Eating Muffins

Halme Polvinen Family Collective. You will all be assillymated

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  • Espoo Cine: Sancharram – The Journey

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    R&A –festareille olin kyllä Parineetaa menossa katsomaan, mutta mörrimöykkypäivä ja kipeä jalka saivat jäämään kotiin. Eli tämän vuoden festari-intialaiselokuvaksi jäi Espoo Cinen ohjelmistossa ollut malayalaminkielinen Sancharram, kertomus kahden nuoren tytön rakkaudeksi kasvavasta ystävyydestä. Lesboutta ei intialaisessa elokuvassa ole vakavasti pahemmin käsitelty. Silloin kuin teemaa käsitellään tai siihen viitataan, lesbot joko koodataan voyaristisesti roistoiksi tai kyseessä on Intiassakin hyvin voivan naisvankilagenren edustaja. Ainut aikaisempi teemaa vakavasti käsittelevä leffa jonka olen nähnyt on The Fire vuodelta 1996.

    Siinä missä Fire –elokuvan päähenkilöt löytävät toisensa petyttyään heteroseksuaalisiin suhteisiin, Sancharram on herkkä Romeo/Julia tyyppinen kasvutarina ja heräämisen kuvaus. Sen juoni on äärimmäisen ennalta-arvattava ja tempo vähän liian hidas. Kiran ja Delilah kasvavat rakastamaan toisiaan, mutta kun Delilahin äiti saa selville tyttöjen suhteen todellisen luonteen, pyrkii hän naittamaan tyttärensä nopeasti Amerikkaan. Vaikka Kiran järjestää tytöille mahdollisuuden karata kaupunkiin ja yrittää elää omilla ehdoillaan, ei Delilah uskalla astua yhteiskunnan sääntöjen ulkopuolelle ja suostuu avioliittoon. Elokuvan tuntuu kiertyvän kohti väistämätöntä tragediaa, mutta loppu onkin yllättäen avoin ja toivoa antava.

    Teknisesti pienellä budjetilla tehty Sancharram on välillä horjuva, mutta onnistuu muutamissa hiljaisissa kohtauksissa vangitsemaan lähes hypnoottisesti hetken valkokankaalle. Pääosin sen kiinnostavuus on kuitenkin sen eksotiikassa: Keralan vehreät maisemat ja etelä-intialainen kulttuuri viehättävät vieraudessaan ja värikylläisyydessään. Intialaisen elokuvankaan kliseitä ei ole vältetty: rakastavaiset eivät tällä kertaa laula jyrkänteen reunalla, mutta seisovat siellä salwar-kameez hulmuten, ja ukkosmyrsky saa jälleen kerran symboloida seksuaalisuutta. Kivaa.

  • Good beginning

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    Posted by Sari

    It is officially autumn as Hockey season has begun! Yesterday was our third game of the season and if one does not count the anemic second period it was entertaining. Or as entertaining as SM-league hockey nowdays can be, what with the new rules removing all contact from the game. Honestly, ringette is more physical nowdays than this…

    Anyway, though KalPa might not be an accurate measure of IFK’s form, but the game looked very promising. For a change foreign help is actually earning their keep. Murphy is a first class defender, Guolla an excellent play-maker, and Murray good both in the attack and defense. Guest-star Hrdina is also definitely an asset. Special props to Janne who, in my opinion, is better at directing rebunds to corners than he used to be. With Schnabel as the extra foreigner and Saarinen injured, the defense could have been stronger. Laakso was a pleasant surprise, though that might have been just the fact he was playing with Seppänen who as pretty unsure. As far as the offensive end goes, seven goals, all from different players  (one of them first league goal for Jouhkimainen) speaks well of the material.

    Summa summarum: lots of goals, shutout for Janne, cold beer and good atmosphere thanks to B2, what’s not to like?

  • Du-Dun-Duu

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    Posted by Sari

    Du-Dun-Duu
    Siskoni sai jo kesän alussa fiksun idean selatessaan juhlaviikkojen ohjelmaa. Silmiin sieltä pisti Rajattoman ja Tommi Kitin yhteistuotanto Du-Dun-Duu. Pian oli liput hankittu Finnconin jälkeiseksi viikonlopuksi ja astelimme yhdessä Alminsaliin perjantaina Ruotsi-ottelun kuuluttajan pauhatessa taustalla.

