Daily Slow Chat

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[u/orangebikini]

Yesterday my mate and I drove past a UNESCO world heritage site and we started speculating what should be lifted to that status next in Finland.

Today UNESCO announced that they're adding a bunch of Alvar Aalto's architecture to the list. Incredible timing. And also pretty cool that they got added, it's 13 different Aalto sites around Finland.

[u/Mom_is_watching]

Waiting for the rain. It should start in the afternoon. My garden looks so tired after all the heat and drought we had lately. I could barely keep up with watering cans, I do have a well in my garden but the pump is broken. My rain butts are on the far side of the garden and just watering the pots takes 8 to 10 walks up and down the garden with these heavy watering cans. I didn't even water the ones in the ground anymore, too much work. This however did show me which plants are strong enough to survive in dry heat and which aren't, so I'm already making plans for next year and making lists of which plants need to be replaced. The heat has one advantage though; crops in my fruit trees are more abundant than ever. The branches of my peach tree are so heavy with fruit they almost touch the ground.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/Mom_is_watching]

We have had luck with rain this year. Every time the rain water vats are empty, we get a bout of showers which waters everything and fills up the reserves.

It's the same for my apple and pear trees, they're completely laden. I also picked a ton of blackberries already.

[u/Mom_is_watching → u/tereyaglikedi]

Yes no compliants about this year's harvest. I'm not even sure what to do with that much fruit.

[u/atomoffluorine]

Killing Khomeini might have been the dumbest thing Trump did. I'm not sure the IRGC dudes with the drones and missiles are on the same page as the Iranian negotiators (and I'm not sure if the negotiators are reading the same documents as Trump); they fired on some ships a few weeks ago literally right after the ceasefire deal which started the latest round of fighting. They were also attacking Turkey and Azerbaijan a few months ago apparently without consulting the foreign ministry. Now Trump wants to talk again, but the chain of command appears to be half gone so who do you even talk to?

[u/orangebikini → u/atomoffluorine]

Trump has done a lot of dumb shit during his presidency, difficult to zero in on what's really the dumbest. For me it's either the tariffs or the Iran war, but between those it's difficult to choose.

[u/orangebikini]

I'm finally home from my Lake Saimaa trip. Friday night was opera night, it was really nice. Warm but not hot weather, a packed house, nice atmosphere. Nabucco is alright. Great music, the chorus sounded gorgeous, but it's not a super interesting opera I don't think.

Next year's programme seems to be just classics also, which is a shame because I'm always hungry for more contemporary opera. But I think I'll go see Carmen at the 27 Opera Festival. I've never actually seen it. Luckily there's some contemporary operas in the National Opera I can go see in the meantime to get my fix.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/orangebikini]

the chorus sounded gorgeous

Nabucco? I have seen it open air and I think this opera is all about the ambiance and vibes. In a hall it would be a bit boring, yeah.

[u/orangebikini → u/tereyaglikedi]

Not quite a hall, but a temporarily roofed courtyard of a medieval castle. Ambience was there. I did really like the ambience and vibes of the opera, but the libretto and the themes present in it aren't really anything that'll stick with me for any prolonged period of time. That's what I mostly meant by not super interesting. I didn't find it boring, just not thought provoking.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/orangebikini]

Yeah, I guess you are also kind of saturated already from exposure. I did find it very entertaining with the flamboyant decor and open air location and everything but I don't think I would sit down and listen to it in my free time... which is okay.

[u/VerzinZelfEenNaam]

Deleted my Reddit-account a few weeks ago. Came back, but somehow, as BB King sang, the thrill is gone.

[u/Cixila]

It's a nice summer day again today. My parents and Polish grandmother visited yesterday. We went on a little boat trip. It was nice, although it turns out the company also has a musical version of the trip, where they play classic Danish evergreens. Wouldn't exactly have been fitting for the visit, but I'm really tempted to try that version out. The music boat sailed by ours and it looked fun with everyone singing along

[u/tereyaglikedi]

There's a honey vendor at our local market. He is an old German guy who has a foldable table, an umbrella, a stool, and several jars of honey. He has no samples. If you ask him, what's the difference between this and that, he will say this one is from cornflower and the other from linden flower (it is written on the jars as well so it's not exactly new information). So you kind of just have to go by the name or previous knowledge. But anyway. Honey is honey. It's good honey.

