the night was spent cycling to and from kaivopuisto. 2230 to 0100, with a few breaks. one break for chips, one for a stop into a pub. helsinki looks as beautiful as ever, makes me sick. i want a camera!
testing using wbloggar again. seems to be working now. i got a new hard drive today after the last one broke over the weekend (well, it started to break, so i couldnt take any chances, i backed everything up and got a new one). most things on the new hd now. hurray!.
the inexplicable mob. i read about it on wired.com earlier on, then i found a link on aula where i found this explanitory email:
———- forwarded message ———-
date: mon, 16 jun 2003 15:56:33 -0000mob #1 made national public radio! go to http://www.nextbigthing.org and scroll down to the last clip.
you are invited to take part in mob, the project that creates an inexplicable mob of people in new york city for ten minutes or less. please forward this to other people you know who might like to join.
at the very least, please forward this to all those to whom you sent the invitation for mob #1, because someone seems to have gotten the wrong impression
about the mob. i am thinking, in particular, of whoever saw it necessary to tell the store and/or the police department about mob #1, causing six police officers and a paddywagon to be sent out to disrupt it. let us call this person “squealy.”
squealy faq (all others may skip to instructions - mob #2)q: i am uncomfortable with innocent fun.
a. it seems apparent.
q. couldn’t the mob have gotten out of hand?
a. no. i assure you: the mob will always be respectful, no matter how large it gets, or what it might chant, etc.
q. despite this honest assurance, my stifling fear of the unknown dictates that i squeal again.
a. unfortunately, i have been forced to take this possibility into account in the
instructions for mob #2.instructions - mob #2
location: ???????
start time: tuesday, june 17th, 7:27 pm
duration: 10 minutes(1)at some point during the day on june 17th, synchronize your watch to http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?eastern/d/-5/java/java. (if that site doesn’t work for you, try http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?eastern/d/-5 .)
(2) by 7 pm, based on the month of your birth, please situate yourselves in the bars below. buy a drink and act casual. note: if you are attending the mob with
friends, you may all meet in the same bar, so long as at least one of you has the correct birth month for that bar:
january, february, march: blarney rock, 137 w. 33rd st. (between 6th and 7th aves.) meet to the left of the jukebox.
april, may, june: holiday inn, 49 w. 32nd st.
(just east of broadway). walk into the hotel lobby and make a left into the hotel bar; meet around the bar to the right, near the framed prints of the elephant and the leopard.
july, august, september: blarney stone (not to be confused with blarney rock), 106 w. 32nd st.(between 6th and 7th aves.). meet in the back by the jukebox.
october, november, december: jack demsey’s, 36 w. 33rd st. (between broadway and 5th ave.) meet downstairs, near the bar behind the pool table.(3) then or soon thereafter, a mob representative will appear in the bar, wearing one of the “trucker hats” that is so stylish these days. he or she will pass around slips of paper, on which three important pieces of information will be printed: (a) the mob site, (b) a particular item at the site, and (c) a secret
phrase. commit all three to memory and put the slip in your pocket. once you are at the mob site, none of these slips of paper should be visible.(4) leave the bar and walk to the mob site as quickly as possible. it will take you longer to get there than you think. if you arrive near the final mob destination before 7:27, stall nearby. no one should arrive at the final mob destination until 7:26.
(5) find the item and stand around it. unlike in mob #1, where the participants were not to acknowledge one another, here you should greet even those you do not know. talk among yourselves about the item and its relative merits and demerits. only if you are blocked from seeing the item should you stray to examine other merchandise at the site.
(6) if you are approached by a salesperson, explain that everyone present lives together, in a huge converted warehouse in long island city, and that you
are there looking for a “[secret phrase].” explain that you make all purchases as a group.(7) at 7:37 you should disperse. thank the salespeople for their help, but explain that the item has been “voted down.” no one should remain at the mob site after 7:39.
