Helsinki Noir - darkside of Helsinki

“Readers should be prepared to keep the lights on at night after finishing this unnerving collection.”
- Publishers Weekly
 
Helsinki Noir introduction by James Thompson:

“Finland, the myths and truths. Internationally, it has a reputation as perhaps the best place in the world to live. A great economy. A low crime rate. Good and nearly cost-free health care. The needy are provided for by the state and live in reasonable comfort. Finns: peaceful and quiet people, living in the perfect example of a social democracy functioning as it should. A tourist, or even a person who has lived here for a length of time, might well view Finland as such. There is some truth to this, but like every country, Finland has many truths . . .

Finland is, like the theme so often explored in Star Trek, a parallel universe in which, on the surface, all seems normal, but under that shell lie vast differences . . .  As this book demonstrates, Finland is a noir nation [and] this anthology is, I believe, the best representation of Finnish noir ever offered to the international community. Every word rings true. It holds Finland up in a way that not only exposes this wonderful and fascinating country to the world, but acts as a mirror that reflects its people and culture in a way every Finn will recognize, vocalizing those truths that are so seldom spoken here amongst ourselves.”

Purchase online: Akashicbooks.com 

Aurora borealis alarm - be alarmed for auroras!

Be alarmed for auroras! Several hotels in Lapland, Finland offer 24/7 Aurora alarm systems! For example at Arctic Snowhotel guests can turn aurora alarm button "on" and in case there are northern lights in the sky, their alarm system will wake you up! Also Hotel Aurora at Luosto, Lapland offers aurora alarm system. Both hotels provide panoramic view rooms with glass ceiling and walls. And do not forget the original glass igloos at Hotel Kakslauttanen, Lapland.

If you are not able to visit Lapland in Finland, Unique Lapland has brought the wonderful Lapland winter into the city of Helsinki. Snow attractions and activities are available in any weather: igloos, ice sculptures, toboggan hill, kick-sledding and tandem skiing. Everything is built indoors of a huge sports hall using snow and ice. Their weather forecast of the day is always -3 degrees Celsius, no wind, steady weather conditions. Indoor cross-country skiing can be done in a same address at Kivikko Ski Hall.

Insideout - real-life room escape game

(image from Insideoutescape / Instragram)

Insideout - the first real-life room escape game is now available in Helsinki, Finland.

It's a real world adventure game which simulates online Room Escape games. In the game, 2-6 players are enclosed in their specially designed theme room. They have rack their brains to solve puzzles and collect clues to escape from the room in a race against time.

More info: www.insideoutescape.com

Anyone can fly or surf indoor @ Sirius Sport Resort

At Sirius Sport Resort anyone can fly or surf indoor. Enjoyably and safely. Sirius is located at Pyhtää, about one hour’s drive from Helsinki in the direction of Kotka.

More info: www.siriussport.fi

Are you ready for Takeoff?

Takeoff offers a highly realistic and fun experience flying a commercial airline. The Airbus A320 simulator is equal size of the real one and with high definition visual screens, realistic sounds and highly detailed cockpit guarantees an unforgettable experience. 

Check out their pre-planned flight experiences from various packages, e.g. Helsinki sightseeing or world's most dangerous approaches course (including Kai Tak (Hong Kong's old airport), Innsbruck, Austria and Gibraltar). 

Address: Takeoff Simulations Ltd., Energiakatu 3, 00180 Helsinki, Finland.

More info: www.take-off.fi

15 minutes of fame for social media stars

The power of social media is amazing. With an exceptional idea anyone could gather even millions of Youtube views in few days. Or what do you say about these Finnish digital natives?

• Smoukahontas (Sara Forsberg) published a Youtube video "What Languages Sound Like to Foreigners" and gathered 10 million views in two weeks. Two weeks later she was visiting Ellen Degeneres Show and she signed a several hundred thousand euros deal.
• Lare Lekman published his aerial sighseeing in Helsinki filmed with a quadcopter. Within few weeks almost 300 000 views for his "My Helsinki" video and I bet his aerial videoshooting services are fully booked for the next few months.

