SNOW!

It's been a while. There are a few things:

1) Having an internet connection that DOESN'T WORK - extremely annoying.
Especially when it's at your parents house far away from anyone else. (Not that I have anything against my parents, I'd just like to talk to the boyfriend, waste my time on fbook etc.)

2) Having numerous members of family who think you're some sort of IT-genius just because you happen to use a web browser that's not Explorer - extremely annoying.
Although, there was a moment of joy with my skills when I managed to secure my sister's wireless. And may I add that the manual I used was more than unhelpful (in a bad way, does that mean I should say 'less than unhelpful'? It does, doesn't it?).

3) SNOW - AMAZING!
There was what they call a snow storm here (I suppose it's needless to say I'm in Finland at the moment, but I'll say it anyway: I'm in Finland at the moment.) on Wednesday. It was amazing, I got out of bed around 11am, I think, and looked out the window and it was all white outside! And better yet, it was still snowing! I went out to get the mail (our mailbox is a short walk down the road) and had to clear the drive way, stairs and stuff of the snow. There was about 10cm (about 4 inches for you ignorant fools out there) of it by then and when I left the house less than two hours later another 10cm had snowed on top of it. So by 3pm, there was about 20cm (8 inches, I'm sure you all know your maths) of snow and it was AMAZING! When I came back with my mum later, we did the whole clearing the front of the house and stuff from snow thing, (I'm sure you have a word for it in English, I just don't know it, should probably look it up) and it was great. The snow was the kind of really light and powder-y snow that flies on your face when you thrown it against the wind. It didn't take us long at all and I felt so happy doing it I almost offered to do the neighbours drive ways as well, but they'd already done theirs. (And in the end, I think I may not have been as happy had I done a lot more.) But anyway, yay for snow. I was so excited I just kept taking pictures like a crazy tourist who has never seen snow before. Sadly, my camera isn't very good and most of the shots aren't presentable, but I'll see if I can find some to put at the end of this post.

As it happens, this is the end of the post, so here are a few.

My foot prints in fresh snow

My shoes after walking through the snow to the mail box

My hat after 20min outdoors

The fence of our patio in the snow

Stupid people

[Edit: I can't seem to get the font size right with this one, which is a bit odd, given that there's only 5 options and I've always used the same one. But pff that, you can just add stupid text editor applications to the list of all the annoying things.]

Picture this:

You're walking down a pavement of a regular width (you can easily walk two-a-breast, even three-a-breast if you squeeze a bit). You're walking down on one side, minding your own business and you're not even feeling too pissed off about having to go to a seminar you don't particularly look forward to going. You're doing this when a group of approximately ten people walk towards you, nothing wrong with that really, they're allowed to walk there, after all, it is a public walk way. You'd expect that these people would make some way given that you're on your own and there's many of them. But NO! These people walk fucking three or four side by side. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!

I hate people who don't give way for others! Where the fuck am I meant to go, jump among the cars going by?! There's one of me and many of you, you can walk behind each other, I can't make myself any smaller, can I?! (Well I could, but it would take a change of diet and an increase in exercise, and I'm just not prepared to do that right now. And even if I did, it wouldn't really change the situation here.)

This is all.

Living, pt. I

Living - a note for all those who find living without mummy's care a tad difficult. And for those who just don't care.

Toilet/Bathroom

- After using the toilet (no matter if it's a weewee or a poopoo) WASH YOUR HANDS. If you don't wish to use the soap, don't but at least rinse your hands with warm water.
- When after pooing your poo doesn't go down with the first flush, wait a while for the water tank to fill up again and then reflush.
- When after pooing your poo is all over the bowl, use the toilet brush provided to clean to largest bits off.
- When after cleaning the largest bits of poo the poo is stuck to the toilet brush flush again and hold the brush in the water flow. This will get rid of the poo on the brush so that the next time someone takes it from its stand they won't have to use a poo-y brush to clean.
- When after pooing the bathroom smells of your poo, use the air freshener if one is provided. If not, there might be some matches, if this is the case, burn one of them and throw it in the bowl. This will get rid of at least most of the odours of your poo.
- Once a week or a fortnight use some toilet cleaner. According to the instructions (these will be on the side of every cleaning detergent imaginable!) pour some of the cleaner in the bowl, all around, leave it to be for a while (usually 5-15 mins) then use the toilet brush to brush the bowl all around. Now flush the toilet and again clean the brush in the water flow.
- When cleaning the toilet it would be a good idea to also wipe the dust and goo that gathers around the bowl (I mean the bits that water from flushing doesn't touch). If you do this whenever you clean the toilet it will save you from doing a very disgusting clean after a year of gathered dust and goo.
- When using the last squares of the toilet roll, REPLACE the roll. It doesn't require much.
- When you start using the last roll of the pack/notice the paper will run out shortly, BUY a new pack next time you go out.