    Modernia tanssia olen aktiivisemmin seurannut viimeksi 1990-luvun alkupuolella eikä se koskaan ole ollut niin keskeinen kiinnostuksen kohde että osaisin väittää aiheesta erityisesti tietäväni – lempiteoksenikin on Ensimmäinen maailmansota –maniaani liittyen jo 1900-luvun alkupuolelta, Kurt Joossin klassikko Vihreä pöytä.

    Du-Dun-Duu oli monella tavalla kiinnostava taideteos, todellinen kollaboraatio Rajattoman ja Kitin tanssioiden välillä. Rajaton ei seisonut lavalla asennossa luomassa musiikkia vaan liikkui tanssijoiden lomassa, osallistui tilan muuttamisiin ja oli asusteita myöten orgaaninen osa teosta. Erityisesti tässä mielessä pidin tavasta jolla laulajat ja tanssijat rajasivat ja muuttivat tilaa nostelemalla puupenkkejä ja asettumalla eri muodostelmiin lavalle.

    Du-Dun-Duu olisi helposti voinut muodostua fragmentaariseksi Rajattoman laulujen liikekuvauksiksi mutta Kitti kumppaneineen onnistui tekemään tanssiteoksesta kokonaisuuden. Usein musiikin ja rytmin kanssa kontrapunktissa liikkuva elekieli ja hiljaisuuden vallitessa esitetyt sidososat toivat työhön jatkumoa.

    Lisäksi teoksen rakenne loi taitavasti jännitteitä yleisölle. Alun jazzahtavat vokaliisit olivat abstrakteja huipentuen valituksesta suoraksi itkuksi liukuvaan Mome –kappaleeseen joka sai tervetulleen epämukavan olon katsojassa taiteillessaan intiimin, traagisen ja naurettavan rajoilla. Sitä seuraavat Kirsi Kunnaksen runojen sovitukset laukaisevat jännitteen taitavasti ja antavat katsojalle jotain tutumpaa johon reagoida. Teos huipentuu kristilliseen Stabat Materiin. Chydeniuksen henkeäsalpaavan kaunis melodia yhdistyy teoksessa koreografisesti ensimmäisen kerran selkeisiin tarinankerronnallisiin elementteihin.

    Samalla tavalla jännitettä teoksessa mielestäni luotiin ja laukaistiin tanssijoiden vähäisellä kanssakäymisellä. Tanssijat tuskin koskettavat toisiaan teoksen aikana eivätkä kaikissa osissa edes ota katsekontaktia toisiinsa tai laulajiin. Tästä johtuen takia, kun viimeisessä numerossa  ”Maria” kurottaa kättään koskettamaan ”Jeesusta” tuntuu tämä erityisen merkitykselliseltä.

    Oli myös hauskaa vertailla kuinka erilaisesti koimme siskoni kanssa teoksen. Orgaaninen, koko kehosta lähtevä liikekieli muistutti siskoani kovasti itämaisista voimistelu/taistelulajeista joihin hän oli tutustunut ja hän kokikin teoksen kinestesian kautta tuntien kehossaan miltä liikkeet hänestä tuntuisivat. Minä taas  tulkitsin koreografiaa enemmän kuvioina ja lavalla oliijoiden välisenä kanssakäymisenä, ehkä jopa miiminä koska minulle tämä tapa liikkua oli ihan yhtä liikekokemukseni ulkopuolella kuin vaikka klassinen tanssi.

    Kaikin puolin siis mielenkiintoinen iltapuhde.

  • He lost to Barry Manilow!

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    Posted by Sari

    Can I just say how much I love Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart?

  • Quality time with the Hubby

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    Posted by Sari

    So, Finncon is on its way, Paasitorni and the park before it are full of people. It is hot and humid and the fact that there is water available on every floor is a great, great thing. I bailed out around fiveish to go home to get some stuff for Jukka, and just before I went the doors had to be closed and new people only go in when someone got out.

