Looking back on Whit-Sunday

Akureyri Main Street

Last Saturday I drove my parents (both aged 82) to the airport. They were flying to the north cost of Iceland to Akureyri to visit my two younger sisters that live there, one of them in Akureyri and the other on a farm in Eyjafjörður in the vincinity of the town. ( I have four sisters, two are older than me and living in Reykjavík like me).

A Flock of Confirmation Kids with their Shepherd

My parents went there for the Church Confirmation of the youngest of their 17 grandchildren on Whit-Sunday. In Iceland the Confirmation-time in towns is around Easter, while in the countryside it´s Whit-Sunday, don´t ask me why.

With the Icelanders the confirmation is a big event in the life of youngsters, taking place the year they turn 14. The parents give big parties and the kids get expensive gifts, top-fashion clothing and stylish hairdoes. Even though the seize of the goings on of course depends on the financial status of the individual families they put a great deal of pride into making the event as glamourous as possible. The media is also full of advice on arrangements, e.t.c.

All of this even though the Icelanders can´t be called a very religious nation, with a very low percentage going regularly to church. About 95% or more of the nation belongs from birth to the Lutheran-Evangelic Protestant State Church (I´m not sure of the most recent numbers, with the number of immigrants we have, it used to be 98%) Most people go to church only at Christmas and Easter if they go at all, also for weddings, funerals and christenings; and of course, for confirmations in the family! Even so most people here claim themselves to be religious, that they believe in God in their own way, which I think is true.

But somtimes you can´t help feeling that the real meaning of the the confirmation gets overshadowed by all those goings-on,with the kids thinking more about all the gifts and parties ( like Christmas?). I think the closes thing to resemble the commotion around this event with us is the Jewish "Bar Mitzvah", as you see it in films at least (we don´t have many Jews in Iceland).

But, anyway, I haven´t spoken with my parents since they went; just hope all went well and that everybody was happy; and that my niece was happy with the present I sent her.

A Confirmation Girl at her Party

This weekend is for many people one of the big weekends in the year for travelling inside the country. But Óskar and me just stayed at home, beacause he was working in the hotel and I went there to help in the mornings; now it´s getting very busy on weekends with the touristseason coming into full bloom.

Today´s Angel

...At last it´s Springtime in Iceland!

Graduation time in The Icelandic Film School !

Working in films sometimes gets you into strange circumstances!

Yesterday I went to my older sons Eystein´s graduation from The Icelandic Filmschool. At long last he has got himself an education! He dropped out of school as a teenager and for some years I was really worried what would become of him, as he is a very gifted guy in many ways. Well, it just took him a long time to realize what he wants in life. Films and books and gathering knowledge of all kinds have been his main interests since childhood. So it was a good idea to make a start for a career in filming. His aim is to be able to work mainly in documentary films and scriptwriting in the future.

I found the quality of the shortfilms shown at this graduation very varied - some were good (and not too long!) But I must admit that I was getting really bored watching some guy eating baked beans from a can for 5 minutes (or was it 10?)...in fact he ended up eating his canary-bird as well, poor thing...!

I was pleased with the film in the individualist film group by my son and his companion. It was only 10 minutes, but actionpacked with something happening every minute. Actually I found it surprizing how they got their story over in such a short time without it becoming too hectic. "Completely unknown" a story about a young couple in lack of money getting a very strange offer of it and their reactions to that offer. A remake of an old Twilight-zone episode.

It didn´t take the first prize offered, though. It went to a film called "20 minutes to the end of the world". Maybe I´m judgemental in favour of my son, guess so...but the fact is I found it boring and very sombre, but I admit that the filming was good, in rotating-wide angel-one shot-one location-take, uncut, black and white, minimalistic lighting, very artistic filming.(I don´t know if this kind of filming is maybe the most fashionable thing today?) But the acting was so-and-so ( two amateur actors, one of the producers himself and his girlfriend, I guess. Many of the other pupils had professional actors come in and take part in their films, something hat these actors are quite pleased to do) . The script was bad and it was far too long for a shortfilm, 24 minutes (to the end of the world?). AND it had the most violent scenes of all the films, with a husband strangling his wife, pregnant with their first child, at her request, so that she would not have to experience the END! MOOAH!
But I guess it was the filming that counted, not the content; the artistic value of the filming, not the enterainting value of the content nor the fluency of the dialouge.

