Sonic vs Mario

The Atari 2600 was forgotten and a new era started with… the incredible 16 Mega video console Sega Mega drive (…Applauses…).

And Sega’s new baby was really a beautifully designed console. Nothing to do with the grey Nintendo 8 bites, that was the most popular video console at that time.

The Sega Mega drive was the closest step to the promise land of reaching the technology and graphics that could only be enjoyed in the arcades (where I and my friends were burning our free time and weekly pay, since we were not old enough to go to clubs or pubs).

And together with the video console, I discovered the sensation of the videogame world: his name was Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog.

This blue creature was the fastest thing you had ever seen moving on screen in the videogame world. One of the funniest challenges when playing was to advance to the next stage in the shortest period of time. And even girls loved to play it!

Sonic was promoted as a sensation by the Sega marketing people: blue coloured (the same as the logo of the Japanese company) and a direct attack on their main competitors: the legendary Super Mario Bros.

It was no longer a battle between Sega and Nintendo, it was a battle between Sonic and Mario. And yeah man, I was on Sonic´s side. I mean, how could you compare a fat Italian plumber with a moustache, whose best feature was having a hot blonde girlfriend (remember my friends, that I was a kid – nowadays I would pay more attention to the blonde girlfriend’s part of the story), and who shared the company of his twin, Luigi, to a sharp and fresh animal: fast as a flash and full of new tricks!? Nobody had seen a damned hedgehog moving like that before; and nobody had experienced a platform game as cool and addictive before Sonic burst onto the market. It was the year 1991 and Sonic was the new Lord of the Rings.

Later on, Nintendo counter-attacked with the new video console Super NES. Now, looking back, I must admit that Nintendo’s one was probably technically much better, and had a much wider catalogue of games. But well, when you are a kid, defending the honour of your favourite videogame’s developing company is like defending the honour of your mother. And everybody has only one mother – no space for secondary love: if you were pro-Sega, you were against Nintendo.

Other sequels of the games came, other amazing advances had to be played; but in my heart the first Sonic videogame remains the one that changed the conception of home entertainment.

Goya’s Ghosts

Milos Forman’s new film, Goya´s Ghosts, offers a biography (and it seems that the polemic Czech director never gets tired of the genre) of one of the most important painters in all history, the genuine and genial Goya, interpreted by Stellan Skarsgård. But it must be said, that the appeal of a new Goya´s biography is used in this case as a mere excuse for representing a critical vision of Spain during that twisted time of darkness and light. Goya´s role gets quickly eclipsed by another superb performance by Javier Bardem, who is able to provoke, equally, love and hate in the eyes of the spectator. Goya´s artwork has a secondary role in the plot, since Forman is more obsessed with showing the fight between the reason of the French Illustration and the madness of religious fanaticism, with the obsolete role of a numb monarchy in the middle. And he certainly achieves it.

On the other hand, it is a pity that such an interesting figure as Goya himself does not get more importance in a film whose title points directly to him. Maybe, we will have to wait until Forman decides to make a film about the Spanish Inquisition (or a new biography of its leader, Torquemada) to get an accurate description of the genial painter from Aragon.

Milos Forman´s film passes the test of the Spanish Inquisition, but somebody should teach him some more lessons of history: regarding how the Spanish citizens were able to fight the French oppressor without such a huge help from the British, as he wants us to believe on screen.

He-Men go to war

Take 300: a mixture of one car commercial/remake director, one sexy ‘graphic novel’ (from the creator of Sin City), spiced up with a few speeches about freedom, and served lukewarm with IMAX-tailored cinematography. The result: a product that even the creators refer to as the ‘300 experience’ rather than calling it a film.

Director Zack Snyder (of Dawn of the Dead-remake fame) remakes Gladiator and Sin City at the same time and casts snarling action figure Gerard Butler as the take-no-shit Leonidas, the king of the Spartans and patron of chiselled abs. And when Snyder expands Frank Miller’s original comic book by adding a political intrigue sub-plot, where limp-wristed liberals do their worst to hinder the brave Spartans from beating the hell out of a force of million Persians lead by the enigmatic Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), it’s hard not to start seeing this as a republican wargasm film. But maybe drawing such conclusions from this film are uncalled for, since 300 is pure entertainment, which does not concern itself with depth.

