Interactive bar opens in Tokyo

Do you remember MultiTouch screens?

The world’s largest hospitality multitouch display installation has been opened in Tokyo’s Graffiti Bar. Patrons can draw their own graffiti on the MultiTouch displays, and can browse drink and food menus, interact with their waiters, play games, and enjoy media content provided by the bar. Interactive special effects, including virtual champagne bubbles and lightning bolts, react to touch and objects placed on the tables. VIP cards placed on the MultiTouch displays will trigger exclusive VIP content.

More info:
MultiTouch.fi
tokyo-graffiti.com

Microtask loves the work you hate

DO one assigned task on your computer. It shouldn’t take you more than two seconds. Repeat 14,399 times. Congratulations! Your eight-hour work day is complete.

No such workplace yet exists, but with the fiendishly clever creation of standardized two-second tasks, delivered to any computer connected to the Internet, it is now technically possible to set up.

Microtask, a start-up company in Finland, has come up with the software that delivers such tasks. The company offers to take on "dull, repetitive work" — like digitizing paper forms or business cards — for prospective clients. As it says in a video on its Web site, "Microtask loves the work you hate."

More info:
Read the full article from NY Times (October 30, 2010).

www.microtask.com

Opengreenmap.org: documenting the green world

Green Living Sites. Nature. Social and Cultural Resources. You will find them all on the OpenGreenMap.org! I checked the status of my hometown Helsinki and there seems to 36 sites listed when posting this article. Many sites are missing like these ones:

Pyykkis - New ecological laundry service (Helsinginkatu 16)
Eat&Joy Farmer's market
Ecomarket Ruohonjuuri
Anton & Anton local food

Anyway, Open Green Maps are designed to be explored, customized and enhanced by anyone. Please share your insights, ratings and images or suggest, compare and share sites.

I try to suggest the ones listed above.

More info: Opengreenmap.org

Rat Nights (Rottenetter) - When we will see the premiere in Finland?

Wondering why the entertaining norwegian movie Rat Nights (Rottenetter directed by Arild Østin Ommundsen) has not been premiered in Finland yet?

Rottenatter combines elements from the movies Wall street, American Psycho and Snabba cash. If you liked some of those movies you will probably like Rottenetter as well. Soundtrack of the movie is by Thomas Dybdahl and with that soundtrack he won the Best Norwegian soundtrack award (Amandapris) in 2009.

Alternate Reality Game (ARG) concept was the driving force for marketing the movie in Norway. Or what do you think about this campaign?

Rare Exports

This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus.

More info:
www.rareexportsmovie.com
www.facebook.com/RareExportsMovie

The Daily Ape show - facts about Finland

The Daily Ape Show is an animated comedy series made for the World Expo 2010 Shanghai. Everything aped; the world, celebrities, news, politics, countries... Everybody and everything.

You can follow the series at:
www.dailyape.com
Daily Ape Youtube channel

Kill Arman in 104 countries worldwide

Kill Arman –martial arts travel show has been sold to 104 countries. The reality television series follows the Iranian-born Finnish tailor Arman Alizad’s confrontations with masters of different martial arts. The tailor has four months to prepare himself for combating ten masters of different martial arts in ten different countries around the world.

Since last year the international distribution of the programme has been handled by Rabbit Films production company and the contract includes ten English language episodes of the series.

At the moment Kill Airman’s largest channels are BBC Africa and BBC Asia covering a total of over 70 countries.

More info:
www.killarman.com (only in Finnish at the moment)
Good News from Finland

Angry Birds are heading to Hollywood

According to Variety the "Angry Birds" are flocking to Hollywood.

Rovio, the Finnish creator of the hit iPhone and iPad game, which has sold more than 6.5 million downloads, wants to turn the property into a major franchise that crosses over to other platforms - from TV shows and movies to toys and comicbooks.

The rest of "Angry Birds" stats are also impressive: The game, which sells for 99 cents in the U.S., and about $1.14 in other markets, hit the 6.5 million sales mark this month. A more limited free version has been downloaded 11 million times. An iPad version, for $4.99, has racked up 200,000 sales.

Game is launched on other platforms like Google's Android, Blackberry and Palm in the coming months. Rovio also intends to expand the game to handheld videogame systems like Nintendo's DS, Sony's PSP Go and consoles like the PlayStation 3.