* Zachary Parker *

The showing of the shortfilm (yeah, 8 minutes!) "Pískó" (Psycho) by Eysteinn and 4 others, that I have told about in a previous blog (29/4) went very well. I MYSELF was seen in ONE scene, entering the cinema after a too- young boy trying to sneek in had been told to go away; AND I had my name on the screen at the top of the list of assisting actors, (or whatever you call it in English, it´s STATIST in the Scandinavian languages). So now I´m famous in films, hehe!

"Art without Borders"

*See me twinkle*

Last Wednesday Óskar and I went with my sister to The Reykjavík City Theatre to see a show staged by a group of mentally disabled people. It was the closing part of a great Arts Festival arranged in the cooporation of disabled and able artists in Reykjavík, May 5th-13th, named
Art without Borders.

My sisters son, who has got Asperger Syndrome, is a member of a singing group consisting of six young people that call themselves "Blikandi stjörnur", in English "The Twinkling Stars". And twinkle as stars they did, in numbers from "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Grease", assisted by professional actors from The Reykjavík City Theatre and a group of kids from one of the secondary schools invited to participate in the show.

They also had a play about a prince and princess, based on mimicry with the voice of a narrator from tape, which worked really well. The leading role of the prince was in the hands of a young man with Down´s Syndrome, who gave a very lively and amusing interpretation of is part!

The show opened with a band of four people playing some popular music, starting with an Irish song. It was rendered very convincingly by an overseized guy, who in fact looked quite Irish and was not in the least inhibited by the dimensions of his corpus, but really let loose and gave his heart out to the audience, which got the show going from the first moment.

The Twinkling Stars are well known in Iceland and are quite often asked to perform at various events in Reykjavík and other places as well. They have been on tours abroad, participating in concerts in Copenhagen, Denmark and in the Ruhr-District, Germany.

And some more about the musical triumphs of the Twinkling Stars:

From Reykjavík´s official website 3.10.2003:
"Blikandi stjörnur" win in Brussels

An Icelandic-German project was rewarded as the best in their category. The directorate of the European Council announced yesterday in Brussels which projects would be rewarded as the best that had been produced by the project "Youth for Europe" in the last 3 years. The choice was between 40.000 projects, therefore the result of the German-Icelandic cooporation is outstanding.

The project is called "Music in my Life, Music is my Life" and was done in Germany in 2001 and in Iceland in 2002, by the groups "Blikandi stjörnur" and "The Rockers". The two groups made a CD, produced a music-video and performed at concerts. They also visited protected workplaces for the handicapped and discussed the rights of disabled people in Iceland and Germany.

The CD:

Rockers & Blikandi Stjörnur:
- It´s normal to be different -

Title list:

* ROCKERS & BLIKANDI STJÖRNUR
* Iceland Blues
* German Reggea
* Blikandi Stjörnur/Twinkling Stars
* Punk more never this
* Lifi Ijósið/Let the Light live

* BLIKANDI STJÖRNUR
* Yesterday
* Sandy
* Lifum allt að nýju/Let´s live it all again
* Jesús guð/Jesus God
* Maístjarnan/May Star
* Sumarást/Summer Love

* ROCKERS
* Hallelujah baby
* Rockin´ in the summer
* La Rocka
* We are the Rockers
* Radio Rockers
* Hot for Love
* - Hymne

Album by The Rockers:
- Hallelujah baby -

Title list:
* Hallelujah baby
* Rocken in the summer
* la rocka
* we are rockers
* radio rockers
* hot for love
* muezzin one
* you are thereby
* motorway hero
* - hymne

* gonna some rockin ' - session

Some interesting links to this subject:

European Commision Youth Programme
"Die Rockers" [Translate this page]
Ruhr-Guide -Rockers - [ Translate this page ]
Tonhaus Records - Label - [ Translate this page ]
Waltrop Official Press Site/Stadt Waltrop | Presseinformationen | Translate this page

Got this quiz from the "Irish Child" (very nice blog)

...the colour doesn´t look good on my blog, though...:( Maybe I´ll put a different one here that matches, you´re given 5 options you see...hehe...
...goes well with the SOS-Kinderdorf -logo, though...I´ll keep it!

