my desk for some time, it is extremely boring and has made me think wether I really want to study history after all. Or what ever that subject that would literally translate "political history" ever is. And really, if I could just concentrate on that instead of reading about how one should study history, I´d be more than happy. I do want this, but... I was once again surfing on the university website and thinking that if I ever get in, what else would I like to study. Just why, why cannot that university have journalism? Ok, they have it with another name, but it is not the same. I mean, I´d be thrilled if I could combine politics, history and journalism, it would be like heaven. And add a language or two and see me happy. At least the book I´m supposed to read for the entry exam is from a series I´ve already read and found quite interesting, so I might actually read it more than once. And yeah, I still have plan B and maybe even C in my pocket, but I´d much rather stick to the A. I don´t know, just had the feeling that I don´t have the faintest clue on what I want last night and that thought kept me awake for two hours. So I fell asleep around 2 AM I think. Gosh, couldn´t I just get myself think something else and stop worrying for a couple of weeks...

And why am I not a master at German or Spanish so I could apply to a university in either of those countries and actully study the history that fascinates me the most? Oh yeah, maybe because my parents only speak Finnish (fine, Mom knows some Swedish) and have let me make my own decisions ever since I entered upper secondary school. Sigh. Well, I am trying to do something about it. My own language knowledge I mean. Speaking of languages, I managed to get some Garcia Lorca poetry on Saturday. I´m happy now, eventhough I am reading them in Finnish. But at least I have a lot to read.

Moving on to other subjects now that I´ve gotten my study ramble of my chest again. First of all, as I like sports in different variations, shapes and sizes... Anyway, congratulations to the Finnish men´s floorball team that won the World Championship yesterday. Beating Sweden that has been dominating the sport forever. The golden shoe laces must have helped. I was watching TV and checked the textchannel to see if anything special had happen and saw this piece of news and was thinking "Oh my god, they finally managed to beat Sweden? That is one of the coolest sport things this year!". And I´m not even into floorball.

Also, I would like to congratulate all the cules for Barcelonas win. It wasn´t a thrilling match, I´ve seen a lot better ones (like the Real Madrid-Sevilla the weekend before), but it was enjoyable. And not that predictable after all. Madrid´s defence held hell of a lot better than it has been lately and even Casillas seemed to be more like the goalkeeper he has been before. But still, Barca was a lot better. Usually people start supporting teams when they keep winning and are on top, I start supporting them when they are doing bad and are in a crisis. Well, not supporting Spurs, but otherwise.

I missed the Boro-match, I was dragged to see Grandma and I didn´t have time to record the match. Thank god for Pay TV and reruns, I´ll see it tomorrow. I just kept reading the BBC live text via my cell phone and what that said the first half was quite fine. Of course I´m not happy with a draw. All the other Big Four teams drawed, I know, but Aston Villa won and took the fourth place, so, I´m not smiling that much. This is someone else´s season. Did watch some Serie A yesterday though, saw Juventus beat AC Milan which made me ridiculously happy. For one, I have always disliked AC Milan so much and Juventus has always had a special place in my heart as it was the first Italian team I ever knew. Second, the match was great. A lot of goals and huge amounts of talent on the pitch.

I watched The Simpsons Movie today. Didn´t bother going to the cinema when it was screening. And I´m happy I didn´t spend my money on it. It was fine, something I watch on a dull afternoon when I´m not happy with anything, have slept too little and don´t feel like doing anything. But I rather take my Simpsons in 30 minute pieces, the story doesn´t work when it is longer than that. The supporting characters are the best the show has and the movie doesn´t have enough of them. I probably won´t watch it again, but at least I can say I´ve seen it.

I have developed a weird obsession with a city. And I will not tell which city, not yet at least. I have been reading its´ Wikipedia entry and watching pictures and thinking how great it would be to get there. Getting there won´t be too easy, if I´d want to visit the place I´d first have to fly to the capital of the country and then probably take a bus to the city. I do not even know why this one city has gotten into me, it´s a new thing. Maybe it´s the architechture, maybe it is the culture that is usually associated with it, maybe it is the location. What ever it is, I know I really am dying to see the place. And I will see it, it is just a matter of time.

I already know what my next post will contain, but it requires a bit of research. Also, I am thinking this blog will have something new when I post the next entry. You just wait and see. Until that, take care!

IWFT

Way To Fall.

2008-12-12T15:18:00.004+02:00

Our library sucks a bit. Just a bit, because I got heaps of good albums that I wanted to have but didn´t care to buy and am now bringing them to iTunes. The reason I actually decided to go to the library today was to get some poetry. And just for the record, I very seldom read poems. I was looking for something by Federico Garcia Lorca since I decided that if I can´t travel outside Finland at the moment, at least I can travel with a book or something at home. The had zero Garcia Lorca poetry. Nothing, nada. I did get some of his plays though, Bodas de sangre and other plays. In Finnish, it would take me years to read them in Spanish. And I did get poetry in the end too, Les Fleurs de Mal by Charles Baudelaire. In Finnish too, my French sucks even harder than my Spanish. I really should brush up the French... And I have a goal in my Spanish studies. To understand and be able to communicate and all that stuff of course, but the day I can read Cien Anos de Soledad in Spanish, I´m happy with myself.

I haven´t done any studying today and I feel a bit bad about it. But I kept reading about some possible schools I might want to apply to. I have a feeling I might not want to study in a university after all, I have found a couple of other options that sound quite good. I got to keep reading about them a bit more, how to apply. It won´t hurt to apply. Much.

I don´t think there are much transfer rumours today, I haven´t been paying that much attention. But. Edwin Van Der Sar has signed a new contract with Man United and will keep playing until 2010. He´ll be almost 40 by then... Also, Real Madrid´s Ruben De La Red will be out for the rest of the season. Apparently his health issues need to be solved, it is suspected that he might have some genetic thing.

I very much doubt I´ll be posting anything tomorrow as I am planning on having a real football day. Starting with my rollercoaster boys against Middlesbrough and hoping Gunners can get back on the winning track, moving onto watch Stuttgart vs. Bayern München just because Bundesliga is lovely, especially after the final whistle. The day will be crowned with El Clásico. Blanco o blaugrana navidad? No matter which one of them wins, it will be great entertainment. Oh, and I am wishing Real wins (seems quite impossble, but you never know with El Clásico), but if I were betting, I´d put my money on Barcelona.

Posting these two pictures I took the other day. I am not that satisfied with them, but I just love the snow. As always, ConCrit and other comments are more than lovingly welcomed. Now I´m going to check if the e-mail finally works. More soon!

IWFT

A Hard Try.

2008-12-11T16:55:00.003+02:00

I was reading through some random football news and one of them made me sad. A one about Adrian Mutu, for heavens sake... Fiorentina played Steaua yesterday in Romania and apparently the home team fans weren´t that into Mutu. I mean, I think you are entitled to boo to the players if they are doing extremely bad, you have paid to see them play and expect to see the best. And I understand that of course you want to insult the opponent too, but taking one person as a target? I don´t care if he was formerly playing for Steaua´s rival team. I assume those people who were insulting him also support the Romania national team. So, you are taking something out on your own player? With a subject I bet Mutu is willing to put behind. Fine, he made a really big fuck up when he used cocaine and got busted, but it was his mistake and the has to face the consequenses. Which he is doing, as far as I have read. That was four years ago, ever heard of forgive and forget? The unfortunate actions will always shadow Mutu´s career, but he has been fine since and Chelsea isn´t ecxactly on the bottom either. So maybe those fans could let it go now. It is supposed to be about the game after all. Respect.

By the way, I have to point out that i absolutely love the little commercial before the second half kick off that Champions League has. The one about how football connects people even if they don´t support the same team. I know how much it is true and have this huge, idiotic smile on my face every time I see it. Sometimes it´s the best part of the match.

Transfer rumours are all over the place again. I don´t know, Man City is after everyone and most seem to want Amir Zaki. From what I´ve seen, Arsenal hasn´t told anything about wether they are after someone or not. Makes me a bit sad, because we need players. I guess we won´t be getting Xabi Alonso anymore...

Every single music magazine (and non-music magazine too) is making the Albums of the Year listing. Quite obvious choices, Coldplay, Metallica, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Duffy... Rolling Stone did choose TV On The Radio´s Dear Science as the best album, but at the same time they do not have Portishead on their list. Shame on them, I understood Third was amazing. I can´t actully say which is my favourite album of the year, but TV On The Radio has been playing much, the album is brilliant. Also, MGMT´s Oracular Spectacular is great, I am still loving it. The Raconteurs, Glasvegas, Nine Inch Nails and Disco Ensemble released albums that I have been listening hell of a lot this year. I just bought The Last Shadow Puppets´ The Age of The Understatement yesterday and like it very much. I need to check what I´ve been listening this year and tell you what are my favourites after that. But I can say, this year gave us quite a lot magnificent music.

One thing about movies. Our biggest daily newspaper was running a story about a movie called Milk. So I had to check IMDB after reading the article. It´s about Harvey Milk, a gay politician who gets assasinated. I was raging about Prop 8 a while back and now that I heard about this movie I know I need to see it. Critics have been saying it´s one of the best movies of 2008 and I really want to believe them. Unfortunately it premieres here in March, so I got to wait. Directed by Gus Van Sant and casting such names as Sean Penn (one of my all time favourite actors), Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin this can only be good. Not to mention the topic is really hot right now. Maybe it will open eyes in the not so open-minded parts of USA.

J, my e-mail is screwing again and doesn´t work. I´ll try to write as soon as it co-operates with me again.

IWFT

On.

2008-12-10T17:41:00.003+02:00

I wasn´t too keen on thinking of a witty title, so that´s what you get. An interesting day today. Of course, Martti Ahtisaari got his Nobel Peace Prize and we all should be ecstatic and overly proud of him at the moment. Yeah, I´m not that much, but you can be if you feel like it. I would like to highlight the fact that today is also the Human Rights Day and I think that beats even the Nobel prize. And it is the 60th anniversary of the day. Imagine your life without the basic rights that you don´t ever think about. Right to life, liberty, freedom of expression, equality before law, the right to have education and to work... Sounds everyday to us, but that´s certainly not the case everywhere. Just think about the right to life. The most important right of all. And as a westener I can write this as I have the right to express myself freely, but if I were in totalitarian country, I couldn´t do this. So I think it´s in a way also my responsibility to remind you of this day. The day and the rights aren´t just words on paper, they have a meaning.

My right arm is sore at the moment, as I went to get my Havrix (hep A vaccination) injection today. The second one and now I don´t have to worry about it for years. But yeah, for some weird reason my arm ain´t that nice at the moment. Will pass soon, I know. Just waiting to get to the nurse to inject it took an hour. The health center was packed and understaffed as it always seems to be. I was feeling so bad for this girl that apparently had broken her pinkie (I know what it´s like, I have broken mine too. Actually, it was not my fault.) and had been waiting there for ages. And then there was this absolutely adorable little boy with his mother. The boy had a really bad fever, I know it as I talked to the mother for a while and I felt like I wasn´t supposed to be there. I just needed someone to stick a needle in my arm, the others actually needed health care. I know I sound like a fucking snob and all, but when I really need health care, I go private. Unless it´s like really ER kind of thing. I can´t imagine how bad I would have felt if I´d been forced to wait for a doctor when I had lumbago. I can assure you, it really hurts like hell.

I did take some pictures today, but I am still unsure if I want to post any of them. It seems to be so hard to get a new point of view to the pics and then I think they are all boring. Maybe I post one or two later. They have a lot of snow as it had snowed coulpe of inches during the night. I like it. Much.

It still not January and the transfer rumors are going wild. Apparently, Real Madrid are still after Andrei Arshavin (who has admit his agent is in talks with the team, the price being about 20 millions) and about half of the Spurs pack. Liverpool are targeting HSV striker Ivica Olic (no, please, just no). Half of Valencia team seems to be on the market, Man City having their eyes on David Villa. Former Valencia goalie Timo Hildebrand officially became a Hoffenheim goalie, it is on the news today. To make it clear, everyone is after everyone, even if they aren´t saying it.

Oh, now that I remeber it, UEFA wants to know your Team Of The Year. I am not sure about mine yet, I have to do some thinking. Ok, I registered my team as following:

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas. This one was really hard. Casillas might have been rusty this fall, but before the season kicked off... If subs were allowed, mine would have been Petr Cech. And I think it was very unfair to have Igor Akinfeev there too. But no Pepe Reina?
Right back: Bacary Sagna. Of course. I love Arsenal and he does fantastic job. My sub would be Sergio Ramos, but I still think he makes a good central defender too.
Central defenders: Tomas Ujfalusi and Carles Puyol. They are great at what they do and I wasn´t too keen on the other options. My second choices would be Jamie Carragher and John Terry. See, what I mean about the options?
Left back: Yuri Zhirkov. I know, this is the surprising one. I haven´t seen much of him, but I was impressed. My sub would be Joan Capdevila, but I am also a little pissed that Gael Clichy wasn´t nominated. He would have been my first choice in a heartbeat.
Right midfielder: Christiano Ronaldo. I would be insane not to choose him, no matter how much I dislike him. Bastian Schweinsteiger would be the sub, not great but neither were the others.
Central midfielder: Xavi Hernandez. You know him right? His actions speak for him. I´d sub him with Marcos Senna.
Attacking midfielder: Cesc Fabregas. Another of course. I found this one extremely difficult to choose as Andrei Arshavin is there too (he´d be my sub). But yes, Fabregas it is.
Left midfielder: Franck Ribery. He might have been invisible at the Euros, but with Bayern... Usually amazing. Hardest one to sub as there are Andres Iniesta and David Silva.
Forwards: Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres. Again, I´d be insane not to choose Messi. He is like... beyond words. And Torres. Proved to be good, big time. I was almost ditching Torres and choosing Zlatan Ibrahimovic instead, but I couldn´t. Zlatan would be my first sub, David Villa being the second.
Coach: Sir Alex Ferguson. The only choice. There was no one else.
So, my UEFA Team of 2008 would be Casillas - Sagna, Ujfalusi, Puyol, Zhirkov - Ronaldo, Xavi, Fabregas, Ribery - Messi, Torres - Ferguson. And against all my principles (never have goalie or forward as captain) I chose Casillas as captain. You go give your vote and let me know what your team looks like.

