JH: There was something about it being Finlandia, Sibelius, national romantic tune … also about it being used in Die Hard 2 but uncredited.
Hmmmm, I also found this:
“Finlandia became a symbol of Finnish nationalism. While Finland was still a Grand Duchy under Russia performances within the empire had to take place under the covert title of “Impromptu”. In Finland the Finlandia Hymn was not sung until Finnish words for it were written by the opera singer Wäinö Sola in 1937.”
Was going to run Grifty at HQ but IYE has it up at 931, plus a piece on Livelsberger military reality show.
7. Keep saying but
… living midway between three cities, only two which are visible from this hillside, and also having heard that snow is falling in Liverpool just now, not here though, different climate, then this is understandable:
Just adore winter … used to be late autumn/winter but this time now is definitely mine, ours, yours … nature is wild, does all sorts of crazy things, esp. at this time of year.
6. It’s not just the music as such
… in this, yet another look at Sultans of Swing … fear not, I’m not going to play the Alchemy concert version for the umpteenth time, though I did sixteen times yesterday. Why sixteen?
They were all reaction videos and that’s where my interest was … in the humans watching, reacting, commenting, given who each person was. I believe that each song requires a certain type of person reacting … for example, Paul Simon’s Diamonnds on the Soles …. benefits from looking at the history, inc. South Africa, 1987 … and I want to see a black bro reacting, not a Euro music presser … would it pass muster with the bro? It did.
With Sultans, universally praised by receptive rock/pop audiences for its sheer energy, the killer guitars and other instruments, the way they all fed off each other, the whole professional tone … the quality of playing.
But I wanted to know more … how different demographics would react along gender lines, generation lines, national lines, whether the listener was a professional or just Joe Public. Many reactions were from females and almost universally, whether black, white, Asian, old, young … the female simply “melted” … females are soooo responsive if the triggers are there … this is the ancient delight for the man, though a double-edged sword at the same time.
Then the boys … black, white, different generations. Overall, Gen Zee, male female, whatever ethnicity … reacted favourably, as the song, frankly, the performance, was so darned good. But I wanted to know just how good technically and so, when I saw a guitar teacher and classical guitarist reacting, methought oh ho ho, this might be interesting.
It was … the guitar teacher explained, picked up his own guitar and rattled off the chords, the notes … noting that it was not the notes played but the way they were played … the tone, the cadence. Yes, that’s what I’d wanted to see analysed … does Knopfler stand up in a harsh critical environment? He did.
The other one … the classical guitarist, was bopping away soon into it, laughing at times that Knopfler had gone classical in places.
Now all that was sweet but it does lead to two other points. How can, say, some classical music buffs not appreciate talent and elan, just because it is a different genre? At the same time, why can I not stand the auto-tuned, adenoidal guff post 1997? Swift? Sheeran? No thanks. It’s difficult to know why these things at times. Why did glam rock in the 80s leave me cold, especially in those poncy costumes?
Finally, I decided to bring it back home … to find a responder, a reactor, who actually was British, a local lad, could see the performance through “homie” eyes … with one difference … not of the era but too young to have known the era … a gruff lad from a decade and a half later … how would he take it? (Click pic to get the reaction video).
These things, to me, are a buzz … to see how other humans respond, in different cultures and eras. For example, Debbie Harry, in Heart of Glass or Rip Her To Shreds, was playing the hormonal teenage girl … so, was there a reaction vid by just such a creature … a bratty girl of the age today, not from back then? There were two … a right pain, actually … but what both said was they were amazed how high pitched Debbie was … in other words, feminine, not tough girl badass … plus how much it was their moms’ type of thing from that time. Very interesting.
(0525) Morning this dark morn. To make the current timeline make sense for those not of any faith, a word about Epiphany appears in Mon 1. (0638)
5. TDS
4. Fun with oncology corner
3. Speaking about Oz
2. Steve drops at 930
Four: Scholz Calls Elon Musk a ‘Troll’, bubonic plague, flu season, much more…..
Three: convenient DC snowstorm, Soros, much more…..
Two: NATO/Uke attacks on Russia, sit-rep in general…..
One: Covid, how long Starmer, uch more…..
1. Epiphany and the other commemorations around now
Were we at Unherdables to attempt to cover the Protestant, Orthodox and RC trads in detail … much of it would result in a clash of days.
The way I saw around it, a sort of middle way combining but not overly-compromising, was to start Advent on Dec 1, finishing at midnight on Dec 24, thence the Twelve Days start on the 25th, finishing at midnight of Jan 5, the 6th being Epiphany, which becomes Orthodox Christmas Eve after dark, through the night vigil, thence Orthodox Christmas on Jan 7, finishing up around 1300 GMT.
The change I’d make in Dec 2025 though is to shorten the days … starting the season on Dec 13, with two carols a day, not one. Thus, our Advent with the Twelve Days would have Epiphany and OrthXmas added, making a total of 26 days, which should be just about right.
The Scots and Slavs might disagree but NY was never all that much to our family, nice though it was hearing the fireworks from bed, post-cocoa.
In the educational field in Russia, it was back to work around Jan 10, which pretty much ushered in a nothing time, commemoration-wise. This year, 2025 though, Australia Day, Jan 26, threatens to be a civilisational clash Wokerati versus humans, so might keep an eye on that. We also have a patron’s bday on Jan 15 … more on bdays below.
I’ve had to think through a policy on reader and patron bdays … for a start, I’m utterly hopeless on remembering, plus the trap is … one mentions one or two and by definition leave some VIPs out => big trouble, miffedness, mild resentment.
The only way I can see around it is to name the ladies if they would like … in my sphere, Julia Feb 23, Toodles and Isilme in turn … and they could help by coming clean and hinting as to what they’d appreciate or not. As for the boys … I’ll not mention the bday unless they’d like it mentioned … but they have to tell me, right … memory like a sieve and a bit thick in the head. Ole Jimbo.
Lastly for now … this patron or reader designation … to me, a “patron” is someone integral or a longtime reader who engages now and then … a “reader” drops in but does not engage as much, if at all. For me, “landlord” seems an appropriate designation.
How does one become a patron? Engage, without being blocked as a troll.
