Black Beauty

This is my bike. I got it this spring. It's a city bike, and quite big. I love it! It takes me to all those gorgeous places here in Helsinki.

Yesterday we rode around the city. I often fear to cause traffic-dangerous situation, because of all the staring around - so much to see! I haven't been to many cities, but am willing to bet that Helsinki is one of the prettiest in the world. Sometimes, it is hard to belive I live in this nice place. It also help to live in the centre of the city, where all the pretty is, and not in some dodgy suburbian area.

And here's my bike with a rather interesting kickstand. Photos are taken on Vappu (May 1), when we were having a breakfast picnic outside (as did the rest of the population of Finland).

Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme... or close enough

The lazy-evening food. When you don't feel like spending more than 10 minutes (and even that is when stretching it!) on dinner, or don't feel like turning on the oven. And hey, it's so hot in summer, who wants to turn on the stove at all.

All I used was

• some Finnish tomatoes (really red ones, not the vague pink-orange tomatoes that taste like nothing). Tomatoes from mum's greenhouse would beat everything, of course, if I was closer to the beforementioned greenhouse and if it was summer;
• a nice ball of your favourite/preferred mozzarella cheese. Mozzarella cherries are, naturally, even more convenient;
• a hearty handful of fresh basil;
• a few slices of milder kind of onion, or red onion;
• lots of pepper!;
• good olive oil.

Sometimes I also use lemon juice (just take a lemon and squeeze out as much juice as you like), or lime juice. But not too much, because lemon juice can be too dominating over other ingredients.

And a glass (or few :p) of nice cold white wine, or rosé, and that's pretty much a perfect dinner for those warmer/hot evenings :)

Welcome to my health track

Oh dear, it's been over two months. Bad me.

Today I took photos from my health track. The track runs around the bay (called Töölönlahti). In spring, the track is very pretty. Lots of trees, water, and other nice stuff. Since it's located in Helsinki city centre, it's also extremely popular and almost always well-populated.

But let's get going.

Entrance from Mannerheimintie (a very long roadway in the city). The bay can be seen behind the trees.

 Prunus padus, or bird cherry - what funny names this lovely tree has in English :) In Estonian, we call it toomingas and in Finnish, tuomi. It smells sooooo good.

View to the bay from the track. On the back, a bit to the left, can be seen the big Ferris wheel of Linnanmäki amusement park. I wrote about the scary rides at Linnanmäki in here. Yes, I definitely prefer looking at that place from safe distance :p

The path continues. Some fancy-pancy climbing-and-turning spots have been built for the health-conscious citizens of Helsinki. There are three similar spots on the track and these were built in like... a week, maybe, very recently. It is nice to see city showing care to health and well-being.

Moving on, we arrive to the bridge that crosses the narrow side of the bay. On the right run train tracks. I love trains! Often wave to them as they go by. It may be weird, but I don't care.

                                                                      Up the hill we go.

Garden of someone living by the bay. It may be a dream place for many, but to be honest, I am not sure I'd feel too good in a place where hundreds of runners, walkers and cyclists walk very close by your house every day. Not to mention there is probably never much privacy in such a garden. Except maybe when it's really lousy weather. But who wants to chill in their yard then, anyway.

 Blue Cafe / Sininen Kahvila. Perfect - coming from a run (or bike ride), hop in and order a coffee and a tasty pastry product... err, maybe not. (There's also an ice cream kiosk on the track in one location - so far I have managed to ignore it, but not sure how much longer.)

House in the woods. It's hard to tell now, since the green stuff is on the way, but it's a pretty amazing wooden house. More like villa, actually. There are about five of such wooden buildings around the track here, and they look absolutely fabulous. I don't know from what period of time they are from, but I'd guess they are pretty old.

The prettier parts of the track. In spring and summer, it is so nice here.

                                                                    Forget-me-nots :)

                                Tulip / tulp / tulppaani. Internationally understandable flower.

