SixDegrees
Finland?s ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAGAZINE
MARCO
FORSS
Policing the
internet
page 8
ADDICTED
TO SHOP
Consumer concern
page 10
Chrysta
Bell
Music for
midnight
page 17
ANGRY
BIRDS
Still flying high?
page 12
Issue 8/2012 www.6d.fi 28.9 - 25.10.2012
Todays
topic!
Talks about different cultures and arts
10.10 Somali women in Finland
31.10 Japanese minimalist aesthetics
Wed at 5 pm, free entrance
Electional
debate
grab a map, get
ready and discover
the treasures of
Immigrant candidates in the
municipal elections present
themselves. Thu 11.10 at
5.30 pm, free entrance
International
womens
living
2012
Japan
room
A chain of solidarity with
Ulla Hoyer from Emmaus
Mon 15.10 at 4 pm,
free entrance
Meets Finland
Japanese design and art influenced by Finland
19.10?20.12, free entrance
Helsinki!
A
s online shopping, supermarkets and big shopping
centres have become increasingly popular, people
seem to have forgotten about the many wonderful
small specialised shops and boutiques that can be found
here in Helsinki. Collecting all of these together in an easy
to use brochure, the Pop in a Shop map offers a guide
to over 200 privately owned establishments around town.
Dividing the city into sections such as Kallio, Töölö,
the Center, Southern Helsinki, Marketplaces and Places
Beyond, the map offers the chance to check out the
wide range of independent spirit on offer. Antiques, art
and design, fashion, food and drink, home and interior
design and jewellery can all be found. These small
companies offer excellent services and unique products
all year around right here in the city and
are truly the hidden treasures of Helsinki!
The Pop in a Shop map can be found
at Helsinki City Tourist Information Centres
and also at most hotels in the city.
Literature
Evenings
E
Literature and culture from:
CUBA Guest speaker Kristiina
Satola from Suomi-Kuuba
Association. Sat 20.10 at 5 pm
JAPAN Guests: Heikki Mallat
and Kai Nieminen from Japania
Association. Sat 10.11 at 5 pm
ISRAEL Juha-Pekka Rissanen
from Suomi-Israel Association.
Sat 1.12 at 5 pm
Free entrance!
Music
Station
Club
World and Pop music
with Senegalese musicians.
Sat 20.10 at 8 pm, 5?
Indian Folk and Blues Night
Sat 24.11 at 8pm, 5?
Pop in a Shop online:
www.poikkeaputiikissa.fi aPop in a Shop a Pop in a Shop map
International
Cultural Centre
Mikonkatu 17 C
www.caisa.fi
HELSINKI TIMES
27 SEPTEMBER ? 3 OCTOBER 2012
HSL to test electric bus
Starting this autumn, HSL will bring on
line the first entirely electric bus. The
bus is both almost completely soundless and emission-free.
The electric bus will be operated by
the transport company Veolia. You will
be able to ride it on Espoo service 11,
which takes the route Tapiola?Matinkylä?Friisilänaukio.
The bus will be tested for three
years in both summer and winter traffic, as well as in the laboratory of the
Ecological driving
discount with HSL?s travel card
Owning a car is not a must. For
Hertz, Avis, Europcar and Sixt,
infrequent needs it is worth-
car rental companies operating
while to consider sharing a ride
in the capital region, give regu-
or getting a shared car.
lar HSL customers a discount on
You can book a shared car on-
their services, when a travel card
line or by phone, even for just a
with a season ticket is presented.
few hours at a time. You can pick
Owning a car is expensive. Pur-
up the car from a location close
chasing and maintaining a car
to your home or workplace.
costs 350?1,400 euros a month,
In the capital region, City Car
depending on the price and type
Club offers a new customer using
of the car, as well as the distance
a HSL season travel card a 25 per
driven.
cent discount on package deals.
A Helsinki internal public trans-
When you need a car for a
port season ticket costs about
longer time, renting the car may
44 euros a month, and a region-
come more cheaply.
al ticket is about 90 euros.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
HSL?s goal is to cut the public transport emissions affecting air quality by
80 per cent by the year 2018.
Realising the emission cuts requires
the newest vehicle technology. Previously, HSL has also participated in hybrid bus testing. The Portuguese electric bus being tested can go about 120
7
kilometres on a single charge. For now,
charging will only be possible at the
Veolia bus depot. The charging takes a
few hours.
Finnish weather conditions great for testing
The experiment will gather information on the performance of the battery-powered electric bus, and allow
comparison between conventional and
new bus technology. HSL is also acquiring know-how on planning electric bus
transport services.
The electric bus technology is still
young and requires further development before electricity-operated bus
stock can be increased. For example,
the capacity and weight of the batteries is still an issue.
If a greater number of electric buses are acquired in the future, the infrastructure of the charging points and bus
depot placement must be taken into account. An electric bus depot cannot be
far from where the service is operated.
Finnish weather conditions bring their
own extra challenge to electric bus
technology, but also provide a unique
testing environment.
The eBUS-project, operated by HSL,
Veolia and several other partners, intends to acquire several electric buses
from different manufacturers for testing in the coming years.
A second, fully electricity-powered
bus of Chinese origin will begin to operate at the turn of next year.
New bus
service on
test drive on campuses
HSL
to survey
residents? traveling
The testing of a new, demand-responsive bus service will start at
the Aalto University and University of Helsinki campuses, likely from
October onwards.
In the beginning the testers will
be students and faculty. The service will start out with three minibuses, but seven new buses will be
added later in the autumn.
The HSL Kutsuplus is a demandresponsive bus service based on a
fully automated order and control
system. The bus has no fixed route or
schedule ? instead, it is summoned
by a computer or a smartphone.
During the campus pilot, HSL
will be gathering experiences of the
functionality of the service in practice. Later the Kutsuplus service will
become available to all users.
The intention is to slowly increase
the number of buses in operation.
The travel habits of Helsinki region
residents will be researched through
interviews and travel diaries this autumn. A person selected for the survey will be sent a background information form, as well as a travel diary
in which they will enter the trips taken
during a weekday.
The sample will include about
14,200 persons from the 14 municipalities in the Helsinki region.
The aim of the survey is to get a
thorough and reliable picture of residents? travel habits and the factors affecting people?s traveling.
By combining other information
with the survey results, it will be possible to make predictions regarding
the residents? traveling needs. A similar survey was conducted in the Helsinki work commute region in 2007?
2008.
Starters
6
Issue 8 2012
Top 5
things on our mind
this month...
Heated response to crap film
An filmmaker living in America has made a very
bad film denigrating Islam, causing a select few
in other countries to go mental and burn stuff.
Luckily, most people don?t do this when they
think something is stupid ? they ignore it instead.
Heck, if I started burning stuff every time I saw
a bad film there?d be no cinemas left in Helsinki.
Election fever
Very soon, and possibly already by the time you
read this magazine, the new President of the
United States will be elected. As usual, 90% of
the world is stuck wondering how such a powerful country can actually suggest that someone as
moronic (or should that be Mormonic?) as Mitt ?I
don?t represent the 47 per cent? Romney can be
considered a suitable person to run the country.
Don?t do it, America!
Election fever part 2
Finns will also soon be voting, only this time in
municipal elections where unknown candidates
vie for the right to reduce local influence, hemorrhage budgets and continue the process of
transferring all democratic power, social amenities and essential services away from smaller
communes to larger conurbations like Helsinki
and Tampere. Can?t we just accept that democracy sucks?
The iPhone 5 launches
It?s finally here, to the delight of techno geeks
the world over. The fabulously unnecessary,
expensive and frankly rather backward iPhone 5
has been launched to the usual crowds of losers
waiting in line for two days to be the first to get it.
Hunger strikes
Three Afghani asylum seekers are on hunger
strike after Immigration Services ruled they
should be returned to Afghanistan from Finland
as it is ?safe?. Please let me know when immigration officials return from their Afghan fact-finding
mission facing IEDs, suicide bombers and serialkilling policemen, and confirm the country is
indeed secure.
.
.
.
o
t
How
vote for the right candidate in
the municipal elections?
Don?t fall under any spells they try to weave
with their sugar coated words. If you agree
with their policies, vote for them and if you
don?t, don?t.
Beth Morton, journalist
Be informed, as best as possible. Be
coherent. Remember: the elected
candidates will not do our job, they just
represent us. So, be compromised to have
an impact on their decisions and follow their
implementation into actions.
David Muoz, artist
First of all if you have the right to vote,
please do so. Voting is an important way
to influence the country?s future, but
unfortunately many people take a pass on
this. When it comes to choosing whom to
vote, instead of listening to whom others are
going to vote, do your own research.
Jenni Toriseva, journalist
Downshifting
your stuff
away
Ville Koski
?WE buy stuff we don?t want with money we don?t have to
impress people we don?t like,? says Brad Pitt?s character
Tyler Durden in the cult movie Fight Club. Though said a
bit harshly, the philosophy behind it isn?t far from downshifting, one of the latest trends inside slow life movements
that have been around since the 1980s. It has lately been
a popular topic in Finnish press, some debating against
it and some defending it, all the while a bunch of people
blogging about it. But what?s the catch behind all this?
Basically, downshifting means simplifying your life by
reducing time spent on work and the unnecessary stuff
in your life. One of the most famous examples of this is a
blog called ?100 Items Challenge?, where a guy challenges
himself to reduce the amount of stuff in his life to just
one hundred. After clearing some rules, he systematically
got rid of everything he really didn?t need and challenged
also his readers to do the same. Many did, as thousands
of people around the world now live (or at least try to live)
with just a hundred items, many also blogging about it.
For anyone with a flat drowning in stuff, this anti
materialistic challenge will probably sound like a nice
idea. Removing all the time consuming vanities such as
television, or that plastic souvenir head of Zeus collecting
dust on the top your bookshelf, should ease up your life
or at least make the house a bit cleaner. With modern day
digitalisation, it?s also relatively easy as you can fit all your
music and books in a single iPad.
However, the joke of downshifting is not in the items, but
in what they represent. Downshifters? true aim is to claim
freedom from life?s rat race and rebel against the presently
dominant consumerism and live-to-work philosophy in
order to focus more on quality of life and spending time
with the loved ones. This considered, maybe the Fight Club
quote holds some truth?
www.guynameddave.com
FINNISH AFTER DARK
Learning the Finnish they don?t teach in school
David Brown and Mimmu Takalo
Finnish: krapula
English equivalent: hangover
To be hungover in Finland is almost a religious state. It explains almost all forms of unusual or anti-social behaviour. Not
only can ?Why didn?t you say anything at the meeting? be answered with ?I was hungover?, but ?What you are doing next
weekend?? can be answered with ?I?m going to be hungover.? Finland may be the only country on earth where hangovers
are scheduled and noted in diaries. Any medical cure for hangovers released in Finland would likely outsell Viagra 10 to 1.
?
?
?
Siis ihan kamala krapula! Oltiin pienellä baarikierroksella työkavereitten kanssa.
Kyllä se siitä! Mikäs on muuten sun paras krapularuoka?
Mehujää ja kunnon perhepizza ekstravalkosipulilla, kiitos!
?
?
?
Wow, what a killer hangover! I took a small pub-crawl with my work mates last night....
Yeah, right! So what?s your favourite hangover cure?
Juice and a decent family-size pizza with extra garlic ? thanks!
Starters
7
SixDegrees
Luckan?s
integration service
is for everyone
Tell me about your
city...
?
r Ruhr
e
d
n
a
m
i
e
h
l
ü
M
Make your
Luckan
Emil Chalhoub
SETTLING down in a foreign
country and trying to fit in its
different society may be more
difficult than it may seem at
first. Different cultures, different ways of life, and social
expectations; these are just
some of the numerous factors
that make starting a new life
in Finland strenuous.
However, the feeling of being
lost in the maze of administration should never be a disorientating factor since Luckan?s
integration service, Bridge, is
at its clients? service when it
comes to providing newcomers with information concerning e.g. work, education,
leisure activities and language
courses. What distinguishes
Bridge from other integration
services is that Bridge ????????
specialises????????????????????????
in Finland Swedish possibilities for integration.
Bridge officially came into
existence in 2008. However,
an information desk was available for people moving to the
capital region long before that.
?It was a project for letting
people know where to find
accommodation, how to find
good leisure activities, organisations, and language courses,?
explains Liselott Sundbäck,
Integration Adviser at Bridge.
