Pink Inquisition

Bloody Bonner x 3

2007-11-17T18:04:00.000+02:00

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

What's your favourite nursery rhyme?

And Now for Something Completely Different

2007-11-13T12:39:00.000+02:00

Some lolcats I made, that didn’t make the cut onto the voting page:

It should read "Wir können", but the Lolcat Builder doesn't support scandic letters.

Sad Day

2007-11-08T17:13:00.000+02:00

I’m not sure if I should write about the Jokela High School shooting at all. I’ve thought about it since yesterday. Long before the papers or TV caught on or wanted to give details, the details were all over the net. The identity of the killer, his videos and writings, his press release photos, descriptions given by some of the students that were actually there - all over the Internet.

I have no answers. I don’t wish to contemplate his motives or if it could have been prevented. Also somehow I feel this blog isn’t the right platform to discuss the incident - not yet, at least. I wouldn’t want any family member or friend of a victim to wonder to my blog and read my thoughts on this - next to the Hello Kitty background.

In some way I also don’t want to participate in giving the perpetrator any more personal publicity. I’m not going to link to his picture, say his name or talk about his personal history. You’ve probably already seen and heard everything there is to know at this point.

Just one thing I wish to mention: The Times article had it all wrong. There’s nothing particularly Finnish about the tragedy. It could happen anywhere.

Comme une pluie de papillons

2007-10-24T12:59:00.000+03:00

It seems I have some excess time on my hands today. I'm making use of it by practising my French pronunciation. It’s not like I speak French, I just wish to pronounce the words correctly. To be honest I did study French as a teenager, but the only French I know is: ”Je ne comprends pas. Parlez-vous anglais?”

Anyway, sing along with Michel.

Wight is Wight, Dylan is Dylan
Wight is Wight, viva Donovan
C'est comme un soleil
Dans le gris du ciel
Wight is Wight, hippie, hippie, hippie
Hippie, hippie - hippie, hippie

Ils sont arrivés dans l'île nue
Sans un bagages et les pieds nus
Comme un cyclone inattendu
Comme une fleur avant la saison
Comme une pluie de papillons
A laquelle on a jamais cru

Wight is Wight, Dylan is Dylan
Wight is Wight, viva Donovan
C'est comme un soleil
Dans le gris du ciel
Wight is Wight, hippie, hippie, hippie
Hippie, hippie - hippie, hippie

Toi qui a voulu t'emprisonner
As tu le droit de condamner
Celui qui cherche à s'évader
Chacun mène sa vie comme il veut
Tu ne peux plus baisser les yeux
Car aussi vrai que tu es né

Wight is Wight, Dylan is Dylan
Wight is Wight, viva Donovan
C'est comme un soleil
Dans le gris du ciel
Wight is Wight, hippie, hippie, hippie
Hippie, hippie

Wight is Wight, Dylan is Dylan ....

La-la-la-la, la la la la la ....

Wight is Wight by Michel Delpech is a tribute to the Isle of Wight rock festival.
Lyrics from

Song and quote of the day

2007-10-22T20:03:00.000+03:00

The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself.
Oscar Wilde

And yes, the song has nothing to do with the quote...

Mundane List Day - Ten Finnish Videos

2007-10-21T17:11:00.000+03:00

I’m declaring Monday as Mundane List day. Yes, I know it’s Sunday today, but most probably I’ll be too busy to post anything on Monday. (Besides Mundane List Monday is a better rime than Mundane List Sunday.)

What else is going on? I’ve been trying to slack off as much as possible - with a success rate of ERRRR. I’ve been quiet on the blog front, I know. Better not to expect regular posts from me anyhow. I’m not a reliable gal.

Today I thought I’d post some music videos, my ten (let’s see if I can go up to ten) favourite music videos from Finnish artists all time. I love music videos. I’ve practically been raised on them.

Time for a disclaimer: These videos don’t represent the best Finnish music. In most cases they don’t portray the best the artist has to offer. Here goes:

Carola Standertskjöld - Chain of Fools (a cover song from 1969)

M.A Numminen - “Wovon man nicht Sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.”

Jimi Tenor - Total Devastation

CMX - Siivekäs

Kitkerät neitsyet - Hei poika! (free translation: The Bitter Virgins - Hey boy!)

Ismo Alanko - Vittu kun vituttaa (“Fuck, I’m fucking pissed off” would be the literal translation of this song title.)

