Shokkiaalto

 books  No Responses »
Dec 262010
 

Shokkiaalto coverFinished the 14th Ilkka Remes novel according to tradition (during the christmas days, that is).

It’s quite good indeed, and recommended to any who liked his previous output.

  • Political crisis combined with a personal one: Check.
  • Russians are the root of evil: Check.
  • But few characters are truly what they initially seem: Check.
  • The colonial past is dirty: Check.
  • As is the period of finlandization: Check.
  • Cardboard characters: Check.
  • Globetrotting action: Check (limited to Berlin, though).
  • … who are familiar from the author’s older books: nope, but the new protagonist allegedly will be back.
  • The cover has nothing to do with the content: Check.
  • The 400+ pages flow past easily, as fits the part of a state-of-the-art techno-thriller : Check, oh yes.

Stand Up and Fight

 music  No Responses »
Dec 192010
 

Stand Up and Fight coverThe first song of Turisas’ upcoming album has been released for download on their website (only through the front page right now, it’s not available under the expected “downloads”-page).

Appropriately epic and a good sign of things to come.

“Stand Up and Fight” the album has been postponed slightly, from the end of January to Feb. 23rd.

Word of the day: hyperforeignism

 language  No Responses »
Dec 192010
 

Upon seeking the correct spelling of habanero for the previous entry, I stumbled upon definition of “hyperforeignism“:

A hyperforeignism is a special type of hypercorrection resulting from an unsuccessful attempt to apply the rules of a foreign language to a loan word (for example, the application of the rules of one language to a word borrowed from another), or occasionally to a native English word believed to be a loan word. The result may be “absurd,” reflecting “neither the … rules of English nor those of the language from which the word in question comes.” For example, habanero is sometimes spelled with a tilde (habañero), which is incorrect in the Spanish from which the word comes, and this error is perhaps influenced by the correct spelling of another Spanish-named pepper, jalapeño.

#1 AND #2, that’s quite a catch

 seasons, video games  No Responses »
Dec 152010
 

Alan Wake coverTwo finnish games captured the top positions in Time magazine’s annual list of top videogames.

The fact that Angry Birds is hovering near the top is no surprise, the game’s been everywhere lately and the simple game mechanic is effectively realized on current touchscreen devices.

But Alan Wake at the head of the list is. After all, the game didn’t really evolve from a railroaded single-path adventure. An railroaded run in an exquisitely well-rendered chunk of Pacific Northwest is a railroaded game nonetheless.

Nöykkiö ‘niners, week 14: Contention and consolation

 fantasy football  No Responses »
Dec 152010
 

The twin Nöykkiö ‘niners teams went their separate ways after the last week of regular season. One heads into the playoffs as the #2 seed, the other towards consolation games as the #7 of the league. This despite a recently rare double victory.

The public league team finished the regular season with a convicing victory. I once again underestimated the skills of Darren McFadden and kept him benched – the three touchdowns and 200+ yards gained are a testament that he will be on the field in the next game. Peyton Manning continued playing at his normal level, two thrown touchdowns and no picks were definitely an improvement over the recent troubles. The offense clicked well: Knowshon Moreno, Marques Colston and Mercedes Lewis all scored touchdowns, and the only disappointments were Terrell Owens and Michael Crabtree on the air force. Mason Crosby’s single FG is not his fault, one of the lowest-scoring games in the league produced very few points for anybody. San Diego defense suprised pretty much everybody by shutting out the usually prolific Kansas City Chiefs.

The team finished 12-2 (the best ever for a team of mine as far as I recall) and goes into the playoffs as the second seed – the two games in the regular season were split, so it’s a whole new ballgame next week.

The Finland Fantasy Football team won as well, but the victory was far from easy. The biggest reason for the uncertainty was the concussion that took out Aaron Rodgers from the game against Detroit. Instead of his usual 25-30 points, the Green Bay Packers’ QB netted a grand total of two points. The keys to victory were Pierre Garcon (two caught touchdowns off Peyton Manning’s howitzer), Tim Hightower (of the woefully inconsistent Arizona team) and Jason Witten (two caught touchdowns against Philly defense). Mason Crosby’s quietness was on account of the Packers’ offense collapsing after Rodgers getting replaced by Flynn. Fortunately New Orleans Saints defense was in excellent form against St. Louis (three sacks, two picks, one forced fumble and one defensive touchdown).

The team finished 6-7-1, and it was the first team that didn’t make it to the playoffs. The next week is a bye, with the position amongst the consolation teams to be resolved in the last two weeks of the regular NFL season.

The by far biggest open item is the replacement for Rodgers, if one is needed. Thus far the first results of the post-concussion analysis have not been released. In a sixteen team league a good replacement is hard to find – though the bye next week helps getting the Packers quarterback back into the fold.

Bring on week fifteen!

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