Eating Muffins in an Agitated Manner

Mäkin haluun leikkiin...

Posted by Sari

Ensin, onnittelut Natalle Tähtivaeltajan novellikisan voitosta. Tykkäsin. Ja onnittelut myös Pasi Jääskeläiselle Kuvastaja-palkinnosta. Lumikon päähenkilöiden kanssa en itse koskaan päässyt sinuiksi, mutta siitä huolimatta romaani on mielestäni monella tapaa oikeasti viisas kirja ja palkitseva lukukokemus. 

Kuvastaja kun jaetaan fantasiakirjalle, on keskustelu reaalifantasiasta ja -fantastikoista taas nostanut päätään. Jäniksenselkäläisen kirjallisuuden seurassa Pasi vastailee kyselijöille otka ihmettelevät kuinka reaalifantasisti voi saada fantasiakirjallisuuspalkinnon, ja omissa blogeissaan kysymystä pohtivat myös Anne  ja syksyn esikoiskirjailija Miina Supinen. Mitä isot edellä, sitä pienet perässä, eli nyt koen aivan välttämättömäksi avautua näin julkisesti aiheesta reaalifantasia. Ottakaapa mukava asento, lasi viiniä ja rentoutukaa: 

Tätä kirjoitusta on rustattu jo yli puoli vuotta. Ensimmäiset versiot tuhoutuivat suuressa meteori-iskussa (kovalevy pamahti), toinen versio taasen kuoli halvan USB-pätäkkäni myötä. Tätä kolmatta kieltäydyn työstämästä samanlaisella pieteetillä, muuten pelkään tuhoavani sekä uuden pöytäkoneen että uuden USB-pätäkän. 

Jos muistelen sitä ensimmäistä versiota tästä postauksesta jonka ensimmäiset aihiot syntyivät – uskokaa tai älkää - toissakesänä patikkaretkellä Solvallassa, niin silloin luulin Reaalifantasian olevan jonkinlainen suomalainen vastine maagiselle realismille. Muistan ajatelleeni että a) voi herran tähden, eikö noita markkinointiin tarkoitettuja genrelaatikoita ole ihan tarpeeksi, ja heti sen perään b) hmm... Itse asiassa tuohan voisi olla aika mainio termi kuvaamaan ei-realistista kirjallisuutta jossa ei liikuta sekundaarimaailmassa vaan mieluummin nyrjäytetään todellisuutta hiukkasen raiteiltaan. Maagisesta realismista ajattelin sen eroavan ennen kaikkea arjen kuvauksen korostamisella, jonka olen kokenut suomalaisessa spefissä, dekkarikirjallisuudessa kuin tietysti ennen kaikkea mainstreamissa erityisen voimakkaana impulssina. 

Ajattelin myös että ehkä reaalifantasistit halusivat kirjoittaa todellisuudesta, fyysisestä intrasubjektiivisesta maailmasta, mutta koska postmodernismi on tylsyttänyt realismin kynnet, antaisi fantasiaelementtien käyttö nyrjäyttämässä todellisuutta paradoksaalisesti jännittäviä mahdollisuuksia kuvata ja kommentoida reaalimaailmaa. Tällä tavoin määriteltynä reaalifantasia alkoi vaikuttaa ihan oivalta markkinointigenreltä joka oikeasti antoi osviittaa siitä mitä teos saattaisi pitää sisällään. 

Sitten reaalifantastikoiksi alkoi tunnustautua ihmisiä jotka kirjoittivat historiallisia romaaneja ja ihan rehellistä sciffyä ja minä menin yhtä ymmälleni kuin Tero (jonka artikkeli julkaistiin Kosmarissa 3/2006). J. Pekka Mäkelä sanoi  että kyllä hän kirjoittaa SF:ää mutta ei halua kahlita kirjailijaminäänsä siihen tulevaisuudessa, Anne sanoi jotta hän kokee sen kirjailijana vapauttavana terminä joka antaa mahdollisuuden poimia juuri ne tekniikat ja teemat jotka kulloinkin sopivat. Pasi sanoi että lähes kaikki kirjallisuus on oikeasti reaalifantasiaa, vain äärimmäinen genrekirjallisuus ja äärimmäinen realismi rajautuvat sen ulkopuolelle ja että reaalifantasiassa juttu on se että fantastiset elementit eivät ole itsetarkoitus. Reaalifantastikkojen/reaalifantasian kenttä laittoi terminsä leijumaan nopeammin ja paremmin kuin Derrida konsaan ja tämä lukija päätyi kääntymään mise-en-abymensä laidalta kovin lannistuneena. 

