everything you've ever wanted to know about Finland!

BrotherLoveBone

IndianSummer wrote:

where is what ?

this finland i hear so much about these days

eMMI

IndianSummer wrote:

since this is a music forum.,.. why dont you tell us some thing about the music scene in finnland... there's nightwish i know.,.. but how about bands which sing in the vernacular language and what about traditional finnish folk music ??

nice thought.

let me see..
well, as you mentioned, there's Nightwish. other bands that are well known (probably) are The Rasmus, HIM and Hanoi Rocks. so, not that many bands that are huge here manage it elsewhere.. but that's kinda okay, some of those really popular bands are quite sucky in my opinion.

one style of music that's highly popular here (in addition to heavy/rock/etc.) is this kinda pop tune thing. (I can't seem to find a "proper" translation to it..) not pop as in Britney but as in middle aged men and women who sing about love.. and all the middle aged people love it! :rolleyes:
http://www.jarisillanpaa.com/flash/index_flash.html Jari Sillanpää and Marita Taavitsainen http://www.universalmusic.fi/taavitsainen/press/marita3.jpg (only a pic, she doesn't have a site in English) for example are very popular.

I must admit that in my knowledge there aren't that many bands that sing in a vernacular language.. but folk music then.. that's quite a large topic.
one of the most traditional instruments in Finnish folk music is a Finnish zither (or kantele). http://www.aaronshep.com/extras/Northland_photo.jpg , http://www.people.iup.edu/rahkonen/kantele/kantele.JPG , http://www.publiscan.fi/pgif/kantelem.gif.
well, I'm really sorry but I'm gonna have to go now, so I'll get back to this later.

IndianSummer

BrotherLoveBone wrote:

this finland i hear so much about these days

third rock from the sun

eMMI

BrotherLoveBone wrote:

this finland i hear so much about these days

haha.

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/scandinavia/finmod.gif
it's the yellow one.

BrotherLoveBone

eMMI wrote:

haha.

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/scandinavia/finmod.gif
it's the yellow one.

Haha, nice map u found

BrotherLoveBone

IndianSummer wrote:

since this is a music forum.,.. why dont you tell us some thing about the music scene in finnland... there's nightwish i know.,.. but how about bands which sing in the vernacular language and what about traditional finnish folk music ??

Not a big fan of many finnish acts at least the "bigger" ones but in general metal is huge here usually topping the charts.
Some metal bands other than Nightwish include
Amorphis, Apocalyptica, Finntroll, Sentenced, Children of Bodom and Stratovarius.

Then there's the finnish tango, mostly for the middle aged people. Unlike in Argentina, Finnish tango is less passionate and more melancholic like most music here.

Värttinä and Gjallarhorn are finnish/nordic folk examples
http://www.varttina.com/
http://www.gjallarhorn.com/main.html

There are many smaller bands i would introduce to a foreigner rather than these above mentioned but they don't necessarely have anything finnish in their sound and anyways there are so many interesting smaller bands all over the world.

BrotherLoveBone

Now that i'm here might as well help Emmi a little at least answering a few Even Flows? questions.

About Finnish hockey players and corners:
I think we have more of those invisible 3rd line players than skillful playmakers or goalscorers. They might not have the physical presense as many North American players but they do the dirty work better than scoring. From modern players at least: V.Nieminen (NYR), J.Ruutu (VAN), A.Laaksonen (COL) and J.Lehtinen (DAL). Esa Tikkanen being the best example of earlier gritty finns.

And the Finnish president.
Yes it's a she and we have another election coming up and at the moment she has a solid over 50% of the voters behind her.
Anyways the finnish president doesn't have any legislative power anymore. The president only deals with foreign affairs and maybe gives statements about domestic stuff just to get conversation going and also leads the army if necessary. She/he can't Dissolve parliament on her own.

All the decisions are made in the parliament and the prime minister has the real power.
The political scene is pretty lame most of the time, Nato being the biggest issue occasionally at least. Should we join or not...

sourdough

Finnish names are cool. I particularly like Antii Laaksonen and his arch rival Ossi Vaananen.

eMMI

BrotherLoveBone wrote:

Haha, nice map u found

thanks.
took me like 5 seconds to find it.

oh yeah and thanks for the help! big thanks!

eMMI

sourdough wrote:

Finnish names are cool. I particularly like Antii Laaksonen and his arch rival Ossi Vaananen.

great! I like Finnish names too!
but I must admit that I had to google Antti Laaksonen and Ossi Väänänen to be sure I know who they are.. :rolleyes:

eMMI

IndianSummer wrote:

hi,

ty for the answer. and no problem about the delay.


so the finns arnt germanic ??
yet they are blue eyed blondes ??

are the finns a isolated sort of europeans??
are they related to the balts in ethnicity and/or language??

and finally are the sami blue eyed blondes (that i guess completes all possible permutations and combinations of questions!!)


sorry, i am a bit too ethno-culturally inquisitive.

ty.

actually the origin of Finns has always been and remains to be a mystery. almost all of the researchers have a different opinion on where we're from and who we're related to.
but as far as I know, no, the Finns aren't germanic.

blue eyed blondes? some, but not all. obviously there are more blue eyed blondes in Finland than in for exmaple the US. but there are a lot more blue eyed blondes in Sweden than in Finland. we have more variety.

isolated sort of Europeans. I'd say yes and no.
in the past we've been more isolated but not so anymore.
obviously Finland still isn't that "big" of a country.. and Finns.. well, the national mentality tends to be shut. not very talkative and open, but we're working on it.

the sami. I've never met a sami person. but I don't think they look any different from other Finns. (of course I am now talking about the sami that live in Lapland.)
there is an old saying though that the sami are "pressed by the clouds" (direct translation).. that meaning that they'd be somewhat shorter than the Finns. but I dunno if that's true nowadays.

sorry again that it took a long time.

