15 January 2007

The proof she´s been here

Rainy grey day in Stockholm...saw some toursits taking shots of them selfs and got curious...a snapshot between working time...

GruppoF inbox: Last Hope by Rhonda Prince


last hope
or is it...
when do you know when to give up hope?

Grallimatik lesson - 'Spännande' ('Exciting')

Hi. Welcome to this lesson in "grallimatik" (grammar).
Today we're gonna talk about the management "in"-words.



The words we use without reflecting.
Quite often they are what I call "power words".


Older such words quite often die a rather unflattering death, take for example the word 'stress tolerant' (stresstålig), that does not fly well anymore.
A word on its way out - but still going strong - is 'flexible' ('Flexibel'). This can still be used to force someone else to 'flex'. There are many other such words, like 'utvecklande' (developing), 'möjligheter' (opportunities) and so on. But we save them for another lesson. :-)

But on to 'Exciting' ('Spännande'). This word is so much in use today I just must point it out.

Some example uses:

  • Chefen: Så då levererar du det till nästa vecka.

  • Du: Ja, det här kan bli spännande. Verkligen.

  • Boss: So you will deliver this until next week.

  • You: Yes, this will be exciting. Indeed.

We can be far from sure this will ever happen. But you were at least upbeat about it. And accepted the challenge. So who can blame you?

Another example from the other end:

  • Chefen: Så då levererar du det till nästa vecka.
    (Med forcerat glad röst) Visst ska det bli spännande?

  • Boss: So you will deliver this until next week.
    Said with forced cheerful voice: This will be exciting, won't it?

We can be rather certain this is an impossible project and goal, but the boss won't accept any excuses. And who wants to be the cry baby anyway?


Example of being friend with the bosses:

  • Chefen: Så då levererar ni det till nästa vecka.

  • Medarbetare 1: Men vi har ju inte ens fått underlaget från kunden ännu!

  • Medarbetare 2: Jag tycker ialla fall att det ska spännande att göra det här!

  • Boss: So you will deliver this until next week.

  • Worker 1: But we haven't even got the materials from the customer yet!

  • Worker 2: Anyway, I think this will be exciting. So you know.

Worker1 came dangerously close to using the i-word, the forbidden word - 'impossible'. Much talk is used to avoid pointing out when things actually can't realistically be done. The game is often lost for the person who utters this negative word. And any smart co-worker should quickly take the chance of being upbeat and positive at that time. Being friends with the bosses.


Example when it all went wrong:

  • Chefen: Men varför levererade ni inte som vi kom överens om? Förklara det här nu!
  • Medarbetare 1: Vi fick inte underlaget från kunden i tid. Och och...
  • Chefen: Nu tycker jag att du är negativ. Du sa ju att det här skulle bli spännande!
  • Medarbetare 1: [...]
  • Chefen: Det är ditt fel att projektet havererade, nu får du reda upp det här.
  • Chefen: Vi har förresten ett nytt projekt som måste vara färdigt veckan efter. Ganska spännande projekt faktiskt. Men det hinner du också!

  • Boss: But why didn't you deliver in time as we agreed on? Explain this now!
  • Worker 1: We didn't get the materials from the customer in time. And and...
  • Boss: You are only being negative here. You said you thought it would be exciting, didn't you!
  • Worker 1: [...]
  • Boss: It is your fault this project has crashed, now you will have to sort it up.
  • Boss: By the way, we have another project that need to be finished the week after. A rather exciting project, I'd say myself. You will have time to finish both of them.

By pinpointing any negative views whatsoever, the boss can get the upper hand here, by immediately blaiming the innocent person. From that point, it is an easy task to get twice the effort out of the worker, which hardly grasp what happened.

Spännande is such a useful word. What is the most interesting aspect about it that I really haven't got a clue what it really actually MEANS, in most cases. So start use it, y'all!

-Christian (also a boss)

invited guest: Zosia Zija

Zosia Zija, what can I say more...perhaps no more words needed...

Zosia is a legendary creator of wonderful, soft portraits, appealing, I am sure of that, not just to my heart, but many of others.
From the other side Zosia is legendary pioneer of presenting photography in internet, she was perhaps the first from Polish photographers who started to show her work in global portals of photography.
At least, she was the only Polish photographer I met, when I started to show my photography abroad.
For me personaly, discovering Zosia's photography was a milestone opening me eyes to new magic world of photography.

I am truely grateful I found her work few years ago, I am happy and proud even more, that she agreed to show some of her work on F blog.

Ladies and Gentelmen: ZOSIA ZIJA!

zosia zija, born in 1975, a photographer searching for simplicity in what she does, she loves simple and ordinary people, who she tries to see through the lens as extraordinary. her life motto is: follow your heart, whatever that means ;) so far, zosia had 7 exhibitions of her work : 2 in Warsaw (Poland) - 2003, 2005, one in Poznan (Poland) - 2003, one in Milan (Italy) - 2003, one in Castelo Branco: collective exhibition from the members from Pontos de Vista (Portugal) - 2004 and two in Brussels ( Belgium) - both in 2006. on an ordinary day she is a commercial photographer. it is said of her that she does portraits even when she shoots landscapes, but she does not like stereotypes, as she thinks that creativeness is like life, which someone once compared to a box of chocolates... you really don't know what you will get, which - in creativeness - means a constant search for something new, metamorphosis etc.
zosia lives and works in Warsaw. she has been a photographer for 15 years now. although she recons that it all started 5 yrs ago, when photography became her way of earning a living.







invited by Marcin Górski


idanha a velha, pt (50 inhabitants)