 By now, the path has turned back towards the city and roadway. Bay to the left, Opera theatre approaching from the right.

Finnish National Opera in the background. The design of the building is failed, if to express modestly. In short, it looks like a Soviet-era hospital. It's covered with white squared tiles that look like they belong to someone's bathroom (definitely not mine, though). I don't know what they were thinking back in 1993 when completing this building. Having said that, it is nice to hear those sopranos and tenors practice while you run past the house. Gives kind of a syrrealistic touch to the whole moment.

A group of ladies practicing boxing. I guess modern women are not into frying pans and rolling pins anymore?

Two locals of the bay. I suspect the left one is checking out the right-hand swan's bottom :p

That's it, folks. Time to return to the civilization - to trams, shops, and everyday stress. Back to the health track tomorrow! :)

Nightwish in Helsinki Ice Hall, March 10, 2012

Imaginaerum Tour 2012

Let me start by describing the microclimate in our Sector E4, as it was probably where the funniest events took place throughout. Sector E4 included various types of people: me and Jan; a few middle-aged men and women (who "are keeping it real", as Jan said); a few Teenagers on my left hand; an Emotionless Lady on Jan's right hand; a Proper Metal Dude With Very Long Hair (I shall call him just Proper Metal Dude hereon) and his Crew sitting in the first row of Sector E4, two rows ahead of us; a Semi-Eager Security Dude, plus Extras.

You could tell whether there was a good song or a bad song performed on stage based on the actions of the Proper Metal Dude and his Crew. When song was not so good (read: slow, more experimental), parts of the Crew, or the whole Crew, left their seats. Luckily, there were more good than poor songs. During the good songs, the Metal Dude did a lot of hair tossing and headbanging (even though often off rhythm :) ). The Crew consisted also of two ladies and two other guys (with short hair). Let's call one of the guys the Conductor. Occasionally, he approached his fellow Crew Members, pointed finger at them and (I think) yelled them what to do: how to toss hair, how to headbang, what to do with hands and fingers, which kind of body movement to use. It was a very funny show to watch! :)

On the photo below, in the left lower corner, you can see some of the Proper Metal Dude's hair in movement:)

The Teenagers on my left seemed a bit shy, so all they managed to do was pointing fingers at the rest of the Sector E4, commenting and laughing at their actions. I hope their next gigs will be more interesting! I could not but to observe the Emotionless Lady sitting next to Jan and I swear, not a muscle on her face or in her whole body moved throughout the approximate 1.5 hours :) I hope she enjoyed the show at least a bit. The Semi-Eager Security Dude occasionally patted someone on the shoulder and reminded that it is not allowed to take photos with your telephone/camera. Nevermind the fact that in the 3-meter radius there were at the same moment at least five other people doing exactly the same :p

Alright, enough of gossip now, moving on to

The Goods:
The sound was really really good to my ears, even to the distance that we were at.
The show was great (I had no doubts it would be). There was a big screen displaying different images, colours and moods; there was plenty of pyrotechnics shot off the stage. At first I wondered what those funny pipes were doing around Tuomas's keyboard set, but the answer came in the form of fire shooting off from there as well.
The vocals were surprisingly good! Anette Olzon has grown a lot of confidence on her since their Dark Passion Play Tour some years back. She is very good at singing the stuff that is actually written for her voice (namely the latest record, which I am not a hardcore fan of). Mr Hietala held to his own, expectedly high standards.
Starting on time. The band was supposed to come on stage and that they did, even a minute earlier, perhaps. Coming from a long history of gigs, where you can go 20 minutes after the artist's announced time and still having to wait for half an hour, it is a bit strange getting used to Finns' punctuality :) (I don't usually go to opening acts.)
Lots of powerful vibe coming from the stage. That, of course, is the combination of well-picked songs, very good sound and vocals, and communication with the audience. In that sense, the second half of the show was much better than the first (which is better than having it the other way around).
Troy Donockley, for giving lots of folksy vibe on his Irish bagpipes (uillean pipes).
Sector E4. I haven't laughed that much in a long time :)

