Blog Assignment #3 T2: Carte Blanche

I´ve received an interesting group invitation at Facebook recently. “You know you are from Sweden when…” I think these sorts of statements are really fun, when they are playing at prejudices about Swedes. And then I’m raised in Sweden and believe that I’m a typical Swede this was something I really had to test. How much of a Swede am I?

1. 
   “You love complaining about Sweden when you're there, but state it’s much better in Sweden when you're abroad.” Of course! As soon as you’re abroad everything is suddenly so much better in Sweden. But you do not notice this when you’re living here.


2. 
   “You would happily catch the tube to the suburbs at 3am or walk alone through a park at night, but you'd never ride a car without your seatbelt on.” Yes, I’ve never been afraid of walking alone in the middle of the night or at any time of day. I refuse to be afraid! And absolutely, I would never drive or be a passenger without using the seat-belt.


3. 
   ”You take your shoes off when entering a house and don't get why Non-Swedes think that's funny.” I HATE when people goes into my apartment with the shoes on. Take them of people! Haha! However, when I was at my exchange-family in German its different, they never take their shoes off except for sleeping and showering, I guess! ;-)


4. 
   “You get annoyed by people standing to the left in the escalator.”
   When I was in England a week in july 2007 I got accustomed to it, they have left-hand traffic even in the escalator.


5. 
   “You plan every second of your day, including the visits to the bathroom.” It isn’t really so bad, but I like to plan my day the evening before. I book what I have to do. Many of my foreign friends teases me for this, they think that I need to ”relax more”. Then I tell them that they should plan more, hehe!


6. 
   “You end your phonecalls with 'pusspuss' and then don't understand at all why the english-speaking people around you looks at you like you're a retard or a pervert.” Hihi, YES.


7. 
   “You don't drink or eat anything that is one day past its "best before date."” No, absolutely not, so disgusting. But it's no risk that my food would get old, I eat too much! ;-P


8. 
   "You believe it is very uncommon for people under twenty five to actually be married.” When I met two of Carmen’s friends from Ecuador, both 23 years old and they had been married for four years, I thought it was real odd!

Then there are statements that aren’t real…

"You have ketchup on boiled eggs." Excuse me, I feel sick! Does anyone have that? :-S

"You constantly whine about the rain or the cold weather." In Sweden Yes, but not when you are abroad then you sometimes wish it would start raining.

"Non-Swedes laugh at you for wearing a bicycle helmet and you answer: "At least I won't be the one dying of a skull fracture"". I would say that it is the other way around. I would never put a bicycle helmet on my head, I’m sorry! Haha!

Blog Assignment #2 T2: In a nutshell

By watching the video clip http://www.storyofstuff.com/ , I was stunned over the connection between the government, the corporation and the consumption by us citizens.

I strongly believe that if we shall be able to create a more sustainable world, we all have to take responsibility and question the obsession of owning things, especially here in the Western world. I really think that the ownership request is the biggest issue. Humankind has a tendency to continuously want newer things in their homes. This makes the request in new technical gadgets increase, which means that the manufacturing industry all the time must seek to do its best in order to make the trendiest. This design hysteria creates more quantity than quality of durability in many cases. And this leads to that you need a new thing in a short time interval. The corporation’s mission is to make more money. And they are doing that by making us buy stuff, we are feeding the corporation.

Isn’t it possible for us to be happy without consuming? “Stop wasting week” – is a yearly re-emerged theme week that beholds the need of resource saving. “Stop wasting week” question the Western consuming culture, pays attention to global (un)fairness and want to encourage people to decrease the material consumption. If all the people on earth consumed as much as the average Finn, according to an international index comparison, we would need four earths. More information at: www.nuukuusviikko.net/svenska

Blog Assignment #1 T2: Should the government know it all?

The Swedish government has in the latest years provided many legislative proposals that refer to increase bugging, surveillance and violation of integrity.
Among other things it includes bugging our phones and to be able to do house search without crime suspicion, to analyze the containment in all e-mail that are crossing the national border and to be able to store information about who we call, e-mail and text messing with. A lot of this doesn’t specifically turn to crime suspects but rather all of the population.
”Trust us, we won’t misuse the instrument of power”, this is the statement from the government to the citizens. Do they really deserve the trust they asking for? Do we really want them to get us registered because of our point of views? Do we want them to know which newspaper/magazine we are reading so they can ratiocinate us from that?

We already have a big brother society. Alright, we doesn’t need any implanted chips in order for the government to know exactly where we are or where we been. The invention is called cell phone! The cell phone is exactly controlled where it been, day and night through the year. Those who don’t have a registered cash card shall know that it isn’t a problem to find the owner anyway. Sweden doesn’t need a new law, the police have already today practically right to do house search. The companies must count on that all communication is being bugged. The government aren’t protecting the companies from this but rather supplement the possibility for espionage in Sweden. This lead to that foreign companies can’t have secrecy or research in Sweden.
Through velocity cameras and environmental tax cameras all car traffic are watched in and out through Stockholm. Together with the mobile phone surveillance it can be controlled if a certain car (person) is in or beyond Stockholm.

