Cultural references and a clueless Nordic

One of the topics I cover here is my inability to grasp language and cultural references. And today's topic is dedicated to my complete and utter inability to understand certain cultural references and traditions.

Entering houses and apartments while wearing shoes and walking straight into the living room
Here where I live, people always take their shoes of before entering any house or apartment. Not doing so is considered is considered to be the height of rudeness. I would  personally never ever do it. And when entering any house or apartment, there is always a space or a room for leaving once clothes a shoes before entering.

So you can imagine my look of terror every single time I see people enter /burst into houses and apartments in shows while wearing their shoes. I get that agents/cops cannot be bothered with moving their shoes (it'd just be weird) when taking a suspect down but not once have I seen any of the characters on the shows I cover here take their shoes off. Not once. Not even when visiting houses. It seems normal in the context of the shows but I can say that here in the North, the characters would be considered absolute brutes for not taking off their shoes.

Weird food

I personally come from a culture that is filled with weird food. Our national cuisine literally reads like something out of a horror magazine. So I do have a lot of experience with strange food but there is one instance in which I was ready to throw up when watching NCIS:LA.

Deep-fried bacon. They had deep-fried bacon and what was worse, the characters were eating it! I am no bacon lover but I can eat it if necessary (like say in a full English breakfast) but combining deep-fried and bacon just sounds like a recipe for a heart attack.

But they did score a definite point with me when Deeks said he loved liver. Liver is a part of the national Nordic cuisine and I eat it regularly. It is the cheapest kind of meat you can get and in the past it was known as poor man's food as it was so cheap. Plus, it can be cooked in some really good ways. So I was very surprised to hear Deeks express his love for liver and counting the many ways in which it can be cooked but it made me grin my ears off. Nordic food references for the win!

Sports

Nordics love football and handball. We take it so seriously that you'd think the national happiness of the Nordic countries depends solely on our achievements in sports. If one Nordic country does well, we all feel proud. If the Nordic countries are competing against each other, things go dark for a while. Currently Sweden and Iceland can potentially go the World Cup in football in Brazil in 2014 and let me tell you, even if it's only two countries out of five we are behind them. One Nordic country typically means all.

But aside from that - two sports I will never ever get are American football and baseball. These sports are not practiced here and I have less that zero knowledge of them. Not that I have absolutely no interest in sport but I can at least talk about football a bit. So any and all times these sports are mentioned and referenced, there is one Nordic that sits with glazed over eyes and shakes her head. NCIS:LA, NCIS and Castle have all had extensive references to these sports and I have never gotten them. The only one I have gotten was when NCIS:LA mentioned the football team 'The Vikings', I know they come from Minnesota - that's it.

Monster trucks and cronuts

These have been mentioned on NCIS:LA and I was completely lost what on earth they meant. I had a vague idea of what monster trucks are but didn't bother looking them up. So imagine my surprise while I was rolling through TV channels and saw a promo for a Monster truck show. And my first thought was: "Ah, so that's what they were talking about on NCIS:LA".

And cronuts - It looked to me like a weird kind of donut and I knew it somehow mixed together French and American cuisine but more than that was beyond me. So I was yet again mightily surprised to be flipping through an advertisement from a local boutique showing what they were offering on 'American theme days' (my country mostly imports from Europe so there are regular themes days in shops that offer more specialty items from countries) and I came across a cronut. Turns out it's a mix of a donut and croissant. And yet again I thought: "Ah, now I get the reference".

So my inability of grasping cultural references continues but I enjoy the ride.

Having Iceland on the map - Maps on TV

This has to be the geekiest post I will ever write on here but here it goes.