After such a my critical onslaught, it has to be said that 300 is nonetheless a fast-paced yarn and a stunning visually: every shot is a piece of art, sometimes directly lifted from Miller’s source work and the battle scenes are, at their best, breathtaking. Still, it’s hard to care for any of the two-dimensional characters and the end result is ultimately unsatisfying: this is combat pornography, where you can fast forward the boring bits and watch spears pierce flesh and blood-spattered man-flesh gleam. Which makes watching 300 like watching somebody play a game on a super-charged game console rather than sitting at the cinema.

Discovering Bukowski

And after it, I just can say that I
love it. I love his raw style. I love how he expresses so frankly his
disconformities with the world where he lived. I think that his texts
are overall honest, and this is an adjective that you do not find
easily in our contemporary times lately. Bukowski has no hope or love
for the rest of the human beings, and he is not afraid to show it.
So let’s be honest for one time as well, and answer to me, what
kind of people do you meet more often, nice and friendly, or
assholes? How is it possible that some people with no talent or
extremely bad taste have a huge success, and the intelligent ones
struggle to survive day after day? This world is a strange place with
strange rules, but these books gave me hope actually. They are
refreshing in those moments when I think that the rest of the
humankind has let me down, because maybe, we expect too much from the
humankind, and at the end, everyone has to carry his own ghosts in
the most decent way.

Definitely spring has started up my joy
of reading! And after devouring Bukowski´s works, I thought
that it would be nice to change the author, so since I watched weeks
ago the excellent film Capote, I have started today the book
Music for Chameleons from the genial American writer who made
a revolution in writing style with his “non-fiction” novel In
Cold Blood. And what I read today. I must admit I liked it a lot.

Somebody said that a man is worthy
depending on how many books he has read. I think that it is not true.
A man is worthy depending on how many book he has read + how much
music he has listened to + how many films he has watched…
Of course, I am joking, but if you let me give you one advice, now
that the sunny days have come to the city, grab a book and sit in a
park to enjoy the pleasure of reading (well, just take care it is not
cold enough that your ears get frozen during the experiment).

I must not be much of a worthy man,
since I have discovered Bukowski with 27…well, at least I try my
best when the making of FREE! Magazine spares me with some
free time. So many things to discover, and always the problem of free
time…Tempus fugit…

The new Noah’s ark is in Norway

The vault will consist mainly of a chamber excavated 120 meters
inside a rock. The location has been carefully chosen in a mountain
130 metres above sea level, so the risk of global warming has been
also taken into account here.

The
project became possible after the International Treaty of Plant
Genetic Resources came into force. The construction of the vault is
funded by the Norwegian government, which is pretty much involved in
the project. The construction is carried on by The Global Crop
Diversity Trust, and
they plan to finish the work fast. The construction is due to be
completed by September, and the vault will be functional by winter.

So,
how is this seed bank different from the other 1.400, which exist
around the planet? Well, for one thing, the massive collection of
samples that it will store: over 3 million. Svalbard will become with
much difference the largest collection in the world. The system will
operate like this: samples are sent in “black boxes” that are
stored in the vault. The boxes are not opened there and no other
breeder can use them, unless all other seed sources are destroyed. If
that happens, then the samples in Svalbard can be released.
Permafrost and thick rock will ensure that, even without electricity,
the samples will remain frozen.

 

{mosimage} 

 

Hope in the middle of nowhere

 

Although, collecting the samples will not be a problem for those
hypothetical survivors (in a hopefully faraway future apocalyptical
time), reaching the vault might be quite a difficult task. The
construction is located in quite a remote area: Svalbard is a group
of islands nearly a thousand kilometres north of mainland Norway. For
nearly four months a year the islands are enveloped in total
darkness. And if you wonder about security measures, nature and the
Norwegian authorities are making the “Doomsday vault” like a
fortress: access to Longyearbyen is effectively limited to one plane
flight a day and the occasional boat during summer. Freezing
temperatures, ice flow (and waters), polar bears, camera
surveillance, and the inherent security of a reinforced underground
location with locked vault-like doors combine to present a formidable
obstacle to any kind of attack or mischief. Unfortunately, the
designers cannot guarantee the vault withstanding the direct impact
of a nuclear bomb.

