The Dead Poet's Breakfast!

The 5th of February is known as Runeberg's Day in Finland, named after Finland's national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg who was born in the town of Jacobstad, Finland on this date 1804.

'Runeberg's most famous work is Fänrik Ståls sägner (The Tales of Ensign Stål, Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat in Finnish) written between 1848 and 1860. It is considered the greatest Finnish epic poem outside the native Kalevala tradition and contains tales of the Swedish War of 1808-09 with Russia. In the war, Sweden ignominiously lost Finland, which became a Grand Duchy in the Russian empire. The poem, which is composed episodically, emphasizes the common humanity of all sides in the conflict, while principally lauding the heroism of the Finns. The first poem "Vårt land" (Our Land, Maamme in Finnish) became the Finnish National Anthem. Runeberg is celebrated on 5 February each year.'

- taken from Wikipedia

While the National anthem of Finland is sung in the Finnish language by the majority of people over here, it is also sung in swedish with the same passion and pride by a part of the Finnish population living in the west and south of Finland. In my opinion there is something very special and respectful for the people of Finland to have their anthem in both languages.

   

And it is also on this day Feb 5th every year that a certain cake named 

Runeberg's torte (Finnish: Runebergintorttu; Swedish: Runebergstårta) is eaten all over in Finnish homes to celebrate this great national poet. The story goes that the poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg enjoyed a torte with some brandy punsch for his breakfast every morning.

And not wanting to be disrespectful, I am only too happy to carry on this good tradition in my own home today. A little too late for breakfast, I will be eating one of these two little beauties here with a nice cup of tea later on this evening.

Thanks for reading my blog and please share it with all your friends.

-Alan

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Moomin and a groovin' on a sunny afternoon!

Most of you reading this blog may recognise the well-known character featured in the video above. His name is Moomintroll from the Moomin books and cartoons. The Moomins were created in the mid-1940's by Tove Jansson, a Finnish novelist and painter. Since then it has become a worldwide phenomenon.

Personally I never understood the attraction of the Moomins when I was young. Growing up as a child in Ireland, like many other Irish children I spent a lot of time reading comics, books and looking at the television. Back then in the 1970's Irish television consisted of two national channels and three British channels. Most of the cartoons shown were from the US or the UK. So we had a huge selection to choose from. I can remember cartoons such as Battle of the Planets, Scooby Doo, Hong Kong Phooey, Wacky Races and Spiderman from the US. And then we had the likes of Mr.Benn, Captain Pugwash and the Mr.Men from the UK. The Moomins cartoon may have been shown occasionally but I never noticed. Any cartoons about a small white hippo-like creature didn't stand a chance against the all-action american cartoons. Not on my television anyway! We also had a few european cartoons which I thought were a bit strange. They mainly came from old countries like Czechoslovakia and East Germany. I later found out that some of them may have contained some East German propaganda! 

While I ignored anything to do with the Moomins when I was young, I have educated myself a little on the characters and their creator since moving to Finland. I reckon that small white hippo-troll might be a good creation for kids after all. There's no shortage of colourful characters and imagination there, that's for sure!   

Last summer I discovered one place connected to Tove Janssons famous little characters. It was Moominworld of course, a small Moomin theme park based on an island at the town of Naantali or Nådendal in Swedish. While it costs to enter the Moomin park enclosure itself, anyone can simply walk over the bridge walkway and on to the island. There's a nice little Moomin cafe there to sit and enjoy a coffee and the sun. And after that it's only a short walk into the nice Naantali marina. Here there more cafes and restaurants, including a great little boardwalk along the marina where you can find some bars with cool outdoor seating areas. A nice place to enjoy a cold beer and hear the radio playing 'Groovin' on a sunny afternoon'.

Naantali Marina, Finland

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to hang around all these nice places as I had to get back to the Naantali Spa Hotel were I was staying with my better half, courtesy of a nice little gift token given to us by some Finnish friends. Such was the irresistable pull of a hot jacuzzi and a few beers in the residents bar. We just couldn't help ourselves, you know??? :)

Next time I go back to Naantali, I will try to stay somewhere closer to the town centre. Here's a little video clip I made from the photos of my stay in Naantali.  

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Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

You can receive my blogposts direct to your email or facebook profile by pressing the follow button at NetworkedBlogs  and you are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button under my signature below.

- Alan 

                     

2D or not 2D? that is the question!

Last summer I had a quick look at the work of Finnish artist Pauno Pohjolainen in the Turku Art Museum. The painter transformed from being a traditional artist at an early stage of his career to making more 3-dimensional work in the way of painted sculptures and textured forms such as chipped wooden surfaces. The artist still prefers to be called a painter though. 