Lukijan (ainakin tämän lukijan) kannalta katsottuna: jos siis reaalifantasia on kaupallinen genretermi, se on totaalisen hyödytön koska se on vielä laajempi ja sisällyksettömämpi kuin ”fantasia” tai ”scifi”. Jos se on kirjallinen liike ei sillä tunnu olevan yhteistä päämäärää sen lisäksi että kirjailijan pitää kirjoittaa siitä mistä haluaa ja käyttää niitä työkaluja joita haluaa sanoakseen mitä hän haluaa ja rajoitukset hiiteen. Näin pöytälaatikkokirjoittajan näkökulmasta tuo vaikuttaa jotenkin itsestäänselvyydeltä. Siispä olen tullut siihen arvovaltaiseen lopputulokseen että reaalifantasia on nasta työkalu jolla kirjailija pystyy jäsentämään omaa tekemistään. Se antaa kirjoittajalle luvan ja vapauden käyttää juuri sellaisia elementtejä kuin tarina vaatii, ja kuten Anne sanoo antaa näkyvyyttä ja vertaistukea. Lukijalle – ainakin tälle lukijalle - tieto siitä että kirjailija määrittää itsensä reaalifantastikoksi on aika yhdentekevää. Minä osaan ihan itse lukea kirjoja, löytää niistä merkityksiä ja sijoittaa ne kirjallisuuden kenttään. 

Ceterum censeo, Hauta Blommila on oikeassa kun sanoo että nykyään on helpompi sanoa ”vittu” kun ”science fiction” ja se on helvetin sääli.

Book fair. And stuff.

Helsinki book fair is coming up again. Go and see Jukka interviewing cool authors and moderating a panel on genre definitions. A Panel. About genre definitions. Hasn't this been done yet? Like few thousand times? I saw one in Finncon, one in Swecon, few at worldcon and few at previous book fairs. Let it go, people!

I have also been thinking about the Helsinki book fair in general. How is it that I, who co-own near 5000 books and keep acquiring more never find anything interesting at the book fair? You'd think that the fair would be a heaven for me, but no. It is like dying of thirst in the middle of an ocean: lots of water, but the wrong kind of water. I have never managed to get into the near rapturous feeding frenzy at a book fair that I easily achieve in Akateeminen, or browzing Amazon. And I tell you why: them books at the fair, they are in Finnish. Which means that they are expensive and, you know, boring. Nobody really translates the books I want to read. Also, I think I might have a problem with Finnish language. Not a fan of it, really. Which is bit of  a problem, I admit.

Nevermind, I shall browse the used books section and get myself another book from the "Poikien seikkailukirjasto" -series (I got few dozen of those from my dad back in the day and started sort of collecting them), get some toffee and some fresh liquerice and maybe catch few program items. Any recommendations?

EuroPølse

Posted by jukkahoo

So. I went to København and had a great time there, despite the Eurocon being less than stellar event. Don't get me wrong though. I liked it. Fine. OK. But, not great.

Why? Well, other attendees have expressed similar thoughts of too much programming, too little organisers/experience of organising, not enough gophers (though I believe all the gophers did extremely wonderful work ie. busted their behinds off) etc. All good valid points, of which I concur.

