Late Night Flamenco, Barcelona a video by Rollofunk on Flickr.
Returned from a well spent week in Barcelona yesterday. Plenty and pictures, but for now only a short clip of someone who knew his moves.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Sailing From Switzerland
The first legs out of Basel can be pretty tough, sailing-wise, but once you get out on the Baltic things should go a lot easier. Or something.
Not the most common home port for a sailboat.
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Helsinki Afterwork
Here's a sample of what footage from the Unsteadycam setup looks like. Who needs dedicated GoPro's or Countours, anyway. Still needs some refinement, though, and the sensor of the trusty GF1 isn't perhaps at it's best when capturing fast movement.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Laing Family Bottlings
Left to right:
-Glen Spey 1991, 20yo, Edition Spirits
-Linkwood 1987, 24yo, Edition Spirits
-Mortlach 1989, 22yo, Edition Spirits
-Longmorn 1992, 19yo, Edition Spirits
-Bowmore 1987, 21yo, Douglas Laing
-Port Ellen 1982, 24yo, Douglas Laing
First four by son Andrew Laing's private label Edition Spirits, the last two by father Andrew Laing's own private label.
Andrew Laing Tasting @Punavuoren Ahvne 26.6.2012
Last Tuesday we had the pleasure to sit down for a tasting held by third generation independent whisky bottler Andrew Laing, who was in Finland promoting his coming private range: Edition Spirits. We got to sample four of his Speyside bottlings, as well as two Islay drams bottled by his, as for now, more famous father Douglas Laing. The Speysides especially were a nice eye-opener for me, as I never got to experience this kind of variety and quality from that are before.
Left to right:
-Glen Spey 1991, 20yo, Edition Spirits
-Linkwood 1987, 24yo, Edition Spirits
-Mortlach 1989, 22yo, Edition Spirits
-Longmorn 1992, 19yo, Edition Spirits
-Bowmore 1987, 21yo, Douglas Laing
-Port Ellen 1982, 24yo, Douglas Laing
My personal favourite of this menu was actually the Mortlach. A rarity from a refill Bourbon Hogshead cask. Apparently the distillery uses mostly Sherry casks, which sometimes can be a bit overpowering in the flavour palette, but this one was very nice.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Unsteadycam
This setup worked surprisingly well on a few occasions, and less so most of the time. At least it was worth trying.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Shiny New Card
One fine day I mentioned that my old Finnair Plus card was peeling its cover plastic and starting to look shabby. A helpful soul at Finnair spotted the tweet, and promptly replied that they'll send me a new card. That's what good service is all about: Exceeding customer expectations and finding new channels to engage people.
Interviewed
In コドモビクトリー Magazine, issue 45. Only available in Japan, I guess. Subject was the Finnish education system all the way up to university level, and my own experiences growing up in it. Answering five pages of questions in Japanese was quite a challenge, but turned out OK.
Monday, June 04, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Old and Rare Tasting @ Punavuoren Ahven
From left to right:
Bunnahabhain 31yo (distilled 1978, bottled 2009)
Bowmore 36yo (distilled 1972, bottled 2008)
Laphroaig 27yo (distilled 1981, bottled 2008)
An evening of superlatives should suffice to describe this line-up.
Old and Rare (And One Empty)
When the last drops of a 36 year old single malt are consumed it is a special night indeed.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Hiking Lunch, Boughton Lees
Not the average hiking lunch of instant noodles. Notice how the camera has tried to focus on the symbolic salad included. As if that would fool anyone.
The Pilgrims Way
When going to London, why not pack hiking gear as well. Very nice trail spotted by V and D, of which we did an 18km stretch between the quaint Kentish villages of Charing and Chilham.
Parthenon Sculptures
One can have opinions about the British subjugating and exploiting much of the world back in the day, but it sure made possible to create a great museum. Spent an afternoon going through the awesome British Museum, and felt I could have spent several more!
The Gerkhin
Been pretty busy since I got back, what with 22 hour quick visits to Munich for work and such, but had a great time in ye olde London towne! Much obliged to my gracious hosts V and D, and all the great people I had a chance to meet.
