Posted by David Ralfe (Marketing & Admin. Assistant, Hoipolloi)
Things are pretty quiet in the Hoipolloi office at the moment. Steffi Muller, our Associate Director, is away in Edinburgh performing with our friends Menagerie. (Click here for details of the show, Correspondence.) In fact, I’m the only person I know who isn’t going to the Fringe this year. And in the meantime, whilst everyone else in Theatre-land is busy at the Festival, the phone here is quiet and my inbox is empty.
To pass the time, I’ve been learning about Helsinki. That’s because on Thursday Hugh Hughes and Aled will be flying out to Finland to perform Story of a Rabbit at the Korjaamo Culture Factory. The set and lots of our technical equipment is already on its way and I had a great time rummaging around the Hoipolloi store last week, until Richard, our Production Manager, forced me to stop exploring and do back-breaking labour while we packed up the freight. (The Story of a Rabbit set is really heavy.)
Anyway, before we go into Fun Facts About Finland, I should say a couple of things:
1) I have learned everything I’m about to tell you from the internet and Wikipedia. It may or may not actually be true.
2) A lot of the aforementioned websites preface their facts with the adjective “fun” and, frankly, they don’t deliver. I don’t consider statistics pertaining to population demographics to be fun. Nor is the fact that the country’s dialling code is 358. By contrast, my Finnish Facts will be 100% Funtastic.
FACT 1:
Helsinki? More like HELLsinki. Such was the outrage when “hard rock quintet” Lordi bagged Finland’s first ever Eurovision victory in 2006. The group is fronted by the inimitable Mr. Lordi. Past band members with amusing names include a bassist named G-Stealer. Apparently he was kicked out of the band because he kept stealing all the G’s from the band’s alphabet fridge magnet set.
FACT 2:
There’s a statue of a super-sexy mermaid in the market square in Helsinki. On the 1st of May every year, students gather round the statue to celebrate the arrival of Spring. (And to stare at a sexy mermaid, probably.) The statue hasn’t always been popular though. When it was unveiled in 1908, women’s rights groups protested that it objectified women. Two years previously, women in Finland had been granted the vote: that’s 20 years before the same happened in this country. (Wow, those Scandinavians are progressive.)
FACT 3:
The city’s animal symbol is a squirrel.
Well, I'm sure you all got a lot out of that.
Let's finish with a video of Lordi, performing their song, Would You Love a Monsterman?
Monday, 11 August 2008
Some Facts
Posted by David Ralfe at 13:31
Labels: Fun Facts, Helsinki, Hoipolloi, Hugh Hughes, Lordi, Menagerie, Story of a Rabbit
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1 comment:
Some additions to your facts David...
Finland is not as barbaric as the images of Lordi or even the morning look on my finish manager's face would suggest. In fact Fins, and I got proofs, are less barbaric than the Brits in many respects. This is of course not hard to figure out for those who had been exposed to my mother's pearles of wisdom that go along the lines 'the darkest place is always under the brightest of lights...' and so on and are revealed to the public with the solemnity of a profit, usually after few glasses of Porto.
There has always been something utterly suspicious about the british meticulous care and overattendance to the detail in the ceremonies of everyday politeness. So it comes as no surprise that the Brits, remembering about every how do you do? and beautiful weather isn't it? are simultanously capable of the worst, uncivilised behaviour ever. Something as horrible as not celebraiting a Nameday! It's attrocious!
Nameday is one of those days in a year when your existence is finaly acknowledged by your family who celebrate by giving you a chockolate bar and an uncomfortable kiss on the cheek. Finland is one of those countries where this beautiful celebrtaion is still in practice.
So good job Finland and shame on you Britain! With the average earnings beeing one of the highest in Europe you should know better than to save on a bar of galaxy...
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