lifeiscarbon®

Finnish Film Of The Year

It’s not often that we single out individual new Scandinavian films to write about on lifeiscarbon®. Not that there aren’t any good new films to write about, it’s rather that there are too many to choose from. Occasionally however, we watch a new film, can’t get it out of our head for days and have to tell all of our friends to go see it.

Suden Vuosi (Year Of The Wolf) is one of those films. The latest award winning film from Finnish director Olli Saarela is about forbidden love and the conquering of deep-seated private fears (see below for a synopsis). Luckily for our readers based in New York, the American-Scandinavian Foundation will be screening the film on Thursday, May 17, 6:30 pm, at Scandinavia House.

Olli Saarela has directed the features Rolli (2001), Bad Luck Love (2000), The Ambush (1999), and Redemption (1997). One of the most recognized directors in Finland today, he has won a total of 20 Jussi awards (the Finnish Oscar). Aside from working as a director, Saarela teaches in the Department of Film and Television at the University of Art and Design Helsinki.

New Scandinavian Films

Scandinavia House in New York has once again picked the best recent films from the Nordic region and is showing them as part of its popular annual Winter/Spring films series. Despite the fact that it began in February with a selection of films from Norway, the series continues on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons until the end of June with films from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.

If you’re a fan of classic Scandinavian films, it’s well worth popping along to watch some of the great new offerings from the region such as Hell is for Heroes from Finland and Thicker Than Water from Iceland. See below for full details of the films (which are all subtitled in English).

Also not to be missed, PD04 is a cultural sampler of the best experimental shorts, art films, and new music videos (including Sigur Rós and Múm) from contemporary Iceland that takes place on Thursday 12 April.

Above Goes Boulevard

It seems there’s no stopping Kalle Peterson and our other friends at Above magazine. They only started their web-based magazine just over three months ago but it’s already gone through a couple of makeovers and now it's even getting a change of name. Hence forth, Above shall be known as Boulevard.

Much has changed since the magazine started. The photography has gone from strength to strength, in terms of both quality and breadth of coverage. The latest issue not only features more stunning street fashion shots from Malmö but also excellent catwalk photography from the recent Stockholm Fashion Week and images from the CPH Vision fashion fair in Copenhagen.

Kalle and his team have also kicked off their collaboration with Collective.se (a Swedish fashion blog) with whose help they will be expanding their editorial even further. Admittedly, Boulevard Magazine is written in Swedish but even if you don’t speak the language it’s still worth taking a look at simply for the sumptuous images (see a selection below).

Tony, Harold And Teenage Lust

It’s Wednesday, so it must be time for another launch party of a yet another new magazine. This time it’s the turn of our friends at Cederteg Publishing in Sweden, who are celebrating the launch of their new magazine Harold.

Cederteg, which was founded by Editor-In-Chief Tony Cederteg, describes itself as a ‘publisher of zines, books and photography of great kind’. Their new offering Harold, is a free fashion magazine in English that will be available in selected stores in Stockholm, New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, Melbourne, Tokyo and London. The first issue features photography by Bernhard Willhelm, Gerhard Stochl and Tony Cederteg himself together with interviews with Nakkna (SWE), Opening Ceremony (US), Best Shop (GER) and Beneath (SWE - R.I.P).

Denmark Versus The World

Magazines We Love: Part 7

Call us fickle, but we’ve fallen in love again. Vs. is a gorgeous large format fashion and culture magazine, based in Denmark but with a strong international perspective. Their first two issues have simply been stunningly beautiful from start to finish, especially the monochromatic covers with day-glow cover lines (see below for a preview of selected pages). Published twice a year and distributed worldwide, Vs. is the only Scandinavian magazine distributed in multiple language editions, in English, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian.

Drawing from a broad resource of global talent - photographers, illustrators, artists and journalists - Vs. is clearly aiming to be the definitive international window onto all that’s stylish in Scandinavia. Credit for the creation of Vs. goes to Editor-In-Chief, Jakob Forup Stubjær and Executive Editors, Marie Louise Tüxen Barfod and Carla Christine Bruus Strube.

