Eating Muffins in an Agitated Manner

Åcon 5

Posted by jukkahoo

It has been a while. There are number of reasons, the most obvious one being the lack of need for the original purpose for this blog ie. The Sickness. SoMe is also to blame. And one should never under estimate the power of Lazy. Or work.

The last one is really depressing. Not as work, that I can handle and mostly get by with. It's just the realization that work takes so much more of my time than it used to. In the Olden Days, when salad was green and less rockety, I could squeeze in some personal stuff to the daily humdrum of work place. Today, less so. A lot less. And back home I'm often far too tired to do that Fun Stuff as much as I'd like to. Bummer.

But.

I got back here to talk about Åcon 5. Which was excellent, though not brilliant. For that, I blame myself and/or whomever gave me the blasted cold I'm still having. It is possible that I may have given the bug a way in previous Monday when I decided that it IS Summer and strutted in the city in shorts. When it most definitely was not Summer. Sunny? - yes, but other than that, bloody cold.

Therefore, Åcon 2012 was "just" excellent. The weather could've been a bit better ie. sunnier and warmer. There was fairly little in the way of sitting in the terrace, sipping malted drinks and smoking cigars. And what was that deck cover about? Was it ever open? Did anyone ask about that?

Adlon was as usual: shabby, erratic and challenging, but friendly words and pretty smiles are often all it takes to make customers happy. Though service is always appreciated. The Sports Bar another thing altogether. Again thay managed to fuck up their cider and beer orders, prices seemed to have been amped up to mainland level and closing time came way before the time we had agreed upon. Essentially, nothing has changed.

Since I was pretty fluuey during the con, I slept through most of the ferry trip and later didn't see much of Mariehamn, other than Saturday dinner at Indigo (muy tasty, muy expensive). Which was a bit of a shame. Next time, then.

I did witness most of the programming items (when I was asleep), since I was sort of in charge of it. Though we did spent quite some time thinking about it during our Åconplancon cruise a month or so ago. Otherwise we wouldn't have seen for example Torill Kornfeldt or Karin Waller on stage. Which would've been most unfortunate.

I'd like to thank each and every program participant. I was most impressed by the way you guys took the stage and delivered your parts, hooray! I belive that this year's programming was the best I've been involved with and I'm looking forward to seeing you all in many a future cons! Special mention must go to Ben Roimola, who took the torch and handled presenting Never Mind the Buzzaldrins like a real pro, after I realised I was in no condition to do it myself! I may have to start scripting these things more, it was great to be in the audience for change!

In hindsight, It might've been wise to let someone else do the Just a Speculative Fiction Minute as well, since I was pretty close to collapsing afterwards. Or on Monday. 'Twas fun, though.

But what can I say about our Guest of Honour? Cat Valente was brilliant, funny, charming, interesting, interested and all-encompassing force of nature. Jetlagged, as one might expect, but eager to hear things, lear´n new stuff and meet new people. And there was hardly a program item she wasn't witnessing or participating: "What, you have knitting program! Can I be in that, too?" :)

Bless.

All in all, a lovely con with lovely people. Excellent con committee and GoH. Brilliant program participants and general attendees. Win over USA. Lemsip Lemon. NoFF auction. Lavender Man. Jura Prophecy. Sleep. Must do this again.

Yes, we must do this again, soon. Hey, how about THIS!

Hyvää Joulua! God Jul! Merry Xmas!

Posted by Martti & Mogens

 

Some reading

Posted by jukkahoo

It's been a while. How's life? Same here.

As it is July and my vacation time, I thought that secluding from the world in general was not a bad idea. And since Missus agreed, we decided that a little cottage time was in order.

I took twelve books with me and returned with 24. Of the 12 I read nine, while the other dozen were bought from the Mäntyharju thrift store, for reasons ranging from "Look at the price of this first edition of Borges!" to "Ah, material for my next reference book".

I brought mostly entertainment with me, which turned out just fine, since I did manage to read nine books in a week. Here is a rough coverage of the said books:

John Maddox Roberts: Saturnalia - Fifth book of the SPQR-series of historical whodunnit's in the republican Rome of playboy/detective Decius Caecilius Metelleus Younger. Very enjoyable romps: good humour, decent plotting, fun characters. This one sees our protagonist suddenly back in Rome, where his one of uncles has been murdered. The Elder Metellus wants Decius to ind the grieving widow guilty, while her brother, the veritable Nemesis of our hero, really wants her to be innocent. SPQR-series is well worth one's time and money.

