I have no idea how this is coming off as, I might sound really racist. If I do, I apologise and assure you that I'm not a racist (well... that's a whole different philosophical discussion :P) But it's a thought in process, so please reply in some way. I need to bounce this idea offa people to make it mature.


I live in Coventry, England, this is my fourth year here. I like it here. But it is very common for the people who live here to really hate the place. Everyone is constantly putting it down. When I mention that I'm from Finland, most people ask "so why on Earth did you come here?" Now there is nothing wrong with Coventry city as a place. Historically it used to have a lot of weaving industry and car factories, it was bombed flat in WWII (hence the curious architechture, which is a mix of new and old) and generally speaking it's a lot like any old place. There are pretty bits and there are ugly bits. Different areas of the city are different in prestige and income of their residents, just like any other place. There's a fair few estates and more run down areas in the city, like Hillfields and Willenhall, but there are also a fair few really nice areas like Coundon or Allesley (I'm not actually sure if Allesley is part of Coventry or outside somewhere o.O). There's a fairly large university and there's quite a lot of chavs (or white trash, for people who understand Americanese better). I'll talk about the chavs another time.

Now, politically/socio-economically Coventry has had some issues in the past (at a point the city's been near bankruptcy), and as a result Coventry has a history of being very welcoming to immigrants (something about the British government paying for every immigrant living in the city). Hence Coventry is often called a multicultural city. And the other day I was trying to figure this all out: the bad rep of the city among people who live there, how I feel about the place etc... And I came to the conclusion that Coventry is too "multicultural", or more accurately, it is multicultural in the wrong way.

I am from Finland, born and raised there. I have lived in England for three years. I've been to Italy, Sweden and Russia, and I want to travel a lot more in Europe and Americas. I am very fond of American music, films, tv, cars and culture in general. I like French and Italian foods and languages, I like the ancient history of Greece and Italy, I like literature from pretty much everywhere (especially magical realism, which is sort of hispanic/South American thing if I've understood it correctly), I like Indian movies and the food's ok too... so on and so forth. That all suggests that I know and like something about different cultures, and they all shape me as a person. If you've read [Hedda]'s diary lately, he posted a link to a talk by Lawrence Lessig called "Free Culture" which has got me thinking quite a bit. And I agree with the talk in that I have the right to my culture. I am a rightful heir to my culture, I've inherited it from the past generations, and the future generations will inherit it from me. Kalevala belongs to me. Shakespeare belongs to me. Harry Potter belongs to me. Matti Nykanen belongs to me. Elvis belongs to me. They are all my culture. I have the right to those cultural things, because they are in my culture. If it's in my culture, shaping me, it belongs to me (it belongs to you too). Culture is shared by importing and exporting it in different ways. Not all culture is exchanged like this. I have no claim to the culture of the bushmen of Africa, or the aboriginals of Australia. Their culture doesn't shape me, so I can't appropriate it and inherit it (if I really wanted to, I probably could by learning about it, having an interest in it, "trying" it...) Now, the more aspects of different cultures that belong to me, the more multicultural I am. This is not what happens in Coventry. The Indian/Chinese/Polish/Afro-Caribbean/whatever communities in Coventry do not belong to Coventry nor to the people of Coventry. They're just there.

Multiculturalism is not about demanding extra attention or special treatment because your cultural background is from somewhere else. Coventry doesn't know the meaning behind the saying "when in Rome..." In Finnish, the equivalent of that saying is: "when in Rome, do as Romans do or leave." These communities demand space and special attention, but they don't wish to share their culture (I think the worst thing I've heard was when a friend of mine told about this hot-snack selling trailer-thing that actually told his daughter who wanted to buy a burger: "no whites" O_O). These foreign communities stick to themselves, like a little bubble inside the big bubble that is Coventry (and if you've ever blown soap bubbles, you know that two bubbles stuck together sink faster than one bubble, which can actually rise quite high). So instead of helping shape Coventry's identity, these communities want to float on their own, without being a part of the whole, yet sticking to the whole like a leech. There is a sad story about how Foleshill road became as Indian as it is now, by ruthless favouritism/nepotism based on race within the Indian community there. In Coventry, you'll often notice that people who live in their own cultural community don't mingle with the other cultures in the city. The people in the Indian community only buy stuff from shops run by Indians, they only have Indian friends, they only eat Indian food, they only like Indian music etc... So when you go on like Stoney Stanton Road, it doesn't feel like Coventry anymore. It doesn't feel like India either. It's like the reverse of "best of both worlds", it's the worst of both worlds.