Friday, May 04, 2012
Speeding Koreans
Speeding Koreans a video by Rollofunk on Flickr.
Flying in to London yesterday, our Finnair A321 got passed over Germany by a Korean Air 747-400. Guess they were in a hurry.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Showing Colours
On the surface you can't (all stereotyping aside) really say if a Finn is natively Finnish speaking or Swedish speaking. However, on the eve of May 1st the white student caps come out, and from the colours on the inside, and a few other details, you can tell a lot about the persons linguistic background.
Friday, April 27, 2012
PDP Gala 2012
Today I really felt I'm living in the current World Design Capital: In the morning and up to lunch I was at Finpro listening to presentations on service design by people from IDEO in London, plus heard four Finnish company cases related to that. Then in the afternoon I headed out to Otaniemi to enjoy the creative madness that is the annual Product Development Project exhibition. As usual, the students had put in long hours and good effort, so the demo effects that some prototype's suffered were easily forgiven. Too bad we consultant types don't get to involve students in our projects.
One thing I was a bit surprised about was that some teams weren't really interested in presenting, but were rather just hanging around and chatting with each other. For example LINK is hiring now, and I might have been a good target for some networking, even though I don't make the hiring decisions. Perhaps they were just all tired from finishing the proto's the night before, and enjoying the end of 8-9 months of hard work. I'd say some of them even earned it .
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Got Cogs
If you see a bike with this much hipster cred, you can't shoot it without some hipster filter.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
Easter Chicks
Before the avian-flu scare a few years back they always had live chicks in the Winter Garden at Easter. Not anymore.
Plant
Once again the Oly 45mm showing its strengths. This time in the Helsinki Winter Garden greenhouse. No idea what kind of plant that is, except it isn't meat-eating; Those were behind glass.
Friday, April 06, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Evening Clouds
Evening Clouds a video by Rollofunk on Flickr.
Some more testing out the Nokia Lumia 800's time-lapse capabilities. 5 sec intervals for a bit over an hour.
Islay Tasting @Punavuoren Ahven
This actually happened already last Thursday; Part two of our Islay tasting series, of which I missed the first half due to a business trip. The idea was to go around the island of Islay, to get an overview of all the distilleries' core product, with one dram from the mainland to serve as a reference (hence the Speyside Glenfarclas). Menu was:
-Glenfarclas 10yo
-Bunnahabhain 12yo (new 46,3% version)
-Bruichladdich Laddie Ten
-Caol Ila 12yo
-Kilchoman 5yo 2006
In the end it was a close-fought contest between Kilchoman and Bruichladdich, with the former being my choice of the night. Great stuff, despite being half the age or less compared to the others. Can't wait to see what they deliver once they get 10-12 yo's out!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Tuning Lumia 800 Case
While the exterior design of the Nokia Lumia 800 is a joy to behold, it is kind of hard to get it to stay put when shooting time-lapses. Time to dig out the old X-Acto knives and put one of the ski-straps I got from Asahikawa's premium outdoor shop to good use. Would never have put that rubber phone sleeve into daily use anyway.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
First Spring Day
First Spring Day from Mikael Leppä on Vimeo.
This is where the time-lapse ended up. Was trying out a new Manfrotto Modosteady as well. It's a bit tricky, and not a pro-grade steadycam rig by any means, but with practice it definitely shoots smoother motion clips than you could do free-hand.Sunday, March 04, 2012
Time-Lapsing in the Sun
Time-Lapsing in the Sun a video by Rollofunk on Flickr.
Result from the improvised monopod. Not totally stable. Probably because of the wind, as the tree itself was pretty sturdy.
100% Organic Monopod
Been trying out a Nokia Lumia 800 for work here for a while, and it's got this nice Time-Lapse Cam application. However, the thing isn't really made for fitting on a tripod. Thus a bit of improvised stability was needed on today's outing in Nuuksio.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Guess the Century
Just a random bunch of 18th century Swedish soldiers hanging out. Those traffic cones might be a bit of a give-away, though.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Beware of Passing Train on Track 1
Beware of Passing Train on Track 1 a video by Rollofunk on Flickr.
