Eating Muffins in an Agitated Manner

Shorter quotes, please

osted by jukkahoo

Weeks like this are really, really nice. Last week wasn't bad either. I quite like working weeks that end by Thursday. Likewise, I'm more than fond of working weeks that begin Tuesday. Now, if only we'd get more of these.

It is an absolute delight to wake on mornings and realise: "Hey, I don't have to go to work! And the same goes for tomorrow, too. And Monday! Thanks Jesus!" Yet, somehow it feels like cheating. Easter is a four-day holiday because of the Passion of the Christ and as someone who doesn't Believe, I feel a bit guilty of taking advantage of this holiday.

But not guilty enough to actually do something about it. I'll take every single holiday I can get, regardless of the reason. Shouldn't we celebrate some muslim holidays, too? ...maybe not.

As said, I did little beside laid back during the holidays. I would dearly have been in Orbital, this years Eastercon, but as finances are what they are - alas, no. Apparently a good con (by the total sum of one (1) so far seen report, this one by Bellis) with interesting GoH's. Talking about Guests of Honours, Åcon 2 GoH Ian MacDonald's Brasyl just got yet another award, this time BSFA for the Best Novel. Can YOU pass this opportunity to see this multi-award-winning gentleman?

And again, laid-backing was the weekend for me. I painted the mural a bit, but I really need better brushes in order to finish it. I also ate some lamb. We had some family over and so forth, but many were the moments when I just put my feet up and zzzz'd. And you know what? Today I've been mostly awake at work! :)

The title was a Deep Thought by Jack Handey, but since it was too long, I decided to omit it. Dang. It actually went like this: "To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other."

The obligatory Figure Skating Post

Posted by Sari

Nice things about the new flat: state of the art internet. Just plug the cable in and hey presto: broadband. Also, two computers so Jukka can escape to the library room and I can take the lap-top and watch skating and surf in the living-room. Now if I only would manage to get the wireless network to work. For some reason I keep getting the "vajaa liitettävyys" error message.

Anyway, skating. World Championships. I went and got cable just to get Eurosport coverage, though I have to give props to YLE: they had live streaming on internet available of lower ranked couples in the Free Dance. Way of the future, I think. Eurosport has one advangage over YLE, though. They broadcast in four languages which means I can choose Danish which I really don't understand that well and thus not get annoyed over the commentating.

As far as actual competition goes, I love the fact that there are more and more countries sending in skaters and also getting near the top. Russia goes home from these championships with one bronze and USA failed to get three spots for women next year. Instead we have medalists from countries like Korea and Italy.

I actually have no squabble with judging in this competition, expect for the the deduction Joubert got in the short for having vocals in his music. As he had performed the program in international competitions this year without deductions, I think it is plain wrong to penalise him now.

My favourite perforances came from Pechalat/Bourzat who had great flamenco OD and great high-concept FD, Yu-Na Kim who is first lyrical skater ever whom I really love and Joannie Rochette whose short was well performed and coreographed. Lambiel's programs could have been great without his stumbles and Browning has really done well for Joubert, first time I rooted for him and so much I nearly couldn't watch.

Also I  really, really think all three of Shpilband's couples shoud get choreography from somewhere else. At the moment Virtue/Moir and my absolute favourites Davis/White succeed despite of their programs not because of them. Both teams have the skills and charisma to be legendary, but the programs really let them down.

All in all, good championship.

loosely based on factual errors

Posted by jukkahoo

I've been organising my cabinets today. As some of you may have gathered (especially from Sari's ongoing commentary here and there) I have few reams of paper products: fanzines, drawings, fiction, doodles, print-outs, crap, notebooks etc. Couple of cabinets, really.

I managed to get rid of couple of boxes, one of which (rather surprisingly) contained about twenty books. Some of which location I had been wondering a bit already, mainly the ones I had on my "To-be-read"-pile. Or the ones I was in the middle of, when we moved. Like Arthur C. Clarke's fiction autobiography Astounding Tales. That I've been searching for these past couple of days after the passing of ACC himself.

I thought of putting the book to the "powder room" ie. the WC (as opposed to the bathroom with sauna), but unfortunately we've been having bit of a problem with plumbing lately. Mainly the hose that leads from the hole in the sink that averts catastrophes if one leaves the water running (what do you call it? overflow-prevention device?) was not connected, meaning that water ran down to the cabinet under the sink.

Damages? Don't ask. I'll have to contact the NCC after Easter and ask what do they think is their responsibility in a situation like this and what do they think is the going rate of 1980's Conan comics. We're probably not going to see eye to eye there.