UpHereInMyTree500

I like Finnish people eMMi.
Do you like Australians???

eMMI

UpHereInMyTree500 wrote:

I like Finnish people eMMi.
Do you like Australians???

that's nice to hear!
I have met one Australian. and I like him. so yes, I like Australians.

U-R

eMMI wrote:

that's nice to hear!
I have met one Australian. and I like him. so yes, I like Australians.

when i was in the czech republic on a hockey training camp about 4 years ago we were sharing a rink with the canadian team for the world junior championships (featuring guys like spezza, bouwmeester, camalleri, leclaire and ott). they played a practice game against the finish team at this rink, we met the finish guys briefly (kari lehtonen, mikko koivu and tommo ruuttu come to mind). they were great guys, apart from laughing at us while we were doing our fitness assesments they were really cool, gave us a heap of sticks and a few jerseys and stuff they could afford to do without as they were leaving the ice after one of the actual tournament games (they demolished switzerland for the bronze medal in that game if memory serves me). so this aussie likes the portion of the finish population that he's met

eMMI

U-R wrote:

when i was in the czech republic on a hockey training camp about 4 years ago we were sharing a rink with the canadian team for the world junior championships (featuring guys like spezza, bouwmeester, camalleri, leclaire and ott). they played a practice game against the finish team at this rink, we met the finish guys briefly (kari lehtonen, mikko koivu and tommo ruuttu come to mind). they were great guys, apart from laughing at us while we were doing our fitness assesments they were really cool, gave us a heap of sticks and a few jerseys and stuff they could afford to do without as they were leaving the ice after one of the actual tournament games (they demolished switzerland for the bronze medal in that game if memory serves me). so this aussie likes the portion of the finish population that he's met

nice story.

oh, I'm so glad they behaved nicely.

mookie blaylock 10

U-R wrote:

when i was in the czech republic on a hockey training camp about 4 years ago we were sharing a rink with the canadian team for the world junior championships (featuring guys like spezza, bouwmeester, camalleri, leclaire and ott). they played a practice game against the finish team at this rink, we met the finish guys briefly (kari lehtonen, mikko koivu and tommo ruuttu come to mind). they were great guys, apart from laughing at us while we were doing our fitness assesments they were really cool, gave us a heap of sticks and a few jerseys and stuff they could afford to do without as they were leaving the ice after one of the actual tournament games (they demolished switzerland for the bronze medal in that game if memory serves me). so this aussie likes the portion of the finish population that he's met

that's awesome! i saw your post about the canadian olympic team and was curious about whether or not you were a canuck living in aus...this explains it. i know hockey is obviously big in finland, but how about aus?

as a side note, finland meets canada in the opening game of this year's world juniors on boxing day...should be a good one. good luck to your team eMMI !

Scubascott

Ok all you Finns, Norwegians, Danes, Canadians and anyone else from a cold place with very strange ideas about what constitutes a sport . .

Explain to me what the hell this curling business is about. I saw some on TV the other day. As far as I could tell its basically the ice equivalent of lawn bowls, and possibly the most boring spectator sport ever invented.

What is the object exactly? How do you win? Are there tactics involved?
Do the guys with the brooms actually achieve anything? The stone seems to go in a straight line no matter how hard they scrub. And why does the stone pushing guy have a broom? He doesn't use it, he just holds it while he pushes the stone. And what kind of shoes do you wear for a hard day of curling? They seem to be able to magically grip and slide on the ice at the same time.

These are all burning questions that have been keeping me awake for days now. Please shed some light on this for me.

anarchist_grunger

eMMI wrote:

ask me.
anything, anything at all. but still do try to behave!
and I may not be able to answer every question regarding politics, but I shall try.

I desided to create this thread because every now and then there are some interviws with various artists (or other people) who think we have polar bears here. and we don't, just so you know.

so, ask me.

and yes, Conan O'Brien looks a lot like our president, I admit it.

why are there 1000 lakes???? :D:D
and will janne ahonen win at the olimpiads in turin?

eMMI

mookie blaylock 10 wrote:

that's awesome! i saw your post about the canadian olympic team and was curious about whether or not you were a canuck living in aus...this explains it. i know hockey is obviously big in finland, but how about aus?

as a side note, finland meets canada in the opening game of this year's world juniors on boxing day...should be a good one. good luck to your team eMMI !

I thank you dearly!

eMMI

Scubascott wrote:

Ok all you Finns, Norwegians, Danes, Canadians and anyone else from a cold place with very strange ideas about what constitutes a sport . .

Explain to me what the hell this curling business is about. I saw some on TV the other day. As far as I could tell its basically the ice equivalent of lawn bowls, and possibly the most boring spectator sport ever invented.

What is the object exactly? How do you win? Are there tactics involved?
Do the guys with the brooms actually achieve anything? The stone seems to go in a straight line no matter how hard they scrub. And why does the stone pushing guy have a broom? He doesn't use it, he just holds it while he pushes the stone. And what kind of shoes do you wear for a hard day of curling? They seem to be able to magically grip and slide on the ice at the same time.

These are all burning questions that have been keeping me awake for days now. Please shed some light on this for me.

I must admit, I know nothing about curling and my opinion is the same as yours. them crazy folks. :rolleyes: