The year 2007 in tech world

Now it's time to make lists about the year 2007, what was good and what was bad. My first list is short and quite tech.

The good stuff:

1) Facebook

There has been a lot of hype surrounding this and it feels boring to write about this, but I have to. Let's face it, it's the first web 2.0 service to gain masses here in Finland. It's got over 300.000 users in the Finland network, which means almost half a million finnish users altogether. This was the first online phenomenon that showed how "Tipping Point" really works. It has been cool to classify your friends by being either FB savvy innovators or second wave users and so on.

A lot of hype, a lot of publicity, a lot of stupid applications, but it really proved two things:

- one of the strongest needs of humans is the need for communication
- it's not about the service it's about the people.

More important is that FB has had a permanent effect on us and on how we use online services. FB may die next year, but it's legacy will live on in more restricted social networking applications.

And it's so lame to diss FB. Really. Even if you we're using it 6 months ago :O

2) iPhone

I have tried this only once, but what makes it cool is that big companies like Nokia have had to adjust to this cool thingy by bringing touch screens to their models and such. Apple just knows how to make cool looking toys that are nice to use.

I'll get one, once it's 3G, I promise.

The biggest disappoinments

1) Second Life

"The ultimate virtual life." SL is reported to have like 20 million accounts and many businesses (like IBM) and institutions (like Harvard) and even countries (like Sweden) have presence there. Many people are making a living by selling and designing virtual stuff for Linden dollars which hade made this "world" a real economy.

So what. I don't know anyone who uses SL actively, and I haven't heard of any real good business cases where SL have been used succesfully. A lot of hype, but what is the future of this world? I guess Facebook was the answer to many peeps need for social networking and all this "virtual 3D" stuff was just a lot of hype. I tried SL once and found the interface and user experience irritating. Well see what happens to SL in 2008.


2) Joost

Don't get me started with this one. A great marketing strategy, I'll give them credit for that. Last spring all nerds were fighting for those limited beta accounts (well, with over 1.000.000 users then, it wasn't really that "limited") and this caused an effective buzz. But now the service is open to public, and don't know anyone who really uses is actively. This might me because it's more of an innovative technological platform than a service with any interesting content. And my experience is that the service is still full of bugs (it collapsed today when I tried to use it first time since june...).

Kriton Sends Them Season's Greetings

See you in 2008, homies!

Spirit of the radio

This is gonna be an ad for a small mobile operator, but what the heck, I found this a cool way to market their services. For a few more months you can put 100.0 MHZ on your FM dial and listen to a station that plays almost just hip hop. It's called Spiidi Fm and it's a temporary radio station sponsored totally by this company GSM Suomi. There are no dj's or hosts whatsoever, it's just music all day long. I really dig it, although it is a bit painful to listen to these low budget ads every ten minutes or so, that are (obviusly) solely promoting this company.

I mean Bassoradio is great, but this Spiidi Fm is like all hip hop from what I've tried it. You got some cool dirty south tunes mixed with some R Kelly and stuff - who else plays this kinda stuff here?

So big up for those guys who made this - I may not be subscribing to this particular mobile service in the near future, but at least they bring some joy to my life. That's a lot to say for a mobile operator, who usually concentrate on pushing forward the most boring message; the price, the price and the price. I mean Elisa or Sonera ain't done shit to make me feel good, but these guys have.

Swedish Disco Love. From Me 2 You.

New weeks, new tricks. And I'm not meaning those freestyle bike tricks Kanye is probably right now working hard to perfect on his Vigorelli track bike for his next video.

Anyhow, for some strange reason I'm really feeling THIS SONG right now: 
The Sounds - Tony the Beat (Rex the Dog Remix)

Of course it's good only because Rex The Dog remixed the original boring-ish power pop fake punk track into nice bouncy electro disco version.

And yeah, the singer chick sounds pretty hot too, in that special nasty way, with the heavy swedish accent, dirty voice, provocative lyrics and all. 

'Uuuuh baby, ja, ja, hej vill du festa med mig, vad, eller hur?'. She sounds like the type of chick you'd like to meet, yet be scared of meeting, in trendy bar at Södermalm when you're already drunk on mellan öl and in high on party mood. Don't even try to deny you wouldn't...

(FYI: Maybe I need to point out here that the singer is actually -unfortunately- neither of the girls on the cover of The Sounds' album  above. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that those lovely ladies on the cover shot are some fab real-life NYC scenesters...)

Kanye West Spotted in Trackstar NYC Buying a Fixed Gear Bike!

RED ALERT!  This Just in: Teh Fixed Gear Trend has reached the tipping point!

The title of the post pretty much says it all: 

Look here: "fyi, i was at trackstar today and kanye west came in and bought a track bike. which track bike u say? u want to know so u can either go out and buy it or giving up track riding all together?"

And a lil' bit more here. 

"So, my sources have told me that not only did Kanye West roll through Trackstar yesterday, but he is getting a "blinged" out Vigorelli and the guys from DQM taught him how to skid."

And for Trackstar NYC, click here. 

Oh, here's another fine photo of Kanye flying oh so high on his limited edition Vigorelli track bike... 