    Unlike in most my Finncons, I have actually seen program numbers, mainly because I have been gophering for Jukka and thus sat in on his program items. I rather think that is the only way to actually see my husband before Monday. Also, I saw the cultural clashes panel which actually worked wonderfully well as a sort of a more coherent version of a mafia-discussion on SF and world politics. Might actually be first panel discussion ever I enjoyed. Colour me surprised.

    Now, to the party 🙂

  • Finncon is Now!

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    Posted by jukkahoo

    I’vee been busy, yes. And the busyness is only getting worse. I’ll try get some sleep on Monday, hopefully.

    But yes, Finncon is here! Soon it’ll start and we’ll see how well we have managed to plan and organise the event. Lot of work been done these past two-plus years. LOT of work. Thank you! alla of you, and especially my Loved One! You are the Pillar of Strenght I build my life upon. Thie event included. I love you!

    And then: the Book is also out. Buy it now and make Jan and Satu happy publishers. Buy also George R. R. Martin’s new translation Miekkamyrsky 2. And the previous part, imaginatively named Miekkamyrsky 1. Yay!

    We’ll be having overnight guest from tomorrow onward, Anglemarks are staying at our place for Finncon. I hope to be able to have at least some time to play the gracious host. The official press occasion is also tomorrow.

    I was on telly today (wednesday). Apparently I was on for few seconds, ranting something incoherent about Doctor Who. Yay! for Finncon-puffing. I’ll be on the YLEX on Saturday morning as well.

    The Guests are here for the most part. VanderBeers arrived from Roumania, I was there to greet them, took a photo and managed to get a nice shot of pair legsies. Well. I may post it later. Ghost of the GoH coming to Finland. And we got Justina Robson here as well. That was an adventure. I’m not certain I’m allowed to divulge anything more. Nor am I at all certain if I want to do that. I may post it later.

    Have a GREAT Finncon!

  • Uuskummaa?

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    Etukansi6cm72dpi Posted by jukkahoo

    It’s going to look a LOT like that one. Ninni Aalto’s wonderful cover.

    The printers are a-printin’.

    The booksies are soon done.

    Uuskummaa? is a-comin’.

    Here is the complete list of ingredients:

    Preface
    Jeff VanderMeer: Salainen elämä (Secret Life)
    Kelly Link: Taikuutta vasta-alkajille (Magic for Beginners)
    Margo Lanagan: Kun siskoni laulettiin pikeen (Singing My Sister Down)
    Stepan Chapman: Afasian valtionsalaisuudet (State Secrets of Aphasia)
    Carol Emshwiller: Mummi (Grandma)
    Gene Wolfe: Kehdosta (From the Cradle)
    Liz WIlliams: Tummaa hunajaa (Honeydark)
    China Miéville: Lemmikki (Familiar)
    Jeffrey Ford: Jäätelön valtakunta (Empire of Ice Cream)

    Translated by Kristina Drews, Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo, Satu Hlinovsky and myself.

    Soon you too can own this simply brilliant collection of modern fantasy short stories. It’s the stories that I’m talking about. And of the translators. And the editorial wonderfulness of Jan and Satu. You guys (all of you) råck!

    Support your local dealer! Buy Kirjava books!

  • Aur Pyar Ho Gaya

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    Posted by Sari

    Jukka, being just unbelievably busy with Finncon and editing the short-story collection, called dibs on Gordo (the new computer is called Gordo in "honor" of both El Gordito And Buffy’s soft-toy) for Saturday. Unsurprsingly I ended up with a nice cup of hard tea and a Bolly-movie. This time I went with Aur Pyar Ho Gaya. It is a pretty typical 1990s romance-drama-comedy: Aashi’s dad wants her to marry Rohit who owns a clothing business in – you guessed it – Switzerland. Aashi wants to check out the potential groom before committing to anything and flies to Switzerland to meet him. On the airport he meets with Bobby Oberoi who falls for her and pretends to be Rohit in order to spend time with her. By the intermission Bobby and Aashi are in love, Bobby has confessed his deception, has been forgiven for it and are flying back to India to ask the blessing of their parents.

    Aashi’s dad makes everything very difficult however, mainly because first Bobby makes fun of his hair and later because Bobbys mom who by a strange coincidence just happens to be Aashi’s dad’s banker, does not cover for him in a shady stock deal. Aashi and dad are just flying off to meet the real Rohit when Bobby manages to stop the aeroplane just before takeoff and manages to convince Aashi’s dad of his undying love. The end.

