Eating Muffins in an Agitated Manner

Åcon3

Posted by jukkahoo

Refreshments were needed to quench the thirst.

And so it went. Everything happened like in them olden films: things rushed upon you at lightning speed and the whole thing ended in a sudden halt. *sigh*

"Punch-Out-and-Play"! Hah! That would devalue this important piece of Star Wars memorabilia.

How was it? Can you explain a rose? A sense of elation for a well argued point, followed with a witty remark and a sip of good ale? Yes, perhaps that does it. A laughter, too.

 


Iron Sky? Sounds interesting! What is it?

It was cold and damp, for the first time and this was the latest one ever (it all happens during the Ascension weekend). The number of us was more than last year, can't remember the first one. 70+, and yes, I never got the actual number of warm bodies from the organisers. Shurely someone did knew?

 

Ah! It's a re-release!

The weather withstanding, everything was more or less the same: the Fen, the Guest of Honour (the wonderful Steph Swainston), Adlon (though we were less than thrilled about the closing of the bar at 9PM), Mariehamn (only short visit to the center this time, but I did see Alandica and the Thai restaurant), Saturday Dinner (which we keep calling banquet), Tax Free booze and Room Parties. And the program, mustn't forget the program.

OK. Everybody behave now. Or else...!

Some of you may remeber that I did the programming before, but since we Elders were kicked out of the committee, other people were in charge of the programming. Which I think was fine, if not really geared toward me. I missed the mix of fluff and seriousness, which I like to call "idea-entertainment". There was serious items, like stuff about copyrights, worldbuilding and innovations in SF. All good, solid ideas. There was some seriously fluffy stuff like "Do Not Disturb" -sign workshop, Never Mind the Buzzaldrins and SF-Babbel -quizzes. I especially liked the workshop, since the rooms weren't equipped with said items and last year them cleaners did came and woke us up rather early...

Oh my, I hope I am not disturbing you gentlemen?

I can't say too much about the quizzes, since I hosted the first and participated the second, but to my mind, they went well. Although I must register a complaint to the Accountess, I agree I might have lost to JohanA, but certainly not by four points!

Single bedroom for half the convention.

I think we could do with a little bit more programming in the future and serious items might be better served, if the participants would make some preparations beforehand. After three years of unpreparedness, we ought to aim higher next year. Personally, I blame the first year, where I participated to almost every single program item, which more or less meant, that there was alt least One person, who knew where the program at hand was going. I may have set a bad example. My bad.

Who did you say was the Guest of Honour of Eurocon 2011?

I didn't visit Stallhagen Brewery, but if we're doing Tjudö Winery next year, count me in already! I heard only good things about the brewery and I think that such trips are the way of the future conventions. While the cameraderie and pub and programming is good, such little extras will add a dash of evenbetterness to the whole thing. 

Ms. Swainston! One question, please!

I missed some regulars, was delighted to see quite a few new faces, but in the future, we ought to diversify. We need more Swedes, more Norwegians, Danes, Brits, Russins, Balts, Germans, Dutch, French, all the rest of the world. The aim may be too lofty (yeah, I know, it is that), but wouldn't it just be even More Fun? A Finnish relaxacon with a dozen or so Swedes is nice, don't get me wrong, but I believe the original idea was a bit more international. How do we achieve this? Beats me, but I'm hoping.

Wait a minute! There was a Green Man?

I hope to write more later. There may be a few things I might've forgotten to mention here...