RIP Ike Turner - Black Man's Soul

Here we go again. More bad news. 

Our blog is starting to look like a funeral service for yesterday's stars but hey, you gotta respect these artists and entertainers, right?

Ike Turner, the official bad man died yesterday in his home in San Diego at the age of 76. R.I.P. 

What can you say about him? Apparently he was not nice dude in his personal life, had his problems with substances etc. but he certainly got the funk, and looked funky fly, always. 

Don't know about his guitar playing but his deep baritone voice kicks ass on some of those old recordings and some of his solo stuff after parting ways with Tina is pretty damn hot too. Ike and his band Kings of Rhythm and their 'Funky Mule' is a classic super breakbeat sampled countless times by hip hop producers and the 'Black Man's Soul' album is a Classic with capital C. So do yourself a favor, click the link, download the album and remember Ike. 

EDIT!

Today I just read the according to the coroners' report, Ike actually died of a cocaine overdose. Nuff said. 

Helsinki Vice corrupted

The Ministry of Interior has finished its report into the conduct of Helsinki narcotics police. The Ministry suspects narcotics police of wrongdoing in the course of their investigations. They have found 7 people who may have turned a blind eye to the crimes of their informants in order to get information from them. Even the captain of the narc-unit is one of the suspects.

If this is the case, it's typical behauvior of cops that we see on tv. Too bad that the finnish juridical system doesn't approve this kind of actions here, this aint NYC.

But there might be more to it... You know what happens when you deal with drug lords, we've all seen Miami Vice: easy money attracts weak minds. Maybe there are some cops buying speed boats on a basic cop's salary.

What makes me lose faith in the great police force is that after this was announceced two-thirds of Helsinki's narcotics investigators called in sick at the end of the week in what is believed to be a protest action.

So, when the going gets tough, the tough stay home and whine. Is this how the law enforcement institution likes to see itself?

Postcards from Russia.

After all the sad news it's maybe time to check out something funnier and more entertaining.
(Even if some of this is actually quite sad if you really think about it.)

Russia and all the countries that used to be known as the Soviet Union were and are still quite mystery to many people who have never visited any of them. Those strange vodka-drinking and melancholy people with their balalaikas and caviar and uniforms and pickled vegetables are somehow very exotic even today to us born on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

So, as a picture speaks more than thousand words, maybe a bunch of postcard-like photos from contemporary Russia will help us understand better?

Now, click this...

R.I.P. Pimp C - an Underground King is down

it's really sad to see that the Kriton Music blog is starting to look like your newspaper obituary pages.
But this one we simply cannot let pass without noticing.

Chad Butler a.k.a the legendary Pimp C from UGK has been found dead. Read the newspiece from memphisrap.com for more info. The peeps at Kriton HQ just want to remind you that Pimp C was one of a kind - a great rapper, excellent and original sounding producer plus also a very good singer (a side of him that all of his tracks always didn't show).

First "Free Pimp C" was THE international hiphop campaign, now we're just waiting for the "R.I.P. Pimp C" t-shirts to hit the streets.

And here's the news bit quoted from memphisrap.com:

"According to serveral reports Pimp C of the legendary Houston-based rap group UGK was found dead in his Hollywood hotel room earlier this morning. Pimp C, born Chad Butler, 33, who would have turned 34 this coming December 29, was found in his bed at the Sunset Strip's Mondrian Hotel after Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a 911 call.

Currently there is not other information regarding his death except that UGK's publicist at Jive Records confirmed Pimp C's death to Billboard.com and said a statement will be issued soon.

This comes just three days after Pimp C performed with Too $hort at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.

Rumors are already spreading that the cause of the rapper's death was an overdose. "

Another one bites the dust

This blog has been focusing on body counting these last few days. The latest one to go was Evel Knievel, the motorcycling stuntman and daredevil legend. I personally remember picking up his name from some old rap song and I thought it was a cool name even before I knew what he did for living. He had some beef with Kanye West last years, but he made peace with Mr. West just before hispassing away. The beef had to do with Kanye's video:

"Knievel had sued Kanye West and Roc-A-Fella Records in Dec. 2006 after West released a video for “Touch The Sky.” In the video, West assumed the name "Evel Kanyevel" and donned several of Knievel’s staple looks, including a unique “WK” belt buckle, according to thesmokinggun.com"

Watch the vid to see Evel in action.

No more Cum On Feel The Noize! Kevin DuBrow R.I.P.

So maybe you read this sad news already but  yeah, one more 1980s L.A. Glam rocker is no more.  Quiet Riot's vocalist Kevin DuBrow was found dead yesterday in his home in Las Vegas. He was 52. 

What can I say? I used to be fan when I first started listening to metal music back in mid 1980s, he had a super cool voice. One of the first riffs I learned to play on electric guitar was Quiet Riot's 'Metal Health (Band Your Head)'. It was that easy, yet cool too. 

Click this for another and much better clip of Quiet Riot at their prime. 

I guess the real C.S.I. Las Vegas dudes get to do the autopsy and find out about the why and the what. 

