The Happiness Story

 For a number of years....the UN has done something called the 'Happiness' report, and they rank countries.  

So last week....for the 5th year in a row....Finland was declared the happiest country in the world.  

I sat and pondered over this.  A couple of years ago....I spent a week in Helsinki.  It was an odd experience (at least for an American).

So, to get some things out of the way and relate to this happiest state of mind....Finns are people who don't get overly excited or bent out-of-shape over chaos.  In fact, if you asked most Finns about chaos....they would interpret it to mean that the flashlight batteries finally died.....the 16-year-old coffee-machine crapped-out this morning, or their 44-year old daughter called this morning to announce she was finally marrying her boyfriend....having dated him for almost seventeen years.  

Yes, if you had to value stoic tendencies....compared to most people....you'd have to take the scale of one-to-ten, and reset it to one-to-fourteen....to fit Finns into the proper range.

A lot of people don't realize this about Finns, but on average....they tend to consume a quarter-gallon of milk every single day.  That puts them  at number one in the world on milk consumption.

The folks who originated the idea of a internet 'browser'?  Well....they were Finns (1992).

The first satellite call via a cellphone?  Well....the Finns did that in 1994.

Linux code?  Yeah, that was a Finn thing as well.

Finns tend to think about things....in a deep way.  Texting people?  That was openly discussed by Finns in the mid-1980s.  

The harsh winter affecting outcomes?  There's no doubt that marginal hours of sunshine in the winter period probably has some effect on the way people think or behave. 

In my belief....Finns don't have much time to squander on being unhappy.  

If that coffee machine of  sixteen years finally failed this morning....they are more likely to ask why, and tear the machine apart tonight after returning home from work....to resolve the failure and possibly make it better.

If the daughter did have great news of her soon-to-be marriage (after 17 years of dating)....the parents might ask 'why rush things'.  

As for anyone overtaking Finland next year on this happiness scale?  No....forget about that.  They've got the edge for the next hundred years.

Ten Observations Over Power Of The Dog

 About ten days ago, I tried watching the movie off Netflix, ended it around 75-percent into the experience.  For me, several elements just weren't working.  Yesterday.....I went back to the half-way point of the movie, and then completed 125-minute movie (more or less forcing myself to the end).  My observations:

1.  It is based in 1925, on a cattle ranch, in Montana....so they try to tell this story as a authentic western.  I generally give it a marginal 'truth' on that element of being a western.  

It's like saying 'Hud' (1963) was a western.  That also fails.

2.  Just about everyone in the movie with some significance....has serious physiological problems, or their text is written to explain how they all got this way.  

3.  Cumberbatch and Dunst give some great performances.

4.  Jessie Plemons as 'George'?  It's a wasted role and you could have gotten any unknown guy to fulfill the part, and done just as well.

5.  On the scale for a physiological drama....I'd give it almost a '9'.  

6.  Based on a book?  Well....you have to go back to 1967 when it was printed.  It's been around for over 50 years in text form.

7.  'Rose', the only major female role of the movie?  Well.....it's best to say that she's delicate....fairly fragile....and probably not capable of handling much stress or chaos in life.  

8.  Developed as a book and movie.....to be a 'Greek epic story'?  Well....yeah, it goes off into that direction to tell what is a simple ten-line story over two brothers (both fairly mixed-up), a dead ranch-hand named Bronco Henry (he's been dead for almost 20 years), a alcoholic fragile 'Rose', Rose's son who seems to be in need of help, and a ranch in some remote area of Montana.  

9.  To do a 'Power of the Dog' II?  I sat there thinking about this.  'Peter' (son of Rose), would be curious to see what happened to him in the decade that followed (1925 to 1935).  The marriage between Rose and George.....did she stay on, or perhaps murder George at some point?  Might it be interesting to go back to 1903/1904 and meet this Bronco Henry guy?

10.  I won't call it a failure, but it's just a long twisted movie that reminds one of a 'tango-like' dance, where you kept waiting for the end, and you found out that Phil got oddly sick, and died (rather quickly).  

I'll just say this.....Greeks wrote tragic opera stories....mostly to entertain folks from about two-thousand years ago, and their style might not be for everyone.