Kåsa

From Wikipedia:

"English: Guksi (kuksa in Finnish, kåsa in Swedish) is a type of drinking cup traditionally duodji crafted by the Sami people of northern Scandinavia from carved birch burl. The burl is contoured to a rough shape, carefully dried to prevent the wood from cracking, then formed in accordance with the local traditions. Originally guksi were widely used in Arctic areas as a personal drinking cup; a well-made guksi would last a lifetime. Guksi was traditionally only rinsed with clean water and dried with a cloth after use. No detergents are used, since many people believe that it will damage a guksi.

Swedish: Kåsa, nordsamiska guksi, är ett dyckeskärl med handtag. Kåsor var ursprungligen gjorda av vril från björk, för hållbarheten och utseendets skull, och användes av samer. Förutom handtag, så brukar dessa kärl ha ett eller två hål för fingrar. Ena hålet brukar dessutom vara försett med ett band (eller dylikt), för att till exempel kunna hänga kåsan på ett skärp, så att man alltid har den med sig."

Kåsa hjortron (cloudberry) with reindeer anthlers

Well, that's what my family got for me for this year's Father's day! :-)

A cleaner

From the book "Movies R Fun" by Josh Cooley.

The story of Jimmy

Jimmy was a cocky and hot-headed sparrow. One day he told his friends that "he couldn't take this s#&t anymore" and he wanted to start off his 'northbound adventure'. He said that he believed that "the north was were it's at" (whatever the hell that means!) and he couldn't bear hanging out with 'those losers' anymore so he basically headed north. 

He flew and flew and flew. After a couple of days of flying, he got tired and noticed that the weather was getting colder. He continued and tried to ignore the fatigue and the cold but one day, at the peak of exhaustion and somewhat frustration, he found himself in a snow storm and next thing he knew, he was grounded as the winds and snow were smashing to his tired body. When he came to his senses, he was almost fully buried under the heavy snow and was shaking uncontrollably. He prayed to the god that he did not believe in to get out of this dismal ordeal and he promised 'to stop being cocky and treat his friends and others with respect'. All of a sudden, a moose called Johannes who was passing by and had not obviously seen him, dropped a massive crap on Jimmy. Jimmy was too tired to mind this but he soon noticed that the heat from the turd started to melt the snow around him and all of a sudden, he was enjoying the pleasant warmth and he totally forgot where he was and why he was there. He started singing from joy:

"All the leaves are brown

And the sky is grey

I've been for a walk

On a winter's day

I'd be save and warm

if I was in LA

California dreamin'

on such a winter's day..."

A fox named Vincenzo came by and heard Jimmy's voice. He saw Jimmy sitting for himself and singing joyfully in the middle of crap. He had not eaten anything proper for several days in that winter so in a blink of an eye, he pulled him out and ate him up.

Moral 1. If someone takes a crap on you, it doesn't necessarily mean that he wants to harm you rather he might be doing you good in an indirect way, it might be a solution to your already s#&!ty situation.

Moral 2. If someone takes you out of crap, it doesn't necessarily mean that he wants to help you, maybe  he wants to eat you afterwards.

Moral 3. If you find yourself in crap, keep quiet and enjoy the warmth, it might be the best for you.

Oh...so mightily!

First snow has landed today and I can't be happier about it. So happy that I don't know what got into me and I took my bike to work today, I can't remember when was the last time (if there has ever been a time at all!) that I rode my bike in the snow. Of course most of the trip to and from work will be done by train but still...

So glad that I just bought my cross country gear and I am almost good to go, looking very much forward to substatial workouts in the tracks and hopefully some consequent weight loss. That depends wholly if my prayer below is accepted by whoever is in charge of these issues:

"May the clouds puke mightily!"

By the way, this is how the city looks like today at 10:41 AM.

On a somewhat irrelavant and or perhaps quite relavant note, I said no to another trip to Courchevel with the guys althought it was quite 'painful' for me to say no them and also the Courchevel II post is still in draft (the latter is very unlikely to be materialized as it stands now). I did so in the hope of settling for new place which could be organized via other friends but that seems a bit far fetched now so...we'll see what happens, fingers crossed! 

Dear Google

For the love of god, please improve the word processor of blogger...not that I blog every day and I am so frustrated with this one but honestly, this one REALLY sucks!

Yours truly,

- Me

Rammstein on February 17, 2012

Playlist XVI.

1. "Sonne"
2. "Wollt ihr das bett in flammen sehen"
3. "Keine lust"
4. "Sehnsucht"
5. "Asche zu asche"
6. "Feuer frei"
7. "Mutter"
8. "Mein teil"
9. "Du riechst so gut"
10. "Links 2-3-4"
11. "Du hast"
12. "Haifisch"
13. "Bück dich"
14. "Mann gegen mann"
15. "Ohne dich"

16. "Mein herz brennt"
17. "Amerika"
18. "Ich will"

19. "Engel"
20. "Pussy"

Long nights

Words by Eddie Vedder.

Have no fear
For when I'm alone
I'll be better off than I was before

I've got this light
I'll be around to grow
Who I was before
I cannot recall

Long nights allow me to feel...
I'm falling...I'm falling
The lights go out
Let me feel
I'm falling
I'm falling safely to the ground
Ah...

I'll take this soul that's inside me now
Like a brand new friend
I'll forever know

I've got this light
And the will to show
I will always be better than before

Long nights allow me to feel...
I'm falling...I'm falling
The lights go out
Let me feel
I'm falling
I'm falling safely yo the ground

Smile, O brother!

"Bring the boys back home

Bring the boys back home

Don't leave the children on their own, No... No!

Bring the boys back home"

A note to KG before his arrival

This is for when I see you at the airport:

"I just want to scream...hello...

My god it has been so long, never dreamed you'd return

But now here you are, and here I am

Hearts and thought they fade...away..."

:-)

Battle for Haditha

This is very strong and disturbing film made by Nick Broomfield, a documentary maker with outstanding film record.  The plot, as mentioned early in the movie is about:

"On 19th of November 2005 an IED bomb planted in the roadside in Haditha, Iraq killed 1 marine and injured 2 others.

In the following hours marines killed 24 Iraqi men, women and children."

The movie has been shot in the style of documentary and it took me quite some time to realize that it is not actually a documentary. The drama is so strong that it made me emotional at times during the movie. I firstly aimed all my hatred to the marines and I was hoping that they all would vanish despite knowing the outcome of the story. But then I noticed that both sides were crying (or rather bleeding) heavily after all the dust had settled. The audience inevitably aims his emotions toward the leaders of the both sides who manipulate the minds of their followers and fire up the war with disregard to its casualties or consequences.

Once again, it was confirmed for me that "The first casualty of war is innocence."

A very fine piece of movie and yet another great work by Broomfield nonetheless.