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Halme Polvinen Family Collective. You will all be assillymated

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  • Parilla pitkällä ja sitten Turkuun kulttuuria katsomaan

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    Posted by jukkahoo

    Met Jeff Long yesterday. A thoroughly nice fellow and a very good author to boot. LIKE had arrainged a little get-together for us "sidosryhmä" people (meaning various hobnobs of the Helsinki SF-circles and me) to meet, eat and dine with Jeff. The Man told us things from the past, the future and the present. And was more than interested about Finland, the scene here and, well, us. Which was nice.

    And it almost always is: to meet an author, to talk and drink at the same time and exchange pleasentries and bits of serious thoughts. Or more of the latter stuff and some puns. Or… You know what I mean. It IS nice.

    And now I’m about to leave for Turku Kirjamessut. Not, on second thought, strike that. I’m going to go to Turku to see a play. Kansannitistys, starring with Hannu "Mr. Kebabcic" Pajunen, my bloodbrother as the supporting male (tukevana sivuroolina, kuten hän haluaa sitä kuvattavan). Apparently a radical nihilistic comedy. Should be… er, fun?

  • The Call of Dracula

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    Posted by jukkahoo

    It’s finished, it’s done!

    The new Flame Mountain Extravaganza, a veritable cinematic masterpiece, The Call of Dracula (Aka. Draculan Hutsu) was shown to a choice audience at the Bio Flame Mountain, last Saturday. And what a feast of biomagic it was! Sensuous Colours, Thrilling Excitement, Horrifying Shocks and a Whole Lot More! A horror film to end all horror films, maybe even flicks.

    You ask yourself: could one mix Bram Stoker with H. P. Lovecraft, and get away with it? Only if you’re a true autéur á la Petri Hiltunen. That master of poise and dialogue, that Rollin of cinematography, that Fellini of austerity, that Dekker of humour and gore!

    No, I tell you, it was better than that, and more. Many a people said that this is the best Flame Mountain production so far and I’ve seen them all. Heck, I’ve acted in all of those!

    It follows a trusted formula: starring Matti Tanska and Veikko Laeslehto as fearless vampire hunters (as opposed to a dashing adventurer and a trusty mechanic from The Warlord of Saturn; of which M. John Harrison has said: "drinking a couple of beers in front of
    it    "!), yours truly as a professor (no more a mere docent!) with a kidnapped daughter (Tuisku Hiltunen as you’ve never seen her before), and Petri Himself as the Count with that vile Radu (played with gusto by that hairy beast, Mika P. Nieminen – congrats on the happy occasion!) as his henchvamp, as the evil kidnappers. The three caballeros then fight the evil dudes and claim victory, and the babe. Errr… perhaps not the babe, as Tuisku is still (what, 9?) a very young girl indeed – and my daughter in this film!

    It’s fun, it’s not too long – a mind-numblingly co-incidentally three-quarters of an hour long, just like ALL previous Flame Mountain productions – and it looks a way bigger than the real budget of €30. Go figure. Shot in FOUR different countries, it has the most advanced FX ever in a Flame Mountain production, as well as original score by the director-producer-scriptwriter-FXmaster-editor-star MC Petrus Himself! Is there no end to the talent of this Renessaince man? Evidently not.

    Sari was especially taken by the editing, which she thought was seriously better than in two previous ones, and she also thought that us actors seemed to be more "in" with our roles than before. She also thought that surprisingly, prof. Carl-Gustav Apollonius is not a cardboard-copy of doc. Arimo Kaskelotti! Mein gott, who knew I had layers?

    Go see it.

    Oh… it probably won’t be available at your local multiplex very soon. I gues you must wait for the commercial DVD. Coming soon to a very good filmstore near you (ie. Pieni Leffakauppa).

  • Linkapalooza

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    Posted by Sari

    Combinig two of my interests – SF and Amercian politics – Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly talks about Kurtzweil and Singularity.

