Pam Am witnessing the jolly British and some short-tempered Frankfurters

As I have so wonderful friends in Frankfurt I must post this one here.

(Please find the original source, Teknik 360, here. Thanks, TN!)

* * *

The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one’s gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them.

So it was with some amusement that we, a Pan Am 747, listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206.

Speedbird 206: ”Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway.”

Ground: ”Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven.”

The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.

Ground: ”Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?”

Speedbird 206: ”Stand by, Ground, I’m looking up our gate location now.”!

Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): ”Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?”

Speedbird 206 (coolly): ”Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark, and I didn’t land.”

25 Things About Me. (A meme)

This crazy meme was sent to me in Facebook, but from now on I'll try to write more of my blog and less Facebook stuff, so here we go.

"You are supposed to write a note with 25 random things about yourself. At the end, you choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you."

I'll try to keep this trivial, non-political and light-hearted but sincere. No whining about Putin, Bush, climate change and human rights this time. (But trust me; more posts on those coming up!)


1. Those are my eyes.

2. I just dyed my hair a bit darker, so I guess my hair colour is now "dark blonde". And I guess my original hair colour is a very Nordic "Messy Darkish Blondish": I get blonder stripes easily in summer because I swim outside whenvever I get an opportunity, and I have hints of red pigment, too. But here are the News: I have huge stripes of grey above my left ear.

3. I am a Helsinki girl. My grandparents lived here, too. Most of my relatives live here. I love travelling, but I have never actually wanted to move elsewhere.

4. Of all forms of arts, music and literature are the most precious to me.

5. I like music which is composed and played skillfully. Soul, jazz, "classic" progressive rock... "Complicated" music, like Mr HP put it. When driving I usually listen to Groove FM and sing all the soul classics so dear to me. At home it is nice to listen to classical music, but in the car I get a headache if I listen to classical piano.

6. When I was 17 I borrowed the ID of a friend of mine, because I had to get to Tavastia, the number One rock club in Helsinki, to see Pekka Pohjola's gig. The bouncers were, and still are, well-known of the fact no minor can sneak in. The music was excellent! (And my classmate had a driver's licence, so she did not need the papers. Well, neither did she want to see Pekkis, either.) For me, that one was only the first of many Pohjola gigs, I tried to be in Tavastia every time he played there.

7. I cried last November when I was in Berlin and heard Pohjola had passed away.



8. I cried at the Pohjola Tribute gig 14 January.

9. Enough of all this crying: I laugh a lot. I enjoy being with friends who make me laugh and who enjoy laughing. For example, the gang with which we travel to Football events are like that. I love telling and hearing jokes. I am constantly trying to learn new ones and pass the oldies forward!

10. I can't draw. Not at all. Or maybe I could if I really tried, but I am not interested.

11. I can't cook anything fancy. Or maybe I could if I really tried, but I am not interested.

12. I am really, really good at baking! The sweet buns I make are most delicious. I can do cakes, too. And bread. With freshly baked, hot bread the best topping is real butter.

13. I love jams. Cherry, blackberry, blackcurrant jam, and marmalades... I have to have several in the fridge all the time. And I can't picture pancakes without my favourite: apple jam!

14. I have never been in the USA. And neither in the Southern America. Been to nowhere in America! But I'd very much love to go.

15. The most famous person by whom I have been kissed is Francis Ford Coppola.

16. I hate warm milk in most of its forms. Except that sometimes I like drinking a cup of hot chocolate, but it must be self-made with lots and lots of cocoa (so that I can't taste and smell the milk).

17. Usually I don't like soups, because very often there is warm milk in them. Though I do like Russian-style selyanka (which I have in Estonia all the time) and bortsch.

18. I love pickled cucumber, made in Russian style, but I do not like the sugary, Nordic versions of those. I hate the Felix crap.

19. When I was a kid my mom took me to cinema every other weekend. When I was 5 my favourite film was "Sleeping Beauty" because the dress of the Princess changed colour in the final scene.

20. I stopped being religious at the age nine when I saw a film on the life of Jesus. (To tell ou the truth, I don't think I was religiuos before, but I migh have thought there could be something like a God somehere.) In this film the Son of the God was so human, so likeable, so wonderful guy. I even read the Bible after seeing that film - and immediately realised I truly am interested in history and fairy tales, but the God is not speaking to me, because there is no god. No God could make his beautiful, loving son suffer like that! And much later I learned this breath-taking film was directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

21. I fell in love with mr HP when he told me one of his favourite directors is Pasolini.

22. One of my favourite directors is Francois Truffaut. One of my favourite actors is Juliette Binoche. Other good ones: Jeanne Moreau, Monica Vitti, Gerard Depardieu, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Monty Clift, Ava Gardner, Tauno Palo. And Liz Talor! And John Wayne. I love everything with John Wayne. Actors everyone else seems to love, but whom I don't find particularly good: Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner (and he is not a good director, either).