Actionscript. I pwns it.

~~~
Oh my Gosh! I went to icanhascheezburger.com to find a lolcat that would illustrate how much I own and rule and how happy I am of having sorted my code out, and this one was the newest one there:



Ceiling Cat always makes things right. :3

http://omgwtfstfupwn3duran00blmaoroflkthxbye.istheshit.net/

I is being amused :)
*goes back to ActionScript*

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next three sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

In a society that values privacy such as the United States, employees consider it important to have their own space. Because privacy is highly valued, higher-status members of an organization often have larger, more private space. Finally, in a mixed society, views on space fall somewhere in the middle; a combination of public and private spaces.

(Some random business studies text book that some moose left on the table instead of returning it to the shelf in the library)

Because I'm still not quite over how cool They Might Be Giants really are, I'd like to ask all you wonderful people (because they ask in their myspace page that fans spread the link around) to watch this :
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=19482974
Their new music video The Mesopotamians. It's wonderful, you'll love it, I know I do and I think [Viking] in particular will enjoy it :3

PC versus Mac a la PHD Comics
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=13
Heh. :)

Also, I need to find my nearest G.A. meeting. >_>
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=25

http://www.artomat.org/

I want. ._. I want it all. I want a machine that sells art, I want to put my art in a machine that sells art and I want to buy art from a machine that sells art. But the closest one to me is in Vienna. >.<

It is a fantastic idea, combining something commercial and artistic, it's beautiful.

For the knowledge of the lazies, new voice clip by yours truly:

http://elftown.eu/stuff/MallorcanWaterIsBad.mp3

Escaping the Elvis-theme for a moment (yes, there will be fanart later :P), I absolutely adore the song Birdhouse in your soul by They Might Be Giants.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fW_hSNHZiBc

The video is fantastic too. It's like... I wanna live in a place like that, I want to dance like that, I want a bicycle like that (well actually I already have one). I want to be them. o.O

Edit.
This beautiful piece of poetry was found in Urban Dictionary (and has nothing to do with They Might Be Giants)

Feel the bodies pulsing all around
Polite violence enticed by sound

A living mass of mindless pain
Shoved out only to push in again

Lost in the moment, forget who you are
Lost in the music, hear only the guitar

Bass line drumming in your ears so loud
See the vibrations more then you hear the sound

Bash and clang of the drums echoes in your mind
Give in to the violent motions you’re sure you can find

Kick, push, punch, scream, and shove
An unbridled expression of hate and love

Move with the crowd that surrounds
Shoved down towards the shaking ground

Groans of joy escape a smiling face
Hauled back up to keep with the pace

Sweat and blood mixed and shared
The gift of being unprepared

A moan escapes from exhausted lips
The crowd freezes and the mood dips

Limping away with a scream for the band
You just moshed, and you can barely stand

I really love all the responses I've got to the previous diary entry, in gbs, messages and MSN and everything. And I've got more and more interested in the concept of Elvis-moments and I emailed the wise man with all kinds of questions and comments. And in turn he emailed a man in Memphis, who is some kind of an authority on the matter. So I'll definitely keep investigating. :)

Meanwhile, keep an eye out on the Elvis-moments, everyone. You don't have to be a fan of the man.



In other news, Man with a Movie Camera is possibly the most beautiful work of cinematic art ever made.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_the_Movie_Camera
And the soundtrack by the Alloy Orchestra is absolutely gorgeous as well, I'll be sorting it out for myself in mp3 format in some way, and will possibly be shareable. :)

Quickedit:
Oh mah gash, you can watch the film in here!
