Tekstit

The Blacksmith and the Devil

Kuva
I think this is the first Basque movie I've ever seen. Maybe even the only one on Netflix. The story goes like this: A man made a deal with the devil in order to survive the Spanish civil war and go back to his wife. Years later the devil is having trouble cashing in on the deal, as the blacksmith is so damn bad(ass) and furious that even Old Nick is afraid of him. Errementari In this case the story piqued my interested, as I like a little brawl with the devil. You have my attention. Some of the effects were a little clunky, but overall I enjoyed this little bit of local folklore brought into life. If a film can hit the right spots, then to me the story matters more than production value. And then there's the language, which I personally enjoy listening to. This little autonomous corner of Spain has a unique language which isn't related to any other European languages. I like to hear languages spoken even though I don't understand anything without subtitles....
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Stalking

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Stalking on Facebook is easy, if the target is a private person. Not so easy, if they are famous. I don't have a Twitter or Instagram account, and I wouldn't create one even if a  gun was pointed at me. I only use Facebook. So now that's out of the way, I tried  stalking. First I thought, "Hey, I like Elon Musk, let's see what he's up to." Well, as it turns out, the last time he posted something on Facebook was 2016. Before that, 2013. So no luck there. And yes, I'm fully aware he's quite active on Twitter. I tried another one. First thing that popped into my mind was Jennifer Lawrence, I wish it would happen the other way as well... Anyway, her latest post is from November 1st. It's a shout-out to the youngsters out there, that it's voting time. The next post is from February, so she's not very active on Facebook either. She's mostly posted about women's rights. She also appears to be favouring Twi...
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Reality vs. storytelling and narrative design

Kuva
Welcome to God Club is a cool game and reminds me of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It's a really good book, which taught me a lot about different myths from all around the globe. There's now also a series. That's how I know about Anansi even though he is relatively unknown as gods go. But I guess so are all the gods from the (seemingly still) dark continent. Regarding the game; I'm a practical guy, so for the first question asked I replied instantly "kill the master." I'm simple like that; Clean, and efficient with minimal effort and no need for second guessing. Probably my feelings towards authority also add to my choice. I prefer my kind of brutal realism to many of the narrative devices used in fiction. Wonky storytelling elements and sudden moments of unexplainable out-of-character stupidity are often used just to get the hero in the right place at the right time for the story to progress. I feel that these methods are the hallmarks of cheap and laz...
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Mindtrek 2018

Kuva
So Mindtrek 2018... Impressions: Small scale tech event. Mostly about digitalisation and smart infrastructure and education. See, I did attend! So empty. There weren't any talks that were relevant to me, as I won't be going into XR/VR or *gasp* education. Like Sherlock Holmes said: "Your mind is an attic, so don't put junk in there. Because while there is space for everything and anything, it gets damn difficult to find the one thing you're looking for." Ok, that was me paraphrasing him, but maybe you get the gist. I live by this code, by minimising the amount of unnecessary information my brains soak. I've been to Slush , so I think I can compare the two. Mindtrek is a like a high school film project, while Slush is a full-feature film by Universal starring AAA actors. There. Over and out.
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Allow me to introduce you to...

Kuva
Me. I am: - 28 years old - not from Tampere T.H. - a good cook - a coffee snob - impatient - a slow thinker I like: - digital painting - video games - working out - people who aim high - free time - women, wine, and song In the future I want to live somewhere far away from society and have my own vineyard, garden, some chickens, and a goat. Questions?
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Japanese Live Action Style

Kuva
Source:  Amazon It's a rare week for me when I watch a film, but it happened this week. The film in question was Blade of the Immortal on Netflix. It is based on a manga of the same name. I've seen some other Japanese live action films before, such as Battle Royale (and others that I can't remember right now) and they're always strange. The acting is very different from my western point of view. I have trouble putting my finger around what it exactly is, but I know there's something weird in there. It feels overly dramatic and silly. Bearing this in mind, I also feel that there's something weird in Finnish movies as well. This I can attribute strongly to the fact that I am Finnish. And combined with the fact that I feel very little for this country, might be why Finnish movies seem sub-par to me. However, I have recently started to warm up to Finnish art, music and movies. But it is still too easy for me to make fun of Finland as a country for prudes...
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Moomin Illustrated

Kuva
Despite being Finnish, I've never actually read the Moomin books. Sure, I've seen the cartoon series, but the books are a mystery to me. I didn't even know there are so many of them: 20 in total. To remedy this I went to the Moomin museum in Tampere. The security around the museum seemed unusually strict, and taking photos was prohibited for copyright reasons. I feel the museum is actually more of an art gallery than a museum. It's chock full of beautiful (but mostly tiny) illustrations. Tove Jansson's main work medium was ink on paper over a pencil sketch. The illustrations are extremely detailed, and she knows how to bring out the light and shadow using only a black marker pen. Her illustration style brings to mind the old school botanical illustrations in the sense that she uses numerous thin lines to shade and even to suggest forms and textures, such as mist, clouds or water. There are also pieces on display by Tuulikki Pietilä - a graphic designer and ...
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