Tuesday, March 23, 2004
First action at the Film Commission took place over the weekend. An American producer wanted to know how he could film a commercial shoot at an amusement park in Tampere. He was asking for 100 extras who would all have to ride a roller coaster several times - as the client is an American Theme Park that is unveiling this new roller coaster at their park this summer. Well, I've been on the roller coaster in Tampere and it is way cool, but I also live near Tampere and right now it is way cold. Seems as if the client didn't realize the problems of trying to recreate a summer feel for an amusement park in the middle of a Finnish winter. I think that there is still like 1 foot of snow on the ground there and the people would be on a ride that travels well over 30 mph in weather that is right around freezing. Not to mention the fact that the park is closed and that they want to film the shoot next week. All in all, it was an interesting experience, but I hope not all the requests for our assistance is like this one.
So this past weekend we were in Turku for Virpi and Jyrki's wedding and it was beautiful. The ceremony may have well been in Finnish because I didn't understand any of it. Oh yeah, it was in Finnish. But it was kept very short and I realized something at Finnish weddings, when they throw the rice at the bride and groom, they mean business. I couldn't believe how hard people were throwing the rice and how much pleasure they were taking in the action. Little old ladies were even getting into the action.
Another item of discovery at a Finnish wedding is the stealing of the bride. The guys and the bridesmaids got together to plan the moment where masked men would grab Virpi and take her away. I was the messenger of the kidnappers and we made Jyrki sing "Can't Help Falling In Love" in order to get her back. It was a great success and Jyrki has the perfect voice for that song. He sang so well that we were preparing to kidnap his mother just to get him to sing again.
Meanwhile, at the wedding Bjorn and I kept the wedding tradition of getting way too drunk alive and well. It was a grand old time, but let me tell you something, flying with a hangover might be the worst thing possible. And I don't have that great a flying stomach as is, but fortunately the flights were 30 minutes and 50 minutes long so there was no trouble. Which is more than I can say for the last time I flew after a wedding.
As always, Joensuu is a nice place to return to after a long weekend of partying. But I wasn't so happy to see the feet of snow on the ground after spending time in Turku - which is much further South - where the grass was already peeking through and the snow was on it's way out. I think we will still have snow on the ground until sometime in early May, but by then I will have started my travels and will not remember what snow looks like until it comes again in October.
So more good news, I will be able to see a playoff basketball game tomorrow as Kataja is on the verge of advancing to the second round of the playoffs. Nothing would make me happier than to see a victory that propels them to the brink of the championship game. I will do my darndest to get the crowd going crazy - much to my father-in-laws dislike. Timo feels that it is unsportsmanlike to disrupt the concentration of the contestants and wouldn't listen to my explanation of home-court advantage.
That's all he wrote folks.
hb
So this past weekend we were in Turku for Virpi and Jyrki's wedding and it was beautiful. The ceremony may have well been in Finnish because I didn't understand any of it. Oh yeah, it was in Finnish. But it was kept very short and I realized something at Finnish weddings, when they throw the rice at the bride and groom, they mean business. I couldn't believe how hard people were throwing the rice and how much pleasure they were taking in the action. Little old ladies were even getting into the action.
Another item of discovery at a Finnish wedding is the stealing of the bride. The guys and the bridesmaids got together to plan the moment where masked men would grab Virpi and take her away. I was the messenger of the kidnappers and we made Jyrki sing "Can't Help Falling In Love" in order to get her back. It was a great success and Jyrki has the perfect voice for that song. He sang so well that we were preparing to kidnap his mother just to get him to sing again.
Meanwhile, at the wedding Bjorn and I kept the wedding tradition of getting way too drunk alive and well. It was a grand old time, but let me tell you something, flying with a hangover might be the worst thing possible. And I don't have that great a flying stomach as is, but fortunately the flights were 30 minutes and 50 minutes long so there was no trouble. Which is more than I can say for the last time I flew after a wedding.
As always, Joensuu is a nice place to return to after a long weekend of partying. But I wasn't so happy to see the feet of snow on the ground after spending time in Turku - which is much further South - where the grass was already peeking through and the snow was on it's way out. I think we will still have snow on the ground until sometime in early May, but by then I will have started my travels and will not remember what snow looks like until it comes again in October.
So more good news, I will be able to see a playoff basketball game tomorrow as Kataja is on the verge of advancing to the second round of the playoffs. Nothing would make me happier than to see a victory that propels them to the brink of the championship game. I will do my darndest to get the crowd going crazy - much to my father-in-laws dislike. Timo feels that it is unsportsmanlike to disrupt the concentration of the contestants and wouldn't listen to my explanation of home-court advantage.
That's all he wrote folks.
hb
// posted by Howard @ 1:07 PM 