(Appropriately last.fm is playing Kings of the Wild Frontier right now. Which was preceded by Sunglasses After Dark and I Ran. That's Adam and the Ants, Corey Hart and Flock of Seagulls.)

Earlier today, when ice skating was still only a glimmer in the horizon, I was watching telly and eating brunch. There was this semi-sf series Jack and Bobby on. Somewhat interesting concept, but not that interesting in reality. Anyhoo, I googled the show and wasn't too surprised to notice that the show lasted only one season. What caught my interest was the other Finland connection (Christine Lahti is the lead in the series as the mother of the eponymous characters. I also note that she is married to Thomas Schlamme, one of the producers of the show), namely that the fictional president Adler, who was in power during the War of Americas, was later charged with war crimes, after being arrested by the president of Finland! Way to go, president Joku! (Now last.fm is playing Icehouse's Hey Little Girl. This is really good! Sounds a lot like Girls and Boys -era Bryan Ferry, which is great! OK, now we're back with Thompson Twins.)

I mentioned that I found some twenty books from the cabinets. This finally broke the 4 900 mark at Librarything.  Still some way to go for the full... Barth? Barnes? Bromley? What was that 5000+ size of a library?

Slow Cooking

Posted by jukkahoo

Easter! The Redeemer! The Passion!

Or... four-day-weekend. I'll take that.

I was going to write something really spiffy about various Tähtivaeltaja Award nominees (that includes Tähtifantasia, the one I'm chairing this year), but I've mostly been reading and feeling very much relaxed. Good, innit?

Åcon2 is coming, soon! You should reserve your hotel, now! And the ferry trip, pronto! Check out the website and be speedy about it!

Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur

Posted by jukkahoo

The season is over. Once more we're left with bedufflement. Why? What? Who? And why the hell cannot our players score?

*sigh*

Not in a mood for blogging. First ACC dies and now this. Spring, your turn.

A.C.C on poissa

Posted by jukkahoo

Yksi viimeisistä Suurista on poissa. Mitä tuohon osaa sanoa?

2001 on hieno teos, hieno elokuva ja hieno kirja sen pohjalta. Samoin Lapsuuden loppu. Minulle Clarken muistettavin teos on kuitenkin Selene 1. Ei mikään ihmeellinen mestariteos, mutta nuoruuden lukemiskokemuksena sellainen Oikeaan AIkaan, Oikeassa Paikassa luettu ja arvostettu teksti.

Ja minähän luin sen uudestaan. Ja uudestaan. Ehkä neljännenkin kerran. Ja keskustelin siitä Ahosen Samin kanssa pitkään. "On se hyvä". Oli se.

Ja Kadonnut menneisyys! Siinäpä ajatuksia aikoinaan nostattanut opus. Nuoren mielen ensimmäisiä kosketuksia Sense of Wonderiin ja ihan oikeasti scifistisiin aatoksiin. On se tulevaisuus vaan sitten erikoisen ihmeellinen paikka!

Ja Ilmojen saaret, joka oli varmaankin ensimmäinen lukemani Clarken teos. Löytyi isovanhempien ullakolta, yhdessä Vancen Avaruuden merirosvojen ja muiden Raketti-sarjan kirjojen kanssa.

Ja Uhka avaruudesta, jota lienee rangaistu kammottavimmalla nimen käännöksellä koskaan. Ihmeellinen, tuntematon avaruusalus.

*huokaus*

Kepeät mullat, sir Arthur. Sinä näytit nuorelle fanin alulle, mistä lähteä liikkeelle. Kuten toinen sääntösi sanoo:

"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible."

Niinpä. Kiitos.

Parcon

Posted by jukkahoo

"So, what is Parcon?", asks the uninitiated fan from Lesser Knowledge. Glad you asked, I'll try to answer.

Czechs are known as nearly-as-lucky-but-not-quite-as-lucky-as-Swedes ice hockey players, purveyors of great beer and Velvet Revolution (not to be mistaken for Velvet Underground, which was Vaclac Havel's lesser known band in the Days of Yore).

The most famous Czech speculative fiction author is a toss between two names: Karel Čapek and Franz Kafka. The first gave us newts, the second cockroaches. There was someone who gave Prague golems, too. Little is known about the fandom, but it exist and has been organising cconvetions for quite some time now. 

The annual Czech (and Slovak, as they do things together, even if Czeckoslovakia is no more) SF-con is called PARCON, which probably takes its name from the first ever such convention, which was held in the city of PARdubice. Subsequent conventions have been called Parcons, which is quite OK, as otherwise there might've been cons like Olocon, Bracon, Košcon, Šumcon, Banská Byscon, Ústí nad Labcon, Spišská Nová Vescon and my personal favourite: Brandýs nad Labcon.