23. I love the French language. Sometime I want to see some French film just because I enjoy listening to that beautiful language so much. I am refreshing my own language skills in a funny but very productive way: I sing French children's songs. With this.

24. I get bored easily, if I have to wait or just sit or stand still for a long time. That's why I always have a book or two with me everywhere I go. Or three. (And that's why I never carry too small a hand bag!) Should I forget those, I write myself. I aways carry a note book or two with me. Or three.

25. I wish I could be a bit more Buddhist and deeply understand how the inner strength is everything you really have. How happiness, confidence, beauty and peace do not come from outside, but they are resting inside you all the time. A lot of work required here.

* * * * *

I'll "tag" more of You in Facebook. Here I forward the challenge to Timo Virtala, Mane the Mean, Tiina Kaarela, Sedis, Oderazzi, Halo Efekti (Except that she has already done this!) and of course, Vaiheinen.

I was tagged by PG, who will be informed through Facebook as well.

Auld Lang Syne!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

– Robert Burns, in 1788

(See the end of this post for the rest & link.)

"When will Santa come?", Miss Funnybunny kept asking, with a demanding tone in her voice. Every day, several times a day. Starting in mid-November.



Before Christmas of 2008 I was very tired. The whole autumn had very rapidly moved forward to the most hectic pre-Christmas time, and I felt I am dragging myself somewhere behind. I was working all the time, and being seemingly active, but my mind was occupied in other things: A new writing project had started to haunt me. Miss Funnybunny had grown, got cleverer, really thus funnier, but still with little toddler's tantrums, and she required more and more of my attention after work.

And I wished I could have a holiday.

Finally: It was Christmas! Even though I am not at all religious, I understand the value of peace and quietness, and making the "holy" days more preecious with decorations and presents. At least for a few days.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs with its Christmas decorations on the other side of the bay.


... and a window from where we can take a look at it.


My feet resting when I am watching Titanic. Never seen it before, and I got my chance when Mr HP and Miss Funnybunny went to visit grandparents in the countryside for a couple of days. Me leaving home in the middle of the most beautiful and peaceful time at home? Never! With some wine and chocolate even a film as predictable and boring with not-so-good actors (except the villain = the guy who is to marry Rose) as Titanic was bearable. And with "predictable" I do not refer to the fact that the ship finally did sink. (Boy, was I waiting for that.)


After the holy days: New Year's Eve at friends' house, at a most stylish love birds' nest in Töölö. With Miss F, Mr HP and a bunch of jolly people. (Although we did not experience the very beginning of the year 2009 here, we were watching the great fireworks near the Cathedral of Uspenski.


Finally, Listen to the happy politicians singing and sing yourself with the SPECIALISTS, ie. Scotts! Plus there seemed to be a person from England, too. I also highly recommend you read the praising, tearful comments below the video: "Obama should do the same in the US senate"...

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
For auld lang syne!

(And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.)
Please see the poem and song as a whole in the Wikipedia site.

"I want to go in". Félicitations!

So, you have let your hair grow? Stylish, as You always are. Congrats, Atiq!

* * * * *

"Soon they'll socialise the car industry," Mr HP commented this morning. He was puzzled, and slightly amused, too, I must admit. It is his birthday today, so into our bed he received coffee, newspaper and buns (proudly baked by me) with whipped cream.

While enjoying the warmest congratulations from Miss Funnybunny and me, with self-made cards and a poem (mine!) he was digging into the deep and crushing crisis of car industry in USA. (But good for the environment? Well, perhaps, if they build any alternative means of transportation. But that's what the big country is lacking at the moment.)

Then, just to make him laugh and forget the recession for a sec – an entrepreneur as he is (but in the hard business of literature, so he's not a car salesman!) – I told him the joke M.U. e-mailed me yesterday (THANKS again, dearest M!):

"One sunny day in 2009,

an old man sitting on a park bench opposite the White House, got up, crossed Pennsylvania Avenue and said to the U.S. Marine standing guard, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.' The Marine replied, 'Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.''Okay,' said the old man and walked away.

