Pharyngula

Posted by: FahCubeUsh | May 25, 2007 1:11 AM

First!

Oh wait, this isn't Eschaton...

Posted by: Christian Burnham | May 25, 2007 1:44 AM

They could have sung it a bit better and in English.

And they weren't all that good looking.

Posted by: Niobe | May 25, 2007 2:13 AM

What would their looks have to with their ability to sing? (also welcome to the human race where people look normal?)

This was hilarious, albeit a bit to heavy on the Seinfeldian little annoyances.

Posted by: One Eyed Jack | May 25, 2007 2:43 AM

Yes, they are whiners, but so are we all.

I liked this. It just reminds me that it doesn't matter where you live on this rock, we all deal with the same silly things day to day.

We really are more alike than different, no matter where you are from.

OEJ

Posted by: csrster | May 25, 2007 2:51 AM

Maybe they'd have beaten the bloody Swedes again if they'd had the sense to pick this as their Eurovision song.

Still, it's nice to know there are vacancies for Java programmers.

Posted by: Hank Fox | May 25, 2007 4:04 AM

I thought sure they were going to end with

"... But at least we don't have George Bush!"

Posted by: Sampo Rassi | May 25, 2007 4:48 AM

For those of you who might be wondering, "Helsingin valituskuoro" translates as "The Helsinki Lamentation Choir", hence the subject matter.

And as a Finn, I would like to distance myself from these people. If I had my druthers, they'd be the first people deported to Siberia when the revolution came.

Posted by: bernarda | May 25, 2007 6:07 AM

"And they weren't all that good looking."

Of course that has nothing to do with singing, but did you notice one fat person, not to mention obscenely obese person, in the groups? That is also true of the Russian group. I thought they were lovely, even the most aged.

You would need a wide-angle lens to get a group of Americans that size into the scene. Of course Americans are often super-size.

Also notice, that the people are enjoying themselves!

http://www.complaintschoir.org/choirs.html

Posted by: Pekka | May 25, 2007 6:43 AM

On se niin väärin. (tr. It is not fair.)

Posted by: Firemancarl | May 25, 2007 8:20 AM

Now that was fracking funny!
Great when the conductor had to answer his cell phone.

Posted by: Pete | May 25, 2007 8:26 AM

I always thought that the Finnish language sounded wonderful. Plenty of round vowels, not too many of the harsh 's's that plague English. MMMmmmmm. . . sonorous.

Posted by: daenku32 | May 25, 2007 8:47 AM

Commies, humbert, commies. In fact, I think the Fins killed enough of them to make Gen Jack D Ripper proud.

Posted by: CCP | May 25, 2007 8:51 AM

I guess I'd complain (and/or lament) too if my compatriots were always whacking my naked back with birch branches, making me sweat in a sauna and then jump into a frozen lake, and people were still bitching about the actions of my grandparents' generation's government in a war 60 years ago.
Do they eat lutefisk there? I'd want to complain about that too.

Posted by: Russell | May 25, 2007 9:00 AM

They need to get up off their asses and go viking. The east coast of Florida seems particularly ripe and deserving of the plucking. ;-)

Posted by: Tom | May 25, 2007 9:08 AM

That was great. I want to hear more Finnish language music! Oh, and why was there such a long pause at the end with nothing. It was too long. (My complaint about the Complaint Choir video, heehee! (is it still ironic if it's intentional (I hate nested parentheses.)))

Posted by: Umilik | May 25, 2007 9:29 AM

Ah, Finland!

A great ally of Nazi Germany in the war!

Humbert, true enough, but in all fairness the Finns shared the Nazi ideology and were certainly never considered part of the axis powers. Finland had been dominated by the Russians for over a century and wanted to preserve its fledgling independence. This was more a case of the old "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" philosophy than a shared believe in some Nazi ideology. The Nazis of course had true allies such as the Italians and Japanese, but it's not nice to mention that in polite company anymore.

Posted by: CalGeorge | May 25, 2007 9:37 AM

Is there a complaint choir competition? If not, there should be. And we need an atheist complaint choir!

