Friday 30 October 2015

Spooky Nightmares!



In Finland we really don't have the Trick or Treat tradition. If you're in Finland I suggest you to visit your local graveyard tomorrow evening - not for the spooky atmosphere but the sea of candles. That's the more common way to celebrate as it's All Saints' Day in Finland.
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Thursday 29 October 2015

Things are clearing out

It's been 10 days since I published my very first Finnish Nightmares comic. What has happened in these 10 days has been beyond my wildest dreams. It's been a heck of a ride. I didn't prepare for this and it took me a while to get myself back together and sort things out.

Now that I've sorted some things out, eg. getting some sleep, I can safely say that big things are indeed happening. All thanks to you guys! I'm so excited and happy!  And I'd like to thank you all who have sent me your Nightmares or experiences and memories of Finland and Finnish people. They have been great read and inspirational, keep them coming!

I will publish Finnish Nightmares once in a week from now on. Aside from this week. I already published one but will give you one more because of Halloween / Pyhäinmiestenpäivä / Kekri / Samhain / Día de los Muertos or whatever you like to call it.

Karoliina
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Tuesday 27 October 2015

Story behind the hat

Matti wears this round little kalotti-hat with blue stripes. Most of you have probably realized that it resembles Finnish national flag. The others who are a bit more familiar with Finnish national art might recognize that the hat is similar to the one Väinämöinen, the main character of Finnish folklore Kalevala, wears in some paintings. The others might know the hat from scouting activities.

These are all true but the main reason I picked this hat for Matti comes from my own childhood. My father used to wear this kind of hat every time we were travelling abroad. The farther we were, the more public places we'd visit, the more he'd wear it.

I was so ashamed. SO ashamed. How dare he reveal our nationality to other people. What if other
Finns saw us and get mad at us? What if someone would laugh at us and think that we or my father looks ridiculous? Needless to say, my father didn't care. And I think he secretly enjoyed that he made us children so embarrassed.

Matti has my father's hat and his attitude.

I love you iskä.

EDIT: I added my father's photo here because he wanted it so bad. He even wanted to do his own face-censoring.
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Monday 26 October 2015

I want to clarify few things.

This is something I wrote to my Smile-picture as a comment but I feel like it's something I need to state properly:

Not all Finns fit the stereotype of Finn. Just like not all Americans fit stefeotype of an American or Swedes fit stereotype of Swedish people. These are stereotypes that I portray in these comics as I do identify highly with these stereotypes and Matti is basically me.

I hope everyone following and liking this page and my comics understands that there's no country that has homogeneous people. I'm actually glad that not all Finns are as stereotypical as me.

--- Suomeksi --- 
Kaikki suomalaiset eivät ole stereotyyppisiä suomalaisia. Aivan kuin kaikki amerikkalaiset eivät sovi amerikkalaiseen stereotypiaan ja kaikki ruotsalaiset eivät ole ruotsalaisen stereotyypin ilmentymiä. Tässä sarjakuvassa käsitellään stereotypioita, koska itse koen olevani melko stereotyyppinen suomalainen ja kaikki Matin kokemat tilanteet ovat kirjaimellisesti omasta elämästäni.

Toivon että kaikki, jotka tätä sarjakuvaa seuraavat ja lukevat, ymmärtävät että yhdessäkään maassa ei ole kansaa, jonka kaikki ihmiset ovat samanlaisia. Minä olen vain iloinen, että kaikki suomalaiset eivät ole yhtä stereotyyppisiä kuin minä.
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Friday 23 October 2015

Thursday 22 October 2015

This is unbelievable

That's all I can say.

Thank you.

I'm slowly getting back together and maybe this weekend I'll do something cool for you guys. Thank you so much for support and likes. This is awesome.

And for those who saw briefly the new-looking website. Oh yes, it was awesome. But unfortunately it couldn't handle the traffic. So back to blogspot for now until I get some professional help with these kind of things.
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Wednesday 21 October 2015

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Monday 19 October 2015

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