More info:
www.angrybirds.com

Helsinki tiloja - spaces

There are an enormous number of spaces in Helsinki that people normally do not see. Photographer Jussi Tiainen and architect Jussi Vepsäläinen have been travelling around downtown Helsinki taking a peep into some of these places. The list of lesser known but fascinating interioirs includes splendid works of architecture, industrial plants and qorkshops that service the City and its infrastructure. The subjects in the book extend from the highest points of the City down into the bowels of the earths; from the Cathedral clock-tower to undergroung pumping stations.

Helsinki tiloja - spaces book is published by Parvs Publishing.

Finska fotoklubben: Lust&Luxury 20.8 - 5.9 2010

Lust&Luxury exhibition is inspired by "Pappa betalar" culture...

More info:
Galleri Sinne
Yrjönkatu 23
Helsinki

Nordic short films in Helsinki: 24.-27.8.

Lyhytelokuvia kansalle! event screens the latest short films from Finland, Sweden and Norway. Movies are shown in bars, cafes and parks:

24.8. 0930pm Cafe Carusel (Merisatamanranta 10)
25.8. 0930pm Ravintola Nolla (Pohjoinen rautatiekatu 21)
26.8. 10pm Karhupuisto
27.8. 10pm Tervasaari (ampfitheater)

All films are subtitled in English.

Media Facades Festival Helsinki 2010

Media Facades Festival will explore the networked possibilities of urban screens and media facades via internet and new technologies on a European level. The format of the Media Facades Festival reflects on the increasing presence of massive-infrastructures with digital visual elements in public spaces while investigating their communicative function in the urban environment.

Here are some of the projects in Helsinki area:

Giants of the Hoods is an interactive mobile guerrilla art influenced by street performance and urban VJ intervention. In the project, local residents will create visual characters present in their neighbourhood.

The Air Hunger project creates a large-scale interactive projection, where the breathing pattern of a participant generates a landscape for a virtual character to move.
People can participate in the projection by wearing a wireless breath rate-monitoring belt around their chest.

For the complete listing of the all projects in Helsinki click here.

More info:
www.m-cult.org
www.mediafacades.eu

OpenHouseHelsinki 2.-4.9.2010

OpenHouseHelsinki event is here again...

The objective of the OpenHouseHelsinki event is to open the doors to both the inhabitants of Helsinki and visitors from elsewhere to places which are normally inaccessible. OpenHouseHelsinki organises guided tours to interesting interior spaces, city districts, inner courtyards, as well as new and old architectural sites.

Summer in the city

(photo by taivasalla)

"No summer day in Helsinki is complete without a stop at its many outdoor cafés." says the Helsinki.fi article here. Here are some additions to that article. Enjoy!

Flying Dutch & Pikku Dami (Pitkäsillanranta, Helsinki)
"Little Amsterdam" terrace next to Flying Dutch restaurant boat shifts you to Netherlands. Hmm... Well, almost.

Sininen huvila cafe (Linnunlauluntie 11, Helsinki)
The picturesque Cafe Sininen Huvila, or "Blue Villa", offers an amazing view over the Töölönlahti bay.

Cafe Piritta (Eläintarhantie 12, Tokoinranta, Helsinki)
Sense the feeling of Tokoinranta around the year.

Kahvila Tyyni (Helsinginkatu 56, right next to restaurant Töölönranta. EDIT ON 11TH OF JUNE 2011: SEEMS TO BE CLOSED FOR 2011)
Cafe Tyyni is open till September. They provide outdoor movies every Wed, Thu and Sunday evening.


Discover the locations of the terraces via Google Maps.

Disc golfing in Finland

There are over 10 000 disc golfers and over 150 disc golf courses in Finland. Both figures are still rising annually.

Finnish Westside Golf Discs is the third company ever to produce frisbee golf discs in Europe. Westside's products have unique hotstamps from Finland's national epic Kalevala from the north European iron age.

Do you know a disc golf course in Finland which is not listed in here?
Please, let them know.

More info:
www.pdga.com

Team ERA - Electric raceabout

Finnish contender compete in the X PRIZE competition for super efficient cars. Besides fame and the respect of other competitors, the winner will take home USD 10m.

Arcticstartup.com reported about the ERA (Electric Raceabout), a Finnish contender in the X PRIZE: "I just heard that the ERA team finished the second shakedown week in Michigan - in which the different cars needed to pass on-the-ground challenges - and they did it in style: The team passed all mandatory and optional tests with the first try, and were the only team to do so!".

