Toadfish Monastery

So, which 5 albums have been on heavy rotation on your stereo or Mp3 player the last three months?
Inquiring minds wants to know.   

Mine:
James, Best Of James
Anna Ternheim, Leaving On A Mayday
Tom Waits, Mule Variations
New Order, Get Ready
Jesus And Mary Chain, Automatic

For us in the Northern hemisphere it's spring equinox and it's also the day for the Persian New Year Norouz.

I'm not much a Eurovision song contest fan, actually I run as far from a the telly as I can...

Now, this year one of our strongest shining opera stars Mezzo-soprano Malena Erman is contending. I'm a fan of hers since way back, she has a fantastic voice, she is very physical -she uses her face and body a lot and act her part as well as singing it. She's something of an expert on trouser parts and has played among others Count Orlov in Der Fledermaus and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro.

The song, some pop opera fusion isn't exactly my cup of tea, still it's one of the best songs competing, and it went straight to the final to round everybody's (including the singer herself) astonishment.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malena_Ernman


La Voix, the Eurovision contribution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmanHZKQ270


Malena as Count Orlov in Der Fledermaus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtTnCeuYkgI

I got inspired by Bruder Cuzzen's post in The Good News Channel.

I have always taken for granted that dreams are in colour. I see my surroundings in full colour during the time I'm awake so it would make sense for me to dream in colour, right.

I know I dream in colour, as a child I once had a nightmare about being chased by a rainbow coloured snake (record breaking anaconda size but with fangs).
And not long ago I had another not so fun dream, and the sky had a rather alarming hue of viridian green...

But recently I've started to wonder if the brain just adds colour when it's significant to the dream? I mean we know that the colour the sky or the ground usually have.
What if everything that makes the backdrop, that doesn't carry any significance to the dream, are grey scale and only details that either appear different than they usually does or where the colour is otherwise important really are in colour but we don't notice that because grass is usually green etc.?

I have a friend who's certain she dreams like that, in a style similar to old hand coloured black and white photos.

How do you dream?

 

Happy New Year!

:

and a  for the old one!

No this isn't a thread about what you want or got for Christmas, this is a thread about what you are planning to give and how you wrap it.

I'm a bit funny (you all know that by now I guess) because when I give away a gift the wrapping is almost as important as the gift it self.

Wrapping the gifts is IMHO a peak almost as big as opening the gifts you are given. 

If you have any fun ideas about decorations, cards et al. please post pictures!

I'll start with my first 4 parcels for the season.

We have a number of avid Pratchett and Adams readers here but what other authors and books do you read to bring a smile on your face or a laugh for that matter?

I'll start with recommending two books by Ian Banks,The Crow Road and Whit.






(I'll be back with more about these books later but I have to run now...)

A question for all other bilinguals here; How does your brain organize memories in different languages?
Have you ever noted that you don't have full connection between memories of something you read in your second language and memories of something you've read in you first language?   



Po'9 PM:d me about a passage from Hamlet she posted at another thread and that passed under my radar in a very obvious way. Now I know my Shakespeare pretty well and I have seen Hamlet on scenes and on screens as well as read it my self... Now why didn't my brain made the connection?

It must have something to do with the language.

Swedish is my first language, English is my second which I started to learn when I was about 8 years old, the breakthrough however didn't came until I was about 19 or 20. After that I stopped translating in my head whenever I heard or read English unless I bumped in to a for me unknown word.

Shakespeare, I read in Swedish or watched either in Swedish (plays on stage) or with Swedish subtitles, mostly well before my lingual breakthrough.   

The Hamlet passage written in Swedish would have sent bells ringing immediately but written in English (even though the words are almost the same) passed me by. Odd.

I have also discovered that even though my English actually improves an a almost daily basis my ability to translate fast between the two languages is getting worse! I tend to think either in Swedish or English.

Is there anyone else here who have experienced this or something similar?

What was the first book you choose yourself? And or the first book you remember reading on your own unaided?


The first book I choose myself was "naturboken" Book of nature a richly illustrated flora and fauna in one book, I was 3 years old and mom tried hard to make me interested in some childrens books instead but it didn't work, I wanted the naturebook like only a 3 year old can want something...

I still got it, worn to pieces by use, it proved to be a very useful book.  

The first book I read myself I'm not so sure of, but with 98% security I think it was something by Astrid Lindgren, probably either Pippi Långstrump or Emil i Lönneberga.

I have probably for got to mention a lot of genres...  If I have missed one you read vote "other" and post about it below.

You are of cause very welcome to post about your choice of literature here even if you have voted for the genres I've mentioned.

You can vote for your top 3 as I think most people read more than just one type of literature.

/D

I'm talking about Tardigrades (water bears).

Swedish scientists sent a colony of Tardigrades in to space on the outside of the Foton-M3 probe launched from Kazakhstan a year ago.
The capsule holding the Tardigrade colony was only sheltered during the take off and the re-entering in atmosphere/landing, during the 10 days in space the little animals was exposed space; vacuum, radiation UV rays the hole lot.
And they not only survived, the death rate (very low) was the same as for the control group that stayed at home in a lab in southern Sweden, the ability to breed and create a healthy offspring was also the same as for the control group!

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a link in English so I'll link to our biggest newspaper where I found the article.
http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=597&a=830762

We have some really odd animals on this planet.





Now I'm just waiting for the first articles proclaiming that water bears actually are aliens... 



Edit: just found a good link in English Tardigrades



~edited to correct link format ~griffin

Is there an album or an artist you would like to recommend? Do you have fond memories of a certain song you want to share? Have you been to a concert or are you going to one? Do you want to make lists over the best songs ever? Welcome this is the place for all that and more! As long as it have some connection to music this is the place for it!

And yes, all genre are welcome!