I'm on Dreamwidth

Posted by Sari

I have an LJ account which I use solely for commenting purposes, never felt the need to split my net presence to different blogs. And yet, I went and got myself a Dreamwidth account which I plan to upgrade to paid account. Here is why:
1) Dreamwidth's busines model is ad-free; their only clients are the users. As I have stated earlier one of my pet peeves about web 2.0 is the unsolvable dilemma of trying to please two different clienteles: users and advertisers, so I really, really want to see if Denise and Mark have managed to create a viable business.
2) The software is LJ fork, but they have done quite a lot of neat things with the site I like better than LJ. The most important is that friending has been separated into reading list and give access to features. It gets rid of the unnecessary baggage the term "friend" has on LJ and is just a much better way to manage access to content.
3)I give you Infotropism on Ada Lovelace day. I just think this is cool and important and worth supporting.
4) Totally shallow reason: I got my proper name as my username: I am Sari over there. That is somewhat neat.

I don't quite now how I will use the account, propably I will post less structured more journally type entries there and use muffins for reviews, and more structured arguments. It will be interesting to see weather LJ-type platform is really more communal than more traditional blogging platforms like typepad.

Oh, and I have one invite left if anyone wants it, first comment, first served.

Books from Finland and Leena Krohn

Posted by Sari

Books from Finland is now a webzine, which I think is actually pretty smart move. I think they might reach more readers this way than with the old rather stuffy-looking paper version. The site itself is reasonably clean and I give special props for using tags.

Appropriately, there are few essays about Internet in the zine. I think Jyrki Lehtola is a bit late in discovering  that there are flamewars on teh interwebs, I really don't think social networking tools bring anything new to the equation. Others do better, though. I especially liked this article about internet, reading, google books and - OMG - singularity by Leena Krohn.

What makes YA literature YA?

Posted by Sari

There has been a lot of disucssion in fandom about this years different awards nominees and the large amount of books categorised as YA among them. Some think it is good thing, some think it is a bad thing, some think it is an irrelevant thing. As I do read quite a lot of genre YA and get paid for it, I want to ask something else. Why are some of these books categorized as YA? What makes The Knife of Never Letting Go an YA novel? it can't be just a young focaliser, because then What Maisie Knew would be YA. It can't be a didactic approach/style because most YA novel's don't have that. It can't be the that the narrative is about young person growing up and learning, because then all bildungsromans would be YA. Or has the world changed so that if Dickens would publish Great Expectations now, his publisher and bookstores would market it as YA? Because for the life of me, I can't see how such a harrowing, linguistically ambitious and political novel as The Knife of Never Letting Go which makes you feel sick inside is especially aimed at YA reader? Or Earthsea books, what on earth is there in Tombs of Atuan or Tehanu that makes it an YA novel? It is not that teenagers should not read these books, I just don't see what makes it a novel especially suited/written/marketed for them instead of adults.

Frank Cottrell Boyce says it here much better than me.

Hockey

Posted by Sari

Look, I think Rinne was great. Good, solid saves and he is surprisingly fast for such a large man. And trusting a good goalie to take the shots and not blocking his line of sight is a strategy. But when Norway gets 30 shots on goal I do think our defense needs to look in the mirror.

Also, new TV. The colors, man...

C. Superbus Lipotus

Posted by Sari

Martti has had some very interesting times lately. First great upheaval was the Bone. We bought him a nice reindeer bone from the pet store as a treat. Martti was very suspicious of it and it took him three days to actually go near enough to touch it tentatively, and one more to actually grab it and start eating. Go figure. We have also started training some basic obedience stuff, though Martti seems to think that if I give him goodies inside, it means I am going to trim his nails. Which has meant giving him random treats with clicker just to remind him what it is all about.

We also met another Lancashire Heeler on one of our walks, first time this has happened. Another first was a nice lady with Västgötaspets who was the first ever person to be more taken with Martti than Viivi. A woman of discerning taste, obviously. As you see, camera is still something a bit suspect, but he does stay put and does not get too stressed about being photographed :-)

My kind of marketing

Posted by Sari

Remember the scene from Fisher King where people just began to waltz in the Grand Central Station? I loved that scene. Apparently others loved it too. Behind the links are adverts for T-mobile and a Dutch TV-show which both use similar delicious idea. But as we live in the era of social media, things easily get out of hands.