 

Cheap, crazy and yellow

 

“It all started twenty years ago – tells mr Karl Stockmann, director of Stockmann's
department stores in Finland – we’re member of a department stores association
and at the time the Galerie Lafayette was doing something similar. We liked the
idea, we studied it and we started. We believed so much in it we even registered
the name Hullut päivät – Crazy days”.The name clearly hints at the amazingly
low prices the most diverse items have on the four ‘crazy days’, but had this
been the only peculiarity of the Hullut Päivät you wouldn’t have been able to
tell them from any other ordinary sale.The craze starts with
the distribution, by mail if you’re a faithful Stockmann customer, of the yellow
booklet where all the different items on sales during the four crazy days are
listed.

{mosimage}A quick glance immediately reveals what’s different: all the items will
be on sale on different days, and if you really want to buy that pair of shoes
you’ll have to go on Wednesday, whilst the flight ticket to Barcelona – only 160
€ – could be yours on Saturday but not on Thursday! Every day different items
are being sold, and what you could get on Thursday is not at all what you can
buy on Friday. But beware: not all the reduced-price items are listed on the
booklet, and really all sort of goods are on sale, even cars!
Yellow is the
color of the Hullut Päivät – “to distinguih them from ordinary sales – tells us
Mr Stockmann – whose color is red”.
Inside Stockmann, twice a year, from
Wednesday to Saturday, Stockmann everything is yellow: yellow flags, yellow
banners, yellow ghosts, yellow t-shirted shop assistants, you can even eat
yellow ghost-shaped
pastries.
And this craze
it’s being exported: last Autumn to Moscow and before to the Baltic
states. No wonder: “ we organize the Hullut Päiväit twice a year, and of
course it depends, but they make for about the 10% of our yearly turn over” Mr
Stockmann says.

JJ Grey & Mofro – Country Ghetto

Country Ghetto is roots blues rock with
a touch of soul funk straight from Louisiana. The music is like Dr
John singing in the Creedence Clearwater Revival with Stax / Volt
horns. JJ Grey outstands as an original songwriter, singing for the
poor.

It is a laid back and melodic album
that ends up hitting a high note on the gospel flavoured tune The Sun
is Shining Down and the coda Goodbye which bring some hope to the
ghetto.

JJ Grey & Mofro delivered another
enjoyable album for a hot summer night.

The Jade – Slow Motions on the Fast Lane

Wille's voice is
clean and catchy, and the band sounds great for being a promo album.
Lyrics are well worked, and there is this essence of glamorous
hard-rock from the 80's mixed with love tales that for sure will
make the band popular among the female public. As highlighted tracks
to listen, I would choose the first song Drowned together with
the last one Beautiful Things, and the cover of Pet Shop
Boys' It´s a sin (reminds me of another version of
the same song done years ago by my beloved German metal heroes, Gamma
Ray. although at present time, obviously with a softer tone). The
band also knows how to play a harder sound, like in Roseate Sky,
and in general, it is a pity that there are only 7 tracks available
in the album. One feels like expecting more songs coming. Too
good…too short.

The guys work hard
in keeping their fans satisfied, and you can notice that if they
visit their page on MySpace. Resuming, the album is a great first
step towards a, hopefully, brilliant future.

Jana – Pelkuri

Once you start with
the tracks, one must recognize that his voice evolves you in this
traditional spirit of sadness and melancholy that feature so many
native bands in Finland. In any case, the guys from Hämeenlinnä
sound like a compact and talented band in their debut album Pelkuri,
that is also the name of the opening song, ideal to play in moments
of reflection and solitude, or just if you want to share a glass of
wine with your couple in an intimate atmosphere. Tales of love like
in the ballad Pauliina together with other songs with a
harder touch such as in Taikuri make this album a delightful
piece to be enjoyed. Highly recommended.

A noble prize impossible to duplicate

Having no boundaries
at all at expressing his personal opinions, convinced Communist until
the end, and atheist, Saramago has provoked polemic and
admiration towards his creativity and integrity, plus he was
unanimously considered a worthy winner of the Nobel Prize. During his
intervention in Helsinki, he pinpointed the fact of having a break in
his writing process for more than 20 years.

Actually, he did not
publish anything from 1947 to 1966, because, as he has repeated many
times, “I had nothing to say.” And he
also had time to defend the respect for the elderly, “When I
started to be published internationally, I was 60-years-old and I was
a beginner, when many others are retired. So I have a message for the
young people, and also for the ones who are not so young. That means
basically for everybody, and it is that life does not end when you
are 30…or 40 or 50. I have written my best books when I was old.
And I enjoy working, I do not believe in this thing called
retirement. So please, respect the older people because they still
have many things to offer.”