John Maddox Roberts: Nobody Loves a Centurion - Sixth SPQR-book and Decius id dispatched to Gallia, where Caesar is running his masterplan for eventual leadership of Rome. A strange case of dead primus pilum gets Decius in trouble, since the probable murderer is one of his own patronage, or could it be one of the Gauls? Or possibly a blood-thirsty German, one of the many that are crossing over the Rhine? Hilarity ensues. 

M. D. Lachlan: Wolfsangel - Genuinely nice riff of werewolf-myth mixed with some properly gritty Viking-age bloodletting. Nice period-feeling, proper hammer&sorcery, with more than sizable portion of viking history. Loved the magics. 

J. Pekka Mäkelä: Karsta - Fourth novel by the (almost) lone champion of current Finnish SF. Another quiet masterpiece of bystander-sf. Humanity has lost the interstellar war and aftermath means cleaning up the places. Mäkelä solidifies his place as an important sociopolitical-sf writer.

Juha-Pekka Koskinen: Eilispäivän sankarit - Fun pulp fiction where the main character is woken from 30-odd year coma, after a bothched-up robbery attempt. Surprisingly, he seems to have been found guilty of more crimes than he remembers, and now someone is telling him to stop digging up the old stuff. Good, solid Finnish-pulp from craftsman of many different genres. A whiff of spec-fic here, but only a dash of the stuff.

Scott Oden: The Lion of Cairo - Very good historical fantasy, that did manage to feel both fresh and original, while nodding lovingly at Howard and Lamb. 12th century arab world, with muslim protagonists and very little Franks to mess it all up. Delightfully gritty, surprising and swashbuckling adventure. Didn't expect the fantasy aspect. Loved to read more and if I'm not mistaken, a sequel is a-coming. Very much recommended.

Tansy Rayner Roberts: Love and Romanpunk - Four stories of Romanpunk, from age of Julian emperors to near-future. Very nice take on various myths. Loved the Victorian-piece, while I wouldn't have minded seeing the Patrician-story a bit longer. There is some strong SF/F in Australia. 

Gavin Smith: Veteran - Decent richardmorganesque action-sf, with grimy future of interstellar war and dirty sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Too long, though. And far too verbose characters. Shame.

Ari Marmell: A Conqueror's Shadow - Another dissappointment, which managed to make a small comeback in the later stages. Very average bulk fantasy with some seriously silly characters, plot points and ideas. There is a definite improvement in the last third pf the novel, but while the characters seem more defined and their actions even somewhat understandtable, there is a weird juxtaposition between the way the author handles his characters and the blase rpg-plot and the adult/PG-feeling of the novel. At times the main characters are doing unspeakable deeds, whilst the writer tries to keep the feel of the book at almost kindergarten-level. Horrible violence next to decent humour, next to childish warfare tactics, next to brainless criminal mastermind, next to enchanting tale of fantasyland history, etc. 

For posterity's sake, here are the three books I didn't read: Karen Lord's Redemptio in Indigo, Iain Gale's Man of Honour and Jo Walton's Among Others (Sari read this one).

Tauko

Posted by jukkahoo

On ollut. Taukoa. Ho-hum.

Ei etteikö olisi ollut kirjoitettavaa. Kaikkihan lukevat mielleään kertomuksia hammaslääkärillä käynnistä. Sitten viime 'näkemän' olen vieraillut moisella viisi kertaa. Ensiksi halkesi takahammas ja sitten etu. Hitto soikoon.

Kirjojakin on luettu. Jopa sähköisiä. Ostin nimittäin iPadin. Mahtava lelu! Aivan paras leikkikalu konsaan.

Ann ja Jeff kävivät vierasilla. Kierreltiin hieman maita ja mantuja. Juteltiin mukavia ja suunniteltiin isosti. Toivon mukaan siementen itäminen on hyvällä mallilla ja satoa saadaan korjata ennen pitkään. Hyvää toki kannattaaa odottaa.

Kävin kuukausi sitten Tukholmassa kunniavierailemassa. Suosittelen kaikille, harva asia on itse asiassa aivan yhtä hauskaa kuin kunniavieraana oleminen. Ehkä jääkiekon maailmanmestaruus on aika lähellä, muttei ihan. Suomen mestaruus on tosin ihan siinä rinnalla. GO REDS! Euroconista olen koettanut kirjoittaa raportin tynkää, mutta jokin tökkii. Jos tässä loman aikana vielä saisi jotain valmiiksi, niin ehkä sen tännekin törkkäisisin.