The Crash - Still Alive

Ultra bra - Nainen, joka elää vapaaherran elämää (The woman who lives the life of a baroness)

Nylon Beat - Anna mulle

This video is parody of the Bold and Beautiful, a soap still aired in Finland, that was especially popular during the nineties.

PMMP - Pikkuveli

This is a cover song, original is by Noitalinna huraa. I like both versions, but this video rocks.

Two bonus tracks:

HIM-videos are cool and all, but this song interpreted by Ville Valo and Tommi Viksten is just so beautiful. It’s not an actual music video, but a compilation made by OdeforCruelty666, a HIM-fan I gather. Composition and lyrics by Keijo Tapani Särkijärvi.

Kun minä kotoani läksin

Kun minä kotoani läksin niin pilvet ne varjoili
Ja kaikista katkerimman kohtalon mulle maailma tarjosi
Kylän karkeloissa tulin tyttösen tuntemaan
Enkä minä loistetta sinisistä silmistä unhoita milloinkaan
Eikä mun ikäväni haihdu täällä outojen seurassa
Ennen kuin kukkii se orjan ruusu minun hautani reunalla

When I Left My Home

When I left my home the clouds were gathering (x2)
And the world offered me a destiny most bitter (x2)
At the village dance I got to know a girl (x2)
And I shall never forget her shining blue eyes (x2)
My longing will grow no less here among strangers (x2)
Until the slave rose grows on my grave (x2)
(Translation by Finlandlovers on Youtube)

Did you know Qenya the Elvish language in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is based on Finnish?

Imperiet - Märk hur vår skugga, Fredmans epistel N:O 81

Now, Imperiet is a Swedish band. They’re interpreting a song by Bellman about the burial of a loved one. Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795) was a Swedish poet and composer who (according to the English wikipedia) often wrote about alcohol, sex and death. His work is still very much relevant today.

Vem skall nu flaskan befalla?
Torstig var hon och uttorstig är jag;
vi ä torstiga alla.

Enjoy the Silence

2007-10-06T19:53:00.000+03:00

Hi folks!

Sorry for all the quietness. I've been studying like a little rat and this is my first free night for a long time. I'm listening to the Beatles, couple of my friends are coming over and so I wont be posting anything new today either. Instead I'll leave you with a video.

Song and quote of the day

2007-09-28T21:23:00.000+03:00

"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin." ~Charles Darwin

I made this Flash Music Player at MyFlashFetish.com.

From Madonna to Whore - A Prickly Road

2007-09-18T21:22:00.000+03:00

Britney, Lindsay, Nicole, Christina. Such sweet girls once. Lovable and kind, virginal with a big smile.

What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, all that’s nice.

What happened to these sweethearts? Who put filth on them? Why did they go “dirrrty”?

We all know sex sells. But actually is not that simple. There’s all kinds of sexy. When launching an artist, it’s marketable to go for a wholesome image - that way you can sell records to little girls in the religious south as well as teenage boys everywhere. Britney is the most blatant example of this. Saying you’ll stay a virgin until married, makes fathers everywhere happy to purchase to your CD for their little pumpkins, thinking you’re a good influence - and at the same time draws daddies into a fantasy. Isn’t it every mans dream to teach an eager virgin the ways of love? At least it’s a collective cultural daydream.

The wholesome marketing plan has it’s limitations though. It doesn’t ensue press coverage for ever. Days of Doris Day are over and in today’s day and age we wait for the kill. So you see, at a point in time the virgin needs to be deflowered. The more fiercely it’s done, the more headlines it’ll get. This is why I believe Britney has made all the right choices career wise. Her persona can be sold, and has been sold with many different marketing slogans. Come see the amazing virgin in a catholic school girl uniform! She sings and dances. Witness the downfall! Laugh with us. Now she’s crazy and shaved her head. Look at her twitch and fumble!

But let’s talk about Xtina also. She’s reformed. She’s a nice girl now. Once the dirrrty girl is now singing about mercy, the voice within and understanding. I think that for Christina the whole journey was easier. She has a great voice and for her going “back to basics” works. However, it’s interesting she is still selling less records than Britney. It can’t be anything to do with the music - it must the story. Britney’s story sells more.

What’s to become of our gal then? I honestly don’t know. If she can pull out a comeback this time around, get people to buy her new CD, then I think sky’s the roof. If she fails however, her career probably ends here. There must be a balance of unstable personal life scattered all over the tabloids and professional success. If she’s only a has-been, then were not bothered. We want her to pull it off once more, then fail, then rise, then fail. Let’s sell some magazines!