I am randomly fascinated by many things and if there is one thing I like it is maps. I have a beautiful Atlas and if I need to unwind after exams I pull it out and immerse myself in maps. I grew up with maps all around me in school and it has always fascinated me.
Maps are integral part of education here and every single person is expected to know their way around a map of Northern and Western Europe and being able to point out countries. I cannot say how many times I learned the following: "Italy looks like a high heeled boot, Germany borders Denmark, Russa is the biggest European country, Spain sticks out of France and Portugal is sandwiched into Spain, Britain and Ireland are islands, Greece is close to Italy, Turkey links the East and the West , Norway is thin while Swedish is fat, Iceland is a massive island...". I could point out the European countries in my sleep.

But early on I noticed that on many of the world map I looked at school Iceland was missing. Iceland has a small population but the island itself is massive (the size of Kentucky, bigger than Denmark...) and it serves a bridge between the American continent and Europe, so seeing it missing is strange. I noticed this very early on and it fascinated me and ever since I have developed the habit of checking every single world map I look at to see if Iceland is there. And it's honestly amazing how often it is missing from maps. There is just a giant gap between Greenland and Norway where there should be a massive island. I find it so strange that the country so regularly goes missing.

Another map habit I developed in school was getting used to one specific kind of map where Iceland and Greenland are in the top middle with Europe and then Africa below, Asia on the left side and both American continents on the right side. So when in high school when my teacher pulled out a world map where America was in the centre I was completely confused and it took me some time to adjust. I was so used to the other style that this threw me completely off game.

And these habits has of course followed me into the realm of TV and I am not kidding when I say that every single time a map appears on the screen I automatically check for Iceland, it never ever fails. Castle, Parks and Rec and Criminal Minds have never ever featured world maps but Parks and Rec has mentioned Iceland several times so I am certain they locate it on a map :)

My darling NCIS franchise has however proved to be a goldmine in this regard. NCIS regularly has up a world map and I am happy to say that Iceland is always on the map. But sometimes they do show a map of the world which has random X's all over the world, including in Iceland and I have never understood why.
And once when I was doing my regular map checking I was thrown for a loop when I noticed they had a USA central world map in episode 8x16. I was confused when I saw it and it took me by surprise. So my advice for TV producers that want to confuse their audience is throwing in subtle visual clues like this.
And in episode 11x02, there was on Ziva's list very clearly written "Visit Iceland and America" and it was shown very clearly several times yet it was never said out loud! I am still trying to figure out why they randomly threw in Iceland. If it was a shout out to the Nordic NCIS fans I am very happy with it but my guess is that they were randomly throwing ideas around for an exotic place Ziva would want to visit and felt Iceland would be obscure and strange enough.

And I cannot go without picking NCIS:LA apart. I am happy to report that not once have they had a map that hasn't featured Iceland. And believe when I say, I check every single time a map is shown on the show but so far they have not failed. So there's one thing they do right. But on the other hand they have made one major faux pas when it comes to Iceland. In episode 3x21 they were showing the potential outbreak of a dangerous virus. It'd would have effectively wiped out much of Europe and it did look very creepy to see the color red spreading all over Europe and the characters looked very serious and sombre when looking at it. But I, the ever nerdy Nordic, noticed that while Europe got red, Iceland remained nicely green. In other words, they completely forgot to include it which makes no sense since it serves as a bridge between Europe and America. So a scene that was meant to be very serious has me snickering every single time I see it. I will never be able to look at that scene without laughing.

So my advice is - make sure you cover Iceland and feature it on maps. Because believe me, some of it look for it every single time.

Measuring everything with Hiroshima-Nagasaki

Today's topic is on the heavy side but it has been weighing on my mind lately and I felt I needed to share my thoughts on it.

Everyone is aware of the tragic events of Hiroshima-Nagasaki at the end of WWII in August 1945. When America hit the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons that devastated the area permanently and killed over 300.000 people. It is one of the most tragic events of the 20th century and is the only known instant of nuclear weapons having been used in warfare in the world. It is an extremely complicated, controversial and difficult event to explain and come to terms with and it's my feeling that it can never be explained properly. But that does not mean we shouldn't try.

