luxnebula
Storm Grey Eyes
I'm a Finnish university student, information studies major. She/they. This is a mostly professional account, but I might get a little geeky at times. FIN&ENG.
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I just heard my mom tell my brother, “when you die, you will go outside and garden until your father says you’re done” and it took me a second to realize that my brother was playing a videogame and this was not a theological discussion.
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I've now finished this (yes, I know, I read slowly, don't worry about it) and here are my thoughts on the latter half of the book.
I feel very validated in reading Frankenstein as a tragedy of bad parenting first and foremost. The way the book treats Frankenstein and The Creature is treated as family therapy with Victor as an absentee father and The Creature as a neglected child. I think it's also great how this book gave The Creature the happy end that the novel didn't.
Now the ending, however...
The twist at the end felt... a little rushed and forced in my opinion. All the other sessions went great, but when the unnamed protagonist had a few unsuccessful meetings with Dorian Gray, she suddenly just collapsed and fell down a slippery slope. The reveal that she hallucinated the meetings could have been foreshadowed better and her mental decline could have been built up more gradually. I'm also not a fan of how the book ends with the protagonist pretty much announcing that "I am mentally ill, so I'm now a monster" after spending hundreds of pages humanising, explaining and destigmatising mental illnesses and disorders. I'm very conflicted about the end. The rest of the book is very solid, interesting and well-written, but it fumbles it all on the literal last page. I don't know if I can recommend this book anymore just for the last page alone.
Damn. Such a disappointment. I guess my final verdict is: "worth checking out if you're into psychology or classical horror literature, but skip the final page".
I had to take my copy of Dracula back to the library because I ran out of renewals with it and got another book instead. I wanted to get The Count of Monte Cristo, but they didn't have a copy of one, so I got this instead. Frankenstein terapiassa (Monster i terapi) by Jenny Jägerfeld and Mats Strandberg (I don't know if it has an English translation). It's about classic horror literature characters like Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and Carmilla in therapy. The setting is very interesting and I'm excited to read it!
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Ruotsin hallitus päätti tänään palauttaa 150 vuotta sitten Suomesta Ruotsiin viedyt pääkallot Suomeen.
Karoliinisen instituutin kokoelmissa Tukholmassa on 82 suomalaisvainajan pääkallot. Suurin osa niistä on peräisin Pälkäneeltä Pirkanmaalta.
Kallot kaivettiin rotututkimuksen nimissä ja vietiin Ruotsiin vuonna 1873. Palautuksen jälkeen jäännökset haudataan.
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A couple of years ago I attended to a course on online communication in my university studies. One of the assignments on the course was to write a blog post about a subject we chose. When I was on that course, I didn't have this blog, so I published the blog post on my Twitter and LinkedIn. These platforms do have limitations on how long the posts can be, so I had to edit my blog post a lot to get it published. But now that I have this blog, I can translate it into English and publish it as I wrote it. So here it is:
Library services for LGBTQI people
Pride month is still ahead of us this year, but LGBTQI folks exist outside pride month, too. That's why it's good to consider how libraries could be more open and comfortable for queer people. In this blog post I introduce a couple of ideas on what libraries could do to enforce the equal treatment of sexual and gender minorities.
Queer people read books like cis straight people do. That's why it's important to have current and fresh literature where queer people can see themselves. Queer fiction is still unfortunately rare, but there are recommendation lists and book reviewers who specialise in queer fiction. Libraries can use these lists and reviewers to find new material for their collections.
Of course, libraries need also nonfiction, which acts as a segue to my next point: information services. There have been studies conducted on especially trans people's information needs and information seeking in the field of information studies, because they have especially unique information needs in different stages in their lives. Especially Aira Pohjanen found in her study Transsukupuolisten identeetin rakentamiseen liittyvä informaatiokäyttäytyminen (2013) (link and study are both in Finnish, unfortunately) that transgender people need information on a huge variety of subjects. These include:
identity, words, phenomena and concepts,
other trans people's experiences,
gender reassignment surgeries and hormone treatments and how they affect the body,
how to get a referral for these treatments,
how much these treatments will cost and how long they will last,
changing one's name
and risks involved with the surgeries.
According to Pohjanen, the most important information source is peer support and other trans people, but libraries should also know where this information can be found and offer this information for various reasons. For example, there might be trans people out there who don't have a peer support network yet or if a cisgender person is just interested about the subject and wants to educate themselves. Brandon Lyttan and Bibika Laloo agree in their study Equitable Access to Information in Libraries: A Predicament for Transgender People (2020): they say that libraries can ease trans people's information seeking by making it easier to access information about trans issues and offering physical and digital material on the subject.