?Then we realised that a lot of
our customers were immigrants
or had immigrant backgrounds,
Simonkatu 8, Helsinki
+358 40 485 96 36
bridge@luckan.fi
www.bridge.luckan.fi
Opening Hours
Mon 11:00-16:00
Tue 11:00-19:00
Wed 11:00-17:00
Thu 11:00-16:00
and we felt the need to establish
a specific information office
for immigrants,? she adds.
Apart from the information
service that Bridge offers,
visitors can also choose from
a wide spectrum of events,
some of which are educational
seminars that aim to give
immigrants the skills and competencies required for integration. The courses are aimed
at giving immigrants the tools
they need to find their way into
the Finnish job market.
Building social networks for
immigrants in cooperation
with Finland-Swedish associations and actors is another aim
that Bridge efficiently pursues,
as seen in the form of cultural
and social events that bring
participants together. Bridge
also takes part in Helsinki
Region Welcome Weeks, during which Luckan organises
events and gives assistance in
order to discover the opportunities the region has in store.
HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW
FINNISH AUTUMN?
E
VO T
nt
cou
James O?Sullivan
FANCY some changes around
your neighbourhood? Whether
you are fed up with the current crew in charge, or happy
with the decisions that have
been made, this month gives
you the opportunity to vote in
the Municipal Elections. Held
every fourth year on the fourth
Sunday of October, the elections for 2012 will be held on
28 October, with local advance
voting from 17 to 23 October.
But who is eligible to vote?
Well, if you are a citizen of
Finland or another Member
State of the European Union as
well as of Iceland and Norway,
have reached the ripe old age
of 18 by the day of the election and have resided in said
municipality on the 51st day
before Election Day, then you
are eligible.
However, if you find yourself
in the group dubbed ?other
foreigners? don?t despair. If
have resided in Finland for
an uninterrupted period of
two years, and in your stated
municipality on the 51st day
before Election Day, and are
over 18, then see how far your
vote can go.
Altogether some 320 municipalities are located in mainland Finland, with a further 16
in the Province of Åland.
Municipal Elections are being
held on 28 October, with
advance voting being staged
from 17 to 23 October.
www.vaalit.fi
Click and Play
What?s caught our
attention online recently.
www.youtube.com a Fragile Childhood ? Monsters
?For a child a monster can be real.? Stunningly effective local
ad campaign from Lasinen lapsuus that has made waves
internationally,
offering
children?s perspective to
their parents? excessive
alcohol
consumption.
Haunting viewing.
1
2
www.ugliesttattoos.com
3
While taking a tattoo is so passé in the current age, bringing the
fad crashing back down to earth
is this range of stupefying inking
choices. Fancy an arrow through
your leg, half your face tattooed
as The Terminator ? or maybe just
enough facial space to advertise a
website or two? Well, satisfy your
curiosity here.
4
5
6
7
1. Maple
5. Melancholy
2. Rain
6. Mist
3. Autumn Colours
7. Autumn
4. Fog
Test your knowledge of Finnish vocabulary
by using the local equivalent.
Puzzle by Ville Koski. Solutions on page 23.
Bianca Beyer
MY city is more average than special. It is neither a capital, nor
is it located at the beach or a well-known travelers? destination. Nevertheless Mülheim an der Ruhr is one of the nicest
places I have seen so far.
It won?t take long before you realise how great it is to live
there. The river, to which the city owes its name, offers you
the chance to spend unforgettable summer evenings even if
the sea might be far away. You can enjoy a nice and cosy small
town air in the middle of something like a spread-out Berlin.
Mülheim is surrounded by large cities like Düsseldorf,
Duisburg, Essen and Oberhausen. The latter ones, like
Mülheim itself, all belong to the Ruhr region, which means
not only that the big town atmosphere (with all its advantages)
is reachable within minutes, but also that great pieces of culture are omnipresent. In fact, the Ruhr region was Europe?s
cultural capital in 2010, with Essen as its draft horse. If you
visit Mülheim, you should not miss out on seeing at least the
Zeche Zollverein, which was recognised by the UNESCO as
part of the world cultural heritage. Dedicated to the Ruhr?s
famous past of coal mining, you can find it in Essen, working
as a museum nowadays.
Typically German, also lots of breweries were an important
part of the Ruhr. Even Mülheim brews its own very tasty beer
Mölmsch. Nowadays the Ruhr area is still one of the biggest
industrial regions in Germany ? but if you take a look at
the picture above, this does not disturb Mülheim?s idyllic
landscape at all.
Let us know about your city: james@6d.fi
Feeling under the
weather?
What you can expect over the coming month.
As the days grow rapidly shorter
and memories of the past summer fade completely from view,
don?t despair as there can still be
some pleasant weather ahead.
Some! The leaves may be dropping off like flies, yet there is still
enough heat in the sun to keep
the rain from freezing and offering some reprieve from the forthcoming horrors of the month
of November. But let?s not talk
about the looming elephant in
the room. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Ted Apter
I´m running for the Helsinki City Council and
believe that a More Courageous Helsinki is
possible in the incoming elections.
www.tedapter.fi
www.facebook.com/RohkeampiHelsinki
OCTOBER HIGH/LOW
AVERAGES (°C)
Helsinki 14.6/8.7
Turku 14.9/7.2
Tampere 14/5.9
Jyväskylä 13/4.7
Oulu 12.5/5.4
We Met
8
Issue 8 2012
Patrolling
the information
SUPERHIGHWAY
Marko Forss, the 2011 police officer of the year, helps to
maintain law and order in cyberspace.
Teemu Henriksson
D
OES the internet seem safe to you ? or do you think of it
more as an ungoverned no-man?s land where trouble lurks
behind every corner, waiting for an unsuspecting visitor?
Although the latter description is doubtless hyperbolic,
it seems an unfortunate truth that where there are people, there
is also crime. And as social media sites are becoming a natural
extension of people?s lives, also the amount of online crime is
most likely to grow.
But the Finnish Police has made preparations for such developments. Sergeant Marko Forss and his two colleagues, who
represent the police force on the internet, answer questions,
intervene when crime is detected and prevent crime thanks to
their online presence. There are also other ?cyber cops? scattered
across Finland who do web policing occasionally, but the bulk
of the work is done in the Police headquarters in Pasila, where
Forss?s team works.
Forss, the first policeman of his breed, was awarded the Police
Officer of the Year title last year. SixDegrees spoke to him about
his team?s pioneering work, his un-nerdy past, and why the media
is wrong about online hate speech.
Many children want to be a policeman when they grow up,
what did you want to be?
In secondary school I thought I would go study in a business
school and work in business, and I also thought about becoming
a judge. But I was too lazy when it came to hitting the books,
so I applied to the police college instead. I had always been into
sports, but the idea came only during military service.
Were you a nerd as a teenager?
No, I can?t say I was [laughs]. I did have a Commodore 64 and
later an Amiga, but the first PC I bought was in 2005, which
shows the level of my nerdiness. I?d say that I?m a typical policeman who has done lots of other things that don?t involve computers but who ended up becoming involved in nerdism.
What makes a policeman of the year?
You have to be accomplished in some way in your line of police
work. My award came from my work in social media. Every year
a particular field is chosen for the award, and the last time it was
the internet and social media. The previous year it was police
dog operations.
How did you celebrate?
I didn?t celebrate that much. I have small children at home so big
parties are pretty rare these days anyway. At the workplace, my
workmates gave me a small present and we went out for pints.
How did your career as a ?cyper cop? begin?
It began when I was transferred from fieldwork to the office in
2007. I investigated cases of domestic violence and crimes of
minors. The web and IRC-galleria, which had its golden period
then, seemed to come up often during investigations. But to
access IRC-galleria and see the messages there, you had to have
a profile of your own. I figured that I could of course create a
fake profile, but I might as well create one as a policeman.
So I asked around to see if my colleagues would laugh at the
idea. I also looked into youth work done elsewhere and contacted
IRC-galleria. Then I presented the idea to my superiors, who gave
me permission.
In the beginning, it was very small-scale. I got a laptop and
the go-ahead to use some of my working hours on this. I created
my profile on IRC galleria in September 2008. But this activity expanded quickly as I received a lot of messages, and soon I
wasn?t able to work on other cases anymore. It?s been busy ever
since, and I?ve learned a lot about police work and social media.
I had never studied the law this much before ? you really have to
be active.
Do you think what you do is more demanding than regular
police work? Why is that?
Because there are no ready formulas for this work and the laws
date largely from the paper era, it?s not always evident how they
apply to the web, and such questions need to be considered
carefully. For example, cases of sex crime or defamation on the
internet are not straightforward. So all in all, I don?t just chat
with children on social media, as some might think. In fact,
most of our clients are grown-ups, and the scope of what we do
is really vast.
I did fieldwork for nine years, so I know that part of that job
consists of certain basic scenarios such as theft, pick pocketing
and so on. But with the internet, there are few established procedures, and no-one to ask advice from. I wouldn?t recommend
this to a newly graduated police officer, as you need to have some
experience to draw from.
It sounds as if you and your colleagues are pioneers of sorts.
Well, we do create practices as we go, and the job is changing all
the time. For example, Facebook has emerged as a major platform
during this time. We?re doing some reprioritising now, and will
concentrate more on social media in future ? if you look at how
often social media is mentioned when crime is reported, it really
shows that everyone?s there.
How do your peers in the police force see your work?
Well, in the beginning even I wasn?t sure what I was doing.
But I soon discovered that it was important work, and back
then I also worked a lot off duty. I?m sure there are still some
colleagues that don?t think much of our work. But I can
compare the amount of work we do with anyone, and I work
more than I ever did when I did fieldwork. I also feel that I can
make a bigger difference. I say this without underestimating
fieldwork, of course.
What occurs during an average day of work for you?
I come to work, switch on the computer, grab a cup of coffee and
see how many millions of messages wait for me. I start replying
to them, and take further measures when necessary, for example
by passing information forward. We work on several cases at the
same time, and sometimes we work on particular cases for weeks.
Then there are trainings and seminars that we attend or where we
give presentations. And we give interviews to the media.
Do you wear a uniform when at your computer?
No, right now I?m wearing a worn brown t-shirt, and in the
summertime we even wear shorts. We put on the uniform when
representing the police officially.
You?ve been quite a lot in the media because of your work. Do
you ever feel that you get too much publicity?
Well, I?d say that I do get my share. Could be that half of the
police force already hates me for it. I have no need to be in the
limelight, but if I?m asked to comment on something that relates
to what we do, I?ll do that. But questions about hacking or online
fraud I pass on to other people.
What kind IT equipment do you have? Do you use a smartphone?
No, I don?t use a smartphone for work, and our computers are
basic PCs. We don?t need special equipment as we don?t work on
technical issues or need to remain undetected. On the contrary,
our job is to be visible.
What crimes do you deal with mostly? And who are the
criminals on the web?
Defamation, unlawful threat and child sexual abuse are the most
common crimes for us. Then there?s fraud, which has become
more common online but not really in social media.
The criminals are just plain, normal people. In cases of abuse we
mostly deal with common, Finnish family men, or twenty-something guys. With defamation and unlawful threats, both men and
women cross the line. Often these relate to school bullying, or to
an ex-couple?s argument that goes too far. Before, name-calling
or intimidation would have happened on the phone, but now it
has also gone on the web.
Do you think there will be more online police officers in the
future? Is there a need?
Yes, there will be, and yes there is. Social media is now part of
people?s everyday life, so also the police will work in it more and
in different ways in future. Already now there?s plenty of work: I
get about 300 Facebook messages per month, for example. As the
idea is also to develop the work, there?s a need for more resources.
The way I see it is that we are like police cars that patrol the
internet instead of the roads. If you think about how many police
cars there are on the go, and how many people use the internet,
it?s clear that there could be more of us. I don?t see it in terms
of additional expenses either, more the opposite. One internet
officer causes there to be less police work elsewhere.
Take a case of someone spreading private information about his
or her ex online, for example. If the police intervenes, it?s usually
enough to put an end to this. Otherwise, it could lead to a crime
being reported to the police and the police starting investigations. This takes time and resources, and could be prevented with
a few messages on the internet, before things go too far.