Pauno Pohjolainen: 

Pyhä Yrjö surmaa lohikäärmeen, yksityiskohta, 

2008

Born in Kuopio, Finland in 1949 Pauno Pohjolainen held his first solo exhibition in Kuopio Art Museum in 1981. His art is visually pleasing and consists of many natural textures and colours. Some of his work extends to interior and exterior building facades.

Pauno Pohjolainen, the Virgin Mary, 1996, Kuopio Art Museum Collection

Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to share it with your friends.

-Alan

Songs for the Snow

With the early arrival of snow to Finland last November, I've had the ongoing job of clearing snow at my humble residence. Constant shovelling has proved to be good exercise for me and my Finnish snow experience came in handy this Christmas when I visited my parents home in Ireland. I was a very surprised with the amount of snow that fell over there this Christmas. It wasn't easy to help with the clearup given the lack of proper snow shovels, but you make do with what you have.
And while the snow quickly melted away in Ireland I could then only think of spring, sunshine and good times ahead.


Unfortunately I'll have to wait a bit longer for spring to reach Finland as I was greeted with a snow storm on my return to Helsinki airport. Time to get the snow shovels out again!


To make the shovelling go a little easier I find it helps to listen to some tunes on my mp3 player. 
Here's my Top 5 Snow shovelling songs at the moment. Maybe you might know another, please add it in the comment box below!

No.1
Guru Josh - Infinity
........because there's no sign of the snow ever ending!  :(

No.2
John Lennon - Clean-up Time
.....because it has to be done!

No. 3
Death in Vegas - Aisha
.... great tune for building some rhythm to your shovelling.

No. 4
Snow Patrol - Take Back the City
.... and hope to overcome the elements.

No. 5 
The Seven Dwarfs - Hi! Ho!
..... simply to get outside the door to the freezing cold. Get past this step and the jobs half-done!

Happy Shovelling!!

Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to share it with your friends.

-Alan

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Autumn on the Nature channel!

'The Nature Channel!'

(no subscription necessary)

It's autumn on the 'real' Nature channel and here's a few photo's I wanted to share with you all on my blog. 
I took these photos while out walking in Karis, Finland. 
There are still plenty of leaves left on the trees here, but with the first of the autumn storms arriving last night these nice autumn colours will soon begin to disappear. 

There have been reports of early snow on it's way to this area of Finland, so I'm making the most of the nice autumn colours or 'Ruska' as it's called here in Finland. I haven't seen any real evidence of snow here just yet. It's certainly getting cold enough, with daily temperatures getting quite low. It's presently +1C outside my window. I reckon it's about time to dig out my winter jacket and gloves. 

Look! Even my cat is starting to feel the chill!

Thanks for reading my blog and please share with your friends.

- Alan

ps.- I'll be dreaming of Finnish summer for the next few months!!

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Highway to Helsinki!

Before leaving Ireland to live in Finland I gathered my compact discs and mediocre collection of vinyl records all together for a long session of bubble-wrapping. These were all little mementos and memories with no real monetary value. Maybe they will have one day, but I will find it very hard to part with any of them if such a day arises. That's what a lot of music is to me, a reminder of a past memory in my life, whether it be good or bad. I will occasionally spend that little bit extra for any newly released music that I think is exceptional, for example 'The Bends' by Radiohead, and 'Grace' by Jeff Buckley amongst others. I do also have a lot of music which I like, simply because the price was right. Well, a bargain is a bargain!

Nowadays in a world of what I call 'invisible' music or downloads, the whole appreciation of having a hard copy of something you have paid cash for is obsolete and in a way extinct.

Over the past couple of years I discovered an event which happens annually in various locations throughout Finland. It's called Levy Messut or roughly translated Record Fair. Living back in Ireland I was used to searching through superstores like HMV, Tower Records and Virgin for all the latest releases on compact disc. But I never stopped buying old vinyl. For this I went to various small second-hand record shops like Sound Cellar and my old favorite Freebird Records. Their collections were however very limited and sometimes a little expensive for second-hand material.

So when I discovered the 'Levy' record market event here in Finland, I simply had to investigate. This event is organised between a group of record dealers from Finland, Sweden and Germany.

My first visit was back in 2008 in a town called Hyvinkää. My expectations were more than satisfied. It was held in a big indoor hall with plenty of space to move around, and they even had a public toilet and a coffee station! More importantly the selection of records was vast and all were available at a reasonable price. Well, for my budget anyway!

Needless to say I picked up a couple of favorites of which I didn't have at home already.. Here's what I got on that occasion.

Slade – 'In Flame' vinyl album €10 – playing condition 8/10

Thin Lizzy – 'The Collection' vinyl double album €8 – playing condition 9/10

Creedence Clearwater Revival – 'Travelling Band' (Russian print) vinyl album €8 – playing condition 10/10

The Stranglers – 'The Raven' vinyl album with 3D cover art €12 – playing condition 10/10

The Specials – 'More Specials' vinyl album €6 – playing condition 10/10

Various – 'Street Level' 20 New Wave Hits vinyl album €5 – playing condition 9/10

Of course, it can be a gamble as regards the condition of any record you buy at these markets. But it only takes 10 seconds to take the vinyl out of it's sleeve and check for any nasty scratches if you're concerned. You will soon realise that all of the people involved at such record markets are true professionals and care for their records more so than any of their customers.