Finncon oli Turussa. Siitä olisi myös sanansa sanottavana. Olen kuitenkin yrittänyt välttää julkista kommenttointia, koska en ole vieläkään oikein osannut saada aikaan koherenttia kokonaisuuttaa siitä, mikä minusta olisi soveliasta kritiikkiä ja mikä aiheetonta ränttiä. Sanotaanko nyt näin, että aika moni ihminen on nähnyt asian kohtuullisen paljon samalla lailla kuin minäkin: Finncon 2011 ei ollut maailman onnistunein Finncon. Itse asiassa, minusta se oli käymistäni (kaikki miinus 1986 ja 2001) Finnconeista heikoin. Jonkinlaisen kuvan saanee, jos lukee vaikkapa seuraavat palaute-ketjut:

Aniki

RIsingshadow

Babek Nabel

Henkilökohtaisia näkemyksiä löytyy myös erilaisista blogeista, anime-henkisiä kannattaa etsiä vaikka täältä. Vanhojen ja väsyneiden partasetien sanallisen arkun avautumista odotellaan vielä. Omalta kohdalta isompi raportointi saattaa jäädä väliin, sen verran epätasapainoon viime viikonloppu meikäläisen Con-shuin saattoi. Kun yllekirjoittanut hukkaa Finnconin aikana con-fiiliksen ja arpoo ankarasti lauantai-aamuna sen välillä, jäädäkö hotellihuoneeseen pelailemaan Vihaisia lintuja vai mennäkö conpaikalle pitämään ohjelmanumeroitaan, niin minusta homma ei mene ihan niin kuin Strömsössä.

Loppupeleissä minulle jäi tapahtumasta haalea fiilis, jos kohta plussa-merkkinen sellainen. On enemmän kuin hauska ta-va-ta vanhoja kamuja (mahtava nähdä Eevaliisa Tenhunen ja Ronnin Tapsa!) ja ylipäänsä smoffata. Viikonlopun anti tulevaisuudelle oli toivon mukaan kohtuullisen antoisa, sen verta monta hyvää ideaa ja ajatusta sen aikana syntyi ja jalostui.

Kaikesta huolimatta haluan sanoa järjestäville tahoille voimalliset kannustuksen sanat: kaikesta oppii. Eikä tämä nyt kokonaisvaltainen katastrofi ollut. Kävijäpalautteesta voi lukea, että suurimmalla osalla vierailijoista oli ihan hauskaa, ohjelmista pidettiin ja vaikka kritiikkiä annettiinkin ihan kunnolla, niin myös kiitoksia on tullut ihan mukavasti. Kiitokset kaikille niille, jotka tämän saivat aikaan!

Näiden sanojen jälkeen on hyvä muistaa, että tässä saa itse kukin lähteä rakentamaan tulevia coneja hattu kourassa ja avoimin mielin. Ensi vuonna olisi tarjolla Åcon 5 ja 2013 Helsinki olisi tarjoilemassa oman versionsa Finnconista. Leopardihattu pyrkii tekemään parhaansa, että homma pelittäisi perinteitä kunnioittaen ja uutta luoden.

Ensi kertaan. Nyt pakenen suomalaiskansallisesti maalle viikoksi.

Let it Snow!

Posted by Sari

As you might know or, in the case of the most readers, have noticed, it has been snowing in Helsinki. Quite a lot. Apparently, we have the most snow in whole of Finland. Eat your heart out Lapland. The result has been as expected. Trains have been late, Busses have been stuck on snowbanks and traffic in general has been, well, hellish. It took Jukka one and half hour to get from Vallila to City Center, normally a trip of about twenty mintues.

And I understand that this does not a happy people make. In addition to life being more complicated  when it is cold anyway, you have all above mentioned problems with moving about. But personally, I LOVE THIS! I ABSO-FRACKING-LUTELY LOVE THIS! So there. Admittedly, our car is in a nice warm garage, and I work mostly  from home so I have been spared the worst of the traffic. But I think there just are people who love winter and people who love summer and never the twain shall meet. Snow is gorgeous, even when it gets into your shoes. Cold is just a question of right clothes. I have been enjoying every minute of walking with the dog through the snow and wind. I have actually been making longer walks just because it looks and feels wonderful outside. For the record, Martti loves this too. The smells are more intensive on the snow and he powers through the snowdrifts like a little tank if needs be to get to that particular scent.


