Category: Books

{mosimage}Christmas is around the corner, and choosing presents for relatives, friends or your couple can give sometimes more than one headache. If you are Finnish speaker, if you want to give something nice to a Finnish speaker, or if you just simply want to improve your Finnish skills reading something interesting, FREE! Magazine gives you some tips about what Finnish books to buy. Because you are worthy to experience the pleasure of turning pages instead of sitting in front of your computer like a robot!

{mosimage}Vesala, Paula – Luoti, Mira – Kostiainen, Pasi – Ylönen, Hanna
PMMP

An excellent book with quality cover, a bunch of great pics and many anecdotes that go through the career of the famous couple of female Finnish singers: PMMP. If you have never heard their catchy version of “Pikku Veli” at a pub or a bar, probably you are dead or your social life is equal to the amoebas. If your girlfriend is a fan of the band, go for it. If you are a heavy metal die-hard…maybe you can skip it.

http://www.like.fi/kirja.php?detail_id=6872 

{mosimage} Heusala, Kari

Naisen Orgasmi

Top 2 in the most popular books list of Like. I wonder why…  Sexologist Kari Heusala writes a complete manual about how to lead your woman to the maximum pleasure. If you think that your girl fakes her orgasms, if she openly confessed you that she never had any, if you still get lost trying to find the g-point, this book is for you… and the other thousands of readers who will soon make it reach number 1 in the top sales list.

http://www.like.fi/kirja.php?detail_id=6851

{mosimage}Finnish Design Yearbook 08-09

Edited by Anne Veinola

This one is in English language, so easier to target at a wider audience. If you are crazy about design and about Finland, then this is compulsory for you to pursue; great design by Top Dog Design and also great price.  The book is maybe not affordable for every pocket, but worthy if you want to own/give as present something classy and stylish.

http://www.designforum.fi/yearbook

{mosimage}Tamminen, Petri

Mitä onni on

Tamminen has written one of the hottest titles nowadays.  What is your definition of luck? This book has everything: philosophy, travelling, sensuality…  Sounds like a good plan to read on a snowy Sunday evening!

http://www.otava.fi/kirjat/kotimainen/2008/fi_FI/mita_onni_on/ 

{mosimage}Schatz, Roman

Pravda. Totuus Leningrad Cowboysista

When the most famous foreign writer in Finland writes about one of the most epic rock Finnish bands, the Leningrad Cowboys, combination can be explosive. You can love him or hate him, but usually Roman Schatz does not leave anybody indifferent.

http://www.johnnykniga.fi/kniga/index.jsp?c=/product&isbn=951-0-34595-4    

Like and Juho Juntunen join forces in Paholaisen Morsian, a crazy story full of humour, pretty girls, motorbikes, leather, alcohol and blood.

From the twisted mind of the famous Finnish rock journalist Juho Juntunen comes a new and original book: Paholaisen Morsian (The Devil’s girlfriend), a non political correct work that suits very well with Like’s policy of taking higher risks than the other mainstream Finnish publishing houses. An exhilarating story that can get read like a comic and could remind you a visual script of a failed Tarantino´s film.

Sharp dialogues (the book is only available in Finnish for the moment), pretty girls, hard guys dressed in leather riding motorbikes, gore action and tones of fun with a very typical sense of Finnish humour indeed, where drinking is always mixed with the fun.

"I got this idea a couple of years ago. I’ve been doing comics and cartoons for a long time and it’s really lonely – it’s only you, some background music, a pencil and a paper. So I thought that maybe I could use my friends. Do some work and party with them at the same time. I’m a big fan of B movies and I really respect movie directors like Russ Meyers, John Waters and yes… Tarantino. So it was clear to have some sex, bad behaviour, lots of booze and Satan himself in this comic book movie", Juho explains to FREE! Magazine.