Don't localize, plz

One of those little things that don't work is when online services get localized. This time it's MySpace. I mean, a cool service, still needed in the music community but now this. So when you're from Finland, you get the whole user interface in finnish. Which is cool, if all the content on the page is in the same language, but when it's not, it doesn't work. Sorry.

And think about the swedish talking minority here - it's a bilingual country, so all those swedish talking guys behind a finnish IP-address are now confused and reaching for their dictionaries. What does "ystävää" mean? Vad är det här, jag förstår inte, Staffan!!! Hjälp!

Check out. Kriton High Space

Digital Dan, the coolest guy ever

Last week I attended SIME-conference in Stocholm and one of the speakers was Dan Dubno, AKA Digital Dan . I didn't know of this guy, he's a former CBS News reporter who specialized in new gagdets and techie-stuff. He no longer works for CBS, but you can view some clips of Gizmorama here.

Anyways, this guy is the coolest dude ever. First of all he announced that his favourite hobby is blowing up things (!) and that he once set a lake on fire. And he then showed his t-shirt, that had a build in applause-o-meter that showed the audience reactions in classic VU-meter style. On the front of his t-shirt!!! How interactive and cool ist that??!!!! And among many things he introduced

- talking pill boxes
- IR binoculars
- 3d printers
- plastic forks that dissapear after you use them
- interactive newspapers / tablets (like from the movie Minority Report)

This guy is the gizmo-god. I pay muchos respect to him.

Steal This Garment.

While browsing the Turntable Lab's weekly spam email I just happened to notice that FUCT has reissued some of their classic t-shirt designs. Well, while this kind of nostalgia is of course totally lame, I simply cannot but to dig it. After all, I'm already stuck fashion-wise in the 1990s of my youth anyway.

Back in the mid-1990s and during the huge skatewear boom FUCT somehow managed to stand apart and keep a bit subversive, as opposed to every other brand. They had cool designs which, at least of them, you didn't really feel like wearing in the company of your aunties and grandparents. They were clever, and not banally tasteless and stupid like all the shitty brands that copied them later, Pornstar being probably the worst example.

I still have warm feelings for my good old "Kill People. Not Animals." -tee. 

Many (even young) people took that one surprisingly seriously at the time: 

"Are you some kind of animal rights activist, or something?" 

Suckers. It worked. 

Respect. Which is easy to say as I now can afford to pay 38 USD for a t-shirt, if I want to. But do they still have that classic "STEAL THIS GARMENT" printed in the back of the label? 

I hope they do.

I'd Rather Jack... Well Not Really

I'd rather Fleetwood Mac. Than Jack, just so you know.

And actually I did. Alhtough "Rhiannon" is by far one of my favorite Mac-tunes, i still did a remix of it. Well actually it's a completely new track that just samples Rhiannon's divine guitar riff. Anthemic spacey shit, with a slight italo vibe. Produced by Alppila of Kriton fame.

So now "Will You Ever Win" (the title is taken from the closed caption bit in FM's original Rhiannon single release... so as a single it was called "Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)") is doing damage in the Kriton MySpace player. And if you dont tell anone, you just might be able to download it from here.

Greg On A Schwinn.

Watch out for this mean dudester!

So friggin' beautiful back then, wasn't it?

We've discussed here of some of the bands that we Kriton boys have played in. There have been quite a few different bands from Sideffect's melodic punk to Chunking Dwee & Twat Juice Dwindler's funk rock to emorock of Genius Breed and Duplo's garage rock to Down My Throat's hardcore metal to Mighty Mullet's 70's/80's heavyrock covers to name a few. But what we all share is the past in the band Belmondo. Yepp, and now it's on Youtube, check out these vids:

Big Arnie Loves Weed.

My favorite ex-bodybuilder & Terminator cum politician, Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently publicly stated that "That is not a drug. It's a leaf," when asked about smoking cannabis.

In fact, he has already earlier admitted smoking marijuana in the 1970s but when interviewed recently by the GQ magazine he stated that he had never taken drugs. He had just smoked weed instead. This would be kinda hard for him to deny since there exists a movie filmed in his Mr. Universe Days in the 1970s in which he is getting high. There's been also stories about stoned group sex sessions and orgies during his body-building days etc.



I'd say Righ On, Conan The Barbarian!



America needs more progressive and liberal political vision now more than ever. And we better also remember that he has a strong environmental vision and California's environmental laws are most progressive in USA.

EDIT!

Lazy me! Here's the actual video of Arnold smoking The Joint, and telling about it, courtesy of YouTube, of course.
Thanks again, Giac.

'Cocaina Nella Chitarra Elettrica' & Plenty Of It!

Weeeell, we've been blogging about guitars, cocaine and traveling here, among many other things of course. Giac (thanks!) just sent a link to these 2 totally great pictures.

I cannot post the protected images here but clickclick & wonder at these:

Pic 1.

Pic 2.

Courtesy of La Rebubblica and Italian Customs.

So from what little Italian I understand, that black Stratocaster arrived from Costa Rica to Fiumicino, the Rome International Airport, and only wanted to come and play some totally sweet licks for/by someone, like Eric Clapton (who is known to have indulged more than his share in the good old days) before the evil Italian Customs interfered and blew everything...