I am off to write an e-mail now. Posting some time soon again.

IWFT

Let Me Down Gently.

2008-12-09T18:31:00.004+02:00

I know that when I have a 100% better day than I am having today I´ll deeply regret ever writing this... I am not the kind of person that easily opens up and talks about things and I don´t do it now, because I don´t think there would be anyone I´d talk to face to face. So I´ll write as this still is supposed to be my personal journal and I need to get things of my chest. Really bad.

I have developed this very un-Finnish way of telling how I am. I mean, when someone asks how I´m doing I just answer fine instead of being a Finn and complaining about everything. To be honest I don´t know what I´d answer if someone really wanted to know what´s going on. I have no idea. I woke up today and was just laying in my bed trying to come up with reasons to get up. The only one was that if I didn´t get up, I´d have to explain that to my parents and I really didn´t feel like doing that. So I got up and drank my morning tea and tried to think of something to do. I did end up taking a walk and some photos, but I really think none of them are good enough to be posted here.

That is one of my problems at the moment. I think nothing is good enough. Fine, I think I´m not good enough. I have pretty much lost the little that was left of my self confidence. You have no idea how frustrated and anxious I get when I start thinking about next year, what school to apply to and how much reading the entrance exams take. If I´d start to think what would happen if I don´t get in to any school... Well, I don´t want to think about it. I can accept being rejected once, because I wasn´t even sure I was applying for a school I seriously wanted to be in, but if I have to go through that again... This can be topped with the fact that I haven´t much read those books I should have been reading because the first exam. It went to perfectly well that now I´m afraid I´ll just fuck the next one up big time.

And of course, I keep worrying about my parents. My mother, losing her jof of 25 years, being unemployed and not even knowing when her last day of work will be. And Dad, he was just today given a schedule of their possible lay-off. We are doing fine at the moment, but I am who I am and an´t help but worry eventhough I know it won´t do any good. And I know that if they both are at home in spring when I´m supposed to be studying, I know I´ll snap at them. And I hate myself for that. But I know that at some point they start to irritate me so much that I either keep it all to myself and build the pressure or shout at them, which is something I really don´t want to do. I need to space and time alone. But at the same time I need people.

I am sick of not seeing anyone, not hearing from anyone. I don´t know how my, I don´t know if the term still applies, friends are doing and I hate it that I can´t answer my Mom´s questions about how they are doing. I rarely meet anyone. I remember how sad I was feeling when I informed Emmi of one match that will be played next year and she pointed out it was a birthday of our friend, but that it probably didn´t matter anymore. It felt so bad. I have no idea what this friend has been doing lately. I am sick of being the one that tries to stay in contact with everyone, usually without response. The little cheers of my days are e-mails from John, because it means someone wants to know what I´ve been up to lately. And also, if I could, I´d give Emmi the biggest hug ever for putting up with me, more than it probably is healthy.

The only time today when I really felt happy when I sitting on the livingroom couch, doing my Spanish exercises. I felt that I had actually accomplished something even if I´m doing them mostly for myself.

I think I´m done with the opening up. Everyone who knows me even a little knows this is something I do not do. And like I said, on a bright day this is something I regret doing, but I needed this right now. I know this probably changes nothing, but it makes me feel better. And I really hope my shaky fingers have hit even most of the right buttons and this is readable. Don´t know if that´s a word, but not caring enough to check.

And after the angst something else.

So, Schuster finally got sacked. I am no Madridista, but I have been feeling sorry for the team. Actually, I blame reading Marca for having any kind of feelings for them. At least i´m not rooting for Barcelona... Anyway, I wasn´t even surprised when I saw it on TV, as even I know that as a coach you don´t go and say it´s not possible to beat Barcelona ("Ahora mismo no es posible ganar en el Camp Nou."). And when it comes to Spain, they are quick to try to fix things, unlike in England I´d say. I have very little to say about their new coach, Juande Ramos. I like Sevilla and understand he did hell of a good job there, but everyone remembers how magnificent the season start of Tottenham was. Not that I mind. I don´t know, but it feels like El Clasico just turned out to be a bit more interesting than everyone was expecting. Oh and I have to say, after the great German had said that quote, Raúl came and said something along the lines "Con esta camiseta se sale siempre a ganar.". Have to respect the man for loving his team. And if your Spanish isn´t as good as mine (believe me, mine isn´t that great), use translator or just guess. Good luck to Real Madrid, they´ll need it. Really.

Also, I am so sad. Arsenal.com told yesterday that Tomas Rosciky´s return is at March the earliest. So so sad. I miss him. I miss his style of play, I miss having someone great at the midfield. If he ever comes back this season it is still over a year after his injury. As much as I hate to say it, I think his career is at the end. Wouldn´t want it to be, but... Just hoping he´ll return in the glory of his best days. Until that, I´m a bit sad. A bit only, because Eduardo is coming back. It´s like Christmas. Oh, wait...

I don´t know if I have anything else to say today. I´ll post more when I am up to it.

IWFT

Planet Of Sound.

2008-12-06T17:12:00.004+02:00

Happy Independence Day Finland! I hope all of you are looking forward to tonight, getting ready to judge the dresses. I know I am, the little fun that everyone is allowed to have once a year. And also, Spain, happy Constitution Day!

I guess I´ll be skipping The Unknown Soldier tonight, I think I have seen enough of it. I mean, I have sit through the four hours or so of it three or four times. It´s good and apparently quite truthful, but I know better movies. I am not a fan of those war movies, unless they are top quality and well, usually they aren´t, unfortunately. I´d still say, the best war related film I´ve seen is The Band of Brothers. It is so great, no one can deny that.

The Cathedral of the Sea can be crossed off from my Christmas wishlist, I know I´ll get it. All the other items on the list still stand, at least I don´t know if someone is planning on buying them to me. I am on pretty good spree of buying/doing Christmas presents myself, I think I have purchased half of them. I just need to figure out what to get to my brother and Grandma. Why is it that buying stuff to some people is so much easier than to some others?

Just watching Arsenal-Wigan, I spent ages on finding a stream as none of my TV channels is broadcasting it live. And you have no idea how hard it was to find a stream that actually works. I know people want to ban EPL streaming, but I think they really shouldn´t. I mean, there are people who want to watch the matches and can´t get them on regular TV. Oh yeah, Arsenal leads 1-0, but I am not having my hopes up, anything can really happen. Adebayor hit the post just before the whistle and I think I actually said "motherfucking post" out loud...

I need to praise A Cross The Universe a bit. It is the absolutely brilliant live album by Justice. I purchased it a while back and have been listening to it pretty much every day. All the Justice songs that are killer and added with the live feeling. I feel like dancing every time I listen to it. A trip back to last June, to the huge tent at Provinssirock where they had an amazing set. Ok, they might not beat Daft Punk, but are still worth listening to. Check them out if you have any interest in electronic music.

And my stream just died, so this will be the second Arsenal match of the season I´ll miss. Oh, no, not miss entirely, I´l watch the rerun on Wednesday (!). Just hope they don´t fuck it up... What made me extremely happy is that Eduardo is set to return on December 16th. A reserves match, but he is coming back. How we have missed him. And the final result is 1-0, not great, but 3 points.

I´m off to watch TV and do the judging. More when two people aren´t shouting at me, telling me to get my ass on the couch to watch the ball with them.

// Ok, done with the watching. Some pretty nice dresses, the Prime Minister´s, erm, escort (not the right word, but it´s way too late for me to come up with any better...) had a really nice simple dress. I think everyone liked it. Papers will be full of pictures tomorrow, no doubt of that. No big disasters, but no big names either, it was rather boring this year.

I also now know that I really need to check the match rerun on Wednesday. Gunners weren´t bad from what I read (and saw about 60 mins), playing more of the football I learned to love. Eboue was his normal horrible self and RVP threw away plenty of good goals. A win is a win and that´s what matters.

IWFT

December.

2008-12-01T11:30:00.003+02:00

Happy December 1st, now it´s officially allowed to start waiting for the Christmas to come. Also, you can now start thinking what you want for Christmas. I would like to have snow, a lot of it, a bit of peace and quiet and good time with my family. Though this Christmas will be odd, the first one without Grandpa...

I also have to remind everyone that today is the World AIDS Day. According to UNAIDS there are estimated 33 million people living with the virus. Of course, the situation is worst in Africa, where the health care won´t help and too many children get infected. It´s not good. I really don´t want to judge, because people make mistakes and they have to live with the consequenses, but you know there are ways to prevent HIV. Even if you and I are negative, it doesn´t mean that saomething can´t happen. So please, prevent the virus from spreading by using a condom. It is called respect. Here is the rich west we know what to do, now I can just hope that people in Africa start to understand what it takes. I am wearing red today. How about you?

I do not know, maybe I should not bring this up today, but I feel like I need to. I want to write about same-sex marriages. Here in Finland a same-sex couple can register their relationship and have pretty much the same rights as man and woman have in a marriage. Though, the church isn´t that big on same-sex couples, I remember the "is it right or is it wrong" -talk when a couple got benediction. If I believed in some kind of God, I´d like to believe all He wants is to everyone to be happy, so why not allow same-sex couples get married and get same rights as man and woman couples get? And if they want to do it in front of the eyes of God, they should have the right to do so. Same-sex couplse still can´t adopt kids together here, even if the other one of the couple has a child, the other one has no legal rights to be a parent of the child. I think that is highly unfair and I really hope they get that thing fixed as soon as possible. But why am I writing about this? I read a heart-breaking story yesterday and had to check out this Prop 8 that passed in California while the world was celebrating the election of the first black president of USA.

I mean, people. You had already ok´ed the same-sex marriages and then you take it back. You cannot do that! This doesn´t affect me, I am straight and don´t live in California, but it still makes me sad. That people still won´t accept the fact that a love between two men or women can be just as pure as it can be between a man and a woman. Now I would like to know what you think of this. Should same-sex marriages be allowed and if not, then why? You know what I think, if it´s love, then of course. If you are against them, please tell me why. And I will not accept "they are not normal, it is not what God wanted" -kind of answers. I understand that some people have strong religious convictions and that affects their lives. I just can´t believe people in California aren´t tolerant. They were and suddenly they are not? What happened? It´s not like a gay marriage will be a threat to the "normal" marriage. If the love is strong enough, there shouldn´t be a threat. This just makes me sad. It´s all I can say.

And on with the football. It has finally sunk in that Gunners actually beat the shit out of Chelsea. Fine, they handed the one goal to the Blues (unfortunately), but otherwise they did pretty good job. Maybe the didn´t rule the entire match, but win is all that matters. And apparently Arsenal plays hell of a lot better against the big teams. Remember what happened to Man United? Yeah, me too. Van Persie was of course the man of the hour, two goals in less than five minutes. He might have been offside during the first (he was, but the flag was kept down), but the goal stands and that´s what matters. I was really happy at that point, thinking a draw will be great, but then came the second goal. Totally out of the blue (no pun intented) and there it lay, behind the back of Petr Cech. After that all i could think was that Gunners will fuck it up so bad, but they did not and left the pitch as the heroes they were. A fucking sweet victory.

Yes, RVP is back on track churning goals, but he wasn´t the only one doing great. I have to say, Almunia has been pretty good, if you do not count the situation that resulted the Chelsea goal. And Sagna, gosh, I didn´t realise how much they had missed him. He was once again awesome. And so was the second half Clichy. The captaincy has seemingly cheered Fabregas up, he is the magical wizard we know he is. And his 150th Premier League appearance, first as captain ending with a victory must have felt absolutely fabulous. Nasri was a bit out, but Ade back after injury was doing pretty well. They need to keep doing like this. The kids will be playing Burnley tomorrow. They have been amazing, and that is what I expect them to be again. We´ll see. Right now, I still want to celebrate. Beating the almost unbeateble Chelsea. A fine moment indeed.

I have excluded one item from my wishlist, it was never there and won´t be, because I want to assume I am getting the, now almost annual, boy calendar from Emmi. No pressure, but I´ll be bit disapointed if I don´t :D. And Dad promised to pay part of my camera, so now all I have to do is to decide which one I want to get.

I´ll be posting again soon. Until that, take care!

IWFT

Miracle.

2008-11-30T20:18:00.002+02:00

FUCK YES! Chelsea 1 - Arsenal 2! A great win at Stamford Bridge. Just what the doctor ordered. This is what the team, the players, we fans need. Looks like our new captain is some kind of good luck charm. Feels so fucking great right now. A win. I´ll get you another update tomorrow, after I´ve actually had time to analyze this match a bit more. I just needed to burst this magnificent feeling out. Let´s all celebrate the win over Chelsea. YES!

Shoeshine.

2008-11-26T16:32:00.003+02:00

Believe me, I had a much better title in mind, but now that I actually need it, I can´t remember it. Anyway, all of you should know what I´m on today as last night was UCL day. First of all, congratulation to Captain Fabtastic to leading his side to a victory. This is going to be slightly fangirlish today, but I am ok with that and so should you. Arsenal wasn´t playing thrilling footbaal against Kiev, rather the normal passing they do. And actually, nothing happened until the last minutes, if you don´t count the chances our young star Aaron Ramsey couldn´t use. But I still need to highlight the fact that he is very young and no doubt will be a great player eventually. Seeing Carlos Vela start was something nice, but he wasn´t on his best gear last night, I have seen him do much better. Introducing 16 year old Jack Wilshere as the youngest Arsenal player in European match was lovely, I think I haven´t seen him since preseason... And he has the talent, he really has.