 I spent the whole last summer complaining about the weather. The heat ruined my summer completely,  I just felt absolutely afwul only to be told how I just should enjoy a wonderful summer. So now I am going to skate, ski, walk, photograph the awesome beauty of winter, cuddle up with candles and a nice glass of red wine, and revel in my favourite time of the year. You haterz can just hate.

 

 

      

 

Cleaning the cobwebs

Posted by jukkahoo

Sorry about the mess. Well, perhaps not mess, but the dust and cobwebs and them tumbleweeds. We haven't had time to clean up.

I say "time". I mean "energy". Finncon 2009 was somewhat exhausting experience, which took the wind right out of my wings. It didn't help that I managed to crop up some extra activities beside, I co-edited two books; Ulkomaisia fantasiakirjailijoita 2 ( "Foreign Fantasy Authors" with Vesa Sisättö and Toni Jerrman) and Historiallisen romaanin taitajia 1 ("Masters of Historical Novel" with Juri Nummelin and Sari); did some serious overtime at work; and tried to keep sane at the same time with various other things, that I'm not going to mention here.

After this (wot? six weeks?) time I should be ready to say something about the con itself, but as I think about the long weekend, I can only remember a flurry of motion and some scattered panicky moments, when something or the other was at miss. Not the Guests of Honours, who were just superb! Or the mega-brilliant Staff, who managed to keep the con ship afloat amidst the Sea of Overwhelming Obstacles. Youse gyus rokkkk!

So, no real con-report, I'm afraid, as I didn't really see all that much. "But you saw the thing from within, sir?", says the wild-eyed person with a fluttering set of hands.

Well, yeah... so I did. So, I might have something to ponder about. And I do. I'll try to put to paper... erm, type to screen... write something about that, OK? Together with some thoughts about the Finncon and the future of Finncon in particular. 

Since we are heading toward something new - and old at the same time. 2010 will be a whole different ballgame and mindset. 2011 is trying to do something, which to my mind, is very difficult and probably not worth it. I think we've seen what Finncon/Animecon is and it is a mess of of a thing, that needs to rest in its laurels and be no more.

But what is Finncon? What kind of a convention should and could it be? It seems to me, that if we want to keep the original idea of "spreading the gospel" of SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY to the mundane masses and, of course, the occasional fans and interested parties, we need to think this through. Is it a literary convention, with emphasis on books, writers and science on the side. Or is it a more general kind of an event, where you can sample little bit of everything? Should it be exclusive or inclusive? Or something in between?

If you ask me (well, since this is our blog, you don't really have a say on this, so here goes) the answer is there in the middle of everything. I believe Finncon should be a literary-oriented sf/f con, with interesting program items from various and sundry fringe mediums (like comics, games, TV/films, horror, slipstream, science, tomfoolery etc). The emphasis should be on booksies and authors of those books, but it shouldn't be all sercon and dry. There should be games and interactive programming, stuff for beginners as well as advanced weir... members of fandom.

I've heard people say, that they'd like to see more media-oriented programming and GoH's. Well, duly noted. Not impossible, nor totally out of the question, but unlikely.

Finncon is a literary-oriented con. Has been. Will be. Despite being arranged together with Animecon, the Finncon-part has always been pretty heavily veered toward literary side of things. And as I see it, the core of the people who have been organising the event in the past, are literary-minded fen.

Shurely we enjoy media. I know I do. But not as much as I like them books. If someone would arrange a mediacon in Finland, I could see me going there. I might even pay for it. A bit. Especially if the Guest(s) would be interesting.

OK, they'd had to be interesting. That's my caveat.

They wouldn't be cheap. Compared to them, George R. R. Martin was cheapo. Heck, Harlan Ellison would've been cheaper, and he was expensive as hell (which, by the way, was the reason he has never been to a Finncon)!

OK. Rant-like part of this entry over. As is this entry. But I have only skimmed the surface here. I'll be back. In a day or two. More thoughts on Finncon, 2009 edition of it and the future of. Feel free to comment.

R.I.P. Myy

Posted by jukkahoo

I went out with Myy at 3PM. She looked OK, old and frail, as she had now for some time now. After all, she was 15 and a half. I started making dinner around 5.30. I noticed she was laying on the kitchen carpet, which she never does. Next thing I notice, Myy is standing next to me, barely standing up. Her legs are giving up and she looks so sad.