Although at the beginning you can get shocked with the feeling of reading a bad script for a B-movie, the book catches the attention soon, it is easy to read and very entertaining. Juntunen counts with the collaboration of many well-known friends: Tuomari Nurmio as God, Jussi Lampi as the devil, Jouni Hynynen as Jesus, the singers Katri Ylander, Agnes Pihlava and Hanna Pakarinen as ex-girlfriends of the main character or our dear friends of Hanoi Rocks, Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy, as aliens coming from a bad dream, among others.

Everybody wanted to be part of the fun (I personally miss Jone Nikula being part of the action, since the guy seems to have to be everywhere when there is an event or happening related to metal music, Idols singers, magazines or books…), and alas that you cannot avoid laughing at the twisted and stupid situations that appear in the book once after another.

“Those people were pretty anxious when I asked them to do their roles. In fact, nobody said no. The timing was the only problem. Some rock stars like Ville Valo of HIM, PMMP girls and Jyrki 69 had so tight schedules that we couldn’t arrange the photo shootings” tells the author.

Reetta Weidlich as the “innocent” virgin stripper appears deliciously sexy in every sequence, but some photographs are not recommended for sensitive stomachs, due to the appearance of great amount of blood and viscera when the zombies enter into scene.

Included with the book there is a cool CD that acts as a soundtrack, a nice detail for the buyers. I knew that if I’m doing a comic book "movie", a soundtrack album is a must. Most of those songs were recorded especially for this project and the bands were really into it. I’m really proud of the main theme written and recorded by Honey B and the T Bones. It has just the right Tarantino feeling! Listen to that guitar twang! affirms a proud Juntunen.

And the experience really seems to have brought tones of fun for the author and his crew, since they are even thinking about the possibility of repeating the experience and creating a sequel for next year: It was fun to notice that it was unnecessary to do any makeup for the actors. Bikers, zombies, strip tease dancers, Satan worshippers – they all looked just like that in their own. Even the leading lady used her own costumes. The only problem was that one booze factory was supporting us and sometimes the actors were pretty drunk. But anything for ART – even alcohol! Juho jokes.

The first couple of decades of the 20th century saw a melting pot of people arriving
to Michigan’s Copper Country in USA in search of a better life and work in the mines: Polish, Swedish, Scottish…and Finns, many Finns.

The search of hope turned into disaster for many families, mostly with Finnish roots, with the
death of more than six dozen people in 1913 at the Italian Hall in Calumet, a small village in Michigan that was at the center of the mining industry of the Upper Peninsula.

American-Finnish author Steve Lehto narrates in his new book: Death’s
Door. The truth Behind Michigan’s Largest Mass Murder, how there were many circumstances and inaccurate stories around the tragedy that, even almost one century ago, in need of getting an appropriated explanation.

“My family is from the area where the story took place: Michigan’s "Copper Country."  There is a large Finnish community there, even to this day, and this story is legend in that community.  My family was not directly involved in the story but I had always heard about it growing up” says Steve to FREE! Magazine. And no wonder that many decades ago, the Italian Hall tragedy is still very present in the minds of the Finnish community of Michigan.

If you take a look at the list of victims, Finnish names appear in the biggest proportion. Adding the special dramatic circumstance that the majority of victims were just little children who were crushed to death in the stairs of the Hall, were a Christmas Party was being celebrated for the families of the mine workers on strike and presents and candies were handed to the smaller ones.

The main mysteries around the case turn around topics like: did somebody cried fire and provoked
the tragedy or not? Were the doors open or close? Was somebody from the Citizens Alliance the responsible of what happened? Questions with no categorical answers in the book. Lehto recognizes that one of his main goals was to solve some mistakes that he considers appeared before in another book loved by many inhabitants of Michigan area: Rebels on the Range, as well
as solving a historical debt with his community: “The ones I did speak to — about more recent events in the story — were very receptive to the idea.  It seems that everyone thought it was long overdue".