Eventually it was our Danish friend Nicky Bendtner who netted the ball in the 87th minute. Highlights are here, courtesy of 101 Great Goals. The pass Fabregas gives him is purely brilliant. The reason why Cesc is our best player. And thank all the football gods that Nicky actually managed to score, he has a record of not doing that... But against all odds, Cesc passed the long ball to him and it was 1-0 to the Gunners. I still disapprove Nicky removing his shirt when celebrating (for the future, he is one of those people I do not want to see without their shirts), but it was the only goal and it was enough. Before I start praising Cesc (which I´ll do), a few words about the others. Clichy was once again playing excellent game, as he usually is. Almunia gets a huge thumbs up for keeping his back clear and no matter how big a prick he is, the team needs Gallas. And I´m glad no one buued him. That is what fans do. Also, the Kiev player taking a red when startong to abuse the ref, very clever move don´t you think?

And the praise our captain part. I am going to quote the SMS conversation Emmi and I had last night during the second half (started by me when I needed to whine about the commentator not getting the name of the stadium right), so Emmi, you can kill me for this good when we see each other next time. She stated that she was proud of Cesc "as if he was her own son" (I was too, still am) and I replied that I would have probably cried if I had seen them come out of the tunnel. Which I missed, but I might have sighed a couple of times when seeing the band on his arm... Then we kept going on how odd it was feel the pride and how cute it was to see Wilshere on the pitch. I also think that Cesc with the band was somehow really cute, at one point he seemed even younger with it than he is. But Captain Fabtastic did extremely well, he needs to keep working like that and we all will love him even more. I could go on and on, but I´m sparing you. I just need to point out that Cesc´s expression on that picture is, well, priceless.

I am listening to the self titled Glasvegas album now that I finally got around to buy it. I like it, very much. Maybe it´s the accent, because I haven´t listened to the lyrics that much yet. Not the most original band in the world, but I happen to like it. And so do all the critics here while everyone else complains they are nothing. This is something I will like to listen to for a long while. Check it out.

I need to redo my Christmas wishlist a bit. I can cross the ring off, as I got it yesterday. Two actually. Silver, really pretty and I can´t believe I need to wait a month to get to wear them. It took quite a while to pick out the one I like and I couldn´t so ended up buying the other one myself. I feel sorry for the poor guy who ever ends up becoming my husband (not in a while, I guess I´ll be needing a boyfriend first :p). It will take ages for me to pick out the ring I want to wear for the rest of my life. I can´t choose, I never can. Everyone who knows me knows making decicions is one of the things I´m not very good at. But I also have a couple of additions to the list.

- The Dark Knight DVD. It was a great movie, visually too, so I can´t wait to see it on my TV. I bet I´ll enjoy it even more. Not to mention the plot and the characters. This far probably the best movie I´ve seen this year. Maybe I´ll hint my brother on this one...

- The Kent CD Box. That might actually have some name. All the albums of my favourite band in one box with songs never heard before and with new artwork by Jocke Berg. What more can one ask for?

- Arsenal Monopoly. Unfortunately they are put of stock, but this is just something so bizarre. My first thought when I saw this was WTF? I mean, what do you buy in this version? Players? If so, then what do you build? This keeps on baffling me until I actually get one. Or at least get around to play this.

I might have something more to say, but my head is empty right now, so I´ll spare you. Waiting for Sunday already, not having my hopes up, but still. And it was a good thing Fab was suspended last weekend, because the first time he is captain in the Prem will be his 150th Prem appearance in the Gunners shirt. One more moment to feel proud. I´m off now, have fun and take care!

IWFT

Hallelujah.

2008-11-24T16:08:00.003+02:00

This post is here only for one reason. Say hello to the new Arsenal captain, Cesc Fabregas! It was about time. He should have been given the band months ago. Well, finally he has it. Now I really hope he can take the pressure and unite the team to be the team we all so dearly love. Tomorrow´s match against Kiev will be tricky as hell, and I´m not expecting miracles. Right now it just feels that Wenger took a step to the right direction. I hope Cesc proves he is worth the band (nah, he´s already done that) and won´t pull a Henry at the end of the season. After all, at the moment he is one of the most loved players the team has. Suddenly tomorrow can´t come fast enough. Gallas will still be playing, which doesn´t thrill me, but the team kind of needs him so...

Every single Gunner blogger is typing as fast as they can I am sure of that. Like I am an exception, because I am not. Maybe this insanity can now stop and they can start acting like a Big Four team they are. And no matter what happens, fans won´t leave them. You choose the team with heart and you´re bound to it for good. Now, let´s see what this new era brings to us. Come on you Gunners!

IWFT

Wishlist.

2008-11-22T19:47:00.002+02:00

Expect nothing, get nothing in return. Arsenal is playing so un-Arsenal right now. Another loss, and I´me getting used to it. The thing I was most interested today was wether Gallas is benched - no, he was excluded from the entire team and if Bendtner actually has those ravishing pink booths I´ve been hearing about all week - yes, he had. They don´t have the chemistry in the team to make them winners and people, remember to watch Gunners play Dynamo Kiev on UCL on Tuesday, because chances of seeing them next season are getting smiller every weekend. A one win this year would make me more than happy.

Ok, there were two things that made me happy today. Two people, I am not objectifying anyone. Vela and Ramsey. I might not know much about great players and stuff, but I can see the huge potential on those two. The minute Ramsey stepped on pitch, the team found a new gear and Vela is a hell of a lot a better striker than Bendtner. Hopefully next season´s team will be build around them. Hoping it would be build around Fabregas is more than wishful thinking, because every day I´m starting to believe more and more that he´ll be a Barcelona star next season. As much as I hate to say this, letting Flamini leave this summer was one of the biggest mistakes Wenger has ever made. I guess now I know what Spurs fans were feeling the first ten rounds or so. Not so happy now. (And I just read this lovely piece of news telling Gallas has lost the captain´s band for good. Thank God, it was about time. He managed to make himself the most hated person on the team. Provided he ever is part of the team again.)

I was at Grandma´s today, again. Cleaning up her house with Mom. And Dad was visiting his Mum I guess. I´m not very much in touch with his side of the family, I don´t know, maybe because they don´t live within a half an hours drive. It´s an hours drive... Maybe I´ll pay them a visit sometime during the Holidays.

I actually chose the title on purpose. I´m posting my Christmas gift wishlist. With some links and all. Most of the will be in Finnish, as I´m too lazy to search for them in English. Sorry, it´s my bad, I know.

- A new camera. I have set my eyes on Canon PowerShot G10. But then again, PowerShot SX1 Is has a xoom to die for. I guess I´ll end up having either one of those. The former one has more megapixels, but it´s not just about them you know.

- Marimekko´s Makoto bag. Not in that colour though, I think I´d go for the black/grey version of it, even the orange/black version is better than that pictured. It´s one of those bags that fits perfectly on your shoulder and has enough space for everything. And it´s expensive as hell.

- The Cathedral of The Sea by Ildefonso Falcones. A novel set in medieval Barcelona. I haven´t checked the plot, because I actually want to read it. I just took a quick look at the back cover.

- A Pure Drop. The Life of Jeff Buckley by Jeff Apter. I love Buckley, so this one is quite obvious. And Apter is a good writer, I liked his book about Dave Grohl. This would be so great.

- Someone to pay me Huvfudstadsbladet for the next year. I´d love to read it, but it´s a bit too expensive for me to get it myself.

- A ring. And this one is the one i know I´ll get as Mom promised to buy me one. She just needs my fingers when she is buying it. I totally understand. It´s going to be silver, but I´ll know more when I actually visit a jewelry store and find a ring I´ll like.

- Plane tickets and accommondation. To Spain and in Spain. And from Spain eventually. This is one of those funny ideas that just has to be made real. Like a trip to Monaco except this one will cost a lot more. One day, my dears, one day.

I´ll update this when I come up with things I´d like to have. The list isn´t long, but we have an agreement with my family not to buy anything silly that no one needs. This also means candy in every size and shape and form. I have eaten all the candy I want to eat this year. Even thinking about having to eat chocolate, no.

More text will come when I have something more to ramble about. Until that, have fun and take care! It´s a winter out here, so don´t crash your cars or break your limbs. Enjoy the snow, it might not last.

IWFT

Kick.

2008-11-20T14:32:00.006+02:00

Haven´t done much today, but at least I got a good sleep last night. I did hit the sack almost two hours earlier than I have lately, just after the Spain-Chile friendly match was over. A fine game, but as it was a friendly I still think there wasn´t that much of a point playing it. And it is official by now that Walcoot will be out three months. Sigh, absolutely fucking faboulous.

I pointed out to John last night on my mail that I am suffering of the photography equivalent of a writers block, so I tried to do something to ease it today. I took a grand total of five pictures. I thought the first snow of the year might be worth picturing. Photos turned out okay, I´ll let you see two of them.
This one is taken while I standing on our front yard. I don´t know why, but that street just somehow fascinates me. Nothing ever happens on it, but as it is pretty much the only thing you can see when looking out from our kitchen window...Our backyard. Well, the part I can see when I take a look out my window. As you can see, we have a fair bit of snow on the ground already. I am just hoping it sticks and doesn´t melt by tomorrow.

I was playing with iTunes again. I ended up buying songs I didn´t know I wanted. Well, in a way I still don´t, but I felt the need to have them. At least the R.E.M. song is great. I was actually looking for INXS´ Suicide Blonde, but was let down because Apple does not have it. I was reminded of the piece of music last night and as I somehow had completely forgotten it, I decided I´d like to have it. Well, I didn´t and it pisses me off a bit. Anyone where I could get it? Yes, INXS is one of my dirty little secrets. Fine, so much of the secret part for now. I don´t even know wether any one else of my age knows the band. Apart from the ones that I´ve been telling about it.

And I just paid to get to watch more football and movies and TV shows next month. Funny thing is, when I ordered this Pay TV, the launched a campaign of "Order the set, get a phone for free" about three days later. Apparently they aren´t that picky on the days, as I am a owner of the cell phone they advertised. I don´t need it, I have three phones right now. And I am using only one of them. Maybe I really should get rid off one of them. The one that has survived a couple of festivals, an Interrail and several other trips to abroad. But then again, it has some extremely odd sentimental value. Gosh...

I don´t have anything more to say here right now. I´ll go spam my Finnish blog with random thoughts of nothing and everything. Because this is too well organized blog for that kind of action. See you when I something new. Take care!

IWFT

Another Worthless Day.

2008-11-19T20:49:00.003+02:00

Have I done something today? Let´s see... No. Have I done something on Monday or Tuesday? No. I am useless. I haven´t even read. That´s just because I do not have the books (so I´ll be taking the exam in February apparently), did study some Spanish though. Actually, I got wrapped in the world of Spanish nicknames. I mean, how the hell can Jose´s nickname be Pepe? I just don´t get it. Not that these Spaniards get it any better themselves.

The first snow is here, I was so happy to see it this morning. Fine, I knew it had snowed during the night, as I saw the white ground when I was going to bed. At 3 AM. I know, my sleeping times are horrible. From 3 AM to 10 AM. I don´t sleep enough, I´d love to sleep until noon and not get up until I feel like it, but since Mom gets home around 2 PM, I don´t have that choice. But enough of my sleeping or not sleeping and more about the snow. I was so pleased to see some of it was still left when I got up. I like snow, but not when it´s all wet and the roads are slippery. That I hate. And right now it seems to be like that. Yeah, can´t even tell if I like the snow or not.

I have been improving my English, if you can call reading novels online that. But this one just sucked me into it. Way too well written. Really, someone should come and kick my ass and tell me to do something else than waste my time. Maybe it´s the month, I have never been fond of November. If only I could hibernate...

I am also a little worried about my Grandma. I just saw her on Monday (ok, I did something, Christmas shopping with her). I mean, she is closer to 90 than 80, but I think she isn´t doing that well anymore. She messes up the days and forgets things and tells the same things over and over again... I know all this goes with the age, but she is living alone. Maybe I´m worried for no reason, but I wouldn´t like to lose another grandparent this year.

I am going to spend the rest of the evening watching some footy. International friendlies suck, especially when no one gains nothing from them. Just more crocked stars. Walcott got his shoulder into a not-nice shape again and doing the rest of the year without him... Like Gunners are top notch at the moment. East Lower sums it up perfectly.

Now, if you excuse me, I´ll do nothing for the rest of the evening. You have fun and take care!

IWFT

Flashback.

2008-11-15T20:33:00.004+02:00

I´m getting used to this and it is not a good thing. Arsenal losing. Again. I didn´t have my hopes that up, so I shouldn´t bitch. But I feel like it. 2-0 to Aston Villa. Maybe Wenger finally admits the squad just isn´t old enough to win big? Or maybe the kids should be playing the Prem... It´s like the team is bipolaric. Awesome, horrible, mediocre, awesome, horrible... I am not going to blame anyone (except Bendtner-no faith anymore, get him the fuck out) and until the 60th minute or so, I was thinking Almunia was probably the best player on the team. Actually, he was, I don´t know if he could have saved those goals. Odd. Thinking he is the best part of the team. And I think you can pick out the problem, if Gallas, a defender, is playing more forward than the forward himself.

Truth be told, Gunners sucked today and Aston Villa really deserved to win. The only good thing was seeing Vela, flashing what damage he might do if he got to play more than 15 minutes... But the sad side. Sagna busted some part of his foot/leg again and is likely to be out and Fabregas got his 5th yellow and will be out against Man City. Thank god Adebayor is fit. Sort of. Interesting times are ahead.

And hey, the Harry-magic is finally wearing off, Spurs lost to Fulham. And because all my teams need to lose if one does, HSV was beaten by Hertha. So, according to this trend, Getafe should tear down Sevilla tomorrow. Apparently I´ve missed a piece of news while reading Marca. Ramos´ red card didn´t stand then, huh? Because if you believe the aforementioned magazine, he will be playing tonight.