In fact, our online presence is pre-emptive, as people are aware that
the police are on the internet. Only a couple of years ago it wasn?t
that obvious, especially among the young. I remember questioning
a 15-year-old girl with her parents and opening her IRC-galleria
profile page. She was horrified at the idea that her parents would see
that ? though it was on the internet for anyone to see.
We Met
9
SixDegrees
nettipoliisi
GROWING NUMBERS
?
?
?
In 2011, Forss?s team replied to a total of 540 emails; in 2010
the number was 420.
Facebook is currently the team?s main operating environment,
as there were over 2,100 discussion threads last year, while in
2010 there were 1,000.
For IRC-galleria the numbers have declined, as a lot of its
users have now moved elsewhere: the police received 6,300
messages in 2011, down from 16,000 the previous year.
?B
ecause of the current
political atmosphere, online
hate speech is exaggerated
as a phenomenon.?
How about different social media platforms, are some less
safe than others?
Security is usually found between the computer and the chair,
which means that services in themselves aren?t safe or unsafe.
Some sites, especially Facebook, stand out in terms of sex crime
and hate speech, but that?s because they?re generally so popular.
Facebook has become like a little internet in itself.
One problem that seems to be linked with social media
is hate speech. Has it become more common in your
experience?
Already in IRC-galleria there was what was called back then more
generally misanthropy. There were skinhead and Nazi groups,
but it wasn?t discussed that much. Now the issue has surfaced
in the public discourse. But I actually think you journalists have
exaggerated the problem. For example, the latest figures are from
2010, and back then only 2 per cent of all hate crime took place
on the web. This mostly consisted of a few agitations against
an ethnic group. I don?t think
there was a radical increase
last year.
I think that because of the
current political atmosphere,
online hate speech is exaggerated as a phenomenon. If you
look at how rare criminalised
hate speech really is when
compared to comments that
may be hurtful or offensive to
some but which still fall under
the kind of expression that is protected by freedom of speech.
Often what happens is that someone goes on to write something
foolish, and the next thing it?s in the news. And the click-hungry
media often pushes the reporting to the extreme. Calm, reasoned
discussion doesn?t fit into this, as it?s easier to splash a sensational
headline as soon as someone let?s something stupid out of their
mouth.
The most common type of hate crime is still an assault in a
public place. The internet may change attitudes and connect
dangerous groups and the issue should be addressed, but you also
need to be aware of the reality of the matter.
I follow the situation daily: there are a few dozen active people
who create Facebook groups and so on, and they get a lot of
influence through social media. But I remember hearing racist
comments quite commonly already in secondary school. I think
people have become more sensitive to the subject, which is good,
but it has gone to the extent that it?s difficult to talk about these
matters without being categorised in one of the two camps. We
should be able to discuss topics like immigration honestly and
through facts.
What would be the number one issue you deal with then?
We?ve been highlighting sex crime for some time now. As a problem, it?s many times worse than hate speech. The lives of many
young people have been devastated for a long time because of it.
The internet is an easy way to reach the young and cause destruction. Also, bullying has more concrete effects than hate speech.
Hate speech doesn?t have that kind of immediate consequences as
an adult abusing a child through a webcam, for example.
What tips would you give to parents regarding their children?s
internet use?
You need to be interested in what the child is doing there just as
you?d be interested in what they do in the real world, where they
go and with whom. And it?s important to talk to them about these
issues. A lot of the young might open up if they were just asked if
someone has ever tried to harass them sexually.
Date and place of birth: 1975 in Kotka.
Family: I have two small children and a wife.
Education: Police College.
The internet is? a great place ? I think that covers it!
Guns are? dangerous in the wrong hands.
The most unusual thing about my job? would be my colleagues not
taking the piss out of it.
My favourite cop movie or TV series is? The Shield is my favourite
cop series on TV.
Lifestyle
10
Issue 8 2012
love of
shopping
For the
Ever since the latter half of the 19th century,
shopping has brought pleasure to peoples? lives
and has even acted as a means of relaxation.
In some cases, however, the economy-boosting
hobby has become rooted in people in a rather
adverse manner.
I
Jenni Toriseva
ENTER Saara?s* family home, a low terraced house from the ?60s with a red brick
cladding embedding the small apartment,
where she lives with her parents. She leads
me to her room where I am immediately
confronted by a big black bin bag filled
up to its rim. It is full of clothes, most of them
quite untouched, many with their price tags
still on. After a quick gaze around I can see that
the same phenomenon is repeated all over the
relatively small space. The rest of the room is
literally draped in clothing, with the occasional
shoe poking out from the colourful heaps of
textile. Her writing desk is barely visible under
the masses of labelled goods, and even the floor
is carpeted with shoes and cloth. ?I have more in
a storage room we have rented out,? she reveals.
Saara is a 20-year old barista who regards
shopping as one of her hobbies. ?I love the
feeling I get when I enter a shop. Time passes by
amazingly quickly and I feel really happy when
I?m there,? she says, leaving no uncertainty of
the fact that she gets a real kick out of shopping.
?Sometimes when I am in a shop or on my way
to one during sales, it feels as if my only goal was
to buy as much as I can.?
Ever since the mid-20th century, with the
ever-widening availability of products through
mass production, the regular street paddler
could easily access the pleasurable world of
material goods. According to a research made
by Helsinki University for the Stockmann
group (recently published in the book Hulluja
päiviä, huikeita vuosia), the Finnish consumer
society began to bud in the 1930s, to finally
flower rather hedonistically in the ?80s, when
the income gap had narrowed down and people
had more free time to choose what to use their
ever-larger wages on.
As living standards rose, buying for necessary
needs became juxtaposed with shopping, an
activity that brought pleasure and worked as a
means of relaxation, especially for women. It
was not the grandiose objects that only the elite
could traditionally afford to buy, but rather the
smaller products ? that we nowadays take for
granted - that made the difference, such as cosmetic products and small household machinery.
Consumption became a way to express independent choices, and was inherently linked to
freedom.
Even today, consumption maintains its position as a way for people to express their identities and opinions. In the aftermath of his An
Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore urged people to
vote with their wallets, and change the world
through buying certain types of products.
Spending has become one of the most common
ways for people to define themselves. With the
proliferation of quick loan options, however,
increasingly more people have taken up the
habit of overspending.
Today it is especially younger adults that
have problems with managing their money.
According to Suomen Asiakastieto, the amount
of payment defaults has grown by ten per cent
from last year, with 18,000 new defaults, most
of them pertaining to people between the ages
of 25 and 29. The amount of payment defaults
is one of the few statistical data that can be
correlated with the lack of control in managing
money. The reasons for this lack of control may
vary.
Addicted to buying
Janne Viljamaa, a social psychologist and the
author of Pakko Saada ? Addiktoitunut yhteiskunta (Must Have ? An Addicted Society),
sees a society in which many young people
live with an ?I want everything right now? ?
mentality, whilst money is expected to flow in
easily, and ?dirty? jobs are a definite no-no. A
portion of these people, however, suffers from
something much more serious. Addiction, be
it in the form of shopping addiction, gaming
addiction or other type of addiction. ?It is a
Lifestyle
11
SixDegrees
?I
ncreasingly
more people
have taken
up the habit of
overspending.?
generally accepted notion among psychologists
that 20 per cent of the population suffers from
negative addictions of different types, shopping
addiction being one of them,? he says.
Addiction can be either chemical or functional. While chemical addiction involves
dependency to substances such as alcohol,
medicine and drugs, functional addiction refers
dependency to activities such as shopping, sex,
exercise, gambling, eating, as well dependency
to notions such as power and fame. ?Functional
addicts are dependent on doing something
excessively,? Viljamaa says. ?They can be
shopaholics, workaholics, jogging maniacs or
dependant on food, sex. Addicts lose control.
They can?t stop themselves, even though they
suffer. When a functional addict enters a shop,
the brain?s limbic area
? the so-called pleasure
centre ? becomes highly activated. They lose
control. You can see the highly activated brain
area in functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI).?
Where did all these shopaholics spring out
from all of a sudden? According to Viljamaa
genes play a great role in a person?s susceptibility on becoming addicted to something. That
means that people must always have had the
genes to become addicted, but then it was our
environment that changed. ?If the environment
is appropriate, the gene ?activates?. So even
though many people may share the same gene,
in the end it depends on the environment you
live in,? he says, adding that shopaholics are
likely to be addicted to other things as well. ?For
example, an athlete who is positively addicted
to training aims to get to the top, and when
that top is reached the athlete is likely to feel
empty, and the addiction changes its form,?
he says, indicating that the athlete is likely to
become addicted to something else. A society
where people have excess money after necessary
purchases, and which lives in an environment
studded with inconspicuous advertisements
that even affect the subconscious, seems foreordained to develop behavioural disorders such as
shopping addiction.
A multi-faceted disorder
Viljamaa became interested in the topic in
the late ?70s upon reading William Glasser?s
book Positive Addiction, where jogging was portrayed as an example of a positive dependency.
?Addiction can be either positive or negative. A
person that is positively addicted is in control
of the situation, whereas a negatively addicted
person is not,? he says. ?In the case of shopping
addiction a person suffers due to the particular
lifestyle. The apartment often has no more
space, making the person anxious, and the
more anxious the person becomes, the more
she buys. It?s like throwing gasoline onto the
flames!?
According to Viljamaa addiction can be
separated into four different strains that are
not mutually exclusive: psychological, social,
physical, and habit-derived addiction.
The psychological stance views shopping
as a means of filling a void within oneself.
?Shopping does not only give the person a
feeling of happiness, but they actually feel as if
they could become whole with material goods.?
Viljamaa says. ?From a psychoanalytic view-
point shopping addiction stems from a possible
lack or emptiness of relations during childhood.
As an adult, when the person can afford to buy
goods they feel that it is a way to control things.
Narcissism is also connected to this. The person
feels like rising above others, becoming better
than other people, while as a child they were
powerless,? he says.
The social root is simpler, and also an image
question. ?A good example of this is a kid that
smokes to show off to others. Also wanting to
be seen to belong to a certain social class or
group can be a powerful instigator,? he says. A
similar root is that of situation-related habits.
?For example one smokes always when the
bus is late, or takes the family shopping every
Saturday,? Viljamaa adds. Addiction can also
have a physical manner of showing itself, ?a person may feel anxious until she buys something
to feel happy again,? Viljamaa says, adding that
physical addictions cannot be easily perceived
in many cases.
While looking at the sea of expensive textile I
ask Saara about the proportion of clothes that
actually gets used once in a while. ?I would say
that I use roughly two per cent of the clothes I
own on a regular basis. 80 per cent of them gets
used only once, at most,? she admits. ?I find it
very hard to leave something I like in the shop.
I simply must have it. There?s no alternative,?
she says.
At the moment Saara is lucky to have no debts
due to her hobby, but she has no savings either.
When I ask her whether she considers herself to
be addicted to shopping, she answers yes, ?on
the one hand ? since it really takes up all my
money ?I would like to get rid of it, but on the
other hand I would not, as it really gives me so
much joy and it has always been a part of my
life.?
Strangely enough, she does not regret much
of the shopping she has accomplished, and is
not even bothered by the fact that she has to
hop over mountains of clothes to get to her bed
every night. ?After I get back home I don?t even
admire the things I?ve bought. I?m just happy
that they?re mine, that I can see them in my
own room,? she says; apparently content to leave
things as they are.
*Name has been changed upon the interviewee?s
request
If you?re a self-confessed shopaholic,
here are Viljamaa?s tips on how to get
rid of the habit:
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Don?t use cards, try to use cash only.
Don?t buy anything on credit or loan.
Before leaving the house to do any
necessary purchases, think carefully
what you really need to buy and write
them down. Don?t buy anything that?s
not on the list.
Avoid environments where it?s easy to
spend money.
Have people who can manage their
money well around to provide support.
Put someone trustworthy (e.g. spouse,
parent) who manages money well in
charge of your money, who gives the
final say on whether you can make the
purchase or not. In simple terms ? give
your money to someone else.
Don?t be afraid to ask help.
Society
12
Issue 8 2012
Column
David Brown is a language consultant and journalist, regularly covering stories in
Africa, Asia & the Middle East. He has lived in Finland for 10 years.
Bridge to nowhere
David Brown
I AM usually rather admiring of the way in which the
capital region has been able to design and build challenging infrastructure projects with a minimum of fuss. As a
result the city enjoys possibly the best urban public transport system in Europe, and has generally not been overly
distracted by issues of politics, funding or geography.
