Non-Finnish speaker in Finnish Idols semi-finals
Help me out here cause I’m not a Idols watcher - The guy to the right is Ruslanas Kirilkinas, born in Lithuanian, now living in Finland, he has just made it to the semi-finals of Finnish Idols. But here’s the catch, he doesn’t speak Finnish, his interviews are done in English. There’s been controversy as to whether he should be allowed to continue or not. (am I correct so far?)
So far, so good. I guess if they wanted to disqualify him, they should have done it at the beginning. I remember a couple years ago there was a contestant auditioning for the show in Tampere, I believe he was from the UK, they thanked him but told him he needed to speak Finnish. So I guess the rules have changed? Interesting predicament they’re in - Is Finnish Idols about the language, or citizenship, or residency, or? What would happen if a Swedish-speaking Finn who didn’t speak Finnish tried out for the show?
Oh, and if I’m reading this correctly, he’s been in [gay] Lithuanian pornos (click here to see)? Awesome. I think I’ll start watching the show and cheer for Ruslanas! Go Ruslanas Go!! Who’s with me? 
Lithuanian _gay_ porn, that is…
Comment by Karlos — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 1:19 pm
What difference does it make if it was straight or gay porn?
Comment by Ã…boy — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 1:26 pm
I can’t cheer for Ruslanas because every time Idols is on I like to take a pencil and shove it in my eye.
Comment by a — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 1:32 pm
Don’t you know, Ã…boy?
Comment by kervÃ¥ — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 1:32 pm
Well, I do have an inkling.
But I just can’t see why doing gay porn should be something so special that it has to be explicitly underlined. The way I see it, porn is porn is porn.
Comment by Ã…boy — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
Afterall, there’s gay porn in just about every straight porn movie. You know, the token “lesbians” ladies that just can’t get enough of eachother. Until a Man arrives on the scene, of course.
Comment by Ã…boy — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 1:55 pm
Remember: It’s not gay, if you’re on top.
Comment by Phil — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
You don’t have to speak finnish to be accepted anywhere in finland, if you are from Lithuania/Estonia/Latvia.
Comment by Belino — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
Hey Ã…boy, it all feels the same when the lights are off, right?
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
Unfortunately I actually think that a Swedish-speaking Finn who did not know Finnish would actually get less far in this competition than this guy. Good luck to him I think, if he lives in Finland and can sing I don’t see why not he should be allowed in.
By the way, for those that speak Finnish, I have a very good book to recommend written by a Finnish speaker who moved to Dalsbruk (in the southwest nearish to Ekenäs). I got it for Christmas from a Finnish speaking relative. He talks about the positive elements of the Finland-Swedish culture in a way that we ourselves would have to be extremely brave to write about in Finnish. It’s really very good although maybe it would be better if a little longer. The book is Muukalainen Muumilaaksossa. The author is called Juha Ruusuvuori.
Comment by JG — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
#9 …..makes me wonder how many tranny hookers I’ve ‘been with’ over the years, unknowingly that is :-/
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
I find the western double standards a bit amusing in that gay sex between males is frowned upon and set aside from gay sex between females. It’s all from a heterosexual males perspective of course.
But there’s some equality. I’ve heard more than one woman actually saying that she finds gay action between males.. stimulating.
Not to mention that girls in Japan like to read comic books about love affairs between two guys (romantic stuff, not so much hardcore). ShÃ…Ânen-ai and yaoi are the favorite past time of many japanese schoolgirls and housewives. 
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dnen-ai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi
Comment by Ã…boy — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
“I find the western double standards a bit amusing in that gay sex between males is frowned upon and set aside from gay sex between females. It’s all from a heterosexual males perspective of course.”
What’s so amusing about it? If you get a boner, then it’s ok. If not, then frown and walk away. Apparently, most guys get boners when watching two girls, but not when watching two guys; hence, the underlying reason for what *you* call a double standard. It’s really that simple, IMO.
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 3:10 pm
What I mean with a double standard is that gay men are ridiculed and ostracized much more than gay women. In a society that has traditionally been ruled by heterosexual men, all that points to mens homosexuality has been condemned while female homosexuality has been enjoyed, some might say even celebrated. This has permeated all aspects of our culture.
Now that the western societies have slowly began to gain true equality some women have actually started to “dare” to express that they really don’t find gay men as hideous or as disgusting as the hetero-male-dominated society has dictated before. Thus the double standard has slowly began to come under scrutiny and questioning.
