Trouble

« Found polaroids. »

Sometimes when you find fragments of someone else's life on top of a rubbish bin it can be fun to sort of wonder what it all means outside of any guiding context. I'm a fan and frequent visitor to Found Magazine which offers me vicarious enjoyment of such voyeurism. On Sunday, we found 2 polaroids and a music CD that I've been rather entertained with today.

I dig the bavarian drinking team in the picture on the left and the drinking game based on Kimble which is the Finnish name for the pop-o-matic goodness of Trouble. I suppose that having a drinking game called Trouble, much like Vomit or Hangover, would be too perfect which might explain the name change. Kimble? I wonder who chose that as Trouble's replacement. Don't kids just play quarters or 'Hi,Bob!' anymore? I don't suppose the Bob Newhart Show is on TV these days even if it did make it to Finland, but there's always the DVD. One of my co-workers mentioned that the picture might be from the Norske Kimble Cup, apparently some Pan-Nordic chemistry student drinking competition at HUT as though anyone really needs an excuse to drink vast quantities of cheap(er) booze. The photo on the right features a guy getting dolled up with dangly earrings which makes me wonder what possible situation might prompt a guy into wearing those things but I'll guess that there was some alcohol involved in getting there. :)

The found CD contained only one track, It's Easy by Prince Vaka Vaka [mp3, ~3.5mb] with a logo that read "The Royal Alpine Ski Team Tuvalu." Alpine Skiing in Tuvalu? What? I think the highest point on the coral atoll is 5 metres above sea level, if that much. I went poking around the net with google and discovered that it's a gimmicky ad campaign for Pohjola and I'm not entirely sure that Prince Vaka Vaka isn't just an elaborate joke with a goofy video [qtime, ~.5mb] and bio.

• According to Tuvaluvan legend, Vaka Vaka can turn into a tiger. (With a beer gut like that?)
• Vaka Vaka was born with two belly buttons. He lost one in a wrestling match against a Samoan prince. (What, was the Samoan prince missing his?)
• Vaka Vaka considers King Kalle of Finland his top opponent in the upcoming season. (King who?)

Judging by the song, they found this guy on Tuvalu's Idols or in a karaoke pub in Kallio. The downside of a campaign that works so hard at being a clever joke is that I still have no idea what 'It's so easy' is selling unless it's a travel agency pushing quiet polynesian holidays on Tuvalu before the Pacific rises and swallows it in a few years. Or maybe they're selling flood insurance for the 19-25 set. Perhaps they should have a policy for accidental loss of drunken party polaroids. :)