Running a restaurant can be a surprisingly demanding task. Marketing, logistics, human resources, product design.. they are all there just waiting to be accomplished every single day. I’ve visited quite a few franchised or semi-franchised joints in Helsinki. Most of them are huge disappointments. The atmosphere and the food leave a lot to be desired. Sometimes you feel like you are visiting an establishment that’s just one small step above from a fast food restaurant.
Fortunately there are exceptions. Kuurna is one of those places where things just click together. The night out at the restaurant can be a satisfying experience on many different levels. Their concept is to serve a supper to two different “rounds” of clients. The first round is at 6 pm and the second round is at 8 pm. The wine list is delightful, although a bit pricey. Food itself, on the other hand, strikes just the right balance between being a sophisticated and innovative gourmet meal while still being straight-forward and familiar enough for most people.
Highly recommended. I give it five stars out of five.
Posted by api at 10:12 - No Comments »
I can’t believe there are International Championships in Rock, Paper and Scissors
The expanded or extended version of the game pictured above is rather intriguing.
Posted by api at 07:33 - No Comments »
Take note, Neil Gaiman and Jim Henson fans:
MirrorMask (Theatrical Release) review
Long after the death of its founder, The Jim Henson Company continues to search for the next project that will be the next creative gem that people will want to watch and enjoy over and over again. Entering an early screening of Mirrormask, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a child I had come to love everything Henson touched from The Muppet Show (reviewed elsewhere on this site) to The Dark Crystal. I don’t know why I had any doubt in my mind because I was glued to my seat from the first frame until the last, in complete amazement of the entire film. Everything from the production design to the casting was top notch, with that great engulfing feeling of not wanting the adventure to end I had not experienced in a while. Maybe this has to do with me being a kid at heart or simply having a heart, though it was not any kind transference from previous works in the genre. For any age, Mirrormask is a beautiful journey into the heart and certainly the child in all of us.
Apple has a little article about the Dave McKean.
The digital visual effects in this film were made a by a squadron of 16 freelance animators in a what essentially was a “Do-it-yourself visual effects studio”. Photoshop, Maya and Shake, dont’ stir.
EDIT: I originally posted this blurp on September 30th, 2005. Well, I saw this film today at the Espoo Cine Film Festival and boy, was I disappointed. The visual effects were passable, but the dramaturgy and screenplay left a lot to be desired. I usually enjoy practically all kinds of fantasy films, but this one was almost boring. There were a lot of good ideas thrown in, but they got drowned in a plethora of confusing scenes that followed each other. I didn’t like the performance of the actors and actresses either. My verdict on a 1 to 5 star scale is one and a half.
Posted by api at 04:59 - No Comments »
Due to many coincidences I ended up seeing this film yesterday at the Espoo Cine Film festival. Here’s what the Norwegian Film Institute says about it:
The Bothersome Man
(Den brysomme mannen)
In The Bothersome Man there is neither death nor dreams, and no love either. When Andreas Ramsfjell arrives in this society, everything has been laid out for him. He is given a place to stay, a job and clothes. He is handed a life. Not unlike the destiny of a refugee coming to Norway.
The film describes total loneliness in a world that has everything - but that’s also all it has. A society which has lost something along the way in its quest for perfection. A dead society.
The film takes place in a parallel universe, or the life after death. Our main character is the only one who seems human, with his feelings and needs intact. Through his desperation and despair we can relate and maybe take a look at how we lead our own lives.
The movie was a real gem. It is competing for the Best European Fantastic Film title in the Melies Dor competition and it recently won the ACID award in Cannes. The protagonist in the film is a sympathetic man called Andreas. He arrives in a weird, utopian city with no memory of how he got there. Everything is so normal and perfect that it is grotesque. I loved the straightforwardness and genuinity in the story telling and cinematic style of this film. Surprisingly, this highly visual film is based on a radio play by Per Schreiner. The general vibe is a strange mix between Solaris, Brazil and The Truman Show.
I felt refreshed and inspired after seeing this masterpiece. The absurd and fantastic elements have been integrated in the story while still keeping it completely plausible in a strange kind of way. It resonates especially well with anyone who has lived in a Nordic welfare state. Five stars.
EDIT: This movie is on the programme of Helsinki Film Festival. Well worth seeing.
Posted by api at 10:50 - No Comments »
My fellow citizens here in Finland have been flooding like lemmings to get an old skool non-biometric passport for themselves while it’s still possible. After last Friday, the only kind of new passport you can get has a microchip with your face as a machine readable JPEG on it. After about two years, the new passports will have your fingerprints on the chip as well. I contemplated on getting a traditional passport for the next ten years for myself, but after having gone through so many immigration interviews in different countries I decided that the privacy issue is not really such a big deal for me.
When I flew from Munich to San Francisco last December they handed out a little form to fill out before I even boarded the plane. The form was for stating your first address after you have arrived to USA. After filling out the form and going through two or three interviews by different types of security personnel in Germany (including a passport authenticity check that took what seemed like an eternity), the actual USA border crossing took less than a minute. I’m not sure if this was a special arrangement with the Munich airport only, but I’m certain that the biometric passport initiative will make the process a lot more efficient.