I am starting to think my dreams are a bad luck charm. Last time I dreamt of Corluka being slaughtered and Stoke run over Gunners. Last night I dreamt of my home town after a nuclear explosion (that didn´t affect everyone, just some people died) and what happened... Ok, I´m not serious, but this just seems like a curious coincidence. I also slept way too little last night and am feeling not so good at all.

Queuing for a free breakfast at way too early on a Saturday morning wasn´t that great. Ok, it was free and the IKEA breakfast is guaranteed to taste good, but still. Though, the peppermint tea was great, a faint reminder from night train to Florence. (A night train resembling a minor nightmare...) And no, I didn´t buy anything. I did spot a lovely bookshelf that I really want to have someday. And I am still in love with that one sofa they´re selling, but I´m not buying. Yet. Just because I can´t get it to fit in my room. Unless I place it in the middle of the floor. Which I am not intending to do.

Oh, The Godfather is on TV. I´m skipping it once again. I am just going to Google a lot of people and find some transport information. The latter will be a pain in the ass, I am sure of it. And I really should be studying hard, but I there is something that prevents me from picking up the book and reading. It is not the subject, and it is not even the thing I spend most of my time with. Maybe this just hasn´t been my week. I feel like crawling into bed and spending the rest of the weekend there, entertaining myself with a bad movie or horrible Youtube videos. I know, I could do that, but then I´d be called lazy.

Actually, this hasn´t been my week. I don´t have a proper lighting in my room because one of the lamps of my spot is out, I have a headache, I get nothing done and to top this all, the weather is once again awful. I am not going to post until next week. It has to be better than this one. Take care until that.

IWFT

The Kids Are Alright.

2008-11-12T10:19:00.004+02:00

First of all, I don´t know what to think of the fact that ManU needed Tevez to bring them a win over QPR. Tevez, a first team regular (not to mention the other first team regs they had). I mean, no offense to QPR and their fans, I am sure it is a fine team, but they play in the Championship and United is the Premier League champion... As for Arsenal, the kids did it again. Young Guns beat Wigan 3-0. And Young Guns did an excellent job from what I hear (didn´t stay up to watch it, I know, I know...) and they had one of the best strikers Amr Zaki against them. Just watched the highlights, absolutely amazing and Fabianski and his saves, wow. (The interviewer asking Wenger: "Was it past his bedtime? cracked me up.) These kids are superb. (I just feel a little dirty because after all I am older than most of these boywonders...) Also, I can´t help but laught at Real Madrid´s struggling. :D

And Tomas Rosicky has undergone a routine surgery in Germany. He should be fine, there should be a slight chance of seeing him some time in the future. Only God (and maybe Wenger) know when. I really want to see Mozart play. Once more with feeling.

And now to the topic I came here to write about. That sweet football part just came along, as always. I finished a book yesterday. Yeah, no biggie if the book hadn´t had such an impact on me that it had. It must be one of the best stories I´ve read this year, at least it is one of those that touched me the most. The book? The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne.

I am not going in depth with the plot, because this is a book you have to read yourself. Absolutely have to. It is about a boy called Bruno, a son of a Nazi officer. He moves to Out-With (Auschwitz) with his family and befriends with a nine-year-old boy called Shmuel. Bruno is naive, thinks only of himself and no one else, and doesn´t understand what his Father does. Neither knows he nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. At the end of the book he agrees to help Shmuel to find his dad. You might guess what happens in the end, but this is as much I am going to tell. And do not check the Wikipedia entry on this book as it reveals the ending. Unfortunately.

I don´t know why the novel affected me so much. Maybe it is because I have visited, not just Auschwitz-Birkenau, but also the Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin. And those places are really far from fun. While reading the book I couldn´t help but think last summer´s visit to the camp (a nice way to spend the Midsummer fest) and the house of Rudolf Höss that is just outside the wall. The book says it´s all fictional, but of course it has some factual things in it too. The Holocaust was real. I know the author has said the book should be read without knowing the context, meaning the reader should be just like Bruno, who doesn´t understand why he can´t be friends with the boy in the striped pyjamas on the other side of the fence.

These pictures of mine won´t depict the horrors of the camp at all. You need to see the exhibitions to understand how awful and cruel it was. I have just attached them to remind you this place actually exists. Not that any of you should need the reminder... I seriously read the last two chapters of the book with tears in my eyes. It doesn´t take much to make me weep, but I don´t do that often when reading. If you still haven´t read this book, get your hands on it and read it. The last phrases of the book remind us of something that cannot be forgotten. "Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age."

The movie is coming, I think it´s already out somewhere. Here we get to see it in January 2009. I don´t know if I would let small children see it or read the book, but teenagers should check it out. And as it was just revealed that the original blue print of the Auschwitz camp have been found and they date back earlier than has been believed, this is very current story to read.

Oh, it´s pouring down again. Well, a typical weather for November I guess. (OMG I think I just saw a reasonably good picture of Rosicky, who never takes a good picture. This is worth mentioning.) And I should be reading my history book, which doesn´t suck as much as I thought it would. It has some interesting parts actually. Now I have to go write a couple of e-mails and do some reading. I´ll be writing some time soon, take care until that.

IWFT

Politik Kills.

2008-11-11T14:36:00.003+02:00

(I am fully aware the word politik isn´t English, but I am using a Manu Chao song as a title and that should explain a lot...)

Blame The Daily Mail of my today´s post and ponderings. They compared Arsenal´s defence to the Maginot line yesterday and that got me reading my illustrated book of world history. (The comparison isn´t all that bad, as much as I hate to admit it. You don´t remember your World War II history as well as I do? Don´t worry, Wikipedia is here to help.) Flipping through the book and reading the most interesting parts raised questions. Or, more precisely, could this happen now -kind of thoughts.

Germany was the first one I stumbled up, the RAF especially. I started to think, wether a group like this could be formed today and wether they would use as extreme actions as these Germans did back in the time of Cold War. They were terrorists, yes, but they also had a thing they believed in. I believe that Europe won´t see another group like this because the time of the bipolar world is over, as Europe is more integral than it has ever been. But could something like this stem from the actions of neo-nazis or the right wing extremists (the Right seems to be somewhat popular in Austria, which was a shocker for me)? They are not the same, I know that. But is there a group in Europe that feels that the police and other officials need to be opposed?

That pondering, of course, reminded me of the murder of Aldo Moro. I don´t think that there will be a terrorist group that would want to kidnapp and murder their own prime minister, but one can never know. I mean, what are the odds that somewhere in Europe is a faction so desperate that they´ll arrange this kind of full scale operation just to make their voices heard?

I understand the schools have limits and they cannot teach us all this, but I frankly believe I´m not the only one who is remotedly interested in these incidents. Also, I have been following the news of the soaring facism symphaties in Italy. i have understood they aren´t the 30s kind of symphaties, but more like the home, religion, Fatherland, foundation of the country kind of things. Still, they are a bit frightening. On the forefront have been some Italian footballers, declaring some basic ideas of facism might not be so bad after all. Hello, there are people trying to fight against racism and discrimination, trying to prove we are all equal. This doesn´t help their job very much, does it? (Oh, talking about racism, you might want to check out Kick It Out.)

One of the most interesting things of the European history in the 20th century must be the dictatorships in Portugal and Spain. The WWII was over, all the other dictators had seen their end, so how could Salazar and Franco still have the power? I am not all that familiar with the situation with Portugal, but know a fair bit of the Spanish one. I remember reading Franco offered the crown to the king who declined thus making Franco the head of state. And you know the rest, not happy times, but the authoritarian ruling as you might expect. The thing that astonishes me the most is the fact that he named Juan Carlos as his successor. Did he actually believe the king wouldn´t bring democracy to the country? One of the questions that just makes me love history...

Then there are a lot of these What Ifs. What if there still were two Germany´s? What if the Soviet Union had never fallen? History isn´t about guessing what might have happened, but come on, there must be times when you think that what if the world was still the same it was during the latter half of the 20th century. I can´t be the only one equivocating these questions?

And what do we really know about the countries in Asia? Kazakhstan, Azerdaizhan, Turkemnistan... those places. I can admit, I know nothing. They seem to be surrounded by some kind of mist of mystery. Not to mention North Korea that is one of the most bizarre countries in thw entire world. I would love to visit the country, just to see what it is like. If it is so strange I have always thought it is. Also, what is the situation in Belarus? The state hasn´t been in the news for ages, so I have no idea who´s in charge and how the people are living there.

The middle East is, to everyone who is interesting in history, a place that just brings up new questions. Can Israel and Palestine ever get their things sorted out? Do they even want to? What is the life in Iran like? To me, the islamic revolution there has been one of the oddest incidents, not to mention everything that has happened after it.

Oh, and have you noticed how all these organized groups seem to love names that have three parts and are easy to abbreviate. RAF, IRA, ETA... Man, has the 20th century European (and world) history been interesting or what? All of this can be summarized in one word: Switzerland. If the country hasn´t been neutral and thus the odd one, I don´t know what has. I could go on and on about this subject, but I don´t want this post to be a novel.

This is all for now, I´ll be back to post more when I have a new subject. Until that, take care.

IWFT

Singing In The Rain.

2008-11-08T20:20:00.002+02:00

Christiano Ronaldo, who? Wayne Rooney, who? Dimitar Berbatov, who? Manchester United, who? Who was it today that ruled? A fan´s faith has been restored. Fine, by no means was it a fantastic match and Arsenal gave Mancs way too many places, but who cares? Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United. I really feel the need to gloat after a disasterous week and a half. I was prepared for ManUs ugly win, who wasn´t... Gallas, Almunia and Denilson had decided to show every single person doubting them that they can do it. And they did. I can´t remember when was the last time the Brazilian played that well, even with Fabregas. The Spaniard seems to be struggling a bit, but now he can improve.

I have to give a huge thumbs up for Clichy for keeping Ronaldo in control. At times I forgot the most annoying player in the world was there. The referee was an ass, on the Mancs side, but I don´t care. Nasri was stellar, two goals, no one else could have been the Man of the Match. He is so worth it. And yes, I dislike Rooney and Ronaldo now even more. The fucking bright side, ManU has 1 point from three games against the Big Four after playing all of them. Arsenal has 3 points and they have played just one. In your face. I´m jubilant right now, who isn´t, but they need to keep up with this. See you next week beating Aston Villa, thank you.

And to top the great football day, HSV took a 2-1 over Dortmund. Some kind of lucky numbers today. Thank god I didn´t put a bet in, I would have lost. That much I trust my own...

I have found myself extremely busy in the last two days. Weird. Ok, yesterday was the "studying" day. Which, like always was so much fun. The right answers could be a good puchase, two people trying to guess what the right answer is. Not the best way to learn.

And Thursday was a day to be spent in a mall. Trying to find Dad a Father´s Day gift. In the end I did, but wandering in a bookstore trying to guess what he might want to read was pain. I would read half of the books on display, but my Dad wouldn´t. And I just couldn´t pick up the Swedish thriller I´d love to read, because he probably wouldn´t like it. I did find a book about motorbikes he´ll most likely will love, so in the end, I got the problem solved. And I did get the Swedish thriller to myself, but I have three books to be read before I can start with it. Enough until Christmas I think.

Wandering in the mall (a small one) was fun. Window shopping at the jewelry stores... Yes, I would love to get a new ring. And I was looking for a present for my Mum too. I just cannot get why everything I like is so expensive. I saw this lovely handbag that cost 68 euros... Not exactly fitting into my budget. At least I now have a Christmas gift -list of some kind :D.

I finished reading The Carpenter´s Pen and I liked it very much. Rivas is very good at depicting little things and his characters were all interesting. I kind of wish the book had had more pages. Now it ended too soon. I have started my next book, but I´m not saying anything of it before I´ve read more then three chapters. But it seems to be an excellent novel. A really excellent.

I should actually do some studying too, maybe now that I have my wonderful bed back. And my back is fine again, not killing me. A nice warm bed... Actually, I got up so late this morning my Mum looked surprised to see me home. She seriously had thought I had spent my night somewhere else. I didn´t ask where she thought I was. I didn´t want to know.

I´m off to treat my obsession, after I have written an email. Next time I promise to have something to say. Until that, take care.

IWFT

Not Too Late.

2008-11-05T12:25:00.003+02:00

First of all, congratulations to the United States of America for choosing the right man to vacate the White House for the next four years. I hope Barack Obama can solve some of your problems and you don´t need to be ashamed to be Americans. Right now, you can be proud of yourselves. While I might not agree with everything Obama endorses, most of us Europeans are happy right now. And as much as I´d like to see the war in Iraq to be over soon, I hope the US government realises the country needs a proper civil regime before all the troops can leave the country. Seriously, a full throttle civil war in Iraq must be the last thing everyone wants to see.

Enough with politics. Oh no, sorry, it´s not. Osama bin Laden´s son seeks asulym in Spain. What? I got to say, I really hope they don´t give him asylum. They have enough stuff to sort out without that. For once I´m interested in Spain in historical sense, I´m so gald to hear the are finally going through their civil war achives and sorting that out. One of the most interesting periods of that country´s history, with Franco´s time too. I´d love to learn more about that.

Now, enough with politics. On with movies. I am completely aware that Twilight is ment to be girls movie, but I can´t wrap my head around it. Seriously, have you girls seen Robert Pattinson? He is nothing Edward should be. I know I´ll go watch this movie, but the cast just gives me creeps. Don´t be that excited about a guy whos biggest merit this far must be playing dying Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In some cases I actually recuire the actors in the movie to be able to act. And Twilight is one of them. Just not going to happen, I am afraid.