THIS admiration soured somewhat this week as I looked
into the plans for the Helsinki City Rail Loop (Pisararata),
a billion euro ego-trip which has ?white elephant? written
all over it.
THE ostensible logic of the plan is to improve access to
the inner city for people living in Espoo and Vantaa and
beyond in Kerava or Kirkonummi, and perhaps working
in Töölö or Hakaniemi. While this sounds sane enough,
both suburbs already have tram and bus connections, and
Hakaniemi is on the Metro line. Does it really requite a
fourth mode of transport?
?T
he only reason I
can see for adding
another form of transport
to the mix is ego.?
FACED with the conundrum of an ever expanding population, city planners could have chosen to extend the new
Espoo metro link from Tapiola to Leppavaara. This would
have been relatively cheap, and would have ensured easy
access for Espoo residents not only to the city centre, but
to eastern Helsinki as well. It would also have expanded
an existing system, rather than creating yet another one.
THE new rail loop will not directly connect with any other
form of transport, meaning all passengers will need to
change to rail or bus at one of the four Pisararata stations.
It will involve five years of noise and pollution in the city
centre, and destroy one of the city?s few nice parks in
Alppila. All of this at an initial cost of 700 million euros,
plus planning, plus the inevitable overruns.
I COULD accept all of this if the net benefits outweighed
the negatives, but they don?t. The only reason I can see for
adding another form of transport to the mix is ego. The
plans are ambitious, and perhaps a bit of an engineer?s
wet dream. Copenhagen has a new light rail system, why
shouldn?t Helsinki have one? Well, how about because it
doesn?t need one and can?t afford it?
PLANNERS admitted recently that they have little idea how
many passengers will use the new rail loop, and I suspect
they aren?t in a hurry to find out. Instead, planners continue to assure the public that the other cheaper and more
obvious solutions are off the table. Why they would be, no
one knows. Perhaps the Metro just isn?t sexy enough?
OUR best hope is that the recession will shelve the scheme,
which will cost 40 million euros in planning. Should projected costs continue to rise, perhaps the city will rethink
the proposal, and perhaps go back to the drawing board.
AT this stage the more likely outcome is that the city will
inherit a planning disaster to rival that of the execrable
?model? suburbs of Merihaka and Itä-Pasila. And all for
only a billion euros of taxpayer money.
Why so
Angry?
Coming to terms with the
Angry Birds phenomenon.
Bianca Beyer
F
AIRYTALES for some include tales of sleeping maidens, dashing princes, a little over
half a dozen dwarves and other assorted
characters. For the team of Rovio Entertainment
Ltd, their fairytale came in the shape of small,
round birds with anger management issues, sold
in 99c increments as the main focus of a game
for smartphones. Going on to become one of
the most successful ever, this winning merger
of birds and green pigs has produced revenues
previously unheard of in the app world.
In 2003, three friends from Helsinki
University of Technology, Niklas Hed, Jarno
Väkeväinen, and Kim Dikert, founded the
gaming company Rovio after having won a
contest from Nokia. After releasing a number
of moderately successful games, things really
took off in 2009 when they launched the
Angry Birds app for the iOS operating system.
Today, the markets in which Angry Birds are
flying reach far beyond the app itself, having
launched a playable version on Facebook this
spring and thoroughly saturating the market
with spin-off merchandise. More than 22
million fans on Facebook, half a million
followers on Twitter and numerous blogs hint
at the huge fan community this game has.
Such is the reach of these characters, NASA
was on board when Angry Birds Space was
released earlier this year, and they served as
the official mascots of the International Ice
Hockey World Championships. Even perennial Finnish fave Conan O?Brien recently
thanked Finland on his show for bringing
Angry Birds into our lives.
Making people angry
Ukrainian Denys Iablonskyi, currently doing
his PhD in Finland, is one such fan who has
been bitten by the Angry bug, albeit in ways
that may come as a surprise. Although he denies
playing the game himself, his car is decorated
with Angry Birds stickers that he bought online.
So, why the birds fixation then?
?Because they are so cute,? is his simple
answer. ?When I wait for the green light, I watch
people in the cars behind me. Usually they are
smiling ? so, let?s make this world a bit happier!?
The availability of stickers is just the tip of
the merchandising iceberg, with all manner of
Angry Birds-themed items on the market. In
fact, the Daily Mail Online in May stated that
Rovio seeks to establish a brand as big as Disney.
Theme parks, more merchandise and even a
movie are said to be in the works. The Angry
Birds hype seems far from being over, at least
when it comes to the visions of their creators.
Angry Birds branded lemonade, produced by
Olvi, can be found in fridges all over Finland.
Soft toys, candies, t-shirts, phone cases and
much more are now widely available. Specialised
online shops (with names such as ?Angry Birds
Addiction?) as well as big retailers like Walmart
that offers Rovio products. The Birds have
achieved a lot in their three years, reaching
out beyond the younger generations. While the
candies find their targets mostly among youth,
fans of every age seem to be willing to buy
everything else that?s available.
Flying globally for the winter
?I would not buy candies, I prefer more sustainable things,? German Lydia Steinhauer, 23,
SixDegrees
13
SixDegrees
Playing with anger
I
T may be hard to imagine, but before commencing
this article the Angry Birds phenomenon had passed
me by, having only known it by name until a couple of
days ago. In order to understand what all of the fuss is
about, I will have to break my moratorium and finally play
it myself. But will this reveal the secrets of the worldwide
cult that has derived from simply one app?
It soon becomes apparent once I finally sit down to play
the game for the first time. After the first ten minutes of
throwing birds with a slingshot at pigs (why can?t they
fly, if they are birds?), I already have to force myself to
stop playing and continue writing. Also now I seem to
understand the sympathy for the characters. They are
simple, yes, but it?s enough. And the pigs stole the birdies?
eggs, so we have to react!
And after the next ten minutes (there are more birds, and
they have different features!). I even understand the need
to find out more about the birds? enemies now. The poor
piggies that remain after a failed level, bruised and groggy,
smile at me, happy to have survived. I feel for them and
decide to follow them on Facebook, Twitter or both, until
the release of their own game. And maybe I need a new
phone case?
I N T E G R AT I O N
Luckan?s integration service Bridge provides counselling
and support to immigrants in order to help them get
started in Finland. Bridge offers both individual counselling
sessions as well as competence building courses.
As a Finland-Swedish integration service Bridge is
specialised in providing information about
the Finland-Swedish society.
Bridge is open for counselling:
Monday 11-16, Tuesday 11-19, Wednesday 11-17
and Thursday 11-16.
Please book a time in advance to bridge@luckan.fi
BRIDGE PROGRAMME OCTOBER-NOVEMBER
October 10th, 3-5 p.m.
Information session: How to start up a business in Finland?
Are you planning on starting your own business? Elie El-Khouri, Enterprise Helsinki, will give you information on entrepreneurship, forms of
enterprise, business idea and plan, financing, profitability, taxation, VAT
and prepayment of taxes, start up-grant and insurances.
Register by October 5th.
Angry BIrds merchandise is infinitely
increasing the game?s shelf life.
October 25th, 3-5 p.m.
explains. ?I have a piggy pillow and
a cooking book, although I won
both. But I would definitely buy
a t-shirt if they were more easily
available in Germany.?
The Birds? reach has been truly
global. Surprisingly, the first Angry
Birds Theme park opened in China,
months before journalists from 70 different countries flocked to
the grand opening of Angry Birds Land in Tampere?s Särkänniemi
Amusement Park earlier this year. However, this was not affiliated with the Angry Birds brand, merely the result of some quickthinking entrepreneurs, unfazed by issues of copyright. Rovio
does not seem to be too bothered by the fact that a huge amount of
bootlegged products find their way to Chinese fans. As reported on
brandchannel.com, Rovio does not confront the brand thieves, in
fact they are ?happy about the fact to be the most copied brand in
China?. Amidst this feverish pirating, their official Chinese website
was only recently launched in June.
A glimpse into the future
But what exactly is it that has gotten the world into such an Angry
frenzy? In 2011 Charles L. Mauro published a study about the
Angry Birds phenomenon. In Why Angry Birds is so successful
and popular: a cognitive teardown of the user experience, he
investigated which factors of the game itself make it so successful,
and how the combination of simplicity and engagement makes
its users addicted. Indeed simple factors combined with strategic
thinking, as the fans themselves have figured out already, seem
to be the key issue. He determined all features of the game and
broke them down to a possible key to success, if correctly applied.
Today, over one year and many millions of downloads later,
Mauro still believes that the game will remain successful.
However, according to him, the impact of the newer versions
will not be the same as before as ?negative transfer? was not
considered in their design: ?The designers changed the game-play
mechanics in ways that will build strong follow up utilisation,?
Mauro explains when asked for a brief prediction.
Rovio?s team itself believes that they will not lose their popularity in the near future. They refer to the strong base of fans they
managed to acquire until now who ?continuously ask for more?
and thus prove that Angry Birds is not just a perishable trend.
Therefore, Rovio focuses strongly on R&D to keep their brand
fresh.
Arguing their ongoing relevance is one thing, but their newest
development suggests that they are only halfway there. The next
set of steps definitely lead back more to the roots of gaming, for
once. At the end of September, also owners of other platforms
like Xbox, PlayStation or Nintendo Wii can enjoy the birdies; the
app returns to the ?real? gaming environment. Also a launch of
the counterpart of the birds, the pigs, is planned for the end of
September. That those characters deserve a viewpoint as well is
stated in a confusing quote on Rovio?s webpage itself:
?There?s so much more to these pigs than what is seen in the
Angry Birds games, and Bad Piggies is the first glimpse into
what?s going on in the imaginative and ingenious minds of the
pigs.?
It seems that the sky?s the limit for these Birds.
How to write a CV for a job in Finland? Is your CV up to date?
A CV is often your first contact to the employer and needs to be professional and selling. Tony Eichholz give you tips on how to write a CV for
the Finnish job market.
Register by October 23th.
November 7th, 13-17 p.m.
CV Clinic and Fun Club for Children
Do you need tips on how to write a professional CV? Bring your CV (in Finnish, Swedish och English) to our CV Clinic and let us help you improve it. We
can also help you with creating a CV in case you don´t have one. During the
CV Clinic we organise a creative workshop for children (drawing, storytelling, drama). Organised by Counselling Centre Ne-Rå and Bridge.
Register by November 4th.
November 14th, 3-5 p.m.
Preparing for a job interview.
What should you think about when preparing for a job interview?
During the lecture we will discuss how to prepare for and what typically
happens during a job interview. Lecturer: Tony Eichholz.
Register by November 5th.
Angry facts
?
?
?
?
?
?
Released: December 11, 2009.
Versions until now: Angry Birds Seasons, Space,
Rio and Friends.
Besides the app available for Apple, Android and
Windows Phone, it can be played on Facebook,
PlayStation Portable, Windows, Mac OS X,
Playstation 3, Nintendo 3Ds and the Blackberry
Tablet.
1 billion downloads of Angry Birds on all platforms
by May 2012.
In 2011, Rovio had revenues of ?75.4 million.
And next? Bad Piggies, landing on 27 September
for iOS, Android and Mac.
November 17th, 11 a.m- 4 p.m
Basic Photography Level 1
How to use your camera
This 1-day workshop is designed for beginners who want to learn the
basic aspects of photography. Participants will focus on exposure (aperture, shutter speed & ISO), depth of field, and composition. Please
bring about 10 pictures you have taken for discussion and review.
Equipment needed: DSRL Camera, manual of the camera, laptop (if
owned). Prerequisites: none. Lecturer: Barbara Balzaretti, International
Photo Center internationalphotocenter.com
Register by November 15th.
All registrations to bridge@luckan.fi
Venue: Luckan, Simonkatu 8, 00100 Helsinki
The events are free of charge and held in English
Luckan Integration is now on Facebook! Our Facebook page is a quick
and easy way to see what?s going on with us! All you need to do is go
to facebook.com/LuckanIntegration and click the ?Like?-button!
Upcoming cultural and social events in English will be listed on our
website bridge.luckan.fi and Facebook/LuckanIntegration
Welcome!
Get to know Finland through personal contacts!
Are you looking for a chance to get to know the Finnish society better?