To celebrate the publication of their second issue, Vs. are having a party The Parlour in London this coming Thursday (15th February). If you’re deemed to be worthy, you might still be lucky enough to get your name on the guest list.

Finnish Text Book

The Guardian newspaper in the UK has an interesting article about a novel that’s just been published in Finland in which the entire narrative consists of mobile phone text messages.

The Last Messages tells the story of a fictitious executive in Finland who resigns from his job and travels throughout Europe and India, keeping in touch with his friends and relatives only through text messages. His messages, and the replies - roughly 1,000 altogether - are listed in chronological order in the 332-page novel written by Finnish author Hannu Luntiala. The texts are rife with grammatical errors and abbreviations commonly used in such messages.

“I believe that, at the end of the day, a text message may reveal much more about a person than you would initially think,'' said Luntiala, who also is head of a company that keeps databases on people living in Finland.

A Magazine About People

Magazines We Love: Part 6

Time to write about the best magazine in the world. If you don’t believe us then don’t take our word for it, listen to what the French magazine Palais (edited by Palais de Tokyo in Paris) wrote about it in their November 2006 issue: Carl's Cars is the best magazine in the world.

As if that wasn’t praise enough, last year Carl’s Cars was awarded the prize of Gold Winner in the Magazine of the Year competition by The Society of Publication Designers in New York

Not bad for a humble independent magazine that was started in Norway in 2001 by Karl Eirik Haug and Stéphanie Dumont. Amazingly for such a beautifully designed magazine containing so many handsome cars and good looking people in far flung places, there are only six people working on it on a fulltime basis, although admittedly they do get help from a further 25 familiy members who are more or less regular contributors. lifeiscarbon® talked to Karl Eirik Haug to find out a little more about Carl and his cars.....

Nordic Angst On Video

Whilst writing our earlier post about Kent and re-watching their music videos, we were struck by the notion that Scandinavian music videos perhaps belong to a specific genre. We can’t claim to have done any extensive research into the matter, nor is our sample size statistically robust - our hypothesis is in fact based solely on lifeiscarbon’s four favorite music videos (and two of them happen to be for the same group) – but we’d still venture to suggest that Scandinavian music videos often belong a genre that could be called Nordic Angst.

Why not read the twelve key cinematic rules below and watch our favorite videos by Sigur Rós, Kent and Röyksopp to see if they conform to the Nordic Angst genre:

Scandinavian Design: Book Guide

Putting ‘Scandinavian’ in the title of a book about design seems to be a favorite way for publishers to increase sales. Sadly, it’s not always a guarantee of quality so here’s a selection of some of our favorite books on Scandinavian architecture and design.

Scandinavian Design by Charlotte J. Fiell and Peter Fiell (Paperback - Oct 31, 2002/ Hardcover - May 30, 2005)

This all-you-need guide includes a detailed look at Scandinavian furniture, glass, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, metalware and industrial design from 1900 to the present day. With in-depth entries on over 200 designers and design-led companies, plus essays on the similarities and differences in approach between Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark. It also includes is a list of important design-related places to visit for readers planning to travel to Scandinavia.... (more)

Danish Style Bible

Magazines We Love: Part 5

We have to admit that we’re finding it tough to get going this year. Perhaps it’s due to the excesses of Christmas and New Year. Perhaps it’s the continued absence of snow in Scandinavia and the shortness of daylight at this time of year. Whatever the reason we need a couple of short but inspiring posts to get us started. So let’s begin the year by introducing you to another of our favorite Scandinavian magazines.

Dansk is probably the first fashion magazine from Denmark to achieve international recognition and gain a sizable readership around the world in cities like London, New York, Tokyo and Sydney. The magazine is the brainchild of Style/Council (Uffe Buchard and Kim Grenaa) who are Editors-in-Chief together with Creative Direction from Dyhr.Hagen (Lars Dyhr and Peter Hagen).

