Finland for Thought
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31.1.2007

Non-Finnish speaker in Finnish Idols semi-finals

Tags: Uncategorized — Author: @ 1:04 pm

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? :-)

  • Karlos

    Lithuanian _gay_ porn, that is…

  • Åboy

    What difference does it make if it was straight or gay porn?

  • http://deathtobillionaires.blogspot.com/ a

    I can’t cheer for Ruslanas because every time Idols is on I like to take a pencil and shove it in my eye.

  • http://kervo.blogspot.com/ kervÃ¥

    Don’t you know, Åboy? :D

  • Åboy

    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.

  • Åboy

    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. ;)

  • http://www.finlandforthought.net Phil

    Remember: It’s not gay, if you’re on top. ;-)

  • Belino

    You don’t have to speak finnish to be accepted anywhere in finland, if you are from Lithuania/Estonia/Latvia.

  • Kristian (in Espoo)

    Hey Åboy, it all feels the same when the lights are off, right? :lol:

  • JG

    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.

  • Kristian (in Espoo)

    #9 …..makes me wonder how many tranny hookers I’ve ‘been with’ over the years, unknowingly that is :-/

  • Åboy

    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). Shōnen-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

  • Kristian (in Espoo)

    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.

  • Åboy

    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.

  • http://www.finlandforthought.net Phil

    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

  • Åboy

    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

    ;)

  • Kristian (in Espoo)

    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 :-)

  • http://anzisblog.blogspot.com Anzi

    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. ;-)

  • http://anzisblog.blogspot.com Anzi

    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.

  • Antti (the redneck one)

    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…

  • http://www.finlandforthought.net Phil

    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. :-D

    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. :-P (damn, I’m cruel today!)

  • http://lightfromthenorth.blogspot.com/ Toby – Northern Light Blog

    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?

  • Somedude
  • http://anzisblog.blogspot.com Anzi

    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.

  • Kristian (in Espoo)

    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. :-P

    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 :-)

  • http://www.thesleeplesswanderer.com Jeff

    Where can I download episodes of Finnish Idol?

  • Simo

    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! :)

  • Simo

    And by the way, how do you add formatting to the posts?:)

  • http://koti.phnet.fi/bevertje/index majava

    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…

  • FinnFreak

    I find this whole discussion to be incredibly gay. :-P

  • Kristian (in Espoo)

    I find this whole discussion to be incredibly gay.

    Åboy, any thoughts?

  • Åboy

    Åboy, any thoughts?

    Hmm.. Yes. I think he should be allowed to participate.

  • Kristian (in Espoo)

    #32 Given your particular knowledge base, I thought maybe you are also finding this discussion gay. No?

  • Åboy

    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.

  • Åboy

    I’m sorry, that’s of course a discussion that we’ve had here, not a conversation. :)

  • FinnFreak

    “Cheerfulness and lighthearted excitement” is what I was after. ;)

    Because these discussions make me smile. Mostly. :D

  • http://anzisblog.blogspot.com Anzi

    #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.

  • http://koti.phnet.fi/bevertje/index majava

    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.

  • Fudge

    Its not gay if the balls dont touch.

  • Lt girl

    it is interesting,but I know nothing about him…I know only that he likes boys…can you tell me more?

  • Lt girl

    :)

  • perttu

    no he is not a gay! he is going to marry a girl

  • http://www.love--story.blogfa.com Setareh

    i love ruslanas

  • http://biggerpenisinfo.net Evan Foster

    He only got that far because even the Finnish judges don’t know where Lithuania is!

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