If you want to meet the Finnish vloggers you should check Tubecon the biggest vloggers festival in Finland. Tubecon will be organized on August 16, 2014 in Helsinki.

Helsinki Allas - new outdoor complex is out there

(image: copyright by Huttunen Lipasti Pakkanen architects)

The 1st phase of Helsinki Allas is ready. Helsinki Allas contains urban garden and picnic area, cafe and Finnair Sky Wheel. Small curiosity of Finnair Sky Wheel is a VIP cabin. When you purchase the VIP package you will receive a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne and a prolonged flight experience in the VIP cabin. Cabin features a glass floor, leather seats, music and air condition. A lot of gigs and other events will be organized throughout the summer at Helsinki Allas area.

2nd phase of the project is planned to be open in the spring of 2015. Then the new outdoor sea pool complex with outdoor pools and saunas will be available. See the aerial image of the forthcoming complex in my previous blog post. Helsinki Allas is designed by Huttunen Lipasti Pakkanen architects.

More info:
www.helsinkiallas.fi
finnair-skywheel.com/en

Chimeras

Finnish documentary movie maker Mika Mattila has released a new film called Chimeras. Chinese contemporary art is wanted all over the world. In movie the talented Liu Gang and the father of Chinese modern art, millionaire Wang Guangyi, reflect on their identities amid Western influence. The son of a poor family, Liu Gang, takes photographs of billboard ads, and his rocketing career opens doors to the same jet set lifestyle he criticizes in his art. Identity crisis is imminent. Wang Guangyi contemplates his career and China’s role in the art world.

Screening:
Docpoint - Helsinki Documentary Film Festival
Sat 1.2.2014 19:00 @ Kinopalatsi movie theather

More info:
www.chimerasfilm.com

Kinetic Stories: The Interactive Storybook Series

Finnish digital app Kinetic Stories, a children’s book series have been recognised in an international e-content competition. The award is granted by the World Summit Award (WSA).

Kinetic Stories is an interactive book series based on motion tracking and speech recognition that is aimed at kids.

More info:
www.kineticstories.com

Happy End?

Happy End? is by far the best summer exhibition at the Helsinki Art Museum for many years.

On the museum’s lower floor, nine Finnish and international artists explore the depths of the human psyche and the chasms between luxury and everyday life. The highlights gallery of the exhibition consists definitely of Jani Leinonen’s works from the series of Assanisation. Also Duncan Butt Juvonen's installation which utters 7000 apologies from the wallpaper and Kim Simonsson’s sculptures installations are impressive.

The upper floor of the museum is taken over by AES+F (Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky + Vladimir Fridkes), a Russian art collective who have garnered acclaim across the world with their photographs, videos and artworks that merge mythology with harsh contemporary reality.

Happy End?
19 Jun – 25 Aug 2013 Helsinki Art Museum Tennis Palace

Hottest Finnish startups at the moment

It seems the latest efforts to Finnish startups are starting to show up it's results. Thanks to organizations like Startup sauna, Tekes, ArcticStartup and Aalto Start-up Center, events like Helsinki Startup Weekend are getting more and more popular. Also more funding and investments are pouring to Finland at the moment, for example game industry is growing very fast. The total value of the Finnish game industry is estimated to reach EUR 600–800 million this year (compared to EUR 105 million in 2011).

Check out the hottest startups in Finland at the moment:

Business Insider: "These 12 startups prove Angry Birds isn't the only hot tech product to come out of Finland."

Red Herring Europe: 12 Finnish companies tops to Top100 list in 2013.

And talking about the Angry Birds. Their latest achivement is the Angry Birds Toons channel: The animated series following the adventures of the birds and the pigs debuted in March 2013, has been a huge hit. By the end of June 2013, the Toons channel has gathered over 400 million views across their games, and has been a big hit with their TV partners across the world.

Unmonday 4.3L - wireless Airplay speaker

The Unmonday is a portable speaker that delivers superlative sound for the truly mobile-minded audiophile.