Tähtifantasia 2009

Posted by jukkahoo

Helsingin science fiction -seura jakaa vuosittain Tähtifantasia-palkinnon parhaalle suomeksi käännetylle fantasiakirjalle. Vuonna 2008 ilmestyneistä kirjoista asiantuntijaraati on valinnut viisi kaunokirjallisesti korkeatasoista teosta ehdolle tämänvuotisen palkinnon saajaksi.

Ellen Kushner: Thomas Riiminiekka (Vaskikirjat) – ”Raikas legendan uudelleentulkinta, herkkä balladi rakkaudesta, uskollisuudesta ja totuudesta.”

Gregory Maguire: Noita (Sammakko) – ”Maailman ongelmia lastentarinan pohjalta käsittelevä aikuisten romaani, joka koskettaa ja tarjoaa pohdittavaa.”

Patricia A. McKillip: Basiliskin laulu (Karisto) – ”Kielellisesti erittäin aistivoimainen tarina kostosta ja anteeksiannosta.”

José Saramago: Oikukas kuolema (Tammi) – ”Satiirisen huumorin sävyttämä kertomus elämästä, kuolemasta ja ihmisen perusluonteesta.”

Robert Silverberg: Kuningas Gilgameš (Vaskikirjat) – ”Historiallinen romaani sankarista, joka etsii kuolemattomuutta ja löytää rauhan.”

Tähtifantasia-palkinnon asiantuntijaraatiin kuuluvat kriitikko Jukka Halme, kriitikko Aleksi Kuutio, kirjailija ja kustannustoimittaja Anne Leinonen sekä fantasiaharrastaja, Risingshadow.netin edustaja Osmo Määttä. Palkinnon voittaja julkistetaan Helsingin Finncon 2009 -tapahtumassa kesällä.

Tähtifantasia-palkinnon aiemmat voittajat ovat Jeff VanderMeerin Pyhimysten ja mielipuolten kaupunki (Loki-kirjat, 2006) sekä Ngugi Wa Thiong'on Variksen velho (WSOY, 2007).

Quis custodiet yadda yadda yadda

Posted by jukkahoo

So, it's that time of the year: no more ice hockey (until the World Championships begin), sf-co/op-meeting happened and there's still time before Åcon begins the summer. Looking forward to that last one. A lot.

And the unfilmable was filmed and its apparently good. Some say very good, some say good enough. Having not seen it yet (was working while the rest of the humanity went and saw it), so no review here (and let's not give any spoilers in the comment section, OK people!).

I was planning on writing something about the co-operation meeting earlier, but somehow I never managed to. It was good fun, but somehow the co-operation part felt a bit, what's the word I'm looking...? Un-co-operative?  There were few announcements of simultaneous sf-related activities, which somehow felt arkward, since this was supposedly one of the most important things this whole co-operation meeting was founded for.

There was also a bit of a blase feeling at times, with different clubs and cons and magazines telling their respective future plans, and quite a few people were just minding their own business, not really that keen on following the whole enchilada. I admit, I was well unprepared for my part with the Finncon/Animecon 2009. Sorry about that. I had great news and more to say, but I managed a mere "Ask me, if you want to know something". Sad.

However, despite these little misgivings, I was well pleased with many things. I applaud SPEKTRE for the tiresome work they've done for this event for so many years now. Kudos! I loved Horst-rap! I enjoyed the auction and felt really pumped up after that. Thank you all for the generosity, the buyers as well as the donors. Much appreciated! Special note to Tero Norkola and BTJ, as well as Jeffster. You gave to a good cause, man! I mean, men.

A real treat was the morning smof, which I hope to be a regular feature from now on. Kudos to Tero for inventing it. Must find a better place next time, though this one was well OK.

So, good meeting in all, but hopefully next time will be even better! And with sauna, too! We need to cut down the size of the general meeting of Finncon Corp., even if it means that people would have to be at the locale earlier. Smoffing is FUN!

