Someone Put a Quarter in Me Today...

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I am listening to Finlandia right now, which I love. Lots of Finns around here, including the chief conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra. Let's talk about our Finnish heritage and our special relationship with Finland. Fantastic architecture and design and generations of Red Finns up north on the Iron Range. You can still -- in the 21st century -- say about someone, "He's a Red Finn from the Iron Range," and it's a meaningful statement. And there is Finlandia and Sibelius...

Patrick wanted to see the John Deere Pavilion in Iowa. So we went down to the Quad Ciites. The Pavilion was okay, more a souviner shop than anything else, but we stumbled on the corporate headquarters, designed by the younger Saarinen. Talk about awesome. And there is an amazing Finnish American architect in Duluth. David Salmela. I have a coffee table book of his work next to my couch. Our apartment is full of Marimekko fabrics and there's a piece of Aalto glassware on the table next to me. Those Finns do good work.

Salmela designs North Woods cabins with saunas. His saunas are awesome. If I had an indecent amount of money I'd hire him to design a cabin for me. But the coffee table book is fine, and I am not really a sauna kind of person. But boy are his cabins wonderful.

Patrick mentioned Finnish pastries, and the Finnish section of the Jim Jarmusch movie Night on Earth. The Village Voice reviewer talked about how tragic the Finnish section was. The Minnesota audience at the Walker Art Center laughed nonstop through it. It's done by members of a Finnish acting troup, and it's a very funny skit about death.

Oh, and Patrick mentioned the restaurant in Thunder Bay in the Big Finn Hall. Communist Finnish pancakes.

Patrick adds, "We have a lot of ethnic heritage celebrations here in Minnesota, but none for England. I have never seen a Spotted Dick Day."