Compare Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland in terms of size, poulation, climate, and cultures. Sounds like a final exam question, doesn't that mixu? And what is internet usage like in these differnt countries?

This will take a while, but be patient... (Shuffling through maps and stats) You'll get it by the end of this week...

Thanks. Something to look forward to, I'll stay tuned. I have other questions but these are obviously keeping you busy for now.

OK, 1st some statistics about Finland (end of 1995) (and the others): Pop: 5 117 000 (end of 1995) - Sweden 8,8 million - Norway 4,3 million - Iceland 0,3 million Of which Finnish-speaking 92,92% Swedish-speaking 5,76% Russian-speaking 0,31% Lapp-speking 0,03% And Lutheran 85,80% Orthodox 1,10% Other 1,00% Non-Religious 12,10% And (ages 15-74): Working 53,90% Pensioners 13,80% Unemployed 11,20% Students 10,10% Disabled 6,90% Working at Home 2,80% Unemployment in Sweden 9,8% (1994) Norway 5,4% (1994) Iceland 12,1% (1994) (Finland 1994: 18,2%) Land Area: 338 145 square km (69% forest, 10% water, 8% cultivated) - Sweden 450 000 sq km - Norway 324 000 sq km - Iceland 103 000 sq km National Borders: 1269 km (Russia), 727 km (Norway), 586 km (Sweden) Life expectancy: 76 years - Sweden 78 years - Norway 77 years - Iceland 78 years GNP/capita (US$) (1994): 18 850 - Sweden 23 630 - Norway 26 480 - Iceland 24 590 Average Temperature: Lowest - 2 degrees centigrade (Jan and Feb) (Helsinki) Highest +17 degrees centigrade (June) (Lappland) Lowest -17 degrees centigrade (December) Highest +13 degrees centigrade (June) This is the beginning - I'll handle the cultural things next week. (But as you see, the changes in temperature are quite extreme, especially in the north. Fortunately the warm current of Golf and the numerous lakes (more than 180 000) warm us up a little bit...)

Thanks, what interesting facts. Norwegians seem to have more folks working percentagewise and the other countries have high unemployment. The cultural discussion will provoke some more questions, I'm sure.

Oh, hi Mixu! And the Finnish are the people with the most widely-spread web access! Don't remember where I read that... And they know how to built good phones, especially mobile phones (see, Terry, they didn't feel like laying lotsa copper through the woods and lakes, and have lots of work with that, so they simply do it a different way! This always impressed me so much.). And they make very good vodka, and they like to drink it. There are lots of good bands like 22Pistepirkko, Laika & The Astronauts, etc., not only the Leningrad Cowboys. If a young man there is very bored, he makes a movie about it. If a younger brothers older brother made a movie, the younger brother has to make one, too - then he moves to Greece. The Finnish are one of the few european people about whom I've never heard that they hate Germans. But then, I didn't hear it all yet. Finnish is not related to any european language. Finnish is related to Hungarian (which is not related to any european language...). Tango is big in Finland (superstar #12 has a great article on that), but it's not that sweaty-excited latin-thing, it's more of a melancholic bluesy thing with sausages, coffee and beer. There are several hundred thousand lakes. There are also moskitos as you wouldn't believe. In Finland you get the best insect-repellants in the world. Mixu, what clich� did I omit?

Cool :-) My Finnish friend, whom I lived with last year, is getting married this summer and I'm tripping over to Finland to watch him tie the knot!

Ho! Kood funn, Mikka!

Ho! Kood funn, Mikka! But I've got a mistake in my post above: Please note that the extraordinary finnish surf band is NOT called Laika & The Astronauts, I'm sorry, but Laika & The COSMONAUTS.

Oh, hey, look what I just found - there's an article on finnish tango in this mag here! (*smirk*) It's called superstar, and even has it's own topic here on the Spring: http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/music/59 . Wow, that's pretty neat!