Sari takes her to the sofa. She is bleeding. We drive her to the Pieneläinklinikka, where a nurse makes a routine check. She calls a vet, who examines Myy more thoroughly.

There is only one possible choice.

We miss you horribly.

--

Little My was standing at the top of the slope, shouting with joy and admiration. She had broken a barrel and fastened two of the staves under her boots.

“Here I come,” she cried. Without a moment’s hesitation Little My set out, straight down the hill. Moomintroll looked up with one eye and saw that she would manage it. Her ferocious little face bore the mark of happy confidence and her legs were stiff as pegs.

Suddenly Moomintroll felt very proud. Little My never shied; she hurtled at breakneck speed close to a pine-bole, wobbled, caught her balance again, and with a roar of laughter threw herself down in the snow beside Moomintroll.

“She’s one of my oldest friends,” he explained to the Fillyjonk.

Botheration

Posted by jukkahoo

I have a tendency to celebrate my birthday every year. I'm sure this is not uncommon with people, but I think less than most try to organise a party every year. As long as I can remember with at least some clarity, I've invited people to my place that day. More often than not, that day has been the 20th of December, mostly because I was born that day (hence, the birthday).

Last year was a disappointing failure, due to me having a serious case of eartube infection, which to my personal experience ranks high up there as Things That Are Seriously Hurting Me -scale. I mean, "Ouch!". More so the pity, as last year I would've turned 40. And did, of course, just not with friends and all that.

So, imagine my dismay when people at workplace started getting sick with strange case of flu. And while some understand that staying at home and treating the sickness is the best alternative, some were less savvy and decided to come to work, none the less. And then more got sick, and then... I got sick. Yesterday I felt like I might be getting IT and today at work I knew I should leave right away. Yet I didn't, you see, there were still few among our crew, that weren't sick already. More the merrier and all that.

Now, it looks highly likely that I'm going to skip this year as well. The 20th is just around the corner, this Saturday (Saturday!!! How often do you get Saturdays?) in fact. Bummer, to say the least.

"Least".

So, maybe not. Damn.

Läpinäkyvän kunnallishallinnon etuja

Posted by Sari

Jukka on pitkin syksyä tehnyt kaupungintalolla iltavuoroa ja tullut kotiin varsin myöhään. Minä sitten läheisriippuvaisena vaimona olen soitellut perään että milloin mahtanee mies päästä kotiin asti. Mutta ei enää, ainakaan kun kaupunginvaltuusto kokoontuu. Helsinki kanavan pilottilähetyksistä voi seurata kaupunginvaltuuston kokouksia suorana streaminä. Eikun ikkuna auki kannettavaan ja jo voi seurata kuinka kauan mies vielä töissä viipyy. Bonarina voi seurata kunnallispolitiikkaa ihan livenä, tällä hetkellä Arhinmäki puhuu graffiteista...

Suddenly, life is incredibly busy

Posted by Sari

Yeah, I don't rightly know how it happened, but suddenly I have heaps of stuff to do. And Jukka is clocking overtime almost daily. We may briefly meet during the day.

Martti has just left to spend few weeks with his owner and after that he is off to Sweden to a dog-show. He was in his first show in champions class in the beginning of November, and got graded a red ribbon (very good). There was around 80 heelers there!

Viivi has developed a stubborn streak and does not want to let herself to be caught. Myy sleeps. A lot.

In other news. Ysabel won the World Fantasy Award! Finally GGK is a WFA winner. And with a pretty good book too. I still think that his later books have not been quite on the par with the earlier, Lions was touching but lacked layers, Mosaic duology had great potential but never really got there, and Last Light of the Day is my least favourite Kay of them all. Ysabel is an excellent YA fantasy and does the past breaks into the present trope so much better than (for example) Mosse's Labyrinth. Go and read it.

Also worth a look is Tor.com's blog where among other luminaries, blogs another WFA winner Jo Walton. Her winning novel, Tooth and Claw is one of those high concept novels that should not work but does. It is a Victorian novel of manners, only with dragons. And it is hilariously brilliant, especially if you are at all familiar with authors like Trollope. She also seems to share my taste in fantasy and SF to an uncanny degree. Her latest post on who killed Arianne Emory has me wanting to read Cyteen for about twentieth time.

And in yet other news, Finncon 2009 website looks pretty cool, and we should soon have more English content available. Honest.