The Soviet dumpster find fixed gear coversion bike project, pt. 2: It's Ready.

Back in early September I reported about how I salvaged a complete Soviet-made 1970s Kharkov XB3 road bike from a trash dumpster and I promised I will convert it into a trendy fixed gear bike. Well, now the bike is ready. I've been riding it for a long time already but the build was not completely finished until now.

In my original post I talked about having to get lot of new parts but in the end I found out that there was actually no need for stuff like new bottom bracket because it was just fine, then I just couldn't get the old cottered cranks off without destroying them, the double-chainring was usable as such and so on and so on. In fact, even the original tube tires, which proudly said CCCP on the sides, held air when I pumped them. As for the rest of the bike I can say that the best part is the frame-set, it's an old school classic road bike lugged steel-frame. I've no idea of what kind of steel the tubes are but the frame is very light just as it should be, and much lighter you would expect any old russian bike to be. And the size was also just right for me.

Anyhow, along the building process I decided that since the bike was free in the first place, I was not gonna use much money on it. As a result the only new things I bought for it were the funky color-coordinated kiwi green Oury BMX grips and one new inner-tube. Everything else on the bike is either original, taken from my other bikes, my parts box, scavenged somewhere or from the local recycling center bike workshop's parts pile.

The bike is intended mainly as my winter/rainy weather beater/commuter-bike and I will still put a fender on the back wheel once I find that one missing right size screw from somewhere. The gearing is kinda light (40X18), for winter use, and for the same reason the tires are of the knobby cyclocross-kind.

And no, I will not post a picture of my bike on Fixed Gear Gallery, Velospace, Pinkbike or any of those places...

BEST SONG IN THE UNIVERSE right now.

Due to the serious WACK ATTACK provided by that video on the previous post, I'm forced to counter attack with the heaviest means I have in my possession.

Quick, here is the antidote.
And like righ now, THIS is probably the BEST SONG IN THE UNIVERSE.

Listen to the loose luscious groove, that ambient airy-ness, the funky snap of the drums, the jittery percussion of straight african decent, the heavy on-money-bassline bounce, the SOULful vocal, just everything in it. Oh, Lord.

You will be healed from the pain caused by Anssi and his bass. At least I was.

Cymande 'Brothers On The Slide'.

Kelaa this

We all know the character from his massive hits a few years back, but now he's got sumthin' to say 'bout popping that bass. Che-che-check it out!

And he also likes to play Iron Butterfly in a major scale... That's funny but my old friend T.Rislakki told me that they used to do this kinda stuff way back before Anssi.

Party ALERT! Rave at Elimäenkatu Squat In Vallila.

Here's the deal. During the past summer there's a small but dedicated group of young squatters took over six different abandoned and empty buildings in Helsinki, in order to start an Italian-style Social Centre.

The newspapers reported a lot about their activities and their radical political agenda but unfortunately the cops also kept busy kicking the squatters out from every place they entered, with the help of riot squad, tear gas, batons, helicopters and all that normal sh*t.

However; in August something strange happened. After the squatters took over an old rundown building (in Elimäenkatu street) in the Vallila industrial district, for reasons unknown to me, the owner of the building did not ask the police to empty the building like in all previous cases. So, currently there is an Autonomous Social Centre in Helsinki and now the building has been cleaned and organized enough so that freeform parties, gigs, movie viewings, workshops etc. can be organized. No bouncers, no closing times, cheap drinks etc. always make for a more fun party, right?

I'm personally all for this kinda stuff happening, so here's the info (in Finnish) on first slighly bigger happening at Elimäenkatu, next saturday actually.

* * * * *

TECHNO FREAKS

La 20.10.2007 | 22-06 | 5e |
Elimäenkatu 15a (Vallila)
Busseilla 62, 64, 65, 66 ja 67 kaksi pysäkinväliä Sörnäisistä pohjoiseen.


ALAKERTA

Pietari (La Persé) | Poro (pihaus.org) | Snoxn (Hytky) | Olli&Karel (Hytky) | Docius (Hytky / Viidakkorumpu)

Vallilan teollisuusalueella sijaitseva hylätty ravintola on vallattu viime
elokuussa kapitalismin vastaiseksi monitoimitilaksi ja ihmisten
kohtauspaikaksi. Tila on suonut puitteet monien politiikka- ja
taideprojektien toteuttumiselle, minkä vuoksi talo henkii voimakasta
tunnelmaa. Myös graffitigalleriaksi muodostunut katutason varastotila on nyt
tyhjennetty romuista ja se pistetään bilekuntoon tykillä äänentoistolla ja
hytkytyylisillä efekteillä. Varastoreivitunnelmissa tampataan housea,
elektroa, teknoa, uutta ja vanhaa.

YLÄKERTA

Erkko & Makelove (Misf*ts) | J-TEL | Canyini (Hytky) | Push-ups

Yläkerrassa soitetaan loungetunnelmissa elektroa, indie-rockia, new wavea ja
triphoppia ja tuhmaa housea. Bile-eläimet voivat ostaa kohtuuhintaista
ruokaa ja juomaa ja molempiin huoneisiin järjestetty lämmitys lievittämään
sekä hyvässä että huonossa mielessä karua biletilaa.