The FIKA project can help. Our mentor program couples up new arrivals to Finland with a guide who will give you an opportunity to better
learn about Finland.
For more information: fika.luckan.fi
Supported By:
LUCKAN
Simonkatu 8, 00100 Helsinki
Contact: bridge@luckan.fi / 040 485 9636 / www.luckan.fi/bridge
The Angry Birds store in Helsinki offers fans a wide variety of Angry items.
RAISING THE
FLAG
What is being celebrated this month with a
liputuspäivä?
10 October. Aleksis Kivi?s Day, Finnish Literature Day
Known for Seitsemän veljestä, the iconic figure of Finnish literature
is celebrated nation-wide, as is Finnish literature in general.
24 October. United Nations Day and World
Development Information Day
Marking the anniversary of the creation of the UN after representatives
of fifty nations signed the Charter of the United Nations in 1948.
Online Finnish
Courses for Beginners
Hyvää päivää! Hauska tutustua!
Kenelle?
Suomen kielen verkkokurssit on hyvä tapa opiskella,
jos käy töissä tai elämä on
muuten kiireistä. Verkkoopiskelu sopii hyvin myös
niille, jotka haluavat edetä
omaan tahtiin.
Suomea ei tarvitse osata
ennestään, opetus lähtee
alkeista (taitotaso A1.1.).
Vaatimuksena on jatkuva
oleskelulupa ja verkkoopiskeluun soveltuvat ATKtaidot.
Milloin?
Seuraava kurssi alkaa
22.10. Kursseja järjestetään
ympäri vuoden. Opiskelijaksi ilmoittaudutaan koulun
toimistossa. Aineopiskelijamaksu on 100 euroa.
For who?
Online Finnish courses
are suitable for those who
like to proceed at their own
speed.
Prior Finnish studies are not
required. The studies start
at the very basics (A1.1.).
Students must have a current residence permit and
computer skills suitable for
on-line studies.
When?
Next course starts on October 22. Courses continue
all year. Please enrol in the
school office. Registration
costs 100 euros.
>
.fi
w.eira
w
w
:
steella
toa
perusa
Lisätie
lu
e
k
opis
ste >
perusa
Eiran aikuislukio ? Laivurinkatu 3 ? 00150 Helsinki
www.eira.fi
Tastebuds
15
SixDegrees
Latin-style heat in the
heart of Helsinki
Restaurant Havanna has it all for those seeking
genuine Latin warmth and culture.
Annika Rautakoura
O
PENED a little over a
year ago, Restaurant
Havanna in Kaisaniemi
is a welcome establishment for friends of spicy food
and warm South American and
Caribbean atmosphere. It is a
family business with a small
staff and international spirit.
?This is the only original
Latin restaurant in Finland,?
owner and manager Pedro
Miret says. ?When you travel
in Latin America, this is the
food you get.? Besides good
food, the hot spot features
music and themes to complement the entity. It is a place
that is about the atmosphere.
Miret is from Havanna, Cuba
himself so the name is a breeze
from his home country.
Latin American food comprises a whole range of different cuisines, varying among
different cultural regions. The
one thing they all have in common, is the tendency for using
lots of spices (though not necessarily to extremes), as each
Latin American country has
its own specialties and spices.
The influences of Latin
American cuisine derive
from countless sources, such
as the Native Americans,
African, Europe, Asia and
the Caribbean, all which also
make use of different culinary
features. European influence
on Latin American cuisine
derives mainly from Spain,
Italy and Portugal, and to a
lesser extent from France.
All about the small details
The interior represents an
authentic saloon type of bar
and kitchen, with small details
that create an enticing feel.
Photographs of the streets of
South America and paintings
of Che Guevara and Mona
Lisa with a Havana bottle
decorate the walls painted
with feisty red.
?We have a DJ and dancing during the weekend,
samba style,? Miret describes.
Restaurant
Havanna features
good food, music
and a warm
atmosphere.
Co-owner and manager
Solveig Salminen describes
the theme as Latin both in
the kitchen and social aspect.
?Today?s theme is Argentinian
tango,? Salminen states.
Tuesdays are apparently
busy with lots of dancers
showing up. Weekends are
also packed. The clientele is
diverse and the establishment
sees customers aged 18 to
60 from all over the world,
according to Miret. The restaurant has many regulars,
but also new ones keep coming back, after having enjoyed
a visit at the restaurant. ?We
have many foreign customers,
and also lots of young people,
which gives it a nice feel,?
Salminen says.
Authentic tastes
So what about the food, then?
Well it?s definitely not from
around here, and packs up
a kick. The food originates
from Cuba and Spain. You
can start the meal with tapas,
which can be ordered until
midnight. Different flavoured
croquettes, onion rings and a
Spanish omelette are just a few
options available, and for a
fair price.
Seafood options are traditional and abundant. I tried
one of the Mexican tortillas,
Tortilla de Pollo. The portion is almost large enough
for two with plenty of salad,
red onion, chunky salsa
and enough chilli to soothe
the wildest of appetites. Of
course each customer can
choose as hot a tortilla as
they wish.
Latin American desserts
balance the hot dishes by
containing extremely sweet
flavours. Common Latin desserts are rice pudding, dulce
du leche and flan. The only
dessert on the menu is a coconut based, vanilla flavoured
flan, which is a perfect choice
for balancing the aftertaste of
the spicy meal. The espresso
that topped my meal had a
kick of its own, yet its rich
f lavoured aroma was just
enough to satisfy my craving
for a dessert.
The menu also features a
whole range of options for vegetarians such as goat cheese
salad and tomato soup. If you
go during the weekend, you
might want to try some of the
drinks on offer at the cosy bar.
Whichever day you decide to
stop by, try some Latin flavours the place has to offer and
enjoy the warm Latin breeze of
the atmosphere.
r
e
d
a
Re
ds
n
e
m
Recom
Café Balzac
Derek McDonnell
SECRETED away in
a courtyard just off
of one of Helsinki?s
best known pedestrian streets, the
European flavoured
Café Balzac is a ?hidden gem? according
to Kati Hartikainen,
one of its most frequent patrons. ?Most
people just walk on
by because it?s a strange location so you kind of have
to know where it is. I try to come here at least once a
week. The lunches are between eight and eleven euro
so it?s good value for money. They make great sandwiches and salads using the best ingredients, shipping
their hams and meats from France and Italy. The food
is never a disappointment, the service friendly, it has a
warm atmosphere and it?s close to work!?
Café Balzac
Iso Roobertinkatu 3-5
Helsinki
Helsinki
In this series, 6D readers tell about their local favourite
place to grab a coffee, sip on a beer or enjoy a bite to eat.
Send a brief email to james@6d.fi, and let us know what
you recommend!
What Finns
are eating
THIS MONTH
Restaurant Havanna
Kaisaniemenkatu 2
Helsinki
ravintolahavanna.fi
Cuban cuisine
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Cuban cuisine combines elements of Spanish,
African and Caribbean flavours.
The basic spices used are cumin,
oregano and bay leaves.
Preparation techniques correspond to
Spanish and African cooking.
Local foods, such as tropical fruits, root vegetables
and fish are often cooked with a Caribbean style.
Cuban cuisine does not rely on hot spices,
such as chili or red peppers.
A similar dish to tortilla is called a
Casave, a type of flat bread.
A curious specialty is a regional dish of a roasted
rodent, found only in Cuba called Jutia.
Baltic herring
ALTHOUGH this can be found on dining tables year
?round, the appearance of the Baltic Herring Fair on
7?13 October sees a spike in the number of these local
fish being consumed. Smoked, pickled or marinated in
all manner of seasonings, this fishy favourite may be the
last thing you want to be confronted with first thing in the
morning, but remains versatile enough to be enjoyed at
any time of the day.
Cultitude
16
Issue 8 2012
Jan Ahlstedt
David
Munoz
Creating on the artistic fringe.
?W
James O?Sullivan
T
IME drifts casually when spending time
with Mexican artist David Muoz. Sitting
with him one afternoon on a downtown
Helsinki terrace, the sun shines gently
over our conversation as he methodically peels
a mandarin, chewing on his thoughts, which
occupy often-significant pauses in the conversation.
Recently graduating from the Masters of
Aalto programme, Muoz?s graduate piece Every
cloud has a silver lining shaped as a bullet, is a
striking example of the artist?s own philosophies. Reflecting on the commodification of
the dystopian imaginary, a candelabra has
replaced its light bulbs with submachine guns.
Under this sits a table set for 12 persons where
the elements involved in the routines of nourishment are intervened using the tableware as
a canvas. Undoubtedly, this provocative work
is from a man who continually questions his
surroundings.
And so, having finally removing the peel
from his mandarin, he turns and offers me a
piece.
What was it like growing up in Mexico?
What memories do you have?
A lot of noisy memories; happy memories. I feel
really energetic when I start to think about my
roots and my brothers, my parents. The common ground is a people that react a lot. They
say that Mexico is colourful and cheerful and
people don?t leave you the space to not react. If
you don?t react, the whole wave of society will
blur you. It is necessary to react in Mexico.
Why then leave this symphony of
confrontational noise and move to the
passive silence of Finland?
I was looking for some kind of knowledge,
e live a
really
pleasant life,
but this life
is also an
illusion.?
connected to craft and industrial techniques,
forms or design and art. I wanted to experience a place that is quite distant in terms of
geography and society understanding from
Mexico. I have been living most of my life in a
busy city, I wanted to experience what is like to
live in a capital city that is not as massive as big
cosmopolitan cities.
I found that there was an interesting happening in the university here, the merging together
of Aalto University. I sent my application,
got accepted and everything snowballed from
there. I landed in 2009 basically knowing only
a few people and tried to find my way.
So it was quite recently...
Yes. I still have a lot of questions.
What are you trying to say with your
graduation piece, Every cloud has a silver
lining shaped as a bullet?
What I tried to address was that we are facing
the transparency of the media and ourselves.
Like in Facebook people can see what you
really are. On the other hand you cannot see
what the governments really are, how the
economies really work. There is a problem with
drugs, how is it moving, who is moving it, how
this affects the locals, how it is connected to
locals. How can we learn from the tragedy of
these dystopian scenarios?
We live a really pleasant life, but this life is
also an illusion. It is an illusion in the sense
that the resources are limited. Three generations ago we couldn?t have chicken or meat
everyday. Now we can go to the corner and get
anything we want, any time of the day. That is
an illusion of what is real. Until what point can
we sustain this thing of who has open access
and for how long, in terms of equality? What
if we let the economy collapse? What can we
imagine after that? Can we just accelerate it
and make it happen, or construct something
from that. Or learn something from that. What
are things that you would like to preserve from
that? Try to hold ourselves to something, hold
these memories to things. That was the questions behind the title.
There may be stability now, but it has meant
a lot of struggles. And these struggles have
not ended. They are somehow hiding behind a
nice cloud. Sooner or later they will arise. You
are seeing it in many countries, if you criticise
a government, or a candidate for an election,
then you are like a target; you are judged as a
criminal. It is just raising a question, a thought.
Something that you see is not a way it should
be; something not responding directly to how
it should be solved. How it works. Then I try
to bring this to the table, to this place of no
way back. You have to actually try and make a
change or try to cope with the consequences.
What would those consequences be? We
live in a pretty apathetic time in Western
society. How do you seek to activate
people in a time when there are so many
distractions keeping people neutered?
That?s the really tricky and basic question of
everyday actions. You cannot work alone. To
activate people you also need an agent. It?s
more of an open call to get response from
people. If there is a response, then I will continue the dialogue. These days it?s really easy
to be called a dissident, but it?s really difficult
to make a positive change in society being a
dissident. I guess the activation will come in
terms of dialogue, implementing solutions. Not
permanent, temporary.
Is it difficult to be a foreign artist in
Finland? Or the fact that you are a
Mexican artist in Finland, does that create
opportunities?
I guess it is difficult to be a foreigner in
Finland, especially because there haven?t been
many movements, or migratory exchanges. In
Mexico we have been having an international
merging of cultures since the 1500s. So maybe
James O?Sullivan
Latino
SCREEN
SCREENING 29 different movies from 14 different countries, the Latin American
Film Festival Cinemaissí is
once again being staged in
Helsinki.
With a special focus this
year on Brazilian film, the
festival offers a further
glimpse into the social, political and cultural diversity of
Latin America, with films
screening at Andorra, Kino
Engel and Maxim.