But I had good time, I really enjoyed the con. Mainly due to the amazing number of foreigners from gazillion different countries. Like Czech Republik (hello Peter and thanks for the plzener!), Ukraine, Norway, Ireland, Israel, Italy (mustn't forget Italia!), Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, USA, UK, Lietuva, Poland and so on and so forth. Properly European convention! Me like. This felt like the most international con I've been to and that's due to the fact that this one was warm, friendly and cosy, in a way bally huge cons aren't. Like Finncon or Worldcon. Both have their places.

The organiser in charge of the programming, Knud Larn, pointed out at the opening ceremony, that every single problem/mistake with the programming is his. Blame me, he said. I won't. As someone who has done a rather large programming itinerary (Finncon 2006), I know what it takes to organise something like eight simultaneous threads with interesting and worthwhile programming at the same time for a variably dissimilar audience. Looking at the programming at the site for the first time when arriving and now, I still do think that there was plenty of good programming that should've been interesting (even for me). That I actually managed to see fairly little of the blasted thing was mainly due that the large portion of that "intersting to jukkahoo" -programming took place on Saturday, at the same time I was part of the programming. My bad. :)

The Guests of Honours weren't necessarily bad: a legend, a well-known SF-author, classic SF-artist and a more slipstreamish/newweird/alternative-fantasywriter (who does not write fantasy, or so he says) as well as a local fan-GoH and a truly classic Elder Name, who happens to have a Really Good Ties with the host nation. Unfortunately for me, the only GoH that interested me, performed pretty much exactly opposite everything I did. I could've heard him talking about his TV-series, but then again, I was tired, just arrived and thought that Opening Ceremonies are always something to see (and be invariably Really Dissappointed - no letdown there...). I did appreciate the flag ceremony as well as the 501st honour guard. I wasn't too thrilled about the commemorative three-second silence for recently departed Mr. Phelps (ask Ben). So many other fine, wonderful SF/F-authors had died this year, recently or not. Let's be more  inclusive next time.

Although, I don't know how I would've performed at similar circumstances, if one of my heroes would've passed over that recently. The audince might have had to bear a long and grief-stricken eulogy instead of short standing up.

But, I digress. There has to be a Beginning, a Middle and the End. So, I start from the beginning.

'Twas a dark and stormy rainy Friday, like so may times before. I slept badly, as I often do when I'm due to travel.

There are two things that always happen when I go anywhere from Finland: I sleep badly the night before and I get "travel fever" (matkakuume). After the trip, back home (well, not always, I was Really Sick in Edinburgh a way back when Mekku was still living there) which may sound funny, but really isn't. Apparently my bacteria doesn't like any other bacteria in the world.

This was no exception. I got probably three hours worth of zzz's, despite taking a sleeping pill well before the recommended "six hours of sleep before waking up". I wasn't really tired by time I got to the airport, but I sure was later in the evening, when we Finns should've partied like... crazy party-animals we are (as Åcon showed). The flight was short with most of the amusement rising from the fact that Pasi had never flown before. I gave him my window-seat during the flight and he seemed to be pretty enthused by the view, especially when we landed. If only he had followed Ben's advice at the airport...

I had been to Copenhagen before, but that was aeons ago. I didn't see that much of the city (I don't think any of us did) as I mainly slept at our delightful, quaint hotel at the corner of Working Girl Alley and Dope Peddlar's Street and spent the rest of the day at the Valby Kulturhus. Which was pretty nicely sized for this con. It could've had few less floors and better (ie. faster) elevators and more comfy chairs, but all in all, it was a good location. I didn't actually realise there was an elevator, before I had walked all the way up in order to see all program rooms and saw someone stepping out the damn thing. Well, excercise is good for me.

Before anything actually happened, our troop needes sustenance and we looked for an eatery, which turned out to be slightly more difficult than we thought of. Apparently only kebab-places are open before 3PM in Danmark. We did find a nice kebab/pizzeria called Barakat where they not only served decent kebabs, but had the best dip ever. Recommended, if you happen to be over there. It's on Toftegårds Allé, probably.