No one understands science,
The fundies are taking over,
You can't rid the world of God,
No matter how hard you try,
My argument for the non-existence of God is unconvincing,
Kent Hovind is in jail and he still won't shut up,
Chris Hitchens supported the Iraq war,
The Pope is playing dress up again,
And theistic evolution is everywhere.
The faith-heads are immune to argument,
The faith-heads are immune to argument,
The faith-heads are immune to argument!

Posted by: Leni | May 25, 2007 9:47 AM

DCP wrote:

... just like hating the Dutch football team (real football, not "American football", mind you.).

I'm going to suggest to the American complaint choir that they add a whine about the fact that every time "football" comes up in a conversation with Euros, we must be condescendingly reminded that it is "real football", not American football.

I always feel like saying "Really? Wow. I didn't know there was a difference. I thought European football was just the same as ours, except that the players kick a black and white ball around without ever managing to score points just like they do in soccer."

But I never do. Maybe next time I will :P

Posted by: AC | May 25, 2007 10:08 AM

Or perhaps Finnish love metal?

Posted by: DCP | May 25, 2007 10:28 AM

Leni wrote:

I always feel like saying "Really? Wow. I didn't know there was a difference. I thought European football was just the same as ours, except that the players kick a black and white ball around without ever managing to score points just like they do in soccer."

Don't you say. You are absolutely right, I just make the distinction between American football and football just because I think you Americans are too stupid to see the difference.

But seriously, a lot of Americans think of American football when they hear the term "football". They only think of football when you call it soccer (which is a faux-pas in England, btw.).

Oh and by the way, it's almost never about the points which are scored in football. It's either about getting drunk for no good reason, or about shedding some blood of Christia... uhm, Fans of the other team, or everything combined. ;)

Posted by: bernarda | May 25, 2007 10:59 AM

CalGeorge has a good idea. Why not have a scienceblogger evilutionist complaints choir? Better get on it before the Mormon Tabernacle Choir does.

Tom, here is the Finnish group CMX. I have no idea what the songs are about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJKbL-cAdrE&mode=related&search=

Here is a female singer, Minne katosi päivät. I don't know if that is the person or the group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4KEAv5hYqE&mode=related&search=

There are many more there, but I have no more idea what they are about.

Posted by: McGarnigle | May 25, 2007 11:23 AM

Finland had been dominated by the Russians for over a century and wanted to preserve its fledgling independence. This was more a case of the old "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" philosophy than a shared believe in some Nazi ideology.

In fact, the Allies were planning to come to the aid of Finland against the Soviets right at the start of WWII (they were at war). I'm not sure how that would have played out in the long run.

Posted by: mirror | May 25, 2007 11:41 AM

I've heard this a couple of times before but still love it. Thanks for playing it again

Posted by: Bob O'H | May 25, 2007 12:30 PM

In fact, the Allies were planning to come to the aid of Finland against the Soviets right at the start of WWII (they were at war).

Apparently the British Government was talking about that, as an excuse to invade Norway. They really didn't care about Finland. As an example of how a small country can stand up for itself, the Winter War is perfect. There's at least one book in English about it (unfortunately I can't find my copy).

As to the music, I've sung in a Finnish choir, and Finnish works very well for choral music, as it's quite rhythmic and the poetry emphasises alliteration (e.g. Vanha väkä Väinömöinen. Go on, try saying it!).

Alas the pop often doesn't work: a lot of it sounds like it has been stuck on a tune written for English words. There are exceptions (Hednigarna have/had a couple of Finnish singers, so some of their stuff is in Finnish, e.g. Karelia Visa, and parts of Trä).

Of course, the traditional Finnish music is the Tango.

Bob

Posted by: Richard, FCD | May 25, 2007 12:31 PM

mmm ... Finnish music ... not a lot to chose from. Sibleius of course if you like classical, and I remember Hanoi Rocks being their best rock effort when I was there in the early 80s.

I spent a wonderful summer in a very small northern town - lost in the woods 40km east of Oulu.

I was a freak 'cause I didn't have blond hair. The Finns are some of the greatest people on the planet, and I think world culture would be much richer if their form of dancing known as humppa was more widely known. I can only describe humppa as a combination of high-speed foxtrot/polka, interspersed with limping and bouncing.

Posted by: Greta Christina | May 25, 2007 12:40 PM

I was going to say this was the funniest thing I'd seen all day, but I saw the cat giving a tongue bath to the baby bunnies on Cute Overload the same day, so it's kind of a toss-up. Pretty darned great, though.