Earlier this year, my local library held an exhibition about the events which featured stories of the events, real items from it like singed shirts, shoes and books, pictures and an explanation of the effects this has had upon the area, the Japanese nation and how it is being dealt with today. It was a very well received exhibition and it affected everyone that went there. I know that for me personally, it was devastating to see it. Devastating but necessary. I know many teachers brought high-school students to the exhibition and it affected them a lot, many parents took their children as well to teach them about this difficult history and raise awareness of the issue.

And how does this relate to the TV world?

It seems to me that every single time my favorite TV shows deal with nuclear weapons and distribution of them (or just bombs in general) they always reference Hiroshima-Nagasaki. But not to acknowledge these events or attempt to deal with them. No, it is used as a measuring device. I cannot count how many times I've hear something along the lines of: "The nuclear device is so big it can kill up to 3 million people, that is ten times as much as Hiroshima-Nagasaki". And then all the characters nod seriously. Am I the only one that feels that people are trying to upstage the death toll of Hiroshima-Nagasaki when they do this? It's like: "Yeah sure, those bombs killed 300.000 people but our fictional bombs, they are much deadlier. Take that Hiroshima-Nagasaki!"

NCIS has had this, Castle and NCIS:LA. And for the life of me I cannot understand why. Hiroshima-Nagasaki is what it is - a devastating and terrorizing event with immense political controversy attached to it. It should never be used as a measuring stick for fictional death toll on television. 

It crossed my mind that when measuring death toll I have never heard certain things. I have never heard people comparing death tolls to the lives lost in the Holocaust, the tsunami in 2005, the earthquake in Haiti, The Armenian genocide, the Boznian and Serbian civil war in the early 90's, the civil war in America in the 1860's, the number of people killed by Stalin and so many other events. And it is obvious why, to use those events as a measuring stick for fictional death toll would be highly disrespectful and ignorant. 

So why then is it fair-game to use Hiroshima-Nagasaki as a measuring stick? Devastating events when masses of people die, be it due to war or natural causes should never be used flippantly on TV and never ever as measuring sticks. They should and can be dealt with deftly and with respect. But never ever for the sake of pure entertainment.

I have sometimes written about here my worries on how TV shows approach reality and how it can shift our perception of it. TV represents heightened and freaky reality and should always be taken at a surface level. But when TV reality starts treating the real reality flippantly and without caution and respect, we are on a dangerous path. It seems to me that the TV world is partly on that path already but it can be changed and it should. Otherwise, we are in dangers of starting to approach historical events as if they do not matter, as if history and it's effect isn't real. And that is something we cannot allow to happen. 

(And in case people need a measuring stick instead of Hiroshima-Nagasaki. Iceland has a population of roughly 320.000 people, similar to the death toll of Hiroshima-Nagasaki. So just reference the Icelandic population instead. Much easier, inoffensive and will make a lot of Icelanders happy)

"The Dubious Awards" 2013 - NCIS:LA edition

I am not leaving on my grand vacation until next week so I'll be popping in a few times over the next few days to share some posts that have been swirling around my brain lately. One of the things I enjoy getting from writing this blog is that it encourages to evaluate culture and how I view it from a new angle. It challenges me and I really like maintaining this blog. I hope people enjoy reading it as well.

The next few posts will in part be dedicated to the little 'dubious' things I  see on my favorite shows which make me sigh. I genuinely like the shows I watch but sometimes they go overboard and feature things which either make absolutely no sense or lose their grounding. And as always, NCIS:LA is my favorite series to pick apart, evaluate and judge. And they are the definite winners of the dubious contest. And here is why:

1) For some odd reason, there is a regular appearance of either a bikini bar or a strip club as a major part of an episode (and even once a pole dancing studio!) on the show. And let us not forget the scene where they had Kensi enter undercover at a call girl agency (a segment I thoroughly hate for many reasons and was a complete disservice to a great character!). It never fails; The male characters enter the place wearing tuxedos, there are plenty of scantily clad women dancing all around (and all with Russian accents) and the agents chat to some seedy villains that have either an illegal operation going on there or this is their meeting place. And of course, there are also regularly young navy males that go to such places to entertain themselves.

