Since I didn't feel like sleeping and anyways there were some friggin seagulls screaming outside my window I decided to come and drop some knowledge here. This is dedicated to Jess to whom I promised I'll write one chapter of this foolishness in English. And who had no idea of what kind of a celebrity the wax creature Barbapapa actually is!
Barbapapa is originally a French children's book series. The Japanese ppl even made a two-part animation about these creatures. Barbapapa is the pink big guy and Barbamama's the black lady, pretty obvious huh. I don't know the translations of the children but in Finnish they are for example Barbapinko, Barbalala, Barbapörrö etc.. the names refer to some of the hobbies the small barbacreatures have. Barbapinko likes literature ('pinko' meaning like 'crammer' or so..) , Barbasöpö is all about cosmetics ('söpö' = 'cute'), Barbapörrö is an artist etc. ('pörrö' just meaning 'fuzzy' though) The stories always have something to do with the hobbies of some certain wax creature. But the most mindblowing fact of the whole series is that the barbacreatures can pick any form they wish, they are endlessly mouldable. Barbapapa turns into a swing for the wee ones, Barbalala forms into a harp and plays herself while singing and so on.
I occasionally loaned a Barbapapa book from the library when I was small. The series wasn't that big of a deal like..let's say Moomins for example. But I remember how great it was imagining all the possibilities you would have if you were a barbacreature. WhOOooAaa dude!
Now you know about the important case of Barbapapa (oh this doesn't relate to my experiences here at all..?well you might be correct..) Now I want to (again?well just for the heck of it) represent some of the undescribable beauty of Finnish culture, oh so mysterious and esoteric, behold the Finnish version of 'Macarena' :
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