I have to say a couple of words about this book I´m currently reading. The Carpenter´s Pen by Manuel Rivas, a galician writer. It´s great. I love the different layers on the story and Rivas brings the words to life. I hope there will be more novels by him translated into Finnish. I have to go check the library. Also, I can´t wait to get the books I bought on Monday. They all should be so good that I´m going to have a hard time deciding which one to read first.

Not to make this all happy-happy post, I have to complain. My back is killing me. And no, the normal lying on the floor to treat it doesn´t help. I´ve slept on this about 10 cm thick matress for three nights now and it doesn´t do me good. I love my grandma, but I´d like to get my own bed back. It would be nice to be able to spend ones evenings in ones own room instead of the living room, because I wouldn´t want to walk against my table again. It hurts. I want to keep the rest of my bones intact.

And appareantly not a single post can go without football. Lats night´s Champions League was interesting. Really surprising wins and even more surprising draws. Liverpool didn´t deserve the penalty they got, Gerrard´s dive was no where near worth a penalty. But the referee was Swedish, so I think that might explain a lot. Atletico Madrid was better. Hope tonight´s matches will be interesting.

//Late night update. Nah. Arsenal-Fenerbahce 0-0. Not good, not bad. On the negative side, Gunners didn´t score and RVP threw away about a dozen perfectly good goals. They need to improve big time to even threaten ManU (that drawed too), but I´m optimist and hope they´ll get there. On the positive side, Fenerbahce didn´t score, they weren´t even attacking that much. Arsenal kept the pressure, but true to their style, didn´t finish. Also positive, Gunners seemed to have some sort of defence. Not the best in the world, but a defence anyway. Fabianski was on the goal (I heard Almunia is sick... Wonder what imaginary illness he´s got...) and did well, as far as I can tell. Wenger didn´t play the usual pack, maybe he actually listens to the fans. The best part? Aaron Ramsay on opening XI. He played fairly well, he did try, went in and wasn´t afraid to take the ball. If he keeps doing like this, he´ll be big. Please Wenger, can we see him on Saturday? All in all, not a disaster, just boring and qualifying for the next stage just got a bit harder. Not a fantastic match, but they didn´t disappoint me completely. (The ref was Rosetti by the way. And we all love him, don´t we?) Going up again?

Oh, Real Madrid, losing to Juventus? Losing to Juventus twice? I was let to believe you are a good team.

I´m off to do some studying as I want to get that one book read as soon as possible. Until I have something new to say, take care.

IWFT

Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

2008-11-03T15:06:00.003+02:00

There is one reason why I like The Smiths. They have such great song titles. Maybe the best in the world. And this isn´t my topic today, not even close. Want to guess what it is?

I, like probably someone else too, am starting to think Arsene Wenger has lost some of his most important marbles. You all know we had a terrible weekend. Well, there are also more than one questions Wenger should answer. First. What the fuck was he thinking, letting Diaby, Song, Fabregas and Denilson start in the midfield? Never again. Denilson should never be in the starting XI aand neither should Song. Arsene, you have Nasri and Walcott and you decide they´ll start on the bench. Are you out of your mind? Even I realise that is not what you do if you want to win. Well, now you don´t have to worry about that as Theo is injured...

The midfield needs to be sorted out. Since Rosicky won´t be making a comeback anytime soon, how about buying some experience? Xavi has been hinting he might be interested, let´s just hope you make him an offer he can´t refuse and that he is a bit of a masochist.

Arsene, why do you still have faith in Almunia? No one else has, and last season Lehman saw the bench sooner than Almunia apparently will ever see during this season. If you want to put your money on young ones, take a look at Moscow or Hannover. There are some really imressing goalkeepers that might do wonders.

Why not replace our captain nicotine William Gallas (and vice-captain Kolo Toure too) with someone who can handles the responsibility? A certain Cesc comes to mind, and ask anyone, they´ll say the same thing. A captain needs to be someone the others respect, not someone like Toure who can´t even make Song do what he wants him to do...

An entirely new defence line, Arsene. Fine, it might be ok to keep Sagna and Clichy (who, at the moment seems to be one of the best players in the team). But Toure and Gallas need to go. Or at least you need to get so tough guys to challenge their places that they´ll top themselves in every game.

Finally, if Carlos Vela and Aaron Ramsey are as good as you keep telling us, why can´t they play? Didn´t Ramsey prove something by scoring against Fener? Take risks with these young guns if you truly believe in them.

I don´t know what kind of team faces ManU on Saturday, but right now it looks like the two forwards will be Bendtner and Vela. In preseason they played amazingly together, but after that... And for the love of god, never play Nic as a lone forward. Then we will be absolutely fucked. He is a bit like Markus Rosenberg now that I start to think about it...

Every single person working at and with Arsenal Football Club so many of us love, take a reality check. Look in the mirror, ask what you are doing wrong and fix it. Arsene, in January, use as much money as you can to make us winners. Thank you.

And now that I got that off my chest (there have been dozens of entries like this over the weekend, to quote the USA presidential campaign, Change we need) I am using my opportunity to gloat at Liverpool. Losing to Spurs? Seriously, are you worse than Gunners? Hahaa. Hahaahaa. Suddenly, a draw feels like a victory. I want the Harry-effect on our team too. English Premier League - offering you such mixed emotions you can´t even name them. Also, Valencia losing to Racing and Real Madrid drawing with Almeria in La Liga. Hah.

A bit more about music. I decided to make myself a mix-tape, but iTunes is disappointing me. They don´t have any of the songs by Joy Division I would like to have and they only have the bad Italian artists. I like disovering new music, but to pick out random arstists and bands I have never heard of... Well, Google has been very helpful today.

Also, someone should put some videos to Youtube. I was watching the F1 press conference after the qualifyings and when Räikkönen was talking, all of the sudden Massa starts stroke him. I was like, what the hell just happened. It was so strange, I don´t have a clue what Räikkönen was talking about. That moment stole all my attention. But it´s not on Youtube. Shame.

Grandma is destroying my hearing. She is watching TV so loud I had to escape the room and put on my headphones, but I can still hear what she´s watching. And I can´t add the volume because my head would explode.

At least I did some studying today. Tho, the book has some ridiculous typos that are lowering its´ credibility. Mom keeps saying I should pop into the job agency, maybe I´ll do it tomorrow. We´ll see. I´ll post more when I have something to say. I´m going to go do some book shopping. Take care.

IWFT

Dead Souls.

2008-11-01T15:58:00.006+02:00

I actually got around to watch a movie last night. The Crow. It has been over a year since I last saw it and I still like it. Fine, it certainly doesn´t have the most strong or original plot and no one has heard of the actors after that movie, but it fits perfectly a dark rainy night. And the story of Brandon Lee just is one of the saddest ever. I don´t need to explain why I like a mediocre movie, once a year I just find my inner gothic girl and enjoy for hour and a half. Visually it´s great and that is usually what matters to me. And I do claim that The Crow might have one of the best movie soundtracks of all times. Some of my big favourites on the same movie, couldn´t have it better. I just should organize my pictures a bit better so it wouldn´t take me five minutes to find one pic. Renaming would be fine.

And as I decided to have a bit of Halloween, I read Edgar Allan Poe. The Gold-Bug. I have the collected works and I haven´t read all of the stories, but I decided I´ll pick this one. I really like his works too, maybe I should go through the entire book and sit back and enjoy. Thank god they are short enough to be read on a Friday night when you aren´t on your best anymore.

I have gotten hooked. Damn JIM showing Miami Ink. I love tattoos though I don´t have any. Ok, sometimes the pieces people want on their skin are just horrible, but some of them are truly art. I love it when people know what they want to get tattooed and have some story to go with the picture. But for the love of all that is holy, why on Earth does everyone want huge angel wings on their back? Or tramp stamp? It just isn´t that classy. I wouldn´t take a picture of a family member either, but if you want to do it, then go ahead. I like words, names, letters, that kind of stuff.

I´m off to do some baking before I spend my evening joint with German Bundesliga (Hannover doesn´t stand a chance against HSV.) and EPL hoping that Gunners beat Stoke really ugly. // And this day was full of disasters. Hannover beat HSV 3-0, Hamburgers didn´t impress me at all. And Arsenal. Oh dear. 2-1 to Stoke. What can I say, it was a nightmare. To top all the misery, Ade, Sagna and Theo got injured and RVP got himself a three match ban with stupid red card. ManU will eat them alive next Saturday. No silverware this season and it´s starting to look like we´ll see them in the European League. Gunners, harden the fuck up. Clichy got his shit together and netted, but the rest of the team... Miracles need to happen. Why can´t it be January? The other good thing besides Gael´s goal is that Cesc´s got a new haircut. About time.

IWFT

Crumb By Crumb.

2008-10-31T13:58:00.003+02:00

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.

2008-10-30T11:50:00.003+02:00

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.

2008-10-27T12:53:00.004+02:00

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

2008-10-26T14:11:00.002+02:00

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.

2008-10-23T17:45:00.002+03:00

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.

2008-10-19T14:11:00.004+03:00

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.

2008-10-15T20:57:00.004+03:00

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.

2008-10-13T15:00:00.003+03:00

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.

2008-10-11T20:43:00.005+03:00

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.

2008-10-09T15:11:00.004+03:00

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.

2008-10-07T11:34:00.009+03:00

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.

2008-10-06T15:39:00.002+03:00

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.

2008-10-04T13:47:00.007+03:00

//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.

2008-10-02T15:47:00.002+03:00

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.

2008-10-01T12:59:00.006+03:00

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

Kingdom & Glory.

2008-09-29T13:46:00.008+03:00

As promised, I am doing my very subjective Italian city comparison today. As I´ve only visited Milan and Florence, I try to prove that Milan isn´t such a dull place everyone say. Some basic info first (I´ve gotten this from the Italian Wikipedia, so the accuracy of the facts is upon my understanding. And my Italian isn´t very good.).

Milan: population approx. 1 300 000, biggest sights the cathedral (Duomo di Milano), theatre La Scala (Teatro alla Scala), Galeria Vittorio Emanuele II and the Castello Sforzesco. Milan is a financial and business centre and is also famous of its´ expos.

Florence: population approx. 365 000, biggest sights the cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), Ponte Vecchio, the Church of San Lorenzo and the art gallery Uffizi. This city is considered as the birthplce of Italian Reneissance and was long under the rule of the Medici family.

Ok, I´ve visited both cities during tourist season, but you couldn´t tell that so easily in Milan, as it is huge unlike Florence that has narrow streets and tourists visible everywhere. So, if you hate crowds, Milan is better, but if you are like me and love taking a good look at people, Florence and all the thousands of people are a better option. Sometimes the crowds can get annoying, but I´m still giving my vote for Florence on this one.

Days spent in Milan: 3 and the day we headed to the airport. Days spent in Florence: 4, including the day we arrived there early in the morning, excluding the day we left to Milan. During that time, the average temperature in Florence must have been 35 °C (in the shadow) in Florence with one really heavy rain. In Milan the temperature might have been around 30°C, but no rain. And the sun was shining in both cities, all the time. In Florence you could really feel the heat because of the streets and huge stone buildings and it was a bit pressing. Milan on the other hand is loosely build and the weather just felt nice. So Milan takes this one home.

People. Like said, Florence was full of tourists. There must have been a lot of them in Milan too, but you couldn´t see them so clearly. In general, people left you alone in the city in the north, they might have just looked you long. (I am blond and a girl, so you must understand why.) The only man that actually approached us (me and my friend travelling with me, I´m not schizophrenic) was a local punk, who wanted to know where we were from and he thought we were intimidated by him. We weren´t, which we told him and he just warned us on pocket thiefs and not walking around the railway station when it was dark. He was ok. In general the people were very polite, but not too much, if you get my drift.
In Florence people were looking at us, shouting things we didn´t want to hear and asking questions, really not minding their own business. Men, always, men. Eventually we were extremely fed up with these people. So, this one goes to Milan too. BUT. I must give an extra note to a very nice guy handing out leaflets around the Duomo in Florence. He was fine looking, very sweet and totally noticed we were eyeing him for like two hours. This is why Flornce gets a plus.

Moving around in Florence is very easy, as it isn´t very big, you can easily walk everywhere, like we did. The orientation is not too hard either, since you´ll usually end up near the Duomo, it is very centre. The streets are quite narrow (skooters are popular because of that), but wandering on the alleys is nice and you can find some cool buildings. Hop on-Hop off busses go round the town regularly.
In Milan, well, you can walk pretty much everywhere, but the distances are long. We did walk (saw the city in one day), but were exhausted. The metro system is apparently fine, but I can´t remember seeing any sightseeing busses. This is why this one is a win to Florence.

Finally, the sights. The Duomos get an individual comparison.

Here on the left is Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo of Florence. It was impossible to take a photo of it, so there isn´t a single picture where you can see the entire building. It is massive. And beautiful. It is full of decorations and quite colorful. A real piece of art in a way. I don´t know what the interior looks like as we never got there. All the lines were long, so it must have some really good inside. A tourist attraction, but a fine one.

And this one on the right is the Duomo of Milan. A grand looking white church, extremely detailed in its own way too. If you ask me, this looks more like a regular church. It´s beautiful, but it was under reconstruction (ristrutturazione) so you couldn´t see the entire facade. A pretty one still. This one we saw inside, the entrance didn´t cost a dime. And it was a beauty, but what else can you expect. The treasury had some fine pieces and the entrance fee was only 1 euro. To decide between these two is hard, so I have to call it a draw.

Other sights. Well, the Ponte Vecchio looked very nice on an afternoon/early evening sun, but it was crowded. I´m not very fond of those old
Reneissance buildings, but I loved walking around and between them. Never went to the Uffizi, so I can´t say anything of that. All in all, Florence as a city is a sight and you can take nice pictures and experience it as an entity.
Milan isn´t filled with sights and for example the La Scala was a minor disappointement. We did see the Last Supper, but from what I hear, we were lucky on that one as one should get tickets in advance and that kind of stuff. Everything in Milan seems to be big, huge actually. But you can´t call the city a sight as you can do with Florence. So, the sights win is Florence´s.