By using the same principle as the original 1987 con-organisers, this years ccould be called Plzcon. As in Plzeň, or if you like to call it by the German name, Pilsen. Which of course is the home of famous Pilsener, such as Urquell and Staropramen. Very nice. 

But, I digress. Parcon 2008 will be held in Plzeň from 22nd to 24th of August and it looks like a very nice little convention indeed. Interesting topic (New Weird, fancy me liking this one...), interesting Guests of Honour (Jeff [and Ann] VanderMeer, Les Edwards and a list of others, who the organisers haven't confirmed yet (Ian R. MacLeod, China Miéville, Steph Swainston). In Czech Republic, where beer costs practically nothing, there are taps on your restaurant table and counters on the wall! Not to mention cheapo accomodation: 200 local dollars korunas/night, which puts you back something like... €8. As said, cheap. Should be good and I'm sorely tempted.

Anyone else interested? Quick trip to former Eastern Europe (Plzeň is of course over ten longitudes west from Helsinki, while the most western part of Czech is more western than Sweden), few cool, refreshing draughts from the "horses mouth" (there could be a pub by that name somewhere, why not Plzeň?) and fun SF with local fen (who really do look like cross between Helsinki-fandom and TeroY) and Guests. Should be pretty cheap also. OK, has to be pretty cheap. My budget does not allow me to do anything other than Really Cheap Tripping, but then again, where does one spend money in a foreign con? Accomodation, some travel, food, beer and cheap souveniers. All these more or less peanuts to us westerners.

I'm seriously considering this one.

Watching telly

Posted by jukkahoo

We increased our television channel intake by getting a package deal from Elisa for about a dozen channels. Mainly so that Sari would be able watch Ice Skating (some Championships begin tomorrow). And since they were also very much interested in keeping us happy, they threw in three months worth of MTV3+ channels: Ava, Fakta, Max, This, That - and Scifi.

Which is OK, I guess. We've had it now for a week and during that time I've watched couple of episodes of B5 (yes, really! still not very good), some entertainingly bad direct--to-video films (like Chameleon2), few minutes of Andromeda, some Red Dwarf, couple of episodes of the First Doctor Who (Hartnell!) and the second episode of the Masters of Udder Krap Science Fiction series.

Well worth the price we're paying now, which is obviously €nil at the moment. So NOT worth paying the actual (€20?) list price. OK, you'd get all the Other Great channels they have, like Sub Junior and Leffa and Sarja, but still, no. Though I have to admit that I found an interesting series from Sarja: Reilly - vakoilijaässä (Reilly - Ace of Spies). Loosely based on the life and times of one Sidney Reilly, the world's first superspy. Cracking stuff! The episode I was had Reilly "saving" another spy from German factory, where the huns were making sikrit veapon, just in case there might be need for such a thing (this happened in 1905). Reilly actually goes and steals the blueprints and leaves the other guy (played by young Bill Nighy, as if there actually has ever been a young Bill Nighy!) to die. Realpolitik disguised as spy-stuff. Me liked.

And, no. Not even with Reilly - vakoilijaässä will the MTV3+ channel package be worth twenty åre. Not even with the Formula1 or David Letterman or Secret Army (Maanalainen armeija) or even 'Allo 'Allo (Maanalainen armeija iskee jälleen). Maybe if they would show Survivorman (Selviytyjä) but then again, Discovery is showing that and we got Discovery. What a show! This dude, Les, is dropped in the middle of nowhere, with just some bare essentials and couple of cameras  (and some serious batteries!) for seven days, and he has to, well, just survive! Like in the middle of some bigass Ocean with only a rubberboat. Or Antartica, or the Amazon, or... Wherever! Les manages. Today he boiled water in a plastic bottle (his only method of carrying liquids!) with a fire he concoted up from dung, glycerin and potassium permanganate. Which basically meant that he picked up some wilderbeest poo, poured some antiseptics on top of it, which then had a chemical reaction - and hey presto: FIRE! Kool.

Television can be educational.

Onneksi olkoon, herra Koljonen!Part Deux

Posted by jukkahoo

Hello again!

Took some time off from all that PeBloWriMoing. Missed me? Oh...

As some of you may already know, Finncon2009 (10th - 12th of July) takes place in Kaapelitehdas. It took some time to find a proper venue for the kind of convention we wanted to do: a joint Finncon/Animecon, where both can exist together, but still have their own space. Roughly translated as: massive happening room for the anime-kids and cosy mingling/beer-drinking space for the doddering old fools fen. I think we may have just found the place with Kaapelitehdas.

