Helena Halme's Blog, page 33

Kate O'Mara and The Brothers (TV series)

Today we had the sad news of Kate O'Mara's passing. I remember her best from the 1972 TV series, The Brothers where she played Jane Maxwell, the tough female boss of an air freight business. 
We watched this series with my mother and sister in the mid 1970's in Finland. To me England seems very foreign in those days - it was so different from my life studying for a Baccalaureate in Helsinki. 
Little did I realise then I would not only be moving to the UK a few years later, but also be running a family business a little like the Hammond family haulage firm, with my family about ten years later...life, eh?

Don't Forget the Finnish Easter Fair!

If you are after some Nordic Easter goodies, you can't do better than visiting the Finnish Seamen's Mission in Rotherhithe., East London.

This year's Spring Fair takes place next weekend 28 - 30 March 2014.

I've written before about this excellent event here, but if you like Fazer chocolate, rye bread, Muumin goodies or the Finnish Easter dessert mämmi, this is THE PLACE to get these delicious things...

Learn Finnish with Finn-Guild in London

Ever wanted to learn Finnish or brush up your knowledge of the language?
Finn-Guild is organising two Intensive Study Days this spring, where you can really get to grips with the language.The intensive days will be held on 29 March and 17 May 2014 at Finn-Guild offices, two minutes from Mornington Crescent tube. These study days are real hothouses for learning Finnish, and include refreshments, lunch and five hours of intensive study. Both days start at 10.30am and finish at 5pm and include coursework and a Certificate of Attendance.The prices of the Intensive Study Days are £65 each for Finn-Guild members (£85 for others). Spring OfferAttend both Intensive Study Days for £120! (Finn-Guild members only)For more information and to sign up for the courses please contact Finn-Guild at mail@finn-guild.org or on 020 7387 3508 . Book early to ensure your place.Tervetuloa!
Finn-Guild online: http://www.finn-guild.org/en

Finn-Guild AGM and Turkish soul food at Green Lanes, North London

My first six weeks as head of Finn-Guild, the Finnish British cultural association have been - to say the least - hectic. This is partly due to my desire to run before I can walk, but also due to the timing our AGM, the biggest event in the Finn-Guild members and volunteers' calendar, which took place yesterday.

The preparations for the event aside, I was quite worried about my speech to the members (I can admit this now). I was appointed to develop the organisation, and this was my first chance to tell the wider membership what my plans were. As it was, my ideas were very well received (phew) and the day itself, as well as the evening before, where I met some newly recruited and 'old' representatives of the regions in the UK and Finland, was excellent.

We had a record crowd - over 70 people gathered in the hall at the Finnish Seamen's Mission in Rotherhithe. Many people commented on the positive and enthusiastic atmosphere that prevailed during the day. Finn-Guild is lucky to be supported by the Finnish Church in various ways, and we were even graced by the presence of The Finnish Ambassador, Mr Pekka and Mrs Liisa Huhtaniemi.

Finnish Ambassdor to the UK, Pekka Huhtaniemi,
making an after-dinner speech.There were also representatives from Guild Travel, Finnish Expatriate Parliament, many Finnish Saturday Schools in the UK, many members of our Friendship Network, as well as some of the other Scandinavian organisations, and Finland Society from Helsinki.

I had also recruited The Englishman to do a comedy routine on his views of Finland, which got an raucous reception, so all in all the day was a huge success.

Of course, this being a Finnish event, many of us carried on the discussion late into the night in the oldest pub by the River Thames, The Mayflower.

I think there might have been a few sore heads around this morning, because mine certainly was, which is why the Englishman and I decided to go and have the best hungover cure there is: Turkish food at the Green Lanes in London N4.

Son and Daughter-in-Law who know this area well, recommended a new (to us) place called Gökyuzu, and boy was it excellent. Hugely busy, we were lucky to have a table at the back. My brain being a little tired, I asked Son do the ordering. He went for a Mezze and a Charcoal Grill Platter to share. The meal was supposed to be for 2-3 people, but the four of us struggled to eat the grilled lamb and chicken in various forms with cracked wheat, rice and grilled peppers and tomatoes. The flat bread that all the Turkish restaurants excel in at Green Lanes was equally delicious here, and as usual I had too much of it with the Mezze starters, leaving little room for the main meat dish.