But more fascinating than trying to find a guilty person, the book turns to be extremely interesting for having a deeper knowledge of American history, and the worker’s movements and strikes against the power of the proletarians and the mine companies´ owners during the first decades of 19th century. A great effort of
documentation and historical research is clearly poured in the pages of the book. The author reckons: "I cannot begin to estimate the time spent — it would be countless hours.  I know it was about a year or a year and a half from when I first thought of the book until the book was finished.  The research is the hard part; the writing is the easy part".

Being an attorney, Lehto cannot avoid finding a special fascination about the legal aspects that surrounded not only the Italian Hall massacre, but all the happenings around the miners` strikes beforehand. A story that has its own heroes and villains personified by characters like the prosecuting attorney Lucas or the president of the company Calumet & Hecla James MacNaughton.

For those readers interested, this is not the first book written by the author. Previous works include a biography about the fascinating car driver Bobby Isaac and other related to Chrysler’s Turbine Car project of the 1960s. But as he admits about the present work on the facts happened in Calumet
“This book is more of a straight forward history book”.

And indeed it is. For those who are expecting to find a final and definitive answer to the dark sides
of the Italian Hall story, the book can maybe result not as enlightening as they would hope.

Face the book more like a history lesson, easy and entertaining to read, where you can look back
at the past and see old stories of emigrations and memories of your grandparents and how they believed in a better life and the power of workers, but where (as it remains until nowadays) there was also a dark side in the American dream with a lot of space for conspiracies and corruption.

This summer two new books about Helsinki were published. They are not the usual tourist guide. The Vice Guide to Helsinki and You Should Be Here! show a cheerful and modern city and discover its untold secrets. Timo Kühn, long time contributor of Vice Magazine, explains to FREE! how the Vice Guide was created.

“You can’t tell what’s amazing when you live there every day

Timo K&uuml

Admittedly, Helsinki is tucked away in a dark, cloistered corner of Europe, emanating a
certain inaccessibility to the garden variety traveler. That is, if it gets any notice at all. Enter Vice Magazine, their Finnish contact, decade long Helsinki inhabitant, Timo Kühn, along with a handful of talented natives, and funding from the Helsinki city Tourist & Convention Bureau,
only after forewarning that the publication must have a free hand.  As to be expected of the notoriously
controversial publication, Helsinki, illuminated through the trademark humor of Vice Magazine, has created some dispute. As Kühn replies though, “when somebody gets stoked or somebody gets
upset, you’re doing something right.”

We wanted to have a different angle on the city,” Kühn expounds.  Indeed. 
The opening article, From a Distance, is written by Helsinki’s adopted children, Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry from the band the Handsome Furs. What does a foreigner see or think about Finland? Hackneyed, preconceived images of ice hockey and Alvar Aalto?  Fortunately no, rather something more along the lines of good people, art, music, and despite what some in those Mediterranean countries might think, the food is good too. Kühn says, “they fell in love with Helsinki so that’s what we could understand, why the city is amazing. You can’t tell what’s amazing when you live there every day.”

So rather than the run of the mill tours and landmarks found in a traditional Fodor’s or Lonely Planet book, Vice dishes the dirt on homegrown bands and local favorites. “We thought it would be better than telling more than one story,” Kühn says, “a guideline for finding your own fun. It depends on what kind of interests you have.” Drinking culture, as to be expected, is integral to Finnish life. Even still, “the Kallio piece tells a lot about Finnish mentality,” Kühn explains. There’s a lot more to it than “the harshness of Helsinki or nice bars, cool people.” 

The work that went into the project highlights a lot of the surging talent in these parts that, due to
the generation gap, Kühn laments “never gets utilized.” The intricate map of Helsinki, illustrated by Vilunki 3000, known for his long standing in the music scene and talent for
album cover design, was put together in a shockingly tight six days. Photos from Pekka Niittyvirta, Oskari Nolla, Riku Pihlanto, Miika Saksi, Jan Konsin, Sanna Charles, Joe Yarmush, and Mikko Matias Ryhänen capture Helsinki’s varied landscapes, alternately industrial and beautiful, but mostly the young people driving it forward. As Kühn says, “you cannot underestimate the value of young people’s ideas. There’s a certain group who are talented, but no one gathering everything together to market outward, which is what I tried to do with the guide. Something is starting to bubble.

