A Letter From Santa

I just have to share this. The Finnish postal service is offering something special this year: a letter from Santa Claus. Best of all, you can order it from anywhere in the world. Here's the info from the Posti online store:

 

A letter from Santa Claus - What a great gift! 

Receiving a personal letter is a special occasion for any child. If the letter should come from Santa Claus himself, it will obviously be extra special. 

Santa Claus writes his letters at Santa Claus’ Post office. Each letter is sealed with a Christmas stamp and with the Arctic Circle postmark. 

With each letter, Santa Claus will enclose a certificate of niceness and a postcard to colour in. 

The letters are available in 13 different languages, so you can surprise children or friends all over the world. The letter is personalised, addressing the recipient by his/her first name. 

Place your orders to European countries by December 7th and other countries as early as December 1st. Orders to Finland can be placed by December 14th. 

The language options for the letter are Finnish, Swedish, English, German, Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Dutch and recently also in Portuguese and Polish!

How cool is that? This will make quite a few little ones very happy.

Giants and Uncertain Atmospheres at the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum

Gas Giant by Jacob Hashimoto 

The Wäinö Aaltonen Art Museum is having a really good year. Their exhibitions tend to go for the more "out there" stuff, some of which is amazing and some just going for the shock value; the shock value stuff tends to leave me cold, but art is subjective, of course. Fortunately, the current exhibition, Jacob Hashimoto's Giants and Uncertain Atmospheres, soars right into the "amazing" category.

Hashimoto's work is colourful, fun, and inspired by science fiction and video games, so it's right up my alley. He uses a lot of kites in his work, like the installation pictured above. A photo can't do it justice. You need to experience the scale of it to really get a feel for how beautiful it is. 

Super-Robots and Celestial Mechanics

I liked the mix of Japanese minimalism and playfulness. Kids would love this exhibition. Some of the pieces reminded me of fractals and vintage video games, and I loved the use of science fiction elements, like references to wormholes and spaceships.

   This one has the feel of '50s science fiction cover art.

The Air Smelled of Subversion and Boundaries, All Glitter with Bright, Sourceless Light

This piece showcases Hashimoto's interesting technique. Are the shadows cast by the piece part of the piece, or just coincidental? Could one construct a story based on the visual representation here? And don't you love that title? 

The exhibition is open until September 24th, if you want to check it out. 

Finnish Ingenuity

The news are so depressing these days, all doom and gloom about North Korea's missile trials, the latest stages of the Trumpocalypse, and how climate change and overpopulation will kill us all. Sometimes it feels like nobody is doing anything to solve these problems, but that's not true either.

Here's a few bits of news that won't make you want to curl up with a bottle of tequila:

Finnish scientists have found a way to make protein out of thin air and electricity. Are we on our way to eliminating world hunger? The process is powered by solar energy and it's ten times more efficient than photosynthesis-based methods, like growing soybeans, for example. On top of that, it should work in arid areas where farming is impossible, it doesn't use pesticides, and it doesn't produce greenhouse gases. Sounds like science fiction, doesn't it? The scientists speculate that the technology should reach commercial capacity in ten years. And hey, could this be used in space, too?

You can read more here: https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finnish_breakthrough_making_protein_out_of_thin_air_and_electricity/9736360 

The Finns are also working on how to use the moisture in the air to create renewable electricity that could be used to charge cell phones, for example. It has to do with zirconium dioxide-based nanocomposites and the build-up and discharge of electricity on water droplets in the atmosphere.  

Here's the article in Finnish:https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9738088

The research is done at the Lappeenranta University of Technology in collaboration with partners from Europe and the US, and you can read more about it here in English:

https://www.lut.fi/web/en/-/harnessing-the-energy-in-air-humidity

Maybe we're not doomed after all?

Cutest Geeky Onesies

I promise this blog won't turn into all babies all the time, but I couldn't resist showing you guys a few of my favourite baby clothes so far. Being a responsible person, I got most of the baby stuff we need second hand, but I did get a couple of fun onesies in assorted sizes. 

This LOTR one is from Nerd Girl Tees

For the little Star Wars fan. (CutieButtsBoutique)

What would Baby Shepard wear? (Rocket Baby Clothing)

I pretty much want this in every size... (CutieButtsBoutique))

Labyrinth onesie! (CutieButtsBoutique))

A Geeky Baby Box for Dad

In Finland, when you're having a baby, the government grants you a baby box full of all kinds of things the baby needs in his or her first year: onesies, a sleeping bag, toys, hygiene products, a snowsuit etc., and the box it comes in can be used as the baby's first bed. You can see the contents of this year's box here. The only problem is, it's still called 'The Maternity Package,' which can make the future daddy feel a bit left out, so I decided to make Hubby a Daddy Box of his very own. 

I repurposed one of the Loot Crate boxes for this project. The note on top (and most of the other baby stuff) was from a webshop called www.mussukat.fi. It says: 'You have been granted a paternity package in the form of a baby box. It has been personally designed for you and executed with love. We hope the box will bring joy to your time with the baby.'

And what did I put inside? A geeky onesie, of course. This one is LOTR themed and has all the meals Hobbits like to enjoy during the day printed on it. 

I also included a polar bear bib scarf, a 'mute button' pacifier, and earplugs, of course!

Some baby toys. I'm partial to owls.

The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting

Tips, and Advice on First Year Maintenance by Louis and Joe Borgenicht. (Hey, they have it in English, too!)