Read more: www.raceabout.fi/era/

Finnish Wooden Boat Center

The Finnish Wooden Boat Center is an integrated 1.5 hectare area in Kotka’s Cultural Harbor, near the Maritime Centre Vellamo. The Boat Center’s appearance is dominated by the copper, arch-shaped roof of the boatyard (designed by architects Lahdelma & Mahlamäki). However, the Center also has a lot more to offer.

What makes the new building unique even on international terms is the fact that it was purpose-built for a wooden boat yard. Modern technology ensures temperature and humidity control as well as sawdust and dust removal. Another unique feature is the idea of a boatyard that is open for the public at no cost. The workshop is encircled by a Visitors’ Bridge at the second floor level, where the public can watch the boatwrights at work and observe the fascinating progress of boat-building. At the moment, the boatyard’s most notable attraction is the 21-meter-long classic wooden racing yacht Blue Marlin.

Don't miss the Wooden boat marina either. There you might see "Smuggler's boat (Pirtuvene)" and other rarities.

Kupe bicycles

Kupe is a new Finnish Bicycle brand est. 2010.

On their website they say: "We wish to give our customers good feeling and and nostalgic driving experience. We want our bike to stand out from mass- production bicycles with its delicate Finnish design and craftsmanship. You will find its specially designed, extra rigid frame and superb balance to match your driving needs whether you drive in a city or on the country roads... All frames, carriers and chainguards are handmade in Finland."

Kupe is manufactured by Eskolan konepaja and price is starting from 670 euros.

Another good news: Manufacture of the Finnish Jopo bicycles will be transferred back to Finland from Taiwan. Earlier only a fraction of the Jopo's were really made in Finland.

Do you remember Pelago bicycles?

Come to Finland

Come to Finland is all about Finnish travel posters and travel history.

It all started with an idea, ten years ago, outside an Antiquarian Book-shop in Helsinki. Today it is a succesful cultural and commercial project.

More info: www.cometofinland.fi

Music video directors - ready, steady, go!

Miikka Lommi - Finnish wonder, indie music video director and so on presents:
Pepe Deluxe - Pussycat rock
Kississings - Anything U want
Husky Rescue - City lights

Here you may check out more of his music videos:
www.vimeo.com/miikkalommi/videos

And here you may see some ads directed by Lommi and his mates from FilmMagica:
www.youtube.com/user/FilmMagica

Great stuff!

Viral campaign: Hectorcam

WOW! Very nice viral campaign from Samsung:

...Hector lives in a warehouse.

His job is to dance and receive your sms and check if you are entitled to win some cooliest things by Samsung...

Check it out: SAMSUNG.FI/HECTOR

SMS messages probably work with Finnish SIM cards only, but I tested it and it gives an unique SMS code to each viewer and Hector reacts to your SMS. Good job!!

Metamorphosis of the Menu

Curiosities among menus in the collections of the Hotel and Restaurant Museum
23.2.2010-10.10.2010

The menu collection of the Hotel and Restaurant Museum contains tens of thousands of menu cards from the 1860s until today. In the table setting, the menu card forms a part of the entertainment at formal lunches and dinners. The menu content, i.e. the food items, drinks, their serving order, and the appearance of the menu, are an indication of the nature of the event.

The menu is often a unique production designed for one event only. It may be a card, but it may also be an object. The Metamorphosis of the Menu exhibition presents curiosities from the menu collection, from a deodorant bottle to a reindeer hide, from a high-heeled shoe to a wallet.

Opening Hours: Tue-Sun 11-18
Venue: Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1 G, Helsinki
www: Metamorphosis of the Menu

Pori Jazz 2010

On the stage are seen for example Massive Attack, N.E.R.D and Gotan Project.

More info: porijazz.fi

Flow Festival 2010 program released

The Flow Festival weekend program will include M.I.A., the French duo Air planning an audiovisual spectacle at Flow, the Icelandic vocalist Jónsi also known from Sigur Rós, and the British indie sensation The xx, which ranks among the most requested acts for this year’s festival.