Above Magazine Reloaded

You might remember us writing about the launch of Above Magazine from Sweden last month. Well, their second issue has just gone up online and it’s full of their usual mix of high quality street fashion shots from Malmö.

Kalle Peterson from Above Magazine got in touch to let us know about the new issue and hinted at some exciting plans for next year. We plan to interview Kalle in January and when we do, we’ll let you know what they’ve got planned.

In the meantime, regardless of whether you understand Swedish, it’s still worth taking a look at their latest issue. Especially if you’re curious to see some of the latest street styles from Sweden, profiles of top fashion blogs and a list of must-have fashion tips.

Take a look at some photos from their latest issue below:

Scandinavian Eclectic

Magazines We Love: Part 4

Jan Walaker, founder and editor of Hotrod magazine, certainly made life difficult for himself when he named his magazine. Try Googling his magazine and you’ll end up with pages and pages of results about hot rods, street rods and muscle cars. Take a look at the magazine and you won’t find a car in sight.

The name is not the only interesting peculiarity of this Norwegian based English language magazine. Every issue is a completely different concept from any that have gone before. It’s always a pleasant surprise when picking up a new issue to discover radically different content, lay out styles and even different paper stock (paper grade is selected to suit the images in each issue). Jan even likes to play with the masthead. The latest issue has the masthead in reverse and the one before had an almost invisible varnished title. Whilst Jan is always the editor and Bjorn Kusoffsky is always the joint art director, each issue is produced in collaboration with guest contributors. All of which makes for an intriguing read and ensures that Hotrod remains one of our favorite magazines.

Nytt Rom Special Edition

The latest issue of Nytt Rom, our favorite Scandinavian design magazine, just hit the newsstands....and it's huge! It's a special edition, aptly titled Big Issue to reflect it's larger than usual format. Nytt Rom hasn’t been going for long, five issues so far, but for us it just gets better and better. They’re incredibly well plugged in to all the latest and greatest architecture and design from across Scandinavia.

lifeiscarbon® met up with Hans Petter Smeby, Founder Editor of Nytt Rom, earlier this week for a coffee and chat about Scandinavian design. Hans Petter was previously Editor of Design Interiør, another good Scandinavian design magazine, before breaking away to start his own publication. When talking to Hans Petter, it quickly became apparent that there isn't anything he doesn’t know about world of design. His knowledge of interesting people, products and companies involved in Scandinavian design is truly amazing. We owe him a big thank you for all of his invaluable advice.

So, by way of thanks, here’s a big plug for the latest issue of Nytt Rom. It’s well worth taking a look at so rush out and buy a copy. Send lifeiscarbon® an email if you have problems tracking down a copy outside Scandinavia and we’ll be happy to help.

From Finland With Love

To celebrate 100 years of Finnish independence on 6 December, the Barbican is showing the cream of Finland’s cinematic output from the past decade.

The festival kicks off tomorrow with Aki Kaurismäki's 'Lights in the Dusk' - the country's leading director's exploration of loneliness on the streets of contemporary Helsinki completes his trilogy about outcasts. The closing gala comprises two documentaries; 'The Three Rooms of Melancholia' looks at the affect of the Russian-Checen conflict on children, whilst 'Revolution' takes a nostalgic glance at 60s and 70s youth culture and unbending faith in socialism through the medium of song. Other highlights include 'Beauty and the Bastard' telling the tale of a DJ, conniving to sleep with a medical student desperate to become a singer.

Perched on the cusp between Scandinavian and Russian influence, Finland is a nation still largely unknown to her European neighbors, here's a chance to delve into their psyche.

Simple Scandinavian Living

This book is a must if you like Scandinavian design. It traces the development of the Scandinavian style, introduces the most important designers and their work, and explores some of the more unique and interesting homes in Scandinavia.

The first section, Elements, takes a lively look at Scandinavian design in the context of materials: wood, glass, textiles, ceramics and so on. The second section, Living, offers an in-depth visual survey of 12 outstanding homes in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, from modern country houses to sophisticated city-centre apartments.