So, what about "Quis custodiet" and that jazz? Well, I just wanted to spread the love and these couple of links:

Saturday Morning Watchmen

Ombudsmen

The "Watchmen" Lie: Hollywood Sends More Depravity Your Kids' Way Costumed as "Superhero" Flick

On books and verifying your sources

Posted by Sari

One of the most important aspects of my favourite social networking sites is that I can find out what my friends are reading. I shamelessly spy people on LibraryThing and Facebook and though I don't often get so far as to publish my results, I always enthusiastically do all the book memes I can find. I did the BBC hundred books meme on Facebook, and like so many others found the list somewhat strange. Thus I tried to track down the lists origin, hundreds of people have done the meme but none had a link where BBC "says" these are the books you ougth to read.

And as far as I can determine, they never did. BBC has still the list from their Big Read project, where the audiences nominated 100 best loved books from 2003 here but it is a different list and does not represent books you ought to read but books the Brits love. What I did eventually find, and which seems to match with the list used in the meme was this, which obviously did not originate from BBC and does not represent anything else except the favourite novels of about 2000 readers who answered a a poll on the net. This would explain why some things appear on the list twice. Also, if anyone has stronger google-fu than I and can track down this "on average six books" quote I'd be interested.

This took me about ten minutes, and I am not the only one on teh interents who has tried to track the list down. Now through Scifimarkkinat I learn that Ilta-sanomat thought this is a cool meme - and it is! - and made their own list referencing the meme, parroting the beginning of the meme without a link. And these people actually go to school to learn journalism? Verifying and crediting you sources, anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

As for the meme itself, off the "BBC" list I have read 68, and was pretty certain I would do really badly on IS list, what whit my well documented aversion towards Finnish language literature, but lo and behold results are not abysmal!

1. Aapeli: Siunattu hulluus
2. Aho Juhani: Rautatie x
3. Atwood Margaret: Sokea surmaaja x
4. Austen Jane: Ylpeys ja ennakkoluulo x
5. Auster Paul: Yksinäisyyden äärellä
6. Beauvoir Simone de: Toinen sukupuoli
7. Beecher-Stowe Harriet: Setä Tuomon tupa
8. Bellow Saul: Herzog
9. Bergman Ingmar: Kohtauksia eräästä avioliitosta
10. Bulgakov Mihail: Saatana saapuu Moskovaan x

11. Camus Albert: Sivullinen
12. Canth Minna: Köyhää kansaa
13. Carpelan Bo: Axel
14. Dickens Charles: Oliver Twist x
15. Donner Jörn: Isä ja poika
16. Dostojevski Fjodor: Rikos ja rangaistus
17. Douglas Adams: Linnunradan käsikirja liftareille x
18. Dumas Alexandre: Monte Criston kreivi x
19. Duras Marguerite: Rakastaja
20. Flaubert Gustave: Madame Bovary x

21. Garcia Márquez Gabriel: Sadan vuoden yksinäisyys x
22. Gogol Nikolai: Kuolleet sielut
23. Grass Günter: Peltirumpu
24. Haavikko Paavo: Puut, kaikki heidän vihreytensä
25. Hassinen Pirjo: Kuninkaanpuisto
26. Hemingway Ernest: Kenelle kellot soivat x
27. Hietamies Laila: Valamon yksinäinen
28. Hotakainen Kari: Juoksuhaudantie
29. Huovinen Veikko: Havukka-ahon ajattelija
30. Huxley Aldous: Uljas uusi maailma x

31. Hyry Antti: Kevättä ja syksyä
32. Hämäläinen Helvi: Säädyllinen murhenäytelmä
33. Härkönen Anna-Leena: Häräntappoase x
34. Itkonen Juha: Kohti
35. Jalonen Olli: Isäksi ja tyttäreksi
36. Jansson Tove: Vaarallinen juhannus x
37. Joenpelto Eeva: Vetää kaikista ovista
38. Joyce James: Taiteilijan omakuva nuoruuden vuosilta x
39. Kafka Franz: Oikeusjuttu x
40. Kalevala

