Eating Muffins in an Agitated Manner

Joulukuun neljäs 2019

Posted by jukkahoo

You know, some days are just too long. 

Joulukuun kolmas 2019

Posted by jukkahoo

It's been a day of rememberance as Ye Olde Cavaliers made their way to the opening of Niko Nenonen's aquarelle paintings exhibition. Niko's father, Kari Nenonen, was one of the leading Finnish horror writers, who wrote more or less anything. "Isokirjailija!" (as Boris Hurtta named him) was a true pulp writer at heart. We lost Kari in 2006 and unfortunately Niko succumbed to a cerebral infarction last year. 

He had couple of very nice chats with Kari's widow and his two remaining offspring, Nina and Nuutti, the latter a spitting image of his father. Hence he introducing himself to us as "Kari Nenonen" was mildly eerie. The wine was nice and plenty, art colourful and delightfully weird. Different vein than the one I own, but apparently there is a fairly sizable stash of Niko's art at his mother's attic.

We also visited coiple of pubs and an antiquarian book shoppe. Hence my beverage of today is Franziskaner Hefe, a mellow and easy-going weissbier to soothe the palate. Also, goes down really well with Salve's seafood pyttipanna/hash. Yum. Salve has been serving sailors since 1897, so you really can't go wrong with fish there. A bit pricey for my taste these days as the new owners kinda turned the Old Salve into this hipster-sailor place, but the kitchen is still good.

Joulukuun toinen 2019

Posted by jukkahoo

Today's beverage is... PEPSI MAX CHERRY! Because it is back. Though, was it ever away? Who knows. In any case, few months ago, our local purveyor of goods (S-Market Takomotie) stopped stocking this semi-nectar. Suddenly the shelves were empty  and the price tags were removed. Clearly the soda had a solid purchase base and there was no reason to dump it for any other seasonal flavour (like dreaded rasperry or that weirdo cinnamon Coke), but apparently powers that be had done so. 

And then you saw the same thing happening in other shops. Followed by sales of the stuff, which surely meant it was all over. *snif* Sigh. We had a good run. I never expected to be able to enjoy our relationship for more than a season or two, a year tops, but we had a couple. Good times. 

But evidently things have changed, as bottles are on the shelves at S-Market, and the product info is back at the Hartwall pages. 

In other news: Everyone has gone batshit crazy and the planet is doomed. Nothing really new then. Politicians are corrupt asswipes and media full of vengeful idiots. It's all very depressing. Pitäkää tunkkinne. 

Joulukuun ensimmäinen 2019

Posted by jukkahoo

It's been a while since I last posted anything here. Apparently blogging is dead and while this may not be the whole truth or nothing but the truth, or whatnot, my days of active, or even semi-active blogger are well past. Various social medias are more than able to fill that void. 

This Xmas calendar has been a Thing for couple of years and while the stats tell me that we are far away from the traffic of yesteryears (well, nothing rates as well as a looming demise of the main character and since there is no sign of cancer around, I'll settle for less), there seems to be Some people who come by, take a look and be on their merry ways after. Happy to have you! 

I was planning on doing as little as possible. "Oh, again", they say. A beverage of the day, perhaps a review and a link to something I found amusing or interesting. Or even informative. 

First beer is Suomenlinnan panimo's Gethe Sour. Like many, I have found sour beer (this year, or last?) and been pretty delighted about that. They are usually interesting and as I have been less inclined to drink lager, or in fact most other beers that people would normally associate as beer, sours have been more than welcomed by my palate. 

This is a nice little sour, lighter than most, not very tart but it has a nice nose and the scent of fruitiness. Apparently hibiscus. At 4% it is easy drink and something I will definitely look for in the future, as it is just a very nice little beer. 

I felt it necessary to watch Blade Runner last month, as it was November 2019. BR is still a very good movie, but while it pains me to say it, probably not as great as I remembered. There's still oodles and bundles of brilliant film-making, visuals and acting. It's just that I also heard some lazy dialogue and unnecessary pathos that irked me. And some really 80's auteurism. 

But we still have a great film here, one of the best the genre has to offer. Unlike the 2049 one. If that would be just a film, with no ties to the original, there might be a really interesting film somewhere, but as a reply or reverberation on Blade Runner, this is... too clean, too staged, too expensive. It should've been scruffier and a bit chipper. Now, Blade Runner is no fun fest, but it has a bunch of laughs and a really funny scene with Harrison Ford and Joanna Cassidy in latter's dressing room. There are quips and lines that elicit humour and action at the same time. BR2049 has none of that. It's a languishing, sad poem of a movie. And yeah, a bit too long, too. It could've been a contender. 

But the prologues are great, they look and feel like the original. 

In other news, we taped an episode of Tähtivaeltaja podcast with Aleksi today. Talked about Blade Runner(s) and criticism, as well as mentioned couple of books and tv-series - as we do. In Finnish, so there's that. Though there is the short one in English I did with Tade Thompson at Eastercon. Check that one out.