Showing posts with label Finnish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finnish. Show all posts

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Have you seen Futuro?

I've been ill for three days now and stayed at home, doing much nothing. What is worst in flu, is that you can't really go out or do anything you'd just like to do. Like having a long bicycle ride to the neighbouring city. Tomorrow, when I could probably do it, I might not be interested anymore. [Ok, remove the might.] Also, what is terrible in flu, is that you really can't see any people, even if you'd finally have time for it. I tried to call few friends, but apparently all my friends had a shopping day yesterday. I knew there is Buy Nothing Day , but why didn't anybody tell me if there was also an annual world wide Let's All Go Shopping Except That One With The Flu Day?



So I stayed inside the house and did a shopping list called To Buy When Having a Completely Different Style.

1 Screw Table by Eero Aarnio



1 Sven Lundh's Eyeball



1 Mae West Lips Sofa




Some Polka Jam Orkestra Clothes









1 Futuro Home



But where to find that? I have seen one in late 70s. It was an Ufo Café in a small village called Luumäki (translates as Bonehill). Have you seen any?

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

How to mingle?

Few days ago my friend told me he is bit worried that he just don't get small talk at all. I'm probably not the best person to give that kind of advice, but let me tell you a Finnish joke instead:

Two guys, let's call them Jukka and Pekka, meet after a long time apart and they go to a sauna to have "one" beer. They drink vodka for a couple of hours. Pekka asks how Jukka has been doing. Jukka says nothing, but continues drinking for a couple of hours. Then, slowly, he replies: "Did we come here to babble, or did we come here to drink?"



(My favourite Kaurismäki clip)

Monday, August 06, 2007

Happens in Helsinki

In the meantime when T Fox was trying to remember what happened during the fifth day, she overheard this conversation in the metro.

Little longhaired, bit chubby girl, around age of 9, wearing shiny fake jewellery, pink dress and white socks sits on the metro with a woman who clearly isn't her closest relative.

Little longhaired girl: Did you watch The Serrano Family at the morning?
Woman: No I didn't. Isn't it for grown-ups? And haven't you been at the summer cabin?
Little longhaired girl: Yes. We've got a new plasma screen in the cabin. And I've got my own telly. My little brother got one too, because he screamed so much and got on everybody's nerves.

Woman: Oh. Haven't you been riding your new bike at all?
Little longhaired girl: No. I have never ridden a bicycle. I might hurt myself. I have tried my father's exercise bicycle once, though.
Woman: Oh. [long silence] Do you often travel by metro?
Little longhaired girl: Yes, quite often. Twice actually. We went to the shopping centre with my mother. She bought me a jacket. And new bra.
Woman: Oh. A new jacket.

Little longhaired girl: Do you want to look at my photos? [shows some photos of a black Labrador Retriever via her shiny new mobile. I look at them too, I think. Sorry, little longhaired girl. I just like to watch other people's photos.]
Woman: Who's dog is this?
Little longhaired girl: She is my aunt's dog. She's so nice. I could punch her straight into the face and she wouldn't say a thing.

I concentrate again on my paper. It tells me about a kleptomaniac Finnish squirrel who steals Kinder Surprise eggs.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

May Day


a May Day flaneur
Originally uploaded by Taiga the Fox.



and other photos of Hellsinki available on my Flickr now.

Hellsinki is apparently the official name of the city now. Take a look at the new tourist map cover...

Sunday, April 29, 2007

The Finnish Weather Explained


+15°C / 59°F
This is as warm as it gets in Finland, so we'll start here.
People in Spain wear winter-coats and gloves.
The Finns are out getting a tan.

+10°C / 50°F
The French are trying to start their central heating.
The Finns plant flowers in their gardens.

+5°C / 41°F
Italian cars won't start.
The Finns are cruising in Cabriolets.

0°C / 32°F
Distilled water freezes.
The water in the Finnish rivers gets a little thicker.

-5°C / 23°F
People in California almost freeze to death.
The Finns have their final barbecue before winter.

-10°C / 14°F
The Brits start heating their houses.
The Finns start using long sleeves.

-20°C / -4°F
The Aussies flee from Mallorca.
The Finns end their Midsummer celebrations. Autumn is here.

-30°C / -22°F
People in Greece die from the cold and disappear from the face of the earth.
The Finns start drying their laundry indoors.