I am going to go knock my head against the wall now. Is this really the best place the writers can think off for an undercover operation or as an evil villain hideout? I am not going to elaborate on my feelings and views towards such places (let it suffice to say I am an ardent feminist) but this regular appearance makes me groan. I did enjoy the scene when Kensi ask Deeks what was the difference between a bikini car and a strip club (I had no idea there actually was a difference) but I had to agree with her response of incredulity. And apparently Deeks had spent quite some time in such places. Not to mention this constant objectification of women seems to serve no purpose except "sex up" the show which is has no need for. It stands on strong ground already.

You writers and producers can do better than this!

2)Product placement. Now, NCIS:LA will never be a very smooth show. It operates on embellishment, big things, testosterone and a freaky version of reality. And of the areas in which they are extremely obvious is their product placement. I can think of three examples which are noticably bad:

-Every time they pull out a camera, you always see the sigh "Nicon" very clearly visually. It is almost front and center just so that we can definitely see who sponsors them with the camera
-LL Cool J's music. He is a great actor and I respect the man but I am no lover of his hip hop music (classical musician). I made an very honest attempt to get into his music last December but found out that it did certainly not suit my music taste. "Accidental racist" had me sitting open-mouthed and shaking my head as it was one of the worst songs I have ever heard.  I have since come to the conclusion the song was made intentionally bad to raise awareness of racial issues and I have to say that was a clever ploy because it did certainly get people talking. But aside from that, one can regularly hear his hip hop music being a prominent part of certain scenes.
-The discussion of Cross Fit in season 4. It had me grinding my teeth. Last year I worked in a place where everyone was pretty much obsessed with the sport and it dominated all cafeteria discussions. So the episode where the opening scene began with Kensi and Sam praising the sport gave me an eerie flashback to all those discussions. Rarely, if ever, have I witnessed such incredibly bad production placement on TV. It was so blatantly obvious I have decided to deem it: "The worst production placement ever!".

3)Number of kills. I have already written here about gun culture, how I view violence on TV and how it is treated. So, when you have a series like NCIS:LA which operates to a certain extent on gun violence and deaths, you have people like me sighing/grinding our teeth. It never, ever fails, that in every single bloody episode at least 5 people are killed. Granted, it is always in self-defense but still. One can guarantee that no matter what subject they are dealing with, it'll bring along a major death toll in its way. And the characters hardly ever answer to their actions or are reprimanded for their insane death toll. And why hasn't there been a single mention of angry families of they people they've killed pursuing them demanding justice?  They always enter the scene guns blazing and killing everything in their path. There seems to be the rule "Shoot everyone in our way and to hell with the rest!"

Again, writers and producers, you can do better than this! Look to series like NCIS and Castle that have built up a strong and solid fanbase and are very popular and well crafted without major death toll.

4)Display of violence. Yet again, a major pet peeve of mine which plays into my dislike of the prominent gun violence on their show. Another feature of the NCIS:LA agents is that whenever they arrest a subject or take  someone down they always do it with as much violence and physical harm as possible. They've slammed people into walls, the car, the ground, hit them, attacked them, punched them and what not. And they have also threatened torture and displayed it which is something that should never bedone in my opinion. It never seizes to amaze me how they manage to pack violence into pretty much every scene in which pursuing a subject is involved. The characters seem to resort to violence in everything they do which is terrible and again it undermines the characters they have built.

