YELLOW PERIL WEBLOG An ode to the fluorescent beauty in dog eyes, glistening noses, velvety eartips. Dedicated to the one & only fashion icon and female role model, Himitsu von Nobara-Ken.
This blog is maintained by Ainur Elmgren. See also my other blogs, about my comic GOLDENBIRD and SAUNAHONEY, in Finnish and Swedish (and occasionally German).
About Ainur Elmgren Age: a quarter of a century Sex: XX Gender: female Race: Against time Ethnicity: Allright, if you insist... 62,5% Finnish, 25% Mishär Tatar, 12,5% Kale (Finnish Gypsy). Citizen of Sweden. Horoscope:Pisces, year of the Goat Occupation: Ph.D. student at the Department of History, Lund University. Freelance cartoonist and illustrator. Writes for Bild & Bubbla magazine. Nourishment: rye bread, mediterranean yoghurt, piroshki, peremech, sushi, octopodes, honey, tea, wasabi, chocolate, halloumi, broccoli, vodka, avocado, natto, any combination of the above. Turnons:The 1920's, Orcs, Finns, Russia, Socialist memorabilia, helicopters, the Cthulhu mythos, chocolate, the German language, libraries and book shops, magazines with lots of colourful pictures, epic comics, Japanese clothing, swords, lots of pillows with tassels. Turnoffs: Racism, chauvinism (nationalist or gender-based), big capitalism, philistines, boors, bigots, McDonalds, fat-free yoghurt, missionaries (for any religion, ideology or music style). Friends: People with whom I can share a moment of silence, with a quirky sense of humour, a tolerant mind, a tough skin and a big heart. Doggies! Enemies: Intolerant, insecure people who pick on those who seem weaker. Fundamentalists of any colour and creed.
OLD-TURKIC DEITIES Rafael BEZERTINOV From his book TENGRIANIZM – RELIGION OF TÜRKS AND MONGOLS
Moon (Ai). Ancient Türks’ mythology regarded Moon as a daughter of Sky God Tengri and Earth. They perceived the goddess Moon dually: She frightened them and at the same time they loved Her.
The night is darkness, when the malicious spirits emerge from all holes. The rituals and hypnotic sessions of witches were always conducted according to the phases of the Moon. At night the illnesses amplified, causing more often deaths at this time. Robberies, murders are done mainly at night. On the other hand, the Türks trusted the magic force of the Moon. She was a sole night lantern. To please Moon those born during full moon were given names as such: Aisylu, Aituly, Ainir, Aizirek, Ainaz, etc. [or Ainur! - Ainur]
The three phases of the moon also had their signs. It was believed that at ‘ai naazy’ (new moon) the moon symbolized a young girl, pure and modest. At ‘ai toly’, ‘tuly ai’ (complete moon) Moon personified a mature woman – mother. In this period she is good-natured and favorable. At ‘ai karty’ (old moon) the Moon aged, became wise, but quarrelsome and malicious. Before death Moon reigned in absolutely dark night. In these three nights, it was believed, life and death meet together. The old Moon died, a new one was born, and together with Her a new life, new cycle, new round was born.
I found this interesting text in The Tatar Gazette. Read more about Tatars, a Turkic people, on my Tatarstan page.
I don't know which language I should write this in, so I'll just mix everything.
I shouldn't discuss my comics with anyone. (Förutom syrran, mamma och andra närmast sörjande som antingen förstår mig eller är snälla nog att bara säga trevliga och/eller knäppa saker...) I just start turning other people's comments over and over again, stretching and pulling them to reveal weak points, dissecting them in order to find out what went wrong in the communication process, all that historian-meets-sociologist crap, reception theory, source analysis and whatnot. (Saa loppua jo. Miksen voi jättää töitä töihin ja pitää sarjakuvat kotona...) And don't make the mistake of thinking that the comics are less important than my "work". Work can always be discussed and dissected, it must be open to debate with any stranger, that's what we Ph.D. students are supposed to learn. (Den berömda tredje uppgiften... Den första är forskning, den andra är utbildning och den tredje - universitetens svaga punkt - är "samverkan med det omgivande samhället".)
