Sunday, May 13, 2007

Verka Seduchka II

I may just have to go buy an accordion now.

I am inspired.

posted by Jeff @ 7:45 AM 0 comments

I (Heart) Verka Seduchka



So much to say here. Wow. First let me tell you a little about the Eurovision song contest. This is an annual competition between the best up-and-coming bands from every European nation. It is kind of like Canadian (or American) idol, except it is actually cool.


Unlike Idol, the music varies from stadium rock to metal bands to lounge music to solo singers, to I-have-no-idea-what-the-hell-that-was (see photo above). The format is more stadium rock than the club type format of Idol, so it is way higher energy.


Last night was the Eurovision final in Helsinki, and as far as I can tell, the entire continent came to a standstill last night to watch and vote. I don't really understand the voting process, people could call in to vote, but there was also some kind of mechanism where bands that were about to be eliminated could contribute their votes to the band of their choice. Regardless, the winner was from Serbia - Marija Serifovic. She was a solid performer and her song was definitely good. It had a certain sweeping quality. It would be great in a Hollywood movie soundtrack at the climactic point in the film where the action goes to slo-mo and the protagonist, having finally overcome his personal demons and in the face of overwhelming odds, runs through a sheet of flame to rescue his spunky but exhausted girlfriend from imminent catastrophy. You know what I am talking about.


I also have to put in a plug for The Ark, who were the entry from Sweden. Their tune The Worrying Kind was extremely catchy. It rightly gets a lot of airplay over here, and despite their dismal result (18th) they will do well domestically at the very least. They have a simple pop-rock kind of sound. Imagine combining prototypical '50's rock like Bill Haley and the Comets with Abba, and you might be close.


However! My vote (and heart) , went to Verka Seduchka - the contenders from the Ukraine, who are unquestionably the most bizarre band I have ever seen in my life (again, see photo above). I defy you to watch this clip of their performance last night and not pee your pants laughing. I have watched it a dozen times and I still crack up. Not to mention, the tune has a really good hook. They ended up in second place. For sheer entertainment value, they absolutely should have won. They are spectacular. If they ever, ever come on tour anywhere near where I happen to be, I will definitely go see them. They are so over the top, it defies description. The photo above is of their lead singer. Who, I might add, is a guy. Imagine combining the Daleks from Dr. Who with the Village people, and dressing the result in leiderhosen. Watch the clip. Please, go watch the clip.

posted by Jeff @ 6:50 AM 0 comments

Saturday, May 12, 2007

View from my window at 4 am.


posted by Jeff @ 11:47 AM 1 comments

Cool university traditions

A recent conversation:

Pår: I nailed my thesis today! (very excited)
Me: Wow! That is great news!

Pause

Me: Uh, what do you mean, exactly?

Pår: I nailed my thesis! To the wall!
Me: Uh...

Pår: You know, in the library!
Me: Uhhh....

Pår: You know, you know! Just like Martin Luther did in 1517 when he nailed his theses to the church door in Wittemburg!
Me: Uhhh....

Pår: Oh, come on, you know, Martin Luther, the guy who deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions, as well as the course of Western civilization.

Me: Dude, what exactly did you study? Theology?

Pår: No, I just nailed my thesis to the wall.

Me: I still have no idea what you are talking about.

Pår: It is a tradition in Swedish universities that when your thesis has been accepted for defence, you must nail it to the wall of the library. It symbolizes that no more changes can be made to it before you defend, and of course it also harkens back to good old Martin Luther. Did you know that after he nailed his theses to the church door, they were quickly translated from Latin to German and within two weeks had been distributed throughout Germany? It was the first controversy in history to be fanned by the printing press.

Me: You are scaring me.

Pår: If the answers frighten you, cease asking scary questions, my son.

posted by Jeff @ 11:23 AM 1 comments

Back online

Hi everyone. Sorry about that, I was having problems with the Blogger software. It only let me write stuff in the heading, but not in the main body. I really don't know what was wrong, but it seems to be working OK now.

posted by Jeff @ 11:21 AM 0 comments

Friday, May 04, 2007

Maibrossa

On the first of May, it is traditional in Sweden to gather the community together and engage in a bit of pagan frivolity. Ever since prehistoric times, communities have used this day to light up a bonfire that is supposed to scare off the winter spirits and mark the passage of ski season into orienteering season.

Jan invited me to Stöcke, where he lives to celebrate with his family.

Stöcke is a town of maybe a few hundred people just on the outskirts of Umeå. It could actually be considered a suburb, except for historical reasons. Anyhow, it is not a big place.

My idea of a bonfire is something like a giant campfire. Maybe an order of magnitude bigger, tops. So say, a stack of wood a few feet high and a few feet wide.

So imagine my surprise when I arrived to see this:

This is a fairly substantial pile of wood. As in, it is the size of a small house. You could easily torch a witch on a pile like that.


And here it is actually on fire. It took a while for the whole thing to go up because the wind was against the flame. On the top right of the pile, you can just make out the witch. The heat this thing gave off was unbelievable. It was like staring into the face of the sun. You could not get within 50 meters of it when it was in full flame. It also gave off a huge amount of smoke.

And remember, every town over a few hundred people had one of these.

It would be very interesting to take a look at the environmental impact of these things. There was a pall of wood smoke hanging over all of Umeå that night. Interesting that in such an enviro conscious place, tradition still trumps the environment.

posted by Jeff @ 12:55 PM 0 comments

A bit of a breakthrough

Two small victories today in the long, long road of learning this accursed language. First was in Clas Ohlsson's. Clas Ohlsson's is kind of like a hardware store on 'roids. It is to old men what honey is to ants. I had to go in because I needed a Whitmore thread tap and die set. This is a bit of a specialty item, and I saw they didn't have what I was looking for. So I squared my shoulders and marched with authority up to the help counter where I confidently stuck out my hand and took a number. Those number dispenser thingies are everywhere. Banks, hospitals, hardware stores... anyhow. I waited my turn then successfully, in halting Grade 1 Swedish, asked the dude behind the counter if they had Whitmore taps. I admit that I looked up what a tapset was beforehand in preparation. I realize that many of you may find yourself in the situation of having to ask about a Whitmore tap in a Swedish hardware store so for future reference, a Whitmore tapset is Gangtap Whitmore. I know, I know, you will thank me someday.

But wait! It doesn't end there. The guy told me that no, they did not have Whitmore taps. I then asked if he know where I could find Whitmore tapsets. He told me that I might find them at Laitis (another hardware store).

Then a bit later,at my orienteering club training, I found myself chuckling at a small joke somebody said. Somebody called somebody else Den köttbullar fran Holmesund. This translates as the Meatball from Holmesund. You have to know the guy to understand. Trust me, it is funny. And I actually picked it out of the conversation. Of course I have no idea of the context it was said in. Details, details.

Victory is mine! Soon I will be waxing on eloquently about international trade deficits while wearing a smoking jacket.

posted by Jeff @ 12:38 PM 0 comments