Join me all for a prayer for Britney. The lyrics are from Christina’s new song.

Lord have mercy on my soul
For I have walked the sinful road
That I'm down on my knees
Lord have mercy on me, please

Woah, woaa yeah yeah
Woa yeah yeah oh oh
Oh-oh yeah yeah yeah, ohh

So don't let me fool around no more
Send your angels down to guide me through that door
Well I've gone and confessed my regrets
And I pray I'm not held in contempt
I'm so lost, and I need you to help me repent

Do you want to?

2007-09-08T14:36:00.000+03:00

Today I have a plan. I'm on a mission to list all the art references I can find in the Franz Ferdinand video "Do you want to?".

Alex Kapranos, the lead singer, has said the song has no hidden meaning. It's simply conversations he overheard at an art gallery party. Diane Martel's video, however, has many hidden meanings. Here are some of them:

Writing on the wall reads:

"SKELETOR, DICK DASTARDLY,
C UNT DUCKULA,
TOM CAT, CAPTAIN PUGWASH”

Now, Skeletor is the Overlord of Evil, Dick Dastardly is dabble-dealing do-badder, Captain Bugwash is the bravest buccaneer and Count Duckula is a cunt.
I’m not sure who Tom Cat is, perhaps the mischievous cat from Tom & Jerry.

The women wearing nude colour underwear suggest:

Yves Klein - Anthropometry. Klein, French artist (28 April 1928 - 6 June 1962), Neo-dadaist or Post-modernist, used "living brushes" nude women in his art. He also patented his own colour blue International Klein Blue. If Yves Klein were a contemporary of ours, he would have probably ventured into making rap videos. Take a look for yourself. Nudity involved, but the ladies sure are pretty.

A band member clutching a magnifying glass attached to the wall and reading the small print of a note pinned onto the wall “Do you want to“ is a play on Yoko Ono's Ceiling Painting, an interactive piece where a magnifying glass hangs from a chain above a ladder and attached to the ceiling is a piece of paper with the word “YES”. Allegedly it was through this work Yoko met John.

Your famous friend, well I blew him before you, oh yeah.

The camera cuts to a man on fire shaking hands with a another man - Here's Pink Floyd's album cover, the Wish You Were Here LP:

Another band member making use of an urinal. This one is too obvious:

With love,
R. Mutt.

There are bicycles hanging from the ceiling:

Might be another Duchamp reference. His first ready made (a piece he decided to call ready made only after the exhibition of La Fontaine five years later, and not to mention managed to destroy and then had to remake) was called Roue de bicyclette and consisted of a bicycle wheel on a kitchen stool.

Then again, apparently Franz Ferdinand boys always take their bikes to tour so they can cycle off to local galleries. So maybe the bikes are there as an inside joke.

Andy Warhol behind the mixing table with a mixer in front of him, might be a simple pun.
The blender also reminds me of Henrik Jakobsen’s White Love, sperm, urine and blood in blenders.

Brian Donnelly's aka KAWS Michelin man-inspired creation Chums is featured.

A lot of details are still missing. The man in the sun recliner holding an umbrella and the bathroom shelf piece on the wall. Some of the paintings on the wall are Yves Klein pastiches, but in front of most of them I'm clueless. The inflatable giant robot? The scene in the beginning, with the band members in one bed - a performance art piece, but which one?

I do understand not all of them needn’t be direct references to pieces of art, they might be references to categories of art. Nonetheless, I think I’m missing something.

As a prize to anyone who can help, I offer a picture (by email) of a ceramic rabbit wearing a sweater.

To Veil or Not To Veil - Err, Wrong Question!

2007-09-06T21:34:00.000+03:00

Unarticulated ranting of the day, written by an evil feminist, inhabitant of a Western country:

I worry that the feminist movement of Muslim women (and the odd men) everywhere is slowly dying down. It’s understandable - in these times of clash over religion, Muslims crave unity and don’t wish to rock their own boat any further. Fundamentalism is growing as a backlash to US policy in the Middle East and in many places, for example in Turkey, to the westernization of culture at large. And where fundamentalists rise to power, the life circle of Muslim women narrows down.

I had a Muslim friend in High School. She wore jeans and her hair down, with no veil. She was also a devout Muslim. My friend had modesty and therefore there was no need to add a veil to the mix. In the Quran the word “Hijab” refers to modesty, not to any specific piece of garment.