    Combining two of my other interests – nuclear weapons and opera – here is John Adam’s new opera, Doctor Atomic about Robert J Oppenheimer. The music sounds much like the only previous work of his I have heard, the ever controversial Death of Klinghoffer, but that is not a bad thing, Adams minimalism-derived style is quite accessible and engaging. Also, his intensly political choices of subject are interesting. (His first and perhaps most famous opera is Nixon in China). Link to Dr. Atomic via always excellent Fabula.

    The Skating season is started and it is an olympic season. Results are in from Nebelhorn Trophy, and some old friends had a surprise announcement.

    And a quick reading recommendation: Francis Spufford: Child that Books Built is engaging and interesting long essay on how reading molds us. There is much to argue for and some against, but what Spufford has to say should, I think, resonate with us all who grew up as readers in general and story-addicts in particular.

  • Can I just say…

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    Posted by Sari

    How much I hate computers right about now? My cute barely a year-old lap-top died on me this morning, just told me there was a vital file missing. Refused to start Windows even in the error-thingy-state. Had to install everything again. Thank the who or whatever that I daily backup my thesis-material and my other backups were reasonably up-to-date.

    Even so, stupid computer. Stupid, stupid computer. Hours and hours of installing all sorts of things, and even now tha darned thing seems unstable. And don’t start about the Mac. If I could afford it, I’d go over to the light side in a minute.

    Stupid computer.

  • I’m OK, you’re OK(?), we’re all OK!

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    Posted by jukkahoo

    Once more I have visited the hotsipal and once more my doctor has told me I’m OK. Blood, CAT and all that jazz were good. Hurrah and huzzah!

    And as it has now been almost two years since the implantation of my veinal gate (laskimoportti), it is due to be removed. Should happen the 10th of Oktober. Sigh! Goodbye my sweet cyborg appliance, who remainded silent thru the Kittilä airport security check, the Seutula one and mightily beeped at the Brusselleux International, thus giving an excuse for that Belgian to frisk me. Farewell!

    I’m taking this as a good sign, and so should you too. I wonder if they let me have the thing? Could it be turned into some kind of a pendant? I think I’ll have to ask.

    Other news: I have been watching the new Galactica. It isn’t half bad. I just said today, that I think it is the best sf-series since DS9. Then Teemu (or was it Marko?) asked whether it is better than Firefly. I have to admit it is a close call, but galactica has better premise and no stupid sooooooooooo out of place element.

    Anyway, me likes. It’s not the best thing since sliced bread, but a very good sci-fi tv-series. I must admit I was more than a bit sceptic about the modernisation of an old and definitely camp series, but Ronald D. Moore has done a very nice job with combining the original idea and characters with today’s perspective. Good casting, though I cannot see the sultriness of that Jessica Simpson -lookalike. Baltar, Starbuck, Adama, Tigh and president; great choices. Not too sure about Apollo, and very uncertain about Boomer. And the human cylons. Too much this "what am I?", "what is love?" and "gee willikins, I can have sex!". And some other things, but as that would really need getting into details, I think I’ll pass. Check it out, though. Jukkahoo says: "verra nizza!"

    What isn’t very nice, is another childhood/teenage love: "Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy". Oh, for f**k sake what a piece of c**p! Laugh-free near two hours, with decent choices as characters, but utterly dismal script and staggeringly fun-free dialogue. How the frag can they manage to distill Adams’ radio-play/books void of anything funny? C’mon, the dialogue was there already! How can you possibly take out all the humour? What kind of a sick joke is this movie? How could that brainless twat at the showing snicker and giggle thoughout the entire movie? How is it possible, that I actually paid good money to see this… travesty? I could’ve just burned the tenner, or wipe my nose with it. Must have been both funnier and less painful that way.

    New Galactica = Good. HHGG-movie = Bad. Health = Good.

    Summa summarum = doubleplusgood. I can live with that.

  • OK, so a guy asks me: “Did you take a bath today?” and I said: “Why, is there one missing”? Wocka Wocka Wocka!

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    Posted by jukkahoo

    OK, I occasionally do them memes and may even comment of those on some blogs/LJ’s, but I seldom see the need to post them here at Muffins. Here’s an exception. He was always my favourite Muppet and I’m darned glad to turn up as HIM!