My comics, however, are not open for debate in the scientific tradition. And yet, they are generally open for criticism, because I choose to publish them. It's a dilemma. (Men jag har inget behov av att rättfärdiga de beslut som jag har fattat under arbetsprocessens gång.) I have been a fanzine critic (which I didn't exactly enjoy), and I realize that I make my comic for an audience, even in a dialogue with an audience that influences me whether I like it or not. So I guess I'll have to learn to take it.
I was thinking about making a short Tintin parody, either about Mannerheim or the Åland island crisis, when I stumbled upon this brilliant epic about the American campaign in Iraq, made entirely out of frames and sequences from old Tintin comics, in most cases only slightly manipulated...
The new album of the Slovenian industrial band (or should I say, movement) Laibach is pure genius. Let's start with the name. "Volk" refers, of course, to the German word for "people" or "nation", but also to the Slovenian (and common Slavic) word for "wolf". The album cover features sheep. Wolves in sheep's clothing? The album tracks are inspired by national anthems. The peoples/nations - are they sheep or wolves? Homo homini lupus. The idea of a "nation" has led people to mindless slaughter. Are they willingly led or driven by their killing instincts? What is a nation? Can we overcome nationalism?
The covers are not simply industrial rock versions of the original anthems. There are guest singers, singing in their native languages. The anthems are heavily adapted and new lyrics have been added - very dark and very critical lyrics, but the lyrical melodies evoke strong emotions. I unashamedly admit to crying to Germania - it hit exactly the right spot. Francia is a comment on the revolts in the faubourgs and compares them to the revolutionary theme in la Marseillaise. America puts the sermons of the religious right in stark contrast to the ideals of the United States. I had to smile at the emphasis on the words "amore" and "signore" in Italia. There is so much detail and depth in these songs. I'm looking forward to the concert on the 28th - that's right, Laibach is coming to Lund!
Suddenly YouTube is full of great film clips of the diva in action. Most of them are from her 1930's sound films, but this one is silent and obviously from her crazy dancing period in the 1920's! My favourite part is where she is dancing with the violin player - I wonder what the orchestra sounded like (but in another clip she does her banana skirt dance to sound...)
Joséphine discovered a funny thing when she came to Paris in the mid-twenties... She did her silly comic routine, dancing like a maniac, twisting and shaking and making faces and rolling her eyes, just like she did in New York to amuse the white audiences. But the Parisians didn't think she was ridiculous - they thought she was sexy! That was something she had never heard before - but Joséphine didn't mind that at all... Here's another favourite - Joséphine sings "Haiti" in her film Zou Zou from 1934. Her thirties' style is less racy and more diva-like - but just watch her flirt with lots of cute French boys in Zou Zou or dance in a bar in Princess Tam Tam... I will definitely steal this cage & feathers number for Goldenbird:
What do Japanese and Finns have in common? A lot, if you look at this video by enka singer Itsuki Hiroshi. The song is appropriately called "Kita Monogatari" - Story of the North. (Remember, there is only one country separating - or connecting! - Finland and Japan...)