All in all, the cities are very different, so this comparison doesn´t quite work. But if you like culture and old stuff, Florence is your thing. Even the strange market selling replicashirts and fake handbags was in a way fun. Milan is your place if you a lot of money and you like to shop and aren´t that keen on culture. Don´t get me wrong, Milan has its share on culture too, but it isn´t that significant. So the result is: Milan 2 - Florence 3+. See, I couldn´t prove that Milan isn´t as bad as everyone thinks. Shame.

(I left the food out on purpose because that comparison would be horrible.)

You can try to convince on liking Milan more, please do. I´d love to read your thoughts on this one.

I like this new TV On The Radio album Dear Science really much. It might be even better than their previous one. I haven´t listened this with thought yet, but had it playing on the background while writing. It works. I can´t describe it, but it´s like Bloc Party ten times better. Enough slow and fast. I don´t regret spending 10 euros on this one. (I decided that from now on I buy psysical copies only if they are somehow special. Saving money and nature.)

Oh, Melissa Auf Der Maur is playing a gig in Finland. A Scandinavia special, as she won´t make a big tour. I´d love to see her. I have to see if I can get someone accompany me, because I wouldn´t want to go alone. After all, gigs are better with company. And Auf Der Maur is one of my favourites and this would be a real rarity.

I need to go to bake as I´m having a guest tomorrow and I can´t let her starve. That would be impolite. I have to admit, I´m a bit frightened what she might have gotten me for my birthday. I mean, I have gotten her presents that justify some sort of revenge. My folks agreed to buy me the Nano and I should get it personalized some time next week.

That is all from now. Comment, suggest what I should write about and I´ll see what I come up with. Until that. Take care.

IWFT

Bang And Blame.

2008-09-27T22:23:00.002+03:00

There are moments when I hate supporting a football team. This one right now is one of them. Arsenal-Hull 1-2 home loss. The match was a mess. I wish I had never seen it, I truly do. Did someone see this coming? I didn´t think so. What can I say? Hull were playing well, scored goals, won. Arsenal tried so much, Fabregas and Van Persie especially, but it just wasn´t enough. Not the result I wanted it to be, but I want to be an optimist every once in a while, so I say the season is nowhere near the finish line and there is a big chance Gunners can get some silverware. Right?

No news on Rosicky´s return. He can be back in november or in December or well, it must be admitted, never. I really want him back. And Nasri too. The only consolation today is I, by accident almost, turned the TV on when the Merseyside derby was on and saw two pretty goals by Torres. Nice to see him play again, not to mention his manners. Wish he was a Gunner.

And as I have done my research I now know who Sampsa Timoska is. Got to say, his last name is a bit odd. Playing at Mypa, but who cares about Finnish football, if it isn´t an international match? I don´t.

I´ve got Nine Inch Nails´ Wish playing in my head for sometime now. Why, I have no freaking idea. I wish they´d announce a European tour soon, they have a few Australian dates, so why not come here too. The tour setup has been more than amazing and I know there are fans that are dying to see them in here.

Actually, I´d love to see some bang tour here. Feels like that now that the summer´s gone no one is coming here. I haven´t been to a gig since Provinssirock and I think it´s really sad. Live concerts are some of the best things I know, especially if the band is great. Why do I have to live here where the only artists in years performing are Ari Koivunen and Negative? Don´t take it the wrong way, I´ve seen Negative and they didn´t suck as much as I thouht they would. They are fine live. But still. I want an artist that actually makes me enthusiasted. I am lame, I should get out more. Why no one is asking me out here? I´d prolly say yes, you know, just to do something.

Learning new things is always so cool. I know now what having Irish twins means. Reading boards isn´t always a complete waste of time. Quite funny most of the time. Like Pallontallaajat. net´s board. Just to read people bash Milan, the city. As a matter of fact, maybe I should try to prove them wrong. But not tonight. And I´ll probably end up saying bad things about the city. Maybe I should do some kind of comparison with Florence. We´ll see what I come up with.

I took a bunch of pictures at the motorbike thing today, but I still haven´t checked how they turned out. Hope there are few good ones so I didn´t freeze my fingers for nothing.
I also went to the antique and art expo held in out town this weekend. I know, sounds not cool, but my mum has got our entire family hooked. All the old glass vases and cups, they are pretty expensive these days. And look awesome. Aesthetics, one of the things that make life worth living. In more ways than one.

Wikiquotes is great. I´m having fun with the Finnish version. All these sports commentators. I can´t stand Matti Kyllönen, but what he says taken out of the context... Pure win. Also, Tuomas Virkkunen. Could we pretty please get him commentate the Premier League matches? He´s great. And the amount of unimportant facts he has, endless.

I hate thinking about the future. I still have no idea where I´m going to apply next spring. I mean, I need to study something. Otherwise I´ll get even more bored than now and have nothing good to share with other people. If I don´t get in anywhere I can´t guarantee that I just don´t decide to take off somewhere and do nothing there.

This post has absolutely no point, but I had to get these things out of my system. Once again. Next time I will have a point, I promise. Now I should hit the sack, it is past midnight. Again...

IWFT (Oh, yes, still.)

Wake Me Up When September Ends.

2008-09-26T17:07:00.016+03:00

Back home again. And I was just told I have go to some motorbike thing of dad´s tomorrow. Like I´d care. AND. When do these people start asking wether I actually want/am available at that time? Fuck... I´ll let him know how pissed off I am, you can be sure of that. This is almost like the "what do you want for your birthday" -thing. I tell them what I´d like and they get me something completely different. Like last year. I said I wanted a laptop and my folks got me... I can´t even remember what. Ended up buying the laptop myself.

Football news. Wembley will host the 2011 Champions League final. And UEFA Cup is from now on the UEFA Europe League. And Euro 2016 will have 24 teams. Almost like the World Cup. But hey, Finland has a chance of being one of those countries. Wouldn´t put all my money on that though. Premier League tomorrow and the Milan derby on Sunday. I might even watch it, though one of the players I can´t stand is prolly playing.

I suck at reading since I´m still stuck with the same books I was two weeks ago. Great, I´m getting the feeling I´ll never finish either of them. Since when have I been this slow a reader? To top all that, I have at least three books waiting to be read. Should be enough until Christmas I guess.

I might have had something to write about, but if so, I do not remember what. I did take some photos at grandma´s and will post them. They aren´t on Flickr yet since I´ve got the 200 picture limitation full (no, I won´t pay for extra pictures). Here is something for you. People who have slow Internet, I´m sorry, it might take a while to load the pics, but I want people to see them.

I am extremely pleased with some of these. The fourth and sixth are my favourites, the 4th looks like it´s made with computer and the latter has a focus I´ve been trying to get for ages and now I finally caught it. None of these have been Photoshopped, I have set the light exposure on some though. And the black and white has originally in colours, but works better without them. Comments and suggestions are very welcome, as always.

Oh, I have a Stumble Upon icon added to my posts. If you are thinking of getting one, don´t get it in the middle of the night, because reading the HTML code was like a nightmare. It took me ages to find the right line. I know, my own fault. Got it done eventually.

This is all for now. I´m pretty sure a new post will appear during the weekend. Until that, take care, have fun and for chrissake, get out if the weather allows you to. It´s so beautiful out there right now.

IWFT

Talk.

2008-09-24T10:46:00.002+03:00

It was strange how beautiful a morning today was, after all that happened yesterday. But it was one of the loveliest for ages.

You know, these things should never happen. Not here, not anywhere. People abroad (after reading a couple of boards) are shocked. They can not believe this kind of thing has happened in Finland. Again. I´m glad the media has learned something from last year, but I still find it horrible that every magazine today is running a minute-by-minute article about the incident. I don´t know what to think of the front page of today´s Helsingin Sanomat. In a way it was good, but in a way it was bad.

The discussion about gun laws, youth mental health, bullying, of all that begins again. The elections are coming, maybe now it is time to actually do something, not just promise. Things need to be done. Young people need to get treated when they start feeling bad, not when they are desperate. Maybe there is a thing or two that can be fixed in our health care system.

And, talk. It helps. Really. (summertherapysessionsinparks) And slow down. Take time for yourself.

I am having some good news too. This isn´t the most important thing in the world, but Arsenal beat Sheffield United at the Carling Cup 6-0 with Vela´s hat-trick. Young Guns (no pun intented, don´t take this the wrong way) were convincing yesterday.

A piece of music news also. Kent is getting out a box that includes all their albums, new tracks and a book with interviews, pictures and that kind of stuff. The price is likely to be around 45 €, but I´m considering buying it anyway. I won´t post the cover picture, since it is a gun being fired. Nothing fun about it at the moment. If you want to see it, go to their website.

I´m heading to grandma´s now. Will be back in Friday. Take care, see you later.

IWFT

The Storm Is Coming.

2008-09-23T13:58:00.004+03:00

What has Finland become? This used to be one of the safest places on Earth when you think of schools. But now. Second school shooting within year. Can´t wait that media is going through everything it did last year. Here in one piece of news about the incident. I don´t have anything else to say than that I´m very sorry about all of this. This should not happen. But it does. BBC also reports, as does CNN. First on both on my browser.

And as breaking news just told, there might be bomb threat at a school in Seinäjoki. How marvellous.

Today is not the happiest day since it has been told that ice hockey player Jussi Markkanen has lost his son after a tragic accident. His son fell from a window at the family´s residence and was immediately deceased.

I was pretty happy this morning, woke up in a good mood after sleeping well, having a strange dream (more in a bit), having a tasty breakfast while watching The Flight of the Conchords, almost putting aside the fact that mom agreed me to go to grandma´s tomorrow without asking me before, finally getting my Canal+ and having a Hugh Laurie day with Inside the Actors Studio and an episode of House. Nah, I´m having a good day despite of everything. Call me insensitive if you wish.

But more about the dream as I promised. I´m having these odd ones every once in a while, but more recently now than earlier. Don´t know why... Anyway. In the last night´s dream at first I was on a beach with bunch of people, it was late at night since it was dark. I don´t know who they were, but the evening didn´t end well as someone got beaten up. After that I started to walk to my appartment, though I got the impression it was not my primary place of residence. It must have been a long walk because by the time I got anywhere near the place I was heading to, the sun was shiing. Why this was so cool, was because the place was either somewhere in Brazil or in Argentina, the words gave me the impression (and I remember reading that you can´t read in a dream, but I seem to be able to do that). I´m not even sure why I can say it was either one of those countries, but dreams don´t need to rational. If I had to guess, I´d say it was Brazil.

In the dream I crossed a big street and the junction there somehow, even in the dream, reminded me of Ostrava. I have no idea why. My condo was situated in a nice light pink two-storey building that had an inner yard, on the second floor to be more exact. It wasn´t the cleanest place on Earth, but I seemed to love it. Near it was a bakery and next to or in front of the building was a lovely bookstore I seemed to be fond of. Funny thing is, I never got into the actual appartement in the dream because when I woke up I was talking to a sweet, bald guy in the laundry room. What I can tell of the place I lived is that it had a decorative iron gate or door that led into a brown paneled passage.

I liked the dream and was kind of sad when I woke up. Everything seemed so colorful. Very much orange, brown, yellow and red, it felt like it was a CSI Miami episode, it had the same amount of bright colors. Maybe I´ll get a sequel the coming night. Though that has never happened before. It was strange that it happened in a South American country as I haven´t been too into them. Of course I´d love to travel to Brazil and Argentina, but that prolly happens only if I win the lottery or somethng. I have to admit, I don´t even know that much of those two countries. I guess they are great in their own way. If someone likes to lighten me up on what is cool in South America and what´s not, please do. I´d love it. Maybe I should start saving money for a around-the-world -trip so I could someday see all the places I really want to. That would require a job, but I´m not throwing my dreams away. Never.

As said, I´m going to grandma´s tomorrow and will be spending there a couple of days. Helping her, keeping her company. Which is fine. So, there won´t be new posts for a while, unless I post tomorrow before leaving. I´m back in Friday, SMS me if you really have something you want to share with me immediately. If it can wait, comment here. As you know, I love comments. I am also considering updating that link list a bit, so keep an eye on it.

See ya later!

IWFT

Rollercoaster.

2008-09-20T21:30:00.002+03:00

What does an extremely humiliated giant look like? Like FC "epic fail" Bayern München after today´s loss to Werder Bremen. One of the most bizarre matches I´ve seen in ages. Seriously, 5-2 to Bremen. At the Allianz arena in Bavaria. It was the first time in weeks I´ve checked a Bundesliga game and I must say, it totally paid off.

Seven great goals in one match. Bayern was quite useless most of the time, but then again, take a look at their opening XI and that might explain something. Borowski, who came in at the second half, managed to net the ball twice against his old team, but to no avail. Good to see the big ones aren´t always doing so well. Commentator couldn´t believe his eyes, when the score was 0-4 he kept saiyng it was some kind of fairytale. Maybe it was, but a really nice one. Who knows, maybe Oktoberfest kicked off at the wrong time... :D

Bayern fans turned their backs to the team at some point, so the director started showing the audience quite a lot. I know now that Miroslav "every Finnish football lover´s new best friend" Klose has adorable kids. Hope they didn´t get any traumas. Also, I want to assume that the girl sitting next to Franck Ribery was his daughter, she was cute too. At least it might be healthier to think that kids are adorable think a twenty-something man is adorable. (I won´t watch any Youtube videos ever, it isn´t healthy.)

Yes, Premier League today too. Bolton-Arsenal 1-3. Jääskeläinen was on the Bolton goal, but I don´t feel sorry for him. I can´t, we won. I have to give credit for Bolton for making the first goal and otherwise, they did steal the ball and created some bad situations. Eboue was offside when scoring, but it wasn´t flagged, so it was a goal. Bendtner (on the opening XI, for a while I was loosing my faith in him though...) netted the second, but Denilson´s goal was absolutely the finest. There is no way denying that.