And
really, like with a good wine, the work of Saramago improved with the
passage of time. Since 1980 he has written many acclaimed titles such
as The Year of the Death of Ricardo
Reis, The
Gospel According to Jesus Christ, The
Cave and The
Double.

The author is quite
a talkative person who does not feel shy at all to analyze his works
or his previous experiences. He exhales an
aura of satisfaction about all the things achieved in his life, but,
at the same time, he is very humble and respectful in his comments
and answers. Although Saramago’s schedule was very hectic, he kindly
had some minutes to answer a couple of answers from FREE! Magazine:

{mosimage}Mr Saramago,
coming back to the topic of your book The
Double, how
would you feel if you went out to the street and met a duplicate of
yourself?

I think I would not
like it at all. As I said, I think that if you meet a person exactly
the same as you, the tendency would be to
eliminate that person. The topic goes very faraway in time; it was
treated already in old Greek Mythology, in the story of Zeus in the
role of Amphitrion to get Alcmena, his wife. And we could discuss a
long time about nowadays issues such as cloning, but well, I think we
have not enough time, and better things to do…

What was your
reaction when you received the Nobel
Prize?

Well, at the
beginning I was shocked, it was like if they had hit me with a hammer
in the head. But then, I took it more relaxed. Of course,
it was very nice to go to Stockholm and receive the prize and
everything…but you know… I was alone at an airport when I
received the phone call that gave me notice of being awarded with the
prize, and after a while, I just thought…well… I have won the
Nobel Prize… so what? Life goes on…

After renouncing to
take a taxi, preferring to take the arm of his wife, the Spanish
Pilar Del Río, who is also his translator, they walk off into
an exceptionally sunny day in Helsinki. Later, at the end of one
interview in a bookstore full of admirers and curious people, he
received a quick visit from a very special fan: the president of
Finland, Tarja Halonen.

 

Photos by Eduardo Alonso 

The Church of Chocolate

This
year Eastern and Western Christianity are united with the occurrence of Easter
on April 8th allowing a joint observation of the festival by both camps. As
many of you are surely aware, Easter signifies the day that Jesus Christ died
for man’s sins, but as a non-Christian and lacking the skills of a theologian I
don’t understand why I am still paying for the sin of stealing my wife’s last
chocolate egg last year – she has already mentioned it twice this week. 

Unfortunately
for her, my dad (more guilt), my brother (even more guilt) and others (combined
guilt), my religion is chocolate. I have less self-control than a baby’s
bladder, with my conscience drastically weakening in the presence of the cocoa
god and his sweet minions. As a child, my dad would joke that I would eat dog
poo if it had a chocolate coating, but I could never defend myself against this
allegation because I was salivating too much at the very thought. 

My
chocoholic disease is particularly worse at Easter when the glorious
commercialization of another religious holiday means more chocolate than a
Willy Wonka wet dream could ever fantasize. In the UK there are supermarket
aisles stacked to the ceiling with chocolate Easter eggs from all the
individual brands and others featuring characters from children’s television
shows, such as Bob the Builder. The usual selection includes two bars of
chocolate and a chocolate egg about 10cms in diameter and 20cms in height.

{mosimage}However,
the true chocolate connoisseur does not care for these eggs at Easter because
there are two truly desirables. The first is a Cadbury’s Crème Egg, which is a
thick chocolate shell filled with a gooey centre and the second is already
making my mouth water. Cadbury Mini Eggs are, are, how can I do them justice
with mere adjectives? Simply, they are small chocolate eggs covered in a crispy
shell, but they are the most deliciously addictive sweets in the world. No
argument. 

Easter
is not all fun and games. My nemesis is the so-called Easter Bunny, who,
inexplicably, hides decorated chocolate eggs around the house and garden for
children to try and find. I personally believe this to be a waste of energy and
time, not because my brother would always find far more than me, but because it
is inexcusable torture to a young chocoholic. I did once try to convince my
brother that the rabbit droppings in our garden were from the Easter Bunny and
would taste like raisins – he didn’t believe me for some reason. 

Finland
has been a new experience for me at Easter with its delightful Fazer Mignon
eggs presented in real eggshells and the tradition of children dressing as
witches on Palm Sunday going door-to-door basically trick or treating. The
first time I experienced this tradition it was a little girl ready to say her
‘virvon varvon’, but was terrified by the sight of a confused hungover
Englishmen wearing a dressing gown in the afternoon. Sorry again, little girl! 