“And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what must ordinarily appear there of; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their husbands' sons, their brothers, or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons, or their women or the servants whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex, and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O you Believers, turn you all together towards Allah, that you may attain Bliss.” (Quran 24:31).

I lost touch with my girlfriend. She excelled in math and wanted to study pharmaceutics, or go to beauty school, but I have no idea what became of her. Or what she might be thinking nowadays.

But I don’t want to make this into a post about the Hijab. I’m not against the veil. I’ll go as far as to say I’m not completely against the Nibaq or Burqa. If you’re a Muslim woman reading this and thinking the veil (Hijab, Burqa, full Chadri or what ever) is your personal choice, I have no beef with you. Go ahead and make your choices. What I’m against, is the narrowing of your choices as a woman. I don’t believe your government or religious society has the right to control your choice of dress. I believe you should stand up against it and urge also your husband to speak on your behalf. Do it clad in full Afghan Chadri, if you wish. (And blame old naïve me, if you get death threats)

I’ve done it again, changed my target audience in a flick. I started this post talking to other westerners and then switched demographic and addressed Muslim women. And probably not very many Muslim women read my blog…Oh well.

This post was inspired by Youtube propaganda. I hate Youtube, especially the comments posted there, and yet I can’t stop reading. They offer me a window to some of the darkest thinking patterns and intellectual dishonesty of people all over. No one there really bothers to be politically correct and some of the comments simply reek hate. You don’t get that kind emotion in the mass media.

Four is a Magic Number?

2007-08-31T16:51:00.000+03:00

Franscud challenged me to The Fab 4 meme.

4 Films I Could Watch Over and Over:

Gone with the wind.

A Clockwork Orange

Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrmann. What can I say? I love Shakespeare and love pop culture.

Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola

4 Television Shows I Watch:

Um. I don’t know if I watch anything regularly nowadays. Some of these are no longer on TV and I watch them on DVDs and some of them are on, but as reruns.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Gilmore Girls

Ugly Betty (well, UB is current)

Little Britain

4 Places I've Lived:

Hmm. I’m kind of boring, because I’ve only lived in two places. (Well, if not counting my grandmothers summer house where I spent all my summers as a child. It’s located in a small town near Turku and by the sea.)

Turku in South Western Finland. Born and raised. It’s the oldest city in Finland, founded in the 13th century.

I’ll show you a (very non-official) video…

This is a grass-roots hip-hop video performed by the people on the streets of Turku. Video and music by Tatu Hiltunen, Tatu Metsätähti and Henrik Axlund.

Nowadays I live in Jyväskylä that’s located in the inlands. I came here to study and probably will be moving on once I’ve graduated my Masters.

4 Favorite Foods:

Raw salmon with baby potatoes

Grilled chicken with a special marinade my mother makes

Vegetable pizza with blue cheese or feta

Um, chocolate in all forms

4 Websites I Visit Every Day:

It varies. Right now:

Helsingin Sanomat

(from the website: ”Helsingin Sanomat is the biggest daily subscription-based newspaper in Scandinavia. It is also Finland's leading national paper, which is read by more than three-fourths of the residents of the Helsinki metropolitan area and by a quarter of all Finns.”)

I’m a subscriber and read my paper at home, but news travels fast so I gaze online news headlines as well.

Youtube (Well, almost every day. I don’t post videos, just watch them and get annoyed by the idiots commenting.)

I check certain blog directories, blog catalog and mybloglog, but not on a daily basis.

And I check my email several times a day. That counts, doesn’t it.

Oh yeah, and Roiworld rocks. Never too old to play dressup.

4 Places I Would Love To Be Right Now:

Because I have a cold, nothing would be quite that fun right now.

I could try moving to the couch to rest, but that would require effort and I’m not much for effort today.

4 Favorite Colors:

Anything that goes with my complexion. Pastel colours, red, blue. Black, although it’s not an actual colour.

4 Names That I Love but Would/Could Not Use For My Children:

Sylvester (the Cat)

Nasse (impossible to translate)

Putte (Finnish for Porky the Pig. It’s a common endearing nickname.)

Björn (it means bear in Swedish and is a common name amongst the Swedish speaking Finns)

I wanted to tag people that I though would be open to answering a meme. Here's my list:

Bobobimbo
Morinn
Lou
RobSellen

Survival of the fittest

2007-08-16T13:45:00.000+03:00

How often misused words generate misleading thoughts.
Herbert Spencer

Should have listened to your own advice, Herbert.