Your #1 Match: ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller! You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.

What's Your Personality Type?

Cleaning...

"Spring Cleaning"

Wonder of wonders, miracle...

Today I´m cleaning; but just a little; not like in the painting; just the essentials; not my favourite occupation; but spendid when finished; did some washing yesterday; proud of myself!

Blogging is much more fun !

Today´s famous birthday babies!

Fred Astaire

"The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without ever seeing any."

• Fred Astaire
  (05/10/1899 – 06/22/1987)
  US dancer/actor/singer




Homer Simpson


"All life's answers are on TV."

• Homer Simpson
  (05/10/1955 – )
  US cartoon character
  
  
  
  
  Sid Vicious
  
  "John's just jealous because I'm the brains of the group. I've written all the songs, even from the beginning when I wasn't in the group."

• Sid Vicious
  (05/10/1957 – 02/02/1979)
  English punk (Sex Pistols)

Óskar Þór Óskarsson

And of course: My dear Óskar!

"Hindisvík: þokumóða,
Strandir: ládautt;
segir veðurspákonan og
dillar rassinum framan
í eftirvæntingarfulla þjóðina,
áður en hún tekur upp beyglað
trompetið og blæs"
Ó.Þ.Ó.

Which translates very loosely:

"Doe´s Bay: Fog;
The Beaches: Calm Sea;"
Says the Weatherlady
and shakes her Ass
in the Face of the Nation
waiting in Anticipation
before She picks-up the banged-up Trumpet
and blows.
(G.Ú.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !

Busy weekend !

This was a very busy weekend for me. I was helping Óskar serve the breakfast at Hótel Frón Saturday and Sunday mornings. It was quite busy, but also fun, beacause we were starting off in the just enlarged kitchen, I was there six hours on friday cleaning and organizing things.

Óskar og Lárus

Then we also had a little visitor staying with us over the weekend. It was Óskar´s little son Lárus Óskarsson (Lalli), who lives in the little village Neskaupstaður,in one of the fjords on the eastcoast, the "Fjarðabyggð".

Svampur Sveinsson

Yesterday we really enjoyed ourselves. Little Lalli came with me to the hotel and was really good at helping us with the work,clearing and washing tables and drying the cutlery. In the afternoon we went to the movies and saw "Spongebob Squarepants" or "Svampur Sveinsson". It was fun! HA, HA , HA ! I enjoyed myself much more than I had expected, the animation graphics and the music in that film are great.

Afterwards we went and had a swim in one of Reykjavík´s many swimmingpools. We chose the biggest one, called Laugardalslaug, because it has the largest glide (86 m) in the country, something that Lalli thoroughly liked and utilized!

Laugardalslaug

Usually, when we are only the two of us, we go to another one that has seawater mixed with the geothermal water, which we like very much, as you don´t need to put as much chlorine into it and it also contains a lot of healthy minerals that you absorb through your skin and makes it really soft and nice, as well as making you feel great.

In Iceland we have very good swimmingpools all over the county, with warm hot tubs and steambaths,they are so easy for us to make because of all this geothermal water we have. And very conveniently too we also utilize it to heat our houses and grow vegetables and flowers commercially in big greenhouses.
You might also find this link interesting:

Strokkur

A better picture of Óskar and me with a small friend between us!

Óskar is off working in his nightjob at Hótel Frón and I´ve been staying up practising my photo-editing skills with Picasa, but now I´m off to bed, nighty-night! Especially because maybe I´ll have to go down there in the morning and help him fix the breakfast for the guests if the place is really busy.

This is Kjarval,too. A great variation in style.