The real deal of the day for me (and Eemeli) was the ESFS Meeting, where we presented Finncon 2009 as a Eurocon candidate for the said year. We were against latecomer Rome (or more precisely, Fiuggi). I think we did an OK, if very much improvised presentation. I cannot think that Rome/Fiuggi had really thought of their performace anymore than we, but the moment the pretty lady started to talk about (and this is my personal view) the "Wine and Monastery" -convention with Star Trek -captain and Robert Silverberg and Neil Gaiman as Guests, I thought that our Science Fiction and Fantasy -con was looking less likely to appeal to middle-aged fen who like eat and drink well and bicker about whether Serbia and Montenegro should be two separate entities or not.

The show was however far from over, no sirree! After we had presented our bids, answered few questions and voted on new laws and regulations, we got down with the jiggy: The European Science Fiction Society Awards! For interminably long time (or more, I think I passed out at some point) every single delegate nation brought forth their candidacy for various categories (Best Author, Artist, Publisher, Magazine, Promoter etc). As Pasi, who was the other official Finnish delegate, I was forced to talk for some of Our candidates, together with Eemeli, the other official delegate. I didn't realise before the whole shenanigan was over, that other speakers had written notes for their presentations. I did realise early on, that the Swedes weren't there and now I know why.

The ESFS Awards is a joke curious bureucratic conundrum, to which there probably is no solution. A lot of 30-40 fen deal out awards to left and right, pretty much the way these things are done at the European Song Contest. Once and a while a worthy winner arises, but lets face it: How the hell do you appraise works in 20+ languages and fields? The Best Artist might possible be voted fairly, but Best Author? C'mon! I'm certain Sándor Szélesi is a fine writer (and a fellow Fenno-Hungarian to boot!), but the Best European SF Author in 2007? Erm... The whole thing is just bureacrazy!

Following the ESFS Meeting, I headed downstairs for the Free Party, only to realise that there was none. I had to drag myself up to Finnish Party which ere in full swing by the time I got there. And a jolly good party it was too. Cows and all. I spent most of the time at the impromptu arranged cloakroom with Ben as I was dead tired already and really only wanted to get to the hotel room and sleep. As everyone entered the party through our little room, I had several little småprats with various fen. The best of which was when Bellis entered the vestibule and asked from me whether I was "the famous Jukka Halme" he had heard so much good of? I managed to mumble something witty, like "well, yeah?" before the Sheriff rode into new adventures.

Saturday woke up early as for some curious reason the blaste ESFS vote was due before the rooster had croked. The Absalon hotel had decent breakfast, so I was comfortably numb for our presentation, which, as yesterday, went OK'ish. When Rome/Fiuggi had their turn and talked about free wine, I leaned over to Eemeli and said: "...and here we just lost the bid".

As we did, rather resoundingly. If my eagle eyes weren't totally deceived by the vote counters placing ballots in two piles, we lost by 42 to 17. Sound defeat. To wine and monasteries. In March. Dissappointed? Yes, but I'm certain DeepSpaceCon/Italcon will be a great Eurocon for the year 2009. Wish I could afford to go. Who knows, maybe I do?

I hadn't originally been asked to participate anything other than talking about arranging Finncons (with Eemeli again), but as the morning dawned, I was asked to participate in three other program items. And why not? I like to perform somewhat and I think I may occasionally have something to say, too. Cheryl asked me to talk about reviewing and I did. Good talking with Cheryl and Bob Neilson. I managed to get lured into one other Cheryl item, namely the SF-Quiz (the proper, literature quiz, as opposed to the evidently Really Difficult and interesting media-quiz, which stumped Pasi) where I RULED!!! I think my proudest moment was when asked, who is the editor of Electric Velocipede?, I managed to blurt out: "I believe it is John Klima". I did fumble pretty spectacularily with the PKD-movie adaptations and I'm somewhat pertubed by my Shriek-answer... As audience was also encouraged to participate, I had to divert a question to a girl from Estonia, even if it should've been Klaus' turn. Sorry about that, Klaus. :)

