Showing posts with label finland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finland. Show all posts

Friday, February 19, 2010

Finnish suicide ballads in Berlin

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This was HIM on a free gig in Berlin, arranged by Myspace Secret Shows. Going on a free gig by HIM in Berlin sounded like an idea born dead, since I know the emo- and goth-kids of this city love their Finnish love metal bands and it was bound to be packed. This is like the only place in the world where Finnish music breaks through (apart from Bam Margera's iPod). So I didn't expect us to actually get in, since they only let in 500 people. (I'm the least VIP ever, in fact I'm VUIP, if you know what I mean. I sometimes don't get in when I'm on the list. - Or maybe it was the blacklist....But luckily the "secret" show was still secret enough I guess, and we weren't too many. 

The secret concept MIGHT not work very long though. (Hush hush.) 

Anyways, I hadn't seen these homeboys in a long time. Actually I started reminiscing, and realized the first ever time I saw HIM live was warming up for a Prodigy gig 1998, and we were all like, "who the hell are these healthy skinny boys talking about death?" And since Finland is rediculously small, my girls and I all had our little stories of how we're all somehow slightly almost related to Ville Valo.

 
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They still give a hell of a show, and make damn pretty pictures!

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This is a clip of Join Me, probably their most known (and disturbingly creepy) hit. It always warms my heart when 500 teenagers sing "This life ain't worth living".

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

In Finland we say "a loved child has many names."

Tadaa! Meet

Lord Asko Johannes Renenpoika Marshall del Bigotes von Matterhorn
and
Princess Jenna-Jatta Rullakatriina Regina Phalange Ala-Pietilä
or in short
Cow and Chicken!

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Our piggies are now at home, and named. And they're incredibly cute and interesting personalities. Thanks so much for your great suggestions and votes! I was so happy to read them! I especially loved E.Birdie's Cow & Chicken idea, because the two actually resemble them. The girl keeps running around nervously and won't shut up, and the boy even has cow-pattern all over him! Pirittas Bruce Lee was also a good runner up, but we finally thought it didn't fit the combo so well. In the end we were so overwhelmed with all the good names, that we let go of the rulebook and gave them pretty much all!

For the Paco & Pekka voters, sorry, maybe next time. "Pako" means prison break in Finnish, that woulda been too confusing, and the girl just doesn't look that much like a Pekka. I think we got the whole Mexico-Finland-thing going on in the overly long names anyway. Or what do you say?

The little rascals immediately found their houses, stood there long enough for these pictures to be taken, and ever since the cage has been a goddamn mess.

Lord Asko Johannes Renenpoika Marshall del Bigotes von Matterhorn a.k.a. Cow!P1080382.jpg picture by avaramaiju

Princess Jenna-Jatta Rullakatriina Regina Phalange Ala-Pietilä a.k.a. Chicken!
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Some other ideas we came up with (gotta save these for our human kids):
- the Chick and the Duck (from Friends)
- Possu and Kärpänen (Bunny and Fly from Finnish comedy Kummeli)
- Dumb & Dumber (lol)
- Britney & K-Fed (because the girl is a bitch and the dude is a total slob)...

As a little bonus I give you Moustache Marshall: (picture source here.)


...and two funny videos related to the names:

Regina Phalange:


Do you get this? :) Novelty of the Finnish humor: Possu ja Kärpänen.



Ha. Ha. Ha. ;) Lemme know what you think!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Bread & Butter, Part 1: the people and the atmosphere

So Fashion week is over, and I'm left with a bunch of cool photos to share! Bread & Butter was a fascinating and colorful candy shop of fashion for a small timer like me. I really felt like a tool in the middle of all those fast paced international hot-heads with their huge bags, big noses, tanned skins and millions of different accents, looking like they knew where they were going, and I was on their way, spinning around overwhelmed and distracted by everything shiny and pretty. This was the little girl avara Maiju from tiny village Vääksy in Finland in the usually so humbly trendy Berlin that suddenly changed into a cold hard fashion capital. But only for a week, phew, now it's back to its normal self. 

Part 1 is about the general atmosphere, people, and my favorite stands at the fair. The second part will be an exciting selection of trends for fall/winter 2010-11, so remember to come back for it! 

Since Bread & Butter has come back to Berlin, it's been organized at the Tempelhof airport, which is a really cool location I have to say.

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3 Finnish brands were there, all really interesting and relatively new. Makia makes streetwear for guys, that I immediately fell in love with, 'cos they combine Finnish culture and streetwear, and their models were total dudes! Makia means 'sweet' in Finnish dialect.

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Two other Finnish brands were Kaksitvå and Costo, both looking real good. 

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 One of my absolute favorites was Kuyichi's stand. It was really well decorated in their style, they served organic coctails accordingly to their ecological cotton line, and the stand was very trendy with denim and warm brown colours, in the kind of American vintage-style that we remember from the Camel- and Marlboro ads from the 90s.

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That style and atmosphere seemed to be the theme that most stands were following at Bread & Butter. It was all wood, brown vintage arm chairs, old leather bound books, and 50´s milk bottles. 

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I absolutely love it about Diesel, that they make unconventional things into fashion. Remember the whole luxury of dirt -thang? Well, you know I always love ugly and weird things, so of course this is gonna work for me. 

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Lonsdale also had an unusual stand for a fashion fair (although appropriate for their target group): Tough broads kickboxing, sweat flying, and no sense of beauty anywhere. I of course though it was cool as hell.


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And it gets better. I knew I'd have to find something tacky even in the holy mecca of street-cred! Rollergirl in glitterpants and a slimy bald guy at the Ed Hardy-stand!!!


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Goal achieved! And this is what I came home with:

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So many cool books and magazines to read, and a talking Swedish watch I found at the Cheapo stand 5 minutes before closing time, and sweet red-haired dude sold it for me for 10 €! Tack så mycket, puss puss! Part 2 coming up with closeups of what we'll be wearing one year from now!