Pop Tour of Helsinki

From the video to "Heartbeat" by Norwegian pop singer Annie. It took me no more than four seconds to recognize my city of residence.

Ladies (and particularly gentlemen), prepare for the only street-tour you're likely to take with a Scandinavian pop-vixen.


This is Mannerheimentie, the main street of Helsinki. The tower with a dome in the background is owned by a Finnish student body, and houses Joonas' student society and it's infamous "Pharmacy". The building just at our singer's right shoulder is the Swedish Theatre.


I forget the street name, but this is by Kauppatori, the market square down by the harbour. Obviously a good place to go to get fresh baltic herring of a weekend, but it holds surprises. The brick building on the right is a covered market, where everything from fine meats and cheeses to sushi, to hand-made chocolates to really nasty coffee can be had. On weekends the outdoor coffee stalls open at 5, so it's not uncommon for a party to sober-up and disperse here. That there's a typical old-school Helsinki tram (if you're watching the video note the oh-so-old here electronic ticket reader in the inside scene). They replaced some of them with fancy-schancy trams from Germany, which literally started disintegrating after about a year, and had to be sent back for overhall.


Ferry back from Suomenlinna, the UNESCO protected Island fortress to the south, but also simply "home" to many people. The ferry itself is part of the public transport network, and runs from morning till night. No night-link though, and it's a bit of a swim. Until the sea freezes.


The restaurant in the central railway station...


...outside said railway station...


...and inside said railway station (people walking all around). Designed by Eliel Saarinen, it really is that funky in it's Late Finnish Art Nouveau elegance. There's delightful detailing you can't really appreciate from the video - the period lighting in this hall for example. The entire square around it was exclusively filled with beautiful architecture until some genius decided to shoe-horn the most ugly modern block in right across the street some time in the 60's (I guess, I'm not motivated to research mediocrity).

Finally, I think the club is DTM (you want a screen-grab? But there's nothing to see?) - those side-lit-red tables are pretty unique - maybe I can get confirmation from Alex...

All in all a thrifty little video, which seems to have cost little more than a tram-ticket (which would have covered the ferry). It, and many more can be found here. Click at your peril, hours will be lost...


Technorati Tags: helsinki

So cold!

A drain-pipe on my way to work was taking a surreptuous leak on Sunday night, when temperatures suddenly fell. The stream, now a frozen snake inching two feet from the outlet, a witness to the days long subzero spell. I'd love to report something analagous happened to a doorstep-desecrating tramp a few blocks down, but that is not the way of the world.

What I'm painfully, belabouredly endeavouring to elucidate (it's not funny? I thought it was ironic...) is: it's cold. Ten below currently, and I, like the drain-pipe and my imaginary tramp friend, have been taken a little by surprise. I have no "winter coat" you see. My old, trusty coat and I enjoyed many adventures, but they were the kind of advenures that left both of us scarred and tatty, so it had to go.

I dislike shopping. I tried to buy a new one. Twice. In two different stores even. All the coats I liked had prices I could quote in units of weekly salary, and so I did what I always do in these situations: I procrastinated. Now I'm a cold little Hamlet. Still, it's forecast to be a toasty one above tomorrow, so no panic, eh?

Technorati Tags: helsinki is cold

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Originally uploaded by davemurphy.

Hmm, a bit late, but I was at a really good Manga exhibition in Tennispalatsi this weekend. My favourite exhibit was this room, with cheap contemporary manga books dangling from the ceiling. It was quite surreal to wade in, find an interesting cover, and start browsing the works.

There was a display of "Finnish Manga" - which was misleading. It was manga by talented (and frequently very young) Finnish artists, but it had no discernable local flavour - indeed the accompanying spiel explained how even if the story was set in Helsinki, it would look like it was set in Japan.

Isn't it a little sad that you can't differentiate between US, Japanese and Finnish manga on visual inspection? I've seen some underground Finnish comics, and they're excellent - the characters were very Finnish, in looks and body language.

So while I appreciated and enjoyed the display, I'm no clearer on what "manga" is, or why it isn't comic-book art, except that "you know it when you see it" - since it all looks the same.