Libraries can do other things too: they can offer a safe space where to meet other people. A majority of queer-oriented spaces are bars or nightclubs, which excludes a lot of people, for example minors, former alcoholics, people suffering from epilepsy and those queer people who just don't like noisy clubs. It is especially crucial to offer places for queer minors so they can be themselves without fearing discrimination and where they can get peer support and the sense of community.
Library staff also has to be ready to meet queer patrons. They have to be aware of the basic terms (transgender vs cisgender, asexual, nonbinary etc) and a patron should not be cross-examined on why they want information about transition processes. Librarians should be aware of reliable information sources about queer issues and challenges their own internalised thought models. It would be great if library staff could get training against discrimination and anti-discrimination policies were used in general.
Equality can be advanced in the patron databases of the libraries also. For example, marking down the patrons' gender feels, to me personally, unnecessary as a library patron and as library staff. But if there is indeed some insurmountable reason to mark down patrons' genders, the options "other" and "prefer not to say" should also be offered. And of course, the patrons should be given free access to change their gender marker later by themselves, either from the library's website or by email. Changing your name should be just as easy.
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Pari vuotta sitten kävin yliopisto-opinnoissani verkkoviestinnän kurssin, jossa yhtenä tehtävänä oli kirjoittaa blogipostaus itse valitusta aiheesta. Koska kurssin aikana minulla ei vielä ollut tätä blogia, julkaisin postauksen ensin Twitter-lankana ja LinkedInissäni. Näillä alustoilla molemmissa postauksille on rajoitteita, joten jouduin lyhentämään ja muokkaamaan postaustani saadakseni sen ilmoille. Mutta nyt voin julkaista koko postauksen kuten sen aikoinani kirjoitin. Joten tässä se on:
Kirjastopalveluja HLBTIQA-väestölle
Pride-viikko on tänä vuonna vasta tulevaisuuden haave, mutta HLBTIQA-ihmiset ovat olemassa Pride-viikon ulkopuolellakin. Siksi olisi hyvä miettiä, miten kirjastot voisivat olla avoimempia ja mukavampia sateenkaari-ihmisille. Tässä blogikirjoituksessa esittelen pari ideaa, mitä kirjastot voisivat tehdä ajaakseen sukupuoli- ja seksuaalivähemmistöjen tasa-arvoista kohtelua.
Sateenkaariväestö lukee kirjoja kuten heterotkin. Siksi on tärkeää tarjota ajankohtaista ja tuoretta kirjallisuutta, jossa sateenkaari-ihmiset voivat nähdä itsensäkaltaisia ihmisiä. HLBTIQA-aiheiset romaanit ovat vielä valitettavan harvinaisia, mutta esimerkiksi HLBTIQA-aiheinen uutissivusto Kehrääjä julkaisee kirja-arvosteluja, joista kirjastot voisivat löytää uutta aineistoa kokoelmiinsa.
Tietokirjojakin tietysti tarvitaan, mikä toimiikin kätevänä aasinsiltana seuraavalle aiheelleni: tietopalveluille. Erityisesti transsukupuolisten tiedonhankinnasta on tehty tutkimuksia informaatiotutkimuksen alalla, koska heillä on erittäin uniikit tiedontarpeet eri vaiheissa elämäänsä. Esimerkiksi Aira Pohjanen totesi Transsukupuolisten identiteetin rakentamiseen liittyvä informaatiokäyttäytyminen (2013) pro gradu -tutkimuksessaan, että transsukupuoliset tarvitsevat tietoa valtavan paljon eri asioista. Tietoa etsittiin muun muassa:
identiteeteistä, sanoista, ilmiöistä ja käsitteistä,
muiden transihmisten kokemuksista,
sukupuolenkorjaushoidoista ja hormonihoidoista sekä miten ne vaikuttavat kehoon,
sukupuolenkorjaushoitoihin lähetteen saamisesta,
sukupuolenkorjaushoitojen kestosta ja kulusta,
nimen vaihtamisesta
ja leikkauksiin liittyvistä riskeistä.