Actually I think that it is a positive thing that fingerprints are no longer associated only with crime scene investigation and prisons. There is a fingerprint based access control at the gym I use. It seems to me that people are totally habituated to it. I, for one, prefer it to BERTILLONAGE
No longer used, bertillonage was a late 19th century method of identifying people by use of multiple bodily measurements. A person would go through a 20-60 minute measuring exam where they would have various body measurements taken: height, length, and breadth of the head, the length of different fingers, the length of forearms, etc. The results were then recorded and/or compared to a record database. Though all done by hand, the record filing and checking system was quite fast for its time.
Created in the 1890’s by a Paris police desk clerk, an anthropologist named Alphonse Bertillon, this method of identification became the primary method for identifying criminals in the late 1800’s. Bertillon based his system on the claim that measurement of adult bones does not change after the age of 20. He also introduced a cataloguing system, which enabled filing/checking records quite quickly.
The system was a success, identifying hundreds of repeat offenders, and was used world-wide until 1903, when two identical (within the tolerances) measurements were obtained for two different persons at the Fort Leavenworth prison. The prison switched to finger printing the following day and the rest of the world soon followed, abandoning bertillonage forever.
Posted by api at 09:01 - No Comments »
Apple - Report on iPod Manufacturing
Working and Living Environment
The manufacturing facility supports over 200,000 employees (Apple uses less than 15% of that capacity) and has the services you’d expect in a medium city. The campus includes factories, employee housing, banks, a post office, a hospital, supermarkets, and a variety of recreational facilities including soccer fields, a swimming pool, TV lounges and Internet cafes. Ten cafeterias are also located throughout the campus offering a variety of menu choices such as fresh vegetables, beef, seafood, rice, poultry, and stir-fry noodles. In addition, employees have access to 13 different restaurants on campus. Employees were pleased with the variety and quality of food offerings.
The supplier owns and leases dormitories that are offered at no charge to employees, provided they help in cleaning common areas to maintain the facility. Workers are not required to live in these dormitories, although the majority do. Our team randomly selected and inspected a wide range of dormitories (both supplier-owned on-campus and off-site leased facilities) that collectively house over 32,000 people. Buildings are separated by gender, with female dorms containing a private bathroom/shower for each room and male dorm rooms typically sharing bathroom/shower facilities. The dorms have TV rooms, potable water, private lockers, free laundry service, and public telephones. Many also have ping-pong and snooker tables, and sitting/reading areas. All of the on-campus dorms have air conditioning. Visitors are permitted in the dorms, although a sign-in process is used for security purposes.
200000 employees. Two. Hundred. Thousand. That’s two thirds of the population of Iceland.
Apple launched an internal audit proces in order to reply to the claims that iPods are being manufactured in poor working conditions. The report is extremely interesting in many respects. It is a perfect example of well executed proactive measures that modern companies may need to implement in order to avoid public relations scandals. The audit (and the report) leave practically no room for ifs and buts.. this case is closed.
EDIT: Not everyone agrees, though
Posted by api at 20:24 - No Comments »
Wooster Collective: Mark Jenkins New Tape Project… “Embeds”
Mark Jenkins is taking it to another level with his new “Embeds”. The sculptures are made of tape and then clothes are added. The photo above are of first installation that went up yesterday in DC.
I just got a letter from the National Statistics Bureau. It was just a note to let me know that I’ve been selected as one of the 1500 participants in a survey about the new Public Order Act that will unify the public order ordinance throughout the country.
One of the new laws forbids the carrying of spray cans in a public space without an “acceptable reason”. Come on now… How vague can you get!? Obviously the law has been designed to reduce the graffiti or “art crime” or “vandalism” or whatever you want to call it. Interestingly, they have made a similar proposal in New York earlier this year.
As creating graffiti art becomes an increasingly higher legal and economical risk for the people who are interested in street art and culture, some artists have moved beyond the 2D medium of walls to 3D sculptures and electronics and other innovative ways to express themselves in the streetscape. The Wooster Collective has been leading the way and showcasing ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world.
Posted by api at 08:56 - No Comments »
sleek magazine
Knitting – a harmless, straightforward, calming and contemplative activity. But what kinks develop when one knits not with ordinary wool, but with human hair?
Strong, shining and neatly-trimmed hair denotes strength, expresses individuality and exudes allure. This has been so at least since biblical times. In the Old Testament the supposedly invincible Samson was reduced to a weakling, when his beloved Delilah chopped off his hair as he slept. According to the cliché, a dramatic change of hairstyle reflects a similar change in one’s life; men prefer to use hair restorers which threaten the libido, rather than go bald; and in the military, heads are shorn to counter individuality. Hair, along with flawless white teeth, is one of the strongest forms of natural body adornment.
