Posted in Yada Yada | Tags: Movies, Sweden, TV, USA, | Archive | 9 Comments »

On the IMBD forums I’ve seen a lot of people in favour or American re-makes because they think they’re easier to follow than subtitled movies in the original for them foreign language. There’s also many countries (Most of central and southern Europe) that dub just about everything in another language than their native one. For me as a Swede I have a hard time understanding what they find so difficult about subtitles. Sure in some less developed countries where a large percentage of the population can’t read it’s one thing but when Americans prefer re-makes and French and Germans dubbed movies it’s just silly. Personally my reading skills were good enough to follow subtitles when I was seven and it’s been working well for me ever since.

I think it’s especially silly when people (Americans, it’s always Americans) complain about how it’s hard to follow a movie in a language they don’t understand with subtitles they do understand. Personally I think it’s harder to follow a movie in a language you do understand with subtitles in another language you also understand.

The things is no matter how good the subtitles are not everything can be accurately translated. Take humorous puns like this for example: “What did the grape say when it got stepped on? Nothing – but it let out a little whine”. Translated to Swedish the words “whine” and “wine” have no similarity to each other which means that directly translated the joke no longer makes sense. The usual solution to this is replacing the joke with a similar one. It works but when you understand the spoken English and get the joke it’s a bit annoying reading a completely different joke in the Swedish subtitles. That is what you could call hard to follow. Hearing one thing in one language and reading another in another language. Yet here in Sweden where almost everyone understand English we don’t complain because we’re used to this.

What do I want to say with this? That people who think subtitles makes movies hard to follow should think about how we do it in Sweden and how we manage well despite the fact that most of us understand both the spoken language and the subtitled one. Dubbing makes movies look weird and re-makes… well isn’t that just extremely unnecessary? Just read the damn subtitles.

Plugs: Ashley, Becky, Cecilie, Karin, Rhea, alisha, Erin, Veronica, maria

Posted in Politics & Society | Tags: USA, | Archive | 15 Comments »

When big things happen we tend to remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we first heard the news. This is the case with everyone who was old enough to understand what was going on when the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme was murdered in 1986. I was just a small kid in 1986 so I don’t remember that.

Something I do remember is when I first heard of the attacks on World Trade Center on 9/11 2001. That was during my senior year of high school and I was actually in school when I first heard the news. It was during an art class and like during most of our art classes we listened to the radio. On the radio news they were talking about the first plane when all of a sudden they said that they were just informed that another plane crashed into the second tower. When I got home I told my mother about what had happened and she remembers that’s how she first heard about it.

Do you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you first heard of some big news?

Plugs: Kari, Marie Claire, Joebs, Crash, Joebs, Kristine, kitty, nikki, maria, Kimmy, Aly, Marianne, KayC, Vivian, Belinda

Posted in Politics & Society | Tags: H1N1, Sweden, USA, | Archive | 6 Comments »

I woke up to a grey sky and rain. I actually like rain, in the summer. This time of the year it’s not very pleasant though since it’s already cold enough without getting drenched in freezing water. Alas, the misery of fall!

I’m off to work in less than an hour and I don’t look forward to going there. My last work may have been 2 (metric system) miles (20 minutes by car) away but at least I got to go there by car with dad. Now I have a job in my home town which of course is nice but which also means that I have to walk or ride my bike there. Even in the pouring rain.

Speaking of something else. I wonder when I’ll get the vaccine against H1N1. Everyone in Sweden are being vaccinated for free but right now only those in the risk groups. My sister had the vaccine a couple of days ago due to her being in the risk group because of her diabetes. The rest of us have to wait a while longer though. Are you getting the vaccine fellow Swedes? Are there any other countries that vaccinate their entire population by the way? Obviously considering the American health care system that’s not the case with USA.

And speaking of that. What do you think about the American health care reform? I think it’s great. It’s insane that people can’t afford health care in USA. Really insane.

Now I need to get dressed since I’ll be off in not too long. Laters!

Plugs: Karin, maria, admin, Maria, Malin

Posted in Politics & Society | Tags: Languages, Sweden, USA, | Archive | 12 Comments »

I hate when it’s assumed that American things are universal things. Like A Wikipedia article I read a couple of days ago, written entirely from an American perspective with examples only taken from USA.