The Saturday party was definitely Russian, as there was more vodka than our local sublet has on its premises. And apparently it had some repercussions, as we learned the Sunday morn, when the arrangers asked us to clean up after "last nights vomiting, due to our excessive and liberal offering of vodka". We were stumped for a moment, but managed to point ou, that were actually still Finns and Russia hasn't annexed us, yet, so... Apologising Dane explained to us that last night (after we had left the party in larger numbers, in order to go to sleep, but end up drinking Timo's vodka ja some Elephant beer at his room) the Russians had deviced this bet, where you could win a free t-shirt, if you'd drink a whole cup (2 dl?) of vodka. Apparently this had been very popular, as well as projectile, as several toilets were unusable the day after and the opganisers were being held accountable by the Kulturhus-folk, understandably. Funnily enough, I don't think I saw a single Russian on Sunday.

After my crowning as the SF-kuismaster, I volunteered to sit behind registration for few hours. After all, how difficult that be? 3PM, last day and less than six hours of programming left? Who buys memeberships for that?

Quite a few, in fact! Some were so enthusiastic, that they managed to loose their wallets while getting in. And I've never met anyone so lackadaisical when asked whether the wallet I had in my hand was theirs, they'd just say: "Well, OK..."  No thanks, no emotion. Danes!

The return home was probably less eventful than the arrival, other than we managed to eat pretty good sushi at Kastrup with Ben, while Tero and Pasi went to see how sci-fi meals are being served. Evidently cool. Oh, there was actually enterttainment on the plane, when this spitting image of my father-in-law roamed around the aisles, looking up most, if not all compartments and typing furiously his computer while we were landing to Helsinki-Vantaa.

So, all in all, pretty good con: nice fen, nice food, good beer, decent programming. Well worth the visit. Recommended.

Like Turku Book Fair, which was fun, too. And not only because I was made into Ye Olde Cavalier. But more of that later.

Cosi Fan Tutte

Posted by Sari

I found an USB –drive I had lost almost a year ago, and this was on it. So I thought better late than ever, especially as Jukka is still "collecting his thoughts"...

“Cosi fan tutte le belle” sings the smarmy music teacher Don Basilio already in Figaro. Later Da Ponte and Mozart turned this idea of the universal infidelity of women to a whole opera. Cosi is probably the least loved of the Mozart operas in standard repertoire. It’s plot is uncomfortably cynical and production notes end up trying to explain what Mozart and Da Ponte really meant with much greater length than at their other collaborations. And they tend to come to much more varied conclusions, too. Nobody even agrees how the opera ends. Productions have ended with original pairings, the new pairings, and even the sisters going off together in sapphian huff and leaving the men to their own devices.

Lately it has become common to brush aside the misogynism of the opera by saying pointing out that as the men men behave no better than the women, the opera is more misantrophic than misogynist. That cynical Don Alfonso, an enlightement “scientist”, is experimenting on human feelings, both men’s and women’s, and it is his misanthropic view of human nature that triumphs over the overly romantic ideals of the young people in the end.

Still, it must be pointed out that the opera is Cosi Fan Tutte. I don’t think Da Ponte put that “e” in there without thinking it through. Fiordiligi and Dorabella are undoubtably manipulated and duped but it is still they who decide in 24 hours of parting dump their old lovers for the “Albanian” beaus. Furthermore, when the boys have succeeded in their goals and Don Alfonso triumphantly presses them in the unison rendition of the name of the opera, he who has been proven right, strips the womankind responsibility which comes with free will:

Tutti accusan le donne, ed io le scuso
Se mille volte al dì cangiano amore;
Altri un vizio lo chiama ed altri un uso,
Ed a me par necessità del core.
L'amante che si trova alfin deluso
Non condanni l'altrui, ma il proprio errore;
Già che giovani, vecchie, e belle e brutte,
Ripetete con me: "Così fan tutte!"

It is just their nature to be inconstant and flirty, the poor dears, you just have to take them as they come. Bah.