The following day, the same man walked over to the White House and said to the same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.' The Marine replied, 'Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.' 'Okay,' said the old man again and walked away.

The third day, the same man walked over to the White House and said to the very same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.'

The Marine, understandably annoyed, looked at the man and replied, 'Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?'

The old man said, 'Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.'

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, 'See you tomorrow.'"

* * *

And last but not least, I would like to congratulate the newest winner of the most valuable literature prize in France, Prix Goncourt: Atiq Rahimi!

Your books on Afganistan and the wars the nation has suffered from have made me a huge impression. I can hardly wait for the next one!

It was lovely to work with You years ago. The war fabricated by the CIA or George W. or whoever, against "the axis of evil" – one strong member of which was supposingly Afganistan – had just started and everywhere You had to comment on the desperate situation of the Afgans.

But yet, we did have a good time in Central Finland, partying until dawn with a bunch of literature maniacs. It was a literature happening in Urjala, in the nostalgic landscapes of the most important Finnish classics.

Félicitations, cher Atiq!

In an interview Rahimi comments on his book Earth and Ashes: "I wrote the novel in 1996, when the Taliban had just come to power. I thought, "Why? Why this violence? Why so much destruction?" During the Soviet war, there was a lot of vengeance, much catastrophe. The Taliban came from this catastrophe. It is important to know where this came from. Also, I wanted to show the three generations of Afghanistan. Dastaguir, the old man, represents Afghanistan's past, its traditions, its customs, its honor. This is the older generation. His son is the present, my generation. He works in a mine; he is the mujahideen generation, the chaos. Yassin, the grandson, is the future. He is deaf, handicapped by war. It is always true that communication between generations does not exist. My generation, the generation of Mujahideen and Communist, has no communication with the past or future."

* * * * *

Happy Birthday to those of You who celebrate this very day: the twins Ode and Hannu, Antti V, and especially Petteri = 40 years!!!! Congrats for the degree to Ira!

Oh, say can you see

Congrats, USA! And thanks for showing there is hope for the future.

Dear Barack. Now start working for peace and human rights outside the USA, too. (Comes with the job as the World Leader. And you know, you and President Hu Jintao are the guys the aliens want to address to when right after their arrival they say to the first earthlings they meet "take us to your leader".)

In your country, reduce greenhouse gasses IMMEDIATELY (and encourage President Hu Jintao to do likewise), do not be slaves of oil and nuclear industries (like us Finns), build up the economy with green energy and sustainable development... (By the way, does anyone talk about "sustainable development any more, or is it too 1980's?)

Yeah, there's a lot to be done.



I wish I knew how the Kremlin will react! They must be dumbfounded: "What happened?", Putin is screaming. "A black guy? Why couldn't they organise the elections like we do in Russia: tell people who is the only candidate to vote for? But in the USA people actually voted, like, the citizens themselves went to cast their votes? How ridiculous. How could they allow this to happen? What is this sh*t – democracy, what's that?"



You've come a long way, baby! I remember I actually cried at the end of the Roots Tv series. And again when I read the book. This still is one of the best historical half-biografies I have ever read.

Empty Desperation of Modern Life

Garfield minus Garfield?

It looks a little scary. But whoever got this idea, I admit the person is a genious, and Garfield strips just got better this way.



"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb."

Night and Day

I just decided to tell you two things you could not live without knowing:

1) There are HUGE bunnies in Germany. Someone has suggested them to be sent to North Korea. I found this story when I googled "North Korea" today looking for a picture for the piece I put together, concerning May day politics. (I did not choose the monster rabbits pictured there, but for IStori, on the other hand, they are most suitable.)



2) The most expensive gadget in the world is a watch that does not tell the time. (Thanks for the hint, M.U.!)

Luxury watch that doesn't tell the time sells out
By Nick Pisa in Rome

A £150,000 watch that doesn’t even tell the time has sold out within hours of going on sale. The crocodile skin strap accessory, called “Day & Night”, is encrusted with sapphires and made from steel salvaged from the wreck of the Titanic. ISTORI: And you Swiss think that's supposed to be lucky material?

Its face is divided into two sections - a dark half to signify night and a lighter half to signify the day.

A limited number were made by Swiss manufacturers Romain Jerome and they sold out within 48 hours after being presented at a watch exhibition. The Brazilian footballer, Ronaldo, was given the first one. ISTORI: From whom did you get it – some fan of Inter Milan? (Ronaldo is playing with AC Milan.) --

They describe the timepiece as a “world unique - a watch that does not tell the time”.