Song of the day is from a movie soundtrack. La Cité des Enfants Perdus (The City of Lost Children) is a movie in which dreams of children are stolen. Goes together well with Social Darwinism, don't you think.

Fair Trade Porn - A simple yet not at all fool-proof checklist

2007-08-09T23:41:00.000+03:00

If you’re lazy, and only want to read the checklist, then scroll.

Hi hipster! So you like porn, do you? Well, here’s a little checklist for you, buddy - just to ensure you’re enjoying pornographic material that’s a little less exploiting. Let’s do our best to make sure the women, and men participating in films and posing in pictures, are at least exploited mostly on camera, and not off camera.

Seriously speaking, this is something I wish the media would pay more attention to: the fairness of porn and the problems that arise in production. I’m certainly no connoisseur. I have no affiliation with the porn industry. Being a woman also cuts me out the major demographic audience. Still, I want to say my bit.

I’d like to start-off by clearing out some misconceptions you might have about the people in the porn industry. They are not all inherently bad, rotten apples. The women in porn are not bad women. They are not dirty, slutty by heart, or daughters brought up all wrong. They’re not asking for it. They’re not asking for a double penetration and a cum shot. For the most part, the motivating factor for these girls is poverty. The majority of porn actors and actresses come from poor countries or areas in Eastern Europe, Asia or South-America. The US has a large enough porn industry - what’s wrong with it, you ask? If they’re using domestic porn actresses or actors? Well, most of the porn actors and actresses in the US have lower class backgrounds. These girls and boys have limited options in life. They’re not going to be the next Rhodes scholar, no matter how hard they try. The porn industry, as unpleasant as it might be, can seem like a better option then working three minimum wage jobs and still not paying the rent.

Drugs, another big motivating factor. Many girls and boys in the porn industry do drugs, and simply are addicts. It’s easy to imagine how this cycle runs. You start of doing porn to get money for drugs and very soon, if you’re making any money at all, you’re even more addicted. Also the general attitudes towards porn actresses probably doesn’t help with ones self image, and you’ll have even more reasons for substance abuse.

I began writing this text with a clear objective in mind. I was going to give simple advice on how to avoid the worst of the worst, most exploiting porn. The task turned about to be more difficult then I had anticipated. For who is it then, who can act in porn, for the porn to be still considered somewhat fair trade? No one? I thought about this for a while and then came to some kind of a solution. There’s never going to be one hundred percent ethical porn. At least not in a society where porn actors and actresses are frowned upon. However, this does not mean we should give up.

So finally, here are some guidelines:

1.Think, what do you know about the production company? If there’s no background info to be found, then chances are there’s something wrong. Try to stick to companies you trust. Sometimes production offices that have women in leading positions are fairer, sometimes not. Write to them and ask questions. If no one bothers to answer, draw your conclusions.

2. From which country are the actors or models from? Yes, I know, it’s hard to tell sometimes, but try. Decide not to look at porn of which’s origin you don’t know enough about - especially if the actors look and sound East European, Asian et cetera. And yes I know, it’s a hard task trying to figure out who’s East European and who’s not. Yet, it’s not an indifferent issue, so try.

3. What kind of activities are featured? Double anal penetration and other similarly extreme stunts mean that the actress is in serious pain. Rigorous anal penetration, which is considered quite mainstream in porn, can also cause harm to the actress or actor later on in life. If you’re a conscious porn user, you don’t want to support such films. If you’re a sexual sadist, faked torture films, where no one gets hurt, should suffice.

These are the three basic rules for fair-trade porn, defined by me. It’s about minimizing pain and harm to others and having a social conscience.

Now, shall we move on. For some fine-tuning:

- I’m hesitant about saying this, but it might be better to buy products of established porn actresses such as Jenna Jameson. Yes, they’ve probably been exploited in the past and by becoming icons, beautified by silicone, botox and lipo, they contribute to a problematic cultural representation of women. Yet, better buy Nikes than sweatshop sneakers whose brand says nothing at all to you. At least we know Jenna Jameson makes good money and calls the shots.

- Then, slightly contradictingly: you might consider if you wish to support films and material you see detrimental to how women (or men) are culturally represented. For example why look at material where the women or men are verbally insulted and degraded? Why support extensive plastic surgeries?

