Precious – life is worth living

Posted on Wednesday, 24 March, 2010 by anmara

“It is about finding that light in the dark” – that is how the main actress Gabourey Sidibe describes the message of one of the heaviest movies I have seen in a long time – Precious.

And she is right, I think.

The movie is as Gabourey says much lighter than it might appear after reading what it is about. Although one is still shocked when watching it and one is close to tears. Very close in fact. So I am not sure if I want to know what the book is like… Listen to Gabourey’s interview here on kino.de.

As for myself, I once more got reminded of how nice home and my family is – and it is just horrible to think that there are so incredibly many tragedies out there. What we sometimes consider a problem seems like a farce when watching this movie.

Precious is a great encouragement to deal with whatever life throws at one, especially considering the type of “luxury problems” that most of the people watching it are dealing with in comparison to the movie’s main character.

Go and watch it!

It has a great soundtrack, too.

(Picture credit to kino.de)

Springtime soon?

Posted on Thursday, 18 March, 2010 by anmara

OK, one cannot complain really. Spring is coming. Today we have the first noticeable plus-degrees here. The snow is melting, but no flowers in sight yet. Apart from the ones you can buy.

But – there are certain videos one can indulge in while awaiting the new motorcycle season. Like this one that two friends of mine put together.

These are the days we are now very close to 🙂 . I hope.

Skype Spam

Posted on Monday, 8 March, 2010 by anmara

Skype spam. Lovely and useful as always. And look what kind of specials there are available on International Women’s Day.

Dear spammers, (or in this case: spermers?) this one wasn’t bad, but please, could you get a bit more creative next time?

Vasaloppet!

Posted on Sunday, 7 March, 2010 by anmara

Today it is time again for the most famous and most awaited Swedish skiing race – Vasaloppet. It is also the biggest and longest skiing event of its kind in the world.

Vasaloppet is always held on the first Sunday in March, and that since 1922.

Why Vasaloppet? This stretch is said to be skied by Gustav Ericsson Vasa in 1520 on his escape from the Danish king Christian II who wanted to see him assassinated. Gustav was like the name says part of the Swedish king family and was crowned as King Gustav I in 1523. Read here the full story of the legend.

The race starts in Sälen in Sweden and finishes in Mora. The distance is 90 kilometres, and nowadays for the skiing elite it takes just over 4 hours to get to the finish line. You can follow for example Daniel Tynell who is one of the Swedish elite skiers and currently on the 9th position. This is his race from 2009, and the graphics below his racing-times give you some kind of an idea of the skiing terrain. Maybe you know someone who takes part? Check them out on the same website.

But Vasaloppet is not only for elite skiers. The race is open for everyone and also for skiers from all countries. For the average participant it takes between 7 and 9 hours to finish the race, some take longer time, some are faster.

When Vasaloppet was in its baby shoes in the 1920’s a 7 hour finishing time was actually somewhat the best possible result. Nowadays the equipment and training got so advanced that this time could almost be halved.

Have a look here and see what the first Vasaloppet-start in 1922 looked like and this is the start from today.

Women were by the way allowed to participate in the first 2 years, 1922 and 1923. Without getting any prices, though. After that they were banned until 1980. Reason? It was not supposed to be good for a woman’s health and also, if women took part, the race could appear less tough. Tell that a female professional skier today 😉 .

Google honours Vasaloppet today with a special logo:

Lots of people will comment on Twitter as well, you can follow that here and find more information. Most tweets are Swedish, though. Vasaloppet has also its own YouTube-Channel and not to forget the SVT Livestream.

Check out the most important food supply for all racers here – Blueberry-soup 🙂 . 92.000 liters this year.

(Picture credit goes to Sweden.se)