Bring your own kannebullar
September 11, 2015 10:17 AM Subscribe
Sweden Simulator; a browser-based virtual-reality simulation of many of the common experiences of Swedish life.
Created at the recent Nordic.js conference and running in any WebGL-enabled browser (though working best with Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard), Sweden Simulator currently simulates:
Created at the recent Nordic.js conference and running in any WebGL-enabled browser (though working best with Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard), Sweden Simulator currently simulates:
- Walking down a street, ignoring strangers whilst pushing a pram
- Waiting in a queue outside the Systembolaget
- Traditional Midsummer festivities (as well as midwinter for comparison)
- pour champagne down the sink at a club, as rich Swedes are wont to do
The correct spelling is "kanelbullar"
posted by kariebookish at 10:25 AM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by kariebookish at 10:25 AM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
I honestly expected this to be some reddit /r/circlejerk meme project about swedens superiority... And it's almost that snarky.
posted by emptythought at 10:38 AM on September 11, 2015
posted by emptythought at 10:38 AM on September 11, 2015
Nobody queued behind me after those three guys... Must not have been that good a club.
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:44 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:44 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wait a minute. "köttbullar" and "kanelbullar" have the same root, "bullar"? Does it just mean "lump of food"?
posted by benito.strauss at 11:16 AM on September 11, 2015
posted by benito.strauss at 11:16 AM on September 11, 2015
This is worthless until it features goat-burning.
When it does (when not if) it will be worth trying.
posted by aramaic at 11:28 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
When it does (when not if) it will be worth trying.
posted by aramaic at 11:28 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wait a minute. "köttbullar" and "kanelbullar" have the same root, "bullar"? Does it just mean "lump of food"?
A bulle (bullar=plural) is something you made with your hands into a round shape, so yea pretty much a lump of something. "Bun" is a pretty good translation.
posted by gemmy at 11:43 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
A bulle (bullar=plural) is something you made with your hands into a round shape, so yea pretty much a lump of something. "Bun" is a pretty good translation.
posted by gemmy at 11:43 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I could guess what "Winter" would be from the thumbnail but I still laughed when I was standing in it so I've no complaints here.
posted by eykal at 11:44 AM on September 11, 2015
posted by eykal at 11:44 AM on September 11, 2015
I thought walking through IKEA was already basically a holodeck simulation of what it's like to live in Sweden.
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:52 AM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 11:52 AM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
Finland Simulator to follow, which involves a man screaming PERKELE at the top of his lungs and then stabbings. Or this.
posted by delfin at 11:58 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by delfin at 11:58 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
When I read the title, I expect something like Surgeon Simulator except where you run a country.
posted by JHarris at 12:11 PM on September 11, 2015
posted by JHarris at 12:11 PM on September 11, 2015
Finland Simulator to follow, which involves a man screaming PERKELE at the top of his lungs and then stabbings.
Coincidentally, I've sent this to a friend of mine who's looking for stuff to stream, and I suggested dropping a PERKELE here and there.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:32 PM on September 11, 2015
Coincidentally, I've sent this to a friend of mine who's looking for stuff to stream, and I suggested dropping a PERKELE here and there.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:32 PM on September 11, 2015
A bulle (bullar=plural) is something you made with your hands into a round shape, so yea pretty much a lump of something. "Bun" is a pretty good translation.
No, no, no, you're doing this wrong. The last sentence should read, "It's a concept unique to Swedish and is completely untranslatable!"
posted by The Tensor at 12:42 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
No, no, no, you're doing this wrong. The last sentence should read, "It's a concept unique to Swedish and is completely untranslatable!"
posted by The Tensor at 12:42 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
You have been eaten by a grue.
That was unexpected.
posted by Panjandrum at 1:05 PM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
That was unexpected.
posted by Panjandrum at 1:05 PM on September 11, 2015 [3 favorites]
"It's a concept unique to Swedish and is completely untranslatable!"
There are no unique concepts anywhere, but not all of them are described as well as they are described in Swedish.
For example, "Tack for senast." It's a brilliant phrase for what you say to someone the next time you see them after having been invited to their place for dinner, drinks, whatever. It literally means "thanks for the latest."
Surely not a unique concept in any culture, but I'll be damned if I can think of an equivalent in English. "Thanks for last night" is the closest I can think of, but this has a very specific meaning and cannot be used in all cases.
"Eftersvetas" is when you sweat after you showered after a workout because your body hasn't cooled off completely. Unique to Sweden? Hardly, but there isn't a nice compact word in English so far as I know.
"Fika" is like a coffee break, but it's more like a cross between high tea and a coffee break. You must have "bullar" as mentioned above or "kaffebröd" which is Swedish for a Danish. Coffee rituals are universal, but different cultures put their own spin on them for whatever reason.