The BIG Radiohead Album Download Scam...

Ok. Now that everyone has bought a download of the new Radiohead album 'In Rainbows', and paid something or not for it, it is time to lift the curtain and tell the truth about the whole hulabaloo.

Two points.

1.) The album is quite nice, IMHO. More pop than the last albums, less 'experimental' for sure, but the songs are actually pretty good.

2.) 'The whole buy the donwload and pay how much/little you want thing' is one big hoax, just a big marketing gimmick.
Why? I'll tell you why. The downloadable album is encoded at crappy 160kbps. It's like a damn C-cassette. Anyone who paid more that 1 Euro for that donwload is an ass. Sorry.

Come on, do you actually want to pay any money for audio quality as poor as that? No, you don't, or at least you should not - as a paying customer, that is. Anyone who actually listens to music and appreciates the audio quality at all - and I'm not talking about those audiophile jerks-offs who listen to their €€€€-costing cables during their lonely nights at home - have to wait until January or whenever the cd is actually going to be released, period.

Also, this shows that Thom & boys are really smart. Good for them.

EDIT:
I just found out that the downloadable so-called-album does not even include all the songs. The actual real cd/double vinyl album will have more songs than the ones released last week. This fact only proves my points.

This is the euro nite!

Sounds kinda wack, but still kinda pleasing to the ear. Maybe 'cos I'm a sentimental fool. But can ya really blame these dudes / dudettes? This is euro! But the keyboard sound is wack fi real. And this used to sound better in finnish still.

White Lobster! Praise Jah!

Guardian reported of this nice incident in the caribbean.

Local people are getting loads of free cocaine floating from the sea, 'cos the smugglers seem to drop "White Lobster" in to the sea for various reasons.

"They consider it a blessing from God. You see people all day just walking up and down the beaches keeping a lookout to sea," said Louis Perez, the police chief in Bluefields, the main port on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast."

Aren't these trafficers modern day Robin Hoods?

In your face Myspace!

As you can see from the chart above, Facebook is slowly reaching more and more people, and might be soon as big as Myspace. And now Facebook is giving more attention to musicians, giving them a possibility to create pages for their bands and promote their tracks and upcoming concerts on the site. Myspace has for long been the place to promote artists, but now it seems that FB is trying to win this battle as well. Read the article here

We gotsta get dem Kriton Boyz on the 'Book soon!

Street Market. In Vallila Style.

All right, check out the photo. It’s taken last Saturday afternoon on Mäkelankatu, right next to where I live.
A real Street Market – in the best Vallila style.

So what’s actually going on there? Apparently someone had died or been kicked out of flat, or something, and all his/her stuff, the contents of the whole flat basically, had been emptied out on the street by the landlord. This happens sometimes in every city, right? Especially when the legal protection of the tenants is as weak as it here in Finland currently but let’s not get into politics right now.

Anyhow, when I dropped by in the afternoon to check out what was going on there was a bunch of young and quite entrepreneurial substance-abuser/junkie-type dudes who had already taken control of the pile, sorted all the good stuff away and where selling things to people passing by.

When I came to the scene the main dude, in blue coveralls, was feverishly trying to call someone and to borrow a van to get the stuff away from the street. I need to admit here that I actually ended up negotiating with him a bit and bought a nice Shimano MTB front wheel for 2 Euros for one of my bike projects.

Supporting the local economy. Or something.

RED ALERT: Nagamarque Live !!!

So, it's finally happening, our favorite Aussie-in-Finland is about to drop his first CDR on Kriton Records. The first - extremely limited edition - batch is discs is already printed and all that but for now concentrate on this:

The man & his laptop is performing live at the 10th Improv Helsinki Session on Sunday, October 7th at a very interesting new venue, The Barracks (Kasarmikatu 36, 00130 Helsinki). The show time is at eight, so be early. However, please note that Fatto Spinelli, the vocalist features on the new CDR, is unfortunately unable to participate on this gig due to other commitments but he has promised to be there for the next week, soon.

Other artists of the Improv Helsinki night are E.Coli K-15 & Ben Byrne.

Right On, Bro!

Tru Oldskool Sneakers

Since 1948 the Dassler bros did their own separate things with Puma and Adidas, but now they're (well, not these guys themselves I guess) bringing back the Dassler Schuhfabrik -brand, where it all started. This Dassler Schuhfabrik is supposed to be a real nostalgic thingy, that's inspired by those old models from pre WWII.

I'd call the real old skool.

The Grand Skateboarding Versus Progressive Rock Debate

The comments and ensuing debate concerning my recent post of the cool Indy’s Pool-shaped ashtray and the Phil Collins related post below got me doing some surfing with Google images. And thinking.

This lead me to make two conclusions:

1.) Skateboarding, while certainly a fun hobby, is not very healthy for you in the long term.
An example: Duane Peters AKA ‘The Master of Disaster’, the anti-Tony Hawk, a truly legendary skateboarder but also an archetype of an aging punk rocker, as well as substance abuser, a convicted felon, etc. all in true American Style ™.