41. Kauranen Anja: Sonja O. kävi täällä
42. Kianto Ilmari: Punainen viiva
43. Kihlman Christer: Kallis prinssi
44. Kilpi Eeva: Kesä ja keski-ikäinen nainen
45. Kivi Aleksis: Seitsemän veljestä x
46. Krohn Leena: Tainaron
47. Lahiri Jhumpa: Tämä siunattu koti
48. Lander Leena: Käsky
49. Lehtonen Joel: Putkinotko

50. Lindgren Astrid: Peppi pitkätossu x
51. Linna Väinö: Tuntematon sotilas x
52. Linna Väinö: Täällä Pohjantähden alla x
53. Lundán Reko ja Tina: Viikkoja, kuukausia
54. Majakovski Vladimir: Pilvi housuissa
55. Mann Thomas: Taikavuori x
56. McEwan Ian: Sovitus
57. Meri Veijo: Manillaköysi
58. Meriluoto Aila: Lasimaalaus
59. Miller Arthur: Ajan uurteita
60. Miller Henry: Kravun kääntöpiiri

61. Milne A.A.: Nalle Puh x
62. Montgomery L.M.: Annan nuoruusvuodet x
63. Mukka Timo K.: Maa on syntinen laulu
64. Murakami Haruki: Kafka rannalla x
65. Mäkelä Hannu: Mestari
66. Neruda Pablo: Andien mainingit
67. Oksanen Sofi: Puhdistus
68. Paasilinna Arto: Onnellinen mies
69. Paavolainen Olavi: Synkkä yksinpuhelu x
70. Peltonen Juhani: Elmo x

71. Proulx Annie: Lyhyt kantama
72. Pulkkinen Riikka: Raja
73. Päätalo Kalle: Nuoruuden savotat
74. Raittila Hannu: Canal Grande
75. Remes Ilkka: 6/12
76. Rowling J.K.: Harry Potter ja viisasten kivi x
77. Rushdie Salman: Keskiyön lapset
78. Roth Philip: Amerikkalainen pastoraali
79. Saarikoski Pentti: Mitä tapahtuu todella?
80. Saisio Pirkko: Elämänmeno

81. Shakespeare William: Hamlet x
82. Shields Carol: Kivipäiväkirjat
83. Salama Hannu: Minä, Olli ja Orvokki
84. Sartre Jean-Paul: Inho
85. Sillanpää F.E.: Nuorena nukkunut
86. Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr: Vankileirien saaristo x
87. Steinbeck John: Hiiriä ja ihmisiä
88. Styron William: Sofien valinta
89. Swan Anni: Tottisalmen perillinen x
90. Tervo Jari: Troikka

91. Tolkien J.R.R.: Taru sormusten herrasta x
92. Tolstoi Leo: Anna Karenina x
93. Turkka Jouko: Aiheita
94. Tuuri Antti: Pohjanmaa
95. Twain Mark: Huckleberry Finnin seikkailut x
96. Utrio Kaari: Eevan tyttäret x
97. Vartio Marja-Liisa: Hänen olivat linnut
98. Viita Lauri: Betonimylläri
99. Waltari Mika: Sinuhe egyptiläinen x
100. Westö Kjell: Missä kuljimme kerran

Grand total of 34. The difference to the "BBC" -list is that here are more authors I have never heard of (Marja-Liisa Vartio? Riikka Pulkkinen? Olli Jalonen?), more books I have tried and given up as unreadable or plain boring (Pohjanmaa, Nuorena nukkunut, Maa on syntinen laulu, Putkinotko, Punainen viiva), and many, many more books that just don't sound interesting enough for me to make room in my life for them.