"I want to hear more Finnish language music!"

Check out Varttina. Unspeakably gorgeous harmonies, somehow both eerie and soaring. Start with "Seleniko." Hedningarna is also grand, also in the haunting, "chills down your spine beautiful" department.

And yes -- we need an atheist complaints chorus. Can I add to the above:

Sex ed policies are based on
What makes baby Jesus cry
And folks won't give up believing in heaven
'Cuz nobody wants to die

Posted by: windy | May 25, 2007 1:09 PM

Whoops, those last two links should be the other way around, but I guess you wouldn't know the difference anyway :)

The present state of Finnish music, here's PMMP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5euHRwKZADQ

Posted by: Guido | May 25, 2007 1:53 PM

http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide_rates/en/index.html

It is not true that the Finns have the highest suicide rate in Europe.
There are several countries in Europe that have higher rates.

Posted by: Richard, FCD | May 25, 2007 2:30 PM

Before a football taxonomy war breaks out between DCP and Leni in a thread about a Finnish choir ... I'll explain the true situation ;)

In most of the English-speaking world Association Football is known as simply football. Those countries, i.e. USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland that have other forms of football (American Football, Australian Rules, rugby or Gaelic) refer to their variant as 'football' and Association Football is commonly know as soccer.

So you might argue that it is only in countries that are impoverished in terms of the number of football variants they have that Association Football carries the name football.

Posted by: axolotl | May 25, 2007 3:18 PM

If they think things are bad in Finland, they should spend some time in Jesusland ... er ... the US of A!!

Posted by: Kseniya | May 25, 2007 3:42 PM

Isn't Nightwish from Finland?

They're fun. In their way. :-)

Posted by: Ken Mareld | May 25, 2007 4:17 PM

That was fun. As to slamming Finland for being allied with Hitler. Churchill said he would make an alliance with the Devil to defeat Hitler. Finland (while staying democratic) made an alliance with Hitler to survive Stalin. Savory democracies will do unsavory things to survive. History shows that there are three countries you don't want to invade. Thailand, which was never successfully colonized. Afghanistan, which as invader is fairly easy to travel through, but will eat your empire if you stay (usually through the invaders' own hubris. - A lesson we Americans should look at). And Finland. Once the idea of a Soumi nation took hold in the 19th century they are a nation not worth occupying. The meat grinder Winter Wars between Finland and the Soviet Union show that.

Note: There is a strong intersection between Hegelian dialectic and natural selection. Hegel said that Thesis + antithesis becomes Synthesis. Bear with me here. A historical economic system when in conflict with what can destroy that system results in a new paradigm, or new system which incorporates both the old and the new. A group of organisms, through natural selection, will respond to a change in their environment, by over time become a different kind of group of organisms That is they have retained most of their older characteristics but survive and/or thrive because those changes allow them to do so.
I look at the success of the Scandinavian countries in achieving the highest Human Development Indices scores that most international institutions attempt to measure. They have generally succeeded in melding Capitalism and Socialism into 'Social Democracy'. If you were old, ill, and required medication to maintain an independent lifestyle where would you want to live?

Posted by: Tina | May 25, 2007 9:18 PM

I quite liked the choir. Although I can't say I've ever had any sauna-related problems.

And PLEASE stop purporting the myth that Scandinavian countries have the highest suicide rates.

Posted by: Grumpy | May 25, 2007 9:24 PM

What's amazing is that I could tell it was a Finnish choir just by looking at their faces. They look so... Finnish. Except for some who were obviously Swedish Finns.

Baratos: "The Winter War was awesome. The Soviets had about 150 tanks for every one the Finns did, but they still lost terribly."

Strictly speaking, the Soviets won the Winter War. The point, though, is that they won terribly.

The book mentioned above is The Winter War by Engle & Paananen. I have it next to my bed. There's also a movie, a sort of "All Quiet on the Karelian Front."

Posted by: Bob O'H | May 26, 2007 1:45 AM

Isn't Nightwish from Finland?

Strictly speaking, the Soviets won the Winter War.

Now the Continuation War, that's another story. Germans are still checked for matches at the borders in Lapland.