- Last, but not least. Why watch unrealistic, anatomically incorrect porn? Women don’t cum while giving head. Also, most women don’t orgasm during plain vaginal intercourse.

That’s all, folks. Be responsible. Drive safe.

Quote and song of the day

2007-08-04T17:56:00.000+03:00

Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger.
Abbie Hoffman

I'm going to a reggae club later on. I spent my afternoon pretending to be a hippie, and the hypocrite I am, I'm enjoying a chicken and cheddar burger now. Peace.

Ping, ping, ping!

2007-08-04T03:00:00.000+03:00

Technorati Profile

Harry Potter and the Second World War - Spoilers ahead!

2007-08-04T02:35:00.000+03:00

I finished reading the new Harry Potter just this morning. I had sat outside reading all yesterday evening and finally grew so tired, that I decided to say good night to the book, while the sun was starting to come up. I had only fifty pages left. Harry had just tapped into Snape’s memories and knew he faced death. Should have stopped reading then.

From that point on, it was all downhill. There are no surprises ahead. Casualties are few. Only the demise of our dear old Riddlemaker awaits, who naturally had it coming a long way. And Harry, dear Chosen boy Harry, of course cannot die. Martyrs survive. For the Greater Good.

Oh well, actually, now I lied. There is one surprise in store: Guess what boys and girls, dear Lord Voldemort is dum as a rock! Needn’t be afraid anymore. He is portrayed as this classic psychopath: he’s incapable of loving, and from that somehow follows stupidity. There is nothing outside power and fear for him. Fear becomes his Achilles heel, for Harry does not fear, but embraces death as the only means to save the world he so loves.

The epilogue, the epilogue. Oh God, how I despise the epilogue. Harry has gotten married, with Ginny no less. Teen romances do last. Aww, how sweet. Not. Hermione has become a mother, is married to Ron and apparently has achieved nothing else in life worth mentioning.

Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t hate the book. But somehow the feeling that fills me now, when I have just laid the book down, is: how could a woman conjure up a story so sexist? I hoped Rowling would have reacted to the critique thrown: of not casting women in strong roles. I hoped she would have finally taken up the task of writing some interesting females in the storyline. At least the three Peverell brothers could have been three sisters instead. Somehow she has managed to take the female encrypted world of witchcraft and spun it around, so it becomes a man’s world. World of the Fifties, or maybe even further down the line: turn of the century.

But lets move on to happier things, nazis that is. What did I like about the book? It’s very eurocentered. Gellert Grildelwald is of course somewhat of a nazi, literally speaking, and Dumbledore is a no long the pure lamb he was once portrayed as. He has, in his days, been interested in something dark: the idea of a wizarding world that bowed to no muggle, appealed to him also. This is by far the best teaching in the book. It was not only the Germans who were seduced by the ideas of racial hygiene and eugenics, that lead to the mass murder known as the Holocaust. It was whole of Europe. A known historian has suggested that if he were to pinpoint a place where these ideas would have gained ground in the 1930s, it wouldn’t have been Germany, but France. In actuality, Jewish people have been prosecuted for a very long course of European history. There should be a shared collective guilt in being seduced by dark ideologies. No one person is purely evil or purely good.

The allure of the books seems somewhat seedy to me. The HP books have prospered and sold millions around the world, because they depict something that it’s by now lost to us forever, but what we earn for, all the same. The ways of the European aristocracy. Harry Potter has something in common with brands like Louis Vuitton and Burberry. Except for one thing: at least on some level the Potter books tell us to go against the old order, defy ancient blood lines and hierarchy. Burberry and Vuitton wish us only to engage in the dream.

Now, for the reasons explained above, you can see why I have a problem with the new shadow puppet of a Voldemort. He doesn’t seem to live up to the teachings of the story. Of course one could argue that by dissecting his soul to bits and pieces, he has gradually self-destructed. But Dumbledore warns Harry about You-Know-Whos mind working still racer sharp as ever. So on a metalevel, in the end Voldemort’s problem becomes lack of a soul. For all the evil he has committed there could be mercy found in remorse. Even old Grindelwald might have had some regret over his actions and doesn’t let Voldemort in on the Elder-wand. But Voldemort is incapable of repentance, without a soul he is less of a human, dehumanised. What does this all mean? I’m not sure I like the idea of a dehumanised evil. For it is ideology and structural violence, that constitute evil in my books.

All was well - and status quo.

Hail!

2007-08-04T02:24:00.000+03:00