2.) Progressive rock, on the other hand, seems to have quite an opposite effect than skateboarding, as illustrated by the case of Phil Collins, an aging prog-rocker turned into, well, your dad, apparently.



Needless to say that I personally find this empirical evidence and findings to be extremely interesting, actually verging on being rather shocking.

Skateboarding is, by its true essence, a physical sport and a fine form of exercise, which should be good for you, right?

But progressive rock, isn't that one of the shadiest sub-gebres of 1970s rock music? Dirty haired dope-smoking hippies composing grandiose and mostly incomprehensible musical opuses and theme albums lasting for (in worst cases) hours and hours and dealing with strange issues such as Aliens, sub-consciousness and Freudian dreams and so on and so on.

I can feel it part III

This is a banger. One more really good online video ad.

"Perfect gift for any skater who smokes"

Yea, I know it's bit tired to keep on blogging about all the stupid items such as this, or the Minimug, that Turntable Lab newsletter keeps stuffing my email with but check this out anyway.

It's a really cool ashtray, Indy's 'Hogan's Pool Ceramic Ashtray' or the "perfect gift for any skater who smokes".

Independent Truck Co., are hearing me out, pleasepleaseplease send me one of these, our studio screams "I NEED IT!!!".

The Coolest Mug. Ever. Minimug.

Coffee is good, yes? We drink a lot of it, yes? So...

Ooooh, aaaahhh, lovely! Look above, this must be simply the coolest coffee mug ever.

The Minimug.

New Fixed-Gear Bicycle Owner's Manual

Since I've been suffering severely from the Fixed Gear Fever(tm) as reported here earlier, this amused me a lot.

EDIT:
I found the source of the text, it's BIKE SNOB NYC.
After discovering it I no longer have any need to blog about any of this stuff anymore. Ever.

New Fixed-Gear Bicycle Owner's Manual

Contratulations on the purchase of your Bianchi Pista/Specialized Langster/Cannondale Capo/Jamis Sputnik or similar. Your new bicycle should give you many days of enjoyment until you tire of it for aesthetic reasons and list it on Craigslist for the full retail price in order to help fund the purchase of an NJS-certified keirin bike, a vintage Fender Telecaster, or your move to another, trendier city.

Until that moment arrives, here are some things you need to know in order to get the most enjoyment out of your new toy:

A Note on the Fixed Gear Drivetrain

Your bicycle is equipped with a fixed gear drivetrain. For this reason you may want to alter your riding style accordingly. Firstly, ride slowly. Very slowly. This is the best way to avoid obstacles. When riding with friends on city streets, in bike lanes, or in parks, it is acceptable to disregard the flow of car or bicycle traffic and ride in whichever direction you choose. Slowly. If you find yourself traveling in the same direction as traffic and encounter an intersection with a red light or turning vehicle and are unable to stop, simply turn right. Riding around the block will eventually put you back on course and save you embarrassment and injury. In fact, did you know it's possible to get to any point on an urban street grid using only right turns? Well, it is. And it's safe and fun! Remember this acronym: AAL (Always Avoid Lefts).

Furthermore, your drivetrain enables you to enjoy your bicycle without having to actually ride it more than a few feet at a time. Fun things to try include: skidding, skip-stopping, trackstanding, and putting stickers and colorful parts on it.

Upgrading

It is important to begin the process of upgrading your bicycle’s appearance immediately. This can occasionally have the side-effect of improving your bicycle’s performance as well. Fortunately there are increasing numbers of track bicycle boutique shops. These shops dispense with the selection, service, and expertise of old-fashioned bike shops and instead focus on catering to your every candy-colored whim. They can also offer you sound and practical advice. Best of all, they carry lots of cool t-shirts.

Proper Usage

Though the model name or advertising copy for your bicycle may include words like “pista,” “track,” or “entry-level racing,” in no circumstances should you attempt to use your bicycle on or for any of the above. Doing so shall void your warranty.

“Proper Usage” includes: riding slowly to the bike boutique to purchase accessories and clothing; photographing your bike for submission to on-line galleries; participation in ad-hoc skidding contests; and doing track stands for hours outside of the residence of a person you would like to impress.

Handlebars

Your handlebars are wrapped in tape made of synthetic cork. Please note that the purpose of this tape is to protect your bars during shipping. This tape should be removed immediately.

You should be aware that once the tape is removed the bars may be slippery and difficult to grip. If this is the case, remove bars from stem, invert, and re-install. Then, using a hacksaw, cut in the middle of the curved portion until the excess length is removed. Your hands will now be slightly less likely to slip from the bars due to the limited hand position. This is called “flop n’ chop,” and your bicycle is now a gelding.

Brakes

Depending on make and model, your bicycle may have been shipped with a brake or a pair of brakes pre-installed. These brakes should only be used in emergencies. Once you are comfortable bringing the bicycle to a safe and complete stop without using the brakes, they should be removed and discarded.

The term “safe and complete stop” means bringing the bicycle from 5mph to 0mph in a distance of no more than 50 feet.

Safety

Whenever operating your bicycle, safety should be your primary concern. Be sure to have a qualified mechanic install a top-tube pad immediately. Thanks very much for your purchase, and welcome to the exciting world of track cycling!