***shameless plug***

(Oh, come on - gimme a break. If you had had my bills, you'd do the same. Anyway, can I get you interested in this great mag I got here? I can make you an special offer - you'd really love it, and it's done by really cool people, blahblahblah) ;=}

:-)

;=} , too!

Anyone planning any Finnish travel?

There's a new movie out by finnish director Aki Kaurism�ki, first in quite a while. Got mixed reviews, too. The guy who wrote the Finn-Tango article in our mag brings a tango band over in April, Im' looking forward to that (and will post dates in the superstar topic as soon as I find them again). In my area, the dates are April 29th, Marburg at the KFZ, and April 30th, Frankfurt at the Ostclub on Hanauer Landstra�e.

Hi, I saw AK�s movie only recently. I watched it here in the tiny cinema of my home town where the director lives too...and the film was made with the local theatre people. The film is somethin else, go see it if you�re tired with typical movies.

Did you like it? I like many of his movies. I thought Kaurism�ki had moved to Greece permanently?

Well, he was here last Thursdsay, at the bus station to buy something from a kiosk. The movie then...Alexander, did you say you saw it? I thought it was pretty good at times but as a whole it probably isn�t the best one of his. I was a bit surprised, I expected more I guess but on the other hand, the movie was very effective, the way that silent b/w films can be.

No, but I've seen some mixed reviews; doesn't count, I guess. Next time you see him, ask him if he'd like to contribute to a magazine put together by a guy you know! ;=} But! I will see the Lasse Santagangas Ensemble, when they tour Germany and Switzerland! Finnish Tango! Full tourdates: http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/music/53.17

Alexander, what�s that magazine? ......anyway, you probably know that AK doesn�t give much interviews except for special occasions like the Berlinale (and there were some problems too, I hear!) Have you ever heard the music of Lasse Santakankaan yhtye? (Can you dance too?!) wonder if many Finnish tango bands actually tour Europe these days, I�d expect you Germans to have enough tango bands of your own to satisfy the biggest demand.

That's all Alexander is talking about these days in the music conference...check it out, Elena!

*Blush* Ahem, yes, but I really look forward to it, too! And might go and see it twice, too, too! Elena, there is a very nice compilation of Finnish tango out on the Munich label Trikont - the man who compiled it also wrote the article for superstar and organizes the band's tour. I like the two pieces of that band on the CD, so I'm really thrilled. Do you know that band? I've never heard of any Finnish tango-act touring around here (would love to hear Eino Gr�n, e.g.). If anybody in Germany does Tango, it's the hot spicy latin thing, "a sure sign of relations growing cold", as one Finnish tango coach has been quoted recently. So, no luck there (though we used to have great acts till the early thirties). On superstar, read more in the superstar topic in the music or journalism conferences. Autumn, thank you for your patience. ;=}

I'll go and see Lasse Santakankaan Yhtye play Frankfurt's Ostklub tonight! Drive there now - byeeeee! Wait, this at last - wished Elena were there and would meet me and tell me more about finnish tango... And maybe I'd get to meet Mixu... No, I don't dance. I'm a stiff German, remember? (Though I'm not into physics...) Bye! Gotta catch my riiiiideeeee eee ee ee e ee e e e e e

I�m eagerly waiting to hear about your tango experience, Alexander. Please tell us everything about it as soon as possible. ......but honestly, you have to *dance* to really know what tango�s about!!

It was great fun, though the band was unhappy. More later.

UNHAPPY???!! Whatever is your meaning?

They were homesick, the club's PA was bad (blew the fuse once, so they had to take a break till the thing cooled down), and they clubs and crowd were not what they expected. There wasn't any dancing going on while they played. In the break, some girls and a couple danced nicely, but when they started again, the dancers stopped to watch the band. For me, it was a great experience, and I truly hope they come on tour again, just in nicer clubs, and some people would dance.