The British indie pop newcomer Marina And The Diamonds, the highly-regarded producer Four Tet, and the Swedish indie favorite The Radio Dept, each come to Flow hot on the heels of their new albums. As a very special additions to the Flow Festival lineup, the Finnish funk eccentric Jimi Tenor and the Nigerian afrobeat legend Tony Allen make the live debut of their “Inspiration/Information” album concept, and the American jazz vocal great José James sits in with the Finnish saxophone player Timo Lassy’s extended ensemble.

The new wave of indie rock from the US is well featured at Flow this time around. The Drums, Beach House, Surfer Blood and Girls offer a good peek at the hottest new sounds coming from across the Atlantic. The Syrian vocalist Omar Souleyman is one of the potential surprise hits of Flow Festival, whereas the Berlin-based RotFront comes strong with their Balkan-infused party sounds. As a new feature, Flow Festival 2010 will feature a series of partially seated concerts held at the Voimala club venue during the early evenings of the festival weekend. The three concerts will feature the Norwegian Ulver, showcasing their highly evolved dark sound aesthetics, and the Malian master of the kora instrument, Ballaké Sissoko. The rest of the Voimala concert billing will be announced later.

Flow Festival has been known to have a strong club roster and this year’s event is no exception. The clubs will feature hard-hitters in minimalist techno pioneer Ricardo Villalobos, disco legend DJ Harvey, Diplo, performing a DJ set and also with his Major Lazer project, the rising young gun of dubstep, Joker, and the US-based acts Sleigh Bells and Rye Rye.

New Finnish music is also well represented at Flow. This time around, the festival bill includes Husky Rescue, Villa Nah, Ricky-Tick Big Band, Clouds, Bongo Rock, Kiki Pau and Yona & Liikkuvat Pilvet, with many more domestic acts to be added. The concept of experimental music and visual arts presented at Flow will continue expanding as the Finnish artist duo Grönlund-Nisunen displays a unique installation at the Tiivistämö venue. The musical programming heard at the venue will be released later.

More info: flowfestival.com

Ricky-Tick Big Band

Ricky-Tick Big Band is an ensemble linked to the Helsinki-based jazz record label of the same name. The all-star cast of young Finnish jazzmen is led by composer Valtteri Pöyhönen, also known as the primus motor of Dalindeo. The big band’s lineup includes such hard-hitters as Timo Lassy (sax), Jukka Eskola (trumpet), Jaska Lukkarinen (drums) and Antti Lötjönen (bass), to name but a few, and also presents the foremost Finnish big band player Antti Sarpila (clarinet/sax) to audiences with a taste of swinging contemporary jazz.

Sketches of North - a film about Helsinki & Jazz

Sketches of North is a black & white film inspired by the music of "Agatha" - a big band album composed by Kerkko Koskinen and played by UMO Jazz Orchestra & trumpeter Verneri Pohjola.

Sketches of North peeks into the making process of "Agatha". The main collective behind the album share their thoughts on the creating process and the meaning of improvisation. Moreover, the film illustrates the compositions by placing their melancholic, but now and then cheerfully swinging atmospheres into Helsinki, a city of four seasons.

Sketches of North glides through the heavy winter towards the intense summer and the serene, darkening autumn. The bombastic and epic music shakes hands with the manic-depressive beat of the northern capital. The audial landscape in Kerkko Koskinen’s
music merges with the mindflowing narration of the film, and together they catch the dreamlike, poetically swinging spirit of today’s Helsinki.

More info: www.sketchesofnorth.com

Dialogue matters

"We had a history of trying to communicate with Stora Enso actively for 5-6 years..." says Sini Harkki from Greenpeace in the video (above). Problems culminated in Greenpeace hit at the Stora Enso's headquarters in March 2009.

According to Stora Enso's press release Stora Enso launched yesterday the Global Responsibility website and Facebook page for discussing responsibility topics.

On the press release Jouko Karvinen, Stora Enso's CEO says: “The idea of the Global Responsibility website and Facebook page is the direct contact with our stakeholders without intermediaries or censorship,”...“In today's world we have to find new ways to listen, discuss and learn. That is the only way to make tomorrow better for all of us.”

Dialogue matters.

Best Advertising From Finland

Baff.fi gathers and showcases the very Best Advertising From Finland.