    Here’s to Fozzie and Clyde!

    Fozzie jpeg

    You are Fozzie Bear.
    You are caring and love your friends as if they were family.  For only they will put up with your stupid jokes.

    FAVORITE EXPRESSION:
    "Wocka! Wocka!"

    FAVORITE AUTHOR:
    Gags Beasley, comedy writer

    HOBBIES:
    Telling jokes, dodging tomatoes

    QUOTE:
    "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

    NEVER LEAVES HOME WITHOUT:
    His joybuzzer, his whoopee cushion and Clyde, the rubber chicken.

    What Muppet are you?
    brought to you by Quizilla

  • Tähtivaeltaja Day (and other stuff)

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    Posted by jukkahoo

    What a weekend(ish)! Everything started at Thusday when Mike (that's shorthand for M. John Harrison) was picked from the airport and escorted to Helsinki. A jolly nice evening session with LIKE people (Iida & Hannu & Eliza), checking out the LIKE Headquarters, heading then to Kolme Kruunua where we had something to eat and after that to pub Patrick for some bheer. Lots to talk about and of SF, but also of Finnish tango and politics. Early night though, since we had Tähtivaeltaja award to give next morning and LOADS of other things do. Like checking the email. Which wasn't possible, since my computer had a meltdown. Or something. The hard drive is apparently broken. That suxxs! Big time. (You want to reach me, call me.)

    Friday morning came far too early, but I managed to pick Mike up from his residence and head to Ateneum Café, where we (as in Helsinki SF Association) gave to him and LIKE the Tähtivaeltaja award for Valo (Light) as the best SF-book released in Finnish for the year 2004. A brilliant book that has deserved all the recognition it has thusfar received. A very nice occasion, with loads of reporters (Helsingin Sanomat, Aamulehti, STT) and at least three photographers! A number of questions and a couple of interviews later we headed to Meze (a newish Greek restaurant at Aikatalo) with Mike and Kimmo, where Kimmo conducted an interesting interview for Parnasso with Mike. And the meze's weren't half bad!

    After I had dropped Mike off to LIKE Headquarters for some autographing and photo-opportunities, I headed to Espoo and ESCON. The first ever Espoo SF-con looked nice, had a tremendous site, great organisation, good/great programming, Brilliant Guests (Mike, Johanna Sinisalo, Jyrki J. J. Kasvi); and no audience. After our panel, that is…

    I don't think that our "You've read Harry Potter, Now What?" -discussion with Vesa, Teemu and Sini was THAT bad, quite the opposite methinks. But as feared, the aim of getting high school students to come and listen to (even interesting) panels and interviews, only managed to gather around 60+ youngsters for the very first program part, after which they quickly slithered away to drink some pussikaljaa (probably).

    But dispite the low attendace, the con itself was very good. Interviews were very good, Jyrki & MikaP Double-Act on Books-to-Films-to-Games (or the other way round) was brilliant (good script, guys!) and Petri was funny and profussional as always with his illustrated fairytale a la Kylli-täti. Gruesome stuff…

    And then it was over and we had 18 minutes of Dead Dog left at the Sello. Slippery sofa's and more beer than people. After which we headed to very crowded William K, which was nice. The stay there, not the crowdedness. I think that other that those three kids, every single one of us participants were at William K.

    And then it was Saturday and time for Tähtivaeltaja Day.