You Should Be Here!

To cater to Eurovision madness back in May, Bulgaria Magazine put out a comprehensive, sometimes tongue in cheek, guide to Helsinki, You Should Be Here! Though sadly not on as prominent display around town now as then despite the influx of tourists (i.e. people with money who almost guaranteed do not speak Finnish) in the summer time, You Should Be Here! remains a helpful resource even for those who live here year round.

Even if Helsinki appears to be a small city, cracking open this guide unlocks a wealth of places yet untapped and amusing cultural tidbits.  Perhaps you’ve been too lazy to explore your own neighborhood yourself, spending your time in the over-crowded, tourist attractions. 

Maybe you’re the last person in town to not know Kallio is packed with bars, or you’ve been too overwhelmed by the choices to hit any of them up.  Or you want to deck yourself out in Finnish
fashion, but are bored of Marimekko. You Should Be Here! paints a new urban portrait for the city, or at least one from the perspective of what the talented youth of the city are making, breaking, and of course, drinking.  I, for one, was previously ignorant of the refreshing properties of fisu.

While Vice Magazine has put out on even more recently a pocket-sized guide to Helsinki, the Bulgaria book has the practical advantage of depth: more neighborhoods covered, shops, the karaoke taxi, even local history.  By virtue of being put out by Finland’s most offbeat design team, You Should Be Here! looks great as a coffee table book, completing your collection of Taschen, Rizzoli, and even color coordinates with the Phaidon Design Classic three volume set. Most importantly, You Should Be Here! serves as a reminder of why, indeed, we are here.

{mosimage}Comic artist and illustrator Marko Turunen (b. 1973) recently
received the much appreciated Puupäähattu Prize handed by The Finnish Comic
Society. His latest album Lihat puntarissa (Meats On the Scale)
combines ordinary with extraordinary, animal figures with domestic violence and
alcoholism, all served in fiercely bright colours and flavoured with black
humour. “My mother has told me that life is suffering and so it is meant to
be”, Turunen states appropriately, “but I refuse to see life merely as a
painful journey”.

Turunen continues by describing
life as an absurd theatre play, which is the way it appears in his comics as
well. The characters include a small but sadistic bunny who kills and practises
wild sexual relationships, a dog who is attracted to a squirrel and a jealous
giraffe who drinks too much and hits his wife. The topics are sometimes
difficult and even cruel, but mostly the cartoons only depict what is happening
inside our homes all the time.

However, the carefully added humour,
in addition to the sympathetic animal characters, together make the atmosphere
occasionally lighter and reader friendlier. For Turunen this is a conscious
effect, but he denies ever trying to please the masses.

“My continuing guideline is to
make pure comic, in which the graphics and the text complement each other”, he
states. “A completely functional result is more important than the question
whether anyone is able to enjoy it in the end.”

Indeed, for Turunen his art is also
very personal. He includes a great deal of real life events into his comics.

{mosimage}
“In a way, the books function as
note tags on life. I also wish for the books to appear as historical documents
and to portray the period”, he concludes.

The documentary nature is visible
in Turunen's elaborate usage of actual place names, buildings and labels. These
he records through photography, since he feels bothered by the attention that
public drawing awakens.

Whether Turunen enjoys the
attention or not, his work has become widely appreciated, even outside Finland.
Some of his comics have been translated into English, French, German and
Italian. Turunen however seems to enjoy the independent underground status of
Finnish comic scene. Together with Annemari
Hietanen he runs a small publishing company Daada Books.

The name Daada comes from a radio
programme, in which a little boy called and complained that his mother was
making him wear a daada-shirt. When asked what this meant, he replied by
explaining that a daada-shirt was way too small and ugly. The story gives a
very modest impression of Turunen and his work, but even small characters and
ugly topics can have a massive impact.