Aw, sounds terrible! Playing for a audience that doesn�t dance is not what a tango band is for. They must�ve felt absolutely strange, and probably unsuccessful too, not being able to make people feel like dancing.....I hope they still managed to play OK! Wonder why the tour was in clubs like that anyway. "Stopped to watch"....augh! Lemme know next time they hit Germany Alexander and I�ll come over to MAKE you dance, dammit :-)

Such harsh words from so kind a person - tz tz tz... Seems like the clubs they played were all really great rock clubs, like underground-style stuff with cool scenes. Many people came for the obvious novelty effect. The concert was great, and we all loved what we got. And it was a lot they gave, too...

Anyway, Elena, since Mixu doesn't show up here at all to "to answer any of my questions", and since you've been so friendly to me - tell me more about your area, please!

Mixu has obviously had enough of Spring, I see he planned to handle the Finnish cultural things next week in 1997! Hope everything�s OK. ......what exactly do you want to know, Alexander? Ever been over here? The Finnish are one of the few european people about whom I've never heard that they hate Germans Ha,ha! Are you that hatable? Now I have heard about the horrific German orderliness and stinginess, general vulgarity of manners etc. but naturally that goes for Finns too! :-))) Maybe that�s why there seems to exist a traditional German-friendly attitude in Finland. Seriously, I�ve been in Deutschland a couple of times and my experience is that Germans are amazingly friendly people and my being a Finn seemed to have something to do with it. Not once but twice did they kindly save me from a natural catastrophe or other.

The Germans are basically a sorry bunch. All we want is love and respect - even if we have to start wars to get it. How pathethic. But that's why many people in neighbouring nations don't really like Germans in general (especially the French, the Dutch, some Danish, the Serbians,...). The only people who really like us are those that were on our side in some stupid war - the Turkish (WWI), the Croatians, the Italians and the Finnish, etc. For Germans, Finnland has something weird and romantic about it. That's clich�s, of course (and Kaurism�kis movies do nothing to prove us wrong). Same with us here - concerning Germans, there are really many prejudices (even at the Spring, I s'ppose). Which of these prejudices are founded on facts depends on the region you're in - "Germany" only exists since 1870, and we have VERY different tribes here (all of which are considered rude by any other group). There are some bands from Finnland known here - Aaviko, Laika and the Astronauts, The Leningrad Cowboys, The 69 Eyes, El�kel�iset. Also, movie maker-brothers Kaurism�ki, Mika and Aki. We've discovered your tango, and we like your vodka. Also, all Finnish men here in Germany (very few) work hard and drink much; all Finnish women in Germany (more than you'd guess) are exceptionally pretty and have lots of wit. They are all homesick. What of this is typical? What else happens in Finnland? What do you do for entertainment?

Oh, I don�t think it�s only the stupid war that made us friends, Finns liked Germans before the world wars too. There must be some good reason for this, maybe it�s some sort of hidden (or imaginary!) cultural familiarity. And why do Germans like Kaurismäki movies more than any other bunch in Europe, that�s a mystery! Why do YOU like them, Alexander, can you tell me, and which one especially? For Germans, Finnland has something weird and romantic about it. all Finnish women in Germany----are exceptionally pretty I�m beginning to understand without your answer that you have never visited here. The truth is.......we *are* weird and romantic. But......(looking into a mirror with a painful blush) exceptionally pretty?! :-D Maybe I should move to Germany if that�s the trick.

One thing I find really strange about the Germans is how impressionable, and how easy they are to get into hypes and hysteria. Last year there was a Modern Talking revival concert here in Zurich, which was just fantastic. But at one point it gave me the chills when Dieter Bohlen shouted: 'Wollt ihr die Hits??? Wollt ihr die grosse Hits?!!' Of course the (half-dead) Swiss didn't quite know how to respond to this. Neither did I, in fact. And Bohlen said half dissappointedly that that line normally gets the crowd into a frenzy. I suddenly had a vision in my mind of someone shouting, 'Wollt ihr den Krieg?? Wollt ihr den grossen Krieg??', and the German Volk going nuts over it. That was a little weird. Of course there is nothing bad about Modern Talking - except for their music, perhaps!