This
year I shall be joining her in my hope of claiming some free sweets, so if a
grown man dressed as a witch knocks at your front door then throw him a bar of
chocolate and he will leave quietly after drooling a grateful thank you.

The man who conquered the land of fire

In 1953,
geologist Väinö Auer returned to Finland from Argentina, the land where he made
most of his expeditions and discoveries. At that time, he was already very
pessimistic about how technological progress and modern life were affecting
nature and climate. It was 25 years since his first trip to Tierra del Fuego.

Väinö Auer
was born in 1895 in
Helsinki, at that time still a part of the Russian Empire. Although his first
steps in the University were in botany, he ended up focusing on geology and
geography. 

In swamp
research, Auer was the first to use pollen analysis in Finland as a relative
timing method, and also started to investigate the geohistorical periods of
Vanajavesi, a lake/river near Hämeenlinna, regarding the layout order of beach
swamps. This classic study from 1924 built the basics for Finland’s limn geologic
lake researches.

However, it
was very far from Finnish soil where Auer made his finest researches and
expeditions. On the 15th of August of 1928, he started his first trip to the
very remote places of South America: Tierra del Fuego (Tulimaa) and Patagonia.
Other members in the trips were Ernst Håkan Kranck, Heikki Roivanen and Esa Hyyppä. They arrived to
Punta Arenas, Chile, on the 16th of November.

The main
purpose of the trip was to practice studies of stratigraphy (the study of rock layers and layering) in the swamps and the connections between this and the climate changes
of the Holocene period. To its surprise the group discovered in the swamps of
Tulimaa three layers with sediments of ashes, results of volcanic action. This
finding helped to define the development of the swamp surface. It was possible,
then, to show the changes in vegetation over 9,000 years.

As Väinö
Auer advanced into Tierra del Fuego, the expedition got adventurous. On
February of 1929 he left from Punta Arenas to unknown waters. Sailing with a
small boat in troubled waters near the glaciers, the expedition managed to find
a couple of new fiords in the area of the Darwin Mountains. They were named
after famous Finnish people, such as former president Lauri Kristian Relander
or J.V. Snellman.

Later that
year, Auer returned to Finland where he started a career as professor at the
University of Helsinki. However, the call of fieldwork was strong and in 1937
he decided to get back in action. From Kotka he left for Buenos Aires and the
unexplored territories of Patagonia.

 

Wartime

During the Winter War (1939-40), Väinö Auer served as volunteer in the battlefield
against Russia. However, his major contribution to this period was in literature.
Along with Eino
Jutikkala, Auer received instructions to write a book about the historical and
geographical reasons why Eastern Karelia belonged to Finland. The result,
published in 1941, is Finnlands Lebensraum
(Finland’s living space). It was
written directly in German with the intention of convincing the Nazi German war
ministry of the necessity of returning Eastern Karelia to Finland once Germany
had invaded the Soviet Union.

The provocative
name of the book, though, was an invention of the German publisher. Auer and
Jutikkala’s original was Das Geographische und Geschichtliche Finnland (The
Historical and Geographical Finland).

 

Side by side with Perón

After the
war, Väinö Auer received the call of Argentina’s President Juan Domingo Perón.
He was called to resolve the problems of erosion and dryness in the farming
fields of Argentina. He referred to this problem as the “Desert devil” (Aavikkopaholainen). At that time his
whole family moved to Argentina.

In
Argentina, the Finnish geographer became a significant influence in the
community, which helping to breed a new generation of scientist, as well as
completing his official tasks in the Ministry of Agriculture. However, homesick
and disappointed with the scientific community and current technological
progress, which was harming the environment, Auer returned to Finland 1953.
There he took again his position as professor at the University of Helsinki. He
died in this city on the 20th of March,1981.

 

Documentaries, books and a street name

In spite of
his great achievements, Väinö Auer remained one of the less well-known
scientists in Finland, although a street in Kumpula is named after him (Väinö
Auerin katu). The main source of information about his thoughts is his diaries;
but, in the last years, two important works have brought a new perspective of
Auer’s life and work.

Pentti Alhonen and Antero Alhonen have recently published the book Vaakavarren ratsastaja, a comprehensive
study and biography of Väinö Auer. In 2001, film director Mikko Piela started
following the steps of Auer from Finland to Tierra del Fuego y Patagonia. The
result is a documentary based on the geologist’s diaries: Väinö Auer (1895-1981). “For filming the documentary”, recalls
Piela, “we did a couple of expeditions to Tierra del Fuego with our cameras. It
was a great adventure to sail on small boats and film in those remotes places”.
For the director, Auer was an ambiguous person. “He drifted from strong
nationalism to a major concern about global problems, which made him very pessimistic
in his latter days," Piela says.