The staff at Gökyuzu were incredibly friendly.Now all I want to do is lie down on the sofa and fall asleep....

Two Finnish hopefuls at the Oscars

The 2014 Osacr winners will be revealed tonight and this year there are couple of  (nearly) Finnish entries.

Do I Have to Take Care of Everything? (Pitääkö mun kaikki hoitaa?) by Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari is up for best short film. This is the first Oscar nomination for these two Finnish film makers for a story which centres around Sini, who tries frantically to get her family ready to leave for a wedding, but her husband and two children are interfering with her efforts.

Director Selma Vilhunen and screenwriter Kirsikka Saari.
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Reuters
The second Finnsh connection to the Oscars this year is Heather Puuruen Loeffler, who is up for set decoration on American Hustle directed by David Russell (which is also up for Best Film). Heather is not actually from Finland, but is married to Finnish architect Eero Puurunen. This doesn't seemed to have stopped the Finnish press from adopting Heather as their own.


'I ordered the shag pile carpet from an online store, and potted large plants were very popular in the 1970's. We even had one at home. The hippo stool is my favourite,' says Heather Puurunen in today's Helsingin Sanomat.

Which Nordic Noir character would you like to be?

I've got a bit of a girl crush on many of the female characters in Nordic Noir fiction, TV and film.

It all started with Lisbet Salander, the feisty female sleuth in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy. Who wouldn't want to battle misogyny on the streets of Stockholm? I might not have been able to do all the techie stuff, nor am I very good in physical combat, but boy, would I, like Ms Salander, love to spend my time fighting for the cause of feminism!

Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander My more recent fictional heroines are from TV: The jumper-wearing Sarah Lund from The Killing, who sacrifices her personal life for the good cause of crime fighting, and the socially awkward Swedish detective, Saga Noren, from the Danish/Swedish TV series, The Bridge. Her brain is as big as a house, she wears tight leather pants, drives a vintage Saab and asks a man to move into her flat because, 'I like having sex with him.' That a girl!

Sofie Gråbol as Sarah Lund

Sofia Herlin as Saga NorenBut, my all time hero, and someone who I secretly would really like to morph into, is Birgitte Nyborg, the head-strong Prime Minister in another Danish TV series, Borgen. This might have something to do with the fact that The Englishman has been totally in love with her since Series One, but for me, being in charge of a whole country is also incredibly sexy. I've always been interested in Politics, I studied the subject at uni, and even once upon a time dreamed of being an MP in the UK.

Alas, my career has taken a totally different direction and I cannot really imagine that I would ever be able to carry such a heavy responsibility.  I would, however, be quite at home telling several good-looking, powerful men around me what to do...

Sidse Babett as Premier Nyborg
'Dream on', says The Englishman.

Which Scandi character would you like to be?

Misery on Ice or How Finland Won Olympic Bronze in Ice-Hockey

I know this post is a bit like London buses, you wait for ages for one then two come along at once. Last time I wrote about ice-hockey was in 2011, and here I am writing two posts back to back in 2014!

But as you must know by now, ice-hockey is more than sport to me. It reminds me of my childhood, it's part of who I am, and it makes me proud to be Finnish.
Yesterday's bronze medal match between Finland and the US, where Finns thrashed the Americans, was dubbed by the BBC commentator as 'Misery on Ice', but to me it was just a delight to watch.
Here was a team of players which included Teemu Selänne, the worlds most decorated ice-hockey player, and a veteran (he is 43 years old, in theory far too old to be still active in this, one of the most physically aggressive sports), and two others for whom this match was going to be their national swan song. They weren't easily going to give up on an Olympic medal.

But only a day before this same team (although without the wondrous goalie Tuukka Rask) suffered a dispiriting defeat against our bitter old adversaries, the Swedes, and thus missing out on gold or silver. According to Selänne, the team decided in the dressing room just before going out to face the Americans, that they were going to take the bronze - no messing.