    I managed to sleep lateish and find my way to center in order to locate Mike and Catherine, who had earlier mentioned that they'd be checking out the Market Square in the morning and have a decent breakfast at some cosy caféteria. I managed to track them down (after I had waited a mere 10 minutes at the wrong place, about 30 meters away on the other side of the crowd milling to see Frau President opening the Tanzania taksvärkki. Anyway, we managed to find Dubrovnik well before we were supposed to do the interview. I asked few questions from various members of the audience and surprisingly it seemed, that far too many people haven't read Mike previously, so I decided to go through his books a bit more methodically than I had originally planed for. Which was actually a good thing as people seemed to like this approach as well as making several interesting questions/comments also. I managed to confront Mike about the Gabriel King -books (he's Mr. King, whereas Jane Johnson is Gabriel) and I also got the very first signature he's ever done as "Gabriel King". Usually he settles with the "King"-part as he reckons that his letter K is fabulous. And it is! We also managed to talk a bit abour reviewing (or in Mike's case about criticising) and the how's and why's of the publishing industry. And about the Sequel. ("Sequel to what?", asks Alter. "The Sequel, dimwit! Of Light, be it Heavy or Dark That Sequel!", answers the crowd.) It'll be a lot smaller slice of a larger pie that was the Light. Looking forward to that one.

    And then it was over and I was drenched. Couldn't at first fathom why it was so, since I had never done anything as inspiring and easy on stage before, but after Mike complained about being dead-tired also, we realised it was the lights which had more or less made the stage a nightmarishly hot and sweaty place.

    After that I bumped into people, chatted with out ot town fen, ate a shirmp toast (which was far too moist) and worried about my Huttu Juttu -show. Actually, I didn't worry about it, since I knew it'd be a great crowd-pleaser. It was that two years ago and this time I didn't have a lymphoma. Ha! Little did I know. The show was not a crowd-pleaser, it was a HOOT! All the participants were great; Toni with Johanna S., Petri and Hauta, and Johanna A with Ipa, Tero and Ben on the other. The Helsinki/Tampere team was winning with over 340 points difference (don't ask me how my beautiful assistant Keijo -mark II, the Tuomas-model – managed to count the score, especially as I hadn't told him to do that – or HOW?), when Petri uttered the fateful "Double or Nothing!" out of hismouth and managed to snatch the defeat from the jaws of Impending Victory! Team Ahma (also known as Turku/Jyväskylä team) won, although questions were raised of the impartiality of Keijo, who is the son-in-law of Ipa. Then again, I did try to give the win to Team Tähtivaeltaja, but somehow it was all to no avail.

    I managed to get away from all the chores facing the tired group of organisers, an d headed toward Zetor, where I had arrainged a dinner for a group of people, including Mike, Cath, Otto, Toni, Hauta, Tero, Sari et al. A very enjoyable and satisfying meal it was too. The ambiance was just right and I think both Mike and Cath really liked the place. And who could in all seriousness resist their menu? Or reindeer ribs? Well, the latter I can now, as I have tried them. Reindeer meet, good. Ribs, good. Reindeer ribs, umh… edible (a seriously large portion).

    We headed to Kirja, where we had the evening party and was it not the greatest ever? Seriously, it was jolly decent party, with all the right people and substances available. Kirja is a nice place, just about right-sized for his kind of a (around 80-100) group, where everyone can see each others and we, the fen, can control the music and programming.

    I had set my mind for some beerdrinking and chatting with various people, but Madame Fortuna landed her sizable rear-end on my lap in a form of Vesa Sisättö. Vesa wasn't too keen on MC'ing the occasion and when he more or less indirectly hinted at that direction, I was more than happy to oblige and host the carnival. Vesa has been doing a LOT of work toward both this and yesterday's ESCON, not to mention October's Book Fair, and the man deserved a break. And i have to say this, I was on a roll. I loved to interview I did with Mike and Huttu Juttu was like Belsen, a gas.

    I freaked Mike out with my announcement of his speech (my bad, I misunderstood), but like a trooper he is, he delivered a very nice Thank You for all the deserving people, though I think he was a bit rude to the poor MC… (you had to be there in order to appreciate that sentence). Vesa and Petri gave the long-awaited Jet-Ace Logan awards for Steven Spielberg and M. Night Shamalamadingdong, for The Most Stupidest Way of Conquering the Earth (in War of the Worlds) and the Most Stupid Way of Saving It (Signs). Thoroughly deserved recognitions. If only the rest of the world could see the reason for these awards. After this, we started with the Main Eventof the evening: Sell the Book! And what an event it was!

