Defining Culture

The topic for our lecture this week in our course "Digital culture in humanities" was culture and its many faces; what it consists of? What it's built upon etc.? A both complex and obvious topic in itself. As a partial assignment we were divided into smaller groups in class and supposed to come up with smart definitions to the questions above. Me and my friends settled on some smaller truths (or what we considered truths, anyway...), like how culture is everything that affects usand how we're all affected by it in some manner. We agreed that culture is often considered as something created by humans; human nature and society, but that it also creates human society. In short, it all evolved into a very lengthy and versatile conversation. Interesting in some aspects...

A big part of the lecture was taken up by the topic of linguistics and how it's a defining and building tool of creating a culture. I do understand that language is very important to the emergence, existence and sustainability of human culture - I've always been interested in languages and have studied and still do study quite a few. Still many aspects of the entire theory and emerge of theories considering linguistics kind of passed me by as very peculiar and impossibly incomprehensible. I understand they are an important part of society and culture, but I still think the topic really opened up to me. Most of the time I just sat with my mouth open, wondering when things were going to start making sense in my mind. So far they haven't, but it's okay. I don't take it personally, or anything.

For one topic to another, lighter one: I suppose most of us cursed to live in this country called Finland, have noticed how it's recently changed into this gloomy, glacier-cold landscape of snow (f*ckloads of snow if you ask me, we don't bloody need any more of it -___-!). I dare say, that many people, just like me, are gripped by frustration and persistent grumpiness and just wish they could do the Moomin and go into hibernation for all winter and wake up in Spring. Some of us retort to more realistic musings, like thinking about summer or those tantalising, over-priced vacation trips to sunny beaches, tasty food with diarrhea-warning and cheap hookers. To cheer you up (or alternatively piss you off >8D!) here's some nice pictures from my trip to Thailand a few years back. Nope, just kidding, these pics are from online. I'm not as low as to force horrible vacation pics onto anyone. Enjoy 8D!

Did you like the cheap fantasy? I'm afraid if you look outside the window, you're still stuck in cold, winter-y Finland. Tough luck. Let's hope global warming gets serious soon...

xoxo,

Gyaru Supreme