- When after showering the bath/shower floor is all covered in your pubes, use the shower to float them down the drain.
- When after showering you find that most of your hair did not go down the drain pick them up and bin them. You can use a piece of toilet paper or similar if you don't want to touch them bare handed.
- About once a fortnight clean the bath/shower. This you can do using a special bathroom cleaner which you spray on the surfaces and then wipe out with a sponge or a cloth and warm water. This is especially important if your bathroom has bad heating and/or air conditioning. Again, doing it regularly will save you from being disgusted going to the shower and it'll prevent you from having to do a clean of loads of discusting goo/mould/whatever gathers in there. I suggest you also clean walls around the bath/shower, because they too get pretty disgusting after a while.
- Make sure you use your own shower gel/shampoo/other products. If you use someone else's without a permission chances are you'll only end up annoying them. AND especially if you're a student/are using a student's shower gel/shampoo/other products you'll cause them extra costs and they might actually be a tiny bit skint even if you're not. Especially if you haven't bought your own shower gel/shampoo/other products and have been using theirs.
- When in shower, if there's a shower curtain make sure it covers as much as possible preventing the water from going anywhere it's not meant to go. If you're in a bath it means the water should stay in the bathtub, if it's just a shower with a floor drain, the water is meant to stay as close to the drain as possible.
- If there's a bath mat, it is not there to absorb all of the water dripping from you after your shower. This means that you should dry your self in the bath/shower (obviously after you've showered). If you keep your towel somewhere in the near vicinity of the bath/shower this should not be a problem.
- If you do happen to water the whole bath mat, do put it somewhere to dry. If there's a radiator, that's good, if not, see if you can hang it somewhere.
- It is likely that the bathroom will also have a water basin there. This too, should be cleaned regularly, needless to say, I hope.
- Oh and, just as any other room in the house/flat the bathroom floor needs to be hoovered/mopped every now and then. It would probably be easiest for yourself to do it whenever you're cleaning the toilet/bath/shower. Otherwise it'll just look a bit silly, you know, a dusty floor when everything else is clean and sparkling.

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While writing this I realised that things that seem natural and obvious to me, actually do require quite a bit of thinking if you've not had to do any of this whilst living with your parents. I would like to say here that I'm very grateful for my mum that she made me do things, and also for my primary and secondary school teachers (and the Finnish curriculum) for being so amazing and teaching the practical as well as boring stuff like maths. I could go on about how we were taught to fight, clean, cook etc. in school. And this was for both, girls and boys, if any of you want to use that silly excuse: 'but you're a girl, you should know these things anyway'. - It is not a priviledge that comes with being a girl, it comes with being a human being!
[edit: they taught us how to quarrel fairly, we didn't have fist fights in home economy.]

In case some of my housemates actually reads this, I want to say that I realise I don't live up to these 'rules' myself. This is mostly because I don't feel that most of you realise how dirty our house is and I don't want to clean things up just so that after a day it'll all look the same again. If you seemed to care more (I know some of you do, but I refuse to name anyone) and actively did something to keep the house clean, I too would do my share. If you decide not to believe me, feel free to bitch about me as much as you want. In the mean time, I'm just waiting live with clean people. Make that a person.