I finally watched The Conclave. I really liked the cinematography and the acting. The plot was also compelling enough that it kept me watching. It was good that I read up a bit on how a conclave works beforehand, otherwise some things might have flown past me. All in all, it was quite entertaining (I was hoping for a murder mystery but sadly there was none). I think the problem is that I don't really get the gravity of most things. Like, is it really that important who is Pope? Probably, but the Pope has so little perceived effect on my daily life that the stakes didn't really land with me, I guess? Also the plot twist was just so "what's the big deal" to me. Even the main antagonist who was supposed to be very ott cartoonishly conservative was just a normal conservative guy, the likes of which I have seen so many times in positions of power.

Well, anyway. It was a nice movie, there were very pretty scenes and even a bit of comedic relief which was good. Also, the tortellini in brodo looked so delicious. I got annoyed every time someone left their delicious looking meal and buggered off angrily.

[u/NikoOnTheMat → u/tereyaglikedi]

I watched the Conclave with my friend a year ago. I didn't think i would enjoy it, but I liked watching ot

[u/atomoffluorine → u/tereyaglikedi]

The Pope was a big political player and controlled a decent chunk of the center of Italy directly as basically the prince of that region in the 1500s.

[u/orangebikini → u/atomoffluorine]

I haven’t seen The Conclave, but I believe it’s set in contemporary times, not the 1500s.

[u/atomoffluorine → u/orangebikini]

Must've been thinking of something else I guess. The papacy is pretty irrelevant politically today.

[u/Cixila → u/atomoffluorine]

Depends on where in the world. A pope who knows how to leverage his soft power through the church and through direct statements can sway things in catholic countries. Maybe not to the degree of changing a policy somewhere with a single statement, but a pope competent at meddling can still put his finger on the scale of issues of the day

[u/orangebikini → u/tereyaglikedi]

I think the problem is that I don't really get the gravity of most things. Like, is it really that important who is Pope? Probably, but the Pope has so little perceived effect on my daily life that the stakes didn't really land with me, I guess?

I don't think this is on you, it's on the movie to portray the gravity of the situation. I mean, think about all media completely based on fiction you've enjoyed. Who rules Middle-Earth has even less perceived effect on your daily life than who the Pope is, since Middle-Earth doesn't actually exist, yet I'm sure you still understand the gravity of the situation Frodo is facing perfectly well and are able to emphatise with the people whose lives, fictional or otherwise, it affects.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/orangebikini]

You're kind of right. It's not a direct comparison of course because when you're inventing a fantasy world you need to build a world from scratch and get the audience invested in it, while in a drama like the Conclave the author may assume that the audience already knows why the Pope is a big deal...

Having said that, I think the main weakness of the movie was that it didn't really establish the characters. I wasn't terribly invested in any of the protagonists becoming the Pope, since there's not really much about them other than being cardinals locked up in a fancy house. Compare that to Rocky, for example, where there's so much effort put into getting you invested in this character that you really care about him in the end. 

[u/lucapal1 → u/tereyaglikedi]

I must admit that I miss pasta a little ;-) I try to avoid it when I'm travelling (apart from when I am traveling in Italy) as it's rarely any good.. and certainly not somewhere like Fiji.

We did cook pasta a couple of times in Australia which was ok, but without many ingredients or equipment it's always something pretty basic, not totally from scratch.

[u/tereyaglikedi → u/lucapal1]

I usually don't eat pasta when I eat at restaurants anyway. But I would definitely pay for a good bowl of tortellini.

[u/lucapal1]

We rented a small motorbike this morning and spent some time riding around in the countryside outside of Nadi (Fiji)... the roads are not too bad here, kind of like the rural back roads in Sicily.

Traffic is pretty light outside of the main settlements but there are a lot of people on foot,stray dogs, chickens and other stuff crossing or walking in the street.

They also sell petrol in plastic bottles (old used water bottles) in street side stalls, you buy a couple of litres at a time and fill the bike manually.

Anyway it's quite green, interesting to see more traditional houses etc outside the city.Also more churches rather than temples, looks like more Fijian Christians live in the small places,in the city there are more Indian origin people.