“With no display for the hours, minutes or seconds the Day & Night offers a new way of measuring time, splitting the universe of time into two fundamentally opposing sections: day versus night.

“A new interpretation of time, an avant-garde approach that is different and even disturbing.”

Chief executive Yvan Arpa, said: “Anyone can buy a watch that shows time, but only a discerning customer can buy one that doesn’t.”

Postman always rings. And sings.

This is a tribute the British culture and a present for Funnybunny. I have just had my two morning cups of coffee, read the paper and now checking out the news on web. We are still lazily in bed, Miss Funnybunny happily leaning on my shoulder, singing along the Postman Pat theme song.

A day could not begin in a more enjoyable way!

Ladies and gentlemen:
Postman Pat with Jess the Cat. *** Postimies Pate ja Jessi-kissa.

EDIT: How many times does a postman ring? See yourselves, the answer being most visible in the Finnish version.

...and this is a treasure. The same in Norwegian: "Postmann Pat med sin svarte-vite katt..." It works in a Scandinavian language, too, I must say. Edit: But the pictures lack all the other characters but Pat and Jess. Whysdat? Not in DDR...

I'm waiting. Please hurry up now.

The building of Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland is the white one (actually, it's yellow), on the island of Katajanokka, Helsinki. The painter of this picture must be standing on Tervasaari.(Tjärholmen in Swedish, Tar island).

I proudly state I have not sent 200 sms to any stripper. (Unlike Mr Ilkka Kanerva, who is soon to resign as a Minister for Foreign Affairs, see here.)

So I am most willing to start as the newest Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I have travelled and know a fact or two about these businesses. (... not too many more, but hey, nobody's perfect.)

Like Mr Kanerva, I also love sports, especially football. I would boycott the Opening Ceremony of the next Olympics (unless Dalai Lama would tell me not to), but would enthusiatically attend the Football cups, both the European and the World Cup, and even African Cup and Copa Americana, should you so wish.

I'd also like to meet with Dalai Lama, my utmost political hero (alive).

Dear head of state Matti Vanhanen, please do ask me quickly, I am a very busy woman.

What an insult!

This is hilarious. I mentioned this the other day:

On 21 March 2008, some members of the banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP) made a snowman outside the regional prosecutor’s office in Nizhny Novgorod.



The nine opposition activists hung a sign on the snowman reading “The Biggest Extremist”.


The chief of local police came out and tore the sign, saying the opposition activists had “insulted the snowman”. The police then arrested five of the activists. Local NBP activists will file a formal complaint for unlawful detention against the chief of police.


I think it was the police who insulted the snowman, don't you agree? And soon at least prosecutors are busy with work.

According to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, Article 1,
everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels, and

Article 6.b provides that everyone has the right, individually and in association with others [...] freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Unfortunately snowmen do not have these rights – no, in Russia they certainly don't.

Snowman causing arrests in Nizhny Novgorod

Let me introduce you my pal "Frosty". I will carry him outside the Soviet Embassy tonight.


(Based on an update from Nizhny Novgorod. You can also look for more updates on the web site of Finnish-Russian Civic Forum, www.finsrosforum.fi.)

Today, on 21 March 2008, members of the banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP) made a snowman outside the regional prosecutor’s office in Nizhny Novgorod. The nine opposition activists hung a sign on the snowman reading “The Biggest Extremist”.

The chief of local police came out and tore up the sign, saying the opposition activists had “insulted the snowman”. The police then arrested five of the activists. Local NBP activists will file a formal complaint for unlawful detention against the chief of police.

Yesterday, police in Nizhny Novgorod and neighbouring Arzamas raided the homes of 17 NBP activists in connection with a criminal investigation under Article 282 (”Extremism”) of the Criminal Code. The police also raided the offices of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Promote Tolerance.

Que sera, sera... I knew it! "The Big Bang wasn't the beginning"

I am worried about some things, like the health and sanity of friends who support Tottenham, and about how Tottenham will play next Sunday when they have the Big Game (but I am a Liverpool supporter, and usually very worried about them, and, by the way, I don't know anyone supporting Chelsea – next Sunday it will be Chelsea–Tottenham),
and I wonder if Miss Funnybunny will live happily and become a good person. Also I worry about catastrophically bad hair days, which I very often have, the future of the earth when nuclear waste is already polluting the seas and soon the atmosphere, and global warming melting the poles and Greenland. And television makes me really worried. The programs, wide – but artistically narrow – range of tv series from hospital crap ("Grey's Anatomy" and all that other baloney based on young people discussing relationships and wondering where they are going – the answer being "absolutely nowhere") to rubbish on police forces ("CSI" – despite the fact that the feature song, by the Who, is the best) and talk shows are so full of nonsense I feel the mankind is ruined. Devastated. Rapidly drowning into an idiot phase.