Cycling in Helsinki. Hazardous business. And then some.

Since we been discussing different aspects of bicycles and cycling here, here, here and here, recently I wanted to bring couple of bits of information related to biking in Helsinki and in Finland that I've read on main national newspaper Helsingin Sanomat during the last two days.

Here we go. Some pro-biking propaganda, or something like that, from yours truly.

1.) Yesterday the newspaper reported a study concerning bike accidents in traffic in Finland. It turned out that according to a serious estimate while there are annually lot of bike accidents, in seventy, yeah you got it right, 70, percent of those the cyclist had been DRUNK. Like what the f**k? People please. And yeah, I've ridden my bike while intoxicated fo'sho but still.

2.) And from today's newspaper: According to survey done by the City Of Helsinki, while the citizens were most happy with the public traffic and less happy about the state of car traffic and they were least happy about the state of cycling lanes and generally thought cycling in Helsinki scary and difficult. Yeah, you got that f**cking right. Don't even get me started on this one.

Oh, and people please do remember, tomorrow, Septermer 22nd, is The Annual World Carless Day. So leave yo polluting metal cows at the parking lot tomorrow and ride yo bikes (or public traffic) instead. It's good for the environment, less car traffic is generally nicer for everybody, your health might actuallu improve and all that.

Oh, one more thing, my salvaged fixed gear bike project (pictured above) is currently taking a lil' time out since I'm still missing some crucial tools and parts but also because I already have my lovely Raleigh USA Racing Gran Prix fixie up and running AND because I just acquired yet another interesting project, and for very reasonable price too.

Rock Star Phenomenon

What's up with this thing, that rappers like to rap about rock stars, about acting like rocktars and such things? First came out Party Like A Rock Star by Shop Boyz, then R Kelly's/Ludacris' "Rockstar" and now Chamillionaire's new album has a song titled "Rockstar". And to top it all Chamillionaire's "Industry Groupie" samples long parts of "Final Countdown" by Europe. Well, judge yourself, if it works...

Chamillionaire - Industry Groupie mp3

Saturday Night's Alright for Pimpin'

Yrz truly, Alppila along with one of the original Helsinki hiphop heads, DJ Fyrre will spin that rap-rnb-related shit. Tomorrow, sat 15th at We Got Beef (Iso Roba, for those of you who grew up in a barrell).

Resident DJ Henrikki cannot make it because of some recent family business. Congratulations to Henrikki & his familia!

Nuff said, homies. See you there.

Dude, where's my Lamborghini?

Kriton is movin again. This time it's commercial.

Yes, we just made our first leap into big budget advertising business, by making this beat for a new Lamborghini campaign, Where Is My Lamborghini?. To be exact, it is a teaser site for a future Lamborghini game (which platform, i don't really know...).

Why, you may ask. Because we friggin could. And Lambo's are cool. Plus, we got to make exactly the beat that we wanted, without no "suits" getting in the way of our creative process (read: beer drinking). So we'll definitely make more stuff like this in the future too! fun. Fun! FUN!

Art direction by fiilin.com, 3d and flash stuff made by some other peeps, who did a great job BTW. Don't you just love fast cars!

Party like a rockstar!

Early last sunday I took a long and a slow longboard cruising session around my hood. When I got to Ruoholahti I found out that some wannabe rockstar seems to live there. That's what I thought 'cos there was this pile of electronics that turned out to be a tv that had been thrown out of the window. After quick investigation I realized that it was no real rock star who had done it: it was a crappy old tv, no HD-ready flatscreen. But it had gone to really small pieces, so the actual throwing must have looked cool though. Totally dude!

What's synthtron? Or anthem breaks?

Yadadamean? If you're not sure, surf to Ishkur's Guide To Electronic Music. It's a cool web site that maps various (techno) styles together and offers soundsamples of each genre as well.

But why isn't there a detailed description of the differences between Punavuori Techno and Kallio techno.

See what I found on a garbage dump today. Fixed Gear Bike Project.

I'm a kind of a person who gets really into something every once in a while and I also love to have all kinds of hobby projects. Well, I recently wrote here about how I got into bicycles again and how I converted my old MTB into a single speed cruiser.

I'm still really into the bicycles and the next logical step after my single speed bike project I had could only be to get a real fixed gear bike, like the kind all bike messengers and hipsters ride. Important part of that game is that you really need to build the bike by yourself, not just to go to a shop with your credit card in your hand and buy a Biachi Pista, Giant Bowery, Raleight Rush Hour or some other fixie that some big bike brands are already churning out from their conveyor belts. No sir, that would be lame.

Interestingly, while I been studying & and getting into the whole fixed gear bike thing, I've found people saying on several discussion forums stuff like: "fixed gear bikes is the new skateboarding...", there are also ex-pro skateboarders making skate video -style movies about riding fixed bikes in San Francisco and Tokyo etc.

Anyhow, now after this over-long intro, here's what happened to day: I was on nice Sunday walk with my girlfriend and our daughter and I just happened to look into a garbage dumpster by a house, like I often do, and now what did I find there?