Comment by Ã…boy — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
Here’s some double standards…
Two dudes with their cocks rubbing up against each other = Gay
Two dudes with their cocks rubbing up against each other, but it’s happening inside a female = Great porn
Here’s another…
100 dudes standing around all masturbating = Gay
100 dudes standing around all masturbating + 1 girl = Great porn
Comment by Phil — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 3:39 pm
the underlying reason for what *you* call a double standard
Not my invention, really. If you’re not familiar with the concept of “double standard” you can check out the definition here:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/double+standard
Comment by Ã…boy — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
Good point Phil. As a formerly-aspiring porn actor, I can recount one discouraging (or encouraging, depending on how you see it) personal experience. A long time ago, some friends and I decided to invite some ladies over for a birthday party. For a price of course.
It was a tag-team event. No contact between the guys, except for the occasional tap-on the-shoulder to say, “It’s your turn.”
Amazingly enough, none of us could get anything working right when in the presence of each other. To understand how this could be, just remember the times you’ve had sex with an attractive woman and alternated between focusing on her and thinking about the smelly drunk guy you saw on the bus. You can go forever that way, right?.
But, actually having other guys there in the room, was an even more potent form of anti-boner that none of us were able to overcome.
Well, at an early age, this experience cast doubt on my aspirations to succeed in the porn industry. I mean, apparently if I can’t pass such a simple test, then my dick rubbing against someone else’s, won’t even come close to being possible
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
Check the internet for fanfiction. You will find that the vast majority of “slash fiction”, ie. guy on guy action, is written by teenage girls. According to them, Spock and Kirk have been at it like Energizer bunnies on speed for years, just to name a famous example. And we all know what went on in the backseat of the Ford Gran Torino when the camera was off.
Comment by Anzi — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
As for Idols, one of last years’ finalists who has since released a successful album, Agnes Pihlava, is a Polish immigrant. She speaks excellent Finnish, but with a distinguishable accent and a strong connection to her birth country. Yet she was an audience favourite because she was a good performer and a very nice person. I can’t see why this Ruslanas guy can’t turn out like that.
God, I don’t even watch Idols. Damn me for being such a pop culture geek.
Comment by Anzi — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
Non-Finnish speaker…doesn’t adequate command of ‘perkele’ rate for fluent Finnish in most situations and it was the Lithuanians, who invented the word in first place…
Comment by Antti (the redneck one) — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
A long time ago, some friends and I decided to invite some ladies over for a birthday party. For a price of course. It was a tag-team event.
Man, I must have been hanging out with the wrong friends!
Amazingly enough, none of us could get anything working right when in the presence of each other.
It was probably because of the ecstasy you had all taken.
just remember the times you’ve had sex with an attractive woman and alternated between focusing on her and thinking about the smelly drunk guy you saw on the bus
Good tactic to remember if you “go in there with a loaded gun”. I once heard Ron Jeremy say that he thinks about dead children in Vietnam during sex if he thinks he’ll climax too early. Smelly drunk guy sounds just as effective, without all the violence.
But, actually having other guys there in the room, was an even more potent form of anti-boner that none of us were able to overcome.
Did you guys try having sex with each other? Maybe you all were gay.
(damn, I’m cruel today!)
Comment by Phil — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
Anzi,
I actually looked Agnes up on Wikipedia in a moment of utter boredom:
“Agnes includes Sonata Arctica, The Rasmus, Europe & Whitesnake as her main musical influences.”
Oh dear god. Is this what happens when you spend to much time in Scandinavia? I’m out of here before it’s to late. Europe! How could Europe inspire anyone to anything except retching or banging your head against a wall until you bleed?
Comment by Toby - Northern Light Blog — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 4:57 pm
No link yet? http://www.blueboys.org/modelspage05.html
Comment by Somedude — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
As a formerly-aspiring porn actor,
You owe me a new keyboard. I just snorted water all over it. You might have to pay for reconstructive surgery on my laugh muscles, too. I think I just tore something.
Europe! How could Europe inspire anyone to anything except retching or banging your head against a wall until you bleed?
Toby, shut up. Says she who plays air guitar to Def Leppard whenever no one is looking. Europe is actually pretty good in retrospect, but then again that might just be nostalgia speaking.