Dreaming about the Dominican Republic

There is more than just great wind and surfing on the island of Hispaniola. The Dominican Republic was the first European settlement in the New World, founded by Columbus in the early 1600s. Nowadays, the Caribbean is a popular destination for all kinds of travellers, including sailors from all over the world. And no wonder: turquoise water, islands with green hills and endless beaches make it a perfect destination for anyone seeking tranquillity. 

First of all, relax: this is the Caribbean – it is not like there are important churches and statues on almost every corner, like in Europe. You even have to walk slower! If you really want to do some sightseeing, then visit the home of Columbus in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican
Republic. That's pretty much all the cultural stuff you can do. As regards the indigenous people, the Tainos, they were almost completely exterminated by the diseases from Europe and the hard work given to them by the Europeans in the 1600s. Sadly, all that is left of the old Dominican culture is some cave paintings created by the Tainos.

Dominican Republic

Today’s Dominican culture is mainly on the streets: the language, food, dance and colourful art. Like dancing? The music is either Bachata or Merengue and it's everywhere: in bars, taxis and beauty salons. And no one minds if you dance on the street – or anywhere for that matter!

Most of the Dominican are descent of European, African and Taino(pre-Columbian indigenous) people. Usually they have black hair, but skin colour varies from very pale to very dark. It is easy to get along with the locals, especially if you know a few words of Spanish. They are very friendly and
relaxed. In fact sometimes they are so relaxed that if they were any more laid back, they would be asleep!

After the siesta, it is time for some fiesta! Dominican rum is very good and excellent for Cuba Libres and Rum Punches! You can also make a drink called “Poco Loco”. Making it is easy: take
a coconut, drill a small hole in it and add some rum! Dominican cigars are also very well known around the world. Some people say that they are even better than Cuban ones.

The food is simple but very delicious in the Dominican Republic. The most famous dish is named after the white-red-blue coloured Dominican flag: it is one part rice, one part beans and one part
meat or chicken. I used to start my day with the “Plato de Frutas”, meaning a plate full of fresh fruit and a cup of Dominican coffee, which is one of the best coffees I have ever tasted!

The local money is called the Dominican Peso, and the locals don’t have much of it. The gap between rich and poor is enormous and corruption is blossoming. Everything is much cheaper than
in Europe, so tipping should play a big part when paying your bills at restaurants, clubs and cafes. If you are smart, you will tip every time you are getting service, as many Dominicans don't get
any salary besides tips!

 

Outside or inside of the walls

Depending on what you want your holiday to be you should consider where to stay. You can choose to stay at the many-starred all-inclusive resorts or at the smaller hotels. The resorts are for honeymooners and lazy tourists. Everything is made easy for your vacation: eat as much as you like and get smashed on the free drinks by the swimming pool – even the people you meet in the bar are selected for you as no outsiders are allowed within the resort’s walls! It doesn’t sound too tempting, does it? Happily I can report that there is another option: pick a normal hotel and try a different restaurant every night instead of having that same old buffet-dinner at the resort.

Dominican Republic

The weather in the Caribbean is either really nice or totally terrible. The hurricane season is in autumn followed by the wet season: after all, it is the tropics and the plants need their water, so it rains a lot! In April the skies clear and it’s the sunny Caribbean summer again!

Trippin’in the Caribbean

 I used to work for a travel agency in the Dominican Republic, so I am an expert when it comes to excursions there. The most amazing is the whale watching trip. This is only available from mid-January to mid-March, when the giants come near to the shore to make love and give birth.

If you long for luxury, then the trip to Saona Island is for you. You can take a small plane from Puerto Plata to the South East coast of the country. From there the speedboat takes you to the beach, where the sand is whiter than snow! Food and drink is included and you won’t have any worries: just chill out on the hot beach holding an ice-cold drink in your hand!

Catamaran Sailing is another splendid way to spend the day. And so is a daytrip to Gayo Paraiso, which is a sand island with two sheds: one is a bar and the other is the place where you can rent snorkelling gear. You can take the speedboat to the island and on the way make a quick stop to find some massive orange starfish

If you want to see other sea life other than starfish, I recommend diving or snorkelling. There isn’t much in the way of big fish but what you will see is very cute: seahorses, rays and eels. You won’t find Nemo around there, but go and look for Emma: she is this tiny seahorse that I once rescued from the mouth of a fish!