Comments were great once again. Arsenal managed to hit the goalpost too many times before actually scoring, so "motherfucking post" makes a lot of sense. The other comment I loved was about Fabregas´ hair. He´s let it grow and is now sporting a "footballer headband" (unfortunately, yes) so someone pointed out that he´s "gonna turn emo". Can´t help it, I laughed. Like I laughed to the fact that Gunners had so many corners that at one point it seemed that Fabregas was just running from one corner to another. Anyway, top of the table. Grand.

More than football too. Anyone want apples? We have tens of them, maybe hundreds. Too much. Imagine every possible dessert that can be made of apples and we´ve served it. I´m sick of them, right now I prefer bananas.

What I don´t want to hear first in the morning, is my dad fixing our toilet door. Or the lock actually. I was trying to sleep late today, but no... So, I got up and went to hang around the toilet to see if I was allowed to use it. I was, with dad´s very assuring words "Now we´ll see if the lock actually works." I was "You gonna break the door to get me out of here if ti doesn´t?". And dad: "Well, I´ll try to fix it, you have everything you need in there." Yeah, except food for one. It worked, so no harm done. But not really the first conversation you want to have in the morning.

I have a perrfect recipe for a rainy fall evening. A warm place, in my case a bed, a fantastic novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude and melancholic music. Mine was Kent´s Hagnesta Hill. It was odd how I got a sudden urge to listen to that album, since it still isn´t my favourite of theirs. Candles would be fine too, but you need quite a lot of them to be able to read.

I have few books unread, but when I was asked about Master and Margarita, now I feel like I should re-read it. I mean, it is one of the best books I´ve ever gone through although it needs concetration. But it´s something out of the ordinary, the plot isn´t a replica of some successfull book, it´s unique. And it made me want to travel to Moscow, which is something I never wanted to do earlier. Maybe I´ll someday get there, with a person who knows Russian.

I must have been in a informationblank somewhere, because I found out today that Foo Fighters is on hiatus. So much for the arena gig in Finland then. Tons of good music coming out this fall, so that cheers up a bit. For example, the new TV On The Radio is out next week. And what I´ve heard this far, it should be amazing. Pay attention to what is playing on the radio and you might a new favourite. I did.

Everyone have a good end of the week. Share your thoughts, I do.

IWFT

Forgotten Works.

2008-09-19T13:48:00.007+03:00

I thought it was time to update a bit, so I did. A new improved profile with a semi-fine quality photo. It´s once again taken with PhotoBooth, so it isn´t the best one can get. But it´s what you get. I got around to update my album collection, you can check it by clicking My music on the sidebar, as the link list is also up, finally. I decided I´m not making my soon a NIN-soon...

And I have no idea who has made that wonderful diagram, but I´ve got it from ETS.

I actually had something to write about. Oh yes, I went through the YLEX playlist. They have approximately 85 songs on the list, A,B,C and upcoming together. They might have a D-list too, I´m not totally sure... Anyway. I checked them and there were 6 songs on all the lists that I like or that make me smile. Six. Out of 85. I won´t bother calculating the percentage, but it´s not huge. Why can´t they get more good music? I know, it´s supposed to be as variable as much, but still.

The six songs that I actually find ok are Walking On Air by Kerli, Sex On Fire by Kings of Leon, Jungle Drum by Emiliana Torrini, Ukonlintu & Virvaliekki by Olavi Uusivirta, Hevonen by Samae Koskinen and my absolute favourite at the moment Mountain by Biffy Clyro. I can´t believe I haven´t found this band earlier, it´s amazing.

Talk about music. I remeber ranting about the upcoming Bond-theme a couple of months back. Well, it´s out now, you can find it online. I just took a listen to it and it left me a bit confused. Um... I don´t hate Another Way To Die by Jack White and Alicia Keys. It´s a lot. It has nice strings and piano and it´s unbelievable how well the voices of White and Keys match. Never expected it. The song is a bit too slow, it never picks up the energy you would wait from a Bond theme. Like someone has said, it´s not epic enough. It won´t be the same kind of hit some of the earlier themes have been, it will go nicely on the background, but won´t jump up. Shame, but probably the truth. Now we just have to wait for The Quantum of Solace to premier. I´m looking forward to it. Casino Royale was great, hopefully this will be too.

One more thing about music. Sometimes insomnia pays off. The other night I was still up at midnight and listened to Night Classical, I think. The program won´t matter. But I was forced to stay awake for another nine minutes by the London Symphony Orchestra, since their beautiful version of Stairway To Heaven was played. Seriously, maybe the best version of the song I´ve ever heard. Of the song I think is one of the most over-rated songs.

And a bit of football before I end. I was checking the UEFA Cup results. Nothing too surprising, but two goal scoarers amazed me. I mean, someone tell me when was the last time Milan Baros has managed to score for the Czech Republic national team. Because last night he netted twice for Galatasaray. I couldn´t believe my eyes. Why? Time to shine on the international duty too, isn´t it Milan?
Mario Gomez also hit twice for Stuttgart, which is odd in a way. Every time I see him play, he is somewhat terrible. Or maybe he just really sucks when it comes to international matches. Germany has good players too.

I have to complain about YLE or whoever decides which Champions League match gets televised here. Bayern München-Lyon, seriously, why? When you could have picked Zenit-Real Madrid (ok, I think it´s played earlier than the others, but who cares...), Arsenal-Porto or Fenerbahce-Dinamo Kiev. But no, they choose a dull pair. Dull, because everyone who owns a digibox has a chance to see both teams play when they switch Urheilukanava on at the right time. Never show those teams that are a bit more rare here. I would have liked a bit more interesting match for my birthday.

I love HBL doing those sports specials, like this weeks Champions League. Only thing is, I found myself staring at the picture of Sergio Aguero. And it was a long stare. Not because of his looks, but because of his tattoo. The picture is small, but you can see what I´m talking about. Looks familiar, doesn´t it? I remember solving a mystery of a similar tattoo this summer. It´s pretty popular to get your name written like that. And it gets me nearly choking on my cocoa when I´m caught off guard. Thanks.

Oh, now that I remember. Haneke´s Funny Games, the new version, is now on DVD. Because of that, I feel the need to share the Italian trailer with everyone. I still love the way the guy says the name of the film.

It´s more than likely I´ll be writing an entry tomorrow. Until that, have fun with the links.

IWFT

Running Out Of Turbo.

2008-09-17T22:38:00.002+03:00

Seems like I´m having an R-phase with my titles. At one point it was all S´s.

I´m a bit pissed, because it looks like nobody is able to broadcast tonight, so I won´t get any Champions League football. I was kind of looking for the Juventus-Zenit match, but no. I just have to keep myself updated with the always so trusthworthy YLE text-TV. Which is telling me most of the games today haven´t picked up that great turbo, quite a lot 0-0 after first half.

Cluj created a surprise yesterday then. Beating Roma. Good for them, would have been nice to see that instead of the dull Chelsea-Bordeux. Nothing else wrong with that except it was all Chelsea. The French team did nothing remarkable. Blues were fine. And you have no idea how hard it is to me to admit that...

I am getting bored to death at home. I know, I should do something about it, but it´s not like I can just hop on a plane and take off somewhere. So I end up hanging online wasting my time. I should get out more, but hanging here where nothing happens... Maybe I´ll take my camera out tomorrow. I haven´t taken any photos for a while.

It just dawned to me how odd things people collect. Or maybe I have never thought about it enough. I can get figurines, shoes, stamps, all that normal stuff, but dead animals, rubber ducks, bottle caps, boxes... Maybe it´s just me who thinks it´s not 100% normal. So I started thinking, what do I collect myself? Do a couple of hundred books, cds and DVDs count? Since it´s not rarities, it´s basic stuff. I´d say it does not count. So, what then?

Ok, I have a thing for foreign magazines. It´s just so hard to get them home in good condition, so I only have two Austrian, one Slovenian and one Czech mags at the moment. Money is my other favourite. Not in a Uncle Scrooge kind of way, but I can say I have a pretty nice collection of euro coins, normal ones from other countries and then some of those special coins. I should check what I have, because I can´t even remember what my piggy bank has inside it. And non-euro currency is fine too, some of it is on display at my notice board. Things from abroad is the simplest answer I guess.

I used to have tons of porcelain figurines, they are stacked somewhere in our linen closet I think. Seriously, I must have had over 100 of those. The dusting was nightmare. I´ve kept some of my favourites visible. I also have huge amount of post cards, if I started counting them I think I would get at least 300 of them. But apart from that stuff, I can´t think of anything I collect or have once collected. If you have a collection of something very special or even normal, share the story with me. I´d love to hear it.

I really should sleep instead of writing nonsense. I am trying to stay offline tomorrow, I´ve spent way too much time on nin.com forums talking abou Meyer books. I´m actually trying to read Midnight Dawn. It just appears to be, well, not so good. She´s lost her touch maybe. I´m not even half way through with it, so it might get better. After all, Twilight is best of all her works. She can´t have fucked it up completely, right?

Ok, I´m off to bed. I really need to get a grip of myself.

IWFT

Reflection.

2008-09-13T19:18:00.004+03:00

I´m starting with a shallow bitch rant today. Sorry. But I had so much fun shopping. And the only reason why I take my mum with me when I buy new stuff is that there is no way in hell I´m paying my 99€ boots or coat. Yes, I finally managed to find those leather boots I´ve been dying to have. Don´t know how to describe them, so you´ll just have to wait to see me wearing them. Can´t take pictures either, because dad has my camera. And a new coat too. Black, like pretty much always. It has a bow on the back, which is a lovely detail.

Finding a cardigan that does not have any wool on it, is damn hard, I can tell you that. As I can´t wear anything wool, mohair, angora kind of stuff, I was starting to think I won´t get one. Lindex saved me and I got a very nice purple cardigan. I also finally bought the turquoise dress that´s got me drooling. It´s hanging in my closet as I type this. Yes, shopping is way too much fun.

I had to make a quick visit to the MacPeople Store at WTC to take a look at the new Nano. It´s just as lovely and pretty live as it seems on your screen. They only had the black, so I can´t tell if the colours are as vibrant as they seem, but I think they are. They are having more of them by next week, but if you want to save some money, take my advice and buy yours online. You´ll save at least 10 euros.

I have to say, Rosso has the oddest playlist I have ever heard. First of all, every time I even enter the building, there comes a time when I still haven´t found what I´m looking for by U2 starts playing. Today was no different. It´s like every time I listen to Pop Republiken on X3M they play an Editors song. I swear, every time. When I was leaving the restaurant, the song on was Loser by Beck. A family restaurant and that song. Not my first pick, but then again, I´ve been to a restaurant showing the video of Beastie Boys´ Body Movin´...

I´m kind of sad I went shopping today, actually. Not because I lost money, but because I missed the chance to see Liverpool kick ManU´s ass. I´m delighted anyway. I rather see Pool on top of the chart than ManU. Always. It would just have been so great to see it. I´ll watch Gunners beat them, so...

Gunners gave Blackburn a really cold shower this afternoon. 0-4. With Emmanuel Adebayor´s hat-trick. I was very sceptical on him when the season started, actually until today. Good to see him having fun, churning those goals. One of the best comments before Ade´s first goal was: "Bloody hell, how many passes was that to a goal?". I can´t tell, but for minutes Gunners were keeping the ball and just passing it to from player to another, like they were warming up or something. And Adebayor decided to end it with a goal. It was nice.

Almunia was doing excellent today, when he needed to do something, which wasn´t that often. What is really, really unnerving is that Eboue was taken out with strecher and Clichy wasn´t looking that good either when leaving the pitch. I honestly hope both of them are fine, the injury list is already long. Is Arsenal somehow injury prone team or what?
Oh, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere both debuted today, like seeing them in action. I just can´t shake the feeling that I am old, when the commentator said something along the lines: "...when he initially joined Arsenal as a 9-year-old back in 2001...". Wilshere is young, but that young... Actually, he is the youngest player to appear on a Premier League match. It just feels so, bizarre. Huoh.

I´m playing with iTunes and Genius now. It´s kind of nice, gives good recommendations. Too good, since I keep thinking, oh I should get that song and get to know that band or artist. This is some evil plot by Apple to make me consume even more... :D

I should get to my reading. Or at least stop hanging at my laptop and do something. I will. Starting now.

IWFT

Doomed Now.

2008-09-12T17:14:00.005+03:00

First things first. I love the new iPod Nano. I know, I know. It looks hell of a lot more like the 2nd generation Nano than 3rd gen, but I never actually loved the 3rd gen. It was too square for my liking. That´s why this new sleek baby is something I must have. You haven´t seen them yet? Take a look at here. That´s the Finnish version of the site, but I´ll think you´ll get your way into the English or whatever version you prefer if you´re interested enough. Oh, the best thing with these new sweeties? I can´t say if it´s the Genius or the Cover Flow. I like using Cover Flow on my Mac, but Genius just sounds to brilliant. I have to get one to see how it actually works. And the colours. They are so lovely. It will be extremely hard to decide which one I want. The green is awesome, but I find the purple kind of nice too. Then again, I have been thinking of getting that red one, since it´s a (RED) product, but I might confuse it with my cell phone. Thank god I don´t have to decide now.

I nearly choked on my hot chocolate this morning. It was an ordinary looking ad on the back of a NYT liite, advertising Artek chair. It was the one word that I found so funny. The chairs in different colours were called "rockstar", "poet", "storyteller", that kind of names. And then there was this one called pianist. Thank you very much. I told you I can never think about it the normal way, not even the word.