This year sees visiting
David Muoz, ?Happy Hunting Ground? 2012.
C-print, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
we are more used to that than in Finland. In
that sense it is difficult. Yes, it generates an
opportunity. But, it?s difficult to break these
three questions: Where are you from? How
long have you been living here? And how long
are you staying? I see these as an opportunity
to make questions, to play with this.
So, if I were to ask you now where are you
from what would you say?
I don?t know [laughs], I would improvise.
Actually, there was a really nice exercise I
would do with some friends. We were trying to
get the deepest emotions out of some random
people. We were pushing each other as to who
would get the biggest emotions out of people
in the shortest time. Going to the bus stop
and trying to know someone as deeply as you
had been living with someone for years. It was
really interesting, really powerful. You actually
get people crying, sharing these emotions. You
connect on a really basic level of needs.
How would that work here in Finland?
I think it would work. There is a strong need
for communication. It is kind of interesting,
that being in Finland you should not speak
about alcohol here. But on the other hand they
lower your sentence if you are drunk. What
if I get drunk and do a performance and the
performance is quite political, will they lower
my sentence because I was drunk? [laughs]
guests such as Guatemalan
filmmaker Luis Argueta
and Elena Roger, who commenced her career acting in
musicals in her native Buenos
Aires in 1995.
Furthermore, Cinemaissíto
children?s festival offers
something for the whole
family, being staged for the
first time at Vuotalo Cultural
Center on 6 October and at
Luckan on 13 October.
Alongside the film festival,
TransformArte is a oneweek project hosted by two
Peruvian professionals of
community art that aims
to use conversation on the
possibilities of art as a tool
for social change ? in Latin
American and worldwide.
Latin American Film
Festival Cinemaissí
18-21 October
Andorra, Kino Engel and Maxim
www.cinemaissi.org
Cultitude
17
SixDegrees
fatboy.se
Dutch Rall
SWEDISH
HANDFUL
James O?Sullivan
KNOWN for their distinctive
mix of rockabilly, country
and rock?n?roll, Swedish outfit
Fatboy can be found around
the country this month performing a quartet of concerts
in Helsinki, Turku, Jyväskylä
and Vaasa between 17 and
20 October. With their most
recent effort Love Creole hit-
ting stands on 26 September,
the band returns with a clutch
of memorable tunes.
Made up of Thomas
Pareigis, Hannu Kiviaho,
Jan Lissnils, Alf Östlund,
Joakim Lindahl and Marcus
Källström, the band?s sound
has attracted the likes of film
directors Tim Burton and
Quentin Tarantino who are
keen to use the band?s music in
their upcoming movies
Teaming up with producer
Simon Nordberg (Håkan
Hellström, Amanda Jenssen,
Kent) the band has continued
to broaden their horizon, making categorising their music
nigh on impossible.
As lead singer Pareigis
explains, ?The album is almost
like a sideshow where every
song has its own little tent.
You will find the magicians,
strippers, fire-eaters, bikers?
The songs all live within their
own little world.?
Fatboy
Helsinki, Turku,
Jyväskylä, Vaasa
17-20 October
Dream performance
James O?Sullivan
Savoy Theatre
James O?Sullivan
T
DANCE
TRIO
Jyväskylä?s
got the
blues!
James O?Sullivan
PAYING no attention to the
cooler months and darkening
days, Blues Live! will be heating up Jyväskylä from 7 until
10 October.
The main drawcard this year
is Sharrie Williams, arriv-
HREE contemporary dance pieces by Minna Tervamäki,
Kaari Martin and Kare Länsivuori are on offer at
Savoy Theatre from 17-19 October. Seeking to push the
boundaries of dance, the trio of performances offers
physical interpretations of a number of issues.
Whereas Tervamäki and Länsivuori?s duet Home peeks into
the dark side of relationships, Kaari and Roni Martin?s solo
work The Raven and a Timepiece tips its hat to the avantgarde flamenco of the 1930s. With the duo having forged an
international career in revitalising modern flamenco, their
dance vocabulary is well versed.
Finally, Tervamäki?s ambiguous and dynamic solo SE2
shapes itself around a surprising iron crinoline. The performances are brought to the stage by production Compañia Kaari
Martin and Savoy-teatteri.
Home - The Raven and a Timepiece - SE2
Tervamäki ja Martin 2 and Kare Länsivuori
17-19 October, 19:00
Tickets ?30/35
Savoy Theatre
Kasarmikatu 46-48, Helsinki
ing to the stage armed with
a wealth of attitude and the
title ?The Princess of Rockin?
Gospel Blues.? Accompanied
by the Sharrie Williams Band,
her powerful voice will be
something to behold.
Elsewhere sees Eugene
Hideway Bridges and Boogie
Machine bringing the southern sound, with Bridges
having been immersed in
music from an early age in
Lousiana, his father, blues
guitarist Hideaway Slim,
his mother related to Tina
Turner.
Furthermore, adding to the
FILM director David Lynch is known for many things, a
warped perspective among them. Putting his cinematic
interests on hold, a career that includes such landmarks as
Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, Lynch has
shifted his focus to music in recent years.
Such musical experimentation has born fruit in the
shape of his Crazy Clown Time album, recent years have
seen him taking songstress Chrysta Bell under his avantgarde wing, stating that ?Chrysta Bell looks like a dream
and Chrysta Bell sings like a dream. And the dream is
coming true.?
Upon the recent release of Bell?s solo debut, This Train,
which Lynch produced, the audience at Savoy Theatre on
Monday 22 October can bear witness to their collaborative clutch of dreamy, torrid, smoky and tortured tunes.
While her music is best heard around the witching hour,
stepping onstage at 19:00 will no doubt see the echo of her
performance ringing well into the night.
Chrysta Bell
22 October, 19:00
Tickets ?24/26
Savoy Theatre
Kasarmikatu 46-48, Helsinki
thick sound of blues Welsh/
Australian bluesman Gwyn
Ashton showcases his latest
work during the weekend,
along with UK outfit The
Wildcards. On the local
front, Ismo Haavisto Band
will be also performing during the weekend.
Blues Live!
7-10 October
www.blueslive.fi
Reviews
18
Issue 8 2012
Pick of the flicks
Myths, fables and yarns
Anna Uschanov
Finnish storyteller and
globetrotter Markus
Luukkonen.
Glenn Close finds a way to overcome the struggles of survival in late 19th century Ireland.
Killer Joe
Finally leaving the naff rom-coms in
his dust, Matthew McConaughey has
embraced his inner thespian in recent
times, turning in a number of strong performances. Here, with the help of William
Friedkin (the director of The Exorcist and
The French Connection), McConaughey
portrays a hired killer employed by a
desperate Emile Hirsch who decides to
have his mother rubbed out in order to
pay off his debts. Touted as ?a totally
twisted deep fried Texas redneck trailer
park murder story?, advance word has
been very positive.
Premieres 28 September
Taken 2
Having surprised everyone, himself
included now doubt with the runaway success of B-movie actionfest
Taken a couple of years ago, Irish
big man Liam Neeson returns in a
hotly anticipated sequel. But, what to
do when the plot crux of the original involved the kidnapping of his
daughter by Albanians? Well, go all in
and have the whole family kidnapped
this time around. Promising enough
bone crunching moments to keep the
teenage crowd happy, things are looking good for the revitalised Neeson,
hot off the success of The Grey earlier
this year.
Premieres 5 October
Savages
While the phrase ?can do no wrong? will
never be applied to director Oliver Stone,
the sheer fact that every film he makes at
least gets tongues wagging for whatever
reason ? good or bad ? means that at least
his output remains interesting. Here he
erases the memory of the disappointing
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, to gather
an impressive ensemble cast that includes
Hollywood heavyweights such as John
Travolta, Benicio del Toro and Salma Hayek,
alongside such fresh names as Taylor Kitsch,
Blake Lively and Aaron Johnson for a tale
of Californian pot growers who go head to
head with a Mexican drug cartel.
Premieres 12 October
Albert Nobbs
While the idea of a man dressing up as
woman is seen to be comedy gold in some
circles, the vice versa is often played out
as a serious drama, with films such as
Boys Don?t Cry offering often devastating insight into gender confusion. Here,
Glenn Close?s eponymous hero finds a
way to overcome the struggles of survival in late 19th century Ireland, where
women?s independence is frowned upon.
Nominated for both Academy and Golden
Globe awards, Close?s performance as the
conflicted Hobbs and that of her co-star
Janet McTeer?s Hubert Page have garnered
accolades around the globe.
Premieres 19 October
Robin DeWan
O
NCE upon a time Finland?s rich oral
tradition served as a primary source
of entertainment and edification
among the people here. Not so today,
as the global storytelling revival seems
to have sidestepped this country. ?The
storytelling scene in Finland is still taking
baby steps,? according to professional storyteller Markus Luukkonen. Fans of the
art form must travel abroad to countries
such as neighbouring Sweden to experience events like The Fabula International
Storytelling Festival. This year?s Fabula
line-up included performers from as far
afield as India and South Africa, and as
near as Denmark and Norway. The stories
told drew upon traditional folklore as
well as completely improvised surrealistic
sagas. The programme, unfortunately, did
not include any Finnish spinners of tales,
but there is hope for the cultural movement in this country yet.
Artist Johanna Lecklin has had great
success with her Story Café, which has
travelled around the world enticing
people to turn up and
tell a story in exchange
for a cup of coffee and
possibly 15 minutes of
fame, should their tale
be selected to screen at
one of her exhibitions.
In Helsinki, the Samova
association has regularly
organised a story club, Shaibalaiba, for
over a year now, including occasional
English language evenings. In addition,
this autumn will see the launch of a
multicultural storytelling project at Turku
City Theatre. The biggest boost to the
scene, however, might well come in 2014
when Finland will host a biannual international symposium on healing in storytelling. This event will be organised by
ALBA Finland, with storytellers Yvonne
Karsten and Märta Uggla taking a lead
role in production.
But what exactly makes storytelling special? Why in this day and age of unlimited
and flashy entertainment choices would
anyone bother paying attention to an
individual delivering a monologue?
Perhaps it is the personal element that
is so often absent from media today that
makes it fascinating. ?For me the main
thing is the ability to listen and share,?
says Luukkonen. ?The story is told from
ear to ear, from eye to eye, and heart
to heart.? Just as it was centuries ago
and, under the best circumstances, still
is today.
Markus Luukkonen: http://www.tarinoidenmaailma.fi/
Fabula Storytelling Festival: http://fabulafestival.com/sv/
Johanna Lecklin: http://www.johannalecklin.com/
Samova: http://samova.wordpress.com/shaibalaiba-tarinaklubit/?
ALBA: http://www.nordiskalba.org/
BLU-RAY
INDIANA JONES - THE
COMPLETE ADVENTURES
What could be
better than curling up and revisiting the classic
trilogy now on
Blu! Not only has
Steven Spielberg
supervised the remastering of
the original film, here you can
also find an uncut version of
Temple of Doom. Packed with
7 hours of extras, set aside a
whole day for your Indy-fest. Oh,
and grimace through the Crystal
Skull if you must. JO?S
CD
MUSE? THE 2ND LAW
Arriving just in time before their
December date
at
Hartwall
Areena,
the
British
trio
returns
with
what promises to be their most
diverse effort to date. Headed
by pleasingly bonkers Olympic
anthem Survival, elements of
symphonic rock, dubstep and
synth pop are all on offer as the
band sets sail into outer space,
the only way they know how. JO?S
GAMES
NHL 13 (360,
PS3)
Considering how
long this franchise
has been going on
for, it?s amazing that they can
think of anything new to put in the
game. In this case, number 13 is
lucky for EA, as their annual skating fiesta has developed a dizzy-
ing array of game modes, a novel
and natural control system and,
I?m told, a new AI system as well
? fully customisable, natch. All of
which add up to a good-looking
and pucking fun game, even for
people who don?t really like ice
hockey, like me. 8/10
TRANSFORMERS: FALL OF
CYBERTRON (360, PS3, PC)
Unusually for movie tie-ins, the
Transformers games just keep get-
ting better and better.
