Some things are too hard to describe

« M.A. Numminen. Imagine Tom Waits if he had done beat poetry, children's songs, looked vaguely like Colonel Sanders and spoke Finnish. »

We celebrated the Finnish Independence Day on Monday by going to a concert with friends. Neither they nor Jarkko could find the words to explain M.A. Numminen and, frankly, the description above is about as close as I can come to the truth. :) Any guy who can sing a song called "Talvisota [Winter War] Rock" with lyrics like "Go, Stalin, Go!" has a sense of irreverent humour I can enjoy. If only he would have had a smoke in one hand and a whisky in the other it would have completed the image. The performance was terrific and his band really knew how to swing, too. The second act was Matti Servo who I can try to describe as The Beach Boys get a Wurlitzer and go Las Vegas Lounge...in Finnish. :) It was a real Finnish cultural experience. I felt like a freak at work though when I mentioned how much fun I had at the show and either got a blank stare or a half-joking description of Numminen sounding like a rooster. Most great cultural icons and even not so great ones tend to generate strong like or dislike, don't they? :)

I also have to admit that I went to see the new Bridget Jones movie over the weekend and enjoyed it. :) The movie was a lot better than the book and Renée Zellweger really brings Bridget to life. I see so much of my own life in hers; the dinners with the smug marrieds when I was single, the talent for always saying too much or the wrong thing, feeling slightly pudgy, and otherwise feeling like an idiot or a 3-headed alien most of the time. Of course, there were two hours in which to enjoy Colin Firth who I wish someday would get a role that would really challenge his acting skill as well as light up the screen with a smile now and then.