Pohjasen mukaan tärkein lähde on vertaistuki ja muut transsukupuoliset, mutta kirjastojen olisi myös hyvä tietää, mistä tätä tietoa löytää ja tarjota tätä tietoa monista syistä. Esimerkiksi kaikilla transihmisillä ei välttämättä ole vertaistukiverkostoa vielä tai jos cissukupuolinen henkilö on kiinnostunut aiheesta ja haluaa sivistää itseään. Brandon Lyttan ja Bibika Laloo ovat samaa mieltä tutkimuksessaan Equitable Access to Information in Libraries: A Predicament for Transgender People (2020): heidän mukaansa kirjastot voivat helpottaa transihmisten tiedonhankintaa helpottamalla pääsyä tietoon transasioista tarjoamalla sekä fyysistä että digitaalista aineistoa.
Kirjastot voivat tehdä paljon muutakin: ne voivat tarjota turvallisen paikan, jossa tavata muita ihmisiä. Suurin osa HLBTIQA-suuntautuneista tapaamispaikoista ovat baareja tai klubeja, mikä sulkee ulkopuolelle esimerkiksi alaikäiset, entiset alkoholistit, epileptikot ja ne HLBTIQA-ihmiset, jotka eivät vain pidä äänekkäistä klubeista. Erityisesti alaikäisille HLBTIQA-nuorille on elintärkeää tarkota paikkoja, joissa he voivat olla oma itsensä pelkäämättä syrjintää ja jossa he voivat saada vertaistukea ja yhteisön tuntua.
Kirjastotyöntekijöiden tulee myös olla valmiita kohtaamaan sateenkaariasiakkaita. Heidän pitää olla tietoisia ainakin perustermeistä (transsukupuolinen vs cissukupuolinen, aseksuaali, muunsukupuolinen jne) ja asiakasta ei tulisi tentata siitä, miksi hän haluaa tietoa esimerkiksi sukupuolenkorjausprosessista. Kirjastonhoitajien tulisi olla tietoisia luotettavista tiedonlähteistä mitä tulee tietoon HLTBIQA-asioista ja haastaa omia sisäisiä ajatusmallejaan. Olisi hyvä, jos kirjastotyöntekijöille järjestettäisiin syrjinnänvastaista koulutusta ja syrjinnänvastaiset käytännöt olisivat käytössä yleisesti.
Kirjastojen asiakastietokannoissa voidaan myös ajaa tasavertaisuutta. Esimerkiksi asiakkaan sukupuolen merkitseminen tuntuu minulle henkilökohtaisesti tarpeettomalta sekä kirjaston asiakkaana että kirjaston työntekijänä. Mutta jos sille on jokin ylitsepääsemätön syy, olisi myös hyvä tarjota vaihtoehdot “muu” ja “en halua sanoa” ja tietysti antaa asiakkaille vapaa pääsy vaihtamaan merkintä myöhemmin halutessaan itse verkkosivujen kautta tai sähköpostilla. Myös nimen vaihtamisen tulisi olla yhtä helppoa.
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*places an orange just outside a fairy ring to see what comes out* science is more of an art than a science
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Korpiklaani published a new album! It's same old Korpiklaani, fun bangers from start to finish. What sticks out to me personally is that there's no slow or melancholic songs on this album, until the last track of the album, Harhainen höyhen. It's almost jarring since Kulkija from 2018 had the very atmospheric Harmaja, which was a very slow song (but a good one! Harmaja has a very special place in my heart).
However... When I say "it's same old Korpiklaani", it's... really same old. There's nothing new in their sound and it almost feels stagnant. I wish I could have something else to say about this album, but it sounds very similar to their previous music. Although, you could argue that is there anything "new" you could even do with folk metal, which by definition is very traditional. Maybe I just need to listen to this album a few more times.
Either way, I really like Saunaan. Halkoja, perkele!!
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Hugo Simberg - Auntie; The Artist's Aunt (1898)
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I can't believe it took me this long to listen to KEiiNO's other music outside Spirit In The Sky, which was in Eurovision. For any readers who might be outside Northern Europe, let me briefly explain how significant that song is. KEiiNO is a Sámi band who use traditional yoiking as a part of their music. The Sámi are the indigenous people of Northern Europe, who have faced oppression and an attempted assimilation and eradication of their culture. Yoiking is a traditional style of singing that was heavily stigmatized for decades, if not centuries. At first it was stigmatized because it was a "pagan" tradition, so Sámi people became ashamed of doing it. This in turn led people to only yoik when they were drunk, so yoiking got this further stigma and shame of being something only drunks would do. So when KEiiNO made it to Eurovision and were able to yoik openly and freely? Proudly even? In the biggest music competition on the planet? Calling it a significant historical moment feels like an understatement.