Something to mop up all the stuff that keeps coming out of both ends. 

I wanted to add a chocolate cigar, but unfortunately they don't sell those in Finland. Coffee or an energy drink would have fit in quite well too, but I ran out of room after this stuff.

Have you made a Baby Box for your significant other? What did you put inside?

Mass Effect: In Full Colour!

Have I mentioned I love Mass Effect? And how much? THIS MUCH!!! (Note that it's an ADULT colouring book. Totally valid excuse to buy one.)  

The illustrations are pretty cool too. Check out Wrex here, for example. And you get a fun quote for every image.

Thane!

But Garrus is my favourite, so I had to start with him. The thing is, it's really hard to remember which bit of the armour is which colour. Luckily, I came up with a solution.  

Work it, baby! Blue Steel! 

Totally worth the money. 

(I got mine on Amazon, but it looks like these are pretty widely available. Oh, and Dragon Age has one too! Looks like they're going for about ten bucks right now.)

Dinner with Dalí

Did you know Salvador Dalí published a cookbook in 1973? Like Dalí himself, it's gloriously weird and OTT, and, best of all, he did the illustrations himself! My copy is the Taschen English translation, which is beautiful, but I would like to get a copy of the French original, because it does feel like something is maybe getting lost in translation.  Just check out the prosaic translations of the index below: "the cannibalisms of autumn" is apparently eggs and seafood. Don't speak French? Go on, feed a few of these into Google translate. It's very entertaining. 

Here's the man himself. Wouldn't you love attend that dinner party?

As for the recipes, they're not the most practical sort, like this crayfish tower, but they are fun to read. 

And you gotta love the illustrations!

There are also some menus included in the book.

Yeah, I probably won't be trying out the frog pasties or the many ways of cooking calf's brains, but as a curiosity, this was absolutely worth getting. I got mine from Amazon, but different versions seems be available online. 

Loot Crate: Revolution

Here's December's Loot Crate. The theme was 'revolution.'

That's the T-shirt. Not really my thing.

We also got an Aguilar figurine. He looks too cute somehow. Maybe it's because we can see the face. 

This book was the coolest item this month. The photos are hilarious. 

A Firefly patch. Might be cool for cosplay purposes at some point. 

And here's the pin, Assassin's Creed themed this time. 

Twinkle, Twinkle

The Minna Parikka webshop is having its annual January sale, and I just had to have these Stardust sneakers. I originally wanted the turquoise Ziggy boots, but I think I'll get more mileage out of these. 

Ooh, shiny!

These are as gloriously glittery as they look. They're very OTT, but at the same time the silver-and-black colour scheme tones them down enough that I'll actually wear them. I am curious as to how long the glitter will last when subjected to daily use. Anybody out there own glitter shoes? Any tips on how to care for these?

The Gates of Moria Mittens

Look what I got for Christmas! My crafty friend has outdone herself yet again. The colour isn't coming off right it the pics, it's more of a purplish-blue kind of thing, but you can see the detail here.

Here's a look at the other side. They've even got the text "speak, friend, and enter" on them!

Pixietails!

Does anyone remember Lady LovelyLocks? I used to love that show as a kid, and when I found these at the '80s Toy Shop on Etsy, I couldn't resist. And yes, I'm totally going to wear them in my hair. Why not?

Huudi at the VPK House This Week!

Have you heard of the Petri Ruusunen? He makes awesome custom motorbikes and art with a retrofuturism and steampunk aesthetic, maintains the Huudi Museum, and he also has a jewellers shop on Humalistonkatu, Turku, called KultaSarvi.

This week there's an exhibition of his work at the VPK house in Turku, 3rd to 6th November, open from noon to 8 p.m. Entrance is free.

Ready to get retrofuturistic? Okay, here we go. . .

Just look at this one!

Lovely steampunky contraptions.

Read more at http://petriruusunen.fi

Here's a link to a youtube video of the Huudi museum. The website above looks like it's only in Finnish, but it makes for fascinating reading. Their facebook page is in English, though.

The Alice Scarf

If you haven't noticed yet, I love Alice in Wonderland. I've been eyeing the Storiarts webshop for a while now, and as the days are getting colder, I decided to splurge on a new scarf. They have all kinds of cool stuff, everything from Austen to Poe. The Raven scarf is also beautiful, but somehow  I prefer the book-like look of this one. And did I mention they have writing gloves. Writing gloves, people! Why hasn't anyone invented those before?

DIY: Nightmare before Christmas Kitchen Jars

This is an old DIY, but it's so Halloween-y that I thought I'd share it anyway. These are actually prototypes for two bigger ones that I made for a friend's birthday present. It's just two ceramic pots I got at a flea market covered in modelling clay. I tried the plastic kind, but it was really hard to use, so I just used the normal stuff and let these air dry. Then I painted them with a rock texture paint from the local craft store. The paint had little grains in it, which makes the surface even feel rock-like. The details I did with a toothpick while the clay was still soft. The paint is water based, so you can't wash these, but wiping with a wet cloth is okay. 

This is a super easy project, maybe a few hours in total, not counting the time it takes for the clay and paint to dry. Plenty of time to finish before Halloween, if inspiration strikes you.

Kinda Kooky

I went a little overboard in the Kooky Gems final sale this year, but look how cute! 

Here's the website for any kooky gals and guys out there. (They ship worldwide, btw.)