Photos from Helsinki

[oanja]

The trip was pretty nice, apart from the fact that I was sick with a cold the whole time. I'm getting better now, so at least there's that...
It had just snowed the first morning I was there so everything was very pretty. The training course I was there for was nice, the people were all familiar with each other and we had a really nice relaxed atmosphere. I also got to see a friend who lives in Helsinki and we got Philippines food at a restaurant, which I had never tasted before and which was pretty tasty.

I also got to finally see the spiderman animation and I liked it. I've seen and heard people say it's the best superhero movie ever and I would not go that far, but it was really cool and made me want to read Miles Morales Spiderman comics

I just love how snow makes everything so pretty sometimes <3


I took a lot of pictures of the old buildings I walked past. They're generally from the beginning of the 20th century and if I was rich, I would want to live in an apartment in one. They have such nice high ceilings and wide windowsills and generally nice layouts. <3



I think the tree is blocking it, but there's a tower at the corner. I mean a freaking tower! How can you not love these buildings?



Also they generally have these nice details



Aaaah sooo prettyy!



More towers!



This is from the main street in Helsinki, they still had the Christmas lights up, very pretty



If Helsinki wasn't so horribly expensive to live in, I'd be tempted

Comments

[snickfic]

Oh wow, these are all so gorgeous! I am a sucker for winter pictures. :)

[oanja]

Winter is my favourite time of year, snow is great <3

[tozka]

So pretty! My best friend in kindergarten/1st grade had a bedroom in a turret and I was INSANELY JEALOUS. Her whole house was like some Victorian-style pseudo-medieval castle, which at the time was amazing. NOW, of course, I'm wondering wtf that was doing in small town Minnesota.

[oanja]

Haha, that sounds wild! :D But yeah, I would have been jealous if a friends of mine had lived in a house like that when I was a kid.

[saxonvoter]

Aaahhh, what lovely pictures. I'd also like to live in Helsinki if it wasn't so damn expensive. I visited a friend during Pride last year, and I was frankly amazed by the public transportation (metro mainly, it still looked shiny and new). It works so much better than in my tiny city... Not as good as Japan or Scotland, but pretty good for Finland.

Sadly I was unable to catch Into The Spider-Verse in the movies, so I just watched it... elsewhere... Uh. But I agree, it was really good!! Maybe not my favourite superhero movie either, but definitely in the top 10. And the animation was really good.

[oanja]

Yeah, it would be so convenient to live in Helsinki, but man it is expensive and I'm not sure how happy I would be there on the long run, so maybe it would be cool to live there for a couple of years to try it out and then escape to somewhere a bit smaller. (I'm also super curious now about where you live... I'm gonna guess Vaasa, if you study Japanese and don't live in Helsinki. [obviously you don't have to answer this if it's too personal])

The animation works so well for the genre, it's pretty sad Western animation is so heavily geared to children, as most superhero stuff would work better in a more mature "anime" style than it necessarily works as live action. (not that I don't like the MCU movies mind, they are fun too)

[saxonvoter]

Haha, you caught me. The Finnish circles for students of Japanese are so small, yikes. :D

Right? I totally agree, sometimes that type of stories work so much better in animation than in live action. I really like the MCU movies as well (like Venom, please someone talk to me about Venom), but sometimes the CGI is distracting and or just plainly doesn't work. Also, is it just me or are most fight scenes/car chases really boring in live action? Especially with all the cuts they do these days, it's hard to even keep up with what's happening. Anyway, all the failed live action adaptations of famous anime shows further prove the point.

[oanja]

Haha, sorry... I've just had a lot of fandom friends and rl acquaintances study Japanese there :D and I think it's the only place besides Helsinki where you can major in it. I took a few courses in Joensuu when I studied there as it was a minor language option. I live in a tiny town a hour away from Oulu, so we're more even.

Venom is great, when does it come on on DVD? I need to rewatch it. :D After it came out I read a lot of the fic, but there wasn't a lot of long plotty stuff, which is generally my jam. (I mean I get why there's so much porn, but...)

Yeah, I think most action movies are cut stupidly, which makes me bored as I can't keep up with what's happening. It always makes me think it's hiding something, as it can be a crutch to hide bad cinematography, same with it always being night time, or raining... (sorry for a rant, I just want to be able to see what's happening if I'm paying more than 10€ for the pleasure of watching a freaking movie)

[saxonvoter]

Huh, really, you're friends with some of my senpai? Again... Finland proves to be so small that everyone knows each other or at least knows someone who knows you. :D

Ah, quick google search leads me to believe that the DVD is coming out mid-February. Guess I've got to save some money for it, this is the first time in years I've wanted to actually rewatch a Marvel movie. And I've already seen it three times.

To my very basic understanding that's pretty much the cause of bad cuts in action scenes. They can't shoot the fights in a believable way, so they have to cut it up in smaller pieces so that the audience don't catch on.

[oanja]

Most likely, although I think all of the people I know who studied there left or graduated about 3-4 years ago (not many of them actually graduated, but a few did. I guess it's even more up to the students to study independently than it is at a normal university and it didn't suit some of the people I know) but yeah, you're so right. The circles are small here :D

Ooh, that's soon! I've bought most of the MCU movies and I've seen Black Panther and Ragnarok multiple times, but I think Venom fits well with those, as it's not one of the Main Marvel movies. I have high hopes for Captain Marvel, I really hope it'll be good *fingers crossed*

Yup, so annoying

[saxonvoter]

Yeah, the graduation percentage for our school is infamously low...

I think I own most of the MCU movies leading up to Winter Soldier and Iron Man 3, but I don't think I have any of the newer ones. Ragnarok was really good (I really love Taika Waititi, check out What We Do in the Shadows if you haven't already), and I've been meaning to buy it for the longest time... Similarly, I highly enjoyed Black Panther, although I only saw it last week when I was doing catch up with the newer movies. They've been publishing Marvel movies so often that it's been difficult to keep up if you don't have the money to see them as they come out! And I feel really bad for watching movies illegally, but after that 2-3 weeks is up, you've got to wait for months until there's a DVD and those aren't cheap either.

Gotta try to find a 3 for 2 sale or something so I can buy Black Panther, Ragnarok and Venom in one go.

[oanja]

I've tried to find What We Do in the Shadows, but haven't had any luck, and I'm too paranoid to pirate anything anymore. I've seen clips of it on tumblr obviously and it seems really cool. I actually got the newest MCU movies on sale in Citymarket before Christmas, they had a Disney sale and I got 3 blu-rays for 15€. It's so funny how Marvel stuff counts as Disney these days :D

[saxonvoter]

Ah, I think I actually saw it on TV couple of years ago... My parents have some kind of recording TV so I was able to watch it couple of times. Anyway, seems like the Blu-Ray is on CDON for about 10€, if you're interested. They've got some bundle sales going so maybe I should try my hand at those to get Ragnarok and Black Panther, and maybe Spider-Man: Homecoming as well... Hmm. Sadly it's gonna be a while until Venom is on sale since it's so fresh.

[oanja]

Ooh that's not very expensive at all! I shall go investigate further. Thanks for the tip! Bundle sales are so nice <3

(Homecoming was so cute, but now that I know they pretty much stole the plotline from Miles Morales I'm mad we didn't get that and instead we just got another white Peter Parker)