History has shown that when Finns en masse decide something, they rarely fail. 
And what a match it was! I could barely watch when in an unusual sequence of events in the second half, with the score still at 0-0, the Finnish player Kimmo Timonen moved a broken stick left on the ice and it hit the puck being manoeuvred by a US player, resulting in a penalty shot against the Finns. When Patrick Kane failed to score, I had a feeling this was a crucial psychological moment for the US team. I was proved right; Finland scored two goals in quick succession and in the third period made the final score a joyous 5-0!
The Finns on ice looked the better team, but you could also tell that, unlike the Americans, they really, really wanted to win.
As if Teemu Selänne, who scored two of the five goals, wasn't a complete star in Finland already, he will be now. Here is an interview with him and some of the other team members after the match. Even if you don't speak Finnish, you'll enjoy watching these tough guys get emotional in front of the camera - except for the hero of the day, Selänne of course. He just makes the reporter weep, saying, 'I promised myself I would't cry, so I won't.'

That's Sisu for you!

Are you enjoying the Sochi games?

I know there's been a lot of controversy over these Winter Olympics in Russia, and I understand how many people feel they want to boycott the games. I totally abhor Putin's politics and can only image what horrors people have to endure merely because of their sexual orientation, or because they want to have the (basic!) right to free speech.

But as a Finn, I am completely hooked on winter sports. I don't believe that by watching the games I approve of Putin, or condone his actions.

I love skiing of all sorts, but get especially excited about ice-hockey. As a child, growing up in Tampere, known in Finland for its strong tradition in the sport, I went to matches regularly and used to be a passionate Ilves supporter. In winter, I'd wear my Ilves woolly hat and scarf with pride.

Ice-hockey has even infiltrated my fiction. In my story of immigration and family drama, Coffee and Vodka, Pappa takes Eeva to see a Nordic derby match between Finland and Sweden in Stockholm. I won't tell you what happens, but it's quite a crucial moment in both Pappa and Eeva's feeling of displacement.

Courtesy of Sochi GamesIn Sochi this year, Finns have not done as well in the medal tables as they used to. Still, I'm enjoying watching them in action in cross-country skiing, snowboarding and of course ice-hockey where they beat the mighty Russians to get into the semi-finals. Sadly, though, that is where their Olympic Gold medal dreams were crudely taken away - you guessed it - by the bloody Swedes.

Though absolutely gutted, I'm pleased that we'll still have the chance of a Bronze.

New Countdown Deal on The Englishman!

To celebrate Valentines Day, my Nordic tale of love, The Englishman, is only £0.99 or $0.99 today!

But hurry, the price will go up day by day!


Click here to get the deal at Amazon.co.uk and here for Amazon.com.

Cockroaches by Harry Hole - Book Review

It’s a real shame that the Jo Nesbo novels, featuring Harry Hole, the detective with a complicated personal life, have not been translated into English in a chronological order. Perhaps Nesbo's British publishers decided to debut with The Devil's Star, fifth in this series, because the early books are not set in Norway. The grim Nordic backdrop is, after all, one of the main attractions of Nordic crime fiction. As Boris Johnson once commented on an article about the popularity of TV's Wallander, 'Blood looks brighter on snow'. But since another main feature of Jo Nesbo's novels is the development of Harry Hole's (flawed) character, it's rather frustrating to find out why his life is in such a mess back to front, so to speak.
It is indeed strange to read a Norwegian crime thriller which is not set in a cold, snowy Nordic landscape, but after complaining about this fact in my review of The Bat, the first Harry Hole thriller set in Australia, I'm now over it and actually really enjoyed this second book in the Harry Hole series. 
It was also good to read a book which referred to the events which took place in the previous novel. I also felt that Nesbo's writing was a lot more confident in Cockroaches. It was as if the author too enjoyed returning to his old friend, Harry, who at the beginning of the book is spending more time in his favourite Olso bar than he's solving crime. He's back on the booze, and on a personal downward spiral.
But when a Norwegian Ambassador dies under suspicious circumstances in Bangkok, guess which local (now) famous Norwegian detective is put on the case? Off Harry flies to Thailand where he doggedly investigates not only his own Expat countrymen's secretive lives, but also the local mafia. Both groups dislike his attentions and get him into mortal danger, and in trouble with his employers, the police chiefs in Norway.
As usual with Harry Hole novels, Nesbo sets up the story so that the reader is lead to believe one character after another is the perpetrator. Hence the denounment of the story is not exactly a surprise since the author has literally run out of people to point the finger at. This is a very Agatha Christie way of plotting a novel, which I enjoy, so I'm not really complaining. 
I liked Cockroaches and cannot wait to read the next Nesbo thriller, The Son, (not featuring Harry Hole) which is going to be out in April.