On the one hand, that. On the other, this. Goddammit, Sweden, stay still so I can pigeonhole you! Goofy or depressing, you can't be both.
The Swedish soccer team is also defying traditional pigeonholes. Finland too.
''What Zlatan stands for'' is a many sided coin. As mentioned, he is Sweden's first footballing superstar, and as such he is often invoked as an example of the success of immigration and the richness it has brought to Swedish society.
He has added a self confidence that is not found in many Swedes, and that is common to many of the immigrant players. ''He can do things we have never seen Swedish players do before,'' as Sweden coach Lars Lagerbäck said in 2005, but more than that - he has the confidence to try them.
I continue to be indecisive about this. Someone I know is flying in from Europe for it, which makes me feel like an ass about thinking it's inconvenient. I'm tempted to book the hotel room at the discounted rate while it's still available (i.e. more or less right now) but continue to put off the decision of whether to actually go. Decisions are not my friends.
3: Bah; Ibrahimovic is an archetypal prima donna, and I can't imagine anything less swedish. If it weren't for the fact that he's the most talented footballer to hold a swedish passport (by a long shot), he'd be mocked in the streets (if he were recognized).
Goofy or depressing, you can't be both.
I think when a place has the highs and lows of an Arctic winter and summer you end up with such contrasts. All the Swedes I've ever met have been ridiculously good looking, more articulate than I in English, and scarily intelligent. They must have a ban on exporting the non-ubermenschen.
Someone needs to learn about the flummingness of Swedish spring.
Some people note that Swedes seem cold but we are just really longing for the summer, and we have big trembling hearts inside.
This fits with the Swede I knew best.
7: The quoted bit actually says "flummigness", not "flummingness". And indeed "flummig" turns up a lot of very Scandinavian-looking Google results.
7: I miss Emerson. In an extremely non-romantic-relationship sort of way.
11: Last I read, Jesus McQ was likely to be the best source but is on vacation, the bastard.
7: I miss Emerson. In an extremely non-romantic-relationship sort of way.
Stanley misses Emerson the way Michael Jackson slept with boys.
Stanley misses Emerson the way Michael Jackson slept with boys.
In a wig, lipstick, and a very shiny pair of cocaine-filled underpants.
This may have been mentioned in another thread, but a John Emerson with appropriate e-mail address and content posted at Languagehat on June 27th. This thread.
In my tired state the thought occurred to me: those puzzles that ask you to draw x socks from a drawer with ni socks for each of i colors, such that your collection of x socks will satisfy some desirable property (like matching), are applications of Ramsey theory.
If this thought is unsound I blame my fatigue.
Actually since the property in question is usually something like "contains a matching pair" and not something that each of the x socks has in common with the others (since there would be no way to satisfy the sorts of properties generally in question, then, given that one is supposed to draw these socks at random), I'm leaning now towards its being unsound.
OH WELL.
My socks are currently in the washing machine.
the answer is two, always two.
L-Theanine: they say it makes you sleep; they lie
If it weren't for the fact that he's the most talented footballer to hold a swedish passport (by a long shot), he'd be mocked in the streets (if he were recognized).
What? How insane is this. Henrik Larsson, ffs.
Did you hear about Saab? They are bringing out a new people mover. Apparently it is going to be capable of carrying a football team.
It is to be called the Larsson.
(/bad old footballing joke from when he played at Celtic testifying to Larrson's skill. The best thing is, it's adaptable for almost any player/car maker combination!)
19: What the fuck, is Emerson alive and well and ignoring us?
30. Emerson hasn't updated his own blog for a couple of months. I wouldn't hold your breath till you see him here.
re: 29
Heh, yeah. There's a lot of Larsson jokes.
Somebody should e-mail him. We could send a group e-mail with a link to the Scarlett Johanssen video.
Also, is there a way for California to fall under Federal receivership? So retarded that the Republicans won't touch the correction guards union or the prison budgets in any way, i.e. letting out some of the non-violent offenders.
I think it would be entertaining if California simply dissolved, becoming open territory to be claimed by Oregon, Nevada, Mexico, etc.
Racists would be up in arms that some of the US is being turned over to Mexico, but everyone else would just say "well, that's what you get if you don't pay your bills."
Plus there would be riots and hundreds of people would die!
Heh!
It was weird having Olivia Newton-John come up on the other thread, and no on mentioned that she's the granddaughter of Max Born. Well, she is.
Hey, how's the hand, BG? Were you able to get some sleep?
25: Hey JP, any idea where Emerson is?
No, the sum total of my research methods was the dubious one of using Advanced Search to Google "John Emerson" for pages updated within the last week.
It's fine now. I fell asleep on the couch listening to a podcast with my hand on an ice pack. I woke up at 4 AM, and I wasn't in pain anymore. It's a bit tender, but it's fine.