-40°C / -40°F
Paris starts cracking in the cold.
The Finns stand in line at the "grill-kiosk".

-50°C / -58°F
Polar bears start evacuating the North Pole.
The Finnish army postpones their winter survival training awaiting real winter weather.

-60°C / -76°F
Korvatunturi (the home for Santa Claus) freezes.
The Finns rent a movie and stay indoors.

-70°C / -94°F
The false Santa moves south.
The Finns get frustrated since they can't store their Kossu (Koskenkorva vodka) outdoors.
The Finnish army goes out on winter survival training.

-183°C / -297.4°F
Microbes in food don't survive.
The Finnish cows complain that the farmers' hands are cold.

-273°C / -459.4°F
All atom-based movent halts.
The Finns start saying "Perkele, it's cold outside today."

-300°C / -508°F
Hell freezes over.
Finland wins the Eurovision Song Contest.


Bah. I used an old joke. Typical.


Thursday, April 26, 2007

On the Menu Today

The language of the Fox blog has changed into Finnish during the night. Where it used to read title, it now says otsikko, where it said view blog it now reads tarkastele blogia and label is suddenly luokkatunniste. The whole blog is like a messy room, where every object has changed it's place at once. I feel like I've lost my ability to control my own blog and seems like I have trouble in understanding my own language as well.
I feel myself bit dim.
I think I have to go and buy the Dim Body Toutch Bra I saw advertised yesterday.



No. Probably having a new horrible looking bra wouldn't help me writing something more meaningful, so I will just copy-paste some dishes seen on some Finnish menus.

Shrimp and crap salad for two.

Grilled pork shop.

You can have crap on your pizza.

We give you water only when you ask.

Dead snails from Åland in garlic and butter sauce.

The cock is recommending today's beef.

We can serve your steak with much blood, some blood, or well-done.

Ice cream with warm bear halves and toffee sauce.

Finnish mushroom salad - wild, salty and sticky mushrooms with cream sauce and pickles.

Mexican burrito with mutilated chicken meat and salsa.

Try traditional Finnish pee soup.

We can bring the nuts and drinks to your room (room service card). Drink something if you want (room service card). On our breakfast table you will find the cheese, the meat and some others.

Omelet is made with recent eggs from a local farm where the chickens are alive.

This week is "bird meat week" but we also have a good selection of mammal meat.

Japanese guests can have traditional breakfast with stinky rice and fishes.

Tar ice cream - Finnish special. Good for people who eat tar and lingon berries.

Children's hamburger is served with the French Pizzas. After clock 21 are not. Sorry.

Meat with sweat and sour sauce.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench in the Internet, where I was

So, I visited You Tube trying to see Loituma video. I found it, but what an earth was that supposed to be, I wondered. A girl with a leek? I wasn't the only one pondering what was this chick doing with that a huge onion? A flashmob with leeks? I soon found out why there was a leek, although it still was a mystery to me. As big as my surprise when I realised how had this odd Finnish song spread through the Internet.

Do we really need any song contests at all? Why not just look at a Mexican guy singing pefectly spelled Finnish? Japanese man with a guitar? Holly Dolly? A Dane with a tuba? Why not to learn how to play it with keyboard? Hungarian politicians? Pygmies dancing Loituma? Italians dancing? Russian making some wonder is this how grunge died? El mundo es de los frikis?
Buli az asztalosnal? Jim Carrey? Greek soap? I've seen this man in this blog, but never heard this with a flute. How did the name suddenly turn into Yak Tsup Tsop? And finally something * which made him to seek a bottle and me to seek for the big red button.



*this is particularly for you Opc

Ps. Do you want to know what the words really mean? Look at the comments.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Neurovision Bong Contest

Yesterday I kicked a few blogposts around my mind. The ice-cream kiosks were opened and the seagulls were shitting around again. Should I write about it I wondered, but there wasn't much else exciting to scribble about.

Also there was the fact bothering me, that I have knowingly skated around the slippery sweep called the Eurovision Song Contest.
If I would be a normal Finnish citizen I should have gone over and over and over and over on that subject here, whilst wearing a chirpy hat with two overhanging fabric hands carrying national flags.

