After 2 months, I got the results of the national test of Finnish language I took in November in Finland. It is an official 6 hours test, that comes in handy for 'Finnish stuff', and is for example used as one of the requirements to apply for Finnish citizenship (Not my case per se). Got the passing grades, and now have the status of "intermediate speaker"
Let's go!!!! Congrats. I really want to take a proficiency test in a language one day. But I start too many languages to get far enough to warrant it. For example: my Japanese stalled for Spanish in 2023 because I was going to travel to Mexico. Then I stuck with Spanish for a minute. Came back to Japanese this year, dropped it again for German because I'm going to Germany (and seeing Pat and Michele YEEEEEEAAAAAH), and now I'm also trying to refresh my old French skills from school.
Thank you! Quite a few in the pipeline indeed What I find works well for me is knowing I'll get to talk the language in spots, even in short bursts of conversation. I tend to think "Damn I sounded clunky, need more practice!!" and that'll keep me in the loop ^^ And like you said, Mexico and Germany are definitely great motivators! I have been meaning to start learning Serbian one of those days, as a fair chunk of my family tree has roots there, but there is only so much time for now ahah
When Avatar: The Way of Water came out, I remember some people where upset Simon Franglen didn’t use James Horner’s original theme more, but I think The Way of Water wisely established its own central motif for the Sully family that’s really great, who are the heart of the film. This brought to you by me remembering Fire and Ash comes out this year… I cannot wait.
Something something don't cut my queue for the love of Eywa (Things said unironically by Avatar fans I have encountered...)
I just received a CD copy of a new album so obscure it doesn't even have a Discogs page yet. It really tickles my fancy.
It being 8 years since The Contortionist last dropped a record blows my mind. I need those boys to drop a new album ASAP.
What was the first thing you tested out on it? A couple of years ago I upgraded my cheap bookshelf speakers to slightly more higher end towers, and they're greeeeeaaaat.
The first thing that played were the first few songs on the album "A Light for Attracting Attention" from "The Smile". But then I though I wanted to try the speakers positioning / angle / treble / bass / volume settings with an album I'm very familiar with - so, no joke, I literally put in "From Zero", and ended up replaying a few times "TEM" until I was satisfied with everything And then played the whole album just because ahah
One thing I found is a good test for new speakers is very cleanly mixed acoustic music. When I got my towers, I tested it with Troika by D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings, and it was just immaculate. Glad the new system is working out!
Yeah it's really awesome the difference a new system can make. My previous one was a casual bookshelf speaker thingy, and it's only recently the compression and lack of space in the sound came to bother me - probably because I've had to back down a bit on my higher end headphones in the last few months. With the new system, every detail in the songs get much more space to breath, and I also love the warm, pristine tone of it all. And how much more dynamic the sound is. It's pretty on par with the sound I'd get through headphones, didn't realize how much more immersive speakers could get. Could talk about it all day anyhow can't wait to play a good bunch of my records on this !!