Being passed at close range by this much fast moving stuff is pretty awesome, in a way.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Urban Hiking
This past week was pretty busy with lot's of early rises. That was reason enough not to set an alarm for Saturday morning, even though that meant that proper all-day forest adventures were out of the question. Luckily Helsinki isn't that urban yet, so five stops away with the Metro there is still nice terrain for a few hours of airing your brain.
Urban Hiking from Mikael Leppä on Vimeo.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Laphroaig Tasting @Punavuoren Ahven
Hosted by Vicky Stevens of Laphroaig distillery in a lovely Scottish accent! 10 yo, Quarter Cask, Triple Wood, 27 yo, and Cairdeas 30 yo. The two last ones were a nice experience, but again for mere mortal consumption the Triple Wood might be my choice.
Helsinki, Owl City
Beware when out at night downtown. If you look too much like a rabbit or a rat, they might just swoop down and eat you.
Ardbeg Treat @Punavuoren Ahven
To celebrate the opening of the new Ardbeg themed tasting room at Punavuoren Ahven the distillery graciously sent over representative Karen Fullerton to deliver a special treat: A 10 year old sampling from one of their first-fill Bourbon barrels, which won't be found in a retail bottling until another 3-7 years. Beautiful taste already.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Election Day Flag
Presidential election day is a day the flags come out. Even if they are stitched together from old plastic bags and pitched randomly out on the sea-ice.
-20°C Photowalk
Took a bit of a scenic route back home after voting this morning. Good thing the GF1 is small enough to fit into my down jacket's front pocket with the 20mm lens on. Kept it nice and warm.
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Espresso Action
As I didn't have time to hang around to taste the competition entries at the Barista champ's, I had to settle for a shot at home. The old Krups is still going strong.
Finnish Barista Championships 2012
Barista Antti Suomela in action today in Kluuvi. Interesting, but not really much of a spectator event; Very slow paced, and basically it's all about taste, which you can't of course see.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Lightening the Load
Snow-removing crews have been busy again these last few weeks. Good thing they do it, though. Less risk of being hit by falling snow and ice if the roofs around here are kept clean of snow, plus it lessens the risk of water damage to the building itself.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Johan & Nyström
A new(ish) coffee roastery and cafe (or Concept Store, as express it) here in town which I have often passed when it's been closed, but today I managed to catch it open. Had a double espresso (great price of only 2€) of the day's coffee, which was nice and smooth. However, if the coffee's change regularly it's hard to know what you get next time. Place is a bit off the beaten path, so not the best for people watching, but come summer the boats out the window will offer nicer views. Unfortunately the opening hours are a bit short, with the place closing already at 18:00 on weekdays and 16:00 on Saturdays.
Finnish Designer Awards 2012
The annual internal pat-on-the-back event of the Finnish design world had its opening last night. Can't really say much about the winners, except they seem to make nice looking design. Like so many others do in this business. Still haven't figured out the criteria for this kind of competition. I do understand awards for lifelong or otherwise special achievement, though, but other than that it's just a matter of taste. Congratulations to the winners, anyway.
Almond Tofu @Empire Plaza
One of the rare occasions that I've got a nice surprise regarding food display here in Finland. Tasty too. I'd say Empire Plaza is my favourite Chinese restaurant in town.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
From China With Love
From China With Love a video by Rollofunk on Flickr.
Fireworks for Chinese New Year here in Helsinki earlier tonight.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Presidential Faces
First-round election day tomorrow. Some nice person had cleaned up the posters a bit after the night's snowfall.
Monday, January 09, 2012
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Primus Eta Express in Action
Borrowed Mikko's tiny Eta, better suited for solo trips. I was a bit apprehensive how well the gas would function in this temperature, but water for noodle soup boiled in no time. Solid piece of gear.
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