LONG READS, BUT TAKE THE TIME

In today's hectic life and it's social media climate, where you don't always have the time to sit down and read the paper properly but still have the time to scroll, and a lot of what the news feed feeds you is articles ("articles") that seem to just consist of screenshots of how people commented on something on twitter, I have come to appreciate a well written article even more than before, and the chance to get a moment to sit down and read something un-interrupted.

Also, I should learn to make shorter sentences.

Many people are having a holiday this weekend, and here is some recommended reading to accompany your Easter flowers, chocolate eggs and wine (well, that is what I am having at least).

These are two different stories but they share a common theme - the migration of peole, but foremost: putting a name on a number in the statistics, a backstory behind a short mention in an article, or a story to someone with no mention anywhere at all. 

So I give you one story for each day of Easter:

1. The Wetsuit man (dagbladet.no)

This came out a few years ago at the height of the so called refugee wave. I have returned to this text every now and then.  It is a captivating and important read.

2. The Case of Jane Doe Ponytail (The New Yorker)

There is a person and a story behind every "-Doe".

3. The New Slave Trade (Buzzfeed News)
"Inside The Country Where You Can Buy A Black Man For $400".


Pictures 1. by me 2. royalty free stock image

THE VINTAGE REALM

Ok everybody!
Long time no internet, and happy we-are-totally-living-in-what-was-once-sci-fi-future-2018!

So, last year I was working in this production that will now be on TV1 starting March 29; Vintage-valtakunta:

Here's the teaser clip! Sadly it won't show abroad, Finland only:

Vintage-valtakunta | Teaser | Vintage-valtakunta

LUST

Late last summer we shot a series of editorial photos with Karl Vilhjálmsson for a feature article series for Hufvudstadsbladet.  The series is about lust and how it has been depicted and received in film, literature and society in Finland.

The articles talk about censorship of erotica and sex and Finnish film history related to that, how a famous daring film affected the actress, and also about the many faces of porn, the small domestic industry as well as research around the subject.

Modelling with me were Ruska Schönberg and Sampo Marjomaa. Some of the images we shot in our back yard, I guess the views are familiar to some of you already.

The images play with the mindscapes and clichés around the themes. We had a lot of fun shooting these!  (And some people were, of course, offended by the whole thing). 

Photos by Karl Vilhjálmsson.

SKAM

I'm going to end my little blogging hiatus here by telling you that I've been watching the Norwegian teenage drama SKAM a lot lately. It has the unanticipated and dubious effect of me kind of wishing for my late teenage years again, which I guess says quite a lot about the series as I knowingly loathed being a teenager. (But to be fair, the gymnasium years, between age 16 and 18, were rather nice in the end; it was the early teenage years that I nowadays am sure would be one of Dante's levels of hell if one were to actually end up in such.)

The series have been super popular among it's main target audience; the young ones (which, let's face it, I am non longer a part of, something which becomes undeniably and painfully clear when you for example hear yourself telling the soon-to-be 16 year old at home you actually are a pretty cool person, that do know things about life. Oh my.), but on my Facebook feed all my middle aged friends are obsessively bingeing it. It's hard not to.

UMK: TWO MORE DAYS TO GO

Most of my time the past months, or if not most then at least a lot, has been taken up by my participation in UMK; the competition for new music, which in other words is the national selection for the Eurovision.

It has been an interesting project in many ways, but we'll get back to all that next week when this is over!
 

Some time ago we were filming some inserts for the finals. Chrzu was directing and gave us lollipops.

Everyone loves our glitterboots. But hey who wouldn't.

 

But even awesome glitter boots need to be taken off every now and then.

Btw you did know that Dali designed the logo for Chupa Cups, right?

Last weekend it was our turn to do a Facebook live for UMK. Which we casually shot at Weird Antiques. Love that place. 

 

Tinker Bell and I play miniature bongos.

The place has monkeys. And you know who loves monkey? Me! Me! Me!

