Sounds like Finland (on sick leave this week)

Yup. Since I've been sick enough that I was instructed not to talk (as that was getting really painful and coughing still hurts my nipples), I haven't really been making videos. I suppose for a documentary style approache, I could've just videoed the stuff I do when I'm sick, which isn't much besides getting really depressed and frustrated with everything and I'm sure that would make for a thrilling twist and now that I think about it, I'll do that the next time I get sick... which probably wont take long. Trust me. If I had a nickle for every time I get sick these days, I'd have an extra dollar by the end of the year.

Anyhows.
Yeah, nothing new this week, so I'll just leave this video on productivity here. Lord know we can all use it.




Will be resuming regular schedule as of next week. DFTBA

Sounds like Finland #7-8

The latest 2 videos.
#7



#8




I'm going to post both of the week's videos here on Sundays. Obviously today is not Sunday, but Monday, but you get the idea. So they'll be in one handy post every week.
Channel, as always, is here.

Reading list for 2013

This year's reading list is going to be a little bit shorter (I think, but my memory is shoddy on this one. At least the individual books have a tiny bit less pages... maybe?) and you'd be within your rights to call foul since I've recycled some of last year's books on to this year because... well.. moving, new country, unemployment? Yeah I really have no excuses except that I have a lot of excuses and no real reasons for not having read some of them.
Except for Gustave Gilbert's Psychology Of A Dictatorship. This one I'll have to put on hold until I either move (back) to a country with a uni library that carries this, or have extra 200US dollars to spend on a copy on Amazon as this book is both largely out of print AND not online or in the collection of our regular or university libraries.
Apparently people find reading about the psychology of Nazi Germany uncomfortable here. Who knew.

But onwards!
So this year's list reads as follows:

The Story Of An African Farm by Olive Schreiner

This one is included in Project Gutenberg, so I could read this one right now if I wasn't so damn tired. Huzzah for the internets and awesome projects!

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Um.. I actually have a copy of this in my drawer. Maybe a good time to finally cork it?

The Gift by Marcel Mauss

An anthropology classic that was translated to Finnish from the original French in the early 1990s. Discusses the mechanics and meanings of gifting.

The Golden Bough by James Frazer

Also an anthropology classic. And I have this in my bag, but have so far managed to not read it for 2 months and instead have used it to train my left shoulder. Discusses magic and religious customs with colourful examples. Apparently Jim Morrison liked this book very muchly and thus it is hard to come by in libraries because Jim Morrison fangirls tend to cling to their copies.
Unlike me.
My reasons are completely different.

The God Of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Currently reading this. Not entirely sure what it's about except that it has child abuse, death, it's beautifully written and is terribly depressing.

The Jew Of Malta by Christopher Marlowe

A Machiavellian play? This can also be found on the increasingly awesome Project Gutenberg and my mission is to finish it this year and not get distracted. Mostly reading this because it's by Christhopher Marlowe and includes the most favourite quote of all time.


And that's it for my reading list for this year. The reason the list is so short is because there are entrance exams I need to study for as the exams here are mainly composed of items directly lifted from the entrance exam books that you need to know verbatim to score points as opposed to understanding the concepts. That's one thing. The other are the book projects I'm "working" on that require quite a bit of reading themselves, so it's not like I'm not going to spend the entire year ruining my eyes and posture with my nose in books and on the computer screen anyhows.
So this is my list. What's yours?

Happy holidays!!

Progression of a holiday card from a departmentstore photo through quick photomanip to what I sent out to people.



Have a good one! Be safe! Watch out for drunk Santas driving around in convertibles!

On the busses

So yes, as per schedule, more video.
There is more than one hand in this one. The plot thickens.