    Hilarious, heart-felt, stunning, corgeous, wicked, sinful, honest, thruthful… All that and more. All the participants, all ten of them, had thought about their delivery, the message they wanted to convey. Some went for the grotesque, some for the cheap (and often very deserved) laughs, but all did it with gusto. Ilja Rautsi and Erkki Ahonen's Paikka nimeltä Plaston! Stunnorama! A winner, but only just. Teemu Naarajärvi with CHINESE version of The Unknown Soldier! Jan Hlinovsky with Rick Random from the Avaruuden Korkeajännitys! Hannu Blommila with Peter Watt's Starfish, now with Flaming Covers!!! And all the rest: jautero, J-P, Eemeli, Iida, Veikko – and the surprise Guest: Mike Harrison, who not only read Light, but had also written a review of it, while waiting for his turn! (Written by a man, of whom Iain M. Banks said: "Who?") This is how a GoH shows that he's enjoying the con and the evening party!

    Naturally I had to disqualify him, since not only he didn't read from the beginning (as the Rules stipulate)  he also went thrice over the allowed time limit of two minutes (Ilja managed to stop the clock at 1.59). Like a brillinat publishing house they are, LIKE had coughed up a grand package ("VALTAVIA KIMPALEITA!") of Good Reading for awards. Everybody seemed to be having a ball and I sure felt like a winner myself. This was a LOT of FUN! We HAVE to do this again, soon!

    I like to thank all the people who made these few days a real treat. All the organisers, all the participants and all the fans that just were there. This is the reason I love you guys, this is the reason why I personally find that last drop of extra strength to carry on, day after day, year after year. These moments, these precious moments. (Deleted due excessive sobbing and cry-babiness, not to mention cuddly-cutiness. This reall ought to stop here, man!)

  • BlogDay, a Day Late

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    Posted by jukkahoo

    I just found out that there is apparently a blogger day, ostensibly called BlogDay. The idea of the day is that "every blogger should have one day which will be dedicated to know other bloggers, from other countries or areas of interests. In one long moment In August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post a recommendation of 5 new Blogs."

    Yeah, only heard about it meself just some two minutes ago. And a day (or two) late…) But it sounds like a decent idea, so here goes. A list of blogs I personally follow and think that you might also enjoy – or if not, at least give a chance for:

    The Groovy Age of Horror

    – As the name says: a groovy place for all proper aficionados of weird, strange, sleazy and horrifying.

    14theditch

    – The estimable author of such wonderful books as Physiognomy, Memoranda and The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque, Jeffrey Ford has started his own Livejournal. Hurrah and Huzzah!

    The Mumpsimus

    – Matthew Cheney is smart, intelligent and well-read.

    Visions of Paradise

    – Robert Sabella has been around for a long time and still keeps saying (well, writing really) the right stuff about speculative fiction.

    Americans are Dumb

    – I think this one is just what the doctor ordered. It’s occasionally petty and shows somewhat bad taste, but when have I ever let that stop me?

    And now, you.

  • High Winds

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    Posted by Sari

    Apparently, we had a tromb – the little brother of tornado – next door on the Tali golf course. We were lazing about with bedroom window little bit open when suddenly the curtains started to flap almost horizontally and the wind started to howl. I just shut the window and did not think more on it until Jukka opened the C-text and found out that a tromb had collapsed a tent and injured nine less than half a mile from our place. Huh.

    There are however, much worse high winds to be expected at New Orleans tomorrow when Katrina will hit Louisiana coast. I remember reading about the possibility of a bad hurricane basically destroying the city, which is below sea level and practically surrounded by water. Now that is disturbingly near to becoming a truth.

    At the moment the whole city is being evacuated. Or, at least the people who own cars are leaving the city. Apparently there is no sufficient public transportation infrastructure and/or evacuation plan to help those who don’t have cars to leave. The mind just boggles.

    Go to Making Light for more on Katrina.

  • Friends and Fun

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    Posted by jukkahoo

    This is more to do with Livejournal, but in essence goes here too.