Musically, Cosi has some spellbinding Mozart moments, especially “soave, si il vento”  which has one of Mozart’s most beautiful melodies and is accompanied with almost impressionistic strings creating the feel light breeze and gentle seas. As a whole however, it has never grabbed me like Figaro or even Don. It is supposed to be the most tightly structured of Mozart’s operas, but I lack the the necessary know-how to appreciate it.

So not surprisingly I have not been feeling too bad about never seeing Cosi live. But when the Finnish National Opera finally noticed that it is better to have butts on the seats, and started offering discount ticets to students on the day, I decided to take up the offer and see a revival of Cosi from 1999. The production was quite interesting. Director had set the action in a sort of modernish time: a hotel in Naples which looked like it was from 1930’s with modern touches mixing the palette up so that it felt like the sisters and their suitors were harking back to a nostalgic past, maybe mirroring their elevated ideas about love. Sets and costuming was airy and clear – I especially liked the transformation of moustachioed Albanians into Miami Vice wannabees. This particular performance had the air of competence rather than inspiration; there wre no glaring mistakes, but that certain something was perhaps lacking.

And the ending? The Director thinks Fiordiligi and Ferrando will end up together, but that Gulielmo and Dorabella will go their separate ways. Which I don’t have a problem with, it is as good an interpretation as any. The “middle-roles” mixing buffa and dramma are not serious about their fling where as the hero and heroine are. What does make me cringe a bit is the way Dorabella is left alone on the stage during the last sextett. Giulielmo abandons her to join Fiordiligi and Ferrando on the other side of the stage. The paranoid feminist in me interprets the ending as the sexually active and adventurous woman being shunned by the others. If they would have had Giulielmo standing also alone, that would have been different.

This production did not manage to change my mind about Cosi. I still think it is too long, too cold and I just can’t manage to twist the libretto into such a shape that it would not make me grind my theeth.

Turku

Posted by jukkahoo

I'm heading for Turku on Friday, in order to participate some sekret shindig later that day, followed by few  mandatory Book Fair appearances on Saturday. I'll be moderating a panel on Small Press Publishing (13.10) and interviewing author J. Pekka Mäkelä (14.40) then. Should be fun. Just read J. Pekka's new novel Nedut and liked it a lot.

This is however almost only like a prelude to Helsinki Book Fair in late-October, where I'll be intervewing Juha-Pekka Koskinen, Anne Leinonen, Eija Lappalainen and Ville Vuorela, not to mention moderating a panel on... Jeezus Kuristus, Definitions of SF and fantasy? Why? Well see.

I've been meaning to report about Eurocon, which all things considered was a resoundingly fun and joyous occasion, but after the matkakuume flu that took better part of the fpollowinf week, I've been mostly concentrating on things more mundane. Occasionally one must. But I'll decypher my notes from the journey next week. Unless something really weird happens. Promise. As Pølse is my wittness.

We did some apartment gazing the other day (Wednesday). The building reached its high point (I have no idea what "harjakaiset" is in English) and the builders had a little soirée, followed by chance to see ones apartment. We ate some silicon carrion and listened to this extremely funny comedian (Sari edit) loathsome bore as well as some accordion music. Yes, that. Really.

But the apartment is looking nice. Especially the living room, which looks larger than we imagined and maybe even hoped for. The shape of the room is just something we really have think about. A lot. It's long. Maybe with bookshelf wallpaper and some bold colours, like grey?

Science songs!

Posted by Sari

There should be more science songs. World would be a better place. So here are some of my favorites

They Might be Giants: Why Does the Sun Shine?
It is a cover for an old science song for kids from the 1960s.

Monty Python: Universe Song
You know this one, right?

Tom Lehrer: New Math
Would it not be great if somehow Tomfoolery could be done in Finnish?

Tom Lehrer: The Elements
This is a flash animation. Just so as you know.

Jonathan Coulton: Mandelbrot Set
Visit also Coulton's own site, full of funny and geeky songs

Flanders&Swann: The First and Second Law
Woe is me! Could not find it online, and it is my favourite science song ever, and wholly responsible for the fact that I actually remember the second law of thermodynamics. Here are at least the lyrics.