5)Kensi's seeming inability to handle another female agent/law enforcement/a strong woman entering the scene without going crazy. I think the character of Kensi is great on most levels and it is one the reasons I love watching the show. But it has come to my attention that every single time a strong female enters the scene Kensi pulls back, becomes jealous and resorts to threats, defensive and bitchy behavior. It happened when Ava Espinoza came and they had Kensi threatening her and attacking defensive in every scene. It also happened when Monica entered the scene in season 4 and yet again, Kensi sparred with her. It amazes me she is always displayed as being incapable of handling another female entering the scene that is as strong and capable as she is. It shows genuine insecurity in her which is frustrating to see. Someone like her should be able to handle things like that without feeling threatened or resorting to violence. I am not saying Kensi should be perfect (her imperfections are one of the reasons why I enjoy the character so much) but she should be portrayed as being more mature. She could be shown handling things in  her own way but being insecure as well (without the violence). I've noticed Nell clearly has a much better ability of handling people.

6)Their foreign policy. Everyone is an enemy and anti-American and apparently Europeans have a mad desire to destroy LA. One of these days, I will write about   what it's like for people to travel to America from here. It all begins and ends with A) The cost of flight which is super high B) The terrible logistics of travelling there and C) The terror it is to deal with security at American airports.
It is an experience in itself for us Europeans. Because of the Schengen agreement over here, when travelling within Europe, we only flash our passport at the airport we fly from. In general, when we land at our destination, we just go on our merry way. It's one of the perks that comes with being a European :) So, the security at American airports throws us for a loop. Last time I went to the country I got into a hazzle as I have a very ethnic name that is written in two different ways, one is the Scandinavian one and the other is the International one. Try explaining that to airport authorities as they thought it was very suspicious I had one name on my green card and another one in my passport :)

And sometimes you just gotta love the NCIS:LA logic of things. It has passed through my mind that one of these days they might go for Nordic villains. I am thinking they'd have Icelandic and Faroese villains conspire to do something crazy in L.A. And frankly I would not put it past them to cook up something like that :) Or a conspiracy between all the smaller nations of Europe. The possibilities are endless!

And to conclude

NCIS:LA is a good show but there are also areas they fail in, in my opinion and hence the dubious awards. And since I take it so much apart and criticize it then why do I watch it? I genuinely enjoy the show on many levels, not least because it makes me laugh and smile which is something I look for in a show. I love laughing, smiling and feeling happy and NCIS:LA never seizes to make me grin and laugh. I watch an episode and it makes me happy. And that it something TV shows do not generally manage with people like me. It has on many levels excellent characterization and the story line is often great. And it has brilliant actors that do a wonderful job. Good acting is certainly not always a feature of TV and I appreciate the fact that NCIS:LA always has top-notch acting. Not to mention that there are truly great episodes in between that I can watch over and over again (The Job, Human Traffic, Personal, Kill House, 4x17).

So I will continue watching and picking apart.

And next up for the dubious awards is Criminal Minds!

Letter to NCIS:LA producers - the implication of your focus on Russia

Dear producers of NCIS:Los Angeles

I really like your show. I look forward to watching it and I grin and laugh while also I also get caught in the action. I enjoy following the roller coaster the characters are on and seeing them evolve and change and how they connect with each other. I love watching old episodes and they always make me laugh. Simply put, your show brings a smile to my face. It really is a good show

But it also frustrates me regularly. There are many ways in which you deal with things which I do not like. Some of it are little things which are of small consequence but others are big matters which I feel you handle inadequately. One particular area in which I feel your handling of things detracts from the show is the way in which you use Russian characters, Russian history and the country's relationship with America.

I have noticed the particular focus you have put on Russia as the source for your story lines and your villains. It seems to me that almost every villain or evil agent from abroad you have on your show is Russian. In my opinion, there are not only far too many villains from that country but they are also vapid characters. Many of them do not even speak with a proper Russian accent. It is never explained why Russian sleeper agents are so many or why they would in particular concentrate on attacking America. Their motivation is never properly explained. There has never been a normal Russian character, they are always portrayed as criminals. This shows, in my opinion, not only a lack of creativity which is sad to see on a show that is at other times bursting with creative energy, but also lack of sensitivity towards Russia and its history.