Movies

I've not been annoyed by much lately, which is annoying because it means that I don't have anything to write. I remember I was annoyed by things a couple of times whilst writing my dissertation but I resisted the temptation to update this blog, and now I can't remember what the things were. Therefore, this is going to be a boring non-whiney mid-post about the films I've seen at the cinema since the beginning of the year. So, two months have passed, and I've been to the cinema 11 times, I think it's pretty good. I do love student offers.

I'll just do this as a list. It's boring, I know, but oh well.

I'm Not There
- The Bob Dylan film by Todd Haynes, very good. Richard Gere was probably my favourite of all the Dylans if I had to pick a favourite, but they were all very amazing. Definitely worth seeing, and I suppose needs another viewing to completely appreciate it.

Paranoid Park
- One of my favourites this year so far (although this year there's only been one film I didn't think was really good). So beautiful with an entertaining story that the slightly gore-y bit in the middle which I thought was a bit surprising didn't really affect the overall experience. This is to say that I thought it didn't fit the style of the film, but then again, surprises are (almost) always good.

No Country for Old Men
- Very good. I wasn't sure I'd like it judging by the trailer, but it was quite frankly amazing. I liked the story, sound design was amazing and casting was really good. Especially Javier, I was amazed after I checked where I'd seen him before and realised he was Ramon in Mar Adentro!

Lust/Caution
- Definitely very good. (I really should stop saying 'very good'.) I thought the rather graphic sex scenes portrayed the relationship between the two main characters perfectly. In addition the story was gripping and surprising.

Sweeney Todd
- Just to get this out of the way, I really like Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera and I thought the recent movie version of it wasn't too bad. I'm not sure why I felt the need to say that, but there I said it. Anyway, I did like Sweeney Todd too. As far as musicals go, it can never take the place of Phantom in my heart, but then that's not really the point. It was visually amazing, Johnny was good, Helena was incredible BUT the young lovers, were NOT to my liking. The chic especially was just ANNOYING. I did my best to ignore them though, and left the cinema feeling pretty good about the film.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
- This one's a bit iffy. It was well directed and well acted. I don't think the script was very good and at times the use of what I suppose was supposed to be tension-building music was just annoyance-causing. Overall, it was alright, and I think I have a real soft spot for Ethan Hawke. I don't know why, but it is there.

Juno
- I liked Juno. Despite the music chosen having been a bit odd. (Yet, I do really like this song.) And even though Jennifer Garner annoyed the hell out of me, I still thought the story was good and it was funny and well, I'd love to have CJ Greg as my stepmother.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
- This was just amazing. It wasn't preachy, it wasn't shocking, it was just honest. It simply felt so real I'm not sure I've ever seen a film that felt so real. (And still I was slightly annoyed by the use of light in some scenes, although, I decided it was because it made me uncomfortable which again was simply because it made it feel so real. If that makes any sense.)

There Will Be Blood
- I didn't expect to like this at all. The trailer really didn't make my juices flow, but with all the fuss about PTA and Daniel Day Lewis, it was a must see. And I'm glad I did. It is very good. All I've got to say is 'I am a false prophet. God is a superstition.'

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- I walked out of the cinema deeply moved and still weirdly displeased with the movie. But having given it some thought, I've come to the conclusion that it was the fact that I kept on crying for most of the second half of the film that made me so uncomfortable. This is an amazing film (so I stop saying 'very good' and now everything's just 'amazing') and everyone should go and see it. It is BEAUTIFUL and MOVING and AMAZING.

Be Kind Rewind
- Now, I don't like Jack Black. But I liked the idea of Be Kind Rewind, so I went along to see it. And then, I didn't really like it. I think the story had potential and was actually rather endearing and all, but I wish it didn't have Jack Black. It just seems to me that everything I've seen Jack Black in (High Fidelity, School of Rock) he always plays the same role and it's always equally annoying. I really WANT to like High Fidelity, for example, but for some reason I don't. I think it's because of Jack Black. Yet, I'm looking forward to seeing Margot at the Wedding, and I'm hoping in that Jack will prove me wrong and will be very good. Or at least less annoying.

There, that's done now. I'll try to get something a bit more substantial done the next time. Chances are, that during the next few weeks, when I'm meant to write a load of essays, there will be some whining.