There are more robots
in disguise here than
you can shake a guided missile at, which
combined with the epic-but-short
story, stonking visuals and some of
the best multiplayer action this side
of pong gives autobot-lovers plenty
of reasons to pick this up. Luddites
or sufferers of technophobia, on
the other hand, probably need not
apply. 9/10
SixDegrees
Out&See
Greater Helsinki
19
SixDegrees
By Anna-Maija Lappi
Music _ Clubs
28 Sep. Paleface & Räjähtävä Nyrkki
// Politically active Finnish hip-hop
artist. Sello Hall, Soittoniekanaukio
1A. Tickets ?22. www.sellosali.fi
28 Sep. With the left hand ?
Workers´ songs from then and now
// A concert of workers? songs old
and new, blending different periods
and generations. Savoy Theatre,
Kasarmikatu 46-48. Tickets ?28.
www.savoyteatteri.fi
28 Sep. Souls Club: Halme Prospekt
// Experimental sounds. Korjaamo
Culture Factory, Töölönkatu 51 B.
Tickets ?7/9. www.korjaamo.fi
28 Sep. Relentless, Scary B.O.O.M
(RUS) // Punk/psychobilly. Alakerta,
Telakkakatu
8.
Tickets ?6.
www.alakerta.fi
28 Sep. Don Johnson Big Band //
Multilayered hip-hop. Tavastia, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?16/18.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
28 Sep. Plutonium 74, Tixa &
Hevospistooli // Unique and funky
sounds. Virgin Oil Co., Kaivopiha,
Mannerheimintie 5. Tickets ?10.
www.virginoil.fi
29 Sep. The Ghost of Bruce
Springsteen & The E Street Band, E
Street Fans // Springsteen´s birthday
celebrations. Korjaamo Culture
Factory, Töölönkatu 51 B. Tickets
?10/12. www.korjaamo.fi
29 Sep. Twopointeight (SWE) // Punk
from Sweden. Nosturi, Telakkakatu
8. Tickets ?10. www.elmu.fi
30 Sep. Nigel Kennedy (UK) // Worldfamous violinist. Helsinki Music
Centre, Mannerheimintie 13. Tickets
?69. www.musiikkitalo.fi
1 Oct. Dé Danann (IRL) // ?The Rolling
Stones of Irish folk?. Savoy Theatre,
Kasarmikatu 46-48. Tickets ?35.
www.savoyteatteri.fi
1 Oct. Fu Manchu (USA) // Stoner
rock. Nosturi, Telakkakatu 8. Tickets
?27. www.elmu.fi
1 Oct. Dying Fetus (USA), Job For
A Cowboy (USA), Revocation (USA),
Cerebral Bore (UK) // Death metal.
Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6.
Tickets ?24/26. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
2 Oct. Meshuggah (SWE) // Metal.
Nosturi, Telakkakatu 8. Tickets ?27.
www.elmu.fi
3 Oct. Music of Pekka Pohjola //
Tribute to great Finnish musician
and composer. Tavastia, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?12/14.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
4 Oct. 999 (UK) // Punk. Tavastia,
Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets
?23/25. www.tavastiaklubi.fi
4-6 Oct. In With Lassy // Timo
Lassy Band + support. Dubrovnik,
Eerikinkatu 11. Tickets ?20/22.
www.andorra.fi
5 Oct. Ali Amran // Folk rock, blues
and pop. Stoa, Turunlinnantie 1.
Tickets ?8/10. www.stoa.fi
5 Oct. Entombed (SWE) // Death
metal. Virgin Oil Co., Kaivopiha,
Mannerheimintie 5. Tickets ?17/19.
www.virginoil.fi
5 Oct. Souls Club: Samba Á Venda! //
Brazilian rhythms. Korjaamo Culture
Factory, Töölönkatu 51 B. Tickets
?10/12. www.korjaamo.fi
5 Oct. Karri Koira, Ruudolf // R&B/
hip-hop. Tavastia, Urho Kekkosen
katu
4-6.
Tickets
?10/12.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
6 Oct. Tijuana Taxi // ?Ameriachi
music?. Vuotalo, Mosaiikkitori 2.
Tickets ?10/12. www.vuotalo.fi
6 Oct. Cheek // Hip-hop. Nosturi,
Telakkakatu 8. Tickets ?12. www.elmu.fi
6 Oct. Raappana, DJ Kridlokk, Eevil
Stöö & Koksu Koo, Kemmuru // Hiphop/reggae. Virgin Oil Co., Kaivopiha,
Mannerheimintie 5. Tickets ?10/12.
www.virginoil.fi
6 Oct. El-P (USA) // Adventurous hiphop. Kuudes Linja, Hämeentie 13.
Tickets ?22. www.kuudeslinja.com
6 Oct. Tango Pirates (UK) // ?Pirate
rock?. Semifinal, Urho Kekkosen katu
4-6. Tickets ?11/12. www.semifinal.fi
6 Oct. El Camino Label Night: Husky
Rescue, Tiiu Helinä // Interesting
electro pop. Korjaamo Culture
Factory, Töölönkatu 51 B. Tickets
?10/12. www.korjaamo.fi
6 Oct. Petri Nygård // ?The Bad
boy? of Finnish rap. Tavastia, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?10/12.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
7 Oct. Meta4 // String quartet´s album
release. Sello Hall, Soittoniekanaukio
1A. Tickets ?12/18. www.sellosali.fi
7 Oct. River City Tanlines (USA) //
Garage punk. Kuudes Linja, Hämeentie
13. Tickets ?10. www.kuudeslinja.com
8 Oct. Joseph Calleja (MLT) // Top
tenor from Malta. Helsinki Music
Centre, Mannerheimintie 13. Tickets
?79-139. www.musiikkitalo.fi
9 Oct. The Tenses (USA) //
Experimental noise group. Korjaamo
Culture Factory, Töölönkatu 51 B.
Tickets ?8/10. www.korjaamo.fi
10 Oct. Toot Toot // New interesting
duo of guitar player and singer
Timo Kämäräinen and drummer
Olli
Krogerus.
Sello
Hall,
Soittoniekanaukio 1A. Tickets ?12.
www.sellosali.fi
11 Oct. Ufomammut (ITA) // Space
psychedelia and monumental riffs.
Kuudes Linja, Hämeentie 13. Tickets
?19/22. www.kuudeslinja.com
11 Oct. Rival Sons (USA) //
Ambassadors of retro rock. The
Circus, Salomonkatu 1-3. Tickets
?30/35. www.thecircus.fi
12 Oct. Klamydia // Finnish punk
rock. Virgin Oil Co., Kaivopiha,
Mannerheimintie 5. Tickets ?15.
www.virginoil.fi
12 Oct. Ricardo Alvarez y Cubanisimo
(CUB) // Cuban rhythms from
guaracha son to modern timba. Savoy
Theatre, Kasarmikatu 46-48. Tickets
?32/35. www.savoyteatteri.fi
13 Oct. Kielletyt Laulut // M.A
Numminen and Pedro Hietanen will
be performing pieces banned by the
Finnish state radio a few decades
ago. Sello Hall, Soittoniekanaukio
1A. Tickets ?15. www.sellosali.fi
13 Oct. Olavi Uusivirta, Minä ja Ville
Ahonen // Pop rock/folk. Korjaamo
Culture Factory, Töölönkatu 51 B.
Tickets ?14/16. www.korjaamo.fi
13 Oct. Wintersun // Metal. Nosturi,
Telakkakatu 8. Tickets ?25. www.elmu.fi
13 Oct. Gangzi (CHN) // ?Nomadic
rock?. Caisa, Mikonkatu 17 C.
Tickets ?6-10. www.caisa.fi
13 Oct. Samuli Putro // Finnish
singer-songwriter. Tavastia, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?18/20.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
13 Oct. Annie Mall // Rock. Semifinal,
Urho Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets
?7/8. www.semifinal.fi
13 Oct. Suomen Karvapääkuninkaat
1968 // Rock. Bar Loose, Annankatu
21. Tickets ?5/7. www.barloose.com
14 Oct. Nashville Pussy (USA)
// Rock and roll. Tavastia, Urho
Kekkosen katu 4-6. Tickets ?20/22.
www.tavastiaklubi.fi
16 Oct. Koiton Laulu & Los Elementos:
Köyhälistön Rumba // ?Rumba of the
poor?. Malmitalo, Ala-Malmin tori 1.
Tickets ?8/10. www.malmitalo.fi
17 Oct. Verneri Pohjola Quartet //
One of Finland?s most praised
jazz
musicians.
Sello
Hall,
Soittoniekanaukio 1A. Tickets ?15.
www.sellosali.fi
18 Oct. Unen Syli // Soprano
Ilona Jokinen and Finnish zither
player Mirva Minkkinen take the
listener on a gentle journey to
the world of dreams. Sello Hall,
Soittoniekanaukio 1A. Tickets
?8/12. www.sellosali.fi
23 Oct. Joel Paterson & The Modern
Sounds (USA) // Retro trio from
Chicago. Malmitalo, Ala-Malmin tori
1. Tickets ?12. www.malmitalo.fi
24 Oct. Johanna Kurkela // Pop. Savoy
Theatre, Kasarmikatu 46-48. Tickets
?30/32. www.savoyteatteri.fi
Get to kno
12 Oct. Kuudes Linja, Hämeentie 13. Tickets ?17. www.kuudeslinja.com
Tim Hecker (CAN) &
Vatican Shadow (USA)
Kuudes Linja will fill with experimental electro sounds on Friday
12 October when two interesting artists, Tim Hecker and Vatican
Shadow, visit Helsinki.
Tim Hecker, a Montreal-based musician and sound artist who
made his initial breakthrough as Jetone, has produced a range
of audio works for labels such as Kranky, Alien8, Mille Plateaux,
Room40, Force Inc, Staalplaat and Fat Cat Records. In 2001, with
the album Haunt Me, Hecker started releasing his ambient music
under his real name. For his self-titled recordings, Hecker drew
inspiration from pop culture and showcased his ideas within dense
collages of found sounds and computer-generated noise. At Juno
Awards 2012 (?Canadian Grammy Awards?) Hecker´s latest album,
Ravedeath 1972 (2011), won the Best Electronic Album of the Year.
Vatican Shadow is a new project of Dominick Fernow, a New
York-based electronic music artist. Vatican Shadow´s sombre
and minimalistic electronic music brings back memories of early
Ministry and AFX sounds.
w finland
throuGh pe
rsonal co
ntacts.
get to know
r the chance to
fo
g
in
ok
lo
u
for the FIKA
Are yo
better? Sign up
y
et
ci
so
h
is
nn
l mentor.
the Fi
urself a persona
yo
t
ge
d
an
ct
proje
1.9.?31.10.2012
BMW
ART CARS /
fika.luckan.
fi
fika@lucka
n.fi
BMW AG
TUE, THU, FRI 11AM-6PM,
WED 11AM-8PM, SAT, SUN 11AM-5PM
AHERTAJANTIE 5, TAPIOLA
TEL. +358 (0)9 8165 7512
WWW.EMMA.MUSEUM
BUSES 106 AND 110 FROM KAMPPI
From 4th Oct to 4th Nov
HELSINKI
Kaisaniemi field
Tue?Fri at 6.30 pm
Sat?Sun at 1 pm and 5 pm
Mon closed
World?s Greatest Finnish Circus
Info-Tel. 0600 30006
(1,75 ?/min + lnp)
Tickets 16?32 ?.
Ticket office open
12 noon to 1 pm and
2 hours before the show.
Tickets in advance:
Commission from 2,50 ?.
Out&See Greater Helsinki
20
Out&See Tampere
Issue 8 2012
By Jutta Vetter
Theatre _ Dance
City of Tampere
28 Sep-18 Oct. Ivan Li?ka / Petipa:
Le Corsaire // Beautiful classical
ballet bringing the breezes of the
South Sea. Finnish National Opera,
Helsinginkatu 58. Tickets ?18-97.
www.opera.fi
29-5 Oct. I Love NYKY // Festival
for new dance brings brilliant
contemporary dance pieces to
Almi Hall. Finnish National Opera,
Helsinginkatu 58. Tickets ?13/25.
www.opera.fi
29 Sep-25 Oct. W.A. Mozart: The
Magic Flute // Beloved opera for the
whole family directed by Jussi Tapola.
Finnish National Opera, Helsinginkatu
58. Tickets ?14-84. www.opera.fi
29 Sep-4 Oct. Thomas Lehmen:
?Bitte...? (?Please...?) // Five dancers,
five stories. Each choreographer is
asking the others to perform elements
out of their story. Zodiak - Center
for New Dance, Tallberginkatu 1B.