Read more: www.unmonday.com

The Finnish nature center Haltia opens in Nuuksio National Park

The new Finnish nature centre Haltia has opened its doors to the public in Nuuksio National Park in Espoo. 

The new centre in Helsinki Metropolitan area is expected to attract 150,000–200,000 visitors a year. According to centre, the use of latest technology allows the centre to showcase “magnificent landscapes and the wonders of nature.”

Haltia is open every day and has also a restaurant which serves local organic food. According to the centre, tourists can combine visit to Haltia with a hike in the Natural Park, and outdoor gear is available for hire. Buses to Haltia run from Helsinki city centre.

New outdoor sea pool complex and observation wheel coming to Helsinki

Katajanokka in the centre of Finnish capital Helsinki will be hosting a new outdoor sea pool complex Allas – Helsinki Pool. The new complex will offer swimming and saunas all year around as well as all kinds of activities. The facilities are planned to be open in the spring 2014.

The City of Helsinki has granted a building permit to an observation wheel to be placed on the Katajanokka waterfront in Helsinki’s South Harbour also. The permit allows the wheel to remain and operate at the waterfront to the end of October 2016.

Korto - De La Officina

The original and organic sound of Helsinki-based band Korto is created with combining analog synths, drum-machines and samplers to soulful vocals in english and spanish. Korto's debut album will be released in April by Tuli Records.

Live on stage:
Apr 20: Funky elephant festival, Helsinki

Dalindeo - Kallio

Ota linja 8! / Take the Line 8! is the first track from Dalindèo's new "Kallio"-album. In order to get to the Kallio-district in Helsinki you have to take the tram line 8.

Dalindèo's third full-length album pays homage to the rugged and lively neighborhood of Kallio in Helsinki. The band’s leading man Valtteri Pöyhönen seeks inspiration close to home and turns the decadent ambiance of his neighborhood into Dalindèo’s recognizable jazz sound: danceable rhythms, characteristic melodies and the craftsmanship of the ensemble’s top-notch musicians.

Live on stage:
Apr 20: Funky Elephant festival, Helsinki, Finland
May 18: Big Shake at Bar Loose, Helsinki, Finland

www.dalindeo.com

Techcrunch: Gaming startup Supercell is closing a round above $100M at valuation around $800M

Supercell, the Clash of Clans and Hay Day developer, is in the middle of raising more than $100 million in a funding round, according to TechCrunch. The Company also boasts a valuation of $800 million. Clash of Clans and Hay Day generate around a combined $1.3 million per day.

Details of the deal suggest that Supercell has sold between 15 and 20 percent of the company for between $120 million and $160 million. Institutional Venture Partners, Atomico and Index Ventures are the new investors.

Supercell is a mobile gaming company from the city of Helsinki, Finland. Rovio, the Angry Birds developer, is located in the Helsinki metropolitan area as well.

Paperfangs - Lifelong

Zebra And Snake, Paperfangs

Kulttuuritehdas Korjaamo, vintti, Helsinki
Sat 03.03.2012
19:00-03:00
Showtime 22:00

The sci-fi movie Hollywood would not dare to make

Iron Sky, a Finnish dark sci-fi comedy about Nazis who have been living on the dark side of the moon since the end of the Second World War has turned out to be the unlikely hot ticket of this year's Berlin Film Festival.

The mood in Iron Sky is pretty the same as in Finnish Motion Novel movie called Thesis of Evil: dark scifi.

Seems the Iron Sky community has been involved somehow in Thesis of Evil also? The crew of the Thesis of Evil want to thank the Energia/Iron Sky community for the support!

More info:
Official site of the Iron Sky
Review by The Independent

Motion novel: Thesis of Evil

The animators of Thesis of Evil were wondering what to call their project in terms of genre. Is it animation? Well, sort of, but not in a traditional sense.

They (Mutant Koala Pictures) are using computer-generated camera movements to build a 3D space with elements moving in parallel layers to create a sense of depth. They photograph all the actors and add backgrounds, effects and camera movements in post-production. This gives us a look and feel of a graphic novel with live action and sound.

They decided to call it Motion Novel.

More info:
Thesis of Evil