* * * * *

But there will be a new start and a new one after that, like there always has been!

"the Big Bang Wasn't the Beginning."

This has always been chrystal clear to me.

But finally there's some Cambridge guy who proves me right.

Physicist Neil Turok: Big Bang Wasn't the Beginning
By Brandon Keim

The Big Bang was big, but it wasn't the beginning, Cambridge University mathematical physicist Neil Turok says. He theorizes that the universe is engaged in an eternal cycle of expansion and contraction: There have been many Big Bangs, and there will be many more.

For decades, physicists have accepted the notion that the universe started with the Big Bang, an explosive event at the literal beginning of time. Now, computational physicist Neil Turok is challenging that model -- and some scientists are taking him seriously.

According to Turok, who teaches at Cambridge University, the Big Bang represents just one stage in an infinitely repeated cycle of universal expansion and contraction. Turok theorizes that neither time nor the universe has a beginning or end.

It's a strange idea, though Turok would say it's no stranger than the standard explanation of the Big Bang: a singular point that defies our laws of physics, where all equations go to infinity and "all the properties we normally use to describe the universe and its contents just fail." That inconsistency led Turok to see if the Big Bang could be explained within the framework of string theory, a controversial and so-far untested explanation of the universe as existing in at least 10 dimensions and being formed from one-dimensional building blocks called strings.

The story as a whole at the Wired site.

* * * * *

Buddha, my biggest hero.

Great Drama At the Finnish Parliament. Good Bye, Fish Fingers!

Eduskuntatalo. The center of the drama over Pieces of Fish.


* * * * *

Fish fingers. Kids' all-time favourites.


But Fish fingers mean also the style of moustache, idolised by some Finnish (luckily male) members of the Parliament.

Let me go through this once again:

1) Some guys working for the Finnish Parliament, including some male MP's, have recently been accused of sexual harassment.

2) This accusation of some men giving hard time to female workers leaked out of the parliament when a memo on assessment of working circumstances was published.

3) Well, as expected, the MP's who were (thought to be) among the worst ones quickly claimed in public they are totally innocent, and that "women just do not understand the local kind of humour". As if in the rural areas they come from (and they come from various parts of Finland) the women there were just idiots.

Older ones also said "women have changed", and they (the men) are "just old-fashioned blokes with an old-fashioned sense of humour".

Denying, and minimizing the act: "it was nothing".

4) Some of these explanations were very embarrassing. Those arrogant men lacked consideration and understanding. Some humble but straight-forward act of claiming "there is a problem and we all must work on solving it" might have looked much better. (I am not saying they would have sincerely ment that. But gee, I would make a perfect PR manager, wouldn't I?))

But no. The crumbling attempts to trying to explain the bad behaviour were as a matter of fact revealing the accused do not even respect neither the case, nor the women behind it. This made most women – including women outside the parliament – think the insensitive men conserned MUST have done what they are accused of, no matter how much verbal effort they put into finding the way out.



5) In public the evening press leaked the female workers of the parliament call that ugly style of moustache "fish fingers".

6) The (still male) MPs who have fish fingers above their upper lip said they are very offended now. VERY offended.

"Fish fingers" finally made it.

...and what had happened today:

7) Little birds sang that the fish fingers on the menu of the lunch bar at the Parliament were now called "Pieces of Fish" instead.

So fish fingers are now banned inside the Finnish parliament.

EDIT: Banned from the menu only, unfortunately.

* * * * *

...ja sama suomeksi: kalapuikot olivat Eduskunnan ruokalistalla "kalan paloja" Huimaa!

Run On By. With Tennessee Stud.

Is there any such thing as "Burt Bacharach Appreciation Society"? If I find one, I will be close to joining. BB is a bright guiding star for every runner (with iPod). I don't walk, I run on by.

But a huge surprise for me has been how really very very good, how BRILLIANT an artist Johnny Cash was! Have never really thought so, until now.

Remember Tennessee Stud? Was on Jackie Brown, the Best Film of Tarantino's, I think.

A sample of Tennessee Stud, by Jimmy Driftwood. (Sing along, with the link above.)

