Classic Rock Music Monday

The stuff that now passes as "music", particularly rock 'n roll, leaves me cold. So, to start off the week, here's a video of a classic rock artist.   

To start this week, we're spotlighting the Swedish group ABBA, who hit big internationally in the mid-1970s. 

From Wikipedia:

ABBA (/ˈæbə/ AB-ə, Swedish: [ˈâbːa]; formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish pop supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's name is an acronym of the first letters of their first names arranged as a palindrome. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the best-selling music acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982, and in 2022.

 For your viewing and listening pleasure, we have two videos:

Finland, Sweden Moving Towards Joining NATO

The Russian war on Ukraine has made a couple of European countries rethink their position on joining NATO.

According to Japan Today:

The Kremlin warned about taking retaliatory “military-technical” steps after Finland’s leaders came out in favor of applying to join NATO, and Sweden could do the same within days, in a historic realignment triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the first war-crimes trial of a Russian soldier since the start of the conflict was set to open Friday in Kyiv. A 21-year-old captured member of a tank unit is accused of shooting to death a civilian during the opening week of the war.

On the ground, Russian forces pounded areas in central, northern and eastern Ukraine, including the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol, as part their offensive to take the industrial Donbas region, while Ukraine recaptured some towns and villages in the northeast.

Two and a half months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent a shiver of fear through Moscow’s neighbors, Finland’s president and prime minister announced Thursday that the Nordic country should apply right away for membership in NATO, the military defense pact founded in part to counter the Soviet Union.

“You (Russia) caused this. Look in the mirror,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said this week.  

That would represent a major change in Europe's security landscape: Sweden has avoided military alliances for more than 200 years, while Finland adopted neutrality after its defeat by the Soviets in World War II.

To read more, go here. 

Sweden and Karma Defeat U.S. Women's Soccer Team

 

From the Daily Wire:

The U.S. women’s soccer team took a devastating 3-0 loss to Sweden early Wednesday morning in their Tokyo Olympic opener, breaking their 44-game winning streak.

All 22 players on Team USA took a knee in solidarity with the radical leftist group Black Lives Matter before the game, a major point of contention with U.S. fans.

Serves them right! Since all 22 players took a knee, then karma nailed their asses real good!

I would congratulate Sweden for their win, but they also took a knee before the game as did other teams.

To read more, go here.

Japan Daily Picks Up Monster Japan Travel Guide Rates Blog

Above, Miki with The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The good ol' Japan Daily picked up the blog post on the rates (including postage) for Sweden and France for mail-ordering the print edition of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan (I recently received queries from both countries and researched the costs).

Apparently, The Japan Daily felt it was newsworthy enough pass along through their online newspaper. Maybe they have readers in Sweden and France.

To read The Japan Daily, go here.

Monster Japan Travel Guide Rates For France and Sweden

Above, Yuu Asakura with The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since I returned from Japan, I have been struck by some cold virus that two sources (one being my daughter) say is going around. This hit a week ago this evening.

It is weird that I would be in freezing cold and snowy weather in Japan and made it without catching anything (then again, I was on my Vitamin C regimen), but getting back to warm Southern California, I get myself nailed by a virus.

Just going to have to ride it out.

I have self-imposed myself at home and haven't stepped out for the last two days, except to walk the dog. This gave me time to check on postage rates for shipping the print edition of The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan to two countries, France and Sweden, that I received queries from.

Both countries came up with $6.04 in first-class postage for a 4.80 oz. large envelope. Add that to the price of the book ($15.00) totals $21.04.

Here's the conversions (from the Universal Currency Converter):

So, if you are from a country outside of the U.S., you can reach me at AMVaquer@aol.com and I would be happy to check on the rates for you.

ABBA Mulls Possible Reunion

Above, ABBA back in their heyday in the 1970s.

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of ABBA's hit, "Waterloo" and it is possible that to commemorate the anniversary, ABBA may have a reunion.

The news of a possible reunion of the Swedish pop group came from JapanToday.

They wrote:

FRANKFURT —The legendary Swedish pop group ABBA is mulling a possible reunion next year, singer Agnetha Faltskog said in a German newspaper interview Sunday. 

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the band’s first hit “Waterloo”,  which won them the Eurovision song contest and catapulted them to fame. 

ABBA subsequently became one of the world’s best-selling pop bands with a string of number one hits. 

Is it really almost 40 years since 1974?! Yeesh! That's where age really creeps up on you.



To read the full story, go here.