Another example is one of those silly IQ tests I took online. It wasn’t a real IQ test, more like a test of how much you know about the world. Still, the problem was that half of the questions were all about USA. So since I didn’t know much about American presidents and such I’m apparently stupid.

But why should I know who the founding fathers were? I live in Sweden. We have our own famous politicians. Not to mention musicians, writers, artists, athletes and actors.

For about twenty-five years I thought Evel Knievel was a Star Wars character. I mean, just listen to the guys name! It really could be a space opera name! I understand that he’s quite a legend in the US but once again, why should I know that? I’m Swedish.

Speaking of USA. Which English do you guys speak and write? American or British? My English is probably a mix of both but in school I was taught British English. It’s hard not to mix in American English though since I no longer study the language but only encounter it online, in movies, music and books. And of course American English is the most common in all of those medias. I still try to use the British words as much as I can though. After all, I’m European.

Plugs: Angie, k0ph, Kimmy, Grace, Becky, tiff k, Vashael, Joebs, maria, Wtfbbq, Of flamers and political history « W H I R L W I N D

Posted in Yada Yada | Tags: Movies, USA, | Archive | 17 Comments »

Americans and their re-makes!

This fall the swedish horror movie “Låt den rätte komma in” (Let The Right One In) was realeased and now it’s been announced that there will be an american re-make of it which will be released in 2010. So far I’ve been annoyed with how americans make re-makes of asian movies and now it’s happened to a swedish movie aswell.

I understand why re-makes are being made of old movies or a story that’s popular. I mean, how many movies has been made about Romeo and Juliet? Thirty-tree accoring to IMDb. But re-makes of new movies? What’s up with that? I refuse to believe that americans are that incapable of watching movies which aren’t in their own language. After all, there’s subtitles. The rest of the world watches american subtitled movies all the time.

There’s no need for a re-make of “Låt den rätte komma in”. It’s a good movie which have got good reviews. When the re-make is released many will choose to watch that one instead of the original which is such a shame for the people who made the wonderful original movie.

Plugs: Risa, adastra, Carla, Amberlynn, tiniwini, Jane, maria, Bre, Gabrielle, Robmarie, Darryl, Willian, Gel, Ravencroft, Shaina, Dana

Posted in Politics & Society | Tags: People, Sweden, USA, | Archive | 8 Comments »

The world is big but with internet, airplanes and tv it gets smaller and smaller. We’re constantly exposed to other cultures and sometimes it leads to a big collision, raised eyebrows or as I like to believe, many good things aswell. In this big world full of different people and cultures there are a couple of things I find very odd.

1. A breakfast consisting of bacon and eggs. How can anyone want bacon for breakfast? In Sweden we only eat “light” food for breakfast so I find that very, very odd.

2. Pancaces for breakfast. Once again, for breakfast? Pancaces is dinner food.

3. Peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. Ok I’ve never actually tasted this so perhaps I shouldn’t be so judgemental but the very thought of it is gross. Peanut butter is almost sickenly sweet and that alone on a sandwhich sounds disguisting but then to add jelly aswell? Eeeew!

4. Not taking off your shoes when you enter your own or someone else’s home. Doesn’t your home get very dirty when it’s muddy and wet outside? And the rest of the time aswell for that matter? In Sweden walking into someones home with your shoes on is conscidered rude.

5. Not saying goodbye when you finish a phone call. They never do that in american movies but perhaps that’s just in the movies, or? I’ve wondered about this for years so please do inform me about this matter! Is that a common way of ending a phone call?

6. Cheek kissing. Most swedes are reserved when it comes to introductions to new people so I think most of us find cheek kissings pretty uncomfortable. We even get uncomfortable if someone we’re talking to is standing a bit too close. That’s a thing many swedes going to southern Europe notice. I found myself backing away from people I was talking to in Spain because they were standing so damn close!

I know a lot more cultural differences like this but just because I’m trying to write about them of course I can’t remember any more than these, except the more obvious ones but they’re not quite as funny.

Plugs: Nimil, sara, Anna, Amy, Ashley, Jason, Shivon, Morbid Romantic