Me and a gambler we couldn't agree
We got in a fight over Tennessee
We jerked our guns, he fell with a thud
And I got away on the Tennessee stud

Well, I got as lonesome as a man can be
Dreamin' of my girl in Tennessee
The Tennessee stud's green eyes turned blue
'Cause he was a-dreamin' of a sweetheart too

We loped on back across Arkansas
I whipped her brother and I whipped her pa
I found that girl with the golden hair
And she was ridin' on a Tennessee mare...



As for Jackie B., refresh your memories and take a look at "AK-47".

Jackie Brown is based on a novel Rum Punch of Elmore Leonard's. "He loves sports and guns", thus spoke Wikipeadia. But he has quite recently wrotten a guide book, Ten Rules Of Writing. Very interesting.

You can also learn a great deal from his website; there's an FAQ section. How about this:

Q: How do I gen an agent?
A: My advice is to learn how to write and an agent will find you.

There nothing more to add.

I'm here... With tons of writing, editing, serious thoughts and bad jokes.

I have not been able to update my blog as frequently as I'd like to. I have been writing some articles, my book, & lots of other stuff, attending several Litterary Meetings (like the Helsinki Travel Fair, which is a litterary happening, believe it or not), and I have tried to search for solutions how to deal with Miss Funnybunny's tantrums that make our life crazy, but kind of interesting. She is becoming a bigger and bigger lady, day by day. And very intelligent! (I have enjoyed reading La Petite Anglaise, and compared Funnybunny with her Tadpole. Not a bad comparison at all!)

But all these busy things do not lead to the conclusion I have not been thinking about the basic IStori stuff (whateverthatis).

Let me just list the basics I have in my mind right now:

THE THOUGHT: Ruhnama, the Holy Book of Turkmenistan. Written by the late dictator, Saparmurat Niyazov. Readind the holy sh*t is obligatory for the Turkmen (can't even get a drivers' licence without suffering through the book beforehand), and for everyone trying to do serious business with the locals!

THE REASON WHY: I am soon going to see this hilarious documentary, directed by Arto Halonen, soon; In The Shadow Of The Holy Book.

*

THE THOUGHT: Seven suicides in one village, in a short period of time, is too much of course, but also strange.

THE REASON WHY: At times, especially in April, I tend to think about a good friend I lost 23 years ago. And then, after a shock one tends thinks "he must be the last one" and "this should never happen again", but he is not the last one, and it does happen, and it has happened. This sounds like Hillary Clinton, but in addition to parents' efforts it does take a village, and even a state, to raise our children to be good and happy people. But hey, let's do so. Never leave anyone too alone.

*
THE THOUGHT: Paris

THE REASON WHY: Mr HP and I need to get some visions for our new project. I will reveal more about this later! But the best hmmm hmm hmmm... sort of places happen to be in Paris. And I'd like to meet some friends there, too. And take miss Funnybunny with me. And let Shakespeare and Co gently suck me into it's heavenly womb.

*

THE THOUGHT: Auschwitz

THE REASON WHY: Sunday, 27/1, will be the 63rd anniversary of Auschwitch liberation. For me personally, at the moment, this just means a bit more writing to do. But for the mankind, more brain work. Why, oh why? A woman who survived Auschwitz just put it bluntly in a TV documentary, "the way to Auschwitz was paved with silence". I have seen the camps (or how they look about now), a lot of footage on site, and met some survivers, but yet: what actually took place escapes my mind. And, after having miss Funnybunny, killing kids becomes even more unbelievable, impossiple and devastating, as a thought.

*

THE THOUGHT: Oscars

THE REASON WHY: Really difficult to explain this one! The unexpected destiny of Heath Ledger made me think of stupid stuff: "Now he'll be a hero. Like a new James Dean." That's cruel, I know. Sorry. The guy is dead, and he was kind of good actor. Unlike the overrated but yet, for some reason appreciated blank faces Tom Hanks or Leonardo DiCaprio or Kevin Costner...

There was this poll in today's Independent. (My favourite, remember!)

The Academy has announced this year's nominations. What has been its worst decision to date?

And, after seeing the list the decision was soooo difficult: Forrest Gump was total zero (except Gary Sinise as an interesting sortof-best-friend and the cleverest person there was, and even sexiest, even though he did not have legs, but hey, what do you need legs for, all the time?), and so is Costner as both an actor and a director (and probably the pic he directed in 1990 was Dances With Wolves, which was crap...)

Here we go: The Academy has announced this year's nominations. What has been its worst decision to date?