I thought about it hard. The only thing I wanted to say was the fact that I kind of hoped that the visual image and the ambience of the show would be as hilarious as the moment when a post- soviet wooden doll meets the electric hedge trimmer, mainly because Mr Fox knows well some private parts of one designer designing the face of the upcoming hullaballoo, so there wasn't much to tell you about that.

So, there I sat, staring at the blank computer screen when I heard it again.
Loituma and their fabulous song Ieva's Polka (Classic), which I had thought about introducing you much earlier, but forgot. I tried to find out their space on their My Space and here it is. I listened to it. I moved on. Three hours later I was still listening to it. Eventually the quiet waters of that innocent song sucked me somewhere so deep that if there is a Kuril-Kamchatka Trench in the Internet, I was there.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

I have a craving for a plate

I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I want I'm dying for I want I want I want I want I want I want!


These. Taika (Magic) plates and stuff from Iittala.


Designed by Klaus Haapaniemi
A Finn living currently in London

doing things for
Dolce&Gabbana
Marimekko
Levi's
Diesel
blah blah blah
...



for Cacharel

for Givy


bustier detail

bra detail
Warning, the link above shows Nick Cave-influenced black lingerie with foxes,
whatever that is.




Nego Monogatari





Electronic cash card, 7-eleven Taiwan



I have a strange craving for a plate.
I'm having a pay day tomorrow.


Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Bit Thick Guinness-y Porridge


It seems like I might actually be better and the stomach flu flies away just before Easter and mämmi.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Mother Tongue

It's warm, sunny and shiny outside, but I'm scuba diving in the muddy waters.
Whilst I'm there, learn some Finnish.

The longest word in the world

epäjärjestelmällistymättömyydellänsäkäänköhän

What does it mean, isn't that clear.
Wonder if he can also do something with his capability of not being disorganized?
Anyway, something to do with being not confused, I think, but it's bit too confusing.

pientalokolmivaihevaihtovirtakilowattituntimittarimaksu

If you find that word from your electricity bill, just pay the damn bill.

lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas

If somebody calls you that, you are apparently a student and later in your life you will fix the airplane engines or something.





Some place names somewhere in Finland

Äteritsiputeritsipuolilaudatsijänkä
Nobody knows what it means, but Santa lives quite near.

Semmonen niemi jossa käärme koiraa pisti
Translated as: That kind of cape where the snake bit the dog.

Lehmänjalkakatkesiaho
Translated as Cow's-leg-went-broken-glade.

Grammar is fun

Verb          Meaning
tehdä to do
teettää to have someone do
teetättää to have someone have someone do
teetätättää to have someone have someone have someone do

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

T Fox meets Com-pa-ny

Today I had a pleasure to meet two brilliant young designers: Aamu Song and Johan Olin.
All I saw was so delightful, funny and witty that I'm still bit lost for words. That's why I'm doing something I haven't much done; borrowing photos and words straight from their web site.

Lazy Taiga presents: Com-pa-ny.


BEARD MASK
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

For anyone who wanted to have a beard.
Specially made for the northern countries where men don't grow much beard.

Material: Cotton.



FootHill Shoes
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Made in Germany summer 2006 World Cup time. For a fancier playing, or something..
Hand-re-made by Johan Olin




Mobile Shoes
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kimi und Schumi.
Handmade by Toni Engelberger





Safety Skirt
----------------
Available in White, pink and sky blue





Chairman
-----------
A. Song / COMPANY

Chairman is a good man.
Chairman is little bit lazy.
Chairman appears in sunny street when it's between +15'c and +20'c.

Material: Plastic stool from Thailand, industrial felt,
rubber thread in gold and white, used Rukka windbreaker jumper suit
Click the chairman, please.





Takkiainen (a combination word that ties together the meanings of two Finnish words: takki, a coat, and takiainen, a bur )is a jacket for lonely or bored people. It is designed to help the wearer to get in contact with others.

Since we brush against each other every day as we move around in the city, we can use our clothes as a medium for meeting people and communicating with them.

The jacket is made out of Velcro strips of different widths that have been sewn together side by side to form alternating hook and pile stripes.When these materials touch each other, they grab onto each other. The lonely user can be happily connected with other loners simply by walking around in the jacket. Even babies can be attached to their parents.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Hellsinski freezes over

Happily I'm quite happy,
because this isn't funny
and one's tears will freeze here.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

In the name of something

This was supposed to be a blog post. I couldn't think about anything, but then I remembered BiB's post about names.
So here you are. Some Finnish names with a meaning. I am also included, without Indonesian biscuits.

