do you hear different languages in your dreams?
what’s your favorite thing to eat?
do you have any superstitions?
(and i’m glad to hear you don’t really like the ickiness that is licorice!)
HEY!
hee… sorry!
it makes me gag
offers other non-licorice candies to zenster
Hehehe, guess what her old job was? 
(BTW, Thanks Veb!)
Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps they have a lot of talented musicians, directors etc that don’t get heard of in foreign countries due to their work being in Swedish?
OK, they like the US stuff, but a very large amount of Swedish music is in Swedish. There are also a large amount of Swedish films in the Swedish cinema atm. These films have precious little chance of release outside of Sweden. Ever since the release of “Fucking Åmål”, Swedish cinema has been going through a form of renaissance, yet the only films released outside Sweden seemed to be “Fucking Åmål” and the director’s next film “Tillsammans”. The US is increidbly resistant to films not being in English.
To sum up Swedish music with “Ace of Base” is like summing up US music as “Britney Spears”.
I just don’t seem to understand - you are surprised because Sweden was behind on “Batman”? “Batman” is from the US!!! Swedes have their own things that they find interesting. You cannot judge a country’s culture on how much they import from the US!
I’m afraid to me you have taken to heart one part of US culture - isolationism.
(PS. I am still trying to work out how you came to the figure of 75% of money goign to the government. Income tax is inthe 30s, sales tax goes from 10-25%. AM I missing somethign somewhere …?)
I’m sorry if I soudn harsh, but I thought your post was really quite insulting - and I am not even Swedish.
*do you hear different languages in your dreams? *
Yes. But I don’t always understand them all.
*what’s your favorite thing to eat? *
Cheesburgers, huh-huh!
*do you have any superstitions? *
No, they’re too hard to keep track of.
=========================
Amanset, you’re right. What I meant was they’re very behind in American pop culture. They don’t get “imports” very quickly. Sorry if I offended you, it wasn’t really my intent.
As for income tax, yes, when we lived there, it was roughly 60%-65% of our income. The 75% was a bit of an exageration I guess. But it’s still very high in comparison to taxes in the U.S.
[QUOTEThe one thing I found interesting, however, is that in terms of music and popular culture, Sweden is literally years behind the U.S.**[/QUOTE]
Ursäkta? Du måste skämta… What are you referring to? I hate Ace of Base as much as the next guy and the opening of the Batman movie over here was two weeks after the opening in the states - hardly years… Or is it the state-of-the-art country crap that we ain’t getting? Sheesh, I just have to see the hairdos you Americans wear to laugh my ass off at your comment… I have a lot of good friends over there, but quite frankly many of them look like their fashion clock stopped somewhere around 1988, and I’m not too sure they’d been in the “kewl” crowd even then… You know, pilot glasses came BACK in fashion, they ain’t BEEN fashion all the time!
Yup, we sure ain’t got Jack Schitt to put up against a mullet and a Vince Gill album. Or a tractor pull. Or the morons at a Jenny f-ing Jones show. Or a two lbs cell phone.
Med vänlig hälsning,
– Mats B. Johansson
When you’re asked to identify yourself by race, do you say “African American”? (I’m assuming you’re now an American citizen, but maybe you aren’t). Do you say, “white, non-hispanic”? I’m just wondering. A friend of mine is a naturalized American, former Egyptian, who uses “African American” when he’s feeling playful (or maybe piqued).
I’m still a Swedish citizen. I use White-non hispanic for my apps. According to the department of census, it wouldn’t be accurate for me to put African American.
bedris:
Sequoia “counts”, since it is a beautiful California National Park. But it is different than Yosemite. You must see Yosemite! When you get there, you will know what I mean. People travel from all over the globe to visit it! Seeing as you live so near it anyway, it is a shame not to avail yourself of its beauty!
Go on a weekday, though. This time of year is probably a good time - not too crowded. Check the weather forecast before you go. (Fall in Yosemite is gorgeous, but don’t go if there’s going to be rain or snow, etc.)
Thanks for the heads up. I’ll see what I can do!