Finnish skier finishes first in Oslo

This post is really an opportunity to share some vacation photos with a friend, but I do have some Finnish news at the end of the post.

We recently spent 2 nights in beautiful Jackson, N.H. We have had many wonderful family outings in the Mount Washington valley. This was our first visit to Jackson and I am sure we will be back. We skied one day at the Jackson XC center and on our way home we skied a half day at Black Mountain. Skiing at Black Mountain was the most fun that I have ever had on down hill skis. If you want more information about restaurants and the like, please send me a comment.

And now for the Finnish news: Matti Heikkinen won the gold medal in Oslo! You can read about Heikkinen here on YLE in English. I found this interesting tidbit on the web site for the World Championships. It highlights the importance of wax and mentions the Finnish doping scandal of 2001. Apparently the Norwegian wax guru Magnar Dalen is helping the Finns fly across the snow. The New Hampshire connection is that Kris Freeman finished in the top 30, 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind Heikkinen.

The Lost Thing is the Big Thing in Finland

A friend gently chided me (ridiculed me) for my previous post about Finnish at the Oscars, but it was BIG news in Finland. Mari sent me the link to coverage on Ilta-Sanomat. The gist of it is "Hän kiitti suomeksi" He thanked in Finnish.

Oscar-voittaja kiitti suomeksi!

Shaun Tan kiitti Oscar-gaalassa mukana ollutta vaimoaan Inari Kiurua suomeksi.

Julkaistu: 28.02.2011 04:21

Oscar-gaalan lavalla puhuttiin ensimmäistä kertaa suomea!

Oscarin parhaasta animoidusta lyhytelokuvasta The Lost Thing voittanut australialainen ohjaaja Shaun Tan lausui kiitospuheessaan suomea.

Hän kiitti graafisena suunnittelijana työskentelevää vaimoaan Inari Kiuruaja sanoi suomeksi ”minä rakastan sinua”. Oscarin kävi hänen kanssaan noutamassa lyhytelokuvan toinen ohjaaja Andrew Ruhemann.

Tiettävästi Oscar-gaalassa ei ole aiemmin kuultu suomea. Suomalaisista Oscar-palkinnon on käynyt noutamassa ainoastaan Jörn Donner, joka tuotti parhaana ulkomaisena elokuvana palkitun Ingmar Bergmanin ohjaaman elokuvan Fanny ja Alexander (1982).

Aki Kaurismäen Mies vailla menneisyyttä (2002) oli myös ehdolla parhaasta ulkomaisesta elokuvasta, mutta ei saanut Oscar-palkintoa.

What the Melissa Leo F-word! Finnish at the Oscars!

Just in case you missed it--The Lost Thing won the Academy Award for best short animated film and one of the award recipients said, on the air, "Minä rakastan sinua". And yes, he wasn't a Finn. A Finn wouldn't say that on the air!

P.S. I wasn't the only viewer to notice the Finnish romance. Here is a link to YLE's English news service.

And, if you haven't seen The Fighter, you really should.

Eroaa. Väkilvalta. Mielenosoittajia.

Three new words in my Finnish vocabulary.

I try to listen and read along with Selkouutiset each day and my new vocabulary started in Tunisia, spread to Egypt, and now is describing events in Libya.

Eroaa ---- leave

Väkilvalta ----- violence

Mielenosoittajia ---- demonstrators

I would never be able to remember these words if I were confronted with a vocabulary list, but seeing them night after night has driven the words home. I am following the struggle for democracy in these countries as well as in Wisconsin and down the hill in the State House.

I spent a summer in Carthage and have always wanted to return. My interest in Tunisia was sparked by Flaubert and also by Queen Dido and her unrequited love. She covered a lot of ground with her ox-hide. (If you are interested in the math that enabled Queen Dido to cover the entire Byrsa, read here. I took the top picture from this site).

But the reality of Tunisia was better than the books. It is a scenic land littered with Roman ruins. And before the Romans were the Phoenicians. The Phoenician spirit seems to survive today in Tunisia. I took heart from this quote from the New York Times that Tunisia will not go the way of Iran:

Mounir Troudi, a jazz musician, disagrees. He has no love for the former Ben Ali government, but said he believed that Tunisia would remain a land of beer and bikinis.

“This is a maritime country,” Mr. Troudi said. “We are sailors, and we’ve always been open to the outside world. I have confidence in the Tunisian people. It’s not a country of fanatics.”

Night train to Rovaniemi

Here is a rap video by some very young Finns. According to the comments on boingboing Ella and Aleksi were four years old when they started rapping in Finnish. I love this animation-especially the fox. The video answers whatever questions you have about flushing the toilet on a train.

Something to make your inner child chuckle

I am linking to an ad for a Finnish chair. It looks great. I am sure it would cure my poor posture. But the best thing about this chair is how this ad made my husband giggle. Enjoy!

And now for something completely different (and Finnish)

While exciting demonstrations ripple through Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and even Algeria, a masked band of food activists is striking out against a large American corporation - the sacred Golden Arches.

Above is a picture from the Daily Mail of Jani Leinonen, spokesman for the Food Liberation Army. You can listen to an interview with Mr. Leinonen here on NPR. Mr. Leinonen comes across as quite charming with a subversive sense of humor. Can you imagine a member of ELF admitting that they love McDonald's food. Mr. Leinonen even ate at McDonald's the day after the kidnapping.

The police stormed his home and arrested Mr. Leinonen and he admits that he, "sung like a bird" during the police interrogation.

You can watch Mr. Leinonen's demands of McDonald's on the YouTube video below. I wonder what it would take to get some answers to these questions. If you wonder why the translation spells hamburger as hampurger then you should know the Finnish word for hamburger is hampurilainen. I wonder if this art performance piece will land Mr. Leinonen on the United States no fly list. Like Mickey d's, the US has a notoriously thin skin where any performance can be deemed to be "terrorism". Remember the Aqua Team Hunger Force campaign in Boston?