Most definitely not. Bjork (with the umlaut over the O) is pronounced so that it rhymes with “work” and the last syllable of “berserk.” [sub]My mom, the native Icelandic speaker, is my confirmation on this pronunciation issue.[/sub]
Phase42, she’s Icelandic. Some of us just look a bit different from the “typical” blonde/blue eyed/slightly Swedish/Danish/Norwegian looking people that most are used to looking at. See how her eyes are shaped? That runs in my mom’s family as well, and is a fairly common Icelandic trait. I have it too, and (facially) I look almost identical to my mother’s photos from when she was my age. Add a tan to the mix, and people get confused when some Icelanders have dark hair and eyes.
My husband is a huge, huge Bjork fan. If I had to guess I’d say he has about 30 CDs or so, maybe more. (Though they’re all put away as he ripped them to his PC.)
I like some of her stuff, but I’m not as big a fan as he is. I did like The Sugarcubes though. As a surprise to him I asked the DJ at our wedding to play Gling Glo at one point since it’s one of his favorite songs.
My wedding present to him was a pair of tickets to see her in SF in August of 2003 with a couple of friends, and some boxed compilation set. She put on a pretty decent show, although I thought it was a bit short. He absolutely loved it.
I think your mom probably has the most authority as she is a native Icelandic speaker, so Bjork like work or berserk seems to be the right pronuncation.
I’m a casual Bjork fan. I own the CDs, listen occasionally, but she hasn’t made a mark. I do love a couple songs of hers - I Miss You and There’s More to Life than This.
Pronounces what? If you meant ø, I have no clue. I am not familiar with it because it doesn’t exist in the Icelandic alphabet. However, I think it might be an equivalent pronunciation marker in Swedish/Norwegian; I also think I’m probably wrong on this.
Equipoise, it happens. I’m good with pronouncing some things, and I had the luck of the draw with Icelandic; had I not been surrounded by Icelanders as a kid, I probably wouldn’t get the subtle nuances of the language. Now, two people who are/will be married into the family have two takes on the language: one says everything sounds like “snarf snarf” and the other thinks we’re mumbling on purpose. It’s not an easy language to pick up because of this.
I was rocking out to a live version of Big Time Sensuality in the car this morning. It’s definitely a lot more “poppy” than Homogenic.
Yep, more or less. No, wait. “nash” and “tash” should rhyme with “gosh,” not “mash.” When I originally made up the username eons ago (it was a nickname), I discovered I couldn’t use just one “i” because otherwise it made a word in the middle of the name that didn’t pass AIM’s “don’t get a dirty username” censor.
Hmm…I don’t really see it.
Generally I love Bjork. I have her first 3 full albums and have heard some of her more experimental stuff, and liked both that and the poppy stuff. There are a number of songs that just don’t appeal melodically to me, but there are more than enough I do like to make up for it. Also, though it has no real bearing on how I like her as an artist, I think she’s beautiful, more so than most of Hollywood. She and Matthew Barney, if they’re still together, are like the ultimate kooky power couple.
I bought a copy of Dancer in the Dark but have delayed watching it because everyone always says it’s the most sad, painful thing to watch ever and it will totally haunt my dreams (and usually, I don’t really feel like being more depressed). Is it really that bad?? I don’t get it, isn’t it a musical? (Examples of other musicals that achieve real heartrending sadness would be great).
“Heartrending” is the wrong word. It’s terrifically sad, yes, but more gutwrenching than heartrending. It’s really a nasty, unpleasant experience, and even though Björk is great in it, I wouldn’t recommend it.
There is the odd song in the film, but I can hardly recommend unless you have seen *Requiem for a Dream * and Breaking the Waves. If they were fine, then fill your boots, otherwise maybe not.
I thought it was a great film but almost torture to watch. I thought the musical sequences were genius-- these brief jolly bits that made the rest that much more excruciating. I’m quite vehemently against (plot spoiler) the death penalty and JESUS H., the last couple of songs dug a great big sucking hole in the middle of my torso and I bawled like a calf with rage at the end, at the world and at Lars von Trier for directing such a musical/comic relief-exacerbated emotional smash-a-thon. It was like an experiment in depressingness. Requiem, for example, is depressing all the way through so you sort of roll with the tone, lulled into accepting the unavoidable pain, but this was a little more twisted than that.
It’s a great, great movie–currently residing in my lifetime top ten favorites of all time–but one of the things that makes it brilliant is how skillfully (and brutally) the director sets out to torture the audience. It’s kind of an anti-Spielberg movie: he uses all the Spielbergian tools of emotional manipulation, but he uses them to brutalize the audience, rather than to make them feel warm and fuzzy.
I loved seeing the movie, but any time someone mentions it, I get caught up in the “counting” portion and it becomes all too much mentally. I’ve got a knot in my stomach just thinking about it. It is beautifully tragic, though.
If you meant ø, I have no clue. I am not familiar with it because it doesn’t exist in the Icelandic alphabet. However, I think it might be an equivalent pronunciation marker in Swedish/Norwegian; I also think I’m probably wrong on this.