If you want some action, you can always rent a four-wheeler, take a tour on a monster truck or ride a horse to the waterfalls, where you can dip into freezing cold but refreshing water. River rafting is also another way to get your daily dose of adrenaline.

Me and my friends used to have drinks on the beach every night and we always toasted the same thing: instead of saying “cheers”, we said “for another day in paradise!” – and that is what life in the Dominican Republic is all about!

The Jade groove

The four
members of the group started their musical careers more than ten years ago, but
the story of The Jade began in spring 2004. During their many years in London,
Pekko and Jann had played together in different projects, and once they landed
back in Helsinki they got to know Wille, who became a vocalist for the band.
Sirpa had also returned from London, and became the drummer once it was clear
that she could rock harder than a number of auditioned male candidates. "Very soon we noticed that this
line-up worked well, the four musicians describe their history together", they say. 

 

Not Just Rock but Roll

The Jade
has its musical roots deep in hard rock, old rock'n'roll, punk and 1960s and
-70s pop and rock. The music on their promo record Slow Motions on the Fast Lanes, released in
November 2006, is melodic rock, played with a rather heavy sound at times.

“In order
to stay vital, the music has to be reinvented all the time, and our songs
change with us. We can offer our audience swing and groove – that is what makes
us different from many other Finnish rock bands that sing in English,” The Jade
explains.

According
to Pekko, hanging a glittery scarf on a microphone stand is not The Jade's
concept of rock'n'roll:

“As a rock band, one has to have a look that
corresponds to the sound. However, our choices of style are intuitive and have
taken place as a result of time and experiences. The Jade is not about looks
but about music that has been profoundly thought through”, The Jade points out. 

 

True Stories Written with passion

The lyrics
of The Jade create an image of life with subtle shades. The members' colourful
life experiences are seen in their texts.


“We do not sit down writing and
thinking whether it would be cool to make a story of something: homelessness,
love, very bad life style, death – there is an unlimited number of things in
the world one can write about. Even death can be described as it is – not in a
goth-like manner – and loving your neighbour may be more interesting than a
story of love between a man and a woman,” Pekko says.

 

“All our songs have an element of
something that we have experienced ourselves, and the Northern darkness (what
is Northern Darkness?) plays its role in them,” Jann adds.

 

Promo Record in demand

The witty
combination of energy, groove and sombreness has appealed to audiences around
the globe. The Jade has found its American, British, French, German, Hungarian,
Italian and Spanish fans among others through Myspace.com. So far, fan sites
have been set up in Australia, Germany and Mexico. 

The crowd
supporting The Jade has mixed musical preferences, and both pop and metal fans
have demonstrated their enthusiasm for the band. Many have received their
copies of Slow Motions on the Fast Lanes
-promo record and spread the word and music in their surroundings. The record
has been played on many web radio stations, and so far the reviews have been
excellent. 

The Jade
will play gigs in Helsinki as well as in Western Finland during this spring.
They will keep looking for partners and a record deal, while their fans
volunteer to promote them. 

“Our drive is constant, we work hard and our
goals are set high,” Wille says.

 “We want to play our music to an audience as
wide as possible. We keep promoting Slow
Motions on the Fast Lanes and, hopefully,
we will find good contacts this year. Playing together is simply great, and we
will continue doing that even if nothing else happens,” The Jade assures.

 

You can hear The Jade's Slow Motions on the
Fast Lanes-promo record as an Mp3 at

http://www.myspace.com/thejadenet

http://www.thejadenet.com

The age of the animal in Ateneum

The works
are by almost two hundred artists, mostly Finnish ones. The pieces, from the
16th century up to the present, have mainly been provided by the Finnish
National Gallery.

The various
themes in the exhibition illustrate how the roles of animals have changed over
the centuries. Pay special attention to Gallen Kallela’s and Ferdinand
von Wright’s paintings.

{mosimage}There is
also a special display created for children by the students from the University of Art and Design, called In a Magical
Forest. Here parents can find many animal books as well, if they want to
tell stories to their children.

But the
exhibition has also a dark side, such as the sinister works of Juhani Harri:
in his Andalusian Dog, for example, dead animals and objects melt into a
unique and ambiguous new shape.