"Ut och cyklar" translates literally as "out and cycling" and it means when you've completely lost the thread of the conversation as I am doing now.
posted by three blind mice at 1:09 PM on September 11, 2015 [11 favorites]
There are no unique concepts anywhere, but not all of them are described as well as they are described in Swedish.
For example, "Tack for senast." It's a brilliant phrase for what you say to someone the next time you see them after having been invited to their place for dinner, drinks, whatever. It literally means "thanks for the latest."
Surely not a unique concept in any culture, but I'll be damned if I can think of an equivalent in English. "Thanks for last night" is the closest I can think of, but this has a very specific meaning and cannot be used in all cases.
"Eftersvetas" is when you sweat after you showered after a workout because your body hasn't cooled off completely. Unique to Sweden? Hardly, but there isn't a nice compact word in English so far as I know.
"Fika" is like a coffee break, but it's more like a cross between high tea and a coffee break. You must have "bullar" as mentioned above or "kaffebröd" which is Swedish for a Danish. Coffee rituals are universal, but different cultures put their own spin on them for whatever reason.
"Ut och cyklar" translates literally as "out and cycling" and it means when you've completely lost the thread of the conversation as I am doing now.
posted by three blind mice at 1:09 PM on September 11, 2015 [11 favorites]
Min svävarfarkost är full av ålar.
posted by delegeferenda at 1:18 PM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by delegeferenda at 1:18 PM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]
I spent a couple summers in Sweden. What a marvelous place. And I learned a lot about myself (like. how American I really am).
posted by persona au gratin at 2:01 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by persona au gratin at 2:01 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
one phrase I remember (can't do umlauts)
Sveriges mest kopta bil
posted by persona au gratin at 2:02 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sveriges mest kopta bil
posted by persona au gratin at 2:02 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was very uncomfortable with how close to me the other people were standing in the queueing simulator. It also seemed like they were trying to make eye conversation and perhaps wanting to start a conversation.
posted by bonje at 2:43 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by bonje at 2:43 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I assumed this would be the official release of this amazing simulator. I'm actually kind of sad that it isn't.
posted by chrominance at 3:50 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by chrominance at 3:50 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I am yet to visit a land where people passing each other on the sidewalk do anything but ignore one another.
They say it's worse in Sweden. I read an interview with a Syrian refugee who came to Sweden... To my little home town actually... He said it was no paradise, that the people seemed cold.
My mom shared the link and said it made her sad.
There is an anxiety in my bones. It came from the streets of Sweden, and I don't know if it will ever heal.
It's so basic, how you react and respond to the presence of strangers. I imagine it would be possible to sense humanity as a common ground for acknowledgement, but what I practice fervently is how to ignore people, how to keep from seeing their faces, how to walk unaffectedly, meeting no one.
There was a period when I was around 13 when I was actively extroverted. I said hello to everyone I met. Nothing bad happened. Many people said hello back, some looked away. Obviously an adult can't do this.
I know that I could walk around this city for weeks and nobody would greet me. So this is not my tribe. If I fell down, probably people would help. But talking spontaneously is taboo.
Avert your eyes, look down, make no sound. It's like being surrounded by predators. Pervasive paranoia.
I am sad for this world.
posted by mbrock at 3:23 AM on September 12, 2015
They say it's worse in Sweden. I read an interview with a Syrian refugee who came to Sweden... To my little home town actually... He said it was no paradise, that the people seemed cold.
My mom shared the link and said it made her sad.
There is an anxiety in my bones. It came from the streets of Sweden, and I don't know if it will ever heal.
It's so basic, how you react and respond to the presence of strangers. I imagine it would be possible to sense humanity as a common ground for acknowledgement, but what I practice fervently is how to ignore people, how to keep from seeing their faces, how to walk unaffectedly, meeting no one.
There was a period when I was around 13 when I was actively extroverted. I said hello to everyone I met. Nothing bad happened. Many people said hello back, some looked away. Obviously an adult can't do this.
I know that I could walk around this city for weeks and nobody would greet me. So this is not my tribe. If I fell down, probably people would help. But talking spontaneously is taboo.
Avert your eyes, look down, make no sound. It's like being surrounded by predators. Pervasive paranoia.
I am sad for this world.
posted by mbrock at 3:23 AM on September 12, 2015
This got me thinking of how one could write an England Simulator along similar lines. You'd have one mode as fan-service to foreign anglophiles as yet to be disabused of their illusions (red phone boxes! tea! Royal Baby street parties! the pre-recorded vocal clips all being things like “toodle-pip, old chap!”), whereas others would be about similar things to the Sweden simulator (queueing, riding public transport (and losing if you make eye contact for more than half a second). One mode could be about hanging about in a town centre with the lads, and would be implemented LucasArts-style, with a “bants” menu.
posted by acb at 5:46 AM on September 12, 2015
posted by acb at 5:46 AM on September 12, 2015
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posted by dismas at 10:22 AM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]