Titanic - Best Picture, 1997
Rocky - Best Picture, 1976
Can You Feel the Love Tonight - Best Original Song (The Lion King), 1994
Braveheart - Best Picture, 1995
Forrest Gump - Best Picture, 1994
Chicago - Best Picture, 2002
Kevin Costner - Best Director, 1990
Judi Dench - Best Supporting Actress (Shakespeare in Love), 1998

I ended up voting "for" Costner.

Newspapers. Cruise and piggies. Real Life Scheherazade. (IStori's recommendations, part I)

Nadira Allieva, a certain Uzbek lap-dancer. (See The Guardian link, at the end.)



Newspapers in the web.

Nowadays my absolute favourite one is The Independent. Can't start the day without checking what's new.

Today there were two interesting stories – but these were not as serious as the main articles most often tend to be. (Recently on Pakistan, Darfour, Climate change, gobal poverty...) But interesting, anyway. The main article today was on Bush beginning the Middle East tour. I wonder if there are any security guards around?)

But back to these two interesting ones, of 7 Jan. Edit: Is Tom Cruise a prisoner in his own life? You can read this that way, too. Be aware, and be scared...

"Cruise is second most powerful Scientologist, Morton book claims
By David Langton
Published: 07 January 2008

Tom Cruise has been promoted to second in command of the Church of Scientology, according to an extraordinary new book by Princess Diana's biographer, Andrew Morton.

The Hollywood star is now allegedly consulted by Scientology leader David Miscavige on "every aspect of planning and policy", claims Morton.

The unauthorised Cruise biography makes a number of surprising claims about the actor and his growing interest in the movement.

Among the more outrageous are suggestions that his daughter, Suri, was conceived using frozen sperm from the movement's dead founder L Ron Hubbard and that Scientology leaders ended his marriage with Nicole Kidman because of her devotion to Catholicism.

Morton claims Scientology has all but taken over the 45-year-old actor's life, with its officials allegedly selecting many of the staff at his Hollywood mansion." ...

(Please see the article as a whole in here.)

*****

... And this one is equally interesting, and even far more important to the mankind (yes, really :-) than the first one!


"What are we eating?
Published: 07 January 2008

So you only eat free-range eggs, and spend the extra on organic sausages. But what's life really like for the animals that end up on your plate? And how can you be sure that the meat in your shopping bag is cruelty-free? Rob Sharp investigates.

Pigs

Many a poultry farmer will tell you that "a battery chicken's a happy chicken", a view based on their not altogether erroneous view that relatively unintelligent birds are well suited to intensive conditions.

The same argument can most definitely not be applied to pigs, though. As the most intelligent British farm animal, the porker is also the most abused, in order to satisfy our demand for cheap bacon.

'If we think of it in human terms, in the terms of intelligence that we value, pigs do have high levels of intelligence," says Julia Wrathall, head of the RSPCA Science Group's farm animals department. "They out-do dogs in many intelligence tests. To realise that a pig can be just as clever in the same way that dogs are is a very interesting thing.'" ...

Please see the article as a whole in here.)

*****

The rest of the top 5? Probably, at the moment, at least,

* Le monde diplomatique , and also IN FINNISH!

* The Guardian. Check out the story on Uzbek lap-dancer. Mamma mia. But a beautiful story on today's Real Life Scheherazade.

* Novaya Gazeta. Telling what's going on in Russia; 'nuff said.

* Kommersant. If you read Novaya, you must read this one, too.

*****

Suri Cruise (on the right) with Brooklyn Beckham. (The both of them look so much like their mothers, by the way.)

Better New Year 2008.

I remember last year 2007 beginning. I was quite frustrated and infuriated because of the so very nasty stuff that had been going on around me – further or closer.

And despite of all that ass kicking I insisted on a year ago, many things did not get any better. Too bad.

The world politics, work on peace and for the environment are in a lousy state (– given all the credit for the active NGO's, but still...), not supported by major governments, and therefore the stability of the earth and people seems more endangered than ever and even getting far worse.

But – you can sigh now – some things have remained the same or have even improved:

1) Miss Funnybunny. She is more spectacular then ever!

These beautiful high-heeled shoes, two sizes too big, came from... well, from Santa I guess, and the 2nd guess is... NOT ME!



2) Friends. As great as ever, and more and more of them year by year. Have even bumped into some very, very old ones!

Suomi! Suomi! Suomi! (Didn't you all know "Suomi" is "Finland" in Finnish.)