The Bads:

Having the seats. In my world, having seats at such gigs is a small kind of a sin to commit. But there was nothing to do, by the time I got to the shop, the whole floor had been sold out.
The "pop-songs" and overall composition of the setlist. The pop-songs contribute zero to the whole gig. Namely "Wish I Had an Angel", "Amaranth" and "Nemo". They all rank amongst the worst NW songs I think. And "Nemo" in acoustic version??? I mean the song itself is so plain, the least you could do for the crowd is to have some beat behind it. I almost fell asleep there. This song is not written for Anette Olzon and there are songs she can do better. "Over the Hills and Far Away" sounded mediocre, but the fact that its fast and generally a good song saved it, compared to "Nemo". The surprising "The Siren", for example, has enough character that she could make it her own and it sounded really good. I'd prefer all these three taken off the setlist and add "Rest Calm", which is one of the best songs from "Imaginaerum". And do both "The Siren" and "The Poet and the Pendulum", not just replace one with the other :) /rant off
The crowd. It was the first time for me to observe the crowd on the floor from up high, and I was a bit disappointed, as about 10-20 first rows of people were really jumping and throwing fingers, but the rest was pretty much motionless. Maybe it would have felt great seen from down there, I don't know, but I suspect it has something to do with Finns' kind-of-cold nature and reservedness.

The Questionabilities that Remain:
I have only one thing that left me pondering. If a live show sounds so much better than the record it is representing, what the h... is it that would make me pick up the record, one so inconsistent as "Imaginaerum", and play it over and over? :)

The Regrets:
That the Proper Metal Dude and his Crew were not able to get floor tickets :( They seemed so restricted there in Sector E4 that I really felt sorry for them.
That I was not able to get floor tickets :p Felt sorry for myself as well.

Setlist:

1. Taikatalvi (Imaginaerum, 2012)
2. Storytime (Imaginaerum)
3. Wish I Had an Angel (Once, 2004)
4. Amaranth (Dark Passion Play, 2007)
5. Scaretale (Imaginaerum)
6. The Siren (Once)
7. Slow, Love, Slow (Imaginaerum)
8. I Want My Tears Back (Imaginaerum)
9. The Crow, the Owl and the Dove (Imaginaerum)
10. The Islander (DPP)
11. Nemo (Once)
12. Last of the Wilds (DPP)
13. Planet Hell (Once)
14. Ghost River (Imaginaerum)
15. Dead to the World (Century Child, 2002)
16. Over the Hills and Far Away (Gary Moore cover)

Encore:
17. Finlandia (a wonderful piece composed by Jean Sibelius back in 1899)
18. Song of Myself (Imaginaerum)
19. Last Ride of the Day (Imaginaerum)

Jan's favourite of the evening: Finlandia, Scaretale
My favourites of the evening: Finlandia, Planet Hell
Photos taken with Nokia N8.

Moods of March

I have come to the conclusion that this year's March is an excellent month. Here's why:

1. Spring is coming!!! This past week's time we had, like, six sunny-weathered days in a row. And it's Finland. Pretty much used to all kinds of crap raining down all the time and suddenly such a treat. Maybe I can bring out spring boots and shoes soon? One can hope :)

2. I received a new cactus to my collection - it's small and has little reddish spikes :) Thanks, Hobbit.

3. A week off from work. 7 (+2, +2 to include both weekends) precious days to do whatever I want.

4. The gig tonight. I am not the Nightwish fan I once used to be, so this is more like the childhood dream come true, which just didn't happen to come true earlier :) However, having done some spy-work over the Internet, show should be good and voices/sounds are likely on top quality as well.

5. Going to Estonia next weekend. I will have lists of what foods/drinks/books I want to bring back :p Looking forward to seeing parents and showing Jan my childhood places.


Thats some pile of sushi :) It was very tasty. Jan brought it from Umeshu, a sushi place basically in our back yard.

February catch - movies

Spoiler alert!

