Back from Off-line outback

I just got back from spending 10 days at sea without accessing the net fom the daily dose of neighbourhood watch and news consumption, it was refreshing. I did however use my phone for photography and video recording. I did enjoy tuning out of technology. One of the things I discovered, was that my fully charged iPod touch completely run out of battery, without being switched on even once.

One of the things I noticed was what I call the 'curse of comfort' is spreading fast. It is a mobile curse. People have become comfort spoled. They want their boats to be comfortable, they should have a front and rear cabin, this drives up length to 33-37ft, people want fridges, water by turning the tap, many want a TV, a good heater is a must and suddenly you realize that you consume lots of energy. This leads to overcowding in guestharbours where electricity is abundant.  Suddenly sailing has become camping at sea. The good news, is that there is muh more room off the beaten track, where there is no electricity, no comfort, only lots of rocks.... People do not dare to adventure into the deeper archipelago. Next year I have to do even more power optimisation to ensure I can spend more time in 'white water' where others don't hang out. This ruggedness and wilderness is such a wonderful contrast to London. Imagine not to see any significant signs of civilisation is cool, but it requires a strict gadget diet, no battery hogging gizmos turned on...

Velorution – The total bicycle experience in London

In my slow going greener campain, I have been thinking what wheels to get, and I decided on a Brompton, a classic foldable bike made in England. I will post more on this cool bike later; this is the story of where I got it: Velorution. Velorution is a fanastic bike shop in London, just 3min walking from Oxford circus on 18 Great Tichfield Street. The shop is a fusion of gallery and bikeshop. There is lots of space and the bikes are a feast for the eye. I had never imagined the range of bicycles as I saw there. The walls were filled with bike related art. Unfortunately the charismatic blogger/owner Andrea, who runs the popular blog Velorution was not there.  The blog, mixing tech reviews, lifestyle commenting, art commenting and politics and some light veloporn. The blog is fantastic, and very informative. Velorution is an example of retail renaissance, where its presence is far greater than the neighborhood it spans. Mixing of blog, showroom and ofcourse meticulous maintenance in basement. I had to wait for 30minutes as the previous customer got the right Dynamo for his Christiania. First I thought it was poor service, but then I realized, it is ultimate service, real care, there was only bike Doctor and he had another patient. I was warmly velcomed and encourage to fiddle with the bikes, I did. It was great to do that without someone breathing down my neck. Even Maud enjoyed herself, inspecting the bikes, the different lights. Andrea, seems very keen in Fashion, he is Italian, and has created something he calls Pret-a-Rouler, a fashion show of bikes and suitable clothing, not the tight synthetics with big ads, no this is haute couture. It is discoveries like this that makes London totally unique, the market is big enough for this kind of segmentation and tribute to retail lifestyle – A real moving experience - Horaaay.

Look into the crystal ball and make 2008 a blast

I wanted to wish all of you a wonderful New Year. Going through my pictures, I stumbled on these glass balls and I thought they looked like 2008. I did not want to wish you a new year with some great snow motif, as I have not seen proper snow this winter. London does not even dream of a white winter anymore, the folks in Helsinki still do. We spent it in London with the girls and some good food. Lots of Fireworks.

Tuscany is timeless beauty

Dawn in Castellina

Having grown up in Finland and having a Danish heritage the scenes of Tuscany seem very exotic. The very wide and deep vista, small winding roads everywhere, not built for cars. Ancient villages where one can sense the long heritage. This region has enjoyed an amazing surge, the property prices for Tuscan farmhouses are surreal. One of the best things with Tuscany is food. The kids simply loved the pasta, Gnocchi with Gorgonzola was a real hit.

This view from the house we had rented in the beginning of June is was simply amazing. This picture is taken 5.22 with a Nikon D40. I think the view was 40km deep and 50km wide. It was like a live movie in fron of the eyes, everyday was different, fog, dark clouds, bright clear light, plain sunshine. This kind of views does not exist in Scandinavia.

Speed & Angels movie is a mind-blowing experience

Fighter jets have always fascinated me in some way as the ultimate power machines. Ever since seeing the fictional Top Gun with Tom Cruise I have had an image of these amazing men in their flying machines. It was with this though I went to the screening of Speed & Angels in San Francisco last week. I got an invitation from my friends Sarah and Steve who said in their discreet way if I did not have anything special to do that evening that I should come to the screening. I went and was blown away, I mean completely blown away. (trailer). Here I am watching a documentary, which immediately forgot, about two people, yes two ordinary people with a lot of drive, passions to become fighter pilots. One is a woman and the other is a man. The story which follows them through their last year of flight training is so amazing that my brain somehow forces this movie into the fictional part of the brain, filtering what is said and experienced. Let me take an example, the leading man in the movie Jay is an ordinary guy who grew up in a small town. At the age of 17 or so he is shot in the mouth by a marine soldier showing off and having an accident. If you are shot in the mouth and the bullet goes through your neck you are, in every case except in Hollywood screen writing, dead, but no, this is Jay and I am watching a documentary. The other character is Meagan an ordinary 24 year old woman, who is the Kelly McGuiness of this Top Gun movie except she does not fall in love with Jay and waits on the ground, but she is up there with mostly men in this amazing machine, kicking well most guys but. Again Hollywood could not have written this character, a beautiful funny ordinary girl who is a top notch fighter pilot. It does not fit the fictional mold, well again it is not fiction; this is reality.

Without giving the ‘plot’ away I can only say that this was one of the best action films I have seen in a very long time and being a documentary, it just does fit into my mind. This is a movie that feels, sounds like a Hollywood movie, but it does not have any special effects, stunt actors, it is just the true story.

