I saw Iron Sky and it was good

Ok, I had an opportunity to see Iron Sky today at press screening here in Helsinki so of course I took it.

I didn't know what to expect after Berlin. By reviews it seemed that some loved and some hated it. Well I can't say I loved it but I liked it a lot. And I mean a lot.

Ok, flick ain't gonna win best actor or actress prizes. Neither it will get those for screenplay or directing but who cares, it is a movie about nazis on moon!

To be honest it is basically quite classic b-movie. But it has a nice Finnish twist: From time to time it's more straightforward, politically incorrect and even brutal than Hollywood would never dare. And it is funny at least once and a while,

It is also visually stunning what is outstanding if you think of it it has a budget less than 10 million euros. Will it find it's big audiences? Probably. Will it become a cult movie? Most definitely!

PS. Julia Dietze is smoking hot!

Sci-Fi from our childhood is now reality

When I was a kid me and my friends use to play that we had small computers which we could use as a phone or search all information we ever needed. I think they had those in original Battlestar Galactica which we used to watch. Well today I have a smart phone which can do precisely that and even more. That made me think and dig a bit what else is all ready done which was pure fantasy in 1980's. Quite a lot it seems, so I listed five most interesting ones below.

1. In Star Wars we saw those 3D holograms which were cool. Well today a Japanese company has made that for real. If your interested you can find more info from here.

2. William Gibson wrote about dream scanning in his book. I don't recall which one it was, but the idea was that you could read and record persons dream and watch it later. Same idea was recycled in a Scifi flick Strange days. Well suprise suprise, that also is done. More here.

3. Ok, who remembers Judge Dredd? Hands up. You don't mess with a judge in Megacity One. One reason to obey was that they had different kind of bullets. Even those which flew around a corner. Well here you go.

4. You don't have to think just Robocop or Terminator to see artificial arm or leg leg prosthetic which were controlled just with a thought. In the 80's and 90's you pretty much couldn't watch scifi movie without those. Today they are here.

5. Jeah jeah, you're right, I already wrote about Star Wars but hey, lightsabers! Those cool weapons for more civilized times. Ok, sorry to say that none still exists but something pretty cool and dangerous has been done here.

Isn't it quite amazing that in 25-30 years many things which were just pure fantasy are now reality. I find it inspiring. Today I read this news about rumors that Google is planning to bring a pair of data glasses to market this year. I would love to have a pair of those!

R2-3D and revenge of a fanboy

Ok, this is not going to be easy for me. I’ve been Star Wars fan since I was a little kid and saw The Return of the Jedi when it came to theaters. I’ve seen the movies, I’ve read some expanded universe comics and books and I have some Star Wars collectibles, for example fx-lightsaber made by Master Replicas. Believe it or not, I still wouldn’t describe myself as hardcore fan. Just a regular fanboy.


You probably noticed that mr Lucas finally converted Star Wars The Phantom Menace to 3D and brought it back to theaters around the world. Somewhere Lucas said that fans demanded it, but I think it was just his wallet.

I went to see it yesterday even though I knew that it sucks. Apparently quite many knows it. I choose one of those smaller 3D screens here in Helsinki which has about 140 seats. More than 130 of those were empty as there were only seven or eight people in the audience. Two left during the pod racing.

So how was it? To be honest it truly is a bad film. I would like to say otherwise but I simply can't. After said that it was not so bad I remembered. It might have helped that I've seen it few times now. I was able to focus on other things than the movie or its plot. So I spent those two hours watching mainly all those cool droids, spaceships and background characters. And I totally ignored Jar Jar, most of those damned gungans and all other irritating stuff.

For example, have you noticed that during the race you can actually spot Aurra Sing in the audience? Clearly it's her. Oh, who the fuck is Aurra Sing, you ask? Well she is that former Jedi padawan who turns to be a bounty hunter and have had many adventures in expanded Star Wars universe. Eh, what? Ok, she is one freeky but still sexy chic from Star Wars comics. One of the coolest female characters in Star Wars. The Mad Max and Tank Girl of Star Wars! Check the pic and judge it yourself.

Another thing I noticed while watching it on big screen for the second time now was the fact that Evan McGregor and Liam Neeson actually do make quite perfect "jedi master and his apprentice" team. Both are great actors and can convince you with a single smile or lifting of an eyebrow. And that last lightsaber fight! Oh my! It really is good looking shit!

It is a real pity that George Lucas sucks bad when it comes to directing characters or writing lines. Bad, bad, bad. Good actors can save only their share and when you are standing in a pile of s**t you can't do much.

Strangely I wasn't totally pissed after the movie but I did felt a bit fooled. Those 3D parts of the flick were nothing very special so I was wondering was it worth of the ticket? Yes sir, I think it was. Even though I found myself from the nearest bar with a large and strong beer as soon as I got out from the theater.

Time to come out of a closet

Ok, I confess. Among many things I also collect science fiction props. You know that cool stuff used in movies. I don't have much of it but the few pieces I have I truly like. Because we have quite small apartment I've kept them mostly in my closet. I doubt you are interested but I tell anyway that Actually I don't think that my fiance even knows about them. I've been too lazy or afraid to tell her. Don't blame me blame the nerd inside me. He was the one who told me on one drunken evening that "dude, actually most women don't give a horses ass about cool things used in scifi movies". He was right and my lips are sealed.

The pearl of my collection is a screen used Alien egg. You know H.R. Gigers cool designs, right? Those mean steellizards who have acid running in their veins and whose eggs are so nasty that if you try to make scramble out of them you end up beeing bacon.

The egg is 1:6 in scale and it was used in Aliens from 1986. The scene was the one where Ripley burns a bunch of those evil eggs with a flamethrower. Back then there were no cgi so they used different size eggs to create an illusion of a bigger space. The smallest were those 1:6 and the biggest were a bit bigger than 1:1.

Few years back when I managed to buy that egg I thought that it deserves a decent display. Even though I don't know when I'll be able to place it somewhere to display. Anyhow I also got a picture of lieutenant Ripley with an original signature of the queen of science fiction, Sigourney Weaver.

Ok, enough mumbling all ready! Here goes.

Probably I will add pics of my other "treasures" some day, but today is not that day. So if you're interested you just need to keep following.

History of The Jolly Joker

Ok, this one I made awhile ago just out of my own interest. Frankly I was totally bored and a bit drunk too when I started to dig up the facts. So here is the history of The Jolly Joker for dummies. Maybe it interests someone else too.

The Joker is a playing card which can replace any other card of the pack. Typical European pack has nowdays 52 suit cards and two jokers.

First mentions of The Jolly Joker or The Joker (sometimes The Jester) as part of card decks are from 1860’s Germany.

Even though first mentions of European playing cards are from 13^th century England, and Tarot cards were invented around 15^th century in Italy, it is believed that The Joker jumped to playing cards from Tarot. After all Tarot knows The Joker as well. Tarot calls it The Fool.

One theory suggests that the origin of the name “joker” is based to mistake made by Germans: they simply pronounced card game called Euchre wrong. (Euchre = Jukre = Juker = Joker).

The Joker can also be displayed as a woman, but to be honest it’s more than rare.

Colourfully dressed, joyfull, playing and dancing male figure is the most typical way The Joker is described and drawn.

Even though jokers are usually funny and harmless on top, they are also often described a bit strange or even scary. If you don’t buy that, just think about batman and Heath Ledger.