I started reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. It´s too early to say wether it´s the best book ever or just fantastic. I have one problem with it though. One of the characters is called Aureliano, and I can´t help thinking of this man. He plays is the Argentinian league. Back in Zagreb we caught a glimpse of it and of course heard the name, and now I keep associating to him. So, really, this book is forever, to me, the Zagreb-novel. It might not be a bad thing.

Talk about Zagreb. The new issue of Anna magazine is running a story about an extended weekend in the city. Pretty basic stuff, see that and visit there. I was just very disappointed it didn´t mention shoeshops. It´s a women´s mag and women love to shop shoes, right? What would be a better place than that?

The same aforementioned magazine also presented some cities and other places people ought to visit. Including Milan. Yes, been there, done that. What really surprised me on that little article, was that it said one should book their, well I can´t get a better word right now, visit to The Last Supper beforehand, since there are even two week long waiting lists to see it. We didn´t book and still managed to see it just by walking to the building and meeting that woman with tickets.I don´t know, I guess we were unusually lucky. But we saw it. If someone wants to share their story on seeing or not seeing tha painting, feel free.

One more thing. I´ve been reading a lot of women´s mags this week... That wasn´t the thing though. MeNaiset just was asking their readers if they´ve been wondering the performer of the song on the Rexona roll-on TV ad. My instant answer was no, because first time I saw it on TV, I was, god can I never get rid of this. The song is Gabriella Cilmi´s Sweet About Me. I´ve seen the video tens of times I think. We should have kept a record. But Italian music TV apparently loved it during the summer. The video is fine, the band is having fun, but after you´ve seen it 3 times a day it gets a bit boring. So now, I haven´t been wondering about that.

Ethiopia was kicked out of the World Cup qualifying campaign. News on BBC. Got to love NewsFire for getting these news. If you are using OSX, you might find it nice.

I rest my case for now. Comments are always welcomed.

IWFT

Music Is The Victim.

2008-09-11T12:35:00.002+03:00

First of all, if you still haven´t seen the video of Rage Against The Machine performing Bulls on Parade and Killing In The Name a capella at St. Paul, check this video. I wouldn´t say it´s hilarious, but it is really cool. They just get a megaphone and start singing. And manage to sound quite good, considering they were years apart and just made, well, I guess you can call it a comeback. Maybe it´s not that bad that they got back together...

I´m going to boast some of those bands I´ve been really into lately. Some new, some older, but all the same great to listen to.

Modwheelmood. Fabulous Swedish-Italian duo. I absolutely love their music. It´s so beautiful, you can´t believe how, somehow fragile music one can do with synths. I could listen to them for days and I´d die to see them live. Wonderful indeed.

My again-found favourite Bloc Party has a new album out. Digitally, in physical form sometime in October. I´m too lazy to find the date. But I did take a listen to the songs on their MySpace. Very electronic, it seems to be the main trend right now. It sounds kind of great though. Maybe it´s lacking some of the Intimacy of their previous albums, but I can´t deny the fact that they sound good. In a way they new sound suits them very well. I have to wait till I get the entire album on my hands before I say anything more.

I was also exploring Glasvegas´ MySpace. Shame they don´t have full songs there, because they sound very nice. Love the accent and all of those who´ve been stoked about all the other Glaswegian bands should check this band out. YleX has been playing one of their songs quite a lot and it has been to mu liking. There is also a clip of their version of Nirvana´s Come As You Are. Interesting, it reminds me a bit of the unplugged version.

I´ve mentioned Does It Offend You, Yeah? earlier, but I think it deserved to be mentioned again. Epic Last Song is one of my favourites at the moment and I am also digging Dawn Of The Dead. Check them out. I know most of you will hate them at the first time, but they really grow on you. At least they should. If they don´t, then I don´t know what´s wrong with you. :D

A second mention to MGMT is also in place. Oracular Spectacular is a stunning album. It´s not in depth with your soul and inner-self kind of album, but some of the lyrics are well-written. And if Time To Pretend, Kids and Electric Feel don´t make you feel like dancing then probably nothing does. Weekend Wars is something I´m very fond of too.

And before I forget it completely, TV On The Radio has a new album coming out September 23rd. The songs I´ve heard have been totally promising, so I have high hopes on the newcomer. Maybe after this album somebody else than critics and indie people start liking this band. They should be liked, they deserve it.

Apparently R.E.M. had a great set at the Finnair Stadium on Tuesday. I´d like to see them and their special guests, but the ticket prices were ridiculous and so I stayed home. I´m not a fan, so I´m saving the money for something else. Like for the editors album that hopefully comes out sometime soon. They´ve said they have new material, it just needs to be recorded. An End Has A Start is one of the best British albums I´ve purchased in the past years, so I hope they´ve come up with something similar. Or better. We just have to wait patiently.

That´s my two cents on music today, hope you´ll click the links and find something you like. That´s what I do quite often.

I´ve been studying the entire week. I would have never believed that reading about the crash of world economy in the 1920s´ would be fun, but it was. The guy who wrote the book I´m reading is very good with words. Not too complicated and a hint of humor here and there. The translator has done well too, I haven´t noticed anything odd.

I got to the end of The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk yesterday. It was interesting, the way it ended and sort of made me think the whole story again. Not the easiest novel to read, you need to pay attention to the plot and characters and most of all to their stories, but it pays in the end. Garcia Marquez´s masterpiece is waiting patiently to be read and I´m thinking of starting it today.

I feel like I´ve been neglecting TV lately, since I haven´t watched it. Mostly it´s because there is nothing good on. House, Criminal Minds and Dexter are pretty much the only series I want to watch. Oh, and of course Entourage with new episodes airing. But the rest... I did watch the pilot of The Black Donnelly´s. It was promising, but it doesn´t have the "it". I´m highly anticipating Flight of the Conchords that premiers on Monday, at a terrible time though. Looses some of the potential viewers because it airs around 11 PM. And Prison Break returns next week, but I´m not stoked about it. They should have made it a one-season show. Not that I wouldn´d love to see William Fitchner´s Mahone. He´s stolen the show as far as I´m concerned. Maybe I should take a look at some of those new series that Brits and Americans are thrilled about, but I hate screening them on my laptop. The picture quality usually sucks and because of that I get bored easily. It should be one hell of a show then. If someone wants to suggest a series I´d should check out, feel free.

Just got the bill of my studies. Thankfully I don´t have to pay it myself. Actually, I should be studying right now instead of posting this, but I´m ahead of my schedule, so I won´t be mad at myself.

I´m done, have fun.

IWFT

Lounge Act.

2008-09-10T20:27:00.006+03:00

This is going to be torture to all of you who don´t like football. Because that´s mainly the only topic today. Ok, a bit something else in the beginning. Another bizarre dream I saw last night. It was about shoes. High heels to be more excact.

I was, once again I don´t know why, on a cruise ship. There was this man who was trying to charm me and he gave me the most perfect pair of high heels. They fit amazingly fine and were absolutely fabulous. So beautiful, dark, electric blue and it looked like the fabric was decorated with some kind of lace with flowers. It is so hard to describe. They looked something like these, but ten times more gorgeous. Man, if I could ever get shoes from my dream. Someone care to manufacture me my dreamshoes? I promise I´ll wear them. In the dream I had a pair of very nice green, velvety stiletto heels too, but I didn´t like them as much as the blue ones. And I´d like to know who the man was. The cruise ship part is bugging me too. Maybe I´ll get an explanation tonight.

Oh, I heard the Meyer is going to write a sequel to The Host. Why is she about to torture us? It honestly doesn´t need a sequel. One book was enough, the story was told. Right?

Fine, beautiful game. I´m watching Finland-Germany right now. Not because I´d support Finns, but because Germany has the most fun coach ever. Yes, I´m having my one-person Joachim Löw fan club here right now. Imagine if he was coaching Finland... Though then it would mean that we´d need to find Finns that live and breathe the game, not just play it. Some interesting situations so far, but nothing dramatic.

I am going to watch Spain -Armenia this evening, well, night actually. Interesting to see if del Bosque still places Fabregas on the starting XI after his blast on Saturday. He was really pissed when he was substituted by Alonso, everyone could see it. I was totally surprised by his actions, but they don´t make him any less great a player. We´ll see. I´m keeping this updated.

France won´t be having Nasri today as his knee has been bugging him and they want to play safe. Which is totally fine by me, because leagues are back this weekend.

//Finland-Germany ended 3-3 with Klose scoring a hattrick. Interesting match, Finland was better than I ever expected. Germany (fine, Gomez) managed to fuck up couple of good situations. All in all, it was a really fine match, it was great to see it.

Russia won Wales and Bosnia-Herzegovina took the points from Estonia. Capdevila has scored for Spain and Walcott for England (about time). Cesc didn´t make Spain´s opening, btw, and they are playing with two forwards. Shame my favourite forward won´t be making an appearance. Just got to settle with Villa, who just put the ball in the goal making the numbers 2-0. Armenia is taking a huge beat. France and Italy have both one goal, leading Serbia and Georgia respectively. Croatia-England 0-3 with Theo-boy´s second and Rooney´s goal.

All my streams went down for at least ten minutes, annoying. Got to hope this one I just got stays up until the end. // This update posted at 11.39 PM

//Interesting results. My favourite is Portugal-Denmark 2-3. Yes, that´s right, the Danes won Portugal. If I wasn´t dead tired I´d be jumping of joy. Seriously.
Luxembourg won Switzerland 2-1, which is a middle-sized shock.
In Northern Ireland the result against Czech Republic was 0-0. The latter had a certain Baros on the opening XI, which surprised me. A lot, I might add.
Croatia-England must have been great. England got their revenge, 1-4. Theo W. also made a hattrick and by now proved he really deserves his place on the team.
Lithuania beat Austria and France got that really important win as Serbia went down 2-1. Italy is also a winner of this evening.
Spain-Armenia ended 4-0, with Marcos Senna scoring the last one. Started getting better and better towards the end and one of the good moments was seeing Bojan play. Yes, it was cool. The referee was from Finland and on my opinion did his job well.

Oh, in case you like languages, in Spanish corner is corner, just like in Italian a weekend is weekend.

I´m done for this evening. I´ve been up for god knows how long and have been writing for hours about football to a post that most likely no one will read. I´m hitting the sack now. I´ll write when I actually have something worth telling.// posted at 1.10 AM

IWFT

The First Cut Is The Deepest.

2008-09-06T22:17:00.004+03:00

I hate tuna cans. At least those tuna cans that are sold here. The lid is deadly. Why can´t we have those paprey-like lids that I remember Italian cans have. I am not sure if they are made of paper, but they didn´t feel metal when I had an encounter with one. Why all this resentment? I´ll tell you.

I´m spending a weekend alone as my folks are making their last visit to our summer cottage. So, I decided to make some pizza. It all went fine until it was time to throw the tuna in. I opened the lid and the next thing I realised was that my finger was bleeding, really much. It´s funny how you react in a slipt second in a situation like that. Of course I ran to the sink to get the water clean the wound. Well, it was still very much bleeding when I started to think about a band-aid. None in the kitchen, so I had to make my way to the toilet. Wrapped the corner of the kitchen towel around the cut and took a few steps.

In the toilet I had to clean the cut again. The person who says Septidin doesn´t smart when you put it to the wound has never tried it. Because it does. Not that it did that much good. You know how much a wound on your finger can bleed, right? A lot. Then started the desperate search for a band-aid. Not a single one that would have fitted my finger without trimming. Yeah, there was what was left of a one meter on band aid, but I didn´t have scissors. Besides, it would have been impossible to cut anything with just one hand. Finally I found one plaster that I did stick to the finger. I had to get a new one about two hours later, but now the cut has settled. Finally. Thank god I´m not one of those people who faint when they see blood. I did sit on the toilet floor for a while, since the incident made me feel a little light-headed. All is well now though. It was just so funny. My family seems to have a thing for finger accidents. Remember when I told my dad hit his finger with an axe? It was his ringfinger, left. Today I cut my ringfinger, right. I didn´t get stiches and believe that this is going to be fine in a couple of days.

The pizza was delicious. After I removed a very bloody looking pineapple slice out of it.

This action took about fifteen minutes of my day, so I´ve been doing other things too. Well, watching TV mostly. I know I´m ten years late on this one, but I finally decided to give The Sopranos a chance and watched the pilot. I don´t hate it, but I´m not in love with it either. Yet, at least. Actually, I think it´s better to start with it now than when I was something like eleven. I might get it better now, if you know what I mean. Like Six Feet Under. I love the show, but I was pretty young when it premiered here and I know I have missed things because of that. But if the rumours about its´ rerun are real, then I can´t wait.

Other show I´ve spend my hours on today was Holocaust. YLE Teema showed the first part yesterday and I recorded it. The name pretty much tells what it´s about. First episode was a bit over two hours, but it´s worth it. This show has been highly appraised and I understand why it´s on Teema. Shame that most people are going to miss or just aren´t interested. They should.

I´ve got entertainment for the rest of the evening, I happened to find a stream of Spain - Bosnia-Herzegovina, but as my Spanish still sucks, I can only understand the names. Like I´m going to let that bother me. And you can guess what people are singing... Now it´s stuck in my head for days. Again.
What is totally odd, is that France is taking a beat from Austria. 2-1 right now. Anything can happen. I´m having fun with this. More later.

//WTF was once again my first comment. Austria-France 3-1. Never saw that coming. Italy barely won Cyprus, final result was 1-2. Romania´s 3-0 loss to Lithuania wasn´t that expected either. Otherwise nothing special. Spain - Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0, by Villa´s rather Torres-esque goal. The Euro final -esque goal. Not a great game, but entertaining, though BIH didn´t really stand a chance. It was just odd, Ramos was playing a position that would have made me mistaken him for a almost attacking midfielder, if I hadn´t known better. Oh, apparently in Spain Fabregas still goes by his first name, which is somewhat disturbing. And I will never read comments again, because they remind me of what I have once said in the late hours. Or early hours. About certain people. Or person... Thank you.

IWFT