Cinema

Having been to the cinema rather often lately, I've been well annoyed by certain things. Therefore, I've decided to write a 5 point guide on how to act at a cinema.

1) Arrive EARLY. You can still walk in the theatre during the trailers, that's fine, but once the movie's started you're just going to ANNOY and DISTURB other people. Arriving early shouldn't be too difficult as the trailers most of the times, especially in big commercial cinemas take about 20 minutes from the announced starting time of the film.

2) This one basically has to do with the first point. Go to the toilet BEFORE the movie. When you arrive at the cinema early, you'll have time to empty your bladder before the film starts and you won't have to go to the toilet while the movie's playing. Not only will going to the toilet during the movie spoil your own experience it will also spoil the cinema experience of all your fellow viewers. And for fuck's sake! if you really, really need to go PLEASE don't let the door slam when you go out (or into) of the theatre.

3) Surprisingly, this as well has to do with the first point. DO NOT talk. When you arrive early you can chat with your friends before the film, during the trailers and such. (Some people seem to think that it's wrong for people to chat during trailers, but as long as you don't speak too loudly, it's fine by me.) DO NOT in any case talk when the film has started. All talk should end when the production companies' logos come on the screen.

4) If you've got to eat in the cinema make sure your sweets, popcorn, whatever is in a box or something that doesn't really make a sound while you're reaching for something to eat. Sounds of eating are extremely annoying especially in a full theatre where the sounds are multiplied by tens if not hundreds of people eating. I understand that snacks might make your cinema experience more enjoyable, but please do your best to keep the noises down.

5) KEEP your mobile SILENT! And if you can't resist answering your phone TURN IT OFF. If you're going to answer your phone during the movie there's no point in having it on silent. Seriously, no talking in the cinema. Not in your mobile or to other people. Especially not your mobile.

There. This could've been a lot better, I might edit it later (I have a feeling there may be more than one spelilng mistakes etc.)

UGGH

To begin with, I'd like to say that there'll probably be more on the subject of the post below as I'm not perfectly happy with what I wrote. I don't think I made myself clear enough. I'd like to elaborate on the subject a bit more.

Right, a couple of days back on campus has reminded me of the horror that is UGG boots. I mean why?! Why would you ever want to wear a pair?

Firstly, the price is ridiculous (if you want an authentic pair, that is) uggsdirect.co.uk sells them from about £80 to over £200! TWOHUNDRED POUNDS! Most I've ever paid for shoes (well, to be honest daddy paid) was about £60 which I thought was a horrible amount of money to pay for shoes. However they did serve me well for 3-4 winters (they were suede winter boots) and they'd still be alright to use if I hadn't left them in our house for the summer and have our landlady's workmen destroy everything that was left there.

Secondly, they're so UNsexy. They're alright for the first maybe two weeks, but they lose their shape so quickly and make people look like they can't walk. And they seem to make the person wearing them actually forget how to walk. As if there was an unwritten rule that says if you wear UGGs it's ok for you not to lift your feet from the ground but rather just drag them along. WHY?! Just the sound of a person walking with UGGs is ANNOYING!

And thirdly, they ARE winter boots. They're meant to keep your feet warm when it's cold outside, not to keep your feet sweaty in July. Really, if you insist on wearing them, at least only do it when it's actually cold.

I think here would be a good time to make a confession. I did want a pair when they first came out. I thought they looked so comfy and warm and all (however I was going for the "fake" ones that only cost £10) but this was when I had just turned 16. I think we're allowed to make mistakes when we're young. I don't understand why people who are already in universities and are supposed to be intelligent and all still insist on wearing them. I'm very thankful for my mum not giving me the money to buy a pair but instead bought me the above mentioned boots.

Porn and Sex and Feminism and STUFF

I wrote this post and it turned out to be quite personal and I almost decided not to post it at all. However, I decided I would and now I would like to say that whatever I've said here is based on the few pieces of writing I link to in this post and also conversations with friends over the years and personal experiences. I don't mean to generalise, so if and when I do, bear in mind I don't mean to.