    Um. The interesting thing about the movie is that it is Aishwaraya Rai’s hindi movie debute. Thus lots of Aish from every angle and endless dance numbers to prove that the Miss World can can-can. And she undoubtably can. This is of course helped by the fact that she is teamed up with Bobby Deol who as undoubtably can’t. Watching him dance is actually painful. The other interesting thing is that the movie has Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music, he even performs one of the songs in Aashi’s and Bobby’s engagement party. And the other other interesting thing is Shammi Kapoor as Aashi’s grandfather who is excellent especially towards the end.

    The rest is really meh. DVD-transfer is from an inferior copy, the plot, dialogue and pacing is off, and the exotic Switzerland was getting on my nerves for a bit. As was Bobby Deol, big time. And the ending: you really can’t take the "rushes to the airport to stop the love of his/her life from going" -cliche any further than this. Bobby chases Aashi’s jumbo with the staircase-car and Aashi in her turn slides down the emergency slide to the waiting arms of her love. Only in India, I tell ya.

  • Books, for a change

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    Posted by Sari

    I have been a really lazy reader lately, staying at the core of my comfort zone and mainly re-reading old favourites. Such a one is Kipling’s Captains Corageous (or in this case in Swedish Havet’s Hjältar – I have been annoying Jukka by trying to find out what kind of wish is a “helgeflundra” . Along with Sienkiewicz’s In Desert and Wilderness (Erämaan halki) and Verne’s A Long Vacation (Kahden vuoden loma-aika), this was my absolutely favourite adventure novel as a kid. None of the other Kipling’s stories made any impression, but this story of a spoiled teenage son of a millionaire falling off of a luxury liner and being picked up by fishing vessel just captured my imagination. Kipling’s vivid characters and milieu combined with the the rite of passage of Harvey into responsible manhood has withstood the time much better than many other childhood favourites, and I still can’t understand why Kim or Jungle Book is supposed to be better books than this gem.

    Other comfort reading has been Diana Wynne Jones’ lighter books, Especially Howl’s Moving Castle, which Anttila was giving out as package with the Miyasaki movie. It is still one of my favourite Jones books, I have always thought it very shrewd writing that Sophie finds being turned into an old woman at least partly a liberating experience.

    I have also been reading disaster science fiction, another perennial favourite sub-genre. You know, the kind of books where a natural disaster of some sort threatens to wipe out all life on earth as we know it. This time I chose John Barnes “Mother of Storms” and Jack McDevitt’s “Moonfall”. In the former a large deposit of methane is released into oceans in the northern hemisphere which rises the water temperature just enough to create conditions for unpredictable super-hurricanes, in the latter an interstellar comet crashes to the moon and threatens the Earth with meteorite showers and nuclear winter and loss of tides and whatnot. The Skiffy element in the former is the development of the Singularity concurrent with the crises, in the latter there is a privatly funded Moonbase and a mission to Mars gearing up to go. Both were sort of entertaining, Mother of Storms had little too much going on with cyberpunky plugging in to other people’s thoughts and feelings and the whole Singularity thing. Moonfall, on the other hand somehow just  fell a part at the end without achieving the large scale drama and human-size tragedy it was obviously after.

    In addition to reading, I have been listening Half Blood Prince audiobook. It takes ages – 17 CD’s – but is worth the time just for Stephen Fry who is excellent reader, doing the voices just right. He does a mean charicature when necessary, but does not overdo the main characters. Otherwise, this round of Harry’s adventures just reminded me how much I hate him. Harry, that is. I think it is fair to have assumed the series to be a bildnungsroman of sorts what with a young protagonist growing to adulthood, but there has been no character growth whatsoever. Character regression perhaps. If you ask me, the self-righteous empathy-impaired little snot ought to get burned by Voldemort. Gah!

  • I’m sitting on the Pope

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    Posted by Sari

    No, really. I am visiting my aunt who, on her computer chair, has a cushion with a picture of Pope Benedict on it. The legend on the cushion says Habemus Papam, and there is even a little sigil with the colours of German flag on it. Also,  it is that infamous Pope Palpatine picture. Catholic church so has the better souveniers.