Women

Anna 'give me'
Ansa 'trap'
Hellä 'gentle'
Ilta 'evening'
Laina 'loan'
Lempi 'love'
Meri 'sea'
Marja 'berry'
Rauha 'peace'
Satu 'fairytale'
Sini ' blue'
Suvi 'summer'
Taimi ' seedling'
Taru 'legend'
Tuuli 'wind'
Unelma ' dream'
Varma 'certain'
Vilja 'grain'


Men

Aarre 'treasure'
Aatos 'thought'
Armas 'dear'
Arvo 'value'
Aulis 'willing'
Heimo 'tribe'
Into 'enthusiasm'
Kai 'maybe'
Oiva 'splendid'
Onni 'happiness'
Sulo 'charm'
Taisto 'fight'
Taito 'skill'
Tarmo 'energy'
Tenho 'fascination'
Toivo 'hope'
Usko 'faith'
Uljas 'valiant'
Urho 'brave'
Valo 'light'
Voitto 'victory'


But in the name of something, don't name your son Unto, which means 'slightly dim' or
Yrjö, a popular slang word for 'vomit'.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Finglish for Nyypiös

Pirskatti, uus heerkatti!

The sentence above, written in somewhat old Finglish, means something like: Crickey, a new haircut! Old Finglish originated amongst the first and second generation Finnish immigrants in USA and Canada, but today's Finnish is more or less filled with these words of New Finglish. Although it is suggested that Finnish is particularly tricky language to learn, it might be now easier for you native English speakers. I leave you to speculate it with this homework. Kamoon, fill in the missing translations, it is completely iisii.

nyypiö = a newbie
tsekata = to check (out)*
staili = a style*
streitti = straight / heterosexual*
biitsi = a beach **
giiggi = a ?
kreisi = crazy*
steissi = a ?
räppi = a rap**
vörkkiä = to work (out)*
klikata = to click *
hevijuuseri = a heavy-user *
hengata = to hang out ***
seivata = to save *

Edit:
Foxvision Translation Contest official glory points:
* 12 Points to BiB
** 10 Points to Anonymous
*** 8 points to Marsha Klein

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

more monotonous piffle

I could tell you which fantastic five movies I've seen during the previous week, but I'm too lazy and worn-out to do so.
Instead of it, I will ask you what do they down there have in common?

George Gaynes
David Lynch
Jessica Lange
Pamela Anderson
Matt Damon

Saturday, December 16, 2006

It's Tango Delirium Time in Finland

It is the annual time of Little Christmases.
The time when every company, every society, every .. well, you got the point, organizes a party where the employees etc. get massively drunk.
I had mine already, which included fine red wine and brilliant M.A.Numminen & Pedro.

Few days ago I got an e-mail listing some other kind of habits to celebrate. Or if you are not sure if you have had one, you can check here, which kind of Little Christmas it was:


Lord of the Rings - Little Christmas

You remember being separated from your friends,
meeting some elves,
fighting,
talking to the trees,
walking hellishly long distances
and you apparently lost your ring too.


Cinderella - Little Christmas

You arrive at home without your shoe and smell vaguely pumpkin like.


Sleeping Beauty - Little Christmas

You fell asleep and might wake up when somebody, definitely not a prince, kisses you.

Ariel - Little Christmas

In the morning you notice your legs are somehow glued together and you smell like a herring.

Snow White - Little Christmas

You wake up with seven men.

Red Riding Hood - Little Christmas

You share a bed with your granny. More points if it's someone else's granny.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Nocturnal news from Finland

This was the head title of a newspaper today:

Today the sun is shining!
During this December the sun has been shining for 30 minutes, instead of the normal 11 hours.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Three things to take with you when it's November in Helsinki

If you have to be in Finland on some Monday in November, make sure you'll have at least these:

1. A light therapy lamp (or two)
2. Gore-tex shoes
3. Some strawberry cake and two glasses of cristal castellblanch during the working hours

Friday, November 17, 2006

Ooh-hu

I saw an owl sitting on the bus stop.

I wish I could tell you more, but I can't. More cans.