They have this monkey-o-matic BimboBox that I one day must own.

And today we had the first rehearsals at the Metro Arena. I'll spend the rest of my week there and on Saturday we go!

(And, oh, there's still time to pre-vote -nr.5- for a few hours, *wink wink*. Only in Finland though, and by signing in to Yle.)

SHOOTING THE MUSIC VIDEO

The other day we shot the music video for our UMK song.

The second look for the day.  That's a lot of brushing and hairspray there I tell you.
...and a lot of conditioner afterwards.

A bunch of fabulous friends as well as our burlesqe students joined in on the shoot.

My glitter boots are surprisingly comfy but after a whole day of dancing on an uneven concrete floor the only thing you want to do is take them off and put your feet high high up in the air.

 It's good the behind-the-scenes interview was done only waist up. Wool socks for the win!

Checking out the group dance shot with Antti; our director. I have worked with him on a few occasions before, when we shot Iskelmä Suomi for example.

Shoot done! All the videos will be out on the 31st of December!

UMK!

Photo: YLE / Miikka Varila

So, you know I've been rather (add ""...) lately, and one reason is the fact that I am part of UMK, which is the competition for the song to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest.

I'm a huge lover of all things kitsch and camp and thus also a huge Eurovision fan (and prefer it at it's most glittery self) and I also have this thing of never saying No to anything as you never know what one thing might lead to. There are a lot of catchy tunes and both fun and interesting artists in the competition this year, and I know glammy rock n' roll is not up everybody's alley, so this will be an interesting ride. And I promise mine will be filled with a lot of glitter.

TÄHDET TÄHDET; ALL THE STARS

I'm home from Prague and started my week by visiting the rehearsals of the Tähdet Tähdet-show, where we got to coach fabulous singer Johanna Försti some burlesque posing and confidence.
You can see it on Sunday evening at mtv3!

ROCKABILLY DELUXE

Hello there! I am back again from my - I think- longest blogging hiatus so far. Not that it really was an actual, planned one; I just don't find myself, the computer and time in the same sentence anymore. Internet, I miss you! It is also not always easy or the first thing that come to mind to blog about mundane things in a world that is on fire and a heart full of Weltschmerz. I am also clearly getting old(-er) for real now, even wiser perhaps, as I have stopped pushing myself at 1 am and instead go to sleep. Who would have thought.

But. Aaaanyway, I am featured in the latest edition of Rockabilly Deluxe magazine! It is with a piece I was asked to write about me and the Finnish burlesque scene.

Order your printed copy online, woop woop!

SIGN OF THE DOG

Here's the video for Dark Country that we shot earlier this spring!

You can see some behind-the-scenes footage and making-of in my previous post.

DARK COUNTRY: BEHIND THE SCENES

In April I filmed a music video for my friend (and total multi-talent) Sampo's duo band Dark Country (Sampo Marjomaa & Jami Pietilä).
The setting was something of a classic 50's horror tale with werewolf vibes but also a comment on on the wolf hate and hunting craze that still is around in this country (and hate/haters in general as well).

Here are some behind-the-scenes from the days of filming:

It was a big and nice crew to work with! But outdoor filming is always outdoor filming -I have never (well, almost) filmed anything anywhere that would actually be comfortable all the way, no matter how lovely it may look (me walking on a hey field in summer - so sticky! I had pants and my old harbour boots on underneath the dress! And last winter we filmed the Knucklebone Oscar video in a warehouse with -10C indoors for example...there's always something!).  This surely was no exception - it was an especially cold weekend for the time of year when filming the woods part, and it rained most of the night when we shot. But anything cold and wet just makes one feel real cosy and relieved afterwards when thinking about it and seeing the material now the rain really looks like it would have been ordered and suits the whole picture perfectly.
 We'll get back to the final video in just a bit!

Indoor shots by Minna Lehtinen, outdoor photos by Roscoe Lee.