3) My secret hobbies, so far only one of which I have found worth boasting; running. (Gee, I love the fact I became a runner. Can you believe it, it sounds so cool.)

But I'll start with figure skating and snow boarding in no time... Exactly like we middle-aged people fancy.

So, where's the snow, for christ's sake?

Christmas Parties

We have had really nice Christmas parties, with Mr HP and even with miss Funnybunny. Thanks, everybody! Both our guests and our hosts.

Miss Funnybunny has met with her very first friends like our godchildren, the Dynamic Duo Twins, and a bunch of other funny toddlers and bigger kids. She admires girls older than herself, and likes to be teased and chased by bigger boys, too. (So it has started already! At the age of 3 and a half.)

But not everybody has had fun:

HAVE A NICE CHRISTMAS PARTY. It was the moment you realised the Christmas Party sucks this year, too. You came back from the toilet and Hitler had taken your seat."

"The Points of Pleasure." On music and running.

What is Donald Fagen reading? I am so trying to see.


I have some personal updating to do. Remember when I told last spring I wish I could run? (Even though I did not considerate myself a runner.) I could not find that post – at least I had not labelled it under "Stupid things".

But I started running in mid-August, five times a week (not when I travel, however. But even then three time a week, at least. And I run only 2,5 kilometres, but yet I am getting better and better. Now I do it with 2 X 500 g weighs around my ancles.

Even in the stormy weather last week I ran, and it's getting easier and easier nowadays – I don't mean just because I am getting stronger and faster (oooooohhh I love the sound of these words: stronger and faster, stronger and faster...!). But I was given a present: an iPod! It is so cute. Lovely red colour, and even with my name carved onto it.


When I run I listen to it playing my favourite pieces in random order. I have started to give them The Points of Pleasure: the more points the faster I get. Almost anything my Joni Michell (Shadows and Light): 5 points. Except God Must be a Boogie Man, 10 pts. Almost anything by or with Donald Fagen: 10 pts, except My Old School, What a Shame About Me, Godwhacker, Morph the Cat, Ruby Baby and Nightfly: 20 pts. My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) by En Vogue: 25 points (No necessarily, and normally, would I say it is a better piece than Maxine, for example, but when running, much much better!).

And before (the the combination of iPod & running) I had not noticed how perfect a taste in music Quentin Tarantino has. What a shame; I have underestimated the power of Johnny Cash, too. Since having the Jackie Brown soundtrack in my iPod I see the world differently.

I am still really looking forward to some snow. Would add more challenge and spark, you see...!

And I have a strong but unproven theory according to which the weighs prevent me from falling on a slippery icy surface. (Either I'm really clever or just a maniac.)

******


Santa is a Finn and won't move elsewhere, no matter what kinds of suggestions the nasty and envious Swedish scientists come up with. Take a look at this:

"Santa's best location: Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan could be the optimal location for Santa Claus

Santa Claus should leave the North Pole and relocate to Kyrgyzstan to optimise the delivery of Christmas presents, a Swedish engineering firm says.

The Sweco consulting firm found Kyrgyzstan was the most logical base to avoid time-wasting detours.

It took into account main population centres and the Earth's rotation."

The story is here as a whole, so please see these BBC pages.

But if, for centuries, he has been able to deliver the presents so well from Korvatunturi, the Finnish Lapland, he should continue doing so.

The Answer is 42? The Scary Mouse.

I have always found animal testing quite scary, probably because of all the pain they cause, for the benefit of the mankind. If the mankind gains any benefit out of new mascaras or shampoos, that's another story. But the really MOST scary tests are carried out by the gene technology guys. Check this out:

The mouse that shook the world

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
The Independent, 02 November 2007

The mouse can run up to six kilometres (3.7 miles) at a speed of 20 metres per minute for five hours or more without stopping. Scientists said that this was equivalent of a man cycling at speed up an Alpine mountain without a break.
Although it eats up to 60 per cent more food than an ordinary mouse, the modified mouse does not put on weight. It also lives longer and enjoys an active sex life well into old age – being capable of breeding at three times the normal maximum age.

American scientists who created the mice – they now have a breeding colony of 500 – said that they were stunned by their abilities, especially given that the animals came about as a result of a standard genetic modification to a single metabolism gene shared with humans.

*****

Please read the story as a whole in here.

And why would the answer be 42? If you need to ask me this, you have not read the Douglas Adams books, and that's a pity. Come on, go get them. Mice had an important role in the future – or the destruction – of the Earth.