One of the first times I saw a fine art piece featuring knitting was during a small scandal involving an ad by the National Theatre of Finland. They (or their ad agency to be more precise) published an ad where a woman had knitted a pullover which had such a long neck that it enveloped her entire head. A text read: “National Theatre - something else that you would expect” or something to that effect. A Norwegian artist (I’m not sure who it was, it could have been Liv Reidun Brakstad contacted the theatre and presented a photograph that happened to be an exact copy of the idea presented in the ad. The ad agency ended up paying a royalty fee to the artist. (EDIT: The artist was Susanna Hesselberg)
Anyway, I’ve noticed that over half of the blogs on a local blog directory are about knitting or some other form of handicraft. It’s such an unbelievably popular hobby that I wouldn’t be surprised if this age was called the Knitting age (in the vein of stone age, bronze age etc) if the archealogists of the future ever dig up all the digital archives of the current Internet.
In addition to stealthily creeping into the fine art scene, knitting has also influenced people interested in graffiti and other forms of tagging.
Knitta: the art of knitting cozies for random placement out in the world. It’s graffitti with yarn.
Check out Knittaplease.com
Posted by api at 21:41 - No Comments »
When the routine bites hard
And ambitions are low
And the resentment rides high
But emotions won’t grow
And we’re changing our ways,
Taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again
Why is the bedroom so cold
Turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed,
Our respect run so dry?
Yet there’s still this appeal
That we’ve kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again
Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings expose?
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold
Is it something so good
Just can’t function no more?
When love, love will tear us apart again
Just heard an excellent bossa nova cover version of Love Will Tear Us Apart by Nouvelle Vague ( iTunes music store link )
She’s joining the formidable ranks of earlier reinterpretators with Paul Young, The Cure, Unbroken, Fall Out Boy, Squarepusher, Swans, Bono, U2 and Jose Gonzalez.
For the record, I confess to be a fan of not only Joy Division, but of all the artists mentioned above. I wonder if it’s a coincidence.
Posted by api at 08:53 - No Comments »
BBC Blog: Trusting Photos
“Today a photographer working in the field is under more pressure than ever, especially in a combat zone. He or she no longer has to just take the pictures, not to mention ensure they are in the right place to begin with, but they also have to edit, caption and transmit them.
“For this and other reasons photographers often work together, so at any major event you will usually have a number of sources to compare against each other - giving a good indication as to the basic truth of the picture.
“The Qana pictures are interesting, in that there are many ways to interpret the images. The basic truth is undeniable, but with so many photographers all shooting the same event, and filing many alternative pictures to their agencies, the sequence of events is hard to pin down.
“To some extent the presence of a camera will alter the event, but it’s up to those on the ground to work around this and present us with an objective a view as possible.
“Digital photography has altered the landscape of photojournalism like nothing before it, placing the photographers in total control of their output. All the news agencies have photo ethics policies, many of which are rooted in the days of film. The standard line is that photographers are allowed to use photo manipulation to reproduce that which they could do in the darkroom with conventional film.
Where do you draw the line? Cloning is forbidden, but photographers losing their job and/or reputation for mere color adjustments has become alarmingly common as well.
Anything on the Internet should be taken with a grain of salt. As the the media industry moves to a increasingly digital production and publication pipeline, the opportunities for digital manipulation and related mistakes (whether intentional or not) become ubiquitous. In a way, they are sometimes simply the modern, visual equivalent of a typesetting error.. a typo.
Early cinema goers freaked out when they saw the train approaching in the 1895 film by the Lumiere brothers. Modern audiences know that the train won’t come through the screen and run over them. I understand the viewpoint of Reuters and other agencies completely though. After all, reputation is the most important single thing that differentiates them from a casual blogger or other news source. A Reuters watermark in the photo essentially communicates: “This is the real thing”.
There is a new software called Nikon Image Authentication which enables the verification of the authenticity of images captured with a Nikon D2X pro digital camera. It can report if the image information or image data itself has been modified since the image was taken. Perhaps a new system of visual markers indicating the level of authenticity in news photographs would be a good idea.
Posted by api at 09:19 - No Comments »
The Academy Award for the best costume design in 1977 went to John Mollo for Star Wars.
Building replicas of the Star Wars costumes and armors has been popular ever since. Check out 501st Legion to get a glimpse of the scale of this phenomen.
Posted by api at 11:06 - No Comments »
My friend Janne has been busy with his favorite skunkworks project.. an electric sailboat aptly called “Hello, World”. I went on a little test sail a couple of days ago and almost caught boat fever myself. There is something unreal about the way the boat silently glides through water when the sails are down. Janne told me that people are often scratching their heads when he nimbly moors the boat. The potentiometer or “gas pedal” is extremely sensitive and the minimum propulsion is feather light like an invisible djinni’s hand.
While not sailing, she is powered by a set of 14 lithium ion batteries.
What is Skunkworks
A skunkworks is a group of people who, in order to achieve unusual results, work on a project in a way that is outside the usual rules. A skunkworks is often a small team that assumes or is given responsibility for developing something in a short time with minimal management constraints. Typically, a skunkworks has a small number of members in order to reduce communications overhead. A skunkworks is sometimes used to spearhead a product design that thereafter will be developed according to the usual process. A skunkworks project may be secret
EDIT: After this trip, I designed a logo and new web site for Electric Ocean as a favor to help them launch the business.. it’s a worthy cause, I think.
Posted by api at 11:13 - 2 Comments »