It will take LOT of doing, not to mention HUGE amount of volunteer work, but I'm sure we'll manage. And that we'll do it together. I think I will address this thing later this week.

Which I will call PeBloWriWe, as in Personal Blog Writing Week. I have some things I like to write about and if I conjure this stoopid incentive PeBloWriWe, I might actually force cajole make myself to do this. So, expect to read a bit about Finncon2009, Åcon2, Tähtifantasia (so, who will win?), Parcon and MTV3 Scifi. 

And of course, congratulations to Mr. Koljonen for the BIG L!

Onneksi olkoon, herra Koljonen!

Posted by jukkahoo

Last weekend went in such a hurry that I can barely realise that it is Sunday now and tomorrow I have to go work again. *sigh*

No PeBloWriMo for karkauspäivä or Leap Day, as it is evidently called. Wasn't near computer that day. Very busy also. We went to Ikea, just for fun, since we actually had a lot to do last Friday, but... Went to Ikea and bought a table. Actually we had already collected the boxes (2) for the said table, when I noticed a peculiarily similar looking table(s) at the "Löytöjä"-corner. There were two tables for sale, the one that I noticed first (really battered for €45) and the one behind the other. Looking bad as well, but as I looked a bit more closely, swiped some of the grime away with me 'and, revealing fairly undamaged and only €89 priced table, I knew this was IT. After some negotiations, renting a van and all, the whole trip to Ikea ended up costing several tenners less than just the new table we were after. Brilliant!

But we did lose some time, which meant that we were in a bit of a hurry to get to railway station and to Turku, where we headed straight away to Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, and the St. Anna's Chapel which is the said religious place inside the museum. Really intimate and small place. And a very nice place to have one's sikrit wedding.

In this case the marriage between my bloodbrother Hannu Pajunen and the lovely bride, Kristiina Koljonen. Surrounded by some dozen relatives and close friends, we attended the ceremony. I had the honour of being the bestman, and while I had the urge to snap the ringbox on the reverend's fingers, I managed to control myself. Barely.

Stayed at Hannu's place for the night (while the happy couple were doing whatever people do in a undisclosed location) and headed to Tammere with Tomi and Tero, at Tero's car. I was already feeling the flu I'm currently having (the one Sari's been having for some time now) and felt somewhat drowsy. It's irritating fly, this one. Not really that bad (I'm going to go to work tomorrow, unless my temperature will rise significantly before morning), but bothersome, to say the least.

Ate a hearthy lunch at Ali Baba's (Turku-people's regular haunt for he Yhteistyökokous). I recommended the nearby Ragu's Malesian restaurant. Really good, you should try that one. Better food than Ali Baba's mediocre kebab. Nothing really that wrong with their kebab, well worth the €6 or so. Still, Ragu's. Better.

Yhteistyökokous was good, if a bit long. But then again, it was pretty much what it was supposed to be. Co-operation and information. Good stuff and it has been really excellent that SPEKTRE has organised this one now for six years in a row. I think we were wise when we asked whether the Tammere people would be willing to arrange this thing for the common good of Finndom.

After the Real Deal, we ate a bit, drank a bit, went to sauna (or some people did, as well as dipping into the frozen lake, I didn't as I was feeling the coming of the Cold), fried some sausages, smoked a few cigars and had a raffle. Eight tickets, one prize. Should've bought only two, probably would've won with both of them.

Unfortunately the DVD-player didn't recognize Atlantiksen jumala, which meant that the Rest of the Finland's Premiere is still yet to come. In hindsight, this may have been a blessing in disguise. The co-operation meeting was so long that we may have had to skip or really shorten the last event of the day, the NoFF-auction, which would've been simply terrible.

I acted as the auctioneer (which isn't the reason I think it'd been terrible to miss it) and together with the generosity of the fandom, we managed to raise well over 300 euroes (over €280 for the auction and some extra from anonymous donators) to this year's trip! Give yourself a round of applause, people! Well done.

We headed to train station in order to catch the 11Pm train, managed to do that, spent hour-and-half sitting uncomfortably at pendolino's chairs, while the two brats in front of us were behaving obnoxiously and were in Helsinki at 0.30AM. Which was covered in snow, and kept snowing. And I thought the spring was here already. Fat chance.

Today we've been mostly sleeping, trying to get better and fixing the flat up. Still plenty of stuff to do, but every day is looking more and more likely that we might be ready to hold a house-warming party. RSN.

OK, to bed. PeBloWriMo is over, rejoice!