Needless to say, I'm excited to hear the rest of the album.
KEiiNO's sound is delightfully modern and pop-y. Having heard only Spirit In The Sky before, I expected KEiiNO's sound to be more folk-pop, but this is full-on modern pop! (Maybe that's my own prejudice and bias, now that I think about it. Maybe I subconsciously thought that yoiking would automatically mean folk music. I'm glad to have shaken that off now, for sure!) I'm getting some Alan Walker and K-pop vibes from some of the songs. It also reminds me of early 2000's radio pop, to some degree. The vibes are so clean, cheerful and optimistic that I can't help but think of simpler times, you know?
This extends to such degree that the album doesn't have a single slow song. Louder has some mild melancholic vibes to it, but the tempo isn't melancholic at all. This, I count as a huge plus. Slow songs sometimes grind the album's flow to a halt if they're not placed right in the tracklist.
Roar Like A Lion gave me straight-up chills. Sámi yoiking with Aotearoan haki? This is a combo I never knew I needed! I want more of this!
Collaboration with other indigenous peoples seems to be a theme on this album, since Louder has a Native American rapper as a featuring artist. We love to see it!
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NOTE TO SELF-SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!
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Today I'm listening to Handmade Cities by Plini. I first heard from them because Oceill's Spotify profile namedrops them, but I didn't look into them until an online friend recommended Electric Sunrise to me. I was so enamoured with it that I looked up the whole album.
Electric Sunrise gives us a slow build, but it really sounds like a sunrise. Energy builds up more and more and it sounds so cheerful and hopeful. It's a really good album starter song.
Inhale gives me pleasant flashbacks to the soundtrack of Rayman, the track titled Call of the Mountain, specifically. I'm not sure what it is, but I think it might be the calm, but bubbly and whimsical feeling that sounds like it could be the soundtrack for adventuring a colourful fantasy world.
The vocals in Every Piece Matters took me by surprise and gave me chills. This song, along with Pastures and Here We Are, Again, gives us a calmer oasis in the middle of the majestic adventurous sound of the rest of the album.
Cascade gives us a surprisingly gentle and calm end for the album. It's like going to bed after a life changing adventure, like Frodo going back to the Shire at the end of The Lord of the Rings.
I can now hear how Plini influenced Oceill. They both have a sweeping, cinematic and picturesque sound, with rough guitars, but without losing an airy or bright feeling. Having a lot of meandering (positive) movements in their songs and a complex song structures are also something with both artists. Listening to Plini's discography might keep me afloat while I wait for Oceill's second album lol!
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"Died [X] Born [Y] Welcome Back [Insert Name]" contender to be my favorite meme I think. something about it just sends me into a giggle fit
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Today I'm listening to UMMON by SLIFT (2020) for a second time. From the first listen, I remember liking it a lot, especially that one song that sounded like if TOOL made the soundtrack for a toy commercial in the 80's. (It's Ummon, as I find out from the second listen.)
The album immediately opens with sweeping guitars with heavy TOOL vibes. The first track, Ummon, sounds like if TOOL, Pink Floyd and a dash of Uriah Heep and Blind Guardian was put into a kaleidoscope. Not a blender, because a blender would make it a homogenous mass. What SLIFT offers us is a richly textured and varied sound, so calling them a blender would be making them a disservice.
The second song, It's Coming... gives us a different vibe, although the kaleidoscope metaphor still stands. Like the title would suggest, it's anticipating something, but not standing still. The beat feels like it's running, slowly building and evolving as the song grows. The song crescendoes into an epic finish.
Thousand Helmets of Gold continues the epic vibe, now leaning more into Blind Guardian. I especially like the bit about two minutes in when it sounds like there's shooting stars flowing in the mix.
Dark Was Space, Cold Were the Stars gives us an atmospheric, floating sound that wouldn't sound out of place in a Pink Floyd album. The same Shine On, You Crazy Diamond vibe continues in Son Dong's Cavern.
The last song of the album, Lions, Tigers and Bears shifts gears with a way faster tempo than the rest of the album and almost punk-ish sound. Despite the almost sudden change in sound, the song still fits naturally with the rest of the album because it has the same airy, almost foggy vibe as the rest of the songs.