Bob

Posted by: bernarda | May 26, 2007 3:20 AM

One of the loveliest Finnish songs I have found is this one by Petri Pettersson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPyCo66I5cw

For those who are uninitiated, the paintings shown are by one of the great painters, not only Finnish, Hugo Simberg.

The most famous Finnish painter is Gallen-Kallela.

http://www.gallen-kallela.fi/english.html

http://www.niksula.hut.fi/~xyu/kale-gb/gapic.html

Posted by: John C. Randolph | May 26, 2007 6:41 AM

"the enemy of my enemy is my friend"

Of course, that's why the USA helped Stalin out. It was a lousy choice to have to make, but I still believe it was the right one at the time.

-jcr

Posted by: Thony C. | May 26, 2007 8:13 AM

"Dutch sounds like a pig speaking German"

And Dutch* is the language closest to English...

*(that is, language spoken by significant numbers, IIRC Frisian is actually slightly closer.)

English, Dutch, Frisian and Plattdeutsch are all closely related Low German dialects. I would say it is impossible to say which is closest to which.

Posted by: Leni | May 26, 2007 12:36 PM

Woops. That's Richard, FCD I think.

....

Someone (I don't know who) wrote:

Dutch sounds like a pig speaking German.

LOl That is terrible. (But I don't think it's true. I can speak a little German and so can tell the difference between the two and it does not sound that bad.)

Posted by: Guido | May 26, 2007 2:32 PM

Sampo Rassi said: "Yipes, I never knew Finland was this popular..."

Unfortunately it isn't. Neither Norway, Sweden or Denmark. Here in Venezuela it's difficult to find someone who even has heard about the wonderful life standard (Measured as HDI) of those countries, but they will know about the lack of insurance in the US and the difficulty of getting a college degree if you are not rich neither have a scholarship. I repeatedly was outraged at this, because a lot of people thinks that the US is a model to follow, despite Chavez' rhetoric, and they never even name more egalitarian, yet wealthy, successful and free countries, this is common in many well-educated wealthy people that opposes Chávez, (but not all of us who oppose Chávez believe that bullshit). Since I am an often-starving, working class guy who have had his chance to get a good education in science thanks to public universities, I feel disgust, anger and many ugly things when I hear that crap and when I see that no one gives a damn about how the hell did the Scandinavians to get those societies, instead they look to Cuba, North Korea (I am not kidding) or the US in the other hand. But a friend of mine came with the answer to the riddle: Scandinavia has no Hollywood.

PD:

I am a fan of humppa now.
PDPD:

I wish we had more girls like the ones from Värtinä in TV here and everywhere else. Human morphologic diversity is huge and we still see the same "perfect" bodies on TV again and again.

Posted by: Tilsim | May 26, 2007 3:27 PM

I love the comparison of Dutch with German as spoken by pigs! The description of Dutch as a throat disease is an old one... many Dutch(wo)men will say so themselves.
The oinky sound is only one of many tricks used to keep foreigners from learning Dutch, and keep it a secret language.

But the (lack of) beauty of languages is hard to quantify. Are French, Italian and Hawaiian really prettier than Arabic, Russian and Chinese?

Posted by: JeffL | May 27, 2007 6:52 PM

wow...is that what one could call 'culturally challenged'?
Make sure you don't hurt yourself reaching for your tv remote and cheetos at the same time.

Posted by: matterovermind | May 26, 2007 02:42 PM

That's what I call 'irony-impaired'. Christian was complaining about the complaint choir.

LORDI RULZ,DOOD!!

Posted by: jomega | May 25, 2007 10:48 PM

I saw the first part of that video and realized where the idea for Dëthkløk came from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathklok

Posted by: Keith Douglas | May 28, 2007 2:32 PM

Complaints about cellular phones? So stereotypically Finnish.

And now, I just need to find some Hungarian music by chance, and I will complete that language family in song. (A dear friend of mine was in a choir which performed an Estonian piece once.)

Graculus: Yes, Frisian is closer, but there aren't too many speakers of that.

Posted by: Christian Burnham | May 31, 2007 9:34 AM

Thanks JeffL.

I apologize to everyone who didn't get my joke in post #3. That one seemed to go down like a lead balloon.