(8) return to what you would otherwise have been doing. await instructions for mob #3. special note: a few people may be allowed to learn the three secret facts in advance. those interested should write an essay of precisely 50 words on the subject of “why i am not a squealer,” and send it to themobproject@yahoo.com.
sounds like fun.
after 4 months of learning finnish daily i still cant claim to be at converstational level. not even close. the last few days though ive started to actually have conversations with people in shops. well, not conversations, more so slight linguistical interactions. the pharmacy yesterday and two shops over the weekend. plus im starting to actually write a little bit. last nights homework involved writing a little story about some fella in a train station. when i first looked at it i was put off a little bit, but i did it anyway, and it came out okay. which was nice.
matti odottaa jonossa juna-asemalla. h�nell� on viisi matka-laukkua. matti haluaa ostaa lipun tamperelle. juna l�htee puoli seitsem�n, nyt kello 10 kymmenen vaille kuusi. joken h�n menee ravintolaan koska h�nell� on n�lk�. ravintolassa h�n sy� suklaakukkua ja juo kahvia. h�n n�kee kellon sein�ll�, se on melkein puoli seitsem�n. h�n juoksee laiturille, mutta junan menee pois. h�n itkee koska my�h�styy.
it may not be much to look at (or indeed read) but it gave me so much pride. then today, harri was trying to get me to come to ilosaari rock festival in mid july. on the sr message board i saw a thread in which he asked me to come to the festival.this is my reply:
dee here. man, min� en tule ilosaariin. anteeksi. koska minulla on kaverit islannista ja irlannista tulevat suomeen. h�r�ur ja anna tulevat kolmas hein�kuuta l�htev�t kymmenes hein�kuuta. natalie ja paul tulevat kahdeskymmeneskolmas ja menev�t kahdeskymmenesknhdeks�s. minun ensiminnen p�iv� level kolme suomea kieli on kahdeskymmenesknhdeks�s. minulla ei ole rahaa. anteeksi harrin8tor. menemme saunaan kun h�rdie tulee!dw
okay okay, so some of the numbers are all wrong. dont blame me, blame the finns with the craziness that is finnish. anyway. im getting better.
spy tv, the crappo tv programme was on telly here the other day. trapped under a big pillow i couldnt summon enough energy to get to the tv to change channel. and frankly the show scared me silly.
ali landry (�repli-kate,� �who�s your daddy?�) becomes host of the new edition of the extreme covert-camera comedy series, which takes hidden-camera comedy to the next level by putting everyday people in extreme situations and recording their uncensored and unpredictable reactions. in its second season, the half-hour long �spy tv� cranks up the excitement, boasting not only a hot new host and a studio audience, but all new pranks that continue to prove that people�s spontaneous reactions in extreme situations are wilder, wackier and funnier than anything that could ever be scripted.
the shows first “gag” was based around something simple enough, so simple i cant remember. the second was about somebody refusing to give back 20$ because it was counterfeit. with hilarious consequences. the third of the setups was bizarre and scary beyond belief. the person who thought up of this is, to be honest, an evil genius hell bent on exposing all that is wrong in america.
three men were set up. they were told that they would be employed for a night to guard a building. they would have to sit in a little hut and make sure no-one came in. as the scene progressed they guards (and the audience) became aware that not all was right with the building. and it became apparent that instead of keeping people out of the building, they were keeping people in. some sort of forced labour was going on inside. the three men all reacted at first the same way, all seemed to be completely lost by what was going on. they tried to ignore the shouts and pleas from the people inside the building. they followed the building owners requests to keep the people in. the owner electrocuted (with one of those semi harmless cattle prods) the people who tried to escape and then handed the prods to the guards and told them to do it whenever anyone escaped. he also pointed out a switch that would electrocute the fence when it was activated. all this in a “prime time” reality comedy show!. what caught my eye the most was the reactions of the three people who were been set up. the first, an elderly white man, seem incredilious but stayed on side the owner and switched on the electric fence when people tried to escape. the second man, a middle aged black man, was even more on side of the owner. at one stage he shouted to the escaping people “you aint paying my wages, he is, i’ll be keeping an eye on you” or something along those lines (he too switched on the fence when the people were escaping). the third man, a middle aged latino man, when he saw what was going on threatened to contact the police and refused to electrocute the escapees. all in all some fascinating television. how on earth the scene was suggested by someone i’ll never know. how on earth two of the three people who were set up can live with themselves knowing that they put the dollar over peoples welfare is something else.