This thread is for eventual questions about the Music section of the board.

If it's likely to be printed in book form it belongs here!
But it doesn't have to be printed... If you have found some interesting writing in digital form it also fit in here. There are a lot of good self publishing authors of all kinds of literature out and about on the net, please post a link and your thoughts about the material.

If you are going to discuss the plot of for example a novel please add a spoiler ahead alert [spoiler] and no one will be disappointed.

You are heartily welcome to start new threads about every book you like to discuss but if you just want to recommend a book in a few words The Big Book Thread would be the place to do it. If several threads aboutt the same book/web page/author turns up they might be merged.

This thread is for eventual questions about the Books section of the board.


Good reading!

This is the place to discuss everything movie and TV series related. Welcome to share your old golden nuggets or your rants about the latest HBO production!

Documentaries, Sci-Fi series, old movies, new movies it all belongs here!
If you want to discuss Jepordy or the CNN news I suggest Miscellaneous Discussion or Serious Discussion though


This thread however is for questions about the Movies section of the board.




_{Edited for clarity}

Welcome to Games!

This is the place to discuss recommend and review all types of games everything from on-line flash games, card games and strategy games, to plain old chess.

If you want to discuss how to cheat or post tips or a walk through for a game your welcome just add [cheat], [spoiler] or [walk through] to the header of your post, that way people know what to expect.

This thread is for eventual questions about the Games part of the board.

Game on!

This is a bit of an unusual library because discussions will not be hushed but welcomed and encouraged!

Reading, listening to music or watching a movie can be so much more than the act it self; what emotions did that movie stir up? Did that book open doors in your mind you did not know was there? What pictures fills your head when you listen to that particularly piece of music?

All that and of cause recommendations and reviews of books, movies, music and games is what I hope we will fill this place with together.


/Darlica   

Well it's not really mine but I'm in charge of it!
The tenant-owner's association where Lindorm and I lives has a garden, a rather neglected one which now is mine to play with.

In April I signed up to help with the gardening and was met with both enthusiasm and scepticism, many people before me had said they would help but nothing or very little ever happened.
I was given a small amount of money and told I could use them to create a little herb garden or whatever I wanted and I guess they expected me to give up halfway there.

The houses and the garden is situated near a former clay pit and the they used old and deformed bricks, bits of concrete and stone to fill out between the houses when the building was done and the gardens where created. There is a little slope up to the wall of the neighbouring garden which was completely over grown with shrubbery and it was talk about hiring a a contractor to clean up the mess.  It's a lovely garden with lilacs and elders as old as the houses and it has great potential but the soil is a nightmare to work with.

Now, instead of of running to the nearest garden centre, the minute I got the money, I took some time and made a plan and planted some seeds that would fit in no matter how things ended up.
I found surviving herbs and strawberries from an earlier garden attempt beneath the weed and shrubbery and used that as a starting point.

I soon realised that a good part of the shrubbery had to go, or my little herb plot wouldn't get enough sun, I also realised that I had to either elevate the herb bed or dig deep into the hard clay-soil mixing it with sandy soil and peat if I wanted whatever I planted to survive (it holds moist very well but when it gets dry it kills the plants in two days).

I started to cut down the shrubbery single handedly (the one the wanted to hire a contractor to deal with) it took me about two days, I dug up the Strawberries from the old lot and placed them in a bucket with water, I dug up a Lemon Balm and planted it where the shrubbery had been together with a Lovage who had been hiding in there for I don't know how many years. Then I started to prepare the old lot by removing all weed. I bought a wooden frame about 45 cm high and good quality soil to fill it with and a couple of nice ceramic pots and then I was out of money. 

However my efforts didn't past unnoticed and on the common house and garden work day got help to buy more soil for the little slope so I could plant the strawberries (that had been relocated to the herb bed) where I wanted them.

Today I and a member of the tenant-owner's association board here went to a very nice garden centre and bought herbs and flowers. I got a lot of praise and apparently the whole board is impressed by all the hard work I have put in to the gardening, I was also told that I'm now in charge of the garden and have pretty much free hands to do what I want as long as it doesn't end up being very expensive.

This afternoon I planted the herbs, cleared another old flowerbed of weed and planted Sunflowers sprouts in it, planted the 4'o clock in a big pot together with purple Lobelia and planted a Steppe Sage in a matching pot. I also managed to spray my self with the water sprinkler...

I'm such a dirt monkey, leave me unattended in a garden for five minutes and I will be dirty or wet all over (preferably both) when you comeback!

I'm ridiculously happy right now, I get to do something I love to do and somebody else is paying for the material (and enjoying the results)!

No it isn't irony, it's true!

We could need some balancing out all the bad news that travels over the world with the speed of light,
this is a place to post good news, personal and general.

Maybe you've found a new job, got a raise, found a long lost friend or you saw some really good news in your local paper, go on post it we all need to hear it!

To start things of; the grapevine says Lambi got a new job!

I think it's time to sweep the dust of this sub forum.

I knit, mostly really simple things, like scarf's and wrist warmers, since I started to knit for real just a little more than a year a go.

My grandma was a real master knitter, unfortunately I wasn't that interested in knitting or sewing as a kid (stupid me ), I was more interested to hang around with grandpa who was a carpenter.
I'm trying to catch up, by now at least my loops are smooth and even and I know how to use stocking needles, even if I haven't learned to make stocking heels and toes yet.

Also I need a English/Swedish knitting dictionary!

I've been thinking about this for a while, how come so many people in power seem to be the sort of persons who shouldn't be in a position where they can decide over other persons life's at all, since they seem to think mostly of their own needs and wishes than the people they are put to govern?

Is it that power corrupt (9 out of 10) or is it that the only people willing to take a job with a lot of power are those that already have their own best interest before their eyes?