A cool 1970s vintage steel frame racing bike, with a real leather seat and all. Bit grimy fo'sho but all intact except for the tires. Like whoa, dude! Sure, I took it home and I will convert it into a fixed gear bike ASAP because that's the best thing you can do with those kind of bikes, basically. The actual project with the bike that I'm starting now could be bit complicated but I will keep you posted about the developments. First I need to acquire some things, like new tires, bottom bracket, crank set, chain wheel, chain, pedals, riser handlebar, grips, a track cog and a lockring - just to get my project started...

But wait, there's more. I wanted to know more about the bike but there were no decals or any other markings of any type, only thing I found was that all components had XB3 written on them. After some Googling I found out that the bike was apparently made by Ukrainian Kharkov bike factory, and of course in the Soviet Union. Actually, it was made by one of the only two factories in CCCP making racing bikes, and apparently Kharkov was the better factory out of the two. Nice.

The tipping point

All who have read Gladwell's book by the same name know what the term means. It's basically a point, when a previously rare phenomenon becomes rapidly and dramatically more common. Like crocs sandals some time ago (yucch!, Ok, let's not go there, but crocs are not for adults, and especially not for adult males youhearme!), and now they're a real mass phenomenon.

Well, these last weeks must have been the tipping point for Facebook here in Finland. As I write this a lot of finnish peeps are signing up for the service. Facebook has been quite popular in the US since last september when it opened up for the masses (previously it was a reserved for students), and now it seems to get a hold here in the northern hemisphere. When I tried it last spring it seemed like another place for social networking like MySpace, but it's technically a lot more advanced. You can so easily add cool applications that really work and the interface is pretty good when u get the hang of it. U just gotta play around with it. And I fell for it this week.

What makes me wonder is what's gonna happen to MySpace, or is this going to draw crowds from more "adult" services like LinkedIn.

However the Kriton Posse is alreade there, and we likes it. Let's just wait if this really becomes a mass phenomenon, it sure seems like it, 'cos the buzz is really big at the moment.

The first Kriton video "Scared Money" is finally here!

Okay, this is it then. The first official Kriton High School Bangers video (and at the same time the first video from Kriton Music) "Scared Money". Written, directed, produced and edited by fiilin.com. There's birds, there's a scary looking dude, there's explosions. There's even rap samples!

Recognize it, watch it, rate it, favorite it, comment it on Youtube!

[EDIT]
Okay, check this out: Youtube videos are crap quality. If you wanna check out what the video is REALLY supposed to look like, peep here (.mov = 60mb). It looks damn NYCE!

Dave Chappelle don't smoke weed anymore...

...with black people.

I can still feel it...

We've already posted way too many entries concerning Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight, so why stop now?
I think I'm just gonna go on and on blogging, as long as i've got something to write about that song.

A classic is a classic is a classic, and you can't even ruin it by making an atmospheric tribal deep house remix of it.
Well, I'm sure you could. But Osunlade didn't.

Here's Osunlade's brand new remix of In The Air Tonight (out on 12" on some label which i can't remember right now)
Enjoy!

Osunlade vs. Phil Collins: In The Air Tonight (mp3)

Me a Posenger now. My 'Sinkula' is here.

Ok, while we are on the subject of the bikes, look up, there's a v2.0 incarnation from my old mountain bike. Now turned into a single speed urban cruiser, or basically something like a big 26" BMX.

I had abandoned my old MTB some years ago. Originally I bought it in the mid-1990s, it used to be a good bike then, and I drove it hard until the gears, brakes and other parts where all worn out. Then I just left it in parents' garden shed and forgot about it.

However, this summer while on a holiday trip in Copenhagen I saw so many nice bikes around that it made me remember what I once had. I suppose I had also gotten a bit bored with my Jopo, I must admit. You need to have projects, and sometimes you need to be able to ride faster, right?

Now, with my bike project, basically I stripped off everything that I could and fitted a single speed conversion kit in the place of the old gear system. This changes completely the feeling of the bike, to a much nicer direction IMO. It is hard to explain but riding a single speed bike feels somehow more honest when it will only go as fast as you will pedal - and this is exactly why you wanna ride it fast. Also, having only a front brake forces you to really concentrate on your riding...

Finally, to give even nicer touch to my new/old bike, my man Teemu sorted me out with some nice extra fat slick tires, a more modern riser handlebar and a better seat.

All that fixed gear and single speed craze is apparently bit of a trendy thing now, so that makes me, what, a Posenger?

Kriton team longboard report #2

Last friday the Kriton Posse took their boards to various downhill spots in Helsinki to do some cruising. It was great,we all had a blast, and no one got hurt. We took over the long curvy road leading from Uimastadion to the parking lot of Stadion, and also tried the area around Hartwall arena. This week we gonna try something else. We love it.

It just proved that you can be over thirty and get a new hobby. Besides longboarding I've also started road cycling this summer ( see my bike here). I've been mountain biking for like 7 years now, so this kinda bikes were a bit weird to me. My ride is not a pure road/track bike, it's more like a urban shuttle type-o-thang, it a singlespeed, so there are no gears to get in the way. It has a flip-flop hub), so you could easily turn it into a fixed gear bike, but that's next year, right?