Typisk DN-rubriksättning: Svenskar mest USA-skeptiska av skandinaverna heter artikeln blygsamt, men om man läser igenom den upptäcker man att kontentan är ännu värre. Av alla nordiska länder (obs! INTE samma sak som Skandinavien!) tycks nämligen svenskarna vara de som är minst intresserade av internationellt samarbete överhuvudtaget, i alla fall med sina grannar eller de stora världsmakterna Kina och USA. Bland guldkornen i artikeln: Intresset för samarbete med Ryssland är fyra gånger större i alla andra nordiska länder utom Island. Då handlar det ändå om en betydande maktfaktor i regionen som man måste ha att göra med, vare sig man vill eller inte. Alla nordbor vill ju av tradition helst samarbeta med sina nordiska grannar, men även där är svenskarna minst intresserade. 50% tycker inte att det är viktigt - den högsta siffran i jämförelsen mellan de nordiska länderna. Källkritik är viktigt, och för en gångs skull glömmer DN inte bort att ifrågasätta statistiken. "EU-minister Cecilia Malmström kallar undersökningen
bekymmersam, men uttalar samtidigt viss skepsis. Att bara cirka 500
personer i vart och ett av de nordiska länderna - totalt 2.500
människor - intervjuats tyder på att undersökningen kanske inte är
statistiskt signifikant, menar hon." Ministern tycker ändå att resultatet är oroväckande, eftersom svenskar "är ett folk" som traditionellt har varit positiva till internationellt samarbete i FN och EU (man kan ju undra om hon menar det svenska politikerfolket? Hur ivrig var gemene svensson att gå med i EU egentligen? Undersökningen tog visst inte med några länder i tredje världen, så vad kan vi jämföra med? USA:s 10% samarbetsintresserade svenskar var kanske en riktigt bra siffra...). Det förvånar inte en van DN-läsare att just USA-"skepticismen" lyfts fram som anmärkningsvärd i rubriken. Men handlar det om aktiv skepticism eller passiv likgiltighet? Jag har svårt att tro att 500 slumpmässigt (?) utvalda svenskar skulle representera någon sorts aktiv USA-Kina-Ryssland-Skandinavien-fientlighet simultant. Det är nog snarare frågan om en allmän liknöjdhet, utvuxen ur den självgodhet som bara äkta svensk okunskap kan odla fram. Och där är svensk media med sina samstämmiga, enformiga, enkelspåriga rapporteringar medskyldig. Utlandet kan aldrig lära en svensk något (utom ofog). Endast det som passar in i en folkhemsk, lagom liberalism kan diskuteras överhuvudtaget. Förresten, varför saknas Tyskland, de baltiska staterna och Polen? Ligger inte de såpass nära Sverige att man skulle kunna tänka sig vara tvungen att samarbeta med dem?
Since the Edo period, Japanese construction workers have been viewed with respect and awe because of the dangerous but necessary nature of their labour. This is reflected in the fact that they take great pride in their uniforms, and others are eager to imitate their style. Not just the Japanese - you might recall the music video for "Intergalactic" by Beastie Boys, 'though I *think* they were wearing road worker outfits - note the ordinary (though very orange) rubber boots. I prefer the cute tabi boots worn by the construction workers... There is an excellent article about this phenomenon at PingMag, and more info in Japanese at the Tobi (construction workers' uniform) website (check out their shop!).
I recently joined the "social music revolution", that is, another of these internet group thingies called Last.fm - the neat thing about it is that you can listen to new music for free, search by tags for the music you like, join fan groups with your friends, check out what they are listening to and get new ideas... Nerdy as I am, I just enjoy seeing my own charts grow and obsess about correct tagging and archiving of my favourites.
These are, by the way, the national charts for Sweden and Finland this week, based on what the Last.fm users from those countries have listened to:
Sweden
Finland
1 Kent 2 Coldplay 3 The Knife 4 Red Hot Chili Peppers 5 Johnny Cash 6 Metallica 7 The Beatles 8 Håkan Hellström 9 Death Cab for Cutie 10 Anna Ternheim
1 Metallica 2 System of a Down 3 In Flames 4 Children of Bodom 5 Rammstein 6 Nightwish 7 Iron Maiden 8 Zen Café 9 Red Hot Chili Peppers 10 Placebo
From now on, all Goldenbird updates move to their own website, formerly known (or unknown) as my history blog. Read the first 6 pages of the new chapter: "Who's the Man?"
On my way back home from work today, I saw many dogs being taken out for walkies. There was a Chinese crested dog in a zebra cat(!)suit, a saluki, a dachshund... But no pinto-coloured Akita.
Himitsu von Nobara-ken would have been twelve years old today. This is what she looked in 1995-1996:
I don't remember exactly when this photo was taken, but it can't have been long after we moved to Finland. I had my hair cut short in the summer of '96, so it must have been before that...
Turukhtan made some adorable music videos with our princess. She was a soulful lady.