I am not trying to excuse Russia's actions but what I mean to say is that Russian history is incredibly complicated. It is a country that has a lot to recover from. The actions of Russia throughout history have affected many European countries very badly and the impact is still felt today. The Soviet Union effectively wiped Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia off the map and those countries suffered for years and are currently recuperating. Stalin imprisoned and killed over 20 million people from this area, Finland too The same can be said for Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and for Russia itself. It are those countries that have been affected the worst by Russian history. So to me, knowing this, I get a bitter taste in my mouth when I see that NCIS:Los Angeles seems to thrive on the possibility that Russia would always be trying to attack USA. I am aware of the history of the Cold War and the precarious connection between Russia and America.
However, the cold war was more about threat than anything else. More than 20 million lives weren't lost, people were not sent to prison camp and countries were not wiped off the map. So, the constant focus on Russia wanting to attack America is a simplification of a very difficult and complicated history and does disservice to those that were truly affected by Russia's actions. America was not affected nearly as bad as some European countries were.

Another thing which I would like to point out is the fact that Russia is not only a country with a difficult and complicated history and past but it is also an incredibly culturally diverse and rich country. I am a lover of Russian culture and it never seizes to amaze me how much there is to discover and know and the beauty of it. Russian classical music, ballet, architecture, cuisine and literature are at the forefront of their field. Russia has some of the world's finest culture and heritage and it is a joy to discover. This depth and magnitude of Russia is forgotten and ignored when a series presents a simplistic and narrow view of its people and history.
I'd also like to point out that the largest part of Russian people are, like everyone else, peaceful, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens that work hard and do their best. Presenting such a view on a nation of 150 million people does them no service and is demeaning.

What I would personally like to see is not only a shift in focus but also balance. It it fine to portray Russians as long as it done with care and not always opting for the same stereotype. The strong focus on Russia has diminished the show in my opinion as it is often the sole source of story lines that have all become alike and boring,. In my opinion, shifting the focus and portraying normal Russian characters every once in a while and offering a more positive view of the country is a far more feasible option than refusing to move on and continuing to use Russia as the source for everything,

I am not Russian. I do not know the language and I have never been there. I was however brought up with Russian classical music and it remains close to my heart. I am very interested in the country and culture. I know the history. I am Scandinavian and European that comes from a country that engages in positive communication with Russia. So this does concern me.

Whether you change this or not, I hope you at least give thought to what you are doing and that your viewers notice such things.

Wishing you all the best, with kind regards

Anna - A NCIS:Los Angeles aficionado from Scandinavia

Respect and sensitivity - realizing that there is real life, real tragedy, real people beyond the TV facade

One value which I strive for in my life and actions is respect. Respect towards myself, society, other people, different cultures and traditions, children, languages, life and reality. I consider the virtue of respect to be one of the most important ones to strive for each and every day and in everything I do. Not that I always manage to do it but I try. I believe it is extremely important.

As I watch my favorite TV shows Castle, NCIS, NCIS:LA and Criminal Minds I am both entertained and challenged. There is always at the back of my mind the thought of that what they are dealing with, what they take on and turn into fictional material is based on reality, often a sad and terrible reality. It is easy to turn terror, sadness, panic, tragedy and pain into fictional storytelling on TV. But I always wonder, do the TV producers and the actors realize that what they are dealing with is real. Do they acknowledge or think of the fact that what they portray, glamorize, judge or even mock on their shows isn't fictional. It is reality. And reality needs to be treated with respect. Because it sometimes seems they forget.

I like both NCIS shows very much. But I can help but get a bitter taste in my mouth every time I read an article about the rise of homeless army/navy veterans and what they are up against when they return from a war-torn place. I am in no way supportive of the institutions of armies or navies. I oppose them. But I also see the people behind it and I acknowledge that they sacrifice and risk everything to protect. An army/navy veterans have saved people, protected and made places safer. Here in my area, soldiers died to protect my own country. None of them was from it and they still came here and protected us. They have lived a more difficult reality that most of us will ever experience and seem the worst of mankind. And yet they return and often find themselves facing another terrifying reality of homelessness, being without a job, very bad mental illness and dealing with the shock of returning. It sickens me.