http://www.archive.org/details/ChelovekskinoapparatomManWithAMovieCamera

Another recommended reading -piece: What if Elvis Presley Had Never Been Born?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/08/16/nosplit/bmelvis116.xml

I have been told by an infinitely wise man that everyone will have an Elvis-moment in their life.^* A moment that the King influences the life of the person in some way, that they can never again overlook any Elvis-reference, they will be forever reminded of that special moment. I'm really looking forward to my Elvis-moment. :3




^{*(Do not argue with this point, please, even if you disagree with it. I really don't want to hear any counter-comments.)}

http://rhof.blackmill.net/mp3/Sleepwalk.mp3
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qnhRNxnTNeM

It's decided. It's set now. Sleepwalk must be played in my wedding/funeral.

I found this amazing quote today. it's aimed at [Kayne]:
2004-06-30 [Aradon Templar]: Where are you from, switzerland?

XD It just sounds like an insult.

WTF? Is there seriously no V For Vendetta wikis in Elftown? O_O Tell me this isn't so, tell me that everyone's just picked a really stupid wikiname that I can't find and just weren't smart enough to put keywords in... Please?

On a different note, here is something awesome to think about:
"...loss of existentialist co-ordinates experienced in the metropolis. The modern city, filled with strangers, is the quintessential realm of random encounters; an intoxicating world of possibilities shadowed by the risk that a single step off the main street could plunge one into an abyss... But how do you remain true to yourself when the whole environment is corrupt?"
Peter Lyssiotis and Scott McQuire: "Liquid Architecture: Eisenstein and Film Noir"

Sorry, another link-diary:
http://physics.unl.edu/history/histinstr/intro.html
Historical science equipment. They are shiny!!

Recommended reading: The Work Of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm
(Don't worry, it's not communism)

And then a nice picture of a machine. :)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/media/detailed/ii_b_508.jpg
-"What is it?"
-"who cares, it's pretty!"

Another awesome artist whose gallery I want to share with you (sorry [Viking] it's the one I showed to you earlier, so it's a bit boring for you)
http://www.ronpippin.com/gallery/g_05/01.html
(Please notice that there is much more under "new work" than just the 10 images in the gallery this link opens to)

I love Ron Pippin's work because it's something I could do as well. The air around it kind of pseudo-scientific a la Victorian gentlemen (when the sign of a sophisticated gentleman was that he had all sorts of scientific equipment, even he didn't use them, they were status symbols). The old cases and machines and bones and all kinds of little curiousities... I love it all. I think that is a keyword for both Ron Pippin as well as for me: curious.

Awesome artist's website I found through browsing a magazine. :)
http://www.tomotterness.net/exhibitions_subway.html
I hope you all click that, because the first image that loads will just eat you. :3 But I heartily recommend browsing through the whole site, at least in "exhibitions" and "public art".

I'd also like to point out one thing about the work. It stretches from the 80s to present day, and it is all very unified. You can see that the artist has found a thing he's good at and enjoys making (probably not, at least not all the time, but he sticks with it, it's a passion), that is his thing. And I think that's one of the distinguishing marks of an artist, a proper artist. And I think it is wonderful when people find that, something they can keep up for decades, doing it over and over again in a new way... Cartoonists have to do that for a living, but artists do it because they just have to. Whether someone pays them for it or not. I hope my machines are like that for me. That I'll be drawing machines and getting heart-attacks just because a near-accident photo I take is so beautiful to me (even though it isn't to anyone else).

Suomalaiset ystävät olkaa hyvät ja tehkää menonne seuraavalle wikisivulle: Suomirokkia.

Apologies for my non-Finnish friends for the disturbance.