I got a bit distracted whilst writing (well, pretending to write) my dissertation and read a couple of articles and blogposts that were all interlinked. It all started with an article the 'girl with a one-track mind' had written. She was talking about female sexuality and male dominated world etc. You know, sort of feminist stuff.

Now, if you know me at all, you'll know that I find much of feminism a bit bollocks (well, not bollocks, it just seems to go a bit too far at times, I believe in equality) and when it comes to sex related issues and such, well, I quite like watching porn. However, it was only when I read this blog post, that I realised that it is only really certain stuff that I like watching and I found that I too, have become somewhat conditioned to adapting certain expectations about sex. I mean fantasies and such, that have rather clearly, now that I think about it, been affected by things I've watched, read etc. Even by an ex-boyfriend, who in turn, I think was basing most of his assumptions about sex and what women want on the porn he had seen. In the middle of all of this I'm wondering what it is that I really like, and had I been exposed to different stuff, would I then like different things.

Anyway, to come back to the point I wanted to talk about, the articles, blog posts and such only just really made me realise how much of porn is made for the male audience and is enforcing images and ideas of male domination especially in sex. The Ms. Naughty blog, I think really made this point well. This is what she said: 'I make porn sites for women. I'm trying to cater to the millions of female surfers that go online every day trying to find something that will turn them on. I spend my days trying to find hardcore adult material that women will enjoy, and trying to present it to women in a manner that they will find accessible, arousing and inoffensive.' Now, obviously people like different things and you can't really generalise too much, but much of the porn (that I've come across) is empowering men and presenting women as being there for the pleasure of men. Ms. Naughty continues: 'Never mind if there's been no female orgasm (and I'm talking vaguely real ones here, not the 15 minute endless moany fake ones), in porn the money shot is the official end of sex.' (Oh I wish my dissertation was on something like this as opposed to what it's actually on.) Having thought about this, I realised that I very much like porn where the female orgasms look real. And no, I'm not turned on by lots of cum all over the place.

This all also reminded me of a conversation I once years ago now, (it must have been about 3 years ago) with a friend of a friend who was moaning about not liking anal, having a boyfriend who wanted it, liking to watch porn but not wanting to watch anal stuff, and most of the porn she could find (this was by browsing the internet, and sex stores etc. she'd done a rather thorough search) had anal stuff in it. Or as she pointed out, much of what she'd seen, she disliked because of the rather obvious faking by the women. I think porn poses "problems" for the female viewer as well, on the side of men getting "wrong" ideas about sex and sexuality on the bases of watching porn, also women can be conditioned to the idea that when having sex their only object is pleasing the man. It doesn't matter if she doesn't enjoy it, she might even fake her orgasms just to keep the man happy, and I might be wrong, but this can be due to the image of what sex is and should be like that we get from porn.

Oh there's so much I want to talk about. When it comes to men being empowered by porn there's also an example I want to draw from a blog I've been reading, written by a woman about her sexlife. (I won't link you to it because it's in Finnish.) I quite like it and I think she has a rather healthy attitude to her sexuality and she knows what she wants and all that. But still, she writes about how she likes men taking her hard, "raping" her and I think that again is an example of how, even though porn can empower women, and mostly I'd like to say that she's a good example of women being empowered by porn, but then at times she manages to lose that position of being equal in sex by subjecting herself to the man in question. I like her blog, it's just the usage of the verb "to rape" that really puts me off. I think that is where she stops being equal, let alone in power and is merely used by the men who "rape" her. If you know what I mean.

Now, I don't think porn should be banned or anything, porn can be a good thing. And as Zoe Margolis said: 'But banning it will achieve nothing because it's just a symptom of a wider-ranging sexism in society, rather than the cause of it. Porn doesn't become mainstream in a vacuum.' And I'm not going to suggest how things could be changed, I don't have the answers. But I hope, that this'll make some of you think about things. This may also be a bit incoherent and rant-y, I really should proof read these things, but then who cares. And I don't know if anyone actually reads this either. Comments are very welcome.

Post Scriptum: What really sparked me to write this was me getting furious because of the "harvesting" by footballers. Read about it here.