So what's all this got to do with the Highway to Helsinki you may ask.

Well, yesterday I got the chance to go to another Levy Messut record fair, this time in Helsinki.

And that's why I took the Highway to Helsinki!

Well I tell a lie, I actually took the train. The train from Karis to Helsinki, on a gloomy Sunday afternoon. Perfect weather to be where I was heading. The hall was a bit smaller this time though, but the bargains were bigger and better! Amongst all the usual collections of UK and US releases I noticed an increase in the amount of Finnish records or Suomi Rock. I was tempted to pick up an old Levi & The Leavings album but I already have a double cd of theirs at home. This time I was looking for some Johnny Cash, something Irish, and some old-school ska/reggae like Desmond Dekker or Prince Buster. So I began my quest. It's important to practice a little bit of self-indulgence once or twice a year. This was my time, this was my bag!

And here is what I came away with this year. I could have stayed longer, only I had to catch the cheap train home! That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

Phil Lynott – 'Solo in Soho' vinyl album €3 – playing condition 9/10

The Police – 'Regatta de Blanc' vinyl album €3 – playing condition 10/10

Elvis Presley – 'Elvis Forever' 32 Hits vinyl double album €3 – playing condition 8/10

Johnny Cash – 'The Best of Johnny Cash' vinyl album €10 – playing condition 10/10

Blondie – 'Parallel Lines' vinyl album €6 – playing condition 9/10

Sinéad O'Connor – 'The Lion and The Cobra' vinyl album €3 – playing condition 10/10 (I'm not a big fan of Sinéad, but this album contains some great songs and her voice excells)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions – 'Get Happy!!' vinyl album €4 – playing condition 10/10

Horslips – 'Dancehall Sweethearts' vinyl album €12 – playing condition 10/10

…...and finally my bargain of the day!

The Equals – 'The Equals' vinyl album €1 – playing condition 10/10

featuring a young Eddie Grant!

I admit I was tempted by some classics by the likes of Pink Floyd, The Who, Beatles, Rolling Stones, AC/DC and even Uriah Heep! But I have all that I need by these artists on vinyl or compact disc already. I have the only two albums by Pink Floyd that I ever wanted, 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' and 'The Dark Side of the Moon' and a cd box set of The Who. I don't think it's healthy to listen to same music all the time, a bit of diversity is important I reckon. Having said that, I did keep my distance from 'John Denver and The Muppets Christmas Album'. There are limits, you know what I mean folks!!

There is without doubt in my opinion something very satisfying about owning a vinyl record whether it is new or second-hand, as long as it's in reasonable condition. It's something to be cherished, and never be embarrassed to show it off to your friends the next time you invite them around for a drink. It's an old practice that is unfortunately dying slowly. It's something that your 'download' can't offer, plus you get the chance to discover or rediscover some great album artwork. Such artwork has become so iconic today and is well worth the album price in itself. Something else which is well worth knowing is the fact that most newly made record players on sale today have a special USB port that allows their owner to convert their vinyl records to MP3. And they are not as expensive as you may think. You can pick up such a record player with a USB function new for under €100. So now you can also listen to your vinyl collection on your mp3 player without any download costs!

For anyone reading this in Finland you might want to make note that the Levy Messut is in Hyvinkää on October 2. More details at www.record.fi

Anyone reading this in Sweden might like to check out a shop called Nostalgipalatset in Stockholm. A Swedish guy handed me a flyer from this shop. Tell him I sent you! More details at www.nostalgipalatset.com

- Now all I need to do is find is a new needle for my record player!!

Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share it with any of your friends.

You can receive my blogposts direct to your email or facebook profile by pressing the follow button at NetworkedBlogs  and you are welcome to visit my art page on Facebook by clicking the 'Like' button under my signature below.

- Alan 

                    

Double Agents!

Here are two recent paintings I just completed.

Called 'I Spy Red' and 'I Spy Orange', these paintings were more an exploration of colour rather than anything deep and meaningful.

Like secret agents my cool-coloured spy-glass shapes investigate their underlying warm landscapes of red and orange.

'I Spy Red'

2010, acrylic on stretched canvas

Original size 55cm x 46cm

'I Spy Orange'

2010, acrylic on stretched canvas

Original size 55cm x 46cm

And as we know, any decent spy must break borders and investigate all areas.

Perhaps a little view into the way society has become with the increasingly intrusive world wide web. The interpretive borders are open on these two!

Thanks for reading my blog.

Please share and do come again!

- Alan