I know nothing of movie making, other than it is darn hard to shoot any meaningful footage as an amateur. But the challenge Spellbound Entertainment has in positioning this, distributing it and marketing it is amazing. They sit on a story far beyond what

Hollywood could produce and at the same time they are trapped in the convention of what a documentary should be. Fortunately these are very smart people, so I am sure they will figure it out. I am sure this will be a bigger hit than Super Seize Me or Fahrenheit 9/11 provided they find a way how to unlock it into the wide audience. I can really imagine a high school jock invi ting a girl on a date and that the girl is not only entertained by the jock, but inspired of what women can accomplish in a world of men. So if you have a chance check it out when it hits the theatres and I am sure you will like me, be blown away. This is about a 8,5G movie, it will knock you out!

Vittel water encourages waste.

The ad at Green Parkon on Jubilee line. It is a bit of a hard read, but you get the point.

This ad made me furious. How stupid and unresponsible do you have to come up with this dumb idea. Not to speak of suggesting it to a client and finally for the client to approve it. There is acute shortage of water in the world. Even the Mayor of London sent us a 'personal' letter urgeing us to save for example not to water plants. Then I see Vittel encourageing people to waste even waste as a competition which will just put fuel on the fire. If you share my anger lets not buy their water. With me they just lost one customer for life!

Live from the world cup semi-final

The amazing stadium in Munich.

It is kick off. Let the battle begin.

The French supporters are ready.

But so are the Portugese.

The second semi final started and the mood in the stadium is amazing. It will be an tremendeous battle. Seeing it live is a full sensory experience and something worth feeling. The game lends it well to gigant stadiums. We are sitting on the 15 row in the French end and we have a great view. The architects did a great job in getting a feeling of cosyness in a place hosting 66000 people. The drama is amazing France is got a free kick and scored! Great start! Allez les bleus . . . (Added later: The Goal scored by Zinedine Zidane was the only one scored and France moved on to the Finale. )

Still in the middle of moving, no home several houses

It has been a while since I posted last. Lots has happened. My wife emptied our flat divided everything in two piles one for London and the other for the summer house in Tammisaari, it was a huge task, I think around 130 boxes. Well done super woman! . I hurried along in airports occacionally stopping by at the tempory flat in London if not flying home to the girls in Helsinki. Now we are all in London, on Wednesday we looked forward to moving into our house in London, but our landlord let us down. When the moving men with our boxes knocked on the door the place was a work site. Fortunately we had the tempory flat which is big enough to host us, two bed rooms, one for us four and one for our au pair Ansku, who is really nice. As our move to the summer house was delayed and generally a catasrophe, the moving men came 9hours late at 9PM. For a few weeks we found our selves having 4 houses and no home. Now we have 3 houses and still no home. It is quite stressful, but all part of the adventure. We hope to move in next Friday, I gave them 9 extra days. The workers are making progress, and I have managed to get the landlord to fix it up to a better standard, which I actually think does the location justice.

Borgström Konst & Antik is becoming the most interesting antique shop in Finland

Antique destination in the making.

Bamse decorating the new shop.

Silly dog to decorate antique chair.

Bamse Borgström infront of his new shop

                
My friend Joachim "Bamse" Borgström just moved his antique shop to Korkeanvuorenkatu, very close to where I live. This is great news as I now can pop in and check what is new and have a chat about art and antiques. It is also in my opinion at the best location in town. Bamse is a unique character. He is in his early thirties and has been in the antique 'business' more than 10 years. He is already a renounded expert on Finnish and Russian silver. He was the Vice President of the most famous auction house Bokowski-Hörhammar, here he learned alot about high quality stuff. He has a sharp eye for good stuff and searches for stuff with lasting value and a touché of humour. He showed me a cigar train he recently found. At the moment he has found an interest in sculptures, something he feels is not properly valued, as so much beautiful is being sold at very resonable prices. What I liked most were the two 17th century Dutch paintings he bought and recently renovated - Stunning. I would have bought both, but I looked in my wallet and there was 40 Euro... ;-)

Great menswear in Rome at David of Rome

David of Rome is a my favourite mensware shop in Rome, it is owned by Jack Sasson a Itialian gentleman with a deep understanding of italian quality menswear. I have been a passive customer for several years, as my business very seldom takes me to Rome. Last week I had a chance to go to Rome meeting press about Lifeblog. I called Jack and he said he would wait for me. I knew from the past that he runs a sale from mid January until mid February and from mid August to mide September. This is a great time to buy as he runs 30% off almost everything. He carries Georgio Armani, Versace (they seem to be working on a new site) and Ermenegildo Zenga. I am mostly fond of the Zenga stuff. The reason I like to shop with him is that he is very knowledgable, honest and has a really great service. For example once I called him on the phone and asked if he could send me two shirts, I specified what I needed and I arrived few days later, I think he did not even charge me for postage! This time he offered to deliver my pants to my hotel, as I was too busy to pick them up. Few years ago I bought some Zenga suits and a jacket and the quality has been fantastic. I travel alot and stuff down my stuff in a carry-on bag so the quality has to be good otherwise it comes out with wrinkles all over. You can find Jack at David of Rome, Via Berberini 61, about a 10 minute walk from the Spannish steps towards the train station.

His shop looks a bit touristy, but when you discuss with him and feel the quality of the cloth you know that you are in a shop where someone cares for quality and for the customer. If you visit him, send regards from me and drop a comment on this post. He told me that the fall was a bit slow, so I tried to help out a friend...