Finnish disco king is back again

Do you remember how Diesel was exploiting the "learn to disco" video of the legendary Finnish Åke Blomqvist? Well, now it's Mini's turn. Check out Mini's latest TV commercial on Youtube:

Architect Viljo Revell: "It was teamwork, you see" 13.2.–16.5.2010

Architect Viljo Revell's best known works in Finland include the Glass Palace in Helsinki, apartment buildings in Tapiola (Espoo) and the Vatiala Chapel near Tampere. Internationally he is renowned for the City Hall of Toronto, Canada.

2010 will see the centenary of Revell's birth and in honour of the event an exhibition of his works will be mounted at the Didrichsen Art Museum which he designed. This will show a selection of his buildings and projects through photographs, drawings, scale models and biographical information, as well as a documentary film based on original material.

The museum has published two books on Viljo Revell to coincide with the exhibition: Viljo Revell, "It was teamwork, you see" (Fi, Swe, Eng.) and Glimpses from Viljo Revell's life (Fi).

More info: www.didrichsenmuseum.fi

Villa Nah: Rainmaker

Villa Nah
Rainmaker
Released by Sähkö Recordings in January 2010
Produced by Villa Nah, Jori Hulkkonen

1. Rainmaker Radio Edit
2. Rainmaker Jori Hulkkonen Extended Mix
3. Rainmaker Jori Hulkkonen Extended Dub
4. Benny's Burning

Order and listen here.

There is always room for a good local service in Helsinki

Pyykkis - New ecological laundry service (Helsinginkatu 16)

Crustum - German bakery in Helsinki (Pursimiehenkatu 7)

Juurenpuoti - brings top-quality Finnish country food products to Helsinki - without middlemen. The Shop’s selection covers a wide variety of food such as organic meat, cheese from independent producers, grain products, bread, etc. (Korkeavuorenkatu 27)

Allotria - Restaurant with a Finnish twist (Hämeentie 68)

Krulla's - Viennese bakery now in a new location. (Lönnrotinkatu 13)

Hannulelauri - Glittering night EP

Glittering Night EP - The debut 12" from Finnish duo hannulelauri embracing 80's style, italo disco and spaced-out rock grooves, giving it their own Finnish twist.

First up is "Glittering Night", shimmering electric synth chords washing over a Commodore 64 groove before a Peter Hook soundalike drops a lovely bassline, making New Order comparisons inevitable (a good thing!). Perfect late-night machine funk.

Next is "Sally 2000", a more introspective piece with insistent digital strings providing the foundation for a childlike toy chime melody, pulsating bass and more as layer upon layer builds to a fuzzed-out, pixelated yet beatless climax.

Finally, the late-night vibe continues as "Sally 2000" gets a version from Finland's techno/house master Jori Hulkkonen who works the track's pleading strings into a more dancefloor-friendly mix.

Dalindèo: Soundtrack for the Sound Eye

Dalindèo's second full-lenght album, “Soundtrack for the Sound Eye”, is now available on Ricky-Tick Records. Moving towards a more cinematic sphere of sound, the Helsinki-based sextet proves that they are ready to match the high expectations brought up by their previous releases.

On board on the new Dalindèo trip is their Berlin-based guest vocalist Bajka. With her immediately recognisable, smoky voice and street-smart spiritual poetry, Bajka adds a whole new dimension in the band’s sound on the soulful tracks "Willpower" and "New Creation".

Docpoint: Tempo - Silent Film Concert on Wed 27.1.2010

DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival offers an unique silent film experience where the old Finnish documentaries of Aho & Soldan meet the improvised jazz of The Five Corners Quintet.
The concert is organised in cooperation with National Audiovisual Association.

Check these out also @ Docpoint: Google baby, Videocracy and Three miles north of Molkom.

More info:
Docpoint.info

Vuk (live) @ Icepark, Helsinki on Sat 23.1.2010

Vuk (live) @ Icepark, Helsinki on 23rd of Jan at 8pm.

More info:
www.jaapuisto.fi

Last Cowboy Standing (Skavabölen pojat)

Zaida Bergroth's first feature film Last Cowboy Standing (Skavabölen pojat) has won the main prize in Flash Forward -competition at the Pusan International Film Festival in Korea. Pusan is considered the biggest, most important film festival in Asia.

Last Cowboy Standing is a story about two brothers and their relationship. It is also a story about one family breaking apart in Finland during 1970's and -80's. Screenplay is based on Antti Raivios acclaimed play by the same name.

More info:
Production company: Juonifilmi
Homepage: www.skavabolenpojat.fi