Tickets ?12/20. www.zodiak.fi
4 & 5 Oct. The Umbilical Brothers
(AUS) // Hilarious comedy duo. Savoy
Theatre, Kasarmikatu 46-48. Tickets
?28/32. www.savoyteatteri.fi
4-6 Oct. Yesterday I Was Nowhere
& Regular Guests // Two interesting
contemporary
dance
pieces
choreographed by Heidi Masalin and
Virva Talonen. Stoa, Turunlinnantie
1. Tickets ?10/16. www.stoa.fi
12-21 Oct. Anna Mustonen: Di anima
et di corpo // Performance of intense
emotions, combining 17th century
cembalo music and singing to new
dance. Zodiak - Center for New
Dance, Tallberginkatu 1B. Tickets
?12/20. www.zodiak.fi
17-19 Oct. Home - The Raven
and a Timepiece - SE2 // Three
contemporary dance pieces by
Minna Tervamäki, Kaari Martin ja
Kare Länsivuori. Savoy Theatre,
Kasarmikatu 46-48.Tickets ?30/35.
www.savoyteatteri.fi
17-20 Oct. Tanssiteatteri Tsuumi:
Suggestion // Modern dance and
folk dance come together. Stoa,
Turunlinnantie 1. Tickets ?12/20.
www.stoa.fi
19-21 Oct. Festival of New Juggling in
Helsinki // Interesting contemporary juggling.
Various venues. www.531festival.com
From 19 Oct. Giuseppe Verdi: Don
Carlos // A monumental drama in
sombre tones. Finnish National Opera,
Helsinginkatu 58. Tickets ?22-107.
www.opera.fi
Exhibitions
From 28 Sep. Osmo Rauhala // In
his paintings, Rauhala complements
animal and plant symbolism with a
pure world of abstract signs. Kiasma,
Mannerheiminaukio 2. Tickets
?0/8/10. www.kiasma.fi
Until 30 Sep. Finnish Architecture
2010/2011 - Projects. Comments.
Perspectives. // Review of Finnish
contemporary architecture. Museum
of Finnish Architecture, Kasarmikatu
24. Tickets ?0/3/6. www.mfa.fi
Until 30 Sep. Helsinki Street: More
Towards Nothing // Exhibition
showcasing some of the best
photographs published on the Helsinki
Street blog as well as works that have
never been seen before. Laboratory Art Space for Now, Erottajankatu 9.
Free entry. www.laboratory.fi
Until 3 Oct. Tomás Saraceno
// Today?s hottest name in the
international art world combines
open-mind
influences
from
technology, space research and
social theory. Kunsthalle Helsinki,
Nervanderinkatu
3.
Tickets
?0/5.50/8. www.taidehalli.fi
Until 7 Oct. Camouflage // Contemporary
art and design intertwine. Kiasma,
Mannerheiminaukio 2. Tickets
?0/8/10. www.kiasma.fi
From 12 Oct. Home // Multifaceted
kaleidoscopic overview of the
home as a physical space and
state of mind. Design Museum,
Korkeavuorenkatu 23. Tickets
?0/3/8. www.designmuseum.fi
Until 14 Oct. Helene Schjerfbeck //
Major exhibition of one of Finland´s
most beloved artists.
Ateneum
Art Museum, Kaivokatu 2. Tickets
?0/10/12. www.ateneum.fi
From 20 Oct. The Seventh Wave ?
Wihuri and Visual Art // Lavish
review of Finnish contemporary art
from the collection of the Jenny
and Antti Wihuri. Kunsthalle
Helsinki, Nervanderinkatu 3. Tickets
?0/5.50/8. www.taidehalli.fi
Until 12 Nov. Boutique ? Where Art
Meets Fashion // Exhibition brings
together visual arts and fashion
design. Amos Anderson Art Museum,
Yrjönkatu 27. Tickets ?0/2/6/8.
www.amosanderson.fi
Until 2 Dec. POLAROID ? The
Legendary Collection // Polaroids
by big international names and
a selection of Finnish Polaroid
imagery. The Finnish Museum of
Photography, The Cable Factory,
Tallberginkatu 1 G. Tickets ?0/5/8.
www.valokuvataiteenmuseo.fi
Others
Until 30 Sep. Helsinki International
Film Festival // New films from wellknown filmmakers and fresh talents.
www.hiff.fi
18-21 Oct. Cinemaissi // Latin
American film festival. www.
cinemaissi.org
The event listings in the Out&See
sections are based on the available
information at the time of printing the
issue. SixDegrees is not responsible
for possible changes, mistakes,
cancellations or lack of information
concerning the events mentioned.
ImmIgrant
advIce centre
Multilingual information and guidance services
Check the schedules at www.tampere.fi/maahanmuuttajaneuvonta
or find us on Facebook with updated information. At the information
desk you can use your own language to ask about any issues of your
daily life or about unclear documents.
Address: Tuomiokirkonkatu 12.
Telephone: Desk 1: 040 806 2526 / Desk2: 040 806 2527
E-mail: maahanmuuttajaneuvonta@ tampere.fi www.tampere.fi/maahanmuuttajaneuvonta
Euroopan unioni
Euroopan sosiaalirahasto
Music _ Clubs
28 Sep. Soul Power // Music by
DJs Kallio and Okapi. Telakka,
Tullikamarin aukio 3. Free entry.
www.telakka.eu
28 & 29 Sep. Janne Salo Experience
// Live music in the heart of the city
centre, right by the Tammerkoski rapids.
Showtime at 23:00. RUBY & Fellas
Irish Pub and Kitchen, Hämeenkatu 25.
Free entry. www.rubyandfellas.fi
29 Sep. Maco Oey // Record release
gig. Telakka, Tullikamarin aukio 3.
Tickets ?6. www.telakka.eu
5 Oct. Modtown // Music by DJ
Hatethepolice. Gastropub Soho,
Otavalankatu 10. Free entry.
www.gastropub.net/soho
5 Oct. Riot Club // Live music on the
Guinness stage, showtime at 21:30.
Irish Bar O?Connell?s, Rautatienkatu
24. Free entry. www.oconnells.fi
8 Oct. Guardia Nueva // A night of
tango music passion. Tampere Hall
(Main Auditorium), Yliopistonkatu
55. Tickets starting from ?49/59.
www.tampere-talo.fi
8 Oct. Jamming at Huurupiilo
// Jamming starts at 19:30.
Huurupiilo, Nyyrikintie 4. Free entry.
www.huurupiilo.fi/jamit.html
12 Oct. Color Dolor w/ Xenia Kriisin
// Live music on the Guinness stage,
showtime at 21:30.
Irish Bar
O?Connell?s, Rautatienkatu 24. Free
entry. www.oconnells.fi
16 Oct. The Kilkennys // Irish music
- this band has gained a reputation
for revitalising traditional Irish
music and adding their own touch
of energy and youth. Tampere Hall
(Main Auditorium), Yliopistonkatu
55. Tickets starting from ?25. www.
tampere-talo.fi
18 Oct. W.A.S.P. // 30 Years of
Thunder World Tour. Tampere Hall
(Park Hall), Yliopistonkatu 55.
Tickets starting from ?39/45. www.
tampere-talo.fi
19 Oct. Humanwires // Live music
on the Guinness stage, showtime
at 21:30. Irish Bar O?Connell?s,
Rautatienkatu 24. Free entry. www.
oconnells.fi
20 Oct. Dangerous Pub Disco // Music
by DJ Jere Dangerous. Gastropub
Soho, Otavalankatu 10. Free entry.
www.gastropub.net/soho
20 Oct. Tapio Ylinen // Live music
in a nostalgic pub atmosphere. Pub
Vinyyli, Lapinniemenranta 6. Free
entry. www.huviopas.net/pubvinyyli
21 Oct. Theon // Lovex singer Theon?s
solo gig, showtime at 23:30. Jack
the Rooster Rock & Kitchen,
Satakunnankatu 13 B. Tickets TBA.
www.jacktherooster.fi
21 Oct. Billy Talent // Live music
from Canada, doors open at
19:00. Tullikamarin pakkahuone,
Tullikamarin aukio 2. Tickets
?30/35. www.klubi.net
22 Oct. Jamming at Huurupiilo
// Jamming starts at 19:30.
Huurupiilo, Nyyrikintie 4. Free entry.
www.huurupiilo.fi/jamit.html
24 Oct. Sparzanza // Live music
from Sweden. Showtime at 22:00.
Klubi, Tullikamarin aukio 2. Tickets
?16/18. www.klubi.net
Jukka Salminen
28 Sep. Yo-talo, Kauppakatu 10. Tickets ?7/8. www.yo-talo.fi
www.myspace.com/idiomaticband
Idiomatic - record release gig
The new wave stadium pop and soft rock band Idiomatic will
release their debut album New Terrain on September 28th.
The band was formed in 2007, and during their active touring,
Idiomatic have already supported acts such as White Lies and
The Subways as well as filled venues with their own dedicated
fans. Their debut album has been carefully produced and was
recorded at the Fisher Lane Studios in London. Their first single,
You Are Not The Sun, was released in May 2012, followed by
their second single Lost Together. This record release gig is for
everyone who likes listening to beautiful, non-cliched melancholic
songs about love and breaking up. Also on stage: Picnic With Lulu
and Johnny Got It Wrong.
Exhibitions
29 Sep. - 16 Oct. Art by SatuMinna Suorajärvi // Art exhibition.
Mältinranta Artcenter (gallery &
studio), Kuninkaankatu 2. Free entry.
http://tampereen-taiteilijaseura.fi/en/
Until 21 Apr. 2013 In Flight - Birds
at Vapriikki // Take a flight into
the Finnish bird?s history. The
museum is open from Tuesdays to
Sundays 10:00-18:00. Museum
Centre Vapriikki, Alaverstaanraitti
5. Tickets ?3/8. www.tampere.fi/
english/vapriikki.html
Permanent exhibition Spy Museum //
Here you will find everything you ever
wanted to know about the past and
present in the world of espionage.
This is the first espionage museum
in the world, and it is open every day.
Vakoilumuseo, Satakunnankatu 18.
Tickets ?6/8. www.vakoilumuseo.fi/
index.php/en/
Mondays:
9:30-11.30
10:30-12:30
12:00-16:00
13:00-16:00
Turkish, Azeri
Russian
Bulgarian, French, Spanish
Persian, Kurdish
Tuesdays:
9:30-11:30
11:30-13:30
11:30-13:30
14:00-16:00
14:00-16:00
Guidance on Finnish language courses
Russian
Arabic, Kurdish
Estonia
Arabic, Kurdish
Thursdays:
9:00-12:00
9:00-11:00
11:30-14:30
12:30-14:30
15:00-17:00
15:00-17:00
Chinese
Thai
Dari, Pashto, Urdu, Hindi
English
Somali
Russian
are
based
on
the
available information at the time
Every Tuesday Trotting races // Horse
trotting race at the Teivo track at
18:00, for driving instructions and
more info, see website. Free entry.
www.teivonravit.fi
Guidance services have new timetables in the
following languages on Mondays, Tuesdays
and Thursdays
The event listings in the Out&See
sections
Sports
Others
28-29 Sep. Food Gallery at Cafe
Soolo // A surprise buffet featuring
a selection of food artwork straight
from the caterer?s collection. The
buffet is open between 17:00 and
19:00. Tampere Hall (Cafe Soolo),
Yliopistonkatu 55. Price ?20,
including a food presentation. www.
tampere-talo.fi
Every Wednesday Bilingual Pub Quiz
// Quiz questions in Finnish and
English. Starting at 19:00. Irish Bar
O?Connell?s, Rautatienkatu 24. Free
entry. www.oconnells.fi
Every Friday Crocheting workshop //
Crocheting together in any language
- so far people aged 4-70 have
attended, both male and female.
Between 15:00 and 17:00. Media
Museum Rupriikki, Väinö Linnan
aukio 13. Free entry. http://rupriikki.
tampere.fi/in-english/
of printing the issue. SixDegrees
is not responsible for possible
changes, mistakes, cancellations
or lack of information concerning
the events mentioned.
We are also on Facebook!
You can find all the current and
interesting information on guidance
and what?s happening
at Tampere here:
www.facebook.com
/tampereenmaahanmuuttajaneuvonta