    I have hard time addings Friends to my – well – Friends-list. Those of you who have no idea of what I’m writing about: Livejournal has this option, where you are able to tag othe LJ’s, in essence make them your Friends. More than anything, it’s a convenient way to keep track of what those people whose LJ you’re following. A good thing.

    But is has that infuriating handicap (for me at least) of being called Friends. I like to think that people I call my Friends are that, friends and not just some people I happen to have run across at the internet (or possibly even had a brief chat with at some con perhaps). Thus I’m still clicking to my Bookmarks and  occasionally also some icons on some threads. Everything would be so much easier if I could just tag those people, like with Blogilista.

    It’s not that I wouldn’t mind calling most of these people my friends. Far from it. It’s just. Not. The. Way. I. Do. Things.

    Sigh. I just have to get past this and start adding people to my Friends-list. Maybe I’ll just add few right now. […] Ah, much better.

    Worldcon.

    Yes, it was a lot of fun and now, after some three weeks (of which most has been spent wailing in misery with fever and various ailments of the body, I was sick as a dog) I can now safely say that this one was the most enjoyable one. Least amount of programming seen, but in view of meeting both new and old "friends" (ahem…), actual interaction (he said while smiling broadly at this clever way of including the name of the convention to this report) with people and getting down and dirty with fandom, this one takes the cake.

    Yes, I loved it and would’ve loved it even more if our hotel wouldn’t have been as far as it was and if my schedule wouldn’t have been as hectic as it was. I’d love to have been able to get to Glasgow a full day earlier, acclimatize myself, but especially to have been able to spend a few days after the fact at there as well.

    Meeting people was fun. I had this mission of interviewing authors, but after Thursday (ie. the First Day) I was ready to give it all up. I couldn’t really be bothered – or bother people – with any extra hassle. My decision was a wise one, since I really was able to enjoy the whole deal a lot more that way. I did manage to have a nice chat with Liz Williams, but that’s another thing and that was Sunday.

    I managed to finish my FAPA-zine (Arimoniitti) just in time for the August mailing and decided to take some extra copies to distribute to people at the con. Got rid of some 30+ copies, mostly to various fen I’ve had some previous engagements with like Pete Young, Randy Byers, Jerry Kaufman etc, but also some people who were interested in Finndom (as my Finndom-article was the Main Story of the ish), like James P. Hogan and Neyir Genk Gökce. I think.

    I didn’t try to push Arimoniitti too much. It really was a rush-job with atrociously bad photocopying to boot, and I wanted to seek out people I had some kind of "connection" with. I had thought of leaving some extra copies to the Fan Room, but the sheer size of the Free Fanzines -table was over-whelming. I have never seen so many fanzines in my life! And I’m certain I wasn’t alone with my predicament. I managed to haul a sizable (in a sense that I was travelling by an aeroplane and a baggage, with few books in it, too) bunch of fanzines back home. I have been reading them and will write something about them at some time. There is something special about old fanzines. All those young and eager fans trying to speak their mind, create chaos and fanac as fast as they can. Some of those names are now Old and Respectable BNF’s – or in some cases – Real Authors! Goshwowboyoboy!

    Books. Mentioned there and carried all the way from Glasgow to Helsinki. The sum of it all is way over 30, with Sari’s purchases, over 40. And I/we were cautious. OK, the first day was a bit mad, but after that, I managed to calm myself and really seek out stuff that a) is very hard to find in Finland and b) I reall, really wanted. Like these wonderful small press books. Or some of those delightful fact books. Or those chapbooks. Or…

    To me, the Dealer’s Area was sufficient and plentiful. I could’ve easily spend four-five, ten times as much money as I did this time. More, much more, in fact. The sheer amount of books that will never, ever find their merry way to these Arctic Circles, was staggering. So they didn’t have a lot in the way of media or some such, too bad. Not my fanac. Though, I may have been mistaken for not buying that DVD of Raumpatrouille Orion for £25 from the German Guy… But it didn’t have subtitles!

    I’ll talk more about the actual programming and Fannish stuff next time. What was good and what wasn’t. And the parties, Best buys and of meeting people. I did hug China Miéville, you know. No, strike that: China hugged me.