Talk Like A Pirate Day

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Ayee, ’tis talk like pirate day, savvy?

Society in crisis

One often thinks about what are the effects of global or even national politics to everyday life. Is it possible to live without caring about these things? Sure. Today a city official who had been shot on the job by a man over some dispute he had with her died in the hospital. It sounds so crazy that people would say it is some isolated incident in an otherwise peaceful and calm life. But it is not so: there are fundamental issues lingering on, such as the “Pronksmees” statute issue, the divisive presidential election, overall tone of not caring about things.

I do not want to sound alarmist or overly pessimistic, but I feel that the Estonian society is slowly descending into chaos. How deep are we going and whether something positive also comes along depends on ourselves. The presidential elections are an important compass. Will the communists, demagogues and liars win this one as well? As the president has largely a ceremonial role, I personally really do not care who sits in Kadriorg or whether there is anyone there at all. However, it seems that the society needs someone like that and if that is going to be Mr Rüütel, things will become even worse.

I am so tired of the hypocracy, the lies, the idiocy that is the Estonian politics today. There are some great politicians in Estonia whom I admire, but they are drwoned out by those slimeball polticians from Savisaar & Co. I used to like government and politics, but now I do not know any longer. Now I am thinking more and more about new ways of governance, how to influence processes, but not be strictly a politician or government official.

Kari 25

Tänan kõiki heade soovide ja sünnipäevaõnnitluste eest.

Thank you everyone who called, SMSd, sent cards or wrote to my scrapbook for your kind greetings and wishes. Birthdays are silly things, but they do make one feel special. I love you all!

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I had this thought about today. In 2001, when I turned 20, many things changed in the world a day after my birthday. So now, it is five years from the last day of some kind of an era.

I want my MTV

I have discovered to my surprise that I can now see MTV Estonia instead of VIVAII on by terrible Telset Cable TV. Having watched a few hours of it, I have to say I am pretty surprised. I have heard good music mostly, and that is an achievement on its own. So yay! for MTV Eesti.

And I do not agree with those who say that somehow they have lost something, but I say it is fantastic that Estonia has its own MTV. Think globally, act locally!

P.S. If only someone from Apple also recognised the existence of an EU country called Estonia. They do not even ship photobooks or calendars here. Why?

"I’m into murders and executions"

i have just finished watching American Psycho, which was a really interesting film. Disturbingly brilliant. The acting was great as well, with Christian Bale (who played Patrick Bateman) surprising me with his performance. But what makes the film different is that it is based on a story by Bret Easton Ellis, who I am now starting to get into.

I normally do not read fiction, but I did read Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis, which impressed me as well. It was flawed, but still brilliant book. He references a lot of his earlier books there and is actually the main character as well. I read the book without having read the earlier books. I had seen one film made after a book of Mr Ellis before, which was called The Rules of Attraction.

UPDATE (03.09). It seems that Lunar Park has also been reviewed by others in Estonia. I should say something more about my own experience with the book. It was exciting, but scary at the same time. The first part of the book with the incessant drugtaking, drinking etc gives a really bleak look at Ellis’ life, whereas the latter part, where different realities are mixed so much that you cannot really understand what is real any more, is strangely more optimistic, as Ellis the character finally takes his destiny into his hands and fights the (unreal) demons.

In the end I liked the book not so much because of the story or the characters, but how it was written to create atmoshpere and emotional response in the reader. I strongly recommend to read it, even if you are not really a book reading person.

Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana (Live)

The best concerts of Michael Jackson were during the Bad tour. I have seen only bootleg copies of it as it has never been released. Why was the Bad tour special? It was live, it was raw, it was energetic. Rather than the mostly lipsynced, mechanical performances during the Dangerous and History tours, during Bad he was in the shape of his life, full of energy, spontaneity and life. One really needs to see it to understand the MJ phenomenon.

Luckily, Sony has now put online one performance from that era. Hopefully there the whole tour will be released on DVD as well. There are even online petitions to get it done.

Watch MJ performing Dirty Diana live

Is this the Estonia I wanted?

Yes, it is. Estonia is an open, modern society. The state services are generally in a good shape. Of course there are problems, areas of concern. Estonians are still quite poor compared to EU average, but it is a tremendous success that we can now compare ourselves to EU average rather than former USSR average. Estonia is a free country, some studies show that Estonia is at the top of the world liberty index.

Now is the time to keep on growing, innovating and improving.

Celebrating communist rehabilitation in Estonia

Today is the 20th of August, a day when in 1991 Estonian independence was restored by a vote at the then High Council of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. Estonian actual day of independence is 24th February 1918. I have no quarrel about celebrating the restoration of independence, but the way it is done now, it seems more about celebrating communists and advancing the agenda of a certain political party.

The former communists are coming back in force: 2 of the 3 parties in the current government are carrying on the old traditions of corruption, nepotism and general backwardness. The liberals seem to tame them only to a certain extent. The president is a senile former top communist, who is so obviously controlled by politicians. It seems that we are facing five years more of the same embarrassment. I would hate to think that these will be the people who dictate where Estonia is going. It is hurting us.

I do not understand why it has come to this and where have all the good people gone. Where are the forces of good? When will this crazyness end? I seriously consider becoming more involved politically, as it seems that politics might need people like me. I just cannot be a bystander any longer, I care too much about this country and the people who are living here.

Middle East debate (Part 2)

Here is another interesting perspective from an Arab American, interviewed on Al Jazeera.

Middle East debate

Here is Mr Galloway on Sky News, talking about the Lebanese invasion.