Comment by Anzi — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 5:37 pm
Phil: “It was probably because of the ecstasy you had all taken.
”
No, no ecstasy. Given the timeperiod and place, there was probably some cocaine floating around. But it was early in the evening, so it shouldn’t have been a factor. It happened a long-time-ago; I can’t remember all the details.
Phil: “Did you guys try having sex with each other? Maybe you all were gay.
”
Hey, I’m just glad it didn’t work for anyone there. Otherwise some of us would have had shadows of suspicion cast upon us
What’s funny is that we all thought it would be effortless like in the porn movies; instead, we emerged from that experience with newly-found respect for porn professionals. It’s not as easy as it looks. I guess it takes practice…..lots of practice
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 5:46 pm
Where can I download episodes of Finnish Idol?
Comment by Jeff — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 5:59 pm
Why don’t we come back to the original subject? I think that if this is [i]Finnish[/i] idols it should not be allowed to participate to foreign persons. If this is just Idols, well, everybody can participate.
Well, now I know I’ll get flooded by blame!
Comment by Simo — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 7:22 pm
And by the way, how do you add formatting to the posts?:)
Comment by Simo — Wed, Jan 31st, 2007 @ 7:23 pm
Don’t you people see what this is all about? It has nothing to do with keeping in or kicking out a non-Finnish speaker because of his language inabilities and that it might be discriminative or not, whatever. It’s about money!
He does not stand a chance of reaching the top 3 in this Idols competition. The jury and record labels involved in this show know this, but it is also important to have a lot of viewers during the whole show. This guy is a drama queen and people talk about him. It doesn’t matter if they love or hate him, if he’s gay or straight. As long as media has something to write about, it’s good for the producers! And now look at the careers of the previous Idols finalists. They all sing in Finnish. Quite logical if you hear how much Finnish language music is played/bought here. Ruslanas may think all he wants that he can have a career singing in English, but the Finnish record labels are not interested, and they decide who’s the next Idol or runner up with a nice deal…
Comment by majava — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 10:12 am
I find this whole discussion to be incredibly gay.
Comment by FinnFreak — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 11:01 am
“I find this whole discussion to be incredibly gay.”
Ã…boy, any thoughts?
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 11:09 am
Ã…boy, any thoughts?
Hmm.. Yes. I think he should be allowed to participate.
Comment by Ã…boy — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 11:29 am
#32 Given your particular knowledge base, I thought maybe you are also finding this discussion gay. No?
Comment by Kristian (in Espoo) — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 12:29 pm
Well, I don’t really know. Can a conversation be gay? I’ve always thought that “gay” is a sexual orientation. Do conversations have sexual orientations? I don’t think they do.
Perhaps you mean gay as in “showing or characterized by cheerfulness and lighthearted excitement” (courtesy of http://www.thefreedictionary.com)? Boy, that’s a tough one. You might say there are some elements in the conversation that qualify as “cheerful” or “lighthearted” but I’d still have to say that the general mood hasn’t been that gay, no.
Comment by Ã…boy — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
I’m sorry, that’s of course a discussion that we’ve had here, not a conversation.
Comment by Ã…boy — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 12:45 pm
“Cheerfulness and lighthearted excitement” is what I was after.
Because these discussions make me smile. Mostly.
Comment by FinnFreak — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
#29,
Agnes and the first “Idols” winner, Hanna Pakarinen, both sing in English. Quite successfully I might add. Actually more and more Finnish popular artists sing in English and are quite successful at it, too.
Comment by Anzi — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
Yep. you’re right! Still I think it’s the record label(s?) that decide who they want to win and who else to have a career and I do not believe they just go for a person who can’t speak/sing any Finnish. BTW Pakarinen was awful during the Euro song contest selections.
Comment by majava — Thu, Feb 1st, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
Its not gay if the balls dont touch.
Comment by Fudge — Tue, Feb 6th, 2007 @ 1:25 am
it is interesting,but I know nothing about him…I know only that he likes boys…can you tell me more?
Comment by Lt girl — Wed, Feb 28th, 2007 @ 8:51 pm
Comment by Lt girl — Wed, Feb 28th, 2007 @ 8:52 pm
no he is not a gay! he is going to marry a girl
Comment by perttu — Sun, Mar 18th, 2007 @ 11:48 am
i love ruslanas
Comment by Setareh — Thu, Apr 5th, 2007 @ 8:32 pm