Blog Assignment #6: Carte Blanche

I was horrified but mostly amazed when I watched TV last Sunday.
”We want to show another side of prostitution” Louise Bratt says, editor-in-chief for Veckorevyn, in Nyhetsmorgon Söndag tv4 (25-11-07). In the latest number of Veckorevyn, there was an article about “The happy whore”. Which side of prostitution does Veckorevyn want to show, I wonder? It doesn’t been notified of when Louise is being interviewed. But with consideration that they have put a glamorous picture and done the whole article with a lot of glam, you can work on the supposition that they want to show the “glamour” that comes with the job (?). How can a teenage-girl-magazine publish an article that means that prostitution is something great, glamoros and a job among all other? As long as you have the power and can decide for your own.
I don’t believe that “the happy whore” exists. I do not even think that it exist a concept for this meaning. It cannot be any single people that become happy of lasting prostitute? I mean, come on, should it sound the same if it was male prostitute they were talking about? Forget it; men wouldn’t be happy by selling their bodies for money. Why, why, why should women be that then?
“I am not quite content with this article” Louise also says - Always something.
Prostitution will never be a woman benefit. Therefore isn’t such an article suitable in a magazine that claims that they are on the female side.
I do not read Veckorevyn longer but I am sincere amazed over what it cover. What will happen next?

Blog Assignment #5: Contact

One thing that I especially thought was interesting in this book by Carl Sagan, is his attempt to combine religious views with modern science.
I wouldn't say that I self am a religious person - I question God as almighty - I rely on science consequently. Therefore I recognize myself in the main character, Ellie. She's a radio astronomer and is very suspicious against religion and wants proof to believe in something that isn't explainable. When the selection comes to which person shall have the honor to travel in the machine, and meet the extra terrestrials, is she one of them. The reason why she isn't picked as number one is because of her religion thoughts. The stab that select whom that shall travel feels that it should be a person that can represent all mankind and their religions. She tries hard to convince the religious side that religion is inferior science. Pastor, Palmer Joss, think she's wrong and starts to affect her standpoint against the unexplainable. Maybe science and religion can exist side by side?
After her journey to space, she has to prove that she met aliens because none of her technical equipment had worked. This is easier said than done, how can you prove something so challenged (even if you as one person felt it as real) without being judged as mad? Ellie had been amazed by the aliens’ technical skills and what they had achieved. But even such superior creatures haven't the answer to everything. As we have the question: What's the meaning of life?
I think it's a fascinating idea that science and religion can be represented as two sides of the same coin.

Blog Assignment #4: Seen Any Good Films Lately?

Pan’s labyrinth

This is a non-English speaking movie and was nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign language film in 2007.

The year is 1944 and the civil war in Spain is over. An eleven year old girl named Ofelia, who is fascinated of fairytales, travels with her pregnant mother out on to the countryside to visit her stepfather, the cruel and brutal captain Vidal. He’s a follower to Franco and has the mission to supplant the last rebels who are hiding in the forests and still fights for freedom and mankind’s equal worth. During her first night in her new home Ofelia meets a fairy that takes her to an aged overgrowned labyrinth. Here waits a faun for her and he reveals her real identity; she’s the daughter of the king from a furtively lower world kingdom. She has to carry out 3 tasks if she wants to return and meet her real father.

The movie is divided in to two. First the story about Ofelias´s tasks in the fantasy world – or is it real? Than the external world, which is no more tempting, the mother´s fragile health and the housemaid´s double life.

Pan’s labyrinth is a dark and cruel story. This changing between fantasy and historical drama are skilled balanced over the genres. The interpreting is open: is it an unusual chimerical child´s escape from the tough reality or is it happening “for real”?

The movie is extraordinary beautiful, well-played and cruel and dark but not without hope. I loved this film; it’s gripping and magical and won’t leave anyone unaffected. See it and escape in to another world for 2 hours.

Blog Assignment #3: Video Game Addiction

I think I was about 6 years old when I played a video game for the first time. My older brother, who was ten, had got a Nintendo 8 bit in birthday present. The first video games were Ice Climber and Super Mario Bros. I feel a little bit nostalgic writing about this. Not in order that I played a lot, it just that it reminds me how fast the video game industry develops. I still think that the Mario Bros games are the best video games of all time (even if it's in 2D).

Today I don’t play video games so much either. In itself, I do own some video games for Playstation 2: 6 games of Singstar and 1 Dancing Stage Max. These games are just party enhancers. I also own a Game Cube where I play Mario Bros games. And of course I have some PC games as well. I don’t have time to play often though; there is no time for playing in my hectic schedule. Because I think it’s more important to socialize with your friends and to exercise your body in real life than playing that you do so in the virtual world.

My little brother played WoW for a short period when he was about fifteen. I think he did play because all of his friends did so. They had like weekends were they were playing LAN days and nights. I thought he was a moron.

Why are people playing so much then? I think it’s an easy escape from reality. You don’t need to use your imagination because someone has already done it for you. And you don’t need to spend much time to put an effort to be entertained.