As you may notice from the Spotify link above, the songs are long, as it comes with the territory of prog. But the songs don't get boring at any point, they take you on their own journeys through lots of sounds, vibes, textures and different tempos. This is an album for people who like sweeping guitars, auditory adventures and big, epic soundscapes.
My only complaint about the album is that the vocals are mixed so that they drown into the instrumentals. I already have a hard time listening to the lyrics of a song and this mixing made it almost impossible for me to figure out what they were singing about without reading the lyrics. Other than that, UMMON is an atmospheric journey that I 100 % enjoyed listening to and flowing through. I'll definitely check out what else SLIFT has done.
Writing this review, I realize that literally all that I do is wax poetic and vaguely describe "the vibes" of the songs when I review music lol... Do these make sense anyone else except me? I don't know, but I'm having fun, at least.
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I relistened Oceill's first album, Oceill (2023), and was once again blown away by how much it slaps.
The Vibes on this album are out of this world. Speed Queen gives us a heroic and brisk race, while Repose sounds like we've stumbled into a video game villain's dungeon and we're listening to his monologue and fighting our way out.
There are very little vocals in Oceill's sound, but they don't need any. The songs tell their stories and take us through their landscapes and colours nonverbally. The way the vocals are mixed in Speed Queen and Malaise especially are mixed wonderfully. One could say that they drown with the instrumentals a little, but I think it's cool how the wordless vocals are mixed like any other instrument.
The songs are mixed so that they flow into each other, so you fly through the album without even realising it. Despite this, every song has a distinct vibe and journey to it. The Stumbler for example has a lot of baroque(?) piano sound and Course Bottom has a dramatic, cinematic feel to it. Fifteen Years gives us a pious, majestic and emotional ending to the album that both ends the album in a firm, satisfying way and leaves us wanting more (in a good way!).
Oceill has only this one album out, but it's already insanely good. I always say that any band or artist's first few albums shouldn't be judged too harshly because there's always some Early Years Jank(TM) before they find their sound. However, Oceill's sound is already so polished, well-mixed and detailed that you wouldn't guess that it's their first album! If they sound this good now, I can't wait to hear how their sound develops and how good they'll get when they find their niche. I'll definitely eagerly wait for more from them!
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Asiantuntijan vinkit hevi-osastolle: Valitse tertulliset tomaatit ja etsi vesimelonista kellertävä alue
Tässä tiivistettynä vinkit artikkelista:
Appelsiinit
Pienikokoiset appelsiinit ovat usein mehukkaita ja sopivat puristettaviksi
Isot appelsiinit sopivat syötäväksi sellaisenaan
Kuorellisia hedelmiä kannattaa tunnustella käsissä: appelsiinin paksu kuori on hyvä ja hedelmässä ei tule olla pehmeitä kohtia
Tuoreessa appelsiinissa on vihreä kiinteä kanta, joka lähtee helposti irti
Jos appelsiini on poimittu kauan sitten, kanta on muuttunut ruskeaksi ja kuivaksi
Pikkusitrukset (mandariinit, klementiinit ja satsumat)
Appelsiinivinkit pätevät mandariinienkin kanssa
Klementiinin pitää tuntua napakalta kädessä
Hedelmäliha on hyvä tuntea, mutta sisältö ei saa olla liian onteloinen, koska silloin hedelmä voi olla kuiva tai mätä
Jos on tarjolla pikkusitruksia, joissa on lehtiä kiinni, niitä kannattaa suosia: mitä vihreämmät lehdet, sen tuoreempi hedelmä
Kanta myös kertoo hedelmän tuoreudesta: tuoreessa hedelmässä on vihreä ja helposti irtoava kanta
Vesimelonit
Paljon aurinkoa saaneessa ja makeassa vesimelonissa on jossakin kohtaa kellertävä ja vaalea alue
Hyvässä melonissa on ruskea kanta
Kannan kohdalta pitää lähteä kellertävän rusehtavia raitoja
Pyöreät melonit ovat makeampia kuin pitkulaiset
Tomaatit
Jos haluat makeita tomaatteja, suosi tertuissa myytäviä tomaatteja
Tertussa oleva tomaatti hengittää tertun kautta ja jatkaa kypsymistä ja makeutumista niin kauan kun se on tertussa kiinni
Ihanteellinen säilytyslämpötila tomaatille on +13 astetta
Tomaatit muuttuvat jääkaapissa vetisiksi
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