I think about the fact that the actors are paid very generously to pretend to those people. To pretend to have army training, to have been in a war torn country, to have made endless sacrifices, to risk their mental health, well being and their family. They get paid for pretending to have been involved in a terrifying reality when those that were truly involved often do not get what they need or even the acknowledgement. When TV takes on those things they turn into something else than what they are. Respect and sensitivity is forgotten and ignored for the sake of entertainment.

How can that be right?

How did we come to the place that it matters more to pretend to be involved in a terrifying reality rather than having actually been in that reality?

Somehow we managed to turn reality into a showmanship, where fiction matters more than what is really going on.

This plays in with respect and sensitivity. When portraying people and dealing with matters such as war, soldiers, conflict and whatever is connected with that it needs to be done with respect and sensitivity. And sometimes, that is lost in my opinion. It is easy to throw out words and reference events when it's fiction but there needs to be constant recognition and respect towards the reality that fiction is taken from.

And sometimes I wonder. Do we realize that or are we happy to continue pretending and refusing to see what is right in front of us? Have we lost our respect for reality for the sake of being entertained?

I hope with all my heart we haven't.

Being a cellist is the work undercover gig ever, NCIS:LA! - Note from a classical musician

I am a classical musician and nerd and a big lover of music and instruments. And I observe and notice all sorts of things.I am paranoid about my own instrument and am very careful about handling it, cleaning it and taking it anywhere. It is my 'baby' and I do not want anything to happen to it. I have even had a nightmare about my instrument being wrecked. Horror scenes for classical musicians including losing your instrument  having it stolen, leaving it out in the sunshine, a child playing it and travelling abroad.

So watching last episode of NCIS:LA was a 'horror' for a classical musician like me. In one of the last scenes they have Kensi go undercover as a cellist at some plaza. Great plan to have some pretend to be a busking musician except they completely wrecked it in my own, classical musician, opinion.

1)Cellos are extremely large and hard to carry around. They have to be treated with great care. Their are not instruments you just pop in your car and go. They take up space and it takes time to get them into the car. Somehow I am not seeing people like Kensi and Deeks pulling something like that off.

2)It has been stated several times that Kensi does not play an instrument. So why on earth have her pretend to be a cellist? Cellos are extremely hard to master and they sound terrible if not played right. It's not like ukulele which requires very little knowledge to be played. Having cello played badly is like listening to a hundred cats getting choked (only violins are worse).

3)One of the key rules of classical musicians is to be paranoid about their instrument when it comes to weather conditions. Especially string musicians as the stringed instruments are extremely sensitive to all change in atmosphere. My own instrument throws a temper tantrum every time it has to encounter cold/heat changes and un-tunes itself. Even a slight change in temperature makes it freak out. I would never leave it out in the sunshine or play it outside.
So Kensi playing a cello in bright sunshine, not a good idea in any way.

4)Another extreme musician paranoia is leaving your instrument unattended. That is something no musician would ever do as it might be stolen. In rehearsals I always have my music box in sight and my instrument rarely leaves my side when I travel with it. Yes, I helicopter parent it but for a good reason. String instruments are high quality and cost a lot of money and are valuable items to steal.
So Kensi running away from her instrument is not a good idea. Anyone could come and take her cello away.

5)Why on earth do the NCIS:LA people have a cello handy for undercover missions? It's not like it's a weapon or that it can be used for defense.It's a large, bulky instrument that requires great care.

But they did do one thing right - the cello was placed on a stand so at least it was not on the ground! That shows some thinking at least.

I'd personally recommend owing a bunch of ukuleles. They are cheap, easy to play, can be left behind, require only minimal instrumental care and have a lot of incredible Hawaian music behind them which is wonderful to play. Not to mention, a lot of  people play them and they can be played badly.

This scene made me laugh and shake my head over. And it's one of those odd things I like about NCIS:LA, the silly mistakes they make.