Thank You For Smoking (2005) is described as "satirical comedy". I saw the attempts for satire, and I kind of got it that it was supposed to be a comedy, but overall the movie was a bit plain for me. The film follows a guy called Nick Naylor, who is a lobbyist for a successful cigarette company. It could have been a decent piece of entertainment, had there not been some annoying factors. Let's see...
Child characters/actors - what's with them? Why in films they are always portrayed as nice and cute, smart, wise beyond their years with articulation skills that would put most of us in shame? When I think back to my childhood or think of some children I have met, they are usually the normal brats with messy hair, who don't know "night nor hat" of the world yet and whose biggest dream is to rob a candy shop (nowadays maybe Apple store?) instead of teaching a lesson to their parents and other surrounding adults.
The typical clichéd divorced US family. The child living with mum and foster dad? Check. Real dad portrayed as not suitable for parenting? Check (--> his profession). Foster dad being "the nice guy" and possessing a generally prestigious profession that can easily keep up a family, such as a heart surgeon or a NASA scientist? Check (I think in this film it was some kind of doctor). The ex-wife still bitter towards the ex-husband even after the divorce which pretty likely was initiated by the female in the first place? Check.
Then there's a scene where the protagonist meets a journalist (of opposite sex, of course, and naturally the sparks start flying right away after some cheesy attempts of flirtation from both sides - much new there), has sex with her, and the following day is genuinely surprised to see things he had said the last night while in bed in newspaper. ??? Really? Really??? He is not some random truck driver but supposedly someone very witty and at ease with words, which are his bread and butter, right, and he thinks there is such a thing as "off record" with a journalist? Oh dear.
Worth a cookie: J.K. Simmons; The MOD-squad (Merchants of Death) - Nick's evil counterparts, an alcohol-lobbyist and a firearms-lobbyist. Their regular dinners would be worth a watch and chuckle, but again, it is a bit too overdone - the alcohol lobbyist portrayed as an alcoholic herself and the firearms dude pulling out selection of weapons from under the table during dinners. We don't see Nick smoking (only empty packages), but I'm afraid that has more to do with some film rating restrictions than anything else.


The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - here's how you make a non-clichéd movie. Director Wes Anderson's greatest strength is definitely his set of characters and the choice of actors - those who have seen The Royal Tenenbaums or The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou will likely enjoy limited Darjeeling as well. Again Anderson uses his "body-actors" Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston and Bill Murray (the latter, though, gets about 2 minutes screentime in total :) )
It's funny, colourful and witty. Good entertainment. Now I feel like rewatching The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic again. Gah.




Toy Story (1995) - oeh. It is difficult to say anything about this one because a) I am clearly not the main target group; b) look at the production year; c) I lack experience with modern computer-animated films (by choice). I watched it with Jan and I know he likes Toy Stories, and that's how this film was good, because of the background information. Like, sometimes you watch something you wouldn't otherwise just because someone certain has said interesting things about it.
The main problem I had was with the animation style (which has nothing to do with the fact that it might be, in this case, be a bit out-dated by now). This particular animation style is way too sterile for me. Even if I watch a cartoon, I want to be able to imagine things in my head, and in my head a little boy's room could not look like that. It is too sterile, the lines are too flowy, too clean. It is difficult to explain and I don't expect I am being understood.
It did provoke my thought, though, in quite a different direction. In the old times, our forebears had no fancy blinking-singing-moving around on its own toys. I remember some stories of how children played with wooden sticks and imagined that those sticks were dolls, or animals. I think it pretty much helps to grow a child and his imagination. With the modern fancy-pancy toys, there's really no room for imagination left, is there. The toy does everything and child is a passive spectator instead of being the active leader of the game. I felt quite depressed about it for a while in the end.

To the sun!

I am not the only one longing for spring :) Here we see a duck leaping/running/flying (something in between) towards the sunlight. (The duck is located in lower/centre-right part of the photo, in case it is difficult to see.)